0:00

The Yankees have had plenty of opportunities to

0:02

move on from going if that is what

0:04

they wished to do and they just haven't

0:06

gone in that direction. I'm

0:13

going to give you two more because I wrote these

0:15

all down from my little radio interview yesterday because they

0:18

were good talking points. So

0:20

one was they asked, they asked me like 20 questions. I

0:22

was on for a while. They go, is

0:24

Terry Francona managing the Yankees if they don't win it

0:27

all this year? And obviously that's not the case. Hours

0:29

later, he ends up landing with the Reds. I thought

0:31

it was pretty cool that they actually brought that up.

0:33

That's why. Yeah. They're in Ohio, but I

0:36

was like, hmm, how much damage

0:39

do the Yankees have to do in the

0:41

playoffs for Boonie to feel okay? Cause if

0:43

like, if the Yanks fall in this round. Trouble.

0:47

It's trouble because there's gotta be a fall

0:49

guy, you know, even if you think it

0:51

was a roster construction issue, cash ain't going

0:53

anywhere. So it's going to fall

0:55

on Boonie. Well, even if it's not deserved.

0:58

They have the track, the

1:00

perfect track to get to the world series

1:02

right now. And they, they lose this first

1:05

series. A lot of people

1:07

are in my opinion should be in trouble.

1:09

So, um, yes, this is, this is, I

1:12

think the pressure is all, it's gotta be on the

1:14

Yankees. Yes. You know, so Aaron,

1:16

boom, let's go get them boys going.

1:18

Cause it could be trouble in paradise.

1:22

The worst, the toughest part for the

1:24

Yankees is going to be the fact that the Royals

1:26

have pitchers who have pitchability.

1:28

They're not just going to out stuff you. And

1:31

when you can navigate a lineup

1:33

with pitchability, that's where I

1:36

see the Royals being able to beat the Yankees

1:38

in this series, being able to,

1:40

they're fine with saying Soto

1:42

and judge are not walking or not beating

1:45

us. So we'll walk them and we'll

1:47

just pitch around cause we can pitch is in different

1:49

locations. Like that

1:51

guy, Sam long. I think

1:53

he's like 30 something percent fastball. He's

1:55

got what? Three, four break, breaking pitches,

1:58

secondary pitches, guys like that. and

2:01

they look at you locate He's

2:03

not out stuffing you yep Even

2:06

Schreiber Schreiber's had success against Yankees

2:08

when he was with the

2:10

red stocks you look at Seth Lugo Waka

2:13

Guys who are gonna speed speed you

2:15

up and slow you down on the

2:18

same plane. It's gonna be tough They

2:20

struggle against changeups Salvador

2:22

Perez knows all this stuff and Salvador Perez

2:24

has one of the lowest Post-season

2:27

eras of any catcher that's caught over.

2:29

I think it's like 12

2:32

games something like that something crazy like that If

2:36

they struggle with changeups, there's there's a guy that should

2:38

be playing first for them Piedelanto.

2:40

All right, let's do this Gary Phillips joining

2:42

us beat writer for the New York Daily

2:44

News covering the New York Yankees and on

2:46

here I think for the first time Gary,

2:49

right? Is this your debut on a team?

2:51

This is my foul territory debut Thanks for

2:53

having me on most important games of the

2:55

season Yeah, hey perfect

2:57

timing we saved you for the playoffs,

2:59

right? All

3:02

right, so I want to bring this conversation right to you

3:04

and then we'll get into some more nitty-gritty in the series

3:07

Do you think that the Yanks have to win

3:09

this series for Aaron Boone to keep his job?

3:11

I Don't know,

3:13

you know I was listening to you guys talking a

3:15

little bit about that in the green room and I

3:17

just don't know that the matter of Who

3:20

wins job security is that dire in

3:22

my mind? It's more like They

3:25

have to lose and something really

3:28

embarrassing or bad happens,

3:30

but We've seen in

3:32

years past You know the Yankees have had

3:34

plenty of opportunities to move on from Boone

3:36

if that is what they wished to

3:38

do and they just Haven't gone in that

3:41

direction, you know for better or worse Hal

3:43

Steinreiner is not his father You

3:46

have you know a ton

3:48

of respect for Boone in that Yankees locker

3:50

room starting with Aaron judge So, you know,

3:52

he's well regarded as far as

3:54

the players are concerned and yeah, you know,

3:56

he's still he's got that option and

3:59

I just also wonder if they were

4:01

to move on from him, who would

4:04

they get that is different?

4:06

You're probably talking about getting

4:09

somebody who has a similar

4:12

resume, a similar background as the

4:14

one Aaron Boone began with when

4:17

the Yankees first hired him. So I don't know

4:19

that that passes the smell

4:21

test, but that's just from me being

4:23

around here every day, the vibes that

4:26

I get. And really the track

4:28

record that the Yankees have shown with this decision

4:30

in the past. I

4:32

don't think he should be going anywhere, but that's my

4:34

opinion. But I'm also gonna shed

4:37

a little more positivity, or maybe you can

4:39

tell me wrong. Should

4:41

Brian Cashman get an

4:43

extension for the job he did of building

4:46

this team? I know everyone's gonna be like,

4:48

they lose, he did a terrible job, but

4:50

could he have done anything else? He

4:53

got Juan Soto. He brought in a

4:55

few pieces at the trade deadline. Could

4:59

Brian Cashman have done some of his

5:01

best work in the most

5:04

fiery off season that he's ever had in

5:06

his whatever 20 some year tenure? I'm

5:09

not sure if I look at it exactly that way. You

5:12

mentioned Soto, that's a huge addition. Getting

5:14

Jazz Chisholm Jr. before the deadline was

5:16

a huge addition. He's been tremendous for

5:19

the Yankees so far. But you also

5:21

look at a team that as

5:23

of this very moment has some holes, has some

5:25

serious question marks. They didn't do

5:28

enough really to address the bullpen prior to

5:30

the trade deadline. Now some other pieces have

5:32

stepped up, gotten healthy, and made that unit

5:34

a little better than it was earlier in

5:37

the season. And then you also,

5:39

I think overestimated

5:41

Alex Verdugo's value. This

5:44

is the onteenth year in

5:46

a row now since Brett Gardner left.

5:48

That left field has been

5:50

a major concern in one way or another.

5:52

Now they're talking about whether it's gonna be

5:54

Verdugo on left field, Dominguez on left field,

5:56

switching back and forth for the playoffs. Neither

5:58

one is... what you

6:01

would call an all-around player at this very

6:03

moment. So there's still some pretty

6:05

big holes here, some that

6:08

you would think Cashman should have had

6:10

the wherewithal or maybe a larger effort

6:12

to improve. Talking

6:15

about bullpen, talking about pitching a little

6:17

bit. I want to hear from you how

6:19

they're going to go through with the

6:21

starters here. I know Stroman has struggled

6:23

a little bit. Nestor

6:26

Cortez is out. We don't know if even

6:28

if he's coming back. So talk to us

6:30

a little about how you see that planning

6:32

out and how do you, you

6:35

know, where does Clay Holmes fit in all this in the bullpen

6:37

too as well? Where do you see him? Yeah,

6:39

so starting with the two starters that you mentioned,

6:41

you know, Aaron Boone said the other day that

6:44

he does not expect Marcus Stroman to start in

6:46

this series. Frankly, I would be shocked if he

6:48

starts at all in the playoffs for as long

6:50

as the Yankees are in it. That's another situation

6:53

where something would have to have gone

6:55

wrong for Stroman to be starting one of these

6:57

games, I believe. Boone also

6:59

said the other day that Nestor

7:01

Cortez was still in the no-throw

7:03

portion of his rehab recovery healing.

7:05

So not expecting to see him

7:08

anytime soon. As for what

7:10

we do know, Garrett Cole is going to go

7:12

in game one. Tomorrow, you're going to have Carlos

7:14

Rodan at home in game two. And then the

7:16

Yankees are going to kind of wait and see

7:19

how those first two games go, who gets used,

7:21

whether a Clark Schmidt or a Luis Heel needs

7:23

to be used out of the bullpen. And

7:26

then they're going to base their game three

7:28

starter on that. I, you know, the assumption

7:31

is it's going to be one of those

7:33

two guys. The Yankees are weighing a couple

7:35

of different factors. You know, Schmidt has been

7:37

as consistent as anybody this year when healthy,

7:40

but he also has experience coming out of

7:42

the bullpen. Luis Heel, higher risk,

7:44

higher reward with that electric arsenal. And if he

7:46

commands, you know, he's never been a reliever. Do

7:48

you want him to come put out a fire

7:50

in the middle of a playoff game? That might

7:53

be a little too risky for the Yankees. So

7:56

that's what we do know. You also asked

7:58

about Clay Holmes and Aaron Boones.