How Badly Does John Middleton Want His Trophy Back? | 'WIP Daily'

0:00Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister-tex. I'm landing in Burbank, come pick me up. It seats seven, has over 600 miles of range, and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character. Space, range, flexibility. The Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid is built for the way LA moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. I picked Logics because they match my values. A local member owned, not-for-profit financial institution, working against the profit first mentality of Wall Street banks. Because where I bank and what my money supports actually matters to me. And if shopping my values means that I have to endure better deposit rates, statistically lower loan rates, and fewer fees, then so be it. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Learn more at logicsbanking.com slash values. That's L-O-G-I-X banking dot com slash values.

1:00Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that com was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher. Armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds, designed to stop threats. Visit Bernaless.com. That's B-Y-R-N-A. Bernal.com. Purchasing shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Bernal.com to check availability at your location. The next day is 94. W-I-P check it out. There's another October.

2:01It's only lasted a day and more disappointment for the Philly. So have now failed to win four straight playoff series this year against the Braves. Last year the Dodgers, 2024 the Mets. And of course the meltdown in 23 against the Arizona Diamondback. Supplies haven't want to playoff series. It's taking out the Braves in the 2023 National League Division series. It's been a lot of disappointment. It's been a lot of frustration. And there's a lot of emotions today for everyone. Because this to not, you know, baseball's a long season. And you know when it ends it ends abruptly. It hurts. It baseball is a big part of all of our lives every day for, you know, it's six months. It could be seven if you include October. And if you follow and go to spring training, which, which of course I do, it's a seven or eight month thing that you just constantly following and tracking and paying attention to and then it ends so abruptly. So I want to get into a lot today. But I'm supposed to mortem. And you know, we're going to have conversations a lot this off season about

3:05straight turner, about Bryce Harper, about the manager, which I expect to be Alex Korra assuming Dave Debrowski stays. Dave Debrowski himself, all that kind of stuff. What they do with Alec Bohn, what they do with the Wester Ries, what they do with Shuffle and Runny and Feel the Outfield, all that kind of stuff. It's going to be big picture for the next few weeks around here on the Philly's. Before we even get to what it's likely to be a lockout and the halting of baseball, this winter before they, they figure out their, their salary cap or non-s salary cap and labor stuff. Heading it to next season. But the biggest question that I have today and the biggest question that I've been wondering for, for quite some time now is this John Middleton actually want its bleep to trophy back. Or is that just a very nice quote that we've all run with for all these years? And yes, I am thinking about the owner today because the owner has to make major decisions here on the Fierce Drivers franchise. And is this really about the World Series or is this about letting 3 million people

4:07come through the church styles? And is it about comfort and is it about feeling good? Is it about sleeping well at night or is it about trying to win the World Series? Because my instinct, my sports fan instinct, which now I'm 40 years old, so this is now, we're going on a long time of being a sports fan. My instinct tells me that the desire to win a World Series is either clouded by the people around him telling him the wrong things or it's not really what he says it is. And it's more about sustainability and it's more about marketing stars and it's more about getting people in the building. And it's more about avoiding a major downturn of the franchise and just being good enough. Good enough is good enough for John Middleton. Content, the word that Dave Debrowski of course used last year is the word for John Middleton. That's what I feel. And I would love for John Middleton to prove me wrong on this. But every time he continues to hitch his wagon to depreciating assets and pretends that it's not,

5:12it makes me question him as an owner. It does. And this isn't about spending money because he has. This isn't about being out there with the fans because he has. This isn't about his history around the franchise because it is vast. It's not about how much he cares about the franchise growing up here as a fan, going to games. I mean, he can recite the Johnny Callis this stuff like it's yesterday. You know, he could do that. So I'm not calling out John Middleton's credentials or the money he's putting into this franchise. What I am calling out is his judgment. And I'm calling out his zeal to win because he says it's there. Yet he keeps hitching his wagon to someone who doesn't have it. And where I go with this is, I believe John Middleton is a solid owner and a caring owner. But I also believe his blind spot is that he is terrified to not have his hand held by someone who has a lot of experience, even if that experienced person is leading him into a brick wall. He does, he refuses to say, Hey, this guy that I trust might be bad at this now.

6:15Might not be good at this anymore. I got to get him out of here for somebody else. It was this would end him. It's failing until he could not ignore anymore. And now we're doing it with Dave Debrowski. And I know you could point to the positives of five straight playoff appearances. Guys, there's six playoff teams now on each league. If you have a $300 million payroll, you should make the playoffs in a 16 league. Let's not put this up as, let's put a banner up for this. So that's great, but it's not everything. The second thing is, yes, there's been more success with Dave Debrowski than there was before, but there was also no success before. So any success is going to look better. I keep going back to Dave Debrowski and what he's done with his baseball team and the bad money he spent and the lack of depth he's created. Last night, Otto Kemp took the final out of that game and made the final out. Took the final out that for the Phillies of the 2026 season. Eerily reminiscent of when Jake Cave did it in 2023 like this is a trivia question one day. Jake Cave, Otto Kemp speaks to your roster management, Dave Debrowski. And what is

7:16frustrating me about John Middleton is we all could see the truth here and the truth is Dave Debrowski is a depreciating executive. He doesn't see the game the way he used to. He's always had issues building a bullfin. That takes back years and years, but he also is not on top of things the way he used to be and it's costing the Phillies. He is not on top of things in building and moving forward. And it is started to unravel here with the lack of depth at this baseball team has. And that's on Dave Debrowski, but it's on Milton for allowing it to happen. The other thing is the Phillies have spent bad money. Set them back. And when you spend bad money and it sets your back, you either have to keep spending money at a high level to make up for those mistakes. Or you have to dump the mistake as quickly as possible or get off of the mistake as quickly as possible. Or tell the person that made the mistake to fix it as quickly as possible. And this is what separates the Philadelphia Eagles from the Philadelphia Phillies. The Philadelphia Eagles will get off

8:19mistakes. They will call themselves out and they will do whatever it takes to get back on the right track if they got off. The Phillies will watch the whole thing crumble and pretend it's going to feel okay. It's not. The Trage Hurner contract is an albatross. It is not going to be okay. Now could it be mitigated a little bit if you move to the outfield, particularly centerfield with the offense he provides in a position where there are fewer offensive players? It could. It could. There is a possibility that Trage Hurner could bounce back up a little bit extra offensively. Go to centerfield, play at least an average to maybe a plus centerfield and be it be maybe an asset, at least a neutral player if not an asset. Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been the peaceful hike, that calm was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher armed with kinetic rounds. Jason fired a warning shot,

9:20deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds designed to stop threats. Visit Berna.com. That's b-y-r-n-a. Berna.com. Purchase and shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Berna.com to check availability at your location. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia tell you ride, Turbo Hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister text. I'm landing in Burbank. Come pick me up. It seats seven, has over 600 miles of range, and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character. Space, range, flexibility, the Kia tell you ride Turbo Hybrid is built for the way L.A. moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. I picked logics because they match my values. A local member owned not-for-profit financial institution working against the profit-first mentality of Wall Street banks. Because we're eye-bank and what my money supports actually matters to me. And if shopping my values means that I

10:22have to endure better deposit rates, statistically lower loan rates, and fewer fees, then so be it. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Learn more at logicsbanking.com slash values. That's L-O-G-I-X banking dot com slash values. Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that com was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher. Armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds, designed to stop threats. Visit Bernal.com. That's b-y-r-n-a-bernal.com. Purchase and shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Bernal.com to check availability at your location. Is it possible at this stage of his career, moving forward, that trade turner is ever a consistently plus infield or again at the shortstop position? No. It is not. Baseball history will tell you it is not. So that has to die.

11:25I don't care the John Middleton spent $300 million on a shortstop. He's not a shortstop anymore. I don't care the John Middleton signed off on this guy because he thinks he's going to get the $3,000 hits and be in the hall of fame. He's not. So now you have to make the most of this situation. So the foes have one or two offices when it comes to trade turners. They could try to dump the player in the trade and eat as much money as they have to. Or they could try to make the most of the situation by moving his position and no longer keeping his spot in the top third of the order secure. Now if he hits, sure, I'm not saying he's not allowed to hit one, two or three if he hits. But if he does it next year, the idea of giving this guy 600 at bats again and once again leading him off in the postseason where he'd get the most at bats game after game after game is preposterous. It speaks to a lack of organizational sense. And that's what the owner is supposed to be there for. So I don't know if this is them brosky doubling down on his own decision or it's middle to liking the player and being in concert with Nebraska. But John Middleton is step in if

12:28Dave Debrosky is not willing to do it and say we got it, we got to make some changes here. So that's number one. The second one has to do with Nebraska himself. If I were John Middleton, I would move off of Dave Debrosky today today. I would call him to my office. I would thank him for what he did for the Phillies and I would move on today. And I would go about finding the best young executive out there with a forward thinking sense of the game. That doesn't have to be someone from the Los Angeles Dodgers or Tampa Bay race or Milwaukee Verdes, but it certainly would not hurt if that person had some ties to those organizations because those teams do it really, really well, I throw the New York Yankees in there. It would not a dumb thing. Yeah, smart thing actually to go after one of those people. You know, I think about Alex Anthopolis and what he is built with less than a Phillies met Dodgers Yankees kind of payroll. They constantly had more depth. They constantly churn the waiver wire. They take to what looks like sunk or falling assets and they

13:35revive them to get something out of them. They resign players generally at the right time and get a lot of value out of their core years. They draft. They develop. They have a culture. In Alexander Popolis, SGM would do wonders for the Phillies. They don't have that. They have Dave Debrosky. So if I'm Middleton, I am telling Debrosky number one, if you're staying, we've got to move turn. We've got to fix the turn of thing. Number two, I'm moving off to Brosky. Third biggest thing, the Phillies have to think about the future with Bryce Harper here and think about what is best for the Phillies and Bryce Harper. And they have to consider something that is drastic and that to consider something that would cost them in a short term with some customers but could win them back in a long term. And they have to have a discussion on are you happy? Are you going to be okay playing out your contract because we're not giving you an extension at any point. Perhaps we open up the

14:41conversation with one or two years left on this deal which we're still far away from. Are you okay playing on this deal? Are you happy playing here? Would you rather be moved? And are you okay with I start even thinking or entertaining your nonsense with the contract until two but more likely one year left on the deal and we'll see how you're playing at that point. To me that conversation has to be had and once it is they have to move forward based on how he he's receptive or not receptive to that conversation. And if he's not receptive, the Phillies should be bold. They should be ahead of the curve. They should be willing to do something that most teams wouldn't and that is they should be willing to take trade offers on Bryce Hargra. Because the Phillies are trending based on their age, their trajectory as a team, the potential salary cap which could be coming here and would hurt the Phillies. Let's just be honest, it would hurt their way of building a team.

15:42And the reality of where this season just went. The Phillies are staring at a cliff. Now when they fall off that cliff, I don't know. It could be as soon as next year. It's reading a story this morning, Jim Bouton had in the athletic of five teams that missed the playoffs that are poised to be playoffs contentors next year. And two of them were within the Phillies division and now were the Nationals and the Marlins. Think about this year in the NL East. Braves are always super consistent and we just like that anathopolis. The Mets will be better next year than they were this year and they might add tarryx school bull. The Nationals showed major growth traded away some guys, but there's a, I think, a system in place there to be a good base ball team for moving forward if they could now some of these picks and end development. The Marlins are almost there. And I think they could be in 85 to 90 win team next year if they hit in the off season. What's the big thing they need to do? Where does that leave the Phillies? I think leaves the Phillies in a really disadvantageous place just for next year in which they could

16:45miss the playoffs if they run this thing mostly back. And into the future they're not getting any young. The Phillies have probably two to three years left where they can hang on to playoff contention with this group at the most. Then it will die. It's the age, it's the track, it's where they're at. They're lacking young great players. So they could just wait for that to happen the way they did a decade or a half ago or they could get ahead of it. They're trading these guys while there's still some value and bring something back and have a more sustainable operation moving forward. So if John Middleton actually cares about winning his trophy them as much as he says, number one, he's got to look at everything. The organization number two, I'd move off into Browski. But if he says number three, they have to be make this uncomfortable for trade turner so he can get comfortable again. Add a short stop and you no longer guarantee the spot near the top of the order. And the last one and the big one is to have that conversation with Bryce Harper. Because if you don't and the same lingers and he's miserable and then one day you wake up two or

17:47three years now and he's begging for money to climbing and he has no trade value, it will be an ugly ending to it. So John, you know, we're going to have a lot of discussion about the Browski and about Harper and about Turner individually and that and Lee, Corrin, all that. But this whole thing starts with the owner. He wanted to be a Steinbreder-esque kind of guy. He wanted to be someone we talked about. He wanted to be Steve Cohen before Steve Cohen became Steve Cohen. And right now I see a very content owner who has this baseball operations has him kind of just like believing everything he says about crap shoot and short shorts, you know, small sample size and it's all BS. This baseball team is going backwards. And middle to its money, it gets less affected by the year. Now with a cap potentially coming in, it's a problem. I appreciate everyone listening subscribing, following the podcast YouTube feed 94WIP, check it out there. NFL picks in your feet tomorrow. I got a bounce back from a bad week last week. We'll get those to you in my book. What if tackling the biggest unanswered questions and filled out these sports history is available now? What if Phillybook.com is how you order, order ship out in less than two weeks to get your

18:52pre order in. What if Phillybook.com? Thanks so much for listening to WIP Daily. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia tell you ride turbo hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister text. I'm landing in Burbank, come pick me up. It seats seven, has over 600 miles of range, and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character. Space, range, flexibility. The Kia tell you ride turbo hybrid is built for the way L.A. moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. I picked logics because they match my values. A local member owned not-for-profit financial institution working against the profit first mentality of Wall Street banks. Because we're eye bank and what my money supports actually matters to me. And if shopping my values means that I have to endure better deposit rates statistically lower loan rates and fewer fees, then so be it. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Learn more at logicsbanking.com slash values. That's

19:55L-O-G-I-X banking dot com slash values. Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that com was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher. Armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds designed to stop threats. Visit Berna.com. That's b-y-r-n-a. Berna.com. Purchase and shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Berna.com to check availability at your location. What if the thing you're listening to right now never got interrupted? What if it could play uninterrupted from room to room on sonos? What if you start with two sonos speakers just to see how it feels? What if you really like how it feels and you become a sonos person who can't stop saying to their friends, what if you start with two sonos speakers just to see how it feels? Because it's not magic. But it's not not magic.

20:59The ocean moves us. Whether that's surfing a wave or taking in an inspiring view. The ocean feeds us. Sustainable seafood practices bring the ocean's bounty to our plates. The ocean teaches us. How are everyday choices? Big and small make an impact. The ocean delights us as playful otters restore coastal kelp forests. The ocean connects us. Find your connection at monoraybeacquarium.org slash connects.