High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Just Figure It Out

Episode Date: May 15, 2020

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back as they are talking baseball and everything around it from the owners vs. the players to the J.T Realmuto contract. The guys get into this and the MLB Draft. 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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Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the high hopes podcast. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Philadelphia Phillies on radio.com and sports radio. 94 WIP. Yo, it is another edition of the High Oaks Podcast.

It's been a while since I got to the YoJack. This is good. We're back. We're back. I'm so happy. We are just trying to, you know, fill the void of no baseball for the many people out there that are missing baseball. Hopefully not that much longer is the point, right? Hopefully not.

I just, I really miss it. I really do. You know, especially when the weather's like it is today. Obviously not all of our listeners are in the Philadelphia area, but it was like 70 degrees and stuff. Like, the weather today is stone Bryce Harper, a two-homer game. Like, if I could sniff a two-homer on game, it would smell like today in the Delaware Valley. I really miss it.

I was thinking about the podcast we did where the season or opening day was delayed two weeks, and that was considered meltdown territory, And now we're two months into it. And it's not the most fun thing in the world. It's been two months without sports. I know. We are approaching two months since what would have been opening day. I'm with you, man. Look, I love sports.

We work in sports and all that. I don't care about the NBA coming back. I don't care about the NHL coming back. I'm not even thinking about football. All I want is baseball. Like it's all I want. Like I really, I don't care. I'm sorry.

I don't. I know. Like, cause like there's other seasons you saw get started. Like you saw the start of the NBA season, NHL and football is not even on your minds because we think it's going to happen anyway but baseball like there's no more hopeful time than spring training opening day and like the feeling of spring you know people talk about the fall as their favorite season like it's it's spring and it's not even close like the spring is just an objectively better season than fall. It's one of the... Come on, man.

Seeing that first bloom... Well, I mean, the fall you got, you got the stretch on a baseball, the start of football, the leaves are changing. Eh, I wouldn't hate on it. I'm just talking about the first... See, this is a quintessential. You're a March birthday guy, and I'm a September birthday guy, and this is quintessential when your birthday is.

I'm just saying that the first bloom is more exciting than the first changing of the leaves. All I know is I'm excited because I got the—is honor the word that I want to use here? Let's go with. Yeah, I think that's fair. The honor of getting to vote for Jack Fritz as the Husky of the decade. What an honor. I'm so happy that before we started this podcast, you bestowed upon me the honor of getting to go onto Twitter and write jack fritz in for the husky of the decade so thanks for there there i mean it was it was a special moment let me just say something

there is nothing more in the entire world that i want than to be named husky of the decade uh i think it would be hilarious that a man who may i may be the biggest bust in bloomsburg baseball history um i went there got a scholarship and was god awful um i literally kept the book every game my sophomore year um and then my junior year i was the so our girls basketball team like we were friends with them in in college and they were looking for um like people who could come and practice against them so i was a girls basketball fill-in guy as well and also i may or may not hold a bloomsburg wreck record for most threes both made and attempted so i i think all of this is just overwhelming evidence

that I should be named. Oh, I like this. I like this. I should. Husky of the decade. Couldn't do it enough on your baseball resume, so let's dig. Look, it's good.

So if you go to at. It's so on brand. Very on brand. If you go to at BU Huskies and you see one of their top tweets looking for nominations, just send in a nice little tweet for your boy.

I really want to be named Husky of the Decade. I think it's an honor that I deserve to receive even if during my time there we had the second leading rusher in Division II football history um i i think that i am more deserving the two years and nine total innings i gave to the

bloomsburg baseball team for some reason i feel like even if you get the most votes you're not winning this thing they'll say we're not taking that tweet they weren't really actually deciding on social media i mean come on yeah but then i can complain about having the most votes and not being named bloomsburg athlete of the decade so it's a win-win either way nation we love you uh you love jack we think do it for jack make him not scared of that game why not i'm in i voted for him i have not. I have purposefully been taking a hiatus from Twitter because Twitter is a cesspool right now.

You barely even tweet. Would you stop? Honestly, it's like Twitter is like, every time I go on Twitter, my anxiety spikes. It's just like all I read about is depression and sadness and I'm good without it i'm i'm good i'm

good there's enough depression and sadness going around right now i don't need to be amped up is that fair i guess so i mean i don't know how i can take it seriously coming from someone who never tweets saying i need to take a twitter hiatus i think all it shows is how dedicated to you I am that I was willing to go on there and write Jack Fritz on this freaking tweet. Well, let me just say something. You should be honored. That's the real takeaway here.

Even though there's only two of us, I would say that we're very good teammates. I would say that we are together and I would say that together we are not only dynamite on the field but off the field two good teammates you know and and our future potentially i was just gonna bring that up i feel like we we can't lie to the high hopes listeners now i had talks in the past about wanting a place with a rooftop. I did not get a rooftop, but I'm moving to Philly, James.

I'm so excited. Sign, signed, sealed, delivered. Is this officially official? It's officially official. Oh, buddy. Yep. I'm taking my talents to grad hospital. I'm so excited.

We're going to have... You're a 10-minute walk from my house. This is amazing. Right. Did I do... All right, so there's two reasons why I was really all in. One, me and James were very, very close to each other, which meant in the future, once everything comes back,

we can do live podcasts if the Phillies are in a... We can watch Phillies games together. Are you kidding me? Like, let's go. God forbid the Phillies could be a... We watch Phillies games together. Are you kidding me? Like, let's go. God forbid the Phillies could be, you know, in a playoff run. We could be doing podcasts. We could do live streams. It's just going to enhance the High Hopes podcast feel.

Also, second reason. I'll say three reasons. My second reason, sidewalk beers. For as excited as I was for, like, patio beers, sidewalk beers are almost as exciting so we'll have to have some my hopes hangouts in the grad hospital area on the sidewalk where we can you know just hang out bring some chairs uh stay six feet apart yes and of course have beers and really the thing that put me over the top was i walked in and the place came with

cable uh which is nice it's just that sometimes you have to check when it comes with cable uh like what channels were with it so i had to make sure i had the sports package because i'm not gonna not you know i can't not watch sports it has oh buddy and i can't i can verify that jack actually texted me and a buddy who's on a text chain with us and said, not gonna lie, MLB Network was actually a true factor in me choosing this place. As soon as I saw MLB Network,

I was like, alright, you know what, I'm in. I'm all in. I'm ready to move in. There's so much content I've missed out on with MLB Network, like all the 90s all-star games. It's so up your alley. I mean, no TV channel has ever been more geared towards one person than that is to you.

Is that fair? It's so wonderful. I think that's fair. So truly wonderful. Just think of the draft time. You might never leave the MLB Network. You might just sit there with draft coverage nonstop. The problem is that

you know the draft's gonna be over by the time that i get in you know i mean we're moving in uh early july and the draft is less than a month away um that's tough jack yeah it's okay it's okay next draft next draft yes i'll be fully locked. And we'll talk some more draft later because Jack can't help himself. All right, let's talk some baseball. There's actually a lot going on. Like, since the last time we talked, it feels like there's been like 45 different plans that Major League Baseball has had to come back. But this one feels the most real to the point where the owners

have presented the players with a proposal. So many angles to this. Let's just start with the owners, players of it all, the fact that there's the potential that these people are arguing over millions and billions of dollars while 30-plus million Americans are out of work. What is your general take on the situation as it stands now? I just don't think there's anything more classic baseball

than not being able to capitalize on there being no sports. It's so unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It's so baseball. It's like, oh, we have a chance to be the only live sport going on right now. Instead, let's make everyone in America mad at us. Yeah, let's do that. That sounds smart.

Cool. Yeah, and the one thing that's trying to drive me crazy is people act like people aren't going to watch this sport if they don't come back or whatever. And it's like you're going to watch baseball. So I will. You will. I do think, to be fair, like, and again, this is all based upon the idea that if they actually didn't play because of money, let's say that everything was worked out, health, safety, this, that, like, all right, they can play. And then the owners and players can't come to a financial agreement. If that is the situation,

I do think you lose fans. I do. I think you're wrong about that. Like, I mean, it happened. Like I was, I remember 94 really well. People left the game. People said, I am out on baseball because of what just happened. And this would be, I don't know, 10,000 times worse, 10 million times worse for it to be in this situation where America needs this so bad and it were money that stopped it. I don't think that will happen. But if it does, I think you're wrong about that jack i think people

will leave it like we won't the diehards won't but they will lose fans for sure maybe i just i don't know i think that stuff's overrated like maybe if there was other sports going on like if that could happen i just think that either you're going to watch baseball or you're not going to watch baseball. That's just my general feeling on it. But it's so unfortunate. But I was pretty confident they were going to play. I'm still pretty confident. But just hearing Blake Snell and you know trout and all this stuff like these players aren't gonna budge and i don't think they should budge i think i'm on the player's side

on this and what i think a lot of people are are missing missing is they don't like they're gonna get screwed in in free agency and they don't want to get screwed twice, basically. So they're just saying, let's take it now, and we'll have to take our lumps in free agency. And all the owners are going to do are saying, listen, we're just going to make it worse in free agency. Like, it's such a lose-lose all around. But I'm with the players for standing up, because they're going to get destroyed in free agency

like with the way that's been the last couple years now the the owners aren't gonna have the revenue from from tickets bought at the door it's only gonna be worse for them so they have to stand up for themselves they have to do this and i'm just i just think that they're gonna hold on as long as they they possibly can and i find it hard to believe that the owners are going to really budge on this like they just they just never really budge so um i'm starting to get worried about baseball starting up see i'm not i think that i think that um when it all when we all said should we should we should we record should we record the they're never going to start baseball podcast? We should.

That's a good call. We should say baseball's done. They're not playing this year. Use our powers for good, Jack. I think they'll figure it out. I think that there's too much at stake, like I was just talking about, from the future of baseball perspective, from a just pure importance of the situation situation in a moment i think they'll

figure it out and i i agree with you i don't think either side is i i don't know who's gonna budge i think there'll be some sort of tit for tat i think they will figure out some way to say all right well if you're gonna hold firm on this then then give us this or whatever i think they'll figure out something but um i i'm a hundred percent on the player side in this i mean the owners are the owners you assume risk like you are you what marks john marks on on on your show today at a really great stat that 16 straight years owners have made money in Major League Baseball. They have been profitable for 16 straight years, every year better than the last year. I mean, I'm sorry. Maybe you have to have a little lull for a year because the country is in

peril. Like I, I will always, 99% of the time i'm gonna side with the the players over ownership like i'm always on the side of the millionaires and not the billionaires where they be but i think specifically especially in this case for so many reasons the owners first of all agreed to a deal already like i know they put in the whole in good faith thing and all that but like they already said they would pay them their prorated salary and now they're going back on it. And for the owners to not be willing to open up their books and really show like, why should the players have to take them at face value? Like, why should they believe that the owners, what they're saying is true?

Like, I'll tell you this much. I know they're saying that they're losing 40% of revenue. I watch a lot of baseball games, Jack. So do you. We watch the package. I'm watching Royals games and Tigers games and White Sox games and all these teams. And guess what? There is no one in those stands.

Like no one in July, August, September. Like those places are empty. You cannot tell me that you're losing 40% of your money, 40% of your revenue from that. I don't believe it, to be blatantly honest. But regardless, even if it were true, like the only thing they could do to prove that is to open up their books. And they are not willing to do that.

So why should the players be the ones who have to take the hit? Like, why are they the ones that are incumbent upon them to be the ones when they are not the billionaires? They're not billionaires. The other guys are the billionaires. Like it's so, I'm actually, it's one of the things in sports discussions and arguments and talking about sports that is that always mystifies me i don't understand why anyone would ever be on the

side of the billionaires i just don't get it it makes no sense to me jack yeah it is funny because you know people get so mad at players saying they're spoiled and like they make enough money to play a game that i played when i was a kid and it's like well their bosses or whatever are billionaires like why um i've actually i think the best point about all this that i've heard is like it's not like the players get any money back for the tickets sold at the door. It's a particularly great year. Like the Phillies sell out every game like they used to. It's not like they go back to the players and be like,

hey guys, we had a really good year this year. Here's a few extra million. Congrats. That doesn't happen. Like that never happens. Yeah. Here's a bonus.

Like, you know, it doesn't happen um right it doesn't happen at all so i just uh i hope they figure it out um and for for everyone i mean it would just be good it would just be such a lift for everyone you know i think that if you told if you told people that leading into july 4th baseball's be back, you're the first sport back. Like, this is what is so frustrating about the whole thing is that they have a chance here to kind of get people back to baseball. You know, people talk about, oh, it's this dying sport and whatever.

But, like, if it's the only life. Dude, 55 million people watch players get drafted to teams. Not even. You couldn't see them. They were just picked and they were deciding where they were going. And yes, football's king. But you have a chance to be the first live sport back in one of the four major sports. And the fact that they're blowing this is just infuriating.

It's so baseball, it hurts. I mean, it's like classic that they're just completely botching this. Arizona and Florida are open for pro sports right now. They could be doing this right now. They could be doing spring training, and if they wanted the Arizona plan or the Florida plan, they could be doing it. But instead, they're fighting over millions versus – well, it's really just millions versus millions, millionaires versus billionaires. And honestly, no one cares. Like, no one cares. I mean, I think a lot of people care for the players.

I care for the players. I want the players to be happy. And I just feel bad that if there's going to be no one in the fans this year and they're going to lose that money, they're going to get screwed even harder in free agency. And just I want them to keep fighting the good fight. that money they're gonna get screwed even harder in free agency um and just i i understand i want them to keep fighting the good fight i just want the owners to just give in and suck it up and just shut up just just do it and you know these baseball like the blakes the blakes nobody was

bad well like i don't like the blakes dude like what an idiot just stop talking just stop talking yes because he's not wrong like the heart of what he's saying is not wrong it's just he said it as horrendously as anyone could like he he basically it felt it seemed like a greedy asshole like that's what it felt like when he did it and it's and it's a shame because what he's trying to say isn't wrong he just did it in a horrible horrible way with you know and obviously sounds like an idiot the way he went about it like it was just it was just bad but to your point jack like i just on top of that the other thing that we haven't mentioned i know it's been talked about

a lot but like the players are the ones assuming all the risk here it's not like the owners are going out and spending time in clubhouses and traveling and doing all this stuff and putting their lives at risk their families at risk and lives is it's like it's it's i don't want to say it's dramatic because people are losing their lives but like as we know it is unlikely that players at their age and their level of athleticism and health and all that are unlikely to die but it doesn't mean that their parents couldn't get sick that they couldn't get someone else sick that family member this or that whatever like they are putting themselves and their families at risk there is no other way to argue that and the owners aren't like they're assuming all the risk here like i it's such the blake snell videos it made me so upset because i really believe the

players have the high ground here. Like, they have it. And that video was none of it. Like, that video was nothing about, like, it wasn't at all portraying the real play. Like, go look at what, like, Sean Doolittle's doing on social media. Like, that guy is a voice for what is right and what the players are arguing is right and all that stuff. There are players out there

who are making real, smart, intelligent, thoughtful points about this. Blake Smell is just not one of them, and it's a shame that that video is one of the ones that has gone viral. Well, and the best thing that the players have on their side is Scott Boris. I mean, Scott Boris is a guy that he,

like his clients are the ones making all the money, and no one's going to go to baseball games if Bryce Harper isn't playing. If the Scott Boris clients aren't playing, then no one's going to care about baseball. So the fact that they have Scott Boris on their side, I think, is massive. And I'm glad Scott Boris is on their side. You know, for all the J.D. Drew things, it's fine. Scott Boris is officially a member of Boris Adelphia. We're on team Boris?

Yeah. Oh, man. Yep. Always been a Scott Boris guy. A little bit like selling yourself to the devil, but I'm in. Yep. Always been a Scott Boris guy. Never had one bad thing to say about him.

But it is a shame. Like, the Snell video is a shame because I'm so wholeheartedly on the player's side in this, and I genuinely believe the owners are in the wrong. And the owners are doing an amazing job of painting the players as the bad guy. I mean, it's unbelievable how much pro-owner sentiment there is out there and how many people are, I like even mark to shara like a former player who made 180 million dollars playing baseball has the gall to come out and and say the players should take pennies on the dollar and all they're like or just do whatever like suck it up and go play like it's crazy to me how many people are supporting the owners in this when it is it is so clear to me

like who needs to take the hit here and who righteous deserves to take the hit here it's the owners listen i will never take shame uh to share clearly had a great a great take um i didn't agree with this take but i don't take shame but i don't take shame. But I don't understand why people care so much about the owners. I just don't. They're going to be fine. They're all going to be fine. And that's another thing that drives me crazy. It's like, dude, not every player is Bryce Harper making $26 million a year.

The vast majority are not. That's the point. Right. I understand it's still a million or 500 some thousand that's more than a lot of people but that's not like fu money that's that's not all that stuff so i the whole thing the whole conversation is frustrating i hate you know it just brings out such crappy opinions about players and stuff. One again, do you have a point there, Jack?

That even if a guy's making $2 million, $3 million, $4 million a year, we're talking about guys who own the team who are worth billions of dollars. I mean, the difference between a million and a billion, I don't think like do people realize how big a difference that is? Like we're talking about like a dollar versus $1,000. Do people realize how big a difference that is? Like we're talking about like a dollar versus a thousand dollars. I mean, like it's like a, a massive difference in, in personal wealth and financial, like, like billionaires are, are, it's a whole different level of rich. Like it's a whole different level of thing.

Like, uh, it's just crazy to me. And look, they've done a great job of painting themselves as the victim somehow. I just, I can't believe how many people are buying into it. That's really my issue. Well, you know what I can't wait for? What is that? When they use this,

when they use this as an example as to why they didn't want to pay GT Real Muto. that's just going to happen. I mean, we know this is going to happen. Oh, well, guess what guys? We lost a lot of money last year.

So, you know. I know, I know we gave up Sixo Sanchez and Jorge Alfaro or whatever, but we had to let JT Romito go to the Mets. We just

had to do it. Honestly, if they let JT Romito walk, it will be up there with Reggie White and Norman Brayman. Probably a bit of an aggressive take, but it'll be a big miss. What's the biggest one since Reggie? Of letting someone walk? I mean, well, there are different things.

Trading away Cliff Lee is a different thing, but that would— That's not what I asked. Yes. All right. I guess T.O.'s close, but T.O. is a weird circumstance. but that would ah that's not what i asked yes um all right i guess i guess to is close but to is a weird circumstance also kind of forced the hand and all that um doc probably yeah but were the eagles wrong i still had a couple good years left so yeah i think they were slightly wrong yeah i think he wasn't a he wasn't a player that a player that the team traded one of their best assets for one season.

His career was not as good as JT Romito is at this point in his career. I'm just saying that letting JT Romito walk is up there. It's the next biggest thing behind Reggie West and Norman Bramman. It's malpractice, however you want to look at it. The fact that he hasn't been signed to a long-term deal already is malpractice i mean well they can't i mean to their defense they can't right now no no no i'm not talking about this specific moment i'm talking about the fact that we are in this situation and he wasn't already under contract is on them oh well if they didn't care about the luxury taxes offseason, they could have had this done months ago.

Dude, it would be like JT Real and Muto walking and not coming back and signing with the Mets or whatever would just be a sign that Philly sports are back. Like everyone talks about, you know, from my childhood of players leaving and all this stuff like Roland and Schilling and whatnot. This would be the first time where it's like, oh, okay. The Super Bowl was nice, but it's good to be back. I get it now. Yes. I went from I'm not worried about it to definitely worried about it.

All right. Well, let's dive into it. Because real quick, I think last point on the – I think our main point here is I think I speak for Jack and me and High Hopes in general when we say figure it out. Like that's it. Like all we have to say, and we both are on the player's side, but ultimately figure it out.

Don't screw this up. Play baseball. All right, on to Romito. Where are you at with this? Because like we're starting to hear like the the most recent report that the phillies never made a formal offer to him jack like how do you read well you read this whole situation well if you if you read the article like that was a part of it i i get it and definitely not a great sign but like the next sentence was jt saying that things were moving

quickly like he he felt like everything was moving in the right direction, that they were about to get a deal done. Harper didn't get a formal offer from the Phillies until two weeks before he signed. So I don't think that's a huge issue. I think that they're obviously just negotiating and getting, you know, JT in the next sentence saying that things were progressing in the right direction and things were moving fast

and he was maybe two weeks away from signing a brand new contract, I think is a good sign. I think that's a good sign. But if you're JT RealMuto right now and you're about to play, what, an 82 game schedule? It would just be foolish to sign a contract. He would have to

really, really be sold on Philadelphia I think, to sign a contract right now. I mean, there's no way his agent lets him sign a contract. I mean, it would just be. I mean, unless the Phillies. I would let his agent say, I will not play anywhere else, figure it out. But like you said, I mean, it's just not happening.

Right, which is the weeks leading up to the JT Real Muto decision and free agency, I might not sleep. But it's terrifying. It's terrifying. And it's frustrating that it's gotten to this point. But if the Phillies come to him and say, hey, we'll give you $130 million, which is a lot. I don't think there's any way he gets that. The Phillies, I think, have messed this up

that they're going to have to pay a lot. I think it's going to be $120, $125 million. Even in this climate? Oh, see, I don't. I think it's $100 million. They're not going to lose him. They're not going to lose him. They're going to do whatever it takes to keep him.

First off, he's Harper's best friend. Harper talks about him all the time, best catcher in baseball. The Phillies themselves have said a thousand times that he's the best catcher in baseball. I just think they'll do everything in their power to make sure he's not going anywhere else, and I think it's going to cost them. I think it's going to cost them like $120 million. Do you want them to do that? Do you want them to overpay to keep JT Romito?

I mean, let's play a little devil's advocate here. And again, I think you could tell from the tenor of this conversation that we both really like JT and we want him here. And we think that trading 6-0 for him and then letting him walk is, again, malpractice is really the only word that comes to mind. But devil's advocate. In a situation where it looks like, as you and I talked about before, we're probably heading into an era of, or at least a short era or whatever, the next few years of depressed contracts. Just honestly, I think that collusion, whatever you want to call it, MLB owners are going to give out less money in free agency. They just are.

They're going to blame it on this, whatever they're going to do, but they're going to. Facts. He's still getting $100 million plus. But regardless, in a situation where teams are giving out less money contracts on the whole are depressed do you want the phillies giving a a at the time they do the contract he'll be a 30 year old catcher a five-year 130 million dollar deal like is that smart well this is this is the plan when he traded six though right but but right but what are you gonna

do just let him sunk costs and stuff like that like do you overpay just because you traded six though for him you shouldn't i mean i again i want them to sign him i want i wanted them to have already signed him but if it comes to a bidding war where it's i I mean, the fact that you traded 6-0 for him doesn't have anything to do with that anymore. It's a one-versus-one thing. It's a, all right, what are we signing him to, and what's the contract? Like, how many years?

Well, what do you spend the money on, and what else are you spending it on? Look, I'm not – Again, I don't know. There are other players, obviously, but I – There are other players, but you traded. I agree with you. I don't think.

I'm playing Devon. I know you agree with me. I'm just saying, like, you can't. Like, smart teams don't say when a guy comes. Like, smart teams would have signed JT or Muto already. This would be done. It would be over. Well, who said the Phillies are a smart team?

I mean. But, again, the point is you can't say that just because we traded someone for someone that we have to sign him more because that's like horrendous leverage that's not smart like i mean it might not be smart but i i i don't i i don't care i'm not i'm not giving up smart jack you know that i don't care i don't care if it's not smart i'm not giving up pedro martinez 2.0 just for one year of j2 real needle i'm not gonna admit my mistake you know me i go down with my tanks i that doesn't mean this is this is why this is this is why i'd be a bad gm i would go down with the tank listen you all right first all right let's just let's think about this they don't if they don't pay them you're you're

pissing off the guy that you just paid 330 million dollars to i know that that's that's not part of the equation but it has to be a part of the equation like you you just commit you you told bryce harper we're gonna do everything we can to win and then you're not gonna pay jt romito like an extra 10 million dollars like i just i think that i think he would be furious with that and i know he signed a no trade clause all that stuff but like he would he would be furious like he would make Bryce Harper mad. You gave up six of Sanchez to get him. And I think he's going to get $100 million regardless.

Maybe 120 was a little aggressive before the thing. But he's still going to be paid like the number one catcher in baseball. So no matter what, he's going to get $100 million. And I don't really care. So I honestly, I don't care if it's perceived as dumb. I don't think they can let him go. And plus with the whole – I mean, what did Yasmany Grandal got?

Like that was, what, $70-something million? He's older. He's 31. He's 32 years older. Yeah, two years older, but the point is like when he signed his contract, a year and a half older, he got $73 million, a four-year deal. And I think Romulo's better, but Grandel, similar in terms of numbers, in terms of defensive metrics, not at Romulo's level.

Obviously, Romulo's the best. But is Romulo $27 million more than Grandel? I don't know. No, but who's like who's the third best catcher in baseball like are they available and listen good point too but i mean we are talking about the two best catchers in baseball and i'm just trying to look at it as a you know kind of uh apples versus apples type of thing and try and say all right well what did grandal get what what type of market does remulo have? Especially, again, to the point where I think we're going to see a depressed free agent market.

Like, I really do. I think there will be collusion. Like, that's what I think. I think there will be. I do. It's a lot. I think there's already been collusion, all right, at least to some certain level where it's like, all right, let's slow this down here.

We're getting a little crazy with these contracts. Let's rein it in. I think that's already happened. But I think that, like, you don i think that's already happened but i think that like you don't think that after this whole thing and especially with this disagreement they're having now and the animosity and all that and the new bargaining agreement coming up in 2021 i don't think there's any chance i think this this upcoming offseason is literally the worst offseason to be a free agent in the history of baseball like it's a bad spot man i i could see romito making less than that just based on

nothing of his own fault nothing of his own talent nothing of his own ability strictly based on the situation that baseball and he is in yeah well i would just like the high hopes listeners and the record to officially show that james selt is committing to Andrew Knapp being a starting catcher forever. It's not even funny you're joking about it. It's not even good. It's not cool. It's not cool. I think what everyone took away from the last 10 minutes of conversation is that James has come around to Andrew Knapp and he's seen the light.

Great on base percentage machine. And if you give him 200 regular at-bats, he could really maybe get that average above 200. Do you want me to stop talking to you? I'll hang up on you right now. No, you won't. We have a draft talk. For a podcast that's ever happened.

Oh, where'd he go? What happened? Oh, no. Your connection was bad. We lost it. We lost it. We lost it. It would be so bad if they lost Romito. It would be embarrassing for sure.

And look, maybe it takes you to Klintac. How about this for hypothetical? Would you be willing to lose Romito if it meant that Klintac got fired? No. Oh, I would. Honestly, I'm kind of at the point where there are not many things i wouldn't do for clintac to be fired like i'm pretty much willing to give up on a lot of things to to get clintac fire that's where i'm at are you already it's a little early

for clintac lent um we still have a lot of still have a lot of quarantining to go. But I respect the dedication. I respect the commitment to the Klintac stuff. He is objectively awful at this. That's good work by you right there. Good job. That was very good. I think Klintac

started... The problem with Klintac is that he's done... He has the base of this being right, like, they have a huge analytics department, they have all this modern stuff, it's just he has no idea what to do with it, so I'm very excited for the next, for, listen, if I could rank my excitement levels of future podcasts, one is the search for clem tax replacement two is playoff nola and three is like the next big big signing i love this i'm in on this the search for clem tax replacement is i mean we got brian barber here and already excited about that i mean brian barber

brian barber is less than a month away from showtime. That's coming up in a minute. So real quick, Romeo prediction. And obviously I'm sure we'll talk about this many times. Yeah, I don't think this is going anywhere. I don't think it's happening until the offseason. They're going to have to come with other teams. But what do you think happens? I think they pay.

I think they pay whatever it takes. And I know the press market and all that, but I just think that you're going to be surprised at how much money JT's going to get even in the press market. I really, I just think you're going to be surprised. I think I've got my contacts in charge of this important decision. It might be a bad contract, but another thing is that the awful DH is probably coming to the NL.

The amazing DH. Good point. I forgot forgot about that shout out to baseball for finally doing what's right so sad you're like i think that might have been like i mean you're pretty good with the melodramatic tweets but the one tweet you have where you're like basically anyone who loves baseball's heart is broken because the dh is going away for the national league and baseball's ruined it's ruined yes yeah well i don't know why you sounded like a stewie from family i tried to get a little bit at the end there i'm a big man of ruin instead of ruin yeah i i just don't get how you do a podcast about baseball, but you hate the sport. And I also don't get how I made this whole impassioned plea on your show, and it didn't sway you. What, you think I'm just going to hold this up and be like, Jack, you're right this whole time.

That's all I want, James. Just welcome. You've talked about it a million times. This time, it worked. Welcome to wisdom. That's all I want james just welcome a million times this time it worked welcome to wisdom that's all i want all right um oh man on that note what else you got um are we almost are we almost done the podcast we're getting there we're 40 minutes in yeah i guess you're right. That's the thing. Whenever I say what else you got or whatever,

it's still like another 15-ish minutes usually. Yes. This never goes quick. This is never like a, oh, yeah, James, I got something else. Let's finish up. That never happens. My first of many ending things here. I think I'll save the draft thoughts

for the end. Listen, High Hops is here. We talked a lot about High Hops leading up to the season, but the High Hops beer is officially here. And I've had it the last couple weekends

and I'm always reminded of how good it is and how much I miss baseball. So, Four Fingers Brewing Company, i'm wearing the shirt right now we're filling growlers of high hops starting oh i'm sorry tomorrow but friday through friday through sunday from three to six so listen if you're looking for some good beer and you're looking to to get the official beer of the high hopes podcast go pick up some high and whenever

the world is back to normal somewhat back to whatever we will have a high ops night like that will happen it's just you know the world interceded yes big problem my second thought is i've been thinking a lot about the 07 phillies recently and i truly love that team just Just a truly delightful, fun team. Even though Adam Eaton almost ruined the celebration when they won the NL East. I saw you tweet about it, and it's horrible. He's such a dork. I hate that guy.

I really do believe that booing Adam Eaton is the single most proud moment of my Philadelphia sports day. It was pretty great to be there and to boo adam eaton in that moment i can't believe we were both there i know it's crazy where were you sitting uh i was down the first baseline i want to say like 20 rows back like kind of right along first base there like 15 20 rows back in first base they're pretty good seats seats. Yeah, I was up in right field, up in second deck right field. But booing, booing Adam Eaton was great. Beautiful. And coming back from 7 down with 17 to play was truly amazing.

It was truly amazing. It was unbelievable that it happened. I hated that Mets team. I hated everyone on that mets team um and then being able to do that the utley game when they're the coast game coast walk off uh like there's just so many give up like six in the first inning in the marlins or whatever it was that was great and that was the first time in my life i'd experienced philly's playoff baseball and i just remember you know a lot of people don't talk about the

other games in that series um like i just remember howard uh had an absolute tank the first time i saw rally towels in my life was like that friday night and howard hit a home run and i was like oh my god they're they're actually gonna do this i love tata hito gucci i loved tata hito gucci that dude straight up raked man tata hito gucci could hit uh i i i i think the i think we underrate how fun the 07 run to win the analyst was you know it's not really talked about in the you know it's not up there with this like people talk about like the stairs home run the it's not up there with this. Like, people don't talk about, like, the Starevs home run, the victory no grand slam, the Blanton home run, the Otley fake, the Otley six home runs, the Cliff Lee game, like, you know,

Loesch, Roy Howdy's no hitter. Like, people don't talk about it in that way, and I think that's wrong. I love the 07, 07 Phillies team. You know, we replayed the other night on the station that was great and there's some games on earlier and i would just like to propose james in in honor of this that we make the next rewatchable i don't know when it's gonna be it might be next week might be the week after we should do the comeback against the mets with the yachtley walk that's right That's how I feel about that. Cosign.

And cosign everything you said about that. Like, that was – it was especially – and even now looking back, like, it's like an extra layer of love that you have for that team because you knew what would happen next. You know, it was like the beginning. It was that – the start of a great movie that you're settling in for in the first 20 minutes have. And you're like, Oh yeah, buddy, I am all in for this. Like it was, it was special. And it was 14 years since 93 and 93 was a decade before that they

were any good too. So, um, it was really like for me in my lifetime, like I had the 93 fills, that was all I had. Um, but Oh seven felt like the first time in my life, like I got to watch young guys grow and start to be like, Oh, Oh, there's some specials happening here. Like, I don't, I don't know what's going to happen, but, like, this is real. There is something special here with this group of guys. And I think in a lot of reasons, 07 for that reason is almost as special as any of it because it was really the beginning of that, wow, something special is brewing, and it's really exciting to see it. And the 7 with 17 to play was just, like, miraculous.

It was amazing. Yeah, and that was the first time that i you know the the town really got into the phillies uh i remember i was driving around one of the saturday or sunday afternoons i don't know which game it was but like worth stole second and then worth stole third and i remember looking around the cars around us as i was listening on the radio and everyone was giving out fist pumps like in their cars and And just the first time really being able to experience that, I really love the 07 Phillies. So I think we should do a little 07 Phillies rewatch thing.

I am 100% in on that. 100%. Awesome. Cool. Are you ready? It's all I wanted. We're 46 minutes in, and it's the only thing I wanted this whole podcast. So please. Yes. So the MLv draft is less than a month away which jack has not stopped talking like

every day he'll come into the studio and be like i know who if the person who if they take at 15 i'm just gonna be apoplectic i'm gonna be so upset or i know who they have to take around like it's like every day there's some sort of draft thought or take coming my way. Yeah. I just hate that. Like my guy, Max Meyer's going top 10.

Now, um, Zach Veen is flown up draft boards. Like Zach Veen, Zach Veen legitimately is the next Christian Yelich. And he was going to be there at 15. And then everyone caught onto the Jack Fritz eye and realized he's a top five talent.

Like I'm already, like uh jim callis wrote today that they want one of the college position players to get to 15 and so i looked at it and really the only ones available will be garrett mitchell patrick bailey and uh uh keston or heston kerstad heston kerstad way out on heston yeah see here's the problem i watch heston hit and i'm like oh that's the darren erstad that's that's a guy who can be in the big leagues for a long time play left field and and give you like 25 to 30 home runs and bat 280 you're gonna say he's a hell of a punter i didn't know which way you're going with that. But it's such a bad name. I just can't. The Jack Fritz name test is maybe skewing my eye, but he's going to rake.

It's just a bad name. But anyway, he now has top ten stuff. The other guy, Patrick Bailey, who has been rumored to maybe get there to 15, he's a catcher. He's a 22-year-old catcher. If they take a 22- 22 year old catcher at 15 same thing last year with shea langan lears like if they if they do this with the jt stuff like i'm gonna have a meltdown i'm gonna have a meltdown and the last guy who uh the last guy

is garrett mitchell who like i can't believe he is is falling he is type 1 diabetes which teams are afraid of um so like he for the longest time i haven't done any research because he's going to be a top you know eight pick he is supposedly starting to fall if he's on the board of 15 i don't even need there anymore i want that guy let me just guy. Let me just say one thing. He's got Chase Utley hands. I don't put the Chase Utley hands... I don't say that lightly. The guy's hands are lightning quick. I think he's going to just...

I think he's going to hit. He's unbelievably fast. He's a true five-tool guy. The power's not totally there yet. It's developing. But if Garrett Mitchell's on the board at 15 and they pass, just find a new podcast partner. Now, what I would do, and what I don't think the Phillies are going to do,

but what I would do, I love the high school talent in this class. There's a kid, Nick Bitsko, who went to Central Bucks East, who Jack Fritz threw eight innings. CB East guy? Yeah. That's my old hood. CB East guy? Yeah. That's my old hood. How about that? Yeah.

Yeah, Jack Fritz threw eight innings of one-run baseball against them his junior year in high school. Completely dominated them. But he is a pitcher. He's a high school guy up to 97. And he's a prototypical acepical ace just looks like an ace there's also there's there's so much interesting uh like prep talent and i think the prep talent and people are going to be afraid of them because it's only five rounds and they don't want to you know kind of you don't want to waste it on someone who might not right yeah right especially there's gonna be no minor

league baseball this year it makes sense i get it so i think there's going to be no minor league baseball this year. It makes sense. I get it. So I think there's going to be a really good prep player on the board at 15. I would go the prep route. I understand they might not. I feel like they're just going to take a pitcher. It's going to be like Cade Cavalli from Oklahoma who throws 97, but for some reason can't get anyone out. They're going to take one of these guys that has legit, legit stuff, but they're not the take one of these guys that has legit, legit stuff, but they're,

you know, not like they're not the top 10 pitchers. They're like the 15. They're, they're, they're fine. They're not unbelievable. I don't really like any of them at 15. I would go prep route and pray that Garrett Mitchell's there,

but there's been a lot of time for, for draft talk. I, I'm so excited. I'm the, I feel like I'm the only person that's excited. Every time I tweet about the MLB draft, I get like two likes. But

I don't care, man. I just love it and I hope I can get the High Hopes listeners to start getting into some MLB draft stuff. Also, I think it's ridiculous that you can't trade draft picks. It'd be so much fun. Oh, I've long said that. It makes zero sense to me.

Zero. Well, I guess because there's 40 rounds, it makes sense. Yeah, zero sense. Yeah, if you want to get some excitement in the LNV draft, let teams trade. Big time. They have to figure that out. You could trade international bonus money. It makes no sense to me.

You should be able to trade draft picks. It's like one of those rules that has just been around for so long that like it just should be changed and i don't know why it isn't yeah but uh i do think the phillies will have a chance to get a really really good player 15 and i hope well they they've done decently well the last couple years. Decently well. All right. All right? I mean, I like Bryson Stott. Bryson Stott.

Would you take five years from ages 25 to 31, would you take this dash line of 270? For a shortstop? Shortstop. 270, 343, 777 OPS, and 13 Hummers a year. Would you take that stat line?

With really, really good defense? Good defense. Above average defense. This is ages 25 to 31. Yeah, I'd probably take that. I figured out that I think his offensive profile is is victorino ish with a little bit more pop like victorino that was victorino's numbers from 25 to 31 i think that he could have more power than victorino but i feel like the averages are about where i anticipate him being i mean obviously you want more but that that's respectable

i mean you can you could more, but that's respectable. I mean, you can play with a shortstop. You need the defense if you're going to have his – Yeah. But, okay. Solid player. Yeah, with some upside. I like it. All right.

First of all, if you're at all interested in the draft, let Jack know because clearly he feels like he's out on an island here. Let the man know. Also, again, going back to the beginning of the pod, the most important thing to take away from this podcast is go vote for Jack. Husky of the decade. Think about it. We could have the husky of the decade as one of the host's I.O.s.

I mean, come on. Doesn't get much better than that. And if you know Nick Bitsko, just see if he wants to come on the podcast. Yeah, we're into these guys. I mean, if you know Garrett Mitchell, right? You know, come on. Well, you know what's bad is, like, a guy that went to Rustin is probably going to go top 20. But he's a pitcher at Rustin where I went to high school, obviously.

And he's probably he's a pitcher at rustin where i went to high school obviously and he's probably he's probably he's probably going top 20 so i don't really like that was you like you could have been that guy like that that's how you work right yeah no could have been me uh and sure he might be going top 20 in major league baseball draft but he did not go uh 2-0 in the high school playoffs which which I did. By the way, did you see? I told you I'd tell you 15 minutes after I said we're going to wrap up. I know how this works. I'm on it.

I think it's just hard to say who's the better... We've done a few of these before. It's hard to say who's the better pitcher from Ruston. Me or Chris McNeil. Or the guy who's going to go top 20 in the draft. Hard to say, Jack. Hard to say. Me or Chris McNeil. Or the guy who's going to go top 20 in the draft. Hard to say, Jack. Hard to say. Me or Chris McVay. Hard to say.

Let's get Jack the Husky of the decade, okay? Let's focus on the realistic here. Let's make this happen. If I can't go top 20 in the MLB draft, at least I can be named Husky of the decade. Oh, man. You got anything else? No.

This was fun. I missed it. We'll be back next week. We'll do better. It's tough. There's no baseball to talk about, but we'll be back. We'll definitely do the rewatch. Watch the game.

Phillies-Mets, the comeback game. We are going to do that game either next week or the week after, depending on how scheduled shakeout but watch the game uh we'll tweet out a link for the game and all that but um that's gonna be fun the last rewatch was awesome and this time we will not lose the pod and i have to re-record it i think is that fair we try we'll try all right uh seriously we love you everybody you're the best and we miss you and we'll talk to you soon he's right himself so we'll see you later