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Is Juan Soto an OVERRATED player? · NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO)

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  Jason Tatum coming back because it won't affect them.
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  Right, and that that's the luxury that you have when you
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  have these these salary cap situations, these aprons.
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  Obviously they traded Drew Holiday in Porzingis just to get
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  under it. But like you were saying last
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  week, like there's no guarantee that the Celtics don't have
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  another big thing in mind too. And they know what's going on
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  with the Lakers. They know what's going on with
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  the boxing and seems like that too.
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  And again, with the situation with the Lakers with with
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  LeBron, like he would seem like it was kind of set in stone the
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  way he was manipulating it. But I got beanies already won a
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  championship there. There's always going to be that
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  extra threshold of what about I'm going to do one more time.
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  And obviously it's companies out there production wise, all this
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  pizza stuff and all that stuff is out there, but.
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  Albums are dipped into every single business.
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  I know that. And again, at the same time, you
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  now bring in new ownership. You have an ownership group that
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  comes from the Dodgers that obviously they like to spend a
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  lot of money too, but they're also very they try to be more
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  young and progressive. And that's why I think they were
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  mentioning, OK, we're going to try to build around Luka
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  dodging. I'm surprised Magic Johnson
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  didn't buy into the Lakers. Yeah, it's interesting because I
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  think he has a little bit of a stake, but it's not to the same
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  level of those with the Dodgers. And now Andrew Walter, the new
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  owner, or Mark Walter the new owner, that he's there.
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  You would think there would be some kind of influence there to
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  get Magic involved, especially with Magic now being involved
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  with Washington. Magic Johnson will be involved
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  with the Lakers, especially with Luka Doncic being there.
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  One way or another, Magic Johnson will have his hand
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  dipped in with with the Lakers after LeBron James decides to
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  part ways with the Lakers organization.
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  So will LeBron at some point. That's what I'm saying LeBron
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  James is going to be. I don't know if LeBron James
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  will be a part of the Lakers. I think when LeBron James.
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  Retires. Yeah, when I think when LeBron
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  James retires, when a team becomes available, maybe The
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  Mavericks, because if ownership can't find a way to bring a
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  casino over there in Dallas, you know, he loves Cooper flag and
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  LeBron James has billions of dollars.
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  He by the time LeBron James is ready to buy a team, he probably
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  is worth a couple of billion dollars with the assets that he
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  has. LeBron James is going to buy
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  into an NBA team. Why not the Dallas Mavericks?
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  Think about think about it that way.
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  Think about it this way. The Dallas Mavericks have Kyrie
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  Irving there has Anthony Davis. Both players played with LeBron
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  James, both players won championships with LeBron James.
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  And then you have Cooper Flag there, one of the best young
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  stars right now the NBA has to provide.
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  And he has come out and said during the Olympic practices
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  that this guy is the best American player he's seen come
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  out of United States basketball in the last five years.
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  That says a lot about what he thinks about Cooper flag.
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  As a matter of fact, one of the things that were brought up
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  after Cooper Flagg was drafted when he was obviously
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  interviewed is he said, what did LeBron James talk to you about?
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  And he told Cooper Flagg, you know, cherish the moments of
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  this, this opportunity because you're never going to be at the
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  in this situation again. And that says a lot about LeBron
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  James, who, by the way, never even played college ball.
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  This guy went right to the NBA as a high school player and it
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  was already inaugurated as the King.
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  So I'm not saying Cooper flag is LeBron James and I'm I think
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  he's the next Kevin Durant. That's just my opinion.
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  But LeBron James has an opportunity at the trade
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  deadline if need be. And and again, the bus family is
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  not running the organization anymore and he has no reason to
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  stay there. Expect LeBron James if the
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  Lakers are not a contending team and they don't have any assets
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  where they can make a trade at the trade deadline to bring in
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  another superstar to play with Himaluka where LeBron James is
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  going to ask to be traded. I I'm willing if you're a
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  betting man, Jabba, if they're obviously we're not NBA players,
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  we can bet. If you're a betting man, ladies
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  and gentlemen, I would bet LeBron James at the trade
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  downline will be traded to a an experiencedly gifted NBA title
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  team. And I say experience because I
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  think one of the teams that he's going to get traded to as a team
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  that's won a championship in the last couple of years or is ready
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  to win a championship and. Again, there's always going to
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  be the veteran ties because we talked about, OK, can LeBron
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  handle the young players too, which if the Lakers are going to
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  progress in that direction, are they going to want to trade a
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  lot of those younger players as well?
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  Like, yeah, you're talking about like they don't have this high
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  end younger player that you'll be like, OK, this guy's a can't
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  miss type prospect. I like to connect.
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  Last year he was kind of up and down his rookie year where Rui
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  Hatchimura is not bad. Like you said, Austin Reed is
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  probably their best trade option and he's kind of frustrated with
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  the team anyway. So it seems like he's inevitably
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  going to be out, but that's going to shoot down your trade
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  value. So, so like thought like, what
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  do you have if you're the Lakers to be able to do that kind of
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  thing? If you don't go to that next
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  level with this new philosophy that you're saying you look at
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  the way the league is now outside of the Warriors, you're
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  looking at a format where it's two stars and you build a pretty
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  good core around it, balance players.
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  It doesn't really matter of having like the star point guard
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  to the star center where I know, OK, see just one with Shaya
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  Alexander and Jed Holmgren. But besides that, you're seeing
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  a lot more of these wing type teams and it's really two stars
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  and getting everyone else affordable at that point.
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  And maybe that's the Lakers mindset.
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  And if it takes trading LeBron in order to do that, if the
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  Lakers don't contend right away, because we know LeBron doesn't
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  like to play a lot at the beginning of the regular season
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  either. And if he can't?
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  He's averaged about 62 to 65 games this season for the last
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  five years. Yeah.
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  And again, it's interesting to think like if they can fill that
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  void, if LeBron doesn't have to quote UN quote low man and stuff
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  like that, if he does stay healthy.
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  And that's the other question that somebody like JJ Reddick
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  keeps favorite coach if. You know, LeBron, if LeBron
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  James knows this could be his final season, you would think
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  that LeBron James is going to play at least 80 games, wouldn't
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  you? Thank you.
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  You want you want the fans to come and see you for the last
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  time. Michael Jordan, We all know the
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  Michael Jordan story. He came out many, many times,
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  said teams, I mean, fans come to watch me play.
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  I wanted to make sure that everybody got a chance to see me
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  play at least once when I was playing basketball.
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  And that's why he played almost every single game.
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  You never seen Michael Jordan miss a game.
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  He was always out on the basketball court hurt with the
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  flu As we saw him in the playoffs.
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  That man went out there and played his heart out.
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  LeBron James has not been that type of player really over the
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  last five years. Now, LeBron James is still an
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  elite player. There's no question that he is.
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  He's still at the top of his game, maybe not the same
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  defensive player was, even though he's tried to play that
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  contagious defense over the last couple of months of the season.
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  He's not that type of player anymore.
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  But LeBron James still has the ability.
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  If he goes to an organization in the right team, he is absolutely
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  that boost that that organization's going to need to
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  win a title. Yeah, always going to be thought
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  of as a missing piece when you're that good in the
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  playoffs. And even the durability aspect
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  compared to some other NBA players have still been better
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  for LeBron, even at age 41, than a lot of Kawhi Leonard.
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  And look at Paul George, all these other guys that these
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  veterans that are always getting hurt too.
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  So there's still an optimism that you would believe if you
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  were the Lakers to be able to make that kind of thing work.
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  And that's what the new ownership will bank on at the.
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  Moment and also new ownership thinks that they can get
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  something for him. I I mean LeBron James is a guy
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  that can help A-Team give him a boost to possibly win a title.
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  What would you get for LeBron James if he's averaging about 25
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  points per game, 8 assists and seven rebounds and can change
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  your roster for the better? Even if LeBron James comes off
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  the bench, which that will never happen Now, even if LeBron James
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  comes off the bench, you got a player of this magnitude coming
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  off the bench. What are you willing to give up
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  for? Somebody like this will almost
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  guarantee you an Eastern or Western Conference chance to win
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  a championship, finals to win a championship.
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  What would you what would you be willing to give up you're
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  talking about? Me, I think I think it'll be
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  decent though, but you got to remember at this point you got
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  you got to look at it as a rental, not as a long term.
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  So then I think you got to look at it like, OK, are we just this
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  rental and what are we willing to give up or what do we want to
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  give up? Or is it worth giving this up to
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  to figure out like, OK, we got a shot if we get this guy.
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  That's kind of like, it's just hard when you get into that
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  rental frame of mind because it's like, what do I really want
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  to get rid of knowing this isn't going to be long term. 100.
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  Percent and that's what a lot of other NBA teams have kind of
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  fallen into the trap of too. We talked about it last week
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  with the Kevin Durant trade with the Suns too.
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  They kind of felt like they were desperate at that point.
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  Now at the time when they did it I thought it was fine.
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  I like 2023 they had the season before where they lost to The
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  Mavericks in the in the Western Conference finals, the 67 win
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  team so it seemed like a big swing and then they go get
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  Bradley Beal and everything goes downhill after that and the Nets
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  have done it the Clippers have done it with Paul George and Koi
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  Leonard. Obviously we talked about how
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  that trade really helped OKC get over the top the way they he did
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  and that meant there's going to be some teams Jabba that don't
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  think that way. They're going to fall into that
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  desperate. All right, last plea, tight
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  move. If they can get something else
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  around it. We mentioned Miami before, like
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  Miami reuniting with Pat Riley. They get Jimmy Butler off the
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  books who was disgruntled over there.
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  Would they consider a big move? Does Pat Riley have something up
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  his sleeve for somebody like LeBron?
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  You said the Celtics possibility.
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  He's not going. LeBron James is not going back
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  to Miami. He's not.
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  They don't have a chance to win. Even if they had LeBron James
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  there with Bama De Bio and Tyler Hero, do you think they're going
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  to get over the even against the Knicks with the roster the
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  Knicks have? They don't beat the Knicks.
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  They don't beat the Cavaliers if the Cavaliers are healthy.
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  So I, I don't see LeBron, LeBron James, if he knows this is his
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  final year, which could very much happen if if he believes
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  this is his final year, he's either going to go to the
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  Western Conference where he can win with Houston, with Kevin
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  Durant. Could you imagine him and Kevin
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  Durant on a roster they've always wanted to play together?
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  Why not go, you know, play your final season at the trade
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  deadline with one of your favorite players to play with,
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  with Team USA Basketball and go and make a run with Kevin
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  Durant. See if you can get over the
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  hump. That would be amazing.
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  LeBron James, ride off to the sunset like Peyton Manning did,
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  win a championship with one of your best friends.
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  I mean, that would be, that would be a storybook ending in
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  LeBron James's story. With the power of the LeBron
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  James association, help everything out with it as well.
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  He's going to definitely try to manipulate as much as possible
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  with wherever he ends up going. Again, I don't know, you know,
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  how frustrated the would be with the Lakers, but it's always
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  different with newer ownership. When LeBron obviously decided to
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  go to the Lakers, it was different with the bus family
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  there. And obviously there's other
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  players that have come and gone with the bus family that have
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  had their power. But at the same time, the Lakers
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  haven't had the holding power of these players either.
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  Look at somebody like Anthony Davis.
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  Now, obviously you can't pass up a trade with Luka Donczyk, but
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  look at all the other stars that have come and gone or even just
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  almost went there and get that kind of result.
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  And now you're seeing it with LeBron.
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  It seemed like a. Surefire, you know.
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  Who would have thought that after trading Luca Doncic and
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  and Nico Harrison look like the the dumbest GM in NBA history
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  and he's really dumb. I mean we all know what the Nets
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  have done over the years. They've done a lot of stupid
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  things. But Nico Harrison trading one of
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  the best young players the NBA has ever had, foreign
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  international players the NBA has ever had, and then all of a
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  sudden, out of nowhere, out of nowhere, win the lottery.
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  Win the lottery with a 3.8% chance of winning it.
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  That was less than that. It was like 2 point something.
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  Whatever it was, it doesn't matter.
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  Yeah. Percentage, no chance in hell
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  for him to win Cooper Fleck and then he wins the best young
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  American player we've seen come out of the draft like LeBron
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  James have said in five years. That says a lot about where the
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  NBA is and how I believe LeBron James has run the organization.
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  And that's that's just the facts.
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  And if LeBron James wants to go and play with the Rockets and
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  play with Kevin Durant, he'll go there.
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  If LeBron James wants to go and play with Miami, he'll go there.
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  If LeBron James wants to to go to the Cleveland Cavaliers and
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  and win his his final championship, I have his chance
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  to win and right off into the sunset in his hometown, his
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  home, his home area in Cleveland, he will go there.
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  So it's up to LeBron James where he wants to go and I think the
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  Lakers will oblige him. I don't know what the Lakers are
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  going to get much knowing that he is going to walk away from
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  the game. He is going to leave.
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  But guess what, you land LeBron James.
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  If you're the Cleveland Cavaliers or you're the Houston
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  Rockets, you're almost guaranteed to go to the Western
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  Conference Finals and maybe even make a run to the NBA Finals.
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  That's how good LeBron James still is and what LeBron James
• 11:45
  could give you as a player on a basketball court.
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  So there's, again, going back to this whole situation with LeBron
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  James and taking the 52 and a half million dollars.
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  I only believe he took the money because he's making the most
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  money he's ever made. And #2 I really do believe he
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  has no interest of staying with the Lakers.
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  By the trade deadline. I expect LeBron James to ask to
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  be off. By the way, another team that
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  would be looking at LeBron James is the Golden State Warriors.
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  I, I could see the Golden State Warriors if they're playing good
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  basketball and Steph Curry is healthy.
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  That's another guy that LeBron James and, and Steph has said
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  over the years he would love to play with.
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  So I wouldn't be surprised if he gets traded to the Golden State
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  Warriors with Steve Kerr there. So, and, and they'll have a
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  chance to win a champion. Could you imagine him, Jimmy
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  Buckets and Steph Curry on a roster?
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  Scary. Oh God, they're going to steal
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  all the headlines too. They've already done already.
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  LeBron steals headlines as it is.
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  We talk about the Warriors, all the.
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  Time scary. The LJA is back, ladies and
• 12:44
  gentlemen. Mr. Mr. Draymond, Greed is still
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  there. He'll steal some other headlines
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  too it. Would piss me the apple off.
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  Oh I know if if I watch LeBron James go to Golden State and win
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  a championship with Steph Curry and Jimmy Buckets I will be
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  pissed. The FL.
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  That would be probably. Just I will not be acting.
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  Yeah, I am not. Listen, everybody thinks that
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  I'm a LeBron, a LeBron James fan because I think he's the second
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  greatest basketball player of all time.
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  And I do because he's going to have almost every single record
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  when he walks away from the game and he the longevity to do what
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  he is doing on a basketball court is untouchable.
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  I don't think we'll ever see an NBA player play as long as
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  LeBron James and be as dominant as LeBron James has been over
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  the last 20 years. OK, that's a fact.
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  I don't care what anybody says. You could cut this up and roll
• 13:30
  it up and throw it wherever we want to throw it.
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  I, I am not a LeBron James fan. I, as a matter of fact, I don't
• 13:35
  like him as a personality off at the basketball court.
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  His politics, his, his political views are absolutely horrendous.
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  But what he is as a basketball player, you can't take away his
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  greatness. You can't.
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  He is the greatest basketball player, right behind Michael
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  Jordan, and that includes over Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kareem
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  Dole, Jabbar or Magic Johnson, Larry Bird.
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  This guy is going to go down as the second greatest basketball
• 14:01
  player of all time. And you could take back whatever
• 14:04
  you say about me on social media saying I don't know what I'm
• 14:06
  talking about when it comes to basketball.
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  If you guys actually don't believe this guy is the second
• 14:11
  greatest basketball player of all time, then you guys don't
• 14:14
  know basketball. Yeah, you do not.
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  Yeah, and I think he there was another step that too like he
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  already has. I think he's 40 games away from
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  already having the most regular season games played record
• 14:23
  amidst all his load, load management and stuff like that
• 14:27
  too amidst all the other stuff. Oh, they get all the dramas and
• 14:30
  stuff going throughout the league.
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  So his longevity, like we said, as as crazy as he's.
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  Incredible. Yeah, he's incredible.
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  How could you be 40? What, he's going to be 4142
• 14:41
  years old? He's 41 right now.
• 14:42
  He'll be 42. At the he'll be 42 years old.
• 14:45
  Last year he was 41 years old. He turned 41.
• 14:47
  He was averaging 24/8 and 7/24, 8:00 and 7:00.
• 14:51
  His career numbers are at 28 or 29, eight and seven.
• 14:56
  This guy's longevity at the top of his game will be unmatched
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  forever. Nobody's going to touch this,
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  and as much as you think I have a love fest for him, I can't
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  stand the man. I don't walk away from
• 15:09
  greatness. When you walk, when you look at
• 15:11
  Alex Rodriguez, there are a lot of Yankee fans that can't stand
• 15:13
  Alex Rodriguez. Oh, he cheated.
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  He did this, he did that. Guess what?
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  Alex Rodriguez is a top five player of all time.
• 15:19
  And if you guys want to argue that, we could come on this show
• 15:22
  right now and I can go through statistics, new statistics, old
• 15:26
  statistics, and argue my points why Alex Rodriguez is still a
• 15:30
  top five player of all time. You can't take away greatness.
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  No matter what he did, he's special.
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  And that's what LeBron James is. He's a special player and he'll
• 15:40
  always be remembered as the second greatest basketball
• 15:43
  player that ever played in NBA history.
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  And. Then we got Java who could
• 15:47
  defend Alex Rodriguez from knowing him personally.
• 15:50
  I'm sure Jabba would agree with me on that one too.
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  In more ways than one, I guess if you want to go off a matrix
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  and they put it, I mean, you can put all their numbers into
• 15:57
  whatever, but it's like we can talk about Barry Bonds.
• 15:59
  Bonds is a Hall of Famer before supposedly he did this.
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  I mean, your head doesn't grow in in your 30s.
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  So I I'm going to put two and two together.
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  Yes, he never tested positive, but I'm going to go ahead and
• 16:09
  throw two and two together. Don't tell Jason Kidd that.
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  Yeah, same time you still got to put bat on ball.
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  Just because you take it doesn't necessarily make you a better
• 16:18
  baseball player. So yeah, there's there's a lot
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  of things we could argue with with a lot of athletes before,
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  you know, things, things I guess came to a head and, and, and
• 16:27
  what have you. But yeah, there's there's a lot
• 16:29
  of guys that didn't need it. They they did it for other
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  reasons, and who knows what those reasons really, really
• 16:34
  are. Jabba, we have had guys on the
• 16:36
  show that told us straight out they did steroids and we're
• 16:39
  never Major League players longer than a week.
• 16:42
  Longer than a week and and they did steroids.
• 16:45
  But, but because Alex Rodriguez did steroids.
• 16:47
  Oh, he's the worst person in the world.
• 16:49
  Yeah. Did he do bad things?
• 16:50
  Did he throw people under the bus that he tried to threaten
• 16:53
  people? Yeah.
• 16:54
  Alex Rodriguez is not a good person.
• 16:56
  But as an athlete, as a player, you can't argue he's a top five
• 16:59
  player of all time. The numbers would tell you that
• 17:01
  he is and the same. Yeah, you don't.
• 17:03
  You don't have to like you don't have to like the person, but you
• 17:07
  got to respect whatever it's I don't care, like Floyd
• 17:11
  Mayweather, not a fan, but to never lose in a boxing ring.
• 17:14
  That's that's tough to say. And I you don't have to like
• 17:17
  him. You don't have to agree with
• 17:19
  what he does. I get it because I don't with a
• 17:22
  lot of athletes. But the end of the day, I
• 17:23
  respect of what they did and how they did it to be that
• 17:27
  successful for that long and to do something that less than .01%
• 17:32
  get the opportunity to do it and do it for a long time.
• 17:34
  You got to respect what they do. You don't have to like them.
• 17:36
  You don't have to take them to dinner.
• 17:38
  You don't have to invite them to your kids birthday party.
• 17:40
  But you respect the craft that they do in, in in any way, shape
• 17:44
  or form. And that's in that's not in
• 17:45
  sports, that's in anything. You got to give credit where
• 17:47
  credit's due, even if you don't like them.
• 17:49
  Oh, and and again, a lot of people on social media would
• 17:52
  think that I'm a big LeBron James lover.
• 17:54
  Like I have some kind of love fest for LeBron James.
• 17:57
  I can't stand the man, but I don't walk away and I don't
• 18:00
  trend to the the opposite side saying that LeBron James isn't
• 18:03
  worth every bit to get a chance to watch him play, you know,
• 18:07
  every week or every game or every other game because LeBron
• 18:10
  James plays one game a week. Nevertheless, LeBron James is
• 18:14
  special to watch. LeBron James, if he cares about
• 18:17
  the fans and he knows this is his final year as an NBA player,
• 18:21
  he should play all 82 games. If he's healthy enough to do it,
• 18:24
  he should give every young kid that wants to get a chance to
• 18:28
  watch one of the greatest basketball players of all time
• 18:30
  get to watch him one more time, one last time.
• 18:33
  That's what Mariano Rivera did. Remember Mariano Rivera, they,
• 18:36
  the Yankees made sure that when he did that whole trend around
• 18:41
  for his final season, his Grand Tour, they made sure he was out
• 18:44
  there, He was pitching not every single game, but the majority of
• 18:47
  the games. So Derek Jeter, Derek Jeter, you
• 18:51
  know, nobody knew that it was Derek Jeter's last season until
• 18:55
  Derek Jeter pretty much came out, you know, mid.
• 18:57
  What was it, quarter, quarter into the season that he said
• 19:00
  this was his final year? OK.
• 19:02
  And what did Derek Jeter do for the fans?
• 19:04
  He made sure he was out there every single game so the fans
• 19:08
  could get a chance to watch him play.
• 19:10
  That's greatness. That's what you want to see.
• 19:13
  I want to say, hey, you know what, for all the people 20-30
• 19:16
  years from now, I could say I watched Alex Rodriguez play
• 19:20
  baseball. I watched Derek Jeter play
• 19:22
  baseball. I watched Michael Jordan play
• 19:25
  basketball. I watched Wayne Gretzky play
• 19:28
  hockey or Marc Messier or Mario Lemieux, OK?
• 19:32
  Or, you know, if you're a cream of dual jabbar, I saw Kareem of
• 19:35
  dual Jabbar play live. That's what you want to say.
• 19:38
  That's what you always want to remember.
• 19:40
  That's what you want to tell your grandchildren, your kids or
• 19:42
  your great grandchildren. And that's what LeBron James
• 19:45
  stands for. As much as you can't stand him
• 19:47
  and as much as I can't stand him because I believe the NBA is the
• 19:50
  LJA, I don't take away for what he has done for the game of
• 19:54
  basketball and what he has delivered as a young man.
• 19:58
  Remember, he came from high school and everybody considered
• 20:01
  him the King. Could you imagine the pressure
• 20:05
  LeBron James had when he stepped on an NBA court?
• 20:08
  Now, do I think LeBron James should have won Rookie of the
• 20:11
  year? No, Carmelo Anthony was rookie
• 20:13
  of the year when when him and Carmelo came out from the draft.
• 20:16
  Carmelo had better numbers than LeBron James.
• 20:19
  My honest opinion is Carmelo, Carmelo, Carmelo Anthony was
• 20:23
  robbed, was robbed for the rookie of the year.
• 20:26
  Nevertheless, LeBron James has won every single thing.
• 20:31
  He's he's won Rookie of the year, he's won MVPS, he's won
• 20:34
  Defensive Player of the Year, he's won everything.
• 20:37
  And that's why LeBron James is considered the second greatest
• 20:41
  basketball player of all time. And there are statistics, there
• 20:45
  are records that will never be broken, never be broken, because
• 20:48
  you're not going to see an NBA player play as long as LeBron
• 20:53
  James has played all. Right quickly before our guest
• 20:55
  is in and we have Golf Club New York Yankee mania.
• 20:58
  Shout out to him again the Lakers challenge next year.
• 20:59
  Yeah, they definitely could, but they need a lot this offseason.
• 21:02
  For all you Laker fans, Luka Doncic was traded to be brought
• 21:07
  into the Lakers for the reason that LeBron James was probably
• 21:11
  his final one or two years going to be moved at 11 point or
• 21:15
  another. I expect LeBron James to be
• 21:18
  traded. Do I think the Lakers are making
• 21:20
  the playoffs next year? They had their chance this year
• 21:22
  to make a run. They fell short.
• 21:24
  LeBron James will not be a Laker at the trade deadline.
• 21:27
  I guarantee you by the trade deadline he will be traded
• 21:31
  somewhere. He is playing this final year.
• 21:34
  He will not be back the year after.
• 21:36
  I expect LeBron James to be an owner, maybe even AGM of a team
• 21:42
  really early in his career before he he eventually buys a
• 21:45
  team in the open market. And I do believe it's going to
• 21:48
  be Dallas. I really have this feeling it's
• 21:51
  going to be the Dallas Mavericks because it's very typical
• 21:54
  ownership over there in Dallas do not know what they're doing.
• 21:57
  And they only bought the team because they thought they were
• 21:59
  going to build a casino over there.
• 22:00
  And it doesn't seem like Dallas is going to allow a casino.
• 22:04
  And if they don't in the next 5 years, I expect Cooper Flag to
• 22:08
  leave unless LeBron James comes in and takes over or a big name
• 22:12
  comes in there and takes over and tells Cooper Flag to stay
• 22:14
  there. Because he's going to build,
• 22:16
  he's going to build an organization around him.
• 22:19
  Because I, I just don't think Cooper Flags going to want to be
• 22:22
  there. I, I think he, his goal or his
• 22:25
  presence on what we've heard over the last couple of months
• 22:27
  is his future could be in Boston.
• 22:30
  So I, that's, that's my opinion. I think Boston is going to do
• 22:33
  everything they can to free up salary to maybe make a move to
• 22:38
  bring in a guy like Cooper flag in the future.
• 22:40
  And that's what, 5-6 years down the road.
• 22:42
  So I expect Cooper flag if if Dallas doesn't get it together,
• 22:47
  ownership doesn't get it together with this casino.
• 22:49
  Cooper flag to say, you know what, I don't want to be here
• 22:51
  anymore. I want to go to my hometown.
• 22:53
  I want to play for my home team and I want to be at Boston
• 22:55
  Celtic. And that's something the Celtics
• 22:58
  absolutely believe could happen. And now, ladies and gentlemen,
• 23:01
  he's been on our show four or five times.
• 23:03
  He's a great personality. He's doing so many things in the
• 23:07
  world of sports podcasts. He's been on iHeartRadio.
• 23:11
  He's been all over the place, including sports betting.
• 23:14
  We're now talking to former Orioles, Blue Jays and Yankees
• 23:17
  pitcher Josh Towers. Josh, what's up, buddy?
• 23:20
  Listen man, I love those photos, by the way, No Golf Club of the
• 23:26
  day for me. What's going on with that?
• 23:28
  I had something to do with you want me?
• 23:31
  To give you a club. Do you want me to give you a
• 23:33
  Golf Club? Do you want me to give you a
• 23:35
  golf? Club.
• 23:35
  No, it's good too right now. Hey Speedy, they changed the
• 23:38
  name of the show and you don't even get none.
• 23:40
  Java gets it. His job would take questions
• 23:45
  over you well. Hold on one second.
• 23:46
  He's in the, he's in the logo, he's in the.
• 23:48
  Logo. There you go.
• 23:49
  He's hanging from his underwear. I I was hanging for the for my
• 23:52
  underwear for the last four years.
• 23:54
  Wow, that's not dirty shows up and now you, I mean you just
• 23:57
  kicked to the curb again. Underwear won't fit on the curb.
• 24:02
  Speedy is just the biggest star as any of us on this show.
• 24:05
  Let me tell you something. Nobody pushed him to the curb.
• 24:08
  He's still, he's still that producer slash Co host of this
• 24:11
  show and he's a great personality.
• 24:13
  Speaking of Co host and being a great personality, that goes to
• 24:17
  you, my friend, because we know the whole background behind you.
• 24:20
  Before we get into our conversation about what's going
• 24:24
  on in the MLB, what's going on with your nephew?
• 24:27
  I mean, he was playing baseball, right?
• 24:28
  What's going on with him? My son.
• 24:30
  And your nephew, isn't it your cousin or your his cousin or
• 24:33
  your nephew. Somebody else was playing
• 24:35
  college ball. It wasn't just your son.
• 24:38
  No, just my boys like I have. I have my son and my adopted
• 24:43
  son. They adopted.
• 24:45
  Yeah. No, he's done.
• 24:47
  Just laziness on his part, to be honest with you.
• 24:49
  My son actually just had Tommy John, unfortunately, Yeah,
• 24:53
  because he, well, he was going to be drafted pretty high, like
• 24:56
  top three rounds and then didn't Tommy John.
• 24:58
  But so we'll see what happens now he's going to be that senior
• 25:01
  kid that hopes to sign. But just bad timing.
• 25:03
  I mean, his fall was awesome, like 9 innings, no hits, no
• 25:06
  walks, 15 punches, just doing well, right.
• 25:09
  And then and then this thing shows up out of nowhere, which
• 25:12
  is unfortunate, but when he got hurt, it was January.
• 25:15
  The doctor read the MRI wrong. So we just found out like in May
• 25:20
  that it actually is torn and his somebody with the team, one of
• 25:25
  the trainers or something, told him he goes, yeah, dude, I, I
• 25:28
  thought it was torn the whole time.
• 25:29
  Like I knew it was torn. And Ryan said, why do you say
• 25:31
  anything? He goes, I wasn't allowed to.
• 25:34
  So even though the doctor read it wrong and whoever else, he's
• 25:37
  like, I wasn't allowed to say anything.
• 25:38
  And I was like, bro, you, we lost three months.
• 25:41
  Like there was, it's not the full Tommy John.
• 25:43
  This is like 8 or 9 months. I don't know if that is, but
• 25:45
  like we lost three months of rehab time, bro.
• 25:47
  That's a big deal when you're trying to play college baseball.
• 25:50
  So hopefully it works out. We'll see what happens.
• 25:53
  Josh, the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge was breaking
• 25:56
  records. He was doing things that we've
• 25:58
  never seen a player do since Ted Williams.
• 26:00
  I mean he was unbelievable for the 1st 2 1/2 months of the.
• 26:04
  Season. And then and then in the month
• 26:07
  of June, he was batting. He's been batting 267.
• 26:10
  He only has seven home runs. He's in kind of a slump right
• 26:13
  now, but he's still batting 354. He has thirty home runs, 67
• 26:17
  RBI's. He's on pace to hit about 606566
• 26:21
  home runs this season. And still over over 130140RB is
• 26:26
  if he stays healthy, does he win?
• 26:28
  Does he win the Triple Crown? I.
• 26:29
  Mean he's always in the running now, I mean you don't have to
• 26:31
  hit but 300 to win the the the batting title these days.
• 26:34
  So that's not that hard. He's always going to be in the
• 26:38
  legal league at home runs and RB is because of, you know, where
• 26:40
  he hits and the power that he has.
• 26:42
  So I mean, I don't I don't see why he doesn't He's not always
• 26:44
  going to be in the talk. It's crazy, right, and Java, you
• 26:47
  can speak on this man. It's crazy how and I know we're
• 26:50
  not picking on Aaron Judge, but you know, we expect big things
• 26:54
  from these guys and and you have one bad month where he's
• 26:56
  struggling a little bit and now it's like, oh, what's happened
• 26:59
  to judgey? But usually it's April that he
• 27:02
  struggles, right, and then he has this fantastic April.
• 27:05
  You know how hard it is to be lights out for six straight
• 27:08
  months. It's so hard, right?
• 27:10
  And so for this to be a bad month for him and it's still
• 27:13
  those numbers, like, it just shows you how good this kid is,
• 27:16
  man. He starts slow kind of to see
• 27:20
  the way he's, you know, managing how he continues to get better
• 27:24
  because we we've seen how there's been like, oh, you know,
• 27:27
  his strikes don't discipline now we've seen how it's gotten
• 27:29
  better. His chase rate has gotten better
• 27:31
  and you know how he just keeps getting better and you know, he
• 27:34
  he's going to be in the conversation especially too.
• 27:37
  You got to look at it now. Obviously your favorite player,
• 27:40
  Errol and and Jazz and how he's been hot since he came back.
• 27:44
  Jazz Chism. It it's giving him it's giving
• 27:48
  him a little bit of relief, but if you look at it as a whole, he
• 27:51
  really hasn't had much. Thank Thank goodness Goldie got
• 27:54
  off to a hard stop. I mean, he's still hitting 285,
• 27:57
  but it's just I mean, he's kind of done it by himself with no
• 28:00
  protection. He's been walked twenty plus
• 28:02
  times in the first half already. Still nothing compared and we
• 28:05
  haven't talked about this kid and we'll get it to him
• 28:07
  tomorrow. James Wood is a joke.
• 28:09
  He has better than Juan Soto numbers in the start of his
• 28:11
  career. James Woods an absolute joke.
• 28:14
  He's the guy that we're going to be talking about like this the
• 28:16
  next couple of years. He just he's quietly doing, I
• 28:19
  think they all are in Washington.
• 28:20
  I think Washington's the team like probably starting next year
• 28:22
  that people have like where'd they come from?
• 28:24
  And it's like what? But he it's like every year,
• 28:27
  every month he's doing the little things to slightly
• 28:31
  improve, slightly improve where it's not like this amazing
• 28:34
  season that we all get all excited and they fade.
• 28:37
  Like the consistency of his improvement is so good.
• 28:41
  And it's it's, it's done so right without anything being
• 28:45
  rushed. Like this dude is going to be a
• 28:46
  star bro, A star in this game. And I and I seen it with the way
• 28:51
  judges like, you know, struggle and he's always had those stupid
• 28:55
  like, you know, the toe running into the fence and getting hit
• 28:58
  by a ball. Like that's just dumb luck,
• 29:00
  which sucks. But I think the way he's gotten
• 29:03
  better and he continues to get better and especially with
• 29:06
  really nobody around him being able to protect him, he's he's
• 29:12
  going to be in the conversation every year.
• 29:14
  I mean, that's just a long and. Sure.
• 29:15
  If you look at him, if you look at him right now, he's he's
• 29:18
  first in batting average, 358. He is second in home runs right
• 29:22
  now in a league with 32 rallies. A33.
• 29:25
  Well, he's not like I love it. Always do it and cut you off
• 29:28
  real quick, brother. Probably being a catcher, it's
• 29:32
  so hard to continue to do this, dude.
• 29:34
  They don't get time to breathe. We don't ever stop talking to
• 29:37
  them. Somebody's always talking to
• 29:38
  them. That's why I catch a swing at
• 29:40
  the first pitch all the time. They're, I mean, they're in
• 29:42
  conversation walking up to the plate, right, with some pitcher
• 29:45
  or some pitching coach. It's, it's a lot of work for
• 29:49
  those guys to go squat 5-6 hundred times a day and continue
• 29:52
  to drive like this. So I mean, it's amazing what
• 29:54
  he's doing, but I don't think those home run numbers continue
• 29:57
  for Cal. And no disrespect to him, it's
• 29:59
  just his position. So if if he's the only guy that
• 30:03
  judges in in in the race with, it's I judge going to pass it
• 30:06
  pretty soon. So.
• 30:07
  Yeah. So I want to ask about the the
• 30:08
  traded line strategy with the Yankees too, because like the
• 30:10
  combined value with the depth that the Yankees looked like
• 30:12
  they had at the beginning of the season with the lineups
• 30:14
  obviously the Torpedo back. Controversy.
• 30:16
  What? Yeah, What depth are you talking
• 30:18
  about? The one that the ones they were
• 30:19
  supposed to have signed, obviously Goldsmith's been
• 30:21
  great. Cody Bellinger, they make the
• 30:23
  trade for and we're expecting a bigger.
• 30:28
  With Anthony Volpe. And that hasn't really.
• 30:30
  Been there. Who was you?
• 30:31
  The Yankee fan's gonna hit me. He's not good.
• 30:33
  The guy's not good. But but people are freaked.
• 30:36
  Down because his swings long and slow.
• 30:38
  How about fix your swing? He's not that good man.
• 30:40
  It's just this overrated hype coming out of minor leagues.
• 30:42
  That's my opinion. But think about it.
• 30:44
  Everybody wants to say sucks does this.
• 30:46
  He has over 1600 at bats in the big leagues.
• 30:48
  He's a career 228 hitter. We're not talking about 300 at
• 30:52
  bats. What are we talking about?
• 30:53
  That's what I feel about Sona. Like, look at the last three or
• 30:55
  four years, the last four years he's like a 268 hitter.
• 30:58
  He had that amazing second year. He's had some good power
• 31:00
  numbers, especially Yankee Stadium.
• 31:02
  But it's like, let's be honest about facts here.
• 31:04
  I mean, again now once the hype of the the bat thing he got is
• 31:09
  gone, he's back to being a 220 hitter or whatever.
• 31:12
  It's just let's face reality with this man.
• 31:15
  Yeah. So what would you do with the
• 31:16
  deadline like approaching with the lineup like obviously they
• 31:19
  might need pitching, but again, they.
• 31:20
  Have had top. Guys, they had top guys too that
• 31:23
  have done well. They always need pitching, man.
• 31:26
  I mean, look at the Mets, right? When they were going good until
• 31:29
  this last three weeks, they led baseball, I think in starting
• 31:32
  pitching and bullpen and that's when they're winning.
• 31:34
  And now that their pitching is the worst in the game the last
• 31:37
  three weeks, both sides starting and relieving, they they're the
• 31:40
  worst team in baseball the last three weeks.
• 31:42
  And so you you always need pitching.
• 31:44
  So whether you go back, I mean, are you really going to trust
• 31:46
  him? Weaver pitched in the 7th inning
• 31:48
  today. I mean, you see the closers, the
• 31:50
  8th inning guys, he's the 7th inning guy.
• 31:51
  Like who's doing what and you, they show that they don't have
• 31:55
  faith. And and even when we were there
• 31:57
  before, when I was with the oldest and Blue Jays, they
• 32:00
  they've never really understood how to run a bullpen no matter
• 32:02
  who was there. So they use everybody.
• 32:04
  So they're going to need pitching no matter what.
• 32:08
  Somebody's got to keep the other team off the boards.
• 32:10
  I don't you don't look at Houston, right?
• 32:12
  They're winning all the time. It's because they don't give up
• 32:15
  a lot of runs and they do what they need to do to win.
• 32:17
  So pitching's for sure. They don't trust Stroman.
• 32:21
  Plus, I don't know how you could trust Stroman.
• 32:23
  We've had some injuries. Yeah, you can go get a bat.
• 32:26
  Like I'm cool with that. But is that why?
• 32:30
  And I know there's no so no. But is that why they lost the
• 32:32
  World Series last year? Because it wasn't right?
• 32:34
  It's all the little stuff. It's the back end of the bases.
• 32:37
  It's knowing where you're going with the ball before you get to.
• 32:39
  It's getting your ass to first base.
• 32:41
  I mean, Volpe gets off the hook and I'm not picking on the kid,
• 32:44
  but Gerrit Cole takes the heat for not going over to first
• 32:47
  base, right? He should have been over to
• 32:48
  first base, but I'll give him a little pass just because of the
• 32:53
  mental grind he was in that inning to stay in the moment.
• 32:57
  But instinctively, it's why we work every day.
• 33:00
  So our incidents are there when our brains off.
• 33:02
  We all know when the balls to that side we got to get to first
• 33:05
  base. So you know, he takes a little
• 33:07
  heat. Judge took the heat for dropping
• 33:08
  the 1st 5 ball, but Volpe had no idea where he was going with
• 33:11
  that ball ahead of time. And so like if there's a
• 33:13
  position player, if it's coming to me, I'm going here, but see
• 33:16
  this side I'm going here, but see this side I'm going here
• 33:17
  depending how slow it is. He didn't put himself in those
• 33:20
  situations that balls hit to his right last second.
• 33:22
  He decided to go to 3rd. It's too late there, right?
• 33:25
  So I still think they have the team to do it even if they
• 33:29
  didn't go make moves. But they got to clean up the the
• 33:33
  the mental side of the game and knowing where to be ahead of
• 33:36
  time. If they want to be that good and
• 33:38
  and face a team that like Detroit or or LA or even
• 33:43
  Houston, that does the little things right, that gives them a
• 33:46
  chance to where they don't have to score six runs a game.
• 33:49
  You know, it's it's crazy. And by the way, if anybody
• 33:51
  doesn't know, we're talking to the one and only.
• 33:54
  And we've had them on the show quite a few times.
• 33:56
  We were talking to former Orioles, Blue Jays and Yankees
• 33:58
  pitcher Josh Towers. You know what's crazy when you
• 34:01
  look at the league and, and we have looked, we, we have seen so
• 34:05
  many young superstars come up over the last couple of years
• 34:08
  and pitching. We, we were just talking about
• 34:11
  it last week. Milwaukee's got a young stud
• 34:13
  right now. Paul Skins is a sensational
• 34:17
  young pitcher right now in Pittsburgh.
• 34:19
  Who do you think? I know you mentioned Woods, Who
• 34:21
  do you think is the next guy up that's going to take over, you
• 34:25
  know, in the next 5 years as the superstar of the league over
• 34:28
  guys like Ohtani and Aaron Judge?
• 34:30
  I. Mean those are our two real big,
• 34:32
  big superstars. I don't know man, you might want
• 34:35
  to give me some time to research this before you ask me a crazy
• 34:37
  question like that. Is it crazy?
• 34:40
  I mean, well before we before we talked about Jay Wood, like he
• 34:42
  would literally he would have been my answer.
• 34:44
  No question about it. I just think the world of this
• 34:46
  kid and and what he's doing. So I you know, without being
• 34:50
  prepared, I'm going to I'm going to stick with that.
• 34:51
  It's it's tough with pitching right, because so many guys are
• 34:56
  so, so damn talented, but talent.
• 34:59
  What's it worth if you don't know how to use it?
• 35:02
  That kid in Milwaukee is insane. I think that's where he's at,
• 35:05
  right? That kid we just got called up.
• 35:08
  He's absolutely insane. But you know, the Cincinnati
• 35:11
  Reds are a prime example. We rush these dudes to the big
• 35:15
  leagues so fast. And you can't rush time and
• 35:17
  development. And there's certain things that
• 35:18
  I don't care how talented you are, you need time to learn.
• 35:22
  And they rush Burns to the big leagues and I was telling my son
• 35:26
  before yesterday's game like, oh, dude, he's going to get
• 35:28
  torched. And he's like, oh, you know, you
• 35:29
  know something in college. You're like, oh, no, he's this,
• 35:31
  he's that. I'm like, I don't care, I don't
• 35:33
  care. You throw 95, I throw 95.
• 35:35
  You have a change up. I got to, we all got the same
• 35:37
  stuff. Why, Why did you have to pitch
• 35:39
  nine years in the big leagues and I pitched 8 years and you
• 35:41
  have zero and you got better stuff.
• 35:42
  Why? Because clearly we know how to
• 35:44
  use it. And there's certain situations
• 35:46
  that we've had time to work our our brain through and we've been
• 35:49
  comfortable in certain situations to trust stuff.
• 35:52
  And you don't just throw 100 miles an hour and have a nasty
• 35:55
  slider and fall behind and the ball leaves early so hitters can
• 35:59
  take it a little bit early and then next thing you know, it's
• 36:01
  2O, it's 21, it's one O and now you got to come to me and you
• 36:04
  don't have the trust to work on the corners on off of that mill.
• 36:07
  And now what? Now you're just going to serve
• 36:08
  me a cookie at 100. Those go a long ways.
• 36:11
  And so I think a lot of a lot of our issues is, is the rushing
• 36:15
  and their thing to Burns and is a lot of guys like this.
• 36:18
  I just mentioned his name. We're we we've done spring
• 36:21
  training right? We've done April, we've done
• 36:23
  May, we've done June where we're four months into this.
• 36:26
  Where in his life has he played four months straight of of
• 36:31
  season baseball to where you have to continue to be on a
• 36:34
  routine and continue to work colleges what 4050 games, high
• 36:38
  schools, 2030 games without post season minor leagues.
• 36:42
  He didn't have it like he's already at his peak that he's
• 36:45
  ever played consistently this most baseball without a break,
• 36:48
  he's going to fade. And that's part of it too.
• 36:51
  So we have young guys all over the place that are beasts, and
• 36:54
  we have more young arms that are freaks than ever before.
• 36:57
  Don't don't forget spring training too.
• 37:00
  Josh, as I said, spring training, yes, the first part,
• 37:02
  yeah. We, we've had 40 bodies of camp
• 37:03
  that people don't realize. And so now you're at your peak
• 37:06
  and you still got three months of baseball left.
• 37:08
  It's it's not that easy, man. And and so we have all these
• 37:12
  kids and, and we're rushing him to the big leagues.
• 37:15
  Look at Dylan Cruz, what are we doing?
• 37:18
  Look at what they did with Torkelson.
• 37:21
  Luckily, he slowly started to figure it out.
• 37:23
  Look at Vaughn and in the White Sox, like all these guys should
• 37:26
  be stars. But we rushed the development of
• 37:30
  every time you get, you do good for a month or two or a week or
• 37:32
  two, we promote you and we promote you, then we promote
• 37:35
  you. Guess what happens when you get
• 37:36
  to the big leagues? There's no more promoting now.
• 37:38
  Let's do it again tomorrow. Guess what?
• 37:40
  Do it again tomorrow. Guess what?
• 37:42
  Do it again tomorrow and be good, Guess what?
• 37:44
  Do it again tomorrow and that's all.
• 37:46
  And that'll never end. And we don't know how to do
• 37:48
  that. And so these guys don't know how
• 37:50
  to work through success and then maintain it and improve along
• 37:54
  the way. And then the first sign of
• 37:56
  failure, they've never faced it, so they don't know how to handle
• 37:58
  that. We've taken that away in the
• 38:00
  development aspect. So we have a lot of players on
• 38:03
  the offensive side or the pitching side that should be,
• 38:06
  could be, but aren't. Hold on a little while.
• 38:13
  Ago Hold. On one second, hold on one
• 38:16
  second. There was something that you
• 38:17
  mentioned, I would say about 15 minutes ago where you were
• 38:21
  yapping about Juan Soto. What is what is this hatred for
• 38:25
  Juan Soto? Listen, I'm not a Juan Soto guy.
• 38:27
  I was very happy that the Yankees parted ways with him.
• 38:31
  I would never pay him $768 million.
• 38:33
  Why do you? Hate him so much, why do you
• 38:35
  think? He's an overrated player.
• 38:37
  What makes him? I think he's just completely
• 38:40
  overrated. I mean, I do, I think he's
• 38:41
  talented, of course. I think he's a good player.
• 38:43
  Yeah, he's a subpar outfielder. He's what does he do on the
• 38:46
  bases? He doesn't do anything on the
• 38:48
  bases. It's he's in it.
• 38:50
  I don't care. I want everybody to get paid all
• 38:52
  the money in the world. Dude, I like, I don't want
• 38:54
  anybody to ever like not have money, so I root for that.
• 38:57
  But bro, you give him all this money and you act like he's
• 39:00
  Aaron Judge. You act like he's Barry Bonds.
• 39:02
  He's not. He's a, he's a 260 something,
• 39:04
  270 hitter who doesn't do well with the glove.
• 39:10
  And there's a million guys in baseball with his stats.
• 39:13
  Like we have a million guys in our generation who have the
• 39:15
  stats. You don't know their names
• 39:16
  because they were average stats for us.
• 39:18
  And so like I, I just think it's so overrated.
• 39:22
  Part of it is, and, and maybe so does the guy that I'm picking on
• 39:25
  with this. Part of it is we make you
• 39:28
  believe that that is elite. We make you believe that those
• 39:32
  numbers are elite, that that's what it takes to be elite.
• 39:36
  When to me that's average, right?
• 39:38
  And so I think we're teaching the next generation in this
• 39:42
  current generation that you don't have to be very good for
• 39:45
  us to consider great. And if that's setting the bar
• 39:48
  for greatness and our future doesn't look very bright, he's
• 39:51
  not as good to me as what people think he is.
• 39:53
  And and I don't even think it's debatable.
• 39:56
  I agree with you and part of it, the game has changed you.
• 39:58
  You don't have to like you said earlier, you hit 300, you're
• 40:01
  going to be in the conversation for the batting title.
• 40:04
  And I think that's where it's changed.
• 40:06
  I mean, if you if you look at his, you know, his last five
• 40:09
  years, it's two 3246236275, 288 and 2:58.
• 40:14
  So nothing to like write home about where, you know, 10 years
• 40:18
  ago, that's a whole we're having a whole different.
• 40:20
  Story about this. I mean, obviously it's on base
• 40:22
  percentage. He's a below average outfielder.
• 40:25
  Let's I mean, let's we're not and it's not like we're talking
• 40:28
  shit. We're just we're we're saying
• 40:29
  what it is. And I think because the game has
• 40:32
  changed in certain directions and, and certain dynamics of how
• 40:37
  people are portrayed were now it's so analytical and his ward
• 40:40
  plus and his on base percentage quantified to the extreme that
• 40:44
  they are now to show the ability of the type of player that they
• 40:48
  really are. I I wouldn't say he's overhyped
• 40:51
  by any means. I think obviously his plate
• 40:54
  discipline, he's, he's going to get on base.
• 40:56
  He's he's going to hit you 260-5270 somewhere in there.
• 41:01
  He's going to play on average at best outfield.
• 41:06
  And I think there's, there's certain things and you know,
• 41:09
  it's, it's my son's. Do we forget what he did in the
• 41:12
  playoffs last year? Do we forget what he's done in
• 41:14
  the playoffs before? This guy is a career over 300
• 41:17
  hitter in the playoffs. And that's when you're that's
• 41:19
  where you get your money. That's where you get paid.
• 41:21
  Did you see what he did against Cleveland?
• 41:23
  Did you in the American League Championship that.
• 41:26
  He's a career 281 hitter. It's your facts.
• 41:28
  Right, it doesn't matter. If he's a career, you said 3.
• 41:30
  100 whatever, it doesn't really matter.
• 41:33
  It takes a team to get to the playoffs.
• 41:35
  It takes a team to win. Yeah, OK.
• 41:36
  So he had a good couple weeks of the.
• 41:38
  Here was the reason why the Yankees went to the World
• 41:41
  Series. Was he not?
• 41:42
  Was he the one that hit that home run that put the Yankees in
• 41:46
  the world? Series.
• 41:47
  Was there somebody on base? What do you mean?
• 41:49
  Was there somebody on base? Was there somebody on base?
• 41:52
  I, I guess there was, I don't remember.
• 41:54
  I just, I just remember the shot.
• 41:56
  I remember his. Home run winning the game, but
• 41:58
  but for his teammates getting on base and giving him the
• 42:01
  opportunity, does he get a chance to be that hero?
• 42:04
  Anybody could be good for two weeks, right?
• 42:05
  A good time to be good for sure in the postseason.
• 42:08
  But like I said, I mean, I don't know, man, I just need more
• 42:10
  consistency if we're going to put him as the top 345 guy in
• 42:15
  the game and and, and pay him like he's the best player in the
• 42:17
  game. And and it's it's, it's and
• 42:20
  that's the thing. My Yankee fans are not sure I
• 42:22
  met fans. What are we crying about?
• 42:24
  He is doing right now what he's done his whole career outside of
• 42:28
  his second year in baseball. And let's go back and look at
• 42:30
  that team and talk about who am I going to pitch to when you
• 42:34
  have that loaded team and I got this kid coming up in his second
• 42:37
  year, Guess what you're getting all fastballs out in the middle.
• 42:40
  I have time to waste time with you, Soto when I got all those
• 42:42
  other guys right, so he's going to get more pitches to hit
• 42:44
  anyways. But I don't know, man, I just I
• 42:49
  just to say that he's on that level.
• 42:53
  I just, I completely disagree. Now, does he have a lot of great
• 42:56
  qualities and a lot of things that he can do for sure.
• 42:59
  And can he go out there potentially hit 350 with 40?
• 43:02
  Yeah, No, I think he's very capable.
• 43:03
  Will he do it? No, he's never done it.
• 43:05
  I don't know. I just, I think it's it's it's
• 43:08
  it's I don't know. I don't know.
• 43:09
  He shouldn't be in the conversation.
• 43:11
  And for the Mets fans to to snivel about anything.
• 43:14
  He's doing exactly what he's always done.
• 43:16
  So you're you're getting what you what you thought you were
• 43:19
  getting outside of we over. They hyped them to make you guys
• 43:22
  think that he's doing what Aaron Judge is doing and he's he's not
• 43:25
  that he's not Ohtani and so be happy.
• 43:28
  But like it adds depth, it adds protection.
• 43:30
  Peter longs would definitely benefit in the first half for
• 43:32
  it. But now what I mean, I don't
• 43:36
  even know how to to put this in, but they're winning because
• 43:39
  they're pitching was amazing, both starting and relieving.
• 43:42
  Offense has not been good all year.
• 43:45
  Now all of a sudden the pitching's dead.
• 43:46
  Soto's unconscious right now and they're losing more games than
• 43:50
  ever. So how does that tie to helping
• 43:52
  that team win? Yeah.
• 43:54
  So I wanted to ask about the another team that spent a lot of
• 43:56
  money this offseason that the Dodgers with the deferred money,
• 43:58
  that whole controversy. Obviously Tiny got the 600
• 44:01
  million in the deferred money and then they kept going.
• 44:04
  Do you think that's something that should be changed across
• 44:06
  baseball? Is it a problem for it or is it
• 44:08
  just the Dodgers being like that crazy?
• 44:10
  No, it's something we've done for decades.
• 44:12
  Everybody's done this. We've always done it.
• 44:14
  Frank Thomas did this. Frank Thomas did for like 30
• 44:17
  million which is a ton of money back then when you're signing.
• 44:19
  Hey, today's Bobby Bonilla Day. Yeah, but like everybody,
• 44:23
  deferred money, if this is not new at all by any means, it just
• 44:29
  got highlighted because the Dodgers are doing it.
• 44:31
  But then the Dodgers are signing a lot of guys and everybody's
• 44:33
  getting pissed, the Dodgers for signing all these guys.
• 44:36
  So then we're looking at things to bang them for.
• 44:38
  But not deferred money is nothing new in our game.
• 44:40
  It's been going on for decades. It's smart by players, by the
• 44:43
  way, super smart, especially when you can make 20 million a
• 44:45
  season just to just to see if we like the guy.
• 44:48
  I mean, that's after 20 million. You're sitting pretty good for
• 44:51
  the rest of your life. So for players, for money, I
• 44:54
  just think it's brilliant. I mean, look at Ohtani, look at
• 44:57
  Max Scherzer. The soon as they retire for the
• 44:59
  next 15 years, 20 years, they're going to have 20-30 million
• 45:02
  coming in this season. Like it's beautiful.
• 45:04
  It's brilliant by those guys. Playing with Max and, and
• 45:07
  getting to know Max, I played him against him in college and
• 45:10
  obviously played with him in the big leagues.
• 45:12
  But yeah, he was like, I'll take less money.
• 45:14
  I don't need to get paid much. He got, I think he got a $50
• 45:17
  million bonus and he's like, you could pay me 10 million a year.
• 45:21
  I don't care. And he deferred it for like, I
• 45:22
  think 12 years. And he's like, I don't need to
• 45:25
  get paid 50 million a year. There's other people that look
• 45:27
  at it this way too, where it's like the faster I get it, the
• 45:30
  faster I invest it. But then if I can't live off 12
• 45:32
  million after I'm done, I still invested that I didn't spend it.
• 45:35
  And now I get to sit at home, sit at the crib with the kids,
• 45:39
  play, and next thing you know, I get a check.
• 45:41
  I'll just use Bobby Benny a day. Oh, here's, here's a 7 figure
• 45:44
  check. Now they're 8 figure checks 8.
• 45:47
  Figures bro he's got like deferred money for like 3
• 45:50
  different teams coming like he's I I used him as an example that
• 45:53
  we're talking. It's funny, I use him as an
• 45:54
  example today. I'm like Max sure is your is
• 45:56
  just had those brilliant contracts of all time for what
• 46:01
  he's done for his future. But you know, some people blow
• 46:03
  their money. Some people are very good with
• 46:05
  their money. So it works both ways.
• 46:08
  But you get a lot of money at once.
• 46:09
  And then money stops coming in and in the middle of it,
• 46:12
  depending how smart you are, you know, you don't look at price
• 46:14
  tags, you just go spend. We fight over thousands of
• 46:17
  dollars of dinner. I got it, I got it.
• 46:19
  We're all fighting and stuff, you know, and it's like it's no
• 46:20
  big deal. And then one day it stops.
• 46:23
  And if you hadn't made a ton of money, it becomes a little bit
• 46:27
  different place for you. So when you make a ton, it's OK.
• 46:30
  But to now live off potentially less money, raised a lot of
• 46:35
  money. And then to have that money
• 46:37
  coming in every year for years and years and years after
• 46:40
  retiring, It gets to a point where you've done it all, spent
• 46:43
  it all. And now you start to budget and
• 46:45
  become a lot smarter with when you what you want to do.
• 46:47
  And it just like Musina Moose was the only new job.
• 46:50
  And I don't know if you've ever heard of this before.
• 46:52
  I don't know why we didn't do this, but Moose was the only
• 46:55
  dude who got paid over 365. All of us got paid over six
• 46:58
  months. Moose got paid over 365, which I
• 47:01
  thought was brilliant because then it makes you learn how to
• 47:03
  structure and budget money a lot better and you got money coming
• 47:06
  the offseason. And I'm like, why don't we all
• 47:08
  do that? Like that's that's the way to go
• 47:10
  right there. Yeah, there's, there's a few
• 47:12
  people that did that. He he deferred.
• 47:14
  I think he deferred for I think it was like 3 or five years, I
• 47:18
  think from his last contract. But yeah, he always took that
• 47:21
  option. And I, I think a lot of people
• 47:23
  really didn't know if you could or not.
• 47:25
  And I. Think I never heard of it until
• 47:26
  I heard Mike do it. Yeah, and I think a lot of
• 47:28
  people were under the the premise too.
• 47:30
  It's like a lot of people and you know, it's your agents and
• 47:33
  your, your financial people, the faster you invested.
• 47:35
  So it's like, yeah, you're going to take more, but then it's
• 47:37
  like, OK, there's nothing coming.
• 47:39
  It's there's so many ways to look at it.
• 47:41
  I I think the deferred money's brilliant.
• 47:44
  I do too. And if you and it's it's been
• 47:46
  going on, there's so many people still getting paid.
• 47:48
  Griffey was the highest paid dude on the Reds for like 4
• 47:50
  years and played with him forever.
• 47:53
  So think about it now, dude. And I know we've been out of the
• 47:55
  game for a second, but think about it now.
• 47:57
  Like, would you not like to have a paycheck coming every two
• 47:59
  weeks right now? I do and it's nice but not as
• 48:02
  big as those ones. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
• 48:04
  Like even even if we would have cut that back in half and then
• 48:06
  now it's still coming in every two weeks like it.
• 48:09
  Yeah, it's just the structure is so much better.
• 48:11
  Yeah, it's, it's completely different.
• 48:13
  We are talking to former Orioles, Blue Jays and Yankees
• 48:17
  pitcher Josh Towers. You know, Clayton Kershaw is the
• 48:20
  guy that's probably going to walk away from the game.
• 48:22
  And a lot of people are going to, you know, after his career
• 48:26
  is over, what are they going to say about him?
• 48:28
  What what are they going to compare his game to?
• 48:31
  And he could go down as one of the greatest left-handed
• 48:34
  pitchers we've ever seen. When?
• 48:36
  He was that. Do you think he's good, Errol?
• 48:38
  I I for seven or eight years, I don't think there was anybody
• 48:41
  better than him. I mean, he was untouchable.
• 48:44
  Given given what you just said about Soto makes me think that
• 48:46
  you would think he sucks because he's awful in the playoffs.
• 48:49
  Well, that's fine and but great also.
• 48:51
  Also, when Clayton Kershaw was at the top of his game, the
• 48:54
  Dodgers were up and down when it came to their lineup.
• 48:57
  Their lineups were never as good as it is right now when you have
• 49:01
  Friedman on the lineup, Mookie Betts, I mean, oh, Tony, it's
• 49:04
  ridiculous. What that when when Clayton
• 49:06
  Kershaw was at the top of his game, who is their best hitter?
• 49:09
  I mean, seriously. Like camp and and and.
• 49:12
  There was nobody, I mean they they didn't have any any of the
• 49:15
  roster they have. If Clayton Kershaw had the
• 49:18
  roster he had right now and he was at the top of his game, he
• 49:22
  wins multiple championships. Clayton Kershaw is probably the
• 49:25
  best left-handed pitcher we've seen in the last 30 years.
• 49:28
  I. Mean when I was there after
• 49:31
  after O9 with with the Yanks, I went to the Dodgers.
• 49:34
  He was 22 years old, bro. We usually you pull that roster,
• 49:37
  I'll talk about a roster that should have won, You know,
• 49:39
  Garrett Anderson and Manny Ramirez and Matt Camp and Andre
• 49:43
  Ether. We were loaded on that team to
• 49:45
  walk around that clubhouse on Starstruck looking at that team,
• 49:48
  they're 22 years old. And he was our leader, bro.
• 49:51
  He everybody just followed CK everybody he led by example,
• 49:56
  kind of had this Roy Holiday quality to him.
• 49:59
  Like, it's amazing that a kid that young on a team like that
• 50:03
  had that much respect from an early age.
• 50:05
  I mean, it's just, it's part of why he's so damn good.
• 50:08
  But no, he's one of the best pitchers not only just our
• 50:11
  generation, but like ever. He's so good bro.
• 50:14
  That's crazy. That's that's why, because I, I
• 50:17
  want to ask from a, you know, a picture standpoint, we have Nick
• 50:20
  goodies on the show all the time.
• 50:21
  I asked him off, said congratulations to Nick.
• 50:24
  He was working with the Guardians this weekend, did his
• 50:26
  play by play. It was fantastic.
• 50:28
  But Nick, I asked Nick Goody offset, I said, what, what do
• 50:32
  you see Clayton Kershaw being remembered as?
• 50:34
  I mean, obviously his greatness for the 7-8 years of his
• 50:37
  dominance, but what is he going to be remembered?
• 50:39
  Because the World Series that he won, he wasn't really even a big
• 50:42
  name or a big part of those World Series championships that
• 50:45
  he's won, the 2 championships that he's he's won over the last
• 50:49
  couple of years. So what is he remembered as?
• 50:51
  And he said dominant. He was the dominant pitcher in
• 50:55
  the major leagues. I don't think anybody can argue
• 50:57
  that. So that's my question to you.
• 50:59
  Another guy that I want to get into is Carlos Rodon.
• 51:02
  Everybody's taking shots. Yankee fans have taken shots at
• 51:05
  this contract when obviously, yes, Brian Cashman gave him the
• 51:09
  money that he gave him. And I thought he underpaid a guy
• 51:12
  like Carlos Rodon. And Carlos Rodon is having a
• 51:15
  great season. If you look at his numbers right
• 51:16
  now, he's nine and five, 2.95 ERA, 123 strikeouts and his WHIP
• 51:22
  is 1. Why does why does everybody hate
• 51:25
  on this guy now? He's inconsistent, but when he
• 51:27
  is on, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball.
• 51:29
  Let me jump back real quick. In his career, Clayton's 216 and
• 51:33
  94 is win percentage. I mean, it's insanely dominant.
• 51:37
  I don't know what I think about Rodon, right?
• 51:38
  Like he was literally like a like a good night's sleep away
• 51:42
  from being out of baseball and being done.
• 51:45
  And then the White Sox bring them back because I think he had
• 51:47
  no offers. And then he goes out and puts a
• 51:49
  healthy, phenomenal season where it showed off why he was a high
• 51:54
  round pick. And if I'm not mistaken, I think
• 51:55
  he was rushed to past the development stage or some sort
• 51:58
  of the struggles factored into the big leagues and then he
• 52:00
  didn't have any offers. I think it was.
• 52:02
  So he signs back with the White Sox and part of that like, it's
• 52:06
  beautiful because now it's personal.
• 52:08
  Now it's like, oh, no one thinks I'm any good.
• 52:10
  And it's like, yeah, your past wasn't very good and it was full
• 52:12
  of injuries. So yeah, no, we're good, dude.
• 52:14
  And then he's like, all right. So then like the perfect timing
• 52:17
  of he gets an opportunity back at the White Sox and he has
• 52:20
  something to prove. And it just shows that one good
• 52:23
  season and you can get a contract.
• 52:24
  But then I think he went to that next team.
• 52:26
  I I was shocked at the contract. I thought that that it was, it
• 52:30
  was a rushed, he was 180 million.
• 52:33
  I thought it was rushed given he had the one Goodyear with the
• 52:35
  White Sox and then he had the next season and then he becomes
• 52:38
  that free agent and he was one of the guys on the market,
• 52:40
  bigger name. I thought it was a very big
• 52:44
  contract given he hadn't proved enough consistency yet in his
• 52:48
  career to be the guy. So again, I don't care what the
• 52:52
  number is to an extent you can give Soto $765,000,000.
• 52:56
  That doesn't make him Hank Aaron.
• 52:58
  He's that's just how much you decided to give him.
• 53:01
  He still is the guy that he is. And so 180 million doesn't
• 53:06
  necessarily mean now all of a sudden they got to go win 20
• 53:08
  games. And and when it's not young,
• 53:11
  he's he's, he's still better than he had consistently been
• 53:13
  his first five years. And so is he giving you a chance
• 53:17
  to win? Is he making his starts?
• 53:20
  Is he is he doing to an extent what he should do or did you
• 53:23
  sign him with the expectations that he was going to be Max free
• 53:27
  1st 15 starts where he couldn't be hit?
• 53:29
  Like that's not reality either. So again, I can't, you can't
• 53:32
  always let the number skew us from what the player is and what
• 53:37
  what they were doing. You have to overpay everybody
• 53:39
  these days. You got to pay over everybody if
• 53:41
  you want to get them in New York anyways.
• 53:44
  So the price is always higher in in in New York that is anywhere
• 53:47
  else you need depth. And so look, I mean, look, we
• 53:51
  lost Garrett Cole, we got hurt. Like we're not invincible.
• 53:54
  And you can never have enough pitchers.
• 53:56
  The Dodgers have the worst throwing program.
• 53:58
  Whoever's running that needs to be fired 30 times.
• 54:00
  It's crazy, but they. Don't tell everybody.
• 54:02
  Don't tell them that because they think they're just.
• 54:06
  Geniuses. Every player in the world gets
• 54:08
  hurt on that team. There's no way whoever's running
• 54:10
  that, That's the biggest joke of all time, because it's been like
• 54:12
  that. But that's why they got to sign
• 54:13
  everybody, because everybody gets hurt.
• 54:15
  I mean who? Doesn't.
• 54:17
  Like Tyler Glassy, he's felt. Like Glass.
• 54:19
  His last name is Glass. Down Tyler Glass now and that
• 54:24
  guy. They've used the most starting
• 54:25
  pitching this year. They've used 16 starters.
• 54:27
  It's. Ridiculous.
• 54:28
  It's we just started the same. It's insane, like this is crazy
• 54:33
  that everybody gets hurt like that.
• 54:34
  And to me there's four non negotiables, man.
• 54:37
  It's your phone program, it's your core, it's your running and
• 54:39
  your cuff leads. And I like I'm going to assume
• 54:42
  they're new and none of those four.
• 54:43
  That's what I think because like I've never seen a team get hurt
• 54:46
  so much. But again, you need pitching
• 54:49
  like you can't just go in with five or six guys and think
• 54:52
  that's going to work. And then whatever you have in
• 54:53
  the minor leagues. But it's always what makes the
• 54:55
  Yankees so brilliant. And I've had this conversation
• 54:58
  with people too. It's like, you know, it'd be a
• 55:00
  minor league free agent guy like myself.
• 55:02
  And it's like, yo, I got I got 2.
• 55:03
  I got a couple options. One of them is like the Yankees
• 55:06
  and one of them is the Marlins. And I'm thinking about starting
• 55:08
  with Marlins. And I'm like, no, no, no, that's
• 55:10
  not what you want to do. And like, what do you mean?
• 55:11
  Like it's an easier path to the big leagues.
• 55:13
  And it's like, no, I got it. Seems like it, but no, it's not.
• 55:16
  The Marlins are just going to use their guys because they're
• 55:18
  not really going to use us. We're minor league death.
• 55:20
  The Yankees will use everybody. They don't care.
• 55:23
  They just care about winning. And if you have any experience
• 55:26
  in the big leagues, and I'm an example of them using them like
• 55:30
  they're go, they would rather do that and have a person that they
• 55:35
  can bring up and use for one day or one week that's going to give
• 55:37
  them the best chance of winning right now.
• 55:40
  Because that's all it is, is can we win today's game In that
• 55:43
  clubhouse, I never heard anybody talk about anything except how
• 55:47
  do we win today? Everybody collectively talked
• 55:50
  about how we can win today's game and it meant nothing else
• 55:53
  meant anything. And so the Yankees do that.
• 55:56
  They like our 24th, 5th guy was me, Chad Godan, Sergio Mitre,
• 56:02
  like it's like your 25th, 24th, 23rd guys on it like 6 years in
• 56:06
  the big leagues. That's a good place to be when
• 56:08
  it comes to depth. And so the Yankees, they they do
• 56:11
  this stuff where they bring all these guys and you got Alan
• 56:13
  Winans now is one of them and they do whatever they can do to
• 56:16
  win. But it just also shows you you
• 56:18
  cannot have enough pitching. I do not care.
• 56:20
  It's it's a tough thing. So you know you can.
• 56:23
  I was shocked at the Orioles, bro, how do you, I'm not Eflin
• 56:26
  and Kyle Gibson like I'm a fan of Kyle Gibson's, but how do you
• 56:30
  how do you let the Bourbons go? How do you not go after Freed?
• 56:32
  How do you not go after all of these dudes and load up with
• 56:36
  what you have? And they they have new ownership
• 56:38
  too. They think that they're doing
• 56:40
  good in the minor league system as far as they've had the number
• 56:42
  one rated minor league system. They think they're developing.
• 56:46
  They don't develop. They're one of the worst ever
• 56:48
  developing. They just had the first pick for
• 56:50
  so many years and they traded all these guys and took all
• 56:52
  these. So they got the stockpile of
• 56:54
  talent. But now we're seeing that none
• 56:56
  of them are developing and none of the pitchers have developed.
• 56:59
  And so it's like shows you guys didn't actually develop,
• 57:01
  stockpile minor league prospects and then you have the first pick
• 57:04
  in the draft. It's pretty hard to mess up.
• 57:06
  And so it's like what happens now and.
• 57:08
  Whenever they develop a player, they they can't sign him, they
• 57:12
  can't bring him up. Manny Machado.
• 57:13
  Look what? Look what he turned out to be.
• 57:15
  He was a superstar. And then they let him go.
• 57:17
  And where does he go? He goes to San Diego and.
• 57:20
  You see what they got for Manny Machado.
• 57:22
  Yeah, I saw what they got, but how?
• 57:24
  What if they won? None of them, none of them are
• 57:26
  left. None of them, None of them.
• 57:28
  What are the Washington Nationals get for Juan Soto?
• 57:31
  What are the? Padres get for Juan Soto.
• 57:33
  Like it's like, how do you mess that up?
• 57:35
  You got like 6 dudes and the guy they wanted more than anything
• 57:38
  in the world that was off limits.
• 57:39
  The the off limits guy was Gavin Lux.
• 57:42
  And there was all these other dudes that were there they could
• 57:44
  have chose from that are stars. Before we let you go, I want
• 57:49
  you. I want you guys both.
• 57:51
  Of you I. Was getting my golf clap.
• 57:54
  This is ridiculous. No, no, no golf clap.
• 57:56
  Josh, get your thumb out of your ass.
• 57:58
  I got to ask you a question. Is there a particular story that
• 58:02
  you can tell us about Jabba? When you first or you met Jabba
• 58:06
  or you played with Jabba? Is there a funny story that you
• 58:09
  have about? Jabba ain't funny to him.
• 58:10
  It'd be funny to me every time I hear Jabba saying this is all I
• 58:13
  think about. Jim Palmer's our TV Guide for
• 58:15
  the Orioles and Jim's great right Hall of Fame guy.
• 58:18
  And but Jim, you know, he was the jockey guy.
• 58:21
  No, sure. You know, he thinks that, you
• 58:23
  know, he's still in his head. He thinks he's super, super
• 58:24
  famous and he might be in some worlds.
• 58:27
  And I love it. That's his ego.
• 58:28
  It's him. But he's a nice guy.
• 58:29
  So I I think it's great. And, and you know, there's
• 58:33
  certain things in your career or your life that are said to you
• 58:35
  and it's usually by people that are not that close to you,
• 58:37
  because people close to us are afraid to say the right thing
• 58:40
  and fear they might hurt our feelings.
• 58:41
  And so Jim would always, I would always hear it down the hall.
• 58:44
  Throw your change, change up. And he was always yell at me to
• 58:48
  throw my change up. You know, I got to force you to
• 58:50
  use it more. You would have good
• 58:51
  conversations with him because the intelligent guy, he would
• 58:54
  always mix himself into the conversation.
• 58:56
  Don't get me wrong, because he likes stock by himself in O 9.
• 58:59
  We're making the Orioles and Jim's the guy that'll just say
• 59:04
  whatever he wants because in his head he's Jim Palmer.
• 59:07
  And I've never, he was in the like tunnel and he went to go
• 59:11
  say something to Jabba about something.
• 59:14
  Same thing he would say to me. And he went to go say something
• 59:16
  to Java. And Java's like, yeah, Jim, we
• 59:18
  know no one gives a shit. And he walked away.
• 59:20
  I just, to me, it was the funniest thing in the world
• 59:23
  because I know Jim so well to hear Java just blow his ass off
• 59:28
  and keep walking. And Jim was only in his head
• 59:29
  trying to give like good advice and Java just told him where to
• 59:33
  go. And I was like quietly dying
• 59:35
  laughing because knowing him so well, it's like he said to
• 59:38
  everybody else, not the best, but to me, I've always, it
• 59:41
  always stood out, man. To me that sounds like you
• 59:43
  remembered something as simple as that, but it was great.
• 59:46
  That sounds like job it. Was right, Sounds like I'll tell
• 59:48
  you mine before we let him go. Josh, my debut was when you hit
• 59:52
  a rod and we cleared benches twice.
• 59:53
  That was your debut? Yep.
• 59:56
  Fuck dudes like that. That should have been headed
• 59:58
  weeks before that.