 You would pick the Yankees to the one the World Series Michael did I did we felt that this team was just ready and It really just came down to the offense, right? I mean we can blame the pitching all we want on a veto did not look good coming out of the bullpen But is this squarely on the shoulders of the inability to get the big hit when they needed it? Yes, and no Don and this and I'm hedging my answer This is why the Astros didn't hit with runners score position either and so if the Astros hit at all with runners and score position We'd be talking about how both teams just bludgeoned each other to death and whoever could hit the best one the series Right, so so the Yankees you can look at the team right now and say hey You guys didn't get hits with runners score position. Well, they're the Astros So what I look at I take a step back and I say who had the better team who had the better roster and the better Roster is that is the Astros it just is Their one and two starters are better than the Yankees one and two starters Their one through five lineup is better more consistent than the Yankees one through five lineup You can cherry pick some stats out of the ALCS and say I'm gonna put it on the Yankees But the fact of the match matter is is the Astros were the better team all season long and they were the better team The ALCS and so I think there is one player on Out of the 50 guys that played in the ALCS that tipped the scales and that's Garakul if Garakul was not on the Astros I think the Yankees win that series I'm not even saying he's on the Yankees forget that if Garakul played for the Angels or played for the Mariners or someone That wasn't in the playoffs the Yankees were a better team And so so my argument for this offseason is and everyone's gonna say gotta sign this gotta sign that As long as the Astros don't sign Garakul next year, which is probably a you know There's a good chance. He's going either the Dodgers the Angels or someone that's gonna give him a boatload of money I think that the Yankees still have a better team next year than the Astros they will have a better Well, here's my problem and I'm all in on the analytics. I understand the value of it But one thing that the Yankees do that the Astros don't do the Yankees strike out way too much And the Astros have almost the same amount of offensive production and they strike out the least of any team So I just don't think it's it's a recipe for success mark to have 600 strikeouts in the middle of your order I just don't think that works That's a that's a very fair assessment Michael and I'm not gonna disagree with you there So what I think you need to do if you're the Yankees this offseason even if you bring back the same basic team You know, I would definitely sign Gardner and Gregorius You don't have any lefty if you if you don't resign those guys There's not a lot of left-handed studs out there on the free agent market. You know, you got you got Grandal Who I don't think is a fit because of Sanchez. You got Moustakis that because of its position I don't think there's a fit and so I bring back guarding Gregorius The thing is you have to understand that there's going to be strikeouts in your life And you need to split those strikeouts up You can't have three guys in a row that are all gonna strike out in an inning and and not put up competitive that bats Every third guy if he's a strikeout guy listen Stan's gonna strike out Sanchez is gonna strike out, you know, judge is gonna strike out judge is gonna strike out Yeah, those guys are going to K. That's just the way that they're built and can you teach them to you know Cut down their swing a little bit with two strikes. Yeah, you can but you're also taking away their strengths I just think the lineup construction needs to be looked at and I think you have to to understand that there's going to be Hot streaks and cold streaks on this team and the way to mitigate a hot streak and a cold streak is to have a little better Pitching and a little bit more balance in that lineup. Would you move forward? I know it's gonna be a very difficult thing and you said the Yankees could come back the way they are and still be The best team if Cole signed somewhere else and I heard I've heard when I was during the ALCS The Astros have no intention of paying him that kind of money. They knew that when they acquired him, but that being said Should the Yankees do anything possible to try and move Stanton or should they move forward with Stanton as part of it? How are you gonna move that getting getting you're gonna have to eat a lot of it You're gonna have to eat a ton and here's the thing For me you make Stanton your full-time DH You protect his legs. It is it is very difficult a power hitter who's a timing hitter You can obviously tell you the timing hitter when he's hot man. He is an absolute stud when he's not it's ugly But it happens and you know second half of my career. I was kind of the same way I'm not I'm good, but it's not it's you know, it's tough to get hits But if you put Stanton as your alt as your full-time DH and say you protect your legs You lock in your approach It might take you a month to become a really comfortable everyday DH But that he's got a lot of years and a lot of dollars left on that contract I would rather try to make Stanton work Then either sell him low or keep running him out to the outfield and keep getting hurt Do you go after Cole? Absolutely you do now Cash has been very disciplined in his free agency over the past few years. He got burned a little bit with You know with the the Ellsbury contract that you know other than that You haven't made the huge splashes, right? If they went out and got cold They have to understand they're going to overpay because the analytics are going to tell him He's worth X But let me tell you something if X is equal in New York and LA Cole's don't LA It's just the way it is So you the Yankees are going to have to overpay if they don't if they decide they're not gonna go with Cole they have to live with that and and basically Roll into 2020 saying it's the same team we got we just expect different results in the playoffs But if you're gonna go with the whole philosophy of I don't want them going through the third time through the Order like they took to knock out in game one after throwing 68 pitches through six innings You don't do that with Cole like is that philosophy because it's Tanaka But they wouldn't do that with Cole because if they're gonna do that with Cole then why spend all that money on Well, why would I spend all that money on a guy that's gonna pitch five six innings in a big spot? They're not gonna do that. Don you bring up a really good point about the entire philosophy. I'm not a huge proponent I know what the numbers say But if if Tanaka is dealing if Paxton is dealing if said he's dealing those are three top starters I mean it those guys being healthy if all things equal. That's a really good one through three I'll put that one through three against most rotation in baseball You should let those guys when they're hot go through the third time in the order if they're struggling if they're Laboring the first two times to the order. Yeah, you get them out But you know Zach Britain guy give him a lot of credit for being honest The starting pitching is still the way to go. It is almost impossible to go through three rounds of a postseason Five games and then two seven game series throwing the majority of your innings with bullpen guys I just don't see it's never been done before Out the winning a world series that way, you know, you don't brought up the 68 pitch six innings at that to talk at And he was taken out at the time we raise our eyebrows and it was interesting because Aaron Boone said well He was done it wasn't it wasn't an analytic move And I wonder now that we find out today that he had loose bodies removed from his elbow Maybe we're nursing him through the postseason. Maybe he wasn't feeling great You're right. And that's why I always tell you guys we never know from an injury standpoint And we usually talk about it more at the Mets with kind of the stuff that's been going on the last few years But when a guy gets pulled and we yell at Mickey Cali we yell at Aaron Boone and go why'd you do that? You never know what's going on behind the scenes And so rather than jumping to conclusions and and putting it on the manager or say why these idiots? Why are they doing this? Let's just take a step back and understand that it's a physical game And if physically if the training staff and the coaching staff doesn't believe that this player can get through the next inning or two And you got to take him out of the game. So I I'm cautiously optimistic about all of the injuries about Voight about Hicks about Tanaka That being said, I think the Yankees go into next season the same way they went into this year with I'm gonna have a 25-man roster. I mean and by the way I'm gonna have reinforcements in AAA because I'm going to need everybody with the amount of injuries that are in the game today