High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The Bryce Hot Streak is Here and Kiley McDaniel Joins Us

Episode Date: May 31, 2019

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back recapping a Cardinals series that saw Bryce Harper get hot. The guys also get you ready for the Dodgers series and finally later in the podcast, Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs joins the show to talk draft and Haseley promotion.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. 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

Switch to Freedom Mobile and get 50 gigs to use in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico for just $35 a month for 18 months. That's all the savings, none of the worries. Conditions apply. Details at freedommobile.ca. You know what's great about ambition? You can't see it. Some things look ambitious, but looks can be deceiving. Some things look ambitious, but looks can be deceiving. For example, a runner could be training for a marathon, or they could be late for the bus. You never know.

Ambition is on the inside. So that goal to beat your personal best? Keep chasing it. Drive your ambition. Mitsubishi Motors. This is the High Hopes Podcast. High hopes. Mitsubishi Motors. Of the High Hopes podcast. We are actually recording in the middle of the evening show, Jack. You were able to slide out and slide into the studio. I mean, I came in, tried to put Zoe to bed.

Didn't work out great. She was really mad. So Emily's putting Zoe to bed as we speak, or hopefully has gotten her to bed. But we're here. You know why, Jack? Because there's nothing else we'd rather do. Yeah, I mean, listen, the evening show is a show that I'm very passionate about. I love the evening show, but I got to do what I got to do.

Listen, Julio understands. Julio's a baseball guy. He's a fan of the High Oaks podcast. Yeah, he was just a co-host when you got your face mauled by a dog that was sent by another Phillies podcast. Yes, right? We're looking into it. Stolnes sent that dog? John, I thought we were friends're looking into it yeah look better right stonis sent that dog

john yeah i thought we were friends yeah it's truly unbelievable john stone is one of the great people out there what do you think my face looks better right yeah yeah it's healing pretty well yeah it's it was looking a little puffed up today my my my wife told me that i was a good healer and i was like how do you know i'm a good healer and she's like well i've been with you for like 11 years and known you for like almost 20 i know you're a good healer and i was like, well, I've been with you for like 11 years and known you for like almost 20. I know you're a good healer. And I was like, uh-uh, it's not true. I guess I'm a pretty good healer. Well, has she seen you've been mauled by a dog before?

No, this is definitely the most healing I've ever had to do. Do you have a routine of getting mauled by dogs? No. That we don't know about? I'm hoping to not make it a routine. We've never lied to the iHopes listeners. We don't want to start now. You do not have a problem getting attacked by dogs.

It's not my plan. I didn't enjoy it. Let's say's say that's a weird thing to be told like you're a quick healer okay how do you know i said that's why i thought it was weird anyway is it weird it's weird it's weird it's weird thank you well done all right let's talk a little phillies um good series against the cardinals we said the phillies cannot sweep a team they don't do it unless it's the rockies or the first week of the season, it's not happening. But we went into this series saying, hey, take two or three. We'd love a sweep.

But they took two or three. And again, for the second time in a row, we had gotten so used to them losing the first game of a series and then coming back to win the next two. They've inverted that. They're winning the series quickly and then losing last. At least they didn't get— At least they're winning the first game of the series now. Yes, that's what I'm saying.

That's a big moment. At least they didn't get boat raced in the game today either, like the 9-1 loss to Milwaukee. But general impressions from the series, and then we'll dive into a little more micro. I mean, we've got to start with Bryce, right? Bryce! I mean, my man is scorching.

He's back. I mean, this is exactly... He's batting.252 all of a sudden. All the old 220 people oh james he raised his average 20 points in three days it's ridiculous it was eight for 12 in the series he raised 20 20 points in three days now a lot of that obviously helps because he walks all the time so it's easy for his batting average to go up and down correct and whatever this early in the season correct correct so because he walks like it'd be harder

for segura to raise his batting average 20 points. Absolutely, yes. But, I mean... He would go on a tear to do that. Yes. But Bryce, I mean, what he's doing now is that he is getting that foot down early, and he is staying closed longer. And what I want...

This is what I've been waiting to see from Bryce for, it feels like, two weeks now. Yep. Like, go the opposite way. Opposite way, maybe. Because that's when you know he's getting locked in. And he was just, the fact that he just went 97 opposite way, and it was like easy. It was just impressive from Bryce.

And this is when you know the guy's getting locked in. I mean, going the opposite way, keeping that front shoulder closed, everything is working timing-wise. And listen, the rest of the offense has just been kind of eh. They were scorching. McCutcheon's been really good. But on the road trip, the rest of the offense was good. On the

homestand, it was Bryce doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Bryce really carried the team in this homestand. Obviously, Cesar, the big hit with Homer in game one. But otherwise, it was really the Bryce show. He had four RBI yesterday. I think the opposite field thing is really the the biggest predictor like if you want to know what bryce harper looks like when he's locked in when he's when he's starting to be locked in yeah it's what we saw in this series well i mean it's no i mean that the opposite field

homer and and the the opposite field seat he's just taking the ball where it wants to go instead of trying to force instead of trying to force it, instead of trying to press. It looks like it's just easy for him. Yeah, and I think the one today that he hit off the wall on left field, which I thought was gone, I was like, oh, it's gone! But that's what we're talking about when Bryce is absolutely locked in. And I was thinking this today when I was down at the ballpark today. Eating a little Shake Shack.

Yeah, I had tried Shake Shack. A little objective fritz. Let me just say. down at the ballpark today and eating a little shake shack yeah i had tribe shake shack a little objective fritz let me just say you loved it you did the little objective fritz thing tweeting out from the press box being like i'm in the press box but i'm not really in the press i just hope both teams play hard that's all i was not rooting for either team i tell you what man like i i just i never feel more out alpha than when i go to something for you to say I mean as you say alphas are good at alpha I know but I can't

I cannot do it I can't do it like cause like I don't want these guys thinking I'm a jabroni like I kinda stay in the back and try not to say anything you gotta go with me

I don't care at all you know me I'll walk into any room and just be like what up I can't do it man I can't like Johnny Almaraz

is speaking and like I know he was shrinking in the corner. You should have asked a question. You didn't ask a question. Well, I know none of these beat writers have been watching George Kirby tape like I have. No, of course not. And, like, but if I asked about George Kirby, he would be, he can't even answer my questions

anyway, because they're too in-depth. The underlying point, you know, more about George Kirby than the Philly scouting director. I was honestly debating asking him, like, are you guys scared of George Kirby because underlying point you know more about jordan curvey than the philly scouting director i was i was honestly debating asking him like are you guys scared of george curvey because he sounds like a 70s middle reliever that pitch for 15 seasons uh so um but but i was down there today like i was thinking i feel like bryce is such a a prideful player and I could just kind of tell just watching him that the strikeouts were eating him up a little bit like Bryce Harper

is the face of baseball since he's been 16 he's been ultra famous he is one of the five he's the five most talented players in baseball and when one of the five most talented players in baseball is striking out at a historic pace with a new contract in a new city when he was the biggest when he of the five most talented players in baseball is striking out at a historic pace

with a new contract in a new city when he was the biggest, when he was the highest paid player in baseball, I just think his pride was kind of like I'm better than this and I just feel like we're going to get this new level of Bryce Harper being like yo, I'm still Bryce Harper

okay, I'm still Bryce Harper and I think that's what we're starting to see well that's what we were talking about, I'm still Bryce Harper, okay? Like, I'm still Bryce Harper. And I think that's what we're starting to see. Well, that's what we were talking about. I'm waiting for and expecting, to be frank, because, again, like we've said many times, I didn't expect Bryce Harper to all of a sudden suck at the age of 26 entering his physical prime. That just wasn't something that was really on the table for me.

Like, injuries, sure. Whatever else, sure. Like, him all of a sudden just not being good wasn't something that i i even gave a one percent chance of happening um yeah man i'm with you and i think that the pride thing makes a lot of sense i think like we've talked about just the the human emotion of it the idea that that you have all this going on in your life and all this expectation and all this pressure and you're the guy for the first time in your career like you're the face of your team you're like he was always the face of baseball but we talked about

it tom when he was in washington it wasn't his team it was max scherzer's teams it was those other guys teams here it's his team and and his energy is infectious we've seen it all season long when he's actually raking and man i mean if we had anyone here who hustles around the bases like bryce harper in a while, I mean, other than Chase, I know what I'm saying. Let's relax. We feel like we have to take Chase out of all these. Let's relax.

We're talking about the GOAT right there. But that's what I'm saying. It's like that type of feel. Like he's not Chase, but like, find a time Bryce Harper hasn't hustled. Find a time Bryce Harper hasn't given max effort offensively or defensively. Well, here's the thing,

is the fact that it's your superstar doing that. Like Brycece harper is your superstar the guy tone setting type the guy listen here's this is why there's two two things i love when you do the listen listen listen i want to make sure people are actually listening i think they are driving around the car they're kind of tuning us out and then they'll be like listen they lock in their headphones in and they are locked in and they're just like this is a waste of my time. I was already listening. Well, I think we just wasted 30 more seconds than we had to. It's your fault.

I cannot call it out. Like McCutcheon a couple weeks ago when he was the first one out there, that guy's an MVP. That guy's one of the most respected players in baseball. The fact that he's one of the first guys out getting his work in, making sure he's locked in, there's no excuse for anyone else not to be. Bryce Harper's game paid $330 million. He is taking a hustle double to get into

second base there because Dexter Fowler is not getting the ball quick enough. If he's doing that, what's your excuse not to do that? The locker room this year feels like a locker room that's holding each other accountable whereas last year I didn't feel that way. No, absolutely. I mean, it feels like a complete 180.

It feels like a different locker room. I mean, we didn't see any of the excitement, any of the camaraderie. You know, we've talked about the handshakes and all that, and I know that some people think that's, like, silly or whatever. It's not. It's not. It's part of being on a team. Stuff matters.

Camaraderie matters. Fighting for your brothers matters. And the wave. Yeah, wow. And the wave. Yeah, wow. And the wave. And the wave. Look. I love the wave.

No, you don't. No, I love it. Really? The wave. Oh, the wave. I was like, wait a minute. No, no, no. Oh, yeah, the wave's great.

I'm not a Fortnite guy, but it's fun. Yeah, the wave. It's better than that thing the Mets did last year where it looked like they were, you know, having fun with themselves. Yeah? Shake weight. It looked like they were using a know, having fun with themselves. Yeah? Shake weight. It looked like they were using a shake weight. Nice.

Okay. Well, this team, like last year, it was basically Hoskins on an island by himself trying to lead. Like, a guy in his second year trying to lead. I know. The only one who would talk to the media after games. He's got like Pat Neshek undercutting him right and left.

Right. It's funny. So, and this team you have. You have guys. You got McCutcheon. You got Harper. I mean, Arrieta is... Arrieta.

Less, more palatable in that role with other guys there. Listen, I will take Arrieta talking to the media if he wins a game. Totally. Give me eight innings again. We're fine. We're good, brother. When he wins and he talks to the media, I love Arrieta. When they lose and Arrieta loses, I hate when he talks to the media.

Well, it feels like when he talks to the media, it ends up submarining him. He seems to pitch poorly after doing it. Maybe it's a sign, Jake. Don't do it. The baseball gods know, man. Baseball gods know. Alright. Let's go through the pitching performances in this series. Obviously, I mean... Back? Let's talk about it because

I know there was a real... It felt like there was a divided opinion on it. Personally, I know that after that first inning, which I'm sure, here, hold on. Let me be Jack for a second. The weather, he warmed up before. It was too amped up. Any others you can throw in there?

No. Dogs are barking. Yes. Back in a major league stadium, that's jarring at first. He's been driving 60 miles a day to and fro from Philly to Lehigh Valley. Yeah. That's a toll. Did I mention it was raining?

You did mention it was raining. What I think you're underselling too much is that he got dry humped. You can't just warm up. That was my point. I think that's a big deal, actually. The biggest deal. It is a big deal, right? For pitchers, it is a big deal.

Ultimately, I think I was really impressed with the way Pavetta settled in. Gritty? Was it a gritty Pavetta performance? How about this mental fortitude? How about a little mental fortitude from Nicky P? Mental fortitude? Yeah, listen, never a doubt. He's a mental giant.

That's what he always said. I mean, that was never the issue. No, for sure. Listen, I would love to be more excited about the pivetta start but like it was i when he the way when he nibbles and does all that stuff it's like come on man and still the fastball location it's like how are you a big leaguer and i can spot my fastball better than you i'm not even lying to you i can spot my fastball better than him and it drives me crazy like to you. I can spot my fastball better than him, and it drives me crazy. It drives me crazy.

And here's the thing that drove me the most crazy is that you're gripping the splitter, right? We all see the grip splitter. We all want to see what the splitter looks like out of your hand. We think you could, some would say that you could be Curt Schilling if you developed the splitter and it was nasty.

People saying that are starting to dwindle. Some would say that. But yeah, I mean, for how he bounced back after the firstitter and it was nasty. People saying that are starting to dwindle. Some would say that. But yeah, I mean, for how he bounced back after the first inning, it was good. Just like, I don't know if that's going to, I don't know if that kind of pitching is going to last. Like, dude, the Dodgers are going to split. Well, that's what I was about to say.

He's facing the Dodgers. I mean, especially for a guy who already struggles with left-handed hitters. I mean, Bellinger, Pearson, Seager, friggin' – I mean, all these guys. They've got Muncie. They've just got a bunch of left-handed monsters they're going to throw at him or just going to eat him alive.

He's going to throw 40 pitches in two innings. They're going to eat him alive. Yeah. 40 pitches in two innings? 40 pitches in one inning? 50 pitches in two innings. Okay. He – it was good.

It was fine. We saw what – It's a very measured take from you. There's a reason why we all – Keeping it real here. saw what there's a very measured take from you there's a reason why we all keeping it real here well there's a real cause like

I can't lie to off of what I saw not to the IHOPs list no I can't I can't I can never do that but like

it was good it was a good it was fine and there's there's stuff there's stuff to believe in like his curveball I thought he had the best control

he'd had on the season I thought his curveball was really good it was it was pretty nasty there he did retire like that's what's so frustrating about him. It's like he'll give up the home runs and then retire like 10 straight.

11 in a row. Or whatever. And then he'll go back and he'll all of a sudden lose the strike zone and then exhale his way out of an inning. And look, five innings isn't good enough. Just on a basic level, however he settled in or whatever. You need more from that guy. You need more from this rotation in terms of innings.

Especially right now with a literal... They might call Jack Fritz up to be in the bullpen. That's where we're at. They just called up Cole Irvin. What's the difference? We forgot about Yaxel Rios. I forgot he existed again. He's got stuff, Yaxel. I don't. He's bad. Between the ears issues there. He's just bad.

He's just bad. He's not it. Alright, so a less effusive than expected response on Pavetta. It was fine. Okay. It was fine. But it was still 100 pitches in five innings, and it was still frustration.

Yeah, okay. And nibbling. But, and like, here's the thing. If you're going to flash the splitter, throw it. Yeah. You didn't even throw it. Yeah, that's weird. We couldn't even get tantalized by it.

I love that you're like eyeing in on the hand hand grips and being like are you gonna throw that splitter man come on i was locked in that's all that's all i wanted to see he could allow he could allow 10 runs if either one nasty splitter i'll be more in today all right aaron nola i uh personally i i thought look he looked really good i we've talked about this a lot just off the top the concept of when you're up 7-1 then 11-1 whatever it is sometimes you're not going to get the most competitive at bats from opponents who might not necessarily be all

invested but what did you think and what did you see from Nola? Personally I think that was the that was the best Nola's thrown this season and that's been the most impressed I've been by Nola this season because what was frustrating with Nola so far this year has been that he would get to the sixth or to the seventh.

Yeah, he got through seven, which was nice. And it was like he started grooving through the seventh. He started to get into a nice little rhythm there. I have not seen that kind of rhythm in the fourth through seven innings since last year, since 2018. So that was really, really good. Fastball command wasn't perfect but i do think like the umpire was some egregious like the whole series i mean the umpire today with

eikhoff yeah what was unbelievably horrendous one of the worst in a while i mean it we say it a lot i i genuinely feel like across baseball this is the humping I've seen in a long time. Home play humping, at least. I thought it was a pretty brutal series, just from a Boston Strike standpoint. But I thought Noah's fastball got a little better at the game. The curveball has been good for the last couple starts. Curveball's been good, especially

certain times, it's the curveball we've seen. The big thing was the changeup. I mean, his changeup was disgusting. Like, absolutely disgusting. It was dancing all the changeup. I mean, his changeup was disgusting. Like, absolutely disgusting. It was dancing all over the place. He would throw one that would move like a two-seamer, but at 86 miles an hour,

he'd throw one that just dropped off the table right under Reddy's bats. Like, that was disgusting. So if he goes, that pitch being back to where it was, getting through the seventh, getting into a rhythm in the four through seven as the game went on, getting stronger as the game went on, getting stronger as the game went on.

I think that's a huge positive for him. It was Nola weather there, should I? I mean, it was humid, man. It was very hot. It was hot. That's what he does. He just needs humidity. But he didn't need that last year.

That's the weird part. No, yeah. And look, he did have a very good May. I think a 2-7-3 ERA or something like that in the month of May. Yeah, but I know the numbers overall, but it still wasn't Nola. I agree with May. I think a 2-7-3 ERA or something like that in the month of May. Yeah, but I know the numbers overall, but it still wasn't Noah. I agree with you. I agree with you. Look, he's got a 4-1 ADRA in the season, which you would actually think

it feels like it should be slightly higher than that. 6-0, which is... All that matters! We want to talk about why Windsor... So he's actually better than last year. Oh, great stat! That's why he's better than last year. 6-0! Well, it is nice to think that if he can rail off rail off like a 10 start just dominant stretch that he could be in the cyan competition because

he didn't miss out on all those wins before and you know how much i love wins jack do you know other than last year when they gave it to degrom with like eight do you speaking of degrom do you know that if he got four runs a game he would have been 30 you know yeah i saw that stat it's unbelievable last season obviously last season he would have been 30 and 30 and oh uh if we're talking about pitcher wins which is the only way you should ever evaluate a pitcher ever uh nick pivetta three and one in the season yeah so um so i was so my favorite part of that night was was was pivetta's pitching right and of course everyone like the first two innings it was just freaking right at you oh my god oh it was brutal but i go home of course have some beers and i start tweeting at every single one of them and i'm like three in one you're like three in one three in one

that's awesome yeah it's just like copy and paste it or did you actually go to the effort of typing no i did the effort oh wow yeah i replied Yeah, I replied back. That's aggressive, man. Yeah, I was upset. I like that. And John Johnson, who is now banned from this podcast and never allowed to even talk about high hopes. Okay, I like that. I had nothing to do with this,

but I co-sign it. If Jack needs to ban someone, I support it. What team when this comes to this thing? John Johnson. The dog that attacked me, banned from this podcast. John Stolnes, who sent that dog after you me banned from this podcast John Stolnes who sent that dog after you banned from this podcast

just kidding yeah just kidding he allegedly allegedly sent a dog after you can you imagine if someone sent a dog

after me over like a podcast that would be some dark stuff I wouldn't doubt Stolnes oh man it's like the last

person on the planet I know but John Johnson tweeted me like you really want to die on this hill Listen, I wouldn't doubt Stonis. Oh, man. It's like the last person on the planet. I know. But John Johnson tweeted me like, you really want to die on this hill? And I responded back at 1.30 in the morning. I said, 3-1 on the season. I don't know what you're watching.

Guy just wins. So, if so, facto, ban for the podcast, John Johnson. Done. See you, John. Hate to see it. Sorry, buddy. I mean, I like you. Got to support my goes here. All right, John. Hate to see it. Sorry, buddy. I mean, I like you, but gotta support my co-host here.

Alright, we'll get to the pen. By the way, hold on. Speaking of the Cardinal series, I had to produce two Randall A's. Oh, dude, tell me about it. I had to I was up until like one in the morning the other two nights. Dude. Right. This is awesome. Everyone's like, ah, Randall A's fun. And then Zoe woke up at three

and I was like, I was screwed. I had no sleep that night. So anyway, fun stuff. All right, before we get to the pen, how much longer can Jared Eickhoff keep giving up home runs before he's not going to be a part of this rotation anymore? Because it wasn't an awful start today. I mean, six and a third, four earned, but like the home runs, man.

Marcelo Zuna, that one was your fault. Both of them yeah both in the series dude that guy that guy would win the mvp if he played in the stadium all right he's unbelievable he's unbelievable it's crazy the guys are ridiculous um so eikhoff listen i i thought he settled into a nice little groove today uh obviously the two home runs or whatever happened made it for a four run game game or four-two game um but they just don't have anyone else i mean i know you have no one else you can put in there until they make a trade and supposedly supposedly they're gonna make they're gonna be aggressive right after the

draft that's what we're hearing so watch out bum gardner is on the table all that stuff which is cool get him now what i mean if you're gonna get him a deadline like why first of all why allow there to be a bunch more teams involved but why are the giants though it is my main thought exactly that's i wouldn't do if i was the giants i agree with you but at the same time like i don't know like give them a strong offer and say let's just do this you know yeah far on too smart to screw this up but uh yeah no and they don't have another option. And where I'm at with Eikhoff, pretty much outside of Nola and mostly Arrieta, is like we have a bunch of four and five guys.

Yeah, and Eflin. You're an Eflin guy. I'm an Eflin guy. But he is like a four. He's a de facto three because of this rotation. Yes, but he's a four. But he's probably a four on a good rotation.

Absolutely. So, and listen, four runs in five innings is going to happen if Jared Eikhoff's your five starter. It just is. He doesn't throw hard enough, and he has to be perfect. We talked about it.

I'm not ready to run Jared Eikhoff out the building. It's just that they don't have another option until they make a trade, which they need a starter. There's no doubt about it. They need both. I mean, especially with the way the injury bug has hit this pet. I mean, you need another arm. I mean, you need...

Obviously, look, Robertson. Looks like Tommy Hunter might pitch this season. Yeah, I was surprised by that. I know. It seems like potentially there. I mean, Victor Arano is going under elbow surgery. Arano is arthroscopic, but still, I think, not expecting Arano back. But, you know, who knows?

Adam Morgan, you hope that's just kind of a maintenance thing. Forearm strains are scary. Well, let me just say it was it was definitely precautionary okay gabe was gabe was talking about how he wanted to bring him in the game and and and morgan's like i'm not sure he could have brought him in if he needed to bring him in okay morgan's like uh let's just not they want to get checked out and it's strictly precautionary okay so he will be he will be. Thank God. Because we need him. Desperately. Yeah, we need him.

And then Neshek, you know, who knows with Neshek in the arm? Like, we'll see. You figure this injury itself is not that serious, but he is an old guy who's creaky and you can't count on him. I can't believe he's 38. Yeah, he's 38, man. He's my age. I know.

You don't see many baseball players my age, Jack. Yeah, you just got bit by a dog. I know. But you did this next podcast. You didn't go on the IL. Well, you only missed one. You would amount for freaking the rest of the year. Yeah, the bruised ego. Yes. So I think they do need, I agree with you. I think ultimately

I think that it's more important that they get a high level starter or someone they can slide into that 2-3 type of role than it is to add an arm in the pen. But I really think they need both. The perfect trade is a Will Smith and Madison Bumgarner.

It's on a platter. Just go get those guys. Now the thing is obviously that it's a one year deal. Yes, they're both free agents at the end of the year. They both are. Is it the right time to go in? And that's the question. I know. Do I really want to give up one of these guys

in the minor leagues, or two of these guys, for a rental on this team? It that's the question. I know. Do I really want to give up one of these guys in the minor leagues, or two of these guys, for a rental on this team? It's a great question. It's the ultimate question, some would say. Well, because, would you say, like, does Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith, and then a bench bat, or whatever else they do, or a center fielder who's a defensive guy who, whatever, does that

make you better than the Dodgers? That's the way you have to look at it. Because, I think you get to the World Series and you take a shot. You can beat the Astros in a seven-game series. You never know. I think if you say, alright, this makes us the best team in the National League, I can understand going for it. I mean, you've got talent. You've got...

Look, I know you're a window guy, but a window has to start at some point. Why not start now? You're the best team in the National League East. A division that you thought was going to be four teams deep looks like it's just going to be two teams deep. And you're the second best record in the National League East. A division that you thought was going to be four teams deep looks like it's just going to be two teams deep. And you're the second best record in the National League. Why wouldn't you? I get it. You don't want to give up the

farm for it, but at the same time we don't know if Adonis Medina is going to be a star. We don't know if Spencer... I mean, I really like Spencer Howard. He's hurt right now. But I really like Spencer Howard. I'm cool. Let me just say this. I thought about the last couple days of guys who I don't want to touch. Or I don't want to touch. Guys who I'm

cool. I don't want to give away Boehm in any deal. See, I feel like Luis Garcia and Spencer Howard are really the only two people I wouldn't give away. Dude, you're not giving away Boehm, man. I don't think I would. Look, I wouldn't want to, but if you tell me Boehm plus mediocre stuff will get

me those guys, it would be something I'd have to think about. For a half season of Madison Baumgartner? No, no, no. You could re-sign those guys. Hey, Will Smith? You could re-sign Madison Baumgartner. No. I mean, you could, but-

Look, I mean, the Giants are probably getting more than that. Boehm is not- Boehm's what? Like a top 60 prospect? Only because he had a bad last season. Okay, so what do you think his ceiling is? Top 30 prospect? Well, who cares about prospect rankings? I mean, Tyrese Hoskins was a bad last season. Okay, so what do you think his ceiling is? Top 30 prospect in baseball? Who cares about prospect rankings?

Maurice Hoskins was a top 60 prospect. Fair. I'm just talking generality in terms of the type of player that will headline a package for Madison Baumgartner is going to be a top 30 or top 40 prospect in baseball. We know the way these things work. Machado got that last year. Machado is better.

Sure, but Baumgartner is the only starting pitcher on the market who is super high-end and has shown that he can be a playoff superstar. He's the only guy on the market. I think the only guy I'm putting Bum in a deal for is Felipe Vasquez. See, I get that because you've got him for a while and he's such a dominant arm at the end of your pen, but man, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't give up Boehm for Vasquez.

I don't want to put Boehm in any deal. Right. I would put... Haseley's getting close. Probably not, though. I think he might be a center fielder by the end of the season. We'll get to that. But if you're telling me Haseley and Medina

and something else for Baumgartner and Will Smith, I would do that. Okay. All right, so we've set the line where we're at. I think it's going to be really interesting to see

how it goes out. I would prefer to give up Moniak. Well, obviously. Here's the thing. Again, Farhan Zaidi is really smart and I think the Giants

are not going to get played in this situation and I think there's going to be a lot of teams interested. I think there's going to be a lot of teams that want Madison Baumgartner's services because, again,

he is no doubt, unless there's a to be a lot of teams that want Madison Baumgartner's services because again, he is no doubt unless there's a surprise pitcher on the market like some team with a controllable starter wants to restock their prospects or whatever that we're not seeing coming. Like what the Chris Archer idea of the Chris Archer trade was before Chris Archer turned out

to not be as good. There's no one like Archer but like Boyd, Miner, Stroman. Those types of guys, sure. I would give up. I tell you what, man. I may rather have Miner than Bumgarner. Wow. Dude, Miner's so good.

But dude, I look- I do want to take a shot on- And if you're making this trade, you're making it because as we discussed, you're saying, all right, I have a chance to win the World Series this year. And if you ask me, who do I want pitching game two of the World Series,

Mike Miner or Madison Bumgarner, I'm going to to win the World Series this year. And if you ask me who do I want pitching game two of the World Series, Mike Miner or Madison Baumgartner, I'm going to say Madison Baumgartner. I understand. No, probably. Yes, absolutely. I understand. The guy's a World Series hero. I mean, what are we talking about? And it's still good.

Like, it's not like he's fallen off a cliff. He did not pitch well against the Marlins a couple nights ago. All right, he had a bad start against the Marlins. He's had good starts, too. He looked great against the Dodgers last time he faced them. I'll take a guy who can pitch well against the Marlins a couple nights ago. He had a bad start against the Marlins. He's had good starts, too. He looked great against the Dodgers last time he faced them. I'll take a guy who can pitch well against the Dodgers. He hasn't walked Tim Tebow. Nick Pavetta did that.

That's true. Did he pass the Tebow test? He sure did. I agree with you on Baumgartner just because I want to take a shot on what playoff Baumgartner would look like. Exactly. But Mike Miner this year, 9.2 strikeouts per nine, 2.8 walks per nine. That's good. He's a 2.55 ERA.

He's only allowed 58 hits in 72 innings. Look, I like Mike Miner. I'm not crapping all over the idea of trading for Mike Miner. If they trade for Mike Miner, I will laud it. ERA plus is 193. He's a really good pitcher. I would be fine with Mike Miner. I'm just saying Mike Miner, I will laud it. ERA plus is 193. He's a really good pitcher. I would be fine with Mike Miner. I'm just saying if I have to choose between the two for a guy who's going to help me win

the World Series, I'm going to take him out. Plus, you have him for this year and next year. We should put up a poll. We'll put up a poll on the IHOPs. But I guess the context is important. I actually do think, I think Bumgarner, I think Miner would probably cost you more in a trade. I don't know if he would.

I know what you're saying just because he has an extra year of control, but I don't know if he would. I don't know if he would. I know what you're saying just because he has an extra year of control, but I don't know if he would. I don't know if he would. He's cheaper. You wouldn't have to re-sign him. I feel incredibly confident both Mike Miner and Madison Baumgartner will get traded before the deadline, so we'll see which package is bigger.

Nice. Hey-o. I'm trying to think of extra pieces in a possible Miner deal because I don't want to do just Mike Miner. I want to get something else. That's the problem. The Rangers don't have a ton of exciting stuff, not a lot of bullpen arms.

Well, Hunter Pence? Dude, Hunter Pence has been great. I don't know what happened, but Hunter Pence has been a stud. He went to Germany. He went to Germany and figured it out. That makes sense. One thing I would find interesting, and I would definitely explore it Just because I want to see

If he's actually bad Jose Lionel Deschamps Jr. Jose Leclerc Yeah look He was their closer Coming into the season And now he's

Their opener He's horrendous Yeah he's not good He's at a Like ERA in the 8 range Or whatever It's crazy It's crazy

Because Jose Leclerc Was disgusting last year He was awesome They got Who's the guy they got They got one reliever Who I like a lot And I can't

His name is escaping me right now. But regardless, look, either way, I think we can agree the Phillies need to go out and get a starting pitcher. I think they know that. I think they're at a point where they do. Yeah, I mean, right now you have Nola Sartor's playoff series, and then it's Arrieta, and then it's

I guess, it's Eflin. But then it's like You're in trouble. You need a game four starter. You don't have a game for starter and you don't, and you don't trust any of those guys in a playoff series. Exactly. All right. Who do you, is it,

is it, is it Sean Kelly? You like, no, former national. Yeah, no, it's a guy I had never heard of before this year,

but who's been awesome for them. Uh, Chris Martin. Thank you. Yeah. I was just about to say Coldplay guy, Chris Martin. He's been awesome.

And I've, I've seen a bitch a couple of times on the back. It's like, he's pretty nasty. Chris Martin. Like you. Yeah, I was just about to say Coldplay guy. Chris Martin. He's been awesome. I've seen him pitch a couple times on the back. He's pretty nasty, Chris Martin. That dude's good. But I don't see any reason why they trade him. He's a young, controllable reliever who they have for multiple years, I would assume. Yeah. All right.

That was fun. That was an unexpected little just trade banter talk. Yeah, well, because this team, I mean- Because they need to make trades. And we see, I think we see the potential of this team. I mean, this team

right now, I think we trust the offense to do enough to win a ball game, to put you in a position to win. I mean, even today, they scored three

runs, but Cesar, the unlucky, I mean, he ripped that ball. Totally. And there was potential for a lot more. They fought back

today, which was nice, too. They didn't just... Some of these games, like the Brewers game, game three, they just, see what I did there, game three? They'll just lie down and be flat once they realize the other team really wants to win that game. We didn't see that today, which was nice.

Right, and there was a moment there where I was like, I thought they were going to do it. I was like, oh, buddy. I know. Let's go. Rip John Gant apart. Let's go. That guy, by the way. You always hate on John Gant. Well, he's going know. Let's go. Rip John Gant apart. Let's go. That guy, by the way.

You always hate on John Gant. Well, he's going to blow out his arm. There's no chance he's going to be healthy. He cuts off all his momentum and whiplashes. His arm's going to fall apart. I'm just telling you. The Cardinals should get rid of this fast. Jack for its prediction.

It's going to fall. I mean, I'll probably motion me. It'll be like a Cy Young winner next year. But he's going to fall apart. All right. So with the excitement about this team, in one second, let's get to fall. I mean, I'll probably motion me. It'll be like a Cy Young winner next year, but he's going to fall apart. All right. So with the excitement about this team, in one second, let's get to the Dodgers series. Really quickly with the bullpen. More of the same, no doubt, Neris.

We don't really need to get into that. Too easy. He's so easy, we don't have to talk about him. We don't have to talk about him. He is locked out. Two guys I want your opinion on. You talked a little bit about Edgar Garcia last time, but an inning and two-thirds the other night looked pretty good

in that. And then the real person I want your opinion on, J.D. Hammer. I need high-leverage Hammer. Hammer time! Give me high-leverage Hammer. These look great so far. What have you seen? Look, to my eye, he looks really good. I mean, mid-90s

slider looks really good. The slider is better than i expected i didn't think slider i didn't think it was this good of a slider he just he looks like he looks like a guy he looks like a reliever guy right he looks like that's a reliever guy and he's quirky and yes very boring interview and uh yeah he was pretty boring he also sounds like he's five years old yeah i like that but it was pretty funny because you threw Jim Jackson as your proxy did say that he should

tell him that he should use Wild Thing as his song instead of MC Hammer. Yeah, but then he came out first to like Numb by Linkin Park which is bad. And then the second one was

Travesty. The second one was Everybody Dance Now. It's a travesty. What are they doing? That was last night. Do they even care? I don't know.

That's the fairest question you've ever answered on this podcast. They've got a guy named J.D. Hammer. With glasses. He has the freaking Wild Thing glasses. And you're not going to go with either the Hammer or the glasses theme? Or the Wild Thing theme? Like, I'm going to rip you, Philly. Have you guys, have you and the Midday Show, have you guys started thinking about Beat the Hammer?

Or something with the hammer i've thought about 8 000 different things between jd the hammer and joe de camera hammer yes yes i can't wait for it um but no i i just think i think he's i want to see what he looks like in a high leverage situation he hasn't pitched in a big moment yet but just from watching him he looks like he's calm out there he looks like he's totally composed and that slider is better than i thought it's a wipeout slider when he gets on top of it and drives it down. Because it's nasty. I mean, when you're getting pitching ninja gifs already.

Yes. Great point, actually. Three appearances in. That's a big moment for you. And then you combine that with 95. He's something. I think he might save this bullpen. I think he's one of those guys.

He could. Because he's one of those guys who could come out of nowhere. Sir Anthony last year, not to that level, but someone who you're not expecting to get anything from, and all of a sudden he's pitching you to a mid-twos ERAs in big spots. By the way, is Sir Anthony finding it a little bit? He looked like he is, baby. I think we're about to see the real Sir Anthony.

We got a second inning of Sir Anthony. It worked. It was like, what is happening? I was like, what world am I living in? He got saved by a horrible home plate Serenity. We got a second inning of Serenity. It worked. Miracle. I was like, what is happening? I was like, what world am I living in? He got saved by a horrible home plate umpire. He got lucky. It worked out, though. I will take it.

All right, let's look ahead to the Dodgers, because I think, look, it's only June 1st coming up here, May 31st today. Or May 31st tomorrow, May 30th today. But coming up on June 1st, so it's still obviously very early in the season, but safe to say the biggest series of the season from a national baseball standpoint for the Phillies in the sense that it's the two best teams in the National League right now.

Biggest series since the 2012 Astros series? I love that we keep going back to the biggest series since 2011. We could do this all year. It's great. Big biggest series since 2011 we could do this all year it's great biggest series since the 2012

Astros series in the what was it August of of 2012 was that for draft picks or something no that was

no no no no that was before they were out of it in 2012 they were right in it and then they got swept by a hundred loss Astros team

I remember that I remember that if they like split they're right in there I remember that yeah I remember that. If they split, they're right in there. I remember that, yeah. I remember I was like my first week of college and I was like,

oh my God, this is depressing. Depressing. Yeah, and then I never went back to college. I'm just kidding. Listen. All right, Dodgers.

The Dodgers are really good. We're missing Ryu, which is nice because he's one of the best pitchers in baseball right now. I think he's got like a 165 ERA. And we are missing Walker Bueller,

which I know you're sad you don't get to see him pitch. Yeah. But I think we get Maeda in game one, Kershaw game two, Rich Hill game three. Here's the thing. You look at those. Well, it's still to be determined for the next two. All right.

What I saw was Maeda game one, Kershaw game two, Rich Hill game three. Yeah. I mean, on the probables, it doesn't have anything yet. So I'll go with what you said. What's the point of this? I don't know. One thing I noticed in looking at the Dodgers,

and we'll get to the offense in a second, but with those three guys and really the team in general, they don't walk anybody. Have you noticed this? I mean, I think everyone except Maeda of their starters has a walk rate in the 4% range. Ryu is only walking 1.7% of the batters he faces because that's, you know, disgusting. But they're all guys who are in the 25% range. Ryu's only walking 1.7% of the batters he faces because that's, you know,

disgusting. But they're all guys who are in the 25% K rate range and 4% walk range. It's a bad matchup for this Phillies team, a team that does like to go up and, you know,

work some counts. Yeah, and the lefties. I mean, they got left. Yeah, and they have lefties and they have lefty bats to face our righties. It's a horrendous matchup. We said this,

we said this like, I don't know, maybe a month ago. It was like a Phillies-Dodgers NLCS is like a disaster for the worst nightmare they they it's a perfectly bad matchup for this phillies the phillies are heading let's just put this in perspective for one second the phillies are heading into los angeles a lineup with jock peterson cody bellinger max muncy all these lefties yes their lefties out of the bullpen are going to be jose alvarez and nobody and cole irvin oh yeah cole irvin yeah yeah 84 miles an hour cole oh god listen i

don't i i don't want to be a debbie downer just take one that's what i said i swear to god someone uh uh christina on turn remember uh the handle but christina on twitter tweeted i was like not excited to face the Dodgers. And she's like, oh, it'd be great if we take two of three. She's like, oh, two of three would be okay. I'm like, two of three would be a miracle. I'm like, I'm hoping we don't get swept. That's my philosophy on this.

Don't get swept, and I'll be happy. We're going to the World Series if they're taking two of three from this team. It's on. We're going to be insufferable on Monday's podcast if they take two of three from the Dodgers. The scariest part about this Dodgers team is that they they're now starting to develop that belief at home where like they're just not gonna lose yeah like that game last night was crazy i mean of course who gets the winning hit cody ballinger yeah well he's amazing he's banked 378 i know and

it's freaking june 1st um uh 20 homers and And side tangent for, yeah, one second. Noah Syndergaard is the biggest baby in professional sports. You know, he's like, oh, I think the Dodgers knew what was coming.

I loathe Noah Syndergaard. Yeah, he's definitely a weak sauce. I just, I can't stand him. He plays a lot. I can't stand him. Learn how to do a pickoff throw.

I do. I, I, I will forever thank the Mets for trading Jared Klinick. Unbelievable. Kids, he's like a top 20 prospect in baseball. 19 years old, has an OPS of 955 in single A for $96 million worth of Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz.

Eddie Diaz. Who is, I can't believe he's this bad. No, he's better than this. I'm not out on Edwin Diaz. Neither am I. Neither am I. They thought this team was going to compete for the division and trading for your best prospect and a prospect that you absolutely need

for a closer is crazy. Well, it could come back to be one of those trades if Kalenic becomes anything close to what he can be. It could be one of those trades where people look back and be like, wow, that is an all-time bad trade. All of this just to block the Phillies from getting them. Awesome.

Thank you. It's cool. Worked out. Yeah. I wonder, if you look back on it, it was probably going to, well, no, it probably was not six, though. It was probably Howard. Well, the point is it probably would have stopped them

from doing the Romito trade, and that's the real, which is like, thank God. I will take JT Romito over edwin diaz and whatever else every day all the time yes just from that and just watching it again this weekend the guy's just a quarterback oh he's so great he just feels like a leader out there he feels like he's got it and uh and that's awesome all right uh any other thoughts on the dodgers other than the fact they're bad match and we hope we can win a game? Actually, I like the way they match up the first

two games. I mean, Arrieta and Eflin, I feel good about those guys. I like that Arrieta is the first one out there.

It is a tough spot. The getaway day into the West Coast game the next day. It's tough. It's not easy. But it's a night game at Dodger Stadium.

Ball not traveled. Arrieta, he threw a no-hitter in that stadium once. Oh, is that where he threw his no-hitter? He threw one of them there. One of his two? I mean, he threw an O'Hitter in that stadium once. Oh, is that where he threw his O'Hitter?

He threw one of them there. One of his two? I mean, yeah. Yeah, the one was in Pittsburgh or the one was in Cincinnati and the other one

was in Los Angeles. Good knowledge out of you. Yeah. I think Utley was the last guy he got out. I'm pretty sure. Look at you.

Just pulling nuggets out. That's what I do. It's good work. But it's a pitcher's park, especially a night ball doesn't travel. I feel good about a ground ball Jake in that scenario.

Eflin, again, the three and two thirds, I think it was a bit misleading against the Brewers. I felt like they were just like, all right, we don't need to keep Eflin out here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We'll let that. The problem is that if, listen, I don't know if many people in this podcast that listen to this podcast are able to do this, but if you could maybe take out a mortgage on your house and put it on the Dodgers on Sunday.

I'm not even trying to reverse jinx. Nick Pavetta is going to get absolutely destroyed on Sunday. Rich Hill's the kind of bidger who'll throw seven perfect innings against the Phillies. Yeah. He'll start breaking and balling them to death. Yep. And Pavetta, if he makes it to the third, it's an upset. Oh, man.

I'm not even trying to reverse jinx. I can tell. You look very serious right now. This is not a joke. Take out a small mortgage or a loan or your kid's college tuition and put him on the Dodgers. As someone who has a mortgage, as someone who has a kid. I have neither. Don't listen to Jack.

Don't do that. But I'm with him that if you want to place after some on the Dodgers, I think it's a good bet. The point is, think about it. Think about it. All right. You got anything in the Fritz bag you want to unload before we get to final thoughts?

Yeah. Let's talk about Haseley. Yes. I think there's a... I'll say this. I think there's a realistic chance he's going to be up here quicker than people think. Sure. And I think the Oduble situation might even accelerate it. I think so, too.

And I don't think that was a coincidence as to why he got brought up so quickly. I agree with you. The fact that he went right to AAA there, I think that was not a coincidence at all. Because I don't think they want to do the Kingery thing in center field. Right. I think they feel comfortable with Cutch in it. They want to do it. I don't think... I mean, I Kingery thing in center field. Right. I think they feel comfortable with catching it. They want to do it. I don't think.

I mean, I don't want to do it. But listen. I think Scott Kingery might be your everyday third baseman by the end of it. That's the point. Is that they have to fix either center field or third base because Franco's not it. You think? And by the way, I didn't see the TV broadcast like missed the whole thing. Because were you watching the game last night?

Yeah, I was watching on TV. Right. So the the Kingery home run happened but they missed the Franco home run because it's so quick well you saw the end of it you saw it like kind of like going to the stands dude he took 30 seconds to get around the bases and like bat flipped and it was like what are you doing I saw the bat flip on the replay they showed a replay with the bat took like 30 some seconds 11 to 1 game or whatever at that point I guess like a 7 to 1 game it's like what are you doing buddy buddy? Absolutely crazy. So they got to fix one of those positions.

You can't fix all the holes in this team in one deadline. It's just not realistic. So Haseley, first game went 3-4. He went over 4. In AAA. In AAA, yes.

Yeah, he went 3-4 in his first game. He went over 4 today. Don't be surprised if he's up here sooner rather than later. Question for you first game. He went 0-4 today. Don't be surprised if he's up here sooner rather than later. Question for you. Answer.

Between Andrew McCutcheon and Ronald Acuna Jr., who is a higher F4? I'm guessing because you're asking the question, it's Andrew McCutcheon. It's Andrew McCutcheon. Higher F4. How about that? Now, Acuna is a higher baseball reference.

Yes, and Acuna is also 21 years old. Yeah. Yeah. The point is, his round Acuna stinks, and McCutcheon's back. I have an Andrew McCutcheon thought coming up in the final thoughts. So, Fred. Okay, I'll save my other thing for the final thought. Final thought.

Now, do I do it? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Your final thought. So, I have to unload the mailbag and then do the final thought. Yeah, i do it yeah so i have to say your final thought so i have to unload the mailbag and then do the final thought yeah that's what we do okay that's what we do every time okay um or you can add to the you do multiple final thoughts you this is all your thing you have like complete control over this the combination of emptying the fritz bag and then the final thought is whatever you choose deem but really there's no difference of course not The final thought holds some

weight. It holds some power so it's really like I personally would be a save the best for last guy. You know what I mean? Okay. Well how about this? I will do one more emptying of the mailbag. Good. And then I'll do my final thought. I like it. Does that sound good? It sounds great. My final thought. This is important by the way. This is not semantics. This matters.

Go ahead. My final thought my final mailbag thought is that is that there are there are whispers that Jackson Rutledge maybe maybe falling to the Phillies

at 14. Is this possible? Oh, you might be talking to Kylie McDaniel but we'll see. Maybe not. Potentially Kylie McDaniel

and Jack Fritz at the end of this podcast. Who knows? Who knows? Well, that's one to determine by nine o'clock tonight um but there there's whispers that jackson rutledge may be falling and maybe a big deal i've seen him mocked to like eight nine general range right so if they came out of this draft with george carby or jackson rutledge i'm i'm thrilled uh johnny almaraz did talk today about the rarity of finding a good lefty in the draft. And Kyle Thompson is the best lefty, but he does have elbow issues.

And he's pretty disgusting, but a lot of people have him going to the Mets at 12, which would be so Mets of shaking out with arm injuries. And Rutledge is a lefty too, right? That's the idea? No, Rutledge is a 6'8 righty. Righty. Kirby's a righty too. Yeah, there's Kirby idea? No, Rutledge is a 6'8 righty. Righty. Huge. Kirby's a righty too.

Yeah, there's Kirby. Him are righties. They're both college arms. And then there's the underslot guys, which would be Gunnar Henderson, which is a shortstop. Right. Eh. Okay. I don't love the high school shortstop.

He looks unathletic to me, but that's just me. And then the other one that I want to mention, there's a couple of talks about going underslot for this third baseman from Tulane, who looks fine. But I don't know. I don't like that. I actually want a pitcher. I'm usually a draft bats and sign pitchers guy generally, but I haven't drafted a pitcher in a while.

And when he was 6-0, I want to see him come back with a high upside arm. And I don't love the idea of going underslot when you don't have a second round pick. I agree with you on that. I really agree with you. They don't have a second round pick. Don you on that I really agree with you they don't have a second round pick don't go under slot don't be cheap all right final thought final thought is that Reese Hoskins this year against lefties is batting 289 with a 450 OBP and an OPS over a thousand we did it off of his career his career batting average against lefties now is 209 with an 813 obs so that we did that right okay it was us it was i just want to make sure that it was us i feel like it was us it was not reese putting

in extra work in the cage or whatever it was strictly us mentioning that he can't hit lefties come on we know what it was you're welcome reese yeah we love you buddy if you want to come on the by guest we'll see if we can make room for you think about all right there's a decent chance to let you on all right really quickly one final thought jack in their last 10 series the phillies seven one and two pretty good let's go let's go this is a team that might not go on 10 game win streaks can't do it right but they also don't go on 10 game losing streaks and more importantly they grind out series wins. And it might not be super exciting, but that's how you get to the playoffs. Grind out series wins.

So 7-1-2 in the last 10 is nice. That's nice. 7-1-2 winning series. Now, they were winning series last year. The difference is that obviously this offense is better, and this team is only going to get better. And they're just more talented. I mean, look, last year at this time when they're winning series we were saying i don't know how they're

doing it but they're doing it and that's fun let's keep rolling with it this year they're talented this year we expected them to be good right and the defense is obviously not uh an atrocity so um it's definitely it's definitely we can feel better we don't have to lie to ourselves and talk talk ourselves into a philly's team because I think this team is just scratching the surface. All right, my final, final thought. Important announcement. I love Reese Hoskins, obviously, because he's been here. He's our guy.

I have him on both of my fantasy teams, so I have a very special place in my heart for Reese Hoskins, but a decision has been made. Wow. Andrew McCutcheon is my favorite Philadelphia Philly. I just love the guy. I talked to you about his smile.

Yeah. I just, I want to hang out with him. I want to be friends with him. I love watching him play. I love the way he goes about his business. I love his attitude.

I really love having this guy on the team that I root for. And he's so, he's so comfortable in his own skin that he'll like mess around with Joe West.

Yes. He messes around with fans. He's just cool. I mean, he hit the ball to the wall in Milwaukee, and he's doing push-ups because he had warning track power. Yes. He's doing interviews, and he's like, I love Bryce Harper. It's cool.

I'm really like 100% in. I know. I know. I'm glad we're getting this Obviously he's not as good As a 2013 Cutch But But he's better than the guy

The last couple years There's no question about it And And he's like Matured And he's In a He's just

Fully confident in himself I'm very in on this Cutch I'm glad he's here Me too We also We had to talk about this We keep on forgetting to do this

But Oh yeah We keep on forgetting to do this but oh yeah we keep on forgetting oh yeah like a nice little end of the pod thing here yeah it's good so this is a challenge to the listeners people have asked for this yes we've gotten multiple people multiple times now obviously we have some new listeners to the podcast i mean the the podcast is growing so for any of you for any of us, rate and review and subscribe. Help us out. If you like us, help us out. Yeah, sure. For the new listeners of the podcast, there was a vulnerable moment that James and I had during the Bryce Harper-

More you than me. I think I was pretty less vulnerable, but we were both pretty vulnerable. Okay. but we were probably pretty vulnerable. Okay. There was a, there was a moment where one person on this podcast may have mentioned two people that can't close John Middleton, Hector Neris.

Oh man, that take has gotten so much worse. That take is out there. It was, no, it was never officially ushered on this podcast. No, because literally two minutes after he finished recording the Philly sign,

Bryce Harper, and it was all a podcast about how, why haven't the Philly signed Bryce Harper yet? No, because literally two minutes after he finished recording, the Phillies signed Bryce Harper. And it was all a podcast about how, why haven't the Phillies signed Bryce Harper yet? Yes. So here's the challenge to the high hopes. The long lost Bryce Harper podcast we like to call. The long lost Bryce Harper is never, ever going to sign here. What are the Phillies doing podcast?

It can be yours. It can be yours. All you got to do is help us get to a thousand ratings on itunes that's it that's all you gotta do now we're only at 250 250 ish we got a ways to go but if you help us get to a thousand overall ratings doesn't have to be comments although the comments are nice comments are nice jack gets really excited he'll send them to me every once in a while but listen james had his face bitten off by a dog. And the only thing that was getting him through that was the iTunes reviews that I was sending

him. So just think about that. Making me smile, which hurt to smile. And I would do it anyway. Yeah. For the reviews. A thousand ratings and we will release the Bryce Harper is never, ever going to sign here podcast that was so crazy.

And then two minutes later. We were emotional, man. Two minutes after we were done recording it bryce harper was a philadelphia yes so get your steal your grandmother's phone steal your mom's phone steal your friend's phone better yet get them to listen i hopes but worst case scenario steal their phone and rate the podcast all you got is get a 2000 we don't care we get there yeah there there will be a prize at the end and it will be that podcast. Also, James and I are working on High Hopes Night at the ballpark. It is going to happen. Cindy Webster is helping us out, which means

it's going to happen. Right. And there's going to be tickets probably as much as we want. And it's going to be a fun night. We'll try to have some fun stuff planned. The first of many. The first annual High Hopes Night at the ballpark. I just got chills, Jack. I know. I know. It's going to be our event.

It's going to be our event. Looking forward to it. So look out for that. And subscribe, rate, and review. Thousand. A thousand ratings. And we'll release the Bryce Harper podcast. And you'll make Jack so happy.

It'll be totally worth it. All right. We'll be back on Monday. And maybe we're talking to Kylie McDaniel. Maybe. Maybe. We already went like 50-something minutes as usual. So, yes, we did end up getting Kylie McDaniel on the podcast.

It's just me interviewing him. James had to go home and take care of Zoe. Classic James. Taking care of his daughter. Here is Kylie McDaniel from Fangraphs. McDaniel from Fangraphs. And now we're welcomed by my personal favorite draft writer, Kylie McDaniel from Fangraphs. Just put out Mock Draft 3.0 yesterday.

You can follow him on Twitter at Kylie McD, Kylie MCD. Kylie, how's it going, man? Doing great. How are you doing? Pretty good. Pretty good. Obviously, the draft is coming up. I mean, Monday, It's an exciting time. I know it's an exhausting time

for you, but we appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule to talk to the listeners here on the High Hopes Podcast about the Phillies. I just want to know, Kyle, what are you hearing the latest on 14 for the Phillies? I know you wrote yesterday in the mock draft about how they're

thinking about possibly going under slot, but you did mention the fills i know you wrote uh yesterday in in the mock draft about how they're thinking possibly going under slot um but you did mention that uh that rutledge would be the pick if he was there uh if he did fall to there but also george george kirby uh was the guy that you projected to go there so i just want to know what you're thinking or what you're hearing the latest at 14. uh yeah i've had some conversations with people after the mock came out, and I think we did it again. We would probably still have Kirby go there. There was some buzz that he could go as high as seven to the Reds. They had, I think, five or six scouts at Kirby's last start, which often is a sign when you have that many guys at one start that it's, hey, are we going to feel okay

with this guy at this pick? But it sounds like the Reds will not be taking Kirby, is the latest information. And if he gets past seven, then he'll probably, like the next spot where he could be taken is probably 14. And I think he is the sort of player, and also specifically the Phillies have been on him, that they like. Rutledge, I think, is probably their wish, but it sounds like he'll either go nine or 11, I guess, possibly 8.

And then also Gunnar Henderson has been seen at least once, I think twice, by Pat Gillick, which is usually a pretty good indicator of a level of interest. He has some interest in sort of that teens area, but it's just two or three teens, and I think he's more of a backup option, and I think he'll probably go more in the 30s. So there's an outside chance that if they are able to cut a little bit

with the first pick, that maybe they could have enough money to maybe float Gunnar Henderson or another one of those high school picks if they fly a little bit to the next pick. Now, what makes Jackson Rutledge so special? Because he's a big guy. I mean, 6'8", legit, but I mean, it seems like he's a good mix of three pitches. Obviously, he's a Juco guy,

but for a Juco guy to go top 10, that's kind of crazy. What makes him so special? Well, we've actually written something about it on the site today where the two most recent comparables you can use to sort of plot a course for what his career could look like.

One would be the one everyone sort of mentioned, Nate Pearson, who was a Juco big guy, threw real hard from a couple years ago with Toronto, and he's sort of taken off, and the only thing that sort of slowed him down was he got hit by a line drive. It wasn't like an arm injury. It was an arm injury, but it wasn't from throwing. It was from being hit by a ball.

So that's obviously, you know, guys throwing 102, 103, depending on what gun you're looking at, and there's a folly, flashing a 7 or 8 slider. Some people aren't sure if he could start, but he's sure showing about as many of the sort of starters you could want with that sort of guy and that sort of high-octane stuff, and it's had no worm problems.

So, I mean, that's kind of what you're hoping for. Relj is actually, I think, three inches and 30 pounds bigger and throws just as hard and has a better breaking ball as an amateur and also has two breaking balls. So he's actually pretty comparable for what Pearson has turned into as opposed to what he was as an amateur. And so that's kind of what you're hoping for. The other comparable, which is not as rosy, would be Tyler Kolek,

which was, looks like an offensive tackle, throws 100, will flash you a breaking ball. And then the rest of it was work in progress. We'll see what happens. And basically nothing has gone right for Tyler Kolek since then. He's still big and throws hard and that's about it. And that's sort of the risk when you're dealing with amateurs because they're not a finished product.

Even Verlander and Lincecum didn't have change-ups and those became arguably their best pitches or close to their best pitches in the big leagues. Even those guys that go up real high and are relatively polished are still learning things. So obviously a junior college guy that has huge stuff is not going to be a finished product. So you just don't know which one of those trajectories he'll go more toward or somewhere in the middle

and his sort of issue is that he's had surgery on both hips and also, I mean, try to name an ace at 6'8". There's not a lot of them. I can't think of one. I don't think there is one. So there's one of the issues which has come up with Andrew Vaughn this year is when you have a player that doesn't have a lot of comparables to point to, is that a good thing or a bad thing? You just sort of find out later what the answer was. So let's say hypothetically that Rutledge falls to the Phillies at 14. Should Phillies fans be ecstatic about that? Is that the best case scenario you think? I mean, as far as, I'm not sure he would be the

highest guy on our board. We're a little lower on him. We're a little more worried about the feel elements and some of the injury history. I think we have him in the elite teams. So if you're going purely off of our board, I think there probably would be a higher ranked player available. But in terms of what the Phillies want and where he should go, I think that's probably as excited

as they would be. And so I guess if you're a Phillies fan, you'd like to feel like you're one with the front office and the scouting staff. They'll probably be doing a backflip, so maybe you should too. Sounds good. How would you rank, personally, Alex Manoa, Zach Thompson,

and George Kirby? How would you rank those three? I do not know how we have them ranked currently. I don't have my rankings in front of us, but I think we may have flipped how we had those guys ranked basically every time we update it. Yeah, yeah, yeah have our rankings in front of us, but I think we may have flipped how we had those guys ranked basically every time we update it. Because they're all in that range where I think it's

pretty consensus that Nick Lodolo is the best college pitcher, even though he probably won't go first, it sounds like. And then those are probably the next three guys along the road, obviously. So I guess the next four guys. I believe I would go Manoa and

then Thompson, because Thompson has some injury stuff in his path. And then Kirby, his issue is he probably has the least stuff of the group and is probably the least physical, but has the best control and command and

at least as good a fastball as the other two. He's sort of the high floor, lower ceiling type guy, whereas Manoa and Thompson are sort of higher ceiling guys if they can continue down the road. So, I mean, if I was lining them up right now, it would probably be in the entire draft, it would probably be between 10 and 14 for all three of them. So you're kind of splitting here.

It's more just what flavor do you prefer? And I think I would probably take Manoa, of course, to take one because it's the biggest stuff. I think he still has a chance to start. There's not much of a medical issue. He's a big, durable guy, but you're kind of splitting hairs at that point. Do you think that some teams could be scared off from Kirby because

he kind of sounds like a mid-70s middle reliever that pitches for like 15 years? The name George Kirby, when you think of the name George Kirby, I just think of a guy that pitched in the 70s for like 15 years that was like a middle reliever. Yeah, that is the image that has conjured up. That's another one of those interesting things that when you see the sort of research of, you know, you can look back at a draft 10 years back

and say, how did we pass on that guy? He was a big leader for 15 years. The funny thing is when you look at the research about how essentially guys' VLO goes down a half a tick to a tick every year as they age and the ones that stick around forever, like the Randy Walts or whoever it is, their VLO continues going down and they

just learn how to pitch good enough to make up for that decrease in velocity. And it's almost impossible to guess which guys have, like, sort of the intangible ability to do that year after year. Or, like I mentioned earlier, when Tim learning a new pitch. And oftentimes people think that, like, amateur command and control, which of those three Kirby has the best, that might be the thing that predicts that the most. And if you have that and a clean medical, that's the thing that will predict if the guy will be able to make all the little adjustments along the way. So yeah, you could

also make the case that he will actually be a 15-year big leaguer because of some of the qualities he has, but obviously, if that would be the right way to do it for a big population of players, it may not be the right one for just the small population of three or four pitchers we're talking about. Sounds good. I couldn't bring you on and not ask you a little bit about some Phillies prospects.

Adam Haseley got brought up to AAA yesterday. A lot of people around here think he could be in the big leagues sooner rather than later. I just want to know if you've heard anything, some scouts on what they've seen from Haseley recently and also last year, the third overall pick, Alec Baum, off to a scorching start, got moved up to Clearwater. Just what scouts are seeing from both of those guys. Yeah, the reports have been mostly the same for the offseason. I think it'll be interesting to see if we see any swing changes

because those were two of the candidates when Jason O'Chart was brought in as the hitting coordinator that is on more of the progressive end of things coming from driveline. But those were the two guys that I think scouts said, oh, these guys could be candidates for swing changes. In short, sort of tapping into more power, essentially. I haven't heard that there's been any huge substantive changes, but a lot of times that will take a year or more

to sort of have everything internalized and show up in games and be sort of second nature. But yeah, it sounds like the tools and the performance and things like that have all been about two expectations, and they seem to be about the same players based on the reports we had over the summer. Sounds good. Kylie McDaniel, follow him on Twitter at KylieMcD, MCD at the end there.

Check him out on Fangraphs. Every day, Fangraphs is putting out something draft-related. Monday is a draft. Get excited. Kylie, thanks a lot for joining us. Yep, thanks for having me. And that's going to do it for this episode of the High Hopes podcast. Shout out to Seltzer.

Shout out to Kylie McDaniel for joining us. We'll be back on Monday as hopefully the Phillies can be competitive against the Dodgers. Talk to you soon. 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.

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