WINTER MEETINGS: The Phillies Have More Work To Do

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to The Billy Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: Everybody, Ruben, Mark Junior, Jim Sausberry, Todd's a lucky The Philly Show brought to you by File Territory. It's Monday morning, December thirteenth, twenty twenty four. We're all back from the Winter Meetings. You guys have fun at the Winter Meetings. Ruben, you were all over MLB network all week on MLB Network.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: Do you have fun doing that pontificating pontificating coming up with the crazy ass ideas? I actually was fun. It was really cool to be back there again. I actually it's been like what ten twelve years since I've been back to the Winter Meetings. It's kind of crazy. Maybe a little less than that. No, maybe it was five years, but then before that it was a long long time. So yeah, it's been a while, right, But it was funny seeing a lot of people. I saw my brothers, so my brother Ruben undressed. I saw my other brother Luise, a couple of agents, and a bunch of people. Man, it's great to see really great to see a lot of the people there. But I also was really glad to be out of there because it's just a lot.

00:01:17
Speaker 4: I saw Ruben and dress he is much better looking than you.

00:01:25
Speaker 1: My dad. Some good genes out there, man.

00:01:28
Speaker 4: Yeah. I also saw you're throwing out some stupid trade ideas on the MLB network to kind of.

00:01:39
Speaker 3: The kind of stuff you used to Now I get to throw him out there without any enough research to really toss him with any stuff.

00:01:49
Speaker 4: He used to say, you moron, And now you're throwing that stuff out there.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: Isn't that great? And I get paid for it.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: It is fun to to hash over some of those trades, you know, or just throw out some hypotheticals and what would it take to get the deal done? Speaking of that, Garret Crochet got traded to the Red Sox the was it the last day of the winter meetings? He was the last day of the winter meetings. Four Prospects. The Phillies were in hard on him in July, and Dave Dombrowski talked afterward about it, and you want me to read kind of what he I. You know, one of us asked him, how do you balance giving up a major package for a player and not kind of like overpaying or mortgaging your future? And he said, you always weigh those things. I've been there before, done it before, not sure it was the right time for us to do that right now, and he goes into I think there's a few reasons behind it. They have four quality starting pitchers, but he said, we also really wrote out the development of our farm system over the last few years, and we're just getting the point of having the impact of those guys. It's not quite there, but we're on the verge of having some really good players.

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Speaker 5: What was your reaction to that.

00:03:02
Speaker 4: My reaction to that is he does have four starters that they like that are good that you know, to get a guy like Cruchet would be making a strength stronger, but it's not an absolute priority, especially when you have other needs. And I see a team that's going to be very protective of its prospects. I think they're willing to part with some in the right move, but they're going to be protective of their upper tier because if you look at this roster, they have a lot of thirty ones, thirty twos, thirty threes and approaching thirty four that are going to be aging out here in the next year or two and they need they need capable replacements. So I think the White Sox probably never backed off Andrew Painter. That's pretty much the Phillies only untouchable and they're not going to do it there. They've got a good package from the from the Red Sox and they proceeded in that regard. So you know, I wasn't surprised the Phillies didn't get it done. I think he was much more of a focus priority in July. I think he made a pretty good offer of a couple of really good prospects, but Panther wasn't in it, and so the Red Sox get him. And you know, if the Phillies were, if if if if number one starter on their rotation was was a huge need, was their key need standing in front of them winning the World Series, then it might have been a different situation for Dave Dombrowski, who was not afraid to deal prospects. But in this case, in in that particular move, they don't make it. And I don't even think they were really a finalist for in that in this time frame July, maybe White Sox obviously held on to them, but not now.

00:04:40
Speaker 3: YEA A couple of things to unpack for me in this while they are held bent the Phillies are held bent on winning and winning this year and next year in the following year. I think, uh, he's you know, Dave Dombrowski is coveting. As Jim said, you know some of the prospects. Now, it just sounded like to me that in order to get Crochet they would have had it parted with Painter and Miller. And in this situation, it was a little bit like the reason why I didn't part with you know, Dom Brown and drey Back. I mean, what was it the right move? I mean, we probably could have partnered with Tom Brown and drey Back at the time to get Roy Halliday. But when you have your top tier starter and offensive player, it's very difficult, when you're trying to sustain your organization for long success to dump those those pieces. And and I think, I think you're right, Jim. I think the starting pitcher was not as big a priority as you know, adding some something to the offense or getting a bona fide closer or something like that. And uh, and I think that's one of the reasons why they didn't make that move. And I totally get it. I'd like to see them do more. There's no question that there's needs, there's more than it needs to be done for them.

00:05:58
Speaker 1: To to to improve this team.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be huge, but it has to be something that is of some significance.

00:06:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, Dave. Dave said that as well. He said, I wish we would maybe done a little more. We just didn't feel comfortable.

00:06:12
Speaker 2: Then he added this caveat which I think everybody in the in Phillies world should remember, is but it's not done either. The meetings are done, but the converse stations aren't over. So you know, they they still have moves to make. They can still make moves. The off season is not over. But you know, going back to that July thing, the one thing I heard about the Crochet deals that the Phillies, the Phillies really truly believed they made a super, super attractive and very fair package true Crochet in July. In fact, the one thing I heard about that package is that have you guys ever gone into a store and bought something and at the moment of purchase, You're like, man, this is I really can't take this hit on the credit card.

00:06:53
Speaker 5: I don't know what I'm doing here.

00:06:54
Speaker 2: But almost almost almost immediate pre buyers were more and then you make the So that was kind of vibe I gotten.

00:07:04
Speaker 5: What I've heard is that the Phillies are almost going like this is this is a lot, this is a lot.

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Speaker 2: And so when the Red Sox of the White Sox said no, there's almost kind of like, maybe that's not so bad. So so, uh, you know, they they were willing at the time of July when you had three post seasons potentially of Gara Croschet.

00:07:22
Speaker 5: Now now you've got two. So that's also I think a factor in some of them.

00:07:26
Speaker 4: When they had you know, they had three post seasons and Ranger was you know, banged up, and all of a sudden, you know, starting pitching was quite a need and they were getting nothing out of the five spot. Now they've hit the reset button. There's only two post seasons, and you know they have reason to believe and faith at Ranger will bounce back and you'll be going four deep and Painter's going to be here, I don't know, sometimes mid season, yes, So you know, it changes the calculus a little bit.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: So some of the best trades that you make are the ones that you don't make at times.

00:08:05
Speaker 1: So that's something to think about too. I mean trades are tough. I know people are. It's gonna have Dave Vibowski make a big move. Well, they've made some big moves.

00:08:14
Speaker 3: I think they have to do some tweakag right, Jim, some tweak itch to get there.

00:08:20
Speaker 5: Tweagosity. We got a tweak nation.

00:08:24
Speaker 2: Holidays, guys are just around the corner. Make sure you go to Shy Vintage Sports.

00:08:28
Speaker 5: For all your holiday gift needs. They have stores in Westchester, Wayne Center City. Ardmore is their brand new store, and you can go to Shivesports dot com. Ruben and I are sport and some shivees gear today. And if you go to ship sports dot com use the promo code the Phillies Show fifteen. You get fifteen percent off anything you purchase. And I also want to promote on Sunday, I will be at the Ardmore store, the Shy Ventured Sports store in Ardmore, brand new store from one to three pm before Eagles kick off. You can stop by and pick up a copy. I'll sign a signed copy of Doc the Lafe of Roy Holliday. And we will also have some Philly Show t shirts there to purchase, So stop by, get a book, get a book, get a Philly show t shirt. Get an Eagles T shirt. At shib Flyers you can get the Spectrum one. I'm wearing, the Ben Franklin Bridge one Reuben's wearing. You can get all sorts of cool stuff. So that's Sunday, December fifteenth, one to three at the shy Venture Sports Store and Ardmore. Come by, say hello, check it out, talk some ball.

00:09:28
Speaker 2: You know.

00:09:31
Speaker 5: You're good.

00:09:32
Speaker 1: You can you can double dip. You can double dip with the Todd Pod and the doc book.

00:09:37
Speaker 5: That's right, exactly, what better way to say I love you?

00:09:41
Speaker 4: And if you're in our more, you can stop by the Ripple then a great burger.

00:09:45
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yes, that's a great idea, Jim, right, are pre snackage at the.

00:09:55
Speaker 1: We got to get them at the sponsor the old Ripple Wood as many times.

00:10:03
Speaker 4: That's the first time I ever mentioned him.

00:10:05
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, that's so great.

00:10:08
Speaker 1: On the next Todd Pop, let's go.

00:10:12
Speaker 4: And I hit in and Out Burger in Dallas.

00:10:14
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah.

00:10:16
Speaker 2: So Monday night we're like, where do we want to go eat? And when you come to Texas, what do you do? You you go to the California fast food chain. You go to in and Out Burger, and so Jim and.

00:10:25
Speaker 5: I crushed some some in and out.

00:10:28
Speaker 2: In fact, Jim, Jim and I got in the uber and the guy goes, where are you guys going?

00:10:32
Speaker 5: We go in and out? The guy goes, what the hell are you doing going to in and out in Texas?

00:10:36
Speaker 1: Exactly? I went out and I had a little U. S. D. A grade beef.

00:10:41
Speaker 3: Yes, you did that, and you and you guys went out and had a little California in and out, but did not think of me.

00:10:46
Speaker 1: Thank you very little.

00:10:53
Speaker 4: Next time.

00:10:53
Speaker 5: Next time, we will make sure to make sure to include you. So.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: Scott Boris also talked on Wednesday before David and Browse talked. Yeah, Scott's annual think you know, it's funny. People kind of goofund Scott's funny language and and and and jokes and whatnot. I find it'd be very entertaining on those days because he says a lot of great stuff.

00:11:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, he is very entertaining.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: You know, say what you want about Scott Boris, but he's one of the he's like the best or one of the best, however you want to look at it. You know, agents in the business. He makes his clients a lot of money. And I asked him about the Bryce Harper contract extension was last year at the Winter meetings, Scott Boris brought up the idea of Bryce Harper needing a contract extension or renegotiation because for various reasons. And I said, hey, you know the year has passed. What's going on? Is this something that Bryce still wants? Is he is this something he needs to get done? He said, there's no question that those dynamics are being discussed. John and Dave have taken the time to talk to me about it, so we're in a place where there's very good communication understanding what's going on.

00:12:03
Speaker 5: Jim, you wrote about this a lot the other day. What what what? What'd you take of Scott wars? What do you would you write?

00:12:09
Speaker 4: So when Scott does that big press conference in the lobby with all the writers around him, it's great theater. It reminds he reminds me of the Grand Wizard of Wrestling. Do you remember the Grand Wizard of Wrestling?

00:12:26
Speaker 1: He's about and everything.

00:12:28
Speaker 4: It's it's so much fun. But what do I take away from it? Bryce Harper's getting an extension. Don't know when, don't know how, don't know how much, but they're gonna address it. That's the vibe I get if they're talking and as if he's using words like it's being discussed and there's an understanding, you know, purs it out. It's happening. That's my opinion and my belief. I don't know when. I don't know if it's next month, or next year or two years from now. Maybe they clear the All Star Game, I don't know, but I think they're gonna show Bryce Harper some more love on in the form of an extension his current deal. And there's no rush. His current deal takes them through the age of thirty eight. He's gonna play at thirty two. This year takes them through the age of thirty eight, So he wants to play until he's forty or into his forties. I think they'll address that in some way, shape or form. And for context, when he signed with the Phillies in March of what nineteen todd three hundred and thirty million dollars was biggest total value in baseball history. It's really you know now, it's like tenth I think, and it's aav he agreed to spread it out keep the AAV down so they could do more things, and they have done a lot of things. But now that aav of just over twenty five million ranks and thirty in baseball, what they're getting out of them, you could certainly see why the harper Boris camp thinks they might be underpaid, given what's happened in the game and what's happened around them. And I think the Phillies are going with dressed this, not sure how or when, but I think it's going to be address.

00:14:08
Speaker 3: And so my opinion is it will not be addressed, and that if it does get addressed, it won't be for another four or five years at the very earliest. And I think that they are discussing it, but I think Scott's discussing it internally, not necessarily much.

00:14:25
Speaker 5: With the Phillies.

00:14:26
Speaker 4: I'll bet you, I'll bet you. I'll bet you, I'll bet you a burger they do something at some point.

00:14:31
Speaker 3: I'm going to make it go get in and out burger for me whenever I want it.

00:14:35
Speaker 2: But so there's no timeframe on it though, So I mean it like like Jim says, it could happen a month from now, it could happen five years from now, like you said, Reuben, but you know it's at some point maybe it will happen.

00:14:45
Speaker 5: They'll they'll tweak, tweak it, tweak it.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: If it happens.

00:14:48
Speaker 3: If it happens within three years, the next three years, I buy you a burger.

00:14:53
Speaker 1: If it doesn't, you buy me one.

00:14:55
Speaker 4: You're wrong.

00:14:59
Speaker 5: The nice I had. I had a great brisket on Sunday night in Texas, by the way.

00:15:04
Speaker 2: Nice.

00:15:05
Speaker 5: So I did hit. I did hit. I did hit the barbecue. I did hit the barbecue. So the Phillies did not make a trade for garat crochet.

00:15:12
Speaker 4: They got you. No, No, I want to know what do you think of these? Oh?

00:15:15
Speaker 5: What do I think?

00:15:15
Speaker 2: I think that something is going to happen. I do think that something is going to happen. I think the Phillies I do. I do think that something is going to happen at some point.

00:15:23
Speaker 5: I don't know when.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: Because that's the thing, like, right, if you do it right now, that could really mess up, that would really mess up your luxury tax situation if you address it this year, because they're already approaching the three oh one, that's the fourth tech luxury tax threshold. Every dollar spent you get penalized at one hundred and ten percent, So if you would adjust it right now this year, that that could really you'd be paying a lot of money with everything else that you still want to do and need to do. So maybe they address it next off season when Castianos comes off the books or and I'm sorry JT realto Schwarber come off the books. Castianis's and has got two more years left on his deal, so maybe they wait a little bit so they can it's not as big of a hit to him tax wise, so sight now, you.

00:16:13
Speaker 4: Know, they have they have so many priorities, you know, relating to the twenty twenty five roster, they need to really focus on right. Right, So he wants to win, they need to tweak this team a little bit. Everybody wants to win, they still need to you know, I see this probably coming at more of a downtime in terms of you know, roster construction or.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: What yeah, like yeah, like, hey, you know, we need to get some stuff done the next couple of years. We're trying to win, and then you know, once we clear off some of this other salary, we have some of these young guys come up. Painter Miller Crawford, Eduard O Tayt, whoever it is, Starling Cabba.

00:16:47
Speaker 5: You know we'll we'll, we'll adjust and pay a little bit more.

00:16:51
Speaker 4: So I don't think we're convincing Ruben. He looks skeptical.

00:16:54
Speaker 5: Ruben is skeptical.

00:16:55
Speaker 2: That's hey, little little difference of opinion is good. So they still need a corner outfielder. Alec Bohma is still out there. The Phillies may have made a big point, and Scott Boris addresses as well. He says, we've received no indication that the Phillies are actively shopping Alec Bouma. They've told everybody that he's available if you want to make the deal. You know, that's that's all semantics. But do you guys have any feeling or sense of you know, where they should go, how they should do it. You know, the Phillies are going to be linked to Alex Spregman, for instance, until he signs. Problem there is is how much and how do you orchestrate a simultaneous move at the same time for Alec Bohm Rubin, You've done one of those, not by choice, but you traded cliff Ley and Royality almost simultaneously. Again, that's nothing that you wanted to do.

00:17:48
Speaker 5: You were kind of told to do it. I know people, you know, no matter how many times you say it, people forget.

00:17:54
Speaker 2: But you know, what do you guys think about about Bob Bregman, about any other options they might have.

00:18:02
Speaker 4: Do you do you think this little mini offensive that you know, Rob Thompson went on kind of saying, you know, we're not shopping Alec Bohm. Teams have come to us, but we're not shopping Alec Bohm. And he made a phone call to him to say that, and then you know, Boris says, you know, we've been told they're not trading him, or whatever he said to that effect. I'm sure that came from his communication with the Phillies at the winter meetings. Do you think that is kind of a reaction to the fact that the Phillies ain't getting much love on him on the market and they're kind of now shifting or resigning themselves to the fact that he's going to be in clear Water and and they better, you know, smooth this thing over because he's an important player and you need production. What do you think, am I way off base?

00:18:59
Speaker 1: That's great, but you may not be way off but you may not be way off base.

00:19:02
Speaker 3: But I think they had to do that anyway because there's so much talk about it.

00:19:06
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was important for Alex.

00:19:07
Speaker 3: Bowma to know that they're not necessarily out there shopping the man. They're the people, but they're talking about other players, and he's one of the players that would have a lot of value. And it is also possible they're not getting the value that they want and it's not gonna make their team necessarily better. But there's still a lot of off season left. Man, people have a lot of work to do. People have to improve on their teams, and it's a long way to go yet. I mean, everybody wants to have everything happened right away. Sometimes people while to get done some conversations. There's different teams wanting different players. There may be other Braakman still out there. He's a big third baseman. Maybe once he signs and whoever doesn't sign it, then there's another dynamic that create that's created for the Alec Bohm market. I'm not saying that he's going to get traded, and I think if he does get traded, he'd better get They better get whacked.

00:19:59
Speaker 1: In the head with we solid.

00:20:02
Speaker 3: Package on the way back because this is a good player, man, really good player and uh and they can't lose sight of that. I had a hair brand idea though, and I don't like the idea, but I had a hair brain one talk about the Angels involved, what about getting Logan O Hoppy back for Alec Bom and taking on a significant amount of Mike Trout's contract for Alec baum two for a while. Wow, now they're gonna lose. They're gonna lose. JT's done after twenty twenty five. This is basically going to be his last year unless they want to resign him. They get Logan o Hoppy and that adds to their young core of players. They get him back, they also get a really good offensive player if he's on the field. I'm not a big you know, I like Mike Child and I know he has tough time getting on the field, and he's got owed a lot of money that the Angels pay out of it down later down the road they get, you know, and the Angels get a pretty good player that they can hold onto for a couple of years. I don't know if that's I don't know if that's realistic, But.

00:21:10
Speaker 1: I've been going to some crazy ideas for the last two weeks.

00:21:14
Speaker 2: I think that's a trade that a lot of Phillies fans would like to see happen. But how much money would the Angels have to pay down for that to become attractive Phillies. I remember Ruben a few weeks where we're talking about Byron buckson Byron Bucks and he said, the guy's never on the field. You know that the most valuable asset a player can be is just availability to play baseball games.

00:21:34
Speaker 3: But you get no hoppy back and that's how that's that. And you're talking about and you're talking about a core, uh premium position player, not the most important position on the field.

00:21:47
Speaker 4: You just but you might have just you might have just explained core middle of diamond premium position. You might have just explained why the Angels would not include him in that deal. So, I mean they love him, you know, he's a you know, those are players that stick around seven eight years. I don't know, it depends how much they pay down Trout and I just don't know that they would include a hoppy I think he's someone they really like and and I want to kind of build around.

00:22:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I wouldn't do a deal. I wouldn't do a deal.

00:22:19
Speaker 3: And let's take get a player like that back for Alec Bohm because Alec Bohm isn't already an All Star.

00:22:25
Speaker 5: Yes, let's let's not forget. Let's not forget that Alec Bohama is an All Star.

00:22:31
Speaker 4: Don't they have an All star third basement over there?

00:22:35
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:22:35
Speaker 5: Right, they did.

00:22:40
Speaker 3: They thought they were getting talk about inavailability unavailable.

00:22:45
Speaker 1: That's a lot and mentally and.

00:22:47
Speaker 2: Physically, Oh my gosh, that's a lot of that's a lot of bad money out there in contracts, you know. Uh so they Phillies have work to do.

00:22:58
Speaker 5: We've talked about it.

00:22:59
Speaker 2: They Dombrowski said that, you know, maybe they making a trade, and we in the follow up of that crochet deal, he said, you trade anybody at a particular time, but it's not a driving force for us at this time.

00:23:10
Speaker 5: We'd give up anybody for the right player.

00:23:11
Speaker 2: But this point, I don't know that the timing is right for us to give up that type of quality and quantity of players. So yeah, you're right, Yeah, they're they're being judicious. And how they who they give these guys up for.

00:23:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I almost feel like maybe this is too strong, but I don't have a better way to describe it, like but almost like they're a little bit between a rock and a hard place. Maybe not quite that strong, but you get the idea between. You know, they feel like you need to hang on to some of these prospects because they're you know, the nucleus is getting older north of thirty, so they need guys to move in when when they're up there, and also they're bumping up against that third fourth luxury tax, that three all one. You know, the desire to hang on off to some of these prospects because you need them in the short term or they're not too long term here and the payroll and the tacks, it's like those two forces are kind of squeezing you a little bit in terms of, you know, what you can do to move this current roster forward. On top of it, a lot of inflexibility on the roster because of age and long term contracts and salaries. So it's I do believe they're going to bring in an outfielder, I really do, yeah, And I just don't know how they're going to do it. I think they're getting squeezed on the prospect side and the payroll side a little bit.

00:24:35
Speaker 3: So this this, I will tell you what this reminds me of exactly, gentlemen. It reminds me of twenty eleven to twenty twelve that in between time, and I hope they make decisions that are better than mine ultimately, because we did have the injury to a bunch of guys. Now they went south, Hopefully one they have a lot more luck and they don't have to deal with those kind of injuries. It'd be like, you know, Harper going down with achilles or.

00:25:05
Speaker 1: You know, something like that, and turn and then Turner going down with like knee problems.

00:25:12
Speaker 3: You don't want to have that happen, obviously, and hopefully that's not the case, and that they can add on without impunity, because when I added a guy like Papa Bond, I would there were some impunity there because our guys went south physically and you just hope, you know, and and on top of that, losing a guy like you know, Zach Wheeler at the top of your rotation to injury, so you lose those three guys, you're in trouble. And hopefully that's not They're not dealing with that sort of issue.

00:25:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of time to go. Maybe we'll get something done before Christmas. If not, again, I think pictures and catchers reporting like February twelfth or thirteenth or fourteenth.

00:25:54
Speaker 3: Well, the other thing I want to say about that is the other The other thing I say I want to say about that is this is still a top five team in baseball with talent. As far as talent, if these guys are on the field and they're playing, this is still a top five team in talent in baseball.

00:26:09
Speaker 1: And so let's not lose sight of that.

00:26:11
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:26:11
Speaker 2: I know, like people have heard David and Brown, Dave has gone out of his way to mention we're top five offense.

00:26:16
Speaker 5: For most of the year. We're a top five offense.

00:26:18
Speaker 2: We didn't play well at the right time and against the Mets and the NLDS.

00:26:21
Speaker 5: Rob Thompson has said the same thing.

00:26:23
Speaker 2: And I know that's frustrating for fans to say, Yeah, but you spit the bit in twenty twenty three in the NLCS, and you didn't play that great in the second half of the twenty twenty four season, and you didn't play that great against the Mets.

00:26:35
Speaker 5: So I don't want to hear anything about top five offense.

00:26:37
Speaker 2: But at being at the Winter Meetings this past week, nobody's coming.

00:26:41
Speaker 5: Up to the Philly.

00:26:42
Speaker 2: Nobody was coming up to me going like, so, the Philly's gonna start selling guys because they're screwed. I mean, this team's on the this team's going downhill fast.

00:26:51
Speaker 5: Nationally in the game of baseball.

00:26:53
Speaker 2: The Phillies are still regarded as a top five team, a World Series contending team. So it's not just like, of course, Dave's oh my gosh, Dave's trying to set up this crappy offense because they're not going to go out and get anybody.

00:27:07
Speaker 1: Now.

00:27:07
Speaker 2: I mean, the view amongst people in baseball is that they're a pretty good team and they could win the World Series next year.

00:27:14
Speaker 3: Correct, the ball rolls the right way and they played better baseball at the right time.

00:27:20
Speaker 4: Now.

00:27:20
Speaker 1: I don't know if fans don't want to.

00:27:21
Speaker 5: Hear that necessarily, but that's true.

00:27:24
Speaker 4: I agree a lot. There's a lot of teams around baseball that would like to have the Phillies problems. But you know, the fact of the matter is they were a five hundred team after about June tenth including the postseason, just right on them those five hundred. So you know they need to play better. We like their personnel, that personnel needs to improve and play better. They need to still need a tweak and just I do sense I patience around town with fans that they haven't done more yet. I'm, as Ruben said, a long off season, and I just I remind folks about the winter when they acquired JT. Real Mudo. It's you know when that you know, real Mudo was on the block and he was roomored to go to Cincinnati, the Dodgers, the Mets, the Braves, and none of those things materialized, and all of a sudden, February early February came around and an opportunity presented itself with the Phillies and they ended up with J. T. Rail Mudo. You never know what opportunity will present itself and when, and that's why, as hard as it is to do, sometimes you need to exercise patients. I think patients is a really good quality in the game of baseball, and it could be now as they construct their roster here in the off season, and that patience needs to be carried right through to the trade deadline again. They're gonna make tweaks to improve this thing right till then, and you hope they're the right tweaks and good things happen. We will see. It's it's it's it's still really early in the in terms of the construction of the team that you're going to take him to the playoffs next year if you get there.

00:29:16
Speaker 3: The great faith in Dave, Dave Nebrowski man, and the man knows what he's doing.

00:29:21
Speaker 1: He's had success, he's a Hall of Famer. He's gonna get it there.

00:29:25
Speaker 2: My mail carrier knocked on my door yesterday. He handed me a package and he goes, uh, are they going to do.

00:29:31
Speaker 5: Something at some point? And I said, I said, there's a long way to go. They'll get something done before spring training.

00:29:37
Speaker 2: So uh, I try to, you know, calm his nerves.

00:29:43
Speaker 4: That Ruben, I got to ask you before we go here, like you proposed to Kyle truck Tucker trade. Right, we lose Ruben. He's he's messing with the computer. He doesn't want to answer the question.

00:30:02
Speaker 2: Well, we're losing Ruben's connections. So that's actually a good segue out of here. Next time, Yeah, we'll ask the next time Jim Rubens want to answer your question.

00:30:13
Speaker 4: That's weak, gutless, totally gutless, jam in the computer? Can you believe that what the mutim so he doesn't pop back in?

00:30:22
Speaker 2: All right, well, Jim, I'm gonna drop a smelly later on you. We'll be back next week. We got some good episodes coming up.

00:30:28
Speaker 4: All right, smell lay.

00:30:30
Speaker 2: 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.

00:30:38
Speaker 5: If you like us, give us a review, follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports.

00:30:49
Speaker 5: Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phl y dot com.

00:30:56
Speaker 2: Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Bet Newsletter and MLB Network and