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The Schizophrenic Phillies (PST Episode 517) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
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running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, ten years strong. It
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is June seventh, twenty twenty three. Our interview on this show was done
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on June sixth. I am Jeff Warren. I'm here on my good buddy,
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Len Hunts Sick or Len Man. It's good to good to hear your
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voice. Good to have you back on the show here, my man.
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Yes, apologies to Jenny listeners if I if I sound um, you know,
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just down or trowsey or whatever. I've been up almost twenty four hours
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yesterday, so we're gonna play this. Yeah, thanks for doing the show,
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buddy. But yeah, so in case everyone's like, man, he's
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pretty low energy today, there's a reason for that. Exactly exactly. Got
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a great show for you this week, believe it or not. Len and
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I are going to get into some golf talk. I'm kidding, not necessarily
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golf talk, but we're certainly going to get into the major news that came
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out with the PGA Tour and the liv merging joining forces. We're gonna give
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our thoughts on that, and also we're gonna get into some NBA and w
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NBA type of talk. Believe it or not, Yes, w NBA in
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terms of should Philadelphia have a w NBA team if the w NBA expands in
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the future. We know their commissioner has been asked time and time again if
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that's going to be happening. And with regard to the Sixers, we know
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that Sam Cassell has left the Sixers coaching staff for Boston. What does that
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really mean for the Sixers team? And from there we're gonna get into some
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Philadelphia Union talk as well. My goodness, Julian Carranza keeps getting better and
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better. He's a freaking phenomenal player in Major League soccer right now. For
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this Union team is one of the reasons why they're right. Yeah, they
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are red hot right now. Yeah, we're gonna get into it. And
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then we got some Flyers talk. Some things happen this week, Lenn something's
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happen with the Flyers. Things good. It's it's jarring. Um, it's
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really jarring to be like, hey, they they're they're they're making good moves
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and they seem to be going in the right direction. What's happening. I
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cannot believe we're using the two words flyers and good in the same sentence.
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That doesn't happen, doesn't. Yeah, it's it's it's been a strange week,
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absolutely has what we're thrown down on the table. This week, we've
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got Tim Kelly from Phillies Nation dot Com. He's gonna be joining us to
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talk about what we've been seeing from this Phillies team, if they can keep
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up any kind of momentum here, that they have any kind of momentum that
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they can grasp onto, because it was a it was a rough few weeks
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up until this recent winning streak. But we got a great discussion coming your
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way. Len before we get into our first topic, which is going to
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be the PGA Tour, liv merged together. Buddy, you were down with
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your wife and Washington, DC recently. You were at Nationals Park. You
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got to see the Phillies play the Nats and unfortunately you were at the game
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where I think where the Phillies lost, Right, yep, played three games,
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only lost one of them, and that's the one I was at.
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That's when you were at. Yeah. Look, I was at Nationals Park
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many many years ago, and I really liked it, to be honest with
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like, the park itself, the area little, not not not the greatest
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area in the world. But I know that you and your wife were along
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the waterfront, which is a fantastic area of Washington, DC. You know,
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I think you were there before the game itself, which is a great
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place to grab some beers and drinks before watching America's favorite pastime. I don't
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know why I had to say it like that, but really, I mean,
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I've always, like I said, when I went to Nationals Park,
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I thought it was a really good experience the park itself. I thought it
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was nice. What were your thoughts when you were down there? So it
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was interesting. So when I it was my second time ever going to National's
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Park, and the first time I went, I think it was probably like
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the second year of existence. And I went and and you know, nice
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park. It was new. I mean, it was nice, but I
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remember being there and feeling underwhelmed and thinking it's nice, but there's no defining
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feature. There's nothing here that stands out. There's something here. It's like
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there's there's not that big warehouse, you know behind right field like in Baltimore,
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or the fountains like in Kansas City, even though that's not a new
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park by any stretch. But so there's no or even like Ashburn Alley something
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like that. There's no defining feature like there that really makes it special.
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And I still, I guess feel that way, but this time around,
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for whatever reason, I just I like the park better. And I will
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say this um for National's Park. Two things I like, Hey, it's
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just called National's Park. Yeah, there's no frigging company name, there's no
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they didn't sell naming rights. I like that, which I'm sure they will
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eventually some day. And the other thing is I will say this, you
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know, if you're talking about being down there before and not being in such
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a nice area, they must have really developed that area around the park.
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Yeah, Because I'll say that in terms of stadiums, I like Citizens Bank
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Park a lot better. But in terms of the area around the stadium in
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Philly, all you have is Exfinity Live and that's pretty much it. There's
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so many places to go down there around the stadium that the around the stadium
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area in DC blows Philly out of the water. Yeah, it really has
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like there have been some right off a capitol because it's off a Capitol hill.
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I wouldn't say that it's Capitol Hill by any stretch where Naturals Park is,
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but the southwestern or southeastern DC, Southeast DC. Yeah, and there
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are certain areas of Southeast DC that really have been going through some economic development
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progress, which has been really great. I mean, like I said,
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when I was down there, that area was not the best area. But
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I'm glad to hear that it's you know that it's really you know, taking
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taking on another form. Yeah, I mean, you know, I mean
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Cole is probably gentrification, um, you know, probably restaurant stare and all
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that stuff. Um. But yeah, I mean there's if you're looking for
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a place to eat or to grab a beer before the game, you have
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no shortage of options. Yeah. All right, very good game itself was
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I mean, it sucked. It was Wheeler and he got and he got
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shelled. Um defense like a Brandon marsh horribly. I misjudged a play out
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in center field. They gave the guy a double and it should have been
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an arrow on marsh Um a base running air that killed a rally. It
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was just like every single way this team confined to lose a game, they
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did it. And then so I was like, all right, it's seven
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to one, they're getting killed whatever. So we were just walking around the
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stadium and they came back, they tied it up, and then you blew
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it in the end, but they at least made it an interesting game.
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I'm gonna I'm gonna pull back the curtain. I've actually already done the interview
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folks with Tim Kelly from Phillies Nation dot com, and it was before,
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you know, it was before like basically the four game winning streak was happening,
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you know. I mean, I think they had won three games in
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a row LEN at the time, But like I was a bit negative.
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I'm just letting folks know for the discussion I have with Tim Kelly a little
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later on in this podcast, I was a little negative because, quite frankly,
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these are teams that they should be beating, the Detroit Tigers and also,
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you know, winning those two games against the Nationals. These are teams
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that they should be beating. So am I happy they're winning Len? Absolutely,
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I want the Phillies to win games at the end of the day,
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that's what matters. However, I want to put it into some sort of
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context too that you know what, it's not all lollipops and rainbows at this
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point with this team, you know. Yeah, And to be fair,
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it feels like there's a lot of that going around. I mean, if
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you look at the standings around Major League Baseball, I mean, the Phillies,
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they're I think they're payrolls like what two hundred and forty three million now,
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so you expect more. The Padres, you know that they get to
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teasepack, they go out and they get Xander Bogart's they're not that good.
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There's a lot of teams out there right now that you know, when you
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look at what they did in the offseason or look at the guys that are
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on that team, you're like, they're wildly underachieving. And the Phillies fall
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in that bucket, yep boy. And then how about some of those AL
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teams too. Freaking yeah, freaking Yankees are in like fourth place and they're
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and they're killing. It's unbelievable. But but that that whole division, the
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whole division murderers route. Yeah, I mean I think, um, I'm
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trying to bring it up now, but I think at one point, like
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a week or so ago, I looked and every single team in the AL
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East was over five yeah. Um, but yeah, there's something like Cleveland.
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For example. Cleveland's a team that you know, they're second in the
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Central right now, twenty eight and thirty three. That's a team that you
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know, won the division last year. I already thought they were going to
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win the division again, you know this year. Yeah, and you know
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they're they're disappointing this year. So there's plenty of those teams. Yeah,
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gonna be an interesting stick around for my discussion with Tim Kelly again from Phillies
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Nation dot com. It was a it was a really good conversation, It
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really was. Tim's great, was great having them on. Len. Let's
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really get into the show. Let's let's talk about first the merger this past
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week, a very shocking sports merger between the PGA Tour and the LIV and
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these these these two organizations going to be merging now. And we're not going
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to talk about golf. Of course, you and I over the years we've
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talked about golf, and we've gone back and forth and stuff. But what
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we wanted to focus on here is how a sports organization like the PGA Tour,
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like the PGA just in general, how a sports organization just hell bent
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on being defiant with its members for just like one year, for one year
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saying you know what, you're banned from our organization. You may never play
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golf and our organization again if you decide that you go play over in Saudi
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Arabia with liv and it just help bent again on being defiant with its members,
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only to then stab in the back. They're loyal golfers on the tour,
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like Rory ma Backleroy, you know, even Tiger Woods who decided not
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to go over that. Yeah, half a billion dollars and you know,
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Saudi Arabia is nothing if not full of you know, rich people exactly like
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that oil money. I mean exactly. So if I was one of those
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people that stuck by the PGA, I would be uh, anything but limiting.
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Yeah. Absolutely. It's just amazing to me that once they started losing
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profits PGA, once they started losing profits land and the market share they started
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losing that as well, then they started going back to the drawing board.
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Because what was really interesting is that like, like I wonder what changed their
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minds, Like what changed Monahan's mind because last year he was absolutely saying after
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I remember Phil Mickelson had suggested that the PGA Tour an LIV Golf needed to
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merge and come together, and that was like October of last year, and
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he was just absolutely like, no, absolutely not. That is something that
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is never going to happen. Less than a year later, it does.
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It's astonishing to me. Let me answer the question, because you know,
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I don't obviously I don't follow golf, but you know, you know,
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so this this happens, this this UMLIV tour you know, begins and I
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just like, you know, I would never hear that much about it.
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So I like, I still, you know, based on my limited understanding
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of golf, I was under the impression that the PGA Tour was still quote
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unquote the superior brand. UM. I didn't really know much about the the
11:35
LIV Tour. I wouldn't hear that much about it. So if anything,
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I would be like, Okay, that's the floundering entity, not the PGA
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Tour. So for them to you know, go under it, because because
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this this is all under the Saudi umbrella now right right, well, it's
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it's going it's going to I don't think. I don't from from what I
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thought it was. Yeah, from what I understand, the Governor of Saudi
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Arabia's public Investment Fund, which is financing LIV golf. Um. He is
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going to be heading, He's going to be at the table along with the
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current PGA Tour UH commissioner Jay Monahan. So they're gonna be there together.
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So I don't think it's one necessarily over the other. Um, but they
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they both again, they they reached this agreement to unify to form a larger
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commercial enterprise this past week, So it's gonna be it's gonna be all of
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it together, by the way, along with what's called the dp World Tour
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as well. That's circuit too. So yeah, I love you for just
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just singing that right in there. So let let me ask you this while
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we're while we're goofing off. So like you you you know, I know
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you you like you're in the golf and all that. So like now that
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that's now it's all merged together instead of like when you swing, instead of
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yelling for do you just yell like death to America or it's exactly death to
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America. Oh God. But to answer your question from before, led,
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I think part of the issue was and I don't know if the PGA Tour
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had anything to do with this, but I felt there were times when I
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did want to know what was going on with some of the golfers on LIV
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and on their particular tour, but it was kind of not that it was
13:28
difficult to necessarily find, but you kind of had to dig for it a
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little bit here and there, you know, to find out really what was
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going on with some of the players. I think our access here in America
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was possibly stifled a little bit, whether it was intentional by the PGA Tour,
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whether or not they had, you know, maybe some agreements with some
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sports network organizations to not necessarily promote L or LIV matches and things like that.
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You know, I don't know if that happened behind the scenes. I'm
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just pulling that out ofthan air, folks. I have no idea, you
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know what I mean. And that could be a thing where, you know,
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maybe in a couple weeks or months or whatever, stuff comes out it's
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like, oh, Okay, this is why the PGA decided to make this
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move because you know, maybe maybe the financials aren't as great as you know,
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we would be led to believe, and that's why they make that move.
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I don't know, but it sounds like something that eventually it's going to
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come out. I wanted to just put this on the agenda because I was
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thinking to myself to Land, I'm like, you know, what if this
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were to happen hypothetically speaking to like a basketball organization or whether or not it
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was a baseball organization, And yes it is with a BA, NBA,
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FL, NFL, I mean this kind of thing. I mean, and
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I guess the Two Tours didn't get so big and accumulate a following over a
14:45
group of years that it was at that level. But it is kind of
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like a mini version of those two mark it is. It absolutely is,
14:50
and I just think from a loyalty standpoint, it kind of stinks. I
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think. I think, at the end of the day, like most business
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is, it's about money. But inevitably, the PGA Tour just stabs so
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many guys in the back. And that's what's so disappointing for me as somebody
15:07
who does watch golf and I do follow what goes on with the tour.
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You know, sometimes I put some money on some of these events and things
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like that and with some of the golfers and think how I think they're gonna
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do. But at the end of day. It's just it's it's really disappointing
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and it's yet again, and we all know this another situation in life where
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just money talks. Man, money just talks, and loyalty doesn't necessarily mean
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that much. It's kind of it's kind of sad, you know what I
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mean. I just feel like, and I don't know, maybe it's always
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been like this in the world land where just money talks all the time,
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and I feel like loyalty is just kind of thrown out the door, or
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you get you get a certain amount of loyalty every now and then, but
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once the money's really really there, yeah exactly, then then then all hands
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off, you know what I mean? Well that you know, and with
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the money thing, you know, just next time you're thinking of betting on
15:58
golf, you know, you have my vet Mo thing. Instead of instead
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of betting on golf like a maniac, you can you can just me that
16:04
money, not a maniac with it, and instead just venmoia five bucks.
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So whatever it is, Yeah, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff must be gambling
16:18
again. I'll just venmou like five bucks and I'll be like I was gonna
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put this on Jordan's speed. Well, I'll say you made the right move
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by just carry it to me. All right, let us know what you're
16:29
thinking about this particular story, any story in the world of Philly sports and
16:33
beyond Philadelphia Sports table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your email
16:36
here on the show and respond to it. Lenn. Let's move on to
16:38
whether or not Philadelphia should have a w NBA team in the future if the
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w NBA expands at some point down the road. It's interesting the w NBA
16:48
commissioner Kathy Engelbert, somebody who I think she went to Lehigh University actually,
16:53
and she is, so she knows the Philly area pretty well. But she
16:56
is always asked time and time again, over and over that same question,
17:02
when will the twelve team at w NBA expand? And you know, she
17:06
obviously is hoping. I think at some point that it does, just from
17:08
art of various articles that I've read. They've talked about putting a team in
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the Bay Area, possibly Toronto, Denver, or even Austin, Texas,
17:18
Nashville, Tennessee, maybe even Charlotte, North Carolina. But with Philadelphia,
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what amazes me is that Philadelphia is the fourth largest as of twenty nineteen,
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the fourth largest TV market television market in the entire United States, and the
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first three as we know, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and
17:41
then it's the Philadelphia TV market area. And it seems so weird that the
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Philadelphia market does not have a w NBA team, and it would seem to
17:49
make sense that they should at some point in the future if the WNBA expands,
17:55
because look, this league is still around, there is interest in it,
17:59
there is a lot of fever, there's a lot of just individuals who
18:03
really do like it, and it's a great way for girls, young ladies
18:07
to get involved in basketball too. And I think especially in the Philly market
18:11
area, Lynn, I think it could be a big boom. Yeah,
18:15
I absolutely do agree. I don't know what the financials for the league look
18:22
like, and maybe that's what's keeping them from expanding. But you know you're
18:26
talking about market. Okay, Eastern Conference, you could put Philly in there.
18:30
Western Conference. There's no team in Houston right now. With Houston is
18:33
you know, somewhere in there in terms of fourth or fifth biggest cities in
18:37
the country. So right there, boom, there's an Eastern Conference in a
18:40
Western Conference. I think it's an interesting thing because I had read an article
18:44
about it, and I never thought I'd have a chance to bring it up.
18:45
So this is interesting. It was just interesting to me is that I
18:49
was I was seeing you know, player like rookies that had just gotten drafted
18:56
that were you know, playing for like teams like IOWA, teams like South
19:00
Carolina Major, you know, high end college basketball programs that got drafted in
19:06
the first round or the second round of the WNBA draft a couple months ago
19:11
or a couple of weeks ago, and they got cut already from the team.
19:12
And apparently what's happening is, you know, the older players in the
19:17
league aren't aging out as quickly, so and the younger players that haven't really
19:22
had that much time to developer whatever that they're just getting cut. And it's
19:26
like, Okay, I guess if you want to you know, you went
19:30
to school for medicine and go be a doctor now instead of following your basketball
19:33
dream, war you're just going to go over to Europe and play basketball.
19:36
Now. It seems to me like there's enough of the pool of players that
19:40
you if you wanted to develop young players and then have a little bit more
19:44
youth throughout each team and then spread out the veterans a little bit, you
19:48
could expand like that that is there in terms of a talent base. It's
19:52
just shocking to me. It's just like, you know, reading about you
19:56
know, your NBA team, you know, cutting their first round pick and
20:00
training camp, you'd be like, what like like that that concept is baffling
20:07
and so and so reading about it, I was, I was just really
20:10
surprised. And it seems like that is the issue. At the older players
20:14
in the league haven't aged out to retirement yet and there's just no room for
20:18
some of these younger players. And I do think it's something that could take
20:21
hold in Philadelphia and and a lot of other places, you know, because
20:25
you looked at them this last NCAA tournament, whether whether it's the Caitlin Clark
20:30
factor or if people were just starting to watch women's basketball more in general.
20:33
I'm glad to bringing this up. Yeah, that that tournament did numbers.
20:37
It did a lot of numbers, and people were watching it like I was,
20:41
I was watching, you know, the women's tournament. So you know,
20:44
Okay, the next step for these um for these players after the college
20:49
is the WNBA and now like all of a sudden, they're the people you
20:53
just watched in the NCAA tournament like final four teams are getting cut after being
21:00
as incredible. It's just strange. So from a from a financial standpoint,
21:04
I don't know if the wa w NBA can expand, But from a you
21:08
know, team building standpoint, a personnel standpoint, a talent standpoint, they're
21:14
they're absolutely could be you know, a couple more teams in there, and
21:18
you could fill out rosters absolutely good. Yeah, absolutely, And I'm pretty
21:22
sure len that current w NBA starting Tasha Cloud, she's a she's Delaware County
21:26
native, actually, and I know that she has been quoted as saying,
21:30
and I actually read one of her quotes where she said, it's not necessarily
21:33
a secret that we're trying to get a team to Philly. It's been in
21:37
the works for a year and a half. Put a little pressure on not
21:41
only on the city but on the w NBA two and our thing for us
21:45
to progress our league, it needs to expand we have to have more than
21:51
one hundred and forty four jobs. Listen, it's in the works. I'm
21:53
trying my damned as to bring a team back to Philly. So it's the
21:57
twelve team league. They could absolutely you know expand yep, absolutely, all
22:02
right, Well, a good discussion there, and it leads us to our
22:06
next basketball discussion being the Philadelphia seventy Sixers. Now we're not going to talk
22:10
about necessarily any any players in particular and what we think is going to happen
22:15
with the team, Len, But I was a bit, I would say,
22:18
disappointed, even though I don't necessarily one percent fully know what Sam Cassell
22:26
was basically how his coaching prowess was on the team for the Sixers. I
22:30
knew that he was an integral part because it would be discussed a lot,
22:33
you know, what type of leadership that he brought to the coaching ranks and
22:40
just his style, his overall presence, what it actually meant to the Sixers
22:45
team in the organization too. And he's he's heading to Boston. He got
22:48
a new job up there. So essentially, with Nick Nurse coming in,
22:53
Sam Cassell leaving, there's gonna be it's gonna be a fresh start really for
22:57
these returning Sixers players. With the Sixers players that do return, as it
23:03
pertains to the coaching staff, I think we're going to see a lot of
23:07
different stuff from this team because this coaching staff is really going to be different
23:11
now, Len And I'm I'm fascinated to see what's going to happen, what
23:15
attitudes are going to come out from certain players because of this new coaching staff.
23:22
But I kind of think it stinks. I was really I was hoping
23:26
Sam Cassell was really going to be in the running to be the head coach.
23:29
I'm not. I'm not trying to you know, downplay Nick Nurse by
23:32
any stretch. Um. I think it's gonna be interesting to see how he
23:34
coaches this team from an offensive perspective. But I don't know. I think
23:40
I think not having Sam Cassell there could be I don't want to say detrimental,
23:42
but it could stink for this team. I mean, he did definitely
23:48
have, um, you know, a good rapport. I mean, this
23:49
is a guy that's not so far removed from his playing days, so he
23:53
still, you know, can relate to a lot of the players apparently,
23:56
you know from things I've read, you know has a great sense of human
24:00
were a good, good rapport with with a lot of those guys. So
24:03
you do lose something when when you lose something like that. But you know,
24:07
uh, there's a lot of these teams. Um. I know,
24:10
the Bucks hired you know, a coach with no experience, but you have
24:14
a lot of high profile openings in Milwaukee, in Philadelphia, in you know,
24:18
Phoenix, the these these teams that are are playoff teams that are you
24:22
know, teams that consider themselves legitimate contenders that are going to make a deep
24:26
run. Those kind of teams I don't think are going to be as quick
24:30
to hire a guy that's never had the big chair before, and and that
24:36
that's I never I wouldn't have minded if they had hired Cassel as a head
24:40
coach, but I never thought it was going to happen. I always had
24:42
a feeling that it was going to be somebody that you know, has has
24:47
had the head job before somewhere else, and it turned out to be that.
24:51
And look, Nurse probably you know, when when he was interviewing and
24:53
you know, kind of doing his Okay, what's what what would it take
24:57
for you to come here and coach? I'm sure he, like all coaches,
25:02
probably have their list of their guys and their assistants they want to they
25:04
want to bring in and That's what happened, and Cassell probably saw the writing
25:08
on the wall and was like, well, you know, I have this
25:11
previous rapport here. You know. Um I think with with Missoula in um
25:17
Boston and maybe there's some other people up there. He knows. I think
25:19
he played in Boston for a bit, so I mean that's a situation then
25:23
that would, you know, becomes comfortable for him because maybe with those those
25:27
teams that did have coaching openings, maybe they all wanted experience and it's just
25:33
it just wasn't the market for a first time head coach. I thought,
25:37
you know, he would if he did leave, it would be to be
25:41
a head coach somewhere. But you know, maybe just this year's climate wasn't
25:45
suitable for a first time coach. It's going to be a different experience.
25:49
I think watching the Sixers team this year, Lynn, it really, it
25:52
really is. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how, you know,
25:56
how they you know responded Nurse. I know him and mbat clinic going onto
26:00
the a at each other in the past, but I mean it's it's respectful
26:03
and you know, and I know him, Beat likes him. Obviously.
26:08
That was the concern with him beat. You know, he liked Doc Rivers
26:11
too, so that was a concern about letting Doc go. Harden. I
26:17
don't know how he feels about Nurse, but you know that a'll it's definitely
26:22
getting rid of Rivers and bringing somebody else in is definitely if you want Harden
26:26
to come back. That's a point in that direction. So yeah, we'll
26:30
have to see how all that shakes out. Absolutely, let us know what
26:33
you're thinking again Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read
26:36
your email here on the show and respond to it. And if you're new
26:38
to listening to us, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're on, follow us
26:42
on Apple podcast, rate and review the show. We greatly appreciate that,
26:45
and if anything happens to your podcast feed, you can always head on over
26:49
to Philadelphia Sportstable dot com. We've got all of our shows over there.
26:52
Follow Len on the Twitter dot com at Len Hunt Sicker. You can follow
26:56
me at Jeffrey Underscore, Warren and the Show at Philadelphia PST. We are
27:00
also on Instagram as well. Just search out Philadelphia Sports Table. We're gonna
27:06
take a quick break, I'm gonna pay some bills. We will be back
27:07
in just a bit. All right, Lynn, we are back, and
27:11
since you are on, we're gonna be able to talk about two Philly sports
27:15
teams that I usually do not have the opportunity to talk about when our other
27:19
co host, Eric has on. That's the Philadelphia Union and the Philadelphia Flyers.
27:25
So buddy man, let's get into this Union team first. A Union
27:29
team that is on fire right now. Holy cow. Julian Carranza just has
27:36
once again been voted as Major League Soccers Player of the Match Day, and
27:40
this time it's for match Day seventeen, when the Union took on CF Montreal,
27:45
beating him three to nothing. He has been exceptional and I kind of
27:48
wonder if he's even gonna be staying in Philadelphia after this. He may be
27:52
heading over to Europe. It's at some point, you know what I mean,
27:56
You wonder wonder, you know, with some of these guys. Don't
28:00
know what his contract status is, but I mean, that's obviously a guy
28:03
that I would like to keep around. You know, he's an Argentinian national,
28:07
so maybe you know, um, if the quality playing that one it's
28:10
better than an MLS maybe you know, that's a bump up two. Um,
28:14
but yeah, I mean he's a guy that you know, maybe some
28:17
of those teams will end up looking at um he's been maybe their best too.
28:22
We're all player. I mean, you can you can make an argument
28:25
for Gozdog as well. I think I think I think he number one at
28:30
this point. They they have they have a couple options. And then that's
28:33
good because I remember, you know, being with you on the show not
28:37
too long ago and being like, oh god, they're in like seventh exactly
28:40
the point out a second. Ye so, um, you know, I
28:45
had the way it works as there's nine spots in each division for playoffs,
28:51
you know, and whoever finishes it for heirst gets to buy. That's gonna
28:53
be Cincinnati. I don't think anybody's going to be catching them for first in
28:57
the in the East. But you know, if the Union can grab that
29:02
second seed, you know, then then they play in the ninth team.
29:04
You know, they're they're going to get a favorable draw coming up in the
29:07
playoffs. Here things hold the way they are, but um, it's it's
29:11
a good feeling to go from where we were a couple of weeks ago.
29:15
Even I was watching the US Open Cup match against Minnesota, that came down
29:22
the penalty kicks, and it went on for a while with the penalty kicks
29:25
before Minnesota ended up winning, and it was deflating. It was just like
29:27
they're they're just stuck in this morass. And then okay, you get a
29:33
win versus Colorado and you tie DC, which I was a little disappointed by
29:37
it. But you know, since then four straight wins, they they've been
29:41
really hot. And they have San Jose coming up this weekend at ten thirty.
29:45
That's another very beatable team, even if it is on road, so
29:51
we'll see what they do. But um, yeah, I feel so much
29:53
better about this team. I feel the way that I hoped that I would
29:57
feel when the season began. And I guess some of that comes from,
30:00
you know, hitting that rough patch, and you know, because you're in
30:03
these these tournaments outside of MLS, you know, you're you're sitting guys,
30:07
you're having your your depth come off the bench and start and play most of
30:11
some of those games. And those guys who previously maybe weren't in Philadelphia last
30:15
year now have gotten some valuable experience and maybe they have kind of, you
30:21
know, worked in some familiarity with how the team works, and the team
30:23
has gotten used to them and they're just more used to playing with each other
30:26
now and hopefully that's what we're seeing manifest itself right now. I think it's
30:30
like the union and that goes forward absolutely. Like you said, they're playing
30:34
the Earthquakes this coming Saturday. It's the first time that they're visiting them out
30:38
there in San Jose, I think since September twenty nineteen. But you're talking
30:42
about this momentum, Len and I think when they face the Earthquakes, like
30:48
you said, they are a beatable team. They I can see them beating
30:52
this team and then keeping that momentum going. Carranza again, he's currently sitting
30:56
third in MLS's Golden Boot race with nine goals, and uh, it's it's
31:03
he is instrumental in setting the tone for these these matches and it's incredible to
31:08
watch because just because of well it's not just his growth, but what he's
31:14
able to do for the rest of the team. And again it comes back
31:15
to that word momentum. That's what they have now. And I think that
31:18
I think they're gonna end up winning this game on Saturday, I really do,
31:21
and it's gonna it's gonna be it's it's gonna be sweet man. Yeah,
31:26
I mean it just felt earlier in the year. Um, just there
31:29
there wasn't much offensive punch. You know, he hadn't gotten going yet.
31:33
It felt like pretty much every goal they had was you know, a Daniel
31:37
gosdog penalty kick. It felt like that was the only way they could score
31:40
at certain points. And now you have Karanza going off. Michael oh has
31:45
had a few good games here. Um, he scored the other goal for
31:48
for Philadelphia against Montreal, So you know, there it feels like their guys
31:52
are starting to get hot at the right time and and that's a good feeling
31:56
going into you know, the hopefully the second half of the season. Absolutely,
32:00
if you're a Union fan, let us know what you're thinking about this
32:02
team in the momentum we're talking about here Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com.
32:06
We'd love to talk about it more here on the show with you,
32:08
Len. Let's get into some flyers talk here, buddy, before let's have
32:12
to let you go and before you can get some sleep here, because boy
32:15
do you desperately need it after being up almost twenty four hours. Really yep,
32:22
a forty eight hour worth week getting about four hours sleep at night.
32:25
That's awesome. Dear God. Well, look, I was absolutely shocked,
32:30
as was everybody else when the Ivan Provrov trade came down. I absolutely could
32:39
not believe what this was, lenn I, I cannot believe that they actually
32:45
were able to get something like this. I don't know, maybe Danny Breer
32:47
some sort of magician, a magical genius. And it's a three way trade,
32:53
as many of us know. So it's Flyers, the Columbus Blue Jackets,
33:00
and also the Los Angeles Kings. So basically, with coming to Philly
33:04
is going to be the King's two thousand, twenty three first round pick,
33:07
which is twenty second overall, the kings twenty twenty four second round pick,
33:12
in a conditional twenty twenty four two twenty five second round pick from the Blue
33:17
Jackets. Columbus just gets Ivan Provrov. But oh, by the way,
33:22
we get a couple of defensemen and a goalie here as well in this trade
33:25
too, and which, by the way, these are these are two NHL
33:32
players that are either going to contribute to the rebuild in a way where they're
33:36
they're either terrible on the ice, so they're shipped out at next year's trade
33:39
deadline. But we're gonna be getting two number one picks this year. Lynn.
33:45
What a fantastic haul that they were able to get for Ivan provrov Man.
33:50
It's this is it's unbelievable. Yeah, I mean he was on that
33:57
list of guys that you thought could be traded in the offseason. He was
34:00
a guy I thought should be traded and that would eventually be moved. I
34:04
didn't think he'd be the first one to go. I really thought, just
34:07
given you know, the way you know things were between Kevin Hayes and John
34:13
Tortorella, I thought Hayes would have been the first domino to fall. But
34:15
um, you know, pro Rob obviously probably has more value around the league,
34:21
But I didn't think he had that much value to get what the Flyers
34:24
got back. And look they they they did some things, you know,
34:28
in order to get the extra value. Cal Peterson's contract is not great.
34:32
The goaltender Sean Walker's um, you know, those are two kind of orderous
34:37
contracts. But the Flyers are at a point right now where you know,
34:40
they're not looking to be there for you know, two years for a playoff
34:44
bush. So those guys are contracts will be off the books by then,
34:47
so you know, when you're in this position, you can afford to take
34:51
on those those bad contracts in order to get more assets to build up your
34:55
team. So now you've got two first round picks seven and twenty two.
35:00
You know, in a in a year with some real difference makers, you
35:05
can hold tight and get two first rounders. You can maybe pack the Joe
35:07
picks even if you want to move up to like four or five. If
35:12
you know, you know Carlson or Will Smith is there and you really want
35:15
to make sure you get one of those two guys. You know that's possible
35:20
I think with those with the two first rounders like that, or you just
35:23
hold tight. I mean, you know that there's quite a bit of depth
35:28
in this year's drafts, particularly in the first round, so you know,
35:32
maybe you do get two good players. This will be the interesting part,
35:36
you know, of this rebuild now is now you get to see, Okay,
35:40
how did they draft, how does that all work? How did they
35:43
develop um? And I know that they've made some changes to their developmental staff
35:47
over the past couple of days too, so that'll be an interesting thing to
35:51
see. But I thought this is a great deal. I couldn't believe it,
35:53
UM to actually get second round picks back to you know, after a
35:59
couple of years of seeing you know, second round picks be given away just
36:02
to just to get rid of Shane Gossis, barons, the second round picks
36:06
given away to trade likes of a wrista line In or Tony D'Angelo. It's
36:10
so nice to see some of those coming back and just knowing that a team
36:15
that needs to rebuild is going to have, you know, the capitol to
36:16
do so. UM. I was listening to UM the Serious XM's Hockey channel
36:24
earlier today and it was a replay of a show from the day before.
36:27
They were talking about the trade and like, you know, this organization has
36:30
been so you know, just focused on when now, When now went out
36:35
and making dumb move, if dumb move, every dumb move. To hear
36:37
the national pundits say it's shocking to see the Flyers make a good move.
36:42
I mean that just tells you how they're viewed on the national level. And
36:45
we we get into our Philadelphia bubble where you know, we're watching the Philadelphia
36:50
programs and listening to them and that's our source of knowledge and we don't get
36:54
that that national point of view. I mean to hear them talking Philadelphia like
37:00
that, like wow, they're finally making smart moves. Well, it was
37:02
interesting to me, I think for me Len when I heard this, and
37:07
after I was able to digest everything with this trade, I took a step
37:12
back and I was like, wow, what does this actually say about Danny
37:15
Brier and his ability to negotiate smart deals and creatively execute this rebuild? And
37:23
this first step really was the foundation of that. It really is going to
37:30
I think, and again we use that word hope, but set the tone
37:34
for what this creative possibly rebuild may end up looking like we haven't seen this.
37:39
Like you said, they're talking on Serious XM about the fact that they're
37:43
shocked, and you're saying the national analysts are shocked out there by what has
37:47
happened because there has not been creativity. There haven't been smartly negotiated deals from
37:52
this Flyer's front office from a very long time. But Danny Brier did it.
37:57
I'm I don't care. I mean as as first impressions go, yeah,
38:01
it's hard to do much better than he did. Absolutely, And that's
38:05
what it comes down to for me again, his ability to negotiate this very
38:08
smart deal here that I'm telling you Chuck Fletcher would not have been able to
38:14
do just creatively executing this rebuild. I have hope here, Lynn, I
38:19
have the whole body and and and this is shaping up to be an interesting
38:23
offseason. I mean, um, Kevin Hayes will eventually get traded. I
38:28
don't know what you get for him, but you know, they're they're they're
38:30
there's a lot of smoke out there about Carter Hard. You know, you've
38:35
got Sam So there's a guy that you know, you you don't feel like,
38:39
Okay, oh man, I've just traded away the goalie we've been waiting
38:44
for all these years, and we have nothing else. You have Sam Marson
38:46
there, who you know, Tortorellas Fondov who you know really played well,
38:52
you know, um last year and looks like a very promising prospect. And
38:55
now you have Cal Peterson who was given a big contract for a reason.
38:59
He's just sound to perform so far. So maybe the Flyers coaching staff can
39:02
make some adjustments there and get him back to the guy that you know,
39:07
La wanted to give five million dollars a year. Or two, right,
39:09
you know, so you if you wanted to trade Carter Hart, it's out
39:15
there you can. And that to me after seeing what he got for pro
39:20
rap, I know, it's a scary prospect. It is. I like
39:22
Carter Hard lot too. I don't necessarily want to trade him, but it's
39:28
it would be interesting just to see what he could get for It's interesting.
39:31
Our good friend of the show and she was just on recently one of our
39:35
table talk shows, Kelly Hankle from Broadstreet Hockey dot com line. I read
39:38
a tweet from her today where she was basically like saying everyone needs to like
39:43
take a step back from their feelings and realize that trading Carter Hart is probably
39:46
a good idea, you know. And like I was thinking about it a
39:51
little more after her tweet, and I was like, you know what,
39:53
Kelly, may actually just be right in terms of what this rebuild is,
39:57
because again, the rebuild is what is important. And let's not forget too
40:01
Carter Heart's injury history. I mean, he hasn't been the healthiest guy in
40:06
front of the net. And also again and not that necessarily much is going
40:09
to come of this, but the sexual assault investigation is still out there as
40:14
well. Yeah, we don't know who is involved in that. To me,
40:19
I can't. I have a hard time believing that Heart would be involved
40:22
in that because if if you're a team that knows that he is one of
40:25
those people that's involved in that, why on earth would you trade for him?
40:29
Yeah, exactly to me. To me, So that's why I'm having
40:31
a hard time believing that Heart is involved in that, just because I feel
40:35
like that would just completely negate any trade value he would have. Yeah,
40:38
but um, yeah, I don't know. I mean you have to and
40:42
and you know, going back to Kelly's tweet, you know, you have
40:45
to look at a window too, So you know, two guys that have
40:51
a lot of value in Heart and Travis Connectney. By the time the Flyers
40:54
are good again, how old are they going to be? Where are they
40:58
going to be? I mean, are they going to be in there late
41:00
twenties? Are they going to be in their early thirties? I mean,
41:01
Heart's only twenty four. I think, you know, maybe if it takes
41:06
him three years to get back, he's still only twenty seven. So that's
41:09
a point in favor of keeping Heart. Um, but yeah, I don't
41:14
know. Um, there's a lot of teams out there that you know that
41:16
are are, you know, kind of close to being built to win,
41:20
but maybe they have a hole in the net, maybe like a Toronto.
41:23
Yeah, you know, look at or in Edmonton looking at teams like that.
41:29
Yeah, I mean it's it's worth asking. Yeah, it's possible,
41:31
and it is worth asking. And Lennon, buddy, before I let you
41:36
go real quick, I mean, do you think the Flyers should stick with
41:40
their number seven overall pick? You know, do you think they should stay
41:44
put? Do you think they should move I personally think they should stay put,
41:46
And I said this recently on the show too, where I think Danny
41:50
bo But then again, he makes this Ivan Provrov trade where there's there's a
41:53
lot of creativity here in terms of what he was able to do in terms
41:58
of setting the foundation for this rebuild. But I kind of think he should
42:00
just stay with the number seven overall pick, because my initial gut feeling was
42:05
if he moves up, if he moves down, whatever pick he makes and
42:09
it doesn't work out, it's gonna be Danny Brier screwing up his first draft.
42:14
So I think just staying staying at number seven without making a move is
42:19
probably the safest bet. Now. Now, I don't even know if I
42:22
feel that anymore. I feel like that's kind of out the window because we've
42:24
seen him be a bit creative here now. Yeah, and there's there's you
42:29
know, tons of talk probably within the NHL front office landscape that you know,
42:35
your average fan is in Privy two. So you know, if Danny
42:37
Brier has a particular guy in mind, um in terms of who he wants
42:42
to take at number seven, then I mean he'll hear the whispers, he'll
42:45
no, yeah, okay, ooh, that guy's probably not going to make
42:49
it past number five. Maybe I do need to trade up. So if
42:52
there's a guy he has in mind and he hears that, you know,
42:55
he's not going to be there at seven, then I'm sure he will make
42:59
a move, right. I mean, there could be a couple of different
43:00
options that they like and are happy to whoever falls with them at seven.
43:05
I mean, I you know, I know how I would like to shake
43:08
out. I would love, you know, just see to number one.
43:14
Well, I just can't realistic. I would like to see mitchkov follow them
43:19
at seven, and I would like to see them take a swing on on
43:22
an elite player and and you know, don't get some two hundred foot center,
43:29
some defense, some like responsible typical flyer guy. Make a stab at
43:35
getting a truly elite talent on this team because that's what you need. Yeah,
43:38
that's what is That's what is lacking from this team is elite talent.
43:43
So if he's there, take the shot. I think that's what the fan
43:46
base wants to Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think there's a there's a
43:50
good amount of people that that are are kind of there. I mean,
43:53
unless you know, the Russia in geo political situation really goes off the rail
44:00
in the next couple of weeks. You know, I'm all for I'm all
44:04
for drafting this kid, and he's there at seven. All right, very
44:06
good, buddy, I'll let you go. You gotta get yourself some sleep
44:08
here. Um, any final thoughts buddy before we go to break here and
44:13
then we get to what we're turned down the table. Ah No, I'm
44:16
just kidding that. That's my thought. That's great, that was great.
44:24
That helps me. Do you have a machine now that helps you? I've
44:30
seen it in use. I love it. Yes, all right, buddy,
44:34
I will let you go. Folks, we are gonna take a quick
44:36
break, pay some bills, will be back in just a bit. All
44:39
right, we are back. Let's get into some Philadelphia Phillies talk. This
44:43
team is schizophrenic. It's what we're thrown down on the table. And now
44:47
on the team joining us this week, coming to us from Phillies Nation dot
44:54
com. Always love having him on the podcast and to get into this Philadelphia
44:58
Phillies team. Man, any ups and downs, a little bit more downs
45:02
in recent weeks, however, this team has shown us some stuff. Right
45:06
now, is there in the midst of a series with the Detroit Tigers,
45:09
we have again for Phillies Nation dot Com, the one and only Tim Kelly.
45:14
How are you doing, Buddy, I'm good. Thanks for having dot
45:16
com Jeff. It's great to talk to you man. Love talking to you
45:20
and your colleagues over at Phillies Nation dot com about this Phillies team. And
45:24
pull back the curtain. Before we hit the record button, I said,
45:27
you know, the topics that we were going to get into. I was
45:29
thinking about them over the weekend, and all of a sudden, the Phillies
45:31
have won three games in a row and again they're playing at Detroit Tigers.
45:35
But still they're winning and that's a good thing, Tim, Yeah, it
45:39
is. I guess the flip side of that is when the Phillies have won
45:45
three in a row this year, it seems like they lose five in a
45:47
row right after. It's that has been a troubling trend. But I would
45:52
say the fact that Trey Turner and Kyle Schober looked to be maybe turning the
45:57
corner is a sign that maybe this is a little more sustainable. Absolutely,
46:00
I hope. So Trey Turner kind of getting back into the groove is very
46:05
welcoming for sure, and really quick. Folks, make sure you're following Tim
46:07
on Twitter at Tim Kelly Sports. He's at Tim Kelly Sports on Instagram as
46:13
well and Facebook. He's a great great follow out there on the innerwebs and
46:17
again Phillies Nation dot com. So let's really get into this team, because
46:21
like for weeks now, Tim, you know, I've been just convincing myself
46:24
that I need to remain calm, let things happen the way they will with
46:28
a very very talented Phillies team, you know, at least on paper here.
46:31
But I feel like that that we were in panic mode there for a
46:35
little while, you know, and whether whether or not this was actually going
46:38
to be a wasted season. And again, they're winning right now as of
46:44
us recording this on Tuesday, June sixth, But I'm gonna preface my question
46:47
by saying they're they're hardly eliminated from anything. But I'm wondering, Tim,
46:52
when should we really start to, like truly worry about this team potentially not
47:00
making a wild card spot as we all hope that they would. What are
47:02
your thoughts? Well, I think you were getting to that point after Friday
47:07
Night's game, when you lost four in a row after getting swept by the
47:09
Mets, and then you lose one of the Nationals where you almost come back
47:14
from a seven zero hole but aren't able to do it. So I think
47:16
you were getting to that point. And then they've won three in a row
47:19
here, and you've had a bunch of encouraging signs as I mentioned Shoreburn Turner,
47:23
JT Realmudo, Nick Castiano's is hitting as well as anyone right now,
47:30
and you had a great start for Marinola outside of one hanging pitch last night.
47:35
So those are the things you needed to turn, and they've turned so
47:39
and Ranger Swarz has had another really good start, So the starting rotation has
47:45
really, to me, been the biggest issue. If that can flip,
47:47
then I think this season does. They may in four or five days be
47:52
at another position where you're like, I don't know where this season is going
47:55
to go. I definitely think you're at the point of the season where you
48:00
can make its soul about Memorial Day just playing five hundred or give or take.
48:04
At a certain point, though, you need to kind of flip the
48:07
switch and go on a run, and I think they're at that point of
48:09
the season where they need to do that. You mentioned a few players and
48:13
couple players, I should say, and a few of them I want to
48:15
get into Kyle Schwarber, jt Realmuto, and Nick Castianos. But first let's
48:20
talk about Kyle Schwarber here, Tim, because he's been an incredible storyline throughout
48:25
this season. In my eyes, you know, not only is he struggled
48:29
at the plate, but he's actually like he's actually like the worst fielder in
48:32
Major League Baseball this season by defensive run saved metrics. I'll preface it by
48:38
saying that, and I mean he had none disclosed knee injury earlier this season.
48:43
But he's the type of player who you know up until like recent really
48:46
recently, and hopefully his success sustains itself. But he's a player who has
48:51
been costing this team in a number of ways throughout twenty twenty three here,
48:55
So, how should Rob Thompson be handling Kyle Schwarber at this point in the
49:00
season, given the fact that he's actually cost the team, whether it's defensively
49:04
and certainly within the batter's box too. What are your thoughts with regard to
49:07
Kyle Schwarber. Well, I think they need to continue sticking him out there
49:10
Therecas. This is someone that hit forty six home runs a season ago,
49:14
and you're not gonna win without him playing well. As far as defense,
49:20
their hands are tied a little bit right now with Bryce Harper and trenched at
49:23
DH, and there isn't really a clear timetable as to when he potentially could
49:29
go back into the field, whether that's at first base or right field.
49:32
When that happens, I think the priority has flipped. I would have said
49:37
last season it was more important to get Nick Castianos into the DH spot.
49:40
This year, Castianos has been much better, even if he's still not creating
49:44
out well. And you're right, Kyle Scharber. Last year I said he
49:49
might not get to some balls, but he's going to catch the balls he
49:52
gets to. And at a small left field that Citizens Bank Park, you
49:55
can kind of get away with it, but you see it would go to
49:59
some of these parks like coors Field or Atlanta, so that big outfields,
50:06
it it's really a liability out there. And I think he has gotten worse
50:09
than last year, which makes me wonder whether he's been battling through some stuff
50:15
physically. But you may be getting to a point next season where you have
50:19
to think about him as a DH for fifty percent of the games or whatever
50:24
the case may be. So that's something you need to factor in and building
50:28
your team. But right now, obviously you're not taking Bryce Harper out of
50:31
the lineup. He's the DH, and I think you just have to take
50:36
what you get from Kylige Forbert in the field and hope that he gets hot
50:38
offensively. Absolutely, it's a word we use a lot on this podcast.
50:43
Hope. We use that with a lot of these Philly sports teams that we
50:47
follow here at the PSD Podcast show. But moving on, I also mentioned
50:51
JT. Real Muto even a couple of weeks ago, I had mentioned to
50:54
one of our friends of the podcast who was on that I wanted to see
50:59
him step up a little bit, even though he was consistent. At the
51:02
time, he had only had three home runs on the season. But over
51:07
the past couple of weeks, man JT. Real Muto just really struggling at
51:10
the plate. Of course, he broke out of his slump this past weekend
51:14
with a home run against the Nationals, but I think it was his coldest
51:17
streak that he has actually had during his five years with the Phillies. Tim,
51:22
He's not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination.
51:25
But what have you seen thus far from JT. Real Muto that really has
51:30
been holding him back at the plate this season? I think it's a lot
51:34
similar to what you saw in the first half of last year, where he
51:37
struggled and then all of a sudden around June mid June in that range from
51:44
there on out was one of the ten best position players in baseball probably.
51:47
I think he had an OPS around nine fifty in the second of the season
51:52
last year, So I mean, I don't know that you can count on
51:54
him replicating that. But I would say, as much as I love the
52:00
World Baseball Classic, it is a little coincidental that the three guys were talking
52:05
about getting off to slow starts. Are three guys for the Phillies that played
52:08
in the World Baseball Classic. In addition to Jose Alvarado in the injurlist,
52:13
Ranger Squarez had time when the injured list, and I really do wonder for
52:16
a catcher, And I know real Mudo had a little time where he came
52:21
back to spring training after the WBC, but I do wonder what it's like
52:24
ramping up if there was enough time for him to get back to back days
52:30
in spring training and kind of truly be ready for the regular season. I
52:32
would also say the pitch clock has made catching entirely different on some hand.
52:39
On one hand, I think jac Realmudo has kind of said because the games
52:43
are shorter, he feels a little bit fresher. But at the same time,
52:46
when you're down in the crouch, I think things are a lot more
52:50
intense than they were previously. So it's kind of what would you rather do?
52:53
Would you rather have an hour long workout that you're going seventy five percent
52:59
or thirty minute work out where you're going one hundred and ten percent, right
53:02
And I think that that's kind of something you're feeling out with catchers right now.
53:07
So I'm interested to see how he does the rest of the season.
53:10
And the other reality is he's thirty two years old and has caught a ton
53:15
of endings over the last five or six years with the Phillies and Marlins.
53:17
Eventually that catches up to you, theoretically, but obviously the Phillies hope that's
53:22
not now. I hadn't I hadn't planned on asking you about it, But
53:25
the pitch clock is really changing major League Baseball. It's changing America's pastime here,
53:30
you know, for better or for worse. I think it's important for
53:32
us to realize, and are of course going to be other conversations, whether
53:36
it's on sports talk radio, whether it's on other podcasts, articles written about
53:39
articles written about it, for sure, But I mean, the pitch clock
53:43
is changing the game of baseball in in various ways, whether it's with regard
53:47
to catchers, like we're talking about with JT. Realmuto, whether it is
53:51
with pitchers. We're seeing the effects on the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies this
53:55
season and amongst other pitchers too throughout the league. I find it amazing because
54:00
I'm really enjoying watching baseball now at the time is a lot shorter, Not
54:06
that I didn't enjoy it before, but it's even that much more enjoyable that
54:07
I'm not having to watch a three and a half four hour game every now
54:10
and again. Tim, I mean, it's really changing the game of baseball.
54:15
Do you think it's for the better? Yeah, I generally do.
54:17
I think the product that I don't know how many new people it's bringing in,
54:22
but I think for the people already and it's improved the product for that,
54:27
and you want to hold the people you already have in the first place,
54:30
I would say I think there needs to be a little more common sense
54:34
used with it, like Bryce Harper or anyone that needs to put on a
54:37
brace should get time to do the brace. I kind of think, like
54:42
how in the NFL the judge will look at the playclock when it goes to
54:47
zero, kind of give an extra second and then throw the flag. I
54:52
kind of feel like that's how it should be for the pitch clock. I
54:53
don't know exactly how realistic that is. There is a lot on umpires right
54:59
now, so I'm interested to see how that progresses. And honestly, I
55:04
don't know whether I love it for in the ninth inning or in the postseason,
55:07
but for the regular season, I like it all right, Yeah,
55:12
very good. We talked about college Warber, jt Real Muto. Let's get
55:15
into Nick castiano It's a guy who, of course struggled during the twenty twenty
55:19
two season. He has certainly come into his own this season. He's playing
55:23
much better baseball than he did last year when he arrived in Philadelphia, and
55:27
of course he's has been open about the struggles he had last year, even
55:30
from mental standpoint, and even though he has really been a solid player for
55:36
the Phillies this season, Tim, I think we're kind of really seeing what
55:40
his ceiling is right now, which is totally fine. It's great. It's
55:44
great to have him playing baseball the way he has been. But I'm wondering
55:47
how you would assess what kind of player Nick Castianos is for this Phillies team
55:53
and consequently what he means to the team, you know, as they have
55:57
struggled, you know, the previous two weeks and you know what his stature
56:04
basically on the field really means to the team. What are your thoughts?
56:07
I think it means a lot. He's someone that you never know exactly when
56:10
you're interviewing him whether he's going to give you a five word answer or a
56:15
seventy five word answer, right, But I get the sense that with his
56:21
teammates, he's a very good teammate and a guy that is kind of a
56:24
calming presence to a lot of guys and will help guys kind of realize,
56:30
Look, it's one hundred and sixty two game season. I've been through my
56:32
struggles. I know what it's like. Uh, just kind of trust me
56:37
on this, and I think that's very valuable. He's somebody that expects to
56:40
win. And yeah, I mean I think you can definitely question the long
56:45
term arrangement of Scherber Castiano's Harper if Riese. Hoskins is back in the picture,
56:51
like how do you make all this work when you have this many guys
56:54
that should maybe be DH types. But he's unquestionably bounced back. Been you
57:00
the offensive production you expected when he signed this deal? And I think he's
57:06
just he's an enjoyable hitter to watch play the game. And I'll say this
57:09
defensively, like again, he's not gonna win a Gold Glove, but he's
57:15
made quite a few plays this year that I don't think he would have made
57:17
last year. And I know he had the two sliding catches in the playoffs
57:21
those were extremely important, but in the regular season he has significantly improved just
57:28
from the eye test of what he did based off of last year. Absolutely
57:31
completely agree with you. And again, folks were talking to Tim Kelly from
57:36
Phillies Nation dot com at tim Kelly Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
57:40
as well. Let's get into the pitching here, because figuring out this pitching
57:45
situation it almost feels impossible or really Aaron Nola has really been disappointed in terms
57:53
of his throwing from the mound. I mean, aside from game against the
57:58
Tigers, as we talked about earlier, Zach Wheeler, He's just been so
58:01
up and down. Both guys essentially have been below average this season, which
58:07
has been a shock, I think to many of us in Phillies Nation.
58:09
Taylan Walker has also been a big disappointment. And then there's the fifth spot
58:14
in the rotation that it just doesn't seem to be any answers here, Tim,
58:19
So, how did the Phillies really work out this pitching situation as you
58:22
can see it here within the short term future and even possibly the long term.
58:25
Well, at the trade deadline, obviously they're gonna have to add at
58:29
least one starting pitcher. I don't know if that's a guy you think is
58:34
going to start a playoff game, or if it's just a guy that you
58:37
think can be a stable number five back of the rotation guy like Rich Hill
58:42
or someone like that. So interested to see what they do there, Nola,
58:46
And you're right, until last night, it's been very disappointing, and
58:50
I think he's cost himself some money. He can earn it back, but
58:53
he needs to get hot right about now. In terms of Zach Wheeler,
58:58
I think until that last started DC, it felt like he turned the corner,
59:01
and in the certain DC between Kyle Schober and Brandon Marsh he had some
59:07
bad defensive plays kind of spiral and then he got hit around a little that
59:12
inning. I tend to think he's going to be all right. Tyrone Walker
59:15
unquestionably has been disappointed. There's no way around it, and It's definitely worrisome
59:21
when this is year one of a four year deal, so they need to
59:23
figure that out. The encouraging sign though, is that Ranger Sworez over these
59:28
last two starts has looked excellent, and he kind of changes the perspective of
59:32
things because he's that middle of the rotation guy. If you don't have obviously,
59:37
you're assuming Nola and Wheeler are one and two in whatever order, and
59:40
they both need to be better. But after them, if you don't have
59:44
a number three, I don't know if you're a playoff team. If Suarez
59:47
kind of pitches the way he has the prior too seasons, I think it
59:52
really changes the perspective on this team. Yeah, I would absolutely agree with
59:57
you. It's going to be interesting to see what does happen in trade deadlines.
59:59
Something will happen for sure what that is, We're gonna keep tabs on
1:00:02
it here at the PST podcast show and uh finishing us out here. And
1:00:07
and the last topic I wanted to get into with you Tim here. You
1:00:10
know, I remember you wrote a piece I think it was like back in
1:00:13
mid April, you know, detailing how Aaron Nola could possibly make two hundred
1:00:17
million dollars as part of his next contract, and you just recently mentioned here,
1:00:24
you know in our conversation that you know, maybe that next contract he
1:00:27
gets maybe taking a little bit of a hit based on how he's been performing
1:00:30
here in twenty twenty three. I'm wondering, are you still feeling that way
1:00:34
about Aaron Nolan possibly getting that two hundred million dollars contract in the future or
1:00:38
has he really heard his value a lot here over the two months that he's
1:00:43
been on the mound here in twenty twenty three. Well, I think he's
1:00:45
definitely heard his value. I would look at Carlos Rodon last offseason. I
1:00:51
know that I wasn't going well because he's not healthy, but he had a
1:00:53
history of not being particularly healthy and got one hundred and seventy five million dollars.
1:00:59
Aaron Noel, for better or for worse, he's out there every fifth
1:01:02
day. He's among the top ten and ending pitched every single season. There's
1:01:07
a ton of value in that. Even in the season like this where he
1:01:09
hasn't been good, he's still giving you six or seven innings per game,
1:01:14
and there's just not a ton of pitchers that consistently do that. So teams
1:01:17
will pay for that. You do have to be careful in talking about the
1:01:22
amount of innings he's pitched in recent years in assessing how he'll hold up long
1:01:28
term. But I would say he's not someone that's ever been reliant on throwing
1:01:32
ninety seven miles, and he's not like Zach Wheeler essentially, or someone that's
1:01:37
a power pitcher that you wonder, how will that person age. Aaronola,
1:01:42
I think could throw ninety one miles an hour and still be a successful pitcher,
1:01:46
kind of the way we've seen from Zach Ranki late in his career,
1:01:50
because he has movement and he has a variety of different pitches. So I
1:01:54
would take the under on two hundred. But I think it really depends how
1:01:59
he whichs these next few months. Does he become a guy that says,
1:02:02
let me just do a one year deal and reset my value and get back
1:02:07
out there again. But I mean, I look at the pitcher he was
1:02:09
last season. If he had put together that same season in a free agent
1:02:15
walk here and Rodan, who is less accomplished and less healthy about one hundred
1:02:20
and seventy five, I certainly think Nola would have been topping, not I
1:02:23
go back to certain conversations we've had on this podcast and with one Jamie Moyer
1:02:29
as well. When you look at his career and how he had to alter
1:02:31
the way that he pitched from the mound in order to prolong his career and
1:02:36
be as effective as he was later in his career, seems like Aaron Nola
1:02:39
may potentially be on that type of path, just needing to change his game
1:02:43
a little bit on the mound and the way he pitches to him. Yeah,
1:02:46
now, I certainly agree with you, and I think he's someone that
1:02:50
will be able to effectively do that. How long he can be considered like
1:02:54
a top of the rotation starter as opposed to somebody that, like Zach Grinky
1:02:59
in the later years, is probably more like a mid to back of the
1:03:01
rotation guy. But there was never a point where it was like Patrick Corbin
1:03:07
where he just forgot to how to pitch one year and gone from being one
1:03:10
of the best pitchers in baseball too an albatross of the contract. I don't
1:03:15
think you're gonna get there with Nola, So in that sense, I think
1:03:19
he's a relatively safe long term investment. But yeah, I mean the dialogue
1:03:25
around Aaronola has become exhausting. Interested to see how that absolutely Again, Folks,
1:03:35
Tim Kelly from Phillies Nation dot Com they're always doing great stuff over there.
1:03:39
Check out what they're doing at Tim Kelly Sports on Twitter, Instagram and
1:03:44
Facebook. Tim Man, thanks so much for joining us here at the PSD
1:03:47
podcast show. Come back join us down the road. We'd love to have
1:03:50
you back on the show, my man. Thanks Jeff, I appreciate it.
1:03:53
Inconsistencies, inconsistencies and inconsistencies. That is what we've seen time and time
1:04:00
again here in twenty twenty three from the Phillies, and Tim gave us some
1:04:03
really good antecdotes in terms of, you know, what certain players are going
1:04:08
to need to do in the future for consistency to happen with this team,
1:04:13
whether it's pitching, whether it is batting as well. I have to tell
1:04:16
you, thank goodness the Phillies we're playing the freaking Detroit Tigers from this past
1:04:23
week here, because I think it's given them the ability to kind of get
1:04:26
back into the swing of things, no pun intended, and to actually start
1:04:30
to maybe perhaps perhaps find themselves. I don't know. The series with the
1:04:33
Tigers isn't over yet as of us recording this here, so we'll have to
1:04:38
wait and see what happened. So I'm gonna do it for us this week.
1:04:42
We are done with this week's show. Absolutely love being in your ears.
1:04:45
Longtime listeners, Thanks so much for subscribing to the podcast. Thanks so
1:04:49
much for being with us for so many years. We've been doing it for
1:04:54
over ten years. If you're new to the show and you're listening on Apple
1:04:57
Podcasts, we'd appreciate a follow and other podcast platforms. If you're listening to
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1:05:11
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1:05:21
Take care, folks, enjoy have a great weekend. Whenever you're listening to
1:05:27
this, have a great day, have a great night. We'll catch you
1:05:29
next time.