 everybody will make our picks after we talked to our next guest we've been looking forward to talking to him coming off an absolutely unbelievable year that should get him the Cy Young Award in the American League unless there's no justice in the world and that is New York Yankees ace Garrett Cole and he joins us now on the show. Garrett, it's Michael, Don and Peter. How you doing? I'm doing great guys. Thanks for having me on. Well thanks for coming on. Obviously, you're always all about team. That being said, Yankees not going to the playoffs after Sunday. Can you still allow yourself time to enjoy the personal season that you had and how great you were? Yeah, I mean I think a little bit of that just happens naturally. You know the guys are playing so hard in those games and you know they were finding extra energy to take it up for them and we were all kind of you know excited so I think we've I think we've kind of celebrated that a little bit and just just our own way over the last couple days and and at the same time looking forward to you know got three extra games to keep getting keep getting better and keep fighting figuring some stuff out so. Did you have any indication at all that this could happen this season? Did you see this coming or was it a complete surprise that you guys took the step back that you did? I mean, obviously a couple of the injuries are quite shocking and rare. You know, but it's it's I mean it's just it's always on paper and spring training. I mean it's just you know it's like every time I get this answer or this question in February or whatever it's like come check with me you know in September and I'll let you know where we're at I mean because anything is possible anything is possible but I mean certainly certainly Rizzo and Aaron for sure those injuries are those injuries are just just unfortunate playing our baseball so. Now your game if it's possible because you've been a great pitcher for a long time you took a step up this year you kind of eliminated the homeruns which bedeviled you last year was that a point of emphasis for you coming into the season Garrett or was it just hey last year they went out this year they don't go out well certainly certainly I felt like it had a little more control over one year they go out and one year they don't go out so I definitely put some some thought and concerted effort into some strategies to try to mitigate the slug and then understand how you know how I lost games or how I lost some lead late that we otherwise could have you know locked up and yeah made you know made it made a couple adjustments just just overall the to you know essentially just become better at preventing runs now you have not spoken about the side young because you still had starts to go and you made your last start the other day and you went out with a bang a complete game shot against against Toronto so that being said Garrett what would winning I because I know you love baseball and your appreciation of baseball history what would it mean to you what does that award mean to you I mean it's the most it's the most coveted award you know in the pitching world I mean I guess you could still consider MVP a possibility I mean it wasn't that long ago that Kershaw and Berliner did it but it's just what of I mean what I don't know it's hard to put into words how humbling it would be and you know the statistics that go into this are our personal statistics so I mean everybody could everybody just contributes to this you know our college coaches always tell us that you know for guys to get individual awards you know great seasons the team collectively has to play well together I mean that's just that's just the bottom line and we didn't push it as far as we wanted to but you know I mean they still fought every single pitch and and and didn't give up any outs and so to represent this organization like my you know obviously my favorite team would be very special and to represent you know all the hard work that everyone else put into it would be I mean it'd be great for all of us it would just be what a special honor no I'm just taking a glance at your stats this year and there's just eight categories that I counted that are in bold in which you lead the league in innings pitched winning percentage earner and average is there a stat that you're the most proudest of this year I mean I always did just get into the post to be honest I respect guys that go out there and and pitch you know just as much as they as they possibly can and that was a type of game that you know dreamed of of having real growing up just being that just being that workhorse being being you know a guy that I mean we only get to go on the field two times a week you know I love playing it so I want to be out there as much as possible so I take pride in those stats there's a lot of discipline I mean there's a lot of obviously talent and and you know amazing blessings from from God that allow me to do those things but you know the hard work behind the scenes that I also contribute is you know makes those statistics worthwhile when you mentioned this and you know we remember you as a little boy in the 2001 World Series in the stands the Yankees are always your favorite team and although you've been here a while I've never asked you this has it lived up to everything you dreamed of as a little boy I mean it is it is the most so special to play for the city of New York I mean you know the the buy-in from the fans in the market I mean the level of care it's like it I mean it's just that there are things about that that I mean I'm gonna be honest there are things about that that sometimes aren't the most enjoyable part of it but like you know life's not perfect and you got to get through stuff that you don't sometimes like and at the same time like the rewards and you know the benefits of playing in New York and it's just such a high level of excellence that people demand it's just a great how could you want how could you wanted anything different how could you want anything different so you know so we haven't achieved our goals but that doesn't mean that we don't have opportunities in the future to do something special and you know I mean there's no better place and there's no better place to do it than New York so Garrett one thing I think fans about a lot with this team is like what's going on with the lot in the locker room you know who sort of plays a leadership role first of all do you consider yourself a leader in that locker room and what kind of leader and is it challenging to lead when as you said you're only on the field a couple days a week I would consider myself a leader yes the type of leader it's hard for me to categorize you know I just try to lead in in every I try to lead in every kind of way that I can and just be as good of a teammate as well we're out of a teammate as I can so hard for me to stay there and I forgot the last part of your question but I think it was something about you know how is it to lead in this situation or whatever I mean oftentimes we learn things from from failing and oftentimes you learn a lot of things about people when people are failing and we need to get better and so like just the way that Aaron goes about his business and sets the tone you know I just try to go about my business the same way and set the tone I just be a professional and bring it every single day you know regardless of regardless of the outside circumstances or how easy or how hard it is to get up for the game it's just to go out there and do your job and it's a fun job and we're blessed to do it so you know I just try to reinforce I think those characteristics every time I come in the park I know we have time for one more question so let me ask you this Garrett Aaron Judd said the other day he's gonna be involved in the offseason he's gonna talk to Hal Stein burner he's gonna tell him what he thinks needs to go on and things that need to change and you are just as important as as Aaron is to the future and the president of this organization will you also be active in that sense well well certainly I have conversations with all the same people Aaron does and Aaron and I have a lot of conversations together I mean because you know as you know we're representative of the team team as well so you know we care about all the players opinions and and what they have to offer so not only is it just Aaron Sotts but he speaks on behalf of of everyone else so I mean you know I yeah I'll be you know we'll be right there with them to support him whatever he needs to say whatever he needs to bounce off like me we're all rolling this together so ultimately we all should be tugging on the rope the same way I mean that's that's how I feel about that I'll tell you what congratulations on a great year it's a blast watching you pitch every five days it's it's actually a pleasure so I hope you had fun doing it because it sounds like you're doing and it seems like you're doing you're on the mountain like you really locked in and you're doing something that you love I think it shows thank you very much I appreciate it and I do have fun I'm looking forward to having some more fun too good stuff thanks Garrett all right take care