High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Chapter 1: It's So Stupid To Blame Rob Thomson

Episode Date: July 31, 2023

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz discuss the Phillies' recent struggles and who they think is to blame. 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 one thing that I just got to bring up, and I feel like we have a pretty good pulse of the fan base, and I can't tell if it's an overreaction to, like, I don't know, like maybe what happened last year and maybe where the current.

Like, I just, I can't do the Rob Thompson. I can't believe it, dude. So we had people say fire him on the morning show this morning. I was like, what? It is. What? It is. And I'm trying not to, like, talk down to people.

But it is so stupid to think that. Like, it's like like what are we talking about here the guy has is winning at what a 625 winning percentage plus you know like for his for two seasons as the manager he's in game six of the world series and yes this team like i like their record given what's transpired this year, is sort of a miracle. Dude, the top five, again, we do this every time, but the top five guys in the lineup make over $20 million a year each, and they're all sub-800 OPSs.

Like, that seems impossible. And, again, that's not Rob Thompson, I promise. And my other thing is, like, let's, can we just, I just want to look at this whole thing holistically for a second. The top five guys have had their worst years of their career. Bryce is fine, but he's also not hitting for power right now. He lost Reese Hoskins. They've lost 30-plus home runs.

Turns out that was important. Turns out it's a big deal. And now I've got to go overpay for some kind of right-handed pop that might not be that good at the trade deadline. His ace has been pretty good in hopefully turning the corner, but not the ace that we've seen. Wheeler shows a 3-7-4 ERA. That doesn't tell the whole story, but it's a ZRA.

Aaron Nola's ERA is in the four. 4-4-3, Jack. Nice. It's almost four and a half Aaron Nola's ERA. Great. It's awesome. His third starter had a really good month of June and has been hit or miss since. Tywon Walker's fine.

Fine. He's fine. Nice. Sanchez is a revelation, but before Chris Sanchez, it was a bullpen game or Bailey Falter. We remember the numbers. What was it? Like 2-12 in the game started by the fifth starter at a certain point or whatever it was? It was bad.

If Kimbrel didn't emerge, the bullpen would be... Because Seranthi's missed a ton of time. Alvarado's missed a ton of time. Strom's been down. Like, the bullpen being as good as it is. Well, I mean, like, outside of Kimbrel, I mean, we've talked about it a bunch, but, like, guys like Hoffman and Marte have been the most important Phillies. Like, they've pitched the most high-leverage innings this season of those guys.

You know, it's like because they've had to. And I like those two. But, like, tomorrow they need to get it. They need another guy, yeah. Those guys are, I think you're making a mistake banking on them for high leverage spots at this point. Well, especially because, A, like, they're all going to be at innings limits. Like, they're all going to be way past what they normally pitch

because none of these guys have had major league careers so far. They're all pitching major league high leverage innings for the first times in their careers between Hoffman and Marte for long stretches of time. So, I mean, and then play out baseball. You know what I mean? It's not that those guys can't do it. I just think that to bank on it would be a mistake. Yeah, exactly.

You shouldn't have to count on them to do it. Right. So that's where I'm at. Like, I think they've been great. And Hoffman over the weekend, just some big, big, big spots. Yeah. Whereas, like, and Hoffman over the weekend just some big big big spots yeah whereas like Jeff Hoffman I know

is not great spots but either way like they've been good but like I just think that you need to find upgrades for those spots

so you have you have your two best bullpen options been on the IL on off on off all year starters and Sir Anthony obviously does not look good since coming back it doesn't look like the same Sir Anthony options, been on the IL, on-off, on-off all year. Starters. And

Sir Anthony obviously does not look good. It doesn't look like the same Sir Anthony. The $300 million shortstop has been replacement level mostly. One of the worst players on the team. Cassiano Swall great in the first half is back to unfortunately, and I hope he can just turn it around and figure it out again, but

it was just, over the weekend was just like, there's so many times he came up with the base. It felt exactly like last year. It's unbelievable. It felt like we're right back where we are. It looked like this flailing at the outside, but it was like the exact guy. I agree. And the fact that I can't do the, this is Rob Thompson,

this is why he's a bench coach. It's like, can we just take a deep breath? And, I mean, frankly, the bullpen being the best in baseball is part of Rob Thompson's, you know, how he uses those guys. Like, that's a part of it. Like, what do you think a manager really does? I mean, the defensive stuff over the weekend was annoying. I guess he's going to have them do more stuff on the field, whatever.

These guys are, like, I just can't take, like, these guys are not doing their thing. It's the players not stepping up and the star players mostly. Like, I just, to throw that all on Thompson, I just think is freaking insane. And I'm not trying to sound preachy. Like, if you want to fire Rob Thompson, go ahead. I just think it's insane. I think it's unfair, honestly, to put it on Thompson.

And look, Rob Thompson had a horrible weekend. Like, on top of all that we're talking about, he had a bad weekend. Like, look, I get why he pulled Sanchez. I'm not as mad as he was. He was never going to throw a no-hitter. He was never going to throw a complete game on set. But I thought it was the wrong moment to pull him.

I would have given him another inning there. Well, he was sick. He was sick, but it didn't look like he was that sick on the hill. Look, I thought Thompson had a bad weekend. I thought the start, taking side of the lineup on Sunday was a mistake. I feel like the general lineup itself of almost like, eh, you know, let's see if we win this game or not is a mistake. But to your point, I mean, if you're looking anywhere past the first five guys

in the lineup in Aaron Nola and you're giving Rob Thompson more blame than those guys, that is crazy. There's still seven games above.500. I know. It's not like Rob Thompson has done a horrendous job. Again, also with the one-in-five start. Well, they're also six games. Really, since June 1st.

They're one of the best teams in baseball. They have the second best record in baseball since June 1st. All right, what are we doing here? I know. What are we doing here? That's why I can't take it. It's like everything in my mention is like, well, they have the wrong manager. Like, what are you talking about?

Like, seriously. I was close. You almost cursed. Because it's just like, what are you talking about? It's just, oh, it worked last year. Okay, so Dusty. So every year we're going to fire the manager? Dusty Wathen's the manager?

Someone tweeted me that the other day. It's like, this is why he's a bench coach. They should bring in Dusty. It's like, well, Dusty's a bench coach. What are you talking about? Dusty's like, are you serious? What has Dusty shown you? I just relaxed.

I mean, there are seven games over.500. They've dug themselves out of it. See if they do the trade deadline. But this is on the players. And it's on them. And I thought, so the difference between this year and last year with Girardi is that the players didn't like Joe Girardi. And they very clearly and they gave up on him.

These players like Rob Thompson. And again, there's some games above 500. Like they're just playing some dumb baseball, making mistakes. And again, like they're freaking guys making 20 million dollars a year. Like if and look, all right, I'll take Harper out of it. The power sucks. But like the dude came back early. He's playing first base.

Great. Well, besides Saturday. Yeah. Besides Saturday dude came back early. He's playing first base. Great. Well, besides Saturday. Yeah, besides Saturday, but still, he's played solid first base. He's done a nice job. Harper, I'm taking off the table. It is what it is. It's a year coming back from Tommy John. Schwarber has not been great, but Schwarber's kind of been what we expected.

The walks have been great. The power's there. Nine walks over the weekend. Dude, I mean, he's got 75 walks or something. He's been good. He's fine. The other three, and then Castellanos, he can't kill him too much. But Trey Turner and JT, if you look, and it's really all five.

Those guys not in for power and not putting up big numbers are what's hurting this team the most. But JT, I mean, Trey Turner, we're crushing him, and rightfully so. And that is the biggest reason. If you have to say, if you have to put one person at the very top of this pyramid of disappointment, again, seven games above 500, disappointment that the Philly season is, it's Trey Turner by himself at the top. But like, man, JT Bermuda has been horrible.

Another like that double play to end the game. Oh, come on. You saw that coming though, didn't you? Of course I did. Of course I did. But he's been horrible. And we have barely talked about it at all. Like, he's been a disaster, JT.

Yeah. Well. Yeah. Sure. I know. I know. Yeah. Like, he's been a disaster, JT. Yeah, well. Yeah, sure. I know. Like, I know. Yeah. Hey, fantasy football owners.

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Follow and listen to Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Again? I don't know. You want to play stubby more? No. I mean, I've been down that. Maybe I'll say it because last time I said that, it worked out well.

Play stubs more. Play stubs more. Let's get some butt hits out of it. Dude, great punter. Again, it's just, they're still, I think, honestly, first of all, I'm glad we didn't record last night because it would have been a different podcast. Oh, yeah, bro. Oh, yeah. But I just, there is a part of me that has,

I think there's a couple things give me hope, okay? The one thing giving me hope is actually losing that series in Pittsburgh because I think they needed it. And I think they needed a wake-up call, and I think they need to know that during this month of August, when you have 19 home games, you can't just roll out of bed and go play and expect to win. This is still Major League Baseball. Bryce said that after the game.

I think that's important. Zach Wheeler, I think, is back. I think they got their ace back and he looks like he's pitching at a high level. And the fact, again, the fact that they're in a good spot and they haven't even, I don't even think they've sniffed their ceiling this year. Not even close.

Not even close. Their floor is a very high floor that if, again, if they can just do it, like just lock in for a month, James, they should end August coasting. We should be like

set for the playoffs. They should be the first wild card and they should be up three or four games. That's what they should do in August. And I don't know what the magic elixir is to tell these stars to calm the frick down and just play baseball. Because, again, they all look tight at the same time. The young players aren't tight.

Most of us, well, the one starter is very tight. The bullpen's not tight. It's the five guys. They are tight. Most of us, well, the one starter is very tight. The bullpen's not tight. It's the five guys. They are tight. I thought Schwarber was a positive weekend. I do too. I thought he had a really good weekend. Again, he was thinking. Won the game for him on Friday and then just taking good

at bats, getting walks, getting on base. And maybe, maybe it's just putting the young kids at the top and seeing what happens. And just letting, like,, all right, go be carefree at the top. Again, the fact that Castellanos was in the two spot over Boehm is insanity. It's crazy. Like, you have to look at what that guy's doing right now, and we have to use our eyes a little bit.

Just he can't be there. He cannot be there. You want to put him back at four? I'll take it. I'll take it, yeah. Over two. Or go Stott, Baum, Harper, Schwarber? No, that's too many lefties. But something like that.

Whatever it takes. Baum needs to be in that two spot right now. If he's not going to be hitting for power, home run yesterday was great. It was great. But it was opposite, you know, like right center. Yeah, but I guess if he's – He smoked it. Oh, the ball was –

Yeah, he smoked it. If he can be the right center field power guy and then pull whatever. Yeah, it's fine. Just a little bit of power. Yeah. But still, I mean, he doesn't really strike out. He puts the bat on the baseball. Like, just put two.

And just see what happens. But tonight, Castellanos cannot be there. Like, just straight up cannot be there. I'm with you, dude. That was a... Horrific. Horrific. It was horrific.

Honestly, it was worse than Stott. It was worse than Stott not being in the lineup yesterday. It was Castellanos continuing to bat two. He can't do it. He cannot do it right now. So put freaking Boehm there and just see what happens. I promise you. I promise.

It's going to work fine. Or if it doesn't, if it doesn't, if it doesn't, then just bat nine, eight players. Yeah, just leave two open. No one can bat two. I like that. Just take it out. It's a death spot for this lineup. What used to be the leadoff spot, which I guess some people still think is the leadoff spot,

is now the two spot. Because God forbid, right? God forbid we could just have a freaking season where we don't have to have the worst at everything. We've done this bit a million times. It's the bit of the Phillies is they have to be the worst at something. It's just what we do. And this year it's the two spot in the lineup. Thank you, Trey Turner.

It's been great. Oh, my God. Four-game series in Miami, the 19 of the next 23 at home. I mean, that's like, like against bad teams or at least at the best mediocre teams. Well, and like we said last podcast,

a lot of teams trading.