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New York Yankees team preview with Derek Levandowski · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know if we're better, but I think Plan
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: B is going to be a fun team to watch.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: They're going to win, hopefully in a different way.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, we know this guy, Derek LEWANDASKI joining us right now,
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  Speaker 3: the host and big man of Pinstripe Territory. So Derek,
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  Speaker 3: good to see you. And obviously before we get into
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  Speaker 3: the Yankees team storylines, which we felt like was the
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  Speaker 3: natural fit of team for you to cover on this one,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: I just want to shout out the work you do
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  Speaker 3: behind the scenes, specifically even with these team storylines. So
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  Speaker 3: if you want to lay out how we're going to
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  Speaker 3: end up having one for every team and that people
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  Speaker 3: can just kind of roll through one by one if
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  Speaker 3: they missed any of them.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, as somebody who covers one team, I
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  Speaker 1: just find it useful when there's recaps of all the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: other stuff that goes on in the league. And who
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  Speaker 1: better to provide that than us. So we've got this
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  Speaker 1: playlist set up that you can go find right there
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: on our Foul Territory homepage that's got team previews for
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  Speaker 1: everybody we've done so far. Rangers, Diamondback, White Sox, Reds, Et, cetera,
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  Speaker 1: and Yankees will be obviously added to that today, and
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna roll all of these thirty teams out over
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  Speaker 1: the course of the next month, so that headed into
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  Speaker 1: the season, everybody can be up to date on all
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  Speaker 1: the major storylines that we're gonna be covering here on
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  Speaker 1: Foul Territory this summer.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, there are people that'snooze in the offseason, although less
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  Speaker 3: and less these days because it's so easy to follow
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: with a number of different platforms insiders working every day
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  Speaker 3: for you. But still, if you feel like you need
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  Speaker 3: a refresher course on who's on what team and what
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  Speaker 3: the pressing storylines are, that's what we're here for. So
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: let's hit the Yankee storylines. Police. The four big ones
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  Speaker 3: we're going over today is rebuilding post one year of
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  Speaker 3: Juan Soto with additions like Bellinger and gold Schmidt in
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  Speaker 3: the lineup, Aaron Judges response after not getting the job
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  Speaker 3: done in the postseason, and the big drop in the
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  Speaker 3: World Series. We've got the emergence of Jason Dominguez to
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  Speaker 3: cover and Max Freed year one in that starting rotation.
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  Speaker 3: So Derek, let's start with the big storyline. It was
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  Speaker 3: Mets versus Yankees for Juan Soto and our free eight
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  Speaker 3: or our storylines front ends, our animation that goes into
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  Speaker 3: this always starts with a very painful image of Soto
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  Speaker 3: in a Mets uniform. So what did you think of
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  Speaker 3: all of that? And do you really believe that the
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  Speaker 3: New York Yankees are a better club without Juan Soto?
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  Speaker 2: First off, what a beautiful introduction.
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  Speaker 1: We should give the guy who made that a raise,
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  Speaker 1: that Sodo graphic and all that stuff. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: I was, as I mentioned last time, I was not
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  Speaker 1: on the side of giving him seven hundred and sixty
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  Speaker 1: million dollars. I just thought it would handcuff the Yankees. We'
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  Speaker 1: We're already hearing Steinbrenner complain about other teams spending, so
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  Speaker 1: we know if he gives out a huge contract like
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  Speaker 1: that to Juan Soto, he's not doing anything else. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if we're better, but I think Plan B
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  Speaker 1: is going to be a fun team to watch. They're
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  Speaker 1: gonna win, hopefully in a different way than they won
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  Speaker 1: last year. A more complete team that doesn't necessarily rely
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  Speaker 1: on the explosive tandem at the top of the order,
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  Speaker 1: but maybe mixes in a few more veteran bats. You know,
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  Speaker 1: Bellinger and Goldschmidt are going to shake things up for sure,
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  Speaker 1: but they also need some of the younger guys to
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  Speaker 1: take a step forward. Austin Wells had a two month
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  Speaker 1: period last year where he was outstanding ops around nine hundred.
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  Speaker 1: Can he maintain that a little bit more this year?
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Volpi was hitting around three hundred. In June, he
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  Speaker 1: had a thirty four game on base streak. He seized
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  Speaker 1: that leadoff spot, but then he relented it as the
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  Speaker 1: season went on. You know, the training wheels are off.
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  Speaker 1: This is year three for Anthony Volpi. Will he be
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  Speaker 1: able to step up and recapture that leadoff spot and
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  Speaker 1: be the guy that we've all hoped he would become,
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  Speaker 1: which is that spark plug at the top of the order.
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  Speaker 1: Another guy I know we're going to talk about later,
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  Speaker 1: which is Jason Dominguez. He's replacing Alex Verdugo in left field,
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  Speaker 1: and he's been one of these guys who's been hyped
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  Speaker 1: for years, partially because of me, but I really believe
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  Speaker 1: in him, and I think that, you know, the conglomerate
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  Speaker 1: of all of these guys could put the Yankees in
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  Speaker 1: a position where they're very close to what they were
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  Speaker 1: last year, if not better.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, And that kind of goes in my next our
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  Speaker 4: next topic. What we're talking about the Martian Dominguez. Everybody
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  Speaker 4: has expectations going into every year. What are your expectations
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  Speaker 4: of him? And is he gonna live up to those expectations.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I've been following Domingez for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: Yankees gave him almost their entire international bonus pool budget
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  Speaker 1: right around the time I was starting a podcast, So
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  Speaker 1: he was somebody that I kind of fixated on, like,
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  Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna follow this guy. I had this
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  Speaker 1: whole thing called the Martian Tracker. He was getting comps
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  Speaker 1: to Mickey Manno and Mike Trout, which is not unusual
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  Speaker 1: for prospects.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, he.
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  Speaker 1: Comes up to the major leagues and in his first
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  Speaker 1: week he does things that only Mickey Manno did in
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  Speaker 1: his first week in the major league. So the hype
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  Speaker 1: seemed real for a minute. Then he gets Tommy John surgery.
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  Speaker 1: He missed almost all of last year, but if you
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  Speaker 1: look at his minor league numbers, they got better and
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  Speaker 1: better and better. And from what we hear scouts talk
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  Speaker 1: about this guy. He's one of these people who learns
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  Speaker 1: very fast and adapts very quickly. Now, he had some
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  Speaker 1: issues defensively last year. I'm more worried about that than
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  Speaker 1: I am his offense. The right side of the bat,
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  Speaker 1: could you know, right side of the plate could use
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  Speaker 1: some work. He's a switch hitter, but he's much better
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  Speaker 1: from the left side. But look, you know, we're setting
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  Speaker 1: high expectations for him, and the Yankees are putting a
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  Speaker 1: lot of eggs in that basket. There's no safety in
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  Speaker 1: that here. He's got to go out and get it done.
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  Speaker 1: I'm hopeful that he will get it done.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: To borrow a phrase from the UFO poster. You know,
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  Speaker 1: since we're talking about the Martian, I want to believe.
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  Speaker 5: Well. I want him to do well so that your
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  Speaker 5: show does well. Since you have brought the Martian to
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  Speaker 5: the people. I appreciate hearing that, all right, he Aron Judge.
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  Speaker 5: Aaron Judge wins a third MVP this year and struggles
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  Speaker 5: in the playoffs again. Will there be a breaking point
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  Speaker 5: for Yankees fans or will it not matter?
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  Speaker 1: As someone who interacts with Yankees fans on a daily basis,
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  Speaker 1: I could tell you that last year seemed like it
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  Speaker 1: was pretty close to the breaking point, if not over
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  Speaker 1: the breaking point. I'm interested to see the reception he's
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  Speaker 1: gonna get this year, especially if he gets off to
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  Speaker 1: another slow start like he had in April of last year.
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  Speaker 2: Look, Judge is statistically elite. He's a physical anomaly. He's
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  Speaker 2: an amazing representative of the Yankees franchise. He's probably gonna
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  Speaker 2: hit five hundred or more home runs, but he's in
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  Speaker 2: danger of being one of those great regular season players
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  Speaker 2: who never wins a title. Griffy Bonds another Yankees captain,
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  Speaker 2: don Maddingly, but Donnie Baseball had one shot at the
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  Speaker 2: postseason and really performed well. Judge got off to.
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  Speaker 1: A couple of decent starts in the postseason early on
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  Speaker 1: in his career, but as his statistics have gotten better
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  Speaker 1: in the regular season, he has faded a little bit
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  Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and they've, you know, basically the Yankees
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  Speaker 1: fans have grown frustrated with that. One of the things
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  Speaker 1: I'm really interested in in watching as a fan and
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  Speaker 1: covering as a podcaster is if there's a tangible shift.
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  Speaker 2: In how Aaron Judge goes about his business.
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  Speaker 1: He's always very stoic, you know, I want to see
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  Speaker 1: that Tiger Woods on Sunday with the red shirt attitude.
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  Speaker 1: I want to see Jordan against the Pistons in ninety one.
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  Speaker 1: I want to see that side of Aaron Judge. I
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  Speaker 1: want him to prove that he's one of the all
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  Speaker 1: time greats by having that nine a rod postseason this
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  Speaker 1: year and putting the Yankees on his back, because I
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  Speaker 1: keep saying, one of the things that really hurts Judge
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  Speaker 1: and really affected him last year is that the Yankees
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  Speaker 1: lost Game three of the ALCS. You remember, he had
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  Speaker 1: that big home run against Emmanuel Classe to tie the game.
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  Speaker 1: Stanton puts him ahead with a go ahead homer, but
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  Speaker 1: they blew the game. If they had won that game,
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  Speaker 1: I feel like the entire universe could have shifted in
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  Speaker 1: a different way for the Yankees last year. I feel
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  Speaker 1: like he could have gotten hot. He would have been
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  Speaker 1: emotional and riding that high and the pressure would have
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  Speaker 1: been off. But the next day the pressure was back
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  Speaker 1: and he struggled, and so the pressure continued until the
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  Speaker 1: final game of the World Series. And look, I just
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  Speaker 1: want to see how he approaches it this year with
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  Speaker 1: all of this. I guess negative response over how he
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  Speaker 1: performed in the postseason.
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  Speaker 5: Thanks for the perfect lead into my next question. We
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  Speaker 5: got new guys on this roster. They can look right
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  Speaker 5: to Aaron Judge and say, Wow, this dude crushes New York.
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  Speaker 5: He handles everything so well, the good, the bad. How
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  Speaker 5: are Max Freed, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt going to
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  Speaker 5: fare in the I got it here the Bronx Zoo
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  Speaker 5: shirt on. How are they going to handle that pressure
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  Speaker 5: that some people fade under? And there's there one guy
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  Speaker 5: of those three that you're like, I'm a little worried
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  Speaker 5: about the pressure.
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  Speaker 1: I don't really worry about the pressure of those guys.
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  Speaker 1: It seems like, you know, Max Freed is built for
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  Speaker 1: New York. He seems like a very confident guy. Paul
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  Speaker 1: Goldschmidt's the consummate professional, he's been a steady rock. And
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  Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger's playing for a contract. Devin Williams also a
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  Speaker 1: new guy. I think he's probably facing the most pressure
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  Speaker 1: because there's such little room for error as a closer.
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  Speaker 1: You blow a couple of games early and that New
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  Speaker 1: York crowd can turn on you, and not everybody comes
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  Speaker 1: back from that. But I think he'll do fine. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you know how nasty he is. I like the addition
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  Speaker 1: of Max Freed. Everything I hear about him from the
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  Speaker 1: guys over at Hammer Territory is that he was a
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  Speaker 1: fan favorite, that he'll handle New York just fine. There's
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  Speaker 1: some concerns about his health, but I don't concern myself
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  Speaker 1: with that because we can't control it, and every pitcher
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  Speaker 1: faces health issues. Anybody could snap an elbow at any
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  Speaker 1: given point. But I think that the pendulum has swung
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  Speaker 1: for how the Yankees are trying to win, from an
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  Speaker 1: offensive minded team to a team that's more focused on
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  Speaker 1: pitching and defense. And while they not, they might not
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  Speaker 1: be as exciting to watch. I think they might I
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: do a lot more winning of like close games and
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  Speaker 1: you know, making big plays in the big spot. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm just excited to see this team get back to
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  Speaker 1: playing baseball again and not necessarily focused on being a
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  Speaker 1: home run juggernaut.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's going to be a more aesthetically pleasing brand
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  Speaker 3: of baseball for the Yanks.
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  Speaker 5: Now.
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  Speaker 3: Doesn't mean they're a better team than last year.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: They're at least in that same range. But also, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the American League should be at least a little bit better.
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  Speaker 3: The division should be a little bit better. Let me
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  Speaker 3: finish with a bonus question here, because I would take
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  Speaker 3: consensus from the crowd wanting to know your answer. And
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  Speaker 3: I know you did an episode on this on Pinstripe Territory,
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  Speaker 3: but let's get your quick thoughts here. What did you
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  Speaker 3: think of al Steinberner's comments about, you know, the Dodgers
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  Speaker 3: being the essentially big bad Dodgers. Now, it's funny, just
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  Speaker 3: an ironic for me growing up in the New York
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  Speaker 3: City area in Jersey right nearby, and all these Yankee
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  Speaker 3: fans saying, oh, we're the evil Empire. They're not the
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  Speaker 3: evil Empire anymore. The Dodgers are.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: He said that a lot of us owners can't do
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: what the Dodgers are doing. And I think it's interesting
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  Speaker 1: that he puts himself in there with other owners when he's,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the owner of the most valuable franchise in
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  Speaker 1: the sport that I just say, prove it. I say
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  Speaker 1: prove it. If you want to prove that you can't
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  Speaker 1: compete with the Dodgers, open up your books, show us
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  Speaker 1: that you're not making money. I know the Yankees have
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  Speaker 1: a large payment that they're still paying down the stadium.
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  Speaker 2: It's like thirty million dollars a year.
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  Speaker 1: They're still paying some old contracts, you know, Aaron Hicks,
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  Speaker 1: and some bad investments and things like that, but they
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  Speaker 1: also have an enormous amount of worldwide revenue. What I
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: think he meant to say, what a more precise thing
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  Speaker 1: to say would have been, is that we can't do
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  Speaker 1: exactly what the Dodgers are doing and make exactly the
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  Speaker 1: same profit that we've gotten used to. I think that
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  Speaker 1: would have been a much more accurate and honest answer.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, more of a business acumen answer. So it
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  Speaker 3: certainly was not construed correctly to like, bunch yourself in
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  Speaker 3: a group with some of the other ball clubs that
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  Speaker 3: definitely do nice swing like that they can do the
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  Speaker 3: same swinging that the Dodgers can do. All right, so
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: we'll see what happens. Obviously, everyone go check out Pinstripe
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Territory from our crowd for more on the Yanks and
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: more even on that storyline that many of you were
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: asking about. There it is. There's Derek with the big
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: hat and a lot of I know, a lot of
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: work in the off season, a lot of hustle to
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: put together some special some special treats, some special additions
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: to PT coming up this season. He's on after every post,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: post game, after every game, Thanks Derek talks to him.
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  Speaker 2: Bud appreciate it, guys,