Aaron Boone Gives the Latest Yankee Injury Updates | 892

Today is April 11th. We are doing some sharp stats and talking to Boonie about the Yankees, the New York Yankees. Let's do it. Let's talk some Yanks. Hello and welcome to Talkin' Yanks presented to you by SeatGeek, the geeks with all the seats. Over 70,000 events every single day are happening and you can use code YANKS and get $20 off when you purchase your first ticket to one of those 70,000 events. Yankees homestand coming up. Maybe you want to go, so thank you SeatGeek for sponsoring this 892nd episode of Talkin' Yanks. Jake, wearing your Harrison Bader shirt. Click that link in the description. Jim, this is a John Boyd Media shirt, so they should probably go get that. We should send one to Bader. I think he'd like it. There's a chance. I did, you know, Boone interview coming up. We actually haven't conducted it yet. I did think maybe when Bader's almost come back, we say like, man, how much would you hate wearing one of Bader's shirts to Boone? Yeah. So we'll tee that up, but I think that's closer to one of the guys. Who are you choosing? I think that's probably his least favorite outfit swap on the team, easily. But yeah, I'm good. I'm excited to get some sharp stats with KT Sharp, the queen. I think it's another positive one, as we're coming off Miley's favorite loss of the season last night. But we can still put that in our rear view if we Baltimore it. And maybe road series this year. We lose the first game and we win the next two. That's currently the pattern we have going, as of right now. So I'm hopeful. What do you got? Win the series and we're all good. I think it's my second least favorite loss of the year. Admit that first one in Baltimore. I didn't like more. Maybe my least favorite lineup of the year. Yeah, it was. It was eligible with that fact that this was a close game. I didn't mind the Baltimore loss because they fought. They came back and I like that part of it. That raised it for me. But yeah. Oh, who? And we were prepped about the lines with the lineup in game one against Cleveland. First, Shane Bieber is almost your roll on the dice. Really? Calhoun five. It was the first one where like visually. And this happened a ton. What? Two years ago. Yeah. Last year. Just like visually. You're like, what? Yeah. We have the year we've seen ones where like, oh, they're doing this and that. But this was the like, you know, you see Gleyber. First, you see Calhoun five and you're like, wait, what? We're doing a total funk. Yeah. Our Jack Doyle from We Got Ice. Go check them out if you haven't. He laughed twice at the start of this game. First, he's he hadn't been familiar with Cleveland's baseball stadium. So he saw that they basically have a giant wall and left. And he was like, what the hell? Like, more people aren't mad about this. And then the second thing was the Yankees come up and, you know, that first inning Gleyber double judge walk Rizzo line drive Stanton off the wall. And then Willie Calhoun came up and he goes, what? Yeah, it was it was it was the biggest cliff. It's an insult to like the top four guys in the lineup. And it's not a shot at Willie Calhoun. His first game as a Yankee top four following Stanton, the top four guys. And he did hit the ball really hard. But the top four guys, it felt like they knew, ----, we need to get something done here. And they didn't do enough. Colton Brewer show that was not. We'll get into this later on. Let's get into the sharp stat, the sharpest of stats from the queen of stats, Katie Sharp. I'm interested. I get my notes out because sometimes I'm trying to listen, but there's a lot of numbers. I like I like memorizing all the numbers. Hey, guys, Queen of Stats. And this week we want to talk about Gleyber Torres. And I know that everyone can see his awesome slash line. And then also, he's got the nine walks in nine games. This is entering Monday. And last year, he didn't get his ninth walk until his 49th game. So there's some of those obvious statistics. But I really want to dig into what what's driving all this improvement in his hot start this season. And first of all, what I want to talk about is he's just making more contact. This year, his width percentage, that's swinging strikes on all pitches that he's seen, is just 19 percent. And last year, it was 27 percent. And especially, you know, he's seen a lot of improvement in against breaking pitches. Last year, he whiffed on nearly a third of all breaking pitches that he saw. This year, he's cut that in half to just 15 percent. So he's making a lot more contact. It's not just more contact. It's a better contact. Now, you'll see that his average exit VLO and his hard hit percentage really haven't improved from last year. But what I really want, what I want to focus on is what's called sweet spot percentage. And that's classified as a batted ball hit between eight and 32 degrees launch angle. So basically, just getting really good contact, but getting the barrel on the ball. And those are usually line drives and really hard hit balls. So this year, his sweet spot percentage is 44 percent. The MLB average is 33 percent, and last year, it was 36 percent. So definitely, definitely an improvement there. He's getting under the ball less. He has no pop-ups yet, which we know was a problem for him in the past. And he also, really notably, he's going opposite field a lot more. More than half of his batted balls to right field have been to right field. And I know that a lot of the YES Network analysts talk about that. When Glaber is going right, he's going opposite. So that's really good to see there. And then the final thing I really want to talk about is his two-strike approach. Now we can see he's got just three strikeouts in 37 plate appearances that's entering Monday. Last year, so that's an eight percent strikeout rate. Last year, it was 23 percent, which is just about league average. So a huge improvement there. And the big thing for me is that he's whipped on only two two-strike pitches this season. That's ridiculously low. So three things I think that we want to look at for Glaber going forward is, you know, he's making a lot more contact with the breaking pitches. Can he keep that up? He's going opposite field a lot more. And he's got a really good two-strike approach. So we'll see if he can keep that up for the rest of the season. Hey, I loved it. I loved all the info. There was a lot to chew on. Do you remember everything she said? Can you recite it? I do. Glaber Torres has been off to a great start this season. He's been hitting the sweet spot a lot more, which that is important. He's obviously been taking all the walks. We heard all the stats about that, which is good too. And his chase rate is down, which is incredibly important. Glaber Torres is also not popping out at all, which I love that anecdote by Katie. Because yeah, you can picture a Glaber Torres in-field pop-out, and he doesn't have one of those this year. So that is really interesting. And yeah, I mean, all of the launch angle, exit velo, how he's hitting the ball, going the other way with the ball, it all makes sense in the Glaber Torres hot start to the 23 season. I really like the breaking pitches. The no pop-ups is good. We should quiz Booney on that. Like, do you know, does Glaber have any pop-ups? You've been keeping track of the pop-ups? You track pop-ups? Whose job? I like the breaking pitches, man. A lot of guys that get to the big leagues can hit fastballs. Most of them, right? They see a lot of them. But you know, the breaking pitches get sharper. They get more on you. And I have the month-by-month, because it's lowest swing and miss on breaking pitches so far. Katie said it was, what'd she have it as? I wrote it down, I think. 19%? Maybe I didn't write down the breaking ball one. But 14% swing and miss on breaking balls this year, this month so far. Last year, his best month was also April. And it seems like every year's best month is April at not swinging and missing at breaking balls. But last year, his best month was 25% swing and miss. He's at 14. That's a big, big drop-off. In August last year, his worst month, just for context, 42% swing and miss at the breaking balls. Which wasn't his worst ever when he first joined the big leagues. It was bad. So I don't know if you're going to maintain that. That's really nice. But if it stays, you know, good. Looking at his yearly trends, every month it goes up, and then it came back down in September. So let's keep that low. Yeah, and this is all piggybacking off of, again, that September last year, what Glaber put together was really impressive. And his whole demeanor felt different. And you still see it in what's become our favorite self-applause in the office. The cheer for me, we saw that last September. He brought it into this year. And yeah, the other things that are clearly jumping out, and I do want to say it is a 10-game sample. Over the month, you'll get to 25. And do I think Glaber will keep up his current AL leading 537 on base percentage? Probably not. That's Barry Bonds stuff. But it's where does all this land? And I think the part that makes it the most exciting is the stats don't feel sustainable. The feeling feels sustainable. Because it's a mix. We saw Glaber jump in first pitches again. We see him take walks. He's got 10 walks and three strikeouts. That means you're seeing the ball really well. And just finishing off a topic that we'll cover on Talking Yanks every year, Glaber tore his spring 242 batting average, 11 games, didn't have a single walk. So sometimes spring is a really fickle thing to try to translate into the season. I'm looking at a spray chart, and I'll show you, Jake, so we can be looking at the same thing. Sure. Every ball he has put, all balls put in play by Glaber, every ball he's put in play to left field has been a hit. He has not hit one over the third base and shortstop's head that got caught in the air. Yeah, every ball in the air to left field has been a hit. To right field, you got outs, a dead center, you got some hits, but he has no hits on the ground to the left side. Stuff. All the analytics guys say hit it in the air. Can I, I have one other fun fact that I heard watching the TV last night. Who said it? I put on for the first time this year, I put on a MLB Network late night. Just because I didn't want to like watch another full game, but I wanted to get some highlights from around the league. It was late, I was tired. They were talking the Yankees, they were talking Glaber Torres and his hot start. They talked about his five stolen bases. And every stolen base this year from Glaber has come when they've had the lead. I think every attempt has been when they've had the lead. Interesting. So I thought that was a fun little anecdote that Glaber's got a little... They said that on MLB TV? MLB Network, yeah. So I don't, I wonder if that's a, if that's part of the Yankee rules, if that's just coincidence so far, because again, it's a small sample size. But yeah, I wonder if Glaber's running ties to a little greed lead theory. I like that. We're, I wonder if there's anything about, he's running a lot. Did he get one yesterday? Does he get credited for a stolen base when IKF got thrown out at third? Or is that trying to advance on a pass ball? No stolen base on his ledger. I think in the book he advances on the throw. Because that would be funny if he got one, because he's had some other wild pitch that kind of stolen base. It would be a tough deal for Zanino. He throws out a guy stealing. Yeah. Hurt his 50% on that would be tough. That would be tough. Yeah. They the scores got that one. But a double steal kind of sucks for the catcher too. Like you can't throw both out. If you throw one of the two out, right. You shouldn't get caught. Yeah. The other catcher's point of view. Is that how it works? Yeah. That's what I think. That's what we just, I think I thought it was a pass ball. Oh, I thought, I think that ball actually was yeah. Pass ball, wild pitch, whatever. Yeah. So sometimes those don't count as stolen bases because it's technically a pass ball. Let's say it's straight up into Zanino's glove. Right. He pegs the trailing runner. I bet it would be like fielder's choice or. Yeah. It's probably he's safe on the fielder's choice. Caught stealing it. Whichever guy he got out. It makes sense. It does make sense. We got to the bottom of it. Catchers hate double stealing. On the sweet spot. Why not just make the bat bigger? Okay. You think that's why DJ uses that like long barrel? DJ loves his bat. That's all. Oh, DJ loves his bat. He loves when people ask him about his bat. It's the only question he's proud to field. Yeah. He doesn't get why everyone doesn't use that bat. A little perplexed by it. It looks like Ted, Ted Williams' bat. Do you, you know, we, we have six guys we like in the lineup right now. Do you, while Glaber's hot, do you want to test out him lead off and try the DJ slide down theory? No, I love Glaber 5, dude. Okay. We saw it that one day and I looked at that line. That's what I whispered into the mic. I like him 5 a lot. While he's hot right now, I do like him. And I like DJ up top. It's pesky. Um, you don't have the steel factor, but I, and he's a good, I mean, Glaber's on a heater right now. There's, there's no denying that. But I, I do like DJ verse high leverage guys late in the game. It feels like he gives you a chance, like any of the guys that are swinging for power. If a guy throws their best slider, you're screwed. You know, um, where DJ he's, he's going to battle with those guys, even though some of the high VLO, he can get a little overmatch actually this year, he's looked really good against the high VLO. Um, but yeah, when, when that flips over eight, ninth inning and he's coming up, I feel like he's going to give you a good at bat against any reliever. I also like, and now I think I ran into another theory. Okay. Love it. Love a good theory. I think all of Glaber's caught stealings have been the last out of the inning. So with two outs, he's going Donaldson was up. So he took the bat out of Donaldson's hand. Hicks was up. So he took the bat out of Hicks his hand. And does he have three on the air too? Two cuts. So those are the two. So those might be getting called from the dugout. Make something happen. We can take this risk. We got to lead the aggressive. The other thing is when Volpe is getting on base in the eight, nine hole spot, or even when Bader comes back in the eight or nine, right? I like speed on base for DJ because a hit and run is an option. If it's, um, Glaber, he's still swinging for power. He's putting the ball in the air, but with DJ, he's trying to hit the ball behind the runner to shoot that gap. So you can use that speed that we now have available to us at the bottom of the order if they're on base. So that's why I like DJ in that lead off spot. And I totally agree with what you said, like he's going to give you an at bat against a good pitcher. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, uh, I think it's been funny and refreshing that Glaber's been running so much as sprint speed is 43rd percentile. This year is 40th last year that, uh, yeah, you know, we, when Volpe gets on, it's been electric and hopefully when Bader comes back, yeah, it's going to give the Yankees a lot of options. Um, I'm excited for that. When are they coming? Bader, the last update I think I'm seeing is a couple, a couple of days ago. Um, two days ago, uh, taken dry swings, positive progress on his left oblique sprain. Um, a return to the outfield likely occurs end of April if there's no setbacks. That's a, we played this game the other day. We said, pick, pick the series. Oh yeah. So I remember that. Should we make Boone pick a series? That's kind of mean. Yes. We kind of hate that. I would hate that. Yeah. I don't want him to do that because then if someone writes that, that's not good. Look. Right. Ooh, Cole starting today. Thanks. I like that. Hi. Versus Hunter Gattis. Fifth career. Okay. So that's huge. I would have loved to win yesterday a little more now, but then we would have had to pump on record day and they want us to win every record day now. So that's cool. That is cool. Win tonight. Win tomorrow. Happy record day. Let's throw it to the Boone talk. Jake, tell them about Vizio. Boone talk is brought to you by Vizio. Are you ready to enjoy the 23 baseball season? You probably are. If you're listening to this, to be honest, why don't you enjoy it on Vizio's award-winning TVs and soundbars at insane prices. 4k screens for under $500. Brightness that cuts through the glare when you're watching day games. I told you guys that that early, that 11 AM slot clips my TV every time. Gotta get in the Vizio game. Vizio has always been the MVP of value, premium performance, and surprisingly low prices. True story. Hopped on with them and gave them this passionate speech about how I remember them in college and they were my first TV and they were like, Hey, stop talking, kid. So head to Vizio.com. Check out how you can elevate your visual experience all season long. Vizio.com. Elevate your AV for the MLB season. There's a link in the description. Vizio's got the TV or soundbar for you. All right. Welcome to episode three of Boone and the Weirdos. Booney, you're live in Cleveland. How you doing, man? I'm doing well. How are you guys doing? Good. Good. Do players listen to your postgame pressers? Like does Stanton know that you've been calling him a weirdo? I mean, obviously the reporters probably go. Oh, I usually tell it to his face when he, when he comes in after one of the weird homers or something, I'll just be like, you weirdo. I think he gets a kick out of it. What about if you changed his walk-up song? Like, are you allowed to pull pranks like that to like, cause I'm a weirdo? No, we shouldn't actually. I don't love Big G's walk-up song. No, keep going. I don't know. I always say to myself, I'm like, I don't love that one. Isn't the song. Cause I'm a freak. I'm a weirdo. I mean, that describes him pretty well. It does. It does. Okay. We'll have that going. Uh, Boone, do you remember the first home run you ever hit in Cleveland? First home run I ever hit in Cleveland. I was probably a member of the Indians. Yes. Are you, are you like tribute tributing me right now? Yeah. Isn't this a superpower you have? It used to be, but I'm 50 now. So that stuff's starting to fall off. I'll give you one detail. Uh, you were playing third base that day. Wow. My first Homer would have been. Oh, one count. You guys were losing nine nothing. Yeah. Tigers. Yes. You have it. Uh, we're losing nine. Nothing. Yeah. Tough day. Oh, was it a lefty? I will click his name. I know his name. Uh, no, it was a righty. I don't know. Bonderman. Yeah. I think you had it. I'll give you credit. All right. We opened you up with a fluff piece. Cause now it's just hard hitting question after hard hitting question. One game, losing streak times are low. Um, I honestly, Boney, the, the number one question that I think we've been, we've been seeing and has been on our minds to, uh, goes to his Waldo. His, his plan time's been a little more in flux than I think a lot of fans expected. Um, is that just nature of the beast? And there's a lot of outfielders that you guys are feeling out at this point of the season, or is it kind of part of the plan or, or I guess what's, what's been tied to that? Um, I think he started seven out of 10 after sitting last night. So he's in there today. He's playing shortstop today. Wow. Okay. We were going to ask about it, but you know, I love that you've run Volpe out there every day so far, actually really like it, but we were wanting to, it seemed like a day was coming up for a little bit of the rest. Yeah. So today was the day that I kind of wanted to get a lot of our lefties in and kind of spacing out this trip. So, um, yeah, I mean, I was, Waldo's going to play a ton. So, um, I mean, I don't, he's played seven out of 10. I mean, yeah, I don't think he sat that much. I think it jumped out cause he sat two in a row, um, one day and also we prepped everyone, you know, that, you know, the over 30 guys, we're going to get a little more sitting in this, this early going. And he's an under 30 guy and his versatility lefty righty, every outfield position. It seemed like he would be a guy that would get a lot of run. There's going to be days where I give him a day, especially against the lefty. Like, even though he, I feel like he's made huge strides on the right side of the plate. Um, but I still think his dominant side is especially from a power standpoint is that left side. But I do feel like the strides he's made over the winter, um, are, are going to, you know, start to make it more even on both sides. I love the player. Um, he's going to play a huge role for us, but he's going to bounce around, you know, he's kind of that super utility obviously. And, um, you know, so I don't know if Cedric, Cedric, I'm talking about Cedric Mullins into this question. I don't know if as Waldo's at this point, but you, you know, you referenced using a switch hitter on one side of the plate. The Orioles told Cedric Mullins, why don't you just be a lefty and stop hitting righty. And as soon as he did that, he became an absolute beast at the plate and you get to use him more. Like how does that decision-making go? Yeah. But Cedric usually also hits eight when he plays against lefties. Okay. So, um, no, I'm just worried about like any switch hitter in your career, like teammate player, or you manage, is there ever that thought like, Hey, why don't you just not do the other side? Yeah. JT snow was a guy like that, but I, I think as Waldo, um, is, is good enough on both sides to keep doing it. Like if you can legit switch hit and like, don't get it twisted on, like, he's a, he's a solid player from the right side. It's just the side piece continuing to improve more. I just think he's like power stroke from the left side. You know, I don't think he's all the way there yet. Right-handed, but he's not, it's not a weak side for him. Yeah. Yeah. More just flowing it into the general question about the switch hitting and all that declines, uh, on the, as well, those stuff and playing the other, you know, flux of outfielders we have, you saw Calhoun and, uh, Frenchy Frenchy, get a lot of getting the same lineup card, which I was going to say, you know, you prepped us and we prepped everyone. We're going to do a lot of, you know, resting on the first road trip, but I wasn't expecting, I don't think I was ready to see Calhoun Cordero, uh, IKF in the same lineup. Cause I was, uh, I was a wild, just from, you know, telling you as a fan, I was a lot to handle. Yeah. Um, well, I knew, you know, especially with DJ, I just wanted to have them a day down and, and kind of be disciplined to that. Um, John Carlos getting the day today, you know, I knew like in this series, like G was going to either have the day game after the night game or the night game kind of looking at the matchups. This is the day I'd most rather have the lefties in. So it's like, let me have G ready for the day game. And that way I can get them in the outfield yesterday. Sorry. And that way I can get them in the outfield yesterday into a day off with getting some lefties in there with, you know, a couple of back to back days of at bats to, you know, Calhoun's at Calhoun rates. Like he's the real deal as a hitter. There's no doubt in my mind. Um, and then, so to get, I'll have Calhoun and Cordero back in there today on back to back days in a matchup that I kind of like how much Willie Calhoun quick, uh, listed five, six, 200. What, uh, what do you have on Wow. I mean, that's probably dead on. I don't think that's okay. So he's honest. Oh yeah. I mean, I don't think he's, I mean, I don't think he's littler than that. Okay. Well you get, you just, you have a Willie Calhoun fan. Uh, anytime you got a short King like that, that can hit a little, um, just know I will be rooting for him. Yeah. You think Alejandro Kirch and honest five, eight. I don't Maybe we'll go back to back with, uh, Calhoun and Alejandro when we play them. Kirk's catching, make sure you start Calhoun or at least get a pinch hit so we can see that shot of them standing next to each other. The people kind of need to know. Yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Do you, do you with Bader coming back soon and, and getting reps and knowing there's a roster crunch coming, uh, in that, how much does that go into the lineup, the lineups where you're like, Hey, before one of these guys has to get optioned or, or DFA depending on their availability there, like, should we give them run or is that, or when do you start thinking about who's going to get off when Bader comes back? When, when you get, when you get immediately toward that, that, cause you start making those plans now, two weeks ahead and you know, and, and the schedule and, and the baseball guys start laughing at you because they'll throw another curve ball at you the next day to where you're factoring in the wrong thing. So that'll be, uh, um, you know, as we get close to, to Harrison being back, um, what we have to do. I think, I think I got one last outfield thing and then maybe we'll head towards some pitching. Uh, Franchi Cordero puts together a couple of big games, uh, always been an exit Velo King, fun name. Uh, when Franchi has a couple of big games, do you see a couple of the analytics guys walking around a little taller, kind of like beating the chest a little bit? No, no. Cause he, I don't, I don't think that's necessarily an analytics one or, or anything like that. I mean, you know, Franchi's a, you know, talented guy. So I think he's kind of one of those guys that, you know, everyone from a scouting lens to an analytics can, can acknowledge like, okay, this guy's one of those guys with talent and big pop and big power. Um, you know, can he get it out at that major league level and become a major league regular? That's, that's the remaining question out there about him. So, um, no, it's, it's, uh, I, I'm just excited for the player that he's come in and impacted us and, and, you know, been a, been a key figure in a couple of important wins. Let's go to pitching. I want to talk about like and, uh, kind of the, the, so last year we knew he struggled against lefties. It was no surprise. It was a conversation all spring about developing the cutter to, to get lefties out his first two games. So it's a small sample. I know, but it's all we have to talk about is the two games and he's thrown the cutter a lot to lefties and it's gotten hit a lot. I think he's got like a 500 average versus lefties or 400. And it's like a one three OPS against lefties in these two games where in that Baltimore game, it was a situation. I think they were five for eight and every, or six out of, or every ball put in play was a rocket, like a hard hit ball, 90 plus exit below. What's, what's that like for you and the staff and Blake when there's, there's a certain thing we're looking at here and it's a big obstacle because like you said, with the righty pay pitching, you're putting that lefty heavy lineup. Like it's a big tell for opponents. If this doesn't improve, they know, let's just play all our lefties. This is a struggle point. So yeah, can you talk, talk through that a little bit from your end? So here's the deal. Like I believe the cutter is for him an absolute weapon and equalizer for, for lefties, but this all starts and ends with fastball command. He's got to be able to command the fastball at a certain level to be a successful starter. And if he can do that, now all of a sudden the cutter starts to really play the curve ball and the change up start to really play, but it starts with the ability to really command the fastball. And, and ultimately that's the biggest thing for a starting pitcher too, is once that happens, then it sets up all the other weapons because he does have the weapons and the repertoire to get it done, but he's just got to get, you know, to that next level of really being able to throw a fastball for a strike when he needs it and can do that. And that way it sets up the other stuff, how it should. And on the flip side, he's getting righties out like crazy. His numbers against righties are really good. Does that make the decision-making if, if we, if we don't see, you know, if the rotation starts getting full and he's still struggling with half, you know, the, with lefties, is the decision-making then, Hey, he's great at righties. Let's use them for righty lanes against teams like the blue Jays or these teams that have a whole bunch of righties, or is it, let's use the option and have them really figure out the lefties thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, those will all be, you know, we're, we've got a, a few more weeks here before we start to see hopefully getting guys back into the rotation where we're going to see, you know, where that continued development happens and, and, you know, hopefully it kind of declares itself for you, you know again, this is that time where he's got a real opportunity though, to, to take advantage. He's going to get those opportunities right now. You got, you got any injury juice for us? I know Bader, you know, I think there was a seven to 10 days till minor league assignment set a couple of days ago, something like that. I know Seve had his big throw day, I think Monday, and we were waiting to see how he reacted in Rodon too. You got any new scoops on that? So Seve threw, hit a bullpen yesterday, all pitches. I think he threw like 22, 25 pitches, something like that, went well. So that was good to clear that hurdle. Bader, Bader took full like machine BP. He feels great. Nice. So I don't know, I'm sure he'll be on the field a lot with us this weekend when we get back home. I would imagine then a, you know, if everything goes well the rest of this week, I would, I would think a rehab assignment starts sometime next week, but he's, he's kind of done, he's kind of done really well the whole way. Obviously now the nature of this injury is, is we want to make sure it's, he's healed and not in a re-injure situation. Then you're, you know, getting yourself into a predicament there, but really since the start of it, it's seen more severe than all his symptoms and how he's progressed. So we've been pleased with that. Rodon, he, he's, he had some back tightness, so it's kind of delayed his next live, which was supposed to be kind of yesterday, today. So it's probably going to be a few days. Elbow wise, he's doing great. So we'll see how the next couple of days are there, but we're getting there. Trevino threw a bullpen the other day. He's into his throwing program now. He hasn't gotten on the mountain yet, but he's well into his throwing program and things have really started for him the last two, two and a half weeks. It's really started to go well for him after that month of March, where it was just really slow. He couldn't get over the hump, but now he's, he's, he's really starting to trend well. I'm excited when now that stuff's, you know, I just, sometimes, sometimes there's dates thrown out and I'm like, I don't know. I'll wait. Cause last couple of years, it's like, you just never, like you're saying with the decision, you just on the flip side, you never know what's going to happen with the current roster injuries. Are you just like, let's wait and see not to, not to be like negative. I just don't like getting myself overexcited because if we get half of the guys, you just named back, it's going to be pretty, pretty fun. I think let's, let's aim for all. Well, yeah, by, by playoffs, I'll take all of them. Can I talk about one, one like move? Can I like, uh, you know, backseat driver or Monday morning quarterback with you and just, just the, uh, the pinch hit for Franchi in the Baltimore game, game one. Now game one. Now I know you're thinking there, or at least I can get into your mind about thinking there is, uh, in my mind, you break down pinch hitting a little bit. Like, do we want, uh, you know, some patients and a base runner and then Hicksey gets the tap. You want a ball in play and runner on third, no outs or one less than two outs. You're a ball in play. So I capture ball in play pinch hitter, right? But how much, how much goes into that? Like there's two at bats here, you know, just for this moment, which I forget the scores down one or the down one or tide up one. So there's two at bats coming up and the game can look different in the second at bat. So, you know, if I was to give you my opinion, which I know you don't need to regard or hold high in any way, I like the move. If it's the last at bat of the game in a close game, but knowing you got another one and Franchi hit a three run shot, how much does, how much, cause in your head, I'm guessing you guys make the moves and you go, this is going to work, but how much do you have to think? Well, if it doesn't work, actually you make the move and it's probably not going to work. Okay. All right. So that is part of the thought process of the time. It's not going to work, right? Yeah. You're trying to improve your chances three, four or 5%. So, you know, 75%, 70% of the time, it's not going to work. Maybe it's 73% of the time, the other ways sticking with, it's not going to work. So it's, it's a, it's hitting it's failing proposition. Okay. So the safe thing is always just a, yeah, let's go with the slightly less matchup that we like because the guy, you know, hit a Homer. So, you know, like we're winning at the time. So we feel like we're getting a little more athletic in the field too, in the situation. And, you know, for as much as I know, people love to pile on IKF. The guy has been a two 90 hitter the last three years with runners in scoring position. And he does put the ball in play. And like, for as much as we like to pound on them, like that's real. How much has that's been here? That is really, he does. He's a above average contact bat and a ball in play there helps. I think it was a pop up to the second basement or like, yeah. And then he's, he's a great in center by the way. So like, I know we we've had our times last year where we were tough on him, but you know, that, that part of it adds up. How much does the human element, but, but I will say that stuff that did factor in. And I believe the matchup was worse Colum who's not a wipe out lefty. He's more of a neutral. I mean, tougher on lefties, like you want a righty up there, but it's not, it's not an overwhelming one there, but I liked it with the lead ball in play. We're going to get more athletic, but I hear you on the next at bat, because that does factor into the equation a little bit. Like we're down here. What incremental, you know, gain are we gaining knowing this might come around again? That's always the rub a little bit too. Like when, you know, we're in a big spot, say it's the seventh inning and or the eighth inning and you're, and you're in a tie game and you're pinch running for big G knowing that, that, that, that may come back around again. That's the rough. Yeah. And that's, you know, sometimes you got to take your shot when you have it to put something away and you got, you know, then you're, you're, you're benching the potential pop of, of, of Franchi there in the next at bat, but also the human side of it. I think that's where fans always get interested. And, and maybe we play this hand too much. We're not in the clubhouse. We don't talk to the guys, but the human side of, all right, we're taking this guy out. We got to go tell him, um, he just hit a home run. He's probably feeling great, uh, against the team that just dropped them. Right. And said, no, thank you. So he's, he's rubbing it in and you got to sit him. So now his day is half over versus on the other side, IKF is now ----. Pinch hitting is really hard. Uh, the numbers on like the M the average pinch hitter fails almost eight out of 10 or eight and a half out of 10 times, or like the human element is a little bit like, well, you know, there is good mojo with the guy who just hit a bomb against the team who said no to him and potential, like giving a guy a tougher task. How much is that playing? Cause fans, I think, want it to play in a lot. It does play it, but you also look at hundreds and hundreds and years and years of, you know, Intel to that tell you that it doesn't play in that much, right. It doesn't that, that, that, that needle is marginal. The other thing I would say to you is Franchi Cordero, who's bounced around for a few years, all of a sudden just just hit a couple of big home runs against his former team and helped us in winning situations. Like he's also in a pretty good spot. Yeah. And now I'm taking them out of maybe something that's not such a great matchup. And he's sitting over there feeling pretty good about himself, knowing that he's carving out a little bit of a role for himself with the New York Yankees, where a week ago he was, you know, in limbo and spring training with, with the Oregon. So I think you're also getting the guy out of there in a position where he was set up to be successful and feeling pretty good about himself as a real contributor for us right now. So I guess follow up on that, the Sunday game, almost a similar situation comes up. You guys are up Fortitude and Franchi against Colombe. Is it just kind of like you're saying in baseball, the odds are always against you. Is it like, Hey, game one, we flipped that coin. It didn't go our way that well, let, let's try the others. What was my gut? My feeling? Yeah. Joe Torrey would have done that, you know, but no, it's seriously in that Friday game. Is it just like, well, you know, let, let's let Franchi get the at bat against the lefty. I, I don't, I'm genuine question. Yeah. It might've been slightly differing circumstances based on someone being available or not available. So I forget exactly, but look, it was close for me on both days, frankly. Yeah, it was close on both days for me one way or the other, but again, you guys got to always realize anytime. The easy thing sometimes is to not pinch hit for anyone, right? Cause you don't rough. And because pinch hitting is ultimately it's a, it's a failing hitting's a failing thing. So chances are, it's not going to work. It doesn't mean it's not the right decision. We're a little misguided. Sometimes that's how this all started. You know, that's right. Hunter Gaddis today on the bump. This is a picture that, uh, the Yankees, these guys haven't seen, right? Cause he's a rookie. Uh, I think even before you came on, this is something that Yankees, no matter who's wearing the uniform. And that probably means across baseball struggle with, you even saw in the world baseball classic team, Japan throw a guy that wasn't in MLB just because they knew MLB hitters had seen Darvish and Ohtani before. So I have a bunch of scouting report tips for you. Thank you. Let's go with runners on not good last year in the minors. So we need to get on. Yeah. If you could have someone, Roger Dorn it, and just lean into one or, you know, whatever you need to do, get on base. He had a three 46 on base percentage against when there was a runner on. So you just got to rattle them a little bit. All right, let's get on. All right. Lefties. If it's a one Oh count, a fastball in the zones this season. So just let Rizzo know if, if, if he misses on the first pitch, he's coming with a fastball in the zone on the second pitch. Okay. Noted. And then he doesn't throw balls. So you got to, I would attack early because his fastball is getting clobbered every time he's in MLB and he hasn't had a three Oh count once this season. So let's just say, I'm just so glad you didn't say right there in the MLB. Well, I'll say that sometimes, but I did, I did it well this time. Trevor gets mad. Ploofy gets mad at me when I say that too. He does. Yeah. He doesn't like that. That is RBI. Yeah. Oh, Jake's a big one now. But I'm the other, it's RBI. I think it in the English language. And again, the fact that I'm RBI or RBI. I think it works. Like, I think the nerds got that one wrong. They fought. It's RBI for years. Like no RBI works. You're an RBI guy. No, it should be RBI. Right. If you're going to get real bad at it. Yeah. Yes. RBI, RBI. Yes. Okay. So you have the scouting report and I'm excited that, you know, you put all that in motion. It's based off two games. You didn't look back in the last year. Well, last year, the runners on bases from last year, but it's a lot of AAA and the fast, the four-seam fastball has been getting crushed and he doesn't throw, he throws strikes. So just swing big. I'll just, I'll let any fans listening. I want to, I want to swing early approach. Everybody do Glaber today. You know, we we've been, we've been good aggressive early in the zone, early in the counts with all our guys. That's, that's been one of the things I think has been really exciting early on is how aggressive the guys are being yet also still their DNA of patients showing itself as, as, as the bats unfold. So that's been a focus of ours. And the guys have done a really good job of that. Volpe faced him last year in double-A actually. He went one for three, hit all the balls hard, but he's not playing today. So I don't need to do that. Yeah. I'm not playing today. Um, I, I guess little one Volpe, um, you know, he gets the first off day today and you know, there's it's 2021. So it's more so mental rest that I'd have to assume. But, um, do you tell him like, Hey, be ready, kid. We might need you to run or is it, or is it kind of a little bit? He's ready. Yeah, he's ready. But yeah, no, he, he'll be in play for something. We're in a, you know, tight one late, like any situation. Yeah. He'll be, he'll be in play today. You think he spikes on first inning in the dugout? I do. Okay. Do you like that? If you see that? Yeah, I'm good with that. We need to be ready when game starts. Would Gardner on off days, would he like go change? Gardy? Yeah. Like when he go change in the sixth inning and like walk out, like stomping his cleats, just, you know, clack, clack, just so you could hear it. Yeah. Pleats on from the start. Okay. I'll tell you the DJ, whenever I give him a day off, he's like cleats on batting gloves on 15 minutes before the game, like beating all the regulars out there. Still like doesn't know what to do with himself. I feel like judge rubs it in. I think he's like, he's like hoodie on. I don't even, he, you can, and same with big G when you give them days off, they're like sleeping on the bench and I'm not knocking them and just, it's funny to be like, oh, he's off. He's, he's, he's taking a day. Yeah. But they know that may have a big one late. Yeah, that's true. Do you know that Glaber hasn't hit a pop-up yet? You keeping track of pop-ups outs? I don't love that. You just said that I knocked on the table. You can't say I knocked on the table right when I said it. Oh, you did. I did. So we're fine. I'm just, I'm just excited about what he's throwing up there. Gaming at bat after at bat. He's been, he's been locked in and just really good at bat. So just keep doing that. On the watch. So I guess we're thinking DJ at third, judge in center, Rizzo at first, Glaber cleanup day at second, Calhoun at DH, Oswaldo at short, Trevi catching, Franchie and Hicks. Yeah, that's, that's the, you didn't quite get the order right, but you close, but yeah, those are all the participants. Okay. And if I had something wrong, what would it like be? Did he get the positions right? Yeah, I think he did actually. Cool. I was paying attention. But you pretty much nailed it. Okay. I think Hicks is, I think Hicks is in ninth. Yep. Is that a, is that a mental thing? You know, we saw Posada, we saw A-Rod and Torrey did that, and it was kind of like, don't do that. And is that like a, does Hicks not want to go all the way down there? Or is that just lineup, matchup, ability, what they're bringing to the table? No, it's also, I value the nine hole a lot as a guy can get on base ahead of our big boys. So that's, you know, that's Hicks' biggest strength is the ability to get on. So not, yeah, I like him there flipping that thing over. It's why I like, you know, as much as I have Volpe down there, you know, kind of to start his career, I also really like him because his DNA is going to be get on base, control the strike zone and, and obviously his speed. So I just, that spot in the order, I really value ahead of our big boys, especially the way they're swinging the bats. Is the hit and run going to come back? Like it's, you know, it kind of went out of the, out of favor for a while, but I, we were talking earlier on this episode, if Bader and Volpe are down in there and the seven, eight, nine area, and then DJ's leading off and that's a hit and run swing with speed on the base. I'm excited if that happens. I don't know if it'll come back, like maybe you're talking right now, but there are matchups with, and not necessarily the guys you mentioned, but a few guys on our team that I like it with, you know, with some, with some ground ball guys, sinker guys that I like to do that. And I don't know that that is any more this year for me. Um, you know, so many guys now are so many just swing and miss guys, as opposed to what I played, where it was more in play all the time. So, um, it's there a little bit with certain matchups with a few of our guys, but I don't know necessarily more. Okay. All right. I'll kill that dream. Cool. I think come playoffs, you use it once and I'm going to be very excited. I probably use it sometimes and you don't even realize it. Okay. Oh, that's exciting. Is that just to give a little nod in the post game and I'll figure it out. All right. All right. Cool. Thanks booty. We'll take up any more of your time. I appreciate it. All right guys. Have a good one. Let's go win this series. Seriously. Yeah. All right. There you have it. Boonie the boon chat. Boon talk, talking the boon. What's the, what are we calling it? Boom chat. Oh, I should play boon, boon, and boon with him at one point. Yes. Great. I should play that. Yeah. That feels like a mid May. Hey, you got to say Jake three episodes now. I, uh, very excited and happy with the conversations around all of them. Yeah, man. He's been very open, very deep into like baseball weeds. Um, hi, as just me, this could not even go out to an audience. Like I'm thoroughly enjoying chatting with him. You, uh, you know, you diving into triple a scouting on Hunter get Gattis. That's, that's your sweet spot. I mean, the fact that he texted me halfway through like, this is actually the fact that he didn't do that. Uh, the fact he's drinking, it is a lot of fun. And this, uh, this post game is brought to you by draft Kings sports book. Baseball season is rolling. Make sure you guys are with draft Kings. Uh, and right now $5 pregame money line bet gets you $150 in bonus bets if your team wins. So join in the big league action now on drafting sports book, download the app, sign up with code Yanks. New customers can bet just $5 on any pregame money line and get $150 in bonus bets. If their team wins only a drafting sports book with promo code Yanks. What else did you like there? Just all of it. I mean, I, he, he had no idea about the pop-up thing and I feel like I broke his spirit a little, but I did not. And he spun it back in you, which was a little, it was great spinning. He got the Vonderman, uh, correct. Yeah. I was very impressed. I wasn't, I didn't see that you were doing the lineup stuff on our sheet here. Jake and I have a shared sheet. We type it's secret typing. You guys aren't, you guys don't know about it. We'll open it up to the public, but, uh, that'd be funny, but great job. Cause I didn't do that with you. Yeah. It was all you. You figured out the line. It's so much easier to play against the lineup with the manager telling you who's in and out. Yeah. When he, like I, Oh, I did write a lot of lefties and no stand. I know what I know. I think I screwed up. I think I had Trevino above Franchi or I had true Franchi below Trevino. I think Franchi Johnson, actually, I don't know. Trevino was as high up as he's been in the lineup yesterday, but they're also stacking lefty. So I'm actually coming back on that. Okay. Um, yeah, I mean, it's also a slight bummer when you're like, ah, Stan's getting the day off and you're like, ah, yeah, I like him a lot, but still early with the Oswaldo stuff early. He was a little genuinely like, uh, I played him a lot. So he just might view him still as a more, more, uh, utility than, than frontline starter. Cause I think in his head, he's like, I've started our, our super utility seven out of 10 games. That's right. Bunch. But in our fan center, like, Hey, this is a guy that should be running every day. Like he should be in the Rizzo, the judge, the Stan, like get him run. Or, I mean, I think there's also an age thing here that we have him closer to like bulky. Yeah. It's like, he, he's young. Like he doesn't, he doesn't need rest. It's like, I understand if you play some matchups, but I don't think they're rest days. I think they're more matchup days. He was saying the righty lefty thing. Yeah. Which, um, I don't know. I mean, we, we talked about it. I remember we talked about it and you can kind of see it at the dish. He feels like more of a threat, uh, from when he's hitting lefty. Uh, but at the same time, like the stats verse lefty so far in his major league career, which is only 35 at bats as well. Those are two 86, three 33 on base guy. Uh, but there's less pop. So, um, I don't know, I guess the Yankees fans and ourselves are kind of like as Waldo's an everyday guy, but I think it also tied into he's great vibes, but I think it ties into the other question that got brought up of, you know, Bader will be coming back at some point. So I think they want to see as much Willie Calhoun as they can, as much Frenchie Cordero as they can. I believe him when he says that does like, cause he had halfway through the question, he had a visual reaction, like, no, not that far in advance that far. Like I do kind of believe in his mind. I think that I do believe him there that they wait like day out day before cause you never know. Oh, I fully agree on that, but I think they get as much data as they can leading up to that. So if the option is playing as well, the Cabrera, another game, or it's a decent spot to see Willie Calhoun or Frenchie at this point, they wouldn't want to see them cause they're going to have to make a decision on them. So the more results they have when that decision does come, if it comes via injury or however, I have a question and you have more, what's your cue. Last question. I want to see if I interpreted something, right? Okay. You had Hicks batting ninth, right? Yes. I said, I think Hicks isn't ninth, right? That's what, so you guys had a little miscom there. Yeah. Cause you thought the, the mistake was Hicks batting ninth and he, he said, no, he likes, he likes Hicks nine. So Hicks is batting ninth. I thought he confirmed that Hicks wasn't batting ninth. That's what you know. That's what you thought was wrong. Kyle's but do you remember, but then he, he talked about how he likes Hicks nine to then he, he's then Jake came back with like, so Hicks nine, you like that or one of you said it and yes. So the way I heard that was, I said, the one thing you have wrong is Hicks batting Hicks isn't ninth. And he said, yes. And I said, is that be a mental thing? You don't want to diminish him. And I was giving him an out to protect Hicks. And instead he answered it. No, it's more because we value the nine spot, like a slight at Hicks. So I got to listen back. Yeah, no, he was, he was saying I'll, uh, Volpe batting ninth. They like six, six gets on base. Yeah. We'll see the lineup. I believe he said he's not batting ninth. It's he, I think my whole speech he gave about Hicks batting ninth and how they value that. He talks about liking Hicks being on base. I thought he was not like I interpreted as a knock, like, no, we value the nine hole. No, I guess we'll see when the lineup comes out. But he was saying how Hicks is best asset is how he gets on and how much he likes flipping. Yeah. I thought he was saying if Hicks is in the nine spot, then yes, I think you guys, I think there was a slight, I think you were saying like, is the nine hole a knock? And he's saying, no, I really value the nine hole position. Yes. So if Hicks is not in the nine hole, right. But I, I opened the conversation with him. I think it's a win win for him. Cause the ninth hole is the ninth hole, but also Hicks is there. His skill is on base. So I'm under the assumption. He's not a nine hole. I thought I said boonies that he got the nine hole wrong. And he said, yes. Yeah. I heard that too. Right. Yeah. I think, I, I think, I believe there's a slight miscom between you guys somewhere in the middle there, but I guess we'll see when the lineup comes out. Yeah. Two v two right now. Run it. Go Yanks. That's the show. Thanks guys. Subscribe to the channel. We appreciate you. Go Yanks. Tell them Grams. Go Yankees. Like, subscribe, preview. Buy a shirt. Buy two shirts. Pet your dog. Let your cat loose.