High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Chapter 1: We're not panicking yet

Episode Date: April 3, 2023

Jack Fritz and James Seltzer sit down to discuss the Phillies terrible open to the regular season, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers. 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

I'm not hitting the panic button, but I'm definitely a bit concerned. Uh-oh, wow! I was not expecting that. Wow! Well, because I, like, did we watch them this weekend, right? Yeah, we did. And it really started on opening day when I saw the lineup, and I was like, hold on. Like, we went from our lineup is the deepest in baseball.

We're going to have a loaded hitter hitting eight. Like, all we need is like marsh and and stod and and boom like to take minor steps forward and this is a nasty lineup and now it's like hold on i got jake cave who mr spring training and then listen hopefully he he's fine i mean i'm sure i'm sure he's nervous that like i had an unbelievable spring and now i gotta now i'm putting that kind of pressure on my shoulders when the season starts. I'm sure there's pressure there. And then I look at the lineup last night. Josh Harrison batting sixth?

You didn't like that? Josh Harrison. You don't think Josh Harrison should be batting sixth in a lineup in Major League Baseball today? No. So my problem is, and my concern really is, is that we went from having legitimate depth at a bunch of different places, whether it was a starting rotation.

Like, Bailey Falter was our sixth starter. Now he's our fourth starter. You had all these guys in the line. Edmundo Sosa can come off the bench. Josh Harrison can come off the bench. Derek Hall can come off the bench. Derek Hall can come off the bench in a pinch. And now we're relying on those guys to carry them until until Bryce gets back because I look at the lineup

and I'm like they're miss they're just missing a big bat like they are missing a big bat and that big bat is Bryce Harper and the thing that would have helped them get to Bryce Harper coming back obviously would be 30 home runs from Reese Hoskins like it so it's it's it's like all that's kind of culminating of like oh my god did we make a big miss here in our evaluations and it just looked like a team that was a a hitter short all weekend long you know it was like a big spots coming up the wrong guys usually oh pashy's coming up like it's the first weekend of the year like the guy is obviously a project he obviously doesn't work with he's been here for two days. Yeah.

And we're playing him on Sunday night on national TV. Like, I get it's a lefty, but hold on. You told Brandon Marshall all year, like, you got to – you're our guy. You're our guy. You're our guy. We're pulling him for – You got to hit off a lefty in the opener against reliever. Like, it's just – it was mind – you get it off day Friday.

It's not like you're tired. So it was a disheartening weekend. I'm not hitting the panic button, but there was a part of me that was looking at the lineup and I was like, this isn't what I kind of envisioned. And the part that stinks about it

is that now it's like, well, JT has to be unreal and Castellanos has to be back to Castellanos. All these things were like, we have the big pieces around them to where we don't need to rely on them to kind of carry the offense, and that's not where they are right now. These guys all have to kind of play out of body in a way, and it's just like, it's a tad scary.

It's a tad scary. See, I'm not there yet. I get it. And I did feel that with the lineup, certainly. You know, I was like, oh, you know, this isn't quite what I was expecting coming in. And the Reese injury, I think from that perspective, we didn't feel that just looking at the lineup

and how the lineup played out. But look, it's three games in Texas. For some reason, the Texas Rangers might as well be the 27 Yankees when they're facing the Phillies. 12 straight. What the hell is that? A decade almost. I hate the NFC East thing where it's like we haven't had a division winner

back to back years since 2004. It drives me crazy, yeah. I think this is worse. The fact that they just can't beat them. They are the greatest baseball team ever created against the Phillies. It's absurd. So, yeah, there's something weird about Texas Rangers. Also, there's been this thing where people just think the Rangers are a bad team.

Yeah, well, they were bad last year. They were bad last year. But at the same time, they spent money. They're trying to win at least. They got some dudes. I mean, the top four, their lineup's really good. Like, that's legit with those four guys. Yeah.

All those guys can hit. Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, Seager had a record for home runs last year by a left-handed shortstop. And Semyon's a beast. He's bad. I mean, Nathaniel Lowe can hit. Yeah. Odolz Garcia's a stud all of a sudden.

Yeah, he finds out striking out all the time. And then, like, they do have DeGrom, Valdi, Martin Perezin perez like it's not like i think there's this notion that everyone looked at last year and they're like oh my god like the range or pushover and it's like well that's not well they're over under was 81 and a half like yeah vegas knew that they were about 500 yeah but that's the right number for them but yeah look i i get it and it was frustrating but look casty look good i mean you look for things that that you take some positives from the weekend. Castellanos looked strong at the plate. Got some walks.

Got some hits. And, again, look, honestly, it's so funny because I didn't come out of it being concerned about the lineup. I feel like they'll hit. I mean, Schwarber did nothing. Turner didn't do that much. Like, they'll get there. My biggest worry was wearing tear and tired Aaron Nola coming out of the weekend and seeing how Nola pitched and the pitch clock and how it affected him. So there are things that you look at,

and I think the depth of the pitching staff is something we talked about coming into the season. That was a concern coming into the season. And to your point, having to start, and I know he's the four, but starting Bailey Fulter in game three, who was the best starter of the weekend by the Phillies, no less. Like we thought. Like we thought. Like we thought.

The stopper, he's back. Didn't score enough runs to be a stopper. He did his job. He did his job. But I think with the Wheeler-Nola thing, I worry about how deep they went in the last year and whether they're going to need blows throughout the season and if they're a little worn down and all that. So that's a general concern to me, but I can't get too worked up over three games.

I can't get there. I get your point because the lineup, I did feel that when I looked at the lineup. I was like, hold on. Wait a minute. They're supposed to have the best lineup. I mean, okay. All right.

So I do think that matters. And look, Harper, I mean, if you want real silver lining from the weekend, it's what Topper said about him last night, the vibe around Harper coming back and all that. I think that's really good. That's exciting. But they can't not hit until Harper comes back.

Right. That's for sure. Right. Well, and I guess my thing with Nola and Wheeler and really just a majority of the pitching staff is that none of them looked ready to go. Yeah. Like, none of them looked ready to go.

And I'm already over the complaining about the pitch clock. Like, you had all spring training to figure it out. Oh, I know. That was the one part of the norm of Bryce. It's like, oh, get our game back. It's like, bro, it ain't changing. This ain't changing, pal. Like, get used to it. Get on board, buddy.

Well, and it's like, they do have to get on board with it because it's not going anywhere, but it's just it sounds so excuse-making. Yeah, it does. And it's like, there's been plenty of pitchers that have been able to adjust to it. Everyone else is doing the exact same thing you are. You're not, no one's targeting the Phillies

and saying, you guys are the problem. Even though I think Wheeler and Nola were in the top ten of slowest bases last year. Yeah, I feel like Nola, especially with the runners on base thing. It was just legitimately awful. I'm a big, my new phrase is, no excuses, just explanations. And it does feel like it could be an explanation for some of what we saw. But I'm with you. It's a loser mentality. Well, it's just like, we go we got to figure it out you know and you had all spring training so um but but the command was off uh especially

with wheeler like there was a point he was throwing like 92 you know and yeah yeah quickly it was like the third inning it started dropping yeah and what what the the part where it's like i'm not gonna really blame like the coaches or what i'm like these guys have been around for a while you know wheeler and noel have been around for a while they should know their bodies well enough to where it's like i know what i need i know what it needs to take to get my body ready to go for for opening day um but there's a lot of that like there's it just everything looked like everything looked like they're just kind of hanging around until june you know what i mean yeah it sounds familiar like it just looked like it was it wasn't a total sense of urgency

and i felt like none of it it didn't feel that way because when they went up five nothing it was like in the in on opening day oh It was like, oh, oh, oh. It's like, this is who we are now. Here we go. And they're like flying around the bases. Like triple after triple. And yeah. Yeah.

And you see Wheeler and Nola struggle the way they do. You see Sir Anthony, who really, I mean, one of the more under-talked things about spring training was like, he just didn't look good. And he got lit up on Saturday. Yeah, he looked horrible. And a lot of these— Now, a low-leverage spot, closer-type guys in those seven of three games, we've seen that many, many, many times where a guy comes in in that spot

and just gets hit up because he needs that pressure or whatever it is. But certain things pitch enough different spots. You wouldn't think that would be the case. No. You know, Soto was terrible on Thursday, but last night he was like, oh, good. He looks awesome. He's nasty. That was sick, dude. There he is. So, yeah, I mean,

overall, obviously, it's more of like an annoying weekend more than anything. And again, if this happens in July, no one cares. Like, it's just like ah whatever they had a bad series they can't beat the rangers ha ha ha like no one's doing the ha no there's no ha ha's but now it's like well this is you know this is when everyone's kind of paying attention everyone's watching and it feels like in a way i feel bad for enola because like whenever

anyone's always watching it's like here comes the meltdown in the in the fifth inning um but at the same time you know you look at how how they're kind of constructed and you start thinking about like you know what they did when when harper went out last year they went they went 32 and 20 but there was this like a bit of uh there was a bit of uh we gotta you know we gotta let we can't let this whole thing fall apart. And there was a part of me in watching the games over the weekend that was like, man, maybe they really do miss having Reese around. And they miss having their leader who can kind of say something when it needs to be said.

And just kind of having that cog in the locker room, in the lineup to kind of be like, in the locker room in the lineup to kind of be like, okay, we got this. Calm down. Figure it out. And maybe they're just in a bit of a downer mood. I mean, look, they call him captain, and they lost him for the season. I mean, that was a tough injury at the end of spring training.

You're pretty much all getting ready to come north, and then that happens. It is potluck. I think your point, losing Reese from a chemistry motivation perspective, but also just to your point, like the kind of shock of it happening when it did could have deflated some of their sales, so to speak, or the win from their sales.