High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Reacting to the MASSIVE Zack Wheeler Extension

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to the massive Zack Wheeler extension. 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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Welcome on in. It's a little bit of a solo edition of the High Host Podcast. Seltzer, of course, you know, the big superstar he is, is sleeping. And I would like to do this as much as I can, you know, as big things happen, as I just want to kind of nerd out about whatever happened in camp today. I'll use this as much as I can, you know, as big things happen, as I just want to kind of nerd out about whatever happened in camp today. I'll use as much as I can. So if you want to get in, put some questions in the chat. I try to answer them as best as I can as I go, maybe a little mailbag session. But the reason we're here is because, you know, this morning, morning i mean talk about just a whirlwind kind of morning

you know around what 8 30 9 all of a sudden you see jason kelsey tweet out out of nowhere um hey no more kegs i i've made my decision um and coming up at that you know later this afternoon i'll have an announcement on my future. So all of a sudden, our heads are spinning with that. Are we about to say goodbye to Jason Kelsey? It was an emotional day, for sure. And then within the next, what, 15, 20 minutes, out of nowhere, the Zach Wheeler extension is done. And we don't have to worry that he's going to go anywhere else. We don't have to worry that he's going to go anywhere else.

We don't have to worry that he's going to hit free agency. And frankly, I was getting a little nervous because it was starting to feel like the NOLA thing, where last year it was basically, ah, we'll get it done, we'll get it done. Don't worry about it. Trust us. Don't worry about it. Trust us. And to their credit, they got the NOLA thing done, and he was back, and he's here for the next seven years.

I didn't want to screw around with Wheeler. I believed him when he said, I want to be a Philly. I believe in the Phillies. I don't want to go anywhere else. It's not all about money for me. But his agents are his agents and his representatives are their jobs to go get the best deal possible. And what it came down to, to me, or the outcome here, is that this is a pretty perfect deal. It's a perfect deal for both sides. I think Zach Wheeler was obviously commanding $40-plus million, as he should.

He's Zach Wheeler. He's one of the three or four best pitchers in baseball. He's been an unbelievable steal so far. You know, I mean, 5-1-18 a couple years ago and of course the Brody Van Wagenen you know old quote is making the rounds again where it's like congratulations on parlaying two good halves into 118 million dollars but I mean that's how people viewed that deal you know there was one podcast host not gonna mention who who may or may not have said, imagine the dumb team that's going to sign Zach Wheeler to a $100-plus million contract. Well, like most things,

thank God I was wrong. I took the L on Dave Dombrowski, and I have 100% taken the L on Zach Wheeler. He has been an unbelievable, unbelievable signing. And to go only three years, I think is just great for the Phillies, and it's great for Zach Wheeler. If he pitches really well, and at 37 he's fine, his arm's fine, he can get another contract with them. And the Phillies, if it, God forbid, doesn't go well, they're not on the hook for years four five or even six of that deal you know because what i was starting to think was

okay you have zach wheeler he wants to sign here but is he going to are the phillies going to do what they usually do and what the phillies usually do is spread out contracts as much as they can so was it going to be five two hundred was it going to be six years or were they trying to extend it out maybe try the deferred method and and just kind of spread the money out but to their credit they got the less years and the high aav which is not something they've traditionally done but when you're dealing with a pitcher who's who's going to be pitching at his age 34 season this upcoming year you have to i i just think that being able to sign him for for three years you give him the high av because he's earned that you know he's he's pitched at a 40 million dollar uh you know contract the last couple years but to get the 42 million for only a couple years i just think it's such a win-win for

for both sides so um you know credit to to zach wheeler you know i think there's there's big credit that goes to two sides here one is obviously zach wheeler you know i think zach wheeler could have hit the free agent market and um 42 million dollars42 million, like maybe he could have got $45 million if he went out there and shoved again. But if it's $42 million, he could have hit the open market, maybe gotten $45 a year. But in the free market, he probably could have gotten five years if he really wanted to. So Zach Wheeler said from the beginning, I want to be a Philly. I want to stay here. And I think it's just so crazy where we've gotten that with this baseball team where these guys don't want to leave.

These guys want guys staying here. They want to stay here. They want to be Phillies. And it's not been that way forever with this franchise. I mean, we can go back to Roland. We can go to J.D. Drew. Like, these guys leave. And, and John Middleton, I mean, you want to talk about Zach Wheeler keeping his word. You want to talk about,

you know, these guys and Bryce and, and all of these players keeping their word. No one, All of these players keeping their word. No one, no one has kept their word quite like John Middleton. And, I mean, a couple years ago when he did the stupid money, it was like, John, I appreciate it, buddy, but this could backfire. Like, this is the Phillies we're talking about here. We're not the Yankees. We're not, you know, the old Red Sox. Now they're the Cook Sox. I mean, holy know the the old red socks now they're the the cook socks

i mean holy cow one of the the most embarrassing things in the sport but we're the phillies we're just the phillies like this is this is not how we are and he has changed the mentality of this organization he has changed his mentality now did did the pockets and stuff get tight as he lost faith faith in clint sack and mcphail 100 but looking back on it i probably would have done the same thing now there's a small there's a bit of a clint sack not terrible not terrible um uh kind of kind of run happening here maybe a little matt glutzak appreciation but um but like but john middleton hiring dave dombrowski and really courting dave dombrowski um and making sure like we want you we need you and and the those two at the helm here just just taking this Phillies franchise from, like, I think 07 to 11, really good.

The Phillies have always been a family-oriented organization. It's who they are. It's the ethos of the organization. They are family first. And I think that's the culture that David Montgomery really put forth. And I think that's the culture that David Montgomery really put forth. But I think that the difference between the old Phillies and this new Middleton-Dombrowski-led Phillies team is it's taken them from we still value family stuff. We are still a family organization to big boys, like to absolute 100% big boys. And they're probably going to go over that third text like

while i am heartbroken that it's going to move their their draft pick back 10 spots in 2026 i mean again we have to focus on the important things here um the fact that we're even having that conversation, the Phillies are now turning into one of the franchises in the sport that I think players want to come play for. I think that is not only because of what the fans are doing and what the bank looks like in the postseason, but I think it's 100%. Look at how they take care of their guys. But I think it's 100%. Look at how they take care of their guys. Look at how these guys take care of their players, of their players' families, how they truly make it feel like one big family. I think Rob Thompson's a part of that.

I think Dave Dombrowski's a big part of that. And John Middleton, it starts at the top. It's really exciting. And it's why, you know why when I talk to Seltzer and we talk to Phillies fans and I just kind of throw out I know the doldrums that were

you know 2020 2021 from 2012 on but how they're currently constructed and I know dave dombrowski is not going to be here forever like i just have such a hard time believing that they're truly going to be in the toilet like they were during that time having to dig themselves out having to to to catch up to the others in the sport um with the analytics and and developing that kind of stuff and speaking of zach wheeler like part of the reason he signed here was the

analytics the department which is hilarious because i don't even know if it existed in 2020 that's when they had like the google guy um but like the steps forward they've taken in that department like i i think that analytics is such a a like a boogeyman's term where i don't think people really grasp what it is like it's not just launch angle and and you know batting schwarber first and strikeouts, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like what they've done from, you know, pitch sequencing, pitch usage, using the cameras, like it's turned a guy like Zach Wheeler, who up until the contract was kind of viewed as a disappointment, like always had really good stuff, was heard all the time, like always had really good stuff was heard all the time um and has transformed him into one of the the five best uh pitchers in all of baseball and i remember when they signed him

you know there was it might have been it might have been robert orr that wrote that he could be the next garrett cole and i was like are we, we don't have to do this. You know, like, we don't have to go out and, and compare Zach Wheeler to Garrett Cole, because they both have similar stuff. But man, has he just totally, totally and completely backed it up. So really, just a perfect deal. You know, I think, I think Wheeler deserves a ton of credit for sticking to his word, wanting to be here. They paid him a huge sum. I'm not saying that they gave them any kind of hometown discount,

but I think the hometown discount in a way is the three-year deal. And being able to go three years, not having to go to 5200 to get a deal done here, they don't have to spread the money out. It's three years, having to go to 5200 to get a deal done here like they could they don't have to spread the money out it's three years bang you eat it and and if he's really good at 37 still you can easily resign him if his arm is trending towards being done okay but at least you're not on the hook for the years after that um and i think that's really, really important.

Now we got, you know, Wheeler, Nola, Ranger, Painter's obviously coming, Chris Sanchez. We'll see what happens in Taiwan. It was really interesting. Matt Galbraith today, the Phillies aren't even interested in Blake Snell on a short-term deal, which is, you it's it's it's interesting to see you know because we know who boris manipulates and and all of that stuff so um a lot of the national guys still linking the phillies to to blake snell uh gelb comes in says they're not interested in it and i think a lot of that has to do a lot of that has to do with um with the qualifying offers.

Having to give up a second and a fifth, especially for a one-year deal or two-year deal, I know that people don't care about that stuff, but to give up that much for a short-term deal, especially when he's already missing a good amount, there's some of spring training, feels like a bit much. I still think the Montgomery thing can happen. I still think that there is a path to a Montgomery deal.

You know, Tom Walker is battling knee soreness. He's back at camp, so we'll see. But Jordan Montgomery does not cost a qualifying offer, and you'd have to get off taiwan if you want to stay under the luxury tax or instead of the third tax this year the nice part about the the wheeler deal is that it doesn't kick in till after this year so you know it affects it it doesn't really affect what they can do with the trade deadline um they still have like 18 16 million i believe until the the third repeater tax and whatever

but i do believe that that montgomery could still happen um does not cost a qualifying offer you don't have to give up a second and a fifth the only way you'd have to give up or move your draft pick back 10 slots is if you reach that next level of tax but um it's definitely one to monitor and you know we talk about windows. We talk about where this baseball team is at. Like, it is so clear that they have to prioritize the next four years. You know, so you have Schwarber for two more. You have Cassianos for, let's all include him this year, Cassianos for three.

We'll see what happens with Stott and Boehm. We know Turner's here. Marsh, we'll see what happens with his contract. See what happens in center field. Can Rojas be that guy? Do they start Pache and let Rojas still develop hitting in AAA? JT, we know his contract's coming up soon. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at all

if they just say, hey, we'll take care of JT too. Why not? He's one of our guys. But they gotta get it done in these next couple years. Schwarber, I know he only has this year and next year left. I wouldn't be surprised if he's here, if he's still hitting 40 plus home runs. So this is our core

these are our guys and it's like when it's it's they have such a good base they have such a good base and the fact that we're now heading into a year and heading into these next couple years without the worry of losing our one-two punch. Then it lets Painter just come in and he could be the five to start. It lets Chris Sanchez not do much brush around. It lets Ranger go out there and do his thing. If they sign Jordan Montgomery, sick. It makes them that much better. But it was such a perfect deal, I think, for this current window.

Credit to Zach Wheeler and definitely credit to John Middleton and Dave Dombrowski, who I think have really turned this organization from not only a really good family organization, but into one of the pillars in the sport in a way for how they take care of guys, how they spend money. Now they're focusing on value at the margins. People will say, what did they get better at this offseason? Who did they add? Well, I think when – and I'm not like crapping on that. I have had that kind of feeling.

But once spring training started and I heard the way they were talking, I saw Rob Thompson talk about, you know, valuing the little things and cleaning up the margins. You know, when you have these guys who have been around for a while, you know, the only person they really added in was Whit Merrifield, you know, and he's a bench guy that might play more. But regardless, like, they know each other. They all know each other.

So the stuff that they can get better at is all the small things. They're not integrating a guy in. You know, they're not integrating a new hitting system or whatever. You know, they are, you know, they're just trying to get better at all the little things. I think we're going to see a more complete baseball team this year. I think we're going to see a team that is going to move runners along. I know that doesn't exactly excite people, but I think we're going to see them just get better at all the little things that really contribute to winning baseball. We talk a lot about winning baseball on the podcast, and I think we know what winning

baseball looks like. I think the last couple of years they've gotten by by just having a ton of talent. Now I think we're going to see hopefully the chase rates come down, you know, get guys into the strike zone. A couple of things that I've just like noticed, I didn't get to watch the game yet today, which is incredibly disappointing. And no, no, no, we're not talking about the Griff McGarry outing today. But just from watching the games, getting the sense down there,

listening to people talk from down there, pounding the strike zone with fastballs seems to be one of their core things right now, and getting guys in the zone and not chasing. And I think if you watch some of these Turner at-bats, some of these JT at-bats, what Boehm's doing, even Cassianos, they look like it's a conscious effort to work on those things. You look at the starters. You look at the pitchers.

Looks like they're throwing more strikes. Now it's spring training. Doesn't always translate over the regular season, effort to uh to work on those things you look at the starters you look at the pitchers looks like they're throwing more strikes now it's spring training doesn't always translate over the regular season but still seems like they're throwing more strikes so um that's been really good to see when you're talking about like what they're they're going to get better at um i thought it was really good how much zach wheeler was was really crediting Caleb Cotham today. You know, Caleb Cotham, a couple years ago, you know, comes in, and I feel like he's trying to almost modernize the Phillies by himself. And it seems like now he's a bit more established.

He's added some guys around him, like Brian Kaplan, and this kind of pitching staff is coming together. I guess when we're talking about things like how is this team going to get better, you can't get into the super nerdy stuff all the time. But I know I said Adam Lind last night. That was a big old swing and a miss. Adam Lind last night. That was a big old swing and a miss. But when you add Dustin Lind to Kevin Long's organization, his group there,

you have the Brian Kaplan, Caleb Cotham-like brain trust, and now it's a top-down approach and everyone's on the same page. That's why Preston Mattingly has been brought in too. Like it's creating an entire Phillies way way it's creating an entire philly's way um and that's how you see guys you know get better at the uh at you see that's how that's how the team gets better at the margins bringing in a guy like dustin lind who comes from the giants who i thought had a really good um like in watching that i feel like they all had a plan the last couple years and sometimes i feel like when the philly's offense would crater it I feel like they all had a plan the last couple years. And sometimes I feel like when the Phillies offense would crater, it's not like they always had a plan.

And Kevin Long has talked about like he's being pulled in a million different directions. And now he can just really, really focus on his guys because Dustin Lynn's here. So if you missed Alex Coffey's piece on him, just really, really good stuff. But, yeah, just like Caleb Caleb coughum brian caplan and how much wheeler truly respects him and and you see even a guy like nola who traditionally not a big you know science guy or biomechanics he's buying it and you know they got him at the end of last year to change the direction he was looking at home plate like just little minor things like that and when you have a guy like kotham who not only played at the major league level but he has the background with all the the the science behind it it's like just a perfect marriage like like the like the Rob Thompson led Philly's staff or whatever.

It's just, it's so high level. Um, so it's, it's really fun. You know, we went through a lot of dark periods with this baseball team and it's just so refreshing to wake up and,

um, you just, you're heading into a year where like they talk about the world series so why can't we talk about the world series you know and like they just seem like such a healthy well-functioning organization that takes care of their players the players love playing here um and no one wants to leave um i thought it was really interesting on the broadcast the other day you know franski's talking to franski and ben davis are talking to to bryce harper um and of course the contract comes up um which i guess now that wheeler's done the the bryce harper contract is now back on the table um but you know so you know all these i i feel like if they do get it

done it's gonna look a lot different than I think what people think. I don't think there's going to be new money on it. It feels like there's going to be deferrals on it. And, like, he's going to get taken care of. Like, John Middleton's not going to let Bryce Harper go. He also doesn't want him to be upset. I don't think he's really that upset. I think he just is making it known that he wants to stay here, wants to be paid through his 40s and whatnot.

And I think Middleton's going to take care of that. The part that I found interesting was at the end. And I just don't know how they do it. But he hinted at wanting to be an owner. And I didn't take that lightly. Like Bryce is pretty calculated with stuff. You know, he's been laying the groundwork for this extension for a little bit. So when he just threw out there at the end, like, I don't want to be a GM.

No, he didn't want to be a broadcaster. He didn't want to be a broadcaster. He's like, I'd rather be an owner. Wonder if that's a part of this. But I don't think they can make him a minority owner or like a part owner as a player um maybe they give him stock i don't know um i just thought that was interesting and he is a uh he's very very smart with this kind of stuff um and yeah he that that one uh perked my interest or piqued my interest when he threw out the whole owner thing.

But, yeah, so Zach Wheeler, it's the biggest extension in baseball history by AAV, which is pretty crazy. So three years, $42 million. He's here. He's not going anywhere. And just credit to everyone involved. I think it's really, really a win-win. I obviously wanted to get Zach Wheeler done. I wanted his contract. I wanted him here.

I didn't want him to go anywhere. But a part of me was 100% worried about them going five years and possibly extending this thing out because that's been their MO in this really high spending era they didn't they didn't do that they went high av they went three years and they got one of the best pitchers in baseball who um i think is going to age fine i know this is like pie in the sky high hopes but um i i'm just being honest like i watch him pitch i see the fastball i see how it still continues to grade out really well i see him you know working on on a splitter and always continuing

to evolve this great piece in in fan graphs talking about with zach wheeler and he's like i'm always just trying to evolve and get better at at little things and if he can add in a a splitter to go with the sweeper that once again like i i felt like i zach wheeler has morphed into one of the five best pitchers in the sport and and i feel like he doesn't really ever throw his secondaries for strikes his fastball is that good that he doesn't even have to sometimes get his secondaries over. He's that special of a talent. I feel like in the postseason, all of a sudden, he found the sweeper. And it turned into a legit weapon for him. And by the way, I'll keep pointing this out, he's the lowest postseason whip in the history of baseball.

So he's not only been money in the regular season, he's been 100% money in the postseason. He actually wasn't even that great in the regular season last year. He's still really good. But in the postseason, it's just so weird walking into a game or sitting down to watch a game in the postseason and have, like, I swear to you, I have no stress in his Aquagular start in the postseason. It's like even if he lets up some runs, he's not getting shelled. He's not going to get shelled. He's that dominant.

So apparently he wants to work on the splitter to, because lefties did better against him last year. Splitter off of his fastball to lefties is pretty stupid. And I know he's tinkered around with the splitter in the past. I know he threw one with the mets and um and it had mixed results i just trust that now with with caleb kotham here with the rep so rapsodo cameras with this kind of stuff he's going to be able to get the best version of that splitter he can the one fear of the splitter is how much stress it can put on your arm um so you know like kodai sanga is

is hurt now with a shoulder thing people are blaming the splitter that they traditionally say that the more you spread your your fingers it it stresses out your ligaments as it goes down your arm so that's obviously something that to be with. But at the same time, you know, Roger Clemens pitched forever with a splitter. Schilling pitched forever with a splitter. Smoltz pitched forever with a splitter. So it really just comes down to if your arm can handle it. And his arm seems really, really strong. So really exciting stuff.

Really exciting stuff. Let me just try to sneak through some questions in here. Does Boehm lead the team in RBI this year? I'll say this. You know, even if they – it depends what they do with the lineup. I think it's going to be Schwarber. So Schwarber, Turner, Harper. I'm putting Boehm there in the fourth spot.

I think JT looks great. It's not an indictment on JT because, man, it seems like the biomechanics lab is doing wonders. I just think that Boehm this year, swing looks fluid. He's not really a strikeout guy. I trust him when it comes down to putting the ball in play when needed. Where it's like runner on third, less than two outs. I trust him to put the ball in the outfield.

Not that I don't trust JT with that stuff, but I think Boehm has at least proven to be more of an RBI guy over the years. I like him in the fourth spot. Either way, pretty formidable lineup. Even if you want to lead off Stott you know and he goes stott turner harper i would still put bone there and then he can go schwarber jt pretty good it's pretty good

um from a guy anthony is benson uh what do i think of rojas opening up his swing a little bit um i didn't get to see today, which is a huge shame. I think his swing looks more powerful and it looks more clean. I'll kind of trust Kevin Long and those guys from that standpoint so far. I think he's working through some things. He is a young hitter. He's facing real pitching. He obviously was working on it all offseason,

but now he's working on real pitching. I think Paci looks great. I think both those guys look stronger. Like all these, even Kingery. And I know people don't want to go down the Scotty Jetpacks train again, but even Kingery's swing looks strong. Like all these guys, I'm telling you, it looks different. They all look stronger.

JT looks stronger. Baum looks stronger. Castellanos looks stronger. Harper's Harper. Stott looks pretty much the same. Schwarber looks a little bit thinner, but pretty much the same. But it seems like a lot of these guys did something. Whether it's the biomechanics lab, whether it's

Dustin Lind. Yes, I messed that up yesterday. And it's so embarrassing because I was so excited. And I really thought it was Adam Lind the whole time. But it's Dustin Lind. And either way, he is a... it seems, he is a, it seems like he's a stud so far. Class A at the deadline?

Maybe, I just, I think by May, I think by May, Kirkering takes that spot and hopefully kind of runs with it. You know, or the way Sir Anthony looks right now, I just, maybe just let him go and take it and see what he get. But listen, they are a an organization and they have a manager that believes in matchups. And the good part is they have a lot of guys that can match up in great ways. The one guy who I've been disappointed with so far in spring training is soda who it's it's like 98 it's like man but it must be a flat fastball because i feel like it's getting squared up all the time um now really good stuff against lefties last year he's just so prone to those

those blow-ups um he's been tinkering with the change-up. It's like 91-92. Yeah. Gregory Soto is probably the one ball-pun guy that hasn't really popped for me. We're not discussing the Griff outing, but everyone else looks pretty good from that standpoint. Yeah, I understand the fear

with JT being too old. Listen, they might not extend them but given i know he's gonna be an older catcher but but to his credit was a short stop coming up theoretically has more fresh legs and he's one of the most athletic catchers of all time so maybe if they extend him out, I don't think it's going to be for $25 million a year, but do they do enough to keep him here and keep him a part of this core while they're going for it

as long as he has a completely crater in the next two years? I think that's definitely a possibility. I don't think it's going to be like a five-year extension, but taking care of that is going to be really interesting. Jack, are you team Sosa Cave or Kingery Pache? Ask me in two weeks. Ask me in two weeks. No, my problem is I love Emundo Sosa.

I think he's a really valuable player. Not really valuable. He's probably a stretch, but i like him mundo sosa i'm incredibly intrigued by kingery but i would like to see him at least do it at triple a for a little bit before i move on from a mundo sosa uh i just don't want jk on this roster i i i can't do it i david doll had a home run the other day i would like i'm intrigued by david doll strictly because he's an all-star in 2019 and I feel like I've owned him in fantasy for like the last five years so I would be curious about that Pache like

again I don't want to lose him guys 25 from our top 10 15 prospects in the sport um listen I'm I'm I'm intrigued by Johan Rojas but there's definitely real questions as to whether or not he can hit pache looks like he can hit so far um now i think they've a lot in the last couple years i think they have overreacted sometimes to to spring training results and they've kind of overrated them from that standpoint um but but um with no options i don't want to just lose the guy, and I feel like some bad team would pick him up. So if it comes down to start Rojas in AAA, see how he does, and then let Pache start on opening day, if he continues to hit well,

I would much rather do that. Any chance that Tywin Walker leads the team and wins again. You know, I've been mostly anti-Tywin Walker just because it was brutal. Watching an innings eater is not exactly the most fun thing in the world. But there's a real chance for upside here. If we want to use the excuse of the World Baseball Classic for a lot of these guys, he also pitched in the World Baseball Classic. So maybe the VLO ticks up a little bit.

Hopefully the knee is fine. It seems like he's back in spring training. So, yeah, you know, he's probably going to be in the rotation unless they sign Jordan Montgomery. But even if they sign Jordan Montgomery, I don't think that deal is going to be super, super hard to get off of. You know, I know here it's viewed as, oh my god, $18 million for Tyler Walker for the next three years on top of this. I don't think it's viewed that way around the league.

I still think the Montgomery thing can be there. I think the Red Sox should sign him, but they're the Red Sox now. I don't think the Rangers can afford him. We'll see. Might be us. If that happens, that could be go time with the with the tyler walker deal if they do sign jordan montgomery i think it's similar to bellinger where it's an opt-out after one opt-out after two and then he can kind of hit the market not the worst case in the world you know you have wheeler nolan or contract rangers here sanchez is here painter in 2025 so like if he opts out it's not

a super disaster for him to leave and and you have reinforcements even if you traded tyler walker you could use that 18 million dollars on someone else so it's really just a win-win-win for everything around um i i really hope they get it done you know like make this a souped up like stud rotation i know i know the dodgers exist i know the mariners exist i know the braves have a really good rotation the phillies create out better than them on fan graphs but even if you don't think that right now they are deserving of being in that top five you go add jordan montgomery for this year next year whatever three-year deal i mean wheeler nola montgomery ranger sanchez is really good you add in what spencer turnbull's done so far and bang you know it's pretty ridiculous

so um but zach wheeler's here we don't have have to fear. He's not going anywhere. He's our guy. And, again, another guy that's going to go into the Phillies' Ball of Fame one day. And Matt Klintak. The rewriting of the Matt Klintak era is 100% going to rival the rewriting of the Ed Wade experience. I'm glad someone brought up Kellen Moore. It seems like he's going to be a good fit for offensive coordinator. And A.J. Brown did answer that question.

I want that on the record. I want that on the record. But either way, thanks to everyone that hung out. This has been fun. And I hope to do this a little bit more going forward. Obviously, with James' schedule, it's harder to record during the week. Again, to come on here, shoot the breeze,

answer some questions, talk about a Zach Wheeler extension. Doesn't get much better than that. Thanks to everyone for hanging out. Go Phils! For hanging out. And go Fells. We'll see you next time.