Phillies Holiday Shopping

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Speaker 1: There.

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Speaker 2: Jji Warris brought them to the Philly Show.

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Speaker 3: Everybody, how are you Ruby Tomorrow Juniors here? Jim Salisbury's here, I'm here. Todd's a Lucky you brought to you by foul Territory Network.

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Speaker 2: It's a Philly Show.

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Speaker 3: It's Monday, December second. The holiday season is upon us, guys. I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving Day weekend. I did. I had my family in town. I took my kids some of their first ever Flyers game. Nice Flyers beat the Rangers three to one, and they loved it. They had a great time.

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Speaker 1: Dude, love Hockey is a great spectator sport other than maybe baseball.

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Speaker 4: For me, I think hockey is one of my favorite, if not my favorite.

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Speaker 3: And I know Jim's a big hockey. Jim's a big hockey. Go yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:00:51
Speaker 2: It's a great, great game. And as much as I love the World Series in the Baseball playoffs, I think the Stanley Cuffs the best tournament baseball sports.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah. Well, so the Flyers visited my five year old daughter's school like last month. She comes out of the school that day She's.

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Speaker 4: Like, can we go to a Flyers game where is this coming from.

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Speaker 3: And I didn't know that Gritty was at the school that day, so they sold her. Gritty sold her on the flyer. So that's great. We'll probably be going back. It was pretty fun.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, they've been playing. They've been playing. Great man year old can do.

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Speaker 3: Some things now, yes he can, Yes he can. So they love the fanatic and now they love Gritty. So that's been pretty cool. A lot baseball seems to be kind of the hot stoves seems to kind of be heating up guys. You know, we seem to have who signed the last few days. Blake Snell, Frankie Montash just went to the Mets, Matthew boy Cocucci went to the Angels.

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Speaker 4: Pitching many a lot of pitching pitching. Yeah, you're seeing that that market.

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Speaker 1: Starting to develop pretty quickly in the mid level pitchers. I mean, either of the guys that the pitch very much. Boyd how many Nercy have last year and the guy gets Yeah, you know, it's a pretty hefty contract with fifteen million dollars a year.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's getting crazy out there.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy, I mean, and it also shows you the importance of starting pitching is coming back, right, guys cannot you know, you just can't. The team just cannot sustain innings, all the innings that are necessary to pitch in the season, and one hundred and sixty two times at least nine and you have, you know, fifty percent or more sometimes sixty percent being eaten up by the bullpen.

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Speaker 4: They just can't sustain it. You got the guys who can, who can throw on the mound, who can pitch long and deep.

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Speaker 2: Look at Paveta. Pavetta's going to get a decent deal.

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Speaker 1: That wild and he got a QO, so he may be screwed a little bit, so he got a good he got it, he got an offer, and I think he overboogied a little bit because, I mean, our team's going to want to give up draft picks for this guy. I mean, Pabetta is a decent picture. But he said he's got like a is it a lifetime over four era?

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Speaker 4: Is he not? Yeah, I'm not.

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Speaker 3: I don't. I feel like if you're gonna give up draft picks and bonus money and all that stuff, you need to get like a legit one two type guy. And he's he's very good. He's a good picture. Throws a lot of innings, but yeah, I would be he would scare me.

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Speaker 4: He's like the number three or four. Yeah, he's not like a two or one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right right, yeah.

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Speaker 2: So but with these projections, he could get like a forty million dollar deal.

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Speaker 3: Isn't that wild?

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Speaker 4: More than or even more than that?

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Speaker 3: Think about how he left the Phillies. You would never would have thought this for him in twenty He was traded in twenty twenty. Remember this gym. He was in the bullpen and they called him to warm up in a blowout loss in twenty twenty during the pandemic season, and he kind of like said, I ain't going in and pitching it to blow out, right, And Joe Girardi had to get on the bullpen phone and kind of talk them into it and say this is not We're not insulting you here. You got to come in and pitch, and then boom. A couple of days later, he's sent to the Boston Red.

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Speaker 2: It was very It was something I don't know if I've ever seen before the manager get on the bullpen phone and actually talk to the guy. I'm sure it's happened before, but it was very unusual to see that. Yeah, and then you know he went off to.

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Speaker 4: That was that the heath hembree.

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Speaker 3: Uh, Brandon Workman.

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Speaker 4: Brandon Workman.

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Speaker 1: They had not very well for they really had struggled with their bullpen.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, they did they did well today. Today we've got kind of a fun show because we're giving a bunch of stuff away. And uh, first, the first thing that that we're given away, I want you guys to take a look at this. This is from shib sports dot com. This is a Phillies Mitchell and Ness hoodie. So if you're listening on the podcast, it's a blue hoodie Phillies logo on the front. Go to shibesports dot com backslash tps. That's TPS for the Philly Show to enter for a chance to win a free Mitchell and Neess Phillies hoodie. That's pretty sweet guy. Ship Sports of course has been with us all season. Shopship Vintage Sports for all Philly sports fans on your holiday list. You can visit them in Center City, Wayne, Westchester. They just open a new store in Ardmore and you can always go to ship sports dot com. And here's another thing, so they're given away a hoodie to The Philly Show listeners and viewers, and also save by using the promo code the Phillies Show upon checkout. So enter to win a free hoodie Phillies hoodie. Use the Philly Show promo code to get fifteen percent off your purchase. Shibe is great. We love Shibe, so that's kind of cool. You know, he gets some cool stuff for the holidays. And then also we've got some swag too. We want we got to mention we're sporting it. Yeah, we do. Finally got yeah about it for months and we finally got it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there we go.

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Speaker 4: We get in there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we got a Philly Show swag. T shirts made by forty seven brand Maroon T shirts got a logo on the front, the Philly Show on the back, and they're very They're very cool. We're very excited. They're great, great T shirts. Rubin you are no Ruben. You are frozen. My man, you're frozen? What You're frozen?

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Speaker 2: Froze?

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Speaker 3: You're froze. But yeah you should so crank up the hot your freezing.

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Speaker 4: Yeah am I still freezing?

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Speaker 3: You're still froze. You're still froze. Uh, But yeah, the T shirts are cool. You can go to the Phillyshow dot com that will redirect you to uh, the site where I sell my books. You can you can get your T shirt if you want to buy a T shirt. And then in the show, Jim's gonna pick a winner based off the best fan question, best listener question, and they're gonna win a free T shirt. So we got the ship Sports T shirt giveaway. We're gonna give away a T shirt here. Don't forget to go to shipsports dot com use the Philly Show promo for fifteen percent off. So let's answer some some questions. Are you fellows ready? This is from j T Nason on Instagram. This guy, he's a little frustrated. I feel like, why would the team trade Alec Boom yet keep Marsh and Johann Rojas. Marsh is a terrible outfielder, plus Bohm was an All Star and Home Run Derby participant and led the team in first half. RBIs guys.

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Speaker 2: Well, First of all, I haven't traded anybody yet, right, And second of all, I think it's pretty simple that Boom would bring you back more because he has more value. He's a better player with upside control for a couple of years, all matter of value.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: All the matter, right. I mean anything that Jim said you disagree with, I mean it's.

00:08:04
Speaker 1: I mean to me Alec Boum again, I mean rumors are rumors, and I mean I think Dave Dombrowski's doing everything he possibly can to figure out how to not run it back and to try to, you know, give this team a little bit of a different look or.

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Speaker 4: What have you. And I think he's going to be creative in that area.

00:08:24
Speaker 1: But Alec Bohm, man, that's a tough guy to move unless you're really getting a lot of talent back.

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Speaker 4: He's a really good player, and.

00:08:31
Speaker 1: He also sort of fits to build what they need in their lineup, which is a guy who can make you pretty consistent contact driving runs, doesn't strike out.

00:08:39
Speaker 4: A ton will strike out, but not a ton. You guys just got to be careful.

00:08:45
Speaker 3: I can almost see this, Jim. Can't you see yourself in clear Water this spring and then standing in front of Alec Bohm's locker and going, hey, what about all these rumors about you're getting traded and the Phillies that lost patience with you and were frustrated with you, and you were definitely going to get dealt, And how do you feel about being back having that uncomfortable interview that that's happened before, right, I mean all the time you know you were going to get traded. Now you're still here.

00:09:11
Speaker 2: Well, how do you feel. We've said this all along, I'm not trading him unless I'm getting a ton back. It's just you got an inflexible roster with some of the ages of guys and the contracts of guys that it's tough to move guys. And if you want to shake it up, that's one area you look. I think you look at start at second base, but you know, obviously, and there's that the whole thing with this frustration and getting benched in October, which kind of has fueled some of this, and there's there's other little bits and pieces. We're here and in this, in this narrative that hasn't gone away, and the team has done nothing really to shoot it down. So I think there are come on, there is a wide open on this. They're not going to give them away. But if he helps them, you know, if they'll move them, if they can remake their team and get value back and talent back, and I think it's going to interest this thing forward and I think it's I think also part of it is the strength of their farm system is infield, and they have some left side talent coming and they might be able to you know soon, you know, not necessarily overnight, but it's going to get here. And I just think their ears are open and they have to be open because they need to be creative. But I ain't giving this guy away. He's awfully good player.

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Speaker 4: And let me say something about the rumors too, real quick, guys.

00:10:22
Speaker 1: I mean I've dealt with this for years and years as an assistant GM for ten years and as a GM for seven. I mean, the rumors about ten percent of them are real. The rest of them are really not. And it's very difficult for a FUN office to deal with those rumors because if you comment on them, then then.

00:10:42
Speaker 4: Give them life.

00:10:42
Speaker 1: If you don't comment on them, then the old that must be true. So you're putting in a tough position.

00:10:50
Speaker 4: You know.

00:10:50
Speaker 1: Most organizations do not like to comment and can't comment on rumors unless they are absolutely locked down not moving that guy, I don't know, the Mike Trout situation or whatever. I mean, when they know that they're not moving somebody, you can make that statement, but that's not necessarily true because if you can say that, you say that and all of a sudden you move a guy, and then then it's, you know, sound like you're full of crap.

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Speaker 3: I was listening to h Ken Rosenthal on the Fair Territory podcast and he made a good point. He says, this offseason, I'm going to really try my best. I hate saying team X is interested in player. Why. He's like, if you're good, every team is interested in you. And right, Jim Wright, we've said this. We've seen this all the time.

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Speaker 4: Right, Like the Phillies are interested in one.

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Speaker 3: So you know, like I always say to people, the real story would be if the Phillies, if the source said, we are totally not interested in one, so I don't care what the price is. Now, that is a news story, my man.

00:11:56
Speaker 2: And here's another one. Here's another the Phillies have discussed well, of course they've discussed it. It's what they get paid for. Job. Set up there in a conference room and discussed everything that would make your team.

00:12:10
Speaker 3: Better, right exactly. It's it's very funny. It's frustrating as a beat writer, Jim, you know, and I'm sure you know, Ruben went as a GM. You know, you see that stuff pop up, but it is very frustrating. For instance, Alec Bowm trade rumor stuff that's been going on Garat Crochet for instance, right, you know, rumors that have been reports that have been out there since July, and then somebody puts out their feelies they're interested in Yes, they've been interested since July. This is not new the new information.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you guys make a great point.

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Speaker 1: If it's a good player, every single team, thirty of them are interested in that player, including the team that is trading him. I mean, the reality of it is, if it's a good player, why would you not be interested in that player?

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Speaker 4: And so I know people have to sell, and people have.

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Speaker 1: To you know, show that they you know, are in the inside and that kind of stuff. But the reality of it is, until a deal is done, until someone says dots the ice and crosses the t's.

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Speaker 4: None of it means diddly exactly. Well, you know, and that's the reality for me.

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Speaker 2: I think there's a real chance Alec Bohm could be traded. I think there's a real chance that Todd's scenario could happen, that he's in front of his logger and clear water first day, laughing about this. And I think there's also a chance that in September we're writing stories about sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. So I just think there's a lot of balls in the air here because it's I mean, you go back to that phrase, Dobraska is open minded and being open mindedness and you have to be because you know they've got to tweak this thing and moving forward because they need to make a bigger step in October next Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Once the er Pat Gillick told me years ago, man, just try to be as creative as possible. There's nothing wrong being creative, And I think that's I mean, that's the job of the GM is to try to creatively make your team better.

00:14:08
Speaker 3: Let's say on the hot corner. This is from Ben Rausch on Instagram. What are the chances of the Phillies signing Alex Spragman. Well, that all depends, of course, on what happens with Alec Boem. But even if they would trade, let's say they trade Alec Bohm, one of the chances of sen Alec Bregman. Again going back to something Ken Rosenthal wrote a couple of weeks ago, there have been some numbers projections like he could get six years point eighty. But then Ken wrote, and Ken is one of the best. He's one of the people. If you see him put it out there, Yes, yeah, you should. You should pay close attention. He said he wouldn't be surprised if Alex Bregman was looking for a new contract that comes close to what Manny Machado just got in his recent contract extension, which was over a three hundred million dollar deal.

00:14:50
Speaker 2: So why why wouldn't Bregman be looking for that? You you aim high, right exactly, he gets that, but he's gonna aim high. He's been a consistent winner, a good player. I still think it's a chance Houston brings him back. And he's also, like you mentioned with Paveda early, he's got that qualifying offer. I don't see it happening in Philadelphia. I just think I just don't. I don't feel him making an expenditure like that, especially when they got so many other needs. Bullpen back of the rotation and you know, so we'll say, but I.

00:15:23
Speaker 4: Like the player.

00:15:24
Speaker 1: I think he's a type of player that David Brass would love to have. That said, there's so many things that have to happen for him to become a Philly. I mean you're talking about, okay, signing him even before you make a trade.

00:15:35
Speaker 4: Now you've got to figure out where am I going to put him? Am I gonna put him at second base?

00:15:39
Speaker 1: And then have stop be the shortstop and move trade turner to the outfield? Or are you gonna are you gonna like shift is Casiano it's going to be able to be moved? Or do you put him at third base and he can play second, third, or short as far as the infield is obviously be playing third base, but he was an outstanding shortstop and he can know he could play second base as well, so he has that versatility. That said, there's so many different things that have to happen for him to be placed on this roster. I mean that's being creative. But again, I mean, that's a whole lot of balls in the air.

00:16:12
Speaker 4: There's already enough balls in the air. You're you're asking about a lot of stuff to have.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: Who Jim's ziwiki on X? Who do you think will be the most impactful addition to the Phillies bullpen?

00:16:22
Speaker 4: I mean, could be anybody, really, you know what.

00:16:27
Speaker 1: I kind of like the idea of the left hander from Miami. He used to be with Baltimore. He's actually growing up quite a bit. Why am I brain locking on the closer? It was with the Marlins and then.

00:16:40
Speaker 4: Traded to oh Tanner Scott Tanner Scott traded.

00:16:44
Speaker 1: I think Tanner Scott's an interesting guy because we've seen him so much over the years.

00:16:50
Speaker 4: I don't know, we'll see.

00:16:52
Speaker 3: Would you trade for Ryan Helsley from the Cardinals. He's got a year left on his deal?

00:16:56
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:16:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, they don't need a closer. They basically said, we're gonna let the young kids play and we're not gonna invest in a bill out of free agents.

00:17:04
Speaker 1: They're gonna ask for a lot, you know, they're gonna ask for an Alec Bohme type player that they can control, or somebody who's a big quality, either Crawford or whatever.

00:17:12
Speaker 4: But you're only looking at one year of the guy. He is.

00:17:15
Speaker 1: He's really good, and he's and basically Rob Thompson is throwing that guy in the knife.

00:17:19
Speaker 4: And that's it. He's the guy depending.

00:17:22
Speaker 1: Something is something that Rob Thompson has not had the opportunity to do in his career as a.

00:17:28
Speaker 2: Manager, depending what happens in Saint Louis with Aaronato, right, that could be a possibility, correct, that would increase their interest in Boem And I mean Devin Williams is out, there's still like a change of scenery for Clay Holmes. I think I think a guy like Clay Holmes could could come here and do well.

00:17:48
Speaker 1: Plus the other thing, you know, the thing about Alec Bohm is he can also play first base. If you do not you know, they don't have a first baseman right now.

00:17:56
Speaker 4: It's true.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: I mean, if they wanted to be aggressive to make that movie, doesn't necessarily have to play third base for now, right play first.

00:18:06
Speaker 3: That'd be interesting, and that that'd be that'd be a way to kind of get people fired up to actually have the first legit roll him out there closer instead of going closer by committee for the past few years, which has worked. But Hellsie would be interesting. Uh, John Jonathan Rutter Facebook instead of potentially trading Ranger, maybe make him a closer.

00:18:28
Speaker 2: I think we talked about a few months ago how he can fill so many roles and and in his time here he's been a starter or a closer. Long man, If he's here and he's not having success in the rotation, that's where you're gonna have to be creative with her, to get creative with him to get the most out of him. But coming into the season, he's he's going to be for me. I want to see him in the rotation, see if you can get it back to where he was in the first half.

00:18:52
Speaker 1: So that would that would be sort of a role reversal from what we did with Brett Myers. Right, we slid Brett Myers back into the rotation was closing force in two thousand and seven, slowed him back and slid him back into the rotation and got rad Lytch. Now you end up getting a crochet and you put him in the rotation, and maybe you slide you know, Ranger, even though you want the pitching depth. Maybe maybe that's the decision. You slide Ranger back into the back end of the bullpen. That would mean interesting, That's creative.

00:19:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is creative. But Rubin, I like what you said last week. I think it was when he said Ranger on the last year of his deal pitcher for the next big contract is like I want that motivated Ranger in the indevitation. So that would be a nice problem to have. You get Garrett Crochet in a trade and you're going, hey, maybe we throw Ranger in the back of the bullpen. That would be interesting.

00:19:41
Speaker 1: Ranger has to be looking at these contracts and going, oh my god, if I just put together one hundred and eighty inning pitched season, I could be making two hundred million dollars. Think about that for a second. I mean, that's quite the carrot. That's not like a little baby character you see on you Brothers with Bugs Bunny.

00:20:01
Speaker 4: It's a whole bunch of it is.

00:20:04
Speaker 2: Tyler. He's gonna want to start.

00:20:06
Speaker 3: That's true too, he was probably I don't want to go into the bullpen. I got a year to goo in free agency, Tyler on X. What would it cost the Phillies to trade for Byron Buxton from the Twins.

00:20:19
Speaker 4: For a guy who can't get stay on the field.

00:20:21
Speaker 3: Well, so that's the thing, right, yeah, I mean the guy I look this up. I had the benefit of, you know, seeing these questions beforehand. He hasn't had more than three hundred and eighty eight played appearances in a season since twenty seventeen and three eighty eight was this year. He has hurt every single year. Now, when he is healthy, he is unbelievable. He is a fantastic baseball player. But he's also owed fifteen million dollars in each of the next four seasons. And a guy with that injury history, I would be sweating bullets. Because you get older, you usually break down more.

00:21:00
Speaker 2: Usually old guys get hurt.

00:21:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, old guys get hurt, and he's a young guy that gets hurt every single year. I don't know if the Twins are gonna want to trade him anyway. I don't know what you could get for him that that would be a high risk move, high risk, high reward move. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I'd be real comfortable trading a Justin Crawford in a deal for for Byron Buxton or whatever it might be, you know, Ranger Suarez, whatever.

00:21:25
Speaker 4: The Twins would be dying to get rid of this guy.

00:21:28
Speaker 1: They'd be dying, and they're trying to jump payroll. I mean they're yeah, they're they're ownership change.

00:21:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, they have an ownership change.

00:21:34
Speaker 1: There's no way that Byron Buxton would be a guy that I would be interested in unless they paid him way down, you know, and and uh, I mean with some great talent. But but you got to you know, your best ability is your availability.

00:21:47
Speaker 4: He is not ever available.

00:21:49
Speaker 3: So even if, like they just said in the salary dump, like give it and you know, we don't want any of your top three or four prospects, would you give up like a Gabriel Rinconis Junior. I'm just throwing a random name out there, and a couple other like mid level prospect guys as a as a salary dump for the twins?

00:22:03
Speaker 4: Would you do that?

00:22:04
Speaker 3: Take on the fifteen million each of the next four years and just hope you get something good out of him. It's no risky, too risky man, Yeah, yeah, uh Chris Chris Donald on XS painter guaranteed a spot on the roster. And do you expect him to be in Lee High Valley at the beginning of the season and a veteran becoming the fifth starter? He's going to start the season in Lee High Valley.

00:22:26
Speaker 2: I think he's going to start the season in warm Weather.

00:22:30
Speaker 3: There you go. Yeah, he can start in clear Water. Yeah, work his way up high.

00:22:34
Speaker 2: But you know, don't you think Reuben, when you start him where you know the weather's going to be good until May May tenth or something.

00:22:43
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I would definitely start him down south. His it's really about him just getting on the mound. It doesn't matter who he's throwing against.

00:22:52
Speaker 4: Right now, he's the.

00:22:53
Speaker 1: Point rehab mode, and then work his way to the point where when you when he starts to move and to start to I think you're absolutely right on, Jim. You should be working for for Luke Merton. I don't even know that he'll be I think you should be their pitching director. You should talk to Luke and send your resume in, Jim, because you're spot off.

00:23:13
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe you're not even activating. Maybe he's pitching extended and through through mid April late April, and then you know, maybe he gets in a couple official games and then I get some you know, right around right around when the leaves start popping, right after Kentucky Derby comes to Redding, and because you really want to manage those innings and slow him down a little bit at the beginning while he's still building some workload so you can evaluate readiness and if he indeed is ready, which everybody thinks he will be. You're going to get the bulk of his work up here where it really matters.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think that you're going to see I don't think you're going to see this kid unless something drastic happens. Some time between June and September is when you'll probably see him, you know, surface at the major league level.

00:24:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they're gonna need some of that fist spot PSU beat Mafia on X. Favorite bullpen player to cover ever, I guess in Ruben's case, favorite bullpen guy. I guess you could been a teammate with, or signed or traded for Jim. Do you have a favorite bullpen? A favorite reliever? A lot of I mean a lot. There's so many. I mean, like really it's such a cliche, but a lot of relievers are just great characters. And I find like relievers to be just generally decent human beings, you know.

00:24:41
Speaker 2: I mean speaking of Yeah, yeah, you know, talk about a great man and who I mean? Brad Leedge forty eight for forty eight storybook a year ye outstanding gentleman to share his thoughts with reporters like us after games every night, really let us in, you know, I always told his story very you know, in uh inaccessible, gentlemanly way. But he was just as accessible and and gentleman like the next year when he was having like a year, he was the same guy. You know, he's a quality human being. So I would put Brad Lidge and his whole story, the good, the bad, and and the and the person He was very, very high on that list. But I would also put Billy Wagner. He's on the wall behind me.

00:25:34
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, uh.

00:25:37
Speaker 2: Billy Wagner was a delight to cover because what a personality, what a good guy. You talked about, a good human being. And you know, one of the good things about covering baseball is you get to witness guys at the top of their game, the elite. You get to witness greatness. Every night. With Brad Lidge, you know, eight we witnessed greatness. And with Billy Wagner, you know, night after night it was greatness. And that's what He's very viable to make the Hall of Fame in a couple of weeks. So, you know, Billy Wagner was a delight to cover for me personally. You know that that story on the back of the wall behind my head is the day I caught his bullpen session in Cliwater twenty years ago.

00:26:20
Speaker 3: That's amazing I think about it's.

00:26:23
Speaker 2: Had a lot of laughs about that.

00:26:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think about left handers when I think about bullpend guys, So the guys that I've either played with or against or had played for for me. Guys like Derek Lillaquist. He was awesome. He was a great teammate in Cleveland. There was Raal Cormier, who I thought was a real gem of a human being, just a wonderful oneerful God bless him. We miss you, Raal. Trying to think of some other its a dan plea, Sach. I mean, I think of all those left handers who were just really really great people and good people to be.

00:27:02
Speaker 4: Around, and uh, just a joy to either be a teammate or you know someone who someone was in your organization. Just to just to name three of them, I'm sure I'm missing this.

00:27:14
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's really hard to name like you feel like, I mean you mentioned Rayal Cormier. He what a great guy, awesome, great athlete. He had a great year here. He had that one year where he was really struggling. Next next year he came back he was. He was flat out awesome. So many it was a really good guy as we had a few years ago here Louis Garcia, remember him. Great Adam Morgan was you.

00:27:37
Speaker 4: Know Adam Morgan, great, great.

00:27:40
Speaker 2: I love Adam Morgan's story. He was ready to retire and go become a fireman and he had to ends up going to the bullpen having a couple of pretty good years. So just so many really good guys to cover, but you know they backed it up with performance and and accountability. Really just have to have thick skin, man because you know, as you know when after a game, Todd knows this. So sometimes the only night you end up at a reliever's locker as a reporter is when he messes up and he has a bad night, and it's like, you know, I got to get by this guy's locker when he's having a great night. It's just to balance it out. But you know, the good ones, they understand they're accountable. They don't hold it against you. So a lot of terrific, terrific guys.

00:28:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes they're being treated like the Baltimore Ravens kicker. Well, you know, it's funny you mentioned that the other guy I wanted to a lot of the left tend I want to talk about j c RAMERI, which also a phenomenal human being as well, had a great did run for us.

00:28:41
Speaker 3: There, you're right, Matt Stairs, h Matt matt Strom, I think said something similar Rubin. You know, the relief pitchers are kind of like the kickers on a football team. You only you only notice them when they screw up, correct, you know, And it's it's very true and that and so Jim, you're right. I try to go over and talk to these guys is as much as possible before game, when things are going good, you know, after a game, try to pop over and just chat with him for a minute or two. Because you don't want to be the guy only goes. You do want to be doctor death going over to him only when they blow a game, you know, and then because they notice that, Oh they noticed that, that's.

00:29:13
Speaker 4: What makes that's what makes you a pro? Tozzi that what makes you a pro?

00:29:17
Speaker 3: I only notice I only know you only come over when I suck? Why is that?

00:29:23
Speaker 2: Shut up?

00:29:23
Speaker 3: Schnecksville Schnecksville mom on Instagram. What moment in the press box was the hardest to not react like a fan.

00:29:31
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good one.

00:29:33
Speaker 4: I react like a fan all the time up there. But I'm saying in a third row, you guys have to hear me. That's a terrible pitch. What do you do?

00:29:43
Speaker 3: The truth is is that there are a lot of moments when we kind of jump, you know, not jump jump out of our seats, but there are a lot of moments, Jim where we kind of go, oh my gosh, what a catch or what a play or you know, Bryce Harper bedlam at the bank and like, oh my god, that's unbelievable. You know, the final couple innings of Royal Holliday's postseason no hitter. That's really shitting going is this? I think he's gonna this is crazy. I'm here watching this.

00:30:11
Speaker 4: So there are a lot of those moments every every day, you know.

00:30:14
Speaker 1: From my perspective, Again, I sit at the third level, so I try to stay out of it when I when I go into the games if I'm not covering or whatever.

00:30:23
Speaker 4: And uh, and I watched, so I watched reactions.

00:30:26
Speaker 1: Of the guys and who were in the front row like yourselves, Like you two guys, there's a lot of head snap like a head snap.

00:30:34
Speaker 2: You're gonna go look at the monitor after the play the head snap.

00:30:38
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I watched the head snap.

00:30:42
Speaker 4: That's kind of cool.

00:30:43
Speaker 3: It's kind of.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is.

00:30:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, you just like, oh my god, what did I just see? There's I mean, we're you know, we're all baseball fans, and we all appreciate like great performances and great moments, and you know, you know, we all see terrible calls by an umpire the same way. So you sit there, go are you kidd You know those those types of things that way stairs his home run, didn't you bang your knee on the press box on the.

00:31:09
Speaker 2: Electrical under the I still got, like I still get swelling in that knee because of and Victorino's grand slam off. Sabbathia was big. Just so many of them bedlam at the bank.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: You know.

00:31:29
Speaker 2: I mentioned this the other day. One of them that made me got me out of my seat is that brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox when Pedro and Zimmer went at it. And I was at Family Park covering that game, and that brought me out of my seat.

00:31:40
Speaker 4: I'm like, holy, you know, grazy.

00:31:43
Speaker 2: So I mean, an awful lot of them because we you know, we love, we love the game. We love big moments were like anybody else big moments. Really, I'll tell you at night, I was not in the press box, and I reacted like a holy you know, like a fan when Ruben Brock Cliff Lee back, you know, working that story till like three in the morning, and you you know, you're just thinking, oh my gosh, the rotation they just put together here, and uh, that was a that was quite a big one.

00:32:17
Speaker 4: That's when I was smart to him. That would sound smart back then. And then I don't see.

00:32:21
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened after that, but you mentioned to you mentioned two things to Bettlem at the bank when I was in the studio in the studio offices watching the game because we were doing a pre impost on NBC, and and I'm literally jumping around like a little baby child, like.

00:32:38
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I can't believe I just saw that happen. I can't believe. Why did they pitch to him?

00:32:42
Speaker 4: How did hate or not coming to the game.

00:32:44
Speaker 1: You know, I was freaking out, you know, Yeah, that was one and the other one I reacted to you and you said you banged your knee.

00:32:50
Speaker 4: I actually cried when that Stairs at that over. I literally was crying.

00:32:55
Speaker 2: Were you in that so at Dodger Stadium that night when he hit the ball off Brox and it got so quiet, I had fifty eight thousand people hush, and all you could hear was there was a like a luxury suite two or three down from the press box where a Phillies people were sitting, and you could hear them, you know, yelling and screaming. Were you over in there?

00:33:13
Speaker 1: I was probably in there. I don't know if I was yelling at screaming. I was literally I was someone shocked. I was so in shocked. I was teered.

00:33:19
Speaker 4: I was literally like, holy schnikes.

00:33:23
Speaker 2: It's just.

00:33:25
Speaker 3: I always tell people, I said, you can watch that instant replay of Stairs home run a million times, it does not do it justice of how high and far that ball sailed out of that ballpark, even though you see where it landed, But just to see it actually live and in person, I was like, I've never seen a ball hit that far.

00:33:40
Speaker 4: I wish they had, or how loud it was off the bat?

00:33:43
Speaker 3: Oh, it was like, literally, yeah, it was crazy. We kind of talked about this last week, but if you guys wanted to add anything. What inspired the love of baseball for each of you? And since you have a decade or more under your belt in baseball, what keeps it on?

00:34:01
Speaker 4: That's from jay On X anything you guys.

00:34:03
Speaker 3: We kind of talked about this last week in our Thanksgiving episodes, so go back and listen to that. That was we we talked a lot about or where we kind of got our passion for the game from. Who was the best December? Who is the best December free agent or trade acquisition in Philly's history? That's from Phil's fan d l R on Instagram. There's I mean there's a lot of great December. I mean.

00:34:32
Speaker 2: Roy holl And Fleeward December.

00:34:34
Speaker 3: Pete Rose was in December.

00:34:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, all of them?

00:34:39
Speaker 1: Probably Yeah, I would say Roy and Pete were probably two of the best.

00:34:44
Speaker 4: One was Steve Carlton.

00:34:45
Speaker 3: Steve Carlton was in February, late February. I looked, that was the first guy I went to when they get Steve Carlton, and that was in February February because because Rick Whyse wanted a raise, No, Steve wanted a a very modest raise from the card and Augie Bush said, we're not paying that guy an extra five grand.

00:35:03
Speaker 1: A year in an amazing in an amazing worked that well for the Phillies.

00:35:09
Speaker 2: Correct, there used to be a day like you know you mentioned, well, Carlton, you said February. Yes, but that was a trade. But there was a time when free agency, the bulk of it happened in November, December, especially December leading up to the winter meetings, and a lot of teams had their most of their business, you know, buckled up by Christmas. And now it extends into January and February, as we saw Bryce Harper, Jake Garriotta, even March. It just has extended so long. But you know, as a baseball writer, you know back maybe a decade or so ago or more, January January was that one month where you could kind of catch your breath a little bit. I remember actually going out and covering playoff football because you know, baseball was kind of that was the dormant month. Teams had completed their their you know, off season construction. Now you're counting down to spring training, and but now the off season is every every bit of it. And one of the things we need to discuss. I was actually speaking with this with Rob Kessner recently, is you know, should there be some we we probably need to dedicate an entire podcast to this, maybe later in the winter, but should there be some, you know, some deadlines, like like the other sports where the free agent periods are shorter and very intense and they gain a lot of attention. It's almost like event status. You know. I don't know, but I certainly think it's something we could talk about, maybe in another podcast.

00:36:50
Speaker 1: It'd be interesting to see how everybody takes that, because you know, the you know, the MLBPA wants as much openness as possible, but for the sport itself, for the good of the sport, it may be best to say, okay, here's January twentieth, or January thirtieth, or whatever, whatever the date may be, where your pre agents, your Major League pre agents must be signed by I think that that would that would create a lot of buzz, and it would help sell tickets. I mean, I mean it's important for front offices to be able to sell their product and to know which teams are going to be walking into their you know, spring training camps, and I think that's an that's an important element.

00:37:30
Speaker 3: As well, yeah, I would personally love it. I think it would be but it'd be great. I don't know if the Union would go for if they think that maybe teams would try to hold everybody's feet to the fire and low ball them or whatever. So there's it would be great, though I would personally have last question. This is from Sam Viola on Instagram. What are Who's your favorite player that you've that you covered or Ruben's case been a teammate with can you pay? I mean same thing with the bullpen guys. It's so tough to pick one guy, I I always say, and we had him on our show. I love covering Jeff Frank Corr. You know, he was only here for one season, but just a great guy, super personally. He played on a crappy team, but yeah he did Rubin he probably played it was a crappy team, but.

00:38:20
Speaker 4: He was helpful.

00:38:21
Speaker 3: But but he was helpful. And what I liked about Jeff frank core is he brought a great attitude into the clubhouse every day. He wasn't moping. We've seen good, really good players as a team starts to go down, become really all of a sudden go from being good teammates to like problem teammates. And Jeff Frank Corer was a class A greade, a guy from day one through day one sixty two, no matter how bad that team was playing, and so I enjoyed that. So I put Jeff Frank Corr at the top of my list. So many other guys though, Choots, you know, a Shane Victorino. We just had Jason Worth on. We talked Jim and I about how much we love covering Jason Wore. There's a billion guys, guys.

00:39:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I always I like covering Jimmy Rollins. I mean they covered them with really from the day he was drafted until uh he left the Phillies and even beyond. And but it's hard for me to name one guy because there's literally dozens that I enjoyed, both personally and professionally. And I was, you know, captured by their story and I loved telling their story. But Jimmy and even Kurt Shilling, they did great things on the field and then they said interesting things after the game. Billy Wagner was a lot like that. But I hope I'm literally dozens and dozens upon just we're a joy to watch and cover. So I don't know that I could name one guy, but a guy like Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, I mean, you know those guys are in the rare air.

00:39:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:39:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, those guys go without saying. I have them from different perspectives.

00:39:56
Speaker 1: So as a teammate when I was playing, Kevin Jordan was a very.

00:40:01
Speaker 4: Close close friend of mine. We did everything together, both.

00:40:04
Speaker 1: Bench mates through the late nineties, and so he as a teammate, I would say that one of the most favorite guys that ever will ever be around is Rookie Betts, having coached him. Just just a phenomenal human being and a great player and someone that you know, frankly, if anybody gets a chance to be around the guy like that, you're really fortunate.

00:40:29
Speaker 4: Jim Tomy was a.

00:40:30
Speaker 1: Great teammate and a great human being. He was everything that the Phillies needed at the right time. Edwarde did an amazing job of bringing him to Philadelphia. I mean started talking about like unbelievable human beings, and you know the Utleas and the Rollinson and all those guys, just.

00:40:45
Speaker 4: And even Brian Howard, what a superb human being.

00:40:49
Speaker 1: Just great, really really good guys that you were fortunate to be around not just great players, but great people.

00:40:56
Speaker 4: But I've been around a million of them, and I'm.

00:40:58
Speaker 1: Sure I'm gonna end up screwing it up because there's so many of them. As Jim said and Todd you alluded to as well, that there's just so many phenomenal human beings that we've gotten a chance to be around. And in my role, I've got a chance to be around a zillionable I mean Mike Schmidt, I mean I love Mike Schmid. Mike Schmid has come a long long way from the time that he was very sort of aligned in Philadelphia and now he's, you know, part of the broadcast team with us, and just a lot more comfortable, don't skin. I got a chance to know him as a person and as an employee because he worked Corse.

00:41:35
Speaker 4: But so many different people that are just really phenomenal.

00:41:39
Speaker 2: People, tons of them. How about Todd you mentioned this guy the other day, Andres Blanco, a good teammate with a good player, yes, do a little bit of everything. Just a good guy to have in your roster.

00:41:51
Speaker 4: And Freddie Galvius, I mean Freddy was in a tough spody because he was Freddie.

00:41:55
Speaker 1: Was a good, really great teammate, a good, good team team guy, and he had to take for Jimmy Rollins of all people.

00:42:01
Speaker 4: You know, it's a difficult you know, it's a difficult task.

00:42:04
Speaker 3: Another guy that brought a great attitude of the clubhouse on some teams that really struggle with Freddie Gallvis. I mean, that guy really wanted to win and he really went about it the right way.

00:42:13
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean Ryan Howard, you mentioned Ryan Howard.

00:42:16
Speaker 3: People always ask me about Bryce Harper, right, Bryce is tremendous in that clubhouse. Uh for us, for sure. He's always available, good, good or bad almost always.

00:42:27
Speaker 4: So you know there's guys like that that are everywhere.

00:42:30
Speaker 1: So coyleege I mean, I mean, well, start talking about the guys on this team right now. College Warber to me is sort of like the perfect teammate, I think, a perfect guy to have and one of the better.

00:42:44
Speaker 2: Leaders quality gude. Just so, that's why these questions are really dangerous because you end up leaving guys out and then you're thinking more, we could go on forever.

00:42:54
Speaker 3: And ever so many I will. I'll sit there like later three hours and I'll go, oh, I should have mentioned Mike Lieberthal, She's he was a great you know, he's a great guy, you know, and Randy Will and all those guys. So, Jim, we we're gonna give out a T shirt to the best question. Did you write one down? Do you think one pop out to you? Who? Do you think you should get? The the free Philly Show swag? Ah?

00:43:18
Speaker 2: How about the moments that brought us brought us out of our seat in the press box.

00:43:22
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, I like this. That was Schnecksville Mom on Instagram. So there you go. So we'll I'll reach out to her and we'll reach out to her and try to get her a get her a Philly Show. I'm not sure who that is. I'm not sure.

00:43:42
Speaker 4: But how can you get these?

00:43:44
Speaker 3: Todd You can go to the Phillyshow dot com. We'll send you to my website where I sell my books. But you know, just threw it all together at the last minute, and you can go get your T shirts, your Philly Show t shirts. So yeah, but they're by forty seven brand. They're really there, they do. They're really good question fantastic quality, So yes, they are. So so that was fun, guys, Thanks for all the questions. Thanks to the winner for her winning question. Don't forget to go to shipsports dot com backslash tps you can enter to win that free free Mitchell and Neess Phillies hoodie and then you can use the Philly Show promo code to get fifteen percent off everything at ship Sports. I've been to shy, but I've talked to you guys about this. I've been their stories before. It's great spot. So guys, we'll be back later this week. Maybe things are starting to get moving, Maybe the Phillies will starting, Maybe they'll make a move this week going into the Winter meetings which begin next a week from the day Dallas Winter Meetings. So I'll talk to you guys later.

00:44:41
Speaker 2: Smile, Lady boys, explay Jim.

00:44:43
Speaker 3: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. If you like us, give us a review, Follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads. Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Billies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four WYP Morning Show, and MLB Network.

00:45:06
Speaker 2: Find Jim at all pH l y dot com.

00:45:09
Speaker 3: Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network