High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Phils Split In London; Solo Fritz Mailbag Edition

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Jack Fritz brings you a solo live edition of High Hopes - since James Seltzer is still across the pond. Jack gives you his thoughts on the London Series before going into the High Hopes mailbag to answer questions. 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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or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes! On the Odyssey app and Sports Radio 94 WIP. What's going on, everybody? Welcome on in. It is a solo mailbag edition of the High Hopes Podcast as James Altzer is still in London. And, you know, time difference is no joke. You know, time difference is no joke.

It's like six hours ahead of us. So, unfortunately, we just couldn't work it out timing-wise to record, which is a shame because I texted him yesterday, and I was like, all I want to do is do a High Hopes Podcast because there's so much i want to talk about there's so much to get into it feels like we haven't recorded one in forever because again he's been he's been over in london so i said gotta do a at least a mailbag edition tonight and and get some takeaways from the london series and and all that good stuff so um i'll do i have some takeaways i want to get into some some big picture some some micro stuff from the London series during that time uh just get some questions in in the comments on YouTube

or Facebook or on on X or Twitter and you know we'll go through it in about like you know 10 to 15 minutes so get your questions in I'll answer as many as I can uh we got James Jackson behind the scenes today as again you know it seems like everyone is over in london you know tucker's over in london unfortunately little old me couldn't get over there so i was i definitely played it up like i wasn't mad and then seeing everyone over there furious it looked like it looked like a great time and that's actually my my first big takeaway from the london series is it felt big like it it's very rare that a regular season baseball game feels big and it was so funny because while i knew that it was regular season baseball i wanted to win those games so bad it felt like a

playoff game. It felt like, win or go home, we cannot lose this game, all while trying to keep it in perspective that they were 45-19 heading into the game on Sunday. It felt big. I think baseball did a really good job of setting the scene the scene having enough big stars although i didn't understand saturday it's you know fox is obviously covering the game how they don't have the pregame show there they are live at like monument park for yankees dodgers instead of being in london as like again a quote-unquote showcase series i i yankees dodge is a huge deal like if i was scheduling it you know crazy concept maybe let's put that game a week later so that it's not overlapping again one of your kind of showcase games but you know it was it was a lot

like the in-season tournament in the nba and i know a lot of people a lot like the in-season tournament in the NBA. And I know a lot of people did not like the in-season tournament. I came around to it. And, like, those games, maybe it was the corny courts or whatever. But they felt pretty big. They felt different than just your regular old regular season game. And that's how the London series kind of felt. Obviously, the Phillies being in it, all the pageantry,

it was remarkable. The amount of 08 guys that were there, obviously the always sunny thing was a pretty good bit, but the way they were panning to all the stars kind of in the boxes, I will say some lack of Mets, if I'm being completely honest. It seems like the Mets fans, it was very cute yesterday at the game. They started a let's go Mets chant, and it quickly got drowned out by obviously all the Phillies fans.

And I thought baseball did a really, really good job with it. And I didn't hate having 10 a.m. baseball on a Sunday. Now, it made the rest of my Sunday pretty much useless, but it was good. And I think baseball did a really good job, and I'm sure the Phillies will go back over. I mean, obviously, baseball is going to try to pick the teams that have a good enough following to where they will make the trip across the pond. I mean, I wonder if they'll send a West Coast team. I mean, I know the Dodgers fans travel well, but I wonder if they would do that.

But it kind of seems like maybe Orioles and Yankees, Red Sox, you know, they did go Midwest when they did Cardinals-Cubs last year. But I would not expect this to be the last time the Phillies were in it. They'll probably have to wait at least, I guess, five years because it seems like they brought in a lot of star power for this one London series game. It looked like UK Phillies, Dave Shaw was

the star of the town of London the last week. Really happy for him. It was a really good show. The morning show with WIP, they had Cole on and they had Matt Stairs and they had Ryan Madsen on. So it was a pretty, pretty cool event. Now for the games.

My big takeaways from the games is, one, let's get into this, mechanical adjustments to Tyrone Walker. And, again, had they won the game, had they made the correct decision and gone to Matt Strom, we'll get to that. I feel like Londoners are going to say, wow, Tywon Walker really was the best pitcher we've ever seen here.

Because those games have traditionally gone way over. There's been a lot of offense in those games. This one seemed way more toned down. The turf was pretty ridiculous. I mean, the way the balls are bouncing all over the place, it was kind of wild to see it. It was almost old vet days where the ball was just flying all over the place.

But it didn't really affect too many runs. I mean, I know Starling Marte with the Emundo Sosa play, that was pretty wild. And Johan Rojas misplayed a ball, but I didn't think it was too wonky, I guess, out on the turf.

But Taiwan, you know, it was funny because most mechanical adjustments they make in the bullpen, I'd be like all in on. Taiwan looked good, and I think the one thing that was interesting about the taiwan start was that it looked like he was just having a lot more conviction in what he was throwing like sometimes taiwan he gets into these into these modes where it's like please

don't hit it and at for for pitchers one of the first things they they teach you is you have to believe every single pitch that you're about to throw is going to be nasty because if you have any hesitation that it's going to do what you want it to do it's probably going to get ripped like if you second guess like it's actually better and smarter to be to just dumb it way down on the mound in my opinion like don't think that much it's why like you know i always liked having the my my pitching coach and catcher kind of call the game and i would just trust them because i wanted to be i wanted to to not have to think as much on the mound and i just want to be like okay grip it and rip it and i think taiwan gets kind of stuck in these modes where it's like

please don't hit it please don't hit it i mean i don't blame them stuff was getting ripped but it was you know i thought at least yesterday at least in that one start i think we saw a little bit more conviction behind some of taiwan stuff maybe they they added some depth i thought to the cutter a little bit this even the splitter which we documented was getting hit like a 515 clip looked like it had some bite to it so in a perfect world taiwan's just a serviceable five and he's largely been that it's it's kind of jarring to watch taiwan given what the other four starters have watched or what the other four starters have done but if he can just be serviceable and give him a chance for a fifth day

and not exit after four innings and five innings, I think it would just obviously go a long way towards being in line with everyone else in the bullpen. So I think it was a – or everyone else in the rotation. I think it was a positive step forward for Taiwan. I'm not going to say he's back. I'm not going to say the contract was a steal. But I think at least you saw some glimpses of a serviceable pitcher,

and he pitched really well, especially in that ballpark that has traditionally led to a lot of runs and some overs. Taiwan deserves credit, so I thought Taiwan at least took a step forward. Some other bullpen thoughts. I mean, if you're listening to this, obviously you are a diseased, high hopes, like, fan. And I appreciate you so much. I really do. But there was a lot of the opening day kind of takes yesterday flying around from people who tuned into the London series that are not aware that the Phillies have a ridiculous bullpen.

It's so annoying when they get put on the national stage like that and people are paying attention more so than they are games in the middle of the week or whatever. Jose Amorato had a bad day. I agree with Rob Thompson. After the game, he said his stuff looked really good. He was just missing. That's what I saw, too. Jose Alvarado on opening day was bad.

He was 100% bad. From that point on, he had a 1.35 ERA until yesterday. So which sample size am I going to take? Am I going to take opening day, yesterday, or am I going to take everything in between that was really really good and the good part about yesterday the most important part about yesterday is that the stuff was back to 99 100 instead of the 96 97 which we've kind of seen in in recent outings like we're seriously doing the jose alvarado's a problem thing? Like, I just, it doesn't make any sense to me. And then you go, like, the Soto-Strom decision I thought was egregious.

Like, I didn't like the Soto-Strom thing at all. Like, you brought in Strom anyway. I know that Soto had him pitched in a week. You can tell him all you want about his numbers against Nimmo and J.D. Martinez, really, really small sample size, by the way. It just made no sense. They went to commercial break, and I said, perfect. You get Tywin out of the game, and here's Matt Strom.

They come back from commercial break. Again, Michael K. I'm very pro Tim Kirchner, and I love Duncan Landfill. Michael K. I can't do it it I couldn't take the way he said Schwarber because I'm like Schwarber which drove me nuts he said Castellanos like you are

first off he's an everyday major league baseball broadcaster like he follows the sport you would think I just I thought I'd be like fine with K calling national games because my like Yankees fans, friends, I think think he's okay. He's just, I mean, he almost ruined, he almost ruined the comeback in 2022 against the Cardinals.

And like, thank God it was only a two game series. And that's all we had to put up with. Thank God last year we had Ravi and David Cohn and Eduardo Perez because, I mean, even that is a huge upgrade over Michael Gay. It was bad. But they come back from break, and it's Gregory Soto on the mound. And I'm like, hold on. This isn't extra innings.

This isn't the 10th inning with the possible chance to lose a ballgame here. Why is Gregory Soto in? It was such a strong spot. It was such a strong spot. And the good part is, for me, that's out of character for Rob Thompson. And I think if that's a playoff game, I think if that's a game that they had to have, Matt Strom's in that spot. He gets the final out, and then he pitches the next inning.

It actually set up really well. It was 3-0. It was the end of the fifth. He pitches the sixth. Or maybe it was end of the sixth. Whatever. It was set up really well where they can go Strom, Hoffman, Alvarado, Strom, Alvarado, Hoffman. However they wanted to do it.

It was pretty well situated. And it didn't happen. And that's frustrating because it was a winnable game. You had the David Dahl moment late, which was really, really fun. And regardless, but yeah, the reaction and the takes off the bullpen yesterday were insane to me. Like, literally insane to me. I think the Phillies' bullpen is in a really, really healthy spot. I think Soto is 100% a question mark. Outside of Soto, I don't know if there is a question mark.

I really don't. You know, I kid you not. I have not stopped thinking about the Kirkering inning from Saturday since. It is 9-10 on Monday, and I'm still thinking about 97 with Sanktapita Lonzo. I'm still thinking about dotting the outside corner against Brandon Nimmo and him starting to sprint to first base, and Kirkering is just dealing.

First off, I'm really happy because a month ago, I was kind of watching him, and I'm like, man, if he does not get conviction with that fastball. He's just way too predictable. These guys are going to be able to square him up and, and to his credit. And I think to Caleb Cotham's credit, he has gotten the conviction behind his fastball that he needed to,

to really believe in it and it's not just he's throwing 100 which he did hit 100 over the weekend i i think the guns and and the whatever they you know calculate exit velocity with out of london was a little bit off i mean nick cassianos apparently hit the hardest ball of his career at that home run and i just refuse to believe that that was more well struck than the home run off of off of schreider in the postseason there's just no way so i think the guns were a little bit juiced but if they if they weren't kirk kering hit 100 which is incredibly exciting so he hit 100 but he's finally got two different fastballs one the 100 and then the 97 or whatever with sink and it just makes him so much more unhittable and makes that sweeper which again is one of the best pitches in

the sport it makes it that much better like it's just it's so hard to consistently square him up so i think you're starting to see some real moxie develop with him and let's say alvarado falls off a little bit here or i i really don't think hoffman will like i think hoffman is is pretty solidified man i i i really think kirk herring could take the closer job and run with it i think he's got the makeup he's starting to see that kind of develop in front of our eyes he's starting to add some little oomph you know he's he's starting to have some stones so man i think, I think Kirk Herring is taking a huge step forward. And, you know, outside of the Soto thing,

and obviously Alvarado wasn't his best inning, bullpen is just really, really locked down. I want to talk about David Dahl because, of course, me and Seltzer are big Dahlmen. We love David Dahl. We've loved David Dahl for years. Got him in a minor league deal. Like, the fact that they're getting what theyman. We love David Dahl. We've loved David Dahl for years. Got him in a minor league deal. The fact that they're getting

what they're getting out of David Dahl, Spencer Turnbull, Jose Ruiz, these guys that were signed for essentially nothing. This is part of winning baseball. You want to go to Emundo? Sure. Emundo is a part of that. That was a trade two years ago. He is paying huge dividends. David Dahl,

I think he's playing well enough to where I'm not in the camp that would send him back down when Marsh is back. Like, David Dahl is a major leaguer. He's been a major leaguer. He was an all-star in 2019. We know that. And the swing looks good. Like, I mean, he's ripping baseballs right now.

Will he cool off? Probably. I don't know if he's going to be the best hitter of all time. baseballs right now. Will he cool off? Probably. I don't know if he's going to be the best hitter of all time, but I don't hate the idea of a Dahl-Marsh little center field left field platoon here when he comes back and see if they can't just take off and run with that thing. Because, again, if they can get healthy David Dahl, the biggest thing that held back David Dahl the last couple years is he just couldn't stay healthy. He could not stay

healthy at all. And, man, like getting him out of Colorado, I know he's with the Padres last year. I don't know, man. I'm excited, and I hope that they may have unearthed a bit of a gem here and someone that can help him at least, at least, I think a Papa Home run off the bench like he did on Sunday in a playoff spot. Again, Whit Merrifield had a good two-game series out in London. It was nice to see some signs of life from Whit.

In a perfect world, heading into the playoffs, there's probably too many bench guys, but I don't know. But if you have Clemens Dahl, Sosa Merrifield, obviously, probably doesn't work because that's a lot because they've got to make a decision on Pache Rewas. But theoretically, who knows how the rest of the roster kind of shakes out. Some pretty good options if Whit Merrifield cannot be done. And I hope he's not done because

i think he would really help this team the whitmerryfield they signed that could get a lot of hits yes i know that he cooled off at the end of last year with the blue jays after getting injured but again he's in 300 until august so if they could get whitmerryfield to be serviceable david's all may be real cody clemens we'll see edmundo and then whatever they do with pache rojas it's just that's the makings of a pretty good bench and maybe you don't have to go trade for a guy at the deadline so you know a lot of thoughts there on the bullpen what else did I have Philly's offense you know it's it's been so it's so interesting because you look up and down the lineup and if you just like if you go by singular numbers it's not wow it's not unbelievable i think

the best way to describe the phillies offense again they're still number two in runs per game have they called off yeah it's it's it's been a bit annoying here with the offense recently and bryce is obviously nl player of the month but i think what the the the identity of this Phillies offense is a different guy each night. And that's why it's so hard to have a really strong, oh, this offense is going to be a huge problem. Because it seems like once a night, it's some random, it's not the same guy every night. I keep waiting for the Schwarber run.

We all are. Harper's been really good. Boehm was good, has really cooled off. JT has kind of cooled off, Trey's coming back soon, but one of those guys, it seems like, is getting a big hit every single night, and it's the bottom of the lineup, like, sure, on paper, the lineup at the bottom is like, man, they got some holes after five, you know, you know with like cassianos down their stats down the 240s and moon has been fantastic we know that and then it's like rojas pache doll and it's like man they look a little weak but every single night it seems like

one of those guys is is stepping up and getting a big hit and helping them win a ballgame. That's how you get to 45 and 20. It's one guy picking up another guy. And I think that that's a sign of a good team. Could they use a bad deadline? We'll see. We'll see how big they want to go with the deadline and if they want to really kind of shake things up and get a big bat in here.

We'll see. But I think the best way to describe this Phillies offense, while on paper doesn't look super wow, is that if you watch him night in, night out, someone's getting a big hit. Someone's getting a big hit. And the final thing here, again, we're looking for some mailbag questions,

YouTube, Twitter, all that good stuff. The final thing that I want to get to is, is Rob Thompson won his 200th game as a manager over the weekend and i just continue now did not have a great game sunday thought i thought we had the genius card ready to get pulled out with the david doll pinch hit home run soto strong was a big old setback a big old setback but you know i think rob thompson actually has been pretty underrated here like i know when he first showed up and they went on the run and we saw all the Philly Rob stuff.

I think Rob Thompson is a difference-making manager. I really do. I think, obviously, what he does is he's a steadying presence in the locker room. They all trust him. He has their back. And they go out and play hard for him. You know, they told a story, and we'd heard this before, but I think it bears repeating.

Kyle Schwab said that if anyone ever came after our manager, we'd have 25 guys in the front step and going out and taking them on. Like, they really do ride or die with the guy. And it's so Charlie-like. Like, it's so Charlie-like with the way that they talked about Charlie in 06 through, you know, whenever they moved on from. It feels very similar with how the two teams really talk about their manager. And I think he has emotional intelligence with this

team. I think he has a really good pulse on who needs a day, who doesn't need a day, you know, really just kind of trusting his guys. And, and you, I just, I just hope that in the post season, the trust doesn't come back to bite them because it has the last two years. It has come back to bite them. I think this time around he'll probably be quicker with it. I don't think he's going to do the same thing he did the last two postseasons, but part of why they've had the best record in baseball, I think,

is because of Rob Thompson's steadiness. In-game decisions are largely good. I largely agree with him. Did not agree with him on Sunday with the Soto-Strong decision. He does a really, really good job. 200 victories this fast into a managerial career, it's

pretty fast. It's a pretty good run they've been on. Congrats to Thompson for getting number 200. I thought it was so funny that he did not know the harper celebration was a soccer celebration like that's my manager that's my manager so locked in locked in on the game we don't we don't time for soccer but either way congrats to rob thompson for number 200. 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 coverage you need. Follow and listen to

Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's do it. James Jackson, what is the first question in the High Hopes mail bag? All right, our guy ben silver by the way following on on youtube nothing if not inconsistent the best phillies uh youtube videos out there so thoughts on mick abel hit another rough outing last night in buffalo should the phillies try and trade him for his value craters more or risk waiting to see if he can reach the potential so mick abel is is an interesting case you know if i'm sure a team would take a shot on him as uh as maybe more of a flyer i i know he's still in the top 75 top 60 of a lot of prospect list but

you know i think if i think you talk to like evalu, Clawson's probably jumped him from a value standpoint. I would even argue that Michael Mercado has. So I'm actually surprised. Now, maybe the right trade didn't kind of manifest itself now for McCable, but there's been these questions with him for a little bit now. And when I've watched him, I thought in spring you started to see the command developing and what is frustrating about mick abel is i just

like glove side i don't think he'll ever consistently be able to command a glove side fastball you know glove side is obviously you know it's left left side and you know into lefties away from righties it just seems like he's always missing like always missing away to right away to lefties and up to up and into righties like i think that's the the big issue so it's definitely been i thought in spring he was starting to put it together. I was excited about Mick Abel again. It seems like he's taken a step back so far in the, in the Lehigh Valley season. And again, his, his values down, it's definitely down, but maybe someone still takes a shot on them because of, of where he's ranked and his, and his pedigree and stuff like that. It would probably have to be the right org.

I'm surprised the Phillies haven't because the Phillies, again, are a pretty well-developed pitching organization. So Dodgers, Rays, Brewers, would one of those teams take a shot on him? Maybe. We'll see. But frankly, I'm kind of surprised he's still here. And maybe they were waiting to see if they could rebuild the value before trading him. But again, where this team is at, it feels like the right time to do a McCable trade. But we'll see.

I thought that, frankly, this last offseason and last trade deadline. So who knows? All right. What is next? Barely early. Thoughts on the Alvarado outing. Bad, obviously. You know, he's kind of just missing some, you know, stuff that wasn't exactly lucky happened.

But at the same time, you saw, I thought velocity ticked back up. Hadn't pitched in a little while. I know that sounds excuse-making, back up. Hadn't pitched in a little while. I know that sounds excuse-making, but sometimes excuse-making is an explanation as well. And he was off for a little bit. Hadn't pitched a ton. Obviously, closed out the Brewers game. He also looked disgusting in the Brewers outing. So it was definitely bad. Wasn't great. I'm sure the Mets were kind of juiced up to try to come back and win that game. But on my panic meter, am I worried about Jose Alvarado? Absolutely not.

Again, if it turns into a problem, which I don't think it will be because this stuff still looks really good, they have so many options there to where if they need to drop him in the high leverage role kind of rankings, they could bump Strom up. They could bump Kirkering up, they could bump Hoffman up. So to where they could manage this thing.

Now he is on track to really bypass his, his total innings in a year total. So I'll be curious to see if they try to kind of manage that a little bit. They've been really good about that the last two seasons and getting guys, you know, either it's a phantom IL stint or like even earlier this year strom like just took a week off they just didn't bitch him and it felt like there was a lot of opportunities for him to kind of come in and help the team win so i wouldn't be surprised if they do that here with alvarado again given the

amount of of guys they have because they do need to make sure these guys are good to go for October when you're 25 games over 500 you're playing good ball you're up nine nine on the Braves you can afford to to get guys some rest we don't need to run them into the ground so frustrating not the end of the world sometimes like Cliff Lee said that's baseball what's next all right tj do you think it's possible the fan base is higher brandon marsh and the organization seems to be they seem to platoon them pretty religiously then everyone gets pissed about it yeah i think that's fair i think it's fair that the organization might not be as high on them i mean i i i battle two things with the lefty kind of thing with Brandon Marsh. Because on one hand, I say, well, they haven't really given him the opportunity to hit against lefties.

For a little bit, when he was red hot earlier in the season, they did. But how is he supposed to learn how to hit lefties if you don't really give him the at-bats? Versus the other side of my brain, which is like, well, he does, I mean, the splits for him against lefties is pretty bad. I mean, a couple months ago, I think his slugging percentage was like in the 100s. So it's definitely, it's not what you want to see. So I do understand it from that standpoint. I mean, on the year, yeah, on the year against lefties, he's slugging. Again, he's slugging 162, which is just brutal. So Stott, I think people still get more mad about when he's taking on the lineup

because they view him as an everyday player. And I think he's an everyday player, but I would like him to heat back up a little bit because he should not be hitting in the 240s. I think he's too talented of a hitter for that. But Marsh just might be a platoon guy. I really like him. I think he's too talented of a hitter for that. But Marsh just might be a platoon guy. I really like him. I think he's a winning player. I love the energy he brings. I mean, would it be the worst thing in the world if they go and get another righty bat to play left field with him or move him to center field at the trade deadline. It doesn't sound too bad if you think that it gives you a better chance to win.

So, yeah, I think the Marsh thing is really just I fight both sides because I want him to be an everyday player because I think he's got a lot of talent. I think he hits the ball hard. I think I love him in left field. I mean, numbers-wise, he's one of the best defensive left fielders in the game but the numbers also suggest that he just can't hit lefties and they seem pretty convinced that he can't and it's a it's a real shame because i think there's a valuable player in there if he can just be serviceable against lefties he just hasn't been and we'll kind of see

how they approach a trade deadline with that they Do they look for a platoon there? Do they keep riding in left field? Do they look for a center fielder? I'm not sure. I mean, I guess we'll see. I'm sure we'll get questions about that. But, yeah, it definitely feels that way, TJ, that the organization is a little bit lower on Brandon Marsh

than the rest of the fan bases. What's next? Reed T, thoughts on Kirkering as a closer option leaves your best right-handed pitcher and left-handed pitcher to be used in high-level spots. Yeah, i brought this up on the air today in the high hopes jackie baseball report on on the afternoon show and you know a little bit here it's probably not this year because it'd be a reshuffling of a lot of things and it's not like those guys have been bad in in those spots but i do think that kirkering could take the job and kind of run with

it especially what we've seen in the last two weeks where he's really turned into a dude. Like he's really turned into, okay, this guy's arrived and he's confident and he believes that he can get his fastball by major league hitters. And watch out, because you couple that with the sweeper.

It's just, it's a really, really tough at bat. So I think there's eventually going to be that discussion. My question is like, I wonder what they do with hoffman like i would extend them i and like i think that's should be a priority you know it's not very often you can find guys with 97 and and a 91 mile an hour splitter splitter and a slider like he has coming out of the bullpen i mean three pitch guys out of the bullpen is not i, three pitch guys out of the bullpen is not, I mean, maybe it's becoming more traditional, but traditionally that is not the case.

So yeah, I just, I wonder if they feel like they have enough righty options now to where they can let Hoffman go. I don't think that's the case. I want as many bullpen options as I can get. I'll be curious to see what a Hoffman contract looks like because if I'm another team out there and I see the kind of stuff that he's flashing

and and the again we talk about moxie we talk about stuff and it was a good interview with the crossed up guys uh Bob Wankel and Anthony Sanfilippo and he's he has the model on his glove ph ah which is bleep all hitters, but with a P-H, which is nice. So I hope they extend Hoffman because I think he's a really, really good option out there. And yes, it's more money out of John Middleton's pocket, but he's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. So I hope they can do what they did with Strom. They probably won't do it in the middle of the season. I hope he wants to stay because he has developed into a really key member of that bullpen. But yeah, I'm with you, Reid. wants to stay because he is developed into a really key member of that bullpen but yeah i'm

with you reed i think kirkering can 100 develop into a closer option for this team because again the stuff the confidence letting hoffman and alvarado kind of be like hoffman when he comes in with the runners on and comes to the dirty innings i think he's one of the best we've seen he's really really good at it um and same thing with strong same thing as strong shams really really good at it so kirkering probably Strom. Same thing with Strom. Strom's really, really good at it. So, Kirkering, probably more coming into a clean inning at this point, which obviously is traditionally what closers do. But, man, they got some firepower.

They really do. They got some firepower out in the bullpen. And it's pretty fun to watch. You know, Rob Thompson said after the game on Saturday, maybe it was against the Brewers. I forget. But he said that, and I agree with him, on any given night you can roll out your B squad

in like Kirkering and Saranthi, mostly Gregory Soto, and probably win a ball game if your starting can go six or seven. And then the next night you can come out with your A team in Stromhoff in Strom Hoffman, Alvarado. And it's pretty much good morning, good afternoon,

good night. So it's a, it's a, it's a damn good ball pen. And I'm just glad that their era is not a six. So we don't have to do the bullpen is going to hold them back. Even though the casual has checked out the game yesterday. And I'm sure that they think the,

the bullpen is going to hold them back. Now they have no fear. The bullpen is pretty nasty. All right. What's next? Dan brew. Now, have no fear. The bullpen's pretty nasty. All right, what's next? Denbrew. What position will be looking to boost the deadline, and who do you want?

Yeah, it's tricky. It's super tricky, because I talked about it on the afternoon show today, about how I'd be, I'm starting to grow into the mindset of like, like how big of a name are they gonna go here and could it possibly mess up the the chemistry that this team has like for anyone thinks that they're gonna start like platooning or or just taking castellanos out of the lineup it's not happening i mean it's it kind

of is what it is with castellanos it's almost like you gotta sink or swim with them he is a really important member of this team he is a a leader the guys really like him is he frustrating yeah but are we starting to see some signs of life at the plate we are and i think that's at least an encouraging development so you know louis robert is the name that he's kind of he's polarizing from the standpoint of like a couple years ago he was viewed as the next Mike Trout. Unbelievable defensive player. Light tower power. Could hit for average and was viewed as like a five tool legit prospect.

And I'm sure we'll obviously get more into this as we get closer to the deadline. So this is like a preview of it. But he's playing for one of the worst organizations in baseball he's mega talented it seems like a miserable existence going to white sox park or whatever it calls is called now like no one's there the team's dead they don't spend any money i it just doesn't seem that fun to me. So I think getting him out of there, you would possibly get a better version of Luis Robert. I would be surprised if they traded for Luis Robert.

He has three and a half years left, and they don't get 25 to 30 home runs, a higher average, and being able to stay on the field a little bit more. The problem is you look at the numbers. They don't exactly jump out at you. He's hurt all the time which is not what you want he plays center field is huge for a center fielder but he's great at it and so he has value in being a center fielder so he is a really tough case of like how far do you want to

go into the louis robert camp how like how you know do you want to push all your chips in you know like that is that the guy like again bob nightingale reported today that you know they're looking for a juan soto like package for louis robert that's insane to me i mean i know he's three and a half years and i appreciate that but once i was done a lot. Lose Robert in one year. So he's obviously one of the names, and we'll get more into that. Kyle Tucker, again, people keep tweeting me Kyle Tucker stuff. I would just be floored if they actually got rid of him. Now, if they do, yeah, all over it. I mean, no doubt about it.

They would have to shut up probably another $300 million contract if you're trading for him. He's a free agent in a year and a half. I hope that you wouldn't have, well, I'd be lying to say it's not going to cost like Aiden, maybe Painter. You're trading through your top five prospects, if I had to guess, to get Kyle Tucker. Again, I'd be surprised if they really do get rid of him. But man, if you add Kyle Tucker, obviously it's a bit of a home run.

But other than that, it seems like more of the platoon guys, maybe in left field with Marsh, they seem pretty committed to the Rojas Pache thing in center field. But you can go out and maybe a right-handed, more power bat for left field. If you want to put Marsh in center field, you can.

And then bullpen-wise, it's so funny. If I did this a week ago, two weeks ago, I'd be saying they probably need another right-handed relief option after Hoffman because I'm not sure who I trust right now. But you've seen Sir Anthony Nallau run early in a month. You've seen Kirk Ring develop into a stud, frankly. And it's like the Soto thing, I'm never going to trust him. Even if he goes on like a 10-outing run where he's allowing like one run during that time,

like I just don't trust him. The fastball's always been hittable. They seem to always be able to square him up. And maybe if they can go add a lefty option out of the bullpen, we'll see. We'll kind of see. But I think it's going to be a bat. And the question is, how big do they want to go? You know, the big names are obviously Luis Robert and Kyle Tucker.

See if they're really available. See how much Luis Robert really costs. But that's obviously the big swings. swings. Besides that, it's a couple fringe pieces. Maybe they try to do what the Braves did in 2021 where it was like Jack Peterson, Adam Duvall, and Jorge Soler. Just get a couple guys out there because they need some production out of the outfield. It's hard to win a World Series with 600 OPSs and low 700 OPSs. We'll see. Last one here in the mailbag. And then

we'll, uh, we'll get on out of here. What, what, what do we got? Do you think they make a move on they move on from Taiwan? So when do you think they make that decision? Well, Taiwan's hot right now, man. He's, he figured it out on Sunday. No, I'm just kidding. But I think that they'll probably give them another, I think they'll give him until the trade deadline. I really do. Up until the trade deadline, that takes you to early August. If they really are worried about Spencer Turnbull's innings, it gives him two months of runway to where you're not kind of running him into the ground if that's kind of what they want to do.

I didn't mention Turnbull when talking about the bullpen. I guess he's just a mop-up guy now. We'll see what they do this offseason. You know, Taiwan, when they made the decision to put him back in the rotation, listen, he has two and a half years left on a contract. Yeah, right, two and a half years left on a contract. Like, you can't just not pitch him. Obviously, it's been shaky.

He's been extended and inning too far, it seems like, you know, most of the outings, or at least three of the outings. I just hope he can be serviceable. I thought Sunday was a good step in that direction of being serviceable. I think they'll give him as much time until it's blatantly obvious. The 08 fills gave Adam Eaton a ton of starts

before they pulled the plug, maybe after they got Blanton. The good part is they got four starters that have an ERA, you know, like under 275. So it's not too bad right now with the starting staff. But I think they'll give Taiwan at least until the trade deadline. And then we'll kind of see what happens from there

if they want to put Turnbull back in. And I guess kind of ride it out that way. But I think Taiwan's kind of here to stay in the rotation. All right, that is gonna do it for me. Thanks to everyone that checked it out that way. I think Taiwan's kind of here to stay in the rotation. Alright, that is going to do it for me. Thanks to everyone that checked it out and hung out and got some great questions in. Really, really appreciate it. As always,

High Hopes is brought to you by Miller Lite, the official beer of the Philz. Weather's getting hotter. Miller Lite's come out. It's a pretty good time. James Seltzer, we'll see how many Miller Lites he had in London. I think we'll do a pod this week. I'm itching to do a real serious high-host pod,

but that'll probably be later this week. I'm sure he's going to be dead tired getting back from London, so we'll see what the excitement level is to do a pod. Either way, we'll be back. Phil's a bit of a tough, tough little stretch here. It's it'll be a good test for this team. Obviously the Red Sox 500, but can do some things. They, you know, we'll see, I think we're seeing Pavetta this week, which is, which is always exciting, but you know, I always love seeing the Phil's play up in Fenway.

We all know what Aaron Nola did there in 2018. We don't need to be reminded of 2018 Aaron Nola's start up in Fenway and how phenomenal it was. But, yeah, so we got Phils, Red Sox, and then bang, right on the road to Baltimore this weekend, which I can't wait for. I can't wait to see this team go up against the Orioles, who I think are one of the most fun teams to watch in the sport right now. I mean, Gunner's ridiculous.

Adley's ridiculous. You know, they got some really, really young studs. So, you know, it's not totally fair. Major League Baseball. You know, they go over to London, and then they've got to fly right to Boston. You know, you can't even get a home series off that. They haven't been home since, like, Wednesday night. So, whatever.

And now they're on the road for the rest of the week. So it's gonna be fun. And I think this team has been resilient. They've been tough, but I think we'll get a good little test as for how resilient they are. But I'm sure the people that bring up the Philly schedule are preying on their downfall this week.

But again, don't let the Phills have a good week. Don't let the Phills have a good week. Let's have, you know, be more cocky. And I don't know, it's gonna be fun. I'm excited see uh you know how they how they kind of show up this week but thanks for hanging out james jackson appreciate you and we'll be back with another edition of i hopes i feel a little less alone.