High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Episode 2

Episode Date: October 31, 2017

Jon Marks and James Seltzer discuss the hiring of new Phillies manager Gabe Kapler. The guys discuss his analytical background, how attractive he is, and much much. Plus, the fellas break down Baseball America's Phillies Top 10 prospect list. 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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For example, a runner could be training for a marathon, or they could be late for the bus. You never know. Ambition is on the inside. So that goal to beat your personal best? Keep chasing it. Drive your ambition. Mitsubishi Motors. Oh, and hello. Good evening. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good whenever. Hello, everybody. This is High Hopes, a new baseball podcast sponsored by Sports Radio 94 WIP, along with James Seltzer. I am John Marks. Oh, hey, James. James Seltzer. I am John Marks.

Oh, hey, James. Hey, John. I like the little pause before podcast. It's like, it's a baseball podcast. I like that. That was a pensive podcast there. That's just because I was going to say blog, but it's not a blog. So I'm like, what the hell is this? And it is a podcast.

Yeah, I like it. I'm welcoming you into my world, the podcast world. This is a beautiful thing, Johnny. So this is, and this is going to be a weekly podcast. Sometimes if stuff happens, maybe during the season, we'll have two or so a week. But we were planning on doing it today, which is Monday. We're taping it.

And it just so happened that yesterday we found out they were going to be officially naming the manager today, which they did. And it's one Gabe Kapler, the Phillies' 54th manager in franchise history, James. Gabe Kapler? Not Gabe Kapler. Well, I was just about to go there.

He's a member of the tribe, but not that particular member. And you know I love members of the tribe. We're going to get so many Gabe Kaplins, it's going to be ridiculous. It's going to be the new Alshon Jeffries or Christian McCafferty or whatever it is. What do you think of that Gabe Kaplan guy? I mean, DiCamero did it on the air today with Gabe Kaplan. I'm like, that's a TV guy. Wrong one.

That's Mr. Catea. That's Mr. Catea. Yeah, man. Look, the fact that he's a member of the tribe is obviously a beautiful thing. Plus, speaking of beautiful, he himself is beautiful. Like, what a gorgeous human being they brought in to be the manager. Certainly the best-looking manager in franchise history. Maybe baseball history, John.

I'll give you baseball history. I don't know who would be second. I mean, geez. Certainly not some of the Phillies' managers. He was nicknamed The Body by Bob Ryan of the Globe up in Boston. And he's also been called the Hebrew Hammer. And we'll just get to it right away. Even before we talk about what type of a manager he is. It's more important.

Actually, let's talk about that, then we'll get into it, because there's pictures online of him in a leopard thong, and he's constantly shirtless because he's in such good shape. But let me give you a little background here. Wouldn't you be, though, John, if you were in that good shape, right? I mean, it's hard to judge. I would never have my shirt on if I was in that kind of shape. Exactly, man. Yeah, but we're both too hairy.

That's very true. But yeah, if I had that body, I'd be naked all the time. I'd be taking naked pictures of myself, sending them everywhere. But anyway, so here's his background, right? So when they were going through all the candidates and they're like, all right, well, do we want this guy? And Dusty Watham was a young guy who was in the Phillies organization and really had managed it at each level.

And a lot of people thought was ready for the next step. I think the Phillies really liked him too and were strongly considering him. You had managers that had experience. You had some bench coaches. Gabe Kapler doesn't have a whole lot of managing experience. Last three years with the Dodgers, James, director of player development. So in other words, he was in charge of the minor league system of the Dodgers, which, by the way, was a pretty good minor league system since he got there.

But really his experience is 12 seasons as a player, and he did. It's weird. He retired in 2007. He managed their single-A affiliate of the Red Sox, and then he went back and started playing again in 2008. It's the only managing experience he had. He was a coach of the Israeli World Baseball Classic qualifier

team later on, but that's it. That's all the managerial experience he has. Yeah, no, and I'm sure we're going to certainly hear a lot about that moving forward. Here's my thing. First of all, you said it. Parts of 12 years as a player in the major leagues. That in and of itself is a lot of experience, obviously, with major league baseball. Well, here's the thing.

I do think the fact that he's a player development guy matters, right? I mean, we're talking about a team that is basically going to be player development at the major league level. You want all these guys to grow and develop. That's the key to the future. So I think from that perspective, you like that. He's 42 years old, so he's kind of... Third youngest in majors. Yeah, a younger manager.

Actually younger than Dusty Walton. Even Walton is 44 years old. So I think that Kapler kind of can connect to those younger players, which is important. Played in the major leagues recently enough that has a good feel for where the game is and whatnot. And look, I think the fact that you can't really

take away the fact that he worked in that Tampa Bay front office. He's worked for Andrew Friedman in this Dodgers front office. He's been around some of the best minds in the sport for the last few years. And that's something that you can't take away. Look, I get it. Look, I would have loved to have someone with his background on that side, the player development stuff development stuff the analytical stuff all that type of uh

of things but and also have a little more managerial experience that'd be perfect there just aren't too many guys like joe madden uh out there so i do think that as far as it goes of the guys for me at least who were kind of rumored to be around the job capler was personally my favorite choice because i want someone who'sored to be around the job, Kapler was personally my favorite choice. Because I want someone who's going to think outside the box. Someone who's going to look toward... I think I saw Jack Fritz tweet about it, but it's like the two most

analytically inclined organizations in the sport are playing in one of the best World Series we've ever seen right now. There's a reason both of those teams are there. Andrew Freeman and the Dodgers. Sports is a copycat business. Sure, absolutely. But also we've seen, whether it's Theo Epstein or right now with Jeff Leno and Andrew Freeman,

I mean, over and over and over again, we've seen where the sport is heading to. I mean, it is heading to that type of philosophical approach. And I think that Gabe Kapler is a real nice extension of that front office onto the field, or at least could be. Let me play devil's advocate. Why not go out and get a guy like a Joe Girardi? We talked about Buck Showalter, who's still under contract, and who knew if that was even going to be a possibility.

Why not go out and get a guy that has experience that maybe is a little bit older? But you know what I'm saying. Why not go out and get a guy that has experience? Why not get a Girardi? Yeah, well, Girardi specifically is an interesting example just because I think that's the name you're going to hear a lot of fans say. I mean, even today when I was answering calls, I had people call me like, why not Girardi? He was out there.

We don't know if Girardi wants to manage right now. I mean, it was kind of unceremonious. You know, he went to Game 7 of the ALCS and lost his job. So it seems everything you hear that he's going to take a year off. Either way, I think Girardi also analytically inclined, I think from that perspective, might have made a lot of sense for this

front office. Open-minded with the analytics. Very much so. I certainly think that would have made a lot of sense. My guess is that Girardi didn't want to manage this year, which is either way, I think they probably approached him. It seems like they did their due diligence. It's not like they just said, Gabe Kepler's our guy, we're hiring him.

They interviewed a bunch of guys. They talked to a lot of different people. It seems like the people they were looking at were a bunch of different types of people as well. It seemed like they were interested in, and let me put a theory out there, it seemed like they were interested in getting a younger guy in here that didn't have a lot of experience. If seemed like that they were interested in getting a younger guy in here that didn't

have a lot of experience. If you bring in Joe Girardi, and you're going to say, alright, listen Joe, we know you want to take a year off, or maybe you have some other offers. We want you in here. You're going to have to pay him, and I'm not worried about that with John Middleton. But you're also going to have to give him control. You're going to have to give him some control.

And he's going to be right now, the front office can more or less, because I feel like the manager in baseball has been marginalized like never before to where front offices think that they can control and they can push buttons and a lot of other stuff from upstairs to where the manager's more or less just kind of like a... Like a figurehead almost. Yeah, like he's...

A puppet. For instance like he's a puppet. For instance, with Charlie Emanuel. Charlie Emanuel was never known as a great tactician. The one great thing he did was that his players loved coming to work, and he had a clubhouse that was perfect for those particular guys. Yeah, like the Joe Torre type of thing. He got the most out of those guys, but he also wasn't a tactician, and that worked for these players.

Doesn't it seem like Kapler's kind of the same? We don't know. He played baseball for 12 years, so I know he knows baseball. I have no idea if he's going to be a great tactical guy or what. The most important thing for me is can he guide these young players into being all-stars, kind of like what Charlie Manuel helped do with a lot of the Phillies. That's his biggest job.

Yeah. And I think whether it's through analytics or different approaches or whatever, that is the most important thing he has to do. He has to take Reese Hoskins and get him to that next stage of development. He has to take J.P. Crawford, turn him into a starting shortstop in the major leagues and all that type of stuff. That's a number one, top of the list, most important thing you could do. Get to Mikel Franco and be like, yo, dude, what are you doing?

Why are you swinging out of your cleats on every swing? Yes, and develop these kids. It's all about development, 100%. But I do think that his approach is going to be a little kind of outside the box. I think he's going to look at analytics in every situation and say, what does the analytics tell me to do? And I don't think he's always going to follow that a hundred percent of the time, but I think that it's going to weigh heavily in his decisions. And I think that there are going to be a lot of times where people are going to get a little, a little testy with him when it doesn't work out. The thing that I like is that it seems

like he is the type of guy from everything you read, everything you look at him, that he is not going to let that, he's not going to's not gonna say all right well everyone got mad i did this i'm not gonna do it that way again he's gonna say screw that like i'm gonna do it this way and it will work more often than it won't and i think you need someone like that so i feel positive about it in that perspective i think your point though is i don't know what type of of leader of men he is i don't know what type of guy he is to be able to take 25 different personalities and find a common ground for all of them. That's going to be the key with Kaepernick.

Well, let's think about it. 2018, just to say 2018. Think about it. So what are the big question marks with the Phillies going forward? We know Reece Hoskins is going to be it. We don't know how good of a player he's going to be, but we're assuming he's going to be an all-star level type

player. Yeah, you can feel good about him. At the very least he's going to be an above average starter. Let's see what he does in year two. Yeah, I think that's his floor. Right, exactly. Then you have some young players that may or may not be coming up in 2018. Then you have Odubel Herrera who has all the talent

in the world, but is a knucklehead more times than not when he's playing, but he's incredibly streaky, he's incredibly talented, and we mentioned Franco. What can he get out of those guys? How will he handle the same situations that McKinnon handled with Odubel? How does Kapler handle that? Former player, a lot younger, how does he handle Oduble Herrera as opposed to what McKinnon did? Yeah, I mean, that's going to be one of the most interesting things to see

through this first season that we have Kapler here is those types. Because McKinnon, we've talked about it a fair amount both on our first show and also just between the two of us. McKinnon did not handle those situations well, at least in my opinion. I think more often than not, he did not handle the Oda Bell situation well. I think that Kapler, if nothing else, I think he's going to, again, when it calls for it, I think

he's going to approach these guys with a very analytically based mind because that just seems to be the way he kind of goes about his business. So try and be logical with these guys. That's not always going to work. A lot of times it is an emotional type of thing and that's going to be the question about capler we don't know i don't know enough about gabe capler to know how he can relate to players on an emotional level on a you know uh

human level i mean because ultimately nobody knows nobody knows and that's what i always talk about and i feel like we we as a general media whatever it is kind of forget a lot of times that all of these guys are human beings and that they are just trying to, you know, they have issues. They have all kinds of things that they have to deal with. And different people react to different things in different ways. For one guy, you might need to yell at him to get him to going. And another guy, you might need to tell him you love him.

I mean, it's a different, each person is different. So I think it's going to be fascinating to see how he can kind of maneuver these personalities. I mean, that's the key. Well, look what McKenna did with Franco. His whole thing was, well, my door's always open if he wants to come in and talk to me to where it's like, Pete, that's not like you obviously need to handle him differently. 25-year-old kid, you've been in baseball your whole life, Pete. Like, come on, man.

Like, that's where you bring him in the office and say, hey, listen, like, don't even talk about baseball for five minutes. Talk about something else. Bring it, like, go have a burger with him or something like that. You know what I mean? But his whole thing was hey if he wants to talk he wants to talk my office door is open that old school mentality I'm not a big fan of I mean like you said every player is different every player needs to be handled differently

so it'll be really interesting to see what Kapler does and for what it's worth I think when you look at and and I think some of it's kind of weird and nutty when you look at his health stuff and the the nutritional stuff and kind of all like but if you go back and read some of the stuff he wrote for baseball prospectus he talks about stuff like how he thinks writing strengthens the strengthens the mind like he seems like someone who is a very philosophical person someone who thinks about life in a very interesting way yes so i do think that that is like uh i think that's kind of what you need in this situation. Coming off a guy like McKinnon, who is so old school, a lifer by the book.

I mean, you're getting someone who's coming in who's going to attack all of these types of issues from a completely different perspective. So I think there is upside there. I'm a big believer in keeping it simple, stupid. And like you said, he thinks very outside the box and this and that but he always has been a strong believer in nutrition and exercise and actually brought that to the Dodgers. He got junk food thrown out of all of the clubhouses and all of their affiliates even the minor leagues and they started using organic food and everything else. I hope we're not doing smoothies like Chip Kelly.

You know what? But some of that stuff makes sense. That's the thing is I get it. Look, Chip, you know, is a four letter word. Is it Chip? Literally, it's a four letter word. But at the same time, at the same time. He's Richard.

Yes. Yeah. He's a Richard. Yeah. There are certain things there that were innovative and like sports science, like, hey, Chip, like Chip, whatever. Like that stuff makes sense like i get why you would want to employ that type of stuff and it seems like capler does for at least

a lot of that type of stuff also think that way but hey listen let him have fast food a couple times a month like i keep the guys happy again they're still human beings let him enjoy life a little bit before we get into the leopard thong and whatever else is going on what does the staff look like we know larry bow was kind of in limbo, it seems like, and I haven't read anything today about his staff, so maybe you can fill me in. Oh, man. I saw one name, that's it.

He was kind of in limbo as far as because they didn't know exactly who they were going to be hiring and he would have a job in the organization. I think it actually makes sense to have Larry or a guy like that because they've been around, they know the franchise, they know the players, they know the players, they strategically are very good at it. So any thoughts to that? What's the name you heard?

Well, I'll get to the name I heard in a sec because, whoa, we'll see about that. But I do think keeping Larry around makes a ton of sense, not just because he knows the players, he knows the clubhouse, he knows the Philadelphia Phillies, he knows the organization, and he also knows this city, and I think that that is an invaluable resource for someone like Kapler, clearly a West Coast guy, kind of a little, maybe approach his life a little bit differently. He can help out in a lot of ways that just aren't baseball. He's a wealth of information for someone like Kapler,

and I feel like this organization is all about information, and I feel like there's a place for Larry Bowe in this clubhouse I also think Dusty Waltham is has a place in this clubhouse look he's under contract for next season of course they could go manage him triple a they could bring him up and whether it's a bench coach first or third base something like that I think there is the potential for that as well I haven't heard many names otherwise but there was one name that was out there today that I don't think will happen, but if you take him as a person out of it, the qualifications are certainly there.

OJ Simpson? Curt Schilling wants to be Gabe Kapler's pitching coach. Ah, interesting. I mean, I personally hate Schilling so much as a human being that I can't do, like, I wouldn't want to root for a team that has that guy employed, but at the same time, I personally hate Schilling so much as a human being that I can't do that. I wouldn't want to root for a team that has that guy employed. But at the same time, I mean, I bet he'd be a good pitching coach. Here's the bottom line. Actually, when you talk about analytics and things like that, I remember. So, he always credits Johnny Padres, the Phillies pitching coach from Jim Fregosi,

early 90s days, in teaching him the split-finger fastball, which really kind of changed his career. You don't see a lot of guys throwing splitters anymore like they used to because I think it was destroying elbows. But, like, Kurt really is a thinking man's pitcher. Listen, pitching-wise, Kurt Schilling, to me, is a Hall of Famer. I think so, too. He's a big-game pitcher.

One of the best, yeah. You're talking about a guy that you want to mount for Game 7 of the World Series. I'll take him. If I mention five names. It's like him, Smoltz, Beckett. It's one of those five names you would mention, for sure. He's great. As far as a pitching coach, he sticks his foot in his mouth too much.

And in a position like that, it's not worth it. It's not worth the ultimate downside. You don't want a guy that's going to get himself in trouble for non-pitching things. And then even just from a baseball perspective, you've got Kapler, who again we talked about as a first-time manager, a guy who's always experiences on the other side, the front office side and whatnot development. And we kind of talked about it a lot with Doug Peterson, kind of an interesting parallel there, with the fact that he did surround himself with a lot of guys who had been head coaches before, had been coaches in the league

for a long time, former players. I think that would be a smart route for Kapler to take. I think Kapler should be looking for someone who is proven. Look, again, I'm very happy they went for someone who might not necessarily be a proven guy, but is an outside-the-box interesting choice. But I think when it comes to filling out his staff, as we about with boa i think you got to find someone who's got some experience yep no i agree and so we'll find out if if capler will be kind of the manager before

they hire the manager that hopefully takes the team to the world series or he's going to be the young guy that comes in and builds the team and rides with him that's exactly right like it was remember it was terry francona he didn't have enough talent to do anything larry boa came in and really kind of whipped that same roster into shape and was like the contrast from from frank it was like francona like laid back chill laid back yep and he did have jimmy rollins in his rookie year larry boa did and then when larry became too much charlie manuel came in and was the perfect contrast to Larry Boa. And Kapler's not like a laid-back guy. Kapler's a very, I just think he's kind of, I don't know if I want to say Bill Parcells,

but like any player that you overhear that played for Bill Parcells loves him because he tells you like it is. He doesn't sugarcoat. He's not a phony. No, yeah. He just is. He's honest. And players appreciate that.

Like me, personally, I appreciate bosses and coworkers or whoever that they're not phonies, they're not telling me what I want to hear. Like, I want to know the truth so we can do it. It seems like Kapler's that guy. Yeah. No, and it's interesting because it does seem like he has a laid-back personality, but I think you're absolutely right. He seems very straightforward, very direct when it comes to things like that.

And I think that's crucial in this type of role. mean and like you talk about any boss like i'm not gonna get better at what i do unless i have a boss who's gonna say hey you suck at this or hey you need to fix this or hey you're good at this but you could be better if you did this this and this you know you need that you need someone who's not gonna and i feel like we saw it with pete at times you know kind of relating the same thing where it's you almost just didn't want to, like, have that confrontation at times. Very old school. Same thing with Pat Neshek, you know, with that whole Neshek thing, where he's like, oh, you know, we said he couldn't pitch anymore, and Neshek was like, I didn't say that.

Like, I would have gone back in. Like, that type of stuff, like, I think you avoid that when you have more direct. There's no beating around the bush. It's, this is how it is. All right, so if you are listening to this, you've probably seen these pictures. That means you're a big baseball fan. But we talked about him being the best-looking manager, not in just franchise history, maybe in Major League Baseball history.

Yeah, man. I don't even know how I saw it, but I was Googling. I was trying to, last night when I saw that he was going to be the guy, so I'm obviously looking for news stories and for information. The one thing I found on Deadspin was that he advocated tanning in the nude and getting the testicles sunned because it boosts testosterone

according to some study that's 70 years old. So he endorsed, and if you look at him, he looks like super tan. I think it's fake tan. But he's getting the boys golden brown in hopes of getting juiced up even more. Literally and figuratively. Literally and figuratively. But I mean, James, I just gotta say this.

Like, if I'm the Phillies and I'm like, being like, alright, I think we're gonna hire this guy. Do they know these pictures? I mean, these pictures he's out there, he's literally in like a thong. He doesn't have shirts on in almost any pictures. I mean, it's weird. It's kind of creepy weird, to be honest with you.

Yeah, it's super creepy. Look, they definitely know those pictures are out there. Are you sure? Yeah, I feel pretty confident about it. Is that part of the analytics of Matt Klintec? Yeah, I'm sure, right? I think this seems like an organization that does it, that puts all their kind of ducks in a row and at least, you know, puts a lot of effort into finding out the little things.

At least it seems that way. Regardless, I don't think as much as they're a little weird and they're a little creepy, I think it would be an absolute asinine reason not to bring someone as a manager. Just Google image Gabe Kapler thong, and the first picture that comes up is Gabe Kapler Thong. And who knows? You know what, though?

Good for him. He's freaking open with himself. He has no problems saying all the time. He's a monster, by the way, too. There are a lot of people who are very closed off, and he's a very open guy. Good for him. I can't remember a manager that's this jacked before.

I mean, literally, think about it. Dude, I don't know if there's another non-bodybuilder. Who else would be a... He's ripped, man. Oh, he is. He's a bodybuilder. You think about it. When Mike Schmidt played, they didn't lift weights because they were told that it would

hurt their swing. Yep. So nobody lifted weights. So Mike Schmidt would hit 37 home runs, and he'd be the big home run hitter because the guys were... And then all of a sudden, with steroids or with weightlifting, like the A's of the late 80s. Oh, yeah, the Bash Brothers. The Bash Brothers.

Like, you get these big muscle guys. Yeah, like Mark McGuire is like. So you get bigger, and when you hit the ball, it goes farther, and you hit more home runs, and everybody started lifting weights, right? But baseball was never a big weightlifting. This guy is freaking jacked up, man. Well, and it's funny because he wasn't really, he's not a power hitter. He's not that type of player.

You wouldn't expect him, if you look at him, you wouldn't expect him to, because he's also like, it's fit. It doesn't look like, you see a lot of muscle builders or that type of stuff. It's like disproportionate, the muscles to the body. I mean, it all works, as John showed you in the picture. At least it looks natural.

Not natural. Natural's the wrong word. I don't know if I co-signed that. No, no, no. Look, regardless, I think... He looks like a professional wrestler. He just looks like a... Because he's a good-looking dude. He's got a shaved head.

He has facial hair and some of the things. I mean, he's just... I can't... Charlie Manuel is who you're thinking about as the manager. I know. It's like polar opposites. I know. I know, man.

Look at him. He's like a model. He's like the best-looking model. It's ridiculous. So, just to review, we think he's hot. He's the hottest manager in the history of baseball. I just... I don't know.

I just... It's going to be fascinating. history of baseball. I just, I don't know. It's going to be fascinating. It's weird. It's weird. Well, it's also going to be a thing where all the ladies in the area, all of a sudden, it's weird when it's like, oh, you remember the ladies were in love with Chase or Jason Wirth or this or that or whatever. It's like, no, now they're all in love with the freaking manager. That's weird.

The 42-year-old manager who's got not even a six-pack. He's got a 12-pack. Look at that. No, it's really, like, look, I have a one-pack, which is my keg here. I got the La Banza. I kind of barely believe that a six-pack is a real thing. Like, I don't truly believe that. I had a six-pack before.

Yeah, no, not this guy. I did, 2003. Like, that is not real. That looks like one of those, like, Halloween costumes you would put on your chest. I mean, that is before. No, not this guy. I did, 2003. That is not real. That looks like one of those Halloween costumes you would put on your chest. I mean, that is insane. All right, so our new manager's hot. There you go. So that's the first segment here.

Command's a room, man. You walk in, everyone looks at him like, whoa, who's that guy? He's gorgeous. Big dude, too. He's not just whatever. Big dude. Look, he's an imposing figure in that way. And I think that's only a good thing. It's one of those things where when you look at the history of America,

I think almost every president is a certain height. They're like 6'3 or more. Yeah, you don't have short dudes like me being president. So I think there's something to that, as weird or off-base as it might be. No doubt about it. All right, so let's turn our attention to this right here. So Baseball America puts out their—and I'm going to weave in Freddie Galvis being a Gold Glove finalist again here. Baseball America puts out their top 10 prospects today.

And J.P. Crawford went from being one of the top prospects in baseball to, like, 92nd or something like that. So I don't know where he is in the top 100, but so they put out just the Phillies' top 10 prospects today. Crawford might have played enough games where he wouldn't be considered technically a prospect anymore. He is. Is he still? He is. Okay, I wasn't sure.

In this particular case. Yeah, because they have Alfaro on this list too. So it's kind of fugazi in that because Alfaro, I guess they have to play a certain amount of at-bats. It's a certain number of at-bats or plate appearances or whatever it is, yeah. To qualify, they can't exceed 130 big league at-bats, 50 innings, or 30 relief appearances. So there we go. So there you go.

50 innings as a pitcher. So that's why Hoskins, Nick Williams, Knapp, and Pavetta and Lively aren't eligible for it. So J.P. Crawford's back at No. 1. Yeah, he should be. Yeah, he should. And while I understand why he would have been moved off of it because he struggled, it's even more impressive to me that he struggled as bad as he did.

He turned it around. He showed some power. He came up to the bigs. He showed great plate discipline. He showed great on-base percentage. He played third base and second base at the same gold glove level that you saw him play shortstop. And by the way, for all the people out there,

for all the people that I know that I see now at the Phillies games who are telling me he's not a good enough defensive shortstop to play every day in the big leagues, I don't know about that. But yeah, so he's back at being number one, James. Yeah, well, and all those people were driving me crazy because I was like, he could play shortstop to major league level at a really high level. And it was

really exciting to see him come up and show that approach, really, because that was the thing that always set him apart as a hitter and a prospect at that position. You hoped that the power would develop. You never expect him to be a 20-25 home run type guy, but he was always a a 20-25 home run type guy. But he was always a walk as much as he strikes out guy.

And those are the guys where it's like that type of play discipline, that type of back control, that type of ability to put the ball in play when you need to. I mean, that's rare, especially for a shortstop, especially at the ages. And that's the thing. The other thing, that's the thing. It's like we always, and I think I said this last time too, but it's just like you can't look at a player's minor league stats and get the full picture you have to look at his age and the level and all that stuff they're gonna make like that's what a lot of people said to me this year look at

all this look at all the errors that he made it at triple a and i said you know how many errors freddie galvis made when he was in the minors no okay i'm like because it's it's actually like i don't remember if it's more or not but it's all, like, you're supposed to make mistakes. That's why you get the reps. You're supposed to make mistakes when you're a young player. Absolutely, and you're also, depending on the level of your third baseman, your second baseman, you're trying to do more. You're trying to make plays that you can't make.

You get errors on different things. I mean, that's all, like, it's all. And also, you can't just look at errors specifically to judge a player's defensive abilities. There are so many, And it's confusing. That's what Freddie Galvis' truth is going to do. Yeah, I know, exactly. But there's so many metrics now, defensive runs, saved, UZR.

There's so many different things. And I don't profess to be an expert in any of them. And it seems like they're all kind of not quite there. What's his war? That's what I'm saying. Yeah, right? But I do think that there are a lot better ways than saying, how many errors did he have? I agree. Yeah, I agree.

So before I finish off the list and we'll talk about some of these guys here, what do you do about Freddie Galvis? What's the strategy? Because we know that this is an analytically inclined front office. They had 13 full-time analytics on their staff. They said they were adding to it, which I'm like, how many guys keep like, where's all the office space here, James Seltzer? I mean, you've got to be kidding me.

But if that's the case, and I know that we both agree, I like Freddie Galvis a lot. And if they start 2018 with Freddie Galvis as the sharding shortstop of this team and JP becomes kind of like the super sub until he becomes the full-time shortstop, this team, and J.P. becomes kind of like the super sub until he becomes the full-time shortstop. That's fine. But I have to believe that Matt Klintak and his staff, they know that J.P. Crawford is the shortstop of the future

and of the present. It's just more or less trying to figure out what to do with Galvis. So what do you do with Galvis? He's one of the three finalists for the Gold Glove, not taking anything away from him because he is a good player and had a good year. But what's the strategy? What would you do?

Yeah, it's a great question. And the gold glove, look, Freddie's a really good defensive shortstop. If he wins the gold glove, can we not say, he's a gold glove winning shortstop? Rafael Palmeiro won the gold glove when he played like 20 games at first base. He was a DH and he won the fricking gold glove.

It's a sham of an award. But again, I do think, look, Freddie has value. He is a really, really good defensive shortstop. He's got a little bit of pop in his bat. He's never going to walk a lot. He's never going to get on base a lot. That's just the player he is. He showed some improvement over the past couple years compared to where he was. But I do think that Freddie is at least an asset of sorts. He doesn't cost a lot of money. He could play great defensive shortstop.

He could play other positions in the infield if needed. I think there should be some level of value to Freddie. I think what you're trying to do is you're trying to find someone to take him. You're trying to find a trade partner of any kind. You're trying to find some type of value, whether it's a major league player, like a bullpen piece. Yeah, or even if it's slot money like we talked about or international money.

He should have some value. People talk about, oh, trade Tommy Joseph. Freddie Galvis has real value because he plays good defense and he can bat. If you're a contending team and all you need is a guy to kind of come in and he can bat 240. If he has 15

home runs and plays great defense, he's valuable. Even if he's a defensive sub late in games, he's super valuable to that type of team. He has value. He's a Major League Baseball player. I don't know if Tommy Joseph is. That's a whole different ball of wax. He's just a dime a dozen with being a first base slash DH guy. He's nothing special.

I mean, he's not even just nothing special. I'd keep him. Yeah, I mean, he's fine. He's a battle at the bench. Throw him out there against lefties. That's not the worst guy you could have. Put Reese in left field. But he doesn't have any real value. There's nothing you can get for him. I think you can get something for Freddie. I also think that if you can't trade him during the offseason,

I think you can do something where you could see him as that super utility guy and keep him until the deadline where you've got him playing. And look, I don't know for sure that Mike Calfranco is going to be the starting third baseman next season. Good point. Like, why? Like, he stinks. Like, he has shown zero improvement. They still think

down there, from what I hear, that he's going to turn it around. And look, the tools are there. The upside is there. I totally get it. But, you know, I don't, at this point, Michael Franco is going to have to do it before I'm ever going to believe he's going to do it. Oh, I agree. And as a result, depending on going into spring training and all that, I think Cesar could play third.

I think Freddie could play second at Nibia. I think Freddie could play third. Obviously, JP could play third. I think there are a lot of incantations of how this infield situation can work out. But I think ultimately, if and when they find a good trade partner for Freddie Galvis, he's gone. All right, let's move on this list, and we'll talk about Kingery. What are you going to do with Kingery? Well, that was kind of what I was talking about, moving Cesar to third eventually.

Cesar out of here as far as I'm concerned. And he's another guy you could get something for. He's an asset. He gets on base. He's a good player. So, look, it's a good problem to have with these guys. It is a good problem to have. All right, so No. 2, Sixto Sanchez, the right-handed starting pitcher

who spent most of the year at Lakewood, went to Clearwater, high A at the end of the season, didn't have the same success. Still, you're talking about a kid who's 18, 19 years old and throwing 100 miles an hour on a consistent basis. Doesn't have command of all of his pitches. Right. And a lot of those runs that he gave up, like he didn't get shelled. No.

But he gave up some base runners and some runs, and he was facing competition that certainly is a lot older than he is. But he is still a very highly regarded pitching prospect, their top pitching prospect. Oh, yeah. And should be. And I think the key to the 100-mile-per-hour heat is the ease with which he delivers it. He's Pedro.

He's Pedro's size. Yeah, it just feels so natural and easy. It's almost like he's got a rubber arm or something. It's really impressive to watch. But at the same time, he's an 18, soon-to-be 19-year-old. So many things can happen. Exactly. I've seen so many of these guys.

A shoulder injury turns that fastball into a 95. Look at the Mets rotation. They got to the One World Series there. And now they're all damaged kids. Yeah, Harvey, Syndergaard, DeGrom, who was the one who wasn't the top prospect of that group. They had Wheeler, Syndergaard, and Harvey. Everyone's like, oh my goodness, the next Pulsifer, Isringhausen, and oh my God, it was the third of that crew. Paul Wilson. That didn't work out either.

So, you know, I think you have to be really – he is a great, great prospect and exciting, but I'm always very – until they kind of progress further along, I worry. Scott Kingery, No. 3. For people out there listening to this that said, like, oh, Kingery's third? Like, wow, he's a better player than J.P. Crawford. Scott Kingery's going to be a very good Major League player, but the power

that he showed last year, don't expect that same kind of power to translate. He's more of a 15 to maybe 20 home run guy, but he's going to be higher average, like close to 300. He's going to be high on base percent. Well, actually, he didn't walk a lot last year. He doesn't have that approach in the same way. But when he gets on base, he's close to 300. He's going to be high on base percent. Well, actually, he didn't walk a lot last year.

Doesn't have that approach in the same way. But when he gets on base, he's going to steal bases. He's going to create havoc. He's very good defensively at second base. He's one of those guys that you want at the top of your lineup, and he's going to invigorate your lineup. He's going to get on base, and he's going to kind of start it. Yeah, I think he's one of those players that's actually kind of underrated

and always been underrated by these prospect systems. A very different type of player, but Paul Goldschmidt was a guy who was never on any prospects list. One of the best players in baseball now. Exactly, because he just produced. He just produced at every level. People were like, hey, he's not that good. Well, that's Hoskins before this year.

Exactly. Hoskins, a perfect comp to Goldschmidt. That's exactly right those types of guys where you know the prospect guys like ah they're not that good ah they're not that good but every year they put up numbers I think Kingery is that type of guy I think he's a really good player the difference between him and Crawford is just the ceiling is higher with Crawford first first of all he plays a tougher position shortstop it's just more it's a more important position it is there's no question about it but he's also he's got a higher ceiling I mean Crawford's a more important position. It is. There's no question about it. But he's also got a higher ceiling.

Crawford's a better athlete. He's got a much better approach to the plate. He's still progressed at a younger age further than Kingery has. Agreed. Yeah, because Kingery's 24, 25 right in there. Because he was a college player and JP was at a high school. Crawford is younger than him. So I think we have to remember that.

Crawford certainly has a higher ceiling. Now the big question with Kingery is how do you handle that? He's not going to come up until so I think we have to remember that. Crawford certainly has iron sweat. Now, the big question with Kingery is, how do you handle that? He's not going to come up until, I forget the day in May, but it's towards the end of May. We don't know the exact day because it's a Super 2 day. So whenever that happens, where you get that extra year of arbitration control on him, you'll probably see him. They'll bring him up when they're able to control him for another year,

and then he'll be up, kind of like the Cubs did with Chris Bryant. And they'll make up some fugazi reason why they're sending him down. Of course. Yeah, well, that's what happens when he comes out and hits like 800 in spring training, and they're like, oh, yeah, he needs a little more seasoning. He's not quite ready yet. Yeah, exactly.

All right, so we'll roll through right here. Adonis Medina is a Venezuelan right-handed starter who I've talked to some people that think he's better than Sixto. He's better pitcher than Sixto because he's got better command of four pitches to where Sixto's kind of maybe a reliever, maybe a closer because he's got fastball slider and doesn't have great command of his pitches to where Medina. And I have the minor league app on my phone, so I watch a lot of these games.

I'll tell you, he can throw multiple pitches for strikes, and he's got really good stuff. Yeah, I like Medina a ton. He's a really, really interesting young prospect. And like you said, he's got such command at his age and his level. You just feel like he's in total command when he's out there on the hill. I think it's really, look, it's exciting to have these young arms because it has been so long with this Philly system.

Obviously, Nola drafted, progresses quickly in the minors. But other than that, since Cole Hamels, we really haven't developed any great young arms where they're coming up. And we're like, wow, it's always been these hitting prospects. And even then at times, not enough of those. But it's really exciting to see these because they have a few of these guys at the low levels of the minors who have some real upside. But again, for me, I really like watching Medina pitch. But until these guys start to progress further and get a little older, I'm always hesitant to buy it. So many different things could happen.

All right, No. 5. And you'll notice there's a notable name that's not on this list that had been high on the list last year and even earlier this year. And I had even, I'm not keeping score at home or pat myself on the back, but I was even saying like, oh, this guy's no longer a top five prospect in the Phillies organization. So he's down further on the list. Adam Haisley, their number one pick from this year is fifth on the list. And Al Field can play multiple positions. He cooled down after a really hot start.

He was murdering the ball. Murdering the ball. And then he played. So how it works with single A ball is they have rookie ball and then they have Lakewood South Atlantic League. That's a full league. Clearwater is Florida State League. That's a full league.

But then you have the short season leagues, which is what Williamsport is, in the New York Penn League. So it's pretty much after the draft. You get a lot of college players. You get a lot of players that haven't really played a lot of games. So that's where Haseley went. And then he went to Clearwater after that.

He was good. I mean, he was. He was definitely good. He slowed down. But he showed me that he's going to be a good bat. And he's probably going to be ready a lot sooner than maybe people thought. He's not that far away. Yeah, and that's the beauty of taking a college bat there,

and someone who was kind of far along in his progression. I mean, look, he came up and hit right away. He's got a great approach at the plate. It looks like he's not necessarily going to be a 40-homer type guy, more of a doubles hitter, but again, a bat that it looks like you can really count on from what you've seen early on. And again, it's that age thing, right? And we're going to get to that guy who is conspicuously,

I guess inconspicuously absent so far, if you've ever looked at a Phillies prospect list in the last year and a half. A younger guy who you're still hoping is going to fill out a little more. Hazley's a little more. 21. Hazley's a lot more pro-ready. The body's a little more. Haseley's a little more. 21. Haseley's a lot more pro-ready. The body's a little more ready. And again, hitting in college, it does kind of get you a little further along.

Oh, it definitely does. Obviously in that progression. He's 21, and I misspoke. He finished at Lakewood, but 284. I thought it was Lakewood. I wasn't 100% sure. He batted 284 in his rookie year, 215 at bat. So I would say a good start.

So he's No. 5. No. 6 is JoJo Romero. So JoJo Romero, they had a bunch of young pitchers at Lakewood, and then they went to Clearwater. Ranger Suarez, JoJo Romero, and Sixto. And these guys, I'm telling you, all these guys are going to be in the majors. And, again, it's like they're so far away or whatever. But JoJo Romero is a left-handed starter that doesn't lighten up the radar guns.

But I like those guys because they know how to pitch. He was 10-3 this year with an ERA just above 2 in a couple different stops. So he's No. 6 on their left. A lefty, another pitcher. But again, a pitcher in the lower levels, not the upper levels. You have to assume one of these three guys at the top will work out. Hey, I'll take that. Exactly.

If one of them works out, I will be extremely happy with it. But I like those type of guys too, John, and that's another type of profile that also really usually gets underrated by prospect lists and whatnot because it is those guys where it's production but not necessarily the flashy speed or whatever it may be. So I like JoJo too. And the fact, I'm surprised he's ranked that highly, to be honest. I like that he's ranked that highly.

I think, again, a lefty who has that kind of control and that kind of command of his pitches is, you know, and also it should help those guys between him and Medina, the guys who are further along in their command, further along in their repertoire. Those guys might have a chance to get to the majors even quicker and make an impact sooner. 2018 will be huge for those guys.

Huge for them. All right, next up, Jalen Ortiz, who is the man-child. He's still only 18 years old. And he was in Williamsport this year. 6'3", 215 pounds. That's a beast. So they signed him. I think it was a $3 million...

He's from the Dominican. So they gave him the big bonus to come up. So he played last year. I mean, he was 16 when he was playing at one point. He played last year at 17 in the Gulf Coast League. That's real rookie ball. Then he was in Williamsport this year. All he did in 159 at-bats was bat 302.

He cut down on his strikeouts. His on-base percentage was over 400. He had eight home runs and 30 RBIs. He's got a combination of power and speed and a great arm. And he plays the outfield. And people were kind of overlooking this guy before, but not anymore. These are the type of guys that get me excited for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I love that this organization is putting down roots in Latin America

and is scouting that way. And this Dominican Republic Academy, these are the types of kids that the Phillies didn't used to get and now they're getting. And that is incredibly exciting to me because that's where the sport is heading. I mean, how many of, you know, the top players in the league at this point are Latin American players? You have to have roots down there. You have to be scouting that area. And they're inexpensive.

You don't have to pay them $25 million a year. Exactly. They're super cheap to start. For a while. Yeah, exactly. I mean, look, at the World Series right now, Carlos Carrillo, Jose Altuve, two of the best players in the World Series. Those are those guys. Those are guys who people went down and scouted.

And, you know, obviously, Correa ended up being the first pick in the draft, came back and played. But Altuve was signed for, like, a $10,000 contract originally. And, obviously, no one believed he would ever work out because of the size. Like that, man. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. But, you know, you go down and you find these kids.

That's the type of, you know, front office maneuvering where you can get advantages and I do think that them putting the DR academy down there is huge. And I think Ortiz is a really exciting player. I think a lot of those guys, you kind of can look at the raw tools, but when they're in the Dominican Republic, when they're in those

types of academies, when they're in rookie ball like that, it's really hard to get a real feel for what they are other than just the raw tools. But you see them come up and put up those types of numbers in when they're in rookie ball like that. It's really hard to get a real feel for what they are other than just the raw tools. But you see him come up and put up those types of numbers in Lakewood. I mean, that's incredibly impressive. Yeah, so he probably starts next year at Lakewood. Or Williamsport. Yeah, he'll probably start next year at Lakewood.

And if they think that he could probably just play a full season down there, he's only going to be 19, for crying out loud. All right, number eight, which this is kind of fugazi, Jorge Alfaro, because he was the starter at the end of the year. I like Alfaro. Me too. I'm interested to see, because pitchers are going to adjust to him. He doesn't walk.

He got a little bit better with the plate approach, but I think we know what he is, what he's going to be. He's going to go up there hacking. Defense, he has to improve. Calling games, he's going to have to improve. I don't know what his is, what he's going to be. He's going to go up there hacking. Defense, he has to improve. Calling games, he's going to have to improve. I don't know what his ceiling is going to be with that. We know he's got raw power. Yeah, that's what it's going to come down to.

Because, I mean, he's got a cannon of an arm. He's got raw power. The approach, it was, you know, that was good to see. Because I was with you. I mean, I didn't think he was ready to be called up when they called him up. I thought it was going to be, you know, 100 strikeouts to one walk type not at all got better as the season went on so like that's the type of stuff where that that that part of the game is stuff that you can change like it's not something where you're a certain size or you have this much physical ability or whatever like

that's approach that's something you can change and i think that you know just to see him start to change is is a positive sign. But if he reaches his ceiling, it's going to have to come down to that calling a game. We see how crucial that is in today's baseball. Especially with the young staff that they have. And the young staff that's coming up. We're talking about these kids. I mean, theoretically, if Alfaro is the catcher of the future, he's going to be catching those kids when they come.

these kids. I mean, theoretically, if Alfaro is the catcher of the future, he's going to be catching those kids when they come. I'd honestly rather have a guy that has a little bit of pop and he could hit 180 for all I care and can handle a staff. I totally agree. But hey, it's good to have a guy with a bat right now like Alfaro. So we'll see how he develops.

And again, you've got to develop these guys now. Oh my God. Well, that's the key. And that's what goes back to the whole conversation about Kapler and about this whole thing. Because the tools are there for Alfaro. He's got the bat. I mean, his arm is a kid. He's an 80-grade arm.

For those who don't know the scouting scale, it's a 20 to 80 scale. He has the best arm you can have for a catcher. So, like, there are real tools there. It's a question of how they developed them. All right, number nine, Mickey Moniak was the first overall pick of the 2016 draft. And he was ranked, I believe, one by most of the people with the Phillies

heading into last season. Other than Crawford, and once Crawford kind of dropped down, Moniak was that next guy up. He was the next guy up. And Moniak, he's 19 years old. I'm not going crazy with it, but after watching him and paying attention to him all season long, I'm not going to tell you that he can't be a major leaguer, but he really, really struggled last year.

And kind of the scouting report on him coming out was he may not have the highest ceiling, but he had the— Very high floor, they said. He was going to be like a Steve Finley, which I think everybody would sign up for right now. In a second. The problem is, I don't think he's going to be Steve Finley, which I think everybody would sign up for right now. In a second. The problem is, I don't think he's going to be Steve Finley, and what he showed last year was that he doesn't have a lot of power. He's still only young. He's got to get stronger.

But he strikes out a lot. He doesn't have great play discipline. He can't hit lefties worth a you-know-what. And, I mean, again, you don't want to overreact because he's only a 19-year-old kid, but I've seen a lot. Jalen Ortiz was an 18-year-old kid, and he came up and he was smashing it all over the place last year.

And Mickey Moniak looked lost, frankly. Yeah. I was a Moniak defender through part of the year last year, and I'm starting to slightly veer the other way. The one thing I will say is you could just tell he's not physically where he will ultimately be. He's not done growing. He still looks like he's not physically where he will ultimately be. He's not done growing. He still looks.

He's not filled his body up. And look, that's on him. He needs to start lifting weights, putting all that time in there. That's crucial for this kid. You know the Gabe Kapler plan. He needs it. I mean, come on, man. If you look like Kapler, you're fine.

Get half nude, take lots of selfies. Yeah, that's the plan, right? Forget all the other stuff. Just get nude and take selfies. Don't forget take lots of selfies. Yeah, that's the plan, right? Forget all the other stuff. Just get nude and take selfies. Don't forget the leopard thong. Look, I think with Moniak, I'm not ready to say that's a bust and it'll never be anything

because I do think that, I mean, it is important. And again, going back to the whole judging prospects thing, it's not just the age and the level and stuff. It's really hard, I think, harder than any other sport to judge a baseball prospect because the bodies do fill out and it is a sport

where you know it really does matter in those cases so i think that i'm not ready to to be out on moniac but i'm not me neither i'm certainly a lot more pessimistic than i was you know obviously beginning of last year but much less halfway through last hazley two years older looks like a baseball player and moniac looks like a baseball player, and Moniak looks like a kid. Moniak looks like a kid. And the face, the physique, the body, he just looks like he doesn't look

like he belongs out there on the field. With men. I mean, even in the minors, you have young men out there, and Moniak kind of does, had looked at a kid. 236 was his average in 2017. 466 at bats, just five home runs, 109 strikeouts. Here was the other thing.

He didn't have a lot of speed. Seven stolen bases. It's like, if he was stealing 30 bags, I'd be like, got great speed. You know, if he was. There's really nothing you can point to as the problem. There's nothing like, wow, like at least he does that. The approach wasn't good. The defense wasn't necessarily great. Like, you're looking for something tangible to be like,

nah, but again, it's still early. So I'm not going to go crazy. Yeah, and again, also, it's like, you know, it's his second year, first full year in real, you know. 2018 is going to be a huge year. Let's put it this way. I think at the end of 2018, we'll be able to either say Mickey Moniak will be something or he will never be anything.

Outfielder of the future for sure. Or even just he'll be a fourth outfielder in the majors or that guy's never getting to the majors. Because right now, what we saw, that's on the table, and that's crazy because he was the No. 1 overall pick. And the kid like Jason Groom looks freaking awesome. Oh, my God. Well, there were some other problems with him.

And the kid that was taken second overall. AJ Pock has looked good so far. It's not Stencil, but it's Stencil. Oh, Nick St. Well, there were some other problems with him. And the kid that was taken second overall. AJ Puck has looked good so far. It's not Stencil, but it's Stencil. Oh, Nick Stencil. Yeah, he's been great for them. Was it the Reds or whatever? He's been awesome, that kid. Plays third base, too.

Yeah. Killing it. Oh, my God. Finally, Franklin Killamay is a right-handed pitcher who spent time between Clearwater and Redding this year. Really good stuff. His numbers aren't the greatest as far as if you look at the stats, but he's got really high-end stuff as far as velocity

and movement and stuff like that. Believe me, he may end up being a bullpen guy, but he'll be somebody that you see in the Phillies probably two years from now. Yeah, his stuff's too good for him never to make it to the majors. And he's got enough control where I think he'll make it to the majors. And he's not, like, he's got enough control where I think he'll make it to the majors. And again, like, a lot of these guys, like, having a guy turn into a quality middle reliever is a valuable thing.

Is a good thing. Yeah. Is a good thing. I think it's hard. A lot of people, or at least certainly casual fans, don't understand, like, the value of those. Like, if you have a guy who you draft in the first round and he turns into a fourth starter in the major leagues, it's really good. That's a successful draft pick.

It's not sexy. It's not, but it's a very different thing than football and basketball, you know, kind of where you... A lot different. Completely different. And they have a lot of young relievers, too, so we're gonna believe me, we have so many weeks before spring training to preview. How are we even gonna organize this, James Seltzer? We have so many different before spring training to preview. How are we even going to organize this, James Seltzer?

We have so many different things we have to talk about. All right, last thing. World Series Game 5 was last night, as we're recording this on a Monday. And I'd love to say I stayed up for it. Me too. I did not. Me too. I have children, and I was so gassed.

And I woke up to take a leak, and I looked on my phone, and I was like, you know, it's like, best game in the history of baseball. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, dude. I was like, I can't even, dude. I can't even talk about it. I've gone back, and I've watched parts of it. Like, I made it to the sixth inning, and I was up at 5 in the morning to go do the, you know, Eagle stuff, and it was just,

I'm so disappointed in myself, but I'm more disappointed in Major League Baseball. Make these games earlier on school nights and work nights. Like, come on, man. Like, you want new fans. You want people to like this sport. Allow them to watch the biggest games that you have. It's crazy that they're starting these things at 8 o'clock,

whatever it is. Like, I understand you had a West Coast team involved, but I don't know. I think it's a real detriment. I think it is. Two great teams. Really this time. I think it's a real detriment. Two good teams, too. Two great teams. Really good teams. I mean, not just that game.

Game two, which I think I had to dig it to watch, was one of the best World Series games in a long time. It's been a really evenly matched fun series. Great series. Great series. One of the best. That's why I wanted to. I don't really have a huge rooting interest either way.

I like Chase. I like Andrew Freeman. There's stuff on the Dodgers. Yeah, I'd be good with the Dodgers. I like the Astros maybe better. I think I like the Astros better huge rooting interest either way. I like Chase. I like Andrew Freeman. There's stuff on the Dodgers. Yeah, I'd be good with the Dodgers losing. I like the Astros maybe better. I think I like the Astros better just because of the whole they're fun and the whole things and stuff. But regardless, I want it to go seven more than anything is my point. It's going seven.

I'm rooting for seven more than I'm rooting for one team or the other to win. It's been a heavyweight fight, and they're just slugging each other. I think it's going seven. It has to. It has to. It has to. It's too great a series to not go seven. That game last night, even though I didn't watch it, but like you said, I saw highlights and I watched a bunch of SportsCenter this morning.

It reminded me of the Phillies-Blue Jays game in 93. I was at that game! Was it 15-11? 15-14! 15-14. Highest scoring world that was actually last night was the second highest world series game, scoring game of all time to that 15-14. I was at it Series. That was actually the last time it was the second highest World Series scoring game of all time to that 15-14. I was at it. Dykstra at two home runs.

It was crazy. It was surreal. I think I was 12 years old or whatever. And it was surreal. Runs just kept being scored. And you're like, what is happening right now? It was really awesome. Yep.

Awesome. So next time we talk, we will have a World Series champion. And we will actually have heard from Gabe Kapler. Howard Eskin, who is doing his normal Howard Eskin-driven agenda, I'll bet you, Hoagie, that he asked Kapler about those pictures. I will not take that bet. He tweeted the picture of him in the thong, and he proceeded to tell every person that entered Chickies and Pizza Night about how he tweeted the picture out. And everybody's just kind of looking at each other being like, yeah, we know, Howard. We know you tweeted the picture out.

Kapler's going to drive Howard insane, and I can't wait. He is. It's going to be awesome. He's already done it. Yeah, and guess what? Kapler's pretty smart, man. You're not going to get stuffed by this guy. So it's going to be fun.

Going to be fun. That is another edition of High Hopes. Look for us every week on, how do you even find us, James? I don't even know how you find us yet. iTunes, all that good stuff. iTunes, cbsphilly.com for another month before we change our company. Correct. Intercom something then, I'm sure.

It'll be good, though. We'll keep you updated on how to do it. And, of course, follow us on Twitter at JohnMarksMedia, J-O-N-M-A-R-K-S Media, at James Seltzer, because there was no other James Seltzer that stole his Twitter first. Like, somebody stole my Twitter. He won't give it back. But the guy that has the John Marks Twitter will actually follow him, and he follows me because he gets people that tweet him.

Of course. It's pretty funny. Well, it's funny when it's like all this stuff where there's like some famous person in the news and then it's the personal tweet out like, I'm not Tom Cruise. Leave me alone. I'm an insurance salesman in Montana. I am not the president, Donald Trump. I'm just some guy named Donald Trump.

All right, everybody. Talk to you next week. High hopes. We out. All-star next week. High Hopes. We out. 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

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