The J.T. Realmuto Injury and Surgery

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Speaker 1: Hi, this is Chase Utley and this is the Phillies Show. By everybody. Welcome to the Phillies Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury. I'm Todd Zelecki. We are getting together today to get some reaction with the JT. Real Muto news that he is having meniscous repair surgery. He is going to miss four weeks. Huge blow for the Phillies. There's no if sands or butts about it. He is the backbone of this team, you know, players, his teammates talk about it all the time. The drop off behind real Muto is significant. But my initial take on this when I listened to Dave Dombrowski talk yesterday in Boston, is this Maybe this is the blessing in this. You guys might think I'm crazy, but I say that because of this four weeks, it could have been a lot longer. It could have been a lot worse. If you nip this in the bud now, you don't have something pop up where he's playing through pain the next couple months. Also, now it's September sixth, Holy crap, I can't play on my knee anymore. I gotta get surgery or or he's just got a big drop in production the rest of the way, and he's not JT Real mutto in the in the postseason. So that's my opinion, blessing in disguise. Jim, you wrote something today was I was curious about you talked with Eric Kratz a story at phl Y and he had something similar. So did what did Eric Kratz have to say about this for himself and for JT's injury?

00:01:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I agree with you. I know you're saying the timing is a blessing because you have enough season left. If this was, you know, August thirty and all of a sudden it was becoming debilitating and he had to be cut on, you're gonna lose him for the postseason. So the timing is good because he's gonna have plenty of time to recover, come back, rehab, get hot, be himself again. But yeah, when you know I heard you know, Real Mudo is gonna have this surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee. I thought of Eric Kratz in twenty thirteen, Ruben was the GM You were at the game, I'm sure because it was in Milwaukee. Todd I was at the game. Todd never missed a triple to Milwaukee. The food is really good there. I heard he's also a Milwaukee native. Mom's cooking as good anyway. Yeah, I mean there was a night Kratz stepped on first base awkwardly and four nights four days later, had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee. He had some pain in the knee leading up to it, stepped on the bag awkwardly and something went wrong, so he was back. He had the surgery on June twelfth, and he was back catching at Lehigh Valley on minor league rehab on July eighth, less than one month. They were conservative conservative with him, made him stay there for a week or so, but he was back in the big leagues in just just over five weeks and just got some of his insights. He thinks JT's gonna feel great. You know, he offered the disclaimers. You know, they have to get in there see what's going on. He's not a doctor. But if everything if there are no surprises during the surgery rehab goes well, j Tacher come out of this feeling great and picking up on Dave Dombrowski's timeline of about a month. He thinks that's very realistic to be back in about a month. Does that mean, you know, twenty nine days? Does that mean thirty five days, thirty eight day, that's all about a month. But I think where we are in the season mid June, with a nice cushion on the braves playing well, you have some you know, legitimate options in backups in march On and Stubbs. I think that it can be a quick rehab, but it doesn't have to be a hasty we got to get him back overnight rehab. They can do it the right way and still get him back with a lot of season. And Eric Kratz, a guy who caught professionally for nineteen seasons in the majors for eleven seasons, had a similar injury, believes that JT is going to come back and be just fine. So I was really curious to hear his insights, given that he played the same position and had a very similar injury.

00:04:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to put my manager hat on and talk about this a little bit. And then GM had on and I think that's one of the things that you know, Rob Thompson talks about privately and publicly is injury. That's what he's worried about the most. And uh and and that was one of the big concerns. That was the I think the original injury occurred when he slipped in uh in the series against San Francisco. The weather was terrible here in Philadelphia. We had a really really bad stretch of weather in early May where there was playing like seemingly, you know, in a rain downpour every single game, and that's sort of where he originally heard it. It sort of sort of bothered him for quite some time. You know, as we've talked about, one of the toughest guys in the world continues to play with it. And but there was pretty significant drop off of his offense. And I think it had a lot to do with the fact that he was, you know, trying to nurse nurse this thing through. So Uh, I don't disagree with you, Todd, and that the timing of it is not bad. The fact that it's not a major surgery. I've had surgery the the meniscus between ninety two and ninety three doctor Philip Morone, God bless him. Uh. He did my surgery and actually did a nice job. I've never had knockwood. I've never had an issue. Since the rehab was very quick. I could have probably been on the field within weeks, really believe it or not. And really what happens in a muniscus tear is and where your knee starts to get locked up and sore is the piece that tears away or what have you. It sometimes doesn't fully tear and it flips into your joint, so it doesn't allow your your need to kind of work the way it normally does, and so you have to snipe it and clean it out. Depending on how much the tear is and how significant it is. Hopefully it's probably going through it right now or just already went through the surgery. Hopefully it's not that big of a deal and he can get it get it going. Nowadays, I mean it was ninety two ninety three. Nowadays, the way they can rehab and the way they prehab and all that kind of stuff, and the kind of shape he is in physically, I would not be surprised if within the next couple of weeks he doesn't start doing you know, activities. I would be They want guys to start walking and working and doing things almost immediately on this type of thing, and it's not like he's gonna have a lot of downtime physically.

00:07:19
Speaker 2: So that's what Kratz said. Krat said, if you offer a piece of advice, he would say, you know, start doing it, get on it and do activity immediately. I'll start moving, walk on it. Whatever. You can't get the swelling out of there. And Kratz said that he was at a charity function a week after the surgery, at a charity function for the Phillies. Somebody said, hey, how's your rehab going, And you know, he went into a deep catcher squad to show that I'm feeling really good. And you know, just to be clear, the meniscus, it's like a fancy it's essentially a piece of cartilage, and it's a cartilage repair. And I've always envisioned it as like, you know, you get a little flap, you get a bug caught in your eye, and you know, all of a sudden you well up and it's stuck underneath and it's rubbing against everything and it's uncomfortable and sore and painful, and you know, somebody goes in it with a tweezer and pulls it out, cleans out, cleans it out. I've always envisioned that it's kind of similar in fixing this up. So not a major, not a major surgery, thank goodness. And Ruby you mentioned how tough that guy is. He is just tough. That last game of the Milwaukee series and the whole Milwaukee series at all.

00:08:30
Speaker 3: They get smoked in his drain, he get he gets smoked in the face and a play at home, I mean, and he just you know, kind of shakes things off. And he's fortunate that he's not, you know, he's not one of those guys that can be susceptible to concussions, because if that was the case, I mean, there's a lot of guys who are like that. Fortunately for him, his brain's intact.

00:08:51
Speaker 1: Ruben you mentioned getting a GM had on it, and Dave Dombrowski said yesterday was asked, does this effect how you look at and moved toward the trade deadline?

00:09:01
Speaker 3: He said, no, not right now.

00:09:02
Speaker 1: A short term you have Garrett Stubbs in Raphael Marshaan, how comfortable are you guys with those guys handling the load and how maybe nervous are you with the minor league depth of Triple A depth, Jim, you talked about it a little bit yesterday. I mean, before this is even announced, you have a Ramas Garcia down there and not much else in terms of big league experience ready to play. So let's start Stubbs and Marshaan. Can they handle these handle this role for a month for five weeks if that's.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: What it is, You know, I think so. This team has a history of handling adversity, at least the last three years pretty darn good, right. I mean, they lose Bryce Harper when he gets hit by Blake Snell on June twenty five of twenty twenty two, and you know they missed them for like fifty two games, and they go thirty two and twenty. You know, one of the guys that really stepped up was real Mudo at that at that point coincident, he went, you know, he had hit over three hundred the rest of the way after a slow start mid eight hundreds. Ops. You look at the way they stepped up with Sosa filling in for Trey Turner. They lost Hoskins, they lost Harper again last year. If you remember in twenty two twenty two down the stretch they lost Eflyn, they lost Wheeler briefly, and Bailey Falter really filled the breach very well. So they have a history of guys stepping up. It's going to have to happen in the persons of march On and Stubbs. I think they're capable. I both think they have strengths. They both have strength. I think they're probably itchy for this opportunity. I'm really eager to see march On really good receiver. We've been writing about him forever. He has had trouble staying healthy. But it's a nice little audition for him. Some of his strengths of receiving and defense and working with the pitching staff. You know, he shows himself well here. He might be the backup catcher next year. And who knows where Stubb's going to be. Stubbs shows himself well here. He may be solidifying his role for a earlier I don't know, but it's a great opportunity for both guys. Do they need more depth, I mean I think they probably do at the upper levels. I mean JT just didn't seam right. I mean the last handful of handful of the last couple of weeks, and you worried about if he was going to have to go down, and would it be nice to add some more depth. Yeah, it's tough to find. There are some guys out there. I'm sure any front office worth its salt is looking under every stone to fortify in the wake of this news.

00:11:40
Speaker 3: No, Ruben, Yeah, I would think so. I mean, obviously, the catching position is the specialized positions a little bit like having a quarterback backup quarterback. You know, you want to have somebody who can step forward and be ready to play. You know, seventy percent of the games, eighty percent five percent of the games if someone catastrophically were to go down. This is not that situation. And I think there's gonna be some patience on Dave Debrowski's radar right now. That said, you know, I agree with you. I think that they're going to be fine. I think they've got, you know, that next man up, next man out mentality, and and I think that the clubhouse, Rob Thompson, they sort of nurture that, Hey, come on in here, help us out. You're going to be part of our team and let's move this thing forward. I mean, you saw what David Dall. Did you see what Cody Clements did you see obviously what Edmundo Sosa has done over the last several weeks. The great thing about this is offensively, you're going to get Turner back here shortly. You are also going to get Brad Brandon Marsh back here shortly. Those are all pluses and uh and and that's a good thing. And you have a ten game that's right, ten game pushing on the Atlanta Braves. And so this team is pitching is just too good for them to go in a tank unless everybody breaks. It's just too good. The starting pitching you saw yesterday with uh, you know, with Wheeler, he comes out little rusty in the beginning, and then just deals. I mean, that's that's what you get. Strom finishes Strom and Alvarado finish. Uh. Just terrific. And just by the way, for all the people who are panicking about Alvarado from two days ago or three days ago, uh, you know, that's Rob Thompson just throwing guys right back out there. I believe in you. I understand you have a bad day. Who cares You're still going to be in that situation again the next time out? And he sends him out there and he deals so everybody can take a good, nice breather, and that's that's how it works here with the Phillies this year. I am very interested to see Marshaun play. There is a history of catchers from mar Chivo, Venezuela who can really really catch. They have Venezuelan catchers are really good defensively, and it's a good He has been hurt a lot. I've heard a lot about him. I know I talk got a chance to chat with him. He is really invested in the defensive side of the game. For a young player, most guys are, you know, worried about their offense. And he's a switch hitter. I mean he can, he can hit a little bit. I don't know what kind of hitter he will be at the end of the day at the major league level, but the kid can catch. I love the way he receives. I think he's totally invested in a defensive part of the game. And that's all. They really need. Somebody to kind of run the games, and stub Stubby does a good job. He throws well. Marshaun sains sort of thing. He throws well, he catches well. I think he's gonna have to learn this staff much more than Stubby. He does just because Stubby's been doing it and catching these guys for a while. But I have no issue with this other than the fact that at some point you're gonna have to get this guy back because he's such an important part of this ball club. And you will get him back within the next three to five weeks.

00:15:00
Speaker 2: He'll be with a lot of season to go, he'll be healthy, he'll have a little juice in the batteries. This this has a chance to work out really well, and I can't wait to see marchha On. I think Sally Gustinelli first saw him as a like thirteen or fourteen year old middle infielder in Saint Martin and talk to him, talk to the dad, said you would like to put your you know, you think you could go behind the plate, and that's how that's how they ended up with him.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: A little bit like Choos right, cho a basement from Panama, you know, five seven five eight five five eight second basement signed for four thousand dollars. Now Marshaan, I think signed for a little bit more than that. But that said, anytime, anytime you get a switch in and catcher who can handle himself behind the dish. It's the weakest position offensively anyway. And if he can have a guy, I mean, one of the most wortant things for this staff right now is who can handle the staff and run this game without frustration, right for the pitching guys on the mouth. And if you can do that, that's what you need.

00:16:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely, would you guys, you would want JT to still travel and be around every day, right Todd?

00:16:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would think so. If you can be around every day, absolutely. I mean he's such a tremendous presence and he studies. I mean, this guy, you know, he he's always working with the pictures and studying. He's got his iPad out, he's got his papers out. Before every start, he goes over stuff. I mean, what a tremendous asset to have, you know, for for stubs and especially for Marshawn. If Marshan's got a question, what a great guy to go to and say, hey, what do you think about this plan with it for this hitter or whatever the case may be. So I would love to have JT around, you know. And and JT is the type of guy too, I think he will make himself available. He has told Marshawn he will make himself available, so keep him around. Tremendous, tremendous guy. And you know he's got such a great presence just.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: To Yeah, I can foresee all three of these guys, uh in the pictures meeting with Cavin Coffin and Kaplan, Brian Kampelan and all the guys that are, you know, putting the plans together. I absolutely can see these guys being together discussing, working through and attacking and game planning these hitters.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: Okay, So so bottom line, we're not panicking.

00:17:24
Speaker 1: I'm not panicking. You guys said ten game lead. You've got this starting pitching staff. I mean, this is that's the best bumper you can have right now. When you lose a catcher like that, an offensive catcher like that, it's more than an offensive catcher. But the starting pitching staff. You've got Turner coming back, You've got Marsh coming back. Schwarber hit two bombs on Monday night in Boston. Maybe it's finally time for some Schwarberfest action.

00:17:47
Speaker 3: You never know, so they.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: It's always for surest Jimmy, you know he loves.

00:17:54
Speaker 3: The and on and on top of that, I mean, and on top of that, he's not the only leader on this all. He's one of the leaders. You've had so many other leaders that it's not going to take away from like the the dynamic in the clubhouse. I mean, you have other guys that the sharpers and the harpers and and so many others, even the young guys are sort of leading themselves, and so you're not gonna lead. You're not gonna leave any of that out there either, So it'll be just fine.

00:18:22
Speaker 2: I just I just wanted to make sure we weren't panicking because, you know, a little bit of full disclosure here, we had to lug Ruben off the golf course for this reactionary podcast.

00:18:34
Speaker 3: Yes we did, Yes we did. And I actually shot a really nice eighty two today. It was very very strong at Yardley Country Club. Boom hit it nicely. It was clean today, it was clean. I'm getting there. We're getting close to our member guests, so I gotta get ready going, man, you're going to start peaking at the right time.

00:18:55
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.

00:18:55
Speaker 1: Well, all right, guys, thanks for the time. We will be back later this week to talk to kind of wrap up the Red Sox series. And preview this big series coming up weekend series against the Orioles in Baltimore. Talk to you guys, Letter Samellia, smiled Jim. This is the Philly Show. If you haven't already, please subscribe to The Philly Show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If you like what we do, give us a review, Tell a friend. Catch Rubenjim and Me on Phillies Nation TV, presented by Valley Forge Tourism. New episodes air an hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Replays air throughout the week and on Philliesnation dot com. Get more of Ruben's analysis during before and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network Rejim at the Allcity Network at allphl y dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the pH Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB

00:20:02
Speaker 3: Network mm HM