Latest / Yankees Pod / Anthony Volpe Is Back In Our Lives W/ John Jastremski

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Anthony Volpe Is Back In Our Lives W/ John Jastremski · Yankees Pod

0:22
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Yankees Pod.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Today we have a very, very, very special guest.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: You see him on SMY, host of New York, New York, JJ After Dark for Life, John Jasgremski.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: JJ, how you doing today, man?
0:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh, Jimmy, I'm I'm doing fantastic.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: Although I gotta admit, you made me feel old when I get the greeting and it's like, yeah, I grew up listening to you.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: Even though you're not that much uh, you know, younger than me, but it just makes me feel old, man.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: When people come up to me and I've heard I've had kids come up to me that are like 20, 21, it's like, yeah, I was in the car with my dad growing up listening to your radio shows.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, geez, how did this happen?
1:04
SPEAKER_02: I was always the young guy.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: I miss Jimmy.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: I miss being the young guy.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: You know?
1:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're only two years older than me.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: You were a young prodigy.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: It is what it is.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: You were a young prodigy.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: You were on radio.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: What when did you start your first radio uh game?
1:18
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I can tell you.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: So I graduated Syracuse in 2010.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: My first WFN show after winning the contest down at Bar A with Big Mike was in 2011.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, my first fan show was a Friday night.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: I want to say it was after Labor Day.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, in September.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Friday after after Labor Day, 1 to 3 a.m.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: in 2011.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: So that's a long time ago.
1:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Your project, you started you started in the game a year after you graduated, or not even, not even.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: So that's incredible.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Um all right.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: We're here to talk Yankees baseball, and no one better to do it than you.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, and of course, Jose Caballero fractures his finger, so it's Anthony Volpe time.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, do you have any faith that Anthony Volpe can play better this time around?
2:12
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't, Jimmy.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: And listen, Anthony Volpe had been given countless opportunities to go and be the guy for the Yankees.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: And I think for all of us, we want to buy into the storyline.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: He seems like a likable kid.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: He comes from New Jersey, he has the Italian heritage.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: Like, New Yorkers want to embrace Anthony Volpe.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: They so want him to be a thing.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, I don't think he's ever going to be a thing.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: And look, in years past, I have been very critical of the way the Yankees have handled some younger players and how they've given too much leash to some of their prospects.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: I got to give the Yankees their flowers here.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: I think they are handling this situation with Volpe and Caballero brilliantly.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: Caballero played well enough to be the starter.
3:02
SPEAKER_02: So when Anthony Volpe comes back off his rehab assignment, they're like, look, you're not hitting in the minor leagues.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: You didn't hit last year.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: The other guy's playing great.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: We're playing great.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: We're not messing around here.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: We're not messing around.
3:16
SPEAKER_02: Jose Caballero is our shortstop.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: And I loved what Aaron Boone said yesterday.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: He said, it does not matter in 10 days or whenever Cabby is ready to return, he's my shortstop.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
3:29
SPEAKER_02: That is a different tone.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: That is a different feel from what you're getting out of the Yankees compared to a couple of years ago.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I mean, to be honest, Jimmy, we've seen Anthony Volpe have a really good 10-day stretch.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we saw it last year to start the season.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: We saw it a couple of years ago to start the season.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's where he's usually pretty good.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: But sustainability, there's nothing about a hot stretch or a hot set of games that would lead me to believe sustainability at big time play is coming from Anthony Volpe.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're right.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: He's he's had 1700 at bats, light time, 662 OPS.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, the defense really isn't there either.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: And you look at Caballero, he has he's like first in defensive run saved.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I completely agree with you.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: But we had to start with Anthony Volpe.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Yankee fans get so toxic, and I don't really bash on Anthony Volpe.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: There's no reason to bash on Anthony Volpe because everybody else does it.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you know, my last name's Randazzo.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm not really here to just smush this guy, but you're right.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: He shouldn't be the starting shortstop for the Yankees.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: He could, you know, go out to Colorado and play.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: He could, you know, like you know how Miguel Anduar has revived his career a little bit.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: He's just not really, he doesn't seem to be a Yankee, but we had to get your thoughts on that.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Um next guy I want to talk about is Jazz Chisholm.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: He goes 0 for 4 two nights ago, refuses to talk to the media after the game.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, do you have a problem with that?
5:03
SPEAKER_00: Or are you okay with sometimes some guy just being like, hey guys, not tonight?
5:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh I always have a problem with that.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: To me, you can say not tonight when you go three for four and you have a bunch of hits and you have a bunch of RBIs.
5:15
SPEAKER_02: Then to me, it's a little bit easy to digest.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: The accountability is something that I think the fans want.
5:21
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, somebody in the media like myself, I want to hear from Jazz Chisholm when he's leaving a small village on the base pass.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: The bigger problem for Jazz Chisholm, in a contract year, Jimmy, there was hope that this kid could go and have a monster monster season.
5:35
SPEAKER_02: Now, he proclaimed in spring training that he was going to go 50-50, which we all laughed at and we all thought it was comical.
5:42
SPEAKER_02: But did I think Jazz could be even better than what he was a year ago?
5:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I did, because he's super, super talented.
5:50
SPEAKER_02: But he's popping up way too many pitches.
5:52
SPEAKER_02: He's not driving the ball out of the ballpark.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: He's flailing with runners on base, which to me is incredibly frustrating.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: And look, I do think at some point in time, Jazz Chisholm is going to get going for the Yankees.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: But I think this first month has showed you, not that I think the Yankees were going to be in the business as far as doing this anyway, but you watch Jazz Chisholm over this last month.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: Not exactly dying to go and give him a long-term contract.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely not.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: Not a guy I'm willing to give four, five, six years, whatever the cost may be.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: And Jazz Chisholm is obviously costing himself a whole lot of money with the way he's performed over the first month of the year.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's interesting with Volpe, just going back to him real quick.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: I do think the best thing for him moving forward would probably be a change of scenery.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: Like the fact that he grew up here, the fact that he wanted to be Derek Cheater, he could say whatever he wants.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: His mom, his dad, his friends, everybody in his life is so intertwined to his story being a Yankee that he could try to say, Oh, I don't want to get to me.
6:55
SPEAKER_02: I don't it gets to you.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: You know what's being said.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: We saw Anthony Volpey's dad go viral last year fighting a Met fan at City Field.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: So, like, this is a part of something he's got to deal with where if he goes and plays somewhere else, I don't even care where it is, maybe just going and playing baseball would be the best thing for him moving forward.
7:15
SPEAKER_02: But a lot of people, Jimmy, and the reason I circle back on Volpey, they're like, oh, maybe Jazz is gonna lose playing time.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't see it.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: I think the Yankees are in the jazz business, and honestly, for 2026, they need Jazz Chisholm to figure it out.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: Because if he doesn't, they're missing out on length within the lineup and they're missing out on serious power and speed that they really need.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, he's batting 201 right now, um, you know, 603 OPS, just really not getting it done.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: He's athletic and he will get it going.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: He said, you know, he blamed the weather a little bit, and it's been cold.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's still cold.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's cold, but you know what?
7:52
SPEAKER_02: Enough, uh, enough is enough.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: You gotta start hitting the ball.
7:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, not all, not all of these games, Jimmy, have been playing 40 degree temperatures.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: You know, a few of them have, but like you're going out on the West Coast, you're playing games down in what, Texas, Baltimore's fine over the last few days.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: It's May 15th now.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
8:09
SPEAKER_02: Time to hit.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: You're right, you're right.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh and you know what he just doesn't seem like he's a situational hitter either.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: It just looks like he's just trying to rock the baseball.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: And I know that's kind of been the Yankee way, but I saw a stat yesterday at that the Yankees were like last in singles.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: Does that bother you at all when they're like first in home runs?
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, because I saw a little back and forth between Talking Yanks and uh Chris Kirschner saying, you know, they talking yanks put it out that they were last in singles, and then Kirschner comes out around and says that stat does not matter at all.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: There has to, it has to lie a little bit in between, right?
8:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'm not gonna let it kill me.
8:53
SPEAKER_02: Like it's not one of those things that's keeping me up at night.
8:56
SPEAKER_02: Right.
8:57
SPEAKER_02: I I think if there's a number you want to look at that's far more important, it's hitting with runners in scoring position.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: It's how many hits do you have with two outs?
9:04
SPEAKER_02: And look, two out hitting is a very, very difficult thing to do.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not necessarily suggesting that you should have like a 300-plus batting average as a team with two outs and runners on base.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's what the great ones do.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: But I want to see the Yankees offensively speaking profile towards the top of the league.
9:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'll tell you what bothers me more in the singles, Jimmy, strikeouts.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: And some people are gonna say, that doesn't matter.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: I totally disagree with that.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: I told I I totally disagree with that because I think you see in the bigger games, and I think you see compostes in play, when you're putting the ball in play, good things happen.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: And I know people are gonna make the argument, hey, the Dodgers, two years ago in the World Series, struck out a ton.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: They won it.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: That may be true.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: But I also can find you examples of the Dodgers putting the ball in play, and the Yankees were kicking it around, and the fifth inning that will forever live in Yankee infamy is still haunting me to this day.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that's something I'm way more aware of.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna get nuts about singles.
10:06
SPEAKER_02: That's just how what's the RISP?
10:10
SPEAKER_02: What's the two-out hitting deal?
10:12
SPEAKER_02: And what's the strikeout numbers for the team?
10:15
SPEAKER_02: Those are stats that are far more warming.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just had to ask the question because I saw it.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, uh, no, it the runners in scoring position is the stat that matters, I believe.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: Um all right, let's get into some like good talk about the Yankees.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: We're we're harping on the bad, that's usually what I do.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Yankees start top start four starters this year.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Cam Schlittler, 1.35 ERA, Max Reed, 2.92 ERA, Ryan Weathers, 3.00 ERA, and Will Warren, 3.48 ERA.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Carlos Radon is coming back.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: We pay him too much money.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna be a starter.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Garrett Cole is getting one more start in Scrinton.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Then he'll probably be in the majors again.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: What do you do with this rotation?
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Do you move Ryan Weathers to the bullpen because he is at he throws top speed, he throws 97 miles an hour.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Do you try to run with the six-man rotation?
11:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you could also piggyback Weathers after Cole, kind of do a Cole Weathers thing.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: What would you do if you were in charge?
11:21
SPEAKER_02: You know, that's a great, great question.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: And I think there's a case to be made for the six-man rotation.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: I don't love it for Max Fried.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: I get it for Cam Schlitzer, the idea of kind of preserving some of those bullets as you kind of get through the rest of the regular season.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but Jimmy, we could waste a lot of time dissecting what Aaron Boone and the Yankees are gonna do in a week.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: You you know baseball.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: I know baseball.
11:45
SPEAKER_02: These sort of problems usually, more often than not, work themselves out.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: Where the Yankees may make a decision, right?
11:53
SPEAKER_02: Like they may say, all right, for the time being, Ryan Weathers is going into the bullpen, and then somebody, you know, pulls a hammy, groin strain, uh, tendonitis in the elbow.
12:05
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I can give you the laundry list of injuries.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: Whoever ends up moving to the bullpen, and whoever ends up seeing their role somewhat compromised, they're still gonna play a huge part of this thing.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: You're not getting through this season with just five starting pitches.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't happen, won't happen.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: If it does, it's a it's a it's a miracle.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh so what I'm suggesting is, yeah, I think Warren should stay in the rotation because he gives you length.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: Weathers, even though he's been more impressive, I think his stuff would play really, really well in the bullpen.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: But I don't know if you can take him and just totally transition him into being a reliever knowing, hey, somebody could be on the shelf, and then it's like Ryan, big boy, I need you to start again.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: So I think it's some combo of piggybacks and six-man rotations, until, of course, the inevitable shakes out.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's one thing I do want to give the Yankees credit for is they have a stable of starting pitching arms.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Like they even have Luis Heal.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: I know he didn't play well, but like he's our eighth or ninth starter, and like if he has to give you five more starts this year, like so be it.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's something they've really done.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: The thing that's really been bad, or not even bad, but it's just like we know it's going to be bad is the bullpen.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you fix this bullpen right now?
13:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Brent Hedrick, he was great, and then we're using him like over 50% of a period.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: He's turning into Scott Proctor, Jimmy.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: You like that reference.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: He's turning to Scott Proctor.
13:34
SPEAKER_02: I mean, literally, you see him every day.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'm not as concerned about the bullpen maybe as you are.
13:38
SPEAKER_02: I am, let's put it this way.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: I am concerned in the short term.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: I think in the short term, it's going to be problematic for the Yankees.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: I think by the time we hit August and September, it's going to look drastically different from two different fronts.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: One, they'll go and add an arm or two outside the organization.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: That'll absolutely happen.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: It happens every year.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: And bullpen arms are one of the commodities at the trade deadline that are usually readily available.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: That's usually something you don't worry too much about.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: If you need a big starter, not necessarily the case.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: You need a big bat, very, very difficult to find.
14:15
SPEAKER_02: Bullpen arms, you usually can get a bullpen arm.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: So I think the Yankees will do that.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: Two, forget about weathers for a second.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: I look at Rodriguez and I look at Le Grange as two arms that could absolutely positively be in the bullpen by the time you hit the end of the year.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: And if the Yankees continue to act with the sense of urgency that we've seen, and I think there has been a different sense of urgency from this regime.
14:41
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it's seeing Judge's prime tick away, saying, hey, now we're never, the lockout.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: Cashman was with me last week.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: He tried to minimize it.
14:50
SPEAKER_02: With all due respect, I think he's completely full of crap, which is fine.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: The Yankees really want to win a World Series more.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: Because, hey, how many chances are you getting with the big fella?
14:59
SPEAKER_02: You got to acknowledge that, you got to realize that.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: They have to look at their two young guys and say, hey, you know what?
15:04
SPEAKER_02: If these guys can help us in the pen, and they can be major parts of getting us to a world championship, we got to do it.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: So that's something I want to see with both of those guys.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Maybe one of them plays a role, maybe two of them play a role.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: But I think it will further solidify a bullpen that right now maybe needs an arm or two and has some questions.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: I think it'll be straightened out.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: It's fair.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: I love the optimism.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm really worried about it.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: LeGranhe has to be there.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: I talked to Jabba about it.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: He said as long as he has a like a determined role for the 2027 season, the guy throws two bats basically not to be, you know, in the majors, like throwing in the eighth, seventh, or eighth inning.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: He throws 102.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: He looked incredible this spring training.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: So you're absolutely right.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, and Jimmy, too, I want to I want to follow up on one thing here.
15:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: I know there's a lot of Yankee PTSD from the terrible way they handled Job at Chamberlain.
16:00
SPEAKER_02: And Job and I would probably debate this.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: I always wanted Job to turn into the next closer of the team.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: I I thought they did him a major disservice.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: You know, the starter, the reliever, the reliever, the starter.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: And I get it, he wanted to start, make more money.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: I I expect every starting pitcher to feel that way.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: They all want to start games, they all want to make money.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: That said, just because the Yankees screwed it up with Jabba Chamberlain and the Jabba rules and the way they were handling him almost 15, 20 years ago, for goodness sakes, it doesn't mean there's not a lot of examples of guys using talented pitchers who were starters pitching out of the bullpen.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: Adam Wainwright.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we saw it last year with Sasaki.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: Sasaki for the Dodgers was not really cutting it as a starting pitcher, just wasn't doing the job.
16:51
SPEAKER_02: They needed a closer, their bullpen was a mess.
16:55
SPEAKER_02: He pitched out of the bullpen.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: He's okay.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: Like, he's still trying to figure it out as a starter.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: But like, I don't think there's like a correlation saying, hey, if you move the guy to the bullpen and he's pitched him out of the bullpen, it's gonna destroy his career as a starter.
17:07
SPEAKER_02: I don't feel that way.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Fair, fair.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Um The Yankees are one and eight right now versus teams versus 500.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna get another positive answer here?
17:19
SPEAKER_00: Does it matter?
17:19
SPEAKER_02: You are.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: No, you are, Jimmy, because to me, uh, here's the problem.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: Who are the teams they've played over 500?
17:26
SPEAKER_02: Milwaukee, all right.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: They had a terrible weekend against Milwaukee.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: You typically cap there.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee's a good team.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Milwaukee.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Listen, that entire National League Central is better.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: And they got the Brewers at a bad time.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: The Brewers took advantage of it.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: They're well run, they're spunky.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh, they're not exactly missing David Stearns at the moment, that's for sure.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's too small a sample size.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, they if you hit me with this in August, I think it's an entirely different conversation.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: Like, let's put it this way I think the Texas Rangers are gonna have a plus 500 record.
17:58
SPEAKER_02: I think the Texas Rangers are probably gonna be a playoff team in the American League.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: Not a given, but I think they have a good chance to be a playoff team.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: The Yankees handled them pretty darn well.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Did they not?
18:09
SPEAKER_02: Other than Nathan and Valley starts, they handled them well.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, they're gonna get their chance.
18:14
SPEAKER_02: Right now, the problem is if you're in the American League, Jimmy, who's over 500?
18:19
SPEAKER_02: Other than Tampa, where they had a bad weekend against Tampa at the drop, where they never ever play well.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: Ever, ever, ever play well.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: You're not playing teams over 500.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: No, it's fair.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: I I know the sample size is getting a little bit bigger, but I know I I agree with you.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: I love the positivity.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: I really do, because you know what?
18:38
SPEAKER_00: It's just these Aaron Boone-led teams.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: I it's just when he's at, I just I feel like the shoe's gonna drop.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know why.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: It's just that feeling that it's gonna happen.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: And I I love the positivity.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: They they've, you know, they're one and eight, they scored 2.7 runs against these teams.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: When they're playing against teams below 500, they're averaging six runs.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: But you're right.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: The sample size is really small.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Nine games in a hundred and sixty-two game season is a small sample size.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: Let me see him against Toronto, who will be over 500 when it's all said and done.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: Right.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Let me see him against the Dodgers.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: You'll trust me, there will be plenty, plenty of chances for the Yankees to go and determine what that's gonna be.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, look, I understand the skepticism on Boone because his teams always have these ruts.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: We've seen it every year.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: He's been the manager of the team where they play about a three-week stretch where they have no clue what's going on.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: And last year, that stretch from late June into early July ended up costing them the AL East.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: And who knows?
19:38
SPEAKER_02: It might have been a different year if they had home field advantage.
19:41
SPEAKER_02: They don't have to use their pitching in the wild card series, and it's set up beautifully for the division series.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: Didn't happen that way.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: They've acted though, Jimmy, with more urgency.
19:53
SPEAKER_02: You can't deny that.
19:55
SPEAKER_02: The way they have handled this year has felt a little different.
19:59
SPEAKER_02: Now, let's see.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: Listen, you're gonna have a bad stretch of baseball.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm not I'm not saying that's not gonna happen for the Yankees.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: They lost four in a row before this win against Baltimore.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: They're probably gonna have a stretch where they lose seven to ten.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: It's the extended stretch of bad baseball that they can't have.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Fair, fair.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Martian goes down, and Spencer Jones comes up.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: He's in the lineup today, so it seems like they're gonna give him a little bit more run.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts on Spencer Jones?
20:28
SPEAKER_00: Do you think do you think he's gonna be a good ball player?
20:31
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm a little um, I think he's, you know, the guy just hits bombs, so like I want to see him up here, but he does have a high K uh strikeout rate.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what are your thoughts on Spencer?
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been giving you a lot of positivity.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: This is where I gotta be glass half empty.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: I am not a Spencer Jones guy.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: I hope he proves me wrong.
20:49
SPEAKER_02: I hope he shuts me up.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: I think the K-rate is frightening.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: Frightening.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: And I know people are gonna make the argument hey, JJ, Aaron Judge had a similar problem in the minor leagues and he turned out alright.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: That may be true.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: I also can counter and say, Joey Gallo, hold my beer.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: And maybe, Jimmy, I have PTSD from that god-awful trade the Yankees made a couple years ago for Joey Gallo, who just is a just not a guy wired to play in New York.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: He just was it was one of those misses that I'm out I'm honestly stunned.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: Because the Yankees, listen, say what you want about their execution, their planning.
21:26
SPEAKER_02: They're usually pretty good at identifying guys who are not wired to play in this market.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: He was a guy that is not wired to play in this market.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: And listen, he's just a flawed player.
21:39
SPEAKER_02: There are skills that he has, raw power, was a good glove at one point in time, but they're just the warts and the deficiencies.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: You can't have it in an everyday lineup if you want to be a winning team.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: That's my fear with Jones.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: But hey, Dominguez goes down, there's opportunity against right handed pitching, you play him.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: But here's what you need to know about the Yankees.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: People say, oh, well, by calling him up, is it going to hurt his trade value?
22:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't see it that way.
22:06
SPEAKER_02: Because to me, if the Yankees got serious trade value for Spencer Jones, he would have been traded already.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: He would have been traded.
22:13
SPEAKER_02: Between their outfield being as set as it is, Ballinger's not going anywhere, Judge is not going anywhere.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: All right, there's one spot in the outfield, but it's been Jason Dominguez, not Spencer Jones, on multiple occasions.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: Why is that the case?
22:28
SPEAKER_02: I think the Yankees like Dominguez a little bit more than they like Jones.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: So I'm not worried if Jones doesn't hit for two or three weeks that his trade value goes down because I don't think he has a ton of trade value, number one.
22:38
SPEAKER_02: And number two, sooner or later you want to see what you have.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Like hitting triple A pitching is great.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: It's this like this ginormous question.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Spencer Jones, do we have something here?
22:51
SPEAKER_02: Give him an opportunity.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: That's what they're doing.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: Let's see if he gets.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: No, I do like, I do like the fact that they are actually giving him playing time, that they didn't just call up like Oswaldo Cabrera or something like that.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, let's see what these guys have.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, not sit on these guys forever.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, all right, I just want to read a stat um about Cam Schlittler because he's just been absolutely amazing.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: He's the first MLB pitcher over his first nine starts of a season to have 50 strikeouts, fewer than 10 walks, one or less home runs allowed, and this and a sub 1.5 ERA since Walter Johnson in 1913.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're gonna do a last segment.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a quick one.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Where it's gonna be called uh, we'll call it how many.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Um what is Cam, well, you know, you talk about Cam Schlittler if you want for a minute, uh, and then I'll ask you the question.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Jimmy, can you believe he's this good?
23:50
SPEAKER_00: No, I can't.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: It's honestly, and I when it called him up, I'm not gonna pretend I'm a prospect aficionado because there's too much Yankee PTSD with a lot of these prospects, right?
23:59
SPEAKER_02: Right.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: So the fact that Ben Rice and Cam Schlitzer have come up and are the goods and are the real deal, whoever the Yankee scout is in the Northeast up in Massachusetts, give them, give him a raise, give them a million dollars, give them whatever the hell you want.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: Because I think you got two cornerstone players there, which is so important for the long-term growth of the Yankees having these guys.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, but he came up and he was impressive, right?
24:21
SPEAKER_02: Like he pitched really well down the stretch.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: But then that wild card game against the Red Sox, hey, people, you know, they might lose the side of this.
24:30
SPEAKER_02: The Yankees had not beaten the Red Sox in a playoff series since 2004.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: If they had lost that game to Boston, all bets are off as far as what the offseason would have looked like.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: Like to me, I would have been screaming for change up the wazoo if they couldn't beat that Dipoulita Red Sox team in best two out of three.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: And cancel was basically like, fellas, I'm not gonna let that happen.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: Get on my back.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: And Jimmy, it's like he's taken that wild card start and has now parlayed it into the first plus month of the year, where he's now the Vegas favorite to go in the Cy Young.
25:03
SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: All right.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: So, what do you think his ERA will be at the end of the season?
25:11
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna go up a little bit.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: You gotta be fair.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: It's gotta go up.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: It's still gonna be on the optimistic side.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: 295.
25:20
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: Anything under three would be.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna be under three, uh, but it's gonna go up a little bit.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be as minuscule as it is right now.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: It honestly scares me every single time I watch him pitch.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Like, I kind of like only watch with one eye open because like I like I just don't believe that it's happening.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, he's just really been that good.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: All right, uh, Aaron Judge, he's at sitting at 16 home runs right now.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: Where does he end up with?
25:46
SPEAKER_00: How many home runs?
25:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's always a fun exercise.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: How's 55 home runs sound?
25:52
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, if the guy plays Jimmy, he's gonna be over 50 home runs.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: The guy just it's insane.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: If if he doesn't miss any time, and I'm knocking right now on my table as we speak, because for the Yankees and for Aaron Judge's sake, that's something they can't have happen.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: Um look at the last four years.
26:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm not putting I'm not putting that total under 50.
26:15
SPEAKER_02: Hell no.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, since 2021, I've been giving away a home run for I mean a t-shirt for every home run that Aaron Judge has hit.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: It's cost me thousands of dollars.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sure.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of dollars.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can imagine.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: He's a beast.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Um uh last question of the day.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: And again, thank you so much for coming on.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: You're amazing.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, Ben Rice's OPS is sitting at 1.115.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: Where will his OPS be at the end of the season?
26:47
SPEAKER_02: All right, it's not gonna be 1-1.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: That's just outrageous.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: If it is, then great.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Go give him the MVP for the 2026 season.
26:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm gonna say it's over nine, though.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: Let's go with like a 929 OPS for Ben Rice.
27:01
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a really, really good OPS, guys.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: Just saying.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: That's really, really good.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: I can't say over a thousand.
27:08
SPEAKER_02: Like, it's just it's unfair.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm not gonna be unfair to the poor kid.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: But I did bet him this year, Jimmy, to hit over 30 home runs because of what he did last year.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: I said he hitting some bad luck.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: He hits the ball insanely hard, and he's got a swing that's just so made for Yankee Stadium, but also has the opposite field power in certain parks to go to left and center field and hit the ball out of the ballpark.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: He's just he's a super talented hitter.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: He really is.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I he's my favorite.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: Like he he just just crushes the absolute piss out of the baseball.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, no, I love that.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: 929.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna keep them.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll remind you about it.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, please save these.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: I want these on record.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, we're close.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh, let me know.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Please remind me.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: I will.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh, thank you so much for coming on again.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate it.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: You're a recurring guest now, so hopefully we'll have to do it.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Open invite.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: You know when to have you know when to find me.
28:01
SPEAKER_02: So, yes, we'll do it again.
28:03
SPEAKER_02: I'd love it.
28:03
SPEAKER_02: JJ, thanks again, man.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: Really appreciate you.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: Anytime, Jimmy.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, buddy.