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The Second Half Of The Phillies Season Starts Now! (PST Episode 625) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, twelve
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: years strong. We got a great show coming your way
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: this week, as we do every week. I'm Jeff Warren.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I'm here, my good buddy, Len Hunsicker, Len Man, how
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: are you.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: I'm good. No complaints to the no.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Complaints, especially after the Philadelphia Union one tonight they beat
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Montreal getting back on track here. I love it. We
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: don't have it on the agenda, but it just happened.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I wanted to raise it right off the bat here.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, good to you know, just keep things rolling.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: They I was watching for a little bit in the
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: at the end of the first half and Montreal tied it,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: like right before the half. Yeah, and then obviously Philadelphia
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: came back in the second half of the goal and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: got it, got the win.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Got the win absolutely, I tell you, Len. It is summer.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I have been going to some summer cookouts here and there,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and hopefully we're gonna have one with our buddies at
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the end of August. Trying to set that up. I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: was actually listening to one of the recent New Heights
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: podcasts with Jason Kelcey and Travis Kelcey every now and again,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I'll put that on. They were actually having a phenomenal
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: conversation about their favorite type of potato, like really, yes,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: whether it was like French fries or whether it was
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: like they were not fans of baked potatoes. And I
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: gotta tell you, really, I'm not a fan of baked
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: potatoes myself. I just think it's too much work for
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: what the end result is. I mean, I'll eat a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: baked potato, but it's.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Too much work. Yeah, I will grant you that it
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: does take a while to cook, but the end result,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: I guess if you're not doing it, it's great. Yes,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: the end result, you know, you know, butter and cheese
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: and sour cream and you know salt. It's amazing.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Usually taste good, Usually will taste good. But man, the
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: effort to get there, I don't know. In terms of
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: like summer cookouts, just barbecues and stuff like that. Dude,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I love a good potato salad like I love a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: good potato salad, Like a Dutch potato salad is really good.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: You know, it's got that mustard in it and stuff.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I dig a good potato salad I don't know, what,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: what do you like with the fries? Yeah, I mean,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you can't go wrong, can't go wrong with fries, all right? Anyway,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I just completely I didn't even know we were going
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: to talk about that. I just completely stolen new height.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: It wasn't no, not at all, not at all. But
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: there is a lot going on in the world of
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Phillies sports, folks. We're gonna first dive into some Eagles
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: talk as training camp and the season is upon us.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: We're also gonna be diving into some college football talk too,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and what a potential college football playoff expansion might look like.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Might it happen? We want to give our thoughts on that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Good to also talk about the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Joe l Embiid, Paul George, their health and thoughts about
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the coming season. And then we're certainly gonna get into
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: some Phillies and Major League Baseball talk. Home run Derby,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: gonna dive into just a little bit, Kyle Schwarber becoming
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the first Philly to win the All Star Game MVP
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: since nineteen sixty four. And yeah, folks, the Major League
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Baseball Draft just happened. The Phillies may have just gotten
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: their picture of the future engage would and what we're
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: throwing down on the table this week, Eric or Telly
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: from that ballsad here dot com, He's gonna join us
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to really dive into this Phillies team where we're at
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: here at the halfway point of the season. So that
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: being said, Len, let's get into this this upcoming Eagles season.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: I should say, because you know, while we're st I
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: think we are still a lot of us are still
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: hyped after the Super Bowl win and was it. Part
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: of me feels like, you know what, I don't even
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: want the season to come because they absolutely murdered the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs. I still have that great feeling throughout
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: my body. But that being said, there were changes to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: this team and there are questions coming into this season,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: a number of questions. You know, are there going to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: be growing pains with new offensive coordinator Kevin Patulo? You
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: know when when will Nakobe Dean return and is he
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: going to return to the type of form we saw
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Can Zach Bond still be as dominant
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: as he was last season? Can the defensive line be
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: as dominant after losing three key players this past off seat,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and so we wanted to kind of dive into I
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: have no idea, lend what you're thinking about in terms
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of your question. I know you don't know what I'm
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: thinking in terms of my question, But what questions are
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: we going to be honing in on at the start
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: of this Eagles season, whether it's even in training camp
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: or or the preseason as well. So I'm sure you've
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: been given this some thought, buddy. You know what, what
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts on you know, that question that you're
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: going to have for this Eagles team? That's going to
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: be pretty prevalent for you, whether it's throughout the season
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: or just even even to start the season.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I mean mine are kind of more offensively oriented you
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: and you actually mentioned one of them just now and
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: in the in the the agenda, and that is, you know,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: new offensive coordinator. How does that affect things? You know,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: does Sirianni kind of step in with the play calling more?
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: You know, how much of a leash does Patulo have?
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Is there a lot of you know, new changes that
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: are going to be happening. Yeah, And then another question
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I have is, you know, the Eagles are now known
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: as like a running team, run first, past second. Obviously,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Saquan had the amazing year that he had. I expect
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: for this season for defenses to do more of what
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: the Chiefs did, which is focus like almost sell out
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: on Saquan and their you know, Jalen Hurts to beat them.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Even though he showed at the highest level he can
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: do that, I still think teams are going to test him,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: especially early in the season. So that'll just be something
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: to keep an eye on how teams, not not even
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: so much how the Eagles will respond, because I'm actually
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: fairly confident in Hurts and the receiving corps, and then
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: you know, just the whole offense in general, but just
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: how other teams play the Eagles early and what they
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: try to do to them from a defensive standpoint.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I see, And I like where you're coming from with
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: regard to that particular question. With the offense too, you know,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're I know, you're not really on social
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: too too much anymore, Lehn, especially you know Twitter, which
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: which which is good for you and your mental health
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of course, but the we're getting into silly season right now,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: where there are too many lists that are coming out
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: and there's the.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Every day there's one on ESPN absolutely position.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Groups all that, yes, and where people are.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Just dying for something football related to.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Exactly exactly and controversial, you know, to get the clicks going,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to get the discussion going to and and yeah, I'm
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: doing that right now because where people have Jalen Hurts ranked,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: whether it's ESPN, whether it's some other you know, radio
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: outlets here and there, it's just ridiculous. And it's done
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: to make all of us talk about it, of course,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and to make you know, the Twitter algorithm or Instagram
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: algorithm a certain way. But I think it's interesting what
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you're saying. Yes, from an offensive perspective, you've got a
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator coming in, but what is that balance
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: going to be between the run game and the passing
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: attack too? And I think Jalen Hurts is continuing to develop.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: He is, and we saw what he did last year
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: in certain situations, the steps he took. I think if
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: they put the ball in his hands in terms of
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the passing game, I think this team is gonna is
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: it's gonna flourish again from an offensive perspective. So I
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: like where you're coming from with that.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I well, I actually and that's Another reason why I
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: think that they will test him early is because you
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: do have a new offensive coordinator. There are gonna be
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: a few new concepts in you know, early on, those
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: teams are gonna say, I'll bet the Eagles don't have
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: all this stuff down just yet. Let's attack him now,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Let's you know, get him out of their comfort zone.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Let's force them to beat us, because we don't know
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: if they have all their all their cards, you know,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: you know, laid out yet. We don't know if they
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: have all their ducks in a row yet. So yeah,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: I definitely think it's gonna happen early on, and it
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: might take you know, we don't know the preseason. I mean,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: the games you really can't take anything from, but you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: or maybe if you're following the reps in practice every day.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, that might be something to keep an eye
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: on because maybe it will take a little bit. Who
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: knows it might. Yeah.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Look, one of my biggest questions and concerns heading
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: into this season from a defensive perspective is safety position.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Been talking about it with various interviews here on the
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: podcast platform. And then what the pass rush is going
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to look like too? Like I mentioned you know, losing
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: three key players from the defensive line in this past offseason,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: certain guys are definitely gonna have to step up. But
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go in a little bit of a
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: different direction in terms of a question that I'm going
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to have leen And you know, over the years, I
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: have loved special teams. I always try to bring up
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: special teams when you know, whether it's postgame shows or
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: whether we're doing any type of NFL Eagles football type
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of analysis. But I'm wondering what kind of Jake Elliott
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: we are going to see this coming season. If you
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: remember last year, his regular season was brutal. He had
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: a seventy seven point eight field goal rate, which was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: twenty eighth out of thirty six NFL kickers, and he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: made just one of seven attempts from fifty yards or longer.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: If you remember, a man it was. It was a tough,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: tough regular season for him.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't great, and I am.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: The playoffs are different. I think playoffs, I.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Think every now and again kickers do that. And I
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: don't think he's the first kicker to ever go through that.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Right where you have one season where when it's done,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you're just like, all right, flush it because that happens
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: every now and again. If it continues into this year, yeah,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: then it's a large story.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, it absolutely is. And I here's the thing though.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: He had such a brutal regular season, but man, when
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: the playoffs came, he nailed big kicks, whether it was
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: in the snow against the Rams in the Super Bowl,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: he was hitting long field goal after long field goal,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: getting it done. And you know, like you said, you know,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: we're thinking, you know, he's been one of the most
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: consistent kickers in the NFL since twenty seventeen. It's like,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: is he getting the case of the yips here this year?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: He certainly did in twenty twenty four. So I'm really
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: going to be looking at what Jake Elliott is going
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: to be doing during the course of training camp, during
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the course of the preseason two, and how the early
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: start of the season is because that we know in
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the NFL, and especially a team like the Eagles who
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: are playing some real tough teams, there's gonna be some
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: close games and a field goal here or there can
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: really determine, you know, where you're going to be seated
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: at the at the end of the season.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So all right, you got anything else for Eagles
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: before we move on here to some college football talk.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: No, I mean you mentioned the whole Nakobe Dean thing.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: I'm just wondering if are they as worried about that.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: If they if they drafted Jehad Campbell, it was he
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: drafted pretty much as Nacoby Dean insurance in case, great question,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: you know whatever persists. I think I think that was done.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I think that draft pick was made with the purpose. Yeah.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: If Jahad Campbell, I can't wait to see what he's
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: going to be doing during the course of the even
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: during the course of the preseason. Please stay healthy, please?
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, sticking with football talk here, we wanted
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: to get into whether or not there is going to
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: be an expanding college playoff in the future. This past week,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: SEC Commissioner Greg Sank he was meeting with some folks
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and was asked about this, and he said this past
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: week that while a sixteen team playoff seems like a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: foregone conclusion for the college football Championship, it could easily
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: remain a twelve team setup if conference commissioners can't really
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: agree on a structure which is actually the case right now.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: The Big Ten wants four automatic bids for itself, but
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the SEC and some other conferences seem to prefer the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: five to five to eleven model. So we wanted to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: give our thoughts on this. And what's really interesting about
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: this len is at the end of the day, it
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: all comes down to money here, because the College Football
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Playoffs original twelve year contract with ESPN ends after this season,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: and a new six year extension struck with the network
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: last spring actually begins in twenty twenty six with what
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: was believed to be at that time a new, potentially
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: expanded playoff. So important to note that during all of this,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the SEC and the Big Ten, they really hold a
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: lot of the authority and what is going to happen
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: over this future format, and they have to agree on
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a model before anything moves forward. So it really is
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: up to the SEC and the Big Ten to kind
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: of work this out as the super conferences within college
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: football here and look, I love the twelve team format.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I absolutely love it. Sixteen team model I think could
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: also be very interesting as well, depending on how it
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: is set up. I think the more teams that you
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: have in a playoff type of situation, I think the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: more fun it could be for US fans. But I mean,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I'm currently liking the twelve twelve team model here. Sixteen,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I don'tnumber fifteen seed, the number sixteen seed probably not
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: going to be going too too far within that structure,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: depending on what that structure is. But I mean, I
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: love the twelve team model at this point, but I
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be sad if they went to sixteen. I don't
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: know what are your thoughts here. I'm fine with twelve
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: and I'm fine with sixteen. Anything beyond that, I think
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you're it's overkill. And I know, you know, the Big
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Ten and the SEC are going to want their share
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: of teams. I'm sure if they had their way, it
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: would be eight SEC teams and eight Big Tens. I
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: honestly think those two conferences are eventually looking to push
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: everybody else out and just have it be those two conferences.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I think that is the long term end game for
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: SANK and whoever the Big Ten POLITI whoever the Big
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Ten commissioner, forget you who it is actually, I can't remember.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: H Yeah. So I mean, I'm good with the way
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: it is now. It's just funny to me. That we're
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: we fought so hard to get, you know, a playoff
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: and then four teams. Okay, but it's really not representing everything.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: And now within like a year, we're we're we're expanding again, exactly.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: It didn't take long. But yeah, I mean, I do
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: like the idea of sixteen a good round number. Everybody
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: say it plays the same amount of games. I mean,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: I know there is some kind of benefit to being
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: one of the top four teams and getting to buy,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: but I don't know. I like the idea of you know,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: you earning your way just like everybody else did, play
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: the same amount of games, So i'd be I'd be
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: good with that. I just I just don't want it
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: to become SEC Fest and Big ten Fest. Me. I
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: want I want representation. I want the Big twelve to
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: have a couple of bids, have a couple of bids,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: you know, and I want a couple. If you go
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: to sixteen teams, I would love to, you know, two
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: teams that aren't in those Power Conference as a minimum
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: two teams. I mean, I won't get that, but you
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: know two is the max and that they'll get. But
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know. I still I like that
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: the idea of that representation.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I got to look. The NC Double A has
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: been pretty messy now for quite some time. I mean,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of growing pains going on within
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: this within college football at this point, whether it's the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: industry's new revenue sharing concept, the NC Double a's governance
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: model is going to be undergoing some changes as we
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: know that. Again, the structure of the bowl games they're
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: a bit unknown as well, and even the NC doublea's
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: eligibility standards are under attack in court from players themselves.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: There's a lot going on within the world of college
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: athletics and specifically college football here that you put this
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: playoff situation into the mess and you've got some people
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: making really important decisions who they at times are not
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the smartest folks.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: In the world.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Yet we've talked about on this podcast.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Or there they their their single minded interest Like Greg Sanki,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I don't think he cares about college football. I think
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: he cares about the SEC, Yes, and I think that's
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: all he cares about. So you know, and he'll probably
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: tell you that college that s the SEC is college football. Yeah, sure,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: if you asked him, he would say something to that effect.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't Yeah, there's stupidity there, but there
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: there are people that I don't know that they're trying
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: to be honest stewards of the product and the game.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: That's just I have a general mistrust of that.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: I absolutely agree with you, and we're still gonna be
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: talking about it here on this podcast platform in the
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: months and and probably years to come here, that is,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: if you're going to keep doing the show. Len, we
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: shall see, we shall see exactly. Yes, well, we are
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: going to be taking a break here, but before that,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: feel free to follow us on various social media sites.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: We are on the Twitter, slash x, Instagram, Facebook threads.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Eric and I are over on Blue Sky. You can
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: follow me over there, just search Jeff Warren. For Eric,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: you can search Brick poll It. I'm over on TikTok
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: at mister Jeff Warren. Do some uh uh, do some
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: sports posts every now and again over there, and some
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: other content too, if you're in the moon for that
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: type of stuff. Anyway, you like that one.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: I know, I know someone what a recent follower yours
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: is into it.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Over on Twitter. They're probably listening to this right now, because.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you'll get something.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I'm just being monitored constantly. That's right. Well, we are
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: going to take our first break here, and when we
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: come back, we are going to be getting into some
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Sixers talk and some Phillies talk. We got a ton
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: of Phillies talk coming your way. Let's take that break now.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a bit. All right, folks,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: we are back again. Len Hunsicker, Jeff Warren here at
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. We're gonna be diving
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: into the Philadelphia seventy six ers here at the moment.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: My gosh, what a mess with some news that just
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: came out this past week. Len. Nothing says team bonding
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: like getting knee surgery together. Nothing says like now both
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Joe el embiid Paul George, they've both undergone some form
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of arthoscopic knee surgery recently. Here, Daryl Morey has refused
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to commit to an embide timeline outside of him being
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: on track for a quote right around training camp. And
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: my god, with Paul George, I mean the things that
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: he has been through. I mean his injury out look
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: just so so very complex. He dealt with a variety
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: of injuries last season, as we know, missing one game
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: for an ankle issue, two games was injury management, five
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: games for a thing problem, eight games for his pair
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: of knee hyper extensions, ten games for a growing injury
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: in fifteen games for an adductor problem that eventually ended
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: his season, and look, he was getting pain management injections
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: throughout the season. Honestly, I give the guy all the
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: credit in the world for trying to get out there.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: He played seventy four games with the Clippers the prior season,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and you know, just his age where he's at right now. Again,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I think that hyper extended knees did not help him
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: out at all last season. Who knows he'll ever play
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: a seventy four games like he did with the Clippers
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the prior season to last year. But I think at
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, the verdict is going to
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: be We're going to see a lot of young guys.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I think to start this season. It seems to be
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: where the team is heading right now. It's just the
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: fact that Joel Embiid has not been doing any sort
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: of basketball workout according to reports. At this point, Len
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem doesn't seem to be on track really to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: maybe be starting on opening day and what the heck's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: gonna happen with Paul George as well, So a lot
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: of the young guys. I think we're gonna be seeing
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: right off the bat right to start the season.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah that I mean. I thought that Gershan Yabaseli had
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: a good year with the Sixers. I mean, I you know,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying he was like a franchise changing free
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: agent or whatever, but given what you don't have upfront
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: and what let's be honest, you're probably not going to
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: have upfront this year. Let's be honest, the fact that
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: they let him go to the Knicks is pretty crazy
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: to me because I mean, there's not much there upfront.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I think they have the potential to be stacked in
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the backcourt. I think, you know, we know what Max
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: he is, which is great. We saw some really good
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: flashes from McCain. I think Edgecombe has I think that
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: was a good pick. I think he's gonna pan out.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: And Quinton Grimes came on at the end of last
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: year and really showed what he could do. So from
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: a backcourt standpoint, if they resigned Grimes, of course, with
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: those four guys your set, but they've got if if
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: embid doesn't play a lot, and George doesn't play a lot.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: And to answer your question about the seventy four games,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: it ain't gonna happen. Sorry, it's not gonna happen. So
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: they're just razor thin up front. Yeah, I mean they're
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: they're gonna be. Uh, they're gonna be, you know, relying
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: on a lot of young players this year that quite frankly,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: I don't think are gonna be ready for prime time. Yeah,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: I just it's hard. I don't know. There's actually a really, really,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: really good cover story on Joel Embiid today on ESPN
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: dot com that I read and just going through the
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: litany stuff, and I maybe it's because he was drafted
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: by Philadelphia and he's been here his whole career. He
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: grew up in the city. You know, he had the
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: thing with his brother tragically dying, all that stuff, and
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: then the injuries where I mean, yeah, it sucks, and yeah,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: he does have this huge contract and you're just like,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: how much sympathy going to have? But at the same
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: time I still do whereas I don't have that investment
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: in Paul George. He hasn't been here his whole career,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you know, he's been here for five minutes basically, and
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: he's already heard all the time. Yeah, so you know,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: for that, it's harder for me to have any kind
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: of you know, sympathy there. But I just I'm at
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: the point now where my expectations for both of them
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: are zero in terms of, you know, how much time
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: they're going to spend on the court. I have no
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: expectations whatsoever. Whatever you get from them if they're on
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: the court and productive is gravy because I think this
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: is fully a backcourt team and that's it. Because I
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: really just don't see anything up front.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: And I think what we need to do as the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: as the you know, I mean, we've got the Summer League,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: you know, which we were you know, just watching some
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: of the games. You know, I think that excitement around
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the younger players, Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain vj Edgecomb, you know,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: having him out there, that type of excitement for the future,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I think is what we really need to hang our
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: hats on here. You know. It may not be what
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: we you know, trusted the process for, but I think
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: having a roster with a group of young guys who
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: care really could be a bit of a bit of
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: a pleasant change in a way, and I think that's
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: something we can look forward to.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and I think that MB does care about
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: how I think he does too, Yeah, you know, but
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: but I just I don't think it Like the article
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I was talking about basically talked about him as a
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: semi truck with the agility of a Ferrari, just with
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: the fluidity and stuff like that right in that package.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: And it's true. But the downside of that is just
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: the force and the power that comes with those movements
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: for a body that big, it's just it's not destined
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: to hold together. Yeah, And that's just, you know, it's
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: it's the unfortunate, sad truth that you know that we've
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: been seeing for years now.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And let's I like what you said Land about
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the fact that you know, he was drafted here, He's
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: been here for how long, he's been a part of
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: this city, He's been a part of the sports culture
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: of this city for so long. Arguably the greatest athlete
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: in the city at one point. Hell, two years ago,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: he was the MVP of the league. Just two years ago.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: It's not like it was some sort of awful stint.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying by any stretch of the imagination
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: that his career is over, but it's going to be
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: a different career moving forward.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: The fans need to realize that, and I also need
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to realize that he put it on his shoulders for
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: many years. He put it on his own shoulders. But
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: in this game you can't just put it on one
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: guy's shoulders for that many years and expect a championship.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: He was able to get them as far as he
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: got them, you.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Know, and it sucks. But it does almost feel like
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: any conversation about his career at this point. I mean,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: and I don't think it's just us doing it. I
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: think anybody that talks about Joel embiid do it tends
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: to sound like more of the past, tense, like almost
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: a post mortem on what could have been, And that
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: just seems to be I think that's how the conversation
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: is about his career, even though it's still ongoing. I
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: think that's how those conversations are going to continue to go. Unfortunately.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, all right, Well that's it for our sixers
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: talk here. Let's get into some Phillies talk to close
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: us out here before len I let you go and
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: before we get to our guest this week, gonna dive
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: into the All Star Game, some Major League Baseball talk
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: here talk about the Phillies draft as well. I thought
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: it was really funny here. I'm looking it if you
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: see me on YouTube here, I'm like looking over at
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: my phone because I have to read a text message
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: from our good buddy Eric, who was on this podcast
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: as well, with regard to the home run Derby, because
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, did you watch the home run Derby win?
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: No? I was working nights this week and that was
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: the last night I was working, so you have to
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: see any of it.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you saw Eric's text to all of us
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: guys where he said they're not showing the home runs
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: during the home run derby split screen with a shot
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: behind the pitcher and the kids in the outfield catching
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the balls. ESPN is complete trash and I swear to
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: god they try to take the production level to another level,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: but in the essence of trying to do that, it
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: takes away from the actual home runs themselves. Like they've
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: got all this crap going on. They've got camera angles here,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: camera angles there. It completely is taken away from what
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the home run Derby actually is, and like it was
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: just it was this home run Derby was actually really disappointing.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Just did not have the same type of juice that
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: it had in the past. And I think it's because
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: they were overproducing it. You know. Gosh, man, there are
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: times Major League Baseball can get things right. And guess
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: what they did get things right with the All Star Game,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I think, in my opinion, when they let the players
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: wear their team jerseys, like I actually.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Liked, Yeah, I actually liked Yes than the And I
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: know why those jerseys are made, the ones that they had.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: It's all about selling, yep. I get that.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: But the home run derby kind of stunked this year.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: It just didn't have the juice. Man.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, and and you know, I yeah, maybe
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: some of it's on Major League Baseball, but honestly, I
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: think a lot of it is ESPN at this point.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: And I even like I was I saw an article
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: on like during the playoffs where like the the some
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: of the people like Steven A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: were kind of making the broadcast more about themselves and
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: about the finals and the game. And that's like, that's
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: just what I've gotten from ESPN over the past few years.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: It's like it's not about sports anymore. It's about personalities.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: It's it's a it's a clown show that that whole network.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, just show the friggin games, man, and just
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: show the events and stop stop. You don't have to
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: if it's that good, if people are going to watch it,
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: and if it's that compelling, you don't have to jazz
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: it up. Absolutely, just stop overproducing everything. And man, there's
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: times when I really wish that there would be another,
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: you know, sports, super major sport it would just come
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: in and just blow ESPN out of the water, because
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: it's just it's too much. They had the Sports Center
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: anchors who became stars in like the nineties and two thousands,
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: and they got drunk off that I think, and they
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: everything had to be about personalities. Yep.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. It's interesting how Eric and I recently were doing
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: a bit here on the show about our love hate
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: relationship with a sports personality, and I actually said Steven A. Smith,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: because I have for years enjoyed his radio show that
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: he was doing, Like I genuinely enjoyed his radio show
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: where he's just talking behind the mic and he's not
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: doing like what he did during the NBA Draft where
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: he's just yelling all over the place and it's like,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: come down, you don't need to do it. You don't
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: need to take that personality that you're talking about and
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: just like put it right out there in front of
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: everybody all the time when the camera is on you.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: But if the microphone is here, you know he's able
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to able to just produce some great, great content anyway.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: It's but literally the only thing Steven A. Smith does
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: that I like, and I don't get even get to
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: see it anymore because I'm not on Twitter anymore, is
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: after every Cowboys loss, I would go to his Twitter
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: account and just and because it was always funny. He
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: was always entertaining, and then just laugh after yeah, and
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: then the day after whenever the Cowboys would have their
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: inevitable playoff loss the next day, that's the only time
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: I would ever watch that first take show, yes, is
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: when that would happen, because he'd come out in the
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: cowboy hat and and that was That's always funny to me. Yeah,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: outside of that, I can't I can't do it with him.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Yes, I hear you, I hear you. But look, there
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: were you know, you know, there were some good things
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: about the All Star Game, which we'll get to in
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: a second, but I wanted to note. I wanted to note.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: We got some listener feedback from one of our longtime listeners, April.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Shout out to our friend April from down South, who
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: emailed us and mentioned how we forgot to mention last
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: week when we were talking about the Phillies who made
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: the All Star Game, Zach Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber learn we
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: forgot to mention the Phillies bat boy at Adam Kragnail.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: We forgot to mention him. He went to the All
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Star Game too, that. I mean, it's important, super cool
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: for him.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know how many people you know
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: get to have that experience. So that's freaking awesome.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: It's awesome. We forgot to mention. It's sorry about that, April.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: We got. I got seriously, I got the email. I
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: was like, whoa, man, I gotta I gotta make sure
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: I put this on the agenda here.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Holy key, I wonder how one gets voted in for that.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: I know, yeah, like I just I would.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Always assume it would just be whoever the home park is, right,
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: I'd just assume it'll be the Braves bat Boys just
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: because it was in you know, what is the Truest
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Park or whatever their theme is called. Yeah, I would
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: just assume it's the Home bat Boys. But you know, hey,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: good for him.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: How cool was it that Kyle Schwarber end of the game,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: how he ended the game the first Philly also to
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: win the All Star Game MVP since nineteen sixty four.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I feel like in that moment, I feel like, in
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: that moment, they should have just been typing up drafting
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the contract extension for you know, like, yeah, they're gonna
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: need it. They're gonna need it for sure.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: It's funny because and I don't mean this as a
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: dig at Bryce Harper because he has I think he
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: has earned his contract, yes, But I feel like everything
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: Schwarber is doing this year is just what we were
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: kind of banking on Harper to do. I think from
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: a player standpoint, I think I know that they don't
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: really outside of the Yankees, they don't do a captaincy
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: in baseball. But I think if I if the Phillies
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: were going for to vote for a captain, and if
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I had saying it, it would be Kyle Schwarber. I
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: think he's a level headed dude. I think, you know,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: I just like him.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously, you know the All Star Game was great,
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: but even beyond that, I mean, I you know, he's
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: even turned a cool I think just as far as
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: the hitting, you know, he's not you know, hitting two
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: ten anymore, you know, and it's always either a strikeout
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: or a home run or a walk. I mean, it
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: just feels like you're getting more from him. And I
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: just think he's having a great year.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: He's hitting singles this year. Yeah, it's amazing.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Who knew he could do that?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Amazing what small ball can do for a guy here
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: and there. So well, look, I you know, before I
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: let you go, Len too, you know, I know you
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: love the Major League Baseball Draft. You really do sit
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: and watch it. I saw I was watching some of
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: it as well, But I wanted to talk about how
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: the Phillies drafted right hand pitcher gauge Wood number twenty six. Overall,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: he could very well be the future of the Phillies
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: starting rotation, and who knows, we could see him maybe
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: sooner rather than later, you know.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Just I was gonna say, yeah, he might be the
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: future of the bullpen sooner than people think, because you know,
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: he has you know, really good fastball, real a good
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: curve ball. But that's it for right now. You know,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: he has a change up, which I know he's he's
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: working on, but you know, for right now, those two pitches,
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: and with a starter you want like three or more
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: pitches generally, so, but a guy with an electric arm
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: and a two pitch mix that's coming out of college
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: but just pitched at the highest level. He threw a
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: perfect game during the College World Series playoffs. Yeah, so
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: it'll I don't think he'll be like the stage will
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: be too big for him. Put it that way. Yeah.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think he's a guy that if he
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: comes in and he moves through the system. I think
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: that with the trouble that they've had with that bullpen,
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: unless they make our number of bullpen acquisitions at the
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: trade deadline, Yeah, if he is is doing well and
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: seemingly moving up the ladder, why not why not give
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: him a taste see what he can do, you know,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: and you know, yeah, long term, I do want them
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: to develop him as a starter, but for this year,
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: if he can help, I mean, they're in win now mode,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: So why not try to win now? He can help you.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Then you got to look at doing it.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was amazed at where the at how many
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: pitchers the Phillies took.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was they went heavy, dude.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: It wasn't until round nine where they actually picked another
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: position outside of the pitcher position. The first eight picks,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I think we're all pictures. I couldn't believe it.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they they I guess they saw it
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: as in need. And then you know, everybody around baseball
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: says the same thing, you can ever have too much pitching,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: So you know, I guess that they. You know, they
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: didn't quite do what the Angels did a few years ago,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: which is all thirty rounds they took a picture, yeah,
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: which is hilarious to me. But but they they came
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: pretty damn close. Yeah. I don't I don't mind the strategy.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: I really don't. I mean, yeah, you need bats, but
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: you know, pitching's just so hard to come by. Good pitching,
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: and if you can draft it and develop it, I mean,
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: it helps so much.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I haven't been able to dive too too much into
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: some of these these guys that were drafted, but I've
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: heard a little bit about the second round pick was
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: number sixty three overall, cad Obermuller from from Iowa. Yeah, yeah,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, I mean five and three three point
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: zero two eer a, one hundred and seventeen strikeouts, you
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: know during his recent season, not too too bad. He's
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: listed at six foot one hundred and seventy pounds. Originally
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: a nineteenth round pick by the Texas Rangers a year ago,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: but instead of signing, elected to return for another collegiate season.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: So you know, I've been hearing some good things about
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: him as well. He does have some below average control,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: might ultimately push him to the you know, to the
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: bullpen at some point down the road. But still, I
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: mean hearing some hearing some good stuff from him.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And look, that's why you have your your system.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: You get these guys in you and you work with
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: them and you tinker, and you know, if you can
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: fix that control issue, then you know, maybe you have something.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's you know. So we'll see what they end
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: up doing here. But yeah, I I'm good with what
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: they did for sure.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Same here. Well, we got the second half of the
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: season that's gonna be starting here at Lanna. I know
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: they're gonna be I think they start off with the
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Angels and then the good the Red Sox Yankees. Yeah.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be tight the whole way through. I mean,
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: I work with a guy that's a Mets fan, and
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: we both were we're talking and was like, I don't
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: think this game is gonna be won by more than
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: this this division, rather is gonna be won by more
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: than three games. I think it's gonna be tight, neck
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: and neck all the way down to the end. So
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: it'll it'll be a very fun watch.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be a fun watch. It's gonna be interesting
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: for sure. We're gonna continue following what happens with this
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Phillies team here at the PSD Podcast show. Buddy, do
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: you have anything else before I let you go and
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: before we get to our interview this week?
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: No, I did a bunch of yard work today, so
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: I'm ready for bed.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: You're ready to shaw boy? He's ready for bedtime? Yes,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: here on this Wednesday night, Len, I'll let you go here, buddy, Folks,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: we got more Phillies talk coming your way when we
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: get back from our break. We're gonna take that break
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: now we'll catch you in a bit.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: And now on the table.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: All right, we are back to get into some more
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Phillies talk with our guest this week, coming to
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: us from that balls at here dot com. He's one
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: of the contributors over there, our good friend Eric Moritelli.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: How you doing, Buddy, I'm good, Jeff, I'm good.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: I'm doing all right? Man? Like, Look, we got to
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: dive into first and foremost what I wanted to get
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on, because like, there's just so much complaining
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: going on with in Phillies Nation about where this team
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: is at, what they're doing, what they're not doing. And yes,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: during certain moments of this season, yes we have been
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: frustrated now and again as fans. But as of us
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: recording this here on July sixteenth, as they're in the
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: middle of this All Star break here, this team is
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: in first place in the NL East. Look, they didn't
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: have Bryce Harper for a month. Eric Aaron Nola has
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: been out since May, and yes, he really wasn't having
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: all that great of a season, but still they also
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: lost Jose Alvarado to a suspension in May. The offense
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: is eighteenth in home runs nothing to write home about.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: And again they're still in first place in this division. Here,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: I want to really dive into I mean, it's not
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: as bad as some folks are making it out to
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: be at this point. Am I Am I correct in
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: thinking that here?
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're absolutely correct. I will say this.
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: People have every right to be frustrated with this with
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: the squad because of what we've seen the last three seasons,
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: right right, It's like twenty twenty two is like the pinnacle,
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: and then since that it's been you know, there's reasons
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: for doubt. However, a lot it, I think is also
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: just because of the fact that we saw what they
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: can do and it's not happening. That's called that's giving
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: a lot of pause for some people. But yeah, the
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: fact that they're sitting atop the NL East right now
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: and not playing their best baseball really at all, and
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: missing Bryce Harper for about a month, missing Aaron Dola
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: for what are we going on almost two months?
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and and Alvarado until August and then even even
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: then we get him back assuming they're in the postseason,
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: he's not, he's not eligible to pitch. So missing three
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: key guys at different points is obviously going to be
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: a drag on the team, but there are there. I
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: would still say there are concerns, uh, but I don't
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: think it's as doom and gloomy as maybe what you
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: might see on on Twitter or some other social media sites.
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: So they're in a good spot, but I think there's
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: got to be a little bit more maybe consistency going
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: to in that second half.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, we're gon we're gonna get into that in a
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: little bit. But man, like you said, on social it
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: just drives me crazy when I see tweets or posts
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is that say, man, this team stinks.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: It's like, would you stop it? Folks? Stop it there
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: at first place in the Laea straight here. It's crazy.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: The fire Rob Thompson tweets are the ones that get me.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Dude, Yes, man, you know what. I got into it
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: a little while ago with somebody, I mean it was
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: a few months ago, i should say, with somebody and
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: they're like, this guy absolutely stinks. And I'm like, there
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: hasn't been a more successful manager for this Phillies team
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: and like just about forever and at least in recent memory.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: And it's like he's like, well, of course when you
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: have all this talent, they're gonna do well. It's like,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: what are you talking about here? It drives me crazy?
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: Eric, Absolutely all right.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, all right. Well moving on here, you know,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: and talking about that consistency here and how this team
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: really can improve in that regard here. It seems as though,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: you know, some reinforcements and improvements should be coming to
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: this team again getting Aaron Nola back. We don't know
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: what kind of Aaron Nola we're going to be getting.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: But the trade deadline is also right around the corner too.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I wonder, how do you think this team can improve
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: in terms of their consistency with some of the potential
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: reinforcements that are hopefully gonna get this team to another
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: level and improve overall, Whether they're bringing some guys up
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: from Lehigh Valley. I mean, the talk about Justin Crawford
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: coming up is definitely a possibility at some point, maybe
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: they acquire new talent. How can this team improve in
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: terms of their consistency with some of the potential reinforcements
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: coming our way here?
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm telling anything that
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: people don't know, but the two big things right are
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: obviously bullpen help, and there's got to be one more
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: bat just to make this line up a little bit
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: more consistent, and particularly an outfield bat. Just from what
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: we've seen from the Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh has been fined,
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: but you're really getting nothing from Kepler. Rojas hasn't really
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: seen the field much, so it seems like you're you're
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: they're gonna they're at least one outfield bat. Short Justin
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: Crawford is an interesting option, right because one, he's not
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: on the forty man yet, so they'd have to make
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: a move that's doable, right, they can figure something out there.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: Second thing is is it's very it's he's not proven, right,
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: so we don't actually know what's gonna happen. If he
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: does get that call up. Could he be the guy
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: that pushes them ahead a little bit? It's it's unlikely this.
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: You know that at this point. So I really think
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: that this season the best place to go is there's
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: got to be something out there at the trade deadline.
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: A name that has been thrown around a little bit
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: is is Stephen Kwan from Cleveland. He's kind of like
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: that the type of guy that this lineup would really need.
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: Low strikeout rate, gets on base, has some speed, He
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: would really compliment well, and you could really put him
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: at the top of the order or the bottom of
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: the order and kind of then set the table for
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: some of the top of the lineup guys. So he
• 44:58
  Speaker 4: would be a really interesting, interesting choice the rest of
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: Lehigh Valley, you know, the guys on the forty man
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: or West and Wilson and I think Cal Stevenson, I
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: think Buddy Kennedy left. So you're those are depth pieces
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: if someone's hurt, right, so kind of throw that out
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: the window. So I really think your best option here
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: is to get a guy like Stephen Kuwan and then
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: there absolutely has to be a move in the bullpen.
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: You got you know, I've seen this trade package kind
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: of thrown out there. Get Stephen Quan and throwing Emmanuel
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: class A. With that all done in one deal, obviously
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: the prospect all you're gonna have to give up is
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: going to be considerable. But at this point the front
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: office has to weigh how far are.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: We willing to go?
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: How much of the future are we willing to mortgage
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: to get to this point? We have an agent core right,
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: We're got sho you know, becoming a free agent, real
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: Muta becoming a free agent. Other guys just aging. So
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: it's how much do you push to get it right
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: now between this year and and potentially next year before
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: we start seeing a bigger shift in the roster.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see where this front
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: office decides to go in the very near future here,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: And you know, it really brings me to the next
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: topic too, Eric, that all really good teams and professional
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: sports have an identity, you know, and many tend to
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: have an identity for a significant period of time. Sometimes
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: it takes teams longer to find that identity than others.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: And what I mean, like teams that are successful within
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: whatever professional sport that they are playing. Does this Phillies
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: team have a particular identity at this point in twenty
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: twenty five that you have seen that you can really
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: hone in on. And if so, what do you think
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: that identity is? And if you don't think they have
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: an identity, you know, what could that identity become? Or
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: are we on the cusp of some sort of Phillies
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: identity here in twenty twenty five.
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: That's a really good question, Jeff.
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: In years past, right, like twenty twenty two and even
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: going back to like the seven eight teams, it was
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: kind of like the identity was, you know, not going
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: down without a fight. It's they were in it almost
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: every single game. Every single night you're watching. They could
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: go down eleven to three in the fourth inning, and
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: it's like, might be worth say in tune because you
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: never know what kind of big inning could come up.
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: There's they've shown glimpses of that earlier in the season,
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: but lately I really think this team does lack an identity.
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: They it's like, Okay, we'll pitch well and then maybe
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: hit every three or four days like it's there, and
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: then the offense is just by the sixth inning if
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: they're down three or four runs. I don't know about you,
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: but I'm kind of sitting here, like, what part of
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: the lineup are we actually going to get something from here?
• 47:40
  Speaker 4: Unless two guys get on base and Schwarmer hits a
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: three run shot, where are we getting this this production from?
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: Because they're not really hitting home runs. Yea, they are
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: scoring a little bit on the small ball, but the
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: problem is they're not hitting with runners at scoring position.
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: So the identity I think needs to go back to
• 47:54
  Speaker 4: being like kind of that gritty team that that can
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: that can work out a win and get runs across
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: the plate. Pitching's not the issue right now. To me,
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: the scariest thing about this team is the lineup and
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: score and runs for these starters who are giving you
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: a quality start almost every single time they take them out.
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: So yep, to me, I think the identity has to
• 48:13
  Speaker 4: be more like, get gritty, be more consistent at the plate,
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: and do whatever it takes to score a run.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I feel like the majority of hitters on this team
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: are not only in their own heads every now and again,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: but the team is feeling a pressure because they see
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: the window, They know the window, they understand where that
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: window is, that window of opportunity for success. And I
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: get this feeling. It's a vibe that I personally have
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Eric that they're not meeting the moment because of the pressure.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if you're feeling that as well.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: And I don't know how these guys from a sports
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: psychology perspective get out of this actually, aside from having
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: more consistency that you know we were just talking about.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know, are you getting that vibe.
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: At all, yeah, I could totally see.
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, especially the market that these guys
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: are playing in, right, it's a market that has really
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: lofty expectations, especially with what what the area has seen
• 49:10
  Speaker 4: over the last couple of years, if you alluded to
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: earlier in the show. It's so, I think they're definitely
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: putting some some pressure there, and I think you're right.
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: It's one of those things where you the only way
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: to get out of it is kind of get out
• 49:21
  Speaker 4: of your own head, which is obviously you know, we're
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: sitting here behind a computer, easier easier said than done.
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: But these guys have We've seen it. They have talent, right,
• 49:29
  Speaker 4: Bryce can hit, Tray can hit, Kyle Schuber could hit.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: Casianos is going to be you know, he's going to
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: be streaky, but he's shown glimpses. But it's just now
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: putting that all together because they they actually have done
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: what what a lot of people have wanted them to
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: do this season. They've cut back on with rates and
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: they've cut back on strikeouts, and I think they're actually
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: so you know, maybe not everyone on the on the team,
• 49:52
  Speaker 4: but a lot of these guys are actually seeing more
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: pitches at that I think too, So they're actually doing
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: what we want. But is it at the sacrifice of
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: just letting these guys go out and not think about
• 50:02
  Speaker 4: anything when they go up and hit right.
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: Maybe maybe that's the way to go, because it.
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: Is you know, the power numbers are down, the run
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: numbers are down, so who knows, who knows, But you know,
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: I think you're right. I think they are pressing a
• 50:13
  Speaker 4: little bit because they know where they're at with everything
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: and they just have to get back to doing what
• 50:20
  Speaker 4: these guys can do.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, Well, look, you mentioned the starting rotation and
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: just how they have actually been the most consistent during
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: the course of this year. I mean, your starting pitchers
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: are really providing that consistency for this team. And I
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: feel like we have really been spoiled with this starting
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: rotation over the past several years. I think some Phillies
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: fans forget how terrible things were on the mound, say
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: ten years ago or so. Eric, let's go back to
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. Guys like Sean O'Sullivan, Jerome Williams, David Buchanan,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: just to name a few. We're out there on the
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: mound and you'd be sitting there like sweating Oh my gosh,
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: what is going to happen here in terms of these
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: guys pitching. This starting rotation, though, however, has been so solid,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: and I think the Phillies know that they need to
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: keep this going. I think Dave Dombrowski in the front
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: office know that this is a part of the recipe
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: for success, you know. And they drafted just a short
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: time ago here, drafted a right handed pitcher and Gage
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: would twenty sixth overall in the draft here this past week.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on what the starting rotation has
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: really meant to this team an organization, and what it's
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: going to continue to mean to them in the future.
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: I think you're absolutely right.
• 51:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, you look at the contrast between what we're
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: looking at even the last couple of years, right, probably
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: going back to like twenty twenty three or so, how
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: this starting rotation has kind of transformed into what it
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: is today as everything to this team. If the starting
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: rotation was half as good, there's a chance this team
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: is five or six games out out of first Yeah.
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: I mean, they're keeping this offense and open afloat. Yeah,
• 52:03
  Speaker 4: you know, Zach Wheeler is having another stellar season. Christopher
• 52:07
  Speaker 4: Sanchez kind of keeps taking that next step. Ranger Suarez
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: is showing that he's healthy as of right now, and
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: you know, they're doing this missing Aaron Nola, and like
• 52:15
  Speaker 4: you said earlier, he wasn't even he was off in
• 52:18
  Speaker 4: the beginning at the beginning of the season. So they're
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: really getting the contributions that they need to from a
• 52:25
  Speaker 4: lot of these guys. And the starting pitching is just
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: everything they always say, you know, pitching is what wins
• 52:29
  Speaker 4: wins championships. And I think they're in such a good
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: spot now for the future too. You know, I know
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: Andrew Paynter has has not lived up to the hype
• 52:39
  Speaker 4: necessarily right now in tripa A, but I think it's
• 52:41
  Speaker 4: also really important. Remember the guy's twenty two years old
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: coming off of Tommy John surgery, and he's never pitched
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: at a level higher than Double A before in his
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: professional career. So seeing some of the struggle actually, I
• 52:51
  Speaker 4: think is almost a blessing in disguise. Right, Let him
• 52:54
  Speaker 4: get it out of the way now, let him how
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: to let him learn how to deal with adversity before
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: throwing them in and just calling up for the sake
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: of calling him up, so fans can go see him.
• 53:04
  Speaker 4: You know, Mick Abel had a couple of good starts,
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: but again it's his first time in the major leagues.
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: He's also very young, so let him figure it out.
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: So your future is really good there, gauge Wood drafting
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: this college pitcher, you know, potentially could even really I
• 53:20
  Speaker 4: saw some people talking he could even potentially be a
• 53:21
  Speaker 4: bullpen piece down the stretch this season. But their plan
• 53:25
  Speaker 4: I think for him is to transition to keep him
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: as a starter. But you're and being out of college,
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: he's going to be able to make an impact sooner
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: rather than later. I mean this the rotation I think now,
• 53:37
  Speaker 4: barring any any trading of these pieces, is really set
• 53:40
  Speaker 4: for the considerable future here.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, it really I think goes to show that
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: the front office has a vision here for what the
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: Phillies should and could be at some point down the road.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: Here and again, folks, we're talking to Eric Moretelly from
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: that balls at here dot com. Buddy, let everybody tell
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: tell you, tell everybody, I should say where they can
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: find you on the socials out there and where they
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: can find your work as well.
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 54:07
  Speaker 4: So, my my main social that I use is Twitter
• 54:10
  Speaker 4: x and uh my what's my my username handles?
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, handle, there you go.
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: That's I don't know all these words, uh at Eric
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: Underscore Moritelli and that's I'll usually repost everything, but that
• 54:24
  Speaker 4: balls out of here. Dot com is also a place
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: so you can find it. This has been a nice
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: busy week with draft, All Star prospects stuff, so it's
• 54:32
  Speaker 4: a lot of stuff coming out.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: The look, Lenn and I were talking about it before
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: you jumped on it, like it was a decent All
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: Star game too that we saw I couldn't believe and
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: yes we might be a little biased because of what
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber.
• 54:45
  Speaker 4: Gimmicky, but even before that I thought it was a
• 54:48
  Speaker 4: close It was. It was a close game both there's
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: there's you know, really good players in it, and it's
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: it's hilarious because I saw a lot of discourse on
• 54:56
  Speaker 4: Twitter about about this swing off last night as it
• 54:59
  Speaker 4: was half and you know, it's obviously one of the
• 55:02
  Speaker 4: things you could never actually have a game that matters
• 55:04
  Speaker 4: be decided by this, but for an All Star game,
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: that was like a perfect way to end that. Why
• 55:08
  Speaker 4: risking injury us up to a pitcher, Why just do
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: it that way? It was gimmicky, but it was fun.
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: It was great.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, let's get into as we're moving along with
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: the discussion here the Phillies bullpen here, I the bullpen
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: has just been so up and down all season, such
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: inconsistency there. And yes, as we said earlier, there are
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: certain frustrating aspects of this team. We shouldn't lose our
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: minds necessarily. Philly is probably looking to bring in a
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: bullpen piece before the trade deadline. But what do you
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: see happening with certain talent in the bullpen? Eric That
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: gives you hope, and that also gives you some pause
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: So I think the biggest thing that gives me pause,
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: I'll start with the bad obviously. I think you know
• 55:52
  Speaker 4: this wouldn't be surprised anyone. The Jordan Romano signing is
• 55:55
  Speaker 4: not going as planned. Oh yes, you supposed to be
• 55:58
  Speaker 4: one of your You're you're laid in in guys, and
• 56:02
  Speaker 4: because of that, everyone else is kind of nowt bumped
• 56:05
  Speaker 4: to another another role and you don't Losing Alvarado obviously
• 56:10
  Speaker 4: is a big kick there too, But now you're relying
• 56:15
  Speaker 4: on on Kirkering, who's still relatively young. Let's remember to
• 56:18
  Speaker 4: kind of be your your your your closer, if you
• 56:21
  Speaker 4: could really give the Phillies a true closer, and he's
• 56:25
  Speaker 4: one of those, He's he's still a little inconsistent, right
• 56:28
  Speaker 4: he was. He had a really good start. Last couple
• 56:30
  Speaker 4: of games have been a little shaky. Matt Strom's actually
• 56:33
  Speaker 4: been really good his last uh, I would say, last
• 56:35
  Speaker 4: two weeks or so, and his last like fifteen innings.
• 56:37
  Speaker 4: I think he's only giving up like four earned runs
• 56:40
  Speaker 4: and he's getting some strikeouts. The problem, I think is
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: lack of of depth. Beyond that, you have guys like
• 56:46
  Speaker 4: maxwell's Ar, who's actually been pitching okay, but do you
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: really want to see.
• 56:49
  Speaker 3: Him in the eighth or ninth inning? No, I don't.
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: Daniel Robert has actually been pitching really well in the
• 56:55
  Speaker 4: four innings he's he's only give up one on a
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: run and has eight strikeouts. But again, do not want
• 56:59
  Speaker 4: to see him closing out a game. So you're kind
• 57:02
  Speaker 4: of at a point where the biggest issue here is
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: that your options are so limited. The other day when
• 57:09
  Speaker 4: when Kirkering wasn't available because he pitched to night before,
• 57:11
  Speaker 4: it's like, okay, well, who who can we throw out there?
• 57:14
  Speaker 4: It's it's some mixture of those guys. Joe Ross Tanner
• 57:18
  Speaker 4: Banks has been serviceable, but again not a guy I
• 57:21
  Speaker 4: really see in the and he's been good.
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: I have nothing bad, nothing bad to say.
• 57:24
  Speaker 4: About what he's doing in his role, but I don't
• 57:25
  Speaker 4: want to see him elevated a role. And that's the
• 57:27
  Speaker 4: problem that they're seeing with his bullpen. People are pitching
• 57:30
  Speaker 4: in roles that they're not really equipped to pitch in.
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: Uh Straum, I think is really the only guy who
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: has pitched these high leverage situations consistently before with this team.
• 57:40
  Speaker 4: So seeing him in the eighth and ninth inning, I'm
• 57:41
  Speaker 4: totally fine with Kirkering. Is My confidence is pretty good
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: with Kirkering.
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 57:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So this is not a knock on him at all.
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: But again, it's just he's still he's still young, He's
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: still I think needs to throw the fastball a little
• 57:56
  Speaker 4: bit more because I think he's way too reliant on
• 57:58
  Speaker 4: on the on the sweeper and he doesn't have the
• 58:00
  Speaker 4: feel for that.
• 58:01
  Speaker 3: He's just kind of he just kind of looks lost
• 58:03
  Speaker 3: out there.
• 58:04
  Speaker 4: But you know, it's so I think adding a piece
• 58:07
  Speaker 4: will be huge getting Alvarado back at least for most
• 58:11
  Speaker 4: of August and September will be nice. And you know,
• 58:14
  Speaker 4: it's again, as we kind of said, it's not necessarily
• 58:18
  Speaker 4: out of the question to see some of these guys
• 58:19
  Speaker 4: they just drafted. So gage Wood is the primary one.
• 58:22
  Speaker 4: But there's another guy gave Craig, who they drafted in
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: the fifth round, who is twenty four already. He was
• 58:27
  Speaker 4: red shirted a season in college, but he's been compared
• 58:31
  Speaker 4: to Kirkering with his slider and listening to Brian Barber
• 58:34
  Speaker 4: talk the other day after the draft, they rate his
• 58:38
  Speaker 4: slider as one that could play in the majors right now.
• 58:42
  Speaker 4: So if they're really in a pickle and they can't
• 58:44
  Speaker 4: figure something out, they do maybe. And again, do we
• 58:47
  Speaker 4: want to rely on a guy who's making his day
• 58:49
  Speaker 4: it was gonna have like two weeks of major league experience,
• 58:52
  Speaker 4: right closing out or pitching in beginnings? Probably not, but
• 58:55
  Speaker 4: there are some options there. Biggest thing, though, get someone
• 58:58
  Speaker 4: of the deadline.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely all right, Well, buddy, before I let you go,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: I wanted to dive into just from an overall perspective,
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: as we're gonna be coming out of the All Star
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: break here at a lot of those negative Nellies are
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: going to be out in force when this team returns
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: to action, when they return to the field in these
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: upcoming series against the Angels, the Red Sox, and the Yankees. Here,
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: what do you think this Phillies team needs to do
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: during the second half of the season to really show
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: the Major League Baseball world that they are one of
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: the top contenders in baseball? Do you have any thoughts
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: here on this?
• 59:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think they need to score runs consistently. They
• 59:39
  Speaker 4: can't go out there and do what it seems like
• 59:41
  Speaker 4: every team has done since you know, at least since
• 59:44
  Speaker 4: I was born anyway, where if they go out and
• 59:46
  Speaker 4: score ten runs, the next three days they score combined
• 59:49
  Speaker 4: like three, right, So they need to just start scoring
• 59:52
  Speaker 4: runs consistently. And I think it's just like we talked
• 59:57
  Speaker 4: about earlier when we were talking about the offense. I
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 4: really think that's where this mostly lies. Obviously, the bullpen.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 4: I think that's an easier issue to address. The lineup
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 4: is the harder issue to address because you have so
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 4: many guys under contract or under pig contracts, and you
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 4: can't just keep bringing on a superstar. So if you
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 4: can't go out and trade for another superstar, right, Yeah,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 4: So these guys, what we need to see is consistent
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 4: at bats and a big boost in average with runners
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 4: in scoring position. That would make me and I'm sure
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 4: a lot of the people are.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Carry make me happy, Buddy, would make me happy watching
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: this team. And again, folks, this twenty twenty five Philly
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: season hasn't been all terrible. Can they be better in
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: certain areas? Absolutely, And it's going to be interesting to
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: keep focusing on this team what they're doing before the
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: trade deadline and beyond as we are hopefully looking towards
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: the postseason. And Eric, it was great talking to you man,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: Always great having you on the show. Please come back
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: join us, We'll get into some more Phillies talk. I'd
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: love to have you back on the show, my friend.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Jeff, I was have a good time talking with you.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for us this week.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: Make sure to share the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show
• 1:01:08
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• 1:01:10
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• 1:01:13
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• 1:01:16
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• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: guests taking the time to join us every week to
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: help make this podcast happen and to give us great content,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: and ultimately we appreciate you. Take care and have a
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: great week, and we'll catch you next time.