Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to The Philly Show.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, Welcome to The Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior,
Speaker 2: Jim Salisbury. I'm todd z a lucky It is Tuesday,
Speaker 2: June eleventh, twenty twenty four. The Phillies got back from
Speaker 2: London on Sunday night. Now they are in Boston ready
Speaker 2: to play the Boston Red Sox the London series. Guys,
Speaker 2: I got back on Monday. It was a great time.
Speaker 2: It was a great experience. That Phillies split the series.
Speaker 2: Obviously they went on Saturday night, they lost on Sunday.
Speaker 2: But I'm telling you Rob Thompson actually said it best
Speaker 2: I thought yesterday he says, if I could come back
Speaker 2: here every year and do this, I would do it.
Speaker 2: It was I think it was that enjoyable for every
Speaker 2: but everybody involved. Yeah, I mean, you know, sure, there
Speaker 2: were some players I think were like, eh, you know,
Speaker 2: off days and you know this and that. But I
Speaker 2: think the vast majority of the players really enjoyed the experience.
Speaker 2: I think the manager did, the coaches did, I think
Speaker 2: the team officials did, and I know for sure the
Speaker 2: fans did. I can tell you this. The Phillies fans
Speaker 2: absolutely outnumbered the Mets fans in the stadium and on
Speaker 2: the streets of London. It was absolutely you could not
Speaker 2: go you could not go anywhere in London this weekend
Speaker 2: without seeing a handful of Phillies fans.
Speaker 1: Walker was it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Well, I think the Mets home attendance this year is
Speaker 3: down like twenty five percent, So if they're not going
Speaker 3: to go go to they're not going to go to
Speaker 3: Queens Maybe they're not going to go to London. So
Speaker 3: but yeah, yeah, my takeaway that Phillies fans were amazing.
Speaker 3: You watched the way, you know, they make these pilgrimages
Speaker 3: every March to clear Water and then when the Eagles
Speaker 3: play abroad, they just you know, light up those trips
Speaker 3: and the Winner Classic with the Flyers when they're in it.
Speaker 3: Phillies Philadelphia fans are amazing. I know it's cliche. They're
Speaker 3: very passionate, but I mean they put their money where
Speaker 3: their mouth is. They go places, they are seen, they
Speaker 3: are heard, and they have a good time following their teams.
Speaker 3: And it's just even greater when the team is good,
Speaker 3: like the Phillies and like the Eagles typically are, and
Speaker 3: it was quite the spectacle from afar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they had that central meeting location Pasty onc Avenue,
Speaker 2: that Billy Dive bar really just a short walk from
Speaker 2: the London Eye. A guy that grew up just outside
Speaker 2: of Philly, about an hour away from Philly, guy by
Speaker 2: the name JP Teddy. He he had this big, high
Speaker 2: paying corporate job with Xerox, quit the job several years
Speaker 2: ago to open up a Philly food truck and then
Speaker 2: that turned into the restaurant. Now he's got three pass
Speaker 2: youk Avenue restaurants. But I actually strolled through that bar
Speaker 2: a few nights ago and it was slam packed with
Speaker 2: Phillies fans. So that was kind of the place where
Speaker 2: I feel like they all congregated. But literally though just walking.
Speaker 1: Through the streets, they were everywhere. It was pretty fun.
Speaker 4: What was the unique tell me about a unique story
Speaker 4: about your experience there, Todd and your other observations about
Speaker 4: the stadium, about you know, the whole how I mean,
Speaker 4: there's obviously a ton of ex Phillies players and ex
Speaker 4: Mets and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: Tell me about that whole experience.
Speaker 2: So the first thing that actually occurred to me when
Speaker 2: I got on this walked onto the field, was as like,
Speaker 2: this field feels really spongy. And that was the first
Speaker 2: thing the players said too, like I've never played on
Speaker 2: a turf like this. It was very bouncy, very spongy.
Speaker 2: You heard the players talk about a lot. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you guys saw some of the hops that the balls
Speaker 2: took that jumped out at me. But I think the
Speaker 2: cool part for a lot of people was just you know,
Speaker 2: seeing the Phillies in London.
Speaker 1: But for the fans in the ballpark, especially.
Speaker 2: Saturday, you had Chase Utley there, Jimmy Rewnd, Shane Victorino,
Speaker 2: Carlos Reeves made it from Panama, Ryan Madson, Matt Stairs,
Speaker 2: Cole Hamil's, you know, the whole gang was there from
Speaker 2: the eight team, and that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I got to talk to some of those guys a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: Ryan Howard was telling me a story of coaching his
Speaker 2: daughter's softball team, eight year old softball team, and I
Speaker 2: was telling him about my son in Little league, and
Speaker 2: I thought the coolest thing was is I was telling
Speaker 2: him how my son last year was struggling in te
Speaker 2: ball and he goes, well, literally, Brian Howard goes, here's
Speaker 2: a hitting drill. So he actually gave me a hitting
Speaker 2: drill to use with my son and my daughter going forward.
Speaker 1: I was, you know, it was just.
Speaker 2: Cool to see those guys, and it also kind of,
Speaker 2: I think, just kind of shows you what kind of
Speaker 2: guys they they are.
Speaker 1: You know, we had Chase on the show.
Speaker 2: A couple of weeks ago, and Ryan Howard's the same
Speaker 2: type of quality guy. Shane Victorino, it's the same type
Speaker 2: of quality guy. Carlos Rees, you know, I think we
Speaker 2: talked about him a couple of weeks ago and how
Speaker 2: he's one of the funniest guys maybe on THATA team,
Speaker 2: just a just a great sense of humors.
Speaker 1: So but any.
Speaker 3: Of the lads from the eight team, you know, come
Speaker 3: up to you and start clamoring to be on the
Speaker 3: Philly Show.
Speaker 1: No, but I know no that they did not.
Speaker 2: But I did say I did talk to Chase and
Speaker 2: he said he did listen and he did enjoy it.
Speaker 2: And I said, well, you should come back sometimes he
Speaker 2: said I will.
Speaker 4: So I guarantee, I guarantee those guys will come on
Speaker 4: if we ask him. And at some point we'll last
Speaker 4: a few of those guys and see if they can
Speaker 4: join us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that would be fun.
Speaker 5: They really are you You hit the nail on the head.
Speaker 5: There's some good guys there.
Speaker 4: And I think years from now we're going to say
Speaker 4: the same thing about this team. I'm not sure if
Speaker 4: they would win the World Series, and I think that
Speaker 4: they have the talent to do it. Whether they get
Speaker 4: lucky enough to do it at the right time, that's
Speaker 4: another thing entirely. But I will you know, I'll be
Speaker 4: the first to admit that I think that this team
Speaker 4: has had the same sort of personality as that team
Speaker 4: and totally and they're pretty good quality guys generally.
Speaker 3: Yeah you Todd, you mentioned the spongy turf.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and.
Speaker 3: It did look spongy on TV. Yeah, that's what makes
Speaker 3: it When Harper did that Nie slide, Oh yeahcause just
Speaker 3: like stick like a like a like a sand wedge
Speaker 3: on a wet green.
Speaker 2: Well, if you looked at the replay, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: you guys have seen the replay, the funniest part of that,
Speaker 2: besides the reaction from his teammates, was Rob Thompson was
Speaker 2: like literally standing in front of him and he was
Speaker 2: it was totally stonefaced. He did not even it was
Speaker 2: like he was a statue. He was like, you know what,
Speaker 2: you know, totally expressionless. And afterwards, of course he said,
Speaker 2: my my first thought in my mind was don't get hurt,
Speaker 2: and wit Mierfield after the game said the same thing.
Speaker 1: I was just hoping he didn't hurt himself.
Speaker 5: But I mean, he's quite the know.
Speaker 3: He is a showman.
Speaker 4: He had that you know bandana, and he is a showman.
Speaker 4: There's no question about it. And I was talking on
Speaker 4: I was talking on, uh, you know, we had this
Speaker 4: big sort of block party type situation on Friday at
Speaker 4: NBC Sports Philadelphia at Xfinity Live, and they asked.
Speaker 5: Me, you know who's gonna step up?
Speaker 4: You know during this, you know, during the the London series,
Speaker 4: is that it's gonna.
Speaker 5: Be one guy who steps up.
Speaker 4: And sure enough, double Homer, I mean and single and
Speaker 4: almost hits for the cycle and then he does the slide.
Speaker 4: I'm like, exactly, this is exactly he is a He
Speaker 4: is as much a red.
Speaker 5: Light player as there is. I think about red light players.
Speaker 4: I think about Lenny Dykstram, I think about Jimmy Rollins,
Speaker 4: and I think about Chase Utley also obviously, but but Bryce.
Speaker 5: Harper is right at the top of that list as well.
Speaker 5: It's amazing.
Speaker 3: I think he's the Freddie Mercury of baseball, I really do.
Speaker 3: The Diamond is his stage. He's an electric performer. He's
Speaker 3: immensely talented, you know, with all the garb and the
Speaker 3: headband and the decorated bat and the shoes. You know,
Speaker 3: he's got the look and he's got the star power,
Speaker 3: and he's the showman. And him and Freddy Mercury they
Speaker 3: got it all, you know, and they're both really good
Speaker 3: at what they do and everybody wants to watch them.
Speaker 2: Freddy Mercury won the mascot race on Saturday night.
Speaker 5: Did you see that?
Speaker 2: Well, what's funny about that is so before the game, uh,
Speaker 2: they were all sitting there and they were kind of
Speaker 2: putting their helmets and I was like, oh, I was like,
Speaker 2: I was, I love you know, Queen. Who doesn't love
Speaker 2: Queen and Freddy Mercury, So I was. I tried to
Speaker 2: take a picture and.
Speaker 6: I got yelled at by Freddy mrcury. What Freddy Mercury
Speaker 6: yelled at me? He goes, no, no, no, Phne. It
Speaker 6: was I'm like, okay, all right, we're sorry.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I guess they wanted it to be a
Speaker 2: surprise for later in the game or something, so I,
Speaker 2: you know, I I was like, that's that's fine, But
Speaker 2: did you lay down.
Speaker 3: The law with Mercury and tell him I'm todds to
Speaker 3: lock him doing to hell? I wanted to. I did not.
Speaker 1: I very sheepishly walked away.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that it's not a great feeling
Speaker 2: when you get yelled at by a by a mascot.
Speaker 4: Hey, speaking of mascots, how about all the stuff that
Speaker 4: the Philly Fanatic was doing, man, and all the Instagram.
Speaker 5: Stuff and all the stuff that came out on social media.
Speaker 5: It was so cool. It was the Philly Fanatic. Is
Speaker 5: there any argument that the Philly.
Speaker 4: Fanatic is the greatest mascot of all time in any sport?
Speaker 4: And it was fun to even listen to some of
Speaker 4: the national broadcasters talk about how much they enjoy them,
Speaker 4: even from the opposing teens.
Speaker 5: It's it's it's just.
Speaker 4: So cool and uh and the fact that he was
Speaker 4: there and doing his thing and he was the guard
Speaker 4: he was.
Speaker 5: I mean, he was doing so much different stuff. It
Speaker 5: was just really cool to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, br since that was saying that he was being
Speaker 2: a tour guide for Kyle Schwarbur and he said they were.
Speaker 2: It was kind of cool because they were kind of incognito,
Speaker 2: you know, walking through Letting, he said, until we showed
Speaker 2: up at Buckingham Palace and the Fanatic happened to be
Speaker 2: there at the same time, and then our cover got blown.
Speaker 3: Did mister Mett get any airtime at all? Did he
Speaker 3: get any play?
Speaker 4: I mean, mister and Missus Mett were there, Yeah, but
Speaker 4: I mean he talked about getting overshadowed.
Speaker 5: Please, yeah, come on.
Speaker 1: They had they had them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had a seventh inning stretch, uh, Sunday. I
Speaker 2: think it was like Rob McIlhenny and a bunch of
Speaker 2: the O eight Phillies, the Fanatic and then they had
Speaker 2: to kind of mister Missus met off to the side.
Speaker 1: It was you could kind of tell they fell out
Speaker 1: of place.
Speaker 5: A little one sided, a little one side.
Speaker 3: The Fanatic is Jeopardy and mister Mett is real fortune.
Speaker 1: Repress your luck.
Speaker 5: Press of your life.
Speaker 2: Whammy whammy, you know, whammy, no wammyammy, anything else, anything else.
Speaker 2: When you was watching those two games, jump out at you, guys,
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 3: Good to see Nick and Nick Castianos and Maryfield swinging
Speaker 3: a little bit. Yeah, I thought that was encouraging and
Speaker 3: much needed and maybe important in the big picture, as
Speaker 3: you know, with the next couple of months, as they
Speaker 3: look to see what they might do in the outfield
Speaker 3: if they need something in the outfields the trade deadline approaches.
Speaker 4: One of the things that stuck out to me is that,
Speaker 4: you know, the guys in the bullpen really do need
Speaker 4: to work pretty consistently, Like guys like Hoffman and Alvarado
Speaker 4: actually have to pitch a lot to stay in rhythm,
Speaker 4: and you can.
Speaker 5: Tell that, you know, Alvarado was a little out of whack.
Speaker 4: It happens, Yeah, but I do think that those guys
Speaker 4: have to have you know, constant work because they have
Speaker 4: their deliveries a little different, and so they have to
Speaker 4: continue to get out there to make sure that they
Speaker 4: stay sharp and that you know, that was that was evident.
Speaker 5: They're not gonna win every single game.
Speaker 4: It was an amazing that they even got back into
Speaker 4: that game and had a real.
Speaker 5: Good chance of winning.
Speaker 4: Obviously they didn't come up with a big hit at
Speaker 4: the end with Castiano's hitting that really freakish double playball.
Speaker 4: But but again, you know, they even when they're supposed
Speaker 4: to lose games, they still stay in the games. I mean,
Speaker 4: I don't remember the last time, but they were like
Speaker 4: completely out of a baseball game. And that's an amazing
Speaker 4: you know, that's amazing thing. They always have a chance.
Speaker 4: I mean over the last I don't know, over the
Speaker 4: last two months, month and a half, have they really
Speaker 4: ever been out, like truly out of the game where
Speaker 4: they didn't have a chance to come back and win
Speaker 4: it or win it in some way, shape or form
Speaker 4: or be close.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's not not that many times, and that's
Speaker 5: and that's a very good sign for a baseball club.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ruby, you mentioned that double That was like the
Speaker 2: first time since at least nineteen twelve the game ended
Speaker 2: on a two three round out double play. It's never
Speaker 2: happened in over.
Speaker 1: One hundred years. Nick said.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys saw the comments. Nick
Speaker 2: said after the game, he thought about kicking the ball
Speaker 2: to try to like get him out for runner for
Speaker 2: runners interference. But if the umpire knows that you're doing
Speaker 2: it to what a double play? You could have called
Speaker 2: the runner and the base runner and the batter out.
Speaker 2: But he was thinking about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if his bat doesn't ball up there, they might
Speaker 3: win that game. Who knows where that ball ends up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Jim, you mentioned so you brought up
Speaker 2: Nick and looking at his numbers and maybe heating up
Speaker 2: a little bit. Last ten games, Nick is batting three hundred,
Speaker 2: four doubles, three home runs, nine to fifty eight ops.
Speaker 2: Now you go back even further, that's sixteen, last sixteen,
Speaker 2: how about last thirty right, So he's hitting two forty
Speaker 2: eight it's not great. Seven doubles, seven home runs, nineteen
Speaker 2: RBIs seven ninety seven OPS. That's seven ninety seven OPS
Speaker 2: since May six that thirty game stretch fifty first.
Speaker 1: Out of one hundred and sixty four batters in baseball.
Speaker 2: So he's in the top third in terms of production
Speaker 2: of all qualified hitters since May sixth.
Speaker 3: He's moving in the right direction. He's gaining some confidence.
Speaker 3: He's kind of doing what all along we've talked about.
Speaker 3: As we get together here. That track record is good
Speaker 3: and just needs to get his timing. Gune needs to
Speaker 3: get some confidence and eventually he's gonna resemble all his
Speaker 3: track record. I think that's what he's seeing. Last sixteen game,
Speaker 3: sixteen games, he has five home runs and four doubles
Speaker 3: on ops. So it's definitely moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3: And you know, I'm sure that you know, it thrills
Speaker 3: the front office. They need his production because they talk
Speaker 3: about it. The outfield production is down, and you don't
Speaker 3: know if they're gonna have to address something at the
Speaker 3: trade deadline. I think there's other areas they need to
Speaker 3: look at as well, but I don't think they're there
Speaker 3: yet with a plan or a course of action. I
Speaker 3: just think right now they're still in evaluation mode and
Speaker 3: they have to be happy with the way he is
Speaker 3: starting to come around. They really need his production. They
Speaker 3: Doll's production has.
Speaker 5: Been good, been great.
Speaker 3: They need it. With Meryfield swung it well. And I
Speaker 3: don't think he forgot to hit. I forgot how to
Speaker 3: hit overnight, so it was good to see him get going.
Speaker 3: So maybe this this London series will be you know,
Speaker 3: good for those two guys.
Speaker 4: So we'll say, hey, the other thing is and you
Speaker 4: start thinking about a Schwarber really hasn't caught on fire
Speaker 4: and they don't have trade Turner, and they don't have
Speaker 4: trade Turner, and trade Turner's not you know, he's not
Speaker 4: been part of their club and at some point he's
Speaker 4: going to be rolling in. Maybe in the next couple
Speaker 4: of weeks they'll get back, get him back.
Speaker 5: I mean, think about that.
Speaker 4: That's like gaining an MVP in the middle of the
Speaker 4: year for a team that's already twenty five games above
Speaker 4: five hundred and what nine games up on on the
Speaker 4: Braves who have not played well at all lately. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think some of the you know, some of the
Speaker 4: numbers that you see with the Phillies. I mean, the
Speaker 4: Phillies are a really good ball club. You can't take
Speaker 4: anything away from that. But when you start looking at
Speaker 4: the rest of the league, it's a little embarrassing that there's,
Speaker 4: you know, only like four teams that are above five hundred,
Speaker 4: and there's only like nine teams at or above five
Speaker 4: hundred in all of baseball. Yeah, not even a third
Speaker 4: or so or a third right around a third. And
Speaker 4: it's been a day or so since I've taken a
Speaker 4: deeper look in the standings. But that's a little bit
Speaker 4: of an indictment on like the quality of baseball across
Speaker 4: the globe here in baseball. But that said, it's fun
Speaker 4: to watch this baseball club. The Phillies are just as
Speaker 4: complete eighteen as there is. You saw the Dodgers beat
Speaker 4: up on the Yankees a little bit the weekend.
Speaker 5: Yankees are not invincible. Dodgers are still a really good club.
Speaker 4: And so it's going to be interesting as we move
Speaker 4: forward what other teams are good at like those mediocre teams,
Speaker 4: who the heck is gonna step forward? I mean, what
Speaker 4: other teams out there other than the Baltimore Orioles, the
Speaker 4: New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies at the LA Dodgers
Speaker 4: besides those teams and Brewers are pretty good club too.
Speaker 4: But but beyond that, who's gonna step forward and like
Speaker 4: be a real team?
Speaker 5: Like he's going to be a real, true contender, Ruben.
Speaker 2: So it's it's June eleventh. So in twenty eleven, when
Speaker 2: you guys are clearly the best team in baseball, what
Speaker 2: are the trade talks like right now?
Speaker 3: Five?
Speaker 2: What are we five weeks away from the trade deadline?
Speaker 2: Is it just kind of like you're kicking the tires
Speaker 2: with guys? Are you exchanging names at this point saying Hey,
Speaker 2: at some point you want to do it? Like what
Speaker 2: because I'm trying to think the Phillies, you're already seeing
Speaker 2: stuff like they're talking outfield or you know, here are
Speaker 2: some names they could be looking for, and you know,
Speaker 2: you get you check on everybody and you talk about everybody,
Speaker 2: I assume, But what are the negotiations like right now?
Speaker 1: You know from what you.
Speaker 4: Remember, you know, it's it's so different now than it
Speaker 4: was then, just because the whole dynamic of what's going
Speaker 4: on with the wild card, there's opportunities and there's so
Speaker 4: much parody right now that I don't think teams really
Speaker 4: know whether they're in or out. And I think it
Speaker 4: was somebody wrote an article Rosenthal just recently was on
Speaker 4: either a podcast or or something else, just talking about
Speaker 4: how many teams like don't want to really go for
Speaker 4: are like afraid to go. Well, now would be the
Speaker 4: time for any team that's close to like make a move.
Speaker 4: And if I'm a team that really feels like I
Speaker 4: really want to win, then I then I try.
Speaker 5: To poke around and push because you just never know.
Speaker 5: I mean, look at what happened with the Diamondbacks last year.
Speaker 5: The Diamondocks almost won the World Series.
Speaker 7: I know, they got beat up by Texas, but they
Speaker 7: went to the World Series and they had a chance
Speaker 7: to win it. And I think if you're if you're
Speaker 7: a team that is close and you have ingredients, why
Speaker 7: not get that one or two other ingredients to give
Speaker 7: yourself a push to get over the top when there's such.
Speaker 4: Mediocrity out there. I mean, that's sort of my feeling. Again,
Speaker 4: you don't want to necessarily mortgage the future, but the
Speaker 4: future is just that is. You know, the a lot
Speaker 4: of question marks and guys that are that are in
Speaker 4: the minor leagues man and prospects for prospects, and I know,
Speaker 4: I know they're highly coveted nowadays, but they don't always
Speaker 4: make it to the big leagues and they don't always
Speaker 4: make an impact.
Speaker 5: You know, I know that as well as anybody.
Speaker 3: Your point about the wild card is so right on
Speaker 3: that there's so many teams right in it. I was
Speaker 3: looking at the standings today, it is like you can
Speaker 3: like eliminate three teams in each league saying, you know,
Speaker 3: they don't have a shot at the everybody's talking about
Speaker 3: what a bad start Houston had, and you know it's
Speaker 3: not a Houston like start, but they're well within striking
Speaker 3: distance of with with more than a half season ago,
Speaker 3: well within striking distance of a wildcard it's amazing how
Speaker 3: many teams are. I mean, the match is as bad
Speaker 3: as they've played, and there you can't rule them out
Speaker 3: of the wildcard. I think they're only like three games
Speaker 3: out of the last spots. It's just and that's probably
Speaker 3: going to impact what, like you said, what teams hold
Speaker 3: on to, what teams shop, what teams sala It's it's
Speaker 3: gonna be uh, very interesting because you know, I remember
Speaker 3: what my the Marlins won two World Series as a
Speaker 3: wildcard team. I think there's another one in there. You
Speaker 3: mentioned the Diamondbacks almost doing it. The Phillies went to
Speaker 3: the World Series as a wildcard team. So it's wide open.
Speaker 5: And Reds is a perfect example. Everybody thought the Reds
Speaker 5: after a decent start, they were kind of hanging in there, and.
Speaker 4: They had had some injuries and lost some play and yeah,
Speaker 4: and they were they started off okay, and then they
Speaker 4: went in the tank for a while, and then they
Speaker 4: reeled off like seven or eight and wins in a row,
Speaker 4: and all of a sudden they're in second place, boomed
Speaker 4: and back in it.
Speaker 5: I mean, so it's I mean, it's wide open. I
Speaker 5: guess for fans, the fact that all these teams are
Speaker 5: in it. I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's a great thing that there aren't
Speaker 4: that many great teams. And that's that is a little
Speaker 4: bit of a concern because you have so few teams
Speaker 4: that are actually winning teams. When you have only less
Speaker 4: than the third of the teams being winning teams, that
Speaker 4: doesn't bode well in you know, the whole scheme of
Speaker 4: thing of things.
Speaker 2: So like if if you're Dave Dombrowski right now, you're
Speaker 2: just kind of you're just gathering as much information on
Speaker 2: all these guys, covering as much basis as you can.
Speaker 2: I assume, right he's he's calling around. Sam Fuld is
Speaker 2: calling around trying to figure out what you if you trade,
Speaker 2: what you might trade, what you're thinking in terms of value.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm sure everybody wants Aiden Miller and Andrew Paynter.
Speaker 2: I mean, right, the asks now are insane generally speaking, right.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, very very high.
Speaker 4: Usually they're very high. They're all you know, they're all
Speaker 4: locked in on the top ten prospects.
Speaker 5: For each organization. If you're gonna, you know, be a buyer.
Speaker 5: I think.
Speaker 4: I think it's an assessment period still, because I'm not
Speaker 4: sure if the Phillies know exactly and how many moves
Speaker 4: they can make, how many moves can they make?
Speaker 5: And what is I think it's they have the.
Speaker 4: You know, they can be sort of patient because one
Speaker 4: they've got players coming back too.
Speaker 5: You know, Marsh's coming back. We didn't even mention him.
Speaker 4: He's coming back sometime soon. I think he's going to
Speaker 4: start a rehab here shortly. Yeah, you got trade, You're
Speaker 4: probably gonna start something soon.
Speaker 5: You know, you're starting to.
Speaker 4: Get some people back, and I thin you can sort
Speaker 4: of figure out, Okay, do I need an outfielder, do
Speaker 4: I need a picture?
Speaker 5: Do I need some more bullpen help? What is it
Speaker 5: that I need?
Speaker 4: And I can sort of sit back and wait until
Speaker 4: and you know, obviously work and be prepared for especially
Speaker 4: especially targeting the teams that are definitely going to be
Speaker 4: out of it, the White Sox and the A's and
Speaker 4: you know those teams are definitely done.
Speaker 5: They're terrible, A's not quite so terrible.
Speaker 4: But you know there's other teams you know, in that
Speaker 4: that are definitely out of it. Uh, the Rockies, I
Speaker 4: don't know if they have what you would want from
Speaker 4: that organization, but there's teams that are definitely out of it,
Speaker 4: and you start targeting them and say, okay, that piece
Speaker 4: work does that piece work? And then you start sort
Speaker 4: of assessing and narrowing things down as.
Speaker 5: The picture, uh start and starts to broaden a little bit.
Speaker 3: Would you would you be looking for some organizams high end,
Speaker 3: upper end organizational catching depth. I mean, I know you
Speaker 3: have some a triple A. You got a couple of
Speaker 3: guys have caught in the big leagues, Garcia and Goodoy.
Speaker 3: You got Marshawan who everybody likes Marshawan, but he's had
Speaker 3: his injury woes.
Speaker 5: He's healthy, wow.
Speaker 3: And and you have stubs here in the big leagues.
Speaker 3: And I only mentioned it because JT is so important,
Speaker 3: He's indispensable. Yet he's been banged up a lot this year.
Speaker 3: I mean, they pinch ran for him yesterday, which was.
Speaker 5: That was interesting that. I thought that that was a
Speaker 5: very interesting thing.
Speaker 4: Now, j T one of the best base runners they have,
Speaker 4: and for them to pinch run for him in that situation,
Speaker 4: he's obviously something's going on there that is not quite right.
Speaker 5: I don't know what body part or what's ailing.
Speaker 4: It's got to be a lower body part that's probably
Speaker 4: ailing him some way, shape or form. But that was
Speaker 4: sort of telling to me that you know, this guy's
Speaker 4: not one hundred percent and it will be curious. You're
Speaker 4: right about Jim.
Speaker 3: It looked like they were protecting him a little bit.
Speaker 2: No, well, that's one of the Rob said, that's why
Speaker 2: they've made put marsh On on the made him the
Speaker 2: twenty seventh man for the for the London series because
Speaker 2: he has been banged up and they I think they've
Speaker 2: kind of wanted to protect me. But he did not
Speaker 2: mention anything specifically about uh, you know, leg or anything
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it jumps out.
Speaker 2: So but Jim, are you saying, like, talk about catching depth?
Speaker 3: Are you saying I mean, look, you got Stubbs and
Speaker 3: you've got Marshawan, right, Marshawan has had trouble staying healthy.
Speaker 3: I think one of the guys is on the on
Speaker 3: the il at Triple A. I believe I'm just one
Speaker 3: and I know it's probably hard to get you know,
Speaker 3: a guy who can you know, you've got a guy
Speaker 3: who can step in and Stubs and Marshan. I'm just wondering, yeah,
Speaker 3: just about the overall state of it, just because JT
Speaker 3: is so important and your your third stringer, Marshawn has
Speaker 3: had trouble staying healthy.
Speaker 2: That would make a lot of sense.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sure does, there's no question about it.
Speaker 4: I mean you want to have I mean, you can't
Speaker 4: cover every base pun intended.
Speaker 1: But that said, that.
Speaker 4: Is one of the biggest That's a big one because
Speaker 4: if they were to lose JT for a long, longer
Speaker 4: period of time, that's a significant, significant drop off.
Speaker 5: I like Marshaan. I like the way he calls the game.
Speaker 4: I like that, But you're right, he's never been to
Speaker 4: be able to stay on the field long enough to
Speaker 4: really get a good assessment of the guy.
Speaker 3: I mean, they had that guy, Cam Gallagher for a while.
Speaker 3: I think it's spring training. He's got big league time,
Speaker 3: but I think he retired. And you hope it's nothing.
Speaker 3: I mean, you hope it never It's never an issue
Speaker 3: that you even have to discuss because you know, in
Speaker 3: terms of personality, seem to have enough guys. But if
Speaker 3: you lose something, it's a big you know, even if
Speaker 3: it's in your depth, I think it's a it's a
Speaker 3: it's an issue for because of where this team wants
Speaker 3: to go and the stakes and where it.
Speaker 1: Can be sure that would be a bad one.
Speaker 2: You mentioned guys coming back, Trey Turner and Rob Thompson
Speaker 2: think that he could be back within the week. He's
Speaker 2: going to step up his sprinting beginning tomorrow in Boston.
Speaker 2: He does not sound like he's going to go on
Speaker 2: a rehab assignment. It sounds like it's he's just going.
Speaker 1: To get activated.
Speaker 2: He he says he knows enough about his swing, has
Speaker 2: enough drills, does enough drills. He hits off the Jek machine,
Speaker 2: which he says is harder than even facing live pitching
Speaker 2: because the way the ball comes out and you know
Speaker 2: all that stuff. And then marsh is either going to
Speaker 2: continue his rehab work in reading or maybe join the
Speaker 2: team in Boston. So both of those guys are getting close.
Speaker 1: Sounds like again.
Speaker 4: They're they're being really cautious with them and they and
Speaker 4: they have the ability to do that. I mean, it
Speaker 4: gives other guys opportunities to play, like a with Merrifield,
Speaker 4: to try to get swing together, which is getting better.
Speaker 5: It gives other people, you know, dolls playing well.
Speaker 4: Maybe it gets other people opportunities to play a little
Speaker 4: bit and and move from there.
Speaker 5: How do we know what we have an update on
Speaker 5: Cody any chance.
Speaker 1: No, I did not get it.
Speaker 2: I did not get an update on Cody's back.
Speaker 3: What would either one of you experiment with Sosa in
Speaker 3: the in left field because he's swung such a such.
Speaker 2: A good bat, that would be interesting. And now I
Speaker 2: think it was not. It wasn't this spring, but it
Speaker 2: was the spring before. Yeah, he was getting some looks
Speaker 2: in center field and spring training, Yeah, and then it
Speaker 2: never happened during the season. Rob said again this weekend
Speaker 2: that that's something that he will consider to keep his
Speaker 2: bat in the lineup, to keep his bat going, and
Speaker 2: of course Sosa naturally said, yes, I will.
Speaker 1: Be more than happy to play left field. I just
Speaker 1: want to.
Speaker 2: I just I just want to be in the lineup.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean that's a no brainer for sure.
Speaker 2: But that's it that that would be very interesting. He could,
Speaker 2: I would got I gotta think he could play out
Speaker 2: there at least.
Speaker 4: Well, let me just say this, I always felt like
Speaker 4: left field was the most difficult position in the outfield.
Speaker 4: Center field you have a much better picture, the ball
Speaker 4: doesn't do as many things. You obviously have to have,
Speaker 4: you know, more speed in center field to be able
Speaker 4: to cover more ground, But as far as reading the
Speaker 4: ball off the bat, I think left field is one
Speaker 4: of the tougher ones.
Speaker 5: That said, our left field in Citizens Bank.
Speaker 4: Park is is not a big one and it's not
Speaker 4: a whole ton of ground to cover.
Speaker 5: And I do think that he's athletic enough.
Speaker 4: As I watch him also field pop ups and fly balls,
Speaker 4: he's outstanding at tracking them. He's very good at it,
Speaker 4: and that means something because there are guys who do
Speaker 4: not handle pop ups very well, don't like the ball
Speaker 4: in the air. I know a lot of infielders who
Speaker 4: don't have the depth perception to be able to handle that.
Speaker 4: But it's pretty clear that Edmundo has a has a
Speaker 4: pretty good read on balls in the air, and that
Speaker 4: mean something.
Speaker 2: What would you do, Jim move, You'd throw.
Speaker 3: It up there righty five games over five hundred. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's he's light on his feet, he's athletic, he's got hands,
Speaker 3: he's got baseball. Since he I'm sure wants to give
Speaker 3: it a look, I'm telling him the entire next home
Speaker 3: stand be here at two o'clock and be on the
Speaker 3: field at two o'clock. From two to three, and you're
Speaker 3: gonna have out field one on one, and we're gonna
Speaker 3: make a decision to maybe trot you out there somenight
Speaker 3: twenty five games over five hundred. I'm experimenting. It's not
Speaker 3: like he's it's not like he's a tank. You're gonna
Speaker 3: stick a left field who can't move. I think he could,
Speaker 3: he could. I think he with a couple of days work,
Speaker 3: he could go out there and be passable.
Speaker 7: And listen, think about the work that that Paco's done
Speaker 7: with with Castillanos.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's made Castianos a.
Speaker 4: Very adequate right field or any and two Castianos's credit.
Speaker 4: He goes out there and works at it all the time.
Speaker 4: I've watched it on the road and washed it at home.
Speaker 4: He works at it, and Paco works with him, and
Speaker 4: he is an excellent way about him. And certain drills
Speaker 4: to to uh to prepare, And.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree with you, Jimmy, why not? Why'd I
Speaker 5: Heck not.
Speaker 3: Let's take a homestand and put him out there every
Speaker 3: afternoon and see what he looks like at two o'clock,
Speaker 3: and before you make any decisions about it, you know,
Speaker 3: put him on the lineup card in that position. But
Speaker 3: I think it's worth being open, open, minded about just
Speaker 3: because uh, he brings a lot of energy in a
Speaker 3: lot he brings some you know. He said, look, they
Speaker 3: haven't missed a beat with with an MVP count.
Speaker 1: You're right, actually built their lead.
Speaker 3: So I would, I would at the very least think
Speaker 3: about it, an experiment with it in practice situations and
Speaker 3: then make make the call and see what happens.
Speaker 2: And you're right there, twenty five games over five hundred
Speaker 2: or whatever, and all this talk the past few weeks
Speaker 2: of you know, they're gonna they need to go out
Speaker 2: and get an outfield.
Speaker 1: They need to go out and get an outfield.
Speaker 2: You might Nick Casting as we talked about his performance
Speaker 2: for the last month top third in baseball and ops,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe they figure out something the left field,
Speaker 2: Marsh comes back, maybe Sosa does his job, Maybe Maryfield
Speaker 2: he's up now, maybe Dall maybe you know, and now maybe.
Speaker 1: Marsh plays a little bit more in center field.
Speaker 2: If Rojas doesn't get going, maybe they figure this whole
Speaker 2: outfield thing out, and now they can go out and
Speaker 2: use those resources they have in the minor leagues to
Speaker 2: go out and get a big bullpen arm or whatever
Speaker 2: else might pop up between thirtieth.
Speaker 3: Fertle competition, and it's it's wonderful when guys are pushing
Speaker 3: each other.
Speaker 1: Yeah a lot, Yeah a lot.
Speaker 4: And I honestly, and I can honestly tell you that
Speaker 4: if people they're not going to be any jealousy, Like
Speaker 4: with Maryfield is not going to be mad if they
Speaker 4: thought Mundo Sosa out there, I think, you know, hey,
Speaker 4: if this is better for the team, if it gets
Speaker 4: our team an opportunity to be better, I'm sure he
Speaker 4: would want to play more.
Speaker 5: But still, I mean.
Speaker 4: These guys have the right mentality because they all believe
Speaker 4: in what they're trying to do, which is win a
Speaker 4: World Series and whatever it takes to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Witch said that the other day after he homert
Speaker 2: he said, I've been off to a bad start, but
Speaker 2: the real season starts in October. That's what we're playing for,
Speaker 2: So you know, you got to finish the job in
Speaker 2: the regular season, of course, but they have the eye
Speaker 2: and the prize. So Phillies Boston Tuesday night, it's Zach
Speaker 2: Wheeler versus Cutter Crawford. Wednesday, Christopher Sanchez versus old pal
Speaker 2: Nick Pivetta and uh a Big piv And then Thursday,
Speaker 2: Thursday Thursday, Aaron Nola versus tan or Hawke. So and
Speaker 2: then they go out and they have to play the
Speaker 2: Worlds this week. This is a good test. This is
Speaker 2: a good this is a good road drip.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I will say this, and talking to a couple of
Speaker 2: players in spring training about the London.
Speaker 1: Series, they were they were they were genuinely excited about it.
Speaker 1: But they did say this, so keep.
Speaker 5: An eye on this.
Speaker 2: If they said they talked to some players that were
Speaker 2: in the Cubs in the and the and the Cardinals
Speaker 2: last year. They said, the players that were in the
Speaker 2: London Series last year said, you know what, going out
Speaker 2: wasn't so bad because we had the two days before
Speaker 2: and we got used to the time change. But you
Speaker 2: know what really kicked our butts. We didn't thinket it
Speaker 2: coming back like. It took us a few days to
Speaker 2: really kind of adjust.
Speaker 1: So you know that.
Speaker 3: Raises a question. You know, Tuesday night, Zach Wheeler, he
Speaker 3: hates layoffs. He wants to be on that fifth day.
Speaker 3: He's had a week off.
Speaker 1: Now right, Yeah it's about a week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's gonna be worth you know, watching how he responds.
Speaker 3: I really believe though, this is like money in the bank.
Speaker 3: This little bit of a rest is going to help
Speaker 3: him September October. But we're going to see how it
Speaker 3: affects him Tuesday night in the Fens.
Speaker 1: In the Fens, that's right.
Speaker 2: So we will be back later this week. We'll talk
Speaker 2: about the Phillies Orioles series.
Speaker 1: And so much more. I'll talk to you guys, See
Speaker 1: you guys later.
Speaker 3: Smell your latter room.
Speaker 5: It sma Jim.
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