In this episode of the FTB podcast, hosts Chris and Dom recap the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees, analyzing game performances, player highlights, and management decisions. They discuss the Yankees’ ongoing struggles, particularly in pitching and management, and the controversies surrounding umpiring that have sparked a conversation about the need for an ABS system. The conversation also covers the All-Star Game rosters, featuring surprising selections and all-star snubs, and the implications for both leagues moving forward. Overall, the episode provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of both teams and their prospects for the remainder of the season. Additionally, the hosts analyze trade deadline strategies for the Yankees and Mets, and make predictions for this week’s upcoming slate of games. They also delve into the recent coaching changes in the NBA, the implications of various NBA trades, and preview the upcoming NFL training camps, focusing on key Jets & Giants players to watch out for.
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⌚ Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and Overview of the Week’s Sports Events
01:35 Subway Series Breakdown: Game 1 Highlights
07:44 Subway Series Breakdown: Game 2 Highlights
14:06 Subway Series Breakdown: Game 3 Highlights
28:59 Yankees’ Struggles and Future Outlook
41:52 Nationals’ Management Changes and Future Prospects
46:10 Home Run Derby Participants and Predictions
49:12 All-Star Game Lineups and Analysis
56:52 All-Star Game Analysis
01:00:17 Trade Deadline Strategies
01:06:16 Weekly Predictions for Mets and Yankees
01:12:26 NBA Coaching Changes and Expectations
01:17:32 NBA Trades and Team Dynamics
01:37:20 NFL Training Camp Insights
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the FTV
podcast. I am your host Kristen Gulick alongside my co-host Dom Cino where we’ll be discussing
the week that was. The Subway series has come and gone and we give our Mets and Yankees
weekly predictions. Before the All-Star break, Mike Brown’s contract details were
revealed over the weekend. Well, NBA free agency rolls on with the biggest
multi-team trade in NBA history. NFL training camp is now only two weeks away. So,
which Jets and Giants players are we looking forward to seeing? Stay tuned for our
thoughts. Now, please take a seat. Let’s talk. [Music] Yeah. [Music] All right. Dom. Oh, boy. Okay.
already starting off in a bad bad foot for you. How was your weekend, pal? What’s going
on? You know, work was busy. You know, that’s good because, you know, it I was distracted from
watching the game cuz I was so busy working. So, it’s okay. I didn’t really watch any
of the series as much. But honestly, I’m glad. I’m glad. Bad bad news. Bad news. Yanks.
Those Yanks. I’m glad I’m not a fan of them. Hey, listen. You know what? But it was good for the
Mets though. It was good stuff. It was good stuff, you know. I’ll admit it. Yeah, it was. Yeah. I
mean, it was nice weekend for me. I definitely enjoyed it. Had a nice Fourth of July weekend.
Friday at my cousin’s pool. I went to my aunt’s house, her last Fourth of July at her at her
house, you know, obviously selling that thing. So, it was it was kind of an obligation to go there.
So, it was good. It was it was a fun time. Saw the fam, hung out with the cousins. Can’t
complain. Certainly can’t complain about the series. Maybe there’s a little bit of complaining
to do that last game of the series, but we’ll get into it. So, Subway Series to kick us off. Uh,
discussing all three of the games. Obviously, Friday was a good old Marcus Strowman pitching
for the Yankees. I know Dom loves that guy. Oh man, tough straight face. So much I don’t
like him. Tough start with him. And for the Mets, they put out Justin Hagenman. I’m going to be
honest, um, I didn’t know what to expect from this guy. He gave up backtoback homers. I was
like, “Yeah, I’ll take a beer.” He sounds like he should be like Harry Potter or something. Uh,
I don’t know. All I know is is I watch backtoback homers just sail over the uh over the deck, you
know, over the party city deck, whatever the Mets call it nowadays. Aaron Judge hitting a bomb for
the second straight homer to start off the game. I was like, “All right, see the time to grab a beer
or go in the pool.” I was like, “I think I need to maybe step away for an inning or two, maybe come
back, reconvene, see what happens.” Thank God. He kind of saved he saved my my fourth of July for
the meantime for the moment with that two-run homer. Thank God. But it was that was honestly
Sunday wasn’t a bad game. We’ll be getting into that because there are a couple things we got
to discuss there. But the first game that was probably the best one with obviously the Yankees
jumping out to a two- lead with the back-to-back homers from Jason Dominguez and Aaron Judge and
then Sodto tying it up with the two-run homer off I’m a starter Marcus Strowman. You don’t want to
hear about the bullpen folks, so don’t even try to mention it. And then the Yankees were scoring
some runs. Uh Dominguez had his second homer. Bellinger homered. Mets took a 3-2 lead. Bellinger
tied it. And then Dominguez made it 5-3 Yanks. Mets got another homer of their own uh with Brett
Batty making it 5-4. And then the big at bat, Dom, the big at bat against Luke Weaver. Yankee fans
have been telling me recently that Luke Weaver is not the same since he came back from injury.
Would you agree with that? I agree. And honestly, the whole bullpen is just god awful. Like it’s not
even just him. You can’t really blame him. That’s all right. like people go through slumps and it
happens but it’s yeah he has not been the same last year he was basically lights out the Yankees
bullpen RA did they put out a statistic on SNY I mean that graphic I I I forget how many games
in what in what game span but a 10.13 RA for the Yankee bullpen don’t get me wrong the Mets aren’t
any better with their recent stretch of games, but combined it was like an 8.1 Mets and Yankees
bullpen erra recently combined, but the Yankees were at 10.13. I was like, how is that even
how’s that even doable? I was like, how can you even withstand knowing as a starting pitcher?
And again, you know, we we’ll get into the second game, but you know, obviously Marcus Strowman not
the same pitcher as he once was when he first got traded to the Mets or maybe even in 2021 or
with the Cubs two years ago or with Toronto when he first came up with them. He’s not the same
guy, but as a starting pitcher, you got to think I can’t, you know, I can’t really be having a bad
outing with the bullpen that’s behind me. I mean, that’s that’s just a bad statistic. That Jeff
McNeel home run. Absolute tank job. Yeah, that was insane. Jeff McNeel just just rocketed one into
the upper deck. And that that was that was a tough tough uh that was a tough homer to give up for
Luke Weaver with Jeff McNeel 3-2 count battling. And as the great Keith Hernandez in the SNY booth
would b you know would say, oh that that went all the way up into the upper tank and that gave
him a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh and Yankees obviously couldn’t come back from that.
That was that was very deflating. But that that was that was a tough that was a tough at bat for
Luke Weaver. That was great for the Jeff McNeel, you know, fanboys, but for for Luke Weaver, that
was tough. Not good. Not good. I have uh I have a whole lot to say about the Yankees, but obviously
like we’re still going on the overview right now, but we just need a a whole lot um whole
lot of we need pitching now. Obviously, we’ll talk about later with Clark Schmidt. I
would likely most likely need Tommy John surgery. It’s not 100% confirmed, but the words have been
thrown around of most likely he will most likely get Tommy John. That bullpen’s terrible. At this
rate, like you just said, we can’t afford any bad games from a starter any at this point, which
is pretty sad to say, but it’s just the truth. So yeah, the Yankees need a lot of work. Not
offense, defense, fielding, base running in every single category. We need help. I know.
Listen, Mets need help in some categories, too. Just because they won the series doesn’t mean
they don’t need help. They definitely need some help. I mean, we’ll get into that in a bit, but
that was the first game. Mets won 65. The second game was just I mean we we knew coming in and it
was reported by many different people. You know, we knew coming in that you know more the Mets
than the Yankees because games two and three the Yankees had their best pitchers going. But the
Mets faithful knew that their offense needed to carry them in these games just due to the fact
that you know Sunday they put out an opener. But this second game, you had Frankie Monttos
going. I know he pitched well against the Braves, but he very quickly came back down to earth with
that second outing that he recently had. And man, you know, he gave up five in five and two/3
innings, he gave up four runs. You know, it’s great to hit home runs for the Yankees, but
they were all solo shots. They they didn’t have anybody on base. So, the Mets, you know, they
showed their their, you know, could you say topheavy? They’ve been topheavy for a while,
but their offensive prowess came out in that Saturday game. But, I mean, Dom, that was that
was a slugfest. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. I mean, they’re so bad. I can just laugh all
day just thinking about how bad they are. I mean, they were just I mean, that was I mean,
I listen, I I I thought it was going to be a high-scoring game, but with Carlos Rodon on the
mound, giving up a grand slam to Brandon Nemo in the first inning. I mean, I I was getting ready to
go on Bell Boulevard over here in Bayside. And I was like getting ready. I was about to leave, get
in my car, drive over, and I see a text from my Mets group chat, and Billy’s like, “Oh man, I just
missed that Brandon NMO Grand Slam.” I was like, “What?” I was like, “Grand slam.” I was like,
“This is now he’s he’s been inconsistent since he’s been with the Yankees, I’ll admit.” But
still, it’s their second best starter. I mean, Carlos Rodon, I I didn’t expect it to go this way.
I mean, that’s that’s just insane. So, not a good start already, you know, and it was just crazy.
And then it just started snowballing from there, you know. Of course, you know, Vulpi, I’m not even
a Yankee fan and I don’t like Anthony Vulpi. I know you don’t. Vulpi makes an error, right? Then
that’s five runs. Then Alonzo goes oppo Taco that makes it seven runs. And it just kept on getting
worse and worse. But it started with Carlos Rodon. Frankie Monttos had run support. He did all
right. Five and two/3 innings, four runs. It’s not terrible, but he’s he’s got that long ball
problem. It’s been known for his career. He’s got long ball issues. He gives up the home run. But
fortunate for him, there wasn’t really anybody on base, so solo shots really, but that was that that
was an interesting game. I I was very surprised. I didn’t expect the Mets, as you you know, for
the folks who listened to the podcast last week, my prediction for this week obviously didn’t go
the way I expected. I didn’t think we were going to go four and two, but um but that was that that
was that was a crazy game. Didn’t expect 12 runs. I said for the Yankees we were going to go 500 and
they almost lost every single game of that road trip. So, I mean, dude, what happened in Toronto?
I mean, you got swept everything. And by the way, for the people who listen to the podcast,
um, you said 500. Well, there was no going 500. That was a four game set. And then
they had the Mets right after. But my god, 0 and4 to start the week. I mean, we recorded last
Monday. I mean, 0 and4. I mean, that that was just I couldn’t believe that. I was like, wow. They
can’t scratch out a win. crazy. I’m not saying this because the Yankees lost. The Blue Jays are
an underrated team and they have like they have good players on that team, but the way on paper
and the way that the Yankees should be playing, we should be the ones sweeping them. It should not
be the other way around. I agree. I agree. I mean, listen, they do. God awful. You know, God, a sweep
on them. It’s hard to sweep any team. I don’t care if it’s the Colorado Rockies. I don’t care if it’s
I don’t I It’s just I I don’t care if it’s any of those of these of those lowhanging fruit teams
in the in the MLB. It’s hard to sweep any team in a four game series, but should you have guys at
least tied the series or three games to one? Yeah, you should have. Max Freed, you know,
he lost. He didn’t pitch well. You know, the Yankees just didn’t have it in that
series. So, but again that second game, Mets Yankees 12-6. Tough tough scoring, you
know, uh tough tough end result in that second game. Allonzo hit two homers. You know, Aaron
Boon decided to put out a guy in the Subway Series for his MLB debut out of the bullpen.
That didn’t go well. Such an intelligent guy. I mean, we’re about to get into game three. I
mean, but to end to to just to conclude game two, I mean, that was just an absolute slugfest.
Obviously, more for the Yankees. Hey, Vulpi hit a homer on Saturday. Solo shot. Nobody on base,
but he hit a home run. That’s good. You know, no Yankee fan cares about that. I mean, I know,
but hey, Yankee fans care. I’m just trying to put out the good vibes. You know what I mean? There’s
no good vibes on this side. Your side, you have great vibes going on right now. My side, it’s
better. It’s good. Not great. It’s good. It’s not great. You know, the sweep would have been great,
but that wasn’t, you know, I’m just thinking about everything that happened. You know, like Fourth of
July, you know, great weekend no matter what. Even if there was a Subway Series and then you guys win
the series, you know, bragging rights all weekend, you know, everyone’s with family and friends and
going out and stuff and, you know, it it makes the weekend better. For sure. When your teams win. I
agree. That’s that’s what I’m trying to say. Okay, I get it. I get it. But that’s game two. Game
three, this one I had no no faith that the Mets were going to win this game. Max Freed right
now, Al Sai Young award candidate, rightfully so. Man’s filthy. Just knows how to pitch. Yeah,
he’s I mean, he is he is ridiculous. And again, it’s nothing new for Mets fans because nope,
we’ve seen Max Freed pitch numerous times with the Atlanta Braves. So, we know that this guy has
got a nasty curveball. We were looking at the, you know, Mets fans, myself included, we were all
looking at the at the the statistics for Francisco Lindor against Max Freed’s curveball. Let’s just
say he might as well just not even swing and just accept the strikeout because that man cannot hit
his curveball. He’s just he’s a masterful pitcher. And so the game started off great as I think any
Yankee fan could hope for. You’re up five nothing. He put out Max Freed there. Yeah. Ma Max Max Freed
gave up a two-run single to Francisco Lindor, but he was getting tired. He he finished
that that inning that that fifth inning with with 96 97 pitches. Dom I forget how
many pitches. I believe it was about 96 97. But the interesting thing is, all right, that
cut the deficit from 5 nothing to 52 and and it was five innings. That was that was correct. We
were going into the sixth and I wrote in my town friend group chat. I wrote I said if Aaron Boon
has some brain power, he’s going to put I don’t care if it’s at 96 97 pitches, he better put Max
Freed back on the mount. And he didn’t do it. I don’t I’m not surprised by anything that
this guy does anymore. He will find a way to make things the most complicated
they could be. No, no matter what. Oh, he’s he’s doing great, you know,
like we should leave them in. No. Oh, um Clark Schmidt, when was it? Like last week when
he was going on a no hitter. No, take him out. Why? Random people in the top of the order. Austin
Wells, Gold Schmidt, Vulpy maybe at one point. Like what are we doing? I I’m tired. I am tired
and like my stomach hurts watching this guy manage a team. He He needs to go. He needs to go. I don’t
blame you. I mean, every time I think Aaron Boon, I I don’t know. I just think about like the
Mickey Callaway days and and the Louis Rojas days of the Mets. Like, I don’t know. I mean,
Aaron Boon obviously, right, helped the Yankees get to a World Series appearance. Now, granted,
me and Dom discussed before this podcast started that the American League is not as strong as the
National League. You know, we got a a couple of names that shouldn’t be on the All-Star team,
but we’ll get into that later in the show. But, it’s very very interesting. So he he doesn’t put
in Max Freed, he puts in Lisa, Jonathan Loisea, and he’s already just killing it. He’s just
killing the vibes for the Yankees. And when I say killing it, not in a good way, killing it
for the for the Yankees. And just bases loaded, nobody out. I mean, thank the Lord, you know,
they didn’t even make the play on the Jeff McNeel grounder. If that ump got out of the way, then
honestly, Mauricio would have scored from third base. But he did get in the way. So they didn’t
get another run. Thank god Hayden Sanger was and and again these were one of the couple mistakes
even Mendoza made having Hayden Sanger bat in the bottom of the sixth. Why in the freaking world
wouldn’t you have Louis Tens pinch hitting for Hayden Sanger? I mean Hayden Sanger, it’s not
just that Hayden Sanger shouldn’t have the at bat. Gary Cohen put it out there in the ninth inning,
which we got to talk about because that at bat in the ninth inning, I mean, I wanted to punch my TV.
Louis Torren as a pinch hitter is batting .347. 347. Why in the freaking world isn’t Everyone
said, “Well, it’s too early.” Too early for what? For what? Too early to win. Oh, I’m sorry.
Oh, I’m sorry. My bad. My bad. No, you’re right. We shouldn’t try to win every game. All I hear
is that it doesn’t matter if you lose games uh on the on opening day or in the month of April or
May. Every game counts. Really? Yeah. Every game counts. So then why isn’t the guy who bats 347 as
a pinch hitter batting for Hayden Sanger? I don’t I don’t understand that. So that was one mistake.
I don’t know. Yeah, they got a run, but dude, he grounded into a double play. That was one of
the mistakes, but that inning could have gotten a lot worse and the Mets honestly should have
taken the lead in that inning with the Yankees horrid bullpen, but that was one of the mistakes.
And so when that happened, I felt pretty deflated. And then Marte, he has been swinging the bat well
recently, but you know, it’s hard to pick up a guy with that kind of situation. And to just say,
“Oh, it’s all right. Marte will pick him up.” It’s It’s tough. So, the Yankees ended up
leading 5-4, but I mean, man, that bullpen that bullpen is really really something else
for the Yankees. It was such a busy day at work and like the TV’s behind me, so I can’t I don’t
can’t really like watch the TV that much. Like, I’ll just like take like a quick glance. I look
up, it’s 5 nothing. I’m like, “Okay, sweet.” Like, should be good. Should be an easy win. But then
I’m like, “Oh yeah, it’s the New York Yankees.” And then it was 5 nothing and then I don’t
know, maybe 20 minutes, half hour goes by, it’s 5-4. I’m just like usually like I’d be like
confused like, “Oh, like what the hell happened? I knew what happened. I knew I I just I just sense
these things coming from an Aaron Boone team. They got so lucky with the with the non pinch
hitting for Sanger. I mean, people say it was early to have Terren’s bat. The Mets don’t play
today. The Yankees don’t play today. No, you had a day off. He was only going to catch three more
innings. Not like we were having him pinch hit in the third inning. It was double that. It was the
sixth inning. I mean, it was late in the game with that opportunity. I just don’t understand that.
And so, of course, it’s 5-4. Yankees tack on a run to make it 6-4. And then, of course, I’ll give
credit where credit’s due. Cody Bellinger made one hell of a shoestring catch to double off Lindor.
And I don’t even know what Antoine Richardson, the Mets first base coach, was doing. I mean, I I
don’t know what. Did you see this play, Dom? I saw it, but that’s I mean, I don’t know. You can’t
really blame the first base coach for that one. I’m and I’m I’m only giving him partial blame
because the other half the other partial blame does go to Lindor. The play’s right in front of
you. Why in the world Cody Bellinger has got a a fantastic arm. You played him against the Dodgers
for for you know the at least the Mets have. Lindor has been with the Mets since 2021. But you
got to know who’s in the outfield. Bellinger’s got a great arm. He made a great throw. Maybe there
was a deak by Paul Golmid, which Trent Gisham did, and that saved them a run as well. And I didn’t
even see that until I watched the highlights. That that was an interesting play. I was got
I got told that Trent Gisham saved the run for the Yankees. He’s a great outfielder. They
have great outfielders all over the field. Great outfielder. And Bellinger threw that ball.
Dude, you got to slide. You got to slide back to first. You have to slide. That’s That should be
mandatory right there. No, if I am a base runner, that would be hard. That would be hard to figure
out cuz it did. At first, I thought it actually hit the ground. I thought it bounced on the
grass and then went into his glove. I thought he scooped it. Then I saw the other angle and
I’m like, “Oh, wow. He actually caught it.” Yeah, that is that is a hard play to judge. I know.
But still give partial blame to the first page coach and Lindor. So that saved them the inning.
That could have gotten worse in a hurry. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. and it stayed 6-4. But the ninth
inning, and folks, this is where we really got to we we really got to just call it how we see it.
And this is just the the fact of the matter and the truth. That Louis Torenz at bat, Dom, was
any of those three pitches a strike? No. Maybe the first one, but the last two borderline maybe.
Not the last one. Maybe the second one. No, no, no. Not the last one. No, the last one. I think
really he was like, “Oh my god.” Yeah. Holy Lord, McDonald’s. I got to get some food in. I think
he had a reservation for dinner. I don’t know what the heck he was thinking. And he made sure
to strike out to Ren and get the line moving and get this game going. He had to get home for Sunday
Family Pasta. I mean, I don’t know what the heck he was calling. Ladies and gentlemen, the ABS
system has to come next year. It does. It wasn’t even just a Torren at bat. I am shocked that Aaron
Boon didn’t get ejected on Saturday. And frankly, even during that game yesterday, now Mendoza did
finally because he had it. He was complaining. Yeah, he lost virtually the whole game, definitely
more than half the game that the strike zone for that umpire was absolutely terrible, which I have
to look up again what that umpire’s name was. But, um, I mean, you have to agree with me here.
The ABS system’s got to come next year. It has to come. Like, I’m not I’m not that crazy
of a fan where I’m going to say, “Oh, no. That that was a strike. That was clearly a ball.” It
was clearly a ball. Um, a horrible call. I mean, they did it in spring training. They tested
it out. It worked. I don’t know why they have to wait another year. That doesn’t make sense
to me. They should have just did it straight off the bat. And then, I forgot who, someone got
ejected, I think a few days ago, maybe a week ago, that the guy went like a a batter went to
go like this, then he got ejected by the umpire. Really? Haunting. Yeah. Huh. I didn’t know
that. Okay. I I don’t know who. Well, that is the that was the I remember that situation. Yeah. Like
went like this and he got ejected. Mhm. So, the name is John Bacon. That was the umpire’s name.
John Bacon. I mean, dude, I I don’t It’s just It’s unacceptable. I mean, and it wasn’t even just at
bat. Paul Goldmid, Aaron Judge, what was the other name that we threw out? DJ Lameu. DJ Lame. I
mean, these at bats. I’m a Mets fan and I’m telling you it’s a problem. I mean, because all
I know is, folks, is that if he’s going to call that against the Yankees, he’s going to call it
on us. So, you got to have an even playing field. But all I’m going to say with the ABS system
is leagues put things in and they look to test them out and implement them for a reason. And
there’s a reason why the ABS system was used in spring training this year because of calls like
that. And the ABS system is on its way. It’s got to come. You put it in spring training. You could
test it out one more time. I don’t care if you’re not 100% to it. For the fans sake, who don’t play,
who aren’t getting paid millions of dollars, who are actually shelving out a millions of dollars,
you you have to put this system in. People have been telling me, “Well, you’re taking out the
human element. The human element work. It doesn’t work. Who cares? Enough. Enough. I don’t want to
hear about the human element. It’s not working. You have to put in the ABS system. Okay, that’s
the signal. You tap on the helmet and they go and and the ump turns around. He goes to the camera
and he says, “Oh, the batter is testing the ball, the call for ball two, ball three or strike
two, whatever.” Or really it would be if it’s, you know, and then of course the catcher and
the pitcher if they call it a ball, they can try to go for a strike and vice versa, the batter
can challenge the strike to be a ball. Mhm. So, the system’s got to come. And really, at this day
and age, with some of the games that the Mets, both Mets and Yankees lost this year, every call
should be reviewed. Every call. There should be no, “Well, the ball’s in front of them, so you’re
not allowed to review that.” BS. BS. Don’t want to hear it. That’s BS. Every play we’re This is
2025, Avery. Every play needs to be reviewed. Makes sense. That’s how it should be. Is that
how it has to I don’t know. I think they’re more protected than some of the the local unions in
the city. This umpire committee. They’re this so soft. Like I don’t know if they’re softer than NBA
refability at all. No. Zero accountability. None. At least there’s like a little like report like
after like the after postgame report on like re on you know, oh like this should have been a foul
actually or at least there’s something like that. Mo, there’s nothing. Yeah. Zero. Yeah.
The NBA has a last two-minute report. Now, there is an account on Twitter, umpire umpire
scorecards, excuse me, that does. And I’m I haven’t even looked at John Bacon’s scorecard
from yesterday. I haven’t even looked at it. I got to assume it’s not pretty because his his
I mean, I I’ll take a look at it at some point, you know, with throughout this this episode, but
it’s just not good. And so the Mets lose the last game of the series. Mets do win the series, but
they lose that game. Yankees win 6-4. Huge win for the Yanks. I mean, if the Mets had, you
know, if the Mets had pulled that game out, it would be seven straight losses for
the Yankees. Yankees get swept. So, Dom, uh, you know, how do you how do you feel with the
Yankees from this past week going one and six? Well, clearly not good. Clearly not good at all.
Terrible. Even like what I’ve been saying in the past episodes, this feels exactly like last
year. This feels exactly like last year. They had a slow June and a slow July. Terrible. Like
this year and last year. Terrible way to go into the All-Star break. People are telling me, “No,
like it’s all right, though.” But they made it. They made the World Series, but it’s a completely
different team. Obviously, the AL is more weak than the NL. So obviously we do have still like
a decent chance if we end up do getting hot in August and September, but it’s the same thing
like the like the fans of the New York Yankees, there’s no excitement. Like there’s nothing to
look forward to. There’s there’s just so many bad things going on. And I don’t know, maybe you
can say that, oh, like we’re Yankee fans. We just, you know, we’re we’re just crazy, you know, like
we see the bad and everything, but it’s the truth. It’s it’s the exact truth. The things that we were
upset about last year happened in the playoffs and in the World Series. I don’t know. Like Aaron
Judge, you know, he doesn’t really do good in the playoffs. What did he do? He didn’t do good
in the playoffs. Oh, I don’t know. Like there might be some weird decisions by Aaron Boon. He
made a decent amount of them last year and this year a million times. We had a good bullpen last
year, then it turned bad. We thought we were gonna have one of the best bullpens in the league this
year. It’s probably one of the worst now. I mean, I think it’s just unreal with this series and even
this year. Anthony Vulpi, what the hell happened? I don’t know. I don’t get it. I do not like that
kid. I’m not even a Yankee fan and I don’t like him. Do you happen to know how many errors he
has this year already? I I personally do not. 11. 11. Once you reach double digits, it’s not
good already. Oh, he hit a home run. He hit a home run the other day. Who cares? Who cares?
I’m just saying. Fourth of July, he went 0 for three with a strikeout. July 5th. All right. He
hit a home run. He was one for four and they had two strikeouts. Then on the 6th, yesterday,
0 for four, two strikeouts. Terrible. Listen, it’s it’s tough, you know. I listen, I I I I think
I think the Mets, yes, they won the series. They won They did win both series. I mean, listen,
it’s a miracle because for for whichever folks listen to the podcast last week, there is no
shot. I was expecting Jake Miserowski. I mean, if you listen to the real that I put out
as well on Instagram, Jake Mizerowski, I did not expect the Mets to hit a grand slam, let
alone score all those runs against Jake Miserowski and win the game. They lost 7-2 game one. What we
were doing, our emergency pod last Wednesday, 7-2, they lost that game in game one. And then game
two, I was there that night and they won. I was shocked. Couldn’t believe it. And so, they they
went four and two on the week. But I’ll be honest, um, doesn’t move me that much. It’s six games,
you know. I’m not going to act like, “Oh my god, they figured it out.” No, they haven’t. Mark
Vientos can’t stay here. You have Anthony Vulpi. At least Anthony Vulpi can move on defense.
Vientos is a shell of himself from last year. I I don’t understand what happened. I don’t know
either. I still don’t know. I thought it was going to be one of the best young dudes like in
the game like coming up. I thought he was going to be our automatic cleanup hitter. I thought he
was going to be Lindor Sodto Alonszo Vientos and then NMO. I mean, I was I couldn’t believe it. I
mean, what I’m seeing right now, think about it. If he can’t hit and get a home run, then what good
is he? He can’t run. He can’t field. He’s got no range. He can’t make the play. Yeah, he’s got a
strong arm from third, but last time I checked, the ball’s got to be in your glove first. So, if
the ball’s not in your glove, there’s no throw to make. I mean, yeah, maybe Vulpi I mean, Vulpi
almost killed Aaron Judge on Saturday with that throw. I don’t know what the heck that was. He
had to get a band-aid near his eye. I was like, Anthony, get it together. You know, it’s it’s
unbelievable. It was a crazy throw. But, you know, I don’t know. Next time when he made the next out,
I was like, “Oh, thank God. There was no there was no harm in the making of that out. But it was it
was crazy. But Vientos looks terrible. I mean, people like send him down to Triple A. You can’t.
He’s got no more options. He’s out of options. You you have no choice but to either trade him or hope
he gets out of it. But I’m trading him. I mean, you have Mauricio and Brett Batty. Batty, he’s put
up good at bats. He hit a home run on s on Friday and and he even got a pinch hit single to get the
bases loaded off Lisa in the sixth. And Mauricio Mauricio got a got a few hits over the weekend.
He came in pinch hit on Friday, got a double or maybe that was Saturday. I think it was Saturday
and actually I think he did get a hit on Friday as well. I have to actually put up his statline.
But those two guys, they’re gonna take his spot rightfully so. Yeah, he got one hit, dude. He
got a hit every game in the series. Mauricio, he went one for four on Friday, one for two
with a run on Saturday, two for two with a run on Sunday. Sounds like production to me. I mean,
and I’ve been high on Mauricio. I’ve been on the Mauricio hive. You know, I’ve been big on him. I’m
expecting if he could figure out a swing and miss, which he’s slowly starting to do, he’s going to
be a problem. He’s a five tool player. He can defend. He can throw. He can hit. He can hit for
power. And he can run. So Mark Ventos can’t stay here. He’s got to go. But Mendy also should have
intentionally walked Aaron Judge. That was the other mistake I’ve been meaning to say. I don’t
know how you don’t intentionally walk Judge. I don’t care who Stanton is. Stanton ain’t the same
player. Not this year. He’s been injured for two months. He’s only been playing what, Dom, for two,
three weeks. Exactly. You pitch to Stanton. You don’t pitch to Aaron Judge. Show him some respect.
You you you you should be I don’t care how Stanton feels if you intentionally walk judge in front of
him. Yeah. All right. Prove it. And and what did he do? He flew out. Okay. Would have been a run,
but it’s one less run and you get an out of it. I’ll take that. Then a two-run homer and get
no outs from Judge. Exactly. What? You know, I’m going on a bit of a diet tribe here with uh
with Mendoza’s mistakes and Mark Ventos’s play, but anything else you want to add with the
Yankees? Well, serious. Well, a few things. Well, we expected Cody Bellinger to be like, you know,
a powerhouse. You know, we got the short portion right. He’s a crazy power hitter. He redeemed
himself with with the Cubs when he was playing with them. He hasn’t really been playing
that great this year, but uh he picked it up. uh he picked it up this series. He batted
like 363, went four of 11 with a home run, three RBI’s. Um obviously like with the the
clutch play in the outfield, which by the way, John Boy Media and Talking Yanks, we got to we we
got to relax a little bit here. They’re saying, “Oh, that play saved our season. It’s Fourth of
July, man.” Saved your season. That’s what That’s what they said. That’s exactly what they said.
Go look at the videos. Go look at the videos that they were talking about. Oh yeah, this saved this
season. We got to we got to relax here. All right, we got to take it easy. And then now, but ever
since Jazz has came back, he’s been going on a tear. He got a hit in uh every game this past
series. Um in the beginning before he got hurt, he was awful. He was terrible. But ever since he
came back, he’s been doing his thing. So honestly, I’m I’m happy for Jazz and I’m glad that
we do have him on the team cuz honestly, he can play anywhere. play second, he could play
third. Even if you need him in the outfield, maybe you could probably play him in the outfield.
He does have outfield reps, but but also that’s another thing with Vulpi. The reason why Pza,
Oswwell PZA is like been going back and forth with the Yankees getting sent down, getting brought
up is because of him. He’s supposed to be the shortstop of this team, but because of Vulpi,
they brought up Vulpy and chose him instead. They had him play second and third. Really wasn’t
working out. Then they put him in the outfield. If they picked him up, right, I’m I’m on the hive.
I’m on the like you are. Uhhuh. But I’m on the hive. I’m on the PZA hive still. I don’t care. We
have messed him up, right? We We have messed him up as a player. Uhhuh. And I I still like think
that if we actually brought him up the right way and played him at short, he’d be a great baseball
player for this team. Listen. Yeah. I I mean, I think Ventos just didn’t play well, right? He
just he he did it on himself. I don’t think the Mets the Mets didn’t put him in a bad situation.
He just hasn’t been playing. But listen, you know, Mendoza, he’s made some mistakes. You know,
that’s something I have to say. You know, listen, and I don’t think the the Mets 4-2 record from
this past week saved their season. I think they still have a long way to go. and we’ll give our
weekly predictions, you know, for Mets and Yankees for this week. Uh, both teams don’t play tonight,
so that that’s good. They both get a day off. Better for the Yankees right now than the Mets
just from this past week, really. But, you know, Carlos Mendoza, it’s funny. My friend Jack sent
me something on Twitter. He said it it was it was a it was a tweet and it said, you know, Mendoza
is a top five offensive manager and a bottom five bullpen manager. Folks, I don’t know how many
times I have to say this. The biggest flaw, the biggest flaw of Carlos Mendoza, he cannot run
a bullpen. I don’t care what anyone tells me. The man cannot run a bullpen. He He He That game with
Klay Holmes only having what it was 80 pitches, 70 80 pitches. They took him out early and everything
started just crashing down. Everything just came down. I believe it was the first game of the uh of
the Milwaukee Brewers double header last uh last Wednesday. I mean, yeah, it was July 2nd versus
Milwaukee. Five and a third innings pitched, only gave up two runs. I mean, and three hits. You
took him out and Reed Garrett just just collapsed. He should have kept pitching. I understand they’re
saying, “Well, he hasn’t been a starter in years. They want to lengthen him out.” Dude, it’s
it’s it’s July. If he wants to keep pitching, man, he’s gota he can’t just keep going
just five innings all the time. He’s got to keep on pitching. So Mendoza’s made a lot of
careless, you know, careless decisions, you know, when it comes to running the bullpen. But I mean,
listen, and then not not walking judge, too. Not pinch hitting Hayden Sanger. Hey, listen, respect
to Hayden Sanger, man. good guy, can defend, but you know, he’s he’s put up some good at bats. He
did get a hit yesterday, too. But dude, you got to play the numbers game. You always nowadays, we’re
always talking about numbers, right, in analytics. A 347 pinch hit batting average for Luis Torren.
Torenz has got to be batting there. So, you know, I don’t know, man. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll
give our predictions in a bit for the week, but that was a bit crazy. So that’s the Subway
series. You know, moving on now. Dom informed me, you know, before the podcast started, you
know, the Mets division, right? Obviously, it’s really just a two team race right now between the
Phillies and the Mets. And the Nationals had their 11ame losing streak. They did started winning to
get out of it, but they they’ve fallen all the way down to last place. the national f the nationals
uh front office is going to have some change ups. You know, Mike Rizzo is fired. Now, Mike
Darollo is going to be the interim GM and Nats also fired Dave Martinez, their their manager.
So, they made those moves. We’ll see how that pans out for him. I am sure Dom, the bench coach
for the Nationals, is taking over in the meantime. Say it again. Nothing has came out yet
confirming who would be the manager, but yeah, like the educated guess would be
that would be the bench coach, right? Yeah, this just happened yesterday with the firing.
So yeah, um you know, another lost season as they say. You know, this is what this is even
what New York Post is writing. Nationals fire GM Mike Rizzo, manager Dave Martinez with team
in midst of another lost season. They got talent the Nationals, right? James Wood is going to
be in the home run derby. Um, you know, he’s, you know, he’s an all-star. They have CJ Abrams,
Luis Garcia Jr., you know, they’re waiting, still waiting for Kebr Ruiz to trade with, uh,
with the Dodgers and Trey Turner. They, in return, they got Keert Ruiz. They’re waiting for him to
come around, but they have some good players. You know, Alex Cole has been a Met problem. He’s
been a Mets killer recently. He’s been an issue. He does not swing at balls. It’s remarkable.
great plate discipline. They got some talent. They got McKenzie Gore as their best pitcher right
now. Jake Irvin, besides that one game mid June against the Mets, he usually pitches against them
well. So, the Nationals are making some moves. So, that that was I wouldn’t say a surprising because
that that 11ame losing streak was bad, but it wasn’t surprising, but it’s an interesting one and
it’s going to be intriguing to see how they how they take the firing of the GM and the manager and
see how they play going forward. It’s such a shame that um now James Wood just feels like another
Juan Stoodto like another Wan Sodto thing after they won the World Series. They were they were
bad. They were bad for a while. And um he he he reminds us of Sodto, you know, going the opposite
way, opposite home run power. Um I don’t know who the hitting coach is down there, but great guy.
He’s really good at his job. Yeah, the Mets should hire him. The Mets should definitely hire him.
I mean, based on what we were saying last week, Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes need to go. I
still even know the Mets went 4 and2 last week. And these numbers are insane. 288 batting average,
23 home runs, 67 RBI’s, 12 stolen bases for James Wood. And this is this isn’t even the All-Star
break yet. Well, it’s about to be, but you know, he’s playing amazing. Abrams is good. Like you
said, they got to get their pitching back though, how it used to be. Obviously, it’s going to be
really hard to one day maybe ever to replace Steven Strawber, but you know, they need they need
some aces. They need some good Yep. and Sherzer, but um yeah, they need a lot of work to be done.
And you know, obviously for the Mets sake, they hope they’re bad for a while. If you’re, you know,
just like Mo fan, you know, you just hope that these guys can get it together. Yeah. Well, that’s
the news for the Nationals now with, you know, the home run derby coming up this upcoming Monday.
Right now, we only know about three participants at this very moment. Ronald Duna Jr., very fitting
with the All-Star with the All-Star week uh being in Atlanta. So, that’s great. I’m very glad
he’s he’s participating in that. Kyle Raleigh, the anti Yankee guy, you know, it’s it’s just
crazy, but he’ll be in. And like we just said, you know, James Wood, he’s going to be in the home
run derby as well. Pete Alonzo declined, so he is not going to be in. I’m fine with this. You know,
the man’s already won it twice. He’s been doing it for years now. Take a break, reset. Be ready for
after the All-Star break to come out, you know, playing well. They have a West Coast trip coming
up at the end of this month. So, that West Coast trip is going to be interesting. So, he’s going
to try to get ready for that. They they have the Reds at home and then they go out out west. And so
that’s the home run derby. We’ll see. There’s five more spots to be filled for the home run derby. I
mean, with this this is a great starting list. Um, if they if they could fill these now as five spots
with some some heavy hitters, I’ll actually watch. I haven’t really I’ll be truthful. I’ll be
transparent with with with the uh with the listeners and the watchers here. Um, I haven’t
really been intrigued to watch the home run derby these last few years, but this year I will watch
this. I’ll watch this one. These are some good names. So, Ronald Akuna is my favorite player in
the MLB who’s not like a Yankee. He’s such a great player. Obviously, MVP, he’s won the World Series.
He’s just a He’s just box office as like Stephen A. Smith would say, you know, just box office.
Yep. He’s he fills in seats. If I was in Atlanta, I’d definitely go see him play all the time. I
I love watching Akuna play with his his energy, obviously, his play uh in the field, batting. Um
I I like it. Um I don’t know. People like, oh, like I I hate his showboating or whatever, but
get over it. Just get over it. Who cares? Just Just get over it. It’s good for the sport. Um he’s
still he’s still young. Um I know that he’s had two significant injuries so far, but clearly he’s
not stopping him because he’s been going off ever since he’s got back. He comes back, dude. His
first at bat after injury hit a home. I mean, what are we talking about? Exactly. So want
to cry about it, cry about it, but he’s he’s a great player. Love watching him. Raleigh, I’m
a Mets fan. I I ain’t complaining. I think he’s great. Yeah, exactly. Raleigh. I mean, I don’t
think anyone expected this, right? No. Switch hitting switch hitting catcher. Was he like 33
home runs, something like that? Yeah. 33 home run. Like that’s that’s just ridiculous. That that’s
actually insane. And like we said, James Wood. Um, yeah, I’m I’m I’m happy for him. I’m happy
for him. I a lot of people expected this. expected a breakout year from him and but
obviously you’re on the nationals so is it possible you know like if you’re going to get help
or if anything but it’s coming through uh fruition for sure Kyle Raleigh 35 is dumb oh yeah that
was close I knew that but I remember what 2022 man couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn now he’s
looking great um so moving on now to the all-star lineups all-star game lineups So for right now
and the aforementioned Cal Raleigh, this is for the American League, the starters. Cal Raleigh,
a catcher, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base. Ready for this one? Ready for this one? Am I
right? I’m all right. I don’t know if you’re going to be all right after this. Glabber Torres,
second base starting for Detroit. Jose Ramirez at third for Cleveland. No surprise there. Man’s
hitting .297. Yeah, I knew that. Jacob Wilson, what a story this kid is. I mean, man, can he hit
Oh, yeah. He can hit for the athletics at short, rightfully so. Of course, Aaron Judge, we
all know. Riley Green, Detroit’s having a great year. I can’t believe this. Could
you imagine this? I mean, you want to talk about unexpected Kyle Raleigh, Jav Bayz. Yeah.
Right. Starting as an outfielder. I mean, Dom, I thought this man I thought if I I if 50 Cent was
on the mound throwing his his famous first pitch in the 20 2013 2014 year when he threw it all the
way in, I don’t know, the third row. I mean, seat 14. I mean, we thought if 50 Cent was pitching
to Jav Bayz, Bayz was going to swing. I mean, this man just resurrected his career essentially,
and now he’s an outfielding. He’s an he’s an all-star outfielder and for the for the Detroit
Tigers, and then of course you have Ryan O’Harn for Baltimore as DH. So, those are your starters.
Reserves, Alejandro Kirk for Toronto, Jonathan Aronda. I mean, I honestly thought at one point
he was going to be the starting first baseman. He gave the Mets fits here at City Field when they
played the Rays the middle of June on Father’s Day weekend. Alex Bregman for Boston. Here we go. Dom
don’t like this jazz schism as a reserve. So yeah, I I don’t mind. You don’t mind? You know, I think
that he doesn’t he doesn’t deserve to be it. He doesn’t deserve to be in it. I don’t think so.
Um, obviously I’m a Yankee fan, so obviously I’mma like it. But the beginning beginning of the year,
he was terrible. I mean, he’s he’s only been back he hasn’t been back for so long. He’s been on a
tear ever since he got back, but it really hasn’t been like a long tear. So, yeah. Like, what does
that mean? It’s just like lack of talent in the AL or something. Well, uh, let me finish the list and
then I’ll maybe answer that. Yeah. Brandon Low, Tampa Bay, he’s been hitting. Jeremy, doing
great. That’s fine. Bobby Wit, I mean, he’s automatic almost every year. Yeah, this name we’re
going to touch on again a little bit later in this in this podcast, in this episode. Byron Buckton,
Steven Quan for Cleveland, Brent Rooker as DH for the Athletics, and Julio Rodriguez for Seattle.
And Dom, you’re you’re not a fan of that one. I I’m not. at all. And I think that’s where the AL
strength comes in that it’s or I should shouldn’t say strength. I guess weak strength. I don’t know,
however you want to put it. It has to be. There’s no other way. Like what because of his name? Like
was he have like some like special like type of aura or something with this guy? I don’t know.
What has he done this year? Like honestly, you know what? This is like that’s just ridiculous.
Yeah. Man’s batting under 250 and he’s only got 11 homers. 247 11 home runs, 43 ribbies. Is it cuz
he has 15 stolen bases or something? Is that Is that what I’m missing here? Oh, I sure hope not.
I sure hope not. I don’t know, man. I don’t know. Anyway, starting pitchers, Hunter Brown for
Houston, Chris Bubich for for Kansas City, Garrick Crochet for Boston, Jacob Deg Grom for
Texas, Max Freed rightfully so, you for the Angels, TK Scubble for Detroit, Shane Smith for
the Chicago White Socks, and Seattle, Brian Woo, relief pitchers, Araldis Chapman, Boston. I mean,
could you imagine a Raldis Chapman? This guy’s still around. I mean he what a what a volatile
volatile uh however you say it volatile you know closing pitcher relief pitcher I mean crazy Josh
her for Houston and Andre Mu Muno Munos having a tough time pronouncing that from Seattle. So
that’s the full roster list for the American League. All of this got finalized yesterday. So
that’s the American League, the National League starters. Will Smith, that catcher, that’s fine.
Of course, Freddy Freeman at first. Mets fans were hoping Pete Alonzo. He did make the reserves
list. He He did make the reserves list though. Kel Marte for Arizona. Tell, happy for him. You
heard about that ridiculous fan problem. I mean, the nerves. I mean, that was that was disgusting.
So happy for him, man. Good guy. Glad he made it as a starter. Manny Machado at third. No shocker
there. Good old Frankie Lindor finally making his first All-Star appearance either starter or
reserve since he’s been with New York. But it’s his first half numbers. They’ve been consistently
bad up until this year. So finally realized, oh, maybe I should start off hot and then I’ll
get in the All-Star game. Ronald Akuna Jr. Like we just said, me and Dom, man hasn’t missed
a beat. Pete Carl Armstrong for Chicago in the outfield. So outfield is Akuna Armstrong and
Kyle Tucker also for Chicago. And of course, no surprise, DH Show Otani from the Dodgers. Yep.
So that just like the comparisons of those lists, I know NL is just But for a change, the National
League should consistently win. I remember when we were younger, the American League was
always winning. Always winning. Always. Now the reserves. Hunter Goodman for Colorado as
a closer, I’m sorry, as a catcher. A Pete Alonzo, as I just said before, for the Mets. Ellie de la
Cruz for Cincinnati. Brendan Donovan rightfully deserves to be there for St. Louis. Mhm. Which I
thought at one point he was going to be starting in the infield, but he’s obviously slowed down a
bit. Other infielders have really picked it up. Uh Matt Olsen for Atlanta, au Suarez for
Arizona. That four homer game against the Braves. I remember that was insane. I couldn’t
believe it. I was watching MLB at bat. I was like, “Does that say runs?” And there was like no
one on base. I was like, there were people on base and off base. And every time he was at
bat, I saw in play runs. I’m like, “This can’t be another homer.” I was like, “This is insane.”
Corbin Carroll for Arizona. Kyle Sters for Miami. Welld deserved. That man’s been raking right
now. And Miami has been figuring out. I mean, they are on a roll right now. Actually, I have to
see. Did they end up winning that game yesterday, Dom? The Marlins? No, they lost 3-1. Okay. They
still been winning recently. Fernando Tatis Jr. for the Padres’s. James Wood, as we said before,
for Washington, and DH Kyle Schwarber for Philly. Those are the reserves. My god, NL is going to
have a field day. It’s crazy. Starting pitchers, Matt Boyd for Chicago, Mackenzie Gore for
Washington, Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers, and this is actually a legend pick. Mhm. Freddy
Peralta for Milwaukee, Robbie Ray for San Francisco, Chris Sale for Atlanta, Paul Skins for
Pittsburgh. No shocker there. Logan, and neither is or Sale, but he did get hurt. Logan Webb
for San Francisco. Zack Wheeler for Philly. Yo, Yoshino Yamamoto for the Dodgers. Those are the
starting pitchers. And lastly, relief Jason. What do you say? Be a bad All-Star game. NL’s going to
destroy them. It’s not even close. There’s no way. Jason Adam for San Diego. Mets. Edwin Diaz and
Randy Rodriguez for San Francisco. You know, I’m a little surprised about what? No, I forget his
name from time to time. The closer for the Twins. I can’t even tell you who that is. Oh, he’s
he’s filthy. Uh Joe and Duran. Johan Durant. Oh, yeah. But just uh yeah, he just didn’t get in. I I
got to look at his stats. I mean, when he was when the Mets were playing the Twins earlier in the
year, I mean, he was just you couldn’t hit this guy. I mean, I thought the Mets had no chance.
He does get a little erratic with his pitching, but this year, dude, 5 and3, a 1.56 RA in 41
games, and he’s got 45 strikeouts, a 1.12 whip. A little surprising. I thought maybe he was going
to get in, but that’s the roster. Is there any names from the NL that you think shouldn’t have
been there? And and what are your all-star snubs? No, like they’re all they all deserve it.
They all do. The AL on the other hand, yeah, that that’s just whole completely different story.
The NL is just way better than the AL. Clearly, if Julio Rodriguez is in this game,
there’s a talent problem. Clearly, I just read you I read you guys the numbers.
Doesn’t make sense. That does not make sense to me at all. I just can’t believe that like
what you’re talking about with the AL used to be stacked and NL used to be terrible and
now it’s a complete other way around. Um, I don’t know what happened. I really don’t
know what happened. But Julio Rodriguez does not deserve to be there. There’s definitely
should be other people that should be there. I don’t know who, but I’m sure there’s a lot
of players who have better numbers than him. Like that that’s pathetic. I’m sorry. I agree. Uh,
I’m a little surprised. I mean, not to be a uh, you know, not to be biased because I’m a Mets
fan, but Juan Sto not making it is a little surprising. Uh, with the numbers he has right now,
batting over 260, you know, 21 homers, you know, over 50 RBI’s. I mean, if Julio Rodriguez
is making it with only 43 RBI’s, 11 homers, batting .247, I mean, yeah, that does tell you
right there the NL is much stronger than the AL. So, that was a little surprising. I’m sure there
are other All-Star snubs, but it’s interesting. But those are the Allstars. That All-Star game is,
of course, next Tuesday in Atlanta. And now we’re going to talk a little bit about trade deadline
acquisitions. So, I mean, who do you see if you had to give one or two names, cuz of course,
trade deadline, you can’t make a ton of moves, but if there are one or two names that you think
the Yankees or maybe at least positions the Yankee should go after, who would you who or what would
you say? Oh, you said his name before. Eugenio Suarez. Yep. Yuenio Suarez. Yuenio Suarez. Sorry.
Go get him. We need a third baseman. We need We need a third baseman bad. Not because Jazz is like
terrible, but we need we need a second baseman and so Jazz can play in second base and obviously with
Vulpy lead like I think he’s leading the league in errors right now. So we need help like extra help
on both sides for Vulpi. Go get Suarez. Go get him. Trade whoever the hell you have to trade.
Um, at this rate, like one of these prospects is supposed to come up like with Spencer Jones and
like George Lombardi Jr. One, like we’re hearing a million great things about him. When are they
coming? At this rate, if you’re trying to win now, you got to trade somebody. I’m not saying trade
them, but whoever you got to trade, do it. Do whatever you got to do to get that guy. If you
want a shot to go to the World Series again, go get Suarez. Interesting. especially with the
year that he’s been having. Yep. Go do it. No, I mean, listen, I I think that’s a great name
to put out there for the Yankees to get. I mean, Suarez does have strikeout issues. Uh he does
swing and miss a fair amount, but when he connects, that thing’s gone. But he’s having a
good season. He’s hitting over 250. He’s got 73 RBI’s. I forget the amount of home runs he has.
That’s something I need to look at. He’s got 28. And so, you know, he’s been he’s been raking it
and that that is definitely a name that, you know, needs to be said for the Yankees to get. I I agree
with that. In terms of the Mets, uh I think they need a center fielder, a starting pitcher, and a
bullpen piece. Do I expect them to get all three of those at a trade deadline? Absolutely not.
Uh the name that I had just said who just made the All-Star team as a reserve, I believe as
a reserve. I don’t think it was a starter. Uh, is Byron Buckton? The Mets should it’s either we
said the first episode scary. Wow. Yeah. The first episode I said Cedric Mullins, but couple of my
friends were talking about uh Byron Buckton last Wednesday when I was at the Met game Wednesday
night. Um, he he is definitely somebody who could seriously help the New York Mets with the center
field position. Tyrone Taylor, I I can’t watch this guy be an everyday center fielder anymore.
I I just can’t. He’s a good fourth outfielder, but he if you put a good pitcher on the mound like
like Max Freed yesterday, he’s not hitting him. You could throw Tyron Taylor high fast at at
his eyes. He’s going to swing at it nine times, maybe even 10 times out of 10, but um yeah, Byron
Buckton reserve outfielder for the All-Star game. But Byron Buckton is not to get and I think that’s
at least one guy you can get. I would like for them to get him or at least one of the other two
positions, relief pitcher or starting pitcher because the Mets right now, I know Shawn Mania
should be pitching this upcoming Sunday and maybe they also get Kodi Sanga back at that at that time
as well. I know Winker is going to be activated from the IIL on uh tomorrow as a DH. So, that’s
big for them. They need another bat in the lineup, but I still think they need to go get uh Byron
Buckton. Even with his injury history, you don’t care. Nope. No, you don’t care. Nope. No. Cedric
Mullins’s batting average. You even said he’s hot and cold. He’s a streaky hitter. He’s hitting now,
I believe, 217. Um, I’d rather take Byron Buckton, you know, who has much better numbers, especially
batting average wise. I mean, right now, this man is hitting .270, and he’s got 20 homers, 53 RBI’s,
and 76 hits. I would take Byron Buckton. Now, are the Twins going to trade him? I’d be a little
surprised if they did. I think they had rumored recently that they’re not looking to trade him,
but if the Mets give a good uh trade package, we’ll see. We’ll see. I I I just have to say I
didn’t I mentioned like a hitter. Clearly, we need a whole brand new bullpen. I just have to confirm
that. It could be anybody at this point. It could be it could be your mother’s cat. It could be
me. Yes. I’ll go there. I’ll go there. Yeah. It doesn’t get the arm loose. I’ll loosen it up, you
know. See if I can maybe throw a sinking cut, you know. See if I can throw a curve ball, a splitter,
you know. Give me till after the Allstar break. That’s it. I’ve thrown a nasty I’ve thrown nasty
splitters in whiffle ball, but I’ve thrown some nasty splitters. Yeah, we’ll see. You know, they
can acquire me for the right price. We’ll see. I used to throw a crazy ball back in my day. Dom,
we’ll tell both organizations. Take a seat. Let’s talk. Yeah, let’s talk. Let’s talk. Yo, Aaron, I
got a bone to pick with you, bro. Oh, absolutely. So, that’s the deadline. We’ll be talking about
it more as as it we get closer to July 31st. Now to wrap up the MLB Mets and Yankees weekly
predictions for these upcoming games. The Mets at Royals uh first at Orioles uh Tuesday to Thursday
and then this upcoming weekend at the Royals and then the Yankees both series at home before the
All-Star break starts on Monday. Yankees Tuesday to Thursday versus the Mariners and then this
upcoming weekend Friday to Sunday versus the Cubs. Uh Dom, you can go first with the Yankees on
what you uh what you expect their record to be this week. Um I read a stat before we came on
here. They threw three straight shutout games. The Mariners. Three straight. You’re screwed. The
first time in franchise history they did this. And of course Yeah. Yeah. We’re screwed. Like I
I don’t have any expectations. I don’t expect to win. I really don’t expect to win anymore. At this
rate, I don’t I don’t expect to win. Um if we win, great. It’s cool. That’s so cool. I I have no I
have none. The Mariners are great pitching staff. Great pitching staff. Obviously with Raleigh back
there hitting home run every day. I can’t see us winning any of those games. None of them. the
Cubs. And the Cub And the Cubs are are crazy, too, by the way. And the Cubs. And then after that, we
got to play the Braves. And then after the Braves, we got to play a team that swept us, the Blue
Jays again. So you think And so So you think the Yankees are going to go 0 and six? 0 and six.
I don’t think so. Max Freed’s pitching one. I think one maybe two. Win one game. Nope. One game.
one, the Cubs are people can call me emotional or whatever. I I don’t care. This is this is what
I’m seeing. Especially what just happened with with the Blue Jays and and the Mets. This is
this is what I see. And then we got to play the Phillies after that after the Blue Jays. And the
Phillies Philly is still a good team clearly. But then obviously after that, after the Phillies, the
last game for the Phillies is July 27th. I know I’m going way past the week, but I I’m just I just
can’t really see any wins here. And then the Rays. All right, we can win against the Rays. July 28th.
July 28th to the 31st. You may never win again. [Laughter] I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Relax. I’m joking. You
can take a breath. Yeah, I know. He’s joking. Okay, everyone is joking. You guys Yeah, you
guys. Wow. So, you got the Mariners, the Cubs, the Braves, the Blue Jays, the Phillies. That’s
a gauntlet. Yeah. I mean, the Braves though, the Braves have been lifeless, you know,
recently. really since honestly, you know, they they haven’t had I mean, if you look at the
standings and then you go to the Braves, their last 10 games, they’re two and eight. I mean, they
the Braves have it. I mean, you could I think you can beat them. Listen, let’s just go week by
week, Dom. I know. I know you’re I know. So, I get amped up. I know. All right. Whatever. Your
final record for the week for the Yankees is what? 0 and six. That’s No, I’m sorry. One to five. One
to five. Sorry. You’re nuts. Relax. One to five. You grabbed water before you started the show.
Yeah. You need to drink it. Yeah. I’m almost done, by the way. You need that whole gallon. Going
nuts. Stressing. I at least get That’s one win last week. I got four. I was shocked. I couldn’t
one and five. You’re right. Max Freed’s pitching. Yeah. Win. I mean, maybe Rodon figures it out in
one of the outings, too. Maybe you get two wins, you know? Who knows? I think it won’t be his
fault. I’ll know it won’t be his fault, though. Okay. All right. Like you said, we have the worst
bullpen. Ah, that’s a problem. We don’t have a great bullpen right now either, beside maybe
Edwin Diaz and, you know, Ryan Stannix looked a little better, even though I really couldn’t
stand Ryan Stannic for the first, I would say, two two and a half months of the season. you know,
BH’s on the IIO with an illness. Garrett did, you know, have a great sixout save on Fourth
of July. Yeah. But for me, the Mets, Orioles, and Royals, the Orioles, I mean, you know, the
the Royals have some good pitchers. You know, this one this one’s a bit of a tossup for me. The
Orioles have played a little better recently. The Royals are, you know, they’re both under 500
teams. um five and five their last 10 games are the Royals. For Baltimore, they’re six and four
their last 10. They’ve won three straight. It’s, you know, I mean, but the thing is the Mets, they
they had to put an opener out there for Sunday. They’re going to have to do another opener uh
against the Orioles this week. I mean, right now, if you look at the pitching matchups tomorrow,
it’s Klay Holmes against Young. Young hasn’t had a good season. Then you look at Wednesday, it’s
David Peterson against Sagano. That’s a possible win. Thursday, this is where the Mets have to do
an opener there. Right now, it’s undecided against Charlie Morton. Mets have hit Morton. They hit him
last year, last summer. I might say they’re going to sweep. It’s a little tough because they have
an opener on Thursday. And then of course Friday with the Royals, right? They have Monttos against
Waka. Waka has a good RA this year. It’s under four. Mhm. Um then Saturday against the Royals,
another undecided with Laorenzan pitching and I think Sunday they want to have Maniah. I will say
the Mets will go three and three just because they have a couple of openers. I’m going to say the
Mets go 500 and they go three and three. I don’t think I mean maybe they lose the series against
uh if they had to lose which series. I would say it’s the Orioles because they’ve been playing a
little better. It’s just the Royals. The Royals don’t have a lot of offense. No. Aside from Bobby
Wit. I mean, who do they really have that scares you in that lineup? Nobody. So, I would say the
Mets go three and three. I’m going to say 500. But yours is more fair. Unlike my prediction, yours
is way more fair than mine. Yeah, of course. And it’s it’s it’s solid. It’s it’s it’s right in the
middle. It’s very neutral with going 500. Anyway, that’s baseball. There was a lot to talk about
there. the NBA now transitioning to the NBA. Mike Brown’s contract details were revealed.
It’s four years 40 million. And honestly, this is not a very shocking contract. I mean, they
gave Tibs, you know, 5 years 40 million. You know, that was only 8 million per year. So, Mike Brown
is getting a pay increase uh from what he was getting paid with the Kings on that extension.
That was about 8 and a half annual salary. So, he’s getting a little more with the with the
Knicks. Of course, Mike Brown, as we touched on in the emergency pod last Wednesday, he was
given a three-year contract extension last summer with the Kings. It was going to bring him through
the 2026 27 season. Obviously, that didn’t last. He didn’t even last uh through the whole year of
2024. They fired him before New Year’s Eve, before the 2024 year ended, the calendar year. And so now
we have uh you know Mike Brown as the Knicks head coach on four years 40 million. Uh Tom Tibido you
know they gave him a uh a contract extension also last summer for another three years that was 30
million. You know his his original 5-year contract was up after this season. It was going to kick
in this upcoming year. The Knicks said no thanks. Thanks for your time. You know you lost to the
Pacers. Kick rocks. and and they went to go get a new coach. And so he’ll have to still get paid.
He’ll be still getting paid 30 million cuz that’s guaranteed. So that’s nice. You know, if he wants
to sit on the couch, collect 30 from the Knicks, 30 million that is, or go get a new job, which
he already told Taj Gibson, as we discussed last Wednesday, he told Taj Gibson, “I want to
get, you know, I got to find another another job in in basketball.” So that is basically all of
that. Dom, your take on the four years 40 million contract for Mike Brown after after thinking about
you know everything everything like marinate a bit that you know all right we got a new coach we
have an identity we know who it is um now we have a bench we have like Jordan Clarkson you know like
that’s like the big signing for a vet minimum by the way yes you know we have Josh Hartmore like on
the bench Like hopefully we’ll have Mitch starting at center. You know, we’ll have Brunson. You don’t
think so? Don’t think so. I think he should start though. I think he’s Josh Hart, you know, like
it’s not like he’s going to, you know, play like way less minutes. Like he’s still going to play.
He’s still going to play a decent amount, but now that like everything marinated in, just use
the damn rotation. If if Tibs didn’t pra didn’t make this team practice and they basically did
nothing and they went to the ECF, just play the damn rotation. That’s a good point. At this rate,
bro, I don’t even care who was a coach. Just use the damn rotation. If Tibs did nothing and they
went that far, imagine like a a coach who actually makes them practice. And obviously they both care,
but it seems like Mike Brown cares a little bit more than Tips did. Just use the damn rotation and
we’ll go far. And obviously we got to hope things go right, you know, with, you know, injuries and
all this stuff. Obviously, we don’t want none of that, but that’s it. Yeah. You know, I’m I’m glad
that we did get a good coach, though, like with a lot of experience that we’ve we talked about in
the emergency pod, you know, working with all these great uh other coaches and players and, you
know, four-time champ as an assistant coach. I’m I’m glad that we do have them because obviously
our options were running a little low or like the people that we really wanted, right? But I’m glad
that we got him. Yeah. No, I agree. Uh Tibido put some good years here. put some good years in
and he definitely, you know, re reccalibrated the organization. As I had said last week, he
he did what he could. He, you know, he really took took the team by his bare hands and and
tried to really bring them back into relevancy, which he did do. I’m not going to lie. It’s the
absolute truth. He did do that. But, you know, he had some flaws, right? Like Dom just said,
you know, using the rotation. So, I think with Mike Brown here, he’s going to do that. The big
thing that the Knicks wanted to harp on was player development. Mike Brown does that as well. So, I
think Dom will answer your your need of I think I think that will be answered. I think that will
be done. I think he will utilize the rotation. So, Mike Brown, I you know, I think he’s going to be
a great coach, but listen, these expectations are high this year. Let’s not let’s not sugarcoat
things. These are this upcoming season. They should be though. They should be. I
agree. And and finals are bust. You know, is this Mike Brown or bust? Yeah. Yeah, it is. You
know, you went to the Eastern Conference Finals where we thought, yes, Pacers are a talented team.
They were only, you know, they were only behind us in the seating by one game, but we thought we
were going to go to the finals. Yeah. I’m sorry. You could say, “Well, you’re a Knicks fan, that’s
why.” No, you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s there. It’s right there. As Aaron Boon would say, it’s
right in front of us. Uh, so, you know, it’s just it’s the truth. Um, we thought they were going
to go, but this year, man, this is it. You got to utilize what you have. You acquired some good
bench pieces. You still have room thanks to Jordan Clarkson taking his vet minimum of one year,
a little over 3.65 million and Gershan Yabusle doing the Nicks a solid yesterday by taking a
little less than the MLE uh which that acronym stands for mid-level exception. He took a little
less than the taxpayer mid-level exception. The first year is 5.5 million. Second year is 5.775
million. So, uh, Dom, I believe you said with Jordan Clarkson’s contract and Gershon Yabule’s
first year, that’s a combined I think you said 9.5 million. 9.5 million. 5.5 + 3.6. Yes, I have to
use a calculator. I’m not the best at math. Yeah, it’s 9.1 9.2 million. So, that is a great deal now
because of that. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, clearly we’re not massive. not good here. No, we’re not
good at math. I’ll tell you that much. Math, you know, it is what it is. We can’t be great at
everything. Uh, so yeah, whatever. Uh, the Knicks now can pick up somebody on a vet minimum contract
and they can sign their second round pick, Mohamad Diawara, if they choose. So, you know,
with with those two bench acquisitions and those two players doing the Knicks a solid with Clarkson
getting the vet minimum on a one-year deal after his buyout with Utah and Gershon Yabusle getting
acquired after just being on the Sixers, you know, who do you think the Knicks could pick up
with this last vet veteran minimum contract? I think we need another I think we need another
three. We We need another three. Um when it comes to OG ask you hold on now. Let me ask you three
meaning a three-point shooter or another small forward. Okay. I think we need another small
forward because as much as obviously New York loves OG, you know, he’s a he’s a great player,
he’s a great defender, I think he has too many inconsistent nights. There there’ll be some days
where he’ll score he’ll score like 20 something then like another day he’ll drop like eight
points. He’ll drop he’ll drop 40 against the Nuggets and he’ll drop like 10 points against like
the next game. He has to pick it up, especially with all the money that he’s that he has now.
Um, he’s it’s just plain and simple. We need more scoring. We need more scoring. Our defense, I
think, will be fine now. Now that we’ll have Mitch back. Um, obviously, you know what happened in the
playoffs against the Pacers as soon as we switched up, our defense was way better. Um, obviously with
Brunson needs to work on his defense for sure and same with Cat. But I think with Mitch it just
helps everything. So I don’t think we need like another center cuz we do have Hucky. He could
play four or five. So he’ll he’ll help us out with that. So I just think we need another three.
Okay. Um I do think we need another guard. Another guard. That’s how I see it. I think you need
another if you can a 3 and D guy. We need some We need I mean, you know, a a backup point guard.
You know, you brought in Jordan Clarkson. He can do some, you know, we talked about Mike Brown and
player development. I would love for Tyler Kohlick to get some development. You know, we we were just
saying before the show started that, you know, the summer league is starting on the 10th, you know,
in Vegas, right? Huck is going to be there. I’m sure Tyler Kick is going to be there. So, you will
I will Yeah, I will try to watch those guys play in the summer league this upcoming uh Thursday,
but I think we need another guard. You know, it’s interesting. Um, you know, um, I’m going to read
to you, Dom, I took a screenshot or wrote it down, took a screenshot of some guys that are a good
possibility of who you can take for this last vet minimum contract. So, you tell me yes or no
if you would do it for a vet min for a la for a vet minimum contract to get that essentially that
last spot. Chris Paul. Yes. Okay. Me personally, no. Russell Westbrook. I don’t like him. No, I
don’t. Oh, man. I can’t wait. Can’t wait for the boys to see this. I don’t like him. They know
it. I ain’t hiding from nobody. Oh, I know you call him Westbrook. Eastbrick. All right. Al
Horford. Yeah, same though. We already have some bigs. That’s the thing with getting Gershan
Yabule. He’s Now you have like And with Hucki, that’s four bigs. So I I don’t I don’t know that
that’s not You don’t want to waste this last spot, this last contract. Well, actually, I think
that’s a good thing, though, to have more. You need size, especially now, nowadays
in this NBA, you need size. That’s true. That’s true. I’m not going to disagree with
you on that. It’s a good point. Uh, this is intriguing. Gary Payton Jr. I mean, Gary Payton
II. Wow. I didn’t even think about him. Yeah, he is. I would. I would. Okay. I’m not opposed.
This name has been thrown out for a few years now as an offseason acquisition, trade deadline
acquisition in February. Malcolm Brogden. No. Okay. I I personally am yes and no. I
would I wouldn’t I would be fine if they did or they didn’t. The problem is his injury
history. Exactly. Um Say again. Exactly. That’s why I wouldn’t get him. Yeah.
Yeah. That’s what some people say. Um, and we you’d have to see what he has left
because right now, you know, I believe Malcolm Brogden is in his mid-30s if I had to
guess. Um, I just want to take a check. Yeah, he’s 30. He’s 32. So, mid-season, you know,
middle of December, he’ll be 33, but it’s his injury history really. I thought he was a
touch older, but anyway. Uh, DeAnthony Melton. No, I wouldn’t either. You know, he’s he also just
got season ending ACL injury. Surgery, I meant, but ACL injury. Well, yeah, this is going to have
to wait for I don’t know how long. Malik Beasley, if if things work out for him. If things work
out, I’d do it. But I think he’s going to stay with the Pistons. Yeah, he would. I think he
would. There’s another name. If it’s possible, I would. Yeah. There’s another name that I
even wrote down. Chris Bucher from Toronto. It’s interesting. He’s got He’s got size. He’s got height.
He does have size and he can shoot the three. It’s not the highest. It’s on maybe
I think I don’t know 36 37% behind the arc. I got to look up his stats. Yeah. So he
I got it right here. So 50 games played, 17 minutes, 10 points, four and a half
rebounds, and just under one assist. And his Why not? His field goal shooting was 49.2. You know what? Why not? I’d do it. Yeah,
three-point shooting. Yeah, he was. I was right. He’s 36.3. Okay. Now, with that being said,
Okay. You said Chris Paul. Yes. Right. He talked about how this is going to be his last year. Yeah.
And he’s looking to retire after this season. So the thing is, would it be like a, you know,
a goodbye, a farewell tour? You know, are the Knicks really going to waste the last ven veteran
minimum contract on that? I don’t know. I wouldn’t personally, but who knows? Um, now the name I want
to spit out and this would be interesting because a buyout as reported from different sources, a
buyout is coming. Uh, Bradley Beal. Bradley Beal would be I mean that would be fire on him and
see what he can do as a bench piece. Now again, he would probably pass maybe pass some guys on the
Knicks roster, but that would be that is that is be something else. That’d be something else be on
the bench, but also at the same time, he also has injury history. I know. I know. But Chris Paul
like we need we need like another leader on the team. Like obviously like PJ Tucker was there last
year. Obviously he didn’t play but you know like every time they’d win they’d shout out PJ Tucker
like oh shout out to PJ for telling us this and what we needed to do and like it helped us and
helped us motivate the team. CP it he could do that. He could definitely do that. Also he could
still play, right? He could still run the floor, right? And also I didn’t really say like who do
you think we needed when I said I said we needed a three. Kick can run the floor. Like the times
that he’s played. Yeah. He’s a He can run a floor and he’s a great passer. Yeah. So, I just had
like a lot of faith in Kohler. So do I. I mean, we said it on Wednesday, you know. We said it on
Wednesday, we said it last week. We we’ve said it multiple times, not even just on the podcast. But
yeah, Tyler Kick needs to get developed. I think he’s going to be He needs to play. Yeah, he’ll be
he’ll be a really great player for sure. I think he will be. It’s going to be interesting who they
use that last veteran minimum contract on. You know, I’m even reading it’s it’s it’s pretty close
to definite. Uh they’re saying that, you know, New York Times even saying Bradley Beal buyout with
Suns is looming. Other people are even saying, you know, he’s he’s you know, actively exploring
his options. It’s it’s just Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see who they use that last contract with for
They’re saying Clippers possibly. Mhm. Okay. Clippers. That would be Yeah. nuts. Yeah, it would
be. Now, that leads us really to just wrap up the NBA with, you know, just some trade moves. That
crazy seven team trade for KD to the Rockets that went all that information, the first time ever,
the multi-team trade in NBA history. I mean, seven teams. That is just crazy. I just want
everyone to know the only reason why we’re doing this because he wants everyone to hear me
botch the n the names of these players that are in this. That is Don’t That’s That’s why that That’s
why that’s ridiculous. That That is preposterous. I’m not going to allow that. Ready? Go ahead.
All right. Obviously, Summer Easy and obviously I’m not the greatest. Clearly, but whatever. Let’s
go. Phoenix. They get Jaylen Green, Dylan Brooks, Kaman Maluok, Rashir Fleming, Kobe Brea, Dacoin
Plouden, and a second round pick. Houston gets Kevin Durant and Clint Capella. Brooklyn gets two
second round picks. Golden State gets Alex Tui and Jamai Mashak. Atlanta gets a second round swap.
David Rody and Cash. The Lakers get Adu Fiero and Minnesota gets Roco Zakarsski, two second round
picks, and cash. Was that Was it that hard? That wasn’t that bad. I thought that I mean, you over
exaggerate sometimes, man. Come on. That was That was That wasn’t bad. That was pretty good, man.
Come on. That was That was all right. Give me a little golf clap. That’s That’s nice. There
you go. Very good. See, it wasn’t too bad. But that was nuts. Seven team trade. First time ever.
Largest multi-team trade in NBA history. Usually we see three, max four, but even then four we
usually don’t see often, but three team trades we did and and we saw the Norman Pal one to the Heat.
I mean, that that’s something else. Um, you know, as as from what we saw, uh, the Clippers Jazz
and Heat. This is on Sham Serania’s account on on Twitter. The Clippers Jazz and Heat have agreed
to a trade that sends Norman Pal to Miami, John Collins to the Clippers, Los Angeles, and Kevin
Love, Kyle Anderson, and a 2027 Clippers second round pick to the Jazz. I mean, what the hell
is going on this year with these trades? I don’t know. These trades are just god awful. All why
would you I mean Norman Pal he was an allstar snub and he averaged how many points did he average
Dom? 22 21 22 points. I even thought it was 23. I I it’s just I’m like I’m just trying to
think logic. You were right. It’s 21.8. I mean, you know, the guy was a savior essentially for
their season multiple times. Crazy trade. I mean, but great for the Heat though. Great. Great for
the Heat. That could be a problem. They could be a problem now with Tyler. Bam. Powell. I also like
what’s his name? The second year guy. He’s gonna be second year. Uh where Oh, Khalil Wear. I wanted
to get him, dude. Me, too. I want him. He’s nice. He’s great. I think he’s a He’s gonna be a great
player. I think they’re gonna They’re gonna be a problem. I think they really are. If Tyler Tyler
Harrell plays the same way that he he played last year, then I don’t see why not. Norman Powell,
too. I mean, I don’t know how their defense is going to be, but offensively, they’re going to be
scary. They will be scary. And with the Clippers, I mean, what what did James Harden want someone
to lob the ball up to? Like is that what like what John Collins he did he did play good last year.
I think he averaged about 18 points last year. One of his better years but there’s no point.
There was no point in this trade. I don’t get it. And the Jazz are just hopeless. Obviously
I don’t got to say anything about the Jazz. They’re just a hopeless organization. They should
just get out of there. It’s just go to Seattle or something. Yeah. I mean how about Nashville? How
about Nashville gets a basketball team? That’d be cool. That would be crazy. That’d be great. That’d
be cool. They got the Predators over there. They got the hockey team. But yeah, I mean, yeah,
it would be it would be something else. I mean, my friend Pat from college was like, “Oh, you
got to talk more about the Heat.” I mean, yeah, the the Heat, you know, they don’t have Duncan
Robinson anymore. He’s going to the Pistons $45 million deal, you know. I mean, could Dame
Lillard go to the Heat? Well, he wanted to. that wish didn’t come true. But I I think the Heat
still have some potential. They do. But, you know, it’s just uh it’s it’s something else. I mean,
and now the Pistons are better. Also, Caris Levert now is on a two-year $29 million deal with the
Pistons. You get him and you get Duncan Robinson. Obviously, you have Cade. Mhm. They’re they’re
going to start to get some. And don’t forget about Assar Thompson. Mhm. Everyone keeps talking about
Amen Thompson, right? But he’s a great defender. This is the other one. He is. He’s really good.
Yeah. No, there’s definitely talent. You know, the East, you were even saying the East is not as
easy as people think it is. Maybe like the first half of the year, obviously, until everyone
gets back from injuries. But once playoff, like near playoff time comes, it’s going to
be hard. Yeah. You still got Indiana. I mean, what? You still got all these You still got
Seakkum. I mean, you still got Seakum who could play and like uh Nemhard and uh Nay Smith
like they look what they did in the playoffs, right? I know you don’t have Turner anymore or
you don’t have Hallebertton, but they could still make noise. Yeah, they can. They can still make
noise. Yeah. And Boston’s made some solid trades for what they gave up. Anthony Simons, I think,
is going to be a good player. Yeah, he’s a he’s a great player. Yeah. Yeah. He just slept on
cuz he’s in Portland, right? The only reason why if he was on any other team, he’d be he’d be
a more bonafideed name for sure. Yep. Absolutely. And then the Yonas Valentunis trade. Finally,
get some rest, huh? For once, it’s not huffing and puffing down the court anymore. I don’t
know, man. I mean, a one centimeter vertical. listen, you know, he’s he’s really going to
be, you know, he’s really going to be pivotal to give some some backup minutes to Nicoli,
you know, to to Joic. It’s just, you know, that that is a good trade by Denver and uh and
giving up Sarich. I mean, Sarich didn’t exactly have the best year. Um, he doesn’t, you know,
didn’t really play much. He just averaged what, three and a half points, you know, um, you
know, only played really 16 games this past year. You know, 13 minutes, three and a half
points. I mean, what are you really getting out of him? Nothing. It’s just uh, it’s, you know,
it’s a great trade for Denver, but Sacramento, they’re not really getting much in return. And
then of course, you know, again, like relating, you know, going back to the trade we talked about
with Norman Pal. I mean, Danny A, yeah, he’s I don’t know. He took on something for the trade,
but I don’t know where Utah’s going to be. I mean, Utah hasn’t really been anything crazy, frankly,
since the Donovan Mitchell days. And uh yeah, I’m not really expecting much out of them this year.
The only way they can do good is if they just they got a draft. Yeah. There’s no free agents that are
going to want to go there. No. No, it’s not it’s not an attractive place. It’s a small market team.
Salt Lake City, I’m sure, is beautiful. Utah’s a nice place, but I don’t see who would want to go
there. There’s so many better options. That’s the problem. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Go to Seattle or
Seattle or Nashville or somewhere else. I know. I know. That’d be that’d be a main attraction.
I’m waiting for the SuperSonics to come back, man. Oh, man. I wish. That’d be crazy. That’d be
crazy if that happens. That’d be cool. But that’s uh that’s the NBA. But now we’re going to finish
it off with really the NFL. The NFL not not too active right now, but training camps in two weeks.
And you know, there there are a couple of names really with the Jets that I’m looking forward to
seeing. Um and and I’m sure the Giants, you know, I’m sure that there are a couple of names there
as well that are going to be intriguing to watch, you know, play or or move around in training camp.
Dom, do you have a name or two that you’re that you’re you’re keeping an eye out for? Obviously,
um Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart. Cuz um honestly, people were were losing their minds that he wasn’t
doing good in like the first like two days of OTAAS and then and then the offseason camp starts
and then he’s doing good and everyone’s like, “Oh my god, I’m so shocked.” Like I don’t really
take all this like all this training camp stuff to heart because I know it’s just training camp,
but it’s just nice to see like these guys develop. Um obviously I want to see Jaylen Hyatt. I mean
apparently he has a a great connection building with Russell Wilson. Um and we need it. We need
someone that can run these deep routes, these go routes to spread the spread the field. Um you know
obviously Abdul Carter, he’s going to be a monster on this defense. we finally have an identity
on this team. You know, you got Brian Burns, you got Kavon. I mean, we picked up his fifth
year option. Thank goodness. I thought I was a little nervous. I thought they weren’t going to,
but I’m glad they did. Um just like in 20 uh 2011 and like 2007, it never hurts to have uh pass
rushers, you know, like when they had Strahan, they had JP, and they had OC, you know. Now we
have Burns, Tibido, and Carter. So, and obviously can’t forget about Dexter Lawrence who’s actually
one of the probably one of the best defenders in the NFL. Yeah. No, that’s the there are some, you
know, training camp, as much as you say, you know, you don’t really take it to heart. It’s always
it’s kind of like when you get to spring training with baseball, you know, it’s it’s you feel it,
right? It’s the start of a new season. You know, you’re optimistic. You know, even though we both
don’t expect Jets and Giants to make the playoffs, you are very much like I’m looking forward to the
season to start. You know, for me, the two names, it’s easy to say Justin Fields and pick the
quarterback. I mean, for you, Jackson Dart just got drafted, so I think that’s a good choice.
Justin Fields has been in the league for a while now. Yeah. A lot of people are obviously going to
be intrigued to see him, you know, play, you know, some in some of the scrimmages and in camp and
in preseason. But for camp, the two names that I’m really looking at to see is their top 10
pick, their seventh round, not seventh round, excuse me, seventh overall pick in Armanu. I want
to see how this kid moves and how he does at the right tackle position. You have Olu Fashionu
at the left side. Can you seal up the two end spots so that Justin Fields has time to throw in
the pocket and he’s a running quarterback. He’s mobile. So a mobile quarterback, they’re going to
want lanes opened up, right? They obviously have, you know, John Simpson at the left guard spot.
Then you have then you have, you know, the center Joe Titman and then you also have uh at at right
guard um damn I forget his name that’s blocking me now. But Arman Meu is going to be is going to be
pivotal, you know, to to really h how they want to play in the back field. Not even just for Justin
Fields, but for Bree Hall, Elijah Vera Tucker, AB, of course. How the heck do I feel? Oh, yeah.
That’s embarrassing. He’s a great player. Great player. I mean, he’s such a talent. So, you know,
that’s a solid that’s a solid offensive line. So, I want to see how Meoo moves. That’s one
guy. And the other guy for me, you know, I know Malachi Corley got drafted last, you know,
April 2024. I know, you know, last year’s draft class, they didn’t really utilize him this
past season. Hoping he does get utilized, but Aryan Smith, you know, out of out of uh, you
know, I think he came out of Georgia. Aren Smith, the only thing is with him is that he’s got a
drop history and he’s got to fix his drops. Yes, he was. He came out of Georgia, so he’s got
to fix his drop his his drop balls issue. So, he’s really gotta figure that out. You know, go
to the jug machine, catch as many as you can, you know, work on it because the Jets right now,
they don’t have a second wide receiver. You know, they don’t have a solidified number two.
They have a number one. Let’s be real. The last time the Jets had a good wide receiver duo
was the Brandon Marshall Eric Decker days. Dom, that’s 10 years ago. Literally 10 years ago. It’s
10 years ago. All right. That was 2015 16. I was in high school like it’s time to get a number
two wide receiver. Allen Lazard ain’t it. Okay. I’ve seen it. No good. Okay. Aren Smith, I want to
see how he does. He’s got speed. Okay. He’s a road runner. He’s got the He’s got the talent. He’s
got the opportunity. He needs to take advantage of it. So, if he can really lock in on on the drop
passes and, you know, make some good catches and really show, you know, the the the the coach,
uh, Aaron Glenn, that he can be a number two, a solidified number two wide receiver and start
off immediately once the season starts. And you could have Malachi Corley be a three, a good slot
receiver. You know, they’re going to have, as we discussed the last couple episodes, how Garrick
Wilson’s versatility is going to be used. That’s it, man. That’s that’s the bottom line, you know,
that those are the two names I’m looking forward to in training camp. So hopefully hopefully it
all works out. And I forgot one name, Evan Neil. Evan Neil only because he is now transitioning
to guard when he was a right tackle. Obviously, he was god awful. Awful. But it was just such
a surprise though because of how good he was in college. He deserved to be the seventh pick in
that draft class. He did deserve it. It’s not like he It’s not like he wasn’t deserving of it. Um
it wasn’t like a surprise like Eric Flowers was. Yeah. Don’t even get me start on Eric Flowers,
by the way. That horrible person that he is, but I just I don’t understand what happened. Um I
don’t know if he got too like too big or I don’t know if like the coaching wasn’t helping him, but
uh obviously he did play tackle and guard when he was in college and he was exceptionally well at
both. So all he can do is just really pray that, you know, he doesn’t really have to move as much
and just stay there and just block. You know, obviously we don’t none of us have good offensive
lines, so we we need as much help as we can get. So we just got to hope this uh this works. Yeah.
Yeah. We’ll see how it goes. Training camp for the Giants, both Giants and Jets. Training camp
mandatory for all for all players involved is July 22nd. uh you know then the practices
are you know public viewing July 23rd. So it’s going to be it’s going to be exciting uh
training camp in a couple of weeks. Uh and then we’ll see we’ll see how the season goes for both
teams. Well, that’s going to do it for us today. Thank you to everyone for tuning in to today’s
episode of the FTB podcast on either YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcast. Be sure to like this
episode and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss any of our shows. See you folks
next Monday. Peace. Thanks guys. I appreciate
