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Assessing The Phillies Strengths & Weaknesses (PST Episode 514) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:25
All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
0:29
the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, ten years strong.
0:33
You know, we celebrated our ten year anniversary in April. Now we
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are in May. A lot of stuff is still going on in the world
0:39
of Philly sports. We are heartbroken. We do have hope for certain teams,
0:43
and we're gonna be getting into it this week. On this episode,
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I'm Jeff Warren. My co host Lennon Eric could not be with us this
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week just due to some scheduling issues, so we have a guest co host
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this week. I absolutely love talking to him. In fact, he and
0:57
I are gonna be getting together this week. We're gonna get some lunch together,
1:00
gonna meet each other in person for the very very first time. From
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CBS Sports. Our good friend of the pod, Jeff Kerr. How are
1:04
you doing, Jeff? Pretty good? Jeff. By the way, we're
1:08
on the Tony A's at West Running, which is an unbelievable cheese steak place.
1:12
I'm gonna tell Jeff right now, get the past yell from They'll never
1:17
regret. Really, Okay, you're gonna have to show me what the menu
1:19
is. You're gonna have to show me what the best parts of the menu
1:23
are, because this is gonna be an experience. It's not just it,
1:26
of course, hanging out with you. It's gonna be awesome. We're gonna
1:27
we're gonna be doing probably some talking about the world of sports and even maybe
1:33
some sports journalists here and there, and talking about who we like and don't
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like. However, however thinks good things exactly exactly, However, the food
1:41
is gonna be most important. I cannot wait for some cheese steaks with you
1:44
this Friday, my friend. Oh. Absolutely. By the way, we're
1:46
gonna have to pre order these cheese steaks too, because they get pretty busy
1:49
on Oh do they all right? All right? Good to know, good
1:52
to know. I may I may throw that over to you. Let maybe
1:55
let you take care of that one. Yeah, just sort of the food.
1:59
I will tell you what's in it and then you get them for yourself.
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All right, sounds good? Well, folks, we have got a
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jam packed agenda for this particular episode. Again, thanks to Jeff for joining
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me this week here filling in for lenn and Eric. We of course are
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going to get into our reactions to the Sixers loss yet again in the Eastern
2:17
Conference semifinals. Where does this team go from here, who stays, who
2:22
goes? And what's gonna happen with Joel Embiid in his future. And we
2:28
are also going to be getting into some NFL talks Eagles talk as well.
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Excuse me, the Eagle schedules release this past week, and there's some ongoing
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NFL storylines that we wanted to get into that are pretty interesting. And then
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we got to get into some NL East talk because this NL East just my
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gosh, just the middling of this division and some of the teams basically in
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the middle of the division. It's hard to pinpoint, you know, the
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strength of these NL East teams as we're in mid May here. And then
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what we're throwing down on the table this week. We've got Ben Silver,
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he's a contributor over at the Goodfight dot Com. He's going to join us
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to look at this Phillies team in a lot of detail, how they're performing
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thus far through six weeks this season, the ups and downs, the pitching,
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the batting. We're gonna be getting into it with Ben, for sure.
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But again, we got Jeff Kerr here from CBS Sports. Let's get
3:20
into this Philadelphia seventy Sixers team, and of course, Jeff, we were
3:23
absolutely heartbroken by what happened. All of us Sixers fans. I know you've
3:28
gone to a number of games over the course of this season, but heartbroken
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by the fact that they're still not able to get out of the second round,
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still not able to get out of the Eastern Conference semifinals. And right
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before we hit the record button here on Tuesday, May sixteenth, when we're
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recording this, Doc Rivers fired as head coach. Now, look, I
3:46
think some of us thought that this was going to be happening. The Sixers
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semifinal loss just a few days ago mark their sixth straight year of reaching the
3:55
postseason but failing to advance past the second round. And Doc Rivers, when
4:00
you look at his record in Philadelphia, he had a record of one hundred
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and fifty four wins eighty two losses in the regular season, twenty wins fifteen
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losses in the playoffs in three seasons as the head coach, and at the
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end of the day, the Philadelphia seventy Sixers hadn't reached the conference finals since
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two thousand and one, so Jeff, I think reasonable minds could disagree about
4:26
how much Rivers was at fault in a series that saw his two best players
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absolutely struggling down the stretch at very important moments during certain games. But he
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was brought to Philadelphia to take the Sixers further than they had been in the
4:41
past. That did not happen. However, I do not believe that Doc
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Rivers was the reason that the Philadelphia seventy Sixers performed the way that they did
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down the stretch in this two twenty three semifinals matchup against the Boston Celtics,
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who absolutely annihilated them at the TV Bank a Gardener past Sunday. So what
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are your thoughts with regard to Doc Rivers the firing, and you know we'll
5:03
kind of go from there. Well, Jeff, the first thing is,
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I'm very upset there were Game seven. I'm very upset. I've been the
5:13
upset over Game six. I I'm the biggest Sixers fan on the plant.
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I don't miss games ever. During the a two game regular seas, I
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told people I probably might not watch Game seven because I know the result.
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I knew what was going to happen. I hate the losing attitude of Joel
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and Bed and James Harden. They have a losing culture attached to them.
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And and Bed had the absolutely livid on Thursday night when he said, I
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don't get the ball. You're the MVP of the league. You demand the
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ball, right and if James Harden ain't given you the ball, you make
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a scene and make him give you the ball. That I all know what
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Doc Rivers was thinking. I'll know what Joel and Bibe was thinking. James
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Harden, Tyree's Maxie, there's terrible shots. He was taken, D'Anthony Melton
6:00
missing wide open shots. PJ. Tucker's missing wide open shot. And at
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the end of the day, Doc Rivers did not have an answer for putting
6:06
Robert Freakin Williams in Yeah that the spacing should have been unbelievable for the Sixers.
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Yeah, and they couldn't figure it out. They could not score over
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ninety points in both those games. That is atrocious. It is, Jeff.
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They were one of the four best teams in the National Basketball Association this
6:27
year. They were Yeah, I told people all year, if you think
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this team is going to balance the second round, If you don't like Doc
6:34
Rivers, Joe and b James Harden, don't watch, just don't watch.
6:39
Don't tell me. I'll let the results seem for myself. Well, I
6:42
agree with a lot of those people after Game six, and I hate to
6:45
admit that because it was so frustrating this year having people say to me what
6:49
they said to me about this team. I thought this team was different.
6:53
Of all the teams I thought was different. I thought it was this team.
6:56
Absolutely. You talk about James Harden too and what his future is going
7:00
to be, whether it's with this team, and of course the rumors of
7:01
whether or not he's going to be going back to Houston. But I think
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the one aspect of this team and you kind of touched on it there where
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Joe ell Embiid needed to talk to James Harden say get me the ball because
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I cannot tell you how many times I am so tired of and we talked
7:15
about it on this podcast a number of times. James Harden bringing the ball
7:20
up the court and he just keeps it for twenty seconds until he takes that
7:25
fade away three or whatever shot he's going to take. The play, especially
7:29
in the third just never seems to work when it needs to work for the
7:33
team, and I just tired of that play time and time again. Move
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the ball around, have some movement going around with some very talented players on
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this team, and get the ball to the rim. How many times do
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we see James Harden driving to the rim only to pass the ball when he
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could have had a layup. It was so unbelievably frustrating. James Harden's play
7:58
during the postseason reminded me and was reminiscent of last years as well. He
8:03
does not show up during the postseason. He doesn't need to come back to
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Philadelphia in my opinion, that's my opinion. I don't know what are your
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thoughts. And you know what, Jeff, it's a shame because he won
8:13
the six is two games in this series. He's the reason. Yeah,
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he was the reason they were up thirty to two because of him. So
8:18
I think that's what's so frustrating. And I don't want I'm okay with James
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hard now, have a good relationship with Doc Rivers. That's fine and not
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everything has to be sunslined and roses, but you're laying James Harden basically determined
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where you're gonna fire a coach after the performance he just put up in Game
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six and Game seven, Like, dude, you are so helter skelter,
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You're you are the MVP of the league one night and you were the worst
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player in the league for the next and that just cannot happen. You cannot
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give this man max money. I don't mind if he comes back, but
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I don't want this man coming back and footy five million a year. If
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he comes back, it's twenty five million, thirty million a year. I
8:56
can live with that, because there really isn't any better options out there right
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now. People complain about Yeah, people complain about the Tobias Harris contract.
9:03
I mean, I'm rightfully said. I mean the look, he got his
9:05
money, the Sixers gave it to him. But we complain about Tobias Harris
9:09
time and time again because of that contract. We're gonna see the same exact
9:13
thing if James Harden gets that type of contract and does not produce. Kind
9:18
of like, yes, absolutely, it boggles my mind and I get I
9:24
get scared about where the organization and team is going to go. Because as
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much as he was disappointing during especially Game seven, I love Joe el Embiid,
9:33
I love watching him play basketball during the regular season this past March,
9:37
during a brutal, brutal March schedule, he really came through I think for
9:41
the team in so many different ways. However, I wonder if we're going
9:46
to start hearing the grumblings of whether or not he wants to be traded or
9:48
wants to be dealt if he even wants to be in Philadelphia. I hope
9:52
that's not the case, but I don't know. Do you think that's a
9:54
potential to happen, you know, for this for this six or teven,
10:00
Like, what is that going to do to the team. It's just gonna
10:01
splinter it. It's gonna be awful if that does happen. Jeff, Well,
10:05
I'll tell you what, there's one team I would not trade him too
10:09
if he wants to be traded, and that is the Miami Heat because guess
10:11
why I am sick and tired of this bromance with Jimmy Butler. They didn't
10:16
win ship, but Jimmy Butler eater. Yeah, Jeff super cool, and
10:18
Jimmy Butler did the same stuff James Harden did in that game seven held the
10:22
ball too. Law. People seem to forget about that for all this Hindy
10:26
Butler. They said, Jimmy Butler needs to be the alpha of a basketball
10:28
team. That's clear as day. And the Sixers mistake was choosing Brett Brown
10:35
and Ben Simmons over Jimmy Butler. Yeah, that was their ultimate mistake.
10:39
That's why I get up set over the whole thing. But there's no guarantee
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they were gonna win tild with Jimmy Butler and Joella Beat. I would like
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to think they wouldn't, but there was no guarantee they They did enough to
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lose that game seven before that, why shot. So I'll get on that.
10:52
But I don't think they should trade Joel and bad. I think they
10:56
should make Joel and be as happy as he can. Absolutely, but I
10:58
would tell you, I would tell Droll would beat this. You cannot be
11:01
one A in the playoffs because time in and time out, you can't get
11:07
it done. It's happened in multiple game seven's already even from a load management
11:11
standpoint in the regular season, and I know the regular season this past year,
11:15
they tried their best to manage how many times or how much time he
11:20
was going to be on the court. You know what, Paul Reid.
11:22
You know he should be seeing some more time during the regular season. I
11:26
think I think you're absolutely right that one A center. I think Joel Embide
11:31
needs to go within himself and understand that it just can't continue the way that
11:35
it has been continuing, that there needs to be other options for this team.
11:39
This team does have other options as well. Who knows what might happen
11:43
during the offseason. I do think Daryl Morey is actually going to make some
11:46
sort of crazy, huge splash. I think he's gonna at least try so.
11:50
That being said, I think Embide needs to take a step back and
11:54
especially within himself, to say, you know what, when it comes to
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be in the one A on this team, you know, I need to
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take a step back in terms of my own load management. I really think
12:03
this year then Kola Yokich could not care if he won MVP. Yeah,
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I think he. I think the Denver Nuggets won to win MVP. I
12:11
believe the fans want to win MVP, but I think the Kola Yokis said
12:15
it best. Jamal Murray is the best player on this team. Yeah,
12:18
And I watched enough Nuggets playoff games and enough Nuggets regular season games to determine
12:24
this. Yokis was one day in the regular season. You realize Mike Malone
12:28
changed everything up in the postseason to let that team run through Jamal Murray and
12:33
Michael Porter Jr. And Yokis just kind of there. But he's putting up
12:37
Yokich numbers because you have to worry about stopping Jamal Murray. You have to
12:41
worry about him taking over a game, which he has done. Joe Ebad
12:46
has never had that. Yeah, James Harden did it, but Joal and
12:48
b wasn't on the floor, and he did do it a Game four,
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but again that was the lead the Sixers blue, and they had to recover.
12:56
Ye. Ben Simmons never took over posted. You know what I'd buy
13:01
Ben Simmons is taking over playoff games before, but it was the first year
13:05
and it was always in the first round, right right. Boston exposed him.
13:09
Dad. He couldn't shoot, and Ben never really wanted to shoot,
13:11
which is fine, but he had to play the donker role. Yeah,
13:15
and I don't think he wanted to do that year. I just think this
13:18
franchise cobbled so many players. Dwell Embiid, Ben Simmons, Mark El faults
13:24
and when push came to shove, you saw Mark el Folter. TJ.
13:28
McConnell basically came in and the fan base loved in mark el Fulton. I'm
13:31
out, Yeah, I can't win here. Ben Simmons the minute they blamed
13:35
him and not Ebide who by the way and beat them play well. In
13:37
game seven Eater, they blamed Ben Simmons and they blamed Doc. Yeah.
13:41
Well, Ben Simmons basically said I'm out of here, and I'm hoping that's
13:46
out the case because things are gonna get a little tough on Dwelling Bead now
13:48
they are. So where does this team go from here? Now? I
13:52
mean, I'm obviously Doc Rivers being fired. I don't think I think they're
13:56
gonna try to trade Tobias Harris get that contract off their books. I mean,
14:01
George Niang probably not coming back. We're probably going to see some new
14:03
bench pieces as well. Jeff, I don't know what are your thoughts on
14:07
where Daryl Morey go. I mean, I wonder if Daryl Morey is going
14:09
to survive. I think he probably will, and he has here in mid
14:13
May. Thus far, Where does this team go from here? Do you
14:15
think? I would love to see Seth Curry come back on this team,
14:18
but his father in law isn't here anymore. So yeah, yeah, that
14:22
I don't think that's gonna happen. Um. I still think I run it
14:26
back with harder than and b but have a different cast. I agree with
14:30
you. I think you gotta try to find somebody to take on that to
14:33
Bias Harris contract ye, get that off the books and kind of build your
14:37
roster around Harden and be Maxie and then you have a bunch of like Danny
14:41
Melton type role player. By the way, Danny Melton, I love that
14:45
that trade when Darryl Morriy made it, gave up the first round pick and
14:48
Danny Greenford Danny mel I thought mel was a great player in the regular season,
14:52
in the first round of the playoffs, but where did he go in
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the second round? Just like everybody, Just like everybody else. And if
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you would have at him show up to Bias is two points in forty one
15:03
minutes. He had two more points than you and I did. Jeff,
15:05
Yes, exactly, So you got to move around there. I still think
15:09
James Harden is still on the lead player. Is he the MVP of the
15:13
League anymore. No, right, is he a winning player? No?
15:16
But I think I get the right coach in there. And you gotta tell
15:20
Joe and Bid look you're not the guy anymore. But if on the sixers,
15:24
if James Harden doesn't come back, you gotta try to get Damian Lillard
15:26
or Bradleig Deal or somebody. Yeah, you gotta try. I think it's
15:31
gonna be interesting to watch for sure. Let us know what you're thinking out
15:33
there, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your
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email here on the show and respond to it. And also, if you're
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to us. If anything happens to your podcast feed, head on over to
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and make sure to follow Jeff on Twitter at Jeff Kerr CBS. He's a
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great, great folly. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore, Warren and
16:00
the Show at Philadelphia PST. We're gonna take a quick break to pay some
16:03
bills. We will be back in just a bit. All right, we
16:07
are back and again we are with Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports filling in for
16:14
Eric and Len this week. And Jeff, you know you you follow and
16:18
report on for CBS. The Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL in general, a
16:23
lot of different storylines going on with this Eagles team and with the league here
16:29
in May, even during this offseason. It's really interesting just the direction of
16:33
the league and the direction of the Philadelphia Eagles too. The Eagles schedule was
16:40
released, and in fact, all team schedules was released this past week,
16:42
all NFL teams. We know who's going to be playing who and when this
16:47
upcoming season. And interestingly enough, and I thought it was great how you
16:51
tweeted out earlier today the Eagles have three Monday night football games, first time
16:56
they've had this many since two thousand and six. So, you know,
17:00
as I'm looking at this Eagle schedule and we all know, we all know
17:03
that they have the toughest schedule in the NFL, I think what is really
17:08
interesting is the fact that we're going to really be seeing them featured in primetime
17:12
matchups this year. The NFL. They know who the Philadelphia Eagles are at
17:17
this point, they know who Jalen Hurts are, a J. Brown,
17:19
who he is. They understand that people do want to see this Philadelphia Eagles
17:25
team the premier team. I hesitate to say because I don't want to jinx
17:27
anything but the premier team in the NFC. You know, what were your
17:32
thoughts, Jeff, with regard to the Eagles schedule? Anything really kind of
17:36
stick out to you when you were, you know, combing over what everything
17:40
look looks like for this coming year. Well, first off, I don't
17:45
care that there are only three one pm games. I'm sorry, fans,
17:48
I don't care. Right, if you want your team to be good,
17:52
you are going to be playing four twenty five eight o'clock games. There are
17:55
people complaining about Yeah, there are people complaining about that on Twitter. Yeah,
18:00
you can't complain about that. I mean, look at that. That
18:03
means your team's really good. Yeah. There's a reason CBS protectas may Kansas
18:07
Ce Chiefs games as they do and for four twenty five. And the Eagles
18:11
have a loaded schedule this year in terms of opponents. So you're gonna play
18:15
a lot of four twenty five games against the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City
18:18
Chiefs. They're a primetime game. The New York Jets, who had got
18:21
Aaron Rodgers now the Patriots is a four twenty five game. I didn't think
18:25
that was good, But that's a big game because of Tom Brady. It
18:27
is opening game of the season. Yep. Yeah, Minnesota, they were
18:32
a thirteen win team last year. Yeah, I mean say it was one
18:34
of aliment's still gonna be a big game. I mean, look, the
18:38
Eagles got a loaded schedule with a lot of quality opponents and enjoy it.
18:44
I love the four twenty five game. As someone who covers these games.
18:47
Let me tell you, jet, I love getting up at nine o'clock,
18:52
getting dressed at ten, leaving L eleven, getting there at twelve thirty,
18:57
and I leave like a financial field at twelve thirty one o'clock at night.
19:03
It's better to leaving at three, four o'clock at night. Or yeah,
19:06
I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. The one o'clock games are ideal.
19:07
But I like end up six o'clock for him, right because Philly fans
19:11
are crazy and they're they're kail gang in the morning. It's just the way
19:15
it is. But I you know what, I knew there were gonna be
19:18
a lot of primetime games. I wasn't surprised there was a game on Christmas.
19:22
I actually thought they put they were gonna be the Black Friday game.
19:25
Yeah I did. Did you see my tweet? Though I didn't make a
19:29
joke about Johnnyanny's schedule? Leakers are actually right, all right exactly? Yes,
19:33
I did. Yes, And no one put an answer on there because
19:37
they know accountability that one seems the care right. I could say, I
19:41
could say a source says, and it could be you that the Eagles were
19:47
playing at one o'clock in Week three, and I could be dead wrong,
19:51
and no one would seem the care right, exactly exactly. Look I look
19:55
at this Eagle schedule here and look sometimes talking about the schedule at this point
20:00
in the year, it's kind of like, Okay, it's like, what
20:03
does it really mean? Because training camp hasn't started, injuries haven't been piling
20:07
up with various teams. But I look at this and I think, you
20:10
know what, I think? Four and oh right out of the gate is
20:12
very much possible. They start off playing the New England Patriots as as we
20:18
mentioned earlier, then the Minnesota Vikings in week two, Week three at the
20:22
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Commanders at home, and then they do go
20:26
out to the Los Angeles Rams too. I don't know if I don't know
20:30
if they win five and oh out of the gate, but I think four
20:32
and oh is actually possible for this team. So John McMullen of Jacob Sports
20:38
and Sports Hills, him and I talked about this, Okay, we think
20:42
they could start five and up. I think it's a possibility. Yeah.
20:45
I don't want to go too too crazy. So this is how I broke
20:49
down the season. I had to do a game by game prediction. I
20:52
know, again it's may, but keep them on. I wasn't far off
20:56
last year. I said twelve and five. You did yep. Yeah,
21:00
So I said that and that was in meg. I went fourteen and three
21:03
this year again, and I actually think before they get into their toughest stretch
21:08
of season, they are going to be eight and two. Okay, so
21:14
let's go for the bye week, right because after the bye week it's it's
21:17
absolutely brutal. Yeah. Yeah, I trying to think where I have him
21:19
is here and I one or eight and two? Him trying to remember,
21:22
but I specifically remember that tough five game stretch. Ye with starring with Kansas
21:26
City. You're playing the and you read off of bye. I don't like
21:30
that. I know the Eagles are coming off a bye, so I had
21:33
that as a loss. I think he beat Buffalo at home. I think
21:36
you beat San Francisco at home because I just think they're a beter a team
21:37
than that. I'm tired of the forty nine ers. Same here. I
21:41
think you lose the Dallas in Dallas, and I think you beat Seattle and
21:45
Seattle, so three and two. If you live three and two through that
21:48
five game stretch, I think you're home free for home field advantage. Yeah,
21:52
yeah, I do. I do hate the fact, and I shouldn't
21:56
hate the fact. Dude to maybe who the opponent is, because I think
21:59
the Eagles are team. But for the fourth straight year in a row,
22:02
the Eagles are going to start the season on the road and nine road contests
22:08
in two thousand and twenty three, which is a reversal from the kind of
22:14
the scheduling advantage that they had in two twenty two. I don't know even
22:18
the fact that they played Dallas twice in five weeks. In terms of the
22:22
Giants, well, I think the Giants may take that next leap this coming
22:27
season. I think it is absolutely possible. And they've got two matchups with
22:30
the Giants in the final four weeks. So in terms of the schedule,
22:34
you know, those aspects of the schedule I'm looking at and I'm like,
22:38
you know what it's gonna be. It's it may be a little bit tougher
22:42
than we think. Do I think that your predictions like right here in may
22:45
are absolutely possible. Yes, I do, But I do think from a
22:48
division standpoint, there could be there could be some hiccups here and there.
22:52
By the way, how lame is it that the Eagles play most of division
22:57
games at the end of the year. I hate, I hate the NFL's
23:00
new format of those schedules. Remember when they used to play like Washington in
23:03
Week one or Dallas a week under the Giants a week one. That used
23:07
to be a thing in the Again, I keep trying to tell NFL fans
23:11
this, as great as you think the NFL is now, it was way
23:15
better in the nineties, how they scheduled it and how the divisions went.
23:18
Yeah, I starting on they really weekend. I hate the way the NFL
23:22
does their schedule now, like Lions Chiefs Week one, let's get into that.
23:26
I wanted to bring that up, Jeff, because, like, I
23:27
think it's I think it was bizarre. I mean, I think a lot
23:32
of us were thinking it could have been Super Bowl rematch to start the season,
23:36
Chiefs against the Eagles. But no, when it came out that it's
23:40
going to be Chiefs Lions the NFL's opening game of the two twenty three season,
23:45
a lot of us just kind of scratching our heads, like, wow,
23:48
what does this mean about the Lions team and what the league thinks about
23:52
where they are going to go here in two twenty three. I think it's
23:56
very interesting. So I know her, I want to say for a fact,
24:02
but just working at CBS, yeah, you can only protect three major
24:07
games a year. So okay, Chiefs Bengals was one, right, Chief
24:11
Bills is yard. They're going to keep their AFC power games right. I
24:17
wasn't sure Chief Eagles was going to be on that list because then it had
24:19
to be a four twenty five game, so I thought maybe NBC would get
24:23
that. Well. I think the NFL wants to put the Lions in prime
24:29
time because they weren't in prime time last year, if you remember when the
24:32
schedule came out, they were the only team that didn't have a primetime Yeah,
24:36
they eventually got flexed in the one, but they didn't have one.
24:40
I think this is an opportunity to kind of tell people, hey, this
24:45
isn't the same old Lions anymore. Right, they win or lose, it's
24:48
almost like you're throwing them a bone a bit, and it is a rare
24:51
matchup then playing the Chiefs. But I was talking to people, can't to
24:55
see about this. They thought it was going to be maybe Buffalo, maybe
24:59
since in that, maybe Philadelphia. You know, they got a loaded schedule
25:03
too, even Dallas. Oh no, they don't play Dallas this year,
25:06
that's right. I think the Eagles are the only team with threw the Chiefs
25:08
yea, yeah, because they won the division. So looking at it,
25:15
I'm just kind of shocked at that. And I knew ESPN and ABC we're
25:21
going to get better games because they paid the most money and they're trying to
25:25
make Monday night football relevant again. Yes, Well, to me, making
25:29
Monday Night Football relevant is putting the thing on ABC and keep it in on
25:33
there and making the song and making the presentation. You ruined Monday night football
25:37
when you moved it in two thousand and six, and you decide to make
25:40
Sunday Night football the pinnacle, waiting all day for Sunday Night, you know,
25:44
something like football doesn't have that many sexy matchups this year. Yeah,
25:48
yeah, it's interesting, Yeah, it's interesting. How to do TV contract
25:52
kinda changed things a bit, absolutely absolutely, And I also wanted to move
25:56
into another team that is in the Eagles Division here that's in the NFC East.
26:00
A storyline that I got into with one of my opposition territory guests recently,
26:04
Jeff, and that is the sale of the Washington Commanders. What it
26:10
means not only to their team, but really what it means to even the
26:15
NFC East and just kind of the league in a way, you know,
26:18
finally the league, you know, essentially, I would say, forcing Dan
26:22
Snyder and his family to sell the team, and what it means for Washington,
26:27
you know, like what it actually means for the fan base, allowing
26:33
them to kind of rejoice that a new era is starting for this Washington franchise
26:38
that one hasn't won anything, two tons of turmoil constantly. They're going to
26:45
have a new opportunity in the future to kind of just start a new whether
26:51
they're going to stay in Maryland, whether they move a stadium into Washington,
26:55
DC, perhaps where the old RFK Stadium was located. I think the Washington
27:00
Commander's storyline from an objective outsiders point, outsider's point of view, I think
27:07
it's really interesting. And I don't know what are your thoughts with regard to
27:08
the commanders and what this sale really means for them and really what it means
27:12
kind of for the NFL. I got a good connection in order of Virginia.
27:15
That's tell me they would welcome the commanders with open arms. Absolutely.
27:18
I think they would. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And you know he's
27:22
he's pretty big out there, so you know, it's it's I mean,
27:26
that's pretty much public knowledge at this point. Like they would like to have
27:30
them, and they would like to have the practice facility in the new stadium.
27:33
That's the number one thing that that team needs. At a news stage,
27:37
Jeff, have you been there to FedEx Field? Oh? I have.
27:38
It's terrible. Oh yeah, it's an absolute joke. I refused to
27:42
cover a game there, and I want to cover the Carson Wentz game last
27:45
year and I'm like, you know what, I don't like the traffic there.
27:48
I don't like the environment. I don't like it stuck behind the pole,
27:52
I'm covering the game. I had water dripping on me. It wasn't
27:55
even raining out and in my area where we were at, like water was
27:59
coming down like moisture stuff was coming down on to me. It was right
28:03
under the underhang area, and I'm like, what is going on here?
28:06
It's not even raining still, it's amazing falling. When that stadium was built,
28:11
that was like a Crown Jewels stadium. Yes, yeah, like you
28:15
thought that scene was gonna be around for fifty years. It looks beautiful in
28:19
the exterior. Yeah, but they didn't get in there. But they just
28:22
didn't take care of it. But I mean, that's just the bottom.
28:25
I still remember. I think it was a couple of years ago. There
28:27
were there was like Wasp's nest in like the top rail and I'm like,
28:30
wow, I ain't going up there anymore like that. That's an absolute joke.
28:34
Um, But that's Washington. They just don't care. And Daniel Sayer
28:40
is just I used to call him a nerdo owns a football team. He's
28:42
worse than that, he's just a scumbago. He absolutely yeah. And and
28:48
you know what, I kind of wish Daniel Snyder would have owned that team
28:53
forever because they would have been baped forever. But this, this is really
28:59
good for the command. And you can say whatever you want about Josh Harris.
29:02
They will be run better under him. They absolutely will. They absolutely
29:04
will. Let us know what your thoughts are about the Eagle schedule at any
29:07
of these NFL storylines. Philadelphia Sports Table dot com, we will read Philadelphia
29:11
Sports Table at gmail dot com. We will read your email here on the
29:15
show and respond to it. Jeff, we only have a little bit of
29:18
time left here, so before I let you go, Buddy, I'm gonna
29:21
be talking to our guests coming up in a little bit, Ben Silver about
29:25
this. But I wanted to get your thoughts on the NL East and what
29:27
is happening with this division at this point. I mean, the Phillies,
29:33
the Mets, the Marlins, just middling teams who don't really have an identity
29:38
necessarily at this particular point in the season. Of course, the Atlanta Braves
29:42
have won twenty six games already. They're out in front. They're going to
29:45
continue to be out in front of the NL East. But man, I
29:48
thought this division was going to be a little bit more how can I say
29:52
a little bit more positive to watch in a way, it's just so up
29:59
and down. I thought were going to see and I want to use the
30:00
word dominance at all, but I thought we were going to see some like
30:03
really really good baseball coming from these middle tier type of teams. And I
30:08
thought we'd be seeing much better baseball from the Phillies, much better pitching as
30:12
well. And I'm gonna get into that with Ben in just a little bit
30:15
here, but what are your thoughts in the NL East right here at this
30:18
point where you know, the Phillies are currently the number two spot in the
30:22
division, but it's only by like a half a game or something. At
30:26
this point, It's really bizarre how this division is is taking shape. Here
30:30
we look at the whole National League, like the National true, yeah,
30:33
is not good. The Central who knows who's gonna win that? The Cardinals
30:37
are god awful this year and yeah, it's amazing losing a forty two year
30:42
old catcher to do that to to a franchise, I mean, they Bets
30:45
Wilson Kadrera's last that was a big deal. Yeah, I think it signed
30:48
to a monster contract though. You in the West. I mean, the
30:52
Dodgers are good, the Padres are good, the Diamondbacks are a surprise.
30:56
But a lot of these twenty twenty two playoff teams, you know that we
31:00
saw doing some good things. Boy, they're struggling this year in the NL.
31:03
And this is one of the things I keep trying to tell people.
31:07
I don't think it matters anymore because you take six teams now and it's about
31:11
getting in. The Phillies proved that, Ye get in. I don't really
31:15
care if the Atlanta Phraser on the way with the division this year. I
31:18
don't because they lost in four games to the Phillies and really none of those
31:22
games were closed. Yeah. True, and they can say whatever they want
31:25
to. Philly stands where you want the world too. That's wonderful. But
31:27
what did you do last year? Right? You know that's the key here.
31:32
And frankly, they had guys on that team that quit in that game
31:34
four, Ron Dakunia being one of them, equit in that game four.
31:40
And I think it matters now about getting in. And the Phillies are I
31:45
think right now, if I'm not mistaken, they're one of the six.
31:48
I know they were one of the six. Yeah yeah, yeah. Two
31:52
days ago they were one of only six teams over five Hubbard. So I
31:56
think for them, it's getting into getting in the groove. But I don't
31:59
know how you can consistently win games a goll Win streets with the inconsistence darting
32:02
pitching. They have the fact that you got to try out Bailey Falter every
32:07
fifth day. He is god off. I mean, I mean they put
32:12
an opener in last like to salvage him and he still bad. Yeah.
32:16
It was. It was rough watching that, and of course we're gonna be
32:20
getting into that with Ben Silver and a little bit here. But the division
32:23
is still I think at a point, I think you nailed it, Jeff.
32:28
You know, they don't necessarily need to win the division. Of course,
32:31
at this point in the season we're looking at. Of course, that's
32:34
what we wanted at the beginning of the season. We wanted him to win
32:36
the division, but it's not necessary because they proved last year that you just
32:40
need to get in and if you get in and you get hot, you
32:45
can make that run. And I think that's what we really need to bank
32:47
on at this point with this Phillies team. But then again, you have
32:51
a Mets team. Oh my gosh, after the moves that they made this
32:53
offseason, I am really surprised at where they are at here. You know
32:59
what I'm not because I thought Steve Cohen overpaid a bunch of open players and
33:02
a bunch of players who work as good as they thought, Like Brandon Nimo's
33:07
a good player, don't get me wrong, right right? Was he worth?
33:08
Was he worth one hundred and sixty million? Yeah? Probably not?
33:12
Yeah? You know Justin Verlander. I love Justin Verlander. He's forty paying
33:17
him that much money? Yeah, and you're already paying actures or a lot
33:21
of money. You let Chris Bassett go. I want to sign Chris Bassett.
33:24
I just don't like the moves they made. I didn't think the moves
33:29
they may make them better. I still think their problem was they got off
33:34
to a hot start and blew a league. Yeah blew. They blew a
33:37
ten game lead in that division. Then my last bet I made, and
33:40
I'm not a betting man, then I don't bet a lot of money.
33:43
I put five hours on the lamp raised and win the division on June third,
33:45
and yeah, that looked pretty good. Yeah, absolutely, it does.
33:50
It does. All right, Well, I'm gonna let our good friend
33:52
Jeff Kerr here from CBS Sports, gonna let him go right now, Jeff,
33:57
do you have any final thoughts with regard to anything in the world of
33:59
Philly sports the sports world in general before I let you head out of here,
34:02
buddy, I'll just say this. I wish people would stop getting on
34:08
athletes for liking other teams. I'm sorry, Yeah, I'm sorry. Devanta
34:15
Smith is not a Sixers fans the Celtics fan, right, deal with it,
34:21
you know, just deal with it. I don't care. You don't
34:23
have to like team Michael Parson. But you want Michael Parson. But you're
34:28
okay with Michael Parsons like in the Phillies and the Sixers, right, but
34:32
you're not okay with Devanta Smith like in the Celtics. Right. I don't
34:36
understand. It's so hypocritical, like to me, like who you like,
34:39
I don't care, Like if you're an Eagles fan, and if you like
34:43
the Celtics or if you like another baseball team, that's fine. You shouldn't
34:50
have to judgment. Not everybody's four for four or five for five like we
34:52
are, Jeff, exactly exactly what a great way to end is a segment
34:55
here at the PST Podcast Show. We thank Jeff for on and filling in
35:00
for Lenn and Eric. Follow him on Twitter at Jeff kerrcybs. He is
35:05
a fantastic follow, great, great friend of the show. Jeff, come
35:08
back join us down the road and we'd love to talk to you more.
35:12
Man. Hey, Jeff, there are a few people I actually take time
35:15
out on my day four and you are. Oh, thank you so much,
35:19
buddy, Thank you so much. Folks. We are going to take
35:21
a quick break here. Stick with us. We've got a lot more Phillies
35:24
talk coming your way. All right, folks, we are back. Let's
35:29
get into some Phillies talk right now. It's what we're throwing down on the
35:30
table and now on the team. It's great to have back on the podcast.
35:37
I absolutely love talking to him about the Philadelphia Phillies. And it's been
35:42
too long since we've had him on. Thankfully we have him. He's written
35:45
some words every now and again over at the Good Fight dot Com. Again
35:50
love having him, Ben Silver, Ben Man, thank you so much for
35:52
jumping on the pod this week to talk about the mediocre Phillies at this point.
35:58
Man, it's good to see you on Zoo here. Great to have
36:00
you on the show, my friend. Yeah, great for you here,
36:02
Jeff, Thanks for having me. As always, what book better to talk
36:06
about than a nineteen and twenty ball club that should be you know, let's
36:12
just say better. Better. We thought they were going to be better,
36:15
and we came into this, we came into this season. I think I
36:19
was just talking to my good friend Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports about this,
36:22
you know, thinking, okay, all right, maybe coming off this World
36:24
Series, this team May you know, want to possibly and US fans,
36:29
you know, expect maybe them to be in contention here in this NL East,
36:34
and obviously that's not happening. It's probably not going to happen. I
36:37
think even here mid May, looking at a wild card spot is probably what
36:42
they're looking at if they're looking at the postseason toward the end of this year.
36:45
But like I really wanted to start with the pitching, and like my
36:50
gosh, it has been just so brutal as of late, and of course
36:52
the outing with Bailey Falter this past week here absolutely horrible. It was embarrassing.
36:59
I mean, he's ben He's throwing ninety two miles an hour fastball is
37:02
right down the middle of the plate. I mean, how do the Phillies
37:06
get some stability with this starting rotation here, especially the back end of the
37:09
rotation? Is it? I don't know. I hesitate to say, though.
37:13
Is it time for them to let Mick abel see the mound in Philadelphia?
37:16
What are your thoughts on this pitching situation here? I mean, I
37:21
just I don't I don't think there's an easy solution. I mean, clearly,
37:24
Bailey Falters not the guy like. I mean, the good thing is
37:28
at least he doesn't walk anybody. But you know, if for every two
37:31
walks he doesn't give up, he gives up a home run, I mean
37:34
that is that really a good thing? Right? It's not. The answer
37:37
is not Christopher Sanchez, That's for sure. He's struggling in triple A.
37:42
I mean, Abel, I think is pretty clearly not ready like he has,
37:45
you know, the same problem as Billy Falter where his Cata Walker Ray
37:47
show isn't that bad, but like he's giving up home runs to guys in
37:52
triple A like yeah, he's a ways away, and I think more realistically
37:57
he's a deadline piece. I actually got the chance to talk to to Rob
38:01
Thompson over the winter at the Winter Meetings UM, and he was just saying,
38:07
like Painter, before the injury, at least BE thought Painter had a
38:12
chance to come up, you know, for Opening Day, which it all
38:15
seemed like was the plan before the injury, of course, And with McGarry
38:20
and Able, he said, you know, there's a chance they come up
38:22
later in the year. But the way I took that to meet is unless
38:24
they are performing, unless they break out. Let's say they're not coming up
38:30
any time this year. There's no plan for those guys to you know,
38:34
take a spot starter or two, or fill in when there's when someone's struggling.
38:38
I don't see Able, you know, replacing Billy Falter. I see
38:44
mcabel being mcabel and coming up when that guy is ready, because see is
38:46
a stud. Yeah, but like I don't know, maybe the close solutions
38:51
a bullpen game, they have death they do call. Yeah, you could
38:54
you could call Louis Garcia back up, you know. Nick Nelson could have
38:58
been an answer, but he just heard in self again. Yeah, I
39:00
brogged in between Garcia, Brogden and Strom. That's like seven innings. Maybe
39:05
in a best case scenario. I don't think they're moving Falter of the pen
39:08
because they don't have any rotation depth and they call up Eric effing human today
39:15
because you know, they don't. They need someone, they need a live
39:17
arm, and they can't call Garcia back up yet. It's it's a frankly,
39:22
the fifth spot is a disaster and it's a shame because the front four
39:24
spots are so deep exactly, and it's it causes this instability which in a
39:34
time and again it's only mid May. Here, it's only mid May.
39:36
No, we don't have to go crazy like the season's over anything like that,
39:39
not by any stretch of the imagination. I think this team is still
39:42
winning ninety four games. I still think this team is gonna end up.
39:45
Yeah, I think I think I predicted. I think I predicted ninety one.
39:49
I think I have to go back and listen to the show. I
39:52
forget what I predicted. But yeah, rain right, I think it's absolutely
39:54
possible for them to do that. It's just this team, year after year,
39:59
we know it takes him a little while to get going. And of
40:04
course with Andrew Paynter, you know, not there, and we were all
40:07
so looking forward to seeing what he was going to give this starting rotation.
40:09
Hopefully we do see that at some point this season. Yeah, I mean,
40:14
I think theoretically it could be a blessing into in disguise, because if
40:19
he starts, if he starts the season with the Phillies, he's not gonna
40:22
throw two hundred innings, And if he throws, you know, one hundred
40:25
and twenty five innings, he's not going to throw another forty in the postseason
40:29
if they make it there. Yeah, now you know he comes back in
40:31
August the Phillies, he can be a trade deadline acquisition that they give up
40:35
nothing for and he's still still be fresh to the postseason. And I think
40:38
that leads us into one of the next points with Aaron Nola, who my
40:44
biggest concern with him is that he just pitched too much. Last year.
40:46
He pitched like two hundred and fifty innings. I have the exact number somewhere,
40:51
but he pitched like twenty five in the postseason and two hundred and ten
40:53
to the regular season, and it's killing his fastball. He can't throw hard
40:58
anymore. Well, that's yeah, I wanted to. It's a great segue
41:00
because, you know, sticking with the pitching here and Aaron Nola still looking
41:04
like he's searching for answers here, and it's it's been weeks now, I
41:07
mean this past week against the Rockies, you know, despite throwing one hundred
41:12
and two pitches, gives up four runs. He also took the loss because
41:15
the offense just couldn't score. I mean, oh my god, they were
41:17
freaking oh and fourteen with runners in scoring position. But still again, Aaron
41:22
Nola really searching for answers when he's pitching on the mound. Why, Ben,
41:27
what's your assessment here of what's been happening with Aaron Nola this season and
41:30
why we're not seeing that top level pitching that we saw last year. Is
41:34
it what you essentially said, you know the fact that my god, he
41:37
pitched so many freaking innings last year. What are your thoughts? Well,
41:40
I mean, I think the guy has pitched more innings than pretty much anyone
41:44
else since twenty eighteen. I think Meggie Garrett calls pitched more. But if
41:46
you're if you're one of those top two guys, that's that's a lot of
41:50
innings it is, you know, Yeah, I found them two hundred and
41:52
thirty point two innings last Jesus. And so it's fastball velocity. Like obviously
41:59
he's never pitched into October before, even November before, because like Phillies,
42:04
ain't never made it that far with him. You know, his his fastball
42:07
vlow on average is down one point one miles an hour from last year.
42:10
And that like pictures loose VLO all the time. You know, we would
42:15
have lost VLO last year and he lost a little VLO this year. I'm
42:16
not concerned at all about him. His underlying stats are just as good as
42:20
they've ever been. Nola's underperforming, don't like Don't get me wrong, He's
42:23
been unlucky, but he hasn't been so unlucky that I trust him to rebound
42:31
without any changes. Yeah, Like, hitters are slugging something like six eighty
42:37
six against his fastball. His k rate is on the fastball is enough to
42:40
seventeen percent from like thirty percent last year, And his two best starts of
42:45
the year against Houston and Toronto, he averaged something like an extra point five
42:49
miles an hour in his fastball and he hit ninety three on average in that
42:52
game against Toronto where he struck out like eight and six innings, and those
42:55
starts came on six days of rest and five days or his rest, respectively.
43:00
So it all just adds up to me that the guy is tired.
43:02
He's thrown too many damn innings. Yeah, and I've never I've never seen
43:07
Nola need a phantom I elstant before, but that might be what he needs.
43:12
He's not gonna get it because you know, they can't afford to replace
43:15
Faulter, let alone Aaron Nola, Right, but like we might just need
43:20
to get used to this for the rest of the year. Like a picture
43:22
like who throws you know, two hundred innings a year, which he's still
43:25
like on pace four and as you know, three to eight r a is
43:30
still you know, not just a good picture. That's a that's a great
43:32
picture. That's so valuabeah. Absolutely, But like the Phillies need a Snola
43:37
if they want to you know, quote, I don't want to say if
43:39
they want to win the World Series because I think that's setting expectations a little
43:43
high. And it could be fine and sneak into the playoffs and then gets
43:45
hot in the postseason. But I'm gonna say it, they need a Snola
43:47
to win the World Series. They do, they absolutely, I mean,
43:51
and I can't see them scaling back innings. I can't necessarily see Rob Thompson
43:55
scale back maybe just four five innings. I can't see that at all.
44:00
No, I totally agree they need innings from Nola because he gives the bullpen
44:06
rest, which every fifth day, you know, when you know that Billy
44:09
Falter start comes around, although he's not with the team anymore, whenever that
44:13
fifth spot comes around, they're gonna need a lot of the bullpen. And
44:15
they're probably gonna need a lot of the bullpen for Suarez. And Walker's been
44:20
looking better, but I think they might need a lot of the bullpen for
44:22
him too, because the guys they were pitched more than one hundred and fifty
44:23
in a season. Yeah, it's gonna be, yeah, I mean it's
44:27
gonna be. I mean talking about the bullpen here, I wanted to get
44:30
your assessments on what we've been seeing from them thus far. Here in mid
44:32
May. Ben you know, as we know, Jose Alvarado's on the fifteen
44:37
day injured list with inflammation is left elbow. Craig Kimbrell I mean, as
44:40
enraging as he has been and certain spots during the course of this season,
44:45
he really has become Rob Thompson's most trusted right hand reliever. At this point,
44:50
Connor Brogden could potentially see some more opportunities in the future. I'm wondering,
44:54
how would you assess where the bullpen the bullpen is at after six weeks
45:00
of this season? What great would you give them thus far? And why?
45:06
I mean, I don't think they've been awful. I give them like
45:08
a B. Yeah, I think they've been polarizing. I think that's fair.
45:15
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it shocks me that kimberll Is is
45:19
the Phillies, you know, I guess Thompson, not the Phillies, is
45:23
Rob Thompson's most trusted right handed lever because I'm a big advanced stats guy.
45:28
If you didn't notice from the last whatever twenty minutes we've been talking. And
45:31
the thing is, I kind of trust kim Roll too, and I don't
45:34
think it is advanced that they're not that good. Like, I mean,
45:37
they're fine, they're not great, but like I go out there and i'd
45:40
see him throw at ninety nine with with a good girve, and I'm convinced
45:44
too. Yeah, but then he goes out and he gives up, you
45:47
know, four runs and then two runs on back to back nights against the
45:51
Dodgers, and I don't know how to feel about them. That said,
45:54
the bullpen throughout this season has something like the eighth worst day in baseball,
45:59
eleventh best day. You know, not great. You know, you look
46:02
at that and you say, okay, that's some regression. But here's the
46:07
thing. You take out those first six games where the Phillies started one in
46:09
five, you look at their bullpen, justins the home opener. They have
46:14
the third best ERA in the entire National League and the fourth best fit in
46:19
baseball. I mean, this bullpen, pedigree wise, talent wise, even
46:23
stats wise, you know, since that dreadful first week, is a top
46:28
five bullpen, and I think that they should be a top five bullpen going
46:31
forward. Yeah. I don't think it's controversial to say Alvarado is the best
46:34
reliever in baseball when he's healthy. Sodo very competent back end reliever, and
46:37
I've liked what I've seen from him, you know, since that first series
46:42
Dominguez, I think struggling a little bit mentally. Even when he's looked good,
46:46
he's still looked a little bit off right. But Dominguez when he's bad,
46:50
is better than most relievers, and Kimball staring hard Brogden is good.
46:54
He's overperforming. But like that, I guess I don't want to say back
46:58
end the front end of the bull pen. Yeah, sure of Vazquez,
47:02
Ortiz, Hoffman and Baladi like that. Pound for pounds, that's one of
47:07
the best in MLB. The one concern I have is that they kind of
47:10
have a pension for blow upennings, Soto and Dominguez especially, But I don't
47:16
know if I prefer that to you know, guys who sort of let runs
47:20
trickle out the faucet. They'll either be dominant or give up a crooking number.
47:23
But you know, overall, in the grand scheme of things, this
47:29
is a damn good bullpen. It is a damn good bullpen. I think
47:31
your B grade is very fair. I do because you know, at the
47:36
end of the day, they're they're not losing, They're not losing a ton
47:38
of games for this team. You know, when it comes to one of
47:42
the reasons why this team is losing games. It is when the offense just
47:45
doesn't show up. I mean, when it comes to the offense, am
47:50
I God? So many ups and downs, you know, as we usually
47:52
do see with this roster every now and again, but I don't know,
47:55
sometimes I feel like we're seeing the ups and downs is more extreme this season
48:00
at this point. You know, sometimes when they're not hitting home runs,
48:05
they're just not doing anything on the field, and it's so incredibly enraging.
48:08
So I'm wondering, Ben, which player and batter really needs to step up
48:14
offensively for this team to start turning some things around from an offensive standpoint.
48:20
So, I mean, like the Doe answer is Turner. I mean that
48:23
we want to talk about a guy. You talk about Turner, but that's
48:27
no fun. Just Turners old. We all Mochober's gonna turn it around.
48:31
Turner has been fine over the past few weeks. Is ops a backup like
48:35
seven eighty during the last three weeks or so? Um, I'm gonna say
48:39
something a little sacrilegious, Okay, Um, I think I want to see
48:44
more from Harper. Okay, It's like he's been great, Like he's a
48:47
great player. That's very surprising. They need they need him to be an
48:52
MVP, and it's you know, a nine thirty one ops is amazing.
48:58
It's not enough coming off Tommy John, I expected worse. You know,
49:02
it's it's it's a it's a fine stat line here, it's better than fine,
49:06
right, but it's it's yeah, from anyone else, it's amazing.
49:10
Yeah, by the end of the year, I want to ops to over
49:13
one thousand Harper. I want people to be walking Harper with first base open
49:17
to get to CASTI every single time. I want to see thirty five home
49:22
runs and an MVP final assaminee. Like Harper has an in him. It's
49:25
obvious from last season, Like he's got he's got the best plate discipline of
49:30
anyone on this team. And that includes Shober, the guy who's walking like
49:32
eighteen percent of his plate appearances right now, and marsh who's doing the same
49:37
thing. I mean, he's got the power, he's got the hit tool,
49:39
he's got the gap power, he's got the discipline. Why shouldn't we
49:42
ask for more? I think it's really interesting. I do. I want
49:45
to see Harper solidify. Like over the next five years, we're gonna see
49:50
Harper solidifier himself, not as a Hall of Famer, but as an inner
49:54
circle Hall of Famer. I want to see this guy hit his six hundredth
49:58
home run at Citizens Bank Park in you know, nine years. Yeah,
50:00
I want to see him. You know, three thousand hits might be allowed
50:04
to ask. I want to see three thousand hits. I want to see
50:07
this guy retire and be compared to Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams
50:15
might be as with Ted Williams, yes, he should be one of the
50:17
greatest hitters of all time. And I think that he is just entering his
50:22
prime right now. I think I think it's interesting how you how you phrase
50:27
that and messaged that for sure in terms of a guy that I think has
50:31
been needing to step up in certain situations as well. And yes, he's
50:36
batting two ninety two at this point. It's got thirteen runs, fifteen RBIs
50:40
on the season, five stolen bases, but only three home runs in my
50:45
opinion, and I think we need more from him in terms of home runs
50:47
because that's what this team needs to do. They just need to hit more
50:50
home runs. Is JT real Muto like I think at this point in the
50:54
season for some reason, And it's just that gut feeling that there are certain
50:59
such waytions JT is in, right. I think he needs to step up,
51:02
and I think he needs to be hesitate, to say, a leader
51:07
in the batter's box when they need him. But sometimes I'm just not seeing
51:12
it from him. And again, batting average of two ninety two, that's
51:15
nothing to sneeze about, you know, But the three home runs, I
51:17
don't know that. It's in my crawl for some reason. Beat I'm not
51:21
sure why so so so, Jeff, let me give you some numbers here
51:24
now, I want to close your eyes. Okay, give me some numbers
51:27
and give me numbers. Pick picture this play on your head. Okay.
51:30
He's batting three thirty three. Ah is obp is three fifty seven. I
51:35
love it. He's slugging five forty four, and over his first one hundred
51:39
plate appearances he has what is that thirteen extra base hits. I love this.
51:45
I'm falling asleep right now with my eyes closed, absolutely loving this.
51:49
That's JT realmut all right, Yeah, I who would have expected it after
51:53
we'd already just talked about him exactly? But like he I mean honestly,
51:58
Jeff, He's been that guy for the past month and now, yeah,
52:01
that is what is that thirty two days, thirty three days, April's thirty
52:07
days. Yeah, so thirty two days. Yeah, of MVP caliber JT
52:10
Real in Utah if j if if over the course of the season, that's
52:15
an MVP. That's fantastic, that is fantastic. That's I look at the
52:19
three home runs up because I look at this team in general, ben as
52:23
they need to hit home runs in order to win games. And I don't
52:27
know why I have that feeling and belief. It's probably because I'm too concentrated
52:31
on you know what the you know, the freaking launch angle and all that
52:35
crap, and and just where what this team has given us, especially last
52:38
year getting those runs so many of them were home runs. I've just feel
52:44
like we need more than three home runs from JT. Real. I feel
52:46
like it's saying it now. I couldn't agree more. I think the Phillies
52:51
as a whole just they're they're not hitting for enough power. Yeah, but
52:53
you mentioned something about like JT you know, not coming up in big spots,
52:58
and I'm trying to do some research real quick. I want to figure
53:00
out who is leading MLB in WPA since that April thirteenth day that I gave
53:07
you yea for those who don't know WPPA or wins probability added as a stat
53:12
for nerds like me who want to quantify exactly how clutch a player is.
53:16
It's totally stupid and pretty much completely worthless, but I'm curious, and I
53:23
want to say JT's gonna fall in like the top fifty and Major League Baseball.
53:27
Okay, here we go. He is since April thirteenth, the forty
53:30
second best player win probability added. All Right, I don't think that there's
53:36
any Philly higher than that. I mean, let's see if Harper or Castianos.
53:39
Harper falls twenty eighth, you know, with two weeks of play,
53:43
Castianos falls fourteenth. But I mean JT's just got to keep it up,
53:49
man. Yeah, he's been after a slow start, he has been fantastic
53:52
and he's been you know, not with this ball club needed because there's still
53:55
a game below five hundred, but he's been good, been really good.
54:00
I'm not gonna edit it out. I'm not gonna edit what I just said
54:02
out. And I want everybody to call me an idiot. Philadelphia Sports Table
54:07
at gmail dot com shooting us off an email and call me an idiot,
54:09
folks. Okay, I'm not gonna edit that out of me being dumb,
54:14
but really, oh yeah, yeah, I see, like the Phillies,
54:17
I'm kind of just all over the place. You know, when it comes
54:21
right here, you know they feel all the office feels all over the place.
54:23
It does. It does. But the one guy I wanted to get
54:27
into with you as we're moving along here ben is Alec Boum. I mean,
54:30
he was one of those Phillies players on this roster that we really wanted
54:34
to see some growth, some development, even more development, some good things
54:37
from this season, and I think we have been seeing that with him.
54:40
He's currently batting two seventy eight. It's got thirty one RBIs. I love
54:45
how he has grown as a player when so many folks within Phillies Nation just
54:51
wrote him off to get him out of here. He doesn't need to be
54:53
at third base, doesn't need to be on this team, doesn't need to
54:55
be in the lineup, blah blah blah. We all heard that. But
54:58
he has grown, and I'm wondering from your opinion, like, what has
55:02
Alec Bom meant to this Phillies team as we're six weeks into the season here.
55:08
I mean, I think that his presence in the lineup as just another
55:12
guy who doesn't really strike out next to Stot is important because this this Phillies
55:16
team strikes out a lot. Maybe I have that wrong, I know,
55:20
No, I think I think they do well. No, No, I
55:22
was gonna say about boem knots striking out. He might, he might still
55:24
strike out a lot um and yeah he does. But what Boom does especially
55:31
well that I like is that he doesn't swing and miss a lot. Although
55:35
maybe twenty eight strikeouts through what is it, forty games, is that a
55:38
lot? I don't think that is that crazy. I don't think yeah,
55:43
yeah, no, that's actually very good a race. What I said the
55:45
second time, I was totally right. Boom has done a very good job
55:49
not striking out. And what I really like from him is that this is
55:52
the first year where he has a hit, home runs, be not struck
55:58
out, and see had a high walker. He's done all of those things
56:00
individually before. In twenty twenty one, couldn't hit her power, struck out
56:05
a lot and walked a lot too. Last year he didn't strike out a
56:07
lot for a little bit of power, but he didn't walk at all.
56:10
And this year it kind of feels like everything is coming together a bit over
56:15
the last week is ops is you know, one point zero six to seven,
56:19
obviously helped by you know, the two home runs of the past couple
56:21
of days. And I just liked, I liked what I've seen from swinging
56:23
the bat. You know, right now when he is making it out,
56:27
he's having a hard hit out and I think that's that's important. You know,
56:31
you need guys who when they put the ball in player are gonna hit
56:35
the ball and put the ball and play hard. And last night he came
56:37
up with the bases load and he flew out to write, but he got
56:39
the run home. You know, he needed some help from the other guys
56:43
on the team and he didn't get it. But at least Bom is doing
56:45
his job. And I think wall cast he has gone a little bit quiet
56:50
recently. And while I don't want to say Harper is cooled off, you
56:53
know marsh is cooled off a little bit. Shubert, Yeah, Schubert.
56:59
I still don't think is entirely at fault for his slump. He's got run
57:01
to a lot of bad luck. He's also cooled off a little bit,
57:05
you know, Stot and excusing Boma and real Utoh and to a lesser extent,
57:08
Turner have all begun to heat up, you know, very slowly,
57:13
but surely. And I think that is good for the type of offensive productivity
57:19
that we need to see and probably are going to be seeing in the future.
57:22
And again, folks, we're talking to Ben Silver here. He has
57:24
written words over at the Good Fight dot Com and you can follow them on
57:29
Twitter. He's a great, great follow. We're doing a lot of stats
57:31
talking right now. You're gonna get a lot on Twitter from Ben at Ben
57:36
h Silver is a great, great follow. And to close us out here,
57:39
And I talked to our my guest co host this week, Jeff Kerr
57:44
from CBS Sports. Talk to him about this in terms of like where this
57:47
NL East is actually going and it just feels like such a mess at this
57:52
point here in the season. I want to get your thoughts on it.
57:54
Ben, I mean the Phillies, Marlins and Mets, I mean just middling
57:58
teams jockeying for position shouldn't to see who's gonna run away with the number two
58:01
spot in the division here. It's just all over the place. The Mets
58:06
honestly have kind of surprised me. Again, talking to Jeff earlier, he
58:09
was basically saying how he thinks that a lot of those players that the Mets
58:14
acquired were just overpaid, for sure, and it didn't necessarily surprise him.
58:17
Where the Mets aren't this point, I still am a little surprised. You
58:22
know, I thought they'd be hands down the number two team in the division
58:24
at this particular point. But again, a bunch of middling teams here.
58:30
I'm wondering how you see this NL least division taken shape over the next several
58:34
weeks here. So the Mets problem is that they are too old and too
58:42
young. You know, they're young guys aren't interesting, ready for the spotlight,
58:45
and they're old guys have fallen out of it. And they have both
58:49
of those players up, both of those guys up at once, and really
58:52
they've only got like Alonso and kind of McNeil and then Lindor in their prime.
58:58
They've got a lot of old guys in Cana and Marte and I guess
59:02
even Nimo is thirty and McNeil's thirty one. Now obviously Vertilander and um surezer.
59:08
Yeah, but it just doesn't feel like their talent is where it needs
59:12
to be. All of their middling talent is in their prime, but they're
59:14
a big talent, you know, Alvarez for Francisco Alvarez, Brett Batty quite
59:20
ready yet, yeah, of course. But yeah, it's like I just
59:23
I don't see the Mets, you know, as they're currently constructed winning any
59:29
more than like eighty eight games. Let's say, Yeah, the Phillies,
59:32
I'd put on a similar plateau, but I think you know, maybe ninety
59:36
one ninety two is you know, closer to where their meaning will fall.
59:39
Um, the Marlins problem is that they suck. Uh, they're just like
59:45
they're not a good team. Like twenty and twenty one is really impressive for
59:50
that. Yes, they're they're awful, man Like, it's not even it's
59:55
not even like I'd be like, oh, you know, they're they could
59:58
be like fifteen and twenty five and they're like, oh wow, they're really
1:00:00
overperforming. Like you know, Louisa Rys is good, like JUSTI m I
1:00:07
is maybe good, but he's like way underperforming. Hey, he got his
1:00:10
money from being on the cover of them will be the show though. It's
1:00:14
like Sandy all Kantara is good, but he's also under It's like, I
1:00:16
just I see nothing from this team that is inspiring. They've got a few
1:00:21
good players, but their depth sucks and the middle of their roster sucks too.
1:00:25
Like one of the things that makes the Phillies so good, or excuse
1:00:30
me, one of the things that makes the Phillies slightly good. Yeah,
1:00:34
yeah, is that the middle of the roster is really good. What the
1:00:38
Phillies aren't good because they have Bryce Harper and Zach Wheeler and JT. Realmuto.
1:00:44
They're good because they have Bryson Stott and Alec Boom and Ranger Suarez.
1:00:49
It's it's those middle of the roster guys that that create the illusion of death.
1:00:52
Even though this Phillies team passed there. You know, first twenty nine
1:00:58
guys, let's say, is not very good. You know, great teams
1:01:01
like the Dodgers, you know, stay competitive year in and year out.
1:01:04
Same thing with the Braves because their top thirty five guys are good. The
1:01:07
Phillies need to stay healthy and they need to, you know, get production
1:01:13
from the middle of their robster, and they will because there are so many
1:01:15
guys where if one guy falters, if stop falters, Bone will pick him
1:01:20
up. If Bone falters, Marshall pick him up. If marsh falters,
1:01:22
Castianos or Taiwan Walker will pick him up. There's a lot of guys who
1:01:27
have the capacity to break out. And I don't really see that with the
1:01:30
Mets, and I really don't see that with the Marlins. Yeah, it's
1:01:32
really interesting how this division is shaping up. I think the Phillies should be
1:01:37
the obvious number two and there's that's where they currently are at right now as
1:01:42
we're recording this on Tuesday, May sixteenth. Here. But Ben, Man,
1:01:45
it was great talking to you again. Folks at Ben h Silver on
1:01:50
Twitter. Give him a follow, fantastic follow, great great Phillies content that
1:01:53
he's tweeting out in MLB content as well. My man, it was great
1:01:58
talking to you. Come back join us down the road. I would love
1:02:00
to talk more Phillies baseball with you down the road, my friend. Yeah,
1:02:02
absolutely, absolute leisure. Jeff, It's so much fun talking to Ben
1:02:07
because he's got the stats, he loves the stats. Loves those metrics,
1:02:13
and I love talking to him because we're able to get a better picture of
1:02:16
where the Phillies may actually be going. Hopefully after that conversation. Hopefully,
1:02:21
after that discussion and what Ben was able to give us, we're able to
1:02:24
kind of just sit back and say, you know what, the sky is
1:02:28
not falling with this Philadelphia Phillies team. No, it is not, not
1:02:30
by any stretch of the imagination. The Phillies are in a decent position right
1:02:37
now. I hesitate to say that they're in a quote good position, but
1:02:39
they're in a decent position in terms of the NL right now. We know
1:02:44
the NL is not very strong right now in mid May. We know that
1:02:47
there are teams playoff teams from twenty twenty two that are having a very very
1:02:52
rough time. The Phillies are in decent shape right now, especially in the
1:02:57
NL least. So we're gonna keep talking about the Phillies. We're gonna keep
1:03:00
talking football, We're gonna keep talking to hockey with the Flyers and this offseason.
1:03:04
And if you have not, gone back into our podcast feed and listen
1:03:08
to our table talk interview show from this past week. Kelly Hinkle from Broadstreet
1:03:13
Hockey dot Com was talking about this Flyers team and what they're going to be
1:03:15
doing in the future with a new front office personnel. Feels like a new
1:03:21
era. Hunt that does feel like a new era. So we're gonna keep
1:03:23
talking hockey and Flyers as well, and of course Philadelphia seventy six Ers.
1:03:29
As Jeff and I were talking earlier in this show, you know what's gonna
1:03:31
happen with this team, So we got it all in the world of Philly
1:03:35
sports, including the Philadelphia Union, which lenn and I were talking about last
1:03:38
week on the show. Gonna get into some Union talk in the future as
1:03:42
well. If you're new to the PSD podcast show, we'd appreciate if you
1:03:45
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1:03:49
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1:03:52
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1:03:55
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1:04:00
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1:04:02
respond to it. That's gonna do it for us, folks. Take care
1:04:06
and we will catch you next time