High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Chapter 1: Is Michael Lorenzen In The Phillies Playoff Rotation?

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz discuss the Phillies' playoff rotation compared to the other National League contenders. Presented by Miller Lite. 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

All-star closer, Kenley Jansen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball Isn't Boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact, so jump aboard the 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. The fact that Michael Lorenzen threw a no-hitter, and no shot, he's in my playoff rotation now. Well, yeah, zero. Honestly, I would start transitioning to bullpen soon.

I think one more start maybe, maybe one or two, and then get him there. You want the last few weeks of the season, you want him pitching on the pen. And you I think it's, I think one. One more start maybe. Maybe one or two. And then get him there. You want the last few weeks of the season. You want him pitching on the pen. And you want to know what you have, obviously. Know what you have. Exactly. Yeah.

And Rangers back now. So it's not like they need the starter. So let's do the playoff rotation thing. Because I think it's pretty, it feels pretty standard right now. Right? I mean, Wheeler's the one. There you go. It feels like we know Wheeler's the one. That's it.

That's it. That's where we are. I think it's going to be. It's going to be Nola. It's going to be Nola, too. It's going to be Ranger, Taiwan, three, and the other one, four. Like, that's what's likely going to be the playoff rotation. I mean, look, I still, as far, like, of those three, like, Wheeler, go.

Like, just carry us, buddy. But of those other three, I still trust Ranger the most, without a doubt. I hope that Tyrone Walker enjoys the Kyle Gibson role from last year. And it's just, it's funny. He's probably going to win, he could win, like, 17, 18 games. He's going to win, like, 18, yeah, I mean, he's 15 and 5. It's just, like, I games. He's going to win like 18. Yeah, I mean, he's 15 and 5. It's just like, I know what that's going to look like in the postseason.

I just, I, he's, the first couple innings are just brutal. It's a disaster. Like, it's just, it's, it is. Like, I don't, I don't get it. Like, can't you be like, all right, Taiwan, like, the game starts at 6-10 instead of 6-40. Go throw in the bullpen like you would pitch in a game. Like, I don't understand how he can just come out and every single time, like, how is he not ready?

Like, I don't get it. And if it's the NLDS and you're facing the Braves, you're facing the Dodgers. Oh, my God. Those guys will jump all over him. The Dodgers, oh, my God. Like, Muncy and Freeman, all these guys are just going to rush him. Now, I guess the counter is if he's won 18 games with like a 4-5 ERA.

They win games when he's there, right? But I guess you got to get the offense. Maybe the offense shows up more when Taiwan's out there. I don't know. He's just – I don't enjoy watching him pitch. That's a really good way to put it. That's how I feel. Yeah.

I just not. But to your point, like, I don't know what it is. Like, the Phillies score for the dude. The Phillies just hit when Taiwan's on the hill. Yeah. Like, oh, we got to pick this guy up today. It's always, well, we're going to have to score today. We got to score today.

Like, he's in the bullpen. They're in the dugout. Like, all right. We know what we got to do today. We got to get to it, man. We're going to be in the hole today, boys. Come back win today. He's in the bullpen there in the dugout like alright, we know what we gotta do today. We gotta get to it, man. We're gonna be in a hole today, boys. Come back win today. Exactly right. We're gonna be down by four

and then we're gonna come back and Taiwan's gonna tweet after the game like thanks for picking me up. It's like tons. Which, you know, not to make a lie I do appreciate that. I think that is really nice that he does that. Don't you? I mean, come on. I think it's nice.

It's nice. Because they're picking him up. Of course. Let's be honest. He needs to thank some people. He does. He does. So, yeah.

What a playoff rotation that is. We got our guy. Wheels. And by the way, they better win game one. Oh, my God. Like, we had a caller call up today. And it's one of those things where you're like, come on. But it's also like, maybe, like, he's like, can we get a Bumgarner-type postseason

from Wheeler where he's starting three games or starting two and coming in for five innings of relief? I mean, I'd trust him in that situation more than anyone. Like, let's go. Can they just? For the final month of the year, and I'm not saying it's got to be NOLA, it's got to be Ranger, but can one of you just go on a run? I will provide some optimism in this specific area.

Great. Awesome. In that we get very myopic and focused on the Phillies because we watch them every day. Big word. Myopic, yes. Do you know what myopic means? No. It means that you're focusing Focusing on something little

Like you focus on one little thing Instead of the big picture And I always use holistic Huh I'm using at the Looking down Okay Upon the

Yeah Okay That's sure You're a myopic guy That's me I'm a holistic guy They're not exactly Antonyms or whatever it be

But They're close enough Sure I thought I don't think antonym's the right word Isn't it antonymms or whatever it be. They're close enough. Sure. I don't think antonym's the right word. Isn't it antonym? Synonym? Synonym. No, buddy.

Synonym means the same. Right. Antonym means opposite, which is what we were. Do you want to go here? Is this what we're doing? Antonyn Skywalker. Here's my optimism. That we focus so much on the Phillies.

That was really good. That was really good. Thank you. Focus so much on the Phillies. That was really good. That was really good. Thank you. Focus so much on the Phillies. We watch the Phillies every night. We don't watch the Braves every night. We don't watch the Dodgers every night. It's not like these teams have great starting pitching. In fact, the Dodgers just lost their best starting pitcher,

and he's very unlikely to be back this season, I would guess. I would hope so, yeah. Yeah, nor should he. I mean, he seems like a scumbag. No, I feel like I do have to watch the Cubs every night now. Yeah, I know. It's impending. Well, the Cubs actually, but like,

you think of guys like Jordan Wicks just going out and like, Assad, like this guy Assad, like Javier Assad or whatever. It's like, who is he? He's awesome. I'm glad that Sia Suzuki is great. That makes me happy. Yeah, I mean, and Haps crushing. Yeah.

Our boy. I wish Morel was a Phil. I know. There's one player in baseball I want to be a Phil. It's Morrell. Is David Ross a good manager, I guess? It seems like he is. I'm just saying.

I don't know why they're so good. That's what I'm saying. But the point being that I do think that the Phillies aren't the only one heading into the playoffs without enough starting pitching is what I'm trying to say. Hey, fantasy football owners. The road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's been a problem the whole sport. Yeah, and they can hit. So, you know what? Like, yeah, the Braves can hit. The Dodgers can hit. But so can the Phillies.

Like, over the last month, the Phillies have been better. Yeah, and that's the big part. That's the big, you know, takeaway from, you know, they lose the game Tuesdayuesday and the fact they just bounced back normally and scored five runs it was like it was like thank goodness because then it could be like all right well the the shutout was obviously a blip in the radar because i mean run production wise they've been very good and i'm great and great and they had the again best offense in baseball since august 1st um most home runs by a wide margin since august 1st yep um so yeah it's it's it was nice that they just normally

bounced back and got right back to being able to hit the baseball hit some home runs because they had what a seven game multi-home run streak heading into it yeah and they obviously shut out snap that they went right back to having multi-home runs. So that was exciting. So I'm happy with that. Yeah. And again, it's huge. And look, I mean, end of August, September, Schwarber, whatever you want to call it. I mean, he is freaking locked in right now.

He might get 50 home runs this year. He's going to hit more home runs than he did last year. I don't think anyone thought that was coming early in the season. The OPS is well over eight now. I mean, the average, again, I keep saying it. Look out, Mario. We're coming close, buddy. I know.

That window's a line. It's going to get crossed, I think. He had a single last night with a throw. Oh, man. I do want him to stop hitting singles. I want him to end the year. When he hit that, because the homer first, and then he had the single last night, I was like, damn.

I actually, because the way it, it almost looked like it was going to bounce over Tatis' head the way he played it. Like, he kind of, like, jumped weird. And I was like, go over his head! Give it a double! Like, I'm so with you. It's just fun. Like, again, like, Ron Acuna can have his little 30-60 year. Yeah, no big deal.

Which is probably going to be like a 35-70 year, but no big deal. No big deal. Schubert ending the year with more homeruns than singles is... Here's what I'll say. It's what I mean. Like, i think we've all like i know that high hopes we were out in front of this but i i think we've all kind of ended the lead off thing like it's over like they win baseball games when this guy's the lead off hitter but honestly and you know like i always sports supposed to be fun i know and all that and i always say it but it's true like kyle schwerber's fun to have on your team like Except when he's playing defense.

This dude is fun. He's fun to watch. It's fun to know that every time that dude comes up to the plate, there's a pretty decent chance he's going to hit one of the furthest home runs you've ever seen. It's awesome. It's not very often he hits cheapies. Yeah, exactly.

The only time it's a cheapie is when it goes off the end of the bat and just kind of makes its way out because it's like, of course that guy can hit it out of the end of the bat. I mean, 466 yesterday. He's just fun to watch, man. He's fun to root for as a person and a player. We know the clubhouse stuff that we've talked about so much, that Dabrowski talked about on that.

But he just seems like, to your point, you've said this so many times, he seems like a good dude. Like, he's fun to root for. He's fun to watch play. And plus, I mean, there has to there has to be every kid in the Delaware Valley playing wiffle ball, emulating their Schwarber swing. It is a tight, compact swing.

It's a great swing. Schwarbombs. My daughter, Zoe, loves saying Schwarbombs. We're always like, Zoe, Schwarber's up and you go, Schwarbomb! Schwarbomb! It's quite adorable. And the fun thing is, he hits them a lot of the time. It's like, it's a Schwarbomb! It's Schwarbaum! Schwarbaum! It's quite adorable. Good. And the fun thing is, he hits them a lot of times.

It's like, it's a Schwarbaum! Jake Schwarbaum! It's great. Great. Yeah, he's good. He's good. He's a good player. He's a really good player.

He's good. Happy he's on the team. Take a batting average. I'm really happy he's on the team. If you just X'd it out and just said... Every other number is fine. And don't ever play defense. Don't ever play defense.

And strikeouts are not great. Strikeouts are what they are. Find me the guy who has 41 home runs who doesn't strike out a lot. And I love the whole, well, it doesn't move runners a lot. It's like, I love, there's not, listen. We are small ball guys. Are you kidding me? We love moving runners.

I love fundamental baseball. We're the guys who win the freaking extra runner thing. We're like, why does every team not bunt automatically every freaking time? What are we doing here? We're all about it. I'm a big manufacturer run guy. Yeah. That's a sign of winning baseball.

You're damn right. But like, relax. I know. Also, I believe he's above major league average in getting runners over third with less than two outs. It's not surprising. He's hit ball in the air. He's pretty good at that. Very good at that.

Yeah. So, um, he's a good player. It's a good player. I agree. And he's fun. I think he's fun to have on your team.

Yeah. Okay. Um, cause he can be infuriating. I get that, but I think it's way more fun than infuriating.