High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - THE PHILLIES SIGNED TREA TURNER EMERGENCY POD

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to the Phillies signing Trea Turner! Presented by Miller Lite. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes! It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the Phillies. On Odyssey and Sports Radio 94 WIP. Oh, it is another edition of the High Hopes Podcast. A Jack Middleton went out and signed Trey freaking Turner. Edition. Fritzy. Trey Turner is Philly.

Those words, I just say it's not us. It's not a perfect off-season pod. It's not us talking about it. It's Trey Turner is going to be a part of our lives for the next decade. Plus, Trey Turner is officially our guy, Fritzy. Best lineup in Philly's history. They are so freaking loaded, man. And it's really hard to put it into perspective

that they made the World Series. They got to game six of the World Series. They're right in it against the best team in baseball. And they didn't just sit on their hands and say, well, that was great. That was fun. We're just happy to be here. They said, bleep it.

Go bring me Trey Turner. And I just thought it was so funny that about an hour, hour and a half before that, the cute little Mets, oh, you signed Justin Verlander. Oh, I'm so scared. I'm so scared of Justin Verlander. And we're like, bang!

How's Trey freaking Turner sound? How does that sound, Steve Cohen? And to make it even funnier, James, the Yankees announcing a three-year extension or whatever for Brian Cashman. I tell you what, it feels good being the new Yankees and new Red Sox. I mean, seriously.

It's a really good place to be at. And, like, like again shout out to john uh shout out to the jackie jack yeah it's it's just is what it is i mean let's let's be consistent with the bit fritzy i mean we got to be real here he's back he's jack with a capital freaking j man dude he's given out two $300-plus million contracts in the last four years. Like, seriously? But, dude, but the most – $300 million, Jack!

I understand, man. But it's only $27 million a year. Like, I know the years are shocking. I know the $300 million price tag is shocking. But, like, dude, imagine how much of a steal. First off, Bryce is the biggest bargain in baseball. Well, I mean, there's on an average on his 25 million a year for Bryce Harper is absurd. Yeah, it's one of the deals in baseball.

Yeah, it's the back end that you worry about. But look, everything's going up. The values go up, up you know 27 million for trey turner you know seven years from now is gonna look absolutely absurd if you know he ages as we hope he can age and i do think he's gonna age better than i think a lot of people do so we'll get into it all but i mean like the first thing that comes to my mind when we talk about it though is is jack jack middleton where like again he just said he's like here you go dave here's the keys go out and freaking drive the ferrari buddy like go out we're gonna go out and we're just gonna get trey turner like

none of this bs we're not waiting till february we're not playing the machado harper games we're not doing like we're're just going to go give 300 million to trade. Turner is going to be Philly like man, Jack that happened today, dude. And I did it for the holidays so that everyone can get their their trade Turner. Yeah, I mean, gotta wear number

seven, right? I mean, I think seven's a good number for him, you know, makes up for Mike Al Franco and Pedro Floriman. Yes, that's the go-to number seven there. Anyone else? No, of course, I'm forgetting. But, dude, it's really, really exciting where you're at.

And you start mixing around with the lineup, and you put all the pieces on there you're legitimately gonna have like super freaking talented players batting 789 like that is what it is um and we know that harper's missed the first half of the year or whatever um but but when he comes back like they're just gonna be stupid man like they're just going to be stupid, man. They're just going to be a stupid, stupid baseball team. And we're legitimately – first off, we're beyond back. But we're so back to the era of every night being in the ballpark and it being a party.

And the fact that they signed Turner, who is just a doubles triples machine and like just the thought of him just going for third um and eventually yes i'm willing to say this on this podcast james he's gonna hit for the cycle oh we don't we don't have to deal with the David Bell nonsense anymore. It's absolutely over. But just, like, how exciting the top of the lineup can be and, like, how fast they can jump on you. Like, I think they'll probably bat Turner a leadoff. But even if not, like, I kind of want to bat Schwarber a leadoff just so people continue to be mad about it for another season.

I know you do. But, like imagine imagine just how fast they can jump on you james like whether it's schwarber whether it's turner whether it's harper batting in the two hole you know like all of a sudden you're facing just just superstar superstar superstar and then you go like hey maybe reese hoskins uh is is gonna put 30 homers behind me jt's the best catcher in baseball. Castellanos can hopefully bounce back. And the thing that I'm looking through the lineup and trying to compute is like,

what if Boehm and Stott just continue to get better? Like, they already took a massive step forward last year. Why wouldn't they? They're 24, 25 or whatever. I know, but it would be weird if they didn't get better. I'm like barely even considering it. That's how loaded this team is's how the castellanos thing you threw castellanos away in there but i mean look i don't know if he'll ever be you know nick

castellanos 2021 nick castellanos but he's gonna be better than he was this year there's a zero percent chance he's worse i feel so confident that he will be a better hitter this year and even if he gets anywhere close back to that guy you have a lineup with five dudes who are making over 20 million in it i mean that's like it's absurd i'm speechless talking about i mean you have you have guys you've guys who made the all-star team at five spots in your lap you guys were and a couple of them are like perennial all-star type players i mean trey turner you know we talked so much and turner had a slower start to his career because of injuries and all that type of stuff but i mean he is a hall of fame caliber baseball player if he is able to age gracefully

i see the guy it's funny because isaac schwartz in the chat is saying the guy i thought of like he's like barry larkin like that's the type of player he is he is he is barry larkin he is that he's faster but and larkin was a good runner too but he's he is barry larkin he is that he's faster but and larkin was a good runner too but he's like a barry larkin type player like he is a hall of fame caliber talent like they have multiple guys in this lineup who are hall of fame caliber players and again you know bryce is gonna get there but you turners that level of baseball player right now and that that's it's crazy dude i mean they just added a hall of fame caliber player to a team that came within two wins of the world series i'm winning the world

series and james they added a a world champion i mean trite turner has been a world champion before he is best friends with bryce i like mean, I already have the clubhouse chemistry thing. Let's just add to it, buddy. It's beautiful. I did well up a little bit of Bryce's Instagram. This was like, uh,

34, seven back together or whatever, like 33, 47 every day. It's like, Oh, this is just perfect. You have the,

you have the Kevin long connection that is obviously, which is not nothing like, I think that matters. Well, think about the last two off season, James. I mean mean it was it was schwarber was his guy last year and this year who knew the key to everything master recruiter kevin long and the michael jordan of hitting coaches although michael jordan wasn't a great teammate so it seems like a weird comparison by a rod who was a dynamic Who's a dynamic broadcaster. I will say,

but you, but you, you think about that. And the part that I totally forgot about is like Howie Kendrick support this organization to who they want to roll series together. Like, like there's so many connections here. His wife is from Jersey.

Like think about, think about South Jersey. You got JT, you got harp, you got Trey Turner. I mean, just like a Dom squad for the next couple of years of like youth baseball in the South Jersey area. I just seriously talk about heating up.

I mean, these guys are here for a long time. They're here for a long time. But dude, like Trey Turner's a Philly dude. Like in what world, in what world can you compute that Trey Turner has joined? Like imagine James, when we started not even when we started this podcast, imagine after they fired Klintzak that we would be sitting here three years

later, three and a half years later with Dave, the Browski who you and I wanted all along, um, two years later, two years later, two years later, whatever a half years later with dave dobrowski who you and i wanted all along um two years later two years later two years later whatever don't care the 2020 was a long bleeping year dude just please please don't let facts get in the way of a good story here james but imagine at that point you said to yourself okay in two years we're gonna have trey turn nick cassiano's college forever they and they're a game six of the World Series. Like, I would have said you're crazy.

Like, we did this podcast, and it's called High Hopes, and we kept our hopes high, but it was like, I don't know, man. It's so hard to, like, see the back to a championship here. It was almost an ironic title. At a certain point, we came up with the title with the best of intentions, and at a certain point it became irony and a joke and and almost a parody of itself and and here we are like it's real it's real and and and they have legitimately created juggernaut like this is the 2011 phillies version of that

rotation in the lineup like they already on paper had a ridiculous lineup heading into last year it like didn't totally live up to the hype and then they added trey turner to it and it's also insane that turner and turner and stott are are gonna cost less on an aav value that gene and didi did last year like i mean that's such a difference maker that's insane and the aav is fascinating and it's an interesting look the phillies are really the first team to kind of employ this this strategy of these long drawn out contracts and going with the aav but saying we're going to take the hit on the back end of these contracts and again i do think there's a lot of logic to it in uh in the fact that that not only are the salaries going to go up so that

those salaries are going to look like less, but the competitive balance tax is going to go up. It goes up every year. And if baseball keeps making record money, which it always will, because these guys can afford to spend. Thank you, John Middleton, for actually knowing that and spending. I think it's a really interesting strategy. It's going to be fascinating to see how this ages. But I think for right now, it's what really interesting strategy. It's going to be fascinating to see how this ages. But I think for right now, you know, it's what we talked about, right? I mean, what did we say in the perfect offseason? What did we say right after the season is seize the moment.

This is a moment here. And John Middleton absolutely listens to the high hopes pod. And he knows to seize the moment because that's what he's doing. And something you were talking about just, you know, when we keep going back and be like, Trey Turner's a Philly. oh my God, can you believe it? Like we get hit with that and it just hits us. It is crazy to just think about,

because again, I do go back in time to the Bryce Harper's a Philly pod. And I think about just how shocking it was that that guy chose us, that that guy, that the superstar, the biggest free agent of our lifetime you know almost maybe you know at the age and they all this stuff and and that like the the superstar said i want to play in philly i want to go to philadelphia like that doesn't happen to us in our lifetimes it's so minusule, the amount of times that this happened to us.

And now for it to, because, and look, and on top of that, we've got other stars like Schwarber and Castellanos, who, you know, legit guy at the time, but then like within a four year stretch that we get the, you know, two prize Hall of Fame, one of them, the all time free agent, but then this off season getting the top guy on the market again for 300 million, he's choosing to come to Philly. This whole time, it was just like Trey Turner's coming here. It was like a fait accompli the whole time. It was all like, oh, well, we're just getting Trey Turner,

him and Harper, best friend, wife from Jersey. He wants to be here. Hearing rumors, he wants to be there. It's just like, what the hell happened, man? When did this happen? When did we become the like of course they're gonna go to the phillies because the phillies get stars team like it's just it's freaking awesome but also super surreal man it's super surreal well honestly when you're talking there during that whole time i just kept thinking back to cliff lee you know and i

thought back to when cliff lee signed here and, and, and James, frankly, I don't think this happens. Obviously it doesn't happen without the run last year, but you can't tell me that that Trey Turner wasn't sitting on his couch watching Bryce hit that Homer and, and just seeing what the ballpark was like and just do that. I want to be the dude who hits it in the sea of red. People definitely thought that. He has to. He has to think

that way. And Trey, this is again, this is exactly what I envisioned, James. I envisioned Trey Turner sat down with his wife who's from Jersey. And I don't know if she talks like this, but maybe she's like, yeah, what's up, Trey? And

she sat there. They're watching the game together, and Bryce goes big fly, or Schwarber goes big fly, and they see the place just start melting down. They see the rally towels. They hear Joe Davis regurgitate the swing of his life, even though he's used it like three times after that. The catch of his life! the swing of his life uh even though he's used it like three times after that um the catch of his life the shot of his life and and and they weren't just thinking damn that could be us like that that could be us and that can't be lost on on this fan base and

that can't be lost on on uh ui or listeners that like we also made this happen like you can't be lost on you, I, or listeners that, like, we also made this happen. Like, you can't convince me otherwise that we didn't make this happen as well. Because if that place wasn't as raucous and special and just talked about on a daily basis amongst, like, baseball fans about, wow, could you imagine playing in Philadelphia? Then I don't think Trey Turner's a Philly. And if we don't show up and show out the way that we did, I don't think John Middleton opens up his checkbook again. You know, like we're sitting here saying, oh, Jack this, Jack that, and rightfully so.

He has done it. But I think that he had to be so caught up in the emotion of what that was, and it had to be so intoxicating for that guy to see that ballpark as electric and filled up and just buzzing as it was. So, yes, I think Bryce Harper helps, obviously. Kevin Long helps. Howie Kendrick helps. $300 million to spend certainly helps.

But this fan base, it's everything. And you can't tell me it doesn't matter. I like, I almost want to shut down the pod. I feel like I have nothing else to say. And I was like, perfect dude. Like perfect. I was going to, when you first started saying it, I was going to make a joke. It only took us 15 minutes to give ourselves credit for, for Trey Turner coming here, but you're right, man. Everything you said is, is like dead freaking on. And I think, I think for the players, absolutely watching it. Look, we all know we're all, you know, adults. We know the way this works.

Like in the, at the end of the day, you know, you need a certain amount of money, money. If one team's giving you a lot more than the other team, you're going to go to the team that gives you a lot more money and all that. But I think that the key points, the players wanting to come here because of that. But think the point you made about john middleton seeing that and being a part of that he was we saw him we saw him during the the games he came up and said hi

like by the wip booth and all that stuff and you know he was a part of that he was we talked about it where was what game it was uh game three he's like we got to win this now after game three he's like gotta win it gotta win it he's like yeah we were like john like what a year man like thank you for everything he's like yeah i gotta win we're like well all right man pretty intense appreciate it dude but like not what i was expecting i'm with you man like i think it's such a great point jack i think he was down there he saw it he felt it and he's like i gotta win man like i can't that this is this fun, but I need to win this. And I think he felt that.

I think it's such a great point by you, Jack. I think the fans, in multiple ways, really did factor into Trey Turner being a filly. Whatever else happens, it's offseason. The good things that happen, like, I really do think it played a role. I think you're right. Well, especially because, you know, if you're Trey Turner, you're in Washington, you obviously got to the pinnacle there and i actually like

for as much as i crap on the nationals like i thought their fans are pretty good during that run you know they were they were really good i agree with you yeah for a fan base i just figured out what baseball was in what oh five um yeah like literally actually yeah pretty good um but you know and if you're looking to pick your next spot, not really feeling like the Red Sox are weird. New York's kind of New York. The Mets have Evelyn door. Yeah. And not just that.

No matter what New York team you are, you're never the most important thing in New York. You just never the most important thing in New York. Whereas like that run there, like the Philadelphia Phillies were literally legitimately the most important thing in this city, period. End of story. Like that's it. Nothing else mattered. Again, we we talk all the time, but it's because for Jack and I, who for a living go in and spend the vast majority of our life talking about the Eagles like that's our job. It's just what it is for a month straight for literally no

one to care, to care about an undefeated Eagles team is like, I don't think Jack and I could ever put into words how, like how truly astounding and stunning that is to us. But that's what it was, man. Like the Phillies were all that mattered here. If you go to New York, no matter what, you're never going to be all that matters. It'll never be like that. It just won't. And sure, he could have gone to the Cubs, and the Cubs have a great fan base,

but how far away is that team from competing? He could have been a Padre, but he was already a Padre, and they traded him away. He wanted to be on the East Coast. I don't know, again, for, if you're any, if you have any semblance of, of competitiveness inside your bones, you want to go there. You want to go there and you want to be a part of that party.

Like we rip on this guy, Nick Castellanos, all you want. The most chilling quote I ever got during the entire run was him saying you're in the jungle. And I was like, dude, that's my guy. That is my guy. You keep sliding and catching baseballs. Don't worry about hitting. Hitting's overrated. We signed you for your defense, but you saying that citizens bank park was a freaking jungle. That's my guy. South Philly, Nick, as I call him. jungle that's my guy south philly nick as i call him um i don't know man south philly nick is a title that's hotly contested right now we got we got a few south philly nicks i know i know um but like that's what i'm talking about man and how insane that place was and i you just you can't

convince me that that trey turn Turner sitting on his couch as he was wasting the last couple years playing in LA where no one cares where it's just like oh sick it's a regular season baseball team no one cares yeah I mean like oh sick you won 114 games you have Dave Roberts who's a terrible manager and like all this um and like the the crowd showing up in like this third inning or whatever here i mean dude i again one part of the run that i'd never experienced was the place pretty much being full like at least a half hour before the game oh yeah dude it was not like no one was missing anything um and and we made this happen we made this happen there's a lot of things that there's a lot of things that had had to happen um you know one

of the things that i think that we talked about in the past but like talk about having a guy that uh how nice it is to have a guy that the owner trusts with his money. And it's just like, yeah, you think so? I mean, geez, Louise. Honestly, that like he's been, you know, obviously we love the move the moment it happened, but, you know, he's been even better than we expected in a lot of ways. But I think the way that I didn't think about initially is just the, the owner being able to just completely and totally have the owner trust you and let you

spend his money and let you run the team the right way. And like, I should have thought about that. Like I should have thought about him just having the cache and the resume and the pedigree to be someone who could control the organization like that in a way you know and and i should have given him that you know i didn't think about that well well i know well and and thinking back on that time it's like listen we were pretty anti-dabrowski it couldn't just be like oh just kidding he's great you know like it could be such a hard pivot um but listen we got there i think we adjusted pretty quickly very quickly very quickly and again like we've talked about many times you know and that's the funny thing too is we're so excited about the the team right now the on the field and you know funny enough going back to the beginning

of the pod you know kind of how like high hopes itself the the name of the pod became kind of a a bit in and of itself you know know, we've often on this pod really gotten excited about the future of the Phillies a lot more than the now. You know, that's kind of, and I think when Narowski got here, why we got really excited about him right away was because we saw that he was good for the future of the Phillies. You know, we thought it was like, wow, Preston Mattingly, Ani, the way he's building the organization behind the scenes,

keeping the right people, you know, keeping Barber, keeping the driveline stuff, you know, and it felt like he was making really, really smart decisions on the organization itself. And that's when we're like, of course, like, you know, if nothing else, this guy's going to come in and know what a winning baseball organization should look like and how it should function and how it should act which yeah you know it seems so simple but but we clearly didn't have that we didn't have that so i thought that

alone was such a big thing but now it's it's so funny because you know not only is he great at that it's like of course yeah he's also a hall of Fame general manager because he's good at this stuff, too, and building a team and and taking a team that's really freaking close and putting them over the top. And and it feels like they're right there, man. And they're just saying, we know we're right there and we're freaking going for it. And that and like freaking respect. Well, and respect, because it doesn't always happen that way, James. It doesn't always happen where teams are close and they want to go win. There's never

been an era in sports where it's more trendy to tank and get draft picks than right now. Or to just kind of consistently serve both masters, right? Like the Guardians. I got it right. I was about to say the other name and I got it right. The R about to say the other name and I got it right. The raise,

these teams that we love and appreciate because we are baseball fans and we love the sport and we are so impressed with the team with like, you know, $50 million, like the raise or $70 million or whatever it is. I mean, we're talking about Philly scene. It's going to spend like two 30 this year or whatever it is like these teams can, can get the same or more amount of wins in the Phillies. And in recent years many more by spending you know a quarter of the money that they spend or whatever and i just think that's

awesome and so impressive and stuff but the flip side is that with these teams is that they don't ever go all in they don't ever say hey all right you know we're really freaking good we we came with a blake snell decision of winning the world, or whatever it is. We came within a Michael Martinez, a bat of winning the World Series. Like, these teams have gotten there and been right there, but those teams are always trying to serve both masters.

We're not going to spend that much money. We're going to be smart. We're going to consistently recycle, consistently trade guys for prospects. And like, the Phillies are not doing that. The Phillies are saying, hey, we got a moment here and we're fricking go, especially with money because look, they still haven't traded their top prospects and stuff.

Like, it's not like we've got, like, they're still kind of able to, to play both sides with that. But on the whole, like we said to do it, they had a moment and they're seizing it and that's,

and they deserve a ton of credit. Well, or they could be, for example, the Yankees. Like it feels that the Yanke deserve a ton of credit well or they could be for example the yankees like it feels like the yankees have had this team for the last last couple years and they won't just push their chips in and ever since steinbrenner's left you know it's just been they've like been content with with being where they are and it feels like middleton and cohen kind of have this little rivalry going on where it's like oh you signed verlander oh guess what here's like here's straight turner last year uh or a couple years ago

it was like mccann and whatever it's like okay we'll we'll re-sign jt um you know like there's just be it's a little rivalry between these two owners that have have talked big games i mean i mean cohen and middleton talk big games and And I'll never forget, you know, maybe like 15 or 2015, 2016, when J-Roll's like, yeah, this guy who you don't know about, but he's going to become a big factor here, like wants to be the Steinbrenner of the South. And it's like, he's here. I mean, he's here.

Knock, knock. Here comes John. Jack, sorry. He's here. He's freaking here. Knock, knock. Here comes John. Jack, sorry. He's here. He's freaking here. He just signed Trey Turner. $300 million. He just dished out another $300 million.

No deferrals. None of that BS. Here is three. I'm committing to one man. Hey, that other man. Here's $330 million. Here, this other dude. Here's $123 million. Hey, that other man, here's $330 million here. This other dude,

here's $123 million. Hey, other dude, here's a hundred million. Like it's nuts, man. It's crazy. He is just dishing out nine figure checks on the regular Jack.

Hey, Aaron, here's going to be here. Here's going to be a hundred million dollar extension. Yeah, for real. With the way these pitching markets, I'm going to be at $100 million for three years. Seriously.

But, you know, we're talking about how close they are. Wow. I did real quick. It's just one of those like it keeps like Trey Turner. Like we're going to watch Trey Turner play baseball every night. Like anyway, sorry. I did real quick. It just one of those like it keeps like Trey Turner, like we're going to watch Trey Turner play baseball every night. Like anyway, sorry. I'm so excited. Well, he plays 162 games a year, which is like even more exciting. And the Phillies don't have a player like him, which is he's going to be someone we haven't watched. We've not watched anyone like Trey Turner play baseball the last few years.

And that's going to be really exciting. Yeah. I mean, the closest is like 07 J like J roll. I mean, I'm talking about this group. I'm talking like within the last decade, we have not had a player like this. We have not had someone who can be this type of spark plug offensive player, someone who's going to put the bat on the ball like a legit true 300 hitter. I mean, this dude's just going to be so much fun to watch. Yeah.

162 and 18, 122 and 19 uh and then 148 and 160 uh that's how many games played the last couple years also uh like if you ever just want to like you know kind of pinch yourself and start thinking about how fun this is gonna be like if you just look at his last like four total seasons his like uh his average stats or whatever of three 11, like three 11. That's what I'm saying. Like three 11, dude, like dude hits man.

Yeah. Uh, so I mean, three 11, uh, 500 slug, uh, eight 70 ish OPS.

Oh my goodness. 98 under, under a hundred strikeouts, which like, like, I think it's so important for one, two this year. Like I just,

I could like this. You can't have, it was hard important for 1-2 this year. Like, you can't have – Totally, dude. It was hard to win last year with those guys batting 1-2. Yeah, they set the record in the freaking World Series as a team. But I think it's good that you're bringing this up because I think it's a really interesting point. And I saw Joe Sheehan talking about this.

And, like, I think there's been a lot of, like, blanching at the – and, look, 11 years, 11 years, it's going to be 40. You know, i don't think that anyone's expecting trey turner to be a great baseball player at 40 like you're you're factoring in some of this you know at the back end there will be some some issues and whatnot but look who knows maybe they retire i don't bet trey turner plays till 40 he might retire before then and lose some of them like there's all kinds of ways this can play out. But ultimately the whole, like, I wouldn't bet on a speed player to age. Well, is a faulty logic thing. Like, yes. If the only asset you have is speed or if it's

your by far best asset. Yeah. Maybe don't bet on that player. Trey Turner's an awesome hitter. Like he's a awesome baseball player. He just also happens to be super fast too like the joe sheen was talking about like speed guys don't age well speed plus guys age really well and i think that's something that that kind of gets lost in the discussion a little bit you know i mean well um and i know that there were some people that were worried about like the shift and whatnot like he got a lot of had a lot of shift hits or like infield hits and and stuff like that um but also like he's just gonna adjust you know like he's a hitter he's like a real hitter why can't we just why can't we just be like hey you know baseball players can change you know like it's not like he's gonna go from what like he'll probably go like 300 like i think

he bats somewhere between 290 and 300 this year. I think it would be asking a lot to be like, okay, here's a 320 season from Trey Turner or whatever. I'm putting the expectation at 290 to 300. And by the way, we'll take that in a heartbeat. And the other thing I was thinking about, James, was bigger bases next year. Yeah, more steals steals more getting a first more i mean look it won't matter it's a game of inches i mean how many times you see those replays at the

runner at first it's like his foot is a you know at this far for those are like a half inch away from hitting the bag and it's like the ball's there like that's gonna change i know it sounds silly but we're talking about you know even if it's what five, 10 more hits a year or what, I mean, like it could be something that over the long run does make a difference, especially with the seals too. I think that will matter. Well, I mean, he should have, like he had a 27 last year, 33 the year before that 32, the year before that, like, you know, I think 35 is a topper show that he'll run, you know, as a team,

they're willing to run too. So I tell you what, it's going to be nice having another adult base runner. I know. And look, he's also really, really fast too. Like even if Trey,

like if he's like speed, yeah, he might like, you know, not be as fast at 35 as he is now, but the 35 year old Trey Turner is still faster than like 80, 95% of players in the league. You know what I mean?

That's the point is like, he's like really, really fast. Speaking of, of, of just how fast Trey Turner is. I know it's not like the, the best comparison,

but my buddy, Kevin, probably really bad. Yeah. I, I, I was wondering where you're going to go with it. probably really bad.

Yeah. I, I, I was wondering where you're going to go with it. Saying someone that no one knew was not at all. Something I was expecting. I know, but my buddy, Kevin played baseball at Villanova and his freshman year,

they went down and play NC state or whatever. And like, it was his first game as a, as a collegiate baseball player. I feel like, you know, playing with me at, at,

in, in Westchester or whatever and so trey turner's batting and hits like a routine grounder that he's like done a thousand times and did what he usually did and by the time like he was ready to throw the first base he was like he was like well this is a little bit different this is this is a little bit different um so yeah just just stupid speed and um just thinking about we brought up a little bit earlier but as we start working our way through this just how like it's gonna be it's gonna be what made i think oh seven to eleven fun and even more fun than anything but one of the underrated aspects was you had Rollins and Victorino or Rollins and

Worth, and they could just jump on you. They could just go. Whether it's Schwarber hitting a home run to lead it off or Turner, the fact that they're adding a 99th percentile speed guy to the top full lineup. He's so fast. He's so fast. I can't wait for...

I know a lot of Phillies fans, and I think most fans of most baseball teams just watch their team play. You know, there aren't, you know, we're the weirdos. And look, I think, you know, speaking to this specific podcast audience, probably a little more, you know, baseball, like I'm sure high hopes listeners watch a lot more baseball than normal baseball fans do. But, you know, not everyone's seen Trey Turner.

Like, just wait. Like this dude is like freaking lightning around the bases it is it makes it look fast like yeah he almost he almost glides like yeah and and i i need him to do that slide here more often like i need that to be a signature the one that he that he pulled off against price like we need more of that buddy like you're a philly now you You're not going anywhere. 11 years. Trey Turner, buddy. That's got to be a signature. I need them

winning a World Series game with Trey Turner sliding like that into home plate. The nice part about Trey Turner is that he's pretty much... I would say he's just as fast as Roman Quinn, except he won't get hurt the second he tries to run as fast. No, he's like Roman Quinn-esque.

He's right there. I don't know if he's as fast or if he is. He might be, but he's right there. He is Roman Quinn. That's the thing. It's Roman Quinn level fast on a Hall of Fame baseball talent. A guy that can hit 300. It's a 330 guy playing short 325 325 guy who plays great

defensive shortstop and oh yeah by the way he's like kenny lofton like what what like it's crazy um and there's i'm just i'm just i want to prepare everyone like i know that baseball is traditionally like ah like we'll get in the door at like 7 15 720 or whatever i mean by that point the phil's guard be up three nothing like they they're just gonna they're just gonna jump on themes and i figure out the status i think like if you score like if you go up like one nothing at first you like win like 70 or percent of the time like they're gonna go up one nothing a ton just by how fast that these guys can can kind of kind of kind of jump on you so um man honestly i'm so excited i know if cassie can

like again it is not crazy to think that he could be good next year like i i'm not saying i think it's a little crazy to think 309 34 homer good but like to think he could be like 280 20 something guy like that's like really really on the table that is so possible like so believable I would expect something like that like man Schwarber just led the freaking league

in homers I like and to your point Bowman it's not like people have down years. And look, Stott in his sophomore year, we know the sophomore slump. And there are ways you can see. But the idea that Bowman's not aren't going to get better is silly to me. And Marsh, Marsh will get better.

I mean, look at how much better he got just from being in Los Angeles to here. Just in that time, he got better. It's just, man really i'm getting really excited i know well and it's like i want the season to start i'm ready to go like bring me i want trey turner leading off the season like let's go and it's like i'm obviously glad they signed him but like i couldn't wait till february you know like it's we could have spent all off season talking about Trey Turner. Now it's like we got him.

It's like, well, now what are we talking about? We'll figure it out. How about we should talk about Carlos Rodon's wife continually liking tweets about the Phillies. How about that? I'm good to talk about that. I mean, again, I will say the reason you do 11 years, $300 million is to sign more dudes now. Like, that's why you do it. That's why you do it. now. Like that's why you do it. That's why you do it. I mean, that's why you do it. It's AAV. That's it. There's no other reason. It's to add

more dudes to the team now. And if you think about it, like when we did our perfect golf season, we're going through more. I mean, I was thinking of like 35, 37 million a year for Turner. I mean, you took 10 mil off, 10 mil off 37, 27 a year. like all of a sudden you give rodon 30 million a year i mean it's like oh you're still like money to maneuver with under the tax and you're still could go over the tax it's nothing it's pennies on the dollar like i just oh buddy well apparently Apparently, Dombrowski. Let's go. So my official statement. Yes.

I know you can see my eyes right now. And you know how much pain that it does cause me to think about giving it all up. But sign Carlos Rodon. Yeah. Like, like I, I know I, it, it would, it would kill my soul around the draft time when they have, they're down four of their top six round picks or whatever.

Um, now, now before I go any further, uh, the Browski, I saw Alex coffee tweet this out was like, yeah, we're probably not going to sign another qualifying offer guy. But he's like, never say never.

But here's the reason why I'm good with it. And obviously I'm good with it because it would make the Phillies like a freaking juggernaut. Minimum 110 wins, right? Like minimum, sorry. They? Like, minimum. Sorry. It'd have to be there. I keep forgetting that Bryce is missing the first half of the year. Like, I can worry about that in April. It's fine.

It's fine. Right now. That's future us's problem. Us now, don't worry about that. I'll worry about Bryce's missing the first half of the year around, you know, May of next year. But in the moment, right now, he's in my opening day lineup. And I guess my main feeling is that just do it now, and you probably won't do it next year.

If we have to go sign another qualifying offer guy next year, I think something went pretty wrong. But I don't see wheeler rodone uh range or nola painter whatever like that's probably the rotation next year and all the position guys are signed other than reese like literally the entire rest of the diamond is signed like it's done it's good yeah so literally i mean they're all signed it's done past the season you you you lose the four picks this year which which has to happen, they're all signed. It's done. So past the season, you lose the four picks this year, which which has to happen if they're going to sign Carlos Rodon.

But like it's one year, like it's one year where where at all, like you just have a you have less draft capital. But at the same time, and here's this is why the draft so weird and it doesn't make any sense. Like players are also going to fall and they're going to be guys picked in the seven, eight, nine,

10 rounds. You become fricking superstars just every year. And who should have been like third or fourth round picks. Like it's just sure that it's a money stuff and all the weird stuff. And all you have to do is talk to their agents and say like, no, turn this down. We'll pick you the ninth and we'll give you this bonus.

And you'll be our guy. So right. Yeah. It's such a great point. It's such a, it's such a great point. It's such a great point. So, like, just do it now and get it out of the way. Like, it's funny. I opened today and I started today by watching a ton of Jameson Tyone

because I kind of got the sense that they're possibly going to sign me. Oh, you're one for two in your calls, by the way. You said Tyone and Turner. That's my to sign. Oh, you're one for two in your calls, by the way, you said, uh, Tyone and Turner. That's my prediction. So, you know,

now I will say if they do go road on, you know, your boy is perfect off season. I'm just saying a ridiculous, perfect off season. That shouldn't be hit. It's on the table. I'm just,

you preface your perfect off season by saying like, this isn't going to happen. And I said, John, make it happen because it should. Yeah. But, um, but I, make it happen because it should. But yeah. But I started my day and I was like,

man, I kind of get this sense about James and Tyone. Like, I just wanted to, I wanted to have an educated opinion before, like, we did a podcast or I tweeted about it or anything.

So I was like, let me deep dive into that. And tell you what, I'm very excited to get the Trey Turner highlights after this. Jameson Tyone highlights. But it's like, okay, so let's say you sign Jameson Tyone for four years, 60 million, which again, it's just like, he's fine.

I think he's a good four. He's a good four, but you're basically paying for durability and the ability to take down 30 starts and pitch competently. And it, and in that case, if we're talking about spending them in this off season where these pitcher prices are crazy,

like may as well just go for the best guy, right? If you're going to spend a bunch of money on pitcher, why not spend, I was going to say a little more, spend a significant amount more and just get the frigging best guy, you know, because I do think, but this market to say a little more, spend a significant amount more and just get the frigging best guy, you know? Because I do think with this market too, like the guys in the middle,

like guys are going to get more than they should because there isn't, because there aren't that many top tier guys. And the guys like the, the, you know, uh, Tywin walkers and those middle Tyone Tyone, those guys who normally in other years are not worth quite what they're going to get are going to get more of this off season. Yeah. I mean,

dude, we love Zach Eflin. Yes. Zach Eflin got three years, $40 million. He got the biggest contract in the Tampa Bay Rays have ever handed out to a free agent. I'm thinking about like,

I mean, come on dude. Like really, like really, I know. Um, so like the, the,

the, the Phillies were like, no, we don't need you, Zach. We're going to give Trey Turner 300 million. The Rays were like, Zach, you're our top guy ever. You're our Bryce Harper signing. Thank you for coming. Like, I mean, think about that. The Zach Eflin emergency podcast.

I'm sure some Rays. I'm happy we're not a Rays pod tonight. We never said we're going to be raised guys. We were always like, Dombrowski's our guy. No. I don't even know what you're talking about. Is this some bit that I don't know about or something?

Yeah. But it's just... If you go get Carlos, just to avoid the qualifying offer and still spend between $15 and $20 million a year on Jamison Tyone, just go get Rodon. Just go get Rodon. And lock it down. And lock it down.

And knock this out and say, hey, rest of baseball. We're going into this year. And by the way, if you do this, then you don't have to trade Mick Abel, Griff McGarry. Yeah, well, that's the point. You have that next infusion of super cheap talent coming in to supplement, and that's how you do it. You balance. That's the beauty of like, yes, you can't run a franchise

where all you ever do is free agent signings. That will never work. Wow. But if you can, if you can, we're getting close, buddy. If you can supplement by drafting and developing guys, well,

then it's a lot easier to spend a lot of money and still, you know, have those reinforcements and have those other spots at cheaper prices and make it all work. Oh, and if, if we're going really galaxy brain here, if we're going really galaxy brain, uh,

Wheeler has two years left. Nola has two years left. You gotta have, gotta replace them somehow. Painter. And then I spent all the money in the lineup. Um, cause all three of them are locks to be great too.

So there's no way any, yeah, that's the way it worked. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Please not tonight, James,

please. Um, it's all right. We know, we know painter is going to be great. So whatever else happens is a worked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please, not tonight, James. Please. Oh, it's all right. We know Painter's going to be great, so whatever else happens is a bonus. But, like, I just want you to dream with me, buddy. We're doing the Trey Turners of Philly, buddy. It's already a dream, buddy.

It is already a dream. It is already a dream. But Trey Turner and the Phillies line up and then also having a rotation of Wheeler, Rodon, Nola, Ranger, Painter. Like,

first off, it's the greatest team this city's ever assembled. I mean, it's the best. From a pure talent perspective, it is. It's not even not even close like you have to win you have to win like you ultimately like bottom line like the best teams are the one that win it all but i agree with you from a pure talent perspective it would be the best team in the history of the phillies without a doubt not even close i think like you

know 11 you know is one of the ones you would think of, right? That would be the first one, one of them. I think it would be the best team in the history of Phillies. That team, 2011, is scrubs compared to the 2022 Phillies if they had Carlos Rodon. There's a healthy Harper in this lineup. I think right now, and I crush you for this. Whenever you do this, it's better than the 2018. I always get so annoyed with you. I think it would be healthy.

Bryce Harper is the best Phillies lineup of all time. I'll say it. I don't care. I think I think right now today when Harper is healthy with Turner here, it's the most talented

Philadelphia Phillies lineup I've ever seen. And I'll say something. I'll say something equally as bold. I'm not that excited for the 2026 phillies anymore like such a good point yeah 2023 or 2023 phillies way more excited for them than the 2026 philly yeah there was a there was a part where the 2026 phillies was very excited for well when you did that thing it made a lot of sense like it was the it was i was with you in the moment i was like yeah this is a great call

you know it's gotta be honest gotta be honest having troy turner is a lot more fun to add game six of the world series um yeah so so um by the way i mean if they if they get them and they get wrote down whatever whatever, but you know, then you figure out the bullpen later, like trade some pieces and get some studs in here. But regardless, like, like I'm just saying,

John, Jack, Jack, I know that I know that you don't like when there are other Jacks. You gotta, you know, in this case, you gotta just be okay with it.

True. Well, it's weird saying, do you ever have a problem saying your just be okay with it. True. Well, it's weird saying my own name. He earned it. Do you ever have problems saying your own name? So, yes. And what I get even worse is like when we have a caller to the station named James, and there aren't many, or like when James Harden's getting talked about, and Joe will be something like, James, something else.

And he'll be talking about either a caller or James Harden. It messes me up every time. So, yeah, I feel your pain. I get it. So, that's my problem. Even though my real name's John. Oh, wow wow I can't make anybody even admitted to that normally you just you brush it aside like it's not a real thing yeah it's awful um what do you understand like I'm just telling you there's nothing worse than walking into class and the first day of school and teachers like oh John Fritz are you here and like raise my hand and then people start

laughing like oh i thought your name was jack it's like yeah teacher my name is jack okay i've been gone by jack my entire life oh buddy i know i know and now my emails i don't want to get my email out but it's john instead of jack it's just it's all a disaster and all the bad memories are flooding into my brain. But Jack Middleton, just dream with us. Like, I want, like, here, for obviously everyone out there listening, like, you can close your eyes and you can envision this as well. But the real person that I need to close their eyes and envision this is John Middleton. And John, Yes. Jack. Jack, let me just lay this out for you, buddy.

How does this sound? J.T. Romito, Reese Hoskins, Bryson Stott, Trey Turner, Alec Baum, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh,

Nick Castellanos, slash Bryce Harper, Zach Wheeler, Nick Castellanos, Zach Wheeler, Carlos Rodellanos. Zach Wheeler. Carlos Rodon. Aaron Nola. Rangers Juarez.

Andrew Painter. You can have that for a mere $32 million a year. Like, I mean, for... We're already there. Just $32 million more. That's it. Listen. Hey, hey, hey, hey, Jack.

You know, $78 million is how much the city made you this offseason or this World Series run. It's time to reinvest that money and bring us Carlos Rodon. So dream with us. I understand Jamison Tyone has some interesting qualities about him, but everyone I talk to is like, I love him, but he's a good four. Give me an ace, buddy a give me an ace buddy give me an ace and also if you want to trade for a guy I'm cool with that as well but like yeah yeah it's fine yeah yeah just pay for him he's right there he's he's waiting for you his wife can't stop liking Philly's tweets all right like she liked the

Turner one today again we talked about the playoffs. She's liking the Citizen's Bank Park tweets and the Harper tweets. Today, apparently, she liked John Heyman's Trey Turner signing with the Phillies tweet. She's one of us. She is so desperate for you to sign with the Phillies, for Rodon to sign with the Phillies. Middleton, they are on a silver platter. Just make it happen i mean when jack is just fully on board to give up all the draft picks like you know we've reached a like a critical stage we just have to make it happen i mean this is this is as rare as it gets right

here jack just saying bleep the draft picks go get him is like really, really, really rare territory. One year. One year. This is it. It's a one-year. It's a one-moment review. You cost me a second-round pick with Cassianos, and that's on you. Where would you be without those catches, though, right?

I mean, without that defense, because no one else in right field would have made those catches. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Fair counter. Yes. right field would have made those catches. I'm just saying.

I'm just saying. Fair counter. Yes. So, Trey Turner is a fella. He's crazy. He's so cool, man. You ready for my other idea? Yes.

It's actually in my take bag, but... Well, let's get to it. We're 51 minutes in. It feels like we're firmly in take bag territory. What do you got? How's this? How's this for an idea? Trey Turner and center field.

You've re-signed Gene. And you have Stott, Gene, Trey Turner and center field. Marshy and Wright. And Cassianos and DH until Bryce is ready. I'm going to say no. I'm going to give you a big no on that one. I'm just saying. If things get desperate here...

You're trying hard to keep Gene here, and I appreciate that. I love Gene. We'll miss you, Gene. Goodbye. Things are getting desperate here. Oh, by the way, speaking of trades, every Marlins young starter sale, besides Alcantara. If you're not going to give me Carlos Rodon, bring me Jesus Lizardo or Edward Cabrera.

Dude, I love Edward Cabrera. He's so nasty. Yeah. He's really good. And Lizardo, I mean, is a former top prospect in the sport. And his second half of the season was like Cy Young numbers. Was he really? I stopped paying attention.

By the way, a little early. You're not even talking about Pablo. You're just going straight to Cabrera and Lizardo. I love it. Pablo is close to getting paid nonsense. I like Pablo. I like Pablo. He's hit or miss, Pablo.

He's certainly not as dominant. His high end is not as good as those two. That's for sure. I'm a sucker for stuff. It's a bold strategy. Sucker for stuff. A really early fantasy baseball tip is draft A's with Lizardo.

You start to figure it out. But the nice part about... If they want to get... I think they should make a trade this offseason even if they don't sign rodone i think they should um but like they have rojas which they have center field pretty much locked down um with marsh and then they drafted justin crawford so rojas becomes available and then there's a younger player uh how you lee who i think has like really good bad ball skills basic second baseman and i just don't know where he plays you know like i just don't know where like i don't know i know he's like 20 or whatever um but like stats not really

going anywhere and uh obviously trey turner's not going anywhere so it's like oh kind of the right time to make that trade if you want to get crazy um with it and yeah that's about it honestly i just wanted to throw out the uh the center love it i'm all in see how you handle it also carlos estes signing with the angels which i saw you tweet about that that he was your top guy that was tough well i also love when you we do a whole podcast called our perfect off-season podcast and we talk about everything we want the team to do. And then like a week later, I see tweet Carlos Estevez is your top option.

And he was not mentioned once in our perfect off season. So I was like, all right, well, I guess Jack's just saving his best stuff for Twitter. Cool. Well, I think I actually,

I blame the, the free agent tracker. Cause I guess his salary was so low. I like that. I love that you also leap from like you want him to he is your top, top priority. Well, I have a really pitching perspective. Well, tell me that he wouldn't become your top pitching prospect or top pitching whatever if he didn't realize that he had four extra inches of vertical movement

on his fastball outside of Colorado. You're right. I would have been all in. I would have been all in. I would have been all in. Actually, I do like that stat. I'm serious. I actually really do like that.

Thanks, buddy. Actually, a really good point. I would be in on that. Yeah. Well, the good part is he's not with the Angels, so his career is over. It's irrelevant. Yes. I mean, you could good point. I would beat him. Yeah. So the good part is he signed with the Angels. So like his career is over. It's irrelevant. Yes.

I mean, you could probably trade for him at the deadline. If he went to the Dodgers, it'd be a little different. But yeah. So really exciting. Really exciting. And now I just like Trey Turner's like obviously the entree. But now I need to see. I need to see how the rest of this thing

comes together i need to see if we get a dombrowski trade i need to see like if we if we sign rodon if we sign teon um yeah it's just you know give me more i need more is the my last statement love it all right um we will be back if they sign Rodon, like, obviously, immediately. What about Tyone? Yeah, well, I'm getting there. So if they trade for Shane Bieber, if something happens, like, we're there. If they sign Tyone, we're probably going to wait until next week to bring him. Come on, man.

We'll talk about it. I mean, you just told everyone what you thought about it. But, look, you spent a lot of time watching highlights. So, like, we're not going to waste that we'll definitely we'll definitely break down die we'll let you give your your soliloquy about your hours of highlight watching that we need to break down and why spend it spend uh you know 56 minutes talking about why he's going to be a solid number four starter really is that awesome that would be a riveting thought i think the trade turner one might do better numbers i don't know well i mean i did i mean please respect the fact that i did watch a full time

so i said did i i knew that that's why i said don't worry you'll get we'll see well and you know how and you know how dumb my brain is right where of course like i just watched the the the dominant seven inning shutout start like it wasn't even one of the starts he got shelled. And I texted my two Yankees buddies that I trust. They watch every game. They're not front-runner fans. I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I love – they call him J-Mo. I started to call him J-Mo.

I like J-Mo. So, honestly, of all the things we've talked about, him being able to call him J-Mo is the number one reason I would be here. I'm not even kidding. But at this point – J-Mo. J-Mo. Yo, we got JMO is like the number one reason. Yeah. I'm not even kidding. Yeah. But at this point, JMO, yo, we got JMO on the night.

I know I could do that. I could, I could see myself there. JMO. I know, but then I'm already thinking about the fraud Phillies fans who like just started paying attention to the world series run. And then,

then being like, ah, JMO and like be the, it'd be the new ill shirts, which I hate. Yeah. Yeah. So that's gone. Yeah Ill shirts, which I hate. Yeah, yeah. It's a good point. That's gone.

Yeah, it's a good point. It's not a bad point by you. So again, even more reason, we'll see. There might be a JMO emergency pod. There might not. We're not sure yet. It probably won't be 58 minutes if I had to guess. Yeah, don't guess.

You can bet on that. Either way, we'll be back if the Phillies make us be back. If not, we'll definitely be back next week. Any final thoughts, Fritzie? Trey Turner's a Phil, buddy. Trey Turner is a Philly. Oh, my God. This is what a freaking couple months, man.

What a couple months. Not bad. Not bad. bad not bad time to be you and I I'm really happy for us I'm really happy for all of us everyone listening to this I'm so happy for us this is pretty cool we deserve it we'll be back he's for himself We'll see you next time.