00:00When can we expect to see Garrett Cole and Carlos Rodon on the mound again?
00:04And is Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice ready to take on the Mass Holes, the hometown kids?
00:10Greg Joyce, our Yankees beat writer for the Post, is on to get us ready for the most heated rivalry
00:16in baseball.
00:17Ladies and gentlemen, we got Yankees Red Sox tonight.
00:21Greg, first thing I got to ask, man, Garrett Cole, Carlos Rodon, can you give us an update on their
00:27progress, please?
00:29Yeah, they're getting close.
00:30Maybe, you know, as soon as a couple of weeks out, Garrett Cole started his rehab assignment last Friday with
00:37AA Somerset through about 44 pitches, I think.
00:39So, you know, they haven't announced his next step, but I think it'll probably be Wednesday.
00:44Wouldn't be surprised if it's Scranton-Wilkes-Barre and AAA, their home.
00:47So just kind of the next step for him.
00:49He's going to make, I would think, you know, or at least five starts, six starts.
00:53Maybe you get the 30-day clock on the rehab assignment, but you can extend it if you're coming back
00:59from Tommy John, which he is.
01:01But it's about kind of building up his workload at this point.
01:04But everything to date has gone well.
01:06He was pretty happy with how he felt and pitched Friday night.
01:10So, you know, as long as there's been no issues in his recovery since then, which it doesn't sound like
01:15there has been,
01:16he should make another start on Wednesday or Thursday.
01:19Carlos Rodon threw another live on Saturday at Somerset.
01:24They weren't quite ready to put him in a rehab assignment yet just because they wanted to make sure that
01:28the hamstring issue that he had on his way back was fully past him.
01:32So it's a little bit more controlled environment doing a live batting practice.
01:35But the plan was for him to start a rehab assignment this week as well.
01:40So maybe Thursday for him in Scranton.
01:42So those guys, it sounds like Rodon's going to get three rehab starts and then kind of see where he
01:47is from there.
01:49His pitch count was higher than Cole.
01:51So it sounds like he should be back before Cole, but maybe not too far ahead of him.
01:56But, you know, by the end of May, I think you can see both of those guys back in the
02:01Yankees rotation, if not sooner.
02:03Yeah, 13-9 on the season.
02:05The rotation is kind of held up with both of those guys out.
02:08So, you know, imagine the firepower that they're going to bring when they get back to the lineup and they're
02:13fully healthy and they're pitching like the stars that they are.
02:17Cam Schlittler, another guy in that rotation.
02:19He's going home.
02:20It's a homecoming for both him and Ben Rice.
02:23Both of these guys are Massachusetts natives.
02:25We read that Cam Schlittler, his family has been getting death threats.
02:30We know all about this rivalry.
02:31But what do you think about Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice's homecoming?
02:35What are these guys talking about going up there and playing against a team that they pretty much rooted for
02:41when they were kids?
02:43Yeah, I mean, it should be both coming back high and flying high.
02:47You know, Ben Rice has been one of the best hitters in the major leagues through the first few weeks
02:51of the season.
02:52And Cam Schlittler has been probably one of the best pitchers as well.
02:55You know, he's had a couple he had one or two rough ones in there, but he started off pretty
02:59dominant.
02:59He looked really good.
03:01You know, the Yankees had high hopes for both guys coming into the season, but they've probably, you know, gone
03:06about as well as you could have at 0-4 over the first month.
03:09Schlittler obviously pitched against the Red Sox last October.
03:12That was at Yankee Stadium.
03:13But obviously, we know the back story with that.
03:16You know, he revealed afterwards that he was getting a lot of social media hate from fans back in Boston
03:22for his family.
03:24And told our colleague, Joel Sherman, the other day that, you know, his family was still getting death threats to
03:29this date.
03:30So it should be an interesting atmosphere at Fenway.
03:32You know, that he's going to be warming up in that bullpen in right field and the fans are basically
03:36just a couple feet away.
03:38So I'm sure he's going to hear his fair share of heckling.
03:41And, you know, as long as it's within the, you know, reason of, you know, not crossing that line, I
03:47think it's all kind of fair game.
03:50You know, I think he kind of feeds off that.
03:52He's a guy that kind of looks for, I don't know what looks for, but, you know, kind of feeds
03:56off that motivation.
03:57He's always kind of trying to find that chip on his shoulder, kind of fuel for it.
04:01So he leans into it.
04:03And he's done a good job so far of not letting it kind of consume him, but kind of use
04:07it the right way.
04:08So, you know, it'll be a good test for him his first time pitching in Boston.
04:12Obviously, Ben Rice has played here before, but he's coming back, you know, mashing the ball.
04:17And he's just behind Aaron Judge for the team leading home runs.
04:21So he's, you know, what a big bat he's been for them.
04:24And they've said all along, they think he can be a legit middle of the order bat.
04:27And he's kind of showing so far that, you know, he hit into some bad luck last year that his
04:32underlying stats were in his great or his underlying stats were great.
04:35The service numbers weren't didn't match necessarily.
04:38But, you know, early on here that they've matched up well and he's he's gotten the results to show for
04:42it.
04:43Full circle moment here, folks, to the folks that are watching.
04:47Greg went to Brantree High School.
04:49Cam Schlittler went to Walpole High School.
04:51I went to Framingham High School.
04:53We're all from the same division.
04:55We all play in the same division.
04:56If I didn't get kicked off the baseball team my freshman year and I wasn't 41 years old, Greg, I'd
05:01give Cam Schlittler the business in high school.
05:04But that's.
05:05Yeah, I didn't make it past freshman year.
05:07I'm in that same boat.
05:08That's how it happens, man.
05:10All right.
05:10Let's talk about a guy that has kind of gotten off to a slow start.
05:13And that's unfortunate because here's a guy that's in a contract year and he's claiming that he was going to
05:19have a 50 50 season.
05:21Jazz Chisholm Jr.
05:23has gotten off to a slow start.
05:25No home runs.
05:26Eight stolen bases on the season.
05:29Are you concerned about Jazz's slow start to this year?
05:34I think it's got to be at least a little bit of a concern.
05:36I think he started slow last year before turning it on.
05:39He's a guy that's talked about playing better in the warmer weather.
05:42Obviously, as hasn't been great weather in New York to start, but that's no excuse.
05:47It's the same for everybody who's playing.
05:50But, yeah, he's you know, he's been you know, there's been a couple of guys who have gotten off to
05:54slow starts.
05:55But, you know, in that lineup, he's the one that you kind of expect the most out of, you know,
05:59just because you saw it last year for good stretches of how productive he can be when he's on.
06:04So he's a guy that they certainly need to get going.
06:06When he got Sunday off against the left, he kind of gave him a double day off, maybe a chance
06:10for a reset.
06:11But they do need to get him going.
06:13And the longer it carries on, the more you wonder about, is it a guy pressing in his contract year?
06:18Like you said, you know, he talked in spring training about, you know, kind of using that to his advantage,
06:24kind of a lot to prove, kind of feeding off that.
06:27But, you know, it's natural for guys to, you know, we saw with Gleyber Torres here a couple of years
06:31ago, he had a rough contract year until, you know, I think second half late in the year, just kind
06:36of said, like, you know, forget that and stop thinking about it so much.
06:40And his play got better because of it.
06:41So it's only the first month, you know, we've seen this with Jazz before of getting off to a slow
06:45start.
06:45So I don't think it's, you know, a huge red flag just yet, but it certainly, you know, should be
06:52on their radar, just especially because some of the underlying stats don't, you know, don't indicate that he's just hitting
06:57into bad luck or anything like that.
06:59But, you know, he's drawn his share of walks, which they've been, you know, hoping that that's a sign of,
07:05you know, controlling the zone and maybe better things to come.
07:08But, you know, it's almost a month, full month into the season now.
07:11So it's, you know, it's time for him to get going and kind of make that impact that we saw
07:15last year.
07:18Since everyone, the major storyline was Brian Cashman running back with the same roster.
07:23I kind of want to look ahead a little bit.
07:25They're 5-5 in their last 10, 13-9 on the season going into this Red Sox season, Red Sox
07:32series.
07:33I understand that we're still relatively early in the season, but do you think Brian Cashman keeps the roster as
07:40it is right now?
07:41Or do you think there's a position or even a couple of positions out there that they could kind of
07:46make a move to upgrade?
07:49Yeah, I think the biggest concern right now is the bullpen.
07:53They had a rough week last week.
07:55Before, you know, having some better results over the weekend.
07:57But, you know, just in general, usually you don't see a ton of activity in terms of trades in the
08:04major leagues until closer to the trade deadline, which I think is August 3rd this year.
08:09You know, every now and then you'll see one in June that's an, you know, impact trade.
08:12But for the most part, it's closer to that deadline.
08:14And the other thing, too, with, you know, like we talked about with Cole and Rodon coming back, you know,
08:19if everybody stays healthy until then, then you could theoretically fold two of your current starters into the bullpen, which
08:25could help there.
08:27But they obviously need to keep winning games in the meantime until those guys get back.
08:31They seem to think that they have enough guys there for now to kind of hold down the fort and
08:36establish some roles, which you see it at times.
08:39But then a lot more times it's there's not a whole lot of, you know, guys you can trust for
08:43sure back there on every given day.
08:45You know, you've seen it in flashes, but they need to be doing it more consistently.
08:49So I think that's going to be the biggest area of need going forward.
08:52But it's hard to, you know, it's hard to get an impact guy in here this early in the season,
08:58I think.
08:58You usually don't see it this early.
09:01But certainly, you know, they're going to see how the next month or two goes and whether they get some
09:05starters in the bullpen.
09:06But I think by June, you should have a pretty good idea of still whether that is a big need.
09:10And, you know, they added trade, they had a reliever at the deadline almost every year.
09:15So it seems like an annual tradition at least.
09:17But that seems to be the biggest area of need at this point.
09:20All right, Greg, thanks for your time and enjoy Boston, man.
09:24Welcome back home.
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