00:00Have the Yankees found a true gem, a middle of the lineup?
00:03You talked about this in the beginning of the year again,
00:06and you were right about this.
00:07They think that he could be a middle of the lineup type of bat.
00:10He looks like it, he looks the part, and he's damn impressive.
00:14And I just think he knows and has a good sense
00:17about how to play baseball the right way.
00:19Yeah, I'm with you.
00:20I think I've been on him pretty much
00:23from the moment they brought him up last year
00:25and certainly all of this year.
00:27Just the at-bats are good.
00:28He has good at-bats.
00:29Even when he strikes out looking, and he does that quite a bit,
00:34I always feel like he's decided what his at-bat should look like.
00:39He drags the at-bat.
00:40In a way, and he's kind of taken Austin Wells' job.
00:45When Austin Wells was going well last year,
00:48these were the at-bats for Austin Wells.
00:50They went deep.
00:52When he made out, it was still like you were like,
00:54that was a good at-bat.
00:55Like, Austin Wells stopped having good at-bats.
00:59I don't know what's happened to him.
01:01Feels like there was a cheat code that was kind of discovered late last year,
01:05especially like if you have Heat upstairs against Austin Wells,
01:09you could go get him.
01:12Heat doesn't seem to beat Ben Rice.
01:15He's happy to deal with your best.
01:17He just has really, really good at-bats.
01:20Really good at-bats.
01:21And look, if the Yankees could get judged back in the outfield,
01:26and I'll fall into the I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it category there,
01:30because I don't believe the, I think the Yankees, I'm sorry to say,
01:33are almost always completely full of shit on this subject.
01:37So, you know, like even on the catching thing,
01:41you know, when Boone is asked if Wells is kind of lost,
01:44you know, like there's just a lack of transparency on all things.
01:48And I think it's worse on Judge than anybody else.
01:51So I think, so when Judge, it was like, I think a fractured thumb against the Royals,
01:56was it Jacob Junis a couple of years ago, like five, six, when he missed a period of time?
02:02I think that the Yankees said something like,
02:07we think it's a six-week injury or seven-week injury, whatever.
02:10And it took a little longer for that, for Judge to come back.
02:12And I think Judge has claimed that he took some crap for that.
02:20Now, did he? I don't remember that.
02:23Like, did he? And also, like, who do you take it from?
02:26Bob, 359 Yankee fan, Long Island?
02:29Or from somebody legitimate?
02:32Like, if you go looking for reasons to have a chip on your shoulder and nonsense,
02:36you could always find it.
02:37So they're treating Judge's return to action as if they're nuclear launch codes
02:45as opposed to a guy in right field.
02:49And by the way, I don't think the paranoia around your best player
02:52helps the overall spirit of your team either.
02:55I think the captain of the team should realize that
02:58and realize that, like, everyone who is mature beyond a kindergarten level
03:04will understand if the Yankees say, we think he's in a seven-day to ten-day period
03:08where he might be able to come back.
03:10And if there's a setback, then there's a setback.
03:12Say there's a setback.
03:13Hey, he had a setback.
03:15We're going to push it back a few days.
03:17Instead, it's all treated.
03:19It creates a tension that doesn't need to be there.
03:22It's an unforced error.
03:23It's an unforced error by around the most important player on the team,
03:27which, like, then there's trickle-down
03:29where everyone feels they should protect this information again
03:33like it's nuclear launch codes.
03:34It's not worth their time and energy.
03:37Somebody should stand up to a judge on the team and say,
03:40come on, we let them know when Anthony Volpe's playing.
03:44We could let them know when you're the most important player in the sport.
03:48Like, let's let people in on, like, people want to buy tickets.
03:52I'm coming down from Schenectady.
03:54Is Aaron Judge playing today?
03:56Like, people have a right to know this.
03:58This is commerce.
03:58If I buy a Broadway ticket, if I can know ahead of time
04:01if the star is going to be in the show or they're understudy,
04:05it costs me a lot to spend the day there.
04:07So, anyway, I went off topic a little bit there.
04:11But, yeah.
04:15With Ben Rice.
04:16So, we were talking about Ben Rice.
04:18The reason why you went on Judge, yes.
04:21If Judge could get out to right field.
04:22Correct.
04:23And you have the Judge Rice-Stanton middle of the lineup.
04:27Now, that's kind of very, like, old-fashioned, based at a time, pretty much middle of the lineup.
04:33But I'd still let the other team figure out how to navigate that.
04:36And I think what would be fascinating is, at full strength, has Rice now earned the get in the middle of that?
04:45As opposed to running Stanton and Judge Stanton back-to-back.
04:50Or is that only against righty starters?
04:53Whatever it is.
04:53I think the fact that we're talking about, should Ben Rice be put in between these two guys,
04:59says a lot about where Ben Rice has graduated.
05:02Now, every team's going to go to school now on Ben Rice again.
05:07And he's made some adaptions to the adaptions already.
05:11And it's been pretty good.
05:13He's a tough out.
05:15He's a tough out.
05:15You've got to make pitches to get him out.
05:18Yeah.
05:18And he's hitting the hell.
05:20Again, he's hitting the ball hard, which I really appreciate.
05:22And he's putting it in play when he needs to.
05:24And I hope he has earned that starting catcher role, especially if they're facing a tough righty.
05:31Because I just don't trust Austin Wells.
05:33Like, Austin Wells, for all intents and purposes, has regressed this year.
05:37And it's disappointing.
05:40I'm not going to give up on that.
05:42Because I thought for a year and a half, from the end of 23 until about through the August of last year,
05:49I just thought whatever the results were, Wells had terrific at-bats.
05:53He felt like a captain of the team.
05:56Like, he felt very much in charge when he was catching.
06:00And from the last month of last season into the postseason into this year, something has been lost there.
06:09Now, it's possible it's been lost for good.
06:11Maybe it's Miguel Andujar or Greg Bird or that kind of thing where it's like shot up and then shot down really quickly.
06:19But the at-bats were really good for an extended period.
06:24And the feel of leadership as the catcher was really good for an extended period.
06:29And that's not one I would give up on while understanding that these are precious games and Rice has now earned the right.
06:36Rice needs to be in the lineup.
06:38If not 10 out of 10 games, then 9 out of 10 games between first base and catcher.
06:44Yeah.
06:45Like, I think that's what he's earned.
06:46That's the other part of the equation, right, Joel?
06:48Because you mentioned the DH.
06:49You mentioned the middle of the lineup.
06:51But it's also the first base part.
06:52Because he has that versatility to play first.
06:54While it's not a gold glove, Paul Goldschmidt caliber, he can still play a solid first base.
06:58Has he earned the right to play versus a tough righty at first base if you really wanted to get him in there no matter what?
07:06Yeah.
07:06I think he now starts 9 out of 10.
07:08Okay.
07:09Like, I think that there's a way that teams â I remember â I want to say it was the Cubs kind of overstacked their team one year with 10 guys who all should have been starters.
07:23And one of their people sat down and said, what we're going to do is â like, I know it looks hard to you, but, like, the least any of these guys will do is play 7 out of 10 games.
07:34Here's how.
07:35And he showed me on a piece of paper how it could be done.
07:38And I think if you think of Dominguez, Grisham, Bellinger, Goldschmidt, Rice, like, that combination, it's like, okay, Dominguez has probably reached a point where, especially if it's a lefty starter,
07:52he doesn't start, so he's 7 or 8 out of 10.
07:56Grisham is 7 or 8 out of 10.
07:58Bellinger and Rice are 9 or 10 out of 10.
08:01Like, what we've seen this season is the graduation of, like, Bellinger and Rice in particular, of that group of players to play in the most games.
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