Bryce Harper Is Back, July Is Here: Big Month for the Phillies

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Speaker 1: Hi, this is Zach Wheeler.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Welcome to Phillies Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 3: Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd z Aleki. It's the Philly Show. It's Wednesday. It's July second, twenty twenty five. Guys, I hope you're doing mighty fine this morning.

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Pet I got I got a little bit of a rest respite.

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Speaker 4: I you know, got the rainout, so you know, didn't have to work again.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well now we got it. Now we got a double dip doubleheader on Wednesday. Tuesday night's game got rained out, so doubleheader's day night doubleheader, old school double header, and I guess old School's back to back one oh five game one, Game two is at six fifteen. You know, the last time the Phillies played the podres in a double header on July second, You don't happen on that day, all right?

00:00:54
Speaker 1: Playing that game?

00:00:55
Speaker 5: Was that.

00:00:56
Speaker 3: It's the thirty two year anniversary today of the Phillies podre playing the MITCHI Pooh double.

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Speaker 2: Header that ended at playing forty one in the morning.

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Speaker 4: I think I started the second game against Andy Bennis, went oh for three and got yanked.

00:01:13
Speaker 1: I think that yanked at three in the morning.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, correct that game started at like one thirty in the morning because I guess game one had like six hours worth of rain delays.

00:01:24
Speaker 2: That's something that would not happen today.

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Speaker 3: They would They're not going to be starting game two of tonight's doubleheader at one thirty in the morning.

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Speaker 1: That is correct.

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Speaker 5: At least when the when the bar is closed in Center City, everybody's like, let's go to the game at two in the morning. People are filing in.

00:01:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, So game one will be I think it's Mick Abel versus Nick Pivetta, and Game two will be Christopher Sanchez against Dylan c So, uh, a lot of a lot of ball today, guys, a lot of ball. But Bryce Harper came back on Monday.

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Speaker 2: Big.

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Speaker 3: We were talking about he's he going to come back on Monday. He's not going to come back on Monday. He came back on Monday. So let's start there with the first pitch. First pitch is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. Bryce Harper on Monday, first game back, right wrist inflammation. He goes over to with a walk, gets hit by a pitch and do we have what are our expectations of Bryce the rest of this season? Because he talked before the game and he made one comment that got everybody kind of in a big to do now he said some other things lay in the conversation that really didn't get written about too much, where he says, I feel great, and no, I I you know, I didn't think my wrist was going to feel any better. Are going to get even better than it already feels, because at the very beginning he said, yeah, my my rehab was kind of at a standstill in terms of how it felt, and everybody took that as, oh my gosh, you still hurt. The risk is still killing him and kind of, like I said, ignore the rest of it.

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Speaker 2: But what do you guys think?

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Speaker 5: Well, I don't know what my expectations are, but I know they need him to produce in a big way. They need him to be a big offensive addition here as July begins. But what you're referring to in terms of I guess he said it had reached a was he used the standstill still? Yeah, I see that as uh, and much to do to do was made about that or much ado? What is it?

00:03:46
Speaker 1: Much Ado? About nothing much Ado Shakespeare.

00:03:48
Speaker 5: Shakespeare, they made a big to do and it was much a do whatever. Anyway, I see him using the word standstill almost like as a synonym for it's it has stabilized. So it really didn't allow me. I think it's just something they're gonna have to manage. It's probably like a little bit arthritis, a little tendonitis. It's gonna pop up from time to time, and you flush it out of there. I mean, if it bothers him the rest of the season, maybe you have to go look at it in the off season in some way, shape or form. But I think it's manageable, and I think he can still be a producer here, and he needs to be a producer.

00:04:31
Speaker 4: I think it's more to management of pain and uh, you know, pain injury. Uh, it's probably sits somewhere in between those two spots. And and basically he's going to play to tolerance. And I think it may affect his swing a little bit. It may he's a pretty violent swinger, and that's one of the big deals with him is that, you know, can he tone it down a little bit. Maybe it's good for him, Maybe it's a maybe it's something that residually makes it makes it and you know, concentrate on making more contact. I mean just having his presence in the lineup and putting him, you know in the in the beginning of that lineup.

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Speaker 1: You start thinking.

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Speaker 4: About what the kind of production those three guys can have at the beginning of that lineup. It can be really interesting. And the fact that they slid him behind Schwarber as opposed to the flip flop, which is what was going on before, you know, I think Topper's doing it because he wants to protect the best hitter in their lineup right now, or the most productive hitter in their lineup, and give him a little bit more protection now that Alec Bohme has been has held off a little bit lately.

00:05:37
Speaker 1: So got no problem with it.

00:05:39
Speaker 4: That may shift and they may bounce around, but and you may see some combination of that of those.

00:05:44
Speaker 1: Four guys at the top of the lineup for a while. But that's okay by me. As long as he's in the lineup. I think he creates a presence.

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Speaker 5: But as for his condition, his his physical condition, the health of the wrist form, whatever you want to call it. Rob Thompson did not seem alarmed at all.

00:05:59
Speaker 1: He did not know.

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Speaker 3: In fact, Jim he got he was asked about you know, Bryce said he was at a standstill, and Rob looked like almost stunned at the props, like he's yeah, perplexed.

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Speaker 2: He was like, standstill.

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Speaker 3: He's like, he's fine, So let's let the audience decide. So these are I want to read you a couple of the things that Bryce said he's and this is the one that got everybody in a buzz. He said, I thought we were kind of at a standstill of feeling the same the last couple of days.

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Speaker 2: So a lot of people took that as.

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Speaker 3: He's going to be dragging this and flamed swollen wrist of the battery box every night. He's like, well, screw it, the wrist is, the wrist is banged up, and might as well just go out there and play hurt. But then he said later, he said, it feels way better than where we where I was three weeks ago, So I'm happy with where where we are. I kind of feel, And then he said this again, it's kind of been at a standstill the last couple of days of feeling good, of feeling good. So he' stabilized, so hopefully it stays there. In other words, and then he said, I'm gonna go out there and play my game if it hurts. If I heard it, it hurts, you know what I'm saying. But I'm not really worried about that right now. I feel great going into today. I'm happy with where I am. So take whatever part of those quotes you want as a Phillies fan. If you want to say that he's you know, he's at a standstill and he's dragging his wrists up there, go for it. But you kind of have to take him at his word. And he says that, you know, going into Monday's game, he said he felt great. He also said, I don't know what it's going to be like a week from now. But he also mentioned this, and there are the next six Thursdays the Phillies do not play a game I think until like the third week of August. They have every Thursday off, So he's gonna have some built in off days that there's not going to be these you know, eighteen games out of in nineteen days stretches. He's gonna have at least one day off every week from now until mid August. So I think that should help him out.

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Speaker 4: I think the other thing is it will be interesting to see is whether he or not plays both ends of this double header. Does he play both ends of this doubleheader. It'll be an interesting test to see because if he's not feeling one, he won't. And I mean a lot of it depends on what the medical people feel and what the what the what the player feels like.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he's got tomorrow off, Thursday off, but I would think you want to see some pitches and get some at bats. If you feel pretty good, you're out there for two games. I agree, you're out there.

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Speaker 4: For I would agree a lot of it depends on how If he really feels fine, then hopefully it'll get his eight or ten played appearance.

00:08:42
Speaker 5: If they feel him back for game two, you know who knows, but we all agree that this guy is super important. Hey, that was first pitch presented exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino. It's Pennsylvania's number one casino Parks Casino dot com. You must be twenty one gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler.

00:09:06
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00:10:09
Speaker 1: We are back.

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Speaker 2: It is July.

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Speaker 3: It's July second, Ruben, when you were GMing, do you get a little tingly tinglely sensation when the calendar flipped from June to July, Because.

00:10:20
Speaker 2: The end of the month is a big part of.

00:10:21
Speaker 4: The season, and I love being in the by mode, which is exactly what this team is. I've heard some people, some pundits out there. I don't know if they should be called pundits, but some folks out there saying that they should sell.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: Who said that, Oh no, I'm not gonna name names.

00:10:41
Speaker 5: Their first place team.

00:10:42
Speaker 4: It's the most silliest thing I've ever heard in my life. But the reality of it is, this is exciting time, and it's a fascinating time. I am fascinated by this more than any other trade deadline. I am fascinated because we know the player that they have to move in these deals would have to move to get the kind of quality that you would sort of like. And it's whether or not they're going to be sort of half in or fully in. And I mean, I don't envy Dave Dombrowski's situation at all, because he's in a tough spot. Do they really really go for it or they play conservatively and trust their team so that they don't. Yes, they're gonna go get a bullpen arm. Are they going to go get the bullpen arm Ala Maxima? Or are they gonna get the bullpen arm that we like and as a rental and it's not going to cost us too much and it's gonna be really interesting to see how it works out.

00:11:46
Speaker 1: Man, How aggressive?

00:11:47
Speaker 5: How aggressive? How aggressive would you be if this was ten or twelve years ago and you had, you know, or you're the guy on this roster with this team, how aggressive would you be?

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Speaker 4: I'd I'd be I'd be fully invested, I think because there's no teams out there that can't be beaten in the World Series. There are no teams that cannot be beaten in the World Series. You can talk about the Dodgers all you want, you can talk about the Yankees all you want. There is not a team in baseball today who does not necessarily get beaten in a seven game series in the World Series. So you got to go for it with this kind of talent.

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Speaker 2: And the Phillies have matched. Yeah, the Phillies have matched.

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Speaker 3: Up Dodgers too bold bait especially how about this too?

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Speaker 2: You know, uh, this rotation is really really really good.

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Speaker 3: And uh, as Steve Carell once said in Forty Year Old Virgin, if you don't use it, you lose it. So do you want to do you want to take advantage of this rotation?

00:12:47
Speaker 1: It might.

00:12:48
Speaker 2: That's what I mean.

00:12:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, it might not be the same. Rangers probably all agree, Rangers probably gone. You don't know what the health is going to be. You hope there's great health again next year, but you know, Zach being another year older, you know, Christopher Sanchez, you know, you don't know what the health is going to be. Like Philly's rotation right now, Leeds baseball just as a general number, war eleven point four. I kind of figured it out. They're on pace for a twenty one point seven war. And that number means nothing to me. But if you look at the entire history of Major League Baseball, that would be tie for the thirty second best rotation of all time, the number one rotation of all time, single season rotation of all time, the twenty eleven Phillies. So a rotation of rotation. Jimmy I a little book about that, Ruben.

00:13:39
Speaker 1: Gm that he's picked up the book. Guys, pick up the book. It's a good one.

00:13:43
Speaker 4: And the person who sort of architected that he was a pretty good one too.

00:13:49
Speaker 1: I'll drop the mic on that for a second.

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Speaker 5: That's all pot ourselves on the back.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, everyone's about I mean the instant in this day and age, you have to celebrate the good things, right, you have to celebrate yourself right, all right, what everybody else is doing.

00:14:02
Speaker 5: Absolutely, you can put a little the vinyls on the back.

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Speaker 3: Ridiculous, Jim, that's great, the vinyls.

00:14:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, silly, Okay, Ruben, Seriously, you've established that you would be aggressive with this twenty twenty five Philly's team.

00:14:25
Speaker 1: Yes, you're going for it. Yes.

00:14:28
Speaker 5: Who's on the table. Who's an untouchable?

00:14:31
Speaker 1: There are no untouchables for me except Painter. Okay.

00:14:35
Speaker 4: Painter is the one untouchable I have and the rest of them will move period.

00:14:39
Speaker 5: I agree.

00:14:41
Speaker 4: One untouchable player in the entire organization. His name is Andrew Painter. Okay, and the rest of the players that I have on my roster and in my organization are touchable, all right, All right, now, now, now you gotta do it with you gotta do it with quality, obviously, and you have to the beauties in the either beholder. There's other teams that may not think that my prospects are all that great. There there may be organizations think that my prospects are great. But as far as just untouchables are concerned, right now, just just one and it's amputated because he because you've got a chance to be a difference maker at the top of the rotation for a long time, and he's close.

00:15:22
Speaker 5: I want Mason Miller and David Bednar.

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, David Bednar for I don't want I don't want Bednar, but he's pitched.

00:15:32
Speaker 2: He's pitched really well this month.

00:15:33
Speaker 1: I want Miller in the nine.

00:15:37
Speaker 4: Seven eight because I don't think Bednar has been in the Wars like the guy, like Chapman has been. I like Chapman over Bednar because I don't think I have to give it.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: I'll give up as much one and two.

00:15:48
Speaker 4: It gives me a chance to to get maybe a different type of player, or an additional bullpend guy or a bat.

00:15:56
Speaker 5: Chapman and Miller will be awfully nice too, So Jim, you're not scared by Mason Miller's little bumps and bruises this year.

00:16:06
Speaker 1: Huh.

00:16:07
Speaker 5: Now, I like that he's got three or four four more years of control. I think, yeah, I don't know.

00:16:13
Speaker 1: I like the veteran. I like the veteran.

00:16:15
Speaker 4: I know Bennar has been around, but he's not not really pitched in the playoffs maybe once maybe once.

00:16:21
Speaker 5: I liked Chapman too. I like, I would just love to come at I would love to make jaws drop with with two late game big arms back there that you know can get some big outs for you get two guys, you add them to kirk ring and and Strom and and.

00:16:42
Speaker 1: So.

00:16:42
Speaker 3: If you do that, though, that means you're not touching the offense. You're just saying, we're gonna roll it out there with Otto kemp And and Max Kepler and left field or yep.

00:16:52
Speaker 1: And then you see and you see at some point if you don't.

00:16:54
Speaker 4: Have to move Crawford in any of those deals, you give Crawford an opportunity and then you figure out what you're gonna do.

00:16:59
Speaker 5: And left field, I just don't know if there is that that Maybe there is, but a right handed bat, is there that big right handed bat that you know propels you over the top. I just I think there are bats that that mitigate their problems, that help maybe yeah, platoon, but you know, I think there's marginal I just don't know that there's that big bat. I think there's more big bullpen arms. And honestly, I see the bullpen to me is more of a an overall.

00:17:30
Speaker 4: Need or even the guy in Minnesota Byron Bux then I'm talking about. I'm talking about the I'm talking about the bullpen guy. And then you have to think about Duran. You got some I think you do have some uh some control over him, so you're giving up a lot. I think Duran you have a couple of years left on him. I don't know what his control is. Honestly, I have not canvassed the rest of the landscape because I've been sort of concentrating on what they're doing internally, because I think that that's what they have to figure out first.

00:18:02
Speaker 1: Where are they internally?

00:18:04
Speaker 4: What do they have and what can they count on offensively and in the bullpen. And I think that's what where my focus has been. Like the Otto Kemp combination with Kepler, does Otto Kemp get more at bats? Does he not get it? Does he only get it bats against left handers in left field. What does the stop play against left handers or does he have in Mundo Sussa play second base. I mean, is it a strict platoon. It's fascinating to see what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks as they approached us, because I think they have to decide what they want to do and how they're going to attack teams when it comes to playoff time.

00:18:52
Speaker 5: Might be hot hand, might.

00:18:54
Speaker 3: Be Ruben Durant has entered this season with three years of service time, so he will be under team control for two more years. Two more years John Durant of the Minnesota Twins, who's an amazing, amazing relief pitcher.

00:19:07
Speaker 4: So two more years of control could could mean, you know, a prospect like Crawford or Aiden Miller.

00:19:15
Speaker 1: I don't know that.

00:19:18
Speaker 3: That's steep price to pay, but you're trying to It's very steep.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: But that's bold.

00:19:24
Speaker 3: That is bold, and and and you know people that get all been out of shape about prospects. I you know, either either you get the players and you make the moves, or you don't make the move. So you gotta you gotta make your decision on what you want to do. You want the Phillies to go for it and try to win a World Series, because if they don't go for it, if Dave Dombrowski makes some you know, he traces trades Gabriel Rinconas junior for a middle reliever and then they lose the World Series because the bullpen falls apart. He is going to get killed because you know, he didn't do enough of the trade deadline, you know. But then if they go all in and they still fall short's gonna be this guy gave up way too much and they didn't win the World Series.

00:19:58
Speaker 2: It's a game.

00:19:59
Speaker 4: That's why it's difficult wearing the black hat and sit in the seat. Man, It's a gamble and sometimes you have to take a chance. And with a team like this, I would take a chance because one it may not happen again. And if you want yourself a championship, you've got a chance.

00:20:12
Speaker 1: To do it.

00:20:13
Speaker 4: Because the Detroit Tigers are not a lockdown for winning the World Series.

00:20:17
Speaker 5: You can only win, as the GM President Baseball by winning. That's the only way you win.

00:20:23
Speaker 1: Exactly.

00:20:24
Speaker 5: Remember the trade deadline? What was the trade deadline year? Ruben was a GM. It might have been one of you. Last years we were in Washington and they did nothing. Remember that, Todd, Well, wait are you talking about the You were kind of trying to move off off You're trying to move pieces and you held on to everybody. We crushed you.

00:20:45
Speaker 1: As you should have. I couldn't. There's nobody I can move. Everybody's hurt.

00:20:50
Speaker 5: Everybody wanted to give you nothing. They all wanted to give you like a bag of rice for a player.

00:20:55
Speaker 2: That's right.

00:20:56
Speaker 1: I do remember this probably thirteen.

00:20:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there was, Yeah, there was nearly nothing going on in terms.

00:21:02
Speaker 1: Of I was trying to move like a J.

00:21:04
Speaker 4: Burnett and those kind of guys and like you know, and Neil Huntington was trying to tell me who to move, who to give him a game, like the fiftieth best prospect they had.

00:21:13
Speaker 5: I was like, what, what's the most like the most absurd trade request you ever got from a rival GM that made you like take that phone and throw it.

00:21:24
Speaker 1: That was one of them. That was one of them. I mean they wanted to give me.

00:21:27
Speaker 4: Like their thirtieth best prospect. They said, thirtieth best. Your first best prospect may not be in the big leagues.

00:21:36
Speaker 1: I mean, don't disrespect to Neil, but I mean I'm like, what are you doing?

00:21:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is funny to hear about how other gams. I guess you kind of have to do this, all right, but other jams just just dump on all your players. I remember back in the day, right people were calling Ed Wade about Ryan Howard and one GM that Rubin you know, said he's nothing but Sam Horn. He's just another Sam Horn.

00:22:03
Speaker 1: That was crazy.

00:22:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then it's like, really.

00:22:07
Speaker 1: He held out.

00:22:08
Speaker 2: He's like he's he's a little bit better. He's gonna be better than Sam like that.

00:22:11
Speaker 5: Where do they find a hole in his swing?

00:22:13
Speaker 1: You know?

00:22:14
Speaker 2: The fifty eight home runs later, no doubt that.

00:22:18
Speaker 1: I remember I was trying to move Marlon Byrd.

00:22:21
Speaker 4: I had signed him to a two year deal and there was a bunch of teams that needed right handed power, and he had hit some balls, you know, he'd had like twenty some home runs or whatever, and somebody wanted to get what I asked for a compensation pick.

00:22:34
Speaker 1: What is that the thirtieth fifth pick or thirty eighth pick, And.

00:22:39
Speaker 4: The particular GM, who I have a great deal of respect for, put a dollar amount of what they value that thirty eighth pick at long term, and it was something like seventy million dollars. And I thought to myself, So, a guy you have not chosen yet, who is sitting in somewhere in college, in high school right now, you're putting a seventy million dollar value on that player. I said, well, I want to see your I want to I want to see your laptop to see what kind of you know, what kind of stuff you're you're coming up with, what your analytics folks are coming up with as far as value on players, because the chance of that guy becoming a major league player was probably like seven percent. And now I can't even get Marlon Bird for the guy who's got twenty some home runs, who's performing at the major leagues. It was silliness and trying. And that's when I thought to myself, Oh, I don't know if I'm right for this job anymore. I don't think I'm valuing the players properly or something.

00:23:45
Speaker 1: It's weird. It was weird man to me.

00:23:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love to be a flying the wall out of whatever.

00:23:51
Speaker 4: Kind of pacoda they were coming up with at that time.

00:23:56
Speaker 1: I didn't have that. I didn't have that same guy writing my programs except but.

00:24:05
Speaker 5: When July comes for a for a GM. When July comes, I mean, I imagine, you know, you're thinking about your team, but also it's almost NonStop.

00:24:13
Speaker 1: But what can I do? What can I do?

00:24:15
Speaker 2: What can I do?

00:24:16
Speaker 1: Right? It's it's fun. It's a fun time, man.

00:24:19
Speaker 4: No, And the best part about this time is that you can grat you sort of gather everybody because everybody has to be part of this decision. You have to be able to evaluating your own number one evaluate what is this player going to become when I trade him? And or what will he become and how will this affect this long term short term. I loved having like the guys like Salagustinelli, you know, being able to have him available to ask him.

00:24:49
Speaker 1: About a guy who's way down below.

00:24:51
Speaker 4: Maybe I could snag a kid that's eighteen years old, or whatever the case may be. It's just fun to have all those people, all the department heads to get there and discussing all this stuff.

00:25:01
Speaker 5: So when Mick Abel pitches uh this afternoon Wednesday, afternoon first came to the doubleheader Phillies front office and everybody runs the Phillies. They're looking at him in two ways. You know, how can he help us the rest of twenty twenty five? And they're also thinking, can we afford to, you know, move on from this guy if we get the right piece back. They're kind of balancing, you know, the two prongs of it all.

00:25:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be. I mean, he's a guy that I think. It's funny.

00:25:33
Speaker 3: I feel like in the last week or two, everybody kind of assumes that if they're going to make a big trade, he might be the guy to go.

00:25:38
Speaker 1: But you never know, you never know.

00:25:39
Speaker 5: He could be in the bullpen.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: He could be in the bullpen exactly.

00:25:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, he could be a big bullpen piece in October, you know, no doubt about it. But oh, all Star selections, I think are going to be announced on Sunday. Let's put our who's who's making the All Star team for the Phillies.

00:25:58
Speaker 4: MS, Turner the guys for me, and then you obviously have Wheeler and Suarez.

00:26:05
Speaker 2: About Sanchez, Sanchez think he.

00:26:08
Speaker 4: Could I mean, if it continues, if you have if he if he has another couple of really good starts here coming up, then he's got a shot at it too.

00:26:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:26:15
Speaker 3: Nowadays, nowadays they make the announcement and then like half the pitchers drop out because they're not going to pitch in the All Star Game, and the eight guys get picked. I think that's how Sanchez might have made it last year, was a bunch of guys dropped out. So yeah, I think Turner for sure. Schwarber Wheeler, yep, I.

00:26:32
Speaker 5: Would love to see.

00:26:33
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:26:34
Speaker 5: I'd love to see Wheeler start that game. I mean that ballpark in Atlanta. It's outside the city limits. You actually have to cross the Chattahoochee River to get to when you're driving up that freeway there. So, but it's in the town called Smyrna and he was actually born there. He played in the Smyrna Little League. Wouldn't that be really cool for Zach Wheeler to start the All Star Game.

00:26:58
Speaker 4: It's a great storyline and it should right and it should happen.

00:27:01
Speaker 1: He's the best pitcher they have.

00:27:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd love to see it.

00:27:05
Speaker 3: It makes so much sense. You know, Paul's skiing courses at a great year. But I mean, Zack Wheeler is on a first place team with also Cy Young caliber numbers and he's from Atlanta, So I think it would make a lot.

00:27:16
Speaker 4: I can't imagine that they wouldn't that that that the people at Major League Baseball would not capitalize on that, It would be ridiculous if they don't.

00:27:23
Speaker 1: Now if if it turns out in the rotation, you can't pitch, I get it. But he's the guy. It's very simple, but no.

00:27:29
Speaker 5: I also, if you're looking to capitalize and get buzz and pop, Skeins is a pretty good place to go too. The romantic in me would like to see Zach Wheeler start, you know, a couple of miles from where he played Little league.

00:27:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be fantastic. So Phillies again.

00:27:50
Speaker 3: They play doubleheader on Wednesday, and then the Reds roll into town this weekend. But if you're looking for something to do, Ruben's always got a place to recommend, He's got Park's Casino.

00:28:01
Speaker 1: Rube Right. Yeah.

00:28:02
Speaker 4: If you guys love music like I do, and you know, there's nothing like a great concert from one of your favorite groups. And I'm pretty excited to tell you who will be rocking the Excite Center at Park's Casino.

00:28:14
Speaker 1: It is my casino of choice. It's up in Bucks County, it's a street road exit off.

00:28:19
Speaker 4: I ninety five. And here is the lineup July third. That's that's tomorrow, July third, Gary Clark Junior. Saturday September sixth, it's ub forty and Saturday September twenty at the Australian Pink Floyd Show, which I wish you were here, fiftieth anniversary Friday September twenty sixth. It's the Revitalists and then there's so much, so much more psychedelic furs and guests.

00:28:46
Speaker 1: Gary Newman are going to be there. Gary Newman, Yeah, Gary Newman on a temph can you dig it?

00:28:51
Speaker 5: I remember he was an eighties guy. What did he say?

00:28:55
Speaker 4: I can't remember the number, I can't remember the song, but he had good stuff man and then almost Queen a little tribute to Queen as well. Tickets for all shows or Parkscasino dot com. You must be twenty one gambling problem one eight hundred gambler. Now remember this is a place not just to go to concerts, but you grab something to eat prior to the gastro pub. There's all types of stuff to do, chickys and pets and it's just a great place.

00:29:21
Speaker 1: Maybe you have a date night.

00:29:22
Speaker 4: Maybe you have, you know, just to hang out with the boys or the girls.

00:29:26
Speaker 1: Parks. Casino, man, it's my casino choice.

00:29:29
Speaker 5: I am so in on the psych Firs. There's a hot break beat.

00:29:34
Speaker 4: Hey, don't forget you gotta be twenty one gambling problem, one hundred gambler.

00:29:37
Speaker 1: I gotta say that because it's illegal.

00:29:39
Speaker 2: If I don't, we don't want to get you thrown into there.

00:29:42
Speaker 1: No, I don't want to get thrown in jail, not yet.

00:29:46
Speaker 3: So so every week we get this great giveaway from shot our friends at shay Ventured Sports.

00:29:52
Speaker 2: So check this one out. If you're watching us on.

00:29:54
Speaker 3: YouTube, you know is a beautiful hat celebrate the Fourth of July with the powder blue Phillies Independence Hall logo cap exclusive exclusive exclusive to shy Benched Sports. If you were watching us on YouTube, take that QR code, get your phone out, scan the QR code and you can enter for a chance to win that hat. If you're not watching us, you can go to shibe sports dot com backslash tps. It's a powder blue hat with the old school Phillies logo.

00:30:26
Speaker 2: Little Independence Hall logo on the side of the hat.

00:30:30
Speaker 3: It was a logo It was on the sleeve patch of the Phillies home and away jerseys between nineteen eighty four and nineteen ninety one.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: So pretty cool hat, Pretty cool hat.

00:30:44
Speaker 3: Two weeks ago, Tyrone Samson of Philadelphia won a hat from Shipe Sports. And then, yeah, then I remember the guy's name from yesterday. I want to make sure I give him a shout out. Brennan Bechtold of Elizabethtown won a hat last week through Shy Benjured Sports. So I remember, go to ship sports dot com backslash team nice.

00:31:03
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, So I want to.

00:31:08
Speaker 3: This that this hat reminds me of, you know, some of the old school Phillies, the eighties Phillies. Steve reinds you of Steve Carlton. And I just wrote a story yesterday about Steve Carlton getting his three thousand strikeout on April twenty ninth, nineteen eighty one. He say, well, why did I write a story about that? Well, Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday night could become the twentieth member of the three thousand strikeout club.

00:31:31
Speaker 2: And so I wrote this story.

00:31:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wrote this story about Lefty goes out this game against the Expos, He's got two thousand, nine hundred and ninety seven strikeouts. Okay, and he strikes out the side in the first inning. So I write this story. Got a lot of great quotes from Larry bo I went back and read the old newspaper stories Pete Rose, Tug McGraw, Dallas Green. And the last, the third strikeout that inning to give it left three thousand strikeouts, was a guy by the name of Tim Wallack, Tim Walker, great Eli, Tim Walk had a great career. Now as it was written in the newspaper stories, Tim Wallack, it was a three to two sladder. It was off the plate, and so Tim Wallack was kind of walking on the first baseline, and the old umpire Frank Pulley.

00:32:23
Speaker 2: Rang him up right, rang him up, rang them up.

00:32:27
Speaker 3: Dick Williams was the manager of the Expos, and after the game he lamented the fact that that's how Lefty got his three thousand strikeout. He's like, it would have been great if it was like a more legit strikeout. But he's like, I think Frank got caught up in the moment a little bit, Like I think he wanted Lefty to get that strike up. So our good friend Chris Wheeler sent me he read the story, sent me a text. He's like, I got to tell you this story about before the game. So Wheels, before the game, he was friends with Frank Pully. So he said before every whenever Frank came into town, and he would always go down to the umpire's room and say hi to Frank.

00:33:04
Speaker 2: And so Frank.

00:33:07
Speaker 3: Their chit Batton and Frank says the wheels. He goes, where's Lefty at? What is he?

00:33:12
Speaker 2: Where's he at?

00:33:12
Speaker 3: He's like, he needs three, he needs three to get three thousand, and Frank looks at Wheels and goes, it'll.

00:33:19
Speaker 2: Be quick, It'll be quick. So Dick Williams was correct.

00:33:29
Speaker 3: Frank got caught up in the moment, maybe a little bit in that first st inning, and as long as it was close to.

00:33:34
Speaker 2: The plate, he rang up Tim Wallack.

00:33:38
Speaker 5: Well he could get away with it then because there were none of the metrics, and there was no box on the TV that they embarrassed the umpire with, and no you know the ball going on the all the websites, you can measure one millimeter. They Frank Pulley, he had a wide one man, especially on getaway Day.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: Well, I will tell you that it was a great great I was batboying that day.

00:34:01
Speaker 2: You were, Oh cool.

00:34:02
Speaker 1: I was.

00:34:03
Speaker 4: I was the official bat boy in nineteen eighty one, and that was before I sort of yeah, and that was before I sort of relinquished that job in eighty three. But I was the official bat boy at that point and I was there for that moment, and it was unbelievable because you know, Carlton and Schmidt were like my guys growing up, So it was awesome to be on the field for that.

00:34:27
Speaker 2: That's very cool. That's very cool.

00:34:28
Speaker 3: So so again, look at if you want to win a hat that hat from Shy Injured Sports, scan the QR code on your screen or go to shibe sports dot com backslash tps. Stop by Shy Injured Sports at Thirteenth and Walnut in Center City before your next trip to Citizens Bank Park. Guys, we'll be back later this week to wrap up the podre series and do a little look ahead.

00:34:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, just wanted it mentioned a couple of things. We lost a couple of really really special people.

00:35:00
Speaker 4: And Dave Parker Dave so unfortunate that we lost him the Cobra, and we used to call him Parkway. He was a teammate of mine and just a wonderful, wonderful man. And for him to be to pass away just before his induction into the Hall of Fame is really and we're just just a great, great player, and I wanted to give him some love. I remember one time the Pirates in the and the Phillies were were actually getting into a fight. That's me back when the Phillies. Phillies and the Pirates had a big rivalry and there was a fight on the field.

00:35:34
Speaker 1: I remember Mike Ryan Irish like in the middle of the pile, all the way from the bullpen. He was always scrapping. But my dad was standing with Willie Stargell.

00:35:43
Speaker 4: It was Billy starge on one side, Dave Parker on the other, and I was standing on the standing in the dugout like, you know, watching this thing happen and we're all piled up. But my dad was on the sideline with in the middle of Stargell looked good and uh and the Cobra.

00:35:58
Speaker 1: And they were like messing with them, I mean talking. My dad was, you know, my size, he.

00:36:01
Speaker 4: Was tiny, and I'm like, I'm like, looking, are they really are they messing with my dad?

00:36:07
Speaker 1: Am I going to go and then someone grabs me.

00:36:09
Speaker 4: Goes, dude, they're just messing with him, and you're not going after you get your ass hand of tea.

00:36:13
Speaker 1: They were giants.

00:36:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, they were two, you know, two big guys, and they were just grabbing my dad and shaking him around and I'm messing with him.

00:36:20
Speaker 1: My dad was like, don't you mess with me. He's looking at it, brother. It's so funny.

00:36:24
Speaker 5: I think Parker, I think Dave. I remember him well for my youth. I mean I remember that throw in the Old Dome and the All Star Game in Seattle, and uh, I want to say he was like the first time I ever heard the expression five tool player.

00:36:39
Speaker 1: Huh Okay, you know maybe he.

00:36:41
Speaker 5: Was five tool right.

00:36:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, he could, he could run when he was young, big man, he does, knees came out.

00:36:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was.

00:36:50
Speaker 5: That m VP season he had was amazing. I remember the first a l CS I covered I would have been eighty eight and he was in it. I think it was the Yeah against it was he was with Oakland against the Red Sox. And yeah, he was a kind of a mythic figure. Giant man, big personality, a lot of charisma.

00:37:11
Speaker 4: Oh guy, and the other quick story I talked about this on the air, but that was my very first appearance in the major leagues was to pinch run for Cobra. He got on base in the ninth inning. In the eighth inning, bottom of the eighth inning, got a base hit, hit a bullet off the right field wall, ball came right back to whoever was playing right field for Detroit, couldn't get the second base, so he's at first. They sent me out there to pinch run, and that was my very first time I ever got on the major league baseball field.

00:37:41
Speaker 1: That was my first appearance running for him.

00:37:43
Speaker 4: I ran on, gave a little low five, got to the bag, and then somebody buttoned me over to second base and we ended up not scoring. But that's in a whole nother story. But but yeah, that was my first appearance. The only other person I wanted to mention, of course, is John Desangro. Sang, who we talked about what we called him uh died tragically in the last you know, within the last few days. Sang associate producer Temple Icon worked for John Cheney for years and years and years. He was a sabbat great person, sweet sweet man and we lost him a few days ago, and he's associate producer NBC Sports Philadelphia, worked with him for a long time and he was on those on those charters for years and years and years.

00:38:32
Speaker 1: Kindest soul in the world.

00:38:34
Speaker 4: I just wanted to give him some love and love to the family as well, that we lost a wonderful man.

00:38:41
Speaker 1: Over And you probably knew him really well too, Jim.

00:38:44
Speaker 4: I would think got to testing to him quite quite quite well at NBC Sports.

00:38:48
Speaker 5: Right, And that was a very nice tribute. And you're right, you're right. Just an incredibly kind man. I don't know any any other way to put it. And that's a pretty pretty good legacy when people think you're a kind soul, is a gentleman. He was a task master. I mean, there was nothing he couldn't do and nothing he didn't get get done. That's why John Cheney always wanted him on his hip at Temple, That's why NBC Comecast wanted him in their truck. And I, you know, I'm miss seeing him. I you know, every pretty much every road game. I would bump into him up in the up in the dining room because we both like to get that pregame coffee he would come up and fill up and take his coffee back to the truck, and we always have this thing. He'd say, coffee is really good here, Jim, and it has a coffee tonight, John. So we always had this this running sort of yelp review of the coffee in real time. So really, but you're right, just a good, good dude, and it was just heartbreaking to lose him.

00:39:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, super nice. I just might image of John as always just him. I've always felt like he was always moving with the purpose. You know, he always felt like he was wherever he needed to be he needed to get there like five minutes ago.

00:40:09
Speaker 2: Because it's like, you know, he's like hey, Todd Howard. He was always he's always running. He had a job to do, he got it done.

00:40:16
Speaker 3: He was not kind of loafing around chit chat, and you know he if somebody had to go somewhere, he went there, He got his coffee, he went back to the truck, He waited to go down the field, wherever he needed to go, he went and did it.

00:40:28
Speaker 2: John was always on the move. So just yeah, just a super nice guy.

00:40:31
Speaker 3: Always always had a hello, always, always always.

00:40:35
Speaker 1: Prayers to those families, Prayers to him. Absolutely.

00:40:38
Speaker 2: We will be back later this week.

00:40:40
Speaker 5: Smell ya.

00:40:43
Speaker 8: 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 Phillies game games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four WYP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all pH l y dot com. Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network