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TABLE TALK: The Phillies Offseason Ramps Up! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:31
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:34
Speaker 1: in the world, over twelve and a half years strong,
0:37
Speaker 1: and we're gonna be concentrating on this Philadelphia Phillies off
0:40
Speaker 1: season during our discussion today. I am so looking forward
0:45
Speaker 1: to getting into this team, some of the recent signings,
0:47
Speaker 1: some of the resignings where this team is going to
0:50
Speaker 1: be heading into twenty twenty six. With our good friend
0:53
Speaker 1: from that Balls out of here dot com. We've got
0:54
Speaker 1: our good friend, Eric Moritelli. Buddy, how you doing, my friend?
0:57
Speaker 2: I have been good, Jeff, how have you been?
0:59
Speaker 1: I have been I'm doing all right because I'm excited
1:01
Speaker 1: about kylege Schwarber right now talking about that. I'm like
1:04
Speaker 1: really excited that Schwarber is coming back to this team.
1:08
Speaker 1: And it's a good segue into the first topic because
1:12
Speaker 1: I mean, it's probably the big biggest news for this
1:15
Speaker 1: Phillies team this offseason of re signing Kyleege Schwarber, making
1:19
Speaker 1: sure he's coming back, making sure that they have that
1:22
Speaker 1: offensive productivity. But a couple of things with this Schwarber
1:26
Speaker 1: signing that I was hoping we could dive into right
1:29
Speaker 1: off the bat, Eric is I guess, first your your
1:32
Speaker 1: overall thoughts on not only him coming back to the team,
1:35
Speaker 1: what it means to the team, but what's really going
1:38
Speaker 1: to mean over these next four years and kind of
1:41
Speaker 1: to dovetail into that, And I guess the second aspect
1:44
Speaker 1: of this, do you think that we're going to continue
1:47
Speaker 1: to see that Schwarber production year after year here, because
1:52
Speaker 1: he's not a spring chicken by any stretch of the imagination.
1:54
Speaker 1: So I guess, first your overall thoughts on him coming back,
1:58
Speaker 1: and then whether or not we're going to see that
1:59
Speaker 1: Schwarber production and that we've seen in the past.
2:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, first off, I mean I think that was probably
2:04
Speaker 3: the key move of the off season. Like he alluded to,
2:08
Speaker 3: this lineup needs power. I think last year, you know,
2:11
Speaker 3: Sharber obviously hit he hit fifty six. I think Harper
2:14
Speaker 3: hit twenty seven home runs last year, if I'm not mistaken,
2:17
Speaker 3: I think around there. Yeah, and third on the team
2:20
Speaker 3: was Max Kepler, who by the end of the season
2:21
Speaker 3: wasn't even playing every single day.
2:23
Speaker 2: So you really see that need for power.
2:26
Speaker 3: It's just the way baseball is, Like, I know, not
2:27
Speaker 3: everyone likes it, obviously, you need guys who hit for average.
2:30
Speaker 3: You need guys who get on base. But Shubber does
2:32
Speaker 3: get on base too. It's not just the pop yep. Yeah,
2:35
Speaker 3: I know from reading some things, you know, some people
2:37
Speaker 3: are like, well, he's a little one dimensional because he
2:39
Speaker 3: doesn't play the field, But what he brings to the lineup.
2:43
Speaker 3: I feel like when the line when he is going,
2:45
Speaker 3: the lineup is going. What he brings from an off
2:47
Speaker 3: the field standpoint in terms of leadership in the clubhouse,
2:50
Speaker 3: We've all seen different articles and pieces about that out there,
2:54
Speaker 3: and just you know, we just see what he can
2:56
Speaker 3: do with with with the bat to kind of make
2:58
Speaker 3: this offense as high power as it can possibly be.
3:01
Speaker 3: Getting into your second point, you know, I think because
3:05
Speaker 3: he doesn't play defense, that does help him with his
3:07
Speaker 3: longevity a little bit. His his bat speed I think
3:12
Speaker 3: was fifth still overall in baseball last year, So that
3:18
Speaker 3: tends to, you know, kind of show that there's not
3:20
Speaker 3: really a decline on the real recent or real uh
3:25
Speaker 3: I guess future horizon. So I think he can keep
3:29
Speaker 3: that going just because he's knocking to the normal wear
3:32
Speaker 3: and tear of playing the field. So I do think
3:35
Speaker 3: now again by year four or five of this contract,
3:39
Speaker 3: we're probably gonna start seeing some sort of decline decline.
3:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, you figure the.
3:44
Speaker 3: Next three years here is really where you know we're
3:47
Speaker 3: gonna you have to make the most of the Harper,
3:49
Speaker 3: Turner and Shore years. We've probably been saying that now
3:52
Speaker 3: for the last probably three years too. But either way,
3:55
Speaker 3: you know you need that and you need then. You know,
4:00
Speaker 3: the term like run it back, I've seen that a
4:02
Speaker 3: lot this year, But bringing Schwarz back, I don't think
4:04
Speaker 3: it's necessarly running it back. You need to keep the
4:06
Speaker 3: good pieces in your lineup. To me, the running it
4:10
Speaker 3: back would be, you know, not making any ancillary changes
4:13
Speaker 3: on the side or you know, you know, in different
4:15
Speaker 3: parts of the roster. But I think the Schwarber signing
4:18
Speaker 3: is huge. Who knows, maybe in twenty thirty we'll see
4:22
Speaker 3: the Phillies have two members of the five hundred found
4:24
Speaker 3: run Club.
4:25
Speaker 2: Well that's fun.
4:25
Speaker 1: You just put up a recent piece over at that
4:28
Speaker 1: balls out of here dot com basically talking about how
4:31
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber could reach that legendary slugger status with this
4:36
Speaker 1: new Phillies contract. He may have the chance to join
4:39
Speaker 1: some elite company over these next few years here, Mike
4:42
Speaker 1: Schmidt being one of them. It was a good piece.
4:44
Speaker 1: Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
4:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean so, and I you know, I got
4:49
Speaker 3: the idea kind of. Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer
4:52
Speaker 3: put out a tweet about it, and looking at it,
4:56
Speaker 3: it's like, so, I think he needs to average thirty
4:58
Speaker 3: two home runs a season, but you know, from now
5:00
Speaker 3: until the end of his contract, and he's hit significantly
5:03
Speaker 3: more than thirty two home runs every season he's been
5:05
Speaker 3: here so far. The closest that he's been to that
5:08
Speaker 3: was thirty eight, which we know would still get the
5:12
Speaker 3: job done. Now do I think, you know, by the
5:14
Speaker 3: end of the like we said, is there maybe gonna
5:16
Speaker 3: be some batspeed declined toward the end, Yeah, probably, just
5:20
Speaker 3: because age is going to start catching up with him.
5:21
Speaker 3: But you know, if averaging thirty two, it really is
5:26
Speaker 3: not that far fetched. Like, you know, five hundred home
5:29
Speaker 3: runs is a crazy thing. And when Schwarber first signed here,
5:32
Speaker 3: if you would have told me that we were having
5:34
Speaker 3: this conversation that's even I would have been, Hey, this
5:37
Speaker 3: is this is great. But it really know what a
5:40
Speaker 3: good signing and how productive he's been as a member
5:42
Speaker 3: of the Philadelphia Phillies, just you know, from an overall
5:45
Speaker 3: power perspective, and you know, so many things can happen.
5:49
Speaker 3: Five hundred is one of the most difficult things to
5:51
Speaker 3: do in all of sports. I think there's only what
5:53
Speaker 3: twenty eight other guys who have ever reached that, And
5:55
Speaker 3: if Kyle Schwarber does it, that'd be great.
5:57
Speaker 2: But it's just, you know, kind of something fun to
5:59
Speaker 2: kind of think of.
6:00
Speaker 3: Out as as we're looking for other aspects of this contract.
6:04
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, it's gonna be great to see him back,
6:08
Speaker 1: you know, in the batter's box for this Phillies team.
6:10
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us can just breathe a
6:12
Speaker 1: stile of relief here at this point. But attention is
6:16
Speaker 1: now shifting to JT. Real Muto now that Kyle Schwarber
6:20
Speaker 1: has been signed, and it's been reported that the Phillies
6:24
Speaker 1: do have an offer on the table for real Muto.
6:26
Speaker 1: But there aren't too many good catchers that are free
6:30
Speaker 1: agents during this offseason. Eric, as we know, and it,
6:34
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like this has to happen for
6:36
Speaker 1: the Phillies. You know, I go back to and it's
6:38
Speaker 1: a theme that I've talked about on this podcast for
6:41
Speaker 1: some time. Carlos Ruiz back in the day, a lot
6:44
Speaker 1: of us looked at him as like the general, and
6:46
Speaker 1: I feel like that's how JT. Real Muto has been
6:49
Speaker 1: in terms of the catcher position for this team, Like
6:51
Speaker 1: he's been the general out there. And I'm wondering, like,
6:55
Speaker 1: this has to happen, right, I mean, this has to happen.
6:57
Speaker 1: Do you think they're eventually going to sign him for
7:00
Speaker 1: more than maybe what they put on the table at
7:02
Speaker 1: this point, due to probably some other offers he's getting
7:05
Speaker 1: as well? What are your thoughts here?
7:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's probably ultimately what it's going to
7:08
Speaker 3: boil down to, my guess, and I think it's just
7:12
Speaker 3: it's probably it's a smart move, is probably the fi.
7:15
Speaker 2: The hang up is probably on the years.
7:16
Speaker 3: I don't think the Phillies are gonna care about the
7:18
Speaker 3: money so much, but I have a feeling the Phillies
7:20
Speaker 3: are trying to, you know, make this a two year deal,
7:22
Speaker 3: which I think is smart because just the amount of
7:24
Speaker 3: innings JT Is caught over the last few years, is it.
7:28
Speaker 3: It is scary to think, you know, we're talking about
7:30
Speaker 3: a potential decline. I think we're witnessing what happened with JT.
7:34
Speaker 3: Real Muto. But that being said, he's still one of
7:37
Speaker 3: the most most athletic catchers in all of baseball. So
7:42
Speaker 3: even his decline isn't necessarily going to make him terrible, right,
7:47
Speaker 3: He'll still be okay. And and you made a really
7:49
Speaker 3: good comparison with Ruiz kind of being the general of
7:52
Speaker 3: this team, and just like the way he knows how
7:54
Speaker 3: to handle the pitching staff, the way he calls a game,
7:56
Speaker 3: there's still a lot that he can bring to the table,
7:59
Speaker 3: and there aren't really. The other thing is there's not
8:02
Speaker 3: really any catching depth in the organization or in the
8:08
Speaker 3: free agent market, so the only option you can really
8:10
Speaker 3: look at his trades. I've seen people, you know, throw
8:11
Speaker 3: around the name Adlee Rutchman from Baltimore because you know
8:15
Speaker 3: his job may be in jeopardy. But the amount of
8:17
Speaker 3: prospect CAPITALI you're going to have to give up to
8:19
Speaker 3: get him, who knows if it's even worth it, Because
8:22
Speaker 3: speaking of decline, he has not been what he was
8:25
Speaker 3: to kind of start out his career either. So I
8:27
Speaker 3: really think the hang up here is on those years.
8:29
Speaker 3: I think if the Phillies go three years and have
8:31
Speaker 3: a comparable, you know, annual average value on the contract.
8:36
Speaker 3: I think it's a no brainer he comes back, but
8:38
Speaker 3: I think another team will probably offer three years because
8:42
Speaker 3: catching is hard to come by right now.
8:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
8:44
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, as we're moving along here, Eric, I think
8:48
Speaker 1: it's really going to be interesting to see how this
8:51
Speaker 1: Philly's outfield is really going to be looking like when
8:55
Speaker 1: we're when we go down to Citizens Bank Park in
8:57
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, when we're watching some games down there.
9:00
Speaker 1: I mean, I've gotten to the point where as a fan,
9:02
Speaker 1: I am like, I'm getting just really tired of the
9:05
Speaker 1: center field platoon, just the uncertainty at times with what
9:10
Speaker 1: is going to happen. Even from a long term perspective
9:13
Speaker 1: with this Phillies outfield, there's just so much inconsistency, some
9:19
Speaker 1: instability as well that we've seen over the years. And
9:22
Speaker 1: I mean that thankfully the Phillies front office signed right
9:27
Speaker 1: fielder Adulas Garcia today one year, ten million dollar contract.
9:33
Speaker 1: A lot of folks saying, you know, he's it reminds
9:35
Speaker 1: him of Max Kepler. I think there's a little bit
9:37
Speaker 1: more upside. Quite frankly, you know, maybe maybe not as
9:40
Speaker 1: much or maybe or maybe not like a high, high
9:43
Speaker 1: upside level. That's just where I'm coming from right now.
9:46
Speaker 1: But I guess from an overall picture standpoint, what are
9:50
Speaker 1: your hopes for what we are going to see in
9:52
Speaker 1: the outfield this coming season.
9:54
Speaker 3: Definitely need more consistency and more power coming from, especially
9:58
Speaker 3: the corner outfield position.
10:01
Speaker 2: I think this is the.
10:02
Speaker 3: Writing on the wall that Nick Cassianos is is on
10:05
Speaker 3: his way out. I think that was not really something
10:08
Speaker 3: that Phillies were trying to hide growing into the offseason,
10:10
Speaker 3: but I think this kind of, you know, solidifies that,
10:13
Speaker 3: and I see the kind of comparison between Garcia and Kepler.
10:17
Speaker 2: The only thing to me is is.
10:19
Speaker 3: That the power potential with Garcia is is a lot
10:24
Speaker 3: better than what it was with Kepler. Also, from a
10:27
Speaker 3: defensive standpoint, Garcia is a much better right right fielder
10:32
Speaker 3: than Kepler or Castianos by a pretty decent margin.
10:36
Speaker 2: So you're going to get an upgrade there as well.
10:39
Speaker 3: Uh, it's really gonna I think they're bouncing on their
10:42
Speaker 3: banking on a bounce back here. Yeah, he has, He's
10:45
Speaker 3: shown potential in the past, He's had some really good seasons.
10:49
Speaker 3: It all just depends on if he's going to get
10:51
Speaker 3: on base and he's going to strike out. So everyone
10:54
Speaker 3: is like, that's going to be a thing. He's going
10:56
Speaker 3: to do a lot. But I think their hope is
10:59
Speaker 3: if he can if we can get if the Phillies
11:00
Speaker 3: can get twenty five home runs out of him and
11:03
Speaker 3: he plays a solid defense, you know, if he can
11:07
Speaker 3: have an ops around, you know, seven fifty seven sixty.
11:10
Speaker 2: I think that you look at that as a win.
11:12
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you're you're not getting the money's just not there
11:16
Speaker 3: for a Kyle Tucker or some of those other guys
11:19
Speaker 3: to really boost the outfield. So I think this was
11:21
Speaker 3: a solid move in terms of what was what was
11:24
Speaker 3: out there and what was available. The fact that he's
11:27
Speaker 3: coming in a little bit cheaper than I think Kepler
11:28
Speaker 3: was for fifteen million last year, and yeah, Garcia is
11:32
Speaker 3: only ten. Like you said, I like the upside a
11:34
Speaker 3: little bit more with Garcia. There's I know, for a
11:36
Speaker 3: fact we're going to talk about times we're extremely frustrated
11:39
Speaker 3: with his bat and his approach because he swings at everything.
11:42
Speaker 3: But you know, again, if we could just get a
11:45
Speaker 3: little bit more production from the power department, from our
11:48
Speaker 3: right field spot, I think that would be a huge
11:50
Speaker 3: help from Garcia. Now the rest of the outfield kind
11:54
Speaker 3: of still seems like a bit of a question mark
11:56
Speaker 3: in flux. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, So it sounds like they
12:00
Speaker 3: want to give Justin Crawford every opportunity to make the
12:04
Speaker 3: opening day roster, which I think is more than fair
12:06
Speaker 3: at this point. You know, the guy's done basically everything
12:08
Speaker 3: you wanted to do in the minor leagues.
12:10
Speaker 2: There. It's it's weird though with him, how.
12:13
Speaker 3: Divided scouts around baseball are about his potential like trans
12:18
Speaker 3: transformation into a major league player, just because at the
12:21
Speaker 3: ground ball rate and the fact that major league infielders
12:24
Speaker 3: are going to be better than minor league in fielders,
12:27
Speaker 3: So is he going to be able to you know,
12:28
Speaker 3: beat out as many throws? But I mean, you got
12:30
Speaker 3: to give the guy a shot, right, I mean, he's
12:32
Speaker 3: he's he's done what you've asked him to do. He's
12:33
Speaker 3: he's he's going to be a really solid defender in
12:36
Speaker 3: left field, can play some center.
12:39
Speaker 2: It seems it seems like.
12:40
Speaker 3: They're more dedicating him to to probably playing left field,
12:43
Speaker 3: which still leaves what are we gonna do in center field? Yes,
12:48
Speaker 3: which has been I think a thing since what Shane Victorino.
12:52
Speaker 3: I don't think they had a center fielder that we
12:55
Speaker 3: can trust since him, really, Yeah, So I don't know.
13:00
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's unfortunate that Vader was only
13:03
Speaker 3: here for the year. Again not saying the doors completely
13:06
Speaker 3: shut on him, but he played a really nice center
13:09
Speaker 3: field and even if he were to come back, I
13:11
Speaker 3: don't think we see the same offensive production we saw
13:14
Speaker 3: from him in a short time in Philadelphia at the
13:16
Speaker 3: end of the twenty twenty five season. But it's better
13:21
Speaker 3: than you know, some of the platoon options, I guess, yeah,
13:24
Speaker 3: go with that's a littly the biggest that's to me,
13:27
Speaker 3: the biggest question mark on the roster right now is
13:31
Speaker 3: is center field and what they're going to do with that.
13:34
Speaker 3: But it just, you know, the outfield has just been
13:36
Speaker 3: like a thorn in the side for this club for
13:38
Speaker 3: so long now. I feel like they just need to
13:42
Speaker 3: get something going where there's some sort of consistency and
13:46
Speaker 3: it's not a revolving door out.
13:48
Speaker 1: There could potentially drive us absolutely crazy this coming well
13:53
Speaker 1: probably will, folks. We've been used to it for a while.
13:55
Speaker 1: It's probably gonna drive us nuts. So we are going
13:58
Speaker 1: to take a break before we do so though again, folks,
14:01
Speaker 1: head on over to that Balls out of here dot com.
14:04
Speaker 1: Great site. Love the Phillies content that they are putting
14:07
Speaker 1: up there. Eric and his colleagues at Eric Underscore Moretelli
14:10
Speaker 1: over on the Twitter slash X. Are you out there
14:13
Speaker 1: any other other social sites you want to you wanna promo?
14:17
Speaker 3: I pretty much only promo mostly on X at this point.
14:22
Speaker 3: I know that Balls out of Here is on Facebook
14:24
Speaker 3: and everything on Facebook as well, but yeah, most of
14:29
Speaker 3: the stuff I'm posting is mostly coming from X.
14:32
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14:41
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14:47
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14:51
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14:55
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14:58
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15:02
Speaker 1: Facebook as well. And with that being said, folks, we're
15:05
Speaker 1: gonna take a break here as I hit my mic here,
15:07
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a break and when we get back,
15:09
Speaker 1: we got a lot more Phillies talk coming your way.
15:13
Speaker 1: All right, we are back with our good friend Eric
15:15
Speaker 1: Morritelli from that balls out of here dot com. Great
15:18
Speaker 1: site that has tons of Phillies content on it. Give
15:22
Speaker 1: them a visit. And as we're continuing with our discussion here,
15:26
Speaker 1: the front office just signed this past week right handed
15:31
Speaker 1: pitcher Bryce Wilson, who's been He's been a starter, he's
15:38
Speaker 1: been a reliever, He's been in the bullpen throughout his career.
15:41
Speaker 1: He's also started some games as well. Last year, man Eric,
15:44
Speaker 1: he had a six point six y five e R
15:47
Speaker 1: with the White Sox and not stellar by any stretch
15:51
Speaker 1: of the imagination. When I saw this, I was thinking
15:53
Speaker 1: to myself, Eh, it was kind of a man type
15:57
Speaker 1: of thing. I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on Bryce
16:01
Speaker 1: Wilson and this signing, what he could mean coming uh
16:04
Speaker 1: in terms of his pitching on the mound.
16:06
Speaker 3: It sounds like I had a very similar reaction to you, Jeff.
16:10
Speaker 3: It's it's lackluster, but I don't think you know. It
16:13
Speaker 3: seems like it was for a minor league contract anyway. Yeah,
16:17
Speaker 3: he was once kind of highly talented. So maybe they're
16:21
Speaker 3: looking and they're saying, hey, maybe you know the Phillies, Uh,
16:24
Speaker 3: you know, coaching staff can kind of get something out
16:27
Speaker 3: of him, whether it's in the development side of things
16:30
Speaker 3: in the minors or if he is called up for
16:32
Speaker 3: a depth piece at some point, you know, working with
16:34
Speaker 3: Caleb Cotham, those guys. Yeah, maybe they think they can
16:37
Speaker 3: they can get something. To me, I don't envision seeing
16:41
Speaker 3: him a ton unless there's injuries or unless he does
16:45
Speaker 3: figure something out and is you know, lighting up in
16:48
Speaker 3: triple A.
16:49
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:50
Speaker 3: But to me, this this kind of signals more of
16:52
Speaker 3: like a depth piece signing in the bullpen more so
16:55
Speaker 3: than like a.
16:56
Speaker 2: Guy that they're going to have to rely.
16:57
Speaker 3: On just because they have the whole pen has, you know,
17:01
Speaker 3: plenty of arms, where I don't think you need to
17:03
Speaker 3: kind of mess around with a guy who struggled the
17:06
Speaker 3: last two years and his peripheral numbers. It's not even
17:10
Speaker 3: just like he's gotten unlucky with his era being high,
17:13
Speaker 3: Like his peripheral numbers are not great, so they need
17:17
Speaker 3: to unlock something there and maybe hoping that he could
17:20
Speaker 3: be you know, a middle inning guy if you know,
17:23
Speaker 3: someone were to go down with injury or something like that.
17:26
Speaker 3: But I don't foresee him making a ton of appearances
17:30
Speaker 3: on the Mounted Citizens Bank Park.
17:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I you know, there was this weird part of
17:36
Speaker 1: me that was like, you know, he came up. I
17:37
Speaker 1: believe he came up through the Atlanta Braves farm system.
17:41
Speaker 1: I think he did. I think you're right, Yeah, yeah,
17:43
Speaker 1: And I think there's something to be said for the
17:44
Speaker 1: Braves farm system. I mean they've they've produced over the years,
17:47
Speaker 1: you know, not not one hundred percent hit, of course,
17:50
Speaker 1: but they've been able to produce. And there was a
17:52
Speaker 1: little something in my ear saying, you know what, he's
17:55
Speaker 1: coming from a Braves farm system where they're able to
17:58
Speaker 1: develop talent down there. Yes, it's been I think twenty
18:01
Speaker 1: eighteen was when he made his first start or got
18:05
Speaker 1: in or was on the mound for the Brave So
18:07
Speaker 1: it's been some time, but still I don't know. That
18:10
Speaker 1: was kind of in the back of my head thinking, oh,
18:12
Speaker 1: he's a Braves product, so you know, maybe that'll maybe
18:15
Speaker 1: it'll work out in some capacity.
18:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely true.
18:17
Speaker 3: And I mean there's other organizations that don't that do
18:20
Speaker 3: not have the pedigree for developing players or making players better,
18:24
Speaker 3: and it does seem like the Phillies, especially their their
18:27
Speaker 3: pitching department, does have a kN act for doing that.
18:29
Speaker 3: I mean they've pretty much turned around Matt Strom's career. Yeah,
18:33
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of a lot of guys who
18:35
Speaker 3: have been picked up by the Phillies and have outperformed
18:39
Speaker 3: what you would have thought, because I think that, you know,
18:41
Speaker 3: Caleb Kotham and his team do an incredible job with
18:45
Speaker 3: getting the most out of their pitchers.
18:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, all right, Well, as we are moving along here,
18:50
Speaker 1: I wanted to really talk about some NL East, you know,
18:55
Speaker 1: some some National League type of storylines. Here as we're
18:58
Speaker 1: concluding the discussion, I want to talk about the Mets
19:01
Speaker 1: with you because I love when the Mets are the Mets,
19:05
Speaker 1: and I look at their off season here that they're
19:07
Speaker 1: having and like, I can't help but smile. You know,
19:10
Speaker 1: they've lost Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonzo has now gone two
19:13
Speaker 1: very key players on that team and now they're going
19:18
Speaker 1: to be searching. So I'm wondering, how are you viewing
19:21
Speaker 1: the Mets this offseason given that they've lost these players,
19:24
Speaker 1: and I mean they really haven't signed like a huge
19:27
Speaker 1: difference maker this season. What are you thinking about with
19:30
Speaker 1: the Mets here in this offseason?
19:32
Speaker 3: Well, they did just sign Christian Pashe to a deal today.
19:35
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw.
19:35
Speaker 1: Okay, well there we go. I completely missed that.
19:40
Speaker 3: Deal, right, Okay, yeah no, But seriously, yeah, it's it's
19:46
Speaker 3: it's interesting seeing them lose das now. It seems like
19:50
Speaker 3: the Devin Williams signing may have been because they knew
19:52
Speaker 3: that was maybe coming. You know, he had an interesting
19:57
Speaker 3: season last year, so I'm not totally sold on him,
20:00
Speaker 3: you know, being great, the jore Polanco deal really seemed
20:05
Speaker 3: like kind of an overpay to me getting him, and
20:09
Speaker 3: he's if he's replacing Pete Alonzo, you're definitely losing a
20:12
Speaker 3: lot of power production from from first base and your
20:15
Speaker 3: DH there. I just I feel like the Mets are
20:20
Speaker 3: are not going to go into the season with with
20:23
Speaker 3: with the roster we're seeing right now, the amount of
20:26
Speaker 3: money they have, I think they're probably, you know, working
20:30
Speaker 3: on something, and my biggest fear is that it may
20:34
Speaker 3: be coming from the Al Central.
20:36
Speaker 2: Uh.
20:37
Speaker 3: The Tigers are probably going to look to trade Tarrek
20:40
Speaker 3: Scoobel at some point this season, for this offseason, because
20:43
Speaker 3: he's a free agent after this and the original offer
20:47
Speaker 3: that they made to him to try to extend him
20:49
Speaker 3: was embarrassingly low, so I think.
20:52
Speaker 2: They're probably not going to be able to pay him.
20:55
Speaker 3: I wonder if a team like the Mets are going
20:57
Speaker 3: to try to sneak into that sweepstakes there and get
21:01
Speaker 3: a guy of his caliber, because if that happens, uh,
21:04
Speaker 3: you know, I think we can look back at at
21:06
Speaker 3: you know, taunting them and some of these other moves
21:08
Speaker 3: they've made and be like, Okay, that ended up being
21:11
Speaker 3: a pretty a pretty good deal for them, so right,
21:14
Speaker 3: I think it's too early to tell.
21:16
Speaker 1: I think though, Well, now they've got Christian Pace, so yeah.
21:19
Speaker 2: So I mean they got He'll be down of grounder
21:23
Speaker 2: every once in a while.
21:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I'm sorry, I I completely interrupted you. Did
21:29
Speaker 1: you have a thought?
21:30
Speaker 2: You're fine? That was pretty much. I'm just I'm just waiting.
21:32
Speaker 2: I think I don't think that that's done yet.
21:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not. I agree, I absolutely agree. One Sodo
21:38
Speaker 1: thing last year. I think it got so many of
21:40
Speaker 1: us concerned to an extent of like, oh my gosh,
21:42
Speaker 1: now they're I mean, they've got one Soto now only
21:45
Speaker 1: cow but they just yes, he's there, and he's a
21:49
Speaker 1: really good baseball player, a really really good baseball player.
21:52
Speaker 1: But it just didn't do it didn't do what it
21:55
Speaker 1: needed to do necessarily because other pieces aren't into place
21:59
Speaker 1: for this team. And I love it. I love it too.
22:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, and baseball is not like the NBA, right, Like
22:03
Speaker 3: you can't just get a superstar and then automatically jump
22:07
Speaker 3: you know, three or four spots in the standings, like yep.
22:10
Speaker 3: It's there's so many of the factors that go into it.
22:12
Speaker 3: I mean, so to had overall, Like I know, sorry
22:15
Speaker 3: that you're not great, but overall you look at his
22:17
Speaker 3: numbers and I think he finished with a nine something ops, Like,
22:19
Speaker 3: I mean, the guy had a good season either way.
22:22
Speaker 3: But there's just so many other factors that go into it.
22:25
Speaker 3: And that's that's the great thing of baseball. You can't
22:28
Speaker 3: you can't always just buy that most expensive guy and win.
22:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely but yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, look buddy, before I
22:36
Speaker 1: let you go, just you know, to get into this
22:38
Speaker 1: NL East and I guess contending this Phillies team, possibly
22:42
Speaker 1: contending in Major League Baseball. Overall, I mean it's still December.
22:46
Speaker 1: We're still going to see a lot of teams out
22:47
Speaker 1: there making moves and acquisitions during this off season. But
22:51
Speaker 1: at this point, it really does seem like in terms
22:54
Speaker 1: of the NL East, you know, the Phillies are doing
22:56
Speaker 1: what they need to do to remain relevant, remain competitive
23:00
Speaker 1: live in this division, and I think in terms of
23:03
Speaker 1: overall contenders, perhaps in Major League Baseball overall, I don't
23:07
Speaker 1: think that's necessarily dipped too much here. Is that how
23:11
Speaker 1: you're seeing things as well?
23:13
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so.
23:14
Speaker 3: I mean, this team won right around ninety five games
23:16
Speaker 3: or right at ninety five games the last couple of years.
23:19
Speaker 3: You know, they won the NL East, which is a
23:21
Speaker 3: tough division, and I think from a Phillies fan perspective,
23:26
Speaker 3: it's a bit blinding because we saw like the Pinnacle
23:29
Speaker 3: in like twenty twenty two when they made a scoral season.
23:31
Speaker 2: Every year it's gotten a little bit worse.
23:32
Speaker 3: So it's like, but like during the regular season and
23:35
Speaker 3: on paper, this team is actually better than.
23:38
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, twenty two. It's they're
23:41
Speaker 2: getting better.
23:42
Speaker 3: It's just now getting across the finish line in the postseason.
23:45
Speaker 2: And not having the bats go quiet.
23:48
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think they're doing everything they need to
23:50
Speaker 3: to stay relevant and staying contention, you know, barring injury
23:54
Speaker 3: or something, that this team should be on their way
23:57
Speaker 3: to another postseason appearance. And I don't think they're necessarily
24:01
Speaker 3: done this offseason either, Like, do I think there's anything
24:03
Speaker 3: necessarily huge coming up?
24:05
Speaker 2: I don't think so. But I think you probably will
24:07
Speaker 2: see another bullpen arms signed or two. You might even see.
24:10
Speaker 3: A depth piece like starter, because remember Wheeler is going
24:14
Speaker 3: to be out for the first month or two of
24:16
Speaker 3: the season, so they're going to probably need some depth there,
24:19
Speaker 3: especially if Andrew Painter is not ready to you know,
24:23
Speaker 3: start on the opening day roster. They're going to need
24:25
Speaker 3: some help in that regard. And you know, the trade
24:28
Speaker 3: market seems to be where things really might be with
24:31
Speaker 3: this team, so there's probably some options there, and I
24:34
Speaker 3: really hope that they if they're able to acquire someone
24:38
Speaker 3: to play center field or just a more consistent piece
24:40
Speaker 3: in the outfield. On top of the Adulas Garcia move.
24:44
Speaker 3: I feel even more confident than I do going into
24:48
Speaker 3: this season, but I don't see how this team is,
24:50
Speaker 3: you know, much worse than the twenty twenty four twenty
24:54
Speaker 3: twenty five team. It just is all going to depend
24:57
Speaker 3: on what happens in October and that's really where this
25:00
Speaker 3: unfortunately struggles have happened.
25:02
Speaker 1: Yep, yeah they have, and let's let's hope twenty twenty
25:05
Speaker 1: six is gonna be different. My friend. Yes, uh, here's
25:09
Speaker 1: Eric Morritelli from that Ballsada here dot com at Eric
25:12
Speaker 1: underscore Moriatelli on the Twitter slash x my friend, it
25:16
Speaker 1: was great talking to you. Always enjoy our discussions and
25:19
Speaker 1: conversation about this Phillies team talking about baseball. Come back
25:22
Speaker 1: and join us down the road here. I'd love to
25:24
Speaker 1: have you back on the show, my friend.
25:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Jeff love joining love hopping on.
25:29
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk
25:31
Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
25:34
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25:37
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25:45
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25:48
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25:51
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26:00
Speaker 1: Take care of and we'll catch you next time.