High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Was Last Night The Debut Of Carlos Hernandez As A High-Leverage Arm?

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz react to the Phillies' series loss to the Braves and Alec Bohm's continued struggles. They also go deep into the bullpen and wonder who can take down big outs for a team that is short on arms. 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

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On the Odyssey app in sports radio, 94 WIP. I was singing high hopes, smiling through a broken nose. Oh, high hopes, high hopes. I feel a little less alone. Yo, it is another edition of the High-O's podcast presented by Miller Lite, official sponsor of the Philadelphia Phillies, tastes like Miller time Philadelphia, celebrate responsibly Fritzie I'm of two minds right now because I am celebrating internally right now with how much fun we had last night at Maxi's with all the people that came out. So many of our people met a bunch of new people. College kids listen to the pod. They were listening to radio. The kids are all right. So I felt great about the experience we had

last night. Much less great about the baseball game itself, which I'll be completely honest. I did not see the end of it. Is that right? And I was like, well, your boy's going to bed. Obviously didn't end well. How you feeling, buddy? I mean, obviously pretty fraudulent by you, per usual. Oh, I will own it, brother. Own it. Three o'clock in the morning?

Nope. Nope. And let me tell you, after I found out what happened in hindsight, I feel incredibly great. Yeah. So we'll get to it first. Maxis was awesome. Great spot right on campus, which was interesting and I called James the way home and I said wow, I felt old there Oh my god, I know and I was like Jack imagine how I feel and then I told Jack that

The you know if the average age of kids there was about 21 ish Maybe 22 at most that those kids there were closer to Zoe's age than my age. So that that was really cool Come to that real cool. Yeah, come to that realization. Well, wow, great. What was so impressive about the crowd is that we we we gave some throwback answers. Now, they had time. Maybe I got one that was about that was about Boa, of course. But we got a Dick Allen from from a college kid. We got Tommy Joseph pull from a college kid, which was shocking.

Now, we also did get the flip side. We got the hilarity of when the Larry Bowe answer. Jack asked the question, what Phillies player gave Harry Cowell's the idea to say that ball's out of here. And a kid just yells out, Ryan Howard. And the whole bar went up in laughter. It was pretty great. That was tough. That guy, that was tough scene because I was thinking about it.

The Tommy Joseph trade happened, I believe. I mean, those kids had to be eight. Like, you know? Oh my God. I know. We were gonna make ourselves feel older than we already do. I know, I like that. So I like it, but I don't like it, obviously,

because it means I'm getting older. But I like that I'm getting to the stage of wow. Yeah. It's a level of superiority that I didn't know existed. I guess that's why I guess that's why you you old heads are so snooty. Oh, that's right. It's like, you're always like, why you act like you're right all the time. It's because like, I've lived man, I know, you know,

various things, things, but as we discussed in a private as we discussed in a private group text, your music knowledge is pretty limited. I know more about you and music than you and Elliot combined times 10. You do nonsense. Enough of this. You you are pretty decent at music knowledge and accruing music knowledge and like, oh, the Beatles, I should learn about the Beatles and listen to the Beatles.

Oh, Bob Dylan, I should check. Like, you're great at that. It's really that Elliot adds nothing to the equation from a music perspective, other than like whatever the cool song is right now. Yeah, yeah. He really has. And he's going to have a I'm going to have no problem getting older. He is going to really struggle with it. I mean, it's it's going to go against everything he believes in.

Well, I can't wait till he's in his mid 40s. They'll do in the hand twirl when he when he's about to go against everything he believes in. Well, I can't wait till he's in his mid forties. Don't do in the hand twirl when he, when he's about to go in, you know, on the dance floor, the hand twirl. Okay. Enough Elliot, enough Elliot. So, so a sign that I am definitely reaching cook status is, you know, I made it, I made it to the old 10th last night. Oh, so you, you actually made it through the rain delay, kept watching,

and then you couldn't finish. Because there was a sick part of my brain last night was that was, that was saying, I can't be asleep for like a one 32 in the morning. Phil's ending. That's, that's what, what, what draws you to baseball. It's, it puts hairs on your chest. You know, we're talking about getting older. And that that's real. That's what draws you to baseball. It puts hairs on your chest. Exactly. We're talking about getting older. That's real baseball.

Yeah, and it's what turns boys into men. That's right. Obviously, there's girls into women. But we have to- Turns girls into women, boys into men. Exactly. Exactly. We cover all audiences here.

But yeah, I was like, I can't go to bed. And then. It was like the 10th, I was doing well, but I could feel I could feel the eyes closing, you know, I would I would miss a picture too and then wake up. Which is such a horrible feeling when you're like really want to say, yeah, and you know, you're you're slipping, obviously, you know, when you're driving, that's the worst feeling and you should pull over when that happens. But like, yeah, any feeling, you know, we've all been there where you're you're slipping. Obviously, you know, when you're driving, that's the worst feeling and you should pull over when that happens. But like any feeling, you know, we've all been there where you're super tired driving, like any situation that where you're like

really trying to stay awake and you can feel it and you know, it's one thing if you just fall asleep and you're like, oh, damn, that's it, I fell asleep. It's another thing where you're like falling asleep and fighting it. And you're like, I'm going to keep my eyes open. And then they droop and it's worse. It's tough. And I went horizontal. So the defeat went up at that point. It was over.

So, yeah, the moment you decided to lay down on the couch, you were done. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I woke up to bark and screaming at me at 130, you know, which is which is quite the scene. But no, actually, Amy was on the Ozone pre and post last night. That's that's my fault, that's my fault. But no, yeah, so woke up, obviously did not go back and rewatch and then went back and rewatched this morning. Pretty excruciating.

I was, I actually watched it. I saw Azuna just launch a first pitch fastball from Joe Ross and I said, not a bad, I'm kind of glad I fell asleep. To be completely honest with you. Me too. I wouldn't want to feel like I wanted kind of glad I fell asleep. To be completely honest with you. Me too. I wouldn't want to feel like I wanted to die at 1.30 in the morning or whatever when the game ended. It was a painful last couple of innings there.

I mean, just horrible execution all around. Now, there's a lot to be excited about. I'm actually not kidding. There's a lot to be. I couldn't tell if you were serious or not. No, dude, like. Like Lizardo, I mean, you could be stoked about Lizardo. And should be. There's a lot to be. I couldn't tell if you were serious or not. No, dude, like. Like Lazardo. I mean, you could be stoked about Lazardo.

And should be. Oh, there's more. Now, I know. Now. I wasn't expecting it. So go ahead. I know they lost last night. But for me, last night was a win.

Oh, look, expound. 215592, 94, 94. So first off, first off, Lizardo went shove city, especially after a tough first inning and just settled in. Well, it wasn't it was the tough first inning. Yeah, Ron. Yeah, but but but dude, freaking I thought that Matt Olson at that was going to go for an hour. 12 pitches, 13 pitches, something like that. You could have told me it was 20.

You could have told me that was a 20-pitch bet. It went on forever. It was brutal. And the only thing that was mildly concerning about Jesus Lizardo's start for me was that he was down to like 95 after that inning. So and every time he throws, it's a little bit like watching and bead where it's like, is he going to get hurt?

Don't get hurt. Is he going to get hurt? And that was the only thing that was was concerning. But even at 95, what I thought was encouraging is, yeah, I think the Olsen battle was in either the third or fourth. And he still finished up the is he retired the last eight batters, even with depleted. He got through six, yeah. Yeah, so even with depleted stuff.

But man, it's just, because I don't think his slider was as bullity as it was on Friday against the Dodgers. It was more of a gutted out outing. You're right, yeah. It didn't feel really at any point like his stuff was quite as sick as it was in the home opener or the that's that's that's huge for him though. Like that's that's developing into a pitcher. And that's the biggest thing that Lazardo has to do. We know you can get strikeouts. We know that you have sick stuff that you're going to show up all over pitching ninja we know that but it's it's developing into a pitcher pitcher. And I thought last night was a good example of that. Now, some bullpen pieces.

Carlos Hernandez, you want to talk about, it was 1130 at night, 1140 at night, that I didn't even need a little bit of jolts of energy. When Tom McCarthy uttered the sentence that they've been working on tightening up his curveball. Oh my God. The whole Delaware Valley swooned in that moment. I almost framped up stairs and woke up Jill and the kids.

It was a huge, huge moment. Poor Jill, what she has to deal with on a daily basis. Because listen, my theory was that they were getting him in the lab with Cotham and they didn't want to unleash Carlos Hernandez to the rest of the world until he was perfect. And I thought last night was a big step towards then perfecting Carlos Hernandez.

Towards perfect and good. Towards perfect. I love a three pitch mix on a on a on a reliever. I do too for what it's worth. I it is. It's fun and it matters. Yeah, exactly. You need it in like unless you have two elite pitches like you need a third.

So he's up to 98. He spotted a 99 down the outside corner to freaking Kellanick who they walked four times this year It's all they ever do like Kellinick is like he it's funny because he's like he's not like Josh Bell and that it feels Like he kills us It's that it just feels like he does annoying things to us every time like Kellinick is not a good baseball Thanks, and yet against the Phillies. He's always on base. He's always making plays like he's always doing something against us No, and everyone who all that that's a best prospect in baseball.

He's saying that those days, many, many, many days ago. He's thanks. So, yeah, but whatever he was. I get it now. But but he flashed that he flashed the curveball. He has a nice little split and he's up to ninety nine. So this is pretty geeked up about about Carlos Hernandez. We will see how this thing develops. I definitely would much prefer him over Joe Ross in in a high lever situation. That's the issue with the bullpen is that these guys are pitching one one wrong above their hierarchy. Where they're supposed to be. Joe Ross is a is a middle of their six inning guy.

Yeah, exactly right. Takes down two innings If your starter can only go four and then maybe develops into something else. You can't bring Joe Ross back to he's not a back to back guy. His first fastball. Much as both both like high leverage, like obviously last night extras. And then the day before, what was it like at the seven day dinner? They brought him in in a tie game or whatever. Or they were with the tie at the time. Whatever. It's like, what are we doing, man?

And they want other guys. That's the problem. No, they had to lead, actually, with that one. So that was a three to get to one. Whatever it was before. We was one nothing. And then they gave up the two. No, because Ruiz has to one is three to it was three to. Right. And then he gave it up to tie three three. Yeah. The home run.

Riley tank shot gave up a no doubt about it. I've said this eight times on the radio this week and on the final out. There is no I think the Phillies best skill. Like if they have one thing that they are actually great at, it's heating up Austin Riley. There's unbelievable. They're so good at it. They're so good at it. He's he was Riley. There's- It's unbelievable. Every year so right. They're so good at it. They're so good at it.

He was hitting 143 heading into the series and I've never been more terrified. So yeah, no one's better at heating up Austin Riley quite like the Phils. But Joe Ross's first pitch was 91. His first pitch last night was 90, or I'm sorry, his first pitch two nights ago. He's got to miss two years of baseball with injuries like I know.

What do I know that Tauber doesn't have any options out there right now. But like what are we doing? Well, it's funny. So he had no problem. Now, we can't we can't do the thing where we say you have to manage the bullpen. These guys are going to die by June and then get mad when he doesn't use carcuring. Oh, I agree No, I yeah, I get it. I get it I mean if you're gonna pitch Joe Ross two innings the night before and then and then bring him right back out in a

situation where you have the lead in a chance to win a baseball game and Kirkering all he did was warm up. Well, you have to go to Kirk in there 100% He got hot. I mean, that does matter. I know people think that pitchers in the bullpen don't affect your pitch count, but they do. But at the same time, you have a chance to close out a game against your rivals and step on a throat. So it's tough.

It's tough balance. I would have just gone to Kirk Green. But I understand they have this kind of state of arms. So Ross, no. Jose Ruiz, fine. Carlos Fernandez, stock flying up. And it was a very positive Jordan Romano out. There we go.

Now maybe, just maybe, he needs about a week off. Four days rest between each outing. Yeah, exactly. A week off in between week off. Four days rest between each outing, yeah, exactly. A week off in between outings. Real valuable guy to have. But if houseball's back up to 97, I tell you what, James, 97 plays. 97 plays. And again, talk about getting a little excited at about midnight after a rain delay and hanging

out all night with people. But they said he made a mechanical adjustment in the bullpen this week. Yeah, you know, I am a sucker for a good. I mean, I based my whole Nola thing a couple of years ago off of me. I was like, oh, he's going to be great because of the mechanic. That was it. That's the only thing. So, yeah, I'm right there with you. Mechanical adjustments work 100 percent of the time. 100 percent. I've never seen one not work.ical adjustments work 100% of the time. 100%.

I've never seen one not work. It's true. Until they don't. All right, so then before we get to some other issues with the team, and look, they lost series. It's not the end of the world. They weren't going to win every series all year. And it was a really freaking close series.

Like, every single one of those games could have gone either way. But so just before we move on from the pen, because I do think there's three things that people are really frustrated with right now. I think one of them is the bullpen. You were like, how do you feel in general, you just talked about certain guys and kind of a little better or Mano, but they're working strong a lot already. Like, where you at with the pen and the whole situation moving toward? Like, because we're still like, yes, they can trade for relievers, but that's not going to happen now. Like, no one makes trades in April and May. Like, it just doesn't happen.

So where you at? Well, it's one of those moments where I'm thankful for this podcast because it's hard for me to echo this sentiment on on the radio in the way that we have to do it, which is usually bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Yes. That's where this podcast comes in. They're kind of screwed. I mean, they're kind of screwed until until it's right that line. So and, and listen, I love a good minor league call up like the next guy. There's- That was gonna be my follow up question. Is there anyone we get,

obviously not a Kirk Green where we're saying this guy can come up and be a, or maybe. Who's there? Okay, so let me lay this out for you. So if you wanna go to Redding, all I'm saying is that Griff McGarry didn't walk a guy. And maybe let's, now the problem with McGarry always is that he McGarry didn't walk a guy and maybe let's now the problem with McGarry always is that he goes to Redding shoves. Now he is like what 25 at Redding

which he might be older than 25. I have no idea. He feels like he's been around forever. But the problem is he can't adjust to the AAA balls and that's where the walks start happening. So you know McGarry, Chasse is the one at Redding, I think more than McGarry. I'm actually a little surprised they didn't start him at Lehigh Valley, but maybe they just want to build him up a little bit. And then they got Iverson Castellanos back Castellano back from the twins after the rule five thing. He was disgusting the other night took down, I think three innings in the middle of the game and struck out five. And he threw some splitter maybe he's a curveball. I don't know the minor league feeds are a little

grainy. They dropped off the face of the earth. So and he was up to 97 which is very exciting as well. It's a grainy. And he was in the he was in big league camp. He was in big league camp. So he could be an option possibly if you want to go to Reading. Now triple in AAA. My my boy John McMillan's cooked. I'm just I'm sorry. Oh, that was it. That was a short run for John McMillan, you know, of excitement. You had basically had one pod where you were really excited about him.

Some said he was the next Jeff Hoffman. And then his fastball, his fastball in two weeks went from 100 to 92. And that's not a good thing. And we jumped on that. Is he hurt? Is he hurt? Well, he's perpetually hurt, yes. Yeah, there you go.

So that's a sad one. But I think Max Lazar is interesting. He was obviously up last year. He took the 96 out of the bullpen. They moved him right into the bullpen. So they didn't even bother trying to start him. So I think that's relatively interesting interesting and we know about the cutter. I love your saying like we know everyone knows about the cutter. Well from AAA standards probably the Mariana Rivera AAA cutters. Whoa that is a statement.

I'm just kidding I'm just kidding but there's this guy this guy that claimed off waivers. Mariana Lazar, there we go. Yeah, this guy that claimed off waivers from I think Toronto, Brett De Geist is interesting. He's got some power stuff. No, well I'm just, you asked. I know, you're right, I know. No, I know. What'd you expect? What'd you expect? You're right, you're right.

This is all you, more than this is why. It is my fault, you're right. Yeah, I blame myself. You didn't want Brett De Geist talk 17 minutes into the podcast? This is by the way more than this is mine. It is my fault, you're right. Yeah, I blame myself. You didn't want Brett the Geist talk 17 minutes into the podcast? This is by the way, back. Honestly, it wasn't ripping Brett, it was more that like, oh, some cast off from the Blue Jays

is like, maybe he can help out. It's more the situation than the name. Well, that's the issue is that, is that, you know, you watch these guys as AAA, right? And it's, oh, he's the issue is that, is that, you know, you're, you're, you're, you watch these guys just AAA, right? And it's, oh, he's interesting. And then, and then he got to face, they come to majors and they walk everyone they face or get crushed. And it's so different. It's just so different. So I don't want to, again, I would never get ahead of myself with any pitching things. So I don't want to do that again. But I do

think they have to never never they do have some some relatively interesting arms that they want to you know, kind of cycle through and see if any of them pops But I really do think Carlos Hernandez can pop I'm Jordan Robinson host of the new podcast the women's hoop show each episode I'll be joined by a rotating group of women's basketball experts to talk WNBA College hoops the new unrivaled league, and the shifting landscape of the sport. The game is growing and so are we.

Listen to and follow the Women's Hoop Show and Odyssey podcast available now for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Now the one, the one name that's out there, I don't like, just kick the tires and see what he looks like is David Robertson. I mean, yeah, I mean, you've been doing it as a bit, but at this point, like, why not? He's out. I don't get out. It's like, he just keeps getting, he knows how to get out, you know, like,

His last month and a half last year, he had a 2.25 ERA. He's not signed now. He might want like 7 million, but whatever. I mean, is it the first year, he had a 2.25 ERA. He's not signed now. He might want like seven million, but whatever. I mean, the frustrating part about the bullpen is I watch him every night and you watch the team every night. And everything I feel good about,

I mean, offense is gonna do their thing sometimes where they're, Casiano's gonna strike out. Yeah, Casiano, it looks awesome. Awesome all year. Not Chase,iano's. It looks awesome. Awesome. All year not che. He's not chasing the outside page, bet in 308. And then it's like, oh, you put them in the four hole five strike. It's exactly it's crazy. Well, I love the people that are like,

Tom's gets a protection for Harper. Yeah, it's a who anyone who gets in that spot forgets that a hit. It's like as soon as they protect Harper, it's like, how do I do this? Oh, swing it. Everything got it. Yeah. So so I watch them every night. You watch them every night. Our people watch them every night. And it's and you see a possibly great team. Right.

I think that you feel really good about a lot with the baseball team. You know, the pitching staff is phenomenal Was our animals Luzardo straight Turner looks like a nice start to the year Harper We you know feel great or Schwab or is MVP of the league through through a couple weeks I mean there have been but like let's to your point Let's get because I do think I think the bullpen is the biggest issue right now in terms of of it's hard to fix In the moment, but in the moment. But in the moment, in the moment, but real quick in the moment, yes, but it can get upgraded

very quickly. That's what I was about to go is that you can upgrade and even the guy like Max Larr, these guys can come up and give you quality innings. Like we see that happen. The Alec Bohm thing and we talked about this last part of it, but to me that feels like a maybe not immediately the bigger moment than the bullpen struggling until they can figure out roles, figure out guys, Carl's Hernandez, maybe steps up, who knows?

Like the bone thing that feels like a problem that unless this guy is all of a sudden going to find a way to grow up and change his mentality, like I don't know how it gets much better right now. Do you don't agree with it gets much better right now. You don't agree with Elliot that it's it's it's good. The how much he cares. It's like it's like Nick Sirianni. No, no, no. And I you had a great line to Elliot in our thread the other night where he said

something and you were like, can you just leave us alone? And when Elliot starts talking, Philly's like, that is the energy that I feel is like back leave us. Joe, OK, yeah, yeah, I know what is like back. Leave us alone. Joe. OK. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you're doing. Leave me alone. I know what you're doing. And so, yes, the Boam situation is big.

Last night felt like the first step towards an eventual just sit him for a couple of days. And I brought this up on final out and leading off last night and the last night before the game and the night before. This is also in Ring the Bell. So look, I have a ring the ball book. You haven't given me credit, by the way, you gave me crap on the first part. Where's the book? I bought it a while ago and it hasn't been mentioned. Yeah, thank you. Oh, yeah.

That's bringing up on the podcast. Mm hmm. Sure you didn't. Yeah. Tucker's Tucker still hasn't bought it. But I was expecting the free copy the nice inscription of you know how much it means to the pod. Now the pod has helped the book and how you know, mentor for your career and all the good stuff. Kinda and I get nothing. Yeah, we'll say it seems like I spent the money to buy the book like every other person out there. A lot of people want to get in the acknowledgments page, Spike and I also very much want to be in

there. Now, you're you're more in it than they are. But I will. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I should be now we did just get the we got the first copy back or whatever from the from the publisher 458 pages, so might have been a little long winded at points, but whatever. Hey, hey, it's all good stuff. I mean, you're talking to a guy reads 1200 pages on a regular, so I'm ready for it. I can't wait. It probably should be in about the 350 pages.

But I mean, you got to break down every single more. Jack is is better than less, Jack. That's why. And and Kevin Chad, Kevin Revy, I'm not trying. He's by the way, I met Kevin. He's a friggin awesome, awesome guy. Way better writer than I am. Well, yeah, we all know that he's like if it is well written, it's because he helped fix some pressure.

You wrote for sure. Yeah. Way better writer. So he's a writer. We can. He wrote for sure. Yeah. Way better writer. So he's a writer. He's a writer. I'm a talker. I basically wrote it like voice to text. You know what I mean? Yeah, we do know how much you love voice to text.

You are the king of sending me. Honestly, honestly, I don't know that I get a voice text. Maybe I'll get like one a month from anyone else. I get them from you like four times a week. Well, because I'm sick and tired of people misunderstanding fricking text messages. Oh, I know, I know. Whoa, welcome to the podcast, Jack, Prince of Tamer.

It just, I'm so sick and tired of people misunderstanding it. People don't like when I call them anymore. So I send them. You are a big call people guy. Yeah, out of the blue. And so I sent voice texts and everyone can deal with it. So it gets deleted immediately.

I hate them so much every time I see them. I'm like laying in bed with Emily and Zoe or something and I'll be like, hold on guys, let me put a head on so I can listen or you can also listen to the voice text. But it could be inappropriate. So maybe not appropriate for children. I usually put that button. Yeah. So, so yeah.

So ring the bell book.com. Salter's mentioned in it and it's long and there, and we might have to cut some of it out. But regardless. I can't wait for it, it's gonna be awesome. And it's probably coming in June, so it's all good. But in 2009, they sent Jimmy Rollins for five games for a mental error in Tampa, where he threw the wrong base.

And if they felt, like that's the thing that annoys me about modern baseball is that they're so fixated on winning every game. And I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out, is that I know that you want to win every game. But also I think that there are I think they're on the verge of losing Alec Balm. I just that's that's what that's my gut feeling in watching him every single night. Now, to his credit, I thought he smoked some balls last night that just happened to be right at people.

So maybe bumping him down the lineup is gonna get him going. Well, he'll take the pressure off a bit. But it looks like a classic, just sit him down for a couple days. Let him get his head right. Don't even bring your spikes to the ballpark. He looks lost and and see how he comes back after

that, because the best version of the Phillies is still with Alec Bohn being on 100 percent. That's like this whole idea of like they're like, well, just trade him for a reliever. It's like trading Alec Bohn for a reliever at the deadline is

insanity from an organizational perspective. They might have to do it. We'll see how this all plays out if we lose him, whatever. But that we talked like that's likely pennies on the dollar for what you could have what he's worth if he's right and play. Yeah. Yeah.

And maybe again, maybe at the deadline they have to it gets that bad. They may have to maybe they maybe they get a really good reliever or cost control guy back like that. Who knows about picks like there's all kinds of ways it could go. But it's certainly trending towards you know, not getting out of him what you should get out of him both as a player and then as an asset. Now, what's very exciting is they're heading to St. Louis

this weekend, which is a place where he smokes baseballs. So maybe getting back to St. Louis getting getting back in the Midwest kind of gas. Nebraska, you know, kind of feel the feel of home. Yeah, I love that. Every well, Philly's team of my lifetime, I can't go back to the 90s in the 70s, like you can. But but I like the I like the bit of having one guy that just has unbelievable numbers in St. Louis. Like Ryan Howard's number in St. Louis. Oh, that was the, yeah, for sure. I will never forget, it might not have been

two straight games, but it felt like two straight games, where they scored 20 runs in each of them. There was that period where they would go out there and hang a 20 burger on the Cardinals. But yeah, so maybe going back to St. Louis, maybe it gets a little comfortable. Maybe a little showcase series. Maybe maybe maybe the Cardinals are like, wow, maybe we will trade you. That guy. Yeah, we'll give it just throw an auto in and healthy and let's go. No, not. Oh, we are. Yeah are To get a replacement their basement. No, no, no, he's gonna be ready

No, we'll get to Aiden in a little bit. No, I already told you I think I might text you this the other night. I mean The Phillies are Brendan Donovan away from winning the world. Oh, you did text me. Yeah, you did text me this. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know Brendan Donovan you love. Brendan Donovan is a perfect, I love, he might be my favorite player in baseball. He's hitting like 370, he never strikes out, doesn't chase, plays third, second in the outfield, and won him in the perfect off season. I would take like so many Cardinals.

There's a lot of Cardinals that I like, but a Brendan Donovan Ryan Halsley package of deadline, you're winning the World Series. Well you already predict the World Series wins, so let's hope they follow up with that and make it happen. You know what's so funny about that prediction? It's so good before the season and then the second you start. Yeah, it's so much worse once the season starts. It hangs over you. I'm like I can't wait to get rid of this guy, this guy, this guy. They're still around.

Didn't you just say? Yeah, exactly. All right. So you know what? Because I got Grandparents Day coming up at Zoe's school. Shout out to Mimi, my mom coming down for Grandparents Day. And Emily's mom, obviously. Shout out to Sue. I want to get to it.

Does she go by Sue or does she have a grandmom name too? Yeah, she's Graham. So it's Graham and Mimi. Yeah, we go. We go Mimi and Gigi. It's great. Gigi is a good one. I feel like that's a classic. Mimi's a classic. So you know what the classics. Yeah, Mimi's hot in the streets right now.

Is it? So so the reason maybe Mimi was just because, you know, I called my grandmother Mimi and my mom kind of just stuck with it or whatever. The same thing actually that Emily called her grandma, Graham, and then Graham happened. So it kind of just was like passed down. The problem with the younger grandmothers, it was a seemingly younger grandmothers. They don't like being called grandma. Yes, I could see that. Yes.

They're probably like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Gigi sounds much younger than Nana. You know, right. I mean, Nana's about as old sounding a name as you can get. That is professional. I got both sides. And Mimi was my mom's and then Nana and pop my dad's. All right. One other thing I want to get to in a quick take back, but the, the Marsh Rojas of it all, I think if you look at the Phillies right now in terry, where are they lacking? And we talked about the bullpen.

We talked about the bone thing. I think the third clear thing is I, you know, I don't think they have a major league player in centerfield on any night. That's not fair. I think Marsh is a major league player. I think he's a fourth. I think he's a fourth outfield. You know, that's my point. You do not have a major league starter playing centerfield ever. Like, where are you at with that?

Yeah. So I got to rerun the re-rack the numbers real quick because I want to make sure I'm right yeah so so Marsh I believe now is hitting 205 ish since the All-Star break last year oh god I was gonna be like well he's I would have guessed he's lower for the year 205 since the All-Star with with 81 strikeouts. Oh, my God. Really? And only 24 walks. Not great, buddy. Not great. So for a part time player over that time of 81 strikeouts since then. Wow. And I think it's strikeout percentage is kind of. I think it's like two hundred and fifty one at bats.

Oh, my God. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot of strike. Do you know that's he's straight out more than a third of his best. So bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And every and not there's been a lot of relitigating the oh, hoppy trade. It's just it just sucks that Ohapi had nowhere to play. He just I know, but the dude just crushes baseballs.

I take him as a D.H. at this point. But anyway, well, our D.H. is what it is. Look, I'm not going to go at the time we were like, this makes sense. You're training for a center fielder on the upswing, theoretically, and you're training someone who's blocked. But like clearly Logan, you would rather have Logan Oh, happy than Marsh, regardless of position. Yeah, the Marsh thing is frustrating. So yeah, he is striking out all the time

and not doing much damage and whatever. So he's gotten worse. Like he's not developed. Like we see so many guys who develop as players get better like Brandon Marsh. I feel like 2022 is the best March we've seen. Like I feel like he's been worse and worse and worse every season. Well, yeah, beginning of last year was like, Oh, there he is.

There's the nice start and then if cratered and they got high at the end of the year. But yeah, so it's it's definitely frustrating. I do wonder if like, and this is on him, but I wonder if the Crawford thing is is is he's feeling the heat a little bit. But that's fine. Are any of these guys mentally strong? Do we have any players on this team like Bryce Harper, who are mentally and Kyle Schwab mentally strong? Well, no, I think the veterans are.

Yeah, I know. I know. But like what is going on with this? Like we've got so we've got two regulars on the team who can't handle it. Well, I think I think and to his credit, I think Stott's I think Stott definitely Yeah, I think Stott's done a really nice job. He's in there. Yeah. And like, if you ask me, who am I still the most bullish on out of the the trio of the day care? It's BOOM, right? It's got it. No, I would say the daycare.

Oh, it's not. I'm sorry. I thought you're talking about the guys. We're talking about Martian boat. No, yeah. Oh, I think it stopped by a mile. Like I don't even think it's close for me. Like start of the daycare is easily the one I feel the most confident.

And by the way, I think he's he's getting back to some vintage dot at bats. He's fouling off a lot of pitches and like when he gets loopy and the swing gets long and he's pop that's that is enough to make you just drive yourself crazy when stocks doing that when he can just be gap to gap singles up the middle. Be a great bats a ball guy be a be a pain in the ass to to the opposing pitcher. That's the brightest thought you want to see. Now, again, not the leadoff spot. We don't need to, I know he's America's leadoff hitter, but keep him down in the lineup. America's leadoff hitter is funny. That's good.

But I think, I think Stott's getting, I think he's starting to turn. Progressing. Marsh and Bomer are two huge concerns. And I think with Crawford, now Crawford had a, it was tough, an 0 for 5 or last night up at Lehigh. No, he's not. progressing. Marsh and Bomer are two huge concerns. And I think with Crawford now, Crawford had it was tough and 0 for 5 or last night up at Lehigh.

He had a triple the night before that. He was sitting 325, so that was good. So I just I wonder. He's just really young. Like 21 years old, like that's super young still. I know there are prospects come up and he can compete

that low. I mean, Bobby Witt's like still 21, which is crazy. You're 22 or whatever. It's not. But like, I mean, it is young. You, you, you know, it is young for a player to ascend in the major leagues and start. Yeah. But I think the way that this season is trending, the way the season is trending, I think they're going to need that midsummer spark. And it feels like that's when we get the, I don't think the, I don't think the March thing,

I think they give him another month or two. I don't think this is like tomorrow they're gonna bring Justin Kroger up. So I think this is definitely maybe, and I just wonder, I think they're ready for, I think they're, since they couldn't do it in a trade this off season, I think they're ready to shake this whole thing up

a little bit and if their whole thing has been, if their whole thing has been- Keep the guys. Right? If their whole thing has been business-like and we need to be more locked in. I think you're seeing more signs of that, which is good. I think that the, the Crawford pushing, pushing Marsh and again, Aiden, he's in the take, I mean, he's, he's off to a really cold start. He's sitting like a hundred up at Reading right now. So-, he's in the take back. I mean, he's he's off to a really cold start. He's sitting like 100 up at Reading right now. So he's even younger than he's younger. What's it worth? Yeah, he's younger. He's really so. Yeah, so I would love if Aiden was your third baseman this year. I just I don't think as a Phillies fan, you should count on Aiden Miller contributing this. Yeah, again, maybe he's going off in September and you have to but I don't think that's gonna happen. But I think that the painter coming up and him energizing the ball club and Crawford possibly energizing the ball club,

I think with Crawford, you're getting a guy that will most likely put the bat on the baseball. I think his strikeout rate isn't super high in the minor leagues. He's hit 300 everywhere he's gone now. There's way better defensive players up here, so I'm sure that'll go down a little bit. But at least I think he's going to put the bat on the baseball and I don't know. Speed, you know, you know, enough times he's going to beat stuff out, whatever.

Like that. You can get by that way. Oh, how could I? How could I forget my boy? I mean, Rick Gones is starting to start to heat way. Oh, how could I how could I forget my boy? I mean, Rick Connors is starting to start to heat up. Oh, heat up. So yeah, again, I think Rick Connors is definitely more of an injury call up because I think Kepler would have to get hurt or really, really crater here. But I think he's looking better. He had a couple of hits in each back to back nights and Cassianos is Cassianos

not moving him. So it probably even for Kepler had never played left field before. a couple hits in each back to back night and Cassiano says Cassiano's not moving him. So probably even for Kepler had never played left field before even Cassiano's head. They're like, no, he's a right fielder. Yes. So that would probably take an injury to bring Rincones up. But again, I think that they are looking for they might look for a spark midseason and maybe it's one of the kids. But you know, yeah, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But the March thing is March and March and Boomer are just brutal right now. Yeah. And again, of those two, I have more faith in Boam. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Quick take back. I had a few minutes. Yeah, I don't have to too much in here. That's great, because grandparents say back ends. Yeah. Oh, the one guy that I think needs to get on a bus to Redding or maybe a flight to Redding is is Titan Hayes. I know you've been begging, begging for the next Kirkering. I don't think he's Kirkering. But he first names Titan like that. I'm already in. You had me at Titan Hayes.

Yeah. Now, and he can make up for it like JD Hammer walked so Titan Hayes could run JD Hammer. Great bullpen name. What a great line. You're so right. Titan Hayes is like, I mean, that's like an elite bullpen. Jack for his name tests, you know, old school stuff. That is like, I'm fully in on him just because of his name. Well, and he's got long hair. He's got like a, it's a blonde long hair.

You know, that makes it better. Makes it better. He's up to 98. He's up to 98 with a pretty nasty like sweeper. So Titan Hayes is someone that maybe could get on the fast track here because he was drafted as a reliever in like the 11th round. So what's the point of having him clear water?

Yeah. So his stuff kind of pops and maybe he could be factored in here late. Maybe. I mean, look, Kirk Green made a difference when he came up, you know, his first time. I mean, yeah, until they said, hey, you know what, we're going to use you in the diamond. We're going to, I know you're hooked and you've pitched, you were in single A earlier this year, low A, but you know what, we're just gonna keep pushing you. See if you can handle it. I know you jumped five levels in a year,

but you know what we're gonna do? You've pitched more innings than you've ever pitched times, like whatever, you know, it's like, yeah, keep going. Get back out there. You got it. So, and then, and then- Don't worry, Craig will be following you up. So just keep it inning, then we got Craig, we're set.

Yeah, so I guess last thing here is I've been thinking a lot about Ranger. Ranger had a good day. You last night, I think you threw 24 strikes out of 32 pitches, I think. By the way, shout out to Taiwan Assange. Another nice and amazing before in 2010 and two third

shutout. I'm just saying anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Siwon is a summer. I we had a caller say that Siwon is phenomenal. Another great name. His name really lends itself to these things. It's good. He is turning himself into like a bit of a folk hero.

Well, it's crafty, righty stuff, I guess. Oh yeah. He's like, he sees he's actually making it like, you know, he's, you know, he's, he's going to turn himself into he's the new Dylan Covey. Yeah, sure. You know what I mean? Miles. Yeah. Like's the new Dylan Covey. Yeah, sure. Yeah, like, hey, you know what, it's a it's a six to game in the fourth or the third. We're losing six to we've used up all our

guys, you know, a town go on the eat for like, he's gonna be that kind of guy. Yeah, just throwing stuff against the wall and see if it sticks. That's what that's what a Taiwan outing is. throwing stuff against the wall and seeding it sticks. That's what a Taiwan outing is relegated to. But I wonder if he continues to pitch well. And this is a big if. I don't think he translates very well to the bullpen.

That's obvious, he doesn't have power. But they're gonna probably keep him on the roster. I wonder if they would piggyback Ranger and him. If the bullpen is, if the bullpen is going to be as shaky as it seems like it's going to be until the train deadline. You're trying to get like five from one and four from the other kind of thing? Yeah. I mean, get you to the seven. I mean, yeah, that's the hope. You would hope that they take down the game for you. And

obviously if you need bullpen, you need it. But that's the concept is what you're talking about. Basically. And I think they did this, it was either 21 or 22 when he came back from injury. They piggybacked him out of the bullpen and then he essentially turned into the closer at one point and then went back to rotation. So I just wonder if it's a way to manage innings, it's a way to still get him a lot of innings

so that teams maybe this off season believe in him as a starter, because I think that's the one thing with with Ranger and Scott Boris is they want to show to teams that he can. Of course, I don't blame him. So that's why I don't think he would ever just go to be a traditional bullpen guy. But maybe if they go six man with Ranger back, they make that one sixth day. And when I say six men, yes, I know everyone's yelling Zach Wheeler doesn't want to do it. You can keep him on his regular rest and pitch him so we can get that one out of the way, but regardless Maybe they do that as a way to kind of manage the bullpen not

Overwork them and run them into the ground and you piggyback those two and see if you can get yourselves To the eighth and then maybe the ninth inning you go to one of your lockdown guys at the lead But that could be a way to rectify the the Rangers war situation. Love it. All right. I got to go. This is fun. I like to be packed up in the middle of that. And I did. I got to go. I pushed it. I told I told him I'd be there at 1045. I'm not there at 1045, but all good.

We'll be back after the Cardinals series. Can't wait either Sunday or Monday. We'll be back after the Cardinal series. Can't wait either Sunday or Monday. We'll see how it plays out. All right. Again, thank you, everyone, came back. That was awesome. Great time. We'll have another event coming up, we'll let you know as soon as it's locked in and all that.

Until then, you spread some salt.