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:
45 Responses
I speak for HUNDREDS of fans, Gabe!
Angelo is right. Yes this team improved somewhat but they led the league in strikeouts. Kappler had too many players out of position. Analytics is a bunch of bull. Who cares about launch angles. Kappler was overmatched plain and simple.
What does Kinker and Cataldi have in common?
They are both hack journalists that will be looking for jobs in 2019
How ya doing skip?
Here we go.
There are dozens of us! – Idiot Angelo
You guys are dependent on radio for 75% of your posts. Why write about anything of value when you can just copy and paste the material of others? Lazy stuff.
Was in Xfinity last night before Game of Thrones, can’t believe that NBC got rid of ALL pizzas on their menu. Worse management decision than this guy has ever made.
Can’t begin to fathom why Gargano’s show didn’t work
Defense wins championships says Kinky
Dr Blasey Ford looks nothing like Garth from Wayne’s World
Typical toxic masculinity. You are destroying our country. I can’t wait until President Elizabeth Warren outlaws hate speech.
It will be MADAM President Nancy Pelosi and she will outlaw penises and logical thought
Is it getting better Gabe? I think if the season started today with the same roster the Phillies would win around 70 games probably. Cataldi is an idiot and Kapler is an emotionless positive cliche spewing robot. The fans are sick of this product Gabe didn’t you notice when you were in 1st you were playing to a (at most) half full stadium? People don’t believe in this organization and team your going to have to do a lot more to get the fans back.
the Phillies won 62 frickin games last year…80 this year….so I think that would qualify as getting better…..
the Phillies won 62 frickin games last year…63 this year….so I think that would qualify as getting jiggy with it…..
I think the best part of this is that Angelo wants the manager and GM of the baseball team to do what the idiot fans want him to do. If teams in this town did what the fans wanted we’d be in a lot of trouble. Rebuilds take time, and reactionary bullshit from Angelo (who also said drafting Ben Simmons was a mistake) doesn’t help anyone.
I think the best part of this is that Angelo wants the manager and GM of the baseball team to do what the smartest fans in the country want him to do. If teams in this town did what the fans wanted we’d win an awful lot of championships. Rebuilds should be immediate (See Yankees), and revolutionary insight from Angelo (who also said drafting Ben Simmons was a smart move) helps everyone.
lame
Nobody in the media has the guts to admit on the radio or in print that the reason people don’t connect with this team is because of all of the Latin players. Latins 👎🏿 Thumbs down!
Por que?
So true . Fans can’t relate to a bunch of non English speaking players and boring analytics
If all a ball club full of Latin players won 100 games and marched to the World Series nobody would give a damn.
Angelo is a frickin idiot. In his “reign” as “conduit of the fans”, the City of Philadelphia has won a whopping grand total of 3 championships out of a possible 100!!! I think Gabe is 100% right…we don’t need idiots like Angelo, and Howard, and Mikey Miss, spewing negativity every frickin day on the radio (and in some cases in print) when it obviously hasn’t worked in 25 years. Try a different slant…..if Kapler gets the players he wants, and is able to build a team that he envisions, I believe he will be successful. And you’re not going to know it in 1 year….. I get it, the team tanked down the stretch, but they did improve by almost 20 games over last year, and yet Angelo and the fans are clamoring that maybe last year’s coach was canned too early….yeah, the guy who was in a coma all year….
THREE championships?
Kyle or whoever,
Can’t this jerkoff who goes by “Dan Griffoni” be banned? Seriously, fuck that guy.
“Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Angelo banged my grandma in 1958 and never called her back. He has zero scruples.
Gabe conducted himself like a real pro in that interview. Gotta respect how direct & honest he was.
Angelo just came across like an old Negadelphian.
Andy Schreiber,
I find your appearance so repulsive I wouldn’t have a beer with you even if you were paying. Suck my dick.
I would love to know if Gabe shoots thick milky ropes.
Angelo’s putting his house on the market again.
Spot on article. I don’t even consider Cataldi a sports talk personality, more like a morning zoo type guy with a Long Island accent.
Remember when Mike Miss went to the Andy Reid presser and grilled him?
#BeBold!
Kink – you didn’t get gabe’s quote correct. He actually said “2011 teen” not 2011. It was hilarious for it’s screwing of the english language. So, put the correct quote in!
hah, it was not relevant because everybody knew what he was trying to say. we always remove slip-ups if it doesn’t ruin the context of the quote, otherwise that’s what (sic) is for, when someone says something incorrect
Dude you take yourself way too seriously for this site
it’s not coincidence that the city with the biggest sports talk presence of any of the major markets has the fewest championships over the last 35-40 years …players talk, it doesn’t allow for organizations to grow at the right pace and it takes a very specific type of personality to play in a city like this and that type does not grown on trees
“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.”
I know addressed this toward the end of the piece, but he doesn’t have to evolve his shtick. He’s still ran Mike and Mike and Gargano out of the mornings. The only show he’s behind is Preston and Steve. In fact, I think Angelo was briefly number one after the World Series and Superbowls runs.
so what does that say about the 900 people in this market who carry PPMs
Doesn’t matter what it says about them. Bottom line is that it gets the man paid. He’s retiring soon anyway.
The only reason I listened to this was because at the same time Rob Maddi and his AWFUL voice was talking about kids hugging his daughters. RIP 975
This is why I only listen to WIP mornings during the weeks Cataldi is on vacation, I can’t stand his tired act, as for Kapler, don’t be such a Pom Pom shaker and realize that sometimes players need a swift kick in the ass.
Cataldi “speaks” for a very small percentage of the Phillies fan or even Philadelphia fan base. He’s never understood that. He does NOT speak for most. And that is true of ANY talking head in this city. It’s pure ego to suggest otherwise.
That’s not to say that Angelo was incorrect in some of his opinions about this Phillies team and its management. But overall, Kapler, who I actually don’t like, is correct. Angelo has made a living off of being angry for angry’s sake, no matter what gains have been made with any team. He views EVERY sports in an Eagles spectrum and expects any team to be able to turn around a dismal roster over night. Older fans enjoy his constant negativity and yelling at the clouds.. I think most fans chafe at Kapler’s over-positivity. Most reasonable fans are somewhere in between these two characters.
This Phillies roster is just not that good and most fans saw that even while they had a decent record. Kapler is much too reliant on in-game analytics to the point of forcing it into situations where it’s not needed and having multiple players play out of position night in and night out.
Cataldi doesn’t care about the Phillies as an organization, remember that. He only cares for the Eagles, plain and simple. His view of this town’s other professional sports teams are filtered through his own misguided sense of importance and how his voice plays a role in their decisions. He’s generally a waste of time with little knowledge of sports. He’s more into the soap opera aspects of sports than anything else. What happens on the field, or court, or ice is secondary, by a country mile.
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