You Asked, We Answered

00:00:12
Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salidberry. I am Todd so lucky. It's Friday, May seventeenth, twenty twenty four. The Phillies won three of four in a rare home and home series against the Mets. They lost Thursday night in eleven innings. They still have the best record in baseball. Before we get going, guys, I wanted to announce that The Phillies Nation TV Show debuts on Saturday, May twenty fifth on NBC Sports Philadelphia, and we will be making weekly appearances on it. They'll be using some of the podcast. We'll be making appearances with Greg Murphy and Sam Stafford. They're gonna have special guests throughout the year, and it's gonna date. It's gonna show one hour before every Saturday home game, our Saturday game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. So you like the podcast, If you want more Phillies, check out The Phillies Nation TV Show. Let's jump into a couple of injuries before we get into listener questions. We asked people last night to submit some listener questions. We got a bunch we didn't get. We're not going to get to them all, but we got some good ones. So Taiwan Walker takes a line drive or he takes a ball off his left big toe X rays our negative.

00:01:24
Speaker 1: It's his landing foot.

00:01:25
Speaker 2: Explain how concerning this might be, you know, you know, if he can't if he can't go.

00:01:33
Speaker 3: Well, he had to come out of the game, so that's concern right there. But afterwards both he and Rob Thompson kind of downplayed it a little bit. I'm sure, excuse me, I'm sure Taiwan Walker will be champing at the bit to get back out there because there's a guy kind of nipping at his heels in Spencer Turnbull, who you know. I think they've succeeded in keeping him mostly stretched innings the other night on what Wednesday night, So if Taiwan Walker can't go, his next turn Turnbook will slide in there. But with an off day on Monday, they could also skip that spot, giving Walker a little bit more time, so they have options on how to handle this depending on the severity. I don't think it's severe. But as we've talked about Rubin and Todd, I mean something, you know that we were talking about six pictures for five spots and how it was a good problem and something will manifest itself, something will present itself where that extra guy will indeed find himself getting plenty of work. And you know, this could be that situation coming about right before our eyes.

00:02:53
Speaker 4: And we had the most durable five man rotation through like seven through through twenty eleven. I mean, these guys posted all the time, and we still had depth problems. I mean, you can absolutely never have enough starting pitching. You're gonna have to have eight or ten guys at some point who are going to take the baseball to start a baseball game. So, you know, I think time wa Walker is a pretty tough guy. When he first got hit, I thought maybe it was just a glancing, glancing blow. But but you know, it's one of those things where when you first get hit, it sort of gets numb real fast. And then he started walking off and then then the shortness came in and it was pretty obvious that that he got poked pretty pretty uh pretty badly. Otherwise he would not have come out of this game. This guy's a competitor, man. I like. I like the way he goes about his business. I mean, you could say what you want about Taiwan Walker that you know, he's he's you know, he's the IRA's high and this, that and the other. Well, uh, he wants to compete, he wants to be out there first teammates, great teammate and uh and you're right, Jim, this guy is not gonna want to miss any starts. He's gonna want to pitch, and for for a variety of reasons. One pride, too, because he's a good teammate, and three because he wants he wants to win. I mean, it's the guy who wants to I love guys who want the baseball. And you know there's an issue about him, you know, him getting upset about not pitching in the playoffs last year. Well guess what I like that. I like the fact that he felt like he was dis because he wants to pitch. And that's and that's and that's exactly what you want in uh, in your starters and anybody on the field. You want people to compete. One of the most important parts of being a champion is how well you compete.

00:04:37
Speaker 3: So you guys, show me. I'm just gonna say, show me a guy who's happy to be sidelines, and I will show you a loser.

00:04:44
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right, great point.

00:04:46
Speaker 4: Uh.

00:04:47
Speaker 2: Are you guys surprised that Trey Turner is already out jogging taking ground balls. I've never blown out a hammy, Jimmy, You've blown out of hammy?

00:04:56
Speaker 3: I did, I did. I thought I was dead. Were you there that you were there that day? Right? No?

00:05:02
Speaker 1: No, this is before I started covering the games.

00:05:04
Speaker 3: God. So I'll tell you this quick story. It was the last year of Veterans Stadium and they put in remember the ruben, you guys put in a new turf and it had some depth to it.

00:05:15
Speaker 4: Yes, I had a lot to do with that putting in that turf. I was like on the committee.

00:05:20
Speaker 3: So the old stuff was this matted down concrete astro turf right correct, And then they put in so the Eagles were moving on call.

00:05:27
Speaker 4: It was called next Turf, I believe, Next turf.

00:05:29
Speaker 3: And it had a little give to it, and it had a little length so you could actually bunt. But anyway, I wanted to do a story on it. So they also put it in at the half field in clear Water behind Jack Russell Stadium. So I wanted to do a story on how it played. So John Bukovich offered to hit me some ground balls and hit me a few at third base and you know, flip them over.

00:05:55
Speaker 4: He was pretty And let me just say this, I watched him witnesses. Jimmie's a pretty good damn good athlete. He is well, I mean, Neil, we could talk about him catching Billy Wagner and all that stuff, but the fact that the fact that he I mean, his his movements and all of his actions and that kind of stuff pretty damn good. I mean, I was like, whoa, look at this little dude.

00:06:14
Speaker 3: Well that was before I put on fifty pounds and I'm kidding. But anyway, so anyway, it takes him at third base. Bukevich says, go over to the shortstop, and now he starts moving me around, and he hits one sort of up the middle, and I range over and I plant my left leg hard on the turf and I reached to grab the ground ball and I just went down. It was like when they shoot the elephant with the tranquilizer guns and boom, I go down. My nose is flat in the turf, and the only thought I had in my head was you stupid son of a bitch. You just blew out your knee or something, you know, And honestly, my whole leg went numb and I barely could get up. And it turned out I had my hamstring had blown apart or something, and just really, you know, it stayed for a long time. And I remember later that spring, I was kind of walking around on a pair of shorts and I had a big mass of blood behind my knee. And Jeff Cooper says, what the hell happened to you? The old trainer? And I said, I think I pulled my hamstring. He goes, you did more than pull it. You tore that thing, so they hurt. But anyway, this is about Trey Turner. He seems to be he seems to be coming along quick.

00:07:42
Speaker 4: No, no question. And listen, I pulled hamstrings not often, but I recently pulled a hamstring as I've gotten older. Now, obviously, when you're younger yourselves, you know, replicate quicker, you get back quicker. Your your body recovers much better. And clearly he's recovering much better than than than we would. But it just I just pulled my hamstring playing pick a ball with Paul Holmgren. Like last year, it took me almost eight or nine months to feel like I could actually do something. I mean, it was really weird. I felt like I actually felt it, like I pulled it off the bone. And it was like a almost a year before I actually could get on the pickle ball court again. Kind of sad, but we saw one.

00:08:26
Speaker 3: We saw one get pulled off the bone. Todd in Milwaukee, remember with Charlie Morton. Oh yeah, oh my gosh, I mean you talk about going down. Yeah, and he he pulled the ham. He missed the whole season. He had to have it surgically and reattached. Yeah, and he's come back to pitches pretty well, but tough injury, Thank goodness, Trey Turner's because he's so important. Thank goodness, wasn't uh, you know, serious, because he's out, like you said, taking ground balls, he's running, he's throwing, and you know, he kind of is wearing the body language to me of a guy who thinks he's going to be back sooner then later. Now, I know they've built up a cushion, a lot of padding with the victories and the quick start, so they can afford to be conservative with an important player, but I still get the feeling he might be ahead of time schedule.

00:09:10
Speaker 4: You got an MVP player sitting on the bench. Man. I picked this guy to be the MVP, and he has MVP type talent, and so when you're missing a guy like that, that's huge and you don't want to miss him for so long. And the fact that it's my concern is that speed is so much of a part of his game and his ability to range and do other things that hopefully doesn't take away from all those abilities of the adds.

00:09:37
Speaker 1: So let's hear. So we got some reader questions.

00:09:40
Speaker 2: This one, this first one isn't a reader question, but I stumbled upon it last night. I was going through my Facebook and I found this on a Facebook message I sent some time over the last week.

00:09:50
Speaker 1: Give people an.

00:09:50
Speaker 2: Idea of some of the messages I get. This is This is the.

00:09:56
Speaker 1: Parsing some of it down here.

00:09:58
Speaker 2: Dude, you're writing is getting awful again. Why don't you really analyze, really analyze castianos in Schwarber's numbers. This is from a guy named Lee, And the only thing I can say to this guy Lee is you know the Phillies are thirty one and fourteen, Bro, they're six eighty nine. Oh, winning percentage is on pace for one hundred and twelve games.

00:10:20
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber's hitting the ball, okay, the last seventeen games. Nick Castianis has picked it up a little bit.

00:10:25
Speaker 3: I think now.

00:10:25
Speaker 2: I started actually, in all seriousness, I tried to think what this guy was referring to. And the only thing I can think I can think of is Wednesday's Phillies Beat newsletter. I wrote a little bit about Kyle Schwarber's bat speed, and now he's got the third fastest bat speed in baseball, which I thought doesn't mean anybody is a great hitter or a bad hitter. I just thought it was interesting because I always said to myself, man, I bet you this guy. I can't think of too many players in baseball that actually swing the bat faster than him as consistently as him.

00:10:56
Speaker 1: And I just thought it was.

00:10:56
Speaker 2: Kind of cool that this new metrics showed that the eye test matched the actual data.

00:11:01
Speaker 4: So well, imagine that. Imagine that, imagine the eye test actually matching the data. I mean, listen, I think it's great that they have all this information and all this you know, now they can track bat speed and and that kind of stuff. But let me just tell you something. As a scout, I know whether guy's quick with his bat, and that's bat speed because I can see it with my eyes. Okay, I don't need to see it. I don't need and I can see the way the ball comes off the bat. That's how you measure bat speed. And and and it's great for the lay person now to be able to see what it is because you have you know, stat cast stuff on it or whatever or whatever it is. But that said, you know, that's that's the job of the scout, and it's been the job of the scout for a thousand years. And I'm not surprised that Kyles war is one of the fastest one so it gets through the zone.

00:11:52
Speaker 3: Two quick things. One Todd Selek is my first read every morning, probably three hundred days a year, and enjoyable and informative. And two dovetailing off what you said, Reuben. Yesterday, in the dugout before the game at Citizens Bank Park, Rob Thompson was asked about Johann Rojas and he dropped two balls on Wednesday night in center field and somebody offered that, you know his defensive metrics, some of his advanced defensive defensive metrics are down, and Thompson extinguished that talk in a hurry, saying he does not believe in defensive metrics. I was actually surprised to hear it, because he does embrace a lot of that modern you know, a lot of modern analytics. He's what I would call analytically literate. And I do think this stuff he believes in, and I do think there are stuff, there is stuff that should be believed in this. It just has to be kind of a balance. But he said he does not believe in defensive metrics. When it comes to defense, his number one metric is his eyes. And you know he looks at Johann Rojas's getting to more balls than others, and yes he dropped a couple over ran him, maybe whatever, but he will get better. But it was quite interesting to hear Rob Thompson say he doesn't believe in defensive metrics. He trusts his eyes. And that kind of picks up on what Rubin was saying. And I'm sure what you were kind of writing that day, Todd.

00:13:24
Speaker 4: Hey, let me tell you something about the defensive metrics. I had Jackie Bradley and Mookie Betts in the outfield in Boston and they had terrible and not Mookie and right because he had a lot of space out there. But the metrics on Jackie Bradley Junior were like awful that he was one of the worst center fielders in baseball, and you want to know why because he had a short fence and he couldn't get to the balls that hit off off that freaking green monster and so balls that everybody else would catch in every other stadium, and they didn't have factor those things in And I'm like, guys, this is the best center fielder in baseball. I mean no disrespect to to other guys in it, but but instinctively one of the best I've ever seen. I mean the guy in Toronto now who used to be in Tampa Bay and brain locking on his name, Uh no, no, no, Kevin, Kevin Kiermyer, yep. I mean obviously one of the better ones as well, and they always sort of battle each other. But defensive metrics, as far as I'm can start, eyeballs, man.

00:14:27
Speaker 3: I think I think, I think that might be the first on the Phillies show.

00:14:32
Speaker 4: That's it.

00:14:32
Speaker 1: That's the first one, and then the second one.

00:14:36
Speaker 2: Is a is a right handed This is somebody a decap twenty on Instagram. Is a right handed, high leverage reliever the Phillies' biggest potential need at the trade deadline.

00:14:47
Speaker 3: I mean to me, probably yes. Probably as I sit here right now, I would say maybe yes, because you know they do come at you with some left handed thunder down there would be nice to balance it off. Now, I do think if Sir Anthony gets it together, it couldmit get that. Yeah.

00:15:01
Speaker 1: I think I think Sir Anthony's that's that.

00:15:03
Speaker 2: That's the key right now is you know, Hoffman's pitched mostly great, Kirkering's showed very well. Sir Anthony's struggled a little bit. You know, Slider hasn't been as great this year. He's I think he's given up three home runs off his slider.

00:15:18
Speaker 1: He don't think.

00:15:19
Speaker 2: I think he gave up like four in his entire career office slider going into this season. So he's got to clean that up a little bit. But yeah, I mean, I think when you look at this team, you don't really see a lot of huge needs other than you can always add a bullpen piece, right Ruby. I mean, that seems to be the thing to go to if you don't have something major on your you know, your everyday lineup that you're trying to fill. You don't have a gaping hole, and I don't think this team does. The rotation is obviously solid. You're not gonna go out and get a start unless there's a major injury. So I think you go, let's throw in another high quality arm.

00:15:48
Speaker 4: Now, I think that's absolutely right. Right now, Dave Dombrowski has the the cushion he had. He's in a situation that's almost ideal as a GM because now you can sit back and wait and see what happens up until the deadline, and then now it's a very firm deadline, so you have to pick and choose your spots well. But right now they're not in a situation where they have any pressing needs. I would always, you know, err on the side of pitching every single time, whether it's a starter or reliever, whatever kind of depth you can you can add. The one thing I will say about this is is this, at some point they're going to have a need and hopefully, you know, another hamstring or a knee or whatever the case may be, doesn't happen. That said, I love the fact that Kirker Ing struck out three guys yesterday with his fastball. Yes, because he's a slider, slider, slider guy, and I think he's starting to understand that he's got to utilize it. Those a ninety eight mile hour fastball with some hop to it, and so he's starting to command that pitch better. And the fact that he struck out three guys with with those with that fastball's great for his confidence. And I think it's going to take him to another level because now he's got real, two real weapons that he can rely on and uh, and I think he's gonna take that step forward. I do think that Sir Anthony needs to find his confidence. I saw some better sliders out of him. He's starting to get a little bit more depth out of him. Uh. In his last outing, it was a it was a solid one and that's a that's a good sign. It wasn't a high leverage situation. But that said, I mean he got the he got the baseball and and pitched pretty well. So if they can get those three guys going, because Hoffmin has done a nice job, not notwithstanding what would happened last night, because I think he was wasn't very sharp handed, pitched for like three or four days. I think they're I think they're gonna be just fine as far as your bullpen is concerned. I think it's it's actually been really good since May first, real good.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've been pitching.

00:17:52
Speaker 2: They have been pitching a lot better than their overall Like a would indicate, oh yeah, uh, a quarter of the way through the sea. What individual or team stat jumps out at you so far? This is from our buddy Pat Kritz, who designed the logo you see on the screen there. So and you guys don't have the benefit of looking up at some stats right in front of you, So what performance?

00:18:16
Speaker 1: What overall?

00:18:17
Speaker 2: And you kind of know the gist of who's having a good season who's not. What would you guys say, what jumps out at you the most? And let's say this, don't mention starting rotation. Let's take the starting rotation out of the equation. The rotation has been amazing. We all know it. They're fantastic. Other than the rotation, what individual stat or team stat really kind of sticks out to you, guys?

00:18:37
Speaker 3: You know, I might again, I don't have access to a lot of stuff on my computer right now, but one thing that's jumped out to me really since he arrived in Philadelphia is the way Alec Baum hits with men on base, and another hit with men on base last night as they kind of monted a comeback. It's kind of uncanny. It's really a great skill to have. They were two for fifteen with run as scoring position last night. They could have used a lot more from other people. But you know, I just every time I lift my head up, he's getting another big hit with men on base. And I'm sorry, I don't have the numbers in front of me to quantify it, but it just seems like he's really good at that. There was one number I looked at this morning. Do you know currently, as we sit here at four am on a Friday morning, we like to we like to tape really early. They have just been this narrative. They haven't beaten anybody, and you know, I understand it. It's a weak National League. As we sit here right now, they have only played three games against teams who have a better than five hundred record. Right currently, only three of the teams they've played have a better than five hundred record. That's that's something as well.

00:19:48
Speaker 4: No that is something. It is something that said, and there's some bad baseball out there. There's some really mediocre baseball out there. Just in general. You just watch the teams that are playing. I mean, Washington Nationals, we saw him earlier, We're going to see him this weekend. You know, they're what one or two or three games under five hundred. Yeah, I mean that's a team that I don't know in a typical season. I know that they're rebuilding and they're they're young players are getting better. That's a team that typically would be like eight or ten games under five hundred. I think at this stage, just looking at their talent, I'm not trying to miss them. I just don't feel like they're they're a five hundred team and they're close to five hundred and we're already, you know, a month and a half into the season. I just don't think. I think that there's a lot of parody and a lot of mediocrity in the in the league. There's only a few really good teams. I think it's the Phillies. I think it's Atlanta. I think it's the Dodgers. I think there's other teams that are pretty good. San Diego's pretty good talent wise, and but I just don't think there's a ton of great teams, so it doesn't really matter. I mean another teams are all that great. They're not that many teams over five hundred or that much over five hundreds. But but that but that said, you know, you gotta win the games against every you just yeah, I mean, it's the major.

00:21:02
Speaker 1: Leagues, right.

00:21:03
Speaker 3: You know.

00:21:03
Speaker 2: It was funny Jim, because that was one of the questions that another listener asked, was you know, what do you make of all that? He said negative hoopola around the Philly schedule on social media and about you know, they're only beating week teams.

00:21:14
Speaker 1: They're only beating week teams. And I wrote about this.

00:21:16
Speaker 2: I think we talked about this in another episode several several episodes back. Last season, only eight teams had a five hundred better or better record against teams with winning records. The Phillies were one of them. Only seven teams did it in twenty twenty two. Only eight teams did it in twenty twenty one. So you know, the Phillies are doing exactly what they're supposed to do. They're pounding the bad teams. They're five hundred and you know, assuming they're going to be five hundred or better against the good teams.

00:21:42
Speaker 1: And I test, you know, I tests, I test, Yeah.

00:21:45
Speaker 3: I test tells me they're a good team. I'm not certainly not diminishing what they no, no, no, I've done. I am a believer. But it just wow to all know that it's only Atlanta. They've only Atlanta currently has a winning record of the teams they've played, so only three games so far, as we saiding against teams with a winning record.

00:22:05
Speaker 4: So you talked to so Todd, you you actually talked a little bit about about what stat to me, the one individual stat that kind of surprises me a little bit compared to where we were last year. And there's a lot of talk about our swings and misses that are on base percentage is actually really good? Are on base percentage is like two or three in all of baseball. I think it's like three thirty seven or three forty or something like that. That on base percentage compared to the rest of the league. I think it's number two or three. And I think it's a product of the guys trusting more, trusting the guy behind him and not feeling like, hey, I got to get this job done. And I think we've talked about this before, and it happened a lot late in twenty twenty two where guys just sort of passed the baton, and I think that's sort of what's happening now. Guys are trusting these young guys in the depth of the lineup, the stocks and the bones and the guys deeper in the lineup, you know, even the Marshes of the world. Who's who's sort of tailed off here a little bit lately. But I think that that's part of it, and the fact that they're getting on base and kind of creating opportunities every single inning.

00:23:14
Speaker 2: Almost Jim Alec Bohm this season runners in scoring position batting four hundred one point one three five ops in his career wow, three twenty four eight to eleven ops.

00:23:25
Speaker 1: So there you go. That's the guy that just loves those situations.

00:23:30
Speaker 3: Are you You gotta stat that jumps out Todds.

00:23:33
Speaker 2: I do well. I had the benefit of kind of looking this up ahead of time, but it kind of dovetails into what Rubin was just talking about. Everybody again talking about the rotation, the rotation of the rotation entering last Night's game runs per game, because you know runs teams play have played different amount of number of games and whatnot, so the overall runs are a little bit deceptive. Phillies and Dodgers tied in Major League Baseball with the most runs per game five point twenty seven runs per game. So this is an offense that I feel like hasn't totally gotten going in a sense. You know, they're playing without Turner. You haven't gotten a good Nick Castianos. Schwarber has even hit the June Schwarberfest. Yet Harper's been Harper's been good, He's hit a ton of home runs, but he hasn't been MVP Bryce Harper, and you know, you assume that eventually that's.

00:24:24
Speaker 1: Going to show up.

00:24:24
Speaker 2: So they not only have great starting pitching, but they have based off of runs per game, that matters right with the Dodgers for the best offense in baseball.

00:24:36
Speaker 4: So they're showing to me, they're showing me they're the most complete game team in the game. They to me they're the most complete team when you start looking about, you know, and you start ranking all the things that they can do.

00:24:48
Speaker 2: So Rubin, you mentioned marsh kind of cooling off and I thought this is an interesting question because I've heard this a lot and we have not talked about it on the show. This is from I can't even pronounce this handle on Instagram T d Mark twenty four. Do you think benching Marsh and Stott regularly against lefties is bad for their development?

00:25:11
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's one of the reasons why it's I think it's one of the reasons why they will not stop. In his situation, I mean, he's been swinging the bat. He has been phenomenal really using his hands. He's not working underneath the baseball anymore, using his top hand much better. His hands have just been fantastic. I think in Brandon Marsh's case, yes, I would like to see him play more. I know what, I know what Rob Thompson's doing. He's got to get with Maryfield in there. I think he wants to flip you know, Pache in there a few times. But I think that there's going to come a point where, and I think Rob Thompson has some cushion. I think it's going to come to a point where in June, late June, whatever you got you gotta put run out like the same nine guys for a while and just let go. And I think at that point, and I think that's one of the reasons maybe why the way marsh Is is kind of slowed up a little bit because he he hasn't played six or seven games in a row for a while, and and I think that's affecting him a little bit because he's a pretty good hitter. Man, He's a really good hitter. He's gotten much better. Is he a finished product, maybe not, but he's he's better than what he has been over the last several, you know, two or three weeks.

00:26:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. You know, if you're not seeing lefties, you're not going to get better against him. So, you know, I do think sitting marsh against when lefty pitches is probably hurting his development just because he's not getting those valuable reps and getting that opportunity to improve against them. But they're kind of rocking a hard place. They're here to win ball games, they're here to win a World Series, they're here to win a division so they can get that better seating. And you've got to play the guys who are producing in those situations. And Thompson has you know, is responsible for looking at all twenty six men, keeping all twenty six men sharp and trying to get that team ready to play in the meat grinder of September and October. And this is the way he feels best about it. So it's a catch twenty two. You want to see the guy develop against lefties. To me, Stop should be playing every day right or left. But you want to see Marsh develop against lefties. But you also need to win these ball games. You need to keep guys fresh and sharp. And it's easy being a big league manager. But if you know, Marsh could solve the problem by hitting lefties better. But right now, it's just the way that Thompson is juggling.

00:27:30
Speaker 2: These balls well, Like, is Marsh showing enough I guess against lefties?

00:27:35
Speaker 1: Like again, I looked this up last night.

00:27:37
Speaker 2: Batting one to eighteen this season, seventeen strikeouts and thirty four at bats against against lefties this year. Now, I think, isn't the problem kind of compounded by the factor the issue kind of stands out more because Mirifield really hasn't gotten going. He was supposed to be the guy that would slide in there and produce. He had a little decent little stretch. I think he's got like, he's got like two hits in his last twenty eight at bats. He's not really producing offensively, so you're not getting much from him. So I think the cries for more Brandon marsh are, it's understandable, but Mark, but Scott, for sure, I think he's going to start getting in there a lot more against lefties. He's actually played pretty well against lefties this season, and I just think that he needs to be an everyday player. And I think once Turner comes back, you're going to see him out there a heck of a lot, a heck of a lot more.

00:28:21
Speaker 4: That's a difficulty of what Rob Thompson has to deal with. I mean as to try to you know, does he does he give that guy more at bats? You know witt Maryfield more at bats? Does he? Because he's got to get him going too. At some point they may very well need him, just like they need him right now because they got Turner out. I mean, so these guys, it's a tough juggling act, as you said.

00:28:44
Speaker 3: As you said, James Rubin, if you were the GM, would you go downstairs and say you know or do gms typically do that? I'm sure in your career. You probably have like, how we balance balancing this guy's development. I mean, we gave up a good prospect for him, a premium position. We need develop him. He's still young. But how do you balance that with you know, we got a humongo payroll and a ticking oh dometer on our nucleus and we need to win soon. How do you balance all that?

00:29:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, so typically I would go down and talk with Charlie about it. I always believe this that my job is to give him the players, and the manager's job is to put those players in the best position to win the baseball game. His job is down there. My job is upstairs. And but but I would have those discussions. Yeah, there's a big picture element, no doubt there is a big picture element to it. But I also believed I was sort of in lockstep with Charlie. Man, we're trying to win baseball games. We got to win, and we were we were in that in that cycle of winning when I when I took over, and so uh so I believed in in his you know, there were some times I had it. You know, we were talking about Chase Utley. There were times when I pointed his name and go dude, let's get him. Let's get him out of the I mean, the guys can't I mean, let's get him out of the lineup. Can we get at any point to Eric Bruntlett's name and go, I'm gonna place that guy with that guy?

00:30:10
Speaker 3: And I like Derek Bruntlet.

00:30:11
Speaker 4: He's a good play. But I can understand.

00:30:13
Speaker 3: I mean, Charlie, Charlie, go which guy would.

00:30:16
Speaker 4: You want to play?

00:30:18
Speaker 2: Okay, so here that's great, right, So one hundred percent I totally get that. So here's another This kind of plays off what we've just been talking about. This is a question from John uh It was on Facebook. How much longer can they keep trying whit Mierfield out there with his lack of production. If he doesn't start producing it the plate by the All Star Game or trade deadline, will they look to replace him?

00:30:39
Speaker 4: Stuff?

00:30:40
Speaker 1: He paid the guy eight million dollars.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: He's a veteran with a track record or the track record has not been as good the past couple of years. But talking about Brandon Marsh getting more time in left field to develop, but they're playing this guy because he's supposed to have a platoon advantage in left field and he's not producing.

00:30:58
Speaker 4: So here's here.

00:30:59
Speaker 1: It's tough.

00:31:00
Speaker 4: A couple VI is a tough so, so a couple of things. I will say. When they signed him, I thought it was a great signing. I think he's a perfect fit for this team. That said, when you take an everyday player and then make him a platoon type player, that is a huge adjustment for a guy and he has to mentally buy in number one and number two. There's a totally different way to prepare to be that like non everyday guy, that two time a week guy, that one time a week guy. And so I think he's still adjusting to that. I think that there is there are much better ways with a lot of the things, and you know a lot of the drills and things that you have. You have one of those pitching machines that simulates, you know, real pitching. There's all types of things that that teams have, especially the Phillies. It pretty much has of everything. Was John Middleton made sure that you know they are well equipped. But there's a lot of different ways to prepare and I think that's part of his developed as a part time player, and so I think it may take some time, but this guy's going to get some big bass hits. I'm telling you right now, he's going to win a couple of baseball games with some big bass hits and some really good quality at bats. It's just a matter of him getting an opportunity to make the adjustment to being this type of role player.

00:32:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think they would replace him because I think in the back of their minds they know just what Rubin said that you know, I don't care if he's sitting in you know, a buck fifty. At some point he's going to have a good run for us because there's some track record there, and you know, you don't need him to light it up every day. He's not going to be an everyday guy, but he could end up being a very valuable role player down the stretch if you continue to hang with him, just because the track record has been such. So I'm not ready to give up on him as a contributor in a part time role or in a you know, off the bench roll at some point. And I think at some point he's gonna you know, that death signing is going to pay off. So I'm only going to be patient there.

00:33:08
Speaker 2: This is a I got a bunch of these and this actually surprised me, but it kind of tells you what's on listeners minds. And it's interesting which eight Philly has the best chance at Cooperstown? Which eight Philly should have their number retired? To god, they got like three or four people asking this question. So it's something that people are thinking a lot about. Of the eight Phillies, who has the best chance to make the Hall of Fame? Whose numbers should be retired?

00:33:31
Speaker 4: If any?

00:33:33
Speaker 2: The Phillies have a policy where if you're not in the Hall of Fame, Well they had a policy, Yeah, then they.

00:33:39
Speaker 1: Change it for Dick Allen, who should be in the hall? Yeah, John, John, you know he should be in the Hall of Fame.

00:33:45
Speaker 2: I think we can all agree Dick Allen has been snubbed for decades and decades and decades.

00:33:50
Speaker 4: We could have a whole show on that.

00:33:52
Speaker 2: Hun totally, totally so. Of the eight Phillies, who has the best chance?

00:33:55
Speaker 1: I mean, I really ate.

00:33:58
Speaker 3: The best chance. Look at the way the voting has gone, and you look at the things that voters value. Uh, they've sort of you know, awakened to a lot of the things he he did so well, and value that more. In their voting, so I'd say he's he has the best shot. Ryan Howard fell off the ballot. Jimmy has kind of treaded water, but utleast seems to have, you know, a lot of suction, as they say, down the road. And as far as retiring numbers, to me, Jimmy's the all time franchise hits leader. That number has got to be retired in my mind, if you're gonna do just one of them. But you know, you always talk about best first baseman, second basement short stop franchise history. Howard, Utley and Rollins. They were such integral players and leaders, foundation pieces on those great teams that Reuben was upstairs with that, you know, I certainly could see them doing all three. And the fact that they haven't issued any of those numbers, but they have issued Goal Animal's number tells me that probably at some point they're planning on retiring those those three numbers. Howard, Utley and Rollins. I would have no problem with it.

00:35:11
Speaker 4: I completely agree, And I don't know that you can distinguish but the contributions that all three of those guys made in one way, shape or another, I don't think I ultimately don't know that any of them will get into the Hall of Fame. I think that Jimmy Rollins has should have had a chance to just because of you know, I start thinking about how he stacks up against Barry Larkin, and I think he's a guy that probably should get in because of you know, where Barry Larkin's in there. Some other people can have a different argument about that, but I think it really becomes a discussion between Chase and Jimmy. That is it, you know, is the quality of like the bulk, quality of the bulk that Jimmy had, or the quality of that one span of five years that Utley had, And how do you how do you measure that? How do you vote on that? The voting part, you know, you can throw it in the trash for me, and I know it's an important part of it, but I think it's the contribution to the team during that time. I think both those guys should be Hall of Famers myself now, yeah, but I'm I'm a more expanded Hall of Fame guy. I'm not as a smell like you know, people have different thoughts about it. I think all three of those guys's numbers are going to be retired because of what they brought to the table in that era. There's not you know, as Jim said, I mean the impact that they had on that club for those many years and that was a nice run, was pretty significant. And I have a feeling that John Middleton and others will choose to do that.

00:36:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think always got the best chance for sure, because he kind of I think he's gonna trend kind of like Scott Rowland. A lot of voters today, I don't want to get into this too much, but a lot of voters say they start with they look at the war. They go, all right, Chase at least got a war of like sixty eight or sixty five issues in the sixties. Jimmy Rownds is in the forties. Chase Utley is going to be my guy. He's going to trend upward and upward. But Jimmy Rownds, you know, look at some of the other shortsteps that they're in the Hall of Fame. I mean, no, you know, all apologies to Phil Rizzuto, but come on, if he's in the Hall of Fame, then.

00:37:20
Speaker 4: Jimmy, Jimmy Rewnds should be in the Hall of Fame.

00:37:23
Speaker 1: So gonna be I think it's gonna be Chase Utley. You'll probably get in.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: I think probably Jimmy Rounds will not, although I think both should. So. Last question, this comes from Gary H. What is the story behind the closing remarks each show between Jim and Ruben Smell you later.

00:37:43
Speaker 4: That's for Jim.

00:37:45
Speaker 3: Well, I don't shower often. Once we went to the Virtual Zoom World a few years ago, you know, I just gave up showers. So no, I'm kidding you, just sort of like see you later, sort of sort of our George Burns saga Night Gracy. Is that what it was?

00:38:06
Speaker 1: Good Night Gracie.

00:38:07
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, we're.

00:38:09
Speaker 3: Taking to getting it on a T shirt.

00:38:13
Speaker 4: I think there was a guy. I think there's a guy I played with in like the minor leagues. At some point he used to say, Hey, see you later, and then you would say see you later, but no, no, smell you later, And so I sort of started saying saying that. I think I started saying it to you guys every once in a while when we were when you were covering our club right right and getting fired and getting me fired. So I decided, you know, okay, guys, smell you lator.

00:38:38
Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit of like one half immaturity one part absurdity.

00:38:43
Speaker 1: I think that has something to do with.

00:38:44
Speaker 3: It as well. With Ruby and I have always had like sort of like we we poke each other impatially and we we enjoy it sometimes occasionally sometimes it's occasionally even clean enough that people can, can you know, publicly consume it.

00:39:05
Speaker 4: I'll say it's out of great it's out of great respect. And I have to say this. I will say this about both of you guys. I had the great opportunity to be able to to talk with them for many, many many years as an executive and two of the most knowledgeable, professional, quality people I've ever been around. And that's the truth.

00:39:27
Speaker 2: Thanks many, Yeah, that's nice.

00:39:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, but it's serious.

00:39:35
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Thanks man.

00:39:38
Speaker 3: Nothing that we got. No questions from six.

00:39:40
Speaker 1: Though, No questions from six though. He must have been asleep at the wheel last night. So we'll do this again. We will do this again. Well, that was fun. We got some good chance.

00:39:49
Speaker 3: Is there a chance that he's not a regular listener?

00:39:53
Speaker 4: Oh, then I'll get on his ass about that. If that's the case, I mean, I.

00:39:57
Speaker 1: Mean, that would make him a huge frau.

00:39:58
Speaker 4: Will I will I will Twitter troll him all right, next troll him.

00:40:03
Speaker 3: He'd better be listening and passing the words to his family friend. Well, we'll find out.

00:40:07
Speaker 1: If he tweets at us later today, then we'll know he's listening.

00:40:10
Speaker 2: If he's not, and he tweets about the podcasts after, then we'll know he's not the regular listener.

00:40:17
Speaker 1: Guys, thanks a lot. That was fun. Thanks to all the listeners that sent in questions.

00:40:21
Speaker 2: Sorry we couldn't get through the mall and we will be back early next week.

00:40:26
Speaker 3: Take care, everybody, Smell you later.

00:40:31
Speaker 5: Jim, 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 Reuben, 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. Plays air throughout the week and on Philliesmation 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.

00:41:11
Speaker 2: Morning Show, and MLB Network reajim at the Allcity Network at allphl y dot com.

00:41:18
Speaker 5: Find more of me at MLB dot com, the PHILLIESB Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network