Best of the Best: Answering your Phillies questions

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Zach Wheeler. Welcome to Philly Show. Hi everybody, Welcome to the Philly Show. Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, I'm Todds Will like It's Monday morning, March third, twenty twenty five. Hope everybody is doing well. Are you guys doing well? Jim Rubin doing great?

00:00:21
Speaker 2: Man?

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Do you guys look great? You guys look great. We're feeling good down here. Philly's off today. We thought we'd get together and you know, do another episode of Phillies. Played three games over the weekend. One in Lakeland. The drive to Lakeland, guys, the drive back, full sucking drive. Man, You guys remember those that drive. It was a bad, bad drive. Aaron Nola pitched on Saturday in Lakeland, and then Christopher Sanchez and Taiwan Walker pitching a split squad yesterday Sunday, Christopher Sanchez against the Orioles at bake Care Ballpark, and then tie one Walker pitched in TD Ballpark and beautiful Dunedin. We'll talk about all those guys in a little bit, but I just wanted to share. I don't know if you guys caught this yesterday. Spring training is a time for fun, and there was some spring training hijinks yesterday Indo Needin, do you guys hear about this? So the ABS challenge system for those people don't know where is being implemented this spring, kind of a trial run by Major League Baseball. And Max Sure's or the future Hall of Famers said last week, can't we just be judged by humans, very very dramatically, And so yesterday during pregame stretch, Trey Turner's stretching next to his buddy Bryce and Stott and Stock goes, I bet I bet you won't challenge the first pitch. You would never do it. Trey Turner says, oh, yes, I would, and then Max Sures that throws a first pitch strike right over the plate. Trey Turner challenges. Now they're former teammates, they you know, they go back aways. Max Schureser had a look on his face like, what the hell is going on here? Realize what's happened. Got a good laugh out of it. Everybody got a good laugh out of it. And then of course then also Max sures Are also played Bryson Stott's walk up music requested. Bryson Stott's A Okay walk up music to be played before each of his at bats when he faced sures Er. That's because Bryson Stott in his career is eight for thirteen with one double against Max Schurzers, so he's trying to try to needle him a little bit. So there was a couple of things going on pregame, But but that was a lot of That was a lot of fun. That's that's kind of like the fun part of spring training, right guys, is some of the wackiness that you see on the field and some of the good times.

00:02:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was it is you can do some fun stuff in spring training. But it kind of made me. You know, Schureser, he's temperamental. I mean, he's a competitor, he's he's on the edge.

00:02:58
Speaker 2: And it made me.

00:02:59
Speaker 3: Recall when Joe Girardi that first night when they brought in the sticky stuff challenge. Joe Girardi goes after Sure's are in Citizens Bank Park and sures It was all kinds of upset. But obviously this was not a you know, regular season games, so his competitive juices were not stoked. Former teammates and if anybody can get away with it, it's like Trey Turner it's like, you know, Bryce Harper, those are the guys they with teammates, they know him, and you know, they have a certain status and a certain paycheck and get away with stuff like that.

00:03:35
Speaker 2: So it was it was kind of fun.

00:03:37
Speaker 3: It was also a bit shocking because the pitch like almost dissected to play.

00:03:41
Speaker 4: See whatever happened to the fun in the game. It's supposed to have fun playing baseball. I mean there's so many used to be so many quirky guys. Now people focused on bat flips and you know guys you know, celebrating after certain things, just having some fun.

00:03:56
Speaker 2: Without having to show other people up.

00:03:58
Speaker 4: This is just fun and I think it's kind of a cool I mean, obviously, these two guys are they're making the team.

00:04:05
Speaker 2: They don't have to worry about that kind of stuff. They're just getting ready for the season. So it's a little different for them.

00:04:08
Speaker 4: That's than it would be for you know, a kid like Adrian Miller who's trying to make a team or make an impression at least and uh, and so it's a little different. And you know, even different for guys like I don't know, Kennedy or you know, even a guy like Rojas. I mean, you're you're still you know, you're still trying to get yourself planted into.

00:04:32
Speaker 2: The major leagues. But it's cool to have some fun out there.

00:04:36
Speaker 3: Man, it's baseball, Todd, How did skipper Thompson because he's he wants to take these a little bit seriously, where Terry Francona out of Cincinnati says, don't bother with it. You know, Rob is like, and we have to remind our viewers that this we don't know if this is going to be used next year at twenty six. This is a trial run in spring training. But Rob, you know, wants his guys to take these serious.

00:05:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that was probably the one guy I was not super pumped about this because Rob Thompson said in early in camp, Yeah, he asked these guys early in camp, or told his players early in camp I should say sorry that I want you guys fighting for jobs to you know, feel comfortable challenging a ball on a strike, because that could make the difference between a hit, a home run, a strikeout, a walk, big inning, a clean inning, and that could make the difference between you making the team or not, or finishing the spring with good numbers. Making making a good impression. So I asked Rob postgame, I said, so, I assume you weren't in on this first pitch challenge and he goes, I was not. And then Mac goes, did you not find it funny? He goes, and then he kind of repeated what he said. He's like, listen, that was one last challenge. I you know, that could have meant something to somebody down the rest. So he was the one guy who was not He did not find a humor in it as much, and he kind of shut it down when we were talking to about But still a fun moment in my opinion, you know, all things considered.

00:06:07
Speaker 3: So Ruben you're talking, I'm sorry, but fun moments between the picture and the batter.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: Did you ever see the YouTube video from.

00:06:20
Speaker 3: The seventies and I think Nolan Ryan's working on a no hitter against the Tigers and Norm Cash goes up to the plate with he had broken a leg off a table in the clubhouse and he went up to the plate with the leg of a table because he had he knew he had no chance of hitting Nolan Ryan on this day. You can find it on YouTube, just like get you know, beamed for that, but.

00:06:49
Speaker 4: He took a little bit from Nolan Ryan because he's I mean, he was a tyrant on the mound, a tyrant.

00:06:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, that's great. I never heard that story.

00:06:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, you get go on YouTube and try to find that. It's pretty funny, and the the umpire loses it. I just like, oh my god.

00:07:05
Speaker 4: I can't believe fun guys with watching flip his bat, batting helmet around and trying to stand in there against Randy Johnson.

00:07:13
Speaker 2: Was I think it was an All Star game.

00:07:15
Speaker 3: Yeahs threw literally over his head, but that was that was not a That was an exhibition game as well. This thing with Norm Cash was a was doing a regular season game. You guys have to queue it up.

00:07:31
Speaker 1: I gotta look that up. We're gonna hey, we got a lot more fun coming right after these words.

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00:08:39
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00:08:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, it happened. Send us the seventy July of seventy three.

00:08:47
Speaker 3: Pretty funny.

00:08:48
Speaker 1: That is amazing. Well, we are excited, guys. We are very very excited today because it's the beginning of March. Got less than a month ago before opening day. But we're also very excited because we have a new sponsor, a new weekly segment and it is by It is with our friends at Manco and Manco Pizza. Manco Manco Pizza. You know Manco and Manco. They're down at the shore. They're everywhere their shore. They're at the ballpark and Citizen Bank Park, and they're even at Bake Care Ballpark and clear Water. So we will be doing a segment all season long called Best Week because Manco Manco is the best of the best. That's right, That's right, that's right.

00:09:31
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00:09:58
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00:10:00
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00:10:02
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Well, it's funny. When they first got in the ballpark a few years ago, I did a little Uh it was in the clubhouse, i think postgame one day and I was talking with somebody. They're like, you know, people are just crushing this Manco Manco standout out on Ashburn Alley and they were selling like thousands of pizzas that first weekend. So I wrote a little note about it my Phillies Beat newsletter, and then they came down here last spring. John Middleton talked to Chuck and he goes, I need me some Manco Manco at the ballpark in Clearwater. So I wrote about that, because you know, how are you going to get the dough the right way? You know, it's gotta be the same dough, and Chuck says. Chuck says, there's a company that actually, like, can I replicate the water so you can make the same type of dough that you do up at the Jersey Shore and its Citizen Bank Park. So it is cool to come down here and be able to have some Manco Macwell, as you come down, you watch the Phillies, you have some Manco Manco Pizza. So here we guys, Here we go, guys. This is our new weekly segment will be running in the first episode every week called Best Week. Best Week. Yeah right, yeah, we got a little graphic if you're watching on YouTube, we got Best Week presented by Mango and Manco Pizza. The best of the best. And here's what this is. What is whatever you guys, Ruben, Jim, whatever you feel is the best of the week. It could be a play, it could be a player, It could be a moment, it could be whatever. Ruben, you shoot seventy two on the golf course, you want to pump yourself up a little bit, go for it. Call you it's the best week? Right So Ruben, who do you got best best week? I know you didn't shoot seventy two this week, so let's do best week. Ruben, who you got for best week?

00:11:39
Speaker 2: I got Winknis junior man. He is going nuts.

00:11:43
Speaker 4: He's going crazy. He's got ridiculous power. Got to the home runs. Now in spring training all he does is hit bombs.

00:11:51
Speaker 2: I know that. You know he didn't have a sort.

00:11:54
Speaker 4: Of a shortened season last year because yet because he had some injury issues and reading, but the numbers that he put up were dastardly and he's got some serious thunder. I would assume he'll start at lee high value this year. He may start in reading. I'm not quite sure. Corner outfielder plays right, plays left. Been bounced around a little bit during spring training, but the fact that he's picked up three home runs early.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Now, I know it's early.

00:12:22
Speaker 4: I know they'll start dissecting his swing and doing things to him.

00:12:25
Speaker 2: But he had a nice Arizona fall leg.

00:12:28
Speaker 4: He's really impressed, I think, and looks like there's some bright future. I mean, people are talking about Miller and you know, Painter and others and Crawford, but this guy's kind of bounced onto the scene and he's really impressed me.

00:12:42
Speaker 2: The way he swung the back Les Franconas.

00:12:43
Speaker 1: Junior when we had pressed him manning lyon I think last October, back when he was still the player development director. I think we did ask him who's your under the radar guy, and I think he might have mentioned I think this guy might have been Rinconas Junior. I think, you know, so they for sure he's on the radar in New York Is. But yeah, great spring stuwhere he's he crushes the ball.

00:13:03
Speaker 4: What a big body and he's a real mature body guy already strong lower half strength all the way through his impressive guy. If he can play enough defense and you know, control that strike zone, that's a little bit of his issue. We'll see what happens as he continues to matriculate through that organization and power man, power.

00:13:23
Speaker 3: Arms, power bats. Power is a premium tool in this game. It jumps out, grabs people's attention, and that's what this guy's power bat does. It's a big year for him. A couple needs to stay healthy, needs to have a full season. You know, give him one hundred and thirty five hundred and forty games. But I think it's a big season in kind of charting his future. He's gonna be like twenty four this year, so he'll play somewhere in the upper miners, double A, triple A, but I think the ideal is get the triple A. Keeps showing that power and you never know, you never know. He certainly has gotten this season twenty five year off to a really good start, turning a lot of heads in clear Water. But they've always liked his power. It's a matter of consistency and staying on the field.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: Who you got, Jim, you got? Oh my best?

00:14:13
Speaker 3: Uh, I'm gonna go with Christopher Sanchez. I just love what I see, and I'm sure you know it's not unique. Everybody loves what they see, but I mean, you know, just such a great Pitcher's body. He was this tall, lanky guy and now he's just filled out and he's added strength to that frame to the point where I don't even know if you can call him lanky anymore. He looks like a defensive end. And you know what I love about is the confidence and the presence. He's taking them out with so much presence. I mean, the fastball is ninety nine.

00:14:47
Speaker 2: The stuff is.

00:14:48
Speaker 3: Electric, and you mix that great equalizer, one of the best changeups in baseball, and you've got a great package there. But I love what I'm seeing confidence wise and presence here in spring training. I think he's up to four and two thirds innings, eight strikeouts and.

00:15:04
Speaker 2: One walk, just one walk.

00:15:06
Speaker 3: So last year was a breakout year for this guy, and I just think he can build on it and become a super super stud for this team.

00:15:14
Speaker 2: And you know, I.

00:15:15
Speaker 3: Wonder, Todd, we were talking about the rotation last week, how Rob is lining it up. I wonder if he's gonna pitch Game four, which would be the home opener, it would be a nice feather in his cap. I think he's earned it. The fans would love to see a love to see him, and he's been great at home. So I wonder if that's the way Rob is kind of lining up things. Maybe Wheeler, Lozardo, Nola, Sanchez and then Ranger. I mean, I don't know. I don't think it's a big deal. They're all good, but the home opener is special. And maybe given his track record at home and just the improvements he's made, the dedication he showed, he's in great shape. He's not resting on that big contract he's he got, He's he's not comfortable, he's not complacent. He's coming in here ready to go. Maybe that's the way they're gonna go. What do you think?

00:16:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly makes sense. You know, Tomorrow is Tuesday, and Zach Wheeler and Ranger Swerz a scheduled pitch against the Yankees, are gonna Ranger is gonna kind of piggyback Zach Wheeler. That's rangers first star of the season. So it certainly seems to be lining up that way. And that makes a lot of sense because Sanchez at home, You're right, his nails, he's been fantastic at Citizens Bank Park, So yeah, I definitely makes sense.

00:16:30
Speaker 2: I did want to say something about that contract.

00:16:32
Speaker 4: You know, sometimes you have to be careful when you when you know you're you're signing a guy when he's throwing his best. But I think and you're not quite sure you know where he's going to go with his career. But I think the Phillies did a really nice job of like understanding this player, understanding what this guy was all about, and they felt really comfortable because.

00:16:51
Speaker 2: Of the makeup.

00:16:52
Speaker 4: They knew that he wasn't going to be a guy that sat on it. There's so a little bit like what we did with Oh, we did with Brian Howard, Ryan Howard actual, so he got himself in better shape after the contract, he did a bunchet obviously got hurt. That was not there's something he can control with his achilles. But that said, you know when we signed him twice in one big long term contract to buy him out of his arbitration years. That was a historic contract at the time, he put himself in a position but to be better, worked on his defense, worked on his body.

00:17:23
Speaker 2: Same thing with.

00:17:26
Speaker 4: Christopher Sanchez. They knew his makeup, they understand him. He's going to do everything he can to live up to that contract. And I really liked that about the kid. And that's a great decision by the Phillies front office.

00:17:36
Speaker 1: I think Sanchez yesterday sinker touched ninety eight point three and they kind of put that into perspective. Last season his best pitch, hardest pitch was ninety eight point three, and after he pitched the last week in Port Charlotte against the Rays, he thought he thought he could have his fastball sitting in ninety five ninety six mile an hour range. Again, I know it's just spring training, just two starts, but his fastball sinker yesterday averaged ninety six point nine miles an hour. That's up almost two and a half miles an hour from last season. Not sure what that means long term, but he came into camp in great shape, as Jim said, definitely stronger, definitely motivated. He said he spent a lot of time this offseason working on his slider. He wanted to get it more consistent. It was a good pitch last year, but he thought it could be better and the early returns on that are pretty good. So my best.

00:18:26
Speaker 2: Week Malcolm manco manco best of the best.

00:18:29
Speaker 1: Heng Yeah, my guy is Hayes Loose Lozardo, who had a really nice debut last week for the Phillies man oh man If Hayes, Louis Sozzardo does, but he you know what he's done, did a couple of years ago and in previous seasons before he got hurt last year. But he looked great last week. His fastball was like ninety six nine, you know, touch ninety seven to seven on Friday, average ninety six point seven. So he threw and he also what I liked about Jesus Lozardo is this he has a great slider. It's kind of as been as he calls it as bread and butter pitch. It's a it's a kind of a tight slider. And in talking to Caleb Cotham in the off season, he said, have you thought about doing some of the little bit more horizontal break well maybe a little bit of a sweeper type of pitch. He said, yeah, I've thought about it. And he's working on that right now as well. So he's adding a little wrinkle into his arsenal this spring. He says it's not one hundred percent he's going to bring it into this season, but talking to JT. Real Muto the other day, he says, it's a very good pitch. It's a solid pitch, and so that's something to watch as well. So I thought hazus Lozardo had had a great debut. Again, just one start spring training. No one's going to talk about it in three months from now go remember that spring training start. But he had an excellent, excellent week so three training.

00:19:51
Speaker 2: As we talked about.

00:19:52
Speaker 4: But anytime you step on the mount for the first time with a new team with a high expectation, it's easy to get sort of rattled. This guy loves like the attention, he loves and he loved pitching in Citizens Bank Park against the Phillies. The Phillies didn't like it, but I will say you that that he handled it really, really well. I think he's one of those energy guys that can handle it. Hopefully can do it during the season. It certainly seems like he'll be able to handle that, and certainly did it in his first start in clear Water.

00:20:23
Speaker 3: It's got to kind of electrify a player mentally and competitively. When you go from a team that you know is not going to contend, like the Marlins, and you join a team that has World Series aspiration, it's got to just supercharge you. And I kind of see that in him. Coupled with the outstanding physical ability, it could be a really nice combination.

00:20:47
Speaker 1: You know that. My favorite example, my favorite example of that, guys, and you remember this of course is roy the roy Oswell trade in July of twenty ten, I think it was July of twenty ten. He was kind of, oh, he was okay is for the Astros and then he comes over to Phillies and he had an ear under two the rest of the season that he was he just was like it would totally re energize him.

00:21:07
Speaker 4: So yeah, that was one of the things that we talked about when we before getting him is he's a super competitor. He's you know, there's a lot of veteran players who have been through the wars, and you know, Lenny Dyster comes to mind. He was one of those guys that was a great competitor when the team was really good, when the team was crappy, so was he. I mean, makes him say he was crappy, He's just he just his competitive edge did.

00:21:34
Speaker 2: Not come out.

00:21:35
Speaker 4: And uh, I mean he was a really really great ballplayer, uh pretty much sole career, but you can see he took it to a different level. And there's a lot of players who do that. Broyles won't happened to be one of them. Cliff Lee ended up being one of those guys when you know, when it was tight, he was, you know, sort of pretty even keeled. But some guys just love that situation, and uh, it can go the other way, you can it can be dangerous. Like some guys who have not been in that situation and have not played in like competitive situations where their the expectations are high, some of those guys really struggled. I think about Kenny Rogers when he went to New York when there's a huge expectation on him, and in Texas they didn't really they didn't really compete in the West over there and never really had a lot of success. But then he comes over and did really well there, comes over to New York and pitches for the Yankees and really did not pitch all that well. So it really kind of depends on the makeup and and I think the Phillies hit on both Lizardo and Sanchez in that regard.

00:22:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was fun. So Mango Mango, best best week. We will be back with that next Like I said, the first episode, every week throughout the season, so we're looking forward to that. Guys, Let's do some audience questions, Philly Show fan questions. You guys are ready to rock and roll. Got a lot of got a lot of questions yesterday about Taiwan Walker before he pitched yesterday and then after he pitched yesterday. So let's start with some of those. What is the most likely outcome with Taiwan Walker? That's from Phillies Fans seventy five? Is Walker opened a pitching out of the pen. That's JR zero zero C on Instagram. What do you guys really think about Walker? Is he really looking better this spring? Will you be a reliever in the bullpen? Those are just some of the questions about Taiwan Walker. So let's just give a quick rundown yesterday Taiwan Walker. He pitched two winnings, gave up a home run. But I mean it was an objectively good pitch. It was a slider down out of the zone. Dalton Varsher got the bad head down, golfed out of the ballparked the right field. You guys know that ballpark intodneed and they man the ball flies out of there. His first pitch yesterday ninety three point seven miles an hour. He touched ninety three point nine miles an hour in the first inning. He hit ninety three to nine just once all of last season. His fastball average ninety two point nine miles an hour yesterday. In his first first spring start last year it was eighty nine point four. So again, you know, you don't want to rush to judgment or anything like that, but clearly he looked way better than he did at any point last season, and certainly than he did at any point the last spring. His splitter was good. He you know, he got three ground ball outs on it. He got a swing and miss on it. That was a big problem for him last year. So what do we think fellas about again one start, just one start, But Taiwan Walker, I.

00:24:32
Speaker 2: Think it's I think it's a great sign.

00:24:34
Speaker 4: And I mean anytime you can have that, I mean, this is what we were talking about with starting pitching depth. I mean, you never know what's going to happen during the course of this spring. Who knows who comes up with a baky shoulder, balky elbow. Every single year there's something going on with somebody, whether it's Wheeler, Nola typically not, but you never know who might you know, who might be banged up a little bit. Ranger Suarez only come out of you know, one spring training, I think in his last five years where he's been healthy. So it's you know, to me, it's all about the depth and if you can have as many starters as possible ready to go, I think that's a great thing. I think ultimately, if everybody is healthy, I think he's going to go into the bullpen.

00:25:11
Speaker 2: And be a long guy.

00:25:12
Speaker 4: He maybe put himself in a position with other teams out there looking for starting pitching.

00:25:17
Speaker 2: Where he might be able to be a trade piece.

00:25:20
Speaker 4: I know, if I'm sitting there and I'm Dave de Browskin, I'm going please show me something so that other gms, other teams hopefully he gets through this this spring healthy, that maybe we can move him in a.

00:25:32
Speaker 2: Certain situation where we don't have to take back too much money, whatever the case may be. Anytime you can have.

00:25:38
Speaker 4: A guy like this pitching well, especially deep in the spring. Now, I'm not gonna say anything until his last two starts. Really, those those those that's when I'm really evaluating him, and I'm sure other teams are too. They're watching everything. I think that this is really important for the Phillies. It's a great thing. There's never ever enough pitching and ever too much pitching, and so that's part of it. The other part of it is I got to give the guy some love. Man, he worked very hard. He just sat and done nothing and not try to improve, and you know, not worked on some of the things that he did in the offseason.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: Well he did.

00:26:14
Speaker 4: So he did that, and he got himself into a position where he's throwing the ball with a little bit more zip. He has to separate that fastball from his split because that makes them more effective. All those things I think are a great thing. And you got to give Taiwan Walker some credit for put himself in a position. I mean, at this age and at this stage, he didn't have to do this. He's guaranteed his money. The next thirty five six million dollars are his in his pocket. And for him to be able to and to want to do that and desire to do that, you got to give him a little bit of love for that too.

00:26:47
Speaker 3: I definitely have a lot of respect for the work he put in this offseason, and it's got to be a great feeling for him to see some early results tick up on the fastball, you know, Splitter just pitching better. That said, I don't think you can read a ton into it. I think you can look at some of the metrics and be encouraged by them, but I don't think you can read a ton into spring training performance, and especially early spring training performance. But what it does for him, it could end up buying him that last spot in the bullpen. As they continue to, you know, contemplate what direction they're going to go, maybe he becomes valuable as a long man. I'm sure the depth could end up being valuable in the rotation, and maybe just maybe they entice a buyer on the trade market. But what do you think they'd have to eat to move.

00:27:42
Speaker 1: That Let's s Yeah, I was gonna ask you, Ruben. Hypothetical. Say you're a GM on another team right now and you really need some starting pitching. A couple guys are down, or some guys aren't performing. Say Taiwan Walker does what he does all spring and he pitches really well. Right if you're the opposing GM and the Phillies call you up or you call them and they go, listen, we want you to take on some of the salary. Is that a hard no for you?

00:28:05
Speaker 2: Do you? Like?

00:28:06
Speaker 1: What's your art? Do you say? Listen, I'm not eating any money. The guy had a seven ERA last season. This is just spring Like, how do you how do you try to work that negotiation so you're not taking on much salary? What's your argument? I guess, or what's your pitch to Dave Dombrowski to try to make this trade?

00:28:21
Speaker 2: I evaluate, I sort of have to project, right, what's going to be the next two years?

00:28:24
Speaker 4: What kind of picture is you going to be? Is it going to be a three, a four or a five? He's not going to be a one or two? And what is that value on the market in the marketplace? And how can I make this trade? So to me, a picture of this caliber is probably somewhere between the eight million dollars and twelve million dollar range. So as I'm thinking through this thing, you know, I'm problem The Phillies are gonna have to probably take close to half of it back, and that's reasonable. It seems reasonable, and it also helps with their payroll situation.

00:28:55
Speaker 2: Maybe it allows them to do something at the trade deadline.

00:28:57
Speaker 4: The Phillies to do something a little bit more aggressed the trade deadline, whatever the case may be. That said, I'm not sitting in Dave Dombrowski's shoes. I'm not sitting in Preston Manningley's shoes. But if I'm evaluating from afar, he's probably in that eight to ten million dollar range as a pitcher, And especially based on what I see towards the end of the spring, you may have you may have a buyer out there, because hey, look at some of the contracts, some of the pitchers who didn't even pitch.

00:29:26
Speaker 2: Who's a left hander from from from Cleveland? Who who's now you know?

00:29:30
Speaker 4: I mean there's guys who are getting Boid Boyd got that contract.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: He only pitched like forty seven innings or something the year before.

00:29:38
Speaker 4: I ended up getting like a three year deal at what was it maybe twenty five or thirty million dollars. I mean that's a ton of money. And so there's a need for starting pitching. And if he can be that, somebody thinks that he can be that durable guy that they signed.

00:29:53
Speaker 2: Originally for what seventeen million dollars.

00:29:56
Speaker 4: I got to believe that there there's gonna be some teams out there there's gonna need some starting pitching, especially towards the end of spring.

00:30:04
Speaker 1: At least it's a fun little wrinkle for the rest of the spring based off what he what he did yesterday, So he got several questions about the bullpen. Thoughts on the bullpen better or worse than last year? That's from Staffy Tyson. I don't know which was that Instagram or X. Did the Phillies ever show interest in top relievers like Kirby Yates, Tanner, Scott, et cetera. Chase bingham In on YouTube said, well, do you guys predict will be the opening day closer? Even with top and Topper's love for a closer by committee, seems like Alvarado should have it locked up. Do you guys have any thoughts on the bullpen what you've seen so far from any of these guys, Again, knowing that we're a little bit more than just a week through of great par league games, Well.

00:30:44
Speaker 3: I'm loving what I'm seeing of Alvarado, And you know, Jordan Romondo yesterday pitched with like a not even a B team behind him, a C team and they kicked the ball around on them. So you can't really judge on that, you know, I don't know what they're going to do. Rob doesn't annoint the guy, but when you look at the way he handles things, he obviously kind of in action annoints to guy and rides the Hothand I think I would give Romano a shot out of the gate. He's done it. It's kind of in the back of the mind, back of your mind why you brought him here, even though you didn't want to say explicitly. And I kind of liked the idea of Alvarado coming along in the seventh and eighth and and and you know, and moving on that way and maybe building off that. But can the bullpen be better? You know, I think they got four pretty good ones back there, and Kirkering, Romano, Alvarado and Strom and you know you got Ruiz. Time will tell. They all have ability, they all have talent. It's Romano was an upside play coming off an injury. There's real talent there. And there's a ton ton of upside in Orion Kirkering if he makes that next step, if Alvarado in better shape, can get some confidence and firing like he is, and Strom's got a good track record.

00:32:04
Speaker 2: You looking at a pretty good.

00:32:05
Speaker 3: Bullpen, but you know, they got to perform. It's like it's like the team in October. Talent's there, you gotta perform.

00:32:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think the bullpens always seems to be the most volatile piece of every team. I think in this situation, on paper, it seems like the uh you know, looks like a little bit of the weakness of this ball club.

00:32:24
Speaker 2: That said, it really depends on their overall performance.

00:32:28
Speaker 4: I mean, Listen, Hoffman had a ridiculous leap year last year, I mean, an insane season, and so it's hard to think that somebody's going to have a better season than what Hofman brought to the table. And he came out of nowhere basically. But that can happen for the Phillies too. I mean, a guy like Kirk Ceram can advance. A guy like Romano, can you know, pitch under a situation where you know we're in the tight. He's been there, he's done it, He's had some success. He was very, very consistent in twenty two and twenty three, almost the same exact numbers.

00:33:00
Speaker 2: Sort of know what you're gonna get out of him.

00:33:01
Speaker 4: I got to believe that Rob Thompson's gonna start with him as this as the as the closure.

00:33:07
Speaker 2: Again.

00:33:08
Speaker 4: He may be pitching in the eighth, he may be pitching in the you know, just important innings, and somebody else might have to clean up the ninth or what have you. But I think right now will probably end up being the closure. But I fully expect uh Oryan Kirkham to step forward at some point. And uh, and I think that the Phillies are counting on that.

00:33:29
Speaker 1: Rubin. You made a great point last week. I think it was last Friday show about Alvarado is a big confidence guy and he needs to feel good about himself going to the season. So he came out throwing like Gangbusters one hundred point seven on the gun.

00:33:41
Speaker 4: Uh.

00:33:43
Speaker 1: He talked about he improved his diet in the offseason, he got in better shape. He seems really motivated and uh kind of under the radar. He threw a couple of curveballs in that first appearance this spring, and so I went up to him yesterday in the clubbus. I said, hey, Uh, he threw a couple of curveballs. Are you gonna Are you gonna throw more? Planned throwing a couple more curveballs? This season. He goes, yes, and I said, I said why, and he kind of laugh started laughing. He's got that big deep laugh. He goes why. I said, yeah, tell me, explain it to me. And he said, because I want the hitters to think, uh oh, it's not just sink or cutter. Now he's got a curveball. So and Alvarado threw He threw three curveballs all last season. He threw zero curveballs in twenty twenty three. He threw two curveballs in his first Grape League appearance. So he says that this is something he thinks he can throw for strikes. He thinks he can, you know, get guys to chase it. And so that's you know, a motivated, hungry Jose Alvarado would be a very very good thing for the Phillies bullpen.

00:34:50
Speaker 3: And that that is the art of pitching, getting inside the hitter's head, confusing the heck out of him.

00:34:58
Speaker 1: He actually went want them to think all he's coming in that it's not just cutter slider.

00:35:07
Speaker 3: Hitter's got to know you have, you know a lot of weapons in your in your quiver, and uh then you know advantage picture. It's like a football offense, you've gotta run some play action, you gotta change it up, you gotta keep the keep the opposition guessing, because when you're guessing, you ain't comfortable, and when you're not comfortable, you can't hit.

00:35:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, and a lot of people are guessing pretty consistently these days because they're worried about the velocity, so they feel like they have to guess on pitches. That's why you see at times some of the Phillies flailing at certain pitches because they're guessing X. They get why they swing at it regardless, and that's something they have to adjust on. But that said, that's what a lot of hitters are doing this in this day and age because of the velocity coming out, because of the stuff. And so that's one of the biggest reasons why, amongst others, why you're seeing so many punch outs and the villo.

00:35:57
Speaker 3: The vello is absolutely incredible these days. I mean, we're talking about Taiwan hitting ninety three and we're like, whoa, but yeah, eighteen twenty years ago, Okay, now that's like these guys spin at that.

00:36:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it's a different ninety three ninety four.

00:36:14
Speaker 4: I think it's It's been pretty well documented that the hundreds that you're seeing are more out of the hand than they used to be towards the catcher. But that said, the velocity on a consistency basis is definitely faster, definitely hard.

00:36:29
Speaker 1: Pat Ryan on YouTube a lot of questions about the bench. He says, my main question is who is taking West and Wilson's spot on the bench. Got some decent options so far, rinconas junior. He mentioned Oscar Mercado, non roster guy, Christian Arroyo, non roster guy, Buddy Kennedy. Of course, there's also Cody Clemens and Cal Stevenson on the forty men roster. You guys have any thoughts on who the bench favorite is. There's a lot of interesting stuff. So at Mundo Sosa the other day last week he played left field and he played center field. Rob Thompson wants to really know if he can play center field. And I asked Rob the other day in Detroit, I said, is Johann Rojas is he on this team or does he have to earn a spot on this team? He says, no, no, no, he has to earn a spot on this team. And if you know, tell you what if at Mundo Sosa can play competent center field, it gives them the option if they want to send Johann Ross to Triple A. I think Johann Ross is going to make the team, but they're again, they're just trying to gather all this information to figure out what they can do. What do you guys think about the bench situation right now?

00:37:35
Speaker 2: I just think, one guy, I think you're right.

00:37:39
Speaker 4: I remember being in spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays in nineteen ninety six and they did not have a fourth outfielder and I was battling for one of those jobs and all of a sudden, our man, Juan some Well starts taking out play.

00:37:53
Speaker 2: Balls in the outfield and ends up knocking me off the roster.

00:37:57
Speaker 1: And I.

00:37:59
Speaker 2: Still haven't forgiven No, I'm kidding. Uh. They made an investment and that's probably what they're doing with the Mindo Sosa.

00:38:05
Speaker 4: They're giving himself some options so that if they feel like Woan Rohas needs to.

00:38:10
Speaker 2: Go back, maybe that happens. I would keep an eye on Oscar Mercado. He's a kid and he can really play defense. He's he's had.

00:38:18
Speaker 4: Some success and it's been in the distant past with the with the Cleveland Guardians. I think there are Guardians then, I'm not sure if they were at the time, even if the Indians or Guardians a few years back.

00:38:29
Speaker 2: He's at some set, some set success there. Great defender.

00:38:34
Speaker 4: He can do some things offense and got some pop and he's actually shown.

00:38:39
Speaker 2: Us shown well so far. So keep an eye.

00:38:41
Speaker 4: On the Mercado and uh, that's gonna be an interesting little bit.

00:38:45
Speaker 2: Of a race there. Uh.

00:38:47
Speaker 4: You know that Rob Thompson loves to have that defensive aspect, So if a person can play defense, that's big. I know everybody with that offense. But so no offense is gonna have to come from the first five or six guys in that lineup, not necessarily the night. So it'll be an interesting Uh, it'll be interesting decision there at the end, and how they handle Rojas number one, and whether they want to go with an extra left hand or you know, off the bench because they are very very left handed.

00:39:19
Speaker 1: Well, keep an eye on this this week too, because Rob Thompson also he just offered this the other day. He said, we're gonna, we're gonna, we want Rojas to start bunting in the next week, So keep an eye out for that. So that's something that they really wanted him to do last spring. He was working out last spring to not carry into the season, and it sounds almost like they told Johan first week of games, get your bats in, take your swings. But now they wanted to start trying to bun for some bass hits and show that he can do that. So keep an eye on that. If you're if you're watching any of the games televised, or you're listening to any of the games on the radio, or just following along, is Johann Rojas dropping any buns down and getting on base that way? Because I think they want to make sure that he's comfortable doing that. That's something that they want to be part of his game.

00:40:02
Speaker 3: I agree with you on Mercado, interesting guy. He jumped on a hanging breaking ball, hit a home run yesterday. I don't you know, I'm I would be totally in favor of Rojas going and playing every day. You know, sitting and even sitting a little bit. It's not going to help him that much, but you know a lot of it is gonna come down. Can Soso give you some reps out there and you only need the reps for like one, two or three days. If you decide you need a full time defender, then you go get Rojas with triple I but I think I think Sosa is a good enough athlete and a good enough baseball player that he can give you enough reps out there that that you can be protected on the bench with him. So you know, we'll see what happens. And you know it's gonna be curious what happens with Cody Continents. He's a good, bad, good left but he's left handed. I just I'm not giving him away. I think he's a pretty valuable guy.

00:40:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, Buddy Kennedy of course, and Cody of course. We have to mention that Cody Clemens and Buddy Kennedy are out of options, so if they don't make the team, they could lose them as organizational depth pieces. Kennedy this spring is one for thirteen, home run, two RBIs, two walks, five strikeouts, Clement's four for thirteen, double home run, three RBIs, three strikeouts, and Cal Stevenson mentioning him because he's on the forty man roster, he does have an option. He's one for fourteen, so just a little bit on that. All right, let's go a couple more here. Do you guys, what's your take on Turner batting leadoff? Trey Turner batting leadout? That's from Barolo girl on Instagram. You guys on board with it? Still? I know, Rubin the other day you said, Bryson Scott you'd like to is your lead off guy?

00:41:36
Speaker 2: Right? Yeah, you like Bryson Scott still.

00:41:38
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously, Trey Turner hasn't done a whole lot in the lead off spots so far.

00:41:43
Speaker 2: He's not a guy who sees pitches.

00:41:45
Speaker 4: That said, if he can hit his way into that number one, because that's what he's gonna have to do.

00:41:49
Speaker 2: He's not gonna take a lot of pitches. He's not gonna walk a lot. It's it's not gonna happen.

00:41:52
Speaker 4: But if he can hit his way into that spot, I think that's probably best for the team. That said, ultimately, I do think that Bryce and Scott is still a guy that.

00:42:02
Speaker 2: I would consider being in the leadoff slot.

00:42:04
Speaker 4: I think he's one of those guys that as he continues to mature, he'll see pitches, he'll fous some balls off, he'll do some things to control the strike zone, and he looks healthier. I can see that he seems like he's more comfortable with where he is as far as his overall health is concerned and his elbow.

00:42:23
Speaker 2: I still like him in that leadoff spot. But that said, if.

00:42:27
Speaker 4: Turner can hit his way, hit his way onto that into that spot and be successful, I think that's probably the best thing for the Phillies moving forward, And.

00:42:38
Speaker 3: It might be the best thing for Turner. It might force him to think like a leadoff man. It might by osmosis, prompt more selectivity, you know, less Chase, think more like a leadoff man. Spray the ball, round line drive, not try to lift it so much to the pull slide, but when you get a hangar when he lifted to the pull side. So it just feels like that's the way they want to go. Give it a look for a while, see how it impacts Trey personally, and then from there how it impacts the team with possibly Turner one, Harper two, Bone three, Shore Over four.

00:43:16
Speaker 2: It's intriguing.

00:43:18
Speaker 3: I kind of want to see it. I kind of want to see it, But I agree with you on Stock. We've talked about it a million times. He's got those type of skills. Rob Thompson has even set it a whole bunch. He hadn't said it much lately, but you know, past months, in past years, he'll always talk about how he thinks Stock could someday be a lead off guy. Has a lot of the ingredients that a good leadoff guy has, But right now they want him down in the middle. It just seems like everything here is geared around getting more out of Tray and putting him in the leadoff spot might allow you to get more out of him and therefore benefit the team.

00:43:52
Speaker 1: Put your crystal look into your crystal ball here. John Kay on Instagram wants to know, is this the year for the Dobrawski trade deadline block buster deal. I don't know if you guys can see that far into the future, but yeah, Dave hasn't really you know, emptied out. It's funny. He had this reputation of just emptying out the farm system and just trading just tons of prospects, and he hasn't really done that so far.

00:44:16
Speaker 2: Well, they don't have a ton of prospects to trade.

00:44:18
Speaker 4: Number one, if some of them are down below, and the guys that they knew they would have to trade the Aden Millers of the world and the Crawfords of the world.

00:44:26
Speaker 2: You want to sort of see whether they become players. They're not going to move.

00:44:30
Speaker 4: Painter is able a possibility, maybe I don't know how highly he's valued, but I really don't see necessarily a blockbuster deal happening this, you know, this trade deadline. I think they're going to roll with some of the players now that they might have to make some tweaks. A lot of it depends on the health. If they're healthy one thing. If they're not, that's a whole different ball of wax. What happens If JT happens to go down, and now you have a question as to whether or not, Oh my goodness, who's going to be our next catcher the future, then there might be a blockbuster where you get like somebody prospect for prospect in that certain position, as they have done before, especially with Brandon marsh when they did that with the Angels and they traded o'happy. I mean, that's a possibility, but.

00:45:17
Speaker 2: I don't really necessarily see that.

00:45:19
Speaker 4: I see them tweaking, have to take trade deadline, and hopefully that's all they need to do.

00:45:25
Speaker 3: It's it's impossible, you know, to look that far ahead and see what's gonna come. You know, I guess at first blush, I would say, I hope they don't make a blockbuster because I think, you know, sitting here on March third or whatever, it is, the only way I see a blockbuster is if they're playing really horribly and out of it at the trade deadline, and then you might see some some veterans jennisoned. So, uh you know, So, I don't know which way they're gonna go. I think they have a roster that's that's very good. The personnel is very good. I mean I have questions about the out field, but we'll see. So I probably at this moment, because of their makeup and their contract status of a lot of guys, probably more of a more of a tweak, I think they're good enough to get to October and then you know, you got to turn around there.

00:46:15
Speaker 1: Okay, a couple more. This is from uh ailing four to five six on Instagram. What are you looking forward to this season? Could be a big picture or anything. Well, I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to. I just am looking forward to having baseball back on TV and on the radio in the summertime. I mean those weekends where you're off and you're in your backyard. You got the grill going, you got the TV on, you got the radio on. That's real nice, Clark, real nice.

00:46:45
Speaker 2: I have to board to baseball again.

00:46:48
Speaker 4: It was a great winner for folks in Philadelphia, There's no question about it.

00:46:52
Speaker 2: The Eagles and things that happened.

00:46:53
Speaker 1: But I don't know.

00:46:56
Speaker 4: I just I think that this team is one of the best teams in baseball, and I'm really looking forward to these guys sort of moving forward defending that NL East. It's going to be a tough NL East, there's no question about them. That's a little bit better. Although they're getting banged up in spring training. I think the Land of Braids are going to be better because they're going to get healthier. It's going to be a really interesting NL East and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to seeing how the Dodgers react to all the talent that they have and all the expectation for them to repeat, because I will tell you firsthand that it is tough to repeat. And so it'll be interesting to see how the Dodgers handle that NL West because it's going to be a pretty good NL West as well. It'll be competitive with Arizona being I think improved, and also the Padres, who had a really good team. I thought that they were going to be pushing harder last year, but you never know.

00:47:51
Speaker 2: We'll see. Kind of looking forward to.

00:47:56
Speaker 3: The Mets seeing what they got coming out of the gate, if they can rec apture some of that chemistry and that magic they had really for three plus months four months last year. But you know, Philly's wise and that's really all that matters here on the Philly Show. I'm just looking forward to October.

00:48:15
Speaker 2: I just want to see.

00:48:16
Speaker 3: It's all about October for this team. Man, It's all about the trophy and the prize, and that's where the prize is in the month of October. October will define this team and it you know, it can't come fast enough, and I you know, because I really want to see how it reaches, you know, the conclusion and if they have to actually can win one. So but you know, I'll enjoy it along the way because you know, baseball is in every night. It's like reading the novel every night. It's a new chapter and you have fun with it. But I can't wait to see what that last chapter looks like.

00:48:50
Speaker 1: Two more to give you name your favorite player of all time. This is from Luke Lucaspicks on Instagram. Favorite player of all time. I'm going to go for me as a Milwaukee kid, rob and I was at his three thousand hit game at County Stadium. One of the greatest, uh sports memories of my life. So I gotta go, Robin. You my favorite player of all time?

00:49:14
Speaker 2: Uh I gotta go. Mike schmidt Man Michael.

00:49:17
Speaker 4: Jack just did everything as a kid and as now as a constituent, and love the person, love the player. Greatest third basement of all time, not even close. Michael Jack Schmidt is my guy. He can play defense, he could run the basis. He could, he was athletic, He would hit home runs.

00:49:39
Speaker 2: He hit for.

00:49:40
Speaker 4: Average later on his career, hit for power early in his career.

00:49:45
Speaker 2: Michael jack Man Michael jack Smith my favorite time, my favorite.

00:49:50
Speaker 3: It's right over my shoulder. If you can see, you see that that license plate at Message Sure Massachusetts license plate y A Z O R R. Those are my two all time favorites. And Bobby orr So Collier Streempsky is my favorite. All time baseball player remains so yeah, yes, and you guys always, but he was my He's my guy man. He's to imitate him in the backyard. Had the stands down perfect, I could introduce him just like the guy at Fenway Trump Feller. What a player, man, and he was my favorite.

00:50:24
Speaker 1: Last one, last one. I'm Michael Wolfe on Instagram. How many wins do you think the Phillies will have this season? Give me a number, fellas, like the price is right.

00:50:34
Speaker 4: I never like to make predictions. I'm terrible at him and I'm wrong pretty much every every time. But I'm gonna say, right at the ninety three mark, nineteen ninety three Phillies ninety three WS and they will win the nl WES and at least, excuse.

00:50:50
Speaker 1: Me, I was gonna say ninety four win. I think their ninety four win team. It's a tough division. And I also think they're gonna I think they're the best team in the National League gest I.

00:51:00
Speaker 3: Think I'll I'll go ninety two. I think they're a ninety one team. Yeah, but I am concerned. You know, over the last one hundred and two games last year, there were fifty one and fifty one, including the post Man.

00:51:14
Speaker 2: There should be some concerned about that.

00:51:16
Speaker 3: Oh, but you know, I do think they're a ninety one team, So I'll go ninety two and slug it out for a division title with the with the Bravos.

00:51:27
Speaker 1: We'll see there we go, all right, Well, thanks for everybody. If you like the Philly Show, you can go to the Philly Show dot com get some Philly Show t shirts. Here. We still got some new ones coming in. Hopefully they show up at the doorstep in the next few days so we can get those ready to sell. We got some how to colors, maybe a new color coming in the mix. So guys, we'll Oh. I almost forgot to mention this.

00:51:53
Speaker 6: We've got a big guest coming on Wednesday. Not only do we have a big guest coming out Wednesday, we have a big guest with a surprise guest in the episode.

00:52:05
Speaker 1: So we have a guest with a surprise guest.

00:52:08
Speaker 2: Double feature.

00:52:09
Speaker 1: It's a it's a double feature. You guys are gonna want to check it out. You guys want to check it out. I unfortunately cannot be part of this episode. But Jim and Ruben did a great job with this. Uh this guest and special guest, so check it out. We're gonna that'll be out on Wednesday morning, and then we'll be back later this week to talk about everything that happened down here in Clearwater and in the Grapefruit League Fellas. Talk to you later, Smelly lad Boys, Na Jim. 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