Yankees Offseason PANIC?! Evan & Tiki React to Jack Curry’s Alarming Hot Stove Breakdown

Yankees Offseason PANIC?! Evan & Tiki React to Jack Curry’s Alarming Hot Stove Breakdown

Everybody wintry Thursday in New York City. Good afternoon, Evan and Tiki on the fan for the next four and a half hours. We have a very, very busy show today. We’ll talk some football later on. The great Connor Hughes of SNY. I worked on this all night. We do have an old friend joining the show at 4:00. He will ask us better questions than I attempted yesterday through Chat GPT concerning the future of the radio station. We’ll get to that later on at 4:00. But last night, I want to explain this so everyone can understand. The New York Yankee fan going into the off season has one source that they trust more than anybody else. And that source is Jack Curry and Yankees Hot Stove on the Yes Network. I give them a lot of credit. Jack Curry and Michael K are as informed about the Yankees as anybody there is. And so what is traditionally the case is when Yankees hot stove makes its debut, usually this time of year, Yankee fans will tune in and they will get indicators on the Yankees plans. I think two years ago it was very obvious from the moment Jackary opened his mouth they are going after Juan Stoodto. You knew it. It was not a surprise. So last night I got my popcorn out. I was all pumped up because my Brooklyn Nets beat the Chicago Bulls. I was all excited. Two in a row. Two in a row. I did a Rico and I’m like, “Let me see what Jack Curry has to say. Let me see what Michael Kay has to say. Let me get my chalice ready so I can collect the tears and drink them.” Really? I’m not like that. That’s exactly what you are. I wanted to learn cuz honestly, like we’ve all made predictions on the Yankee off season. We don’t know. So, I’d like to play you some of the clips from Yankees hot stove because Yankee fans did not take this stuff. Well, let’s start it off. finishes right out of the gate with the TV voice of the New York Yankees, Michael K. That move right there has so many tentacles that will lead to what the Yankees do or don’t do. We don’t know what their payroll is going to be. We don’t know if they want to get under 300 million, which Al Houseer said would be ideal. And if they do, that 22 million is going to take up a lot of the room. So, they have a center fielder, but what else are they going to be able to get after pulling in um that $22 million contract? When the season ended, I said that signing Bellinger was a priority for the Yankees. Number one priority, but what Michael just brought up impacts that because now that you add Gisham, it is obviously going to have an effect. You’ve got Judge making 40 million in right field. You’ve got Gisham making 22 million in center field. What is the Yankees appetite going to be to pursue a player like Bellinger? I don’t know how you took that. I took that as oh my god, Trent Gisham accepting the qualifying offer and I raised my hand cuz I did not think this would be the case. You didn’t think he would? I Well, I because why why wouldn’t he? No, no, I didn’t. It’s not that I didn’t think he would. I thought that if he accepted it, the Yankees would still spend in a big way. they wouldn’t use the 22 million as a oh we can’t go further. K and Curry just mapped out the first 30 seconds of Yankees hot stove that that signing greatly impacts the chances of Bellinger coming back that I’m surprised. Oh, I remember when we did this ourselves, one of the stipulations you put on us, meaning me, Tommy, Sean, you during the off season was, “All right, the Yankees have about $85 million to spend, right? The Mets have whatever it was night. I forget what the number was.” It didn’t it didn’t matter cuz we’re just talking about the Yankees. And when you saw that the qualifying offer was offered to Trent Gisham, in your in your mind, you kind of felt like that means it’s really like $100 million they have to spend. Yeah. The qualifying offer that they offered Trent Gisham is not something that’s going to prevent them from signing $80 million or $85 million I think was the number we used of players this offseason. But what it sounds like is that Trent Gisham is absolutely going to go. And so now that at that $85 million is now $60 million that they have to sign Cody Bellinger whoever whoever else they’re going to target unless and this is what we don’t know that the Brian Cman house faction is willing to go above that $360 million number. It just feels like Jack and Michael are very locked in usually. And when they say stuff like the payroll getting under 300 million, the impact, the tentacles of the Gisham signing, I don’t think that’s just pure speculation. I think they know. And so the early returns, and I’ve got more clips from last night, but that first clip was like a whoo. I think I’m wrong about this. And I admit that cuz I remember arguing with you Sean about if they’re making the QO to Gisham. It makes me think they won’t let that 22 million change the rest of their offseason. And based on that response by both Curry and K, it sounds like it will. Yeah, I I’m going back to my initial reaction which was they prioritized getting a draft pick and they never thought Christian was accepting it and now it is absolutely going to hamper their plans and this is brutal if true. Here’s another clip last night from Jack Curry. He’s looking for a payday, guys. And Scott Boris is his agent, and we know the approach that Scott Boris is going to take. So, Michael, you’re absolutely right in the sense that you have Gisham in center field now, but as the Yankees move forward, is something like a Dominguez or a Spencer Jones more appealing to them or do they really get heavily involved in trying to hunt down Bellinger? I think Bellinger is going to have some suitors and I I think that number is going to go up. That that to me tells me Bellinger’s gone. Yeah, that’s literally what I took out of that that they’d like to have him back, but between the combination of Gisham accepting the 22 and the fact that Boris has all these suitors and there have been a lot of reports around the interest in Cody Bellinger. I take that and this is what I think most Yankee fans took last night as they invested their time in Yankee Hot Stove to get an idea of what truly is going on. I think they took it as Bellinger’s gone and they ain’t going to do much else. Yeah. No, look, there’s going I don’t think there’s going to be a allout bidding war, but there is going to be a little bit of a bidding war with Cody Bellinger. And you got to believe that the Yankees aren’t in on it. They’re not going to sit back and watch this thing just skyrocket for Cody Bellinger and because that’s what his agent is going to create. It’s what his agent tries to create for all of his clients. And so, the Yankees likely gambled here with the qualifying offer you were just alluding to. And it’s going to bite him a little bit because Trent Gisham probably could have been had in the open market for a lot less than $22 million if they had desired to bring him back and instead you you have this roadblock right now in your in your cap and that’s bad. And things to me got worse as I continued eating my popcorn and watching the episode because now I know, okay, Trent Gisham is costing them Cody Bellinger. Then Jack Curry said, “Oh yeah, could the Yankees use a bullpen arm?” Sure they could use a bullpen arm. But anytime you hear them linked to a topline closer, ignore it. Bednar is their closer. So attaching the Yankees to any closers that are out there on the market, and there are some appealing ones, say whether it’s a Diaz or a Suarez, I don’t envision that happening. Well, here’s the problem. Last year, and we forget this, the Yankee bullpen for their standards was bad. Yeah, they had a bad bullpen compared to past pens that Brian Cashman has built. Started good and it ended poorly. It ended poor and their final numbers were poor. And so, yes, I like David Bednar. I think we all do. Let’s not forget David Bednar was in the minor leagues a year and a half ago because of his struggles. Why wouldn’t you be linked to Edwin Diaz or Robert Suarez or a topline closer? Because of the money and that’s not good. Of course, it’s not good, but it’s the reality. You know, we know what Edwin Diaz is looking for. We know what some of these top closers are are trying to get right now. And the Yankees just aren’t in that and I don’t think they’re in that that mode to spend. Not like that. But here’s the problem with that, TE. They just finished a season in which they were tied for first place with the Toronto Blue Jays. And the Blue Jays, forget about what they did in the postseason. I’m just talking about over 162. They had the same record. And the Blue Jays are out going after Kyle Tucker, going after Edwin Diaz. They signed Dylan CE. You’re watching a team in your division get incredibly good. And all I’ve heard so far from Jack Curry is don’t expect this. Don’t expect what the what the hell should I expect? Well, maybe, let me think. Maybe they’ll try to improve shortstop. You know, Anthony Vulpi had a bad year last year. Anthony Vulpi is hurt. He’s not going to be ready for start of the season. So, Jack, tell me, maybe they’ll go get a short stop, right? The Yankees believe that Caviierro and Cabrera can hold down the fort until Vulpi comes back. And Vulpi is a very hot topic for Yankee fans, for people who follow this team. And whenever I get asked about Vulpi, I go back to something that Brian Cashman, the general manager, said at the end of the season. He said, “I believe in this player. We believe in this player.” So, the Yankees believe that there is more from Vulpi. This was an alltime all-time disastrous Yankee hot stove. And that is with all due respect to Jack and Michael. They’re doing their job. Oh, if it’s a reality. They know what they’re talking about. Only if it’s a reality. Well, you don’t think they know? Of course. I Jack knows. I think they think they know, but we don’t know if if if Hal Stein Burner is going to go or fly above whatever artificial cap number he put on his his this this roster right now. So, if he does that, then this is all moot. We’re not even we’re not even worried about this. But I can understand why there’s alarmism because we know what the Yankees have continuously. Tiki doesn’t understand that Jack Curry is God. He doesn’t know that yet. Yeah. I mean, look, Jack Curry is very much like Jay Glazer when it comes to the Giants is going to bring everything back to the Giants when he suddenly speaks. You listen. Here’s the thing, Evan. Did we go into the off season thinking the Yankees are going to have some kind of big offseason? We didn’t, right? Even when it comes to the bullpen market, you want to bring up Bedar, I think they also think Doval is going to have a bounceback year and that’s going to be a dominating 89. I’m less worried about that. The Bellinger stuff, I got news for you. He might be right, Jack Curry, but you know what this sounds like to me? This sounds like the Yankees floating smoke because they’re still pissed at the way Scott Boris used them to ring up the Met tab on Juan Sto last year. And I think that they are do the Yankees right now are consciously not going to allow Scott Boris to play them again with the other big free agent on the market. And I think if they come in low now, they will go back at the end when it comes to Bellinger’s high offer. And if they deem that worthy, they will still bring back Bellinger. But they’re not going to start amping up their need for him now. I think they’re downplaying this because of the misplay of Juan Sto last year. Yeah, it’s also free agency and you know how free agency is in and doesn’t matter the sport, you’re going to overpay for your free agent and so in this case the Yankees are trying not to be used and then ultimately overpay for a free agent. That is entirely possible because when Brian Kman met the media a few weeks ago, he made it clear that Trent Gisham accepting the qualifying offer was not going to affect their chase of Cody Bell, which is why we didn’t make it make the assumption that it was going to knock into whatever they were going to spin this. No, I I made the opposite assumption, which is which is I believe Brian Kman and I believed it to begin with. Jack Curry concerns me because Jack knows. Maybe Jack talking about Excuse me. You just say Jack doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Maybe Jack don’t know Jack. Sean, you’re the Yankee fan. How much does Jack usually know? He knows a lot. Jack’s the only reason that I cared about watching Hot Stove last night because this is like you wait for this every year as a Yankee fan. I know. Um, look, what happens when he tells you what you don’t want to hear? Well, the problem is you have to accept it. And I’m tired of being blinded in reality. The problem with what Jack Curry said last night is there is no problem. It is what we expect in Yankee fans. What we didn’t expect was not to get Cody Bellinger ultimately, even if he got priced out of Kyle Tucker. I will still believe that when I see it, and that is full-blown dumpster fire territory if that comes to fruition. If Trent Gisham starting in center field and there’s no Kyle Tucker and there’s no Bellinger and maybe maybe the backup plan is they pivot to a trade nobody’s talking about and that’s their way of being creative with payroll, which okay, then we could fully judge that if and when it happens, but at the very least, we expected this off seasonason to be Bellinger and a whole bunch of nothing else. what Curry’s saying is true. It’s panic mode. So, you hit on something that Brian Cman has done before. There has been a time, it was actually a couple years ago when they traded for Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallow where part of the brilliance of what Cashman did is he remained under a certain tax threshold and they got creative in the way they did that. So, you do throw out an idea of will the Yankees try to shed payroll in one area and then add in another and kind of get creative. And I I’ll Steven Quan in the outfield. Like something like that. Sure. No. No. And that makes sense. And then it comes down to, okay, how do you do it? And then it comes down to this. I remember last year when they traded for Ryan McMahon. Our reaction to it was he’s a lot better than what they were playing at third base. Yellow PZA. He’s really good defensively. Even though not a great hitter, a better hitter. The Yankees are a better team. The one negative I had about McMahon, I don’t even know if you guys remember it. Do you remember uh Sean specifically my negative about Ryan McMahon? Did we share the negative in that he was guaranteed 16 mil this year? That was the problem. Now all of a sudden you’re tying up $16 million to a third baseman who while he’s an upgrade over PZA is probably not worth $16 million. That’s money spent especially if he ends up not being the everyday guy which you know you hope kind of has to be. He does because look at the Yankee roster and look what Jack Curry told you. Jose Cabayro is the shortstop. Oswald Oswaldo Cabrera is back which is great healthy. he’ll be in the picture and then Anthony Vulpi comes back on his white horse to save the day at shortstop. Maybe that’s what they’re figuring. Yes. So I think what the Yankees or at least what Jack Curry has told you on Yankee hot stove as Sean points out every Yankee fan waits for as like you know the pulp signal, the bat signal on what the offseason’s going to be is they just told you the offseason ain’t going to be much. It’s going to be not even running it back because they’ve already lost pieces. Yeah, that’s depressing. That’s what I think we’re looking at. That’s rough. And and it’s rough and it’s not exciting for Yankee fans. And Yankee fans have every right to call up and scream and yell. What I would tell you is talent-wise, you’re still a playoff team. You’re still good. I love your pitching. I mean, you’re pitching once they get healthy has a chance to be the best in baseball. So, I’m not going to tell you you got no shot or these are the dark days of the New York Yankees. That’s hyperbole. That’s not true. But I understand that when you’re sitting here on December 4th and we’re less than a week away from the winter meetings and you hear this stuff, it is a little uh down. Yeah, I think but I think there’s a there’s a way to internally spin this. So, not talking about for us as fans or analysts or any of that nature. I’m talking about from an ownership or organizational standpoint. You spin it by saying we are in position to have one of the best starting rotations in baseball. And yes, Cody Bellinger because of his agent might get priced out and we’re now forced to go with one of the young guys uh in in one of the outfield positions. Trent Gisham’s a good player. Let’s hope that he continues to excel like he did last year in his contract here. Aaron Judge is Aaron Judge if you need to. Stanton can throw out there every now and then, but he’s your DH. You have some young players that have contri contributed. Ben Rice is one of them. Austin Wells is another. Let’s just lean in to being great in our staff, in our pitching staff. m that could be the pivot that the giant that the Yankees are looking at right now and not and not worried about oh we got to have this bat we got to have this position player we got to have xyz let’s trust that those bats those the run production is good enough and let’s just be unbelievable with our starting rotation and the truth is one’s healthy and it’s not going to start that way because Garrett Cole may miss early time Carlos Rodon may miss early time we may not see Clark Schmidt till July or August but on paper when healthy this is a tremendous this rotation. No doubt. Especially if the the the Alcantara stuff is is true or happens. Well, I don’t know if I buy that either, though. I mean, that’s a trade though. So, that’s different. And it’s it feels like that’s the next maybe move that they make for this rotation. And if they do and get rid of one of the Spencer Jones, whoever it may be, then all of a sudden the Yankees have the best rotation in baseball. Well, I think they may have the best rotation in baseball anyway if healthy right there with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But I think the only way you’re trading Spencer Jones or Jason Dominguez is if you keep Cody Bellinger and what Jack Curry told you is it’s up in the air. Now I I found this very interesting cuz I do think sometimes we’re in the middle of a game. So Jack tells you, “Well, they like Cody. Ah, there’s a market. It’s expensive.” Shan Krisham and then it took John Haymon like an hour to put out the Yankees are still hot for Cody Bellinger. It’s almost like there’s a game going on. Yeah, there is a game. This is from the owner side. This is from the agent side. How will it play out? We’ll talk to Yankee fans coming up. 888. The Yankees are a joke. I listen, I didn’t say that. Welcome to hell. Well, okay. 8888081019, the toll-free number. Plus, former Yankee Devin Williams gets sensitive. We’ll find out what he had to say coming up. Plus, a lot of football to get to as the show rolls on. All live from the Town Fair Tiger Studio. [Music]

A wintery Thursday in NYC… and a meltdown brewing in the Bronx. Evan & Tiki dive into one of the most depressing Yankees Hot Stove episodes Yankee fans have EVER witnessed.

Jack Curry and Michael Kay send shockwaves through the fanbase — from Trent Grisham’s qualifying offer flip to how it may kill the Cody Bellinger dream entirely. Evan breaks down every clip, every implication, and why the Yankees’ offseason could already be in panic mode.

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