High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Gabe Kapler Is Intense, Among Other Things

Episode Date: November 7, 2017

Jon Marks and James Seltzer recapped Gabe Kapler's introductory press conference, including discussing his intensity, love of coconut oil, and more. The guys also look ahead to free agency and what they expect to see from Matt Klentak this offseason. 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

TD and your small business go together like... TD's small business account managers have in-depth business banking expertise, so they can give you the advice and resources you need to make your day-to-day easier. So if you're ready to meet your small business match, we're ready for you. Visit td.com slash smallbusinessm match to book an appointment with one of our advisors. Your mom hates it when you leave six half full glasses on your nightstand. It's a good thing mom lives on the other side of the country. And it's an even better thing that you can get six Ikea 365 plus glasses for just $9.99.

So go ahead. You can afford to hoard because Ikea is priced for student life. Shop everything you need for back to school at Ikea today. Oh, well, hello. Good evening. Good morning. Good afternoon. Mazel tov. Congratulations.

Hello. I have nothing to do with another. One doesn't have anything to do with another. Mazel tov. That was for me. Well, yeah, because James is a member of the tribe. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of High Hopes. This is episode number three.

We'll stop counting after a few, but just to review in case people haven't heard us before. John Marks and James Seltzer with our weekly Phillies podcast right here on Sports Radio 94 WIP. And, you know, James, last week we stood here, sat here, spoke here, and we knew Gabe Kapler was the Phillies' new manager. It had just been announced officially that day. But there wasn't the introductory news conference. There wasn't everything about Gabe Kapler out there. We saw some of the pictures. We didn't know about the coconut oil at that point. And then he was introduced. But, it's just a kind of kind of full circle Gabe Kapler it's like officially set in he's the Phillies new manager that's going to take this

team forward yeah man and I don't know how I feel about it yeah I I mean I feel good about it I a lot of what I said before still holds I knew he was weird he's super intense man he does not mess he has that like kind of like um you know like serial killer intensity you could see like i'm not saying he's a serial killer i like gabe kapler but no but you could see it you could see it man and uh and you know howard ask him bringing up the coconut oil that was an interesting uh moment all right well here's here's his personality here's what he said it is at his conference. My personality is multifaceted, just like every other human being in this room.

But I'll say I'm engaging. I'm warm. There's no question about it. I'm intense. And I'm passionate. Yes, he is. About a lot of different things. Hey, listen. I am all for guys that are a little bit... I don't even want to say

different. He's an interesting guy. He's a very interesting guy, which I'm totally for guys that are a little bit, I don't even want to say different. He's an interesting guy. He's a very interesting guy, which I'm totally fine with. The whole coconut oil thing that Howard brought up during the press conference and all that. Who cares? Yeah, whatever. It's meaningless to your life. It's meaningless, but it is interesting, his online activity between the blogs and the pictures and everything else. But that doesn't mean that he can't be a good manager i guess is what i'm what i'm trying to say oh

absolutely like a lot of people are weird and intense and whatever and end up being really good at a particular job i mean we've seen you know joe madden is a really strange cat like if you've ever you know seen joe madden really get into stuff and talk about things, he's a weird dude, man. He might not be as intense. He's more of a laid back weird, which makes him maybe a little less off-putting or whatever. You know what you call those people? Eccentric. Yes.

When you're cool weird, you're eccentric. When you're not, you're a weirdo. He's got the hipster glasses. He's got the whole look going on. Gabe Kappler is in your face intense and weird. But I also look, I understand you hear that type of stuff and it's like, who the hell does this guy think he is? But he's clearly insanely intelligent, which is something you want in a manager. He seems to be, and you know what?

On top of that, he wants to win man like if nothing else that intensity is going to be channeled towards winning baseball games i mean you know the comment about john middleton and bringing the trophy here you know which i'm sure we can listen to at some point but we can listen to it right now yeah let's play that one all right here it is we're not going to leave any stone unturned to find our competitive advantages. We're going to think traditionally, and we're going to think progressively. We're going to mold those two things together. And all of this is in an effort to bring that effing trophy back to John Middleton.

Back to John Middleton? Yes, for the first time back. I don't care if that was the wrong way of saying it. Well, let's break down how he speaks, first of all, because he's very caveman-ish, but very well-spoken, and perfectly structured. Each word, you know what I mean?

We will think progressively, and we will think traditionally. Yeah, it's weird. It's very strange. Weird. It's a weird cadence. But he sounds like John Cena at the same time, like a lot of the wrestling booger pickers out there were being like, he sounds like John Cena, which I guess he a lot of the wrestling booger pickers out there were being like he sounds like John Cena which I guess he does I don't know but like I could see that I never I'm not a wrestling guy but I've seen John Cena in movies he's just like it sounds very

prepared it sounds very robotic like it doesn't yeah yes I got yeah totally it definitely doesn't sound like hey we're just you know guys conversation, you know, shooting the you know what, as it were. Like he is, you know, he's not he seems like the kind of guy who's like staring you right in your eyes when you're having a conversation, like right up in your grill and be like, hi, John. Tell me about yourself. I worry about this guy, though, if I'm being totally honest. Well, I think that I, you know, I understand that. I kind of had a feeling this was the type of guy he was to begin with. I think for a lot of people who might not have felt that way, this could be somewhat off-putting because it was a weird presser.

Let's say that. It was a weird presser. All around it was. Yeah, I know that about it. I mean, Howard Eskin asked him about coconut oil. There were references to, you know, things you do in the comfort of your own home. It was aggressive. Which he put out there on a lifestyle blog.

Oh, yeah. Half tongue-in-cheek. And then I spent a day trying to defend Howard because it was called by an SI writer as the lowest point for the sports media, him asking that question. Wow. Can we get over ourselves for a second here?

The sports media has gone way lower than that. Way lower than this. I mean, come on. I think I'll – and to defend Howard a little bit, it really was the elephant in the room among fans. I mean, what were we talking about? We were talking about the pictures and the bizarre blog posts. Someone had to ask about it.

And things like that. I mean, the thing about the guys on the Phillies beat is they were waiting for Howard to ask it because they weren't going to ask. Someone had to ask it. Someone had to ask about it. The thing about the guys on the Phillies beat is they were waiting for Howard to ask it because they weren't going to ask. Someone had to ask it. No question. You have to give the guy, and even if Howard maybe was a little joking or whatever in his way,

he could have phrased it differently. You have to get an answer for that. You owe the fans the right to give, and not just that, to give the manager a chance to explain that because that's something fans are talking about. For him to explain it and for Matt Klintak, I would have said to Matt Klintak,

was there any reservation based on the online activity of Gabe Kapler? Because let's face it, right? We live in a day and age in 2017. Like, right now, I'm looking to hire a nanny to watch my two daughters. We're looking for an evening producer to work at the station. And people that have applied that are outside the company, the first thing that I do is I Google their name. Of course. And I look at their online activity.

I look to see what they're doing on Twitter. Are they annoying? Do they tweet too much? What are the pictures? Are there any like – I'm not going through every tweet to see if they're racist, but I'm examining what they do online. As well you should. So to think that a manager of a baseball team, that you're looking to take your young team and to turn them into what Charlie Manuel was able to do 10 years ago, to think that

that shouldn't be examined to where he has multiple pictures online where he's in a Speedo or he has his shirt off. Not to say that disqualifies him, but also the question of did you have any reservations about his activity online isn't ridiculous and isn't a stupid question. I think it's very valid. No, I think it's a fair question to ask, but I also think that if you believe in a guy as a baseball man, as a player development guy, as a thinker, as an innovator. You don't give a crap what he does online. As long as he's not writing posts saying racist stuff. He's just saying, hey, this is how I like to live my life. And it's an easy answer.

It's an easy answer by Matt Klintak to say, no, we investigated Gabe and we're very comfortable with him being our next manager. He's not a bad dude. He's just weird. It got made a bigger deal of because Howard helped do that and he had tweets saying about Howard, no. Yes. Not Howard. But the actual content and what he was trying to get out of him was, I thought, was very

valid. And like you said, no one else really had the balls to ask it. And you know Howard always has the balls to ask it. 100%. And he gets credit for that. All that stuff aside, I do have, like, when I say I have reservations about this guy, it has to do, like, his personality and I'm trying to talk to

Bob Ryan from the Boston Globe and ESPN about him because he's the one that nicknamed him the body however many years ago. And he has a very strong personality. Now, John John Heyman who is a guy that I respect is one of the good the great baseball writers of of this generation right now writing for fan rag sports he put something out there about Gabe Kapler and he had anonymous Dodger players in his article that were saying like you know everybody and I'll just read right

from the article from interviews with people around the game, Kapler, who comes to Philly from his job as Dodgers farm director, is a love him or hate him kind of guy, and the word most frequently heard about his time in L.A. is polarizing. One player said there was no middle ground between worship and unqualified in assessments of Kapler. So either this guy's the greatest thing in the world or he has no business even being in the game.

Right? I mean, think about that. That's pretty scary. Let me go on to more right here. Kapler is admired by some but also butted heads with enough Dodgers people to fill an entire roster. It depends on the source. Word got to the big leaguers that enough of them endorsed external candidate

Dave Roberts, including Kershaw, Gonzalez, and others to affect the process at a time Kapler was seen as the favorite of the Dodgers bosses for their manager job. So in other words, the veterans were thought to push back against Kapler being the new manager of the Dodgers. That can't make you very, that doesn't make me very happy. Now, it's a veteran team. Right. Exactly.

But still. No, and look, you know, I don't think you ever you ever want to see stuff like that. But if you want to kind of counterpoint it, obviously, like you just said, it's a veteran team. You're bringing them in to take kids who are literally rookies and second year players and young Major League Baseball players and try and develop them. Furthermore, like my point is, like, if he was that polarizing that polarizing, the Dodgers had a player development. Why was he still a big part of that organization? Why was

he still involved with it? It couldn't have been that bad. It couldn't have been that much of a disaster. He's dealing with minor leaguers and not the major league guys. Well, he's going to be dealing with kids who are more or less minor leaguers now, too, for the most part. You're right. It's different. It's very different. He's not coming in here with Jimmy and J. Roll and Chase

and those guys when they're already established. He's not coming in here with Jimmy and J-Roll and Chase and those guys when they're already established. Yes. He's not taking over for Charlie. Exactly. He's going to grow with these guys. Let me go on, though. Let me tell you this. It's not ideal.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying like, yeah, great. It can be assumed what they heard was decidedly mixed at best. That's what I found, too. One person who knows him well said he found Kapler to be, quote, more persona than person. Another, a player, said Kapler was fine for him and that while he could see him blowing someone away in an interview, he frequently couldn't provide off-the-cuff answers

and often responded by saying, let me get back to you via text. He was very scripted in this player's estimation. Gee, very scripted? Kind of like what we heard at the press conference, James. I mean, these are things that are concerning. Yeah. That there's either you love them or you hate them. Is that really what you want of a manager?

No, no. But you also, again, like, look, I think that, again, to what I said before, he was kept in the organization. He's a highly valued person in the organization. He wowed enough people to be considered the frontrunner for the job to begin with and second place finisher or whatever. Look, I think you're going to hear a lot of stuff when anyone leaves town. We talked about this recently.

I brought up the example. We're talking about Jay Ajayi flipping into the Eagles when he leaves Miami. All of a sudden, he's the biggest problem the locker room's ever seen. And, you know, Terry Francona, when he gets fired out of Boston, he's a pillhead. And this is a different situation because it's a guy getting a managerial job. So, you know, you would likely hear more positive stuff. But regardless, I think this is a situation where, you know, I think they're swinging for the fences with this managerial hire. I think this seems like a guy who

his high end is pretty high, but he also could be a disaster, it sounds like. It sounds like the disaster potential is high, but also the ceiling is incredibly high. High ceiling. You know, it's like a really it's kind of a really interesting experiment. And he is really hot, and he knows it.

What's most attractive and exciting is we have core position players all around the diamond. We have some really already successful young pitching. We have some bullpen pieces that in looking into them, I got really excited about. I looked through our prospects in our minor league system. The guys that we have coming, extremely, extremely talented.

And he's right. He's right. I mean, he does have a lot to work with. I mean, this is, while it's not like the Yankees job or even the Red Sox job or whatever, when you look at it, you could be going to a team that is a disaster going nowhere. Like, I'm trying to think of somebody off the top of my head. Or you could be coming to a team that—

Like the Padres? Like the Padres or, I mean, you know the teams year after year that's just kind of like, you know what they're going to be and they're going to be in the basement. But, like, you do have a chance to grow. Like, you don't need to win right away with this team. You need to win some, but you're not going to get fired if you don't win

90 games and take the team to the playoffs. And that's got to be a pretty good thing. Oh, 100%. And look, I think it was a desired job. I think there were a lot of guys out there. Clearly, a lot of guys interviewed, a lot of guys who I think would be very happy to come in to meet the Phillies manager, especially when we don't really know enough about John Middleton to make any grand proclamations. He hasn't been the lead owner that long here. But everything I've seen and heard from the guy I've liked, it seems like someone who wants to go out and win,

wants to build a championship team here, a guy who seems to give a crap, you know what I mean, from an ownership perspective. So I think if you're hiring him, if you're coming on as a manager somewhere, that's something you look at. It's a good situation. It's a team with a lot of money to spend over the next few years, a team with a great farm system,

a team with some guys already at the Major League roster who are legitimate future players here. So I think this is a very desirable job, and I think that makes it more interesting that Kapler is the guy they go with. But at the same time, that Dodgers job that Kapler theoretically almost got was one of the highest-profile jobs you could possibly get as well. So I think that, again, he he's intense he's kind of weird but you know the younger players if he's that's his specialty if they're taking a guy whose specialty

is minor leaguers young players developing these kids like that's the exact kind of guy i wanted in here so i'm willing to give him a chance especially if if there's you know that's kind of his upside all right let's talk about the let's actually talk about some baseball stuff rather than coconut oil and whatever else because like now people and you james you heard about a lot of this in like september when you saw the fruits of the farm system come up and do very well we're talking about obviously uh reese hoskins and jp crawford and who knows what the team's going to look like in April. Maybe that changes by June, but regardless, you know what people were asking? Can this team, can this team add via free agency enough to where their, their contenders,

their wildcard contenders, their playoff contenders, whatever. Now I saw Ryan Lawrence write something cause John Middleton spoke last week and he more or less said that, listen, we're preaching patience. We know like if you look at the Astros, you look at the Cubs, when they were building, they didn't run out and try to make trades or sign free agent guys that were in their 30s trying to win. They more or less, to use the Sixers quote, trusted the process. They knew they were going to be bad for a couple years,

and they were going to get better each year as they brought in these young players. And John Middleton was preaching that type of patience when he spoke last week. But then I see rumors today by the dude from the Boston Globe, Carfato. Nick Cofarto, who's locked into the—granted, none of the rumors have come true yet, for what it's worth, but he does seem to have a lot of Phillies rumors, this guy. But does he—does he just throw the obvious against the wall kind of guy? It could be. I mean, none of the rumors he's had have come true yet.

You know, because think about it. The Stanton guy, the Yelich guy, all that stuff. Nothing's happened. Because the Phillies have payroll. They have young players. It's just an obvious fit. Who can afford to take on Gingos Stanton? Oh, the Phillies can. Right.

No, it makes sense to throw it. Because when they don't get him, it's just only, I mean, you can't dispel that there have been rumors. But that's what, and I'm reading from our buddy Joe Giglio here. Is that the rumor again? The Stanton-Yelich one? No, that'll be next week. Yeah, but so is it Caffardo? Nick Caffardo. Is that the rumor again? The Stanton Yellich one? No, that'll be next week.

Yeah, but so Carfardo of the Globe says that the Phillies are among a handful of teams expected to chase Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs' A's and Cy Young winner. His four-plus seasons with the Cubs produced 68-31 record and a 2.73 ERA. He struggled in the first half of this past season, but in 12 second-half starts, he went 6-3 with a 2.73 ERA. He struggled in the first half of this past season, but in 12 second-half starts, he went 6-3 with a 2.28 ERA. He should get plenty of attention in free agency with the Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Phillies, all likely to compete for a pitcher who will likely get close to $25 million a year, whether it's four or five years.

That's the question. So, in other words, he has no hard evidence. He's just speculating. Yeah, and I would be shot. And I'm sure if it happens, someone will cut this and play this for me. James, I'll be honest. I'll be floored if they sign Jake Arrieta. I'll be floored, and I don't want him.

I don't want him either. He's 31. He's a guy who, like, look, I really like Jake Arrieta. He's a good pitcher. He won me a fantasy championship a year ago, and I'll never forget him. I'll never forget that. Thank you, Jake. You beautiful man. uh he's 31 he's a guy who um is a uh you know a power pitcher

you know he we already saw him kind of how injuries can affect him how you saw him break down the first part first half of the season granted picked it up a bit but man that's just not the guy you don't want to i don't want to invest anything like 20 plus million for someone over the age of 30 as a pitcher, period. For a long period of time. If I can get someone on a three-year deal, fine. But that's not going to happen. I'm looking at the top 101 MLB.

Like Darvish is out there, obviously. Yeah, I was having this conversation with Jody. Darvish looks so bad in the World Series. Really, he wasn't good since he came over to Los Angeles. He wasn't bad. He certainly wasn't good since he came over to Los Angeles. He wasn't bad. He certainly wasn't good. He wasn't great all year, really. He wasn't the same guy most of the season, even when they traded for him in Texas.

He wasn't the same. Last year, Darvish was awesome. He was good. Great stuff. It seemed like he had 15 different pitches he could throw at you. Well, he's 31. He's a free agent. Jody said to me, no, he'll still get the same amount of money.

And I'm like, well, maybe he's not going to get that extra year. Like here's what I'm talking about. Maybe in some people's eyes, Darvish hasn't cost himself money. But if he would have pitched great in the World Series, he would have seen his contracts go from five years, $25 million, to seven years, $28 million. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah.

Trust me, he cost himself maybe some years and definitely some money. I think probably. Obviously, this is something we can never prove one way or the other. I lean your direction. Regardless, I think he's going to get paid. Of course he is. Yeah, no question he's going to get paid. But I think you're right.

It's not that the bad performance is what cost him. It's the lack of a good performance. If he had just been fine, I think he would get what he was going to get. I don't think being bad is going to change that. But if he had gone out and pitched two gems and was a World Series MVP, yeah, he's definitely getting more. And you know what we'd be saying right now? Sign him, probably.

Maybe not us, but you would get a lot of people. Look what he just did! That guy comes through with a clutch! So I don't want Darvish. I don't really want anybody. No, there are a few guys lower end. I really like Tyler Chatwood. It's a really low end type of guy, but he's a guy

who's been languishing in Colorado for the last few years and is literally just lights out on the road and awful at home. So I like those types of guys where you can see a very clear definitive. Agreed. Like, hey, pitchers in of guys where you can see a very clear definitive. Agreed. Like, hey, he pitches in Coors Field and he's a breaking ball pitcher.

Oh, his breaking ball breaks when he's in other places. There it's flat and it gets hit out of the park a lot. I like that type of guy, and I really like Tyler Chatwood. I think they're definitely like a Lance Lynn. Lance Lynn has become the third best guy on the market. Alex Cobb is a name I like. Well, here's the thing with Cobb. Cobb was really good, and then the ACL – or not the ACL. Alex Cobb is a name I like. Well, here's the thing with Cobb. Cobb was really good.

And then the ACL, or not the ACL. I'm so used to football right now. Tommy John. Tommy John, thank you. That's the ACL of football, right? It's exactly right. It's just like, oh, he'll be back in 18 months. He'll be fine.

It's shorter, obviously, for the ACL. But I liked Alex Cobb before the injury. I thought he was fine this past year. It's still, you know, that's what they say with the Tommy John, is that the velocity comes back quicker than the control does. It seemed like he got better as the season went on. I like Alex Cobb. That's a guy I'd be willing to take a shot on.

But I'm with you, John. If Tanaka opts out, maybe that's interesting. But he's another guy who, like, he's been brilliant. And also, he started the season awful, then finished great when he was one who was great in the playoffs but then um he uh he's got that weird elbow thing where it's like hey like he's gonna need Tommy John someday no he's just rehabbing he's fine what I would love to knock until they had him for five years at 25 million and he missed like a year and a half right yeah his arm's gonna fall no but like he had fall off at some point. No, but he had good playoff performances, and you watch that. That's what I mean.

He was really good in the playoffs. And you're like, but you're exactly right. And it's just – and it really is. It makes you be like, all right. And it's such a fan thing to do because obviously the executives are looking deeper than just a couple starts in the playoffs or whatever. As well they should. Let me give you one name that, not a free agent,

but it gives you like you were just saying, well, I would buy this guy or I would look at a lower-ranked guy. Remember Charlie Morton had four starts for the Phillies in 2016? I love Charlie Morton. And he got hurt. And you know what the Astros did? They went and grabbed him. They went and grabbed him.

And that was 16-0 over two years. And he had a good year. And he looked really good in the playoffs. He's the new Madisonison he goes in and shuts it down for four innings to win the way but could you imagine if the philly signed him to that same contract after he had four starts i really like people would have burned citizens park down like charlie morton though like i how good of a contract was that man yeah it was a great contract and that that's the type of thing i remember they signed him and I laughed like an idiot. Yeah.

I did. I was like, oh, my God, who would give that? See, I love that. And Klintak was right. Klintak was right about Charlie Morton. He was right. He was right, but he wasn't right enough to resign him. Yeah, it didn't help us out, I know.

But still. But, yeah, he was right. He was right. Sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky, too. Yeah. You know what I mean? You totally do. And circumstance and all that has to play into your favor.

And, yeah, man, I mean, it's crazy. Charlie Morton certainly looks really great in the World Series, and I think he's a legit pitcher. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt about it. And it'll be interesting to see. Like, listen, I think you like Klintak better than I do.

Yeah. I'm still very much wait and see on him. Which is fair. I'm not like, you know, you can't argue that he's great. A lot to prove. A ton. He's got everything to prove. I just like what I've seen so far.

And this will be a big, like last offseason, the thought of getting these guys and trading with the trade deadline and like Buck Holtz was like, hey, we have the money. Why not try to get him? And maybe he turns into a gem. Like I get that thinking. Now it's actually time to get something done now's the time to go out and like Pat Gillick was able to sign Jason Wirth he was able to trade for for Joe Blanton he traded for for Jamie Moore they were and that was a trade deadline deal he was able to make under the radar moves that really really helped his team and I need to see Klintak do that

I need to see Klintak go out and sign a pitcher that's not making $10, $15 million a year and then produces. I need to see a guy that's a smart GM move. And that's what he's going to need to do this offseason. Because everybody needs pitching. It's not like you just go out there and, oh, I want that pitcher, that pitcher. Everybody wants pitching. Oh, 100%.

And again, I don't know. I think that they're going to be much more active next offseason than this offseason but i'm with you i mean i think now is you need to see clint tag makes him i do still think though at least for one more year we are going to see some of that model of finding a couple middle relievers who could be good for half a year and you can trade find a guy like howie kendrick. Well, Neshek's a free agent again, so he can redo it. Hey, re-rack it, baby. I'll do it. But I think we're going to also learn a lot with this Gabe Kapler hire.

I mean, that's on Matt Klintak's shoulders. That's his hire. Like, you know, he is on the hook for that one. And, you know, I think seeing how – because that's an aggressive hire, like we've obviously talked about. So I agree with you. I think that we haven't seen enough from contact to judge him one way or the other i'm bullish about you know his opportunity but now we need to

actually see some tangible stuff some stuff where he's making some moves that kind of and again i like the under the radar stuff with him we've talked about this but you know the the money to spend in the dominic you know in the uh in the uh world draft or you draft or whatever it is. International draft. International signing money. That type of stuff is like market inefficiency type stuff that I like to see. I like to see general managers trying to figure out new ways to do things. It's a copycat world, right?

Yeah. But someone has to come up with the idea first, right? Yep, and that's what you want. Yeah, well, look, they are copycat trying. I mean, they are copycatting. I mean, they are trying to do exactly what the Astros did. Yeah, but think about it. Other teams have been doing that for years. Yes.

And I heard Ruben Amaro saying they don't believe in walks and things like that. Oh, my God, yes. Oh, man. It's crazy. That was a bad day. James, what do you want the Phillies to do in the offseason? Here's what I would like. Yeah.

They need two starting pitchers, right? Oh, absolutely. Like, you have to get guys, and you have to sign pitchers. You have to. You have what I would like. They need two starting pitchers, right? Oh, absolutely. You have to get guys, and you have to sign pitchers. You have to. You don't have any pitchers. You can't try it out there with Eikhoff and Leiter Jr. Nola, Nola. And all those guys. You got Nola, and after that, I don't know, maybe Vinny. Maybe Eikhoff. I still... I can't.

I just don't know what Vinny's going to give you. No, I agree. I'm saying. I don't know. Eikhoff, I think I would still give Eikhoff a shot, but he's going to give you. No, I agree. I'm saying. I don't know. I think I would still give Eikhoff a shot, but he's got to be like your number five. I agree. You've got to go out and get guys, whether it's Lance Lim, whether it's Cobb, whether it's Tyler Chatwood. He lost velocity, a lot of velocity, and he was a guy that was kind of a half-nibbler anyway.

Yeah. And if your fastball's 92-93 and now you're throwing 88. Oh, it's a huge difference. Forget about it. Then he has no confidence in it. But I think it was probably partially injury-related and stuff like that. It seems like that can make such a big difference if your back is a little off or whatever. Of course. You compensate in other areas.

100%. And I get all that. So here's what I'll tell you with the pitchers that I like. I like Pavetta a lot. I don't know if he's a... Oh, I like Pavetta too. But I think he's a bullpen guy. I agree, but he's got stuff at least. You can watch that guy pitch and he can make hitters miss. He can.

No, he's wildly inconsistent. And what you hear from the people that are down the park a lot, and I was down the park quite a bit this year, is that he really thinks he's great and he's kind of like, people just kind of roll their eyes at him. Yeah. Pavetta. Eikhoff, listen, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know.

I don't know what to say. I agree, I don't know. He's going to be in the running for it. Eflin, same thing. He's worse than Pavetta. I like Pavetta more than Eflin. They have a lot of guys that have potential and have good arms, but you don't know if they're ever going to put it together. Yeah, and they have a lot of guys. They have guys.

Eflin's just a guy. He's a guy. Yeah, you can get guys. What's another name I wanted to bring up here? Ben Lively. Another guy. He's a guy. But see, that's the problem is they have a bunch of guys.

Yeah, well, that's the issue. They've had a run all and they have a bunch of guys. All their dudes, as it were, are 18 and 19 years old. That's the problem. That's why they got to go out and sign guys. They don't have any of those high minors guys, or dudes, I should say, who they can bring up and be legitimate right away. Not in the high minors.

Esselman, who won their pitcher of the year award in the minors. He's a guy. He might be a little better than a guy, but he's got guy stuff. He's a fifth starter. You know what I mean? He's a fourth starter at best. Maybe he's Jamie Moyer. Maybe he's that type of guy where he just consistently exceeds his stuff

and consistently is such a smart pitcher and has such an ability to locate the ball that he can get by on that and be very successful, but he's probably just a guy. Before we mention the World Series, and I've been trying to confirm this, and I can't confirm it all the way, but today, this afternoon, was the deadline for minor league free agents, right? for minor league free agents, right? So if you, and I'm going to read right here,

and this is from Matt Winkleman, who covers the Phillies minor leaguers like nobody else that I've ever seen. Yeah, he does a great job. He doesn't like me because he'll never respond back whenever I... Really? No. No, I'm like evil sports radio guy. A lot of the bloggers don't like evil sports radio, John. They don't know me as like like, I love baseball and whatever.

See, I got my feet in both worlds I can get by. Right. So the Phillies, the deadline was minor league free agents. You had to add them to the 40-man roster to prevent them from becoming free agents. Sure. So you have the Rule 5 draft that's coming up whenever. So Carlos Tocci was a guy that was signed out of Venezuela when he was 16. He's now 22.

He's been in the organization forever. And he actually has made it to AAA this year. He's going to be a major league player. He's got tools. He has no power. They've been waiting for him to get a little bit bigger. He's going to be an extra outfielder, decent defense, gets on base, but he's never really going to be anything great.

They have so many outfielders in this system. So from what I'm reading, we're going to have to pour one out for him because from what I'm reading, and I can't confirm this, that he's a free agent because the Phillies elected not to put him on the 40-man. Oh, no. Which isn't a surprise because they're crowded on the 40-man. Oh, yeah. That's what they have to do.

I mean, I'm fine with this. I'll pour one out for Carlos. Our friend Pat Egan, though, is going to be devastated. He was at Target, and I texted him when I saw it, and I think he dropped a thing of like apple juice on the ground or something. No one loves. Carlos Tocci's family doesn't love him as much as Pat Egan loves him. Yeah, no.

What do they speak in Venezuela? It's Portuguese? Yeah, he learned to speak Portuguese just so he could read his Twitter. But anyway. Is it Portuguese in Venezuela? I's Portuguese? Yeah, he learned to speak Portuguese just so he could read his Twitter. But anyway. Is it Portuguese in Venezuela? I thought it was Spanish. Brazil is Portuguese. Well, it's Venezuela. Is it Spanish? I would think so.

I don't know. We should look this up. I'm going to look it up right now. I have to know this now. I'm pretty sure it's Spanish. Yeah, I might be an idiot. Brazil is Portuguese for sure. Brazil is definitely Portuguese. Yeah. I don't know if there's any other. I mean, obviously Portugal. I'm very intrigued. When I was in Aruba for my honeymoon.

The ABC Islands. You're right. Like, you can see Venezuela from Aruba. Oh, definitely. And you get a lot of Venezuelans to come there for vacation. And most of the women have large behinds and they like to show it that sounds about right there's there's there's thongs American Spanish officially the let me see American Spanish I don't know what that means so Spanish recognized languages in

dingy in official language Spanish there you go. Hey-oh. I'm an idiot. I'm not. You're not. I was thinking Brazil. I was thinking Brazil. All right, World Series. Yes. And what a, except for the last game, which was, you could pretty much figure, you watched the first couple innings, you knew what was going on. And we go back to Darvish, who came up small.

But, you know, the Astros, got to give them credit. It was the team that was like the SI cover from however many years ago. And you think SIs love publicizing that they put them on the cover in whatever year? Unbelievable. Almost calling their shot. They did call it 2017 World Series champions. They did. It's pretty amazing.

But you saw how they did it, and it really is the template for what the Phillies are trying to do. Now, the difference is, and you look at what the Cubs have done, the difference is the Phillies don't have those type of young players in their system. At least not yet you don't see them. They're not developed. I mean, you look at what the Astros have been able to build. And that's with taking Mark Appel

over Chris Bryant. I mean, could you imagine with that? But they're going to be there for coming years, and it's a smart organization. It's a smart organization. It's a talented organization. And a move like Charlie Morton. They signed him when he had four starts and he was coming off an injury. They signed him to a team-friendly contract,

and he was lights out in the World Series. Yeah. No, again, he's the new Madison Bumgarner. Shout-out to Jeff Lano. It's a great organization. They're really smart. They're really well-run. And that's the thing is, like, you know, they won the World Series,

but they also stomached some of the worst losing in baseball history. I mean, literally, in Major League History, they had three straight seasons of over 100 losses. They lost the size of 111 games one year. We were talking this year about, oh, hopefully the Phillies don't get 200 losses, and they

barely didn't. Imagine 111. How much losing that is? It's exponential. It really does feel like that. I will not be doing Phillies leading off and final out if they win 111. I'll retire. It's hard to lose 111 games. It's a long season. Yes, and they had a lot

of those long seasons. Obviously, first in their history. Really cool for Astros fans. That's the model. Like you said, it's a copycat league and it's really the model throughout sports. You mentioned it before, the trust, the process, that whole thing. It's like really in every sport now for the most part.

I mean, obviously football's a little different. The Browns, that's what they're trying, not doing it very well so far. But it does seem like the whole tanking methodology is really permeating throughout sports. And you know what? It's easy to quote unquote tank because it's the whole tanking methodology is really permeating throughout sports. And you know what? It's easy to quote unquote tank because it's not really tanking. Like in basketball, you know, in football they don't tank. Teams really don't tank. No, I mean look what the Eagles did.

I mean like the Jets could have went with Christian Hackenberg. That would have been tanking. Instead they were actually trying to win games because coaches want to keep their job. Of course. In baseball, you can be bad for a couple years, and the manager's not necessarily going to get fired because you know how much. In baseball, if you don't have talent, you have no chance. If you don't have pitching, you don't have any chance.

It's kind of like a quarterback in football. But, yeah, get young. You're not going to spend a lot of money on payroll. The Cubs did it. The Astros did it. You're going to kind of strip everything down. Well, you need to hit on the, like you said, you need to hit on the picks. You need to draft Carlos Correa first of all.

Like, Carlos Correa was not the top, like, he was not the guy expected to go number one. He went number one because he was willing to sign a below-slot deal. They used that money elsewhere. So they could use that money elsewhere. And, like, Carlos Correa ended up being the best player in that draft. I mean, obviously, he's a stud. But you also have to go and spend $15,000 in the Dominican Republic and get a kid like Jose Altuve who's 5'6".

How exciting is he? I mean, it's unbelievable. I've said this to everyone who will listen, but I don't understand why he's not the biggest sports star in America. I mean, he is 5'3", or 5'4". He's my favorite. He should be. He's my favorite non-

Philadelphia sports player. Yeah. He really should be. He should be everybody's. He's the most fun to watch. He's like 5'4, 5'3, 5'4, somewhere in that range in reality. And he's the best hitter in baseball. He creates havoc.

Him and Mike Trout are the two best players in baseball. He's 5'5, 5'4. Yeah, he's a havoc maker. He is. I mean, for a guy that, like, normally the guys that you wait to go to the bathroom to come up and watch for an at-bat or home run hitters, Altuve's the guy that you wait to see because he's just, he's so good. He's such a, like, that's a baseball player.

And he's got shocking power for his size. Well, for his size, sure. Which is unbelievable. No, I mean, the amount of power he has for being 5'4", but he's just like one big muscle. Oh, totally. He's like a little, yeah. He's like Darren Sproles-esque. Steve Smith.

Yes, Steve Smith. Exactly. Yeah, you could see him smashing a ball 450 feet for his size, but yeah, that's the type of organization that I want. Yeah, and then you know you george springer and you just hit on your picks and you do things like like the intelligent things like draft guys below slots you can spend money elsewhere and make the intelligent moves there and and look there's always a lot of luck involved but um you know they were built really intelligently and and the way

they kind of were put together and the way they're managed and it's really from top to bottom it's a really impressive organization you know what they did it's really from top to bottom. It's a really impressive organization. You know what they did? It's something very similar to the Phillies, at least in terms of their scouting and player development. They went out and they hired a bunch of guys who like write for Baseball Prospectus and like a bunch of like analytics guys like Kevin Goldstein. I used to listen to his podcast, his Baseball Prospectus podcast.

Now he's like one of the top guys in the Astros scouting department. Exactly. Like guys who actually follow this stuff and do this for a living and write about it and talk about it every day. Like that was an inefficiency. They went out like they're, but like I can't remember who tweeted it, but something like

every single baseball prospectus writer I worked with is on a major league staff now and the vast majority are on the Astros. Like it's like there's a reason. There are smart people everywhere. Go find them. Yep.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's end it on a little Gabe Kapler, best of Gabe here. If you look through the various posts, there is some tongue-in-cheek stuff that I had directed to players because I thought it might make them laugh. Thinking through it, you know,

there's some things that I might have written a little bit differently. Certainly, we all make mistakes, but if you go back and you look at those posts, they were meant for health. They were meant to help people be more prepared and stronger. Yeah, and listen, coconut oil is a great lubricant. I went home and then I grabbed— It's meant for health, Johnny!

Where do you even get coconut oil from? You get it like at any CVS. CVS, right, sure. Rite Aid, Duane Readey. Coconut oil, you can cook get coconut oil from? You get it at any CVS. CVS, right. Sure. Right Aid, Dwayne Reedy. Coconut oil, you can cook with coconut oil. You can. A lot of uses for it. Yeah, a lot of uses for it. Some, you know, more fun than others.

I'll bet you Howard went out and bought the biggest. He went to Sam's Club and got coconut oil and he poured it in the bathtub and rolled around in it. He was so obsessed with that. He's still talking about it, Howard. I love Howard. Oh, it's great. He's great.

It's great. That is High Hopes, James Seltzer, episode number three in the books. We will do this every week. We'll be back next week. And we're going to have to actually start breaking down a position or the infield or the outfield or pitching. Yeah, like actually some real baseball talk. Real baseball talk. We can't just talk about Kapler and whatever else.

We could, but we're not going to. Yeah, we could. We're not going to. We'll mostly do baseball. We'll mostly do baseball. There'll be some Kapler. We'll have some fun, too. Alright, thank you, everyone. Tuna, check us out every week. High Host Podcast. See ya. All-Star Closer, Ken Lee Jansen. We have a question.

What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game

is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact, so jump aboard the B.I.B the bib express follow and listen to baseball isn't boring presented by wasabi hot cloud storage on the free odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts