The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - LeBron Trade Rumors, Alex Rodriguez

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Thoughts on the All-Star Game tonight and people who are upset with Jacob Misiorowski being on the rosterColin discusses the LeBron James trade rumorsThe WNBA wasn't ready for the Caitlin Clark hypeGuest: Alex RodriguezSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Here we go. It is a Tuesday. It is great to be here again. A little siesta, a little sabbatical. J-Mack filling in more than capably and appreciate that. We are ready to go.

The All-Star game is tonight. We have Cal Raleigh. I grew up a Mariners fan. I wanted to be the voice of the Mariners at some point. The organization did not agree, so I ended up doing this. A-Rod joins us as well tonight. So it's All-Star Game Night, Home Run Derby, NBA stuff, NFL camps are getting quick to open very soon around the corner. Jay Matt, good to be back and good to see you.

Yeah, great to have you back, big fellow. We're excited for it today. All right, so here's a story that's been simmering and sort of hovering like those UPAs, those UFOs over New Jersey were. Remember that for about a three-week trial, kind of hovering over what are they? That's what I feel the LeBron trade rumors are like. Nobody's quite sure what they are, what they mean, they're out there. I think maybe it's a plane. I don't buy them. I do not buy the LeBron trade rumors.

Here's why. The best contract you can have in professional basketball is a superstar in his prime. SGA, Yokic, Luca, those are the guys that win in May and June. Rookie contracts are nice. Best contract, superstar in his prime. SGA wins a title. Yokic wins a title. The second best contract to me is a high,

productive player with a lot of seasoning who is still good, probably out of his prime, and he has an expiring contract. And that's LeBron. This is it. They can play with it. Leverage to the Lakers. They can move him at the trade deadline. They could move him now. I wouldn't. So why would you get rid of that? I mean, he was 24, 8 and 8 last year. He was all NBA second team. He was sixth in MVP voting. That's the highest in years. He's. He's, He's highly productive and he's capable of helping you in a playoff series. I'm not trading that away. And by the way, his agent, Rich Paul, has acknowledged publicly.

Yeah, LeBron knows it's Lucas team. So there's no real angst with LeBron James. He knows it's Lucas team. They're going to take care of him first. He'll get a new deal. So I don't buy the trade talks. Also, you know, this is the time of the year. It's, hey, how do I fill my three-hour show?

How do I fill my column? I don't buy it. Now, I do believe that. They will transition out of this potentially if things go south, but why now and why today? Remember, the Lakers got better. There's a lot of reasons to be hopeful. I do not believe they are going to be as good as Houston. I don't think they're Oklahoma City.

I don't think they're as good as Dallas. But JJ Reddickson in year two, he'll be better. Bronnie's had a good summer league. He may contribute. Luca's going to be in great shape, and they're better at center. I don't love DeAndre Aiton. he's allergic to defense, always sees himself as a one. He's more of a three to a four in a championship level team.

It'll probably be a three or a four for the Lakers. We'll see, but that team is not a very good defensive team. And to win a championship, Oklahoma City just proved you can do it with defense. So the Lakers are going to be very interesting this upcoming season, and they're going to be very good. They're not going to win a title. They're not going to hoist a trophy. They're not going to be great. LeBron's past his prime.

Austin Reeves can be picked on defensively. DeAndre Aiton's Moody, never happy and doesn't defend. And Luca, he'll be in good shape, but, you know, you're not getting much defense there either. But in Kobe's last year, they were uninteresting and won 17 games. They were awful. So this is not a bad place to be. Very good and very interesting. So I don't buy the trade rumors.

Hosts have to fill space. I think at the trade deadline, as Chris Broussard said yesterday, things could be interesting if it goes south. I think he starts the season with the Lakers. Now, if for some reason it goes terrible, would they try to move him at the deadline, maybe get him to a team with a chance to do something in the playoffs? Yeah, something like that,

but I don't see it going terrible. They were playing good basketball, and that was on the fly, right? That was with a roster not built around Luca. It was on the fly. LeBron had to all of a sudden adjust to being the second guy offensive. and they still play good basketball.

So you would expect them to be better. They will be better. They won't be great, but they'll be good and interesting. Why move off that now? All right, tonight's the All-Star game, home run derby champ from the Mariners. Cal Raleigh will be joining us one hour from now, A-Rod, bottom of the hour.

So baseball made a decision, which I totally agree with, actually two. They're going to have, he's only had five appearances, He's four and one. He's six, seven. The kid throws absolute heat from the Milwaukee Brewers. Jacob Mizorowski, they call him Ms. And they decided only five appearances, hey, we're getting him into the All-Star game. And the purists have grumbled, but they always take themselves way too seriously. Baseball's also going to use the ABS system in the All-Star game tonight. They used it in spring training. It's being used in the minor leagues, and they're going to experiment with

it. It's very quick. When I initially heard about it, I didn't like it, but it actually is fast, succinct, not a huge replay fan. I understand in football with only 17 games, you got to get it right, but they're going to do both. Baseball is strange. So when I was a kid growing up, it had all sorts of personality. Al Roboski, Mark Fidrich, Pete Rose, Mickey Rivers, it was all sorts of personality. Then it went through this weird 20-year span where it took itself way too seriously. Way too rigid, way too beholden.

The writers, broadcasters, everybody took it so seriously. And the sport got really dull. And you heard about unwritten rules, and there was a way to play the game. Those to unwritten rules, Rob Manfred is unwriting the unwritten rules. He's getting rid of them. He's going to experiment with a kid tonight. The ABS system. And I'm sure purists don't like it.

But he's called a phenom. You know what gets me to a television? A phenom. Not statistically superior player for the Phillies. Phenom gets me to a television set. I don't care if it's a phenom golfer. Caitlin Clark came into the league. Phenom gets me to a TV set.

I don't care if it's a musical artist. The kid is 6'7, averages 99 miles an hour on his fastball. He's probably going to go in, middle innings, and I can't wait. Those unwritten rules never made any sense. Like there are certain unwritten rules in society we all understand. Like when you go to the bathroom, wash your hands before you come out. Or if you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth. But you can't bunt to break up a no-hitter.

Why not? My job is not put you in the record books. My job is to not elevate your legacy. It's a two-n-nothing game, three-nothing game you lead. Guy in front of me walks, steal second. I'm bunning to get him on. Eight-inning. I don't care.

That's a you problem. Remember the other one in baseball? You can't steal a base leading big. I mean, I guess if it's 14-0, or you can't stare at a home run. Why not? You couldn't get me out. Throw harder.

Be more wicked. Get the splitty over. Whatevs? Rob Manfred's like, no, let's have fun. It's baseball. This is called an all-star game. And this kid's a star. He's a phenom.

He gets us to a television. Baseball got into real trouble when it got really precious and really behold into history. Guys, we used to memorize baseball cards. That's what we did at 17. Kids don't collect them. They don't collect them. They don't run to the drugstore in your local town to get that piece of gum and, you know, that baseball card. It's all over.

I mean, even the industry of trading baseball cards with few exceptions, nobody cares anymore. So I love what they're doing. Rob Manfred said, speed the game up. Every swing he's taken has worked. Everyone, you don't have to love them. All-Star game, not all stats, not all superior production for a guy that's not getting us to a TV. I love it. I think it's great.

And here's Dave Roberts. The All-Star game should be the best, the game's best players. It's about the fans. and what the fans want to see. So for this young kid to be named All-Star, I couldn't be more excited for him. He is thrilled to be here. I'm going to get him in there probably the fifth of the sixth inning,

something like that, the seventh, and it's going to be electric, so the fans, the media, you're going to love it. Tonight is a celebration. It's not determining home field advantage. Don't be precious. Don't be pious. Baseball did that for about 20 years.

They got really weird. And by the way, the Savannah bananas, right? Like that thing is on fire, right? Why? It's selling out. The fans are telling you, yeah, we go to the ballpark to have a beer with friends and have fun. This kid is not in this All-Star game tonight. If they don't put Ms. in, what's getting me there?

It matters. Six-seven throws heat. I want to watch. All right, Jay Mack. Nick Sabin, rumored to be headed back. another rumor I don't buy to college football. We'll address that. The NFL execs came out with a quarterback list yesterday that I absolutely love.

That probably drove you crazy. Of course you love it. Of course. No Brock Purdy in the top ten. Of course you love it. I got to look at 11 through 15. I didn't see him there either. But whatever, I don't want to rub it in this morning.

Oh, boy. Oh, he's lobbing grenades early. Okay. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports. Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot

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Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on. a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it

one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay.

Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

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And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, welcome back. Alex Rodriguez joining us in about 10 minutes. All-Star game tonight on Fox. So, you know, I'll be honest. I golfed a lot. I hung out, biked, walked, hung out with the dogs, did not read a lot or watch a lot of sports. Some, but one of the things that jumped out to me

over the last 10 to 11 days was that NFL executives, coaches, and scouts. Many of them through the years have been very helpful to me in learning this game and sourcing this game, release their top 10 quarterback. So this is the people that draft them, the people that coach them, the people that select them, the people that scout them. And it went in this order. Mahomes, Allen Burrow, Lamar, Jaden, Daniels, Matt Stafford, Justin Herbert, Goff, Jalen Hertz, Baker Mayfield.

And I almost reached out to J. Mack, but I didn't want to get him all riled up. That's about as close to my list as you can get. Now, believe it or not, you're probably saying, well, what about Baker Mayfield? Well, after a second good year in Tampa, he's closer to 10 than 15. I probably go C.J. Stroud at 10 because his size and accuracy, but he didn't have a great year. A lot of that was his receivers all got hurt. His left tackle didn't play well. But none of this bothers me. Now, the reaction on Jalen Hertz, who wins the Super Bowl being nine, was predictable by his coach Nick Seriani that said, you know, this is a bunch of nonsense. I can't believe it. And that's what a coach should do. But here are three Undeniable truths. Take a deep breath. According to PFF, the Eagles offense was top 10 in everything.

Pass blocking, run blocking, rushing, receiving. Yet they were 21st and actually passing. Jalen Hertz is responsible for that. Oh, by the way, 11 of his 32 total touchdowns came on rushes of one or fewer yards. Take out the tush push. He had the same number of touchdowns as Bryce Young. And number three, after a week five buy and a Philist, Reset by the OC, they pass the ball less than any team in the NFL at 24 times a game.

So, you know, if your company, you know, goes to one of those off-site weekend retreats and has a philosophical reset and they come back and they decide, listen, employee, we're going to use you less. And they're more successful. That seems to be a pretty striking correlation. So, bottom line, the organization literally had a philosophical, Brady and Tampa and Bruce Ariens had this. Remember, like late in the season, they never lost after that. They had a reset. And Tom was going to take more control of the offense than Bruce Ariens. They didn't lose again.

They beat Atlanta a couple times. They went all their playoff games, and Tom hoisted another trophy. So the Eagles, basically, they had one of those philosophical resets. And what they decided was, this offense is great. as we pass the ball fewer times. That's a correlation. Now, I don't have a problem putting in Jalen Hertz to my top 10. I think he has great moments, great character, great leadership, great power. I think pound for pound, he's the strongest player in the NFL, certainly strongest quarterback. I like him a lot. But I don't think any GM sees him as an elite passer. I don't think

any GM saw Lamar Jackson initially as an elite passer, but he has really developed. I still think Jalen Hertz on 3rd and 7 from the pocket, I don't have great vibes all the time. I really don't, but I do think he has great moments, character, and leadership, and toughness, and durability. Here's Matt Hasselbeck on the show yesterday saying he's undervalued by the league. I think he's definitely in that 6 to 10, but you could make the argument that he should be at number 6. And I think why I say that, you know, people don't give him enough credit for the quarterback sneak. Like they just don't.

Like they think like, oh, it's just a quarterback sneak. It doesn't count. It's just like a free play. We should make it illegal. That is a real weapon that he uses. And like so like sometimes it's maybe easy to gloss over some of the other stuff because he's not, you know, he's staying in the pocket. He's not bolting.

A lot of young quarterbacks just bolt outside the pocket. He stays in the pocket. He doesn't flinch. You're not going to get a ton of credit for a quarterback sneak. Like he's the best at it. But it's like giving a baseball hitter a lot of credit because he's the league's best bunter. That's not getting me into the HOF. You've got to do more than that.

Eichiro could do that, but he had a great arm, hit for power, and was uniquely gifted. He could also bunt if you wanted him to. That's not really the point. And so my thing with Jalen Hertz is he is viewed fairly. And in my career doing this, I have found that athletes, after they've been in a professional sport for five years, are all fairly judged. By the time you've been in it 10 years and Hertz isn't there yet, everybody knows your brand. Very early in Aaron Rogers' career, super talented, a little aloof can be prickly, great talent. Is he a great leader?

I think that's fair. It's not a criticism. It's what he is, even at a golf tournament. Little prickly. Aaron into Aaron. That's okay. But the idea that after all these years in Philly, you know, people just don't understand what he is. I think we all know what he is.

Great kid, great leader, great talent, strong as strong gets for that position. But he's not a top five guy. All right, J-Mack, he's got the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the Hurdline News. Oh, good to have you back, Calhurt. Let's start with the Golden State Warriors. Colin, they've been very quiet this off-season.

Like, literally nothing. They haven't done anything. They've been linked to Al Horford, linked to another guard. But despite the lack of moves, Steph Curry talked this weekend about how confident he is in the team's ability to build a contender. The narrative outsiders inside might not always be the same. Right.

Like I said, we talk, we have communication. Like I know what's going on. And to the point, I have a lot of confidence in our ability to put together a winning team next year. That's all I want. Every year presents new challenges and you've got to solve that puzzle. We did a really good job of it towards, you know, they ended last year, got to roll it back,

and everybody has to be their best selves in every role throughout the organization. How about this one, Calhurt? They have the same odds to win the NBA title plus 2,500 as the Atlanta Hawks. That's reasonable. They have Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, okay? Well, because of the West,

if you put the Atlanta Hawks in the West with Golden State, they'd have lower odds. I think a lot of that is just the Western Conference. So, you know, it's the difference between the SEC and the Big 12. Like, what are your odds to get, you know, to get to a major bowl? It's just harder in the SEC or the Big Ten these days. So I think Butler and Draymond and Curry make you viable. They make you interesting, but they're going to trade Cominga.

Like I always say, if you can't play with Steph Curry and LeBron, you've got a hole in your game. Like, and Cominga, I mean, like LeBron, everybody can play with LeBron. I mean, seriously, when Dalton connects on the floor with LeBron, he's pretty good. Dalton Connect without LeBron, you're like, he's not a first-round pick. So, like, if you can't play with Curry, I just don't see as a viable future. So are they going to move him at the deadline? He can be, I think he's a guy that you could put on a bad team and he could give you 21 a night. He's long.

He runs the – we saw him play without Curry late in the year. It was actually pretty interesting player. Yeah. No, it's going to be – I don't know that anybody wants to pay him. Like, are you paying Jonathan Comingga, Colin? if you watch it he could not work with Steve Curry and Steph Curry. Well, no, no. Again, I think not every player can play with LeBron James and Steph Curry.

Like not every player can, and the guys that can't are not going to play for the Lakers or Golden State. But I do think he has value somewhere in the league at 22 a game. I mean, you do see him flourish without Curry in that Steph ecosystem. You see him flourish. Well, with Curry, though, this is a contender in the West, a fringe contender. if he goes down for any stretch, they're dead in the water. They got nothing behind Curry. One of the oldest teams in the league.

Next up, TJ Wat, we've been talking about him for about a month now, Colin. The Steelers pass rusher. He wants a new deal, and he's holding out with Pittsburgh. Well, training camp is rapidly approaching and reports are emerging. Pittsburgh is inquiring about Watts' potential trade value, although they don't want to actually trade him. This is a tough spot because he's a fan favorite. He's clearly their number one jersey seller.

but he hasn't translated to postseason wins. He's getting up there in age. Do you get off of him before he gets old and, you know, is a bad contract? Listen, I think this is a no brain. When I suggested a year ago, they should explore trading him. What was the reaction? When I suggested it a year ago, it was outrage. I can't believe it.

The Steelers are doing it. Folks, it's easy to sit there as a troll and react to stuff that happens. But actually, the truth is in sports, what's fascinating is when you can see stuff before it happens. And I said it's a year ago. They're not paying them big money yet. And they are really reluctant to move off a lot of these big contracts. You have to explore it. They've led the NFL in defensive spending for four years.

And they're not paying TJ want the big money yet. So if you could get two second round picks, two things are possible. You can love what a guy's done for your organization, but 30 plus as an edge rusher want to get value for the move. So I can see them getting another player in a second round pick, but when I suggested this a year ago, it was outrageous. This is what general managers do outside of star quarterbacks and star left tackles. Almost everybody, including a Jamar Chase, you take phone calls on. Yeah. Colin, as a minority owner of a sports team, I can tell you, you always move off guys before it's too much.

late. And again, we've talked about Janus with the bucks. You better trade him now because that price is going to go down come the All-Star break and it's going to go down next year. And for T.J. Watt, if they had traded him last summer, I think you probably could have got a first and a third, a first and a fourth maybe. Now you've got to pay him a ton of money. He wants to be one of the highest paid guys. You can't give up. This is not the NBA. I don't know if you can get two-toes, Colin. I don't think there are 30 players in the NFL. You take a phone call on everybody. You don't take it on. Burrow, you know, there's the top seven, eight quarterbacks.

You don't take the phone call on. And the top six or seven left tackles. You don't, there's just not many left tackles. But even a star-wide receiver, I mean, Devonte Adams was not that far removed from his prime. He was moving to the Raiders. He's moving to the Jets. He's moving to the Rams. I mean, there's maybe 30 guys in the NFL tops that a GM just is not going to take a phone call for.

Even Miles Garrett, by the way, with the Browns? No, I wouldn't take a phone call on Miles Garrett. I wouldn't. I think he's the best pass rusher. Okay, so great. You've got a Lamborghini and you live in a shack with no garage roof. Like, that's what the Browns are. Their draft picks are getting arrested in trouble

with the law. They have no quarterback. They're going nowhere. Why are you paying Miles Garrett? I would have just got whatever I could and start over. Well, because he's by far and away your best player, and I think it ruins a locker room. If you don't, if you draft a guy and then don't reward him, what is the signal?

And I think he's so much better than I think Jared verse by the end of this coming season. We'll look at him as possibly the second best pass rusher. I think he's that good. But Garrett is in another class. Michael Parsons is still pretty. We'll see. Final story, Colin, to my Jets.

Been a quiet off season, but they just locked up Garrett Wilson. Four years, $130 million extension. Again, some of that's funny money. 90-milled guaranteed is not. With the new deal, Wilson slots in as the fifth highest-paid wide receiver per year. And he's had a really good start to his career with no good quarterbacks. I don't know that he's going to make Justin Fields that much better.

He's a great player. His numbers so far have been incredible. I don't think this is a bad deal at all. No, no. I don't think it's an overpay. And if you look at the average per year, I like the Garrett Wilson deal more than D.K. Metcalfe, who's got a lot of tread on his tires and is a bit of a locker room issue. The Jets have five or six really elite players. He's one of them. Pam. I have no problem with this.

I don't. None. And by the way, Justin Fields, you don't want him having a moody wide receiver. You've got to pay a guy, get it done. Garrett's happy. So if his numbers go down, let's say Justin Fields isn't the answer. Garrett's not moody. Garrett got his. He'll be good in the locker room. You need him to actually be a leader right now because the Jets have a new quarterback and a new coach a new quarterback, so I'm good with it. 100% of it. Jay Mackle of the News. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. A 14-time All-Star, a three-time MVP, 22 years, an icon absolutely beginning to end. Alex Rodriguez at the All-Star Game is now joining us live. Okay, so you made your All-Star debut. You were 20 years old. You know, you obviously would not remember this.

I remember being in the Mariner locker room years and years and years ago, And you were, you know, with your talk of the team, and I was like, he's like 14 years old. Look at that kid. He's a kid. So you go, let's talk about Ms. So I have no problem putting him in the All-Star game. He's a phenom. Let's not get precious.

I want to see a phenom. The kid, six, seven throws heat. I'm for it. I am all for it. Go back to you being an All-Star at 20. Were you overwhelmed by it? Oh, my God, Colin. And hello, I was so overwhelmed that when I saw Kyle Ridd

for the first time, my childhood hero. You know, he was like, he was like a statue. He was tall. He had like little gray hair. He had these blue eyes. And that was like, oh, my God, that's my hero. And I'm his teammate. And that was the neatest part. It was at the old veteran stadium in Philadelphia. And it was quite fun.

Yeah. All-Star games are interesting. You're facing the best of the best. A lot of it is, where are the shadows? Who do you face? Your second at bat. Your mindset, there is, there's not a, you're almost like on Broadway. You're kind of performing.

Like it's a really different environment. Go to your at-bats is the, like, like, you face some like peer pressure, but you don't face outcome pressure. Did you like All-Star Games? I love them, and look, this is a celebration of all your hard work, dedication. One thing is to make it to the major leagues, but to be one of 60 or 65 guys that are the best players in the world in the best league in the world, it was a true. and it was an honor. I remember calling in 2000. We were playing right here in Atlanta for the All-Star game. I had hurt my knee and I didn't make it and Derek went to replace me and he won the MVP. But I remember sitting at home so bummed and sad that I couldn't be at the All-Star game.

If you don't play in the World Series, that's the most exposure you're going to get. And you're showing off for the national fans, for the global fans, and also for the community of baseball, but especially your colleagues and the other 749 players. So there's a lot of interesting stories about this season. One of the ones that's fascinating. I've always said it's hard to go into prolonged slumps with hockey and basketball. The game moves too quickly. You don't have time to overthink a missed shot.

You get another shot in 14 seconds. But in baseball and golf, you got a lot of downtime to think about that seven iron that went sideways. or you're, you know, that at bat, where you got fooled. And so Rafi Devers goes from the Red Sox, they suddenly, they're on fire. He goes to San Francisco. He is punching out. Like, he is struggling. And I think a lot of it is when you're called like, oh, he's the savior.

He is what, I think it's in his head. Take me to that because you had one slump in your career. I remember in the playoffs, not many, but some. I think this kid in San Francisco, I think it's upstairs with him. What do you see? Well, first, it suggests Boston. Sometimes when you clear what's perceived as a stressful situation

and you clear the Big Brother, then it puts the owners and responsibilities on the other 25 guys in that locker room. And everyone says, all right, there's a side of relief. We've cleared the deck. Now is on us. Big Brother's gone. So, I mean, I remember when Griffey left,

we went on the next year to the playoffs, when we brought in Mike Cameron and Freddie Garcia in Seattle. You remember those years. And then I left, and they got even better, right? So it's not normal, but you have Aeron and Griffey leaving back-to-back years, and the team keeps getting better and better. So there's something that's happening with the Red Sox. On the Devers, remember, he started the year really slow

in his first 25 at batts. He had like 20 punchouts, and it takes him a little bit to go. He's also a streaky hitter. But he's a guy that's been his whole career, basically from Dominican Republic, to Fort Myers to Boston. Now he goes all the way west. So he's going from east to west, adjustment number one. He's going from American League East that he spent his whole career in to National League West.

And instead of being hot in Boston in the summer, it's a little bit cooler in San Francisco. So there's a lot of adjustments. You get used to the ballpark. He's going to take him a minute. I think he's going to hit. But hopefully this could be a win-win for both of them. But right now, Colin, you're right. It's more mental than anything else when you think about an adjustment.

You know, the Dodgers have done this over the last several years. They have like a June or July. They, I don't know if it's distracted. They often, it feels like they're setting up their pitching for August and September, and they've had a ton of injuries. In fact, part of their payroll, the advantages, they've gone out an acquired guy, guys on the mound with some pitching injuries that they don't need the volume in the regular season.

They're looking for, you know, in the postseason. So some of what they're going through, I think is fairly predictable. two and seven in their last nine. Go to the most talented team you ever played for. Did you ever have a two and seven streak? What are the players talking about? Because you have all stars everywhere. Yeah, I mean, the Dodgers are such an anomaly,

and they're such a unicorn. They're really the best run franchise in the sport today. 2009, we won the title with the New York Yankees when we beat the Phillies. We got off to a horrific start day year in April. We were actually in last place. And then somewhere around, I came back from my hip surgery, somewhere in early May. And Colin, we probably paid 700 baseball, not 750. We were almost unbeatable.

But we were really bad in April. The Dodgers play a different game, right? They have more resources than everybody. They have more talent. They're Amazon, they're Google, their Apple, they're top of their game. And they're signing as many people as possible, leaning on their resources, and they're making a bet, whether that's Otani getting ready as they ramp him up, or they're hoping that of the 25 pitchers they have,

that eight or nine good pitchers are healthy October 1st, and that's really the only thing they're playing for. You know, I think Rob Manfred deserves credit. Well, I said this earlier. When I was a kid growing up, baseball had wild personalities. Pete Rose and Mark Fidrich and Al Roboski and Mickey Rivers. I mean, there was just, it was wild. There was just all sorts of personalities.

And then they went through a period, Some of it you dealt with where there's a way to play the game. It got a little precious, a little behold into history. It's like, guys, the reason we all love Ken Griffey, it was fun. The hats on backwards. It's fun. And I think baseball is doing that again. One of the, I've been very pro-Rob Manfred.

I didn't initially like the idea of the ABS system. I'm like, okay, I can barely tolerate NFL replay. I just like, keep the game moving. But then I've watched it, and it's pretty quick. So I'm kind of like begrudgingly moving toward, okay, let's do it. How do you land on it if you talk to players about it? Yeah, I agree with you. I'm a big Rob Manfred fan, and I think he deserves a lot of credit,

little single-handedly. I mean, with the changes he's made the last two or three years to really save our game, he probably belongs in Cooperstown. But the reason why I like this, Colin, technology's made the game better. anytime you make players and umpires more accountable it's a great thing going back 10 years that strike you see right there on the screen 83% of the time the umpires will get in it right 10 years ago today the numbers ballooned to 97%. So it's a much better quality much better game much better accuracy all those things are good now the application of it we have to go see how it works I know it's been doing they've been doing it in the minor leagues I am really looking forward to tonight to see how that

plays out because I'm a little bit on the fence but I'm more pro because I think Rob Manford deserves some credit he's built some equity here over the last three or four years with his changes and I think the game has the gift and the curse of being so married to their history I think some of the other leagues have really pushed the envelope and look I'll give you one example because this one bothers me I love the kid from Milwaukee being there as you as we started this conversation he's only had five stars fine but if this is a game of stars and entertainment and you have partners like Fox, Juan Soto needs to be in Atlanta because there's no one I rather have on the

set. And you can't tell me there's 60 players or 60 stories more compelling than Juan Soto, who's had a phenomenal June. He was a player of the month. Back in the day, I watched Larry Bird and Magic. I could care less if I had a bad first half or an average or a suggestion. I want to see Bird and Magic in the All-Star game every year, a year, and then you're out. Yeah, you and I agree. Finally, having been in Major League Baseball, a former number one pick, Texas, it's the Yankees, it's a broadcaster, it's the Mariners, now you're a co-owner of an NBA team. The cultures are totally different, whereas the NFL's all about the Shield, baseball is all about the 10-year contract, the NBA is kind of all about the superstar. Just tell me, having watched the NBA, now a co-owner, is there anything that surprised you about it? Is there anything as somebody that knows sports about as well as anybody I know as a former player

that is the culture's different, more fun, more interesting, captivating? Where are you with that? Well, the history is much different, Colin. What's been, I've been part of Major League Baseball now for over 30 years, and I've had some highs and I've had some lows, but I've learned a lot of lessons along the way. What's interesting about the biggest difference is that, you know, we had Marvin Miller as a player's union, then we had Don Fears as a head. Then we had Michael Weiner, now we have Tony Clark.

You know, from the minute you come into the big leagues, the enemy has been owners. Players and owners have really had a really long, tough relationship. Where in the NBA, owners love the players. The players have a really good relationship with the owners. And that's been the biggest difference that I've seen firsthand. Yeah. Alex Rodriguez, Fox Major League Baseball analyst tonight, the All-Star Game in Atlanta. Great seeing as always appreciate you giving us some time.

You got it. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, his point on Juan Soto is my on, on, on Ms. to some degree, which is it's an all-star game. And if you're going to be flexible, this is the time to be flexible. People want to see stars. Story on Caitlin Clark is the WNBA coming around. Nick Saban, back to college football. We'll address those and more next.

It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and

friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genschen win. I mean, she went down in three to Rovachina, but I'm delighted. Yeah, she's an outsider to win the French.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennarabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, Just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Tonight, it's the midsummer classic as Judge O'Chohay and baseball's biggest stars. head to Atlanta for the MLB All-Star game. Coverage begins at 7 Eastern 4 Pacific, only on Fox.

So in a stunning development, WNBA players are acknowledging Caitlin Clark's really good. I saw this week that the coach of Yukon, Gina Oriima, acknowledging, yeah, I missed on that. He let his Yukon bias get in the way of it. but I saw a poll, WNBA players were polled on who's going to be the face of the league in five years. And in a runaway vote, it was Caitlin Clark with about 55% of the vote. Juju, Watkins and Pagebackers, really, really good young players, dynamic players were second and third.

And I do think this is fair to say. For any employee base, in any industry, in any company, for the employees to go from ignored to widely disgust, and criticized is really difficult. It was a tsunami of attention. The league, the commissioner, wasn't ready for it. The arenas, the ticket salesman,

they weren't ready for it. So you went from in the shadows to in the spotlight, and it was a microscope. It's almost like, I remember when I was a young broadcaster, I moved to Vegas, and Mike Tyson came out,

and a legendary old trainer said, you can't prepare for a Mike Tyson left hook. It doesn't matter who your sparring partners are. It doesn't matter how many fights you've had. At 24 years old, if Tyson delivers a left hook, you're not ready for it. And I don't think, I mean, Taylor Swift had been in music several years before the era's tour. But I think that even caught people a little off guard, where it sold out SoFi Stadium, seven straight nights. And I just don't think the league was ready for Caitlin Clark.

And so I said, listen, I'm going to give. The league should be ready. You knew her sophomore year at Michigan. She's dropping 40 plus, or sophomore year at Iowa, she's dropping 40 plus against Michigan. If you go read Christine Brennan's book, there were a lot of signs she was going to be a superstar in the league and sell a lot of tickets and shoes and merchandise. So I'm going to be punitive on the league. But the players, I get six to nine months to kind of get your arms around it. So it's like my kids when they went to college.

Freshman year, you're going to have fun. sophomore year hit the books grow up and i kind of feel like the players now this poll is encouraging it's you know it's progress um and i do think it was hard i mean there's nobody's quite ready like everybody knew i remember when everybody was talking about tiger woods when he was winning the juniors and i was in oregon and people at nike were saying this kid man this kid is really good I don't think anybody thought he was going to literally change course design because he was so long off the tee and dominant. I mean, he was ahead of golf equipment. Golf equipment over the last five to ten years, even hacks like me can hit the ball a little bit.

I mean, he was a mile ahead of golf equipment. He was ahead of the sport, and we all knew he was great. I don't think anybody could have predicted LeBron James would rival Michael Jordan is the best player ever. Nobody really thought that. There were people that thought you should have drafted Carmelo Anthony over it. And I think Caitlin Clark, what do you do? How do you prepare? I think the league should have been more prepared,

but I will mostly defend players in that first nine months of kind of like being juvenile and not getting it. Now, I think they have to grow up now and get their feet beneath them. But this is an encouraging sign that they're acknowledging, yeah, she's a face of the league. And also, there are members of the media that are going to pick and choose isolated incidents and kind of stoke the fire of what's happening in the league. But I think the fairest criticism of the WNBA is to the commissioner and the league really not getting it when she broke into the league and they had her playing like

the most road games and the worst, hardest schedule of any WNBA team in the first month. That's just not having enough foresight. But this is encouraging, J. Mack. Here's the, by the way, her head coach, Stephanie White, on Caitlin going up against Paige Becker's last weekend. I mean, everybody wants to see star players. You think about who tunes in to watch LeBron and Steph, right? It's those kinds of matchups.

And I think to watch these guys for the first time, you know, going against each other, and then their WNBA careers is going to be special. In my day, it's watching, you know, Cheryl Swoops and Lisa Leslie. You know, and in their day, it's watching Caitlin and Paige. Do you realize, J-Mack, I was thinking about this when I was flying back? by next Monday and Tuesday, camps will be open in the NFL. We're getting really, really close. I was thinking I was watching some shows and watching some stuff and reading a lot,

flying back, and I'm thinking, okay, the silly season's almost over. The let's make up big stories. LeBron's getting traded. Nick Saban's coming back to college football. All the nonsense. I'll address that top of next hour. But, yeah, I mean, I think we're at a point now. this time next week, camps are open. We're ready to roll, baby.

Obviously, you're going to meet me in Vegas in August, right, to lay down some futures bets for the upcoming season, right? I got six new playoff teams. I'm ready for it. Six? Yeah. I got six. Hour two on a Tuesday next. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.

Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's My...

Nike Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game,

the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.

This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority of Black city, in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people.

Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.