What's up, everybody? We're back.
I think this thing's working. What's up, everybody?
BT Unleashed, how are you? I think we're good.
I think we're straight. If my associate producer in the
other room, otherwise known as my wife, if I can get a quick
thumbs up, if she could just let me know if this thing is going
before I start launching into it.
I believe that we should be back up on YouTube.
What an ordeal. Oh my God.
But thank God that has seemingly been rectified if she could take
the cue and let me know what's going on.
We good. I think we're good baby right,
we're good all right, so I want to get into a couple of things
here. Obviously a little something on
Tomblin and I want to present something to you that I think is
going to be very I think it's going to be very interesting.
I think that you guys are going to like this and by the way,
before now I get the thumbs up before I've been launched into
that 30 seconds late as always, the the the ordeal with YouTube.
I couldn't control it. They've got to go through their
stuff. I get it, you know, no harm, no
foul, but wanted to thank you guys for rolling with me and
we're still on X right now. So if you don't have YouTube,
you can watch it on X, but you know, the the navigation of this
first to get it up and to learn all the stuff that I've talked
about having to learn while my son went back to school.
It's been a little bit daunting. And then every day you kind of
check, I mean, really almost every hour I've been checking,
you know, I go in, is it up? Is it up?
And though finally I woke up
today, I took the kids to school.
I don't know, maybe because I did that and I did a nice thing
in the morning. I was rewarded with the little
karma and everything got fired back up.
And I cannot tell you how excited I am.
Thank God, thank God that that's absolutely done.
So the the game last night, I mean, I'm I'm not going to
really go through the mechanics of the game.
Why why would I? It was absolutely gross. 36 the
final and this will tie into, believe it or not, this will tie
into horribaugh. I'm going to weave it into Aaron
Boone, horribaugh, McCarthy, Tomlin.
I think you guys are like this thing.
They're getting some Bellinger stuff and a little bit of Tucker
stuff as well. So the the Steelers get
absolutely waxed now. CJ Stroud played just a little
bit better and then put the ball on the turf basically every
other, every other series they could have lost $0.52.
So when you think about the perception of certain people in
our sport and even 1 gentleman in our city and you measure it
against the reality of of maybe really who they are more so than
maybe some of you want to identify or are capable of
identifying whatever it is, think about this guy.
So Mike Tomlin and the Steeler, well first the Steelers, right?
The Steelers organization has always been and and rightfully
so. Position is 1 of consistency and
and great great continuity. Not a lot of turnover.
We know about the three coaches blah blah blah.
The Rooney family icons, great people, great ownership and see
that situation to me has obviously expired.
Like if I'm the Steelers, I'm moving on from my time, but I
know it's different than the horrible stuff with the
contract. It's a little more complex,
which I'll revisit revisit in a minute.
But see, to me, the Steelers are unfairly getting points for
being consistent and, and, and not overhauling things.
And I don't think that that's with Merritt anymore.
To me, it's coming across as lazy.
So the perception of the Steelers is one thing, right?
And now you juxtapose that with the New York Yankees.
Now, the Yankees haven't won since 2009.
Obviously, the Steelers won very early in Mike Tomlin's reign
with Ben Roth, with Big Ben. But since then, we know what's
happened. They've lost four straight
playoff games at at home. They haven't won a playoff game
in 10 years. And Mike Tomlin, who I really
like, and I think he's a very good coach.
I don't think he's great. I I think he's good.
But the way people talk about Mike Tomlin, you would think
that he's Vince Lombardi. And the way people talk about
Aaron Boone, you would think that he stumped Merrill down the
screen or Bucky Dent as the Yankee manager.
And that's what I mean with the perception and the reality,
right? So Mike Tomlin, 19 years.
So I can't tell you because I don't even know the number, but
just trust me, it's a lot. I can't tell you how many calls
I've taken over the years on The Fan.
Got to get cash, got to get rid of cash, which I often times
agree with, and then got to get rid of Boone.
He stinks. All right, we'll think about
this. Mike Tomlin's thought to be some
coaching God, some savior. 19 years, won championship, hasn't
won a playoff game since 2016, as I said, right.
And Aaron Boone, who's been here 8 years and has a 60% regular
season win rate, whatever. And he's ripped off a ton of big
years. One O31999494 the COVID year he
was on pace for 9394 wins. And even the one outlier, and
it's an outlier. Even if you're the biggest boon
detractor, it is clearly an outlier where in 2023 the
Yankees went 82 and 80. And that was in large part
because on June 3rd, the great Aaron Judge ran into a wall that
hadn't been since, you know, Led Zeppelin started touring in the
early 70s. He misses the rest of the year.
And the Yankees crash out. They win.
I think it was 82. Yeah, 82 games.
And. And obviously that was not a
good season, but there was context there.
And oh, yeah. By the way, when Aaron Judge got
hurt, the Yankees were 10 games over 500, which is almost 60%.
So I want to know why. All right.
Why did we just lose the visual here?
Somebody help me out. I'm seeing a lot of tweets.
I'm seeing a lot of stuff. I'm seeing a lot of messages.
I suddenly don't see a visual here, and I'm.
I'm not really sure why. OK, there we go.
I think I may have just fixed it.
Oh, good God Almighty. I can't take this anymore.
I Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I got it.
You thumbs up. Yeah, thumbs up.
Yeah, I know. Understood.
OK, so I guess when, I guess when somebody drops a super
chat, which obviously I greatly appreciate.
Now I got to navigate this and I, I guess the the video goes a
little dark. OK, All right, So this is this
is going to be, I'm going to, I'm going to have to really
figure this out. I would almost say, guys, hold
up on the Super chats for a moment.
Please let me just get through this man Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, MM Tomlin, right, is is thought and and I get it.
He's thought to be, you know, this this coaching figure who no
matter where he goes, whenever he leaves the Steelers, he's
going to elevate that team to whatever that team aspires to be
elevated to. Where is Aaron Boone, who has
had basically outside of the championship?
And I know that that's a big thing.
I get it. It was also a long time ago for
Mike Tomlin. Aaron Boone is positioned as a
numbers cruncher, a guy who's along for the ride and a guy who
really is expendable, not by all of you, but by some of you.
And I don't see the consistency in that one bit.
I, I really, really don't think about this guy's the last time,
right when you want to talk about like the context of sports
and, and really this happens in life as well.
You ever see like, you having a conversation with one of your
buddies and you you reference somebody that passed away and
you're like, yeah, what was that, like 2-3 years ago?
They're like now. It was seven years ago.
Like time goes fast, unfortunately goes way too fast,
right, Especially in the context of sports and when Mike Tomlin
last made the playoffs. I want to just create a visual
for you. All right, It was 2016.
As I said, in 2016, Ben McAdoo was coaching the Giants.
They went 11 and five. They lose to Green Bay.
That's, you know, when they went on the boat that dopey whatever.
In 2016, the Knicks were run by Phil Jackson.
The head coach was Derek Fisher, and they won 32 games and they
lost 50. Think about where the Knicks
are, maybe not a championship team, but obviously a very good
team. What about the 2016 Mets?
Well, they won 87 games and you know what assessed, but this was
their best player. Think about, think about all the
stuff that's transpired since then.
Think about that. And yet there's really no
adjustment, no adjustment at all to the way Mike Tomlin is
perceived. And I don't understand it.
And it's not even just about Aaron Boot.
I just bring Aaron into it because I think it's an
interesting comparison. I'm not saying it's necessarily
apples to apples. There's definitely in football
culture matters more. You know, like, do I think that
Mike Tomlin, if he was to come in and coach The Jets, you know
now with which he's not, But like, do I think that The Jets
culture would immediately strengthen?
Sure. Where they become more
competitive? Sure.
What is press conferences and just the way he deals with
certain things really, I think stabilize the franchise and and
emit confidence from the fan base.
Sure. I mean, that's a given.
We all know the answer to that. But would it really truly change
the bottom line like I think many of you think that it will?
I don't get it. I went through this the other
day. And if you guys are new to the
show, obviously we we, we weren't live streaming on
YouTube for a minute. We're back on, which is great.
But I did a lot of shows there where I just streamed on X and
then uploaded it to the YouTube page.
So if you want to go and find it so I don't have to reset the
entire thing because I would have pushed this forward.
But again, the theme of today's show is perception versus
reality. And Aaron Boone is perceived to
be by some of you, as you know, somebody who takes his cue from
a computer and has almost no value, which I think is
ridiculous because I think one of Aaron's greatest values, one
of his greatest strengths is being able to minimize the
noise, quiet the confusion, keep it nice and stable, win 90 plus
games every year and more times than not, win a playoff series
sometimes too. Not I'm not satisfied with that.
That's not the point. But he's positioned the way he's
positioned. And Mike Tomlin, I mean, he got
his ass kicked last night. Absolute destruction again.
Not one, not 2, not 3-4, not 3-4.
Four straight home playoff losses, 4 of them four.
And I know the Steeler fans are getting a little unrestless.
They were booing. There was some, you know,
barely, which is unfortunate. I think Mike deserves better
than this. But some barely decipherable
fire Tomblin chance last night in the crowd.
All right. But I mean, that is a long 10
year run for a franchise that views themselves like the
Yankees view themselves and the fans that like the Steeler fans
view the Steelers in terms of expectations and all that other
stuff the way Yankee fans view the Yankees.
And rightfully so. You know, when when you
accomplish what you accomplish, the bar is raised and with the
bar is raised and it's not met the vitriol, the heat, the
smoke, the complaints, all that is going to be louder than
somewhere like let's say, all right, Tampa Bay Bucks lose 13
seven wild card game. All right, let's go to the
beach. All right.
You know, I would say when I would say like, hey, let's turn
our attention to the rays, but I don't even think they care that
much about the rays. So it it really is market
dependent, it's franchise dependent.
But as I started to say what I put up on the YouTube page the
other day, and again, this is the theme perception versus the
reality of what's what. Now put Boone aside for a
moment. I just wanted to include him to
cross the bridge and make a few points.
You have Mike Tomlin here, like let's say Mike Tomlin that
there's resolution. I know he's got a year to go on
the contract, blah, blah. So it's not as easy as horrible
or Lafleur. If he would have been fired,
which he's not. They said this yesterday.
He's going to get the extension. It would have been a cleaner
break, right? Because, you know, lame duck
whatever. So it's it's it's a little more
complex than I'm presenting it. But Mike Tomlin, let's say, if
he's available right now is is perceived to be right here.
Mike Tomlin comes in, pumps, you know, life into the lungs of
some moribund franchise and takes him wherever he's going to
take him. Same with John Harbaugh, who had
a good meeting with Chris Mara. And then obviously, you know,
they connected Joe Shane on the phone before that.
Mara got the 1st in visit, which is good.
I do think Harbaugh's going to wind up with the Giants, which
will be very good. I like John Harbaugh, but again,
it's not Vince Lombardi. It's not Bill Belichick 10 years
ago. And this is what I don't get.
And then you insert Mike McCarthy into the chat room and
I'm not going to go on the, you know, to the pulpit.
Mike McCarthy again, start espousing why Mike McCarthy
would be better for the Giants or other teams than say, a
horrible or a Tomlin. Because I've already done that.
But all you all you need to know is horrible is a year older.
Same amount of Super Bowls, same amount of shortcomings in the
postseason, same exact regular season winning percentage.
But yet John Horbaugh's here and Mike McCarthy's thought to be
some schlep, right, who should be coaching gym and don't knock
on that at all. Somewhere, you know, in in
middle America, you know, with, with a coffee stained
sweatshirt. I mean, what is the basis of
that? Honestly?
I'm, I'm, I'm asking the question, what is the basis of
that evaluation? Is it the physical optics of it?
Now I get back to to Mike Tomlin.
Now I love Mike Tomlin, I really do.
I love when Mike Tomlin bust out his cross city.
He's he's got that, that brooding face and you know, he's
intense. Like that's my kind of guy.
I want that guy coaching my team, but having a cross
sticking out of here and I don't think he had it unless I didn't
see it unless it was tucked in. But having a cross sticking out
and having a scowl and being very direct and in charge in the
media does not change the fact that he is grossly overrated at
this point. Grossly, he's grossly overrated.
And I, it's amazing to me how many of you, no disrespect,
because it doesn't apply to all of you, but how many of you
aren't able to compartmentalize what's right, what's wrong, and
and more importantly, what's real and what's not?
I, I, I don't get it. I really, I am absolutely
confused and perplexed and a little at least pertaining to
Boone. Tired of talking about it
because I think it's really unfair.
I mean, a guy. I mean, come on.
I mean, I'm watching the gentleman coach last night they
scored six points. You know, they they would have
given up 50, as I said before, if CJ Stroud would have played
better. I don't know what the hell was
going on with him now. He made some good throws.
He made some clutch throws for sure.
But I mean, come on, man. I mean, snap, not looking at the
ball, hit him off the chest, you know, reach back to throw,
knocked out of his hands, gets another one, slips like we try
to lose the game. I mean, the Steelers stink.
They really they stink. They stink, and Mike Tomlin has
done nothing to elevate the product the last decade and
really like their talent base when he inherited it from Coach
Cower was just so much better. Yeah, got a couple of running
backs. Yeah, right.
Metcalf, you know, strong guy, one-on-one, you know, 5050 ball,
tough match up. All right, whatever.
They got a couple of good defenders, obviously, but like,
that's that's not like some amazing team.
And Mike Tomlin's been in the middle of that for a for a long
time. Just imagine.
And I know it's different. There's less randomness.
You lose 1 you done. So it's not quite the same as
the Yankees or the Mets losing a A7 game playoff series where
you're bouncing back and forth from venues.
But like, imagine if Aaron Boone lost four, say, if everything
was one and done, one and done, one and done, one and done, one
and done. But yet the rest of the baseball
community was talking about Aaron Boone like he was Miller
Huggins. Like, it's just not consistent.
It's not consistent at all. So I am here to deliver a little
bit of consistency. I am here to deliver a little
bit of clarity. And while I do think that the
Giants will wind up with John Harbaugh, which will be a whole
hell of a lot better than anything that they've had since
Tom Coughlin, that's the most basic statement of the day.
Understand this. You're not getting Bill
Belichick if that's who you get. You're not.
And like, say, if, say, if he wound up going to the Falcons,
and again, I don't think he will.
I think he'll be a Giant coach. So I think it'll be good and it
could be really good, right? But let's say he goes to the
Falcons and the Giants pivot to Mike McCarthy.
You're not getting a guy who's worse than horrible, even though
that's what you will feel. You know what I mean?
And if you really think about it, I mean, I could even
incorporate, well, I, I was going to say Stefanski here, but
you know, when you win coach of the year twice with that
dysfunctional mess of a franchise and you win 11 games
with 3-4 different quarterbacks revolving door and you know, you
have that trajectory to start your career.
And then of course, just the organization sabotages it and,
and undoes or undoes whatever undoes, I guess anything that
you've done so far. Well, now it's going to be very
hard to keep that going. So you're going to be perceived
a little differently where I don't think that you should be.
I play stock like if you if on a scale of 1 to 10, if you get a
nine with a great for a stable franchise, a winning franchise,
A franchise with sound ownership, smart functional
order, right? And you you're you know, you're
a nine out of a 10, you know, and you take somebody like, you
know, if The Jets ever get good with Glenn or Stefanski with the
Browns first couple of years, to me, even though in totality his
overall grade for the Browns is probably A6 or A7, I actually
think that there should be elevation there based on what he
did the first couple of years. So what I'm saying is I don't
even know if horrible or Tomlin or McCarthy is definitely better
than Stefanski, who's also basically 15 years younger than
all those gentlemen. So this this is just this is a
byproduct, right where we are guys, very simple, very simple
where we are is there has been this constant regurgitation and
like zombies like we just you know, we we eat the cheese.
All right, yes, let's believe what they tell us yes, let's
believe what they tell us yes, he is in high demand.
It is the Steelers. He is great.
Really OK, I know if that was my coach last night getting waxed
30 to 6, I would want him gone and I know that most Steeler
fans do so I'm not talking to steal their fans, but they want
him gone for a reason because they first they've stagnated and
now they've regressed like the the curve usually I mean again,
do I think that this is going to really happen with The Jets?
No, but at least like it with Aaron.
Let's say if they win six or seven games next year, they're
going to get some better players, obviously draft picks,
75,000,000 bucks in free agent money.
So The Jets talent base, which is a 0 right, especially when
they made the trades with saucy Q0.
Let's say that they go from three wins to like 6 or 7.
That's a little bump up there you go and then you know, maybe
you really find the quarterback and then seven becomes 9 or 10
and now you're a wild card team and then eventually you either
crack through or you don't. Well, to me, like that's the
model that I like. No, again, not the way it
started with Aaron. I'm just using them as as a
template here. What I don't like is to start
here, literally start at the top of the mountain and every year
you get a little lower, little lower, little more to the base
of the mountain, little further away from the apex of the
mountain, which is what's happened with Tomlin, which is
what's happening with, or what happened with Horbaugh in
Baltimore. So you guys could ignore it.
I get it. I don't even think Tomlin's
going to be gone. If I own the Steelers, he'd be
gone now. They are averse to change.
I don't know if they don't want to deal with it.
I, I, I don't know what their situation is like.
Stability is a really good thing and consistency is a really good
thing when you're accomplishing stuff.
You know, like that's that's the rub there.
Like the the best trait of a coach cannot just be well, yeah,
we don't, we don't really, we don't, we don't implode, you
know, and we're consistently competitive.
That's good for a young coach. That's good for a coach just
kind of figuring things out. That's no longer acceptable for
a coach of the Steelers or of the Ravens or I guess from the
Packers point of view a couple of years back, McCarthy or even
Dallas, which is a totally different.
Different monster in terms of some dysfunction with Jerry.
So I you know, I that was embarrassing less an awful game
to watch almost every game this weekend was great.
That was horrendous. I feel bad for Aaron a little
bit. Yeah.
He just just doesn't have it. You know, he's got to retire.
I mean, how many times did you watch the Steelers game?
And this has to fall on the head coach.
I know he's he's not the OC. That's Arthur Smith.
But you know, how many times can you watch the Steelers game and
they always have prime time, you know, 4:00, you know, big games,
whatever. Sunday night, we watch them a
lot. Even if you're just a Jet and a
giant guy or Jet or giant guy and you just consumed locally,
you know, the teams that you tend to see on a regular basis,
right? And I mean, out of the division,
you see a lot of the Niners. You know, if you're a Jets guy
or Bills guy and your team's not playing, you see a lot of
Dallas. You know, back in the day, used
to see a lot of Marino in Miami like you.
You know who you see a lot of Packers, right?
If you're in the AFC or Chiefs, fam, you see the Packers quite a
bit. And every time that I watch the
Steelers, they got no points in the first quarter.
Zero. You saw the stat last night.
I forget what it was, but it was incredibly incriminating about
how often the Steelers have had scores, you know, scored no
points in the first quarter. Like they they just can't score.
They can't move the ball. It's an antiquated philosophy.
And they wasted a year because Rodgers was never going to win a
championship there. That was their Hail Mary.
It didn't work. And now you should really RIP it
off. And I don't think that they
will. But I just find it incredibly
funny slash annoying how Tomlin is elevated and Aaron Boone,
who's been here nine years less, you know, 9 fewer seasons than
Tomlin's been in Pittsburgh and Aaron Boone gets crushed.
It's just not consistent, guys. It's really not.
Then you got the whole national media telling me, oh, Mike
Tomlin's a superstore. But based on what I'm asking,
like I'm, I'm really, let's, let's recreate the packaging
here as we, as we take, as we take Mike Tomlin and we put him
in a box and we wrap him up the assembly line of coaches and we
spit him out. Is Mike Tomlin really like, you
know, whether it's the Cadillac or the, or Ferrari or
Lamborghini of cars really, is he really that or is he just a
good car that's got good value, that looks pretty good, but
doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the $200,000 car?
Because that's that, that's how I perceive him.
He's not a savior, so it's nuts. All right, let me see a couple
of questions here. Let's see what's popping up.
All right, Yeah, I'm going to get some Yankee stuff there for
sure. A lot of people enthuse that
we're back. Thank God.
I I couldn't take, you know, I I when I tell you that I was
basically refreshing that thing almost every hour.
I'm like, we back up. Nope.
Live stream disabled. Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope.
Here we go. All right, what is this year?
You know, that's the thing I get a lot of.
Thank you. Thank you, BT for having a
YouTube channel. I can now watch and listen live
in SoCal at Ren AUTW. Yeah, I appreciate that.
Listen, obviously this is going to be a lot of local content,
but clearly with football, football, there's always, always
year round draft stuff and coaching stuff and playoff
games, no doubt. But yeah, I mean, you guys could
check in from anywhere. I absolutely love that ability
to have no boundaries and do all that stuff.
It is great to got a question on the Johnnies here.
I'm just going to fire some stuff in at Carrie Potatarolo, I
believe 2039. What the what the believe's
going on with the Johnnies? Well, I, I think that was
probably a better question, quite frankly, maybe a week or
two ago. See what's happened here is that
St. John's, I'm going to spend a lot
of time on this. I'll do a little more tomorrow
because they are playing tonight and I'll be doing the game with
Mink over at the over at the Garden against Marquette.
Who's awful? Johnny's 15 1/2 point favorites.
That's the biggest, that's the largest spread.
I, I think I read last night, I forget who had it, maybe Zach.
Somebody tweeted this out. The biggest spread St.
John's has ever had being favored against Marquette since
Marquette joined the Big East years ago was like, I want to
say 9 1/2. It's 15 1/2 now.
I don't know if they cover. I do the game, so I don't get
into that. But I'll tell you, Marquette is
is absolutely awful. And I was looking at some of the
numbers and I don't want to bore everybody.
It's here here. But you know, I love my numbers
after St. John's had a week that they had
to have like if this past week didn't go well, St.
John's will be in real trouble because they're pretty much
right now in that 8-9 game, which is not a place that you
want to be because if you win, you got to face the one seed.
But there's there's some upward mobility now because that
back-to-back quad one Rd. wins. So you should handle Marquette.
You should smoke them win by double figures.
And then he got a tough one down in Philly on Saturday against
the Villanova team that I, you know, I don't, I still don't
know exactly who they are. But to be fair, I still don't
really know who St. John's is.
I think maybe the more directly answer that question again,
metrically, St. John's has stabilized it's
season. There's no doubt they're top 30
in that ranking. They're in good shape with the
numbers now. But the the biggest issue for me
was I didn't really see an identity with St.
John's at all. Starting to see a little bit 1A1
that's a little bit born out of defensive intended intensity
now, which which is obviously a really good thing here.
Let's see here a little football here a little bit this Michael
Baker 73 O 8 ABT. How is it possible The Jets can
be some I mean, how long do I have on this be so bad
consistency for so long. The only consistency is Woody.
Any thoughts? Well, yeah, I mean, of course,
I've got a lot of thoughts on this.
I mean, here's the problem. It's not just Woody.
I mean because the Woody always owned The Jets.
The The Jets were 3 and 13 and 1 and 15 before Parcells came to
save them. Thank God in 97 and Woody
Johnson didn't own the team he came in late 90's.
The Belichick stuff and all that nonsense.
But I mean, it hasn't been good with Woody, that's for sure.
I don't think Woody Johnson's good owner at all.
Matter of fact, I think he's a horrible owner.
I think he's a detriment to the growth of The Jets.
I've always said that it's not personal.
I met him once. He's a really nice guy, very
affable, very approachable, very, very cordial, very, you
know, didn't seem, you know, like he was talking down to
people for somebody who's worth billions, which which he
appreciate. It just came across as a regular
guy, even though he was wearing the sauce chain, which was
ridiculous. I met him before the jet giant
game couple Rogers his first game and when John went Bob.
Remember when Rogers threw that awesome pass to Garrett?
He only played the one series. Somebody late hit him on the
giants. I forget who was, and he threw
that great pass to Garrett at the pylon.
I'm like here we go. I mean, but listen, Woody is
what it what he is. And there's always going to be a
correlation guys, to I don't mean a bad season or a bad
situation or a rough patch where you kind of rebuilding like the
Astros did years ago. But when you have inept
ownership, that's not going to go away until the owner goes
away. And no matter how, and I don't
even waste energy on it anymore, because all the ranting, all the
raving, all the screaming, all the calls, all the tweets, all
the text, all the Super chats, whatever you want to do, it's
not going to change anything. You know, I do think that there
is a point where if we're allowed enough with certain
things, I I do think teams hear that, you know, it goes back to
and and who knows the depth of the truth.
I kind of believe it more than not.
I think I think Steve Phillips, if if I'm, if I'm out off on
this, I don't want to be unfair to Steve, who I like.
I think Steve refuted this. But let's face it, Mike and
Chris largely get credit for, you know, facilitating the Mets
getting off their behinds and get Mike Piazza.
And when you're that loud, especially back then when there
was only WFAN and, you know, you're hammered it day in and
day out, well, that's there's going to be some repercussions.
You would think it's going to be some reaction, much like I'll
give you a more recent example, probably a better one.
And I think Cohen's a good owner, though he's yet to prove
he's great. And we're getting to the point
now where we're going to find out a little bit more about
Steve Cohen. But last year at Amazing Day, I
don't think the Mets had any intention of signing Pete
Alonzo. We've talked about this and they
were feeling good about themselves.
Soto was here as they should coming off a really good year,
you know, 89 wins, but a real riveting run.
Almost got to the World Series. Vientos was hitting, Manaya was
great. Like the vibes were pretty good
with the Mets, right? And then all of a sudden amazing
day comes and you guys let ownership know and Sterns know
you better bring this guy back. And, and I believe that that was
the impetus to Pete Alonzo getting that extension.
I really do. I can't prove it, but I've
always thought that. So that is having an owner react
to something that you are demanding over and over and
over. And the louder and more
aggressive we get, sometimes it does hit the mark and sometimes
they do respond to that. But Woody ain't selling the
team. Would you?
I mean, honestly, would you sell The Jets?
Why? Why would you sell The Jets?
Why would you? Why would you willingly unless
you were hemorrhaging money somewhere else, you know like
the Wilpons and they had to they had to resolve that situation as
best as they could with the Madoff situation, unless you
were hemorrhaging money. Why would you leave the NFL now
the way the NF LS being built with all the streaming?
Hey, watch the game on prime. No, it's on Amazon.
No, it's on Peacock. No, it's on I don't know.
I don't know where is the game? I don't know.
But wherever the game is, they are getting, they are getting a
lot of money. So to willingly leave the NFL
game and all the money and all the juice and all the cachet
that that presents, what what? He's not going to do that.
And so I don't really waste a whole lot of energy yelling
about Woody. I will merely look into the
camera and state that I think he's a horrendous owner and I
wish that he didn't own The Jets.
I think he's he is a massive detriment to the health and the
growth of the New York Jets, but he's the boss.
We're not nothing you can do about it.
Nothing you can do about it. All right, so let me throw a
little hot stove up here for you.
All right, let's get those those tweets and those texts coming in
here. So the latest update, All right,
the latest update is Belly Heyman.
Heyman's been doing good work with this.
All right, so this was about an hour and a half a little bit
last night. I know Jack Curry had some stuff
on the Yankees hot stove. So the Yankees and and the
according to John, the Yankees and Boris will continue to talk.
Obviously, we know there's a gap in years Boris won seven.
Get a clue. You're not getting it, at least
not from the Yankees. I don't think you get it from
anybody. You sure as hell I'm not getting
it from them. I wouldn't give you 7.
I don't even want to give you 6, quite frankly.
But so the Yankees are basically trying to enhance the appeal of
what they've already offered 5160 ish 5165 somewhere in the
in the in the neighborhood of that with opt outs.
All right, with a pretty substantial signing bonus and no
deferrals. Now let's just cut the nut here
because you know, Boris isn't going to flinch to the point
where the Yankees make out like bandits here.
They're going to have to concede a little bit.
And if Bellinger wants to be a Yankee, well then Bellinger is
going to have to concede a little bit.
If not, he's not going to be on the Yankees.
So to me, here's the very brief thumbnail sketch.
Seven years, no chance in hell not happening.
Yankees won five. I would love Bellinger on five
years. I've told you that I don't, you
know, if if you have to go to a six, I would really now it's too
late because it looks like Tucker.
I know the Mets are, you know, on at least on a cursory level
involved with Tucker. I think Tucker's going to
Toronto. I really still think that that's
going to happen. And obviously Bregman's off the
market. So the options are dwindling
here. So of course, Nico Harder
Horner, things we talked about yesterday, There's always trades
to be made. Jazz started pitching whatever.
Stephen Kwan. But in terms of free agents,
right? And many of those moves that
just mentioned are very appealing to me.
Free agency, the the list is dwindling.
So the Yankees now it's and I think Michette's going to be in
Philly, unfortunately, because that's the guy that I really
want even more than Bellinger. We're going to find out.
We're going to find out if this guy wants to be a Yankee.
It looked like he loved playing here.
He fit well, great, you know, great chemistry with Judge, low
maintenance guy, high production, you know, but the
Yankees, Yankees are in are in a rough spot that they've created
themselves, of course. And the rough spot is this, the
Yankees roster right now, as of this moment, not a playoff team,
Yanks not going to the playoffs right now.
The East has gotten so much better.
And you know this and we've talked about this, right?
So with Rodano on the shelf, with Cole on the shelf, there's
a good chance Yankees really sputter out of the chute.
And the only way that I think you can work around that is to
have an abundance of offense, which at this point, the Yankees
outside of Judge and no Bellinger yet, they've got a
dearth of offense, the exact opposite.
So the model that I would build what what I would do and I'm on
the record here. If Bellinger wants the five
years, then I'm I'm happy. Like at that point, all right,
you, you deserve five years, even though there's been wild
fluctuations in his performance, as we know some really bad
years. Last year was good, Cubs was
good, like Dodgers was great. Then head scratchingly awful
where he hit 190 whatever. You know, you don't just give
seven years to a guy who's been like this, you know, like the
stock market on any given week. That's not the kind of guy
that's getting that kind of guaranteed bank that length.
Tucker's little bit younger. Better.
All right, that's one thing. Bichette younger, even his
numbers offensively better. OK, that's different.
You know, obviously Soto different monster year ago.
Five years, though, I wouldn't say I'm enthralled with it
because I still need more. Otherwise you just merely what
you were a year ago, but five years I will be able to say all
right, Boris stretched his thin you know kicked us in the kicked
us in the stones a few times made us flinch.
All right, here, a little more signing bonus.
All right, no deferred money. Like Boris is going to get more
what he wants then then not, you know what I mean?
So I think of any of if the concessions are made, it's going
to have to come from the Yankees more so So, and I think that
they'll make those concessions to a point.
And I do think he'll be a Yankee.
And I do think Bichette's going to the Phillies.
And I do think that Tucker, even though the Mets are engaged, I
don't think he's going to the Mets.
I don't think it's a great fit for the Mets.
I just I don't even love Tucker. Like I like him.
Of all the guys, I think I'd rather have Bichette.
It's crazy, you know, and not just because he's righty either.
Like there's there's there's this is a weird free agent crop
and there's other avenues like for the Mets and Yankees.
Perot, they're pitching Cabrera. Yankees elected not to give up
what what they gave, what the Cubs gave up, which is
ridiculous. I I thought they gave up way too
much there. But so he can only imagine what
school bulls going to command when he hits the open market.
I I just think that each one of these players, these prominent
free agents, it's not as cut and dried and even 1 soda like 1415,
like that's just, that's lunacy. Now the Mets have it built in
where if he opts out, they could throw in, I think it's four or
five, four or five. I think it's 4 four more,
$1,000,000 where that he can't leave now you can't leave.
And kind of like Derek Cole with the Yankees right now.
The Yankees handled it differently.
And I like the way the Yankees handle that.
They thought they had them by the short ones.
They're like, Nah, we're good. You want to go, you could go
because we're we're not going to be held prisoner to our previous
mistakes. Where, where is this group?
Unlike Soto, who's a great player, a great hitter,
Bellinger little bit up and down and you know, the rumbling on
somebody like, you know, Bichette and and it's not even
rumbling. It's true.
Not a good shortstop. So if you're if you're paying,
it's actually a horrible shortstop.
If you're paying that kind of money, are you going to pay that
kind of money for somebody who's ultimately playing second base?
I still would. So I think he's a gamer.
I think he's a great hitter. What what was the stat that I
saw on Bichette? I saw it very quickly, actually.
I found that, God, I saw it right when I found out that
YouTube that the stream was back.
So we can only imagine what I was juggling here.
So I glanced at it very quickly, but it was something along the
lines of there was one player in baseball that had a batting
average over 300 on fastballs, curveballs and change UPS that
would obviously, you know, the the splitter or this or the
slider. Like there's still a few
pitches, obviously, because it's only three pitches, but I think
that's what it was at least the fastball and and two others.
Like he's going to hit every kind of pitch.
And if you look at a spray chart, he's going to hit the
right field as well, which will obviously be very beneficial in
Yankee Stadium. But it's just like you, you can
talk yourself into loving these guys like, oh, man, Tucker, when
he's healthy, Tucker's an MVP candidate And, and he is, but
the knock on him is, does he like a big market?
Does he love baseball? I, I don't know, I don't have
those answers, but that would prevent me from giving him the 9
or 10 years that a lot of people thought he was going to get when
Soto got his big deal for the Mets.
That's obviously changed now. You know, Toronto's been
throwing around a lot of money. They got deep pockets, the
Rogers group up there, top three in terms of affluence.
You know, I maybe they do go nine years to hammer at home and
get that championship. And, and, and I, I actually said
this the other day, I look at Toronto and I feel like Toronto
is trying to establish a brand kind of like the Yankees and the
Dodgers and like the Maple Leafs when the Maple Leafs are good,
but like that branding that like they're not just happy to it's
clear love when they, they beat the crap out of the Yankees last
year. They smashed them.
So they're better than the Yankees.
And what they've done this year has made them much better than
the Yankees to the Yankees actually do something.
But there was a point like we're certainly Baltimore and, and,
and the Rays, even though the Rays operate very differently
out of necessity based on the lack of financial wherewithal.
But you know, a couple times Toronto again, let's try to
compete, kind of mess around, get a wild court, try to be a
little competitive, spend a little bit of money, but nobody
really wanted to go there. Now it's no, no, we're not,
we're not looking to swim next to the Yankees.
We're looking to lap the Yankees and Toronto's operating with
this urgency, quite frankly, that I wish the Yankees still
operated with, with which they don't, which is madding and
something that we've railed about forever.
And there's really nothing else to say until they start doing
things just a little differently.
So, you know, it's it's started to I had a tweet on Sunday
night. I just feel like this is going
to be the week where we're going to get some real clarity on the
Hot Stove report. And, and I think when it's all
said and done, excuse me, I think that I do think that
Bichette, I mean, I think that's almost a lock.
He's going to Philly. I think Tucker's going up north.
I do think that Bellinger comes here.
I, I, I do think that Bellinger stays with the Yankees.
And if the Yankees really play hardball because the Mets are
in, I don't know how in on Tucker, but they're in enough
where you'd have to think that if Tucker goes to Toronto and
the Yankees push Boris and Bellinger in an in an
uncomfortable position, I don't think that it's inconceivable
that the Mets swoop in maybe 10. Maybe they'll be amenable to the
extra year. You know, maybe they'll do
something that that that the Yankees just are willing to do.
I don't know the answer to that. We shall see.
What's this all about here? Danny Landis 8487 Good morning,
Brandon. Glad to see you here.
Great to see you. I always listen.
Many years at 1050 spoke to you once on the radio back when
LeBron was making his decisions. Yeah.
Why? So listen, you've been with me
for a long time. I appreciate that.
Thank you very much. Dandy.
That's awesome, dude. I I'll tell you a funny story.
So I was at 10:50 when the the LeBron stuff was going down.
And I remember why was I in The Newsroom?
I think I was getting ready to do my night show.
And was it Michael's show, baby? I guess it was Kay.
Yeah, because it was after Wilding the key.
Who was? I guess Michael and Don were
there I think a while ago. Anyway, I'm getting ready to do
my show and somebody calls The Newsroom and they asked for me
and pick up the phone and somebody and I get a tip that
LeBron, this is the night of the decision that LeBron James is
going to make the announcement in Connecticut at the Boys and
Girls Club. Now, what would you think is
coming? Like if you're going to go to
Connecticut and make that announcement, do you think he's
going to go to Miami? Do you think he's going to go to
the Lakers? Like geographically it doesn't
make any sense. I mean, you could have come to
New York or New Jersey, sure. But I actually thought for a
minute, like more than a hot minute, I'm like, he's coming.
He's coming. And of course he didn't.
And you know, I'm, by the way, LeBron I'm, I'm on my last nerve
with LeBron. I'm so over LeBron James.
I don't enjoy watching him play anymore.
And I'm not trying to come across as a hater.
I'm just over him. Like LeBron, like the thing
about and that's why I love Steph Curry.
So I love Jalen Bronson, so I love Giannis, so I loved Kobe,
so I loved Patrick. Not all on the same level,
obviously, but like LeBron James, the way he elevates
himself is such a turn off. It's such a turn off the way he
views himself and the rules within the team.
And it's funny, he's thought to be really because of how he
passes and his willingness to get others involved and and
listen, that's one of his brilliant basketball trade
series, obviously. But I think that he's for many
years he was thought to be this incredibly unselfish team first
guy. Last couple of years, you think
that narrative changed a little bit.
I do. It has.
So the moment LeBron James retires, I'm not going to miss
him one second. Now when Steph hangs him up, I'm
going to watch. I'm going to miss watching Steph
Curry play basketball. I'm not going to miss watching
LeBron. I don't know why.
I mean, it's a personality thing a little bit, but it's also, you
know, I don't listen. It stands back to a few things
here, but first and foremost, you know, jumping around and,
you know, chasing championships and it just, you know, that's
imagine if Patrick Ewing was able to do that.
Like imagine if that generation think about, and I'm not saying
Patrick's anywhere near Lebron's leg.
He's not. I mean, Lebron's top three, top
4, some some of you, he's number one and then that's fine.
Like that's obviously very subjective to me.
It's always Jordan no matter what happens the rest of my
life, there was nobody, nobody who's going to supplant Michael
Jordan 1 forever GOAT. And then, you know, obviously I
do some people now throw Kobe number two or three.
I think that's a little of an unfair elevation.
And I love Kobe Bryant, top ten, top 7, yet I don't think he's #2
I think for me, you probably start to look in the
neighborhood. You got to throw a little magic
in there, a little bird, a little wilt.
Certainly Kareem. Kareem's the guy who gets the
most overlooked, I think of anybody, like in the history of
sports. I mean, think about the names
that you throw out there before you act.
I even just did it unknowingly. And I'm one who defends Kareem's
legacy, right? Like Jordan, LeBron, Kobe,
Magic, Bird, Oscar Robertson, Will Chamberlain, just throw
man. Tim Duncan, Shaq.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kareem.
I mean, amazing.
But imagine if those guys now he was traded from the Bucks to the
Lakers. That's different.
But imagine, like if Patrick had the ability and I wouldn't have
even wanted this now. Yeah, it would have been nice
having a championship, but what fun.
I don't know. Maybe it's easy for me to say
this now, but I really believe that I would.
I would feel this way in real time, too.
I don't think I'm recreating like an energy or an emotion to
match this conversation. I really believe that if Ewing
or Jordan paired up with Patrick and came here because I ain't
rooting for the Bulls, no matter how much I love Patrick, if you
go there, you're the enemy, then, like, all right, wow,
Jordan and Ewing won. Like, to me, the appeal of those
Knick teams was just how steep that mountain was and just how
committed Patrick was to the cause.
And, you know, I I think that there's valor in in coming up
short the way he did. And there's grace, you know,
even with a missed finger roll, even with some missed, you know,
free throws, even with Scottie Pippen yoking on you a few times
and whatever else happened along the way.
So it is crazy. But yeah, I mean, that I was
just reacting to that, that text there about the LeBron stuff
with the with the call in the in the control room.
I mean, now, if you would have gone to the Knicks that night,
I'm I'm sure I would have loved them.
But he's just too many things outside of basketball that
rubbed me the wrong way. That's not a big LeBron James
fan. That's all there is to it.
How about this year? Let's get let's see.
All right, how about the Charlie F6675 MLB much different than
NFL BT much harder to be success successful in the NFL in my
opinion. Alright, so Charles, this goes
back to and and I appreciate you popping in with that.
This goes back to what chart what I was saying before about
like the Tomlin stuff and the Boone stuff.
And I'm not even saying that they are exactly on like the
same exact here, but I am referencing enough numbers where
it's not, it's not unfair to have that conversation or at
least create that template where, you know, I think Boone
is unfairly judged and and downgraded.
And I think that somebody like Mike Tomlin is unfairly
elevated. Like I, I don't, I don't
understand how many more home losses do you need to see before
you realize, damn it, dude, I don't know, maybe this guy's not
that good or maybe he's just good and not great, or maybe
he's just good and not really good.
Like there's no shame in being good and there's no shame in
being being really good. But like the reverence and I
know a lot of it's poured out of his personality, which I love
Mike Tomlinson, no nonsense, no BS.
He is an ass kicker and I love that kind of guy, especially in
football. And massive respect for Mike.
And by the way, pertaining to the last text there, let me let
me think about is it really truly easier to win in baseball
than it is in the NFL? Well, the finances would tell
you no. Do the Pirates have a chance to
win anything this year? Really?
Do they? We know the answer.
Do the Rockies have a chance to win anything this year?
But here we are, the Jaguars in the playoffs again, the Buffalo
Bills still playing, who beat the Jaguars in one of the
smaller markets in the NFLI. Mean, you know, it's not just
the New York Jets, the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears, you
know, the the LA Rams, the LA Chargers, the New England,
Boston Area Patriots. Some of those teams are there,
obviously, but there is there is no in baseball, you are base
basically comes down to this. In baseball, you either have
hope or you have none. Like really it's that bottom
line. That's why in 2027 we're looking
at a brutal work stoppage and upcoming labor strife, which is
going to be pure hell. If you love baseball like I do
and you love watching baseball every night, bouncing around
Yanks, Mets, Yanks, Mets, Yanks Mets MLB Network live look
insurance like quick pitch in the morning.
If you love the game the way I truly do, I mean, 2027 is going
to be brutal for a lot of us. So I don't think that that's
fair. I don't think that that's
accurate and I just gave you a couple of reasons as to why.
Whereas in the NFL because of the all this like the the salary
cap, you know, you can put yourself in a position and
because of the league resources that are spread out and it's not
like all right, on the I cap, I could be woefully off.
I'll just throw a number out. The Yankees are making this
might be nowhere near it, $50 million from yes.
And the Twins are making 4.1 from whatever regional network
they're on, like right there. That's basically if if, if
that's probably not those exact numbers.
But I do think the disparity is fairly close, right?
You tell me the Yankees and the Mets on SNY are making money
hand over fist. Yes, the Mets get Sodo, pump up
the ad rates. You know, the Yankees always win
90 something games, always a threat to get to the World
Series, pump up the ad rates, you know, and then if you add a
Japanese player into the equation, you know, like the
Mets did with Sanga a couple of years ago, that's an infusion of
international dollars. The Yankees have done that with
a Rabu. They've done that with Tanaka.
Now they've done that with a few.
So I don't agree. I I really don't like would it
stun you? Now, let me preface it with this
because yes, the the short answer is yes, as I answer my
own question before I even tell you what the question is, the
answer is yes. Like I was going to say, would
it stun you if The Jets are good next year?
Yes, it would because they're The Jets.
But forget about that and divorce yourself from the
torture of actually being a Jets fan pertaining to the business
of the NFL. And you know, I know the
Patriots have Rabel and a real quarterback.
So 4 and 13 to 13 and 4. That's not a a a course that's
going to be charted next year by The Jets.
I can promise you that. But with $75 million in free
agent money, right, with two first round picks, maybe more if
they trade out of two and somebody wants Dante more.
If they don't, they get more first round picks, not to
mention what they have next year.
Would it stunt anybody if the if The Jets in the year it really
maybe more specifically in two or you know, I'm eleven and six
and and and playing a playoff game like it wouldn't stun me
would have stunned me next year if the Rockies won 93 games,
Hell yeah, I got no chance none. So that's the difference.
So I actually don't agree with that.
I really don't what else we got here?
A lot of YouTube stuff. A lot of YouTube's the good in
the tube. You're you're good.
No, you're good. You're good.
We see you pal. Alright, so this was a little
bit earlier. There you go.
Yeah, you good on YouTube there. I took my wife 20 seconds to
give you the answer here. Let's see, what is this here?
I find Brandon more likeable, more likeable and engaging in
this format versus the fan. Ralph Laurino.
I, I, it's, it's a little Scrabble there.
I think that that's what you mean.
Well, listen, I, I, I mean, this is, this is me.
I mean, this is this, I think this is who I was on the fan.
The difference is that, you know, when you're sharing a
studio with somebody, it's 5050, it's a partnership.
And it's also just a different, it's a different flow to the
format, you know, but I appreciate that.
Thank you very much. And I think the U2 model is
going to be great for us. I think it's going to be
awesome. We're talking to a lot of
sponsors. We got a couple things cooking.
I had somebody over and I know, trust me, I'm getting tired of
telling you about this, but it's coming.
If you're new, I'll give you a quick little synopsis here.
So I had somebody come on Saturday, measure the walls,
right. We've got the logo, which is
going to be sweet. I cannot wait for you guys to
see this logo when it's behind me and it's, you know,
professionally plastered onto the wall.
See if I can find it real quick. It's just going to look really
good and it's going to pop and you know, get the deeper that we
get into this guy's, the more that I'm going to be able to do
and the more fun it's going to be.
And then obviously then this is something that in this there
here you go. So that it's going to look like
that behind me. All right, right behind me.
Obviously the unleashed will be above my head, kind of where the
half the Yankee jersey is up there.
And then obviously, you know now and and and we are still
interviewing producers and hopefully we have one who I know
and who I like. We just got to, you know, get
the business down and see if that works out for him and for
us. And then once we do that, now we
can start doing the guests and now I can start pumping people
in. And then as I told you a few
times, we have the number, we bought a phone number.
So with the producer, the, and that's, that's down the road a
little bit more than the guests and everything else.
And not to mention like, and I, I appreciate a lot of you guys
saying this, I really do. But you don't think that I know
that the thumbnails that I myself am creating with no AI
background at all are they're like the resolutions, not
perfect. You don't think that I of course
I know that. I appreciate you guys said it
doesn't matter. Like content is king.
And I definitely agree with that.
You could have the sickest studio and have no personality
and you got nothing. And you know, so I would much
rather be able to come out here and do what I do and do what we
do together and kind of build things out as we get a little
deeper into the show. It's not even a month.
I mean, been doing this for a couple of weeks here.
So I would now the YouTube snag definitely hurt the the sub
growth, but we're almost at 14,000.
I fully anticipate by the end of the month, you know, going into
February, we're 20 large strong. And then once we get to baseball
and spring training and really the Yanks of the Mets cooking
Nick playoffs, like this thing's going to be humming.
And and I've got, you know, really, really, really big plans
for this. It's I can't tell you, man.
All I could be is incredibly transparent and tell you how
daunting it is to try something like this and something new.
It's it's not easy, but it's exciting and it's really, really
fun. I'm having a blast doing this
year. What else?
What else do I have for you? In the notes here, hit you
listen to Chris Maher stuff that's pretty basic.
Had the lunch at Hall Balls on Sunday.
I do think he's going to be coach at the Giants.
The Giants there was a little bit of a misreporting Matt
Mattie Ryan made a little bit may have made a little tactical
mistake. Little overly.
I love Matt little overly ambitious, you know, just
walking about how he connected with horribaugh first.
I don't know if Horribaugh's team loved that.
Either way, I do think the Falcons are a threat for
Horribaugh. I, I don't know if we'll have
the answer this week, but I do think that when you look big
picture here, all the things we've been hitting now for a
couple of days, I do think I would be stunned by Sunday
night. I would have to think that two
of the three big free agents are signed.
And again, my prediction would be Bichette going to Philly,
Tucker going to Toronto. Bellins are staying here five
years with a favorable opt out for him, maybe five years with a
bigger bonus than they want to do, maybe five years with no
deferrals, which the Boris camp does not want for in this
situation. Maybe maybe even a concession
for year number six, which I'd be OK with.
But like, think about this. So I do think that's going to be
done fairly soon with those 3 baseball players.
And then, you know, obviously you want to see where Peralta
goes. I think the Mets will be very
involved in that and the Yankees.
But I think the Mets have more to offer.
I think, not to mention Stearns's relationship with the
Brewers. They want a a starting pitcher
that's ready now. They look at Louis Hill when
Louis was a rookie and they want him more than like a sprout or a
tongue because you're not getting McClain.
That's just, that's just ludicrous.
There's no way I'm giving him up for a rental and the Mets
wouldn't be that dumb. Well, then maybe, maybe there is
a deal to be struck with. I still feel like Peralta is
going to be a Met. I know that the Yankees are
active in the starting pitching market.
I I just don't feel like it's going to really work out that
way with Peralta. But then once you get Bellinger,
like guys, or if you get Bellinger, like where are we?
You know, we still have a lot of situations here where it's a
little problematic in the sense that you've got, you know, a
young first baseman who's a good hitter who's got to prove he can
handle first base, A second baseman that, as I've told you
many times, I think the Yankees are motivated to trade, even
though he's talented. A shortstop situation, which is
a mess right now in terms of Caballero, you know, really not
being a start and shortstop. He's more of a, you know, bounce
around super sub kind of guy. And Volpe, who is a a disaster
and has everything to prove. This has to be the last year for
Volpe getting a long leash. You can't justify it anymore.
The third baseman hits 210 and strikes out 200 times every
year. You know, the catchers got pop,
but he's a low average guy, high strikeouts, left fielder.
Right now it's Dominguez or Jones center fielder.
You know, I'm not a big Grisham fan.
You know, I still got Stanton is the DH and he's going to miss
his 50 games. Like, you know, Cole's hurt,
Rodon's hurt. You don't have much leading up
to the back of the bullpen. That's why would I say before
you get to Ben N. That's why when I say that the
Yankees are not a playoff team right now, they're not like
that's not shock value. Well, let's get the clicks here.
They're not. I don't perceive them to be a
playoff team right now. And even the way the rest of the
division has done business, even if they get Bellinger, I think
they're fighting tooth and nail to be A to be.
And I don't even think they're going to win the division at
that point to be a playoff team. Now, that doesn't scare me quite
as much. Number 1, he could always do
something to the deadline. So could the other teams.
But that's one thing. But I also do think provided the
Yankees don't drown early in the season, I think, and this is
this is actually a good thing about the Yankees.
I know we rail, you know, it's negativity after negativity.
This could be. And they're banking on this to
an extent, but they got to be careful where everybody comes
back. Everybody's healthy.
And I don't mean right away whenever they hit their rhythm.
Cole remembers that he's Garrett Cole and the arm is good and he
trust his elbow and he's back to being Garrett Cole, which I
think he will be at some point this year.
You are going to end through a post season with a 12.
And, you know, really, I mean, if you want to get really nuts
and and be really positive at least for once with the Yankees.
How's this rotation sound? And no order?
Well, no. I'll even give you an order.
I'll go Garrett Cole one. I'll go Max free two, I'll go
Peralta 3. Again, this is optimal.
Optimally speaking, I'll go Schlittler 4, then I'll go rule
Don 5. Or if you want to go rule Don 4,
you know, show them a little more respect or even Peralta
four and rule Don 3. Whatever you could adjust after
the postseason. Think about that rotation and
then Will Warren can go to the pen.
You know, Yarborough is going to get some starts early.
All right, whatever. He can go to the bullpen now.
That's I think that that's the Yankees vision.
That's why they're actively looking for a starting pitcher,
not because they need a starting and a good one.
Hopefully they don't need a starting pitcher necessarily for
the entire season. They just need a capable arm to
make sure they don't get destroyed in April and May with
with what could be a fairly lackluster offense and a
rotation that is average and really not giving you a lot of
length between a Warren and the Yarborough early on.
So, you know, and even Schlitter, who I think is going
to be phenomenal. You know, it's year 2 and you
got to prove that, you know, you made the adjustments in the
league here. You know what else we got?
Let me read a couple of comments.
What time it's 1112. I got to actually jump on a call
today with Sal and my guy touch. We got to put the final script
together for the BT and Sal live show, which is coming up the
22nd. So it's next week.
That man, I I tell you, time is flying.
I remember when we first threw that together and my objective
was to try to get it thrown together before I, I stopped
full time at the fans so I could, I could at least tell you
guys what's going on. And I mean, it's, it's sold
great. There's still like four or five
VIP tickets, myconcerts.net, if you guys are interested in that.
But Aaron Boone's coming out and it's going to be me and Sal up
on the stage just kind of kicking it.
BT and Sal live. So we've got to jump on the call
today, just kind of coordinating script things out a little bit
more how we're going to set. I mean, listen, I'm not Rodney
Dangerfield or Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy just going up on a
stage, you know, with no script that just, you know, down with
jokes for an hour and a half. Got to have a little bit of a
plan, although it means Sal, let's be honest.
Do you, do you really need a plan?
Honestly, do you, now that I think about the yeah, we'll have
a little skeleton to operate off of just in terms of more time
restraints in the general direction.
But do you really need a script with us?
Just give us a microphone and just basically get out of the
way and let us roll. I'm, I'm looking forward to
seeing him. I've I've talked to him a lot
via text, obviously, and looking forward to talking to him on the
phone today and then seeing him on Thursday.
And we're hoping, hoping, I don't want to promise him.
We're hoping to be able to stream that.
There's some legalities we've got to deal with either way,
even if we don't, we'll have the the video team and for for that,
we'll have one where they, you know, they capture the whole
thing and then, you know, nice mock up with music and all that
stuff. Now, do you think I now Aaron
Boone's a competitive guy, very competitive if I'm Aaron Boone?
I mean, don't you have to come in and just immediately look to
take me and Sal out in the baseball card game?
Like, don't you? Shouldn't that be of like
prominence in terms of what he's thinking about doing?
Like to me, you know, he came to our house and we greatly
appreciate it on his own dime in his own car coming in from
Connecticut to hang out with a couple of midday guys, which was
awesome. How many times does that happen
at the fan? And he he just shot the breeze
with us for an hour and a half. And as you know, we have a good
relationship with Aaron. But let's also not lose sight of
the scoreboard. Sal One Boonie 0BT1.
Cooney 0 Now the thing that really chaps my ass is the fact
that the other scoreboard that I actually care more about in
terms of the baseball card World Series is Sal 2 and BT Nothing
and and I hate that I lost the I lost the first World Series in
Game 7 and I lost the last one before we were dissolved.
I lost the last one basically in the in the seventh game as well.
And both times I jumped out to a commanding lead and I knew it
because once you do like we were doing 838485, my wheelhouse, you
know, and those 5-6 years difference between me and Sal
age wise, I stopped. I mean, I never stopped watching
baseball, obviously, but collecting cards, I stopped at
that point, you know, I'm not collecting cards in the in the
ninth grade or in the eighth grade.
It's so different now. By the way, check this out.
It's how different it is. So the other night on Saturday,
we had a, a just smaller. As the kids get older, you do
smaller and smaller birthday parties, like when the kids won,
when your, when your child's won and they eat cake for the first
time, You know, got to smear the cake and make a mess of it and
get the professional photographer and all that stuff
that your wife trades you into and you're happy that she does
it, but she does it, not you, right.
So you do that and then like year 2, maybe a little bouncy
house or you know, year three, I don't know, like Daniel Tiger
theme or something like that. I miss, I miss watching that
show with the kids. I love that Daniel Tiger's
neighborhood. And then they start getting a
little bit older. And then like we did one, we did
like a baseball World Series for my daughter.
We did the Wizard of Oz and my wife turned the whole backyard
into the yellow brick rose. Amazing.
But as they get older, because it gets expensive and now you
have more defined friendships, it gets a little smaller, right?
Anyway, Long story short, talking about baseball cards
this Saturday, we had a gentleman come over and for
about an hour, maybe even an hour and a half, he there was I
think 12 or 13 kids where he explained to them, here's how
you grade cards and went through the different sets and the
different types. And like that like a bingo
baseball game. But really, really, really cool.
Right when I tell you that half of the kids, I know them all, I
love them all. Half of these kids who I coach
too, they come in with like these briefcases like they're
going to Wall Street where they get ready to Jack a bank, like
they treat the baseball card and and football by extension, all
the car Marvel Garbage Pail kids.
What was the other one? God, what the hell was the other
one? It was oh, I can't remember it
right now. Pokémon, thank you.
Pokémon. They treat that less Pokémon
now, but they treat this like it's Fort Knox.
They got little codes and they open up their little case and
they got their little grading devices and elements.
I'm like, holy shit. All, all.
All I used to do was flip cards and Fonzie cards and get cards
and hope that I got a Yankee or a Met.
And I was happy. I didn't care if I got Rafael
Santana or Bobby Meacham. I'm like, yeah, I got a New York
play. I got a New York ball player.
Great. It's business, man.
It is. It is wild what it's turned
into, my God. But it's cool.
So we had a good time with that. All right, what's this here?
All right, let me see here at Willie under score 185 what up?
Will, to be fair, I think there's a good amount of people
judging Tomlin accurately. I know plenty of people calling
for a new head coach for a while.
OK, Willie. Now that's different, though.
Let's separate this. So the way the Steeler fans are
processing the recent rain and run of Tomlin, I think is very
different than how other fans of teams that need a coach are
viewing him. Of course.
I mean, you don't think I see the tweets and people out in
Pittsburgh, they can't. Like it's it, that's it.
It's over. Like you got to move on.
You ever won a playoff game in 10 years, You're the head.
Go to the Steelers. Your last, your, your, your last
four games you've lost at home. You scored six points last
night. Like you got booed.
Like enough is enough. Pull the plug, man.
Let the man have a second act somewhere else.
Show them. Tap out mercy time.
Let's go. Steeler fans know that.
I don't think that general NFL fans know that.
So let's say today. Now The Jets would never be so
smart or so bold or so forward thinking would never happen.
But let's say that Harbaugh was not fired or now I'm going to
include the Giants, OK, both of them.
Let's say Harbaugh was not fired by the Ravens and Tomlin.
Today it was announced that That's it.
You know, whether you can trade for more will make it easy for
it. However they wanted to do it.
If you wanted Tomlin, you could get him.
And Tomlin obviously was amenable to change.
He wanted to keep coaching like he said, no TV what he what he
what word did he whatever word to use.
He's basically said he's he's been part of a team since 1980,
which I really respect. But I read that this morning.
I'm like, man, that resonates that I, I get that you've been
playing and you've been coaching since 1980.
I wouldn't want to get on TV set either.
I'd want to keep coaching because you can't play anymore.
But let's say he's available and let's say the Giants hired him
or The Jets hired him. The consensus on the fan New
York radio, obviously with me, more importantly, all the
tweets, all the other interactions, you know, Jets got
their savior, Giants got their savior.
Why? Just because The Jets and the
Giants absolutely suck doesn't mean that you're getting a
savior. It means you're going to get a
leader of men and an elevator for the floor.
But are you really getting somebody who's going to go in to
opposing venues in December or in January now in the playoffs
and win critical games? And, and, and you could say that
he will. And I'm not saying that he
couldn't, but I'm going to lean on a decade of evidence that
tells me he ain't getting it done.
You know what I mean? So I I, I would have to push
back Willie on that, on that text there.
I think Steeler fans understand that it's time and I think that
they have a very real sense of it's over And respectfully,
let's go. But I think the general
consensus put on any pundit on on any TV show, whatever anybody
that is in the market for a head coach.
If the Cardinals got Tomlin, you don't think if the Ravens got
Tomlin, they'd be pumped Maybe a little different because they
they see him all the time. I don't maybe there maybe I take
back the Ravens. But like the Browns got Mike
Tomlin, even though they are the same division.
If the Cardinals got him, if the Giants got him, if The Jets got
him, if any other team that like if the Packers would have fired
Lafleur and he wound up there, OK, If Dallas made a move and
they brought Tomlin in Dallas fans would be fired up.
And I would say, OK, I mean, it's OK to be fired up.
Why? Like, why are you so fired up?
Like, where's the evidence here? Man, it, it really is great. 19
years you got won championship won.
I haven't won a playoff game since 2016, and I thought this
was interesting. I had to do a little digging
this morning in the context of how long ago 2016 was.
Ben McAdoo was coach of the Giants, Derek Fish was coaching
the Knicks, and Yoetta Sespedes was the best player on the Mets
with an OPS of about 860. That's the last time Mike Tomlin
won a playoff game. So I'm not trying to come
sideways at my guy. I've got great respect for my.
How could you not? He is a good dude and he is a
good coach, but let's not stretch it beyond the boundaries
of where it belongs. Good coach.
That's it. What else?
For some giants on online stuff here, How about this guy?
All right, at Robert Huertas? You like how I roll that?
R Huertas. That's a good name to say Dash
S5C, All right, at BT Unleashed. Hey, BT, with regards to The
Jets not getting me those or more, who can they look to as a
stop as a stopgap, stopgap quarterback next year and wait
to 2027 to wait and get the quarterback?
That is a very, very good question, Robert.
Really it is the only big question or at least the biggest
question is a lot of questions, but the biggest by far questions
surrounding The Jets now. I remember when I think Evan was
throwing this around and at first I remember, I don't like
that. I'm not down with that.
But you know, just sitting through another year of Brady
Cook and Fields and Taylor. I mean, if it was, if it was
Kyler Murray, who's at least proven and at least talented,
you know, depending upon what you'd have to get up and what we
have to look at the monies and the dead cap hit Jet still owe
Rogers money. So that's a lot of money and
Fields now a lot of money to the quarterback room that might be
financially untenable even though they got a lot of money.
Jeez, I don't I don't know, man. I mean, you know, as I was
saying what I was hoping was going to happen on Friday and of
course it didn't. You, you hoping Dante Moore
played great. You, you you were hoping that he
was lights out. And the best situation would
have been Dante Moore plays amazing, Mendoza plays OK,
Oregon lose. Oregon wins.
Pardon me, goes and plays Miami in the national championship.
Dante Moore balls out again. Even if they lose now, it's
like, whoa, now it's not a consensus.
We got Mendoza going one. Now the Raiders really have
something to think about. And even, you know, even as a
subset of that, even if The Jets, if more comes out, I think
he's going to if more, if their Jets weren't inclined to take
more. He's young, not a lot of
experience. All the deterrence that we have
pointed out historically, a lot of evidence against those kind
of, you know, track records or resumes for college
quarterbacks, not a lot of success there.
So if The Jets didn't want to do it this year and pumped for next
year, which I'd be OK with. But now Dante Moore bowling for
a couple of games in a row on the national stage, well, now
somebody would have maybe Arizona would have absolutely
been incentivized to jump up to #2 which means The Jets could
have traded out, get their stopgap, whatever.
Even if it's a Kirk Cousins type and just get more first round
picks and just go bonkers. You know, get a big receiver
opposite Garrett Wilson, get a linebacker who can run and hit
and make plays. Get a safety who's going to be a
terror. Get a lockdown corner, you know,
get one more old lineman. So that's that's how I view that
position. I'm a little bit more receptive
to the Murray stuff. Maybe if the money adds up.
But you know, I I'd have to really see and I'd have to see
who else shakes free. I don't think that the I don't
think that Lamar is an option for The Jets.
I don't think the borough's going anywhere.
And at this point, I don't even want Herbert.
Listen, Herbert's the most overrated quarterback in
football, period. That's it.
I mean, three years ago, he's a 27 zip.
They lose, you're the quarterback.
I know there's some defensive breakdowns there as well and
coaching. But if you're the quarterback
and you're up 27 nothing, you know, there's a pretty good
chance if you make that one more throw or play with your legs and
get a first down, tick, tick, tick, tick, and the clock keeps
going, you're going to win the game.
So a lot of that is on you #1 And he was young, so I'll give
him a little bit of growth there.
All right, the next year against the Texans, God, how good is
that Texans defense? My God, you know Denver's
defense is good. We know Texans the best by far
in the NFL. They just hit the shit out of
you. They just crush you.
It's crazy how hard they hit you.
And then the other so and then against the Texans a couple
years ago, he throws 4 picks. And then the other night, you
know, he does absolutely nothing.
He scores 3 points against the Patriots.
So you start to hear, well, maybe The Jets can engage the
charge. I don't want him.
I listen, if he can't get it done out there where nobody
cares, he's going to get it done here with, with a, with a
horrendous franchise, I'll pass. I will absolutely pass on that.
You know, eventually you're going to have to find the
quarterback. But you know, we'll see if we
will or if you will add Brandon Andrey and oh, that's a total
boy. And Skwitz, how about we just
call you Stankiewicz? Andy Stankiewicz, 88 BT happy
that Aaron Rodgers got stomped last night?
No, why would I be happy? No, why would I be happy?
I understand why some people would ask that, or maybe more
specifically, why some people would feel that way.
I don't feel that way at all. Number one, I like Aaron
Rodgers. I'm not afraid to say it.
So a lot of you don't like what he says about the world, tough.
That's his opinion. Deal with it.
You know what I mean? That doesn't mean you have to
agree with it. Clearly different sides,
different opinions. I get it.
And I don't agree with everything that he's espoused.
I I don't but Aaron Rodgers, like for me to root against him
last night and particularly I guess you're alluding to because
he did get I think he got hit nine times and four or five,
like he got hit a lot, man, it was cold.
They were just trying to get the ball out of his hands.
I mean, they had no chance, right?
But why would I root against the guy who willingly came to The
Jets? And really, even though it
didn't work. So it's not about the result,
it's about the intention. I'm going back when it when he
first came here, he he embraced everything about The Jets.
Hey, that one Super Bowl trophy looks pretty lonely and this
before he heard his Achilles and obviously change his entire
there were a couple times last night I thought he could have
run and gotten a first down, but he just doesn't have any.
He's done. He's just not the same athletes
42. It's over, man.
He has to retire. There's nothing left.
Doesn't throw the ball down field, can't run.
But that doesn't mean that he wasn't well-intentioned when he
came here going to nick playoff games, you know, with sauce and
trying to be a leader with the guys.
Remember he took the the old line to was it Hamilton?
I don't know, some Broadway show like he was good for the
culture. You know, he's a stand up guy.
He tried his ass off to come back from a devastating surgery.
Now I don't know in his mind. And it's it's a different
procedure. Like they have that like that
metal. It's different than the
procedure I had like when you rupture your Achilles in the
conventional way, is that the old ways they just reconnected
to the back of the bone because it rolls up like a lampshade to
your calf. And then they've got to
basically pull it back down. They they have the incision,
they go up, they stretch it back down, and then they reconnected
back to the heel. And then that's how it re
establishes itself over time. But they have now where there's
like a reinforcement that was not available when I ruptured
mine years ago, right? I'm also not a quarterback, so I
don't even know if I would have had that.
The point is, because it was a different surgery, maybe he did
think that he could come back and play.
But you know what would have been the easiest thing in the
world for Aaron Rodgers to do? To go back to go to Malibu,
right? You know, whoever he's dating,
whatever's going on, have fun. You know, sit around, have a
little tequila, pop a gummy, do a little rehab.
Yeah, whatever. I got my money.
I'm good. The man was living in the gym
busting his ass and people who say, and there will be people
who say, wow, look at he was making it all about himself
throwing on the field before the game.
Now, if you think that about Aaron Rodgers, then you just are
predisposed to not liking Aaron Rodgers.
And no matter what I say, well, then it's not going to change
your opinion. And I'm not going to try to like
if you love, if you love Trump or hate Trump or love Biden or
hate Biden, Like there's just that line that you'll never
cross no matter what somebody says.
So I'm going to respect that. But I actually interpreted very
differently. I thought by Rodgers doing that,
I thought he was trying to signals to his signal to his
teammates to change the culture of The Jets.
It's not over. If I'm out here in the rain
shuffling around on one ankle, 11 Achilles, one healthy
Achilles, throwing 15 yard lobs here, well then you bet your ass
you can go out and play hard for 60 minutes and get a win.
Like that's how I looked at it, really.
So no, I actually felt badly for Aaron Rodgers last night.
He's a great. I think he's the best pure
quarterback of all time. He's not the best winner,
doesn't have the most records, doesn't have the most Super
Bowls, you know, And there's a little baggage from any of you
that comes with Aaron Rodgers. But if you just look at Aaron
Rodgers in his absolute prime, would have been nice if that
prime was with The Jets. But with the Packers, you find
somebody that had the accuracy, the athleticism, the
intelligence, the intuition, the the pure heat on his fastball.
I mean the touch deep short. There was nothing he couldn't
do. And even though Brady's the
GOAT, Brady couldn't move. And Brady had some deficiencies
in Montana. You know what, four and oh, in
the Super Bowl, small, not a great athlete, didn't ever rock
it. More on West Coast timing.
Not to knock Joe, just to tell you that's how great Aaron
Rodgers was. So, you know, when somebody like
that can keep playing, I like watching them play.
But it's pretty obviously it's obvious he's at the end of the
road. He's done.
And there's no need to downgrade him or denigrate him.
I think he's amazing. And I, you know, I really wish
it would have worked out here. What is like this here?
I defend the what I don't even. That's not very coherent.
Otherwise I would do it. I would read that here Yeah.
I mean, this is kind of along the lines why I think what I'm
saying here at Michael Mara Dash V9G.
Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it.
Felt felt bad for Rogers guy wanted to come here.
Yeah. Gave it his all suffered a
severe career ending injury. Still wanted to play for them.
I'm totally with you. I I agree.
Just so I don't I don't really understand.
Thank you for that. I don't understand.
Here we go. I got a volley back and forth.
You should see the tennis match I'm playing hitting these
buttons myself. I actually figured it out.
I'm proud of myself, so I don't know why.
And I'm not talking about agreeing with politics or
certain things about the world, world views.
I'm not talking about that. But just if you're a Jets fan
and you can't stand Aaron Rodgers, what's the reasoning?
Or if you're a football fan and you can't stand Aaron Rodgers,
what's the reasoning pertaining to football?
I mean, he stretched every conceivable ounce of talent out
of his body going to a junior college, you know, sitting in
the in the draft room in the 20s and what he should have gone
first overall instead of Alex Smith, you know, from Utah to
the Niners. And that was his home team, by
the way. You know, it wasn't like he was
the man at Michigan and everybody wants to just be.
He went and perfected his craft in the obscure backdrop of, of
JUCO college football, then went to Cal.
Why? Cuz he's really smart.
He's a, Macau's a great academic school and and he flourished
there and he fell in the drab. And he goes to Green Bay and
he's got Brett Favre there who's not helping him out, gets off on
the wrong foot, sits and watches a little bit.
Then he comes in and deals with the legend, the the towering
figure of Brett Favre, right? And surpasses it.
Like I think that Aaron Rodgers is better than Brett Farve and I
don't think it's even close. That's just my opinion.
So a guy like that that that's football royalty.
That's not somebody I'm looking to kick around.
There's no way something on Bellinger here.
Let's see. Let's see.
All right, so this guy says the real doctor Neil.
Doctor, the real doctor Neil, you defend Boone way too much.
Do I? I don't know that I do that.
I mean, have I ever said that Aaron Boone is, is, is a great,
great manager? Have I ever said that?
Let me ask you a question. And and if you if you believe
that you want a new manager, that's fine.
I mean, everything's got an expiration point.
As I've said, you know, clearly when you're the manager of the
Yankees, eventually you're going to have to win a World Series.
Otherwise, it's it's going to be time where you're going to have
to find somebody new. But have the Yankees lost
because of Aaron Boone's decisions or, you know, game
management? Or maybe in the eyes of some
game mismanagement? I'm not saying he's perfect,
he's not He's not. But.
Or have they won more specifically because of a poorly
constructed roster every year that basically relies on Aaron
Judge to be amazing and a bunch of out of place?
Too often that's changed recently, but too often non
athletes who can't run and strike out a ton and they're
supposed to win a World Series think Joe Torrey would win?
Honestly, You think Joe Torrey would have won World Series with
this group, Do you? Because Joe Torry with the Mets
was awful, you know, And to me, that's a great example of your
product of what's around you. Joe Torry, Mets manager.
Bozo was a clown in the court of public opinion, loser, And he's
one of our own, is from Brooklyn, right?
Joe Torry, player manager. Look what the Mets did in the
late 70s. They were like 60.
They were. They were.
They were unwatchably and unspeakably inept and bad, and
Joe was the manager. And then Joe goes to Atlanta,
he's got a little more talent. Wins.
I remember one year I think was 83, could be off on the year,
wins 13 straight games to start the season.
You know, has a better team. Horner, Dale Murphy, those guys,
Chambliss from the Yankees at that point, couple of good
pitchers, right? And Glenn Hubbard, that crew
long time ago and he's pretty good, you know.
And then Saint Louis, OK, then he comes to the Yankees and he
he inherits a team that the culture is already defined
because of Buck Showalter. And then, you know, the players
that were already there and in the system become old timers
like Derek. And then O'Neil blossoms into a
great Yankee rather than a platoon guy like he was in
Cincinnati. And Bernie becomes an all time
great Yankee switch hitter and everything they touch turns to
gold. And you bringing Clemens, you
bringing Wells, you have Mariano.
What then? I come on man.
So do I think that Joe Torry got better when he became the
Yankees manager? No, I think that the roster got
better. So I have always tried to
separate the two. That doesn't mean Aaron Boone's
got a job for life and he knows that.
He knows that. But Aaron Boone's been here 8
years, right? He's won 60% of his games,
pretty good. 103 wins, 1009990494 the covad year he was
on pace for 9394 wins. And I I outlined this this at
the start of the show when I was trying to separate perception
from reality, which is today's theme.
In 2023, he went 80 to an 80. And that's because the idiot
Dodgers, I'll never forgive him for this.
I always say the idiot, the idiot Dodgers didn't fix that.
That antiquated concrete wall in right field where Judge made a
sick catch on Sunday night baseball breaks.
I forget break it broke his foot.
Whatever the hell he broke, he's out the rest of the year.
Yankees still without Aaron Judge and nothing else by the
way, nothing. That roster was trash.
He still found a way not to go, not to be like a 75 win team.
He's still barely kept it afloat, you know what I mean?
And all that time that Aaron Judge missed really was
detrimental. It came back at the end, but
very detrimental to their ability to be a 90 plus win team
and a playoff team like they would have been like they always
are with Aaron Boone. So I I don't want to hear it
because it's not fair. I don't think that I blindly
defend Aaron Boone. I have no reason to honestly,
I've got no reason to do that. Listen, I get along very well
with Rick Pitino. Rick's been very good to me.
I'll see him tonight at the game and I'll see him, you know, more
intimately Thursday when I go to campus and shoot.
The Red Storm report for MSG airs Friday and Saturday if you
guys want to check it out. Episode 2, get a chance to talk
to Rick. I've gotten to know Rick all
right. I've had drinks with Rick, not
often, but enough where it's been personal, right?
My last show on The Fan, I asked Rick to be one of my last guest
alone. Now it wound up being my dad.
Well, I have to get on this and I will.
We just got to, if I'm trying to figure this out, it'd be very
tough for dad to figure this out, but we got once we can get
gas, I'll make sure my mom gets it set up and we got to get them
on. We'll have some fun.
All the stories that he can tell, my good God almighty.
But I had Rick on my show because that's how much I, I, I
respect Rick and believe in her and Alex, right?
And they both did me a real solid and I really appreciated
that. I want to go out with a bang,
right. But if Saint John's, you know,
loses 5 out of six games this year in the Big East against
teams are not supposed to lose, you think I'm going to sit here
saying Rick's Rick, the dealer's doing a great job?
I'm saying no. Is that what you paid for?
Can't have a $10 million NIL payroll and go, you know, 18 and
18 and not make the NCAA tournament?
No, no, no. That's that's not the way it
goes. That's not the way I do it.
I'll never do it that way. Then do it that way on 10:50.
Then do it that way nationally, then do it that way on the fan.
But the way that I will always do it is to be fair.
That's my only mission, to present to you what I think that
to be entertaining and obviously mess around and do whatever we
do with this stuff. But when it's time to have like
real opinions and real evaluations, any personal bias,
whether it's if I dislike somebody or if I really like
somebody, it's not going to prevent me from that final
analysis. I can promise you that.
I promise you. I promise you I even like Brian
Cashman. I've interviewed Brian probably
two or three times. Me and Sal had him on.
Me and Teek had him on. I had him on I think once at
10:50 back in the day. I think Bryant's a hell of a
good dude. I think he's a scrapper man.
He he likes to fight, he pushes back, he battles.
I really like him. I don't think he's done a good
job. Let me say I think that he put
it this way and just to reiterate this once more than
we're going to bounce the. So I got to hop on that call,
set up the show with Sal and touch the the failures of the
Yankees these last X amount of years.
Again, if you answer this objectively and remove any bias
or preconceived notion, objectively speaking, has Brian
Cashman in building out the roster been more influential in
the demise, if you will, of the Yankee brand or has it been the
manager? Are you are you kidding me?
I mean Joe Torry, right? Come on.
I mean, think about the last time the Yankees won a World
Series. Now, Brian Cashman built that.
That's why Brian Cashman was revered in large part all these
years. First base to Shara.
Second base, Cano, shortstop. Jeter.
Third base, a Rod. Let's go to opening day this
year. Ben Rice.
All right, Jazz. OK, Pretty good as a second
baseman. Really good shortstop, one of
the worst shortstop situations in baseball.
Third base, 210 hitter, strikeout machine Albeat, a
great fielder and a little bit of pop.
So we're comparing Ryan McMahon to a Rod and we're going to
compare Cup. If you put Caballero and both
these numbers together, you're not Jeter.
It's not even close. We're going to compare those
guys to Jeter. I'm not.
I'm even though, even though Jazz is good, I'm sure as hell
not going to compare Jazz to Cano.
But maybe that's the best comparison of the of the infield
and at first base. Again, this is early still peak
to Shara, a switch hitter with pop and a great right-handed
fielding first baseman against the young kid who's trying to
figure it out who I do. I do like Ben as a hitter big
time. You know that, but there's no
comparison there. Think about that.
Boone didn't put the team together.
Aaron Boone did, Brian Cashman did.
And if you guys can't separate that, I don't know what to tell
you. So no, I, I do push back when
when I, when I hear now you want to tell me that maybe too hard
on Cashman and maybe not hard enough with certain things on
Boone. All right, maybe we can flush
through that, but to me it's almost irrelevant here because I
don't know how I could come to a a better grade when Boone just
doesn't have a lot to deal with. You know, think about the first
baseman that he's had and then think about the first baseman
that Joe Torre had. Joe Torre had Tina Martinez and
Cecil for a minute, and Cecil was so good that Tino sat in the
96 World Series out in Atlanta because there was no VH.
And by the way, had a big base hit the right field and I
believe he hit 300. I believe he was the only or one
of two Yankees hit 300 in the 96 World Series.
He had Cecil Fielder, but more importantly, A Tino lefty
masher, middle of the order, terrific fielding first baseman.
What's Spoon? Had Voit Rice broken down Rizzo.
So you just, you got to be fair to him, man.
That's all I'm saying. That is all I'm saying.
Let me get one more. Yeah, I'll give you a little
Mets love here. Hey, BT, let me hit the button.
Look at that. Uh oh, dude, when I figure out
this technology, it's on like that's that's the next jump,
because now I'm starting to get comfortable hitting these
buttons here. Lookout world.
All right, Jorge Castellanos, 1963.
Hey, BT, I'm a Mets fan. What I'm concerned is where are
we going to get to get that? Looks like whatever you wrote
cut off a little bit there. Well, I mean, I, I, I would
double down on the concerns, at least in terms of being
competitive this year. Now it's not over all right.
Until Tucker signs with Toronto, you can still get them.
Until Bellinger signs with the Yankees, you can still get them.
I do think you'll get Peralta, although the Yankees could swoop
in and they they might like the Yankees package a little bit
more. I, I don't know, that's
subjective talent evaluation. But I do think ultimately he
should be a Met and I do think ultimately he will be a Met.
So I would think next year, Peralta, McClain, you know,
Minai has got to be better. Obviously Clay Holmes was fine
back at the rotation guy. See what happens with some of
these other kids who I like. But it's it's it's too early.
Mets are evaluating. And I think that you should be
OK with that. I really do.
I don't have time to reset the whole core thing because it's
over. But I really fundamentally
believe stripping the emotion away from it, as many of you
have, and it's easier cuz it's not my team.
I get that. And I'm also to, to a degree,
doing what I do for a living, desensitize to the stuff to an
extent, not fully, you know, cuz I've maintained some fandom,
which is one of the things that I think that you guys
appreciate. I'm just not some robotic
sportscaster, you know, who I root for.
But I, I am a little bit more desensitized than when, you
know, I first entered the business because you do this for
years and you become a little calloused, whatever a little
bit, right? But, and when I lose that fandom
entirely, then I just don't want to do that at all.
It would be boring to me, but I don't have it like you do all
right, because you're sitting there, you're like, pins it.
What are the Mets going to do? I'm almost processing it more
just through the eyes of certainly what I do for a
living, a content provider, but also like if I'm a baseball
executive, which I'm not a baseball guy, which I am, and I
largely agree with what they've done.
Honestly, the Nimmo contract was not a smart one.
They got out of it fine. You know, second base defense
was awful. Not anymore.
He got rid of a first baseman that I did not think was going
to age well. Smart move.
You know, then the next phase will be after this year.
You got to figure out, all right, where are they really
with Alvarez behind the plate? You know, is it is Beatty really
the guy at third base? And I like him better than
Vientos over there. But can Vientos be your your
everyday DH against righties and against lefties and some
righties? Like they still have a lot more
to to evaluate, but they're also very early in the building of of
what this is supposed to be. And you think about the last
Mets championship, that team was largely built on the farm
system. Daryl drafted, Doc drafted,
Backman drafted Dykstra drafted. Kevin Mitchell drafted obviously
a bunch of other pitches. Pitchers was Rick Aguilera, I
think ages was drafted by the Mets.
I think he was obviously, you know, some others came over
Keith in 83, Gary Carter, Ray Knight, Santana, I believe, was
drafted by the Mets in shortstop.
You know, so I I think that that's always been that that
recipe for success for the Mets. And then you kind of accent the
roster with a big move here and there.
And with Cohen, you've got to have faith that they're going to
make the big move eventually, which I do.
But they had to clean out, they had to reset.
They had to just get the gook. You got to spit it out of the
tube there. Now you got a straw where you
can actually drink freely. And I think now you could start
stirring the drink a little bit and and adding some some flavor
to it, but you just you had to get the straw clean.
The straw was too messy. Really was all right, guys, let
me get out of here. Appreciate you guys hanging out
today. So if you're watching this on X,
it's obviously right up there on YouTube now, now that YouTube
live is restored, pumped up about that awesome tomorrow,
obviously 10:00 I'll see you then.
I'll be at the garden tonight, little Johnny's Marquette.
So if you see me walking in, if you see me walking out, make
sure you say what's up. Who don't listen.
If something breaks tonight with a baseball signing or anything
with horrible pretending to the giants or anything with The
Jets, which I I don't think will happen by all means, you know,
I've got the live ability. I'm going to pop up.
Still waiting for that to happen.
You know, I've teased it a few times and when something does,
like unless I'm literally at my my son or daughter's game
coaching or watching or doing a St.
John's game, I will just come in here, pop this thing up,
immediate access, connection, react to what we have and go
from there. So Twitter, Instagram, all that
stuff, follow along. Hey, obviously the more you guys
like, the more you guys subscribe, the more you guys
comment, the more traction we get on this and I'm looking
forward to slowly integrating some of the bells and the
whistles. But this this was a big step
like I, I had to get it back live the stream on YouTube.
So I appreciate YouTube working through that with me.
Thank you resolving that and rectifying that.
Have an awesome Tuesday. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Hit me up, follow the rest of the content on the page and I
will catch you guys tomorrow right around 10:00 AM here on BT
unleashed. I'll see ya.