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Expectations For The Phillies Offseason (PST Episode 642) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, twelve
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and a half years strong. Got a great show coming
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: your way this week. I'm Jeff Warren here. What my
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: buddy Len Hunsiker. Len, great to have you back on
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the show.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: How you doing, man, I'm doing well, hopefully very he
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: is having a good week out there, and some interesting
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: stuff going on in the world of Philly sports right now.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Lots of interesting stuff, dude.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: After the Phillies got knocked out of the postseason, Eagles
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: were losing games. I was like, man, this is like
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the worst freaking time in Philly sports. You know, we're
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: hanging our hats on the Union moving ahead through the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: MLS playoffs and they're doing a good job. Right now,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: we're seeing some good stuff from the Flyers. You had
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the Sixers last night. We're recording this on Wednesday night.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Last night Tuesday night, they won in a very close
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: game against the Celtics. They've been fun to watch. The
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Eagles are seven and two. Like, it's not all terrible
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: in the world of Philly sports. I think sometimes you
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: get to the point where bad things happen. We're like, oh,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: it's the end of the world. But man, good things
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: are happening here.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I think the Flyers and Sixers have both been better
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: than anybody thought they were going to be to start
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the season.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I think that's kind of a big part of what
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: you're talking about right now, because I know I personally
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: expected both of those teams to just Okay, here comes
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: another you know bad here?
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I mean the fact that we're getting more than that
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: is I mean, that goes a long way.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Absolutely does it does. Folks.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be getting into some Eagles talk. We've got
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a few different storylines we want to dive into, and
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: then from there, Len and I are going to talk
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: about our biggest surprise that we have seen from this
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Flyers team so far this season, and then we're gonna
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: get into some Philadelphia Union talk. Yes, because lens on
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and he knows what he's talking about with soccer, unlike
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: that Eric guy who doesn't know much of anything, right,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I mean kidding.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Son's a huge soccer guy, now he shouldn't he.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I was so happy when Eric asked us because his
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: son wants a Flyers jersey, and he's like, we've been
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: watching Flyers games.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I was so happy to know that, Yes, he's he's.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: It's like, what, what's what's a penalty kill?
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: What's what's a power play?
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: You know what Jersey his son should get. Yes, there's
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: there's a few options. There's not a lot of great
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: ones yet.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: I said, bitchkov, I think that's I think that's safe.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: It's yeah, it's the safest one you can go.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, all right. Well, after the union talk that
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Lenn and I are going to get into. Now that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the Union are going to be heading to the MLS
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Conference semifinals, we're going to dive into some baseball. We
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: haven't gotten into a lot of baseball since the Phillies
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: were knocked out of the postseason, but we want to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: get into this story with the Cleveland Guardians. The couple
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of their players at Emmanuel Classe and Luis Ortiz, currently
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: on paid leave. They've been indicted on a litany of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: gambling charges. Holy cow, gambling in the world. With baseball
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: back in the news, we want to dive into that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: And then this week what we're throwing down on the table.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: We've got Tim Kelly from on Pattison dot Com. He's
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: going to be joining us to talk about this Phillies
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: off season, some of the storylines we are going to
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: be following, how this team is going to be constructed
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six. Got a great discussion coming your way.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: That's what we're throwing down on the table. So, len,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: let's start off with this Philadelphia Eagles team here. Lots
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: of storylines to follow that we want to get into.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: First and foremost, the team is seven and two. It's amazing.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you look at the way the offense, especially up
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: in Green Bay this past week, how this offense was
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: moving or I should say not moving necessarily down the field.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Mistakes that were continuing to be made, just bizarre play calling.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Bizarre play calling. I swear they only have four or
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: five rushing plays in the playbook, only four or five
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: passing plays in the playbook.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: It's not just like, yeah it really is. It is, yeah,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: it is. And it's not even a.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Kevin Petula problem at this point, in my opinion, it's
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: a Nick Sirianni problem too. We've seen this time and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: time again. We have they just scraped by the Packers,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: but again seven and two in the season. I can't
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: complain about this record. The real question is might we
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: see a twenty twenty three potential drop off where I'm
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: getting those vibes right now. And I hate saying that,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: but we're Philly fans, Philly sports fans in terms of,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: you know, we've had the rug pulled out from under
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: us a lot. And yes, they are the reigning Super
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Bowl champions amazingly enough, but I'm really concerned about where
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the offense is at this point. What are your thoughts here?
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's fair and to be completely transparent, So
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I did not watch a second of the game. Who
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I know, terrible, Well, some of us have to get
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: up at one in the morning to go into work.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I know those night games right before I have to
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: work aren't going to happen. But you know, so I
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: woke up and I'm, you know, doing my morning routine,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: and I'm checking my phone and I look at the
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: score and I'm like, oh, ten to seven doesn't really
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: feel like I missed a whole hell of a lot there,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: did I snoozefest? Yeah, And even like you know, broken
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: down by the quarters is like scoreless at the end
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: of the half, so it's just like, oh god, yeah,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: kind of not really heartbroken that I missed that one, right,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: But yeah, and since we're going to talk about him,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I did when I was scrolling through the the box
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: score and I saw AJ Brown's numbers, as like, hmm, yeah,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: you might have something to say and we'll talk about
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: that in a bit. But yeah, sure enough he did.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's all in all. I mean, I didn't
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: expect him to like, you know, hang, you know, thirty
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: on Green Bay in Green Bay.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: But I mean, hey, the defense showed up.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, yeah, it's absolutely And that's the thing too. Look,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you know, I did the Eagles postgame podcast show, was
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: good doing it solo this this week, and I was
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: really just getting down on this offense rightfully, So I
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: think every Eagles fan has the right to get down
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: on this offense because of what we saw and what
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: we didn't see as well. But when it came to
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the defense, my goodness, I mean, you want to talk
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: about a performance, and I guess we'll just get into
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: him right now. Jalen Phillips is what the Eagles defense needed.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Holy cow, what a debut and the fact that how
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: we was able to get that deal done. I swear
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: if I hear another analyst say, why do teams deal
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: with Howie Roseman? Why do teams make trades with Howie Roseman?
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Because how he Yes, I mean it's I mean, he's
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: always getting it done in some way, shape or form. Again,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: not all, not all trades are gonna hit when it
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: comes to, you know, this roster construction. But the guy
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: knows what he is doing. And to see Jalen Phillips
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: his reaction to playing in Green Bay for the very
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: first time in his career, the fact that he had
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: family members that came the day of to see him
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: play there, and just what his impact was on the defense,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I mean more than a spark, more than a spark.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: And you saw a defensive line in defensive front, including
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Moro Ojomo, even Brandon Graham getting back into the swing
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: of things.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: I mean.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: He was and made no I mean yeah, I mean,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: and that I think is only going to help just
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: in terms of, like you know again, kind of being
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: able to throw waves of people at teams and you know,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: not everybody. You know, you can split up the reps
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: a little bit more and keep guys fresh. So I
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: think that's going to help this defense for sure.
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And look you know what's not going to help
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: this defense, len is the fact that they just made
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: a trade for a cornerback and that cornerback has said,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you know what, I'm going to retire now hear Alexander. Folks,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: if you haven't heard, going to be retiring after being
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: traded to the Eagles. How he ended up giving up
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: a sixth round pick in twenty twenty six, a seventh
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: round pick in twenty twenty seven. Look, I mean they
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: were Day three picks later Day three picks, But my goodness,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: how does this happen?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: And I really that's the second defensive player that's retired
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: on the Eagles, Yes this year.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, Zyre Smith gone as well. He's saying, Okay, I
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: don't want any part of this. I really I had
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a couple things going through my wanted to bounce off
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of you. The first is I truly wonder and I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: don't know what the communication is like with agents and
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: front offices, but I do wonder because of this situation
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: with the Eagles, if you're gonna have more agents and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: you're gonna have more front offices. General managers asking the question,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: is your client going to be retiring at all anytime soon?
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Like it's a caveat.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: You know, I think that's totally fair, you know, or
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: or perhaps you know, maybe something gets baked into those
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: deals where you know, hey, you know, we're trading you
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: these two picks, and guess what if this guy retires
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: on us, one of them is coming back, at least
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: one of them, if not both of them. Yeah, are
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: coming back. I mean I think that's only fair. I mean,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: it's you know it. Look, they took a swing because
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: they need help in the secondary. It didn't work out.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I mean we've talked about it. Rosman's been on a
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: heater here for the past couple of years, so, you know,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: looks they're they're not all, you know, elite level trades,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: and just one certainly wasn't. So I mean it happened
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: from time to time. But yeah, no, I mean I
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: think that's fair. I think, you know, going forward, when
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: the Eagles make a trade, I think that they should
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: be able to talk to that agent and be like, hey,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I mean are we wasting our time here with this guy?
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: Are we going to be wasting assets on this guy?
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: You know, and that's a fair question ask.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: It puts a wrench into what Howie Roseman wanted to do. Look,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I talked to blg Brandon Lee gouton last week from
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Bleeding Green Nation came on the show and we talked
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: about the trade for Michael Carter the second JayR Alexander,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: and the notion was that, you know what, this is
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: a situation where how he really was going to throw
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: something against the wall to see what's stuck, to see
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: if jay R Alexander would stick, to see if MC
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: two was gonna stick. And now it's like, okay, you've
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: got your Corey and Bennett that maybe coming back this
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: week we may see him on the field. What maybe
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: he'd be able to do after you know, him dealing
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: with the injury bug and again MC two, who knows.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: But the more people you have in there, the more
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to throw against the wall to
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: see what sticks. Now we really don't have that necessarily
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: because of this gy R Smith situation.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean it sucks. There's no two ways
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: about it. There's nothing. I mean, I can't really blame
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: the Eagles for that. There's really nothing they could have done.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Now their process probably has changed in terms of making
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: trades and talking to people and just gauging their interest
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: in playing the team. Yeah, I guarantee you that will
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: change going forward from this year. But you know, how
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: often do teams encounter this where you know, you trade
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: for a guy and he's like, ah, he's going to retire. Yeah,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's not something that happens often.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: So is it coincidental?
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Is this coincidental or is this something where the Eagles
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: coaching staff and even going up to the front office
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: are so demanding of what they want from their players
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: because of the product that this team and organization has
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: been where they're they're they're pushing more, and they're and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: they're they're wanting more if they are.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Is that a bad thing though, because look, okay, if
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: if if these guys had had gotten picked up by
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: the Jets or the Browns or the Titans or one
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: of these teams, you know, okay, and you decide, you
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: know what, this isn't for me, you know, Okay, I
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: get it, But you know, do you want to win
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: a ring or not? Because you know, this is the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: team that has just won a ring, literally just won one,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: and is a contender to do so again. So you
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: better get with the program. If if you want to win,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: or if you want a good shot at winning, I mean,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I don't if these people are coming here
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: and going, oh, that's too much for me, then you're
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: probably in the wrong industry because you don't want to win.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Absolutely happy trails, you know.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Absolutely speaking about uh, you know, speaking about you know,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: a situation that well, let me I'm not even trying
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: to like sugarcoat anything here. Let's get in this a
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: J Bron situation. I'm so I'm getting really tired of
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: this storyline. And you know, whether I think the media
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: in general, I think Philly sports talk radio creates more
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: out of this than what it should be. To be
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: honest with you, AJ Brown just venting his frustrations about
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: the Eagles offense, and I think part of it is where,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you know, he says, I don't care if I'm misunderstood,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: he says that he says a bunch of stuff within
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: these interviews. But I really truly believe AJ Brown wants
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: to be here. I believe he wants to win. I
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: believe he wants to be part of an offense that
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: he's been now a part of for some time and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: has seen incredible success. He's not this year for whatever reason,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: whether he may be having some issues behind the scenes
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: within himself, whether he may be having some issues with
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the coaching staff. I can't necessarily imagine that might be
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: happening because of the fact that this offensive coaching staff
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: and AJ Brown have been together now for quite some time.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm wondering if this is just getting way blown
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: out of proportion because the Philly sports media needs this
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: kind of crap to happen in order for advertisers to
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: keep coming back and order for other folks to do
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: their business. And I wonder if that's part of this.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: You know, what are your thoughts here with AJ Brown
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: in this situation, because I highly doubt that he like
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: wants out of here.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Just won a Super Bowl.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah no, I mean.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: This look the media.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say they're doing their job, but
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: you know, yeah, I mean, you're trying to drum off
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: interest for your station and you're trying to get you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: ratings and clicks and whatever, you know, measures of interest
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: that you can garner in order to make your products.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: You know, a bigger thing.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: And guess what the Eagles are in Philadelphia? I mean
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: they are the top draw. I mean, so anything you
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: can do to especially when the team's doing well, to
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: you know, make something up or not not even make
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: it up, but just add to something that's somewhat juicy,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: you are going to get people. We're talking about it now,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: so you are going to get people to jump on
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: board and pay attention to it and give you those
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: ratings that you want. So I mean, yeah, I mean
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: if I knew, you know, I could, you know, get
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: something from somebody because they like chocolate, Well guess what,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: I'm always going to give him chocolate or I'm going
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: to get what I want out of them. Yeah, So
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: you know, that's just what it is. I mean, I
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: tend to agree with, not agree with AJ Brown, but
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I sympathize with him a little bit. I do think
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: it's not just crazy wide receiver once wants to pad stats.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: Again.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's that. I do think he genuinely
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: wants to contribute to what's going on here, and I
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: don't think he feels that he's doing.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: That this year. And I think that's bottom may.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: And I mean, you you even look at when I,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: like I said, I looked at the stats and it
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: was you know, two catches for thirteen yards.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: He's only targeted three times. I know.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, if you're not you know, looking
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: his way. Yeah, I mean, eventually that's gonna start to
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: rankle him a little bit because he is someone who
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: again wants to contribute.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: And we know what type of player he is. You
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: know what type of player.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: When we're talking about, you know, going up to get
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: those quote fifty to fifty balls, he is coming down
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: with those balls. I swear like nine out of ten times.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: It's astonished. I mean that might not be the correct
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: percentage ninety percent of the time. I don't have the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: stats in front of me, but he comes down with
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the ball more times than not. How can you not,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: even on simple curl routes, for God's sakes, target him.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, and that's why I like. I mean,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: I like the player. I think he's a decent dude.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: I don't know him obviously, but you know, from anything
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I've seen with him in the media or just like
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: just online things on Instagram or what ever, you know,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: stuff like that, you know he comes across as a
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: decent enough guy. I mean, if we're really doing this thing,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: where are you team ship AJ Brown out of town
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: or not. You know, I am definitely not in that camp.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I would like to see him stay here in Philadelphia.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I think he's a good player and I want him
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: on this team.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Let us know what you're thinking about this Eagles team
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: as we're heading into week eleven. Philadelphia Sports Table at
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: gmail dot Com'd love to read your email here on
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the show and respond to it. Get into AJ Brown
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: if you want Jalen Phillips the impact that he has
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: had on this team. Let us know what you're thinking
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: out there. All right, let's now move on to the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Flyers. Len and I are both gonna talk about
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: our biggest surprises thus far of this Flyers season. Buddy,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you start. What is your biggest surprise
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: so far? I mean, there's a lot of surprises on
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: this team, to be honest. You know, let's like we
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: could have a list here, but like, for you, what
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: is your biggest surprise so far?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: There are and I know what yours is, and we're
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: going to talk about two, you know, different sides of
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the same coin here. And part of that is the
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: fact that you know, for years now with this Flyers
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: team as they've kind of gone through this patch of
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: you know, not being good at all. I mean, the
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: special teams has been awful. Whether you're talking about the
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: power play, whether you're talking about the penalty kill, whatever
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: it may be, the Flyers have pretty consistently been down there,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: you know, in the dumps with their special teams. So
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: my big surprise is right now that the Philadelphia Flyers
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: are fourth in the NHL in penalty kill percentage at
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: eighty eight point two percent. And adding to that, adding
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: to you know, that impressive total, they're second in the
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: league in penalty minutes, behind only the Calgary Flames. So
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: there it's not like, oh, they don't take any penalties
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: and therefore you know, it's it's an inflated total because
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: you know, they're never on the penalty kill. They're on
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: the penalty kill a lot. Yeah, the second most in
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the league. So I mean the fact that their percentage
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: is that good, I mean, they're really, to take a
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Mark zoom Off phrase from the Sixers locking all doors
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: and windows when it comes to the penalty kill, they're
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: doing a fantastic job. And and that that extends just
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: defensively as a team, you know, for a team that
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: was looking for, you know, defensive help so much. You know,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: coming into the season, you know, goal goals against there,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: they're fifth in the league two point six to zero
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: goals against a game. So and you know, this is
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: a team that you know, we've bemoaned the goaltending on
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: this team for how long. Some of that is Dan
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Vlodore coming aboard, but I mean, I think a really
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: good chunk of this is the Flyers defense. I think
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: it's been really good. The penalty kill has been really good,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: and that's not something that we've become accustomed to seeing
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: over the past couple of years.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Here. Amazingly enough, like this, this stat I can't believe
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I'm actually gonna say this right now, Lynn, Okay, but
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: prior to tonight's Wednesday Night's game, prior to this, they
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: had a six game streak of not conceding a goal.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: That is incredible.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this team, I mean, i'd mean, when have you
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: ever heard of that, like in the past decade at
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: this point.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really fird.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I mean that, Yeah, they've been more than what I
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: could have possibly expected.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, absolutely, I love that. Definitely one of
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the most surprising aspects of this Flyers team. You know,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of people would say maybe Trevor zgress in
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: what he has done thus far, maybe Dan Vladar as
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: you mentioned in Front of the Net. But for me,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I got to go to the potency of what this
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: power play actually is. I mean, it's been so much
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: more effective than I think we would have thought. I mean,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: it isn't clicking on all cylinders necessarily, but the fact
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: of the matter is the Flyers are in the top twenty,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: not just in the top twenty like number nineteenth or
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: number eighteenth. They find themselves in the top half of
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: the league, fourteenth with a nineteen point six success rate,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: and they still have some room to grow here. And
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: this is a huge monumental shift, I think from what
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: we've seen in prior years, especially with the you know
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: how Torts was dealing with the power play, I mean,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: prior to Tyson Forster's injury, the unit featuring Noah Kates,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Jimmie Drysdale, Trevor Zegres, I mean, they're fun, fun to watch,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: making quick passes without overthinking what needed to be done.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: And you know, we are seeing power plays this year
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: where you know, gaining the entry into the offensive zone.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: You know, it's happening consistently, seriously like happening. And I
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: know that sounds bizarre, but look, one successful entry per
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: power play last year was almost seen as a moral victory. Yeah,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and now this team is fourteenth in the league in
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: terms of the power play. I honestly couldn't ask for more.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Like I was hoping they'd be around twentieth, you know,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: when it was all said and done.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And that would have that would have represented an uptick
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: as well. Where the you know, the Rocky Thompson era
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: of running the power play, they were you know, bottom
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: three in the league for I think the past couple
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: of years. So, I mean, this is a a really
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: welcome surprise for sure.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: All right, Well that's gonna do it for our Flyers
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: talk here and we are going to be heading to
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a break, but we wanted to let you know again
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: if you want to get in touch with a shoot
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: us off an email. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Love to hear from you. What are your thoughts about
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the Flyers, the Eagles, the Phillies, the seventy six ers,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Union. We'd love to read your email here on
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the show. And respond to it. Also, folks, head on
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: over to YouTube. If you're watching us on YouTube, fantastic,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: you can hit the bell to be notified when we
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: post new videos.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: But head on over to.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: YouTube, like and subscribe to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: And also we're on various social media sites as well.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: They're in front of you if you're watching on YouTube,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: but we're on Instagram, Twitter, slash x, threads, Facebook, I'm
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: over on Blue Sky at Jeff Warren. I'm over at
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: TikTok at mister Jeff Warren. We are gonna take a
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: break when we get back. Got a lot more talk,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Philly sports Talk coming your way.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: All right, we are.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Back, and Len, why don't we dive into the Philadelphia
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Union now an incredible season. Whenever you get on the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: pod here, buddy, you and I have been talking about
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: this Union team as they are now in the playoffs
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: this post season. They they they handled Chicago, they handled
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the Chicago Fire in that first round. They're gonna be
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: facing New York City FC in the conference semifinals as
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: they are looking to bring home the MLS Cup to Philadelphia. Here,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: look first and foremost, before we start diving into you know,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you know what we're gonna be hopefully seeing from this team.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Wanted to mention the fact that the guy who deserves
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: so much credit for where this team is head coach
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Bradley Carnell. He was named the twenty twenty five SIGGI
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Schmidt MLS Coach of the Year. So I think I
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: said that right? Did I say that right the Siggy?
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I believe, yes, thank you, Just you never know, you
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: get nervous, you never know what this guy here, You
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: never know what you're gonna you're gonna hear out of
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: this mouth. But also wanted to mention that Kai Bogner
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: was and Jacob up uh Glassness actually both finalists for
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the Defender of the Year award and we're both named
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: to the MLS Best eleven. So I wanted to and
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: well deserved lenn An. Incredibly those players have had and
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: again with Bradley Carnell coming to this this team, like, honestly,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: we just didn't expect anything like this. We didn't expect
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Bradley Carnell to be able to coach this team. I
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: think the way that he has a lot of us
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: liked and respect to Jim Curtin for so many years.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: But it's just it's a breath of fresh air that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: he's brought to this team.
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: The change needed to be made, and and yeah it's happened.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean they're they're definitely responding to Carnell
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: a lot more, you know. So yeah, it's uh, it's
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: been really a joy to watch this year.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: It's uh, it was a joy to watch them take
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: care of business against Chicago. Dude, what was happening in
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Chicago when when there was that at the end of
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Second game was insane, well at the end of the game,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: but also the beginning of the game, like they just
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: barfed all over themselves. Yeah, I mean they had a
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: backup goaltender in and he just like, i mean talking
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: about making like middle school mistakes.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and so.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: He really, I mean he handed the Union a couple
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: of goals on a silver platter, right, So, and you know, hey,
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: to to Philly's credit, they took advantage of it and
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: they did what they had to do. But yeah, it's
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: just a weird game overall.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: And and really bizarre how in the final ten minutes
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: of the game the Chicago Fire fans were just like
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: making discriminatory discriminatory chance while while Andre Blake was taking
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: goal kicks, a stoppage time I think was you know,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: it was limited to two minutes. But but my goodness,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: like their their fans suck.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Uh, then they must have been Philadelphia fans disguised as Chicago.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Only Philadelphia fans are bad like that, right, That's what
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: I've been told.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Anyway, exactly, look Philly handled business. They've got New York
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: City coming up here. Do you have any thoughts on
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: you know, what we might actually see here in terms of,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: you know, viability of them moving forward.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: I mean the game worries me a little bit.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: I mean it's it's evenly matched, you know, in terms
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: of the the regular season battle. Each team won a
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: game from from the other. I think both were one
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: to nothing scores. You know, you look at the at
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: thet N y CFC with Alonso Martinez as they're kind
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: of big goal scoring threat, one more goal than Ty
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Barribo in the year seventeen to sixteen. Maxie Morales is
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: a really good midfielder for them. So I mean it,
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I expect the Union to win out. Let's put it
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: that way. They're the number one seed. They've been the
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: best team in the league all year long. Defensively, like
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: you said, they've got two of the three finalists for
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Defender of the Year. They have Andre Blake, who's been
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: a great goaltender forever and ever and ever amen for
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: this team. So there's no reason they shouldn't win this game.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: But would I be like, oh my god, how could
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: this have happened if they don't. No, I won't because
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: you know, New York City's got a good team as well,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: so it wouldn't be a shocker if they lose. But
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I fully expect them to move on. And I believe
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: it's Cincinnati and Miami and the other semifinal, both of
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: which will be will be tough opponents. But look, there's
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: no there's no easy games at this point. And that's
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: true of any playoff. I mean, once you get in
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: the semi finals of your conference, you know, this is
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: where it's supposed to be, you know, tough. I mean
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: you can go back to what not to make a
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: different do a different sport, or make a comparison. But
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: AJ Brown said that, you know in his comments, like,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: you know, when we get later in the season and
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: we face these tougher teams, you know, the offense is
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: going to have to get going. Yeah, when you get
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: late in the season and you face the top contenders
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: that you're supposed to be one of, I mean, you
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: have to be on your game, and the Union are
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: going to have to be on their game here. So
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: we'll see what they do. But I can't wait. It's
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: just it feels like it's been forever.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: I was like, looked up, when is this game? For
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: God's sakes? And it's not until the twenty third of November. Yeah,
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: and it feels like that last game against Chicago was
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: just so damn long ago. So you know that'll be
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: good for you know, helping keep them fresh and maybe
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: you know, get some guys in theirs back to health
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: that may have been a little banged up after that
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: the Chicago series. But you know, this is the scary part.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: It's it's no longer a series like it was with Chicago.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: It's one game, one game, be on your game or
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: else you go home. So we will see. But I
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: do expect them with with with all they have, you know,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I expect them to win this game.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I think for me, the one thing that I'm gonna
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: that we all need to see in this game. And
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: it may sound like common sense, but I think this
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: season we didn't expect to defense to be as dominant
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: as they were. I mean, they're they're one of the
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: top defenses in Major League Soccer, and that defense needs
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to continue. They need to continue that consistent that that
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: consistency with this defense. I think if they're going to
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: win this game, I really think and again may sound
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: like common sense, but I think that's that really is
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: going to be the edge. If they're able to remain
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: consistent with the defense throughout this game and matchup, then
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: I think they win it.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's what they've hung their hat on for
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: how long now? So yeah, I mean, and and they're
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: again to two of the I think you said that
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: the MLS eleven two of those defensive spot when went
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: to Philadelphia players. So, I mean, this is what you expect.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: You expect them to shut it down. And you know,
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to be a blowout by
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: any stretch. I expect this to be tense all the
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: way through. I I don't expect to be you know,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: have a particularly good feeling throughout the entirety of the game.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: But you know, I do expect them to pull it out.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's gonna do it for our union talk.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: And now we got to get into some baseball talk.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: We have not gotten into a ton of baseball talk
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: again after the Phillies were bounced from the postseason. But
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: this story that we're going to get into, Lenn prior
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: to our interview and discussion with Tim Kelly from on
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Pattison to talk about the Phillies offseason is the fact that, man,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: you got a couple of Cleveland Guardians facing some serious,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: serious charges, Emmanuel Classe and Luis Ortiz now in a
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: gambling scandal. At this point, look, major League Baseball, I mean,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: they've had a long storied history with sports gambling, from
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the Black Sox a scandal at the beginning of the
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: twentieth century to Pete Rose's admission that he bet on
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: baseball freaking seventy years later. Major League Baseball is now
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: the latest American professional league to be linked with a
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: federal investigation concerning a relatively recent wave of legalization in
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: sports gambling. You know, I mean, that's part of this
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: that I wanted to get into as well. When but
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: I did want to go through really quick, the indictment.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: This indictment alleges that these two players wagered on the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: speed and the type of pitches thrown by Emmanuel Classe
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: and later Orties as well, based on information they knew
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: in advanced by coordinating with classe A, sometimes even during
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: MLB games. Classe often threw rigged pitches on the first
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: pitch of an at bat when he entered the game
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: in relief, according to this investigation, so to ensure that
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: certain pitches were called as balls class through sliders rather
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: than fastballs or cutters, with many of them ending up
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: in the dirt and well outside the strike zone. These
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: guys use the inside information that class provided about future
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: pitches to wager thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: on more than one hundred pitch speed and balls hit
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: by pitch, prop bets and parlays at online sports books,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: according to investigators, so apparently Ortiz joined classe A in
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: this you know quote gambling conspiracy to rig pitches. By
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five Major League Baseball season, two pitchers
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: receiving these kickbacks and bribes or placing bets even for
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: themselves by proxy in certain situations and instances. So Len,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: we have another scandal here, we really do, and it
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: really sucks kind of for the game of baseball. I
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: think in a certain way, and I think what amazes
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: me is that we are in this We're in this
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: era of Look, I've got FanDuel on my phone. I
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: believe You've got FanDuel. Eric's got FanDuel, our buddies, we've
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: all got it.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: And you know we're not.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: You know, we've got we've got some we've got jobs,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: but you know we're not doing thousands and thousands of
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: dollars of betting, tens of thousands of dollars of betting.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: But we're in a gambling we are. We are in
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: a gambling world right now. And I'm not saying it
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: was right or wrong what these guys did. And again
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: they were indicted. They're gonna have their day in court.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: But uh, it's not good for the game of baseball.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: It's not good for There's a there's this hip hypocritical
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: thing that's also going on here where you go to
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: a game and you're seeing all of this advertisement for DraftKings, fan,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Duel bet MGM, all this stuff. It's all around us,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: all the time. But these players, now, we're not gonna
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: do that. And I do understand, I do, I do,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: I get that for sure, But it's just we're living
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: in a bizarre world. Man, We're really living in a
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: bizarre world here with this stuff. I don't know, have
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: you been the thinking about this and how it's affecting baseball,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: sports world in general, gambling, sports gambling, What are your thoughts?
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: My initial thought was like, well, you know, baseball, what
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: do you expect? You know, you're you're in bed with
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: all these companies now, But then when you look at
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: what these.
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: Guys did, like it was calculated.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I'm generally inclined to, you know, point a finger at
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: the league before I pointed it at players.
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: But this is bad.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: This is this is really, this is really bad. It's affecting,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: you know, because you know what it feels like every
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: time you walk a guy to lead off an inning,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: it comes back to bite these pictures in the ass.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: And and if you're if you're putting your first pitch
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: in the dirt, you know, in order to you know,
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: influence bets, you're automatically putting yourself behind the eight ball.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Then in that county and that you know, possibly get
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: letting somebody on base. So yeah, this is this is bad.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine even if these guys, even if these
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: guys beat whatever charges are against him. Uh, if I'm
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: a major league team, I'm not touching him with a
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: ten football. I'm these guys. As far as I'm concerned,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: these guys should be done. Okay, I just think that
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: they've they've tainted themselves with what with what they did
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: that much like and and that's the other Like, I
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: don't know what what class A made. I mean, he
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: was a he was a big time closer, so he
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: I don't know what he was making.
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: But I mean, like, like that's my other question. It's like,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: did you really have to do that?
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: No, Like I promise you, Like I maybe I should
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: have had his his salary information, Like the other guy
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: were teas if he was a middle reliever. Okay, he's
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: maybe not making it as much, but class I'm sure
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: was making decent money. He was seen as one of
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: the top, you know, closers in baseball over the past
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: couple of years. I actually did watch a Guardians game
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: or two here and there and early in the year
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: and be like, it's something like he's maybe he's kind
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: of reached the age where he's not as good as
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: he used to be, or maybe he's losing a step
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: on his fastball, because it felt like he, like even
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: earlier in the year, he was getting hit around a
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: lot more than he used to. Yeah, in previous seasons
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: he used to be. You know, he'd come in and
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: that was the game.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, but really quick a contract. In twenty twenty two,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: class I signed a five year, twenty million dollar contract
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: extension with the Guardians. Earned four point five million last season,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: and he was in line to make six million in
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, so those aren't bonkers, like those aren't like Bryce
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Harper or o Connie or something like that numbers. But
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: I would like to make five million dollars a year.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure you would too.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I'd like to make five hundred million dollars. I'm sorry,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: five hundred thousand dollars.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Oh God, that would exponentially make my life better. I'm
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I don't even make six figures a year. And the
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: fact that five million is enough for these guys, yeah,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but yeah, I mean, what what they did?
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, that is that is affecting your your your
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: team and your your chances of winning and stuff like that.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: These guys, even, like I said, even if they beat
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: the charges, and I don't think they will, but they're done,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: you can't you can't go near them.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I'd imagine their teammates are absolutely pissed off at them too.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's there'd be no way that they can
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: get back in that clubhouse.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: Cleveland's the team. I mean, they were a playoff team
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: this year. I believe they were a playoff team last year.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're a team. They're one of those teams
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: that you tend to root for in October because they
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: don't have a huge payroll and they still, like the Brewers,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: they just seem to make it every year despite not
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: having the resources of some of these larger, larger clubs.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: So they are an underdog that consistently makes it and
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: can instantly good. But I mean, now, to have you know,
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: the payroll disparity end, you have a guy on your
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: team who's you know, actively working against you because he
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: wants to make a couple extra bucks. Yeah, I mean, yeah,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: you can't. You can't have that.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Look, I didn't have it on our agenda.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: But Phillies offseason, you know, it's we're gonna be seeing
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: some moves sooner rather than later with this team. It's
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: it's probably gonna be a little while here, but we're
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: gonna talk to Tim Kelly again from on Pattison dot
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Com about some of these Philly storylines we're gonna be
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: following this offseason. I don't know, Like I I feel
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: like the team is gonna be in good shape heading
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: into twenty twenty six. We certainly don't know what moves
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: are gonna be made. I'm gonna be talking with Tim
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: about you know, you know, his thoughts on the outfield
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know, just what may be happening with
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: the infield as well. But I mean, I'm feeling overall
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: like things aren't terrible for the Phillies organization heading into
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. I'm feeling good about where even the
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: pitching is. You know, I'm not gonna know what to
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: expect from Aaron Nola, but Andrew Paynter probably coming into
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the fold here and and in what we're going to
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: see from him, I'm excited about that too. Then again,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: you have superstars, quote superstars on this team where you
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: don't know where they are right now in terms of
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: their career, one being Bryce Harper and uh, I think
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: this is going to be a very interesting off season.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: But by no means is this Phillies organization and team
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: going to be out of it or anything, you know.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, the Dodgers had a great run, they
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: really did, and they did what they needed to do
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: to beat Philly. But I'm feeling good about the Phillies. Actually, yeah, no,
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: I I do too. I don't know, there's a there's
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: a part of me, you know, because you think about
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: moves and you think about what they might do. And
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: I really hope that they went to Justin Crawford at
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: the end of the season and said, I dare you
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: come win?
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: Come win center field? Like I think they should give
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: every opportunity to do that. And if they make a
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: deal that moves Alec Bohm somewhere, I would say the
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: same thing to Aiden Miller, come on up and get it,
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: come on up and win a spot. I dare you
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: to do it. You know, I don't want to turn
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: the whole team over to rookies, but you know, you
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: you can't have you have to have some kind of
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: cough savings at a position here or there. You can't have,
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: you know, twenty million dollar guys at every spot. And
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: you know, you know they're going to try to bring
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: back Shoreber. They're probably going to try to bring back
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: real Mudo. Suarez is gone, which I don't know if
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: that's a mistake or not, because you know, I don't
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: know when Wheeler is going to be back, and if
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: and when he comes back, how healthy he is going
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: to be. So I mean, I'm confident with Sanchez and
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: Lozardo Nola, hopefully he can bounce back. But you know,
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: I'm a Ranger Suarez fan.
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: I like the guy.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: He does get hurt a little bit too much for
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: my liking, but when he's in there, I I like him.
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: I would like see him back, but you know that's
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: just me.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: We're gonna get into some pitching talk with Tim from
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: on Pattison dot com.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: So, buddy, I'm gonna let you go.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: H It was great seeing your great talk in Philly
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Sports with you as always.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: Man. Any final thoughts before we go to.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Break here, No, I'm I'm good. We have a good week, buddy.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a break. We'll be back in just
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: a bit with some Phillies.
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: Talk and now on the table.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: All right, let's dive into this Philadelphia Phillies off season.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: We have with us from on Pattison dot com for
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: years and years. We have loved his Phillies reporting and
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: as many stories that he's written about this team.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: We have the one and only Tim Kelly. How you doing, buddy,
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: I'm good.
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: It's good to be back on with you.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Jeff love talking to you, my friend, about this Phillies team.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: And really, this is gonna be an interesting off season.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: And you know, we haven't gotten into too much Phillies
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: talk since since the debacle and their departure from the postseason.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: But last week we actually dove into looking at where
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers are after having won the World
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Series now two years in a row. And I think
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: you know the question we were talking about last week,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to bring bring this topic up to
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: you as well, is you look at a team like
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers. We look at a team like the Phillies too,
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: who have a lot of great talent. But I do
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: wonder how will the Phillies compete with the likes of
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers. You know, in the future based
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: on what the Dodgers have done with their roster, just
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: how they just don't care about the money they're spending
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: on talent, I guess from a more macro perspective. As
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: we're starting our discussion here, Tim, how do you see
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: the Phillies really competing again here in twenty twenty six
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: again with a team like the Dodgers and even other
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: top teams in the National League.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts here.
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: Well, the Dodgers are definitely for the foreseeable future going
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: to be the favorites every single year, but I would
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: say Phillies won more games during the regular season. They
• 44:11
  Speaker 5: the only non competitive game during the series was the
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: game that the Phillies won. So I don't know that
• 44:18
  Speaker 5: there's ever gonna be a point here in the next
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: few years where the Phillies are a better overall roster
• 44:22
  Speaker 5: than the Dodgers.
• 44:23
  Speaker 6: But can they compete in a short series with them?
• 44:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I do think they can, and I get it
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: the Dodgers spend more than anybody, but it's certainly not
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: like the Phillies are a mom and pop shop either,
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: So yeah, I think they're capable of competing, and sometimes
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: you have to maybe balance out whatever gap there is
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: between the Phillies and Dodgers financially, you have to make
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: some shrewd moves where you get guys that are undervalued
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: and outperform what they've done.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's just a mental thing once this
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: team gets into the postseason these past couple of years,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: where they just I don't want to use the word
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: collapse because there's been certain moments they haven't necessarily collapsed,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: but again, past two seasons just haven't been able to
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: get to that next echelon yet other teams have been
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: able to do it. Is it a mental strong or
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: a mental strength type of thing that's going on here
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: with this team?
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts?
• 45:15
  Speaker 5: I don't know if it's mental strength, but there is.
• 45:17
  Speaker 5: It probably isn't fun to enter the postseason knowing that
• 45:21
  Speaker 5: anything short of a parade, you're gonna be viewed as
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: a loser.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's kind of on us as a fan base.
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, to a degree. I don't doubt that that
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: factors in.
• 45:33
  Speaker 5: I would also say, though they didn't play very well
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: in the second half of twenty twenty four, so it
• 45:38
  Speaker 5: wasn't like, going into that you felt they were five
• 45:41
  Speaker 5: hundred team in the second half, so it wasn't shocking
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: when they lost to the Mets, who in the second
• 45:45
  Speaker 5: half of that season were a better team. This year,
• 45:49
  Speaker 5: they played better than they did against the Mets, but
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: they did run up against the Dodgers team that kind
• 45:55
  Speaker 5: of was the perfect storm all at the same time
• 45:57
  Speaker 5: where their pitching got healthy. The Phillies did a good
• 46:01
  Speaker 5: job against the big hitters Otani most notably. Yeah, they
• 46:05
  Speaker 5: didn't hit themselves, but nobody necessarily hit the Dodgers and
• 46:09
  Speaker 5: the National League portion of the playoffs, so that's not
• 46:12
  Speaker 5: an excuse in saying run it back, but it is
• 46:15
  Speaker 5: reality that the Dodgers were the best team come October
• 46:19
  Speaker 5: and the Phillies caught them at the wrong time.
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, very good point.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: So all right, let's let's really talk about I mean,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: those are the reflections of you know, the past season,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: past two seasons here, but looking towards this offseason here
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: again trying to figure out what the expectations should be
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: here for us as a fan base. I've been watching
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: this team ever since I was a kid, have been
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: a fan. There have been so many ups and downs,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: over the years, and I think this organization is in
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: a really good spot. As you mentioned right off the top,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: they are not some mom and pop shop type of
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: baseball organization. They're gonna be in it to compete. So
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: that being said, I wonder how US fans should really
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: manage the expectations and navigate the expectations of this offseason.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, I.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: Don't necessarily know if they're going to be going out,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: you know, John Middleton, I don't know if the ownership
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: and front office are going to be huge, huge spenders
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: at this point, given some of the contracts that are
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: on the books right now. Just wondering what your thoughts
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: are here in terms of how this team is going
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: to navigate this offseason.
• 47:22
  Speaker 5: Well, I think they will be big spenders, but bringing
• 47:25
  Speaker 5: guys back, yeah, And if they are big spenders externally,
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: that means you're not bringing somebody like I don't think
• 47:33
  Speaker 5: they're going to re sign Kyle Schwarber, resign JT. Real Mudo,
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: and go issue another mega deal to somebody else.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 47:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Now, if you let one of those guys go,
• 47:43
  Speaker 5: particularly if Schwarber leaves, which I don't think they want
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: to have happened, and I don't think will happen. Then, yeah,
• 47:48
  Speaker 5: maybe you do get into the discussion of Alonzo or
• 47:51
  Speaker 5: Alex Bregman or Cody Bellinger, But in that case, you're
• 47:55
  Speaker 5: just replacing production that you had from twenty twenty five.
• 47:58
  Speaker 5: You're not adding it new edition. So I think they're
• 48:02
  Speaker 5: going to spend. I think they're going to be a
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: top five payroll. But there's off seasons where you're trying
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: to maintain what you have, and off seasons we're trying
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: to add what you have, And this offseason is a
• 48:13
  Speaker 5: bit of a hybrid, But in terms of the big spending,
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: I think you're more trying to maintain and then you're
• 48:18
  Speaker 5: gonna have to find other moves to revamp other parts
• 48:21
  Speaker 5: of the roster, probably for not quite as much money.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I guess that gets us to the next
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: topic here, which is the changes that we're gonna see.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: You kind of alluded to it, not that it's necessarily
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: a change, but bringing back possibly Kyle Schwarber, which apparently
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: you believe is a very very strong possibility that that
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: might happen. But I do wonder whether it's the outfield,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: whether it's the infield. I have a feeling we may
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: end up seeing some new talent here there. What do
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: you think is going to be the biggest change on
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: this Phillies team this coming season, Tim.
• 48:53
  Speaker 5: I definitely think it's going to be the outfield, one
• 48:55
  Speaker 5: way or another. I don't believe Nick Castillanos will be back.
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: Dave Dombrowski has already said that Max Kepler most likely
• 49:02
  Speaker 5: won't be back.
• 49:03
  Speaker 6: Harrison Bader is a free agent.
• 49:05
  Speaker 5: Maybe he will be back, maybe he won't. But it's
• 49:08
  Speaker 5: certainly kind of a toss up there. It's that that
• 49:11
  Speaker 5: is down the list compared to Schwarber and real Muto.
• 49:14
  Speaker 5: So I think it's going to look completely different because
• 49:17
  Speaker 5: Justin Crawford is going to.
• 49:18
  Speaker 6: Be in the mix. Maybe Brandon marsh is still part of.
• 49:21
  Speaker 5: The equation, but I I think he's somebody that in
• 49:24
  Speaker 5: the right move, maybe you would trade him too. So
• 49:29
  Speaker 5: I think the outfield is going to look completely different
• 49:32
  Speaker 5: next year, and we don't know exactly what it'll look like.
• 49:34
  Speaker 5: Dave Dombrowski mentioned Gabriel Rincone's as a possibility for being
• 49:39
  Speaker 5: in the mix next year. You still have Weston Wilson
• 49:42
  Speaker 5: slash Auto Kemp, although you might need Auto camp more
• 49:45
  Speaker 5: in the infield, So I do think there's going to
• 49:47
  Speaker 5: be changes. Even if like the three or four best
• 49:51
  Speaker 5: players on the team look a lot the same, some
• 49:54
  Speaker 5: of the other supporting pieces I think will look different,
• 49:57
  Speaker 5: most notably in the outfield.
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I do.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: I wonder if they do try to swing for a
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker perhaps even like I don't know, maybe Cody Bellinger.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I'm just kind of throwing out some names, like would
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: they actually make those type of moves to bring in
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: those type of free agents.
• 50:14
  Speaker 5: I would be surprised on Kyle Talker, who knows. With
• 50:18
  Speaker 5: Cody Bellinger, he doesn't have a qualifying offer attached to him.
• 50:21
  Speaker 6: So that's interesting. I would still think if you're bringing.
• 50:24
  Speaker 5: Back Schwarber and real Mudo, I would be surprised if
• 50:28
  Speaker 5: they made another like mega signing. But maybe that's an
• 50:31
  Speaker 5: argument for considering alternative paths forward this offseason.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting for sure. Again, folks, we are
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: talking to Tim Kelly from on Pattison dot Com. Head
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: on over there. They've got great content in the world
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: of Philly sports. Tim, let everybody know where they can
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: find you if they want to connect with you on
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: the socials out there.
• 50:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's at Tim Kelly Sports on any and every
• 50:53
  Speaker 5: social platform.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna take a break, and when we
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: get back, we got a lot more Phillies off seas
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: and talk coming your way. All right, we're back with
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: our good buddy Tim Kelly from on Pattison dot Com.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: Check out everything they have going on over there. I
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: really want to talk about this next guy because of
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: where he is in his career, not only with the Phillies,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: but as a Major League baseball player, because over time,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: you see certain players who have been in this league
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: for a while, productivity goes up and down. The injury
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: bug may be hitting them every now and again. And
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: specifically talking about somebody who I have come to love
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: so much and so many people in Philadelphia have come
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: to love, and that's Bryce Harper. He's seen his share
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: of injuries over these past few years. Here this twenty
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: twenty five season, Tim, it was a quote, you know,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: down year for him. He received some criticism from certain
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: sectors of the fan base for his performance this year
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: and how he didn't like quote show up at times
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: throughout the season. I'm not necessarily sure that was a
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: fair assessment some folks in the fan base. Again, I
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: absolutely love what Bryce Harper is and what he's done
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: in terms of wearing that Phillies uniform. But I do
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: wonder where do you see Bryce Harper's career at this
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: point and what he's going to mean for this team
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: and this roster heading into twenty twenty six.
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts here?
• 52:21
  Speaker 5: Well, I think what Dave Dombrowski said in the end
• 52:23
  Speaker 5: of year press conference was spot on. I don't know
• 52:26
  Speaker 5: that it was smart to say it publicly. Clearly Bryce
• 52:28
  Speaker 5: Harper did not receive it well. But him being at
• 52:31
  Speaker 5: that point where he's still a really good player, but
• 52:34
  Speaker 5: is he great?
• 52:34
  Speaker 6: Is he going to get back to that level? We
• 52:36
  Speaker 6: don't know. I would push back.
• 52:39
  Speaker 5: Against anyone who thinks it's like a lack of Harper
• 52:42
  Speaker 5: being bought in or anything like that. To me, it's
• 52:45
  Speaker 5: just he hasn't been able to stay healthy consistently, and
• 52:49
  Speaker 5: it's very difficult to build momentum when you miss a
• 52:54
  Speaker 5: month in the middle of the season like that. That's
• 52:57
  Speaker 5: really unfortunate timing, and so staying healthy is the biggest
• 53:02
  Speaker 5: thing for him moving forward. The problem is he's entering
• 53:05
  Speaker 5: his age thirty three season. He entered the league when
• 53:08
  Speaker 5: he was nineteen. Like, this is part of signing these
• 53:11
  Speaker 5: long term deals, is that as guys age, they maybe
• 53:14
  Speaker 5: won't says healthy. So ye, you know, you can hope
• 53:17
  Speaker 5: for the best in that regard. I still think he's
• 53:19
  Speaker 5: gonna be a really productive player. I don't know if
• 53:21
  Speaker 5: he's gonna be twenty twenty one Bryce Harper.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Again, Yeah, absolutely, And I think something I've given a
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: lot of thought about it just seems like common sense, tim,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: is that so many sports fans in general, it doesn't
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: matter if it's baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, whatever, you know,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: they believe that just because of the size of the contract,
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: that the athlete should be able to perform at a
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: certain level of whatever that dollar and monetary contract is.
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: And like you said, that's just not the case.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: This guy's thirty three years old, he's got a lot
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: of miles on him, you know, he's he's been at
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: the plate, how many times he's done so much to
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: his body over all of these years. They regardless of
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: that monetary contract and what he signed, And I'm glad
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: for him. We're we're a podcast platform that is all
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: in for athletes getting paid what they need to and
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: should be getting paid for these you know, billion dollar
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: owners regardless of that. You know, you can't dismiss injuries.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: If a guy is injured and over a significant period
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: of time he's facing injuries, might not be able to
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: perform the way that they need to, even though they're
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: one of the highest paid at their positions. So it's
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: just it's always amazing to me. It's it's common sense,
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: but it's always amazing to me anyway.
• 54:35
  Speaker 5: Well, and I would say to anyone that has that mindset,
• 54:39
  Speaker 5: it's like, just because they're not performing that way, it
• 54:41
  Speaker 5: doesn't mean they're not trying to, right, They've less like
• 54:46
  Speaker 5: if anything, Bryce Harper maybe is guilty sometimes of wanting
• 54:49
  Speaker 5: it too badly.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Look, this is the mindset of some folks
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: in the world of Philly sports. You know, we know,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: we know, we know the folks out there for sure.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: So all right, a couple more topics before I let
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: you go. Buddy, you recently wrote a good piece on
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: On Pattison recently about how Japanese prospect and star gonna
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: mess up his name Muney Taka. Did I get that right?
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Muney Taka Murakami. Yeah, he could be a place to
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: He could land potentially in Philly as the Phillies are
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: gauging and maybe entering the Japanese market. Here a little
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: bit more, I'm wondering again, you wrote an interesting piece
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: about it, Folks, I don't over on Pattison to check
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: out this piece that Tim wrote.
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: How could this happen? You know?
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: And and what might Murakami's presence on the Phillies actually
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: look like?
• 55:45
  Speaker 5: Well, I think the Phillies need to, like at least
• 55:48
  Speaker 5: meet with pretty much every major Japanese or South Korean
• 55:51
  Speaker 5: star that gets posted at this point because they need
• 55:54
  Speaker 5: to break into that market. Now there's some red flags
• 55:59
  Speaker 5: of Marikami, like he's a third baseman. It seems more
• 56:03
  Speaker 5: likely he's going to be a first basement or DH
• 56:05
  Speaker 5: in Major League Baseball, which would mean if Kyle Schwarber
• 56:09
  Speaker 5: is back, I'd be surprised they could put him at
• 56:12
  Speaker 5: third base if they move on from Alec Bohm. But
• 56:16
  Speaker 5: it seems more likely him as a possible replacement if
• 56:20
  Speaker 5: Schwarber leaves, and I don't even know that he'd be
• 56:22
  Speaker 5: the most likely. He probably wouldn't. When you have Pete Alonzo,
• 56:27
  Speaker 5: Alex Bregman, some of these other guys available, and you're
• 56:29
  Speaker 5: a win now team. But what I would say, as
• 56:32
  Speaker 5: much as he's not a perfect player, you have the
• 56:34
  Speaker 5: concerns about the defense. He strikes out a lot, he
• 56:37
  Speaker 5: has immense power and in a situation here where he
• 56:42
  Speaker 5: doesn't necessarily seem to be a fit for the Dodgers
• 56:45
  Speaker 5: and maybe some of the usual suspects. Eventually you have
• 56:47
  Speaker 5: to break in, and chances are the way you break
• 56:50
  Speaker 5: into the Japanese market is not going to be signing
• 56:53
  Speaker 5: shohe O Tani or someone that's like a slam dunk
• 56:56
  Speaker 5: that every team is lined up for. It's going to
• 56:59
  Speaker 5: be taking a game on somebody, selling them on Philly
• 57:02
  Speaker 5: and getting them in here and treating them well, rolling
• 57:06
  Speaker 5: out the red carpet, and the Phillies are always going
• 57:09
  Speaker 5: to be at a geographic disadvantage in the same way
• 57:11
  Speaker 5: that a lot of the West Coast teams are at
• 57:13
  Speaker 5: geographic disadvantages for players from this Dominican Republic and other areas. True,
• 57:20
  Speaker 5: so they're never going to be like the favorite for
• 57:23
  Speaker 5: most major Japanese players, but they can't be shut out either,
• 57:27
  Speaker 5: so they need to get on the board here however,
• 57:30
  Speaker 5: that is, and part of that is just continuing to
• 57:32
  Speaker 5: build relationships, meeting with guys and eventually you get one
• 57:36
  Speaker 5: of them. I don't think it'll be in this case,
• 57:38
  Speaker 5: but it's worth examining and seeing whether you can be
• 57:42
  Speaker 5: a fit. And even if a guy doesn't sign with you,
• 57:46
  Speaker 5: they remember how you treated them and that stuff. Their
• 57:49
  Speaker 5: agent could go on to represent another player in the future.
• 57:52
  Speaker 5: So you just you have to do everything, cross off
• 57:55
  Speaker 5: all the boxes and eventually it's going to work out
• 57:59
  Speaker 5: for you.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Great piece again by Tim Folks over at on Pattison
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: dot com.
• 58:03
  Speaker 3: Check it out.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: You know, it's an interesting aspect of you know, the
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: Phillies possibly getting into the Japanese market. So all right, buddy,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: before I let you go, we got to talk about
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: the future of the Phillies pitching as well, where we're
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: praying that Zach Wheeler is going to be able to
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: come back. Of course, Christopher Sanchez will hopefully remain as
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: dominant as he was this past year. As we're looking
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: to twenty twenty six, Aaron Nola likely he's gonna be
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: here as well. Perhaps we see Andrew Painter too. The
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: bullpen certainly going to be interesting as well. I'm wondering
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: is there any kind of surprises that we might see
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: from a pitching perspective, whether it's with the starters, whether
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: it's with the bullpen. What are your thoughts here to
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: close this out, Buddy.
• 58:48
  Speaker 5: Well, I think a lot of it is set like
• 58:51
  Speaker 5: one way or another, Aaron Nola is going to be here,
• 58:53
  Speaker 5: whether the rebounds or not. It's time for Andrew Painter
• 58:57
  Speaker 5: one way or another, kind of same thing goes with him.
• 58:59
  Speaker 5: I don't expect Ranger Schwarz to re sign, but we'll see.
• 59:03
  Speaker 5: They've taken a little bit of the the guessing out
• 59:07
  Speaker 5: of the bullpen by bringing back Alvarado, so like that's
• 59:10
  Speaker 5: your top leverage guy setting up for Deran.
• 59:13
  Speaker 6: You have Deran back there.
• 59:14
  Speaker 5: So I'm not saying there won't be any moves in
• 59:18
  Speaker 5: the bullpen, but I don't know that there's gonna be
• 59:20
  Speaker 5: like you signed Devin Williams or somebody like that.
• 59:22
  Speaker 6: I don't anticipate that happening.
• 59:25
  Speaker 5: So it's maybe a little bit more around the edges
• 59:28
  Speaker 5: unless they offload someone and open up some money. I
• 59:32
  Speaker 5: think in the starting rotation you have a really good group.
• 59:36
  Speaker 5: It's just a matter of whether some of these aging
• 59:38
  Speaker 5: guys wheel Er Nola, what exactly you get out of them,
• 59:42
  Speaker 5: and do they extend Jesuslzardo. Is there a way to
• 59:46
  Speaker 5: assure that he's not in the same situation as Ranger
• 59:48
  Speaker 5: Swarez a year from now, And does another guy like
• 59:53
  Speaker 5: Jesus Lozardo last offseason not fall into your laps but
• 59:57
  Speaker 5: become available and you strike, because I I don't think
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 5: that should ever be ruled out. Pitching is what wins,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 5: especially in the regular season. So if you can get
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 5: a great starting pitcher at what is maybe an undermarket value,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 5: which I think it was last year with Lozardo, maybe
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 5: an opportunity like that comes up. But I don't look
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 5: at the Phillies entering this offseason, even if they lose
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 5: Ranger Swarz and think, Wow, this team really needs to
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 5: add like a middle or top of the rotation guy.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 5: I don't think it's the case. Andrew Paynter is gonna
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 5: come in here and if he's what they expect, like
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 5: that helps to offset the loss of Ranger Schwarz.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be exciting to see Andrew Paynter. Really
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: I cannot wait. I mean spring training can't get here
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: soon enough. All right, folks, he's Tim Kelly again from
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: on Pattison dot com. Always great talking with you, buddy.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: Really appreciate you taking the time to talk Phillies with
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: us here. Come back on down the road. I'd love
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: to have you back on the show, my friend. All Right,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: sounds good and that's gonna do it for us this week.
• 1:00:57
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• 1:01:00
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• 1:01:02
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• 1:01:04
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• 1:01:08
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• 1:01:12
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• 1:01:14
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• 1:01:17
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• 1:01:21
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