Latest / Yankees Pod / Does Cam Schlittler Deserve To Be AL MVP? W/ Conor Maguire

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Does Cam Schlittler Deserve To Be AL MVP? W/ Conor Maguire · Yankees Pod

• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: We are back, Yankees on exciting, exciting guest, Connor McGuire here today, co-host of Yankees Coast to Coast with Mr.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Johnny Lasagna.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's got, let me tell you something about Connor.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Connor's got the best seats.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Always at Yankee Stadium, too.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Connor, great night to be a Yankee fan.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing tonight?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for the intro.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um blown up my spot there.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um I always feel a little bit embarrassed because I barely go to like any Yankee games.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I go to like maybe like four or five a year.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I go, I like to do it up.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: But whenever anyone sees like, oh man, you're in like legends, it's like, yeah, but I'm not there every night.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, don't get it twisted.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I saw you, I think it was last October I saw you there.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really go to that many games during the year either.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then once October comes, I feel like uh it's a daily occurrence.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, just obviously had to mention that.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Crazy, crazy night.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Anthony Vope gets called up.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: He hits a grand slam, he three hits, five RBIs.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um talk a little bit about what's just going on.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: He had a curtain call.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: What the hell is going on tonight?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's one of those nights where you kind of can't script baseball, right?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's no one no one predicted this unless they were being as ironic as possible and being a little bit sarcastic, right?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it's it's a great kind of vibes check because you you the first cut that I saw, they went to the the the dugout.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You see George Lombard Jr.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: on the top step, kind of looking like, you know, really genuinely excited.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, hopefully with guys that are getting the message on getting sent down, come back up and performing right away.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it it the team is showing a lot of resiliency top to bottom with a lot of depth, and that's the kind of thing you hope to see this time of year, especially um heading into the gauntlet.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um, all positive.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, say which one of Volta, and he's been as frustrating for me as anybody, but you can't help but feel good for the kid when you see him kind of get up there and get embraced by the crowd for once, right?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I am have a sickness.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: I can't quit the kid.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: And listen, do I think the George Lombard Jr.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: should be the starting short top?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: But there's something that's just in me.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's the verocity of people that go after Anthony Volpe.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: It, you know, then I just I feel bad for him, and I know it's crazy to say how do you feel bad for a kid that's playing Major League Baseball?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And like, listen, I always say this Anthony Volpey might not be a starting shortstop.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, he might not even be a starting second baseman.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: But can he be as productive as Tyler Wade was in what 2018 or 19?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think he can do something like that, but he might be thrown and run out of town before that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Who the heck knows?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: The crowd was in it tonight.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Curtain call, absolutely insane.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Fun fact the Yankees are now 54 and six when they score five or more runs.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: That, you know, so that's pretty impressive.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: It also obviously shows how good the pitching's been.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And also it shows that the hitting, and that's a they they've only done it 60 times now.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's 21st in the league.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: So really, when we get down to it, the starting pitching is great.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: It looks great.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: As long as Max Reed can stay healthy and you have Schlitler, Cole, and Freed, it's gonna be fantastic.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: The real question, I'm gonna throw it to you, is do you think this offense can produce enough to win three playoff series, let's say?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's the question, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, to say our pitching is great is an understatement.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I it it's superb.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's historically great.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've been around a long time and it's the best I've ever seen, um, top to bottom in terms of potential, but also like when all healthy, right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Which we haven't seen, but we're seeing it now.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the offense has a very reasonable ask on its plate, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So based on the question itself, like absolutely I can see it happening.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do I see us really giving the work offensively to really elite pitching?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not necessarily, but my hope is that you've got a lot more kind of looks offensively, a lot a lot more diversity top to bottom than we've had in the past, where it seemed like we just had a loaded lineup of power hitting righties.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, even when we had lefties, it was kind of like a bit more of an all or nothing than we're seeing now.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's interesting because people complained about that, and now we're complaining about just a lack of runs.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: It shows kind of like, you know, when you can get them by a home run, you know, you you take the home runs, we're just not seeing the kind of power we're used to seeing.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe in a playoff series, it could not, I'm not saying it'll be an advantage to have less offense, but the style of offense that we're seeing, if we can all kind of get healthy and everyone can click at the same time, is you know, it could be good enough on the basis that even though we don't have Stanton right now, we don't have a lot of the BOP we're used to seeing, we do have a little bit more craftiness, a little bit more guile, and a bit more, you know, do what it takes to get on base, get the runners over.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I haven't seen Yankees successfully get the runner, the runner over from second to third with less than two outs or from first to second, you know, kind of play a bit more small ball.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen us do it even average um in a while, and it feels like we're at least average at doing that.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's my optimistic take.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Could we disappear entirely on any given night?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we we we've seen that, and that is gonna be our Achilles heel.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, we got Judge back.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: That was gonna be my next question.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um is about Aaron Judge.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what he missed three months, and you know, I want to have a little bit more of a conversational thing here because to be honest with you, I didn't, you know, I came with a bunch of stats, but I just want to say this real quick.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um what this what Aaron Judge means to this team is you you literally cannot quantify it.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: It it like you can, but you can't.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and with this team now coming together, and I know we lost jazz a little bit, but I the vibes feel different.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: The vibes absolutely do feel different.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And shout out to Aaron Boone, too.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I've been really hard on him his entire tenure, really his entire tenure.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: But to be three games out without Judge for three months, and listen, the pitching has been, like you said, absolutely spectacular.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I I don't really know what I'm saying, but the five the vibes just feel really good right now, and I'm not even really even used to that.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: It might be the pitching, I don't know.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: It could be I always shout out Dan Fiorito, first base coach, who I went to high school with.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he's changing the vibes.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, it's just been absolutely uh a fun season.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: It it you know, I I feel like there's there's been less negativity, if that makes sense.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: It kind of seems like they're doing the right thing.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you let me ask you a question.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think this is Boone's greatest performance as a manager this season?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, yeah.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: I actually think 2026 season overall versus any other year.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it seems like there's a little more urgency, but I think he's actually kind of just like I think he's well acclimated now.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I hate to say uh this is like the the fire boon fans are gonna be.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of people that wish he was awful less acclimated than he is right now.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Entrenched, they might say, you know, entrenched.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, like, listen, yeah.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Judge loves Aaron Boone.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you see these guys, they're playing cats together.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just there's something different about it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I am not the pro-Aaron Boone guy.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I have never been the pro-Aaron Boone guy, but like there's something that's just like clicking on all cylinders.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, listen, if you're telling me the Yankees lose early this year, or next year they fail to reach the World Series and it's been 10 years without a World Series, okay.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can, you know, it's kind of like John Harbaugh with the Ravens.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like he won, even though Boone didn't win, but like sometimes you just need a bit different voice in the in the locker room.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: But it does seem like Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge, and let's face it, the entire media, um, talking Yanks, intertwine with Yes Network, there the it's it just seems to have a very good fit.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: It makes a lot of sense, it's family friendly, there's a lot of good things going on, and um it's a collusion, you know, it maybe.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: But um I think I think really Aaron Boone's doing a good job.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, even when he goes on that podcast, it's not the easiest questions that they're throwing at him.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and it's not that easy to like, you know, when Anthony Volpe's sucking, you can it's hard to say Anthony Volpe sucks, like, and do that to media.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's perfectly media trained, Aaron Boone, and that's what has kept him his job to this point.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for asking me questions.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you have any more questions, throw them my way.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I didn't do the best job preparing tonight, but um, yeah, so we talked about the jazz.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Jazz was placed on the injured list with the right thumb strain.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um kind of stinks because he was heating up.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was 313, um, oh um OPS of 835 in his last month.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he was really starting to heat up.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly what we needed from this team.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, maybe this gives Anthony Volpe a little bit of learning how to play second base, maybe give him a little bit of juice before this October.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: What are your thoughts?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it it definitely is unfortunate for the Yankees, but it really sucks for Jazz.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think you're right.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if for the team, it it Volpe might not have gotten an audition to even be a factor down the stretch.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So whether Jazz is able to come back quickly, which we hope to be the case, this lineup requires power.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he was providing a source of that as of late, so you're gonna miss that.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the Volpe home, the Volpe grand slam tonight, notwithstanding, you you still expect a bit more bop from a guy like Jazz.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, remains to be seen on the defensive front.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly if we're gonna compare Jazz the second versus Volpe as short, you give the edge to Jazz.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: All that being said, um let me ask you have you seen any timetable on Jazz?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: I have I have not.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen one yet either.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure there is I mean a a thumb sprain.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's gonna be back.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, maybe maybe it's 10 days.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I don't really know.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I'm not very concerned about it.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's go back to your point about um, you know, head like soup to nuts, Yankees right now, including the media being in sync.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned, like, oh, you know, I don't know if it's collusure or not, but that that's that's a funny observation.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: The fact is though, from a competitive standpoint, that's kind of what you want.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because the Yankees have are you know are good at nothing if not limiting distractions, at least post A Rod.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Jeter, that was one of the reasons why he used to really, you know, at times I wouldn't say dislike A-Rod, but A-Rod would get under under his craw, would be why answer a question if it doesn't benefit the team to be honest in that situation, right?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just a matter of like we might appreciate a little bit of candid uh honesty from a guy like Aaron Boone.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes down to it, who is it hurting and who is it helping to basically publicly ridicule a guy like Volpe just because the fans are a little bit angry about it and want some catharsis, right?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like we might find that refreshing, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like on a Tuesday at 11 o'clock, but when it's game time and the guys got to go and they have to go out there and have confidence despite expecting to get booed if they strike out, who's it helping?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, whether it ends up saving someone's season or or saving someone's career in the case of Volpe, it's almost irrelevant because Boone has so much credibility within that room, within that group, and that's what he cares most about.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And for him to still be able to manage the media around that, and despite all the iry and all the hatred he gets from the fans, that's not that's kind of a constant din, almost like a white noise in the background.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like oh, you know, a New York Post headline.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he needs to get a little bit of credit in a season like this, if ever.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're right, we've been under, you know, we've been undermanned, underhanded, and uh still hanging in there.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, coming into the season, for me, I mean, the biggest ask, the most realistic and important ask I had was to win the season series against the Blue Jays.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we did that with Aaron, with Aaron Judge playing less than half the games against our you know, coming into the year biggest rival.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: So right now, I mean, to me, for the rest of the way, it'd be great to be able to catch Tampa.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: But let me ask you like, are you kind of resigned to the fact that we're hosting Boston and New York for wild cards?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, he's nodding.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I I do.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think that it's inevitable.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's also really good for baseball, the Yankees Red Sox rivalry.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, you can shove it down somebody's throat of rivalry, like, and you know, obviously, you know, there was no collusion and they played the games, and we're probably going to end up versus the Red Sox, but I like our chances because we have Cam Swittler, because we have Garrett Cole and Max Fried.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you something.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Will Warren's been pitching absolutely phenomenally uh the his last couple starts too, and we have Carlos Rodon.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, and I kind of trust the bullpen a little bit.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's kind of rinky dink names out there, but yeah, I think that unfortunately too, because we're only three games like yesterday.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: If this was this morning, I'm saying 100% chance.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give it 94% chance that we're gonna be facing Boston.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm okay with that.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, I'd rather we have four games with the Rays coming up.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, could they could they sweep?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they potentially could sweep, but I tweeted like three or four nights ago when we lost that game in extra innings.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, it's it's the division's over.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's just let's not get crazy, but I mean, I don't know.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: What are your thoughts on the whole thing?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think the team has to do everything they can internally to win the division.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no point making a sacrifice for now in order to you know prepare for the postseason when you're within reach of a division.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: With the format the way it is now, it's such a massive advantage to have um not only the division but the one seed in the AL.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the urgency needs to be there internally.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: But as a fan, like kind of reading the tea leaves, um emotionally I'm very much prepared for you know three games in New York against Boston for all all uh bragging rights and and uh for the state of the universe to remain intact.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: But um the odds of the Red Sox falling out are a lot less than the odds of the Yankees catching the rays.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um so what are they playing for at this point, right?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we you know we have to maintain the focus on the division even if it's a little bit out of reach.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you said it, you know, if we go into you know, if we beat everyone we play and they lose a handful of games, we can do it.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Three games right now.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Three games, three games feels reasonable, even with the with a short amount of time left.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, do we do we know like who has the tiebreaker?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Do the Rays have the tiebreaker over us?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: We have games with them remaining, correct?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, that makes sense.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we still have four games remaining, so we don't even know.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all right, yeah, I mean, again, it would be great to win the division.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're absolutely like right.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you can set up, if you can set up this rotation and not have to use uh, I mean, not use your bullets, we're in a really good spot.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, speaking of the Red Sox, Cam Schlittler, like every single week I come on here, and all I want to do is talk about Cam Slittler.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he's allowed one run in his last 13 and uh thirds and two thirds innings.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all the stats.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: 20 times, 20 times this year, 20 times this year.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's given up zero or one run.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh his ERA on the road is like 1.15, something re- absolutely ridiculous.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing do I think he's ALSA?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Undoubtedly.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was looking at it, I just wanted to check this thing.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I just said Major League Leaders in War, and I just typed it in.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I did.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, P.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Crow Armstrong's there, and the Phillies Pitchers is there, is there.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: But in the American League, Cam Slitler leads everyone in war with the 6.7 war.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: And to be frank, if he had gotten some, even a little bit of run support during these games, that that that war is looking at nine or 10.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, actually, like he he might be at 9 or 10, 20, 20 games.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: He should have 20 wins.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I know he has 13 wins, he should have 20 wins.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: When you give up zero or one run, you should have.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know things happen, but he only has 13.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely been crazy.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And Jordan Alvarez is having a great season, no problem.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually funny because Bobby Wood Jr.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: is second in American League in war with the 6.6.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, personally speaking, like what he's meant to this team, like, he's he's been the headlines.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I'm a little bit like I'm a Yankees homer, so like I only think that the Yankees matter, but like as far as clicks, Cam Schlittler has been everything to this sport this season.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know what your thoughts on it.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Did I give a good case?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a great case.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think he has a few things working against him in terms of how the league typically or the the writers typically vote.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but setting that aside and just asking whether your opinion stands on its legs, I'd say yeah.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if he's leading the AL and wins a buffer placement as a pitcher, uh well on his way to winning the Cy Young, and with a pretty big gap at this point between him and him and Cease, to be honest.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's you know, the gap was pretty close about a month and a half ago, but right now it's there's not even a debate about it.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: You look at the last few pitchers who have won the MVP and they generally finish winning the pitching triple crown, which he won't do.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um the wins is not his fault.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you if you put him if you put him on the two uh it's it goes without saying, but if just to illustrate that, if you put him on like the 04 Yankees, he probably wins about 28 games, right?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just a matter of luck, and and if anything, you know, especially that mind-blowing stat about the number of games he's had with one or fewer earned runs.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I feel like the the futility at times of the offense goes towards his MVP case in terms of his value to this team, where if you take him off, you're looking at a squad that didn't have Garrett Cole and Max Fried for the entirety of the season, didn't have Aaron Judge for a preponderance of it, and lacked the consistency in terms of the current personnel for pitching, but he was the steady presence and not just a presence, but an absolute force in the AL.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you can go, you know, I think you can very soundly make that case for him winning the AL MVP.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: The only question is whether it's gonna happen.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sentiment in this league moves slowly.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I gotta believe that a lot of the writers who are going to have votes haven't even stopped to notice that Jordan has slowed down.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think that they've, you know, they they they bought into all the narratives that have not been disrupted yet at the all-star break by saying, wow, this guy's got a chance to the triple crown.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And unless you look up there and see a complete fall-off in the counting stats, which still matter, um, and where he ranks there.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: He might get some votes though.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I think that's what I'm hoping for.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: If Schuller can can can place an MVP vote, maybe even and sneak in there at third place, that's gonna mean something um alongside a uh an AL Cy Young.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: But nothing, nothing matters as much as what they do in the playoffs, but that's not gonna be a good one.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it really does, it really doesn't matter.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: But like I was thinking about it yesterday and I was just like, and then I tweeted it.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And like I tweeted it, you know, uh Twitter works.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: You have plenty of followers.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: You tweet something, you just go upon your day, and you look back, and I'm like, what the hell?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: This has like 50,000.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Views, maybe the point is right, maybe a lot of Yankees fans follow me.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it could be that as well.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's that's a fascinating thing about how Twitter works is um I'm not sure if your tweet about it was the first place I saw that, but it felt like that day that was very much like a huge question in the discourse.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So um if you'd never seen anyone else ask that question, then maybe maybe you kicked all that off because I saw you know it wasn't just a matter of how many views yours got.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it kicked off a dialogue that involved a lot of different people and a lot of different posts and videos and stuff.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's how these things have to get started, though.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Someone has to ask the question.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I you know what I'm saying I say we we doing the Lord's work here.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I always say that like like like we're all micro influencers, and we we just it continues to go up the line, up the line, up the line, right?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: So like I I just had a random thought.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Then a guy with 10 times the amount of followers of me asks the question or whatever, and it and it is, and you know what?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody, and that might have been my original thought.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it wasn't.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: I to be honest with you, I really have no idea.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: But nobody on in the Yankees universe has an original thought anymore.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's very, very, very, very, very, very hard for these people to have original thoughts anymore.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because I see one thing and then I see it 400 times, and it just continues to go.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's day by day, and it was the slandering of Volpe, and then it was, you know, it just it moves, but it uh it feels like yeah, there's a lot of it, and I don't even think it's a bad thing, there's a lot of cohesion within the fan uh base too.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like we know how we feel about a guy, like kind of almost instantly, and and then people bring that about.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: But listen, I think that has to do with a lot, like I think it has to do with there are so many, so many good Yankees content creators, like absolutely like over easily over 150.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: You you can't say that about any other baseball team.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, listen, like there might be 149ers guys because the NFL is so popular, but when it comes to there are just so many smart just there are 150 Yankees uh content creators and about 75 Boston ones, and they're all talking about Cam Schlittler.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's great, it's great to see.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I love it, and I think that, you know, like and you know, John Boy really is like the leader of like uh like in terms of views and everything, but I think he raised the net the second most like there are so many podcasts I could shout out, um which I'm not gonna do, but I could shout them out that are right, you know, below like right there that uh do a really, really, really good job.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're smart to not shout them out because if you if you shout out three, you're gonna forget a few and they're gonna be like, Well, what?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Why not mention me?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And like the problem is like, oh, one day I like them, and then they tweet something bad about one of the players I like, and I'm like, screw that guy.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't cursed on this thing yet, but screw that guy.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so yeah, it just it depends, but I think it's a really healthy ecosystem because if there's a fraud on Yankees Twitter, you they're they get exposed.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost as simple as that.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean, I don't want to keep you on like way too long, uh, but very insightful.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, thank you for asking me all those questions.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Cody Bellinger, I have to mention him, he's been playing great uh since he's coming off the IL.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Big night tonight.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: He did he did a had a good game tonight?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, almost one yard had it had it pulled back um over the wall, I think.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of half watching and I saw that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you know what?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you this, because I don't really know this bullpen probably as well as you right now.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what do we do?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Besides what we have Blackburn and we have Bednar, and what what's going on with Cruz?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Cruz is gonna try to pitch, like I think you look at the big three right now in terms of the circle of trust and the guys that you feel less heartburn when they come in.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's Blackburn, it's Hedrick, and it's Bednar.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't make a ton of acquisitions for the bullpen like we usually do at the uh deadline, so we kind of have what we have, and we're we're getting to that stage in the season where any hopes you had of them calling up a LeGran Hey to throw 101 out of the pen and be like kind of a lightning rod type guy is kind of going by the wayside.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of that happening and having him be effective and reliable at this stage going into the playoffs is pretty unrealistic.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, those are the big three.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if Cruz can cut can kind of come back and come back up and and be a factor the way he has been in the year in in the past two years, that'd be great.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, by the time he was kind of on the shelf, I mean, his splitter was not looking sharp.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he had kind of you gotta you I I think he was getting overworked, and then you saw the effectiveness go down.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: But he's had a pretty good track record, and I I feel like you know, given the boon regime, the way they've operated in the past, he's going to get a chance um to kind of earn that spot back as a high-leverage guy.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you you hope you see that, and then you got four, you know, four options out of the pen.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe me, I mean, once October rolls around, give me four elite options over you know, eight average ones or eight above average ones.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the starting pitching, too.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're gonna those are gonna be bullets there.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like Warren, Weathers, Rodone, potential.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I just get queasy when I talk about Rodon thinking about him in the postseason.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't trust the guy, I really just don't trust the guy.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's kind of unfair because he is a he's a good regular season pitcher.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in my opinion.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, but yeah, we're gonna, I mean, like the Red Sox when they won the World Series, they used like only their starting pitchers because their bullpen was so bad.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: So it is really good.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I would have completely forgot Hedrick.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, this is what happens when you spend uh three weeks heading into September, spending every single waking moment uh doing fantasy football.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: You start you start to forget about the bullpen.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we're back in it.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what I'd really like to do?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do like, let's say, if the Yankees are on the road for a postseason game, I think that we should do a live YouTube watch along because and we can promote both podcasts.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but dude, you are absolutely amazing, very insightful.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, and and you know, it's it's also nice.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's uh like for whatever reason, I feel like I've seen you at the stadium like two or three times, or you know, I'm always waving to you like 15 rows back, and I'm always waving to you like, hey Connor, what's going on?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Also, by the way, to the shout out to the people out here.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Connor's like six foot four, like his he's a big guy, too.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh just absolutely uh he could be playing in the game.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: So uh always a pleasure, Connor.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate you coming on, spending time on Yankees Pod.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, really appreciate it.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for having me, man.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love that idea about a uh a postseason, you know, live watch.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have to get uh Mr.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Lasagna in the mix and uh maybe a few more friends, but um, that could be a really good idea.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm you know, I'm counting me in.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right, sounds good.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh appreciate you.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh go watch some football.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, appreciate it.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: All right, later.