High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Reacting To The News That Garrett Crochet Is Not A Phillie

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Jack Fritz reacts to the Garrett Crochet trade and wonders what the Phillies can now do this offseason to reload and become a true contender in the National League again. Presented by Miller Lite. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You've always wanted to be part of something bigger than yourself. You live for experience and lead by example. You want the most out of life and realize what you're looking for is already in you. This is for you. The Canadian Armed Forces. A message from the Government of Canada. The all-new FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino is bringing you more action than ever. Want more ways to follow your faves?

Check out our new player prop tracking with real-time notifications. Or have out more ways to customize your casino page with our new favorite and recently played games tabs. And to top it all off, quick and secure withdrawals. Get more everything with FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino. Gambling Problem Call 1-866-531-2600. Visit connexontario.ca. This is an ad from BetterHelp.

This holiday season, do something for a special person in your life. You. Give yourself the gift of better mental health. BetterHelp online therapy connects you with a qualified therapist via phone, video, or live chat. It's convenient and affordable and can be done from the comfort of your own home. Having someone to talk to is truly a gift,

especially during the holidays. Visit betterhelp.com to learn more and save 10% off your first month. That's betterhelphelp.com. This is the High Hopes podcast. High hopes. On the Odyssey app and sports radio 94WIP. This crowd was singing high hopes.

Smiling through a broken nose. Oh, high hopes. High hopes. I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till

I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till

I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till I can't tell the missus heaven on till a lot of little news notes from the last day of the winter meetings that sees Garrett Crochet not join the Phillies. Last podcast, I kind of felt like that was public posturing

to get the Phillies into it. You know, the Red Sox, I guess, were in on Max Freed and then they were talking about Corbin Burns and they just pivoted and said all right whatever we'll trade the prospects and bring in Garrett crochet and that's a that's a big target that the Phillies won't have so the exit the winter meetings and I think that the frustrating part of of where we're at right now and I think where the fan base is at right now is,

what's the plan here? What's the plan for a step forward next year? Or do we have to start preparing for maybe a step back season, maybe a shed salary, free up some money? I don't know. It just, I don't know. When the season ended, it felt like, okay, they know they have to shake up something here.

They're bringing back the coaching staff. We're gonna make a move to the roster. We're gonna ship off a guy who's been here for a little bit, shake up the core. This team's kind of run its course and we have to make some kind of difference making move to get this team moving in the right direction. And I know it's early. I get it. But it really, it really feels like they're starting to legitimately lay the groundwork for, we're going to run this thing back. We're going to bring everyone the groundwork for we're gonna run this thing back.

We're gonna bring everyone back. We're not gonna make a move here. I would obviously they're gonna they're gonna probably sign a left fielder. I mean that would be insane. Just absolutely insane. And if not make a trade for it. I think I think Saez Suzuki is someone who obviously the big name is Kyle Tucker. I'd still be surprised.

I'd be surprised if they got Kyle Tucker, would obviously freak out and I would pay him whatever. I think Kyle Tucker is an unbelievable baseball player and would really, really move the needle. But I think Suki is a really good fit for this team. Someone who, well, there are some strikeout concerns, but he also does work pitchers. I mean, if you look at Savant,

it's like 94th percentile in Chase. So that's something they had to work on. He has some pop. I mean, in trading for a guy like Suzuki, you are trading for a 25 homerun, 280-ish hitter, which I'll take at this point. So sure, that could be out there or could not be out there. And if that like, there's just, they're just starting to run out of situations where they can add

a legitimate guy to move this thing forward. And again, I totally understand it's early, but at some point you gotta make a move here. I mean, you have to make a move and pull the trigger on some kind of deal to where, yeah, you're gonna have to lose some prospects. And what frustrates me about where we're at with the whole prospect thing, and I mean, if you listen to this podcast, you know that I love prospects, and I think it's a really important sign of a healthy organization. But at the same time, you have to have confidence

in the people in your building that are drafting players, that are developing players, you're starting to see in the last, I don't know, three years, a really, really meaningful step forward from that aspect. So you have to have confidence that you'll be able to continue to supplement talent in the minor league level that can be contributors at the big league level. I mean, they got Aiden Miller at 27. They got Justin Crawford at 18.

They got Andrew Painter at the 14th pick. I mean, these aren't all top 10 kind of guys. And what frustrates me about this unwillingness to make a deal, and maybe the right trade hasn't materialized. And I just hope that one of these days they'll wake up and make some kind of meaningful trade here. But what frustrates me about the prospect thing is that I think they got really smart guys. We know we're a big Brian Barber podcast.

We know that we're a big Preston Mattingly podcast. And while he's not directly involved in the player development system anymore, it's still sort of his vision. You know, Luke Merton has taken that over and I hope he does a great job, but it's the groundwork that Preston has laid, that Brian Barber has laid. And the thing about prospects is you get over them if the player you trade for is fricking awesome. And that's what I think Garrett Crochet would have been.

I think Garrett Crochet, if he's on the Phillies, do they need a starter? No, in a perfect world, but I like to trade a lot for a corner outfielder that's 28 years old and has multiple years of control and I just don't know that that guy's out there, you know, I mean Suzuki. I think he's a really good player He's not a star Kyle Tucker has one year left. Are you trading? I mean God forbid like I forbid I get a trade Aiden Miller for one year of Kyle Tucker and Are you signing him immediately? Well, are you gonna trade Aiden Miller for one year of Kyle Tucker? And are you signing him immediately?

Or do you try to back load the deal so that you pay him a less amount of salary early while you still have some of the other big money guys on the table and then you back load it and you save some of the money, the big portion of that contract for later? I don't know. At this point, again, I'd be surprised.

And if you're Kyle Tucker, you're a year away from free agency, you'd probably just go and try to get your money in free agency. So that's a huge risk. And given what's happened to the Yankees, I don't know if I'd wanna go through that. Again, so in a perfect world, yeah, if that player was out there, go get him.

But at the worst, in the worst case scenario, you could have gone and you could have traded for a guy who you pair with Zach Wheeler, you pair with the future, you know, with Nola and Painter and Sanchez as a frontline top of the rotation type arm and a force multiplier. You need studs in this day in baseball and you know you get over prospects if you get a stud. Again we went through this and I think the Phillies are fearful of having to go through what happened after that again. But again, I think the organization is in a much healthier spot than it was after the run after 2011, after 2012 to where they can bounce back if they do end up trading some

prospects. But I mean, the biggest prospect they traded, listen, Darno's had a good career, so whatever, but like Carrasco was the best one. They traded almost everyone, it seems like, and I'm not a get rid of the prospects kind of guy, but you get over it if the major league level is really freaking good. And it's a 26 year old lefty that I would be shocked if he's not in the Cy Young contention next year. Is there injury concerns? Yeah, but there's risk with everything.

There's risk with every pitcher. There's risk in holding onto Andrew Painter. I wouldn't have traded Andrew Painter for Garrett Crochet, but you get the point. So I just think you get over prospects. I think you have to have some I think you have to have some some faith in the people that you have that are drafting and developing some of these guys to where if you do make a move like that then you can supplement that as you go through. So I'm frustrated from that point. I'm frustrated for the team in general.

I'm frustrated from that point. I'm frustrated for the team in general These are guys we're entering into the last year of Kyle Schwaber. We're entering into the last year of dates JT Romozo Theoretically, they could resign those guys to a it's a contract extension that keeps them through You know next year and the following couple years, but either way this core is winding down. And Bryce Harper is still in the middle of his prime. Trey Turner's in the middle of his prime. There's a lot of these guys that are,

even Alec Bohm, if he's still here, stop. I mean, like Rojas is young, but other than that, we know that this is an older team. Is the plan here to extend the window as long as possible, or is the plan to try to bring home a ring? Let's say that next year is a run it back, you save some money, you save the prospects, you take a little bit of a step back. Am I to expect that with some of the money off the books that they're all of a sudden

going to be better as they get older? And the other thing that's a reality of the whole situation is, I mean Andrew Painter throwing 120 innings this year feels like would be a huge win. Is he going to be ready for a big jump the year after? Possibly. I think so. He should be. But if this whole thing is hinging on Aiden and Justin Crawford, there's going to be a natural learning curve, a natural adjustment period here to where, I mean, even if they come up and dominate, right? And they are one of those special prospects,

the league usually adjusts back and then you have to adjust back to the league. So it's almost like they're stuck in this situation where they have a good amount of older players and then the young players that come up there's this almost expectation that they're come up they're gonna come up and be absolutely dominant from day one and I just and that dominance a stretch I realized that but it could also take them a good amount of time to

kind of find their footing at the Major League level. So you only have so many shots at this thing to try to get it done. And when you see the Red Sox getting better, you see the Yankees getting better. Well, they're all Soto, but they're gonna be aggressive and they're gonna be fine. They're gonna be good next year, we know that. You see the Mets at Soto,

you know the Braves are going to be healthy. They have some, I think they have some monetary issues going on with the TV contract down there, so I don't know what they can do money-wise. But I, with Spencer Schreider and Ronald Acuna getting back, I'm sure they're going to be better than they were last year. It's not like they were disaster last year. They held that thing together for about as long as they could. Central's whatever, you know, the Brewers will be in there, probably win the division, blah, blah, blah. But that, you know, there's no real title threat

in the Central, and then you get to the West, and the Dodgers are a monster, and the Padres are a damn good baseball team. Sure, I could tell you winter's coming, or that it brings cold dry air, but you already knew that. What you might not know is that Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash is made with millions of moisturizing micro-moisture droplets to keep your skin silky soft

for 24 hours, plus it's paraben and sulfate free. No matter how dry your skin feels, Dove has you covered. Buy Dove Body Wash today at your local retailer or visit Dove.ca to learn more and order online. Skip. My neighbor's nightly saxophone practices. Er, nope, you're on your own there. Could've skipped it, should've skipped it. Skip to the good part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on skip. Your teen requested a ride, but this time, not from you. It's through their Uber Teen account.

It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today. So, unless you're, you're, you're, again, step back off season, is that what we're doing with off of 95 wins and winning the end at least? And again, I hope and I do understand that it's early, but between all the bohem stuff that happened out of the winter meetings, between Rob Thompson talking, between Boris

talking, it feels like we're setting up here for a, we're going to run this back, we've got a good ball club, we believe in these guys, and you know, we'll save our powder for the deadline. For, I think the more and more that we have to hear about, okay, it'll be this deadline, okay, it'll be this off season, it'll season. It'll be like, you keep pushing it down the line and you wake up one day and this run's just over. This run's just over. So I think what frustrates me so much in leaving the winter meetings,

and you know, Dave Dabrowski talked today to reporters, I guess, out in, you know, out in Dallas. And he alluded to the idea that, you know, they're close on a lot of things. And the quote to Corey Simon was, or Corey Simon wrote earlier today, the Phillies had a couple of different trade conversations with teams that got quite heavy on Tuesday, but no deal

was finalized. It's not as if they face a deadline and many conversations from this week will continue into the holidays. And the new year, Dave basically said, we don't need to rush this thing. We don't need to, we don't need to really, you know to really you know just take a step back let's control our thoughts we don't need to rush in to make him move okay great but what i want to see is i want to see a a course of action that shows me that you're serious about trying to win next year. And if it costs some prospects and it costs, you know, monetary whatever, you know, I just, it feels like they keep waiting for the perfect deal.

They keep waiting for something to fall into their laps rather than be aggressive. And sometimes you've got to accept that you're going to have to pay a little extra or you're not going to get the guy. And Dave Dabrowski knows that. He's been a GM forever. And identify the guy and go get him, but the thing that you keep coming up against is who's that guy? Who's that player? And that's the predicament this team is currently in.

It's really frustrating. And I know this has just been 15 minutes of rambling and trying to talk your way through it. But man, it's just, deadline, sat out. Last off season, sat out. This would be the third major thing that for the most part, they would be sitting out.

And given how close this team has been, I don't know how you do that. I don't know how you do that and maybe I was foolish, maybe I was in the wrong, but I really expected heading into this offseason off of what transpired, because it was not just a bad week of baseball. And they have to understand that. It was not just a bad week of baseball. It was two and a half months with a nice little blip in the middle against like the Marlins and the Nationals.

For the most part, it was a two and a half month skid. Before that, you clearly played over your over your skis after that regressed to the mean and and Clearly showed some deficiencies like clearly and if the I'm gonna blow a gasket if the plan is We're gonna teach a bunch of 30 year olds to hit the opposite way.

That's okay in theory, but we gotta start living in reality. And the reality is that's probably not gonna happen. And I just, I don't know how the fan, like I know how we'll be, I know how our community, the High Oaks community, listen, we love the Phillies, we're not going anywhere. They could put out the 65 win baseball team, we're here,

we're there, but for the rest of the fan base to, off of what they saw last year, it's almost like ends of the point where, well, what's the point? You know, wake me up in September, wake me up in October, see if we're in this thing, and see if we can mix the noise in the postseason. Wake me up on July 31st for the trade deadline,

but who knows? At that point, they'll probably just say, it's not the right time, it's not the right time. There has to be a right time at some point. It can't just never be the right time to make a big deal. Like it just absolutely cannot be. And man, it was not just a bad week. There is a fundamental flaw with this baseball

team they have enough talent they have enough money they have enough prospects it's something's got to give here the Paramount Plus exclusive series the agency the CIA sends us out to behave in a dangerous way starring Michael Fassbender and Richard Gere whatever it takes make it invisible the agency new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. minds in Canada, essential resources responsibly produced. This is what BHP has committed to Canada. The future is clear. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company.

To discover how, visit bhp.com slash better future. At some point, you have to make a deal. You have to make a deal. And the other thing that, the other thing just is is is sticking in my craw as it's you know approaching 11 o'clock on December 11th. I like Jordan Romano as a as a bounce back option but there's been a little too much talk about this guy's past and how he's a high level, one of the best high leverage guys in the sport.

I know he was, we all know he was, but he got non-tendered. We all know what that elbow looks like. It was obviously good enough to pass physical, so great. I hope, I obviously hope that Jordan Romano is good, and I hope he's healthy, and I hope he can have a great season and get a big contract after this season, but at the same time.

And I think we felt this when they signed him. This felt like the fan base is saying, hey, decent little signing here. Internally, that's their closer. And I just think that's a huge, huge, huge risk, huge risk. Coming off an elbow injury, coming off of getting non-tendered,

and just being like, hey, you're our closer. That's another huge, huge fear and a huge mistake. I mean, just a huge mistake can be a piece, can be a piece. And if he pitches well enough to be a closing option, fine. But for the love of everything, go get another bullpen arm, whether it's Hoffman, whether it's one of the other good arms out there. There's a lot of interesting bullpen arms out there. That cannot be it.

I mean, that cannot be it. Again, I hope they're viewing that more as a flyer than that's our guy. More of a flyer, not that's our guy. So listen, it's for me and I think for you and I think for, speaking for Seltzer and given that he's kind of been echoing the sentiment for a majority of the offseason And he might end up being right. This is a very very very disconcerting Time to be a Phillies fan. It really is and I guess the main message on this tonight is

Make a move at some point. Like make a meaningful move. Do not run this back. Do not just think it was a bad week in October. It was so much more than that. There's a fundamental flaw of the baseball team. And to just kinda kick your feet up again and sit on your hands and not shake this thing up, I think would be a colossal mistake. And for a majority of the fan base, not for us, but for a majority of the fan

base, you are saying to them, yeah, well, we'll check back in later in the year. And it's not all about selling tickets. It's not all about, you know, generating buzz, heading into spring training. If you play well, if you play well, cause start of the season, you know, people will show up and then people show up regardless. But man, I think, I think there's a good amount of trust factor on the line here. And just a smidge of aggressiveness, smidge of aggressiveness. You're never going to get a guy if you're trying to win every deal. It's as simple aggressiveness. You're never going to get a guy if you're trying to win every deal.

It's as simple as that. You're never going to get a guy. And they passed on getting a guy who could be a difference maker today in Garrett Crochet. They're right there. They had a competitive offer, but they didn't get the job done because they're worried about winning deals and man, I just You can't run it back that's the main message you cannot run it back a disappointing winter meetings Dave said there's my irons in the fire. They were close on some things and they took a step back

Hopefully that materializes, but it's getting late early. It's getting late early. I'd be shocked if they got to Oscar Hernandez. I think he wants to go back to LA. Tyler O'Neill already signed. Kyle Tucker feels like a massive long shot given that it seems like the other packages might be more enticing. I mean, Suzuki is a really big, like a really big swing for this off season. If they can get him, you feel pretty confident. If you don't get him, all of a sudden, might be pressing the panic button.

I don't mean to come on here and sound the alarms. I'm just frustrated. I'm just frustrated. I wanted to see aggressiveness. I wanted to see a different, different tone. I wanted to see we're upset about how last year ended well. And I'm not feeling that. And I don't think you're feeling that too. I don't think that you're feeling that, hey, you know, awesome. They were that close last year're, they were that close last year. They weren't that close last year. Their overall record masked what that was. And,

a frustrating week. A frustrating week. Well, I think I've rambled enough. I think I've vented enough. So, if you made it this far, appreciate you listening. I'm sure that we'll be back next week as hopefully they they do something again there's a lot of the irons in the fire according to Dave Dabrowski let's hope also real quick I thought it's pretty interesting that both him and Boris did the whole

swimming in the deep end thing could that mean Bregman good that means I don't know but I thought that was kind of interesting that they both were using the same analogies on the same day So that was a that was definitely an odd one But either way we're back to break it down if anything does happen But I appreciate you listening to 25 minutes of a madman just mad at a baseball team So either way, thanks for hanging out new New podcast will be out soon with Salzer. And as always, thanks for listening. Sometimes when it comes to your personal fitness goals,

you just need a plan. Peloton can give you the plan, absolutely. And Steve, you've got a Peloton. I sure do. And Steve benefits from things like a variety of challenging classes. There are four week strength building classes, running, cycling, everything in between.

Peloton can adapt to any goal in this season of your life. And by the way, the holidays are around the corner. Now is when you need to be on the Peloton. Find your push, find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.ca.