Alec Bohm takes early struggles to St. Louis

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: Hey everybody, welcome to the Philly Show, brought to you by Citizens. From making a plan to reaching your goals, make sense of your money with Citizens Official Bank of the Phillies. We've got Reuben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury. I'm Todd's a lucky It is Friday, April eleventh, twenty twenty five. The Phillies drop two or three this week in Atlanta. Jim, last night was along when I know you love talking rain delays and the difficulties.

00:00:41
Speaker 3: That they.

00:00:43
Speaker 4: Can lay on top of a ball rider right here?

00:00:47
Speaker 5: Can we talk about your weave right now? Can we talk about the weave?

00:00:50
Speaker 3: Well, that's a product, that's a product of his late night.

00:00:55
Speaker 4: So yeah, if you're watching on YouTube, I literally this is this is uh I got out of. It's a it's a travel weave.

00:01:04
Speaker 2: This is a definitely travel we've I got my glasses on a day late night at the ballpark.

00:01:09
Speaker 3: Where's that old Remember you had that old Minnesota hat that crunchdown growth.

00:01:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, called a napkin like freak.

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Speaker 3: Put a napkin on your head you always just wear.

00:01:21
Speaker 5: You got to break that out next.

00:01:23
Speaker 3: Time travel on travel days and you didn't you didn't pack a hat. You knew you were going to have a tough turnaround. Jim.

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Speaker 4: Jim shamed me and getting rid of that Gophers cap.

00:01:32
Speaker 3: I had.

00:01:35
Speaker 2: No but it was Yeah, so it was crazy, long night guy. I'm in Saint Louis now, thankfully. Uh but Billies lose two out of three. They had that two hour, forty five minute rain delay, and then they go on to extra innings and they just could not knock that final runner two home to win that series.

00:01:58
Speaker 4: You were watching it late night video.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I was doing a pre and post and obviously waiting it out in the studio was not the most fun. I mean a lot of things to unpack. Obviously. On the negative side, they just basically didn't get a hit after the what fifth or sixth inning? I mean they literally did not get any hits at all. I mean, oh, for ten with runners in scoring position. You just can't, you know, win baseball games against the Atlanta Braves or any team if you're not picking up a base knock or two with runners in scoring position.

00:02:37
Speaker 3: That's them. They've done this for years.

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Speaker 5: YEA.

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Speaker 7: A couple of situational, a couple of situational.

00:02:45
Speaker 5: At bats that were great.

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Speaker 6: I mean, we ended up having Kylee Schwarber with two strikes pull a ball on the ground to move this, you know, the ghost runner to third base, lesson too out. The same thing with Max Kepler, who's been you know, swunging the bat well over that the course of that series.

00:03:02
Speaker 5: I thought for a.

00:03:03
Speaker 6: Few games, for a couple of games, but then you know, Alec Bohm couldn't come through with a with a.

00:03:10
Speaker 5: Sackfly didn't hit one deep enough.

00:03:14
Speaker 6: You know, they ended up scoring a run and going ahead, and then you know, Joe Ross ended up giving up the the you know, the double and the home run to lose the ball game. But a couple of really good things to talk about. Prior to Joe Ross, it was kind of struggling at the end. He was supposed to be an emergency guy and he wasn't supposed to be pitch. The fact that you know, they had about five innings worth four or five innings worth of excellent pitching, and you know, Hernandez pitched well.

00:03:41
Speaker 5: Strom looked sharper. You know, you saw a lot of good things.

00:03:46
Speaker 6: The best part of yesterday and I think for the Philly fans, the biggest thing was that Jordan Ramono looked like Jordan Romano.

00:03:54
Speaker 5: He had a ninety seven mile hour fastball that he planned. I think it was on Olsen.

00:03:59
Speaker 6: He went right through their middle of their lineup, Riley Olsen and I forget the third hitter, but for him to have gone through that lineup the way he did, with the sharpness of his slider and the velocity and control of his fastball, that was a great sign for him. I think Rob Thompson talked about it afterwards. I think maybe it was a little bit of rest.

00:04:23
Speaker 5: I'm not sure.

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Speaker 6: To me, mechanically, he looked better in sync.

00:04:29
Speaker 5: He looked like the ball the ball was coming out of his arm, out of his hand better and more crisp.

00:04:35
Speaker 6: And the other part of this is that I just having watched him, he looked like it was across his body.

00:04:40
Speaker 5: More than he had been in the past.

00:04:42
Speaker 6: And I think that's creates some deception for the hitter when he pitches across his body.

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure.

00:04:48
Speaker 5: I'd have to go side by.

00:04:49
Speaker 6: Side and take a real good look at his earlier offerings to see whether or not he was he had really changed mechanically, but he just looked like the Jordan Romano that I have seen in Toronto when he was throwing the ball really well.

00:05:06
Speaker 2: Well before the game, I well before the game, I went up to his uh, went up to him in his locker and I just said, hey, I just kind of want to follow up from Sunday. He said, you were going to dig into stuff, dig into some stuff. Did you dig anything? And he said, oh yeah. He said, well, what do you think it is? Like, I think there's I think we found something mechanically that might have been affecting me. And he kind of started. He kind of just kind of chuckled, said what's so funny? And he said, you know, I don't. I don't know what's funny. But he's like, I just think we found something. I said, well, I guess it's better than digging for something and finding nothing.

00:05:38
Speaker 4: And he goes, right, this is true.

00:05:40
Speaker 2: He goes, this is true and he kind of laughed again. So he really seemed kind of unconcerned about where he was and maybe kind of like reassured that whatever mechanical adjustment or flaw that they found, that he'd be able to.

00:05:57
Speaker 4: Recapture that velocity, and he was he ninety five to nine.

00:06:01
Speaker 2: Last night he touched ninety six nine, and that's where, you know, that's where he kind of needs to be. He was at what the last two appearances over the weekend against the Dodge last weekend against the Dodgers, he was like ninety three five. He's throwing ninety one once. So yeah, that's that's definitely encouraging for him for sure.

00:06:20
Speaker 3: Very important, very important guy because I mean when you look at that bullpen, they're using leverage guys every night because they're playing so many close games. And when you're down a leverage guy in terms of you know, just you can't put him at the end of the game one and then when you do, he's ineffective. It's it's a big problem. So he was the major move in that bullpen. They need him to be a major contributor. So that was a you know, one outing does not a turnaround make, but it has to start somewhere, and that was definitely encouraging.

00:06:57
Speaker 5: Rubin.

00:06:57
Speaker 4: You mentioned Alec Bouma.

00:06:59
Speaker 2: Of course, he's like the hot topic this week, and so I think we got to dig into Alec bum but we're gonna do it right after these words.

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00:08:07
Speaker 2: We are back before we dig into Alec Bomo and mention get your Philly Show T shirt at the Phillies Show dot com. And also, I've been I keep forgetting to mention this. We did pull a winner from last month's Manco and Manco gift card contest. Anthony Zorzi won his Manco gift card by subscribing to The Phillies Show on YouTube. But here's the good news, guys, We've got another contest for another Manco Manco. We're gonna be giving a Manco Manco gift card away every month, So this month, simply follow the Phillies Show at the Phillies Show on X for a chance to win a Manco and Manco gift card.

00:08:46
Speaker 4: So go on to X follow us.

00:08:50
Speaker 2: We post a lot of good stuff on X. Of course we're all over the place. And uh okay, guys, Alec Bohm, we got to talk about it. I'm down in in Atlanta on Tuesday and I'm getting all these buddies texted me going like, O, what's.

00:09:05
Speaker 4: Up without Boom? And you know, Alec Boom this and Alec Boom maam going something going.

00:09:10
Speaker 2: People riled up about Alec Boum batting one sixty no home runs, three RBIs, three fifty six ops. He went oh for five on Thursday. He went oh for four with four strikeouts on Wednesday. He's got four hits in his last forty two at bats, eight strikeouts in that stretch. He doesn't have an extra base hit since the second game of the season. I think you know, he strikes out in his first step bat on Wednesday, he slams his bat into the dirt, into the dirt. He hit that hard line out in his first st at bat on Thursday. Yes, last night's game, he kind of flips his bat into the air, and myself and a couple of reporters in Atlanta, we tried to talk to him about just his start, the good end, the bad, and he declined comment before the game, and they need to climb comment after the game. So clearly this is a man who is very, very frustrated.

00:10:12
Speaker 4: What do you guys see, Well.

00:10:15
Speaker 3: He clearly it's weighing on him. And I'm surprised because he had such a good spring, he seemed to be in such a good frame of mind. I think what we're losing sight of here is he has hit a lot of balls hard, and the stats bear it out. The metrics bear it out. He's hitt into a lot of bad luck and then you know, the frustration eats him up. You can't let that happen. It's easier said than done. But my big fear is this, they need this guy. He's a good player. They need him in the middle of that lineup. He's drive, drove in ninety seven runs two years in a row, forty four doubles. He is a force in that lineup. But if he beats himself, he can't a force. And it's it feels like it's just becoming the issue that we didn't want it to become, and we didn't think it would become. I honestly thought he would bounce back for it become an issue ever since they benched him, and the benching in the playoffs brought so much attention to it because of the timing, because of the you know, the playoffs. You bench a guy in the playoffs is going to get noticed. And it just feels like it's it's happened right before our eyes. It's a test for him he's got to dig himself out of it. He's got to focus on the fact that he is squaring balls up, he is hitting the ball hard, and sometimes it only takes one to break through. But you know, sometimes that's easier said than done. But the thing that bothers me a little bit is, like, you know, he almost feels like a bug under a magnifying glass in the hot sun. Everybody's just you know, bearing down on him and bearing down on him. And and I understand it's pro sports and it's a very public business and there are ways to handle yourself. I just wish you could take a deep breath, relax, and let that talent take over, because he is a talented guy.

00:12:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's no question about the fact that he's under a microscope right now, and it's the hot button issue. I sort of feel bad for him right now in some ways, just because I agree with you, Jim. He's hit some balls on the screws last night. I mean, he hit like two or three balls really really well. Unfortunately in the one situation he had first and third late in the game. I was in the tenth or eleventh inning, you know, he had first and third and had a chance to drift some some folks in with the left hander Suarez who was really struggling and he could not get it done. Should hit a short fly ball to center field. Yeah, he's definitely the lightning rod. And in some ways he has sort of put it on himself a little bit, just because he's shown his frustration openly pretty consistently over the last I don't know, a year or so, and and sort of carried over. And I agree with you. Jimmy came in with a great attitude in spring training. He was doing really well, swinging the bat really really well. And I think back to the times when Charlie Manuel used to say, hey, man, sometimes you gotta try less.

00:13:26
Speaker 5: Sometimes you got to care less, and sometimes you.

00:13:29
Speaker 6: Gotta try less because the game can start to eat at you.

00:13:32
Speaker 5: And it's you know, you think about Alec Bohm's career.

00:13:36
Speaker 6: The man gets He's a highly touted one of the best hitters coming out of college in you know, in the history of the game, I could really really re rake and never did not have success. And so when people have success their whole lives basically and don't really struggle a lot, and it becomes you know, a little bit of a slap in the face. And when you're doing it and having a success that he has had in the major leagues, and now you know there's been.

00:14:09
Speaker 5: This hot button issue.

00:14:11
Speaker 6: He starts off the season struggling and not really driving the ball, not really having the kind of success even though he's hit some balls hard. You know, it becomes more and more frustrating. I do say this still, I'd rather have a guy who cares than the guy who doesn't care, right, And so this guy wants to be good, and that's an expectation to be good, and that's sort of a double edged sword, right, you know, it's you know, you want the guy to really, you know, do his job and really grind it. But at the same time, you know, when things aren't going well, you hope that, as Jim said, you sometimes you just have to reset and just say, okay, let me just try to play baseball and have fun with it, because it's a hard thing to do when you're not having success and you have a high expect of yourself.

00:15:00
Speaker 5: So I think it'll happen.

00:15:03
Speaker 6: He's one of the best pure hitters they have on the team. He's one of the guys that has been one of the most prolific run producers on the team over the last two or three years. And he's a you know, former All Star for a reason.

00:15:17
Speaker 5: Guy can hit.

00:15:19
Speaker 6: It's just a matter of him having a few drop in and then you know, kind of loosening things up and letting it go. I could totally understand why Rob Thompson dropped him in the lineup.

00:15:29
Speaker 5: Sure, try to back him off and just let him breathe a little bit, let him exhale a little bit. It does, however, affect how the lineup is now formulated, because you.

00:15:44
Speaker 6: Know, you gotta protect somebody's got to protect him. And I know Casianos, who had been swinging the bat well, had a really tough night on Thursday night. Five strikeouts over five rough day, without question, probably one of.

00:15:59
Speaker 5: His roughest days.

00:16:00
Speaker 6: Don't know if you had any quotes after the game, but it was probably not a happy place for him.

00:16:06
Speaker 5: But I think he'll be back in there.

00:16:09
Speaker 6: Again and uh and it'll be back swinging the bat, hopefully much better, so they can get protection for Harper in that lineup.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wanted to make I was gonna say maybe like the fact that last night was such a late night, and it was travel night with the delay and all. It probably have a late report, I would imagine.

00:16:28
Speaker 6: Oh, I would say, I think they got in what four in the morning or so, I mean the front of the hotel, right, they got four in the morning.

00:16:36
Speaker 3: Of Saint Louis, have a late report and come in and get a stretch. And I'm talking about Alec Bahman and and and just go be Alec Bohm. You're a natural ballplayer. Go out and let it happen. Don't think too much. So maybe that'll benefit him a little bit.

00:16:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, Saint Louis is kind of his happy place in a lot of ways. He went to games here growing up as a kid. And I looked this up Blast Night. Sixteen career games at Bush Stadium, including the postseason. He played two postseason games here. He's betting three forty six, four doubles, three home runs, nine RBI's one point zero one three ops. So he's had some success here. Kind of reminds me of when Ryan Howard would come here.

00:17:17
Speaker 4: You're just like, Okay, here we go.

00:17:19
Speaker 2: Ryan Howard is going to have a big weekend, and maybe Alec Bohm will have a big weekend here.

00:17:25
Speaker 3: Do you enjoy You're you're an enjoyer of Saint Louis as.

00:17:28
Speaker 2: Well, right, Yeah, I love Saint Louis. I listen, my favorite trip in the National League. As a matter of fact, No it is not, but uh, it's become a.

00:17:38
Speaker 5: Little bit of a ghost town there.

00:17:40
Speaker 4: It's a little bit of a ghost town downtown, very very sadly.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: They have a little ballpark area kind of like the Battery in Atlanta, right next to Bush Stadium, which is nice, but at night time there's not not a heck of a lot going on in downtown Saint Louis.

00:17:54
Speaker 5: Sadly.

00:17:54
Speaker 3: You got to nowhere to go. You got to go over to Hodax Fried Chicken and Tuckers for stake. You got to know where to go to a couple.

00:18:03
Speaker 6: There are a couple of barbecue places downtown. I can't remember one on one or two of them there.

00:18:07
Speaker 2: Happy, you guys are gonna have to text me a couple of these suggestions because I've been striking out big time.

00:18:13
Speaker 4: But Jim, I wanted you both.

00:18:15
Speaker 2: You guys mentioned Ow Boom, so I wanted to throw these numbers out there as well. Alec Bohm has that right, small sample size and That's another.

00:18:22
Speaker 4: Thing you have to remember. Yeah, small sample size. Everybody who's killing Alec Baum it's uh, you know, frustrated. It's twelve games into the season.

00:18:31
Speaker 3: Games you're killing them because of the winter. Everybody's been waiting for this, right Breathe a little bit. Let his season unfold a little bit, like they did with Castianos last year. He struggled for a good bit and then he got going mid May and he had a heck of a season from that point on.

00:18:47
Speaker 4: You know what.

00:18:47
Speaker 2: Nick Castianos was batting through the team's his first twelve games last season, one sixty eight four twenty eight ops. He was just as bad as Alec Bohm was the first two weeks of this season. And Nick Castianos was batting one eighty five with a four to eighty five ops on May fifth. He was betting one ninety nine with a five seventy two ops on May twenty eighth, and Rob Thompson kept sticking with him.

00:19:10
Speaker 4: We kept going up to Nick talking about.

00:19:12
Speaker 2: How bad he was, and we kept asking Rob why you don't sit him for a few days clear his head. He says, I'm gonna keep throwing this guy out there, and Nick Castdawles turned around.

00:19:21
Speaker 4: He's one of their best hitters the final four months of the season.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: So it's only been twelve games, everybody, you know, I think that's important to kind of keep in mind.

00:19:28
Speaker 4: Now, Yeah, he's frustrated.

00:19:30
Speaker 2: He's been swinging a lot of first pitches, getting himself out early, and a lot of it bats, you know. But you're right, Jim. I think everybody saw saw what happened last season. They saw the benching. They know they tried to trade him. Now he's off the really bad start and it's just like open season on the guys. So I think everybody kind of needs to chill ax.

00:19:49
Speaker 9: Yeah, And I think one of the things, one of the reasons why he's swinging a lot of a lot of first pitches is because that's what you do when you want to get out of the sloping want you want your overly aggressive at times either become not aggressive at all.

00:20:05
Speaker 5: Or just overly aggressive.

00:20:06
Speaker 6: And and you know, he again two outs, nobody with runners in scoring position. He's been invest in baseball for like the last couple of years, and you're not seeing that at him right now.

00:20:19
Speaker 5: That's just not him.

00:20:20
Speaker 6: His typical approach is a little bit different one, and that's because he's pressing. And he probably won't admit that or say it, but it's pretty obvious.

00:20:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, pressing is a big, bad enemy in baseball.

00:20:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, he seems he's very frustrated, you can tell. But so yeah, we'll see what happened to be Alcahulm. Like I said, Saint Louis has been a great place for him in his career. Maybe this is the weekend where he kind of gets things turned around and gets going. So, gentlemen, it's time for money Moves the Citizens. Money Moves are brought to you by Citizens for making a plan to reaching your goals. Citizens has the personalized advice and tools to help you make sense of your money. Citizens Official Bank of the Phillies. Guys, this is where we kind of talk about something good performance during the week. And I gotta think the Phillies only won one game in Atlanta this week and guests who pitched that game, Taiwan Walker. Taiwan Walker four and two thirds innings does it again? Ten and two thirds scoreless innings this season, Taiwan Walker has been money for the Phillies.

00:21:36
Speaker 4: And you talk about a guy who.

00:21:37
Speaker 2: Was fans were waiting just to get on. They were getting on before you even threw a pitch.

00:21:42
Speaker 5: This sease them.

00:21:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can't believe he didn't release them. Yeah, exactly, And man is he stepped up and pitched. Well, what has impressed you guys about Taiwan Walker?

00:21:57
Speaker 3: I really liked the way he got out was a two bases load of gyms the other night in Atlanta, I mean, kept his poise just once. Impressed me the most is that he didn't turtle from a really tough season. He's come back and he's contributed. I mean I have questions about the stuff and whether he can sustain this success. I really do, just to be honest. But the fact of the matter is he taking them ound twice, kept his team in the ballgame twice, done a good job, and he will get another shot on what Monday and Tuesday night back home against the Giants. So I think it's been really heartening to see the adjustments he's made a little more arms, arm strength, a little more velo. And you know, that's what That's what pro sports are all about, any sport, you know, picking yourself up one more time than you get knocked out. He got knocked down a lot last year. There was a lot of skepticism whether he could contrie was his team, and I think it's a great thing for him that he has so far so rid ride it right to the bank.

00:23:08
Speaker 6: If you said before the after the end of the season last year, he'd come in here and throw ten to two thirds of scoreless baseball with a zero er, you would probably say, I call bs. Well, I mean, you got to give him some credit. I've talked about this a little bit. You got to give him some credit for working on some things, getting himself a little bit more athletic. He could have just hung out, done nothing about it, and collected his glue, but he decided that, you know, he's going to do something about it, try to improve it. And you know, this guy was the sixth starter or a long man before the season started at Suarez went headed back issues. You know, if you were to tell me that he was going to be able to do this in the first couple of starts, I mean, that's all you really asked for for a guy who's like a fifth starter anyway. And I know it wasn't signed as a fifth starter, but his stuff is back. But for him to bounce back and to give the Phillies basically eat some innings and give the Phillies a chance to win the game. And he's done that two times now, and two times is better than zero times, and it does have a long term effect as you go. I don't disagree with the Jim about how the sustainability is. But you got Suarez coming, he's starting to he's starting to rehab, he's throwing the ball. Well, we'll probably maybe talk about that a little bit too. And then you know, somewhere down the road Andrew Paynter, that's another name that we'll have some discussion about. It creates a lot of depth and hopefully that you have that embarrassment of riches.

00:24:47
Speaker 5: When those guys are ready to.

00:24:48
Speaker 3: Go, they're gonna need bullpen help. Do you think Taiwan can contribute out of the bullpen when Ranger gets back, Well, he's.

00:24:58
Speaker 5: Done it before.

00:24:58
Speaker 6: I don't know how fag he wasn't as a affected because he didn't have the arm speed, he didn't have like the stuff that he has.

00:25:04
Speaker 5: He's gotta tick better stuff right now, so maybe I can't rule it out.

00:25:09
Speaker 6: And he's he's one of those guys that's he's not gonna balk at the you know, at the idea that he's gonna have to be put back there because he's a team player.

00:25:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's been, he's been. He's been nice. Velo's up, you know, he's it's been.

00:25:24
Speaker 2: It's been a nice early season development, like you said before, while Ranger Suarez is on the injured list and coming back Ranger Suarez Rubin, as you mentioned, made a rehab start on Thursday night for Class A clear Water. Pitched three scoreless sittings. I think it was a four strikeouts. Vello was pretty solid, so that's good. So, I mean they feelies haven't told us what the official plan is going to be. But he threw three innings last last night. Man, he's going to go up to four, then go up to five, and then maybe he's ready after that. I mean, I don't know if he needs to make four rehab starts down there unless they I don't know how.

00:26:04
Speaker 5: I would think, you go three.

00:26:06
Speaker 6: Five seven, three five seven, that's my that's my I think after three.

00:26:11
Speaker 4: To jump by jump by two every start.

00:26:13
Speaker 6: I think after three, I mean, depending on how he bounces back from that.

00:26:18
Speaker 5: You know, Yesterday's outing.

00:26:21
Speaker 6: I think that they'll progress him fairly quickly, I would I would think, but a lot of on his overall health.

00:26:27
Speaker 3: And if if Walker gives him a couple more good ones, I think that buys them maybe one start of patience with with range or just kind of you know, and make sure start because you know, get as much as you can out of Walker while he's riding some confidence here.

00:26:45
Speaker 6: Now.

00:26:45
Speaker 5: The other question is do you consider throwing rangers wars in the bullpen?

00:26:52
Speaker 6: I mean, is it something that we that the Phillies should consider.

00:26:56
Speaker 3: I think about that all the time. Ruben is is there an ethical dilemma because he's a free agent? I know it's unpopular. Fans are gonna say, pitch where they tell you to pitch, But you know, I'm just I'm wondering, do you have an obligation because of what he did for almost three months last year before the back injury and the hamstring and everything else, the fact that he's, you know, approaching free agents, he's gonna be a free agent after the year, is there an obligation to bring him back as a starter, Because when I look at this bullpen, I think they're gonna need help, and I think about it. Maybe Ranger can help them there. Maybe Ranger should help them there. What is the thing? What would be the thinking at the front office level if you were dealing with this.

00:27:41
Speaker 5: I think that you'd have to consider it.

00:27:43
Speaker 6: I think you'd bring him back and prepare him as a starter because you just don't know what's going to happen with.

00:27:48
Speaker 5: Taiwan and how effective he'll be. So you get him stretched out so he can do that.

00:27:53
Speaker 6: You put him in the rotation. You see how effective he is in the rotation, You.

00:27:57
Speaker 5: Slide Taiwan Walker.

00:27:58
Speaker 6: If everybody's healthy, you slide time walk Walker back into whatever role that he was going to play, sort of the long long man, swingman, spots starter type role that he had, and kind of go from there and see how things shake out. As far as the bullpen is concerned, I mean, he can never have enough arms, and we know and everyone knows that Ranger has been super effective in the bullpen. That's maybe an option later on, particularly when Andrew Painter comes on then and everybody healthy. Of course, this is assuming everybody stays healthy.

00:28:34
Speaker 5: Which never happens.

00:28:38
Speaker 6: But it's a great problem to have, and it's as far as Delima is concerned. I got no problem throwing Ranger swar if it's best for our team, and that's the thing that we think is the best to help this team win the World Series.

00:28:51
Speaker 5: Putting Ranger Suarez in the eighth inning or the.

00:28:54
Speaker 6: Ninth inning because he's closed and he's got the gumption to do it, seventh, eighth, whatever the case may be, maybe not the worst thing. I just don't know that that's the best thing for the Phillies now. It might be later, and it might be during playoffs, and it might be in another time, but it's definitely an option. But I would prepare him to be a starter for now because when he's good, he's as good as left hander as there is in the game. Especially the first what ten or twelve starts of the season last year, he was the best pitcher in the game.

00:29:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I always think back that.

00:29:32
Speaker 2: I always think back to our show with Caleb Kaffin in the offseason when he was talking about Ranger throwing bullpen sessions and now you would like dot twenty five pitches exactly where he wanted to throw him, and just how good he can be when he is on. So that I always plays in my mind when I think about this, well, I.

00:29:50
Speaker 3: Agree with you. I think down the road, but I think in terms of good faith. You bring it back to the Star and you can and you see what he can do over a decent course of time. And then if Painter comps is putting pressure on people and the other four guys are dealing, you might be ranger, might be mid season bullpen upgrade. So maybe these these.

00:30:15
Speaker 5: And then we go to a six man rotation.

00:30:17
Speaker 7: We've talked about that too, just to protect Painter, protect the rest of the guys for September and October, because this team's going to contend, and I mean, I can't I'm not Nostra Damas.

00:30:28
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna you know, say they are could be on the playoffs.

00:30:30
Speaker 6: But they're definitely a team that should be in the playoffs come September October.

00:30:37
Speaker 2: Andrew Painter is making a start tonight Friday night for Class A Clearwater. He's going to pitch two innings, thirty five pitches, So I imagine he'll probably come back next weekend. You know, they only pitch basically once a week at that level, and it sounds like they might, you know, keep it two innings, ish of the first few times through and then slowly build them back up. So uh good, interesting day to day for Andrew Painter. Big day to day for Andrew Painter. Finally getting back on the Mountain Minor League game, first time in the minor league game since September of twenty twenty two.

00:31:10
Speaker 4: It's pretty wild it's been that long.

00:31:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's going to pitch against the Daytona Tortugas.

00:31:17
Speaker 10: Oh and tough for those tough for those teams in the farther state league, with the Ranger Suarez back in it up, you know, backing it up with Andrew Chan.

00:31:29
Speaker 4: Is this what it's going to be like in the big leagues.

00:31:31
Speaker 5: That's what it's going to be like in the big leagues.

00:31:34
Speaker 3: The Painters journey towards the big leagues. I look at it, you know, he had those spring training ramp up slow and now competitive innings in game situations, sort of in second gear, and eventually he will be here. I want to throw something at you, and I don't think I'm in favor of it for a lot of reasons, but I get I hear this from people that Painter could be a bullpen stun gun down the stretch I'm a I know the Tigers.

00:32:13
Speaker 5: Having to be a stunt gun for seven innings then for one.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: So do I. And this is this thing he's coming off Tommy John and there's a warm up route, a warm pregame, warm up routine, and I want to develop it as a starter. But you look at the Tigers with Jackson Job. They brought him last years as a reliever. I'm not in favor of it. I'm just not because I think there's a kind of an extensive pregame that a starting pitcher like that has to go through that you just can't go through in the bullpen. And I think it would be too risky. But I hear people talking about it, but I agree. I'd rather I want this kid to be a starter.

00:32:50
Speaker 4: It would be funny, did it.

00:32:53
Speaker 6: There's other guys who've done it. But I mean, listen, I just don't like the idea. You're putting yourself in a tough pozi for a guy bouncing back from a serious injury.

00:33:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think they would do it either, but I hear people talking about it.

00:33:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, it'd be fun to think about, It'd be fun to see. It would be fun to see, for sure.

00:33:11
Speaker 2: No doubt late in the season, in the postseason, and your painter coming out of the out of the bullpen eighth inning, big spot.

00:33:18
Speaker 4: That would be a lot of fun.

00:33:20
Speaker 2: Phillies open a three game series beginning tonight Friday Night against the Cardinals. It's and Aaron Nola against Andre Polante, so Philly trying to bounce back from losing two out of three in Atlanta.

00:33:36
Speaker 6: Gentleman means it's sort of a slang in Spanish.

00:33:39
Speaker 5: You know what it means, Balante, go ahead much move forward? Is that right?

00:33:47
Speaker 6: I like that?

00:33:48
Speaker 5: All right?

00:33:49
Speaker 3: That's what Todd was saying for that game.

00:33:53
Speaker 4: That's what I was saying for that game.

00:33:54
Speaker 2: I I don't know what you guys do, like Rubin, what you do in studio. I can't remember what Jim, Jim, you go back to the press dining and grab some food.

00:34:04
Speaker 4: You just end up eating so much junk food all night.

00:34:07
Speaker 5: I had.

00:34:08
Speaker 2: I had Crackerjack, which is so overrated, starbursts.

00:34:12
Speaker 4: I was eating the hot dogs.

00:34:14
Speaker 2: I'm just sitting there trying to entertain myself by like gorging myself with food.

00:34:17
Speaker 4: So I went to bed last night and I felt so bad. I still don't feel good.

00:34:24
Speaker 3: The worst is those early after a late game like that, is that four point thirty am wake up call. I wouldn't even go. I would just sit in the chair in the hotel. And because you get back at like two in the morning.

00:34:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what happened to me.

00:34:39
Speaker 2: Actually, I had my alarm set for whatever time it was like six am, to get up to go to the airport, and my alarm for the flight notification went off, and I thought that was my alarm. I get up hopping the shower, and I realized it's only five am.

00:34:56
Speaker 4: So I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to get up another The balls.

00:35:04
Speaker 2: As we get, as we get the Saint Louis, so it can only go.

00:35:08
Speaker 4: It can only go up from here, lit guys.

00:35:10
Speaker 5: Right, one can only help. And Cardinals they're playing decent baseball.

00:35:15
Speaker 3: They're putting the ball in play.

00:35:19
Speaker 5: Your last year. It's not gonna be it's gonna be a challenge.

00:35:24
Speaker 4: Well, we'll be back. We'll be back next week. To wrap it up.

00:35:27
Speaker 2: The Philly Show, guys, is brought to you by Citizens. Make sense of your money with Citizens, Official Bank of the Phillies.

00:35:36
Speaker 4: See you, guys.

00:35:37
Speaker 3: Smell lady Boys and Jim