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Spring Training Has Begun For The Phillies! (PST Episode 554) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know. We
• 0:02
  recorded this podcast episode on Wednesday, February twenty first, twenty twenty four.
• 0:06
  By the time you hear this, some things may have changed, but we
• 0:09
  hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
• 0:38
  the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over ten and
• 0:41
  a half years strong. I am Jeff Warren. I'm here of my good
• 0:45
  buddy Eric Leonard, and we got some great Philly sports talk come on your
• 0:49
  way this week. I mean, even though we're in a law here with
• 0:53
  regard to the sports world, we got some good stuff coming. How you
• 0:56
  doing, Eric, Nana the word law is uh being kind. Yes,
• 1:02
  there ain't much happened. The NBA is not back in session yet. The
• 1:06
  Phillies just got to clear Water. Yep. The Eagles they're in that dead
• 1:10
  period where they can't sign it these there's nothing happening right. If the Flyers
• 1:14
  won three one tonight to beat the player called yes, my favorite team.
• 1:19
  They're six in the conference. I only know this because we talked two minutes
• 1:22
  before. We just turn on the mics and I did a couple of weeks
• 1:26
  ago. I did say, Jeff, I promise I'm gonna watch a Flyers
• 1:30
  game this weekend, and I flipped it on. It was Philly and versus
• 1:34
  Boston. I swear. Ten minutes later they were down four nothing, and
• 1:40
  I'm like, this is this what I've been missing. We're having a good
• 1:44
  season though, like you told me, I had. I had ten minutes
• 1:47
  of experience with them, and it was the worst hockey they played all year.
• 1:49
  So I'm just not gonna watch again. All right. Yeah, I
• 1:52
  mean that's the extent of the Flyers talk we're going to get into this week
• 1:55
  folks. Right there. That's it. Aarma Mater beat Illinois tonight, yeah,
• 2:00
  twelve, yeah, yeah, going man sports sports. My son is
• 2:07
  upstairs watching Brazil versus Puerto Rico Gold Cup Women's Gold Cup qualifier soccer. There
• 2:16
  you go. That's where we're at, folks. Just to give you a
• 2:22
  little preview of what we're gonna be getting into, folks. We're going to
• 2:24
  certainly get into some Sixers talk and really, you know, try to answer
• 2:29
  the question. We're gonna be asking the question, should the Sixers give Buddy
• 2:32
  Healed an extension in the future? Yes, After four games should they do
• 2:37
  it? And then from there we're gonna get into a dominant women's basketball player.
• 2:44
  She is a phenom. Everybody should know her name, Caitlin Clark.
• 2:46
  If you don't know her name, stay tuned for that particular story and segment
• 2:51
  that we're going to be getting into. From there, we're going to talk
• 2:53
  about the Philadelphia Eagles and whether or not they should get a veteran defensive tackle
• 2:58
  during this offseason. A lot of quote marks with regard to that defensive line
• 3:00
  and specifically the defensive tackle position. And as Eric said, spring training has
• 3:07
  started, pitchers and catchers and then some have reported down to Clearwater and just
• 3:13
  some overall thoughts about this upcoming season. Here. Now, what we're thrown
• 3:15
  down on the table this week, our good friend Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports.
• 3:20
  He's going to be joining us to talk about this Phillies upcoming season and
• 3:23
  some of the storylines that we're going to be following during spring training and throughout
• 3:27
  twenty twenty four. So Eric, man, let's get into some sixers talk
• 3:31
  here because All Star Break is getting ready to conclude here. We're recording this
• 3:37
  Wednesday this week. Believe the sixer is gonna be playing Thursday night. They're
• 3:40
  gonna be playing the Knicks. I believe getting this next Basically half of the
• 3:46
  season started here without again Joel Embiid and what this team is going to need
• 3:52
  to do and what Nick Nurse is going to need to do with the talent
• 3:53
  he has there in Philly, of course, without the best player in basketball.
• 4:00
  But it's a small sample size, as I mentioned earlier, four games,
• 4:04
  but Buddy healed, man, I mean, an incredible four games thus
• 4:10
  far. And look, some of these numbers probably aren't gonna hold up,
• 4:13
  but he's playing thirty nine minutes a night thus far in Philly, twenty two
• 4:16
  point three points per game, seven and a half assists, one point eight
• 4:20
  steals per game, and that's to go along with him shooting just over fifty
• 4:25
  two percent from the field forty five percent from three point range. And it's
• 4:31
  great to have him there, really, I mean, his three point volume
• 4:35
  and skill, plus his play off the dribble and as a passer just has
• 4:42
  been I think showing us over these four games, Eric, how much he
• 4:44
  can really elevate this Sixers offense. And you know, I'm thinking to myself,
• 4:48
  man, they got to give this guy an extension over like they they
• 4:53
  need him because what he has been giving this team in the various skill sets
• 5:00
  that he has it thus far has been such a great move by Daryl Morey.
• 5:04
  In fact, you know, it's taken pressure off of Tyrese Maxi right
• 5:09
  now and his off ball play, his movement and just complimentary scoring that he's
• 5:14
  gonna end up providing alongside Joel Embiid. I think it's gonna be perfect for
• 5:17
  what this offense is gonna need when Joel Embiid comes back. So Buddy Healed
• 5:23
  this particular situation and Era, I actually think it's pretty good, and I'm
• 5:28
  actually optimistic about where the Sixers are gonna be going for the remainder of this
• 5:31
  season. I was talking about it with our friend Matt Rodgers on the Table
• 5:34
  Talk show this past week. Eric. But like Buddy Healed is an important
• 5:39
  cog now in this team and an important piece. So I I honestly I
• 5:45
  think they may want to extend him if he's gonna continue this production. Yeah,
• 5:51
  you got to give it to you got to give to the GM.
• 5:55
  I mean, Mory gave up a bag of peanuts for the guy. Yeah,
• 5:59
  I know he's in a in a contract year expiring year. But to
• 6:04
  get him for pretty much nothing just it was it was it was a win
• 6:09
  win, you know, for the for the Sixers, there was no downside
• 6:12
  of that trade. And man, he the last three games before the All
• 6:15
  Star Break, they they lost that they lost that Heat game they could have
• 6:19
  won. But you know, they beat the Wizards, they beat the Cavs
• 6:24
  in Cleveland and just played really well. And Healed and Maxie play compliment each
• 6:28
  other pretty well. Defensively. It's kind of a mess, which you knew
• 6:31
  was gonna happen, But the Sixers knew that when they brought Healed in without
• 6:35
  and be there. It's just we're gonna have to outscore teams, and they'll
• 6:40
  struggle against teams like the Heat, who are really good defensively. But I
• 6:45
  like the way those two play it. And you can you can tell Healed
• 6:48
  was kind of there were too many guys in Indiana, right, and Buddy,
• 6:53
  Buddy kind of got bent or kind of just lost playing time. And
• 6:56
  you know, and when you're on a decent team and you're not playing anymore
• 7:00
  and your your job kind of went away, like you probably you know,
• 7:02
  he he was shooting thirty eight percent from three. You know, it wasn't
• 7:05
  having the best season. He comes to the Sixers, has four really really
• 7:12
  good games. He's shooting forty five percent for three. Obviously he's reinvigorated.
• 7:15
  I mean I would be in I would be a little careful in terms of
• 7:19
  resigning him. You know, he's thirty one years old. But if but
• 7:25
  thirty one now in the NBA is like not, you know, that's not
• 7:28
  terrible anymore. No, and my god, like this this team has always
• 7:33
  needed shooting, you know, even post even sorry what's the guy's name,
• 7:41
  the white guy, the announcer now the kid from Duke JJ Redick, Sorry,
• 7:46
  just he You know, they've been looking for shooters. You know,
• 7:49
  they had they had Curry's brother for that one season. I thought, this
• 7:51
  is awesome, but they traded him. But they've always kind of needed some
• 7:56
  shooting. And Max's a good shooter. And it's like I for was a
• 8:00
  decent shooter, not like Buddy. Heel like he has not just shooting.
• 8:03
  He can go to the rim. He's he is the ideal player. If
• 8:07
  you want to keep if you want to keep him beat around, you know,
• 8:13
  you just got to give him some good guards with shooting in that.
• 8:15
  I think he fits the bill and you could afford to sign him, you
• 8:18
  know. The I think like they have the most ridiculous like set of contracts
• 8:24
  next year, Like literally it's just Maxine Embiid yea or a contract. They
• 8:28
  could waive everyone else. There's no player options. It's just those two.
• 8:33
  They could sign heel but my only thing would be like, don't don't make
• 8:37
  it some ridiculous exactly. Well, yeah, yeah, I mean I could
• 8:41
  see I could see a four year deal. I mean do you think that.
• 8:46
  I God, I would jump at that exactly. Yeah, four years
• 8:50
  if you could get it to one hundred, one hundred and twenty somewhere in
• 8:54
  there, Like that's not insane. The cap is going up. Ye,
• 8:58
  you're got to pay eventually, but this is a team with embiid you're gonna
• 9:03
  have to go into the luxury tax eventually. They're not going to be at
• 9:07
  the h what's the term top, the top the top of the rope or
• 9:11
  the top bill Like they're like the teams like the Lakers and the uh,
• 9:16
  the uh, the the Golden State Warriors. You know, they're Yeah,
• 9:18
  they've been in the luxury tax for ages. Now the Sixers aren't even near
• 9:22
  that. So I to bring him back because he can shoot and that's kind
• 9:28
  of what you need around him. Be like, I would absolutely bring him
• 9:30
  back again. It just can't be like some two hundred million dollar absurd deal
• 9:33
  exactly exactly. Look like I said, I'm optimistic about where the team is
• 9:37
  going to go. I do think Embid's going to come back before the end
• 9:41
  of the regular season. I do think he will. I know, the
• 9:43
  last time you were on with me, Eric, we talked about the fact
• 9:46
  that you know it's gonna take him some time to get back into some basketball
• 9:50
  shape. Of course, that first game he comes back, it's it's not
• 9:54
  gonna be joe El Embiid scoring forty points. That's not gonna happen. I
• 9:58
  know that. I think six Ers Nation needs to know that as well.
• 10:01
  But the fact of the matter is he will be coming back, and there
• 10:05
  is gonna be even though it's gonna take him time to get back into basketball
• 10:07
  shape, there's gonna be a freshness to him, I think, and with
• 10:13
  that is going to come I think some positive success down the stretch. I
• 10:18
  really do. I am not under the impression that this Sixer season is over
• 10:22
  at all. There are some factions out there that say, oh, it's
• 10:26
  done. You know, Joel, he's not gonna he's not gonna be MVP.
• 10:28
  Blah blah blah. Who cares about that? However, you know he
• 10:33
  is going to come back. I think so because we've seen his resiliency over
• 10:37
  the years, and because of that resiliency, because the type of player is,
• 10:41
  and like I said, the best player in the world. He's going
• 10:43
  to be back on this court at the Wells Fargo Center, and I think
• 10:48
  we're gonna see some positive stuff from this team, for sure. I'm not
• 10:52
  I am Sutrelian, and I want to write this team off. I know
• 10:54
  the last time I was on the shows two weeks ago, and it just
• 10:58
  seemed grim. It did just happened. We didn't have we didn't have Buddy
• 11:01
  healed yet, and we're like, what the hell are we gonna do?
• 11:03
  Right, But they're excuse me. They're currently sitting fifth in the conference,
• 11:11
  but it's kind of it's kind of like logjam between three and six. Yeah,
• 11:16
  so the Sixers are right there. They play the Knicks tomorrow night,
• 11:20
  and we're talking about in the injury is horrific for this team because he's the
• 11:26
  best player by far in this team. But every team is gonna have injuries.
• 11:28
  The Knicks are like og and Andobi had surgery. Julius Randall's already out.
• 11:33
  Like it's not like every team is healthy and just blowing past us,
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  you know. And I don't believe in the Knicks or the Cavaliers, to
• 11:39
  be honest with you, I really don't. I believe in the Knicks.
• 11:45
  I think if everyone's healthy, that's a scary ass team. Cleveland, I'm
• 11:52
  I'm not so sure about. I thought they would have made another deal or
• 11:56
  two at the trade Dewnley. They didn't really do anything. They did nothing.
• 11:58
  I know they're playing really well, but I I don't know. They
• 12:00
  don't have enough to make make it to the conference finals. I would have
• 12:03
  made some kind of trade. But every tea's gonna have everything's gonna have injuries.
• 12:07
  The Bucks are old, you know, Doc is a new coach.
• 12:11
  I they they lost, God, they lost their last game before they all
• 12:15
  start breaking. I was like, I forge who they play, but it
• 12:18
  was just one of those horrific Doc rivers. They just fell apart at the
• 12:20
  end of the game, and I was like, whoa, this is this
• 12:22
  the favorite to win the East? Like they played what didn't they play?
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  Didn't they? Or no, they played Memphis, Miami and Denver. Yes,
• 12:30
  it was the Memphis game they lost. Yes, they were the way
• 12:33
  up and to collapse like that against a abysmal Memphis team. Yes, he
• 12:39
  kicked the ship out of them before that. So like, I'm not scared
• 12:43
  of them either. And they're they're they're old, Like that's an old team,
• 12:46
  you know. And with Doc Rivers coaching them too, I mean,
• 12:50
  my gosh, I mean they are struggling worse than when they actually got them.
• 12:54
  We have the best coach of the top six teams. Yes, you
• 12:58
  know that's that. That is I don't think you can even deny that.
• 13:03
  But the one thing about him be coming back though when he does, is
• 13:09
  he's he's gonna look soft, he's gonna look slow. You know, probably
• 13:13
  gets tired pretty easily. But the difference between him a couple of years ago
• 13:16
  where you were like, uh, oh it's fat embiid uh not fat,
• 13:22
  just not in shape, you know, that was the that was the thing
• 13:26
  with him. He was always winded by the fourth quarter and his arms weren't
• 13:28
  cut offensively, he's a he's a complete he's he's he's a he's a finished
• 13:33
  product where he was. This is the first time he's had a major injury.
• 13:37
  But he's also a finished product offensively. Yep. So even when he
• 13:41
  comes back, he'll be able to hit threes, the twenty footers, the
• 13:45
  free throws, like he's gonna he's gonna be able to still score three points
• 13:50
  a game, but not be in the best shape. Ye Like, he's
• 13:52
  gonna be a little more like Jokic probably than he ever was, because he's
• 13:58
  such a you know, he's he's so good around the basket. I think
• 14:00
  he's guys, you're gonna shoot more from the outside. But I'm okay with
• 14:03
  that, because again, his game is finally come full, like he's this
• 14:07
  is the best he's ever going to be offensively. Many people said he forget
• 14:11
  interview, he was the best big man offensive display ever, and I tend
• 14:18
  to agree when it's explained of how he was scoring as a big man.
• 14:20
  Yep. Absolutely, We're going to keep on top of it here at the
• 14:22
  PST podcast show, and we wanted to stick with the basketball theme too,
• 14:28
  because you know, if you did not know this lady who is playing women's
• 14:33
  basketball at Iowa for the buck Eyes, Caitlin Clark. You need to know
• 14:39
  about her. She is awesome. I mean more people need to know who
• 14:43
  she is and what she has done, not just for women's college basketball and
• 14:48
  for basketball in general, but just women's sports. My gosh, it just
• 14:54
  yet again another woman that we are seeing breaking sports barrier. So just this
• 15:01
  past week she became she became the all time leading scorer in NC DOUBLEA women's
• 15:09
  basketball again, all time, you know, in her in vintage fashion,
• 15:15
  she had a three pointer from the edge of the Hawkeye's logo at center court
• 15:20
  to clinch that record, and it was something of beauty, it was poetry.
• 15:24
  But my gosh, I mean, she has done incredible, incredible things
• 15:31
  on a basketball court, and I just I just don't think that she has
• 15:35
  gotten her due, because she's getting she's getting ready to break the men's scoring
• 15:39
  record that was set by Pete Marvich. He holds the men's Division one scoring
• 15:46
  record in the NC Double A with three six hundred and sixty seven points.
• 15:50
  She's just ninety nine points away with four games remaining, three thousand, five
• 15:54
  hundred and sixty nine career points she has right now, and apparently right now,
• 16:00
  the NCAA Women's Tournament, they're almost sold out at this point. From
• 16:06
  what I understand, fewer than two thousand tickets across seven sessions remain within with
• 16:14
  regard to that tournament, and a lot of that is because of Caitlin Clark
• 16:18
  and what she has meant to women's basketball at the basketball world in general.
• 16:22
  Oh and by the way, too, she also is the top selling college
• 16:26
  athlete in the nil era. We're talking about the money that she is making
• 16:33
  on name, image and likeness, and it's really great to see. I
• 16:40
  mean, as somebody who has two daughters, Eric, your daughter, you
• 16:44
  know, all of our kids have been in some sort of athletics within the
• 16:48
  course of their career or the course of their very young childhood. I say
• 16:51
  careers because it seems like our kids have careers at this point with regard to
• 16:56
  certain sports. But it's just it's really good to see another woman breaking down
• 17:02
  some barriers here and I just I love it, and I wanted to bring
• 17:06
  this up on the show because she deserves her due. And I'm not sure
• 17:08
  if everybody knows who Caitlyn Clark actually is, well, if you don't you're
• 17:14
  an asshole. I mean sorry, I can't even Like I'm a basketball guy.
• 17:19
  Yeah, that is my favorite sport. And she's fucking phenomenal. Like
• 17:25
  i've she like just to get just to give it a perspective, Like I
• 17:30
  coached my son's travel basketball team, ten eleven year old boys, and her
• 17:37
  name would come up when they were like shooting around. And I can tell
• 17:41
  you right now, when I was ten or eleven playing basketball, I would
• 17:42
  have never said a woman's basketball or a woman's name from basketball. Ever,
• 17:47
  I couldn't even tell you, like a name like what. I was never
• 17:51
  exposed to it. That's what I mean. I had no idea you could
• 17:55
  say a name. I'd be like, okay, is that age? Is
• 17:56
  that a person? I have no idea where And I was thinking about it,
• 18:03
  like you know, the like this generation is a little more not team
• 18:08
  oriented. They're more like player oriented. Right, they're fans of players,
• 18:11
  especially in basketball. I mean for sure, and we've we've finally reached you
• 18:17
  and I are old enough now we have finally Like when Kobe came out,
• 18:21
  he was the next Jordan, right, he was the next Curry? Is
• 18:26
  the superstar? Like like Lebron was the guy, and then Curry took over
• 18:30
  in terms of like who the fans, you know who what fans cared about?
• 18:33
  And this is the first generation of players that are the is the Curry
• 18:38
  generation. They were influenced and watched grew up watching watching Curry, and like
• 18:45
  like tre Trey Trey Young from the Hawks, like he was supposed to be
• 18:48
  like the next Curry, and who the hell knew it was actually going to
• 18:52
  be a woman that plays Iowa basketball like she is the next Curry. If
• 18:56
  you watch her shoots, she shoots just like him. And and it's not
• 19:02
  just she has the Curry thing, because she has the bravado. She has
• 19:08
  that, she has that factor, yep. And and like for her to
• 19:14
  break the record from a thirty two footer from the Iowa logo, that is
• 19:18
  just a fuck you till everyone like yes, put her hands up, just
• 19:22
  like yeah, I'm the best, Like this is not even close, no
• 19:25
  one can, no one's better than me. She's like p maarovitch, why
• 19:27
  don't you go fuck yourself. I'm coming for you, buddy. That record's
• 19:32
  done. She has not ey points to go one hundred points right, yeah,
• 19:36
  four games, Yeah, I think she'll get it. I'm not I'm
• 19:38
  not concerned, but I love how she I mean, she plays perfectly sound
• 19:42
  basketball. She has great handle, great form, and she's got that that
• 19:47
  chip on her shoulder fuck you attitude, which is just Curry had it.
• 19:51
  He seems like a super nice guy. Do you actually watch basketball? He's
• 19:53
  a killer and uh, she's she is like, she is the next Curry.
• 20:00
  And if you would have told me in twenty fifteen, twenty sixty,
• 20:02
  when Curry kind of took kind of like took off, that it was going
• 20:06
  to be a woman basketball player, no idea, I would have been like,
• 20:11
  no, I believe that. Yeah, but it's absolutely true. She
• 20:15
  is the next Curry, and it's proven with the nil thing. I think
• 20:18
  it's gonna follow her into the WNBA or whatever she winds up doing. But
• 20:22
  I do have to ask, how does she does she get how does she
• 20:26
  get paid for that? Like, how does she actually get money for that?
• 20:30
  For the nil? Yeah, for the nil stuff. I honestly have
• 20:34
  not done a deep dive into it. I haven't, but I mean apparently
• 20:41
  there according to fanatics, the Clark branded merchandise is going crazy. I don't
• 20:48
  know if she necessarily gets any money from that. I think she does actually
• 20:55
  through some of the Fanatics merchandise. But as I'm reading here from an article
• 21:03
  right here with regard to NIL, it says, according to Fanatics, more
• 21:07
  Clark branded merchandise was sold in less than twenty four hours after she broke the
• 21:11
  record Thursday night than any other individual men's or women's NIL college athlete across all
• 21:17
  sports has sold since twenty twenty two, when NIL merchandise began. So Fanatics
• 21:22
  is obviously doing some NIL merchandising. Where they're able to get they're able to
• 21:27
  make some money, and rightfully so, so anyway, that's basically probably where
• 21:36
  she's getting it. She's probably doing autographs as well, autograph sessions here and
• 21:40
  there. There's various ways that a lot of these college athletes are making money
• 21:45
  off of NIL, and I'm actually glad to see it. I really am.
• 21:48
  It's changed in the direction of college sports, for sure, but focusing
• 21:53
  in the or focusing momentum toward college athletes. Yeah, and man, she
• 22:00
  first of all, I would absolutely get a T shirt jersey of hers Iowa
• 22:06
  twenty two. It's actually kind of a sharp looking I'm looking at it right
• 22:08
  now. But and it's long been said, like if you're really into basketball
• 22:15
  again. I've had real like basketball heads, coaches and just people I know
• 22:21
  that really love basketball. They'll always tell you, like, if you want
• 22:23
  to teach kids how to play basketball, have them watch women's college basketball.
• 22:30
  I'm watching that tournament more than the men's tournament, dude. I think this
• 22:33
  is actually the first year I've heard people on radio, people on podcasts,
• 22:37
  and like people in my life say I'm more interested in the women's tournament than
• 22:44
  the men's tournament this year. Yeah. It's close. Yeah, and she's
• 22:47
  the biggest part of it, obviously. You know, she's the star.
• 22:51
  She like I said, she's the Curry. Yep. I mean anyone that
• 22:53
  just any person that can just take one step over the half court line and
• 22:57
  they're in range. Watch it. Man, that's that's amazing. Great.
• 23:02
  Yeah, but it's but it's kind of unheard of. Like I remember when
• 23:07
  the WA when the w NBA kicked off, and god was it ninety four
• 23:11
  ninety five somewhere in there. Yeah, man, I wrote it off.
• 23:15
  You know, that's just so I was at that time. And I think
• 23:17
  most of the men in America, like the NBA kind of wrote it off,
• 23:21
  but if eventually, you know, if you if you watch the if
• 23:25
  you watch the game the way it's played, and you want to teach fundamentals
• 23:27
  to people, like they're way better than like the AEU product coming through up
• 23:33
  high school for men's basketball or boys basketball into men. But yeah, I
• 23:38
  just it's such a cool story because I love basketball, and I I do
• 23:44
  coach, and I coach au By. You know, it is a lot
• 23:47
  of control times, but it's like I wish, I wish she could be
• 23:51
  a little more like what she does, because it's if you haven't watched her
• 23:55
  play, guys, just everybody just go watch. She's great. It's going
• 23:57
  to be fun to watch her or teammates. It's going to be fun to
• 24:00
  watch the women's NCAA tournament for sure. So as we're moving along here,
• 24:06
  folks, we are going to take a break. But beforehand, if you
• 24:10
  are just listening to us, if you found this podcast show, subscribe on
• 24:14
  whatever podcast platform you're on. We got a lot of great content that's going
• 24:17
  to be coming your way on a weekly basis, And if anything happens to
• 24:21
  that feed, you can always head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
• 24:23
  We've got all of our shows over there, and we'd like to hear
• 24:26
  from you as well. You can email us here Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail
• 24:30
  dot com. We'd love to read your email here on the show and respond
• 24:33
  to it. Do want to say if we've missed any over the course of
• 24:36
  the past like month and a half or so, I think we may have.
• 24:40
  Just want to say sorry about that, folks. It's just been it
• 24:42
  really has been a busy time for the guys and myself and just you know
• 24:47
  us with the start of twenty twenty four. Lots of stuff that we're doing
• 24:51
  outside of the outside of this podcast. So but we'd love to hear from
• 24:55
  you. You mean, our lives, our lives, yes, family,
• 25:00
  other side projects. I might have some downtime coming you may you've been I
• 25:11
  think you're gonna be fine. Jesus, you're gonna be all right. Follow
• 25:15
  us on the social Yeah, just follow us on social sites out there.
• 25:23
  I say it all the time. You all know where had So let's take
• 25:26
  that break. We'll be back in just a bit. All right, we
• 25:30
  are back, and uh, Eric, let's get into some eagles talk here.
• 25:34
  Of course, we got to talk eagles, you know, because it's
• 25:37
  like the off season, nothing's happening, but everybody loves Eagles talk, and
• 25:40
  no, folks, we're not I'm sorry, We're not gonna get into the
• 25:42
  whole Jalen Hurts had too much stuff going the storyline that he had too much
• 25:48
  stuff going on and off the field, there was too much pressure on him.
• 25:52
  The Derek Gun crap about Nick Sirianni and Big Dom the security guy.
• 25:57
  I'm sorry, I'm not gonna be We're not gonna get in to nonsense.
• 26:00
  But what we're gonna get into is something of reality with this team, which
• 26:07
  is, should the Eagles actually get a veteran defensive tackle during the offseason when
• 26:11
  they only have Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Marlon Tooey Polotu
• 26:17
  and maybe they signed Fletcher Cox, maybe they bring him back on a one
• 26:22
  year deal. We're gonna talk about this here. Should they or should they
• 26:26
  get another defensive tackle, because certainly they could draft somebody. They could certainly
• 26:30
  draft a guy in the in the first round. I don't think Byron Murphy
• 26:36
  is gonna be there, Chris Jenkins might not be there, but Michael Hall,
• 26:40
  Johnny Newton from Illinois, Darius Robinson from Missouri, Uh, Devondre Sweat
• 26:45
  from Texas as well. Maybe maybe they draft somebody, But I don't know.
• 26:49
  This defensive tackle unit is so young, Eric, I think they need
• 26:53
  to have a veteran presence there, especially on that especially on the line in
• 26:57
  general. As we know Brandon Graham's probably not going to be coming back.
• 27:02
  I don't know one of your most senior guys aside from Hassan Reddick if he
• 27:06
  is coming back, which I think he will be, but it would be
• 27:08
  Josh Sweat. He'd be one of the oldest guys there on the line,
• 27:12
  And it's like, man, I don't know if I want Josh Sweat necessarily
• 27:15
  being that veteran leader at this point in his career. So yeah, you
• 27:21
  don't. Yeah, I'm just saying, if they don't bring Fletcher Cox back
• 27:23
  on a one year deal, they got to get a veteran defensive tackle.
• 27:26
  They have to. Yeah, I think bringing Fletcher back would kind of be
• 27:30
  an easy unless he gets like a two year deal with more guaranteed money somewhere
• 27:34
  else. Yeah, I'm hoping they can bring him back. How he's pretty
• 27:38
  good at like moving the money around to bring guys back like that. Yeah,
• 27:45
  I think the good thing you talked about drafting someone in the first round,
• 27:48
  like they've already spent how much draft capital in that position, Like you
• 27:52
  just listed off the ends, and it's like, I think, if that's
• 27:55
  where you want a draft, honestly, like that's where you should probably put
• 27:57
  put some draft capital this year. The good thing is I was on spot
• 28:02
  track today. I'm looking at it right now, like it's actually a pretty
• 28:06
  good defensive tackle unrestricted free agent market this year. Not bad, yeah,
• 28:11
  I mean these guys are like more expensive, but Chris Jones, DJ Reider,
• 28:15
  Sheldon Rankins, like there's some real names on here, and even like
• 28:18
  as you go down the lister, it's like there's guys they could bring in
• 28:22
  to fill spots, you know, Christian Wilkins, is there, Quentin Jefferson,
• 28:26
  Like, there's there's a lot of players they could bring in on kind
• 28:29
  of cost effective deal. So they picked a good year to be to need
• 28:34
  to kind of fill that position. Yeah, yeah, I think so too.
• 28:38
  And just keep in mind, folks too, that the Eagles have three
• 28:42
  picks in the top fifty three this year. They have one first round,
• 28:47
  they have two second round picks again, three picks in the top fifty three.
• 28:52
  It's I'm happy about that. And who do I really think we're gonna
• 28:56
  see again, It's gonna be building through the trench. Is because you know,
• 29:00
  if Jason Kelsey does retire, which I think officially he will, I
• 29:04
  do, that's my gut instinct is that he's going to retire, is that
• 29:07
  Cam Jurgens is going to be moving over to the center position, and there's
• 29:12
  gonna there's gonna need to be some depth with regard to the offensive line too.
• 29:17
  So I think defensive line and offensive line are going to be focused on
• 29:22
  heavily in this draft. And they currently have nine picks, so I think
• 29:26
  it's going to be heavily invested in, especially from a defensive side things.
• 29:30
  Yeah, And I think I think those first three picks are going to if
• 29:33
  they keep them all, are going to be all offensive line defensive end.
• 29:36
  I mean, that's how they've built this team throughout the years. They have
• 29:40
  plenty of weapons. I think offensively, they don't even have to like reach
• 29:41
  for anybody. If they want to go back or they want to go cornerback,
• 29:47
  safety, then never go safety, but cornerback maybe, Yeah, I
• 29:49
  think that's where you have to focus because the offensive line is going to be
• 29:53
  I mean, Lane Johnson is what fifty? I mean, how long has
• 29:56
  he been on the team. I love him me too, I remember whatever,
• 30:02
  Yeah, he's injured every year. I remember when you met him,
• 30:04
  like we weren't there, but manage you fanboy out like you text us.
• 30:07
  I was wearing his jersey and he walked right up to me. I was
• 30:11
  all fat and disgusting. He should have called you a do he really should
• 30:15
  have. Hey, dork, you want your picture? I mean, although
• 30:22
  it is kind of like when you and I go to metal shows and we
• 30:25
  meet band members. We were wearing their shirts. Yeah, I think they
• 30:27
  never think it's stupid. So maybe maybe Lane, maybe he was like flattered,
• 30:32
  but yeah, maybe maybe. I mean, he's the one that came
• 30:33
  up to me. I didn't even see him. It was it was when
• 30:36
  the draft was in Philly. Yeah, yes, right, yep, all
• 30:40
  right, Well you know what they got to get a veteran defensive tackle for
• 30:42
  sure, And let us know what you're thinking about this Eagles offseason, specifically
• 30:47
  defensive tackle. We'd love to hear from you, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail
• 30:49
  dot com. Love to read your email here in the show and respond to
• 30:52
  it. But moving along here, Phillies spring training has started. Thank god,
• 31:00
  we're get we're getting the marketing images out there. Eric, I don't
• 31:03
  know. I'm on Instagram. I'm seeing I'm seeing Trey Turner and the batter's
• 31:06
  cage. I'm seeing them taking some ground balls and stuff. I'm starting to
• 31:10
  get excited for baseball season here. I'm getting excited to think whether or not
• 31:15
  they're gonna meet the Braves once again, hopefully in the postseason and take care
• 31:19
  of business with that team that you know, the Braves will win like one
• 31:22
  hundred and two games and then and then the lose to the Phillies. And
• 31:26
  I'm just fine with that. I know, I'm really putting the car before
• 31:30
  the horse here, but still, it's great that baseball is right around the
• 31:33
  corner, and like I'm just I'm really excited about it. I'm excited to
• 31:37
  see what's gonna happen with this pitching staff. I'm really excited about that.
• 31:42
  We're gonna be talking to our friend Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports in just a
• 31:45
  little bit and really want to talk to him also about with Maryfield coming to
• 31:52
  this team and what he's gonna be able to give the outfield, perhaps at
• 31:56
  second base as well, just a versatile play. Don't necessarily know what we're
• 32:00
  gonna be getting from Johann Rojas, Brandon Marsh He's rehabbing that knee procedure,
• 32:07
  so I love that move. I mean, I'm feeling overall, dude,
• 32:10
  like when it comes to Philly Sports, it's like Embeed being out is absolutely
• 32:15
  terrible. It sucks, but we're optimistic upon his potential return here as it
• 32:22
  goes for every other team, Like it's not awful. Like it's not awful.
• 32:28
  And I'm like really high on the Phillies here, even if they're just
• 32:31
  gonna be playing for a wildcard round. I'm really high on the Phillies being
• 32:36
  able to get to the postseason because that's where this front office has positioned.
• 32:39
  This team hasn't been the quote greatest offseason in the world, but I would
• 32:45
  give the off season a B plus at this point because the stability is there
• 32:51
  for them to continue to do what they did last year. And they came
• 32:54
  up. They came up a game short against a team that was just completely
• 32:59
  inferior, that got hot when they needed to get hot. Phil's got hot
• 33:02
  well before that, and some some of the bats just went cold when they
• 33:07
  need when, you know, right before or I should say during that NLCS.
• 33:12
  So anyway, I'm just really looking forward to this season. Oh my
• 33:15
  god, saw am I I mean considering the other options, right, I
• 33:21
  mean Sam b doesn't come back this season, that'd be awful. Let's go
• 33:24
  Phillies, right, yes, But I I you know, some of the
• 33:30
  storylines, they kind of they kind of go along with your typical feeling of
• 33:36
  like spring training. Like the nice thing about spring training is everybody has a
• 33:39
  shot. Like the stories the amount of spring training are always like and I'm
• 33:44
  talking about every team in the league with the exception of the Pirates, where
• 33:46
  it's just it's just always dreadful, you know, unfortunately. But are we
• 33:52
  going to be mediocre horrible this year? That's kind of there for them.
• 33:55
  But like with this team with the with the and are still in place,
• 34:00
  and they took one step back last year, did not get back the World
• 34:04
  Series, but man, you still got to be hind this team. And
• 34:07
  I really I'm really happy that they have kind of established themselves as this weird
• 34:13
  team that doesn't They're like the Miami Heat, they don't give a shit about
• 34:17
  the regular season, Like they've kind of like, of course they care,
• 34:22
  but like they're kind of like, let's just get in and then then we'll
• 34:25
  kick ass. Yeah, they don't want to win the they don't care about
• 34:28
  winning the NL East. At this point, it's like day it's a foregone
• 34:30
  conclusion that the Braves are likely going to be winning the division, but they
• 34:34
  don't care. And because of the way the playoffs works banded, they can
• 34:37
  do that. They just got to kind of sneak in and then let's go
• 34:40
  from there. And I kind of like that, like like, give give
• 34:43
  your older players some rest. But you know, some of the some of
• 34:46
  the stories, I mean, Johann Rojas can only get better. I mean,
• 34:52
  what a great experience for a young player getting to play in those final
• 34:57
  regular season games and then into like the playoffs. That was pretty cool.
• 35:00
  I'm reading a lot about Colby Allard, who's going to be starting the first
• 35:06
  spring training and like, I'm I'm not really feeling that one. Jeff,
• 35:09
  I'll be honest with you, No, I'm not either. But it's like
• 35:13
  you said, you don't know what's necessarily gonna happen in spring training. I
• 35:16
  mean, who could see again? Like I said, I'm gonna be talking
• 35:19
  to Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports in a little bit, and I know I'm
• 35:22
  gonna be bringing up to him the fact that, you know, this farm
• 35:25
  system actually has produced some value, especially this past year it did. I
• 35:30
  mean we saw uh, Roger Clemens kid forgetting his name right now, Cody
• 35:37
  Clemens. You know, we saw Cody Clemens come up O. Ryan Kirkering.
• 35:40
  Those are two pretty good storylines of guys being able to come up from
• 35:45
  the farm system to really help the team. And during spring training, anything
• 35:50
  can happen with regard to you know what. Okay, we're seeing this guy
• 35:52
  over here. Wow, we didn't know he had this in him. He's
• 35:55
  hot right out of the gate. Let's bring him on the forty man,
• 35:58
  Let's see what he's got. So I'm really excited and the experience can only
• 36:02
  help because when they brought Kirkering into his first playoff appearance, he was awesome,
• 36:08
  and then that second one he look like he might have shited his pants.
• 36:12
  Like but that's what do you expect from a twenty year old? Like
• 36:15
  that makes you know, that makes perfect sense. And that getting that experience
• 36:17
  on your belt on a really good team can only help the only the only
• 36:22
  thing. You can just be positive about this team. There's really nothing to
• 36:27
  look at and be like ugh, Like the bats went cold when they shouldn't
• 36:30
  have. But you have those bats in house that they can go off.
• 36:35
  Like we watched the first round of the playoffs and holy shit where they scary,
• 36:38
  right, But they can just keep that going. They can make the
• 36:43
  World Series again. But you're you're one hundred percent right. The starting pitching
• 36:47
  is the key. The bullpen is always going to be a question. But
• 36:52
  that's that's every baseball team. It really started meging the resigned Nola is Zach
• 36:59
  Wie Like, is this who Zach Wheeler is? I think I think this
• 37:01
  is who he is now? Oh yeah, Like the injury kind of bugs
• 37:06
  maybe maybe gone from his career. Is that one two punch enough? Is
• 37:10
  there someone else that is in the farm system on the trade market eventually that
• 37:16
  can like they they kind of needed that one more arm last year, you
• 37:21
  know, and maybe that happens this year and they go out and get someone
• 37:24
  else. But man, I'm optimistic. I love the signing of a wit
• 37:30
  Merrifield, say it, wit Maryfield? Yeah, yeah, yeah, like
• 37:35
  what a Actually, he's kind of a perfect player for this team because they
• 37:37
  yes, they have superstars at multiple positions. If this was a cap league,
• 37:44
  they'd be so way the fuck capped out right, yes, like to
• 37:46
  bringing a guy for one year eight million bucks and could play all over the
• 37:51
  field and he's not expected to play every day. Like who I heard?
• 37:53
  I saw people on Twitter complaining about him, Like what are you complaining?
• 37:57
  Were they complaining about he was an All Star of the past couple years?
• 38:00
  My god, well we know he was. That's not what we're signing him
• 38:05
  for, you exactly, asshole. As an insurance policy, he really is.
• 38:09
  And to give some guys off and you're still gonna have productivity. A
• 38:14
  guy who's batting two eighty. Come on, give me a guy that can
• 38:17
  play one hundred and twenty games this year and filling it first or short if
• 38:22
  he has to, or yeah, the field and he bats to eighty and
• 38:25
  gives you like twenty home run like perfect, awesome, I'll take it.
• 38:30
  Yep, it's a discount, so absolutely really quick with the starting pitching,
• 38:34
  the one guy I'm really gonna be keeping my eye on, of course,
• 38:37
  as the regular season starts, is Ranger Suarez. I mean, last year
• 38:40
  he had a two point four war win loss was four and six, four
• 38:45
  point one, eight e er And obviously I'd love to see that get down,
• 38:50
  like, you know, maybe three point five, three point six somewhere
• 38:52
  maybe around there. But Ranger Swarez is a guy where he's gonna go,
• 38:58
  how he's going to develop here in twenty twenty four. That's a particular storyline
• 39:02
  that I'm really gonna be honing in on. Yeah, he was disappointing last
• 39:07
  year compared to the previous season. Yes, he didn't know. I think
• 39:10
  the injuries really kind of hurt that, Like he had that eye of the
• 39:14
  tiger. I'm like, I'm a silent killer kind of deale the season prior.
• 39:20
  And I think it's pretty big, pretty huge if he makes the leap,
• 39:25
  the minor leap to like being a super solid number three yep, and
• 39:30
  he's a lefty like that, that could that could be a like the difference
• 39:34
  between them getting out of the first round in the second round maybe in the
• 39:37
  World Series. Like I think that's because you got time on Walker, who's
• 39:40
  going to fill that fourth spot? And god knows who fills out the fifth
• 39:44
  spot, but like if he can really make that leap, and like he's
• 39:46
  almost like a he's still kind of young's he's almost like that third year NBA
• 39:52
  player is like, all right, dude, you average eighteen points last year.
• 39:53
  Are you going to go to twenty two exactly? Are you going to
• 39:57
  two undred million dollar contract? And maybe that that confidence and that momentum gets
• 40:01
  you to be a number, a solid number two down the road. Yep,
• 40:05
  Like this is kind of this is kind of a year for him.
• 40:07
  Like I said, if you can get to three point five, three point
• 40:09
  six five, he was three point sixty five with his era in twenty twenty
• 40:13
  two. I mean, if we get that back that it's not only gonna
• 40:15
  be great for his career long term, but it's gonna be good for this
• 40:19
  Phillies team this year. So I'm really looking forward to that. So buddy,
• 40:22
  I'm gonna I'm gonna let you head out here. Any final thoughts before
• 40:25
  we get to our next break here? Yeah, next week, if I'm
• 40:30
  doing the show, Uh, sixers are playing right? Yeah, hopefully something
• 40:37
  else happens. Yes, oh yes, we might have to do it.
• 40:42
  We might have to do a list, O saying, okay, all right,
• 40:45
  you know what, we haven't done on top three list in a while.
• 40:46
  We were trying to. I was trying to get back into that and
• 40:49
  I kind of let that fall by the wayside. Yeah, we got to
• 40:51
  do one. And I ain't complaining. I'm just saying, like, like
• 40:53
  it is funny, like when like Jeff is like you can do the show,
• 40:57
  speak sure, and then I see the topics, I'm like, ah
• 40:58
  ah, this is a shit week for sports. There's nothing going on,
• 41:02
  and I should thro out there, like maybe we do a list this week
• 41:05
  because like you know, I I'll think on it and I'll send you some
• 41:09
  ideas. All right, list, Yeah that sounds good. That sounds good.
• 41:13
  All right, buddy, we'll let you head on. Oh don't don't
• 41:15
  don't think I didn't notice the uh the car before the horse. You said
• 41:21
  it, damn yeah, you did. You noticed it. I did it
• 41:25
  because I couldn't see the force through the tree exactly. We just got to
• 41:29
  do that. We gotta do the cliche show at some point. At some
• 41:32
  point, we have to, all right, buddy, I'm gonna let you
• 41:37
  go, folks, or take a quick break here we will be back in
• 41:39
  just a bit. All right, we are back. We are gonna get
• 41:43
  to what we were thrown down on the table. Here. We got Jeff
• 41:45
  Kerr from CBS Sports joining us. We got more Phillies talk coming to you.
• 41:50
  Stick around for it again. It's what we're thrown down on the table
• 41:52
  and now on the table. It is great to have back on the podcast.
• 41:59
  We love talking to him coming to us from CBS Sports. You can
• 42:02
  find him on Twitter slash x at Jeff Kerr CBS and he does a lot
• 42:07
  of great work out there, writing a lot of great articles, a lot
• 42:10
  of great content. We've got our friend, Jeff Kerr. How you doing,
• 42:14
  buddy, Thanks for joining us. I'm doing good. You know,
• 42:16
  it's just going from one season to the next these days. I don't get
• 42:20
  an all season anymore. Well that's a good thing, right, I mean,
• 42:23
  look for my understanding, I guess to pull back the curtain a little
• 42:27
  bit. You know, you gotta you yourself. Got a contract extension with
• 42:30
  CBS Sports. I'm very very happy for you. And congratulations my friend.
• 42:35
  So you're gonna be with us with CBS Sports now for a while. But
• 42:38
  you're right, I mean, I'm actually glad you don't, because I enjoy
• 42:40
  reading your content. Quite frankly, I'm glad you don't get a break my
• 42:45
  friend. Oh yeah, you know, like I'll be taking my own vacations
• 42:49
  and stuff. But you know, it is weird, Like what so one
• 42:52
  of my good buddies, Andrew to Cheko. You know, we hang out
• 42:55
  a lot all outside the Eagles. We've had him on the show number of
• 42:59
  times, yep, yeah, and he's text he texts me, I think
• 43:01
  it was Super Bowl Sunday. He goes so many. You get a site
• 43:05
  for Philly season. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right, I
• 43:07
  gotta start doing that. But I was preparing, but I was like making
• 43:10
  the joke about it, right, and you know, now not like a
• 43:15
  full bred Phillies here, but it is different trying to keep up with the
• 43:20
  NFL, which luckily there's nothing going on, and then you got the Phillies
• 43:22
  so that there's funny going on. Absolutely there is. You know. Look,
• 43:25
  they're down in Clearwater reporting to string the spring training, and like,
• 43:30
  I just just seeing some of the marketing stuff on their website as I was
• 43:35
  talking to my co host Eric about some of the marketing stuff with the website,
• 43:38
  Like, I'm just so excited for baseball season to be here, but
• 43:42
  I really wanted to get into what we're going to see with this team here
• 43:45
  in twenty twenty four with you, Jeff, and specifically with one of their
• 43:51
  recent signings during this offseason. I love the recent signing of Wit Maryfield Man.
• 43:55
  He's versatile, he's able to play second base, played the outfield,
• 44:00
  and ultimately they bring him in. I guess you know, he's an insurance
• 44:04
  policy for Johann Rojas and with Brandon marsh as he's continuing to rehab that knee.
• 44:09
  What are your overall thoughts on this particular offseason signing really and really what
• 44:15
  it means for this team here in twenty twenty four. So I heard there
• 44:17
  were two names that they were targeting for the long haul. Yeah, and
• 44:22
  that was with Maryfield then, and the other was Amtibal And Maryfield was the
• 44:27
  guy nave been after since December, and I think Witt was considering all his
• 44:30
  options. Right, You're thirty five years old. Do you want to play
• 44:34
  every day? Do you want to play for a team like the Pirates,
• 44:36
  want to play for a team like the Tigers, or you know, go
• 44:37
  back to the Royals, or you want opportunity to compete for a World Series.
• 44:42
  And like he said, he's I don't think he's ever been to the
• 44:45
  postseason? Am I right on that? He may not be Well you know
• 44:50
  what he was on the postseason last year? Yeah he was, yeah,
• 44:53
  yeah, so but those years at the Royals and he was really good,
• 44:57
  they weren't good. So and I think he wanted an actual chance to compete
• 45:01
  for a title, at least that's what he sounds like. And look he's
• 45:05
  going to get is that bats here one. The Brandon marsh injury changes things
• 45:08
  too. You need insurance policy in case Johann Rojas can't hit again. Right,
• 45:14
  So, you know, Jeff, you're thinking to yourself, Okay,
• 45:17
  it's make the team. You go with Rojas and marsh What if Rojas hits
• 45:23
  two ten? Are you okay with that? Or you know what the fans
• 45:28
  are gonna say, how did they let not getting a centerfielder or a left
• 45:31
  fielder go? Right? Well, now you go. Now you've got Brandon
• 45:35
  marshon center and you can play with Maryfield and left or you know, when
• 45:37
  there's a tough lefty for Brandon Marshall Price and Scott, you can put with
• 45:42
  merryfield in that is the right handed bat off that bench they need. It's
• 45:45
  more like a super utility guy. And I personally I love the move.
• 45:50
  I thought it was a move they had to make. Absolutely I love it
• 45:52
  as well. And you know, as as I'm thinking about whether it's this
• 45:57
  off season rate, it's not really the off season. I mean, like
• 46:00
  I said, you know, in spring training right now, but during the
• 46:02
  course of the offseason, I've really been giving a lot of thought to that
• 46:06
  storyline surrounding Zach Wheeler and the fact that he is likely that next player on
• 46:12
  this Phillies team who is going to be potentially re signed to an extension.
• 46:17
  So I mean, for me, this is of course a no brainer.
• 46:20
  I think for Phillies Nation, it's a no brainer bring Zack Wheeler back just
• 46:23
  because of what, of course he's meant to the starting rotation. Jeff,
• 46:27
  is this the next big re signing for this team? Is Zach Wheeler that
• 46:30
  next guy that they definitely need to re sign for the future. And if
• 46:36
  so, you know what might this kind of an extension really really look like
• 46:38
  for this front office and what it means for the rotation too? I think
• 46:43
  it's no brainer you bring Zack Wheeler back. But how much are you bringing
• 46:46
  back for and how long is the deal. I don't think it's gonna be
• 46:50
  seven years like Aaron Nolan. I'm sure Zach Aron would love the half of
• 46:52
  the seven year contract fully tarantee that ain't gonna happen. I want to know
• 46:58
  if it's going to be like a three year, covered, twenty million dollar
• 47:00
  deal something like that, because you got to remember, Jeff, they've never
• 47:02
  given over thirty million a year to a pitcher, right Aaron oh was their
• 47:07
  highest paid pitcher ever, and that was seven years, one seventy two,
• 47:09
  so that's under twenty five million a year. Do you go longer with you
• 47:15
  know, say seven years to ten to Zach Wheeler. I don't think that's
• 47:19
  gonna happen, but I think you pay him a lot upfront and say,
• 47:22
  look, here's your money, here's the years. We'll revisit this thing in
• 47:24
  three or four years. I think a four year deal was more acceptable for
• 47:28
  Zach Wheeler. Take him all, he's thirty eight years old. I think
• 47:30
  he's entrenched as the ace of this team. And look, he's shown new
• 47:35
  signs of slow him down right exactly. I was actually thinking about a four
• 47:37
  year deal five at the absolute most. That was my initial thought. I
• 47:43
  think, you know, even five years five years down the road, I
• 47:45
  mean that that is a long time. And you know, given Aaron Knowle's
• 47:49
  contract extension too or his resign, I should say, you know, these
• 47:53
  guys are going to be getting a little older here, you know, with
• 47:55
  the latter part of their deals here. And I do have a little trepidation
• 48:00
  with that. I would honestly love a three year deal and think the Phillies
• 48:02
  would probably like to have a three year deal as well. But when you
• 48:05
  get into that four and five range, I'm a little trepidacious about it,
• 48:09
  Jeff, I am too. And again this is why injured Painter's injury hurts,
• 48:15
  and this is why mckabel needs to develop, because you need to have
• 48:19
  guys in the pipeline. Look, we all know the Phillies are gonna spend
• 48:22
  money on pitching. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. You know,
• 48:24
  Jordan Montgomery is available at their price and at their years. They're going to
• 48:29
  bring Jordan Montgomery in here. I have no doubt about that. But you
• 48:31
  have to look at what the years are how like I feel like, you
• 48:37
  know, John Milton always says stupid money. I always feel like he uses
• 48:40
  smart money when it comes to this team. That's a good phrase. I
• 48:45
  mean, yes, it is smart money. I don't seriously think I think
• 48:49
  I'm assuming what he meant by stupid money is that all right, we're just
• 48:52
  going to be spending a lot, a lot of money. I think that's
• 48:55
  what he meant. But when we look at it and we reflect on it,
• 48:59
  Jeff, there really hasn't been any stupid based signings, free agent signings,
• 49:05
  extensions that I would say this team is really embarked on. I mean
• 49:07
  they really have a bit like when you're talking stupid, I mean, there
• 49:10
  are some stupid resigns, and there are stupid free agent signings throughout the UH,
• 49:16
  throughout the MLB, for sure. I don't think the Phillies have embarked
• 49:21
  on a stupid resigning at all. Well, my favorite is people think that
• 49:25
  the cash loans deal was bad. I'm like, well that's not Yeah,
• 49:29
  he was an All Star in his second year. He makes twenty million a
• 49:32
  year. It's about what he's worth. Yeah, And look, I get
• 49:37
  the contract is tough to trade if they actually want to go through with it
• 49:40
  and trade him. But is it the worst thing in the world to have
• 49:44
  the cash loans on your team? Yeah, exactly, it's a great,
• 49:46
  great question. And as we're moving along here, Jeff, you know,
• 49:51
  we've recently heard reports that the Phillies they were all in on Yamamoto before he
• 49:55
  signed with the Dodgers. Yes, I mean, in fact, you know
• 49:59
  you talking about pitching. Just you know, you're just talking about pitching a
• 50:01
  couple of minutes ago, and just how the Phillies front office wants to concentrate
• 50:07
  on that. In fact, Phillies front office they wanted to give more money
• 50:09
  than the Dodgers. You would have been making more in Philly than out in
• 50:14
  Los Angeles. I mean, I think their pursuit of Yamamoto shows that they're
• 50:17
  serious about engaging with the Japanese baseball market well into the future. They've ignored
• 50:23
  this market for way, way too long. They've ignored the international market in
• 50:28
  general for way too long up until the past couple years here. So what
• 50:31
  does being more active in the Japanese market really mean for this team and this
• 50:37
  organization in the future, Jeff. So I'll add more to the Yamamoto thing
• 50:42
  I was told back in December. They offer more money than the Dodgers,
• 50:45
  but again not really covering it, like with people. You know me,
• 50:50
  Jeff, I don't tweet anything unless I'm convinced or convicted of it, right,
• 50:54
  yeah, you know, and I wanted to do it, but like
• 50:58
  you know what, I know this for fact, they offer more money.
• 51:00
  But I'm not a Major League Baseball rier. I'm not a Phillies insider.
• 51:04
  I just know people in there that know that are in the know, and
• 51:08
  I'm like, so, and I asked them, so what happens? Just
• 51:10
  didn't want to come here? Yeah, And I'm like, and I think
• 51:14
  that's what it is. In Japan. It feels like the only hero of
• 51:16
  a couple of teams, and it's like the Dodgers, the Yankees, the
• 51:22
  the Red Sox, the Mets, the Angels, the Mariners. Like like
• 51:27
  like in Japan, right, you and I watched you bum professional baseball?
• 51:30
  How many teams do you think you and I can name off the top of
• 51:32
  our heads? Right? Probably a lot? Yeah, Like the jod Marin
• 51:37
  Johnson they're the team, right, like like they're the Yankees of that league.
• 51:40
  So that's probably how they feel over here. So I think for the
• 51:44
  Phillies to get into that presence and basically tell everybody from Japan, look,
• 51:52
  we are willing to spend money if we feel you're worth it. It's like
• 51:54
  the old moneyball sake. It's not about the money, Billy, it's it's
• 51:59
  tell you that you're worth it. Yes, Yamamoto was worth it for that
• 52:02
  absolutely, for twelve years, three fifty. I think that would have gotten
• 52:07
  it done for a lot of people. I think, I honestly think if
• 52:09
  they had a chance, they would have paid, showing you have Tani a
• 52:13
  lot of money. Yeah, but but Yamamoto was the guy I was gonna
• 52:16
  say. I wonder if it really came down to And I don't know if
• 52:20
  you have any info on this too, but you know, there were reports
• 52:22
  that he just wanted to stay on the West Coast, you know, because
• 52:24
  it's closer to Japan, and and that those hours of difference really do mean
• 52:30
  a lot to some folks coming from Japan are coming from Asia, Uh,
• 52:35
  it does matter to them. I don't know if there's any validity to that
• 52:37
  at all. Yeah, I don't know anythink, but it would make sense.
• 52:40
  The atonic thing you know what, Jeff, the only thing that bothered
• 52:43
  me about a Tani signing with the Dodgers is the defer money. Oh yeah,
• 52:47
  Like I was happy for the Dodgers franchise. So like, Okay,
• 52:51
  that's awesome. You guys got them, you have the money. You've been
• 52:52
  waiting for signing like this for a long time. You basically waited this out
• 52:58
  and you got your guy. And then you're hearing about the pay. I'm
• 53:00
  like, oh, come on, I know it's perfectly in the rule book,
• 53:05
  but there has to be like, when you pay a guy that much
• 53:07
  money, you should only be allowed at the fir half of that. Yeah,
• 53:12
  you just have to you should have to have that in your books.
• 53:14
  Absolutely. I'm just glad that the Phillies are going to be engaging more in
• 53:17
  the Japanese market. We've seen them engaging in the more in the Caribbean market
• 53:23
  as well, and and uh, you know, getting down into the Dominican
• 53:27
  Republic more. I think that this Phillies organization, Jeff has been uh in
• 53:32
  a in a way, pretty pretty closed off to certain parts of the world
• 53:37
  over these years. But Dave Dombrowski wanting to venture out into other parts of
• 53:43
  the world to understand and realize that there is talent available and talent that wants
• 53:47
  to come to the United States, perhaps wants to come to Philadelphia. I
• 53:52
  think it's a great thing for this organization. They're they're ahead of other organizations
• 53:57
  for sure. I mean, just take a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates you
• 53:59
  out. They're there's certainly ahead of that organization. But it's really good to
• 54:01
  see. I feel like since John Milton has taken over as the primary owner
• 54:07
  of this team, this is a franchise that is worth playing for. Treats
• 54:13
  his employees well. He treats him like how he ran cigar business. He
• 54:15
  treats them all with respect. I got a story about John Milton when my
• 54:22
  cousin passed away. My cousin worked for John Milton the cigar company for years.
• 54:27
  He retired for them. When pretty much when he passed away, John
• 54:31
  Milton sent something out and you know, he died of throw cancer, Like
• 54:37
  just send something out to him, you know, just thanking him for all
• 54:39
  his years a work. And he did this when he retired too. But
• 54:43
  I thought that was a really cool thing, Like he didn't have to give
• 54:45
  a ratch, you know what about him but that just shows you the type
• 54:50
  of person John Milton is, Like I got, I was fortunate I got
• 54:53
  to meet John Milton this year at the Phillies holiday thing and it was just
• 55:00
  blue. I'm just walking, you know, I got my Phillies cap on
• 55:04
  and I just go up and introduce myself to them and we talked for ten
• 55:07
  minutes. I thought it was great. You know, he's just walking like
• 55:09
  like he's there, and like, you know, if you were a hardcore
• 55:13
  Phillies fan, like you knew who he was, right right, Because there
• 55:17
  were some people that that that that like they had to do double takes,
• 55:21
  yeah, and I'm like, there was no double take. I'm like,
• 55:22
  that's that's John Milton. You don't see that out of owners. You definitely
• 55:27
  don't see that out Jeffrey Lori or you know, Josh Harris, right,
• 55:30
  very true, Yeah, very true. Yeah. You don't see too many
• 55:34
  owners throwing out baseball's at the end of their postseason games to the crowd like
• 55:38
  John Middleton has. For sure. I think that's what bothers me about Phillies
• 55:44
  fans sometimes, like you and I know this, there's a lot that just
• 55:46
  watching October and they like to call this team chokers and they call this and
• 55:51
  that. Yeah, you know, all the same old Phillies. I'm like,
• 55:52
  they're not the same old Phillies. If you watch them, if you
• 55:55
  knew who their owner was, and if you know how how they operate,
• 55:59
  they're not the Pies. Like I think, it's a team that even when
• 56:02
  things get banned, they're going to buy their way out. Yeah. Yeah,
• 56:06
  look, and that's the world we're living in right now in terms of
• 56:07
  Major League Baseball. If you want to be successful, that's that's what's happening
• 56:13
  right now with a number of teams throughout this league. But you know,
• 56:16
  I also wanted to talk about the farm system with you as well, Jeff,
• 56:21
  because I think it is fair to say that we've been seeing some productivity
• 56:24
  in recent years coming from the Phillies farm system. I mean, last year
• 56:28
  they utilized and they got some really good work from Cody Clemens, Ryan Kirkering,
• 56:31
  he came up to help the team as well. As we saw in
• 56:35
  twenty twenty three, the farm system has been changing. It's the investments that
• 56:39
  John Middleton has made during the course of his tenure as the owner, and
• 56:45
  also Dave Dombrowski as well. Kind of you know, making some changes here
• 56:51
  and there in Lehigh Valley and Redding for sure. Is there anyone that you've
• 56:55
  been really looking at it double A or even TRIPLEA who you think could potentially
• 57:00
  help this team throughout the twenty twenty four season as we saw some help coming
• 57:05
  up that came up in twenty twenty three from the farm system. What are
• 57:08
  your thoughts here? So I actually thought you were going to go in a
• 57:12
  different direction with this because there's gonna be a guy that's gonna be playing for
• 57:14
  Reading this year. Remember this name, Gabrielle Rincones Junior. Oh, yes,
• 57:19
  yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure you've heard him. Yep,
• 57:21
  I'm sure he heard of him. So you know he was in Clearward,
• 57:23
  Jersey Shore last year hit about fifteen Hume runs. I think he's gonna break
• 57:27
  out of writing this year. A lot of those kids from Clearwater and Jersey
• 57:31
  Shore are going to be him writing. Now. Remember the Phillies had a
• 57:34
  really good lower level system last year, while those kids are going to be
• 57:37
  up there now. Aiden Miller in God, I always forget Crawford's first date.
• 57:43
  Uh, oh my gosh, justin Craft for justin Craft. There you
• 57:46
  go yeah, I wanted to say JP, and I'm like, that's not
• 57:50
  right, right if he's on the area and he was in the system,
• 57:52
  so they won't be up in writing. Maybe Crawford might if they wanted to
• 57:58
  take that big leap, But Gabrielle Ridcone should be in rank. That's a
• 58:01
  guy that I don't know if he's gonna actually contribute to the Philopi Phillies in
• 58:06
  twenty twenty four. Like, oh, the oryan kirk Ring story is just
• 58:08
  phenomenal. I remember I remember seeing in the press box with guys and writing
• 58:13
  in July and we were watching Kirkering. This this guy's he might be in
• 58:17
  Triple A in a week or two. He was, and you know,
• 58:21
  and then you know he actually was, and then like you start thinking,
• 58:23
  wow, he he could pitch in the majors right now, like the Redding's
• 58:27
  bullpen was directed last year. Unless he was pitching, he was the only
• 58:30
  guy worth pitching on that team last year. You know, mick Abel,
• 58:35
  his control was. If Mickabel could fix his slider and get that control right
• 58:38
  with his breaking pitches, he could contribute to this team this year in some
• 58:43
  way shape or because they need depth in their triple A like Spencer Turnbull I
• 58:46
  think can make the team. Who they just signed, I think, uh,
• 58:50
  Kobe Allard's gonna be in Lee High. I think Abel's gonna be in
• 58:52
  Lee High. Like they need depth there. Ricardo Pinto I was told who
• 58:57
  they just signed last week. He's basically going to be a starter Lee High.
• 59:00
  So that's pretty much why they signed a lot of these guys. But
• 59:04
  yeah, Gabrielle the Rincons is the guy I will watch in terms of guys
• 59:07
  that on the farm team, like like maybe that could come up this year.
• 59:12
  That's a little tougher to predict, like Abel will probably able will probably
• 59:15
  be my my. I don't think Simon Muziaddi is a thing anymore, Like
• 59:19
  think, Okay, it just seemed like he was there, you know how
• 59:22
  it is, Jeff, you're up in that area, like he hit,
• 59:24
  but he just couldn't get up goodn't exactly? Yeah, yeah, and you
• 59:29
  know they're telling you something then, And you know, Western Wilson was the
• 59:32
  guy who actually ended up contributing to that team last year, was on the
• 59:35
  postseason roster. Maybe he's the guy that they take a look at as an
• 59:38
  right hand battle at the bench. But we'll see how that works out with
• 59:42
  Maryfield here. Yeah. I just remember four or five years ago, Jeff,
• 59:45
  the farm system it was just barren. It was there was just not
• 59:47
  a lot of anything going on with any talent. And I think some of
• 59:52
  the changes that they made to whether whether it was development personnel or or or
• 59:57
  other changes that they've made to the farm system that we've talked to out on
• 1:00:00
  this podcast over the years, is that it's actually working. We're actually starting
• 1:00:04
  to see some homegrown talent where we're starting to see the farm system actually becoming
• 1:00:09
  something that they're gonna be able to utilize in the future, you know,
• 1:00:12
  much like not necessarily like the Braves, but you know, we're hoping to
• 1:00:15
  get to that point where you have a robust farm system to continue to have
• 1:00:19
  future success. And I think the foundation really is being laid there, especially
• 1:00:23
  at Double A, Triple A and well even you said, you know,
• 1:00:28
  even even in Single A last year and the success that we saw from certain
• 1:00:30
  players there. I think we're starting to see the foundations of the work that's
• 1:00:35
  being put in and the investments that have been put in by this Phillies front
• 1:00:37
  office. I think it's great to see. Yeah, And you know what,
• 1:00:40
  it's a shame too because like even some of the higher end guys like
• 1:00:44
  on the Prospect Lard like Carlos Dave the Cruz like love the kid. I
• 1:00:49
  think the kid can hit, but stretch out a lot, doesn't walk a
• 1:00:52
  ton, but he can't really play anywhere in the places he can play,
• 1:00:57
  they're kind of blocked right now. So like he was trade bait last year,
• 1:01:00
  I feel like he's gonna be trade bait this year if anybody wants them.
• 1:01:02
  But it seems like he projects as a bench piece, So maybe they
• 1:01:06
  do call a guy like him up and as a bench piece at some point.
• 1:01:10
  I know we're not gonna see Andrew Painter this year, which is unform
• 1:01:14
  someone like you, Jeff, because he probably would be a lehigh right now.
• 1:01:16
  Absolutely, he absolutely would. It stinks, but who knows, Maybe
• 1:01:20
  we'll see him at some point down the road. But by the way,
• 1:01:22
  I want to ask you this, do you think they handled that right last
• 1:01:25
  year? I don't know if they handled it one hundred percent correct. I'll
• 1:01:32
  say that I don't know if they handled it one hundred percent correct. I
• 1:01:36
  think I think there was that hope that they were just clinging to and holding
• 1:01:39
  onto a little bit too long. Inevitably they did the right thing, of
• 1:01:45
  course, but I don't think they one did the right thing right off the
• 1:01:49
  bat. Yeah. So I got a buddy who he's pitched for a long
• 1:01:52
  time. And he's not myer leagueer majorleague pitcher or anything, right, you
• 1:01:57
  know, he pitched a long time in high school, pitched a little bit
• 1:01:59
  in college. He never had Tommy John surgery, but I knew people that
• 1:02:02
  did. And when Painter first had that swelling, he said right away,
• 1:02:07
  I don't care, get the surgery. Yeah, just get it, you
• 1:02:08
  know, don't delay this, And they did, and I remember how furious
• 1:02:14
  he was when that that was the eventual outcome. He I could have told
• 1:02:16
  you that three weeks ago. I'm not three months ago. I'm not a
• 1:02:20
  doctor, you know, but I can tell you it's just as a picture,
• 1:02:23
  you know, there's elbow inflammation and elbow swelling, and he always says,
• 1:02:28
  neither are good. Yeah, you know, And it was one of
• 1:02:30
  those like you're twenty years old, just get it done. I know surgery
• 1:02:36
  is always the last resort, but it's a little different for them than it
• 1:02:38
  is for us. Definitely waited on it a little too long, definitely.
• 1:02:43
  Yeah. And now he's out all of this year and like he could have
• 1:02:45
  contributed to this baseball team at the end of this year, that's gone and
• 1:02:49
  maybe that's what they wanted. I don't know, who knows. Again,
• 1:02:52
  folks were talking to Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports at Jeff Kerr CBS on Twitter
• 1:02:57
  slash X, Jeff, are you over on Are you over on threads?
• 1:03:00
  I think you're on threads? Are you? I'm on threads? But I
• 1:03:02
  don't really use it, you know, is je? There's so many social
• 1:03:06
  media I do. I've been asking folks on the podcast that come on,
• 1:03:09
  like I've been asking our guests here, you're on threads. I think you're
• 1:03:12
  on threads, and everybody says the same thing, just like what you said.
• 1:03:15
  There's so many out there. My gosh, I wish it was like
• 1:03:19
  I wish it was me two. You know, you know what, I
• 1:03:22
  like threads. I feel like threads would be better if there was no X.
• 1:03:28
  You know, like you still go on X. Yes, I don't
• 1:03:30
  think people have made that switch. And you know what, It's not like
• 1:03:34
  in the mid two thousands where you made the switch from my space to Facebook,
• 1:03:37
  right right. I just think people are just sick of this stuff.
• 1:03:39
  And I feel like threads is how Twitter was ten years ago, where the
• 1:03:47
  dumb people aren't on it. You know where I'm going with this, y
• 1:03:52
  Yeah, see, I still love Facebook, and then all of a sudden,
• 1:03:58
  the Facebook crowd got banned, so I went to Twitter, and now
• 1:04:00
  the Twitter crowds baby, and now like, I kind of want to go
• 1:04:03
  on threads, but I just don't want to commit more time to something I'm
• 1:04:06
  not making money off. I hear you. But by the way, Jeff,
• 1:04:11
  I try not to insult people. I don't think you do. I
• 1:04:15
  don't think that you Yeah, but you know when I always make the insult,
• 1:04:18
  like you pay for Twitter? Sometimes I gotta watch that because there are
• 1:04:21
  I do have some friends that are reporters that they do pay for and I
• 1:04:26
  kind of want con front like why don't you do that? I know,
• 1:04:29
  yeah, no matter what side of the fence you're on. I like,
• 1:04:31
  oh, yeah, it doesn't matter what side of the fence you're on.
• 1:04:33
  Necessarily when it comes to sports, I don't think you know, I mean,
• 1:04:36
  is it really important to have certain things bumped? Like certain replies bumped
• 1:04:42
  up and stuff. I don't know. I don't think the blue check mark
• 1:04:44
  means what it used to. Of course we know that, but I don't
• 1:04:48
  know what else it gets you really in terms of how you're going to be
• 1:04:51
  more productive, We'll be able to obtain more information, valuable information for you,
• 1:04:56
  your brand, whatever it is. I just don't see where the blue
• 1:05:00
  check mark comes into play anymore and where it's valuable. I've I've talked to
• 1:05:02
  some people on LinkedIn about it, like just just sound like curiosity. I
• 1:05:06
  won't pay for it unless my company pays for it. Let's just put that
• 1:05:09
  that's where I'll sell out, but I will not personally pay for it.
• 1:05:13
  But they so they went. So I talked to some people on LinkedIn.
• 1:05:15
  Some people are into that, right, and they're like, you know,
• 1:05:18
  you can make some money off just your reporting, off your Twitter. They
• 1:05:23
  said that is the best that's been fit off off because even when you tweet
• 1:05:27
  your opinion, you probably could make a couple bucks out of it. And
• 1:05:30
  I'm like, fine, I don't need the money, right, I just
• 1:05:32
  don't need it. So some people do. I get it, but it's
• 1:05:36
  just I don't know. It just doesn't. It's like you said, the
• 1:05:40
  blue check mark doesn't mean but the blue check mark used to me, and
• 1:05:43
  that means something to me. It's like when when I see the average Joe
• 1:05:47
  have it and I have to see their response because they have it, it
• 1:05:51
  kind of drives me nuts. Link It would drive me nuts too if I
• 1:05:56
  were you. But I do have to say, folks again at Jeff KERCBS.
• 1:06:00
  Jeff is a fantastic on that platform, actually giving really valuable information,
• 1:06:04
  interesting data all the time. Give him a follow if you are not already.
• 1:06:10
  And as we're closing things out here, Jeff, again, appreciate you
• 1:06:14
  taking the time, but as we're continuing to you know, look at spring
• 1:06:17
  training, look at what this twenty twenty four Philly season might be. No,
• 1:06:20
  it's a general question, but you know, what's the biggest storyline in
• 1:06:24
  your opinion, that we're really going to need to keep our eyes on throughout
• 1:06:27
  Philly spring training here? You know what, I still think, Jeff,
• 1:06:31
  could they add somebody else? Like and I thought, you know, even
• 1:06:35
  before Maryfield, there's some talks about Jordia Montgomery. Yeah, you know I
• 1:06:43
  mentioned him like three or four times, right right, Yeah, Like there
• 1:06:45
  is some truth to it that they are interested, but at their price exactly,
• 1:06:51
  they're not. They're just not going to sign this guy to a five
• 1:06:54
  year, a half and twenty five million. I'd be shocked that they did
• 1:06:57
  that. They did. I'm again, but it feels like they're getting in
• 1:07:00
  Milton's head, or at least Nebrawski is, Hey, you know what there
• 1:07:05
  is July. Yeah, we all have to get one of these people like
• 1:07:09
  we can go for I feel like this is the year they will go for
• 1:07:14
  ye And I hate when people say they haven't done anything, so all say,
• 1:07:17
  I'm like, well, what really did they need to improve upon?
• 1:07:19
  I think it was a B plus off season so far. I mean they
• 1:07:24
  spent a lot of money. They spent They spent the second most money in
• 1:07:27
  baseball, beyond only the Dodgers. It's I'm sorry they didn't get Shoe a
• 1:07:30
  Otani. I mean David signed Al Momoto. I feel like the fan hype
• 1:07:34
  for this team would have been incredible. It would have been an A plus
• 1:07:38
  off season for sure. Yes, and I think that I think a lot
• 1:07:41
  of the true fans that watch this team now know that we're getting a lot
• 1:07:46
  of these people that watch them in October. Like, I was already with
• 1:07:48
  a guy on Facebook yesterday. It was on the w I P page and
• 1:07:53
  he just say, Bryce Harper in the two biggest series of his life.
• 1:07:56
  He choked. I'm like, are we just going to ignore what he did?
• 1:08:00
  Game five? Well, they were up three to one, that was
• 1:08:01
  his thing. I'm like, dude, you don't know the sport man like
• 1:08:06
  like, it's okay to admit you only just very misguided. Exactly, very
• 1:08:10
  misguided for sure. But I think that's a great, great theme and storyline
• 1:08:15
  to take into uh this coming season is are they actually going to sign some
• 1:08:18
  more talent? So we're certainly going to be monitoring. And I know you
• 1:08:21
  are my friend again folks at Jeff kerse CBS on Twitter, slash x and
• 1:08:27
  my friend. It was great having you on the pod. Thank you for
• 1:08:29
  taking the time, come back join us down the road. Love to talk
• 1:08:31
  to you as always, my friend, absolutely, Jeff. You know what
• 1:08:34
  I think I'm nervous about this season though, just you know, writing about
• 1:08:39
  this team now, yeah, could they win more games and lose to the
• 1:08:43
  Brais in the playoffs? Oh gosh, I don't know the mat of Braves
• 1:08:45
  number though. I mean Curry history tells us that. I love when people
• 1:08:49
  say, like, beating those Brace teams don't mean the thing. I'm like,
• 1:08:53
  yeah, they do. The Bras have been the Braves have been better
• 1:08:55
  than that. I knew they were going to beat the Brais in the playoffs?
• 1:08:58
  Would they beat him in that series? A true park in September?
• 1:09:00
  And I think, I forget what player said. It might have been Castelanos,
• 1:09:05
  but we know we have that right. They know they knew then that
• 1:09:12
  they're on the Brase radar right exactly, because the Braids kept bragging about winning
• 1:09:15
  the division and they're like, we'll see in the playoffs exactly. And you
• 1:09:21
  know what that Game four I was at. I was at pretty much every
• 1:09:25
  playoff game but Game six and seven of the NLCS, ironically, but that
• 1:09:29
  Game four was probably one of the better baseball games I saw. And I
• 1:09:32
  thought Ronald er Kune hit the ball out of the park from where I was
• 1:09:35
  sitting when he hit that win Ross came up and made that catch. Imke
• 1:09:40
  unbelievable. I never heard that, and I've heard this. I will see
• 1:09:45
  this as someone who's been to a lot of great moments for that franchise.
• 1:09:48
  Jeff, I think there were two moments where that it was louder than them
• 1:09:54
  even win the World Series. Breech Austinson's home runs, Puncher Schreider, Yeah,
• 1:09:58
  I thought that place erupted. And Johann Ross's catch, Yeah, because
• 1:10:01
  I don't think people realize he was gonna catch that ball, and then he
• 1:10:06
  did and the place just went nuts. Everybody. Oh it was loud.
• 1:10:13
  With Harper hit the home run in Game five, I'm like it was,
• 1:10:15
  but I don't think it was like Hoskins. I think that was the long
• 1:10:19
  time I always said there were a lot of long time season ticket holders at
• 1:10:23
  that game that stood by that team for a lot of years. When they
• 1:10:28
  sucked, that got like they're just moment. Absolutely, Hoskins hit that like
• 1:10:32
  like it was a war. For being patient, I tell you we have
• 1:10:35
  gotten a lot of great moments over these past few years. For sure,
• 1:10:39
  we've gotten a lot of great moments. And Jeff, we'll talk about him
• 1:10:42
  more. We'll talk about even more great moments. They are going to be
• 1:10:45
  around the corner, because I'm sure there will be for sure. Thanks for
• 1:10:47
  joining us this week, my man. Absolutely, Jeff, pleas for having
• 1:10:50
  me. It's always so much fun talking to Jeff. I mean, we
• 1:10:55
  certainly went off on a tangent a few different areas there, for sure,
• 1:10:59
  but he is so pad about his coverage, not just with the NFL,
• 1:11:02
  but as it pertains to the Philadelphia Phillies. I mean, Jeff is an
• 1:11:06
  avid Philly sports fan through and through, not just a reporter for CBS,
• 1:11:14
  but man a Philly fan through and through. Absolutely love having him on the
• 1:11:17
  show. That's gonna do it for us. Folks. Hope you have been
• 1:11:21
  enjoying the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. If you're new, please subscribe on
• 1:11:26
  whatever podcast platform you're on, follow us on Apple Podcasts, rate and review
• 1:11:30
  the show as well. That greatly help us out and we would very much
• 1:11:33
  appreciate it. Head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. It's where
• 1:11:36
  we have all of our shows. If anything ever happens to your feed,
• 1:11:41
  and as we mentioned earlier, I'd love to hear from you over email Philadelphia
• 1:11:45
  Sports Table at gmail dot com. Reach out to us about any issue,
• 1:11:48
  any concern, any storyline in the world of Philly sports. We'd love to
• 1:11:53
  read your email here on the show and respond to it. That's gonna do
• 1:11:57
  it for us. Folks take care. We'll catch it next time after