Latest / NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO) / American League and National League West previews: Can anybody take down the Dodgers?

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American League and National League West previews: Can anybody take down the Dodgers? · NY's Sports Loud Mouth (VIDEO)

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  Oh man, oh man, what a night. Ladies and gentlemen, for the
• 2:16
  first time on Job in the Mouth, we're very excited to have this
• 2:20
  wonderful man on the show. We are now talking to former 34
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  year MLB umpire Phil Kazi is on the show.
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  Phil, what is up, my friend? What's up guys?
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  It sounds like you're having too much fun out there.
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  Well, we always have fun. I mean, if you watch this show,
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  we are a little outlandish. We can go a little bit off off
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  the train. I mean, we tilt, we spill and
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  Speedy doesn't use much of any kind of napkins.
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  So when it spills, he leaves a couple of stains, if you know
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  what I mean, Phil. But I mean, the stains are
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  definitely going to stick and hopefully we're not racking
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  anything. And if we're racking, maybe
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  we'll play some pool. If you're a good pool player,
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  you know, I could win some money.
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  But anyways, Phil, we got to get into your career and you've been
• 3:03
  in the majors for 34 years. You announced, I want you to
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  tell the fans before I, I announced that you have just
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  announced your retirement, which is if you have had a sensational
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  career, 34 years in the major leagues, to have a career like
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  that, that's, I mean, I've been on this earth for 43 years.
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  So just think about it. When you started your umpire
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  career, I was nine years old. To think about 30-4 years in the
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  major leagues at a top level, it's an impressive career.
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  So tell us a little bit about your career and and 34 years at
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  a dominant level with some of the great baseball players of
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  our time. Well, 34 years total.
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  It was 27 in the big leagues. I started the minor leagues in
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  85 in the New York Penn League. But it was the best way I could
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  describe it is to say that I was living my dream, that that's,
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  that's what it was. I mean, like every other kid in
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  the in the country, you thought about playing Major League
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  Baseball, right? He wanted to play baseball since
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  Little League and, and below that.
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  And you know, who didn't want to in this area especially who
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  didn't want to play for the Yankees or the Mets, right?
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  And you know, it wasn't until I went to college to play and then
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  blew out my my shoulder. I was a catcher, which I
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  believed helped me as an umpire. And my first job out of college
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  was a school teacher. And I did that for about four
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  years. And I said, you know, I, I love
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  this job, but I'm in a good school system in Union, NJ And I
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  said I just, you know, I don't want to.
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  Yeah, I was young. I was right out of college.
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  I said, I, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to always
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  have to have a, a summer job. I wanted to be married, have a
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  family. So I, I, you know, a friend of
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  mine said, you know, you had a pretty good personality.
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  Why don't you go into sales? So I, I went into sales.
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  I did that for about a year and I was, I, you know, the idea was
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  to make more money. I did, but it wasn't anything
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  that really excited me. And you know, the, the, what's
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  the, what's the, the pinnacle of, of being in sales, closing
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  an order, right. And so I was doing that, but it
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  just wasn't lighting me up. And it wasn't until I was at
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  Yankee Stadium with my buddies one night and for whatever the
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  reason, I just started focusing on the umpires rotating around
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  the field. And I said, now that would be a
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  good job. And my, my buddy next to me
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  said, you know, there's an umpire school.
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  I, I see the advertised in the back of the Sporting News.
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  And so I, I rode away and there were two private schools at that
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  time. A little different today, but,
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  and that's where my journey began.
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  But it was a long journey to get to the big leagues and a lot of
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  bumps and, and, and potholes in the road.
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  The. Lot of New York potholes, we
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  deal with that every. Single.
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  Day, a lot of every day, I'm hitting a pothole.
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  And sometimes I wonder, when are our taxes going to be used in
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  the right way? But yeah, And it sounds like
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  you're from New York and it sounds like you're more from the
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  Brooklyn area, Am I right? Well, you know, my mother grew
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  up in Brooklyn. I'm from Jersey.
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  I gotcha. So I grew up now.
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  I grew up here in Long Island, but I went to school in
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  Brooklyn. I, I was, I was a bad boy as
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  what they would call me when I was a kid, when I was a
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  teenager. And that's why I played hockey
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  and I played hockey to try to take peoples heads.
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  I clothesline people and try to knock peoples heads off their
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  body. So I, I was always an abusive
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  kind of guy on and off the, the ice.
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  So I, I like to fight. It was something about it, you
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  know, living, living in such a soft neighborhood in Long
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  Island, because Long Island's soft.
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  When you go to Brooklyn or you go to the city, you realize that
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  you're not as tough as you think you are.
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  And there are a lot of tougher guys.
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  And, and, and it's not even a tougher guy in, in a, you know,
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  in a city or a tougher guy in a town, it's a tough guy every
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  single block. So every single block you step
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  on, there's somebody tougher. So it was, it was interesting,
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  but I, I got a chance to understand what it was to, to
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  not understand what it was to live in such a small place in an
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  island and, and go somewhere so much bigger and so much more, I
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  guess charismatic in Brooklyn. So I want to get into MLB and
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  some of the rule changes. I mean, you've been in the game
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  for a long time. You've seen the transition.
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  Obviously, Bud Selig, you were there during the steroid era
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  where a lot of people question why Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa
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  are not in the Hall of Fame. I don't care if they did
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  steroids. So I know you got a chance to
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  umpire for these guys. You saw these guys play at such
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  a top level. When you look and I and I, I
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  know you're, you're no longer a Major League umpire.
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  So you have a right to, to give your own opinion.
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  And I don't know if anybody's asked you this question since
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  since the, the announcement that you're retiring.
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  So my question to you is you look at the game, the 90's, the
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  strike, baseball needed a savior, baseball needed saviors
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  and Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were the guys.
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  Those are the guys that really took baseball, put baseball on
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  their shoulders and help baseball and and really drive
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  baseball. I mean literally Dr. baseballs
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  outside of stadiums. When you look at the steroid
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  era, do you believe that Barry Bonds, Rodger Clemens, Sammy
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  Sosa, Mark McGuire, Gary Sheffield, some of the greatest
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  baseball players of this era should be in the Hall of Fame?
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  Yes or no? Well, that's, you know, that's
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  the, that's the $100,000 question, right?
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  But, you know, you make the point about Sosa and and
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  McGuire. You know, think about that whole
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  season, how exciting it was and how people were glued to the, to
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  the TV and the attendance, I'm sure was up because of that.
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  And, you know, just very, very exciting.
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  Should they be in the Hall of Fame?
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  I mean, you know, I, I, I, I don't know, as a, you know, as
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  a, as a gatekeeper of the rules, the rules were broken.
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  So should that, you know, I mean, what?
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  And we could talk about Pete Rose, you know, should Pete Rose
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  be in the Hall of Fame? More hits than anybody in the in
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  the history of the game. That's a tough question.
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  I didn't. Want I didn't want it to stick
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  to your board over there. Okay, I'm just, I'm a very open
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  guy and when you watch this show, I'm a pretty
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  straightforward person and I love that you're on and I
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  respect. We've had umpires on the show
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  and I've asked him questions and I've gone deeper into
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  conversations about this. And that's what bothers me
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  because Pete Rose should have been in the Hall of Fame a long
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  time ago. Let's be honest.
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  And now he's going to go into the Hall of Fame.
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  Now that he's dead, what does it matter if he's in the Hall of
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  Fame? He didn't get to get to
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  experience. This is one of the greatest
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  hitters in baseball, and this guy bet on baseball, So did Shay
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  Otani. Shay Ohtani did the same thing.
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  OK, but Shay Ohtani still in the major leagues.
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  Shay Ohtani is an international superstar.
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  Shay Ohtani has 70 millions of deferred money and making all
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  these great sponsors and advertisement deals that he's
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  getting on and off the baseball field.
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  Why is it allowed that now baseball is trying to protect
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  their players because they're trying to hide situations
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  because let's be honest, and I am.
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  I am being nothing but the honest I'm honest guy.
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  When if you're going to do it to 1, you do it to all.
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  Everybody should be prosecuted for what they did.
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  And I know what baseball is going to say.
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  Baseball loves to do this. They say, hey, you know what, I
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  got news for you. We did our investigation.
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  As a matter of fact, the FBI did an investigation in two weeks
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  after this has been going on for years.
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  And there were players on his team, his friends that were a
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  part of this whole scandal. But you know what, Shayo didn't
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  know anything about it. 20 something, $1,000,000, They
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  didn't know that was he's got 6 accountants.
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  How does he know anything about this?
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  Come on, come on. You know Mr. Phil, you know this
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  is a bunch of rubbish. You know that baseball is
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  protecting their international superstar, their breadwinner.
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  Am I right or wrong on this? Well, could you imagine having
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  so much money that you don't that you that you can't keep
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  track of what was it, $27 million?
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  Come on. You can have all the money in
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  the world. How can you not tell $27 million
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  is outside of your pocket? I could.
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  You could be the richest man in the world.
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  You're going to tell my you're going to tell me right now, Elon
• 11:41
  Musk doesn't know that there's $27 million outside of his
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  pocket. Come on, Phil.
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  We are. We're not stupid here.
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  I have bright eyes. I mean, I have brown eyes, not
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  bright eyes, but they're brown enough.
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  So I'm not trying to brownie, you know, brownie anybody.
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  I just like I like to throw them and hopefully it doesn't stick
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  on the wall like shit. But there there is stuff that
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  happens in baseball, happens in sports that people try to re
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  evaluate because, oh, he's our superstar, you know, and let's
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  let's push it to the side. No, let's not talk about this
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  anymore, which by the way, nobody has spoken about this
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  after everything was pushed to the side.
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  Not one thing has been been mentioned in the public eye
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  since then. Why?
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  Oh, I'm sorry. It's Shayo Itani, the Japanese
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  phenom. Everybody loves him.
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  He's such a nice guy. Oh, he's just been in two
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  scandals in the amount of two years.
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  But who cares? It's Shayo Itani.
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  Come on, Phil, give it to me. Well, I love you, man.
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  You look good, man. By the way, you look really,
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  really good. You should have never retired.
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  Not paid for an old man, right? No, you look good, man.
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  I think you look great. Well, thank you.
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  Thank you. It's Yeah.
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  You know, I think my secret was orange juice in the morning, red
• 12:54
  wine in the evening. And I think that might have
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  been, that might have helped. That might have been a big help.
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  Well, you know, and also taking a shower every day.
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  I hope so. Well, yeah, once in a while.
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  Well, there's people, you know, there's people.
• 13:07
  Sometimes I wonder, you know, the things that.
• 13:09
  It's funny, I meet a lot of athletes and I, I talk to a ton
• 13:14
  of athletes and, and when I meet them in person, they tell me
• 13:17
  some of them smell good, others smell interesting.
• 13:20
  And I'm like, what do you wear? And they're like, they're all
• 13:23
  happy. They're all, they're like, oh, I
• 13:24
  wear a mask or I wear this and I wear that.
• 13:27
  And I'm like some of the guys, I ask them what they wear is like,
• 13:29
  why do I smell? And I'm like, oh, no, you smell
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  pretty good. And I walk away and I go, damn,
• 13:34
  wait, did you take a shower yesterday?
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  Did you take a shower today? I mean, some of these athletes,
• 13:39
  they, they're, they're interesting fellows.
• 13:41
  But I, you know, it's I, I'm, when I, when I throw you
• 13:44
  curveballs on this show, I don't want you to get, I don't want
• 13:47
  you to feel out of place. I just, I want, I, I'm an honest
• 13:50
  guy and I, I look at things in a, in a very different way than
• 13:52
  a lot of these broadcasters. I think they beat around a Bush.
• 13:55
  They hide behind certain things and I think they're, they're
• 13:59
  unwatchable and unlistened to. And, and I can't listen to
• 14:02
  people that can't be honest and, and to me with baseball.
• 14:06
  And I'm not, I'm not the biggest Rob Manfred fan.
• 14:09
  I'm not, as a matter of fact, I can't stand the man.
• 14:12
  Everybody on the show would tell you, I, I think he's, he's hurt
• 14:15
  the game of baseball with these new rules, these just everything
• 14:20
  about this strike and, and why it's happening.
• 14:23
  I blame him for it. I, I think there's a lot of
• 14:25
  things that he could have cleaned up over the last two
• 14:28
  years where we can figure out why this has been going on with
• 14:31
  the Dodgers. And that's where I want to get
• 14:33
  out. And I just think he has some
• 14:34
  questions for you too. But is there a reason why Rod
• 14:39
  Manford has allowed the Dodgers to control baseball over the
• 14:43
  last couple of years? Because that's what they've been
• 14:46
  doing. They've been controlling the
• 14:47
  game of baseball by this deferred money crap.
• 14:50
  And everybody tells me all these athletes come on the show.
• 14:52
  Well, guess what, Errol, this has been on, This has been going
• 14:55
  on forever and, and nobody's doing it but the Dodgers.
• 14:58
  So have amphetamines and everybody was doing them in the
• 15:01
  50s and 60s. Isn't that cheating?
• 15:04
  So let's get back to it. Why is Rob Manford sitting there
• 15:09
  and sitting pretty and saying, well, they're they're doing
• 15:12
  everything right. Everything is is part of the
• 15:15
  rules of baseball. Well, these rules have not been
• 15:18
  attacked the way the Dodgers have attacked it.
• 15:20
  And then now the Dodgers are sitting here.
• 15:23
  They get Tucker in the offseason.
• 15:24
  It seems like they're on another run to win another World Series.
• 15:27
  And it makes you sick to your stomach.
• 15:29
  And everybody brings up, well, the Yankees did it.
• 15:31
  No, the Yankees never did this. This is ridiculous.
• 15:35
  That's a ridiculous statement. So you've been around baseball
• 15:38
  for a long time and you've been around different commissioners.
• 15:41
  Why is Rob Manford so clueless when it comes to the game of
• 15:45
  baseball? I don't have the answer to that
• 15:47
  question. I love you man, I love.
• 15:50
  It. I know that, you know, you're
• 15:53
  bringing up aspects of the game that that never even crossed my
• 15:56
  mind. You know, I, I, I'm recently
• 16:00
  retired. Before I retired, it was just a
• 16:02
  ball strike, safe out handling situations and keeping the game
• 16:06
  in check. And you know, that's what we
• 16:09
  did. Never ever looked at the game
• 16:13
  since I've been an umpire, minor league included.
• 16:16
  Never looked at the game through fans eyes.
• 16:20
  And you know, what I do know is regardless of what team, you
• 16:25
  know, any, any team, whatever roster they put together, they
• 16:29
  still have to go out and they have to play a lot of games.
• 16:32
  So things always happen. Guys always get hurt.
• 16:35
  And, you know, if you want to say, yeah, on paper, the Dodgers
• 16:38
  look like they should have a dynasty, let's you know, they're
• 16:42
  going to have to play the game and let's see where it lands.
• 16:46
  So I want to ask about the sticky substance situation that
• 16:49
  was going on the last few years in baseball.
• 16:50
  Obviously there've been other cases of it in the past, but
• 16:52
  even before the last five years with guys like Michael Pineda
• 16:55
  and some notable ones like that. But not sure as it was the big
• 16:58
  one starting in 2022 when they started to like tighten up on
• 17:00
  that whole situation. What are your thoughts to, as an
• 17:03
  umpire, like how they handled, how baseball has handled that
• 17:05
  type of situation with these pitchers?
• 17:08
  Well, it fell on us, right, as most new rules.
• 17:12
  You mentioned a lot of rule changes, certainly since I
• 17:15
  started and, and, and what does it do?
• 17:17
  It makes our job harder. It falls on us.
• 17:21
  And it then it was became our responsibility to check the
• 17:24
  pitchers randomly. You know, it, it, it didn't
• 17:28
  matter if we, you know, we, we were given the freedom to, to
• 17:30
  check the pitchers if they were coming on the field, walking off
• 17:33
  the field, you know, and, and that's what we did.
• 17:37
  And, and, you know, in the, there were a handful of guys
• 17:42
  that were caught and, you know, and it was just the, IT was, you
• 17:48
  know, they may have been doing it forever, you know, and I'm
• 17:51
  sure that they were before we started checking.
• 17:54
  And, and then, but I have to say the, IT seemed like it was the,
• 17:58
  the, the more seasoned and veteran guys that seem to have a
• 18:03
  little more stickiness on their hands.
• 18:05
  The younger guys, whenever I check the younger guy's hand
• 18:08
  coming out of the bullpen, they were, it was, it was like like
• 18:11
  touching a baby's hand. It was like clean as a whistle.
• 18:14
  So, you know, I guess it's just the way they're raised and, and,
• 18:17
  and the guys, you know, the older guys that that did get
• 18:20
  caught, you know, I, I get that. That was the culture when they,
• 18:25
  when they started and it was just, you know, it was, I guess
• 18:28
  innocently enough when they started saying, I just wanted
• 18:32
  looking to get a better grip. But you know, they track
• 18:35
  everything. So all of a sudden when you see
• 18:37
  a guy in his spin rate, you know, goes up significantly,
• 18:41
  then you have to wonder, you know, is it just for about the
• 18:43
  grip or is it something more? And I think it turned out to be
• 18:47
  something a little bit more and and they got pinched.
• 18:51
  So another big thing this year has been the the challenge
• 18:54
  system, this ABS system. They're experimenting with the
• 18:56
  spring training. I think the Brewers got caught
• 18:58
  with something like they tried to put a green card on their
• 19:00
  dugout. And Pat Murphy, he admitted he
• 19:03
  did something wrong, but he tried to bend the rules a little
• 19:06
  bit. Like, do you like that kind of
• 19:08
  thing for a player, whether it's a pitcher or catcher, to have
• 19:10
  that kind of control the challenge rather than just
• 19:12
  coming from the dugout? Or do you think it's going to be
• 19:14
  too much of A hassle for MLB? Yeah, No, I, I mean, if you
• 19:17
  know, we, we experimented with it, obviously they're doing it
• 19:20
  this this year during the season.
• 19:22
  We experimented with it during spring training last year.
• 19:25
  And the way it always, you know, was handed down that it had to
• 19:28
  be done instantly, immediately by only one of three people,
• 19:33
  pitcher, catcher to hitter and could not.
• 19:37
  And actually, you know, the directive was that if you heard
• 19:40
  it, you know, if it was delayed, you didn't accept it.
• 19:44
  If it, if, if something came out of the dugout in terms of
• 19:48
  challenge or don't, you know, challenge, we would not accept
• 19:52
  the challenge. So it had to be done, you know,
• 19:54
  instantly, No surprise. I, I, I didn't hear about that
• 19:58
  with, with the green card and all that.
• 20:00
  But am I surprised that they would try to cheat or try to
• 20:03
  circumvent the rule? No, I'm not, because they always
• 20:08
  will try to circumvent a rule. So I'm not surprised about that
• 20:13
  whatsoever. Is it going to change the game?
• 20:17
  I think what it's going to eventually do is bring in the
• 20:21
  full ABS and do away with the challenge system because I don't
• 20:26
  even know are they using the challenge system during the the
• 20:29
  WBC? I haven't seen it with that.
• 20:31
  Yet, no, I don't think they have used it.
• 20:33
  I haven't seen any of it. I haven't seen anybody
• 20:36
  challenging. So, yeah, I really haven't been
• 20:38
  watching, but I don't think that if you've been watching and if
• 20:42
  you haven't seen it, that probably means that they're not
• 20:44
  using it because somebody would have challenged.
• 20:46
  But I think that when the season comes on, I think that the teams
• 20:53
  will be much more selective about challenging because they
• 20:58
  don't want to be out of challenges if they really need
• 21:01
  it in the 8th or the 9th inning, you know, you have the tying run
• 21:03
  or go ahead run on second base in the bottom of the ninth, you
• 21:06
  don't want to be without challenges then.
• 21:09
  So I think that it's going to be a little more controlled and I'm
• 21:12
  sure that there's going to be particular hitters that they're
• 21:14
  going to say you are not allowed to challenge.
• 21:17
  We are talking a former 34 year MLB umpire, Phil Cuzzi.
• 21:21
  He's joining the show for the first time.
• 21:23
  Happy to have him on good looking man man I I I don't know
• 21:26
  why he retired. He should he should still maybe
• 21:29
  he'll come back. I I don't know I mean we've seen
• 21:31
  guys come back Michael Jordan came back so hey there's a lot
• 21:34
  of people that have come back hey Tiger Woods came back when
• 21:37
  everybody thought he was done. So Speaking of great players now
• 21:43
  we remember the Barry Bonds breaking the record.
• 21:45
  We remember Mark McGuire and and so so doing what they did, but
• 21:50
  Aaron Judge is always going to be looked at as the the guy that
• 21:53
  broke Rodger Maris's record. And a lot of people questioned
• 21:59
  the baseball world, especially the major leagues and Rob
• 22:03
  Manford on these quote UN quote Goldilocks bowls that we heard
• 22:09
  about. And I didn't understand it.
• 22:11
  A lot of people said, hey, baseball made these balls
• 22:14
  especially for Aaron Judge because they want him to break
• 22:16
  the record. They were absolutely out there
• 22:19
  trying and making sure that this man was the face of Rodger
• 22:24
  Maris's broken home run record, which he did it so
• 22:29
  sensationally. Now I don't know if you know
• 22:32
  this Aaron Aaron Judges rookie card, his one in one rookie card
• 22:40
  just sold, signed by him over $5,000,000.
• 22:43
  Did you hear about that? I did not, but I'm not
• 22:45
  surprised. Yes.
• 22:47
  You've watched this guy, and I don't know if you were part of
• 22:49
  these Goldilock balls. Have you ever put your hands on
• 22:53
  these Goldilock balls? Have you ever seen these
• 22:54
  Goldilock balls that everybody was talking about, that they
• 22:57
  were softer or tighter or just add more pop off the bat?
• 23:02
  What? What are they talking about?
• 23:03
  There's always these these theories, right?
• 23:06
  Whether they're true or not, I, I don't know.
• 23:09
  I can only say this, I, I, I handle a lot of balls during the
• 23:13
  course of a game. And I never said all this one
• 23:17
  feels different in any way. Looser, tighter, higher
• 23:20
  stitches. I, I've never, you know, I, I, I
• 23:23
  know that they go through a lot of baseballs.
• 23:26
  You know, I mean, how many, how many, dozens of balls that
• 23:31
  they're rubbing up before each game?
• 23:34
  But, you know, think about it, how, how if you were to, they
• 23:39
  have stats on everything, if you were to take a look at, at a
• 23:42
  baseball and think about, put an over under on it, how, how many
• 23:46
  pitches or hitters is the same ball in the game?
• 23:51
  I, I, whatever the number is, I would take the under because,
• 23:54
  you know, and, and, and, and some, you know, unless I saw
• 23:58
  that, that it was really scuffed or, or muddy or something like
• 24:02
  that, I kept it in the game. But I've seen some of my, my
• 24:05
  colleagues, you know, pit ball comes in, they change it every
• 24:09
  single time. I, I don't know why they did,
• 24:12
  but, but they do. But yeah, so, but back to your
• 24:16
  original question. I, I never felt anything
• 24:18
  different with, with the, with the, with the ball.
• 24:22
  So conspiracy theory, true or not, I, I, I don't know, you
• 24:27
  know, I, I know that you know, so why are they hitting more
• 24:31
  home runs? Is it because the players are,
• 24:33
  are, are stronger, they're in better shape?
• 24:36
  I don't know. And, and if, if, if they did
• 24:40
  have juiced up balls, then everyone should be hitting more
• 24:44
  home runs. And I guess in some ways
• 24:48
  everyone you know, second baseman's are hitting a lot of
• 24:50
  home runs now, I guess you know, so who knows.
• 24:53
  I'm going to throw a curveball at you.
• 24:54
  You said, well, everybody should be hitting home runs.
• 24:56
  So we've had guys on the show that have said steroids, going
• 25:01
  back to steroids. They said, well, if this guy
• 25:04
  Alex Rodriguez is hitting fifty home runs and he's winning
• 25:08
  MVP's, why are the other guys in the minor leagues not hitting
• 25:11
  home runs being MVPS of the minor leagues are coming up to
• 25:15
  the majors? Well, it it's not the steroids
• 25:18
  that's doing and it's the players and and to go back to
• 25:21
  balls and handling balls, which I handle 2:00 every single day.
• 25:24
  You know, if I'm just throwing a curveball there having fun as we
• 25:28
  always do on the show. The problem here, I think with
• 25:33
  professional baseball is you got to do 1.
• 25:36
  If you're going to do on to 1, you should do be you should be
• 25:38
  doing on to others. And that is the problem, I
• 25:42
  think. And I feel what is going on in
• 25:44
  baseball. I think baseball is going to
• 25:47
  grow even substantially like we've seen basketball has grown
• 25:51
  internationally and has become the second biggest sport in
• 25:54
  America when it comes to sales and advertising players and
• 25:58
  sponsorships. I mean, I think basketball
• 26:00
  players are easy to sponsor than any sport right now.
• 26:03
  They really are in football. They're bringing in all these
• 26:05
  big sponsors because of their, how many stadiums do they fill
• 26:08
  out and sell and, and how it's becoming internationally savvy
• 26:12
  and, and Roger Goodell has found a way to find a market
• 26:16
  internationally. The problem right now I think
• 26:19
  that is going on in baseball is they're superstars.
• 26:24
  And, and I'm talking about Aaron Judge and Shay Ohtani and
• 26:28
  Vladimir Guerrero and, and Juan Soto, all these guys, they're
• 26:34
  they stand for something internationally, nationally.
• 26:37
  But now players and and fans are looking at them and saying, OK,
• 26:41
  well, how many guys get up to the major leagues?
• 26:44
  I mean, there are more, you have more of a chance to play
• 26:47
  professional football or even professional basketball or even
• 26:50
  professional hockey now than you do in professional baseball.
• 26:53
  You got to go through the minor leagues.
• 26:55
  You got to go single A, AA, AAA and to the majors.
• 26:59
  And you know, all about this, you, you as a umpire, Mr. Cuzzi,
• 27:03
  you had to go up and, and you had to drive yourself to the,
• 27:06
  the big leagues. It wasn't, you didn't just jump
• 27:08
  right into the big leagues. You had to earn the right to get
• 27:11
  to the big leagues. Do you think that's the reason
• 27:13
  why a lot of these, you know, parents now more than ever, kind
• 27:20
  of tell their kids baseball's not the sport to go and play,
• 27:23
  that maybe you're better off going to play football or
• 27:26
  basketball because you have a better chance to make money and
• 27:29
  succeed as a professional athlete?
• 27:31
  Well, I mean, you know, the, the, the salaries have become
• 27:33
  astronomical in baseball as well.
• 27:36
  It may be just the top percentage of guys that are that
• 27:39
  are making that. But I mean, even the, you know,
• 27:42
  even the, you know, the, the average guy is still making a, a
• 27:47
  great salary. But you know, the interesting
• 27:49
  thing to me is when you think about even like, you know,
• 27:53
  parents who are raising kids that are playing baseball,
• 27:57
  everyone has to go to a camp, everyone has to take hitting
• 28:00
  lessons. You know, it was just friends of
• 28:03
  ours. They they were, they were again,
• 28:06
  I'm from Jersey, right? They're in Florida playing in a
• 28:10
  tournament. You know, some kind of it's
• 28:12
  always like these traveling tournaments.
• 28:13
  It's, it's a money maker for somebody and it's costing the
• 28:16
  parents a lot of money to think that, you know, their kid is
• 28:20
  going to be the next Aaron Judge, the next Derek Jeter, you
• 28:23
  know, and, and it's, you know, it's good for, for me, what, you
• 28:26
  know, when I was growing up, it was not to sound like an old
• 28:29
  man, but, but here I go, You know, an away game for me was
• 28:34
  instead of the playground at the top of my street, it was like 3
• 28:37
  blocks away. That was an away game.
• 28:39
  Now these parents are going, you know, across the country for
• 28:42
  tournaments and they feel as though if they don't do it,
• 28:45
  they're not a lot. Their, their kid is not going to
• 28:47
  compete with, with, you know, with the, with the talent.
• 28:50
  So, you know, it's crazy, but you know, I, I don't know if,
• 28:55
  if, if, if parents are steering their kids. 100% are, and I'll
• 29:00
  tell you why. Mr. Cousy and I'm around a lot
• 29:04
  of young kids. We we work with a lot of young
• 29:07
  kids. We're actually building a
• 29:09
  program right now called the Long Island Mouth.
• 29:11
  We're going to be working with high school kids and helping
• 29:13
  them get NIL deals and all that other stuff.
• 29:15
  And I think the big problem right now, and a lot of great
• 29:19
  things that are happening, I've been preaching this for a very,
• 29:21
  very long time, that kids should be making money off their own
• 29:24
  names, not the colleges. I've been a supporter for this
• 29:27
  for a long time. The problem now is, is that
• 29:31
  there are kids now making, they're thirteen years old, 14
• 29:34
  years old and they got a huge following.
• 29:37
  They post up all over social media and these nil companies
• 29:40
  are saying, listen, this guy's going to be a star.
• 29:42
  Let's give him $7000 and let him sit on $7000 a month.
• 29:47
  We could promote through them. They can post things and and
• 29:51
  these kids are going to see money that they've never seen
• 29:52
  before. And now the parents see it and
• 29:54
  they're like, we can, we can make a living off this guy.
• 29:57
  Let's push this kid. Let's do what we got to do.
• 30:00
  And, and the problem with me right now with parents and, and
• 30:03
  I hope the parents are listening to this because I'm going to be
• 30:06
  honest and I always am on this show because I'm a crazy SOB.
• 30:10
  Is it's it the parents are not showing the love for the, the
• 30:15
  athlete. They're not showing the love and
• 30:17
  the conditioning and the push. They're, they're just pretty
• 30:21
  much telling the kid, listen, you're going to play sports
• 30:23
  because you're good at it. And we're going to, we're going
• 30:26
  to educate you and we're going to bring you to the forefront
• 30:28
  and you're going to support your family.
• 30:31
  And look how much pressure these kids are, are going to have when
• 30:35
  they hit that age mark when they're 16 and 17 and they know
• 30:39
  that their parents are relying on them to become a professional
• 30:42
  athlete. And that is, is a big problem
• 30:45
  right now here in America because I was a fan of sports
• 30:48
  and a person that was a pretty good athlete.
• 30:51
  I was a really good athlete. And a lot of people make jokes
• 30:53
  and I'm like, I'm like, yeah, you know, you hurt yourself and,
• 30:56
  and you wonder, well, where could my career have gone?
• 30:58
  And, but I never had NIL deals. I mean, I'm, I'm a younger than
• 31:03
  you, but I'm not, I mean, I'm 43 years old.
• 31:05
  So I, I, I all the things that I could imagine and dream for.
• 31:08
  I, I'm never, I'm never will ever see that.
• 31:11
  But now these kids that are like 1718 years old, they're getting
• 31:14
  NIL deals. Some of them are getting
• 31:15
  millions and millions of dollars before they step on a college
• 31:19
  football field or a college basketball field, a basketball
• 31:22
  court. And here's the problem.
• 31:24
  You mentioned something that I'm going to go back and and and
• 31:27
  flip it on you. Did you know that the 13th and
• 31:31
  14th player in an NBA team is making more than a bench player
• 31:37
  right now in the major leagues? No, I did not know that.
• 31:41
  But but I'm not surprised. Look at look at the salaries of
• 31:44
  of like a backup quarterback. A backup quarterback in the NFL
• 31:48
  is a millionaire. And you know, I mean, God bless
• 31:52
  them. You know, the, the, the league,
• 31:54
  the teams have to be making the money if they're paying these
• 31:57
  guys that kind of money. It's and I again, for all the
• 32:01
  fans out there, all the kids, all the fans down on Spotify and
• 32:04
  we're, I want to give a shout out to all the fans that are
• 32:06
  tuned in and listen to us and download our show and being
• 32:10
  being where we are and all the work that we put into it.
• 32:12
  We really appreciate we're a top 100 show in the country.
• 32:16
  And it's something that, you know, you put a lot of work and
• 32:18
  dedication into the the product that we do.
• 32:21
  I, I say this, everybody thinks they can do this.
• 32:24
  Everybody thinks they can go on a mic.
• 32:26
  Everybody thinks they can play professional baseball.
• 32:28
  Everybody thinks, oh, I can, I can do that.
• 32:29
  I can, I can jam the ball, I can beat Kobe Bryant.
• 32:33
  I watched, I watched the the Oscars last night and Mike,
• 32:37
  Michael B Jordan won Oscar of the year.
• 32:40
  He won, he won best male, best man, you know, and everybody was
• 32:45
  so excited. He's from Newark, he's from New
• 32:47
  Jersey. And they today they went to the
• 32:51
  school that he went, he graduated from his high school
• 32:53
  that he graduated from all arts and everything like that.
• 32:55
  And they interviewed all these kids and they're like, if he
• 32:58
  could do it, I could do it and all this other stuff.
• 33:00
  And I'm listening and it's great.
• 33:02
  It's great for the kids to believe that.
• 33:04
  But this is the real world here. There's only one Michael B
• 33:07
  Jordan. There's only one Michael Jordan,
• 33:09
  there's one Larry Bird, there's one Aaron Judge, there's one
• 33:12
  Juan Soto, there's one Mickey Mantle, there's one Babe Ruth,
• 33:15
  there's one Hank Aaron. So my point here is the problem
• 33:20
  right now in the world is when you see somebody successful and
• 33:26
  and the guy is going to go out there and preach, you can be me,
• 33:29
  you can do this. That's that's great.
• 33:31
  That's really, really great for sports.
• 33:33
  It's really, really great for anything that you do in the
• 33:35
  entertainment world. The only problem I have with it
• 33:38
  is what happens when that's not true.
• 33:42
  What happens if that doesn't happen and your parents are
• 33:45
  pushing you because they're making you believe that.
• 33:48
  They're telling you, hey, you could be that you got to work
• 33:51
  hard. You got to go out there and
• 33:52
  play. Shoot 503 pointers every single
• 33:55
  day like Kobe did, or you want to be Steph Curry.
• 33:58
  Well, Steph Curry shot 303 pointers every single morning
• 34:02
  and every single night you do that, you're going to be the
• 34:04
  next Steph Curry. It's not true.
• 34:06
  It's not true, right or wrong. Well, yeah, you know, and I talk
• 34:10
  to kids a lot. I, I have the opportunity to to
• 34:13
  talk to kids, school kids and, and all that.
• 34:15
  And, and I don't say to them, you know, you, you could, you
• 34:19
  could, you know, you could be me or you can be Hank, you could be
• 34:23
  Aaron Judge, You know, I, I don't say that.
• 34:25
  What I do tell them is I, I tell them to set their by their bar
• 34:29
  high and just keep jumping and don't let anyone tell you that
• 34:33
  you can't do it. Because, you know, if I would
• 34:36
  have listened to the supposed experts who, who, who said that
• 34:41
  I would never make it. I wouldn't have just retired
• 34:44
  with a, with a, you know, 27 year career from the, from the
• 34:47
  major leagues, pinnacle of, of, of you know what I attempted to
• 34:52
  do. So I, I don't tell them, you
• 34:56
  know, that they're going to be the next, you know, like I say,
• 34:58
  you talk to a kid on a baseball field and, and he wants to be
• 35:01
  the next Aaron Judge. I don't tell him he's that he
• 35:04
  can be the next Aaron Judge, But I tell him to, if, if that's
• 35:06
  what his dream is, you know, go for it, of course, and just keep
• 35:10
  jumping, you know, and you know, the expression that I use
• 35:13
  sometimes is, you know, if you're not really sure, take,
• 35:16
  pretend you're in the backyard and you're, you got to walled in
• 35:19
  in yard and, and throw your hat over the wall and then just go
• 35:22
  figure out how you're going to go and get it.
• 35:24
  And, and as long as you're going to do something like that, you,
• 35:28
  you may not end up in on a Major League field, but you may do
• 35:31
  something that's going to fight. You know, I tell them to follow
• 35:33
  their pet, follow their dreams. I tell them to dream, follow
• 35:36
  their dream because their dream is going to bring them to their
• 35:38
  passion. Well, it's.
• 35:40
  It's so funny you say that because my, we, I had five
• 35:44
  really close friends as a kid and we all had dreams.
• 35:47
  Our dreams were really unique. And you're going to love this
• 35:49
  one. One of my friends, my friend
• 35:52
  Jimmy, my friend Sal, my friend Paul, my friend Evan and me, we
• 35:57
  were we were all a clan and, and the one we all had a dream.
• 36:01
  I wanted to be a professional hockey player.
• 36:03
  Jamie wanted to own his own business and be a millionaire.
• 36:06
  And Sal wanted to be his own boss and, and, and buy a big
• 36:10
  beautiful house. And Evan wanted to be a computer
• 36:13
  engineer and, and, and Jimmy wanted to be a porno star.
• 36:18
  That's, that's what he wanted to be.
• 36:19
  He wanted to be a porno star. He was like, why do you want to
• 36:21
  be a porn star? Come on, those guys are rocks
• 36:23
  and they, they get whatever they want.
• 36:25
  They can go wherever they want, do whatever they want and love
• 36:28
  whatever they want. And I'm like, all right, so how,
• 36:31
  what are the chances of you becoming a porno star?
• 36:33
  He says, wow, there's there's a lot more of a chance by, you
• 36:37
  know, look at look at the magazines, look at the pornos
• 36:39
  and stuff like that. I was like, I'm like, dude,
• 36:42
  there's how many guys in those porno videos?
• 36:45
  I mean that's like 8 guys going jumping from one one video to
• 36:50
  another. And I said the chances you
• 36:51
  becoming a porno star. He says, you watch, I'm going to
• 36:53
  be a porno star. So the funny story here is, and
• 36:56
  why I'm bringing this up is I just bumped into my friend Jimmy
• 37:00
  recently and we had a conversation and I actually
• 37:04
  brought this story up to him and it's really, really funny.
• 37:06
  And I said, well, what are you doing now?
• 37:08
  I haven't spoken to you in a long time.
• 37:10
  Well, he says it's, it's a good question.
• 37:12
  But you know, couple of years ago I was, you know, I was in
• 37:16
  Texas and I, you know, I was doing some, you know, I was
• 37:19
  trying to get into that, that market, what we were talking
• 37:22
  about. And I said, well, how did it go?
• 37:23
  And he says, well, I wasn't big enough.
• 37:29
  That's what he told me. And I was like, I laughed at it.
• 37:32
  I said, well, how did they know? And he said, well, you know, it
• 37:35
  got when you go into these meetings and you meet the
• 37:38
  directors and the producers, they tell you the first thing
• 37:41
  they tell you to do is drop them.
• 37:43
  And he said, and the first thing they said is like, you're not
• 37:47
  fit to do this. So, so The funny thing is, and I
• 37:53
  bring this story is he went for his dream, but he struck out.
• 37:56
  You know, it was like, you know, it was right there.
• 37:59
  You're over, man. You got to walk.
• 38:01
  And that to me. And I make a joke about it
• 38:03
  because you can, you should go for your dream.
• 38:06
  You should believe that you can, you can get to that highest
• 38:08
  point in your career and, and go and stride.
• 38:11
  And I, I want to be the next Phil Cuzzi.
• 38:13
  I want to be the next, you know, I'm not going to tell you, Mr.
• 38:17
  Dennehy, but I don't want to do that.
• 38:18
  But you know, the fact here is I want to be at the top level of
• 38:22
  what I do. I want to be the best
• 38:23
  broadcaster in the world. I want to be the best.
• 38:25
  I want to be considered the number one broadcaster in the
• 38:28
  country to compete against the best.
• 38:30
  Well, how do you do that? You got to work your ass off, no
• 38:32
  doubt, but you got to get some luck too.
• 38:34
  There's there's things that have to fall together for you to get
• 38:37
  to that point. That's what I tell the kids.
• 38:40
  I don't believe in luck. I believe being in the right
• 38:43
  place at the right time, speaking to the right people and
• 38:46
  understanding your business and understanding how you can drive
• 38:51
  who you are to the people that have the power to take you to
• 38:55
  the next level. And I think, I think with you,
• 38:59
  Phil, I, I'm getting to know you and you're probably saying this
• 39:02
  is one of the craziest interviews I've ever been on
• 39:04
  and, and probably saying, wow, this guy is unique, but crazy
• 39:10
  and probably nuts, but I'm not. The point is that you said that
• 39:14
  that you wanted to play in the NHL.
• 39:16
  Yes. OK, so for whatever the reason,
• 39:18
  you didn't get to the NFL, but yet you still have the
• 39:22
  perseverance to do something at at a level at a high level and
• 39:27
  here you are. I mean, you know, you you want
• 39:29
  to be a broadcaster. Well, you are broadcaster Where
• 39:32
  where, where this podcast takes you.
• 39:35
  Nobody knows yet. You know, you might have an idea
• 39:37
  where you want it to go, but I I still think it's that drive that
• 39:42
  that didn't you know, you had the drive to say I want to play
• 39:45
  in the NF NHL, But you know, you didn't, you didn't, you know, go
• 39:50
  home with your tail between your legs and and and you became a,
• 39:55
  you know, video, you know, play video games in your parents
• 39:58
  basement. You know I.
• 39:59
  Don't do that. So I, I think the idea to tell
• 40:02
  the kids is to, you know, you got to have perseverance,
• 40:04
  whatever it is that you want to do.
• 40:06
  And yeah, and, and, and dream, but that doesn't mean just
• 40:10
  because you have a dream that you're going to reach that
• 40:13
  dream. But you know, but again, it's,
• 40:16
  it's a, it's a matter of that, you know, if if if you follow,
• 40:19
  you follow your dream, follow, you know, it's going to lead you
• 40:22
  to something else. And you say you don't believe in
• 40:24
  luck. My my father used to say the
• 40:26
  harder you work, the more lucky you will become.
• 40:29
  Interesting, that's a good take, I like it last.
• 40:32
  Question. Just remember where you got it.
• 40:34
  Well, I remember where my socks come from, I remember where my
• 40:38
  underwear comes from, and I don't remember where my brain
• 40:40
  came from. But hey, when people ask me who
• 40:43
  my father is and may rest in peace, I love you dad.
• 40:45
  But my father told me one thing. You're the one of the most
• 40:49
  charismatic and personal people you can ever talk to.
• 40:54
  And my father always told me that you have a gift and, and,
• 40:59
  and be able to interact with people and conversate with
• 41:01
  people and drive people to you. And that was something that I
• 41:06
  learned over the years for people hating me because I was
• 41:09
  one of the loudest, most derogatory people on the ice.
• 41:14
  And the only reason why I didn't make it is because of injury.
• 41:18
  But I, I, I, again, you could go back and argue anything that I
• 41:24
  did in my lifetime. I, I don't regret any of it.
• 41:27
  I just want to better myself and my guys that are here on the
• 41:32
  show working their asses off as well as you, Mr. Koozie.
• 41:35
  I, I, I think what's so interesting about people that we
• 41:40
  interview and, and people that we get to know and, and, and
• 41:44
  people that have succeeded into their careers and at a high
• 41:47
  level and to see what they've done over the years and just
• 41:51
  conversate with them and, and just build a relationship with
• 41:54
  them. It is, is pretty amazing.
• 41:57
  And my question for you, my final question for you is,
• 42:01
  you've been in the game for such a long time.
• 42:04
  What is the, the most important part of your career?
• 42:09
  That what, what was the thing that really, when you're done
• 42:13
  with your well, obviously you're done with your career.
• 42:15
  When you walk away 30 years from now and your grandchildren sit
• 42:18
  with you and say grandpa, grandpa, great grandpa, you
• 42:21
  know, what was the, the, the, the thing that really stuck out
• 42:25
  to you as a professional umpire? What was the game that stuck out
• 42:28
  to you? What was the thing that made you
• 42:30
  remember your time in the MLB? What would that be?
• 42:34
  Well, you know, if you talk about the highlights, you know,
• 42:36
  my, my first game in the big leagues as a call up umpire
• 42:40
  working in a World Series game was certainly one of the, you
• 42:43
  know, one of the greatest highlights.
• 42:46
  But you know, the, the thing to remember that I remember about
• 42:50
  this job is, you know, just having to do it every single
• 42:56
  night. You know, we we, we, we get time
• 42:58
  off during the season, but we still work, you know, somewhere
• 43:01
  around 120 something games. And it doesn't mean that you
• 43:05
  have, you know, every Tuesday off, you know, and, and, and so,
• 43:09
  you know, sometimes it's it's just a question of, you know,
• 43:12
  you have a night game in, in, you know, pick a city and then
• 43:15
  you have a six O clock flight the next morning to get into the
• 43:18
  following city. You know, by noon, you hope and,
• 43:22
  you know, just be ready to work that night.
• 43:24
  And people don't realize that the travel, that the grind that
• 43:27
  it is. And, and that's the difference.
• 43:30
  You know, you could have great college umpires, great high
• 43:35
  school umpires, but it's, there's a difference if you have
• 43:38
  to do it every single night at that level.
• 43:41
  And that's, that's the, that's what makes the difference.
• 43:44
  Well, Phil, you are fantastic. And I just want to let you know,
• 43:50
  everything that we, we talk about on this show, I want you
• 43:53
  to realize that when we get people on the show, we want them
• 43:56
  to know that this isn't the same interview that they're going to
• 43:59
  have. The questions that we ask are
• 44:00
  different. And we, we want to open the
• 44:03
  guest up and, and realize that we're, we're, we want you to
• 44:07
  feel like you're at home and, and hanging out with the boys
• 44:10
  and not feeling like, oh, we're going to tear this guy's head
• 44:12
  off or, or we're going to ask him the same boring, dumb
• 44:16
  question questions he gets asked on every single podcast.
• 44:20
  So that's one of the reasons why when Niffen told me, we're going
• 44:23
  to get you on the show. And Niffen, shout out to Niff
• 44:26
  for getting you on the show, the work that he puts in and, and,
• 44:31
  and all the back end stuff that he does for getting us the
• 44:34
  guests that we get and just all the the different personalities
• 44:38
  that we found on the show over the over the years.
• 44:41
  The the most interesting thing I can say about umpires and
• 44:44
  writers and people on the back end that don't really get enough
• 44:48
  there he is lithomania, as we call it.
• 44:52
  Thank you, Fish. But all the different guests
• 44:55
  that we found on the show, the guests that really stick out to
• 44:58
  me from all the rest are the guys behind the scenes, the guys
• 45:02
  that don't get enough credit for the work that they do and in the
• 45:05
  years that they put in. And that goes for umpires,
• 45:07
  referees, coaches, assistants, executives, GMs that just don't
• 45:15
  get enough credit for the work they put in.
• 45:17
  They, they always goes to the players.
• 45:19
  It always goes to the athlete. So congratulations on such a
• 45:24
  great long career. And we would love to get you on
• 45:27
  the show again and, and keep up the good work with the kids.
• 45:31
  And maybe we'll get you out here in Long Island to talk to some
• 45:33
  of the kids, some of some of the young baseball players and some
• 45:36
  of the young athletes that would maybe want to be an umpire in
• 45:39
  the future or, you know, a referee in the future in their
• 45:43
  respectable sports. So my question is to you, do all
• 45:47
  the bad boys from Long Island get shipped to Brooklyn?
• 45:51
  That's a good question. I think I'm one of very few
• 45:54
  because a lot of these a lot of these Long Island boys, they
• 45:59
  they're they pretend to be tough.
• 46:00
  They they walk around. Oh I live in Bayshore
• 46:03
  centralized slip Shirley Mastic Beach.
• 46:06
  And you live in the foot or the armpit of Long Island.
• 46:10
  Yeah, we know. Or why dance as a lot of the
• 46:13
  rappers come from. No, I I don't I I think my
• 46:17
  parents were very strict with me.
• 46:20
  I wasn't what you call a person that would listen to my parents
• 46:26
  when they told me to come in, they told me they rather me stay
• 46:28
  out because I was, you know, I was, I wouldn't say I was a bad
• 46:32
  boy, but I was a guy that I didn't, I didn't like to be told
• 46:37
  what to do. And when I realized as I got
• 46:40
  older, when I was in my young teens, when I was 1314 and my
• 46:44
  parents said, OK, we're sending you off.
• 46:45
  You can't handle, you can't handle the highs of the middle
• 46:48
  schools out here. You can't handle, you know,
• 46:50
  staying out of trouble. And I wasn't drugs, by the way,
• 46:53
  because I was an athlete. I would never touch any of that
• 46:54
  stuff. It was just my hands.
• 46:56
  I just like to throw hands and I could care less what anybody
• 47:00
  said to me. When my parents sent me over
• 47:03
  there, I realized that I could be the toughest kid in a town,
• 47:08
  toughest kid in a school. But when you go out to a place
• 47:11
  that they're a bunch of tough guys, you are a little pee in a
• 47:16
  big pond and you're, you're just, you're nothing.
• 47:21
  And no, I don't believe a lot of bad boys go to Brooklyn and ship
• 47:24
  them out to Brooklyn. But I've heard stories and I've
• 47:27
  heard success stories and I've heard bad stories.
• 47:29
  But I have been one of those guys that I can, I'm not going
• 47:32
  to pat myself on the back because I really don't want to
• 47:35
  do that. But I've changed a lot in my
• 47:37
  lifetime. Anybody that's known me or
• 47:40
  actually knows me as a kid will tell you that I have been.
• 47:44
  I've done a whole like 360 from what I could have been and
• 47:49
  that's because of sports. I think sports and competitive
• 47:53
  nature and me trying to be just a different person.
• 47:58
  I thought that being a different person can change my way of
• 48:03
  thinking. That has changed me as a man,
• 48:05
  that's changed me as a personality, that's changed me
• 48:08
  as a broadcaster. So yeah, I think that's a good
• 48:11
  question, Phil. Nobody's asked me that question
• 48:13
  and well, let me. Let me ask you another one.
• 48:15
  You talk about your passion of throwing hands.
• 48:17
  I would think boxing might have. I did.
• 48:20
  I boxed. I boxed.
• 48:21
  I boxed for seven years. I was an undefeated amateur
• 48:23
  fighter. I, I won 21 fights.
• 48:26
  I drawed one. I I also was a mixed martial
• 48:29
  artist. I tried that for about a few
• 48:32
  years. One is in a bunch of ring of
• 48:34
  combat fights. But I'll, I'll tell you the last
• 48:38
  time I ever stepped foot in an Octagon, it was when I was
• 48:42
  playing in a ring. I was fighting in a ring of
• 48:44
  combat fight and I was against the the fence and I was trying
• 48:50
  to wrap my body and trying to structure my body, spread my
• 48:53
  legs out so he couldn't take me up and flip me over.
• 48:56
  And he took to me. He took me and he took me over
• 48:59
  and dropped me on my neck and I woke up in like 3 seconds with
• 49:05
  him on top of me pounding me. I got out of it.
• 49:08
  I winded up winning the fight but not without having a
• 49:11
  contusion on over my left eye which shut my left eye and it
• 49:17
  took me 3 months to get my eye. I thought I'd pop my eye socket
• 49:21
  when it happened. It was the worst feeling in the
• 49:23
  world. I had a concussion, definitely
• 49:24
  did. But after that I said you know
• 49:27
  what? I I was done with this.
• 49:28
  I, you know, my mom always said I was too pretty for that.
• 49:31
  But you know it's, you know, it happens, you know.
• 49:34
  For mom, say that. Yeah, I think they do.
• 49:36
  I think my mom's just trying to blow my head up, you know what I
• 49:41
  mean? But we appreciate you, man, and
• 49:44
  great career. We'd love to hear it.
• 49:46
  Is the bad boy just go to Brooklyn?
• 49:51
  First of all, first of all, I never, I never smoke a cigar
• 49:55
  just for all the fans to see this picture right now.
• 49:57
  I do not smoke cigars, so that is a lie.
• 50:01
  But hey, listen. Did you find Swimoni Gardens in
• 50:05
  Brooklyn? Oh yes, I have.
• 50:08
  Yes, I have. Yes, yes, I'll tell you this.
• 50:11
  Brooklyn has some of the best restaurants in the world in the
• 50:14
  world and some of the best bakeries in the world.
• 50:18
  If you've ever been to Brooklyn. So if you've never been there
• 50:22
  any of the fans around the country that's listening to the
• 50:24
  show right now, you got to come out to New York, stop with the
• 50:26
  Manhattan crap or all the other stuff.
• 50:29
  We wouldn't go to Manhattan and see the the world where it was
• 50:32
  in the the Empire State Building, you know, and I want
• 50:35
  it. You want to come out, you want
• 50:37
  to come out to places like Long Island, check the wineries if
• 50:39
  you're you're a wine drinker at the beaches here in Long Island
• 50:43
  or even Brooklyn, the food and even here in Long Island, some
• 50:45
  of the the great different seafood places and steakhouses
• 50:50
  that we have here. There's a lot to see here in New
• 50:52
  York. Some of the things it's so
• 50:54
  funny. I I talked to a lot of
• 50:55
  professional baseball players. We built a lot of good
• 50:57
  relationships over the years. One of them is Nick Goody.
• 51:00
  Nick Good. He's been on a show and great,
• 51:02
  great, great guy. And Nick, Nick tells me, oh,
• 51:05
  I've been to Long Island. I I played for the ducks and I
• 51:07
  was like, that's not Long Island.
• 51:08
  That's central Islip, that's garbage.
• 51:11
  OK. And he's like, well, that's Long
• 51:13
  Island. I was like, no, that's not Long
• 51:14
  Island. And that's the armpit of Long
• 51:16
  Island. Please.
• 51:17
  So he doesn't know what good food is here in Long Island.
• 51:20
  He doesn't know what a good places to go so that it doesn't
• 51:24
  it doesn't work in his favor as far as I'm concerned.
• 51:27
  But again, Phil, we love you. Let's get you on the show again.
• 51:30
  We'd love to get you on the show again and keep up the good work.
• 51:34
  Keep talking to those kids and being who you are, man.
• 51:36
  Great career. Let's give them a golf clap,
• 51:38
  boys. Let's give them a golf clap.
• 51:41
  Let's give them a golf clap. Thank you very much.
• 51:44
  I enjoyed it and keep doing what you guys are doing.
• 51:48
  Thank you. Thank you, Phil.
• 51:50
  Phil Cousy, ladies and gentlemen, a fantastic
• 51:53
  personality, knows his baseball had a great long career and now
• 51:57
  he's going to enjoy the relief life the the life of hanging out
• 52:02
  with the kids and the grandchildren and just watching
• 52:05
  baseball on television. That's that's the way to go,
• 52:07
  man. There he is.
• 52:08
  There is the good stir. You know what's so funny?
• 52:12
  I, I, every time I talk to Goody and, and I love him.
• 52:15
  He's one of, he's become one of my good friends and I have
• 52:18
  conversations with him off air. The funny thing about Nick Goody
• 52:22
  is he always beats around the Bush.
• 52:25
  Everything he says, everything he imagines things to be so
• 52:31
  great. It's like a fairy tale with him.
• 52:33
  Oh, it's beautiful. Everything's beautiful.
• 52:35
  Oh, it was beautiful. It, it was great.
• 52:37
  This the only time he can't stand it is the weather.
• 52:40
  And when the weather is cold and, and, and wherever he's
• 52:43
  from, Orlando, Tampa, wherever he's at, he, he hates it.
• 52:47
  But everything else, dude, it's 80° and he's under a big friggin
• 52:51
  blanket. 80° that's cold to him. Please.
• 52:56
  Anyways, that was a great interview.
• 53:00
  I was trying to get a lot out of Mr. Phil.
• 53:03
  I understand why he didn't want to answer some of the questions
• 53:06
  that I asked him, and I respect that I do.
• 53:09
  I respect. What?
• 53:10
  What are you laughing at? You're like, so you know, Rob
• 53:15
  Manfred's a huge asshole. Tell me about how huge of an
• 53:18
  asshole he is. Well, I was trying to be honest.
• 53:22
  I mean, I mean you I, when I watch sports and I follow
• 53:28
  sports, I, I just, I, I let it go and I let it flow.
• 53:34
  So I. I was dying.
• 53:35
  I'm not going to lie, I was dying.
• 53:37
  I know a lot of people die when when I interview people because
• 53:40
  they think I'm outlandishly crazy and a little out there.
• 53:44
  But I I let it stick and I want people to Remember Me.
• 53:48
  I don't want people to say, oh, that's he Errol.
• 53:50
  He's just like, he's like everybody else.
• 53:53
  No, I don't want him to think that.
• 53:54
  I want him to say, you know, that arrow marks that.
• 53:56
  That guy's got some personality. That guy is crazy.
• 53:59
  He will go out on a limb and throw anybody under the bus and
• 54:03
  he won't be afraid to do it. So, and that's what I do on this
• 54:06
  show and I want everybody to understand that about me.
• 54:09
  If you think for one second, I'm going to kiss anybody's ass and
• 54:13
  I'm going to go out there and just, I don't care what anybody
• 54:16
  says on me about me on social media and attack me on YouTube
• 54:21
  or my Reddits or my stories. I really don't give a, you know
• 54:26
  what? I could care less what you
• 54:28
  think. But guess what?
• 54:30
  I love when you have something to say because I'm going to say
• 54:32
  it back to you. So anyways, the Mariners are
• 54:36
  betting favorites to win the American League West at plus
• 54:40
  130, followed by the Astros at plus 225 and the Rangers at plus
• 54:48
  350. Seattle resigned Josh Naylor and
• 54:52
  traded for utility a player, Brandon Donovan from the
• 54:57
  Cardinals to replace Jorge Polanco, who signed with the
• 55:01
  Mets. The Astros had a pretty quiet
• 55:04
  off season, signing Japanese pitcher Emme or Imai or whatever
• 55:08
  his name is, but also lost ace pitcher Framba Valdez.
• 55:15
  The Rangers lost a couple of starting pitchers but also
• 55:19
  traded for Nationals lefty Mackenzie Gore and also traded
• 55:22
  for Marcus Simeon for Brandon Nimmo for from the Mets.
• 55:27
  The Dodgers are heavy favourites to win the National League West
• 55:31
  at a -, 600. I wonder why?
• 55:34
  While the Padres are plus 750 and both the Giants in
• 55:40
  Diamondbacks are plus 2200. The Diamondbacks brought back
• 55:44
  starting pitcher Merrill Kelly and Zach Gallon and and made a
• 55:50
  trade for Nolan Arenado and also signed Carlos Santana.
• 55:55
  The Giants signed starter Tyler Malley, outfielder Harrison
• 56:00
  Bader and 2nd baseman Luis Arise.
• 56:04
  The Padres re sign Michael King but lost many pieces including
• 56:09
  Dylan Sees, Robert Suarez and Luis Arise.
• 56:15
  The Dodgers spent big as always, making Edwin Diaz the highest
• 56:19
  paid reliever and signing Kyle Tuck to a big deal worth about
• 56:24
  60 million per year, year. Well, not surprised.
• 56:28
  Everybody has the Dodgers as favorites.
• 56:31
  I mean the deferred Dodgers as we call them, the DDS as I can't
• 56:36
  stand and listen, I'm not going to take shots at Kyle Tucker.
• 56:40
  He took he took the money and he went there because he has a way
• 56:45
  out of the in in somewhere in the near future in the next two
• 56:49
  or three years. He can request out of that he
• 56:53
  can has a player option to leave.
• 56:55
  So I'm not surprised. Edwin Diaz going to the Dodgers.
• 56:58
  I mean that it was the probably the biggest steal in the
• 57:01
  offseason because the weakness of the Dodgers was their relief
• 57:05
  pitching and now they have the best relief pitcher in baseball.
• 57:08
  So very, very nice. It's wonderful to see the
• 57:11
  Dodgers just completely slam dunk the offseason.
• 57:15
  But the team that I think is going to drive in this division
• 57:22
  this year and you know, a lot of people don't have them as
• 57:24
  favorites and betting favorites. And I, I think it's going to be
• 57:29
  the Diamondbacks. I think the Diamondbacks have a
• 57:32
  good young roster and I know they're a + 2200 and the Giants
• 57:36
  are a + 2022 hundred. And the Giants are rebuilding
• 57:40
  and they're nobody wants to play there.
• 57:42
  Aaron Judge had a chance to go to San Francisco.
• 57:44
  He had no interest in going over there.
• 57:46
  I think their GM or the executive, one of the executive
• 57:52
  executives of the year last year was Buster Posey.
• 57:54
  I think he's a great executive. He knows the game as good as
• 57:57
  anybody does. One of the great catchers of
• 58:00
  this era and of this time. So I like Buster.
• 58:03
  I think he's going to rebuild that team.
• 58:04
  He's been a part of that organization for a very, very
• 58:07
  long time. But I like the Diamondbacks.
• 58:10
  I like the fact that they they brought back starter Meryl
• 58:15
  Kelly, Zach Gallon and obviously Nolan Arenado adds a little bit
• 58:20
  more depth to their roster and also gives them a leader, a
• 58:25
  veteran leader. And Carlos Santana, I mean, he's
• 58:28
  been a journeyman. We've seen him all different
• 58:30
  places. We've seen him with the
• 58:31
  Guardians, he's jumped and all different places.
• 58:35
  I I like Carlos Santana. I think he gives him depth.
• 58:38
  He gives him another veteran. This is a young roster.
• 58:41
  This is a young farm system. They have a great coach over
• 58:45
  there. I wouldn't be surprised if the
• 58:47
  Diamondbacks surprise a lot of people in this division.
• 58:51
  As far as the other teams, the Giants, like I said,
• 58:54
  interesting. I, I, I think the Giants are an
• 58:56
  interesting team. I mean, Tyler Malley, Alfielder
• 59:00
  Harrison Bader, who's been a journeyman too with the Yankees,
• 59:03
  the Mets, Luis Arise, Luis Arise.
• 59:06
  Now, I want to say this, a lot of people attacked the Yankees
• 59:09
  this offseason because Luis Arise has been one of the best
• 59:14
  hitting players in baseball. He has been, I mean, he's won
• 59:17
  batting titles. I mean, this guy is a great
• 59:20
  hitter and if I'm not mistaken, the Giants got him for like 14
• 59:23
  million or something. It was like a low amount of
• 59:26
  money, A1 year deal. Arise was not the elite hitter
• 59:34
  he has been over the last couple of years.
• 59:36
  Now, I agree with a lot of fans that the Yankees should have
• 59:39
  taken a flyer on him. I think they should have.
• 59:42
  I mean, he could have been a good bona fide second baseman if
• 59:45
  they decide to trade a Mr. Nut job Mr. Jism.
• 59:49
  I mean, he's a he's a good second baseman.
• 59:52
  I think you can move him around and maybe a third base.
• 59:54
  I think you could play third base.
• 59:56
  Maybe I I, I mean, it would have made more sense to go there than
• 1:00:02
  some of the other places they went in the offseason.
• 1:00:04
  But I'm not going to attack Brian Cashman until I see the
• 1:00:07
  finest finishing product at the trade deadline.
• 1:00:09
  But. I, I think a rise was brought
• 1:00:12
  there to be a trade piece because I don't out of all the
• 1:00:16
  teams that are making a run this year, I don't think the Giants
• 1:00:21
  are going to be one of those teams.
• 1:00:22
  I don't, I, I, I and I'm not saying that the Giants don't
• 1:00:25
  have a good future. They don't have some good young
• 1:00:27
  players in their farm system. I think they have two of the top
• 1:00:30
  25 farm hands in all the baseball.
• 1:00:33
  I was reading some of the things that I was, I was seeing and,
• 1:00:36
  and they got a great, Logan's a great pitcher and they, they've
• 1:00:39
  got some good pitching prospects coming up.
• 1:00:43
  But I, I, I think that when you look at the American League,
• 1:00:48
  it's a little different. The Mariners are betting
• 1:00:51
  favorites. I'm not betting on them.
• 1:00:55
  I'm just speaking the truth here.
• 1:00:57
  I, I, I think the Astros, they have been up and down over the
• 1:01:01
  last couple of years, obviously because of some of the players
• 1:01:06
  that have decided to part ways with them.
• 1:01:08
  They didn't want to overpay Kyle Tucker.
• 1:01:11
  So they moved him and they traded him to the Cubs.
• 1:01:14
  And I listen, it all makes sense It under you understand what the
• 1:01:19
  Astros are trying to do. They got some good young
• 1:01:21
  pitchers. They they got a good roster.
• 1:01:24
  They have Altuve still there. They brought Correa back.
• 1:01:27
  I don't know if he's going to be a part of that roster this year.
• 1:01:29
  We'll see if he if he makes the roster, But I, I think the
• 1:01:35
  Seattle Mariners spent a lot of money in the offseason.
• 1:01:39
  They did they Seattle re sign Josh Naylor.
• 1:01:44
  They paid him a lot of money. Brendan Donovan from the
• 1:01:48
  Cardinals is is a decent player. Is he Jorge Polanco?
• 1:01:53
  You can question that. I I obviously am.
• 1:01:56
  I, I, I've read about this kid. I know the Yankees were
• 1:01:59
  interested in him. These Japanese pitchers, they're
• 1:02:02
  a hit or miss. I mean, you don't know what
• 1:02:04
  you're going to get out of them. So I see Fish sitting there.
• 1:02:07
  You know, he's putting his hand under his lip and, you know, he
• 1:02:10
  likes to fiddle around with his chinny chin, chin and his little
• 1:02:14
  ear, you know, But it's OK, Fish.
• 1:02:18
  The Rangers are the team to watch in this division because I
• 1:02:24
  love Jacob degrom and I think with the veteran pitching that
• 1:02:29
  they have over there on this roster and some of the young
• 1:02:33
  guys that they have and I think that the this is the year that
• 1:02:37
  remember the Rangers won a World Series a couple of years ago.
• 1:02:40
  This is this was a a a well oiled machine.
• 1:02:43
  Now Bruce Bocci is not there anymore.
• 1:02:45
  He stepped down. I still think that this team in
• 1:02:49
  this roster is good and I think that a lot of people question
• 1:02:55
  what the the Rangers did last year and say, well, this team's
• 1:02:59
  not really that good anymore. They should trade away pieces
• 1:03:01
  and rebuild it. I don't think so.
• 1:03:04
  I think this team is good. I think any Brandon Nemo is a
• 1:03:06
  home run for them. It gives him the depth player in
• 1:03:09
  the outfield who's a is a he can hit in your number one or can
• 1:03:12
  hit in your number 9. He can he could be at the top of
• 1:03:15
  your your lineup on the back of your lineup, or it could be your
• 1:03:18
  number two. It it depending on how much
• 1:03:20
  speed you want on your bases. I think he was a home run move.
• 1:03:24
  I think getting him for Simeon, who was an old man and I'm sorry
• 1:03:28
  for Met fans. Oh, he's a Gold Glover.
• 1:03:29
  He can play multiple. But they, they, they, they give
• 1:03:32
  me a break. This guy is still young.
• 1:03:35
  He still has a lot of baseball left.
• 1:03:38
  I think the Mets traded away their best outfielder.
• 1:03:41
  I I like, I like what I see with the Rangers.
• 1:03:44
  I really do. The Rangers will depend on a lot
• 1:03:46
  of their young player development.
• 1:03:48
  It's always been a flaw for them.
• 1:03:49
  A lot of the times they have these higher end prospects that
• 1:03:51
  flame out and they either do well in other places or they
• 1:03:54
  have issues with injuries. And I think you look at a case
• 1:03:57
  like this year they lost 2 starting pitchers.
• 1:03:59
  John Gray was one of them. I.
• 1:04:01
  Forgot John Gray sucks. Yeah.
• 1:04:02
  I was going to say, I think the the upside is still there with
• 1:04:05
  somebody. Like, are we talking about the
• 1:04:06
  Colorado Rockies? John Gray?
• 1:04:09
  Yeah, he's Gray now. He's black.
• 1:04:12
  The guy stinks. Yeah, go ahead.
• 1:04:13
  What else? What else you're going to throw
• 1:04:14
  at? Me, I'm going to say Jack Leiter
• 1:04:16
  and Kumar Rocker, the two obviously allieder son with the
• 1:04:19
  Mets and then Kumar Rocker, the Mets draft pick they decided
• 1:04:22
  they decided to ditch for whatever reason.
• 1:04:23
  Those are the two guys at the back end of the rotation that
• 1:04:25
  are very interesting. Josh Young was a big part.
• 1:04:27
  Of the Jack Leiter's going to be a beast.
• 1:04:29
  And Josh Young, obviously a big part of that World Series team.
• 1:04:32
  So if they can get those guys to develop and at least get some
• 1:04:35
  level of competent offense, they had really good pitching last
• 1:04:37
  year, they could definitely make.
• 1:04:38
  You ready? You ready for a bold statement?
• 1:04:40
  What do you got? Here's a bold statement for all
• 1:04:42
  you guys out here. This pitching staff is going to
• 1:04:46
  be one of the top five pitching Staffs in baseball this year.
• 1:04:49
  All right, you ready? You ready, guys, You ready to
• 1:04:52
  hear this? This is going to be a top five
• 1:04:55
  pitching staff, I mean, starting rotation in baseball this year.
• 1:04:59
  You think Mackenzie Gore is going to be that number 3 for
• 1:05:02
  them 100% because he had the Jekyll and Hyde season of all
• 1:05:06
  time last year where he was a top five, top ten guy for a
• 1:05:11
  stretch of the season and then was a bottom 5 getting lit up
• 1:05:15
  every single time. Who do you play for?
• 1:05:17
  We've seen. Who do you play for?
• 1:05:18
  He's. Playing in Washington, look,
• 1:05:20
  he's it's been his whole career like this, though, where like
• 1:05:24
  you see the flashes and there's guys like that.
• 1:05:26
  You mentioned some of the hitters.
• 1:05:28
  Speedy Evan Carter's a guy that comes to mind for me.
• 1:05:30
  He's a center fielder. He's had back problems.
• 1:05:33
  They. Thought good short stuff too.
• 1:05:34
  They have a pretty good one. Seeger is one of my favorites
• 1:05:38
  and I always I'm hoping that they fall out of contention or
• 1:05:42
  they get injuries to everyone but Seeger so the Yankees can
• 1:05:44
  trade for Seeger because I would love frickin Seeger.
• 1:05:47
  But I I like I like Langford a lot as well.
• 1:05:52
  And he's their other young guy. He's a power bat.
• 1:05:56
  They have some real interesting guys.
• 1:05:58
  If they all come together this year, it could happen.
• 1:06:00
  And degrom, you know, if he's healthy, if he's 85% of what he
• 1:06:04
  used to be, that's still an All Star pitcher because he was on a
• 1:06:08
  path for the Hall of Fame. They have before the injuries.
• 1:06:10
  They have two young guys that played together in college.
• 1:06:13
  One of them that was a Mets who parted ways because the Mets
• 1:06:17
  just a stupid organization. Let me.
• 1:06:19
  Tell you, yeah, nobody said the arrow of the Mets was the.
• 1:06:21
  Brightest and I'm telling you right now, Jack Leiter is a
• 1:06:23
  beast. That guy is a number one.
• 1:06:25
  That guy's going to be a number one in this league.
• 1:06:28
  He's a baby. He is a baby.
• 1:06:29
  He dominated AAA baseball dominated.
• 1:06:32
  Go look at his numbers. He's ridiculous that he is he
• 1:06:35
  is. I'm telling he's ridiculous.
• 1:06:37
  How's that? I like I like this roster.
• 1:06:42
  I like this pitching staff. I think they have a couple of
• 1:06:44
  good young pitchers in their bullpen that we're going to see
• 1:06:47
  grow into. Maybe one of them, I think, I
• 1:06:50
  forget what his name is, he could be a starter in this
• 1:06:52
  league, too. So I like, I like the Rangers.
• 1:06:55
  I really do. I think the Rangers are going to
• 1:06:57
  surprise a lot of people. Don't be surprised if they're a
• 1:07:00
  playoff team. I've got a crazy name for you,
• 1:07:02
  Errol. That's way out of left field for
• 1:07:04
  the AO W What? It's the Sacramento Athletics,
• 1:07:09
  listen to this line up that they have.
• 1:07:11
  Shay Langoliers just hit three home runs in a spring game.
• 1:07:15
  He's one of the best catchers in fantasy.
• 1:07:18
  He's going to be a top three patcher drafted this year.
• 1:07:20
  Nick. Nick Kurtz is going to be a top
• 1:07:22
  three first baseman drafted this year.
• 1:07:24
  He was rookie of the year last year.
• 1:07:26
  He is a monster and he's going to be one of the best first
• 1:07:29
  baseman for a long time. They got Jeff McNeil playing
• 1:07:31
  second base. It looks like Jacob Wilson was
• 1:07:34
  in the running for rookie of the year last year at shortstops on
• 1:07:37
  a Jack Wilson. They got one of the Muncie's
• 1:07:41
  over at 3rd, Soderstrom, who had a monster year and left and can
• 1:07:46
  also play some first. Denzel Clark is a great
• 1:07:49
  defensive center fielder. We saw him last year.
• 1:07:53
  So any of those bad, you know, balls does.
• 1:07:54
  They don't have any pitching, let's face it.
• 1:07:56
  And that place is a bandbox. Didn't Clark play on he's?
• 1:07:59
  Playing and Lawrence Butler too in the in the other side.
• 1:08:02
  Isn't Clark playing for one of these teams Canada?
• 1:08:04
  I believe he's playing for Canada.
• 1:08:05
  He he's and then they have Brent Rooker at DH who's a masher.
• 1:08:09
  Like that's a real line up that I would argue is a top five line
• 1:08:12
  up. You know, at least offensively
• 1:08:15
  we are in all of the AL we. Are talking about the athletics
• 1:08:18
  here. They play in a bandbox, they
• 1:08:22
  don't have any pitching, but everyone else that goes there.
• 1:08:24
  It's going to be almost like Coors Fieldish when they go to
• 1:08:27
  this place this year. If I would just say this, if
• 1:08:30
  you're gambling, look for overs early in the season on the A's
• 1:08:35
  because everyone's going to get lit up in in those home games.
• 1:08:39
  I I would just be hammering the overs all all season.
• 1:08:42
  I'm not betting on the A's, I'm sorry.
• 1:08:44
  I'm sorry, the overs though, like you got to think about that
• 1:08:47
  because that's a lot of power in that line up.
• 1:08:49
  I'm sure, but I I've not. Been in the 10, you know, half.
• 1:08:53
  Of those guys. Won't.
• 1:08:55
  Half of those guys won't be a part of that organization in the
• 1:08:57
  next three or four years, so it doesn't matter.
• 1:09:00
  It doesn't matter. Half of them will be with the
• 1:09:02
  Red Sox, the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers, I.
• 1:09:05
  Mean well that's why they did that whole you know Atlanta
• 1:09:07
  Atlanta Braves method where they've signed them these 888
• 1:09:11
  years 70 million while they bought out the arbitration years
• 1:09:14
  so they can keep it together for a little bit longer You know
• 1:09:17
  Billy Beane knows what he's doing over there he's.
• 1:09:20
  I like Billy Beane. I I've never taken shots at
• 1:09:23
  Billy Beane. Money Bowl.
• 1:09:24
  I mean, he really designed that whole style of game.
• 1:09:26
  And I I love what he does on and off the baseball field.
• 1:09:30
  And he's a quiet guy too. He doesn't really say much.
• 1:09:34
  He's not out there bragging and, and speaking like some other
• 1:09:37
  guys here in New York, if you know what I mean.
• 1:09:41
  David Stearns or, you know, Brian Cashman.
• 1:09:43
  Or jazz chillum. Or jazz.
• 1:09:45
  Well, he's not a, he's not AGM, but.
• 1:09:47
  I didn't say AGM but. He's his own guy.
• 1:09:49
  He's his own GM, OK, He's selling himself right now.
• 1:09:52
  He thinks he's worth. What did he say?
• 1:09:54
  Oh yeah, 35 million, 5 million, The lost, lost man, the lost
• 1:09:59
  little man in jazz Chisholm. I, I will say this about Jazz.
• 1:10:03
  I got to give him a little bit of credit because for all the
• 1:10:07
  people that love him, hate him just as much.
• 1:10:10
  And he goes out there on social media and he doesn't really shut
• 1:10:13
  up. He, he, he just goes out there
• 1:10:14
  and just spits it out. And, and that chains got to go,
• 1:10:18
  man, that chains got to go. That is one of the ugliest
• 1:10:22
  chains I've ever seen. And it's, and it's so funny, so
• 1:10:25
  fitting that he's, he's, he's engaged to one of those Batty
• 1:10:28
  girls, one of those girls that like to fight and like to pull
• 1:10:31
  their you know what, Sal, you know, and do all that dirty
• 1:10:34
  stuff, if you know what I mean. It's it's very jazz jism type,
• 1:10:39
  if you know what I mean. You just love that guy on the,
• 1:10:42
  you know. I don't love him.
• 1:10:43
  Now what if I told you he's a top three round pick in fantasy?
• 1:10:49
  I believe it. He's a second.
• 1:10:50
  He's a top second baseman. He's a top second baseman.
• 1:10:54
  He's going to he's he's asking for crazy money.
• 1:10:57
  Is this, I mean, we'll talk about the AL East in a little
• 1:10:59
  bit, but he's a guy that one of these teams, you know, competing
• 1:11:04
  in the AL West may want to, may want to try to do some crazy
• 1:11:09
  swap for, you know, like this is a guy that if the Yankees don't
• 1:11:12
  want to keep them, don't put it past cashmere to do something
• 1:11:16
  like this, especially if he's causing problems in the
• 1:11:19
  clubhouse, at least perceived problems in the media.
• 1:11:23
  I, I, I just be worried about it.
• 1:11:24
  And you mentioned arise earlier as someone the Yankees should
• 1:11:26
  have looked at. I, I think the Mets should have
• 1:11:29
  looked at arise instead of Polanco to play first base,
• 1:11:31
  because that at least arise. I've seen do it and has pretty
• 1:11:34
  good fielding percentage when he does it.
• 1:11:36
  But they say arise at any other position and at second base had
• 1:11:40
  the worst range, Meaning he's a statue out there.
• 1:11:43
  He'll, he'll get it if you hit it right at him.
• 1:11:45
  He's he's got short hands, but he doesn't move.
• 1:11:49
  So first base is really where you want him.
• 1:11:52
  And that's why I think he didn't go for as much money is is that
• 1:11:56
  and that he doesn't walk. It's all batting average.
• 1:11:58
  So if his batting average of 330, you know, he's going to
• 1:12:01
  have a 350 on base, that's great.
• 1:12:03
  But if he's hitting 280 like he did last year and then he has a
• 1:12:06
  like a 295 on base, that's that's a guy that you hit at the
• 1:12:08
  bottom of the lineup and that's what they were doing.
• 1:12:10
  With the Padres, a lot of the year at the end of the year last
• 1:12:13
  year he was hitting 7th or 8th sometimes and generally even you
• 1:12:17
  want the the guys that get on base 6 and that defeats that
• 1:12:21
  purpose too. The Yankees had Starlin Castro
• 1:12:24
  years ago. He was very similar with him.
• 1:12:26
  You know, he's a high batting average, but no walks.
• 1:12:28
  And if he was hitting a high batting average, you know, he's
• 1:12:30
  great. Put him at the top of the
• 1:12:31
  lineup. But if he's like hitting like
• 1:12:33
  250, you can't play that guy. But Arise is better than Castro.
• 1:12:37
  But you know. I want to I just go back to the
• 1:12:40
  divisions. I was going to mention the
• 1:12:41
  Astros too as an interesting bounce back candidate because
• 1:12:44
  they were another team that had really good pitching for most of
• 1:12:46
  the season and they had a a similar collapse with the Mets
• 1:12:49
  when their bullpengers all fall apart in the second-half of the
• 1:12:51
  season. And obviously didn't get the
• 1:12:53
  same level of hype to the Mets collapsed it, but it was
• 1:12:56
  arguably they were the best or second best team in the in the
• 1:12:59
  American League all year. And then they fell apart late in
• 1:13:01
  the season. But I do think they're due to
• 1:13:02
  bounce back. I agree with they're all on that
• 1:13:03
  one. And I do agree with him on the
• 1:13:05
  Diamondbacks too. They're another team that has
• 1:13:07
  been unlucky with injuries recently, especially with their
• 1:13:09
  pitching. I would say them, the Reds and
• 1:13:10
  the Braves have been probably the three unluckiest teams when
• 1:13:12
  it comes to injuries recently. And they have some kids that are
• 1:13:15
  still really good. And Brandon Font, I think can
• 1:13:16
  take another leap as well. Jordan Lawler's an interesting
• 1:13:19
  name that hasn't developed but still has a lot of upside as
• 1:13:21
  well. Even some of the kids already
• 1:13:23
  came through for them guys, guys like Marino in that lineup, but
• 1:13:26
  now they get some veteran pieces to go along with it.
• 1:13:28
  This could definitely be a wild card team.
• 1:13:29
  I agree. Seattle, by the way, before you,
• 1:13:32
  before you throw a little water on them, they have like one of
• 1:13:35
  the top shortstop prospects in baseball and they think he's
• 1:13:37
  going to make his debut soon. Colt Emerson.
• 1:13:41
  So there's he's a top 10 prospect.
• 1:13:43
  He's been coming for a while. JP Crawford's holding that spot
• 1:13:47
  right now. He's already hurt.
• 1:13:48
  It could be a situation where we see it.
• 1:13:50
  So they may get some more infused guys into that line up
• 1:13:53
  that we didn't really see with stuff in the offseason.
• 1:13:55
  Donovan's an interesting player. He could he plays Gold Glove
• 1:13:58
  defense at numbers of positions and that's a guy that's like
• 1:14:03
  worth his weight in gold in your on your team, especially the way
• 1:14:06
  that they kind of mix up the lineup over there.
• 1:14:09
  So I think they did some good stuff.
• 1:14:11
  I don't know if it's enough. I'm hoping this is the year
• 1:14:13
  those cheaters over in Houston finally, you know, go down and
• 1:14:17
  they fall back. I feel like they didn't do
• 1:14:19
  enough losing. What's his face, Framber?
• 1:14:25
  I mean, he's had the most wins in baseball since 2020, tied for
• 1:14:29
  the most wins in baseball was 73 since the year 2020 when he
• 1:14:32
  became a full time starter. That's not a guy I want to give
• 1:14:35
  up on. I mean, it wasn't, he didn't
• 1:14:37
  have maybe the world's greatest year last year, but it wasn't a
• 1:14:41
  guy that I would give up on. But they, they let him go cuz
• 1:14:44
  the guy, he wanted a lot of money.
• 1:14:45
  They decided to go with the younger guys and they went with
• 1:14:48
  the, you know, with EMI. So I hope they suck.
• 1:14:52
  I still mad at them for cheating in 2017.
• 1:14:53
  I just seem like a team is going to.
• 1:14:55
  Be bad another year in a row especially.
• 1:14:57
  How they don't you love when he says I hope they.
• 1:15:00
  Suck. I do.
• 1:15:00
  I hope they suck. Jeremy Pain is injured.
• 1:15:03
  They're going to put Carlos Correa at shortstop for now.
• 1:15:06
  Correa, as you remember, he got traded back there last year at
• 1:15:09
  the deadline. He's been pretty bad for a while
• 1:15:13
  surprisingly after he started well, got paid and then was bad.
• 1:15:17
  Not an Anthony Rendon situation, but he's been hurt a lot.
• 1:15:21
  Too. Nothing is ever as bad as push.
• 1:15:23
  Spank. Em now fish.
• 1:15:24
  Here's the real question. Spank em.
• 1:15:25
  How does the Astros suck and correlate with their chances of
• 1:15:27
  the Yankees getting Corey breaking?
• 1:15:29
  News I farted. Breaking you.
• 1:15:31
  You want to jerk me off? I don't know, did you did you
• 1:15:34
  like talk about it Nimmo enough? Because I I feel like Nimmo,
• 1:15:37
  going to Texas is a big part of why you're.
• 1:15:39
  Gonna be I'm putting you on a leash now.
• 1:15:42
  Don't you think that kind of leadership he provided in the
• 1:15:44
  clubhouse, that's going to be a guy that really is going to be
• 1:15:47
  important to them? It's going to cost the Mets.
• 1:15:50
  It's. Going to cost.
• 1:15:51
  Them I, I think the Mets think by adding the, the depth that
• 1:15:54
  they have and you bring in Beau Beauchet and you're moving them
• 1:15:57
  to third base and we'll get into it, you know, in the next couple
• 1:16:00
  of weeks. I'm sure a lot of people look at
• 1:16:04
  the Mets and you question maybe if the Mets actually know what
• 1:16:07
  they're doing. And is this the final year for
• 1:16:09
  David Stearns to prove himself as the GM of this team and this
• 1:16:14
  organization if they missed the playoffs again?
• 1:16:17
  I mean, there's no way he keeps his job.
• 1:16:20
  There's no way. I don't care what anybody says.
• 1:16:23
  I don't care what the Mets fan. Oh, he's one of the best G Ms.
• 1:16:25
  in baseball. Really.
• 1:16:26
  What has he done? What's he done?
• 1:16:28
  I I would love to hear it because you could sell
• 1:16:30
  everything on me. Why?
• 1:16:31
  You paid want Soto? Yeah.
• 1:16:33
  You gave him $700 million. Good for you.
• 1:16:35
  I mean, what did you do? What have you done?
• 1:16:38
  You went from one of the biggest off seasons in baseball.
• 1:16:42
  Everybody was bragging. Look what the Mets are going the
• 1:16:44
  1st 25 games to a team that had one of the biggest drop offs in
• 1:16:48
  baseball history at the end of the season.
• 1:16:50
  I mean, it reminds me of the Mets.
• 1:16:52
  Yeah, that's what I remember. Yeah.
• 1:16:54
  Reminds me of the old Mets. Typical.
• 1:16:57
  I I and I'm sorry, Mets fans, I'm not trying to pick on you.
• 1:16:59
  I mean, I'm just trying to. Smell my ass.
• 1:17:02
  Or something of that magnitude or something.
• 1:17:05
  Butt plug. Or Goody has no Woody Speedy's
• 1:17:09
  mom. I got to go back off now.
• 1:17:12
  Somebody's got to whack off about this because I know it's
• 1:17:15
  not well, actually Nathan's probably doing that right now in
• 1:17:17
  his jail cell, his little quarter sector over there.
• 1:17:22
  I mean, he's wearing a cowboy jersey.
• 1:17:24
  So that's better than that. Some some of the stuff that
• 1:17:26
  we've seen him wear in the past, as we all know, but.
• 1:17:29
  Anyways, Patty cake. Patty cake, Patty cake, Baker's
• 1:17:32
  man, Somebody's got a smack him and a yes again.
• 1:17:36
  Anyways, when we come back, ladies and gentlemen, we got a
• 1:17:39
  lot more to go, so stay tuned. I mean we've had a good one and
• 1:17:43
  great guests. Thank you to the old myth boy.
• 1:17:46
  But when we come back, we have in like Flint.
• 1:17:49
  We got tic tac, No. And we got somebody smells like.
• 1:17:52
  Give me that chicken Curry. Something like that.
• 1:17:55
  Or you know what? I like this one more than
• 1:17:57
  anything. Hold.
• 1:17:58
  On squeeze the cheese. Squeeze in those cheeses if you
• 1:18:01
  know what I mean or. I ram you Droba, smack my ass.
• 1:18:06
  Droba. I forget this one.
• 1:18:08
  Hold on. Droba ass licker.
• 1:18:09
  Thank you to all the fans on Apple and Spotify following us
• 1:18:13
  and on video and audio, all the different platforms that were on
• 1:18:16
  X Instagram, TikTok, Jabba in the mouth.
• 1:18:21
  By the way, our show is transitioning into the New York,
• 1:18:24
  well, New York's sports loudmouth, which will be next
• 1:18:27
  week. We're working on everything on
• 1:18:29
  the back end. But yeah, it's going to be it's
• 1:18:32
  same show, but we're going to have Quentin couples joining us
• 1:18:35
  full time and it's going to be very interesting.
• 1:18:38
  I can tell you that another voice a lot of craziness and
• 1:18:41
  Quentin doesn't like losing arguments.
• 1:18:45
  So that'll be interesting. Anyways.
• 1:18:48
  Yeah. Speedy, who do we have on
• 1:18:49
  Thursday? Nothing else.
• 1:18:51
  I'm sure Nathan will have something planned, Something to
• 1:18:54
  want. Soda's a bitch some.
• 1:18:56
  But maybe we get want soda on the show.
• 1:18:57
  What do you think, Speedy? I want to do a whopping.
• 1:19:00
  What do you think? I don't know.
• 1:19:02
  I don't know what Nathan would have to do to do that.
• 1:19:05
  How about rattling her? Maybe he would.
• 1:19:09
  Or he is goofy. Well, somebody'd goofy, right?
• 1:19:12
  Could you do that? Like, alright, that's it for a
• 1:19:16
  show. Goodnight.
• 1:19:17
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