Happy to be joined here on Philly Pressbox Radio by ESPN.com senior baseball writer Jason Stark.
Jason, thanks for taking a few minutes of your time to talk with me.
Shedding is my pleasure, man. Thanks for inviting me.
Hey Jason, Major League Baseball coming off a season that ended with a fantastic World Series,
seven games, the finale going extra innings, the Cubs of course winning it all for the first time in 108 years.
What did that great series do for the sport?
I've written this. I think that was one of the most significant World Series and the most significant post-seasons in modern baseball history.
Obviously because of who won first off. It isn't every day that a team that hasn't won in a century wins the World Series or any kind of championship.
So that gets your attention. But it really went beyond that because of how it happened, the way the game is unfolded, and who plays for that team.
This is a bunch of really magnetic personalities who were very willing to share it, you know, share it with the world on social media,
and do the talk show circuit, go on Saturday night live. I think they make it so easy to connect with their team that it would have been special,
it would have been memorable no matter what, but it's way more special and way more memorable because of all that.
Absolutely. Hey, I know you've been making the rounds down in Florida lately watching lots of spring training baseball,
talking to players and managers. You were in Clearwater one day last week. What do you know about the 2017 Phillies?
Well, I think they've reached a stage in their development that makes them incredibly interesting.
You know, I don't know if you went around the Diamond, how many players on the 2017 Phillies opening day will be in the lineup at that position the next time they play a post-season game.
But I do think there's a major league player at every position, and behind that group, you know, in AAA in Lehigh Valley,
there's a prospect at every position on the Diamond except third base, and a whole rotation full of prospects.
So, you know, I think one way to put it is their floor is now higher than it's been in a really long time.
And so, every guy in Lehigh Valley now has to force his way to the big leagues, has to earn the right to take the place of the guy playing there now.
So, it's a really interesting point in the evolution of the franchise as they try to get back to what they were,
and where they go from here is fascinating to me, and some of that's going on fold at Citizens Bank Park, but a lot of it's going on fold in Allentown too.
Now, of course, from 2007 to 2011 times were very good for the Phillies. You chronicled their World Series title in your book,
Worth the Weight, Tales of the 2008 Phillies. All those guys are gone now, either retired or playing elsewhere,
but it sounds like you think the Phillies are on the right track today with Pete McCann and Andy McPhail and Matt Klantack in charge.
You know, I think they're going to make a lot of smart decisions, and you can see what they're trying to do now.
You know, I had somebody with the Cubs say to me at the winter meetings that he thinks they're following the Cubs' playbook on a lot of different levels.
The way they tore it down, the way they traded for prospects, the way they've tried to load up on prospects,
the way they've now signed a bunch of players or traded for a bunch of players in the last year of their deal so they can flip them in July.
You know, the Cubs turned Scott Feldman into Jake Arietta, right, one of those deals.
So, they're following the playbook. You know, I guess my question about them now is,
where is their Chris Bryant? Where is their Anthony Rizzo? Where is their Kyle Schwarber?
And if those players are not in the big leagues or not in the system, where are they going to come from?
They've got a lot of money, but the point where we're really going to fight out about this regime,
Matt Klantack and Andy McPhail and all the people around them, is about to unfold because they've got some incredibly important decisions
that they're going to have to make in the next year or two.
And the decisions they make and how they play out will determine where the franchise goes from here.
Yeah, they do have a lot of young prospects at Ketcher in the outfield.
JP Crawford, of course, coming up at shortstop eventually. Any of the young guys you have especially high hopes for?
Well, this spring, I think, has told us that Scott Kingry is the second baseman of the future.
You know, Cesar Hernandez has something to say about that, but he certainly opened eyes. Al Faro,
I think everybody understands he's the catcher of the future and he's got work to do,
but nothing that anybody saw this spring changed that.
You know, I think JP Crawford is learning a lot of life lessons, a lot of baseball lessons.
And, you know, I think the fact that Freddie Galvis is ahead of him and, you know,
he certainly established that he's a big league player and a leader on that team among all the Latino players
means JP can't take it for granted that the Phillies are just going to throw him into the big leagues
when he feels like it. You know, it's going to be when he earns it.
That's important. This is an extremely talented guy who I think has just assumed that doors would open before him.
Now he's got to open those doors. And so of all the guys we've talked about, his year to me is the most intriguing.
Getting back to the Phillies and their glory days, you watched the career of Jimmy Rollins
from his September 2000 call-up to today as he tries to catch on with the Giants.
Is J. Roll a Hall of Famer?
You know, I don't think he is quite a Hall of Famer, but I've written this many times.
He's got the most unique Hall of Fame credentials of any shortstop to ever play.
There's really nobody like him. There's nobody who combines the home runs and the steals
and the gold gloves and the MVP and just the whole power, speed, defense, value factor.
You know, I think if he were to have another couple of years to add to those credentials in some way,
he's got a chance. I think right now he's short for me and the other voters that I talk to,
writers I talk to, I don't think there's enough there for Jimmy to be a Hall of Famer.
I think there's enough support for him to hang around the ballot for a long time.
Very interesting. Hey, you wrote a book 10 years ago, Jason, about baseballs overrated and underrated players.
Give me a current player or two that you'd consider to be underrated.
Wow, these are the kind of things that they're really tough. Let me think about this.
You didn't think this would be easy, did you?
I like the ability to think these things through, though. I mean, Paul Goldschmidt I think is one
who's extremely underrated. We haven't really thought a lot about Paul Goldschmidt and his career
and all the different qualities that have made him or should have made him a star.
I think because of the team he plays for, that hasn't quite happened for him yet.
I think Joey Vado in a way is underrated. Joey Vado is one of those guys.
I think this happens all the time. Because of the ongoing debate, he's either so underrated,
he's overrated, or so overrated, he's underrated. But Joey Vado has on-base skills
that come along once in a generation. And I think because we want him to be something else,
something that he's not built to be, people knock down what he's really good at.
You know, not everybody has that ability to go to home plate and swing at non-strikes
and turn them into production. Joey Vado is so programmed to swing at strikes
and nothing but strikes that because of that, I think we sometimes miss what he does well.
Did you say he was overrated too?
You can give me an overrated guy too. I don't think he's going to be listening,
so give me an overrated guy.
I think Steven Strasberg is overrated. I think the phenomenon of what he was supposed to be
and what he sometimes is overshadows the fact that he never makes it through a full season.
He hasn't been there when they've gotten to October, when they've really needed him.
You know, he's on any given day. There's nobody more exciting to watch
when he takes the ball than Steven Strasberg.
But this is about building a career and it's about value to a team.
And I don't think he's ever been what we thought he would be or even what his team needs him to be.
Good point. Hey, in May, Jason, you'll be inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,
joining other Philly media greats like the late Frank Dalson, Phil Jazzner and Stan Hochman,
plus Andrea Kramer, Michael Barkan, Meryl Reece, your old pal Glenn Macknow and others.
Congratulations on that honor.
Well, thank you. This is really one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me in my life.
You mentioned a bunch of the people that are already in this Hall of Fame.
A lot of them are my heroes and many of them are my friends.
You didn't mention somebody like Harvey Pollack, who really taught me to love numbers.
I love numbers, man. I see numbers in almost everything that I write.
And some of that is because I got exposed to people like Harvey Pollack
and the way they appreciate the creativity with which you can use the numbers.
Dave Zinkoff, you know, is in this Hall of Fame.
And I know now he's been gone for what about 20 years.
And so a lot of people listening now never even heard him.
But for anybody who heard Dave Zinkoff, one of the most iconic voices
and the most iconic Philadelphians ever.
You know, when I start thinking about the people I'm going to wind up being
in the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame with, it blows me away.
You know, I don't have 17 different Halls of Fame that I'm a member of.
It's going to be, I think, the second lower by high school Hall of Fame.
So I'm incredibly moved and honored that this happened to me.
Well, just a hunch, Jason, but I think the Jewish Hall of Fame honor is in part
for your terrific work on the great sports debate on prison back in the 90s.
Hey, Glenn Mac now beat me to that.
Yeah, he's in there.
My good friend Glenn.
And so I don't recall them mentioning that when they told me I'd gotten in.
But if Glenn's in and I'm in, maybe you're under something, Chet.
Yeah. One final question. Ryan Howard, anybody got to take a shot on him?
I know the Rockies have an injury. Could they possibly give Ryan Howard a shot?
I just don't see it at this point. I mean, if you really take a step back
and you think about it, you know, the last couple of years that he was in Philadelphia,
how hard were the Phillies trying to trade that guy?
They didn't want a lot back. They didn't want anything back at the end.
They would pay most of the money. By the end, they'd pay all the money.
And they couldn't find a taker. You know, like, I love Ryan and I certainly understand
and appreciate everything he did when he was at his greatest.
But, I mean, the reality is teams look at him. They see a guy who really shouldn't play the field anymore,
just has too much trouble moving around, doesn't give you any base running,
can't hit left-handers, has trouble against the power relievers.
You know, he's a guy you really have to pick your spots to play almost purely as a DH
or a bat off the bench, you know, against right-handed pitchers, right-handed starting pitchers.
Unfortunately for him, he reached the market at a time when teams aren't looking for that.
The age of the pure DH is just a bad over.
Teams use those spots in totally different ways now.
And so, I think just the circumstances are not right for him to play anymore.
I hope he's okay with that because he did things that very few players have ever done.
And certainly very few players in Philadelphia have ever done.
And if it's over, that's okay. That's the way I would look at it anyway.
Well, speaking of being over, we're just about out of time.
I hope you're wrong about Ryan Howard, but you're probably right.
I do appreciate you taking a few minutes to talk with me. Thank you, Jason.
Chad, I appreciate it, man. Enjoyed it. Thanks.
