Oh, man, we got it going on today.
What's happening? Everybody beats you, at least in
the house. All right.
Got a little hot stove and hissy meth fans.
You feel better about things now?
Have you actually sent the e-mail?
Have you sent the text? Have you reached out?
Have you apologized to David Stearns?
Because you should. All right, wow, we finally had
some real juice where the Yankees are actually involved in
this a little bit as well. And we've got obviously the
entire show's baseball. What's happening, everybody good
to have you back in. Let's go get the chats going,
get the hammer at the tax. They know everybody's fired up.
So basically it comes down to this, right?
The Yanks are running it back and the Mets took a Wrecking
Ball to their team. Now I understand how this goes,
right? When you really don't do a whole
lot. Now listen, thank God the
Yankees got Bellinger back. I wasn't, and I never wavered
from this. Number one, I thought he would
return. He is.
I'm happy about that. But I also never viewed him as
the savior. So if somebody gave him some
ludicrous offer, seven years, eight years, Toronto gets a
little desperate. I would have been fine with
that, although it obviously would have changed the
complexion of the Yankee season. So here we are.
You know, the Yankees win 94 games a year ago.
They've got a plus a run differential about about plus
151. And the Mets won 83 games and
the Mets run differentials right around plus 55 or plus 51.
So you tell me who had more work to do Answer clearly the New
York Mets. And yeah, I got to tell you, you
know, tonight's the live BT and South Show.
I'm pretty pumped up about that. It's going to be awesome and we
we won't stream it live, but you'll capture, we're going to
get this up on video, all that stuff.
There's just some things that we have to guard against like you
know, alcohol and certain sponsorships for for the
channel. So once we edit it and it'll be
done fairly soon, you guys get a chance to see me and Sal and
Boonie and last night I'm watching the Knicks a big deal.
I'm not spending any time on the Knicks today.
If you can't beat the Nets, it's it's officially a wrap, which I
think it is anyway in terms of the championship.
But of course I'm watching the Knicks and they win by 70,000
points, whatever. And I guess I ended well.
I usually go to sports night to watch Sny to watch sports night.
Think they do a really good job, right?
As I've said many times and I I don't really remember doing it.
I had a long day yesterday. Good day, but a long day getting
ready for the show tonight. Run around like a lunatic,
obviously. So anyway, I'm watching the
Knicks and I I guess just by habit, I click over to S&Y and I
fell asleep, but I really don't remember flipping over to S&Y.
Anyway, Long story short, I fall asleep and as I usually do, you
know, my eyes open back up, whatever, right around midnight.
And who do I hear yapping? What, what, what, what?
It's dark in the room. What do I hear?
Take a guess. I hear Sal chirping about Freddy
Perrault from like, you've got to be kidding me.
They actually got Peralta here. So the Mets offseason has been
terrific. The Yankees offseason has been
less than. Although again, if we woke up
today or yesterday, we got the news, but shit was somewhere
else. Then at that point you start
having a pardon me, Bellinger was somewhere else.
Then you start having the conversation as I posed to you
that without Bellinger, I don't view the Yankees as a playoff
team. Now with Bellinger, I don't view
the Yankees as the World Series team and there's still a lot of
questions to go here pertaining to both sides like do the Mets
go out? Do they get another pitcher?
Do the Tigers trade school ball is there?
I don't think they'll sign Valdez, but is there another
lower level move to be made to, you know, further bolster the
Mets rotation, which was an eyesore up until yesterday?
Really too reliant on young kids and an average arms that I think
of overachieved at certain points, whether it's Manaya
here, Clay Holmes or whatever. So the the ability right now see
not even the ability. Let me take a step back.
I do hope that everybody's learned a lesson here along the
way. Because when the Yankees got
Juan Soto couple of years ago, it was flextime.
Puff out the chest, let everybody know ganks are winning
the World Series. Ganks didn't win the World
Series. And then when the Mets got Juan
Soto for the Yankees, it was puff out your chest time.
Let the world know you own the city, Big Brother, little
brother. OK.
And then the Mets didn't even win 85 games and they didn't
make the playoffs here. So if there's one thing that
should we should really know, especially with baseball, that
we should know by now, the hot stove is fun.
It's great energy. When your team's doing stuff,
it's awesome. The entire fan base is
galvanized when they're not doing something.
The entire fan base is pissed off, like the Yankee fan base
until yesterday. But if we've learned one lesson
and there's been a lot of evidence here that, you know,
baseball games, every game, baseball games, especially the
baseball season with such, such, such randomness and some
injuries and a long season and multiple checkpoints in terms of
getting to the playoffs and then advancing that eventually get
into a World Series. Can we at least understand, can
we at least have this as a starting premise?
And I'm not trying to strip away the joy.
And I know the Mets fans a little more pumped up than the
Yankee fan today. I'm not trying to strip away at
anybody's joy. I'm just trying to present the
perspective, the very real reality that while these moves
are nice and these moves are good, and right now I view both
teams to be playoff teams right now, nothing set in stone.
It's a long way to go. I actually think truth of the
matter is I think right now on paper the Mets have a more
dynamic certainly roster in terms of batting order.
They're just sending up better hitters on a night to night
basis than the Yankees are. So I I think that the Mets fans
energy now is is is is I don't want to say more justified, but
I think a little bit more applicable to what I I think is
going to happen. Whereas the Yankees right now
again without Bellinger, wow, you want to talk about a lineup
that would have been almost unwatchable.
Nobody's protecting judge still no lead off hitter still some
issues still too many guys who strike out and the Mets I still
think one meet need one more arm in the rotation.
But the like the the way it's kind of flipped here and the way
you guys went from just and I get it, you know, we've talked
about this a lot, the emotion of losing them O losing Diaz,
losing Pete, a complete overhaul, complete
recalibration, a complete resetting, which by the way, was
necessary, which by the way, is the reason why I've been
imploring you for a while now. Give Sterns a chance to cook a
little bit guys. He was brought here for a
reason. And if you know how he operated
in Milwaukee without a real budget, you knew he placed
emphasis on on pitching you. We placed emphasis on catching
the baseball. You know, we placed emphasis on
getting athletic bodies on the field.
That's why when you delete somebody like Pete who can't
run, Nimmo who can't throw, and you suddenly look at like up the
middle for the New York Mets. Simeon upgrade, Lindor really
good at short, though he took a step back a year ago with the
numbers. And then obviously yesterday,
Louise Robert enters the equation, who's a terrific
outfit. I don't know what he's going to
hit. I don't know where he's going to
hit. I don't know if he's going to
stay healthy. He seems to miss 30-40 fifty
games every year. But like that, the Mets went
from 7576 wins to a team and a fan base right now that can
absolutely, you know, feel good about the prospects of making
the postseason. And listen, like, I can't help
but do this. I'm sitting here last night.
Things are breaking down. Sitting here this morning.
I'm trotting out the lineups. I'm looking at what do we do?
What do we do? What's going on?
What's the possibility? Is there anything coming?
Listen to these lineups here. First thing Yankees, then the
Mets. And you tell me if at least my
instincts are are at least today, on point and on par with
what I think that and what you think both of these teams will
be, all right, which will be playoff teams.
Neither team's going to win 9596 games, whatever.
So you've got for me, gangster, the Yankees, Grishman, center,
Judge, obviously, 2, Belly, three, probably Stanton, 4.
You want to break up the lefties?
Ben Rice, Jazz, Chisholm, Caballero, Volpe and Short when
he comes back, obviously Austin Wells behind the dish, a lefty
and the UK. I'd like to get another righty
catcher as a backup and then Ryan McMahon at third base.
Now the rotation to start the year is going to be very
different from what we see when we get to mid season.
You know, early on some combination obviously Freed 1
Schlittler heel, Warren Yarborough and then you get Cold
and Rodon back whenever they get back.
And that's where I think that the real excitement is going to
be generated within the Yankee fan base.
Because I really do think now people that tell me last night,
I've seen on Twitter, Mets have the best rotation in baseball.
Mets don't even have the best rotation in New York.
I mean, I understand you guys are fired up, but jeez, take a
break, take a breath, relax. You can you can, you know, think
two different things. You have to mesh them here.
Like what the Mets have done is very, very good in terms of
trotting out in everyday lineup, which I'll get to in a moment.
I'm going to run down the pluses and the minuses for each one of
these teams here. But the rotation still a lot of
questions. I think that's fair.
And we don't know that Devin Williams is going to is going to
be like Diaz. Matter of fact, I would bet that
he won't be. You just hope that he's really
good. He's just not going to probably
be great like Diaz has been for a couple of years.
But you know, I I'd like to have more excitement and we'll talk
to Boone about this tonight. BT and South live show over at
the Vogel Theatre in Red Bank, NJ.
And I am excited because I know the Yankees will be a playoff
team as they always are. And I really do believe the
prospects of of what they can become from mid season on.
Like that juice, that energy, that belief that that elevated
perception of what the Yankees could be.
Not to mention they can make a trade like the Mets can and
everybody else can at mid season to address whatever weakness
they really need to address here.
But like when that Yankee rotation gets humming and if
Derek Cole's 8085% of what he was before he got hurt, then the
Yankees have the best rotation of baseball.
I honestly believe that provided.
Now, listen, there's variables here.
Like if Schlittler took a massive step back, that would
change things a little bit. I don't think he will.
That's how much like McClain, there's some stuff that you see
early provided they stay healthy and they're diligent and they
you know, they attack their craft and they understand the
league's going to make adjustments and then they make
adjustments like there is nobody that can convince me that that
Kim Schlittler doesn't have ace stuff.
I believe that he's and I think the same for McClain.
So when you get into All Star break ish provided judges
healthy and you know the Yankees are hitting a ton of home runs,
which they will get. I don't love their lineup.
I like the Mets lineup better here and I'll get to the Mets in
a moment. But again, I'm looking at this
and I'm saying, all right, So what do I love about the Yankee
lineup? Well, without Cody Bellinger,
the Yankees are like an 8384 win win team and and the real
prospects, by the way, without the two aforementioned pitchers,
Cole and Brodan coming back whenever they get back.
What I was worried about, which is why I wanted the Yankees to
be in on Bichet, certainly a righty stick and he's not coming
here. So I don't need to to waste
energy on that. But I was actually really I'm
less concerned about it today. It's been stabilized with the
return of Bellinger, but I was really worried given the Yankees
rotational issues to start. I mean, you're giving the
baseball and I like Warren, but you're giving the baseball, you
know, to a Yarborough to a Weathers.
If he makes the rotation to A to a young will Warren to a Louis
Hill. I don't know what to expect from
Louis Hill. I mean for the for April, May
into June, like that's a lot of turns to the rotation where if
your offense isn't carrying you, there's going to be some nights
where you you're winning and losing 756584, which obviously
compromises the rotation. Probably the bullpen, which
presents a bigger issue down the road.
And really before Bednar, I don't even love the Yankees
bullpen. So the Yankees are not an A+
team. The Yankees are not an A-Team.
I'm not even sure the Yankees are an A minus team.
I think the right now the New York Yankees are a solid B with
real upside. Maybe AB plus if if Judges is
healthy and is Judge and wins the MVP again because he just
elevates everything around them. But I look at the line up, but
I'm sitting here and I'm saying, all right, do they have a lead
off hitter? And I'm not trying to be
negative. I want to be clear about that.
But I've also told you that as I anticipate Bellinger to return.
This was for a month leading up to this, even with him like I
wasn't all in on this Yankee lineup.
I don't think they have a lead off hitter.
So the Trent Grisham thing is a problem for me.
I know he's going to run into some bombs and he's going to hit
some home runs, but he is not a lead off hitter.
I would not I I, I I'd almost rather bat arid judge one like
so so you go righty Judge Ben Rice 2.
I know they reverse to the lefty lefty thing, but we're Judge 1
Bellinger 2, Rice three. I would actually prefer that
then Grisham batting first. Like I don't know how you can be
considered to be a championship team with without without an
without an everyday lead off man.
And it's not going to be Volpe. It's not going to be Caballero.
It's just not so they don't have a lead off hitter and Grisham is
what he is. He's home run hitter and I don't
love him against big time pitching problem right then you
get to the stands and stuff. All right, how many games you
going to miss? Whatever, Of course.
And then I listen the guy that I think is going to take a massive
step. I think Ben Wright Ben writes to
me profiles to be a three hitter in within the next two or three
years. I think he's that good and I
know this young man's putting work in.
He's a smart kid from Dartmouth. He is a he's a very astute
hitter. He is a good hitter.
Go the other way a little bit easy power, good eye.
He's going to be an on base machine real thump.
It is bad. So I love Ben.
I got no problems with Ben rice. Just catch the balls at you,
scoop a few out of the dirt, which you didn't really do that
well last year. So hopefully that changes.
But Ben Rice stud, you know where I stand on jazz.
I don't know if they're going to trade him this offseason, but I
still believe that they're going to trade him at some point.
You know, and then you get to the bottom third with you with
with a with a trio of Caballero and Volpe, Austin Wells and Ryan
McMahon. I mean that there there's a lot
of easier bats to navigate at that point, which to me is very
problematic. So I look at that.
By the way, Robert Robert Huertas checking it.
What up, Rob BT what's going on as far as the Yankees, I think
Austin Wells is not that good a 220 hitter along with Volpe, our
third baseman. Too many holes once you get past
Judge and belly. Well, I do think that you're
excluding Ben Rice. As I just said, Ben Rice.
I I think Ben Rice is, I think you're going to love Ben Rice.
I think there's going to be A6. They didn't come up when he was
that young. So I don't want to go nuts here
like a 6-7 year run where Ben Rice is in the middle of the
lineup and doing real damage, like inflicting real damage on
Major League Baseball. I think he's that good of a
hitter. So I do think you need to throw
him in there. And I think he's ready to start
doing it now because we did. He did it most of last season,
right? But you're right.
I mean, all right, Caballero's a pest, but here's what he is
Volpe's a low average, low on base guy, strikeout machine.
Austin Wells. I mean, he's he's an above
average catcher defensively. He's got power, but he strikes
out a lot low average guy. And then Ryan McMahon, he's
going to hit two 10215 strikeout 200 times I and then when you
get now see, that's the additional issue too.
So when Trent Grisham is in a funk and his career stats tell
us he's very funkible, like he's he's not immune to slumps.
There's a reason why you don't hit 200 for a couple of years in
a row. All right, maybe he tapped into
something. Maybe the Yankees unlocked
something. Maybe he's now trending in a
direction that is more like last year and he's going to hit the
home runs and instead of hitting 190 or two O 3, he's going to be
a 245 ish guy, 250. But I'm fine with that if he's
hitting 7th, right? But think about the sequence
guys and even Jazz. Chisholm strikes out a lot, but
I've got to show Jazz respect as a 3030 guy and maybe a 4040 guy
if he was healthy last year. But the Caballero, Wells,
McMahon Trio, and now you get to the top of the lineup when
you've got those funks that invariably Grisham's going to be
in. I mean, that's pretty 4 pretty
easy batters and outs to navigate.
And, and that's what worries me about this team, Worries me in
April, worries me in May, worries me in June, worries me
in August, worries me in September.
It just worries me. Worries me in October.
Well, chronicled is what it is. By the way, Brad Kaufman, 9035
to 82. What up, Brad?
Yeah. I hope you're eating a little
bit of crow. I don't know if you like Raisin
bran. I don't know if you like the
sugary cereals. I don't know if you have, you
know, almond milk or real milk, which I still drink, or skim
milk or 2%, whatever cereal you had today and whatever crow you
are meeting today. Well, then you better be man
enough to admit it. Because if you're going to come
at David Stearns, the way many of you and you know who you are,
many of you came at him and just eviscerated Stearns, well, now
you got to show a little respect to your Brad's and Minneola
Smithtown. Thank you for that.
And I'm going to get more extensively into the Mets in a
moment. But like the Bellinger signing
only merely gets you or gives you a chance to get back to the
point that you were at a year ago.
Now, there's other subsets here which I'll dive into a little
bit after the Mets. What does it mean for Dominguez?
What does it mean for Spencer Jones?
I mean, are the Yankees still in the market?
Maybe the trade market and, and maybe you throw Jazz in there as
well, as I said, where maybe they look to get another
starting pitcher. The Yankees were in on Peralta
period, and they didn't get him. I, I don't know what their final
offer was. I don't know how deep the talks
were between the Yanks and the Brewers.
I always thought, and I always, and I nailed this.
I always told you that Peralta is going to be a Met.
It just made too much sense. The Mets had too many desirable
prospects and too much of a relationship with Stearns and
the Brewers not to make this happen.
So I'm not surprised. Again, I just didn't want to
wake up, you know, in in a in a deep sleep at 12:09, you know,
here in sports night on loop here, my former partner, my
buddy Sal gapping and crowing about the Mets getting Peralta.
That's the last thing I I wanted to hear humble Sal.
I liked I liked Sal better. You know, when they were
deconstructing the team and they weren't making any moves.
That's that's the kind of Sal that I want to be around the guy
that I'm going to have to deal with.
Tonight's going to be a complete pain in the ass, much like he
was half the time when we were together on the fan when when
the Mets got so low and you know, the King Cohen trumpets.
Let me tell you something. If I hear King Cohen trumpets
tonight, we're we're fighting on stage like the the King Cohen's
I I can't hear it. If now he's going to be out
there with me. So I don't know how he would
even be able to do this. But if there's any sense of
trumpets or music or the the scepter in the robe, I'm going
to lose my mind. I mean, he he he might look like
early race. I'm going to go Hulk Hogan on my
guy tonight. I I just can't have it.
I mean, because the Mets offseason has been really really
good like that. Listen, I I call it the way it
is. I'm objective Mets have crushed
their offseason on 2 levels. As I get to the Mets here,
obviously Yankee and met comments are going to jump
around all baseball today. Not not even wasting time next
football. This baseball today hot stole.
We've been waiting for a day like this when they signed
Bellinger on when they do this all.
If this happens, it's all happened.
And I'm not even sure the both teams are fully done, although I
think it would be more ancillary moves, which I'll get to it a
little bit as well. But the Mets had a great
offseason. You know, let me actually read
this first. I'm going to get 22 levels.
The Mets had a great off 2, all right, 222 level.
I don't want to lose that thought.
All right, boom and boom and then boom and then boom.
All right, so Rich Esquire 896. Wait, Rob Rich, what's going on,
buddy? All right, hear me on this.
The Yankees need to bring back Sanchez.
Sanchez the catcher, He has grown his defensive catcher,
cleaned up his game, calling legit power, can spell wells
match against lefties and insurance against injury.
You know what, I I I just, I hear that name Gary Sanchez, and
I just think of a loafing, lazy, sloppy.
He's almost like the Karl Anthony Townsend catchers.
Like that's almost how I perceive him.
But you're not wrong. And thank you for that.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you for checking in, Rich.
Very generous, very good stuff. Of course, I would take him as a
backup man against lefties. Sure.
I mean, think about some of the catchers the Yankees have had,
you know, since the since the Girardi Posada, even the candle
a little bit. At least he had some power.
Not great teams, but yeah, they've had some they've been
running out some guys out there that have left a lot to be
desired here. So, yeah, on a low level deal.
I don't know if I don't know if you.
Wants to come back. He's probably pissed at the
Yankees, but yeah, I'd be fine with that.
All right, so here's where the Mets won.
Not on one level on two, number one, and it's all about Stearns,
right? Number 1.
He identified a very clear vision.
He came in when you're hired, right, to elevate something
that's been fairly moribund or at the very least incredibly
inconsistent as the New York Mets have been for a long time.
That's one thing Sal always talked about and I always
understood this because he's a Yankee fan.
I do get this as a Jets fan. I don't recently as a Knicks
fan, I have, which I appreciate, although this team is not it.
But you just want, you know, you you want that year to year
consistency and year to year belief that your team has a
puncher's chance at the very least to get to mess around and
win a World Series. You can't have like, wow, what
an amazing year with buck hit, you know, like a stock market.
Oh, wow, elevating first year with Mendoza.
That was really fun. We get soda 83 wins a disaster.
Like that's that's not the way you build the franchise.
So when Stearns was hired, he had to come in here and assess
the first thing that you have to do is assess what you inherit.
I think anybody who's good at their job.
All right, I think one of the dumbest, most short sighted
things you could do is be, is to be like predisposed or have a a
preconceived notion of somebody or something and then make
changes. And I mean swooping radical
changes without giving, you know, a person a chance to prove
otherwise. Now, I don't mean let's let me
take Harbaugh for a second. He's watching the tape, right?
I'm not even going to name a player.
Nobody jumps to mind, right? But tell you, if he's watching
the film as he already has before he took the job and he
identifies somebody like like, I like this guy's taking place
off. This guy's not all in.
This guy's lazy. And then the word around the
building is he's not a good teammate.
Like it. There are certain things that
you could jump into and say, you know what, I've seen enough.
I trust my eyes. I've heard enough from people
that I trusted have been here or people around the league.
We're cutting this guy, he's gone.
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about, you know,
higher profile players who were really good but have hit a
ceiling and as a group have not won.
So the first thing you do is you come in and you watch and you
evaluate and you calculate, right?
And you get a sense of is there any more upside here with a
different philosophy? Can I can we squeeze a little
bit more out of player X? And of course that was Nimmo and
that was obviously Pete Alonso, McNeil, Lester Extent Diaz.
That was different. They just messed that up that
you wish you had Diaz right now. My God, imagine if you had
Williams and Diaz. So that was the first thing that
you had to do and he won because that was the right move.
That was the right move. You were going to win a
championship with this crew. I don't need to get back into
what I've hit this for years, going back to when me and Sal
first started getting into this on The Fan, and many of you had
an issue with us for doing it. Now we were proven right, but we
don't need to take victory bounds.
We don't need to gloat. We know who nailed it.
We know who didn't. The scoreboard tells you that.
Just Google it, right? Anyway, that was the first step.
The second step was once you side to deconstruct, what is the
plan? What is the pivot?
Well, the plan is to go out there and get more athletic
younger, not long term contracts for for pitcher, something that
he's averse to. And I do think school would be
very different. But unless you are like one of
one or one of two or three in baseball, you just not getting
that 8-9 year deal. Like they wanted Yamamoto, he
didn't want them. They offered they're going to
try to get school bull. It either works or it doesn't.
And if they get them, they'll offer 8-9 to whatever it takes
to keep them there. Right.
So he evaluated, didn't like what he he saw smartly and
correctly pivoted and his initial plan was all right, it
might not be perfect with, you know, maybe Soto going to right
and or Tucker going, you know, Soto going to left or Tucker
going to left. Somebody's going to be naturally
out of position. Neither one's in center field
obviously and might not be a great fit, but you know you
know, let me try to entice him with a very high AAV and let me
while endorse still with his prime and we got Soto.
Let me get this banger in here who is a hell of a hitter and I
think one of the top ten. You know, when he's healthy and
locked in Tucker all the round players in baseball.
So let's go there. Didn't work out.
All right. What happened immediately bang
both the shit out of nowhere. You kidding me?
So not only did he have an initial plan to respond to his
first course of action, which which was to deconstruct, he
then had a subset to the plan of the deconstruction.
When the when the when the plan of the deconstruction fell by
the wayside. And like everybody else, Tucker
took the easy way out, went to the Dodgers.
Boom, we got Michette. And that was not like, oh, jeez,
hey, guys, we're desperate, man. You know, hey, Bo, it's it's
Stearns. It won't come play for the Mets.
No, it was never about that because as we learned, the
groundwork was laid in December at the meetings and that's how
you run a baseball team, all right.
Your center field position last year was among the worst in
baseball. Taylor can't hit.
You know, McNeil play their joke.
He's the horrendous center fielder and obviously Nimmo next
to him left field made it worse. Anyway, you go out there, you
get a guy who is a a a a very short term investment who could
run, who could go get it with anybody in the outfield and he's
got real juice in his bat. So you tell me up the middle
between Robert and center semi at 2nd Lindor short.
Is that a pretty good defensive, you know, up the middle, which
obviously is something you need in baseball.
The answer is yes. Is it better than McNeil and you
know, McNeil at second or whomever It's Beatty at second.
He's not second. I like Beatty.
He's not saying baseman, you know, and and some sort of
variation of of course the answer is yes.
So now you get to the bets lineup.
You got Lindor, you got Soto, you got Bichette, you got
Polanco, you got Simeon, you got Beatty, you got Alvarez, you got
Robert. Now, if Robert is the Robert
version from a couple of years ago, now he's in that 5 or 6
hole. If he's a strikeout machine
hitting 220 but still running into some balls and you know at
least the threat that you just can't groove fastballs to like
you can to Taylor. Well, guess what?
Well then you could. Then you can either move them up
based on the results or you can keep at the bottom, bottom
third, which is where I think he'll start the season.
So the Mets line up to me is really, really good.
And I expect baby, if he's not Dell, I don't think he will be.
I think baby's going to see a lot of time in left field and I
think he can transition there. I think baby can see a little
bit of time at first base. I think that I don't think they
I don't think that they would mess around.
Like say you want to give Simeon a day off and and he's getting
older. So he's although he does play a
lot. But if you want to give him a
day off, can you can you, can you punt the shit over to 2nd
and put baby? If you could do that, I don't
think they'll do that because I think they want Bechette to get
used to third base and bouncing around 2nd and 3rd is probably
not the smartest thing. And here's the other thing too.
Think about the think about the players right as the Duke.
I'm going to go with the Duke, not the Duke, the Duke 1986.
What up BT Jonah here, die hard Mets fan.
Where are you calling in? Where are you calling?
Where are you texting in from? Although the offseason started
off rough, I'm starting to buy into the plan.
There you go. Is that all it took?
Couple of guys who are borderline All Stars and some
and some who actually are. Boy way to come around super
excited about tonight. Nice driving down from Albany.
Fantastic. That is great.
Can't wait to see you keep up the great work.
Thank you. No, thank you for checking in.
Thank you for the Super chat. Like I can't wait to meet you
tonight. Can't wait, cannot wait.
BT and Sal live is going to be off the chain.
Tonight's going to be absolutely phenomenal.
Right. The other thing too, that I
really like that Stearns has done and I do think that this
matters because one of the things about the Mets is that
and nobody can prove it. It's not like a it's not a
tangible mathematical equation where we could say, OK,
definitively, you know, the the attitude of McNeil or the
aloofness of Pete. I'm just throwing stuff out
there or I don't know, Nimmo wanting to be captain led to
this percentage of subpar team chemistry.
It's just a deduction based on subpar results.
All right. And things you hear Tommy Pham a
couple of years ago saying it was one of the IT was the least
hard working team he's ever been around.
Tommy's jumped around a league too.
So that was a very eye opening statement.
I remember when we talked about that quite a bit.
But the thing that Sterns is done outside of Robert, all
these guys have won. I mean, Beau Bruschette hit
clutch home runs in the World Series.
He's an absolute killer. Simeon won a World Series with
Texas and Peralta, while the Brewers never got over the hump.
The Brewers were one of the four or five teams that actually won
more games than the Dodgers. The Yankees did in the regular
season. Yankees did.
The Phillies did, the Jays did, obviously winning the same 94
games as the Yankees and the Brewers did as well.
And the Brewers, you know, say what you will about being really
good, but never cutting through. Brewers go to spring training.
Last couple of years, Brewers expect to be a playoff team and
they were, you know, now they hope they had their heart broken
by Pete with Devin Williams. You know, they had some really
tough losses here. But that is a winning, stable
organization and that's where Peralta's coming from.
So Peralta's a winner, Simeon's a winner, but Shet's a winner.
I mean, that stuff I get, I can't quantify it, but that
really matters. Now without Peralta, it doesn't
matter what the lineup look like.
Before last night with the trade going down, the rotation was
just awful. You know, nowhere near good
enough. And now it changes not good
enough to not it doesn't change enough where it's like one of
the best in baseball. I think some people are getting
a little bit nutsier. But now what you do is it solves
2 things. Number one, you've got an ace,
right? And my son is actually homesick
from school today. And I went, I had to run out,
get gas and stuff and and do some stuff before the show.
And he's on the couch and he's watching some YouTube videos,
whatever he's watching, sucking down some Gatorade, trying to
get the other fever down a little bit.
And he said he was so disgusted. He goes on.
That's got Peralta now. So we saw the news, obviously,
but he didn't really know exactly how good he was.
And he said, how good. I said, he's terrific.
I said, he's really, really good.
I said, think about it this way, Cole.
I said, he's not, he's not necessarily an ace on a World
Series team, but he's a great #2 and he is an ace for a playoff
team. You know that that like that,
that next year, which is where I think the Mets are, right?
So it's a huge addition because it stabilizes the front of the
rotation. That's the obvious stuff.
But the other stuff it does too is that it Shields somebody like
McClain. All right, now Sprout's gone.
Tong is still here. I think Peterson's good.
Oh, see about Banaya. Holmes was fine back in the
rotation. Mets are going to hit like the
Mets are going to put runs up here.
I expect the Mets to have, you know, a top 7 or top eight
offense in baseball. I really do.
And and I think the Yankees will have that just based on the
great Aaron Judge elevating everything around them and
hitting a ton of home runs, maybe the most in baseball.
Again, maybe score the most runs in baseball, which they
sometimes do. But I just think that the Mets,
one through 9, have a much deeper, much more challenging
lineup to navigate. Yeah, I really do.
And Can you imagine that? I don't really expect this.
I'm not a huge fan. I'd like to see.
I'm talking about Alvarez because all the names that we've
ripped off now, Alvarez has been largely obscured by, you know,
the players they brought in and last year, the players that they
had and really the fact that he's been injured a lot and and
not really nearly as good as we thought he would be.
He was the number one prospect in baseball.
Now, that doesn't mean anything. Like that's just a label that is
a like an expectation and he has been nowhere near meeting it.
I think he's been a little bit out of shape.
I think he's got to lose some weight.
You know, I think you're that young.
I think you're that thick. I don't think that's a good
thing. I know some players can carry it
and still like Barkley, you know, basketball, maybe he's got
that kind of frame, but I I don't think it really is good
for him myself. But even if he never touches
that #1 prospect status, which he won't ever, but if he's still
viable and you know, he's a 20 plus home run guy and he's got
some energy, he's got some personality.
You have somebody like Francisco Alvarez, Batten, 7th or so, even
maybe 8th if everything else is right.
Well, now this Mets lineup becomes almost impossible to
navigate and now you don't necessarily need, you know, top,
top rotation to carve out enough wins to be a playoff team
because the offense will carry you.
Peralta was will do his job and and some of the other names I
mentioned as well. And then what I think is going
to happen. Listen, he might get dealt
tonight. He might get dealt next month,
but eventually Tariq school is going to get dealt.
And Can you imagine mid season and there's going to be a long
line. Yanks will be at that line.
I don't know if they have the prospects to get it done, unless
they were to give up a Schlittler, which which I
wouldn't, but not for a rental. But imagine if the Mets got
somebody like Scuba or another ace that kind of falls out of
sorts or what? Something that you just don't
really think right now is plausible.
But it's going to be plausible because it always is.
There's always a stud that's available at the trade deadline.
If you've got the the appetite to part with prospects and
you've got the minor league system that is valued throughout
baseball, you've got the means, you've got the direct means to
make a trade there. So is it completely implausible
that, you know, in August and September the Mets are trotting
out school ball, Peralta, McClain 123?
It's not. It's really not.
So I just think David Stearns has done a phenomenal job.
Still waiting for some apologies.
I'm still waiting for you guys to man up.
Is he still boy wonder? Is he, is he still going to be
called by Joe, the derisive genius, the nerd?
But I don't even know what Joe could.
Joe calls up everything at this point.
But I just thought it was a mess with Joe.
But I think many of you were just way, way, way too early to
the party. It's like showing up, you know,
parties, parties going to get jump and say at 10:10 to 2:10 to
3:00 in the morning. You show up at 8:53, you look
around, you say this party's lame, I'm bouncing, and then you
leave and then your buddies text you the next day, dude, you
missed the banger. I mean, it got high 11:00, this
happened, this person showed up. This was going down.
Wait till I tell you about this story.
Many of you just just really left party early.
And really, we're not fair in your evaluation to Stearns.
But again, most of that was rooted in emotion, which I've
always understood. So I give you a little leniency
to get yourself to get stop walking around, work like a
loser and get your act together. Jorge Castellanos, What's up,
Jorge 1963? All right, if I had to choose an
additional pitcher to add to the Mets rotation, who would you
choose? Well, I mean, I pretty much just
gave it away with school bull there.
I mean, they are what the he wants 32 in orb Tigers offered
19. The gap is it's the largest gap
in the history of arbitration. The Tigers have shown no
inclination to even do the right thing by him.
I mean, that's an embarrassing offer.
That's actually, you know, that's offensive.
That's offensive. Now, I know a lot of us have a
rough time saying, how is it offensive when you offer $19
million? Like the Tigers are merely
playing by the rules of the CBA. Understood.
But there are certain people who transcend that and and you just
got to show more respect. And when he wants 32 and you
offer 19, he's saying, Get Me Out of here, I'm done with you.
Even if he doesn't, you know, project that publicly, he's out
and they're going to trade him. So the answer is school.
The answer is absolutely school. Now what I find interesting,
there's 22 primary questions. I think at this point, I mean,
the easy one is, are are the team's done?
All right, that, but whatever, that's boring.
Number one. First the Yankee item and then a
Met item. Will the Yankees trade either
Dominguez or Jones? Now that Bellinger's back?
You've got a an interesting situation, and it's not a great
one because Dominguez has not proven to be a competent left
fielder. They're never going to let him
play center field. Obviously Grisham's here for one
year. Then as they think down
downstream like, well, maybe Spencer Jones in 2027, who
profiles defensively better and set or much better than the than
Dominguez. But I don't even know if there's
a 2027 baseball season. Sure, you can piece piece it
together and put Bellinger in center fuel for a year or so as
you figure it out in 2027, sure, obviously you could give you can
give Grisham a blow this year. Bellinger's fine and he's better
and left better at first. But he's fine in center, highly
competent. Certainly now you can get away
with it another year, like as he gets into his 3233 age, that's
going to be a little less palatable for me because he's
going to lose a little bit of juice athletically.
So you'd have to find a real center fielder.
That's a Band-Aid to me. But the question is like, who do
the Yankees truly value between Dominguez and Jones?
And and I would even throw they were part of the the trade
dialogue. Like because I've said this for
a while and I still absolutely believe it.
I just don't know what it's going to happen, but I believe
it's going to happen that Jazz will be dealt.
Now, I don't know if it's going to come this offseason or at the
deadline here, but will they? I'm just going to stick to
Dominguez and Jones because that's the more pressing need
now. If Bellinger would have signed
with Toronto, you're not trading either one, All right, The way I
see it today, I don't think there's any chance Spencer Jones
makes the team out of spring training.
I don't care if he hits 712 with nine home runs and he runs into
six light towers and he looks like Robert Redford in the
natural. He's not making the team and no
room for him, right? And the other thing, too, is he
needs some seasoning part. And I've heard this from the
Yankees, right? I've said this on WFAN.
I'm going to say it again here for the first time, the Yankees
do not believe organizationally that Spencer Jones will ever be
able to regularly handle big league pitching enough where
he's not a his his strikeout rate is is is anything that they
can accept. I mean, when you're striking out
literally more than two times a night in the minors against
minor leaguers, what are you doing at the highest level
against filth? What are you going to do?
And he needs more seasoning now. He went to Vanderbilt.
So he's not a young kid. He's getting to that age where
and Judge came up late. I get that.
It's not Amber Judge. All right, let's just end the
suspense. Spencer Jones is not going to
transform into Aaron Judge. I'm not giving up on him.
But if the Yankees were to make a high level trade, I would
trade Jones more than I would trade Dominguez.
I still believe in Dominguez. I I really do.
I don't understand. I understand.
Well, I do understand that some of the stuff is really
overstated. You know, the Martian, which
I've never called them nicknames or idiotic at that age, Right?
Switch hitter Mickey Mantle, runs like the wind, hits like,
you know, hits bombs, you know, has a cannon, can play center
field with anybody. OK.
The Yanks didn't even let him play center field.
That's how much they trust him. So I thought that that was yeah.
Now I'm not saying in real time I wasn't like, oh, let's say I
can't wait till the biggest gets here.
I was because I get I I do get an excited about prospects, but
I never become so enthralled with prospects that it it would
prevent me from making a move that can make me better now,
especially when the when the clock is ticking on Aaron Judge.
So looking at it today, as we get toward, you know, the end of
January, early February, Dominguez is obviously going to
make the team unless he's traded, I don't think there's
any chance because there's no room for him for Jones to make
the team and he needs more work in the minors.
And I I think that that's how it's going to go.
Now, the problem and and this really complicates it.
It really truly does. And This is why you know it.
It's really hard to look at the Yankees lineup and feel great
about it. By the way, I appreciate that,
Joe. Thank you, man.
Great show was always BT Joe from Jersey salute to jersey
salute to Joe. Thanks for popping in, Joey boy.
Now think about what Dominguez does really well, right?
He runs really well and he hits from the left side.
Well, they don't even let him hit righty.
So I mean, I would say that he can't hit righty, but they don't
really let him try. Excuse me, I've got a little
cold today. I think I'm getting it from my
son. Oh, man, I so I don't even know
if he can be a functional righty hitter because they they don't
let him hit righty. Kind of, Hey, this guy can't
shoot threes. Well, have you let him shoot any
threes in the game? I I mean, if you don't let him
do that, this quarterback can't throw a deep ball.
Did you throw any go routes? Is there any evidence here?
But I look at Jones and Dominguez, right, and I see
Dominguez's floor. Steady enough and reliable
enough on some level. Now hopefully there's an uptick
in, in performance and of, of repetition that still be placed
more. But I, I know he's not going to
be a 190 hitter who strikes out all the time.
He has shown good patients at the plate.
I mean, he stole 20 something bags a year ago, barely played.
There were two months he didn't play.
He didn't play. I did think the power would be
there a little bit easier, a little easy power.
And, and maybe that does come. It could from the left side.
And if he could just be functional in left field.
And I have a hard time believing anybody.
And it wasn't just the Yankees hike machine that made Dominguez
out to be this great prospect. It was everybody in baseball.
And when you have that many eyes on you and in scouts and
personnel departments and everybody says, man, this guy's
this, this guy's that, this guy's going to do this.
This guy's going to do that. I mean, all right, maybe if
they're a little bit overstating your center field prowess, how
the hell, Somebody explained to me how the hell you can't be a
functional left fielder. I refuse to believe that he
can't be serviceable left. And if he can't, well, then it's
just a disaster. It's a disgrace.
And then he's got to go. And at that point, his value
will be diminished and whatever. But I think he's on the team.
I think Jones is in the minors now.
It would be perfect. Instead of being a superior
lefty hitter, wouldn't it just be great if he was a superior
righty hitter because then he could play against lefties
because then at that point Belcher hits anybody lefty,
righty, soft stuff, you know, up in the countdown on the count,
bullpen starter. I mean, Belly is a pros pro,
which is why I'm really happy that he's back and he really
does hit lefties and he's proven to be really good protection for
Aaron Judge. So when you have a tough lefty
out there, if things were set up differently, well, Grisham, I
don't like him against lefties. Boom, Bellinger's in center, say
those 30 to 40 times. Maybe not every lefty, but those
tougher lefties, the splits, whatever, Do all the research,
they know the numbers. And then you can have Dominguez
in left field if his strength was being a righty.
And then that would make them a little bit more righty oriented,
which they sorely need. I mean, you look at the lineup
right now, right? Grisham lefty, Judge righty,
Bellinger lefty, Stanton righty, Rice lefty, Chisholm lefty, you
know, obviously shortstops different wells lefty, McMahon
lefty. I mean, that's just that's not
going to cut it there. So because he has not proven the
well, because we don't know if he can hit righties, I can't or
hit as a righty, I can't definitively say that that's a
good option because I don't really see him hit righty.
So it would just be how the words that would be almost
ideal. And then I'd be like, OK, now I
really do like the outfield configuration where as much as
I'm I'm the Yankees for the qualifying offer for for for
Grisham. Judge is the best hitter in
baseball. You know, obviously in center
field with Grisham, he's going to run into a bunch of home runs
against tough lefty. Sit him down.
Don't have to worry about being overmatched.
Bellinger in center and then Dominguez as a potent righty
hitter. It just gives you more options.
It makes you a little bit more righty oriented, as I said, but
it also just makes you a better lineup.
But he doesn't hit righties. So that that's that issue there.
And then a little less on the radar, at least in the immediacy
of the of the offseason here will be do they trade Jazz?
And that's to be determined, right?
And again, I have heard from the Yankees that they just don't
trust Jones's ability to be able to really handle big league
stuff that I mean, you talk about a 40% strikeout rate, 40,
it's like that would be in the three or four percentile in
baseball if you're a big Savant fan.
Wow. Now that's what remains of the
Yankees offseason. And by the way, also as a subset
to that and the supplies to the Mets and everybody that with
pockets in a desire to win, if school is really dangled in the
next month or so before spring training, the Yankees would be
all in on that. I don't know if they get them,
but they would be all in on that, right?
So I think that's the unknown aspect of what's staring at the
Yankees the next month or so from the Mets.
I think the only question for the Mets now.
And the Yankees obviously need to get some some medium leverage
arms in the bullpen. All right.
I like Bednar. They got a couple of guys with
good stuff down there. You know, they do have a couple
of starters early who eventually will transition.
You know, whether it's a Yarborough, Bob Yarborough,
Weathers who's done that before, Schmidt when he comes back,
whatever. So they've got good arms and
they've got young. They've got two or three, at
least 2, and I know this because they've told me this, that
really high leverage, explosive power arms that that they think
will be viable this year. That's one thing with the
Yankees I give them the benefit of the doubt on like dear Reed
on pitching is pretty good. Yanks have a great staff.
I know it's banged up to start. Yankees have a fantastic staff,
Not worried about that. But you do need another arm or
two in the bullpen. Whereas with the Mets, I think
really the only question at this point is at least the main
question is are they done with starting pitching?
I don't know that answer. I guess a smaller question would
be, and I do find this really interesting, like how much
runway are they willing to give Brett Beatty in left field?
Now I can expand on that a little bit more because I've
already touched on the pitching. I've run through the Mets
rotation. We know who's out there.
They're going to be only in on school ball.
You know, I, I don't think they signed Valdez.
I've hit that for a couple of days now.
I don't think he's a high character guy.
By the way, Peralta, who's not only really, really good, is
said to be a fantastic addition to the locker room, which the
Mets sorely needed. And then you get Bichette, who's
a game or you just the whole DNA has changed.
Better players, better athletes, more explosive arms.
I I really do like what the Mets have done.
I don't know if they're done though yet from the starting
pitching perspective Now, Beatty to me and we've seen whether
it's Hunley back in the day, if you're old enough or Piazza
trying to play first base, which was a disaster.
Like to me it it doesn't take very long for me to look at a
player and say, do I think that they can transition to a certain
position now #1 when you're in the infield and you go back,
it's always easier. It's always, it's always, I
don't know how Mookie Betts has done it, but I know he didn't
hit last year, but he's done it defensively.
I don't know at that level how you go from the outfield in not,
I don't mean first base, I mean short or third.
That's tricky. But to go from third base to
left field, I think Brett, Brett Beatty can handle that very
well. I, I really do.
I think he's a good enough athlete to do it.
And he's got a guy I know he's got a good enough arm and I
think he's a baseball player. That's been one of the problems
here and really with both of these teams, Like there haven't
been enough well-rounded baseball players, guys that can
beat you when you go over 4. And that was when I'm not trying
to pile on. He's gone and I, I really hope
he does well and I think he's going to do well.
But that was one of my main gripes with Pete Alonso where if
Pete doesn't, you know, bang a free run home run, where is Pete
elevating the bottom line? It's not on the bases and it's
not a first base. So and he strikes out a lot,
right? So to me, all right, the home
runs are great. He's going to hit 40.
He's power. He's a power presence behind
Soto, he's a pro. He's proving he can do it in New
York, right? But it was the other stuff that
was lacking that I thought really should have been the
impetus to, to move on from him. And they did.
Whereas somebody like Beatty, and I'm, I'm not trying to, I'm
not saying he's Ricky Henderson, man, but somebody like Beatty to
me has a little more value #1 he's got positional versatility
that I don't like him at second base.
I don't think he's a second baseman.
I do like him at third base a lot.
Now. Bichette's going to play third.
I get it. And you'll take that trade off
there. But like watching Beatty play
third base and watching Vientos try to play third base, that's
not even close. Brett Beatty superior and it
came up as a shortstop. He played a lot as a kid and I
don't mean 8 years old in in Little League.
I mean he was a high level shortstop as many of these third
baseman and 2nd baseman and center fielders are.
Like that's one way the game's gone and you want to talk about
one way the game's really changed here.
And it wasn't like this when when I was coming up either as a
as a player, but obviously as a fan.
Like you had a lot of guys at first base that couldn't move.
You had guys like Bob Horner at third base for the Braves who
couldn't really move. You had guys in the outfield
like Greg Lezinsky certainly just couldn't move.
But if you can mash, you could play.
And they're like, all right, because they weren't looking at
like runs above, you know, defensive outs, whatever,
whatever the terminology is escaping me right now.
But you know what I mean? Like there was no focal point.
You look at a guy and say, all right, he's got a week, all
right, he's a step slow, just hit, we'll figure it out.
He'll be fine. It's not like that anymore.
There's so much evidence that a guy is hurting you night to
night if he's an inferior defender.
So really, and this, I remember saying this to Tiki when we were
doing the national national show and that, I mean, we started
that in 2013 and it was early in the relationship.
And I remember he was asking me something about baseball, forget
what it was, but I remember telling them then there was this
big shift and, and the shift that occurred way before 2013.
So it's only amplified even more.
What these teams basically do is they they just draft a ton of
shortstops, right? High school shortstops,
collegiate shortstops. And then through natural
attrition, you know, as they go through rookie and low A and
high A and eventually move through the chain and and
attrition happens in the sense that, all right, you either hit
or you don't, or you either prove to be able to hand shorts
handle shortstop or you don't. And if you can't handle
shortstop, but you've got that natural shortstop bag, if you
will, of skills, well, we can move you to left.
We can put you in center, we can put you at 3rd, we can put you
at 2nd. So that's why the games become
so much more athletic, you know, and, and I think that somebody
like Beatty now, I'm not saying he's a great athlete, but he's
kind of a byproduct to an extent of the last 20 years, the
philosophical, maybe even slightly more the philosophical
philosophical change in how you draft.
You just draft a lot of middle of the infield guys and you just
see what's what, 2-3 years down the road when they put weight
on, when they learn how to hit and they and they kind of like
tweak the mechanics and really learn how to handle the high V
low. And you know, the off speed
stuff, they're nasty off speed stuff.
And then you either make it or you don't.
You get your chance. You either hit or you don't.
And you either stick with the big league team.
You don't, but generally guys who don't make it now, they
don't not make it because they're not good enough
athletes. They don't make it because they
just don't hit enough. So I do think that Beatty can
handle left field. To me, that's an interesting
part, a little bit of a subset of what the Mets do moving
forward here. But I just think that it's it's
been fun. It went from nothing.
It went from really being stagnant here.
Really, if you think about this guys to you know, to like you
got you got to love what you get in here and you got to love the
way the Yankees told Boris, screw you, take a hike.
Hey, five years, 162 and a half million dollars.
You don't want us, then that's fine.
Then we'll just and I'm not saying I would love rolling the
combo of Jones and Dominguez out there and maybe they would have
made a trade, whatever. Maybe they would have moved jazz
to the outfield. I, I, I don't know, they would
have had a plan BI don't think it would have been incredibly
appealing to me in terms of proven viable Major League
players, but they were not, you know, they were not bending down
and kissing the ring of Boris. Those days are over, man.
And, you know, with Bellinger's age and with some of the deeper
analytical numbers that aren't overly kind to him, you know,
like exit below and some of those things that, that, that
matter, you know, I he was never going to get that.
Hey, all right, you know what, You know what?
We can't figure this out. Hey, how about two years with an
option at $50 million a year? Wasn't going to happen.
You know, nobody came knocking down his door.
And what the Yankees did on an incredibly high level is they
exerted patience and the temptation to flinch.
And not just because the Mets are like, I don't think that the
Yankees, the Mets shouldn't react to what the Yanks are
doing. And the Mets shouldn't and the
Yankees shouldn't react to what the Mets are doing.
Now, I know that sometimes that gets intertwined with fans, you
know, and it's fun and it's juice and it's energy.
And that's never going to change.
Going back to the whole Mattingly Hernandez debate, you
know, Donnie by a mile, by the way.
But I think when you try to construct a team based on the
headlines or based on talking points sometimes, like George
did back in the certainly in the mid 80s when the Mets on the
town for a couple of years with Doc and Daryl and those guys.
I you know, I, I, I don't, I don't, I, I just think that the
the patience here when the Yankees were getting crushed in
the court of public opinion. Peralta's dealt didn't get him.
We all want to Bichette didn't get him.
We're never really in at all on Kyle Tucker.
And I wanted him, but I didn't want him for eight or nine
years. It would have been nice to be in
the conversation though, like really would have been nice to
be seated at the at at the Kyle Tucker table and the bowl
Bichette. And I know that they were
engaged in Bichette, but I mean, was it really that serious?
They knew that they were going to get Bellinger and they played
it well. And there's certain times to
crush the Yankees, and I will. And there's certain times to
acknowledge that the Yankees did it well and I will happily.
There's certain times to crush the Mets and I will.
And there's certain times to step back and say, you know
what, the Mets have played this very smartly and I will and I
have. And I am because I've been
saying that about Stearns now for a while.
And here I am giving the Yankees praise, not going over the top
because they merely are what they were a year ago, You know,
with the retention of somebody like Bellinger contracts,
interesting, you know, opt outs after year two and three, full
no trade, $20 million signing bonus.
You know, and and that's that's really that's really all there
is to discuss with the Yankees. The Mets.
There's just more juice. I wish there was more juice with
the Yankees. I really do.
You know, I'm going to give you a number, all right, right now.
And I said earlier in the show, I think that the Yanks and the
Mets right now, we're both playoff teams.
I did not think that before, certainly before the Mets got
Peralta, although they were moving that direction.
And I always thought that Peralta would be a Met.
By the way, I have nailed a lot of stuff.
Let's call for what it is. I mean, I don't want to pat my
own back here. You know, I I'm not that
flexible like I used to be. But I mean, I basically got
everything right. If you really think about the
evaluation here, I'm talking about the last month or so.
Oh, actually, I'm talking really deeper than that.
Like I'm talking about years now, you know, get rid of
Alonzo, get rid of McNeil. I was never really on the get
rid of Nimmo train just because I didn't really think that with
that deal seven years when they signed them.
I don't think it was necessarily doable, but I certainly
understand it and I certainly acknowledge it was a good move
anyway, you know, I've been telling you for years, got to
move on from Pete. Mets aren't going to offer a
bank. They didn't moved on the other
things with Peralta becoming a MET.
I've always said and I always said that the Yankees would be
in the conversation as well, but I always thought that he would
be a MET and he's a MET. I never once flinched, although
I very, very directly told you guys, I don't want Bellinger
even 6th year. But if they start getting like
that, greedy, take a walk, see it, don't let it hit you on the
way out. Don't need you.
You're good. That's the deal.
We're going to leave it a good and the certain things that you
do very well, you're not great, you're not transcendent, you're
not a superstore. You fit, you're versatile,
you're a pro, and I want you, but you have to stay.
You have to come back on the terms that that are congruent
with your skill set. And I've always said that.
And I always thought that the Yankees would hold a hard line.
I eventually thought that Bellinger would acquiesce, and
he did. So let's see.
Bellinger, correct. Peralta, correct.
Alonzo, correct. That's not bad.
Not bad. Three big items right there.
I like it. Grisham, Judge.
Bellinger. Stanton.
Rice. Chisholm.
Caballero. Volpe.
Wells. McMahon, Lindor, Soto, Bichette,
Polanco, Simeon, Beatty, Alvarez, Louise, Robert or
Robert. Yeah.
Mets lineup is better. Yanks rotations better.
Mets lineup is better. Both bullpens have some real
assets and some real needs here. Yeah, here's the crazy thing
too, because you know, there was some noise that Mendoza and his
seat was getting hot last year, which I believe was true and I
believe not. Not that they were going to fire
him during the season. But you know, there's a little
spark here. Maybe not in go fully in flames
like that jiff that you see with the dog sitting in the middle of
the room with the flames everywhere.
It was never like that. But it's going to get to that
point if the Mets aren't really good this year, like there's no
more excuses. And the thing about the Mets,
like the Yankees are, are steady in terms of their, I think their
their connectivity. I don't think there's any issues
within the locker room. I think Boone's got a good grip
on the team. They they usually win enough to
at least on, on a bottom line assessment on some level, kind
of stiff arm the the fans and say, hey, we didn't win the
World Series, but we're pretty good.
And that bothers me. I'm not trying to make an excuse
for that, but it's true. You know, Yankees won 94 games a
year ago. They beat the Red Sox in the
playoffs and you know, it, it was it was a pretty good year.
Wasn't great. Mets 183 with Soto didn't make
the playoffs, so let's not let's not make the same things even
now. Maybe they get even this year
all right. But if Mendoza, if the Mets
don't get off to a good start, especially if they were to make
a move for another starting pitcher, well, there could be a
scenario. And at that point, I'd have to
say there should be where if they are languishing this year,
then Mendoza is going to get fired during the season.
That's it. Like he's got to come out
humming. They got to come out.
They got to look right. They got to look complete.
They got to look smart. They got to stop running into
outs on the bases. They have to be better on the
bases. They got to catch the ball
better, which they will just based on the upgrade.
Simeon Taylor, obviously Robert Center, but Taylor's good center
as well. Mets defense will just be
better. I even think Polanco is going to
be a better first baseman than Pete, and I think a Beatty gets
some real runway in left field. I think it's going to be better
than Ammo. I do.
And Sotos fine, you know, I know we make a lot of his outfield,
you know, mistakes, whatever. He does have a good arm.
You know, too often he takes a step in and the ball goes over
his head at inopportune times. But he's fine.
I mean, to make it seem like he is an absolute butcher in right
field it it's not accurate. I, I think he's fine.
You know, he's got average speed.
He's got a slightly above average arm, if not a little bit
more than that. He just doesn't track the ball
great. But over 162 it might
egregiously hurt you seven or eight times where you're like,
dude, how did, how, how do you not get a better break on that
bull or Oh my God, look at that step in and it hits the wall
where if he would have taken a step or, or really got to freeze
because once you take a step in, you're dead.
Like you can't, I don't care how fast you are like Willie Mays
Hayes ain't recovering from taking a step in on a line drive
with, you know, 100 plus Velo. That's, you know, at your
slightly elevated, you got to freeze.
That's why they take you to freeze.
They call it a prep step, right? Especially infield prep step
outfield, you get ready as the pitch is delivered.
You want to kind of jump into position on the balls of your
feet. And as you do that, it coincides
with the ball basically reaching the proximity of home plate in
an area where the hitter is getting ready to swing.
And then just as that starts to happen, you start to now hop
into it. Some guys actually hop into it,
some guys walk into it. It doesn't matter as long as
you're into it on the balls of your feet, on the tips of your
toes. And then now you're ready to go
either way. Bang ball on my right, boom ball
my left, boom, get there right. But if that, and I think the
hardest play is the one right at you.
So I'm not saying it's easy. When that ball scores, then you
like like coming in, coming out, But once you take that free, you
just got to program your body. It's just through repetition.
It's also through instinct and IQ and Soto's not great with
that. But that first step, you're
dead. Whereas at least if you take a
step back, it's easier to come in, much like it is easier to.
I was just explaining this to my son the other day.
Right so. He plays plays basketball and
he's a good player. He's not great because he
doesn't play all year, plays his ass off, gets to the rim, knows
the field, the court, kind of sees a basketball court like he
sees a baseball diamond at shortstop or like he sees the
football field as a quarterback, right?
But if he wants to keep playing hoops, which I know he does,
he's going to have to put it like he basically goes from, you
know, the season ends in March to not picking up a basketball
until November. And, and, and he's good.
I'm not he's not great. He's good, but I was telling him
the other night, I'm like, you got to start making bounce
passes buddy. And I was explaining because he
always throws the and and usually does not get stolen.
But I'm I'm just thinking next level right?
And if I'm a defender, This is true.
This is proven through physics. I just had this conversation
right outside in our living room.
We were actually throwing the basketball, passing it right
where yeah, if you throw a pass, a chest pass that's on a line,
it's always easier for defender to go up.
Now it might look the same, right?
Quick hands high and low, quick boom, boom.
It's actually a tick slower going down.
So if you throw a pass here or slightly elevated that defenders
hands going up, he's picking the ball up, He's picking the ball,
he's picking it up and he's picking it off.
Whereas if you throw a bounce pass, by the time that ball, by
the time that hand gets down, it's it's usually passed and
provided it's got a little juice on it.
So it's kind of the same concept.
We're taking a step in versus taking a step out in the
outfield. You know what I mean?
Coach BT with a little coaching lesson here today.
And trust me, that's true. What else we got going on the
trades? Yeah.
Oh, I didn't give you a win total, which I'll do right now.
Right now, right now I think both the Yankees and the Mets or
in that 88 to 90 ish maybe even 87.
Let let me die. I got a little more bullpen
stuff for the Mets and the Yankees 87 to 90.
And I really probably more comfortable going 87 to 89
because I don't look at either team and say guaranteed 90 wins.
Like I think they'll get there. So I'm going to actually lower
that. Like if I'm placing the odds,
the BT sports book here, I'm going to come up with 87 to 89.
I'm not saying that that's what they're going to come out with
when the the projected when I'm telling you what I think, right,
which is what matters to me. You know, Vegas is Vegas.
I think the Yanks or the Mets on paper right now, 87 to 89 wins
now. And again, the difference is if
you just if you're just tuning in, the difference is that the
energy level, while the pretty much to me equates to the same
finishing place. Neither team's a World Series
team, although they both should be playoff teams and I think
will. But the Mets energy of the fan,
like the fan base is just through the roof right now,
understandably so. The Yankee fan is like, all
right, good job, you know, good job bringing back Bellinger way
to retain him. Without him, it would have been
with it. Put it this way, if I was giving
you a win total right now and Bellinger just signed with
Toronto or the Mets, let's say Toronto, then I would say the
Yankees or not a playoff team, as I've said before.
So I don't think it's a gaudy win total Where I do think it's
going to change now the energy for the Mets fan, which is
incredibly high right now, very well might, might last for the
duration of the season. You go into spring training.
If even if you don't make another move, which I think you
might, I actually think you're going to get another pitcher.
I really do. I don't think the Mets are fully
done any, but even if they are the energy's high winning team,
good line up top of the rotation guy and Peralta, Mcclain's going
to be a beast whatever everybody else slots back a slot and it
should be playoff worthy. And you keep that energy because
the Mets give you reason to keep that energy, right.
Whereas with the Yankees, the energy is a little lower.
But I actually think that the uptick in energy in the middle
of the season has a real chance to be higher than the Mets when
Cole and Rodon come back, provided they're the same.
I mean, I'm not worried about Rodon being being the same guy.
You know, and with this situation with Cole and with
Freedom with Schlittler, he's going to be more 4-5 guy rather
than, you know, two behind Freed like a year ago.
I and I, I think that's where the Yankee fan gets a little bit
more juicier. Boy, Rob just loves hammering
these, these is this guy like a billionaire.
I mean, every, every, every questions got a little little
dollar. Yeah.
You don't have to do that, Robert.
I appreciate it. But you don't.
You really don't, man. You don't.
I think everything's come full circle.
Robert. Wear this for me now.
I saw the Yankees win 5 chips. I've been to Game 6 and 96.
I was there as well. I just want #23 in the Hall of
Fame. Not sure if he's going to get
there. Yeah, today's not the day for a
Hall of Fame discussion. Of course, I did a lot of Hall
of Fame yesterday. If you guys missed it, then I I
do think that with some of these concessions, I don't know how
else to frame it. And I don't mean Beltran.
I don't mean yesterday's with, with Beltran and Jones, but some
of these other names and some of these inconsistencies.
And even like Posada, I was railing on this.
Yes, this annoyed me. Like Posada getting less than 5%
of the vote is a switch hitting power catcher on multiple
championship teams are are are what in the middle of the
batting order for those championships?
It's just disrespectful. It's just not consistent with
what he did and who he was. It's not a representation of his
of his baseball career. I'm not saying he's got to be in
the Hall of Fame next to Johnny Bench or Court Fisk or Punch,
but less than 5% joke. And then even Bernie, you know,
9% just disrespectful all those championships, which hitting
center fielder, big moments, clutch moments in the middle of
the batting order for all that stuff.
And he gets 9% of the Hall of Fame vote.
I mean, who the Hell's doing this?
What a crock of shit. This has begun real.
I can't get back into it. I I I really can't.
But with Mattingly, yeah, I think Donnie should be in and I
think it should be culmination of of a baseball life.
You know, if he would have won a championship with the, you know,
the Dodgers as a manager, whatever.
But come on. I just tend to place more value.
It's a personal thing. I place more value.
You know, when you were in your prime, whatever your prime was,
you know, before injuries or whatever that problem equates
to, were you one of the best players in baseball?
And to me, if you lived it, the answer is clearly yes.
He was the best player in baseball who could do
everything. So I, I just think the
inconsistencies and the disrespect and not just for
Mattingly. I can make a case for somebody
like Albert Bell. I can make a case for somebody
like Keith Hernandez, as I have, you know, of course I've already
made the case for a rod and Bonds and and McGuire, not not
Sosa, but the other guy, Clemens, the guys that have been
implicated in the, in the PED stuff like what are we doing
here? And like, it's, it's just a
fallacy that, that the Hall of Fame has a shred of integrity
anymore. What does it mean?
I I don't really, I know what it meant when I was growing up,
when I heard the term Hall of Fame, you were like, man, Hank
Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter
Johnson, you know, and that is I got a little eventually, like I
was like Mike Schmidt, George Brett.
You know what? Ozzie Smith is the best
defensive shortstop of all time. Cal Ripken, middle the order,
you know, champion 83 shortstop before shortstop's really
banging the ball around the yard.
Not many of them, did you know? So I don't really know what to
tell you except that I agree with your premise that it is all
over the map, wildly inconsistent.
And, you know, I don't really know what's going to change
anytime soon here. So I got to the win totals
there, ran through it, listens to basic philosophy.
At this point, Yankees decide to run it back and we'll see if
that works out. Now it's more acceptable for a
team that won 94 games and a playoff series.
By the way, I actually sold them short.
Their run differential last year was plus 164.
So to run it back and say that the Yankees suck is just wildly
off base and disrespectful. And if that's what you say, I,
I, I, I, I can't help them. But that's your opinion.
Great. And the Mets with a complete
overhaul. And the Mets needed one.
They needed one from a just an overall DNA in terms of the
chemistry, the clubhouse and also a skill set.
Too many players were limited. So Yanks run it back, Mets
overhaul. And when you win 83 games and
your managers on the hot seat and you know, there's chirping
out, this guy doesn't get along with this guy.
And this guy wants to be the captain.
And this guy's jealous. We, we got to, we got to fix
this thing with a, with a, with a + 51 run differential where
for two months you're hoping that you started gives your 4
innings clean, which they didn't too often.
I mean, really the guy who was doing it more not was Clay
Holmes, who was a converted relief pitcher.
So it's going to be interesting. This was juicy, this was good,
this was fun. And this is what is the I think
that this is the stuff that's going to make this channel
absolutely go through the roof. I really once we get to baseball
season stuff like this, man, let me give you one thing.
Speaking of the channel. So I was dialing into the
analytics and I I'm not going to even the numbers didn't take too
long. I was texting J Rod.
J Rod, by the way, what's going on?
Where's J Rod, everybody? J Rod in the house, he's
sleeping. Did he cut out?
No. Hello.
Hey, you can hear me.
How's it going? I got you.
You good? Everything OK?
Yeah, looking good. Pod's going great so far.
Yeah, it is a lot, a lot of good talk.
A lot of people chiming in. So far it's been been our
biggest at least since I've seen biggest current viewers for an
episode. We're at like 500 almost at one
point so. OK, there you go.
We got to get that up to 1000. Hey, no, listen, I'll take the
five for now. I'll take eventually 1000,
eventually 1500. The goal is, listen, you got to
lay down bricks. You got to lay down some the
foundation, which is what we're doing.
And Speaking of the and I'm not going to give out the numbers as
this is going to take too long here, but and I sent this to
Jared. I actually did send J Rod the
numbers this morning. So I was on the analytical page
of my of of the YouTube page here.
BT unleashed right, going back to last week, right.
So last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and
then this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
And based on what he just told me with the, the, the largest
live view in a while, I know we had a thousand or two the first
couple of shows there, but yeah, 500 is a pretty decent number
for now. We have had eight straight shows
backed up by data. Just take my word for it.
I'm why would I lie? We're eight straight shows where
the viewership and the click rate has gone up, literally up.
Not like 4 up and then one down and then one up.
It literally has been eight straight shows in a row,
culminating with yesterday being the largest view on BT Unleashed
ever, including the first day. And you know, you know, hey, I
just left WFAN on December 19th. I decided to jump right into the
flame here. Let's get it going.
I got work to do. I'm not wasting time, I'm not
messing around. I launched it.
It was during the holidays and a lot of people are moving around.
Whatever. We still got a massive number
that first day. Yesterday's show exceeded the
first show we've ever done. And again, eight straight days
with growth. That includes comments, that
includes likes, that includes views, which obviously matters
in terms of my ability to do do more and more and more with the
show. So I'm really proud of that.
I'm really happy with that and I'm really thankful for that.
So J Rod, I just don't want J Rod to get a big head because,
you know, he might think that it's because he showed up.
No, no, we got to. We'll keep it humble, keep it
pushing. You know, as they say, this is
all the fans, this is all the audience.
You know, we're just the con. Do it.
That's right. The that was an interesting way
to say con do it, The con do it. It's the con.
Do it. I I had to throw a little extra
flair on. You know when you try to church
it up here, it's like you threw an extra.
Hype in there, trying to Walt Fraser it a little I guess.
Yeah, that's true. That is true.
At least the Knicks did win last night.
They won by I think it was like 55 or 60.
Either way, J Rod, good job, buddy.
I'm going to start wrapping things up.
I got to actually run through the store.
We got BT and Sal live tonight, which is going to be absolutely
awesome. Let me see if I can pop just a
few of these in here. I'd like to get a couple at City
Moons. Been trusting Stearns all along.
I was elated when when Pete signed with the Olds.
OK, so that is one. I'm not saying there were none
of you, obviously, but the overwhelming majority of you
were bagging on Stearns. Didn't have any faith.
Ripping the move to let Pete go. Confused, angry, a little bit of
everything. Do you still feel that way?
But apparently City Moons never felt that way, so I respect
that. That is a good job by you.
How about the let me pop in Ed Edward, Edward Protzman?
I miss putting BT and Sal on my radio.
I appreciate that. And I don't like to speak for
other people. I'm sure deep down South
obviously appreciates that as well.
Is what it is. Hey, listen, WFM wanted to move
on and I'm fine with it. Yeah, I got, no, I got no bad
blood there. I got love for a lot of people
in the building. I truly do.
I was in that building for 13 years, 13 years, swiping the
same doors, seeing the same security guards going through
the same, you know, the same walk after I parked my car and
get into 345 Hudson, go up and swipe another door and see all
the faces and and listen, I missed some of those faces.
A lot of good people in the building.
You know, I've I've got you. I don't know if you guys believe
this. I think that some of you thought
when I weighed in on some of the comments that Chris Olivero made
about the decision to move on from us, get away from us and
bringing bring Craig back and he was on Marsh and Pod.
I jumped in because I saw some of the comments and I wanted to
validate 100% that he was upfront with us.
Now, that doesn't mean that I think that he did the right
thing. With all due respect.
Like if I'm running a station, there is no way in hell I'm
getting rid of BT and Sal. I've said that before.
I don't say that from a cocky point of view.
I just, I just say it because it's true because to me, BT and
Sal was the epitome of what WFAN represents.
And that is, you know, passion, that is fire, that is chemistry
that undeniably got better. Like I look back at the first
year, certainly the first couple of months, I'm not saying we
didn't have any good shows, but when me and Sal got to the last
year or so, really the last seven or eight months, we, we
hit a level that was, that was big man.
And yeah, I mean, it was a little frustrating that they
pulled the plug on it. You got 2 choices.
You just lay down here, you get up and you fight.
And as I said, as I said on my last show, full time show on the
fan the day my dad, by the way, my dad's coming to the show
tonight and I was looking forward to seeing him.
So is my mom, but might have to have I'm going to have to let my
dad stand up and feel the adulation.
Many of you love that last segment.
Pops is going to be in the house tonight.
Anyway. That last show that I did, you
know, I was getting emotional because it represent the change
and I'm an emotional person and I always wanted to be a WFAN,
but that doesn't mean I'm going to let WF and control my life.
I mean, I did a lot of good things before WF and that's for
sure. And I remember saying that, you
know, I'm going to do something big, you know, and I had tears
in my eyes. I remember as I was getting
ready to wrap it up and I even said, you know, I'm going to do
something. I can promise you that I'm going
to do something big. Look it up on YouTube.
That's exactly what I said and this is what I meant and we are
getting there and it's not nearly as big as it's going to
be. It's not nearly as good as it's
going to be, but it's going to be.
So I hear you. I appreciate the sentiments.
I'm just a look forward guy, not a look behind you kind of guy.
Doesn't mean I don't like to reminisce about certain things
and all that stuff. But you know, as Tony Soprano
once said, the lowest form of, of human dialogue, human
conversation begins with remember when.
And you know, it's a great line. And when you think about it, it,
it's, it's true. Because if all you do is, hey,
remember when, hey, remember when we, oh, remember when we
did this? Oh, remember when that happened.
I'm not saying it's not fun when you, when you're sitting around
with your buddies on a golf script, you know, shooting the
shit, having a couple beers and you know, oh, remember when this
happened in college? Oh, dude, remember when you did
that? Remember that night?
I'm not talking about that, but if you're constantly wrapped up
in what was, you're not focused on what is.
And this is the present tense and the press.
I feel great about it and I feel even better about what's in the
future. So I do appreciate the sediments
and and I'm I'm always going to have love for the fan.
It's the most powerful sports station in the country.
I always wanted to work there and I'm really happy that I was
able to do it because the other thing I said on my show is that
if I wasn't able to to have ever touched WFN professionally, it
would have felt incomplete because that was always my main
aspiration when I first started, you know, going to Pennsylvania,
going to Vegas, going to Detroit, going to 10:50 and
always looking even. No disrespect to 1050, I loved
it there. But when I was on a 1050, you
don't think I was looking over at the fan.
Like, man, it's where I want to be.
They've got the signal, they've got the history, they've got the
juice. So everything about it, even the
10 years nationally, like man, am I ever going to get a shot
here. Like it would have been
incomplete. But that I, I checked that box.
I checked that box through hard work and, and I deserve to be
there and I still believe I deserve to be there, but I'm
fine that I'm not It's cool, it's OK.
No animosity, straightforward. That's it.
Otherwise, the other stuff is, is energy that you going to trip
over and it's going to prevent you from from doing better
things. And I'm not going to let that
happen at Armand is amazing. I need to Weld this check all
the Stearns haters. Joe B being number 1.
He has been the number one Stearns hater by far.
All that you better apologize. Stearns had and will have a
plan. I would even add to this and and
Armand. Thanks for checking in, brother.
Not only did he have a plan, he had another plan when the first
plan didn't work out because the first plan was Tucker after the
deconstruction plan. That was the first plan.
Let me get rid of this guy. This guy and this guy got a
reboot, got an overall smart agreed with it.
And then the next plan was let's get Tucker.
And then immediately, well, guess what?
I got another plan. So all the nonsense that you
guys talked about, Stearns, just be big enough to either whether
it's on your text chains with your buddies, if you're on the
air, if you're texting now, if you're shooting the breeze with
your buddies on the golf course, whatever it might be, just let
them know. Oh, I I may have misread Sterns.
You know, I don't have to apologize profusely, but don't
pretend you didn't say it because most of you did.
I would have to if I had to throw in a percentage like guess
educating what at that? What percentage do I think of
Mets fans? We're really begging on Stearns,
either a lack of belief in his ultimate vision or just disdain
for what he just did or a combination of both.
I don't know about 70 percent, 75%, I mean, there was a very
small amount of you that we're down with what he was doing.
Now everybody's happy. Funny how that works, huh?
Let me see if I can maybe get one or two more on here before
we start to call it a rap. Let's see, no, J Rod did not
have another quiz today. He did just enough and we're
going to allow J Rod to to continue.
Now, if there's any mess ups there, we're going to have to
obviously re evaluate that. But J Rod has proven to be a
viable asset to the show here. BT Unleashed.
I can't wait till we get J Rod on some of his dates.
You know, we got to get this out report.
We were talking about that the other day.
If you missed it, you know, I got to get to know him a little
bit better. We work together on the
unkillable stuff. All the live reaction to the Jet
games over the years. And so I knew him and that's why
I wanted to hire him. But you know, as we get to know
J Rod the person, you know, we were talking about how it's such
a different dating pool and the swipes and the phones and the
politics and the nonsense and what, what, Oh my God, I
couldn't deal with that, You know, and really how you no
longer need game to get a date. You know, yet back in the day at
#1 you have stones to actually go up and talk to somebody.
Hey, how you doing? Can I buy you a drink?
What's going on? You know, I mean, that's the way
it used to go. And then you start a
conversation. And if the conversation goes
well, you either get the number or you get another drink or
whatever happens, happens. And if it doesn't, all right,
good seeing you peace out now you got to sit next to somebody
that you just met on the phone. And you see a profile with a
picture. And by the way, the pictures are
probably 5 years old, probably filtered from every single
conceivable angle. And at this point, it might even
be AI. Who the hell knows what's going
to show up when you keep swiping.
So, and what I'm going to do, by the way, not yet, not yet.
Once, once J Rod meets somebody that and I'll, I'll get to know
him more and more. And by extension, you will get
to know him more and more. When J Rod shows really real
interest in somebody, I'm going to actually set up a date for
him and her. And I'm going to take care of
the check and I'm going to send them somewhere where I go where
the chef will come out. You know, I got to come.
I'm not going to start dropping names yet, but I will and chef
comes out and you know, feels like a big deal.
Bills taken care of, little vino, whatever you drink there
meats, you know, hopefully you guys eat meat.
You're not vegetarian, not there's anything wrong with
that. But you know, I want the whole
the full sample little pasta. I got to get work and then
that's all I can say. I got to hit the pavement ASAP.
Yeah, and by the way, man, Jay Rod, just to be clear, I don't
mean like, hey, I met this girl from, you know, in Brooklyn who
she looks, she and she looks pretty and we have a, we have a
match, whatever the hell that means.
I'm talking about second, third, you know, real, real.
Real potential here, yes. Yeah, You know, you try to close
things out a little bit, you know, coming out of the bullpen.
Let's get the closer BTLBTL closing for you from a distance,
all right. Appreciate it.
See you again. Yeah, Yeah, no.
Doubt. You got to let us know.
You got to let us know about that.
All right, man, Let me see if if I get maybe one more of these
here. I mean, listen, this is
obviously a common thought. I've talked about that DNY says
what up Bellinger back gets them right back to where they were,
which is not good enough. Yeah, I agree, which why I don't
think the Yanks were a World Series team, which is why the
only way the Yankees going to elevate to a point where I will
have a different level of faith. I believe they'll be a playoff
team. I told you both right, right.
Right now the Yanks and the Mets both field to me 8789 wins right
in that vicinity. Whatever, you know, up, up the
game, down a game, just in that general neighborhood and thank
you for that. But when coal comes back and if
Schlitter is really humming and you got a free coal Schlitter
123, not to mention like the real Dons and the Warrens and
maybe the Schmidts and the Yarboroughs or the the Weathers
is taking care of those. You know, the 4th and 5th
pitchers against other teams during the regular season just
to bang in a lot of wins to make sure you're a playoff team.
Well, that's where I think the Yankees could elevate, could
really elevate. I'm just talking about how I
would feel about them. Like if Garrett Cole looks like
Garrett Cole and Freed's what he was a year ago and Schlittler's
the real deal, which I believe he is.
You know, even if the Yankees offense is a little
inconsistent, which is going to be, you know, too many
strikeouts, I would think that would trigger a belief that, all
right, you know, maybe they can mess around and and actually win
the World Series. But we're away from that.
Cole's a couple of months out. Lesser extent, so is Rodin.
And obviously, you know, we'll see if the Mets make another
move. Let me get Nikki for Motto.
Nikki, East Rutherford, what up? Nick, what are your thoughts on
the Yanks going after righty catcher?
Give some rest to Rice and Wells.
Yeah, I've said that before. Somebody brought up Gary
Sanchez's name. Listen, I'd like to get now.
This does not satisfy their need, nor does it satisfy mine
for a legitimate righty stick here.
Yikes. Just too lefty laden.
I mean, every lefty, lefty, lefty, lefty, lefty righty,
lefty righty. There's just no, there's no
righty. So which is why Bob Bruschette
would have been phenomenal for me.
You know, they would have gotten, they didn't get him, but
if they would have gotten Bob Bruschette, trade Jazz, right,
starting pitcher, whatever, whatever you want to do.
Or maybe if you want to put Jazz in left, I don't know.
But trade Jazz Bruschet at second keep McMahon at third
base for for defensive purposes, and now you got that righty
stick and now you got a lead off hitter in Bichette righty.
Then you get Bellinger 2 spot. I know that he protected judge a
year ago, but how would how would Beau Belly and judge?
How would that and then Rice sports.
So righty lefty, righty lefty legit legit, legit legit.
Instead, you got a lead off hitter who I don't want hitting
lead off and you know, the injury prone Stanton in all
probability in the four hole. So it's it's not perfect.
Nobody's sitting here saying that it is.
And I don't really think there's really another move to be made
that will make it perfect, at least on paper.
So kind of feel like we're the Yankees are now just given their
lack of engagement throughout this entire process with so many
people, I think the Yankees are kind of a finished product.
I think of the two teams and I don't love that.
But I'm just giving you the reality of the situation.
And I think that the Mets, Mets might have one more move now
what they can't do and they won't.
You're not going to trade like a tongue for anybody other than
school ball. And it would take more than time
to get that sprouts gun. You have tongue.
So the big power flex would be a schoolable trade, which may or
may not happen before spring training either begins or ends.
But I I think if anything with the Mets don't care where the
the Mets and the Yanks would get another bullpen arm here.
But I think the big moves are primarily done.
All right, that about wrap it up.
Let me go here. I got to run to take care of a
couple things before the BT and Sal Live show tonight.
I know Sal's going to be squawking like a happy, proud
Peacock, like he likes to do what he thinks the Mets does
something to do something. Well, which they have.
I mean, you know, I've always been one thing to give credit
here. So I'm going to get up on that
stage tonight with Sal, with Boone Talk shop, flip some
baseball cards, going to RIP a few packs.
Hopefully me and Sal could beat Boone again.
Hopefully I could beat Sal. I mean, I'm only two against
Sal. Want to know against Boone.
So as a show we're undefeated against the Yankee manager.
Drinks will be flowing, good food, phenomenal venue.
So if you guys bought tickets, can't wait to see you.
We're not going to stream it live, but we we will obviously
record it all and put it out there.
Let you get a sense of what's what.
Because the plan is to do a couple of these hopefully for a
year. I mean, you know, one of these
every couple of months with a New York luminary.
Maybe we set something up with John Horbaugh moving forward.
You never know. I wouldn't say that that's
impossible. We have boom tonight.
I would imagine we get Pitino there at some point.
And yeah, because a lot of you have asked like, hey, how come
you guys aren't doing something every day?
He's doing it. And Congrats on the podcast
launch to him. Go follow him.
Sal's pot is up. Go have a little fun with that.
I don't think he's going live as much as just kind of popping in
when things go down. So he's got his thing.
I've got my thing, including Saint John's games and the TV
show. So I'm busy with that.
I've got a couple of public speaking engagements coming up
which, which I am more and more involved in, which I really
love. So it's kind of a
diversification of, of, of what I was doing compared to what I
am doing. But Sam and I have always said
if we can find a way to get together, you know, a couple
times a year and do something big.
And obviously I'll have him as a guest on here.
I'll be a guest on his show. Like that's, I'm not talking
about that stuff. I'm talking about big things.
We're all for it. You know, we had a great show.
We had great dynamic, great chemistry.
I'm friends with Sal. I consider him a friend for
life, even when he acts like a nut with the Cohen nonsense,
which you probably do tonight. So big things to come.
So appreciate you guys checking in.
Can't wait to get that update. You know, J Rod, you got to get
moving here, man, because and by the way, the longer you go
without this thing moving toward the red zone of you eventually
scoring 1/3 or 1/4 meaningful date with somebody, then I,
there's nothing I can do about it.
I I, I do have to get one more answer from you, J Rod in the
grand, like in the pantheon of dating right now, let's say you
got midfield, you're pinned inside your own 10, you're
inside the red and then you're in the tight red.
So I I'm just going to guess and if I'm off you tell me I'm not.
Trying to be a jerk? You're good.
I would say that right now you're at your own 13 yard line
and it is about second and 13. You just got sacked.
Is is that fair? Yeah, I'd say that's that's kind
of around. I'd say that's pretty fair,
yeah. Come on dude.
Yeah, young single guy, you should never be pinned inside
your own 20. I guess I'm not.
I wouldn't say. I wouldn't say pinned, I'd say
say it. I'm kind of like the let's see,
I'm the receiver, I'm going for the punt rush and the person's
they're they're punting the ball and the whole field is wide
open. We're just seeing, we're seeing
which maneuver to cut down, cut down the field.
I can live with that. Kind of read the blockers,
follow behind, maybe crank out a couple of first downs, cross
midfield, open up the playbook. Now everything's on the table.
Pass run. All right, we'll take that we'll
take that J Rod, good stuff, man.
All right, J Rod, appreciate it, buddy.
Good show today, man. He's going to obviously get the
clips up there, all the shorts, all the stuff that that Jared
does tremendously. So we'll see him tomorrow.
We will see you guys, some of you tonight, BT and Sal live in
Red Bank at the Vocal Theatre, which is going to be phenomenal.
Hey, follow not just this, obviously Twitter, Instagram,
all that stuff. Spread the word.
Appreciate. Appreciate you guys checking in
with the comments and I will, I'm probably going to be
exhausted tomorrow. Tonight's going to be a late
night, but I will be here tomorrow at 10 AM and I look
forward to it and look forward to really meeting some of you
guys tonight. So have an outstanding Thursday.
Awesome show, loved it, Great contributions, Good text there,
good juice, good energy. This is what Unleash is all
about. And you know, as I gave you some
of the numbers and some of the growth here, that is you and I
could, I could provide the content, I could do what I do.
You can believe in me, but if you guys aren't following me and
those numbers aren't taken up and they clearly are and it's
awesome and it excites me even more and I'm pretty excited, but
it excites me even more about what this is going to grow into.
So I appreciate it. I will catch you guys tomorrow
at 10. We'll see you.
Bye bye.