Latest / Foul Territory / Phillies owner John Middleton joins TPS: Big market behemoths, Keeping free agents, Baseball legacy

Transcript

Phillies owner John Middleton joins TPS: Big market behemoths, Keeping free agents, Baseball legacy · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It was time for Bryce to hang up his fleets.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: The last time he played, I mean, the last team
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: he played for should be to pash to be he
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: should be the Philadelphia Phillies.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Guys, we're super excited to be here today. This is
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: our first live show with Ruben Oamar Junior, the Venerable
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Rubenamar Junior, but the esteemed Jim Salisbury and of course
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: our very special guests, Phillies managing partner John Middleton. John
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: is part of our Citizens Conversation today and John, thank
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: you so much for joining us.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: We know you are a busy.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Man, so thank you for taking the time to talk
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: to do it. So, John, we you know the team
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: is off to a four and one start, And Jim
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: and I talked to you. I think it was the
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: first day of spring training in Clearwater, and you were
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: very optimistic, confident about the team going into the season,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: of course and desert understandably. So what have you seen
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: from these first five games that maybe has you kind
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: of reinforcing those beliefs about this team and where could
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: potentially go in the next several months.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So I think the first thing, it says the pitching
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: has generally been what's we advertised it to be.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I think the starting rotation is tremendous. It as the ability.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I think it will prove to be the best rotation
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: in all of baseball by the end of the season.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to, frankly be interested in Ruben's opinion,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: it's going to get close to the eleven team. I mean,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: it's really hard at the top of the eleven rotation
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: when you look at Holiday and Lee and Hammels to
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: equal that. Certainly, Zach can be as good as any
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: picture we've ever had, But the bottom of our rotation,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I think is going to be materially better than the
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: bottom of the eleven rotation. So you put the five
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: guys together on both rotations, mix them up, and I
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: think I think at the end of twenty twenty five
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: is going to look an awful lot like twenty eleven.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: And that's about considering Andrew Paynter coming up in July
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: ish whatever that is, and other you know, other things.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: So you know, we don't even obviously have Ranger back yet.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I think the bullpen's generally been strong. The hitters have
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: been good. They haven't you know, they're not going three
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: for five or two for five every single game, but
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: they find a way and come together. It's been tended
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to be towards the end of the game obviously against
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the relief pitching. They really pummel it and they and
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: they can string together runs and hits really well. And frankly,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I love kind of the small ball aspects of last
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: night's game. I love I loved Rojas's two bunts. I
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: love the way Kyle came home on that play. I
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: just think, really heads up plays and new new things,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: and you need to be able to do that over
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: of course of one hundred and well if you want
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: to go to the postseason, win one hundred and seventy
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: five games, or in order to win in the postseason.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So I was curious.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: You know a lot of people talked about, you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: making big changes during the offseason.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: There were some changes made.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: How do you speak to that and how do you
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: feel about some of the thing moves that Dave Dombrowski
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: has made so far?
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I start with the fact I talk
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to people all the time about Dave. I mean, I've
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: had the privilege of working for now twenty years with
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Pat Killer, who is a legitimate Hall of famer who's
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: done things that very few people in the Hall of
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Fame have done. And if you look at Dave's career,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: he matches Pack almost They both have won World Series
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: titles with two different franchises. Dave's only won two, Pats
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: won three, But Dave has taken four different teams to
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: the World Series. He's the only GM in the history
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: of baseball who's ever taken more than two different teams
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to the World Series. And that tells you a lot
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: about who Dave Dobroski is. And so I don't get
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: in the way of Dave Dombrowski tells. What that tells
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: me is that guy knows has probably forgotten more this
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: morning about technical baseball and evaluation of baseball talent than
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I'll ever know in my life. So I my job
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: is to encourage Dave to give to kind of knock
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: down the obstacles for him and basically get him the
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: money that he needs to put the team on the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: field that he wants to put on the field. And so,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: you know, I always thought, you know, he's got a
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: great eye. He's got his staff is Keyton tenants have
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: great eyes too. For talent, Uh for a you know
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: the medical staff is. I think we're as good as anybody.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: You look at the pitching rotation of the last four
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: or five years and how good these guys are and
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: how healthy they've been. So when they start evaluating people
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: like Romano and Kepler for you know, how they're going
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to perform this year, I have a lot of confidence
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: in them.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I mean you go all the way back to Zach
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: when he came to us.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: He he came to us with, you know, an injury history,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: and we looked at him and said, now, this guy
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: is absolutely fine. So I think they I have a
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: a lot of confidence to day, and just to date,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: his decisions have proven to be really good ones, no doubt.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: John Todd mentioned we spoke to you back in spring
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: training first day of pitches and catches, in fact, I
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: think it was YEP, and I asked you, knowing how
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: competitive you are and how much you've wanted and how
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: intense you are defensive post season three years in a row,
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: I haven't gotten there. I asked you that today, what
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: is going to be your message to this ball club
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: when you address the open spring training?
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: You said, I'm going to keep that for myself. Are
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: you at liberty now to say what that message.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Does, well, yeah, probably about forty eight hours later, because
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: once I addressed the team, it's kind of more or
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: less out there. So I had really two themes this year,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: which I think are important anyway, but coming on the
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: heels of last seasons postseason, you know, which was really
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: a tough loss to take. I talked about the need
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to be adaptable and accountable, and I used my conversation
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I had with Roy Holliday's father out in Colorado in
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: twenty ten.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I was sitting next to him. Roy was pitching.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Roy was kind of doing what he always does when
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: he's pitching well, which is mowing people down. About the
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: seventh inning, I looked at his father and I said,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I understand you were Roy's first pitching coach. And said yeah,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: And I said, so, how many of his five pitches
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: did you teach you?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: And he goes none? He said, what do you mean none?
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: He goes none?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I said, not even his fastball. He is now not
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: even his fastball. So you may remember Roy came up
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: struggled and the Blue Jays sent him down to the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: low levels of minders like triple a single a ball,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and Roy thought his career was over and almost walked away,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: but he said he stuck with it, and he decided
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: he needed to learn five new pitches if he were
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: going to make it. So he jettisoned all five of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the pitches he had learned new five new pitches and
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: came up and I said, so he's using those pictures.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: No, So what do you mean No?
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: He said, well, you know, seven or eight years in,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: he thinking he's getting a little too predictable.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: So he's learned five new pitches.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: And he said, look, sometimes it's as simple as moving
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: from one side of the rubber to the next. Sometimes
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: it's a matter of a slight change in a grip
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: on maybe you know, curveball or.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Something like that.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: But the point was that this guy was constantly reinventing himself.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: As good as he was, he constantly was reinventing himself
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: because he saw the need to do that.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: So about two weeks later.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: I'm sitting in the stands here talking to Mike Schmidt
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: telling him that story. I said, Mike, does it make
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: sense that a guy could have fifteen pitches over the
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: course of his professional career.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Mike just looks at.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Me and he goes, well, yeah, because I had three
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: different swings in my career. And he said, in point
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: of fact, I not only had three swings, John, but
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: in the middle of each of those swings, that made
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: such a major adjustment that people could actually look at
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: me and say, you had six different swings over your career,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: but I consider it three, each one having a major
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: mid mid course correction.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: And so that was the message to the team that
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And the.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Point I said is it's not that they're Hall of
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Famer so they have the ability to do that. I said,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: they're in the Hall of Fame because they did that.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I mean they saw the need to change. They saw
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: the need to continue to push themselves to learn something new,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: to be better. And and I think that was an
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: important message. And I think that thing is you have
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: to be accountable. It's accountable to yourself, accountable to your teammates,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: accountable to your managers and your staff the front office,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to the fans.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, you really have to be pushing yourself.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: And and you know, we have a I think a
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: really terrific staff, you know, beginning with Rob obviously, but
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: all through these guys are are great and they're here
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to help the players. I think when the players accept
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: the help, I think they get better. And I think
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: there's plenty of op You know, you can look at
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: plenty of pitchers or plenty of position players who have
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: learned from Kevin and Caleb about how to get a
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: little bit better and a little bit better at this level.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Is a big difference, or it can be a big difference.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Johnny, you mentioned Mike Schmid. I think of nineteen eighty
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: of course, like everybody does. Do you see any parallels
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: or potential similarities between the twenty twenty five Phillies and
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: the nineteen eighty Phillies in that they lost in the
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: NLCS seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, they bring in
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Pete Rose, they don't even make the playoffs, and everybody's like,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: this team is probably cooked. They don't have what you
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: know they can they get over the top. And this
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: group twenty two to twenty three, twenty four falling short
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: of the ultimate price?
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Is this team going to be able to get over
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the edge.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Do you see any potential similarities between the team, and
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: if so, what are what is it?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Well?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I think I do see them, and I think one
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: of the biggest things is, first of all, there's a
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: lot of talent on both squads, right, and you can
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: throw in that eight squad, you know, for added measures.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I think there's similarities between that squad and the squad
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: too that are important. I think when you've gone through
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: what the years that the seventy six, seventy seventy eight
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Phillies did and seventy nine for that, and then you
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: compare it to what these guys are want through, you've
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: got to come back hungry and hungrier every year. And
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: everybody knows that an athlete's career is short. That there's
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: been you know, this is now the fourth year, and
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: that's a pretty big chunk of a pro athlete's career
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: unless you're twenty two years old and you think, well,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I got I can do this forever. But most of
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: these guys aren't, and they realize that they're closer to
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: the end than they are to the beginning. And I
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: think that's a great motivation for players. What I do
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: see though, I think this team rubent is because of
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: the strength and the pitching staff, and that if you
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: look at like ten and eleven in particular, I think
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: those two teams and especially eleven, were really driven by
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: their pitching staffs. And I mean, as Dave Dombrowski has said,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: you know, whenever you have a when you can put
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: a matchup out there that generally favors you one hundred
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: and sixty two games every night, you're gonna you're you're
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: gonna win an awful lot of games. I mean, they
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: may not be perfect, but they are strong and and
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: they can go deep into the games. They could go
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: deep in the season. And I think that's where if
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: you combine the motivation of the you know, eighty team
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: to this with this team, and you look at the
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: kind of the way these A eleven and this team
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: are comprised that you know, the way that Grooven organized
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: eleven team and the way Pat has organized Pack sorry
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Dave has organized this team.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I think I think they're.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Really I think those two teams are more similar in
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: their composition where their strengths loot lay right uh and frankly.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Where some of their their weaknesses are. I mean, you know,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I was curious, Sean. You know I've known you for
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a long time.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: Will you tell I don't get too deep, but I
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: think it's an important element of what you're about how
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: personal is it for you for this team to have success?
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well it's at you know room, and it's it's
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: my legacy. I mean, I I've done other things in
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: my life, but I think this role. I think when
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: I retire, when my time comes ten years from now,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: if anybody remembers me for anything, they're not gonna be
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: remembered for anything else. They'll remember me for this. So
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: however well or I'm not well, I serve and function.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: That's gonna be my legacy. So it is, it is
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: everything to me. You don't have my trophy, gotta have
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: that bleeping trophy, you know.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I gotta tell you.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you remember this, but if people
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: like you know, like they hear you say how much
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: you want to win? So in spring training, I don't
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: if you remember this. I'm standing between the half field
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: and the and the bullpen mounts at Baker Ballpark and
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: I'm sending it to Garrett Stubbs and mac Elp from
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: the athletic and you walking in from the parking lot,
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: and we go, good morning, John, how are you going?
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: And you keep moving, you go.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you at four o'clock and a pause, and
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: then Subs goes, this guy really he wants to win.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: He's talking about winning a great FRED League game.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: You're talking about that earlier today, this, you know this, this,
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: these last two games only anything unless they sweep.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I think, well, you know, look, I can tell you
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: when I when I wrestled and I had scrimmages, my
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: coach never congratulated me for putting up a good show
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: and you know, and losing, it was more about like, well,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: here's what you did wrong and don't do that again.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand what spring training is, but spring training
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: is also about, you know, to just Vince Lombardi's great phrase,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: practice doesn't make perfect perfect, practice makes perfect. Right, you know,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: you need to drive yourself to be perfect all the
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: time because that's when you when you get into those
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: crunch situations and games that really matter your your your
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: body has to know exactly how to perform. You can't
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: be thinking that through at that moment. You've got to
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: kind of have complete confidence in your athletic skills, complete
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: confidence in your prepera and just react. React to the
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: ball if you're a hitter, or reacted if you're the
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: pitcher to the batter, to where your arm slot is,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: to where your release point is, to how far your
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: stride is. All of that has to be automatic. And
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: you get it that way by constant repetition. I mean
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: thousands of times. When I was told when I was
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: fourteen fifteen years old, if you're going to learn a
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: new move and wrestling, before you try it in a match,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: you do it. You practice it five hundred times by yourself.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: You practice it five hundred times with somebody on top
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: of you just kind of you know, but not really work,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: stressing you out. And then you do it five hundred
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: times in scrimmages, during practice or live scrimmage before you
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: take it onto the back for when it counts. Because
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: if you can't do it a thousand, fifteen hundred times perfectly,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: you're not going to do it the right in the match.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: So that's why I said, I'll tell you at four
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: o'clock you want to lost that day, But I was
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: thinking about that all day. Yeah, yeah, is competitive? How
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: much you want it? You guys are carrying a huge paper.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: I think it's number three in the game. Yeah, and
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that and not far behind the Mets, not far.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: Behind the US.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Number three in the game what tax tros. We're over
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the top, over the top. I hear from fans all
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: the time.
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: Are they gonna if they have needs at the Trade Devil,
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: will they have the flexibility Yeah, to addressment.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the answer is yes. I mean, you know, I'm
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: telling you it's this is Dave's call. It's not my call.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: It's Dave's call. And if you go back, for example,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: the last year, I mean, we looked hard, we talked
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: to a lot of people. I mean, we pursued certain
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: people very hard, and we made offers that I can't
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: believe people rejected, but they did, and they were so
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: so I won't say accessive, but so generous on our
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: part that Dave and I looked at each other and
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: just said, you know what, we're ambivalent.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: If the deal comes through, We're okay.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: If it doesn't go through, we're perfectly fine keeping these
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: plays that we we've offered, and we kept them. And
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: you know what, I think in the long run, it's
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: going to be better for us that we did that,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: or that was the way it panned out. But you
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: know it's so that's but that's days, that's Stave's ball.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: So speaking of that, you know, there's other teams that
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: have sort of infiltrated the Japanese market.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: D that market.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: How important is it for your organization and for and
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: for the sustainability of the organization for you to jump
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: into that market.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I know you've been trying. Yeah, I think it's really important.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: It's it's any source of talent, Ruben as you know,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: you need to you need to have access to it,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: you need to mine it. We've put a lot of
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: time and effort money over the last sepist and staves
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: arrived at having a presence not just in Japan, but
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: also in permanent in the presidence in Korea and frankly
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: around the world and so and we make you know,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Japan is probably the best international market, uh, you know
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: in terms of I'll call m ll be ready players
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: and you're not. It's not like Latin America where you're
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: you're you're signing sixteen year olds and sending him off
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: to the Dominican Republic and hoping that they'll you know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: by the time they're eighteen or nineteen, that they'll be
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: up here in the States. So you know, we're gonna
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: keep question and we're keep thinking, we're trying to think
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: about how we can make more more of an oppression
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: to people and the players and the teams and and
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: try to just develop relationships that are going to prove
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: to be fruitful in the long run.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: But we feel that we need to do that, and
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I think with Dave and.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Uh, you know, Jorge h pushing, I think will would
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: be successful.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: But it's going to take time.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Johnny, you talk about the Japanese talent you have, Andrew Painter,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: Adan Miller, Justin Crawford, I.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Know, yeah, what's that catcher? Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: I mean there was a I know you can't get
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: into specifics, but you potentially could have traded some of
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: those guys away last year from Has there been any
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: talks since then about men I'm sorry about about trading,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: like you know, maybe a Miller or Crawford, some of
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: these top prospects last summer maybe involved in a deal
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: where uh, well, I.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Say that you never know, and again it's day's decision.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: But I think I think this off season, certainly the
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: trading deadline last July was a an inflection point, and
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: I think this past off season was too, because if
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: you you know, these guys are now I mean painters
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: virtually here, right, I think I think Crawford could easily
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: be up here if he has a good you know, couple.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Of months at trip a Miller's could charge and hard.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: I think those three guys in particular, you know, there's
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: they're close enough to be MLB ready that I don't.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I think you'd have to have a really.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Spectacular trade to think about trading even any of those people.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, and look, Reuben went to this, I mean,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: he was how long were were we trying to get doc?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: You know, about a year and a half something like that,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: but I think it was like two off seasons and
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: in a July trading deadline, and you know, eventually he
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: said yes to get given up to the bleek guys
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: what they wanted for generally. But you know, it's just
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: it's it's hard. As they get closer and closer, they
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: become more valuable to you, and so it's harder to
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: give them up.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: And you need these guys coming to the system because
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: you have a lot of free agents coming up this year.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: And Jeffrey Lourie I think, was just talking the other
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: area in the press conference, saying, how you know it's
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: when you're a good franchise and a good organization, it's
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: almost impossible to keep everybody.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Do you imagine you.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: It's kind of I don't know how that what's that
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: feeling like when you have Kyle Schwarber, GT. Reil Muto,
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Ranger Suarez, they're all free agents after the season. I'm
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: sure you would love to keep them all. Maybe you do,
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: maybe you don't. You know, how do you feel about
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: that when those guys are coming up? You know, it's
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: it's unfortunately, it's just part of the game. It's part
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: of the job. And no Reuven knows that as well
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: as anybody. I mean, I you know, it's really hard.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: I just don't know how else to say it, and
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: yet have to try to, you know, I I do
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: talk to players conceptually about, you know, to tell them
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: if you if you want to win, you know, maximizing
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: your salary to the last nickel puts the team in
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: a less lesser position where they can't it's harder to
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: spend the next nickel on getting the next player right.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: And so you know, yeah, at.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Some level, it does really kind of come down to
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: what's the player's values, what what do they want?
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: And again, Reuben lived this.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: But you know, Cliff Lee gave up twenty six million
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: dollars to not sign with two other teams and to
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: sign with us, and that it's because, you know, Cliff said,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: I want to win and it was more important for
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: me to win than.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: To get the last you know, dollar on a on
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: a contract. True statement. Yeah, I mean it was.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: It was unbelievable that we got them, but that was
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: what it takes. And by the way, I would tell
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: you when I was signed talking to Bryce and signing him,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: that's exactly the conversation I had.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: I said, you know, we'll give you the money.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: It's a record for any pro athlete and any sport
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: in North America. But I gotta spread it out because
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: if you want me to compress the time frame the contract,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: then he drive the a v up. I said, you're
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: you're gonna restrict what we can do, the flexibility we
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: have to sign additional players.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And that's Bryce's commitment to winning.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: If that's before he even decides to change positions in
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: the middle of the year, right.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: So, I mean he has a fanatic tattoo in his arm. Now, yeah,
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: to me, says I see myself as a Philly for life.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I hope he does, because I see him as a
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Philly for I was gonna ask you that at Hell. Yeah.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, why would you want Mike
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Schmidt to play for any other team? You know, why
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: why would you want, you know, Bryce Harper to play
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: for any other team?
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: You know? That's when when when it's time for Bryce
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: to hang up his cleats, he the last time he plays.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean just come back for the day
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to retire.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I mean the last team he plays for should be,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: has to be, should be the Philadelphia Phillies.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: John, You've got the Dodgers coming in this weekend.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody's rebbed up for that.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: They're off to an unbelievable start.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: They are a behemoth. They are. You get the meds.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Remind you we did beat them both series last year, correct, Yeah?
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And not by and not by a little. Yeah. I
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: mean we mash up really well against him, I believe
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: we do.
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: And the Mets are in the National League, and we
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: know about Steve Cohen, and I think he has the
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: same type of competitiveness as you do, what type of
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: a challenges at matching up being the same league, as
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: as the Dodgers and the Mets.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Well, obviously the stronger your competition is.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Wait, that's a pretty obvious statement, but look, if you
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: want to win the World Series, whether they're in the
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: American League, of the National League, the National League West,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: of the National League East, you're gonna have to beat
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: him at some point in time.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: To be the best, you have to beat the best.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: And so I you know, it's it's difficult because the
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: financial resources that the Yankees have, the Mets have, and
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: you know the Dodgers have is it's just significantly more
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: than other people. In fact, how Steinbrenners is quoted as saying,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: you know, we're at a huge disadvantage to compared to
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers. So that gives you a sense of a
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: where how perceives the competition and where he stands. But
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: I'll also remind people that I think it was starting
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty one, the Yankees had the highest payroll
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: in baseball for fifteen consecutive years and they never managed
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: to win the East, the Eastern Division title and make
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: the postseason.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: So it's not just about money. It's about having the.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Right players and developing them and keeping them healthy and
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: as Pat Gillick love to say, having the luck that
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: you have twenty five healthy players playing at the best
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: of the game at precisely the right moment in time.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: So you know, that's why you play one hundred and
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: sixty two games and then you play you know, seven,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: five and seven game series, because you don't win it
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: on paper, you don't win in the off season, and
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: you don't win it in the media talk rooms.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: You win it on the field. So I think we
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: match up with any of them.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Frankly, I think it's a challenge, but I'm I guess I'm.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Looking forward to it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: So the game has been evolving, John, and I wanted
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: to get your opinion about this set torpedo bat stuff.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Obviously there are some Phillies who are using it.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: I know that there's been some movement as far as
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: the Phillies using them. What you're feeling about at number
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: one and number two? You know, I think that it's
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: something's gonna help a lot of guys. Do you think
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: the Phillies need that help?
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Well, look, I think anytime there seems to be I
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: don't know that you chase every rabbit hole down.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You know, if you go down every rabbit hole.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: But I think I think there are moments when a
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: variation of a product or what having becomes available. And
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: I think I think if you really go back to
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: the comments about Doc and Mike, you know, if you.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Really want to.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Change and stay at the top of your game, you
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: need you need to kind of experiment.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: And there's nothing wrong with that. And I and I
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: know you know, look.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Alec Bohm has used used that already.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Other people have tried it out. Rice and Stock tried
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: it out.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: You know it's gonna work, As I think Bryson put it, well,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: it's gonna work for some people and it's not.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Gonna work for others. But you don't know that until
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: you try it enough to kind of come to that conclusion.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So I think it's I think it's great. I think
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: it's part of just the evolution of the game.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: John, last one, and we will let you go. We
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: appreciate the time. This is this is the most important
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: question I'm gonna ask you. You were at the Super Bowl,
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: So the Eagles win the Super Bowl? Yeah, what do
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: you think about the tush push? Should they not ban it?
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: So?
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I think it's I personally, I think it's like the
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: torpedo back.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: It's it's legal, So I don't know why teams don't
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: use it while it's legal. And what I.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Understand, everybody's so upset about talking about banning it.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Why don't you just daft can use it?
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: And I think about the torpedo bat but refusing to try. Guys,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: just try it, you know what. So I can't I
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: can't see why there aren't you know, thirty one other
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: teams that are actually experimenting.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: And using the push push. I get it real quick, John,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: real quick.
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: I know we're running on time.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: But Todd brought up the Super Bowl. You and your
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: wife were at the Super Bowl. Just tell us about
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the walk back to the hotel. Oh? Yeah, walk.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: So the walk back was really really great. I mean,
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously the Eagles had won and one handily.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, the place was a giant Eagles party, which
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: was great, but the fans were just so revved up,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: and and you know, we're walking along with just thousands
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: and thousands of fans. You know, sometimes they some people
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: recognized us, sometimes they didn't, but you know, the people
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: recognized us. They were high fiving and saying, this is now,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: it's your turn. And you gotta win it, and uh
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: taking pictures and things like that.
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: So it was it was just it was a lot
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: of fun. There was a great memory. Thanks so much
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: for your time, so much, Thank you so much, guys.
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: That's the Citizens Conversation.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Phillies manager partner John Milton, thanks for the time.