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TABLE TALK: The Phillies Spring Training Experience · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, Everybody. It's Jeff here. I wanted to let
0:03
Speaker 1: you know.
0:03
Speaker 2: We recorded this podcast episode on Monday, March twenty fourth,
0:06
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. By the time you hear this, some
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Speaker 2: things may have changed here there, Bobbie. Hope you enjoy
0:11
Speaker 2: the show.
0:32
Speaker 1: What's Up everybody?
0:33
Speaker 2: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:36
Speaker 2: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:39
Speaker 2: in the world, close to twelve years strong. This April,
0:43
Speaker 2: we're gonna be celebrating our twelve year anniversary here at
0:45
Speaker 2: the PST podcast Show. I am Jeff Warren, and we
0:49
Speaker 2: got a great discussion coming your way. But first, if
0:52
Speaker 2: you have not yet subscribed to our YouTube channel, head
0:55
Speaker 2: on over there give it a subscribe. We've got some
0:57
Speaker 2: video content that is going to be coming your way
1:00
Speaker 2: sooner rather than later. That being said, we've got some
1:04
Speaker 2: great Phillies talk on the way. We're gonna be getting
1:06
Speaker 2: into spring training. What the spring training experience in Clearwater
1:10
Speaker 2: is like. We got a great guest, let's get right
1:12
Speaker 2: to it, joining us from that balls out of here
1:15
Speaker 2: at dot com. You know we love our fans sided
1:17
Speaker 2: sites and he was recently down in Clearwater we're gonna,
1:21
Speaker 2: you know, talk about with the spring training experience has
1:24
Speaker 2: been for him and what it's like for Phillies fans
1:28
Speaker 2: as well baseball fans in general. Find him on the
1:31
Speaker 2: Twitter slash x at Eric underscore Moritelli. We've got Eric Mortelly.
1:34
Speaker 3: How you doing, Buddy, I'm good, Jeff, how are you?
1:37
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right, man. I can't wait for the
1:38
Speaker 1: season to start.
1:39
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like right around the corner as we
1:41
Speaker 2: are recording this here on Monday, and I'm getting psyched.
1:45
Speaker 2: But you, my friend, were recently down in Florida in
1:49
Speaker 2: Clearwater for.
1:51
Speaker 1: Some good times.
1:52
Speaker 2: You and your wife were down there to watch the
1:54
Speaker 2: Phillies and taken some spring training experiences. And from my
1:59
Speaker 2: understanding and all the reading that I've done with regard
2:01
Speaker 2: to spring training, it was the Phillies seventy ninth season
2:05
Speaker 2: in clear Water and they're twenty second at the Bay
2:08
Speaker 2: Care Ballpark. And it's also my understanding that spring training
2:13
Speaker 2: is really becoming more and more popular as each year
2:16
Speaker 2: goes by. I remember talking to you a couple of
2:18
Speaker 2: weeks ago when you were on the podcast talking about
2:21
Speaker 2: how it's just tough to get some tickets to these
2:23
Speaker 2: spring training games down there within the Grapefruit League, just
2:26
Speaker 2: a popular, popular destination at this point in time of
2:30
Speaker 2: the year. So let's get the discussion started. How was
2:34
Speaker 2: this particular experience in terms of, you know, the game
2:37
Speaker 2: ticket experience. I guess we'll start there. You know, how
2:40
Speaker 2: was the game ticket experience? I think you were on
2:42
Speaker 2: the Berm from what we were talking about before, what
2:45
Speaker 2: was it like?
2:46
Speaker 3: It was great.
2:46
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, it was one of those things
2:48
Speaker 4: we were kind of in between we were looking at,
2:50
Speaker 4: you know, just transportation and lodging and everything getting down there.
2:53
Speaker 4: So that was the tickets were kind of last thing
2:54
Speaker 4: we got after everything else was taken care of. So
2:57
Speaker 4: we probably waited a little bit too long for a
2:59
Speaker 4: Saturday game. We got Burm seats though, and honestly, on
3:02
Speaker 4: the Saturday game and the Sunday we were down there,
3:04
Speaker 4: we were sitting and you know, on the first base side,
3:07
Speaker 4: kind of out in right field. But we did get
3:09
Speaker 4: seats for that and there were that wasn't as bad.
3:12
Speaker 4: But it's funny, tickets down there are like almost as
3:16
Speaker 4: expensive as you pay up at Citniss Bank Parker. Now, gosh,
3:20
Speaker 4: I think the Burm tickets were a little bit more affordable,
3:23
Speaker 4: but the actual seats themselves were like I think over
3:26
Speaker 4: fifty bucks a ticket.
3:27
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
3:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, for spring training.
3:29
Speaker 4: You wouldn't think it, especially because you look at like,
3:32
Speaker 4: you know, if you're going to a fresher's game when
3:33
Speaker 4: there's no major league team down there, they're cheap, you know,
3:36
Speaker 4: reading Lehigh Valley, very affordable.
3:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think it just goes to show that, like.
3:40
Speaker 4: You know, the better of the team is, the harder
3:43
Speaker 4: it's going to be to come by, right, Like you know,
3:45
Speaker 4: tickets are already harder to get up here in Philadelphia.
3:48
Speaker 4: Down there, I mean, you know, I think it's becoming
3:49
Speaker 4: a really popular thing. Like you said, I mean, it's
3:51
Speaker 4: it's great. You get out of the cold weather up here,
3:54
Speaker 4: you get into some nice Florida san good weather, even
3:56
Speaker 4: if it's even if it's like a little windy, even
3:58
Speaker 4: if it's in the low sixties down there, just how
4:00
Speaker 4: strong sun is it. It just feels great. But yeah,
4:03
Speaker 4: I mean, so tickets weren't like impossible to come by.
4:06
Speaker 4: I was just kind of surprised since the last time
4:07
Speaker 4: I was down there, which I think was like twenty eighteen,
4:10
Speaker 4: how much ticket prices had really gone up. Yeah, so
4:14
Speaker 4: that was the one, the one kind of shocker, but
4:16
Speaker 4: you know, only done that for a couple of days.
4:18
Speaker 1: So it's all worth exactly. And it's the market, I guess,
4:20
Speaker 1: you know.
4:21
Speaker 2: I mean, if it's if it's the Miami Marlins and
4:23
Speaker 2: you know, their spring training games probably not going to
4:26
Speaker 2: be on the same level of cost as the Phillies Dodgers,
4:29
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of where they play and with
4:32
Speaker 2: their spring training probably going to be pretty expensive. And
4:34
Speaker 2: of course we knew they were over and we knew
4:36
Speaker 2: that they were over in Japan, you know, playing the
4:38
Speaker 2: first season game. So it's interesting just how the market
4:42
Speaker 2: dictates some things though. But really wanted to talk about
4:45
Speaker 2: the fan experience with you. I know, the Phillies before
4:48
Speaker 2: spring training starts every year they put out a press relate,
4:51
Speaker 2: a press release talking about the fan experience down in
4:54
Speaker 2: spring training and things that you know, folks are able
4:57
Speaker 2: to do. What was that fan experience like for you,
5:00
Speaker 2: We're gonna get into some food in a little bit,
5:02
Speaker 2: We're gonna get into some merchant in a little bit too,
5:05
Speaker 2: those particular discussions, but like overall fan experience, did you
5:08
Speaker 2: have to like do it yourself to make the fan
5:11
Speaker 2: experience or did they have enough there at the ballpark
5:14
Speaker 2: in the surrounding areas to say, you know what, this
5:16
Speaker 2: is really cool.
5:17
Speaker 1: And quite an experience. How was How was that for you?
5:22
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think it kind of depends on what you're
5:23
Speaker 4: looking for, right, Like you know, you meant touched on
5:26
Speaker 4: the food and the merch and everything. That stuff's all
5:28
Speaker 4: very easy to find, uh, you know, some somewhat long
5:31
Speaker 4: lines for the merch and everything, But it really depends
5:33
Speaker 4: what you're looking for. Like, my my favorite thing, like
5:36
Speaker 4: you know, I'm gonna see the Phillies play up here
5:38
Speaker 4: when I'm down there. The game is like a very
5:40
Speaker 4: small part of like what I'm going to go see. Yeah,
5:43
Speaker 4: uh my my recommendation is if you're into like you know,
5:46
Speaker 4: seeing the prospects or getting a kind of close look
5:48
Speaker 4: at anything, is heading over just around the corner from
5:51
Speaker 4: the stadium to the Carpenter Complex where all the workouts
5:54
Speaker 4: take place. And you know, it's funny like even going
5:58
Speaker 4: you know, before I went down there, I always kind
6:00
Speaker 4: of looking to just see if there's like a schedule
6:01
Speaker 4: or anything about like who's going to be there, and
6:04
Speaker 4: there's not really. You just kind of got to go
6:05
Speaker 4: and you kind of wing it. There's there's four different
6:07
Speaker 4: fields that you can go look at. It seemed like,
6:10
Speaker 4: you know, one of them had had more of the
6:12
Speaker 4: major league guys and three of them were more minor league
6:14
Speaker 4: type type things. But you know, it's it's really cool
6:17
Speaker 4: because you're you're you're just you're so close, right, and
6:20
Speaker 4: it's basically like you're watching like you're as close as
6:22
Speaker 4: you can be to a little league game, but instead
6:25
Speaker 4: you're sitting there, you know, watching Aydon Miller and some
6:28
Speaker 4: of these guys take batting practice, or you know, seeing
6:32
Speaker 4: guys like Moist's ches throw off the mound. We've got
6:35
Speaker 4: to see you know, Alvarado Strom and a bunch of
6:37
Speaker 4: the bullpen guys, you know doing some fielding work and everything.
6:39
Speaker 3: So if you're kind of like, if you know what
6:41
Speaker 3: to kind of look for, it makes it a little
6:45
Speaker 3: bit easier. But I think you're a lot of.
6:47
Speaker 4: Fan experience is also not necessarily even just gamed ay center.
6:51
Speaker 4: Like you can go to the Carpenter Complex on on games,
6:54
Speaker 4: on on days where either they're off or they might
6:56
Speaker 4: be having a road game, you can go there, but
6:59
Speaker 4: there's just so many things to do down there.
7:01
Speaker 3: You know.
7:01
Speaker 4: You have you have Clearwater Beach with a bunch of
7:03
Speaker 4: different restaurants, The's Phillies fans everywhere, so ever you go,
7:05
Speaker 4: you're run into someone who you could talk about the
7:08
Speaker 4: Phillies other little We went out to Dunedin for for
7:12
Speaker 4: a day.
7:12
Speaker 3: When we were down there, they had an off day,
7:14
Speaker 3: so it's just really cool to kind of check out the.
7:17
Speaker 4: Surrounding area too, uh, and just and just kind of
7:20
Speaker 4: see what's all about, because it's not just you know,
7:21
Speaker 4: it's not just Philly Spring training.
7:23
Speaker 3: Right.
7:23
Speaker 4: Dunedin was awesome because it was a Blue Jays game
7:25
Speaker 4: that day and the town was just it was It
7:27
Speaker 4: was a lot of fun. So I really think, you know,
7:29
Speaker 4: if anyone's going down there, you know, maybe obviously get
7:32
Speaker 4: get to some games, but take in some of the
7:34
Speaker 4: kind of localish type type things too, because it's there's
7:38
Speaker 4: more to see than than just you know, Bay Care Ballpark.
7:41
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
7:41
Speaker 2: Look, I don't know about you, but when when I
7:44
Speaker 2: go and when a lot of other people go to
7:46
Speaker 2: different sports ballparks or stadiums or arenas, you know, the
7:51
Speaker 2: food is a very critical part of the experience. I
7:55
Speaker 2: mean up here in the Lehigh Valley. I love going
7:57
Speaker 2: to the Iron Pigs games, whether it's just if I'm
7:59
Speaker 2: going my elf or with my family and just experience
8:02
Speaker 2: experiencing all the cool foods that they have available each year.
8:06
Speaker 2: They're always changing up their menu year after year. I
8:09
Speaker 2: mean I remember at the Iron Pigs I like I
8:11
Speaker 2: had it was like it was called like a mac
8:13
Speaker 2: and cheese parfe And even though it didn't necessarily set well,
8:18
Speaker 2: but like with the pulled pork mac and cheese all
8:21
Speaker 2: mixed together, it was fantastic from a taste standpoint. Again,
8:24
Speaker 2: didn't necessarily settle the best. This was a few years ago,
8:28
Speaker 2: but it's just like kind of cool food like that.
8:30
Speaker 2: Do you get into the food experience at all? And
8:33
Speaker 2: you know what, what are your favorite food experiences you
8:36
Speaker 2: know down in Clearwater that you had when you and
8:38
Speaker 2: your wife were down there.
8:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you know, I I do like checking out
8:42
Speaker 4: food different stadiums, Like you say, Dodger Stadium, get the
8:45
Speaker 4: Dodger Dog. Like you're going a different places, you gotta
8:47
Speaker 4: go try out some of the local stuff. It's funny,
8:50
Speaker 4: clear Water it seems caters a lot to Philadelphia, you know,
8:55
Speaker 4: they have a Maco Maco down there. I didn't need
8:58
Speaker 4: to get that. I can get that up here, right,
9:00
Speaker 4: they do it. They have a Delco's Steaks that was good.
9:03
Speaker 4: I did have one of those one day. And there's
9:05
Speaker 4: one cool thing. It's not like something you know, I
9:07
Speaker 4: think people would like run to go go get, but
9:10
Speaker 4: it was actually really good. It was just I just
9:12
Speaker 4: kind of wanted something light for like a lunch before
9:15
Speaker 4: leaving the game, and they had this really cool like
9:18
Speaker 4: it was like a chicken salad sandwich with like fruit
9:21
Speaker 4: and fries and everything, little like combo meal.
9:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was unique. It's like, I don't you don't
9:27
Speaker 3: really get that at at a game very often. Yeah,
9:30
Speaker 3: but you know, once the.
9:31
Speaker 4: Game started, I kind of stopped, like I wasn't really
9:33
Speaker 4: looking around at food so much. They did have you know,
9:36
Speaker 4: all the different like little like ice cream type things
9:38
Speaker 4: you can get, uh in little snacks and stuff.
9:40
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say, at least from from what I saw.
9:44
Speaker 4: Now, maybe other people have been there and they're looking
9:46
Speaker 4: more more in depth at some of this stuff, but
9:48
Speaker 4: I didn't see anything that was like super like local
9:52
Speaker 4: to like to like clear water right, like you know,
9:54
Speaker 4: like there's no like like Gator bytes or or things
9:58
Speaker 4: like that that's not necessarily something maybe not everyone want
10:01
Speaker 4: to eat it a game, but they had you know
10:04
Speaker 4: a lot of the you know, kind of novelty type
10:06
Speaker 4: stuff like the big beer bats.
10:07
Speaker 3: And all that type of stuff.
10:09
Speaker 4: So yeah, the food is fine, and there's a bunch
10:15
Speaker 4: of different stands where you can get stuff.
10:17
Speaker 3: So I only went to about three of them. There's
10:20
Speaker 3: only so much.
10:21
Speaker 4: I was only two games, so only so much I
10:23
Speaker 4: could have could have eaten in that very true. Yeah, yeah,
10:26
Speaker 4: but so next time, maybe trying a different standard two.
10:30
Speaker 4: But there's there's there's plenty of options.
10:32
Speaker 1: Again, folks.
10:33
Speaker 2: We're talking to Eric Moretelly from that balls out of
10:35
Speaker 2: Here dot com over at fan sided and you can
10:38
Speaker 2: follow him on the Twitter slash x at Eric underscore Moretelly.
10:42
Speaker 2: Also you can search out Eric over on Blue Sky
10:45
Speaker 2: as well. I think he's the only Eric Moretelly over there.
10:47
Speaker 2: Give him a follow for sure. And I also wanted
10:51
Speaker 2: to talk to you within this discussion about clear Water,
10:54
Speaker 2: about the merch that may be available for you to purchase.
10:58
Speaker 2: And I asked this because like we were just talking
11:01
Speaker 2: about the food, you know, getting merch and merchandise just
11:04
Speaker 2: at a sporting event. I don't know, it just has
11:06
Speaker 2: like a different feel to it, like if I'm getting
11:08
Speaker 2: a brand new Phillies hat or shirt down a Citizens
11:11
Speaker 2: Bank park, Like it's just a different feel than getting
11:14
Speaker 2: the same stuff.
11:15
Speaker 1: Say it like maybe Rally House or something like that.
11:18
Speaker 2: I'm wondering, like do they have different merched kind of
11:21
Speaker 2: experiences as you are walking around the ballpark or within
11:25
Speaker 2: the vicinity there of clear Water. What was the merchandise experience, Like.
11:30
Speaker 3: They had a lot of cool stuff.
11:32
Speaker 4: So there's there's the main store, and then during Philly
11:35
Speaker 4: Springs training games, they have like a tank kind of
11:37
Speaker 4: down the other end of the stadium where you can
11:39
Speaker 4: go and it's a little bit smaller, but they have
11:41
Speaker 4: a lot of the same stuff that you could probably get.
11:44
Speaker 4: My experiences though, on game days it is very chaotic
11:49
Speaker 4: to buy anything in these stores. The lines are along,
11:51
Speaker 4: there's people in your way. I mean everyone's got the
11:53
Speaker 4: same idea, right, yeah, because you're right, it is cool
11:56
Speaker 4: to buy something from the actual place that you're at,
11:58
Speaker 4: not so much going that you know, Dick Rally House,
12:00
Speaker 4: Like you said, So what I what I figured was I'm.
12:03
Speaker 3: Like, Monday there, they're on the road. So as we were.
12:07
Speaker 4: Leaving the stadium, I asked a guy who was working
12:10
Speaker 4: outside the payout the checkout line at the store, are
12:14
Speaker 4: you guys open on you know, games or days where
12:17
Speaker 4: they're not playing here? And he said, yeah, so they're
12:20
Speaker 4: open I think ten to four that day. So I'm like, well,
12:22
Speaker 4: we're only like ten minutes from the stadium. So we
12:24
Speaker 4: came back Monday, Monday morning, and it was it was
12:27
Speaker 4: a breeze, so cool, and I hat shirt, cousey, a
12:31
Speaker 4: couple of the essentials to show that we were down there.
12:35
Speaker 1: So it's awesome. It's awesome.
12:37
Speaker 2: There is just a different feel when you get merch
12:39
Speaker 2: actually at the sporting event because of like what it
12:41
Speaker 2: means to you, you know. I remember going to an
12:43
Speaker 2: Eagles game, one of my first Eagles games actually at
12:46
Speaker 2: the Link, so my gosh, so many so many years ago,
12:49
Speaker 2: and I just I bought a black Eagles hat and
12:50
Speaker 2: it was just I was like, I've had it forever
12:53
Speaker 2: and it's like I'll always remember getting it as my
12:56
Speaker 2: first game at the Link. It's just just has a
12:58
Speaker 2: different feel to it. So, I mean, it was great
13:01
Speaker 2: at talking to you Eric about your time down in
13:05
Speaker 2: clear Water. But this season is right around the corner
13:08
Speaker 2: as we're recording this on Monday, and I just wanted
13:12
Speaker 2: to maybe get into a couple storylines with you here
13:14
Speaker 2: about this Phillies team as the season is right around
13:17
Speaker 2: the corner here, specifically with pitching here, we know that
13:20
Speaker 2: Ranger Suarez is gonna be sidelined for a bit, he
13:23
Speaker 2: is on the il due to a back issue. And
13:27
Speaker 2: we know that Taiwand Walker is gonna be the number
13:29
Speaker 2: five starter in the rotation, which isn't necessarily with the
13:33
Speaker 2: front office planned for the start of this season, certainly
13:36
Speaker 2: not what the rest of this fan base had hoped
13:40
Speaker 2: for to I don't necessarily think it's the end of
13:43
Speaker 2: the world. There are certainly concerns with Tywan Walker, especially
13:47
Speaker 2: you know from some of the things we've seen during
13:49
Speaker 2: spring training and just you know last year as well.
13:52
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts heading into this season as Tywan
13:55
Speaker 2: Walker is, you know, look going to be that fifth
13:58
Speaker 2: game starter, I should say, you know, within the rotation
14:02
Speaker 2: in terms of the news we got today, we may
14:04
Speaker 2: be seeing him two or three times on the mound
14:06
Speaker 2: right at the start of the season. Here.
14:08
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here on this?
14:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know you're right, Jeff. It's not
14:12
Speaker 4: the end of the world. It's not ideal obviously, but
14:15
Speaker 4: you know, it's funny like the beginning of the spring,
14:18
Speaker 4: you know, they were talking him up right, his velocities up.
14:21
Speaker 4: He had a couple of good outings down there, but
14:23
Speaker 4: his last two he got shelled again.
14:25
Speaker 3: Today.
14:26
Speaker 4: I think I think I saw he's giving up like
14:28
Speaker 4: ten orned runs in his last like seven and two
14:30
Speaker 4: thirds innings in his last two starts. So not necessarily
14:34
Speaker 4: the most all in or confidence inspiring way to end
14:39
Speaker 4: the spring. I don't put a ton of stock in
14:41
Speaker 4: the spring training stats. The issue here is like it
14:44
Speaker 4: just seems like it's more of the same with him,
14:46
Speaker 4: And is he actually any better? I don't know, but
14:49
Speaker 4: I mean the way the season usually starts out is
14:52
Speaker 4: at least with some of the off days built in
14:54
Speaker 4: for you know, bad weather and stuff, that can usually
14:56
Speaker 4: skip that fifth starter spot at least once, so hopefully
15:00
Speaker 4: we only have to see it like twice.
15:01
Speaker 3: Yeah.
15:02
Speaker 4: A bigger concern for me actually is is this ranger
15:05
Speaker 4: back issue because that was what was kind of plaguing
15:07
Speaker 4: him last year and I know, you know, back stuff
15:10
Speaker 4: can be one of those things, it can kind of
15:11
Speaker 4: be recurring, and especially in a contract here, you hate
15:15
Speaker 4: to see that happen to a guy you know, who's
15:17
Speaker 4: who's pitching for you know, his big money. Yeah, but
15:21
Speaker 4: I'm more concerned long term about Ranger and you know,
15:24
Speaker 4: if you can, you know, kind of fix this and
15:26
Speaker 4: get that settled in because you know, we were talking
15:28
Speaker 4: earlier about how the rotation is kind of like it
15:32
Speaker 4: it's probably the spotlight of the team. You know, Ranger
15:35
Speaker 4: goes down, you have Walker in there, and then Painter's
15:38
Speaker 4: not here, you know, till June or July. You're looking
15:40
Speaker 4: at a long stretch now where we're still in that
15:42
Speaker 4: same position we were in last year, not having that
15:44
Speaker 4: number five starter, And every time we get to that spot,
15:47
Speaker 4: it's almost like, can we pencil in a loss here
15:49
Speaker 4: unless the offense feels like going off.
15:51
Speaker 3: For eight runs?
15:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, So it's not the end of the world. It's
15:54
Speaker 4: certainly not encouraging. I'm just really hoping that Ranger recovers well, Like,
15:58
Speaker 4: give him time, if he needs to take two or
16:00
Speaker 4: three starts, take it, just come back healthy. So you're
16:02
Speaker 4: ready to go. Mike limits some of his innings too,
16:05
Speaker 4: so maybe will be healthy toward the end of the sea.
16:07
Speaker 2: It makes me wonder too, And I know it's a
16:09
Speaker 2: bizarre thing to think and even say, but I do wonder.
16:12
Speaker 2: I mean, if Tywn Walker really just craps the bed
16:15
Speaker 2: right out of the gate on that first game that
16:17
Speaker 2: he's on the mound, Like I wonder if if if
16:21
Speaker 2: Rangers still not ready to go, and it would happen
16:23
Speaker 2: to be maybe a second type of start, if we
16:25
Speaker 2: would actually see bullpen type of game, Like I could
16:29
Speaker 2: actually see that like right off the bat, and if
16:31
Speaker 2: that were to happen, what that actually means for Tywyn
16:35
Speaker 2: Walker and potentially his career with the Philadelphia Phillies. Like
16:39
Speaker 2: I'm just throwing that out there to people. I don't
16:40
Speaker 2: know if that would happen, but it's something the Phillies
16:43
Speaker 2: are gonna need to consider if if certain things go
16:46
Speaker 2: a certain way with Tywn Walker.
16:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
16:48
Speaker 4: Absolutely, they do have Joe Rosster they signed who can
16:51
Speaker 4: kind of who can basically be.
16:53
Speaker 3: That swingman role there.
16:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, so if that were the case, they do have
16:56
Speaker 4: that fallback option. And it's almost one of those things
16:59
Speaker 4: where it's like if it happens if he gets shelled
17:01
Speaker 4: that first time, try and put him in that swing
17:03
Speaker 4: man role. Let Joe Ross get a start and see
17:06
Speaker 4: how it goes, because I think at a certain point,
17:09
Speaker 4: you know, a fan frustration has already boiled over with Walker,
17:14
Speaker 4: just seeing some of the reactions and everything on social
17:16
Speaker 4: media yesterday when that news came out. He's not the
17:20
Speaker 4: most beloved athlete in the city. He seems like a
17:23
Speaker 4: nice guy. Nothing against the guy, but you know, when
17:26
Speaker 4: you're performing poorly now for and it's not just like
17:29
Speaker 4: a small stretch. He's been bad almost his whole contract.
17:31
Speaker 4: He had a good first half of the first season
17:33
Speaker 4: he was here, and then it's been bad after that.
17:35
Speaker 3: So I would really I mean, obviously it helps the team.
17:38
Speaker 4: I really want to see him come out and do
17:40
Speaker 4: well in fist starter role, But I just I don't
17:43
Speaker 4: have much confidence in it happened.
17:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, not encouraging what we've seen, But then again, we've
17:47
Speaker 2: seen some strange things and interesting things within the game
17:50
Speaker 2: of baseball with some of the talent in MLB, for sure.
17:53
Speaker 2: But Buddy, before I let you go, I did kind
17:56
Speaker 2: of want to get your thoughts on, you know, kind
17:59
Speaker 2: of an over all picture standpoint of what we may
18:03
Speaker 2: end up seeing when this season is all set and done,
18:08
Speaker 2: Because I think a lot of us who are talking
18:10
Speaker 2: about this pitching and how important and critical it's going
18:12
Speaker 2: to be for the success of this season. You know,
18:14
Speaker 2: we have that narrative over here, and then over on
18:17
Speaker 2: this side we have the narrative of the batting and
18:20
Speaker 2: the fact that you know, this is a pretty good
18:23
Speaker 2: lineup in terms of Major League Baseball players and this
18:26
Speaker 2: team potentially having success with this lineup. So again, when
18:30
Speaker 2: it's all said and done this season, when we think
18:32
Speaker 2: about what this season can and even should be for
18:36
Speaker 2: this Phillies team, do you think we're going to be
18:38
Speaker 2: talking about how the pitching was the most important part
18:40
Speaker 2: of this season or will we be talking about how
18:43
Speaker 2: the batting was the most important aspect of this twenty
18:46
Speaker 2: twenty five season.
18:47
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here?
18:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it depends on perspective and kind of
18:51
Speaker 3: how you look at it.
18:51
Speaker 4: I mean, I think that the expectations for the pitching
18:54
Speaker 4: is really high, right, So I think if they performed
18:57
Speaker 4: the way that they're kind of expected to and this
19:00
Speaker 4: team goes on a deep run in the postseason, you're
19:03
Speaker 4: gonna be looking at the pitching and saying, they kept
19:05
Speaker 4: this They kept this offense in a game all season long,
19:08
Speaker 4: and I fully expect them to do that. I mean,
19:09
Speaker 4: obviously every pitcher is gonna have their clunkers here and there,
19:12
Speaker 4: but I fully expect them to keep this offense in games.
19:15
Speaker 4: The offense, like you said, has a lot of pieces
19:18
Speaker 4: that can be really, really good. But I think if
19:22
Speaker 4: you know, if they kind of fizzle out like they
19:24
Speaker 4: did the last couple of seasons, the offense has already
19:27
Speaker 4: been a focal point this offseason. People have been talking
19:29
Speaker 4: a lot about the offense, when you know, because we
19:32
Speaker 4: tend to look at the negative, right I think when
19:34
Speaker 4: things go poorly, we look at the negative. And I
19:37
Speaker 4: think the offense is under a much bigger microscope right
19:40
Speaker 4: now because of the lack of consistency that they've seen,
19:43
Speaker 4: you know, potential lineup changes, you know, batting order, lineup
19:47
Speaker 4: changes for the most part.
19:48
Speaker 3: Ye.
19:49
Speaker 4: So I think it's almost like one of those things
19:52
Speaker 4: where for the offense, like you damn if you do,
19:53
Speaker 4: damn if you don't type thing, because you're under such
19:56
Speaker 4: that you're under a microscope like that, and you're the
20:00
Speaker 4: pressure is really there, So I'm really hoping like they
20:02
Speaker 4: seem to have better approaches in the spring, but again,
20:05
Speaker 4: it's spring trains, so it's a lot it's hard to
20:07
Speaker 4: take away what they're actually gonna how that's gonna transpire
20:10
Speaker 4: into the regular season. But I think I have a
20:13
Speaker 4: lot of confidence in this team, and I think when
20:15
Speaker 4: it's all said and done, if they go as far
20:18
Speaker 4: as I think they're gonna go, I think we're Are
20:19
Speaker 4: we talking about how this pitching staff is something special?
20:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think is. I think so too, And it's
20:25
Speaker 1: gonna be fun.
20:25
Speaker 2: I think this two thousand season, twenty twenty five season,
20:28
Speaker 2: I should say it is going to be very fun again, folks.
20:31
Speaker 2: He is Eric Morritelli from that Balls out of Here
20:34
Speaker 2: dot com, great fan sided site. You can follow him
20:37
Speaker 2: on the Twitter, slash acts at Eric underscore Moreatelly, and
20:41
Speaker 2: search out Eric over on Blue Sky as well. My friend,
20:44
Speaker 2: it was great talking to you. I'd love to have
20:47
Speaker 2: you on again at some point to talk about this
20:48
Speaker 2: Phillies team where they are in the NL East.
20:51
Speaker 1: Let's talk again down the road.
20:52
Speaker 3: My friend, absolutely, thanks for having me.
20:54
Speaker 2: Jeff, that's gonna do it for us here on table
20:57
Speaker 2: Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
21:00
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21:03
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Speaker 1: Take care and we'll catch you next time.