High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The 2026 Phils are Going to be a Juggernaut

Episode Date: February 25, 2022

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are finally back with a new episode of High Hopes. The guys talk (yell?) about the lockout, discuss their excitement for the 2026 Phillies, and much more. Plus, a Jack Fritz Top 5 and the Takebag. 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

Shop Best Buy's Ultimate Smartphone Sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. 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. This is the high hopes podcast. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Phillies on radio.com and sports radio, 94 WIP. It is another edition of the high hopes podcast here's the thing we're still going with that by the way we're still calling it the high hopes podcast yeah it should really be the the no hopes podcast it should be can we relabel i hate the major league baseball owners podcast is that yeah except except yeah i uh i'm excited to be back talking to you i missed high hopes i missed the high hopes crew our people like the community like i missed talking

about the phillies obviously even though you know literally nothing has changed with the phillies since last time we spoke and the last time we spoke before that whatever um but i'm so conflicted because they yell i'm like what do i do like i'm excited to be back talking to you like that's super awesome but our sport is is the worst jack the worst sport like i hate the owners i hate the commissioner like they're all a bunch of we don't curse on this podcast they're all a bunch of bleeps jack they're a bunch of bleeps, Jack. They're a bunch of bleeps. Sure.

Couldn't have said it any better. And I'm soaking wet because I was playing Paw Patrol with Zoe, and she had a bucket of water, and she's splashing water on me. Right. So, you know, I'm ready to pod. I missed you, buddy. How you doing? Well, let's put it this way, James. Every day I wake up and I think about baseball, I also.

That's a tough existence right now. Well, I also feel like I just got a bucket of water, cold water dumped on my head, so... I would say we're in a pretty similar spot. And yes, before we get too far into this... Ooh, I like a good before we get too far into this. Well, no, it's just like... You never know what's going to come.

I feel like our schedule's been erratic, and I feel like we've been all over the place, and I just, I love... Like, James and i genuinely love doing this we love it's our favorite thing we do it's just like the last couple weeks like i was sick and then i was in hawaii and then i got sick in hawaii and it's 24 hour stomach bug it was like all night it was brutal but i didn't need to tell anyone that i just feel like i had to add that to the list i mean you told me i I knew about it. We texted.

And then James last week was sick. We've had a lot of stuff going on. And then my dog had to go to the freaking vet ER, and my dog had seizures, and we think she had a stroke, and I've been dealing with that for the last week. Was it because she missed baseball? I mean, it could be, man. It could be.

But let's just say it was an emotional week. Yeah, like we were going to record that night or the next night of the stroke night. And then I spent the whole day at the vet ER. And then I was like, didn't sleep the whole night. So, yes, we're back. We're going to be here. We're back. That's the plan.

Even if our sport isn't here, we hate you, sport. We'll be here. That's the plan. Yeah, we will be. And can I just do my future? Can I predict something, James? Can I throw a little prediction? What would I ever say no to?

What if I were like, no, Jack, I want you to be serious and keep it in the moment and not look ahead? Well, I need you to say yes. Please, please. Jack Stradamus. Go ahead, sir. Yeah, this wouldn't work i needed you to say yes please jack stradamus this go ahead sir yeah this wouldn't work if you didn't say yes um so my future uh prediction uh my i guess my prediction for the future is that major league baseball comes to an agreement and free agency starts the day the nfl free agency starts so that everything gets lost in the mix. Because why?

Why would Major League? That would be the most baseball thing of all time. There's no bigger lock. Rather than, hey, let's come together. James, here's what I can't get past. Is that you're not not going to come to an agreement. So instead of wasting everyone's time, figure out what the other side wants,

come together, and not fall further behind in the eye of public opinion. You're going to have a baseball season. They're not going to cancel the season. So just figure out what you want and stop doing this stupid thing every single day. Oh, well, there's minor movement. No, just figure it out. want and stop doing this stupid thing every single day. Well, there's minor movement. No, just figure it out.

Have a grown-up. God, they're just the worst. And they're going to come together. They're going to have an agreement. And it's going to be right when NFL free agency starts. So no one's going to care when the Phillies sign Kyle Schwarber because the Eagles will sign, like, Devontae Adams or something. And then it's just like the whole thing's a disaster. It's freaking 65 degrees out yesterday.

I'm thinking baseball, spring training, Bryson Stott. Like, it's just, it's just, I can't do it. I can't do it anymore. Yeah. Well, there are so many flaws in that prediction that you just made that March 10th. Okay. We'll say that's an NFL free agent or March 16th. Yes.

Like, hopefully they're even close to a deal by that. The problem you assume with your, you know, please get this done thing. And I agree at some point of the season. But you assume that both sides actually want an agreement. You assume that both sides actually want to negotiate in good faith. There is one side that is unwilling to negotiate even. I mean, they're calling in arbiters. They refuse to budge on anything.

Like, they want a better deal than the one they just got. They want, with record revenues up until 2019 in the sport, they want to say, no, no, no, we want the players to get even less money of the pie. Like, what are you supposed to do with that? Like, I just, and again, I know that, look, I'm not happy with anyone involved in this the players the owners all of it but but i think it's pretty clear like the owners are trying to to wait

the players out they're trying to break their union they're trying to get the the vast majority of the union is a bunch of guys who don't make a lot of money like the it's all like the oh look at how much money they have people that a lot of them don't like well it's stupid the stupid ap article make like a million or less or whatever it is like i i just i or set like something like that like but the point is is that like how is the deal supposed to happen if one side is perfectly fine not playing games and the other side needs games to be played like it's it it sucks well yeah and like you know i i applaud the players like the fact that they've stuck together so far. Yeah. Yeah.

Big time. They need to. They have to. It's a pivotal moment for them. Honestly, James, I love baseball. I will always come back to baseball. If it comes down to the players, the players I feel like are, I used to be like, oh, everyone come together, whatever.

The players need to stand strong here. And even if it costs us a little bit of the season, I'm for them. This whole thing is so annoying. And it bothers me to no end that the stuff that gets put out by the media is all leaked from the owner's side just to make the players look bad. And the owners aren't, it's leaked out to make it look like the owners are trying, we're extending an olive branch. They're not making real offers. I feel like we have to put that out, James, as like a PSA. The owners aren't making real offers. If you see one of these

national media guys typing out like, oh, this was the Major League Baseball offer, and they're trying to extend an offer to the players, and the players are just not negotiating at all, well, it's because it's not a real offer. We need to be able to separate what's real and what's not. The owners haven't made any real offers. And Destiny Legardo put out a brilliant tweet just about how, like, we have actually been guilty of this as well, talking about it's millionaires versus billionaires. Well, it's not really. It's billionaires versus a couple millionaires. And you're not talking about counting minor league guys.

Like, it's mostly. Well, the minor leagues is a whole separate disaster. A whole different thing. It's just like, when is, why? And I know this is gonna sound stupid but like why does everything have to be about money all the time like it always has to come back to money no let me let me take it a step further it's like why does it have to be about like like making money at the expense of your partner like in theory the sport of baseball is a partnership between the owners the teams themselves and the players like why can't you, like the owners are still making tons of money. Like the, it's like, I've never seen a

group of billionaires that are, that are the cry poor. Like, it's like, they have nothing. Like, how are they surviving in this world? Like record profit for like 17 straight years up until the pandemic happened. Record profits every year every year like like it's that they are unwilling to to say all right we'll make a good amount of money and you guys can make some money too like it's it's crazy to me it is it's just it's just again you know i don't know why people are ever on the owner's side of this. They're not making real offers. And some people will say, well, these players, like, you know, people get mad that Juan Soto turned down $350,000.

It's like. He should. He should turn it down. The market demands that he makes more. Like, why would, if any human being were going for a job somewhere and they have an opportunity to make $100,000 somewhere or seventy thousand dollars somewhere what are they going to choose you know like same company essentially like of course you take what the market gives you like that's crazy also like the the owners are made have made more money in the like i know baseball nationally is

is perceived as dying but that's not the reality. When you look at how much the owners are making, like they, they, they're having record revenue profits. Like I know the, I know everyone likes to bring up the declining attendance and stuff, but TV contracts are,

are more important than ticket attendance at this point. Anyway, like the, the, the, the Phillies, the Phillies Comcast deal is, is how many billion?

Dude. And the, the, the Fox national deal, they have acast deal is is how many billion dude and the the the fox national deal they have a new deal that hasn't even kicked in yet it's like five billion dollars like that it's like per year or whatever like it's like crazy like what are we talking about i don't know it's five thousand five billion dollars i'm not sure what the number is but it's a big number that the owners and and and again, like so much of this stuff, like it's the like I said before, up until the pandemic, which is obviously a, you know, hopefully once in a lifetime, you know, type of thing like where it's of course profits are going to go down when you can literally have no one in stadiums and you're playing a 60 game season all stuff but up until it been 17 straight years of oh what's the record beat it this year what's the record beat it the next year what's the record beat the year after that for 17 straight years like these owners can't sit here and say like oh we're not making money when every single year it's a record-breaking revenue profit and also it's revenue sharing so they're they're making money through that as well well that too

and that's what allows the hypocrisy of like a bob nutting like the pirates owner to just shovel And also it's revenue sharing. So they're making money through that as well. period because you know funny enough like the thing how much have we talked about the freaking luxury tax on this podcast and oh the luxury tax that's the big issue that's the the linchpin issue of it that the owners barely wanted to go up at all like to measure it with revenues not even close and like it's like of course you guys want this of course you want to sell like they've always wanted a salary cap without the actual like benefits on the other side of having a salary cap of a exact revenue split of the of the uh there being a higher salary floor all that stuff like it's just it's well it sucks the funniest part about the luxury tax thing is like it's not costing them anything to raise it it's just the possibility that they might have to pay more player like exactly and like public pressure we're not playing we want to we want a rule here that that like guarantees that we're

not going to play players yeah oh my god like i just i genuinely i i don't know how people still side but like still still fall down and think oh this is the greedy players like it's just do like be smarter i mean simply put just be smarter do like five minutes of research right and honestly like i know well they're getting paid millions to play a kids game it's like oh my god so what like i know this isn't again it's not 1950 man like it's not it's not not the 60s where these guys played for nothing. It's modern sports. I'm sorry that milk isn't five cents anymore. I'm sorry that gas isn't a dime.

I'm sorry that athletes make money now. It's the most annoying argument out there. Whoa, these athletes make too much money. It's like, well, do you want the owners to have more money or do you want the players to have the money like can we all grow up and also like they do something that 0.01 of the world can do to play this sport at that level like yeah they're playing a kid's game but they are also way better than everyone else in the world at this kid's game. And they're the reason, like, people don't go to watch the owners play baseball. Like, they go to watch the players.

They're the reason that they're record revenue. They're the reason that there are TV contracts at all. And the concept that they shouldn't get paid for that, like, and it's not even commensurate with what the owners make, but that they shouldn't at least, like, get a fair portion of the pie that the sport makes on the the the shoulders of their play like it's crazy it is and uh you know it's just again i'm so you keep saying it it's so true like i actually get actively angry at people who side with the owners like it really bothers me i can't it's one of the few things recently where i can't like control myself like we talked around the air the other day at wip and to camera

owners like and i like it was one of those things where you know you're we both have like the same job description right like we're supposed to contribute to the show from an all mic perspective like when it's right when it's necessary we don't insert ourselves in the show when they come to us when it's our bit or whatever like it's the like one of the few topics ever where i can't control myself like i know that i shouldn't be like i'm jumping in on callers like i'm like it's like i can't control myself man like i get so upset well listen man it's that's called passion right there um i do i Listen, man, I love the passion. And here's the frustrating part is that I feel like you and I and the listeners of this podcast are outliers.

I don't think there's a bigger lie than like, oh, I'll never come back. I'm going to be a sucker. I'm always going to come back. No matter what happens with baseball, if there's my tv screen i will watch i will be watching it like i was watching college baseball over the weekend and it's been nice like i never get a chance to watch college baseball because i'm usually all filled up by this point and it's like it's like listen baseball is it's it's it's still my favorite and the fact that you know i was down in hawaii and it was 80 degrees and sunny.

And oh, I started thinking and I actually walked to a baseball field. We were at a park one day. And I know like, I don't know. Are you you're a dad, right? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I don't know if you know this, James, but things with kids take like a lot longer.

Oh, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't I didn't realize this until I was a parent for a week because Jill and I were down there basically babysitting my one and three-year-old nieces. I didn't realize how long

things take. I thought I'm used to the I can just go wherever I want and I can leave whenever I want and it's very fast. That was an eye-opener because we went to a park and we were there for four hours. Like, way too long. There's not that much to do besides play on the jungle gyms.

Obviously, I'm too big to play on jungle gyms. They reminded me of that, which was unfortunate. That's a tough moment. Yeah, it is. Uncle Jack, you're not allowed to do this. They're like, oh, you're going to break it. I'm like, I don't care. Get out of my way.

to do this they're like oh you're gonna break it i'm like i don't care get out of my way um but i uh actually this is gonna sound sad but i went over to a there's a baseball field and i want to see what it looked like and like i swear i started like getting misty eyed like dude i'm down i'm down so bad i really i know i'm down like actually i think about you a lot like as upset as i get about the lockout, I actually think about you. And I'm like, you know what? If Jack's getting through this, I can get through this. Well, it's just like every time I see an update, my head just sinks. I know.

It's always like no progress made. Yeah. It's like, oh, awesome. Ten minutes. Great. One guy walked in and took a dump on the desk and walked out it's like great no everything's fine um so it's just been it it's been a rough go of it james like i honestly people should be pretty happy that we haven't been doing pods this whole time yeah because i don't

know what else to say like yeah like this rant alone like i'm already like all right let's talk about something else i know just what are we supposed to do like it's so frustrating so you would have just gotten a bunch of this so you know you're welcome yeah that's that i think we spared you if you if you're still listening for some reason thank you but uh i don't think this is changing anytime soon. Oh, and we probably, should we stop promising this? I think we're going to do the, the all time Phil's roster. I said, I said to James, assuming there isn't a deal like in the next few days, if there's no agreement by Monday.

Yeah. When there's no, when there's no agreement by next week, we will, we will do one then. But other than that, interceded in a lot of ways you know we we really were planning on doing pods and like you know stuff happened yeah like major league baseball got in the way well that too that was a you know a big part of it one day let's let's spin it forward like the one thing i will say that like to your point i do think eventually we will have

a season i think eventually like some house will get worked out. I think it will ultimately, sadly, probably be because players are losing money and can't afford it as much as the owners can easily afford to not have the revenue of the games missed. And I think that ultimately the players will budge more than the owners. I just hope they don't budge too much. more than the owners. I just hope they don't budge too much. But whenever we do have a season, like the free, the like day or week of free agency that is going to happen before spring training starts, because obviously it's going to have to be crazy quick. If they're missing games, they're going to want to get people on the field as quickly as possible once they do get a deal. Like for the first times in our, like, you know, at least since like, you know, in our life really,

but certainly since we were younger, where it'll be like the NFL or NBA, where it's like a day or two of crazy, awesome excitement with deals and this, and he's going here and he's going there. You know, that's something to look forward to, right? Well, I hope so, but I already made my prediction, because it's going to be right when NFL free agency starts. Yeah, I really hope that. That would be such a disaster.

You're right. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Either that or if it doesn't get done by then, they'll wait until the draft and then it'll be done. Yes. Again, this has been my general sentiment since this whole thing started, and it's that whatever they can do

to make it as awful as possible, they can do to make it as awful as possible, they will do. Because there's no one better at making guys like you and I suffer than Major League Baseball owners. Yeah, it really is, man. And again, to the point you made before, if there are people listening,

and I think most of the people, the sickos like us that listen to this pod really have a grasp on what's going on. But if you are like, if this is kind of like, you know, the lockouts going on, you haven't dug in, like take a look. Like don't listen to the narrative that's getting put out. Like do a little research. And there are national guys who do, you know, who aren't. Like, I mean, the pass and thread from yesterday is a really nice place to start.

Like a really very, you know know balanced look at the situation as it stands like there are guys who are you're not total shills for the owners but a lot of them are i'm talking to you um well it is nice though because i do feel like that it feels like the uh the the narrative i would say has turned a little bit though like people are more mad at the owners this time around than i would say a couple years ago. Yeah, well, and also the difference, like I've heard a lot of people mention, like, well, 94 and this and that. And I'll take it like this is a lockout. Like whatever, you know, you want to whether you research or not, like just optically like that was a strike.

The players striked like that. It just has a different connotation than when they're locked out. Like then at least some portion of the blame is like well the owners are the ones locking them out right this is the owner's decision yes yeah it's so frustrating jack i'm just i i could we could do this for another i mean i i could i have so many thoughts and i just so what else buddy how you doing i'm doing well man how was hawaii i think a lot of people would like to know about the hawaii trip yeah so hawaii was cool um you know what's funny is so i love nothing more than wearing uh philly sports gear around when i travel because oh yeah well i know

that about you i like just seeing i like seeing if people are going to have a reaction to it. You know, like I like the idea of, oh, you're from Philadelphia. Oh, you must be so mean. Or like, just know that I'm probably a better sports fan than you. So that was fun doing that. I met some, some Philly people down there. It's always like a nice bonding experience. When you're on vacation, you're wearing Philly sports gear and they're like, ah, you know,

like good to have, you know a fellow philadelphian down here 4 000 miles away oh there's nothing better than the the seeing a fellow philly person somewhere far away i mean like oh all right nice i know it just made it a little bit of a little bit of a bonding that you good it's good to see um i was on my flight down and I was all excited to watch succession because United. Oh yeah. This is so tough. Yeah.

United came out and they're like, here, this is so tough. Here's all these free movies and TV shows. I'm like, ah, then waiting to watch succession. I'm excited to really get into it.

Um, and the problem is like, I usually read books on vacation, you know, or wherever I have a flight. It's the only time we're like cultured, you know, it's the only time I I usually read books on vacation or wherever I have a flight. It's the only time. Yeah, we're like cultured. It's the only time I'll ever read.

Oh, never mind. Other than that, yeah. No, reading's a total waste of time. But especially fiction books. I mean, let's grow up. You're just taking shots at me now. Just stop. Enough of this.

So what's the point to reading fiction? I mean, seriously. It's super fun. No, it's not i mean seriously it's it's super fun no it's not no it's not there's there's no redeeming qualities these are great stories just watch the tv show watch a movie i don't need fiction books what do you want to have your mind travel your mind you want to be brought into a different universe it's a cliche where everyone's like oh the movie wasn't as good as the book because it's never as good as the book because the book is always better uh because books are also a waste of time and you have like 18 hours

to read a book you have two hours to watch a movie of course the movie is great like and you can read a book in a lot more places you can watch a movie like oh if i'm laying in bed i don't watch a movie i read a book if i'm like you know out and about, I have a Kindle out on my phone. Boom, I can read my book when I'm waiting in line or whatever. It's amazing. No fiction books should be read past the age of 18. That's a horrible take by you. I will not stand for it.

I will not stand for it. We're not doing this. So anyway, I used to read books on planes um but with modern technology and i make an adult i now watch movies and other way around movies and tv shows and i did watch the big lebowski for the first time oh nice it's a good movie it's a good one it's a good movie i was i yeah good one. It's a good movie. I watched that movie and I watched Rain Man. Ever heard of it? Okay.

I watched those two in the last two weeks. And I genuinely, or no, I generally go into any old movie with an eye of, I'm going to find a way to find this overrated. And I left both. That's a great attitude. I left both thinking, neither one's overrated. Both were good movies.

I feel like you always end up with that though. Like you like to go into the old movies and be like, oh, it's going to be overrated. And then you're always like, that was really good. Like when Harry met Sally, you're like, ah,

okay, you know, watch it. And then you're like, oh, that was really good. Um, i also had to say i don't know if this is like uh too far into my brain or if this is a i think we've we've passed that point a long time ago buddy i don't know if this is a bad sign but i also went into hawaii with the same

mindset and i didn't find anything overrated which was yeah hawaii's i mean other than how expensive oh don't even get me started i mean all right so succession tell your success so i i sit down and yeah i'm like oh i can finally finally watch succession it's like all right season one and i'm like oh perfect right at the beginning so get eight episodes i get well four on the way down five on the way back and i'm like i even when i, right at the beginning. So I get four on the way down, five on the way back. And I'm like, even when I was on vacation, I was like, I kind of just want to watch Succession. And then I get on the flight home, and I knock out five episodes.

And I'm like, all right, I'm almost done season one of Succession, and there's 10 episodes. And I'm like, all right, get home. I turn on HBO Max, and it turns out that I watched all of season three of Succession. Not season one. So now I'm in this dilemma of like, do I go back and restart from the beginning? It breaks my heart. I know.

It breaks my heart. It's a really tough beat. I think you go back and you just rewatch it all. That's what I would do. You're probably right. I know. I mean, season one and two are great. Two is, like, amazing.

Yeah. Yeah. And it was just so weird watching it because I was like, how are they so far along in the character development? They're bringing up stuff that, like... Like, this is a really weird... Should I know about that?

It seems like something I should know I remember I watched the first episode and I never watched the second one or whatever and I was like oh the dad whatever and I was like oh okay well it seems like they jumped really far ahead you know it seems like a pretty quick progression

my red flag should have been put up there but it's tough. It's been a tough beat. So I'm currently debating if I want to go back and... I think you go back. Everyone tweeted Jack and tell him he should go back.

I say you go back. I mean, I think the show's great and it's worth it. You can see how it got to that point and provide some context for the third season well at least i won't have a baseball season to watch so i have plenty of time you got all the time in the world though yeah you got it it's just it's a beautiful thing man oh wait it's not beautiful yeah and it's just what it makes it like equally as awful guess, is that it should be spring training right now. And we should be, like, believe me, I love seeing the prospects down there

and getting the stories and seeing their batting practice and seeing Bryson Stott and Ethan Wilson and Jordan Villars. It's been a Johan Rojas, who untouchable, officially untouchable in trades. But, yes. They're actually supposed to be a minor league season, so maybe we'll speed like an Iron Pigs, Redding, Veidt, and Fills.

Oh, buddy. Clearwater Threshers, wherever Mick Abel is. Back to your roots. Yeah. I mean, I care about those teams more than the Phillies anyway. I've told you many times, James, I care way about the 2026 phillies than the 2022 phillies like oh i think again one of those things that every single person listening knows there's there's no surprise the 2026 phillies are very very important to me the 2022 phillies are semi

important to me it's good because we might not have a 2022 Phillies. It's probably a healthy way to look at it. You know what's going to be fascinating about the 2026 Phillies, James? Lay it on me, buddy. Please. I'm dying to know. Is that the MLB All-Star game is going to be here in 2026. Oh, yeah.

Bryce will only be 32 then. He should be in the Home Run Derby. And the last time he was in Home Run Derby, James, was when? Oh, yeah. Yeah, was it – I mean, he won it, right? Yeah, in Washington. I was, like, excited. Was it in Washington?

Yeah. Yeah, I was excited about a Home Run Derby. I mean, it was like a surreal sport moment, the night that Bryce Harper won the Home Run Derby in Washington. 2026 is going to be a big year. Apparently Philadelphia is trying to get the NBA All-Star Game and the NHL All-Star Game and they're bidding for

a World Cup, I think. I don't know. It's going to be the mecca of the sports world if baseball ever comes back by 2026. I think there's at least a 50-50 chance it's back by then, you know? And I think, you know, something to look forward to

for us Philly fans. High Hopes is back! It's High Hopes again! Yeah, live from the stadium, I'm sure. I mean, Bryson Stott, to your point, is worth getting excited about. Like, dudes took a leap, it seems like. You see Fangraphs have his 34th prospect in baseball? Well, I mean, did you see fangraphs have his 34th prospect in baseball well i mean did you

see who 20th was yeah mick obviously but that's not super surprising it's awesome but like a stod hasn't been anywhere close to that well here's the thing and i genuinely believe that nice not not not generally i genuinely believe that these freaking prospect sites have it out for the Phillies. Dude, they just don't know what they're talking about. They frankly just... I know the Philly system has been down for a while. And listen, this is more like a preemptive take or another predictive take. But their system, I promise everyone everyone listening it is trending in the right

direction there's legitimate talent in the lower levels so i felt like forever that the every single prospect ranking was always way too low on bryson stott and i i felt like i was taking crazy pills um so i think 34 is where he should be. He was always a better prospect. There was buzz heading into that season, and even as his draft season played out, he was a top five pick, and he fell because of signing stuff, because the MLB draft's stupid,

and you never take the best player, whatever. He ended up being a Philly, and as soon as he hits the Phillies, people are like, oh, well, he's going to be bad, and I want to keep him on my prospect ranking. It's like he should have always been a top 100 guy, and it should have taken him being good, which he has been since he stepped on a baseball field for the Phillies, for these prospect rankings to finally come around.

So, yeah, welcome to the party. I mean, we've been here. Love that. It's just so annoying, dude. And then that feeds the people, oh, the kids are prospects. They've got no talent in the system to trade. It's like so annoying, dude. And then that feeds the people. Oh, the kids are prospects. They've got no talent in the system to trade. It's like, yeah, they do. But why are we trading away talent for a major league roster that's not ready to really be put over the top?

You know? I just, my general feeling on any trade, it's like, yeah, it would help the major league roster. But when you, when you are still getting the talent back into the system, which they are in that process of now, like, I just don't, I can't leave the system barren when it's just starting to show some fruits again. I love this Jack. Thank you. It was beautiful, man. That was beautiful. I'm with you. I'm fully on board. If you need a guy to get fired up about prospect rankings i will be your guy i mean impressing mattingly hasn't even dug his feet

in yet dude this guy hasn't even dug his feet in yet dude if you want to put a smile on my face just mention the name press and mattingly like the the articles they're all starting to be written up and he's like i don't want to give away the plan. He seems so confident. He seems so confident. He's just like, I don't want. He's Donnie Baseball's kid. How could you not be?

He is just such a breath of fresh air. And like reading his stuff, reading the articles, he's talking about like, yeah, last year we were picking backing starters down the minor leagues. I don't know why we were doing that. Like our starters are going to be our starters are going to be starters and and he's like he's like the the great part about where we're at right now is how everyone's on the same page and if you listen to this podcast in the last couple of years like i think i had mentioned a couple times that like the problem down there is that everyone's pulling in different directions the fact that his first thing was like yeah we got everyone on the same page everyone's pulling in different directions. The fact that his first thing was like, yeah, we got everyone on the same page.

Everyone's pulling in the same direction. You know, they have the, the, the nice part about the system right now to me is that they have a really good balance between like, uh, biometrics, uh,

like the driveline guys. And also, and also some old school guys, which is fine. Like it's fine. It's just, everyone has to be pulling in the same direction. And the fact that it seems like they are developing a Phillies way

and there's a guy in Preston Mattingly that has a clue and people genuinely seem excited down there. It's just, it's good. And, you know, Ruben Amaro was tweeting out about how, about Camp down there and how everyone's pulling in the same direction. He's talking about Abel and Painter. It's just like it's so refreshing that it feels like, believe me,

2016, the Matt Klintak, Andy McPhail to 2021 era was brutal. But we are coming out of this. I fully believe that. I genuinely wouldn't tell the audience, our listeners, if I didn't believe it. I really do believe that they have turned a massive corner down there. I think our player development woes

are going to be a thing of the past. The era of the Phillies way, Fritz. Yeah, Brian Barber, Preston Mattingly, Ani. It's a good time. It's a good time it's a good time i promise i will learn his name fully i was gonna say onnie but i figured ray's guy was you know probably more descriptive at the moment he is he's he's he's gonna be awesome smart he's smart dude i i did

some some article reading about nice bright guy some are saying savior of the Fills Pretty excited about this Our guy Dave Knows how to build a winner We never doubted him We did not have One bad thing to say about Dave Dombrowski It's just a bad winner Always has been, always will be

What can we say We saw it, we read it right And you know It's playing out the way we thought yeah it's a beautiful thing yeah i did not ever say he was gonna sink the franchise love it um all right you got take back before the take back i have a top five for you oh buddy it's a thing i love it's a thing it's a thing um again i just i i'm addicted to top five lists i'm wondering if i should steal the top five and and do one at some point just because you know it seems like people like to steal the top five it does uh it does and i mean

jack's away it's like oh top five, top five this, top five that. I don't know. Stealing my bit on Twitter. It is the top five with Jack Fritz. Yeah, it's not. That's what the open says. It's definitely not with Dan Wilson. I don't know.

I did hear that one day where the open said with Dan Wilson, didn't it? I don't know. Yeah. I mean, you think you mentor a kid, and this is what he does. I guess this is how you felt. Is this how I felt? Yeah. You mentored me, and now I'm Jack Fritz.

Yes, let's go with yes. Yeah, good. I like that. Good. Good. All right, top five. My top five favorite things about spring training, if there was one. What a wistful list right here. Man, I'm just going to go to my happy place and pretend that everything's okay.

Yeah, and if you want to go a little inside my brain again, I came up with this. A lot of inside Jack's brain today. I came up with this at about 7.15 this morning, sitting on my couch, looking out the window, having a cup of coffee, and watching SportsCenter and said, you know what? Here are five things I miss about spring training. Number five is...

I love everything about this. The image, you at the coffee Looking out the window A slow tear A wistful look on your face One tear drop Just slowly cascading down your cheek Love everything about it Number 5 is

Scott Kingery going off He owns Spring Training He was so good that the Phillies decided Hey, here's 6 years $24 million. Because Gabe Kapler can't go north without him. But the Phillies ruined him, Jack. The Phillies ruined him.

Blame the team, not the guy who sucked. Yeah. Dustin Pedroia with more talent. Yeah. No one ever would have said that. Not a scout. Not an old school guy with his eyes. Using his eye test.

Number four is the St. Patrick's Day uniforms. Love seeing the fills in green. Love it. It's a beautiful thing, Jack. And James, many people do forget that Pavetta hit 100 in fills green for St. Patrick's Day. Do people forget that? I thought that was just baseline stuff for most people. I would say Pavetta hitting 100 in the St. Patrick's Day uniform

against the Cardinals was the peak of breakout Pavetta. Yeah, I think that's fair. Number three is about the sixth the sixth seventh eighth innings when the prospects get in and if you want to see pure giddiness like last year i remember uh i would have to produce the show while spring training is going on and like uh i will never forget mickey's two home runs against the yankees and just going nuts in the studio and then john and i were like well what are you doing? And I was like, Mick's going off.

And it's like, well, no one else cares. And I was like, I care. So I love the sixth, seventh, eighth inning, ninth inning when we get the prospects in there. And we can dream a little bit, James. That is the most Jack Fritz- like thing that you could have said on the top five at least so far so far there's a long way to go um number two my second favorite thing about spring training is that first tv game when you see t-max face or back in the day when he saw

hk and it's just like wow we, we're really here where we're back. We made it where we made it through a cold winter. There's a little bit of sunshine. Bang. There's TMAC ready to go as a professional as always. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Love it. Couldn't agree more. And number one, my favorite thing about spring training is a day like today, James, when you're walking and it's about 30 degrees and it's like, yeah, but baseball, and you can just kind of check Twitter. You see the beat writers tweeting out some batting practice and suddenly James, you feel a little warmer. And the fact that we have been robbed of that and robbed of that little bit of warmness. And warming your heart up.

And being excited about baseball. And just thinking about how the Phils are definitely going to go like 83 and 79 this year. It really hurts. And I just really hope that baseball can come together and figure out this stuff. So we can get back to things that we love, James. Yeah. Beaut beautifully said. Thank you. I felt deeply emotional.

And the computer number one answer, like, it really, like, that's when you notice it. Like, that's when you notice that it's not here, a day like today where you used to be like, all right, you know, I know it's cold, but it's going to be warm soon because those guys are down in spring training. And they're doing their thing, and we're there. Think about you and I, right? I mean, I get here.

It's about time the practice starts. And I'll come bursting in your studio like, oh, see that bullpen? Or like, oh, you see what Johan Rojas is doing? And I see your face. So true. And you're so happy to see me. And you are, too, dreaming about Johan Rojas's debut in center field at Citizens Bank Park. I am I am I am living off of your life. You know, the the giddiness and excitement that goes into you when you storm into my studio with a unadulterated look of pure joy on your face like how how do how do i your buddy your friend your

pal not get excited from that i don't know how you don't i mean it's it's it's an infectious personality that i do have so yes the charisma is just dripping it's it's i would follow you into battle jack most people do say that. Leader of men. That is me. Let's get to the take back. It was a great list. How about that? We get to the take back?

Yeah, yeah. I asked you to like 10 minutes ago. Well, I had to get top five out of the way. That was very important. You did. You know that. It was. My first take is I'm really curious.

And I, again, this is one thing I don't exactly have high hopes for, but like if you're the Phillies and the Sixers just got James Harden, they're going to be going into May. They're going to be going into hopefully June. The Eagles have three first round picks. The draft is in April. So it's either they're going to use those picks in the draft or they're going to use them to go trade for a quarterback. If you're the Phillies, do you just want no one talking about your team until May, June?

Yeah. So I'm really curious. Well, again, this is all God willing that there's a baseball season. Yeah, look, they might not have to worry about it because there might not be games till June or July. So, yeah, no worries. But I'm really curious to see how aggressive they are, because I don't I don't think they want to fall. You can't fall that far behind in the headlines.

There's a there's a high chance of that. Like James Harden's here. The Sixers are here. The Eagles are always the Eagles. We're always going to talk about them. Harden's here the Sixers are here uh the Eagles are always the Eagles we're always going to talk about them like you can't you can't go two months into a season and not have any anyone talking about you so listen I wonder if there's any you know we we've we've heard a lot about the competitiveness down there and I want to see some some competitiveness when this whole thing is over

hundred million zillion percent and that's what I was learning before with the free agency period, the exciting period. Phillies have a lot to do, man. Their team is not set. There are moves that need to be made. So, yeah, I need to see them go out

and do something. And let's hope that maybe the players... Ridiculous statement. But the players, ridiculous statement, but the players get them to budge on the luxury tax and the Middletons maybe want to spend a few more bucks. Wouldn't that be something? That'd be great.

The second thing is I don't get why we can't have a real commissioner of baseball. Now, that is not a shot. That's not a shot at Rob Manfred. It's not. It's about the position. All Rob Manfred is is a voice for the owners. Why can't we have a voice for the owners and a commissioner of baseball? Why do we have to have the commissioner of baseball also double as the voice

of the owner that doesn't really care about baseball? Why can't we have someone in the middle that's looking out for the best for both sides? Why can't we have someone in the middle that's looking out for the best for both sides? It's a super altruistic, great thought, but you know why. Because these owners don't want it, and the owners run the league. It's so annoying. He is a clown.

Rob Manfred is a clown. I never thought in my lifetime that I would see a worse commissioner than Gary Bettman, a man who engineered what, three work stoppages? At least two in his time? I never thought I would see a commissioner that I thought was worse. And we've had some bad ones. Even Goodell is not a great commissioner, obviously. Like, Manfred's the worst.

Like, in every way. I mean, obviously the strife, the disaster that is baseball right now, but like even like little stuff, like even like being dumb enough to that is baseball right now, but like, like even like little stuff, like even like being dumb enough to call the trophy a hunk of metal. Like it's just on every level. This guy is completely ill-equipped for the job. And to your point, Jack, like,

I don't even know if he watches baseball much less likes it. You know, I just, I, he is the worst. I, I passionately dislike Rob Manfred. Well, and he has no manfred well and he has no composure like he has no composure like the hunk of metal thing was clearly born out of like frustration and stuff like he just never has a calming presence to him no yeah and he's a he's a negotiator and that's the silliest thing about this is the reason he got the job is like he's supposed to be the guy who fixes labor disputes. Right. Like that's like his like M.O. or whatever. And now we're in the middle of this.

It's like, why do you why even the commissioner? Like, what are we doing here? You don't care about the game and you can't even figure out the other part of it. Like, it's just disaster. We got to move on or I'm going to like really blow a gasket over here. Moving on. I think people are. I probably said i definitely said this a couple times but um like the giving up on alec bone with the plate i just find so frustrating preach preach like why why because he had a down year in his second year in the big leagues after a team a sport had a whole off season to adjust, you know,

and we do this with prospects where they come up and they're great and they're bad. And it's like, Oh, well now he's bad. Like, would you be surprised if Bryson Scott has a good first year and then his second year,

he struggles. It happens all the time. So I did, I genuinely do not understand the giving up on Alec Baum at the plate defensively. Different story. I understand it there. Thank God the DH is coming, buddy.

Don't remind me. But at least for our team right now. Oh, listen, no team needs a DH more than this team. Holy smokes. But, again, he's going to be fine at the plate. He's a good hitter, always has good bat-to-ball skills. He got off track last year. It happens to most. Acuna and Soto and Tatis.

I feel like they broke. There are a few that don't. They broke everyone's brains when it comes to prospect development. Jack, that is such an important key point. It's that these few guys who are like the true generational talent guys like they come up and are just awesome from like 20 or 19 or 21 like you know and it's it makes people forget that in reality most guys aren't even like 24 25 by the time they make the majors and it takes a year two years three years to really get your feel for for your feet in the league and all that. Like Nelson Cruz wasn't good until he was like 28, 29 years old,

and now he's got like over 400 career home runs or whatever. Like it takes guys time. It always has. It's just they're a portion of elite, all-time talent type guys who it doesn't. And I think you're so right, Jack. It has made people look at this like, oh, you can't fail at all. It's a sport of failing. I think this is such a great point.

Thank you. So it's one of my passion projects is leading the Alex Bones is going to be fine charge. Do we need a name? What? Do we need a name? No, the Bones Squad. Okay. Oh, I like that.

The Bones Squad. Okay. That's good. You gave me a millisecond to think of okay oh i like that mom's glad okay well that's good you gave me a millisecond to think of it i think that's a pretty no it's really good bone squad's really good actually like that's quite good job by you yeah maybe for a high hopes night at the ballpark we could have the bone squad all together i have really like that would did you not think of that before like it's like that was actually on the moment like in the moment there because that's really impressive wow come. Great job, buddy. If there's one thing I'm pretty good at, it's being quick-witted. Yeah, it's true.

Tell you what, there was nothing that gave me more excitement this week than finally, finally seeing everyone on board the Griff McGarry hype train. The articles started coming out. The Phillies were confused as the Y teams were calling them about Griff McGarry, which shows that he has value around the league. And I would just like to thank the rest of baseball for letting Roy Oswald 2.0 fall to the Phillies in the fifth round. And Brian Barber, thank you so much for bringing our future stud home to Philadelphia.

So welcome aboard, everyone. Griff McGarry is here to Philadelphia. So welcome aboard, everyone. Griff McGarry is here to stay. And you could convince me he's their number one pitching prospect. I love it. And you heard it here first, for what it's worth. Jack Fritz, way out in front. Also, as you know, king of the name test. I mean, Griff McGarry is just a home run name.

It's just a baseball name. Also, another article that came out was about Johan Rojas and how he is halfway through the year. They were like, just go be Johan. Go be Johan Rojas. He stole 31 bags after that and just started having fun again and was a totally different player. And then this offseasonseason he's talking about

how he's adding lift and he's gonna you know i don't know why the phillies are obsessed with getting guys that like smoke the ball on the ground like veer link bomb and johan rojas but let's mix in some launch angle guys and start hitting the ball please please and my final thing here um is uh obviously watch a lot of college baseball over the weekend. So just a real quick general draft thought is that there is going to be some ridiculous talent at the Phillies at 17. Like we're going to get another really, really good player to add to the system. The college bats are finally there. I don't think they need to take a high school prep arm again.

It made sense the last two drafts. But there are some legitimate high upside college bats that I think will be there for them at 17, which is what they need. They need another high level college bat. Or Cam Collier, who is 17 and is already tearing up the JUCO route, which is also insane.

So there's so much draft talent. I can't wait to get into it when there's no baseball and all we have is draft stuff. We will be your podcast for that. James won't care, but I am here to care. Yeah, I was just thinking as you were talking there, like this is my future right here in this moment. Like this is the next few months of my life.

Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm not sorry at all. Like, I'm really not. Again, because I've told you countless times, the 2026 Phillies are my team. We know. Yeah.

I love it, buddy. I love it. You know, right now, I'll take what I can get. All right? I'll take what I can get. How would you rate this podcast? It was fine and negative in the beginning, but I feel like we did podcast was it not that i was it was fine negative in the beginning but i feel like we we did our high hopes thing i thought it was great honestly

like it maybe it's just because we we haven't done it in a while like i actually thought it was a really good one a lot of fun like it's important to have self-reflection period yeah i thought it was a really good one to be honest i thought you know we we bitched an appropriate amount a fair amount, considering the situation. Then we had some fun, you know? 10 minutes of bitching. I think that's fair.

Yeah. I think it was 20, but either way, I think it's okay. I think it's okay. I think it's okay, too. I'm good with it. I hope people stayed through it to get to the fun part. Me, too. Me, too.

Because it wasn't all bitching. Nah. One last thing from my end. I guess my final thought. Do you have a final thought? No. I know you normally run through it in the tape. All right, my final thought.

Just with all that's going on with the announcing stuff in football and all that, and you did your top five announcer pairings and all that, and no baseball guys there, which is, you know, I think a bummer because there isn't that sort of national baseball voice. And it got me thinking about that. It doesn't it sucks. We don't have a Vince Scully now or a Jack Buck or all these guys who, you know, we used to have. And I mean, why not Jim Nance?

Right. Why not Jim Nance to make the move over? Hop on with the hopscotch and chairs. Take over for Joe Buck if he goes over to ESPN or whatever. I think it should be Jim Nance. What do you think? Hello, friends.

He was kind of... No, no. I don't know if he'd golf. You know, he could kind of make it. He's just not... He's not interesting and funny. No, no. He's not.

It is, though.'s not like obviously you know joking around uh if for the real ones who actually are still here after all the the bitching and all that i figured i'd throw him bone but um the the point i was making i really was my real point though like it does kind of suck right like you came in the day and told me your top five announcer pairs and i was like no baseball guys and it's like yeah like well obviously i think joe i would put joe buck on there by himself it's just like he i agree buck's great at it well also it just sucks that we don't have that like crew that's like oh awesome we get to watch you know like i said vin scully call a game night we get to watch jack buck

call a game tonight we get to watch you know whoever like we used to have those guys and obviously we had it here with harry and look tom's great we have a we're lucky locally but it is a bummer that there isn't that national crew that you get excited to see do a baseball you know what's actually a bigger bummer is that we got like trying to find himself joe buck when the phillies were in the playoffs you know i know it's like joe buck now during baseball is awesome. And we got the guy that was like. We like let to go now. He's not like Mr. Like I'm going to be Pat Summerall.

He's like, I'm going to like show emotion. Also, who would ever want to be Pat Summerall? Oh, my God. I have to hear. Oh, oh, oh, Pat Summerall was. Oh, talk about a bore. Holy cow. Hand off to the right side.

Smith has it. Touchdown. Amazing. Touchdown. Touchdown. But yeah, we got Joe Buck that was like, Chase Utley hits it to the right. 1-0 Phillies. It's like his best call.

And even then, now Joe Buck would be like, hit him to the night. Just so much more energy and excitement. Like the Schwarber. Like the Schwarber home run off of uh uh astros like the grand slam that's like that that could have been that could have been our stairs home run i know i know well that's why we gotta do it again maybe maybe this decade we can mix in a playoff appearance i don't know i feel good about the 2026 as well dude 2026 are gonna be a juggernaut yeah i feel like that's going to be a good chance of, you know, another end of the night moment with more emotion.

Hey, James, trust me. Yes. Trust me. I do. And when am I not? When am I not? That's probably a bad thing. This was awesome.

And we promise we're back. Like, unless, you know, something happens or whatever and we miss a week or whatever. But we're like, even if baseball's not back, we're back. And this was awesome i i felt like this was cathartic we needed it buddy yes i agree all right he's first in town