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1:31

We are breaking down all aspects of

1:34

Yankee baseball. This is the Bronx Pinstripe

1:36

Show with your host, Andrew Rotondi and

1:38

Scott Ryan. Let's go.

1:41

What's up, everybody?

1:49

Welcome to the Bronx Pinstripe Show, our 10th season,

1:51

Scott. We figured that out before the podcast and

1:53

I think you didn't believe it when I said

1:55

this is going to be our 10th season in

1:57

2024. We started. doing

2:00

this podcast prior to the 2015 season

2:03

and 2024 will indeed be the 10th season

2:05

of Yankees baseball. Happy New

2:07

Year man. Yeah, I need you to

2:09

count on your fingers to prove that because in my

2:11

head the math didn't work but then when you counted

2:14

on your fingers and I saw all those 10 digits

2:16

go up I was like damn this is the 10th

2:18

year coming up that's a lot. It's

2:20

kind of crazy because you mentioned also like the last

2:22

five years is a blur. I agree the last five

2:24

years is definitely a blur you

2:26

know leading up to 19 I think

2:28

was like the last normal year and

2:31

then ever since then it's just been

2:33

it's just been a different both in

2:35

Yankees baseball the world and our lives.

2:38

So yeah man I'm

2:40

excited this one this one this this upcoming

2:42

season needs to be number

2:45

10 needs to be better a good

2:47

different year yeah needs to be

2:49

different it just needs to be different

2:51

instead of not hitting the ceiling or

2:54

you know getting to a place where they're

2:56

actually maximizing you know what the abilities are

2:58

on the baseball diamond they actually need to

3:00

do that for a full season not

3:02

just half a year. Last

3:05

year I think for a lot of people

3:07

watching watching the Yankees for two people talking

3:09

about it two or three times a week

3:12

was not easy and I don't know

3:14

that I don't know how we

3:16

are going to be able to handle another non-existent Yankee

3:18

season uh like 2023. So hopefully 2024 is different but

3:20

you know what it

3:23

also means you know what today also is it's the

3:25

first podcast of the new year you know what we

3:27

have to do. Festivus?

3:30

No we miss we miss Festivus.

3:32

God damn it. Yeah

3:35

we have to pick a date is when the last time

3:38

you could wish someone a happy new year is. No

3:40

that's your thing you can wish me a happy new year

3:42

anytime you want. Bullshit I've

3:44

come to you April 12th I can

3:46

wish you a happy new year. If you're talking about

3:48

the baseball new year sure. Okay well

3:51

I'm gonna put a January

3:53

12th date on it. No you've moved it

3:55

up you've moved it up because

3:57

I'm pretty sure it was the it was the third.

4:00

It was the third week of January was your was

4:02

your stop-dead. There were some there's some caveats here Yeah,

4:05

because it depends on when the first day back

4:07

of work is most people's first day back of

4:09

work was yesterday Tuesday So you basically have two

4:11

full work weeks? Okay, you're gonna you're telling me

4:13

you're gonna come back on the 16th because of

4:15

MLK day believe is on the 15th Yeah, come

4:17

back after MLK day and start wishing people happy

4:20

new year. Maybe I haven't getting them yet Where

4:22

does the caveat lie if you haven't seen them

4:24

yet or spoken to them or communicated to them?

4:27

Does that does that they're probably not January or no? No,

4:29

they're not important enough to get a happy new year

4:31

if you haven't talked to them in the first two

4:33

weeks Yeah of the month. They're probably not important enough

4:35

to you to wish them a happy new year. Okay,

4:38

I mean, that's fine I know you you

4:40

have a you have a serious problem with

4:42

with people wishing you a happy new year

4:44

after a particular date So that's why I

4:47

wish that everybody who's listening wishes you although

4:49

you're no longer active on Twitter Harder

4:51

harder to get to you which which is a

4:53

problem for me I like bothering you and I

4:55

like you know having having people reach out to

4:58

bother you. It makes me happy I

5:00

probably shouldn't say this but I still do answer

5:02

my Twitter DMS There's a lot of people

5:04

who listen to the podcast they just eat there in the DMS

5:06

now They're in the DMS and

5:08

cool, but but it's people who like the

5:10

show and who I'm friendly with so it's

5:13

positive interactions It's not shitheads. Well good They

5:15

don't mean even more to me then if

5:17

those people wish you a happy new year

5:19

after January 16th That will be even better

5:21

because cool clearly you have a report January

5:23

12th January 12th. Okay, sorry January 13th on

5:25

please Yeah,

5:27

let it let it fly Well, we

5:29

skipped we start hitting comments on

5:31

Facebook under your family pictures I

5:34

can't even log into Facebook never mind.

5:36

Never mind see comments on Facebook My

5:38

Facebook account has been locked for like

5:40

nine months So we are

5:43

in between the Christmas and New Year. We we

5:45

did the Bernie Williams throwback episode It just

5:48

you know with the you traveling I was

5:50

about to head out for a couple days

5:52

and the slow news cycle just didn't make

5:54

sense to You know

5:56

jump on and really only talk about Estevan

5:58

Florial being away and Yamamoto not

6:00

signing with the Yankees, which we're going to talk about today.

6:03

But there have been a bunch of other things around the

6:05

league over the past few days that have happened that I

6:07

think impact the Yankees. Where do you want to start? You

6:09

want to start with the Yamamoto stuff? Because when

6:12

we last recorded, which was the Wednesday

6:14

before Christmas, or the Thursday before Christmas,

6:17

would you say the Yankees were like the leader in the clubhouse

6:19

at that point to get them? I don't think anybody knew that's

6:22

the thing. Like it was, there

6:24

was so much unbelievable speculation

6:26

around even Otani

6:28

and Yamamoto. But Yamamoto

6:31

felt like it was taking

6:34

us for a loop

6:36

in every different direction. So yeah, did I think

6:38

the Yankees were firmly in it? For sure. Definitely

6:41

expected that. Everything you heard

6:44

was the Dodgers, the Mets, the Yankees, but

6:46

really Dodgers, Yankees. So what

6:48

we learned is that this guy wanted to

6:50

be a Dodger the entire time.

6:53

And whether Otani signed there or

6:55

not, he was wanting to be a Dodger. So

6:58

basically just waiting this thing out, playing the

7:01

agent was just making sure

7:03

that he was getting the maximized amount of

7:05

dollars that he could possibly get for the

7:07

contract to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

7:09

And that's exactly what happened. Because

7:12

you know, I'm a tinfoil hack conspiracy

7:15

theorist when it comes to things like

7:17

this. Do you think that Otani knew

7:19

Yamamoto's top team? Right. 100%. So when

7:21

Otani was shopping his,

7:26

you know, free agency around, and he's going

7:28

to the Dodgers, and I know he offered

7:30

the deferred money to everyone, reportedly. But

7:32

you have to imagine there's conversations

7:35

in that Dodger war room with

7:37

Shohei Otani, where it's like, I

7:39

know Yamamoto is coming here, and you guys need

7:41

to afford him. And I want him here because he's going

7:43

to give us a better chance to win. So let's figure

7:45

out how to get this done while also getting me paid.

7:47

You know, that was a very direct

7:50

conversation they were having. I mean,

7:52

maybe, but I don't necessarily

7:54

think that he was talking about

7:56

his money in a way that clears

7:58

dollars for Yamamoto. I think more

8:01

so just like figure it out and the

8:03

deferred money works for me So if that

8:05

helps add pieces and Yamamoto is one of

8:07

them then then great be aggressive But

8:09

I doubt he the Otani is making any Adjustments

8:12

to his salary strictly to sign Yamamoto.

8:14

I think it just it

8:16

worked out well for both parties It clearly he

8:18

wanted this he wanted the way that it was

8:20

structured I mean the way that he wanted Otani

8:22

what wanted it structured in a particular way and

8:24

the Dodgers were able to You

8:27

know Accommodate that and yeah,

8:29

it helped build a team around him

8:31

which Otani was interested I don't think

8:34

it probably wasn't directly around YAMM motor was all I'm

8:36

saying He wanted to offer flexibility for the team so

8:38

that the team can Put

8:40

a winner out there and is YAMM motor part of that puzzle. Yes,

8:42

I Don't know. I think it's

8:45

a factor because of them both being

8:47

Japanese Like if it was Blake Snell or if it

8:49

was Jordan Montgomery, I don't know if it would that's

8:51

like saying Blake Snell And Jordan Montgomery are in cahoots

8:53

to sign in one team so that they can you

8:55

know defer money Maybe because they're both

8:58

from the US. Maybe they are they're

9:00

not they're not news flash I

9:03

don't think Blake some Blake Snell needs to get

9:06

get his he needs to get some I he

9:08

should ASAP He just won the goddamn Cy Young.

9:10

So you'd think that a guy who wins the

9:12

Cy Young and becomes a

9:14

free agent that like that's a great thing, right you'd think

9:16

that that would be a Really

9:19

positive way to enter free agency and

9:21

that teams would be You

9:23

know drooling over you to get this the

9:25

most recent Cy Young winner of the it's

9:27

just not happening It's just not the way

9:29

it is And maybe it's just you

9:32

know The the market's needed to settle and there are you

9:34

know many teams in the back that are

9:36

that are pining over him and negotiating Against

9:39

each other that we're just not really hearing about but it

9:42

feels like a weird market for Blake Snell right now given

9:45

considering his Success last

9:48

year and you know the fact that he kind

9:50

of refound that stuff that

9:52

he had in Tampa Why do you

9:54

think that is? I? Think

9:57

it's because of durability

9:59

issues I think because of the

10:01

amount of innings that he pitched, I think that's

10:03

a concern. Although the Dodgers didn't see that as

10:05

a concern with glass now because what

10:08

he throw, like 120 innings last year, career high,

10:10

something along those lines and got paid like a

10:12

guy that throws 200 innings. So

10:16

I think there's, you know, Blake's dealt with a lot

10:18

of guys on bases, on the base pass as well.

10:20

He walks a lot of dudes. So that's a concern

10:22

depending on where you're playing and

10:24

the type of ballpark and team that you have. Yes,

10:28

but it also has to do with,

10:30

you know, Blake Snell's won two Cy Young Awards, 2018

10:32

with Tampa, 2023 with San Diego. In

10:36

between those Cy Young Awards, he had a 4.29 ERA, a 3.24

10:38

ERA, a 4.2 ERA, and

10:41

a 3.28 ERA. That's

10:46

like, I'm not calling that trash. Injury concern?

10:48

That's not trash. That's not trash, but these

10:50

are, I think, stemmed

10:53

because of injury. Okay,

10:55

it's all a factor. It's the in-care. So

10:58

durability is a real reason for

11:00

him. Like he put it together. I

11:02

think he's a similar risk as

11:04

Cody Bellinger. So if you take one side

11:06

on the pitching, the other on the hitting

11:08

side, I think they're both

11:10

very clear risks because you see what the

11:12

up years are and they're very good. They're

11:15

extremely good. They're MVP and Cy Young. Can't

11:17

get better than that. But the down

11:20

years are significantly

11:22

down from that. So you're looking at

11:24

a very volatile career. Kind

11:26

of don't know what you're gonna get. So when you're looking

11:28

at a long-term deal, which both of those

11:31

guys I would expect are going

11:33

after, then you have a

11:35

significant amount of risk in

11:38

signing those guys. And at that point, you're looking at the

11:40

GM who's looking in the mirror saying, my job's on the

11:42

line if this doesn't work out. Exactly.

11:45

Yeah, not every GM

11:47

has the luxury that Brian Cashman has

11:49

had is to just whiff on massive

11:51

free agent contracts. Yeah, job security. He's

11:54

got job security like Yamamoto, or like

11:56

Shohei Ohtani's interpreter. thing

12:00

about Yamamoto, there's reports that the Yankees did

12:02

not want to offer him a larger contract

12:04

than Garrett Cole, and he ended

12:06

up signing for 1 million more than Garrett Cole.

12:08

There's a lot of funkiness in the deal for

12:10

Yamamoto. It included a $50 million signing bonus

12:13

and then some opt-outs depending on if he has

12:15

Tommy John surgery or does not have Tommy John

12:17

surgery in the first six years of his deal.

12:20

So there's some funkiness in this contract, but the

12:22

bottom line is it's 1 million more than, was

12:24

it 325 million guaranteed, which

12:29

is 1 million more than was guaranteed

12:31

on Garrett Cole's contract.

12:33

Now, obviously Garrett Cole could opt out and

12:36

then get that extension from the Yankees to

12:38

make that more, but on

12:41

the face of it, it's a million dollars more. And

12:43

reportedly, the Yankees did not want to do

12:45

that for one reason or the other. Maybe it's because they

12:47

didn't want that to be optically

12:51

for Garrett Cole. Maybe they just didn't think

12:53

Yamamoto was worth it. I have no

12:55

clue. But this is sort of the nature of

12:58

setting the market as a player. Garrett

13:00

Cole signed four seasons ago, four off seasons

13:02

ago, right? Because he signed before the 2020

13:06

season and he set the market. So of

13:08

course, pitchers who come after you are going

13:10

to get more money. That's not

13:12

a knock on you. That's not saying this

13:14

player is better than you. That's just the

13:16

nature of how these things go. So I

13:18

don't know that that would have been a factor for Garrett Cole. I

13:22

don't think it's a factor for Garrett Cole necessarily, but when

13:24

you look at the market and you see a guy that's

13:26

never pitched an inning in

13:28

Major League Baseball top, the Cy

13:32

Young and the American League winner and

13:34

a guy who's been durable his entire

13:36

career and dominant pretty much his entire

13:38

career, that's where you're looking

13:40

and you're kind of scratching your head if you're

13:42

Garrett Cole. But it is what it is. There's

13:44

a supply and demand issue and Yamamoto has an

13:46

amazing track record. And the fact that there is

13:48

a precedent for number one guys

13:50

coming over from Japan, the number one guys of

13:53

Japan coming over to the States

13:55

in the major leagues and having success, the

13:57

precedent is there for that. So

13:59

it's not as much. of as an unknown.

14:01

I think that they, I

14:03

think that the ownership and GMs across the

14:05

league feel very comfortable with paying

14:08

a guy who's had a lot of good success in

14:11

Japan. So, yeah, you can

14:13

also point to it and say, well, it's

14:15

less AAV. A big part of it is

14:17

signing bonus. So this is, there's not a

14:19

bigger contract than yours Garrett. It just, it

14:21

looks like it, but it's not like, but again, I

14:23

don't think this is a factor. I don't think at

14:25

this point, it shouldn't be bigger. Garak go with a

14:27

win. Like, yeah, that's the win. Like the fact you're

14:29

not, it's not a slap in the face. You're not

14:32

taking off your glove. But I feel like it was

14:34

reported like it was rolling it in the air, catching

14:36

it, slapping him across the face with it. It's not

14:38

happening. Reported is one thing. Could

14:41

it be, could someone see it as

14:43

that would be ridiculous if, if, uh,

14:45

if I'm a pitcher and the, because

14:47

I, the reason I don't want to sign

14:49

a guy who's a top flight guy, I will make my team better

14:52

is because he's going to get a dollar more than me. That's, okay.

14:54

He goes to bullshit. Say Juan Soto

14:57

crushes it for the Yankees this year and they want to

14:59

sign him to a long-term deal. It's going to be bigger

15:01

than Aaron judges contract. Is that going to be a slap

15:03

in the face to the captain? No. Yeah.

15:06

Juan Soto's significantly younger than when Aaron

15:08

judge signed. Yamamoto is younger

15:10

than when Garak whole signed. Exactly. So

15:13

it's just, it's, I don't know why it just

15:15

bothered me that it was reported like this. It's

15:17

like, oh, maybe the Yankees just didn't want to

15:19

go. Maybe, first of all, maybe Yamamoto never wanted

15:21

to come to the Yankees. I think that's the

15:23

most, I think that's the biggest thing. So I

15:26

mean, the Mets offered three 25 and didn't

15:28

even seem like it was a real thing. But if

15:31

there's a world in which, you know, for certain you

15:33

offered three 26 and he's going

15:35

to sign on the dotted line, the Yankees, you should

15:37

do that. Yes. If I don't think that's the case,

15:39

I think it's a convenient, I think it's

15:41

convenient for the media to pick up on, uh, a

15:44

Garrett Cole sliding rather than the Yankees really

15:46

had no chance. Cause I think that's

15:48

more, more along the lines of, they were part of they

15:51

were part of Yamamoto's leverage

15:54

team to get leverage. Exactly. The Yankees, the Mets,

15:56

any other team he met with is all just

15:58

to increase the price on the. Dodgers,

16:00

especially the Giants, because I know the Giants were in

16:02

on it too. No, yeah, I

16:05

want to go to the Dodgers. I'm going to use you

16:07

people to drive my price up for the Dodgers. Yeah, what's

16:09

just fine. Very

16:11

good. Negotiating tactic is what it is. It's

16:13

a beautiful thing about having a free market

16:16

that they could do that. And

16:19

but yeah, clearly. And that's why I think that the

16:21

Yankees kind of stood their ground at the offer, which

16:23

which was a fair offer. And like, I know there

16:25

were some people that were out there like, oh, the

16:27

Yankees didn't do this. The Yankees made

16:29

a fair offer, like an extremely fair offer to

16:31

a guy that that is coming

16:34

over and they had been talking to for

16:36

a long time. So that's why I don't

16:38

believe when you look at the history of

16:41

Cashman and the Yankees scouting and spending

16:43

time with Yamamoto and being over there

16:46

and putting all the diligence they did

16:48

with this guy, there's no way

16:50

you can convince me that the 25 or 26 million

16:53

dollars with the difference in him signing and

16:55

not signing the guy didn't want

16:57

to play in New York. The guy wanted to play in the West Coast

16:59

and he wanted to be in Dodger blue. And

17:01

I think after Otani signed there as well,

17:03

it was, it was written for him. You

17:06

know, obviously nobody else knew that at

17:08

the time. Um, but that's

17:10

where he wanted to be clearly. Now,

17:12

though, do you feel like the Yankees are backed into

17:14

a corner where they need to get one or maybe

17:16

even two starting pitchers because they made Yamamoto such a

17:18

priority this off season? I

17:20

think that the, no matter, no matter what

17:23

Yamamoto had to clear, Oh, Otani and Yamamoto had to

17:25

clear the market before any of these other guys were,

17:28

were going to go no matter what. So, you

17:30

know, them prioritizing one over the other. Uh,

17:33

I think that those, those camps were going to wait

17:35

no matter what, because they needed to identify where the

17:37

market was, which is smart. I mean, you should, you

17:39

should wait. Yamamoto, you're expecting record deals from both of

17:42

those guys. So why would you try to sign early?

17:44

You want those to hit the market so that you

17:46

can have, you know, a little bit more of a

17:48

clear line in the sand, uh, for

17:50

when you're negotiating that said, they

17:54

are, uh, backs against the wall a

17:56

bit. They do need another, at least

17:58

another, uh, starting pitcher. that

18:00

can come in here and have success and a

18:02

little bit more of a

18:05

less of a risk because with Radon

18:08

and we don't know what to expect from him, you'd

18:11

think that we're gonna get a significant bounce back

18:13

here from him. But again, nothing

18:15

that he's shown on the pitcher's mound in

18:18

Yankee Stadium or in pinstripes has

18:20

shown that he's got the ability to do that. But

18:23

to me, at this point, there's one guy and

18:25

one guy only on the free agent market that

18:27

gives you the

18:30

feeling of we're gonna sign this guy, it's

18:32

probably gonna be an overpaid given where the

18:34

starting pitching market is, but I know damn

18:36

well that he can come in and that's

18:38

Jordan Montgomery. I think he's by

18:40

far the clearest, safest option. And

18:43

this isn't, I know you don't like when Yankees

18:45

come back, but I think this is different because

18:47

he's- It's different, I've said this is different. I've

18:50

talked about this a number of times.

18:52

I would- I don't listen when you

18:55

talk normally, so refresh. Great, I

18:57

would totally re-sign Jordan Montgomery. And this

18:59

is not a, because Jordan Montgomery did

19:02

not fail in New York and then get

19:04

chipped away or just have his contract

19:07

end. Jordan Montgomery was traded away. Was

19:09

he better once he left New York?

19:11

Yeah, but I'm not putting

19:13

that on Jordan Montgomery as being a failure

19:16

in New York. I think there's other circumstances

19:18

that led to him becoming

19:20

a better pitcher's when he left. Yeah,

19:23

I think if anything, they didn't evaluate

19:25

him properly and what his true

19:27

potential was to sort of get that out of him. And then

19:29

Brian Cashman traded him away for

19:32

what we have come to learn was not enough.

19:34

I mean, they didn't get enough from Harrison Bader

19:36

for the value that they traded away in Jordan Montgomery.

19:38

And now they're gonna have to pay the price to

19:40

get him back. It's gonna cost you 25 million a

19:42

year, over six years

19:45

to get Jordan Montgomery back. Well, whether they

19:47

traded him away or not, they

19:50

were still gonna have to pay to get him

19:53

retained at that point too. That's

19:56

assuming he had the same success in

19:58

pinstripes that he did. in St.

20:00

Louis and in Texas and you could argue very

20:02

easily that he wouldn't have. So

20:05

he became a better pitcher by going which could be

20:07

a good thing for the Yankees. Because

20:09

they're going to get a better pitcher. They're going to get a better pitcher.

20:11

Because there's a world in which he stayed with

20:13

the Yankees, continued to be the same pitcher he

20:15

was with the Yankees, hit the market.

20:17

He's going to get like a three-year, $60 million

20:20

contract or something like that. Doesn't that make him not

20:22

even? A three-year, $50 million contract. And the Yankees are

20:24

like, whoa, why do we want that? We can find

20:26

that somewhere else. And then he just

20:28

goes and signs with some other team and

20:31

then maybe explodes. But then he doesn't get this.

20:35

Getting traded was the best thing that ever happened to

20:37

Jordan Montgomery. Both times. I

20:39

mean, he put himself in a position when he

20:41

went over to St. Louis, dominated

20:44

for the rest of the season, essentially.

20:46

And then when he got traded to Texas, obviously

20:49

got put in the best possible position you could

20:51

be put in, is in a World Series contender

20:53

that actually goes and he

20:55

performs well in the postseason and is

20:58

a large contributor to a

21:00

World Series championship right before. So you

21:03

could make an argument that Jordan Montgomery being

21:05

traded to Texas was significantly

21:07

better for his free agent market than Blake

21:09

Snell winning the Cy Young right before he

21:11

goes on because of what he

21:13

showed in big moments. And I think that

21:16

Jordan Montgomery is probably the opposite of Blake Snell

21:18

in the sense that he's a durable guy. He's

21:21

a dude. He's a big boy.

21:23

And he seemingly has

21:26

got good mechanics. He's

21:28

able to stay healthy, knock

21:31

on wood. But he's got that durability that

21:33

you don't see in a lot of guys.

21:35

And there's a familiarity,

21:37

obviously, with him and the

21:39

generic Yankees and their staff. So to me, it

21:42

makes a ton of sense. I

21:45

was listening to MLB radio on Sirius

21:47

on the way into the office this

21:49

morning. And they mentioned

21:51

that Montgomery's wife is doing a

21:53

residency in Boston, which

21:55

I thought was interesting. We know, you know,

21:57

from your

22:00

sister in the area

22:02

doing something similar at some point, that's

22:05

a massive time commitment as

22:07

well. And if you're up there, you probably wanna be

22:10

somewhere relatively close or have

22:12

the opportunity to be in that city a good

22:14

amount of times in the air and a short

22:16

trip to it. So whether that's a part in what he's looking at

22:23

as far as convenience and closer proximity

22:25

to family, New

22:27

York's pretty close. Boston is also one of the

22:30

teams they're talking. Yes. Yeah, I

22:32

don't know what the Red Sox are doing is, odd,

22:35

interesting, I don't really know. They traded

22:38

away sale and

22:40

some money along with it to Atlanta for Vaughn

22:42

Grissom, who could be a nice piece for them.

22:44

He's got a lot of years of team control.

22:46

And I know Grissom was supposed to take over

22:48

from as the shortstop, but his defense sort of

22:50

pushed him out of that position. So

22:53

I think the Red Sox, I was hearing that they're gonna

22:55

just try and make him their primary second baseman. I think

22:57

he can hit. We'll see what

22:59

he can do defensively. But they also signed Lucas Giolito,

23:02

who I guess, give

23:04

a 41, I didn't realize he was this bad.

23:07

He gave 41 home runs last year, Lucas Giolito.

23:09

Yeah, he's a, and

23:11

he was significantly worse after he got, after

23:14

he went away from Chicago. Like six

23:16

plus ERA after he got traded. Yeah,

23:19

yeah, it was, but

23:21

when you see how much he's getting paid now, that's-

23:24

Like 19 million AAV. I'm not showing you,

23:26

it's that the starting pitcher

23:28

market right now is insanely expensive. Because there's-

23:30

It's a two year deal with opt-out. So

23:33

it's not like he's getting 19 million for

23:35

the next seven years or anything like that.

23:38

But it's still 19 million a year. If you

23:40

are a guy that can throw the baseball

23:42

and have some type of track record in

23:44

major league baseball on the professional level, you're

23:46

gonna get paid right now. Whether it's a

23:48

short term deal or not, Frankie Montas going

23:50

in there, the 12 million or 14 million

23:53

total AAV. That's

23:56

a lot for a guy that hasn't thrown the baseball

23:59

barely any- two years and coming off

24:02

of surgery and has no track

24:04

record of recovering from any of

24:07

the surgeries that he's gone to. What

24:10

proof do you have that Frankie

24:12

Montas is anywhere close to what

24:14

we thought maybe he was in

24:16

Oakland around the time

24:18

he got popped for steroids too, by the way? I

24:21

think with a lot of these types

24:23

of things, teams, there's a risk-reward analysis

24:26

that they're doing. This

24:28

could very well just be a waste of

24:31

$14 million, but in a best-case scenario, he's

24:33

good again and we're competing, or

24:35

we can trade him away to

24:37

get back significant prospects because he's exceeding

24:39

expectations and some team will be desperate

24:42

that needs a starting picture in July.

24:44

This is on the

24:46

Cincinnati Reds and Ilya was talking to us

24:48

before we started recording. He's now the highest

24:50

paid guy on that team and a team

24:53

that they believe they're approaching

24:55

to a young team, very young team,

24:57

which they believe I think that they

24:59

could take off this year and adding

25:01

a veteran guy like him in theory

25:04

could be a good thing to stabilize, but he's

25:06

the least stabilizing guy you

25:09

can add to a lineup given his track

25:11

record of injuries. How

25:14

many innings did Frankie Montas throw for the Yankees? Was

25:16

it even 50? I mean,

25:18

holy shit. I had a buddy that

25:20

is- Over under 50. What are you taking?

25:23

Over under 50. Under 50? I think

25:25

it's probably right around 50, but if

25:27

I had to guess, it was- I have a

25:30

buddy who's a Cincinnati Reds fan and was asking me, he

25:32

sent me a text after Montas,

25:34

I'm a Cincinnati's like, so what do you think? I'm

25:36

like, I don't know. I didn't see

25:38

him pitch. Your guess is as good as mine. Yeah. I

25:41

mean, I can tell you what I thought when he came over, but

25:44

he didn't do any, literally nothing. There's

25:46

no sample size for us to look at and say, oh, this is

25:49

what Frankie Montas is. That doesn't exist. Yeah. It's

25:51

pretty crazy. So

25:55

the big guys on the market still, obviously we've talked

25:57

about Montgomery and Snow, but also Shota and Manah. The

26:00

other Japanese pitcher the left-handed pitcher who's I

26:03

believe 30 years old out of Japan He

26:06

is ranked as the third best available free agent

26:08

pitcher right now behind those other two guys 41

26:12

41 in the image. Yeah It's

26:17

crazy, okay Yeah So for Frankie

26:19

Montes and I know there was some talks

26:21

that the Yankees were potentially gonna bring him

26:23

back on a similar deal That he got

26:25

for the Reds. Would you have been

26:27

okay with that? I

26:31

mean, I guess I don't know.

26:33

I don't know what to think about him if he's healthy and I

26:36

just there's this She's such a huge f with him that

26:39

it's a No, just

26:41

move on just get something that no spend the money

26:43

spend the money on on Jordan Montgomery bring a guy

26:45

in that You know is gonna pitch and

26:48

and stop kicking around. That's what I'm suggesting

26:50

Yeah, no, it's you signed Jordan Montgomery and

26:52

you bring back Frankie Montes to hopefully Be

26:55

the guy you were trading for two seasons ago If

26:58

he's a if he's a if he's a flyer

27:00

at the end of the rotation fine Yeah, but

27:02

no you can't bring him in behind With

27:05

all the other question marks and say here we

27:07

go Frankie Montes another question mark in our rotation.

27:09

You need another Solidified arm in

27:11

this rotation. You probably need two more solidified arms

27:13

I just like you in any in any way

27:16

shape or form it's it's hard for

27:18

me to Get behind Frankie

27:20

Montes as a as a solidified arm even if he's

27:22

healthy. I have no idea what he is You're

27:24

misunderstanding when I'm I'm not misunderstanding on my point

27:26

is that like I don't know if the upside's there

27:28

That's that's what I'm saying. I don't know. Well,

27:30

that's another factor. Yeah, because I Just

27:34

I have no idea if the upside died because the upside

27:36

when he was in Oakland like he was good and he

27:38

had some good He had good stuff But the

27:40

track record wasn't there for sustainability of

27:42

him doing even before that injury like

27:45

he had a I think

27:47

one One and a half good years at the end With

27:50

Oakland and his stuff played better than his look

27:52

better than his numbers were So

27:55

what is the upside truly on Frankie Montes

27:57

and I doubt he ever really shows

27:59

it Right. So

28:02

now you're looking at those three pitchers I mentioned in

28:04

the free agent market, and then the trade market. I

28:06

know we've talked about cordon burns. Is

28:09

Beaver going to be available from the guardians? Who

28:11

the hell knows? But the Yankees are going to

28:13

have to do something. And I

28:15

think there's a lot of pressure on them in the

28:18

next six weeks before spring trading starts to do something

28:20

big in the rotation. Yeah.

28:24

And the options are dwindling down.

28:26

So I think they need to get

28:28

behind the story of my piece and they need to

28:30

make the move and make it happen. It

28:33

really is the safest thing. And I think they need a

28:35

safer option right now. They don't need

28:37

an option that has the ability

28:39

to blow up in your face. And to me, Jordan Montgomery

28:41

probably has the

28:45

smallest factor

28:47

to blow up. It's the

28:49

safest move on the

28:51

market. And frankly, it's always been the safest

28:53

move, even looking at the other guys, given

28:56

the cost of it. But you're going to

28:58

overpay a little bit, but you pretty much

29:01

know what you're getting with it. So

29:03

Ilya just dropped in our chat. How do you guys feel about

29:05

the rumored build a super bullpen

29:08

as a backup plan to getting

29:11

more starting pitching? Good sign, hater. And

29:13

then a couple other bullpen arms to,

29:15

I guess, just shorten

29:18

games. Haven't they tried that before? Didn't they try that

29:20

in the 2016, 17, 18, 19 seasons? And ultimately

29:26

it did not work out for them. We've seen what

29:28

happens when you have to rely on four plus innings

29:30

out of your bullpen routinely throughout the

29:33

season. Guys get worn down. It's more opportunities

29:35

for your manager to make dumb decisions. It's

29:37

more opportunities for guys to just have off

29:39

nights and you blow a game that you

29:41

otherwise shouldn't have. Because when you try it

29:43

out four or five different guys, someone's going

29:45

to be off in the game. And then

29:47

you get into a situation in the playoffs

29:49

and you're always going to be playing close

29:51

games against other good pitching where offenses is

29:53

going to be harder to come by. And

29:55

every decision is magnified. You have such

29:58

a thin margin of error. when

30:00

you are doing a bullpen, super bullpen to

30:02

try and win a championship. Yeah.

30:05

And then exactly. And then it's, that is

30:07

just magnified even more once you hit the

30:10

playoffs and, uh, and you have to go

30:12

against, you don't have any depth in

30:14

your, in your rotation and you have

30:16

to be perfect in the bullpen and your

30:18

matching days. So it's

30:20

a difficult thing to do, but as

30:23

the Yankees have looked at the pitching

30:25

staff over the years, I think that

30:27

they're looking for quality arms. And

30:29

if they can't get it in the rotation, they've already

30:31

shown that they will go and get it in

30:34

the bullpen. And I'm not going to sit here and

30:36

say that if they can't, if they're not going to,

30:38

if they don't sign one, they need to sign. Um,

30:41

I really do. They just need to sign

30:43

during Montgomery. Um, but if they don't for

30:45

whatever reason, and, and, uh,

30:48

Josh haters out there, then yeah,

30:50

get the best arm. Like you do need to improve the pitching

30:52

staff. I just don't agree with that philosophy. It

30:55

will be because they whiffed on starting pitching though.

30:57

It will be, it will not be because this

30:59

is what they wanted to do is because what

31:01

they're now forced to do. Yes. I agree.

31:03

It's never a good place to be correct. So

31:08

the Yankees did trade Estevan Florial

31:10

to Cleveland a couple of weeks

31:12

ago for, uh, Cody Morris, who's

31:14

a swing, a swing pitcher. Um,

31:18

Florial had passed through waivers at the beginning of

31:20

last season. He was out of options. I mean,

31:23

at one point he was a top three

31:25

prospect in the Yankee system, uh, way

31:27

back to 2018, right? Like

31:29

2017, 2018 was a top three prospect.

31:31

Many moons ago, he unfortunately

31:34

got injured. We were at that spring training game when he

31:36

was at 17 or 18. That was that injury happened.

31:39

I think it was 18. He broke his wrist

31:42

running into a pre-camper post-camp. I

31:44

don't know. I don't remember when

31:47

that would have been post-camp. Okay. So 18. It was 18

31:49

then, if

31:51

that's the case, then it was 18 or 19, but, um, 19 as well.

31:53

It could have been 19. Yeah. The, uh, but

31:59

yeah, he was. He's the guy that just never was

32:01

able to hit in the major leagues forever.

32:05

Forever his plate discipline was an

32:07

issue, still an issue. And

32:09

that's, that's always been his, his Achilles heel. He strikes

32:12

out too much. Doesn't walk up,

32:14

doesn't see the ball well enough in the major leagues

32:16

to to build on a, an

32:18

offensive career. He's always been a really good defender, still

32:20

is. And I hope he does well. I really do.

32:22

Cause you look at him and like the guy's a specimen of an athlete

32:25

and unfortunately was derailed, you know, from

32:27

by injuries at key points of his,

32:30

of his prospect status career,

32:33

um, and it just didn't work out. So

32:36

in 2019, he was the top ranked Yankees prospect.

32:38

Now that's a little misleading because at that point

32:40

the Yankees had called up Glaber Torres and some

32:42

other guys who would have been ranked higher than

32:44

Estevan Florio, like Clint Fraser probably would have still

32:47

been ranked higher, but he was no longer considered

32:49

a prospect at that time. And I think some

32:51

of the other pitching in the Yankees system was

32:53

the Sheffield, Justice Sheffield would have been ranked higher,

32:55

but I don't think he was, he

32:57

might not have even, you know, he wasn't in the eighties traded at

33:00

that point because he was traded for James Paxson at that point. So

33:02

it was, that's a little misleading, but

33:05

it still goes to show you like he was

33:07

a highly ranked prospect that another guy who I'm

33:10

sure at some point, if they traded in that

33:12

timeframe, they could have gotten actual return for, and

33:15

instead this is what they're left with giving

33:17

him away. And I'm gonna say giving him

33:19

away. I mean, it's just like, I have

33:21

no value for him. Cody Morris, I'm

33:23

surprised they got a majorly, to be

33:25

honest, like this, this is actually a

33:27

pretty good job. And given the diminished

33:29

value of Florio and the fact that

33:32

he was out of options at that, or no, he's

33:34

got two options or no, Cody Morris has two options.

33:38

Because Florio passed through waivers.

33:40

That's right. So when

33:42

you're getting a guy that has the ability

33:44

to start has, you know,

33:47

was in the bullpen last year,

33:49

but seemingly has good stuff. He's got four pitches. So

33:51

we'll see what they can do with him. Like, again,

33:54

this is a, I

33:56

feel like repeating, repeating, you know, the one

33:58

thing that we've seen. success with from the

34:01

front office of the Yankees is they've been able to

34:03

find quality relief

34:05

pitchers. So if he's one of these

34:07

guys who can swing, you know, between

34:09

a starting pitcher and a reliever or

34:11

just settle into the bullpen, wouldn't

34:13

surprise me one bit. So they got a

34:16

contributor. You're going to be mad if

34:18

Florio turns into a player for Cleveland. No,

34:20

I'm not. Cause I think he had ample time to do

34:22

that here. Ample time. And I, I

34:25

don't expect it. Again, I don't expect it either. Watching him

34:27

try and hit the major league level was not pretty. No,

34:29

I hope he does though. I really do. I hope he

34:31

figures it out. I'm, I'm rooting for him. Yeah,

34:34

sure. Why not? A couple other phrase and

34:36

updates that impact the Yankees. So Kevin Kiermaier,

34:38

re-signed with the blue jays for one year,

34:40

10 and a half million IKF

34:42

signed a deal with Toronto for

34:44

two years and $15 million. I

34:47

know that guy that you would have, I

34:49

think you probably would have wanted to see the Yankees bring

34:52

back in a utility role, but I don't

34:54

think there's a spot for him at this point with the

34:56

way that the roster is. But when you look at, when

34:58

you look at the utility role now

35:00

for the Yankees, you're looking at a, you're

35:04

looking at a couple, a couple of young

35:06

guys who can come in and fill that

35:08

spot. So I don't, I don't really think there was

35:10

a clear role for

35:12

him anymore. We already

35:15

talked about Frankie Montes and just the price

35:17

on pitching because of what him and

35:19

Chris Sale, who the

35:22

Braves traded, what could be a very good

35:24

young player for Chris Sale. And I know

35:26

Ilya, you wanted us to play a game where we

35:28

guess how many innings Chris Sale has pitched since 2020.

35:31

I did not look this up. My guess

35:33

is like 110, 120 innings. I

35:35

know he was injured in the COVID season and I

35:38

think he came back in 2021 because the Red Sox

35:41

were good in 2021, which was a bit of a surprise.

35:43

And I think he came back and pitched in the

35:45

second half of that season, but wasn't very good. So

35:47

I'm guessing like 120 innings. What's your guess, I

35:51

also did not look this up. I'm going to go under that and I'm

35:53

going to say 73. Oh, yeah. I don't know. I

35:58

thought you guys would both go over. He only,

36:00

he threw 151 innings. Oh,

36:02

okay. That's more than I actually thought though. Well,

36:05

I see it's been four seasons, right? He

36:07

signed that extension with the Red Sox right

36:09

before the 2020 season when Garrett Cole signed.

36:12

So Garrett Cole since then has thrown 664

36:14

innings. Every

36:17

day. He's out there every day. So

36:19

they've paid him $216,000 in inning. Red

36:23

Sox have paid Chris sales $778,000. That's

36:27

for every inning he's throwing. So when you think about

36:29

the amount of innings, the reason I'm going under on

36:31

that one. $200,000 inning is still a lot of money,

36:33

guys. Yeah. Think

36:36

about it. It is. The

36:40

Red Sox were just not, were non-competitive as

36:42

well. They were out of, of, of when

36:44

he was, when he was in there pitching.

36:46

He wasn't pitching in any meaningful games during those

36:48

hundred and how many? No, I thought

36:50

2021, the Red Sox almost made the ALCS, or

36:55

they did make the ALCS. Was he pitching at that point?

36:57

I don't even know. He

36:59

came back that season. That's why I thought, that's why

37:01

I guessed over a hundred innings. Cause I remember him

37:03

pitching a decent amount that season. Do I

37:05

have that wrong? I

37:07

don't know. He pitched nine

37:09

games in 2021 and two games in 2022. Yes.

37:13

I remember him coming back down the stretch in 2021. Nine

37:16

starts. I mean, that's a decent amount. Yeah.

37:21

Think about how many games the Yankees

37:23

pitchers haven't pitched. Like, come on. Frankie

37:25

Montes, we just talked about. 41 innings.

37:29

Yeah. We're just slapping him three times.

37:31

Yeah. What's the average per inning for Frankie Montes? Luckily,

37:36

probably not a lot. Although 41 innings

37:38

is not a lot, but the price

37:40

on pitching to our, to the point

37:43

we were, we were discussing is insane.

37:45

When these guys with massive injury risks

37:47

and huge question marks are getting either

37:52

prospect capital traded away or, legitimate

37:54

dollars just for the hope they can

37:57

be good. Yeah. there's

38:00

not a lot out there. And I think the

38:02

guys are- But there is a lot. This

38:05

off season was like, perhaps

38:07

the best free agent pitching class in

38:10

years. Well, I mean, after Yamamoto, which

38:12

is the price, the

38:14

problem is that the guys that

38:16

were leading the market

38:18

were significantly high guys

38:20

that had a very small

38:22

window of suitors,

38:26

a very small group of suitors. So once

38:29

you set the market at that high price

38:31

where most of the people that need starting

38:33

pitching are not involved, then all of a

38:35

sudden the market for these other guys goes

38:37

through the roof for actual

38:39

starting pitching. And when you're looking at the

38:41

actual free agent market, it's

38:45

not that deep actually. It's not. Okay,

38:48

Yamamoto I agree with because also he's really,

38:50

realistically- You can't even put Otani in that

38:52

category either. I'm not putting Otani in that

38:54

category, but Yamamoto, I agree. I'm

38:56

not gonna sign with a handful of teams anyway. But

38:59

then when you get to Snell, Montgomery, Nola

39:03

I know already signed back with Philly, but all

39:05

of those guys, there should have been 10 or

39:07

12 teams realistically in on signing those guys. If

39:11

you think you're gonna be competing in

39:14

the next three years, you should be in

39:16

on- Baltimore should be in on signing Jordan

39:18

Montgomery or Blake Snell. They have

39:20

the money to do that. Will they? I have no

39:22

clue. But you can't sit here and tell me Baltimore

39:24

can't afford Jordan Montgomery. That's bullshit if you say that.

39:27

No, I understand that. What the fuck are you doing

39:29

if you're the Baltimore Orioles? But again,

39:31

you're talking about two guys now and

39:34

Snell with for, you know, the

39:37

thought about Snell is risk. I

39:39

don't like the thought of Snell. I

39:42

don't want the Yankees to sign Blake Snell. But I think

39:44

a lot of teams agree with that. And I think there's

39:46

a risk cloud that's

39:48

hovering Blake Snell right now. And Jordan Montgomery,

39:50

if you look at now who the available

39:52

free agents are, like

39:55

Nola, was he going anywhere else besides Philly? Very

39:59

possibly not. If

42:00

you're never going to take the swing again, what's the point

42:02

of what's the point? Yeah,

42:04

no, they're prime. But again, that

42:06

means the Yankees need to, uh, to, to very

42:09

much go in and solidify. Jordan,

42:11

you know, if the Orioles went and, and, and

42:14

snagged Jordan Montgomery, uh, under everybody's nose, like that

42:16

would be the move of one of the biggest

42:18

moves of the, of the off season, getting a

42:20

guy like that for Baltimore who has, you

42:23

know, potential he's now

42:25

put into position then to, to, to,

42:27

you know, lead a up and coming

42:30

team, um, as

42:32

the veteran, uh, starting pitcher,

42:34

uh, to, to be their, their number one guy

42:36

and with a ring lead, like with the cash

42:38

of a ring. Yeah. It's actually a really strong

42:41

position and would be. So if you're looking at

42:43

both of those guys and you're thinking about similar

42:45

money on the Orioles, I hope

42:47

it doesn't happen because the Yankees, uh, need him. Pretty

42:50

damn badly. There's a lot of,

42:53

I think there's a lot of pressure on the Yankees

42:55

to make, make major pitching moves. And I'm not talking

42:57

about hater and a super bullpen.

42:59

I'm talking about legit starting pitching that you

43:01

can count is going to pitch 28 plus

43:04

starts the season. Yeah. Cause if

43:06

you sign snow, you almost have to, the

43:09

haters still in play at that point too, and you're looking

43:11

at the, with the total cost for them, because you still

43:13

need to solidify that bullpen with

43:15

a guy like Snell in your rotation, because he

43:17

doesn't really give you that starter

43:19

length. I'm going to be so angry if

43:22

they signed Blake Snell. Now

43:24

I hope they sign Blake Snell. I'm

43:27

going to be angry because no

43:29

matter what I'm going to be angry, you're going to see

43:31

him on Twitch in between. Certainly not going to watch him

43:33

on Twitch, but I'm going to be angry because I, I

43:35

think he's going to be a disaster. And then if he

43:38

is a disaster, that's going to make me mad. And then

43:40

if he isn't a disaster, I'm going to be mad. Cause

43:42

then I was wrong. There's a no win

43:44

situation for me. If they signed Blake Snell, I

43:46

love it. No, no, no. I truly hope they

43:48

shine. Blake. No, I guess

43:50

it would only not be if he was just

43:52

mediocre. Just average every single time out there. Average.

43:56

He's going to, that's the thing with him is

43:58

like, because he puts guys on. base, you

44:02

know, it's going whenever

44:05

he's pitching, especially if you were pitching

44:07

in the Bronx, and you're putting guys

44:09

on base consistently. Like he's got the

44:11

ability and the track record for getting

44:13

out of situations and

44:16

working himself out because he can pitch.

44:19

But that hits a little different, I

44:21

think, when you're doing it in the Bronx, when you're

44:23

consistently leaving guys on. You know,

44:26

do you have that ability to finish a particular inning

44:28

in Yankee Stadium as

44:30

opposed to San Diego or, you know,

44:33

Tampa? A lot

44:35

of guys can't. So one thing that Logan

44:38

and I were talking about when we were doing the

44:40

GM plans is like if we signed Jordan Montgomery or

44:44

Blake Snell, obviously, or Imanaga because

44:46

he's also left-handed, you're then

44:48

looking at three-fifths of your rotation

44:50

being left-handed. And that's not normal.

44:52

No, I mean, usually two

44:54

lefties in the rotation is most

44:57

you're going to see. Yeah. That were you at all? No,

45:02

I don't think so. Doesn't really worry me. It's

45:05

not something that like until he said

45:07

it, I was like, Oh, yeah, I guess it would

45:09

be because you've got Radon and then hopefully Nester Cortez,

45:11

and then you would have Montgomery or Snell or Imanaga

45:13

or someone like that. It didn't

45:16

bother me. It didn't really bother me.

45:19

I don't know if that's it, but I agree.

45:21

It's odd that you don't normally see it because

45:24

of the yeah, because of the amount

45:26

of right-handed bats that it depends on

45:28

how a particular lefty is doing against

45:30

right-handed pitching, I guess. But

45:33

not- I think left-handers can- I mean, left-handers

45:35

have historically had a lot of success pitching

45:37

in Yankee Stadium. They have. Again,

45:41

not a concern on face value. It's

45:43

more about individual player. And I'll say

45:45

that as a right-handed pitcher too, because

45:47

plenty of guys that are right-handed pitchers

45:50

that I don't want pitching in pinstret.

45:53

It's a similar story with how

45:56

certain guys are at the plate. Like, yeah, we want a

45:58

lefty bat. That's a lefty power. something that

46:00

they've always wanted for sure and that they needed

46:02

but you you have if

46:05

you have the ability to To

46:08

put up good numbers against right-handed pitching

46:10

still then again doesn't matter depends

46:12

on the player All right a couple other

46:14

things before we wrap up Yankees

46:16

I guess reportedly interested in

46:19

bringing back G or shell, okay

46:22

Why not just sign IKF at that point, but fine CBS

46:26

graded the Yankees offseason in a so far

46:28

which I think is a little high I

46:32

Obviously you got one Soto and for who's going to

46:34

yes who the network Or

46:36

someone like you said CBS sports sports calm. I

46:38

don't know I saw it I saw it in

46:41

the headline and I was like that seems like

46:43

too high of a grade right now

46:45

again It's like okay You're at the mid

46:47

is like the midterm right like you've got an a

46:49

right now But don't fuck this up the rest of

46:51

the way because you don't go get a starting pitcher

46:53

You're not getting an a for this offseason. No, let's

46:55

break this down even further. Okay one Soto's an a

46:57

everything else. Yep What's the great

46:59

on everything else? I don't know. We're I'm at it. I'm

47:02

at a C right now I can't say Alex Verdugo is

47:04

a guy that you know, I'm You

47:07

know running to spring training

47:09

for it's we'll see he's got the ability

47:11

to To be to be

47:14

a good fit here But it's one Soto the only

47:16

reason that great is remotely good is because of one

47:18

soda if the Yankees didn't have one Soto It would

47:20

be an F Well

47:23

RJ and the great the grade is

47:25

for one soda The

47:27

the world-renowned baseball reporter RJ

47:29

Anderson wrote the article. Nice.

47:32

Yeah If

47:35

you have a vote in the Hall

47:37

of Fame never even heard of the guy So

47:39

you also want to talk about how Greg Bird

47:41

is tearing up the Australian League? I just wanted

47:43

to throw a little it's always nice to hear

47:45

stories. So where are they now? Where are they

47:47

now? Yeah, Greg Bird

47:50

is leading the Australian Baseball League

47:52

for the the Melbourne aces in

47:54

home runs In runs batted in

47:57

and the most important stat games

48:00

played the man's out there

48:03

young I think it's a young person at this point still

48:05

but the you know the guy you read the article is

48:07

a good article in the athletic I

48:09

think how do you wrote it to

48:12

the Australian League like the sixth

48:15

best professional baseball league in the world I have

48:17

no idea but you know what it

48:19

is MLB it's a good place to regain the love

48:22

of the game and you know what I didn't know

48:24

is that in 21 if you

48:26

read that article in 21 bird was with the

48:30

Colorado Rockies affiliate triple-a

48:32

affiliate at 29 home runs

48:35

we talked about this I don't remember that talking about

48:37

that knocked in 90 some RBI like

48:39

the guy was productive and out

48:42

there couldn't couldn't break through

48:44

with the Rockies at that point Rocky didn't want

48:46

to bring in guy that was putting up numbers

48:49

like that did he not play at all for the Rockies

48:51

that year did he crack the wrong at all yeah

48:53

I don't think who did he crack the roster for

48:55

did the Texas and the fact I think the places

48:57

the Blue Jays I think he was gonna last year

48:59

I think he was coming out of spring training was

49:03

gonna be I don't know if he cracked

49:05

her ass right that point but he was coming

49:07

up a Texas he was definitely in for a bit so

49:10

do you realize that Greg Bird debuted

49:12

in the first season we

49:15

were doing this podcast 15 yeah well

49:18

he was supposed to be the guy he

49:20

was the guy he was the guy up

49:22

until other stuff Susan Wahlman was in love

49:24

with Greg Bird I was

49:26

in love with Greg Bird that was a sweet

49:29

swing for Yankee Stadium and he was very very

49:31

good for them in 2015 and then all the

49:33

injuries happened yeah and then we'll always have the

49:35

Andrew Miller the home run-off Andrew Miller in the

49:38

27 and I'll always have this break

49:44

the Greg Bird

49:47

bobblehead with the shell and I love

49:49

the fact that it broke

49:56

because it's like breaking even

49:58

more now it's so goddamn hop heavy

50:01

because he's sitting in this shell that just

50:03

doesn't, he just doesn't fit in it and

50:06

the head breaks like constantly. So I just leave

50:08

the crack pieces in there. It

50:11

actually makes more sense that it's a broken shell. It

50:13

doesn't even look a little bit like Greg Bird. It's

50:15

got the eyebrows. It's got the eyebrows. Yeah. How

50:19

are the toes looking? Broken? No

50:21

toes. No toes. Even better.

50:25

He's just half of a man. Oh,

50:27

and the best part is he's got the

50:29

bird wings that look like angel wings on the

50:32

back. They do look like angel wings. Yeah.

50:35

But is that a Trenton or a Scranton? Scranton.

50:38

Scranton looks very... That's weird because he got

50:40

called up straight from Scranton. Excuse

50:43

me, straight from Trenton. That's true.

50:45

Did he go back at any point? Only

50:48

to rehab? Yeah. Well,

50:50

there you go. So this

50:52

is a limited edition. Very

50:55

limited. You can't find

50:57

this, especially the broken part of it. I think I increased

51:00

the value. You know

51:02

the Banksy, is that his name?

51:04

The artist? The graffiti artist?

51:06

Yeah. The guy that sold

51:08

the painting with the little girl with the umbrella at

51:11

Southerby's or whatever. And

51:13

then as the auction ended, it shredded. He

51:16

installed the shredder in the frame. Really?

51:19

Yeah. So the whole guy didn't think shredded. And

51:21

it came out the bottom of the frame right after it sold.

51:24

And now has like 20 acts

51:27

in value, the shredded version of

51:29

it, because it was shredded. Now

51:32

it's even more unique. I wonder if he knew

51:34

that was going to happen or if he was just trying to be a dick.

51:37

I think both. All right. That's

51:41

going to wrap up today's show. We'll be

51:43

back at you again. Spring training is right around

51:45

the corner. Like five, six weeks away. Pretty amazing.

51:48

Go get pitching, Yankee. Hey

51:52

guys, thanks for listening to the Bronx Pinstrap Show.

51:54

Make sure you find us on iTunes and subscribe

51:57

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52:14

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52:16

and go Yankees!