The biggest fear: Phillies offense is MIA, wastes stellar pitching in Houston

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Speaker 1: There is.

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Speaker 2: Didn't worried about the Philly Show.

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Speaker 3: Ruben, Omar Junior, Jim Salisbury, toddz Aleki. It's the Philly Show. It is Friday, June twenty seventh, twenty twenty five. Hope everybody is doing well, Jim Ruben, this is the place where we talk.

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Speaker 2: I'm not doing well.

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Speaker 1: I'm not doing well, not talking well because my broadcast suck because we can't get a run.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: I heard that you were you were trying to change it. You put on your pants differently.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday, Dude, I did all types of stuff yesterday before the game. I put my pants on different, my drawers on different, my socks different, you know, the whole nine yards. Put my sleeves in differently, just like I used to do when I was sumping myself back in the day. And even Tom and I in the booth, we switched sides. I didn't. It didn't work, but we we got one hit. Marshawn got a hit uh in that the lead off an inning. But then they had nothing after that.

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Speaker 2: Scored They scored one run for Texas. That was pretty good.

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Speaker 1: Jim.

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Speaker 3: Did you spank your tomatoes any differently? No?

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Speaker 2: But I worked on a little bit. They need a good spanking.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing like a good spanking of your tomatoes.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I will be doing that.

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Speaker 3: If you're wondering what we mean, you gotta have to go back and listen to our.

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Speaker 1: It's a episode.

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Speaker 4: It's a pollination technique. It's tried and.

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Speaker 3: True pollination technique. Very good, very good, Yes it is.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, any ways, the Phillies pollinate a lot of different ways.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Jim is all he is all about it. The Phillies gets swept in Houston. And it's not because they got blown out. It's not because the pitching couldn't hold anybody down. They gave up five runs in the entire series, five runs in the entire series, but they scored just one run. They scored their only run in the eighth inning and Thursday series finale. My colleague at MLB dot com, Paul Cassella, wrote that the Phillies became just the tenth team in the modern era that's since nineteen oh one to be swept despite allowing five runs or fewer in a series. Ten teams in one hundred and twenty four years of baseball. Historically bad. Historically that historically bad. And you know that brings us to the Parks First Pitch, Park's First Pitch. It's brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. So let's get into this wild series. In a wild series in Houston, the Phillies played their eighty first game of the season on Thursday. They're in a half game out of first place. Pitching has been great, offense not you know, a kind of feast or famine. They've had a lot of really big games they've had. They've been shut out six times. It's already more I think, or tied or more than they've been shut out all of last season. How concerned are you guys about this offense? You know, I think on this show more than any any place, we understand that it's a long season and you're gonna have bad stretches. We were talking earlier this week when we answered a bunch of viewer listener questions about the offense and the trade deadline and what would you do, and we all said, you know, listen, if you're gonna I think we all were in agreement that you really got to go out and get it. Gets some bullpen help. But these three games change your thinking, and do you sit there and go all right, maybe I will give up another top prospect to get a right handed bat, to get some thump into this lineup.

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Speaker 4: The problem is the group of right handed bats is kind of underwhelming. You know, I think, just what five days ago, four days ago, everybody was kind of riding high after taking a series from the Mets, and then they just, you know, totally lay an egg. I mean, ranger forgets his glove right on Tuesday night. Well, they forgot their entire batrack as well. I mean, it was it was just terrible.

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Speaker 2: They hit like one.

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Speaker 4: Sixty for the series. They had one extra base hit in three games. One extra base hit. I mean, they were They saw good pitching, but you're gonna see good pitching in October. There are times when they handled pretty good pitching. They beat Peterson, He's had a good year. But I mean, these guys were next level the guys you're going to see in October. And you know, I'm not stunned by their performance in Houston because this is this team's DNA. The offense at times just absolutely disappears. This is this is a lot of the same group, the same core guys that were no hit in a World Series game. This is the same, you know core of guys that you know they'll just disappear for a week. Offensively, leave a ton of runners on base, have a ton of swing and miss, have a ton of strikeouts. It's part of their DNA. Also part of their DNA, they can go off on a tear for a week. So I still think they get to October. I'm I'm not panicking about that, but you know, my fear is and it's not a fear that comes out of Houston. It's a fear that I've had for two years that these droughts are going to rear their head at the wrong time, some a week in October and you're going to go home early, like we've seen the last two years. I know there were probably more to it in twenty three with the bullpen, more to it last year with the bullpen. But you know, this offense can just absolutely vanish at times. It's just part of their makeup, it's part of who they are. That's what happened in Houston. It was ugly to watch. It was ugly to watch, and we'll see if they can dig out of it in Atlanta. Harper is going to come back. Obviously him, maybe he'd be back what Monday, maybe, but you know what's he going to be when he comes back. I think he's gonna need a little bit of an adjustment period. He comes back at times and has that great first game because he's loaded with adrenaline and he's Bryce Harper, it's a showman. But after that, I think he's gonna need to see some pitches before he can really help get this offense going. But the lack of slug all season long has been a head scratcher and when everything else around it disappears, it is ugly.

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Speaker 1: Totally agree. And for those who say that they place tough pitching, I mean that Houston does have a very good staff, but Frand bar Valdez was really not that sharp and they had him on the rope several times, and much like he does often. I mean, he made the pitch to get out of some innings and that just can't happen all the time. You have to be able to capitalize when a guy is struggling, and they didn't do that. And as far as Colton Gordon is concerned, that the guy has very average stuff he's not a great picture. I don't think he's going to be a great picture. He throws strikes, but he doesn't have devastating stuff. And these are guys that they should be doing some damage against. I mean, this is a you know, this this lineup too much talent, uh to to not do damage against him, even with the Harper out of the lineup. And then finally, you know, Hunter Brown, he was outstanding. He had great stuff. I can understand them really struggling against him because the stuff is his stuff and his and his command was excellent. But at some point you've got to you gotta do some damage some somewhere. And the fact that they had three straight days, and I mean it almost seemed like in the last game I watched some of the advats, particularly like Castidanos, he was just swinging literally out of his ass, just trying to hit a home run.

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Speaker 3: It.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's kind of approach and his approach has been really good for most of the year, but he was just like, you know what, I'm selling out in case I hit one on the barrel, it's going to go out of the ballpark. I'll try to win the game with a home run and that you know that that approach doesn't hasn't been working and didn't work, And I just feel like these guys have to have bet just a better overall approach, either relax more or dial up the intensity or something has adjustment has to be made where guys were, where guys have to start taking upon themselves to compete in the box because they're not competing in the box right now for me, And uh, and if you don't compete in the box, man, this league will eat you up. So it's time for them to bear down. Hopefully they can do that in Atlanta, but uh, it looks more and more like they're going to need a bat to step forward. I don't know what that that is. And it can't just be Harper. Somebody is going to have to bear bear down and become a more complete hitter because they're not complete enough right now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like I mentioned, feast or famine. So they've scored at least seven runs. They've scored at least seven runs twenty seven times this year. Only the Cubs and Dodgers have done so more frequently. So you go, oh, wow, that's great, what a great offense they're putting up some big games on the board. But then, like I mentioned as well, they've been shut out six times already, surpassing their total from all last season. So feast famine when they're going great. They're going great. I think this team could go out and maybe win the World Series. And then you see this week and like they might get bounced out, they could get bounced out again really easily. So overall this season, Phillies offense runs per game four point five to seven. That's eleventh in Major League Baseball. They're eighth in batting average with a two point fifty four average team average. They're fourth in Major League Baseball and on base percentage three to twenty eight. It's their best on base percentage since twenty ten as a team, believe it or not, So they're getting on base lot, but they're thirteenth in slugging percentage three ninety nine. It's the lowest team slugging percentage since twenty eighteen. Yeah, it's the killer. You know, they get guys on base. You see guys getting walks, and you guys see guys getting singles. Like, let's mix in a double every once in a while, let's mix in a mix in a home run. Every once in a while. They're on pace for one hundred and sixty six homers. That would be their lowest full season total since twenty sixteen. Outfield play, you know, you have Castiy Allison Wright, who if you go buy ops plus just above a league average offensive performer. Centerfield's been a hole, left field's been a hole. Left field ops nineteenth in baseball, centerfield ops twenty second in baseball. Overall, Phillies outfielders six to ninety seven OPS twenty first in baseball. It would be their lowest outfield, lowest outfield production since twenty sixteen, when they had guys like Herrera, Peter Borges, Kody Ashy, Tyler Goodell, Jimmy Prady's, Cedric Hunter, David Lowe manning the outfield. Remember, I mean that's crazy. This team has Nick Castianos, Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, Joan Rojas.

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Speaker 1: So very very good, very very good.

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Speaker 3: And so I want to read you guys this quote.

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Speaker 1: Well, Mars Marsh has picked it up and Stott has picked it up. So yes, Marsh is starting to get some hits. Had a nice sacrifice fly also yesterday to score the only run. So he's been a little bit better, but they're just not getting the impact that's necessary out there and they need it.

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Speaker 3: The I want to read you guys this quote. So Mac mac Gilbert Athletic had a talked to Max Kelper post game yesterday on Thursday, and he said, the biggest challenge for me is not playing routinely. That's the biggest challenge. I was told I was going to be a starting left fielder. Kind of interesting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to cost some controversy, there's no question about that. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but you were told you were going to be the everyday left fielder with the understanding that you would produce, and when you don't produce, they have to make adjustments correct and sometimes that is a platoon and less playing time. You you still though, you unless you have a three hundred million dollar contract, you still have to earn your playing time. The manager has a obligation to try to win that night's game, and when you're hitting two oho something and struggling against lefties, he's got to make adjustments. So if you want to play every day like you were told, then you still have to produce.

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Speaker 3: And you not only you also have to Yeah, I mean he's he's hitting two nine. He struggled against lefties. But we were talking about this two or three weeks ago. He's he's struggling against righties too. I mean, he wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire when he's gotten opportunities to play against race And they had a long stretch recently where they face a lot of right handed pitching. Only the past few days have they seen a lot of left handed starters, and he has he's got a six ninety seven ops against right handed pitching.

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Speaker 1: So those are the types of quotes that the management do not care for. Right It'll be interesting to see how how they react from that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that would how would you react to that, Ruben? Guys say, Guys say things all the time, So I don't know how you You know, certainly that would not make you happy. Do you take Do you take some of that and go out a guy's blowing off some steam after a bad loss, or.

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Speaker 1: What do you I probably uh, I would probably ask the manager to have a chat with him, and if that didn't suffice, then I would have a chat with him, right.

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Speaker 4: It depends on how Sometimes you're asked the question as well, you know, do you think the lack of the sporadic playing time is leading to this, or you know, or simply general, you know, what is your take on your struggle? So I think that has some But the bottom line is production takes care of everything. Winning takes care of everything. So if you hit, they will find a place for you. If you hit, they will play you every day. But to me it leads to even a bigger question is is it justin Crawford time? And maybe we can get into that in a minute, Todd, Because this has been first pitch presented exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino Parkscasino dot com. You must be twenty one gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler guys.

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00:16:52
Speaker 3: We are back. So, Jim, you mentioned Justin Crawford, Ruben, would you be sitting there as GM maybe little irate or a little irked at Max Kepler's quotes and go, what's my reports, my daily reports say on Justin Crawford and how he's doing. Would that be something that you would be keeping a close.

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Speaker 1: Tabs on, very close tabs on.

00:17:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:17:15
Speaker 1: I meant at some point if the kid is playing well, and he's playing well right now, he's starting to get back on track after I guess he had a little bit of a quad issue. But if he gets keeps it rolling, and uh, there's futility, continued fertility through Atlanta. I might think about making a move when it comes to Philadelphia. Who knows, do you do you bring?

00:17:40
Speaker 4: Do you bring him to play left field? And if you do put him in left field? Do you lose Kepler? And do you care?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I put him on center field, and I and I slide Marsh to left. Okay, that's that's sort of my my modus opera operandi. Or whoever's playing, you know, playing better and right now Marsh's is playing a little bit better and in the bat a little bit better than Kepler.

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Speaker 4: And how do you factor in, you know, the impact on on Kepler his playing time and his his you know, his psyche or his you know, mental state, because you know that's up on the manager.

00:18:14
Speaker 1: That's what the manager. That's the manager's job.

00:18:16
Speaker 2: Because you probably lose him.

00:18:19
Speaker 1: You might, yeah, maybe just but I mean, you know, again, it's a performance based game, and if you're not performing, uh, then you don't play. And so that's you know, I like Max Kepler. I like the signing originally, and I thought he was going to have a nice, uh season for these guys, but he has not produced the way I thought he might. I really liked what I saw on sprint training and stuff, but I just don't see him producing right now. And uh, you know, maybe maybe you give you maybe give a youngster a chance at some point if he doesn't turn around. Hey, Sames, thing happened that Brandon marsh. I was ready to send Brandon Marsh down at Triple A until he started swinging the bat. And now he's swinging the bat, you know, much much better. So he gets to stay around because he's the one guy who's actually picked it up.

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Speaker 4: I feel like Kepler, excuse me, Kepler's taking a brunt of this thing when there's a lot of guys that you need more.

00:19:20
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, a lot of guys scuffling.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: There are a lot of guys that Stott has not swung the bat the way you hope to. JT. Real Muto only has twenty seven RBIs. I saw that number. I was really surprised by that number. I mean, there's other guys who have not contributed, and the fact that you know, the fact that Bryce is out I've been saying all along, you don't really want to necessarily bring the kid unless the whole lineup is rolling right. So he's, in an addition, not a savior, and I still sort of stand by that, but at some point you got to get some production from the boys.

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Speaker 3: Could you be a message center? Is it a message center? And maybe not as a savior, but to send a message to this lineup, like you gotta get going.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: Maybe could be.

00:20:08
Speaker 4: Did you did you get the impression, Ruben in Houston that we're going to see Bryce on Monday.

00:20:17
Speaker 1: It's hard to tell. They're being pretty cryptic about it, but he is progressing well, and you know, I think it's he probably has to see some live hitting. He has to see some live pitching. And I'm not sure for the same sort of situation where you know, you have to bring a Jeff Hoffman type guy, somebody who can throw strikes to have him face you know, live arms to get him going or if he can do it on the traject machine, but he has to see some live stuff. I mean, I think he's starting to feel closer and closer to one hundred percent, but you know that doesn't get it done necessarily. Especially if you've been out this long, you got to get your timing back. Yeah, with live arms, right, and there's no and he's not going out on a rehabit signment. No, I mean the days of doing that, the days of doing that just don't exist anymore. So you know, he's not going to risk getting hit by a pitch. He's not going to risk you know, going to the minor leagues or what have you. It's just that just doesn't happen anymore. So I think they're going to try to set something up so that they can have somebody throw to him. Maybe it happens in Atlanta. Maybe they bring somebody to Atlanta and maybe feels good enough to do that. But but I'm not sure. But I think he's got to see some live arms, or at least the traject machine where he's seeing some real velocity.

00:21:38
Speaker 3: It is funny you think about how back in the day, and I say back in the day, I say fifteen years ago, like rehab assignments, Jim, you be flying down to Clearwater to watch Utley and Choots and a rehab assignment. I think it was there was one like that, right, both of those guys.

00:21:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, I.

00:21:53
Speaker 4: Remember driving the lakewood to see Howard and reading to see people and flying down to clear Water. I think Utley and yeah, it's good. I personally think the rehab assignment is very valuable because it's I know, it's not the same level of competition, but it is game speed.

00:22:11
Speaker 2: It's competition of some sort.

00:22:14
Speaker 4: And it's when you're competing with another guy, it creates a different level of adrenaline that in even a simulated game when you've got to bring up some minor.

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Speaker 2: League when he's like, oh, this is the price offer, I'm going to really bear it down. It's just different. So I think it has value. But I do know you don't want to get a guy hit.

00:22:31
Speaker 4: Guys don't necessarily want to go to the minor leagues for three or four or five days.

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Speaker 1: It's part of the problem is you have guys who are throwing one hundred miles an hour. I have no idea where they're throwing it, and you play in those games, and it makes it more dangerous than it once was because not everybody's throwing up. Not everybody back then was throwing one hundred miles an hour, and and some of them actually knew where to throw it. That doesn't happen anymore now they're maximizing. Nobody in the minor leagues is working on their command. They're all working on their velocity and been and that creates a very dangerous situation for guys rehabbing. Yeah, truth, different game, that's the truth. It's not right. It's part of the horse crap of the game. But that's how it works.

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Speaker 2: Oh, we see in the big seeing the big leagues too.

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Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the bullpens is just wherever I can fire, wherever I can see how hard it could light up the spin rates.

00:23:21
Speaker 1: So don't let me on my pedestal.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: That's where the money is though, you know what I mean, Like all those guys like there's no incentive for them to throw, to work on it because they might not ever get a called to the big leagues.

00:23:33
Speaker 2: That's where the money is.

00:23:34
Speaker 7: For James Andrews, right, if you're throwing ninety two as a reliever, I mean, no chance, there's no bullp there's no nobody's gonna be calling up a Clay Conry.

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Speaker 3: You know, back in the day, you know who did a great job, did a great job. You know a lot of those guys in those Bullpens did fantastic jobs. But if you're throwing ninety three, right, you think you think the Phillies front office is going to go, let's give this guy a shot and call him up to the big leagues. No chance. And that's not just the Phillies, it's every all thirty teams. They're saying no tracks. So so last in our episode on Wednesday, we had asked a We got a lot of questions from from our great audience, and then we had several several left over. So I want to say we could tear through a few of these. How many arms will they get at the trade deadline? That's from Phillies Baseball Talk on X How many arms do you think they get? Do you think they just get one? Do you think they go out and get multiple. We've talked a lot about the outfield, so do you think they just have to settle for one and use other resources to maybe try to find a right handed bat somewhere.

00:24:41
Speaker 4: I'd say definitely one, perhaps two, like a second or third tier guy for the second guy. But they got to get something significant late in the game that can knows how to get big outs, and they need to get a bat as well, So that's where I'd be on that definitely one.

00:24:59
Speaker 1: I don't I think that they're gonna be able to get two. And it was interesting to me that maxwill Zar came into the game when he came into the game yesterday, and he actually did a nice job. I guess they're trying to find out if there's somebody that can sort of take the place of that seventh inning guy. Somebody can throw in the seventh inning or sixth inning to stop the game, and they were trying to see if Maxwell Dark can be that guy, because right now, Joe Ross and Taiwan Walker really aren't getting the job done all that consistently, and they need somebody from the right side to do it because the guy from the left side is Tanner Banks. So I got to believe that they're going to get at least one guy.

00:25:40
Speaker 2: And one from the rotation, and they'll probably.

00:25:44
Speaker 1: Have somebody from the rotation slide back in there when it's time to have that need, or maybe two. They might get two guys from the rotation slide back, because they don't really only need three. I think in some of these series, if they get to the playoffs, that's once they get.

00:25:59
Speaker 3: To the playoffs, right, Yeah, the Division series. I think there's an extra off day in there, so they would only need three starters. So yeah, you could have an extra starter.

00:26:07
Speaker 1: And again I think mckabel might be an option to that. That may happen before the trade deadline and they may fly slide him back there, uh sometime in July and perhaps bring you know, Painter at that time to be the fifth slide able back into the bullpen and see if you can handle it and go from there.

00:26:24
Speaker 2: That makes sense.

00:26:26
Speaker 4: You're trying to you're trying to find out stuff before the trade deadline. Correct, He's got really you know, good ingredients with the power stuff and whatnot. You gotta find out if he's got the belly for it. It's a tough role, but it also allows you to get Painter here. It's some role in the rotation.

00:26:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, well that's so. This is a good question. This is from Philly Versus Everybody podcast on X. The question is just Painter when.

00:26:52
Speaker 1: It might happen after the start? This is a this is a pretty big start here for able and to start from I mean it's got to be a tight start from from Painter as well. But if Abel struggles again and Painter throws well in this in his next outing out down there in Triple A, you may see a flip here fairly soon.

00:27:14
Speaker 4: So so there's still a chance Todd for us in San Francisco.

00:27:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's yes. We all picked the San Francisco San Diego series as a possibility.

00:27:25
Speaker 4: Out there, I mean, but then then he shot it down saying he's gonna rest on the All Star break. But yeah, you know, I go back to what we talked about the other day.

00:27:33
Speaker 2: He just looks like he might be a little bored down there and ready for a new challenge. Yeah.

00:27:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, again, he's gonna have to throw well. I think it's gonna have to be sharp with this stuff for them to make that move, and they have to feel that he's gonna be able to do you know, you know, six up and downs and do them with quality in the major leagues.

00:27:56
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Speaker 3: Got a lot of questions about outfielders, and we kind of touched on some of these outfits, but I want to see I want to throw some out there. David c on X said, what about Lord's l Junior? T Montgomery ten on Instagram said how do we feel about a dollars Garcia or Taylor ward h. Daniel mormack on X said, if you had to pick Jared Durand to lead off for the middle of the lineup bat like our dollars, our dollars Garcia, who would you pick? So I just want to throw some names out there. Any of those guys get you guys excited at all? You mean flow flow, You ain't.

00:30:25
Speaker 1: Flow for you, Jim.

00:30:29
Speaker 2: I mean, Jared Durant is good upside, a lot of upside.

00:30:32
Speaker 4: He was an All Star last year, a lot right, Yeah, and yeah, because he's got some control, he would probably be the guy that, talent wise, would excite me the most. But you mentioned control, and uh, you mentioned cost, and I feel like, I feel like you're gonna have to probably spend your biggest nickels on the bullpen.

00:30:53
Speaker 1: I agree. And I also think that some of these teams, I mean, the Angels are like at five hundred or above five hundred for the first time, how long it's gonna be tough for them to show their fans now all of a sudden that they're playing decent baseball and they're sort of kind of in the race. That als kind of sucks. They're not very it's not that great. I mean, Houston's got to I mean, I talked to Jeff Blum about, you know, one of their broadcasters who used to play for him, and he's like, I don't even know how they're winning. I don't I can't even figure it out. But they're winning with pitching and they're getting like one more run than another team. It's as simple as that. They're just getting enough runs to to stay top that al Wes. But that tells me that that als is not that great because their offense, that offense and that lineup that the Houston Ashers are firing out there doesn't scare me. I mean, they just swept the boys, but you know, and they've got good arms in a good, good bullpen. But man, that lineup mean, without your Don Alvarez, it's no bueno.

00:32:01
Speaker 3: The Diamondbacks are two games over five hundred. They've really struggled since since mid April. They have had a lot of big injuries, obviously to Corbyn Burns. But yeah, so some of these teams are hanging in just enough. And the Diamondbacks, you know, they invest a lot of money in this team, so you know, are they gonna sell? It'll be interesting to see kind of what they do. How about this one? This is from my old neighbor, Larry Davis on Blue Sky. Uh literally my next reighbor when I was cool and used to live in the city. I think Larry is still cool and still lives in the city with his family, But which pending free agents in the city Exactly right. Ruben Rubin lives in the city which pending free agents. Will the free Phillies resigned? We get asked this one every every month or so. Has any of your opinions changed on any of this? Do you feel like they need to go get one guy over the other? They can't resign everybody.

00:32:50
Speaker 1: They got to resign with Sharm. For me, that's a no brainer. Schwarmer is the one for me.

00:32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, did, But they're gonna have competition on Schwarmer. He's gonna have choices.

00:33:00
Speaker 1: He will not that many choices because that that many team will want to pay a d h h's uh. In his low thirties.

00:33:09
Speaker 4: I think he'll have some choices, maybe not a plethora, but enough to that he's gonna have to sit back, have enough to sit back and go hmm.

00:33:17
Speaker 1: And I don't know that it's gonna necessarily be all about the money for him either.

00:33:22
Speaker 2: I agree. That's why this team I think is going to.

00:33:25
Speaker 1: Be comfort for him and not necessarily about the money.

00:33:29
Speaker 3: He wants to win. He wants to win. And then Ranger, of course, the way he's pitching recently. We talked about him on Wednesday, and is it get you thinking any differently?

00:33:38
Speaker 4: He's the extractor they're gonna be under like when Schwaber has, you know, one of these months where he hits ten home runs and drives in a bunch of runs. Must I almost drives in a shipload of runs.

00:33:58
Speaker 1: You said it, they.

00:33:59
Speaker 4: Get they face, you know, the buzz is you got to have them, and then it's it creates enormous pressure to to, you know, do something. If Ranger is the best pitcher in the National League for the second half and has an unbelievable postseason, there's gonna be an enormous pressure to resign him, just like the Yankees were feeling for for Soto and ultimately did not resign him and allocated their money very well.

00:34:25
Speaker 2: I might say the money they budgeted for Sodo, But you know it's you know, I still.

00:34:34
Speaker 4: I you know, coming into the season, I thought, you know, Ranger would test it and with the agent he has, they would they would drive it up and work the market and be out there a long time, and he'd end up somewhere else. Look, I don't know, but the durability, to me is a major concern. And the Phillies on the durability question have an advantage over everybody else because they're trainers, they're athletic trainers, they're therapists, they're conditioning guys, they're doctors. Have seen him and they know him inside out. So that's something that ownership and Dave de Brosk can really have to lean on when they're making the decision of they're going to extend the relationship. They have all that intel because to me, the question is not talent, it's durability. So you know, we'll see there. But if I had to pick one guy, sure, I think it would probably be be Schwarber. But again, if Ranger goes crazy and the fans are going crazy, I mean, John Middleton is a guy who listens to his fan base. So it's a tough one.

00:35:33
Speaker 3: You know, well, Jimmy, you mentioned like there's gonna be competition for Schwarber. So say, for argument's sake, that Ranger does go out and finish the second half as one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, And say the Phillies say, John Milton goes, you know what, and Dave den Broski says, you know what, I think we got to resign Ranger Suarez. He's been great. I think there's gonna be more competition for a Ranger, and I almost don't see how they could win that, win that bid. I think somebody's gonna out hit.

00:36:00
Speaker 1: I don't think they can win that bid. I don't think they have the wherewithal or the budget to do it. They're already busting the budget. I mean, and they're not cheap. There's nothing cheap about what the Phillies have, but that there's a reality that sets in where I mean, they can't have a five hundred million dollars payroll. Just can't have it.

00:36:16
Speaker 4: So you're saying telling me Rangers, a Metranger.

00:36:21
Speaker 1: Might be a mat. Yeah, he may very well be a Mat.

00:36:25
Speaker 4: Oh that's the team I would think of. You get a Venezuelan manager. You got an owner who uh will spend I mean, they have a lot, and he doesn't care injuries and their rotation, you know, they who knows I mean, he could be there.

00:36:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just yeah, I just don't see how the Phillies win that, even if they decide that they that's going to be our guy we want to go get. I think somebody is going to outbid them for Ranger.

00:36:50
Speaker 4: And we're going to see Cincinnati next week and I have always thought of that would be a potential landing spot for Schwarmer because it's all.

00:36:59
Speaker 1: That or Chicago. Chicago the one that that scares me a little bit. I know they have some dhs over there already, but one of them is going away, and uh, you just never know.

00:37:11
Speaker 2: So that's the Cubs.

00:37:13
Speaker 4: And if Tucker goes, they're going to have correct money and you know, so the Cubs, and.

00:37:18
Speaker 1: It's going to be a shorter deal than Tucker's.

00:37:21
Speaker 4: It'll be a full circle moment. So I do think they'll be play on schwarbur because the DH is here in both leagues and here to stay, and it's an important position. And he you know, he does have his peaks and valley. He's a little bit of a valley right now. But I'll tell you what, He'll go on a peak and everybody will be buzzing.

00:37:37
Speaker 2: Again. You gotta have them, you watch.

00:37:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, JT's gonna be interesting too, because he's having a down here offensively. But there's not a lot of good catchers out there. They're not, they're not, they're not.

00:37:47
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of it will depend on whether they feel that Marshall can be that everyday catcher in conjunction with a guy like Steps. I don't know that, but I agree. I do like the way Marshaan's been catching I mean a lot of people who are talking about, you know, his era and this, that and the other world. Guess what he's been catching his ass off lately.

00:38:07
Speaker 4: You mentioned on the last podcast, Trumen that you could see march On being part of a package in a deal and where this team is, I'll say it the desperation to win. I actually and him play in a premium position, being a young players still everybody thinks has some upside and switch hit her. I could see them biting hard and saying, Okay, we've got to do it, no doubt, especially if they get somebody that can control, because she's under control for a long time.

00:38:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to give up something big because it's gonna hurt whatever they do this this year.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: It's going to be an alley.

00:38:43
Speaker 3: It's going to hurt. It is going to hurt. But they have to try to get it done this year because of all those guys we just mentioned, Schwarber, Real Mutos swore as free agents.

00:38:54
Speaker 1: So tough ride up to Dombrowski, tough spot for the ownership group, and it's it's a tough fan base, so and there's an expectation that these guys are going to do what they need to do to win, and they either need to do it now or get off the pot.

00:39:13
Speaker 3: Yeah. And it's also it's not like they make these moves. It's like, all right, we have no flaws. There's still going to be a very flawed team. Because you get one right handed back end reliever, you're still going to have some questions in the bullpen if you get go out and find some sort of bat. None of the names get us very excited. You're still going to have an offense that can go cold all at once at the same time. So it's not like you're going to make two moves and be like, all right, here we go World Series book it. They could still get knocked out in the first round the way the way that this offense operates and the way.

00:39:44
Speaker 1: But I love their chances with they're pitching that they have man because they can shut down they can shut down a lot of offenses with that pitching. The Phillies already picking in particular, I mean.

00:39:53
Speaker 3: Starting pitching is fantastic, and that's spectacular. You don't want to waste it. Phillies rotation leads Major League Baseball and strikeouts innings war, strikeout, strikeout to walk percent walk rate ty for thirty in e RA. If you take out Jesus Lozardo's two absolute horrific starts, they have a three point zero one ERA. It's the best rotation era in Major League Baseball. So there you go, Phillies. Phillies Braves begin on Friday Night Mick Abel versus Brian elder Saturday Night it's Jesus lozarda who we just mentioned versus Spencer Schwellenbach. In Sunday afternoons. Series finale is Ranger Suarez versus.

00:40:35
Speaker 1: They better do some damage, elder Man.

00:40:39
Speaker 3: The guy jump on it, make him maybe, help him relax a little bit. Score, no doubt, seven runs, help him relax. Go into the weekend, come home, win two out of three, and all's right again.

00:40:49
Speaker 2: They have two Spencers in their rotation.

00:40:53
Speaker 3: Spencer Spencer back to back, back to back.

00:40:58
Speaker 1: Pretty good.

00:40:59
Speaker 3: They're both pretty good. They're both really good, guys. We'll be back on Monday.

00:41:03
Speaker 2: Smell you, Lator boys, Smelling Jim.

00:41:06
Speaker 3: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Phillies 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 games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phl y dot com. Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network