High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Chapter 2: Is 2023 A Lost Season For Trea Turner?

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz discuss Trea Turner's struggles and where he should hit in the lineup once the Phillies start their next series in Pittsburgh. 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. We got to talk Trey Turner real quick because, like, this felt like the week, you know, we've kind of been waiting all season for it to turn in terms of, like, and it's been slowly getting there and stuff like that,

but to the point where it's like, all right, like now we're talking about expunging the guy. I know Joe Giglio was talking about early in the season, but now other people are saying, if I could get rid of the contract, I would. People are like, trade him. People are like, we finally got boot. He finally got benched as he needed to.

He got kicked out of that game, clearly frustrated. It feels like we've kind of reached that moment right now where it's like, all right, either this is the moment where Trey Turner iser is going to get better i mean he's not going to be trade at least in my opinion he's not gonna be like trey turner this year but he's gonna get better or it's a nick cassiano season trey turner like if i had to bet i would bet on this being a lost season for trey turner like i i expect nothing from trey turner like whatever I get will be a bonus. But it feels like we're in a moment where it's either going to turn or it's not. Yeah, totally. And especially because, obviously, I think they drowned it out a little bit of the booze on the broadcast the other night.

I believe they did. I'm sure. I heard from people in the ballpark that it was not great. It shouldn't have been. I would have booed him in that. I mean, I would sure. I heard from people in the ballpark that it was not great. It shouldn't have been. Like, I would have booed him in that. I mean, I would have. I would have booed. Like, this is what it is.

There's Bulldog Seltz holding everyone accountable. Right, buddy. Accountability, buddy. Yeah. No one holds him. We do here. Yeah, yeah. We are not blind homers at all.

But, so, I thought it was really smart of Topper to sit him in the last game of the series, give him two full days and then reinsert him into the lineup on the road. They had six road games. Very smart. Very smart. To deal with, you know, I think that's, that's Thompson's biggest strength that I think is knowing his players. And I thought it was interesting.

Um, I guess I think Howard asked him before Tuesday night, like, would you consider benching him? And Topper basically was like, I went to him. He said he wanted to play. I'll give him that. And then, like, we know no baseball players are going to say, no, I don't want to play tonight. And if they do, then you might not have a winner on your hands.

And Rob Thompson took it away from him and said, no, you're going to sit. But you had to. You had to. Yeah. Absolutely. Sometimes you have to take that decision out of a player's hands. Totally. So I think that's obviously Rob Thompson's probably biggest strength.

And I think getting him on the road is good. Now, tonight, I don't want to bat him. I don't think he should be batting, too. I agree with you, dude. I agree with you. Take the pressure off. Let him just bat six him and boom flip him and boom put boom in the tool put him seventh whatever something like

that bat six put stott up there and flip whatever like i'm with you dude you cannot be batting two right now you can't it's just it's it so two is two to me it is more important than lead off especially for this team like if schwimmer bats leadoff hits a home run or walks, we take that. You know, the strikeouts are going to happen, but having him there is somewhat. But the two spot, like, it was so refreshing on Wednesday night where Castellanos is coming up. And Castellanos hasn't been great since the All-Star break. But I felt like they had a chance, you know? Like, I felt like it wasn't like, oh, a a strikeout or or a weak ground ball whatever um so whether it's

bone there i think bones like a classic definition of a two-hole hitter he probably shouldn't be because he's six five yes but he does he you know he could spray the ball we'll get the bat on the ball can move runner over, all that stuff. You could put Cassidy Ellis there a lot. Either way, I think it would be a mistake to insert him and put him back at two. Great, if he comes back and he bats six and he starts looking like Trey Turner, then move him back to two.

It's fine. But to bring him back and put him right in the two spot, I think would be a mistake. I think it would be putting all the weight back on his shoulders. Let him work his way through this. But I think you're setting him up for failure by putting him in the two spot because I'm mostly with you. If Trey Turner turns back into superstar Trey Turner,

I'd be shocked at this point. Shocked. This year. This year. Next year. We're just talking this season. I'd be shocked. And point you know this year this year next year we're just talking this season i'd be shocked and i don't think you can you can you can bank on that so um i they're not doing him any favors putting him at two let him bat sixth and if he gets hot he gets hot he'll understand all that stuff so um it's definitely reached that point of the season and they can't

do what they did listen they got the game six of the world series and i'm not sure who else they put in that spot but i think they might have cost themselves a title keep batting cassianos at four and you last year now you can't do that with a two spot in the lineup i just think it's too important and too important hey fantasy football owners the road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now i'm matt harman from reception perception join me and james co as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break your fantasy roster wide receivers we analyze route running target share and all the metrics that matter giving you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers as you prep for your draft let us give you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers. As you prep for your draft, let us give you the coverage you need. Follow and listen to Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app

or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, and look, I know they got back to Cassianos in that spot, but there were points in the season where they did drop him to seventh and lower in the lineup last year. He didn't just stay at four all year. So, yeah, I absolutely think you have to move Turner there. I think that is honestly imperative. I think it looks foolish if you come out with the lab tonight and

Turner's the tool again. So, and, and again, like I'm not, we'll see, but it feels like a Castellanos issue year for Turner. And again,

the most frustrating part of it, there's a lot of frustrating parts, but I think the most frustrating part is how Turner clearly seems like one of those guys, at least with Cassiano's given credit where he's a defensive stalwart, but he didn't let his offensive struggles affect his defense. He actually rose up and played better defensively because of it made some, you know,

as we all know, some amazing, unbelievable plays like Turner feels like when he's struggling, it's, it's full body. It's everything like, cause he is, he is a better defender than we've seen this year and he and certainly we saw the other night when he got kicked out like like just booting simple plays like the the the ineffectiveness on simple plays consistently this year from him has just been something that

like it just feels like it's not just he's just struggling like across the board you know yeah and it's probably the first time in his career he's really struggled i mean it's as simple as that and and the one difference is i don't think they didn't do him it's not his not his fault. There was no favors given when he started the season, and Bryce wasn't in the lineup, and he's a $300 million guy, and you know that he's a new guy coming in. This team was just in the World Series, and we got to be playing to that standard,

because that's the standard of the team now, and Bryce is not there. You know what I mean? And now it's like, okay, you're the star. You got to carry us. And again, it stinks right now um and he's clearly letting him affect him and and it's just you just have to hope that he can that this is not what it's gonna be like next year because if it is i mean holy cow well then i mean that's a disaster let's

let's not even it's a total disaster so put that out in the world. Not letting that out into the universe. And again, I just – I'm not banking on this year, but to continue to bat him two and have Schwarber him one-two when Schwarber's in a downturn, it's just – it's killing it. It's killing you at the top of the line. You can't do it. And I think you make a great point that the Castellanos thing last year played a role in them losing the world series you

know like then we all said it the entire playoffs we kept saying it like especially in the world series in those moments right you know like as they were getting no hit and struggling we're like you can't have this guy in that spot like they're not going to pitch to bryce they're not going to give bryce anything hit and like bryce is your team right now it's everything it was it was a massive mistake by thompson and i think if you're going to say and anything to hit. Bryce is your team right now. It's everything. It was a massive mistake by Thompson. And I think if you're going to say, and I agree with you, I think Thompson's biggest strength is knowing his players, but I think his biggest weakness is sometimes knowing who his players have been.

And that Castellanos example is an example of it, of kind of being like, well, he's Nick Castellanos. He's going to bat clean up. If I had to bet, like if I had to bet, just to finish this, if I had to bet, I would bet Trey Turner is batting second tonight. I would agree, too. I would agree. And the problem is, is that they're winning last year from there,

and they're winning with Turner at the second spot, and Schwart with the leadoff spot. So what they have to be able to determine is, would they get that much of a bump by moving someone else there? And how much would it affect Schwarber's mentality? And there's a lot of variables to that. All right. Perfect trade deadline coming up.

Let's get your take back. Let's get this take back out of the way. Come on. I've got a perfect deadline. This cute little take back. Perfect deadline to do. Let's get your cute little take back out of the way. So it is.

Oh, by the way, real quick. Shout out to Miller Lite. Presented by Miller Lite. We love Miller Lite. And I'm going to tell you about the Miller Lite account that will be coming up in a minute. Go ahead. Take back. Good.

Okay. After the take back. Yeah, obviously, buddy. Come on. You think I'm a first timer here? So I think it's, I don't know the reason for it. I don't know. And maybe it's like, so I think it would be excuse making if it wasn't the amount of guys this was affecting.

But I think it's at least interesting to put out into the hemisphere. And I get annoyed when people blame this, but when you look at... I want to go through all these names. And I'm going to say, what is the thing that these guys were all a part of? Pete Alonzo. Pete Alonzo.

Am I right? Yeah, you're right. Team USA. These are the Team USA guys. This is on the offensive side of the ball. Yeah, for real. It's good. Go ahead. Alonzo, down year.

Tim Anderson, down year. Nolan Arenado, down year. Paul Goldschmidt, down year. Jeff McNeil, down year. Cedric Mullins, down year. Injured, but down year. JT, down year. Schwarber, down year.

Trout, down year. Trey, down year. Bobby Wood Jr. down year. 11 players. Now, the players it hasn't affected is essentially just Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts. Shout out to my fantasy team, Kyle Tucker. I love you, buddy. What a hero.

And I'll tell you, though, Kyle Tucker did start slow. It took him a little while, and now he's been awesome. The last month, he's been carrying my team, both teams. But Kyle Tucker did start slow. I'll tell you that. Like he was not Kyle Tucker for the first month plus of the season as well. So I have no idea what to make of that,

but that's a lot. That's a lot of guys. That's a lot of guys that, that have had down years, especially like some pedigree guys. It is a, it like in toppers been asked about it and he's talked about it. It's like,

he doesn't, he's like, he's not blaming it, but he's like, it is, you don't get as many at bats. You don't get as many reps. He's like, it is a different thing. You're part of this team. You're not playing every day when you are playing, you're playing in a game. You're not like getting all these opportunities to work all these at bats. It's not like a normal spring training. So especially we talk all the time about, you know, baseball players being creatures of habit.

It's a very different start to your season. It's a very different preseason, all that stuff. I don't know. I'm definitely not saying there's nothing to it for sure. It's a lot of names. It's a lot of names.