High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - WIP Daily: Dave Dombrowski's No Good, Very Bad Offseason

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

From 'WIP Daily' (subscribe here): Joe Giglio looks back on the Phillies offseason acquisitions and how they've let the team down so far in 2023. 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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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. Whether the action is at the link or the bank, there's never an off day on Broad Street. It's the biggest news of the day, every day, with takes from someone who's never short on them. It's WIP Daily with Joe Giglio. Welcome on in, WIP Daily for May 26. Joe Giglio with you. My big take of the day on everything going on in the world of Philadelphia sports.

And, of course, happy Memorial Day weekend. Appreciate you making some time for us, maybe on a trip down to the shore somewhere. Hopefully it's a wonderful weekend with great weather and lots of fun out there. And hopefully the Phillies wake up because after the great walk-off win and victory and the comeback on Wednesday at home, the Phillies go down to Atlanta, first series of the Braves this season, and it's back to the same old, same old. You know, a house of horrors down in Atlanta.

The Phillies cannot pitch down there. And they fought yesterday, I mean, last evening. I mean, they really fought. Home runs, the comeback, you know, boom. Harper with the home run. I thought, look, it was a night they fought back. Home runs, the comeback, you know, Boehm, Harper with the home run. I thought it was a night they fought back to come back in the game. The Schwarber double down the right field line. A lot to feel better about in terms of the fight of this team,

but the pitching still isn't good enough. And as I look at the Phillies, and we did a show on this early on, first week or two of the season, and a lot of pushback was on, which way too early to make sweeping justifications like this. And my thing with baseball is I'm going to react to what's happened so far. You know, we can have a level head about what is likely to happen coming down the road, but we're going to react to what's happened so far. That's the way a baseball season works.

And the thought that's in my head right now, as we've dissected Rob Thompson's managing, we've talked about the players, we've talked about Reese Hoskins' injury. We've talked about all these different things that have made this season what it is so far today. I mean, the bottom line is this. Dave Dombrowski had a bad offseason. I mean, I said this in April. I was questioning some of this stuff in December, and it's playing out in a way that you cannot ignore that Dave Dombrowski's moves have not worked. I mean, bottom line for a general manager, it's not about did you feel good about it at the time.

It doesn't matter what you feel or I feel. It's did it work. General managing in sports is black and white. It doesn't matter if you continue to have a good process, you're probably going to have more hits than misses. But the bottom line is it is black and white. Was this a good move or a bad move? Did it make you better? Did it make you worse? Have you improved? Have you

declined? That's the way it works in pro sports. And for Dave Dombrowski, I'm looking right now at the numbers in front of me of four of the central figures in his offseason, the players he brought in to add to a team that was a couple wins away from winning a World Series last year. Okay. And here are the numbers and they are, I mean, like, seriously, as you hear this, if you were driving, if you were on the AC Expressway, if you were heading somewhere for a wonderful weekend, I would advise you to put both hands on the wheel and make sure you are paying attention to traffic and not screaming or not, like, just losing your mind as you hear this, because these are bad.

I mean, the bottom line is they're bad. Trey Turner has a 675 OPS. To put that into perspective, he is 16% so far this season below league average, below the average player. That's where he is. If you look right now at the Phillies top 12 players, okay, on baseball reference terms of their war, right? Their most valuable players so far this year. And if you go to the team baseball reference page, their photos are there, right? So it's like, it's, you know, as you see JT Ramuta, you see Bryson Stott, you see Bryce Harper in there. He's only been up, you know, back for less than a month. You know, who's not on the picture? Trey Turner. He hasn't been one of their 12 most valuable players this year. Here's who has been one of the 12 most valuable players.

Andrew Vasquez, left-handed relief pitcher. Jose Alvarado has a pitch in two weeks. Christian Pache has been one of the 12 most valuable players. Trey Turner has not. Trey Turner, Trey Turner has not. Trey Turner, 675 OPS. Okay? Tywon Walker, 5.79 earn-run average. Craig Kimbrell, 6.00 earn-run average. Gregory Soto, 5.73 earn-run average.

And obviously the meltdown in the eighth inning last night. The Phillies' production out of the acquisitions made by Dave Dombrowski this offseason, the big acquisitions, have not just been bad, they are an anchor holding this team back so far this season. You look at what the biggest problems are, and obviously Aaron Nola wasn't good enough last night, Zach Rios wasn't good enough, but the idea was, and I think a lot of us bought into this, this team, this roster was better now than it was when the season ended last year. It was a better team because of the players they added to what they already had. Well, forget about the guys they have going through their own ups and downs, right? Some guys are a little up, you know, Marsh, Stott, Boehm, maybe up from where they were last year, you know, whatever.

Or around the same level for Boehm, but certainly Stott and Marsh up. So that's the natural kind of progression and regression. Real Muto is basically the same player. Swerve will be the same player, but you kind of have the base of what last year's team was. Obviously, Castellanos has had a better year this year than last. Base of what last year's team was, and the assumption, the feeling was the Phillies are better because they added players like Trey Turner, Tywonuan Walker, Craig Kimbrell, Gregory Soto.

When the reality is those players are not helping them get better, they're actually making them worse so far this season. And here is, just to go to the Trey Turner thing, who I, you know, owe for last night after obviously the big home run on Wednesday. We were hoping a turning point for him. Didn't do anything last night, including made the last out of the game. Guys, that's 10 times this year. 10 times out of 50 games, Trey Turner has been the last up. It's amazing. I mean, it's almost impossible for, you know, just kind of the math and the lineup to turn over like that.

He just always finds himself as the last guy up. But the Phillies entered Thursday with a 272 on base percentage from the number one and number two spots of the batting order. Obviously, that is mostly Trey Turner, right? Like, it's been different ones and twos around him with him, whether it be Schwarber, whether it be Stott, whatever. But Turner primarily has occupied

one of those spots every day this year. That ranked as the fifth this is from the Athletic, the fifth worst figure since Major League Baseball expanded in 1961. I mean, just think about that for a second. Bottom five. OBP out of the top two in the order since expansion in 1961. I mean, it's really remarkable how little products they're getting and it's mostly Trey Turner. So you look at the different avenues on how they could get

better, why they've been worse, all those kinds of things. It's these guys, these acquisitions, and you juxtapose that with the decision-making process. Go back to process with Dave Dombrowski. It's not just the guys haven't produced so far. It's what were the alternatives, okay? Let's leave Trey Turner out of this for a second because that's an 11-year marriage that is off to a very rocky start. But Tywon Walker, Tywon Walker, it was a very simple and easy juxtaposition or alternate scenario that the Phillies could have went down. They could have just kept Zach Eflin,

who threw another quality game yesterday for the Tampa Bay Rays. He now has a 52-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio this season. 52-7. Zach Eflin has been one of the best stories in baseball this year as a starting pitcher. If you were to put an all-star ballot in front of me right now and say you have to fill it out, like you have to put a bunch of people on the all-star team right now, I would consider him for the all-star team. He has a 7.4 to 1

strikeout to walk ratio. He has been outstanding for the Tampa Bay Rays. Outstanding. He has been better than any Philly starting pitcher this year, and it's probably by a lot. Zac Eflin was let go, or allowed to leave for less money about almost half the money Tyjuan Walker got. Disaster. It's a disaster. And even if you were like, Eflin wasn't worth the long-term deal, he was always hurt.

Nathan Ivaldi. Nathan Ivaldi is a guy that Dombrowski traded for in Boston. Helped him win a World Series in 2018. There were rumors the last couple of years the Phillies could trade for Nathan Ivaldi. He has a 2.60 earn-run average. He has been one of the best starters in baseball this season. He has two complete games, a shutout. He leads baseball with 69.1 innings pitched. He has a 6-1 strikeout to Walker Hatcher. He is a no-doubt-about-it all-star.

So a guy that Dabrowski had watched up close and personal, Evaldi in Boston, Eflin here. They both got less money on the open market than Tomlin Walker did. I mean, Evaldi got a two-year $34 million contract with a 2025 vesting option. That's it. I mean, it really was a bargain deal. I know he had a draft pick attached to him, but $16 million, $16 million, and potentially $20 million,

a total commitment in dollars of $34 guaranteed for a guy like Nathan Ivaldi compared to giving over $70 to Tyjuan Walker, it's a disaster right now for the Phillies. Imagine if this rotation had Walker, take Walker out, and they could have had either Evaldi or Eflin in, or guys both. I mean, they could have done both. There's no reason the Phillies couldn't have done both and spent money differently around the edges of the roster.

That was certainly, certainly a plausible thing for Dave Dabrowski. So the top of the order led by Terry Turner has been terrible. The pitching with Walker supposed to help in the middle there has been terrible. And the bullpen, while better over the last month, you know, there's been a lot of, you know, they're a rollercoaster bullpen. It's why Alvarado, who used to be a rollercoaster, had turned into very smooth and steady and dominant. But now what they have in this bullpen is just roller coasters.

Kimbrel's a roller coaster, Soto's a roller coaster. And you can tell me all you want about his 19 beautiful appearances. But when you're a high leverage reliever and you have four or five horrendous appearances in the first two months, those are losses. Those are leverage moments. You can't just come in with a pot of kerosene and light a match and say, well, I did well the last two weeks. Yeah, but you lit the place on fire here today, Gregory.

I mean, that's what he's done so far. So, really, I'm tired of hearing it's early, and I don't think it is. It's not. We're at Memorial Day weekend, and the Phillies, you know, for their big acquisitions are completely, you know, anchoring the team down. They've got to be better. Otherwise, this offseason, we'll look back at what Dombrowski did and say, man, he didn't help this team at all. Actually, he made them worse. Now, to go back to Trey Turner for a second, because an offer, and again, ending the game,

guys, I've got to admit something to you, And it's like, you ever have an uncomfortable thought or something, you know, like, you don't know if you should say it out loud, but you just got to do it. You got to get off your chest. Well, this is my, this is how I do that. So I'm going to share it with you.

Something I see sometimes when I watch Trey turn up to play in a Phillies uniform. And it is scary, like chills down my spine, kind of scary when I kind of see this and have this comparison in my brain, because again, this player got $300 million in those Phillies. You ever watch Trey Turner's at-bats and see Scott Kingery? Because I do.

You see Scott Kingery and Because I do. Scott Kingery aesthetically, he trades a little bit taller and a little bit bigger, but they're both kind of those wiry athletes. So you have that aspect where they kind of look similar-ish, but obviously trades a little bit bigger, taller. But always down 0-2 in the count,

swinging at pitches that are bouncing to the plate, like he did a couple days ago. And you don't have a good feeling when the ball comes off his bat. That was Scott Kingery when he got a few years here of run, and they tried it, and they kept getting opportunity after opportunity. It just was like, he's not good enough. And it was obviously terrible, and it's always been kind of a waste of time.

This guy can't really think. Clearly, Trey Turner's better, and he has a track record, all that kind of stuff. I'm just telling you, when I watch him swing sometimes, or swing and miss, or swing at a pitch that's so far outside the strike zone,

it's like, what are you seeing, dude? It gives me Kingery vibes. And I never thought I'd get Scott Kingery vibes from a $300 million player that's been in the MVP consideration and voting for years in the National League. He's a champion. Trey Turner's not some guy. But so far this season, I do get these Scott King revives.

And really, really, it's disconcerting. I mean, it just really is. All right, looking forward here. Hopefully, the rest of the week will be better for the Phillies. And this really is a gigantic stretch for them. Because as we move forward into this thing, and we move forward with this season, this is a pivot point. It's a pivot point, and it really, it's going to,

the lights are going to continue to shine on these guys, on the acquisitions, because they were brought here to help make this team better. And I can't, you can't tell me a 6.75 OPS, a 5.79 ERA, a 6 ERA, a 5.73 ERA has made the team better. You just can't. And then even circle back to last year, some of Dabrowski's midseason moves and what they've become. Okay, let's just circle back to last year.

And I didn't even mention Kyle Gibson, by the way, was pitching well. And I don't want to talk highly about Gibson because I didn't like him here. I thought he was stunk. But he's pitched well for Baltimore. So Eflin's pitched well for Tampa Bay. Gibson's pitched well for Baltimore.

Ivaldi's pitched outstanding for Texas. These are all cheaper alternatives to Tyjuan Walker. I mean, just the bottom line, cheaper and simpler alternatives. And the other part that frustrates me with Dombrowski in his offseason is he counted on a 19-year-old and didn't provide enough pitching depth.

The Phillies' pitching depth is not good enough. It just isn't. You know, would Rangers-Warriors be in the big leagues already after missing as much time? Or would they have given him a little more time to ramp up if they had a better option? You know, that's up for interpretation. You know, Matt Strom was actually a good move,

but they can't keep in the rotation because he's a reliever and he'll run out of innings in his arm. So the pitching depth that Dombrowski provided or gave to Rob Thompson was subpar. It really was. You have youngsters like Painter Hurt, McGarry not ready, Abel not ready. So they're kind of, yes

hopeful, but off to the side. You have these dudes like Plassmeyer, Christopher Sanchez, Bailey Falter, who are really probably quadruple-A pitchers and not good enough right now to help this team. And you're just scuffling every fifth day, making

it up as you go along. Dylan Covey's of the world. Waver claims. Your three best starters last year pitched a lot of innings. Like, there had to be a residual effect you had to prepare for. I just think Dave Dombrowski's offseason really was poor. You go back to the trade deadline last year.

You know, Ohapi got hurt with the Angels, but Ohapi for Marsh. Marsh still doesn't look like a star player. They still treat him like a platoon player. And not to mention Mickey Moniak suddenly leveling up and playing well for the Angels. This was the fear with Dombrowski. It led to a World Series

appearance. Everyone loves Dave Dombrowski. He pushed his team forward, but this has been the Dave Dombrowski problem for a while. He could get you good, but then what? Then where do the mistakes come in? It really was, and thus far, there's no other way to call it, a no-good, very bad offseason for Dave Dabrowski.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully the Phil's turned this thing around soon. We'll talk next week. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts, WIP Daily, and, of course, the 94WIP YouTube page. Thank you so much for listening.