 everybody great to have you back once again on Yankees hot stove talking to John Boy talking Jake Jimmy and Jake and we're gonna talk baseball now and Jack and I get this a lot as the season begins we'll see people they'll come up and they'll say hey what do you think about the Yankees this year now you could go in about 47 different directions so I always kind of start them with some players might be bouncing back this year and Jake I started with DJ LaMahew I mean had the sports hernia didn't play to his standards he's a baseball rat he's such a good hitter I think with a big bounce back season he's a key guy to watch how about you DJ was incredible for the Yankees for for those two seasons MVP level top five MVP whole season something like that and then he he clearly wasn't the same guy and we find out towards the end of the year is injury so and it's both ways to I mean how many times do you talk to those people on the street and they say you know defense right whatever it is I mean DJ on both sides of the field when he's right he's an elite baseball player so if he gets back to that level it changes the whole lineup because is he back up top or and I mean the top of the lineups a fun conversation I don't know if you guys have hashed that out yet but if DJ LaMahew is back to the 300 hitting OPS and eights high eights nines like that changes the whole dynamic of the team I think when you analyze the 2022 Yankees and if LaMahew does what he's supposed to do if Hicks bounces back if Torres bounces back if Gallo can give you more than he gave you last year it's a lot of ifs but John Boye I'll throw this out at you if I were to say the Yankees will have the successful season that they expect to have if this happens give me a couple of those this is what are some of the things that have to happen in order for them to be successful this year starting pitching holds up and and one of savvy Montier Tyone establishes themself as a number two someone that will save the bullpen when they need to we can't be relying on just call to save the bullpen when you know after tough losses and it can't be all five and fly so someone needs to step up and grab that spot I'm not sure which one I'm open to all options and then obviously I think it's just I can't have the same base running as last year they went station to station last year and still made the most outs on the base paths in MLB so I would like to see that night they they've changed the profile of the base running they haven't necessarily got incredibly faster but if you look at Donaldson Rizzo kinder for Lefa they all take the extra base way more than Geo and Voigt did last year so it's not about speed but just being a little bit more aggressive on the base paths by the way just a PS to DJ LeMay here if you're watching the Yankees game on the yes app tonight he let off tonight he also homered in that game against the Orioles in the meantime since we're talking about pitching Jack and I were talking about this on our last show Jake the fact that do you believe that whatever Nestor Cortez did last year it's no longer a fluke like the guy the guy could do it again this year I hope so the Yankee fandom in me Nestor I'll say this there's some numbers that say it can't happen and baseball has gone so one direction so how hard can you throw and then snap that slider Nestor actually pitches I know we were talking David Cone before like David Cone loves him some Nestor like hey let's repeat it and let's see and I'll be all in might as well be all in on Nestor he's fun the leg kicks and all of it and maybe it's what baseball is missing a little bit right now some location some pitch mixes and all that if Nestor can be that guy again I mean what a year his stat page is nuts yeah he's a lot of fun to watch and I'm glad you made the Coney comparison Bob and I do that a lot when we're in the studio here talking about Cortez he would do great in your Blitzball League confident of that but I'm gonna give you guys a and this is an open canvas here I have a free page it doesn't even have to be Yankees I want a prediction from both of you for the 2022 season and don't tell me Mike Trout's going to be a candidate for the MVP I want you to pull something out that's going to cause Bob and I'd say interesting choice there I have one that's a little bit of an angry spiteful Yankee fan prediction and it's a little twist at the twins because they they've got Correa and a lot of games fans want him he gets traded they're out of the playoffs Correa is gonna opt out twins fans get there join for three months there's my stab at that that Jake that's a good one that's tough I mean I've got one that I know that's gonna hurt me I kind of like the Angels this year I think the Angels could be a playoff team show hey Trout Anthony Rendon is so good we'll see if Cinder guard what he does for them I'm ready to be hurt by that one it seems like the Angels do that every year I'll give you a little Yankees twist at the end how about Josh Donaldson is one of the most hated players by Red Sox fans that we've seen in a long time the fire he plays with the intensity he has a couple big games at Fenway where he rakes by the way they're gonna hate him which Yankee fans might enjoy a little bit I think there'll be a lot of venom for him these these guys they stepped up those are good predictions Bob don't ask me for one I'm not ready all right so yeah we won't go there yet but you mentioned the fact that the Yankees didn't sign that big name shortstop okay but do you like what they've done with Connor Fillefa labor back at second Donaldson Jake maybe tighten things up at third a little bit the DJ bouncing around the infield Donaldson I just gushed about so I'm in on that Fillefa let's see it you know he plays really good defense and he's got speed that's what a lot of fans were asking for so let's see it and you know what the other guy across the corner from Donaldson Rizzo Rizzo came over we got an interesting sample from him it his resume I think his defense is going to be better than what we saw last year and how many times did he miss that foul pull he hits that a couple times this year I think both corners I think we could really like what we see there talking about MLB rule changes we thought we had waved goodbye to the designated runner the extra runner the automatic runner and extra innings but Jimmy he is crawling back into our world what do you think about that rule and do you have any ideas of maybe to make it more exciting more entertaining I I'm fine with ending games earlier and not going 16 innings and the numbers actually suggest that it's something like only 8% of extra inning games reached the 12th inning anyway they all end in the 10th or 11th majority so why not let let us get a clean 10th a clean 11th then do whatever you want and at that point I'd go full gimmick I'd go full let's get the fifth graders on the couches excited calling their friends and you got to put this on and you get to take your top three hitters and just repeat them for the inning and bases loaded and no outs or something like that I don't think anyone likes the man Fred man on second base it's not exciting it turns into a sack blunt sack fly competition which the Yankees last year finally kind of caved at the end of the season like all right we'll play this how they want us to play it because they were really bad in extra innings for the first half because they just kept trying to hit home runs and it's not that game so I'm fine with something but I don't like this I don't think it's exciting Jake what about you I echo a lot of it I mean I it's kind of crazy I said this earlier today we went to a hockey game we went to a rangers game and you know it goes to a shootout and I think hockey fans traditionally hate that baseball I think we can open up the creativity a little bit like so many games go to extra innings how crazy do we get I don't know home run derby that starts getting nuts the ghost runner or non-ghost runner called a ghost runner the real ghost runner on second it just doesn't feel like the right solution I don't know exactly what it is but let's get creative let's have some fun regular season postseason oh yeah I do like jimmy I like the two clean innings 10 11 maybe pop it in the 12th we've talked about that in our shows too let's play a clean 10th and a clean 11th let's give these teams that have been out there for nine solid innings a chance to win this without any gimmick and I do think if you get to the 12th and you start getting hokey and Joel Sherman wrote a column in the post where he said something not too dissimilar from you you get to start your line up all over again the baseball purist in me doesn't love that either because then i'll be looking at the box score and the number six hitter might have seven at bats and the number five hitter might only have six maybe that's just me but anyway I think we all are in agreement let's push that runner back how about the idea of shifts Jake where do you fall on the idea of potentially banning shifts something need to happen right like the the game never adjusted which baseball has done through the years but for this it just didn't so we watched some old video foot footage during the quarantine times and we watched some of the old games and there's a lot more balls in play and there's a lot more base running in its action and defense balls in play those are the entertaining ones like mammoth home run sure that's a good time but we've seen a lot of that when you see the dive and play in the hole in the turn and all that it makes it better you're going to get more base runners and you're going to see you know batting averages are going to go up I know that's not the end all be all but it helps the final product so I'm I'm fine with it and let defenders be athletes and make the play instead of just plopping them here's the ball I have a campaign slogan that I'm running with called uh keep keep uh take oh let me start again it's called take paper out of baseball I don't want to watch an outfielder pull a piece of paper out of his pocket take 10 steps to the left and then the ball comes right too many catches it who are we rooting for there who is the audience watching there are they watching incredible athlete react and run down and catch a ball or are they rooting for a video game scouting predetermined analytics and I'm not against analytics but let's let's have the athleticism be what the people in the stands are seeing not the scouting and I fully understand if it's legal do it because you get the advantage but that's why it's up to the the league to say what's better for entertainment here because we have world-class athletes and we're taking away their athleticism you've got it somehow jazz up the game jack I agree with a lot of what they said I disagree though actually on the shift idea I think that teams who have shifted have shown some intelligence and some smarts and I don't like the idea of pulling the plug on that but I'm also in agreement with you guys and we need to we need to up the pace there needs to be a bigger tempo and before we go Bob I do think we need to remind Jake and John Boy you know you and I are both all all wiffle ball in our backyards yeah our own backyards so we're we're up for a Blitzball competition whenever they're ready warehouse is open well you know what can you supplies at least with a Blitzball so the jack can I control around in the parking lot we'll get you a whole set we'll get you the strikes on the bat I'll show you all my grips and then well we'll show them the grips okay no grips by the way you're some of yourself is on YouTube and to your credit Jake you go oppo like Derek Jeter you got that inside out swing he's also nester on the mound you talked about that earlier he's all about stalling and stopping when I'm at the bat against them I just stand still until I see that arm come here and then I and then I'll start paying attention saw it every day and yes now we're get the hands in the barrel shoot it to right I'm going to go rogue with one final suggestion I know you guys have a ton of stuff you're going to create a ton of content for yes and the yes app if you could assume some alter egos because people know you as John Boy and talking Jake but use your last names O'Brien and Story Alley the most badass cop combo since Starsky and Hutch you know it's like O'Brien and Story Alley two cops who get their man and they live by their own rules what do you think you can just maybe for the app I like it I think Jake would be the the cop that is just always messing up and then but then his mess up solve the crime right oh okay so we're finding a solution that's fine yes that's Maxwell smart or inspector gadget Colombo but not calling you Colombo but not putting on the app right yes one button on button yeah yeah we got some good stuff coming up on the app all right guys thanks for joining us always great to have here I'm sure we'll see you plenty during the season