Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salidberry.
Speaker 2: I am Todd so lucky. It's Friday, May seventeenth, twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four. The Phillies won three of four in a
Speaker 2: rare home and home series against the Mets. They lost
Speaker 2: Thursday night in eleven innings. They still have the best
Speaker 2: record in baseball. Before we get going, guys, I wanted
Speaker 2: to announce that The Phillies Nation TV Show debuts on Saturday,
Speaker 2: May twenty fifth on NBC Sports Philadelphia, and we will
Speaker 2: be making weekly appearances on it. They'll be using some
Speaker 2: of the podcast. We'll be making appearances with Greg Murphy
Speaker 2: and Sam Stafford. They're gonna have special guests throughout the year,
Speaker 2: and it's gonna date. It's gonna show one hour before
Speaker 2: every Saturday home game, our Saturday game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: So you like the podcast, If you want more Phillies,
Speaker 2: check out The Phillies Nation TV Show. Let's jump into
Speaker 2: a couple of injuries before we get into listener questions.
Speaker 2: We asked people last night to submit some listener questions.
Speaker 2: We got a bunch we didn't get. We're not going
Speaker 2: to get to them all, but we got some good ones.
Speaker 2: So Taiwan Walker takes a line drive or he takes
Speaker 2: a ball off his left big toe X rays our negative.
Speaker 1: It's his landing foot.
Speaker 2: Explain how concerning this might be, you know, you know,
Speaker 2: if he can't if he can't go.
Speaker 3: Well, he had to come out of the game, so
Speaker 3: that's concern right there. But afterwards both he and Rob
Speaker 3: Thompson kind of downplayed it a little bit. I'm sure,
Speaker 3: excuse me, I'm sure Taiwan Walker will be champing at
Speaker 3: the bit to get back out there because there's a
Speaker 3: guy kind of nipping at his heels in Spencer Turnbull,
Speaker 3: who you know. I think they've succeeded in keeping him
Speaker 3: mostly stretched innings the other night on what Wednesday night,
Speaker 3: So if Taiwan Walker can't go, his next turn Turnbook
Speaker 3: will slide in there. But with an off day on Monday,
Speaker 3: they could also skip that spot, giving Walker a little
Speaker 3: bit more time, so they have options on how to
Speaker 3: handle this depending on the severity. I don't think it's severe.
Speaker 3: But as we've talked about Rubin and Todd, I mean something,
Speaker 3: you know that we were talking about six pictures for
Speaker 3: five spots and how it was a good problem and
Speaker 3: something will manifest itself, something will present itself where that
Speaker 3: extra guy will indeed find himself getting plenty of work.
Speaker 3: And you know, this could be that situation coming about
Speaker 3: right before our eyes.
Speaker 4: And we had the most durable five man rotation through
Speaker 4: like seven through through twenty eleven. I mean, these guys
Speaker 4: posted all the time, and we still had depth problems.
Speaker 4: I mean, you can absolutely never have enough starting pitching.
Speaker 4: You're gonna have to have eight or ten guys at
Speaker 4: some point who are going to take the baseball to
Speaker 4: start a baseball game. So, you know, I think time
Speaker 4: wa Walker is a pretty tough guy. When he first
Speaker 4: got hit, I thought maybe it was just a glancing,
Speaker 4: glancing blow. But but you know, it's one of those
Speaker 4: things where when you first get hit, it sort of
Speaker 4: gets numb real fast. And then he started walking off
Speaker 4: and then then the shortness came in and it was
Speaker 4: pretty obvious that that he got poked pretty pretty uh
Speaker 4: pretty badly. Otherwise he would not have come out of
Speaker 4: this game. This guy's a competitor, man. I like. I
Speaker 4: like the way he goes about his business. I mean,
Speaker 4: you could say what you want about Taiwan Walker that
Speaker 4: you know, he's he's you know, he's the IRA's high
Speaker 4: and this, that and the other. Well, uh, he wants
Speaker 4: to compete, he wants to be out there first teammates,
Speaker 4: great teammate and uh and you're right, Jim, this guy
Speaker 4: is not gonna want to miss any starts. He's gonna
Speaker 4: want to pitch, and for for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 4: One pride, too, because he's a good teammate, and three
Speaker 4: because he wants he wants to win. I mean, it's
Speaker 4: the guy who wants to I love guys who want
Speaker 4: the baseball. And you know there's an issue about him,
Speaker 4: you know, him getting upset about not pitching in the
Speaker 4: playoffs last year. Well guess what I like that. I
Speaker 4: like the fact that he felt like he was dis
Speaker 4: because he wants to pitch. And that's and that's and
Speaker 4: that's exactly what you want in uh, in your starters
Speaker 4: and anybody on the field. You want people to compete.
Speaker 4: One of the most important parts of being a champion
Speaker 4: is how well you compete.
Speaker 3: So you guys, show me. I'm just gonna say, show
Speaker 3: me a guy who's happy to be sidelines, and I
Speaker 3: will show you a loser.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right, great point.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: Are you guys surprised that Trey Turner is already out
Speaker 2: jogging taking ground balls. I've never blown out a hammy, Jimmy,
Speaker 2: You've blown out of hammy?
Speaker 3: I did, I did. I thought I was dead. Were
Speaker 3: you there that you were there that day? Right? No?
Speaker 1: No, this is before I started covering the games.
Speaker 3: God. So I'll tell you this quick story. It was
Speaker 3: the last year of Veterans Stadium and they put in
Speaker 3: remember the ruben, you guys put in a new turf
Speaker 3: and it had some depth to it.
Speaker 4: Yes, I had a lot to do with that putting
Speaker 4: in that turf. I was like on the committee.
Speaker 3: So the old stuff was this matted down concrete astro
Speaker 3: turf right correct, And then they put in so the
Speaker 3: Eagles were moving on call.
Speaker 4: It was called next Turf, I believe, Next turf.
Speaker 3: And it had a little give to it, and it
Speaker 3: had a little length so you could actually bunt. But anyway,
Speaker 3: I wanted to do a story on it. So they
Speaker 3: also put it in at the half field in clear
Speaker 3: Water behind Jack Russell Stadium. So I wanted to do
Speaker 3: a story on how it played. So John Bukovich offered
Speaker 3: to hit me some ground balls and hit me a
Speaker 3: few at third base and you know, flip them over.
Speaker 4: He was pretty And let me just say this, I
Speaker 4: watched him witnesses. Jimmie's a pretty good damn good athlete.
Speaker 4: He is well, I mean, Neil, we could talk about
Speaker 4: him catching Billy Wagner and all that stuff, but the
Speaker 4: fact that the fact that he I mean, his his
Speaker 4: movements and all of his actions and that kind of
Speaker 4: stuff pretty damn good. I mean, I was like, whoa,
Speaker 4: look at this little dude.
Speaker 3: Well that was before I put on fifty pounds and
Speaker 3: I'm kidding. But anyway, so anyway, it takes him at
Speaker 3: third base. Bukevich says, go over to the shortstop, and
Speaker 3: now he starts moving me around, and he hits one
Speaker 3: sort of up the middle, and I range over and
Speaker 3: I plant my left leg hard on the turf and
Speaker 3: I reached to grab the ground ball and I just
Speaker 3: went down. It was like when they shoot the elephant
Speaker 3: with the tranquilizer guns and boom, I go down. My
Speaker 3: nose is flat in the turf, and the only thought
Speaker 3: I had in my head was you stupid son of
Speaker 3: a bitch. You just blew out your knee or something,
Speaker 3: you know, And honestly, my whole leg went numb and
Speaker 3: I barely could get up. And it turned out I
Speaker 3: had my hamstring had blown apart or something, and just really,
Speaker 3: you know, it stayed for a long time. And I
Speaker 3: remember later that spring, I was kind of walking around
Speaker 3: on a pair of shorts and I had a big
Speaker 3: mass of blood behind my knee. And Jeff Cooper says,
Speaker 3: what the hell happened to you? The old trainer? And
Speaker 3: I said, I think I pulled my hamstring. He goes,
Speaker 3: you did more than pull it. You tore that thing,
Speaker 3: so they hurt. But anyway, this is about Trey Turner.
Speaker 3: He seems to be he seems to be coming along quick.
Speaker 4: No, no question. And listen, I pulled hamstrings not often,
Speaker 4: but I recently pulled a hamstring as I've gotten older. Now, obviously,
Speaker 4: when you're younger yourselves, you know, replicate quicker, you get
Speaker 4: back quicker. Your your body recovers much better. And clearly
Speaker 4: he's recovering much better than than than we would. But
Speaker 4: it just I just pulled my hamstring playing pick a
Speaker 4: ball with Paul Holmgren. Like last year, it took me
Speaker 4: almost eight or nine months to feel like I could
Speaker 4: actually do something. I mean, it was really weird. I
Speaker 4: felt like I actually felt it, like I pulled it
Speaker 4: off the bone. And it was like a almost a
Speaker 4: year before I actually could get on the pickle ball
Speaker 4: court again. Kind of sad, but we saw one.
Speaker 3: We saw one get pulled off the bone. Todd in Milwaukee,
Speaker 3: remember with Charlie Morton. Oh yeah, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 3: mean you talk about going down. Yeah, and he he
Speaker 3: pulled the ham. He missed the whole season. He had
Speaker 3: to have it surgically and reattached. Yeah, and he's come
Speaker 3: back to pitches pretty well, but tough injury, Thank goodness,
Speaker 3: Trey Turner's because he's so important. Thank goodness, wasn't uh,
Speaker 3: you know, serious, because he's out, like you said, taking
Speaker 3: ground balls, he's running, he's throwing, and you know, he
Speaker 3: kind of is wearing the body language to me of
Speaker 3: a guy who thinks he's going to be back sooner
Speaker 3: then later. Now, I know they've built up a cushion,
Speaker 3: a lot of padding with the victories and the quick start,
Speaker 3: so they can afford to be conservative with an important player,
Speaker 3: but I still get the feeling he might be ahead
Speaker 3: of time schedule.
Speaker 4: You got an MVP player sitting on the bench. Man.
Speaker 4: I picked this guy to be the MVP, and he
Speaker 4: has MVP type talent, and so when you're missing a
Speaker 4: guy like that, that's huge and you don't want to
Speaker 4: miss him for so long. And the fact that it's
Speaker 4: my concern is that speed is so much of a
Speaker 4: part of his game and his ability to range and
Speaker 4: do other things that hopefully doesn't take away from all
Speaker 4: those abilities of the adds.
Speaker 1: So let's hear. So we got some reader questions.
Speaker 2: This one, this first one isn't a reader question, but
Speaker 2: I stumbled upon it last night. I was going through
Speaker 2: my Facebook and I found this on a Facebook message
Speaker 2: I sent some time over the last week.
Speaker 1: Give people an.
Speaker 2: Idea of some of the messages I get. This is This
Speaker 2: is the.
Speaker 1: Parsing some of it down here.
Speaker 2: Dude, you're writing is getting awful again. Why don't you
Speaker 2: really analyze, really analyze castianos in Schwarber's numbers. This is
Speaker 2: from a guy named Lee, And the only thing I
Speaker 2: can say to this guy Lee is you know the
Speaker 2: Phillies are thirty one and fourteen, Bro, they're six eighty nine. Oh,
Speaker 2: winning percentage is on pace for one hundred and twelve games.
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber's hitting the ball, okay, the last seventeen games.
Speaker 1: Nick Castianis has picked it up a little bit.
Speaker 3: I think now.
Speaker 2: I started actually, in all seriousness, I tried to think
Speaker 2: what this guy was referring to. And the only thing
Speaker 2: I can think I can think of is Wednesday's Phillies
Speaker 2: Beat newsletter. I wrote a little bit about Kyle Schwarber's
Speaker 2: bat speed, and now he's got the third fastest bat
Speaker 2: speed in baseball, which I thought doesn't mean anybody is
Speaker 2: a great hitter or a bad hitter. I just thought
Speaker 2: it was interesting because I always said to myself, man,
Speaker 2: I bet you this guy. I can't think of too
Speaker 2: many players in baseball that actually swing the bat faster
Speaker 2: than him as consistently as him.
Speaker 1: And I just thought it was.
Speaker 2: Kind of cool that this new metrics showed that the
Speaker 2: eye test matched the actual data.
Speaker 4: So well, imagine that. Imagine that, imagine the eye test
Speaker 4: actually matching the data. I mean, listen, I think it's
Speaker 4: great that they have all this information and all this
Speaker 4: you know, now they can track bat speed and and
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff. But let me just tell you something.
Speaker 4: As a scout, I know whether guy's quick with his bat,
Speaker 4: and that's bat speed because I can see it with
Speaker 4: my eyes. Okay, I don't need to see it. I
Speaker 4: don't need and I can see the way the ball
Speaker 4: comes off the bat. That's how you measure bat speed.
Speaker 4: And and and it's great for the lay person now
Speaker 4: to be able to see what it is because you
Speaker 4: have you know, stat cast stuff on it or whatever
Speaker 4: or whatever it is. But that said, you know, that's
Speaker 4: that's the job of the scout, and it's been the
Speaker 4: job of the scout for a thousand years. And I'm
Speaker 4: not surprised that Kyles war is one of the fastest
Speaker 4: one so it gets through the zone.
Speaker 3: Two quick things. One Todd Selek is my first read
Speaker 3: every morning, probably three hundred days a year, and enjoyable
Speaker 3: and informative. And two dovetailing off what you said, Reuben. Yesterday,
Speaker 3: in the dugout before the game at Citizens Bank Park,
Speaker 3: Rob Thompson was asked about Johann Rojas and he dropped
Speaker 3: two balls on Wednesday night in center field and somebody
Speaker 3: offered that, you know his defensive metrics, some of his
Speaker 3: advanced defensive defensive metrics are down, and Thompson extinguished that
Speaker 3: talk in a hurry, saying he does not believe in
Speaker 3: defensive metrics. I was actually surprised to hear it, because
Speaker 3: he does embrace a lot of that modern you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of modern analytics. He's what I would call
Speaker 3: analytically literate. And I do think this stuff he believes in,
Speaker 3: and I do think there are stuff, there is stuff
Speaker 3: that should be believed in this. It just has to
Speaker 3: be kind of a balance. But he said he does
Speaker 3: not believe in defensive metrics. When it comes to defense,
Speaker 3: his number one metric is his eyes. And you know
Speaker 3: he looks at Johann Rojas's getting to more balls than others,
Speaker 3: and yes he dropped a couple over ran him, maybe whatever,
Speaker 3: but he will get better. But it was quite interesting
Speaker 3: to hear Rob Thompson say he doesn't believe in defensive metrics.
Speaker 3: He trusts his eyes. And that kind of picks up
Speaker 3: on what Rubin was saying. And I'm sure what you
Speaker 3: were kind of writing that day, Todd.
Speaker 4: Hey, let me tell you something about the defensive metrics.
Speaker 4: I had Jackie Bradley and Mookie Betts in the outfield
Speaker 4: in Boston and they had terrible and not Mookie and
Speaker 4: right because he had a lot of space out there.
Speaker 4: But the metrics on Jackie Bradley Junior were like awful
Speaker 4: that he was one of the worst center fielders in baseball,
Speaker 4: and you want to know why because he had a
Speaker 4: short fence and he couldn't get to the balls that
Speaker 4: hit off off that freaking green monster and so balls
Speaker 4: that everybody else would catch in every other stadium, and
Speaker 4: they didn't have factor those things in And I'm like, guys,
Speaker 4: this is the best center fielder in baseball. I mean
Speaker 4: no disrespect to to other guys in it, but but
Speaker 4: instinctively one of the best I've ever seen. I mean
Speaker 4: the guy in Toronto now who used to be in
Speaker 4: Tampa Bay and brain locking on his name, Uh no, no, no, Kevin,
Speaker 4: Kevin Kiermyer, yep. I mean obviously one of the better
Speaker 4: ones as well, and they always sort of battle each other.
Speaker 4: But defensive metrics, as far as I'm can start, eyeballs, man.
Speaker 3: I think I think, I think that might be the
Speaker 3: first on the Phillies show.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 1: That's the first one, and then the second one.
Speaker 2: Is a is a right handed This is somebody a
Speaker 2: decap twenty on Instagram. Is a right handed, high leverage
Speaker 2: reliever the Phillies' biggest potential need at the trade deadline.
Speaker 3: I mean to me, probably yes. Probably as I sit
Speaker 3: here right now, I would say maybe yes, because you
Speaker 3: know they do come at you with some left handed
Speaker 3: thunder down there would be nice to balance it off. Now,
Speaker 3: I do think if Sir Anthony gets it together, it
Speaker 3: couldmit get that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I think Sir Anthony's that's that.
Speaker 2: That's the key right now is you know, Hoffman's pitched
Speaker 2: mostly great, Kirkering's showed very well. Sir Anthony's struggled a
Speaker 2: little bit. You know, Slider hasn't been as great this year.
Speaker 2: He's I think he's given up three home runs off
Speaker 2: his slider.
Speaker 1: He don't think.
Speaker 2: I think he gave up like four in his entire
Speaker 2: career office slider going into this season. So he's got
Speaker 2: to clean that up a little bit. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I think when you look at this team, you don't
Speaker 2: really see a lot of huge needs other than you
Speaker 2: can always add a bullpen piece, right Ruby. I mean,
Speaker 2: that seems to be the thing to go to if
Speaker 2: you don't have something major on your you know, your
Speaker 2: everyday lineup that you're trying to fill. You don't have
Speaker 2: a gaping hole, and I don't think this team does.
Speaker 2: The rotation is obviously solid. You're not gonna go out
Speaker 2: and get a start unless there's a major injury. So
Speaker 2: I think you go, let's throw in another high quality arm.
Speaker 4: Now, I think that's absolutely right. Right now, Dave Dombrowski
Speaker 4: has the the cushion he had. He's in a situation
Speaker 4: that's almost ideal as a GM because now you can
Speaker 4: sit back and wait and see what happens up until
Speaker 4: the deadline, and then now it's a very firm deadline,
Speaker 4: so you have to pick and choose your spots well.
Speaker 4: But right now they're not in a situation where they
Speaker 4: have any pressing needs. I would always, you know, err
Speaker 4: on the side of pitching every single time, whether it's
Speaker 4: a starter or reliever, whatever kind of depth you can
Speaker 4: you can add. The one thing I will say about
Speaker 4: this is is this, at some point they're going to
Speaker 4: have a need and hopefully, you know, another hamstring or
Speaker 4: a knee or whatever the case may be, doesn't happen.
Speaker 4: That said, I love the fact that Kirker Ing struck
Speaker 4: out three guys yesterday with his fastball. Yes, because he's
Speaker 4: a slider, slider, slider guy, and I think he's starting
Speaker 4: to understand that he's got to utilize it. Those a
Speaker 4: ninety eight mile hour fastball with some hop to it,
Speaker 4: and so he's starting to command that pitch better. And
Speaker 4: the fact that he struck out three guys with with
Speaker 4: those with that fastball's great for his confidence. And I
Speaker 4: think it's going to take him to another level because
Speaker 4: now he's got real, two real weapons that he can
Speaker 4: rely on and uh, and I think he's gonna take
Speaker 4: that step forward. I do think that Sir Anthony needs
Speaker 4: to find his confidence. I saw some better sliders out
Speaker 4: of him. He's starting to get a little bit more
Speaker 4: depth out of him. Uh. In his last outing, it
Speaker 4: was a it was a solid one and that's a
Speaker 4: that's a good sign. It wasn't a high leverage situation.
Speaker 4: But that said, I mean he got the he got
Speaker 4: the baseball and and pitched pretty well. So if they
Speaker 4: can get those three guys going, because Hoffmin has done
Speaker 4: a nice job, not notwithstanding what would happened last night,
Speaker 4: because I think he was wasn't very sharp handed, pitched
Speaker 4: for like three or four days. I think they're I
Speaker 4: think they're gonna be just fine as far as your
Speaker 4: bullpen is concerned. I think it's it's actually been really
Speaker 4: good since May first, real good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've been pitching.
Speaker 2: They have been pitching a lot better than their overall
Speaker 2: Like a would indicate, oh yeah, uh, a quarter of
Speaker 2: the way through the sea. What individual or team stat
Speaker 2: jumps out at you so far? This is from our
Speaker 2: buddy Pat Kritz, who designed the logo you see on
Speaker 2: the screen there. So and you guys don't have the
Speaker 2: benefit of looking up at some stats right in front
Speaker 2: of you, So what performance?
Speaker 1: What overall?
Speaker 2: And you kind of know the gist of who's having
Speaker 2: a good season who's not. What would you guys say,
Speaker 2: what jumps out at you the most? And let's say this,
Speaker 2: don't mention starting rotation. Let's take the starting rotation out
Speaker 2: of the equation. The rotation has been amazing. We all
Speaker 2: know it. They're fantastic. Other than the rotation, what individual
Speaker 2: stat or team stat really kind of sticks out to you, guys?
Speaker 3: You know, I might again, I don't have access to
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff on my computer right now, but
Speaker 3: one thing that's jumped out to me really since he
Speaker 3: arrived in Philadelphia is the way Alec Baum hits with
Speaker 3: men on base, and another hit with men on base
Speaker 3: last night as they kind of monted a comeback. It's
Speaker 3: kind of uncanny. It's really a great skill to have.
Speaker 3: They were two for fifteen with run as scoring position
Speaker 3: last night. They could have used a lot more from
Speaker 3: other people. But you know, I just every time I
Speaker 3: lift my head up, he's getting another big hit with
Speaker 3: men on base. And I'm sorry, I don't have the
Speaker 3: numbers in front of me to quantify it, but it
Speaker 3: just seems like he's really good at that. There was
Speaker 3: one number I looked at this morning. Do you know currently,
Speaker 3: as we sit here at four am on a Friday morning,
Speaker 3: we like to we like to tape really early. They
Speaker 3: have just been this narrative. They haven't beaten anybody, and
Speaker 3: you know, I understand it. It's a weak National League.
Speaker 3: As we sit here right now, they have only played
Speaker 3: three games against teams who have a better than five
Speaker 3: hundred record. Right currently, only three of the teams they've
Speaker 3: played have a better than five hundred record. That's that's
Speaker 3: something as well.
Speaker 4: No that is something. It is something that said, and
Speaker 4: there's some bad baseball out there. There's some really mediocre
Speaker 4: baseball out there. Just in general. You just watch the
Speaker 4: teams that are playing. I mean, Washington Nationals, we saw
Speaker 4: him earlier, We're going to see him this weekend. You know,
Speaker 4: they're what one or two or three games under five hundred. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean that's a team that I don't know in
Speaker 4: a typical season. I know that they're rebuilding and they're
Speaker 4: they're young players are getting better. That's a team that
Speaker 4: typically would be like eight or ten games under five hundred.
Speaker 4: I think at this stage, just looking at their talent,
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to miss them. I just don't feel
Speaker 4: like they're they're a five hundred team and they're close
Speaker 4: to five hundred and we're already, you know, a month
Speaker 4: and a half into the season. I just don't think.
Speaker 4: I think that there's a lot of parody and a
Speaker 4: lot of mediocrity in the in the league. There's only
Speaker 4: a few really good teams. I think it's the Phillies.
Speaker 4: I think it's Atlanta. I think it's the Dodgers. I
Speaker 4: think there's other teams that are pretty good. San Diego's
Speaker 4: pretty good talent wise, and but I just don't think
Speaker 4: there's a ton of great teams, so it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 4: I mean another teams are all that great. They're not
Speaker 4: that many teams over five hundred or that much over
Speaker 4: five hundreds. But but that but that said, you know,
Speaker 4: you gotta win the games against every you just yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean, it's the major.
Speaker 1: Leagues, right.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It was funny Jim, because that was one of the
Speaker 2: questions that another listener asked, was you know, what do
Speaker 2: you make of all that? He said negative hoopola around
Speaker 2: the Philly schedule on social media and about you know,
Speaker 2: they're only beating week teams.
Speaker 1: They're only beating week teams. And I wrote about this.
Speaker 2: I think we talked about this in another episode several
Speaker 2: several episodes back. Last season, only eight teams had a
Speaker 2: five hundred better or better record against teams with winning records.
Speaker 2: The Phillies were one of them. Only seven teams did
Speaker 2: it in twenty twenty two. Only eight teams did it
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one. So you know, the Phillies are
Speaker 2: doing exactly what they're supposed to do. They're pounding the
Speaker 2: bad teams. They're five hundred and you know, assuming they're
Speaker 2: going to be five hundred or better against the good teams.
Speaker 1: And I test, you know, I tests, I test, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I test tells me they're a good team. I'm not
Speaker 3: certainly not diminishing what they no, no, no, I've done. I
Speaker 3: am a believer. But it just wow to all know
Speaker 3: that it's only Atlanta. They've only Atlanta currently has a
Speaker 3: winning record of the teams they've played, so only three
Speaker 3: games so far, as we saiding against teams with a
Speaker 3: winning record.
Speaker 4: So you talked to so Todd, you you actually talked
Speaker 4: a little bit about about what stat to me, the
Speaker 4: one individual stat that kind of surprises me a little
Speaker 4: bit compared to where we were last year. And there's
Speaker 4: a lot of talk about our swings and misses that
Speaker 4: are on base percentage is actually really good? Are on
Speaker 4: base percentage is like two or three in all of baseball.
Speaker 4: I think it's like three thirty seven or three forty
Speaker 4: or something like that. That on base percentage compared to
Speaker 4: the rest of the league. I think it's number two
Speaker 4: or three. And I think it's a product of the
Speaker 4: guys trusting more, trusting the guy behind him and not
Speaker 4: feeling like, hey, I got to get this job done.
Speaker 4: And I think we've talked about this before, and it
Speaker 4: happened a lot late in twenty twenty two where guys
Speaker 4: just sort of passed the baton, and I think that's
Speaker 4: sort of what's happening now. Guys are trusting these young
Speaker 4: guys in the depth of the lineup, the stocks and
Speaker 4: the bones and the guys deeper in the lineup, you know,
Speaker 4: even the Marshes of the world. Who's who's sort of
Speaker 4: tailed off here a little bit lately. But I think
Speaker 4: that that's part of it, and the fact that they're
Speaker 4: getting on base and kind of creating opportunities every single inning.
Speaker 2: Almost Jim Alec Bohm this season runners in scoring position
Speaker 2: batting four hundred one point one three five ops in
Speaker 2: his career wow, three twenty four eight to eleven ops.
Speaker 1: So there you go. That's the guy that just loves
Speaker 1: those situations.
Speaker 3: Are you You gotta stat that jumps out Todds.
Speaker 2: I do well. I had the benefit of kind of
Speaker 2: looking this up ahead of time, but it kind of
Speaker 2: dovetails into what Rubin was just talking about. Everybody again
Speaker 2: talking about the rotation, the rotation of the rotation entering
Speaker 2: last Night's game runs per game, because you know runs
Speaker 2: teams play have played different amount of number of games
Speaker 2: and whatnot, so the overall runs are a little bit deceptive.
Speaker 2: Phillies and Dodgers tied in Major League Baseball with the
Speaker 2: most runs per game five point twenty seven runs per game.
Speaker 2: So this is an offense that I feel like hasn't
Speaker 2: totally gotten going in a sense. You know, they're playing
Speaker 2: without Turner. You haven't gotten a good Nick Castianos. Schwarber
Speaker 2: has even hit the June Schwarberfest. Yet Harper's been Harper's
Speaker 2: been good, He's hit a ton of home runs, but
Speaker 2: he hasn't been MVP Bryce Harper, and you know, you
Speaker 2: assume that eventually that's.
Speaker 1: Going to show up.
Speaker 2: So they not only have great starting pitching, but they
Speaker 2: have based off of runs per game, that matters right
Speaker 2: with the Dodgers for the best offense in baseball.
Speaker 4: So they're showing to me, they're showing me they're the
Speaker 4: most complete game team in the game. They to me
Speaker 4: they're the most complete team when you start looking about,
Speaker 4: you know, and you start ranking all the things that
Speaker 4: they can do.
Speaker 2: So Rubin, you mentioned marsh kind of cooling off and
Speaker 2: I thought this is an interesting question because I've heard
Speaker 2: this a lot and we have not talked about it
Speaker 2: on the show. This is from I can't even pronounce
Speaker 2: this handle on Instagram T d Mark twenty four. Do
Speaker 2: you think benching Marsh and Stott regularly against lefties is
Speaker 2: bad for their development?
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's one of the reasons why it's
Speaker 4: I think it's one of the reasons why they will
Speaker 4: not stop. In his situation, I mean, he's been swinging
Speaker 4: the bat. He has been phenomenal really using his hands.
Speaker 4: He's not working underneath the baseball anymore, using his top
Speaker 4: hand much better. His hands have just been fantastic. I
Speaker 4: think in Brandon Marsh's case, yes, I would like to
Speaker 4: see him play more. I know what, I know what
Speaker 4: Rob Thompson's doing. He's got to get with Maryfield in there.
Speaker 4: I think he wants to flip you know, Pache in
Speaker 4: there a few times. But I think that there's going
Speaker 4: to come a point where, and I think Rob Thompson
Speaker 4: has some cushion. I think it's going to come to
Speaker 4: a point where in June, late June, whatever you got
Speaker 4: you gotta put run out like the same nine guys
Speaker 4: for a while and just let go. And I think
Speaker 4: at that point, and I think that's one of the
Speaker 4: reasons maybe why the way marsh Is is kind of
Speaker 4: slowed up a little bit because he he hasn't played
Speaker 4: six or seven games in a row for a while,
Speaker 4: and and I think that's affecting him a little bit
Speaker 4: because he's a pretty good hitter. Man, He's a really
Speaker 4: good hitter. He's gotten much better. Is he a finished product,
Speaker 4: maybe not, but he's he's better than what he has
Speaker 4: been over the last several, you know, two or three weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. You know, if you're not seeing lefties,
Speaker 3: you're not going to get better against him. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I do think sitting marsh against when lefty pitches is
Speaker 3: probably hurting his development just because he's not getting those
Speaker 3: valuable reps and getting that opportunity to improve against them.
Speaker 3: But they're kind of rocking a hard place. They're here
Speaker 3: to win ball games, they're here to win a World Series,
Speaker 3: they're here to win a division so they can get
Speaker 3: that better seating. And you've got to play the guys
Speaker 3: who are producing in those situations. And Thompson has you know,
Speaker 3: is responsible for looking at all twenty six men, keeping
Speaker 3: all twenty six men sharp and trying to get that
Speaker 3: team ready to play in the meat grinder of September
Speaker 3: and October. And this is the way he feels best
Speaker 3: about it. So it's a catch twenty two. You want
Speaker 3: to see the guy develop against lefties. To me, Stop
Speaker 3: should be playing every day right or left. But you
Speaker 3: want to see Marsh develop against lefties. But you also
Speaker 3: need to win these ball games. You need to keep
Speaker 3: guys fresh and sharp. And it's easy being a big
Speaker 3: league manager. But if you know, Marsh could solve the
Speaker 3: problem by hitting lefties better. But right now, it's just
Speaker 3: the way that Thompson is juggling.
Speaker 2: These balls well, Like, is Marsh showing enough I guess
Speaker 2: against lefties?
Speaker 1: Like again, I looked this up last night.
Speaker 2: Batting one to eighteen this season, seventeen strikeouts and thirty
Speaker 2: four at bats against against lefties this year. Now, I think,
Speaker 2: isn't the problem kind of compounded by the factor the
Speaker 2: issue kind of stands out more because Mirifield really hasn't
Speaker 2: gotten going. He was supposed to be the guy that
Speaker 2: would slide in there and produce. He had a little
Speaker 2: decent little stretch. I think he's got like, he's got
Speaker 2: like two hits in his last twenty eight at bats.
Speaker 2: He's not really producing offensively, so you're not getting much
Speaker 2: from him. So I think the cries for more Brandon
Speaker 2: marsh are, it's understandable, but Mark, but Scott, for sure,
Speaker 2: I think he's going to start getting in there a
Speaker 2: lot more against lefties. He's actually played pretty well against
Speaker 2: lefties this season, and I just think that he needs
Speaker 2: to be an everyday player. And I think once Turner
Speaker 2: comes back, you're going to see him out there a
Speaker 2: heck of a lot, a heck of a lot more.
Speaker 4: That's a difficulty of what Rob Thompson has to deal with.
Speaker 4: I mean as to try to you know, does he
Speaker 4: does he give that guy more at bats? You know
Speaker 4: witt Maryfield more at bats? Does he? Because he's got
Speaker 4: to get him going too. At some point they may
Speaker 4: very well need him, just like they need him right
Speaker 4: now because they got Turner out. I mean, so these guys,
Speaker 4: it's a tough juggling act, as you said.
Speaker 3: As you said, James Rubin, if you were the GM,
Speaker 3: would you go downstairs and say you know or do
Speaker 3: gms typically do that? I'm sure in your career. You
Speaker 3: probably have like, how we balance balancing this guy's development.
Speaker 3: I mean, we gave up a good prospect for him,
Speaker 3: a premium position. We need develop him. He's still young.
Speaker 3: But how do you balance that with you know, we
Speaker 3: got a humongo payroll and a ticking oh dometer on
Speaker 3: our nucleus and we need to win soon. How do
Speaker 3: you balance all that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so typically I would go down and talk with
Speaker 4: Charlie about it. I always believe this that my job
Speaker 4: is to give him the players, and the manager's job
Speaker 4: is to put those players in the best position to
Speaker 4: win the baseball game. His job is down there. My
Speaker 4: job is upstairs. And but but I would have those discussions. Yeah,
Speaker 4: there's a big picture element, no doubt there is a
Speaker 4: big picture element to it. But I also believed I
Speaker 4: was sort of in lockstep with Charlie. Man, we're trying
Speaker 4: to win baseball games. We got to win, and we
Speaker 4: were we were in that in that cycle of winning
Speaker 4: when I when I took over, and so uh so
Speaker 4: I believed in in his you know, there were some
Speaker 4: times I had it. You know, we were talking about
Speaker 4: Chase Utley. There were times when I pointed his name
Speaker 4: and go dude, let's get him. Let's get him out
Speaker 4: of the I mean, the guys can't I mean, let's
Speaker 4: get him out of the lineup. Can we get at
Speaker 4: any point to Eric Bruntlett's name and go, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: place that guy with that guy?
Speaker 3: And I like Derek Bruntlet.
Speaker 4: He's a good play. But I can understand.
Speaker 3: I mean, Charlie, Charlie, go which guy would.
Speaker 4: You want to play?
Speaker 2: Okay, so here that's great, right, So one hundred percent
Speaker 2: I totally get that. So here's another This kind of
Speaker 2: plays off what we've just been talking about. This is
Speaker 2: a question from John uh It was on Facebook. How
Speaker 2: much longer can they keep trying whit Mierfield out there
Speaker 2: with his lack of production. If he doesn't start producing
Speaker 2: it the plate by the All Star Game or trade deadline,
Speaker 2: will they look to replace him?
Speaker 4: Stuff?
Speaker 1: He paid the guy eight million dollars.
Speaker 2: He's a veteran with a track record or the track
Speaker 2: record has not been as good the past couple of years.
Speaker 2: But talking about Brandon Marsh getting more time in left
Speaker 2: field to develop, but they're playing this guy because he's
Speaker 2: supposed to have a platoon advantage in left field and
Speaker 2: he's not producing.
Speaker 4: So here's here.
Speaker 1: It's tough.
Speaker 4: A couple VI is a tough so, so a couple
Speaker 4: of things. I will say. When they signed him, I
Speaker 4: thought it was a great signing. I think he's a
Speaker 4: perfect fit for this team. That said, when you take
Speaker 4: an everyday player and then make him a platoon type player,
Speaker 4: that is a huge adjustment for a guy and he
Speaker 4: has to mentally buy in number one and number two.
Speaker 4: There's a totally different way to prepare to be that
Speaker 4: like non everyday guy, that two time a week guy,
Speaker 4: that one time a week guy. And so I think
Speaker 4: he's still adjusting to that. I think that there is
Speaker 4: there are much better ways with a lot of the things,
Speaker 4: and you know a lot of the drills and things
Speaker 4: that you have. You have one of those pitching machines
Speaker 4: that simulates, you know, real pitching. There's all types of
Speaker 4: things that that teams have, especially the Phillies. It pretty
Speaker 4: much has of everything. Was John Middleton made sure that
Speaker 4: you know they are well equipped. But there's a lot
Speaker 4: of different ways to prepare and I think that's part
Speaker 4: of his developed as a part time player, and so
Speaker 4: I think it may take some time, but this guy's
Speaker 4: going to get some big bass hits. I'm telling you
Speaker 4: right now, he's going to win a couple of baseball
Speaker 4: games with some big bass hits and some really good
Speaker 4: quality at bats. It's just a matter of him getting
Speaker 4: an opportunity to make the adjustment to being this type
Speaker 4: of role player.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think they would replace him because I
Speaker 3: think in the back of their minds they know just
Speaker 3: what Rubin said that you know, I don't care if
Speaker 3: he's sitting in you know, a buck fifty. At some
Speaker 3: point he's going to have a good run for us
Speaker 3: because there's some track record there, and you know, you
Speaker 3: don't need him to light it up every day. He's
Speaker 3: not going to be an everyday guy, but he could
Speaker 3: end up being a very valuable role player down the
Speaker 3: stretch if you continue to hang with him, just because
Speaker 3: the track record has been such. So I'm not ready
Speaker 3: to give up on him as a contributor in a
Speaker 3: part time role or in a you know, off the
Speaker 3: bench roll at some point. And I think at some
Speaker 3: point he's gonna you know, that death signing is going
Speaker 3: to pay off. So I'm only going to be patient there.
Speaker 2: This is a I got a bunch of these and
Speaker 2: this actually surprised me, but it kind of tells you
Speaker 2: what's on listeners minds. And it's interesting which eight Philly
Speaker 2: has the best chance at Cooperstown? Which eight Philly should
Speaker 2: have their number retired? To god, they got like three
Speaker 2: or four people asking this question. So it's something that
Speaker 2: people are thinking a lot about. Of the eight Phillies,
Speaker 2: who has the best chance to make the Hall of Fame?
Speaker 2: Whose numbers should be retired?
Speaker 4: If any?
Speaker 2: The Phillies have a policy where if you're not in
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame, Well they had a policy, Yeah,
Speaker 2: then they.
Speaker 1: Change it for Dick Allen, who should be in the hall? Yeah, John, John,
Speaker 1: you know he should be in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: I think we can all agree Dick Allen has been
Speaker 2: snubbed for decades and decades and decades.
Speaker 4: We could have a whole show on that.
Speaker 2: Hun totally, totally so. Of the eight Phillies, who has
Speaker 2: the best chance?
Speaker 1: I mean, I really ate.
Speaker 3: The best chance. Look at the way the voting has gone,
Speaker 3: and you look at the things that voters value. Uh,
Speaker 3: they've sort of you know, awakened to a lot of
Speaker 3: the things he he did so well, and value that more.
Speaker 3: In their voting, so I'd say he's he has the
Speaker 3: best shot. Ryan Howard fell off the ballot. Jimmy has
Speaker 3: kind of treaded water, but utleast seems to have, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of suction, as they say, down the road.
Speaker 3: And as far as retiring numbers, to me, Jimmy's the
Speaker 3: all time franchise hits leader. That number has got to
Speaker 3: be retired in my mind, if you're gonna do just
Speaker 3: one of them. But you know, you always talk about
Speaker 3: best first baseman, second basement short stop franchise history. Howard,
Speaker 3: Utley and Rollins. They were such integral players and leaders,
Speaker 3: foundation pieces on those great teams that Reuben was upstairs
Speaker 3: with that, you know, I certainly could see them doing
Speaker 3: all three. And the fact that they haven't issued any
Speaker 3: of those numbers, but they have issued Goal Animal's number
Speaker 3: tells me that probably at some point they're planning on
Speaker 3: retiring those those three numbers. Howard, Utley and Rollins. I
Speaker 3: would have no problem with it.
Speaker 4: I completely agree, And I don't know that you can
Speaker 4: distinguish but the contributions that all three of those guys
Speaker 4: made in one way, shape or another, I don't think
Speaker 4: I ultimately don't know that any of them will get
Speaker 4: into the Hall of Fame. I think that Jimmy Rollins
Speaker 4: has should have had a chance to just because of
Speaker 4: you know, I start thinking about how he stacks up
Speaker 4: against Barry Larkin, and I think he's a guy that
Speaker 4: probably should get in because of you know, where Barry
Speaker 4: Larkin's in there. Some other people can have a different
Speaker 4: argument about that, but I think it really becomes a
Speaker 4: discussion between Chase and Jimmy. That is it, you know,
Speaker 4: is the quality of like the bulk, quality of the
Speaker 4: bulk that Jimmy had, or the quality of that one
Speaker 4: span of five years that Utley had, And how do
Speaker 4: you how do you measure that? How do you vote
Speaker 4: on that? The voting part, you know, you can throw
Speaker 4: it in the trash for me, and I know it's
Speaker 4: an important part of it, but I think it's the
Speaker 4: contribution to the team during that time. I think both
Speaker 4: those guys should be Hall of Famers myself now, yeah,
Speaker 4: but I'm I'm a more expanded Hall of Fame guy.
Speaker 4: I'm not as a smell like you know, people have
Speaker 4: different thoughts about it. I think all three of those
Speaker 4: guys's numbers are going to be retired because of what
Speaker 4: they brought to the table in that era. There's not
Speaker 4: you know, as Jim said, I mean the impact that
Speaker 4: they had on that club for those many years and
Speaker 4: that was a nice run, was pretty significant. And I
Speaker 4: have a feeling that John Middleton and others will choose
Speaker 4: to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think always got the best chance for sure,
Speaker 2: because he kind of I think he's gonna trend kind
Speaker 2: of like Scott Rowland. A lot of voters today, I
Speaker 2: don't want to get into this too much, but a
Speaker 2: lot of voters say they start with they look at
Speaker 2: the war. They go, all right, Chase at least got
Speaker 2: a war of like sixty eight or sixty five issues
Speaker 2: in the sixties. Jimmy Rownds is in the forties. Chase
Speaker 2: Utley is going to be my guy. He's going to
Speaker 2: trend upward and upward. But Jimmy Rownds, you know, look
Speaker 2: at some of the other shortsteps that they're in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame. I mean, no, you know, all apologies
Speaker 2: to Phil Rizzuto, but come on, if he's in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame, then.
Speaker 4: Jimmy, Jimmy Rewnds should be in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: So gonna be I think it's gonna be Chase Utley.
Speaker 1: You'll probably get in.
Speaker 2: I think probably Jimmy Rounds will not, although I think
Speaker 2: both should. So. Last question, this comes from Gary H.
Speaker 2: What is the story behind the closing remarks each show
Speaker 2: between Jim and Ruben Smell you later.
Speaker 4: That's for Jim.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't shower often. Once we went to the
Speaker 3: Virtual Zoom World a few years ago, you know, I
Speaker 3: just gave up showers. So no, I'm kidding you, just
Speaker 3: sort of like see you later, sort of sort of
Speaker 3: our George Burns saga Night Gracy. Is that what it was?
Speaker 1: Good Night Gracie.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, we're.
Speaker 3: Taking to getting it on a T shirt.
Speaker 4: I think there was a guy. I think there's a
Speaker 4: guy I played with in like the minor leagues. At
Speaker 4: some point he used to say, Hey, see you later,
Speaker 4: and then you would say see you later, but no, no,
Speaker 4: smell you later, And so I sort of started saying
Speaker 4: saying that. I think I started saying it to you
Speaker 4: guys every once in a while when we were when
Speaker 4: you were covering our club right right and getting fired
Speaker 4: and getting me fired. So I decided, you know, okay, guys,
Speaker 4: smell you lator.
Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit of like one half
Speaker 2: immaturity one part absurdity.
Speaker 1: I think that has something to do with.
Speaker 3: It as well. With Ruby and I have always had
Speaker 3: like sort of like we we poke each other impatially
Speaker 3: and we we enjoy it sometimes occasionally sometimes it's occasionally
Speaker 3: even clean enough that people can, can you know, publicly
Speaker 3: consume it.
Speaker 4: I'll say it's out of great it's out of great respect.
Speaker 4: And I have to say this. I will say this
Speaker 4: about both of you guys. I had the great opportunity
Speaker 4: to be able to to talk with them for many,
Speaker 4: many many years as an executive and two of the
Speaker 4: most knowledgeable, professional, quality people I've ever been around. And
Speaker 4: that's the truth.
Speaker 2: Thanks many, Yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but it's serious.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Thanks man.
Speaker 3: Nothing that we got. No questions from six.
Speaker 1: Though, No questions from six though. He must have been
Speaker 1: asleep at the wheel last night. So we'll do this again.
Speaker 1: We will do this again. Well, that was fun. We
Speaker 1: got some good chance.
Speaker 3: Is there a chance that he's not a regular listener?
Speaker 4: Oh, then I'll get on his ass about that. If
Speaker 4: that's the case, I mean, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, that would make him a huge frau.
Speaker 4: Will I will I will Twitter troll him all right,
Speaker 4: next troll him.
Speaker 3: He'd better be listening and passing the words to his
Speaker 3: family friend. Well, we'll find out.
Speaker 1: If he tweets at us later today, then we'll know
Speaker 1: he's listening.
Speaker 2: If he's not, and he tweets about the podcasts after,
Speaker 2: then we'll know he's not the regular listener.
Speaker 1: Guys, thanks a lot. That was fun. Thanks to all
Speaker 1: the listeners that sent in questions.
Speaker 2: Sorry we couldn't get through the mall and we will
Speaker 2: be back early next week.
Speaker 3: Take care, everybody, Smell you later.
Speaker 5: Jim, This is the Philly Show. If you haven't already,
Speaker 5: please subscribe to The Philly Show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 5: You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If
Speaker 5: you like what we do, give us a review, Tell
Speaker 5: a friend. Catch Reuben, Jim and Me on Phillies Nation TV,
Speaker 5: presented by Valley Forge Tourism. New episodes air an hour
Speaker 5: before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Plays
Speaker 5: air throughout the week and on Philliesmation dot com. Get
Speaker 5: more of Reuben's analysis during before and after Phillies games
Speaker 5: on NBC Sports Philadelphia on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP.
Speaker 2: Morning Show, and MLB Network reajim at the Allcity Network
Speaker 2: at allphl y dot com.
Speaker 5: Find more of me at MLB dot com, the PHILLIESB Newsletter,
Speaker 5: and occasionally on MLB Network