What's going on everybody? How we doing episode #2
Unleashed. I got a little studio for you
today. Still have some tweaking to do.
I'll be. I got a microphone as well.
So let me just make sure that we're good to go.
I'm obviously figuring some of this stuff out.
Make sure it's all good. Just somebody give me a thumbs
up. Audio good.
Don't even have a producer yet. This is just me.
My son is in school. Let me know if you guys can hear
me. I believe that you can.
OK, all good. Yes, yes, yes.
So yes, it was phenomenal guys. I want to really thank you as I
did to start the show. I had an absolute blast.
I'm still trying to figure out some of these mechanics and
tweaks, as I said, but it's really about the content.
And as I also told you guys yesterday, I really had a choice
where I could just kind of lay back and I can enjoy the
holidays. Like it kind of basically sit on
my ass and and just wait. Or I could just jump in here not
having everything fully polished and and just start cranking out
content. So that's what I did.
But I do have the microphone. I brought this into my home
studio at my my Home Office. I was watching some of the some
of the show from yesterday. I wanted to see it and just kind
of get a sense of, of what it looked like and even dive into
some of the comments that I wasn't able to necessarily do
during the show. And I'm like, OK, I like it.
It's sleek, it's cool, but it's a little bland.
So I said let me see what I could do and here we are.
By the way, before I forget, I'll tell you this probably
again before we get out of here. The live BT and South show is
basically sold out. There's literally like 2025
tickets. That's coming up on January
22nd. It's going to be absolutely
awesome. I cannot wait.
It's basically the two of us unplugged at the Vogel Theatre
in Red Bank, which is a tremendous venue.
Aaron Boone's going to be there with us for the night, so I know
there's a couple of VIP packages out there if you want to meet us
and you want to meet Boone, There's a few regular seats set
up. It really is an amazing venue.
I think if any of you who are watching right now have actually
been to the Vogel Theater, by all means, feel free to drop a
comment out there. Let everybody know what it's
like, what they could could expect, but we're going to have
an absolute blast. All right, so I also told you
guys about the oh, and the tickets there, myconcerts.net,
my concerts.net. You'll have a splash page.
BT and Sal click that, write the Ticketmaster again, whatever
remains. And there's not much remains.
So jump and I would love to see you guys out there.
Sal and I were talking about it on the way in the Uber, which
took basically 2 hours to get to Alex's party on Saturday night.
And then obviously on the way back we were started conceptual
conceptualized a little further. So it's going to really, really,
really be a lot of fun and I can't wait to meet you guys.
Some of you I've already met. Can't wait to see you in person
and get this thing going all right.
Something on the Mets, something on the Yankees, something on
Giannis and the New York Knicks. Now, first of all, with McNeil
gone, all right, I want to start with the Mets here.
It's a big day and it's been obviously a big couple of weeks
here for the Mets as they disband, let's face it, a team
that wasn't good enough to do anything.
I know they gave you a couple of fleeting moments.
Fantastic. But I think many of you, if
you're a sensible baseball fan and can push the muddy fandom
aside just for a minute, I think you guys, I think, I think I'm
not entirely maybe I shouldn't give you this much credit, but I
do think that many of you pragmatically get what the Mets
are trying to do. Now, let me just take a step
back here. Like the easiest thing in the
world to do is say, well, you know, Pete was a, you know, they
don't want to give him the five years because he won't age well.
And McNeil and Lindor, they didn't get along.
And obviously it's easy to get rid of McNeil, much less sold
then then Lindor and he got maybe, maybe potentially a
little Sodo and Lindor friction. You got to fix that.
You know, there was rumblings, I think Francesa said this on his
podcast that Nimmo and Lindor didn't see eye to eye and
apparently was rooted in Nimos Nimmo's a devotion or or support
for Trump, President Trump. Lindor again, this is just what
people were saying was was the polar opposite.
Obviously a very polarizing time.
So you will have it split and apparently that kind of seeped
into the day-to-day operations of the team.
So you know, the the one thing about a baseball team now I
don't need you, right? It's it's it's an individual
sport that's obviously dressed up with a team concept.
And what I mean by that is, you know, I get into the batter's
box 4 * a night, maybe 5 if things are going well and it's
me versus the pitcher 60 feet, 6 inches away.
I do what I got to do. Now, don't get me wrong.
If there's guys on base, you know, maybe I'm more inclined to
see fastballs. And obviously, if the guy before
me has a ten pitch at bat rather than a two pitch at bat and, and
that sequence is laborious for the pitcher, well, residually
I'm going to benefit from that. Maybe he's taxed with the pitch
clock. Maybe he's tired, maybe I get
something better to hit. Maybe I do a little bit more
damage. But in large part it's me
getting in there, identifying what's a ball, what's a strike,
and then doing what I have to do based on the plan that I have
going into the game against the pitcher, knowing what he throws
tendency and stuff wise. So that's the individual aspect
of it. Terms of defense, obviously
balls hit to me. I got to make a play and you
know, it's got to be a little chemistry there.
Certainly up the middle terms of the double play combos, which
was, you know, obviously a problem with Lindor and and and
and and McNeil. So what I that's obvious stuff,
though. Anybody can regurgitate that.
What I don't think many of you who still oppose this Wrecking
Ball that Stearns has rightfully taken to the Mets, what many of
you are either overlooking or just don't understand.
You know, while it's a sequence of individual actions within a
game, the time spent for a baseball team is by far more
than any other any other sport in existence.
Like you think about a football team now, Jeez, they go to
training camp and you know, back in the day, you'd be holed up,
whether it Hofstra or with the Giants up in Albany, not see
your family for a month, dorm with somebody on this little
teeny tiny bed and, you know, practice your ass off and sweat
your ass off for hours, double sessions, eat, lift and then go
back to the dorm room, maybe play cards, maybe read a book,
whatever might be. But then when you actually get
into the season, it's it's, it's really no different than than us
having, having jobs. You, you go to work, you go
home, you go back to your family.
Whereas in baseball, I mean, obviously the sheer length of
the season is, is insane. But even the time that you spend
on a specific day at a ballpark preparing for that night's game,
it's it's unlike any other sport.
And if you're not getting along and I don't even if there's not
like overt disconnect, but you just you just not close if you
don't have the requisite talent, which news flash, the Mets have
not had. That's why they're doing this in
part the talent, but also the maybe some of the again, the
disconnect with some of the personalities.
You get to the ballpark around 3315 for a seven O 5 game and
you know, you're in meetings. So if you're a hitter, you're
with the hitting coach and you're going over, you know,
digitally, you're seeing the sequence, you know the opposing
pitcher, what he's got, you know what, what he, what he, what his
tendencies are. And you're generally, you know,
with, with the hitters and then around the batting cage, that's
like 3:00 or so. And then, you know, you stretch,
you warm up, you throw your long toss, you get you jogging in.
Maybe you get a lift in, although most people lift after
a game and that is basically 4 hours that you are in close
proximity to 24 other guys before you even start your
actual job. And then as we know, baseball's
timeless. It's it's shorter than it used
to be based on the pitch clock, but you're still there minimum 2
1/2 hours once the game starts. And then what happens after the
game? Well, you got to take a shower,
you got to meet the media, maybe hit the buffet in the clubhouse,
and there's just a lot of time. Granted, I mean, these locker
rooms are amazing. It's not like the locker rooms.
Hell, I mean, the locker room that I had in college was, I
mean, in hindsight, it was like something from the 1970s, right?
They obviously have a ton of space and they could play video
games and they've got their lift area and their card area and
they're, you know, healthy shake area.
But you know, you are bumping into guys left and right and you
are just, you are together. And even if you don't hate the
other guy, but if you're not close and you don't enjoy being
around each other, unless you've got exquisite talent, which the
Mets don't, then you're just it's just not going to work.
And that's not to mention now you rinse and repeat, you do it
the next day and then after A8 or A9 or 10 game homestand,
guess what? You get on a plane, you fly
wherever you're flying, you check into the hotel with two
and then you do the same thing, only now you're away from your
family. So I get it.
Like I understand how personalities, they grind.
I mean, even in radio and you know, you're not best friends
with everybody that you work with now.
Now the objective is to be respectful and to find a way to
get the job done, even if there is a little bit of a different
personality. And and there is because that's
the world. But this is just the way that it
had to be. I mean, you got a 17 year old
pitcher and you basically paid the A's money to get him off
your hands. What does that tell you?
I mean, that's how little they thought of Jeff McNeil.
And and don't disrespect, but that's that's that's absolutely
the right thought. All right.
The Alonzo stuff's a little different because I think that
that's less rooted in personality and I think that
that's far more rooted in their their projection of Pete as a
player. 30, you know, early 30s, righty stick, righty first
baseman, defensive, defensively deficient, a negative on the
bases. Like these are all things that I
think that was largely driven by baseball because Pete's a fan
favorite. I think Pete is is fairly
affable, a little goofy. Like I think I don't think Pete
really rubs anybody the wrong way, but you know that Jeff
McNeil did. And by the way, I get it, Jeff
McNeil in a lot of ways is if you're old enough, you'll get
the reference a little bit like Greg Jeffries when Greg Jeffries
first came up. Now Greg was on the wrong Mets
team. Like those guys abused him.
And it really, it really ruined him.
It really stagnated his growth as a player.
Because if you look at Jeff's career, Greg's career, you'll
see that he had some good years with Saint Louis under Tory.
I think he stole 50 bases. Kansas City, like the guy could
hit. But what he had to learn was,
you know, spike in the helmet every time and being a lunatic
and smashing a bat rack is not going to fly when you're a
rookie with all those high-priced veterans.
So that was a bad clubhouse. And really, I appreciate
Mcneil's grit and his desire to be to do well and to be a great
hitter. But that act gets old.
I mean, how many? I mean, I could just I'm I'm
rewinding in my mind like how many times he he grounds into a
double play or, you know, strikes out or pops up with a
couple of guys on base and what do you see invariably bang.
There goes the helmet. There goes the sour puss.
And this is not the pile on Jeff.
This is just to show you it was absolutely the right move.
Now, I don't think many of you, at least my read, I think many
of you have the McNeil stuff processed properly.
You know, he's got a year to go on his deal.
He's not the batting, he's not a 330 hitter like when he won the
batting title. He's not that guy.
He's not an above average second baseman.
Now you have one defensively in Simeon, which is good.
So he's expendable. So if you're not a great player
and you know, you're a little sulky, a little to yourself, a
little, I don't know, can I talk to Jeff now?
He looks pretty pissed off. You just don't need that
expendable. So I think most of you have
handled that move the right way. The Pete stuff was so much more
sentimental and driven through emotion and also, to be fair to
Pete, tremendous productivity from a power perspective.
Now, the DS thing is different in the sense that he's as good
as anybody in the game at his job.
And that's confounding. But I, I think when you're
starting to, as you start to see what the Mets are doing now, I
think you realize, all right, they are stripping this down.
So why would you pay a closer almost $70 million for three
years when you're not even close to a World Series?
You, you wouldn't do it. That's stupid business.
Despite the fact that he's great at his job now, the Nimmo move
was the first domino. It was a bad contract when he
signed it and, and the Mets lamented that.
And that was that was not Stearns.
I don't you know, the value for Nimmo today as a left fielder.
He signed that as a center fielder and he was not a good
center fielder and he's not even a good defensive left fielder.
So again, let's step back from the emotion and and view this
from just to a a pure baseball prism, slightly overpaid on base
percentage going in the wrong direction, not a good arm, not a
good left fielder. Why wouldn't you move them?
You, you, you do and and you should.
So I think that all these things that Stearns has done, it's it's
it's a it's a it's a tsunami of emotion that I understand.
But I promise you this core and this is something that we talked
about on WFAN forever. I mean, Sal was the first one to
bring it up. He took key Fort.
He was right. And then I jumped in and I was
right. And many of you didn't want to
kind of see it that way, which I get because you were still
operating on emotion. But while it's going to be a big
step back this year, I think the Mets are going to be shit this
year. I don't think the Mets going to
be good at all, although there are still a few moves that they
can make it. I'll lay it out for you in a
minute. I think that the very real
understanding should be this group or that group, you know,
past tense was never going to win a championship and strip
away. I love Pete and I miss Nemo and
they screwed us. And what are you doing?
And Cohen just wanted to build a, you know, casinos and
Stearns, you know, boy wonder, whatever Joe calls them.
It's just ruining the team crunching numbers.
No, that is the wrong incorrect read the right one briefly
stated, is that the last team one good one going to win.
And now let's see if there's a different route, a more prudent
path where you're more financially solvent and where
you're actually a better team in terms of catching the ball, more
athletic and fewer strikeouts. That's what you're doing here.
So I still think I don't know if they'll do this.
I really don't know. Five, what we got 500 live.
We got to get that up. Let's go.
Got to get that up. So with Pete gone, Diaz, Nemo
and McNeil now gone, what should the Mets do?
Well, you know, this was being thrown around a little bit
yesterday and and not that it's a new angle because we've talked
about Marte as a possible fit for the Mets.
Now, I don't know what the Mets would be willing to give up.
Would it be a Sproat? Would it be a Tom?
Would it be a Williams? Would it be somebody like that?
It could be all right if the Mets open the 2026 season, first
quick lineup hit and then obviously something on the
rotation, which is horrendous at the moment.
The Mets rotation is a joke, all right?
Can you possibly open the season with Lindor 1, Marte 2, Soto 3?
And now you start to piece it together.
Polanco, a simian of Vientos against the lefties and certain
matchups that are favorable. A Beatty who, you know, I like
much better defensively at third than Vientos, Can't play third
base. Like if Vientos has a glove next
year, it's got to be experimentally at first base.
He stinks at third base. Beatty is so much better because
he's a former shortstop. He moves better, He's got better
instincts. You saw it like.
And that's where I think Mendoza messed up a little bit.
Where where he he played Vientos a little bit too much down the
stretch and then when he rectified it, it was a little
bit too late. Beatty's the third baseman,
Vientos is not. And then you get into Alvarez
and again, there's a lot of unknowns here.
And then you get into center field, maybe a a tailor bench
combination. So I'm not sitting here saying
that, you know, Lindor Marte Soto, although 123 that's about
as good as you can get that that's tremendous.
But now Polanco, who can rake and and Simon, who's got some
pop who I think could bounce back.
And it's only a couple of years. So it's it's all good.
And then again, the V Anthos Beatty, the names I ran down.
There's at least a a a lane to borrow the my buddy, you have
Boone's term there. There's a lane where at least
the Mets can trot out a solid offense night tonight.
You know, and as you're doing this, you're resetting the
finances, OK? You're getting more athletic, as
I said, and you're also creating a window, whether it's a
Williams, whether it's a bench, one of those guys to eventually
come up and play and and not be blocked by these burdensome
contracts. It's just it's the wrong way to
do business. Listen, I don't give a shit how
much money you have. You can have, you know, $19
billion, which I think Cohen actually has more at this point.
Is, is ultimate self, is a is valuation there.
You can have all the money in the world.
It's not a license to spend it irresponsibly.
So really what this is, this is a market correction of a lot of
mistakes that were made early in Cohen's tenure.
Now I don't even get on. I don't even get on Cohen for
this because it was made out of a passion to give you what you
want and that is a sustainable winner.
That's what you guys want, right?
So we went out and he spent the money and now it's like, OK,
it's not working. Do we double down?
Do we triple down though? That's idiotic.
That gets you nowhere. That just digs the hole deeper
and makes the Mets less championship relevant.
Now, like if you say to me right now without an addition to the
staff, which I'll get to in a minute like somebody wins, do I
think the the overrun there's going to be set at in Vegas for
the Mets. To me, I mean, you're talking
right now, I don't know 7576 and shit, they won 83 last year and
they had Pete and his forty home runs and the other pieces that
they will not have any more. But again, you've got to almost
rewire and reprogram yourself and you're capable of it.
I've had to do it with certain teams.
I had to do it with Julius Randle and the Knicks.
Now get to a little Giannis Knicks situation in at the end
of the at the end of the show here.
So I think while these moves are not going to elicit joy, what it
should do is provide you with some clarity what the mission
is. And the mission simply stated,
is to obviously get better, to avoid these these crazy downward
spirals where the Mets go. Two months of playing hard
baseball. And I believe back to what I
said at the top. The reason why I believe aside
from being deficient baseball wise, skill wise in a few areas,
the main reason why the Mets collapse too often is because
they did not gel. And when times get tough, you
got to pick each other up. I know that that sounds corny
and that sounds contrived and cliche, but it matters When
you're doing something every single day, you better love your
job and you better at least like the guys next to you, and you
better at least respect them and you better at least trust them.
And it seems like too many people either didn't like each
other or didn't respect each other.
Now listen, you know, I don't get into politics too much.
Maybe I'll delve into some more stuff here a little bit.
That's not why. I mean, not today necessarily,
but at some point during the show, if something hits me, it's
going to be a real podcast. You know, being a dad, being a
human, trying a new endeavor, you know, getting knocked down
and getting back up. That's what this is about.
All right, So I'm not going to shove politics down your throat
like some people do. But let's call for what it is.
If you are a Trump supporter, like a massive ardent President
Trump supporter like Nimmo apparently is OK.
And you are a massive detractor of President Trump like Lindor
apparently is. And you, you just you're just
not going to have any commonality if if that's it.
Now if you choose to ignore it and not get into it, which?
Probably is the smart thing, but these are human beings.
These are human beings with families and those things are
discussed in their home. These are human beings with from
all different walks of life and different ethnicities and
different needs and different wants and different
perspectives. So if that's not respected on on
like the most core benign level, like, hey, I know you support
him or I know you don't, but we're teammates.
Let's agree to disagree. Let's go ball.
Let's start kicking the shit out of teams.
Well, it it's not only is it not going to work, it's going to
become toxic. And I've always believed that
there's been an element. I could never prove it because
I'm not in the Mets clubhouse. But you can watch body language
and you can just deduce certain things if you watch closely
enough, right? And it was always my thought
that the Mets clubhouse, not only was it not really solid,
but it was a detriment. It was a problem.
It was an issue, not that how do you get rid of an issue?
You, you just, you delete it from the situation.
And that's what the Mets are doing now.
And I applaud them for that. I really do.
And by the way, if somebody wants Francisco Lindor and they
want to take all that money and the Mets will be willing to eat
whatever percentage my I, I trade Lindor.
It's not that I don't respect Lindor.
He's a hell of a baseball player, but he to his
fluctuations up and down, up and down.
Now think you've got to be old enough to well, actually, you've
got to be definitely old enough for one reference.
All of you should get this. Think about the 86 Mets right
now. I'm I well, I know that like
Daryl had a bad month and Gary had a bad month where the power
dropped and the back then the OPS didn't nobody referenced it,
but the average dropped and you know the the power numbers just
dropped. That's baseball.
It's cyclical. But like the Mets did this, this
former iteration. I mean, it was a common
occurrence. It was a common theme either a
quick start, you know, red hot, wow, we're amazing and then two
months disappearance where they lost myriad ways, whether it's
the starting pitching, they're not scoring runs, bullpens,
shitting on leads like when you lose that creatively and when
you lose that frequently, something is awry.
All right. So again, good job by the Mets
taking a Wrecking Ball to this mess because they weren't going
to win anything. You know it and I know it.
I may have known it before you, but you know, whatever.
Now, what do you do with the with the on the mound here?
I mean, there's still a couple of things to do.
I'm not trading McClain for anybody now, if they want, if
it's a school ball thing, oh man, that's that's the real
temptation. At the end of the day, I would
still say no because one of the ultimate advantages of Cohen is
that he can buy anybody. Look at Soto.
So school is not going to get dealt somewhere and then
immediately signed an extension. That's just not what Boris does.
He doesn't operate that way. That's not going to change here.
Now you pick the Yankees and the Mets and the Dodgers and all the
other big spenders. You drive that price up.
It's business one-on-one. So I'm not giving up McClain for
school. I'm not doing it.
Obviously a Sproat, obviously a Tom.
Of course, those are Peterson. I don't know if the Tigers would
want Sanga, but those are all things on the table.
The Jet Williams of Benji, of course, although I know the the
Mets love bench and he appears to be their number one.
But these are things you got to do now.
Could you trade for a Peralta? Can you sign a Valdez?
Can you sign a Suarez? Can you sign a Zach Allen?
Now, Gallon is not going to excite me, but it's going to
give them a chance to compete, you know, and then you piece
together what I would imagine would be a bit of a a bounce
back from Anaya Holmes was fine. And then as I said, you see what
you do with with with Sanga, you see the the Mets.
And of course the other reference will be David Wright's
Mets. I mean, David Wright didn't have
an MB MVP type season every year, but David Wright just
didn't go to fucking hole for two months and and hit 112 and
the Mets lose 13 out of 16. I mean, I'm not saying they
didn't have one bad skid, but David Wright was a consistent
star. You know you knew what you got
power before the back went down, power average great defensive
prowess, steady leadership, consistent personality, speed on
the bags winner every check, check, check, check, check every
night. You knew which guy was showing
up to the yard. And this is not a knock on
Lindor, but it's the it's let me see if I can just get that
borderline start messing with stuff.
The the problem with Lindor for me has been that he he he has
not brought that consistency. So if somebody wants him, go for
it. I'm not saying you proactively
try to give him away. But with all these discussions
and all these deep thoughts and new plan the Mets have, there is
nobody that could convince me that if the right deal crosses
the Mets table that they won't trade Lindor because they would.
Now you think about great teams, right?
And how chemistry matters in baseball.
And back to what I said at the start of the show, you know,
it's largely individual. And then obviously it's a
sequence and series of, of team related things, relays, double
plays, whatever it might be, hit runs.
But now the great teams can overcome some friction.
You know, the 86 Mets, I mean, they're, they're throwing
punches on picture day. They're actually, they're
throwing fists. They fought, you know, then you
had, you had Gary Carter, who was a devout Christian, which is
amazing. You had, you know, Keith and
Daryl who were doing drugs and, you know, booze, banging back
lines, the Lord knows what time, you know, just really not being
professional toward their job. But they were so amazingly
gifted that they could still be studs, they could still be
stars. You know, at that point,
Hernandez was kind of past his off the field issues.
So there was more of a steadiness there.
But, you know, like Wally Bachman and Lenny Dykstra, I
mean, these guys were were grading personalities.
Yeah. Nice talking about.
I've just left because I'm thinking of the video with Wally
Bachman. God, it's got to be about 10
years and 10 years ago, maybe more.
He's coaching independent team. If you guys haven't seen this
many of you have just search Wally Backman explodes.
I mean I would think that that would get you there and he
judged. You want about a profanity laced
unbelievable. You know Rick job on his team.
He's like you guys ain't fucking good enough not to take batting
practice. You going to come here, get your
fucking teeth kicked in? Oh my God, I love it.
So I just say that not to just drop F bombs, but that was
Wally's personality. And then you had maybe Kevin
Mitchell, who was from the inner city, who grew up totally
different. It it you know, you had a lot of
different personalities going in a lot of different directions.
But what was 1 commonality with that team?
Whether you hit Keith, whether you hit Daryl, whether you did
whatever. Hell, Ray Knight and Eric Davis
throwing down fist at third base.
Look at Gary Carter, the choirboy, choirboy coming and
flying, grabbing whoever he grabbed.
Throw them to like you just you're fighting for your boys.
What happened with this crew, Pete Alonzo got drilled,
drilled, drilled, drilled, drilled.
Nobody did shit and nobody said shit.
Think about that contrast, OK? Tells you all you need to know.
They didn't fight for each other because they didn't love each
other. And I don't even think that they
respected each other enough. Because if you do, you know, you
step up and you have your boys back.
Now, this is obviously an older reference.
I didn't even see this team play.
But you know, when Reggie first came to, the Yankees couldn't
stand each other, You know, Reggie and Thurman, Reggie and
Nettles, Reggie. Reggie was involved in all this.
Reggie and Goose, you know, Billy and Reggie say Reggie, Can
you imagine Reggie Jackson? I mean, he I don't know that you
could ever be this that way now, but if he was, let's just take
him. Let's take 1977 Reggie and dump
him into 2025 Digital World. Are you kidding me?
Like, wow. But that team couldn't stand
each other and what happened, you know, play it to plate.
Lou Pinella, Carlton Fisk, Everybody comes out swinging
playoff game. And amazingly, this on YouTube
as well. Shout out to YouTube.
Yeah, I got a shout out to YouTube.
Got a shout out the tube. There's a play at third base and
Nettles and George Brett. I mean, they literally start
throwing. I mean, and they're connecting,
not even throwing out from the game.
Everybody jumps in, you know, and this is not too say go out
there and fight. Trust me, I'm, I'm not saying
that. But there are times where you
can get a read on a on the closeness of a team or, or the
lack thereof. And I think it was painfully
obvious that the Mets didn't have it.
And that Yankee crew that I just mentioned, I mean, they still
won back-to-back in 7778. And that same crew got to the
World Series in 81. They just lost to the Dodge.
Even then, the I can't stand the Dodgers, the the Yankees of the
dynastic Yankees. You know, somebody throws it.
Paul O'Neill. Armando Benitez wants to drill
Tino in the shoulder after a home run.
I believe that was Tim Raines, right?
I think it was Tim Raines. And was it Bernie or Tim?
I thought it was Tim. I could be off on that.
And boom, I mean, that was one of the scariest fights you'll
ever see. It's spilled into the dugout.
You got Scott Brosius. I mean, if if I went, you know
what, when I went to do this years ago, like to get life
insurance or a mortgage, and Scott Brosius was sitting at the
desk with a tie and his hair, you know, parted.
I'd be like, yeah, this is a guy that I trust and say this is the
kind of guy that I want to do business with.
He's not going to screw me. Look at what?
Look at what Scott Brosius did that night.
I mean, he's in the dunk out. So again, not to put a spotlight
on just being raving lunatics and being Cavemen and just
fighting for no reason, but you, you do you.
You need that. You need that together.
This Mets didn't have it. You know, I'm not even sure if
the Yankees have it now. I don't know if the Yankees have
it. I mean, you know, I mean, Judge
has been hit a few times. When I look around at the just a
quick glance, you know, who would who would do something?
I can see Rodon getting in there.
I can see maybe Austin Wells doing a little something trying
to. But you know, it's even, I don't
even know if the Yankees are incredibly tight, but it's
certainly not a detriment. Like their day-to-day working
relationship with each other is one out of respect and
continuity. Like everybody's respects
Stanton. Everybody respects the almighty
Aaron Judge. Genuflect at the author of Aaron
Judge. Could you please get him some
players? My God.
So that's where I am with the Mets now, the Yankees, right?
You know, let me hit a couple of comments before I get into the
Yankees here. Maddie Lee Hernandez Hall.
Yeah, I've hit that. I've hit that a little bit for
sure. Let's see what a great analysis
of the meds. Appreciate that.
I mean, I've now it's obviously a little more unfiltered given
this new platform, which I love, which fits me well.
But I mean, I've been, I've been saying on the radio for a long
time, just a little bit of a different delivery.
But the message, the core message never changed.
It's something we identified a long time ago.
Let's see here. So refreshing compared to Joe
Beningo's Mets. And now I love Joe, You know, I
don't. I don't really.
I don't really know Joe's Mets analysis, to be honest with you.
I'm not really sure. But I've got a lot of love for
Joe. Joe's awesome good guy baseball
players. Soft now.
Yeah, They they are, because they grow up differently, you
know, and there's a reason for that.
Like they played with each other from the time they're 910 years
old. I'll give you the example.
Like so when I was growing up, all right, again, a million
years ago when the dinosaurs were roaming the earth, that's
actually a Joe Penang line to an extent.
I modified it a bit, but it was just all right, who's good in
the neighborhood? And then, all right, what's
what's that one CYO team that that I got to watch out for?
All right, You know, whether it's, you know, in Bay Ridge or
in Rockaway or whatever it might be.
Who's that? Who's that really good team?
So you and then eventually you go to high school with some of
those players and you got to know them a little bit from
playing against them, but you didn't play together.
You played, you played together with guys in the neighborhood.
Now, as I got a little bit older, that changed a little
bit. And then certainly when I'm into
deeper into high school and obviously in college now it's
it's totally different. But I know even even my son now
he plays with kids from on his club baseball team over 100
miles away, you know, with certain tornado.
So it's it's a familiarity and when you have a familiarity at a
young age, you develop a bond, which is a great thing.
But it's you know, and then kids jumping team to team, not to go
into that tangent now, but it there's just more more exposure.
All right, whereas I think when, you know, back in the day, when
you're coming up, it's, it's your team and that's it.
I mean, think about this now. I'm, I'm still learning the the
dynamics of of New Jersey high schools.
My kids are still young. So, but obviously thinking about
would it be, you know, private for sports, which is what I'm a
product of, which I strongly believe in, but I also live by a
great high school, the good sports team.
So I don't I don't know. The point is back in the day,
you just, you grew up, you went to the high school near you and
you played with the same, you know, 1012 kids that you grew up
with. And it's just not like that
anymore. So I, I, I think it's good, but
I also think it's almost like it's almost like 10 or 12 if
it's a basketball team or 15 or 18 or 20 if it's a baseball
team, or 40 or 50 if it's a football team.
Almost like that amount of number of different entities,
you know, because young players today are so programmed to, you
know, immerse themselves in their brand, which I actually
can't. I loathe it.
I actually hate that. And I'll do some youth pods down
the road and and some some content on that for sure.
You know, it's a real passion of mine, but it's more about all
right, Hey, I played well on this team and now this team
wants to pick me up and I could fly here, which if you're good
enough, hey, Nope, not mad at you, but it just almost creates
a jump here and dominate, jump here and dominate, jump here and
dominate. And the roots are are less
embedded in the soil, which I happen to be a big proponent of.
But you know, you got to roll with the modernization of sports
anyway. I didn't think the Mets were a
very tight team. That's where all that went.
Now, something that I said about the Yankees yesterday
personally, preface this by saying I don't think there's any
way that Hal's got the appetite to do this.
He just, he's just not going to do this.
But until it's not done or until another team beats him to some
of the players I'm about to mention, it could at least be
presented as a real possibility. And what the Yankees should do
is really just get him. I obviously have to bring back
Bellinger. And as I said yesterday, go out
there and get the shit. See, I don't think enough of
you. And this is not a knock because
I don't know that I always process it this way, to be very
honest with you, very blunt, like for a while.
And I evolved out of how long ago?
But there was a point, especially with the Yankees, I'm
just like, oh, this guy's a bit. Get him.
He's not a perfect fit. Fuck it, we'll figure it out.
Get him, sign him, bring him in. Seven years, 8, it doesn't
matter. We'll figure it out.
End of the contracts. Not worth it.
Problem. Whatever their problem, they'll
figure it out. Well, the economics of the game
have changed. Clearly there's going to be a
massive stoppage of play in 2027.
And I promise you that that's a a real factor in how these teams
are are building their their teams, how the organizations are
moving forward. So anything that the Yankees,
because they're in a very unique and I think the Yankees might be
when I really think about this, the Yankees might be in like
they might be one of one in this, this is not necessarily a
compliment, but they might be one of one where they've got a
massive payroll, but they have obvious restraints based on, you
know, the taxes and all that stuff that Hal continues to Hal.
Nobody gives a shit about the taxes.
I don't want to hear about how much you owe the city every
February 1st. Nobody cares right?
You built the stadium. We go there 40,000 every game.
We buy the overpriced merchandise.
The Yankees are a global entity and a brand without peer.
So we don't want to hear it. I I think that that really
misses the mark and that bothers me when Hal talks about that,
that almost bothers me more than not going out and getting
players because that's a different aspect of business.
I that that actually drives me nuts.
But why I think the Yankees are are one of one because how many
teams have massive payrolls? Well, five maybe, and the
Yankees are in that category of the five, including the Mets,
although they're stripping down a little bit, stripping down to
build back forward. As I said earlier, the Mets are
not a contender, the Yankees are.
The Dodgers spend champions back-to-back.
Toronto spends almost a champion.
They've done more. They'll continue to do.
They might get Tucker. They've already gotten C, so
they're not done. They already got a relief
pitcher as well, took him for the Mets.
So there's just not many teams that are straddling that line of
being somewhat fiscally responsible, still winning 90
something games, still being a lot for the playoffs, and
theoretically having a puncher's chance at the World Series.
The Yankees really might be one of one.
But what the Yankees are now computing, and I, and I get this
to an extent, is juggling the prime of Aaron Judge, which I
think they are woefully failing at myself.
Bringing in talent to elevate them to a real championship team
and then try to thread the needle of being responsible as
as as much as they can financially, but also making
sure, and I agree with this part to an extent, not making the
same mistakes that have gotten us to the spot right now.
And that's a DJ contract that they took forever to get rid of.
And that's Donaldson is old stuff, but I'll just reset it
quickly. Donaldson, you know, languishing
on the roster longer than he should.
Aaron Hicks languishing longer than he should.
Like all these things were like muddy.
If I own the Yankees, just cut the check and just get lost.
Leave. You're not you're of no value to
our team right now. And I've got to win.
Like we all say that I believe if I own the Yankees, I would do
that. But it's also easier to say that
now without having to deal with managing partners and all that
business stuff that you don't care about right now.
So the main mission is to avoid doing something that's going to
block, I believe Lombard. That's that's one of them.
All right. And that's why Bichette really
satisfies everything because with Volping on the shelf for
the 1st, I'm going to say two months Caballero, who I love,
but certainly much more suited to be a super sub.
That's what they got them for. Little short, little third,
little right. And and some of the other things
that they're juggling roster wise, if you signed Bichette,
who I know is it is it is a deficient defensive shortstop.
I know that. Again, I know the numbers.
I dive into the numbers. You don't have to tell me it's
not a good shortstop, all right. But for a year or at least until
Volpe comes back, he can play shortstop.
And then when Volpe comes back, well, if McMahon's not hitting,
McMahon sits or maybe you trade McMahon and he's got two years
and 16,000,000 dollars, $32 million in total to go.
If you were to eat of the 32789 million dollars, you're telling
me and you throw an 8 ball pitcher in there, you can't.
I mean, there's always a way to do a deal.
And that's where I think the Yankees lack that creativity a
little bit. We've seen the Mets do some of
this, like McNeil and some others, and when they traded
their veteran pitchers years ago and basically bought themselves
a farm system, I would like to see that forward fought by the
Yankees, which I just don't see enough of.
Anyway, if you get Pichette and then Volpe comes back and he
earns the job and he earns the trust and he's healthy and he's
hitting and he's and he's playing good shortstop.
Volpe at short, Pichette at 3rd or trade Jazz McMahon at third,
which, and I would trade Jazz. And I think they're going to and
put Bichette at second base. And then obviously if you have
Bellinger, which they have to retain, I mean, he's such an
important piece of the puzzle. This gives you flexibility for
this year. All right, you got to get past
the stamp and stuff because he's still clogging up the designated
hitter spot, which is important. Actually, it's paramount for
Judge moving forward. But if Rice can't handle first
base defensively, I'm not worried about him hitting.
But if he can't handle first base, boom, Bellinger plays
first base. And at that point, if you have a
Bellinger at first, who's going to hit a judge, who's going to
hit a Bichette, who's going to hit, I mean, Grisham's going to
hit home runs. Then you can you can roll the
dice maybe more aggressively and give either Dominguez or Jones
some runway in left field and see if they could cut it.
And then if they can't, well, guess what?
Bellinger, the left and all the things we know.
And if Rice is adequate at first base, you could play him there.
Like, there's a lot of things to do and it just doesn't seem like
the Yankees are really ready to do any of that.
And I don't know why. I wish I had the answer for you.
I really, I mean, 2009 without a championship is incomprehensible
for the amount of money that they've spent.
I really, I can't even grasp it. So I basically stopped trying.
But are you telling me now? I know baseball's unpredictable
and it's as random as it gets understood right?
But if you've got a somewhere and I won't even go through the
batting order, if you're rolling out a Bouchette, a Bellinger, a
Judge, you know, Rice, Stanton, when he's healthy, certainly
against lefties. Wells, who's going to hit 20
something home runs, bottom of the order.
Caballero, you know, when he's in there stealing 3540 bags,
like, you know, Grisham banging some home runs like that is a a
lineup, at least on paper, that's going to put you in a
position to represent the American League if you've got
the pitching, which news flash, they do.
And I was saying this yesterday. And I do think that the Yankees
are going to get a my and if they don't like to me, that's
unacceptable. He's already on the record.
He wants to beat the Dodgers. He's already on the record that
with all the smoke around him wanting to be a Yankee, just
fucking make it happen. Like what?
What's the problem? Fly them in, sit down, figure it
out. Here's the deal.
Boom, help us get through April and May along with Freed along
with Schlittler as the other two guys get healthy.
And then when they are healthy, we've got the best rotation of
baseball, which I said yesterday.
And to take it a step further, I think the Yankees with a I'll,
I'll put Cole one out of respect.
Like the symbolism of the ace. It doesn't really matter because
you everybody gets wrapped up. But who's the ace who's pitching
opening day? Yeah, I mean, I get it.
Opening Day. It's an honor it Although Cortez
pitched, you know, opening day two years ago in in Houston when
soda was here. So it doesn't really matter.
Then he gave up that bomb to Freeman.
So not how you start, it's how you finish.
But if if everything works out that and and Cole, you know,
reverts back to his form and I think he's going to you know,
you've got a Cole freed Schlittler, a my Rodon 5.
Now they probably wouldn't have Rodon 5 and respect.
Maybe he's three. Maybe you bump Schlittler from
three to four, put Rodon 3. If a my is insane, Well, you
know, maybe he's 3, But it's it's that maneuverability and
that versatility with plus plus arms coupled with the sticks
that I just gave you. I mean, how how could you not
win a World Series? How could you not get there?
How are you not able to go into Toronto and look the Blue Jays
eye to eye and say, all right, hey, you pumped this bad last
year. This year we're coming back a
little different. Let's go.
Let's see how it goes this year. Like that's a team that I would
think on paper would be favored to win 95 games and would be one
of the top 234 if it's certainly top three favorites to win the
championship, get to the World Series.
So there's the plan. I mean, I you get I, you know,
easy sitting here in my new studio, but and not fully done
yet. Let's see.
Let's see if I can point anything out to you as you watch
this. I'll try to take inside my
office a little bit. All right.
So by the way, it didn't take long to get that microphone set
up, did it that can you see? I'll tell you a funny story.
OK, so that picture right there is me throwing out the first
pitch at the Oakland Coliseum. That was 2011 at my old station,
95.7 the game. I was out there for two years
doing afternoon drive. It was fun, I really enjoyed it
and we were the home of the A's. Now I start, I start the show
and I'm like, I'm not talking to you.
Why the hell would I talk about the A's?
I'm not going to get ratings talking about the A's, talking
about the Giants who are winning championships.
I'm not going to talk about the I'm not going to talk about the
Raiders now I'm going to talk about the Niners who just
brought in Jim Horvaugh and became really good.
I got to I'm going to talk about the Warriors.
We just got Steph Curry. I got to talk about stuff.
Anyway, I'm on the air and callers and texts and we had
like a hotline. Everybody's bagging on me.
You know, you're from New York, you dissing the Asian, not even
talking about the A's. So I'm like, you know, I'm going
to have a little fun. I bought a bell, right?
And every time I said the word A's, I would just hit the bell,
Ding, Ding, Ding. Like when the updates are going
down there and, and the A's playing the rent Ding.
You know, a tough one last night for the A's Ding.
And you know, people were getting pissed off because they
thought I was mocking them. But I was kind of having fun
anyway. I had a shirt, made a yellow
shirt and it just said Ding on it.
Now nobody even knows what I look like out there.
I haven't done TV yet. I wound up doing extensively
some TV, but not yet. Nobody really knew what I looked
like. So I'm walking around the
Coliseum with, with my with my old producer, Jeremiah Crowe.
Great guy, awesome dude. And like if you ever been to the
Coliseum, it's rough. Like it's a rough area right by
Bart, not much around it, like East Bay Oakland.
Tough, tough, respect, tough. And I'm just walking around the
stadium randomly and I'm like, I'm not even saying a word.
And all of a sudden I see some people, not many because it was
like 7000 people at the game. Is that the is that the guy from
the radio? One guy comes up to me.
He had to be 65240. Absolutely yoked.
Like I, I, I and like to me like he looked like he was, he was in
a gang. Like I'm like this, this is not
good. And I'm not small.
I'm like 62220. I'm like oh man, this I don't
know if this is the right idea. So he's like, yo man, are you
that fucking guy on the radio that's been digging that shit?
I'm like, alright man, you got 2 choices here.
You either own it or, you know, you act like a complete wuss and
you know, you're probably going to get your head kicked in
anyway. So I'm, I'm like, yeah, yeah.
I'm like, that's me. I'm like, but it's all good,
man. I'm just, I'm just having some
fun. He's like, yeah.
He's like, I, I, I hear you. And thank God he daps me up,
calls over a few of his friends. And now I'm like, now I'm
feeling a little bit emboldened here.
I'm walking around the stadium up.
Yeah, these people love me. So I did something where I
forget which Texas Ranger it was.
He was just talking smack. He's like, and he wasn't wrong.
He's like the stadiums A cesspool.
That's a disgrace. It's dirty, there's sewage, it's
awful, it's substandard. And I get on the air.
I'm like, you going to let this guy talk about you this way?
I'm like, would you please show up and you know, just sticking
up his ass and just at least she's like nobody's there.
And somehow in conjunction with the A's and I appreciated them
doing this. And A's fans, there's not many
though they are awesome. So shout out to any A's fans out
there. Good, great fans, right?
Kind of like Jet fans, just smaller in numbers.
And I in conjunction with the, with the A's, they, they did
something like, I don't know, $2.00 tickets just to get in.
They had like 20 something thousand people.
So it worked. And then off of that they're
like, Hey, why don't you come and throw out the first pitch?
So I'm like, I'd love to. And all week on the air, I'm
like, I'm going to crank 185. I got a rocket, I got a hose.
I can fling it. I'm phenomenal.
I got I got it. Still got a good arm.
I didn't say it was phenomenal. I don't know why I said that,
but I got it. And I do have a good arm.
But this before my son was born and I wasn't coaching every day.
So I hadn't really thrown in a while.
So I'm like, oh man, you digging this grave pretty deep.
You better watch it. So anyway, go out there and
during a day game and I and I hear booze and it's somewhere on
YouTube. You could actually see this.
And I go out there with a dress shirt on.
I don't know why I was wearing a dress shirt like an idiot.
And I've got that Raleigh fingers.
I bought a retro Raleigh finger. Here you go Raleigh fingers 1973
when they beat the Mets, ironically, no Met shade.
And I go out there with some dress shirt and I'll be like,
ladies and gentlemen, please welcome from the afternoon drive
homes from 95.7 the game, Brandon Tierney and and I walked
out like there's basically no real, it's a couple of boos.
I think my wife was clapping, you know, maybe the ball boy was
clapping. It was, it was a rough scene.
And I'm just thinking this and I go out to the rubber and again
all week I'm saying I'm throwing a strike.
There's no doubt. I'm like, I'm going from the
slab. I'm not going from the slope.
I'm a real ball player and I go out there and I can hear some
audible boos. I'm like, all right.
And I, I was like a heel turn. It was like a turn.
And I, I go on the rubber. I'm like, hang on, hang on.
I think I can put the ball down. I think I unbuttoned my shirt
and now I have the the Raleigh Fingers throwback jersey and I
kind of go like this. And not that people went nuts,
but I do think the booing stopped a little bit through it.
Borderline strike, maybe the old National League on the corner,
little low from the slab. I think it was 68.
I didn't try to throw it as hard as I could.
And, and, and that's what that's what that is from.
So I figured as I as I launched this in my office, I may as well
show you what is around here. I got some old Mike flags over
there. You can see 10:50.
You could see sports fan, which was an old national network.
You can see the St. John's Big East Championship
banner. This one's pretty cool.
So where is it? I got to get used to that.
Jeez, right there. You see that little American
flag, that little trophy? So that was from my my son's rec
team that I coached this year. Rec Baseball's a trip.
Oh my God, you know, rec. And I love it.
I love the purity. But it's, you know, it's, it's,
it's, if you know, rec, you know what I mean?
It's, it's, it's an interesting ride and I would just try to
make it, you know, you have like, maybe you know, 2-3 kids
who could play a little bit. And I try to make it where the
kids who have clearly never played, they have a good
experience, you know, try to pump them up.
You know, the, the, the probability of turning them into
actual baseball players in that little window is incredibly
small. But I, you know, I want them to
go. I want them to score a run.
I want them to get their first hit.
I want them to feel that, that adulation.
I make sure the good players on the team pump them up and lift
them up. And some of these kids are still
scared. Last year were third and 4th
grade. Anyway, we, we wind up winning
it somehow. We went 12 and zero.
I have no idea how we went none. And one of the guys that I
coached with, great guy Rosie, when we were the Padres, we all,
we all cut up a jersey at the end.
And when we won the championship, we each got a
little piece of the jersey. And I made sure to take the
American flags. I put that one proudly in here.
That's what that is. I got a little Patino
bobblehead. What else can you say?
I got a little picture back there, right beneath the Big
East banner is, is a picture of Tiki, something nice.
He really wrote, you know what I've got.
Maybe I'll show you guys this tomorrow at some point when I
got the job at WFAN with Tiki not in this before Sal, Mike,
Frances and I really, this really meant a lot.
Mike wrote me and mailed to me a handwritten note.
I I wouldn't I wouldn't read what it says, but it's up there.
I don't know if I need it anymore, but I appreciate.
I appreciate Mike doing that. So this is the this is the
office for now. Do you guys like this better
than yesterday? I looked at it was, you know,
just a little boring. Awesome background.
Yeah. I really want to know what you
guys think about this Nice touch Foundation.
OK, it's not. Yeah.
Mattingly, let's see, BT when you start taking calls, you got
to take over the time slot in New York.
But listen, one thing, let me say this.
I'm I'm not looking. I know I'm on at my old time
slot. Like my objective is not to, you
know, lure you away from from the family.
I'm gonna still do some shows on the fan.
I told you guys I got love for WFAN.
It was a decision that was way above me, clearly that I don't
agree with because what talent would, but I get it from a
business perspective. Bringing back Craig, you know,
I've said that before and I'm not going to say that all the
time, but this is not this isn't that.
I don't look at it as I let me let me take people away from
them. What I I look at this, this
platform that I'm starting. I am turning this.
It's my mission to turn not into a just a local show, to turn
this into one of the biggest sports pods in the country.
Like that's, that's my focus. That is my mission.
And luckily, although I think my wife might push back on this a
little bit, thankfully I've become a little bit more patient
as I've gotten older. Because if this was years ago,
I'm not sure if I would have had the bandwidth #1 to figure this
shit out. But more importantly to, to, you
know, grind brick by brick. Not that I don't want to do the
work, but when you're used to conventional terrestrial radio,
you know, having a producer, somebody answering the phones
for you, this big studio, you know, massive, massive signal,
especially the fan, the biggest sports station in the country.
Like you still got to do the job and you still got to generate
revenue and get ratings. But it's, it's a little bit
easier to walk into that and, and be you and do you than this.
When I'm just starting from scratch.
That's the mission that that's really what I'm trying to do.
And the way I'm going to do that.
And I'm now I'm in the early stages of doing it now is to
procure sponsorship. I've had a lot of people reach
out to me who want to be a piece of this endeavor.
And I think part of it is, is that they really love the show.
All right. And they, and obviously they,
they like my work, which I greatly appreciate.
But I also think that the way I, the way I, I went out, I think
was, I think earned me a lot of respect and I didn't do it for
that reason. Maybe that's a byproduct.
I did it because I, I really just didn't want to stop doing
shows on the fan. To be totally transparent.
I'm like, I still have more things to say.
And, you know, as I said, kiddingly, I mean, what the fuck
else am I going to do? Come home and stare at the
Christmas tree? You know, it's December, I'm not
playing golf. What am I doing?
You know, only lift 2 * a week. Maybe, you know, well, kids are
in school. I can't go to a field.
Yeah, You know, so I, that's why I wanted to finish up.
But in doing so, I, I think I found out a little bit more
about myself and how to handle adversity.
You know, I've always, my dad's always said adversity builds
character. Shout out to Pops.
I don't even, you don't even know how to watch this yet.
But we have to figure out a way to get my dad on the show, which
I will, because he was awesome and you guys love and he is
awesome and you guys love him and he felt it.
He really I'm like, yeah, that this is kind of the new world.
He's like, wow, he's like 300 and something thousand people
saw that I'm like more actually. And I think by finishing the
race the way that I did, I I think it it showed.
I think certainly my personal evolution, you know, I'm sure I
made some mistakes early in my career.
I think I had to learn to the process failure better.
I think I had to learn to maybe even work with people a little
bit better. You know, I, I'll tell you, I'll
tell you this another fully. You're just going to get
complete transparency on this. If you haven't figured that out
by now, then I don't know if you ever will.
When I first started, I didn't understand the value of a
producer. Like in my mind, it was always
just get on the air, do your thing and let's go.
And it was never a lack of respect for the producer at all.
It was a lack of understanding how that producer can make me
better. And if I tap into their skills,
which are different than mine, and I'm able to utilize that and
blend that together with whatever I have and whatever I
do now, it's more powerful. And I just, I didn't understand
that, you know, I would want to set the whole show up my
primarily when I was like at 10:50.
Not, not at the fan. I learned that a while ago, but
early, Hey, just go get the phones, get the phones up.
Like they had a producer so much more than that.
A producer's part psychologist, I think, especially when you
work with two personalities like me and Sal, part psychologist,
you know, creator, you know, sounding board like, you know,
you just come in and not every day is easy where you know, now
you don't know this, but there's just certain days where you
know, human beings, we're not feeling well or there was an
argument or somebody's really sick or there's something that
affects our kids. And when our kids aren't happy,
it's impossible to be happy and to be grounded and to be locked
in mentally when there's something going on in your
child's world. And I don't care how old you are
or how good you are at sports or how smart you are or whatever,
there's real life things you got to deal with and to come in and
to do a show and, and click in that doesn't, I mean, yeah, that
happens with sheer will and sheer Rep, repetition, but it
also happens by collaborating with the people with you.
And that's why, you know, whether it was Hof with his
style or Dovo has a completely different style.
You know, there were days like, man, we just can't figure out
this topic or man, this just doesn't, you know, how, where do
we got to get here? We got 9 minutes before the show
starts. What the fuck are we doing?
Like we're not there yet. Let's go.
And, and I, I appreciate that, you know, so I'm figuring this
all out and I'm going to have a producer for this show, you
know, but no, this is not about anything other than a single
focus on taking this and reaching a level that I, I, I, I
plan to reach. But I never even thought that I
would have to or really necessarily want to, But man, I
love this. This is good.
This is fun and this is real and this is raw and this is without
boundaries and and that's what BT Unleashed is all about.
That's that's a core staple to the mission statement.
Let's see here. Yeah, without a producer, the on
air talents, nothing that that's who is that they just, they just
speed past. You're right.
You're absolutely right. And I I didn't know that when I
first started the business. I just didn't know a lot of you
were talking about the the the ability to integrate other
things here, which which I've which I've told you I'm and not
just the the look, which I think this is a much better look, I
think than yesterday. Hopefully you guys will comment
on that. I'll dive into it after more
thoroughly, but but also to be able to be interactive with you
because that is I'll tell you that is the one thing there is
nothing. I mean nothing.
The two things that gripped me with radio right away was, you
know, obviously hearing Mike and Chris and others early when
you're in the car, you're in traffic, you're in the driveway
and either they're going back and forth at each other, all
right. And that's a dynamic that that
Sam and I both had or with a caller.
And that is a dynamic that I need to integrate it.
It's not going to be simple. It's absolutely doable.
There is no question that I'm going to take calls on this.
I just have to get there. OK.
Want to give you something on Giannis as well.
He can't wait for the calls. You're you're excellent at this,
my guy. So glad to have you keep me
company in the office when I work.
I appreciate that. You know, I love it because at
the end of the day, you know, and this is just a very, very
true statement. I didn't get into this.
And I said this in some of the articles that were written about
me and and my final days at the fan full time again, full time.
I'll do some shows, but full time and, and, you know, even
when I got promoted to WFAN articles that are written, the
one of the common things that I've always said that I've it's,
it's a bit of a regurgitated line, but I, I do it because
it's, I really mean it. It's within me.
Is that like, I didn't get into this business to get rich.
That was never my mission. I got into this because I
thought without it, I would be unfulfilled.
I mean, that's that You can say that that's corny, but that's
the way it is. That's the reason why I got
married late, because I knew I would be of no value as a family
and eventually as a dad if if I'm not, at least if I'm not
happy and if I'm not motivated and engaged and entrenched in
this profession. And when you want to be on it
now, it's a little different now, obviously, but when you
wanted to be on the radio back then, you know, you generally
started unless your dad was somebody, which, and my dad's
definitely somebody, but he definitely wasn't somebody in
the business. So I had nothing handed to me.
And I take immense pride in that.
Immense. And I had to get in my car.
I had to go to Allentown, PA, and then I had to shoot up to
Las Vegas. Well, I didn't have to.
I decide I did willingly and proactively and happily shoot up
to Vegas and then go to Detroit and then come back to New York
and go to 10:50. And then, you know, that ended
and be faced with a decision. All right, well, San Francisco
wants me just married. What do you think, babe?
Let's go. Boom, San Francisco.
Then I get the call from Chris. Hey, we're launching a network,
all right, Just start to put some roots down in San
Francisco. You want me to be a key cog in
this new network that you're launching nationally in the same
building as The Fan? Let's go boom, back to New York,
You know, 10 years nationally with Tiki, 8 of the 10 years on
TV simulcast, right? All right, that dissolves.
Hey, want to bring you over to The Fan because Spike Eskin
brought me over and brought Tiki over and then we did a year
there. All right, Craig's, you know,
Craig's gone. We're going to do this.
All right, we're going to bring Sal in.
Like all these different things or you can't plan them out.
You just have to be prepared when you get your number call
then and and that applies to any facet of life.
So, you know, if there's anything, and going back to what
I said earlier about the final two weeks and certainly the
final day in the last show and absolutely the last segment, my
pops calling in. I, I think that that resonated
with a lot of you because I think you saw a vulnerability
that maybe you didn't know existed.
When you hear me talking with authority on whatever topic, I
may talk, I I may be talking about, but that's the real me.
Like, you know, I mean, shit, I could be in the car, you know, I
love my music. I could be in the car and I can
hear a certain song, tears in my eyes.
I'm like, what the Hell's going on?
You know, because I think about I think about real life stuff, I
think about my kids, I think about my wife, I think about my
parents, I think about my journey.
I'm not sitting there saying I'm bowling like a wuss.
But yeah, a lot of things touch me and I have truly been touched
by how you guys have embraced me here.
Because if nobody's watching right now and you guys aren't
hammering out the the comments and you know, eventually we'll
get shorts up there on a regular basis and subscribing.
And by all means, obviously, you know, subscribe if you haven't
already. You know, I appreciate that.
And then once I hit that next step and we could do some other
things, just the Super chats and the other things my son was
telling me about, like without you, I would just be staring
into a camera talking. And really, I don't, I don't
know, I wouldn't be able to live off that, that's for damn sure.
So again, thank you. And again, I'm not going to turn
this into a referendum on, on my life, on my career, you know,
and, and go through every step of the way.
But when it's pertinent, when I feel it's applicable to
something I'm talking about, when I think it's relatable,
because that's what I want this to be.
It's what I want this to be. I want this to be relatable.
All the, the fairy tales and, you know, the fake presentation
on social media by so many people.
I've never been about that. You know, I just love
communicating. I love the spoken word.
I generally enjoy connecting with people, love coaching.
It's one of the reasons why I love coaching.
You guys know that. All right, so let me give you
something on the on the Knicks here.
Hit the Mets thing, hit the Yankees item.
Now, don't get me wrong, right? Giannis is tempting, Giannis is
appealing. There's no question about that.
Number one, I'm less convinced he's going to actually get dealt
this year. I I don't know for a minute it
seemed like it was fairly imminent.
Obviously over the summer, very deeply connected to the Knicks.
But right now the Knicks are the best team in the in the Eastern
guy. I know they don't have the best
record, but the Knicks are the best team in the Eastern
Conference. And the beautiful thing about
these Knicks and similar to a year ago, though, it didn't go
as far as we wanted. Like this Knicks team doesn't
need to get the one seed, even though they I think they very
well what they they will. I mean, I think eventually
they'll jump past the Pistons unless, you know, Brown doesn't
keep his foot to the to the gas, which he won't like like Tom
Thibodeau did. So maybe there's no guarantee
they get the one seed, but I don't think that they need it
because I think that this version and last year's crew,
there's a mentality, there's an aptitude, there's a depth now
with certain players getting more and more role and I think
they're further emboldened and and where they are on this
roster, somebody like Tyler Kolek, which is great.
Don't do it when you want to play them, you know, but I think
that this Knicks team could go on the road and beat anybody in
the East in the Eastern Conference, even if it's not
homecourt. So so that's obviously
advantageous. You don't have to just hammer
the gas pedal, try to win. I don't know whatever it's going
to whatever the number is 57585960 to win the East and get
top seed. So that's good number one
offense in the Eastern Conference.
That's statistically irrefutable and that's not going to change.
The year goes on. It's going to remain the best,
all right, and, and the deepest and the most explosive.
So I guess the question really does come down to this, is it
worth blowing up whatever it's going to take to blow up to
bring Giannis in here to really beat one team?
That's what it comes down to, to beat one team.
Because you don't need Giannis to beat the Pistons or the Heat
or the Celtics or Miami. Now, if Miami gets Giannis,
that's a little bit of a different discussion.
And you always got to worry about that slippery Pat Riley
down there. He's he's amazing.
Just what do you think? It's over.
They do something right. So I never, I never put them to
sleep ever. And they've got a great coach
and I've got a great culture. But you don't need Giannis to
beat those teams. The Bulls don't even have the
standards in front of me. You know, all the teams, right?
Pace is a shot this year, that next year they'll be better.
You don't need anybody that you don't.
The Bucks are going nowhere. The only team that you would
need Giannis to beat would be Oklahoma City.
Now, I'm not going to overreact to the Knicks beating the Spurs.
Wendy was a little bit jacked up.
It was fun. I mean, the Cup was cool.
I'm not here to denounce it. But I don't know if that's
necessarily transferable to A7 game series.
It may be, it may not be, but you don't need Giannis to beat
them. I don't think that you need
Giannis to beat Denver. I don't think that you need
Giannis to beat the Lakers. I think that you need Giannis to
beat Oklahoma City because nobody's beating the Thunder.
If everybody stays healthy and everybody stays the same and
nothing else changes radically, that's the team.
Anybody that follows the NBA knows it.
It's them and it's everybody else.
Now, the good news for us is the Knicks are at the top of
everybody else. They're right there with two or
three of the other other teams I mentioned.
So it really comes down to is it worth blowing it up for Giannis
mid season without the benefit of a training camp if they even
trade him giving up whatever you have to give up now.
The Bucks aren't going to want Cat.
Why would you? I don't.
I wouldn't have found the Bucks. I would want Kolek and I mean,
obviously a lot more, but the appeal with Tyler Kolek is that
he was a collegiate star at Marquette.
They play in the same arena, the Bucks and and Marquette.
So that will be good for their fans.
He's cheap. I think with more minutes, I
think he'll get better, not worse.
I think that's starting to show itself out now.
And I also think that you know, the the other players, multiple
wings, whether it's OG and Bridges, whether it's, you know,
a three team, a third team involved, which probably will
have to happen. I just don't know if it's worth
it really to do it for one team. I think that if that one team,
let's go back to the 90s, like if that one team was Jordan's
Bulls and there was a power move that you thought that you can
do, that would change the dynamic.
So all right, I don't know if you get rid of all these guys,
but so Mace is gone or Mace or Oak is gone, Starks is gone, you
know, Hubert Davis shoot or whatever.
Just throw names out, make the money, match up, whatever.
And then bring in that piece that you think would be able to
elevate you past somebody in your conference that year after
year is in your way. Now that's a different calculus.
That's different. But to me, like if I'm Leon Rose
right now, if he's truly available and if he's not yet
available, if he goes into beast mode and forces the Bucks to be
so uncomfortable that they've got to trade him, which then
obviously would give the Knicks leverage.
Because if he says I'm not playing or get me the hell out
of here and you know, every time he says that, every time he
flexes publicly, then some of the leverage dissipates.
If that happens, that's a little bit different, but the the
two-month race to a championship starting in April, ending at the
middle or end this of June, you only need Giannis to get to that
last stage because you don't need Giannis to beat.
And I didn't mention the Sixers before.
They've gotten things together a little bit.
They'll beat all those teams, in my opinion, in the seven game
series if OG is healthy. Obviously Brunson, if Cat can
clean some stuff up and he's obviously I say that that's not
a disc, but you know what I mean?
Like I never it's not I think some of you take my my
evaluation of Cat as a disc and it's not the thing that worries
me about Karl Anthony Towns is what he's not good at is going
to kill you against a great team in a, in a swing Game 5
conference finals, NBA Finals, because he is just a little too
reckless with the ball. He's a little bit too sloppy
getting to the rim and his fouls, his IQ, he's a brilliant
young man. Actually, I remember meeting him
when he was drafted, told me he wanted to be a surgeon.
Brilliant, really good person and good player.
But the the IQ, the aptitude to avoid those dumb fouls.
I mean, he's been around 8-9 years.
I mean, if it hasn't changed now, what's it going to change?
It's not like if you're still deficient at certain things by
now, it's never going to change. It's just not.
That's why, and I mean, I'll leave the door a little bit open
because it's a different philosophy, but when Aaron Boone
was talking the other day about how he believes that they can
really change some things with Ryan McMahon, I'm like, I don't
know, man. He's been around a long time.
He's got a lot of it bats. He's a low average guy.
He's a high volume strikeout guy.
Like what are we going to really change here?
I'm not saying you can't tweak a little approach.
Same with Volpe, low on bass, high strikeout.
Like is it going to really change?
I don't know. I where is with somebody like
Dominguez who you know, obviously didn't play a lot last
year, had his issues in the outfield at least he hit 260 and
stole 20 bases and I think his OPS was 722 off the top my head,
I have it in front of me. I think it was 722 at least
numbers where there's a baseline like OK, OK, now if we
incorporate the little tweak, maybe 260 becomes 270-3274.
Maybe the on base goes from, I don't mean in a year, but I mean
when he matures 722 to 8 O 9. Maybe with the increased on
base, the stolen bases go from 22 to 32.
All highly plausible things. But back to Carl Anthony Towns.
Those are more philosophies. Those are more like baseball
tweaks, incorporating something different in your swing, pitch
recognition, whatever it might be.
So I I just don't think that's going to happen with an NBA
player who's too loose with the ball again, great value Helva
score. You know, top 15 ish player in
the game all NBA year ago All Star happy to have him, but that
doesn't mean that the ceiling is championship level if he's a
focal point of view team, because I don't think it is all
right, let me get a couple of comments here.
Let's see, Cats can't have Cats a liability.
I'm not blowing a season here. Cats excellent game to game.
But in a long series, those silly plays and fouls can can
really, can really tank you. That's Devin Patrick, 16.
Yeah. Nick's need a small forward.
Get Drummond for rebounding toughness off the bench.
Yeah. I mean, you could always get one
of those ancillary pieces. Sure.
Clarkson's full, full sender bust.
True. You know, that's why you got to
manage the minutes there. Cats fouls concerning.
Yeah, it's the Back to the Yankees about exit Velo and
launch angle. You know what?
You guys should go check out my interview with Alex.
My last show on The Fan talked about hitting philosophy and all
those different things, right? And he basically said that the
Yankees, in his opinion, they're organizational.
I guess I can fix that. Organizational hitting
philosophy is broken. It's busted and it's evident to
somebody like Anthony Volpe, you know, and and he's right.
But to hear Alex expand on that, you know, certainly reinforces
what I've said for a long time because it's just the the
results are are too common and getting to those results.
It's the same predictable story like Volpe as an example, how
many I think every at bat. Now that's obviously hyperbolic,
but I feel like it he gets in fastball upstairs swing,
articulate, can't get on, can't get on top of it.
It's tough to get on that that high fastballs we know fouls it
back, good aggressive swing, tick off and now it's O1 and now
soft and away. He either reaches for it, fouls
it off, rolls it over. And then I think it's just too
often O2. And that is a philosophical
approach that is, you know, being taught to not look to to
elevate the high pitch, which is almost impossible.
So those those are things that Alex was talking about.
And I think pertaining to a cat where it's more just, I think
ingrained in his. But it's not so much a
philosophy. It's not like the Knicks teach
one thing on how to attack the rim and the Thunder say, no, we
attacked the, the the footwork is at this angle.
No, it's just, you know, it's years of bowling, years of
feeling, years of flowing and years of going out and doing
your thing. And you've either you've either
got great hand eye coordination, you've either got great
dexterity, great hand foot coordination, great aptitude,
great anticipation, or you have some of those things and are
highly deficient in others. So, and I think that that
applies to Cat. And with that being the case
against certain teams, he'll look amazing against other
teams. That can really illuminate those
deficiencies. Well, I think you get the uneven
results, the cheap fouls to the bench, the turnovers, whatever
it might be. All right, So hopefully you guys
enjoyed this. What do you think?
What do you think?
A lot of comments. You guys are rocking this, man,
Absolutely rocking this. Hey, listen, guys, I will do one
tomorrow. Have a little fun, maybe some
Christmas stuff. Obviously, when things break and
as I said yesterday, unless I'm coaching literally on a bench or
on a field, the ability to fire up and react and get with you
guys is something that's going to be amazing that I'm going to
utilize. Obviously that's part of the
deal, the calls, the ability to do some other things.
You don't get a clean, a cleaner look.
I I know some of you have suggested stream yard, which I
used to use with the unkillable pod that I would do on Sundays
after jets games. My producer did all that.
I am in the early stages of tweaking that figuring that out.
So even this will look a little different.
I know there's the ability to leave voice messages is the new
world. I'm not as overwhelmed with
this, with the digital stuff and, and the new stuff as I was
yet. Certainly the day before
yesterday, I was like, Oh my God, well, my son was telling me
about super chats. I'm like, but I just got to
figure out a way to just get this thing going.
Just give me a green light, give me a give me a camera, you know,
just give me an Ave. to start talking.
And, you know, each year, each day, pardon me, it's, it's, it's
kind of lessened a little bit where you know, I'm like, all
right, I know how to get this thing going.
All right, You know what? I didn't like the way the studio
looked yesterday. Let me get it up to my Home
Office. Let me get the microphone.
Let me give you a different look.
I really, really appreciate it. Hopefully you can be with me
tomorrow. If you can't be, well then
that's your fault and you got to change that.
Happy holidays. Merry Christmas to those of you
who just celebrated Hanukkah. Hope it was awesome.
And I've got a couple of good Christmas stories from when I
was a kid pertaining to sports. I'll give you a couple of those.
Continue to follow me on Twitter, obviously Instagram,
leave the comments. I'll get a short up for you at
some point encapsulating probably do something on the
Mets there with the McNeil stuff.
That was that was something I really wanted to get out there
and and let's just keep grinding, man.
Again, I recognize without you guys following me, there is
nothing sponsorships. Those are all things all bells
and whistles we're looking for. And one more thing.
Let me actually let me check it and see if my guy got back to me
on the exact amount Did he he did.
I had a boy. Let's see two.
What do you got here? OK, so there are, I'm looking at
right now, a schematic of this awesome Vogel Theatre, and it
looks to be all right, 7912. There's about 25 or 26 seats
left. My concerts.net, BT and Sal
live, January 22nd, special guest Aaron Boone on stage,
little music, food, drinks. There's regular seats.
There's AVIP package to hang out with me and Sal and Boone.
It's going to be a real awesome night.
I get Bogle, Bogle Theatre Reckless talk very highly about
it and I know people who are performed there.
That's the reason why we we picked it.
We know it's it's first rate. So if you want to get the
tickets, myconcerts.net, I'll even type it in case you guys
forget it. Put 2223 seats left.
It's a wrap sold out. You guys have even represented
us there, which is phenomenal. All right, I'm going to go get a
workout in. I've got St.
John's tonight in Queens. I don't love the way St.
John's is looking not worried about tonight obviously but man
to go from 5th preseason ranking to not ranked that is a wake up
call. St.
John's has a lot to fix. Talked about that yesterday.
If you want to go and dig into the end of of yesterday's live
show and have an have an awesome rest of your day, let me bounce.
I will check you guys tomorrow 10:00 same time and I promise
once this stuff is fixed. I know I'm repetitive now but I
want you guys to know I'm not ignoring this like super chats
and things that I just. Can't do yet because you've got
to hit the certain levels and if you're with YouTube, you know
what I mean. Subscribers and then watched
hours and all that. Then we start pumping out the
other stuff. So appreciate it.
Catch you guys tomorrow, go Johnny's and have an awesome
rest of your day.