Your Phillies Spring Training Questions

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, this is jt ol Mute. Welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: Hey, it's Ruben Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd's lucky. It's the Philly Show. We asked everybody for their Phillies Spring training questions, and so let's jump right to it because there are a lot of questions. And if you're watching us on YouTube, we got a new little system going, a little feature here going so I can actually show some of these tweets you've gots from our awesome, awesome audience. Let's throw our first tweet up. It's from Philly w X guy. I don't know if that's Philly Weather guy, but because we have a decent rotation, do you think there is less pressure on Andrew Painter? If there is less pressure, do you think he will turn and show his full potential? What do you guys think? I mean, JT real Muto talked about that after Sunday start saying it was your question, Jim right.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I definitely think if you know, if you were a club counting on soon to be twenty three year old Andrew Painter who's never pitched in a Big League game, to be your number one or your number two. That comes with pressure if you're asking them to pitch at the back of the rotation, a rotation headed by Chris Sanchez number two in the cy Young last year, and jesus Lozardo, and Aaron Nola who's a veteran, and eventually, after a few weeks, Zach Wheeler, who's one of the best pitchers in baseball. I do think that eases some pressure on a guy. And I do think whatever you do in life, you do it better without pressure, because I think pressure can be an enemy. I think there's a difference between intensity and approaching something with intensity and seriousness and urgency and importance. I think those are all a little different than pressure, and people don't often folk function well with pressure. So I do think there is less pressure on him because of the staff, and I do think that can help.

00:02:06
Speaker 3: My feeling is that this kid, just having seen him and having watched him work, I don't know that he will really succumb to a whole lot of pressure. Yes, there's no question about it, that there's a automatic pressure to perform in Philadelphia, There's no question about it. I think he will feel that, and he will feel it is probably his entire career. I just don't know that he's the type of kid that will succumb to it, just because from what I've seen of him, he seems very mature. He seems very focused. I love his answers and how he handles the press. I like the way he handles himself on the mound and in his first outing, is any indication of dealing or feeling the pressure, I mean he handled it pretty well. So yes, there's always going to be pressure Philadelphia. Yes, it's great to have a decent rotation to work behind, but I think this kid will handle it well.

00:03:12
Speaker 2: You know, Jimmy, you asked him yesterday Sunday, you know, do you feel any jitters coming out there? He's like I thought I would, but actually I was surprised. I didn't really feel much at all. And he kind of spoke to his routine, how he keeps his routine. You know, he's very regimented and kind of how he prepares for a game, and you know, he puts a lot of trust in that. He talked about one guy that he has learned a lot from watching in camp this year and maybe back in twenty twenty three, was Aaron Nola. Because he sees how in tune with his daily routine. You know how important Nola's daily routine is. It's like you're watching the right guy, because I remember, you know, some people have back in the day compared Aaron Nola's routine and preparation between starts to Roy Halladay in terms of like how religious he was in terms of getting everything done. Now, Aaron's routine has changed over time, But the point being that you know, if you have that routine and you go into the game as prepared as he possibly can be. You know, I've learned in talking pitches over the years that does kind of take the pressure off you or maybe put you at ease a little bit, knowing that you've done everything you can possibly do to prepare to throw the first pitch of the game, and then the second pitch and then the third pitch, and be prepared for anything that might come your way.

00:04:32
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think those routines, those routines in that preparation rubs off on guys like you mentioned Doc Halladay. It rubbed off on Cole Hammel's and he was a different preparation beast after becoming a teammate of Dog Halliday. But I do think pressure exists, and I do think we see this team put a lot of pressure on itself in the month of October, particularly the hitters. But I think, you know, I think Payter was this is where he belongs. He's going to be here, and hopefully he doesn't put any pressure on himself. Hopefully he breathes and let's it happen because he's a talented fellow.

00:05:15
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's go to another tweet here. This is from Ben Quickly. This is all on X. I think they are still looking to add another starting picture. I talked to David and bro.

00:05:26
Speaker 3: I would think I would think.

00:05:29
Speaker 2: No, I was gonna say, I just I talked with Dave about this the other day. He said, yeah, we're looking for a starting pitcher, but it's based off of the way our rotation is set up more of an optionable type of guy, a guy that can go to Triple A.

00:05:43
Speaker 3: You know.

00:05:43
Speaker 2: I asked him specifically about Max Sure's or I said, well, Max sus are just signed for three million dollar deal, and from what I've read, there's kind of like this, how is he going to fit? Who's gonna go to make him fit into the rotation? And Dave basically said, Yeah, that's that's not the type of guy we're looking for right now. And I I wanted to ask that because Lucas Giolito is still out there, Zach Lttel is still out there, so more of an optional guy.

00:06:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that they're just looking for flexibility right now and they're looking for depth. They feel very confident. I believe that they're going to get Zach Wheeler within the next month or so, beyond the you know, after the opening day, and you know, I guess my feeling is that if they the one thing that they do need is some optionable folks who can or pitchers that can help them if they do have a breakdown somewhere. So I don't think it's gonna be a big time name. I don't think that they're going to be spending a ton of money. That's not gonna happen, right, But don't be surprised if they have a couple of prospects they would consider a prospect for prospect type of a deal. And that's kind of depends on And that's why you know, scouts out there watching every single game in spring training. That's why it's important for you know some of the young players that are in camp right now to perform well because there might be a scout out there is looking for, you know, looking for a different type of a position or a different type of a player that might be of some interest and a movable object for the Phillies to try to add to that depth.

00:07:26
Speaker 1: I think I think the payrolls tight because they're over that fourth luxury text that is an impediment. I think everybody is looking for optionable starting pitching depth. That's another impediment. And Lattel and Gilido, I think are very content to sit back and wait for a contender to sustain an injury in spring training and that increases their leverage to make more money. And it also gives an opportunity because they're going to want to go somewhere where there's a real chance to start. So those I think that's where the Phillies kind of lay at this point.

00:08:08
Speaker 2: Triple A depth right now. Rotation is Alin Roun Hell Gene Cabrera, Tucker Davidson, Bryce Wilson. Those are some of the names that could be and the rotation triple A rotation to start the season. We'll see how it shapes up. Of course, this one is from first and foremost on X. Does there seem to be any get it done or blow it up type mentality amongst the players or even the front office, like there was a nineteen eighty or are we doomed to quote run it back forever?

00:08:41
Speaker 1: Well, you're gonna find out a lot.

00:08:43
Speaker 3: You're gonna find out a lot of stuff that goes on, obviously with the season that they have a lot of it will depend on how this season goes. I mean, if they're in the tank and it's July and they got no chance of getting out of it, you're gonna see some movement. There's any question about that. There's gonna be a shift one way or another. And a lot of it depends on how things finish off at the end of this year. Right now, they're help ben on winning a World Series. That's the goal. They're gonna be doing everything they possibly can to do. So. I think they have a very good team, a top five team, and I think in Major League Baseball, and I think they're gonna push as hard as they can to bring that trophy back.

00:09:27
Speaker 1: I don't sense there's a mentality in the room. We've got to get it done now or we're all out of here, because they're not all gonna be out of here because there's a lot of long term deals. But I think we all know that if it doesn't come to fruition this year, then there will be some corners of that roster that they can shake up, and I do believe they will shake shake more things up than they have this year or last.

00:09:56
Speaker 2: Ed Bauers on X what amount of money comes off the payroll next year? And how will that extra cash be spent on Lizardo, other free agents or extensions. So I did the math, Ruben Jim, I need you guys to check my math mentally, Okay, So here's who's coming off the books next year. You got Nick Castiano's twenty million dollars, he's coming off the books, Taiwan Walker eighteen million dollars, Jesus Lozardo eleven million dollars. He's a free agent, as we all know, Alec Bohm ten point two million, Jose Alvarado I think he's nine million, eight and a half or nine million, and then in Mundo Sos is a free agent at four point four million. I add that all together in my pardon me seventy five. Eighty two point six is what I got, eighty two point six. You're in the ballpark, though, I mean, what's you throw out seven million dollars? Once you get to that point, what's that, Ruben?

00:10:58
Speaker 3: Did you throw Alec Bohm's name?

00:11:00
Speaker 2: I did, Yeah, I got Alec Bohm. Yeah, Alc Bohum ten point two million. So you know you have eighty two point six million dollars coming off the books here.

00:11:11
Speaker 1: I mean the question included Lozardo's name, and that's quite relevant. They would like to get something done with him and extend the relationship. He's thirty years old, he's damn good. They they would love to get something done there, so I could see that happening. As far as what else is on their plate, they would like to move these younger guys in to balance out to pay roll and get some young legs, young talent on the roster. But I don't know what other ways they're going to go after that. But Lozaro was definitely a guy they want to extend the relationship.

00:11:46
Speaker 2: With no doubt about it. I mean, you know, Jose Alvarado, he's not resigned. He made You know, you have a lot of money to to move around add from the bullpen and it's a lot. You know, you have some money, maybe go out and get an out. Although the market is not very deep next year in terms of hitters from what I recall, which is why one big reason why Bobaschett took that deal he did with the Mets because he'll be thirty and he'll be forty two million dollars richer and he can still go out and get another seven year deal. So that's something to remember as well. Okay, here we go, let's go to Philly Sports. Do you think the Phillies can make a big trade for a big time player at the deadline? So we're already thinking trade deadline.

00:12:31
Speaker 1: What do you think?

00:12:33
Speaker 3: Well, to me, a lot of it depends on whether or not the some of the pitchers that they drafted over the last couple of years. They have been very aggressive with with pitching talent as far as the draft is concerned, whether some of those guys really shine during the course of this season this year. If some of the guys that they picked, maybe it's gauge would maybe it's you know, so other talent that they that they've acquired over the last couple of years in in the draft. If they come forward and they pitch, well, it's possible, I do believe. And a lot of it depends on their need, and the need can change all the way up until the deadline. That need could be an outfielder, That need could be a bullpen piece. That need could change depending on who's healthy, who's not, and whether they're still contending in July.

00:13:33
Speaker 1: Right, it depends on where they stand in July, Like Rubin said, the need, how big a need it is, how close they are to winning. You know where they are in contention because they're in go for it mode. And if they feel like you know, one piece is going to propel them to where they need to go, I expect them to do something. So I think it could be a busy trade deadline. I think there could be a significant move. It's much like it was last year when they got round.

00:14:02
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00:14:13
Speaker 3: You always go to the.

00:14:14
Speaker 2: Philly Showshop dot com to get some swag. Next question, Sir Frederick and Melody, do you think Justin Crawford will play center field for the whole season. I mean that's the plan. If he doesn't play center field all season, then yeah, they're kind of thin. There's this report out there about Johann Rojas, of course, and potential suspension. They're nothing official yet, we don't know what that's going to look like. But you know, if Crawford would struggle, if Rojas is gone for a stretch, then you have to move marsh over to center field. Now your depth and left is getting thinner. You know, the only healthy the only healthy outfielder on the forty man roster then is Pedro Leone. Not counting Schwarber in there. I mean, Schwarber is listed as a as an outfielder, but he's not. He's not playing outfield. So then you have some non roster guys. You have Brian Da la Cruz. You know, Gabriel Rincone is on the forty man roster. He's got the knee issue going right now, so he's not available. So right they really need Justin Crawford to do what he's done and and he's played. He's looked good in this spring for what it's worth. I know, we all say, don't worry about the numbers or whatever. But he's he has looked good so far this spring. He's he's looked like he's played the part.

00:15:46
Speaker 1: Certainly has it's done a nice job. We've all seen guys come up and stay the whole year and and and grow and get better a little bit better every month, and and and grab holds of the job. And we've seen other good players come up and have to go back and then come back again. So I don't know how it's going to shake out, but I agree with you. They need him to be there all year.

00:16:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's their guy, There's no question about it. And one of the thing that I go back to, and I think about this a lot, speed usually does not slump, and the fact that he has that piece, as long as he's making like fairly consistent contact, he can put himself in a position to be productive even when he's struggling. And so you know, he's got he's got some weapons in his body, in his overall makeup and his natural ability that might help him stay out of long term slumps.

00:16:41
Speaker 2: Uh didn't get a chance to put all these tweets on screen for so this is from on Facebook Karen asks says, what players should I watch in spring training? While so many are away at the WBC? Is there anybody that's caught your right? That's a great question, Karen. Anybody that you guys would recommend that fans take a look at besides the obvious. I guess.

00:17:07
Speaker 1: You know it intrigues me a little bit of this is this Dylan Moore, who has a lot of big league time with Seattle. I could see him being on the opening day roster. He plays a ton of positions. There's some value in that. You know, you might see a little more of Edmundo Sosa. He's always a I mean, I know fans are quite familiar with him, but he's always an exciting guy to watch play. If Scott keeps swaying at the way he has been, he'll be fun to watch this month. I'm sure there's somebody I'm missing on the on the pitching side, maybe in the bullpen. Uh Bacchus has been a good looking, uh funky lefty. Could see him becoming an important part and an important part of this bullpen. So those might be some guys to take a peek at. And I'm sure at some point somebody will come from the minor league complex and uh and give you a little cameo as well.

00:18:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Auto Kemp situation, that'll be interesting to watch whether he becomes like the guy that they want him to be as far as a hitter what they think he can be, but he's got to perform. I think that's a big one. At some point, we're hopeful to get uh Aiden Miller out there to watch him play. I think that's an important one. He's got that back issue right now and I think he's starting to improve, but he's not alway there. So it's been a back issue that's been bothering for a while and that'll be intriguing. I like to see Franconis get on the field as well. I mean, the guy's got some power. He's a beast. I was standing next to him yesterday. Man, he's a monster and uh and he's got a lot of powers, had a lot of success against right handers. Uh, he could factor in it point. Hopefully he gets opportunities to play. And the one very intriguing piece of a battle that's going to be happening is the Marshawn Garrett Stubbs one. I mean you know that that backup catcher situation, I think that Marshawan probably has the edge right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be the guy. So that's uh, either one of those guys have have options, and I you know, I'm fearful that, uh one of those guys is going to get lost. And the question is a Phillies, You're gonna have to decide who's best to be on the team and who are they more feel fearful of losing on the waiver wire.

00:19:44
Speaker 2: Great point. Dave Dombrowski mentioned that on Saturday as well. He talked about the catching depth and you know, with with the tough decision coming forward with with Stubbs and Marshaan. Kyle Beckets has been kind of an interesting guy. You know. They they they liked him from Arizona because his side arm delivery. They haven't had a guy like that in several years. He's working on a change up and he also added about ten to fifteen pounds of muscle in the offseason because he only his fastball is like ninety ninety one and I think he flashed like a ninety four the other day, just one and he says, listen, I'm not really looking to like hit ninety four. What I'm trying to do is to just maintain ninety one ninety two throughout the entire season, because he felt like last year, in years past, he would lose so much weight, he would lose some velo. And so he throws the side arm. He throws ninety ninety one. But he also has like this insane extension to the plate, so the ball looks a little bit faster coming out of the hand.

00:20:46
Speaker 3: So he's just kind of a cool.

00:20:49
Speaker 2: Different type of guy to watch going forward. So this is an unusual and I didn't see I'm going to see what you guys have to say here. This is from Jim Slade on X What players amazing Spring Training? Comes to mind? That added up to nothing? What player's horrendous spring training? Do you recall that was followed by a hot start to the regular season, And he says, I think of Scott monning Hoff for the first category. Could you he was.

00:21:17
Speaker 3: That's when my dad was way back in those days when Dallas and Paul Owens and Ruben Tomorrow Senior were part of the front office there, And uh yes, Scott Munninghoff he was a big time prospect too. It's really great and didn't I I think that of the latter one, I would say Aaron Rowan's a big one. Aaron Rowan was horrendous when we talked about that a lot. He was horrendous. That won Spring and then he ended up having a great year thirty home runs and you know eighty RBIs or ninety RB eyes or whatever he did Philly's in two thousand and six.

00:21:54
Speaker 1: I'll give you two that had great springs and it didn't translate with Scott Kingery. I mean he had right, he had two of.

00:22:04
Speaker 2: Them, two of them back.

00:22:05
Speaker 1: He earned a lot, a lot of a lot of money. And my first year covering the Phillies was nineteen ninety four, and Rubin, I think you know this guy because he went into scouting. But my first I'll never forget it. There was a kid in camp and I think he was a six year free ation, but he absolutely had it off the chart spring and Jim Fragosi pronounced him as close the quote was as close to camp miss as you can get. And he was an outfielder named Phil Geisler.

00:22:41
Speaker 3: Oh I know Phil really well?

00:22:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, yep. I remember he left handed hitter. He hit the ball all over the all over the lot that spring, and I don't even think he made it to the big leagues that year. But those are a couple of the iron own examples. A great one.

00:22:59
Speaker 3: Somebody I really know well myself in nineteen ninety two, I had a all of a spring and then I all of a sudden had to play every day and pitchers were sticking it up. I took us there for a while, so I struggled quite mightily during the season.

00:23:17
Speaker 1: You were introduced to Uncle Charlie.

00:23:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mom, I'm coming home. They're throwing me break the balls.

00:23:26
Speaker 2: God, that's great. Two spring trains that come to mind for me. I always loved like those long shot guys that all of a sudden they made the roster. I remember, you know Chris cost I think it was back in two thousand and five. He was hitting like four point fifty all spring, and all of a sudden he was like this, who's this guy? Who's this non roster guy? And then lighton Camp was like, this guy, I actually make the team. And I think he was going to make the team, and then Pat and Rubin pulled the rug out from under him and went and got David Deluci like about what the day to go before opening day? Remember that you guys got David Lucci and he guys needed a left handed outfielders and it made sense of course. Then you know Chris Coast eventually got up to the big leagues and was on that eight World Series team. And the other one was Brock Stassy. I remember he had a great spring and he that was kind of but that was a cool story. He was really emotional, uh that day heading heading north, knowing that he had made the big leagues. He was a long shot candidate.

00:24:25
Speaker 1: So that was a great day. That was a great day.

00:24:28
Speaker 2: That was that was that was very cool.

00:24:31
Speaker 1: And you remember when Todd do you remember when the during the pandemic they had the shutdown and then they came back in July and they had like a mini summer training for like two weeks and Phil Goslin lit it up and blew away, uh, blue away, blue Way. Neil Walker made the team the High Street Hammer from Westchester.

00:24:55
Speaker 2: High Street Hammer.

00:24:57
Speaker 3: Now Phil Goslin was part of the Phillies front office.

00:25:01
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right, good good man.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a great guy. I mean, one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. All Right, here we go, let's do a couple more. Eric Gidney on Facebook. Rob Thompson recently called this the strongest bullpen he's had, with Juan Duran established as the closer and Alvarado back from his twenty twenty five suspension. Is there a specific pecking order developing for the seventh and eighth innings or will Thompson stick to his usual matchup based philosophy.

00:25:33
Speaker 3: Oh, I think he's gonna match it up in the eighth inning. I think if there's lefties, he's gonna face Alvarado's gonna throw him out there unless he's struggling. If there's not, then he's probably gonna be, you know, the right hander. I mean, it's probably gonna end up being Keller. I would think that he'd love to have guys be able to lock down each one of those innings. Alverado in the seventh, you know, Keller in the eighth, and Joe wander On in the ninth. But that doesn't normally happen. It's usually you usually get to those those matchups, and a lot of it depends on on performance. If guys are locking it down, then he'll go with them. If they're not, then he'll mix it up.

00:26:18
Speaker 2: Agree, I agree, I agree, I agree, all right to the last one. People always ask they want to know. It's always it's always in the comments, whether we're talking whatever we're talking about. Every couple, every couple episodes, Jim, we get a question about you, does Jim? This is from Robert Stevens on Twitter X. Does Jim have any new and exciting barbecue recipes he's looking to try the spring? And when is opening day for the grilling season?

00:26:48
Speaker 1: Oh, there's there's no off season in the grilling season. I'm out there with my little miners hat in the winter brushing off the snow. So I grill year round. But I am home for a week now. I'll be back to bother you guys. But it's supposed to be seventy here on the weekend, so I might grill up some stuff. But you know, anything new and especial and exciting, you know, I'm looking forward to, you know, getting the guard grown some really good halapenos this year, and I love you know, I stuff them with you know, a homegrown that I cut him open. I stuff them with some sausage, usually some moderey Jack, and then I might draw a swirl of bacon around a toothpick and I put him on the smoker. Oh my, those are good, really good. And I got this Amage market, Mary, I go to the Amish market. I get these cheddar Julapeno sausages. Put those on the smoker too. Those are really good. You see.

00:27:50
Speaker 2: You know what we need to do is we need to have people write in and demand that when Jim does this, he has to have he has to shoot like a little video. We'll post it on our Instagram m page. We'll post it on Facebook and TikTok. We want to see Jim doing his grilling Jim the other day. What I would like to see, Jim? What I what I would like to see you do? Make it your mission this summer is to replicate the wings at the Dunedin's Smokehouse.

00:28:20
Speaker 1: I can come close, but I don't think I can do them that. Those are so good.

00:28:23
Speaker 2: Those were good. Yeah, we've we've been there a couple of times this spring. The dned Smokehouse.

00:28:27
Speaker 1: Don't give away all the restaurants. We're gonna have to wait line.

00:28:32
Speaker 2: But it's just people helping people. Jim, We're just you know, people come down, you know they you know they they hear about our restaurant and recommendations. And what is cool again is we're running into people. Hey, I heard you guys talking about this place on the show. We went there and we loved it. If there's one thing that three of us know, it's like good food and clear water and around and around the big leagues. We know, we know good.

00:28:56
Speaker 1: We we hit up last night Sunday night. I don't even know what day it is, but we hit up Christino's. Rubin you like that place. Christino's a solid.

00:29:07
Speaker 3: I just drove past there when I was coming back from the golf outing at the bell Air. But you know, I went to my old Staple Island wait grill yesterday and they had a They had an outstanding sushi roll. It was one of the best stone crab sushi roll. That was just smoking. I recommend it lot, man. I'd have been there for since last year. First I was here there this year. Wow, it was tremendous.

00:29:40
Speaker 1: We can't afford that place.

00:29:42
Speaker 2: It's that was the place back in the day. I you know, it's funny, I haven't been there in a while, but that was the place during the run two thousand and seven. In twenty eleven, if you wanted to catch a Phillies player at dinner, I mean that was like Chase Leshane, Victor Reino, Jason Worth, Jimmy Rowns, Ryan Howard, Kyle Kendrick. They were all there at the Island Way Grill getting sushi and you know, eating eating well every single night. So Jim, I do want to have you work on those wings though. I want you as close as you possibly can.

00:30:16
Speaker 3: Let's go. Let's go, Barne do it.

00:30:20
Speaker 2: All right, guys?

00:30:22
Speaker 1: That was fun picture.

00:30:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. Get on the social media, Jim. We want you to expand your footprint.

00:30:31
Speaker 3: Get one of your daughters to take some video. Please, Yeah, because.

00:30:35
Speaker 4: You know what happened when you know what happened when Jim takes video rubin big thumb over the camera screen.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: Jim took one yesterday. I don't know if you saw Jim's post on x but Jim took a video of Zach Wheeler throwing a bullpen. Jim comes up to me afterwards and he goes, see my video, how'd my video look?

00:30:57
Speaker 4: I said, He's good. I love the thumb and he goes, what I said, Your thumb was in a gym as usual. It's the best part of spring training.

00:31:10
Speaker 1: My cell phone, my cell phone is so old. It's so old that it's a dialog.

00:31:20
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness. All right, guys, that was fun The Philly Show.

00:31:23
Speaker 3: We'll be back later this week.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: Smelly, any boys.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: Smelly and Jimbo.

00:31:29
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