High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The High Hopes Phillies Podcast: John Stolnis joins James Seltzer to talk Arrieta

Episode Date: March 15, 2018

John Stolnis of The Good Phight, numberfire.com and The Hittin' Season podcast joins James Seltzer to talk about the Jake Arrieta signing and other Spring Training news and notes.  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

With Uber Reserve, you can book your Uber ride in advance. 90 days in advance. Perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus. Reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. Uber Reserve. See Uber app for details. 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. It is another edition of High Hopes as we continue to bask in the excitement,

the glory of Jake Arrieta coming to Philadelphia. And with me, we are so excited to finally get him on I Hopes again. It's the first time I've gotten to interview him here in this forum, at least. A good friend of mine finally got to meet him in person for a pretty special night. I don't know, the Eagles won the Super Bowl. No biggie. But it also symbolizes what we're going for here with the Phillies. And you can follow his work. He is the podcast podfather of the Phillies podcast world. Formerly Felski Files, it's now a podcast called Hidden Season.

It's a Phillies podcast. Definitely check that out and Good Fight. Number Fire, you can read his work over there as well. It is the great John Stolnes. John, what up, brother? James, it's a shame we didn't meet for the first time on an exciting night, right? I mean, it's just we're barely going to remember it, you know, 10 years from now, man. Yeah, well, it's pretty funny because you did a little interview with me beforehand.

And you were like, what would it mean if they won? And I'm just like, everything. And it turned out to be everything. It totally did. It worked everything. It totally did. That's exactly how it worked out. It totally did. And look, I think that I know a lot of people think it's silly, but I really do think that it's had a profound effect both on the fan base and on the people of this city, but also on the teams. And I think you're starting to see a real change in momentum, a change in feel of Philadelphia sports.

So let's start right there, John, with the news where, you know, the Eagles obviously win the Super Bowl, the Sixers going to make the playoffs this season, Flyers playoffs, and the Phillies, you know, we're waiting, we're waiting, we're waiting, getting excited, and then all of a sudden, the best free agent pitcher on the market, Jake Arrieta, is a Philly John. On a macro scale, and we'll get into the micro, Jay Garrietta, is a Philly John. On a macro scale, and we'll get into the micro, but just on a macro scale, what did this signing mean for you? Well, I mean, it obviously means that I think I'm done watching a rebuild.

You know, I think the rebuild's over. I think they've turned the page. I think this is a team that now expects to contend. I think at least a winning record, but I think they expect themselves to be in the conversation for a wild card come the middle towards the end of the season. And I think this team now, I feel like this team has a different personality. I think you can see how Jake Arrieta is going to transform not only just our expectations of the team, but the players' expectations of the team. For the last few years, I was thinking about this the other night,

these players that have been on this team for the last few years, they've known they're part of a rebuilding effort. And so the pressure to win hasn't been on those guys. And that's right. That's how it was supposed to be for this little while. And so now these players, I think they're going to have an extra motivation to play well. You know, I think they know that they've not that they've arrived yet, but that,

you know, they're at least, you know, getting dressed to get ready to where it is they want to go. And, you know, I think that's what's really exciting now is getting ready to see, you know, who's going to step forward, who's going to step up. You know, how good can Aaron Nola be this year? How good can Reese Hoskins be? Which of these young players is going's going to step forward, who's going to step up, you know, how good can Aaron Nola be this year? How good can Reese Hoskins be? Which of these young players is going to take a step forward? Which of the young pitchers, hopefully one or two of them, is going to be able to take a step forward and contribute?

You know, that's, this team is about wins now. It's not about payroll and roster flexibility. It's about, it's about putting wins in the win column and maybe making yourself real interesting come trade deadline time. Man, that is like music to my ears. John, you know, as a couple of people have been talking about the Phillies for a while, it hasn't been as fun as it should be the last few years. And it really, like you said, the page is turning. Like you said, the page is turning. And just to think about how long we've heard about guys like Reese Hoskins

and J.P. Crawford and Scott Kingery and all these guys that were the rebuild, the future. And now to actually see those guys and to see those guys begin to make a mark and then grow from there, hopefully, as high as we all believe they can. But just to see it all kind of beginning to grow and come together is incredibly exciting. And I think the Arieta contract, the Arieta signing,

is really that signal that puts them on the map as a franchise in a way, both to the rest of the league and also the fan base. So I'm with you. I think it's an incredibly important signing. It's very rare that, especially at this time of the season, you can sign somebody who can that dramatically alter your chances to play meaningful September baseball. So let's talk impact. I'm going to get to your actual prediction for the season and all that a little bit later. But Arieta's impact on this rotation,

what are you expecting from Arieta? I don't think anyone should expect 2015, but are we going to see the guy we saw the first half of last season, the second half? What are you expecting from him, and what can that impact have on the rotation? Yeah, when you break down his last three seasons, obviously 2015 is the benchmark, and he's never getting back there. I mean, he's never going to be that guy again. But he was very good in 2016, and he was good

in the second half last year. So really, we're talking about one half of bad pitching from Jake Arrieta over the last three years. That's five good halves and one bad half of pitching. And so my hope is that he rediscovers a little bit of what made him good in the second half last year and in 2016, and that's what he is this season. So, I mean, I think this is not signing Jeremy Hellickson. You're not just hoping to get some innings out of Jake Arrieta. You want some innings and some top-flight performance as well.

I don't think he's going to be a five-win pitcher this year, but I think a three-win season for Jake Arrieta is certainly something that's in the realm of expectations here, for me anyway. I want to see him get about 180 innings this year. I want to see him make 30 starts. I want to see him with an ERA between 3.3 and 3.4, something like that. I think that would be a terrific season for a 32-year-old right-hander who has some diminishing velocity. And I think that can help out this rotation so much because it takes the pressure off Aaron Nola for one thing.

Aaron Nola doesn't have to be the only good pitcher in this starting rotation. You now have, you know, he has a running buddy, you know, so it's not all on him. And I think that's going to help Nola to pitch a little bit better this year. And then it relieves a little bit of the pressure on guys like Jared Eikhoff and Vince Velasquez. I mean, this is still an important season for both of those pitchers

because we've seen flashes from both of them, more from Eikhoff than from Velasquez. But we see what Velasquez can do when he's on. We see what Eikhoff can do when he's healthy. And Jake Arrieta bumping those guys down a slot in the rotation, just it feels right. It feels better. Jared Eikhoff as a number two starter didn't feel right.

He is not the number two starter of a potential playoff team. He could be the potential, the number three starter of a potential playoff team. And Velasquez turns into all of a sudden a number four pitcher who can be a pretty nice lottery ticket for you if he can figure it out.

So he just lengthens everything out. And the other thing that I think he does, James, is I think he's going to be a mentor to a lot of these guys. Yes. Yeah, he's going to help out.

You were seeing that in the dugout. I couldn't agree more, John. Yeah, he's going to help out. You were seeing that in the dugout. I couldn't agree more, John. Yeah, I mean, just the first inning of the first game that he was with the team on Wednesday, you could see him in the dugout. Everybody's gravitating towards him, and he's talking pitching. You know, he's holding his hand in the way that he holds his slider and cutter, and you know that's what he's talking to them about.

He's going to help these guys, I know how to handle you know being ready every fifth day and how to handle the expectations of being on a winning team and so i it just it helps it fills so many different columns i i could not agree more with that uh the the fact that this guy can come in and not only like you said i think taking the pressure off aaron nola to have to be the stopper, the guy, you're on a losing streak. It's Aaron Nola. The amount of pressure that he has to go out and shut that down is so amplified when you don't have another guy in that rotation that you can count on. Arrieta automatically becomes that guy.

And like you said, I think the soft benefits that you don't see on the stat sheet are going to prove to be just as big as anything the fact that this guy is is a leader he is a workout psychopath you know he's someone he's gonna set an example he really is for for a young group of guys and there's no one else on this staff like that that they have. He's a guy who comes in with a Cy Young on his resume, a World Series ring on his resume. It's someone who can command a room with those type of guys, especially if they're receptive and they're willing to learn. So, John, I think that's a terrific point,

and I think that's something that I'm sure that obviously the Phillies factored in, but it's something that you might not think about. You look at just the numbers on the field and the impact there. I think much more comes with the Arrieta signing. So speaking of what you just mentioned there with Velasquez and Eikhoff, really quickly just touching on those two guys. I know we've talked in the past. Both of us have been Eikhoff believers.

Where do you stand right now on Eikhoff and Velasquez? And if you had to bet, are these going to be the guys who we think we can count on as a 3, 4, 5 even type guy? Or are we going to get the Velasquez we've seen in terms of, you know, unable to stay consistent, unable to stay on the field, and Eikhoff who isn't able to have that, you know, elite type control that he had a couple years ago? Yeah, I think Eikhoff's issues last year really did have a lot to do with injury. And so I think he's a guy that can bounce back. And like you said, I'm an Eikhoff truther. I'm an Eikhoff stan.

I'm a believer in him. I mean, I look at his 2015 and 2016 seasons when he was a really solid, above-average major league pitcher, when he was a really solid, above-average Major League pitcher, a really true No. 3 starter in this league with a strikeout pitch. I mean, that's what you have to have to be successful at the Major League level. His curveball is a swing-and-miss pitch, and when he's able to throw that pitch for strikes and he's able to locate his fastball, he's a dangerous arm.

And I think I feel good about the chances of him bouncing back in 2018, more so than I do Vince Velasquez. Listen, I could sit here and make a guess as to what I expect out of Vince Velasquez. The honest truth is I have no earthly idea. And you know who else doesn't have any idea? The Phillies. They don't know. I mean, nobody knows what what Vince Velasquez is going to do. He's had stretches this spring where he's looked really good. He's also had a couple of stretches where he hasn't looked too good. So, you know, I just, I want it to work out so badly because we see what he can be when he's on, when he's locating his secondary pitches, when he's getting them over for strikes. But what the way he's been the last couple of years is those starts are few and far between. And when he's relying only on his fastball to get guys out, that's a problem.

Now, we talk about Velasquez a lot needing to go deep into games. If the Phillies are going with an eight-man bullpen, and the way teams use major league starters nowadays, starters aren't really expected to go more than five or six innings anymore. And I think the game is changing. And I think if Velasquez can be a guy who you know can give you just at least five or six effective in anymore. And I think the game is changing. And I think if Velasquez can be a guy who, you know, can give you just at least five or six effective innings every fifth day, especially with Arrieta in the rotation, hopefully giving you some of those additional innings, I think you

can survive with Vince Velasquez, maybe only, you know, totaling up 150 to 160 innings, as long as he's staying healthy. And as long as those five and six inning outings are effective from the number four spot in the rotation because they built a bullpen with this in mind and I think they'll use it if they have to and if Velasquez can do just that if we can set the bar there for him this year I think that's a bar he can get to but whether or not he's able to do it whether or not his head will let him do it I have have absolutely no idea, man. Yeah, I'm in the I'll believe it when I see it class with Velasquez at this point. Obviously, the talent

is there, the stuff is there, but whether it's injury or whether it's the head, it just seems like he's not going to be able to really put it all together, at least as a starter. But I'm with you on Eikhoff. I really believe the back issue had a real profound effect on his season last season. And I'm praying and hoping for the best, but I do have optimistic thoughts there.

As John, something terrible has happened in the time while you were answering that question. Jack Fritz has entered the studio. Oh, man. Yeah. This is bad news. Before you got here, we talked about how much we hated you, so. Perfect. A lot.

Well, I mean, I'm used to that. Wait, John, were you tweeting today about Jorge Alfaro? I was, a little, yeah. I feel like we're not excited enough about this guy. I was kind of down on him, like, after last season. Tell you what, his approach to the plate has been super impressive. Who's been telling you for a while that you shouldn't be down on him? I know.

This guy, Stolnes, he's like walking around all the time. He's like, yeah, no, Jorge's not going to work. This isn't going to work. It's not going to happen. It's all different now. He's actually like watching pitches and not swinging at everything I'm seeing. I'm happy with Jorge Alfaro. You know, we talked about Carlos Santana's effect on Mike Alfranco.

Maybe he's having a little bit of an effect on Jorge Alfaro as well. But, I mean, Alfaro is still, he's a baby. You know, he's still learning this game. And I think maybe he hasn't been able to work on his hitting, you know, his pitch selection as much because he's been so focused on defense the last couple of years in the minors. And now maybe we start to see that. You know, I think, I don't know if he's going to hit,

he's probably not going to have a high average this year. And I don't know how he's going to do defensively. probably not going to have a high average this year, and I don't know how he's going to do defensively. But I would not be at all surprised if Alfaro hits somewhere between 50 and 20 home runs as a catcher. If he's going to make 140 starts, that's certainly within the realm of possibility for him. That's a great rookie season for Alfaro. Yeah, I think 20 homers is absolutely on the table,

and you add in the cannon of an arm. I'm excited about the guy and like jack said jack's real issue has been the pitch framing and all that type of stuff i think that's something that will we don't know yet if he can really get where we want him to be but i certainly have seen improvement so far and i'm optimistic i'm happy jack brought up the the offense because we've spent so much time talking about the pitching. It's been since, you know, before the Arrieta signing, it was, oh, no, what are we going to do about the pitching?

And now it's all been Arrieta, the effect on the staff. So let's flip it around and talk about the rest of the offensive side of the ball here. Jack bringing up Alfaro, when you look at the rest of the roster, we've been, for the most part, all pretty bullish about the offense's potential for this season. But if you're looking at this offense right now and trying to find a weak spot or at least what you might be most worried about, where are you kind of pinpointing it? I'm pinpointing third base and I'm pinpointing the offense we're going to get out of J.P. Crawford this year. I mean, I want us to go into this season with a clear mind about where these guys are in their development. This is going to be their first full seasons.

And so I like the way the offense played in the second half last year. I thought it was much improved, certainly much improved over having Michael Saunders and Cameron Rupp and Tommy Joseph in the lineup every day. And I think that as the season goes on, a lot of these guys are going to start to get better. But, you know, I don't take spring training stats to mean anything. The offense has not looked good this spring at all.

I'm with you. I really try not to overreact to that. Right, and I'm trying to not. I'm trying not to overreact. I'm trying to look at individual players, how they're progressing. You know, Mikel Franco in the last couple games closed his stance up significantly and had a couple good games doing that. You know, he's got to do it for more than three games.

He's got to bring it up north with him, and he's got to be consistent. I remain skeptical. Yes, we will be skeptical together, sir. He's stepping straight. Oh, Jack. It's all good. Stop. Stop it. I'm all in.

Stop it. I wrote a piece for the good fight with when i broke down and had some video and some stills on there of of franco's new stance and it worked for him the other day hitting that home run off chris archer and then taking an o2 pitch on the outside corner and hitting a bullet into right field for a single that's what you want to see from him because all i heard was o2 pitch but he got it but he got a hit off and you're gonna get you're gonna have some oh two he's gonna oh it's all the guy has his oh two counts that that's my issue i i fallacy i am like but really the approach of the plate is so poor the here's the here's the problem with with franco is that he's a first ball swinger he wants to swing and when he

does make contact he has a lot of success swinging on the first pitch. You look at his numbers swinging on the first pitch, he's well over 300. But the problem is when he doesn't, when he swings through that first pitcher or he fouls it off or something like that, once he gets into a hole, an 0-1 hole, he has a real hard time. But the big thing that Franco needs to improve on is how to hit when ahead in the count. I think he hit 200 last year when ahead in the count, and the league average was 299. I know this off the top of my head because I looked it up the other day. And if he can turn that number around, and that's a number he should be able to turn around because when you're ahead in the count, you're supposed to wait for your pitch.

You're supposed to get fastballs. You're supposed to get strikes. Pitchers are going to have to come back across the plate. He has not been able to take advantage of those situations. That's the area I most care about. He's going to get into some holes, but he's not a guy who swings through a lot of pitches. He's not a high strikeout guy, you know, contrary to what a lot of people believe. He's a high contact guy. The problem is he makes really bad contact a lot. And if this stance closed off, if, if he can, if he can stride towards the pitcher and cover the outer half of that plate,

not only does closing his stance, allow him to see the plate better and to know what's a strike and what's not, it allows him to reach the outside pitch more effectively without rolling it over to the left side of the infield. Now, again, it's just three games, but that's the, that's the recipe for Mikel Franco's success in 2018. Sure. I think that's fair. I just don't see it happening. I don't see him committing to it.

And again, I don't see his approach at the plate getting any better. Look, like you said, he struggles ahead in the count. I mean, that's crazy. The best hitters in baseball hit that. That's what you do. You hit better when you're ahead in hit that. That's what you do. You hit better when you're ahead in the count. That scares me even more.

But regardless, I am 100% at I need to see it for not three games, three months for Michael Franco for me to feel any sort of positivity about him moving forward and and here's a nice segue here in that I think it's very likely that Scott Kingery is playing third base by May or whatever so let's talk about Kingery real quick because I think we all know he won't be up to start the season but probably not that long after how do you see the Kingery thing going how do you see the Phillies bringing him up and fitting him into the lineup is it going to be a you know fit him in wherever they can across the diamond or or do you see michael franco having maybe three four weeks to prove himself and then potentially out the door i think they're going to give franco more than three or four weeks unless he's hitting 100 you know in the first month i think he gets more time than that but yeah i think that's to be there's a leash sorry i think there's a leash

this year yeah i think that well there's no doubt and because they know that they have not only do they have scott kingery they also have a free agent class next year with a couple of third basemen and so franco he has one third baseman in particular well yes and he shall go he well maybe we'll name him later but you know i think you're i think you're right i think what we're seeing them with scott kingery right now is they played him at shortstop in the game on Thursday. They want him to be able to play all over the field. I think that they want him on the big league roster as soon as possible. I mean, I certainly think they want to wait until the end of April to get that extra year of service time in.

So regardless of what he does, he's not starting open day. No question. No question. Right. And they, for what it's worth. Absolutely. And you can make the argument that Kingery, in his final couple of months at AAA last year, his strikeout and walk rate went in the wrong direction. So another month down at AAA to kind of work on that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But we've seen in Major League camp that he's ready to play in the majors. He has the look of a big time.

He's ready to be successful in the majors pretty immediately. And I had this thought the other day, you know, well, I'll get to this in a second. But first, I think what the Phillies want to do is use him as a super utility guy, be able to play him at short, play him at third, play him at second, all over the infield, make him kind of like a poor man's Ben Zobrist kind of a thing where, you know, he's playing in a couple of different spots and he's doing them all effectively. And that way they can get him a game at shortstop here, a game at third base there, a game at second base here. They've been playing him in center field some. Maybe he can play in center field some.

They want this with all of their guys to have positional flexibility with everybody. But I think with Kingery in particular, it's a way to get him on the big league roster. And I had this thought about him the other day. He's probably, of all of these young players, the best combination of offense and defensive ability and base running ability. Crawford, I think he's going to be a better hitter than J.P. Crawford. Crawford might be a little bit better defender, but I think King he's going to be a better hitter than J.P. Crawford. Crawford might be a little bit better defender, but I think Kingery's going to be a better hitter. I think he's going to be a better defender than Reese Hoskins, for sure.

And so this combination, he might end up being the most valuable of all of these young players when all is said and done, three, five, seven, ten years down the line, however long it is, these guys are all here. Just because he can do so many things well, that's how exciting he is. That's the kind of player we're talking about. Totally, totally agree. And I'm very bullish on all three of those guys' future.

But Kingery, I think, look, I think the Phillies, and not just the Phillies, I think baseball is heading more towards trying to get more versatile type of guys, guys who can do multiple things. Obviously an extreme example of it going on this season in Los Angeles with Otani, but I do think versatility is one of the next things that people are looking to kind of exploit and gain a roster spot by having a guy who can do multiple things for you, or multiple roster spots. So I think that is absolutely something they're looking to do, and I applaud them for doing it.

And like you said, Kingery is such a good defender at multiple spots that I think they can get away with doing that. I think you can be a plus defender at multiple positions. Well, remember, Gabe Kapler came from the Dodgers. This is what the Dodgers do with everybody. And that's how they got Cody Bellinger to the majors last year with Adrian Gonzalez at first base. They put him out in the outfield. Chris Taylor.

I mean, that's what they do out there, 100%. And look, I think that Kapler, I love what Kapler's been doing in terms of trying things that haven't been done before, or at least trying to do things differently. You know, we've talked a lot about the outfield shift thing. Just looking for different ways, looking at the sport that's been around for 100-whatever years and saying, hey, why do we do things like that?

There's got to be a better way than that, right? I love that, and I'm very bullish on Kaepler as well. But let's get into a couple kind of, you know, questions about the season ahead as we try to put on our prognosticator app, cat cap or hat or all of it at the same time or whatever our prognosticator cap hat. What I do real quick before we get to your prediction, I want you to give me what you expect to be the biggest surprise for the

Phillies this season and the biggest disappointment. Oh, the biggest surprise for the Phillies this season and the biggest disappointment. Oh, the biggest surprise for the Phillies this year. Alright, let's just say the biggest surprise. Let's say that I think the Phillies trade for Cole Hamels. Whoa!

At the trade deadline. Oh! You're sitting there for a second thinking, I'm like, oh, I wonder, you know, Cole Hamels. Yeah, we're going to welcome Cole back to town in late July. I love that. I mean, the Rangers are going to be out of it for sure. And I think we're going to be I think we're going to be in the in the wildcard hunt by that time. And, you know, you could just tell John Middleton is ready to do this.

I love it. It's ready. And you could just tell John Middleton is ready to do this. I love it. He's ready, man. Well, I can't remember who said it to me before, but I think someone said to me that it's almost like Klentak and McFerrin, like, yo, John, let's slow down just a little bit, bro. Chill for a second. He's like, go get him.

Let's go. He's in this office saying, take my money, please. Just take my money. It's terrific. Again, a third baseman potentially playing shortstop this season, potentially guy, potentially with a name that rhymes with Fanny Fichato, potentially in the crosshairs. Yeah, or a name like Splice Jarper. You know, I mean, it could be something like that.

So I think, you know, listen, I mean, Cole Hamels isn't going to cost a lot, you know, it could be something like that. So I think, you know, I listen, I mean, Cole Hamels, isn't going to cost a lot, you know, if they trade for him here. And it's just, I think, I think Hamels is going to have a better season than he had last year. And he, I think he wants to come back to Philadelphia. There's still really close ties there, you know, and if, if he's having a decent season and the price isn't too high and the Phillies are in contention, I expect all of those things to happen. I certainly think a reunion is possible. So that would be probably that would be my was a surprise or what would we call it?

Surprise. Yeah. Surprise. OK. And I think the thing that would be, I don't know, I guess the biggest disappointment if it were to happen this year, you know, like I mentioned a second ago, I think J.P. Crawford is going to have some offensive struggles this year, and I worry the fan base is going to get on him for it.

I think he's going to do pretty well getting on base. I think he's going to be probably a 340, 350 on base guy, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him hitting about 240 this year, 245 as he hits in the 8-hole or the 9-hole or wherever it is they're going to have him if the pitchers hit. I think he'll score some runs. I think he'll play good defense. I think he'll probably be a 2, 2.5 win player this year, but I do think that people

expecting Crawford to be an offensive centerpiece this year is probably going to be disappointed. I do think he'll be a very good offensive player perhaps in 2015. I know exactly what you're saying. I think it's a great disappointed. I do think he'll be a very good offensive player perhaps in 2015. I know exactly what you're saying. I think it's a great point because I think it's important

to kind of set the right expectations for these guys. J.B. Crawford is super young. He is incredibly young, and he's also a guy who has shown a propensity to at times go into some funks, and also someone who really wasn't a big power bat and then you know hit the 12 homers in a month or whatever it was last year so you might see those what 15 homers in the mires and and think there's going to be some pop there um i think there's not going to be pop and i think i think he'll get on base and i think that's all they're really asking

him to do this year get on base run the run the base as well, steal some bases, all that kind of stuff. Play defense. And play great defense, which I believe he will do. So I'm with you. I think he's going to have a really nice season. For someone his age in the major leagues in his first rookie season, I think he's going to have a really nice season, but I'm with you. I think it's something where people might look at it and it's like

he batted 275 or 280 with you know seven or eight homers and and somewhat you know disappointing counting stats I think that people might not recognize that it that it still could be a really good season it's the kind of thing you see with minor league numbers it's always like oh well he only hit you know 260 in triple-a it's like yeah he's 19 years old in triple a it's like that's amazing you know stuff like that so yeah um i i'm with you i think that's a really good one all right uh john again and everyone check it out formerly felski files it is now hit and season affiliates podcast check it out up to like 181 episodes somewhere in that range yeah yeah 181 i would do 182 this weekend. Killing it. Killing it.

If you are not listening to John, you are doing it wrong. I've tweeted that. I've said it. I believe it with all my heart. And also just a wonderful guy as well. So check John out. That's very sweet of you.

Can I just plug one more thing? Of course. Is it at John Stolnes on Twitter? Because do that too. That is correct. And we actually set up a Patreon for hit and season. We actually a couple bonus podcasts that I'm going to be doing on Sunday nights with fellow good fight writers, Justin Clue and Liz Rocher. So that's going to be we have a five dollar tier set up for bonus podcasts for Patreon subscribers.

And so there's they're going to have that. And then Justin and Liz are going to be doing another Phillies podcast looking back at the 1993 and 2008 Phillies because we got the anniversaries this year. That's all summer long. They're going to be doing like a 45 minute, one hour podcast in the middle of the week. That'll be for Patreon subscribers as well. So it's Patreon dot com slash hit and season to sign up for that. That is awesome. Everyone go do that right now. Don't even listen anymore. Just leave. Go do that immediately. I don't even care. John, before we let you go, again, follow John on Twitter,

at John Solness. John, what's your prediction for this season? I think 84 wins, and they fall just short of a wildcard berth, like one or two games out of a wildcard. I think this is, I think this is probably like an 82 win team now. And I think they make a, uh, an acquisition at the trade deadline that helps get them close. But right now I'm, I'm putting this team at 84 wins. Um,

you know, I think that's just, uh, I'm not trying to be too optimistic and not too pessimistic at the same time. I think this is a winning team this year. 84 wins would be a monster season. Oh, my God. That's what, an 18-win improvement? 18-win, yeah. Yeah, I mean, that would be amazing. And I'm right in that range as well. And I really do.

The thing that whether it's 84 or 87 and they actually make the playoffs or whatever it is, this team is going to play meaningful baseball in September for the first time in what seven years or whatever it is so really really exciting stuff. This is going to feel like 2006. I said that earlier today.

It's exactly what it is. You had Jimmy and Ryan and Chase and these guys and you're like oh wow this is exciting. Like Ryan, who's this guy? He's just hitting bombs all over the place. Like, you're 100% right. I think that's a great comp. Well, thank you.

And hopefully, you know, it leads to some World Series titles, right? You know what? From your lips to God's ears, James. That's what I'm talking about. Whenever we hang out, a Philadelphia team has won a title. That's right. I'll see you for Game seven of the World Series. I think we have to kind of keep that going.

So, again, hit and season. Check it out. Also, the Patreon page. And, of course, this is where I get good fight. Number firing at John Solnit on Twitter. John, thank you so much for coming on, man. Anytime, James. All-star closer, Kenley Jansen.

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