High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Girardi Crushes the Press Conference, the Nats are World Series Champs and the Phillies Have a New Pitching Coach

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back talking about the Phils, Girardi, the Nats and our new pitching coach.  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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yo it is another edition of the high hopes podcast I just learned that Jack Fritz does an amazing

Kermit the Frog impression I feel like I learn a new thing about Jack Fritz every day how you doing James? what's up Kermie? alright is this the Brian Price Emergency Podcast? For me, it's the

Brian Price Emergency Podcast. Sure. I thought you said it was the Robert Stock Emergency Podcast. I have many thoughts on Robert Stock. I am very, very, very, very, very, very excited for the Robert Stock era. Of course you are. If I'm this excited for Robert Stock, imagine when they sign Gary Cole. But here's the thing.

I get so bored with the big moves. Like, you know, the big moves are great. They're good. I'm a little moves guy. Oh, man. Because I can talk myself into these guys. I feel like that's a shirt or something. I'm a little moves guy.

Yeah. Yeah. Feed me the little moves. Feed me the value moves. Value the margins. Feed me the moves that are like, you know what? Prove that I'm a good GM. Jack is always on the scout for the next Max Muncy.

That's all I care about. Wherever you can find it. That's all I care about. I literally wake up in the morning, say, are we going to find our Max Muncy today? And I will not sleep until we find our Max Muncy. It's a fact. A bit of a problem with that analogy or metaphor you just used with the, I wake up every day and then I will not sleep.

A little contradictory. Well, it's because I don't remember even sleeping. All right, let's get into it because there is a lot to get into. Also, obviously, a lot has happened since we last potted, including the freaking Nationals winning the World Series. Yeah. Not psyched. Yeah, I just resigned to the fact that they were going to win in the Dodgers series.

They just had- Felt special. Yeah, they just had to look. I will say, my buddy I was watching with last night, when it was like, it wasn't quite 6-2 yet, I think it was 4-2, he's like, so who's going to be the MVP for the Nats? And I went, A.J. Hinch. That is the worst managerial decision I have ever, one of the worst. And Buck Show all day.

One of the worst managerial decisions I've ever seen to go with Will Harris over Garrett Cole there. Or even over Osuna, if you're going to bring Osuna in early. But to go Will Harris there, and especially, you bring Cole in, bring your best guy in, and see what he can give you. See if he can be Madison Bumgarner. Like, what are you doing? It was a 2-1 game. Yeah.

I just, absolutely, I don't think A.J. Hinch is good anymore. I'm out on A.J. Hinch. Out on Hinch, wow. Was he just campaigning to get the match job? I don't know. Richard Justice did write the, he's the greatest manager of all time piece right before, so didn't age well.

Before Game 7? Yeah, no, it was before the series, I think. Why? I don't know. Why would you write that? I don't know. That doesn't even make any sense to write. You leave Garrett Cole after the game being like, I'm no longer an employee. I loved it. It was like, feed that in my veins. You had a great tweet

too, where you were like, thank you Astros for saving Garrett Cole's arm for the Phillies. I appreciate it. I thought that was a fantastic tweet. I appreciated it. But we'll get into Brian Price in a sec. Real quick, I just want to, while we're on the Nationals winning the World Series, and you tweeted this, and I just,

I know the High Hopes listeners know this because they're smart, but I feel it's our duty, your duty, my duty, the High Hopes listeners' duty to when it comes up to educate people that the Phillies were not winning the World Series this year no matter what they did. If I hear one more, well, you gotta get the wild card. Look, they won it. They were the wild card.

They were the best team in baseball from May on. They are clearly way more talented than this Phillies team was this year, including having three freaking ace level pitchers at the top of their rotation. Please stop it. If they stop it if they don't they don't was incredibly stupid we all killed mcphail and the team for what they did for their

strategy you and i both believe they should try and make the playoffs that matters but stop please stop i can't deal with it that's my so if you run into someone out there who has this take, I'm talking to you, Jody Camera. Tell them they're wrong, okay? That is my PSA for today. Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely insane. It drives me crazy, man. And, like, listen, here's what it boils down to. Is that if we don't, we don't ended up being the right strategy.

I know at the time it was stupid, and for him to say that is obviously dumb. For him to say that was, like, malpractice. It was dumb malpractice was dumb it was very dumb and i still would have signed keitel and me too i would have traded a fringe prospect for a minor upgrade but like going in on this team just would not have would not have been the smart move so it wouldn't have been fine so we said that at the time yeah and like dude like if you're objectively sitting there being like oh well their game two starter was who uh strasburg Strasburg would have been Drew Smiley or some crap like that. Like, are you kidding me? And then like

get back to Juan Soto. But it is so classic Philadelphia that we get Bryce Harper, we talk all this crap and then they win the freaking world. It is the most Philadelphia thing that could ever happen. And that is also a narrative that I'm,

we're going to hear for a long time. Oh, Ewing theory. Yep, I know. Screw you. It's so annoying. I know. Listen, you know I can't handle anything. I can't handle any takes.

I know. I know, you have a very thin skin with these. Yeah, I can't handle it. No. I have to protect my baby. I know. It's not. Bryce, Bryce, Bryce, Trust Tree, we love you.

Yeah. You are loved. You did the right thing. You did the right thing. Screw them. Also, I'm so mad at Nationals fans because this has been one of the lowest rated World Series in the last decade. And it's because no one cares. Yep.

And it's because you're a transplant town. Mm-hmm. And no one cares about your baseball team. Your team's only been in existence for 20 years or whatever it is. Yep. And it's because you're a transplant town and no one cares about your baseball team. Your team's only been in existence for 20 years or whatever it is. 2005. It's not even 20 years. Not even 20 years. Like, come on.

15 years, 14 years of existence? I mean, come on. Well, it's just annoying to me. It's so annoying. Like, you are single-handedly helping drag down the narrative around the sport. Because it was a good series. It was. It was.

It was an outstanding series and and until they pulled away in game seven it was a super intense fun game to watch it really was but it's just like man the the thing that sucked the most about the whole world series was like oh my god they're so far away like the phillies are so far. They're far away. Well, and the other part that sucked is seeing all these young stars on other teams, especially a team that's in your own division. I mean, Juan Soto, really? That guy's going to be there for the next decade or whatever?

Although he did just start drinking, so maybe he's going to put on some weight. He said he had some quote like, I'm trying to drink everything right now. I was like, Juan, Juan, relax. Juan, buddy. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, Juan Soto.

I mean, Anthony Rendon is Manny Ramirez. I mean, he's like the best right-hand hitter since Manny Ramirez. Like, potentially the best right-hand hitter since Manny Ramirez. Other than Trout, obviously. And Pujols. Yeah, and Pujols. The point is the next. I shouldn't have said that.

Like, he feels like that type of guy. That type of guy who's just a brilliant, pure hitter. Who is always going to hit for the next decade. That guy's just going to hit. He always gets the back-breaking hit. Every single time. In Clutch's game. Game 6 and 7.

He's one of three players ever to homer in Game 6 and 7 of World Series. He's just such a tank, dude. He's such a tank. I think he's that good. I think he's that good a hitter. Listen, John, spend everything you got on Cole. Cole and Rendon. And then all of a sudden they're not as far away as we just said.

If you spend all the money on those two, then you don't spend for the next couple years. Spending basically like close to a billion dollars in two off seasons. It'd be crazy. It'd be unprecedented. Yeah. It's also what they need. Exactly. Win now, right, Matt Klentak? Yeah, we're here to win now. Alright, let's get into

some of the stuff that's happened. Screw the Nats. Sign Rendon. Steal him away. Take another national away. I wonder where he's going to go. I can see them winning the World Series and being like... Yeah, by the way, it was a crime for me not to mention Pulisic, but I was really trying to say I think Rendon is the next in that line,

of just a pure, great right-handed hitter. Anyway. I don't know. I wonder if their philosophy, their philosophy as in Strasburg and Rendon, is going to be like, we won here. I love it. Let's move on.

I can't tell if it's going to be that or... I don't think they're going to come back. Oh, both of them? Strasburg I can't tell if it's going to be that or like... I don't think they're going to... I just don't think they're going to come back. Oh, both of them? Yeah. I think Rendon's going to go to Houston. I could totally see that. And then they trade Correa. Are you kidding me?

Stop. Sign Rendon. Move Bregman to shortstop. Trade Correa. Sign Zach Wheeler. And they're just winning another one. Back in it. Yeah.

Until A.J. Hinch doesn't. Well, yeah. A.J. Hinch will lose it for him. Joe Girardi over A.J. Hinch. We win that matchup. Super. All right. Let's get to some of the stuff that happened to Phillies this week.

We'll get to Price in a second. But speaking of Girardi real quick, we haven't talked since the press conference. Yeah. I want to say the best introductory press conference I can remember, but it's really the best since Bryce Harper, but those two are the best I can remember in a long time. Yeah, well, for such a bad press conference two weeks prior. It's unbelievable.

It's like the worst press conference we've seen to one of the better ones. And also, of course, coming in off of the way Gabe speaks to the media and that whole thing, Girardi was just perfect. He was so refreshing. Yeah, he knocked it out of the park. Knocked it out of the park. He just seemed like such a good, genuine dude. Genuine's a good word for it.

That was the word I used. There was a good amount of, like, say this. Well, fluff in there. Oh, for sure, the bullpen ERA. Yeah. Yeah, they definitely gave him some bullet points. Hey, Joe, could you kind of hit these for us? And he definitely went a little overboard with the Phillies, the winning franchise.

Real winning tradition. You mentioned the winning teams in the 90s. There was one, Joe. Only one. One team in the 90s that won. Only one. Yeah. But I appreciated the effort there.

Yeah. But if Gabe did it, everyone's having a meltdown that's all i'm saying but the way the way that he delivered it was good everything he felt genuine and i just i think i just think that for a common baseball fan in this town to them they feel like they got a manager a baseball guy a guy they can believe in and like i don't think you're gonna see the fans give up on a team as quickly as you saw under gabe i agree with you i agree people just gave up on those teams because no one believed in gabe gap yeah as fans and no one showed up i mean if this team's in first place next year people are gonna show up yeah and look again

it's a great point and he just he seemed real with us and that was something i said to you a lot with gabe where it was just just be real just treat us like we're actual human beings that you're talking to and not you know some automaton or something gerardi felt genuine he was impressive he felt like a manager like a leader someone who's you know can command a room command a clubhouse and like we've said before i mean he walks in with some serious cachet. That clubhouse has to look at him and say, alright, that dude won a World Series as a manager. He won three World Series as a player. He played in the bigs for 14

years. He's managed two teams. That dude has a resume. That dude has at least something that when he speaks, I should listen. And not every player's like that, whatever, but I think for the leaders of the locker room, the Harpers, the Remudos, I think Girardi's a perfect hire.

I think so, too. I just think there's this common narrative or common thought place between a lot of Phillies fans or a good amount of Phillies fans that a manager, whatever, doesn't mean that much. I just think we're going gonna learn a lot this season that managers are still important i think he's i just they're not gonna go down to miami and lose like they did this year the 19 to 11 game like i just don't think that'll happen like i i think he's going to have these guys ready to play i think they want to play for him i think they're gonna

play hard there'll be accountability accountability i just think that i i think we're going to be surprised at how much a manager is going to affect this team. I don't think Gabe held back the Phillies, but I just think that the heightened level of awareness, almost, is going to get more out of these guys. I 100% agree. It's not that Girardi is going to be that much of a better in-game manager than Gabe. He uses the numbers. He's the same thing. He does. And yes, he'll use his gut. And I think that it's important to have pushback on a front office that we don't trust the analytics and how they employ them. Oh my God. Have we done a podcast since no one talked about it, but they gave Gabe Kapler bad numbers.

I know. And then they were like, fire him. Get him out of here. And Gabe was set up to fail. I like Gabe. I'm glad Joe Girardi's here. Like, Gabe was set up to fail. I like Gabe.

I'm glad Joe Girardi's here. But, like, the BS of, oh, we're going to give this guy bad information, make him – they made him use it. Well, that's the problem is they controlled him. Like, he was not – he didn't get to make his own decisions. They controlled him, and then they gave him bad information. Farhan Zahidi's not going to do that. No, but the point is with Girardi, that's – I wanted someone here who could push back and say,

why are you guys doing this this way? You know, this is stupid. Or these numbers don't add up. Or whatever. Or hey, if you teach this this way, people will understand it better. Or whatever. Like someone who will push back and not just say, because Matt Klintak tells him, this is what you do.

Like, no, no, no. I'm Joe Girardi. I got a little clout here too. I was hired by John Middleton. We all know that. So I think that's important to have there. So I'm with you. But back to the – I forgot what I was saying prior to the numbers part there.

Back to the Brian Price podcast? Yeah, the guy we haven't talked about. We'll get there. The Joe Girardi press conference. We'll get there. Yeah. Oh, I forget. Anyway. there. The Joe Girardi press conference. We'll get there. I forget. Anyway. I had

I talked to Joe Girardi. Oh, and you had him on the afternoon show. Yeah, he came on the afternoon show. I talked to him and I said, we'll be back in 30 seconds. That's my interaction with Joe Girardi. I told him to say, hey, you should have said, hi-ho spot. He should have said, hey, you need a pitching coach. You had your chance. I did. I did.

I blew with Joe Girardi. Next time, I will be better. So anyway, back to now that I did. I did. I blew with Joe Girardi. Next time I will be better. So anyway, back to now that I remember what I was going to say about Girardi. That was a nice little filler. Thank you. The idea just that, like you said, the clubhouse leadership, I think that that's the, it's not that he's necessarily going to be that much better as an in-game manager as Kapler, but it's the other stuff. It's the managing the personalities.

It's the setting accountability. It's the getting everyone ready to play every day. All that type of stuff I think is going to be so much better with Girardi than it was with Kapler because for all of his, again, good in-game manager, but the guys just didn't listen to him the way he needed them to. Yeah, and I think it's going to help a lot from the standpoint of Bryce and Real Muto.

Both were leaders last year for really the first time. Absolutely. Certainly for the first time, at least Real Muto on a good team. Yeah, right. So now Girardi. I shouldn't say good team. On a potentially good team. They were an okay team.

Yes. Well, he's going from horribly bad to a better team, let's say. But I think that those guys needed help and I just... It's so hard to build a culture when guys are brought in from the outside because

the players there are going to be like, who are you? You've been here for a minute. That's what makes baseball different is why you rarely see teams that are building an offseason figure it out. The Yankees to an extent, but also when they brought in Burnett, Sabathia, Teixeira,

I mean, Jeter was already there. They had that there. What the Phillies tried to do this offseason was, let's bring in Real Muto, let's bring in Bryce Harper. They had a core group of guys who were always there. Rivera, Pettit, Jeter, Posada. Like, those guys were the core. Bernie Williams for a while before that, too, obviously.

Like, those were the guys who kind of kept it together. And then, obviously, Paul O'Neill and Tina Marti. They had a lot of guys who stayed for a long time. But I'm very with you. That makes a difference. You need to have a leadership. Like, again, you can't have guys just come in and be the leaders and expect everyone to just fall in love right and Hoskins is 26 Aaron Noah is very quiet the other guy before

getting hurt who was one of those type of guys as well and also coming in that offseason yep I mean that's hard to do it's really hard to do all right Brian Price man I'm excited I really I know I'm really really excited so like for for those who don't know Jack was not excited about the potential of Larry Rothschild so and that looked like there was a i i texted james i said james we might need to do an emergency podcast because they listen and we cannot let them hire larry rothschild and and i mean to the point where he got asked about larry rothschild in his opening press conference like people really thought this was gonna happen and i thought his answer was like i thought after reading his answer i was like well it made me feel better yeah really i thought it

was the opposite oh i see i thought it was like i thought it was just a fluff like yeah larry's great you know i've really worked well with him and all that but we'll see what happens i thought signs still delivered wow oh so thank god it wasn't so talk on price so well first let me just explain why i don't like larry larry rothschild so larry rothschild has been there forever, and he is a pure slider guy, and he is very rigid in his beliefs. So Sonny Gray goes there as an awesome curveball guy, can't get the most out of him because he wants him to throw a slider

and not throw his best pitch. James Paxson this year, terrible in the first half. Talks to Carlos Beltran. Beltran's like, you should throw your knuckle curve more. Figures it out, goes out, and is dominant. Luis Severino comes up in 2017, looks like the next Pedro Martinez hasn't even come close to being partially with injuries but agree to have me but he's pitch tipping the red sox know it larry roshaw didn't know it chad green also pitch

tipping goes down triple a they figure out what happened there he goes back up larry's not even close larry's not even sniffing no idea sniffing the issue so i just think he's a dinosaur on the way out and i'm very very glad he's not here now brian price just has no idea. Sniffing the issue. So I just think he's a dinosaur on the way out, and I'm very, very glad he's not here. Now, Brian Price. So when I first heard the name and I saw it coming out, I was like, I didn't want this to be a super old school coaching staff. I want a little bit of innovation. Of course. I would like to see him think outside the box.

The Yankees are going with a driveline pitching guy as their pitching coordinator. He's going to make the hire. But still, that's a really smart guy making a decision for the Yankees. That's the Yankees. I just didn't want to get caught up in the stone age of baseball. I was nervous about that. Initially, I was worried about that with Brian Price, but where I got to with Brian

is... I like that you're first name now. Of course. I like that he has managerial experience. Me too. I like that he's fiery. I like that a lot, by the way. It's 77 F-bombs. In six minutes. Impressive.

That's a lot of F-bombs. Dude, I love that intensity. I feel like this team needs some intensity sometimes. Well, I think the young pitchers need a kick in the ass. Oh, yeah. You can think of in particular? Yeah. I tweeted out today, we're back.

Are we back? Yeah. Hey! Breakout Pavetta's back on, baby. They better not get rid of him. Anyway, so he was the pitching coach for the Mariners teams back from 01 to 06. They got bad towards the end, but his first couple years, he was getting a lot out of Joel Pinheiro and Jimmy Moyer.

And then he goes to- I've owned some shares of Joel Pinheiro and Fantasy over the years. Yeah, and then he went to the Diamondbacks. And that's where he got Dan Heron, turned him into what he was. Brandon Webb obviously went on that nice little run up there. Yeah, D.D. Brandon would help me win a fantasy title with that Cy Young year, yeah. His last year, Scherzer came up.

And then obviously he goes to Cincinnati. And in his like – the last two years there – because I want to see what his, you know, when the game is kind of starting to trend towards analytics, I want to see what he was doing. And in his last two years there, I mean, they were, like, fourth in the NL and in the ERA. They had the most strikeouts in the league, the third least amount of walks in the league. So, like, he's focusing on good things, strikeouts, limiting walks. And just from what I've heard, he's a really good mechanical guy. And this team needs a mechanical guy.

They need a guy that can teach mechanics. Because, like, we'll get into Robert Stock later. But, like, his name Robert Stock? I forget. Yeah, Robert Stock. I don't know why I completely blanked on my new one. You've been talking about his emergency bot all day. I call him Bob Stock.

Yeah, big shot, Bob Stock. Because, like, Chris Young, I think, is a really smart guy, and I want to see him kept around in the organization. Not a good mechanics guy. So I just think Price is going to get a lot out of that. And just the fact that the Padres wanted him, he said no. The Diamondbacks wanted him, he said no. And he was in the run for the Red Sox job, even with Haim being there.

I think that says something. Yeah, those are smart teams, well-run teams. And I think it's interesting that guys want to come coach with Joe Girardi. And that's what you get when you get a Joe Girardi. You get a guy that people want to come coach with. You want to build a staff with. And they are really building a good staff. They're building a good staff.

Brian Price, Rob Thompson, Artie Baer. Not pitching staff. No. They're building a good staff you have brian price rob thompson already not pitching staff no they're getting there um rob thompson with joe gerardi perfect man i mean like i love having guys have a mind meld there like that's an important thing to have your bench coach and your manager be on the same page yes and and and know what like that he could check gerardi know that he can kind of push back at times and all that. He knows him well enough. That has to be that type of relationship. So I think it's huge. Yeah, and you look at the Braves staff.

I mean, the Braves have Snitaker, but they also have Ron Washington. They have a bunch of guys who have done it, who have been there. Well, I love that with Price, as I said. But I think hiring a former, a guy who's managed before that, I just think that matters, having that experience, understanding what the manager is going through on a day-to-day basis and how you tailor what you do to help with that. And communicating.

Yeah, absolutely. The pitching stuff. Totally. If he's in the manager's chair, he knew how frustrating it was when his pitching coach and him were not on the same page. Totally. So I think it's big. And then Bobby Dickerson, obviously.

So it's a really experienced, interesting staff. I think Dante Bichette's going to be the hitting coach. Breaking news there? Not breaking news, but I think he's going to be the hitting coach. Liberty type of thing? If he wants to be it. I like that name. I mean, I don't know if hitting coach.

If he brings a steroid with him. I don't know if hitting coach matters. Doesn't matter as much as. But, I mean, I'll take a guy who hit well in the majors, sure. Yeah, I mean, the most recent team he was the hitting coach for was the Rockies in 2013, and that team raked. But they also played in Colorado, so it's hard to tell. But, like, I looked through the lineup today.

They had, like, seven guys batting in the 290s or higher. That's pretty good. Which is interesting. I obviously have no idea about Don Depeche, but I think he's going to be the hitting coach. Okay, I like that. Why not? And it does look like they're putting together a great staff.

And to your points on Price, I think it's really good that smart teams wanted him. I think that matters. And the fact that he chose the Phillies, I do agree. I think that's a clear indication. And look, maybe the Phillies offered him more money. That's certainly possible. And hey, it would be really smart. Why not?

Try and get him in any way you can. But I think the biggest, if I had to guess or infer what it is, it's that he wanted to come work with Joe Girardi. That Joe Girardi asked, and he said, yeah, I'm going to go work with that guy. I mean, Lavello, you're a great dude. You know, Jace Tingler, I never heard of you, but you seem like a good guy. I'm going to go work with Joe Girardi. I think that mattered. Well, Joe Girardi has cachet.

Yeah. And I like that my manager has cachet. Me too. I love it. It's really cool. Like, it's a cool feeling uh the joe gerardi is our guy yeah we got the guy part two we got the the new joe g of philadelphia yes the only joe g only joe g now it's just joe ilio that's good yeah i enjoy that um so yeah i think we're

both very very bullish on the price higher and uh i'm excited i think that also just having someone who has after chris young who again not just not a bad not a good mechanics guy but also someone who clearly just wasn't great at relating to and explaining things to pitchers like he just clearly that you heard enough things where he had a breakdown from trying to take what he knew and and relay it to the pitcher in a way that worked, digestible, all that type of stuff. And Brian Price clearly has a long history doing that. Yeah, and this staff

really liked working under Rick Kranitz the year before. And I think they just wanted another old school-ish guy that could get through these guys. And hurl some F-bombs their way when they're not doing things right. A bunch of F-bombs. What are these guys going to think when they walk to spring training this year?

They're going to walk in and be like, last time I was told I didn't need an alarm clock. Where's the Fortnite set up? We usually have a station in each room. What's happening here? We got to do PFPs today? Are you saying we're actually playing baseball? We have to do base running drills?

What are we, 12? Listen. Yes! Give me all the fundamentals. Oh, I'm so ready. I'm so ready. I want people running laps when they make an error. I want all of it.

Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. It feels like we have baseball back. I know. And I'm excited to see what it's going to be like. It feels like Jack and it feels like we got some baseball guys. Yeah.

I like baseball guys. Me too. Well, especially because I don't think we can say the same about the front office, but at least we've got baseball guys on the field level now. Yeah, which is fine. If you want to use, obviously, the analytics and whatnot, I think they should be used in game managing. Use them to evaluate players, bring in some good players and whatnot.

Let him go from there. Sign Gary Cole. Sign Gary Cole. I don't get the Zach Wheeler thing. People are way too gung-ho on what Zach Wheeler is. Zach Wheeler is a perpetual disappointment. He had that one good year. He was talking about

4-100 for him. I was like, just don't sign Garrett Cole. Just sign Wheeler and Cole Hamels. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. No. It's not the same thing. I think it's crazy.

I'm cool if you want to bring back Cole Hamels. I actually want Cole back. I think that's a perfect kind of second-tier signing for them. Like, great. Perfectly fine. If you want to bring back Cole Hamels, it's a good whatever. But like, can't we just relax with the whole, oh, just bring in Wheeler and whatever. I didn't know that was a thing, but, yes, we can go along with it.

The only pitchers really worth investing in this offseason are Strasburg. Holden Strasburg. That's it. Yeah. That's it. First off, I just don't know what we're going to get from Zach Wheeler. And to give him $400 or $490 or whatever. Honestly, and I know he's – I'd rather give that money to Bumgarner.

And I don't think Bumgarner's like great shakes for whatever, but I could believe that Bumgarner could figure out how to adjust and become a really good pitcher into his mid-30s before I'm going to bet a bunch of money on Wheeler putting it all together. I'd rather just sign neither. Right. I agree with you. I'm just saying in either way. I'm with you. Sign Garrett Cole. in either or. I'm with you.

Sign Garrett Cole. Sign Garrett Cole. Or Strasburg. Or Strasburg. Either or. Gravy. Yeah. I'm good.

All right. Robert Sock. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm excited. First of all, tell people who he is. Okay. So Robert Sock.

I'm guessing there's a fair amount of listeners who don't know. Was claimed off waivers today by the Phillies. I love that you make it seem like Bob's stock is this big, big deal. So I just want to make sure people knew who he was. Hey, James, guess what? What? I'm buying stock. Oh, no, you didn't.

Oh, man. Unbelievable. You're not a dad. I'm a dad. Those are my type of jokes. I don't know. I only do dad jokes. So he was claimed off waivers, and their 40-man roster is pretty stacked.

So, like, it seemed like a numbers crunch, and getting him is interesting. So two years ago, he's unbelievable. He had, like, a 280 ERA and struck out a ton of guys. And I think this year in AAA he struck out 48 in 26 innings, which is just like, oh, I mean, crazy numbers. But the problem is this year the walk skyrocketed, so he was only striking out like 8.9 per nine, and then he was walking 6.8 per nine, which is terrifying.

That's a lot of walks. But here's the Robert Stock case. Is that amazing two years ago? Throws 98 to 100. Thank God. Didn't know that was allowed no are you sure Matt Glendak allowed him to be signed

as a hammer slider he was hurt last year so and I think his mechanics suffered for him so he watched Robert Stock from two years ago which I did today

and then you watch him from last year it's like a different picture like it's like he doesn't have the same ferocity sure yeah in his mechanics.

Good job by you there. Also, like, his shoulders evened out from 2018 and 2019, so he didn't have the same kind of leverage. He needs to get back to creating leverage with his upper half. And I think a guy like Brian Price will be able to figure that out. And I think they – I legit think they got a diamond in the rough. Wow. I think that and so what's his ceiling with this team i don't know like a like a seventh eighth inning guy yeah so

i'm asking like he could be a seventh eighth inning guy for you listen when you're when you throw in a hundred can he be a multiple inning guy uh i don't think so he wasn't he's pretty much been a uh one inning reliever yeah for most of his career um but if you throw 9800 you could be closer too that's why well let's not we're not there yet um but yeah so so so in 32 games last in 2018 he pitched to a 2-5 era um and he only struck out 8.6 per nine but walked under three last year struck out 12.5 per nine but walks walks 6.8 so like to me in watching his film he is a reclamation project that has a ton of stuff it was really good two years ago then experienced pitching coach like brian price should be able to get the most out of look i bullpen pitching can be so

weird yeah for year to year so i i love that idea. Go find someone who throws hard who has shown they can do it and try and fix them. I think that's an awesome, awesome under the radar move. Obviously, I don't think they're – It's awesome. It's like a – it's an interesting under the radar move. I like that those are the types of moves they're looking to make. That's smart baseball.

But, again, obviously he could also not work and that was that. But I like that those they're attempting to make those types of moves obviously they're not curing the problem but speaking of the bullpen real quick can we uh can we say a quick never want to see you again pat neshek never again i'm so happy i've never been more happy to see a team decline an option. Like, peace, bro. Don't want anything to do with you ever again. Go do your weird baseball card stuff somewhere else. Don't need you.

Thanks for nothing. Nothing. Honestly, I would have picked up the option just like I've seen Girardi's facial expression when Neshek said, yeah, I can't go today. I think Brian Price would go on another. I know. A bum rip. Yeah.

Pat, are you kidding me? Like, seriously? You just pitched three days ago. You can't come out and suck it up for an inning? Oh, God. Such a baby. I'm so happy to see him gone. I'm legit happy not to root for that guy anymore

Next is Arrieta Thank god We will throw a party We're going to have a high hopes party somewhere Some bar, you can come if you want You don't have to We're going to go have beers when Jake Arrieta is no longer affiliated It's going to be awesome

Everyone in the city is going to have more money Think about that Think about that Everyone's a little richer when Jake Arrieta is That $20 million P pissing down the drain. Wasted away. Like, just. You set it on fire.

Is that one of the, like, that's definitely one of the worst contracts in recent, and I mean, nominees. I mean, we're coming straight off the Howard contract. Yeah. Well, yeah, the Howard contract, but at least with Howard. He was Ryan Howard. Yeah, for, and here. Like, we didn't get any of the good Jake Arrieta.

We just got the crap Arrieta. We got sinker baller. We got dog crap Arrieta. We got Derek Lowe at the end. God, I hate that guy. He had one start. And I know he was good in that Boston start, but the start at home against Pittsburgh was the only time in the entire time

with the Phillies that I watched him and I was like, oh, that's Jake Arrieta. Like, that's old school Arrieta. One time, Jack. He was really good in that Boston start, too. I don't want to like. The Diamondbacks start later in that year where Gabe pulled him out of the night. The ball was just dancing and moving.

Yeah, well, he had bone spurs. What a horrendous signing. Not horrible. What has Matt Klintak done? Even at a time where... By the way, high and blue. Just kill us now. We're going to look back in a year and be like, oh, crap.

Yeah, because Klintak will be gone in a year and we're going to be like, oh, if we had done this a year ago, could I climb? Yeah, well, I mean... Yeah, well, thank God for Joe Girardi. Oh, my goodness. I would be like, and I know we talked ourselves into Dusty or Buck. Like, screw that. Like, I would have been, when it got close to Girardi, if it had somehow fallen through,

like, I legit would have been devastated that it wasn't Girardi. Like, thank God we got Girardi. Yeah. He has saved everything. I know it's so ridiculous, but my whole positivity around the Phillies is because they got Joe Girardi. It's good.

It's still a manager. I know. That's my point. It's not like changing anything. They have to go out and get players. I get it. All I can do is be happy about Girardi. You know what I mean? We're the High Hopes Podcast, Jack Yeah Talking yourself into Girardi

Nah, I'm happy with Girardi I'm bummed Kyem's not here either I'm And now he made me I was happy And now I brought you down Yeah, you really did I didn't mean to

You really did I didn't mean to He was my baby I know He was my baby I'm actually related I'm related to him There'll be another smart young GM eventually.

Maybe. Why don't they just hire Eric Neander? They should. Pay him more money. Why not? How much of the raise paying Eric Neander? Well, probably nothing. That's my point.

One year? All they do is wait one year. Although, unless they make the playoffs, they'll probably keep playing. And then they'll keep playing. Ooh, look at this. Another extension. One night in McPhail. They'll be here forever.

Joe Girardi. Honestly? Brian Price. You know what I... Robert Stock. Yeah. Brian Barber. Let's go.

Let's talk about the important things. Does McPhail and Klintzak... Don't they just remind you of the two... Dumb and Dumber? Yes, they do. No, they remind me of the freaking Game of Thrones writers. Weiss and Benioff? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes. Like deer in headlights. Yeah. Like given something so beautiful and amazing and just crushed it and crushed the souls of every fan of it. Yeah. That's a very good comp. The way we talk about McFail and Klintzak is the exact same way we talk about their suits.

It's a great comp. Well done. Weiss and Benioff, Kl tag and mcphail same thing same thing yeah good work it's a shame it's one of the better things you've done yeah it's been a while all right you got any final thoughts or anything um yeah i forget what i wrote down well that's why you wrote it down jack that's why i put it in the notes um bag note bag. Oh, big news. Ooh. Finally, finally, my password change happened here at work. So my password used to be, and this was right during the heart of the run,

it was PenVeta43. Oh. And I wasn't able to change it as September was happening, and he was pitching horribly, and it was all falling apart. So you've had to type this in. Every single day. What a F you, right in your face every day. Every single day since the White Sox series. When he was Penn Vedder.

Yeah, when you said top 10 reliever in the sport. That wasn't it, right? Never. But now that Brian Price is back, I cannot wait to see what Pavetta does. Me too. And so my password has now changed and I no longer have to type in PenVetta every day. Very happy to.

And I am semi-taking responsibility for his second half actions. Wow, you never take responsibility for anything. Well, this is what I have to do now because it's my fault that the Nationals won the World Series because it was me, while maybe drinking, down in Washington, down in Washington chanting,

we got Harper, mocking all the Nationals fans. And then now they won the World Series without him. So I just feel bad. I feel bad for Bryce. I feel bad for Pavetta. My new password may be in relation to our new manager. Oh, it better be. So sorry, Girardi, for the bad first season. No, password may be in relation to our new manager. Oh, it better be. Sorry, Girardi, for the bad first season. No, he'll be fine.

He's what's the word I'm looking for? Impervious. You can't hurt him, Jack. He's too special. He's that special? Yeah, he's impervious. Also president of his frat as a freshman. Leader of men. The leader of men. Deep down, you think Harper was happier.

I know he said he's happier than Nats fans and all that. And my initial, you know, I knew he's a family guy. He's clearly a good guy. I originally thought, oh, you know what? He seems like the kind of guy who truly would be happy for his teammates and his buddies and all that. But the more I think about it, like deep down in the cockles of his soul, there is no way he's happy about this. There's no way.

No way. He's a competitor. There's no way. It kills him. There's no way. It is killing him. Yeah, 100%. I agree.

I would love to believe, Bryce. I agree. I feel the same way. There's no freaking way. No way. No way. And I don't blame him. I know that if I were in that situation, no matter what I tell myself,

it would kill me. Oh, I'd be on Twitter just tweeting at people every day But hopefully Bryce Use it as fuel buddy Take this, take that feeling And say I'm never feeling that again Because we're going to win the World Series every year So I don't have to, how about that Or the more depressing thought

Are we going to win the World Series when Bryce Harper's contract's up? Oh no stop. The year after? The true Ewing theory? We got 12 years? No. 12 more years? That is a terrible, terrible thought. Yeah. Well the worst part would be like if Bryce was unbelievable this whole time and then the year after he leaves they win the World Series.

And then he's just sitting there like, are you guys kidding me? We have to wait 12 years to win a World Series. We have to wait 12 years to win a World Series We have to wait 12 years to make the playoffs Well this ended on a down note We were doing so good there Once there was a silly old ant How you doing

Yeah it was good Alright well Joe Girardi Joe Girardi Well and now free agency starts soon right Derek Cole, Anthony Rendon, Joe Girardi. Joe Girardi. Well, and now free agency starts soon, right? Garrett Cole, Anthony Rendon, Joe Girardi. I can't wait for the free agency. I'm all back in. I know.

Every single day just scrolling through Twitter. I'm so excited for it, but I'm also so not excited for it to wait until February for people to sign again. Wait until Nightingale drops the Garrett Cole. Garrett Cole is a 100% possibility to go to the Phillies. And then three months later, Garrett Cole could go anywhere. I don't know. The Phillies aren't the leader anymore. And then John Heyman.

He signs with the Phillies! Alright, here's my final thought. And I'm going to leave us with this. A ray of hope. A thought of positivity. We talk about Middleton. And the fact that we do believe he truly does want to win. And that he will spend money. But so does Dan Snyder and so does Arnie Moreno. I know.

I do think that there is, and we've talked about it, but I think the single best thing that John Middleton has done was become friends with Scott Boris. Yes. That could have real true repercussions for this team that really could make a real.

That's the most powerful man in baseball potentially. Good job. Buddy up. Get us some guys. Welcome to Boris Adelphia. I'm so in. I am so down to be a minion of the Scott Boris Corporation. Yeah.

Boris Adelphia and Garrett Cole wearing the hat. That was awesome. That was baller right there. That's awesome. Thank you, money, Garrett. I didn't expect it and Garrett Cole wearing the hat. That was awesome. That was baller right there. That's awesome. Thank you for money, Garrett. I didn't expect it from Garrett Cole. Me either. But would he have done it if they pitched him in that game?

I don't know. Maybe he was so mad. He didn't have – like, I would be. Like, he was ready to pitch. He's a competitor. Like, he had a chance to win the World Series. I'd be pissed too. Yeah.

I would have just taken the ball. Shout out to – you would have. Yeah. Shout out to future. You would have. Yeah. Shout out to future Philly Garrett Cole. Yeah. And welcome to Boris Adelphia. He's friends himself. We'll talk to you next week.

All-star closer, Kenley Jansen. We have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my podcast. It's my passion.

It's a cause I started more than two years ago. It is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is. Another fact. So jump aboard the B.I.B. 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.