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00:00:00In this city, with the expectations, where you're joining a race in progress, where you're trying to
00:00:07hold off the Red Sox, catch the Rays, the expectation is an American League championship
00:00:12at least, if not a parade in the Canyon of Heroes, to show up and it feels like, wow, you
00:00:18fit.
00:00:20That is saying a lot.
00:00:23It's a drive by Derry Dawson.
00:00:27Charles Chisholm goes deep.
00:00:32Hello and welcome to the Pinstripe Post.
00:00:33My name is Ryan Sampson.
00:00:34He's the star of the show, Joel Sherman.
00:00:36Today is Monday, August 10th.
00:00:38The New York Yankees are coming off a series win against the Atlanta Braves, taking two
00:00:42out of three.
00:00:43Couldn't get the sweep yesterday after going to extra innings, but we're here to talk about
00:00:46it all on today's episode.
00:00:47Before we get to any of that, as always on a Monday morning, Joel Sherman, how are you
00:00:51doing today, bud?
00:00:53Good.
00:00:53I'm in parts unknown.
00:00:54I'm taking a few post-trade deadline days off, but not for you, Ryan, and not for the people
00:00:59who are nice enough to watch Pinstripe Post.
00:01:01I jumped in.
00:01:04I felt like we've been doing shows steady.
00:01:08People have been nice enough to watch them.
00:01:11And obviously, the Yankees, you know, with no NHL, no NBA, and the NFL camps just opening
00:01:18about to begin exhibition season, I believe this weekend coming up, right, is Yankees
00:01:24and the Mets kind of having been sellers, and now we're just watching a different version
00:01:29of the Mets.
00:01:29The Yankees are kind of the story in town right now for at least a little while.
00:01:33So I thought, like, we should keep the, should we say, the Matt Olsen-like streak going of
00:01:41playing every day.
00:01:42What an amazing player and durable player he is.
00:01:46Yeah, look, got to see him up close and personal.
00:01:48Yankees had a tough time keeping him in the ballpark with the bat, but he's an incredible
00:01:52player.
00:01:53Major League Baseball has a tough time keeping him in the ballpark.
00:01:55Yeah, that's true.
00:01:57Look, Joel, I appreciate you, as always, being on here with us, and I think we have to start
00:02:03with George Lombard Jr.
00:02:05We saw his debut last week, and since he's come up, there's a lot of noticeable things.
00:02:11I am interested to hear your thoughts for the first couple games here on George Lombard
00:02:16before we get into the offense and the pitching and everything.
00:02:18I want to start with Lombard, though.
00:02:20What do you think about the kids so far?
00:02:22Yeah, I mean, I almost hate to start with a negative here, but I'm going to start with
00:02:26the negative, which is, Ryan, I spent this season saying the Yankees don't have a shortstop
00:02:32and that they were either going to have to trade for one or Lombard was going to have
00:02:35to be the answer, and I know you could show me DRS on somebody like Jose Caballero.
00:02:45I know you can tell me that the Yankees would rather run off a cliff than say something negative
00:02:52about the defensive play of Anthony Volpe at shortstop.
00:02:56But the thing I would constantly say to Yankee people is, one of the blessings of my job
00:03:02is there's two teams in New York, and I get to watch Francisco Lindor play shortstop, for
00:03:06example.
00:03:07And there's something about how a real shortstop moves, how they set up their arm.
00:03:13Like, to me, Anthony Volpe has never looked like a real major league shortstop, even when
00:03:18he was winning a gold glove and playing better because he's playing way too fast, he's on
00:03:25the ground like a hockey goalie, way too much instead of comfortably fielding the ball, and
00:03:30he just didn't have the arm for the position.
00:03:33Caballero could do the spectacular, but I think your shortstop center fielder and catcher in
00:03:38particular have to do the routine over and over.
00:03:42It's got to be like 100% play, pretty much in the center of the diamond in those three
00:03:47positions.
00:03:48And really, you want that everywhere.
00:03:49Like, you know, like, look at David Peterson's numbers with the Cubs as compared to the Mets.
00:03:55And a lot of it is built around batting average on balls in play.
00:03:58It was like almost 400 with the Mets.
00:04:00It's in the low 200 with the Cubs, who are a brilliant defensive team almost everywhere
00:04:04on the diamond, especially in the infield for a ground ball pitcher.
00:04:08And so after a week, what I am very comfortable saying about George Lombard is he is a major
00:04:15league shortstop.
00:04:16He's a major league shortstop.
00:04:18He makes every play, and he makes difficult ones look routine.
00:04:24The first play of the game of the Coles start on Saturday is 105 mile an hour bullet to his
00:04:30backhand.
00:04:31And he, like, we won't talk about it because he just made it look like a player shortstop
00:04:39should make.
00:04:39And you know what?
00:04:40It's a player shortstop can make.
00:04:42He made it easily.
00:04:44He had the arm for it.
00:04:46He makes a play in extra innings on Friday to his backhand that is, and because he has such
00:04:53arm, wins the battle by 10 feet against the runner.
00:04:57So I think that he is an, and the Yankees, doesn't it seem all of a sudden, because they're
00:05:05getting that kind of steady play at shortstop, like they're just a good defensive team again.
00:05:09It's amazing what plugging one player who can really handle a position, as important
00:05:16as that, into the lineup.
00:05:19And he's done that.
00:05:21So there's that.
00:05:23Having dealt very briefly with him in spring training, and now again, there is a lot of
00:05:29maturity that comes off of the 21-year-old.
00:05:32Perhaps that because he's the junior of a guy who played in the major leagues, and he's
00:05:37the junior of a, now the bench coach of the Tigers and George Lombard Sr., who I've dealt
00:05:42with quite a bit over the years, who is a incredibly smart, mature player, coach, I assume manager
00:05:49someplace here in the short term as well.
00:05:53So there's that.
00:05:55So I think you also see his clock is real good early.
00:05:59So that means something about baseball IQ.
00:06:02He never feels hurried.
00:06:03Like the game slows down for him.
00:06:05And here is what I would say is most encouraging after a week.
00:06:09And we know that there'll be adaptation by pitching.
00:06:11He slows the game down at the plate also.
00:06:15Yes.
00:06:15These are good at bats.
00:06:17Good, deep at bats.
00:06:19Two strikes does not seem to bother him.
00:06:22He has now shown both pull side power with a homer and opposite field power with a homer.
00:06:29He hits the ball hard.
00:06:30But to me, the Yankees have been really dying for seven plus weeks for batting average and
00:06:37good at bats.
00:06:39And it's, Ryan, I don't want to go crazy.
00:06:43It's about 20 plate appearances.
00:06:45But they have been 20 pretty mature plate appearances.
00:06:49The league will catch up now.
00:06:51And they'll start figuring out what George Lombard Jr. can't hit.
00:06:55And he'll have to make an adaptation again.
00:06:59But the lagging skill for him was supposed to be the bat.
00:07:03Yeah.
00:07:04And the one thing that I feel pretty confident watching is he's a mature kid who knows what
00:07:11the strike zone is.
00:07:14And knowing what the strike zone is, is such a big first step.
00:07:19And he's got it.
00:07:20And there's some intangible stuff that falls off of him.
00:07:24He, I'll say for one week, and it's one week.
00:07:29Let's not make it more than that.
00:07:30But for one week, that is an impressive week, man.
00:07:35That is a, I want to see week two.
00:07:38And it is, if the Yankees were protecting this guy in trades, which they clearly were,
00:07:44I think you just saw a week's worth of it.
00:07:47And if scouts were going crazy to me about his defense and intangibles, which they were
00:07:54for about the last three months, they, they, they're, they're coming attraction on him off
00:07:59of what I've seen off of a week.
00:08:01The one thing I feel comfortable about saying is this guy is not overwhelmed by the major
00:08:06leagues.
00:08:07And he could defend at a high level in the major leagues at a time where the Yankees needed at
00:08:12least
00:08:13that.
00:08:13And if he's going to give them back down the stretch, especially some batting average and
00:08:17good plate appearances, not to mention if he's going to pop a few over the fence, he's going to be
00:08:24really helpful for a team that need, that needed somebody who's kind of doing exactly what he's doing.
00:08:30Yeah, look, I think your words are, are music to Yankees fans ears right now, just because
00:08:37we feel the same way and what we're seeing.
00:08:39I think the key I take away is the maturity I see in him.
00:08:42And even off the field, when you hear Spencer Jones talk about how Lombard after one game
00:08:47talks to all the guys at dinner and says, all right, what's, what's Holmes about?
00:08:53What's he going to be like?
00:08:53Does anyone have a scouting report on him?
00:08:55Like he's clearly a baseball nut, like just like his father, I'm sure.
00:08:59And he's born and bred to this, but you like to hear those things.
00:09:03And especially when you connect them and what you see the on-field product, Joel, it makes
00:09:08it that much more fun to watch.
00:09:10And yes, he's going to have his struggles.
00:09:11Like you said, he's a rookie.
00:09:13It's his first time in here, but it is going to catch up to him, Ryan, like the book, you
00:09:17know, I'm unfortunately old enough, Ryan, to remember when scouts stood, there were a lot
00:09:23of scouts.
00:09:24There's not as many anymore.
00:09:25And they were all behind home plate and they're charting pitches.
00:09:28And it took a long time to figure out like what a hitter couldn't hit.
00:09:34Like there was lag time now with the game.
00:09:37So computerized and metricized, it's, you know, very quickly, oh, he's really susceptible
00:09:43to breaking balls away.
00:09:44And then, and so, so he, we're going to learn about him.
00:09:48And the last thing, the problem, one of the problems with Anthony Volpe was there was a
00:09:53Jeter comp because he was a homegrown shortstop.
00:09:56He grew up loving Jeter.
00:09:57I hate to make a Jeter comp with Lombard.
00:10:01So I'm not going to make it about anything except that at, I covered Derek Jeter's entire
00:10:09career.
00:10:09I took him to lunch when he was 18 years old in Tampa.
00:10:13Okay.
00:10:14Like I've known him in some way for a long time, that kid's maturity, Derek Jeter, and
00:10:22the fact that he was from day one, not overwhelmed.
00:10:25Like you were like, that guy fits in a major league clubhouse.
00:10:29Derek Jeter showed up like the Yankees had like guys like, like David Cohn, who was like
00:10:37really understanding, like one of the things I always liked about covering David Cohn is
00:10:41he was great at being perceptive about people who were not David Cohn.
00:10:46Not every player is like that.
00:10:47Lots of players are selfish.
00:10:49And I don't say that pejoratively.
00:10:51Like you need to be selfish because you're trying to do something in front of 50,000 people
00:10:55and millions more watching and everybody caring.
00:10:57So there has to be an innate selfishness to what you do as a baseball player.
00:11:01And most of them cannot see the world beyond themselves.
00:11:05Like David Cohn was one of them.
00:11:06And I would talk to David all the time in 96.
00:11:10And he's like, this kid, like, he's like a veteran.
00:11:14He's like a veteran.
00:11:15He's like, he's like one of the leaders of the team.
00:11:18Say it after like two, three weeks.
00:11:19He's like one of the leaders of the team already, because in the eighth inning of a
00:11:23two, two game, we all want the ball hit to him.
00:11:26We all want him at the plate.
00:11:27I would say after a week, if David Cohn was in the Yankee clubhouse now, he'd go, I don't
00:11:35know if the skill level, where the skill level will take him, but that kid is not overwhelmed
00:11:43about being a major league player.
00:11:45If you walked by him besides the baby face.
00:11:48And I mean, I, I am so old, Brian.
00:11:51I can't believe how young he looks when I was standing next to him on Saturday.
00:11:55But, um, that kid fits in a major league clubhouse.
00:12:00And again, maybe that's because he's George Lombard Jr.
00:12:03And has probably been in major league clubhouses for most of his lifetime with his dad, but he
00:12:09fits the part.
00:12:11And if he fails, and of course, there's still a high rate of failure.
00:12:16Major league baseball's tough as a week.
00:12:17I don't think it's going to be because he couldn't mentally, emotionally, temperamentally
00:12:22handle this and in this city with the expectations where you're joining a race in progress, where
00:12:30you're trying to catch, hold off the Red Sox, catch the Rays.
00:12:33The expectation is an American league championship, at least if not a parade in the Canyon of heroes
00:12:39to show up and it feels like, wow, you fit.
00:12:44That is saying a lot about a player.
00:12:48And so off of a week, it's hard to be, I think, you know, me, I don't know.
00:12:53I know you don't like to make compliments that that easily.
00:12:56You use that word myopic so much like Ryan, I don't want to judge this just on one week or
00:13:01this little sample size.
00:13:02I got to see more.
00:13:04So that's why I'm trying to narrow it down to, I know he could defend and I know he can
00:13:10handle himself.
00:13:11That is, those are two things I think I believe absolute about him after a week of watching
00:13:18him play.
00:13:19And if he's going to hit, he's really going to help them because their offense has been
00:13:25so terrible for seven plus weeks, especially when it comes to good at bats and batting average.
00:13:30And I know we'll talk about these things as we go along, but like he's for the, for a
00:13:36week in the major leagues, he's had the best at bats on the team for a week.
00:13:40Yes.
00:13:41Yes.
00:13:42Joel, that's well said.
00:13:43And again, I think what you started with is the right thing to talk about is the defense
00:13:47is so impressive.
00:13:49Obviously game one against the Cardinals hitting the home run is his first hit, but the plays
00:13:53he was able to make in the field, carrying it over into the weekend.
00:13:56I think it gives confidence obviously to the pitchers to like to pitch to contact more, especially
00:14:00if they're going to hit balls like that into the hole, he can, you, you have the confidence
00:14:03that he can make that play.
00:14:05So Joel, can I say something bigger about the defense?
00:14:09I don't mean to take, and this might take us down a road.
00:14:11You didn't want to go, but I actually think the whole defense looks better when he plays
00:14:19because it's such an important position.
00:14:21And I think that the Yankees, who didn't win the World Series in 2024 for a lot of reasons,
00:14:29but one of them was they were fundamentally unsound, have been fundamentally unsound for
00:14:34too long a period while guys are injured.
00:14:37And I think that, again, who knows?
00:14:41I talked to Cody Bellinger on Saturday.
00:14:44He was like, here's the problem with the Yankees right now.
00:14:48Clay Bellinger played in a game Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
00:14:52Cody Bellinger did not.
00:14:53But Cody Bellinger went at it hard in the outfield pregame.
00:14:59He looked like a guy to me, to me, who is close to a rehab.
00:15:05If they could get Bellinger, now here comes some of the stuff.
00:15:11Spencer Jones in center, Judge, Garcia, who's a much better first baseman than I imagined,
00:15:21or Goldschmidt at first.
00:15:23Yeah.
00:15:24Caballero at second.
00:15:28Lombard at short.
00:15:29Lombard at short.
00:15:31McMahon at third.
00:15:32Wells or Sanchez catching, but Wells, they actually become a very good defensive team.
00:15:40And at a moment, now, of course, if you got Bellinger and Judge back, that might solve
00:15:45some of your offense too along the way.
00:15:50And I would not, I thought one of the most interesting things that happened over the weekend,
00:15:57and again, this is the road I don't know if you want to go down or not.
00:16:00Now, on Friday night, late in the game, against Dylan Lee, who's one of the best lefty relievers
00:16:08in the sport, Aaron Boone pinch hit for both Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm.
00:16:16Now, on a handful of occasions, not many this year, in tight game situations, lefty on lefty,
00:16:23Boone had done it for Grisham.
00:16:25He had not for Chisholm, but I feel like those two guys, now, those two guys have had
00:16:33some big hits along the way.
00:16:35Grisham had another one yesterday, but there has been just, like, in a period where the
00:16:41Yankees needed to turn to a couple of their veterans and say, we need you to play well.
00:16:46Those two guys have not played well on either side of the ball for a very extended period.
00:16:52And I asked Boone, I don't know if you heard the answer, on Saturday morning, I asked him
00:16:57at his little press conference, was that a statement about how you're going to play the
00:17:05rest of the year because you pinch hit?
00:17:07And Aaron Boone being Aaron Boone was tactful, talking about it being mainly tactical.
00:17:14But he did add, I'm going to do what I think is right.
00:17:18And I do think for the rest of this season, he needs to do what's right.
00:17:23And that means play who you, like, it's pedigrees out the window.
00:17:28Veteran status is out the window.
00:17:31Salary is out the window.
00:17:32You know, Grisham and Chisholm are both in their walk year.
00:17:35Yeah, I was going to say, they're both going to be free agents at the end of the year.
00:17:37You know, like to me, to me, those guys have lost the right to automatically be in the lineup
00:17:46every day.
00:17:47And they've certainly lost the right, especially Chisholm against left-hand pitching in game
00:17:52situations to expect not to be pinch hit for Chisholm for the last seven weeks, the seven
00:18:00weeks where their offense has been terrible, has been one of the worst players in baseball
00:18:04all around.
00:18:05He is striking out against lefties.
00:18:08Upwards, he's getting close to 50% of his plate appearances are ending.
00:18:12It's like 45% are ending in strikeouts.
00:18:16The Yankees have to play their best team every day moving forward.
00:18:21Now, if you want to sell me on that a lot of days, that's still Chisholm at second and
00:18:26Grisham in center, fine.
00:18:29But it can't be every day.
00:18:31And those guys have lost the right to not be pinch hit for, not sit on occasion, because
00:18:41this is not a short period of time anymore where the offense is bad.
00:18:46And if the offense is going to be bad with you in it, and you're also going to be bad
00:18:51on defense, then I'm going to play the defense and the energy.
00:18:56Jones has got some life in him.
00:18:58Like, he's got some life in him.
00:19:00The bats are pretty good right now.
00:19:01Now, again, I think the league will move to figure him out again.
00:19:06I think he's always going to have that issue.
00:19:09But the one thing I keep wondering about Jones, and I think I might have mentioned this on
00:19:13the show last week, Ryan, forgive me if I did.
00:19:15I do think Spencer Jones has a shot to be what the Yankees hope Joey Gallo was going to be.
00:19:22Which is, we know he's probably not going to have a big average.
00:19:25We know he's going to strike out a lot.
00:19:27But the exchange for it is high-end defense, high-end athleticism, high-end base running.
00:19:33And I would say even more than Gallo, when the ball hits his bat, the triple that he hits
00:19:38off a sale, is incredibly impressive because, number one, I think that's the at-bat where
00:19:45we think he gets hit by pitch, right?
00:19:47And he comes back and left on left against one of the best lefties I've seen in my lifetime,
00:19:53Chris Sale.
00:19:54He hits a ball about 115 into the gap.
00:19:57And I don't know, besides the fact that it's 115, I don't know how many players in baseball
00:20:03get a triple on that play.
00:20:05He's incredibly fast.
00:20:07He's incredibly fast.
00:20:08And he is a real athlete for his size.
00:20:11And there's life to him.
00:20:13Now, I know that Grisham, one of the things about Grisham is, if I think Trent Grisham
00:20:20would say, one of the reasons I can play well is that I play easy.
00:20:25But in tough times, man, it's a tough watch.
00:20:29And the defense has been really bad this year.
00:20:34And I would just, like, if I'm forced to, I'll play defense because I don't know that
00:20:41the offensive difference between Jazz Chisholm and Jose Caballero is that difference.
00:20:46And by the way, I don't love Caballero as a player.
00:20:48There's stuff there also.
00:20:49But, like, it's one or the other.
00:20:51You're going to play at least, like, Caballero's defense at second base is really good.
00:20:55And if I'm going to, like, get not enough offense from Grisham, then I'll play the defense
00:21:01energy, enthusiasm.
00:21:03And when the ball hits the bat, it's going to go 400 feet.
00:21:09I just think that it's got to be thought of seriously.
00:21:12I would play the live bodies in the defense over – because the veterans have let you down.
00:21:18This was the period they needed to – I hate the term step up because nobody ever describes
00:21:24what the hell that means.
00:21:25Hey, he needs to step up.
00:21:27What does step up mean?
00:21:27But clearly, with Bellinger, Judge, and Stanton out of the lineup, guys like Chisholm and Grisham
00:21:35needed to be average, good, just the back of their baseball card.
00:21:41And they haven't been.
00:21:42And they haven't been.
00:21:44And they haven't been.
00:21:44Not for seven weeks.
00:21:45And that's the thing, Joel.
00:21:46Like, what you're saying right now about the Boone, how he's going to tactically try to play this
00:21:52and play the best player, and if it does mean playing the best defense,
00:21:56that's the route they may go – it reminds me a lot of early this year when we talked
00:22:01about Caballero being the everyday shortstop and not calling up Anthony Volpe
00:22:04and not playing these guys, like, oh, because they – you know, these guys earned it.
00:22:08Like, he wasn't just going to give jobs out to the veterans, the guys that, you know,
00:22:12that have established themselves as a presence.
00:22:16If you're still waiting for Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton in this lineup, I think I agree with you.
00:22:21You kind of have to play your best players, whether it's defense or, like,
00:22:27who's playing the best right now.
00:22:28And that's what Jones and Lombard both are providing for this team right now is athleticism.
00:22:33It's the defense.
00:22:34It's some good quality at-bats in a time when you need your good at-bats for this lineup
00:22:39because it just hasn't been good offensively.
00:22:41But I guess I do want to spin this a little –
00:22:43Can I just jump in, Ryan, to point on one thing?
00:22:47If Jazz, Chisholm, and Grisholm were playing at an 800 OPS for the last seven weeks,
00:22:54because of the lack of offense otherwise, I would deal with the mental absences of Chisholm,
00:23:03the laconic way that Grisholm plays defense and runs the –
00:23:08like, I – because the exchange would be –
00:23:11I'm judging Bellinger and Stanton around the lineup.
00:23:14I need the offense.
00:23:16But if I'm not going to get the offense, I'm not sure that, like –
00:23:23like, do you really – if I said you get nothing else but the next 50 plate appearances,
00:23:29you could get them from Trent Grisholm or Spencer Jones.
00:23:34The next 50 plate appearances, you could get from Jose Caballero or Jazz Chisholm.
00:23:40Historically, I would take Grisholm and Chisholm.
00:23:42But that was a – are they feeling the weight of the absences of the other guys?
00:23:47Are they feeling the weight of free agency?
00:23:50Whatever it is, they're not playing well.
00:23:54And they're kind of – like, it felt like at Saturday's game where I was at the game,
00:24:01and it's a singular game in 162, but that –
00:24:05the good play of Jones and Lombard, who I think you could argue were the two best players on the
00:24:10field on Saturday.
00:24:11Oh, yeah. Jones definitely was. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:24:13I mean, Lombard – they both had great at-bats.
00:24:16They both played well on defense.
00:24:17They both had energy and ran the bases well.
00:24:20That that youth energy thing helps the team, and that the way Grisholm goes about it, the way Jazz goes
00:24:31about it,
00:24:32it is not – like, at a time where they need full attention, full hustle.
00:24:36Like, the margin for error with this Yankee team is small because the offense has been so bad for such
00:24:43an extended period.
00:24:44And we're going to look back, and I still think that there's two issues that they're going to have because
00:24:50of the bad offense.
00:24:52Number one, they've wasted a lot of really good pitching, like, including yesterday when Schlittler was probably as good as
00:25:00he's been all year, right?
00:25:02Like, you have that.
00:25:03The second thing is there is not a pitch that has been thrown for seven weeks that's not under duress.
00:25:09Like, they never have a significant lead in a game if – and if they even lead.
00:25:17They're taxing that bullpen, Joel.
00:25:19They are constantly at one – they're taxing the starting pitching.
00:25:22They're taxing the bullpen.
00:25:23There is no, hey, we're bringing in our mop-up guy.
00:25:27Yeah.
00:25:27The pitching is good enough to keep them in every game, and the offense is bad enough that they can't
00:25:32get away.
00:25:33And so every game is tight, every pitch.
00:25:36There is no – I would love to know how many pitches have been thrown with a four or more
00:25:41run lead over the last seven weeks, where it's like, hey, it doesn't feel like if you hang one right
00:25:48here, the game is in the balance.
00:25:51You know, it's interesting.
00:25:53The best I think that Fernando Cruz has pitched in the last, like, period of time was they were losing
00:26:03really big, and he had to come up in a mop-up situation.
00:26:06And he just – instead of, like, thinking about every pitch, don't hang it, don't hang it, he went one,
00:26:11two, three, and, like, 12, 13 – it was, like, amazing to watch because he's, like, their entire staff.
00:26:18And I do think they are – you know, Bednar is being used too much.
00:26:23Hedrick is being used too much.
00:26:25The starters are being pushed for those extra 10 or 15 pitches, and the thought that you're going to get
00:26:34through it without a price being paid on that – and maybe a price is being paid.
00:26:40We're seeing a lesser Cruz.
00:26:42Hedrick has been a little bit more hittable recently.
00:26:46Blackburn's been a little more hittable recently.
00:26:49Like, there's going to be a tax on this.
00:26:55And, yeah, I just – I think that there's a double cost of the bad hitting, which is, number one,
00:27:03they've left a lot of wins on the table with that kind of pitching.
00:27:06And, number two, the duress on the staff of never throwing a pressure-free pitch for now going close to
00:27:15two months.
00:27:17And, by the way, we've got a quarter of a season left.
00:27:20And, you know, number one, the Yankees got to get in.
00:27:23And, number two, they obviously want to overtake – hold off Boston and overtake Tampa.
00:27:28Whoever wins the AL East clearly is going to have the best record in the league and get a bye
00:27:33and have home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs.
00:27:36And so it's all duress the rest of the way.
00:27:42And this offense – it's a stupid sentence.
00:27:45Hey, it has to wake up.
00:27:47It hasn't woken up for seven weeks.
00:27:48The additions of Luis Garcia and Ramos has not paid an instant dividend in that thing by making it much
00:27:56better.
00:27:58Will it?
00:27:59Again, I wonder if those guys are supporting actors and they just – the team needs judged to get back.
00:28:05Yeah.
00:28:05And that's just not happening any time.
00:28:07Yeah.
00:28:07And then he'd bend rice to get out of his slump as well.
00:28:10I mean, I know he had the big walk-off hit, obviously, on Friday.
00:28:14So maybe that sparks some.
00:28:15He had the homer as well on Saturday, I believe, too.
00:28:17It's like – so it's like you want to see hopefully that's him waking up and getting back into what
00:28:22he was doing earlier this year, Joel.
00:28:24Because they need him to be a big producer if they want to even make the World Series, in my
00:28:27opinion.
00:28:28He's got to be – he's got to be B.
00:28:31He's got to be the, you know, the B to Aaron Judge's A.
00:28:34He's got to be that second-best offensive player in that lineup, Joel.
00:28:38Do you know what the crazy thing is to me, Ryan?
00:28:40Yeah.
00:28:42For about three weeks now, if you said, where are they getting their most consistent offense?
00:28:48It's actually been catcher.
00:28:49Yeah.
00:28:49I know.
00:28:51Austin Wells.
00:28:51Which is crazy, right?
00:28:52Because it was like, hey, you've got to get a right-hand hit and catch.
00:28:54You've got to get a right-hand hit.
00:28:55I assume at some point Ali Sanchez won't give you batting average, but right now he is.
00:29:01And Wells, again, when Wells gets deep into counts and walks, his offense is just much better.
00:29:08And it's been about three or four weeks now of pretty good offense from Wells.
00:29:14And the final line can't be pretty because the first two-thirds of the season was so bad.
00:29:21But if this is Wells the rest of the way, it is a helpful bat because I still believe he
00:29:28can be a good Major League hitter who's been a bad Major League hitter this year.
00:29:33Again, Friday night, hitting that double off the wall.
00:29:36That was an impressive bat down to the last strike.
00:29:40Joel, the Yankees have 29 comeback wins this year.
00:29:42It's the most in the American League.
00:29:44So you talk about close games.
00:29:46They're always in close games, like you said.
00:29:48And it is a lot of duress on this bullpen and starting staff.
00:29:52Carlos Rodon threw a rehab game over the weekend.
00:29:54I am interested to hear if they give him one more start, it sounds like, or they pull the max
00:29:59free like they did.
00:30:00We know, oh, no, he's pitching.
00:30:02When he comes back in the next, let's say, two weeks, how does that work out?
00:30:08Like, I know you say, Ryan, just let it play out.
00:30:10But we are getting closer to the Rodon coming back to the Major League roster.
00:30:16So I think it's a good question, because I think we're close enough now.
00:30:20Yeah.
00:30:21You know, you're someplace five to ten days away from when he's going to be do it.
00:30:26So if you don't have another injury, you got to think about it.
00:30:28I think their thought process all along was because Weathers does not have a history of pitching this much in
00:30:38a year,
00:30:39was he was going to become their power lefty in the bullpen.
00:30:43And I, if I were a gambling man, and I am not, I would still bet it's him.
00:30:52Because I also think they know they have a late inning bullpen issue as far as how do they get
00:31:00it to Bednar?
00:31:01How do they take some weight off of Bednar, Hedrick, et cetera?
00:31:04And he has the ability to do that.
00:31:07Conversely, he's really, really pitched well.
00:31:10At this moment where we keep expecting him to stumble in the marathon,
00:31:13he's actually had his best extended period as a Yankee.
00:31:18And at a moment where run prevention has to be at its highest because you're not scoring,
00:31:25it does lead to the question, I think it still ends up being Weathers in the pen
00:31:31because I don't think Warren brings you as much as Weathers might in relief.
00:31:39But this was always my, this was the issue last week when we did the show, Ryan,
00:31:43where I was very surprised they could not pull down a reliever.
00:31:47It still means you believe that Weathers and or Warren can transition to the bullpen,
00:31:56can learn to warm up quickly, can be used multiple times a week,
00:32:00can come in in the middle of an inning or whatever it is that's going to happen,
00:32:05that them, one of them and Clark Schmidt ultimately will be able to do this.
00:32:12It's not, again, I hate to keep going to gambling, it's not a great bet that they will be able
00:32:19to do it.
00:32:19And yet, sometimes, you know, it's Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.
00:32:25The Army is coming this way, a hundred foot drop into the raging river is this way.
00:32:32This is sure death.
00:32:33This is probable.
00:32:34I'm going to go to probable, right?
00:32:36Yeah.
00:32:37And jump into the river.
00:32:38And I just think the Yankees have run out of options as far as how do they lengthen the bullpen.
00:32:44The way to lengthen it is Rodon comes back, takes Weathers probably out, Schmidt comes back.
00:32:50Like, if it worked perfect and Schmidt, like, we're all of a sudden you're saying,
00:32:54wow, Schmidt and Weathers are good at this to go along with Bednar and Hedrick.
00:33:02And now, all of a sudden, it's longer.
00:33:04It's a little less weight on everybody else where you do it because, like, the trust factor in, I've always
00:33:11liked Tim Hill, but it just hasn't been good this year.
00:33:15He's been homer susceptible.
00:33:17He hasn't really gotten lefties out the way you'd want to get lefties.
00:33:20The ball is not, is in the air a little bit too much.
00:33:23If it's in the air against him, it's death.
00:33:27You know, it's just, they're going to run out of options as far as who do you really trust?
00:33:33And they're going to overuse the four guys they've been overusing.
00:33:37And so, the Army's this way, the Raging River's this way.
00:33:42They're going to have to jump into the Raging River.
00:33:44Yeah.
00:33:45It's, and it's kind of been like their plan, right, Joel?
00:33:47I mean, they kind of admitted to us, like, that was their plan all along when they didn't attack the
00:33:52bullpen at the deadline.
00:33:53Or even leading up to the deadline, they didn't get that addition.
00:33:57Ryan, I think if we were to ask them on June 1st, what's their plan?
00:34:01They would have said, oh, we're going to acquire a reliever or two.
00:34:04But we're also going to turn Weathers and Schmidt into reliever.
00:34:10Yeah.
00:34:10Like, I think this was always part of a thing.
00:34:13And I think probably up to 48 hours before the deadline, the Yankees would have said, oh, come on.
00:34:19We're going to pull down a reliever we like.
00:34:21And it just, it didn't happen.
00:34:23And, look, part of that was chasing the pipe dream of Mason Miller in specific, and I think to some
00:34:30degree, Adrian Morihone, who they both would have seen as pitching in the last six outs, if not the last
00:34:36three outs for both.
00:34:39And that never materialized.
00:34:42And I get it.
00:34:44I bet you they didn't, like, especially, I think there were two problems.
00:34:49I talked about one of the problems last week.
00:34:51I think the Yankees have made so many trades the last four years, and especially last deadline, that they ran
00:34:59out of that middle rung of prospects that teams take for relief pitchers.
00:35:06And the fact that they blew it on Bird and Duvall with substantive capital, and even to some degree, let's
00:35:16add the offseason.
00:35:17Listen, they trade TJ Rumfeld for Angel Chevalier, and Rumfeld has been really good for Colorado.
00:35:28If he's been sitting at AAA all this year, if they'd put him on their 40-man roster, and he
00:35:34had been there.
00:35:35First of all, he might be the answer.
00:35:37Like, you know what's interesting to me, Ryan?
00:35:41And again, this is so Monday morning quarterbacking.
00:35:45But if they keep Rumfeld and Gritchick, do they actually need the two guys they traded for?
00:35:53Probably not.
00:35:54Probably not.
00:35:55Right?
00:35:56Like, if Garcia, if you're going for the left-hand hitting first baseman, now just switch it, right?
00:36:01But, like, you're willing to live with that, then Rumfeld's left-hand hitter.
00:36:07He's got about a 120 OPS plus this year for Colorado, and if you look at his numbers, it isn't
00:36:12just Coors Field.
00:36:13He's hit great on the road.
00:36:15And Gritchick, with the White Sox, has done exactly what the Yankees signed him to do and gave up too
00:36:20early on.
00:36:21And, you know, went back to Dominguez.
00:36:24And understandable, like, maybe to some degree.
00:36:27But I'm not really sure they would have needed to trade for Ramos and Garcia if they had Rumfeld and
00:36:34Gritchick.
00:36:35And then the question is, with all that extra collateral that you traded, would you have been able to pull
00:36:40down a reliever?
00:36:43It's a fascinating – yeah, it's an interesting thought, Joel.
00:36:46And, you know, look, I do want to say, like you mentioned before, Garcia has looked pretty damn good at
00:36:53first base defensively.
00:36:55He's a good first baseman.
00:36:56And the word I heard from people who cover – not from inside the Nationals, but some scouting people who
00:37:02cover them is that he, every month, was getting better at first base.
00:37:06Like, remember, he was a bad second baseman.
00:37:08Bad second baseman, yeah.
00:37:09Ooh, they moved to first base.
00:37:12And obviously, he had a big hit in game one for them.
00:37:15They definitely need his bat.
00:37:16They need – Ryan, I'm going to – I know the – I think the Yankees – a lot of
00:37:21the Yankee people would argue with me.
00:37:23Because they still feel like on-base percentage, walks, homers, that's the way to score the most runs.
00:37:30And I – I'm here.
00:37:32I'd rather have a guy with a high on-base percentage than a high batting average.
00:37:36I'd rather have somebody hit a home run than anything else.
00:37:39But you can't have no batting average.
00:37:41You can't have zero batting average.
00:37:43No, I know.
00:37:44The Yankees are getting no hit through three innings of every game.
00:37:48Like, and again, think about the duress that puts on your starting pitcher on the other side.
00:37:52They are putting no stress on the opposing starter, incredible stress on their starter,
00:37:58because they just can't land the ball.
00:38:04And they're not, obviously, without Stanton, Bellinger, and a judge in particular,
00:38:08they're not hitting it over the wall as frequently.
00:38:10They're not walking because of the threat of those guys as frequently.
00:38:14And so the utter lack of batting average.
00:38:17Now, Ramos and Garcia were both guys hitting well above league average in their previous stop.
00:38:24They need some – and that's where I point out Chisholm and Grisham,
00:38:29by hitting 170 for the last seven weeks, is killing them.
00:38:35They need the ball to land.
00:38:38They need to put some threat onto the other team.
00:38:41There are no RBI singles and doubles by them.
00:38:45It's like a solo – and the homers are all solo homers.
00:38:49Because you're not – and they're just – again, I understand on-base percentage is better high
00:38:56than a batting average better high.
00:38:58But you just can't live with no – they're hitting 206 in their last 44 games.
00:39:05I'm going to repeat that.
00:39:06That's a little drop above a quarter of a season.
00:39:09It's 206.
00:39:11It's putrid.
00:39:11You can't survive that.
00:39:14I don't care how many walks in homers you have.
00:39:16You've – and the Yankees' walks in homers have come way down.
00:39:19The ball has to land in fair territory as a hit on more occasions than this Yankee team has proved
00:39:25capable of.
00:39:26Yeah, look, Joel.
00:39:27I mean, it's been painful to watch, especially Jazz with runners in scoring position.
00:39:31He swings for the fences, strikes out a lot, or he grounds out.
00:39:35I mean, it's just – it's been painful, especially with those two guys.
00:39:40Garcia, I got to tell you, though, the swing – I know this is a crazy comp.
00:39:45It reminds me of Robbie Cano.
00:39:47It is smooth.
00:39:48It is easy going for him.
00:39:50You can see why there's good slug from him just because of how quick he is with his bat.
00:39:55That – it's impressive, and like we said defensively, if he can play like that defensively, I think the Jets
00:40:02– the Jets – the Yankees have a very good combo at first between him and Rice's DH.
00:40:07And I think Ramos has been okay.
00:40:11Like, you know, there's – we need to see more of it, obviously.
00:40:13The ball comes up at his bat well.
00:40:16He's not going to be a good defender.
00:40:17He's going to be helpful.
00:40:18Like, again, they're in this period where they need a lot of best supporting actors to play better while, obviously,
00:40:27their star of stars judges out.
00:40:30But even Bellinger, who I think is their best co-star on the team to judge the guy who kind
00:40:36of does everything.
00:40:37And that's, again, where I go back to Chisholm and Grisham were guys who are veteran co-stars who just
00:40:47– here's the thing, Ryan.
00:40:50If for the last seven weeks their offense had been slightly below average, they'd be in first place.
00:40:59Yeah.
00:41:00You're not wrong, Joel.
00:41:01Not – by the way, not average, not above average, not great.
00:41:06If it had been slightly below average, if they had been averaging four runs a game for the last seven
00:41:14weeks, they'd be in first place.
00:41:18And by the way, the Rays are playing great and so are the Red Sox.
00:41:21Like, that's part of it also is like the Yankees would be under duress anyway because these teams are playing
00:41:27well and have built the first and third best record in the American League.
00:41:32And so – but the fact that the Yankee offense has been arguably the worst in the sport for seven
00:41:43weeks – seven weeks.
00:41:45Like, I know my analytic friends will say, hey, you want to ignore small sample sizes, but it's more than
00:41:52a quarter of a season now, and the games really do count.
00:41:55And the fact that they cannot land hits – and to your point, it's not – I think this is
00:42:05actually going to be an asset of George Lombard Jr.
00:42:07and it is not an asset of Jazz Chisholm, which is – and I think it's rampant in the sport,
00:42:15which is players don't play the scoreboard.
00:42:21Like, what's needed in the moment?
00:42:23Like, sometimes you do need to swing for the fences.
00:42:26You're down two with a runner on and two outs in the ninth inning.
00:42:30Like, you're not going to get a rally going.
00:42:32If you're Jazz Chisholm, especially if you're in Yankee Stadium, try to park the ball.
00:42:36I get it.
00:42:37But if it's the eighth inning and there's a runner on third and one out, the guy must score.
00:42:44He must score.
00:42:47Jose Caballero, you must get the bunt down.
00:42:49Like, I don't know what that was the other day.
00:42:52That was horrible.
00:42:53Like, the word is in the word.
00:42:56It's a sacrifice.
00:42:57That means to sacrifice yourself.
00:42:59Get out in front of the plate and get the bunt down.
00:43:01The first attempt to try to create a hit also, it is not playing the scoreboard.
00:43:07You must play the scoreboard, which is sacrifice yourself to score the singular run.
00:43:14We don't need you on first base.
00:43:16That's a fringe benefit.
00:43:17If somehow you put down such a good bunt or they botch it, you must sacrifice yourself to get a
00:43:24runner over.
00:43:26And there's a lot of bad baseball played all over the place.
00:43:30I mean, I was at a bar on Saturday night watching the end of the Met game, and I saw
00:43:37a pirate player get thrown out at second base down three runs in the ninth inning.
00:43:42And I was just like, I don't know how that guy even goes back to the dugout.
00:43:46I don't know, like, like, if I'm the manager of the team, I'm just like, I don't care.
00:43:51Like, I don't ever want to see you again.
00:43:53Like, this is Little League shit.
00:43:55And so it's not, you should know, it's not just the Yankees.
00:43:58I'm a channel surfer.
00:44:00I watch a lot of baseball, and I'm blown away by it.
00:44:02But if you're going to play at the highest level, and you lost the 2024 World Series in part because
00:44:08you didn't do fundamental stuff well, the fact that you're not doubling down on it now where it's like, guys,
00:44:15we are playing play.
00:44:17The Yankees have been in about, like, seven weeks of playoff games also.
00:44:20They're all tight.
00:44:21They all feel stressful.
00:44:24And to their credit, they're winning a lot of low-scoring games that feel like playoff games, like if they
00:44:29could just get a little offense, they'd be in such a good position.
00:44:33But that just doubles down on why you need to be good on defense, why when the runner needs to
00:44:38be moved over, he must be moved over.
00:44:42It's why when there's a runner on third with no or one out, you've got to get the ball in
00:44:47play and force the defense to at least play it.
00:44:50And so, yeah, there's just been some stuff.
00:44:57And I actually think Lombard and Jones are good technical players, too.
00:45:02Now, there's Jones.
00:45:03There's going to be swing and miss in Jones' game with guys at third base.
00:45:06I just think it's part of his game.
00:45:10But watching him play the outfield, throw the ball to the right base, throw it well, seems to know when
00:45:15to take an extra base.
00:45:16There seems to be some – Jones is interesting.
00:45:20Yeah, that's –
00:45:21Jones is an interesting player.
00:45:23It might turn out to be a Joey Gallo washout, like that version with the Yankees.
00:45:29But there's a lot of athleticism there.
00:45:32I think there's a pretty good baseball IQ.
00:45:34I don't think he's – like when he fails, I don't think he's intimidated.
00:45:38He – and the one thing I'll say for him is the at-bats have gotten better with each new
00:45:46time he's been brought to the major leagues.
00:45:48Almost like, oh, I've seen what they're doing to me.
00:45:51I got sent to the minor leagues.
00:45:52Need to work on it.
00:45:54Comes back and it's like, oh, better at-bats.
00:45:57Went down again.
00:45:58Better at-bats when he comes back.
00:46:00There's always going to be big swing and miss in his game.
00:46:05But there's big swing and miss in Kyle Schwarber's game.
00:46:08There's big swing and miss in John Carlos Stanton's game.
00:46:11There's big swing and miss in Aaron Judge's game, et cetera.
00:46:14If you make them pay in other ways and also if you are additive on the bases, which I think
00:46:21he'll be,
00:46:22and if you're additive on defense, which I think he'll be, especially if he plays a corner.
00:46:26But, like, right now the center fielder's Trent Grisham.
00:46:29I think he's better.
00:46:30I think the Yankees would argue and say he's not better than Trent Grisham.
00:46:33I think they're wrong.
00:46:36And I would get to Bellinger, Jones, and Judge if I ever could get there.
00:46:41Because one of the things is I watch the Red Sox play a lot.
00:46:47And one of the keys to their success is good luck landing a ball in their outfield.
00:46:53That is where hits go to die, man.
00:46:55And their outfield, especially their center fielder and right fielder, I mean,
00:47:01Raffaella and Abreu, I mean, they are really good.
00:47:06And so, you know, like you're going to play tight games.
00:47:10You've got to take hits away.
00:47:12Yeah.
00:47:12Got to make all the plays.
00:47:14And there's just like, with Grisham out there, there's just too many balls in front and behind.
00:47:18I was going to say, there's been a couple of fly balls to center field where he's let him hit
00:47:22the wall,
00:47:22where it feels like they might have been catchable, and he's let them drop.
00:47:27And I don't know if they'll ever get to that point where they'll be like, Trent, we're going to play
00:47:31Jones.
00:47:32We're going to play the hot hand here a little bit because you've been going through it offensively and defensively.
00:47:36But, again, that's part of his game is he plays with that, like you said, that freewheeling.
00:47:42I'm just playing out here loosey-goosey.
00:47:45You mentioned that name before.
00:47:46Robbie Cano played that way.
00:47:48Which is Cano, to play best, needed to play smooth, loose, not edgy, not nervous.
00:47:55The problem is when you do that at a bad time,
00:48:00the visual is bad,
00:48:02and the visual might actually be telling the truth also.
00:48:06Like I think some of it is eyewash, you know, the extra hustle.
00:48:09But not always, and especially in a time like this for the Yankees,
00:48:13where every 90 feet on both sides of the ball has to really matter
00:48:17because you're not creating any margin for error at the plate,
00:48:20then not getting the extra base when you're running
00:48:24or giving it up by letting a ball get over your head or something on defense,
00:48:28and you're kind of coasting into it,
00:48:31to me it's problematic.
00:48:33Well, Joel, it's interesting, right?
00:48:36So they've won now three series against three National League playoff teams.
00:48:42And the National League is considered way better than the American League right now.
00:48:45The fact that they've won this series against the Phillies,
00:48:47One of the storylines early in the year was they didn't win one-run games
00:48:52and they didn't beat teams with good records.
00:48:54And in this period where their offense has been horseshit,
00:48:57they've somehow beaten a lot of good teams,
00:48:59and they've somehow won a lot of one-run games,
00:49:02literally with one phase of their team as bad as anybody's played.
00:49:06It's the worst in baseball.
00:49:07It's the worst in baseball.
00:49:08Right?
00:49:09And they've somehow still beaten.
00:49:12Here's the thing is, if I were a Yankee fan
00:49:17and I just watched this weekend where Freed, Cole, and Schlittler pitched the way they did
00:49:21against a good lineup in Atlanta, I would be like, there is a roadway here to get all the way.
00:49:33And especially if Rodon comes back and gives you a good number four starter
00:49:37or you never take Weathers out and he keeps pitching the way he's pitching,
00:49:41now you're up to four guys.
00:49:45And I just continue to think you might burn it out because you're not creating any distance.
00:49:51You might not have a bullpen to support it because you're not creating a difference.
00:49:54But if they could get league average offense until another month,
00:50:00whenever it is Judge Bellinger and Stan, if they're coming back, come back.
00:50:05They just need to be league average.
00:50:08League average right now would be a godsend for them.
00:50:14They never get to five, six, seven runs to create any ease for their pitching.
00:50:20And when they're playing at Yankee Stadium, they've got to create more offense.
00:50:26For sure.
00:50:27For sure, Joel.
00:50:28And that's kind of where I want to end it is just because I hear you.
00:50:32If they had a little bit more offense, I do want to ask you.
00:50:36Bellinger, I see, he's taking BP.
00:50:37He's doing outfield drills.
00:50:39This is supposed to be a four- to six-week injury, the hamstring strain that he had.
00:50:43But he looks like he's being aggressive in his rehab.
00:50:46Do you think he's coming back sooner than what the expectation was, four- to six weeks?
00:50:51And the judge part of it all, you don't.
00:50:55I don't because I think the Yankees have protocols
00:50:58and won't break the protocols just out of desperation.
00:51:01And I watched Bellinger.
00:51:03Bellinger looked like a healthy player the way he went at it Saturday.
00:51:06I mean, whatever you saw on tape, I watched live.
00:51:09Yeah.
00:51:10That was a guy who looked like a healthy player working out on a baseball field.
00:51:13Yeah.
00:51:14So, but there's that.
00:51:19They've been so squirrely about Stanton.
00:51:21I wonder if Stanton is now getting the judge treatment where Stanton just doesn't want his stuff out on the
00:51:25street
00:51:25because he's injured so often, he doesn't want to, like, he was so close to coming back and then kind
00:51:31of re-injured himself.
00:51:32He's probably, I do think a lot of Stanton as a kind of, like, guy.
00:51:38I think he actually wants to play and it's probably killing him on a lot of levels.
00:51:46I think he is a guy who desperately wants a championship.
00:51:49I think he desperately wants 500 homers for his Hall of Fame chances.
00:51:53And I think he's a good teammate and a wise teammate.
00:51:57And I'm sure there's killing him.
00:51:58And he's probably embarrassed at this point and doesn't want them.
00:52:02Please stop giving updates because, like, if I miss it, people are going to think I'm malingering.
00:52:08And I don't think I, these three players who are out for the Yankees, I think, desperately want to play
00:52:14baseball for the Yankees and help them.
00:52:17I think that they're all focused.
00:52:19I mean, I'm not saying that they don't want to produce numbers for themselves and all the good things that
00:52:23come with that.
00:52:24But I think those three guys are team-centric guys who would like to help the Yankees get a parade.
00:52:31And I think it's probably killing, I know it's killing Judge.
00:52:36And I think that Stanton has probably just reached a point, Ryan, where he's like, please stop.
00:52:41But he's like, he breaks so often that he probably is just, and that's why, I mean, it's put Boone
00:52:51in a bad situation.
00:52:52Him and I had a back and forth, if you heard it Saturday, where I was like, you know, he's
00:52:56like, he'll be back when he's back.
00:52:58And I'm like, you know, usually, like, because he tried, Boone tried to make it like, you know, there was
00:53:03mystery to it.
00:53:04And I go, well, there's no mystery to it.
00:53:05You have trainers and doctors.
00:53:07What are they telling you?
00:53:08Like, there's an action, and he goes, I don't want to give a date.
00:53:11That's different.
00:53:12He doesn't want to give a date.
00:53:14I assume he doesn't want to give a date, not because Aaron Boone doesn't want to give a date, but
00:53:18because probably the player wants them to stop giving the date.
00:53:22Yeah.
00:53:23Because the player keeps missing dates because his body keeps breaking.
00:53:27I do not think that John Carlos Stanton wants to do anything more than play baseball for the New York
00:53:31Yankees.
00:53:32I don't think his body is allowing it.
00:53:36It's a tough spot for him, right?
00:53:37And it's, like you said, he's trying to finish off his career strong with a championship, potentially get to 500
00:53:42home runs.
00:53:43It's tough when you miss this much of the year, though, to get to those points you want to get
00:53:48in your career.
00:53:49But they could sure as hell use that bat in this lineup, like we said.
00:53:53Anything right now.
00:53:54Reinforcements-wise, they need him.
00:53:56They need him to get this offense.
00:53:57Because, again, it's everything to what Joel is saying in this episode.
00:54:01If you notice, the pitching has been that damn good.
00:54:04The bullpen has been pitching at all-time greats.
00:54:07Obviously, we're seeing a little bit of a step back here.
00:54:09But that is because of all the stress and tax that's being put on them.
00:54:12You're asking other guys like Grisham and Jazz to carry, and they're not.
00:54:16They can't carry the weight right now.
00:54:18Rice has gone through it a little bit.
00:54:20And then your new additions have been okay.
00:54:23But they're not supposed to be the reinforcements that you need from Judge Bellinger and Stanton.
00:54:27But it feels so close, Joel, that we are a couple weeks away.
00:54:31If these players can make their return, maybe, just maybe, in the month of September, we can see, hopefully, that
00:54:38close to full potential of this Yankees roster.
00:54:41And get to that point of, you know what?
00:54:44I actually like this team a lot going into the playoffs.
00:54:46They play well defensively.
00:54:48They look good on offense, somewhat now average.
00:54:50And the pitching has been that damn good.
00:54:52And that's how I look at it right now, Joel, where they're at in the season.
00:54:57So, obviously, that is part of the story here.
00:55:01Stanton, to me, is a fringe benefit.
00:55:05If you get them back, great.
00:55:08The Yankees need Bellinger and Judge.
00:55:10Because Bellinger and Judge help you every day in some way.
00:55:13They're also excellent base runners.
00:55:15They're excellent defenders.
00:55:17The threat of Judge in the lineup.
00:55:19You know, I talked about, hey, did you notice the defense looks a lot better, even though Lombard is only
00:55:26playing one position?
00:55:27When Judge plays, the offense looks a lot better.
00:55:30Right?
00:55:31Because the threat of him does something to the other team.
00:55:34Where suddenly there's, like, more walks for everybody.
00:55:38Like, they're unhinged a little bit, the other team.
00:55:40And I just think that the absence of Judge, it's not just what he brings, but he brings something to
00:55:49the rest of the team.
00:55:50Like, I used to say this all the time.
00:55:53It's probably the, and again, at the level I was capable of playing.
00:55:58The sport I played the most in my life was basketball.
00:56:01And I was very much a supplementary kind of player.
00:56:04I'm the kind of idiot who actually likes to play defense.
00:56:07I like to pass and stuff like that.
00:56:09So, for my team to win, I needed good players on my team.
00:56:14And I used to always think, like, I was a better player.
00:56:19The best version of me was when I played with good players.
00:56:23Because then I, just the things I could do.
00:56:26I wasn't a good shooter.
00:56:27I couldn't create off the dribble.
00:56:30Like, things like that.
00:56:30But the things I could do really mattered if I played with good players.
00:56:34I think that matters.
00:56:36Like, I think you could take that lesson from the lowest level of sports to the highest level of sports.
00:56:41Which is, it's a lot easier for Jazz Chisholm and Trent Grisham to flourish if Judge is in the lineup
00:56:48and Bellinger is in the lineup.
00:56:49Because then it's like, the thing you do has value.
00:56:53But when they're not, I need you to be a little more.
00:56:56And they're less.
00:56:57And so, like, the security blanket of Judge would help everybody.
00:57:04And look, as opposed to Bellinger, who I'm watching go through heavy-duty workouts on the field.
00:57:11And I could imagine a return date on the shortest end of this, which would be four weeks.
00:57:16Right?
00:57:16Which is still two weeks from then.
00:57:18Yeah.
00:57:19Right?
00:57:19So, you're kind of edging towards September 1st.
00:57:21We have not seen any of that from Judge.
00:57:27Now, you might be able to say, with Judge, it's not a leg.
00:57:31It's not an arm.
00:57:32So, if this heals, it will be quick.
00:57:35Maybe.
00:57:36But there's been nothing quick about this.
00:57:38No.
00:57:38And so, it just doesn't feel like Judge is that close.
00:57:43I know.
00:57:44And to me, Judge's value is to the whole team.
00:57:52And it goes beyond the fact that he might be the best offensive player in the sport.
00:57:58He's the biggest threat.
00:58:00And that threat does something for the entire lineup that has been missing now.
00:58:06Where it's like, like, the Yankees don't score in the first inning.
00:58:10No.
00:58:11Judge was like the leader in first inning homers.
00:58:14Yeah, you've talked about it earlier this year.
00:58:15It's insane the stats he puts up in first inning.
00:58:18So, like, he used to be able to, like, like a Yankee starting pitcher, not infrequently,
00:58:24took the mound with a lead.
00:58:26How many times do they take the mound with a lead?
00:58:31Not much lately.
00:58:32So, that absence of instant threat and what he means to the whole lineup, it's just been seismic.
00:58:40It really has.
00:58:41And it does lead to one other thing that I, can I throw in before we leave?
00:58:45Yeah.
00:58:46We're a long way from there.
00:58:48But at some point, as we're speaking, the Rays lead the division by five and a half games.
00:58:55Which is the largest it's been all season.
00:58:58If the Yankees lose contact with the Rays.
00:59:02Like, they're comfortably in the playoffs right now.
00:59:05They have work to do.
00:59:06You want to make sure you don't get so close that you're under any duress.
00:59:10But if they get to, say, mid-September, where it's still five and a half, but they're seven or eight
00:59:18games up on a playoff spot.
00:59:20I think they need to pull back on their pitching and get to judge.
00:59:27You know what I mean?
00:59:28It might be where you just have to accept, hey, the Dodgers won the World Series last year and had
00:59:33to win a two out of three to open.
00:59:35They were the number three seed.
00:59:36We might be the number four, five, or whatever seed.
00:59:41To your point, if they're full and healthy, nobody's going to want to play the Yankees.
00:59:46Yeah.
00:59:46And a month from now, it's a long month, and the Yankees have every reason in the world to try
00:59:54to hold off the Red Sox and stalk and catch the Rays.
00:59:58But it could be a month from now, you and I are sitting here and saying the wisest thing the
01:00:05Yankees can do is be like Garrett Cole's pitching every six days, throwing 75 pitches.
01:00:11Same for Schlittler.
01:00:13Same for Freed.
01:00:14I'm using Bednar twice a week.
01:00:17I'm using Hedrick twice.
01:00:18Like, just because of the wisdom of, hey, we're in the playoffs, and it would be a little bit like
01:00:25not starting your starters in week 17 in the NFL.
01:00:29Yep.
01:00:30Where it's like, hey, we're in the playoffs.
01:00:32We can't finish first.
01:00:33We know we're a wild card, so we got to make sure all our best players are playing a week
01:00:38from today in the wild card game.
01:00:40And I just think that we're a month maybe away from where the Yankees have to think about it because
01:00:47the Rays aren't just some interesting little story anymore.
01:00:51They have the best record in the American League and the second best record in the majors, and I think
01:00:56really helped themselves at the deadline with Hicks and Wells.
01:01:00Hicks in their lineup, Wells in their bullpen.
01:01:02We'll see if Peralta helps their rotation.
01:01:04The first start wasn't encouraging.
01:01:06It looked Mets-ian for this season, but I thought they did well at the deadline, and they got a
01:01:12reliever, right, that they needed.
01:01:16They're not some little story.
01:01:18The Red Sox are not some little story.
01:01:20The three best teams in the American League might be those three teams.
01:01:24And so, though, I would point out, can I throw one other, do you know which team leads the American
01:01:31League and run differential?
01:01:33Is it the White Sox?
01:01:35No.
01:01:36It's the Tigers.
01:01:37It's the Tigers.
01:01:37That's right.
01:01:38And if you said to me, what's the most interesting thing that happened over the weekend, I would say on
01:01:44Saturday, Jackson Jobe came back from his Tommy John rehab and threw five one-hit shutout innings.
01:01:51And that him and Troy Melton are a really interesting one-and-two group in a weak division where the
01:01:57White Sox are suddenly, the White Sox went from a nice little story to, hey, you better win this year.
01:02:03Right?
01:02:03They made trades.
01:02:04They gave up collateral.
01:02:05Like, the pressure changes.
01:02:07It's one thing to always give the Yankees some credit for year after year.
01:02:10They know every year.
01:02:13There are no free games or free seasons.
01:02:16They've got to win.
01:02:18The White Sox have stumbled a little bit here with the, hey, now you're supposed to win.
01:02:24It's a different kind of weight.
01:02:26I'd watch out for the Tigers.
01:02:28I think, and they think that they're going to get, I think, Jack Flaherty back sooner than later, and maybe
01:02:36Justin Verlander and maybe River Ryan, who they got in the Scooble trade.
01:02:41And at the least, watching Melton, Jobe, and Ryan would give a coming attraction to what might be the near
01:02:48future with those three guys atop the rotation.
01:02:51I don't know if people recognize, Troy Melton's been, like, the best starter in the American League for about the
01:02:56last two and a half months.
01:02:59And, yeah, they're an interesting team suddenly, but I still think the three best teams in the league are in
01:03:05the American League East.
01:03:06And the Yankees have every reason to win.
01:03:10Let's see what we're saying a month from now.
01:03:12Yeah, and a month from now, they're going to be playing the Rays and the Red Sox in the month
01:03:16of September.
01:03:17They don't play them until then, so it's going to be a fascinating race down that stretch.
01:03:20And remember, they finished tied with the Blue Jays last year at 94 wins, and the Blue Jays won the
01:03:26division.
01:03:27They have four games against the Rays.
01:03:29If they don't win all four, the tiebreaker goes to the Rays.
01:03:32The Rays are up 6-3 in the season series right now.
01:03:35So the Yankees would have to play a game better than a team they're 5-1⁄2 back of right now
01:03:42to win the division unless they're going to win.
01:03:45Part of that is they're going to win all four at Yankee Stadium in the next-to-last series of
01:03:49the year.
01:03:50And that's, again, only if they finish tied.
01:03:52But it is something to look at.
01:03:56Joel Sherman, I appreciate you doing this on your vacation, buddy.
01:03:59Your insight has been awesome.
01:04:01We're looking forward to seeing you back next week.
01:04:03And, look, man, it's going to be fun down the stretch here.
01:04:06This is the dog days of summer, they call it, in August.
01:04:09Like, this is where the Yankees, the pressure's on, and now they've got to produce.
01:04:14We appreciate you coming on here, bud.
01:04:16Thanks, Ryan.
01:04:17Thanks to everyone who has been watching and building up our numbers here.
01:04:20We really appreciate it.
01:04:21We appreciate you coming on here.