Phillies looking for bullpen help

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Chase Utley and this is the Phillies Show. Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Philly Show. Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd's a lucky It's Thursday, July twenty fifth, twenty twenty four. Phillies have a day off today. They just finished a six game road trip. A lot of things happening, but we have some news that we would like to announce, and we're gonna let Ruben make the big announcement.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Ruben, what do you got for you? What do you got big? Big news?

00:00:42
Speaker 3: We're we're super excited about joining the Foul Territory Network.

00:00:47
Speaker 4: We will be immediately joining.

00:00:50
Speaker 3: Them, and listen, this is a Foul territory, obviously fair territory with Ken Rosenthal, Dodgers Territory, Alta Rizzo, my good friend. You have the Northside Territory and Hammer Territory. They're all under that umbrella. We're excited to join this family. You can just continue to watch and to listen to us as you normally would, but we might be on their show as there's gonna be a you know, liter interaction between all.

00:01:16
Speaker 4: Of these podcasts.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: But we're so excited to be a part of it, Scottie Brawn, Mark Wiener, all types of guys that have a ton of experience in this area, and we're excited to join that family.

00:01:30
Speaker 4: Pretty cool stuff.

00:01:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, really really excited and happy. Thanks to Mark and Scott, Thanks to you guys. We kind of launched this on a whim right around opening day, and we're very very grateful to the folks who have watched and listened to our episodes. They really pump us up. And thanks to you know, everybody who's watched and listened, we're able to move with this opportunity. So it's really fun and great.

00:01:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been fun. I ran into a couple of fans outside target Field, Father and Is, two boys, and they they said they listened to the show and and uh so it's it's been cool to see that. And don't worry, it's gonna be the same show. Uh, Jim and Ruben will still drop their sophomore Smell You Later at the end of every episode, so don't worry, that's not going away. We'll still be uh, we'll still be doing the same stuff that we always do, but uh, we'll have a lot of that great support and that kind of you know interaction and.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: We'll still be talking burgers.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: Oh come on, cherry bourbon sash.

00:02:35
Speaker 4: That will never never stop.

00:02:36
Speaker 3: And I will tell you that I did try that little juicy Lucy.

00:02:41
Speaker 4: You did that.

00:02:42
Speaker 3: I did it actually with one of those impossible burgers.

00:02:45
Speaker 1: Okay, fantastic, that's not I know, I know, but I had to do it because I'm trying to, you know, work on my you know, cholesterol a little bit.

00:02:53
Speaker 2: You're eating, you're reading trying to plant base.

00:02:56
Speaker 3: I'm trying to go I'm trying to go plant based now, not all the time, okay, but I'll tell you what it was outstanding.

00:03:03
Speaker 2: You're reading Surprise for Surprise after.

00:03:06
Speaker 1: That bike Juicy Lucy Man Minnesota. That's that's there they claim to fame, you know. Speaking of Minnesota. Uh, As I was leaving last night, flew back to Philly last night, I was at the airport and uh, I did not know this. There is a Prince store in the Minneapolis airport. And I am a huge Prince fan.

00:03:27
Speaker 4: I love that.

00:03:28
Speaker 2: It's one of my favorite movies. I guess loving Purple Rain.

00:03:32
Speaker 1: So if you're not, if you're listening, it says T shirt says peace and love, and purple rain. So uh, I couldn't resist. That had to be my my souvenir from a trip. I never really buy anything on the road, but but that was my That was the gift to myself.

00:03:49
Speaker 4: Prince brilliant man. Yeah, the artist.

00:03:52
Speaker 1: They've got some great They've got some great murals down by the by target field. So I checked those out. I posted them on my personal Instagram accounts.

00:04:01
Speaker 4: So good time.

00:04:03
Speaker 1: Not so good for the Phillies. I was no, guys, if we're going to segue from Prince to the Phillies, they dropped two out of three. They went two and four on the road trip. Probably could have gone They should have gone for and Too. Really should have gone for and Too. It is some couple late inning bullpen meltdowns. They weren't helped by the offense on this road trip, you know, So I think there's a little bit of concern with the bullpen. I'm not too worried about the offense, but when you look back at this road trip level of concern, you know, bullpen wise, is this just kind of a bad stretch for him? They've lost six out of nine going before the break.

00:04:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would have some concern. I mean I was. I thought Bryce Harper was irked after that game yesterday listening to his postgame comments, and I don't have a problem with it.

00:04:55
Speaker 4: I like the edge.

00:04:58
Speaker 2: I think you should be irked because, like you said, that should have been a four and two road trip, not a two and four road trip. They gave away two late leads to late games, and you know they did it because they didn't throw strikes in the bullpen. You know. I looked up some numbers since the break, and I know it's a really small sample, but sure every game counts and they're two and four since the break. Their bullpen is walking six point three batters per nine. That's the highest in the Major League since the break, and the bullpen the area is over eight since the break, small small sample size, but especially the control and the lack of thrown strikes has really hurt this team in the bullpen. If you're going to go down in the bullpen, you gotta go down to the fighting chance, and if you're not throwing strikes, you're not going down with a fight chance. So is it fatigue? Is it just a natural level leveling out? Is it just a bad patch? I don't know. I know how bullpens work. I know there's some talent down there. I think it's probably just a bad stretch that they can rebound from and be better, because bullpens can be up and down. We've seen it. You can be you can be the worst guy in the majors one month and the best guy in the majors the next month. So totally, I think they'll get it together. But you know, I am just about certain that Dave Dombroski will do something out there. This is a signal that you know, they we felt all along I need to do something out there, and I believe they will before the deadline.

00:06:31
Speaker 3: And I talked to my dad all the time, and I used to you know, we used to talk about this at nauseam when I was a young player, when I was an executive. You have to have guys who will throw the ball over the plate out of the bullpen. If you come out of the bullpen and you do not throw strikes, you're basically screwed.

00:06:50
Speaker 4: You put yourself in a position.

00:06:52
Speaker 3: To let teams get back into games. You you bring your you know, the team down. When you lose games that you're supposed to win, then that really can affect the team more than any other situation I think. I mean, obviously with this team in particular, when you are supposed to win a baseball game, you got to win it. And so when you don't close out the game, and you know, Nola pitched his heart out that game, and you got to feel badly for him when when wins and losses were like important to a pitcher, I mean, that's a real thing. That could have been his twelfth win. And I mean, this is a guy who pitched his heart out in the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning to get through those innings, and he busted it man, and they were grinding at bats against him, and they were making him work, and he made the pitches he had to at the end, all for not because when Kirkham comes in, he can't throw a strike. And listen, I like this kid, I like all those guys in the bullpen, but if you're not throwing strikes, and you're not throwing your fastball first strike in particular, and that's one of the things kirk started to do much better in the beginning of this year is trust is fastball a little bit more and throw it for more consistent strikes. Well, right now he's not doing it, and so that makes his slider or slurve or whatever you want a sweeper less effective and lets guys sit on it because he's basically thrown at every single pitch or the only one he can command, and he's going to have to make some adjustments and make sure that that fastball.

00:08:25
Speaker 4: Same thing with.

00:08:25
Speaker 3: Alvarado, He's got to get back to the point where he has his command, get his mechanics together, and sodo as well.

00:08:33
Speaker 4: I know.

00:08:33
Speaker 3: So sort of he's sort of been pushed back into a different role, and I think it was because he had shown both Caleb Cotham and Rob Thompson that that breaking ball is a little bit more consistent, his fastball a bit Well, now he's slid into that more important role and all of a sudden, now I'm not throwing strikes either. So I mean, guys need to reset. I think that they have the arms to do it. I think they're going to be fine. And the one guy that's been super, super consistent is Hoffman. It's just been an amazing story. He's been tremendous. He continues to do his job, but hey.

00:09:10
Speaker 4: It can be really mercurial back there.

00:09:12
Speaker 3: In that bullpen, as you said, Jim, but I really do believe that they would benefit to someone that Rob Thompson knows he can trust to get a few outs in the in the eighth and night.

00:09:21
Speaker 1: Then, yeah, because right now you have strom Hoffman, you mentioned Alvarado struggling, Soda struggling, kirkering Storyglan Domingez is struggling, and then you start getting into Junior Marte and Jose Ruiz. So then what what I think what a lot of fans are doing is they're projecting that in October and they're going, oh my gosh, what is going to happen here? I think the Gregory Soto thing is was really disappointing this week because Rob wanted to give him an opportunity to like, all right, you wanted to pitch in the ninth inning, Alvarado struggling, We're going to give you a shot here, and to see him struggle on on Tuesday night and of course Wednesday, boy, you wonder if he's going to ge it back out there and get another shot or two.

00:10:02
Speaker 2: But in addition to bringing in somebody from the outside, which I think we're all in agreement that we believe they will. They need to turn around from this current group. One guy is not going to do it. One audition is not going to do it. They need to turn around a big turnaround from the current group. It starts with strikes, It starts in it. Then it leads to performance, and then it leads to confidence. Because I see a unit that just is lacking confidence because they have not performed, and that does radiate through the whole team. It's so demoralizing to lose games late, to lose games that you should be winning. You could hear it in Bryce Harper's voice after that game. I mean defense was a play in the outfield, Marsh. I mean that's a tough play, but it's a play that championship caliber teams make. It not always the errors that kill you. It's the plays that the elite defenders and the elite teams make, and the average teams, the middle of the road teams don't make the backbreakers. And that would have been been a big play for that team. Day off Thursday, good time for a reset. Returning home. Pardon me where they're really good, but they're facing a good Cleveland team. I'm not worried this team's gonna play in October. But they need to get it going and show the kind of team they are for a poor road trip.

00:11:24
Speaker 3: And what beautiful What people forget a lot of times, guys, for me is that hitting and and bullpen is.

00:11:31
Speaker 4: Sort of the same thing.

00:11:32
Speaker 3: They have abs and flows, they have ebbs and flows, because that's that's part of baseball. When you see people say, yeah, well that's baseball, well guess what it is. Because now no hitter unless you're each Eio or you're you know, Tony Gwinn, You're not going to hit every single day.

00:11:48
Speaker 4: You're just not going to do it.

00:11:50
Speaker 3: And and and so you're gonna have ups and downs and the same thing with a with a guy in a bullpen. I mean, unless you happen to be perfect. That one year Brad Lynch was perfect and he got really lucky at times. Yeah, it just doesn't happen. And so they have to ride the wave a little bit. And you're right, it's about having some success, gaining their confidence back so they can get back in the strikes stone and start doing their jobs.

00:12:13
Speaker 1: Do you think this week changed anything about the way Dave Dembrowski and Sam fold in Philly's front office is looking at this trade deadline in terms of the bullpen I'm sure they already identified that they probably were going to get a guy. Does it make it more urgent? Are they going to be more apt to overpay to get their guy or there are not? Do you think there are enough guys out there that they can still kind of stick to their plan and do what they do what they want to do.

00:12:38
Speaker 2: I don't. I mean, I guess it could have added a little bit of urgency, but I think they're pretty committed to getting, you know, a bullpen arm. I'm sure the teams that are selling bullpen arms are paying attention and saying, wow, you're going to struggle a little bit over there. That'll affect prices, But I think they were pretty locked in on bullpen help all along here. Definitely, it's definitely a solid seller's market, man.

00:13:07
Speaker 4: I will tell you what.

00:13:09
Speaker 3: Every single team that is contending is looking for what bullpen help. Every one of them and some of them are bullpen and starting help. So I mean the marketplace is going to be the prices are going to be high. They're going to push those teams that are not in it are going to push the envelope as much as they possibly get, can they get their best deal?

00:13:31
Speaker 4: It's gonna you're gonna.

00:13:32
Speaker 3: Wait all the way up until the you know, July thirtieth, it is it new.

00:13:38
Speaker 1: Six six six pm Eastern, six pm pm Eastern.

00:13:42
Speaker 4: Man, it's gonna have five point fifty nine. You're gonna hear about.

00:13:45
Speaker 3: Seventeen different deals getting thrown thrown together, and it's it's.

00:13:49
Speaker 2: A very very stressful time for a GM.

00:13:52
Speaker 3: And it's also a really fun time, but it's a stressful time, especially with so many, so many teams, especially in National League, still in it.

00:14:00
Speaker 1: Jim was kind of joking saying, hey, you know, you're gonna see how the bullpen's pitching when you in O nine and ten when you needed starting pitching, did some of those gms make a come on, Ruben, you know you need this. You know you need roy O. Oh I mean, oh, Ruben, come on, like al I guess it was. It was JP Rochardi right with buff Uh in Toronto.

00:14:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's that story about jp Uh. JP was trying to make the Roy Holliday deal and he was trying to get all your prospects and he said, you know, come on, Ruben, you make this deal. You'd be riding down Broad Street like a conquering hero.

00:14:34
Speaker 4: That's right, That's right.

00:14:36
Speaker 3: Well so they, yeah, listen, they're not dumb.

00:14:40
Speaker 4: They see what's going on. Nobody's uh.

00:14:42
Speaker 3: They see where the phillies are, they see their needs and and they know that Dave Dombrowski and John Middleton are held ben on trying to win. Uh So, yeah, the prices are going to be high, and the question is how high? And what are they willing to give up? They have, you know, a few pretty dark prospects down there. I don't think they have to give up their best ones necessarily, and if they do, it's going to have to be for somebody that that they're going to have to hold.

00:15:08
Speaker 4: Onto for a while.

00:15:10
Speaker 3: And that was one of the things that was important to me and almost all our deals, and it was something that that was also important to Dave Montgomery and we we.

00:15:16
Speaker 4: Talked about it a lot.

00:15:17
Speaker 3: Rather than going for rentals, if we were going to give up the quality of prospect that we were going to give up then and the multiples that we were going to give up, which we did, then it was really important for us to have guys not just for that year, but the following year.

00:15:31
Speaker 2: And beyond, and you did get guys like that Blanton Pence.

00:15:37
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, we actually asked him to pick up the option, which he did. He gladly picked up the option for the following year, so we had him for another year. I mean, so, you know, those were really important. And you know, the holiday thing, the same thing. We made that trade to get holiday and with the caveat that, we had to sign the guy. And you know it was an off season deal, but we had seventy two hours or forty eight hours or whatever to get it done and we did.

00:16:02
Speaker 1: So we know every Phillies fan wants Mason Miller. We've talked about Mason Miller on the show in episodes before. He's under team control through twenty twenty nine. He's gonna come at a ridiculous price. Do you think the Phillies bullpen situation is at a point where you have to entertain that or you add a Tanner Scott. I'm looking at some of the guys who are free agents after the season will cost a lot less Carlo Estevez, you know, Jimmy Garcia, Guys that like that of our free agents after the seon a lot smaller price. Late inning, good late inning guy. What would you guys do?

00:16:37
Speaker 2: Jimmy, Well, I think yeah, if it's around all the price is reduced, it would be nice to get extra years of control. But honestly, with this season you're having, I'm just focused on this October and getting where I need to get this October. But if there's a more control, that's gonna impact how willing I am to give up more elite level talent or more promising talent. Maybe he's a better word.

00:17:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually I'm sure that they're you know, poking around on several players, but a guy like Chad Green is interesting to me. There's some guys out there that are of interest that have had success, and I've pitched in big markets. Chad Green's done it in New York and he's done it in Toronto. I know he had some health issues, but you know, I like the guy. But that's the type of guy that you can rent and try to, you know, pay less for. It's gonna hurt a little bit because he's a rental and you're not gonna have him for much more, but it may be worth it if he helps.

00:17:43
Speaker 4: You get to the promise land.

00:17:44
Speaker 3: And I think they need some people that Rob Thompson can trust back there in the eighth and ninth.

00:17:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kyle Finnigan's signed through next season. Pete Fairbanks from the Rays that they decided to sell, He's signed through next season. Some of those guys have some experience, so it would be interesting, you know, Tampa, Jason Adam Adam, he's under team control there.

00:18:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hector, Hector Naris. I, you know what, I don't mind bringing guys back, but I just don't know if.

00:18:15
Speaker 4: You can trust him to throw consistent strikes.

00:18:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's not necessarily going to pitch Tonine know, he's pitching the ninth.

00:18:21
Speaker 4: Right now for for the Cubs.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: What about that?

00:18:26
Speaker 4: What about that?

00:18:26
Speaker 2: Christian Kirby Yates?

00:18:29
Speaker 4: I like, I like Kirby Yates. He actually, you know, he's again.

00:18:33
Speaker 3: Hell, it's been a few years since he was really dominating in the back end with the Padres, with that split.

00:18:41
Speaker 4: It's an interesting thing.

00:18:43
Speaker 2: A good year All Star. I believe he's a free agent. It might be a it might be a fit.

00:18:50
Speaker 1: But here's what's interesting about the Rangers is the they're only three back right of their three out of first place of the Astros. I know, they're two games under five hundred, but you know, the Mariners are in a free fall.

00:19:01
Speaker 3: I just think the Mariners are going to get blown away because unless they get two hits, they have no hitting.

00:19:06
Speaker 2: They can't they can't score a run.

00:19:08
Speaker 3: And so I think I got to believe that that Houston and Texas is going to pass them.

00:19:12
Speaker 4: I mean, they're they're getting held, they're getting the ground back. I think here fairly soon they've gotten Evaldi and Shures are back. They're just kind of getting into it.

00:19:21
Speaker 3: If those guys start getting on a roll, look out for the Rangers, baby, because they've got Bruce Bochie at the helm watching it.

00:19:28
Speaker 1: Then you need a you know, right handed bat in the outfield. Of course, the Phillies are looking at as well. They'm sure they would love to get one, or I think they would love to get both they can. I mean, I think Dave. I think Dave sees what's going on, and I also think Bryce sees what's going on. I think you know that was did you read you know bright? We asked Bryce about the trade deadline? Do you see his quote?

00:19:46
Speaker 2: What do you think?

00:19:47
Speaker 1: What do you think this team needs? What do you think they could do? What do you think they're going to do? He said, I don't know. Dave's going to get the job done if he wants to. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't sit in the smart alecky way. He just said it, matter of factly, Dave's gonna get the job if he wants to.

00:20:01
Speaker 4: So, you know, you get to understand. You have to understand that the players have.

00:20:05
Speaker 3: A very focused and a very parochial view of what's going on here. I don't care who you give up, because that kid in a ball isn't going to stop us from getting X, Y and Z.

00:20:15
Speaker 1: Well.

00:20:16
Speaker 3: Sadly, and maybe not so sadly, the organization has to make sound decisions on so many different levels, and you and the only your ability to assess your own talent and understand how that guy and how that player can make an impact on your team down the road and how close he is that that those are tough, tough decisions that a GM has to make.

00:20:42
Speaker 1: Man, remember, Jim, do you remember this right after the twenty eleven trade deadline? I think you guys, when you guys got one hundred pence. I remember Roy Halliday. He must have pitched like that day or the day after or something like that, he was standing in the middle of the clubhouse and he said, I love the fact that these guys aren't afraid of giving up their top prospects to go out and get somebody big because I want to win now. So you know, all those guys in the clubhouse are staying the same thing, Aiden, I mean, Aid Miller, Come on, Justin Crawford, You're not gonna You're gonna You're not gonna get so and so to because you want to keep Justin Crawford, who might or might not turn out in a few years. It's it really is a fascinating dynamic in that clubhouse.

00:21:19
Speaker 3: All I know is one of my coolest moments is when I got to standing oh walking into that clubhouse that one day Arizona.

00:21:25
Speaker 4: You know how and you.

00:21:26
Speaker 3: Know how important it was to those guys for us to deliver.

00:21:30
Speaker 4: And I will say that was one of the.

00:21:32
Speaker 3: Coolest moments I had as a GM because we ended up getting players that that they knew would help them and and and that was pretty gratifying.

00:21:42
Speaker 2: Ruben, I was. I was in Seattle that day, so that was the day you completed the Cliff Lee trade.

00:21:48
Speaker 4: YEP.

00:21:49
Speaker 2: Correct, and Cliff Lee, and I say this with all due respect to everyone involved, he was sort of the the runner up prize, the second place. I am good, second place prize. But you had stud Halliday all along, and you did a masterful job having plan B on the you know, on a parallel railroad track, and it was which one can I get to the station. But I had been followed on Halliday around. I think I went to his last start in Toronto. He walked off the field and tipped his hat. Everybod knew he was getting traded. They go to Seattle. I go to Seattle with him, and I watched him pitch that day, pitched good against the Mariners. And right before that, it was right before that game started in Seattle time, they showed the dugout in Anaheim. The Indians were at Anaheim, and all of a sudden, cliff Ley is shaking everybody's hand and you're like watching this in the clubhouse and what the hell's Oh my god. Then it's like Cliffley has just been traded to Philadelphia. Halliday is in the back getting stratched. He's gonna go out and pitch this game, you know, completely disappointed because he wanted to be a Philly. He knew that was the place he wanted to be. You guys put a lot of hours into it, and it didn't happen, and he pitched his heart out. And I remember talking to him after that game, and he was, you know, exhausted throughout this kind of month long ordeal as the Blue Jays put him on the trading block for a month and it was this major thing and it was just you know, grinding on him, and he just he just wore this look of I remember asking about it. You're not going to Philadelphia? They got Cliff Lee, and he was very honest. He was quite disappointed. It was like a surreal moment. And and you know, down in Arizona you're getting a standing ovation. What an amazing juxtaposition of emotion watching a disappointed Doc Calliday knowing he was not going to Philadelphia, and watching that clubhouse where Todd was down in Arizona, knowing that the Phillies were getting and you were walking through the club I was like the conquering hero.

00:24:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, man was It was a cool moment I must have And just having known Doc and how how difficult it must have been for him, because he wanted to win so badly. He wanted to get Tony new that his team, the Toronto Blue Jays, are not going to get there. I know that, I know how he is emotionally. He's a really deep sort of feeler and thinker, and I got to believe that it was very difficult for him to sort of quote unquote request a trade from to leave Toronto because.

00:24:32
Speaker 4: He loved being there. I mean, he grew up there, that was his place.

00:24:35
Speaker 3: But he but he really, I mean, winning was the most important thing to him. And I mean we finally got him and that was that was a wonderful moment too.

00:24:43
Speaker 4: But but I can imagine.

00:24:46
Speaker 3: What he was going through because you know, it was something that was really important to him.

00:24:51
Speaker 4: He really wanted to pitch in meaningful games in September October.

00:24:55
Speaker 1: Do you guys think this will run right after the deadline? Billy's in terms of it, they get a relief and a bat Tuesday, Tuesday, three pm. I mean it feels like it feels like it.

00:25:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. I mean they seem to. It seems to happen all the time. He goes right to the end. Remember that one year I think it was when Omar and I are was running the expostolo in early.

00:25:25
Speaker 4: One, right, and Cliff Lee was involved in that.

00:25:28
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right.

00:25:29
Speaker 3: Cliff Lee went over with the second baseman, that's right, Phillips, Phillipson Phillips, And.

00:25:37
Speaker 4: There was another big name in there.

00:25:39
Speaker 2: There's three.

00:25:39
Speaker 4: That was a big one.

00:25:40
Speaker 3: And we couldn't believe it because Omar was like this, this is MLB's team.

00:25:45
Speaker 4: They don't even have an owner. We were like, I cannot believe he just made that deal. That's who we wanted. Yeah, that was crazy.

00:25:56
Speaker 2: Did you do you think the trade deadline? I mean, it gets so much attention nowadays. I guess it's a lot of the social media, the rumors and NonStop news feed. It's gotten more and more crazy over the years. Did you did you like it when it was a little a little more under the radar or did you like it now like it is now where it's just it's just so public and it's so difficult to separate the good from the bad.

00:26:27
Speaker 3: It's hard to do your job, you know, when you're starting. And I didn't really let try to let any of that social media. Still, social media started really popping towards the end of my career there, but I try not to let it bother me too much. I had to just kind of like grind it, you know. I think, Okay, let's let's see, let's figure out what we need to do. Let's not listen to all the noise. Let me make sure that I understand what's going on with this team and the scouts and uh. And I just love this part of the season just because you had everybody in your department with you and you're trying to figure out what's going on and you're trying.

00:27:03
Speaker 4: To get the right fit.

00:27:05
Speaker 3: I mean, it's great to be in this position. It's stressful as hell, but it's great to be in this position. And of all the things that I did as a GM, these are the days that I missed the most.

00:27:17
Speaker 4: And it's funny. I actually think about this a lot.

00:27:22
Speaker 3: I have a group text with all those guys that were in that group, the Mike Condos, pro Frock, you know, Benny Hooper no longer with us, God rest his soul, Pat Gillick and all the Scouts, Mercurio and Howie Freeling and you know all those guys. Kerfeld. I mean, I still have them on a group text, and Jesse Levis and Dave Hollins and all those guys I still have on a group text, and I you know, sometimes from time to time I'll text him and say, man, I miss you guys. I miss you guys like none other. And Dewey also, I mean Dewey was was. I mean, I mean all great guys. I'm sure you guys were picking their brains a lot and trying to get information from them, and rightfully so.

00:28:17
Speaker 2: But one of my favorite deadlines, one of my favorite deadlines was a deadline. You guys didn't you didn't get anything done. It was just very exciting and fascinating. It was it was the year you were you were the assistant, you were pursuing Andy Pettitt.

00:28:32
Speaker 4: Oh, that was phenomenal.

00:28:34
Speaker 2: And Pettitt Todd, had he had struggled, this might have been like ninety nine or two thousand, I can but he had struggled in New York. And Steinberner goes into Brian Cashman. And the reason I know this is Cashman told me. I ended up writing about it in the fall that year. Steinberner goes into Cashman and says, I want you to trade Pettitt that's it. I want him out to hear We're unloaded him. So Brian Cashman has to make the best deal for Andy Pettt. So Ed Wade's the GM Rubins, the assistant, Mike Carbuckle, Gordon Lakey was one of their chief advisors. Gordon Lakey loved Andy Pettitt, Houston guy right, loved him right and seen his whole career. So they go all in to get Andy Pettitt. Reggie Taylor, I think Adam eating somebody else's in the deal. Eric Eric Flent beautiful, beautiful, left handed stroke, great guy. So they take this thing all the way to the finish line. And in these days, the deadline was at midnight, yep. And it was a Saturday night.

00:29:32
Speaker 4: We thought we had the deal done.

00:29:33
Speaker 2: Oh, it was a Saturday night and everybody thought they had to deal done, including Brian Cashman. So apparently, the way Cashman told me the story was George came to him like two weeks before the deadline, week before the deadline, said get rid of him. Trade Pettitt twenty minutes before the deadline, half hour before the deadline, eleven thirty on that Saturday night before the deadline at midnight Cnybrenda tells Cashman, don't do the deal. We're keeping him, and he had to call Ed Wade and say the deals you know, we're not doing the deal. The Phillies thought they had the deal. It was so close to Carlton Lower, who pitched for the Phillies. He wore over forty six. He had already volunteered to give up forty six so Andy Pettick could wear forty six. This deal was like basically done. Steinbrenner called it off a half hour before the deadline and the Phillies game in Atlanta. We were in Turner Field. The game had been kind of long over. We're just hanging around the hallway waiting for Ed Wade to emerge at the deadline. And he came out, and you know, he couldn't say a lot because you know, there was still that line you had to crawl tiptoe along because you couldn't mention names and things that were essentially prospective names. But we all know what was going on, and he was very disappointed they couldn't get this thing to the finish line. And I can only imagine how you guys must have felt, because you put a ton of time and effort into that.

00:31:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a tough one, you know sometimes. I mean there's so many ebbs and flows. I mean, we thought we had Doc. We didn't sure we were getting Doc. We thought we were going to get Cliff Lee. Then it's off and it's on. I mean, it was, it is. It's quite the process. You're you're moving, okay, you I can't give you that guy, but I can give you this guy with this guy work.

00:31:22
Speaker 4: I mean, there's all types of stuff going on. It is.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: It's quite the process. I loved every fricking minute of it. And as I think about it now, you know, I probably lost some years.

00:31:37
Speaker 4: Going through those, but there are years that I'd never mind doing. I'd love to do it again. I mean, not any boy I want.

00:31:44
Speaker 2: I want to do it again for.

00:31:45
Speaker 3: Me, But the fact that I did it, it was, it was just it was really really fun.

00:31:51
Speaker 2: Give me prediction, Todd, What what's what's going to happen?

00:31:55
Speaker 4: Boy?

00:31:55
Speaker 2: My bold prediction?

00:31:56
Speaker 1: How about the Phillies go two for one and get Lane, Thomas and Alfin again from the Nationals. They make a little little old school baseball wheeling and dealing with Mike Rizzo.

00:32:07
Speaker 2: I think I think Thomas. I think Lane Thomas with Brandon marsh put them together, you've got a really nice left field player.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: Totally, that'd be great trade. That'd be great trade. Now, Kyle Finn again, I love him. Never really pitched super tight. I know he's pitched in Washington, as he pitched in playoff situations as he right, you just don't know. Now, you can't throw all you know, you can't. You know, there's a lot of guys who haven't pitched in the playoffs who are probably gonna end up. You know, you'll never know until he's there. True, so, but it's something to consider.

00:32:47
Speaker 2: To no doubt.

00:32:49
Speaker 1: Well, guys, we will be back. We're gonna have more trade downline talk as it goes. If they make a big trade over the weekend, check us out. We'll we'll get an episode up as soon as possible to I sect it, and we'll have other episodes coming along the way. We're on Foul Territory Network. We're part of Foul Territory Network now, so keep an eye out for any little cross promotion, little interaction with those guys. We're excited about that, Like Ruben said at the top of the show, So guys, Thank you very much. Thanks to all of our watchers and listeners.

00:33:24
Speaker 4: We'll be back Smell you later.

00:33:26
Speaker 2: Guys.

00:33:27
Speaker 4: It's all Tim.

00:33:34
Speaker 1: This is The Philly Show. If you haven't already, please subscribe to The Philly Show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If you like what we do, give us a review, Tell a friend. Catch Ruben, Jim and Me on Phillies Nation TV, presented by Valley Forge Tourism. New episodes air an hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Replays air throughout the week and on Philliesenation dot com. Get more of Reuben's analysis during before and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Rejim at the Allcity Network at allphl y dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the philliesb Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network