The Bill Simmons Podcast - "A Requiem for the Young Yankees" MLB Wrap-up With JackO (Ep. 277)

Episode Date: October 24, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons calls 'B.S. Pod' Hall of Famer JackO to reflect on the 2017 New York Yankees' ALCS run and look forward to the future reliance on up-and-coming talent in the Bronx. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to a special edition of the BS podcast. We're doing four this week. We still have one coming on Wednesday and one coming on Friday, but we had not talked to Jacko during this improbable Yankees playoff run. So we called him. We're going to call him for the Ringer MLB show, but we got a little carried away and now we just thought we'd put it here. Special edition. Jacko, BS podcast, Hall of Famer, dating back to 2007 and this Yankees revival, we had to get his thoughts. So this podcast, as always, is presented by SeatGeek, our presenting sponsor. Buy and sell tickets in two taps on your phone. Everything fully guaranteed. Basketball fans, $30 off your first SeatGeek purchase on NBA tickets. Use promo code NBAPALOOSA. It expires on November 1st download the SeatGeek app or go right to SeatGeek.com

also brought to you by TheRinger.com that's where you can find my football column, football picks, mailbag whatever I come up with on a Friday, it's there on TheRinger.com and we're brought to you by TheRinger MLB show Ben Lindberg and Michael Bauman are breaking down

the World Series and everything that's going on with that for the rest of the week. So there you go. First Pearl Jam and then my buddy Jacko. Let's go. Johnny. What's up, buddy? Special edition. Awesome.

Calling you at your daughter's track meet on a Monday afternoon. You've had two days to digest the Yankees loss. Indeed. We should have been doing something every day last week as we ran through this rollercoaster ride of Yankees emotions. Yankees down 2-0. Come back up 3-2. Got to say, Johnny, the Yankee fans got very confident there up 3-2.

Very, very, very confident. Extremely. What are your regrets? What do your regrets? Well, I regret not winning this series, obviously, but that's sort of a big overarching regret. I don't really regret anything. I kept saying on Twitter that it was house money

and it truly was house money. The only game that they absolutely had to win was the play-in game against Minnesota. And after that, anything was gravy because you're facing a Cleveland team that won 22, 23 games in a row, won 102 games, I think, went to the seventh game of the World Series last year, absolute barn burners with Kluber, a solid offense, experienced manager Tito Francona, who had already beaten the Yankees, as we all know.

So to beat them was really an uphill climb and to do that was amazing then you beat them and then you have the Astros coming down coming down the pike they're 101 win team best team in the American League all year until Cleveland got hot late you know whenever they went on their streak and got hot and overtook them for best record but Houston was the class of the American League all year long. They were first from the beginning. They've been highly touted for years because they have all these young guys that have now blossomed. They have Keichel.

They picked up Verlander, as we well know, at the trade deadline. So it was really house money. And then the eggs go down 2-0, and you start to say, well, they were who we thought they were, and the Astros were who they thought we were. Then the eggs come home for 3. They set the world on fire, set we thought they were, and the Astros were who they thought we were. Then the Yanks come home for three. They set the world on fire, set New York on fire,

and win three games in a row. And then as I also said on Twitter and said to all my friends, it's like the Shawshank Redemption. You know what it taught us? It gave me hope. And what did Shawshank tell us? Hope is a terrible thing. Because then when you're up 3-2, I started getting World Series thoughts.

And I'm like, my God, if this team could ever go to the World Series. You know, I started getting ideas and then, you know, Verlander and freaking Charlie Morton quickly disabused me of those hopes, unfortunately. But it was an amazing run. It was a great run for a team that was picked to come in like third or fourth in the

AL East, depending on which prognostication you looked at. So everybody agrees the Yanks are coming and the Yanks are on the move, but this year was supposed to be 81-81. I think Vegas had them at 83 wins before the season, so to go to the seventh game of the ALCS

is pretty amazing. Pretty good. I thought we learned from Shawshank that hope was a good thing. Oh, it's a good thing? It's a bad thing now, hope? I don't know. Isn't that what they said?

Like, hope is a bad thing or hope is a good thing? I always thought it was hope was a bad thing. But then at the end we learned hope was a good thing? I don't know. I'm tired. I haven't slept in a week. Andy said hope was a good thing, and Red was against hope. He said hope would...

Yeah, that's it. Hope, you know, you're institutionalized, all that stuff. And then we learned at the end that Hope was a good thing, but Andy had to be sodomized for two straight years from the sisters and be in isolation, and he had to crawl through a 500-yard sewage pipe to eventually get where he needed to go. Let's hope that's not required for the Yanks to get to the World Series, because I'm not

willing to go that far on either account. You might crawl through like a 75 foot sewage pipe. I don't know if you'd go 500 yards. No, that's a lot. But it was a good, you know, all in all, Shawshank anecdotes, I mean, Shawshank metaphors that may not work aside. It was a good year and I'm happy, but, you know, ultimately it's disappointing. You know, I figured if they went to the World, I was kind of like the natural.

I was like Wilford Brimley. All I wanted was a pennant. I just wanted to win the pennant. You know, if they won the American League, I would have been so happy. And, you know, you face the Dodgers and Kershaw, and who knows. But just to win the pennant in a rebuilding year would have been fantastic and would have been really huge. And, you know, they came so damn close and overachieved to such an extent that I, while

of course I'm bummed out and disappointed, I really am not like, you know, nothing got thrown around my living room. Let's put it that way. Like no remotes were broken or anything. It was just like, you look back with admiration. And the thing is, I mean, I love this team so much because, you know, in 2009 you had a lot of guys that were not very likable and they were sort of mercenaries, you know,

free agents that were brought in to guys you had no connection with. But, you know, to hear so many years about Judge and Severino and Sanchez and see them perform to some degree on a big stage and to get the team to the seventh game of the ALCS, you know, Todd Frazier with the thumbs-down thing and the thickest New Jersey accent in this game of the ALCS. Todd Frazier with the thumbs down thing and the thickest New Jersey accent in this side of the Jersey Shore.

Lifelong Yankee fan. It was just heart and soul of the team. It was just a great team to really wrap your arms around and feel good about. But in retrospect, the Yankee fans could have toned it down up 3-2. I feel like they could have scaled it back a notch. They scaled it back a notch. They scaled it back a notch.

Especially if history has taught us anything. We can't start counting our chickens, our World Series chickens, before they hatch. I was very worried because friends of mine were Yankee fans, and there was a lot of chest beating and a lot of planning ahead and getting ready for the parade. And I was like, 2004 has taught us some things 2001 should have taught us some things like yeah let's not go crazy here everybody let's just let's just wait and see you should have seen things have happened you should have seen it out here in la

because once dodgers yankees was legit in play there's so many yankee fans out here that everybody was going for tickets i had a couple people in my lifetime were like, Hey man, I need connections for a Yankees Dodgers. I'm like, you guys haven't won yet. What are you doing? What are you doing? Send that email on Saturday night at midnight. But it just, we've learned. I'm sure like Rob Manfred and everybody, all the other executives are bummed out because the thought of Yankees,

Dodgers, you know, New York and LA, the New York and LA markets, all the history of having played each other 11 times previously, you know, throughout the years, like MLB had to be salivating about that.

Now I'm sure they're happy with Houston. Who's a feel good story. There's no way they're happy. They were the Yankees. Dodgers would have been the all-time gold mine of a World Series now that the Cubs have already won. I think if you don't know fantasy... Hang on.

What's up? We're running second. Okay. I'll watch it. Okay. Sitting in my car, my daughter was just giving me a cross-country update. Cross-country, not a great spectator sport. I'm going to put that out there.

You kind of watch the start, and then you can watch the finish, and then the rest of the time, they're running in the woods somewhere. She just was giving me their start time. I'm under the air here. It's all good. You might do some things differently with the watchability of cross-country? Yeah, I don't

know. I think maybe we need some video on the course to watch it on a monitor or something here at the finish line. You're not allowed to see. Yeah, I would say. Yeah, I mean, obviously MLB wanted, you know, when you looked at the four teams left, they were like Yankees, Cubs, or Yankees, Dodgers. They were salivating about either one of those, obviously.

So we were all hopeful for that. If you're doing a fantasy draft of matchups, I would say Yankees-Dodgers would probably have been their first pick. Yeah, because New York and L.A., absolutely. And all the young dudes. And you get Judge in there. I mean, Judge is going to be the golden child. I think Yankees-Washington would have been interesting, too, because of for Harper to go up a level.

But, you know, I don't know if he was 100% healthy. Aaron Judge, walk me through your mindset. How many playoff games did you play? 13? 13, yeah. Aaron Judge either would strike out or something good would happen, and there was really no in-between. Did you like having him come up with guys on base?

I did not. And the funny thing is, before the Cleveland series started, a guy called into Francesa and he was like, would you pinch him for Dutch? And he came up in a big spot and he needed a hit. And would you pinch him for him? And Francesa basically laughed him off the air. And then the longer that series went on, I started to think about the call. I'm like, not crazy

because he was flailing at pitches. He looked completely lost at the plate. If he swings and he misses, he's not going to hit a home run every time, obviously. But he just looked so, so bad. And just like his swing was awful. He's pulling away off of things. And he just looked overmatched

at times. And then other times, he puts the team on his back and he's got a big double or he hits a home run. And the one thing you can't quibble about was his defense because he stole two home runs against the Astros twice. So, you know, it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions. And you keep having to remind yourself, a kid's only 24 years old, never sniffed a postseason, never been involved in this kind of pressure before.

But to be that susceptible to a breaking ball, you know, it's got an offseason to work on that. But obviously there's some holes and things. But so it was a roller coaster of emotions with Aaron Judge. And then, you know, Greg Bird, who was basically dead all year with a bad ankle and they were ready to ship him out of town. And he came up huge and limited that back in the postseason. It was so weird.

I was much happier seeing Frank Bird at the plate than I was Aaron Judge. And if you told me that in July, I'd have been like, you're crazy. Were you worried at any point during the playoffs that people were going to start thinking Didi Gregorius was a better shortstop than Derek Jeter? You did think about it a couple times. I think that happened. I'm going to tell you something. The guy who's the most bummed out about this postseason run has to be Derek Jeter. You did think about it a couple times. I think that happened. I'm going to tell you something. The guy who's the most bummed out about this postseason run

has to be Derek Jeter. DeeDee, I mean, the whole thing with Jeter was he was captain clutch and big moments, and DeeDee had some humongous moments. I mean, he hit the three-run homer to save the season against Minnesota in the first inning. That was Jeter-esque. And he had a lot of big hits and a lot of big moments. You know, he has the record for shortstops on the Yankees.

I know. I made a joke on Twitter, and it was only half a joke about who was the shortstop before Corbett, you know? Jeter's got to be so bummed out about the state of his legacy because, you know, like Tino Martinez, who filled Mattingly's shoes, and then he became a beloved Yankee. I mean, you know, you always figure, like, the guy that follows, you know,

Vince Lombardi or whoever, you know, follows a superstar, follows Willie Bays, is going to have a hard time. But the Yankees have lucked out twice now with two superstars where their replacements have been, you know, almost as good. So it's been good in that regard. He was always the Yankee just when the Red Sox played the Yankees, just judging it on that. For some reason, he was always the most scared just when the Red Sox played the Yankees just judging it on that. For some reason, he was always the most scared of

Gregorius in the lineup. And Brett Gardner second. Really? Yeah, Brett Gardner just because something about him. Brett Gardner underrated. I mean, he just, you know, follows off pitches when you need a hit. He had some huge hits this year when they played the Cubs and he hit a home run in the ninth inning and that really

sort of set them on fire for a while. Just huge, huge at-bats. Very good at-bats. And just kills the pitcher. He had the big at-bat against Cleveland where he fouled off like 12, I think it was Cleveland. All these things melt together now in my aged mind.

He fouled off 12. Yeah, the 12-pitch at-bat just fouled off, fouled off. And whoever the relieverpitch at bat just followed off, followed off. And whoever the reliever was, you could see his body. I've thrown him everything, and he's making contact. Like, what do I do here? Just working pitchers. Just phenomenal.

Just huge. Just huge. That's the thing. Role players like Brett Gardner doesn't have a huge contract. But he has great at-bats like that that maybe aren't in the box score, but just wear a pitcher down for the next guy. I always felt like the Red Sox could pitch to Judge and Sanchez. Not that they're not good hitters, but I always felt like we could get them out.

And Gregorius and Gardner were the two guys that I always felt like, oh, no, this guy's up. You know, like, oh, man, this is going to be a nine-pitch at-bat. I mean, Brett Gardner doesn't waste at-bats normally, and he has an idea. I mean, that comes with being older and he's a veteran. I mean, Sanchez had one of the worst at bats I've ever seen in the history of baseball, where he had a three-pitch strikeout. He couldn't have looked any

worse. Just awful. But then he comes up and they'll hit one to the moon. So it's like, you know, you've got to keep reminding yourself that they're young. They've never been here before. So there's stuff to work on, obviously. But the future looks bright. And one of my rules has always been if you're trusting Aaron Hicks in a playoff series,

you probably don't deserve to be in a playoff series. He did have one big hit. He did, but he couldn't do anything. He came up first and second. I think it was game six they had first and second. And you're like, God, if Aaron Hicks could do something here, just put a little pressure on Houston. I mean, Houston's Achilles heel is their bullpen is awful.

You saw in game seven where they brought in McCullers. Because they don't trust their bullpen. They have good starters, but their bullpen is awful. So you're like, God, if you can get into the bullpen here, we got a shot. But, yeah, Aaron Hicks, not great at the plate. He's in there for his defense, I guess. He had a couple big hits during the season,

but then he just fell apart and he was injured. You don't want him in big spots. You're right. What are your thoughts on Verlander after that series? Well, it's not fair. He gets to date or be married to or whatever he does with Kate Upton, and then he gets to pitch that as well as he did and get the ALCS MVP. There's no justice in the world, Billy.

And I'm thinking he must have gone to, like, I think he went to go see Kobe Bryant's doctor in Germany because this was a guy that was, like, mediocre for the first half of the season, and now he's pitching like Sandy Koufax. It's unbelievable. He'd go into Houston, rejuvenated him, or maybe he was pitching for something, and Detroit was just like playing out the string. But, I mean, the guy, two of the best games,

I mean, made the Yankees look like a little league team. It was unhittable. I felt vindicated because I really wanted the Red Sox to trade for him. He was just starting to pitch well for a couple weeks. We traded for him in my fantasy league. He was just starting to pitch well for a couple weeks we traded for him in my fantasy league he was just starting to pitch well and then it was you know Dombrowski who was his GM in Detroit I just felt like right right I thought we would step in I remember I think I tweeted or I said it on a pod that I would have traded Pomerantz in a prospect and people were like oh that's crazy Pomerantz I'm

like look all I know is the playoffs are going to come around and Drew Pomerantz isn't going to make it to the fifth inning. I'm sure of very few things for the rest of 2017, especially how crazy this year has been. But I know Drew Pomerantz isn't getting out of the fifth inning in a playoff game. You can mark that down. And Verlander just seemed like he was sitting there and people were saying, wow, his contract. It's like his contract.

He makes $20 million. Who cares? He makes $20 million this year and next year and then there's some option. Like, great. Okay. there and people were saying wow his contract it's like his contract he makes 20 million who cares he makes 20 million this year and next year and then there's some option like great okay that guy knows that guy's gonna show up in a big game and uh right and he was awesome and and you know that especially in the in game six where you knew once they got would they get to three runs and it was like, oh, man. Yeah. All right.

But I agree with you. I think that Astros bullpen, I thought Peacock looked scared. Smoltz was basically saying it. There was one of those games. It looked like Smoltz was saying how, I know you don't like John Smoltz. He was saying how, oh, the moment looks like it's getting to Peacock. And you could really kind of feel it. But he got out of the inning and they were able to escape but

I think in the World Series that's going to be a problem I think that's their problem in the World Series because especially when you're in the National League and you have all these double switches and you're going to your pitcher might come up in a big spot and you're going to have to pinch here for the pitcher go into your bullpen and their bullpen I was like praying like come on let's run

up Berlander's pitch count and try to get into that bullpen and I was like praying, like, come on, let's run up Verlander's pitch count and try to get into that bullpen. And the one thing that gave me hope is, like, Keiko has been a Yankee killer for about three years now. And, like, they can't do anything with him, completely unhittable, like just something about the uniform, whatever. He sees pinstripes and he comes on. And then they get to him in game five, and I'm like, God, if they beat Keiko,

I'm like, well, if they could beat Keuchel maybe they can get to Verlander. Verlander very quickly disabused me of that notion, just rose to the occasion just amazingly. I think I was at my angriest tweeting Verlander game because it's just so frustrating. You just mow them down and it's like they can't do anything with them.

You're like, the guy's not throwing junk. It doesn't need to be moving, but his fastball is unhittable, you know? Yeah, he's hitting 96. The Yankees are a good fastball-hitting team, but he's just blowing it by them. I was like, geez. Yeah, he started 96. That was disconcerting.

96 and hitting his spots. See, I think we're going to look back at Charlie Morton going five scoreless in Game 7 and kind of wondering how the hell that happened. I know, I know. I know. It was like his gum. I didn't like that. He's touching his pitching hand with his gum.

I'm always shaky about that. But I know. I'm like, well, I knew if they lost game six it was a tall order because it's such a game of momentum, and the Yankees had all the momentum after game five, and then Verlander shuts them down, and then you have game seven and the crowd going nuts. But I'm like, it's Charlie freaking Morton, you know?

And then he just looked great. So he got the magic. And it was like, Jesus, you know, if you can't hit Charlie Morton, I mean, you deserve to lose, quite frankly, because he was as good as he was. I mean, he's not as good as Verlander or Keuchel. So when he shut the door in game seven, there's just, you know, what are you going to do? Tip your cap, I guess, and build for next season.

What was Francesa's state of mind during the Yankee run? Well, I think he kind of caught—he was sort of counseling, you know, circumspection that, you know, let's not get crazy here. But after Game 5, it was like 96 all over again again where he kept talking about how this team reminded him of 96. The whole city was getting caught up in everything. He definitely had World Series fever after Game 5. Totally did.

The most surprising thing for me this whole postseason, though, is I can't believe how much I like David Ortiz. I mean, even A-Rod, honest to God, I can't believe it. I'm like, I would tune in and I'd be like, oh, look, there's A-Rod and Big Poppy. Like, they're two old friends. Like, they were so freaking good together.

Big Poppy is legitimate. Like, he's funny as hell. I hate myself for it, and I'll deserve all the tweets I get about this. I'm still going to stand by all my anti-Big Papi as a player, but as a broadcaster, the other night, I think it was game five, it was Keith Hernandez's birthday, so they showed he had two hits in the 82 World Series, and they showed him in the clubhouse with the champagne, and they're all making fun of Keith Hernandez.

So whoever the host was, he goes, 1982, Papi, how old were you? And Papi goes, yeah, I'm from the Dominican. I don't know, I could have been, he goes, 1982, Poppy. How old were you? And Poppy goes, yeah, I'm from the Dominican. I don't know. I could have been 18, 23, 41, 15. So goddamn funny. He and A-Rod together, really, like, if somebody needs to give them, like, a buddy cop movie

or show, I'm telling you. Or like a reality show. The shame of it was Hernandez is like a solid C- and the potential of Pete Rose, I know he had to go, and there were obviously great reasons for him having to go. I wish those reasons didn't exist and he could have stayed because just even for a week, having him with A-Rod and Poppy

would have been just unbelievable television. It would have been unbelievable. They need to find a normal Pete Rose who doesn't have really horrible skeletons in his background but has that same kind of I don't know what

that guy's gonna say next I was thinking it's too bad Pedro's not on that show because I think I think that would have been a really good combo but maybe there's

somebody out there it's it's a it's a really good studio show it's way up there. I still liked it a little more last year, just because Rose was so captivating.

It was like, this guy doesn't know he's on television. You don't know what Pete Rose is going to say, but A-Rod is so good on TV, it's scary. It's scary how good he is. Everybody goes crazy about Romo, and I know we all love Romo, but in terms of former players, like A-Rod, I should know the guy who's the host of the show, and it escapes me at the

moment, but he would ask A-Rod a question, Kevin Burkhart, that's right, and he'd be like, A-Rod, you know, how do you hit Verlander's slider? He'd be like, well, KB, and then he's like, Frank, don't you think? He'd bring in the other people on the panel, and I'm like, God, he's so good. You know, he's like, looking at Oh my God, he's so good. You know,

he's like looking at the right camera. He's a natural as phony as he was in interviews and, and all the post game stuff with, as a player, he's that much as a natural as a host. It's amazing. Well, that phoniness translates to TV.

There's a reason. Hey, but he had a big poppy. It seems like a legitimate, like budding friendship and the way they're razzing each other. A-Rod with the ring and trying to put the Yankees coat jacket on. Big Papi is phenomenal.

So good. Well, I think the thing with Big Papi is whoever he's with, he's going to get along with. He could be on that show with Kim Jong-il, whoever the head of ISIS is right now, and Justin Bieber. Ortiz would somehow bring everybody together

and I think it would be fine. Do you have anything horrible you want to say? Any last words you want to leave for Joe Buck and or John Smoltz? You sounded like a crazy person on Twitter. You were convinced John Smoltzer. You were convinced. You sounded like a crazy person on Twitter. You were convinced John Smoltzer was rooting against the Yankees.

Oh, because I'm also convinced the sun rises in the east, it sets in the west, and the sky is blue. Of course I was convinced of that. I know it's a crazy person to say, like, this guy's rooting against your team. But he and Vas Gershon were like, might as well have been wearing a Cleveland Indian jersey during the Indian jersey.

And during the Indian series. And then they start playing the Astros. And they were like over the top with the Astros and Verlander. Like at one point, there was a shaky call of a strike. I think it was for Verlander. And Smoltz goes, oh, like openly groaning about the strike not being called for Verlander. It was the most amazing. Like even Buck called him out on it. And he's like, well, that's because I'm a pitcher.

I'm like, get out of here. And when the Yankees rallied and, you know, when they were down 4-0 and they rallied to score a run, I don't think Smoltz spoke for an inning and a half. I don't think he said a word. It was so blatant. And, you know, the Yankees kicked his ass, kicked his team's ass in the 96 World Series and the 99 World Series. The 96 when they were heavily favored.

So I'd be bitter, too. And I don't really care, really. You know, I'm all about we're the evil empire and it's the Yankees against the world. I'm all down with that. But as frustrating as it was to watch your team get shut down by Rolander, it made it all the more so to have freaking Smoltz act like Kate Upton, rooting for him in the booth openly. So the anger came from a place of frustration. And Joe Buck, I think, you know, he's a Cardinals guy.

He may not have as much anti-Yankee animosity, but he seemed to get pretty excited when things were not going well for the Yankees. So I may have been reading too much into Joe Buck. That was just frustration. But I know Smoltz hates the Yankees. That was clear, clear as day. Like, blatant. Just blatant.

And I can't wait until they win the next five World Series, and I hope he's the analyst and has to sit there and watch every freaking inning. Are you excited for Ken Rosenthal and Aaron Judge's TV pilot? What's that? They're bringing back Fantasy Island. They did it. Oh, it's happening. It's Mr. Really?

Yeah, Aaron Judge is going to wear the Mr. Rourke thing. Mr. Rourke? No, it was just the size difference of those guys was hilarious. Well, they kept doing that without Tuday, Judge, too. I love that. Whenever Judge was on second base, they could show the difference between the two MVP candidates. Well, Judge is a mutant.

I mean, when he's standing next to, even when he's making those catches in right field, it's like watching Giannis in basketball or something. It's like, how is this guy a human being? How is he tall and fast and coordinated? I know, he's an amazing athlete. What do you want the Yankees to get next year? Well, that's an interesting question.

I mean, you know, they've got Glaber Torres, right? Yeah. So I would like them to – I don't know what Todd Frazier's contract situation is. You really like Todd Frazier. I really do like Todd Frazier because I think you need, like, that veteran, like, cheerleader guy on the bench. I like that. He brought in the thumbs-down thing, and he kind of seemed to loosen them up.

They weren't like the corporate stiff Yankees anymore. I think he was good. And he had a couple big hits here and there. He did. I don't know. I just like him. He's a lifelong Yankee fan. He's living out his dream.

I made a joke, I think, when they beat Houston in Game 4 maybe or Game 5. I'm like, give Todd Frazier a $200 million contract, which I was obviously kidding about. But, you know, Glaber Torres, who's the number one prospect in baseball now, is hitting off of a tee after he had to have rotator cuff surgery. But I don't know what they plan to do with him, what position they plan to have him play.

I mean, you know, you've got Chase Headley still under contract. So if you could ship Chase Headley out and eat his contract or just get rid of him play. I mean, you know, you've got Chase Hedley still under contract. So if you could ship Chase Hedley out and eat his contract or just get rid of him and eat his money, which I don't think is huge, and have Glaber play third or have Frazier there and Glaber tune him until Glaber's completely ready to play third. There's some rumors about maybe they would try to ship Starlin Castro out because they weren't in love with him and have Glaber play second. In terms of their pitching,

Tanaka... I think that's what happens. They trade Darlan for somebody. They move Glaber to second and they keep Didi Gregorius in short because he's the best shortstop they've ever had. Well, he's in the conversation for several.

He's the god of Yankee shortstops. Glaber is coming and he's got to play somewhere. It would be nice to get another pitcher, but in terms of free agent pitchers, does Jake Arrieta for $125 million do much for me? Not especially. Tanaka, I think they'll bring CeCe back with one year and a team option, and he's probably earned that as a starter.

He turned into a, you know, Andy Pettit-type crafty lefty. Yes. And it came up pretty big in the postseason. So I'd give CeCe, you know, one year deal with an option if he could take that. And I can't see there being a huge market for him. He probably wants to stay. Tanaka can opt out, but, I mean, I don't know where he thinks he's getting more money.

If he wants another year or something on the back end, the Yankees might do that. He was great in the postseason, but he wasn't great in the regular season. They've got some guys on the farm, Justice Sheffield and Chance Adams, but are they going to be ready and you're putting big spots for rookies next year in the rotation? I don't know. I don't know who the big arm is. Are you interested in... Okay, you know, big starter. Are you interested in David Price or no?

No, I'd rather play... I'd rather hit against him. That's a good thing for the Yankees. I'd rather face him than root for him. That's fair. It'll be interesting to see if the Yankees stick with the DNA that they built here and not audible like the Red Sox did.

The Red Sox had this chance, especially after they won in 2013 when all the Red Sox fans were like, we've won three titles. Pinch us. We can't believe this. We'll support anything. They could have just built around a young team and instead they went and spent all this money and they

almost reverted back to the 1970s, 80s Red Sox of let's just go buy some... 80s, 90s Red Sox, let's go buy some guys. And a lot of them didn't work out. I would have much rather just watch them build a team around the young guys, which is what the Yankees have a chance to do. It'll be

interesting to see if they're completely audible from that and overpay Arrieta and trade Claver Torres for Manny Machado and do all the old things the Yankees would have done 25 years ago. Who knows? Right. I mean, that's why the Yankees would have done 25 years ago. Who knows? Right.

I mean, that's why this Yankees team is so lovable, and it's really like, from the core four days, you got a little taste of this, but it's really, in their history, very un-Yankee-like. Yeah. At least in my lifetime. I shouldn't say all time, but in the Steinbrenner era. I was born in 1970, so Steinbrenner bought them in 73, so the Yankees I've known my whole life of just going out and spending money

on free agents and just bringing in mercenaries, but this team, like, to hear about these guys, hear about these guys for years, and then, like, the Baby Bombers, which I hate as a name, but anyway, we'll go with that for now. I'd like to see them, have them hear about the Baby Bombers and then see them accomplish it.

And it's like you feel like a connection with them because they're like your homegrown guys. Everybody always feels closer with that, you know? The Red Sox had that with, you know, Pedroia and Nomar, you know, with Hall of Famer Xander Bogarts. They always had, you know, Mookie, all these guys that were homegrown, you know? We have it now. We could have had it, and we could still have it. I think fans like that better. Fans like that better.

Once you've won the World Series, I just want to root for guys that I've watched for a bunch of time. I'd much rather build from the ground up. And we have Betts and Devers and Benintende, and that's why I want us in the building. Yeah, me too with the yankees now you know the yankees have that with you know severino sanchez judge and um you know the chances who's kind of falling off the radar and maybe they can get him back on track but and you know you hear you know obviously i don't want to do anything with glaber torres and but you're just a sheffield or chance Adams, but the Yankees have this allegedly wonderful farm system. So if there's some guys there that you could trade for established players, you know,

I don't mind if you trade some guys on the margins or a couple of guys that maybe will turn out to be really good, but you know, you did it to supplement what could be, you know, a deep world series team or a potential dynasty team, like what the Cubs, you know, are looking at, you know, there's a lot of good young teams in baseball, so if you have to trade a couple prospects to go get a starter or go get somebody, it's just nice to have the opportunity to do that.

I keep saying, well, the Yanks are coming, but Cleveland is young for the most part. They're good. Houston is young, and they're obviously very good. They're in the World Series. The Red Sox have some young guys that are okay. They have a Hall of Famer, Xander Bogart. If they go get

Stanton, they're obviously scary. There's no guarantees that we can just pencil in, we're going to be in the hunt for the next five years. You like to think so, but it's exciting. It's a good place to be. I feel hopeful about the future. And that hope is either a good thing

or a terrible thing, whatever Shawshank Taunt us I'll go with that Johnny I think you have to go because I just saw on ESPN1 that your daughters cross country they just passed the 5 mile mark they're running through the woods I watched the start and I think it was the boys

and there was like a couple kids got like trampled I think we had like a tour de France type crash at the start. I know that's funny, but a couple kids went down. I'm going to say this for cross-country. It's not a great spectator sport, and the starts are rough. It's dicey at the start. Everybody's running for whatever and bumping into each other.

It's rough. Not ideal. This is a good time to announce that you're going to be the host of the Ringer's Cross Country Podcast, which will be launching next week. Ringer XC. It's going to be me, A-Rod, and Big Papi in the studio. You can't lose. Johnny, good to talk to you.

Good to catch up. Talk to you soon. Good times. All right. Take care, buddy. Bye-bye. All right. Thanks to Jacko and thanks to SeatGeek.

Don't forget, NBA fans, if you want to buy tickets for the first time on SeatGeek, you get $30 off if you use promo code NBAPALOOZA. It expires on November 1st. Download the SeatGeek app or go right to SeatGeek.com. Back tomorrow with Miles Teller on the BS Podcast. Until then. I don't want to see them on the wayside. Never say I don't have feelings with them.

On the wayside. I'm a person. Never say I don't have feelings with them.