High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - #BrandNewPivetta and Offensive Inconsistencies

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back as the Phils take #TwoOfThree from the Reds. Jack gushes over Pivetta and the guys also talk about the Phils offensive approach. All that and more on this episode of High Hopes! See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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on Radio.com and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Yo! It is another edition of the High Ops Podcast. Jack, was that enough of a yo for the Nick Pavetta game we saw on Saturday? Was it enough? The jersey has been ordered. Who's the Game 1 starter in the playoffs right now? I mean, it's Pavetta, right?

It's not even a debate. It's not even open for consideration at this point who is the number one Game 1 starter. In the postseason, it is obviously nick pavetta number 43 um it just delivered one of the most beautiful masterpieces uh in baseball history on saturday and i just gotta say like for as awesome as a super bowl was that was my super we could tell by the rampage you went on on Twitter. Guess what, everybody? Jack Fritz saves his receipts. I didn't forget. You did not forget. I sure didn't forget.

Maybe a premature, you know. I'm a big early reaction guy. If you're not first to a take, you're last. That's my opinion. And you are a pure takesman, as you've told me many times. First to the take. I will live and die by the take. It burned me with Markel Fultz.

It was looking like it was beginning to burn me with Nick Pavetta, but my boy's coming through. I mean, what a performance. Am I going to completely ignore the several hard hit balls that happen to you right at people? You're darn right. I'm going to completely ignore that, but there was moments where old Pavetta

would have crumbled, but brand new Pavetta is here, and he's blossoming like we all expected. It only happened to be after months of strife and he did drop an f-bomb in the post oh god which was everything for me right after we talked about the good game let's go eat it was so good right after we talked about that I know it was great it is officially replaced the Seinfeld clip for my post game wins oh yeah yeah oh what that's big news it is big news I have not been able to unleash it yet obviously because, because it lost yesterday. But that clip is officially the post when, because it's awesome.

Well, it's great, too, because he does it, and then he realizes he did it, and he giggles, and Murph giggles, and then they just go on. But it was great. It was just awesome. It was a very genuine moment. I mean, like. Yes. I mean, in all seriousness, like, good for him, man.

Like, he went down to AAA, obviously pissed off about it. He drove to and fro from Philadelphia to Lehigh Valleyhigh valley every single day which i love that attitude by the way well i need a lot of time to think in the car that's what he said he talked about that that it made him think but also just the attitude of like i'm staying in philly like i know that i'm in the but i'm supposed to be here i look for a guy who and we'll dive into the whole weekend's action and all that. Weekend? Yes. Okay. It was a weekend. It was. Yes.

Just stay on point here. For a guy who really had the lowest of lows in a year where everyone, and again, not just you, not just this podcast, not just national media, whatever. The team themselves. Larry Bowe was talking about Nick Pavetta's going to be a star. Everyone was in on Nick Pavetta. For him to start- They made him the Pavetta. They made him the number two. They made him the number two.

He was the talk of spring training. And for him to start out how he did and then go to the – for a guy who's had so many – like, all we talk about is the between the ears type of stuff. I'm really impressed with Nick Pavetta, man. I'm really impressed with the way that guy's gone about his business. And you kind of see it being sustainable. Like, if it was like a streak where, streak where Eikhoff was doing this, or whatever, I don't know.

Eikhoff did do it for his first four or five starts. He did a little bit, but when you're watching Nick Pavetta right now. It looks different. It does look different, and it's like, where do I see this really going wrong? I guess if people start really squaring up as fast. Obviously, he's not going to be that dominant

every single start, but there's no reason to believe he can't give you six or seven innings at this point uh less than three runs i mean like that's all we were really asking for um and just the way he was being so efficient on saturday like we've never seen that level of efficiency it was like him no never no it was like it was unbelievable i'm gonna get the ball back go get the ball back go he was working so fast dude it was awesome to watch the whole weekend was super quick games i wish we could play the Reds every single game because those games flew by.

They do swing early in count today. I appreciate it. Every single time. It was unbelievable. But it was really, I thought, and look, you can't ignore, I think you really do have to take into account to that first start too,

like the warming up, the rain delay and all that had that rough inning, but then settled in again there. That was another spot where old Nick Pavetta after that three run first inning is cooked. His game's there. That was another spot where old Nick Pavetta after that three-run first inning is cooked. His game's over. Yeah.

And he settled back in. We've seen him. And then going up against the best team in the National League, went in there and gave him six brilliant innings when they needed it.

And he owned Cody Bellinger twice. I just wanted him. Owned his soul. Yeah. Yeah. Cody Bellinger still hasn't recovered.

He's given nightmares about Pavetta. Cody Bellinger's in the tank because of Nick I just read a story about him saying nightmares about Nick Pavetta.

He can't get past it. Yeah, we all do. I had nightmares about theetta. Cody Bellinger's in the tank because of Nick Pavetta. I just read a story about it. He was saying nightmares about Nick Pavetta. He can't get past it. Yeah, we all do. I had nightmares about the sixth sense when I was eight and Cody Bellinger can't get past the Nick Pavetta at bats.

I can't believe you were eight when this happened. Stop making me feel old, Jack. No, it's not when it came out. That's just when I saw it. Even worse, Jack. Even worse. No, I'm trying to make you

feel as bad as possible. I was an adult practically by the time the sixth sense came out. And Nick Pavetta had no walks in both starts. Both starts. Both starts. No walks. Has only walked in 15 innings.

15 innings, one earn, 15 strikeouts, no walks. I mean, come on, man. Breakout Pavetta? That's breakout anybody. I mean, that's a two-start. Look, that is the best two-start stretch, and that's including Eflin, that three-start stretch. This is the best two-start stretch we've seen from any pitcher

on this team all season long. Yes, and the thing that I love the most about where we're at with Pavetta right now is his start against the Reds was the least amount that he had used his fastball. So while I think his fastball is very good and can get played up off of his other stuff, when he gets into trouble, it's when he's throwing his fastball 60% of the time because eventually Major League hitters are going to square it up. It's a good fastball that he can throw hard, but it's way better when you can mix in those other pitches and get hitters way off balance so like even in two one counts he was throwing a curveball to get back into a count and guys

just didn't see it coming and the curve was nasty his curve was nasty the slider i'm i i was it looks way better than it ever has i was on record saying i didn't believe in it but ever since his comeback he's throwing it like i sent a couple that have hit 90 miles an hour if he's on a 90 mile an hour slider like that's a problem so So he threw that, I think— For the other team. For the other team. He was throwing it 23% of the time on Saturday. Which is a lot.

I mean, 23% of the time is all you need to mix it up. Yeah, and he had 42 fastballs, 38 knuckle curveballs, and the slider mixed in. That's the Corbin plan. That's the plan. If you were going to be a two-p theoretically i mean the slider and curveball obviously different pitches but they're both semi-ish kind of the same sure um so if you're going to be a two pitch pitcher without a change up or a splitter or whatever like you need you need to throw it a lot and and that's where the analytics and that's where you see guys break out is because teams will tell them

just throw it as much as possible like adam mor Morgan this year has been so dominant because they said, hey, throw the slider as much as you can because it's disgusting. That's what they do with Corbin too. You're right. That's what they do with Corbin. Just throw your slider. It's your best pitch. That makes sense, right? Throw the pitch that is your best pitch. What a crazy thought. I know. The big part about Pavetta right now

is that he's able to locate his curveball. It's always been disgusting, but he hasn't been able to locate it. Ever since his comeback, he's been able to locate it. His slider has more bite to it, and all of that leads to a fastball that's hard to square up. And man, if he can locate that curve and throw it, like you said, in any count, in any situation... It's a game changer. It really is.

It's a total game changer, and I thought the most impressive part of that game on Saturday, which I have watched twice... Only twice? Yeah. That is a shock. I was expecting three or four, maybe even five watches right now. Only because I had to re-watch the second half of yesterday's game. We'll get to that.

And, yeah, so the most impressive part of that start for me was he goes down three out of Derek Dietrich and then just blows him away with three straight. And it was just like, this is my guy. It was like such a, it was like, like i felt like a dad like i know you have someone who's older than you i love i know you have zoe i know like the first time you see your walk like it's probably the same thing no you're like you're the first time you see zoe walker you're gonna start tearing up that's how that's how i felt watching nick pavetta on saturday it was the same kind of level of emotion it was like he really did it you know i was out tired hands i was watching last three things at tired hands and it was like you know

mixing the beer with the talking conversations just got a little emotional oh man i can just see you sitting at the bar be like it's my son right there bringing it man i know he did it's easy breezy my son's all grown up today folks what a moment what a moment i just like i wanted to record high hopes right then like i so did apparently a lot of people i don't think there's any other thing that's happened this season where we got more emergency pod coming you guys gonna do an emergency pod emergency podcast or just a saturday start listen listen i said there's one thing i mean high hopes nation gets behind all of our movements. Like the breakup of Edda. Yes, yes.

Life, Liberty, and Monkey Moniac's second half splits. Texting people that Bryce Harper signed with the Phillies. Yes. Yes. Yes. So listen. We have the best listeners. The best listeners in the world.

By far. Yeah. I love it. So, all right. Well, let's dive into the whole weekend. And of course, I'm sure there'll be- Oh, let's talk about something else. Hey, we don't have to. No, I'm just kidding.

Can you go 50 minutes on- That's a stupid question. Of course you can. Let's talk about- Let's go course you can. Let's talk about... Let's go pitch by pitch. Let's talk about... I could really see you going pitch by pitch. Do you see a sequence of auto?

Tunneling, man. It's all about the tunneling here. First off, it should have been a shutout. Let's just get that out of the way right now. I mean, the first inning was ridiculous. The stupid-ass blooper. Oh, my God, yeah. It was ridiculous.

It was blooper. I know, but it was like, I was listening in the car at that point and I got back for the second inning. Oh, so here's a funny story. I was at home. I was back at Westchester with Jill and her aunt

and her cousin who never comes in. She's over in London. They live in San Francisco. They're never in. Oh, wow. Opposite sides. Right. And I had to go

because I needed to be alone for the you just were like I'm out yeah I was like with all due respect nice seeing you dedication

I'll see you again in like three years whatever I need to go see Nick and see how he does okay so shout out to Jill for being an awesome wife well she stayed

and came back later that's my point for letting you do that Jill is an awesome wife yeah well she knows the important things good work by her. Gotta give her credit when due, Jack.

That's what you learn. So I was listening in my car, and the blooper happened, and I was like, oh, here we go. Classic Pavetta luck. You're already coming up with the excuses in your head. You're like, oh, let me see how I can spin this. Then LeCoultre battled and grinded. He did grind, man. He really, again, I'm so impressed with Pavetta from a mental perspective.

Is this two straight starts or three? Is it three straight starts with double digit retired in a row? Yeah, because the first one he had 14 straight. And then he had 10. Dodgers, he must have had at least 10. I think he had 10 straight. And then 17 straight, bro. That's four outs.

I mean, that's what, two innings and an out away from, or three innings and an out away from perfect. He pitched six and a third perfect, essentially, with those 17 straight outs. Man, it just feels good to be so right about Nick. All right, so seriously, before we get to the other games this weekend, let's project it moving forward. Okay. Because-

I will try to be serious. Yeah, let's give it a shot here. I think you can do it. You can't do it. Let's try. All right, so we're not going to see 15 one run, 15 strikeout no walk type innings for the rest of the season.

What should people realistically expect from Nick Pavetta? Seven innings, seven Ks, two runs. That's fair. That'd be great. Are you kidding me? Be the best pitcher on the team. I just think that... Six innings, seven Ks, two or three. Obviously, I think he's going to, okay. Six innings, seven Ks. Still good.

Two or three. Listen, obviously, I think he's going to allow runs. I mean, all great pitchers do, especially in this day and age with how pitching is. But it just looks like he's turned a corner from the standpoint of- Unless you're Hyunjin Ryu. Right, he does not. Although, Pavetta doesn't walk people either. Good point.

Pavetta can come up with three more above average pitches. It'll be great. Man, I really wanted the Phillies to get him last offseason. Dude, I mean, if you look at the fan graphs, pitch value and stuff, he has two of the best pitches in baseball, and then his other two pitches are top ten pitches. That's Pedro. It's like Pedro.

It's unbelievable what that guy's doing. It is crazy. But I don't see why. When you're watching Pavetta right now, he's in such a zone where I think he feels so comfortable. He feels confident he's feeling a little bit of cockiness um he's getting the ball and going and there was a moment where oh he had vato struck out like it was a it was a fastball right on the inside corner oh that

was it was definitely a strike it was a strike absolutely you know old pivetta is like flipping out like strangling the umpire potentially in that moment yeah he got What he's doing, what I've noticed is when he's frustrated, he just snaps. He just snaps the ball, and you can tell he's mad, but he's taking the anger out on the ball. He's finding ways to deal with these things rather than sucking as a result. How big do you think Real Muto is in that?

I think Real Muto helps a lot because Real Muto, I haven't seen Pavetta shake him off. Unless Real Muto's calling for a shakeoff, which sometimes catchers do, because they want to get in the hitter's head and think that you're shaking to another pitch. He hasn't really shucked him off. He's just going.

He's just taking it. Trusting Real Muto. And it's about time. It's about time. Vinny's doing the same thing. Get the best catcher in baseball at this. Let him do what he's great at. And Vinny's doing the same thing.

Vinny's been good at the bullpen the last couple games. And it's all because I think that they are just like, hey, Real Muto puts in literally three to four hours of work a day on this. Trust him. Just trust the guy. And he's clearly good at it. Like, hey, a man knows what he's doing. Yeah, so I think Pavetta will be able to give them

at least a quality start every step. More often than not, I suppose. Yeah, but why not at this point? There's nothing you can see right now that's like,'s gonna start imploding well you hope not i mean that's the thing we've seen fivetta have some good stretches before but it does seem like he's potentially turned a corner here well and there's but there's a there's a defined path to his success like um well where vinny he was early in the season his was completely relying on mechanics but then mechanics started to falter and it was like oh so you're just gonna be back to being vinny with pivetta the mechanics are always the same now

he has a defined path of throw a lot more curveballs a lot more sliders and a lot more fast blueprint essentially yeah he's a blueprint and a plan for success and if as long as he follows that i don't see why it can't be solid every single time out there with the potential for even more all right we just tacked on another six minutes of pavetta talk after i said we were gonna move on okay good can we move on yeah we'll come back okay we'll make sure to like every once in a while just come back and mention more i mentioned that cody bellinger's gone to tank okay serious question for you before we get to efflin being back on friday very happy about that i'm very serious question when are they building a statue of Jay Bruce outside Citizen Tank Park?

I mean, they built. What's taking so long? They built full of statues for less. So I don't. Jay Bruce, man. Jay Bruce entering into yesterday's game had 11 RBIs of the Philly. Joey Votto had 12 on the year. 11 RBI.

Right. Right. Joey Votto had 12 RSBI on the year. RSBI I'm good with. You had 12 rsbi on the year i'm good with you can go it sounds so dumb though i know it sounds dumb that's why it's rbi no but rbi sounds better it just it just flows better i can't do this fight right now i don't care if you can't do it it's which sounds better saying seven rbi or seven rbis rbi no it doesn't yes it does it and on top of that it writes better it sounds better. Yes, it does. To who? And on top of that, it writes better, it sounds better, it's just better. It does not sound better. It's correct!

It's correct! You mess up every single player's name and now you're going to call for the correct police. Let's relax over there. I'm not surprised you're saying RBI correct. Alright, so 12 RBI for Jay Bruce. No, 11 RBI, 12 for Joey Votto. Of course, I tweeted that Joey Votto had the two runs.

People got in on you. It it was like oh my god come on I already brought back Nick Pavetta from the dead and guys Bryce Harper can you give me a break never tweet again Jack never tweet again so Jay Bruce and I love the elevate and celebrate movement I love the new nickname Jay Bruce

Jay Bruce Jay Bay Bruce I love it it's great elevate and celebrate and he is like he is what i want to see out of like bryce in a way like just trying to launch everything sure i'd like that bryce is is hitting over 300 and whatever um but like i want to see more homers and i just want to see like like jay bruce is the launch angle movement like that's that's what he is like right now he's just trying to lift everything and, Jay Bruce is the launch angle movement. That is what he is. Like, right now, he's just trying to lift everything and it's working.

Like, he is almost at the point where he's just picking one pitch, one spot, and just trying to do damage on it. He knows where his strength is and he is looking for a pitch in that zone where he can do damage and he is. And he's taking it the opposite way. He's doing whatever he needs to do. It's unbelievable. Like, again, you can't predict injury and all that. But for Klintak to go out and trade for this guy right before Andrew Mnuchin gets hurt,

it's really crazy. They really lucked out with this move. Well, and I think it's a testament to, and this is my belief and this is my hope, that the analytics department had seen his hard hit rates, had seen his barrel percentage, had seen that he was starting to get a little hot for the Mariners, and were like, hey, the Mariners aren't going to... Let's take advantage of this. Yeah, the Mariners aren't going to keep this guy.

Well, the Mariners are open for business, as they've told everybody, so it makes sense. So it could have been an undervalued... We know he's got a relationship with DiPoto after the Segura trade and all that. Right, so I hope that it was the Phillies analytics department looking at these numbers and the hard hit percentages, and boy, another win for the hard hit percentage.

When they made the trade, it was a lot of batting average talk. Of course. That's what people talk about. Right, but this is the importance of looking at hard hit percentage and barrel percentage because the more often that you were able to barrel up a baseball, the more often you're going to be able to do damage on the baseball. So sure, his batting average is low, but if you can see how he was doing in the advance in his peripherals, that's a guy you want to pounce on.

And they did pounce on him at the right time, and now he's in a much better lineup where he doesn't have to do – he has Kingery behind him. He has Real Muto in front of him. Hoskins in front of him. We'll see Gore now. Well, no, it's still Hoskins, Segura, Harper. It's just a way more balanced lineup.

And to find a guy that is squaring up the baseball as consistently as he is, that's a win for analytics. It is a win for analytics and it's a win for the Phillies right now. It's really exciting. And he's already played a so-so left field. Yeah, well, he's not good enough for a defensive replacement yesterday. I had a problem with that. We'll get to that.

Let's stick with Friday for a sec. Eflin back. I thought first start of the aisle looked pretty darn good. Please, it's 2019. I know. You can't say deal. I fixed it, all right? I fixed it, Jack.

Leave me alone. Yeah, the fastball looked more crisp. It looked like he was able to locate it. Before he got hurt, his fastball location was just off. And what made Eflin so good the first two months of the season was that he's putting his fastball up in the zone wherever he wanted. And before he got hurt, the Brewers start, we're just leaving that over the middle of the of the season was that he was putting his fastball up in the zone wherever he wanted. And before he got hurt, the Brewers start, we're just leaving it out over the middle of the plate.

It was getting smoked. And same thing happened before he went on the IL. Now he's back. His fastball looked a little bit more crisp. I think he got better as the game went on. But that's Eflin, man. That's Eflin. Six innings. Six, seven innings. Three runs or less. Quality start F. 2-8 ADRA at the moment. I love

F. I do too. And he works fast. the moment I love F I do too and he works fast dude I love these fast guys just please give me quick games that's the one thing that I think is being a little bit underrated

with the pace of play is that like so not everyone in the big leagues is coming up through this system that is right now happening in the minor leagues

in the minor leagues all these guys are pitching on a pitch clock so they have to work fast so like I just think that it's gonna fix itself in due time yeah we've talked about that and i agree with you i think when you get them in and and that's the way they learn to pitch or are forced to learn to pitch in minors they're obviously gonna carry that up to the majors so i think that does make a big difference

all right anything else from friday obviously we talked jay bruce anything else specific from friday just a nice victory it was a nice win they get down early one got down one nothing actually in all three games obviously fought back in two of them. Took the lead in the third game, but ultimately, obviously. And I'm losing. Oh, by the way, we're 19 minutes into the podcast. Hashtag two or three. Two or three.

That's what we do. That's all we ask for. Two or three, baby. Two or three. Vince pitched pretty well. Pitched well. He took down. No doubt, Neris, of course.

God. Talk about. No doubt, Neris. The Phillies have only blown six leads this year. Or six saves. Six saves this year. Neris has only blown one. And none in the nine.

And none in the nine. He's 13 for 13. Or 13 for 13. No, no. He's 14 for 14 this year. 14 for 14. He hasn't blown one. Yeah, because he got the Saturday one.

He's 14 for 14. The only blemish was the Dodgers game, which was a tie game. Which was a tie game. Exactly. Only seven other teams have fewer blown saves than the Phillies. Wow. They're doing all this without Craig Kimbrell. Crazy.

I didn't think that was possible. But yeah, shout out to Neres, man. If this bullpen is not for Hector Neres right now, they are so beyond screwed. He's the only guy you count on. He's the only guy who comes in. And look, Vinny's improving. Well, let's not get ahead of him. I agree with you, but yes.

Hector Neres is the only guy who comes in that you feel like, okay, I feel good with this guy in. Adam Morgan's on the IL. Obviously, Robertson, we barely even got to know. Neshex on the... All the guys we wanted to count on or have count on are not here right now. Yeah, it's only Neris.

It's only Neris, and he has stepped up. Big time, man. If he's not stepping up, then this team is in way... Hector Neris is an all-star right now. He's their only all-star. He's their all-star. Wow. Ooh.

Let's talk about that later. That's an interesting thought, actually. When you really think... It is kind of amazing where they're at right now. He's their only All-Star. Let's talk about that later. That's an interesting thought. Actually, when you really think, it is kind of amazing where they're at right now. When you look down the roster like we all felt Hoskins was going to be an All-Star. Now he's at a month of just ice-cold play. Cesar? Not anymore.

Not anymore. Cesar's been ice-cold too for the last 20 games or so. Segura's playing well, but not well enough to be an All-Star. Probably not, but he's close I would say. The best 8-hole hitter in baseball, probably not an All-Star. You think? I'm not sure about that one. I think he's on the cusp, Jack. JT, I mean, I would love to put JT in there, and I love what he's done here, but Grant

Dawson better and Contreras has been better. Absolutely, yeah. Harper, no. I mean, probably not. He might get in because he's Harper. Here's the thing. People will get voted. There's a chance that some Phillies get voted into the game.

But in terms of who deserves to be an All-Star, wow. Jack, I did not put that together at all. Hector the Protector. Oh, my God. If I had told you on June 10th, you and I would be talking and we would come to the conclusion together that Hector Neris was the Phillies' only All-Star at that point in the season, how many games under 500 would you thought they were? Right? 10.

10 in first place. Yeah. I would think if everyone died. That's what I mean. Like, I feel like, what could possibly happen to this roster? Now, I am one good Pavetta start away from starting that campaign. I mean, look, Eflin is like, theoretically, if he has a nice month and a half, 2880 RAs, he's possible.

Possible? I mean, man. But it's Hector. Wow. Crazy. That's really crazy. I know. So it's crazy.

When you think about holistically where the Phillies are, just think about the fact that they're in first place is a miracle. I mean, you have the injuries, you have a depleted bullpen, you have a starting staff

that you don't know what you're getting on most nights, and you have an offense that has just been very- Underperformed massively. I mean, you could say that, especially after that first week of the season, what we expected. It's not been great offensively

for this team. They've been middle of the pack. Yes. That's a fair way to put it. I'm not trying to rip the Phillies or be hot takey, but... Look, they're 37-28. I'm not complaining right now, but the offense has not been great. And here's the thing. There's lots of room to improve here. For a team. I'm not complaining right now, but the offense has not been great. And here's the thing. There's lots of room to improve here.

For a team, I'm glad... Listen, the fact that they're almost playing... Not playing their worst, but they're at their worst full roster construction-wise, and they're still 37-28, given the offensive numbers, given the bullpen. If they get the bullpen guys back, that could really, really help a lot.

I would think so. That jumps this team another level if you get Pavetta. That's not even including what trades they are definitely going to make, whether Band-Aid trades or guys who have multiple years or whatever. They will make moves. But this team was built for this offense to rake, and they're just not doing it right now. They're 24th in home runs.

They have 76 homers. That is crazy. They can't hit home runs. In their ballpark, too. It's really crazy. It's unbelievable. When you look at how this team's constructed, you would have thought that would have been one of the few things you could count on.

18th in slugging percentage. Well, the fact that Jay Bruce is the only guy on the team with over 15 home runs is pretty crazy as well. What if he catches Bryson and Hoskinson? What if Bruce does? Yeah, for Phillies home runs. Oh, you're talking with the team. Yeah, yeah. I was like, wait a minute. He's already passed them. I if Bruce does? Yeah, like total for Philly's home runs. Oh, you're talking with the team. Yeah, yeah.

I was like, wait a minute. He's already passed them. I know he has. Yeah. Look, he's got what? That'd be scary. Yeah, it'd be pretty crazy. They're 19th in Woba.

That's not good. And they're 18th in weighted. Weighted on base average is what that is. Yeah, and they're 18th in weighted runs created plus, which is 93, which is seven points below. They're below average right now. which is 93, which is seven points below. They're below average right now.

I mean, so 100, so in weighted runs created plus 100 is the, is the major league average. There are 93 right now, which is, which is seven below league average. Wow.

Yeah. It's brutal. And I think the most damning one is that they are, they are, they are first in baseball. They're leading baseball in ground ball, pulled ground ball percentage. Really? 22% of their batted balls right now are pulled ground balls, which are always outs.

Was that just Mike Calfranco or the whole team? He's definitely contributing a lot to that stat. But pulled ground balls are dreadful. It's a lock to be an out. Unless, yeah, no, that's it. They're always an out. They're always an out. On both sides of the plate, it's always an so i really i really do think that the phillies

have a lot of room for growth they have a little room for growth but i also think they have an approach problem like the phillies right now are seeing they're seeing a lot of pitches per plate appearances but they're not they're not doing damage on those pitches so the theory in process works well like see a lot of pitches so that you know you can capitalize on mistakes, right? Right. And to wear down pitchers and to get to the bullpen and all that stuff. Which is fine. But they're just not making pitchers pay once they go deep into counts.

Like, they're more looking for a walk rather than looking to do damage. Like, mainly always talks about trying to slug. But they're not slugging. They're not slugging at all. They have 76 home runs. With Hoskins, Harper, Real Muto. Like, they have... McCutcheon for a while, the majority of the season.

Now they have Brewster to help, but, like, it's not good. And when you look at teams right now, so, like, the Rays see a lot of pitches, the Yankees see a lot of pitches, and someone else's... Oh, the Brewers see a lot of pitches. Oh, the Dodgers, sorry. So the Dodgers, Brewers, Yankees, Rays are all up in there in the top of baseball and seeing the most pages.

All very analytically inclined organizations. And they're all with the Phillies on that. But the difference is that those guys and those teams do damage on the mistakes they made. Remember that Dodgers series? Well, we talked about it. Your theory was basically they're just looking for a particular pitch and mashing it. And that's what I think all those teams are doing.

Whereas the Phillies, it's like a freaking blooper is how their scoring runs at this point. So is this John Maley? I don't know what it is. But my other point, whereas I think they have an approach problem, is it's either one or the other. So it's either that level extreme where they're seeing all these pitches for plate appearances,

or it's the bottom of the list. So you have the Twins and the Astros are the teams that see the least amount of pitches in baseball. And they're both amazing. they're both also mashing but their philosophy is we're going to do damage early in counts because they're going to make mistakes earlier whatever we're going to jump on them as fast as possible just see a pitch you like and hit it is the idea but the phillies are doing neither the phillies are seeing pitches but they're not they're not attacking those mistakes so it's like it's like they're a team caught in

limbo of what they want to do like it's it just boggles my mind it's like they So it's like they're a team caught in limbo of what they want to do. It just boggles my mind. It's like they don't go up there with a plan of what they want to do. It's like they're not being implemented with this is where this guy misses, this is what you have to jump on. It's like, hey, feel it out while you're up there. Well, I think that has to come back to Melee then. I know it's organizational and all that, but why have a hitting coach then? I mean, why have that guy as a hitting coach if it's an approach problem right i just that's i don't like i well none of us really

know what mainly does well that's the problem right we don't know what hitting coaches do but the numbers are pretty damning they've been i mean this this has been an inconsistent offense the last two years no question mainly he's been fired four times like like i don't know i don't want to call for the guy's job, but just bring in smart people. Like, O-Chart's already here. O-Chart and all the driveline guys, very smart. I'm glad they're here. And I know there's a lot of people that are like,

hey, well, let's just make O-Chart the hitting coach. That would also take away from your player development, which you're just starting to build up and hopefully build up the correct way. So you'd rather have O-Chart and his crew kind of just get their hands on the minor league hitters and make sure their approach is right before getting to the big leagues. So you don't want to screw up that process in a way. So I don't know.

It's a little frustrating. And I just want them to have a defined plan of attack. Seeing pitches is not just a plan. That in and of itself is not enough. You have to see pitches and also diagnose pitches that you can absolutely crush. And know what you're looking at. Know what pitchers throw. Know tendencies.

Like all that type of stuff. Yeah. And I just, I don't see it. I don't see it. Do you see it? No, definitely not. I agree with everything you're saying. And I look at a guy like Doug Lotta.

You know Doug Lotta's? No. We talk a lot about, wow, all of a sudden Hunter Pence, he's back. Like how did that happen? Doug Lotta. Doug Lotta, also the guy who turned Justin Turner's career around. Like, where are these guys? And I know they have O-chart, but, like, get these guys in here.

Get these people who are making a difference. Like this Dodgers hitting coach, the guy who never played baseball before above the junior college level. And the Dodgers are one of the best hitting teams in baseball. And like you said, they have an approach. They have a plan. They do things the right way. I don't care if the guy played in the majors.

I don't care what his name is. Just get someone in here who can be successful. I'm with you, man. This is a real issue. This offense is underperforming compared to what we expect. And again, look, they're 37-28. They're in first place. It's not panic time, but they're underachieving.

Yeah, and they've been underachieving. I mean, even going back to last year, they didn't have this level of talent, but it's still the same exact as bats. Like, for two years, it's been the same kind of at bats, and they go into these swoons where they can't seem to get out of it. As soon as they face one, like, the frustrating part is, you know, when they go and face a guy like Rich Hill, it's like, he's going to dominate them.

Like, he's like, those kind of guys that just, you should net, with the amount of talent that this team has, they should not be having the offensive struggles they have right now. They should not be 18th, 18th and 19th in slugging percentage. We talked about them having the best line in the National League, Jack. Joe DiCamera and John Ritchie said they're basically the 27 Yankees reincarnated. Joe DiCamera said it was one of the great Philadelphia teams he's ever seen after the first week of the season.

It was out of control and I just don't... It might have been an overreaction, but you know. Looking at it now, looking at it now. Listen, I don't want Maylee messing up Bruce, okay? Don't mess up our hero. I don't want Maylee messing up anyone. I'm with you here. Look, I think, and again, you don't always see those types of changes in season it does seem that gabe is

very loyal to his guys but i think at a certain point if these struggles continue they're gonna have to look at someone and john maylee is the obvious person you look at they're like you know i mean someone has to be responsible at some point and on the flip side i actually think that we haven't and i know this kind of goes in contradiction because gabe is ultimately overseeing that as well but i don't think we've given gabe enough credit for what he's been able to do with losing seven guys in the pen and with the starting pitching group that has not given you anything you can count on from a night-to-night basis with an offense that's incredibly underperforming the fact that they're 37-28

I think reflects incredibly well on Gabe Kapler and the job he's done this year. Yeah, and you hope it's Gabe. You hope it's the clubhouse culture he has kind of... Fostered? Yeah. You hope it's culture-related. I mean, they haven't really gone into a swoon. They lost those five straight. And then they bounced back. After losing Andrew McCutcheon,

their leader, like we talked about, they won four straight. Yep. That's impressive. I know. And I love that Gabe said that his favorite part of the job was figuring out the bullpen. Like he just loves like the idea of how to match up. He's done a great job with it.

Like if you want to rip Gabe for something, it can't be that this year. And look, there have been times where I know a lot of people thought pulling Pavetta in Los Angeles was a mistake. We didn't. Yeah. There are other spots. I'm sure we'll talk about the Nola thing coming up where people have had issues with pitchers getting pulled a little too early.

Well, I mean, really his main problem has been Nola this year. And that's it. Remember the Colorado start? He pulled him. Sure. Or he left him out there. Left him out there too long. Yes.

And then there was another start where people felt like he pulled Nola too early. He pulled him too early. But other than that, I mean, in terms of the matchups in the pen considering the master he's had out there i can't really think of examples where you know other than maybe leaving sir anthony in an extra inning too long we've talked about that but for the most part he's done a really good job managing what he always has the factor is we don't know who's available who's not available that's what that came into that situation too with nishak and all that yeah yes i mean like so given who he knows is available, who he doesn't know is available, I think Gabe's done a really

good job. To work with the talent that he has out there, it's not Aaron Boone. Aaron Boone can fall asleep for six innings. It's funny because every single Yankees fan I know and sadly I know way too many, they all think Aaron Boone sucks. That team is

finding a way to win with a match unit and they're all like like it has nothing to do with aaron boone you don't understand like he's not doing anything it's unbelievable i was like you gotta give him a little credit right they're like no he sucks like that is a definitive every single yankee fan i know it's crazy i mean like they can roll out adam out of you know zach or shella playing third base they got like all the you know i mean a mass unit. Luke Voigt's a star all of a sudden. I know. I know. And like,

and Boone can basically just roll out of bed and say, oh, you want Odovino for two? Fine. Sure. He could be close his eyes and be like, oh,

which bullpen pitcher are you going with? Oh, okay. You're awesome. You go out there. It's crazy. I wish I could have Aaron Boone's job. Yeah,

me too. And that's without Don Batantes. I'm 100% sure I could do Aaron Boone. But think about Gabe. Gabe's giving Jose freaking Alvarez. And Juan Nicasio. And J.D. Hammer. And Edgar Garcia.

And like, yack, Sal Rios. Thank God he's gone. Thank God. But Ederbride's back, so it doesn't really matter, does it? It's just like a one for another. Here's the problem with the whole Gabe discussion. He has nothing out there. Nothing.

He has inconsistent starters and inconsistent offense. Gabe Kapler is such a non-issue on this team. He's like 47th on the list of problems. It just doesn't. What the manager's doing does not matter right now. It is crazy. I thought the decision to pull Noli yesterday was wrong. I was about to say, let's argue about that a little bit,

because I thought it was the right move. He felt cooked in the moment to me. Well, I rewatched today, everyone i realized it turned into a whole game capital discussion so i had to defend defend the shield defend the shield gotta be there but i gotta be honest like he he was he looked really good in the sixth i thought he was cruising i thought i thought four through six he was starting to get into those aaron nola like middle of game rhythms like we saw last year like where it was like almost like you don't even have to watch. You just be like,

oh, there's three outs. Whatever. This is cake. And then the seventh inning happening at two quick outs, two very quick outs. And then the ball down on third base

to Michael Franco. A normal first baseman probably picks that ball. It was a great play by Franco to almost make the play. Yeah, it was great. And then the real

Muto thing happened where it bounced off his wrist, which I'm sure it squared him up. It looked like it hurt bad. It absolutely squared him up. And then, obviously, he pulled him after he threw four straight balls. And in that situation, it comes down to this.

I would rather Nola face Winker versus Alvarez, and you know he's going to bring in Nick Senzel. Who's a better hitter than Winker? There's no question. I don't trust Alvarez, and you know he's going to bring in Nick Senzel. Who's a better hitter than Winker? There's no question. I don't trust Alvarez against Reitiz just yet. I'm at the point where I trust Jose Alvarez a little bit. A little bit. But I don't trust him so much against Reitiz.

And plus, you know you have Joey Votto coming up next. If Nola can't get out Winker, then I just think he can bring in Alvarez for Joey Votto. He's not going to pinch hit out Joey Votto. And that's a fair argument. Again, I wasn't super strong either way. If he had left Nolan, I wouldn't have killed him for it, but I was okay with him taking Nolan out in that moment. They did have a two-run lead, though.

I kind of just trust them. Yeah. And I thought Nolan was really, really good yesterday. Obviously, seventh inning notwithstanding, but the fastball location looked like it was back a little bit. He still doesn't have the same level of depth on his fastball like it was last year. Last year was running, tailing, and also diving. It was, man.

And this year it's kind of just tailing. The tail and dive was like that. I keep thinking about that Boston start. What a beautiful start that was. Give me that guy. I want that guy. Yeah. If you can get Nola back to that, that's great.

I think we're going to see signs of that guy yeah if you can get Nola back to that that's great I just I think we're gonna see signs of that guy this year but I just don't think it's gonna happen every single start but I thought that was a really

he's only 24 years old and he had a what a he's still only 24 or 25 whatever he is but still he had a he was the third

he was third inside young last year like and he pitched an all time career high in innings all that type of stuff like it wouldn't be

crazy for him to have a season where he takes a step back and then come back next year and be back to being the guy we hoped he would be this year. And also, no one's consistent in baseball anymore. No pitcher this year has been like... Well, other than Ryu. Ryu. Castillo's been pretty good every start.

Berlander still is awesome. Unbelievable. Roger Clemens 2.0. Best slider in baseball by a mile. He's just... According to the numbers. He's just unbelievable. He really numbers. He's just unbelievable. He really is.

I love him and Granke right now. Like two old guys that are still just getting it done. Luckily, and we'll get to the Diamondbacks series coming up, the Phillies miss Granke and Robbie Ray. Yeah, well Robbie... He's like the only two Diamondbacks pitchers you don't want to face. Well, speaking of Robbie Ray... He's been great.

I've been very anti-Robbie Ray. He's been really good. And he only had one walk his last two starts. Yeah. He had one walk yesterday. The strikeouts are there. ERA in the mid threes. What I didn't realize, I actually went back and looked at Robbie Ray, and he was better

last year than I gave him credit for, too. He really sucked to start the season, and I didn't realize how much he pulled it together at the end of the season. You look at the final numbers last year, he was pretty good again last year. So there are starters out there that can help this year, but also help in the future. and that's kind of the key of what you're looking for right and we'll get to someone who doesn't i think we got to do a little mad bum talk at some point yeah all right but real quick before we get on this because it's been the the the topic du jour for many people what in philadelphia wip hustling thoughts? It drives me freaking crazy, man.

I hate the hustling conversation. It's just so frustrating. Just watch the sport and don't get in your try-hard ways. No one likes to try hard. Brandon Nimmo, that's why he's the worst. The hustling thing is just such a non... It just doesn't matter.

Well, it's just so funny because we had a guy called the Midday Show today, and he brought up your favorite. He goes, Derek Jeter, not a single play. Did that guy not hustle, not run his hardest, make plays? This is what he did. Literally, as this guy's talking, I Googled Derek Jeter lack of hustling, and in two seconds, I pull up an article from 2014 where he watched a ball that he thought was a home run ended up bouncing off the top of the wall and he got thrown out at

second because he wasn't hustling i was like every player in baseball does it and derrick cheater never won an mvp ever in the history of his career that is so illustrious it's one of those things where yes in a perfect world, you're getting paid. You wish a guy was that late. Of course. You're getting paid millions of dollars. I get that argument.

Like, I get it. Trust me. If I get paid millions of dollars and you said all you got to do is run four times a game, I'd run four times a game, I assume. But this is just not the world we live in. They play 162 games. They play 30 days in a row at times. All that type of stuff.

Like, it is what it is. And they've all seen the play being made against them a thousand times. 999 times out of a thousand. If you had a ball back to the pitcher, you're going to get thrown out by 50 feet no matter how far you run. How fast you run. Hoskins should have been on second base, but there was so much chaos in that situation to where

it's kind of just, I don't know, it's a bit of a brain lapse. And he's mad at himself. He had the bases loaded. He's like, I want to do something here. And he pops up and you're like, crap. Like that was a pitch I thought I was going to murder. And I messed it up. Like, and he's not, like it happens. It's human.

It is human. And I would have liked to see him on second base. But like, I don't know. And the whole Bryce thing with him trying to steal home. Like, is that really why they lost? No. Did people say that? Because it was a one-run game?

Really? No, it was a two-run game at that point. No, I'm saying it ended up being a one-run game. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah, and I'm just like... Look, I thought it was too aggressive. I didn't love that he stole home in there,

but Bryce Harper is an aggressive baseball player. He's an aggressive runner. How many times have we seen this guy take the extra base, score at home on a play where most people won't? I'd rather have the 50 times he gets me an extra run because of that or whatever it is than the couple times where he gets thrown out trying to be too

aggressive. You can't have it both ways. He's either aggressive or he's not. It did suck he took the bat out of Reese's hands but also Reese has to start driving in some runs again. I mean, it's... Reese has been ice cold, man. Reese has two homers in his last 29 games. Yeah, that's not...

I mean, now we know... They were back-to-back games against the Boots. He's going to hit like 10 and 14. That's what he does. That's what he does. But he's been ice cold. He's been ice cold. So I understand why he did it in that situation.

I'm sure Reese was like, yo, dude. Like, come on, man. I know I'm struggling, but I'm sure Reese was like, trust me a little bit. Not even just that. The other issue is with two strikes. What are you doing? I guess he's thinking there's a higher chance you're getting a curveball there. It could have gotten in the way. Theoretically, but at the same time, if it's

two strikes, you're taking the bat out of Hoskins' hands. If it's a strike down the middle of the plate, he can't swing with you running home like that. He's going to kill you. You're making it so that if it's a strike, he can't defend himself as a batter. The other thing is you have to realize that if Sonny Gray sees you breaking, he's going to go quicker to the plate.

Of course. Sonny Gray was being slow to the plate. I get it, but he's going to speed up in that scenario. Of course he is. Especially right there. He's a regular pitcher. He's looking at you. If it's a lefty pitcher, maybe going slow,

he can get an extra little bit of break. That's what he did against Cole in 2012. Right. And that I get. That makes more sense. So, again, I'm not going to kill him. I'd rather he be aggressive than not aggressive, but... Well, I was talking about hustling. I'll take that. The guy does his hustle, but still, the hustling thing...

Tries me crazy. We had to get it in there. Who cares, man? It's such a non-issue. We forgot to mention something that we do care about and it just sucks. Adam Haisley, man. What a bummer. We're all jacked up. The game-winning double against the Padres. Started

the rally with the walk. We're like, yeah, man. Adam Haisley, let's go. I know. He was on the aisle. It's annoying, too, because you see the tweets. It's like, he's got a bad hip. I'm like, what is he, 95 years old? What is this? He's got a bad hip? He's got a hip flex see the tweets it's like he's got like a bad hip. I'm like what is he 95 years old? Like what is this?

He's got a bad hip? He's got a hip flexor problem and Gabe was like yeah we just need him to be a little bit more honest about how he's feeling because like we can actually take care of him.

So that was my sense of him being like he was trying to play hurt and it was ipso facto kind of hurting the team and he was like I understand he's a young player and whatnot

but you have to be forthright in your injuries. But yeah it stinks. I mean now kingery has to play center all the time which we just need to see michael or or michael like michael michael michael michael calls him michael it drives me crazy i don't blame you well schmidt schmidt does a lot of things like come on that i might not love it's not that hard it's not that hard um but it just it i hope he comes back soon. I want to see what he can do. It makes so much more sense

for the future of this team. And yeah, it sucked to hear. I mean, this team's dropping like flies. I don't want them to turn to the Mets right in front of my eyes. Yeah.

Or the Yankees, except they keep winning games. Yeah, well, I'll take the Yankees. Me too. I'll take that death. I'll be okay with that. But I don't want to be the Mets.

That's how you build a team. Yes. That's what the Dodgers do that's what the Yankees do it's smart it's smart yes the Phillies are not there yet

but it seems like they are slowly starting to build a base of major league caliber players while they may not be superstars which is what we always talk about

they have a quantity over quality type of thing yes that is their that is their system to a tee meanwhile the Astros can bring up Jordan Alvarez

and Kyle Tucker's just waiting like it's unbelievable like either of those guys if the Phillros can bring up Jordan Alvarez. And Kyle Tucker's just waiting. It's unbelievable. Either of those guys, if the Phillies brought them up, would be like a major force for this team. They'd be batting in the middle of the order. It's crazy. Jordan Alvarez had like a 1,200 plus OPS in the minors

this year. Yes. Now I will say, we did bring in Josh Bonifay who is from the Astros system to help build our player development. Good. Smart. Bring in smart guys and let them figure it out.

Can you imagine having the best lineup in baseball and then bringing up Jordan Alvarez? And also having a pitching staff where Garrett Cole gets 14Ks, Verlander. They also have the best pitching prospect in the minors. Forrest Whitley. Just hanging out. Yeah, just chilling. And again, Kyle Tucker. That's a guy who's going to have 40 home runs in the majors someday. Force Whitley. Just hanging out. Chilling. And again, Kyle Tucker. That's a guy who's going to have

40 home runs in the majors someday. Just whenever he'll get there. It's crazy. It's frustrating is what it is, Jack. I get frustrated about these things. I do too. I want to argue our done, Alvarez. It really keeps me up at night.

I just want to have... I texted you. I was so mad. I was like, I'm watching the Astros. I'm like, how do the Astros just have this guy? Freaking Astros

who just won the World Series, have an all-time great offense that's doing all-time great offense type things. Garrett Cole, Justin Verlander, all this stuff. And then they're just like, oh yeah, we're just bringing up. We don't have to trade for anybody because we have superstars ready to go coming up in the minors. You know what's important? Developing your players.

It is. It's a great point. And having a dominant player development staff. I think the Phillies are starting, I think they're starting to build it. But I think they're so far,

again, Ruben Amaro, and I know people are really on this re-litigating the Ruben Amaro era. The guy made decent trades by the end, but that guy left us

with absolutely nothing when it comes to player development. Exactly. When it comes to, when it comes to analytics and enforcing technology. Like,

the Astros have been doing this since 2012. Like, The Astros have been doing this since 2012. The Astros have been doing this since 2012. Friedman had been doing this since 2008 with the Rays. Brought that to the Dodgers. A big market team. The Yankees have been doing this since Cashman in 2002, I want to say. Not this level, but the Phillies, unfortunately... They had a lot of ground to catch up.

They had a lot of ground, and they've had to do it quickly. And they've had to do it almost overnight. I know it's been, what, three years of the Klintzak regime? Like, that is peanuts in how long it takes to build a... He had to build it from the ground up. Yep. From the ground up. So, for as frustrating as it is that they can bring up a Jordan Alvarez,

like, the Phillies will get there someday. All right. A couple quick hitters before we look ahead. Can I go to the Braves? Can I go to the Braves? I don't know. I mean, he's missed a month and a half of pitching, and we saw how that hurt Arrieta last year. We saw how missing a month of spring training hurt Harper this year. For $13 million, would you have signed him?

I think they want to stay under the luxury tax, and I would rather bring in Mike Miner and someone else. I think that helps more this year. That's fair. I would have signed him for $13 million. I was fine with that price. I think that's a fair price the luxury tax, and I would rather bring in Mike Miner and someone else. I think that helps more this year. That's fair. I would have signed him for $13 million. I was fine with that price. I think that's a fair price for going under your deal. Well, listen, going under the luxury tax is not...

Very clearly. It's not the worst thing in the world. I mean, I get you don't want to do it, but... I would do it. Just freaking pony up, baby. It's just money. Jack Middleton, where you at? But also, you don't want to go over to year one

where you don't believe in the team, so you can theoretically pay more in the future. all right uh where does he get hit by a baseball uh look at my upper rib cage okay so jag showed me this uh i wonder what's worse when my face was ripped open or the thing on your side yeah well the thing on my side is only listen it's not like i got crushed by like a 90 mile an hour fastball it's like 75 but only because i'm like you know pretty fat and like there's no like i feel like just bruises easier than if i was like stronger it's certainly a bruise didn't didn't help that i didn't pitch that well so like oh no i got hit i didn't pitch well it's just a rough day it was a rough it was a bad the phil is lost

in brutal fashion classic i mean what else what else is new uh it was not a great that's the only way they lose jack yeah well that. Well, it's whatever. So, yeah, this thing hurts. I haven't been hit by a pitch since I was like 13. But, you know, tough times don't last. Tough times don't last. Tough people do. There you go, buddy. And what I'm starting to realize is that for as much as I've slandered Andrew Knapp on

this podcast, I'm basically Andrew Knapp at the plate. Soft contact. Oh, no. Soft contact. But I work in it bad, baby. I got on base twice yesterday. One of those with that bruising. I had a 667 OBP. You gave up your body for it.

Yeah, much like Nappy. God. Oh, Andrew Nabb with that RBI. Yeah, he's got like what? He's top 10 in OBP for catchers. God, Andrew Nabb. Love to see it. Yeah, do you? Do you really? Alright, any other quick hitters? Oh, you're you're like a mr podcast guest me you know chase seniors podcast

kevin franzen like you're you're a go-to podcast guest what's up with that when you when i will take a quote would chase called you one of the brightest young minds in philadelphia philly's baseball whatever i thought that was an who else is that was an exaggeration. Who else is out there? It's an exaggeration, but you know. Who else is out there at 25 that's doing this? I mean, it's just a fact. Okay. I don't want to be that guy. It's too late.

Let's start putting some resumes out there. Too late. Too late. All right. We'll get to the, you have anything else from your bag before we look ahead and then do final thoughts? The Jack bag? No. I'm going to start? Um... Jack bag? No.

I'm going to start calling it the jack bag. My one bag is that I think Vinny's looked pretty good. I think he's going to step up. Feel good about Vinny? I feel good about Vinny. His slider has a pretty decent bite out of the bullpen. And the fastball is being played up a little bit. And as long as Real Muto's out there, I trust him to work Vinny through

outings. Still takes, like, forever to throw. Like, it's crazy how long it takes Vinny Velasquez to get through anything. Especially when you're watching Pavetta pitch the day before and he's just freezing through. Eflin the day before. It's like, oh my God. Oh my God. Why can't you just do that?

I know, it's crazy. And my other thing with Sir Anthony, with the UCL thing, which probably means he's done for this year, and I think it's going to be Tommy John next year. He's going to get Tommy. I mean, he's getting a second opinion he's gonna get tommy john the way the way his mechanics work i'm not surprised it happened like he put so much strain on his elbow one of those things where it was gonna happen at some probably type of things probably because he

puts so much strain because he's so torque and he's so toward across the body yeah yeah and like he opens up so violently that like sometimes his drags behind. I'm not surprised it happened. It sucks it happened. But that is a lot of mechanic-induced problems. Yeah, that makes sense. It is a bummer, but it almost feels like that's just the way of the world. Now you've got to think about, do they go to deadline and get a controllable reliever? Because Sir Anthony is a guy they were relying on. For the next few years, obviously.

Yeah, and now they won't have him for next year probably as well. A lock. I mean, unless he tries to rehab it and it works out. But I mean, other than Tanaka, like I can't think of anybody else who has tried to do the rehab thing and it worked for them. I guess Garrett Richards and then he ended up having to get it. It just doesn't work. Like get the Tommy John and move forward.

Right. That's probably the best way to do it. So that sucks for them. But like if they can go out and get like a Kyle Crick. Oh, Kyle Crick. Dude. I love Kyle Crick. Get Vasquez and move forward. Right. That's probably the best way to do it. So that sucks for them. But if they can go out and get a Kyle Crick. Oh, Kyle Crick. Dude. I love Kyle Crick. You can get Vasquez and Crick.

Just go crazy. Just take the Pirates' bullpen. Go wild. Go wild. Why not? All right. Before final thoughts, anything? Diamondbacks coming down.

A really unremarkable, unexciting team. But they do rake a little bit. They've been pretty good. They've been better than I expected them to be. They do luck out. They don't get Greinke or Robbie Ray. You get some guy named Taylor Clark I've never heard of before. They have three rookies on the mound.

John Duplantier. And then Merrill Kelly is a 30-year-old rookie, so I'm not too scared of Merrill Kelly. Yeah, but he was one of the main trade targets in that. I think he was one of the... No, no, no. He was a guy that was brought up from Korea. Yeah.

He's on the Miles Nicholas miles nicholas kind of path yes not having the same kind of year no no we're close had last year these are the guys you want to face i've never even heard of taylor clark do you know taylor clark is i i i saw it was uh it was i i call first clark and i'm like i don't know clark yeah i don't know i know i usually know these things i didn't know the first two guys john duplantier i knew that one no idea taylor yeah I don't know. I usually know these things. I didn't know the first two guys. I knew it was John Duplantier. I knew that one. No idea who Taylor Clark is. Yeah, didn't know that one. Adam Jones is back for the series. He had been out against Toronto, so future... Get an eye on him. Get a view on him. Yeah, there's a couple decent

trade targets. There's him. There's Grant. Well, obviously, okay. So without them, it's like Archie Bradley maybe. You know, he hasn't really been good in two years. He hasn't been very good this year, especially. Even last year wasn't that great. Adam Jones is the main trade target. They do have some bats, like Eduardo Escobar,

Ketamarte. Ketamarte's been great this year. Local guy, Christian Walker. I know all the local guys. Come on. Is he a local guy? Christian Walker? I didn't know that. Kind of square. How about that? Carson Kelly. Yeah, he played in the same All-Star thing. They got, what's his name? CJ Krohn's brother

Kevin Krohn I know Swings just like him He's actually a really good hitter Seems like he could be I was watching Robbie Ray start yesterday And I was like

This is just CJ Krohn It's weird It's so weird They swing exactly the same So Two or three Two or three Alright

We won't call for a sweep But give me two or three Hashtag two or three The Phillies can't sweep anyway And then Of course this weekend this weekend, Braves. Measuring stick. In Atlanta. 27 straight against divisional opponents.

It's either 26 or 27, something like that. Basically, through the all-star break, it's just NL East opponents left. Make or break? Big time. Make or break time. Yeah, it really is. All right, final thoughts. Final thoughts is that Cesar Hernandez has the single most depressing walk-up song in the history of walk-off songs you texted me about it it is

so depressing it is like it is like a sad spanish like love song and like it's just who would get psyched who's ready to hit yeah like who's ready for the fills let's look good team and then you were like cesar's like walkout song it's like oh well this is depressing i guess i'll go get another beer and uh go home to my lonely life like cry yeah it's like it's like come on says like can we get a little little little upbeat music it's so it's so sad listen for it tonight if you can't hear i'm going to if you can't hear it on tv listen to the radio feed you can hear it pretty clearly franski franski on friday was like, and here comes Cesar Hernandez up with the single most depressing walk-up music I've ever heard in a ballpark. Wow. Legit.

And LA's like, what are we going to a funeral? Oh man, that's great. So watch out for that. It's brutal. Only one final thought today. Wow. Well, I guess my second final thought is, again, a thousand ratings and we'll release the Bryce Harper is never coming here podcast. And we are talking about a night at the ballpark yes we think we have a date circle we

think we have a date circle it should be a fun game um one that we can get tickets for all right i have two final thoughts the first uh thoughts to david ortiz i think both of us big david ortiz fans when he played love the way he went about his business love the positivity the attitude and all that obviously shot in the Dominican Republic last night looks like he's gonna be fine looks like he really

much like me with my face in the dog where it could have been my throat could have been my eye it was my cheek looks like he had a very similar in a much more serious way

you were just you and David Ortiz went through the same thing same thing he got shot I got bit by a dog same thing I got hit by a baseball

yes exactly in all seriousness it looks like it missed all his vital organs so the same thing. Same thing. He got shot. I got bit by a dog. Same thing. I got hit by a baseball. Yes, exactly. In all seriousness, it looks like it missed all his vital organs. Yes. I mean, thank God. Ortiz is awesome. He is so awesome.

And my second thought, Jack, you think Mad Bum's going to fit in with the Let the Kids Play Philadelphia Phillies if they trade for him? I don't know. So obviously,

if you didn't see him, Max Moncy at home running, literally like as tame a bat flip as you will see. He watched it for a second. He basically put his bat down. Mad Bum comes at him. Here's the quote from Mad Bum. He says, I can't even say it with a straight face,

but the more I think about it, I should just let the kids play, but I just can't. I can't. They want to let everyone be themselves, then let me be myself. That's me. I think I will leave. They want to let everyone be themselves, then let me be myself. That's me. I think I will leave my final thought to Max Muncy's response to Madison Baumgartner. Muncy said to him,

Baumgartner said, don't watch the ball run. And I just told him, if he doesn't want me to watch the ball, go get it out of the ocean. Suck it, Mad Bum. Team Mad Bum. Of course you are.

You are such a pitcher. Team Mad Bum. Of course you are. You are such a pitcher. Team Mad Bum. No, I understand where he's coming from. No, no, no, no, no. It was so tame. Would you let me finish? Yes, yes. I understand where he comes from from the like,

yo, dude. But because it's like you're in the moment where you're also like, I just got embarrassed. Like I led a home run yesterday and I was like, me? Like really? that i was so mad i was so mad like so you get it i allowed one home run every year in high school that's it that's all i allowed myself and then i had them yesterday and i was like oh my god what is this and like it's like you're mad at yourself but then you'll see that you're also mad at him there's a lot of internal just anger

um and you you kind of black out. Honestly, you black out. This is the best excuse I've heard. I'm just telling you, somewhat being in that situation, like you just black out in rage. Like that's why I always defended Pavetta because me and him act the exact same. Well, yeah.

As I pointed out, I figured that one out. I sussed that one out. I literally. That's why you were a Pavetta guy. Yesterday I was on the mound. I threw a strike And he called the ball I said are you Bleeping kidding me

Like Like it's right there So I understand Where Mad Bum is coming from I am pro Let the kids play It was not even that Big of a bad flip

It's funny It was not It was nothing He just watched it For a half a second And then started running It's just Mad Bum Thinking he's Mad Bum

And that he isn't Allowed home runs Well the funniest part About it is Joe Sheehan Put it on Twitter Is that Mad Bum is a year and 24 days older than Max Muncy. Like, they're the same age.

I know. I know. I know. But he's looking pretty good. Future Philly Mad Bum. He won seven innings yesterday against them. Yeah, he looked great. They lost 1-0.

I mean, he pitched well. All right. Fritzy. I'm going to be away this weekend. Oh, yeah. In Florida. Who wants to go to Florida? I don't. My 101-year-old grandmother died, so I have to. Yes. weekend. Oh, yeah. In Florida. Ah, who wants to go to Florida? I don't.

My 101-year-old grandmother died, so I have to. Yes. It's 101, man. That's pretty serious. Yeah. It's a long time. It's a great, great life. Yeah.

No sadness. It's all good. Yeah. But we'll figure it out. We'll make it happen somewhere or another. But, um, until then. Have fun in Florida. Uh, don't run into any Florida men.

Yeah. The Florida man. Yes. He's a crazy man. All I'm going to be trying to do in Florida is figuring out how I can watch Phillies and Braves. That's what I would do. And I'll make it work. That's what everyone on the iHost Nation would do.

Make it work. All right. We will talk to you later in the week one way or another. We'll talk to you later. All-star closer, Kenley Jansen. We have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby.

I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is. Another fact, so jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the

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