- 15 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00It's a drive by Derry Dawson, Charles Chisholm goes deep.
00:09Hello and welcome to the Pitchstripe Post.
00:11My name is Ryan Sampson.
00:12He's the star of the show, Joel Sherman.
00:13Today is Monday, May 4th.
00:15We start the show with unfortunate news.
00:18Yankees legend and icon and longtime radio broadcaster,
00:21John Sterling, has sadly passed away today.
00:24And we wanted to just start the episode here.
00:27As always, I usually like to ask Joel, you know, how's he doing?
00:30But I feel like we're probably feeling the same way right now, Joel.
00:34But how's it going, man?
00:35It's a tough, tough, tough start to the day here on a Monday.
00:39Yeah, I'm feeling worse than if I would have answered this question a couple of hours ago.
00:47John has real meaning to me.
00:52I was the Yankee beat writer for the New York Post from 1989 to 95.
00:57John's first year broadcasting Yankees was 1989.
01:00We kind of started a ride together.
01:04John is also, he has known so much for the Yankees.
01:08But I grew up and he was a very distinct announcer for the Nets and the Islanders.
01:14Plus, he did talk radio way before WFAN.
01:20And my dad and I would listen at night, you know, when you could sit in the living room
01:24and just stare at a radio and listen back in a more quaint day.
01:30We'd listen because there just wasn't anything else like it.
01:33And he was both lyrical and bombastic.
01:38He had, just like he was when he was an announcer, able to bounce between the two things.
01:43And when I think about John, I could tell stories for a long, long time because, again,
01:49we're around each other a lot.
01:51But I think there are two things that really stand out about him.
01:56Number one, he was distinct.
01:59There was nobody who sounded like John Sterling or did the broadcast like John Sterling.
02:06John, for a very brief period, I want to say sometime in like the 90s, had a radio talk
02:18show that was associated with like being around the Yankees.
02:22And he had me like, and he'd have like multiple guests at one time.
02:27And I remember one time we were doing it.
02:30I want to say we were down in Florida with spring training.
02:32And it was like the show, the way John wanted to do it, like we all had drinks in front
02:38of us and like we were doing the show.
02:41It was like the idea was we're sitting at a bar and talking, but we've turned on the radio
02:47mics.
02:48And John, like during a commercial, said, this is what I always want every broadcast to
02:53be, as if I'm sitting with you like we're familiar.
02:57And I'm just a guy and he said, if it was perfect, you'd hear the ice clink on my glass
03:04as I was talking, because we're that familiar with each other.
03:08And I thought, you know, there were a lot of people who didn't like that style.
03:13But John, that was his style.
03:15And it was distinct.
03:16The second thing that stands out for me, Ryan, was how many people end up doing exactly
03:22what they want with their life?
03:25John dreamed young of not only being a broadcaster and doing sports, but he wanted to be the Yankee
03:32play-by-play man.
03:34And it's much like my dear friend, Michael Kay, who dreamed as a boy.
03:40I've told Michael this.
03:41I've done shows where I've said, Michael, what a triumph your life is to dream big and reach
03:50your dream.
03:51John Sterling dreamed big and forever, even with his passing, his associations say like
03:58Mel Allen or Scooter Rizzuto or Bill White, like people we think of as distinct Yankee broadcasters.
04:04John is going to stand with them forever as a, and he will have done it doing exactly what
04:11he wanted to do, exactly how he wanted to do it.
04:14And what a triumph in life to be able to do your dream job exactly as you dreamed of doing
04:25it and not
04:26having to do it by the structures of others.
04:30He lived a long, glorious life.
04:36He was a rock and tear, like when that was a word that mattered.
04:41Like he, he just had the ability to kind of like ease into a situation comfortable in his skin.
04:50Uh, I'm sad he passed.
04:54The big picture is it was a life led of triumph to do what you want, how you want to
05:01do it.
05:02Joel, that's a beautifully said, uh, not, not very often.
05:07Can you say icon legend and truly mean it?
05:09And that is what John Sterling is and was, uh, it's the, it's the most meaningful sports franchise
05:16maybe in the world, certainly in this country.
05:19Like it stands there with who the Cowboys, who else?
05:23Notre Dame.
05:24And John, it was the voice of it.
05:26They, there, there are, I'm, I'm talking to you from MLB network.
05:29Do you know how many young people said in some way that he was the soundtrack of their summer?
05:34Now I'm too old for that.
05:37Like, like the soundtrack to my summer was like Bob Murphy, Phil Rizzuto, like I'm older,
05:45but like, can you imagine that for every baseball fan, especially if you were a Yankee fan growing
05:50up and I see you shaking your head, the sound of baseball for a long period of time.
05:56If you were a Yankee fan sounded like John Sterling.
05:59Yes.
06:00Yes.
06:00He was my childhood, Joel.
06:02That's something I said the first, as soon as I saw the news, I'm like, that's my childhood
06:05right there.
06:05John Sterling.
06:06Listening to him call baseball games, listen, call the Yankee games.
06:10The enthusiasm he had was as, as just unparalleled.
06:14Like he is one of a kind.
06:16And I, and I, something I'm going to enjoy now being in this business now in media, John
06:21truly cared about his craft.
06:23And that's something that I think, you know, Joel, it's, it's few and far between sometimes
06:28when you see guys like that.
06:29And he, he put the passion, he put the work in, he cared about the product.
06:32He cared about what he did out there.
06:34And I just, for me today to memorialize him like we are right now, I know it's going to,
06:38there's going to be a lot of things said about how great the person was.
06:41I think it's great that you got to share those stories about the person, the type of guy he
06:46was.
06:46Can I give you one more, I'll give you one more story.
06:48And I think describe the man.
06:49Yeah.
06:50So Susan Waldman for the Jewish holidays one year, couldn't do the games.
06:56And they asked me, do you want to do them?
06:58And I, this is well before I was doing TV with regularity.
07:03Like, like the only radio I really ever did was like, as like, maybe like, you know, a
07:08call in WFAN, whatever.
07:10Like I just didn't have a lot of reps.
07:12And so anyone who knows me, I'm kind of like a worker aunt.
07:15I would made notes.
07:16They were playing the blue Jays twice.
07:18I talked to like the blue J people and I had notes and I came into the radio booth and
07:23John saw my notes and took my notes and threw them in the garbage.
07:27And he said, he said, you know, the game and you know, the teams just talk to me.
07:35And that was, I did two games with John.
07:37Can you imagine that?
07:38I get to say that during kind of like the height of this back in the nineties, I did,
07:44I, or maybe it was the two thousands already by the time I did the games with him.
07:47It's, it's certainly 20 plus years.
07:50I did two baseball games on the radio with John Sterling.
07:52That is, that is a rare thing that you get to share and hold into your memory, Joel.
07:57And, and look, John Sterling, unfortunately passed away today at the age of 87, born on
08:03July 4th, 1938, called over 5,000 baseball games, 5,060 consecutive games, which is an
08:10insane feat that not many people are ever going to say they had.
08:13But we, we remember John Sterling at the start of this episode of Pinstripe Post because
08:18it's worth it.
08:19And that man, uh, truly an icon, uh, and I appreciate you, Joel, just sharing your insights
08:25and stories about him, man.
08:28At least if the Yankees win tonight, we're talking on Monday, don't go to Sinatra, go to
08:33the Yankees win.
08:35That's how they should end the game tonight with nothing else.
08:38If they are able to beat the Orioles.
08:41It's an, it's an incredible call.
08:42Always.
08:43No, it's just, it's so good.
08:45It's so good.
08:45Uh, all right, now let's talk some baseball here, Joel, uh, because the Yankees are continued
08:50their winning ways.
08:51Uh, they finished the week strong, sweeping the Orioles.
08:54They took two out of three against the Rangers.
08:55It's the last time we spoke to you.
08:56They got one more against the Orioles.
08:58Sorry.
08:58One more against the Orioles.
08:59That's right.
08:59I get, uh, Orioles tonight.
09:00But, um, I, I do want to start with your piece you wrote yesterday because it's the hot
09:06topic again that we had talked about on last week's episode.
09:09The Yankees made the decision to option Anthony Volpe down to the minors.
09:14And I know this is weird that we're starting with Anthony Volpe, who's not even on the
09:16team, but it feels like there's, there's a biggest story around, but it's the biggest
09:20story, right?
09:20Because there's, there's a turning point here in the mentality.
09:23Something I had asked you about last week, Joel, it's like, there feels something different
09:27about just not just Boone, but the organization of how they're approaching this season.
09:31They're all in to win it this year and they're not trying to mess with a good thing that's
09:35going right now.
09:36So what more can you say about the decision to put Volpe back to AAA?
09:41You know, Ryan, I try not to be self-referential, but like oftentimes you're fighting against
09:46this, uh, social media in particular storm of whatever that horrible black cloud is.
09:53And I think on this show, I'm willing to go back and listen to tape starting in spring
09:58training.
09:59I said, I've never, the last time I thought the Yankees handled the post-season loss as
10:05badly as they had handled, as far as the ache was in, when they lost in 97 to the guard
10:12to Cleveland in the division series after winning the 96 world series.
10:16I think they thought they were even a better team in 97.
10:18They got eliminated, uh, and they came back the next year and won 114 regular season games,
10:24different time, different era, different kind of players.
10:26But like, I, the thing that stood out in spring training for me is like, they still weren't
10:32over it.
10:33They were, they really thought they were the best team in the American league last year
10:36than that.
10:37They were better than a team that went to the world series the year before.
10:40And they don't, they never figured out the blue Jays and got beat.
10:43And I said that number one, and number two, I said, every time a question would come up
10:48about like, who's going to play, what are they going to do?
10:50And I just say, they are not screwing around.
10:53They are, they are laser focused on like what gives them the best shot to win.
11:02Uh, and cause it's like, you know, and, and we've seen it, uh, think about who's a triple
11:08a now I'm going to include Dominguez because he was a triple a right until recently.
11:14Dominguez, Luis Gil, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Anthony Volpe.
11:17The Yankees won a, well, won the American league championship in 24, and they won as
11:21many games as any team in the American league last year.
11:24Those four guys helped them a lot to that.
11:28And they're not on this team.
11:30And I think it's exempt, uh, exemplifies two things, right?
11:34Number one, they're just like, nobody's on scholarship, man.
11:37Uh, now this is true a little last year, right?
11:40Dominguez was the starting outfielder and Grisham just outplayed him and became a starting
11:45outfielder.
11:46And Caballero has outplayed his expectation and he he's there, you know, and we'll certainly
11:54talk about that some more.
11:55But the other thing was for all the, they're running it back people, which I, again, something
12:01I've been saying the whole time, I don't believe it.
12:04Uh, you would, would you like not running it back?
12:06The Mets didn't run it back.
12:08They've, they made a lot of changes like, uh, for a team that kind of stayed the same, they
12:15have an awful lot of depth, right?
12:18For, for it, we're about two weeks away.
12:22I'm assuming when Rodan, Rodan pitches Tuesday night at AAA, and then we'll pitch in the majors
12:27either five or six days later.
12:29I assume that's Elmer Rodriguez goes down.
12:33I think we get more Cole and then he comes, if they don't have another injury, they're
12:39going to have to send either weather's a warrant to the bullpen, but more likely down to keep
12:45them stretched out.
12:46So think about the depth that they have for a team that ran it back.
12:51The depth they've developed, by the way, that doesn't include judge George Lombard who
12:56jumped from double A to triple A.
12:58And by the way, Anthony Volpe, you better go with a good attitude to triple A.
13:02Because when, and if the injury comes to an infielder, second, short, or third, you better
13:07be better than George Lombard jr.
13:09Because I, again, I don't think the Yankees are in screw around, uh, competition.
13:14And by the way, I'll throw, he hasn't gotten off well down there, but the Yankees have always
13:17loved Oswaldo Cabrera and like, like the next infielder called up, like Anthony Volpe
13:23isn't going to be on scholarship.
13:25He's got to outplay those guys.
13:27And by the way, Spencer Jones is hitting a ton of homers down there.
13:32And so when, and if Stanton comes back and Dominguez goes back down, he has to keep his
13:38good attitude and good play because the next time there's a call up, it might not be him.
13:43So the Yankees have developed a, a lot of depth, even running it back and that to, to, to play
13:51in
13:51the majors and then B, I just think there is no automatics here.
13:58Like, yeah, you're an automatic.
14:00If you're Aaron judge, he could go to a month slump.
14:02I don't think that's going to happen, but like, he's going to be on the team.
14:06Max free can have a couple of bad starts.
14:07He's in the rotation, but most guys, you better play like, like Paul Goldschmidt doesn't
14:15play baseball much these days because Ben Rice is exceptional at baseball right now.
14:20And that's the way it should be like, like the, I mean, do we want to get into it?
14:26It's like, if you look under the hood on Caballero, all the stuff that analytically the Yankees
14:33care a great deal about, and by the way, the whole sport cares a great deal about, he's
14:37not very good at Caballero.
14:39Like he doesn't hit the ball hard.
14:41He doesn't make good swing decisions.
14:43He's, he chases a lot.
14:45He swings and misses a lot.
14:46He doesn't walk a lot.
14:48There's stuff like that.
14:49But he's outperforming all of it.
14:51Those numbers are usually predictive that if you're bad at them, you will usually, you
14:57turn towards a bad outcome.
14:59And I think that the Yankees probably down deep think that that will happen to Jose Caballero.
15:06But you know what?
15:07We're not going to play this season on a spreadsheet.
15:09We're going to play it on a baseball field.
15:11And for five weeks, Jose Caballero has been, and especially the last three weeks when his
15:16fielding evened out and he started to hit better, he is literally leading the major leagues in
15:22defensive run saves, shortstop.
15:24It's crazy.
15:25He has a literally leading the American league in stolen bases.
15:28And he is more than holding his own as a hitter.
15:30Now, if the hitting backs up, maybe we'll see a different shortstop sometime, June, July,
15:38August.
15:38But it's got to happen, not happen in theory.
15:42And it's good that the Yankees didn't let a theory get in the way of it.
15:47And I know I'm long-winded here, Ryan.
15:49I'll throw in one other thing.
15:50The Yankees are playing terrific, obviously, right?
15:53They got the best record in the American league.
15:55They got the second best record in the majors.
15:57They're kind of like flying right now.
16:00They have such a good vibe about them.
16:03And having done this show, I know what a lightning rod Anthony Volpe is to the fan base.
16:10You, it would be wrong for the Yankees to bring Volpe up here.
16:13And then suddenly, if you lose 7 out of 10, and he's hitting, like, people just go,
16:17ah, he screwed up the whole team.
16:19To me, he now has to get back here organically by earning it or injury or something else
16:26so that it doesn't feel like it was gifted to him.
16:29It's the scholarship that you mentioned.
16:31There's no one on scholarship anymore.
16:33Well, look, he was a better player than the general public perception for the last three years.
16:39They won a ton of games with him at shortstop.
16:41They went to the World Series with him at shortstop.
16:44He was very inconsistent, especially on offense.
16:47And let's give the kid credit.
16:49It turned out, look how long this rehab took.
16:52That was a significant injury that he said boo about last year and played through.
16:57So his toughness and his dedication probably shouldn't be questioned.
17:01And I think his game went a little even further south last year
17:05because he was trying to play through something that turned out pretty significant.
17:09Having said that, there was, for the first two years and four months,
17:14nobody else really to play shortstop when he was doing it.
17:18To their credit, the Yankees traded for Caballero.
17:21I think they saw him as an excellent 10th man.
17:24I think probably down deep, they probably still think he's an excellent 10th man.
17:27But it doesn't matter what you think.
17:30It only matters, doesn't matter what you think of what Ben Rice was going to be 12 months ago.
17:35He is something else now, and you've got to deal with the reality.
17:40And until Caballero follows his metric south, he needs to be the shortstop
17:46because A, he's earned it, and B, Volpe needs to re-earn getting to the majors
17:53so that if things go badly up here, it doesn't play like,
17:57oh, of course their golden-haired boy is here again.
18:01Because the Yankees have a good enough vibe that they have to be smart enough to avoid that.
18:06And that's even why I'm saying, I'll play Lombard, I'll play Cabrera.
18:10You've got to earn your way back here.
18:13Dominguez had a great attitude being sent down and earned some playing time back up here.
18:18And by the way, the fact that he's hit lefty pitching well down in the minors this year
18:23and so far up here, that means even when Stanton returns,
18:27you can make a case that you could keep him to play against lefties if you think it's real.
18:33Now, we'll see.
18:34But he's done what you ask a player to do.
18:37He got knocked down literally to the minor leagues, and he has come back swinging.
18:43And so let's see if Anthony Volpe does the same thing
18:47because I think the Yankees are doing the right thing.
18:50I completely agree with you.
18:51I 100% think they're doing the right thing.
18:53I think they've done the right thing in the Ryan McMahon approach
18:55by not being afraid to play about Rosario against righty pitching
18:58when Rosario is hitting well, and especially versus a tough lefty.
19:03They're putting Rosario in there.
19:05I'm interested to see with the Dominguez situation.
19:07I know defensively he still leaves a lot to be left on the field,
19:11but he hits the hell out of the baseball, Joel.
19:14And Trent Grisham, I know he's hitting to a lot of bad luck.
19:17That's what the metrics will tell you because he hits the ball hard.
19:19It's just in a lot of bad spots.
19:21I do wonder about the Trent Grisham thing.
19:23It's sub 200 right now, the way he's hitting.
19:25He's still batting leadoff a lot.
19:27I know he's batting ninth the other day, which I thought was interesting.
19:30Maybe it's just because they're facing a lefty.
19:32But does Dominguez earn more playing time versus Trent Grisham here?
19:37I think he has a shot.
19:39Again, he had a great game on Sunday.
19:43Let's see.
19:44I think that Boone will still try to find some spots, especially with Stanton out as a regular player for
19:50him to get regular at-bats.
19:52Let's see if they do it because they could just, when Stanton comes back, they could just send Max Schumann
19:56down, right?
19:57And keep Dominguez if they want as that guy.
20:01I will say, if you watched the game yesterday, Trent Grisham had great at-bats.
20:06I mean, he killed the ball right at the second baseman.
20:10He hit a ball into the right center field gap.
20:12The at-bats are really good.
20:14You know, look, Ryan, anyone who's nice enough to listen to the show regularly knows this is not my favorite
20:19flavor at Baskin-Robbins as a player.
20:22But, like, you've got to be fair.
20:25You've got to cover what's in front of you and not your perception.
20:27He has played very hard this year, which, again, might not have fit the historical stuff with the Yankees, but
20:35he is hustling his ass off this year.
20:38The at-bats, if you just break down the at-bats, they have been really good.
20:42He is walking more than he's striking out, and he's among the leaders in walk percentage in the whole, in
20:47all major leagues.
20:48And, by the way, when you're batting in front of Rice and Judge and you're drawing walks, that is impressive
20:55because I would throw the ball underhand to avoid a walk in front of those two guys right now.
21:01Right?
21:01Like, so I think the at-bats have been good.
21:05I think he's hitting the ball hard.
21:06I do think it is a case of generally bad luck.
21:10My suspicion is, by the end of this season, Grisham will be, like, overall production as a total player, like,
21:19the 10th to 12th best center fielder production-wise all around in the major leagues.
21:24For a big market team like the Yankees, $22 million for that, that's worthwhile.
21:29Like, you see how things could go horribly wrong.
21:34I think Bellinger in left field, especially at Yankee Stadium, gives the Yankees a great advantage.
21:40It is so hard to play, and he does it as well or better than Brett Gardner, which is as
21:46high a compliment as I could give for playing that position at Yankee Stadium, which is really tricky.
21:51I think the Yankees are fine with this outfield.
21:55I would think that if these are the at-bats by Grisham, that eventually the batting average will get to
22:03where he, what he probably is, like a 220-230 hitter, which is fine if he's still walking 18%
22:09of the time, especially in front of those two monsters.
22:12It can't be downgraded what it means to walk a lot in front of those two guys.
22:17That is putting guys on for two of the, what, five or six most dangerous hitters in the sport right
22:23now.
22:23And so I know that, again, I don't know if it's social media, et cetera, that like a large segment
22:32of fans can only be happy if they're miserable.
22:35You know, the Yankees are winning, and I listen to a lot of Trent Grisham, Ryan McMahon stuff as if
22:39like there's a perfect team out there where everything is always flowing and works well.
22:45I get it.
22:46You want to think holistically about a whole team?
22:51I will say this, Ryan, I think if on June 1st or someplace in there, the numbers haven't started to
22:58meet the metrics, then he'll get less playing time.
23:01But right now, again, they're flying, and I think they think their best situation has Grisham in center field because
23:08they think Bellinger's performance in center field doesn't rank with his performance in left, and they know Dominguez isn't a
23:14center fielder, really.
23:15And so I think they want Grisham to play center field because even if it's an average defense or slightly
23:24below average defense, the overall group is better with him doing it.
23:28Sure.
23:29I hear you completely on the Grisham stuff.
23:31I think the other thing I'll say, though, is as Yankees fans see from yesterday, like you said with Dominguez,
23:35it's tantalizing.
23:37It's like, oh, man.
23:38There's no doubt.
23:38Like two hits from the right side of the plate, hits the home run from the left side of the
23:43plate.
23:44I was talking to a scout yesterday on the phone who was asking me about the Yankees, and I was
23:49talking about the idea of the run it back and that they actually have depth.
23:55I said, if you think of the position group as 13 players and you think about the starting rotation as
24:02five players, 18 guys, I said, I think the Yankees have like 23 or 24 major league players for those
24:0818 spots.
24:09And, you know, like they're not going to make an exemption where the Yankees can have a 30-man roster.
24:15So, like, forget about some of that.
24:18Like, Will Warren's ERA is literally the same as Max Freed, and Ryan Weathers is like a 3-1, and
24:28he's striking out like five times as many guys as he's walking.
24:32And, like, they'd be maybe the number three and four starter or two or three starters on lots of teams.
24:39One of them is going to end up in the minor leagues pretty soon without another injury.
24:43And so it's like, like, again, like if Jason Dominguez ends up back in the minor leagues, I don't think
24:49it's a – I think Anthony Volpe is a major league player.
24:52I think Jason Dominguez is a major league player.
24:55The reality is there's a lot of teams out there not playing major league players.
24:59The Yankees, to their credit, in a tougher time because of a bunch of rules, et cetera, have created depth
25:08and have real major league options when and if things go wrong.
25:14As we saw for the first time with Stanton going down with a calf injury, right?
25:18They call up Dominguez, and he's – like you said, he's kind of earned that opportunity here.
25:23And, by the way, the next time – you know, we'd have to assume if you were a betting man,
25:26do you think Stanton will have another IL stint this year?
25:28Probably.
25:29Probably.
25:30You know, that might be the Spencer Jones call.
25:32Yeah.
25:33Like they have created some depth and interesting depth, and let's throw it out there.
25:42Dominguez, Volpe, Jones, like they become – well, I think they want to hold that.
25:49But, like, are those trade candidates in July?
25:53When you need the thing.
25:55When you need that closer, yeah.
25:57I think we probably – we probably agree.
25:59The Yankees should be in play for whoever the best relief pitcher available is in July.
26:06And there are teams out there that still think Anthony Volpe's an above-average major league player.
26:11There are still teams out there that think Jason Dominguez could be an above-average major league player.
26:16Like, those guys could be parts of trades, right?
26:20If – look at it this way.
26:22Lindor and Mauricio went down with the Mets.
26:25Volpe would be playing shortstop.
26:28Right?
26:29Dominguez would be playing for them.
26:31Yeah.
26:31With Peterson and Benia pitching as poorly as they've pitched, Warren and Weathers would certainly be significant guys in their
26:38rotation.
26:39You know, this is a team with a $380 million payroll in the Mets.
26:43And there's a lot of people who can't or are having trouble staying on the Yankee roster that right now
26:49would be significant Mets.
26:50And that's not a throwaway team.
26:52That's a $380 million team.
26:54And so, I just think Yankee fans are going to have to become comfortable that, like, a lot of the
26:58players they like are going to not be playing.
27:03Because, you know, you could only put nine in a lineup a day.
27:06You could only have five starters.
27:09And, you know, it's just reality.
27:12Yeah.
27:12Well, this will bring me now, funny enough, to the real or unreal part of the show.
27:18And, Joel, you mentioned just now, Will Warren.
27:22The stats are not lying to me right now.
27:24He is pitching to, like you said, a two.
27:27The ERA is fascinating to me.
27:29He's got a 2-3-9 ERA.
27:31He's got a whip just above one.
27:33Opponents are batting .224 against him.
27:35He's got four wins on the season.
27:37Real or unreal what we're seeing from Will Warren right now.
27:40Because, like you said, Joel, this is what feels different about this Yankees rotation last year to this year.
27:45I know they got off to a great start last year.
27:47But they had Marcus Stroman on the end of his pretty much career.
27:49Because he hasn't signed with anyone else right now.
27:52They had Blackburn, Yarbrough.
27:53They had a bunch of guys making starts for them.
27:57Cookie Carrasco was in there.
27:59But this feels different with Warren and Weathers.
28:01But I'll ask you about Will Warren.
28:03Because he's the guy I feel like I wonder, do you really want to ruin a good thing right now?
28:08He's pitching so damn well.
28:11Yeah, you know, Ryan, the one thing I would say is I talked to a top men official in, like,
28:16the last 72 hours about their situation.
28:21And where the conversation migrated to, the person said, I don't think we're going to be really consistently good until
28:28we figure out the minor league thing.
28:30Where we're bringing people up here regularly who are good, good, at least good players to very good and more
28:36than that.
28:37And he said, because when you bring in so many people from the outside, like we did this year, you
28:43know, so much Bichette, Polanco, you know, Freddy Peralta, et cetera.
28:47It's hard to make it all work, to get it all right and make it mesh.
28:52He says you have to, you know, free agency is inefficient.
28:55Like, like, it costs more than it should.
28:58It's hard to integrate people.
29:00And I say that as long as the way to say, like, the Angus have done better with their farm
29:04system the last few years.
29:06And if Will Warren is no more than a good number four starter, which I think he's showing he can
29:12be.
29:12Like, is he a 239 ERA guy?
29:15No, but even if I add a run, I make it 339.
29:18I add a run and a half.
29:19I make it 389.
29:20That's a great starter.
29:22I make it about league average.
29:23Like, like, by the way, for not a lot of money, for a guy who's been through your system, so
29:29he speaks your language.
29:30So, like, when you've got to correct, you're correcting it with people he's worked with, in language that he's talked
29:36before, with equipment that he's worked on.
29:39So, like, just that.
29:40Like, Will Warren in free agency, like, that kind of guy, because, you know, the Phillies just released Tywon Walker,
29:49who is 472.
29:51Like, instead of spending and guessing on Tywon Walker, you have Will Warren.
29:55And if Will Warren is nothing more than that, and I think the analogy I've made on this show a
30:00few times is he's the tortoise and the hare.
30:03Like, he isn't the fastest, but he just keeps going.
30:08He makes all the starts last year.
30:09It's like, on this show last year at this time, I'm sure we'd say, well, when the Yankees replace Will
30:14Warren.
30:14Well, they never replaced Will Warren.
30:16And then here he is again.
30:18This is the best rotation in the major leagues right now.
30:21Right now, in all the performance stats, this is number one.
30:26And one of the reasons they are is because of Will Warren.
30:29And, again, if I were guessing, I have no inside information.
30:34I have no inside information aggregator friends.
30:38I should flash that on the screen when Joel says that.
30:42If Mwen, Rodon, and Cole come back, if I were guessing, and it's a guess, I would think they send
30:49Weathers down because Weathers doesn't have a history of pitching a lot of innings.
30:55And you could say, okay, we'll send him down.
30:57We'll modify his innings so that, like, you know, when and if he's got to come back to the rotation,
31:04he hasn't blown them all in the major leagues.
31:06Plus, I think Weathers is much more likely, again, in their most idealized, they stay healthy form, and they probably
31:13won't, of going to the bullpen and being a power lefty in the bullpen.
31:18So, like, and, again, I think once you get to August and you see, hey, we did or didn't get
31:24this reliever, I still think Weathers and LeGrande become factors in their bullpen.
31:30And so, if I were betting, which I wouldn't, of course, but if I was betting on it, I would
31:36think fully healthy Weathers is the guy who goes down.
31:39And, again, not because he has performed poorly, but because tactically it probably makes the most sense.
31:45And just because, like, somebody's got to go.
31:49They're not going to go to a six-man rotation.
31:51And I think it's too early in the season to push somebody in the bullpen and shorten their innings when,
31:56you know, you never know.
31:57Maybe Cole will have a relapse at some point or Rodon or, like, Freed will have an injury, and you're
32:02going to want a good answer.
32:03And, again, you know, Weathers will go down there.
32:05So, it's going to be Weathers, Luis Hill, LeGrande, Elmer Rodriguez.
32:10That's their AAA staff.
32:11They're going to have some real options again.
32:13So, once again, you're going to go down into their Darwinian pool, and you've got to swim out of it
32:19because I think the Yankees are in that position now where it's best guy comes back.
32:24It makes sense to me, Joel.
32:27I think the Weathers part makes a lot of sense, too, to try to keep them extended out there.
32:31I just – I would hate to see Will Warren go down, but like you said, the guys that are
32:35coming up here are the true guys you gave all this money to to be your aces of the staff.
32:40And, real quick, just based off of how they performed so far in the minors and their rehab stints, should
32:46we believe that Cole and Rodon could reach – not their full potential, but, like, let's say 90 to 95
32:52percent of Garrett Cole and Carlos Rodon we usually see?
32:57Well, if they do, the Yankees could probably win about 100 to 105 games.
33:00I mean, because – I mean, especially Cole.
33:04I mean, Cole's one of the best pitchers of the era.
33:06If he gets close to that – and everyone who's seen Cole has thought he's looked great.
33:11I'm still a post-Tommy John guy.
33:13You're not going to be exactly what you are for the 12 months you pitch until the next 12 months
33:18you pitch.
33:19So, I think probably a better version of him, though he'll be 36, 37 by the time he's doing that,
33:23I think, like, which is tougher.
33:25But, you know, they're pitching great, and they've been waiting on Rodon and Cole.
33:33You do have to have some fear that Rodon and Cole might not pitch as well as some of these
33:37guys.
33:37That's what I'm wondering.
33:38I think that that's not – that's not a unlikely outcome either.
33:43But, like, there's a lot invested in those two guys, and those two guys are going to sure get back
33:49into the rotation.
33:51And then, Joe, if you're a Yankee fan, you dream on the idealized version of it, Ryan,
33:56because a postseason rotation that's free, Schloetler, Cole, and Rodon,
34:03and then Weathers and Warren are in your bullpen.
34:07You know, a power lefty, a power righty, maybe LeGrande.
34:12It's why, first of all, I think their bullpen, which, while the biggest problem,
34:17if everything is by comparison, go check them out compared to everyone else.
34:22Right.
34:22I know when you compare them, it's not that bad.
34:24It doesn't look that bad.
34:26It's not – it's, like, not acceptable to the championship.
34:31But for the six months of the regular season, if this relief pitching kind of really sucks right now in
34:37the sport,
34:38the Yankees comparatively – like, Hedrick and Tim Hill are giving them a lot.
34:43Oh, my God.
34:43The ground balls from Hill.
34:46And Bednar is a pretty steady figure in the back, and he just pieces together the other guys.
34:53You know, you could pull your hair out with some of the Duvall, Cruz stuff.
34:56You know, Cruz not throwing strikes, but good stuff.
34:59Duvall, you know, whatever.
35:00To me, Jake Bird, that slider is too hittable too often.
35:04I think, you know, like you got to move that out at some point.
35:07But, again, comparatively, their bullpen is, like, in that, like, 5 to 10 bucket in most stats for –
35:17that you'd care about for a relief group, which just probably if you watch the Yankees every day,
35:22you go, wow, everyone else must really stink.
35:24Yep.
35:24Everyone else pretty much stinks in that area.
35:27Yeah.
35:28Look, Joel, I appreciate you hopping on here.
35:30Thank you again for sharing John Sterling's stories.
35:32I'm looking forward to seeing your coverage throughout this week.
35:36Sucks we don't get to see Schlittler-DeGrom 2.0 this week,
35:39but the Yankees get to face DeGrom and Evaldi again.
35:42It'll be tough against their lineup, but that's good pitching you want your team to face
35:46and see how they fare against them.
35:48Again, one real quick note.
35:50I just want to ask you, Schlittler versus DeGrom last week,
35:52how awesome was that seeing those two guys going up against each other?
35:57Yeah, at his peak, you know, like that three-, four-year period,
36:01the best pitcher I've ever seen with any regularity was Pedro Martinez with Boston.
36:07And look, I, for our whole career, of course, I'll take Greg Maddox and Randy Johnson,
36:13but for like those like three years where like I covered a heck of a lot of DeGrom starts.
36:21And in the first inning of a lot of those starts, I'd say he might throw a perfect game today.
36:26Just that good.
36:27No, he never did.
36:28But it was like that kind of, like not a lot of people make me go,
36:32well, I'm not taking a bathroom break here.
36:35I'm like watching every second of this.
36:37And that version of DeGrom do it.
36:39And by the way, Schlittler's starting to like at least it's only what, 15, 18 to 20 career starts.
36:46He's got a long, long way to go to even be DeGrom, much less a historic guy.
36:51But in this moment, how many people would you pay to watch pitch before you'd pay to watch Schlittler pitch?
36:59Like it's pretty good.
37:00Not many.
37:00And it's interesting to watch.
37:02It's interesting to watch.
37:04And it's fascinating to see if he could sustain it.
37:06It's like one of the great storylines of the overall baseball season,
37:09but certainly the New York and the Yankee baseball season,
37:11which is like every time he pitches, I'm like, is this really who he is?
37:15Because, I mean, it's the highest level of Gary Cole right now.
37:21Will he sustain it?
37:23I have no idea.
37:24No idea.
37:24But a lot of people love watching the electrifying stuff that he provides out there.
37:28Joel Sherman, you are the man.
37:30Thank you as always.
37:31And we'll catch up with you next week.
37:33Rest in peace, John Sterling.
37:35You are the best.
37:35Yes.
37:37Yes.
37:38Yes.
37:38Yes.
37:39Yes.
37:40Yes.
37:40Yes.
Comments