 Hey everybody, it's great to have you with us on this special edition of Yankees Hot Stove. Bob Lorenz and Jack Curry with you. Special because the Yankees, according to multiple reports in agreement with Fridge and pitcher Carlos Rodin, on a six-year deal, nothing official from the Yankees. Jack, that's not surprising. They like to do the contract language, get the physical, then announce the deal. But we have confirmed, Bob, that it's a $162 million deal to bring Rodin to the Yankees. And ever since the Yankees finished locking up Aaron Judge, their focus and their pursuit has been on Rodin. And if you recall when Hal Steinbrenner negotiated and talked with Aaron Judge, he said there would be more room to make other moves. This is one of those moves. The Yankees recognize that they needed to strengthen their rotation. You slide Rodin right in there behind Cole. Suddenly, Bob, you have two aces at the top of the rotation. You have Severino, who has been an ace in your number three or number four slot. You have Nester Cortez, who was an all-star in the number three or number four spot. And then the pressure comes off Montas, who struggled in his first year. And you have a guy who once was an ace for the Oakland A's, who is now in the number five spot. But I think as this offseason has unfolded, the Yankees mission has been to figure out a way to close the gap between themselves and the Astros, who won the World Series. Now, Bob, you bring back Judge and Rizzo. Those are wonderful things. A move like this, though, starts to close that gap. The Astros lost Justin Verlander, who won a Cy Young last year. The Yankees just added Rodin, who finished six in the NL Cy Young award voting. So that is positive news for the Yankees. 14 and eight with the Giants last year, a 2.88 ERA. And you've talked about this before. He has that mentality of wanting to pitch big time, big games, big spot at Yankee Stadium. So he'll adjust pretty well in those terms, right? When I was in San Diego for the winter meetings talking to Yankee people about Rodin, they talked about what you just said, Bob. They like his personality. They like that he's feisty, and he's kind of a Paul O'Neill type on the mound. He's going to let you know what he thinks. He's got great swing and miss stuff. This is a guy who throws a fastball and a slider, gets a ton of swings and misses. Actually, on his fastball, second highest strikeout rate in the league last year behind Garrett Cole, the guy he will now back up in the rotation. And I think as the Yankees are moving forward towards 2023 and trying to go beyond what they did last year when they won 99 games, got to the ALCS, those are things to be proud of. But the Yankees know they need to do better than that. Brian Cashman has talked about wanting to get that championship that the Yankees haven't won since 09. I think Rodin puts them in position, Bob, to be a better team going after that. And contract wise, it seems like both sides kind of found the sweet spot, right? We were hearing where Don wanted seven years, over $200 million. Yanks would have preferred shorter term. They said alone six. So about three and a half hours ago, I preached patience, right? And I was sort of correct because I thought that in these negotiations, both sides were still talking. There was definitely incremental progress being made. But you're right, Bob. Scott Boris wants to get what he believes his clients are worth. Seven years, 210 million was floating around out there. The Yankees believe that a five year deal would have been more to their appetite. And we eventually see a six year deal that I think both sides can be very happy about. I mentioned this on one of our previous shows at the winter meetings. I spoke to two separate officials from different teams and one of them said, well, my team would be comfortable going four or five. And then the other executive said, listen, this guy's going to get at least six. Look at the market. Look where the market has moved. And I think the Yankees are happy where the market has moved. And I think they're happy that Radone is now a guy who goes to the top of their rotation. You twin him with Cole. And you also start to peek ahead to October, Bob, even though we shouldn't do that yet. You look at who the Yankees can put together in a postseason rotation. And Aaron Boone should be salivating over that because he has some terrific arms to be able to go after teams in a playoff format. Let's take a look at some of the history on Carlos. We're going to just give you an idea. Eight major league seasons. He's 30 years old, two time all star. That's the past two seasons. But Jack, there are some arm concerns, specifically a couple shoulder surgeries. And he had Tommy John in 2019. So from 2017 to 2020, we're looking at a pitcher who threw about 233 innings. So not a lot of activity during that period because of what you talked about, Bob, those injuries. But I think if you look at what he has done in the last two years, there's excitement. You have to be thrilled if you're the Yankees about getting this guy now at the age of 30 and believing that who he has been across the last two years is who he is going to be injuries happen to pitchers. You can't control that if you're the Yankees. But as much as we talked about judge sort of having a season for the ages, heading into free agency, Rodan did that across the last two seasons. In fact, last season, he led all of major league baseball and strikeouts per nine innings. Again, this is a guy who goes out there with swing and miss stuff. He'll throw fastballs up in the zone. He'll throw this nasty slider. Those are the two pitches that he relies on in his career. He has thrown curves. He has thrown change ups. But when he was dominant last year, Bob, those two pitchers are what guided him throwing at 92.3% just those two pitches. So you talk about the evolution of a pitcher we see back with the White Sox. He was a four pitch pitcher. Now he's basically a two pitch. Now I wonder if something occurred that caused him to go in this direction. I've got John Flaherty, the former catcher in my head often saying go with what's working. Go with the pitchers that are working. Batters hit barely 200 against him all year. So obviously his arsenal worked, but he's had seasons in his career where he's thrown the change up 14 15% of the time. So next year, I'm curious to see if that becomes something that the Yankees would like him to incorporate or if he says, listen, this plan worked great for me in San Francisco. I was a fastball slider. I'd show those other pitches once in a while. But when I was a fastball slider pitcher, these are the results I had 27 wins over the last two years. I mentioned 14 with the Giants last year and also durability 31 starts 178 innings pitched. And I think this signing Bob sends a message to the rest of the Yankees. If you're a Yankee player right now, you're excited when you heard they were bringing back Rizzo, a stabilizer in the infield, a guy who brings so much on the defensive side. You were ecstatic when they brought back judge, but you kind of expected that. I don't think the Yankees could have imagined moving forward without judge. Yes, there was some negotiation that had to take place. Those two players had been Yankees as great as judges, especially now you add redone to the mix and you say to yourself, okay, where can this team go in 2023 when you have a guy at the top of the rotation like him? Who as I said, he's a bulldog. He's a tough guy. When I look at redone and the way he approaches pitching, the word that comes to mind for me is tenacious and he just wants to go out there. He wants to go out there and dominate hitters. And I think that's what every pitcher should try and do. But not only does redone try and do it across the last two years, he's