High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Who Let the Phils Get Hot (vol. 1)

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

James and Jack react to the Phillies taking three straight from the Rockies, begging the age old question, who let the Phils get hot? In this case, the Rockies. The guys talk about the series, the offense's recent surge, and more. 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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Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. This is the High Hopes Podcast. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking of the High Hopes Podcast. Jack, you're... I don't even know what to say. You're just going to be full Fritz this podcast, aren't you? I mean, honestly, James, I appreciate the effort on that.

Yo, but that is not the yo that I needed after this baseball team is clearly back. And slow it down. This is good. I'm excited about this. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm sorry. Do you not feel you can't rip the yo?

I mean, it's a it's a you're the one having me record at 1020 at night. Dude, you act like 1020 is one in the morning. Let's go. It's late. It's late, buddy. You don't have to wake up as early as I do. I know, and I actually get to sleep in tomorrow. Also, the whole Zoe thing, too.

I do have a daughter sleeping right now. I know. I know. You get to sleep in tomorrow and i gotta you know so well so but but with zoe like you didn't you didn't decide to go wake her up and like kind of whisper to her like hey feels her back like honestly zoe might play better defense than the colorado oh my goodness i i think uh shout out to our buddy roto cod who had uh one of the tweets of the season so far when when you tweeted i'd like to thank the rockies for letting the phils get

hot and he said finally we have the answer to who let the phils get hot really though like honestly james like was it not refreshing seeing a team be worse defensively than it was it was unbelievable i mean it was one of the i mean there's still one game left in the series tomorrow but oh is there though i mean is there it was chalked that one up as an l yeah i know right log l it's one of the worst defensive series I've ever seen a team play. It's unbelievable. And the funniest part about it. It's the worst non-Phillies. Yes.

Well, the funniest part about it is that while the Rockies have somehow turned into the Phillies, Alec Boehm has somehow turned into Nolan Arenado from the Rockies, you know, from his Rockies tenure. Like all of a sudden, Boehm is a vacuum at third base. James? What's going on? Go Phils, buddy. Go Phils. James? Sorry, I got to chill it out.

I'm definitely getting a text from Emily. I'm surprised we haven't gotten one yet. Anyway, go ahead. Might be ready to say this. I don't want to get too bold. I don't want to get... Not your style. I don't do that.

I'm very measured on this podcast. Yes, yes. alec boom oh good might be okay playing third base all right that was actually really wow i like this setup in the the knockout there that was very measured of you might not be that bad. Definitely still not great. Yeah. Not great. I mean, definitely if we're going to put a moniker to it, bad is still something I would put there.

But not really bad? That would be pretty cool. I would. Now, again, don't want to get too bold. But I would take him over Carlos Santana at third base. So I think that's a pretty big step up. And, hey, listen, Austin Riley was also labeled as a guy that could not feel his position, and they started hitting,

and his defense started coming along. Hold on. What's happening right here? I feel like I'm in a bizarro world. All of a sudden you're complimenting your maybe least favorite player in baseball? Well, no. Pete Alonzo cemented himself back as number one today. Austin Riley still stinks, by the way.

But, no, it's just like it's refreshing. And honestly, James, like Nick castellanos coming out and talking about how he he sat bone down after the after the the i bleeping hate this place and um you know kind of saying i've been there i've been the position where you were where i had all these veterans on this team we were expected to win i was making three errors the third base and um and i just and he kind of put his arm around a bomb and for as much as the the bats were obviously the main reason why schwarber well hopefully schwarber with the bat and cassianos were brought here obviously that's the mass that's the main reason but their leadership is also a major reason why and And just that kind of thing, I don't think happened last year.

Like Alec Boehm last year looked like a guy that was in his own head and did look like a guy that was alone and did look like a guy that didn't have, and this isn't to rip the members of the team, but he just looked like he was by himself as he was going through the worst professional stretch of his career. And I just think that Castellanos having that moment with him, I mean, look at what we've gotten since then. We've gotten like pretty good third base play, at least making the plays in front of them,

you know, not screwing up double plays, even having some quick exchanges on slow rollers. And, and the bat's been fine, you know you know i mean he's obviously hitting over 300 that probably won't happen he's gotten a little bit lucky thanks to ryan mcmahon at third base um but he also had two balls i believe this series that are home runs on any other night well the sunday night against the the brewers was a home run on any other night uh in the middle of june and there's another ball i think monday night that's also a home run as well so like that kind of thing is why I believe that Castellanos and Schwarber were such massive signings just a change of culture around here and I think in the Alec Baum situation we're already starting to see that kind of move pay dividends and I just I hope like I feel like

you and I have kind of had this okay that's that's the moment that's going to kind of turn this team around. Like we've done this a thousand times. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right, like I keep trying to find the magic moment, and hopefully that kind of thing is the staple of this team going forward. And shout out to Castellanos for doing that, you know, and that's part of the reason why I believe they're abroad here. Yeah, we talked about the boom thinghm thing last year on the pod.

Talked about, I mean, literally that exact thing and saying it doesn't feel like there's anyone on this team who's grabbing him by the shoulder and saying, you know, like talking him through it and helping this, to your point, a kid. Going through his, you know, obviously his biggest slump in the majors. But, you know, when you get to that point in life, you know obviously his biggest slump in the majors but you know when you get to that point in in life you know your biggest slump in your life potentially I mean you hit everywhere you go up until the majors you know and um you know not having anyone there to really kind of take him under his wing to kind of school him all that stuff I think we talked about it it was I think it was a massive issue last year and i think it contributed to how boom season spiraled on him and yeah clear the clearly the cassiano moment had it had an

impact and and look you know he talked about two at the shore ridge action right if we want to throw those two in there together i mean they are undefeated since the shore ridge action you know granted you know the rockies as we mentioned it, granted, you know, the Rockies, as we mentioned, have played a role, you know, you have to give us an, I've seen this, I've seen this baseball team lose to plenty of bad baseball teams over the last couple of years. Let's give them credit. The point I was going to make is the Rockies, the Rockies deserve some credit,

but at the same time the Phillies took advantage of it, right? You know, it wasn't all errors that won them a game. They still had to get hits with runners on base. They still had to, you know, add runs later in the game. They still had to get outs on the other side of the ball. So, you know, I think the Phillies deserve a lot of credit for bouncing back. And, you know, they've won, you know, three in a row for the first time this season. They win their first series since the opening series of the season.

And, you know know obviously back clearly and look we were we were not panicking we were frustrated and it was you know honestly more than anything just really not fun to have those type of expectations going in and being you know the guys saying it's okay open your hearts they're winning 90 plus they They're there. It's cool. You won't get hurt again. And, and for them to open like that, you know, you,

you just felt like a real a hole if you know what I mean. And that weren't anything was frustrating, but both of us said we weren't panicking. Both of us said, if you believed in the bats before the season, the bats are going to hit. Well, and I don't,

it's crazy to me that it took like a week of 45 degree weather for the bats to kind of heat up a little bit you would think that as the weather and by the way james like not really any home runs and they're still yeah yeah this week so like that's barely barely any really the the bright is bryce is the bryce harman the only one over the last three so they scored 18 runs well i mean if we're listening to t-mac in the eighth-Herman the only one over the last three? So they scored 18 runs in two minutes. Well, I mean, if we're listening to TMAC in the eighth, Garrett Stubbs hit one about 450 feet. It was a good hit.

Yeah, that's great. That's great for TMAC. I know. It seems like that's what happened this year more than any. The Matt Viscardian one. Well, because they can't figure – why can they not figure out a baseball, James? Like, why can't we just –

why can't we get a ball that's, like, fair for both the hitters and pitchers? Oh, I know. Like, why does it have to be – There's no perfect medium. It's always one or the other. It's always juiced or it's humidor. Let's have one ball that's basically the dead ball era, and let's have one ball that's basically steroids,

like the steroid era baseball. Like the juiced baseballs were ridiculous. Like I'll never forget, I think it was like the Diamondbacks game in the middle of July. It was like 95 degrees out, and there was about 14 home runs in the baseball game, and LA was sitting there like the eighth. Like what am I watching?

It wasn't baseball. And then now like it's the polar opposite i mean the ball like somebody i i'm i have in the background i still have the game on like the you know mbc sports on and i i just watched the the bryce triple from tonight and off the bat it's like how's that not a home run like that's a home run you know that ball should be a home run and off the bat it's like how's that not a home run like that's a home run you know that ball should be a home run and it like yeah it doesn't even hit the fence out there it's nuts it really does feel like it's been a noticeable thing this season the ball and and look obviously weather plays a role in that too but i think it's been really noticeable the ball's not flown off the bat this season in the same way. Even outside of the Schwarber dong, even most of the home runs,

we haven't seen that many. There have been a few throughout baseball, but that many super tank shots. It's been a lot of the kind of just over the fence or a little bit in the bleachers, Johns. Nice. Imagine how far the Schwarber home run would have been with the juice balls. I know, like 500 plus. Yeah.

But you know what's interesting? And it was at Coors Field, by the way. I know. I know. And, dude, I don't know about you, but did you see the Hunter Renfro home run from Saturday? Like, I've seen that. That ball should have been see the Hunter Renfro home run from Saturday? Yeah. That ball should have been in the bullpen. That was my thought, too.

I mean, I couldn't believe when he hit the ball, I thought it was going to go well into the bullpen, and it was in the first row. I'm like, what is this? I've seen Hunter Renfro hit that exact home run multiple times, and it's definitely been further than that. Yeah, it's not great great but i will say this like i i do wonder now i don't want the ball to be like this like i think this is an exaggeration of what needs to be done but if if they continue with a ball like this i do wonder how long would take for offenses approaches to kind of change a little bit and look to put more baseballs in play um like that could be a side effect of this now i don't really want that

because i think i want home runs to be home runs and i've seen home runs a million times my career in my life as isn't spank park and i want a home run to be a home run but they can find a ball that's like a little bit more juice than this but i do wonder like if they say no this is what we're sticking with i wonder how offenses approach or offenses um yeah approach that like are we gonna get more averages more balls in play more action in the game i think we could so i just i wonder like i wonder if they're gonna do a big over correction here and they're gonna say oh my god oh my god everyone's freaking out about the balls let's make them juiced again and then it's like oh wait this is also mickey mouse baseball or if they actually have a take here and and stick to hey this is going to help put more balls in play and ultimately help the game from from that aspect and and kind of um

without moving the fences back get more action in the game so i think that's one thing to kind of monitor as we go along here the the new dead ball era it is fascinating and it has been throughout baseball certainly jive with the phillies games like we talked about you know they put up seven eight and ten or seven ten and eight the last three games and like we talked about i guess the oduble homers, well, homers, and then the Harper one. But, I mean, it has not been fueled by power. You know, it really hasn't. So, did JT have one in there? Either way, it hasn't been a ton comparative to the amount of runs they scored.

Let's dive into the offense a bit, and then we'll get to some of the pitching stuff before the take back. With the offense what first and foremost Schwarber obviously has been struggling but just an overview of where you're at with the offense kind of the moving pieces of it the you know eight different guys having hit lead off obviously it's not eight but it's a bunch it's every night a different person in the leadoff vaults like open tryouts um what do you think about the lineup, the kind of shifting nature of it? And do you think that the last three games have just kind of been a spurt

or you think they've finally found their groove? Well, it's funny. I actually don't think they've been, to Girardi's credit, when Segura's been in there and JT's been in there, it's pretty much been the same lineup except rotating the center field position uh position you know yeah he had like three games in a row or whatever well that's like hey listen hey listen don't let Joe for Girardi that's like you know an anomaly so yeah don't don't let him get get hot when it comes to making a lineup so good good shout out to Joe um and with Schwarber, it's like, yeah, I, I, I can't take the, the, the ground ball and the double plays are annoying and strikeouts are annoying, but I will say, I think he's

done a better job recently of working to get to the three, two count. And I do still think he's making better swing decisions than he was earlier in the year. So I'm hoping that, um, he kind of gets going here a little bit. Like I, I have not given up on Kyle Schwarber. Well, I would hope not. I mean, that would be a disaster. We're 19 games into his Phillies career and do his $80 million contract.

That would be very bad, Jack. He can bet 161 all he wants, but they haven't lost a game since he freaked out on Angel Hernandez. So I think that's worth 80 million, James. Yeah, of course it is. That alone. i think you're absolutely right jack yes um clubhouse guy slash manager of the team maybe joe uh college warburg look he's also he's also always been a streaky guy you know hoskins ask in that way as we've talked about many times the june of all time

last year so you know i i'm not too concerned i think he'll heat up year. So, you know, I, I'm not too concerned. I think he'll heat up. We just need to, you know, he has obviously been so far the weakest link of the guys you count on. Luckily, you know, especially lately,

the last few games, the bottom of the lineup is really play. Well, I mean, Didi's hitting, you know, not for power, but he's hitting.

We mentioned boom. Camargo obviously has cooled off a bit, but has been obviously much more good than bad. They've gotten a lot of contribution from the bottom of the lineup with Hoskins struggling. Harper's finally starting to heat up. But the bottom of the lineup has really been really helpful for this team over the last week plus where they've actually won a few baseball games. Well, the beauty of it, James, is that it's different guys every night. is that it's different guys every night.

And that was always the thing that I think a lot of us were most excited about with this lineup was that, you know, it's not – the idea that they're going to be clicking at the same time was always a bit of a reach. It was always like, that's not going to happen. I mean, even the 08 lineup, like, it's not like they were all unbelievable at the same time. Like, Pat Pearl had to start the season on an unbelievable tear in 08. Chase Utley was, like, the MVP of baseball for most of the season.

And that's baseball. I mean, very rarely does a lineup, like, just crush all year, you know, everybody. You know, it's one of those things where guys carry teams for stretches and all that. No, I will say, I can't rule out Castellanos just raking all season long. Oh, buddy. My boy. He just raking all season long Oh buddy my boy He just rakes

The dude just hits He just hits Jack Now he does throw Pop ups for in the outfield Oh he's not An outfielder He made that nice catch the other night But even the nice catch he makes

It's like the middle of the mitt Like palmit, palming-it type of catch. It can't even look cool. Dude, every time he tries to throw a baseball, I just think of the little kid that's trying to throw pop-ups to himself and running under it or trying to throw pop-ups to his friends, except Nick Castellanos is trying to throw someone out. Well, I mean, let's be honest. With him and Schwarber together,

probably the worst, you know, corner outfield arms combination in baseball because Schwarber is not great either. Jack, when it comes to throwing them all, we saw that tonight, that throw to home was just a truck, like a whole, like not just slow and archie but also completely off the arc it was bad it is pretty surprising he played catcher i know it's i i honestly i can't believe it i i i can't believe it i don't i mean like you know who else came up as a catcher james bryce harper yeah i was just about to say to be fair he never played in the majors or any any substantially or whatever so yeah it's it's a little surprising so um but

yeah like like it was always unrealistic to think that uh they were all gonna be clicking at the same time and you kind of just hope that they do click it at at some point and have like a little bit of a week where it's just like oh my god this is ridiculous but you know it was always going to be different guys stepping up each night you just kind of you you bet on the talent uh prevailing and i think that's kind of what we're seeing right now whether it's bryce who is now heating up i mean just an unbelievable night tonight um he's had a couple series so far really i mean he's been really good yeah and he's had a couple balls um you know when when he is in that left center field gap it's just like okay there he is there's the mvp there's the best hitter on earth so um yeah so you know he's obviously getting going cassie honest is getting going like a reese went over

five tonight but was three for four last night segura's been been pretty consistent. And that's really just the beauty of the lineup. Even tonight, like Fentner or whatever had to throw 30 pitches in the first inning, and it was 1-0 and that. But they're finally getting to where they are consistently working pitchers. And that's why the approach at the beginning of the season just didn't make any sense to me. It was like, yeah,

I understand you want to hunt fastballs, but I mean, you have pretty good contact hitters in this lineup. You have talent, you have a decent mix of average power, OBP skills all over the front seven of the lineup. And now like bone being as good as he is right Boehm being as good as he is right now, Didi being as good as he is right now,

you know, Camargo, whether he's down there, Oduble's hitting right now. Like, it's just, you're getting unexpected contributions from guys you weren't really thinking were going to be there as a part of this. Like, we were all banking on the main six, but really the rest of the lineup is doing the job as well. And James, the thing that I have just loved about specifically this series,

and I genuinely hope it's something that we continue to see as the summer goes along, but just aggression on the base pass. Oh, yeah, like Bryce. I almost feel like because he's DH-ing, Bryce feels like he has to steal more bases and be more aggressive out there. He has to take advantage of every opportunity he has out there. He's been a wild man. He's been getting there, but he's the third.

Just go for it. Yeah. I mean, that's not my favorite version of Bryce. But yeah, Segura's still in a couple bags. JT's gotten moving and the reason why i like it is like it it's it's creating their own energy and i think that's been something this team has been lacking the last couple years is that they haven't like they haven't been able to create their own like all right let's go like a steal a base like that kind of that that invigorates a dugout you know it gets a dugout going rather than just standing around

and waiting for the beginning or waiting for a three-run home run. Like, it actually gets guys into the game more, and I think that's really important. And it's creating different ways for this offensive score runs to where it's not just relying on the long ball. Like, you don't score eight, seven and 10 runs in single games this series by, you know, without when you're not hitting home runs by just hitting singles and doubles, like you got to do different things. They're doing a really good job of putting the bat on the baseball. They're doing a good job

being aggressive. They're doing a pretty good job of being smart on the base pass but that aggression i think can become a mentality for this team and and hopefully something that can kind of jump start them whenever they're going through a lull of of kind of being despondent in a way um like we've seen on the road the last couple weeks so i hope it's something they keep they keep doing and uh that was like the one mental note of a change of philosophy that I really saw this week against the Rockies. All right. Harper's elbow.

Obviously, it's concerning. He said it's achy, tried to work it out. Going to be DHing for the foreseeable future. So two questions. Last time we spoke, we both agreed were concerned you know there's no other word for it I think we would both say we're still concerned first question is how concerned

second question is are you finally willing to admit into a microphone for the listening audience that you are incredibly grateful that the designated hitter is now part of the National League because we would not be watching Bryce Harper play.

None of this would be happening. Bryce is getting hot. Here we go. Run coming. Hit the ball to left center. Looking good. None of that would be happening without the DH in the National League. The floor is yours.

I would rather Bryce need Tommy Jones. No. joe stop it stop it don't say that just take the l well i mean for my for my baseball team and my superstar and my mvp i will say i'm glad the dh is here but I will never take the L. Cut that audio. Cut that audio. Especially when you tell me to take the L, I will absolutely never take the L. I know. Trust me. Ever. I'll be like William Wallace in Braveheart yelling, hold.

I know you will. I know you will. All right. How concerned are you? Like levels? So, yeah, definitely concerned. But the thing is, is that he, like it's not hampering him at the plate, you know? Clearly.

We talked about last time that it could be and we were concerned. It clearly does not look like it is or whatever it is, he could certainly work with it. Which gives me hope that it's hopefully a rest thing and they don't need to get surgery on it. And like if he looks this good at the plate, I would think that he can't really feel it. Because Didi missed Tommy John or had Tommy John and came back and couldn't hit anymore. So that gives me a little bit of hope. I do like that he was physically able to throw the baseball. So that gives me some hope. But, no, I mean, anytime you're talking about Bryce and your $330 million man and all this stuff, it's hard not to be concerned.

But I will say the fact that he looks really locked into the plate, it's not like he's not swinging any less violently. And the fact that he was attempting to throw yesterday I think is good. I think when Bryce said it wasn't good, I feel like that's from the standard that he was attempting to throw yesterday I think is good. I think when Bryce said it wasn't good, I feel like that's from the standard that he's used to. But I think just the fact he was able to get out there and throw, I do think is a positive sign. So it's mildly concerning he hasn't been in the field in a week.

But I'm not like doom and gloom about where the situation is at. All right. Pitching, just what strikes your fancy? not like doom and gloom about where the situation is at. All right. Um, pitching, uh, just what strikes your fancy? You know, what would it like? We've seen Affleck and look good this last outing Ranger,

you know, had some bumps in the road today, but look, you know, better than he has. Um, Nola, the last,

since last time we spoke, had his best start in a, in a while, potentially. Um, where are you at with the staff right now and what sticks out to you? Well, dude, it's so funny to me. I'm sure you feel – I don't know if you feel the same way,

but you take callers. You are on Twitter, sort of. And, like, dude, it just drives me crazy that anytime you talk about a team and, and, and where they're going, it's like, yeah, well, the pitching is going to hold them back. It's like, is that just the generic thing to say? I drive me crazy. Jack drives me crazy. Dude. I, I, I said this over the weekend, um, on the show I hosted, I was like, I'm just convinced

that everyone hates their pitching staff until they win the World Series. Real quick, that's why I always say, go look at some of the other starting staffs. Pull up MLB depth charts and look at the starting rotation for the majority of teams in baseball. And it's a bunch of guys

you never heard of. I promise you. Obviously, if you play fantasy baseball, you've heard of them. But you know what I mean. There are some really good staffs. You can look around and point to some staffs that are definitely better than the Phillies, but the Phillies are absolutely a top 10 starting rotation.

Yeah, and believe me, I understand that there's going to be times, and I understand people not fully believing in them, but this whole idea of, well, they don't have enough pitching. It's like pitching depth or actual pitching talent. Like, there's a couple times over the weekend where they're like, well, they should send Nola down and Ranger throws 87.

And I was like, well, what are you talking about? Like, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. So this is kind of what I expected from the rotation. You know, like Ranger, Gibson, Eflin, Nola is now in that group because I don't think we can consider him in the ace or even number two starter right now. But what they're doing right now is they're giving us five or six innings of quality baseball and keeping this the games within reach to where the offense can can hopefully go off and take and take over and steal a game or just mash their way

to it so like like this series has been really good from that standpoint and i think over the course of 162 i anticipate on most nights that the phillies offense can score more than four runs a game on most nights and all i ask for the starting pitching to do is go five or six innings allow and allow four or less runs so given that baseline i feel good about where the starting staff is is at um i thought nola looked really good on sunday and i'm curious to to monitor this one going forward if they've kind of figured out a new plan for him so you know how he allows like i don't know a million home runs in the o2 curveball jam so i what i noticed on what i noticed on on sunday night was a lot of fastballs up

but a curveball starting at the same spot as fastball started at and breaking on a different plane so like so like for example he would start his fastball like right down the middle and it would kind of go into a righty but rise a little bit and then even start a curveball from the same spot and go go uh down away to a righty for example so he's like kind of pairing a high fastball with starting a curveball in the same spot rather than starting a fastball at the bottom half of the strike zone and letting it work up and then having a curveball work off of that, which is easier for hitters to pick up because it's a completely like there's no tunneling there. There's only just a completely different pitch that's easier to pick up. So that's something I'm monitoring.

Like I a couple of years ago in 2018, he was pounding the fastball down the zone, down the zone, down the zone. And what I saw Sunday night was the possibility of to get people off of his curveball. He is starting a fastball higher so that the curveball is starting at the same spot and falling to the other side of the plate. So that's kind of something I'm monitoring and something that like, I mean, we'll take that start heated out on Sunday any day of the week. And even last week in Colorado, I thought it was pretty good. So the fastball up, curveball down is interesting and definitely a different kind of Aaron Nola plan against hitters.

So file that one away under something to monitor. All right, last thing for me before the take bag. Bryson Scott, our boy sent to the minors. How do you feel about him being sent down and really the whole handling of how he was brought up, the opportunity he was or was not given. And,

and ultimately the decision to send him down. I feel fine about it. Like I think Bryson's not going to be a really good player here for, for a long time. And, and nothing has really moved me off of that i think i i still believe in him um and i also i i don't blame joe um actually actually for this one because i think i think johan camargo is playing really well and and looks like a guy that can help this team and obviously with the way dd is hitting right now um I mean, Didi is batting 341. And Boehm was just hitting better than Bryson was

and looked more comfortable and looks back to being the 2020 version of Alec Boehm. So I actually, I'm all good with it from all angles. Wow. No, no, no, no, no. Look, I think you make good points. Like, what are they supposed to do? I just, I agree with you.

I think in the situation they were in with Camargo playing well, with Boehm playing well, and, you know, as you point out, like, I just think that, I just don't love the idea of bringing your top prospect up and saying, all right, kid, here you go, to start the season, a shot in the majors. And then, you know, like he went a week without playing really,

like at one point towards the end before they sent him down. Like, I don't know. It just, I get it. And I do think that, you know, with Didi hitting, as you pointed out too, like they, I get it. Like I understand that he, it probably makes more sense developmentally still for him to be getting regular bats at triple a and um you know he

there's just not a real spot for him to play i just i don't love the the idea uh the whole you know i just don't love the way it was all orchestrated even if they didn't really have a choice at this point like he's your top prospect and you brought him up and he got like a kind of a chance and then he's got sent down you know yeah but i i think they're kind of in the mode where we gotta win ball game i i agree i get it i get it i get it i get it i get it and i do like i think like like, the Royals and the Mariners are in a little bit of a different situation. I mean, Mariners are kind of closer to the Phillies where they can just play Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Wood Jr. every day

and hope for the best. And I just think the Phillies were in a little different position. They were. They were. And also, those are two of the top three or four prospects in baseball, so it is a slightly different thing but yeah um i get it i get it i just wish it hadn't played out the way it had but i agree that in the situation they ran it was it was the right call all right uh take

back okay uh real quick on the on the pitching staff um i thought efflin on was it last night was probably the closest that we had seen to Eflin in the spring. You know, I thought the first two or three starts of his season, I was like, eh, I don't really see it. Last night was like, okay, there he is. You know, fastballs jumping and his stuff was darting. And he's kind of, you can tell with Eflin when his stuff is just really flat and meh, and you can tell when his stuff is really, really sharp, and last night his stuff was sharp.

So hopefully that kind of gets him going. Ranger, this is actually in the take bag. I think there's a chance Ranger is the best starter on the team this year. Whoa! It's not that I'm worried worried about about zach wheeler at all it's more just a vote of confidence for how much i trust ranger suarez like he didn't even have great stuff tonight and he was still really good and i just i don't think he's gonna be the best starter on the staff like i think it'll be zach wheeler but i don't think there's a non-zero

chance that at the end of this year we're like okay ranger suarez is is like definitely a big piece of this rotation going forward and like could end up being the number two starter and guy that we needed to have uh starting a play game. Like I think that's legitimately on the table. Well, look, you know, I love Ranger. I said I believe in him coming in the season. That would be unbelievable. You always you know what it it makes me think of is you always talk about where's our Max Muncy.

Ranger Suarez is our Max Muncy. If that happens, you know, obviously a pitcher versus hitter. But that idea, you know, the guy who just kind of is in your organization and you don't think is anything close to what they ultimately end up becoming. Like Ranger Suarez, we all thought was a sick starter, really. And then even when they made him a bullpen guy, maybe a long man or something like, we never thought he would become an elite closer. a bullpen guy, maybe a long man or something like we never thought he would become, you know, an elite closer. And then we certainly didn't think he would become an elite starting pitcher or potentially elite starting pitcher. I mean, it would be it would be like a Max Muncy type of thing where this guy just comes out of nowhere and becomes an all star. You know, it would be

really an astounding thing for this team and huge. Well, that's nice, but I've already determined that Garrett Stubbs is our next sponsor. Stubbs-y! I mean, no offense to my on-again, off-again. Oh, here we go. Mostly off-again, really only on for one year Andrew Knapp relationship. I mean, this guy is so much better. He's just light years better, just 1,000 times better than Nappy.

We'll talk to you in June on that one. All Stubbsy does is hit. He just comes in, rips, you know, almost home runs, as T-Mac would put it. Poor T-Mac. You know who's definitely not going to be our Max Muncy? Who? Jose Alvarado. Yeah, dude.

Dude, I can't do it. I loved him when they traded for him. I think that's strictly because of Pitching Ninja. I blame him for almost all this. Oh, totally, totally. And it was also because we didn't have dudes then. Now we got some dudes where then it was like a guy throwing a hundred was like uh you know like something at the zoo or something it's like oh my

god i've never seen an animal like that it's a lion wow i've never seen a lion before that's so cool you know it's like that kind of thing you know yeah and he is every time he comes to the ball game i'm like this is gonna be tied up Like there's no matter what the lead is, no matter if they're down, I'll be like, okay, he's giving it like there. Every time he comes into a baseball game, I'm like, okay, he's definitely allowing runs here. So. And in painful ways, it's like, he's going to throw wild pitches.

He's going to walk guys. He's going to hit guys. Like it's never going to be anything that is even remotely entertaining to watch it's gonna be horrible yeah i think uh god yeah i have to i didn't press my button i didn't press my button back so i was wondering why nothing was recording but yeah here we go maybe you figured out you didn't like talk without noticing. Honestly, I thought my, I thought my thing froze and I thought I was like, Oh fuck.

Yeah. Okay. So cut this part out. I don't know. Maybe I'll leave it in. Cut this part out. I don't think I'm gonna. This is fun.

People like this stuff. Speaking of dudes. Yes. Give me the dude, man. Um, It's fun. People like this stuff. Speaking of dudes. Yes! Give me the dude, man. I am getting dangerously close to calling Jordan Norwood, Andrew Belotti, and Nick Nelson dudes. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Every time Jordan Norwood comes into the game, I get a little bit excited.

I really do. It's like, bang, there's 97 with a splitter. And he actually is throwing strikes, which he's never done in his entire career. So that's been a pleasant surprise, I would say. So Jordan Norwood's awesome. Andrew Belotti. I got it. I Jordan Norwood's awesome. Andrew Bilotti. I got it. I can't let this slide.

The man's name is James. It's James Norwood, Jack. All right. Well, I keep thinking of the old Penn State receiver, Jordan Norwood. All right. His name is an amazing, all-time, top-tier great name, James. James Norwood.

That's fair. That's on me. Donovan Justbat. Donovan Justbat Donovan Justbat So James That's because I wrote on my notes It's Jordan Norwood So that's why James Norwood

Is the guy And I can't wait to see How he continues going forward And since he has now been Proclaimed as a Possible Jack Fritz guy I am excited to see uh his career

go up in flames oh man what about baladi are you gonna set his career on flames too so andrew baladi have already determined is like literally michael stutes reinvented like 2014 2015 i love i love when you come with the like super deep random cuts michael stutes like that's michael stutes is a guy you don't you didn't even know him fantasy like that's that's good stuff dude michael stutes at a moment i don't care i don't care what you say you're not gonna sit here and lie to everyone that's listening right now and not think michael stutes is gonna be a lockdown reliever in this bullpen for the next decade. Michael Stoots, buddy.

If we had this podcast in 2014, 2015, there would have been so much Michael Stoots talk. It's not even funny. Michael Stoots. What do you think Michael Stoots' best ERA in his career was with the Phillies? It was his first year, right? Yeah. What was it?

3-5? 3-6-3. It's all right. Come on. Please don his first year, right? Yeah. What was it? 3-5? 3-6-3. It's alright. Come on. Please don't doubt my Stutes knowledge. How many years in the majors did Michael Stutes pitch? Two. Three. You're good at this. How many games did he pitch in in his career?

53. 79. Not bad in general, though. You did good with that. Well done. I will never doubt your students' knowledge again. We are officially on Andrew Bilotti watch, and

Nick Nelson, I was excited when they traded for him, because I was like, oh, that guy has no idea where the ball is going, but he throws 97. But he also has a pretty decent changeup off of 97. And I do, I'm intrigued by his curveball more and more. So I think as the season goes on, I think we'll see more of those guys.

And dude, it's just like, it's just so refreshing that now the bottom of our bullpen is, is guys like Baladi, Nelson, and Norwood that at least throw 95 plus and at least have stuff and at least can give us some hope. And, hey, maybe full hitter every once in a while. I don't know. It's a crazy concept. But I don't know.

Better than David Hale and Heath Embry? Oh, dude. Well, yeah. Random workmen? I mean, that was like the go-to guys. Well, not even that. Like, dude, like Mike Morin, Nick Vinson. Mike Morin.

Remember Mike Morin in like the 69 mile per hour curveball? Yeah, he was a part of the fourth lowest second half bullpen ARA. Yeah, that was great. Good job. Well done. No one. He was all right. He was all right. He was all right.

More guts than mouths. Blake Parker. Blake, ah, the worst. Blake Parker. He was also super annoying to watch with his whole. Our bullpen was a bunch of guys that threw 89 miles an hour. Blake Parker with his, like, ass in the air, like, doing his whole. Can you do a Blake?

So for those who don't know, and I'm sure you do if you listen to a lot of stuff but you know you might not because this is a an audio medium and and you don't get the jack for its visual medium but jack is is a savant at recreating wind-ups and and pitching mechanics and whatnot similar like batting stance guy on Twitter. That's Jack with pitching. Can you do a Blake Barger? If I watched him again, I could probably do it. Yeah. I can do pretty much everyone. Look at you.

Look at the modesty, the humility. I love it. It's just like when you got talent, you got to. Yeah, just lean into it. Dude, honestly, though. Honestly, though, in a in a in a real moment on this podcast right now, this is about to happen. Oh, buddy.

Embrace myself. No, but like this is one of those things where you're such a sage old man. Oh, God. And you're you're kind of like I look up to you as a guiding. Like a fatherly figure. Yeah. Like a father. Yes. I look at you Like a fatherly figure. Yeah, like a father. Yes, I look at you as a father-like figure. Let's stop beating around the bush.

Just go there. Just go for it. Just think of me and Zoe. Yep. Yep. Good. I'm happy you think you're closer to Zoe than to me. That says something, but go ahead.

Listen, you don't have to tell Emily that you care more about me. Oh, my God. that says something but go ahead listen you don't have to tell emily that you care more about me this has gone off the rails so this is a real thing that i've been thinking about okay so so you know how like chad durbin is now on the philly's radio broadcast team i do i do a mirror image of chad durbin's wind up and i'm just wondering if the first time i meet him if i should show him my chad durbin uh from the stretch is that a good idea or a bad idea i mean you know it's a horrible idea but i will say chad durbin seems like a pretty cool guy. So I do think that,

you know, knowing you, you won't be able to contain yourself and you'll do it. But if you, if you do do it, I would say don't do it. My official advice, my official recommendation,

don't do it. At least not the first time you meet him. Maybe, you know, get a little rapport going before. But I do think that eventually Chad Durbin seems like the kind of guy who would potentially enjoy that. Yes. I am embarrassed to admit the amount of times that I've like just stopped and I've stopped what I'm doing and just started working on my Chad Durbin.

I believe it. You do it all day. Well, it's not even it i would say no like i think the nola one i'd use the most because i haven't nailed it yet like it's like it's like a great artist trying to make sure they're good like trying to get the the painting just right or the or the the note on a music thing whatever it's called yes yeah that's that's how i feel when i haven't i still haven't got my note on him you're like mozart trying to get the note on the music thing or whatever my doc and uh my doc and my cliff lee even though it's right. Actually, my doc, Cliff Lee and Hamels are unmatched. I'll say that. Unmatched.

Yeah. So I will say, though, I mean, we got to call it like we see it. You do them right handed the lefties. So, you know, it's like five percent less impressive when you're doing Cliff Lee right handed. You know, I'm just going to say I'm just throwing that. I'm not that talented. I mean, that's the

that's some people are yeah well yeah sure um so the point being is that if we have another high hopes night which we eventually will oh we definitely come up and ask me to do a mechanics thing i'll i'll probably oh i love this what a what a good... Yes. Please. Please. Everyone should have their own individual ask of Jack. You know what one of my all-timers is, too? What? Speaking of deep cuts, I don't even know if John Lieber has as good of a John Lieber as I have. Really? I've got it down to it, too.

That is a deep cut. I don't think John Lever even remembers what his windup looked like. My request is going to be a left-handed Dontrell Willis. Oh, I got Dontrell all day. No, I can get my leg up there. I believe it. I mean, not as high, but to a certain extent. I will say you do take this way too seriously.

So I believe that you will sell out your body to complete one of these. I'll show you tomorrow. I'll get in the studio and say, here's Dontrell. All right. What else you got? Do I need anything else? No, it's super late. I'm super tired.

Nope. I got at least a thousand more things you're gonna do that as soon as i said that i knew you're gonna do that james yes hand gets the job done per usual yes look at you i love when you go blue which you just learned what that meant which is good just like middle school yeah um i did have one more thing okay no i'm not done yet please why would i think you were yes as soon as i mentioned going to bed i knew you would add 10 to 15 minutes this podcast don't worry it's almost top five coming up i hate you right now let's go i'm just gonna like give you ahs at the end of what you say. Good.

That's what I expect. You just want the mic. Just go. I think that we found the title of the 2022 video yearbook, by the way, courtesy of Gene Segura, where he said, we started a little cold. Maybe at the end of the year, we finish hot and go to the playoffs. This team is great.

The offense is going to come. It's going to move. You can't stink forever, James. You can't stink forever. Is that not the most beautiful sentence in the history of baseball? Gene nailed it. As usual, a wordsmith.

James Cigarettes. The man knows his way with words, Jack. I mean, I do think they can stink forever. I don't think we're out of the woods on that one yet. I don't think Gene has looked at Philly's history. I don't think he's pulled up the old baseball reference page and really analyzed it. But, you know, props to you, Gene.

I would say more often than not that they have stunk forever. You would? Really? What a bold statement by you yes they're the losingest franchise in the history of north american sports oh yeah yeah i hope they're they went like 50 years of making the playoffs or whatever i mean they're horrible all right enough not 50 years but like 40 whatever 43 the gall of you to do that on the night the Phils are back is just so, it's just woefully disappointing. Well, now, look, it's been 11 years, Jack.

Like, now it's time for another run. We don't get the 11, you know, the every year dominants, but we get little pockets, and now we get a pocket. All right. Let me tell you something. This is just how my brain operates. There was no Phillies baseball from after the Astros series in 2012 to the little Michael Stutes run in 2014.

Love it. To the Altair home run in 2017. Like, everything in between. There was the Tyler Goodell, Cameron Rupp play at the plate. But other than that, nothing happened in the Phillies baseball. Luke Williams. Give me the Luke Williams. No, but that's 2017 on occurred.

Okay, okay, okay. I got you. I got you. From 20 end of the Astros series to the Stutes run to Goodell to Cameron Rupp to the Altair home run. We're just getting rid of all that. Yeah, all gone. I got no problem with that.

Thank you. That's the official statement of the High Hopes podcast. So we can't stink forever. James, I want to introduce our listeners to something that I like to call the High Hopes analytics. And what I mean by that is that I just want everyone to pick up on the trends as to when james and i will record this podcast

like we're a trends league analytics have a lot to do with trends um when the phils are hot yeah a lot of podcasts yep you bet when the phils's losing brutal fashion and the fan base is down we record a podcast because we're just as down as you and the phil's are right in between we got nothing like just want to talk about high hopes analytics when the phil's are hot james and i are hot when the phil's are on our deathbed And awful We're there for you When they're in the middle No interest This is phenomenal

Honestly this Among the best things you've ever done I wholeheartedly Sign off on these analytics This is the raised front office Type stuff Jack Thank you Jack Neander I know For that one I'll give that to you this is the raised front office type stuff jack thank you jack neander some are saying i know i've

for that one i'll give that to you and before i let you go to bed um top five buddy my top five yes my top five i love that you're you are actually addicted like it is it's a thing it's a thing go well now i feel pressure like. Well, now I feel pressure. Like, now I feel pressure. See, this is what, like, the Nance bit was for me. It's like I was always trying to find ways to mix it into the pod, and then eventually I was like, all right, we're done. I'm good. And I don't like letting people down.

So, you know, i just do it so um my top five single favorite kind of tweets to receive oh number five is the responses from the my response the responses to someone else not understanding my bits right so i'll put out a tweet that's either sarcastic or feels like a loss. Someone will get really upset and then a High Hopes listener comes in and says, you gotta understand the bit. Those are, they bring a

real smile to my face. Particularly when those people get to tell Ruben Amaro to understand the bit. Yes, the Ruben one was top notch. That was top tier. Also, Zoom Off. Getting Zoom Off was a big one. It's all great.

Your commitment to it is impressive. Although I will say, I believe I am graduating from most of it. Feels like a loss is too important because I got to help the Phils win ballgames. There's no shot they score here. That's another thing that is getting worked Most of it feels like a loss is too important. Cause I got to help the Phil's win ball games. And, and like,

there's no shot. They score here. That's another thing that is getting worked into the repertoire because, but you're talking about like, this is the most important game against the Tampa Bay rays. The Phil, that one might be moving. I got you. I got,

I mean, you're, you, you, you pretty much run its course. Yeah. Well, you know,

sometimes goats got to take a little bit of a step back. Look at you. This is really just a, a, a podcast of, of you just displaying humility just constantly. It's been very impressive how, how modest you are.

You're the one that said we need to record tonight because the fills are detrimentally hot. And I said, fine, I will also come in detrimentally hot. Yeah, you did. It's true. You did. My fourth favorite response to our favorite tweet to receive is a response to a random thing that we said on the podcast out of nowhere? Like,

like those, I, those make me so happy. I, I don't, as everyone knows, don't tweet a lot and whatnot or respond a lot, but I love those tweets.

They make me very happy. Like for example, someone who is still listening 45 minutes in the podcast tonight, like you're getting some, some gold. Um, and I would, I, i love getting the responses to about it's usually typically 45 like more high hopes analytics i would say is that the 40 the first 45 minutes usually pretty nuts and bolts the last 15 minutes is is really is is is usually completely off the rails yeah as you could tell

i even said it was off the rails and and to your point shout out to the tweet you sent me that the guy when i talked about bluey it's a perfect example where he's like we don't talk the the the myth about bluey or the trick with bluey is that bandit sets an unrealistic expectations for fathers and how much he plays with his kids. And I didn't have a great comeback. It is a great point. Bluey is still amazing and I love it, but it is tough to live up to Bandit standards.

And anyone who watches Bluey will understand that. I'm totally with you, pal. Bandit really does do that. He's over the top. All right. Anyway, it's great. My third favorite tweet to receive is of course why not mick um yes because i feel like that's our podcast thing

and it's like i love that that makes me happy yes um you know that everyone's behind the guy and hopefully that when he gets healthy he can just take the center field job and he can just run with it but i just know our manager and i don't think that will be allowed to be the case james yeah our manager is not a big fan of young guys i mean that's not not the way he does things bryson stott says hello triple i and the young guys have to earn it like alec boom did yes um by the way speaking of gerardi guys, Ronald Torres officially gone goodbye. Yeah. The only way that Girardi won't find a way to fit him in the lineup

if he's not on the team. I know. I know. I know. And thank God Didi's batting 341. If he was playing over Johan Camargo batting 210, I would be losing it. Well, and he would be playing.

So thank God he's hitting 341 because he's going to play because of Jari. Correct. My second favorite tweet to receive is like as soon as the Phillies go down, just a meltdown of feels like a loss tweets. I know. It's outstanding. It's just like, it's just like, oh, good. Everyone's on the same page.

You know what's interesting, though, is that a lot of times this year, I genuinely haven't felt like a loss. I always believe in this offense. It's not like a terrible place to be. Wow. Look at Jackie positivity. This is great. I feel good.

I feel good about where this team is at. And my single favorite tweet to receive is nights like tonight and last night of who let the fills get hot. You know, because it's just, it means that the fan base is in good vibes. And when the fan base is in good vibes,

I'm in good vibes. The podcast is in good vibes. James is a good vibes, even though he's definitely, definitely tired. God, it's just what a place to be in. you know all i'm saying james is like obviously we're excited you know we hope that this is kind of the springboard but honestly

i'm at the point where i've done the whole who feels like a or who let the phil's get hot things so much that like now it's a business trip now it's time to grow up now it's time to let's let's start stacking wins let's start stacking wins. Let's stack series wins. Let's sweep a Rockies team tomorrow that stinks. Let's go to New York this weekend. So like let the Phillies get hot is great, but it's time for us to start stacking wins and going a real streak here.

Yeah. More little spurts. Yeah. It's an outstanding point. And, you know, that's what great teams do is they have multiple of those streaks. They'll win eight in a row here and they'll win six in a row there and they'll win seven in a row there and, you know, five in a row here and consistently win series. You know, in this Philly team, it's, you know, even when they're like hot, quote unquote,

the last few years, it's always like, oh, they won a few series in a row. You know, we obviously all remember the one eight game winning streak. And then obviously, you know, nothing more than four or whatever it was. It's just five. It's just insane how little this team has been able to really get on roles last year. So I'm with you. They need to something they need to learn how to do and do. All right. My last thing,

I, we've never done high hope shout outs really before, but I'm going to start it right now. Cause you mentioned Pete Alonzo earlier in the podcast. I would like to give an official high hope shout out for, you know, the name alone, but, uh, stub Shout out to Stubby Clap for tackling Pete Alonzo like the loser he is, living out the dream we all want to do, tackle that loser. Official high up shout out to Stubby Clap, Jack. Are you down with that? Of course. What a name.

And Pete Alonzo after the game with the whole like. Yeah, come at me like a man. Oh, loser. He also looks like a 40. If we talked about it, he looks like a 45-year-old man. It's insane. Pete Alonzo does not look like a young dude. Well, now he's growing out the hair, too, and, like, trying to have flow.

And here's my main main pito lanzo stance stance is that that dude had no friends his entire life he was a loser and then he started hitting home runs and became popular and he simply doesn't know how to hang i love it i think i that dude, you nailed it. Yeah. I, you nailed it. I think that's a psycho analysis at its finest level. You nailed it. Thank you. That's my official stance on, on Pete Alonzo. And can we calm down with the Mets?

I mean, every year, same crap. Oh, they're so good. Oh, relax. Talk to me in June.

Yeah, I agree. They're still the Mets, right? Just like people could say, we're still, I agree. They're still the Mets, right? Just like people could say we're still the Phillies, they're still the Mets. Both these teams really have to prove that they could do it before anyone's going to believe they do it. So we're still going to make fun of the Mets, at least for now. Are you going to have final thoughts, Fritzy? James, we can't stink forever.

Way to go, Gene. I love it. I have no final thoughts because I'm going to bed. I guess I do have one final thought. Hold on. I got another final thought. All right, all right, all right. What is it?

You may. I don't know. I really don't have anything else. I just wanted to keep you up a little bit longer. You're such a dick. I will give one have anything else. I just wanted to keep you up a little bit longer. You're such a dick. I will give one last final thought. Who let the Phils get hot? He's friends with Salter.

See you later. All-Star Closer, Kenley Jansen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game it's my podcast it's my passion it's a cause I started more than two years ago and it's now the most prolific national

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