Leash are you listening? Can you hear me?
This is unleashed. Are you listening?
Can you hear me with your home? Unleashed Are you listening here
to hear me? This is unleashed.
Can you hear me? Hear me, hear me.
Well, not everybody BT unleashed in the house.
Welcome back on this Tuesday. Got a really good show for you.
Fun show a lot of baseball today.
Obviously the trade deadline is on Thursday.
So we have a couple of days for that.
And that is the Yaddis watch. We wish we will continue to
monitor J Rods. Got eyes on that?
I don't think that the Knicks wind up getting Yanis.
I know they're going to make a push.
You get you do get conflicting reports.
Ian Begley says the Knicks are going to make a strong move for
him. And Winhorse basically said the
exact opposite, that they're not even going to make a move for
him, not make a real push. I don't think that they get
them, not for a lack of want or a lack of try.
I think it's going to be very complicated as I've chronicled
here on the show. If you missed it, go back, check
out some of the previous shows, lot of Knick content obviously
where I, I just think it's going to be very complicated to get
that third team, which is going to be a necessity and maybe even
a fourth team, which would be, you know, which would increase
the odds of the Knicks getting him.
I think what it's all said and done, especially since they're
playing better. Not that I think that this
team's going to win a championship.
I don't, but they have played better.
They almost have played some pretty bad teams during the six
game stretch. But you know, if they were like
losers of five of six or sixth straight rather than winners of
sixth straight, you know, you might have a a different
motivation. I get the sense, you know, not
as a report, just as you know, whatever kind of connecting dots
here. I think that they think that
it's worth one swing with this team, which I kind of did as
well at earlier points in the year.
I know they've modified the defense a bit, which is pretty
interesting. It's kind of a, you know, it's a
schematical thing where and then I'm going to jump right into the
baseball, but it's a schematical thing and it's actually working
out. I'm very curious how it works
out against better teams. Again, they played some bad
teams here, so they've kind of stabilized and gotten fat on
teams that they're absolutely supposed to be.
But basically the concept that they used to do was they would
funnel everybody in from a defensive point of view and
those I think they're giving up. I think I saw the stat like 91
1/2 points per game over the six game win streak.
And again, you've got to temp for that in terms of who they're
playing, whatever some circumstances, but still, 91 1/2
points a game in 2026 is ridiculous.
So you got to give him credit there.
I think that the the slight alteration, I think it's been
better for Cat. I think it's been better for
Jaylen Brunson from a defensive point of view.
And basically the old philosophy was, as I said, funnel everybody
into the middle. Now they're basically funneling
everybody to the baseline, which has worked out.
We'll see if it's if it's got some legs behind it or if it's
just a little, you know, a little pop here that it seems
like it's cheap fix. But by the way, it's intriguing.
By the way, tomorrow 1st guest of the show, Sal's going to come
by looking forward to it. So me and Sal will will chop it
up. He's going to join about 15
minutes into the show, and I'm really looking forward to that.
So tomorrow, Sal at 10:15 here on Unleashed.
OK, that's going to be awesome. Spread the word, let your
buddies know, obviously, like and subscribe.
J Rod's going to pump in a bunch of texts, the good ones.
Now listen to what I wanted to do today.
And it's funny, sometimes something just hits you and
you're like, OK, this is it. Because when you structure a
show, just. Being quick, the Giants made a
hire of a coordinator, Matt Nagy.
Matt, Matt Nagy from the former league Chicago Bears.
I actually kind of like that. OK, Matt Nagy.
All right, so that is I like it. I think it's pretty solid there.
I think anytime you bring in somebody with with head coaching
experience, which Matt Nagy has. And by the way, you know, Matt
Nagy when he was with Mitch Trubisky in Chicago, I know it
didn't really work out in Chicago, didn't really work out
with Mitch Trubisky, but Mitch Trubisky's best years were under
Matt Nagy. So I do.
I don't know if I'd say it's a home run.
I like it. I think it's very excuse me, I
think it's very solid. Good job with that J Rod, by the
way. You see, that's what I'm saying.
That's that's why J Rod makes the big Bucks theory.
He's got to, you know, make sure you're missing anything on
social media. So we scouring that if anything
happens with the Knicks, with Giannis, anything with The Jets,
OC J Rod knows he's got the green light, he's got the
latitude. Just pop in, let me know what's
going on, I'll react and then I'll get back to what's going
on. Now, if it's a massive, massive
move by something like if it's Giannis, what I have prepared
today is going to be pushed to the side and we'll do all
Giannis. I don't think I need to do that
with Matt Nagy. The big hire is John Horribaugh.
I gave you a little little background on Nagy.
I like him. I do like him.
I think anytime you get some head coaches in the building,
which is why to me, Frank Reich is pretty appealing.
I don't think he's a home run either, but pretty appealing for
The Jets. Although it doesn't seem like
The Jets are very series with Frank Reich, and it seemed like
they were. It seems like it's more Roman.
I don't know. I know they had the two
interviews yesterday, but I I just think that that's good now
that horrible doesn't need it. Like Aaron Glenn needs it.
I mean, Aaron Glenn needs everything.
I mean, jeez, I mean, yeah, you got to get this guy a clue and a
road map just to get this team out of the abyss.
But if John Horrible trust John. Matt Nagy, I think I think first
of all, you lean on that. You trust his instincts.
She's not bringing in somebody who's not good at his job.
I think it there's got to be you know, there's got to be some
some concepts and and some philosophies that they share.
There's got to be an ability to work with each other.
So I like it. I do.
I think it's a good job by the Giants.
All right, there you go some real time reaction to the giants
new OC All right, and now the giants staff is just about done.
Now The Jets will hopefully follow suit, get off their
behinds, get off their asses and find a way to get somebody to
take this job that, let's face it, you got to be pretty nuts to
take or you got to be pretty desperate.
Because the one thing contrary to the giant situation compared
to The Jets, like if you're going to work for John horrible
#1 there's a, a real conviction that you're going to win right
away and that you're going to be very competitive right away.
Whereas if you sign on to be on Aaron Glenn staff, you know, if
he's one and five or if he's 2 and 8 and the optics are awful
and they're getting whacked like they were in December, Aaron
Glenn is going to get fired. And then you are going to be
Elaine Belk and then the new coach, presumably somebody like
Gruden or or, you know, make a make a big swing from Mike
Tomlin. You're going to be left on the
side of the road and you're not going to be valued and you're
going to be fired. Now you'll make the money.
But, you know, still, there's logistics, uprooting family and
moving across the country in some cases.
And, you know, putting the kids in school like that is the one
thing that does get lost a little bit when you talk about
coaches. And, you know, yeah, these these
guys do make pretty good money. I mean, Harbaugh's basically
making 20 mil and an offensive coordinator of value is going to
make millions, not, you know, 67800 thousand.
He's going to pick, he's going to make millions.
He's going to have a guaranteed deal.
I don't know if the terms will be as long as John, but that is
a, a, a basically a guaranteed safety net to join somebody
that's one that you trust, that you've got rapport with that
you've got belief in. And the Giants building has been
stabilized because they brought in a winner and they brought in
a culture guy and they brought in somebody that everybody's
lauded. Whereas with Aaron it again,
it's it's pretty much the antithesis.
Not a knock on Aaron. I mean, he had an awful first
year. That's the knock.
But it's just a very different evaluation.
So I think anybody that The Jets get, it's kind of out of
desperation or somebody who's trying to reignite a career
which could be laced with desperation.
So there you go, that that just crept in and there you go.
So I dropped off my son how to work out last night.
I drive. It's funny the way I structure
these shows, like when you're doing a show on the Fan, you
know, you know, you're going to get a ton of calls and you're
going to, you know, have a, a main topic or, or, and, and then
obviously a secondary topic. And of course, we got lucky.
There were a lot of stories when me and Sal were on the air, like
it was like, for whatever reason, they just they
parachuted into BT and Sal like that's, that's the show that
that got all the breaking news, which was a lot of fun and we
got to get that live reaction. Now some days are easy.
You know, Monday after a jet giant game coach gets fired.
I mean, those are layups. You come out and Give your
opinion. I mean, you hammer the phones
for four hours, you call it a day.
It's a little different with a, with a, with a YouTube show.
There's got to be a little bit more structure and some days
it's a little less obvious what I'm going to talk about.
So I dropped my son off at the at the workout.
As I said, I'm like, what do I feel like doing tomorrow?
Like, all right, we did Yanis the other day.
We're not going to get news tonight.
I don't think, I don't think we'll get news today.
This was me thinking last night. I don't think we'll get news
today. You know, obviously the Giants
situation is fairly resolved, although we just got that nugget
right there with the OC. You know, I'm not going to get
on the air and talk about mix in terms of the winning streak.
I'm not going to lead with St. John's, although I will give you
a little bit of of St. John's game tonight and more
importantly, UConn on Friday at the Garden.
Like, what do I want to do? I say I want to do baseball.
What do you think I want to do? So I have constructed a list
right now. This is both for the Yankee and
the Mets fan. I've got the 10 burning
questions, the questions, the most pressing issues that will
face the Yanks and the Mets coming into the season.
Now, just a little Full disclosure here there.
I very easily could have added to the list like, you know, will
the Mets were the Yankees and I think more the Mets at that
point because I think they've got a better farm system by a
mile and they've probably got more of an appetite to to pay
school whatever he's going to demand when he is on the open
market. But I didn't incorporate things
that could happen or I think should happen or maybe could
happen. This is basically as, yes, I
know Booty's already down to Tampa.
He got there yesterday. And I'm sure Mendy's in the
vicinity as well, Port Saint Lucie.
So this is more like what the teams have already done.
Who's already on the team. It's not a projection of what I
think they will do. It's currently as currently
constituted, all right, as currently constructed, both
rosters, the 10 most pressing issues for the Yankees and the
Mets. And we'll go in descending
order. And it's a total list.
So I think there's six Yankees. I think there's four Mets or
maybe even 5 and 5. I actually think or might be one
more Yankee item. But we started #10 #10 is a bad
issue and #10 starts with Sean Manaya.
All right, So is Sean Manaya going to bounce back?
That that to me is number 10 #10 will Sean Manaya bounce back?
Now, to be clear, Sean doesn't have to, you know, re establish
himself as the staff base that he was the final eighteen starts
of the season back in 2024 where the Mets almost made a World
Series run. Well, I mean they made a real
run, almost got to the World Series.
And that obviously with Sean coincided with the tweak in the
wind up, obviously coming more from the outside, a little bit
more deceptive and everything just married and and he really
did look like an ace. And I've never thought even when
Sean was a young ascending interesting picture.
I never viewed him as a guy who had top shelf a stuff.
And and you know that that's fine because I think in this
situation, I don't think he has to be with Peralta One, I would
imagine McClain too. I mean, sure, if you want to
protect McClain, you can even throw you could put Manaya 2 to
start the year and McClain 3 or even Peterson 3, McClain 4 Homes
5. There's a lot of different
variations as to how the Mets can structure their their
starting rotation. Obviously it's gone.
I believe Tong at some point, not to start the year, but I
believe at some point Tom will be in the mix and get the and
get the baseball with with decent frequency.
I think at the end of the year, Tong's probably going to be in
the rotation. I like him.
I like him, so I'm a fan of his. I'm a massive believer in
McClain, but #10 for me is Will. Sean and I have bounced back to
the point of maybe some middle ground.
Not the ace that he was for those final eighteen starts, as
I said, back in 2024, but certainly not the guy that was
getting bamboozled left and right and was an absolute
floundering mess who the Mets could not trust.
I mean, his ERA was almost five. I think it was slightly over 5
1/2. I think it was actually 5.64.
So if you get that, you have problems.
If you get the 2024 version of Shawn Manaya, which I don't
think that you will get, then you win the division going away,
in my opinion, with the added sticks and the other elements
we'll get to but #10 will Shawn Manaya bounce back?
All right #9 But, you know, I should have done a little.
Yeah. I should have put J Rod to work
last night, right? You know, how about a little
music, a little #10 a little theatrical president.
What? We'll start adding those bells
and whistles. We will.
That one is, I'm thinking about that.
I'm like, why didn't I do that? Number 9.
All right, Now, this will not be answered right away.
This will be answered, I would say April.
Let's get into May and then you got to give him some runway, see
where he's at. I would imagine that by July
1st, we're going to have the answer as to how long of a leash
the Yankees are willing to provide Anthony Volpe at this
point. I mean, you're, you're really
when you look at Anthony Volpe and you, you look at the draft
status, which is the first round pick, you look at the local
angle, which obviously adds to the noise, both the good noise
when he does well, like when he hit the grand and I was in the
stadium when he hit the Grand Slam in the World Series against
the Dodgers. I'm sure, you know, like if Soto
would have done that or obviously Judge or you know,
Verdugo, how do you do like somebody like that?
It would have been nuts because it's a Grand Slam of the World
Series, but there was like just a there was a personalization.
I it just New Jersey kid Grand Slam World Series.
Wow. And then last year he really
fell apart and didn't take any steps forward in terms of things
he's got to correct. We're no longer at the point of
well, you know, he's young and you know, we still figuring
things out. Let's play three seasons here.
And the thing about Anthony is that what he's not good at is is
very hard to justify running him out there on a daily basis.
Now I do. And Aaron pushes, Baron Boone
pushes back on this, this one aspect.
And I agree with him. Like there was a point for a
month where he was a mental mess.
He was a catastrophe defensively at shortstop.
Now as a rookie when he won the Gold Glove, he was really good.
He wasn't Ozzie Smith, you know, he wasn't, you know, Viscal,
somebody like that. But he fielded the position
really well and he was about timing because he doesn't have a
great arm. So everything's got to be In
Sync and he's got to be technically sound and perfect
and he's got to have the range, which he does.
But the disintegration of the season a year ago, like it's one
thing is we watch Volpe and he's not getting on base with any any
any real frequency, high strikeout rate, low walk rate.
So the tools of Anthony Volpe are not really on display
because what he's bad at, he's statistically among the worst in
baseball AD like you can't be getting on base 2829% of the
time. You just can't.
You can't have an OPSI know it crept over, got a little bit
higher last year, but you cannot consistently have an OPS in the
six changes or an O or an on base percentage between 285 and
2 99. You just can't have it.
It's untenable. Like you can't do it.
You I don't you can't do it for the Pirates and you sure as shit
can't do it for the New York Yankees when you try to win a
World Series and there's other issues that you've got to worry
about. I don't know.
I don't know what to expect from Anthony Volpe.
My, my fear with Anthony is that he's really got to go through a
major mechanical overhaul. And part of it is philosophical
in terms of what he's looking to do.
And the other aspect it is, is really just getting the bat on a
certain plane that will allow him to do what I think he's best
equipped to do. You know, now, I don't know if
he's ever going to hit this height.
A matter of fact, if I had a bet on it at this point, I'd
probably say more no than yes because there's just too many at
bats, too many empty at bats of, of evidence where I'm like, man,
I, I just, I, I, I can't, I can support him and I could root for
him, but the conviction has really waned.
It just has. And you know, he's got a little
pop and he can run, but when you're not on base, that speed
is, is marginalized. So that's a big problem.
If Anthony, if Anthony Volpe was just a 260 hitter instead of
hitting 2:12 and 2:10 and 2:13, whatever it might be in that
neighborhood, which is just unacceptable for a first round
pick. If he's A26262265 guy and
instead of being on base 2829% of the time, 3/12, 3:15, you
know, just kind of even, not even 3:20.
But you now couple that with a, with a batting average that I
know it's an antiquated stat, but for him, I think it's really
important to his development and to his long term viability
because if he's not on base, he's not running.
And if he's not running and he's striking out a lot and he's not
a pure power guy, he's got, you know, he's got a little, a
little sneaky power here and there, but that shouldn't be his
game. So #9 for me is what's the
length on the leash for Anthony Volpe?
Because he's not going to be ready to start the season and
all these things. I told you I was texting with
his dad the other day and I know that the Yankees gave a
favorable update as well. I know Boonie said that that
he's coming along a little ahead of schedule.
He's not going to start the season.
It's not going to be ready in April.
So Caballero is going to get run there.
I don't I I know they don't trust Rosario to play shortstop
defensively. So it's going to be Caballero
show. I mean it really is and during
that point, I I think the more Caballero plays, I think the
more he's exposed. So I think it's going to be a
welcome return for Anthony Volpe.
And then you get Caballero back to that super sub spot, little
third, a little second, a little short, a little left, a little
right. You want to get judge off his
feet, whatever. But then it's that it's
evaluation time that if it's the same stuff swinging for the
fences, you know, missing balls by a mile, you know, having AK
rate that is in the, you know, the higher percentage of Major
League Baseball. You know, the whiff rate, the K
rate, you know, the walk rate, the raw, all the numbers that,
that that I that, that I know matter that some of you laugh at
what I reference. Hey, if he's not on base, he
ain't going to play. I think this is the year,
really, where the Yankees have more of a hard line and a more
defined stance as to how long they run Volpe out there.
So #9 is the length of the leash on Volpe.
Boom. 10 Ken Manaya return to somewhat, it's a loose
approximation, 70% of what he was at the end of 2024 #10 #9
Volpe #8 This one's going to be very interesting.
Ken, can you fully trust Devin Williams as the closer?
You know, you're talking about a guy and I'm not just going to
bombard you with numbers here, I don't have to.
But if you're a baseball fan, you knew before he went to the
Yankees, he was, he was untouchable unless you're Pete
Alonso touches them up in the biggest spot.
But you know, in totality, Devin Williams that he wasn't didn't
throw as hard as Mariano, but he was kind of in the neighborhood
of being that dominant where you just couldn't touch him.
And three years in a row the ERA was sub to you know, didn't put
guys on base, didn't walk guys just an automatic boom lights
out punch you out quick, effective, dominant and really
no hiccups over his career in Milwaukee superstar.
We're to the point where you can really make the case like those
three years that he put up if Devin Williams and that last
year was awful. But if Devin Williams had three
more or four more years like he had those three years and and
even before that where they were really good, it's just not quite
as dominant. David Williams putting up Hall
of Fame stats, like, I know that that sounds crazy, but he really
was. Now, you don't need him to be a
Hall of Famer with the Mets, but it can't be Armando Benitez, he
can't be Braden Looper, He's not going to be Edwin Diaz.
Understand that. But this is where it becomes
really interesting for me, the emotion that's going to be in
Citi Field because, you know, we still don't know if this guy's
built for New York. I mean, just because you left
the Yankees, you still in New York, you're only 9 or 10 miles
away. And the expectations, while
historically it's different, obviously the Yankees brand is
different than the Mets, but the Mets expect to win this year and
I think more importantly, the Mets.
Fans expect to win this year. So if Devin Williams, and I'm
going to give him credit here, you know, there's been a lot of
guys and like these are old names like Eddie Whitson.
I'm just throwing out some guys who Carl Pavano.
There were certain dudes that came here, Sonny Gray or Rabu
that just got off to such a bad start.
They couldn't stabilize it and it's off the tracks and it's
they got to go like first they got to stop pitching and or
playing in meaningful spots. And then eventually they got to
go like they got to be banished from the Yankees or the Mets
because New York is swallowing them up.
What I do believe that Devin Williams is going to be really
good. I believe that he's going to
recalibrate because he did last year.
And while the the stats for Devin Williams compared to his
Milwaukee stats were heinous, it was largely hijacked by
certainly an awful April and then one other bumpy month.
Like he had a couple of months where he was really good.
So the fact that he was able to kind of gained control of his
own narrative, which was spinning off the road tells me
that I do think, I do think I think that Devin Williams is
built for this. I do.
But if he stumbles early, especially with the exodus of
Diaz, who you guys love and he's he's the best closer in
baseball, he better start well because and the other thing too,
if he doesn't, there's no other options, at least immediately.
Like when he didn't pitch well for the Yankees, the Yankees
were able to mess around and and and have some other arms, then
eventually go and make a pivot and go out there and get Bednar.
He is the guy Diaz is with the Dodgers and they're going to win
105 games. So if he doesn't pitch well
early, that sound and you know, that's like, it's one thing to
Boo a guy, right? It's one thing to react to a
guy's poor performance. But there's a different sound.
It's kind of it's really, it's only like New York and Philly.
They even Boston's not quite like the New York and Philly
baseball vitriol machine. There's a little word of warning
to Devin Williams. Flush that nonsense out fast and
start well. That's number 8.
So #10 if just tuning in, the most pressing concerns and
questions for the Yankees and Mets heading into the season.
And again, I'm not throwing in there.
Will the Mets get school ball? Will the Yankees get a righty
bat, which I know they're going after?
Will they add another arm for April and May like a back of the
rotation guy? There's other guy.
There's other things that can happen and that very like more
ancillary things. I don't think there's any big
ticket items. I keep saying trade for Nico
Horner. I don't think the Cubs are going
to do it and I just don't think he's going to be here as much as
I want him here. So I guess I got to stop saying
that. It's more about how much do they
trust Dominguez? Does Jones make the team?
Do they make a little trade that on the margins here and there
like a Rosario Caballero move like they did a year ago?
So there you go. Manaya length of lease for Volpe
#8 is Devin Williams truly, truly built?
I'm talking about from April to October for New York.
I don't mean sporadically grade and then intermittently awful.
That's not going to fly. And if it does, he is going to
be punished by the fans in Queens.
And it should be all right #7 This one really excites me.
Is Ben Rice on the precipice of
being a star? Is he on the beginning part of
his journey where he's going to be a great Yankee hitter?
I believe he is. To the point where I know the
Aaron won't do this to start the year, to the point where I trust
him so much that I would actually have Bellinger bat
first, Aaron Judge bat 2nd, and I would put Ben Rice 3rd.
And now even if they bring back Goldschmidt, whatever, get one
year, $10 million. He made 12 million last year.
If they do bring him back, he's going to play less even than he
did a year ago because it's the season went on.
You saw, you know, how his role was diminished.
You know, platoon against the lefty once or twice a week.
It was pretty much Ben Rice's show at first base.
And it should be, you know, he's 26.
He's got blossoming power and he's got things that you really
can't teach, I think, and that's, you know, plate
discipline and all that other stuff.
I mean, you're talking about somebody, right?
Who when you, I'm going to reference Savant here without
hitting you with a ton of numbers, but just know that red
is good, blue is bad. When you look at the first seven
offensive categories on Savant, the 1st 7, he is in the 90
percentile on the 1st 7. So, you know, people who laugh
were like, dude, why do you reference these?
I'm going to tell you why, because there's context to
hitting and there's circumstances more than anything
to baseball. Like if you are a 33%, which
sucks, a 33% shooter from downtown to the NBA, you're just
not a good shooter. Not I mean your first year, like
if you're a year three-year 4 and you're shooting 3233% or
4142% from the floor, if you're a guard, like those numbers are
hard, right? You're just not a good shooter.
Now, maybe you might take up a little bit in your in your
absolute prime, but you're never going to be an elite shooter.
You're never going to be an above league average shooter in
my opinion. But when you look at baseball
specifically, right, I do think in that sport, more than any
numbers lie. And you can have a guy who's
hitting 290, whatever, but it's a soft 290.
And I know it's an antiquated stat, but it's still a point of
reference. You can be a you can have a year
where you hit a soft 290 couple balls drop, you know, whatever
any ball you hit. That's why they have expected
average expected on baseball. That's expected slugging, all
those geeky stuff. You know, those are some of the
1st 7 stats, by the way. It's just to me, a road map to
#1 how hard do you hit the ball? And Ben Rice absolutely hammers
the baseball. Quantifiable by every baseball
metric, trust me. So it's not as like always, is
Ben Rice, what was Ben Rice, just a cute little story last
year? No, to me, it's 7 layers past
that and #7 for me on the 10 most pressing items for New York
baseball coming into the season is very simple.
Is Ben Rice going to be a star? And I believe he is.
I mean, you know, he didn't even play all the time last year, hit
26 home runs, had at 8:30 OPS. Now you look at his K rate,
which is right around 18%. And that's in the 65 percentile.
So that's actually pretty good. If he shapes, and I think he
will because I know he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a gym rat, you
know, went to Dartmouth, played Ivy.
You know, he's got the brain power.
You know, he's putting in time. You know, he's gotten bigger.
They talked about that last year.
And and the ball just sounds different off his bat.
It's not quite Stanton. But outside of Stanton and
Judge, there is nobody, not even close on the New York Yankees
that hits the ball consistently as hard as Ben Rice does.
And I'll put it a step further. When you go throughout baseball
and you have the Stantons and the Judges and a few other guys
that really do barrel up the ball with great frequency, Ben
Rice is right there in terms of like average exit below.
That's not by accident. That means when the ball's in
the zone, whether it's a fastball, A curveball, a change
up, Ben Rice is smashing it. Like you don't have an 830 OPS
the first time you really play and be in the 90.
And some of those percentiles, by the way, are like 9697
percentile, have the 1st seven, first seven truly important
hitting stats and hitting measurements in baseball on
baseball Savant and be north of 90 percentile if you're not the
real deal. So is Ben Rice going to be a
star? That is #7 for me.
All right, number six, you know, I like this player not quite as
much as Ben Rice. But what is, what is Brett
Beatty's ultimate role here? What is it going to be for the
Mets? What is his role?
I don't know, I think it depends on how Polanco does it first and
I think it'd be fine. I think it depends on how you
know. I know Simeon likes to play
every day, but did they give him some rest?
I think it depends on well, less dependent on this because
Bichette's going to play third base no matter what and I think
it'll be fine over there defensively, but you might give
him a rest here and there, whatever.
If he if he's scuffling, you know, kicking the ball around
for a minute. So maybe he'll get some time at
3rd. I know Ben just going to get a
look in left field. So is Beatty.
So you're talking about a player to me who's going to get some
run at first base, at second base, at third base and in left
field and at DH against lefties, right.
That is that is a lane to to borrow S term, by the way, Sal
tomorrow 10:15 here on BT unleashed.
I'm pumped. That is a lane for the Mets to
pencil in the name Beatty a lot this year.
Now, is he going to hit first or second or third or fourth?
No. Is he going to hit fifth?
Probably not. I think to start a good spot and
it really depends a lot on on on on Louise Robert, like if Robert
is more like the earlier White Sox version, because I think
right now Roberts probably toward the bottom, you know,
Alvarez somewhere in that seven spot, something like that.
And then if Benj makes the team, maybe you have Benj 9 because he
could run. So Benj 9, Robert eight, who
could also run. I mean, there's there's
tantalizing possibilities with this Mets lineup.
I'm not bad at it. I kind of like what the Mets
did, as you know, And then maybe Alvarez 7.
I could see Beatty Sweet Spot being 6 and I can see if Baby's
really rocking, which I think he will.
I can see him maybe being elevated to five with certain
matchups after a while. But he's got to play like he's
got to play and the challenge for a young player and not
everybody can like there's not many players in and he did this
a year ago. That's why I'm really bullish on
his future. Number one, I always thought
he'd be a hitter and he is. And once you saw him play third
base regularly and then remember latest in the season, and this
is a big mistake by Mendoza, he was running Vientos out of third
base. The disparity in defensive
prowess between Beatty and Vientos is night and day.
Vientos is awful and Beatty's fine.
I mean, it's that simple, right? So the challenge for a young
player when you're not penciled in the same spot, whether it's
in the three hole or the 2 hole or the five hole, and I think
more importantly, the same defensive position, it's you're
juggling a lot because your preparation for that night, not
to mention every day in spring training, it's just busier than
everybody else. I mean, if you're Lindor, you
got your routine, you know you're hitting first, you know
you're playing short and that's it.
You know Roberts going to be in center field to his fungos and
center all day, right? Benj is going to learn to play
left a little bit. Soto's going to be in right.
They know where they're playing now.
Polanco's got to get some work at first base.
But if you're Brett Beatty, you know you are, You're taking
balls at second, you're taking balls at 3rd and it's a totally
different spin and it's a totally different timing
mechanism. Ball gets on you with third
base, you got to be quicker. Second base, you got more time.
And he's not a great, great athlete.
So, you know, positioning and anticipation and all the really
the mechanics of the position for somebody like Beatty at 2nd
or Paramount, Like he's just not, yeah, he's a, he's a, he's
fine athlete, but he's not Robbie Alamar.
Not not Robbie Alamar, the Mets version, the real Robbie Alamar,
Toronto, San Diego. So he's never going to be that
guy. But think about what's going to
be on his plate. And Oh yeah, by the way, he's
still learning to hit at the Major League level.
So I'm a big Beatty fan, you know that I think he's going to
play a lot this year. He's going to play all over the
place. I mean, what do you have, 18
home runs? Yeah, eighteen home runs and he
had 393 at bats. I mean, I'm not saying he's
going to 35 or 40, but he's not going to be a 212 hitter at
2:55. You know, he's going to be AI
would think this year, if I had a guess, I think Beatty's going
to be the neighborhood low end, 775 OPS high end.
That could be higher, but I think it's going to be the
neighborhood of 775 to 820. You know, maybe 8:30.
Last year was was good and last year was promising.
So I'm a Baity fan and that's number six.
What is his role? It's got to be defined and then
he's got to deliver, which I think he will.
All right, what's this one say here?
Yeah, good job Jay Popham in here.
You guys want to react to this year.
Let me know what you're thinking at Jason 7638.
Hey, is there a golden chance? Is there a golden chance the
Mets starting rotations so good they make the bullpen elite by
adding Holmes back to the pen to join Weaver and Williams?
It's a really good question, Jason.
I appreciate that. I mean, I'm not going to give
you an odds on that, but I I listen, let's just play the
numbers game, right? So right now Clay Holmes is a
starter. And by the way, at the end of
the season, he was your best starter.
So you don't just discard him. All right.
But let's just say Peralta, definitely one, let's say just
to protect him, Manaya too. And then and then you get to
McClain. Peterson's obviously going to be
in the rotation. If you get to a situation where
Tong, who I believe is going to start in AAA Syracuse and then
dominate and then quickly get the call back up and eventually
be in the rotation before it's all said and done, that's 5.
And that's not even counting Sanga, who I know many of you
are ready to move on from. But when Sang is healthy and
Sang is right, Sang is pretty good.
Now the problem with Sangra is I think he's a little soft, you
know, very slow to recover from injuries.
Like he's one of these guys, I call him like a humidor guy.
It's got to be perfect temperature.
You know, if you're, I'm not a big cigar guy, I've tried just
not, I don't know, like, you know, you playing these golf
outings or you go to a wedding and they hand out cigars.
I don't, I don't love them. It could be a, a $4550 Cuban.
It doesn't hit me the way I, I wish it did because I would
really enjoy it, you know? But if you have a good cigar,
it's got to be in the humidor. Otherwise it's going to get dry,
it's going to start to crack off, whatever, you know, it's
got to have perfect a little moisture, a little perfect
temperature. And to me, he's a humidor
pitcher. If it's 1° in the wrong
direction, my hamstring, my shoulder, oh, I need 6 days, an
extra day off. Like it is annoying.
I understand and it's a lot to juggle, but back to the question
there, I do think that there's a chance that that's possible.
And if it does happen and and what's worth from the 9th inning
backwards because I gave you the rotation, let's go Williams.
At that point, I would go Holmes and then I would go Weaver.
Like I would trust Holmes more than I would trust Weaver.
So, you know, and then it's it's, it's a, it's a very
appealing possibility. Now we can wake up tomorrow and
they trade sangha like they just don't want to put up with it
anymore. Whatever they get somebody, they
get a, they get a bullpen arm, somebody needs a starter.
You know what he signed five years, I think was five years,
$75 million, couple of years already lopped off.
So he doesn't have much left on the term.
So if you have a team, a small market team that views him, all
right, I got two years to go, whatever it might be.
Maybe the Mets will buy out some money, maybe not.
Let me put him in the rotation, hope for the best, because when
he's good, he's good. And, you know, that would be a
pretty plausible move or a possibility for a team that's
still going to take a shortcut, roll the dice and somebody with
some upside who's not making a ton of money.
And it's not a long term commitment, but I do think that
that's possible. I think that's a that's an
astute observation on your part. Good text right there.
Keep them coming. Hit me up.
I'll jump in, you know, to the text as I see them.
All right, so in descending order real quick, the 10 most
pressing issues facing the Yanks and Mets entering the 2026
season #1 Desean Manaya bounce back.
Pardon me #10 My bad #10 Does Manaya bounce back #9 What's the
length of Volpe's leash? How much do they keep running
them out there? When he comes back and he gets
some chances to really play every day, gets Caballero back
to a super sub spot. If he's not performing, what are
they going to do #8 can you fully trust Devin Williams?
That's a big one. Number seven is Ben Rice a star?
You know, I love the kid. My answer is yes.
Number six is Brett Beatty. You know, what is his role when
it's ultimately defined and do they run them out there enough
for him to, I think, fulfill a a fairly high end hitting or
profile as a hitter? Charlie, F6675 Mets issue last
year. Thank you for that, Charlie,
Appreciate it. Buddy was more their starting
pitcher than their core, in my opinion.
Perolta trades aces. Now Stearns needs to finish by
getting top closer. Williams was a disaster last
year, far from a guarantee. Well, he's your closer, so don't
expect somebody to come, you know, down to Port Saint Lucie
magically out of thin air. Devin Williams is the closer.
Whether or not he remains the closer, Well, that's the
evaluation. Because think about and there's
always a way to pivot guys, you know, think about the Yankees
bullpen. Last year it was Devin Williams
and then it was Bednar, you know, and the year before Weaver
was a beast and then he wasn't, you know, so Clay Holmes was
really good. Then he was gone.
You know, it it it's such a revolving door and such an
unpredictable position. I don't get no, I'm not talking
about closer as much as I am that that 7th, 8th in and even
high ish leverage 6th in They like in a in a tight game.
Those other guys, I mean, they just fluctuate wildly.
So you're not going to invest a ton of money or a ton of terms
in a 7th or an eighth inning guy.
You will do with your closer. Williams does not have a long
term. It's in and out.
If it doesn't work out, boom, see ya, which is part of this
Mets at least Stern's pitching philosophy as they groom some of
the young guns there. So I I think that it's I do
think it's a good question, but I would also push back in the
regard that or good point that I also think that the Mets core
was not good yet last year and even in the year before.
I don't need to do that again. We've talked about it.
We all know who was proven right ultimately, you know, so they've
moved on and they saw what what several of us saw.
They just didn't say it. They did something about it
because it's their team and that's what you got to do.
So I, I think it's fair. I think you're partially right.
I would partially put push back on the other stuff.
OK #5 It's just something about this guy that bothers me and I
don't know why. I mean, I do I'm going to
quantify why in a minute. But on the surface, like if I
said yo, Yanks going to have a guy in center field who's going
to hit 34 home runs, 240 something, 250 almost, right?
He's going to be a good center field.
They're not great. And I know the metrics took a
step back, but he's going to hit 34 home runs in center field and
he's going to have pretty good range and he's going to have a
decent arm and he's going to go get most of the balls out there.
He never going to embarrass you in center field, you know,
wouldn't you take that? And by the way, the Cashman did
say this and I do agree with this.
You know, I don't agree with Cash, but too much.
By the way, I haven't heard back on the invite.
Brian Cashman, the challenge that he levied to I guess
seemingly everybody the other day challenged us to talk about
that the Yankees weren't running it back and that was definitely
a World Series team. Is that I challenge anybody.
Well, I challenge him to come on the show yet to hear back.
So he's yet to accept the challenge.
Hopefully that changes. I'm not expecting it too, but I
would love to challenge him on that.
Respectfully, of course. But if you think about if you
take away the name and the qualifying offer and this
thought, which by the way, is not incredibly correct, like
there's still some of you that think because Grisham accepted
and I was surprised that he accepted it.
I was, I don't even know if I would have offered it.
Like I didn't really want Trent Grisham back.
I'm I'm on the record with that. But when you look at some of
these other contracts now, Kyle Tucker is a whole hell of a lot
better than Trent Grisham all the round.
But I mean, is he $30 million better or whatever that more
than that? Is he really?
No, I I don't think that he is not, not night to night.
I don't not that kind of money. So when Cashman said the way the
market's gone unpredictably so that at $22 million for one year
and he still basically approve it deal because once this year
expires, he's back to where he was pretty much this year, you
know, minus the QO. And he's either going to be a
free agent and stay or he's going to bounce.
And the reason why this is so important here, and I don't
really know the answer, I'm going to talk through it, but
I'm not really sure. Is last year's Grisham the new
Grisham Like that's that's number five on the most pressing
issues facing the Yanks and the Mets this year, which Grisham is
showing up. You know, please stand up.
Please stand up. See if he had had better years
prior to coming here. I think I love Trent Grisham.
The problem is before he got here, he batted $1.84, he batted
$1.89 and he batted $1.90. And his OPS in all of those
years was in the six hundreds. So it's very hard to believe
that what we saw last year is real and that you could just all
right, pencil him in Grisham going to hit 245.
He's going to hit 30 to, you know, 30 to 35 or 36 home runs.
I, I don't really know the answer to that.
Listen, I do think to be fair and he had an 811 OPS, which is
terrific. I, I don't, I think it's
probably somewhere in between. You know, he's obviously the one
80s, one 90s. I mean, that's just mystifyingly
pathetic. I mean, how the hell could he be
a Major League player and hit 189 the three years in a row?
I mean, they should tell you to pack your bags and get lost to
find the new profession. That's just so disgustingly bad.
But when you play center field and you're still in your 20s and
you're pretty good defensive player up until last, you were a
really good defensive player and you're a lefty and you're
showing a little pop, you showing a little little sizzle
in that barrel, you know, and then all of a sudden you put 34
on the board and you know, judge loves you.
You're a gamer. You fit in the clubhouse.
My problem with Grisham is really twofold.
The years before he got here and even the year when he was here
with Soto didn't didn't really do a ton, didn't play much,
didn't like him. But as a player, but also that
they have them batting lead off and that and that I can't.
I hate that. I absolutely hate that because I
don't want him. Think about this, if the Yankee,
whether it's up in Boston in June or in Toronto in August or
September, or against whomever in the playoffs or against
whomever in the World Series, right?
Do you really want Trent Grisham?
Like when the Yankees are trying to mount the rally and let's say
they've got 891 in the 8th inning, they're down a run or
two, Do you really want to see Christian's name there?
You know, do up wells. McMahon Grisham, I, I don't like
that. I don't think it's World Series
caliber, which is why, until I'm proven wrong, I don't think the
Yanks won in the World Series this year because he's in the
wrong spot. And if you tell me that he's in
the seven hole and the Yankees make an adjustment now, my
perception of Trent Grisham changes.
But when you don't have a a true #4 hitter that is physically
reliable, which they don't, and a true lead off hitter that sets
the tone and is scrappy and has long at bats and you know,
isn't, you know, isn't going to strike out a lot.
There's just too many empty at bats there with Trent Grisham.
And the last thing I want myself is Trent Grisham in the way of
Aaron Judge getting up with guys on base with a chance to win a
game or, you know, close the deficit, whatever my add to the
lead. Just don't want them up there.
And I don't think any Yankee fan does.
And I love Boone, you know, that I have a, he is a good friend at
this point. But I don't know how Aaron Boone
wants that or why they think that.
I don't know. I fundamentally disagree with
that assertion. Like, I don't think we have it
wrong with Trent Grisham. I think they have it wrong with
Trent Grisham. There's just too much evidence
to the contrary. So listen, I've been a sucker
with a lot of things, you know? Oh, Zach Wilson's going to be
great. And this, you know.
Oh, yeah. All right.
You know, all the moves that some of my teams have made, I've
taken the bait with some that they made over the years.
I take it the bait sometimes. It's called being a fan.
It's called being a little disillusioned here.
But one thing I'm not is a dope. Like, I might have some
erroneous takes here. I'm not an idiot and I do lean
on evidence. I do lean on, you know,
consistency and up until last year, the only thing that Trent
Grisham was consistently bad, consistently erratic,
consistently below league average, has one really good
year, one very interesting year, and suddenly he's the one he's
he's in the one hole and he's going to be the table setter for
team that's going to win a World Series.
When I saw Derek Jeter do that or Nabi do that or Willie
Randolph do that back in the day.
What? No.
Or Dykstra and Backman doing that in 86 for the Mets?
No, I know the game's changed a lot.
Or Otani doing it for the Dodgers, you know, or Bichette
type. It's not that guy.
I just can't have him batting first.
So if that's adjusted, I'll feel better.
But that is a big question, you know, Is last year's Grisham the
new version of Grisham now? I will leave the door slightly
open that it could be because there are players who go to
different teams that get a chance to play more and there's
a little bit of a different philosophy hitting or pitching.
But in the case of this hitting and there's a little mechanical
tweak and there's a little favorable, whether it's
dimension like a short right fuel ports 314 feet away.
I know that that all plays into it.
And obviously when you got Aaron Judge behind you, they're going
to try to get you out with fastballs for the most part
because they're terrified of of Superman coming up and in the
two run bomb instead of a solo shot, you know, so they're going
to groove some fast balls and you're going to run into some.
But that doesn't mean that you're equipped to be in that
high pressure situation, you know, in the lead off spot
against a good pitcher, a good team in a must win spot or a
must have moment. That's my push back.
I'm I'm willing to be proven wrong because I got no choice.
You know, if it was up to me, and I said this the other day, I
said this to boot at the BT and sound live show in the green
room. I said, why don't you Pat
Bellinger first once you go, Bellinger 1, Judge 2, Ben Rice
3, lefty righty, lefty, Stanton four.
And then you want to put, you know, you want to put Jazz, you
want to put Grisham 5%. OK, start figuring things out
that would be more suitable for me right now.
He's a lead off hitter. Don't love it, Not buying it
fully. Definitely not bullish, but he's
that's who he is. So we got to see.
All right #4 #4 actually, I'm going to look for a couple of
things here. Let me just stretch this out a
little bit. Anything jumping out?
Let's see. All baseball.
Yeah. Grisham's a perfect nine here.
Obvious. There's no doubt about that.
Yeah, absolutely. And Cashman did say the other
day and this one thing that I do agree with, I started to say
this, but just to finish the thought, like he did talk about
how the the market exploded in a way where you know, these got
40, fifty, $60 million a year, you know, for a couple of years,
but opt outs and all that stuff. When you really do like if Trent
Grisham hits 34 home runs this year and as an OPS of 811, even
though we might not like it now and we didn't like it when we
found out he was going to be signed, that he was going to
stay. I didn't think he was going to
do it. I thought some dope would give
him three years, whatever Yankees would say, OK, And then
the Yankees would pivot in my mind, all right, go get Tucker,
go get Bichette, go do something real.
And that was the source of my consternation early.
But if he does put up 34 bombs with a, with an above our 8800
OPS and he's making $22 million in the process, then nobody's
going to complain about that. And there would be no complaints
really, if he's not batting first there.
You know, that's that's one of the things now this is also one
of the issues here at D rod 123. What up D Rod?
Appreciate the text there. All right, so who's playing
center field if not Grish and Belly's OK, then who plays left
field Dominguez again? What?
But that's yes, I would, I think that Bellinger is not many more
years left in center field, but I think he could certainly get
away with Bellinger playing center field once for another
year or two. I got no problem with that.
I like if Ben Rice is a disaster at first base, which I don't
think he will be, there's the option to put him back there at
first base. Bellinger, listen, you talk
about Dominguez and and I'm actually much more impressed
with Dominguez than many of you. I think he's going to be a
player like a lot of times the Yankees hype their guys up and
they they tell us things that we just don't match what we've seen
or what we believe. I believe in Jason Dominguez.
Now, to what extent, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty damn
confident Jason Dominguez is the Major League Baseball player.
Like nobody's going to tell me he's not that.
When you steal 20 bases and you hit 260 and you barely play,
you're a Major League ball player.
You just are. And you're on, you're on base
percentage is actually pretty decent and you're OPS is pretty
deep considering the infrequent playing time.
Now, I mean, if you can't handle left field, you certainly can't
handle center in spacious Yankee Stadium.
So no, you're not going to put Dominguez in center.
Spencer Jones is not going to make the team in my opinion.
So that's a problem. Like if Jones was ready, I think
Jones profiles more defensively in center.
So I think one of them is going to be sent down and it's going
to be Dominguez is not starting the year in the minors.
There's no way he could be dealt.
Jones could be in the minors, but I, I, I, I'm not saying that
there's an abundance of options. I'm just telling you about
Grisham. I mean, ideally if, if Dominguez
wasn't a wasn't a disaster in the outfield, it's a very easy
answer. You put him in center field and
then they have Bellinger left. But I think if they would have
had great confidence even even though they are confident, but
that next level confidence in Dominguez, you know, and he
proved that he could play center a year ago, maybe they wouldn't
have gone after transgressor. They wouldn't have offered the
the $22 million qualifying offer.
I don't know at Avery summit Dominguez for Beatty trade why
McMahon can't hit Jazz won't be extended so likely dealt.
Yep, I agree with that. Yanks are not going to extend
Jazz. Trust me, not happening.
Stick Beatty at the same position every day.
Dominguez prime change of scenery candidate who says no.
I think both of them say no honestly.
I mean, first of all, J Rod put that back up.
There was one thing I wanted. Do you have that in front of
you? Can you put that back up?
Thank you very much. All right, so if it's just
Dominguez for Beatty straight up, I'm not saying that wouldn't
help both teams there. Although I do think the Mets are
really married to giving Benj a long runway to prove that he
could start as their left fielder.
Right. So McMahon can't hit.
All right, then. Well, what do you do with
McMahon as we know the Yankees from the Yankees port of you say
like, who says no? Well, first of all, I think
House says no. I don't think how.
You're not gonna have Ron McMahon as a bench player.
He's, he's just not that kind of like his values, playing defense
every day. You're not going to have him as
a pinch hitter because you don't trust him with the stick like
you do with the leather. So he's not going to be on the
bench playing once a week #1 he's got 16 this year, 16 next
year. You think Hal's going to buy
that out? Buy that out.
I took him forever to buy out Aaron Hicks and Gallo and some
of these other guys, you know, So I don't see him doing that.
So who says no? I think Hal says no.
And then quite frankly, just a, let's just, let's just pretend
the Mets were in Cincinnati. They're the Cincinnati Mets and
it's the New York Yankees and it's the same players and it's
Dominguez for Beatty straight up.
Well, I'm going to answer it from my point of view.
If I'm the Cincinnati Mets, I'm not giving up Beatty for
Dominguez right now. I think there's more day-to-day
value in Beatty now. He's not a he's not Brooks
Robinson, he's not Greg Metals. He's not he's not Ryan McMahon
catching the ball third base, right.
He's pretty good. So value with third base.
Like I don't love him at second based on and you can get that
down. J Rod, thank you.
I don't love him at second lack of lateral burst, but he's
functional play. Like you put it this way.
I think Beatty could play second base at this point better than
Dominguez could play left field. And if Dominguez remains as bad
as he's been in left field, then I think Beatty could actually
prove to be a competent left fielder, maybe more so than
Dominguez. You can also put Dominguez at
first base. I don't think you'd put
Dominguez there. Beatty.
Beatty at first base. Dominguez is never going to see
the infield. So who's not going to do it?
I think everybody. You know Now, if you asked me,
would I trade? Not from the Yankees point of
view. I own the Yankees.
I run the Yankees. What?
I trade Mets. Call me up.
Hey, we want Dominguez. We'll give you Beatty and
there's nothing else that's going to get thrown in there.
There's no like money. There's no like, you know, top
10 prospect because they're both kind of the same guy.
If anything, Beatty's got a little bit more on the
professional resume, obviously, because he had eighteen home
runs and he played a little bit more than than Jason Didier go.
But to me that's kind of just a a player for player swap.
And if I'm running the Yankees, would I do that?
I probably would I like Brett, I like Brett Beatty.
I probably would, but I'm also, you know, not as down on on the
biggest as some of you are. So all right, let's get back to
the list. Good question so far just to
reset it big questions, pressing questions facing the Yanks and
Mets going into the season again, not calculating trade
school ball. Any other things that we might,
you know, that might come across our, our, our team's desks in
the next month or so? Bullpen arms, 4th outfield, the
righty stake, what they currently have.
Both teams #10 through Sean and I have bounced back #9 What's
Volpe's length of? What's the leash?
How long do they give him to figure it out?
It's going to be different this year.
It has to be #8 Can you fully trust Devin Williams?
Just don't butcher two or three saves early in Queens because
you will not recover. You have to start well, don't
think you will, but you have to #7 Is Ben Rice's star.
Is he on the precipice of becoming an offensive star?
I believe he is number six. What's Beatty's role told you?
That number 5 is last year's Grisham, the new grisham #4.
Let's move up here on the list. Key #4 #4 will Cole get back to
being Gerrit Cole? Will Gerrit Cole get back to
being his former self? Now, the last full season that
Gerrit Cole pitched, he won the Cy Young.
You know, people forget that not last year didn't pitch at all.
Year before he was a, he was a Cy Young winner in 2023.
So he won in 23/20/24. I think he had 18 starts.
Remember, he started late, it was good, like good.
Still more strikeouts in innings, not not quite as
dominant, but good because that there was something wrong.
And then last year didn't throw a single pitch.
And now he's on the comeback, he's on the mend.
And listen, you have to start with a couple of things #1 even
at his apex now, like he could dial it up to 98.
Like we've seen that very often from Gary Cole.
But he's not so reliant on the fastball that if there's a
slight diminishment in this fastball, which by the way, when
he's fully healthy and back in the groove, I don't think there
will be like that doesn't really happen with Tommy John.
You come back, you throw as hard as you used to, maybe it tick
more. It just doesn't happen
overnight. All right?
So it's going to be a learning curve.
He's got to learn to trust his body, snap it off, that nasty
secondary stuff. It's not going to happen right
away. But eventually, will Gerrit Cole
get back to being Gerrit Cole? That's the important question.
And my answer is yes. And even if it's 85 to 90% of
Garrett Cole, well, that's OK. Because when Garrett Cole was
shouldering the burden of being the staff ace for the Yankees
all those years when they got him right, there was really
nobody behind him that was even close to measuring up to Garrett
Cole. There was a fairly precipitous
drop. Garrett Cole to #2 to #3 right.
Well, Max Fried's pretty much as good as Garrett Cole, you know,
And if he's not as good at as Cole was at at Garrett Cole's
absolute best. He's in he's in the zip code,
man. He's not.
He's not too many miles away. He's phenomenal.
So you're going to have a you to be a little less dependent on on
Gary Cole pitching every big game and relying on him to win
every big game because if he doesn't, the Yanks are the whole
now I know Freed got shelled in Toronto like it's baseball.
I mean Maddox has gotten shelled, Clemens has gotten
shelled. Randy Johnson shilling Pedro,
you name a baseball and all time great.
Tom Siever had a couple of stiffs, you know, stiff outings,
Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, it's baseball.
You know, you want to overreact to some things like the Red Sox
wild card game couple of years ago when she when Cole got
rocked. Go for it Freed last year.
Go for it. I look at you in totality.
You know, how many pitches do you have?
You know, how comfortable are hitters against you and myself?
I, I think really one of my favorite stats, like you could
look at now ERA WHIP, blah, blah, blah.
To me, and I've said this for a while, I think the best stat
because it tells you everything that I need to know as a as a as
a former player, not at that level, obviously, but opponents
batting average against, if you got a dude who's, you know,
opponents batting average against is 198 or 212 or 219 or
220. I mean, even if the WHIP in the
ERA is a tick higher than like, you know, Cy Young stuff, That's
the guy that I want out there taking the baseball because I
know it's an uncomfortable at bat.
You know, you don't hit 212 against somebody if you're
comfortable, You just don't yet 270 or 300 or 320.
So when Garrett Cole comes back with Freed shouldering a lot of
that burden, with Cam Schlittler taking that next step, which I
absolutely believe he will, you've got it's time for Gerrit
Cole to figure it out. And provided that he does, which
I believe that he will, I think the Yankees will have the best
rotation in baseball. Firmly believe it said it for a
while. Yankees will have the best if
those things happen. Yankees rotation in terms of
high end dominant stuff, in terms of depth.
Because you very well might have a situation where Carlos Rodan
is number 5 at the very they might be #4 You know, and Carlos
Rodan and you can complain about them all you want.
He was pretty good last year. I still, I'm not all in on him
because you can't fully trust him in the big spot.
We've seen that. But Carlos Rodin's good.
And if Carlos Rodin is going against the opposing teams 4th
best pitcher, like 4th in their rotation, Rodin goes from good
to really good. So that's a big question.
Will Garrett Cole get back to being Garrett Cole?
I think it's less about, you know, will he and a more like
when will he be that guy? Because I believe that he will
#3 All right, let's stick with pitching here.
This is a joint Yankee Met one. Is Schlittler and McClain the
real deal? Are they for real?
Are Schlittler and McClain blossoming superstars?
And for me, the answer, no doubt.
Yes, they are. Now, that doesn't mean one of
them might not get up to a rough start.
It's funny, I was talking to my Buddy Guy who played a lot of
baseball, too. He's like, you know, the the
league now has a book a little bit here on on Cam Schlittler
and McClain. Yeah, understood.
It's a two way St. They also have a book on the
league. They also have a bit of a
familiarity a little bit, but they've got some Intel they
didn't have before. They came up to the bigs and
pitched and made a real mark for the Yanks and Mets about, you
know what certain umpires, you know, even it's going to
automate it eventually. But you know, like strike zones
and you know what players can't handle, backed up by analytics,
but also backed up by being on the bump, looking 60 feet, 6
inches away and knowing what somebody can handle and what
they can't. All right.
And when you're in the minors, it's a theory.
When you've done it in the majors, even if it's if it's a
small sample, it's a real tangible thing.
So to me, that's one of the big parts of both of these team
seasons. Like if McClain is the horse I
expect him to be, I love him, you know that.
And Schlittler is the horse that all Yankee fans, I think all
baseball people, and McClain as well, not just Met fans,
baseball people expect those guys to be.
Now the the elevation for what the Yanks of the Mets this year
could be is absolutely through the roof from a pitching
perspective, from a team accomplishment perspective.
You know, think about this guys. The I mean, I know we get a
little worked up with the hype. You know, I remember I was on
the Louis Hill train. You know, it was first couple of
months couple of years ago and you guys took me to task for
this. But of course you hijacked it,
whatever. And I was bringing up a loose
comparison. Louis Hills first X amount of
starts a couple of years back. It really wasn't that different
from. Hear me out from young Dwight
Gooden. You know some of his early
starts there and I backed it up with numbers and of course, all
B TS on the fan saying Louis heels the next Dwight Gooden.
Never said that, you idiot. Never said that, you dope.
What I did was I created a statistical thread that I
provided to you just to give you something to think about and you
can either accept it or not. And some of you did, some of you
didn't. And if you did, you're
ultimately proven wrong, like I was right.
But they look different. It looks like they have
different makeups. I think they've got slightly
different stuff. In the case of Cam Schlitter,
he's so long, the ball is on you so fast, that long wind up,
those long levers, and you watch McClain like both of these
dudes. But focusing on McClain for a
second, I don't know, man. There's something about, and I
feel the same way about Cam here too.
But you look at McClain and to me, he's just he's got the look
of the guy of the kind of guy that you give the baseball to
and it's like a must win game and it's like 46° out and it's a
full house, whether it's in Queens or LA.
And you know, like it'd be 46 in LA.
But you know what I mean? You know, out in Philly in a big
playoff game or a big Pennant race in September.
And you know, he's got the turtleneck on, he's got the
goatee and he's got the glove here and he's just dealing,
punching people out. Very few hits, impeccable
control, just buzzing through a batting order.
I would be stunned. Now, I don't mean that both of
these guys are going to go 23 and seven, you know, with a 2
point O1 ERA and a sub one WHIP. I'm, I'm not saying and 279
strikeouts, they're young, all right, There's going to be
bumps, but I've been watching New York baseball a long time,
long time. And you know, I didn't see, I
saw old Seaver at the end for a minute when he came back in 83.
I do remember that a little bit. That was so obviously.
So Doc didn't really see Pete Guidry in the 70s.
He was more in the 80s for me. Obviously Yankees brought in a
ton of studs, but like Pettitte didn't have that that stuff.
Even when Clemens was here. I don't know that he quite had
that high end stuff that he had when he was with Boston or even
Toronto when he won the couple of Cy Young's there.
These dudes are different. It's more it's more in line with
like a Matt Harvey type and you just get the sense that McClain
and Cam Schlittler are wired differently.
No disrespect to, you know, to him, but I'm I'm, you know,
let's face it. I mean, part of the reason why
he melted is because he couldn't handle the Super stardom and the
trappings of New York just couldn't do it.
And he fell in love with being a superstar.
And, you know, before you know it, that party and, you know,
I'm sure it's fun, you know, hanging out with models at the
clubs every night, whatever you doing, but you're not, you're
not focusing on your job as much as you should be.
And it eventually derailed his career.
And he's talked about that. I'm not trying to talk out of
school. And I'm going to try to diss
Matt Harvey. But like, Matt Harvey had that
stuff. Obviously degrom had that stuff.
Mets couldn't score runs for him.
These guys, they're, they're in the ballpark of having that same
stuff. And I think that their makeup is
more like degrom than Harvey. And that's a great thing.
So #3 are Cam Schlittler and McClain, are they for real?
I think they are #2 this one's been kind of pushed to the side,
and I'm not so sure that it should be the number 2.
I think a lot of you disagree with this.
That's fine. I think the number 2 most
pressing issue item on the Yanks and Mets checklist this year
entering the season. Does Mendi's seat get hot again?
Does Carlos Mendoza feel the heat like he undeniably and
rightfully so, felt the year ago?
Now all that noise and all that, that smoke has dissipated
because they've changed the team.
And to me, last year, Carlos Mendoza had a horrendous season
as manager of the Mets. I said it in real time, he
couldn't stop losing streaks. They weren't playing buttoned up
baseball. There were definitely some some
inconsistencies in terms of effort and players being locked
in. There were some tactical
mistakes that I'm not going to reset now, but pinch hitting and
bullpen moves that I absolutely addressed on the fan the next
day. I'm like, you can't make that
mistake. You can't.
It's not your first year, it's your second year now.
It's your third year. And now a lot of the components
that we perceive maybe to have been a little bit of a have an
that have a negative effect on the chemistry.
It's a whole new clubhouse. And a lot of the guys you
brought in or gamers and winners and good clubhouse guys.
Peralta, A+ clubhouse guy gamer, but shit, A+ clubhouse guy
gamer. Don't really know enough about
Louise Robert. I get the sense this could be a
good thing and a bad thing, bad thing because if you do this,
it's not a great thing, but a good thing because you might be
able to flip the switch. I think he's one of these dudes
that when he's in a a toxic, losing environment like it was
with Chicago, I think he just kind of coasts and he kind of
males it in a little bit. I think efforts a little
optional. I don't think he's really dialed
in. I don't think he's really ready
to go, and I think he's got enough pure physical prowess to
still be viewed as a very enticing option around baseball.
He was always talked about at the trade deadline.
You know, I know the Yankees actually were sniffing around
Louise Robert, if they didn't get Bellinger back, saw that
earlier today, which I wouldn't have loved.
But you know, the fact that they were looking at him tells you
that there's a desire like a desirable skill set.
So I think when you get him in a winning situation, or what
should be a winning situation with a better culture, I think
you're going to get more of the early Louise Robert than the
later Louise Robert. But I don't know what kind of
clubhouse guy he is. I think Soto was fine.
I think he's to himself. I don't think he's bad.
I don't think he's good for the club.
I think he's just so immersed in his hitting lab like his his
preparation that he's kind of a lone wolf.
Again, not not a bad guy at all. I think he's a good guy and I
think that he he wants to win, but I know he's just intensely
driven in his mind to be the best hitter that ever lived.
Now he's not, but he's tremendous.
All right. But I do think that, you know,
like the Lindor and certainly Soto's presence offensively.
But now the Polanco comes from a good Seattle team, a good
Seattle vibe. So Polanco's in the mix.
He got some youth from Bait. He was going to play a lot.
Alvarez has some good energy. If he could ever hit and stay
healthy, I think Alvarez will be a good asset for this team.
Interesting components. But don't get this thing twisted
like the Mets aren't punked it on this year.
You know, when you when you trade for Peralta and you get
Robert and you do what they did and they might not even be done
all right, you're expected to be a playoff team.
Vegas expects it. I expected projected win totals
by everybody, every sports book. We all project it.
So if that doesn't happen and the Mets are playing sloppy, the
fingers are going to go to the manager and rightfully so.
You know, the Carlos Mendoza that I watched last year.
And you know, I've said this before.
I watch these post game shows like I watch the games, but then
I watch Mendy. I watch Boone.
I watch Boone on yes, I watch Mendy on S&Y.
You know, I want to see what they're saying and I want to see
what they're projecting. I want to see what the message
is. And there was a point and again,
I also said this on the air. It's all you can all find this.
I I was one of the first to get on Mendoza.
Like, dude, you're not having a good year, you're not having a
good year. You don't have a great control
over this team. I don't see great effort.
You know, the the day-to-day buttons that you're pushing
aren't working. And then watching him on SNY, I
felt like he didn't have the answers.
Like I thought his messaging was, I don't want to say soft, I
don't mean that. But it wasn't hitting the mark
like when he spoke as the Mets were just drowning loss after
loss after loss and inability to get past the third inning.
Every night from your starting rotation, your bullpen, coughing
up leads. Just a a circus.
The Mets were, I never really thought that I heard a guy
project conviction and confidence that they was going
to get stabilized. That's your job, Mendoza.
It's your job. That's your job.
It's your job to write out the lineup.
It's a job to get a sense of, you know, go with some gun
calls, which the Mets will let him do and not all analytically
driven. And it's your job to figure out
a new roster. And if you don't, if you don't,
if the Mets start really sloppy, unless he's get get fired in
April. But if there's an element of
underachievement and it's palpable, it's identifiable, his
seats going to be hot and rightfully so.
So to me, that's the second biggest story in New York.
Let me get this text here at Willie Laverde 1664.
Willie, what's happening? Stearns's pitching staff was the
issue last year. Agreed.
But also the Mets didn't really hit when you had to.
So that's partially that's kind of the easy way out.
Mets were, yeah. Mets were top 10s in run scored.
I get that Stern gets too much credit.
How many World Series did the Brewers win during his tenure?
Well, I don't know anybody's anointing him in the hit.
The executive of the century, will he?
I I think what I speak for myself, which I always do.
All I'm saying is he was born here to do a job.
And when you get here to do a job for a team that's a
franchise that is basically shit forever, you got to evaluate
what you have. All right?
The first year, that's what he did.
He evaluated. He we walked in, he inherited
what he inherited. The Mets overachieved.
And when you overachieve, you're not going to really do anything.
There's no real need to, especially when that
overachievement is is is partially punctuated by
homegrown players that the fans love.
Like there was no reason to disband the 2024 Mets.
Now, maybe you could have been a little bit more astute with some
of the pitching additions starters.
Yeah, because it was awful. It worked this first year that
that Mets pitching lab, which by whatever the hell that means, it
worked the first year, didn't work the second year.
Now we start splitting the difference.
But once you get past the first year, then the second year went
sideways in in many different ways, energy, chemistry,
production, pitching, clutch hitting defense, Lindor
regressed defensively. You know, Soto's Soto out there
and left Nimmo was A and got a rag arm in left field.
You know, the Antos is a disaster wherever you put them.
So those are all baseball items here and stern Sterns addressed
them. Now, when you say, well, what,
what did he, what World Series did he win?
Don't take this the wrong way, will they?
But you're the kind of fan that frustrates me.
You're that bottom line fan who doesn't allow himself to think
3-4 levels beyond and haven't and and and and and really
inject all of the context into the conversation.
Let me ask you this. His baseball acumen based on
what he built in Milwaukee has proven to be better than
whatever the Mets have done in Lord knows how long in terms of
a continuous 5 year window, right?
Brewers, pretty good. The Brewers won more games than
the Dodgers did a year ago. There were four or five teams
that won more regular season games than the Dodgers.
Yankees were one of them as well, obviously, tied with
Toronto. Brewers had 97 or 98.
They won more. All right, So that doesn't mean
they're better than the Dodgers, obviously.
And you got to win eventually if you want to be hailed as a great
executive. He's young.
He just got here. You try to fix the Mets, which
is not an easy job, especially now when there's this
deconstruction and now we're rebuild.
So you got to give them time. But you're also kind of the guy
I think will be again. Don't take it the wrong way.
I know you watch the show, you text.
I got love for you, but you're a frustrating person to have these
conversations with because it you're you're so linear.
It's not always a straight line. You've got to incorporate, at
least you should, the other items that I think matter and
all the winning that he did in Milwaukee, short of a World
Series, if he had another 100 and something $1,000,000, you
don't think that he may have had a better chance to win a World
Series? Like that's the whole point.
You're bringing in Stearns, who built the hell of a team in
Milwaukee in a small market with financial limitations, and now
you're giving him a chance to build a similar team.
Could run, could play defense, run prevention, all that stuff.
Get some better players. Focus on, you know, not long
contracts outside of soda, which is totally justifiable for a lot
of reasons. And now you accent that
eventually with, you know, a payroll that will not
eventually. It already does.
That reflects those teams that spend the most and reinvest
money the most of any teams in baseball.
Got to get this guy a chance to do his job.
It's like saying Dan Marino is not a top quarterback 'cause he
never won the Super Bowl. That's what I mean about the
frustration, right? Like I give you Super Bowl week,
right? So I'll give you an example.
So obviously in terms of accomplishment, Tom Brady's to
go. He's not the, he's not the best
quarterback of all time. You know, he's not, not my, not
for me, He's not, he's not the most talented quarterback of all
time. He's the greatest winning.
He's the greatest winner, all right, And I know the stats are
there as well, but he is just the greatest quarterback winner
in the history of the sport. Go with that.
You know, are you telling me that if Dan, I know, yeah, Dan.
Yeah. Chula, who was who was also
really good. But you know, if you had
Belichick and Marino had those defenses and the ability to run
the ball like the Pats did at times during the Brady era and
some of those other coaches that they had on the staff, which
were phenomenal, that Dan Maria would have won a championship.
I I believe that he would have. So that's just frustrates me.
Same with Ewing, same with Barclays, same with Stockton,
same with Malone. Same with those guys that don't
have any or the dudes who have one that we get on for not
having two or the guys that have two that we railed on for not
having three. Like understand guys, yeah, I
understand what we want this fans, we want to win, want to
win a championship. But I I think the failure to
incorporate everything and pertaining to this with Sterns,
with Willy's, with Willy's text where they were what they're
trying to be consistent consistently not.
Oh, wow, that was an amazingly fun year.
We almost got to the World Series, 83 wins, no playoffs,
dismantle the team. Can't have that.
Like that doesn't happen to the Yankees.
We can complain all we want about the Yankees, but the
Yankees are always here. Maybe the maybe the year they
get to the World Series, they do here, then they come back here,
but they're always kind of here. Even the year and Aaron Judge,
who I think 38 home runs that year when he ran into the wall,
those stupid moron Dodger dopes had that concrete slab from
1968. They still had like a
representative competitive season.
They didn't win 75 games and go in the toilet.
It wasn't anarchy in the Bronx. They had a shit team who Aaron
Judge elevated, and with Aaron Judge, they're a playoff team.
He got hurt, basically missed months of the season and they
weren't able to recover. I promise you, if Aaron Judge
doesn't run into that concrete slab in LA, they're a playoff
team and that and he's the MVP. And that's what I mean, like,
you just can't have you. You just can't have this.
You can't. You can't.
That's why we get annoyed and frustrated.
Like, all right, what's the next level for the Knicks, right?
But at least right now, the Knicks are.
I know they lost 6. Now they won six.
But the last couple of years, Knicks have been on autopilot,
being consistently in the conversation of a team that's
got a puncher's chance to win a championship.
Like, even if they don't get Yanis, and I don't love this
team to win, I don't think they will.
But I mean, they got a real chance to get to the Eastern
Conference finals and beyond. I just think they'd lose to a
team out West. I'm not even sure they beat the
Pistons. Like if the Pistons make a
sneaky trade, there's problems with the Pistons.
There might be problems already because they ain't they ain't
afraid of the Knicks. But the point is, is that, you
know, the last couple years Knicks have always been here.
Give you chance top seed home games, win a couple of rounds,
He got a shot. Yankees here, you know, make the
playoffs, win a couple of rounds, have a shot.
That's the point. Now the Giants, the belief is
that the Giants will eventually get back to their here comes
John Horbaugh. All right, maybe this year's
only eight or nine wins. But eventually, once they fill
in the gaping holes on the roster, which they will and once
they're better coached, which they will and better run, which
they will be. Now the hope is, you know,
especially if Jackson Dart is the guy for a long time and
stays healthy. You know, you're looking at kind
of being in the mix every year as the Eagles start to break off
and who knows about the Commanders and Dallas is a mess
with that. You'll never win.
They're not going to win. So you hope that the
stabilization of the Giants, like the Knicks, like the
Yankees is on their way. And you know, it might be a
modest pop this year. Maybe you're in the hunt for the
wild court in December. Maybe you fall short.
But guess what? There's no like nine wins like
they did win a road playoff game, win 345 games, draft, you
know, 2345 in the draft and then stay down there for a couple of
years and then oh, maybe have one good pop and then right back
down to the basement. So you've got to give him a
chance. I know that's a long answer, but
that's a really important question.
When you say, well, what has he done?
He never won a World Series. Well, to me, that's lazy
evaluation, much like those and this number has dwindled, right?
Because now think about the the complete opposite here and how
we use that mechanism of, of maybe chastising Stearns, but
some of you choose to use that to defend Cashman.
Oh, look at all the World Series he's won.
Shit, if if I'm going by what Willie just texted, then I then
I would be Brian Cashman biggest fan.
You know, even though Watson won it 96, but you know, 98992000
get back, get back in O1, get back in O3, win it in O 9.
I mean, Cashman's the best. No, no, Cashman's a Hall of
Famer, but Cashman has not done the job that I think he's needed
to do these last couple of years, maybe more than last
couple. Hence I'm all over him.
You know what I mean? But even with that, I recognize
there's an element of stability. Like you go into every season
saying, all right, Yankees should be really good this year.
And there's elements of varying elements of really good.
You know, like when they had Judge and Soto, I'm sitting
there saying they're going to win the World Series.
They didn't. They got there this year.
I think they're a playoff team. I think they're low 90s right
now. And I I'm a little bit worried
about the start of the season because of the young pitching
that they'll rely on as guys get back.
But, but that's the thing anyway #2 Mendy's hot seat.
All right, let me give you this again.
If you guys just tuning in real quick, I'll get to #1.
I think you guys are going to find this interesting #1 #10 how
does Sean and I bounce back? Does he bounce back #9 How long
is Volpe's leash with the Yankees?
It's got to be different this year #8 can you truly trust
Devin Williams? Number 7 is Ben Rice's star.
You know my answer? Number six is Brett Beatty, you
know, is seeing there every day. What's Brett Beattys ultimate
role? How much do they trust and how
much do they run Brett Beatty out there?
I'm running them out there every day.
I'm a big fan of the kid #5 Is last year's Grisham, the new
Grisham is this Grisham 2.0 and he's going to remain 2.0 for a
little bit. We'll see #4 is Cole back to
being Gerrit Cole? We'll see.
I think eventually, yeah. But you got to see it #3
fascinating. Or Schlittler and McClain for
real. Are they for?
Are we looking at two guys for the next how many years?
When they take the baseball, you're going to have 7-8.
Ten 1001 Yankees always sell out, but for the most part, even
on a Tuesday against whomever. So you know more about Queens,
but when you look at, you know, the, the, oh, Schlittler's all
right, you know what? Instead of 37,000, this is 45 on
a Tuesday night against the A's, or instead of 19 against the
Reds on a Wednesday, oh, Mcclain's going, there's 30.
Like there's that pop, like that wrestling pop.
There's a pop in ticket sales. I think that I think there's a
really good chance that there is.
And while I don't really care about ticket sales, I care about
the potential greatness of these young players, keep them
healthy, keep it moving. And I think they both got a
chance to be. Must watch for a long time #2
Mendy's hot seat. I gave you a lot on that, number
one. Number one, will Aaron Judge
still be Superman? Will they still be Superman?
You know, you'd never know when the like that little downturn is
starting. And let me just be very, very
clear. I don't think it's this year.
No, I think that I would have to say that Aaron's got at least
two more and maybe three all time years.
I really if he's healthy. And when I say old time flirt
with 60 bombs OPS well over 1100, you know, stay with
another batting title or or being clearly and and very
comfortably over 300. But you got to think about this
guys. I mean, you were talking about
somebody who has four straight years with an OPS over 1100 and
three of the last four years had a WAR of 10 or higher.
And we're talking Babe Ruth. You talking Babe Ruth, Ted
Williams, Hank Aaron, Willie, Willie Mays.
And you're not talking Don Mattingly, you're not talking to
Reggie Jackson, you talking to Lou Gehrig.
You talking those kind of years from a Yankee perspective and
those kind of years from an all time baseball perspective.
Three of the last four years, a WAR of 10 or more.
And by the way, the one year where was it was like 10 1/2 or
6, whatever, 5 1/2 or 6. It's because he missed a couple
of months with the Dodger Stadium incident with the with
the wall in the outfield. And I say, will Aaron Judge
still be Superman? I'm asking the question.
I fully expect him to win the MVP this year.
Or, and how unfair is that? I expected to win the MVP.
You know freaking hard it is to do what this guy's doing.
You know how hard it is to hit 270 in the majors with 1820 home
runs and an OPS over 800? This guy's playing wiffle ball
against 9 year olds. Like it's not even fair.
It's not even contestable how much better he is than everybody
else. And that includes Olpani.
That includes everybody. All right.
But the first year that he's not Superman, I don't think it'll be
this year, nor do I think it will be next year if there is
baseball next year. But a slight downgrade in stats
is going to be a big problem for the New York Yankees, which is
why I asked the question. I don't mean that he's going to
go from what he has been to basically a little bit more than
1/2 a decade, 70% of a decade to 237 with 17 home runs and 68
RBI's and an 88-O1O. I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about that drop from 55 to 60 home runs, 310 to 330
batting average and OPS well over 1100 and $1.30 ribbies to
41 home runs, 289111RB is and an OPS of 929.
Like if that happens and I again, I don't think it's
happening this year, but if it were to happen this year and if
it listen, it's baseball. So it could actually happen.
And it's not even because he's out of his prime.
Sometimes you have bad luck. Sometimes you have an off year.
Sometimes you get off to a rough start.
You never recover. Yep.
Sometimes you get off to a hot start.
You ride it all year like Grisham did a year ago.
You know, that's why he's on the list is this is Grisham 2O now
I've got far more faith than Aaron Judge to keep this up.
Then I do Grisham. But if there is a downgrade in
stats for Aaron Judge, I don't know that the Yankees could
recover because part of the reason why the Yankees win so
many regular season games is because Aaron Judge masks so
many deficiencies now. I think Ben Rice goes forward
this year. I could see Austin Wells going a
little forward this year. I could see Dominguez going
forward this year. Obviously the pitching, which
I've talked about a lot, but that year that Aaron Judge no
longer has the Cape around his, you know, on his shoulders, on
his back. And instead of being Superman,
he's merely one of the superheroes hanging out at the
Hall of Justice. So he doesn't have that massive
separation from the others. It's going to be a big issue for
the Yankees because the Yankees are not good enough in the other
spots to absorb that kind of statistical down tick from Aaron
Judge. So maybe that's number one
because Aaron Judge is the guy who keeps them floating.
You know, the last time, knock on wood, we don't see this for a
long time. The last time Aaron Judge missed
a lot of time, Yankees didn't make the playoffs.
You know, now they, they kept it together.
They were a representative team. They weren't they weren't a
playoff team. And you know, if Aaron Judge
misses time or if Aaron Judge has an off year between the
American League East being stacked, I mean, you can't tell
me that it's not on the table that the Yankees don't miss out
on the playoffs. Now, they wouldn't resort to a
70 something win team. But you know, could they win
8788 and just narrowly miss out or just get the wild card play,
play a game and you know, basically a quick wild card
exit? Sure, it's possible, and I think
many of you are still kind of living in a little delusion Bill
here, because there there's this expectation Judge can do it
forever. Well, number one, we all know
he's not. You ain't got old.
Messier got old. You know, Lundquist got old.
Guys get old, get old. So if Aaron Judge is not the
absolute best player in baseball again, and that's what I mean by
Superman, even if he's an All Star, but he's not quite what
he's been, it's a problem. I mean, this massive gap, like
he's not going to fall off the face of the earth this year or
next year or the year after. But how realistic is it?
Like we expect again, think about what I said.
I just said it like just as within conversation, yeah,
expect him to win the MVP. I expect Aaron Judge.
Think about that. We didn't say that about any.
What other great. I'm just thinking out loud now,
what are the great New York athlete in my lifetime?
Did we say that about the old? There's one, but it wasn't even
a WAR driven. It was Mariano.
Like Mariano was the one guy with like, I expect Mariano to
be untouchable this year. No one's touching him.
I expect Mariano to be Mariano and he basically always was.
But you know, Patrick Ewing wasn't a league MVP.
The Hall of Famer want to win MVPS.
You know, Jalen Brunson is not winning MVPS yet.
You know, fit in the mix a little bit hell of a player.
But no, you know, lunch was never won the Cup.
He won some goaltending trophies, but never won the cop,
you know, Lawrence Taylor ruptures the Achilles.
He eventually got old. You know, football that that
that bounce, that burst that dissipates over time.
You know, even Tiki retired. But you know, if Tiki would have
kept playing, he still had at least I think two more awesome
years in the bag. But if he would have kept
playing and and chasing more numbers and just chasing the
Hall of Fame, which he didn't, which I respect.
And if he did, by the way, he'd probably be in by now.
But and eventually he will be and he should be.
But you would have seen, you know, decay and and Tiki's game
just like you saw decay and Michael Strahan's Strahan's
game, different side of the ball, but you're going to see
decay. Derek Jeter got old.
You know, his range was a massive issue with shortstop Tom
Natty Lee's back. When, you know, Ron Guidry got
old, you're getting old. You're going to get old.
You're not going to be what you were.
And the moment that that happens, the entire profile of
the Yankees changes, which is why to me, it's number one on
the list. Now, in terms of like order of
fear, it's not #1 but it's just order of importance.
Like, I'm going to go through the scan, go one through 10.
I'm going to go assign a level of fear.
All right? Is there a judge still Superman?
I'll give you short answers. Yes, men, Mendy's hot seat is,
is Mendy's seat hot? I think Mendy's going to be fine
this year. I'm not incredibly alarmed.
It's a big storyline. If it goes sideways for the
Mets, I don't think it will. I think the Mets will be a
playoff team. So I think very minimal fear
about that. But it's something you got to
watch out for. Schlitter McClain, are they the
real deals? I got great confidence they are.
Is cold back to being cold. You know this one.
I believe he will. But this is where I've got to at
least show an ounce of trepidation.
Be fair to the surgical procedure he had, the aids that
he is and the the innings and the miles he's got on the
odometer. But I do think he will be not
the confidence like I have with Judge or with maybe maybe even
Schlittler and McClain, but confident, but not overly
confident #5 Is last year's Grisham the new Grisham?
Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm gonna have
to get over this at some point. Again, what chaps me is him
batting first. Do I think he's gonna hit thirty
home runs? I do.
So I think I got pretty decent confidence there.
Brett Beatty's role. I think the Mets know what they
have in Brett Beatty. I think that they know.
I don't think they value Vientos the way they once did.
They shouldn't value Mauricio all the way they once did.
I'm not a huge Mauricio fan. They already got rid of Acuna.
You know, I think he's the guy that they look at.
They're like, he could hit, he's a pro, he could play a lot of
spots. So I do have great confidence
that Beatty play well and Blade and Beatty will get a lot of
run. Is Ben Rice going to be a star?
Yes. I've got basically supreme
confidence in that. Not no doubt, no trepidation.
Can you fully trust Devin Williams?
I trust him. I don't know if I'm running to a
casino to place a big wager on that, but I do trust him.
But of all the things so far, like that's the thing that could
get really, really ugly. I'll circle back to that in a
minute. Volpe, how long they run him out
there, I don't know. I think I've got, I think I've
got supreme confidence this year that the Yankees handle it the
right way. For the first time since Volpe
has burst on the scene. You got Caballero and they know
you just can't keep expecting different results.
This, you know, in Year 4, if there's not some visible signs
early that he's transforming into not a star, but just a more
buttoned up player with with fewer deficiencies.
So I've got confidence that they'll treat him differently.
Definitely. I've got less confidence he'll
grow into the player that we really, really thought he would
when he was drafted first round. This.
Does Minaya bounce back? Yeah.
Middle of the road confidence. I think he does.
Again, not like the 18 starts in 2024, but enough.
I think it'd be fine. And with Peralta, doesn't have
to be an ace with McClain, doesn't have to be a top two
guy. The one thing of all those
storylines, I do think the one that has the potential to get
the ugliest here, like if Beatty scuffling, if Volpe scuffling,
Bill Bencham, so you won't even hear about it.
You know, Ben Rice is going to be shielded by Judge and
Bellinger to a lesser extent. So even if he struggles, no
one's going to go nuts early. Cam, same thing with him and
McClain. If Devin Williams has a rough
run in April, that is going to be that that that ominous sound
that we all know it is very detectable because it just
sounds different. It sounds different than any
other Major League stadium, maybe with the exception of
Philly and that New York sound, when not only do you lose trust
in somebody and it takes a little while to get there,
right? But when you lose that trust in
somebody and then the team continues to run him out there
and that trust is not rewarded, well, now the bridge is burned
and we're done with you. Now, when we're done with you
and that team keeps running you out there because there's either
a dearth of options or they're they're defiant, all right, for
whatever reason, little pigheaded, then we let loose.
That is of all the things that could sound ugly, especially
with Diaz now with the Dodgers. So there's some stuff for you.
Top 10 storylines coming into the season.
J Rod, what's going on, brother? How you feeling today man?
You good. How we doing?
Great episode. Love the questions, love the
engagement from the fans. Good stuff today.
Yeah, great stuff today. And, you know, super excited for
tomorrow's episode going. To be, yeah.
Going to be huge. Gonna have a little fun with Sal
tomorrow so if you guys just jumping in just joining in, Sal
will join the show tomorrow and we'll do a little a little BT
and Sal reunited here on BT at least it's going to be a lot of
fun here. Let's see here.
What is this at with Drew? When you were on WFN you wore a
blue hoodie that said oh established 1923 had a water
wheel logo on it. What is the hoodie from?
It's from my old Country Club, Golf Country Club that has now
since closed. I mean of all the years to to be
open, you couldn't be open. Now when I'm a shit golfer, I go
out there every day and that actually get into the, you know,
get the handicap to at least like a consistent 1415 where I
know I'm not going to embarrass myself.
That's the thing. Like I go out there to play
golf. I don't know if I'm going to
shoot. I don't know what I'm going to
shoot. I'm going to lose 9 balls,
possible. Am I going to hit you know, 3
toppers off the tee possible Am I going to play well chip the
lights out putt wish I I usually do putt well, chip and putt well
hit the fairways bang some 5 irons 200 yards yeah that could
happen once in a while. It could also be that I can get
that version of the front 9 and get the exact opposite on the
back 9. So yeah that's good memory.
That was my it's called Greenbrook Country Club.
It was at it was around over 100 years.
It used to be an old water not distilling.
What's the terminology? The water, I don't know what
water farm. I don't know what it was,
whatever, whatever you call it, but it was a cool logo.
It was a great golf course, very, very beautiful.
That is no longer around. So that's what that was.
Yeah. I don't wear, I don't wear that
too much. So for you to remember that that
that tells me you really dialed in to beat the and Sal.
I probably only wore it once, I don't know, once or twice.
What is this all about? At Rod Power 78 Juan Soto equals
Bobby Bonilla. 2 point O. What?
I mean, honestly, that dog wasn't so cute.
I would just shit all over you. What are you What?
Are you kidding me? Bobby Bonilla 2 point O.
What? Rod, what are you talking about?
Can you please expand on that in another text?
Yeah. I look at Juan Soto and I see
Bobby Bonilla now. I mean, listen, he ain't never
judge. You're never going to put those
numbers up. And I do really believe that
eventually Met fans will lament the will lament the presence of
Juan Soto. I don't think he's going to age
great. He's already got that thick
body. He's already an average to
slightly below average right fielder.
Same on the bases. So as he gets a little bit
older, a little bit slower, and I'm not saying this year or even
next year, but I actually think, by the way, I think that there's
a chance depending upon where they are, I think that there's a
chance that the Mets let him opt out like when he opts out.
Many of you know this. Thanks for the text there.
I'd like to hear some rationale as to why.
But as the as the Mets get deeper into Soto's contract
here, like, I don't know if they win a World Series or, or if or
if they fall apart. I think that there's an Ave.
there a possibility for the Mets to say, you know what, it was
the right move at the right time.
And rather than lock into at that point, what, 10 more years
when he's in his 30s, early 30s and not quite the same athlete,
maybe not quite the same hit or whatever it might be.
Why are you going to why are you going to not allow him to opt
out? Because they've got the power by
adding five more $1,000,000 into those years.
Give him more money and ride out the length of the terms if
you're not winning with him or you're seeing a little a little
bit of baseball attrition. So I don't necessarily think
that he's here for the full length of the contract.
That's I've always thought that. But it was a move that the Mets
had to make for a lot of reasons that we all know.
You know, it just gave the Mets a different cachet, a little
equity. You know, Cohen needed to do
that and kind of change the perception of the LOL Mets.
All the things we've talked about, you got them, you had
them for one year, you didn't make the play offs the year
before you had you didn't have them, you did make the play
offs. So if there's anything that we
really can't predict and and this list that I came up with
this whole list of of the 10 things, right, the 10 most
pressing issues facing the Yankees this year and the Mets
coming into the season. I could probably do, you know,
after April, a list of 10 things that we didn't really really
expect, you know, and maybe Dominguez is playing more, maybe
Polanco's hitting 310, maybe Alvarez Fult really true.
I'm just throwing stuff out really fulfills what used to be
the number one prospect labeled not in the Mets system in all
the baseball. I think will Warren's a high
strikeout guy. Now, I don't look at him as like
a Schlettler or McClain, but somebody like Will Warren, who's
going to get a lot of run and had a lot of good starts a year
ago. The two or three that he had
where he was awful. One was against Boston, really
skewed his numbers. Maybe Will Warren takes a
massive step forward this year. I, I don't know, maybe Bednar,
despite looking really comfortable with the with the
Yankees year ago, maybe he implodes.
Maybe he gets off to a rough start like David Williams.
Like it's just always stuff with baseball that you don't know,
that you don't know. Maybe you know what the Yanks
are trying to feed this, which I'm not buying.
Maybe they do. Maybe they are right.
Maybe there is more in Ryan McMahon in terms of an offensive
profile, fewer strikeouts, higher average, higher on base,
higher OPS, all that stuff. I don't know, Like there's a
million things that could happen in baseball.
There really are. Because think about where we
were at this time. Think about this, guys.
Think about where where we were last year.
Did anybody think Brent Griffith would hit 34 home runs?
No, nobody did. Did you think that Brett Beatty
would prove to be at least a competent, versatile defender
everywhere? No.
Did you think, I think you probably had a sad inkling that
that could be Pete's last year with the Mets, But did you think
that defensively and the numbers backed us up that Lindor would
take a big step back defensively?
He kind of took a big step back. I think it's going to be
stabilized easier. But he took he took a step back,
Like don't get that twisted. Did you think that down the
stretch, the guy that you got from the Yankees who was a
relief pitcher and converted to a starter would be your best
starter down the stretch, your most reliable starter when the
Mets were hemorrhaging and trying to, you know, stabilize
their season? I mean, I'm, I don't even have
that stuff written down. I'm just remembering in real
time what happened. You know, no, you didn't think
that. And why should you baseball
Susan, It's highly unpredictable.
And this is just a road map to big storylines for the Yankees,
big storylines for the Mets. And I hopefully, hopefully you
guys enjoy that. Now tomorrow I'm going to wrap
it up here. Get bouncing.
So J Rod, good job today, brother, good job.
We are going to have Sal tomorrow. 10:15 So I'll start
the show. I'm I'm kind of riff on whatever
I'm going to riff on for about 15 minutes.
Pop them in, bounce around, have a little fun.
You know, I've, I obviously saw him with the BT and Sal live
show. Obviously tech.
I was texting him this morning about something else, text him
yesterday about coming on the show.
So we text quite a bit. You know, we're just starting to
get the framework next for the next BT and Sal live show with a
focal point on Long Island, and that's going to be the next
destination. You know, there's a lot of
things to button up. I mean, you know, we had to put
together the first one, which took time and it was awesome.
And the next one will be awesome and will be sold out as well.
But it's not like hey, snap a finger showing up at a venue
near the near the old Coliseum and then we're on Long Island.
BT S 2O like you got to sell stuff, you got to sell tickets,
you got to sell sponsorships, you got to connect dots, you got
to get a big guest, whatever. So we'll do that and the other
thing and I, he's excited about it.
I'm going to look into this and I'm going to try to get this
thing going and I don't see any reason why, honestly, why we
can't do this. A BTN Sal golf outing, How sick
would that be? All I have to do is find the
vent now. It would have been a Greenbrook,
which is where I was a member, hence the question with the
sweatshirt. I would have done it in my club.
My club is no longer around, so can't do that.
So I've got to lean on some contacts.
I've got to try to get. A good deal.
You know, a lot of people have reached out and invited me and
Sal to play over the years and I got to see if there's a
valuable, you know, venue where the price makes sense and things
that I've got to worry about that I will.
But how about that? How about a little BT and Sal
live? Little golf outing there, You
know, how sick would that be? Bunch of foursomes.
Just ride around, have a couple beers, have a little something
to eat, have a little banquet after it that I just thought of
that last night. I texted him today.
So I'm starting to get those wheels in motion in my head.
We'll see. Generally when I have an idea, I
don't give up until it comes to fruition.
So I would think that there's a pretty damn good chance that
that's going to happen. All right, I got to roll
cleaning ladies here, vacuums waiting to get in the office.
Daddy's got to get a house for a little bit.
Daddy. Daddy's got to find a place to
go. Hit some balls is what that is
going to find soon because it's one thing what it's 19° out and
I love my home. I I really do.
And I, I, I, I, I love my family, obviously, But there's,
there's a point where you got to just you got to get out And you
know my saving grace, even though I had did I don't play
well. I would love to go to Greenbrook
on like after a practice, you know, wreck softball for my
daughter, travel for my son, you name it, during the spring,
after it, right, You know, when the sun's going down, like 8:00,
whatever it might be, 830, just go to the range, put in the
earbuds, the wireless ones, put on some tunes that just hit 150
balls, right? Can't do that, you know, And now
I got more time so I have to find out where the hell I'm not
going to join another club. It's not worth it.
I don't have enough time, too busy with the kids and the games
and and watching and coaching and transporting and school.
But I got at least find a place, even if it's like a semi
private, where I could just go and bang some balls and let's
get out of here once in a while. So that's I got to hatch that
plan. All right, man, let me go Sal
tomorrow with 1015 looking having a looking forward to
having salve on the show. Spread the word like it, guys,
subscribe, get that traction, the comments, the hits, the
likes, the hypes, all the stuff that you guys do on YouTube to
get the word out there. Trust me, the more it hits, the
more the algorithm says, Yup, we like this.
Let's you know, let's dispense this and disperse this all
around you get more clicks. I could do more things, I could
do more things. We have more fun.
But tomorrow we'll have a last so S tomorrow, J Rod good work,
brother. We'll see if anything happens
today or tomorrow. Bed line would goddess in the
NBA trendline trade deadline this Thursday.
Giants got their OCI like it Matt Nagy jets still looking for
theirs. It's going to be somebody with
experience, which I'll be fine with.
And you know, we're never too far away from something
breaking. That's really interesting.
So have a great rest of your Tuesday.
Check out the shorts again like it subscribe it and I will catch
you guys tomorrow at 10. Peace, this is.
On Please Are you listening? Can you hear me?