Yankees FOCUSING on SERVICE TIME over WINS?

all right the New York Jets fell uh short to the St Louis Rams by a touchdown and I'm just kidding of course the St Louis Cardinals won 14-7 uh to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium I mean the Yankees before this series Gary if you want to just put it into you know perspective here had never lost to the Cardinals uh since the 60s since Bob Gibson was pitching they lost two out of three mhm um we're going to get into it we got a lot of stuff to talk about not even going to waste anytime be sure to like subscribe and comment if you haven't already check us out on audio podcast if you haven't done that also be sure to hit the Bell icon for notifications you'll never miss another show and want to give a shout out to our new members Egyptian magician field level love that name love it Nick hes field level and uh shout out my best friend Tyler Peak second deck appreciate you guys becoming new members uh field level shoutouts of course we had Egyptian magician Nick Gomes Juan Sepeda kid from Li Carlos morero Jeff J at w Brian fukes Ryan Hoffman Rich Squires Joshua hman and that's that's that so we appreciate you this is gonna get long enough we're gonna have to have like a uh a Star Wars roll out of the names I mean some point the list is gonna get so long that people aren't gonna ever get to the the show they're not going to get to the meat and potatoes but do we have any mailbags we do so Ed W and Ryan Hoffman okay so EDS is uh thinking about the comment after season players knowing how to navigate the postseason this is so right it reminded me how the Rangers went out and got season four time Stanley Cup champ iions to win 94 I'm sure there are other examples so I thought maybe we could do some clowning about Alex bregman and discuss pros and cons about going out and getting bregman in the offseason it would require Cutting glaber Loose moving Jazz back to Second he's going to be 31 and commanding 30 million versus glabber at 17 uh million but he's a solid postseason piece maybe just Clowning but should it be in the conversation at w so Gary I mean we talked about the potential of bregman maybe even being a deadline acquisition and then the Astros uh battled back and now here we are talking about them as one of the teams that can win the World Series I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility but I do think their the quickness they had to just push Jazz at third just tells me that this is actually more so a long-term plan um they want to see if this would work and for the most part it has I mean you know he's had his his uh you know ups and downs there mainly UPS I mean recently he has downs but um I think that they're really excited about the long-term implications of jazz Chism at the Haw corner but where are you on bregman so actually I'm gonna surprise you I'm super high on Alex bregman and I completely get it some people are rubbed the wrong way the cheating scandal happened and a lot of people want to steer clear of that but I want to mind people when you look at a player and you look at his value you're talking about $120 million player this offseason so he's not going to come cheap but you also have to remember what you're getting and that's a player who's a very good third baseman in this league and Jazz Chisum is an experiment that's kind of working right like he's he's making errors he's been having issues with his arm throwing the ball over to first base and not because of arm strength but more so accuracy but I will say this about jazz Chism Jazz chism's a player that if we moved him back to second base he's going to be excellent over there and if you're bringing Alex bregman it's about fit and Championship pedigree Alex bregman's done what we're trying to do which is when in October Alex bregman also for all the people who are worried about striking out walking or hitting a home run the three true outcomes well Alex bregman is against the grain when it comes to that he's never strucken out over a hundred times in his career in any year ever so that means something now am I am I going to sit here and wait all day day long all offse and say when are we getting Alex bregman when are we going to check that box off not at all but if this happened I wouldn't be upset a career 275 hitter he's got pop good defensive third baseman it's no longer an experiment we have an answer over there but again I I can't necessarily say again like I'm gonna Circle this guy's name and say he's the missing piece I've told you before Jake my missing piece is always going to be on the mound right now the Yankees need more Surefire guys who can go Innings Cor Burns is that guy for me I said it this past off season we didn't do that he ended up going to Baltimore so yeah I I'm all for bringing in a really good player someone who's been consistent in this league but I'm leaning towards a power arm I like it and then a special thanks to Ed W for participating and then Ryan apologies for the mailbag spam recently no apologies necessary Let it Fly B yeah let it fly um but I need I need both of your expertise on this topic uh are we the worst defensive shifting SLP positioning in baseball I noticed this first in the Little League classic when clay blew the save ground ball seemed to sneak through the infield where I was so sure a defensive infielder should be positioned now I'm watching ball after ball hit over sto's head is this analytics or poor scouting Ryan Hoffman um yes and Gary I could see out of the peripheral vision of mine you just going to town like yep definitely um yeah I mean let's talk about this I think you know we're going to get into sto's defense later in the show um but I do think at least some part of that has to be shifting positioning whatever um this happens quite a bit uh they play shallow hit over the head I mean watching stto clearly his weakness in the Outfield are those those balls that you know are going to carry and you're going to have to run him down with your back to the diamond so if I'm the Yankees I'm trying to have him play everything up up in front of him you know I'm I'm having him back I'm having him play deep and I understand you know why maybe you might not want to do that maybe you know you're expecting oh well you know this Runner is going to come from third you want to have him you know up but I don't think the Yankees have a choice after today um and what's funny is every day is a story right and we learn something new about this team and I feel like today we we learned that Juan sto's defense is pretty much not been a huge issue this year it's been very like under wraps he has a a spat here and there but this was the first game where you were like wow Juan's defense was actually a problem right um so yeah I I to to Ryan's Point um I mean this is definitely the worst defensive shifting that I've seen because you have these Sinker ball pitchers and you get your ground ball and it's like they're never in the same spot so forget about just wotto in the Outfield and Verdugo and just look at the infield and that'll give you your answer I do think they're the worst okay I actually completely agree but I'm going to go somewhere different with it now I want to make sure that I give credit when it's due I remember John Boy when he talked to Aaron Boon he was talking about defensive shifts now when your closer is a guy who's trying to induce ground balls it puts a major emphasis on how you're shifting and also the defensive range of your infield huge premium now let's look at the infield Jazz Chism is an experiment over at third base I'll say it's been working but he's not a veteran at third base now you look at Anthony vulpi another guy who's playing a good short stop you look at second base in first base and here's here's where things get interesting at first base we've had Ben rice and DJ lahu for the most part the last two and a half to three months those are two players that didn't play very well over at first base they were very below average we've also got glaber Torres who leads the league in airs he doesn't have a ton of range according to baseball saon so what does that tell us plus if you don't have range that means shifts have to be more aggressive if you want to play someone to the pole side that means you're going even further to the pole side now suddenly you see ground balls up the middle those balls where an infielder might be able to go a couple steps to his right and compensate for the shift they can't get that play they can't make that play anymore and so that's what you're seeing it seems like a lot of ground balls the Yankees have a lot of pitchers who are throwing Sinker balls and seemingly trying to get the ball on the ground Marcus Roman right we've seen a lot cousins there are a lot of pitchers throwing Sinker balls on this team and you see weekly hit ground balls hard hit ground balls and they seemingly never find a glove that is because of the range and also the shifting that is very poor so whether or not that's just bad staff work not doing their homework I'm sure they put in the work but it's not working and I would honestly lean more towards the fact that our infield just doesn't a ton of range they're not very good that unit's not very good and you can't necessarily expect them to be good when you bring somebody up in case of an emergency from your minor league system throw them at first base Gaber Tes has been bad at second base so that's no mystery and then we got Jazz Chisum in the middle of the year so before that we weren't good at third base either so yeah that's where I'm at I think we are a very poor shifting team but personnel-wise it's not helping yeah and you know I think kind of wrapping that up um and I guess you know this could be us really talking about I guess Soto's defense because we're not going to talk too much about it at the end of the show but I think going back to the whole thing with stto and any like honestly any of them stto Jazz I I think you have to understand that if you are going to be like yeah you know I love stto and you know love his you know offense but at the same time you're going to hold him accountable for his defense on the level of say I don't want him anymore um you got to take the good with the bad um we're not talking about the most well-rounded player ever um that is probably the only thing stto lacks if I'm being honest and you know that's okay because I mean look it took how many games to get to the point where you finally had the one where the levy broke and stto defense was clearly a problem it has been like that all year yeah this felt like tavinho at catcher like in that Boston series where you found out that he can't throw and then we started having that conversation now Jake you kind of brought up that it the levy broke well there are going to be a lot of people even our listeners who are going to say I knew Juan stto wasn't a very good right fielder and to which we would say yeah we knew that as well but this was the first time where it was just egregiously bad it was horrible okay it looked like he was trying to go after a kite it was bad but again Juan stto is not looking for a $600 million contract to go FL flag down fly balls at the track that's not why he's on the team Barry Bonds wasn't in Major League Baseball and I know he's not Barry Bonds but hang with me here Barry Bonds wasn't here to run down a flyball in the Gap and and be properly shifted and make plays in The Gap that that's not why he's on the team he's on the team to do a job and that is to be the second best offensive unit on the team that's what he's here for now I think we're putting a huge emphasis on the lack of defensive not even say effort but execution from Juan sto in large part because his Bat hasn't been very good this past few weeks I think that's putting a lot of pressure on his glove and people aren't necessarily acknowledging that so I wanted to bring that up no that's definitely fair um yeah let let's get it started you know we appreciate everybody for the the mailbag questions obviously a lot of fun so ancy Rizzo today um you know we we talked about lahu we talked about rice and how neither have been great um as of late of course rice he's young he still can go and and turn it around in Triple A this is what you get with lahu so seeing Rizzo in the lineup today was definitely a breath of fresh air Gary um right away you just could see the difference in that bat I I thought first off his ability to crowd the plate really makes it tough on pitchers really makes it tough that inside pitch he can kind of just like put his arms up a little bit he's going to get that pitch called for him I mean we've seen that so yeah I just I like his approach um you know I thought his hit you know the opposite field hit that was hug beautiful and it's just you know it goes to show you how he is still a better hitter than both of those two and that didn't just go away you know I understand the The Narrative and the rhetoric behind you know the concussion and how he hasn't been the same but I mean you could still see the mechanics are still there that was a great piece of hitting by Anthony Rizzo I need people to understand that that was a great piece of hitting that wasn't just luck you know yeah it's hard to accept it though it's hard to be excited about it and I understand this there were 32 hits in this game today nobody there was no resistance whatsoever from our pitching staff but as far as what we did as far as I'm concerned after John Carlos Stan our lineup was excellent right Stan two for three Chisum two for three Rizzo two for four vulpi was one for four he was all over the base pass Verdugo was two for four so where I met with this you know as far as Rizo goes we just need guys that are going to be a competitive at bat in League average I complet completely understand people aren't excited about Anthony Rizzo I'm not excited about Anthony Rizzo but where my excitement comes is that would I rather have a League average bat up there to which I believe when Anthony Rizzo's healthy he is he's just League average his Ops is going to be around 680 to 700 he's gonna hit a home run every once in a while he'll be fine over at first base not excellent he'll just be fine but what I describe DJ lahu as League average at first basee would I really describe Ben rice this past month and a half as League average offensively absolutely not so if we get League average and you're talking about an offense ranked second in baseball this is a huge upgrade no I don't expect you to be excited when Anthony Rizzo comes to the pl not at all I don't expect you to jump up and down because he can fight a ball off and go to Left Field not at all but is it going to help Juan stto when he gets hot again is it going to help Aaron judge when he is right is it going to help them absolutely you know why because we won't be seeing our eight and N hitter coming up with nobody on because DJ lameu and Ben rice are slapping ground balls in the infield it's not happening anymore so let's just be thankful we don't have to see that anymore I know on yes they were mentioning DJ lameu at this point should be a bench bat he should not be playing hardly ever that is a good thing and we're g to kind of talk a little later in the show about the yes broadcast when it comes to the coverage on Jason Dominguez as well because Jake should we just should we just go right into it um yeah I mean we don't have too much to talk about with Rizzo I like the way he looks I we were excited about it yeah I mean I think it's going to help them the long run it helped them today they made a comeback in which I think that this is a game where they would have been dead in the water if you replac Rizzo with Liu so I I think having his presence in the lineup allowed them to have that first comeback the second one was asking too much honestly but the first one I don't think the first one should just go unnoticed I give them a lot of credit for trying to battle back and being able to tie it you know so it's kind of crazy when you think about it glaber Torres missing the home run and you know having that or not the home run but like it was a really nice play in the Outfield it was going to be a basis clearing double so let's be clear that would have changed the complexion of the game now based on the way our Bullpen looked today would it have mattered absolutely not I I get it if a ball lands it potentially changes everything we understand that but you can't give up 21 hits 14 run two touchdowns and you think that we're going to talk about glaver Torres oh I wish that ball landed it would have been the Difference Maker the Difference Maker today was an absolute joke out there th if for anyone who watched this game from start to finish wire to wire it was an embarrassment actually for the Cardinal and the Yankees ugliest game you've ever seen Walker Walker out in right field was terrified of fly balls and I get it it was windy it was a tough day out there but my goodness nobody could field Basic Ground balls Short Stops that are gold Glovers couldn't make plays they were slipping all over the place it was a nightmare just a total dump of a baseball game and unfortunately for us you mentioned before this game this is a must-win game for the Yankees you're talking about a Baltimore team who's playing Colorado I believe and they won so the Yankees needed to answer and win today's game and to see the effort and the level of play that we got today was obviously a huge disappointment and I thought it really was a microcosm of the news we got on Jason AMZ I thought it really let a ton of steam out of our sales or wind out of our sales however the saying goes it didn't feel like we had any momentum in today's game it almost felt like there was just a cloud over the field all day figuratively and literally so it was just a Despicable yeah Scott EOS came back uh gave up a two-run shot that was uh that was they're like oh he hasn't pitched in two years this is such a great moment boom yeah we were happy for the guy he was fighting physically to get back there we were rooting for the guy and we mentioned actually Jake every single name we said that would get called up did get called up you mentioned they were going to call up a base stealer and not Jason Dominguez is that crazy how we're on it so Jason Dominguez doesn't get the call they call him up they bring up Rizzo to which they did tell us FR Ros we said he's going to get called up and then Mario I brought up so that's just kind of where we're at the Yankees are predictably dumb that's it that's that's exactly what it is Jason Dominguez doesn't get the call up and I know the math of it is that if he got called up today he would have run out of it bats probably within the last week of the season and it is blasphemous that that's even on the minds of our general management and to be clear a lot of the broadcast today was mentioning things like the Yankees can't just pull the plug on Alex fugo they love what he does these are quotes and the locker room would be very upset if you just pulled the plug on Alex Verdugo and what's so ironic about this information that they're feeding us cuz this is information right this is Juicy they told us a player who's not under contract in 2025 here's a reminder for you guys Alex Verdugo if everything goes exactly how it's going won't be a member of the Yankees in 2025 he probably won't be okay he does not have a contract next year so the Yankees are worried about taking a player who's on a prove it one-year contract with this team and they don't want to take him off the field don't you remember the Los Angeles Dodgers getting rid of Jason Hayward who's a clubhouse favorite not only is he a clubhouse favorite he's best friends with one of the best players on the team in Freddy Freeman and you know what they did they got rid of him anyway why because they care about Personnel they care about personnel and having the best players on the field now does it equate to championships no but will it give them the best chance absolutely you should never be considering the feelings of players in your locker room now if you're talking about getting of a player that is a highly productive player and that player is well-liked now you consider leaving him on the field but when you have a player who's not playing well he's not giving you an output and you're leaving him on the field you're telling me you're leaving him on the field strictly because of morale when you have a a potential superstar in the minor leagues we are quite literally the one of the only organizations in baseball that would ever do this it's so true and you know the really hurts any argument from people that are always like you know you don't know more than the professionals it's like on this day Gary I feel like we know more than the professionals I really do I really we sit here and we're like I mean there's no baseball reason Rhyme or Reason because let let's take you back a sec when people talk about analytics the convers the conversation against analytics is feel it's feel versus analytics and if you're constantly using analytics then you're saying that you don't care as much about feel so you can't just turn around and tell me oh well the feel of the team and and the you know oh you can't take Verdugo out wait that are analytics really telling you that because I don't think so I think that's a feel thing and that's my issue is it's the it's the constant contradicting of this organization how on one hand you can say analytics analytics analytics on the other you can say well but for Dugo feelings I would also liken this to the Rookie of the Year so we've already you know we've already discussed why Jason Dominguez wasn't called up it's why we weren't shocked doesn't make it any less dumb I mean Duke Ellis probably won't even see the field for being honest well they think we don't know they're lying to us we're fully aware first of all obviously everyone knows that they're trying they want to they want him to have his rookie of the year status but remember when I just said about them being inconsistent right they want him to have his rookie of the year status but Austin Wells could have netted them that draft pick for the Rookie of the Year thing that they're making such a big deal about Jason Dominguez with if they just let Austin Wells be the starting catcher and didn't baby him so yeah how how are you doing both of those things can I actually quote somebody here no you can't you're ABS you're absolutely no you're absolutely right yeah Michael K now mind you I've talked on this broadcast and I really shouldn't have to say this I should be allowed to criticize what people say okay without qualifying what I'm saying I do you know someone who's a fan of Michael K more than I or You thank you so we're we are probably the two biggest fans of Michael K and yet on the Michael K show and and he's entitled to his opinion just as anybody else is now he's a professional he's been around this team for over 30 years so we want to give him credit where it's du but he said on the Michael K show okay he said the Yankees are absolutely not leaving Jason miguez in the minor leagues over roster control or over draft picks that was a quote quote how can you possibly say that and not only was that said on his show on the yes broadcast today he got on the show and said man it's just I don't buy it that the Yankees are calling up Jason Dominguez next week because of draft picks I believe the Yankees just feel like they would rather have Alex Verdugo on the field right now and it could be next week it could be the week after but when they're f fully comfortable with Jason dingz taking over left field then this is a so he's saying this is a baseball decision you cannot be serious here you you cannot possibly you cannot ask me to believe this story that you're pumping out and not only is he pumping it out Paulie's pumping it out everybody right everybody at the broadcast is pumping out this information all the writers Brian hul wasn't thankfully so what are we really am I is this considered me calling out these different people I don't know what this is considered but how can you watch this Yankees team watch Alex Verdugo and they'll look at it and say well Alex Verdugo was pretty good today he had two hits well guess what he's hitting 230 still every analytic in the book says that Jason Dominguez is not only a better player in the future as he projects he's a better player today and not only that Jake he was a big leager last year he's better now he's a better baseball player now as it stands at the beginning of September today so don't sell me this BS that the New York Yankees are making baseball calls and suddenly September 9th when three weeks ago Jake we ran a show and said yeah you know when we can see Jason Dominguez being called up September 12th and everyone's like huh I wonder how they came to that conclusion and we did the math of how the bats are going to work out isn't it so interesting that the New York Yankees just somehow someway are going to make a base decision that just so happens to coincide with that projection it's so interesting how that works so yeah I'm fired up about it I'm disgusted about it and I'm sure that people will hear this and take this as criticism of Michael K criticism of the yes broadcast no at some point or another this is just criticism of the whole system yeah this is a systemwide issue I have no idea what this is whether you want to call it propaganda I'm not fooled personally I'm not so you can go ahead Jake and and say you're bit I am absolutely furious with this no I I get it I mean Dominguez is hitting 307 right now he has an 857 Ops nine home runs in the miners this year 15 stolen bases I mean he wasn't even doing that well in the miners last year when they called him nope and they called him up as a baseball decision isn't that crazy I just feel like they just do these things like it's like they they want to run their organization so differently than everyone else I feel like it's like a shtick and it's really frustrating because you know well actually this is a great example the Yankees were just in Washington DC okay and little did you know that not the Yankees in the middle of a you know a division Championship race not them are they calling up their top prospect no no no the Nationals called up Dylan Cruz the Nationals the team that's not playing for anything right and he was huge in that series and it makes you wonder you know obviously rodigo played well today so maybe you replace him with Dominguez who knows what that really does wouldn't have made a difference today but you don't know that but that's the thing it's not a decision which is what I want to get at because I want to defend what you're saying as well it's not just a today decision okay it does Alex Verdugo as far as we're concerned could have had four home runs and as long as they still lost and even if they didn't lose this is still being talked about today yep and it should be because basically you've learned nothing okay you've learned absolutely nothing you know you messed up Ben rice you messed up Clint Frasier you messed up uh you know floral on duar he had went from you know should have won rookie of the year to messed up they do this like slow playing of their prospects and it's like until they find somebody like Aaron judge that you can't actually screw up that this is what they do and it's incredibly frustrating because like vulpi for whatever reason reason he's got the longest leash I've ever seen from a prospect of the Yankees if you really think about it right so can we be serious though about this service time thing so the Yankees want us to believe that Jason Dominguez is not baseball ready to take over the everyday left fielder role it's not a it's not a real thing but remember teams tend to get rewarded for doing things the right way do you guys remember when Jackson holiday was called up by the Baltimore Orioles who were considered a win now team they want to win okay they want to win the World Series they believe they're better than us by all means why wouldn't they think they're better than us not only did they think that they called up the number one Prospect in Major League Baseball they did they wait until they could maximize his player control they didn't did they no they called him up right away and you know what all the people defending this Brian Cashman decision all the people that are saying that this is a baseball decision they were all saying well you know what props to the Baltimore Orioles for not playing that game props you know why because it's good karma that's why you call up players that can help you win if they can't help you win you leave him down in the minor leagues but you know what sometimes you can't hide your lie when it's this egregious when you've got a player like Alex fugo sitting in leftfield and you mean to tell me that Jason Dominguez doesn't have a role every day not only does he have a role every day Alex Verdugo should never play ever ever unless Jason Dominguez and the staff we were talking about the medical staff staff here decides this player who dealt with a major injury last year and earlier this year he needs a day off physically he's telling us that something's something's worrying him something is bothering him guess what now you can throw out either Alex Verdugo or somebody else like Cabrera out in left field who can fill the job that day but guess what when Jason Dominguez is healthy there is not another baseball player for tomorrow's game we're talking about September 2nd that is a better option in left or center field than Jason Dominguez it is that simple so this lie that people are telling me that this is a tough decision they said that quote this was a tough call yeah it's definely how tough was it it's a lie it is well and also I don't care how much you paid him the whole year the whole year is done but we have one more month until the playoffs one more right so that is the point when they got rid of Josh Donaldson last year around this time that was the rationale well pretty much the entire year is over we're out of the playoffs he's playing the worst baseball of his career let's move on clean break I just I I don't really get it I mean you know Boon actually said today in his press said that he's had he's been a little unlucky well let me tell you something okay Alex Verdugo hit 200 in March that was only four games right hit 200 in March he hit 279 in April right may he hit 245 June he hit 219 July he hit 223 August he's hitting 204 so 204 would be his worst month and there are people now you know and obviously I know we're on a September but you know there's not much to really talk about there so August he hit 204 he had a 549 Ops there were people saying well he started getting hot at the end of August okay he still only had 19 hits and 93 at bats that's what we know happened okay his Ops in July was 616 mhm his Ops in June was 589 his Ops in May was 687 April is the only good month he really had that's kind of what I'm getting at here his Ops in April was 867 and he bad 279 he had such a good April that essentially he covered up like May and June was covered up because of how good of the April he had and so when you factored in the averages still in June he's sitting there with a decent average I mean as of keep this in mind as of June 14th which is this is the most significant date probably of the season because after that game when Verdugo went three for five he killed it he was hitting 266 at that point his care his season came crumbling down it has been a Non-Stop free fall from 266 and a 757 Ops to not even a month later okay and you're talking about him hitting in the 240s low 240s with a 687 Ops that was July 3rd okay and is it surprising that as soon as he started falling off a cliff after that uh June 14th game the Yankees started falling off cliff I don't think so I think they really used his Bat they used that that contact he was obviously hitting it into the Outfield more of a line drive guy than a ground ball guy and we're starting to see now like this is what he is I mean the reality of it is when you really look it's not hard this isn't a hard decision Alex Rigo's had one really good month he's had a month that was subpar or round average and the rest have just been blatantly terrible and what month was that you said I want to make sure you bring it up again that was great April so the most the most irrelevant month in the season and by the way on this show we've talked about well April still matters right you still got to win game in April but in comparison to any other month it means the least the least the beginning of the Season you're talking about this is a long time ago now like we're not talking about something that was in the P like well that's why I get mad at Boon saying he's been a little unlucky no he's been he's been very lucky that you continue to have his back that you continue to play him despite the fact that he is not an MLB starter he's not not right now well actually all the analytics say offensively he's ice cold bleue everywhere but also when people talk about the defense I feel like it would still be egregious if Alex rugo was on the field if he was this defensive specialist like Kevin km for example let's just say we signed Kevin km offensively we know what we'd get we'd get a well below average offensive player but he's there to be a defensive placeholder in the Outfield then you would look at the analytics and you would see range arm strength and arm value all in the red that's what you would see from that player that would make a lot of sense to me would I agree that Jason Jason Dominguez shouldn't be up here no Jason Dominguez should still replace that player because he's great at both and more importantly if he's not a great defender he's great offensively and that's what the Yankees want so consider this Alex Verdugo defensively let's look at his defense this defensive wizard that they are afraid to take out of the Outfield he his range so you would expect man his range must be excellent you're talking 80th percentile he must be flagging it down with the best of them nope he is 40th percentile below League average in terms of his range what are we saying here this is a player who all the value that that he's providing and he actually provided it yesterday so we're GNA give him his credit yeah it is arm value arm value that is the only area where he is just lighting up in the red there it is so is somebody with a good arm standing out in left field who doesn't have good range doesn't hit and that player is better than today's version of Jason Dominguez and Jason Dominguez in a week and a half suddenly you're going to come to the conclusion you know what the total package of what Dominguez provides it is absolutely worth our time bring them up here Alex Verdugo come sit next to me come sit next to coach put a dip in and chill in a in a hoodie they're gonna tell me that in a week and say that they in good conscience came up with that decision as a baseb choice and somehow some way we know now that the right baseball choice is just Dominguez I mean it's I feel like we're getting redundant here but it's so frustrating to have known they're going to go with they're going to go with trying to get value and being smart that's what's happening here they're trying to be smart and in a year and a half's time when they say hey look at this Jason Dominguez is winning rookie of the year or it's the break and he's one of the best players in the big league look at this what have the Yankees done with a first round draft pick anyway how much are they doing with first round draft picks the Yankees are putting that much of a premium how many of you when you came into Today's Show were thinking about Ben Hess half of us don't even know who the hell that is that was our first round draft pick this year so think about this that's the frustrating part about this team they're freaking out about first round picks tell me how many first round picks are out in the field now how many is it our roster like three thank you so the overwhelming majority and vulp judge judge was here in 2017 as a rookie that's seven years ago and we drafted him like a decade ago so this is insanity that we're doing this as a seven and a half billion dollar industry seven and a half billion dollar team we're almost as valuable as the Dallas Cowboys and we're messing around for a first round pick the insanity KY is that they wouldn't let Wells win the Rookie of the Year award which would have given him the pick now instead of waiting abolutely and it's it's Blasphemous and they're acting like they're getting the number three overall pick this is a at the end of the first round this is it you're not getting like you're not getting Manny Machado at the two overall selection that's not what's happening here you are selecting a player that you had penciled in probably out of high school and you're going to take him and Brian cashman's going to say this is my new prize possession he'll be ready in 2020 2030 be excited for him and they're going to sell us on that that's just a losing proposition it doesn't help the Yankees at all in 2024 obviously and frankly it probably won't even work out in the long run and Jason dingz still has to win Rookie of the Year not easy to do at all he's got to be healthy he's got to play well Dyan Cruz is going to go after it next year and why wouldn't he so and props to Washington by the way for just calling him up right away call him up right away and get it out just get it out of there they did the same thing with James Wood I mean they could have I mean what's the point yeah no exactly um just so you know so 187 at bats in July and August together Verdugo has 27 hits excuse me he has 27 hits in 17 187 at bats are you guys hearing the same thing that I'm hearing through my headset this is this is not baseball this is not I know for a fact this is the good news Aaron Boon as much as people criticize him I know for a fact they are not this dumb I know this they're just trying to sell me on propaganda that's what this is this is a propaganda machine and the Yankees are still a good enough te overall as a unit so this isn't going to destroy the Yankees not having Jason Dominguez up here no worse comes to worse this error and judgment okay it is a simple error and judgment which happens all the time with the Yankees is going to potentially cost us winning the American League east and then we will be coming on the road we were going to show up on the road and we could potentially lose but guess what guys all is right with the Yankees they'll be okay hey now will they win a World Series no that's where we come in and say that we should be doing everything we can to win they don't do everything they don't they want to do as much as we can without risking control in 20130 people said you know what someone tweeted to me by the way today I almost threw my phone like I wanted to get an iPhone 16 anyways in October but I almost threw this damn iPhone 12 someone said to me not only does this allow the Yankees to potentially go get a first round pick you know what it does Gary it allows them to have one extra year of control and I wanted to croop my phone into the Pacific Ocean when I heard that you think I give a rip if the New York Yankees in 2031 are getting an extra year of arbitration control on Jason Amigas are you guys being serious right now and also that's a real really an extra year of control if you're not using him think you didn't get an extra you just delayed the year that's all you did the dumbest that is the dumbest I swear to God Baseball fans like to use that oh we get an extra year control well I would hope we're not nickel and diming a superstar Jason Dominguez in 2030 you didn't extra year control you didn't get them in early September you got punished you actually punished your own organization so yeah the least you can get is an extra year of control down the road in 2031 because you might have lost the the division to the Baltimore Orioles there's your punishment there's your punishment this Boon knew this is what was gonna happen because he loves torturing us torture dude Verdugo in his last seven games is hitting 348 so it's like he almost knew that this would eventually happen and I one of our commenters said the worst thing that could have happened in that one game was Verdugo hitting home run now he's never going to get benched I actually disagree I I don't think it mattered I really don't I mean I don't think it did either but you know now he's got the excuse also weird thing Verdugo is like way better on the road way better yeah that mean that's fine but remember like you really want to convince yourself that a player is playing well you can just say well what's he been the last 30 games you go oh he's hitting 205 and you go that's terrible but what's he hitting his last three games and they go oh well he's hit a thousand three for 12 he's hitting 333 he's totally worth having on the field well if is he when he's hitting 200 yeah I just think this is wild though why is he so much better on the road like 251 as opposed to 217 at home 305 on base on the road 282 at home he's got a 698 Ops on the road 609 at home ask the other players the Yankees aren't as good at home more total bases on the road that's I don't have answer for you yeah no it is wild I don't have any answers for you the New York Yankees aren't winning games actually I don't remember who brought up the stat but the Yankees since I believe June 1st already under 500 or around 500 baseball team it's not timely baseball aren't they like 39 and 39 whatever I saw that correct I think you sent that to me I don't know if I sent it to you I think you sent it to me but the point Point remains so the June 1st is uh the Red Sox lead 41 and 38 okay the Orioles are 43 and 40 well I think that they would lead but anyway the Yankees are 39 39 the rays are 39 39 and the Blue Jays are 40 and 43 yeah we played 500 ball and majority of the baseball it felt like we played was against Bad baseball teams bad they were atrocious we played Detroit we played Chicago and by the way everyone called remember when we called that a trap series and then Chicago just went over and played all those teams after us and just got absolutely blitzed they just set a they just set a franchise record today in losses they've won 31 baseball games this year that is that is lunacy that is absolutely ridiculous so I guess where we are with the Yankees they're going to pretend that this is baseball and Alex fugo because he hit 334 in his last two games three games whatever it is that somehow someway that matters it doesn't it doesn't they're going to call him up exactly when we told you guys he's going to be called up and frankly a lot of the people in our comment section also knew this to be the case it's exactly what we thought they would do Unfortunately they did not surprise us and we now have to live with the results and just root for them to win cuz I never want to root for this team to lose and I know that sounds like such a nice thing to say but Jake actually the reason I say it is because the Yankees lost last year they weren't a very good baseball team last year and it didn't change a damn thing not one thing so if you're rooting for this team to lose so that something can change or the Yankees can wake up and how can say oh let me find my wallet no it's not going to happen so just root for it to work because if it doesn't work they're just going to rinse and repeat the same thing which is still a good baseball team they're just not maximizing the good team that could potentially be great and win yeah and I mean you know Nester struggled today fros struggled today who would have thought Mesa would be the only one that pitched a Flawless inning I don't know M you're high on him I'm not but I mean all the power to you I mean I'm high on what he could potentially be but I also don't know if they have enough time to figure that out you know I would have wanted him probably a month earlier but Jak cousins with a rare bad outing um you know Tommy Canley rare bad outing oh yeah kley got rocked Bickford I still can't believe this guy is on the team he didn't do anything wrong this time but like I just he's got a 9.82 ra I don't know and then uh Marin AIO I swear anytime Marino gives up runs you have those like knowit alls on Twitter that are like this is why we don't call him up it's like no don't give me that marinaco doesn't come in and every single time he's in give up two runs you know what I mean like it's just it's ridiculous but yeah uh pitching did him no favors wasn't a fan of the way Boone used these guys either and I would make the argument that I think he's overused cousins and Canley at this point and I think they uh I think they should be exhausted I mean how many times have they been used in the last like you know I mean I think they just were used yesterday right well I'm assuming that this is the way it's going to go when you have your starting pitching going four Innings I mean this is kind of par for the course this is partially why starting pitchers going six or seven Innings it puts a lot less pressure on your manager and this is not necessarily all on Aaron Boone Aaron Boon's got a pitch guys that have been successful and those guys he brought out in cousins and Canley those have been some of the more successful pitchers we've had this year so who else are they going to be throwing out there maybe you can argue one or two other options but man I mean you got to go with the hot hand and if you don't was he going to bring lighter Jr out there to throw batting practice I mean no that's the tough part it is tough I just didn't like how they just like emptied the bullpen um it was 72 and I think at that point let Mesa go another inning you know like let trino pitch I mean that's all he's really good for I'm serious pitch let's be uh let's be careful there Gary you know better not talk about trino it's like uh it's like Beetlejuice so just you'll summon him he'll be in the lineup tomorrow by just talking about him oh he'll be in the lineup tomorrow um Wells went 0 for five today so he'll be playing tomorrow so just know on this show when you wake up tomorrow you are going to be seeing Jose trino I promise you now um can we please talk about ja because Garrett Cole is pitching so Jose by the way can I one of our viewers I believe it was a member actually brought this up and I thought this was amazing and it was brilliant this is crazy and I told you this Jake off air do you realize that when Kyle higashioka was a member of this team and Jose Travino was considered and he was Far and Away our best catcher on this roster he was an Allstar right do you know that Garrett Cole if you remember Garrett Cole would only pitch to Kyle higashioka do you remember this this feels so extra and I am all for having personal catchers remember I was all for him throwing to Maldonado in Houston and the Yankees even entertain the idea of bringing in Maldonado to pinch dries I thought it made sense right but it seems like Garrett Cole is just like I need to go with whoever the other guy is who's the starter give me the backup it's like why do we need to do this he's that guy at like the the race course uh you know like you go to the track and you're betting on horses and the guy's just like oh he's got 80 to one odds I'm just he's gonna win it's like he might not even make it into the gate like they might just disqualify it's against the grain for no reason yeah because we all know those people that are just like yeah I just want massive I I just want chaos come March Madness they're just rooting for all the the low seeds right so anyway I wanted to bring up Jazz Chism because this show is not going to be a a complain Fest it's just not um I think we brought up valid points but Jazz Chisum today I thought was excellent and and not just today he's been excellent for a while now when he's on base he's a menace and he just plays a brand of baseball there was actually a situation where Nolan Aeron they were playing a shift they were actually playing a pole shift to the right side so Nolan Nado is now pulling towards second base and here's where baseball gets fun because I know this is the ugly stuff that a lot of people they don't show this stuff on ESPN but Jaz Chisum was paying attention at second base and he realized that when people are going to be shifting over a lot of times they're not paying attention to the base runner so what does Jazz do he takes off at third base when Nolan nanado is staring at the ground gets over to Third Base micholas Chucks the ball over to third base and it is thrown down the Third Base Line and turns into a run now it didn't mean a rip in today's game but I promise you guys most of the games that we lose or win in October are going to be by one or two runs that's just the way baseball works when it matters those type of plays can change an entire world series run I get it jaas chism's not going to win a World Series just by simply running the bases hard or doing all this extra fun stuff but he may steal a game for us and it may help us win the World Series so that's what's exciting for me those are the type of decision that I just love to watch and I wanted to make sure that this colossal dump of a game didn't overshadow what he did I wanted to bring that up yeah I mean while you're bringing him up I mean I'll I'll just say this his 23 games that he's played in um for qualified Yankees he is in second place in batting average on the team behind Jud 326 with the Yankees wow really he's got a th000 Ops yes not a surprise obviously not a ton of sample size but you said 23 games right yeah nine home runs and 23 games it's incredible I mean it's just great yeah and you know he's got eight stolen bases in 23 games Aaron judge has seven and 135 do you want me to bring your crown for the next show for what you said about jazz Chism you said he was gonna be a great player over here it's not set in stone he's not just now now he's not a superstar in New York but as of now the way he's playing this is what the Yankees need they need a player who's going to be timely that's all it is if you show up to October and you're going to be putting up numbers anywhere close to that does it really matter if you came into the season thinking of jazz Chisum in the same conversation as a lot of other great players in this league it doesn't matter you don't just win with the list listing off a bunch of great players you win by putting the hottest bats on the field and he is one of them he just so happens to be so um I'm excited about him I'm excit he stole he's stolen 30 bases this year I mean no one's talking about this he's in second place on the Yankees with eight stolen bases like as a Yankee so I actually wanted to bring that up I know you said no complain Fest but I got to complain here a little bit he's second on the team the approach that we talked about cuz keep in mind if for those of you who are not OG people and are very new here you're not going to understand but you could go back and check out our old episodes and probably pick up on it we said approach more than anything I mean it was approach approach oh it's Approach at the plate oh my God so what were the early 2024 Yankees they were a patient team that just basically saw so many pitches we talked about how Juan stto changed like the team yeah yep and pretty much we saw smart small ball and since then like Anthony vulpi has 25 stolen bases Chisum has eight Aaron judge is third on the team was seven so like that actually and I don't want to make it too big of a deal because they found other ways to score runs and that's true but the lack of stolen bases does irk me uh because I feel like they were trending towards that team like at one point they looked like Oswaldo Cabrero is going to finish this season with like 20 stolen bases right so which way are you describing that we score well the Yankees don't use really the stolen bases I mean they have more athleticism on the base pass than they have in the past so they're scoring from first and second what have you but they're scoring basically on home runs line drives uh you know hard hit ground balls with exit vo that you know makes it a really tough play uh for infielders but yeah it's that kind of bums me out because Gary we were talking about this team as like oh yeah vulpi could steal 50 bags this year right it looked like that and so now looking at that yeah just seeing a part-time player as Oswaldo Cabrera having four and he him being in the top five that's kind of depressing so I just think obviously you can wipe the Slate clean come October and you can be that team if you want to be it but I kind of want to see more of that and I I know Chisum has tried to essentially instill that ability into this team but I think really it's just Jazz vulpi and that's it so yeah it's just it's a little something that maybe it's not a huge deal to some people but I want to bring it up because it kind of ticks me off how I feel like to have the athleticism to do it and I feel like this is more on Boon like Boon's decision not to want to run and I get you have judge and stto I understand that but there are times where I'm like yeah they probably should steal here and we don't we don't see a a stolen base so again people might look at this as this is picky but it's just kind of a reminder of how yeah some of what we saw in April translated to now I'm not going to sit here and say it didn't but a lot of it did not and we don't talk about that nearly enough yeah no it's I I don't really think that we sound overly negative I just think that personnel-wise I can't even necessarily blame Aaron Boon when I look at a team of tus stto judge Wells Stanton Chisum Rizzo vulpi Verdugo I'm not licking my chops to send Alex fugo to second base he doesn't get to first base very often so this idea that I'm going to be stealing Alex fugo I wouldn't right and that's totally understandable so then you look at okay who else would be stealing vulpi no doubt about it he has been okay Anthony Rizzo he's a first baseman so that we can give him a pass for that their first baseman aren't going to be stealing bases totally understandable Chisum is but remember Jas Chisum got here at the deadline who was our third baseman before it was DJ lahu and Cabrera were they stealing bases no actually neither were okay we spent the entire year having none of them I think combined they stole four bases then you have John Carlo who obviously is locked in at DH he's not stealing any bases I'll give him a pass for that judge is pro he's probably stealing as many bases as you would expect he's not going to be running he's gonna hit 60 homers totally fine stto again not going to steal any bases but glaber Tores your second baseman we talked about Jonathan India we talked about many other players this team could have brought in that would have given them more athleticism whether it be left field or second base they didn't do that so Gaber Tor is a good player a lot of these guys can help a b baseall team no question about it but they can't do that well that area of the game so it leads us into October where these guys have to hit they've got a slug and you can win that way I don't let anyone tell you you can't just slug your way and Pitch your way to a World Series Championship it absolutely can happen the Yankees pitching needs to get way better if they want any chance to win in October but Jake you can win this way but a lot of times what you see and the best example of this is the Arizon Dbacks they ran into the Los Angeles Dodgers last year who were way better than them on paper and they showed up to Dodger Stadium and don't you know they ran LA right out of the ballpark they were stealing bases left and right they were pitching they were getting timely hitting and next thing you know the Dodgers are looking up saying what in the hell just happened well I'll tell you you ran into a buzs saw a team that can do different things something you weren't expecting and a lot of times the the running game really goes underrated in this sport especially in 2024 so yeah I'm not asking for the Yankees to start bringing in D Gordon and and Gore from the Kansas City teams of the of the past but the Yankees do need more players of the nature of jazz Chism a guy who can come up with a man on second base and nobody out and decide to give himself up and slap a ground ball to second base allowing somebody to move to Third Base so you can score on a sack fly or even a base hit now we don't play the game of baseball that way so that's why every time we see it on this show we make sure to clap our hands because if the Yankees can do more of it I mean they in theory should be a way more Dynamic offense in October and I guess now we can't even hope for it because well you know what we can hope for we can hope for the little things when Jason Dominguez comes up here he can Ste bases I know that to be for certain so that's the positive twist to this is that in a week and a half when the Yankees decide that Jason Dominguez is a good enough ball player to take over the left field position just so happened we got way more athletic so that's super exciting and everybody else should be excited yeah I think that's really uh the last thing I wanted to touch on here Yankees play the Rangers tomorrow of course Garrett Cole is going to be on the mound for that game it is undecided who is going to pitch for Texas uh so oh boy there have no idea who's gonna pitch it is George Bush yeah so see we'll see what ends up happening I do have a movie for you because this this game was really frustrating um total tease and you know it's kind of like the tease of Batman and Robin okay and that's going to be the movie and the reason I say that is because obviously the movie is garbage it's one of the worst comic book films ever but it's with the IP of Batman so it's a tease in a sense because no one is expecting like if you just said yeah you should check out Batman and Robins got George Clooney in it Arnold Schwarzenegger people would be like sign me up and then they watch it and they're like what the hell is this this this awful yeah it wasn't comic book accurate it was just they went their own Direction with it it didn't work so no I'm assuming a lot of people have seen that I'm going to be be honest with you oh yeah it was bad anyone that liked that I I don't I don't know what to say to you I mean Everyone likes their own things and everything but I don't know the fake lips uh you know kissing Poison Ivy which is dumb the bat credit card the bat nipples all of it it was just so bad it was so bad man yeah it it's a Despicable film but yeah thank you guys so much for listening if you haven't liked this video well hold on I'm not actually gonna tell you to like this video I just hope tomorrow that we can win so I can give you guys a good movie I'm tired of giving you guys bad films I actually want to recommend some movies that's actually the whole reason I decided to start this bit is so that I can tell people some good movies and and push my agenda yeah no I I I get that man um I mean we could always just you know give good recommendations is almost kind of like a way I don't know to brighten up a cloudy day if you will so maybe we go with that moving forward I don't know okay well unless you want to continue with the bad no I mean I can give you Benjamin Button everyone's seen that though for the most part Benjamin button's a great movie my wife actually put me on into this movie and I'm a huge Brad Pit fan he was great in that a huge fan of his and Mr and Mrs Smith and then I went and saw him and Benjamin Button which by the way I'm pretty sure that Jordan Walker is the next coming of Benjamin Button that dude he says he's 22 I do not believe that that is nuts Gary's like literally 45 yeah dude's 48 he R today five hit day he uh he turned back the clock on us he is only 22 so he can build off that not that this is uh Cardinals unloaded or anything but I'm rooting for him honestly I mean it's a younger I'm always rooting for young players I like him I mean he was originally a thirdd baseman then they got ronado moved him to the Outfield um so I don't know what the deal is with him but yeah that's going to do it uh the Yankees still do not have their 80th win of the season for whatever reason they had the same issue with like getting 70 if you remember and uh actually 60 from what I remember they were the first team to 50 wins and then after that it's just been they've really struggled at these uh spot so hopefully they get their 80th win tomorrow in Texas it is a road game Road Series um but yeah put Batman and Robin or Benjamin butt in one of those that'll tell us what kind of person you are after this game are are you are you pissed off enough to actually write in Batman and Robin or are you like all right we're on the next game and you're feeling a little bit better and you're putting in Benjamin Button yeah I got faith we'll see yep like this video