High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - The Phillies are on our TV Screens and on the Radio

Episode Date: February 27, 2020

The Phillies are back and it's a wonderful thing. The guys take you through their early spring training takeaways and more. 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

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Adventure awaits in Ottawa. From oh to ah. Plan your Ottawa adventure at OttawaTourism.ca. This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Philadelphia Phillies on Radio.com and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Yo!

It is another edition of the High Hopes Podcast. Fritzy, what's going on, buddy? What is that sound? That is my dog suckling on a blanket right next to me um how dumb is your dog why is it sucking on a blanket well she's not sucking she likes to suckle almost like she you know puts in her mouth and she like kind of like humps it a little bit wow yeah that's weird that's yeah i mean it sounds like she's having a good time over there yeah she seems good she really would like to be like licking me and have me pay attention to her considering i just got home but i'm talking to you so she's gotta she's gotta figure it out

you know what i mean yeah i mean i don't know how i'm supposed to focus on this podcast with the dog whimpering in the background but i guess i'll try to make it work it won't last that long don't worry okay, that sounds cool. See, this is what happens. Can you hear it? This is what happens when I try and pull the blanket away from her. Can you hear her? Yeah, it sounds like a car grating.

Yeah, it's good. It's good. She's feisty right now. I've been out all day. It's 9 o'clock at night. I just got home. She desperately wants me to pay attention to her, and I said, you know, screw you. I'm going to talk to Jack. So, you know. Yeah, I mean, also, isn't she a little old for people to pay attention to her. And I said, you know, screw you. I'm going to talk to Jack.

So, you know. Yeah. I mean, also, isn't she a little old for people to pay attention to her? She's 12. 12. That's pretty old. It's very old. So, you know.

I guess, does she have the seltzer gene of youth? Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's like you're almost 40 and you're still like sound like you're 12 so it seems like your dog fits right in oh it could not be more on brand she is a ball of energy and intensity and yeah but she's awesome cool shout out to millie what does she think what does she think about the phillies Well, how about it? Jack. Jack. Jack.

We actually have baseball, man. How good is it? How excited are you? It was amazing. So Saturday, I listened to the whole game while I was like – I watched like the Flyers, I think. I don't know. It seems like they're doing pretty well. I've been digging the Flyers.

I'll be honest with you. I've been digging the Flyers. Yeah, it's like I watched the flyers and i'm kind of i'm happy with how where the phillies are let me just get that out of the way but i'm also kind of jealous of of the young talent that they have that they've brought up and have developed and and all that stuff and it seems like they have like legit young stars like imagine if we had a carter heart i think i think bowman i think bowman spencer howard could definitely be our versions of that. But it feels like they were built the right way, and the Phillies were kind of stunted in their rebuild

and didn't really do enough. But it's okay. It's okay. Because Saturday I had the game on. I was listening to the three-man booth between Kevin Franzen, Scott Franski, and L.A. Yeah, I heard. That was fun.

I thought they did a good job for the three of them yeah and like and I forget what like Franski just opened it up in the most vintage Franski way like just hearing him talk again and and just the joy and just made everything feel so warm and fuzzy and like they're gonna win 100 games this year like every like i every spring training game is like automatically this team's gonna win 100 games but um so saturday i sat at home and i was watching the whole game while i was listening to the whole game uh i was i was hanging on every pivetta pitch and then like sunday sunday my whole day was just one o'clock i'm gonna be in front of the TV.

That's all I care about. Which, like, to be back at that point makes me very happy. Monday, I caught a little bit of the game and then came home and rewatched it. And then last night, I mean, James, we had two games to react to. I mean, they were on NBC Sports Philly. Yeah, they were on NBC Sports Philly at 1 o'clock. They were also on the Pirates broadcast. so I was able to watch both of them in the same night, which I don't

think it gets much better than that. It's been a whirlwind couple days. I've watched five games in three days. It's been tremendous, but the Phillies are back, and there's so many dudes on this team. It's just crazy. So many

dudes. There's so many guys like there's so many guys that we can like react to and there's been there's been a lot of a lot of the minor league guys have been in playing in these games which is even more so like moniac started two games which i mean again doesn't get anything better than that so lots of react to that we'll get into this podcast but it is so so very nice that that the Phillies are back on our streets. I need it. Now, I will say, at least from my perspective, and then Jack will completely refute it with his way over-the-top excitement

for spring training baseball, I am a big believer in spring training means very, very little. big believer in spring training means very very little i think that you look for things like um new pitches or um different stances or things that are actual real changes but in terms of like if bryce harper bats 100 this spring i'm not gonna care i'm not gonna worry like i you know people work on things i don't take spring training stats to mean much at all. But you do look for changes, you look for narratives, and obviously it does matter for position battles and stuff like that. I think the biggest thing to me, and then we'll kind of dive in and let you just do your dude thing and just go nuts. But for me, the biggest thing, which has been a surprise, and I think it's pretty

clear going into the offseason, the whole offseason, you and I really felt like it was going to be Segura at second base and Kingery at third. It is clearly the opposite of that. It looks like Kingery is going to be the starting second baseman. Segura is going to be the starting third baseman. How do you feel about that? You think that's the right move? It's fine.

What I do like about this coaching staff and what I like about what I've heard from the players is that they're trying to go to the player's strength and not force them to do things they're not comfortable with. They're trying to define roles. They're trying to have people know where they're going to be on a day-to-day basis. They're trying to get these guys in set positions. positions um so like i i think that it like i just think that it's going to come a point where bohm's going to be ready to come up he should be third base segura then goes to second base and kingery's going to be in centerfield i still think that's going to be the best lineup come may

but ultimately they have to ask themselves what is going to get the best version of Scott Kingery? And if you read the column this week from Salisbury, just talking about how he was drained before the game even started because he didn't know if he was going to play third, second, short, center field, and he was trying to get reps at all of them just to make sure that he was ready to go. You have to, if that's draining the best version of scott kingery and i think that there is a ton of value in scott kingery playing all over the place i think that's been part of his value yeah we've talked about that i agree right and like i i think that is very very valuable that he's done that but i also care about getting the best version out of a guy and if getting the best version out of a guy. And if getting the best version out of a guy means Scott Kingery just plays second base, I'm fine with it.

But I do think Segura is more of a natural second baseman. Although, like, if you watch the first game on Sunday, you'd be like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be a disaster. But from everything I've heard and seen and from that point on, he seems like he's getting more and more comfortable at third base. And that was always going to happen. I mean, a guy that's played shortstop for as long as he has, he'll be able to figure out third base. I wasn't, like, freaking out about it. But it's nice to see that they are prioritizing what these guys do well,

where they feel comfortable, and getting back to kind of a comfort zone for these guys. So I'm cool with it. I still think eventually the best lineup will be when all three of them are in there. But for right now, I'm perfectly fine with it. Yeah, I'm with you. And, again, like, you know, back to one of my core beliefs is an obvious thing, but athletes are humans. if scott kingery

is just way more comfortable doing that then that's something you have to take into your equation like it's it's part of the the you know what who he is and and if you're going to get a better version of him from that so um i totally agree but i do also agree that ultimately when bomb comes up when he's ready to go clearly having having him in the lineup, that batting line is going to matter. And I think the obvious natural move would be to move Kingery to center field. Haseley banged up right now anyway, but obviously doesn't look like a long-term type of thing with the face into center field, face into the wall and all that stuff.

But, you know, I'm sure that that won't be a lingering thing. All right. So what else has stood out to you? You've been watching the games. You've been taking in all the dudes and all that stuff. Where do you kind of come down? There's a lot of interesting things. It's almost kind of nice that Kingery – so Kingery hasn't really hit the ball well.

I mean, he hit the ball pretty well yesterday in Pittsburgh, but he looks like he's kind of just coming along. And it's kind of refreshing that he's not letting up spring training so that we don't have to be like, oh, my God. Like, remember two years ago when it was get Scott Kingery up here immediately because he's just hitting the cover off the ball? I kind of like where I'm at with Scott Kingery. Like, I'm happy with him not exactly.

Like, he's just playing fine. Although I will say the double play combination of him and dd is going to be pretty dynamic i mean kingery does have a have a canon and dd i watch dd right now and it's it's very reminiscent to what it was like with rollins i mean every he makes all the routine plays he actually has range i guess i just never fully realized last year like dude segura could not get to a ball to save his life like like diddy's going into the hole and it's like oh my god that's how the position's played um i guess i just might through the first couple games one of my main takeaways is that i freaking love diddy uh just seeing him play

shortstop every throw is right on the money he's got a rocket he can get the balls all over the all over the hole um like he's just super super impressive it's like you almost took for granted watching the shortstop position the last couple years when it was kingery who eventually kind of figured it out and and sagora last year like watching dd it's like watching what rollins used to be like uh not hitting that well but i think that'll come back come with timing and whatnot but man i love watching dd gory's play baseball yeah i'm so with you and that's something we talked about we talked about how effortless he is at the position how nice it's going to be to have someone there you just can count on to be a a above average shortstop at a position where it's so meaningful to have someone who could do that

especially coming off the last two years with sagur and kingery playing there and all that and it's just nice to have a guy you can just stick there and say all right he's gonna be awesome at this um again i'm not worried about the bat at all again spring training i someone has to really look lost at the plate in spring training for me to to worry about them especially a veteran especially someone who um you know has such a track record of of success offensively like i'm not at all worried about the bat and i i'm so with you man i think it's something that that it's going to be so refreshing for philly's fans to have balls hit towards their base toward shortstop and just say all right he's got it like i don't have to worry i don't have to is he gonna boot it is he not gonna get to it all this type of stuff

um i'm really with you there and look i do think the point you made before about kingery and didia it could be the best defensive middle infield they've had in a while for at least for you know until until kingery moves to center field when bomb comes up or whatever um it's going to be exciting to feel again this has not been the last couple years since they've been back to relevance in this city um they've not been a good defensive team at any point ever and uh being strong at those two spots especially at shortstop really does go a long way you look at with romuto you look at having uh dd at shortstop i mean all of a sudden you know they're not gonna be one of the best defensive teams in baseball but all of a sudden they could be a competent defensive team,

and that's something we haven't seen here in a while. Oh, what? You're talking about the team two years ago that was the worst defensive team I've ever seen? Remember those days? Oh, dude, the worst. Oh, so, so awful. Just truly awful baseball.

But they actually have the ability to be a pretty dynamic defense. I mean, you're putting a guy in Segura who, I mean, he could play shortstop last year. He's probably a better second baseman. You're putting him at third base. I mean, you're getting Kingery. And if you talk to Larry Boa, hear Larry Boa talk, hear these minor league coaches that watch him play second base every day, they all say the same thing. They all say that guy's a gold glove second baseman.

And I can't believe he's actually going to be playing second base this year. It's weird seeing Scott Kingery actually playing second base. Yeah, Bo has said that really since Kingery came up. He's talked about this for a while as Kingery being a potentially elite second baseman yeah yeah i mean and and just in hearing his old minor league coaches talk like they all say the same thing like that dude is a gold glove caliber second baseman so it's gonna be exciting seeing that um that kind of develop um and given that we've seen him play pretty much everywhere else besides second base it's gonna be

just it is wild right i mean that's his position his whole life or at least the vast majority And given that we've seen him play pretty much everywhere else besides second base, it's going to be just – It is wild, right? I mean, that's his position. His whole life, or at least the vast majority, certainly his professional career, he's been a second baseman, and it's the position we've seen him play the least. We've seen him a ton at third, at short, center field, all that stuff. But it's going to be neat to see the guy play second base. Yeah, and when he's coming up and we were getting excited about the future of scott

carrying it's like oh this is going to be our version of of chase utley and now he's here and he's playing second base and he has the same tan glove um and i just listen he's twice the size of Muscles perspective now, though. Totally. Oh, buddy. Totally yoked. But, like, I just – a year ago if you told me there's pigeonhole him in as a second baseman, I would have said that's stupid. But, you know, I've learned to grow and develop and take outside opinion. And I am – I want to see what a full year of Scott Kingery at second base will do. There are people that are just so they just believe wholeheartedly that he's going to hit 300, just moving to second base. I don't think that's the case, but if it, if it makes him the best version of Scott Kingery, I'm all in. So, um, DD Kingery,

uh, those two guys just on the defensive end have been a revelation i feel like let's let's let's almost just go around the diamond because there's takes that we can have on every single player um so like hoskins he looks like he's still definitely adjusting to the new stance he hasn't really hit a ball hard um he's still missing he's still missing fastballs that are middle, middle, or middle away, which isn't a great sign. Now, I'm not going to freak out about that because he's obviously working on the new mechanics and the new swing changes. And it's going to take a while changing from something you've done your whole life to something different. That's just going to take a while. You have to learn muscle memory. He has to play a lot. So if it's this way, I would say four or five weeks into spring training, I'll

start really, really worrying about Reece Hoskins. But just the early returns is that it doesn't seem like he's super comfortable with the new swing. Yeah, that's the impression I've gotten too. And again, I think that is understandable. It is, it's not a, it's not just a new stance. It is a completely new stance. It is so different from what he was doing before. So it is understandable the first time facing real pitchers in live type situations that it would take him some time to adjust. But, you know, obviously I think you have to to be when you talk about not worrying about spring

training like i said before that doesn't extend to guys who have new things they're doing or kind of changing approaches or whatever and hoskins obviously falling into that category and of course coming off you know he was one of the worst players in baseball over the second half and nap was better there were multiple pitchers who were better hitters in the second half last year than Reece Hoskins. So I think that— I hate that. But it's true. What did we do?

I know. It's small sample sizes. I agree. I know. If they had as many at-bats and all that stuff. Thank you. I get it. But to be fair, he was an abomination in the second half.

He was an abomination. We can't say that Andrew Knapp was a better hitter. I know. It's a small sample size. Listen, James. I get it. We don't cross the Knapp line often. No, you're right.

You're right. Look, you're the one who usually gives them a compliment, and I get mad about it. I'm definitely not trying to make any positive statements about Andrew Knapp. We don't cross the Knapp line. No, no, we don't. Again, I'll take anybody, anybody over Andrew Knapp. Except for Christian Bethencourt.

I'm not in. I would take him. I don't care. But regardless, I think the point being that with Hoskins, like you said, I'm willing to give him time to figure this out, but it is concerning. And you hope that you see progress over the next few weeks because that is something if we get to mid to late March

and he's still struggling, then I do think that is something you worry about. All right, let's keep going around the diamond. We've already talked Kingery and Didi. Segura so far uh i think so good obviously i'm coming in well best shape of his life jack yeah no more whiskey he's down he's now jen segura um and he uh he's i think he's batting like 429 so far like he he is squaring up the baseball now jean segura isura is a natural hitter.

Did you just quote, like, an eight-at-bat stat or something like that to me? You say he's batting 429 in, like, three games or whatever? Come on. Don't care. Don't. I have never cared, and I'll not start caring now. But, like, Gene Segura is such a natural hitter that i would i would assume he'd be able to you know clean up against the guys that are pitching right now um like he's a he's a he's

an elite bat to ball guy so um i'm not surprised he's doing well he's always he's always hit everywhere he's gone he's never not hit um so it's nice he's gone off to the nice start and it looks like he is thinner and from what heard today, his defense at third base got really, really good. So that should have happened as time goes on. Now, the other third baseman that I have just fallen head over heels for, James, is Josh Harrison. I need Josh Harrison on this team. I need him on this team. You are all in on Josh Harrison. Oh, I love Josh Harrison, man. need josh harrison on this team i need you are all in on josh harrison oh i love josh harrison

man that guy is that guy is a fun baseball player like he just needs to stay healthy if he stays healthy i do think he is a look he could play a bunch of positions he has had success in the major leagues legitimate success he's made an all-star team before like there is upside there but you know he looks healthy i mean all things considered he looks healthy right now he hit a ball hard a couple days ago he hit a ball hard he smoked the ball at the middle but like he plays second base he plays third base he gives you positional versatility and if we're talking about creating a clubhouse culture i mean does it get any better than josh harrison andrew mccutcheon dd bryce harper jt real medial reese hoskins like like these are club house dudes like if we're

talking about building a a team for 162 game grind i think having a josh harris on this team is incredibly important even though he's not the player that he was a couple years ago like there's a there's a legit guy off the bench that has been a.300 hitter in this league that is only 31 years old, had a bomb hamstring last year. That hamstring has been healed up by this Philly's new medical staff. And I'm all in, man. There is a – I'm not going to go too far. I think you might have already, but go ahead.

Might have went too far. I'm not going to go too far i almost i think you i think you might have already but go ahead might have went too far i'm not gonna go as far i'm not gonna go as far to say that if segura starts slow then josh harrison can slide in yeah but don't do that i need josh harrison on this team i just need him i think look if he stays healthy through spring training i think he probably does make the team i like him and i look i actually i liked those depth guys they brought in. I mean, I like Josh Harrison better than Logan Forsythe, but Logan Forsythe is the same type of guy. Somebody who can come in and hit left-handed pitching and give you something. I think Harrison, a better bet to make the team, but look, they're going to need those guys. They're going to need that type of depth. They're going

to need players who can give you. And I think key like you said positional versatility that harrison could do that it's all about him being healthy again if he's healthy he is a major league player so yeah and like forsyth forsyth looks pretty good i mean for spring training i've always been a logan forsyth fan for what he does he's a a guy who who you know what he can give you he's a fine second baseman you know i don't know if he could do much else a guy who you know what he can give you. He's a fine second baseman. I don't know if he could do much else than that, but maybe some outfield, whatever. But he's going to hit left-handed pitching.

He's always hit left-handed pitching. I like guys where, if you're talking about bench guys, I like guys who can give you something you can count on, and I feel like he's always been that type of guy that you can at least count on that. Yeah, he's poor man's Ben Zobrist. Way poor. Are you kidding me that yeah he's poor man's ben zobrist oh well way poor are you kidding me yeah way poor man well i mean like that's what people thought he's gonna be i mean he's in in tampa sure he went to la i thought he was gonna break out i remember

i drafted him in fantasy like way too long i've definitely owned him on fantasy teams yeah before for for sure for sure all right uh before we get to the outfield real quick not much to say obviously about romito but really quickly last time we talked about um it was prior to the arbitration thing he loses the arbitration hearing we felt pretty confident about a long-term deal i still do but not the best quotes coming from him you know are you are you at all worried more worried at least in the last time we talked? No, not really. I think the quotes were kind of taken out of context

because I think Real Muto is pretty stoic. I don't think this process really affected him. So I would, again, like opening day or a little bit after opening day, I think that's when it's always going to go down. But again, if they didn't care about the luxury tax, this would have been done by now. Still believe in John Middleton, do you? Also, I guess they just have to backload it, which is whatever. Luxury tax is calculated at the end of the year.

So you're going to go over it. It's just, again, all we ever want is a smart team. And it's really hard to say they're a smart team. That's the thing is I feel so confident about the field level, about Girardi, about Price, about Dylan, about the culture they've created, about the guys there who, like you talked about it, there's so much like, it feels like it's just going to be a team of good dudes who buy in and all that type of stuff, who want to win and all that. But, like, I just feel so little confidence in everyone above that,

like every single guy. You know, and that's not including the driveline guys, and we'll get to that coming up because Philly's made a smart hire we'll get there but um i do think that you know when it comes to to clintack mcphail middleton to that trio who are sadly probably the three most important at least two of the three most important when you talk about middleton clintack who knows you know what mcphail does other than make us mad um but i mean those are the most important people in the organization and that's you know frustrating worrisome yeah yeah i i mean most likely this is the last year of mcphail and clintac i would say yeah i mean unless they they do great and

and the team does great and overachieves because joe gerardi kills it and saves their jobs that's it's one it's okay look i want them to win i want to make the playoffs i don't care i'll deal with the other stuff later but that is like the worry that that they do well enough that that clint tax able to skate by and that that's it's nerve-wracking yes but the main point is that like you're gonna go over the luxury tax this year, so there's not another penalty until way down the road. It's just a matter of you not wanting to spend the money, but whatever. I just don't understand what they get. Unless they give real Muto, I guess they could just keep the $10 million

and then they'll bump it to $30 next year and then go to like 25. But I don't know. They're going to have to get tricky with it just to stay under the luxury tax this year, which is like ridiculous. Well, that's the point. It's just so silly. And especially, look,

it'd be one thing if you weren't just the Philadelphia Phillies. And again, like we've talked about, the Dodgers went over what, like 15 years in a row? The problem that makes it so much more frustrating is that John Middleton has to go up and spout his mouth off about wanting to be a big boy and the, you know, Yankees of the South and all the crap he said and bring the effort trophy back and all that. It's like, just stop saying that crap. If you're going to be this, you know, like it, it just, it makes us more mad if he never said any of that stuff we would be annoyed but not as annoyed it's because you front like you're something you're not like that's the problem but let's get back and he made and he made me believe you know it hurts yeah he got you

he got you oh i didn't i just like he talks all this, you know. Jaggio, man. Jaggio is always willing to buy in. You're ready. Listen, no one talks himself into anything quicker than I do. I know. It's so true. I just hate being duped again. Yeah, well, next time listen to your buddy here.

I had your back. I was trying to tell you the whole time. Well, nevertheless. Jag, as you always say, I'm'm old i got a lot of life experience i've been through these things right yeah that's true all right uh let's get to the outfield mccutchen um what what are you thinking are you worried at all about him being ready to start the season obviously seemed like he was totally fine and then a little tweak. And it seems like he's okay. Where are you kind of staying with McCutcheon right now? I don't think he starts an opening day.

That's a bummer. Just like everything that I've been reading, hearing, is that the bat's looking slow. Looks like he's still kind of shaking off the rust. Now, he could turn it on quickly and be good to go. It's just that like if you're the phillies man mccutcheon just just let him come back when he's ready to go he's older now you don't need to rush him back uh obviously every game matters this year more than most years

uh given how good the nf there how good the n at least is but i also don't want to rush him back he's not the same player that we had last year and sure i mean we saw the numbers when he went down and uh he's obviously a great leadoff guy and all that stuff i just don't want to rush him back um and just from everything i've heard it seems like he's a little bit rusty right now the bat speed's not totally there he's not fully trusting that knee yet so the plan is for him to be opening day but i am not sure he's going to be uh on the i don't know if he's going to start opening day yeah it's the impression i get too and and look ultimately like you said even though every game matters um better safe than star sorry with mccutcheon but

it is for and look it is quick i mean it's it's it generally and i know we know acl is mostly from from football injuries more than than baseball injuries but it generally feels like the kind of thing that a 31 year old at the time like that it should take a year for him to kind of be back from and a year would be may so um i don't think it's surprising but it is a little disheartening you hope that he can kind of get back on track and get at least enough work in in the spring where when he comes back whether it's a week or two or three into the season that that he can come back and hit the ground running um literally and figuratively i guess um but you know and again i i trust mccutcheon as a veteran as someone who's you know been in the league a long time knows his body had the acl tear when he was younger as someone who can kind of know his body know what he needs to do to get there and and someone who can kind of fall back into this

the swing of things pretty quickly but i'm with you if i had to bet on him starting opening day i would not i would bet against it but yeah which which thinks but what can you do what can you do as long as they can get him back for for you for May forward at full go and be a full contributor, that's fine. Center field, Haseley. Obviously bangs his head, concussion protocol, all that stuff. I guess that's not protocol, whatever it's called, but potential concussion. Yeah, he's in the blue tent.

He's in the blue tent. Face laceration, all that stuff. I thought he was Aaron Rowan, honestly. I thought it was a little Rowan moment. Well, that was the going joke that we saw from many people on Twitter. And, look, I don't think this is a long-term thing or whatever, but where are you at with Haseley, assuming it does look like he's going, if healthy,

and gets back out the presumptive, especially if McCutcheon's out, but the presumptive starting center fielder, at least until Baum comes up like we talked about and kind of changes things. Where are you at with Haseley right now? Yeah, Haseley's been a guy that I've been really trying to hone in on every at-bat he had had at that point because I don't know if you noticed this,

but he definitely changed his swing around a little bit, and that was not something I was anticipating because he had never really changed it around from UVA to through the minor leagues, and this is the first time I ever really noticed a new kind of swing change from him. So it looked like he kind of lowered his hands a little bit. Looks like he's trying...

People get so worked up about the launch angle thing and and whatnot like it is important to be able to lift the ball um and not be and go from a 10 to 15 home run guy to a 15 to 20 home run guy like that's the next level of adam hansley has always been a really good um that's a ball guy but it just seems like with this new swing like i think his hands were getting a little bit high last year seems like with this this new swing like he got beat a lot last year on fastballs up because that was the the major hole in his swing last year was fastballs up um and now he's lowers hands a little bit it seems like he's doing a better job getting to those balls um so i don't know if that's an ochar thing but it it does seem like that they worked on that with him, which has been

super intriguing. He smoked a double before he got hurt on Monday. He absolutely roped a double, which is good to see. It's one of those, and honestly, I've always thought Haseley kind of had a similar swing to Utley. I don't think he's obviously the same player, but it was like that classic Utley double right around the 409 sign that he would turn into a triple um and that was that was that was cool to see but the centerfield job is actually pretty interesting because uh it seems like it seems like gerardi is really really intrigued with roman quinn um and i haven't been a total roman quinn believer but there's a useful player in there. Like there's a guy that.

Yeah, we've always said that. There's a useful player there. Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised if on opening day, the opening day lineup has Quinn in center field and Haseley in left. And then as the season goes on, if you can have Roman Quinn be like an eighth, ninth inning guy, then come in and steal a base. Also played pretty good defense. He doesn't take the best routes, but like he's fat yeah he's fast enough to make up for that again like we've talked about this a lot he's a switch hitter i there's a lot to like about roman

quinn as a 24th 25th guy in your roster like a lot to like it's just you know i just don't think he's gonna stay healthy why would i why would i at any point he's gonna stay healthy like why does roman quinn does roman quinn have injury history i mean glass he is made of glass so it's uh you know i'm with you i think roman quinn is a useful player certainly a really nice bench player but you know i'll i'll i'd love to have him until he gets hurt it's my philosophy well that's the biggest upset of spring so far is that hazel got hurt beforehand yeah well don't don't hold your breath all right uh harper oh i, I'm just so happy. Honestly, I really think that when you look at the board of MVP bets,

and obviously based on odds and all that stuff, I think Harper at around, last I looked, plus 1,200, is the best bet to win the NL MVP. Just in terms of a pure bet, those are great odds. He's entering his age 27 season i'm expecting a monster year from rice harper a monster year and i you just look at him and he looks so relaxed the hair i mean the flow baby how about the flow jack i love that he's trying to channel his inner jason worth um but like he looks he looks so relaxed he looks so happy i feel like he's just

in this state where the crew is there he loves crew he can just kind of he can kind of just live as bryce harper like he doesn't have to have this huge spotlight of everyone's following every move he does he doesn't have to do all this stuff he doesn't have to come to spring training with all this fanfare he can kind of just hang out and go play baseball and the thing i love the most is that he's already committed to the toe tapping thing i know because bryce is a legendary tinkerer that he'll he'll end up changing it but i like that that's where his head is already at like even the sack fly yesterday he he just missed that ball he mishit it it got to the wall in left field like it's just it's just stupid power um and there's a there's this uh like i'm not collage there's like four

pictures on instagram yesterday of him and real amudo and they're smiling and looking like best friends and i need them to lock up real amudo because i don't want bryce to be sad and i need bryce to be happy forever every time i see him i'm like god i love that bryce harper's a philly um and i love that that all everything we went through last year was worth it um he is he is real he is here and like almost you forget that bryce harper's on the phillies until you see him and then you just get happy again. Every time I see him, I just get refilled with joy. I love Bryce Harper. Me too, man.

I love Bryce. And I think 40, I'm going 40, I'm going 40-130 this year. Yeah, again, I am betting on him to win the NL MVP. That's how bullish I am on Harper. He was awesome the second half. And also, forgetting how awesome he was offensively, I mean, we saw the best ever version of Bryce Harper defensively in his career. He was a superstar defensively.

He plays with such effort and fire and passion. It's so Philly it hurts. Like, it hurts. Oh, it's so Philly. He is the most Philly guy of all time. And I just think, you know, again, to harken back to what I said before, the athletes is human things,

which I talked about a lot last year with Harper, too, is that he had a lot going on last year. He had signed this monster contract, moving to a new place. His wife was pregnant. Like, there were so many reasons to expect him to struggle he got comfortable he settled in and he became Bryce Harper the Bryce Harper we expected knew and now he can just come into this season that guy in his physical prime at the age of 27

I just like if I could bet on one thing this season on the Phillies just one thing to no matter what go right it's Bryce Harper I just feel so incredibly confident that he is going to be one of the 10 best players in baseball this year. And potentially, like I said, I think a real chance to be the National League MVP. I think he's going to have that type of season. I think he's going to hit over 40 homers. I think he's going to bat a lot closer to 300 than he did last year. And I just think he's going to be a beast. And I think we're going to see that same effort, that same fire. I'm really excited about Harper. All right, pitching.

Just go down the line. Obviously, you know, no LaWheeler. I know Wheeler's had the little injury thing, but, like, really the deeper cuts. Talk to us about Pavetta, Velasquez, Arrieta. Like, give me the Jack Fritz breakdown on these guys and kind of let me know where you're at. Alright, so let's start with the

Pavetta spin from Saturday. You're going to start with Pavetta? What? Really? I could have never seen... Really? Of all of them, you have Pavetta first? You're lucky. It's fair. We're 39 minutes into 38 minutes of this podcast and you're just talking about Pavetta. That's kind of ridiculous, to be fair. Yeah, fair yeah well because all right because I was being cyber bullied again

on Saturday by people who clearly who clearly weren't listening to the game like like if you if you if you listen to the game he wasn't even getting hit hard is there anything is there anything that's more of a lock than Jack Fritz getting hate tweets when Nick Prevetta struggles? It's like it's the lockiest lock of all locks. I hate it. I absolutely, absolutely hate it. For those who might not know, a little inside baseball,

Jack, not a fan of the hate. You know, he can handle it because he's a big boy and you know he has a job where you have to be able to handle it but like jack takes it a lot more personally than say i don't know i do or others do like it does get to jack when if you're ever firing off a mean tweet at jack just know that like it'll it'll get to him at least on some level he will feel like you can tell me you hate me and i'm the worst person ever and i have horrible voice and whatever like honestly i'm probably never even gonna see it but if i do i'm definitely not gonna care jack will care is that fair yeah i know no i care i care and like this is how this is how big of a person i am

uh i have had written out i don't know 200 times i know more about baseball and this is this is me being a bigger person i've never pressed seven good for you buddy i mean it's gonna happen at some point it's going to happen. I'm proud you've held off this one. Yeah, it will. And I don't like pulling the I know more about baseball than you because no one really knows that. Everyone knows baseball. Right, and also it's like such an a-hole move.

It's like the Doug Peterson, oh, did you play football? Didn't think so right not yeah but like here's what always makes me so mad it's like it's clear the pavetta thing's a bit it's also clear that he has talent and i invest a lot into knowing as much as possible about baseball so like can we just relax on the Pavetta thing? Like, it's just a PSA. Like, can we just – maybe we'll figure it out this year. Let's just let him figure it out and not get so mad all the time.

Like, we can do all that. Certainly, you can get mad at Pavetta. Like, don't get as mad at Jack, right? Again, as I said, like, a thousand times last year i'm not the one who banked on him being their number two like it's actually it's actually a great point uh but he did throw seven change-ups on saturday which is very encouraging apparently a couple of them were nasty um and yes pivetta got bled to death on saturday i mean it's just bleeders all over the place um it was it was it great that he allowed three runs no but from everything that I read and even from Girardi and hearing was that

like he pitched well and the stuff looked good he was up to 96 on the gun he threw a couple change ups uh Kerbal had some bite so yeah I, it wasn't the most encouraging first start. But, like, the fact that he threw seven changeups and he feels like he's getting a little bit more comfortable with that, I mean, that's pretty massive. That's pretty massive. So, yeah, good first start. Velasquez, I thought he looked pretty good.

The – I actually thought his curveball had more bite. I did see him start to knuckle it up a little bit, which is cool. Apparently the changeup back too, huh? Everyone's working on the changeup. I mean, that's the Brian Price staple is working on the changeup. So, yeah, Velasquez was Velasquez. He kind of did his thing. Efficient, Jack.

How about it? 26 pitches in two innings. I don't know. Am I going to buy into these guys? No, but do I think that Brian Price is going to get the most out of them? I do believe that. And I think that this fifth starter competition, getting them out there as early as they are, is pretty massive.

So it seems like they're kind of get the most out of those guys nola i thought nola looked phenomenal um he looked like he looked like back how it kind of was in 2018 it was a lot of fastballs down a lot of ground balls um he already had he's already spotting up early which which is huge but just the fact that he was pitching down the zone doing what he felt comfortable with doing, and the curveball was already spotting up. So that was cool. But the one thing that I heard about Nola, or I think Larry Anderson mentioned this on the broadcast, was Nola might be messing around with a cutter, which would be fascinating. Because if I look at his arm angle, it doesn't exactly scream cutter

because he comes from the side and he's not really on top of the ball. He gets a two-seam spin because of where he releases it. He kind of releases it to the side and lets it run. If you want to throw a good cutter, you kind of got to be on top of the ball and got to be around the ball. So it would be kind of weird from his arm angle but still the idea if he can if he can tunnel a two seamer with the run that he has with a cutter and started at the same spot and let a cutter go away and and or like a way to a righty and in or away to a righty into a lefty that would

be like talk about a perfect sequence because then you have those two pitches with the curveball with the change up like that's that would just be sick i don't know if it's gonna work i don't know if it works with his arm angle but if he can have something that moves the other way that comes out the same speed same arm angle as a as a fat as his two-seam fastball i mean we're we're talking about getting back to cy young cy young nola so i i i need to see that unleashed in the game yeah and also like it's very clear from aaron nola has not made it uh has not i mean any attempt to hide how much happier is having brian price here oh my god i mean it is pointed it is purposeful he has made it very clear and cool i'm totally good with that and and

on a macro note just just to kind of what we're talking about there is like as we've said many times i think dd wheeler are really nice additions the biggest thing this team did was the Girardi-Price-Dillon, like bringing Girardi in, like bringing this staff in. Like that is going to be the biggest difference maker. Like it just is. It's going to make a big difference for this team, for that clubhouse, for the culture and all that. All right.

Any other pitchers that stand out? And we will quickly note that I'm really sorry about Robert Stock, buddy. It's a bummer. He'll be fine. Oh, really? Oh, really? Are we going to get back into this? Remember, should I recall you to David Robertson when he had a forearm

strain? I was like, ah, this is bad. He was like, yeah, he'll be fine. He'll be fine. It's a forearm strain, Jack. Stop. He'll be all right. What do we want to set? What should we set the over-under at innings for the season? It's a forearm strain, Jack. Stop. He'll be all right.

What do we want to set the over-under at innings for the season? A half inning? Because sadly, I would take the under. Well, here's the thing. Is that I've already moved on from Robert Stocks to Ramon Rasa. Nice. Good. Well done. Let me just get this out there now.

I'm preemptively getting frustrated with what the Phillies are going to do on opening day Good. Well done. Let me just get this out there now. I'm preemptively getting frustrated with what the Phillies are going to do on opening day when they bring up all the old guys who definitely aren't good anymore and keep these just monsters down in AAA. Here's what's going to happen. The first month of the season is going to happen, and we're all going to freak out about the bullpen, how these old guys that don't have any options options left are gonna be in the bullpen and then as soon as like ramon rosso and damon jones get up here it's gonna be like and they fix the whole bullpen everything's gonna

make way more sense we're gonna be like why why did we even waste the first half of the season but what's gonna happen is they're gonna bring up the old guys because they have no options left and they're just gonna let them kind of fail and then once they fail they to bring up the old guys because they have no options left, and they're just going to let them kind of fail. And then once they fail, they'll bring up the kids, and they're going to just figure this out. So, James, did you watch Ramon Rosso on Monday? No, I missed it. You missed it?

I missed it. The future of the Phillies? Oh, man. I mean, that guy is sick. I mean, he threw this backdoor slider that was – or it wasn't a backdoor slider. It was a back foot slider to his left. It was disgusting.

Like, it felt like I was watching Sir Anthony from 2018. And honestly, if I had to put a comp on it, he reminded me a lot of Pedro Suero, who was pretty bad for the first half of the Nationals and then really, really became a lockdown guy. But if I had main takeaways from first goal games out of the bullpen, I mean, like, Ramon Rosso is going to be a beast, and I just can't wait for him. Like, I'm already in love.

I can't wait for him to get up here. Like, I thought he was smaller and was going to be a starter but that guy should just be a bullpen piece and come up here and be just the be just a lockdown guy um other pictures that uh stood up to me i was impressed with austin davis i'm sorry james i what i know what i i loathe austin dav I was just trying to say it's like me saying I was impressed with Andrew Knapp. I know. I was not impressed with Andrew Knapp. I was just saying it would be like me saying that to clarify. Well, Andrew Knapp has a rib cage injury.

Rib cage injury is not even playing anyway. Well, there you go. You've clearly been missing some Andrew Knapp experiences. But Austin Davis added a little bit of velo, it looked like, a little bit of a jump. And he actually had a bit of a wipeout slider. So I don't know if he's going to obviously do anything. But I did not walk away from an Austin Davis experience hating myself. It's a miracle.

It's a beautiful thing. I think that's a big step forward for me and Austin Davis to get our relationship back on solid ground. And the final thing is that, well, no, I have two things on some bullpen guys that stood out to me. Three things. Well, no, the one's not that important. A million things. Yeah. Damon Jones.

Damon Jones is going to be a i'll say i'll say middlemans i'll say middlemans at least andrew miller for this team buddy i'm ready i'm ready to cut out the starting stuff i'm not worried about about damon jones starting anymore just come out come out and beat my fireman i i for i mean for an inning for two innings that guy is going to be disgusting i i i like he is his sliders disgusting he has a pretty good feel for a change up and his fastballs up to 97 and his mechanics are kind of andrew millery it's not as lanky and his body parts are moving everywhere. But just get Damon Jones ready for the bullpen. Get him ready to come in in the fifth, sixth, or seventh inning

and just shut lineups down. I don't think he's... His fastball kind of teeters off as he gets deeper into games. He pitched two innings in the game against the Pirates yesterday. And you already kind of see the fastball kind of losing it's losing his uh giddy up a little bit um but i i am very very ready for damon jones to come up here i was super super impressed so that was really fun to see and my final bullpen thought is i can already tell that anthony swarczak is going to make this team and i

hate anthony swarczak already he is in the team, and I hate Anthony Swarczak already. He is in the running already for the Chad Qualls Award, which is the big, crappy right-hander who seems to pitch in every game and just no one likes when they enter into a ballgame. That's how I feel about Anthony Swarczak. He's got saves, baby. Saves! I am so out on that, dude.

I have no interest in watching him pitch from this team. Saves. Saves, Jack. No, I know. Never going to happen. He is 100% going to be in the bullpen to start the season. So you're right about that. Prepare yourself.

Yeah. I'm just telling you everyone's going to hate him. All right. Two months into hate him. All right. Two months into the season. All right. We're 51 minutes into this podcast. That's it? Should we talk about the most important addition the Phillies have made this offseason?

I don't know. Dan O'Coin, baby. Dan O'Coin, Jack. Oh, my guy. Yeah. I hope I'm saying his name right, by the way. I think it's O'Coin. Yeah. I don't know if I'm saying it right either.

All I know is that they brought in another driveline guy. They're starting to poach some driveline pitching guys. But just from everything I've seen on Twitter today, it seemed like a guy who was very well regarded within the baseball injury. Was with the Rays. Was with the Rays. You got to like that. Oh, if you say guys with the Rays,

I'm all in. It's all I need to hear, really, honestly. Just tell me they were at the Rays and I'm like, cool, I'm in. It's my guy. I heard from a guy in a front office that this automatically... What was that, big time? Just may have heard from a guy

in a front office that this automatically makes the Phillies way smarter of a baseball team. So when you hear stuff like that, I just can't not be excited for it. Yeah. So, you know, we might have a dumb GM, but at least they got some smart guys in the organization. Yeah. I mean, hey, maybe they can help out the gm you know i mean to mac lentax credit they did have to build this from the ground up because of what uh ruben did before them so

uh yeah i mean smart hires driveline guys raise guys raise pitching guys all in i can't wait to see what he's gonna do what else you got in the note bag for it to, um, I want to talk a little bit about, uh, boom. Um, just, you can like just squares up everything.

I mean, Alec bomb squares up everything. Like I, he, all right, fine. Speechless. Wow.

Speechless. I'll say it. I'll say it. I'll say it. Obviously, the glove will never get there, but I think his bat is going to be Rendon level. Oh, stop. What are you doing to this kid? What are you doing to this kid?

Everything he does. Everything he does. Alec, friend of the podcast, Alec Baum, he does. Alec, friend of the podcast, Alec Baum, I would like to personally apologize for what Jack Fritz is doing to you right now. Don't let it work. Don't let it happen. The Fritz curse will not fall upon you.

Go ahead, Jack. All I'm saying is that much like Anthony Rendon, he always squares with the baseball, and he's impossible to get out. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. You had to go straight to Rendon. Listen, the eyes see what the eyes see. I can't not let the eyes work.

I see. I can't not let the eyes work. You know? Oh, man. Mickey Moniak has squared up some baseballs, which makes me very excited. He tripled today. And he smoked a ball that was right into the stupid shit. Is he the next Christian Yellett? Do you want to go there or anything?

No. No, I don't make bold claims. You know me. Oh, you're right you're right front real quick real quick i am real quick on bum i do i do think that i think he's going to be really really good i'm not going to rendon yet or anything but like i feel as good about him as a hitting prospect coming up as I can remember in a long time with the Phillies hitting prospect. I don't know who I feel better about being better, if that makes sense. I don't know who I feel better about, Spencer Howard or Alec Baum.

I love both. I think, again, you know I always go hitter. If equal, I always feel better about projecting the hitter but i feel so incredibly confident about both which is probably should be worrisome dude spencer howard's up to 22 in fangraphs his top 100 and they're both top 30 guys it's crazy and let me just say something to these morons that supposedly their job is to scout players like there are not five better hitters and i dude with these people get over the defense i get it it's important but there is not five better hitting prospects in all baseball than alec bohm

and like if i keep seeing royce lewis in the top 10 and alec Baum in the 30s, I'm going to lose my mind. And that's all I got to say about that. Stop disrespecting the elite bat that is Alec Baum, and I cannot wait until he gets up here. Also, I would like to officially declare Nick Mattin to be our version of Brock Holt. It's been a long time coming, but I remember when they drafted him, that was the first thing I said. And it feels like he is turning into our Brock Holt. It's been a long time coming, but I remember when they drafted him, that was the first thing I said. It feels like he is turning into our Brock Holt, which I've always wanted a player like Brock Holt. They can play everywhere and be pretty good

and be a guy that can step in and start if someone gets hurt. We get seven years of prime Greg Dobbs. I think that's a fair comment. When you started it made made it seem like oh my god we need a brock holt um i you know it made it seem like brock holt was more meaningful than he is but yeah i think it's a greg's dobbs that's a really good that's fair

that's good uh my second final thought that is not prospect related is, like, I've seen way too much of people saying, oh, the Phillies should just pay the fanatic people whatever. Listen, those fanatic people are clowns. They paid the Phillies paid them. Well, yeah, that's the thing is, like, the whole narrative turned out to be BS because it was made out to be like, oh, it's these starving artists

or, oh, it's these like creators or whatever. No, it's a New York PR firm. It's such BS. Like it turns out it's just a money grab by a New York PR firm and it's BS. It's ridiculous. Yeah, it really is. I am all in. I would sue them to the ground.

Team Fanatic, Team Phillies. I originally was like, oh, it's these artists. Just pay them and be done with it. Turns out that's not what it is. So, so with you on this, Jack. Yeah, I hate it. I hate it. I hate the whole, like, everyone being like, oh, they're so cheap.

Just pay it. No, that's not what this is. These people are being losers. 100%. They're being freaking losers. So no, Phillies, don't just pay it. And yes, fork over 24,000 documents into Discovery. 24,000, James.

I hope they win their lawsuit. I hope they defeat us. Me too. I am furious. I'm furious. I'm really angry about it too. And my final, final thought is that it seems like the baseballs are back to 2018. Hey, that's the word.

That's the word. Which is nice. It's going to be nice watching real baseball again. Yeah. I don't need what we saw last season. I'm good on that. I'm good. Very good.

Do you have any final thoughts, James, for the people? You just kind of hit most of them. I will say that I love the IELTS listeners just kind of hit most of them i will say um that um i love the high hopes listeners i'll never lie to them um a little disappointed that that my cause did take some shots at me live on the radio recently said get rid of that guy in a segment they do i i mean you know you called me out when these things happened. I felt like it was only fair to say, what the hell, man? What the hell?

So let's take this into our real jobs and not the jobs we wish we could do, which is this. This every second, all the time, yes. Is that James and John Ritchie and john brazier and mickey morandini led what was maybe the most pathetic um oh it was easily the most pathetic we just went richie and i had nothing to do with it that was the problem yeah but you have to keep that train rolling you got to keep the momentum towards all you guys did would try to, it was trying to make fun of Joe during the trial.

Yeah, they did it. And Warren Deeney and Brazier blew it. There's no question about that. It was just truly awful. But I expected you as the producer to, to make sure that we are focusing on the important things. And that is getting Joe to camera to have to wax his legs.

I know I was highly, I was highly disappointed in everyone involved. John Richie just laughed the whole time. That doesn't bring anything to the table. Um, and I just, I thought it was, it was,

it was right to say, get rid of that guy. And it's, do you feel bad about it? Do you feel bad about it? No, I don't feel bad about it at all. Wow.

I don't feel bad about it at all. And thank you. Thank you for listening to the last High Hopes podcast ever. This will never happen again. It's never happening again. Also, the people saw me play basketball this week. Yeah. It wasn't great.

Yeah, it was. For my physical shape. I got cups in the seventh grade basketball team. You need to play in the PAL baseball game, Jack. Stick to what you're good at. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No i i only played in the pal basketball game to get into the pal softball game there you go see that's all that matters that that's really all that matters um uh we say it all the time seriously though like not just to make jack jack happy please rate and review the podcast tell your friends rate and read the podcast It really does help people find the podcast,

especially now that baseball season's getting underway when people are looking for a Phillies podcast. The more reviews, the more five-star reviews, all that stuff that's out there, it does help people find it. So do us a solid. We love the IHOPES listeners. If you love us, do us a solid.

Rate and review the podcast. I think that's all I got. You got anything else, Fritzy? No, that is all i got and yeah i mean spread the word of high hopes we are we are exactly 30 days from opening day oh i'm so ready and two pods a week so oh i mean yeah yeah i'm excited for two pods week and in probably more exciting news for our listeners, I got a Yeti mic, and it's on its way. Oh, buddy. Yeah, hopefully I can sound better during home broadcast.

Well done. See, that's how much he loves you. And next week, I'm going to come to the studio, so we'll make that happen, and I'll do my best to get in as much as possible. If only Jack didn't get his big time job as the afternoon show producer it would have been great

but you know care too much about WIP it's only at your job and I could watch the Phillies in the afternoon the last couple days this week I have the best schedule so I can't give you crap for that we'll be back next week in studio.

I'm committing to it now. Until then, rate and review the podcast. Hit us up on Twitter. He's Fritz. I'm Seltzer. We'll talk to you later. All-star closer, Kenley Jansen. We have a question.

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

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