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TABLE TALK: The Phillies Made Trades...And Got Better! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:29
Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:32
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:35
Speaker 1: in the world twelve years strong. Got a great discussion
0:38
Speaker 1: coming your way on Table Talk this week as we
0:40
Speaker 1: dive into this Philadelphia Phillies team, what we've been seeing
0:43
Speaker 1: from them on the field, going to dive into the
0:45
Speaker 1: trades as well, some new acquisitions and some under the
0:49
Speaker 1: radar storylines that we should really be focusing on during
0:54
Speaker 1: the course of this season at this point here in
0:56
Speaker 1: August to join us from on Pattison dot com. We
1:00
Speaker 1: love talking to him, our good friend Tim Kelly.
1:02
Speaker 2: Hey, no, buddy, it's great to be back on with you. Jeff.
1:05
Speaker 1: Always great to talk to you. I love talking Phillies
1:07
Speaker 1: with you. I love talking baseball with you and Tim.
1:10
Speaker 1: Right off the bat, I have to say, I gotta
1:14
Speaker 1: get your take on this too, because I'm just starting
1:16
Speaker 1: to get so tired of certain sectors of this Phillies
1:19
Speaker 1: fan base that are constantly crapping all over this team
1:23
Speaker 1: and Rob Thompson, even though they've been in first place
1:27
Speaker 1: in the NL East for the majority of this season,
1:30
Speaker 1: and Rob Thompson's win percentage by the way as manager
1:33
Speaker 1: over these past few years is absolutely ridiculous. It's off
1:36
Speaker 1: the charts. This is a successful baseball team, period. That's
1:41
Speaker 1: what we want as fans, a successful baseball team to
1:45
Speaker 1: keep things entertaining, to keep things fun throughout the Major
1:48
Speaker 1: League baseball season. Here they're one of the top teams
1:51
Speaker 1: in Major League Baseball? Tim what would you say to
1:55
Speaker 1: these folks who have been real DeBie downers about this
1:58
Speaker 1: Phillies team at this point. I don't know if you've
2:01
Speaker 1: thought about it at all. It's really been on my mind.
2:03
Speaker 1: What are you thinking?
2:04
Speaker 2: Well, I would say that there are some legitimate concerns
2:07
Speaker 2: about whether you have enough starter or whether you have
2:11
Speaker 2: enough relief pitching even with Theron addition, and whether you
2:15
Speaker 2: have enough bats in the lineup outside of Shorebur Turner, Harper.
2:19
Speaker 2: Those are all fair criticisms to or questions. Absolutely none
2:23
Speaker 2: of them to me Fall and Rob Thompson right Fall.
2:25
Speaker 2: The fact that some pickups in the offseason, like Jordan
2:29
Speaker 2: Romano and Max Kepler, and even going back to last
2:32
Speaker 2: trade deadline with Austin Hayes that it didn't work out.
2:35
Speaker 2: So Rob Thompson, all the Phillies have done since he's
2:38
Speaker 2: become managers win games, and I can certainly point to
2:42
Speaker 2: individual decisions that maybe I would have made differently, But
2:45
Speaker 2: in general, yeah, I don't get the dislike for Rob
2:49
Speaker 2: Thompson because he's been the most successful manager in Phillies'
2:54
Speaker 2: history through this amount of games.
2:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And even in terms of where the team
2:58
Speaker 1: is at too. Again, you know, they having won against
3:02
Speaker 1: Detroit the last game in the series against Detroit put
3:04
Speaker 1: him first place over the Mets in the NL East too.
3:09
Speaker 1: It's not a perfect baseball season by any stretching. We're
3:11
Speaker 1: seeing other Major League Baseball teams that are supposed to
3:15
Speaker 1: be powerhouses, like the Dodgers at times, you know, even
3:17
Speaker 1: like the Astros. There are teams out there who are
3:20
Speaker 1: they quote powerhouse teams that are having challenges of their
3:24
Speaker 1: own too. So sometimes I think Phillies Nation needs to
3:26
Speaker 1: take a step back. I should say, certain entities within
3:28
Speaker 1: Phillies Nation needs to take a step back and say, Okay, look,
3:31
Speaker 1: things could be a lot worse. I mean, I personally
3:34
Speaker 1: remember twenty fifteen. Twenty sixteen, Yeah, not the greatest time
3:37
Speaker 1: in the world to be a Phillies fan. I'm like
3:40
Speaker 1: you said, there are certain challenges this team has, But overall,
3:44
Speaker 1: I'm pretty happy as a fan about where they are
3:47
Speaker 1: at right now. The sky is not falling by any
3:49
Speaker 1: stretched him.
3:51
Speaker 2: No, it's not falling. They're going to be in the
3:52
Speaker 2: playoffs and we'll see what happens there. I think, like,
3:55
Speaker 2: if you're making me pick who will win the World Series,
3:58
Speaker 2: the Phillies or the Field, I'd say the field, But
4:01
Speaker 2: I'd say that almost every year, and this year is
4:03
Speaker 2: especially wide open one where it's really there is not
4:07
Speaker 2: like an obvious team that is going to enter the
4:10
Speaker 2: postseason as the overwhelming favorite to win it all. So
4:14
Speaker 2: you get into the postseason and people don't like this,
4:16
Speaker 2: but a lot of it is who gets hot at
4:18
Speaker 2: the right time. And I think the Phillies have a
4:21
Speaker 2: one to two in their starting rotation with Wheeler and
4:23
Speaker 2: Sanchez that's probably the best in baseball the now of
4:26
Speaker 2: an elite closer, And for as much as the lineup
4:29
Speaker 2: might be top heavy, you could do worse and having
4:32
Speaker 2: Shorter and Harper as the two at.
4:33
Speaker 1: The top exactly exactly. And you know what makes postseason
4:37
Speaker 1: baseball fun the fact that sometimes you just don't know
4:40
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen and which teams are gonna get hot,
4:42
Speaker 1: which teams end up cooling off too. But the Phillies
4:45
Speaker 1: are gonna be in the mix for sure, and that's
4:46
Speaker 1: gonna be fantastic. So moving along with the conversation here, Tam,
4:51
Speaker 1: I want to get into these trades that we just
4:53
Speaker 1: saw from this past week what they mean for the team.
4:56
Speaker 1: I mean, I really like both trades, to be honest
4:58
Speaker 1: with you. And if I had to give the Phillies
5:00
Speaker 1: a grade after this trade deadline on the new talent
5:03
Speaker 1: that was acquired, that talent being Johann Duran and Harrison Bader,
5:08
Speaker 1: I'd actually give him a B plus maybe a minus
5:12
Speaker 1: tops because they upgraded two areas of this team that
5:16
Speaker 1: desperately needed it. They got better, in my opinion, and
5:18
Speaker 1: that's what you're supposed to do a trade deadlines. You
5:21
Speaker 1: mentioned Austin Hayes last year didn't necessarily work out, didn't
5:24
Speaker 1: really get better, But I think this year the team
5:27
Speaker 1: ended up getting better heading into August. Here, let's not
5:31
Speaker 1: also forget that David Robertson is now on the team
5:33
Speaker 1: after Dave Dombrowski, you know, wooed him from his home,
5:38
Speaker 1: his wife and his kids. He's going to be back
5:41
Speaker 1: in this ball club here. But first let's talk about
5:43
Speaker 1: the dominance that we have seen from Johann Duran bringing
5:48
Speaker 1: this team a closer. Finally, we can actually say that
5:53
Speaker 1: we have a closer on this team that we haven't
5:55
Speaker 1: been able to say in quite a long time. What
5:57
Speaker 1: were your thoughts on the trade initially, Tim, you know,
6:00
Speaker 1: and with what the Phillies organization had to give up
6:03
Speaker 1: and inevitably what Doran will mean for the future.
6:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. I thought it would take more to
6:10
Speaker 2: get him, to be honest with you, and that's not
6:11
Speaker 2: a disant anyone. I think Tay It's gonna be a
6:13
Speaker 2: really good offensive player. We'll see how he sticks overall
6:17
Speaker 2: at catcher, but he has a high upside. But he's
6:20
Speaker 2: eighteen years old, so he's years away from the majors.
6:23
Speaker 2: And I think mckabel can be a nice like number
6:26
Speaker 2: four starter for you. You're gonna get six years of
6:28
Speaker 2: control if you're the Twins. Makes sense that they were
6:30
Speaker 2: interested in him, but I was shocked that they got
6:33
Speaker 2: out of that trade without giving up Aiden Miller or
6:36
Speaker 2: Justin Crawford, one of the bigger They weren't going to
6:38
Speaker 2: give up Andrew Paynter in any circumstance, I'm convinced, but
6:42
Speaker 2: without having to give up one of those other big
6:43
Speaker 2: guys I am a little surprised by so trade wise,
6:47
Speaker 2: I think they did well there and it kind of
6:49
Speaker 2: speaks for itself what he's done in these first two
6:52
Speaker 2: appearances as a Philly. All of a sudden, the ninth
6:55
Speaker 2: inning is a rap like that's there's probably five guys
6:59
Speaker 2: in the that you can say that about, and the
7:02
Speaker 2: Phillies now have one, and it's I mean, the last
7:04
Speaker 2: one anything like that was Jonathan Papabon. That's a decade ago,
7:09
Speaker 2: Brad led Joway and Billy Wagner before that, But like
7:12
Speaker 2: it's been quite some time before you've had that guy
7:15
Speaker 2: where it's it's a wrap after they come in the game,
7:18
Speaker 2: and it makes a lot easier, even with other concerns
7:21
Speaker 2: in terms of getting the ball to him in the
7:23
Speaker 2: ninth inning, makes a lot easier when you know for
7:25
Speaker 2: sure who's coming on in the ninth and that nineteen
7:28
Speaker 2: times out of twenty they're shutting the game down.
7:31
Speaker 1: Do you think this possibly takes any pressure off of
7:34
Speaker 1: relievers like a Ryan Kirkering and like Matt Strom as well,
7:38
Speaker 1: because I do wonder, and you're you're behind the scenes
7:41
Speaker 1: a lot talking to these guys. You have relationship with
7:44
Speaker 1: some of the players too, Like I do wonder from
7:46
Speaker 1: a reliever standpoint, and have with this Phillies organization now
7:49
Speaker 1: for some time. Due to the uncertainty, like the lack
7:53
Speaker 1: of actual, like quote roles, if they're if that uncertainty
7:57
Speaker 1: kind of leads these guys down different rabbit holes in
7:59
Speaker 1: their brains and how that from a sports psychology standpoint
8:03
Speaker 1: could affect them in game time. Now there seems to
8:06
Speaker 1: be more of a because Doran's gonna be the closer.
8:10
Speaker 1: We know he's going to be the closer. He's gonna
8:12
Speaker 1: be that guy you were just talking about to really
8:14
Speaker 1: just get things done in that ninth inning. Like I
8:17
Speaker 1: wonder if that takes a little bit of pressure off
8:19
Speaker 1: some of the other relievers to know that, you know what,
8:22
Speaker 1: there may actually be some possible roles for them. What
8:25
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on.
8:25
Speaker 2: That, Well, I think it could do a degree because
8:28
Speaker 2: they know they're not pitching the ninth inning. At the
8:31
Speaker 2: same time, like I still think they're gonna go best
8:33
Speaker 2: matchup between innings six and eight, So I don't know
8:36
Speaker 2: that it takes a ton off of them, but it
8:38
Speaker 2: certainly takes something off of Rob Thompson to know that
8:41
Speaker 2: if you get through seven and eight six, sometimes you
8:45
Speaker 2: know you have really good starting pitching and you know
8:47
Speaker 2: you have an elite closer at the back end. So
8:49
Speaker 2: you got to figure your way how to navigate through
8:52
Speaker 2: those innings. But the ninth inning is no longer something
8:55
Speaker 2: that you have to navigate through.
8:57
Speaker 1: Right right, absolutely? All right, Well, let's move on to
9:01
Speaker 1: Harrison Bader here. There seems to be a split within
9:05
Speaker 1: the fan base about the Harrison Bader trade. Personally, I
9:08
Speaker 1: liked it. He's having a pretty good year offensively, as
9:10
Speaker 1: many of us know. His defense has also been pretty
9:12
Speaker 1: damn good too. Again, this is a team I think
9:14
Speaker 1: that ended up getting better in an area where they
9:17
Speaker 1: did need to get better, even a little bit better,
9:19
Speaker 1: I will take it at this point. What were your
9:21
Speaker 1: thoughts on the Harrison Bader trade here?
9:23
Speaker 2: Tim, Yeah, I think they got better. Now, whether they
9:26
Speaker 2: got better enough is a fair question, but I certainly
9:30
Speaker 2: think they got better. I know he didn't make a
9:32
Speaker 2: ton of an impact in his first series with the Phillies,
9:35
Speaker 2: and I would imagine you're gonna see him play a
9:38
Speaker 2: little bit more as time goes on. But he's always
9:41
Speaker 2: been a tremendous defender, and he's having a really good
9:44
Speaker 2: year offensively this year as well. So he gives you
9:47
Speaker 2: flexibility whether you want to play him in center or
9:49
Speaker 2: left field. So yeah, I think he's a good pickup. Now,
9:52
Speaker 2: I would be lying if I said I didn't think
9:55
Speaker 2: they needed a number four hitter as opposed to like
9:57
Speaker 2: a number six or seven. But certainly the Phillies are
10:00
Speaker 2: better with him than they were without him.
10:02
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I completely agree. Again, folks, we're talking to Tim
10:05
Speaker 1: Kelly from on Pattison on Pattison dot Com. A lot
10:09
Speaker 1: of great content over there, Tim. Before we take a
10:12
Speaker 1: quick break here to pay some bills, why don't you
10:15
Speaker 1: tell everybody where they can find you on the interwebs
10:16
Speaker 1: out there if they want to follow you.
10:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, everything on Pattison dot Com and then at Tim
10:21
Speaker 2: Kelly Sports on all social channels.
10:23
Speaker 1: All right, very good, folks. We're gonna take a quick break.
10:26
Speaker 1: We're gonna be back in just a bit. Talk more
10:28
Speaker 1: Phillies with you. All right. We are back, and we
10:33
Speaker 1: got to get into more Phillies talk here, and specifically
10:37
Speaker 1: we got to get into one particular pitcher who you know,
10:40
Speaker 1: you go through time watching this Phillies pitching staff and
10:44
Speaker 1: the starting pitching and you think to yourself, boy, we
10:47
Speaker 1: have been blessed over the years to have certain pitchers
10:50
Speaker 1: who have just been so incredible that you don't think
10:53
Speaker 1: to yourself, wow, could they falter? Every now and again.
10:57
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Zach Wheeler here and want to dive
10:59
Speaker 1: into him. As we know tim, he has been having
11:02
Speaker 1: some challenges as of late. It's something that we're not
11:05
Speaker 1: used to seeing. Again, I think so many in the
11:08
Speaker 1: fan base just kind of take for granted that we've
11:10
Speaker 1: had an arm like him for so long. Here. I
11:13
Speaker 1: guess it's a general question here, but what is happening
11:16
Speaker 1: with Zach Wheeler here?
11:18
Speaker 2: Well, I think he's just struggled with his control since
11:20
Speaker 2: the All Star break, but he's earned the benefit of
11:23
Speaker 2: the doubt and I have little question that he's going
11:27
Speaker 2: to get back on the track. Whether he's going to
11:29
Speaker 2: win the cy Young I would say it's a long
11:31
Speaker 2: shot that he catches Paul Skins at this point, but
11:34
Speaker 2: he's going to be right in that mix, most likely
11:36
Speaker 2: probably with Christopher Sanchez at this point. And yeah, I mean,
11:40
Speaker 2: I think still going into the postseason, assuming you get there,
11:43
Speaker 2: which I think they will, you have an excellent one
11:46
Speaker 2: two with Zach Wheeler and Christopher Sanchez, So it it's
11:49
Speaker 2: not something I can get too worried about.
11:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, how does a pitcher who is so seasoned, a
11:55
Speaker 1: pitcher who has been dominant you talk about the control
11:59
Speaker 1: that he's kind of loss he's trying to find it.
12:01
Speaker 1: How I mean, you're a baseball expert, at least in
12:04
Speaker 1: my opinion, you're a baseball expert. One of the reasons
12:06
Speaker 1: why I want to have you on the pod. How
12:08
Speaker 1: does that happen in pitching? How does it happen where
12:11
Speaker 1: a pitcher is seasoned in such a veteran like Zach Wheeler,
12:16
Speaker 1: they just start to lose it. Can you kind of
12:18
Speaker 1: just take us through that and what you know and
12:20
Speaker 1: talking to pitchers over all these years, how and why
12:23
Speaker 1: does that happen? Then consequently, how do they get it back?
12:26
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good question. I don't know that I'm
12:28
Speaker 2: like the most qualified person to give that. I would say,
12:32
Speaker 2: he said on Saturday, like, it's just kind of one
12:35
Speaker 2: of those things that happens throughout the course of the
12:36
Speaker 2: season and you kind of figure it out. He threw
12:39
Speaker 2: a complete game late in the first half. You head
12:42
Speaker 2: off through the All Star break like that can throw
12:44
Speaker 2: you off your.
12:45
Speaker 1: Routine a little bit.
12:46
Speaker 2: So I just I think he will get back on track.
12:50
Speaker 2: I think that's the important part.
12:51
Speaker 1: There's mental stuff that goes on for sure when it
12:53
Speaker 1: comes to the professional sports world. Do Zach Wheeler's going
12:57
Speaker 1: through a little bit, But I agree with you. I
12:58
Speaker 1: think he is going to get back to it sooner
13:00
Speaker 1: rather than later. There is another gentleman on this team
13:03
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about as we're moving along here, Tim,
13:05
Speaker 1: and that's Bryson Stott. Boy, he's been having some challenges
13:10
Speaker 1: behind the plate, to say the least, and at this
13:13
Speaker 1: point as somebody who initially before the season started, I
13:17
Speaker 1: was looking at him as the comeback player for the
13:19
Speaker 1: Phillies team this year, that comeback kid. We were talking
13:22
Speaker 1: about him on our Phillies preseason show about how much
13:27
Speaker 1: we were looking forward to seeing his growth in his
13:30
Speaker 1: development this year. At this point, and I'm wondering, if
13:33
Speaker 1: it's fair, I'm wondering how we should be looking at
13:36
Speaker 1: Bryson Stott at this point, not only here in twenty
13:38
Speaker 1: twenty five, but his career as a whole. What are
13:42
Speaker 1: your thoughts here?
13:43
Speaker 2: I think you should look at him as a platoon
13:45
Speaker 2: with Edmundo Sosa. That's what he is right now. Sosa
13:48
Speaker 2: plays against lefties. Stott plays against righty's. Stott fields very well.
13:54
Speaker 2: He can steal bases, but he just is not hitting
13:58
Speaker 2: enough to justify anything beyond that. So he hasn't developed
14:02
Speaker 2: necessarily into the guy that I think many people thought
14:05
Speaker 2: he could be. It's good to foul off pitches, but sometimes,
14:09
Speaker 2: like I think one of the things we've realized this
14:11
Speaker 2: year is like some of those pitches you should just
14:13
Speaker 2: be putting him play. Yeah, so I think like the
14:17
Speaker 2: jury's still out on him.
14:19
Speaker 1: So you think it is jury's still out on him.
14:20
Speaker 1: We need to really start giving him the benefit of
14:23
Speaker 1: the I don't know benefit of the doubt is.
14:24
Speaker 2: The right phrase, but yeah, maybe that's not the right
14:26
Speaker 2: way to phrase it. But I would say he's going
14:28
Speaker 2: to be here the rest of this year, and you
14:30
Speaker 2: can make a decision in the offseason. I would say
14:32
Speaker 2: there's not a ton of great second basement around the
14:35
Speaker 2: sport right now, so I don't know that you're going
14:38
Speaker 2: to upgrade from him in the offseason, but certainly need
14:40
Speaker 2: more than you've gotten this season.
14:42
Speaker 1: I think that's fair to say absolutely. All right, well, buddy,
14:45
Speaker 1: before I let you go, we always love talking about
14:48
Speaker 1: under the radar storylines with our Philly sports teams that
14:51
Speaker 1: we cover here at Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, And
14:53
Speaker 1: as we're in the second half of this Philly season here,
14:57
Speaker 1: I'm wondering your thoughts. You know, again, you cover this
14:59
Speaker 1: team on a daily basis over it on Pattison dot Com.
15:03
Speaker 1: You are also you know, you're also in the locker
15:06
Speaker 1: room with these guys too as well. So what's an
15:08
Speaker 1: under the radar storyline that's really not getting enough attention
15:12
Speaker 1: that you think we should be following more As it
15:15
Speaker 1: pertains to this Phillies team.
15:17
Speaker 2: I would say, I'm interested to see what happens when
15:19
Speaker 2: Alec Bowe comes back. How effective is he They need
15:24
Speaker 2: another guy in the middle of that order, particularly right
15:26
Speaker 2: handed guy, So how can he get on a heater
15:30
Speaker 2: or is he kind of like down the stretch last year?
15:33
Speaker 2: I think the hand injury ultimately bothered him more than
15:35
Speaker 2: they let.
15:36
Speaker 1: On at the time.
15:37
Speaker 2: Is he able to come back from this rib injury
15:39
Speaker 2: and make a big impact, whether you think he should
15:41
Speaker 2: be like the number four or five hit or he's
15:43
Speaker 2: gonna be that. So they need a bigger impact from
15:47
Speaker 2: him than they got in the first half of the season,
15:49
Speaker 2: and if he's able to do that, then that kind
15:51
Speaker 2: of raises their ceiling in the postseason.
15:53
Speaker 1: And I think based on what al I'm sorry, what
15:56
Speaker 1: Aaron Nola is going to do the rest of this
15:59
Speaker 1: season is really going to determine, am I right in
16:02
Speaker 1: how the playoffs might actually go. Here is because he's
16:06
Speaker 1: been he has been a key part of this starting
16:08
Speaker 1: rotation during the course of the postseason, now for how long.
16:12
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think I think there's a good possibility
16:15
Speaker 1: that the Phillies postseason it's going to be contingent upon
16:19
Speaker 1: how Aaron Nola really trans like how he gets back
16:22
Speaker 1: hopefully to form.
16:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, game one is gonna be Zach Wheeler, Game two
16:26
Speaker 2: is going to be Christopher Sanchez, and game three I
16:28
Speaker 2: still think is up for grabs. Certainly if you get
16:30
Speaker 2: to the situation in the NLCS or World Series where
16:32
Speaker 2: there's a Game four, it's up for grabs. So, yeah,
16:35
Speaker 2: how he comes back, and it also just determines how
16:38
Speaker 2: you feel about him moving forward. So yeah, he's been
16:42
Speaker 2: the picture of stability until this year. Can he get
16:45
Speaker 2: back on that track down the stretch. It'll be interesting
16:47
Speaker 2: to see.
16:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely will again, folks. Tim Kelly from on Pattison dot
16:53
Speaker 1: com always enjoy talking to you, buddy. It's great talking
16:56
Speaker 1: baseball with you all the time. Great talking Phillies with you.
16:59
Speaker 1: Come back join us down the road. I'd love to
17:00
Speaker 1: have you back on my friend.
17:02
Speaker 2: All right, thanks, chef.
17:04
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk
17:06
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17:09
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17:12
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Speaker 1: at Philadelphia Sports Table, and over on Instagram as well.
17:35
Speaker 1: Take care and we'll catch you next time.