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A Deep Dive Into The Phillies Offseason (PST Episode 596) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. We recorded this podcast episode on Wednesday,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: December eleventh, twenty twenty four. By the time you hear this,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: some things may have changed here or there, but we
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: show in the world, eleven and a half years strong.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: We've got a great show coming your way this week.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: We're gonna get into some Eagles talk. We're gonna get
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: to get into some Sixers talk as well. Joel Embiid
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: is back on the court. Question is can the Sixers
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: get back to a place in the East that we
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: could deem this to be a successful season. We're then
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: also gonna get into some Major League Baseball talk and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: some Phillies talk. Yes, they have acquired a high leverage
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: arm in their bullpen. We're gonna dive into it now.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: What we're thrown down on the table this week, We've
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: got our friend Eric Mortelly from fan sided that Balls
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: out of here dot com. He's gonna join us and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: talk about more about this Phillies off season. And we've
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: got a great show for you folks. I'm Jeff Warren.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: We were my buddy Len Hunsicker.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: How you doing, buddy, I'm doing good, hopefully every he's
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: having a good week out there and is uh not
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: letting the pressures of the holiday get you to down.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Exactly exactly I got. I gotta tell you, Uh you
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: talk about pressure of the holiday? You just started your
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Christmas shopping.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: It was funny because, like I remember in early November
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: thinking like, yeah, it's obviously ridiculously early, but what if
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I just started now? And then for once, I wasn't
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: like feeling with pressure. I was like, yeah, I got
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: plenty of time, and then of course I never did anything.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: And now I'm just like, oh, so, yeah, it's, uh
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: tis the season.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I gotta be honest. For the very first time, I
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: started early. So what I Yeah, I did what I have.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And I know this probably sounds pretty nerdy, but like
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: it's really hard to shop for my wife. She never
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: wants anything. Michelle is always just I don't care, I
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: don't want anything. Give me a hug. That's all I
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: went to say, Well, shut the hell up, now you're
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: not getting a hug. Yeah, okay, But throughout the year,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: whenever she says she wants something, I actually have in
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: my notes app on my phone this list that says
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: gifts for Michelle, and I'll like write it down real quick.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: That's that's incredibly smart. Now, yeah, does she then go
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: out and get the stuff before you can get it?
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: There?
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Never? She never buys anything for herself.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: It's incredible because that's that's awesome because I am I'm
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: one of the worst people to buy for or because
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: I am the kind of person if I want something,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I just go out and get it. So when Christmas
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: time comes around and people are like, oh, you want
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: to think Chris, I'm like, no, I I everything I
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: wanted that is within reason. I just went out and
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: got it. So yeah, I'm I'm kind of difficult like that.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, what I did was, believe it or not,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: lent I started in August at the end of August,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: and like every two weeks I would get I'd buy
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: like two gifts for her, and like I've been done
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: shopping for her now since like October.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's crazy at all. I think that's
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: incredibly smart.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: It was great.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Well, because you know when you got two kids that
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: are here's the thing. This is the one of the
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: reasons why exactly Christmas exactly. And when you like, when
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: you have two kids that are teenagers and they just
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the stuff is just getting more and more expensive as
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: each all goes along.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I don't even want to think about it, Like I
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: can't even imagine.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Like so the two iPad were updating the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: iPads two iPads, you know, a case and stuff like that.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Fun times. So I knew. I was like, I can't
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: wait until the last minute because I know certain things
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I was getting Michelle, you know, not the cheapest thing
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: in the world. But it's like you get the twins
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: what they want, I get her what she wants, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I'm like crying looking at my bank account.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: So I was like, if I can soften it over
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the course of maybe a month and a half, two months,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: then maybe things will be all right. And it seemed
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: to work out all right.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah. No, I think I was very smart.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I'm not a smart man, folks, But when it comes
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to the gifts here at Christmas, I've got a lot
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: of ideas for you.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: The right thing to do.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Well, I gotta tell you. One of the right things
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to do that's happening in the world of Philly sports
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: is the Eagles, Philadelphia Eagles. As we get into this team,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: when boy, they had a messy game offensively during the Panthers,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and there's been some drama with this team, and it's
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: apparently drama quote made up by the media, but they
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: did the right thing. AJ Brown talking to the media
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: for quite some time. Nick Sirianni talking to the media
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: for quite some time about the situation with Jalen Hurts
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and AJ Brown, And I really think that, you know,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: before we really talk about where this team is gonna
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: end up going toward this latter part of the season,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I hope this drama just tapers off. It's so ridiculous
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: that an eleven and two team is at this point
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: where there is this type of drama. The head coach said,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: you know that everything everybody's working together, everybody's working to
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: get better. Yes, the passing game this past week was
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: not good. Jalen Hurts was not good this past week,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: but guess what, he has been good for the majority
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of this season. So, dude, I was so upset by
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: all this. I'm like, and only, of course an eleven
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and two Eagles team, this kind of drama is happening
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: between the star quarterback and a star wide receiver, and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know, it seems like it was a creature
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that was was really developed, not just by the media.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Brendan Graham obviously didn't help it when he was on
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: radio talking yes exactly. I mean his comments were horrendous.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: It's like, have you ever spoken before in public?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: BG?
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Jesus, But I hope this is going to be in
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the rearview mirror at this point, Buddy.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I just the one thing, you know, just looking back
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: over thing is why why can everybody just say we
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: had a bad game.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it happens, Yeah, exactly, Nobody in the history of anything.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I'm sure even when the seventy two Dolphins went undefeated,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: they had one or two games in there that were
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: close that they didn't play as well as they could have,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: you know, and wish they had some plays back.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: It happens.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: So why can't it just be we were a little
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: flat this week, we'll be better next week.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Why does it have to become this thing?
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Exactly? I completely agree with you. I even said it
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: on the postgame show this past week. When you win
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: nine games in a row like they have, that's almost
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: unheard of. These days even with like great teams really
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: don't win nine games in a row. You're gonna have
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a stinker every now and again. And that's what you're saying.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And that's the it's it's almost kind of carry over
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: a little bit from last year because like, Okay, if
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: you guys are having this adversity, this internal strife after
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: one shaky game, when you've won nine games in a row, right,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: then what happens when things really start to slip a
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: little bit?
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: How are you gonna be able to handle that? Yeah?
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: And because let's face it, let's look back at last year,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: they didn't handle it at all. So that tells me that,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: you know, have we gotten over the like once the
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: wheels start coming off a little bit is the reason
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: to be like uh oh, like because they never handled
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: that that type of thing internally? Do the Eagles know
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: how to hand handle when things aren't going well?
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Because I think it's a fair question after that, after this,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: if if this one stinker of a game causes this,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: then you know, I don't know what's going on upstairs
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: at some of these guys.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Exactly, I do think. I mean they're saying everything is fine.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I mean even Jordan Mailatta came out and said, you know, yes,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: everything is fine here. Beg's comments were really just not
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: helpful and not helpful, but like things are fine here.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the overall offense not performing at a
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: high level this past week, and there was frustration with it.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe maybe I would have been frustrated too,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: but I would have just communicated more effectively. I mean,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you're you're you're a you're a professional football player being
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: paid millions of dollars, and you are taught how to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: communicate with the media, with the press, especially in Philadelphia,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: So I would think that maybe, like you're saying, maybe
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: cooler heads need to prevail here, you know, even if
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you're frustrated with how the offense was performing from a
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: passing perspective.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't understand how that isn't kept internal
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: and just feel like, yeah, we weren't that great this week.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: It happens.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Exactly, It happened every team anywhere ever, in any sport.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, exactly. I don't know why we have
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: to make it this drama.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, moving along, I mean, the team is eleven
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and two, like we're saying, we all know that. So
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: looking toward the playoff seating, as the Birds have clinched
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: this playoff spot now, I mean they're definitely going to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: be in the playoffs. Yeah, we'll give our thoughts here
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: on this latter part of the season as we're looking
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: towards the playoff playoff picture in the seeding, and of course,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: as we know, Eagles are trying to get that number
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: one seed, try to get that buy home field advantage
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: throughout the playoffs. The Lions at this point, they're going
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: to be playing the Bills this week, which could be
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the game of the year. It really could this Sunday
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: four to twenty five pm. Then they have the Bears,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: then the forty nine Ers, then the Vikings. I mean,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I do think the Lions could lose to the Bills
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: because the Bills are playing at a really high level
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: as well. Could they lose to the Vikings. Sure, I'm
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: not gonna hold my breath at all. I do think
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the Lions are gonna end up being the number one
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: seed just because they've been really, really dominant. But you
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: know what, I'll take the number two seed at this point.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that is that's nothing to sneeze at me.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously things could change. There's you know, there's
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: always like surprises or play something where like the wheels
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: come off. But it does feel like the Lions and
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the Eagles, it's them two, and I know the Vikings
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: are eleven and two as well. Yeah, but I mean
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: it's just I don't know, it just feels like there's
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: something different about those two teams versus the rest of
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: the NFC.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely With the Eagles remaining schedule, of course, we
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: know they got the Pittsburgh Steelers this week and then
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the remaining three games, they're all in it. See East opponents, Commanders, Cowboys,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and Giants lesser teams than the Eagles. They should the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Eagles should win three of their next four games. I
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: feel like they're due for a loss quite frankly, Lynn, Yeah, there's.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Got to be something in there, someway. Yeah, and you know,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: whether it's against you know, a good Steelers team you
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: know this week, or you know, still a good you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Commander's team, you know they're they're still decent. You know,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: those are both easily losable games to quality opponents, or
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: maybe yeah, maybe they just pull a stinker against you know,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: a lesser opponent in the Giants or Cowboys.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I get concerned that if they pull a stinker this
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: week against the Steelers at home there at the Link,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: then the drama could potentially ensue and actually get worse
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: than it was this week. Like that is my that
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: is my biggest fear, and then we see somehow not
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a collapse like we had last year, because I don't
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: think we're going to see a monumental.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Season even if they, like you said, even if they
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: even if they lose out they're in the playoffs.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Ye, yes, absolutely, but I still I mean they were
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: last year too and they just crap the bed against
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the Buccaneers in that first round in the wildcard round.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: But really, I I that's my concern is that somehow
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: the passing game still isn't what we are hoping and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: what the Eagles are hoping that it is what Sirianni
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and Kellen Moore hope that it is. I that's that's
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: my biggest fear. If they lose to the Steelers in
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: a game that is close and the offense and defense
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: are clicking and it just comes down to the Steelers
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: making more plays. I am completely fine with that. I
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: just don't want the drama to ensue afterward.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'll and that's that's the thing it'll
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: be interesting is to you know, whether they win this
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: game or not, and also how they win this game
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: or yeah, you know that's that to me is almost
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: as important as the result this week. And normally, you know,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: that's not something you can say would be the case.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: But because we have to somehow manufacture drama within an
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: eleven and two team, you know, we can't just we
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: can't just be normal about this, this this team and
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: this city and then this fan base, you know, can't
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: just be normal about it. Nope, and this press scorp
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: as well. Let's be honest, you know, now we have
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: to be in this place, which is just it's exhausting
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: sometimes it really is.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: And I got you know what I gotta get. I
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: gotta tell you. You know, I was saying before that you know, players,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: they're making millions of dollars, they're in the Philly market.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: They need to know what to expect. I mean, Eagles players,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Phillies players, Flyers, Sixers players. You're in this media market
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: with these guys are rabid animals. The media in general.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: You go to Jacksonville. It's not like this. You go
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: down to Miami or out to Sacramento or out to
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: San Francisco or even Seattle. It's not like this anywhere else.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: So I do have to say, you know, you got
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to credit the Eagles players for what they been putting
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: up with this past week, all the nonsense and bs
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I do give them credit for it.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Lynn.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think any time you're in that northwestern i'm sorry,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: that northeastern corridor of Philly, New York, Boston, if you're
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: in one of those three markets, it's just harder than
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: everywhere it is.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, all right, folks, We are gonna take a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: quick break here, and then when we get back, we're
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: gonna be talking about some Sixers news with Joel Embiid
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: back on the court and what that means for the team.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Then we're gonna get in some Major League Baseball in
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Philly's talk as well. But if you're not following us
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: on the socials out there, just search out the Philadelphia
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Sports Table. You can follow me on Twitter at Jeffrey Underscore,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Warren and the Show at Philadelphia Pst.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Len.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: You're still off Twitter, buddy, good for you, Yep, good
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: for you.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, not really missing it.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: And like I said first, maybe a couple of days
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: afterward I missed it, and as time's gone by, I
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: haven't at all.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: There you go, There you go, folks. I'm on Blue Sky.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: If you are as well, search out Jeff Warren over there.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: The show is on Instagram and we are also doing
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: some other stuff out there Facebook. That's what it is too,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: even though we don't post there too too much. Anyway,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: let's take a break, folks, we get back Sixers in
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Philly's Talk. We'll be back in just a bit. All right,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: we are back Lynn. Let's get into this seventy six
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: ers team. Joel Embiid back on the court, and we're
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: really asking the question here this week. Can the Sixers
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: get back to a place in the East that we
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: as fans could deem this season to really be successful.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And what's interesting that Joe Ell Embiid actually seemed to
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: be very honest about missing the time that he missed.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: You know, after his first game back in my gosh
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: weeks where he had thirty one points, twelve rebounds, four assists,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: and a couple of blocks. They got their second win
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in a row just this past week now, they're one
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: and a half games away from tenth place in the East.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: It's so sad to say that, but it's like they
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: exactly exactly the play in tournament. But Embiid said in
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: terms of his injuries why he's been out, he said,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: it's depressing just trying to figure it out. There's no injury,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: just between the swelling. We've got to get it figured out,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: and that's it. I've been saying it for the past
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: few months. It's been extremely depressing. It's something that hasn't
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: been figured out, and it's extremely annoying because I would
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: love to play every single game. Lennon. That's really seemed
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: honest to me, and I think really seems different from
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: every other narrative out there that has been spinning around
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: about Embiid at this point, can they actually get back
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to a point where they can rise up in the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: East if he is healthy. I believe so, But I
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: just don't know what that I just don't I can't
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: see that that is actually going to happen embiide this year.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: If he's still having swelling issues and they have no
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: idea what's going on with his body like that, it's
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a problem so if he's healthy, yes, I think they
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: can rise up the ranks in the end or in
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the East, for sure, But they just don't know what
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the issue is at this point, and it seems like
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: he doesn't either.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that I mean, and it's it's weird.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: You know, you talk about talking to the media and
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: how it can be a detriment. This is an area
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: where like it kind of softened things for me a
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: little bit because I was clearly like in the past
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: couple weeks, but on the screw this team. You know
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: they're going nowhere to blow it up. And I don't
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: get me wrong, I still think that is probably best
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: for the long term future of the team. But when
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: you hear and beats say things like it could because
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: there has been talk of okay, yes there's the injury,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: but there's also you know, quote unquote personal problems, and
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: if that's what it is, then I genuinely feel bad
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: for the guy because you know, this is a guy
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: that you know. I'm sure he realizes that that contract
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: he signed is gigantic, and I'm sure on some level
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: he feels some level of personal responsibility, Like, I mean,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: I'm making all this money and I can't even.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Get on the court. Yeah, like after a while.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think if you're any kind of decent
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: human being, that would weigh on you. You know, just feeling
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: like you're like you're not contributing when you've been given
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: so much. I think that would weigh on any decent
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: human being. And I so I think that has happening
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: for him, And in that regard, I genuinely do feel
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: bad for him, and you know, and my heart goes
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: out to him for that. I mean, but there are
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: still other things, like you know, yes that happens, you
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: know that's going on, but you know, MAXI still had
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: to tell him in a team meeting, you need to
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: show up all time for stuff. Yeah, there's no knee
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: injury that that's going to cause you to be late.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: You know, you can still show up all time for stuff.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: You know, other injured guys are on the bench. Sometimes
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: he's not.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Now, maybe that's a function of him just being so
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: depressed and just sitting there makes it worse. Maybe I
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: don't know, but you know, there was still that that
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: kind of thing with Maxie calling him out. That kind
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: of doesn't completely absolve him of stuff. But then you
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: look at the physical aspect of it, and it's like,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: you know, he's is he thirty? Now he is on
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: the wrong side of thirty. You know the knee is
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: is it arthritic? That's not going to get better, As
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: anybody that's gotten old has told can tell you, it's.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Not gonna get better.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: It's gonna get worse exactly.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: So, Like now at this point, like you know, how
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: much can you reasonably expect him to play back to
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: back or play a sustained amount of games in a row,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: even if it's like, okay, ten out of sixteen games
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: here and you know, seventeen out of twenty games there. Like,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: nobody I think has any kind of expectation that that's
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: going to happen. It's going to be more of He'll
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: play a game or two here and there, and then uh,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: it's going to flare up and he'll be out for
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: another two to three weeks. Like when I look at
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: him and how the season is going to go, that's
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: what I see. Yeah, So in terms of like, oh
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: he's back, they can make a run, I don't know
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: that I can see that. I mean the fact that
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the East is terrible and the fact that they can
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: make the play in tournament because the East is so bad. Yeah, okay,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: maybe maybe you can make a bit of a run there.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: But is this team a top five seed in the
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: East anymore a true playoff contender.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: No, I don't think, because he's not healthy.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: And at that point and he's no offense. But at
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: this point is he ever going to be? Yeah, it's so,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: you know, I just don't know. I don't see how
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: this gets better over the next couple of years.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: You genuinely don't.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you make a great You make a great point
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: about this, lend because look, embiid has gotten I think
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: this perception of someone who only misses games leisurely, when
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: in reality, I don't think it's that. I don't either.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: He seems handcuffed into this, you know, slow cooking his
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: ramp up, you know, to this this prolonged career. And
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I don't think that he or the seventy six ers
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: or some kind of you know, mindless machine operating under
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: an edict to piss everybody off, you know what I mean?
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Because I think that's like what that's kind of a
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: narrative that we've been hearing as of late, that this
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is just an organization that doesn't give a shit and
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: they're gonna piss everybody off here, you know.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Well, and I think that thing with the ramp up,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: like you said, Yeah, Okay, once he's out for an
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: extended period of time, you have to get your win back,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: you have to get back into kind of in the
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: game shape.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's another ramp up.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: And so we're going from ramp up to playing a
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: couple of games, to being out again for an extended
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: period of time. Then we're ramping up again. Then we're
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: gonna play another couple of games, and then we're gonna
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: be offering extended period of time again. Yeah, that's just
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: medical protocol though that's not the Sixers trying to be
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: deceitful or anything. That's just what you do when you're
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: coming back from an injury. So that's just how it happens.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: How it is. Yeah, I think with Joell Eenbiid, over
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: all these years, we've turned him into this superheroish type
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of guy. Maybe because of his build and yes we
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: know the injury history, but because of how because of
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the MVP season, maybe because he's had perennial other MVP
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: seasons also that he is just some kind of superhero
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: out there. But the guy has killed himself over all
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: these years, and it's really starting to show now. Like
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: you said, like, if he's got arthritis at thirty years old,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: that's not good for a prolonged career here.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: At all, you know, Yeah, I mean, you can only
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: manage that so much.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: And that's the thing.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: We look at him as a superhuman guy because you know,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: when he is healthy and when he has played an
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: extended period of time, he is that damn good.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: He is amazing, yeah, and everything that.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: You could possibly want a basketball player to do pretty much.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's a remarkable basketball player. So that's why
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: you know that that perception is there. It's because he
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: is that good. But I mean, is he you can
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: be that good? But if you're not that healthy and
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: you may never be again, doesn't matter.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Right, exactly? Yeah, exactly? All right, Well, why don't we
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: move on now and get into some baseball talk here?
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: You got anything else for the Sixers here? Anything else
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: for in b No?
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: I just I just don't know what the answer is
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: because I I mean, wait, I say what I want
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: them to do.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: But I don't think they're going to do it.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: And I think He's even gonna be tough for them
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: to do, because when you get into the dregs of
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: the NBA, it's just it's really bad, and there's just
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: there's just really bad teams out there.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: There really are. I mean, look at what look on
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: the Table Talk show this past week my guest and
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I were talking about We're talking about the Lakers and Lebron.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: You know, Father time is caught up with Lebron, and
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: even though he has some pretty good games here and there,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: that Lakers team is absolutely terrible. They are not a
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: good team. There's no cohesion. They call each other out
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: in press conferences at this point. You know, like you said,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: when you get into the dregs of the NBA, you know,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: it can be very difficult even for somebody like Lebron
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: James to you know, continue to really sustain team based success.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: It's it's tough to do.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean, and just you get the
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: egos and you get the yeah, personalities, and it just
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: that that when it gets bad. You know, we talked
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: about that with the Eagles, that that kind of stuff
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: can snowball quick.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. All right, well, let's get into some Major League
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Baseball talk and some Phillies talk here.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: Len.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Before we let you go, we obviously have to get
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: into the fact that Juan Soto, as we all know,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: is now the highest paid player in Major League Baseball
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: history fifteen year, seven hundred and sixty five million dollar
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: contract with the New York Mets. Len, the end of
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: this contract, I am going to be sixty two years old.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that is uh, yeah, I'll be older
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: than Yeah, it's uh.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: I thought about it in those terms.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, I did, actually yesterday.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Now I'm sad that I know that.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Sure, Yeah, that's that's rough when it is, And you
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: might be sixty two, but you're gonna have a lot
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: less money than one.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: So you got that right when Oh you're just whistling, Dixie.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Oh my god, Yeah, that contract is oh my goodness. Wow.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Well, and that's what I wanted to get into here. Look,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the Mets billionaire owner guy loves to spend crazy money.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Of course, is this a good deal, you know for
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the Phillies rival here in the NL East, of course,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I mean getting Guan Soto, of course that's a good deal.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: But you know what happens to other parts of the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: team too. Team loves to spend money. But you take
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: a look at the Mets and we know the one
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: area that they struggled in last year lend was their bullpen.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, they need to improve their bullpen, which was
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: just highly volatile last year. They were issued or they
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: were prone to issuing walks and uh, they're gonna need
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: some help there. What type of acquisition they're gonna be
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: able to make after after this type of contract, who knows,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: but you know, just because you have one of the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: best players in baseball, and we know this from the
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Phillies perspective, Bryce Harper when he came on board, Yeah
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: it made team pretty darn good. But it wasn't like
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the end all be all where you're gonna be winning
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: World Series. You gotta you gotta enhance other areas of
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: your team. And yeah, look, the Mets are pretty deep.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I think they're a pretty deep team in terms of
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: their lineup. But you know what happens with Pete Alonzo
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: from here, well you.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Know, and and that is something that like I think
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: because because you know, like they do in any free agent,
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: you know, when there's a big free agent out there,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: this guy will take meetings from a couple of different teams,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: and I assume that these meetings are more than just
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: owe me the dollar amount that you're going to give me. Yeah, yeah,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: it showed me the dollar amount you're going to give me.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: But it's also okay, then what are we going to
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: do to put people around me? What kind of pieces
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: are going to be around me? If you're a smart
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: baseball player, what does your farm system look like? Are
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: there reinforcements coming like if you're really truly thinking about
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: winning and not just getting the biggest paycheck possible. These
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: are the questions that you're probably asking in these meetings.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: And I'm sure that you know Cohen in him, you
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: have a guy that is going to spare no expense.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: I would be shocked, and I mean shocked if Pete
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Alonso is not back with the with the Mets next year,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: because okay, you're gonna sign Juan Soto, who's hitting behind him.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: The reason he was so damn good with the Yankees
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: is because he had Aaron Judge hitting behind him and
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: so you couldn't pitch around him. Whereas if they don't,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: you know, resign Alonzo, who is the threat behind Soto
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: in the order, right, So that's the case then guess
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: what Wan Soda is getting walked every single time he
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: comes to the plate, exactly. So, I mean, and and
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: if they signed pe Alonso, they need him to be
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: the fifty home run version of pee Alonzo that that
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: he has been in the past, not you know, kind
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: of what he was this year. But yeah, they have
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: to get some protection in the order for him, and
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I think they will. I think I don't know that
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Juan Sota would would have signed if they didn't, you.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Know, have plenty he was looking for in terms of
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: the plan.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, because look, if pe Alonso's not there, what
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: does that mean for the infield then as well, because
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: it probably means that Mark Viento's probably who's currently a
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: third base, Yeah, he'll probably slide over to first base.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: But you know, there's some inconsistency there in terms of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the field then. So, but I think you're right. I
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: think the plan is already there. You're not gonna You're
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: not gonna go into a situation like Juan Sota is
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: going into and not understanding the plan of action from
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: the team. Now he I mean, being the highest paid
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: professional athlete in the world, he's not.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: That matters too. I'm sure it does.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Yeh, absolutely, but he's still not going to just say, Okay,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I got money now, all right, I guess I'll talk
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to you all in fifteen years. No, the guy wants
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: to win a World Series too, you know what's the
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: plan of action. That's what you're talking about.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's like if you if you care, then
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: if you want to win. You know, that's all part
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: of that conversation. It's not just who's going to throw
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: the biggest bag of money at me? Because you know,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, these guys, for the most part their competitors,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: they want to win. So yeah, I totally you know,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: think that that all those questions were handled in that
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: meeting with him. So we'll see what they do going forward.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: But I mean, I mean, with with what Cohen spends,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: there's nothing, there's no move that he could make at
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: this point that would surprise me like, oh they spent
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: that much on that guy, and oh they signed all
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: these guys, like there's nothing that would surprise me at
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: this point with.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, Well, it's going to be interesting
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: following this storyline and just seeing how the Mets do
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: this coming year as one of the the Phillies' rivals.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: But moving along here, we wanted to really touch on
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the fact that one Dick Allen, Dick Allen, four years
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: after his death at the age of seventy eight, he
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: was elected to the Hall of Fame by the sixteen
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: member Classic Baseball Era Committee. Yes, folks, former Philly Dick
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Allen now in the Hall of Fame. And it's it
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: stinks that it took so long. It's a shame that
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: he couldn't be here to see it. But playing in
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: an era that featured just dominant pitching, Dick Allen ranked
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: with all time greats like Hank Aaron and Willie Mays
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: as one of the most feared sluggers in the game.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: In eleven seasons Len from nineteen sixty four to nineteen
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: seventy four, he averaged twenty nine homers eighty nine RBIs
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: while hitting two ninety nine with a nine forty zerops.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Only Hank Aaron's nine forty one ops was better in
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the majors over that span. And so you know, people
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: are saying, well, why didn't Dick Allen make the Hall
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: of Fame sooner? Well, I mean he was. He was
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: kind of viewed as a troublemaker during his career. He
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: battled with teammates, club officials, and even fans for the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Phillies traded into Saint Louis and I think it was
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: or no, it was after the nineteen sixty nine season,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: I believe, so I guess the behaviors against him were
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: one of the reasons why, which.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Kind of stinks.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: I think it's, you know, maybe that to a small extent,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: but I think it was kind of the way people
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: looked at Hall of Famers before the advanced stats came out,
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: and you looked at primarily counting numbers.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Dick Allen finishes his career with three hundred and
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: fifty one home runs. That's for a guy that you're
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: thinking of as a power hitter. That's not the five
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: hundred home run plateau. That's not that guaranteed ticket punched
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: to Cooper's down. You know, eleven hundred and nineteen RBIs
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, good number, not a great number.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: So if you're looking at.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: The counting stats, then yeah, maybe he's kind of comes
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: across his underwhelming. But then you look at the overall
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: you know, some of the more advanced stuff. You look
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: at the career ops, the ops plus like things like
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: that to come into play and you can look at
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: a guy like him in different contexts. The same thing
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: happened for Dave Parker, who who also made it along
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: with Dick Allen. Finally, after years, Dave Parker was a
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: great ballplayer for Pittsburgh and Cincinnati as well. But the
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: same deal where Dave Parker had a few years where
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: I know, he had some drug problems and he had
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: some injury problems and that kind of you know, punctured a.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: Whole in his career.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: But when he was great, just like Dick Allen, both
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: these guys were phenomenal baseball players, and when you look
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: at him at their peak and look at him with
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: what they did there, they become a lot more appealing
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: candidates than you would get trick than you if you
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: were traditionally looking at those counting stats.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a really good point, it is. And he
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: just he also came back too, to the Phillies. He
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: spent time with the Cardinals, the Dodgers, the White Sox,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: but Dick Allen he returned to Philadelphia in nineteen seventy
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: five and nineteen seventy six, a bit older of course
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: he was. He was more mature, and he really helped
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: mentor a group of budding young stars that included guys
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: like Mike Schmidt, Gary Maddox, Larry Boa, and even even
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Greg Lozinski. So his his you know, coming back to Philly.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: He didn't finish his career in Philly, finished it in Oakland.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: However, there was a reconciliation there with exactly yes, and
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: even like in the last years of his life, I
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: think they you know, they made a greater push to yes,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: you know, acknowledge the player that he was, and really
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I think kind of continue to improve that relationship, which
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: which is it's unfortunate that he didn't get to see himself,
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: you know, recognized as a Hall of Famer, but it's
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: nice that there was that little bit of closure there
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: to have that with the Phillies, you know, before before
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: he passed.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, so we're all glad to see Dick Allen was
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: finally inducted into the Hall of Fame. So uh, or
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: I should say elected to the Hall of Fame. The
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the induction ceremony isn't going to be for a little while. Uh.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: But that being said, the Phillies have made a roster movement.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: They have signed Jordan Ramano, a high leverage arm to
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: their bullpen. What does this mean for the bullpen this
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: coming season when they do have Matt Strom, Ryan Kirkering,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: Jose Alvarado, Jose Ruiz, Tanner Banks, and uh, I think
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Tyler Phillips maybe as well in there. Uh, it seems
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: it seems that Jeff Hoffman is probably no longer going
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: to be with this Phillies team and organization. I really
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: hope they're able to bring him back. I'm keeping my
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: fingers cross. Yeah, yeah, let's I do hope that happens.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: But you know, Jordan Raman, you know, coming in it's
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: it's certainly gonna be interesting to see what this one year,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: eight point five million dollar contract and talent that he
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: brings to this team as the likely closer, how it's
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: really going to work out. Because he had some injuries
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, how is that going to affect
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: him from the mound this year? I think overall, it's
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: a it's a gamble. I think it's a very high
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: leverage type of gamble from the Phillies. But I actually
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: like the signing. I like the fact that they are
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: looking to make the bullpen. I don't want to say
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: necessarily stronger, because we still don't know what's going to
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: be happening with Jeff Hoffman, but the fact that they
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: were able to get, even though it's a riskier type
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: of signing, I think Jordan Ramont, this Jordan Romano signing
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: is a real good one.
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: Len.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to kind of kind of maintain. So
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: if you're gonna lose Offman, and if you're gonna lose Steves,
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: you're gonna have to ring a couple other arms in.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: I would be fine if they, you know, bring into
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Romano and then you know, bring back Hoffman. I could
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: live with that. But I still do think that they
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: need one more bullpen piece. And I like their bullpen,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, but I still think that they
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: could use one more piece, just with the way the
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: game is played now.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: I just think you have to have it.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: This is a velocity type of thing, because I think
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Dave Dombrowski, you know, he's always built the bullpen. I
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: think trying to really focus on velocity first and then
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: a quality second pitch after, and I think that's what
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Romano gives them here.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I would imagine that the medicals checked out.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: I don't think that they would bring him in.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: And I think even Toronto, you know, they yeah, they
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: didn't offer him a contract to come back, but I
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: think Eve and they had said something along the lines
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: of like, yeah, he's he's fine at this point. You know,
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: he had his medical issue and work through it and
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: you know, is perfectly healthy.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: I guess they just had other directions they were going in,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: probably cheaper directions because there's you know, other avenues that
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: they want to take as trying to be players and
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: in free agency, I think they're trying to do some
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: big game, big game hunting of their own over there
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: in Toronto. So maybe that was a spot where they
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: could save a couple of bucks by letting Romano walk.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: So I am trusting the fact that, you know, the
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Phillies have done their due diligence on the sky helth Wise,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: I imagine Toronto did theirs as well, and they say
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: he's healthy. And if the Phillies were happy with what
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: they saw, then listen, nothing's ever a sure thing, but
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: it's good enough for me if if that's if everybody
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: seems to be happy with it, and you know, you
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: go back and you look at the numbers. I mean, yeah,
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: last year was bad, but the three years before that
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: were pretty damn good. So if that's the guy they're getting,
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: then yeah, I feel pretty confident in that closer role
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: because I was okay, but I expected more.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: We expected more. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Look, I think that
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: I think with Romano's numbers last year, the fact that
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: he was just having right elbow issues throughout the season,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: I mean that had to have played a part in
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: in some numbers that didn't look all that great. You
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: mentioned the three seasons prior really good numbers. I think
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: he's going to get back to that. That's my hot
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: Take prediction Len hot Takes here at PSD.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: I do too. I think he gets back to it now.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know, it's hard.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: You know, you see the Mets, you know, do what
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: they did, and you see the Yankees, who I think
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: yet they signed Max Freed from Atlanta, and I think
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: that they're going to take that six hundred million plus
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: whatever it was if they had allocated for Soto, and
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: they're going to spend that on a couple like three
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: or four different spots. And I think they're going to
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: make themselves a lot better and more well rounded ball.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so they're doing that.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: It's every time the Dodgers make it signing, I think
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: to myself, how many roster spots does this team have?
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: It feels like they've signed half the league at this point.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: So that you just get to that point where you
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: see other teams doing stuff and you're like, okay, like, yeah,
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: what's happening, like to Pokemon with poke the Phillies with
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: the stick and say do something. So this is something
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: and hopefully there's there's more to come. We'll see what happens.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Good way to in this segment, Len, I got to
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: get a drink. This is the first time that I
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: haven't had a beverage next to me. I've got an
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: awful case of dry mouth at this point. Does it
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: sound like I have to Oh my.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: Gosh, I always I always have.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: I always come prepared and I have my water and
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: I have my my alcohol.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Dear lord, I feel like I've had cotton balls in
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: my mouth. This time here is terrible.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know how you even begin to talk without
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: having that.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Like I always a yeah, I know, I always have
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: a drink or water next to me. Or anything you
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: have to when you're doing this stuff and I'm like,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, it's awful. Jesus, it's terrible, all right, buddy, anything, Yes,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: So I was gonna say nothing else here from you
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: before we go to break. Okay, folks, taking a break,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: and when we come back, we're gonna get into some
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: more Phillies offseason talk. Stick with us, all right, we're back.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: It's getting no more Phillies talk here. We've got our
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: good friend Eric Moore Telly from that balls out of
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Here dot Com joining us. It's what we're throwing down
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: on the table and now on the table joining us
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: this week from one of our favorite fans sided sights.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: He is a content contributor over at that balls out
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: of Here dot Com. We have the one and only
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Eric Mooretelly, Eric, how you doing, buddy?
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: Oh good, Jeff?
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Are you I'm doing all right? Man, I'm doing alright.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to seeing what this twenty twenty
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: five Philly season has in store for us. I mean,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: it was obviously a disappointing into this past year in
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: the season that the Phillies had, you know, given so
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: many ups and there were certainly some downs too, but
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty optimistic heading into twenty twenty five.
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean you think a man, they were a
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: ninety five win team, right, I mean, yeah, they came
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: up short.
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: It just so happened.
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: Everything that could have went wrong except the starting pitching
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: went wrong at the same time. So it's like the
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: again I get not wanting to run it back. You
• 41:20
  Speaker 5: can't do it. You got to change a little bit
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: up right, because now that's three times in a row
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: you fall You kind of fall short each time. Two
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: of twenty two it is probably the one you had
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: the the least expectations for and that's the one they
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: went the furthest so they got to shuffle something up.
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: But again, you know, it's not like this team is bad.
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: You know, they they ended in a disappointing way, But
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: we have to remember that this team has a lot
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: of talent on it, and you know, we we didn't
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: need to make a massive splash, especially seeing the prices
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: for some of these guys are going for via trade
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: or contracts.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Right exactly, exactly, Well, folks, if you are not following
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Eric on the Twitter, slash x out there at Eric
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Underscore More. Telly He is a great, great follow Give
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: him a follow and check out again that balls out
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: of here dot com doing a lot of great stuff
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: over there. My co host and I Eric, we're just
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: talking about Juan Soto and you know what, what what
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: it means for him now being in the NL East
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: with the Mets, and honestly, it's gonna suck seeing him
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: hitting home runs at Citizens Bank Park for years to come.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: But I just wanted to get our conversation started by,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: you know, getting your thoughts onto you know, when you
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: heard that Wan Soda was going to becoming a member
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: of the New York Mets with that gigantic contract that
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: he signed, you know what were your initial thoughts.
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: So the whole saga, I was hoping, you know, a
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: lot of teams in the AL East were, you know,
• 42:41
  Speaker 5: between Boston and the Yankees, seem to be kind of
• 42:44
  Speaker 5: some of the front runners there. Obviously, the Mets have
• 42:46
  Speaker 5: all the money in the world to spend, so that
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: was kind of always always a possibility. I was really
• 42:50
  Speaker 5: hoping he was you would take a renion with the
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: Yankees just so we didn't have to face them as much.
• 42:54
  Speaker 5: But you know, I mean, it is what it is. Right,
• 42:56
  Speaker 5: it happened.
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: We have to deal with it.
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: And you know, he's one player. So the one thing
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: about baseball is it's not like the NBA where one
• 43:04
  Speaker 5: player is going to necessarily change everything. Right, Does he
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: make that team better?
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: Absolutely?
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: We saw with Bryce Harper. We saw with Bryce Harper too.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: I mean it wasn't gonna change everything for the Phillies,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: but it made the team better.
• 43:17
  Speaker 5: Right, It makes the team better. The Mets are going
• 43:18
  Speaker 5: to be better the lineup. But you know, Soto is
• 43:21
  Speaker 5: a great player. I'm not taking anything away from him,
• 43:23
  Speaker 5: but you look when he was in when he was
• 43:25
  Speaker 5: with the Yankees, he had he had a great contract
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: year last year, Like, couldn't have asked for a better
• 43:29
  Speaker 5: way to do it. That's why he got the seven
• 43:31
  Speaker 5: and sixty five milk. But he also had Aaron Judge,
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: who was the unanimous MVP of the AL hitting right
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: behind him, so he had some protection there. The lineups
• 43:39
  Speaker 5: a little bit weaker on the other side of New York.
• 43:43
  Speaker 5: And but you know the thing is is like we
• 43:45
  Speaker 5: have to just worry about what we can do to
• 43:48
  Speaker 5: neutralize him, right, I Mean, good pitching can be good
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: hitting sometimes, So you know, if our rotation and bullpen
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: can can be strong.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, is he is?
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: He probably gonna hurt us a couple of times. Absolutely.
• 44:00
  Speaker 5: Is he going to add some wins to the Mets. Yeah, probably,
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: but you know that's what they're paying for, so it well,
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: it's it's not ideal, you know, him coming back to
• 44:09
  Speaker 5: the NL East again, he's one player. So you know,
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: we have to focus on what can the Phillies do
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: to be better when they're facing one Soto?
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: What's what's the plan to pitch to them?
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Absolutely?
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: So that's really you can really only control what you
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: can control.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and the Phillies are starting off this off season
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: trying to control what happens here in the bullpen.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: Here.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: All star bullpen arm Jordan Romano was signed to a
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: one year deal with the Phillies eight point five million,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: we just learned this week. I was pretty excited about
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: it when I heard this news. My co host and
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: I were just talking about this as well, and Eric,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get your perspective on what this really
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: does for the Billies. For the Phillies bullpen, I should say,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: really coming into this season, I mean I think it
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: says a few things. Want to get your thoughts here.
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I really like the signing.
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: I mean, coming from a cost standpoint, Yeah, and the
• 45:05
  Speaker 5: potential upside he has. I mean the oly reasoning in
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: down here last year was because of the injury most likely, right,
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: so looking at some previous seasons, the guy can be
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: a really effective back end of the bullpen pitcher. You know,
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: if he's the only move they make. I'm a little nervous,
• 45:21
  Speaker 5: right because you're losing a Seba as you're losing Hoffman.
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: Hopefully they bring you know one, you know, preferitely Hoffman back.
• 45:28
  Speaker 5: But you know, it's it's one of those things where
• 45:30
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of upside to it. So what we
• 45:33
  Speaker 5: can get from him and maybe what.
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: Cale Coffin can do.
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: He's changed, you know, he's changed, you know Hoffman Strom,
• 45:39
  Speaker 5: He's really changed the trajectory of their career. Uh So,
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: you know, I really think coming back from an injury,
• 45:45
  Speaker 5: if he's healthy, he could be a huge part to
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: the bullpen. But like I said, I don't want that
• 45:50
  Speaker 5: to be the only bullpen move they make. You got
• 45:53
  Speaker 5: to have one one more guy, I think back there,
• 45:56
  Speaker 5: I don't know if they're going to go about it,
• 45:58
  Speaker 5: you know, trying to get Hoffman back, or there's other
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: guys out there too, and you know in Tanner Scott,
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: there's some trade possibilities out there with Devin Williams and
• 46:07
  Speaker 5: from But like we've talked about everything we've seen on
• 46:10
  Speaker 5: the market right now, it's stupidly expensive.
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: It.
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you're you're paying money, whether it's money or or
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: you know, even in a trade what uh you know
• 46:20
  Speaker 5: what the Red Sox just had to give give up
• 46:23
  Speaker 5: today to get Garrek Crochet. We could see it's gonna
• 46:25
  Speaker 5: be expensive to get someone. So but the thing is,
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: you know, if you want to you know, continue to
• 46:31
  Speaker 5: have this run up success.
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: You're gonna have you have to make the improvements.
• 46:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know that we we see how important
• 46:37
  Speaker 5: a bullpen can be. So they I think there's you know,
• 46:40
  Speaker 5: the Romano move is great. I really like it. I
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: have no qualms about it, but I really think they
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: need to make one more, one more move to to
• 46:47
  Speaker 5: add to that.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: I wasn't planning on asking you about this, but the
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: whole Jeff Hoffman situation, I mean, you know, weeks ago
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: on this podcast platform, we were talking about that article
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: that came out. It was talking about how he was,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: you know, thinking about wanting to get back to being
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: a starting pitcher and just thinking to myself, you know,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: at his age, and I just don't necessarily know if
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: it's the best for him. Certainly not the best for
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: the Phillies given his position with this Phillies bullpen, especially
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: here in twenty twenty four. And I hope he comes back,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: of course, I know a lot of Phillies fans hope
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: that he does come back. I just don't know if
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: being a starting pitcher for him at this point in
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: his career is the smartest thing. I really don't. If
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: you can get the contract, maybe that then it's smart
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: for him, of course, But in terms of success long term,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: I just don't know if it's the greatest move for him.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know. What are your.
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: Thoughts, Yeah, I mean, you know, he was a starter
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: a different points and that much success he really found
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: that success the last couple of years out of the pain.
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: I think it really.
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: Speaks to the state of starting pitching in base for
• 47:52
  Speaker 5: that's a good point. There's a lack of it, right,
• 47:55
  Speaker 5: So you have these smaller market teams who are looking for,
• 47:58
  Speaker 5: you know, another starter, and Hoffman would be way cheaper
• 48:02
  Speaker 5: than you know, the Corbyn Burns or Max Freed or
• 48:05
  Speaker 5: Blake smells that are on the market. So I think
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: some teams are trying to get creative. So I don't
• 48:12
  Speaker 5: know if for him, yeah, if you can get the
• 48:14
  Speaker 5: contracts like you said, I mean, for him, it's a
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: smart move probably. I don't know how pans out though,
• 48:18
  Speaker 5: right because he you know, he's already up there, so
• 48:20
  Speaker 5: he's probably this is probably gonna be his you know,
• 48:22
  Speaker 5: he's the biggest deal he's getting, right. But I really think,
• 48:27
  Speaker 5: you know, from a Philly standpoint, yeah, they signed him,
• 48:29
  Speaker 5: there's no way the guy's starting. Yeah, we know what
• 48:31
  Speaker 5: he can do in the pen. Uh, but I think
• 48:33
  Speaker 5: you know it. It just shows what pitching is like
• 48:36
  Speaker 5: in Major League Baseball. You have so many different teams
• 48:38
  Speaker 5: who you know, have have gone to this opener role
• 48:42
  Speaker 5: and you know it works every now and then, but
• 48:44
  Speaker 5: you can't consist.
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: You can't do that.
• 48:45
  Speaker 5: Your your bullpen's burned out by the All Star break.
• 48:48
  Speaker 5: If you can do that, you know, for a full season.
• 48:50
  Speaker 5: So I think a lot of teams are starting to realize, yeah,
• 48:52
  Speaker 5: we need starting pitching, but we don't want to pay
• 48:55
  Speaker 5: for the starting pitching.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: That's yeah, exactly. Well. One of the biggest Phillies treid
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: stories during this offseason. Eric has been surrounding Alec Bohm,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: of course, and whether or not he'll be dealt to
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: another team. Perhaps the Phillies would be able to get
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: another starter in the rotation or possibly a solid outfielder.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: There's a bunch of stories, a bunch of different possibilities
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: scenarios that have been outlined in various articles. And I
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: know that I've read over these weeks. What are your
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: thoughts on this storyline and how the Phillies are really
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: handling the Alec Bohm trade market at this point, if
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: there really is a trade market for him here, what
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts.
• 49:34
  Speaker 5: It's been weird because you know, over the last what
• 49:36
  Speaker 5: two weeks, we've seen a lot of different fluctuation in
• 49:38
  Speaker 5: what's actually happening.
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: Right, Apparently they were shopping him.
• 49:41
  Speaker 5: Now they're not shopping him, but they're listening if teams
• 49:43
  Speaker 5: ask about it. And you know, the thing is with
• 49:47
  Speaker 5: Alec Bohm, it's just like the Phillies, right, he finished
• 49:51
  Speaker 5: not great, but overall the guy is not He's not
• 49:53
  Speaker 5: a bad player, right, If he's not our a third
• 49:55
  Speaker 5: basement going into twenty twenty five. I'm not upset about that, right,
• 50:00
  Speaker 5: but you know, at the same time, when you look
• 50:02
  Speaker 5: at if you're trying to shake things up, he's kind
• 50:05
  Speaker 5: of a guy where it kind of makes sense because
• 50:07
  Speaker 5: you would have some value to other teams you're not
• 50:09
  Speaker 5: gonna he doesn't have. You know, he's not getting paid
• 50:11
  Speaker 5: a lot yet, He's still under club control for a
• 50:13
  Speaker 5: little bit, so teams would value that. He's coming off
• 50:16
  Speaker 5: an all star year and he's shown some improvements in
• 50:21
  Speaker 5: different areas. So I think, you know, from a Philly standpoint, yeah,
• 50:24
  Speaker 5: they might not want to get rid of them, but
• 50:26
  Speaker 5: at the same time, you know, who else are you
• 50:28
  Speaker 5: really going to trade?
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: Ro Muto basely has no trade value.
• 50:31
  Speaker 5: Cassianos, I think his best value is actually being on
• 50:34
  Speaker 5: the Phillies, right because any team's gonna probably want us
• 50:36
  Speaker 5: to kick in a little bit to that contract, So
• 50:38
  Speaker 5: him Ranger, I think, or maybe the two guys that
• 50:41
  Speaker 5: have the best trade value at this point.
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: So I don't know.
• 50:45
  Speaker 5: I think either way you look at it, he if
• 50:47
  Speaker 5: he can catch, but I don't think the Phillies want
• 50:49
  Speaker 5: to sell him short either, like they're not gonna They're
• 50:52
  Speaker 5: not getting rid of bone for the sake of getting
• 50:53
  Speaker 5: ready rid of bone, right. They would use him as
• 50:55
  Speaker 5: a as a piece, like you said, to retool to
• 50:57
  Speaker 5: either get started pitching or a quality out the other
• 51:00
  Speaker 5: that would make an impact, you know, immediately. So it's
• 51:03
  Speaker 5: one of those things. I think we're just gonna have
• 51:04
  Speaker 5: to monitor it. I know Rob Thompson said, yes, I
• 51:07
  Speaker 5: believe that he called him basically saying, we're not shopping you,
• 51:11
  Speaker 5: you know, but ever you.
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: Know, anyone who calls and makes it offer, we're listening
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: to all offers.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: I think that's how you kind of have to approach
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: it at this point.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, And as much like you said, I
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: would love to have him back, I would if he's
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: coming back. He's somebody that I was a cheerleader for.
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: I was.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: I thought Alec Baum was a guy that had something
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: inside of him, and we saw a lot of that
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, tapered off toward the end of the season,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: but he's got some talent. I think that this Phillies
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: Ball Club can certainly use in the future and utilize.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Who knows if he's going to even get better in
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: terms of his defensive performance. We've seen him get better.
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what that ceiling is necessarily with him.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: But as we're moving along with the conversation here, Eric
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: sounds like Garrett Crochet might might be heading to the
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Mets or the Yankees at this point from what was
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: reported during the early aspect of the winter meetings here,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: which is a little disappointed. I'm kind of bummed that,
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: you know, the Phillies seem to be the outlier here
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: at this point when you know we're talking about possibly
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: having him coming into the starting rotation. So apparently the
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: Phillies do not want to give Andrew Paynter up at all,
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: which I can honestly see and understand why. I'm wondering
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: where do you fall on this particular story here in
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: the offseason, as it's interesting what you said earlier with
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: Juan Soto, if you can sure up that starting pitching
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: and combat the type of bats like Juan Soto, other
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: type of bats that we see in the NL East,
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: you know, with the starting pitching, you know you can
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: you can really make a mark within the game of baseball.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: So I don't know, how do you how do you
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: feel about this particular storyline? Here with regard to Garrett Creshe,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: now he's kind of the outlier at this point with
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: regard to the Phillies.
• 52:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah so, I mean the news actually broke today that
• 52:57
  Speaker 5: he's going to Boston.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: So to work all day.
• 53:05
  Speaker 5: It literally happened like as I was getting ready to
• 53:07
  Speaker 5: leave work is when I saw OK. Yeah, so now
• 53:10
  Speaker 5: they they they're getting four pretty notable prospects in the deal.
• 53:14
  Speaker 5: White sox So and and the Phillies are in a
• 53:17
  Speaker 5: tough spot here, right, because while yes they need to improve,
• 53:20
  Speaker 5: they're in a window to win now at the same time,
• 53:23
  Speaker 5: like giving up you know, Crawford, Miller, Babel and then
• 53:28
  Speaker 5: probably either a Kabba or Tayi one of these other
• 53:30
  Speaker 5: top prospects.
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 53:32
  Speaker 5: I don't think they have to give a Painter and Miller,
• 53:34
  Speaker 5: but you know one of those two. You're giving up
• 53:36
  Speaker 5: a lot of guys who and you're you're basically mortgaging
• 53:39
  Speaker 5: the future and in a few years we need somebody.
• 53:42
  Speaker 5: We're gonna need some of these guys because we're gonna
• 53:44
  Speaker 5: have a lot of aging contracts that are paying out
• 53:47
  Speaker 5: a lot of money. So we're gonna need to supplement
• 53:49
  Speaker 5: with some of these guys. Are they all going to
• 53:51
  Speaker 5: pan out? As we've seen with prospects in the past,
• 53:53
  Speaker 5: you don't know, right, so who knows what's gonna happen.
• 53:55
  Speaker 5: So I'm not necessarily advocating of being a prospect order here.
• 53:59
  Speaker 5: Necessarily you have a chance to get better. But that
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: asking price for a guy that you're getting two years
• 54:05
  Speaker 5: out of and then he's going to hit free agency
• 54:06
  Speaker 5: and probably demand another huge contract if he keeps going
• 54:10
  Speaker 5: on the trajectory that he is. Do you want to
• 54:14
  Speaker 5: do that for for such a short span. It's really
• 54:17
  Speaker 5: tough to say, And I think that's really where the
• 54:18
  Speaker 5: Phillies are trying to balance this. I think they'd be
• 54:21
  Speaker 5: okay with giving up one of Miller or Crawford, not both.
• 54:26
  Speaker 5: So it's it's tough, But I think what the Red
• 54:29
  Speaker 5: Sox gave up to get him was a lot. Their
• 54:32
  Speaker 5: farm systems a little bit deeper than the Phillies though,
• 54:35
  Speaker 5: so that you know, they that gives them a little
• 54:37
  Speaker 5: bit more wiggle room. So it's it's it's it's really difficult,
• 54:41
  Speaker 5: but starting pitching is really where it's at. I mean,
• 54:44
  Speaker 5: like we said a couple of minutes ago, it's it's
• 54:46
  Speaker 5: such a premier thing in the league, and it's such
• 54:50
  Speaker 5: an important part of the game. Like you you have
• 54:53
  Speaker 5: these workhorses like we have, we have Wheeler. We saw
• 54:55
  Speaker 5: Christopher Sanchez turn it around, not even turn it around,
• 54:58
  Speaker 5: but he's really had his like coming out last year.
• 55:00
  Speaker 5: We know what Nola is going to give you. Ranger,
• 55:04
  Speaker 5: I think had a lot of the injury had to
• 55:05
  Speaker 5: do with his disappointing end of the season. But we
• 55:09
  Speaker 5: just see what starting pitching can do. Adding a guy
• 55:11
  Speaker 5: like Garrett Crochet or maybe there's other guys out there
• 55:13
  Speaker 5: that you know, we'll eventually turn our attention to, because
• 55:15
  Speaker 5: it seemed like Dombrowski and company were pretty set on
• 55:18
  Speaker 5: Crochet because you know, he was a topic of the
• 55:21
  Speaker 5: trade deadline last year too. Since the second time, we've
• 55:24
  Speaker 5: kind of been tied to him. So now I'm curious
• 55:26
  Speaker 5: if if they decided to turn their attention elsewhere in
• 55:29
  Speaker 5: terms of the starting pitching mark, it's.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: A great storyline to keep our eyes on for sure. Well,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: we all know the Phills are going to be looking
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: to bring in some talent for the outfield here, so
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: let's shift our attention there. What kind of outfield acquisition
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: do you think the Phillies really need to be going
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: after this offseason. Eric, and I'm wondering, do you have
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: any ideas of who who might be off the team?
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Actually in twenty twenty five season's going to be here
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: before we know it. We definitely need outfield to help
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: here with this Phillies organization and team. What are your
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: thoughts here?
• 56:02
  Speaker 5: So there's not really a lot left in the free
• 56:05
  Speaker 5: agent department. I mean, there's a couple of guys out
• 56:09
  Speaker 5: there that might be you know, marginal upgrades. But I
• 56:13
  Speaker 5: really think if you're gonna go after something in the outfield, yeah,
• 56:16
  Speaker 5: you're gonna have to probably go the root of the
• 56:17
  Speaker 5: trade if you want to get like a true impact back.
• 56:19
  Speaker 5: Now the Astros came out today, are definitely rumors are
• 56:24
  Speaker 5: circulating that Kyle Tucker is being shopped around. Now he's
• 56:29
  Speaker 5: another guy one. You know, he's got one year left
• 56:32
  Speaker 5: on this on this contract and then he is free agency.
• 56:34
  Speaker 5: He's gonna be so he's gonna be another one basically
• 56:37
  Speaker 5: a one year rental. And he basically said he wants
• 56:39
  Speaker 5: to test the free agent market. So again, how much
• 56:41
  Speaker 5: do you give up? He's gonna be a great player.
• 56:44
  Speaker 5: He completely changes the compass of his team. Absolutely if
• 56:47
  Speaker 5: you had a guy like him. They basically said they
• 56:49
  Speaker 5: wanted a corner infielder. All right, boom checks out there,
• 56:53
  Speaker 5: and they were looking for major league ready starting pitching.
• 56:56
  Speaker 5: So a ranger could possibly, you know, fit that bill
• 56:58
  Speaker 5: as well. But do you give up those two guys
• 57:01
  Speaker 5: to get a year of one guy? So there's that.
• 57:05
  Speaker 5: You know, there's guys like ta Oskar Hernandez out there
• 57:07
  Speaker 5: who to me, I think he's gonna end up back
• 57:10
  Speaker 5: with la It seems like that's kind of his preference.
• 57:12
  Speaker 5: But he's another guy like the amount. Like if Phillies
• 57:16
  Speaker 5: fans are frustrated with the way the Phillies currently strike out,
• 57:18
  Speaker 5: if ta Oscar Hernandez is in the lineup, I don't
• 57:21
  Speaker 5: even want to I will not be listening to sports
• 57:23
  Speaker 5: radio much at all if he strikes out with a
• 57:26
  Speaker 5: base sload in the bottom of the ninth. Anthony Santander
• 57:30
  Speaker 5: for Who's coming from Baltimore. He's a free agent this year.
• 57:34
  Speaker 5: He's a switch hitter. It doesn't strike out quite as
• 57:36
  Speaker 5: much as Taoskar, but he's again, he's gonna cast you.
• 57:39
  Speaker 5: He's I think he's a qualifying offer guy. So he's
• 57:41
  Speaker 5: going to call shit that that compensation pick. So it's
• 57:45
  Speaker 5: there's it's really tough. They're gonna have to get creative,
• 57:47
  Speaker 5: and I think the best route is going for a
• 57:49
  Speaker 5: trade and Kyle Tucker would be the premier guy to
• 57:53
  Speaker 5: get uh if there's any type of way that they
• 57:56
  Speaker 5: can maybe try to sign him long term. But I
• 57:58
  Speaker 5: have a feeling after seeing what this with one, so
• 58:01
  Speaker 5: he's going to win test free agency absolutely.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: Why wouldn't he, you know, why wouldn't he.
• 58:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you get this opportunity to make you know, hundreds
• 58:09
  Speaker 5: of millions of dollars. I mean you can't really fault
• 58:11
  Speaker 5: these guys for doing it, right, I mean, yeah, people
• 58:13
  Speaker 5: are offering it to you.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: I would take it exactly. Yep. Well, Eric, buddy, it
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: was great talking to you. But to close us out here,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: Cole Hammils, okay, I wanted to kind of get off
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: like the Phillies field here, Cole Hammils. He's going to
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: be a contributor, as we have learned on Phillies television
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: broadcast this coming season. He's going to be at camp
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: with some of the pictures as well this spring, you know,
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: trying to help out some of these arms in terms
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: of becoming a broadcaster. You know, we we we know
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: all too well. Some former players work some don't work
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: out that well in the broadcasting booth. In my opinion,
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: quite frankly, Mike Schmidt, as much as I loved watching
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: him of course growing up as a kid when he
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: was on the field playing third base, I he could
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: do no wrong, but my gosh, he is terrible in
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: the boot in my opinion, What are your thoughts about
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: Hammil's becoming part of the broadcast team here, because like,
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: I don't want to. I don't want him getting tarnished
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: in my mind, like Mike Schmidt has become. Quite frankly,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: what are you thinking here, I'm in.
• 59:14
  Speaker 4: The same boat Mike Schmidt.
• 59:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not a I'm not a Schmitty guy from
• 59:19
  Speaker 5: a broadcasting standpoint.
• 59:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 59:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the greatest player in Philly's history, so you know
• 59:24
  Speaker 5: he's got that. But yeah, I don't think he offers
• 59:27
  Speaker 5: a ton from the broadcast Nope. And Hammils is interesting
• 59:30
  Speaker 5: because you have guys who have and every I feel
• 59:33
  Speaker 5: like with different players, you see their personalities on the
• 59:36
  Speaker 5: field when they were playing, and you know, interviews and everything,
• 59:39
  Speaker 5: and how they handled it like to me, Chase Out
• 59:42
  Speaker 5: is a good example of this, right, Like, I felt
• 59:44
  Speaker 5: like he was one of my favorite players obviously, you
• 59:46
  Speaker 5: know from from the time he came up and everything,
• 59:49
  Speaker 5: but when you were giving interview, he was the driest,
• 59:51
  Speaker 5: most boring interview.
• 59:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you never get now.
• 59:54
  Speaker 5: You hear him and he's being interviewed because he's doing all,
• 59:56
  Speaker 5: you know, with all the London stuff and being the
• 59:58
  Speaker 5: ambassador for baseball in Europe. Like he's he's a pretty personal,
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 5: charismatic guy and he's actually he's got a really good,
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 5: like dry sense of humor. So I never thought he,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 5: you know, kind of fit that that mole. Jimmy Rollins
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 5: always had that kind of poppy personality, right, you know,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 5: he could talk to anyone, he could talk his way
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 5: into or out of anything, and you know he does
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 5: the TVA. He's on the pregame for TBS for the
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 5: playoffs and everything.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 4: Cole Hamill's is kind of like in between those.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 5: Guys to me, right, Like, I feel like he could
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 5: give you, he could give you an interview, but he
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 5: doesn't really have much experience in terms of TV, so
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 5: I'm really curious to see what he can bring because
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 5: some players, like you said, they just kind of like
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 5: flop and don't really give you much. But like the
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 5: insight that players can give you I think could be
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 5: really really interesting. Uh just really anyone who's been involved
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: with the game, like Ruben Tomorrow Junior.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 4: I'm not a huge fan.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 5: Of him in the booth, but every now and then
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 5: he'll pull a story out where it's like, oh, he
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 5: was traded for this guy, and I'll tell a quick
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 5: story about like how something has spent. I'm like, that
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 5: is interesting. Can just do that, like instead of trying
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 5: to be funny and trying to work in all your
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 5: little punky anecdotes and everything. So but I really think,
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 5: you know, he handles has that experience, right, He's he's
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 5: won a world series, the World Series MVP. You know,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 5: he was a first you know he was he was
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 5: the first round pick, a lot of pressure on it.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 5: So I really think he can have a lot to
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 5: offer there in terms of being in the broadcast booth.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 5: It's just a matter of like his comfortability, I guess,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 5: and and being able to go back and forth. So
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 5: I'm curious how much they're going to kind of try
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 5: to work him in in the beginning ye, he's also
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 5: going to be I think I saw an instructor in
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 5: clear Water with with with the club.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 4: So he's starting.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 5: He's obviously trying to get more involved with with with
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 5: with the baseball side of things and coming back with
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 5: the Phillies. I think he can offer a lot there,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 5: especially to guy like Andrew Painter. Right, they had a
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 5: very similar start to their career. Painters that they are
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 5: both both first round draft picks, both dealt with setbacks
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 5: when it came to injuries. So I really think he
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 5: can offer a lot to the the younger pitchers in
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 5: in spring training, so I'm curious to how he handles
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 5: that too. But the broadcast booth, it's going to be
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 5: interesting a lot to revisit this at some point at
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 5: some point during the season.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 4: Absolutely and see our takes.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: God, absolutely, he cannot put me to sleep like Schmid does.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, he can't do it.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 4: He can't do it.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: Folks Again, folks. Eric Morritelli from that Balls out of
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: Here dot com at Eric underscore Moritelly on the Twitter
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: slash x buddy, it was great talking to you. Thank
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: you so much for taking the time to jump on
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: the pod here and talk about Phillies, Major League Baseball.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: Let's talk again down the road, my friend.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks, Jeffer's do it and that's gonna.
• 1:02:32
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• 1:02:35
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• 1:02:37
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• 1:02:40
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• 1:02:42
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• 1:02:46
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  Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Take care and have a great week.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.