Hot Wheels: Zack Wheeler shows why he should start All-Star Game

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Zach Wheeler.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Welcome to Philly Show, Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd Zelecki. It's the Philly Show. I hope everybody's doing great today. It's Monday, July seventh, twenty twenty five. How are you, guys, Ruben, you were on National TV last night.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: I thought it was Oh yeah, I was MSNBC. John L. Guisamo does America.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: That was really good. That was right good. You had a lot of great energy, Ruben.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, So tell us a little bit about it. I mean, I remember you mentioning it to me months and months ago, but I was on the flight out to San Francisco when it aired. So what was it? Tell us about it? Can we still see it? Can we find it?

00:00:52
Speaker 3: Benny from the Bronx, Benny what was his name? Benny Blanco?

00:00:57
Speaker 4: Benny Blanco. I didn't meet any I didn't meet any of those other folks. I mean, I just did the I did that.

00:01:06
Speaker 1: A while ago.

00:01:11
Speaker 4: I can't even remember when I did it, but it was during the winter time. He saw we had coats on and stuff. I think it was during the But John Leguasamo was a great is a great dude. Man, he's a good dude. He's down to earth. The only problem with him was that he's a Mets fan.

00:01:25
Speaker 3: Mh.

00:01:28
Speaker 4: But but it was really nice. They contacted my agent and contacted me. I don't know, I can't even remember how the whole thing came came about, but you know, because of my Latin American background, I think that was most of it. And in the background of my dad, the history of my dad and my grandfather.

00:01:44
Speaker 1: It was really cool to be able to show that portion of.

00:01:48
Speaker 4: It at CBP that they that they just really sort of installed.

00:01:54
Speaker 1: And it's just.

00:01:56
Speaker 4: Really really cool to be able to talk about, you know, my heritage and my back ground and really it started with Santos and uh in Cuba and kind of matriculated from there. But uh, but it's pretty really cool.

00:02:10
Speaker 1: It was nice. Was a nice piece.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, like was Ama does America. In my household, he is known as Bruno from Encanto.

00:02:20
Speaker 1: Well, he's a great I mean, but he's also a great actor. He's done a lot. He is I mean, he's like he's he's like a good bad guy.

00:02:27
Speaker 4: He's a good I mean, he's done a he's been like a bad guy in a lot of shows. He's finished them a bunch of stuff, but he's trying to sort of break barriers.

00:02:34
Speaker 2: You know, right right, Yeah, he's he's awesome. So hopefully we can still check that out somewhere like Wasama does America check out Rubin. But that wasn't the only big show on Sunday, guys, Zach Wheeler, My goodness, Zach Wheeler, and let's start right there with Zach Wheeler. It's time for the Park's First pitch. Park's First pitch, of course, is brought to us exclusively by our partners at Parks Casino, Pennsylvania's number one casino. Zach Wheeler, Guys, yesterday, I started seeing notification. Like I said, I was at the report when this is going on, I'm going, oh my god, am I gonna miss a no hitter?

00:03:19
Speaker 1: Here?

00:03:19
Speaker 2: Am I gonna miss a perfect game? Because he retired the first twelve. I'm like, uh ohhh, I miss Royaliday's perfect game. I was off that weekend. I miss Kevin Millwood's no hitter. I was flying to Los Angeles that day, and I'm going, is this gonna happen again? You know? But almost almost missed it. But he was absolutely fantastic.

00:03:42
Speaker 3: It was one of those games when you, you know, walk into your car off the game you say, wow, that was a treat to watch, even though you had to endure a slew of horrible at bats by the Phillies hitters. The pitching performance was otherworldly by Zach Wheeler. His stuff was great, his command was great. He walks nune strikes out twelve twenty two swinging misses. The crowd was great, exceptional the way they kicked him home in the ninth inning, the way they reacted when he popped out of the dugout to come out and finish it off. Because complete games are a vanishing breed, we don't see them anymore. So there was only nineteen of them in the big leagues entering Sunday. So he pops out of the dugout, crowd goes crazy. They're on their feet the entire top of the ninth inning. They're chanting Wheeler, Wheeler, Let's go Wheeler. It was a goosebumps moment and I asked him about it afterwards and he was like, you know, that's why pitching in Philly is so awesome. But he is awesome. Look at the last six starts. He's got like an zero point sixty five VRA three earned runs in forty innings. A treat to watch this stretch he's on, and a great treat to watch on Sunday at Citizens Back Park.

00:05:01
Speaker 4: He really is extraordinary. I mean, there's not enough superlatives the way he goes about his business. His durability is consistency, his ability his fastball. He was throwing his fastball against the right fielder what's the right fielder's name, left handed hittor Benson, and he had no chance to hit his fastball.

00:05:26
Speaker 1: And he could have told him every single pitch that was coming, and he was rushing the fastball up on him and the guy wasn't going to get there.

00:05:33
Speaker 3: He was ninety eight eight with that pitch yesterday average.

00:05:36
Speaker 1: And I mean, to me, it's not just about the stuff. It's about the.

00:05:42
Speaker 4: Command of the stuff, and the command is ability to mix it up. He said he didn't feel real comfortable early in the game with his breaking stuff, and he pulled a couple, he hung a couple, pulled a couple. He didn't really feel comfortable with it.

00:05:56
Speaker 1: And then.

00:05:58
Speaker 4: You just rode that fastball, man, He just rode the fastball and some of the sinkers, and I mean.

00:06:04
Speaker 1: It was something to it was. It was a real joy. And I start, I was, you know, watching the game because I was traveling with the.

00:06:11
Speaker 4: Team, and I'm and I am, you know, scoring the game on my scorecard and stuff, and you know, I'm looking at the numbers. I'm going, God, these guys have absolutely no chance. It's got a chance to be a no hitter. And then when he left the one pitch out over the plate and you know it was clipped.

00:06:31
Speaker 1: For a homer, I was like, that's really a shame.

00:06:36
Speaker 4: And I said to myself, like that might be the only hit they get today, and that's exactly what happened.

00:06:41
Speaker 1: I was a little surprised, and he came back out in the night.

00:06:46
Speaker 4: Because I thought he emptied the tank with like a ninety eight or ninety nine on hour fastball and there's ninety ninth or one hundredth pitch and I thought sort of emptied the tank and I thought he was gonna get yanked, but I was glad he was not.

00:06:58
Speaker 1: They did have kirkering.

00:06:59
Speaker 4: Ready in case he let a base runner on, but breeze right through the last couple of guys in the lineup, and that was it.

00:07:06
Speaker 1: It's awesome, it was It's a Jesus.

00:07:09
Speaker 4: He's a real joy to watch and something that you know, fans just cannot take for granted, man, because he may end up being when it's all said and done.

00:07:20
Speaker 5: He already is after Stephan, Lefty Carlton. I'm not sure if there's a been, you know, I'm not sure if there's a better, like overall starter than he was. Chilling made Chilling maybe in the franchise history.

00:07:38
Speaker 4: Obviously Bunning, and you know there's other guys and Roberts, but you know, for for the long haul, I mean, what.

00:07:47
Speaker 1: Is it six years now? Dude, he's as good as it gets.

00:07:52
Speaker 2: Well, now I start getting into the talk a couple you know, he's got a couple more years to go. But entered that Hall of Fame convert station question, you can have to totally right, Yeah, you're gonna totally forget three hundred wins, forget to never get those guys ever again. So now you have to look at starting pitchers differently. And you know, he is head and shoulders above ninety five percent of all starters in Major League Baseball, maybe more than that. Because he pitches deep in almost every game. He dominates almost every game. And then he added the whole postseason aspect of it, where you know, he's got like the one of the lowest eras of any pitcher in postseason history, like with whatever eight starts, ten starts, something like that.

00:08:38
Speaker 3: So well, like he thinks, isn't he number one? In more since joining the Phillies is the starting pitcher, he racks up a couple more of those. Yeah, And you know the way guys vote these days on some of those metrics, and I think he's I think he's going to be firmly in the conversation if he comes out of this with a cy Young and a couple more good postseason runs, He's going to be firmly in the conversation. I mean, there's no doubt we're watching greatness every time it takes the moment. There's no doubt.

00:09:08
Speaker 1: I was talking to the great Chris.

00:09:09
Speaker 4: Ware who's one of the pr guys uh at uh with the Phillies during the trip yesterday, and one of the things.

00:09:16
Speaker 1: We talked about is like after sureser vere Lander and there's one.

00:09:22
Speaker 6: Other was I guess Kershaw after those three guys, where do you go as far as like dominant pictures in an era, I mean, the next set of people you start thinking about, I mean, who's who's left Cole, Grek Cole probably right, Garrett.

00:09:41
Speaker 1: Cole maybe maybe one of those.

00:09:43
Speaker 4: But then it's then it's Wheeler, and there's not a whole lot after that. I mean, you know, the trek schools of the world. He's just starting his journey and he's phenomenal. There's an argument that he's, you know, maybe better than Wheeler, who cares says that, you know, it's like splitting hairs. But yeah, but the reality of it is, you know, Wheeler's done it for much longer.

00:10:09
Speaker 1: So I mean it's been great. He's been it's there's not enough to privilegience.

00:10:14
Speaker 3: He gives up the one hit, the home run to Austin Hayes on a three to one heater right down the middle. He just decided he was gonna, you know, try to blow a heater by him. Hayes is sitting hits it into the seats. But it's fascinating sometimes to hear these guys talk about their art form. And that's what I like to call the way Zach Wheeler pictures it's an art form, and he's like, you know, I tried to blow a four steamer by him, and I should have gone to my bread and butter against the right hander and put a sinker under his hands. It's so cool to hear them talk about it with such precision, like I could have put a sinker under his hands, blown up his bat, and maybe I got a no hitter. But I mean, Zach didn't talk about it in that detail, but you could hear the way he was kind of processing in his mind. You can almost envision him coming in with a three runs three one sinker there and taking care of Hayes. It was just a really nice little snippet of inside pitching.

00:11:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:11:13
Speaker 4: The other piece of that that I liked him and we can we can stop beating the dead horse down, But is that he acknowledged what JT meant to him and JTS he's like the only guy who's going to be catching for the man because he has so much trust to just you know, I mean, yeah, no disrespect to Marshan or Stubs or anybody, but when he takes the mount JT's catching.

00:11:37
Speaker 2: Well, you know what's funny is in his last start. Early last week, somebody at I can't remember who asked him the question, said, you know, gosh, you're thirty five or whatever, why do you how do you keep doing He's like, I don't know, and he's like, well, you know, it's it's great when you have JT. Call him me. JT knows me better than me. And in the back of my head, guys, I'm going I think this guy wants signs getting that message out there, no doubt that message out there.

00:12:06
Speaker 1: And he's.

00:12:08
Speaker 3: He's got two years left on his contract Zach does, and a two year deal for real Moodle would make a lot of sense. That hits me every time. And he was very effusive yesterday about j T. He has carried me since I've been here. It's an honored show to him. So you've got one guy with two years left and he's become a franchise icon.

00:12:28
Speaker 4: And I did it a little differently than than Bryce Harper, a little differently.

00:12:34
Speaker 3: He did it more more in character. But yes, you can almost hear that, and it would line up mathematically the length of if they could get JT on a two year deal, get Wheeler, uh, you know, matching Wheeler the remainder of Wheelers deal very very interesting because.

00:12:50
Speaker 2: I loved I love talking I love talking to Zach as there's no bs involved, and you know, he says what he wants to say, and sometimes they'll give you a really long answer. Sometime will just give you a two word answer, which is fine, you know. And so he says what he wants to say when he wants to say it, and he doesn't really shy away from anything. So that always jumps out to be the last few starts.

00:13:10
Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, So that was a great, great point, great way to cap a homestand in a series, winn another series with that unbelievable pitch and formance. I do have this one takeaway from the Weekend and I wanted to get you guys quick quick take on it, Like you get this great outing from Wheeler, but you know, you get another disappointing one from from Lozardo in the series Open against the Reds, then you only get five innings from Ranger, and I'm like, five innings and it turns out that he was on a pitch count because he was a little sore in Atlanta. You know, one guy didn't pitch well. It was an important guy in Lazardo. You got the other guy who pitched great, but he only gave you five innings and he's a little sore, and clearly they're watching him and managing his workload. It got me to think in that, you know, as good as this pitching staff is, it's still a very delicate balance, and you need health and you need performance for them to you know, remain in that rare air of starting pitching staffs really the best.

00:14:12
Speaker 4: And you need baseball and you need depth, because that's why it's important to get Nola back.

00:14:18
Speaker 3: Any little concern coming out of there on the weekend, any.

00:14:21
Speaker 4: Little concern to there's a ranger, because that's the that's their most important piece.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the ranger thing was kind of eye opening when he said, my my, my shoulder and my back were bothering me in that start against the Braves when the villa was right now. And I get it, I get it. He's he's not thrown ninety eight. He's a control command guy. You know, moves the ball around, he changes speeds. He's an artist, like you said, Jim with it with Zach, he just doesn't throw as hard. But uh, you know, you dropped three miles an hour, two and a half miles an hour on your fastball, and it's a big deal. We've seen it with Aaron Nola earlier this season when he was getting knocked around. You know, that extra mile or two off the fastball and a little less finished you might you can't really sneak a ball by and get hit a little bit harder. So, uh, he pitched great that day in Atlanta, but it was eye opening. And the fact that they pulled him back and had him pitch five innings because you know, they want to keep an eye him and because of his injury history. It absolutely had me thinking about, like, oh, and you mentioned if they lost Ranger again and now Nola's down, and you know, Abeles struggled and Nardo struggled.

00:15:27
Speaker 4: And.

00:15:29
Speaker 3: Just a reminder, just a little reminder. As great as the starting rotation is and as good as the season has been, sixteen games over five hundred and ninety five win pace that area of the team or the whole team in general, I mean, but the pitching staff, starting pitch staff. It is a delicate balance. But anyway, that was first pitch presented exclusively by all our partners at Parks Casino, Parks Casino, pardon me, and that's Pennsylvania.

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00:17:27
Speaker 1: Guys have a I'll just go with I'll go with wheels.

00:17:30
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm yeah, I'm done too. I'll pose this question, though, what do you think means more to him being the National League Pitcher of the Month in June or winning a slice of the man Co and Manco.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a great question. You know, Zach does enjoy his salty snack treats and his Uh yeah, I am sure he enjoys a good slice of pizzas, so this might be the biggest thrill for him.

00:17:56
Speaker 3: I want to give a I want to give a like a piece of pepperoni. I want to peel a piece of pepperoni off the pie and give it to Kyle Schwarber for that excellent, excellent at bat in the fifth inning yesterday, three to two, tough lefty on the mound. Lash is a run scoring double, so they're over ten with runners in scoring position. So he scores the guy from first base with a double that was in a string of awful at bats by the team. That was a great one.

00:18:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, make a great point and then finally, uh, you know, Stott got a pitch that hit his barrel because he's sort of swinging up hill right now, some lengths to his swing, but he finally caught up to one and got it, got it good and won the game for him. I was big for him, probably big for his psyche too. They really need him to start performing somehow, some way. He's had a very.

00:18:49
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:18:50
Speaker 4: I'm very surprised by the season he's had. I know many of us made predictions that he'd be much better that he than he has been. I just see some length in his swing right now, and I don't see him using that top hand and staying short to the ball. But he caught them, to his credit, caught one yesterday and he absolutely pummeled it, you know, the rocket off that off the facing there, and that was a huge, huge hit.

00:19:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, keep thinking that way to come up with a big hit now, Yeah, exactly one of these days. You just think that one of those hits is going to get him going. But I want to go back to the wheeler for Manco Manco Best Week. Just want to go over some of these numbers. So lat he also pitched earlier in the week. This past week two and zero zero point five to three RA in seventeen innings, seven hits, one run, zero walks, Oh Baby, twenty two strikeouts in his last six starts. Jim, you mentioned that earlier three and one zero point sixty eight ERA in his last six starts, striking out fifty four and walking seven and forty innings.

00:19:57
Speaker 1: Those numbers, you're sick.

00:20:00
Speaker 2: So let's go back even further because everybody's wondering who's going to start for the National League and the All Star Team All Star Game. Is it going to be Zach Wheeler? Is it going to be Paul skans Well. In Zach Wheeler's last fourteen starts, this goes back to April eighteenth. He is eight and two with a one point six seven e ER that is tied for the best ERA in baseball in that span, tied with Paul Skeins. Now, this is my case for Zach Wheeler starting the All Star All Star Game, besides the fact that he's from Atlanta, besides the fact that he's had a great career, and you know, you can make all that stuff right. Since April eighteenth, Wheeler and Skins have each pitched exactly ninety one and two thirds innings, so they're tighten innings. They're tied in era, although Paul Skeins has one more start in that span, so Zach has pitched just a little bit deeper over that stretch. Here's here's some numbers that to me just kind of surprised me. Walks in that stretch. Paul Skins twenty seven walks. That's pretty good. Zach Wheeler nineteen, so he's got what's the math there eight fewer walks in that span. Now, Paul Skiens strikeouts since April eighteenth, ninety nine, So ninety nine strikeouts in ninety one and two thirds innings. It's pretty good. He's got good stuff. Zach Wheeler one hundred and twenty one hundred and twenty one hundred and twenty strikeouts, Paul Skan's opponent batting average one ninety. Zach Wheeler won sixty four ladies and gentlemen. That is your National League All Star starter, if you if you know, if you need to make an argument, the guy's been hands down the best pitcher in the National League for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks I think he deserves.

00:22:00
Speaker 3: I would love to see it. And as I pointed out last week, that ballpark, beautiful ballpark, tourist Park, Atlanta, it's actually outside the city limits. It's in a place called Smyrna, and that's where Zach Wheeler was born, in Smyrna, and he pitched in the Smyrna Little League. Wouldn't that be awesome?

00:22:22
Speaker 1: It's a no brainer.

00:22:23
Speaker 4: I mean, hopefully MLB does not miss on this one. It's sort of a no brainer. It's an easy feature. It's an easy call for me. And you know, we'll talk about a little bit more about this all All Star stuff, which is a little bit of a head scratcher, but in this instance, I think it's a no brainer.

00:22:42
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00:24:20
Speaker 2: Gambling talking All Star, Kyle Schwarber, Zach Wheeler, we agreed. We all said last week, those guys are gonna make the All Star Team. I was very surprised on Sunday when I saw I looked at the roster again, I was I was flying. So I checked my email after the release goes out, and I go, how many Phillies made it? And I'm going, I'm going through them, going just too Where's Where's Trey Turner? Trey Turner did not make the All Star team? That was surprising. I mean, you can make an argument for maybe not Ranger, you missed the first five weeks, and you know Sanchez, you know you can only put some pitch your right, But I mean Trey Turner, my goodness, gracious.

00:25:04
Speaker 3: Leading the nat He's leading the National League in hits. He's the only National league with over one hundred hits. I was very surprised.

00:25:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's of course, I don't understand any of it.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: I'll just leave it at that. I just don't. I don't get it.

00:25:24
Speaker 4: The man deserves to be there and maybe it'll work out so we can be there. Christopher Sanchez deserves to be there, and there's an argument for Ranger to be there.

00:25:35
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know.

00:25:38
Speaker 4: I know they have to have to everybody represented, all the teams represented in you know, in the National League, in the American League, each team as we all thirty teams have to be represented.

00:25:49
Speaker 1: But I just don't, I don't get it.

00:25:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's when you think about Trey Turner and he's actually having a better season than.

00:26:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, all of them.

00:26:03
Speaker 2: You can make the argument Francisco Lindor and Ellie da la Cruz, who are who are over them?

00:26:08
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:26:08
Speaker 2: I mean again, fangrafts war he is. Trey Turner right now is tied for fourth in the National League amongst all players, pik row Arms strongest, first, show Hey Otani is second, Kyle Tucker is third, and then Trey Turner is tied for James Would yeah and James Woods.

00:26:30
Speaker 3: Unless unless he's upset about this, I still think he could end up getting there. The way guys drop off, I got I gotta think he was one of the you know, the first one of the first ones out. But as far as the pitchers, you know, they both pitched extremely well, but you can make a case where they would just miss. And you know, I'm fine with them getting the rest because you know, the prize that matters is not the All Star Game, it's the it's the big shiny trophy at the end of the season. I hope Zach Wheeler gets is one pitch nine or one inning, throws nine pitches and and gets in his car and goes home.

00:27:06
Speaker 7: Uh so, yeah, I mean I totally agree with that, but you should be acknowledged for their uh for their prowess in the early part of the season and some in some cases in Christopher Sanchez and Suarez a case, they're dominance at times. And do we I know, and we see these teams more than any other teams, But I mean the numbers don't lie either, and uh you know, when you start matching up some of the numbers, I really think that these are deserve it.

00:27:36
Speaker 3: Do you guys like having a representative from every team? I personally do. As a kid, I like to see all the different unis and I like to see different players from different teas that I never saw before, but now TV coverage is so you know, extensive. There's there's no surprises, you know, we see these guys on a nightly basis. But is that rule? Is it time to you know, get rid of that uh rule? Or what?

00:28:02
Speaker 2: I still like it, and I I for the same reason Jim I I when I was a kid. For me, one of the coolest parts of the summer. Again. You know, now you can watch games as many games as you want, and you couldn't really do that back when I was a kid. But one of my coolest, most favorite moments every summer was watching the All Star Game and watching player introductions and seeing Wade Bogs stand next to Don manningly stand next and for me, Paul Mallerder, Robin You and Cecil Cooper, seeing Brewers next to Cal Ripken and all those guys. I thought that was so cool every summer. I love that. So there's probably a kid out there going, you know, I can't wait to see Hunter Goodman on the squad, you know, as the Rockies catcher or.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: What or whoever it might be.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: You know, So I get that. So it makes it tough.

00:28:51
Speaker 1: But what I do, I do like it, but at some at some maybe maybe they need to expand the rosters.

00:28:59
Speaker 4: I don't know how much they want to expand them, but I think there's some guys that really should be Because of that, maybe they should expand the rosters maybe more.

00:29:08
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:29:09
Speaker 4: It's a tough call, and I understand, and MLB's got a tough it's a it's a tough process, and I get it, but I just like to see guys be acknowledged for their you know, for the first half.

00:29:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I read uh, I was reading about like All Star snubs and I think somebody wrote I think it was it was. It was in the Athletic somebody mentioned how Trey Turner was probably the biggest snub of of all the All Star snubs, and but he also mentioned that last year Francisco and Door to not make the All Star Team NL All Star Team when he was deserving and he finished second for n L m VP. So he's like, well, maybe this could Maybe Trey Turner can use this this fuel to propel him to a strong second half. And again same thing with like resting the starters. Hey, maybe if Trey Turner takes this and uses it.

00:29:56
Speaker 4: So now here's The thing about the All Star that that you don't don't think about it necessarily in the moment, but for the rest of that guy's life, Like making Warendini's an All Star second basement and you and you and you say that's part of his introduction, All Star second basement, making Morendin. I mean, that never goes away, man, it can. No one can ever take that away from you. And I think that there's you know, that's a really big deal.

00:30:24
Speaker 1: It's not Hall of Fame, but it's an All Star.

00:30:27
Speaker 4: You were one of the best in the best league in baseball, and I think that's important.

00:30:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. I mean it goes on your Hall of Fame plack. If you make the Hall of Fame six time.

00:30:40
Speaker 1: Goes on everything you do.

00:30:42
Speaker 4: Now, anytime you're introduced, anytime you're talked about, anytime you're mentioned written about, you're an All Star. Yeah, Hey, Noah, easy, easy, Howard.

00:31:00
Speaker 2: Let's imagine how the reference Jim, that's funny.

00:31:07
Speaker 3: You know, I'm still you.

00:31:07
Speaker 2: Know, Ruben uh, I don't know what was it last week? It was last week Jim dropped a the vinyl's reference and I had so many people come up me and go. Did you how about Jim dropping a sneaky the Vinyl's reference and.

00:31:20
Speaker 3: People actually said stuff to you.

00:31:22
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it was very clever.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: On every word Jim, every word.

00:31:29
Speaker 2: Yes, yes they do, especially when you're dropping a di Vinyl's reference. And it was into a pod episode, so that was great.

00:31:37
Speaker 3: Ruben occasionally plays that song.

00:31:42
Speaker 2: That's a great song.

00:31:43
Speaker 1: I got that.

00:31:44
Speaker 2: I got that in a playlist somewhere. So so let's let's talk this week, uh, Monday, this talk this giant series. So Monday n Eastern Christopher Sanchez against Land and Roupe. Tuesday nine pm Eastern Taiwan Walker versus Robby Ray and then Wednesday three forty five pm Eastern Jesus Loizardo versus Justin Verlander Tuesday. Of course, guys, we spent a lot of time in last Friday's episode or last Thursday's episode talking about Mickabel and Andrew Painter and what are they going to do with that spot. Well, the Phillies made a decision and they optioned Mickabel and Taiwan Walker's taking that spot. So that's gonna be certainly an interesting start on Tuesday.

00:32:33
Speaker 3: Yes, it will be. I'm not surprised they sent out Painter. He was just having a struggle. I'm sorry, Abel, those guys are always kind of linked, but I'm not surprised they sent out Able. He was having trouble throwing strikes, needs to get needs to reel that in. It's been a problem throughout his career. I still think there's a lot of talent there. I still think he can be a you can't judge somebody on a few starts at age twenty three, you know, it takes time to be a quality Major the League starter, and I think he could be one in red pin stripes. But I also think he could be somebody that could be included in a trade because I think Dave Dombrowski is going to be aggressive in augmenting, fixing, whatever you want to call it. I think he's going to go out there and be aggressive and getting a shutdown arm in that bullpen that remains the number one priority for this team.

00:33:27
Speaker 4: And I think it was twofold. I think it was sort of a twofold thing to me. It was one was to you know, get him out of there so that he can kind of gain his confidence again, but also you've got to rekindle his value he gets back down there to Triple A, works on some things and throws, well, he's still I mean, they got to try to reboost that value some some way, and they probably felt like the value of having able at the big league level as opposed to him working on stuff and sort of hopefully dominating at the triple lay level. Then the scouts can see him, you know, have success again, and then you know, sort of I think they sort of know what he is, but he's going to have to go down there and perform. I think part of it is that, you know, you've got to sort of try to maximize the value on these players before you move them out, because.

00:34:23
Speaker 1: You know, beauty's in the eye of the beholder.

00:34:24
Speaker 4: Who knows somebody might see him when he goes down and might say, you know what, he had a tough time in the big leagues, but he's could be fine.

00:34:33
Speaker 1: Whatever the case may be. So I think there's part of that.

00:34:37
Speaker 4: But it is interesting that timon Walker got back in there, and it is also interesting that Andrew Painter is not the guy because he's not quite I don't think he's quite ready, and I think he's going to come to the big leagues when he is.

00:34:50
Speaker 3: You talk about value when the possibility they're looking to have him rebuild value. That's probably way too strong a word, but because I I'd like to think that scouts can look through a couple tough performances and look, you know the trackerd Yeah, he's had, but the ingredients are really good. He's young, there's so many variables. I would hope to think that with with you know, advances and analytics, video scouting, and just old fashioned eyeball scouting, that somebody would go back to their GM and say, still a pretty good package. He got roughed up in the big leagues a little bit, Still a pretty good package. Going to need time regardless. Even if he had a couple of good starts in the big leagues, He's going to need time regardless to really become a quality major league starter. So you know, for me, it does not diminish his value at all. I'm not certain he's going to be a great major league pitcher. I'm not certain he's going to be an All Star, but I like the ingredients and I would take a chance on him. If I was a rival GM looking looking to make a deal, I'd want him a and I'd want to give him a little time.

00:36:02
Speaker 2: I saw something somebody sent a tweet. I don't know if it was to the Philly Show count or saw it somewhere because somebody was, you know, talking about how Abel's really been struggling, and you know, look at his era now and look at it, look at his area his last four starts, and somebody pointed this out. And I don't remember this, but but Cole Hammil's his rookie year. After his eleventh start, he had an e RA a just under six. I don't remember that. But so everybody struggles, I.

00:36:31
Speaker 1: Mean, especially early. Man, it's a lot there's a lot of factors.

00:36:35
Speaker 4: I mean there's a lot of factors that are associated with it. And it's about getting comfortable, get your feet underneath you, and believing you can do it, believing you can do it, and simplifying some things, getting kind of getting out of your head a little bit, and just you know, bitching like Zach Wheeler, getting it and firing it.

00:36:57
Speaker 2: So what do we think? Do do you guys think that Painter is going to be back take a spot before the end of July.

00:37:06
Speaker 1: I think it's possible.

00:37:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would hope. So Yeah, that's that's what they've been pointing to really for honestly more than just this year. This is a guy he thought was gonna be in a rotation two years ago before he blew out. I know he's working on some things hit rough Passion, middle innings the other night, but yeah, I think he's gonna be here because you know, look, they're already kind of watching Rangers workload. They're gonna have to watch Nola's workload, probably a little bit out of the gate. It might be nice to have another arm around here and actually put into practice that occasional six man rotation that they.

00:37:49
Speaker 4: Talk about, Right, Yeah, I can see them going in through the end of July through the end of the season with a six man rotation or some facsimile of one of those, where you slide in Wheeler wherever.

00:38:03
Speaker 1: He needs to go. Right, he's the one guy.

00:38:06
Speaker 4: You have to put him in the slot wherever he wants to go or needs to go.

00:38:10
Speaker 1: Then the rest of the guys will have to work around him.

00:38:13
Speaker 4: And and that's a little bit of a magic show, but it's it's very doable, and they have the depth to do it.

00:38:20
Speaker 1: I think.

00:38:21
Speaker 4: But for me, you have to keep and maybe even Christopher Sanchez, where you keep those guys in rotation and keep those guys one two because they're the one two for me, they were going to start in the playoff game.

00:38:35
Speaker 1: Right now. I know Suarez could be another argument, but I.

00:38:38
Speaker 4: Think right now, just based on everything, I think it's Wheeler Sanchez and I think those guys have to be taken care of, and then beyond that.

00:38:50
Speaker 1: Then they work everybody else in the next four guys, meaning Nola, Suarez, Painter and Lozardo.

00:39:01
Speaker 2: Yeah. Interesting stuff. Well, Monday night Phillies Giants, Oracle Park, my favorite ballpark in all Major League Baseball. And then they go to one of my top five Pecko later this week.

00:39:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, top two or three for me for Oracle, and I'm gonna go be visiting the Gotham Bar or the Gotham It's They've got a speak easy in the right field scoreboard.

00:39:33
Speaker 2: I'm gonna check that out. And I know this.

00:39:36
Speaker 1: It's special. You gotta be special, Todd.

00:39:39
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I don't have any hands checking it out.

00:39:43
Speaker 1: I'll be checking out secret handshake to get in.

00:39:45
Speaker 3: Make sure you go after the game, Raven.

00:39:49
Speaker 1: Why do I have to go after don't slips sink ships.

00:39:54
Speaker 2: It can make for fun broadcast, so select tune in. Everybody, We'll talk.

00:40:01
Speaker 3: I'll talk to you guys later, Smelly later, boys, Slay Jim.

00:40:05
Speaker 8: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Phillies Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. If you like us, give us a review, Follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads. Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phl y dot com. Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beatnewsletter, and MLB Network