How The Yankees Will Attack This Offseason | Pinstripe Post

How The Yankees Will Attack This Offseason | Pinstripe Post

I think the Yankees are going to kind of be in it. And my suspicion is do what the Yankees usually do, which is when they really want a player, they let Scott Boris in this case know we really want your player. If he really wants us, don’t let him sign without us getting getting in at the end. Hello and welcome to the Pinstripe Post. My name is Ryan Samson. He’s the star of the show, Joel Sherman. Today is Tuesday, October 21st. Listen, the World Series is set. It’s Blue Jays verse the Dodgers after a thrilling game seven last night. Joel Sherman was there in Toronto. Uh I don’t know how he’s operating right now. I’m assuming there’s a lot of caffeine going through his veins right now. How you feeling right now today, Joel? Good. You know, uh I I generally agree with the you know, I think I’ve say this on the show quite a lot. My dad drove a truck for 46 years. I know everything I do is easier than that. Uh and uh there’s a privilege and a pleasure in doing this stuff uh that we do, including I was in the ballpark uh in 93, same ballpark in 93 when Joe Carter walked off Mitch Williams in the Phillies that uh and I was back there yesterday. Different name. It was called Sky Dome then. It’s Roger Center now uh to to see it. But you know a tough tough turnaround you know get back to the hotel at two get up at five to get a plane uh from Toronto so that I could be sitting here uh doing this with you and then uh you know in about a day and a half I’m flying back to Toronto for the uh the start of the world you know media day is Thursday World Series games one and two are Friday Saturday uh and uh you know we’ll be off and running for the end of the 2025 baseball season but the end of the American League season was really quite something Yesterday the storylines were pretty strong about these two teams going long times in one case forever now uh without making it to the World Series. I know we’ll we’re Yankee uh uh webcast and you know it is worthwhile to remember there are organizations that have misery that quite outstrip that of the Yankees who are kind of have lots of championships and lots of wax at it year after year. And these were two of those teams who have been wandering in the baseball desert trying to get there again. And uh the Blue Jays and their fans had quite a night last night and it was a it was it was uh great to be there. Yeah, look uh it’s something to see when the team that eliminated you uh and meeting the Yankees in the playoffs ends up going to the World Series. It makes you wonder what if. And that was where I wanted to start here with you Joel is that, you know, it was a sevename series and it went a lot of back and forth. But if you were to look at this from a bird’s eye view of how if the Yankees had gotten past somehow the Blue Jays, would do you think we’d be talking about Yankees Dodgers rematch in the World Series? Yeah, I mean I I think I said at the very beginning of the postseason, uh, you could convince me the Yankees lose to the Red Sox. you could convince me they go to the World Series. And I think that if we played this postseason 20 times, uh there are five to 10 of them, no fewer, I think, where the Yankees go to the World Series. It is a I just watched these seven games uh pretty much up close. And uh I, you know, the outcomes are there are the outcomes, but I didn’t look at these teams and say they’re far better than the Yankees. Uh, you know, you you see, you know, it’s so funny, uh, Ryan, because the Mariners offense is so much the Yankees. I think the Mariners scored 23 of their 28 runs, something like that, via home run. Like most of the guys in their batting order were hitting under 200, you know, like the the bottom of their lineup, you know, you could talk about Vulpier Wells. I’ll talk about Victor Robles and Dominic Kenzone and lots of guys who would feel can’t get hits. Uh, and so, uh, you know, and you could put up, uh, any Aaron Boone decision, uh, allowing Edward Bazardo to give up the biggest hit of your season at the biggest moment without using Munoz, who hadn’t given up a hit yet this postseason to that moment. Uh, I think would rival Dan Wilson’s decision in the, uh, in the seventh inning against Springer as the top of the orders coming up again. I I I would say that stands up with some pretty bad stuff. I’ve seen over the years. So, I mean, I think that there are probably three or four teams in the American League who all feel like, hey, you know, like uh slide the doors a little bit and we we could be in the World Series. And I mean, I think the Yankees I I’ve said this on the show a couple of times previously. I thought that the 2025 Yankees as a total team were better than the 2024 Yankees who actually went to the World Series, but the draw was different. Uh last year’s draw was much easier for the Yankees with Kansas City and Cleveland. This was a tougher draw for them and Toronto, you know, like there is no pretend championship pro. Toronto, first of all, earned heads up during the season the right to play at home both in the Yankees series with homefield advantage and of ultimately game seven by having the best record in the league. You know, the Yankees lost a lot of games to the Toronto Blue Jays this year. So, it’s hard to them now to say, “Hey, the Yankees should have won this thing.” Uh, you know, they had their opportunities against the Blue Jays. They didn’t solve them. And, um, you know, I’m being long-winded here, so let’s let’s talk about it in some form of fashion. You know, ultimately, the Yankees are going to have to prove that they could beat these kind of teams at this time of year. I don’t know if that’s about tactics or temperament uh or both, but uh when they run up against this kind of team annually, uh you know, who kind of can stand up to them, it’s usually the Yankees who get knocked out. Well, it’s funny you say that. So, it is usually the Yankees get knocked out, but you also were at the Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone presser, season end presser last week. And I heard your takeaways, Joel. Uh, and I think a lot of Yankees fans resonated with what you what you said about this is the Yankees from what I had heard and what your takeaways were. They’re going to run it back with the same thing and their formula is not going to change. They’re going to try to outbass you with home runs and have good starting pitching and try to build a good bullpen and believe that the homers and the starting pitching that they have here in house can hopefully carry them all the way to the World Series. I guess let’s let’s take a step back for you now that you’ve h you know you’ve had a couple days to process what they said. Are you still on that that they’re going to continue to go back with the same old Yankees routine of how they’re going to approach this off seasonason? Yeah. Well, I mean, the uh the uh the Mariners got to within eight outs of using that formula to get to the World Series this year. So, uh I think if you look uh the team that has hit the most homers in a game this postseason, don’t don’t hold me to this, but it is something like 24 and five right now. Like if you don’t hit homers this point the year, like the Milwaukee Brewers, everybody loved them, right? Oh, contact, whatever. Like if you don’t put the ball over the fence, you’re going home. Uh so let let’s say that putting the ball over the fence is vital uh as part of your weaponry, probably the most important part of your weaponry. I I I think I said on one of these previous shows that I do think that because the Yankees haven’t won a World Series in 16 seasons, uh that every year kind of gets lumped on the other, but Ryan, we did a lot of shows last year and you know that those shows were me saying the Yankees are bad at baseball and that it’s ultimately going to bite them and it did specifically in games one and and particularly game five of the World Series against the Dodgers and I thought the Yankees act after that was tired where they did like well you know like what are you you know like what are you talking about it’s like well you didn’t fix this all year uh I actually think they went a long way to fix it this year I think that this was distinct from some of the other years again I think this team was better than last year uh uh and that’s not like sometimes you go where you go I also thought the 2017 2019 and 2022 Yankees were better than the 2024 Yankees They ran into the Astros. The Astros always had the Yankees number and the Yankees lost. But I think if the Yankees played a tournament against those versions of the Yankees, those versions win. And so I think the Yankees are building from something that’s a little different that Brian Cashman did address defense. They got better on defense. I think that they got uh uh the ability to score runs in different ways by using their legs a little better, all while being a home run hitting team. And I come back more and more whether is this an Aaron Boone, an Aaron Judge uh playing in New York, whatever it is, I’m not sure that it’s uh style or tactics. I thought it was last year. I just think that this team doesn’t win a fair fight in October. Like, if it’s not a fair fight, if it’s the Twins, sure. Like, bring on the Twins. They’re great against them. Bring on the AL Central. Bring on the A’s. Bring on the Roman Anthonyless Red Sox. Uh but when it gets a little fair uh uh you know during the Aaron Boon tenure uh they’ve played five playoff series against AL East teams. They’re one and four. They beat the Red Sox this year. Uh and they’ve they you know they’ve lost to Toronto and and Tampa Bay. Uh and you know those teams are used to playing against them. They don’t uh you know they don’t do uh you know they don’t back down to the Yankees like the AL Central at this time of year. And so I Ryan I don’t know if there’s a way to fix is that like changing manager maybe. Maybe like would they they be tougher minded? Maybe. But like you know Joe Gerardi was manager for 10 years. They won they won once in 10 years right? Uh, and I I I I don’t think it’s as easy as a fix as it seems. I thought that this was a very very well-rounded Yankee team that lost the playoff series to the team that had their number. And if it there wasn’t a team that had their number every year, we would have just said, “Yeah, that was an interesting season.” But because it gets piled on the 15 years before that, I think we look for meaning. Um, so don’t you think that maybe maybe that goes into part of the preparation that the Yankee I I know the Yankees, like you said, have have tried to to streamline their process, right? Like they’re all about looking into the analytics of guys. They’re looking into how they’re practicing, how they how they eat, how they train, all of it. They look into all those things. But there must be something going on in these other organizations. And it’s credit to the Blue Jays and the Red Sox and the Astros when they do beat the Yankees in the playoffs cuz their process works. It is there something to this Yankees process, Joel, that maybe it just isn’t the right way to go about it and that the Yankees are maybe just a step below or a notch below the other teams when it goes about prepping prepping for these World Series playoff uh series. I don’t know that we’ll ever get a perfect percentage for this. Of course, we won’t. But like I I would say the Blue Jays and Dodgers are no less analytic than the Yankees and they’re about to play in the 121st World Series. Uh those teams uh and and also nobody ever defines what analytics means. Uh you know, is that sports science? Well, if you ain’t working on sports science, you’re you’re a fool. Uh you know, you’re trying to come up with the way to keep your players healthier or come up with torpedo bats. you know like uh this is uh you know you’re you’re trying on every level to maximize performance. Um I I have used this term before. I think if and again it’s very nebulous Ryan. I think these are finer details and I’m not sure that anything’s ever perfect, but sometimes I do wonder if the Yankees lack feel in putting a team together um about like uh uh makeup character when the going gets tough, the tough get going. You know, George Springer is essentially playing on one leg last night. I’m not saying there aren’t Yankees who would play on one leg. That would that would be silly. You know, the Yankees win a lot of games. They did get to the World Series last year, but there’s something in the if this makes sense, tiles don’t hang if you don’t have good grout. And you know, like you need the stuff between the tiles to make it all work. And I think sometimes in the construction of who’s in their clubhouse or maybe who’s delivering messages, there is a little something lost because I just I think I’m always looking for the the serial nature of something. Sure. And the serial nature of this is what’s not one year for the Yankees. What’s not one year is just not being able to kind of will themselves through a more even up battle. And I I I I think even if you went to to town on it, Ryan, I’m not sure that you’d solve it. But man, as much time as I put into my pitch lab, which again I think is vital and sports science and data, all of it, which I don’t poo poo, like I don’t call guys nerds and stuff like this. This is if you’re not at the top of the field in these areas, you’re going to be in the bottom of of baseball. But I do think there is a humanity to this uh around fortitude, toughness, mental real toughness that I wonder because I keep seeing them get to this moment and it feels and feels is always a tough word, right? Because you can’t define it but it feels for many many years now that they don’t stand up well. uh at the most crucial moments that there’s there’s these moments of save your season or not and you know the best I’ve seen of them saving their season was a you know Juan stood who came and went uh and again it was against an inferior a much more inferior opponent than the teams they lose to annually. So I don’t know how to quantify it. I’m not even sure I know how I would begin to hunt to figure it out to fix it. And yet, if I ran the Yankees, I’d be obsessed with it because I know it’s not about desire to accumulate players who are great to win because I think the Yankees are in that game. Yeah. Uh I think this is about something if I had to put my finger on it, it’s about something finer. And I’m, you know, does Brian Kman lack that ability, that feel to know the players? Does Aaron Boon and his coaching staff lack something? Does the the the construction of the clubhouse from Aaron Judge down lack something that when you know the fight is brutal in the in the I’m I’m an old man. I remember when championship fights were 15th rounds. When it’s the 13th and 14th round and you’re fighting on will as much or more than skill, how do the Yankees hold up there? I don’t think they’ve held up well in October as And I think it’s been serial. Yeah, it certainly feels like it, Joel. And and the responses we hear from these guys in the presser last week is they’re going to continue to use what they what you consider serial. It’s going to continue for them and they’re going to go about their process the same way. I think there is this there is this thought that they believe look we just we we run into these really good teams and we just don’t we come up short here in the playoffs when we when we when we have good teams ourselves I and they’re going to break through. That’s their thought and that’s where they’re their belief that they’re putting into and and but but Brian, you know, like that actually might be right. Right. Right. the the Blue Jays uh hadn’t been to the World Series since 1993. And in this period where they’ve been run by Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins, the last three times they made the playoffs, they got eliminated without winning a game, right? And like Vlad Guerrero was terrible like before this postseason. Uh it’s easy to forget now because the Dodgers are going to be heavy favorites to become the first team to repeat as champion since the three Yankees. But from the last time we saw a guy a home run before last night was Kirk Gibson game one 1988. Dodgers go on to by the way prove you could stun a big underdog in the World Series as the Blue Jays are going to try to do now with the Dodgers. They stun the Bash Brother A’s who were big favorites. From then until 2020 they didn’t win a World Series. Uh they made the playoffs every year for about a 10-year period before 2020 and then would get knocked out and there were all kinds of Clayton Kershaw. Can you win if Kershaw is the key guy on your team? Can you win? Dave Roberts is your manager. Is Andrew Freriedman just the guy who brought all the nerdy stuff from Tampa and doesn’t know how to finish it? Then they won in 2020 and it kind of felt like the next three years they get eliminated relatively quickly. So it’s like, oh, did they just win a bizarre 60game season? And it’s really like they have one kind of quote asterisk World Series since 1988 and now they look like the old Yankees. They feel inevitable in the postseason. Uh, so if I were the Yankees and I kind of like have to live with the way I do things, I can look at the universe of other teams, Ryan, and say it’s very hard to win a championship. Like, like when the when the Phillies go to the World Series in 22, uh, and it looks like, man, they’ve accumulated all this talent. Dave Dumbrossski is a finish off championship executive. you’d say, “Hey, man, they’re going to win at some point with this group, but they’ve gotten diminishing returns each season.” They’ve made the playoffs all four years, but each year they go a little less. And I just think that fans don’t want to hear it, but these things are hard to win, man. And I’m not al, you know, at some point you got to win it. This is how I think we say it on this show all the time. There’s fair and there’s sports fair. Yep. Right. Like and sports fair is different because we are like it’s a very small sample size but we’re if you like parades are bizarre. If you’d like to get one of them you have to win the small sample size one year. And the Yankees haven’t been able to win the small sample size. They’ve taken a lot of wax at it. And I believe that they would say what Andrew Freriedman said for years and years. if you keep going back and back and back, one year you’ll be at your healthiest and playing your best and you’ll win. And I think that they actually felt that might be this year because they were healthier like Boone mentioned that they were healthier and playing well going in and they just and that’s why I go back to it wasn’t about health and it wasn’t about talent. It was about something else which might be as simple as hey man Max Freed had a bad day. If he didn’t, maybe the Yankees win this series. But I just feel like the one thing that’s been constant is when they’ve had a fair fight they haven’t won in like a long time. And uh they need they need a is it grittiness? Is it mental toughness? There’s something missing, right? We’re not crazy. They need more players who are kind of I don’t know gameresque. Yeah. Been been there, done that, can also win it for you like when you need it the most. Feels like there’s there’s this level I don’t know that you sense it. I hear it in your voice. I think you hear it in mine as well. There is this sense about the Yankees right now. They just can’t get over that hump. And that yeah, it doesn’t. But I’m telling you that was the feeling in like I was in Los Angeles in a lot of October before 2020. And I’m telling you the Dodgers were getting killed for they’re not tough. The people who are running it are idiots. Kershaw is a fake leader. Uh can’t win with him, etc. And I it feels reminiscent of where we are now. And if I were the Yankees and I knew that, I might say, “Let’s just keep getting back to the party and we’ll get it right one of these years.” Like, like, you know, because again, like, could you convince yourself John Carlos Stanton usually hits great in the postseason and he hit the hell out of the ball in this postseason, but get he didn’t get batting a, you know, he didn’t get production out of it. like if he has if the ball falls for him conducive to the exit velocities and Max Freed has just a good day are they playing the Mariners I and so like it might not be about Will and this other stuff and we’re conflating this year where I thought they were better with these other years and yet when you’re in charge of things you’re in charge of trying to fix them and the one thing I keep coming back to is you consist consistently have not won this series. You know, we could change the opponent from Houston to Boston to Tampa to Toronto to the Dodgers. When that team shows up in October, you are not as up to the fight as the other as the opponent. And I’m not exactly sure how you deal with it and fix it, but I would be obsessed about it if I were in charge. Yeah. And it it’s certainly if you talk to Yankees fans or at least the crazy ones, they’ll not I wouldn’t even say they’re crazy. A lot of them will be like, “Well, spend like the Dodgers and go get Otani Betts Freeman and all these pitchers.” Wasn’t But Otani wasn’t coming any wasn’t going any place but the Dodgers. That wasn’t a money thing, right? Uh Betts was traded. I’m not saying in the past. I’m I’m saying even looking forward to the future right now. Like I I like like I look I get it. I know the cheap house stuff. I don’t think this is a financial thing. I I could do it again. Would you like me to do it again? No. No. Don’t do Don’t do it again. I I I I agree with you, Joel. I’m just again I’m telling you the discourse. Let’s not site crazy people saying dumb things. Okay. Like like ultimately the Yankees when they signed Garrick Cole I’m going to do it. The Yankees when they signed Garrick Cole signed the most expensive pitcher of all time. When they signed uh uh Aaron Judge it was the highest perom in history. when they traded for John Kolo Stanton, nobody had come close at that point to acquiring as much money in a trade as they did, $300 million. Uh Max Freed and Carlan are two of the highest paid free agent pitchers in the history of the game. I think they’re in the top five for lefty free agent pitchers. I think Freed is number one. They were in on the Wanoto deal to the end. They went They were in on the Janoto deal to the end. and by the way made the kind of trade for Juan Sodto that most teams are not willing to do for a walkier player. Would you like to go back over the last 5 years and see the number of prospects that they’ve traded chasing after a championship? I’ll deal with some stuff. Uh you know, like I you know me, I’m not shy about being critical of of the group. I think that you’ve got to come up with a real argument. I agree. Uh, and the the real argument isn’t how has cheaped out cuz like like it’s cuz here’s the deal. Whoever he let’s say he doesn’t cheap out. He resigns Bellinger this off season. They spend big on a relief pitcher. Whatever. As soon as the season begins next year, it’s like, well, I don’t know. Bryce Harper was available in a trade. Why don’t he trade for Harper? Like there’s never going to be enough, right? Like like this is job of the hut. There’s never enough food that’s going to be shoved in for a crazy fan because it’s always going to be about the next guy and it’s not actually coming out of their pocket when it goes wrong. I And a lot of this goes wrong. And look, they’re always in the top ends of the payroll. I know they’re not first with the Dodgers this year. Number three. And and and I think they get the Mets were two. They didn’t get to the playoffs. Like like sometimes the things you could the things you could go after them, right? Phillies were four and they got knocked out. I mean, and I look, I I I if I thought that this was a bottom line thing, and and by the way, geography matters, and the Mets, the Yankees are not alone in this. The Mets feel the frustration of it. The the being in in Southern California, Yeah. which has Hollywood and ocean, weather, etc., is a big law to bring people in a large overwhelming Japanese community. There was a time Ryan when Japanese players started to come to the major leagues where where the the players when they came they didn’t want to play with other Japanese players. They wanted to create their own stake like this is my team etc. Now we see Otani planted his flag in a place where he’s comfortable. He was already playing in Southern California. He stayed there. Uh, and that wasn’t about money, right? He left. He deferred $680 million. He wanted to play there. And so the Mets offered more to Yamamoto than the Dodgers. Yamamoto wanted to play there. I think the Yankees got up to 300 million for Yamamoto, right? Everyone went after Sasaki. All the other 29 teams. There’s a huge advantage to to uh geography. I agree. where the where the Dodgers are. You still have to try to overcome everything. This is an excuse-free zone, but there are there’s a difference between exclus excuses and explanations. And uh you can’t put the weather of Southern California or Hollywood or you know transplant them. They are where they are. 100% Joel. And I think the one thing you could critique if and it’s not about spending the resources. It’s not about trading the prospects. The one thing you could critique is is thing if you want to go back in revisionist history is how they like where they spent and what players and what players they acquired going for Stan instead of a Harper or Machado when they were there sticking with Vulpi and and PZA instead of going after the shortstop market that was available that free agency. So there’s multiple things but nobody gets it perfect. No, nobody gets a perfect and that’s and and and Harper left the Nationals and the Nationals won a World Series. And if I I’m trying to count up all the World Series the Phillies have won with Harper or the Padres’s have won with Machado. Those would be they fail in the playoffs every year. They’re team also. It’s like look the answer is it’s going to always be the other guy. Yeah. Until they win. uh the excuse. The reality is most teams spend a lot of money and they don’t get a lot of production. Judge has been great. Freed was great. Rhdan after his first year has been great. Stanton’s been pretty good, especially in the postseason. Like they’ve essentially when they’ve gone to the top of the market, they’ve done pretty well uh for for for what they’ve done. I mean, you could make a case that Judge is grossly underpaid for everything he does. Uh so uh you know I I just think the answer is always going to be and you know what’s never discussed also is like put yourself back in the Harper Machado off season. There are a lot of questions about Harper and Machado temperamentally makeup like how they whatever like like we act like it doesn’t exist today but there are a lot of teams that took those guys off the board. Remember, Harper really went the whole off season and ends up he’s making like $25 million a year. I mean, we should all be so blessed, but he took for him an undervalued annual contract because nobody else was paying him. It wasn’t like the Yankees said no. And then 29 other teams were bidding him up like crazy. The Dodgers, I think, offered him like three years at 90 mil. like they they were willing to give him a very high annual value but were afraid enough of the player that they were like let’s get out of this if we’re wrong. That’s what the sainted Dodgers did about him. They had Machado hated it so much that they never bid on him when he was a free agent. So we act like the Yankees made this strictly financial decision about these guys. And again, what’s undefeated is 2020 hindsight and the next guy theorem, but I just don’t I I think it’s unfair not to re like like really think about who went after these players. Uh what did the Yankees do with the money instead of that? Did they pocket it or did they stay at a high level? And I just think there are there are lots of places to criticize the modern error Yankees. I just think that that’s one of the weak tea places. Well, well, I will say, Joel, is that I agree with you and I do want us to pivot here a little bit about the actual offseason for the Yankees here. Now, Cody Bellinger is the guy, right? like he’s the one the Yankees clearly are going to be prioritizing in the offseason, but there will be an open market for his services. Give me two scenarios here. If the Yankees sign him, what would that contract look like, you think? And if they don’t sign him, could you see the Yankees making a trade for, let’s say, the guy you just mentioned, Bryce Harper? He’s out there. We’ve heard his the Dave Dumbrossky’s comments were very interesting to me. Joel, I won’t lie to you. And a guy who grew up a Yankees fan, I’ve always dreamed of wanting Bryce Harper in Yankee Stadium. Am I crazy? Uh, well, I don’t think there’s ever anything crazy about Yankee fans dreaming because historically the Yankees go after stars. Um, uh, I think that they again will probably do what they can to try to keep Bellinger, who fits them well and I think is an exceptional player. And as far as what the number is going to be, right, I’m starting to do a lot of work on this stuff now. and the the the the gulf between what some people think he’s going to get and what other people think he’s going to get is not a pond, it’s an ocean. And so I think he’s a I think there’s a load of fascinating free agent cases this off season of which his or one of them like look look at it this way. It’s not that long ago that the this model franchise that the Yankee fans are now have either anger or jealousy towards the Dodgers non-tendered Cody Bellinger. That’s not that long ago. He was so bad after being an MVP for him that they non-tendered him. Last off season, a Scott Boris client, a Scott Boris client opted into his contract in Cody Ballinger, which meant that he was concerned he could not get a good deal in the marketplace. A year later, I hear some numbers from people that do not reflect what those two realities and those two realities will certainly be taken into account by the industry. So, does that mean he gets five at 110 or does that mean hell he outplayed Kyle Tucker this year and he gets eight at 240, right? Like you could This is one of those ones where it’s like, “Yeah, I hear you guys. I got it.” Uh, but I think the Yankees are going to kind of be in it. And my suspicion is do what the Yankees usually do, which is when they really want a player, they let Scott Boris in this case know we really want your player. If he really wants us, don’t let him sign without us getting getting in at the end. like like whatever it is, we’re going to be in play and there’ll be a number that will break us, but if you don’t get there, we’re in. And I think that’s how the Yankees do things on the kind of players they want. Uh there sometimes that’s very quick strike like Freed last year. And sometimes that’s waiting it out for man, go make your market. We want you like lame may you go make your market. when you get it or don’t get it, come back to us and we’ll we’ll we’ll do what we can to make it happen. And I I think they really like this player. So, um as as far as Harper, you know, again, Ryan, if you were really the general manager or owner of the team, Harper just had like his worst season. Uh and he’s 33 and he’s a violent player in the way he swings and the way he runs. And you have to ask seriously, am I about to buy the worst years of Bryce Harper’s career because I’m in love with the name and I’m miserable that I didn’t sign him when he was 26 as opposed to that you see that he’s going to be worth every penny of this moving forward. And I think that this is a player that is angry about the contract he’s currently operating under. And therefore, if you trade for him, are you going to be dealing with, hey man, you got to redo this contract as every along the whole way? Because what would make Harper attractive is I think he’s for, you know, I don’t have the numbers in front of me. I think he’s signed for seven more years. Is that correct? I think he’s played six at this point. Was a 13-year contract. Um, but it’s probably like six times 26ish. So, let’s say 25. So, 175. So it’s about say seven at 180ish or so. Six years left. Uh six. He’s played seven with them already. One, two, three, four, five, six. Yep. This past year 2025 was his seventh year with the Phillies. So So like like let’s let’s roughly say it’s six at 160. Again, I don’t have the numbers in front of me. It’s 27 million for the next three and then 23 and change the the three after that. So it’s 25. So it’s six at 150. Yeah. About right. Uh, so is that the is that the same value as like a Bellinger contract you would be signing for him too? Well, it’s always interesting. You know, I always say if Bryce Harper were a free agent this off season, what would he get? Like would would he would he get more or less than six at 150? If you tell me, uh, you know, at this point maybe you’d overpay, but you’d really want to because of the way he played not expose yourself long term. So, I’d be I’d be be much more comfortable doing three at 90 or three at 96 or something. If that’s the case, that contract’s underwater, right? And then like like can the Phillies really trade if you have an underwater contract? It’s one of the things I kept saying where like Twin fans I remember went nuts when I pointed out that the Mets should try to acquire Carlos Korea last off season because I said the Twins would probably want to give him away and they’re like, “Oh, this is just a New Yorker trying to do well by New York and stuff like that.” I’m like, “No, I talk to executives all the time. His contract’s underwater by about $80 million.” If if they put him on waiverss today, nobody would pick him up and and just for the contract, you’re asking them to take a whole contract they think is $80 million underwater, right? And give you prospects. Y So like like how do the Phillies trade Bryce Harper if anybody in the industry even sees it as a neutral contract or even a slightly good contract? Hey, if he was a free agent, he’d get 80 to 200. All right, that’s not annual value. It’s no, you know what I’m saying is so like how do the Phillies trade the player? Unless they’re like, we just want to we have to red like they’re having the same discussions maybe you and I are having, which is we’ve had this core group together. We haven’t won. Do we have to break it up? Uh clearly Dumbrowski’s comments Dumbrossski’s been around way too long to have said that without having some meaning behind it. That’s what I thought. I continue to wonder if the meaning is the player is unhappy with his contract and this was a kind of side glance back at you know I could take some shots here too. You know uh if you’d like me to do that why don’t we both settle down? I mean, I don’t know. Like, I I that’s pure speculation, but uh would I be a 100% shocked if Bryce Harper got traded this off season? No. Uh but uh I do think it would be a tough one for the Yankees because while there’s this feeling probably that you represent with Yankee fans of you’re getting Bryce Harper, I think the Yankees would worry that they’re getting the name but not the game and that all their fans who are doing it are are kind of trying to get a get a doover for not doing it after 18. Right. Right. you’re chasing, but could you not because you’re not going to get that. I mean, maybe you will. I mean, he’s a great player. I mean, we just watched George Springer go from two years of progression to I think he had the third best ops behind Judge and Otani in the sport this year. And of course, he’s just was great again in the postseason and his postseason still going and had such a big homer. So, it’s like, could a great Hall of Fame bound player like Bryce Harper regenerate? He could, but two years ago, there were a lot of people saying, you know what the Yankees should do? They should go get Mike Trout now. And then if they did, they would have gotten a complete disaster. So, you you you got to be careful at this point. It’s it’s not about the name and the some lingering animosity and it’s about like I still believe that guy has well above average production for the next five six years to justify because you probably have to give something up for him right I that’s where I come from in my thought process is the violent swing the short porch in right field how it would play there and then also what you mentioned earlier in this episode about the grittiness toughness uh no given attitude. That’s what Bryce Harper gives in my opinion. And I wonder if that’s a welcome thing for this clubhouse because I know Cody Bellinger is a different cat. I know he’s very cool, calm, and collected. I know he’s also probably the the lead. He’s somewhat of a leader in that that clubhouse and and fearless. Fearless 100%. And I think Harper’s fearless, too. And I Yeah, there there’s no doubt about it. It’s just a question of and by the I’m saying this mind you if if they get priced out for Bellinger that’s where I wonder what the pivot would be here if the if the Yankees can’t get Cody Bellinger to At the end of the day Bellinger is just money and I don’t know that it will be that much more money or years with a player they know is probably lower maintenance in every way has they know fits with their group plays the two positions they again have to worry about to some degree. going into this off season. So, I I I would just assume sign Bellinger. Uh, you know, because I would I would ask this question. As an overall baseball player, who do you think will bring more value over the next five years, Cody Bellinger or Bryce Harper? I don’t think it’s a no-brainer. I don’t think so either. Yeah. If you could convince me it’s Bryce Harper, but I’ve seen Cody Bellinger succeed with the Yankees now, and he does something that has extra value for them. He plays center field for at least a short period of time here until the Yankees either find out Spencer Jones can play in the major leagues and play center field and or the whole sport gets a lot more center fielders of quality than exist and are roaming the major leagues right now. It is a really poor position as the other New York team which kept trying through the you know Tyrone Taylor’s and uh Jeff McNeels and speakies and Cedric Mullins found out it’s hard to fix that position which again will the price for Bellinger some. Well, yeah. And and so let’s say they don’t get Bellinger. Would you could you see them going to get bring back their old pal Harrison Bader? You know, a guy that can play center field, right-handed bat, obviously would would be different than than having Bellinger at the left side. Could that be a potential possibility? I guess everything’s in play. He plays a but but I think the teams that had Harrison this year would say he’s taken enough uh uh body blows that he is now probably more a corner out fielder than a I mean again he could go to center field but the last thing we saw him do he had a very good year but the last thing we saw him do is play above his head with Philadelphia. So we now like that is not who he is. you’ve got to uh think about who he is actually going to be. But with the darth of right-handed bats, with the darth of outfielders, and the der of guys who could at least go be competent in center field, does Harrison Bader get a multi-year contract? I think he does. Would you give Harrison Bader a multi-year contract? Not at this point. Yeah. I mean, this is this is the problem is hitting has never been harder. Y and there’s never been fewer guys you can feel certain about who can do it. And as the hot stove is about 10 days away from really really getting going. It’s one of the reasons like I think Kyle Schwarber is going to get like four years at 150 million or more like he can really hit. I think Bellinger is going to do well. I think Tucker’s going to do well. I think Bader is going to do better than people think. I think somebody is going to hide their eyes about where to put him on the field and give Bo Bashette a pretty good contract because he could really hit, you know, and it’s hard to in this era really hit. Um, but it’s just it’s Yeah, it’s interesting. It’s fascinating if you want to because it’s the same same question you ask yourself about um, you know, playing above your head in Trent Gisham and you know, he’s most likely, you know, I don’t know, do the Yankees extend him the qualifying offer? Are they going to let him walk? I think it’s an interesting one. I bet my my if you ask me today what I think and I have no inside knowledge. I mean again my accumula, you know, fans out there will not take the I have no inside information. But uh I would think the Yankees wouldn’t risk it. I think the Yankees would be worried he accept it, which I don’t think is the worst outcome in the world if Bellinger doesn’t come back, but it is if Bellinger does for their ability within whatever budget House Nine Burner gives to maneuver in other places like and so I I would guess not. Uh and that would that just gives Bellinger even more weaponry to ask for more, right? Yep. It’s like who’s playing center if I’m not again like can I have that name please? Uh and so yeah I think I I I think the Yankees have a tricky off season and yet if they pull Bellinger down, it feels like they could line up a team that’s pretty good as is. And I would suspect it’s not asis. They’re going to go out and get a reliever or two. I think they’ll try to find a righty bat. They like probably a catcher who hits righty. I think their experiment of going all lefty behind the plate was a mistake. Uh and I think uh that the uh you know a right-hand hitter who could catch and play first base as kind of a mirror to Ben Rice would be really useful. Again, go try to find that fella. It’s not it’s not a great uh group to do it with, but and I I think they have to find a a starting pitcher who protects them a little because part of the news out of the press conference. That was going to be my next question about the Look, Joel, we’re like an old married couple. I know where you’re going. Yeah, you know where I’m going. Look, it was going to be Vulpy and it was going to be the starting pitching. So, I’ll start with the starting pitches. You just brought it up. Uh the Rodon injury news obviously was Whoa. Okay, he’s going to be out for a little bit here to start the year. Maybe a month, hopefully not more than that. You don’t know when you’re going to get Cole back, right, until he’s fully ready to go. So, that’s two giant question marks to start, right, to start the year next year. This is second half at the earliest. Uh, Hill is a guy who has not really stayed healthy and did not finish the season great anyway. Schlitler’s young, Warren’s young, Freed had his the heaviest workload of his career. like there is I would be and and and the Yankees are closer to getting internal help. Well, and look, they got internal help the last two years. L uh Heel won the rookie of the year in 2024. Schlitler was a total revelation and Warren was a workhorse this year. So, they’ve gotten some real gifts from internally. They probably can’t believe that April, May is times they could reach down for uh Carlos Lrange or Elma Cruz Rodriguez or Ben Hes or you know that kind of uh uh pitcher who I think they like and believe will help them at some point next year but does not feel like a April 1 situation. So, I do think they’ve got to go get somebody. And I know part of the worry Aaron Boon expressed that, hey, when Rodon and Cole come back, they got to be part of the rotation. And if we’ve signed somebody who doesn’t have options and has guaranteed money and we’ve made a promise is going to start, who’s not starting? I mean, I guess the answer is you could always send Warren and Schlitler to the miners, but if Schlitler is pitching like he did this year, that’s not something you’re really going to want to do. So, like to me, can they find, and again, we know the universe of these things. Can they find a guy who is either Ryan Yarbor or like that who you feel can give you 10 to 12 starts, keep you in the game or better, and then flex into your bullpen when and if that becomes necessary. And by the way, this is the dangerous game. Shane Bieber had Tommy John’s surgery in April of 24 and did not pitch in games until August of 25. If Garrick Cole follows a similar similar path, he’ll be pitching in July. Like these are not Now I I would always believe in Garrick Cole’s seriousness, but I would believe it in Bieber also is a total serious player, a former Sai Young winner. But like, you know, I know Cole’s doing the work. It’s just that these things have scripts of their own. They’re not just going to follow and be prescriptive. Yeah. And like sometimes the time is 14 months and sometimes it’s 18 months. And so I think the Yankees have to overstack on starting pitching with the belief, you know what, we’ll probably never have five healthy at the same time anyway and we’ll never have to make this decision. And therefore, I would try to get somebody I like. You know, is that a reclamation project? Is it somebody who’s been pitching in, say, Korea or something, went over there and they’ve been scouting him and it’s like, “Hey, Bob Smith, who used to not be much over here. He’s kind of the new Eric Fetty, he learned to pitch over there. We think he could come here and at least give us a year of surprises or something.” So, I think I think uh I think they’ve got to address it. Yeah. I mean, look, Carlos Carrasco and Marcus Strowman were pitching for the Yankees at the start of the year this year. So, you never know what’s going to happen with the starting rotation, especially now with the questions of Cole and Rodon uh and the rest of the rotation. It it certainly seems like they need to address that. Uh final thing before we get to to Joel’s notebook. Uh Anthony Vulpi, the shoulder surgery went down. Typical timeline, I believe, is like 3 to four month range before he could start actually like really getting into baseball activities. So look, Joel, do you get a sense that this will still be Anthony Vulpi’s job at this when he’s ready to go? He’ll be in the major league lineup every single day starting at shortstop when he’s healthy next year. Yeah. Uh I do because of the reality of what’s around. So let’s start from the outside. Uh Bob Bashette is the best free agent shortstop available. I can’t see the Yankees spending money there. I certainly can’t see them spending money on a guy who the second you get him, you’re going to be going, why isn’t he playing second or third? He’s not a good defensive shortstop. So, that’s one. Hassan Kim is a guy, again, if you’d like to sit with me one day when I’m doing phone calls and hear the variety of opinion if Hassan Kim is a full-time major league shortstop, both in skill and the physicality to last the season. you’ll hear everything from uhhuh to are you crazy. Uh so like those are the two who are out there uh who you could go to the outside. Jose Cabaliero is a guy who I think over time would probably show that he’s best used in the way he’s been used by Tampa and last year with New York, which was, yeah, if you have an injury, let’s throw him in that position for two or three weeks, but he might not be a starting player full-time at one position. Let’s use his skills to the best of it. And then I’ll add the last thing, which is frustrates Yankee fans. I know, but I return to there is simply not a lot of bats in the sport. And so the Yankees are going to have to continue to work on Jason Dominguez, Austin Wells, Anthony Vulpi because average in this day and age has so much value because it’s so hard to get to average. Like it’s just the the hitting has never been more problematic. I we’re up to 97 mph average fast ball in the postseason. 97 97 I mean it wasn’t 92 that long ago. The movement has never been better. The game plans for each individual player has never been better. So the ability to make Anthony Vulpi 10% better or Austin Wells 10% better. You know like like again we see it every day. And there was without naming a name I I don’t I have not listened to sports talk radio in 15 years. Uh I don’t listen to uh scream shows on the thing but I a friend of mine was recently I’m not going to say the show so there could be no breadcrumbs here. My a friend of mine was recently on a show and asked me, “Can you watch?” And so I did. And like one of the things, one of the screaming geniuses said was, “You know, the Yankees have to be more like the Blue Jays. They got to put the ball in play.” ignoring again the fact that the Blue Jays were winning games where they were hitting homers and not winning games where they got plenty of hits but didn’t hit homers. Uh and he used Andre Gimenez as the example. How come the Yankees don’t have a guy like Andre Gimenez? And I was like, well, you have to work hard to find somebody who’s a much worse offensive player than Anthony Vulpi, but you just found him, man. I know he just hit two homers in front of you for the first two games you paid attention to, but this guy had a 66 OPS plus this year. Anthony Vulpi is Ted freaking Williams compared to a 66 OPS plus. So again, you know, that’s the guy who’s playing shortstop for the American League Champions right now because Bette is hurt, right? And there is an offensive player in Vulpi that can hit 245 with 15 homers and 25 stolen bases. And in this day and age, if he’s doing the stuff where he plays well on defense is really valuable because there are just not 75 players, position players in the sport who are good every year. There’s not 50. And so the ability to grow them from your system and turn them into average. Can Anthony Vby be average? Can Austin Wells be average? Can Jason Dominguez be average? What if I nudge them a little above that to above average? I mean, Austin Wells, I think, hit 23 homers this year. Uh Dominguez stole 25 bases. Uh Vulpi did hit 19 homers and steal 20-ish bases. Like there are elements that you’re looking for to build around to see if you could get to average or better which in this day and age has unbelievable value and you could only acquire what’s realistic and available. If this is a Corey Seager off season free agent-wise, I’m like, “Hey man, there is no like I would move on from Vulpi.” And if you told me that there was a good trade out there for a shortstop, I would move on from Vulpi. But the shorts stops in the World Series are a gold glove right fielder, Muki Betts, and a guy with a 66 OPS plus, Andre Gimenez. All I ask Yankee fans is be realistic about like what kind of short stuff do you need to get there? And can Anthony Vby be that? There’s certainly more doubt about that than ever before. And if there was a way to move on smartly, I would recommend moving on. I don’t have that magic bullet to move on comfortably. And without that, the Yankees job is to make Anthony Vulp better, less streaky, less than the streaks when he has them. It’s it’s a negative. It’s not just ah he had a bad week. It’s he did nothing for a week. Nothing. And so can they get that player at this point? I think it’s one out of four, Ryan. Like a year ago, I might have said it’s 35% 40%. The year before that I might have said it was 60%. Like with each passing year, you lose some faith that they’re going to get that player. But until a better option comes along, is that George Lombard by the end of next year or 2026? Is it somebody who we’re not seeing now becoming available in the trade market or in free agency who’s a real answer? You know, maybe again from a foreign league. Until then, they have to try to make this player better. It’s well said, Joel. Uh, and again, I think there’s ways to work around Vulpi. Uh, don’t put him six in the lineup anymore. Just keep him down in this bottom three. He, the fact that you had said to me, and I still shocks me to this day, he had the second most played appearances with runners and scoring position for the Yankees was a massive issue in terms of getting more production out of this team. And I think what you said is so key. If he becomes average in baseball, just an average offensive player, this lineup will be that much better because of what you have surrounding. Ry Ryan, look, I think we have relatively the people who follow us, I think, are not fly by night fans. They’re not casual fans. They’re real hardcore Yankee fans and they they kind of like care about the game. They they know things. I encourage you go to fan graphs, go to baseball reference, go look at how many players produce say two and a half war, which is a slightly above average player for the three years in a row. It’s not a list of 100, it will struggle to get to 40. And so that’s like barely one a team. If it was 60, it’s two a team. So the ability to even two is average. If I get two and I’m getting eight to 10 a year from Judge and I bring back Bellinger and I’m getting five and again I would move on from Jazz Chisum but Jazz Chisum is a four five war player like like you see how you begin to accumulate where average around that is so valuable because most players are not average year after year. average in the in the major leagues year after year, not just in a singular year is freaking incredible. You’re a freak if you’re average every year or better. It’s so hard to play in the major leagues. It’s harder to be good. It’s impossible almost to be good every year. It’s only a handful of players who can do it. Can you be average every average in the major leagues year after year after year is above average for the consistency of it? Look, Joel, you you bring up really good points about how hard it is to be average in baseball. Uh, and it’s something we could pay attention to with Vulpi is it can he make those incremental improvements this year to really make an impact for this Yankees lineup and and be a very good defensive shortstop that we’ve seen him be in previous years. Uh, it’s certainly something to pay attention to, especially the start of spring training and and how they manage his workload and how he works his way back into the starting lineup. Finally, let’s go to Joel’s notebook. Look, this is a awesome thing. Even though I hate the Blue Jays and I hate seeing him in the World Series, I actually love this for Donnie baseball. Don Mattingley getting to go to the World Series, even though he’s part of the coaching staff. Uh, can you just share your time covering Donnie baseball and what this really means for something like him to actually be in the World Series and and being a part of a team like this? Yeah, Ryan, you’ve gotten to know me over these last couple of years. You know, I’m generally uh a skeptic and jaded about stuff. Uh I’ve been around a long time, had a lot of people and lie to me about things and I kind of uh don’t lead with my chin. I lead with my hands up to make sure I don’t get pop. Uh and so like I generally just don’t care about anything. Like you know, whatever happens happens. Like I got to cover it. You know, we had a deadline at 11:00 p.m. last night. Trust me, in the middle of the seventh inning, I had a column 90% done that the Mariners were going to the World Series. It was beautiful work. You’ll never see, you know, French kiss it off. And I’m scrambling to write the Blue Jays go, you know, because I’m I’m at the mercy of what happens. So, I try not to care what’s going to happen because I have to react to it in real time. Having said that, I’m happy for Don Maddingley. um I think uh who I never saw after the game yesterday, but I saw after game six with his young son who he was so nice. He came up, he introduced me. He introduced me as Mr. Sherman uh to his young son. Uh and we chatted for a little bit and after the game last night in their clubhouse while all the champagne was flowing, I asked John Schneider, “How do you feel about the Don Mattingley thing?” and he went through a lot, but it does point out unless you’re of a certain age. John Schneider said, “When I grew up, I had the Hitman poster on my wall. That guy was my idol. The guy who’s on my coaching staff was my idol.” And he goes, “So the eight-year-old me is jumping up and down on my bed tonight.” And it gave me chills when he said it. I I I forced it into my column. I thought it was such a good quote uh about it. Uh Mattingley’s been involved in major league prof or professional baseball for over 40 years. He has never been to the World Series. Player, coach, manager. He is going uh the closest he ever got to a player was coincidentally against the Mariners. Was coincidentally a series where his team took a two nothing lead as the Mariners took a two- nothing lead in this series. those Mariners charge back famously the Edgar Martinez hit which ultimately scores Ken Grevy Jr. with the the winning run. Um my strongest onfield memory of Mattingley is that series. So I my my seven years covering the Yankees 90 uh 90 um 89 to 95 were Donny’s last seven years as a major leager. So I saw him go 8 89 was his last full really strong year and even by then was like a 20 homer 100 RBI season. He hit 300 because he could but his back was really starting to go. You could see it and he was never that great player again for the last six seasons. He was hurt a lot. He was a good player. He was such a great fielder. And you talk about tough-minded players, zero excuse players, but also players like there was no internet. If there was, you would know them at a different level. You could not be bigger in New York than Don Mattingley. I mean, he was beloved and he was huge. And I don’t think I’ve ever covered a player of greatness who handled greatness as well as Don Mattingley did. He was gracious. He was humble. He was available before and after every game if you were a reporter. He was not clichefilled. He was great to cover. Great to cover. and a real lesson to those around him in every way about how to treat others who are in and around the profession and how to play. And I think I might have told the story before, but because it’s the postseason and it did put the Yankees up two games to none in the only time he ever made the playoffs as the Yankees, he was in that horrible middle period between the Reggie Thurman Billy Yankees and the Jeter Yankees. He was there from 82 to 95. Uh the Yankees in that period, I know people are like, “George Steinbrand is a saint. The Yankees always made the playoffs over George Steinber.” They did not. From 82 to 94, they did. They did not. Uh in 94, they had the best record in the American League. There was a strike. There was no World Series. 95 they came back. They made an incredible rally. Uh Mattingly played terrific down the stretch to help get them in. And in g after they won game one, in game two of uh that division series against the Mariners at the Old Yankee Stadium, which I loved, um John Haymon, who was then working for News Day, and I sat side by side in the press box. News Day and the Post were ne assigned seats next to each other. And in the sixth inning of that game, in a two-2 game after Ruben Sierra had homerred to tie the game, Mattingley, who the crowd is pulling for, like he is, pick your new whatever you think Aaron Judge is, like the crowd is so on this guy. And Magley goes deep. The ball feels like like a Stephen Curry three-pointer. It is up there and it just looks beautiful in the air where you’re like, I know where that’s going. It’s going in the net. That one’s going in the bleachers. And in the old stadium, which was holding on by like gaffer tape and dreams. The the stadium used to move, but there wasn’t a lot of reason back then to know how much it could move. The Yankees weren’t very good for a long time and they had never they had had a moment like this since 1978 maybe. But now 50,000 people are it’s freaking New Year’s and it’s on. And Ryan, the press box starts to move. But I don’t mean a little like it did where it feels people are stomping. Haha, we’re moving. I mean, the press box is swaying and it’s an old stadium. And I turned to John and I said, “We’re going down. We’re going down.” I said I said, “There’s going to be a terrible way to freaking die.” Like, Don Matting hit a homer and I’m going to die because of this, you know? And of course, eventually it all settles. Somehow uh the Kora engineers who were ever keeping it together with the gaffer tape and dreams, it didn’t go down. But the memory of how appreciative and adoring the fans were that night for the guy they knew had been Odysius, like the guy who had really journeyied without ever getting to this moment and hitting that home run kind of was like a capper on his career. Uh I think Mattingly knew deep down he was not going to play the next year. He hadn’t announced it yet. In some ways, he’s never really announced his retirement. He just kind of like faded away, which was kind of his thing, like not to draw attention to himself. And I’ll end with this, Ryan, which when the Yankees lost that series, uh the there was this crush crushing feeling in the clubhouse, which it always is when a team is eliminated. I just saw it again with the Yankees. I never made it to the Mariners last night. I know that would have happened. I was with the Blue Jays, but like when it when you’re when a team is eliminated, the the the journey is so long, everybody is playing hurt, everyone is sold out to the highest levels. And I would put the 95 Yankee clubhouse for losing clubouses near the top of pain for the loss because like David Cohen threw 147 pitches in game five. It’s the most pitches anybody’s thrown since then. Like nobody’s gotten close to that since then. Jack McDow was playing with a lump like a triple sized golf ball in his shoulder. He’s the guy who came in relief that night. Everyone kind of knew it was probably Buck Shaw Walter’s last game managing like it felt like the end, but everyone just felt so bad for Mattingly because they thought it might be the end and they all loved and admired him in the clubhouse. And there was only one guy who didn’t feel that way, Ryan, and it was him. There were people balling. I mean, David Conn was sobbing. Jack McDow, Buck Sho Walter, like when we left his office turned, dropped his head to his desk and began to cry. Mattingley was enthused to some degree. I mean, obviously hurt that they didn’t win. But personally, he would tell you, as he’s told me over the years, I had to know if I could handle it or not. I had to know when the moment came. And I think he hit over 400 in that series. He was great in that series. And he was just, I just had to get here and know, dude, I want to win the World Series. You bet. But I had to get here. And then I had to know about myself that I could do it. And in one of the saddest, most devastated clubouses I was ever in, he was the single guy who was not like that. Wow. And look, that’s uh it speaks more to the character of Don Mattingley and the person he is and the professional seeing Don Mattingley along like I see him a couple times a year when Dodgers or you know uh working for the Blue Jays and that’s always a good thing. Like again nice, gracious, no cliches, insightful and now he’s gonna get to have this moment. uh not as a player, not as a manager, but I bet you for what you said, it’s probably easy for Yankee fans to hate the Dodgers anyway because the Dodgers beat them and hard for them to like say Toronto because it’s in their division. I would suspect that Yankee fans will root for Toronto because they’d like to see the Dodgers. I wonder if if like like not repeat as champions that the Yankees keep the Yankees the last, but I think there’s a fans of a certain age that want Don Manningly to get a ring. That’d be nice to see for him. Uh I know I’d be rooting for it. Uh and I appreciate you Joel for coming on here and always giving us your insight, giving us everything you have. Uh I know it’s a lot this time of year. We don’t we don’t underell it. We don’t undervalue it. Uh, look, the fans came out in droves last week. I’m sure they’re going to be out again this week. Uh, let’s take we’ll take a break here after this episode. Let’s just settle in for the World Series and then we’ll catch up with you, I think, during the hot stove season and we’ll get into this even further. But listen, man, that was a lot and we appreciate all the time you give us, Joel. All the best, Ryan. Thanks.

On today’s episode of Pinstripe Post, Joel Sherman and Ryan Sampson preview how the Yankees will attack the offseason and what their philosophy will look like organizationally to attack this roster for the 2026 season.

Timecodes**
00:00 Intro
2:45 Yankees miss another World Series Opportunity
6:30 Philosophy is staying the same
11:15 Yankees process has flaws
23:00 Spend like the Dodgers
30:50 Will the Yankees re-sign Bellinger?
34:20 Bryce Harper trade possibility
42:20 Harrison Bader coming back?
44:10 Let Trent Grisham walk?
46:00 Questions about the Rotation
49:55 Volpe is still the starting SS
59:36 Joel’s Notebook on Don Mattingly

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