 Do you feel like you're up strong contender right now for Garakul? Yeah, I mean, we're definitely, you know, in the heavy hitter category, no question about it. But unfortunately, you know, there's a, I'm sure quite a few teams sitting there with us. So that's usually what happens in free agency with these premier type players. So, you know, I can tell you, we'll put our best foot forward and see where it takes us. Brian, you were obviously leading the charge in that meeting with Garakul. What did you take away from the meeting? You know, I thought it was a great conversation. You know, he's obviously, we all know what he's like on the field as a competitor. But it was really, it was a good opportunity for all of us to get to know the person. I think, you know, he would fit in anybody's clubhouse as a player, but he clearly would fit in our clubhouse as a person, too. I think we have a tremendous chemistry in there and a group of Mary men that I think he'd fit right in with the performance and the personality. And so again, I think he's put himself in a great position to be courted. And at some point, you know, he'll have decisions to make sooner than later. I'm sure, you know, when, you know, his representation fields every offer. And, and, you know, he'll just have to pick a location sooner than later. But he's a great player and, you know, obviously it's an option opportunity. He's put himself in a great spot. He's worked hard to get here and now we'll see where it goes. Brian, it was an interesting group. You took out to meet him. You had Andy Pett at the great Yankee left-hander. Your new pitching coach, Matt Blake. And we know with all these pictures now, they crave the information and the numbers. Did you sense there was a connection with your new pitching coach? I mean, clearly without being on the field and in uniform and going through all this stuff, I thought so. I mean, again, it was it was an easy conversation to have. I thought that there was connection with all parties involved. And I thought Matt Blake did a great job of, of, you know, trying to explain who and what he is and how he goes about his business. And I think it was a great opportunity for Booney. Obviously, you know, as a potential manager and then, you know, Andy Pett is a former player, you know, to describe obviously his experiences coming from Houston, Texas, where he grew up and he grew up in Deer Park, Texas. And then coming to New York and what's it like playing on the big stage? And, you know, Andy still has retained a home, obviously in New York. And, and so that, you know, it says a lot. So it was less about trying to convince him about New York as much as educate him and his wife about New York. And because again, it's this process is all about, like, if they're going to make a good decision for their family, it's going to be a good decision for us. We don't want to drag anybody to an environment that they might not flourish or enjoy as well. This is a big partnership, you know, whoever he decides to partner with. And, and, and for the best of all worlds, it's about an educational component about the culture, the people, the family. And, and, you know, obviously what all of New York provides. And so it's a big stage, but it's a great stage. Brian, as you've been pursuing Cole and planning what to offer him, how did Strasburg's contract with the Nats impact what you might have had planning to do? Well, clearly every data point that it's thrown on the board, you know, is going to have an effect, whether it's positive or negative. And so, you know, it was a tremendous contract for, for a tremendous picture. So we had a, we had a chance to, to meet with Stephen Strasburg after our Garakul meeting. And, and so what a tremendous person he is, and obviously a great competitor in his own right. So, but obviously every, every contract in theory is going to affect the next one, too. So it all plays a role, I'm sure. You know, Brian, you know, the old adage you can never have enough pitching, right? Well, I thought you brought up a great point in that next season should have full seasons from Severino, Jordan Montgomery. How important is that? What's, you know, it's vitally important. This last year was a unique circumstance year wise, why we played this whole thing out and, and losing some of those important chess pieces, you know, it's just impossible almost to, to survive it. We found a way to do so. So I really, you know, dream about a year like next year potentially could be what would it really be like if we had our A team most of the time, if we had the quality innings coming from the people you expected from, especially, and if we can add to it all the better too. So, but you're right. These, you know, the one thing that I keep falling back to is we have a great team right now already despite some free agents and that we clearly we don't have on the roster, but, you know, improving 103 win team is difficult. But the fallback happens to be that we have great players on the positional side all over the place. We have a bullpen ready to go. And if you talk about the rotation and a healthy rotation of that with Seve, Paxton and Tanaka, those three alone line up with just about anybody's top three. Then you got a half. You got Montgomery coming back. You got some young kids pushing up and, you know, obviously the Hermione situation, although complicated and controversial, you know, he's a tremendous, what, an 18 or 19 game winner last year in his own right. And so, you know, at some point, you know, obviously that will resolve itself. But there's a lot of talent on all aspects of the roster and some that haven't even declared a name yet for themselves because our fans haven't had a chance to see him, you know, rock and roll in New York just yet. So if we can add to it all the better. One guy that will not be on the roster this year is Dede Gregorius. News came out today that he signed with one year deal with the Phillies. Do you feel comfortable and confident in Glaber Torres playing shortstop every day or is that an area that you'll address? Well, obviously, you know, there's no official word yet, whether Dede has signed yet. I know it's leaked out that he's chosen the Phillies. So whenever that declares itself officially, it'll be easier to talk to. But, you know, we've had conversations with Jim Murray, his representation. And but if Dede wasn't here, for instance, we learned last year, April, May and June, we had Glaber Torres, we had Estrada, Tyler Wade. So we have a number of different players have shown that they can hold that position and thrive. And so our fallback at the very least is a comfortable spot because we have some great players there that we can turn to. But that doesn't preclude ourselves. The looking at the trade market doesn't preclude ourselves from staying in free agency. And so at the very least, we're pretty strong. And at the very most, we have the opportunity to get stronger if we feel that an opportunity presents itself along the way. Brian, one of the strengths of your ballclub is a bullpen last year without Dylan Batances with all the injuries that he had to deal with. Now he's a free agent. I'm sure there's a market out there for him. Are you interested in bringing back a homegrown Yankee? Well, we've we've talked to Dylan. We've talked to obviously Guardi. We've talked to Dede and Cameron Maybin and Romine. So we're checking all the boxes and staying engaged. Obviously, our biggest focus has been on the premier starter because we feel like that's the best way to fastly and vastly improve our club. And in many of these cases, the fallbacks are we are covered in some of these other areas. So we have a chance to be a little bit more careful and slow walk those other ones. So with Dylan Batances, it's been a great Yankee. And the fact that we were somehow able to survive last year out of the bullpen, he's been one of the premier relievers in the game for a long time. Unfortunately, that, you know, the double injuries he had, you know, took him offline and denied us in the fan base the opportunity to watch him do what he does best. So so we'll stay engaged with Jim Murray, his representation, him and Casey Close. But there's going to be competition at the same time. You know, Dylan is a great person, but he's a great competitor. And so obviously, when healthy, you know what he's capable of doing because we lived through it and benefited from it for a long time. Brian, I know your focus is on making the 2020 Yankees better. But one of the biggest stories of the off season has been the alleged sign stealing with the Astros. How agitating is it to maybe have been victimized by a team using those methods? Well, obviously, it's a little hard to talk to right now, given the fact that there's no, you know, MLB is going through an investigation. The stuff that's gone public has been very disturbing. And so we're anxiously awaiting to see how this plays out. But but I could just I just tell you that what's been playing out publicly in a lot of the allegations, if they're true or or half true, it's very disturbing. And so I think we, like all the clubs in the game, we're waiting to see how this gets handled from the commissioner side. Hey, Brian, I'm curious. Just back to the coal negotiations for a second. The angels are also in the game. Your former assistant, Billy Epler, is a guy trying to outgun you. Do you have any thoughts on that? I mean, that's that's it's the Wild West out there. We're all trying to outgun each other. And, you know, and, you know, whether it's trades or free agency, we're, you know, we're all charged with the same directive, which is to find a way to win a world championship. And there's a lot of different ways to do it, whether it's, you know, with small deals or through the draft or through international signs and player development or or obviously, you know, premier free agent signs at the same time on top of it all. So, you know, that's the nature of the beast. So, yeah, you know, when when when Billy Epler left us for Anaheim, you know, he left us. So so he's he's an angel now. And and, you know, so but we'll see what happens. Scott Boris continually says he thinks things are closed, thinks things are closed. Do you think Cole makes a decision by the end of this week, by the end of winter meetings? I'd have to take Scott as his word on his end if he's saying that because ultimately all we can do is make sure that we, you know, signal and provide what we're willing to do. And then he's got to factor that in with all the other opportunities to present themselves. And so at some point, you know, the Cole family will make a decision with advice from the Scott Boris Corporation. And and then, you know, we live with the results one way or the other. Brian, I also appreciate the time. I guess we'll all wait for the smoke to come out of the chimney. Figure out what's going on with Cole, right? That's right. So, you know, in the meeting, I sat down with Cole and I was like, you've been our white whale. We, we, you know, draft and we didn't get a chance to sign them. And then obviously trade, we tried to trade form with Pittsburgh and it didn't work out. So now, you know, maybe three is a charm. We'll see. If not, you know, there's different ways to remind people last year we played around with obviously a lot of premier free agents. We we broke bread with Corbin. We broke bread with Machado. And then we want to pivoting and signing D.G. Lamaehue and Ottavino and Britain and did some extensions on some homegrown guys. And so at the end of the day, there's a lot of different ways to put a championship caliber contending team on the field. You know, there's some ways are more public, more obvious, but but that doesn't mean that if, you know, the routes you take, you want to get in some obstructions here or there. You find a different way up that mountain, if possible.