High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Coping With No Baseball

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back as the guys are coping with no baseball. They get into Jack's surroundings, the possible upcoming season, MLB Draft, new international signing and a whole lot more. 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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This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes! It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Philadelphia Phillies on Radio.com and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Yo! It is another edition of the High Hopes Podcast. And, Jack, I can't tell you, as I did that, yo,

we all know it was supposed to be opening day today. It's Thursday. As I did that, yo yo for the first time i thought man the yo after the opening day game that we would have done the podcast after would have been so much better it would have been such a cool yo and i that's why i like almost like cut it short in the middle because i was like ah ah that ah. That's what I wanted to do. Would it have been that much better, though? Because you know they were going to lose some frustrating game to the Marlins. Like, dude, you know Jorge Alfaro was going to have his only home run of the season.

Like a 450-foot tank shot. Yeah, and you know the Phillies fans are going to be like, see, should have kept. And Corey Dickerson was going to have no less than three hits. Jonathan VR, a former Philly great as well, was going to start a monster campaign for fantasy owners this season. So like six stolen bases. Ah, no, Romito, that wouldn't happen. Yeah, right. I mean, come on.

Let's remember who we. Dude, let's keep this realistic, all right? Hold on. Why did so many people steal on Real Muto last year? Like, every time I always think about it, and I'm like, why did people do that? It made no sense. You figure it out all the time.

And teams just kept doing it and kept doing it. But you know that if the Phillies played today, it would have been a frustrating loss to the Marlins. I guess Baseball Reference was know a simulation of the game and the Phillies lost like six two oh no and Nola got Nola got lit up so I'm sure that the takes would have been normal oh yeah well I think you're also telling yourself that to help ease the pain yeah everything every day I wake up now I'm trying to think of how i can ease the pain it's uh like i i i had to be in the studio today i had to replay the phillies game um from last

year's opening day and to just remember how excited we were and how and after that game it felt like wow phillies baseball's back i mean i i distinctly remember a couple things from that game i remember the reese hodgson's grand slam and i remember you came in the studio right after and we talked about how like great we felt for reese um and i also remember that we went to that podcast and i had this feeling in my gut of like man what if we if we don't get the same Arenolas last year? Turns out we didn't get the same Arenolas last year. So, yeah, it's I've been watching so much old baseball clips. Just like I just miss it.

I miss baseball so much. I miss I go. I'm going through my fantasy drafts right now, and I didn't want to do my fantasy draft, but everyone peer pressured me into doing it, and I just, just seeing these players, and knowing

we might not see them until July, it just sucks. I miss the Phillies so much. I mean, I don't know you're you're speechless i'm with you man it's hurt a lot i've done look we know as we always say i mean there's way more important things going on in the world but like you know if anyone

listening to this podcast for me and jack like baseball is the thing we love the most outside of our families. And maybe in Jack's case, baseball first. So it really is. That's a fair assumption. Oh, I know. I mean, it's not really fair, but it's fair enough. You can make the case. The point is it's tough.

Well, speaking of which, you're in your childhood bedroom and all you see is philly stuff everywhere right oh dude i forgot how all right let me let me just do a little rundown of what i see set the scene jack set the scene for the listeners in my eyesight okay i have i have a cut out of of opening day from 2004, the first game at Citizens Bank Park with Tomei and a brand new Citizens Bank Park. I have right in front of me, I have Roy Halladay, the Inquirer. I don't know if it was an ad or they were just like paying homage to Roy

right after he threw the no-hitter in the playoffs. So that's right in front of me. I have an 08 World Series flag that is hanging down from my wall. I have an 07 pennant from Models, which is right in front of me. RIP Models, by the way. Very sad. That's where I used to get all my stuff from back in the day. Right to my left here is... So I have the newspaper cutouts of the whole run in 08

so i have so i have the the uh the paper the day after they won the day after they uh clinched the nlcs uh after the clinch game one so i have all those papers from the whole entire run i have uh what are the i guess they're just called pennants but i have a ryan howard mvp pennant that is hanging you are such a nerd i love this i have i have an 08 world series pennant right in front of me i have an nl east uh 2010 uh champions bottle right in front of me um to my what is it like a coke bottle or something like no it's like it's like when you put coffee in to keep it uh hot ah okay i guess i have a roy halliday okay i have a roy halliday bobblehead right in front of me i have a a ball signed by the 08 phillies signed by every player but it's like fake inscriptions um i have a picture of old veteran stadium uh with the phillies and uh

ricky jordan's batting oh i had that ricky jordan when i was a kid i have a philly's pillow he's a great guy i'm sure you did i have a philly's pillow in front of me and i have a philly's uh a philly's um what other things the airplane pillow one of the airplane pillows right in front of one of the neck pillow things yeah yeah one of the neck pillow things so uh yeah that's just right in front of me so i forgot there's even more there's more well yeah there's more that's like kept away you are insane you might love it more than your family. I think this is actually a discussion worth having. Well, listen. In 2007, I was in eighth grade.

2009, I was, or 2008, I was a freshman in high school. So, like, that's the perfect time to really get into the Phillies. So, everything I have is, like, Phillies stuff. I mean, I have a Redding fighting Phil's mascot thing right in front of me. Yeah. Oh, yo, guess what I have? Oh, I forgot about this. What?

Dude, I have the Shane Victorino, him playing the ukulele. So it's Shane Victorino bobblehead day, and he hit a walk-off home run on Shane Victor victorino shane victorino bobblehead day same day that freddie garcia pitched and i hated freddie garcia who didn't well i was really hyped when they uh traded for freddie it felt like a good trade it turned out it wasn't not not not good at all horrendously bad trade it turned out yeah of course um no look i i think it's a perfect all that you just said shows the pain that you're feeling today and and me too for me i think my favorite my favorite piece of philly's memorabilia it's not in front of me at the moment because you know i'm an adult

and i'm living in a in a adult's home but um i have a baseball signed by the 1991 phillies think about how many random phillies are on that ball think about it well well right behind me is a ball signed by the entire like actually signed by the entire 1980 phillies team oh well that's actually like really cool yeah mine's actually signed but it's by the 91 phillies it's like guys like ricky jordan it's bad speaking of the 91 phillies i was watching opening day from the 91 phillies it's like guys like ricky jordan it's bad speaking of the 91 phillies i was watching opening day from the 91 phillies speaking of the 91 phillies that is a response that no one's ever said screw you there's no way what's ridiculous about the 91 phillies and i was watching again i was watching their opening day today because who are you who are you gelb

wrote about him it's not me it was just linked in the box that's actually really that's really random why did he write about the 91 phillies that's so weird uh it was a funny story but um just in watching the watching the video it was like terry mahalan versus doc doc gooden and uh they traded for mitch the night before the season started, which I thought was insane, and they acted like getting Mitch Williams was like getting Prime Rivera. I was a little blown away by the reaction to getting Mitch Williams, but I was actually just looking behind me.

And who knew in the moment in 91 what a pivotal moment that actually was for the village no it's a pivotal moment but good and bad is my point i mean like it's good and bad can we calm down a little bit with the uh the the bryce harper level excitement yeah certainly not uh bryce lover harper all right bryce harper level all right let's um obviously we don't have opening day today, and we are bummed about it. Very bummed. Yeah, like so bummed.

Like the level of bummage cannot be really put into words. But at least over the last couple days, and look, this is all fluid. We don't know what's going to happen. I mean, there is still theoretically a chance there is no season. Like who knows what's going to happen. But Major League Baseball certainly wants there to be a season. And over the last couple days, it started with Jeff Passon's report about Manfred and the owners talking about options. And then Scott Boris chimes in.

And there's been a lot of conjecture about what could happen. It seems like the big takeaway is that they are going to do everything they can to get as many games in as possible including the potential for games to go into december jack neutral site games for the playoffs neutral site games for the world series how do you feel about these new potential per point again this is all fluid. Who knows what's going to happen, but the potential for, at least according to Boris, a June 1st start for 162-game season going into December, or a July 1st start for 144-game season going into December. How do you feel about these proposed options here? So, I hate it. Of course you do it of course you do of course no i hate it i i really do and like i

don't want to see baseball played at a neutral site for the world series uh i don't like i i you know me i will watch as much baseball as i can physically consume but i just want to i just want to lay this out there is that it's not just the neutral site world series in december you have to have everything leading up to that which sure if you want to make the playoffs also neutral site but like you're going to be playing regular season games into november which is a lot and i know we're so starved for sports that we don't want to talk we don't want to watch sports or we would watch sports without fans. But, man, like imagine the 08 run with like no fans.

Well, there are going to be no fans no matter what. Like at least for the first. I mean, honestly, I think there's a real chance that the entire season is played without fans. Like I don't know. That's what I think is a real possibility. Yeah, and I get get that it's better than nothing i mean the marlins play in front of no fans all the time and it's not like the but i'm but here's my other problem with it is that so so we're gonna go into december and then what are

we gonna do with spring training like are we just we're not it's affecting two seasons versus just affecting one season i'd rather just bite the bullet and play 80 to 100 games and have like a sprint to the to the finish line and it not affect 2021 and rather than let's play these games in December and then spring training starts in like April or whatever. And then it pushes back the next season. Well, I don't think they do that. I think the point is they would just push spring training forward. Players would have less of an offseason.

I think that's the idea at least. Well, you got to still give them at least like – Why? They can't come back in February and take a month and a half off? It's baseball. But then they have no – but then pitchers have no chance to recover. at least like why they can't come back in february i'd like take a month and a half off like it's baseball but then but then they have no but then pitchers have no chance to recover i get that i get it but i mean like they're not gonna push next season back not a lot at least like i don't i don't think maybe they will a little bit but they're gonna only do it enough where they can

get back on track you know i mean they don't want to do two years of neutral site games and stuff like that like that's not well exactly happen. Well, exactly. Exactly. Neither do I. So that's why I'd rather. I'm saying they won't. I'm saying that won't happen. Like, that's giving up playoff gates. These teams don't want to play the World Series neutral sites.

They want to make money on the World Series. They want people to come to their ballparks. They want all that stuff, you know? For sure. And there's a part of me that the idea of 80 to 100 games and it being a sprint and just seeing how that plays out and it feels like the day-to-day would meet a lot more, I'd be excited to see that. And listen, you can push it back to November for the World Series.

That's whatever. But I just don't like the idea of pushing it to December. I know 162 would be great. Even 144 would be great. But I would rather just bite the bullet, say it's one bad year where this crazy thing happened. And, of course, we're not going to take any of the records seriously. Like, if a guy bats 400 or whatnot. Like, it's almost like that doesn't matter.

It's just getting to the postseason. bats 400 or whatnot like it's almost like that doesn't matter it's just getting to the post season like i'd rather just do that and kind of like i don't want to say get it over with but it's almost like get it over with and and and bite the bullet and unfortunately that's i don't know i i don't like the idea of changing up all this stuff just to play a neutral site world series in december and then have to maybe affect spring training i i would just rather get it out of the way and and go from there and chalk it up to a unfortunate circumstance yeah i'm torn between this like i look if they did it that way and they had a sprint to the finish like i i think it would be compelling i think it'd be a lot of fun to watch i think it

would actually help a team like the phill because you have less depth. You have to worry less about making it through 162 games in a shortened period time period without the same depth that a team like the Dodgers, the Cardinals, or these other teams that can kind of cycle guys in and out more. Um, I think that helps the other teams. So I actually think it'd be good for the Phillies if there's a shorter season there's more variance um but I also want more baseball you know I also the selfish part of me says I want more baseball and I am looking at it as like I think it is unlikely that fans will be in the stands for a long time period is the way I'm looking at it so it's almost like what's the difference you start the season without fans in the stands you end the season at a neutral site like it all it feels fine to me and it's more baseball so i'm torn i i i don't

have a strong take on this one way or the other you know come on james i know i'm a coward but look i if i had to choose if i had to choose i'd say give me more baseball than less baseball i'd say i don't care that much about the neutral site games. Like, fine. It gives people a chance to fly somewhere. Like Scott Boris talked about how they can plan everything, plan travel. It's like the Super Bowl in a way where you have this set space where everyone knows it's going to be in. You can make your plans accordingly months and months and months ahead. And granted, it's a risk for fans who don't know if their team's going to get there and all that type of stuff, but, um, it would be sanitized. It wouldn't have the same feel. If again, I would obviously prefer these games be played at home. So I'm, I don't feel strongly about it, but I'm,

I'm always going to side on the more baseball rather than less baseball side. Like I just am. And I think it'd be fun to have teams playing in December. And you know what I mean? I think that'd be neat. I think it'd be a cool thing to happen. But I also see the, I see the merits of, of look, a 90 game sprint to the finish sounds super cool. Like that sounds like a, a fun way to consume baseball. And, you know, you want to talk about every game mattering. All of a sudden, every game does matter. You know, you can't just throw games away all of a sudden,

because if you build yourself a hole, you might not have time to dig out of it so i'm really torn i'm torn on it what do you think about some of the other proposed changes i think we could both agree the seven inning games on doubleheader days is asinine and just never do that never ever ever do that i don't think whoever whoever proposed that has clearly never played a 7-inning game. I hate that with every fiber of my being. Deep in my soul, I hate that idea. Yeah, it's a truly, truly awful idea. Now, James, I would love to hear the rest of your proposals,

but I'm back on the clock, and I feel like this would be a thrill. Ooh, I love this. All right. Who are you thinking about? What are the, how long you got? Talk to me. Well,

there's no shot clock in our league, so I can pretty much take it. It's a slow draft is the point. It's a, it's a very slow draft. But I, I, I'm,

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't know, man, I'm torn. I'm so torn.

So I'm pretty much down to JD Davis, who, if anyone listens to this podcast they know you love jd davis nick senzel i like nick senzel caleb smith okay uh mike minor okay joe musgrove okay oh my My guy, Mitch Keller, though. I'd go Nick Senzel. I actually really like Mitch Keller as a bounce back guy. Mitch Keller had among the worst rookie seasons in the history of rookie seasons for someone who is a top 20 prospect in the sport, top 10 prospect in the sport maybe in some places.

So I'm all in on mitch keller bounce back that was a rough year the dude had last year but um i think senzo's probably the play there have i told you my mitch keller take no i laid on me no i think he's the next zach cranky i love wow that's a take buddy oh i love i love mitch keller i want Keller I wanted the Phillies to find some way to get him this offseason But of course That would take vision And actually knowing the sport Yeah here's the thing

Is that I'm waiting until the later rounds Or maybe a couple rounds Because I want to take the second baseman from the Twins Luis Arise Luis Arise Are you a fan of him yeah i like i like him i like the twins period i think they're gonna put up put up runs but like here's the thing senzel's a perfect a perfect post-hype bounce back guy i know that did i not say take senzel

it did you're not listening to me when i said take senzel I'm still on take Senzel if it were me right now I'm taking Nick Senzel of the group you mentioned I would take Nick I actually inside baseball literally and figuratively for the listeners you had your last pick before and I told you to take Nick Senzel so he's still on the board so I would obviously take Nick Senzel here

alright so this is the official high hopes pick for my fantasy draft we are a now Nick Senzel podcast nick senzel let's go i love it all right back to a regularly scheduled program all right so we are both in agreeance uh the uh seven innings double header mickey mouse what do you think about the idea of starting the season with the all-Star Game? That was something else that was proposed. Actually, I don't know if the All-Star Game is a great idea,

but the idea of starting the season on July 4th and kind of making the whole idea... America is back! Right. Strong. That's not a terrible idea. Strong. I said it's strong a terrible idea strong i think it's i said it's strong like that's a strong from a marketing standpoint from like all that like that's a strong idea yeah no i think i think it's a good idea all around um so i i don't i don't how do you play an all-star game before the first half of the season's

happened like i i guess i guess because you can't cancel it because like uh teams have already paid How do you play an all-star game before the first half of the season has happened? I guess because you can't cancel it because teams have already paid for it, cities have already paid for it, and I guess that's the reason why. So I see why they're trying to do that. Whatever they decide is fine because baseball is baseball but the idea of july 4th kicking off the baseball season it's a long weekend for people i think that'd be a great way to flood the ballparks and kind of re-kick off the the sports season yeah i'm 100 with you you know i i look if they didn't do the all-star game i'd be fine with it um you know whatever you know like

you said it's kind of a a crappy situation that you just try to make the best of, and you have to do what you have to do. But I do think it would be a fun idea, like a fun way in an all-star game with just the all-stars. It wouldn't be about who's had a great season this and that. It would be like the stars. People would draft the stars, pick the stars to be there. Yeah, that would be cool. Yeah, I think it could be a fun way to start it.

And obviously it doesn't matter, but a good way to kind of remind people that baseball is back. Right, and Bryce Harper better be in it. Yes uh yes i mean the man's the face of baseball you better be in it be furious if bryce harper is i will i will riot in the streets of la where it's well i mean like the only reason the season's delayed is because people are afraid of the bryce harper that's what i'm saying that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. All right. Some other interesting, and these aren't ideas, but some interesting kind of like offshoots of this whole thing. One of the other issues that they've kind of talked about, and I'm even nervous to bring this up because I'm so scared about your reaction.

You are literally the only person I thought about. Okay. I mean, the draft's in peril, Jack. The draft's supposed to be June 10th, and then even the amateur, you know, not draft, but the amateur sign here, July 2nd. I'm serious, though. They're not going to have college baseball seasons. They're not going to have high school senior seasons.

They're not going to have a draft on June 10th. That's not going to happen. James, I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad at the fact that you would do this. I got to bring it up is what we do here. On the same day that opening day is not happening. It's like piling on. It really shows that you're not very considerate.

I think the High Elves listeners need to know how you're coping. How are you dealing with this unbelievably sad moment for you I mean like it started coming out like while the show was going on today so I didn't get to fully ingest it but then I started reading it and like you're gonna give me maybe

5 possible rounds for the MLB draft like maybe 10 rounds max I planned my early june around the mlb draft and to not have to not have an mlb draft would just be so awful like it's the only draft that matters, some say. And... How many people do you think say that? Like, you and maybe, like, Ben Badler and, like, a couple others? And I guess the worry is, like, so many of the high school kids, like, well, there's no point to them really entering. And they all just go to JUCOs and all that stuff.

Literally, you were the only person I thought of when I saw that part of it. I was like, ah, Jack, buddy. And I think the draft will happen, but it won't be the same. It won't be as amazing. I'm very sad. If I was baseball, if I was baseball, I would have the drafts like, look at what the NFL is doing. The NFL is saying, I don't care what any of the general managers say.

I don't care what any of the front offices say. They definitively are doing that. They're like, screw you. The draft is April 23rd. Be there or lose out. Right, because they understand that they are the only thing that people are talking about. Like, the only thing that people are going to be talking about in the sports cycle is the NFL draft, is NFL free agency. If I was baseball, I'd be trying to capitalize on something that usually no one would ever care about.

So, I would keep it the same or whatever just don't cancel the mlb draft like just just don't just don't do it there's so many guys that i've already had like what is ed howard supposed to do when he's not a philly and i'm heartbroken like what are these guys supposed to do that i've already talked myself through and i'm heartbroken in What are these guys supposed to do that I've already talked myself through? I like that you threw an I'm heartbroken in there because that's the real issue too. Not the kid's dream not being fulfilled? No, he's so secondary.

Come on. But like, I don't know. Like, just, you don't, why do you have to touch the draft? Because you're losing revenue in March and April and May. Well, it's also different because the NFL draft, all these kids got to play their seasons. They went to the combine.

A lot of them even had pro days. Even college basketball played the vast majority of their season. A lot of these kids didn't get to play their seasons. The college baseball, high school kids, they're not even playing. It's tough. It's tough. I know. It's awful.

It's awful. Think about how many times a guy is a sophomore in college and then has a massive junior year and vaults himself into that type of discussion. Or a high school senior, how do you draft a kid off his junior year in high school? Are you even scouting those kids like that? senior like how do you draft to get off as junior year in high school are you even scouting those kids like that like you know so i mean it just makes it's it's it's more complicated than the other drafts because they didn't get to play that last season and because it's tougher to begin with with high school kids too i mean also we talk all the time but like how do you how do you draft a

kid who's 17 years old mickey moniak and project what he's gonna be when he's 22 23 24 25 i mean that's it's hard to do that you don't know 23, 24, 25. I mean, it's hard to do that. You don't know how they're going to grow. You don't know. Like, it's just tough, man. It's already tougher to begin with. It's already borderline impossible. Yes, yes.

So, but, like, the thing that sucks is if you're an Austin Martin and if you're one of these juniors, like, I don't know. I feel bad for the seniors. The seniors aren't going to play their season, and then they're going to lose even more money if there's only 10 rounds or even five rounds. A lot of the seniors, they have to go later because teams know they can sign them for $5,000.

And then more of those guys are going to be hitting the open market rather than being drafted and being able to fulfill that dream. So, like, I just wish that – I just wish they wouldn't touch the draft. I know. You could push it back. I didn't even want to bring it up. I just felt like we had to. Sorry about that. Right.

Like, just leave the draft alone. Leave the draft alone. Just stop with the whole worrying about revenue. Like, just draft the draft alone. Leave the draft alone. Just stop with the whole worrying about revenue. Just draft the guys. You're not losing that much money. You're all making more money than you could ever know about. Just have the draft. Let the kids fulfill their dream.

And yeah, sure, your job might be harder, and you could kind of maybe work around this thing, go work out some kids. I don't know. But the idea of canceling the draft and then pushing all that talent into one draft, sure. It'd be great for the Phillies, and if the season's like three months, I'd want them to tank and get as much as they can in one draft and kind of jumpstart the next couple of years.

You could do the best but i just i don't want it i don't want to lose a draft i i there's so many guys i want 15 there's so many studs and i uh for me i hope the mlb does not decide to do take jack into account guys it feels like it feels like an impassioned plea and uh sure they're listening i'm sure i'd be very sad all right um there's other stuff that there's no real like discussion to be had but some other i mean the thing we also like they have to be considering there's so many issues like service time issues arbitration issues i mean like there's all kinds of stuff that's been brought up with the idea of like, you know, like, is a guy a free agent if they don't play the season? You know, if Mookie

Betts was free agent at the end of the year, what if they don't play the season? Is he a free agent at the end of the year? What if they play a much shortened season? Is he accrued enough time? These kids like, uh, arbitration, how do you judge arbitration? Is it a year of arbitration? If you play an 80 game season, how do you judge those stats and arbitration? Like there's so many logistical issues with this type of stuff and that's not even talking about you know stadiums and if you're gonna add extra games if they're set for if you can have fans back but there's supposed to be a concert there i mean there's so many logistical issues here um what's your guess right now if you had to and again this is so fluid we have no idea what's gonna happen but how do you think they're gonna try and roll this out like if you had to and again this is so fluid we have no idea what's gonna happen but how do you think they're gonna try and roll this out like if you had to guess do you think they choose to go

with a shortened season or do you think they choose to go with some sort of kind of off the wall neutral games in december playing the world series in tampa in december or whatever type of scenario well because uh because they're worried about broadcasting rights and whatnot. I think they'll do whatever they can to play as many games as possible. They'll probably make the wrong decision, because I feel like they always make the wrong decision. I don't know. It's just so unprecedented. I have no idea yeah it's impossible to say i think

they're gonna i think they're gonna do whatever they can to make money and play as many games they can if i had to guess right and i don't think they actually care about you know the the players health or no no the players health this is not well that was another thing they talked about they're like short shorten spring training. We're just going to get these guys back out there. It's like, oh, great. So everyone's going to get hurt. It's going to be a great year.

Right. So my whole concern is that these guys were ramping up to get ready for the season. And they were about, I don't know, three weeks out when this whole thing got shut down or two weeks out. And by that point, most of the starters were working their way into four or five innings and now they just have to stop jack tell me what like as someone who pitched like i think a lot of people like i know even for me like big time baseball fans understand the idea of pitchers ramping their arms up and stuff like that and understand what it's like to like say all right like he's got to build up he's got to get ready you know but like what is that really like for like a pitcher like for the arm like how real is that and how hard is it to ramp

up to four or five innings six innings whatever you were at then completely shut it down and then come back and have to do it again potentially in in like a two week period or whatever they were talking about. Like how hard is that? And what are the real obstacles that a pitcher faces? Well, so at least in, you know, my relative experience, it's like you're, you're, you're doing all that. You're doing the workouts, you know, to, to build your leg strength. You're doing the, you're on a throwing program to kind of get

ready for the season you're you're starting to throw uh you know you see pitchers or starters at least when they first go out there it's usually one or two winnings just kind of loosen themselves up get back into the the flow of things but like by the time the season shut down or the the spring training shut down like those guys were getting ready to be able to to to pitch seven innings into a ball game or at least 100 pitches i think by that point they're probably 80 pitches in so like you're trying to build your because you can't going from going from know, 30 pitches and jumping to 80 pitches, that puts your arm at a higher risk. It's all about putting your arm at a higher risk for injury. So the idea usually is 20 pitches to 45 pitches to, like, 65 pitches to 80 pitches.

Like a slow ramp up so your arm can play catch up. So you're not just going from throwing a 25 pitch bullpen to an 80 pitch game. So that because that that kind of level of jump, it puts your arm at more risk for an injury. So where those guys were at was that they're they're pretty much at around 80 to 85 to 90 pitches. And that's getting close enough to being able to start a full game. Usually when I was playing, it was get to 100 pitches. If you're still strong at 100 pitches, you're ready to go. That might have changed.

That could be a change in philosophy. When I was playing, it was kind of a mix between analytics and and the old school way so it was like running like when I was leaving high school getting into college it was still running poles was the most effective way to build leg strength because if you run longer than you can theoretically go longer in games and then when I got to my second year of college it was like that's stupid we should be running sprints because uh pitching is an explosive motion and you should be uh teaching your body to have explosive movements so uh but but where those pitchers were at was they were at around 80 to 85 to have to shut that

down like this is my whole whole fear is that they go from that and being almost ready to start a game almost ready for the season to start back down to they probably didn't go from 85 to 100 they probably went 85 and then to like 60 pitches to to 30 pitches and then slowly work their way back down but then they have to ramp it right back up it feels like it's like it's like a stop and start like i guess like a it's not you don't want the arm to have to start stop start stop because that higher that that is the higher risk of injury you have you want to slow build a gradual build to get to your peak and then stay at your peak not start ramp up ramp up, stop, ramp down, stop, ramp back up. Like, that's not good for arm health. So that's why the injury concern.

To have the idea of a two-week spring training to kind of get these arms ready is just, I think, insane. But we'll see. I mean, everything's so sophisticated at this point that they're definitely throwing. They're doing all of this. But I'd be worried if I was a pitcher. I'd be concerned. I would be pushing for at least three weeks. Yeah, and I doubt they're going to get that.

I mean, you never know. But it does seem like they want them back playing baseball as quickly as possible. And as soon as they can take advantage of that, that's what's going to happen. Speaking of injuries, real quick, a bit of news in the division um you know and you don't want to say an injury you're not rooting for injuries but but good news for the phillies in the sense of of a competitor in the division loses a good pitcher noah cindergaard uh tears his ucl oh yeah going to be out till you know deep 2021, you would think. How big an effect do you think that is on the Mets?

It's obviously massive. It's just that Thor by this point is just such a waste of talent. Maybe the biggest waste of talent. As talented a pitcher as there is, you could argue.

Thor is unbelievable. I just – I'm not – he's probably my least favorite player in baseball. I can't stand – If he worked as hard and cared as much about being a pitcher as Jacob DeGrom did, he could be better. Like he could be the best pitcher in baseball. Like he's not – DeGrom's not as talented as him. And don't get me wrong.

DeGrom's talented. But DeGrom's the best pitcher in baseball. And Thor's not as talented as him, and don't get me wrong. DeGrom's talented, but DeGrom's the best pitcher in baseball, and Thor's not. Close. No, and he just hasn't developed his repertoire as well. He's just a massive disappointment, and you never want to see a guy hurt and have to build back up. But for the Mets, they let Wheeler go this offseason.

Now they have, what, DeGrom, Stroman, who's fine, but Mats, who... The Mets are just full of guys with untapped potential that I feel like never get there, except for DeGrom. So, yeah, it's good for the Phillies. It sucks

for the Mets. It sucks for Thor. And the Mets' kind of calling card was the rotation. I think the bullpen is actually really, really good. Assuming Edwin Diaz can bounce back. Right. Right. But still, they have my guy, Sethi Spinrates.

And look, I think their offense is sneaky good. Like, you know, they've got the Jeff McNeil type guys and, you know, the Brendan Nemos and stuff. Like, guys who are, like, solid baseball players. good like that you know they've got the jeff mcneil type guys and you know the brendan nimos and stuff like guys who are like solid baseball players any guys who if they were on the phillies would be like love that dude like i love jeff mcneil that guy's awesome you know but like yeah their offense will be better than than i think people think well yeah and i mean they have a conforto who always kills the phillies and's a beast. And Alonso, obviously, you don't expect him to hit 50-plus homers again, but he's obviously a good player.

They have so many Phillies killers. They're just full of Phillies killers. They always seem to hit center guard, which is weird. I was never really afraid of center guard when the Phillies faced them. Remember that game where they stole like – Of course I do. It's amazing. I think it was i was gonna say six so and i mean like frank i think franco stole two you did which is like the the lowest of the

low of your pitcher just shut it down yeah just give up at that point all right uh you got anything in the note bag fritzy well i i think the the important news from today is that it seems like mccutcheon's gonna play on opening day when there is an opening day they feel confident in that like uh what kyle garlic got sent down and nick williams edgar garcia they sent down a good amount of guys at triple a but kyle garlic was the big one for a lot of the writers it seemed like it seemed like him being sent down means that um mccutchen should be good to go for opening day which is pretty massive and the fact that this season is getting pushed back actually probably helps the phillies a lot um because spencer howard yeah i think more than most teams i would say

yeah i mean mccutchen should be ready for opening day uh arietta should be able to just – Yeah, I think more than most teams, I would say. Yeah, I mean, McCutcheon should be ready for opening day. Arrieta should be able to get healthy. Spencer Howard, I mean, maybe he can just join the rotation straight out of – Yep, yep. I mean, that was a big one. We talked about he's not pitched 100 innings in his career anywhere. Like, you know, they were really going to have to play games with him. And now there's a chance, you know, depending –

if it's July 1st, if it's a sprint to the finish, and obviously it's different if they go with the longer game plan and play in December. But if it's a sprint to the finish, I mean, yeah, Spencer Howard could start the season in rotation. I do wonder what it means for Boehm because I don't think that they want to move Segura, and I think they're pretty much locked into him. And also, real quick, with Howard and Boehm,

that's part of what we were saying before with service time stuff. We don't know how that's all going to work out. If they still have to keep them down for a month worth of games, quote-unquote, because of service time issues, that's something that the union and the league is going to have to discuss. I would hope and assume that they get rid of that and that they say that all right, you know, that your clock doesn't start or whatever.

But if they have a chance to gain an extra year of arbitration or an extra year of eligibility for those guys, they're going to do it. I mean, they're going to. Yeah, no, I would agree. Now, the one thing, this is part of my final, or part of my mailbag, the one thing where I think this could really hurt the

phillies and i wish that they would just i don't i don't know why they table discussions but if you're jt real muto and you're his agent and it's a three-month season or a you know it's a shortened 80 to 100 game season if i'm his agent and i'm jt i'm betting on myself that i can stay healthy for 80 to 100 games and i's a great point, Jack. I'm going to hit free agency. It's a great point. It's a much less of a risk. Right. It's a way

less risk. So let's figure this out. Sign him. What are we doing? Well, I don't even know why they tabled negotiations. I don't know why he's not signed now. I don't know why he's not signed now. I don't know why he's not signed already. I have no idea, Jack. I have no good reason.

I don't have a good reason. Well, I mean, it's luxury tax concerns, you know? They didn't want to do it earlier or before arbitration because they wanted to know. Oh, shocking. Great. Well, I mean, that's the truth. I know. It sucks. I told you mean that's the truth i know it sucks i told you

he's the worst but um by the way trade deadline that's another interesting thing is like when's the trade deadline how's that gonna work that's gonna be fascinating too and and what are teams gonna do exactly if you're if you're because so many teams will be in it and so few teams will be out of it you know it's gonna be crazy yeah but if you're a tanking team you're just like you're just like you shouldn't even show up for this oh it'll be great to see like the pirates be in first place at the end of july and then trade away their entire team because they're like yeah screw this yeah yeah they don't they don't want to win this year so the real muto uh contract's definitely a little worrisome. I would like them to figure this out before the season starts. And I don't know why they table negotiations,

but I think if they do a shortened season, I would feel worse about a JT or a Romito extension just because, you know. He's that much closer. That much closer. The free agency, he could bet on himself to stay healthy for 80 to 100 games. Jack, it's a really good point. I hadn't thought of that. That's a really, really – I mean it's a bummer, but I honestly had not thought about that once, and it makes so much sense.

Like why wouldn't you want to get at the market and see what you can get and have to – you could still come back here. Like just because you're a free agent doesn't mean you can't sign with the Phillillies but you're there's competition for your talents you're the best catcher in baseball i i think i hate that you thought of that but i think it's a really fascinating and clever thing to think of yeah and well here's the dumbest part is that it's gonna end up costing the phillies more oh that's the point that's the point and that's what's frustrating very dumb baseball team not a fan yeah i'm not a fan of dumb baseball teams i'm not a fan of uh uh just like trading sexto sanchez away and maybe not signing the guy and then like and also like just letting harper's best buddy on the team i can't let's not

even go there let's not even go there letting harper's best but and we we replayed the the harper interview today and um like him at the end talking about how john middleton would do whatever it takes to win uh just annoyed me to no end then uh but but given the week that the sixers owners have had uh i am happy with john middleton yeah honestly john middleton should be sending josh harris a bouquet of flowers and saying thanks buddy you right you you made me look way better at least they think i care about philadelphia sucks to be you um all right uh before go ahead well let me let me just get my one final final point out there oh i was gonna give you a chance for a final thought if that's okay okay i was gonna say quickly before we get your final

thought i just wanted to do a quick shout out uh jeff fits look it fits on twitter uh my dude check it out it's retreated from the iops account uh wearing the high hope shirt saying a uh a philly's version of uh uh take me home west virginia um awesome stuff jack like how i i just i love the high hopes listeners so much like i'm like brimming with effusive love right now because that was so cool like shout out to jeff shout out to high hopes nation for just being awesome people and doing awesome things he's a much better singer than you i'm sorry to tell you that uh it was awesome yeah i i didn't appreciate that shot well i had to take it i mean he could sing he's like a good singer yeah well aware and i knew the second i listened to it that this guy was way better than me yeah

good um it doesn't mean that i had to be reminded of drops of jupiter what is what i'm here for what am i here for otherwise you gotta do what you gotta do so uh yeah i mean that was an unbelievable video it was was awesome. I'm glad that everyone in High Hopes Nation is now seeing it. And listen, as that continues to go viral, Jeff, thank you so much for wearing the High Hopes shirt while doing that. The official podcast for diseased Philly fans. It's true. And that's an original High Hopes shirt.

Like, that's the real deal. It's a real deal. I would love to get more High Hopes shirts. Yeah, we're working on it. We need to figure would love to get more high hope shirts yeah we're working we need to figure out how to do that now's not the time sadly there's other things going on yeah yeah everyone needs to save we'll get there we'll get there we'll get there all right jack uh final thought uh it would not be a high hopes podcast without putting unrealistic expectations on an 18-year-old international signing. But I would just like to say this, that the iHopes podcast,

and I don't have your approval for this, but I don't really care. Here you go. Sight unseen. Unheard, you have my approval. Roll with it. We are fully endorsing Joshua it's being the future of the philadelphia phillies in center field uh i love him his nickname is i love him his nickname's the drone if you tell me if a guy's nickname is the drone as a center fielder that's a

stupendous nickname a stupendous nickname it's a phenomenal nickname it's a phenomenal phenomenal if you were a second baseman it wouldn't be as good a nickname as a center fielder stellar nickname the freaking drone yeah it's strong strong like oh i i i'm in i'm in and sure he may be 155 pounds but we can work on that uh we can get stronger we'll get him on the jack fritz beer eating program yeah if he wants some high hops he can have some um uh but yeah no i i can't i he like the best way i can explain it to people is that yes he's 18 um so he was the phillies had originally planned to sign him when he was when he was 16 but i guess his birth certificate like that stuff it ended up

being he was a year older than his birth certificate suggested or something like that so he ended up being 18 but even the fact that he's 18 uh he's already an elite defensive player has elite speed he would have been a first round pick if there if there was a draft or if he was in this draft so um like i'm excited for the talent and i just think that like in just watching the videos he has really good baseball instincts and if you just add strength i think they got a good player here so i don't want are you saying it's possible the phillies actually made a good international signing? Is that a real thing that could happen? I don't want to go that far yet, but I think he could be a good player. I'll take it.

I don't want to put too much expectations on him. Because, honestly, I don't really have a comp. I don't really have a comp. Because he's basically a taller victor robles but i don't know what i don't know who's a good comp for a taller victor robles all right i can take a taller victor robles though like like hopefully a this is obviously not gonna set up a little bit like oh a better hitting cameron maybin i that's i would be fine with a better hitting Cameron Mabin. That's good.

Cameron Mabin was a good little player for a little bit there. Yeah. I mean, better hitting being the key point here. Yes. Agreed. Like a Mike Cameron type guy? Yeah. A little Mike Cameron.

Okay. I can take Mike Cameron. I hope he can be Mike Cameron. I would be very happy with my camera It's good It's a great name too And the drone is just too good of a nickname I mean when you have yo in your name

You're automatically going to be liked By the Hope's Podcast Yeah of course Alright Fritz you got anything else? Do I have anything else? No I'm like dude I'm just such a lost human being right now. He's like wanders the studios at WIP, just lost. You know, today he wore his Phillies jersey in, you know, just did it anyway, had to.

Yeah. It's tough, man. It's tough. You're a sad sight these days. Well, I've been relegated to tweeting about the eagles just like i and people aren't happy with my football opinions like listen i'm sorry but i have no baseball like i i try to think of a philly's tweet like a day and i'm just just nothing just i'm so so so sad please come back please please we need you all right rate and review the podcast it makes you happy it definitely

helps people find the pod and uh we will be back next week maybe talking baseball maybe talking movies talking other stuff we'll figure out tweet at us if there's anything you want us to talk about or if you want any like movie recommendations tv like what we like whatever let us know what you want to know about us because jack we're gonna have to dig deep we got some time here we're gonna have to come up with some stuff yeah you can say that again i don't i don't i have no idea what we're gonna talk about at high hope spot on twitter at jack fritz wip at james seltzer tweeted us let us know what you want us to talk about and hey we're here for you so we'll make it happen so uh again rate and review the podcast it means

the world to us um happy what would have been opening day it sucks but hopefully soon enough baseball will be talking about and look we're not going anywhere in the meantime we'll be here until then and we'll talk whatever you want. Tell it, let us know. Cause we'll talk about it. So until then, until next week for Fritz,

I'm Seltzer. 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.

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