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Gabe Kapler vs. Angelo Cataldi on 94 WIP was Everything and More
Published:
Phillies GM Matt Klentak ‘is incompetent’
That was the title of Angelo Cataldi’s latest effort for Philly Voice, the weekly column that he just sort of throws together for the site. In the piece, Angelo skewers Klentak for what he calls “illogical player transactions, the squandered millions, the incessant drumbeat of tone-deaf comments” while hiding “behind the new wave of analytics.”
As you know, Cataldi hosts Phillies manager Gabe Kapler weekly on the 94 WIP Morning Show, and today their exchange was absolute fire, sparked by Kapler’s contempt for the criticism of his general manager in the Voice column.
Kapler starts out by calling the article disrespectful and inaccurate. The Phillies manager admitted that his team’s performance “sucked” down the stretch while stressing that the club did improve 14 games over last season.
That led to this quote:
“I take issue with what you said. I am a compassionate and competitive man, but generating anger for the sake of anger means that you just end up flat out wrong like you were in that piece. That isn’t what the Phillies need. You’ve been angry about the team year in and year out, yes, a team that got worse every year since 2011. You were angry about it. Now it’s getting better but you’re still doing the same thing Angelo. You talk about the definition of insanity? I’d take a minute to look in the mirror about that.”
“Generating anger for the sake of anger” is the perfect way to sum up Angelo’s decades on Philadelphia radio.
Cataldi responded by going to his bread and butter bullshit line of “I represent the fans and their voices are reflected in my columns” and blah blah blah, the same garbage he’s been saying for 30 years now. As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t represent anybody younger than age 57, nor does he care to evolve his shtick or learn anything about the way sport and fandom has changed in this city since the halcyon days of Richie Kotite and The Dirty 30.
Still, to Angelo’s credit, he did not back down from Kapler and offered some true examples of why the team is underachieving. He’s right when he says that Klentak has failed to add more than a couple of building block pieces to the team, and he moved the conversation into the territory of Kapler’s overt positivity and whether or not that really helps his team or hurts his clubhouse.
Anyway, it’s great radio. Say whatever you will about Angelo, but the dude knows what he’s doing from an entertainment and content standpoint, which is why he’s accrued legions of sycophantic listeners over the years.
Full audio below:
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com