The Band’s Back Together in Clearwater

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Hi.

00:00:03
Speaker 2: This is Zach Wheeler.

00:00:04
Speaker 3: Welcome to Philly.

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Shown. Hi everybody, Ruben Amorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd's lucky.

00:00:12
Speaker 3: We're coming to you live from Clearwater, Florida.

00:00:16
Speaker 1: We're on the half field, right in front of the half field at bake Care Ballpark, Beautiful Clearwater, Florida, Beautiful bake Care Ballpark. It is Sunday, February twenty third. We're posting this though in the next morning, Monday morning. Rubens, So good to see you.

00:00:31
Speaker 4: Great to be down here, man, I was I was serious, fomo going on.

00:00:35
Speaker 1: You know, this is a serious I think this is like the first time we've all been together since we had Bryce and Chase.

00:00:41
Speaker 3: On and you know, done a live episode.

00:00:43
Speaker 5: So you're gonna do this more often. Yeah, you guys.

00:00:46
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, we're so close.

00:00:47
Speaker 4: Look at this.

00:00:48
Speaker 3: Oh my, that'd be great. That'd be a great screen grab for somebody. Us hugging it out.

00:00:54
Speaker 5: Usually Todd's yelling at us.

00:00:58
Speaker 3: No, I'm good, I'm good.

00:01:00
Speaker 1: Philly's played today. He played the Orioles. We want to talk about some game action. Gabrinconis Gabriel Rinconas Junior hit a big bomb.

00:01:07
Speaker 5: He leaned on that ninety six er.

00:01:09
Speaker 3: He did.

00:01:10
Speaker 5: That guy hit it off Coleman Good Good been a big league time, but you know, I'm sure he saw a minor league invite and said, I'm gonna throw this guy first pitch fastball, and uh, young Gabriel Rinconas hit it into the alligator pond Rubin. He crushed it.

00:01:26
Speaker 1: He did.

00:01:27
Speaker 6: Racona's a big body guy, strong bodied guy, and you know, he missed a lot of time last year with some injuries, didn't play a lot, ended up going I think through the Arizona fall leg and I.

00:01:39
Speaker 4: Mean, this guy looks like a mature, bodied, strong, left handed hitter, and.

00:01:46
Speaker 7: Uh, he's got the ability to play the corner outfield positions. And it's He's an interesting dude anytime you have that kind of bat speed. He dropped head on that on that fastball down and then in a night Trozona lefties.

00:01:59
Speaker 3: And he smoked it. Yeah, power out of bake air.

00:02:03
Speaker 5: That power is very intriguing to this organization.

00:02:06
Speaker 1: Justin Crawford had an opposite field single in the right right before that at bat, so he scored on that home run.

00:02:13
Speaker 3: He had a line drive yesterday in Lakeland.

00:02:15
Speaker 1: It was an out, but a line drive to left center field one hundred and eight point four miles an hour off the bat.

00:02:20
Speaker 3: It was the hardest hit ball the day.

00:02:22
Speaker 1: And talked to him a little bit earlier today I did for a story at MLB dot com, and I said, what do you think you would have done to that pitch? Was about a ninety three mile an hour fastball up in the zone, And said, what would you have done to that pitch? Two years ago when he got drafted, he was about one hundred and sixty pounds about one hundred and ninety five now, he said, And he said, I probably would have hit that ball on the ground to the shortstop and it would have been an easy out.

00:02:44
Speaker 3: So he was getting a little bit strength. He's getting the.

00:02:46
Speaker 1: Ball in the air a little bit more than he did the first couple of years of his minor league career. And you know, the Phillies think that that will continue to come for him, and obviously he's intriguing. He's the number sixty three, sixty seven prospect in all of Major League Baseball.

00:02:59
Speaker 5: It's funny walk in here right over down this little walkway every morning and he's out there working on his bunting against the pitching machine because he's got that type of speed. And I know there's concerns he hits the ball on the ground a lot. But when you have that type of speed, if the shortstop has to move, you know, a few feet to his left or right, you got a chance to beat it out. But you know he is making strives to get in the ball in the air a little bit more. But you know, you look at him and Aiden Miller are both in that game late today and in that game yesterday or Saturday in Lakeland, and you feel like you're watching a bit of the future.

00:03:34
Speaker 7: And they start thinking about people making it a negative that you hit the ball on the ground. Well, you know, I mean think about that first. If Jeff Stone would hit the ball in the air all the time, you think he would have a chance to be a major league player. I think you know, at some point he's going to get stronger and stronger. Naturally you start to hit the ball out front, and I don't want them to take away that, which is a good thing with the Phillies. I don't think they necessarily are taking that piece away. Today was a perfect example. I say today on Sunday he fakes a bunch, the third baseman comes in, he literally slaps one or stay inside down the ball down the left field. That wasn't hit hard, but the reason why he got on base is because the third basement is in. He gets a base hit, he ends up scoring on the home run. I mean, those are the things that he can do now as he gets older and he gets stronger and his body starts to mature. I've talked to Charlie Manuel about this. He's going to, like naturally, start to get out front a little bit more, hit the bottom half of the ball a little bit more, and drive the ball. But right now, just use the whole field, utilize the skills that you have. And I mean, why wouldn't you want to utilize someone with this kind of like eighty speed. I think it's a really important part of it and let him progress and become a more powerful hitter later on.

00:04:52
Speaker 4: And I think that's exactly what's gonna happen with it.

00:04:54
Speaker 5: And that's kind of what they do with Alec Bohm. They let him be himself with his swing, and you know, to ninety seven, you're RBIs in a row. So I think there's a lot of merits what you say, Let the guy swing and let him develop and become the hitter he's gonna be. And you know when he starts catching the ball out in front, that ball will get more left.

00:05:12
Speaker 1: It was funny though, Like Preston Manning when we had him on in late October, he said, we think it's going to develop, but we also we kind of want him to hit the ball on the ground.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: So like they're they're they're okay with it.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: They think it's going to be a little bit better over time, which would be great, which would be a bigger bonus.

00:05:27
Speaker 5: If you don't feel it clean, if you don't feeld it cleanly on that guy he's on base, you know what I you want.

00:05:32
Speaker 4: I do love about the organization.

00:05:34
Speaker 7: Preston manningly understands this that now you can't cookie cutter every single You can't put everybody in the same in the in the same silo as a hitter. Different guys have different abilities, and you want to maximize those abilities. Maybe you know, have them improve in other ones. But but to me, just let those guys do what they do best. Let them do that the best. And and and I think that's what Preston maddenly was trying to stress in the minor leagues, and I think it's something that will continue at the major league level. I mean, they're always developing. Like you saw Shorbur make the adjustment last year and all of a sudden he hit fifty points higher. And you're always trying to make adjustments to be a better player. But listen, if you do something really really well, why take that away? You don't necessarily Not everybody's going to be a home run hitter. Not everybody's Ryan Howard, and not everybody's Dave Kingman, and not everybody's Mike Schmidt.

00:06:22
Speaker 4: You have to be able to, you know, be a more virtual player and be who you are.

00:06:28
Speaker 1: Not it's pretty quiet camp, But there is some news, a little bench development, and we'll talk about that right after these messages.

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00:07:35
Speaker 1: All right, we are back, and so yesterday, oh, actually it was Friday. Rob Thompson told us we saw Paul blugit that Philly's trained to go on the field and talk to Rob Thompson.

00:07:44
Speaker 3: We're like, oh, oh, kind of gets our reporting radar up.

00:07:47
Speaker 1: We asked Rob after the workout on Friday, something going on, he said. Wes Wilson pulled an oblique get the update yesterday Saturday that he's gonna miss six weeks, and then we talked to Wes Wilson today. Obviously super super disappointed, felt bad for him. He came into camp. I mean, he had a great shot to make his first opening day roster. Guy who spent a lot of time in the minor leagues says he has a Grade two strings gonna be out for at least six weeks, don't you know, I don't know.

00:08:14
Speaker 3: You know how those things go. It can be touch and go, it could last a lot longer.

00:08:17
Speaker 1: That maybe comes back quicker, but regardless, he's out of the running now for that final bench spot, and that kind of opens things up and looks like Cody Clemens Buddy Kennedy's odds definitely improve. Cal Stevenson still on the forty men roster. He plays outfiel, he hits left handed. He's probably behind those two guys. I would think, what do you guys see about now the bench situation, because that's.

00:08:39
Speaker 3: Really one of the only spots on this team that's up for grabs.

00:08:41
Speaker 1: It was the last bench spot, the backup catcher, and of course the last man in the bullpen.

00:08:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, like you mentioned, tough break for West and Wilson. He you know, he's a right handed stick, and I think that's something they prefer in that last bench spot because if he looks to pinchhit for Marsh or if he looks to pinchhit for a Max Keplerer, both left. He so a right handed bat attractive. But you know, you don't want to mess around with these obliques because they have a tendency to linger. You gotta really knock them out of there. And I was always under the impression and oblique basically is a month. That's what I've always heard. And to hear it six weeks, well, he said it was a great too, So that's a little more serious. And he's gonna need time to ramp up. And like you mentioned, you know, Buddy Kennedy rises to the occasion hits a home run over in Lake than on Saturday. Is a right handed bat, mostly an infield you can play a little bit of outfield. Clemens has been a good bat for this team off the bench now for you know, a couple of years. And he his left handed though, but I don't see that as a huge detriment. I personally, I think sometimes I'd rather have a good hitter than just have a right handed hitter for the sake of saying you have a right handed hitter and the guy who had a home run on Sunday, Christian Arroyo and not on the roster, but he becomes a little bit interesting.

00:10:00
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:10:00
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it opens up a lot of things and you start, you know, thinking about, Okay, how do they work around us, what do they do to make their best twenty six man roster? And I feel really really badly for a guy like Western Wilson because he's worked so hard to put himself in this position. He's a really good athlete, veryst versatile, he can run the bases, he can do so many different things. Now it's not the end of his season, clearly, but it was very obviously was very upset about this situation. I felt really I got really emotional with him because it's it's a tough break because the guy it's got a great opportunity to really contribute to this team. That said, you know, and you know, you put your GM hat on and you start thinking about, okay, what do we do instead? Does does it Mundo Sosa start taking more out, you know, five balls? Do you start thinking about a guy like Oscar Mercado, who's a very good defender. How does this stand with Johann Rojas who likely was going to make the team anyway, but there was a chance that that maybe he didn't make the team if Western Wilson to him, because he's got you know, he's got options. So it's one of those situations, at least for me, where uh, you start having to look at like different machinations, where what's going to happen here with this, with this roster, and uh, this is all the beauty of baseball, right, the beauty.

00:11:19
Speaker 4: Of the of spring training and working through it.

00:11:22
Speaker 7: And it might you know, you never know, an Otto Kemp could step forward. There's all types of things that could happen that that can open you know, the the brasses eyes and Rob Thompson's eyes, and uh, you know, you just have to keep your eyes, you know, your eyes and your mind open.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: So Sosa is going to play some outfield and Rob Thompson said that, and I think we've talked about this before. Rob said Sosa is going to play outfield in the past and has never really followed through on it.

00:11:46
Speaker 3: He said, now this he's actually working in the outfield. This spring.

00:11:49
Speaker 1: He's really going to get into a game at some point. And I think Rob said this week right, this this week is he might see some action. He wants to see him play left. He wants to see him play center. So obviously if ed Moon as a right handed hitter, concept in him like show some competency in the outfield, that maybe changes the dynamic a little bit. But yeah, Buddy, Kennedy's also going to start to play a little bit more outfield.

00:12:09
Speaker 3: They're going to work came out a little bit more outfield they have not played.

00:12:12
Speaker 1: I think I saw in somebody's story today Sosa and Kennedy combined in Big League and the outfield experience like five and a third innings total or something like that.

00:12:21
Speaker 3: It's like a very a very very small number.

00:12:23
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean they can't do it, But you know, I think Kennedy's odds certainly improve, like you said, and then what about this, there's a lot of guys out there is Opening day comes and teams kind of narrow their roster down and if a guy's not available, Philly's got Christian Pace I think a day or two before opening day in twenty twenty three, and Ruben, you were part of the David Delucchi trade in two thousand and six right before opening day, crushing Chris Coast's dreams of making the opening day roster right as a non roster invite to see you know, so, I mean there's a lot of things that can happen before now, but certainly that this is something that big wrinkle I feel bad for.

00:13:00
Speaker 3: You could tell talking him to Jim right, I mean, he was obviously just crushed.

00:13:04
Speaker 4: Man, has he signed yet?

00:13:06
Speaker 5: He I think he did sign with Milwaukee because he was a guy that was kind of hanging out there too.

00:13:11
Speaker 4: I started thinking about right handed guys.

00:13:13
Speaker 7: But but you're right, I mean, I think there's going to come from in a house that's not going to make or break this team, but it also does give some depth to the ball club, and that's.

00:13:20
Speaker 5: What you want, right And you know, this Sosia thing in the outfield is interesting to me because I think he's a good enough baseball player, good enough athlete to give you some reps out there. I'm not saying play him out there regularly, but I think he could. He could be a backup, He could fill in if he can play some center field. That gives them flexibility at least before the West and Wilson injury. It gave them maybe flexibility with Rojas if you want to sit down and say, okay, do we want to send him triple A so he plays every day and get them more time. So pretty interesting stuff there.

00:13:53
Speaker 3: So an another thing is caught my attention.

00:13:56
Speaker 1: I was talking to our friend of the pod, Kevin Cooney other day. He is a friend of the pot in front of the pot of everyone's Yeah, Kevin Cooney is the mayor of Mayfair, as he likes, as he proclaims himself.

00:14:08
Speaker 3: I think. Anyway, it was interesting.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: So we talked with Nick Castianos last week and and Kevin said, there's a lot of people that don't understand this something that Nick castiano said. And I want to read you this quote because we were talking to him. Nick always has interesting things to say. As you know, he's he's very open, he's not shy, he's not bashful. So we were asking him about expectations and do you think the team can win?

00:14:31
Speaker 3: And then he was talking about how after the season.

00:14:33
Speaker 1: Ended against the Mets, he said, uh, he basically consumed a lot of media. I think he listened to a lot of sports talk radio, and he might have read a lot, might have been on social media a lot. He didn't really get into the specifics, but he said I saw a lot of negativity about this team and how we're not any good and how we can't win, and.

00:14:50
Speaker 3: How the score can't win and whatnot.

00:14:51
Speaker 1: And this is the quote he said, I do think we have less pressure as a team this year, especially with everything the media said about us when we lost the out last year, and we didn't really go out and make any crazy changes. So if we lose, you guys look smart, which is dope, right. But then if we win, it's like a happy surprise, and they basically say it's a freeing place to play baseball. I guess the thing that got maybe some fans confused or riled up was when he said, but if we win, it's like a happy surprise.

00:15:22
Speaker 3: I think you have to take everything perspective.

00:15:23
Speaker 5: I think.

00:15:24
Speaker 1: I think I mentioned this only because in talking to Nick and then talking to everybody in this clubhouse, and this has been kind of a theme the first week and a half of camp is talking to the veterans, why do you think you win? Why do you think after making a few kind of peripheral changes. This team can you know, win a World Series. But everybody in this clubhouse thinks they're really, really good. We've talked a lot about it, a lot that they think that this team is really good and can win a World Series.

00:15:49
Speaker 3: And so I think I think Nick is basically saying.

00:15:51
Speaker 1: Hey, if everybody is saying that, questioning our ability to win a World Series, maybe it'll be a nice surprise for everybody, Dan if we do in a.

00:15:58
Speaker 5: Week, if stay, if anybody in that room wants to cop an underdog mentality, I am fine with it. Wherever you can find motivation to go out and stick it to someone, I'm fine with it. So go get them.

00:16:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I think a lot of the things get sort of misconstrued. There's no question in my mind if people are thinking that Nick doesn't think that this team's good enough to win, I think they're absolutely wrong.

00:16:23
Speaker 4: And because the reality because the reality of it is this, this is a really good baseball team.

00:16:30
Speaker 7: They have to be able to play well when it really counts, and if they can do that, they will win a World Series. If they don't, they won't. And so that's really what it comes down to. I do believe that this is at least a ninety win team. I believe it's a contending team, and I think it's one of the top five teams in baseball. And they just have to prove it on the field. There's no question about it. And that's why you play the games. That's the beauty of the game. But it's really about playing good baseball at the right time.

00:16:57
Speaker 1: Agree and they and they have a lot of guys in this team they're willing to do what it takes. You know, Like obviously Sosa is a utility guy, but he's going to go learn a new position.

00:17:05
Speaker 3: We've talked about JT possibly chegging some balls in left field.

00:17:09
Speaker 1: Saw shwar Brown the half field again today, working out at first base. You know, Harper going to move up in the lineup, Swarburn might move down.

00:17:17
Speaker 3: You know, it's all of these guys.

00:17:18
Speaker 4: A lot of these guys don't care. They just want to go out there and do the right.

00:17:21
Speaker 1: Right I mean, you see what's going on up in Boston with Raphael Devers saying he's not going to move off at third.

00:17:26
Speaker 3: Base right now.

00:17:27
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going to happen there, but it's quite a contrast. I think about what's happened happening here in clear Water.

00:17:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you mentioned Schwarber getting some some looks over here at first base in the half field. They watched him yesterday. And this is the time of year when you do that stuff. This is the time of year when you learn if Sosa can play some center field, when when you get Kyle Schwarber from ground balls at first base, so they can give Bryce Harper a day as the DH get him off his feet and you won't lose Schwarber's bat. So this is the time to get, you know, work in all around the diamond, build a little versatility. But you know, when push comes to shove, As Ruben Likes said, this lineup is gonna be stamped.

00:18:08
Speaker 4: No question about it.

00:18:09
Speaker 7: I mean, you're gonna have You're gonna have your basic lineup, and most of those guys are gonna play every day.

00:18:14
Speaker 4: You do want to give.

00:18:15
Speaker 7: A lot of those guys, especially in the early part of the season, a breather so that they're ready to roll in September and October. But but listen, this is a team that already basically is set and it's a quality ball club with good players and good offensive players, solid defensive players. Uh, there's some people who have to improve. I think marsh has to improve. I think Bryce and Scott asked bounce back year. But but I think it's the core of this ball club is a very solid one. And if I were a GM in any other part of this country, then I would love to have this.

00:18:51
Speaker 4: Sut ball doubt about it.

00:18:53
Speaker 1: So let's take a quick look ahead Tomorrow Tuesday for I'm sorry Monday. I'm sorry today Monday. For our purposes, the Phillies are supposed to play the Pirates. Now, rain is in the schedule, but here's.

00:19:07
Speaker 3: Here's why, Here's why Monday is interesting.

00:19:12
Speaker 1: Paul Skeens is supposed to pitch for the Pirates on Monday against Christopher Sanchez. So that could be a fun I mean, a great matchups for a spring training purposes, you know, a great matchup if it doesn't rain, if there's a hint of Right now, I think Paul Skeens is going to make the trip across the Sunset shin Sunshine skywait Bridge.

00:19:31
Speaker 3: But are you guys looking forward to seeing anything this next week?

00:19:36
Speaker 5: I'm looking forward to seeing Christopher Sanchez because he's I mean, looks like he spent some serious time in the weight room. He looks you know, this guy was break through talent last year, and just looking at the condition he is in coming off the off season, it does not look like he was resting on his laurels. Does not look like he was all of a sudden comfortable with that new contract. Look like he got to work and wants to be better. And he's already alluded to working on a new little pitch or something.

00:20:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he said he was going to work on a new pitch.

00:20:03
Speaker 1: So hopefully we'll see that on Monday, because I'm kind of curious he didn't. He wanted to keep it a little bit under wraps, keep it top secret. I guess to unleash it on the Pirates on Monday. But I am looking forward to seeing what Santus can do.

00:20:14
Speaker 5: Ruben, when you were the GM and you had a wet field and spring training, would would that make you really anxious about, you know, putting your starters out there, or even putting a putting a quality or a top picture on the mound in the on a wet track, when it was sunny and bright.

00:20:29
Speaker 7: I was nervous because I mean, I know Rob Thompson talks about it a lot, but the reality of it is, you want to come out of spring training with your healthy twenty six and it's that's really the most important part. I mean, obviously you want them to gap their sea legs underneath them and they're and they're ready to go, timing wise and all the other stuff, but you have to have I mean, your best ability is your availability, and I think that's what's so important about getting through spring training. That's also one of the reasons why I think they've shortened it up so much. They I mean, the spring trainings have become very very different from what they used to be and they're much shorter, and I think that there is a reason why I think guys want to stay on the field and figure out ways to get their players ready to go on you know, April first or March twenty seventh or whatever it is.

00:21:15
Speaker 5: Both guys are coming in and pretty much tip top shape. That's right. Yeah, it's not like you know, like we talked about recently.

00:21:23
Speaker 3: Charlie selling beer in the off season working for the Hams Brewing.

00:21:26
Speaker 5: Company and Mickey Mantle coming in with a you know, wearing a garbage bag, sweating off that eleven pounds again in the summer, it's big. They're in, They're in, They're ready to go. I mean, you know, you got to see pitches and get your eyes ready, get your hands ready, to get your timing ready. Pitchers need to build workload in arm strength, but in terms of physical condition, they all come in really good shape.

00:21:45
Speaker 7: No doubt.

00:21:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, so a lot more common. Philly Show will be back later this week. If you like the Philly Show, go to the Philly Show dot com. You can pick up a Philly Show t shirt. We got new ones coming in that rumor they might be powder blue. It might be powder blue. So that is a hot rumor, so check that out. Go to Phillyshow dot com. When those are in, we will absolutely let you know. And uh check out the Zach Wheeler episode.

00:22:12
Speaker 5: If you have, check out the Zach Wheeler episode, and also go back and check out the Caleb Coffin episode. I thought it was one of the most informative ones we have done, especially as spring training gets cooking here and you put your eyeballs on the pictures. Check out the Caleb Coffin pitching Coach episode right.

00:22:27
Speaker 1: And and uh yeah, that's that's a great one. Okay, that's a great one. Preston Manity on the Prospects. That was last October, Luke Martin farm director. If you want to learn more about some of those guys we just talked about, check that out.

00:22:40
Speaker 5: Guys, bring it in.

00:22:44
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 Ruben's analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP 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