One what's happened everybody, welcome back to BT only special
guest today talk some Yankees who are rocking and have a lot
of things going for them right now.
And of course that is that is going to be done with the voice
of the Yankees. My buddy, I've known him for a
long time and I always tell him, dude, you're going to be in the
Hall of Fame someday and he always resists it.
So I stopped saying it. But we ought to talk some shop
right now and get into a multitude of Yankee issues, many
of which are good. Michael, welcome back to the
show. How you doing, brother?
What's happening? I'm great.
Brandon, how you doing? I'm doing outstanding, I really
am. It has been a it's been a lot of
fun, man. So it's crazy too, because the
it's things aren't really perfect for the Yankees in terms
of, you know, whether it's third base, whether it's center field,
whether it's Jazz up until the last week or so playing well.
But they're pitching has masked so much and Rice and Judge has
helped as well. Just big picture.
Let's start here. Are the Yankees where you
thought they would be? Are they a step ahead?
Early assessment of the Yankees, Mike.
Well, I, I thought that the biggest problem was going to be
the bullpen and I think that's still a work in progress.
The bullpen that's going to finish the season is not the
bullpen that we're seeing now. I thought, I thought the hitting
one through 9 would be a little bit better, but I think we're
being picky. They lead the major leagues at
home runs, which is what they're built to do.
Their their starting pitching has been phenomenal, Brandon,
and it's only going to get better.
I mean, you're going to get back Cole, you're going to get back
Rodan. And they're going to be at least
two or three pitchers that are going to be really chapped that
they're not in the starting rotation.
So is that fifth guy going to be Warren?
Is it going to be Weathers? Is it going to be Omar
Rodriguez? They're in pretty good shape
right now. Yeah, they are.
And you know, let's at least get the Rodriguez stuff out of the
way. You could tell.
And Kony was talking about this yesterday when I was watching
the game. He conceals the ball well.
He's got 5 or 6 pitches. He's got a plus repertoire.
Of course the kid was nervous. He didn't really have the strike
zone command early, but do you think, or at least do the do
that you think that the Yankees think that his stuff is
projectable enough to trust him in higher leverage situations if
he does come out of the pen down the road?
I, I don't think that they look at him as out of the pen,
Brandon, I think they would look at Legrande as out of the pen
because he throws 103 miles an hour.
So that's swinging missed stuff. And although Rodriguez has that,
I still think they project him to be really a top flight
starter. I don't know if he's going to be
here once we're done, you know, comes back.
So this might just be a a toe in the water to see how he he does.
But I don't think they look at him as a reliever at this point.
I think they look at guys like Weathers and Legrande more as
relievers. OK, so let's go there.
So I know that you're really close with Jack Curry.
That means phenomenal baseball. Source.
Great guy. I think he's brilliant.
And, you know, he's connected to the Yankees.
So when he says something, it's obviously going to be, you know,
rooted in truth, or at least what they're thinking.
Now let's push this forward and this would be optimal.
And baseball, most funny, you never know.
But optimally speaking, in in any order, you know, Freed,
Schlittler, Cole Rodon, based on their resume, based on the
salaries, those are locks, right?
As I was going for starters, as I was going through this really
over the last month or so, projecting what's going to
eventually come. I I love the way Weathers has
looked some games here, but I didn't think they wanted
necessarily have 60% of their rotation lefties, which they
would if Weathers was in there. And I do like Will Warren.
Is it more the lefty or is it more they just like Warren stuff
better? Do you think that maybe
Weathers, which is why Warren might be that fifth guy I.
I think you're you're kind of looking at it differently than
they probably are. I think they're looking at the
guy who stuffed translates better to the bullpen.
I think they love Weathers. They think Weathers is a really
good starter and has starter stuff.
But you know, left-hander throwing 9798 miles an hour.
That would be pretty good coming out of the bullpen.
Warren is more of your, you know, typical starter.
I, I think we, I don't think we give him the proper respect.
He he's really good. I mean, he made 33 starts last
year as a rookie and that was a year ahead of schedule.
And I think he's much better Brandon this year than he was
last year and he's 3 and O. So these I hate when people say
good problems because problems are problems because it's still
going to cause some angst with somebody.
But it is a pleasant dilemma to have when you have too many
arms. You really the the Yankees have
started producing arms would say have not done it at this rate
before. Rodriguez when he was acquired
from the Red Sox was not supposed to be that guy.
Legrande was not supposed to be that guy.
Guy Ben Hess is not supposed to be that guy.
And they've got guys now that not only are they Major League
ready branded, but those could be the guys that they use if
they want to trade for a high end reliever at the at the trade
deadline. Yeah.
It's funny that you lead me to the trades here.
And OK, so you know, whether it's third base and there's so
many factors here, whether it's Volbee, which we'll get to,
whether it's Lombard, which we'll get to.
I mean, to me, Michael with the pitching, I love Boone.
I, I can't, I can't stand that. He writes Grisham's name is the
lead off hitter. I just can't stand it.
So I, I can't stand it. I look at the Yankees being and
I don't mean Ricky Henderson type of lead off hitter or Jeter
or even Nabi. But if they could get a
legitimate lead off hitter 2026 version and then go judge to or
rights to and then flip the, you know, the belly.
Now you get the 1st 5 or 6 hitters.
That is a World Series lineup. Do you do you think that they're
thinking on some level big bat, big addition, not just relief?
So you want them to acquire a lead off guy trade wise?
Well, OK, so let's break this down.
Where would you put him? What position would he play?
I'd put him at left field if I could get my hands on now.
I don't know if they'll trade him if I could get Stephen Quan.
I do that right. I put Quan in left.
I put belly at first. Rice is my DH and Stanton's
tough, tough. I stay at, you know, playing
idea. I understand he's going to run
into some moon shot at some point, but in terms of contact
rate and all the other numbers that really matter to me, that
would be the best version of the Yankees.
And by the way, they are sneaky athletic.
You've said this a lot. Yankees run more than they used
to. 4th in stolen bases. You had somebody like Quan who
can also run. I mean, we're cooking with the
World Series team here, Mike. That's my opinion.
Yeah, I, I think it's going to be tough to get a guy like Quan.
I'm sure they've investigated before because that central is
still wide open. Let let me ask you this.
What, why? Why do you dislike Grisham so
much? I know he's hitting in the
hundreds, which is not what they want, but he does run into home
runs and he gets on base a lot. He walks a lot.
So I, I talked to Boone about it over the winter and I said,
well, why what, what kind of why don't you have a real lead off
guy And he goes, well, what's a real lead off guy, Mike?
I said, oh, Ricky Henderson, he goes, Oh, you.
So you chose the greatest one of all time.
They, they aren't available. So I, I think they're
comfortable with Grisham. I really do.
I think they're comfortable with Grisham.
So I don't think they're going to move heaven and earth.
I think if they make a big deal, Brandon, it's going to be
foreclosure. OK, all right.
Now, I would I would disagree with their logic there, but I I
certainly respect the way you laid out.
Yeah, I've told this to Boone too, and it gets pissed at me
when I say that he's not a lead off bidder.
Now, by the way, I'm not I don't have an issue with Grisham
playing. I just look at whether it's the
Dodgers and listen, the Dodgers at the standard.
So maybe it's just unfair to always bring them up.
But I don't look at that first slot.
I don't want Grisham getting in the way of Ben Rice and Judge
and Bellinger getting high leverage at bats.
If he's playing and he's batting 7th, I got no problem.
If he's batting 6th, I got no problem.
But also last year Michael was the outlier to his career.
He's been a 195 hitter basically every year.
And here we are again. So last year to me, kind of an
anomaly. And if I'm trying to win a World
Series, I'm not hedging a bet on an outlier like, but that's
just, I know it. I know I simplify it.
I make it easier than it probably is, but I've been
consistent with this. I do not want him batten first.
I just don't. I'd rather have Ben Rice Batten
first, Mike. Well, I mean, if, if you really
want to be totally honest about it, the best lead off guy on the
team would be judge. You know, he gets on base at 4,
you know, 45% of the time and you know, give you a 1 nothing
lead in the beginning. But I've had Brandon, the the
argument that you just presented at high decibels with people in
the Yankee organization about Grisham.
I said, you know, he's never done this before.
They said we've unlocked something.
This he's he's going to be this guy all the time.
I said, OK, you know, time will tell because I, I've made it
very well known. I at the time, I was against the
qualifying offer of 22 million. And they said it's, it's only
for one year, blah, blah, blah. But you know, that could have
been money that you spent somewhere else.
But he's, he's better defensively than he was last
year. So I could see what they were
saying that the hamstring certainly bothered him.
But the batting average is what, last time I looked yesterday, it
was like 170, something like that.
That's not good enough. So he's got to be better than
that. But the one thing he does is the
lead up guy, he takes a lot of pictures.
So Rice is seeing a lot of pictures from the on deck circle
judge the same thing. And he does walk a lot.
So his batting average is low, but I think his on base
percentage is in the three. So again, they're going to look
under the hood of all these numbers to justify this.
But right now the offense is pretty decent and I think it's
going to get better because I think Jazz is going to get
better, too. You're right, he's right around
170. But if you extrapolate deeper,
and I was doing this on my show before, 89 total of bats this
year, 69 of which have come from the lead off spot, he's sitting
in $1.30. He's a lead off hitter.
But we don't need to beat this to a bloody pulp.
You know, I know how you feel about this.
We got to feel the same way. But what matters is how the
Yankees feel quickly on this and couple and I said a right-handed
Randy Johnson, but I don't love it.
Some people said a young Curt Schilling, I don't love it.
Do you have an early player comp for Cam Schlittler?
No, I, I really don't. I just, I just know he's
special. And the only thing I will tell
you, Brandon, the only thing that derails this guy is if, God
forbid, he gets injured. I don't see the league catching
on them. He's getting by right now,
throwing 85% fastballs now, different fastballs, but 85%
fastballs. He's got the ability and the
aptitude to develop another pitch if he has to.
But David Cohen, who I go to for stuff like this, said you don't
even go there until you have to. He goes right now.
The league is not catching up with this guy.
I can't think of a cop. I think, you know, we were
getting on the plane yesterday and I remarked to my producer,
Troy Benjamin, I said this guy is huge.
People don't realize how big this guy is.
Like, I'm 64 and he towers over me.
He just comes out you, you know, he's on top of you and he
delivers the ball and he's got a fearlessness.
And I don't know if you saw the postgame interview that Meredith
did with the Austin Wells the day that Schlittler pitched in
in Arlington, He said that 6th inning was the best inning he's
ever thrown. And if you remember, he had
first and 2nd and nobody out. And that's usually the time, you
know, you you watch a lot of Yankee games.
That's usually the time that Boone's going to start matching
up in the bullpen. He let this guy stay out there
and this guy reached back and was throwing 9899.
They had no chance. That was an impressive inning.
That tells you what this kids all about.
But in terms of comps, I, I, he's, he's kind of a Unicorn to
me. I I can't find a comp.
If you had me neither. If you had to take a pick here
and, and obviously you watch him more, even though you know,
doing what you do for a living, you watch the Mets when you can.
McClain or Schlittler, pure stuff.
Who do you think is is more dominant?
I think it could be Schlittler, and I love McClain.
I mean, I've loved McClain since the first time that I saw him.
I don't like the fact that he doesn't really give you as much
length as Schlittler. So if you want to have a
tiebreaker, that could be it. And and Schlittler sitting at
9899 free and easy. So I I think just from results
you got to go with Schlittler. Do you agree?
I do agree it's close and I love McClain.
Like McClain is there like everything about him and and by
the way, the fact that McClain was a hitter, I think that's a
real asset, you know, because he just right it, it adds to the
mental role of the decks because you know, he hit in college and
he was a pretty high level hitter.
So it's definitely not a detriment.
It's, you know, in addition to plus stuff mentally, I think
he's there too. And they both have slow
heartbeats. I mean it, they're both
phenomenal. I do think Schlittler by a tick,
but that time will tell. All right, ma'am, I was watching
a clip yesterday of you, Mike. And if you don't even know the
answer yet, then then I don't. But I want to work through the
thought process here. You seem genuinely, certainly
intrigued, but even a little confused as to what you think is
going to happen with Anthony Volpe.
What do you think should happen? And contrast that to what you
think that the Yankees will actually do.
What I think should happen is as long as they're winning, I would
not put the pressure on him nor put him in the crosshairs of the
fans because as you know, baseball is an ebb and flow
sport. There's there's going to be a
market correction. The Yankees are not playing 800
ball all year. So they just come off a road
trip where they're seven and two.
So wait until they they lose a couple of games and Caballero
gives you an O for 15 because, you know, Yankee fans, a lot of
them are just waiting. They're lying in wait for Volpe
to mess up. And he does not need that
pressure. And I'm not one of those people.
And I don't know if you are. I don't buy into that nonsense.
You don't lose your job because of injury.
Because if that was the case, you know, Drew Bledsoe would
have been the quarterback of the Patriots.
You do lose jobs because of injury if somebody plays better
than you. I think that the thing that has
really stunned the Yankees is how good Caballero has been
defensively. He's plus 6 + 6 defensive run
save. You know where that is in
baseball. That's best of all shortstops in
baseball. He overtook Bobby with Junior,
who's a reigning Gold Glove winner.
He's got a very good arm, he's got extraordinary range and he's
got he's got a quick twitch motor.
So what I would do, I would wait and have Anthony wait until
something goes awry. Not that you're rooting for it
to go awry. And if it never goes awry, well
then they got a tough decision. I don't know what the Yankees
are thinking. Brian had said at the beginning
of the year, the last time he spoke was that when when Volpe
comes up, he's going to be the starting shortstop.
But that was when they were struggling.
Now they're playing great and they have the best record in the
American League. So I don't know if that's
changed. And the thing that jumped out at
me was I was sitting there as Boone was doing his pre game
press conference and I've never heard him talk like this where
he kept saying we'll see, we'll see.
He didn't. He didn't try to put out the
fire or anything like that. And when he was pressed on
Volpe, he kept saying, hey, we'll see.
So that tells me that they're going to wait and see.
I thought, I thought Boone handled that well nowadays, like
back in the day when when we were younger like you just maybe
reading the paper, like what so and so is doing at AAA Columbus.
Like now you just go on Twitter and you get to see Lombards
plays at Somerset before he got and we'll get to him in a
minute. More extensively, Volpe 2A and
and some of the plays he's made, both good and bad, I do.
I don't want to geek out too much because I'm not a hitting
coach, but his swing does look a little flatter, which is
producing some more line drives. My fear about Volpe, right, is
that he had so many things to work on from a mechanical point
of view, right? Because he was getting long and
loopy and he was just a mess mechanically.
But with a jacked up shoulder, you couldn't really put the time
in during the winter to really alter those mechanics.
But get his swing looks a little different.
Does it look different to you and and and to the Yankees?
I don't know what it feels like to the Yankees.
They they have not discussed it at all.
It looks a little flatter. This is something that Willie
Randolph has been talking about for years.
He does not like the loop and the swing.
But I don't think that that's the fault of Volpe.
I think that's the the Yankees teach launch angle.
I would like him. I want him on base 35% of the
time, not 30%. And I believe in Anthony Volpe,
Brandon, I'm not one of the guys that's giving up on him.
I think he could be a really good player for the Yankees.
So if he could come up and hit 250 and have an on base
percentage of 350, then you know, he's he's a borderline All
Star kind of prospect. But you know, it's getting late
early, as Yogi used to say, this is his fourth year.
So somebody asked me the other day, is his leash a little
shorter? And I said it's still long, but
it's shorter than it was. I don't even think it's long
anymore for a lot of the reasons that you said.
I mean, it's now year 4 first round.
Pick a local. There's good energy there.
There's bad energy there. Like it's going to be very
interesting to see what they do now.
Listen, is there a chance I'm just, I'm just not a Jazz guy.
I don't believe in him. I do think his energy is
sometimes good for this team. Yankees have been historically
very corporate. Nobody knows that more than you.
And you get a little bit of a loose wire.
That's a good thing. Kind of keeps everything a
little modern, a little loose there.
But he's just a Mace cadet too much for me, right?
Do you think that there's a chance at all this year?
We see some variation of Volpiat second and Lombarded short or
Volpiat Second and Caballero at short.
Is that remotely possible? This year, no.
This year is Jazz Chisholm's the second baseman, barring injury.
Now, you know, when Jazz said no in spring training, that is
going to go 5050 and expected a contract of like $30 million a
year for 10 years, I said, well, he's going to talk himself out
of being a Yankee. So I think what you just said,
the scenario you painted, that could be next year.
And and also Lombard could play third too.
So there's a lot of variations that the Yankees could play
with. And I think that the Yankees in
their dream scenario, their dream scenario is Caballero
plays everywhere and plays every day, but plays everywhere.
So I think that's that's a one saving grace for Anthony, where
Anthony could still come up and be the shortstop and Caballero
play third. One day he'll play center, he'll
play left. One day they'll move Bellinger
to center. They've got AII know that Boone
loves the makeup of this team and he can really be a mad
scientist, which he's always wanted.
He's got a legitimate bench with a lot of legitimate options on
it. And he said that last year
during the playoffs, which is why he was so despondent when
they got knocked out by Toronto. And I appreciated his
transparency. He's like, this is the best team
we've had. And you get Rosario, crushes
lefties. Not a great fielder, but crushes
lefties. Cabbie came in.
Now, a lot of the bullpen moves have not worked out.
But there was an infusion of players like back in the day,
whether it was Chubby Davis or Tim Reines or Justice, who
played more frequently. But you know Cecil like they
Andy Fox, Stankiewicz like they always had.
A. Daryl absolutely.
The Yankees bench, besides last year, the second-half on has
been wretched. It's like they've ignored it and
it really didn't give Boone a lot of options in terms of
maneuverability. So I always think that I'm not
saying that that that he's Miller Huggins, Aaron Boone, but
I think some of the criticisms that come his way have been
unjustified because I don't think he was given a lot of
options to to show that he's adaptable to new lineups and new
variations, right. Would you agree?
I would agree. And I, I believe that he's got a
lot of toys to play with this year.
He really does. And one thing I've noticed and
I, I have not noticed in a while, I don't mean this in in a
pejorative way. I think the Yankees are
operating this year in a ruthless fashion where they are
doing stuff like, OK, you're not playing McMahon, you're
struggling. You're sitting on the bench for
five days. They never used to do that
because now they have options. Louise Hill, you're going to
pitch to a 60 or 8, you're going down.
I mean, they keep doing stuff like that.
They are sitting down a guy like Goldschmidt because Rice is
playing great and just because Goldschmidt, some veteran and
might be going to the Hall of Fame, they're not succumbing to
that. I just think there's a
ruthlessness. To the way they are running this
team, and I think that's good. I think that's a positive
because they look at this team that's good.
They think this team's good enough to win the World Series
and they're not letting feelings or emotions get in the way of
it. They're just not.
I think it's really good. I also think it's long overdue.
I mean, it's what the Yankees always used to do, which is what
has really, you know, led to a lot of resentment or animosity
or or negative energy toward the Yankees have been built these
last X amount of years. Like the one thing when people
say Hal doesn't want to win, that's bullshit.
It's unfair, it's ridiculous. He spends a lot of money.
He also was only worth about 1.6 billion.
Some of these other guys are worth 20.
Bill, like the disparity in money.
I don't think Yankee fans necessarily calculate that the
Rogers group, the Dodgers, Cohen.
So the Yankees don't make money necessarily the way they used.
Well, I mean they're profitable, but the gap that they want once
enjoyed is not what it used to be.
So I do think Hal gets shredded unnecessarily.
So I've always said this, of course they want to win, but too
many times, the last X amount of years, it never seemed like they
like it was their oxygen, like they needed to win, like George
needed winning as his oxygen. And what you just said, hey,
he'll get lost. McMahon sit down like they are
ruthless. My question is why is it taking
so long to get back to that? Well, I just think that they
have a, a deeper team now. I, I think, I think you hit it
before, Boone didn't have many options when people were
struggling in the last couple of years.
But McMahon struggling, you got a really good player in Rosario
who played a a better third base than I thought he would.
When they when they had Grichik and they let him go, that was a
ruthless move. And that might turn out to hurt
them because the same day Dominguez gets hurt, it could
have helped to have a guy like Grichik, but against left
handers. They sat down Grisham.
They never sat him down last year and he's never hit lefties
all that well. And they played, they played
Grichett in those games. So I'm just seeing stuff that I
I have not seen in in in many, many years.
And I think they've always wanted to win.
I think you've hit it on the nose when it comes to Hal.
I just think it's a knee jerk reaction because he's not George
Steinbrenner. He doesn't nobody's George
Steinbrenner. George Steinbrenner was a
different breed. Hal Steinbrenner wants to win.
And when you talk about the disparity and personal fortune,
right? You look at the disparity and
payroll, it's not as much as a disparity in personal fortune.
So the Yankees have a $350 million payroll, the Mets have a
370, and the Dodgers have A380. Well, Guggenheim Partners, they
could spend whatever. Steve Cohen has $22 billion in
personal fortune. And as you said, Hal's probably
in the $1.52 billion range, but they're, they're pretty close to
payroll. So I, I say this to all Yankee
fans that call my show. If he didn't want to win, then
he would have a 250 payroll where a team would be
competitive. He doesn't have to spend the
extra 100 million. He wants to win.
I think people see his loyalty to Craftsman and they say, well,
he doesn't want to win. But I think that what we've seen
in the first month of the season, Brandon, not to take a
shot at the Mets. Everybody wants to RIP on Brian
Castman, right? How's David Stearns doing 2
years in a row with a 350? It's not it's that easy to be a
great GM. It's not that easy to feel the
team that has a chance to win the World Series every single
year. I know you're not the biggest
fan of Brian. Brian's a pretty damn good GM.
Yeah, and compared to Stearns is the fucking best GM of all time.
Jesus, David Stearns is a disaster.
I mean, Mike, and it's not a shot at the Mets, but you do a
talk show as well. And we're sensitive to, hey, I
lost my job X amount of years ago.
So there's a sensitivity to it. How you keep running Mendoza out
there, There's there's got to be an expiration point, even if
it's on optics in terms of we're not going to accept this.
How much longer if this keeps up, can they have Mendoza as the
manager? I mean it's.
Well, you know, well, I don't. First of all, I don't think it's
Mendoza's fault. But as you said, but if you if
you fire Mendoza, then it's all on Stearns because Mendoza was
Stearns personal pick. Stearns didn't have the decency
to talk to Buck Showalter. He had Billy Eppler do it.
You fired a borderline Hall of Fame type manager without ever
talking to him. Then you lost out on Craig
counsel who you thought was a sure thing.
And then you did this. I give them credit.
They they did their due diligence and this was his pick.
Well, if you fire Mendy now, now it's all on you.
Now it's all on you. At what point will Steve Cohen
run out of patience with David Stearns and his machinations?
Well, that was my next thing. It's like, OK, I I get it.
Like as long as Mendoza is there, Stearns has a little
cover. But if I'm Cohen like I I would
I would usurp that power and say, I don't care what you
think. We're firing Mendoza and your
ass is next. Like I that's.
Well, the the interesting thing I I don't know how much of a
relationship you have with Carlos.
He's really, he's the best. Brandon, you would love him.
He's just the best. And I think he has an
unbelievable relationship with Steve and Alex Cohen and he has
an unbelievable relationship with David Stern.
So if they get rid of him because of these optics of them
losing these against terrible teams, they're going to have to
swallow hard because it's not going to be an easy call for
them to get rid of a good man who was good enough, a good
enough manager to take them to game six of the NLCS.
He didn't all of a sudden get dumb.
Yeah, but I don't think I and I've and I've said because I
don't know him at all, but I've heard he's a really good person.
Yeah, I've heard that. So I, you know, again, I try to
thread that needle of not being insensitive and doing my job,
but I don't think he's a good manager.
I don't think he was good last year.
I don't think he handles the bullpen well.
The Mets. There's been an absence of
fundamentals, whether it's running through stop signs, like
to me, when Vientos rent. Now, this is not emblematic of
everything, but it's symptomatic of something when you've got a
player, let's face it, who's not even that good in Vientos who
thinks that he can run through the stop sign.
All right, you run through the stop sign, then the game amens.
You got a little cool down period and you're asked about it
and you're like, I'm going to always trust my instincts.
You're basically saying, fuck you.
I do. I'm going to do whatever I want.
And to me, you then write his name in the lineup the next day.
That is a poor reflection of the culture of the Mets.
So he might be a great guy. I believe you.
But I'm not saying it's all his fault because the roster stinks.
There's just there's a lot wrong with the Mets.
I want to at least get a quick read on that.
I know you got your show coming up.
I don't want to take all your time quickly on Ben Rice.
This is obviously real. Every advanced number, you know,
it's all red. If you're a big baseball savant
guy like I am, and I know that you obviously dip into that Kony
as well. Probably not O'Neill, but Tony
loves that stuff. You you know that you know that
Ben Rice is legit. I mean, this is he is, is he
going to hit 40 home runs? I mean, where are we going with
Ben Rice? Well, Tony asked me on the air
yesterday what would be my over under for judge and Rice for
home runs and I said 97 1/2. So I I mean, you got a pencil
and judge what for for 55, right?
I was going to. Say 55.
Yeah. All right.
So I, I think that I think that Rice can approach 40.
He could he could approach 40. He's not good.
Every ball he hits, Brandon is on the nose and you know, don't
blink. He also hits lefties quite well.
So that's why that's how you you're not seeing Goldschmidt
anytime soon. The No, I agree the Yankees have
had a lot of I'm listening, you know, Donnie's my guy and
Donnie's one-of-a-kind there. But Tino was a very good
defensive right-handed first baseman.
Mark to share was a great defensive first baseman when he
was still in his prime. Can Rice get, and I know he's
made strides, he already looks better.
Can he get to a point where he's slightly above average
defensively at first base if he's not already there?
Because I do think he's gotten a little bit better.
He has gotten better. He didn't make a play on a hard
hit ball when he was in yesterday that that hurt
Rodriguez, But I'm not going to blame him on that.
I think he will get better because he's smart.
He works really, really hard. He got he has an unbelievable
attitude and he's not letting that Dartmouth graduate, you
know, degree go to waste. So I think he's smart enough and
wants to be great enough that you know, because he, you know,
this Brandon, watching him, he changed the way he hit when he
came to the camp last year. All of a sudden the ball was
just jumping off his bat, so he went to work.
This is a guy that works and I think he will be a serviceable
first baseman whether or not he becomes a Mattingly or a Chino.
I mean, those that's tough. Those guys are some of the best.
So I think he'll be a serviceable first baseman, which
is all they need. He'll be.
Moving Giambi that's. That's true.
And, and and Luke Voit would be better than him.
Yeah. Will you be better than Jim
Spencer? Here's an old name for you.
Bob Watson, well be better than Watson.
Spencer was really good. If he could be even with
Spencer, they'll sign up for that.
All right, last thing. So, you know, it's not like,
again, when we were growing up, when you you would go to AAA and
you'd have to prove yourself there.
The new launch point for the young stars in baseball's AA.
When you crush AA, you're, you're, you're going.
So Lombard, if he hits well in AAA, they're not going to keep
him down there for five months. I mean, if he hits, we're going
to see him this year, right? There's a chance, and you know,
I talked about the ruthlessness of of 2026, they would never
have called up Lombard at the end of April to go to AAA
because they like to marinate their prospects.
They don't rush them up. They just don't.
They never really have. So the fact that he got moved up
shows you what they think of him.
He was defensively Major League ready last year, but the bat
wasn't there. And you know what, This guy went
and went to work over the winter, changed a little bit of
of his approach and he looked great.
I talked to Scott that says he looks like a different hitter.
So if he could bring that up to the next level, somebody is 1
misstep away from losing their job.
That's how good this guy is. Big picture, do you think you
know 2-3 years, is he playing short or is he playing third
short, right? I think that if Volpe reaches
the the heights they think he could, he stays at at short.
If if Jazz is gone, I think Volpe because of the arm would
probably go to 2nd and then and Lombard could play short, but
the Lombard could also play third too.
So they have a lot of options with this guy and, you know, and
just talking to him a couple of times, we had him on the the
Hotstar show on yes, he's really, really smart.
He's a really smart guy and he wants to be great too.
So I think you have to have that desire to be great.
I think he has that. Yeah, I agree.
Even when they told him he was getting the call to AAA when he
was in the manager's office, he's like, yeah, I'm just going
to get a lift. And I think he was playing a
double header the next game he was going to lift.
And he's just, he seems like a worker and you know, he's got
the wreck was a talent. All right, we're going to let
you bounce. So the other day, I don't know
if it popped up on Facebook for Jim, but then it again, it
wouldn't have popped up now or or she just stumbled across it.
I want to flash up a picture for you, J Rod, look at this picture
and this. What year did you get married,
Mike? Was it 2011?
2020. You don't.
Know yeah 20/11/2011. Dude, I mean, you had to think
about it. Brendan, I'm old dude.
I got married old, so these things don't come to me right
away at 2011. Look at that picture.
I mean if I I think I had 6 scotches in me at that point
because I. Oh, you were so hammered.
Look at you. I.
Was I was wasted, I bumped into Coney dancing with Coney and his
girl, doing shots with Tony. What?
And I said, besides my wedding, which you were invited to but
you couldn't come to because of the Yankees playoffs, that
wedding right there was the best wedding that I've ever been to.
It was awesome, bro. You can get that down, Jay, but
look at that, that picture, Mike, look at that.
It's a long time ago and I mean, you haven't aged, I've aged a
lot. But yeah, everyone that that
went, we're so blessed that they said they had such a great time.
I wish that we could enjoy it. You know, when you're when
you're the people that got married, you don't really enjoy
the wedding like that. But yeah, the fact that
everybody loved it. I so we just have our 15th
wedding anniversary. I said, Jodie, if we could make
it to 30, which I don't know if I will.
Likewise, let's do it again at the Plaza.
Let's have the same 300 people there.
Oh my God. But, you know, would you have
Giuliani do it again? No, I might not.
I don't know. You going to roll in him?
No, I I don't think I'd roll that way either.
I maybe, maybe I'll have my kids do it.
That would be a fun thing there. You go.
By the way, how's your sons baseball?
Is he still catching? He's catching, he's pitching
yesterday he played for he was so upset yesterday.
How how great is this world? I'm on the bus to go to the
airport in Dallas and there's a thing called game changer, which
I'm sure you know, and I'm, I'm watching the game and the bus
And he he was talking to me this morning.
I haven't seen them in 10 days. And he said, Dad, I got picked
off and I watched. I got picked off a second.
I never in my life thought I'd never get picked off a second.
But then Jody said she was there and she said the coach kept
saying get a big elite and he didn't see the guy sneaking in.
So the coach took the blame. But Charlie wears it and I think
he's too emotional. In a game of failure, it's hard
to be emotional. I keep trying to tell him, Dad,
I never thought I'd get picked off, but it's just so fun to be
on the journey with him. It really is.
By the way, I would like to know maybe you send me the video.
I want to see who's more culpable because if the now did
the shortstop come in or is it the second baseman because the
third base coach, she's got to get shortstop.
It was the first base coach that was telling bigger lead.
Bigger lead because they. Steal a lot and so.
Charlie kept going on and I think the shortstop sneak in,
but then CC, who like really knows the rules almost too much.
He goes, dad, It was a balk. The the pitcher took a a step
toward home plate before he threw.
He's supposed to spin and throw. So once you take a step toward
home plate, you can't throw the segment.
I said, Charlie, these umpires are learning too.
They're making 50 bucks a game. I mean YouTube what I'm
basically making a show on YouTube.
I mean, all right, I'm I'm going to let you go as always, so
generous with your time, man. You know I love you and you know
I love watching you and it's amazing.
I've, I've been saying this about Michael forever.
It's amazing to me. And I do this with St.
John's. But St.
John's is not like not the viewership of the Yankees.
You can text Michael and I know I'm not the only one.
Like Greca, some of your other buddies, Jody, I'm sure you text
this dude dirty. He gets right back to you.
And it's not like he gets back to you during the commercial.
He writes back to you. Here's the Tutu to Grisham, you
know, in between the inning because I texted you the other
night about Jim Mason and I did not well, the I did not know who
is that Yankee and and I was and I never heard of the guy.
And you were like, I'm stunned. I I got to take the Li never
heard of this dude. I never heard of Mason.
The funniest thing about the texting Brandon is Lupica has a
line because Lupica will text me every now and he goes.
You text Michael when the ball leaves the bat and he gives you
back the text before it's caught.
It's not a lie, man, you are you are a ninja with that.
So hey, keep it up. Yanks look great.
We'll get you on couple of months down the road, give you
give you an updated state of the Yankees and things could be so
different. Call back obviously Rd. don't
Rd. that Volpe Dominguez what's going on at third base, Lombard.
So good start. A lot of baseball to go.
As always, you know, I appreciate your time.
Thank you buddy. Of course, good luck with this,
Brandon. Thanks, man.
Great stuff, Mike. That was awesome.
You got it. I'll talk to you soon.
Have a great.