High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Rob Thomson is the Steady Hand the Phillies Need | WIP Daily

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

Joe Giglio reacts to Trea Turner's massive home run and thinks Rob Thomson's belief in the Phillies shortstop will pay off moving forward. 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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Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Whether the action is at the link or the bank, there's never an off day on Broad Street. It's the biggest news of the day, every day, with takes from someone who's never short on them. It's WIP Daily with Joe Giglio. Welcome on in, WIP Daily for a May 25th. Joe Giglio with you, of course, and appreciate everyone listening and who subscribed to this show and followed the show.

WIP Daily, wherever you get your podcasts. And, of course, the video feed, 94WIP, the YouTube page. And, of course, we start today and react to maybe the biggest hit of the season for the Phillies. Actually, it was the biggest hit for the season for the Phillies. And maybe the springboard for where they want to go. Trey Turner's two-run home run, bottom of the ninth, after just some, I mean, an awful strikeout in his fourth at-bat. And, you know, today on WIP, today in Philadelphia,

will be about Trey Turner. There's no question because Trey Turner has been so bad. We did a deep dive a few days ago on what Trey Turner has been so far for the Phillies. And then, obviously, to have that hit, I mean, that could be the kind of hit that changes his season and maybe change the first year of his Phillies career. But yesterday, although it's about Trey Turner, I thought yesterday as well, and really I think the underbelly of the Phillies trying to come out of what they've done so far is Rob Thompson.

And I come to you as a big Rob Thompson fan. And yesterday, and we talked about a lot in the Midday Show yesterday, as I was driving in and listening to the morning show with Cameron Ritchie, I heard the first fire Rob Thompson call of 2023 on WIP. And it blew me away because I don't pin the beginning of this Philly season on Rob Thompson almost at all. And I think the Phillies have a good manager, and the Phillies have the right answer manager, and I'm not worried about the guy in the dugout pushing

the buttons for the Phillies. And I thought yesterday the backdrop, kind of the behind the scenes of why they had that comeback yesterday was Rob Thompson's managing, and two specific things that he's shown us now. It's basically a calendar year. We're about a week away from a calendar year. He's been the Phillies manager. And what he has

shown us is two very specific things that I think are, I think, I'll say it like this. I think they are repeatable. I think this is who he is as a manager. And I think we have to recognize this when things are rough, when things are not going well for a stretch, let's fall back on this. Let's start with the obvious, and I think it is so important because of how we are, how I am, how all of us are, are reactionary. Rob Thompson is patient. Rob Thompson is calm. And when the team's not playing well, that might bother you. Like, hey, throw a table, flip something over, turn the lineup upside down. That's not who Rob Thompson is calm. And when the team's not playing well, that might bother you. Like, hey, throw a table, flip something over, turn the lineup upside down.

That's not who Rob Thompson is. We saw it last year when he took over. He kind of settled things down. He kind of put in a lineup to where it was mostly the same on a day-to-day basis. That's what he did, and they started to take off and thrive. And even to the playoffs last year, remember early in the postseason last year,

Schwarber was struggling, Reese Hoskins was struggling. They came back from Atlanta struggling. And a lot of the discussion was you got to change the lineup. You have to drop one of those guys down. You got to take Hoskins and put him down the bottom of the order because he's killing the team right now. Rob Thompson didn't do it. He left it exactly the way it was. And what happened? The Reese Hoskins bat slam that sent Citizens Bank Park into a tizzy. And I thought about that yesterday.

And obviously in the middle of a game, he can't change the lineup. But I thought about yesterday because my reaction when Trey Turner got to 0 for 4 and he swung at two pitches that bounced in the dirt was, you have to drop him in the order. It is time. He is destroying the team right now because it is out after out after out in the number one or number two spot. He just keeps coming up. And it even kind of manifested itself.

Trey Turner's made the last out in the game nine times this year. If he had made an out yesterday, instead of hitting the two-run home run to tie the game, it would have been 10, which is a remarkable number of times. It's just bad luck. I mean, he stinks or he stunk so far this year, I should say. And his turn keeps coming up. Well, part of the reason his turn keeps coming up is because the lineup is turning over. He's sitting near the top of the order. He's getting more chances and so on and so forth. So I couldn't have been the only one sitting in my house yesterday watching or listening to Scott in LA on the broadcast saying,

you got to drop him in the order. You have to drop him in the order. You can't have him in the two spot anymore. You can't have him in the one spot. He's got to be down six, seven. Get him away from the biggest moments. Take the bat out of his hand in essence. Don't let him affect the game as much.

Well, Rob Thompson hasn't done that. Rob Thompson has wrote it out with Trey Turner. He continues to write it out with Trey Turner. And Rob Thompson's patience with Trey Turner is why he was up in that spot to hit that home run. I mean, if before the game, Rob Thompson thought like a lot of us, he would have been batting six or seven. Like he would have been down at the bottom of the order until maybe he got himself going. It's not unheard of. I mean, a lot of managers do it. It's not crazy. I mean, heck, Joe Torre once batted Alex Rodriguez eighth in a playoff game.

I mean, this stuff happens. When players are scuffling, managers shake it up a little bit. And sometimes it gets them out of it. It helps. But there is an element to you have to be who you are. And Rob Thompson has shown us now in almost a calendar year as a manager. I'm going to go pull up his records that he got here or since he became the Phillies manager. But, you know, he's shown us in this calendar year as a manager that he is patient.

He's not going to shake things up to shake things up. He's going to trust his players. And a lot of times these players have rewarded him. I think back to the bat slam by Reese Hoskins. And, of course, now I think to what Trey Turner did yesterday. Incredible moment. Hopefully one that gets Trey Turner going. He needed it so badly. And the Phillies really needed it badly because you think about last year when they did turn things around, when they

finally turned things around. It really was some big moments. You know, the start of the home run on the Sunday against the Angels that first week at Thompson was the manager. They go to Milwaukee and it's Bohm and Vierling off of Hader. They come back home the next week and it's Garrett Stubbs with the walk-off home run against the Marlins. They had some really, really big, memorable

moments they could cling to. And yesterday was their best character win of the season and it was one they could cling to. Down 5-0 to a guy that's the co-favorite to win the National League Cy Young. I mean, Zach Gallant's tremendous. And he was pitching well. And then they just kind of grinded him in those middle innings and got him out of the

game and then got to the bullpen and just found their way to a victor. Really, really character win. Rob Thompson, by the way, is now managed, regular season-wise, 160 games for the Phillies, 88-72. So if they win the first two in Atlanta, he's 90-72 his first two games. Even at worst, he's 88-74. It's obviously quite good. And that's with a tough start to the season. It just shows over basically a full season, Rob's done quite a job as Phillies manager. So leaving Trey number two, leaving him there top of the order, believing, patience, all those kind of things, that hit me yesterday. That's one of the biggest reasons they won the game is obviously Trey Turner

was there in that spot to get up and have that chance to hit that swing. The other reason the Phillies won that game yesterday is because the Phillies got five shutout innings from their bullpen. And think about how choppy it started, because Jeff Hoffman came in as the first reliever out of the bullpen after Ranger Suarez had a tough day, and Hoffman walked three guys. I mean, he basically, the game was about to explode there.

Five-nothing was about to go to six or seven or eight-nothing, and the Phillies were able to cut it down. Vasquez, who I think they have something there with the lefty with that kind of quirky delivery, comes in and gives them an inning and really cleaned up the mess that Hoffman had created. Brogdon, 1 and 2 thirds, and I think Brogdon's done a nice job this year. Even Marte came in, and Marte's a guy that, you know, he's kind of been shuffled back and forth between AAA and here.

He gave them, you know, an inning yesterday. And then, of course, Kimbrough on the 10th. And this is nothing new. For as bad as the Phillies' bullpen was to start the season, I think we're losing sight of how good they've been the last month. And the backdrop of what I'm about to reveal, these numbers here, is, of course, that Jose Alvarado has missed time. Jose Alvarado has been gone.

He's been injured for the past couple weeks. So they've done this despite maybe the best reliever in baseball. I thought that's what Alvarado had developed into as the season started. Not being part of this for the past couple weeks. In the last 30 days, so 30 days we go back to

April 25th, around there. In the last 30 days, the Phillies have the second best bullpen ERA in all of baseball. They have a 2.91 earn-run average as a unit over the last month. And I give a lot of that credit to Rob Thompson. We saw this last year. Again, the two things Rob Thompson showed us, patience, calm, even keeled.

The players love that. Doesn't overreact. Doesn't herky-jerky with the lineup all the time. Now, he's made some changes this year, and you guys know I want Schwarber to hit leadoff, but I can deal with that as a Rob Thompson fan because I do think his philosophy fits well with this group, and he's going to get the most out of them. So you have the lineup thing where he's patient. Obviously, Trey Turner's still hitting the top, hits the big home run.

But then the bullpen. I thought last year one of the biggest changes when Thompson took over versus Girardi was, number one, calm demeanor, and he settled things down. The other thing he did was manage the bullpen really well. He has a very, very, very good touch with the bullpen, kind of knowing when to bring guys in, which pockets the lineup, mapping it out. I know it didn't work with Alvarado and Wheeler Game 6 in Houston, but they got there. They got to game six of the World Series with a pretty flawed baseball team last year because their bullpen turned things around.

This year's bullpen, when Alvarado's there, obviously you have a great pitcher right now, but I don't think it's been easy to navigate and use this bullpen. I really don't. You look at the Phillies' bullpen, there's a lot of high wire acts out there. You've got to really figure out the right spot for them. And again, the starting pitching has been so bad that these guys have been used a lot. So Rob Thompson's got to make decisions day to day

on when I want to use this guy versus that guy. You know, can I steal this game? Am I going to lose this game anyway? Do I want to use my leverage guys here? Do I need to save them? So there's a lot. But you look at the bullpen, you know, Kimbrell has a six ERA despite finishing that yesterday. He hasn't been overall outstanding.

Brogdon, 2.45 ERA. Metrics would tell you he's been a little worse than that. I think Andrew Vasquez has been quite good. I mean, he's probably been one of the more reliable relievers. Soto, when he's good, he's good. When he's bad, he's bad. That's why his ERA is 4-6-4. Dominguez, 4-2-6. So the ERAs of these bullpen guys have not been amazing, right? But yet, as a collective, he's getting a lot out of them. I mean, he really is. I mean, you look at Jeff Hoffman, 1-2-3-RA.

He's got 7.1 innings in the books. Dylan Covey the other day came in and did a really nice job in those five innings. I just think that Rob Thompson's ability to navigate the bullpen, pick the right spots for each guy, it's made a difference. I mean, it really has. And yesterday, you go back to just the

flow of that game. They're down 5-0. There is angst in Citizens Bank Park. It felt like we were training. I mean, if they lost that game yesterday, they're 22 and 27. Just two games different. Two losses off the pace that you already got fired at last year. So, I mean, they're really in a bad spot. They get swept at home by the Dimebacks before taking a trip to Atlanta for four games. Really bad spot, if that's the case. So, they needed to figure out a way to climb back

in that game. And for Thompson's bullpen management to settle that thing down, they don't come back in that game if not for the bullpen. You know, the Trey Holm run is wonderful, but, like, seriously. I mean, if they don't have the bullpen stepping up there and really shutting it down, like, let's just say they give up a run or two more. They don't come back. I mean, the Trey Holm run, it's almost like footnote. Like, oh, wow, he hit a home run the ninth inning. They don't come back. I mean, the Trey home run, it's almost like footnote.

Like, oh, wow, he hit a home run the ninth inning. Play everything else out for the Phillies offense the same way, except they're down seven. Or the Dimebacks get to seven or eight. Well, none of that matters. Like, oh, cool, Trey Turner on a home run down four in the ninth inning, and maybe he's going to start hitting. But, like, who knows?

He also struck out on a terrible strikeout early in the game and was 0 for4 before that. There's not a reaction today and an excitement and a feeling for all of us, and I'm sure for Trey Turner, too, without that moment. It had to be a moment yesterday for the Phillies. It had to be a moment for Trey Turner, which it was. But it wouldn't have been that way without Rob Thompson's bullpen management. I want us to take a deep breath on Rob Thompson as the manager. I don't think most out there are blaming him, but I did sense, and we talked about it yesterday on the Midday Show, some angst, some questioning about Topper. There's a lot of things about this

team I'm worried about. Starting pitching, been horrendous. Are they going to have enough power throughout the lineup? It is where they miss Reese Hoskins. Like those kind of things worry me. But I'm not worried about Rob Thompson in the dugout. I mean, last year, you guys know, probably remember how I felt. I wanted Girardi out of here. I thought he was holding them back. I thought he was terrible.

I don't feel that way about Rob Thompson at all. In fact, I think he is more of an asset than a liability. You know, some managers are liabilities. Some are assets, some are just kind of blah in the middle. I think Rob trends to more being an asset in the dugout than he does to being a liability. Now, he's going to have more tough decisions to navigate over the next month when, if he decides to move Shorber back up, if Turner doesn't figure it out, we hope this is a springboard, but if he doesn't, all right, is he going to eventually drop him? He's avoided that

decision, but these are big things that could still permeate as the season goes along. Rob's going to have to handle those, but we know he handles the bullpen well. I think the starting pitching by accident should get a little bit better as the year goes on. The power, that's just got to come. Hopefully it does. If only he's going to win games and be back

in the race, But Rob Thompson yesterday, kind of the backdrop of the Trey Turner moment, was him. Was the manager. Because his patience left Trey Turner in the two-hole, and his ability to navigate a bullpen. Again, guys, we're not talking about using their best relievers yesterday.

It was Hoffman, Vasquez, Brogdon, Marte, and then Kimber once the game was tied. So it's not like he burned his leverage guys to try to win a 5-0 game. No, he just piecemealed together that those relievers did a good job. And in the last month, it's the second best bullpen in all of baseball. That's a pretty big deal. I mean, look at the bullpens that are top five. They're all going to end up winning records by the end of the season.

Padres will get there, struggle like the Phillies. The Phillies, I believe, will have a winning record. Baltimore is one of the best teams in baseball right now, young and up and coming, and just they're good. Seattle will have a winning record. Houston will have a winning record. If you have a good bullpen in today's game, you're going to have a winning record. So that's a big deal.

And yet last year it changed. The Phillies bullpen became an asset. And this year it's becoming one again. Hopefully it keeps up. Don't forget Topper. Topper was a big part of that comeback. Trust Topper. That's the message.

Trust Topper. He knows what he's doing. Appreciate everyone listening to WIP Daily. Big series with Phil starting tonight in Atlanta. We'll talk about it on the Midday Show. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. Of course, five-star reviews help the show grow. And, of course, the 94WIP YouTube page. We're doing video podcasts there a couple

times a week. Thank you for listening. We'll talk tomorrow.