Aaron Judge Isn't Done Playing CF | 842

Today is January 31st. February spring training is sneaking up, and so is Brian Hoke, co-host, Penny Hoke's father, nosebleeds, all of it. Yeah, man. Brian Hoke. Hi, how are you? Well, you know, big shoes to fill for John Boy, but I'll do my best. It's, I mean, the biggest shoes, man. I mean, how about it? From even, I don't, I don't want to start with us patting ourselves on the back, but Brian Hoke, even the ride of since we've gotten to meet you is, I mean, literally just two critters in the stands at Steinbrenner Field, and you joining us as we head through a microphone at you to where we are, man. You are, you are part of the Talking, you are the Talking Yanks family. Well, I would say that without me, you guys would be nothing. So you really do owe me a lot. And I keep checking my mailbox for a big fat check from you guys, but not one has shown up. So I'm going to blame that on the mail service. I know the USPS has had some trouble lately. So, but I'll keep checking. I, I keep checking the mailbox too. Everyone's always like, you guys got, you guys got that investment. I was like, I haven't seen it. I think, I think Jimmy and baby James have that. Brian Hoke, Talking Yanks presented by Siki. Code Yanks, $20 off your first order. How are you, man? It's off season, January in baseball is, I think it's become my least favorite baseball month, I've decided. That being said, it's the 31st. It's almost over. You posted the first infield practice of the year. We saw DJ at third, which his off season has been a little weird. We heard out for the start of the season. And now we see the starting third baseman. How are you? Where are you? What's next? How am I? I'm great. Where am I? I'm everywhere. It's been a busy month, actually. I know it's your least favorite month, but this has been a hectic month. Just hosted the New York Baseball Writers Dinner up in New York this past weekend. So we had Aaron Judge, all the MVP Cy Young Award winners, Rookies of the Year, lots of other guys there. Albert Pujols was there. Very cool to have everybody together at the New York Hilton. Finished up, well, not finished up, but I'm still working on my forthcoming book, Aaron Judge. It's going to be titled 62. It's coming out in July. So that has been busy and hectic. And I was down here in Tampa covering a little bit of the fantasy camp, catching up with some of the old timers here. And that's how I got that video. I actually had that sent to me by one of the fantasy campers, believe it or not. Yeah. So he happened to be at the complex and was like, wait, that's DJ and there's Glaber at second base. And so he sent that to me and I said, if you don't mind, I'll send it out. And he said, great, do it. And so, yeah, a little bit of baseball in January and all all indications are that DJ is going to be ready for the beginning of spring training, which is awesome. That's great news for the Yanks because considering the alternative, he was going to be out for a while. So it looks like that kind of conservative course of treatment has gone well for him. And that's encouraging for the Yanks. And other than that, just getting ready for pitchers and catchers, which I believe is 14 days away, we're at the two week point, I think sneaking up Valentine's Day. That's a man that even the infield, it's so funny because we we got sucked into left field, which we're going to talk about, Brian, because if it's the New York Yankees, the left field has been kind of the discussion of the offseason. Man, the infield roller coaster has been wild itself. I actually before that it was Glaber might get traded this offseason. He's got the two years left. He's valuable. The Yankees have young infielders on the way. Glaber Torres has value. Maybe he's done with the Yankees and then turn into DJ is going to be out probably for the start of the season. And Glaber Torres is like massively important to the top four hitters in the Yankees lineup that, you know, Donaldson trade rumors. I don't know if that's mostly from Yankees internet, but that was discussed. And obviously the two prospects for Raza and Volpe. So man, it's honestly, there's a little bit of refreshing. And I think you can hear it in my voice talking to you that to circle back on what's been a little bit of a funky offseason you know, obviously judge to where we are now. I guess let's do a little infield. So everything you've seen and heard is that DJ's ready to go. Yeah. I mean, I'll believe it when he's out there on March 30th and playing the infield. I think you got to get through spring training and obviously, but the fact that he was able to kind of rehab that toe thing, get through the offseason that he's running, that he's taking ground balls that he's hitting here in Tampa. That is all very encouraging because as you remember, he was really trying like heck to get back during the postseason and they looked at it. DJ was saying, I'm good. I'm good. And they looked at him and they said, nah, man, you're, you're not good. You can't do it right now. And they left him off the postseason roster. So, you know, that had to kill him. The fact that he looks healthy, he's out there doing it, has had no setbacks. Obviously you got to get through seven weeks of spring training. That's a lot, but having that surgery, it's kind of a complicated surgery and obviously they wanted to avoid that at all costs. So if he was able to do that and can come back and be the real DJ, that's something they miss hugely during the postseason. You needed a contact hitter in that series against the Astros. I'm not saying that having DJ and Benintendi back would have tipped the balance in their favor, but they might've won a couple games against Houston if they had guys who could get on base and, and move the ball around like that. So I think that, look, two years ago, DJ was their best player. There was a reason that everybody was banging the drum and saying, you cannot let DJ LeMayhew walk. And they went and got him that contract. And if you get him back being the player that we know he can be, that's huge for that Yankee offense because he really is a table setter and he's such a, an important part of this team. Yeah. There's been a lot of, um, because even last year, it was funny that, you know, during the Yankees winning time, basically up till August, um, that, you know, uh, times were good, baby. And, you know, judge chasing the home run record, DJ sneaky had a great little season going that, uh, a lot of people kind of forgot. And then we felt, uh, when he was out and he's not part of the team and man, even circling back to DJ playing in the Texas series and Carpenter did it. And he's taken it bats first Wandi up in, uh, where was that? Hudson Valley, uh, Somerset Somerset, and then Carpenter's on the roster. DJ wasn't, um, you know, the post season's always going to have its twists, but man, uh, last year between that and shortstop and everything, uh, chaos, I guess I'll, I'll drop a, I'll drop kind of a big one on you and it's strictly opinion. Um, do you think there's another significant move coming? Cause I think a lot of Yankee fans have thought that Hicks or Donaldson could be on the move after last season. Um, you know, the other end of that spectrum would be, you know, the mega trade, the Brian Reynolds trade that's been eliminated, but you know, if the Yankees believe in Volpe, which I, uh, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but everything you hear from everybody in the world about Volpe is that the Yankees are all in on them is, you know, would Peraza be a massive trade chip would IKF is, is very much on this team. Uh, I guess, do you think there's another significant trade going? Cause we're all kind of reading the Brian Cashman tea leaves like we do every off season. I'll answer that by saying this. Um, one thing is that Hal Steinbrenner sat there at the Aaron judge press conference and said to all of us, we're not done yet. And he was not talking about the Carlos Redon move because that had already been announced. So that was already part of the, uh, the landscape when he said that. So he said there would be more coming and I'm sure they have investigated things and probably run into some dead ends there, but I'll remind everybody that the Yankees reported to spring training last year. Gary Sanchez was the starting catcher. I watched him come in. I watched him come in the tunnel. I took video of him and he walked into the clubhouse. I watched Gio Rochella walk in as the starting third baseman, or I guess he could have been the starting shortstop at that time. But anyway, I watched both those guys come in, get in their lockers, go out and work out in pinstripe uniforms. And neither one of them were there for opening day. So I think that, uh, there is always the possibility that even if the team reports on February 13 and it looks a certain way, there's still time on the clock between then and and, you know, we've been saying all off season that look, I, the team does not want to go into the season with a starting left field platoon of Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera. It's a fallback. They can do it, but they have been looking, uh, up, down, left, right, all off season for a way to improve that. Uh, Cashman has said that that is an area where they consider, uh, an upgrade possible. And so I think they're going to continue to look into that. And, you know, just because the team looks a certain way here on January 31st, doesn't mean that that's what you're breaking camp with. Yeah, I know we, we all, we all have the impatient itch and, you know, after Rodan signing, which is incredible, man. I mean, that guy is a stud, um, you know, everyone's eyes turned elsewhere and it's, it's been a little quiet on the Western front a little bit. Um, I guess too. And the other thing that's interesting, and I should wait on this, but I love when the Yankees do their spring training invites every year. And you see like three MLB guys that you're like, wait, they're coming to Yankees camp. All right. That's exciting. Um, we got lost in one the other day, uh, Rafael Ortega, uh, coming over to Yankees camp. I, the guys played a lot of MLB games the last two years. And I guess the other thing that we put our minds to that as we figure out what this Yankees roster could look like towards opening day is that I think the Yankees will want to keep Aaron judge out of center field kind of forever. Like if there's a moment, they need him. It's good to know he'll do that. But now that they've locked him up long-term that we kind of think that they're going to need another center field option, which could be Hicks if he's on the team. But I guess, have you seen anyone like, you know, wait, I mean, Brian, we got lost in it. One day, we were looking at Rafael Ortega's fly balls to right field. We got, we got deep into it. I guess it does anything. Does a name like that do anything for you? Or, or I guess, I don't know. Well, I'll say I love when those non-roster invitees come out because it gives you a whole new batch of guys to get to know and, uh, investigate, but let me stop you. Let me go rewind here. Let's rewind. Aaron judge is not done playing center field. Okay. And why do I know that? Because he told me that at the baseball writers dinner, he and I were talking for about 15, 20 minutes there. And that was one of the topics that came up and he, I mentioned it came up because we were talking about gold glove awards. And I was saying that the problem with him last year was that he played so much center field. And he also played right field that the voters didn't know where to put them and that he probably deserved consideration for one of those awards. But since he split a season there and I said something along the lines of, well, the good news is you'll be mostly in right field this year. So you can compete for that. And he kind of looked at me and he, you know, that judge look with one eyebrow up and he says, why did you think I wasn't good in center field? I said, no, no, no, no, no. I, I didn't say that, but you know, Harrison Bader is there. And he said, I'm not done in center field yet. You know, Vader's not going to play one 62 out there. And he said, I think I can do a good job out there. So I think Aaron judge loves playing center field. You have not seen the last of him out there, you know, whether it's 15, 20 games, whatever it might be, but clearly he is making the case already. And I'm sure he'll say the same thing to Aaron Boone, but he wants, he's not done in center field yet. Okay. Yeah, no, I mean, it's very fair on his end, right? Like when he was out there, he was more than solid. Like you said, you can kind of tell he, he digs being a center fielder. He loves it. He really does. And I, I mean, you know, not to be shots fired at Bader, he, his history, he doesn't have a lot of, you know, playing 150 game seasons in his career that it's, I don't know. I think it's something that it's in the back of Yankee fans' minds. It's that what, what is that going to look like? And I, I guess we kind of ruled it out a little bit with judgey, but you're right. And he's, he's the dude like he wants it. Yeah. He wants to be out there. He wants to be the guy. And you remember he was drafted as a center fielder and all the coming up through the farm system. The talk was, well, he's too big. He can't play out there. And I remember the one day they put him out there the first time in Toronto, it was a big story back in 2018, I think Boone put him out there for one game and it went fine. And then now they've kind of peeled back that bandaid and done it a little more. They did it more out of necessity this year, this past year, but he proved himself. He proved that he's fine. He's not going to hurt them. He can actually help them as a center fielder. Now, if I'm managing the team, I think I still just for a wear and tear perspective, I'd rather have him in right field, but he loves it. He wants to be out there. He wants to be the guy in center field. And so you, you will see him in center field this year. That is my fearless prediction. You will see him at least a few times and maybe more than that. I love it. He's a, he's pretty cozy in center field, Brian Hogan in the biz that leads us to cozy earth, a new partner with us. They're men's loungewear. You're looking at three men who like to lounge, uh, and man, I've got one here. We are a comfort company. Uh, if you know me, if you know, John boy, uh, if we're not comfortable, it ain't going to happen. Uh, I've seen, I've seen John boy rip clothes off, but not cozy earth. It's luxurious loungewear and pajamas. Maybe get some for Valentine's day. They're unique fabric leads to next level comfort four way stretch technology, uh, to make sure you're comfy every day. And right now with code Yanks, you get 35% off site wide at cozy earth. That's cozy earth.com. Cozy and earth. Yep. Dot com code Yanks, 35% off site wide. That's a real discount. So thank you. Cozy earth. Go check them out. Brian has always, uh, when we pimp you out on talking Yanks, I'm going to send you some cozy earth. I think that's all I can't wait. I think that's only fair. Um, yeah, no, that sounds more than fair. Did you see, uh, was my, I, I use best friend slightly loosely, but best friend, uh, Aaron judge's wife, Samantha. Was she there? Uh, at the, it was there. Yes. Uh, the whole judge family was there. Uh, his parents, Patty and Wayne were there. A lot of his, uh, representation was there. Paige Odle. So, uh, yeah, the whole judge crew was, uh, live in large in, uh, at the New York Hilton this past weekend during, during the home run race. We, you know, we just see each other at a lot of games and we're just friends. Uh, and it's, you know, it's not a big deal, uh, in my head at all that, uh, she's really cool and awesome. Um, Brian Hook, let's do a little bit of, and let's, let's go back to left field. Cause it's, we've spent, I think four episodes on it and you're right. I mean, the baseline of Hicks and as Waldo on the roster, even last year, Aaron Hicks had a couple of solid months. Um, as Waldo, you know, he's as fun as we've seen a, a Yankee in a long time. He's very young. It seems like he's crazy adaptable and would be able to handle that left field. The other side of that argument is he may need to be adaptable all over the field because he has that skillset and that's where it seems like he'd fit best. Um, it, if opening day is tomorrow, is it, is it Aaron Hicks? Is it as Waldo? Like I, I guess in my head, I've the Yankee way is taking care of veterans. Um, and I think that's where a lot of people were like, well, as Waldo, you know, he, he really took off in September last year. Um, but Aaron Hicks, he's been with this team since 2016. He's played a lot of Yankees baseball that if he's healthy, I guess in my head, it's tough for me to picture them putting as Waldo in over in my head. Well, here's, it's a tricky game we're playing here because if opening day is today, we haven't had a spring training, so we haven't had any competition between Hicks and Cabrera. And so in this theoretical hypothetical world where there's no spring training to go off. Yeah, I agree with you that Hicks would be the incumbent there. And because as Waldo hasn't had a chance to outplay him for a job, but that's why you do have spring training. That's why these guys are going to get 30, 40, 50 at bats and get to play it out. And I know we're also assuming health and you know what happens when you assume, right? So, uh, I, I think that, uh, Hicks look, switch hitter obviously has done it before the Yankees have some money tied up in him. There's a lot of reasons why he would be the incumbent coming into spring training. But I do think that when you have that competition and if that's what the landscape winds up being, if it's Hicks versus Cabrera, and then as you mentioned, there's some other non-roster guys in there too. But if it's those two guys, then, uh, yeah, Hicks comes in with kind of the leg up, but Cabrera has a very real shot to win that job. And it's kind of the same way that I look at shortstop. Well, I guess it's the reverse of how I look at shortstop, but I feel like IKF is the guy who would be the break in case of emergency. If Paraza can't step up, if Paraza falls flat on his face and does not have a good spring, or if he's hurt, uh, then, you know, IKF is always there waiting in the wings. And he's the guy that, yes, he's done it. You broke camp with him, but we've also seen it. And so, uh, one thing that, and I'm going off track here, that's not your question, but IKF at third base was a different player than he was at shortstop. And I think that, look, that's where he won the gold glove. And I think that he was trying to do a little too much at short. And so, um, to bring it back to Hicks and, um, to the Cabrera situation, Cabrera can play wherever you need him. And I'd love to see him get 300, 400 plate appearances at a bunch of different positions. I think that's where he can really be valuable for this team. If Aaron Hicks can come back and be anything like the guy you gave the contract to, I think then that solves your problem there, but I don't think you can count on that. Yeah. I, uh, yeah, I I'm in line with all of that. And it, it makes sense why you ended up where you ended up, Ryan, because it's, it's kind of been the buried conversation of the off season because we, we go to the playoffs. IKF was one of the biggest topics that we've, we've been in this quote unquote in this game for five years now. And IKF may have been the, the most spoken about topic we ran into, uh, because you can go back to the quotes and how you view a stop gap and with the Yankees prospects along the way, even like the coming out last year where it's, you know, the Yankee shortstop and even the image of him in 95 on the top step and like with the young guy, like it was, I mean, it was a perfect storm. Meanwhile, judge is breaking the home run record. The Yankees got off to a historic, great start, um, a wild year, um, Volpe, Peraza, IKF. And when we saw IKF, you're right. When he moved to third, he looked, he looked really nice. He looked comfortable. Um, in the playoffs, in a do or die game, he gets moved off of shortstop. One of the first transactions the Yankees did this off season was lock him up for $6 million. I guess one of the things I've been running through my head recently is I've been, I've been trying to think of Yankees bench. I remember when they brought in LeMahieu and the whole thing was, he was going to be the super utility. You know, you're going to pay him a salary and he's going to play four to six times a week. And that year he was incredible. You know, the whole thing was he didn't start opening day. I guess going back to last season and think about the Yankees bench right now, potentially, whether it's IKF or Donaldson or Hicks, you're talking about money on the bench, which I feel like the Yankees, they haven't done that. Um, so I don't know. I I'm putting myself in a spin cycle, just thinking about that dynamic. Yeah, no. And that's what I said when they re-signed IKF. I was kind of surprised. I thought he was a non-tender candidate there just because of what you're going to pay him and how adamant that Hal Steinbrenner had been and people in the front office about this is the year that we want to see Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe. And that's the future in the middle infield, whether you want to put one at short, one second, however you want to do it. Uh, where does IKF fit into that? Because $6 million is a lot of money to spend on a guy who is going to be a backup shortstop and a backup third baseman because he's not going to start over Donaldson because of the money again. And, uh, you know, we haven't really seen him at a lot of other positions. He's not going to catch for you. And, um, I don't know if they're going to try and put IKF in the outfield. I doubt it. Um, so I, I feel like you got a lot of money tied up there, which is why I think that he remains a prime trade candidate. And he's one of those names. I know we've talked a lot about I think labor has more trade value at this time, but, uh, if you're setting this infield, I don't know where all the puzzle pieces fit here. And that kind of goes back to last year too. I looked at that too. And as you mentioned, I said, where is DJ Lemay? He was going to get his at-bats and you know, while he'll play a little second, he'll play some third, he'll play some first. Turned out DJ got plenty of at-bats. He just wasn't able to stay healthy for it, but the playing time opportunity was there for him. Um, so I'm not sure where the opportunity comes for IKF here. If Peraza comes in, does what he did in September. And he really did open some eyes. One of the statements that, uh, I keep thinking about was that Aaron Boone said late in the year, and I believe this was during the post-season, but he was talking about Peraza. And he just said, he's got that look like he, oh, you look at him and you say, oh, he's a natural shortstop. This guy belongs at shortstop. I didn't really feel that at any point about IKF last year. I do think that IKF is an above average. I mean, you want to go glove at third base. Uh, I feel like he's not in the right spot playing shortstop and much the way Glaber Torres was not in the right spot playing shortstop and they had to correct that. Um, so I think that that's something to look at in spring training. They'll continue to work on that, but I really feel like the opportunity is there for Peraza to step up, take shortstop. Volpe will have an opportunity too, but don't forget he's 21 coming into his first big league camp, uh, has barely played at AAA. I think a little more seasoning time would not be out of the question for him at shortstop, unless he comes up and just lights the world on fire and hits 500 in spring training and is playing awesome. I think that if it's me, I look for Peraza to win that job in spring training. I look for Volpe to go down, tear it up at AAA, work his way up to the big leagues at midseason. Uh, that would be, and then by the all-star break, maybe you have both those guys in the middle of the infield and wouldn't that be great for Yankee fans? Yeah, it's, um, honestly, it's hard for me to wrap my head around just, just because I, I'm trying to think of Yankee teams, you know, really giving young guys the opportunity. Like it's kind of the, as we do more around the league stuff, like the Yankees, there's always so many veterans and, and you know, to earn playing time, it usually comes from an injury or, or something like that, you know, uh, for these guys to get fully thrust in and get the opportunity. And even going back to his Waldo, like says Waldo, he wins the left field job. He looks great out there and he's hitting and all right. Uh, you know, we, we think Peraza is going to be in the mix, uh, at least, and let's see what that looks like. And maybe he's our best shortstop and he's getting run. And then Volpe into May, you know, he gets some AAA at bats, he's killing it. Um, and you know, maybe there's an injury there. Uh, yeah, I given three rookies full-blown run. Like I, I guess what you go back to almost like 2016 when your baby I was going to mention, didn't we just live through the baby bombers and look, I mean, mixed results, right? Uh, Aaron judge turned out pretty good. Didn't he? Uh, Gary Sanchez had some moments and didn't work out so well at the end of it, but boy, for a while there, he looked like he was going to have a 10 year career as the Yankee starting catcher, uh, Greg bird, a lot of hype didn't quite work out. Um, but it's not like they didn't give chances. And Luis Severino, um, you know, when we've seen him be great, but he hasn't been there consistently the whole time through. So, um, and you know, I can mention some other guys, like I mentioned Rob ref Snyder and, uh, you know, the guys from that era there, Tyler Austin, um, you know, the guys did get opportunities. So I don't think it's that the Yankees, the Yankees always trend toward the veteran side. They, they're not a small market team that has to promote from within their farm system. They will do it when a guy like, and look with judge, they've got the face of the game. They got the biggest star in the game, the highest paid player in the game, they drafted and developed him. So, uh, you know, uh, but Aaron judges don't come along every single day. So I don't think the Yankees have been afraid of it, but when you can get a proven commodity and plug it in and, you know, Andrew Bennett, Andy comes to my mind immediately here, a guy who's been an all-star who's done it has a track record. They got him, they plugged him in the left field. I know it didn't work out because of the injury, but, uh, that was the idea. That's a Yankee move right there. And so that's the kind of team that, uh, the Yankees do trend older. They, they have for years and, um, but it's because they, they trust experience and they, they want those guys who have proven it at the big league level. But, uh, when you plug in the baby bombers, some of the guys judge are going to turn out great. Some of the guys are going to be somewhere in the middle, like Gary. And some guys aren't going to make it. I, I think I have a weird question for you. And then I want to talk, uh, the New York award show you did and the nosebleed and a few things there. And I mean, the fact that you're talking to judge in the 62 book, I, I need to hear more about that. Uh, this is a little weird one. Cause these guys are our people. If, if Yankee players, and I want, I want to spin this in a positive way. Um, if the Yankees players as individuals were stocks, like who's someone that you think right now is like, you know, we saw Mike King break out last year. Like, um, even like Harrison Bader is a full season as the Yankee center fielder. If he can play that kind of defense and run into 25 homers, that's, you know, that's, that's a special ball player, uh, Clark Schmidt. I don't know. I guess if, if these guys were, uh, a stock, like whose stock would you be getting in on now? Because come July, it might be through the roof. Right. I see what you're saying. Yeah. Like, so judge would be Apple basically Amazon, like a little too expensive right now to buy. Right. Yeah. Um, okay. So I don't, I don't want to buy that. I want to find a good value stock. I think Michael King is a great idea, um, because people would have probably sold that stock after the injury last year. Uh, you know, all indications are he's coming back really strong. I think that's a great idea there. Um, you know, I, I feel like undervalued stock. Uh, well, Domingo Hermon comes to my mind because, uh, with the Frankie Montez injury, he is going to be an important part of that team in the, in the early going there. And I think that, uh, Herman probably has a leg up on Schmidt going into camp, uh, to win that fifth starter spot. And so I think that that's an important one there. Um, is Rodan an overpriced one or, or what I, I guess with the contract, he probably that's like buying Google again. Right. Well, it depends. We, uh, we, we had one of our best laughs in recent, you know, we off season was hit in, you know, everyone always asks us, they're like, Hey, you know, for, for you guys, baseball stuff, does the off season get hard? And we're like, honestly, not really. Cause there's between spring training and signings and trades, there's usually always some top there's one or two weeks every year that you're like, you know, it'd be nice to have something last week. We, cause we have a ton of Yankee fans here. We kind of, we gave everyone a minute and we're like, Hey, what do you got? 30 seconds. And one of our, uh, guys, uh, Ronnie, who's a, a talented young, young guy came in and he said, wrote on already underrated. Like if, if he does what he's done for San Francisco the past couple of years and he, and the white socks, if he does that for the Yankees, I mean, my God, like that one, two punch of coal in him, nevermind Nestor and savvy. If he's healthy, like no, it could, that could be a very nice stock to buy. Absolutely. All right. Let me give you one more then. Uh, if, if judges Apple or Amazon, then Josh Donaldson is probably like Ford motor company, just kind of like a stock that you probably don't get too excited about. It's been there for a long time. It's got a track record. I'll buy some of that because I think it's probably really undervalued right now. And he's going to get the at bats. Brian Cashman has said that he's the, uh, the starting third baseman. They think that, uh, there's more there in the tank, you know, like, Hey, if I'm buying, if I'm looking to buy an undervalued stock that could jump. And this is silly. Are we doing stock investing trading here? What is a CNBC? Um, but yeah, and Josh Donaldson is my Ford motor company stock where it's kind of like, you don't get too excited that you had it, but boy, are you happy because it could take a big jump. And so if I've, if I'm looking for something that's undervalued right now, Josh Donaldson, I think. Man, uh, a pissy bottom of the lineup, Josh Donaldson that hits a couple doubles and plays that good third base defense. Like Yankee fans would sign up for that. It's just, it's, it felt like every month last year, we were waiting for the click in the hot streak. And even Aaron Boone talked about it. I don't have to tell you, but they thought it was going to happen. If he gives us some this year, it would be interesting to see that. Cause Brian, you just said he's the starting third baseman, but DJ Lemay Hugh is one of the most important pieces to the offense and Glaber Torres is here. And we've talked about three short stops, man. I don't know. That's what I said. I don't know where the puzzle pieces fit, but I didn't know last year either with labor and DJ and they figured it out. And the one thing I would point out here is, and I'm not making excuses because he didn't make excuses, but I will just point it out that around may Donaldson did have an injury that he took a few days. I think it was right around when he went on the COVID IL and he, he received some treatment for it. And then he said at that time, he didn't talk much about it after that, but he said at that time, it had been bothering him since spring training. So after the trade to the Yankees, he, he aggravated something. So I don't think we ever saw a hundred percent Josh Donaldson once opening day started, he played through it. He did the best he could. That doesn't excuse the strikeouts in the post-season. It was bad during the post-season, but I will say over one 62, uh, if you want to make the case that there was more in the tank and he can be better than he was, I'd buy that. I believe that if he comes in healthy and that's why Boone said that this off season is going to be so important for Donaldson that he goes through his training, that he can come back. I think he was probably, um, obviously not pleased with his offense there. The defense was good. Um, so, you know, I look, if you want to make the case that you can see a better Josh Donaldson, maybe not Toronto blue Jays MVP, Josh Donaldson, but a better version, I'll buy that. Man. I mean, even close to the twins version of Josh Donaldson, kind of what we thought we were getting into. I mean, that is a good ball player. A lot of Yankee fans aren't going to be able to wrap their heads around that. And Hey, I'll say this. It's, um, one of the first things I learned and I, you know, I forget if I've ever said the player's name, but we heard from an organization, like one player had a really down year and they were like the outlier of all of their seasons. He's like, Oh yeah, he was really hurt last year. But as a fan, you see them on the field and you're like, well, you know, it, it's hard to connect that dot, but if that's it, then you're Josh Donaldson stock. That might be, that could be nice. One thing I would say he's got to make sure when he goes in that home run trot and he flips the bat, make sure it's going out and make sure you've got that extra five or 10 feet because boy, when that ball gets caught in center field or it's a, you know, it's a single off the wall. It does not look good. That's not going to win you many fans. So when you go into the trot, make sure you got all of it. The big city doesn't love that. The first one's gotta be real. Yeah. Like it, you know, if you have a nice month or two, we'll give you one of those. We'll even laugh about it. Um, something you shouldn't laugh about Brian Hoke, Valentine's day is coming up and Roman, they're the leaders in men's health. They cover a variety of issues. Um, you know, to, to paraphrase around them, uh, you know, lasting if lasting long enough is a problem. They four times longer, the Roman swipes. Um, if you're having problems getting up to that point, some, some ed Roman has stuff with that. Uh, also low testosterone. Roman has that. They are the online health clinic for men better yet. There's no weight rooms, no hassle. They send everything right to your door and free shipping and discreet packaging. Get Roman ready this Valentine's day. Go to row.co slash John boy, get 20% off your entire first order row.co slash John boy, 20% off. Do it by February 8th for guaranteed shipping in time. Thank you, Roman. Go check them out. Um, credit to you, Brian Hoke did one of those with Jeff Passan and he had a panic attack. I saw that one. Yes, that clip went viral. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to chime in there and share some personal experience, but, uh, the floor is yours. If you'd like to, I don't, I mean, they do hair restoration stuff at Roman too. Right. I mean, that's an area where I'm, I'm not breaking any news here. I could probably use a little help in that department. I have no idea what you're talking about. No, no. Yeah. Right. I, and I'll tell you a story real quick. Um, I was a probably 16 or 17 years old and I'm in, um, chemistry class suffering high school, suffering New York. Shout out to the Mounties and get in my class. Ed Petrillo looks over at me and goes, Hoke, I think you're losing some hair. I said, come on. What are you talking about? I got thick Auburn, beautiful hair, just like you Jake. Um, as, and he goes, no, I'm not joking. And I said, all right, hold on hand in the air. Can I go to the bathroom? Go in. I'm looking, I'm saying, God damn, I think I am losing my hair. So it started early, started early boys, uh, 16, 17. It's that high testosterone kind of DHT. Go look into it. Look into it. If, uh, you got a problem, but, um, yeah, Roman can help you with that. So get roman.com. Man. I told Brian before, and he didn't have to get involved if he didn't want to, but he showed, man, that's it. Um, right. I want to talk. So, Hey, I got it. The awards, the bloody nose. I already briefed you a little bit. Um, cause I read the tweet, I was reading out the full tweet and you were like going to incredible invent like Kim Ang. And I'm giving out the award and I get a bloody nose. And then I looked at the picture. You had a bloody nose, Brian. It was a gusher. Yeah. It was a gusher. So yeah. So I was posting it. It was my turn to host. I've waited three years for this. Uh, and I honestly, I thought the night was going great. Uh, we were kind of in the home stretch there. We're probably around the seventh inning of the show. And, uh, you know, I got a few of my jokes in a couple landed a couple didn't, but, uh, it was a smooth show is moving right along and I'm up there and we've already moved on to the nationally Cy Young award. So I think we're, we've got about three or four awards left in the night and I'm standing up there and I'm thanking some of the people from the chapter who helped out the past chairman. And as I'm up there, I feel drip drip. And I'm like, come on, is it snot like really here? And so I reached down and I kind of wipe it away and I look at it and it's blood red, thick red blood. I said, Oh my gosh. So I got the card and I'm sniffing and I'm stepping, I'm trying to like, all right, let's get through this, but I can't help my head back because you know, I'm, I'm speaking into the microphone. And so I'm trying to make this as nonchalant as possible. And I'm thanking, thank you to Mark Feinstein and Anthony to Como and Tim Healy and everybody who's helped out with the dinner. I'm reading these names and I go for one more wipe here. And there's just now a smear of blood across my face and I'm in this black tie tuxedo. And I hear in the audience, a couple of people are gasping and I hear whispering and the lights got really hot. And that was the first moment. I was very kind of, I don't know. I was enjoying myself up there. It was cool. And I look over and judge is concerned and Berlander's concerned. And they're saying, what is going on with this dude? And I get through it. I introduced Kimming and I say, and I'll be right back. And I disappear backstage. I grabbed the napkin, plugged it up there and clean myself up, got back out. And honestly, if you were in the back of the audience, if I hadn't said anything, you might not have even known. I know it was on the TV screen. So it's certainly, I don't know if MLB network will speed past that or what, but there was definitely a gusher. It looked like I'd just gotten punched in the face. It looked like you should have seen the other guy. So I came back out and told a little joke about, Hey, you know, Hey, I've, I've torn my ACL. I've torn my Achilles playing baseball, but I never counted on a bloody nose here at the baseball writers dinner and da da da da, let's move along. And now it's time for whatever award was next and national league MVP. I think it was. And so picked up right where I left off the show must go on as they say, but it was definitely I wasn't counting on that one. It's incredible. And let me, let me say that. This is a, you got to go back to 1990. I'm eight years old. I'm riding my bike and I was going too fast. Couldn't hit the brakes and going down a Hill. And I slammed into a minivan, took a header right into a big rock and got a nice little ride in the ambulance. I remember they cut off my pants, you know, the, the paramedics, you know, did the whole thing with the scissors and all that. And I needed basically a nose job at age eight. And so I missed a couple weeks of school or whatever it was. But, um, ever since then I get random nosebleeds at the worst possible times I turn at the winter meetings, I think where you guys were in 2019, remember the Garrett Cole winter meetings? Um, yeah, there was one day there where I turned the, the men's room into a crime scene and it's just, it came on out of nowhere. Like, you know, I'm sitting at the computer writing and then it's just drip, drip, drip. And it sucks. It does. But, uh, I wish it hadn't happened that night, but you know, we recovered and, uh, it was a funny story and made certainly for a, a funny photo story for life, man. Is that, uh, you, you mentioned Buck Showalter razzed you a little bit. Was it on that topic or was it something? No, no. One of my, my, I had a little opening monologue kind of late and a little, little Jimmy found a late night monologue. And one of the jokes I had was something along the lines of, and the good news is everyone here tonight has passed their physical. So knock on wood, we shouldn't have any Carlos Correa situations on our hands. And that I heard the Mets fans out in the audience, they groaned, there was a groan there. And I heard a couple of booze and I kind of looked and I said, thank you. And I moved on to the, uh, whatever it was. But then, um, you know, Steve Cohen was the next presenter laid off for another night and Steve Cohen walks up to the podium and goes, well, I didn't need that. I don't know if he said that in the microphone or if he just said that to me, I don't, I'm not completely sure. But, um, so he introduced Buck as the national league manager of the year. And then Buck opened his, uh, saying, you know, you know, Buck, uh, Buck is funny, but Buck does not miss a damn thing. And so he says, Hey, before he starts talking about himself, he says, now, first of all, wait a second, look at you. Who are you to be questioning? We know you wouldn't pass a physical. On physical. So, uh, it was funny. I laughed. It was great. It was, it, it was good for the show. So, uh, look, I'm a big boy. I can take it. So no, it was really good. And, uh, showed a sense of humor about the whole thing. I love it. Um, you mentioned, uh, the big fella and maybe we'll land here. You have a book 62 coming out. People can pre-order on Amazon. It comes out in July. Um, I have to assume I, you know, and let me know if I'm overstepping my boundary, but with judge on the cover entitled 62, it's probably about the home run race from last year. It's about the 1962 season. No, I'm joking. But it will say there is a lot of history in it too. It, yes, it is a story about Aaron judge and the 19 and the, uh, the 2022 New York Yankees and chasing obviously Roger Maris's home run record and a lot of stuff that, um, look, I lived it. Judge lived it with me, you know, with all of us, you know, we all saw it live on TV. Uh, there's a lot of that it's going to capture last season, but I also wanted to connect three great Yankee right fielders, all of whom, uh, held this fantastic record. So there is Babe Ruth, there is Roger Maris, there's Mickey Mantle. There's the movie that we all watched back in the day on HBO, the Billy Crystal movie. Uh, and so as fun as it was to relive judge and the home run chase, it was almost as much, if not more fun for me to dig into some of this kind of archival, the old newspapers from the sixties, the old magazines and connect it to, to Maris and to mantle, uh, Roger Maris jr. Did the forward for me, Aaron Boone's doing the preface. So, uh, I really want, what I wanted to do here is we just live this fantastic season where Aaron judge, um, really captured the imagination of baseball, but what makes baseball great is it's history is connecting those generations. And so while it is a judge, it's the judge story. It's the story of this past season. There's also Yankee history there. And to a lesser extent, the Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, the home run chases that we all lived through. Um, but really the stars of this book are Roger Maris, Babe Ruth and Aaron judge. And there's a through line, uh, there three Yankee right fielders all played the same position for the same team, maybe not in the same building, but, um, the same city and kinda how does 1927 look compared to uh, you know, how would Roger Maris have fared in a Twitter, Instagram, YouTube world. So there was a lot of cool stuff to explore that honestly, in the moment we were all just so swept up in it, that it was really fun to kind of have the space to take a step back and like appreciate what we all watched because it was awesome. And I feel like, uh, when this book comes out in July, we'll be a little further removed from it. And it would be really cool to kind of go back in and, and go home run by home run and what was going on this season and then compare it to 1961 and got to talk to, there's two guys left really from that 61 team, uh, Tony Quebec and Bobby Richardson. So I got to talk to them, uh, for the book. So there's a, you know, there's, there's definitely some Yankee history in this book. So hopefully it's something all generations will be able to enjoy. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure that will sweep through our office. Uh, any, anything, yes, anything Yankees, uh, tends to, and I'm sure we'll, we'll be taking care of our subway rides and probably, I think half the people aren't there aren't working. So they'll probably just be reading it during the day. Um, to go, how, uh, how much is judgy involved? I genuinely, I don't know. And I know like you saw him at the writers thing, like, you know, I, I guess how much is there? Yeah. I mean, we obviously talked a lot during the season. I was talking to him constantly throughout. So I feel like, uh, you know, as far as the judge home run chase, I can go back in my archives here. And I know what he said on this day and that day and about, uh, the contract negotiations, which is obviously a huge part of this thing. Uh, you know, the fact that we didn't know what was happening, if he was going to come back, arson judge, all that, uh, that's all in the book too. That's a little drama at the end there. So I feel like judge's voice is certainly representative, but what, what I love doing was kind of talking to people in his orbit who are around, uh, getting their stories, even if it was just, you know, people in the press box who covered this chase and, uh, people on the, yes, that were Michael K Meredith, Marock of it's, you know, Susan Wallman, John Sterling, uh, getting all of their takes because we all lived it together. Um, you know, obviously day by day by day, and it was going, um, but I feel like to peel back the layers of the onion there. And, and especially, I have a whole chapter about, uh, 62 and what was going on behind the scenes of the guest network, John Filippelli and out in the truck. And, uh, how were they covering this event? Because, you know, I feel like, uh, you know, flip was there for, uh, 61. He was there for Mark McGuire and judge. So I feel like he's a great through line there, uh, getting a chance to talk with him about it. And, uh, there, there was just so much going on in the moment that you can't capture in an 800 word news story that 62 alone deserved its own chapter and to, to have four or 5,000 words to kind of say, this person was doing this and this person was doing that. It, I think it came out really well. I hope people enjoy it. Yeah, man. Uh, I'm excited. And yet there's a, I remember cause, you know, I can, I can, uh, kind of do a charade act as, as press for, uh, for about 20 minutes. And then everyone's like, get the hell out of here. Little guy. Um, I remember like Meredith and Michael, like they were kind of stressed out. Like I, and I just, I just went back to remember the game that was going to be on Friday, the Friday night Apple TV game. Like how, how crazy that whole weekend is so excited for that. Um, I guess, closing up with, with big Aaron judge, um, did you, this is a little obnoxious, but like, was there any, like even seeing him the other day, like any relief, like it's, it's done. Like he got the contractor, like, you know, did he, like you mentioned, he has, has that wry smile sometime and he's like, good to be back. Like anything like that. Yeah. Well, I mean, I, I told him straight out. I said, as somebody who's writing a book about 62, you scared the heck out of me. Uh, you know, there was, there was some time where I was, I was worried about it. And, uh, yeah, but I, I think that, and he said the same thing that he said publicly is that, uh, he wanted to go enjoy the free agent process. He wanted to see what was out there because I think that if he had signed with the Yankees without ever doing that, there would always be something in the back of his mind saying, I wonder what it would have been like to go talk to the giants or the other teams, you know, the Padres say not that he knew the Padres were even going to get involved with that crazy offer. But, uh, I think there will always been an unchecked box there. So the fact that he and Sam went investigated it, they, they went out, they did the, the whole go out to dinner with the giants and tour Oracle park. And then they did the secret flight to San Diego and check out and listen to that and see what they had to say there. Um, it came back to him over and over when, when that was all done and it was all said and done, it was that he wanted to be a Yankee and he would look at Sam and he would say, we're Yankees. We belong with the Yankees. And that was where he wanted to be deep in his heart. And I think that obviously it took getting the ninth year to get there. They had to match the offer from San Francisco, but once the years and the dollars were taken care of and Al Steinbrenner got on the phone from Italy and said, uh, what's it going to take? And he said the ninth year and he said, done. And then, and then they had the little conversation where he says, Oh, by the way, Thurman Munson was my favorite player growing up. And I'd like to make you a captain. Like he was now judge has got his nine year contract. He's the 16th captain of the New York Yankees and all is well with the world. So, I mean, it came to the conclusion that I expected, but boy, was there drama to get there? And hopefully, uh, you know, obviously plug there's enough to fill a book there. So, uh, all the twists and turns of that. And so, uh, hopefully I, uh, did a good job of capturing it because there was certainly a lot going on. Brian Hoke, you are the best. Um, everyone go pre-order your book, follow Brian Hoke. You probably already do if you follow us. Um, and I can't thank you enough. Uh, you know, in classic talking Yanks fashion, I'd casually reached out to you this morning and you were available to go for us. So, um, you're the best. I think I owe you a shirt. I'll send you some Roman, I guess. Um, and I'll, I'll send you whatever I'll you want BBD for a more. Oh no. What do you want me to do with BBD fishing or golfing or something? Dealers choice. Yeah. Cool. It could be like a nice we'll send, we'll send a camera. It'll be like, uh, it'll, it'll be like a bonding day. Oh, wow. Uh, can I plug something before I go? I'm doing a, uh, there is an autograph signing this weekend. It's, uh, the pinstripe pride event, I believe at, uh, yes, in New Jersey and go check that out. But, uh, 50 hall of famers, uh, well, 50 former Yankees, including hall of famers are going to be there. And, uh, you buy an admission ticket. You can come say hello to me. Um, and, uh, I can sign a copy of mission 27 or Bronx zoom, whatever you like, but, uh, check that out. It's, uh, the pinstripe pride event, uh, sponsored by celebrity cruises. So, uh, that is going to be at the American dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, East Rutherford, New Jersey pinstripe. Right. I heard about that. I'm trying to think where I heard about that. Was it you or was it through someone else tweeted about it? I've Instagrammed about it. So, um, but, uh, trying to get the word out and a lot of cool Yankees are going to be there. I think Pettitte's there facade is there. Yeah. There's some, uh, some big names, some Oh nine Yankees. I'm looking forward to seeing job at Chamberlain. Um, but yeah, a bunch of the, uh, the gangs all getting together in, in Jersey this weekend, this lineup. Yeah. How about that? What we BBD, I think we might have to cash in Rachel Balkovic, Scott Brocious as Waldo Cabrera, Bartolo, David Cohn, Chili Davis, Bucky Dent, Girardi goose, Randy Johnson, David justice, Jimmy key Knobloch, Michael K Matsui. What is this? Pretty cool, right? I think you just changed our weekend. You guys should come. Absolutely. You should be there. Andy Paul Jorge. What? All right. I'll see you on Saturday morning, Saturday morning in East Rutherford, Saturday and Sunday in East Rutherford, American dream. Brian Hoke. You're the best. Thank you so much. Love got it. Anytime guys. See ya. Oh, Yankees. Thank you, Brian.