High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Which is More Annoying the Offense or the Bullpen?

Episode Date: August 10, 2020

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz are back as, well, the Phillies sure look to be back as well. The guys give their thoughts on the double-header and Spencer Howard's debut. Listen! See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Jack, it's late Sunday night. The Phillies suck today. They got outscored 13-2. Spencer Howard's debut was ruined. I'm bummed right now. How you doing, buddy? Oh, I just sat in some beach traffic so everything's even better for me yeah well we were like scheduled quote unquote to record like an hour and a half ago or whatever probably but you know i would say an hour ago i would say well i would say maybe a half hour ago um yeah yeah it it wasn't you know like because there's nothing we've talked about this a lot but there's nothing in the world that I love more than Beachville's.

And it was totally ruined. You know, I was down at the beach. It was like 1245. I was like, all right, got to get back. You know, get to watch some Vinny Velo. And boy, was it like the most Vinny Velo starred of all time. Oh, my God. I think it might have been the longest.

There are many, but I think it's probably in the longest, running for longest seven-inning doubleheader game ever. I mean, they made two seven-inning games seem like a regular nine-inning game. That's what I meant before when I was like, originally we thought we'd record around 8 o'clock, you'd get home or something like that, and it is now 9.37, so good times. Oh, it's brutal. I mean, just I don't understand.

Like I have been a part of a lot of 7 and doubleheaders, and I don't get how they make them feel so long. Well, Vinny played a massive – it's unbelievable. And it wasn't even like a high-scoring game. It was a 5-2 game. And when it was 1-0, it felt like it was 1,000 years long. He really is the modern-day Steve Traxell. He's the human rain delay.

He is brutal, man. I mean, I just – between him being the same, between this Phillies team looking just like last year's philly's team you know and we'll get into it but obviously the bullpen sucks right but but like holy smokes like the offense is also dreadful i mean you know and i see the stats coming out of like well you know actually they're first in k percentage and first and walk percentage and third in ops and it's like dude i don't know i just i don't care like i just i just don't care they're not a good offensive team and it like it looks exactly the same and it's just it's just they it feels like

they never get the big hit they just never get the hit. They're so bad at jumping on any sort of momentum. I mean, they made 14 innings today. It feel like you were at the dentist. It was so, just so, they even ruined Spencer Howard's debut. It was so brutal all throughout that they even ruined something that I weren't like, I just, I was so jacked up for, um, I don't know,

whatever. We'll get into it. Well, I think you just did a little bit. I like it. Um, yeah, I mean,

look, two runs all day, seven hits over the course of two games. I mean, Akuna, Akuna and Freeman had more hits than that. I know. Of course, akuna picks

today to finally say hello to the 2020 season of course um those two i mean that that that homer the homer of howard was like um jesus to the opposite field i have a i have an akuna thing i want to bring up later so well i thought i thought that i thought that ball was caught at the wall like i was like oh that's an out and it just kept going and going and it was like it was like almost it went over the seeds that first row of seats went all the way back in like the concourse it was crazy opposite field what the hell is ron alcuna jr i mean what is that? That is next level. Between him, Soto, and Tatis, it's like, holy smokes. Well, we're going to get to that because I actually want to ask you a question about that because I came up on Twitter. All right, real quick, because obviously even though Saturday and obviously the Rams Friday, Saturday was super fun.

even though Saturday and obviously the Rand Friday, Saturday was super fun. But it's just completely, you know, blacked out by what happened today. But quickly, let's get the one thing that I do think we need to talk about out of the way, and then we'll come back to complaining and potentially crying about today. Jake Arrieta is – is this real jack is jake arietta i don't i i feel ridiculous even saying good i want to be like is jake arietta not bad but like what is jake arietta how real is this in your eyes uh it's decently real like i think i think he can i think he could be a three seven four guy like a like a low fours high three guy if that's if that's good um i feel like for jake arietta that's a that's a massive win um you know i think i think that he was aided a lot by the umpire i mean

umpire definitely helps him a lot um but you know i said it last week um when we were kind of talking about the same kind of thing like is this jake arietta thing real and i said then that you know if he's finishing over his front side and he can he can get to the outside corner that that like you you saw it a ton on uh on saturday the fastball down and away to right-handed hitters, they just can't do anything with that pitch. And that's the pitch that guys just have to consistently hit if they want to be long-term major league pitchers. And he did that really well. He still missed middle middle a good amount, and the Braves kind of, I feel like they kind of just didn't make him pay. But, yeah, you know, I think there's a path to a low fours,

high threes, maybe 3-7-ish ERA from Jake, and at this point we'll take that. I don't know if we're ever going to get the $25 million a year pitcher. I think that's pretty much off the table. But if he can do what he did on Saturday as a total win, it doesn't have to be no runs. It can be two runs. But he does look healthy. He threw some freaking nasty sliders. And they were still clocking at 90 miles an hour, which was insane. So it looks like he's definitely healthy. And I think if he can consistently get his fastball on that outside corner, he's got a shot.

And, you know, that's kind of what I tweeted. Because I don't, you know, I try. Sometimes I get ahead of myself when it comes to pitching stuff. No, no way. I know. I know. I know. But it's because I get excited.

And I get excited and I see stuff that I like and I hope that I can translate it. So I try to calm down a little bit. And if he can consistently hit that outside corner, I think he has a shot. I don't want to get too ahead of myself because it's Jake and we know that he can kind of disimplode at any moment and he's still not the most fun to watch. You know, I didn't think he was as competitive in the zone as he was in the, in the Yankee start. But again, if he hits that outside corner, I think he's got a shot. And, I mean, when he's throwing 90-mile-an-hour sliders, that's always going to be tough.

All right. Let's get – and, look, the offense was there a little bit. You know, two homers really got him over the top, the JT and the Bruce homers in that game. And, look, it was good enough. And I thought Arietta looked really good. You know, I was happy to see it, and I'm encouraged. But, obviously, I'm – you know, it still needs to show more for me

to be ready to jump fully back in. But I've been impressed with what we've seen so far through two starts. But let's get the other starting pitching stuff out of the way, and then we'll get into the lineup and the bullpen and the real stuff we need to talk about. Oh, fun. Yeah, it's just fun after fun. So, Vinny, anything to add? I mean, for me, you know, he's just fun after fun so vinny v anything to add i mean for me you know

he's just brutal to watch and he was fine but it didn't it almost looked like he got lucky a bit there were some nasty pitches in there he had a you know a couple um a few swings and misses it seemed like but um the fastball didn't seem to have a lot of zip on it and seemed like he got lucky in a couple sweats i don't know it just it didn't feel like a very impressive four innings even though he you know the only run he gave up ended up being given up by dailies gara um ultimately um what did you think of vinny anything to add to kind of just say more vinny like you said before uh no cool it wasn't cool i'm tired we don't need that we don't know it's cool no but he uh yeah he wasn't very good and he was again it was so honestly i felt like the

clock or the uh the gun was a little low all day like he was only 92 um you know and vinny had been 95 the one thing that was frustrating with vinny is, for some reason, he's just not throwing the cutter. He didn't throw one cutter today. Not one. What is going on? He always does this. It's like. That's what I.

Jack, that's why I made the bet with you at the beginning of the season. That's why I, like. He always does this. He's that guy who tantalizes. And then he just always ends up going back to being the super annoying, super frustrating Vincent Velasquez. You know, like he is who he is at this point. Well, yeah, he's truly, truly, truly dreadful.

All right. Well, let's talk Spencer Howard. And again, they ruined Spencer Howard's debut. But, you know, I don't think Spencer Howard was bad. You know, I thought he had some really nice moments. Obviously, I think he was a little jittery in his first start. What did you think of Howard? And then we'll get to the actual depressing stuff from today.

Yeah, I think Howard's going to be really good. You know, there was nothing that happened today that deterred me from my belief that he's going to be a really, really good major league starter, and I think he's going to eventually be the ace of the staff. You saw all the flashes. I mean, the changeup, he didn't throw a lot early, which was surprising because probably his second-best off-speed pitch. So that changeup is going to be a real weapon for him going forward.

The fastball is really heavy, and I know he didn't get any swings and misses on it, and I know Freeman hit the home run off of it. But that pitch is just going to be really hard to consistently make hard contact off of. It's a really, really heavy fastball. And Freeman is just a freak. Unbelievable. Just like muscles. Yeah.

Yeah. He's like a taller first baseman version of jay sutley like he's just he's just so good um and his hands are so fast and so strong and between him and akuna it just feels like they're gonna kill us eventually and unfortunately it happened for 14 innings today which was just exhilarating exhilarating stuff as always um you know i think the sliders are really good pitch i actually you know i don't like the curveball and i know everyone was like oh you know it was a nasty pitch i just think that pitch is gonna get crushed as he throws it more often you know because i think i think he because he changes the mechanics a lot on that he really slows his arm down

he doesn't throw it that hard and i just think that eventually it's going to be a hanger and someone's just going to hit it like it's good i envision his curveball actually a lot like how nola's is um not as nasty as nola's can be when nola's gets left up um like the voight homer like i see that happening with spencer howard's uh curveball a lot that it can be a pretty good get meball a lot but it can be a pretty good get me over pitch you know it can be like a you're down 20 in the count and be flipping a curveball get back into it and make a competitive pitch but i don't really see it being a plus pitch until he learns how to spin it um because right now it kind of just drops it doesn't

really have the hard spin to it and i think major league pitchers will major league hitters will eventually get up to it um i think the slider is nasty i think the slider is only going to get better but like my thing with spencer howard and it was a lot of the same things that were coming out about and bead um before the draft was like this guy just learns minute to minute how to play basketball and that's how i feel about spencer howard like spencer howard really doesn't have an idea how to pitch yet like he's he yet. He is still just scratching the surface. And you kind of heard, I think it was T-Max say, he talked to some scouts today, and they were like,

he's going to have four-plus pitches. And you can see the base of him having four-plus pitches. I mean, he was 95 with a heavy fastball, a slider that was close to 90. The key to a good slider and they showed a couple times today but if you see the dot on the fat on the ball if you see a dot on a ball then that means your slider is spinning at the most efficient rate it can and you can see that from his from his slider today so that was great to see and the change up is the change up is going to be nasty he didn't get he didn't really feel comfortable. It didn't feel like he felt tight early.

And he felt just a little bit jittery, I thought, in the first inning. But I thought he really settled down. He's fine. I think eventually he'll add a cutter or a two-seamer to his fastball, and he'll kind of just ride that out. But, yeah, there was just nothing that I saw today that deterred any belief that he's going to be a really, really good major league pitcher.

And I think he's eventually going to be the ace of the staff. Um, did it suck they didn't score for him? Yeah. Does it suck that Freeman hit that homer off him? Yeah. But I mean, he's going to allow home runs. He's, I mean, the Acuna thing was stupid. I mean, he got got by the two of the best hitters in the national league, like Acuna

and Freeman, two of the best hitters in baseball. You know, it's like it happens he's a rookie um and you know i think maybe he's a little jittery at first it's his first major league start you know that happens um i'm with you i wasn't too concerned about it let's let's get to the stuff that is concerning uh a real sophie's choice for you here fritz i'm I'm going to give you the choice. Would you rather talk first about the bullpen or the lineup? Neither? Neither. All right. It was great talking to you guys.

We love the IELTS listeners. Hopefully there are better days ahead this week. We'll talk to you later in the week on Thursday. Good podcast. Let's talk about the offense. All right. I have a Girardi point to make in here. But first, more macro.

You kind of alluded to it, but this offense, same issues we saw last year and the year before where they can't clear the bases. They can't drive runners in. They never get big hits. They seem to sometimes have a big inning or a big night, but

there is very little inning to inning at bat to bat consistency with this lineup and their big gaping holes in the lineup. I mean, Scott Kingery, I don't know how he stays in the lineup right now. It's just, he's, we talked about it last time and he's still just as lost. It's, I mean, and we'll get to have some other Girardi things I want to throw at you but I mean ultimately I know we're only 10 games in the season but

that's a sixth of the season if they even play the full 60 games I mean it's time to start maybe making some decisions based on who's hot on on winning games now because you don't have that much time to mess around comparatively. Jack, what is your take on the offense as a whole? I think we can both agree Harper, Romito we feel very good about, and obviously some bench guys have been solid. The Bruce's, you know, if Gossel never gets in the lineup, and I'll get to that more too, but where are you at with the regulars

who are really struggling? And if they deserve to stay in the lineup, the Zaguras, the Kingereys, the Hoskins, and I know Hoskins had a couple hits, but where are you at with this lineup right now? Because today was a tough day, Jack, a tough day. Especially with Spencer Howard on the hill. Like, how did they not get up for that, dude? Well, I mean, Bryce made the claim that, you know,

if he's not starting the sixth game of the season, there's going to be a problem. I know. I know. And Bryce had a couple shots, the runners on base, and, you know, just saying. Very frustrating. I know. It sucked.

But the one thing that I just think is mind-boggling, this is what sucks about a 60-game schedule because you can't kind of let guys work out of things yeah and you also want to believe in track records and and all that stuff but like the thing that the thing that i'm starting to become annoyed with with gerardi is is is there's just no urgency i mean, why is Vince Velasquez maybe making his next start instead of Spencer Howard? Like, why is JT Romito not in the starting lineup in game one? If you're going to use Knapp, why is he not the DH? Why are you not pinch hitting for Didi Gregorius

with Will Smith on the mound? Phil Gosselin is such an obvious spot to put him there, but even JT, I know he pinched JT later in a meaningless spot to lead off the ninth, like, that's the highest leverage spot of the game, you have runners on first and second, you have the chance to bring the tying run to the plate against a left-handed pitcher who can't leave the game because of the three-batter rule, and you just let Didi go up there and hit, like, that made no sense to me, it seems like Girardi is not at all managing, like you said, with any sense of urgency, any sense of these games really matter. And you see, and we'll get into the

specifics of the bullpen, but you see the same thing with his bullpen decisions. He doesn't, you know, like you're, that's a three to one game today and a runner on first, like you got to do whatever you can to keep that game close, to give your team a chance to come back. You need to win that game. And it just fritters away because come back you need to win that game and it just fritters away because he's not he doesn't excuse me a three nothing game at the point um like he doesn't he doesn't seem to to have any i know look and the bullpen sucks we'll talk about how bad it sucks but like it still just doesn't feel like giordi's making decisions based on I need to win these games as much as I'm figuring things out or this or that or whatever well and and why is why are you why are you pulling Haseley in the

fourth or the third or whatever the first side of a lefty and then later in the game it's a big spot and it's Roman Quinn up there instead of where you could you can you can put in the caution like to pull Haseley that early in the game seems ridiculous. Yeah. How the hell do we know that Adam Haseley can't hit lefties? They never let him try. Like, how do we make sure he can't hit lefties before we just decide he can't hit lefties?

I mean, the guy's scorching hot. Like, let's give him a shot. Well, same thing with Goss. Same thing with both righties. I mean, that's, like, they're so wedded to these things. Like, those are two of your, two of your four hottest hitters, and Gosselin for a while the hottest on the team. Those guys have to be in the lineup.

You're not scoring runs. You need to put the guys in there who are seeing the ball well, who are locked in right now. I mean, baseball is a game of streaks. You ride those streaks. Who the hell? What the hell has Rowan Quinn done to keep getting the opportunity he does? Like, Gene Segura is our 5-0 hitter today.

Like, Gene Segura is batting 172. What's happening here? I know it's a lefty on there, but really? Again, I don't think Gene Segura should be in the lineup. I think Phil Gosselin should be playing third. Hey, actually, Jack, how's this for an idea? Where the hell is Alec Boehm? I think Phil Gosselin should be playing third. Hey, actually, Jack, how's this for an idea? Where the hell is Alec Boehm?

Like, I guarantee Alec Boehm is a better hitter right now today than at least three guys in the lineup, maybe four or five. Like, what are we doing? What are we doing? Do we want to win these games or not? I honestly, I don't think they care. You know, I think honestly they went into the season and we've seen by their bullpen decisions, like, hey, Joe, this is a year where we can kind of learn what we have here,

and if you make the playoffs, great. If not, whatever. If we don't, we don't. If we don't, we don't without coming out and saying it. Every decision they've made has been, like, trying to find, trying to still evaluate this roster. Every decision they've made has been, like, we're the 2017 Phillies and we're still trying to build this thing.

You know, can this guy stick at a major league level? Can this guy get outside of the bullpen? I haven't seen one decision that's like, no, we've got to make the playoffs right now. You know, like, Spencer Howard being up here is a nice start, but, I mean, Boehm should be up here, you know, at least to put some pressure on some guys. I mean, how in the world is Gene Segura batting 172?

I mean, this is Gene Segura. He should be a 280 to 300 hitter. Like, he's a he's a should be a 300 280 to 300 hitter like he's betting 172 i mean scott kingery is is should like if there's modern league baseball you'd be talking about sending him down like he's he's been that bad like and i don't get why i don't get how all of these guys i thought i thought hoskins had a really nice day i I mean, three of his balls today were hit over 100 miles an hour. It looks like he finally found some timing, even against Freed, who I thought was disgusting.

Freed was awesome. Well, Freed is just nasty. He's nasty. I know they've had success against him, but he just seems like a guy that would just destroy the Phillies. But, you know, I mean, he had three balls today they were around 100 miles an hour one that was 107 um looks like his timing's back a little bit and honestly if i was joe gerardi in the second that i thought that that reese looked like he was back to driving some baseballs instead

of just going uh up there looking for walks i would get him back in the cleanup spot because because like they've they're leaving so much so many runs on the board because they're five-hole hitters. Yeah, but that's a big jump. He's had one game, like one game. Listen, I know, I know, but, like, I'm getting back. They need to have someone that has some thump behind. I'd rather Romito up with runners on base than Hoskins. I mean, I feel zero confidence in Hoskins. Well, yeah, but Real Muto's getting on base behind Harper.

Like, there has to be that guy behind Real Muto, you know? Like, there has to be. Well, Real Muto. There has to be... Well, that would be the 5-hole then. Right, which is where I want... Yeah, I didn't mean the 4-hole. I meant the 5-hole. Clean up. Because when I look at them,

when I look at this for his offense, it's like they're missing one dude, and that dude is a Reese Hoskins who is actually driving a baseball, and then you could put like he could put whoever back in the two hole like segura getting back again i need i need more than one game of hitting the ball hard to be back in on reese he's been such a mess and look maybe shaving the mustache was it and maybe that's really all that matters um can't prove it wasn't well so far you

can't i don't know i i'm not ready to trust hoskins i think in the two hole for now is still fine because he's getting on base so the one thing i'm but the one thing i'm worried about him in the two hole and getting on base and it's i mean the fact that the fact that his on base percentage is like over 400 is it's hilarious to me it's like such a ridiculous slash line and i don't know what it is after the two hits, but it was like the kind of thing where it's like batting like in the 100s with the 400 OBP and then a slugging percentage in the 200s. It's like, what is that? What kind of a season is that?

I know. I know. But my one concern about him in the two hole long term is that it creeps into his mind that a walk is like. I think it's already there. Don't you think? I feel like every time he goes into bat, he doesn't want to swing. And granted, the second game today was better.

I'm not going to lie. Like, I'm with you. Like, he still looks like he's trying to pull everything. It doesn't look like he's super comfortable still. You know, the leg kick still seems like his timing is just a split second off. Like, even that double down the line, like, it felt like he, you know, just kind of went, you know what I mean? Like, it just didn't feel like he, I know he hit it hard,

but it felt like he went and got it and kind of pulled it again. I don't know. I just, I'm not there with Reese. I'm not. And, look, how sad is it that that's not even a... Reese is a superstar compared to Scott Kingery right now. Kingery's a

shell of a Major League Baseball player right now. I don't know. Do you think Alec Bone will be up this week? They need to bring him up. Like, this is, if you care, and again, you might be right. They might not care about the season, but it's also like,

with eight playoff teams, like, you don't even have to care that much and you can still make the playoffs. Just bring Boehm up. I know, I know. Make the playoffs. Like, what are we doing? It just seems so, just so no f's given and i mean we've seen it look to not sign liriano because of the luxury tax to not sign josh harrison because the

luxury tax like i mean these are guys who absolutely could have helped this baseball team be better and and that's even on a smaller scale than the bigger moves that they didn't make because of it or whatever. Um, you're right. I mean, I think that the, the,

if you, if you look at what the Phillies have done over the last few years, and particularly adding into this season and this season, they are not giving their fan base a message that says we're trying to win. They're just not like Joe Girardi is the only thing they did. That was like fan service a message that says we're trying to win they're just not like joe gerardi is the only thing they did that was like fan service and that way like they really haven't and it's um it's frustrating as hell jack like i'm super so what what's the what what's the is there a silver lining with you i mean you're mr you're jackie optimism you got a silver lining

for me mccutchen he looks a little bit better, right? That's a silver lining. I mean, sure, I guess so. Oh, God. Silver lining, silver lining. With the lineup, and then we'll get to the bullpen where there are no silver linings, as we know. Well, I mean, Real Mutasil is an OPS over 1,000. Bryce's batting in the 280s.

Did Phil Gosselin do something to personally offend or injure joe gerardi no i just don't think they trust him against right you're gonna know if you don't give him a chance when he's the hottest player on the team same thing with hazy against lefty he's like ah i'm just frustrated let's get to the bullpen because I got some. Oh, well, good thing there's no frustration there. Everything's fine. I'm ready for bed, Jack. All right. Bullpen.

Well, good thing. I have some issues with Girardi. We already talked about it. I think he has showed no urgency in the way he's managed the bullpen either. But it's easier to forgive him for that as in, like, who the hell do you trust? I mean, Adam Morgan today, that's a guy you're supposed to quote unquote be able to trust was just a train wreck.

Dale Lee's Gara is just, I mean, dude, what are we doing here? You have Connor Brogdon, Damon Jones, Garrett Clevenger, any of these guys, like whoever they are, like why don't you just take a shot with them? Austin Davis is not a major league pitcher. He should not be on a major league roster. He shouldn't. It's crazy town.

Trevor Kelly should not be on this roster. I mean, they are such a disaster. D'Alessis Guerra, it's a great story. The guy's been in baseball forever, and he's got like 70 something games in the majors like good for you bro like why are you coming into a three nothing or a three one game in the fifth inning when when i need to win this game like why i'm i'm infuriated i'm so sick of this bullpen i'm sick of the way gerardi's managed it like and i'm sick of like look to the point we

were just making if they're just doing the whole let's see what we have, then see what the hell Damon Jones is. See what the hell Connor Brogdon is. See what Ramon Rosso is. I know we saw him today a little bit, and he looked all right. He did a good job, especially after that first start. But it's like he does that first start, and then he's freaking buried. And yet I see D. Louis Guerra every other game, Jack.

I don't get it. Well, the good thing about that is that after D. Lewis Guerra every other game, Jack. I don't get it. Well, the good thing about that is that after D. Lewis Guerra, there's Trevor Kelly and Cole Irvin. Didn't he get sent to the minors so they could bring Howard up? At least that's a good thing.

It's a win for today. After getting ripped for an inning. I always love that. The guy they bring into a game and then... Cole Irvin was the DFA decision no matter what like that was going to happen no matter what but then like why even bring him into a game like oh let's give you an inning before you head that back to the taxi squad like i don't get that like i just don't get any it's brutal can can cole ever get dfa to the moon like Is that allowed? I mean, thinking about it, Corbin and Austin Davis

legitimately should not be on any Major League roster. They are not Major League baseball pitchers. Dude, I don't think Austin Davis could get out from the PSAC. And I'm being dead serious, man. Dude, Austin Davis is just the bane of my existence.

How the expletive was this team supposed to compete with this load of crap? Like, it is such a disaster. Like, the fact that I'm now back in on Tommy Hunter because he's back up to 94. And, like, the Phillies bullpen, like, I just want you to, I want you and everyone out there to envision this with me. The Phillies bullpen has my heart in their hands. And every single pump of blood, they are just letting it seep out and just die. This bullpen is killing.

I don't think I've ever hated a member of a Phillies sports team more than I hate this bullpen is killed like i don't think i've ever hated a member of a philly sports team more than i hate this bullpen i know all the philly's problems are not bullpen related i know they can't get hits i know they're not running they're not hitting well to run in the scoring position i know scott kingery's batting 025 um i know reese hoskins hasn't gotten a hit and i know he's whatever hit the ball hard today i know jesus gore know McCutcheon sucks I got it but there's there's at least some track record there like the whatever the audacity of of this of this team to come into this season and and sell to this fan base that that Daley's Cara Austinvor kelly cole irvin and like tommy hunter we're gonna just be fine is like one of the ballsiest decisions i've ever seen from any front office ever it's like it's

like it's like reason it's like the eagles going to carson and being like you see those receivers you had last year we're actually gonna take back we're gonna take it back we're gonna take away greg ward and then we're gonna go give you that and see what you can do with it just make some magic out of it like i just i just hate them i hate them i hate every like this is a sports hate i don't personally hate i'm sure they're good guys i freaking hate them i I hate them. I hate every single one of them. They are. I might just start betting against them every night. There's no shot this team is making a run with a bullpen as bad as this.

One of the things that is just murdering them, and this is from our guy Bob Wankel. So first relievers out of the Phillies bullpen for Girardi. Yeah, I saw this. I saw this. 16 earned runs while only recording 17 outs this season. Like, the first guy out of the bullpen is, like, a guaranteed run at this point, which is just ridiculous. And, you know, this is how I felt about Haisley with the starting lineup

and kind of Gosselin. You know, this is how I felt about Haisley with the starting lineup and kind of Gosselin. But, like, can I see if Ramon Rosso's bad before we just decide he's bad? You know, you saw today he could at least be – like, his fastball is hard to consistently square up because it has late cut to it. And his slider is kind of crappy. But there are shades of it being good in summer camp.

I know Austin Davis stinks. I know Trevor Kelly literally has no idea where the ball is going. I know Darius Garrett can't consistently get outs in the big leagues. I know Cole Irvin couldn't get outs in the PSAC. But, like, can I figure out if Ramon Rosso can't? Like, are we just going to keep with this whole stupid idea that these guys have been in big league camps before so they know how to get the job done

rather than maybe giving guys with some talent like freaking connor brogdon or damon jones a chance just give them a chance like you already basically don't give a crap about the season anyway why not bring up some guys that that can you can at least hopefully evaluate for the future i mean it's just a disaster it's just awful it's awful and jose alvarez is never gonna allow a run there's there's my positive look at you you spun that around really nicely at the end i think everyone feels great i just hate them yeah i do too i i they are uh again like one of the worst like position groups of my philly lifetime, like along with the Doyle green Beckham wide receivers and the Bradley Fletcher cornerbacks.

And yeah, you know, the, you know, like this is like, this is like Des Bryant. This is Des Bryant, 150 yards and two touchdowns every game against the,

that those Eagles secondary. Yeah. That's what this is. Like, and you're right, Jack, like who knows, maybe they could be the eight seed or something because there are eight freaking teams making the playoffs.

But they're not going anywhere with this bullpen. And I don't even think at this point they make the eighth seed. I think the bullpen's too bad. I mean, again, unless, like you just said, Damon Jones, Connor Brogdon, they bring these guys up and it's like, oh, wow, talented guys are talented and actually pitch well. And then maybe something, you know, happens. But I mean, let's be real. This is a it's just not good.

And it's especially frustrating because the starting pitching has been really good, like compared to what we expected coming into the season, like Vinny's been Vinny. But I mean, you have to be really happy with what the starting pitching has done i mean you look at the string of starts they got from you know like arietta and prior to that with wheeler and nola i mean efflin like they've been getting some solid outings and it this bullpen just fritters it away time after time after time and it's like it's that it's like the worst way to lose a game too. Forgetting how to build a team, this and that, just as a sports fan watching your baseball team every night,

there's nothing worse than having a bad bullpen. There's nothing worse. It's the most defeating feeling because every time you have a lead, every time your starter is doing good, every time you're not scoring enough runs or you have a lead, every time your starter is doing good, every time you're not scoring enough runs or you get a run but you have a lead but you have a chance to get more runs and you don't capitalize on it, you know it's going to come back to bite you. And it sucks. It sucks because every time you can't even enjoy the leads. You can't even enjoy the good times because you know that there's always that hammer that's ready there to slam down on it.

And it sucks, Jack. It is infuriating. It's soul crushing. Like, I hate it. Which is more annoying for you, the offense or the bullpen? The bullpen. But I understand what you're saying with annoying, annoying, because I expect more from the offense. Like I don't expect a, like the bullpen, we came into this season and said,

Oh, this bullpen is going to suck, but let's hope they suck. You know, it is what it is. So they're, they're infuriating and angering because I'm so mad that the phillies went into this season with this bullpen with all of us including them knowing it wasn't good enough but the offense is more annoying in that sense that they should be better than this and it's frustrating to watch them not be better than this i mean i can't i i just want to know i just want to know what what matt klintzak thinks when he watches the bullpen. Does he watch it like, well, here we go? Oh, we think Matt Klintak watches baseball?

Yeah, that's a fair question. It's a fair question. I think all that he knows of baseball is whatever the computer tells him. I've come around to thinking that Matt Klintak's a not-watch-baseball guy. That, I think, is where i'm going with it because how could you make the decisions you make if you watch baseball on your mac yeah it's so it's just so funny that you know every single phillies thing heading into the season like on the radio twitter uh this podcast is like man just can't see that bullpen being good and then here we are and it's

like you know in the off in the off season you're you're looking at it and you're like man you know just excited for baseball to be back and yeah the bullpen might not be good but whatever just excited for it to be back and then you get here you watch the bullpen and you're like wow no this actually sucks like i just just, there's no redeeming qualities of watching this bullpen. And the guys that we do believe in possibly just can't even see the field. So that's great. And Trevor Kelly, like, honestly, for as much as I hate Austin Davis, I think I hate Trevor Kelly just as much because, you know,

he just doesn't know it. Like, how are you in the major leagues and you don't know where the ball is going? And can we just stop? And we complained about this a lot last year. But for the love of all that is holy, can we stop with signing guys that throw 91 or 92? And like, holy crap, can we see where the game is going? Can we get some power arms? I mean, Ken Giles must have been, like, the most.

Like, they must have watched Ken Giles coming up through the Miley system. Like, wow, this guy throws, like, maybe 150 miles an hour. Way too hard for us. This is not okay, guys. No, he doesn't know how to pitch. We need guys that know how to pitch and know how to get out. It's like Cole Irvin you know just can we just stop with this freaking 91 mile an hour bull crap like jack whatever it's fun all right i got a couple things to fire you i'm going to bed soon i'm

warning you um scott franski said this in the first game and at the time it was 17 now it is 19 the phillies are oh for their last 19 times that they scored three runs or less good well you know good thing this bullpen or good good thing um good thing this uh the offense is not billed to be the borderline elite. Oh, my God. Coming up, we got Nola New coming tonight. I think that's a massive – or tomorrow night, excuse me. That's a massive game. They need to score some runs for Nola.

Orioles for three, Mets for three. So the schedule theoretically hopefully lightens up here if they could steal the game tonight. We'll be back after the oriole series but um you got any mail take back i want to i want to um or not mail take back you know i mean take bag jack i'm tired man i'm at my it's been a long day my friend and i want to fire the Tatis Acuna Soto thing at you, too. Yeah, I don't really have much. I don't know. I just, whatever.

Just win tomorrow. Like, here's what's going to happen. They're going to win tomorrow. I mean, they're going to win tomorrow. They'll lose the Wheeler star. They'll win the last two. The thing that's most frustrating about this team is that they just can never capture momentum and go on a run. Get on a run.

What was that story of last year? Four games. They didn't win more than four games in a row. Like, what is that all year? They didn't know it was allowed. They didn't know it was allowed. But, hey. Well, they still don't.

You know, tomorrow is a massive NOLA start. You know, I kind of. They need him to be a stopper tomorrow. And they need him to go. Tomorrow is a massive NOLA start. Massive. They need him to be a stopper tomorrow, and they need him to go stopper. I'm nervous to put the 2018 claim back on him. Well, he was that last start. We'll see if it sticks. He was, but I didn't feel like he pitched that well against the Braves last year. And if he can kind of overcome that here, that would

be massive. But yeah, I'll be back down the beach later this week and I could really use the Phillies not ruining my beach time. Because again, there's nothing in the world that makes me happier than watching the Phillies. Oh, you'll be at the beach. Well, why don't we record next weekend? I don't want to make you record

from the beach unless you want to. Oh, come on. I'm going to record from the beach. Okay. Let's... He loves everybody. This is... Yeah yeah no um all right last thing before we get out of here um your buddy my friend joe julio uh tweeted out soto over acuna and i've long been an acuna over soto guy, but I could go either way on it. I think it's very close. But I responded and said Tatis Jr. over both of them. Where do you come down?

Well. Tatis Jr., Acuna, Soto, the three. And, of course, two of them were in our division for the next decade or whatever. For the next decade? The two, like, 20. Well, Acuna is the next decade for sure he's 15 years yeah i know i was trying to be optimistic jack like um the three great truly great you know 21 and under guys um where do you come down uh well as an owner of tatis in uh two dynasty

keeper leagues i am a little bit biased, but obviously Tatis. I mean, I didn't see what 96 A-Rod was, but I'm assuming this is what it was. I mean, it's just the guy hits everything hard, and I just can't. Honestly, James, I couldn't imagine being a a white socks fan knowing that we gave that oh my god for james shields for james james shield like imagine imagine watching fernando tatis jr with luis roberto and eloy jimenez think about that magical and dylan sees yeah

like that squad are you are you kidding me? Yeah, it'd be game over. It'd be absolute game over. And with Andrew Vaughn coming up, too, I mean, they would be ridiculous. So I'm a Tatis guy, and then I would go Soto and Acuna. Yeah, I would still go Acuna over Soto,

but I could easily be convinced to go the other way. Regardless, I think it's definitely Tatis. Forgetting just the fact that he might have the best bat of the three alone, he's also a shortstop. What are we doing here? If you're starting a team, you're telling me you're taking Soto over Cunha

or over Tatis because I think that would be crazy. I think they're all great. I think Tatis is the clear one. Yeah, and he's probably going to win MVP this year. I mean, the way that this is all. Dude, he's. The way this is all. I mean, I very much like being.

I very much like owning him in two leagues. It's. Yeah. Also, I forgot to mention. It was pretty funny today in the first game when Nap threw out the base runner and everyone's tweeting out, don't run on JT. And even the people like you and I who knew that it was Nap who made the throw, because, I mean, you could see it with your eyes that it's not JT. And we already knew it was in the game, but still, like, it's funny because even the people then made like JT related jokes about nap. Like I did the don't run on nap.

You did the something similar to that. I saw someone do like pay nap. Like it just shows. I think that the real true takeaway from that is that JT Romito is so amazing that even when he's not in, people think he's the one throwing out runners. That it has become just like a cottage industry that he just throws everyone out. It's awesome. He's really good at it, so that helps. Although, you know, I've got to be honest.

I was a little disappointed in his game calling with Spencer in game two. I like this. Everyone gets called out when they need to get called out, Jack. It's okay. Especially on this podcast. We hold everyone accountable. Exactly. Even each other.

Even each other. It's true. It's true. And, yeah, they were just starting to rip first pitch fastballs, and they kept putting them down, but whatever. Whatever. Spencer Howard's here. And the fact that, like, if he doesn't,

if they don't just keep him in this rotation, it's just going to drive me nuts. The Fandemic crew is going to change from air horns to riots. Shout out to those guys. They are representing.

Can I go to bed? Yeah, you can go to bed. Listen, lock it in 100%. They win representing. All right. Can I go to bed? Yeah, you can go to bed. Listen, lock it in 100%. They win tomorrow. They are so addicted to splitting. They're going to split tomorrow. Noel's going to shove. Bryce is going to do the thing.

And then if they don't, is the Orioles series three games? Yeah. Yes. Three with the Orioles series three games? Yeah. Yes. Three with the Orioles, three versus the Mets, all in Philly. Hey, first one of the year, James. Got to take two of three. Yeah, buddy. Hey.

Three, let's do it. Hey, Orioles series, must win. No, no, actually, I'm saying that series. It's a must win. Yeah, like kind of got to win that series it's a must win yeah like kind of gotta win that series oh all right i'm going to bed we'll talk to you guys thursday after the oriole series uh let's let's uh let's hope it's a more fun podcast than this one unless he's for it's um