High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Rob Thomson Isn't Worried About Bryce Harper's Back

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

Phillies manager Rob Thomson joins the WIP Morning Show live in Clearwater to discuss his Opening Day starter, Bryce Harper's back stiffness and more. 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

All-star closer, Kenley Jansen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball Isn't Boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact, so jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. John, it has been a pleasure for us during the course of our show to speak last year quite a bit to the Phil Skipper, Rob Thompson. And this is, believe it or not, the first time we have met Rob Thompson after many times talking to him over the phone.

So let's welcome in the Phillies manager, now entering his what will be his second full season with the Phillies. But really, you know, year three if you think about it. And two postseasons already in the books. Phillies manager Rob Thompson. Good morning, Rob. Good morning. It's good to be here.

How are you, Rob? I'm doing great. Good for you. How's this spring training going for you? Very good. You know, we're expecting some rain today. But it's been very nice, very warm. We haven't been backed up by weather at all, so it's rained very well.

You just got a workout in? You got the towel in like a boxer over your shoulder. Yeah, a little workout, just a short one. Good for you. All right, so, Rob, let's get to a lot of different topics here. Zach Wheeler, you named him over the weekend the opening day starter. Nola, obviously, had done it for a number of years. Why Wheeler and not Nola?

Well, it just kind of lined up that way. But I had talked to Nola about it because he had started, I think, six consecutive opening days for us and was wondering if he was okay with that. And Nola, being the great teammate that he is, he said, yeah, I have no problem with that. And he said he thought that Zach should be the opening day starter. So that's the way we went, and, you know, we're looking forward to it. Bryce Harper, you know, people may have missed it

if people weren't paying attention the last day or so, the stiff back. Yeah. Is it a concern or not really? No, not at all. He just, you know, he's been doing a lot of work at first base. He's been doing a lot of swinging, and he just came up stiff. He's been trying to grind through it, so I just took the game away from him for a few days,

and I don't have any concerns at all. He's going to be ready by opening day. He's going to be probably playing in games by the end of the week. Rob Thompson with us here. Rob, let's talk about the division. You heard our Twitter poll question, Phil's Braves. One thing that we wonder is, this is going to sound like a strange question, but how important it is to you to win the division.

Obviously, if you get clipped in the first round, if you're a wild card team, it's real important because then you lost and you didn't get that bye. So as you embark on a new campaign, knowing that they beat you by a lot of games in the regular season, a lot of games, and then you thumped them in the postseason two years in a row, how important is it for you as you embark on this to try to prioritize that or not? I think it's extremely important to win the division, especially to have that mindset.

Because if you don't have that mindset, if you just think, well, we'll get the wild card and the division's not important, you're playing with fire. And the next thing you know, you're not even in the playoffs. The other reason you win the division is you're guaranteed home games. And we play so well at home. Our fan base is so great and energetic. reason you win the division is you're guaranteed home games and we play so well at home um our fan base is so great and energetic and they lift us up that that's important and uh that's that's the message to the ball club how much does spring training bring your players closer and how do you

help facilitate that well it does bring you closer you closer because you're here every day, and I spend a lot of time together. And I think it's good because not only do we have our 26-man roster, but we've got 60 guys here. So last year we used 44 guys to get through the season. The year before it was 56 guys. Wow. So it's a lot of people.

And so to have these extra guys here that are going to help us at some point during the season to get comfortable with their, who would be their new teammates as they come up is really important. So we try to, we try to make sure that they're, they're working together. So a person, a player that's not going to make the club, we make sure that if he's a second baseman, at some point he's, he's working with Trey Turner just in case something happens and he has to come up during the season. So I think that's important. I think it's worked in the past for us, and I think a lot of guys are feeling really comfortable, and it's a great group.

Which is more likely, Rojas starts the season in the majors, or he works on his hitting in triple a well we got a few meetings coming up here and uh so i don't know what's likely um because we're going to discuss a lot of that stuff but uh usually you know we're still at like 56 players in camp and usually we're a lot lower numbers but we've had a flu bug that ran through our clubhouse and and also because of the the scheduling uh you know we've got a split squad today um so we've had to keep a lot more guys in camp so we got a lot of meetings we got a lot of a lot of work to do in the next week we're fascinated with kirk ring uh his ascension through the ranks last year from single all the

way up through how much has he proven himself to you at this point? Well, he proved it to me last year. Unfortunately, he's only had two outings in spring training because he got the flu, and it really affected him. So he's gone through a lot of fatigue, and so he hasn't been able to get on a mound. Yesterday was his first bullpen in a while, so we're going to get back up on the mound here shortly in the next few days.

But last year he proved to me the stuff's there, the poise, the maturity, 22 years old. It's really amazing. So he proved it to me last year, and, you know, hopefully we get him ready for the season. Rob, would you prefer to have a designated closer to start the season, or does it not matter that much to you? I'd prefer it because it works a lot better with your bullpen. Everybody kind of knows their roles. It kind of works itself out that way, but it's not essential.

We've gone by committee the last couple of years, and it's worked out pretty good, but, you know, from a logistics standpoint, for game planning, it's a little bit easier having a designated closer, but, you know, we've got six guys that I truly believe can take down a ninth inning, so, you know, we'll see just how it plays out. Game one, 10 days from now. Let's say that Miracle World Zach Wheeler gives you eight innings on opening day, which is unlikely because it's opening day. You got the whole bullpen at your disposal. Who do you probably go to on the ninth?

It all depends on who's coming up. Good answer. Rob Thompson with us here on WIP. All right, Rob, is the leadoff question the question that you get asked the most that's like, here we go again, I gotta answer the leadoff question again. So you're gonna answer it. It's a unique way to ask the question there.

So let's have at it. Let's ask it for the 37,000th time. Alright, Rob, so 10 days to opening day, how is it looking for who will lead off for this team out of the gate? Well, I don't know yet. I don't want to give the Braves any upfront information, but we've had a lot of success with Schwarber in the leadoff spot, and I know it's not conventional.

I know there's a lot of talk back and forth about it, but that's okay. But we've won games the last two years when he's in the leadoff spot, so I tend to lean that way until something goes wrong. So I tend to lean that way until something goes wrong. He gets on base. He hits home runs. He can put us up one-nothing quick. He's also a power guy as the bottom of that lineup turns over. And they, you know, with Marsh and a couple other guys down at the end,

they get on base, and so he's there to drive in some runs. So it's worked out very well with him there. That's the way I'm leaning. But, you know, things can change too. Let me ask you this, Rob. This is an interesting dynamic within that conversation. If you determine that Schwerber should be that guy, do you consider not having him be it in April or even May, given his history of slow starts?

No, not really. I like to be very consistent and, you know, I think I'm kind of a positive thinker that I think that he's going to get off to a good start. How important is it having a bench guy you can trust like Witt Merrifield? It's huge. I mean, he's a big piece and he's a baseball player. He can play anywhere on the diamond, really. And I trust him anywhere. He gives you a great at-bat. He gets on base. He'll hit a few home runs here and there. And he's smart. Great base runner. He can steal the base. He's really a nice piece to have. How ahead of last year's team is this year's team?

We know that things with the World Baseball Classic got a little all over the place and made it tough last season. How much better is this team compared to last year's team at this point in time? I think we're far ahead of where we were last year. Plus, we've got Ranger, who's healthy, and knock on wood that he stays healthy. Taiwan pitched in the WBC, so he was a little bit behind at the start of the season. And then the three position players, you know, they've had plenty of at-bats.

They're, you know, including backfield at-bats, and they're at 50, 60 at-bats right now. So we're way ahead of where we were last year. Rob Thompson here on WIP with us. Rob, if Bryce hits three this year, and I would assume that's the most likely scenario, which right-handed hitter would you say is the most likely to hit four and protect him behind him?

Well, JT is really swinging the bat right now. He made some mechanical adjustments over the winter, and he doesn't have the high leg kick, so he's getting his foot down on time. And he looks really, as good as I've seen him look, to tell you the truth. And I know it's just spring training, and we've got a long way to go, but he's putting great at-bats together. Rob, let's go back to last October.

You know, one thing that all coaches have to deal with, and especially in Philadelphia, is criticism when the crucible goes, you know, the other way. I get the sense that you handle it pretty well, maybe really well. But you tell us, like, the criticism late October, the decision to put in Kimbrell, heavily criticized, as you know. How do you handle that? Because that was late October, that was November,

until people sort of stopped thinking a little bit about the Phils and kind of drifted more to the Eagles there, it was a big topic. How does that work in your world? Well, you know, I can't control that. So I really don't worry about it. And it's part of the job. It's part of the gig. I just have to keep moving forward, just like I tell the players.

You know, if you have a bad game or you make a bad decision, you've got to move forward. I can't control the criticism. I love our fan base and part of that fan base is a criticism because they care so much. And so that's what I love about it. So just got to deal with it and just keep moving on. Did it sting a little bit? Losing stings. You know, the criticism, I can't, again, I can't control it. So I just got to keep my head down and keep working. Does it feel different here? I mean, I've noticed just from afar that the crowd is insane.

Different this year, positively speaking? It is. You know, and it was different last year from the year before. But this is even better, I guess. I mean, every game's been sold out, and the fans travel. We go on the road here in spring training, and there's more Philly fans than there are the fans in whatever city we're in. So it's just amazing. I think we have the best fan base in sports, and I'll believe that until I'm gone.

Rob, one thing that has fascinated me with your journey, your story, and being the Phillies manager, is you've been very candid about how you didn't necessarily expect to be a manager as recently as two years ago. I know for us as talk show hosts, and we've conveyed this to the audience many times, we still pinch ourselves to be sports talk show hosts on WIP. It's an amazing opportunity. For you, that late in your career, you've got plenty of years left if you want them, but you were going to retire.

Do you still pinch yourself that you were a major league manager? I do. Every day. Really. To kind of fall into this spot with this great group of people, players, coaches, front office, support staff. It's just, I can't believe it. I pinch myself every day.

Every day I wake up and I can't wait to get to the ballpark and see the players and be with the people that are here. It's just an unbelievable experience. Well, Rob, congratulations on all your success. I mean, we are really looking forward to what should be a heck of a campaign this year. Yeah, it should be great, and I appreciate it. And the ballpark, you know, it's going to be jumping. I think so.

I mean, really jumping. Like, you know, it could be back to the sellout days again. It should be great. Rob, good luck with everything up ahead. Thank you. There he is, Phillies manager Rob Thompson. Look, we'll take your phone calls, your reaction on everything discussed there, and what we're discussing with the Eagles, the Phillies today, everything,

the NCAA tournament, it's all on the table. 215-592-9494. Your phone calls. Joe DiCamera and John Ritchie on 94WIP.