On today's Dan Patrick Show, DP talks to ESPN's Marty Smith about a solution to college football’s transfer portal. And New York Yankees play-by-play announcer, Michael Kay explains why he'd take Aaron Judge's season over Shohei Ohtani's.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Got a lot of topics today, got a slice and dice some things here. Check in with the Yankees a little bit later on. We'll survey the college football's schedule here coming up. There's a games coming up tomorrow night, including Dion in the Buffaloes against North Dakota State. Don't sleep on that one standalone game on a Thursday night. Ooh, ten point favorites at home. If they would happen to lose all day Friday, we would be talking about Colorado and Dion. That's not an easy opponent to open up the season for a team that failed miserably down the stretch last year after winning four games early. And now you've got North Dakota State, a perennial power and at least one person I spoke to who's affiliated with the program, North Dakota State better this year than they were last year, which does and bode well for Colorado. But Colorado does have Marquee tallon They just it's the offensive and defensive line that failed them last year. If they've improved that, then they're going to be a team that might be Bowl eligible. And the over under I think is five and a half for Colorado. All right, the man in Green Classic DP Show T shirt has been updated. It's back for the twenty twenty four season. First Hour brought to you by Rapid Radios dot Com. We've fallen in love with these walkie talkies. A lot of fun business owners keep in touch with up to two hundred staff members at one time. Go to Rapid radios dot com get up to sixty percent off in free shipping. Good morning. If you're watching on Peacock, Thank you you've downloaded the app. And radio affiliates iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio around the country. Play of the Day, stat of the Day, poll question phone calls Operator Tyler sitting by eight seven to seven to three DP show a couple of headlines here. NFL cutdown Day. Kadarius Tony was cut by the Chiefs. I hope he finds a roster spot, because when Canarius Tony is on the field, somebody's going to win the game and or somebody's He's like Jameis Winston, something's going to happen. He can win a game and he can lose a game for you, as we saw what he did in the Super Bowl. Desmond Ritter went from being a starter in Atlanta to being cut Bailey Zappi he had his fifteen minutes of fame with the Patriots. Jamar Chase is expected for Week one with the Bengals, still looking for a new contract there. It's going to happen this year, and it may happen to a couple of teams. It happens every year. Somebody makes the jump and you go, where did they come from? Let me refresh your memory. The Dolphins in two thousand and seven won one game. The following year they won eleven, so a ten game improvement. How about the forty nine Ers in twenty eighteen four wins, twenty nineteen thirteen wins, nine game improvement, Cowboys four and twelve and twenty fifteen they won thirteen games the following season. The Chiefs in twenty twelve won two games, they won eleven the next game three. Steelers won six games. Following year they won fifteen. The Rams in ninety eight won four, turned it around following year and won thirteen. Panthers twenty fourteen won seven games, They won fifteen games. The following season. The Chargers won four games in three twelve games in two thousand and four, the Bears in two thousand and five wins following season thirteen seven win improvement, Texans in twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three three wins to ten wins, Packers twenty eighteen, six wins to thirteen wins in twenty nineteen, the Texans in twenty seventeen four wins twenty eighteen eleven, the Jags in twenty sixteen went from three to ten wins the following season uh twenty eleven, the Vikings three wins to ten wins. The following season Buccaneers and nine three wins to ten wins. That was twenty ten Falcons and seven at a big jump Saints and five Ravens in five they were a six win team, went to thirteen wins in two thousand and six, and then the Eagles in twenty sixteen seven wins to thirteen wins the following season. It's going to happen this year. The question is you try to troubleshoot and go, okay, is it going to be that team? Is it going to be the Falcons? Is it going to be Is Carolina going to somehow surprise this? You know, the Bengals weren't good last year? Were now they finished last place? But are they going to make that big jump? Are they going to improve by five wins this year? Somebody is going to do it? The question is which teams. I'll go plural because you'll probably have too. Now, the NFL wants encourages parody, So if you have a last place finish, you're going to get an easier schedule. If you have a first place finish, you get a tougher schedule. That's what they do every year. But if you're looking at the team or teams that could does Denver have a big jump this year? Yes?
He got to look at the Chargers there for sure. Yeah, five and twelve last year.
Yeah. So let's say let's say you pile on six wins, maybe seven wins now up to eleven, twelve wins? Huge, Now you've got everybody's attention. Yes, Ton, And for Denver.
To have a big jump because they've managed to scrape eight wins together, they'd have to have like double digit wins this year with a rookie quarterback to be considered a significant jump.
They have to win like ten eleven games.
Yeah, but somebody's going to do it. That's the thing. Somebody is going to do it. There's always going to be a surprise team. Now. I don't know if somebody's going to make a nine or ten win jump, because really that's I think ten wins is the most that we've ever seen a turnaround from one season to the next. Yes, PAULI.
Sometimes I look at that and say, what was the team that was surprisingly bad last year? Worse than you'd ever expected. At the Arizona Cardinals for four and thirteen a couple of years ago, they were competitive, they were you know, Kyler Murray was an MVP candidate at midseason. That seems like a team that could rate the ship ish and go from four to nine, which would be a gigantic jump.
You know, But it'll happen, because it happens every year. And that's the fun part of it, because we'll look back in six six months from now and we'll go, gosh, didn't see that happening. Somebody will be better than what we think. And then there's going to be a couple of teams that take that you know, precipitous drop where you go, gosh, I thought they were going to be really good and there's going to be teams that do surprise us in a variety of ways where they're competitive later in the season. Sometimes that's what happened. It's like the Lions. I was all in on the lines a couple of years ago, and I think they lost their first seven games. I go, oh my god. And then at the end of the year the Lions were really really good. The Eagles last year, well they ten and one, were like, here they go, and then all of a sudden, there they go. It's when you realize how good you are, or maybe when the league realizes how bad you are, and then all of a sudden, you know, the results vary, but that's what's fun about the NFL is not everybody has a chance to go to the super Bowl, but it feels like everybody has a chance to make improvements, to be competitive and maybe be in the conversation, to be relevant. I mean, really, that's what you want to be relevant. And we'll have a couple of those that go up and a couple of those that go down. All right, poll question, Seaton, what are we going to go with first hour on the program? Yeah, we could probably do a poll question off of that.
Okay, We'll have to populate it a bit, so we can hold that one off for a little later. Okay, let's see, would you rather be described as overrated or underrated?
Okay, okay, it sounds like a weird poll question. However, if you're referred to as overrated, you must be wildly successful at something, either in pay or in notoriety. Right, you can't be called overrated and be anonymous.
There's an NFL survey conducted by the mother Ship, and one hundred and three players anonymously voted on a variety of things, such as the most overrated quarterback, the most overrated quarterback. Pauli already made his guest. Do you guys know who is the most overrated quarterback? Did you guys see this list?
Now?
This is a player vote anonymous Marvin, who would you say is the most overrated quarterback?
Wait?
Wait, what the players say? There's the most overrated quarterback? Yes, Josh Allen, Todd Justin, Herbert Seaton, Kirk Cousins, Josh Allen, Josh Allen. Second, we have a tie. A tie for second of the most overrated quarterbacks.
Might be even more insulting. Okay, for second of overrated you're not even the most overrated quarterback. Good all right, Paulie, take a stab at one of these two quarterbacks who were tied for second most overrated according to an anonymous poll.
I would think that the players would think the coverage doesn't match the performance. I'm sorry to say. I think that might be Justin Herbert.
Justin Herbert, Todd Tua Tua oh Tua is a good guest.
Dude, Seaton, Oh, jeepers, creepers.
I'm gonna say Justin Herbert took Marvin Dak Prescott. It is to a tongue of Iloa and Jalen Hurts.
Oh, players don't like Hurts.
Well, you know what, there's some there's some whispers around the league that the league is kind of figured out Jalen Hurts a little bit when it comes to passing. They've figured him out. Now you've got a lot of weapons. You had Saquon good offensive line as well. But it feels like that maybe there's a little bit of a groundswell there that he's not great. Other top vote getters Justin Herbert came in third, Trevor Lawrence, then Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray and Brock perty how about the Now, let me give you my opinion. I think there's a difference in overrated and overcovered, and I think that we make that miske that mistake sometimes that we overcover somebody. The media is the reason for somebody being maybe overrated, like Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott's a really good quarterback. I don't know if he's a great quarterback, but he's overcovered and we expect him to fall in line with Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. That's not who he is. But he's a really good quarterback. But because he gets covered so much, overcovered so much, he disappoints us instead of saying, man, what a great story. This is where he was drafted, takes over for Tony Romo, and he's been a really good at times really good, almost great quarterback. He was an MVP candidate, but we look at him see Justin Herbert to me has maybe is overrated and overcovered as well. Josh Allen, I don't see it now he's overcovered. Do I think that he's overrated? I mean, he's made it to an AFC title game. If you want to say who is overrated, this is gonna sound strange. I would say Lamar Jackson from the standpoint of he's won two MVPs, but has nothing to show for it when he gets to the postseason. And when we look at the coverage, you get the attention and you get we want to see what your quarterback does when he gets to the postseason. It's not fair to him. But if we're looking at he's great regular season quarterback, now what do you do in the postseason, then you would find him overrated. Mahomes is underrated. I think they do have that the top vote getters for the most underrated quarterback. You know what, there's enough on the list here that we'll chop this up here. Let me make sure we got to pull question for the first hour seton what are we gonna go with. I think we're gonna go with overrated or underrated? Probably? Okay, all right, I'm fine with that. So who do we Who do you think is the most overrated quarterback?
And we're gonna go with who would you would would you rather be described as overrated? Okay, that's what we're gonna go Okay, because it is tricky. Being underrated is nice, but being overrated usually means you got paid a bunch, which is nicer than being like God, I was so good and never got anything for it.
One of the I guess popular phrases that players had about Josh Allen is you know, too many turnovers, which is true. He does one hundred and two turnovers since the start of his career. Jared Goff is second, then you have Baker Mayfield third. According to ESPN stats, Allen has made two Pro Bowls and he's gone to the postseason five consecutive times the AFC Championship Game, So in six years he's gone to five postseason games, went to the AFC Title Game as well. I maybe overcovered, don't I don't know if he now do I think the do? I think writers were trying to shoehorn him into the Mahomes Josh Allen MVP this year. It almost felt like people were wishful reporting that Josh Allen MVP candidate and kept waiting for that, and then we didn't see it, and then we kind of came back to earth and we realized, Okay, Mahomes is going to go to a Super Bowl. May not be the most valuable player. Josh Allen has all of this talent, I mean even that, I mean his ability to run and pass. It's you know, they're who else is like him in the NFL? That big you know, to be able to do. You know, if you're looking at almost the modern day Cam Newton, a better Cam Newton from the standpoint of he can run, really athletic and is a you know, a good passer as well. I mean, we're going to find out a whole lot more about Josh Allen this year. If you don't have that number one wide receiver with Stefan Diggs gone and they you know, their defense has been decimated as well.
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Bawie Fool's Go Ahead with Tony Fusco.
Yeah.
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning Paul Antoni Fusco Show. Yeah, but instead of us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan Packrick described us when he came on our show.
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
What what are you doing interrupting our promo? Yeah?
You wasn't talking about you.
You took those clips totally of context.
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you out and beat you.
Let me put this into context. Shut up.
Yeah.
Anyway, just listen to the Pauly and Toni Fusco Show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Yee's bringing Marty Smith at the Mothership ESPN reporter and he's a spokesperson advisor for the new competitive giving product called Game Change. We'll have that for him to discuss.
All right, So what do you think, Marty about the transfer portal news. Yeah, so here's my thing. The player decided to go in the portal, right m hm. So if the play's decision is to go in the portal, then why would the school he's leaving benefit, Like, don't I don't know that that works, because now I will say this, here's my fix. My fix is now that there is revenue sharing at the player level. Right, Players sign three year contracts with the university and if they leave, then there are buyouts involved from the school they go to. There are paybacks to nil collectives and all of that. We've spent day and we've spent years going well, the coaches leave. The coaches can just leave whenever the hell they want to. Yeah, they leave, and there's seventy six million dollar buyouts and all these things. So what does I really feel like we're in an era now where the players should have to do that too?
Do you think Alabama maybe entice the kicker to leave Miami of Ohio?
Oh idea, man, Okay, I don't know. I don't know those dealings. But if I'm a Miami of Ohio kicker and I've had a really good year and my dream since and I've not talked to that young man, this is an inference on my part. I've spent my entire life dreaming of playing at the highest level of college football and performing on the biggest stages. And I jump in the portal to see if someone wants me, and Alabama comes Colling, I'm probably gonna bounce.
Oh no, I get that. But what I'm saying is these these smaller schools are being poached constantly. That you get somebody who's all mac and then somebody's gonna go out and bring them in. Absolutely, But you know these teams, you know they can't compete. You know, you're you're trying to replenish your football program and you're losing one of your best players to the highest bidder.
Yeah, that happens. I think that happens at every level. It's happening power five to power five, It's happening all over the place. And that's one thing that's made it look this is not a swan song cry Mia River for the coaches, because they make a fortune. But it is hard for those folks now in roster management perspectives, because you just don't know who you're going to have and or what you're going to have when you finally get to the time where you're going to put a hat on a hat, and so it is a difficult moment. And I look forward to the time when at least we have some sort of uniform parameters within which everyone has to operate.
How important is the Colorado North Dakota State game tomorrow.
I think it's really I think it's very important. I think it's very important for coach Sanders and his program to get off on a very positive foot. Between the lines. It's obviously been a bit of a tumultuous time here in the last couple of weeks for them. They started oh strong last year and I believe they were the biggest story in sports after they beat Kansas State last year to open the season and then we're we're competitive and until they weren't. And so I think it's a really important game for that for that program and for coach certainly.
Well, they opened up with TCU last year.
That's what I meant. Who do I say, Kansas State Industry?
Yeah, TCU, And then it got to the point where you got to see what college football is all about. You got to have a good offense and defensive line, no matter what your skill position level is. In Colorado certainly didn't have that. Uh, college football gonna miss Saban or hardball more.
I would say Saban. They both brought very unique attributes to the game and so star power to college football in general. Coach Saban really rewrote how this all works during his time at Alabama. To me, he was the most powerful, definitive voice in the sport as a head coach, and his coaching tree is ridiculous. You look at Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkeesian, Lane Kiffin, Billy Napier, on and on, and so I feel like the answer is probably Coach Saban.
Back to the transfer portal for a moment. I'm looking at the Heisman Trophy candidate's the favorites, and most of them are transfers.
Yep, that's right.
You know, Georgia and Alabama have their quarterbacks that they recruited. But is this sort of the wave of the future that you think you spend or maybe it's the present that you know you're going to see these quarterbacks establish themselves, put them out to the highest bidder transfer and you're bringing in an experienced quarterback.
It's definitely right now when you look at the fact that Bryce Young state at Alabama his whole career and won the Heisman Trophy. But Jaden Daniels transferred to LSU from Arizona State. Joe Burrow, now, Joe Burrow's transferred from Ohio State. He'd already graduated, so his sort of dynamics are different. But he didn't become Joe Burrow until he found a new home and a new energy. And so that is what these young men have at their disposal right now, and quite frankly, I think it's great for them. You look at Jackson dark who was at USC he's now at Old Miss. You look at Carson Beck, who's been at Georgia from the jump I spent. I did a thirty minute conversation with Carson yesterday in Athens. And so there are some who stay who will have that opportunity, but the vast majority of them that they need to leave to find that right energy for them and the right coaching and affort. Like guys, players respond to different energy differently, and it's nice that they have the opportunity to have another chance, as it were.
Well, you also get these quarterback who come into the NFL that are twenty three, twenty four years of age. That's why when Tom Brady said, you know that this is terrible, it's tragic, what's going on with these young quarterbacks. Well, first of all, they're not young quarterbacks. They're not twenty one. And you know Bonix was with two different programs, Jayden Daniels, two different programs that advantage being more mature. That's why you're seeing these rookies starting. You're going to have at least three maybe four rookie quarterbacks starting in the NFL.
Right, Yeah, they're they're extremely well prepared emotionally, a lot of young men go into the league and have physical gifts, but they don't maybe have the emotional fortitude yet, and guys like those guys do because they played extremely difficult competition. They've played too to our point about them transferring, they've also been subjected to different types of leadership and different types of infrastructure, which also matters because they go into the NFL that has different types of infrastructure and leadership, and they've already been subjected to variety and diversity in that way, and I think that really does matter.
Now.
It also matters who's around you, because you look at Bryce Young. Bryce Young was as ready as any college quarterback I've covered dan and he came here. I live in Charlotte. He came to Carolina, no infrastructure around him, not a lot of talent around him, and people want to write him off. That's crazy to me.
C J.
Stroud goes one pig later has talent around him and we want to give him the MVP. And I love both those young men as human beings, as individuals. Spend a lot of time with both of them, but they didn't go into the same situations.
Also, early season scheduling, now that we have the twelve team playoff. I don't know if I had Sarkesian on last week, and I don't know, like he didn't have anything to do with playing Michigan week two. We've seen a couple of the you know, Clemson against Georgia coming up this weekend. I don't know are we going to see more of those? Because you can play somebody that's tough, but it's not gonna probably hurt you as much with a twelve team playoff.
I think we see a lot of them because of money. We've seen these inter conference matchups for several years now with marquee brands playing against one another. And I mean, if you look at what we have just this Saturday, right, you noted it, Dan, You got Clemson, Georgia and Atlanta. You got LSU USC in Las Vegas, Texas. A and m is hosting Notre Dame at Kyle Field. Miami is going to the Swamp at Florida. There are all of the super marquee games against massive brands, and I love it as a college football nerd and fan, I just think it's wonderful. But yes, to your original point, I look at Georgia's schedule specifically, let's just talk about the dogs for a second, all right. They wont two of the last three national titles. They have a very very difficult schedule this year. They go to Texas, they go to Alabama, they play Old miss on and on. I think they could lose twice and still make the playoff. Dan, It's just a more forgiving format.
Now tell me what you're doing with game Change. We're talking to Marty Smith at the Mothership.
I appreciate so much you asking and for having me on man. I love your spirit, I love your show, I love your platform and the way you guys do what you do. So I'm grateful for the time in fellowship with you this morning.
All right.
So game change is this all? You know? You go to the grocery store now and they ask you do you want to round up? And so that's what game change is. You go to go game change dot com, you input whatever credit or debit card you so choose, You pick your favorite school, and every single purchase you make with that respective credit card, the balance that rounds up to the next dollar. The balance automatically goes to the school that you chose. It is considered a charitable donation. It is a tax right off. And while like, all right, if you go to Alabama or Georgia or Tennessee, they have a lot of money right because of they have grants of rights from ESPN or from Fox for the Big ten schools, et cetera. Notre Dame has NBC. They have a lot of money from television revenue. I went to Radford University, Man, we don't have that, and I'm worried, like, are we even gonna forget being competitive? Man? Are we even gonna have sustain And so this is a really cool way for people to automatically donate to that athletic department. The money goes directly to the athletic department and they distribute it within the department however they so choose. So it's cool, man. I thought it was a really neat initiative and I'm grateful to be involved.
Go gamechange dot com. How long does it take to prep the hair before a TV bruncat?
So you know, it is the eighth Wonder of the world. There's the Pyramids and the Sphinx and all that miss and then you got this salad on top of my head. It really isn't a very laborious prospect. I just get up, all right. I take some some some like palmade stuff, right, and I put it in my hands like this, and then I just do a little swoop and maybe a little shape and that's it. Like, it's not terrible. There's no brushes, there's no dryers, there's no uh, instruments at all except for my hands. And so I know it's a hell of an artistic masterpiece, but it's really not that involved.
Yeah, it's God given, That's what it is. God given. Good Moss.
I mean, look you're doing well, yeah, look at you really well.
Yeah. I mean I'm I'm probably on the mount rushmore of TV hair.
But I appreciate that you like, I'm I'm not gonna die of mind, all right. I'm just I'm a I'm a ginger. I'm a redheaded guy. So like dyed red hair. It's just a terrible prospect. And so I'm just gonna let the gray I earned them, and so I'm just gonna let that ride. And you've done such a good like it's a distinguished esthetic.
Well, there was a time at the Mothership where I did diet, did you, Yeah? And was that suggested to you?
No? I did it vanity.
I think I wanted to appear younger. Yeah, just so you're you're like, you're not that old guy. And then I did it. And then I realized these TVs nowadays, man, oh man, they.
Her Man, buddy, you can't HI now. I say all the time, High definition is not your friend.
Man, I mean in.
So many ways. I'll tell you when that really hit me. And I'm sorry. If you guys got to go to break, I'll shut up, I'll say real quick. There's a great song by George Strait called Troubadour, and the second stanza of that song might be the greatest stanza in the history of music for any genre. All Right, it says the truth about a mirror is that a damned old mirror don't really tell the whole truth. It don't show what's deep inside or read between the lines, and it's really no reflection of youth. And when you hear what they're saying, you go gole, I am. I'm getting on up there. Man, my smile, I got wrinkles and gray hair, but I don't care. Man. Laney's down with it. My wife thinks I'm handsome, so hell with the rest of them.
Oh, not Laney Wilson.
Now Landy Wilson, although I'm sure she thinks I'm hansome too. If she's you think Landy Wilson would go, yeah, yeah, he's handsome.
Yeah. It seems like she would say what you need her to say? What you want here?
She would affirm me I need that, I need affirmation.
Yeah, and then she would say, let's have some watermelon noonshine.
That's it, baby, I'm ready right now, ten thirty in the morning.
Good to talk to you, Marty. Thanks for joining us, and good luck this season.
Thank you so much. I appreciate your brother half for a long time. Thank y'all for having.
Me Marty Smith.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAP.
He's the voice of the Yankees. He's Michael ka back on the program. Mike, thanks for joining us. If I would have told you before the season started, Aaron Judge would be on pace to hit sixty home runs again, you would have said what.
I would say.
I could see it happening, but it wasn't likely because you know, twenty twenty two.
We felt that that was at once in a lifetime thing.
So I wouldn't bet on it because I just think that these are so unusual. But now I start to think that if he didn't run into the wall at Dodger Stadium last year, maybe he would have made a run at sixty as well. He's just on that kind of role right now where he's the best hitter in baseball.
I wondered about his swing, or I wonder about his swing when you first saw him and it felt like somebody that size and having a long swing. Could he continue to have that success when his bat you know, slowed down. He's thirty two and having probably the best year of his career. So how do you handicap that swing of his as he you know, gets to be thirty five, thirty six years of age.
You know what, He's a really smart player, Dan, and I think that what he's done is he's turned it into a science because he actually cares about batting average and his strikeouts are actually down from his rookie year when he hit fifty two home runs that year. I mean I even talked to Joe Jurardi about it. You know, nobody could envision this. Nobody could have dreamed this big, that he'd be a three thirty hitter and be on face for sixty three home runs, but that's what he is, so you would be led to believe that. If, in fact, he's going to get older and you know, the laws of physics take over and he's gonna have a slower bat, I think he'll be able to make it work. I think he's got a lot more in the tank. Remember he got called up late because he went to college. So if he wants to do great things in a compiling sense, he's got to hit till he's thirty seven, and I think he's going to.
Who's having a better season Aaron Judge or Shoe Heeo Tunny.
I think Judge is simply because of the fact that he's playing the field. You know, Otani's unbelievable. He's stole on over forty bases and that's something that Judge doesn't do. I think Judge could steal more bases if he wanted to, but it's imperative that he stay healthy. But he's playing center field most of the time, so I'd say that he's probably having a better season.
Was there ever a time when you thought, or maybe Yankee fans thought you were getting Otani.
I thought at the beginning they did.
I mean, that's the reason the Yankees have Stanton, because once they lost out on Otani, they really thought that they were going to get Otani, and then they pivoted and made the trade for Stanton.
And I remember sitting next to.
Otani on the day I said a baseball writer's dinner in New York, and you know, he had signed with the Angels, and he said to me, said, why are people so upset? I said, because they really wanted you to be a Yankee. Goes, well, maybe one day, but that's not going to happen. I think he likes it on the West Coast, and at the end of this ten year contract, I don't think the Yankees will pursue him.
What about Juan Soto.
I'm one of the people who believe this, and I don't think it's something that people want to embrace. Everybody says, oh, he loves being a Yankee, and the fans love him, and they showed him sets love. He'll definitely sign with the Yankees. He's definitely going to sign with the team that offers him the most money. I mean, you don't have Scott Borris as an agent to take a discount. That's just not the way it works. And maybe it's going to be the Yankees that give him the most money. The only thing I would actually bend a little bit on Dan is if it's close. I think he is enjoying his time. He knows the power of hitting in front of Judge and the fans, and Soto from opening day.
This year have had a love affair.
So if there's a difference between a million dollars for one year over a ten fifteen year period, I could see him saying, Okay, go to the Yankees. But let's say the Mets and Steve Cohen they offer him sixty million a year and the Yankees offer him fifty. He could love the Yankees all he wants. He loved being with the Nationals and he turned down four hundred and forty million dollars. So I think it's going to come down to a business transaction, and I think emotions are going to be pushed to the side.
Best team in the American League is who.
I think it's between the Yankees and the Orioles. But if you want to ask me who do I fear the most. It's probably the Astros. I don't think they're the best team, but they have the institutional knowledge.
Of having to get to the ALCS.
So if I'm the Yankees and the Orioles, that would be the team that scares me the most. I mean, in an eye blink, they went from ten out to buy five and a half, six over and in front of the Mariners and got the Mariner manager fired as well. So the Astros scare me the most. And I'd say that the Yankees and the and the Orioles are the two best teams in the league.
You look at a Yankee Dodger World Series.
I would like that.
That would be fun. I think it would be good for baseball. I see Otani and Judge on the on the same field. I think that would be great and it would bring me back to eight, seventy seven and seventy eight. But I'll tell you what, on my radio show, Dan, all I take is Yankee fants talking about this. Judg scenes means nothing unless they go to the World Series. I mean that's the way they've been programmed. So I really can't get upset with them, but it's so hard to get to the World Series. The last time a team went back to back was the Yankee So there's just so many layers of playoffs to get there. I mean, Brian Cashman calls it a crap shoot. I don't know if it's quite a crap shoot, but I do know it's really really tough to do. So what I like to see the Yankees and the Dodgers. Maybe the Yankees and the Philly Sure, Yankees and the Mets would be fun. I think there are legitimately ten teams that could go to the World Series.
What was your reaction when the story came out that the Yankees could honor Alex Rodriguez.
Should honor or that they actually invited into Alzheimer's date.
Well, no, I thought that there was something about ay Rod talking about, you know, being put out in Memorial Park or out there with all the legends.
A lot of people were asked at during Oldzhimer's Day. I think the fact that Alex was invited to Old Timer's Day, if you asked me that six years ago, I go, yeah, okay, that's going to happen. So time does heal some woonds? And when he was introduced to the crab. There was a lot of love that came his way that warren't booze. There were cheers, for sure, not the most of any Yankee. That still goes to Derek Jeter. I think it's a long way from putting into Monument Park. I really do. I mean, this is a guy and I think if you look at his numbers, just look at his numbers, six hundred and ninety six home runs, three MVPs, two of them with the Yankees, a great World Series running on nine. He deserves to be out there for that. But this guy was also suspended from baseball for year and he was suing the team. So I mean, there have to be a lot of a lot of woonds that have to be healed before that would ever happen. I wouldn't I would never say never, but it would be tough.
But the Yankees love to celebrate these things, even though I wouldn't celebrate a run with putting him out there. And I misspoke Memorial Monument Park. But hey, it's the Yankee franchise. They do what they want to do. But it seems like a rod still, like how do you curry favor to get in the Hall of Fame, and like, I just don't know. He's been relevant doing the Fox games, the ESPN stuff, and then I just wonder, is he ever going to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame having been popped twice with steroids.
I don't think he will.
I don't think he will unless there's a seismic change of the people that are voting. You know, people have said, well, you know, people will die off and there'll be a younger generation of voters. Okay, then it's ten years on the ballot will be over, and then it'll be the hands of some kind of veterans committee. And I think a lot of the players want to keep the ped guys out. The sad part is Dan. Of all the people that have been kept out, like Bonds and Clemens and the like, the one that it hurts the most is a Rod because he is such a love of baseball and he understands the history of the game and what it means to be in Cooperstown. That would mean the world to him. But he also knows that he messed up in a big way. So I'm not sure I'll ever get it to cooperstownd.
Just not you bring up a valid point, and I've heard that before that you get younger voters, they aren't as offended by steroids. And I had Tim Kirchin on the show recently and I said, it is a museum. And there's a lot of things in museums that aren't attached to good people, but they're still in a museum. Are we treating the Hall of Fame like it's a little to pristine instead of let's use it to tell the story of baseball?
All due respect Dan, because you know I idolize you. I hate that argument.
Hate it. It is a museum and he's in that museum. Pete Rose is in that museum.
That doesn't mean they get a plaque. The plot is the ultimate in the Baseball Hall of Fame, so they're a display. You've got Pete Rose's back there, You've got Alex Rodriguez something from the two thousand and nine World Series. So everybody is represented in the story of baseball. But just because it's a museum doesn't mean that they have to get a plaque. And that's where I would draw the line. And as for the I think you bring up a great point about it's treated as if it's a church it's a sacrament. It's sacrilegious if you would let somebody in that I don't like. And I love the way the Baseball writers hold on to this and do treat it that way.
But the one thing that they've.
Messed up on, because I just watched the Pete Rose documentary on Max, the fact that they were ever had that Pete Rose vote taken out of their hands, they should have said, we will never vote for another player unless you let us vote for Pete Rose. That doesn't mean Pete Rose deserves to get in, but they should be the ones that decide once it was taken out of their hands. It shows you how much they just love that vote and how how much it means to them, because they should have stepped away and said, unless you give us a chance to vote on this guy, because we've done right by this hall, we've kept bad guys out, we've kept pd guys out, we should be allowed.
To vote for Pete Rose.
And once the Baseball Hall of Fame took that out of the hands, they should say, Okay, find another way to vote people in because we're out.
But they didn't do that, and that's on them.
Well, you get people have this argument, Michael, and that is, Hey, Bonds was a Hall of Famer before he cheated. Hey, Clemens was a Hall of And I said, it doesn't matter, like you could be Father of the Year in two thousand and eight and then all of a sudden, you're abusing your wife, Like just because you were something doesn't mean that's what you are. It's the totality of your career. And I never buy that was Bond's a Hall of Famer. Yes, he was well on his way. Clemens, I don't think was until he went to Toronto and then after that that things changed there. Sammy Sosa's name never comes up as one of those guys like what about I mean, he had four seasons of hitting over sixty home runs. I don't know. It feels like Bonds, Clemens, but never Sosa. So I don't like we we kind of pick and choose who should shouldn't, why they should, why they shouldn't, And even Pete, if you cheat when you're in graduate school, I don't take away your undergraduate degree. If he if he bet as a manager, now do I think he bet as a player? I do. I don't have any you know, any reference with that. But I just do. I don't think he started once he became a manager, but I can't take away what he did as an undergrad. Michael that he that's a Hall of Fame baseball career, and I know what he did as a manager. He bet on baseball.
Well, p Rose is a really complicated case because the only thing to have proof of is the fact that he bet as a manager. He never bet as a player. He would not be getting in as a manager. He'd be getting in this guy with the most hits in the history of baseball. But it's a it's a tough thing to delineate on and say, Okay, you separate the guy because I'm sure you Shoe was Shoe Johnson never bet on base fall to the Black Sox scandal. Should he be in because of the stuff he did before that? I think it's the one whole thing. It's not just like it's not a sizzle of buffet to get the whole thing?
Could we should we look at Aaron Judges the single season home run chimp.
I think that I don't want to cop out, but I think that's everybody's individual preference. If you look at bombs and you think that it was ill gotten Gains and Sosa and Maguire.
Than he is.
If you think, okay, everybody was doing it, and there were pitchers that were doing it, then he's not the best thing he has going for him is at least he knows he's the American League single season home run record holder.
Is he better than?
The sad part is Dan he had the worst April that you could possibly have the worst. If he actually had just a decent April, they'd be people talking about him getting seventy three and then he would erase all of this nonsense and there'd be no more asterisks anymore. But the fact that he had a bad April means that he's going to go for sixty two again. I'm probably not going to go for seventy three.
You think he could hit seventy three, I do.
I do now.
As he gets older, I think it becomes less likely. But if he had that great if he had in April where he had nine home runs rather than what he did had, I mean he hit.
Under two hundred in April.
He looked lost where people were saying something's wrong with him. He just didn't have enough of dots in spring training. If he had a decent April. I think he'd be making a run at seventy three. I really do, because he is so locked in right now and it's not just brute Paul force that he does out there. He's really thinking up there, and he's become a much more cerebral hitter.
I think he could have done it this year. I don't know. Next year is a year older. I'm not sure, but this year he could have done it.
And you see right handed hitters, you know that they used the entire field. I remember Dale Murphy, you know, kept saying that they you know, there were pitches that he could hit out of the park to right center, and he became really good at doing that because he was trying to pull everything. And I see, judge, that's a smart hitter, even if you don't hit a home run. Use the pitch to your advantage, use the ballpark to your advantage. So you can see a thought process when he's up there. A lot of these guys just go up there and swing, but he's thinking that he's in there.
Also, Yankee Stadium is built for him, so just a fly ball right field. I'm not saying he has a lot of these home runs because most of them go four hundred and fifty feet. But it's good if you're going to break a record to have one dunk into the short fortune right two or three times a year, because that gives you a little bit of a run. He's just a brilliant, brilliant hitter. And again, I did not envision a guy who's going to hit over three hundred when he hit the fifty two home runs as a rookie. He's just he's gotten so much better as a baseball player and so much smarter. And really, Dan, I don't know if you've ever stood next to him, he's a giant. They're on baseball players that look like that. I mean, I'm six foot four and I feel small next to him. Paul O'Neill is six foot six and he's looking up at him. It's just an amazing thing that a guy that size could have that kind of athletic ability and also the computer of a brain to process all the information that's coming his way for him to hit three hundred. And he's one of the few home run hitters Dan that really does care about batting average. He's not Joey Gallo who's willing to hit forty and hit one seventy. He takes a lot of pride to hitting three hundred, and he's going to hit three hundred. He might even win the batting title if Bobby Wood Junior goes into a little bit.
Of a slump.
Great to talk to you. You're in postseason fourm You're ready to go. Don't screw it up, Mike, Mike, Thank you, Michael, thank you. That's Michael kay Yankee, play by play broadcaster on Yes Network.