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[0:08] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to the Break a Bat podcast where baseball meets Broadway, an attempt to show that my two favorite mediums don't have to live in such separate worlds and maybe even break some stigmas.

[0:19] Al Malafronte: We're happy to have you with us.

[0:21] Al Malafronte: Now let's play ball.

[0:26] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to Break a Bat, where baseball meets Broadway and sports meets show business. I'm your host, Al Malafronte, coming at you for the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:35] Al Malafronte: I thought we'd do something a little different this week as we've had some time to digest the 2021 Yankee season and yet another early postseason exit.

[0:45] Al Malafronte: On the night of the wildcard game, I watched the game with my buddy Coleman. Terrible loss. We had a great time that evening.

[0:58] Al Malafronte: And I went on to Instagram that night and I posted something, you know, as far as my thoughts go on the season. It was over a story, uh, the Instagram story. And I was pretty overwhelmed by the number of responses I received in support of what I had to say about the Yankees, which I thought was really great because I know how passionate our audience space is.

[1:22] Al Malafronte: I think it speaks a lot to how much everyone loves the Yankees and how much this season hurt them, or I should say the loss hurt them in the way things ended at Fenway Park. So many questions lay ahead as far as what comes next. I'm still trying to figure that out myself.

[1:41] Al Malafronte: And to help me make sense of it all, I thought we'd bring someone on the show tonight who I consider to be a great friend that I've gotten to make from doing Break a Bat. Neil Keefe used to cover the Yankees for WFAN.com.

[1:52] Al Malafronte: And in recent years, he started his own Yankee blog and podcast called Keefe to the City. Over the past two years, there's no one I've enjoyed talking baseball with more than this guy. He's probably one of the more objective fans I've ever met.

[2:06] Al Malafronte: And for those who know me well, be it our audience or all my Met fan buddies from Long Island, I think they'll tell you that's something I pride myself on. Even though I'm a Yankee fan, I like to consider myself a baseball fan first, much like my special guest is. I'm so grateful he could join us tonight.

[2:20] Al Malafronte: So with that being said, I ask you all to please turn your attention to home plate. Just be on the marquee. Now batting, Neil Keefe. Neil, welcome to Break a Bat.

[2:31] Neil Keefe: Hey, Al, thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here.

[2:35] Neil Keefe: Dude, it's such an honor. I know we've been trying to make it happen for a long time. I wish it could have been like a World Series preview show or something like that. But I feel like if there's anyone who can help make sense of what's gone on with the Yankees and their organizational culture over these past few years, you're the guy.

[2:50] Neil Keefe: Yeah, I wish I could. I wish I could make sense of what's going on over these past few years, especially since coming within a game of the World Series in 2017, but I can't. And I mean, I can. I don't think the Yankees can. I think a lot of fans can. It's clear that a lot of fans can. But certainly the Yankees can from the top of the organization right through the bottom. And that's why they're sitting home right now on October 12th, and the Red Sox are in the ALCS.

[3:16] Neil Keefe: The Astros, as we record this, are about to be going to the ALCS. So that's why they're home and those two teams are moving on in a series away from the World Series.

[3:24] Al Malafronte: Well, you have Brian Cashman to thank for that. I mean, I was talking with my Yankee fan buddy last night, you know, just talking about the whole idea of a Red Sox Astros ALCS. I never thought there would be a day where I might be rooting for the Red Sox in the postseason. But I mean, here we are because the Yankees couldn't take care of, you know, a basically a rebuilding team in the wildcard game with the highest paid pitcher in baseball on the mound.

[3:49] Al Malafronte: And all of a sudden they're in a position to go to the World Series. I just I still cannot believe it's come to this.

[3:55] Neil Keefe: Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna go that far. I'll be an Astros fan next week. I'll get a Jose Altuve shirt on. I'll get a Carlos Correa shirt. No Astros. Hey, I'm all about the Astros next week. If that's if they hold on here, which it looks like they will, there's no way, there's no chance I'll root for the Red Sox.

[4:15] Neil Keefe: And I always say my worst nightmare would be a Red Sox Mets World Series. Thankfully, I was a month old when they actually did play in the World Series, so I never had to really experience it. But that's probably, you know, even then I'd have to root for the Mets. Under no circumstance would I root for the Red Sox.

[4:32] Neil Keefe: You know, see the way I see it is if Altuve and Bregman and Correa weren't there, I might feel a little bit differently because the rest of that like nucleus is pretty much out of Houston at this point. It's a new manager, and you don't have, you know, you don't have Alex. Alex Cora has gone on to do great things, obviously, with the Red Sox. He's still involved in the playoffs. But that whole nucleus of the cheating scandal is, you know, kind of out of there.

[4:53] Neil Keefe: But um, yeah, I think a little differently when Carlos Correa is playing shortstop for your Yankees next year.

[5:00] Al Malafronte: Oh, you think that they'd go after him?

[5:02] Neil Keefe: I don't know. I know a lot of people want him to, but it's so up in the air because there's obviously him, there's Trevor Story, there's Corey Seager. There, you could get a one-year stop gap with Simmons. Do you keep Urshela? Do you, you know, there's so many options they could do if they really believe that Peraza or Volpe's the next guy and they're two years away. But I don't want to sidetrack you. But yeah, certainly Correa is an option. I don't know. I'm sure they'd have to, you know, take the temperature of the clubhouse before they bring a guy like that in.

[5:32] Neil Keefe: But he's certainly out there, and hey, if I don't give a shit what he did, you know, stealing signs if he comes to the Yankees and hits 30 home runs and that's 300 and plays great D. Who cares?

[5:43] Neil Keefe: Now, one thing I wrote on Instagram the night of the elimination was I wasn't that sad because I knew as far back as Memorial Day that this was not their year. Even with the acquisitions that they made in late July with Gallo and Rizzo, they started to play better, but just as a group, it didn't have that feel. This wasn't '05, this wasn't '07, 2011. Years where they went into the playoffs, and I thought they had a chance to be special.

[6:08] Neil Keefe: Considering how quickly it ended, but also the whole microcosm of what the season was. When you look back on the 2021 Yankees, what's the narrative that sticks out the most to you?

[6:21] Neil Keefe: The narrative is, well, to bring up your point, you had him at Memorial Day. I remember tweeting in like the second week of April that I'd sign up for the second wild card at that moment. And look what happened. We needed to sign up for the second wild card. I would say the narrative is disappointment or underachievement. It's one of the two.

[6:37] Neil Keefe: I know, yes, and the Yankees always have those dumb phrases like pride, power, pinstripes, you know, your what is it? Our history, your tradition, some things like that. Yeah, maybe next year they just say disappointment or luxury tax champions, something like that, because that's what this season was. It was a disappointment right from the opening day when they, you know, blow that game and those at bats.

[7:01] Neil Keefe: I can still picture Aaron Hicks's what was the least competitive at bat of the season, happened to come in opening day into the 10th inning using Nick Nelson in the 10th inning. Just right away from opening day. I just had a bad vibe about this team. They started five and 10. They were horrible. They got swept by the Tigers. You know, everyone knows they were 41 and 41 on 4th of July. They lost what it was at 12 out of 15, late August, early September.

[7:26] Neil Keefe: I knew they were going to lose last Tuesday. I knew it. I wrote a blog call titled A Bad Feeling about Go to Boston. And everyone said, keep your bad feelings to yourself. Cole will go out, he'll shove this. No, he wasn't. Cole was bad for a month. People just wanted to think he would turn it on like a light switch because all because it was October, because it was the postseason.

[7:47] Neil Keefe: The guy was hurt, and he's never gonna admit that he was hurt, but he was hurt. And they gave it, they put their best pitcher on the mound who was injured. They played their usual lineup, which is never good enough. Every postseason exit they've had since their last World Series comes down to not being able to hit an elimination game. It's not like they ever go out and score six and seven runs, and their pitching just sucks.

[8:06] Neil Keefe: Their pitching is usually pretty good when it's a winner-go-home game. It's usually the offense that lets them down. In this case, Cole wasn't very good. The offense let him down. It's a recipe for disaster, and another short season. And it's really hard to just stomach sitting here and watching the Red Sox, who basically had just a team of free agent bums in 2013 go out and win the World Series.

[8:29] Neil Keefe: They come back five years later, a whole new team wins the World Series. Now here they are pretty much outside of Martinez, Devers, and Bogaerts. But he doesn't even play every day. And they just changed the whole team again, and here they are again. They're four wins away from going to the World Series. The Yankees aren't even close to that.

[8:49] Neil Keefe: They're not even close. And I don't even know when they will be close because when you look at the division, the Red Sox are right there again. They rebuilt in 10 seconds. The Blue Jays, I think, are the best team in the division. You have the Rays who are never going anywhere. And that leaves the Orioles who are still a couple years away. What are the Yankees like the fourth best team in the division? This is a huge problem.

[9:10] Neil Keefe: And my biggest fear is that they're gonna try to run this thing back with the exhibition.

[9:14] Al Malafronte: Oh, they are the same group. 100%. 100% they're gonna run it back. It's so obvious because there's not really much maneuverability they can do. I mean, they don't have a first baseman because Rizzo's a free agent and they seem to not care about Luke Voit. And you know, LeMahieu's under contract five more years. They're not gonna move Torres when his stock value is this low.

[9:34] Al Malafronte: So, really, in the infield, who can you move? Urshela, you can move okay. In the outfield, Judge is there, staying signed for 73 more years. Joey Gallo, they just got and he's under contract another year. Like, there's not much room here. You could basically move step away from Gary Sanchez, which would be a mistake, and you can step away from Gio Urshela, which okay, the rest of the team's coming back.

[9:57] Al Malafronte: The manager, it looks like, is coming back. This is gonna be the same stuff next year. Are you surprised that Boone is probably coming back?

[10:06] Neil Keefe: No, because George Steinbrenner had two sons, didn't want to leave the team to either son, wanted to leave the team to his daughter's husband, who screwed it all up, and then the sons just happened to take it over. They didn't want any part of it, so no, they don't give a shit.

[10:21] Neil Keefe: At the end of the day, how Steinbrenner looks at how much money the team made, is everything sound, is the season ticket deposits in place and everything. And if that's fine, he doesn't give a shit if the team wins or loses. He puts out these fake statements, he'll go on the Michael K show and talk about how it's a disappointment. The fans deserve better.

[10:41] Neil Keefe: The fans deserve better. You're not doing anything to give them better. You're doing the same thing over and over. Aaron Boone's an easy thing. They know him. He's been there. They're comfortable with him. Why not just give him another chance? Who gives a shit if they win or lose? As long as they're making money.

[10:55] Neil Keefe: And it's clear they're making money because they've kept the same exact payroll to a T for 16 years while they make money hand over fist and they don't add any payroll. It's disgusting, is what it is.

[11:07] Al Malafronte: Neil, I hate to come off as harsh, but I feel like one of the biggest issues that they've had is, first of all, you brought up some really great points that Hal has become too much of a bottom line guy, but they've lost the they're so tone-deaf with the fan base. It's like you and I have talked about this on the side about how, you know, they'll be in the midst of, you know, getting swept in Boston and they're trying to shill, you know, cap night at Yankee Stadium trying to sell half price tickets.

[11:34] Al Malafronte: I just feel like there's this new self-congratulatory culture going on around there when they haven't won anything. And it's really concerning. And it's like Aaron Boone, like you said, it's like, yeah, there's a yeah, I guess there's a comfort level, but I guess if they're still making profits because of what they're charging for ticket prices and concessions and stuff, it's like just winning isn't the ultimate priority.

[11:57] Neil Keefe: And I'm not trying to disrespect the character of Hal Steinbrenner, but I don't, he certainly does not have a fraction of the competitive juices that his father had, and you know, the rest of the organization and the fans have suffered, and they seem to be very tone-deaf to that.

[12:15] Neil Keefe: They do. And I get it. I get the people that will say, you know, the Yankees didn't get back to winning until Gene Michael took over and George Steinbrenner didn't have a say. And that's fine. Yes, that happened. But George Steinbrenner never, every move he made was in the best interest of winning. All he wanted to do was win.

[12:31] Neil Keefe: Every decision he made was to help the team win. It wasn't about caring about did you know can he fuel his yacht up for an extra month in the offseason? Every decision was can I get more wins? Can I squeeze more wins? Can I get another championship? So he did everything he thought he possibly could to win. That's the difference between him and his son who wants to talk about being, you know, fiscally responsible and all this bullshit.

[12:55] Neil Keefe: It's honestly awful. I mean, to say, oh, the Yankees, well, they spent 200 million dollars. Yeah, the Dodgers spend 67 million dollars more than that. So yeah, they were second in payroll, but they were off by first from a long shot. They're the Yankees. They are the most famous team in at least North American sports, if not professional sports.

[13:13] Neil Keefe: They have more financial resources than any other team in the league, even more so than the Dodgers. So they should be number one every year. If they were number one every year, if they were going out of their way and they lose, hey, it's baseball, it can happen. But this team doesn't put the best roster out there at all. The manager doesn't put the best his players in the best possible position to succeed at all. So it's not like they're doing everything they can and they just fell short and it was tough to take, or you hats off for the first time, it would actually mean something to give hats off to the opposition, but that's not the case here. The Yankees are just they're just a different team, it's a different feel, and it's just hard to watch.

It's painful to watch. It's not even fun. And to see if I see an Aaron Boone fucking press conference next week to come back and give him an extension, I don't know how I can watch it. Like, I don't know how I can root for this team next year and give a shit when it's clear they don't give a shit. Because what has this guy done in four years to warrant another deal? Haven't even sniffed a pennant. Right. Haven't he has one division title in four years. He's got he lost in the LDS, lost in the LCS, lost in the LDS, lost in the wildcard game, makes horrendous moves that just an average everyday casual fan with, you know, can say, what is he doing? It's I honestly don't know. I don't know how to say it and explain it any better than that. He does not deserve this job.

[14:38] Al Malafronte: I mean, Neil, I think, you know, I talked about being tone-deaf to what the fans want. I think that there's going to be legitimate uproar if they announce an extension for him next week because the fans have made it quite clear that this is unacceptable. And a lot of it does fall on Boone. I don't want to sit there watching the postgames, you know, the post-game press conferences, you know, when they're in the midst of losing seven of nine and you know, going, you know, those five and ten stretches where he's complimenting the compete of the team. However, there is a section of Yankee fans that believe that Boone doesn't have that much to do with it, and a lot more of it falls on Cashman, who seems to be here on scholarship. Um, he's got one year left on his contract. Do you think that there might be any sort of situation where if the Yankees don't come close to winning the World Series next year where he's actually gone?

[15:30] Neil Keefe: Zero. Brian Cashman will be with the Yankees for as long as Brian Cashman wants to be with the Yankees. I think he's been there since 1986. You know, he was able to survive their father forever. He can easily survive how anybody can hear him. Boone's doing it. He is a comfort zone for ownership, for the front office, for everyone above him. He brings comfort, he brings, you know, vast knowledge and experience of the market. He's not going anywhere ever. I don't know. People who even can think that are nuts. He's never going anywhere. And it drives me crazy because Theo Epstein's available right now. Yeah, I don't necessarily know that, yeah, Theo, what he did for the Red Sox, great, what he did for the Cubs, great.

I don't necessarily know if that, you know, that's not a move they would ever just make. I mean, it would be crazy, but I don't know that he's necessarily the right person. I honestly, you know, for all the shit I give Cashman, he's done some good things. I think his stubbornness to it to a level is really his biggest problem. Like, you know, thinking that the you know, low-risk, high reward guys will work out, thinking that an all right-handed lineup will work out. He's stubborn on things like Aaron Hicks, you know, the guy, the guy's a good, I mean, he's okay when he plays, he never plays. Seven-year contract. Yeah, I just saw something the other day that he's played less games in six years than Ellsbury played in four years, which is just crazy.

But Cashman's biggest problem, I think, is his stubbornness and trying to prove that he's going to be right at some point and letting that point go too long. So Cashman to me, yes, he constructed this roster, but I mean, I'm more okay with letting him stay than I am Boone. It's just it's just like, it's not like Boone came here with this winning pedigree. He had no pedigree. He's never won anything in his life. He's never coached or managed at any level of baseball. And he smooth talked the Yankees in an interview to the point that they did canceled all their second interviews with other candidates and just gave the guy the job. It was fucking nuts. You would think that they were hiring the biggest baseball genius in the world.

And this idea that just because he's a third-generation major leaguer makes him so knowledgeable about baseball. Anybody who watched Sunday Night Baseball when he was in the broadcast booth could know, you know, this guy is kind of an idiot. He's just it's crazy. I don't know how anybody can still watch the team and support him and defend him and think he's good at his job. I really don't. It's scary that people can sit there and watch Aaron Boone and think this is the guy that I want to run the Yankees. It's it's nuts. And the amount of money he makes that they could that they don't even have to walk away from. It's not like they have to pay him to go away. This contract's up. Just move on.

You fucked it up. You gave him four years. It didn't work out. That every young core player regressed under his watch. The team as a whole has regressed under his watch. What has he done positive to make you think he should keep his job? The one thing that the reason they got rid of Girardi was because they thought he wasn't a good communicator with young players. Under Aaron Boone, the Luis Severino didn't know the start time of game three of the ALDS in 2018. Gary Sanchez didn't know he was going to be benched last postseason. Aaron Boone came out on the first day of spring training this year and said that scumbag Domingo Herman didn't need to address the clubhouse. The next day, Zach Britton comes out, rips him.

Boone this year said that Sanchez would catch Cole. He caught him on opening day, then he caught him once as a pinch hitter, then he caught him once because Hagashioka had COVID, didn't catch him again. He said Clint Frazier would be the starting left fielder. In the third game of the season, Brett Gardner became the starting left fielder. He said John Carlos Stanton would play the outfield starting in February. He played the outfield the second to last day of July. All this guy does is lie, exaggerate, bullshit. I don't know where these communication skills that were so praised when he was hired are coming from. But if that was his one skill and ability that separated him from Girardi, well, they clearly were fooled in that interview.

[15:59] Al Malafronte: I know. I mean, it drives me crazy when I look back on that. They were really sold by lines that he gave them, like, you know, when I'm up in the booth, I'm managing every game in my head already. And then they called off all the other interviews. And like you said, it's just like he's a nice person. He is a very nice person. But he's not he's not a manager. He's not a leader, he's not a leader. And it's like, and it's like you know, kind of goes back to what I said where he's often massaging egos. He's not necessarily honest with the media, and it just it just drives me crazy, man. And this is their chance to get away from it, you know, since his contract is expiring. I have that sinking feeling that they are gonna bring him back. I will be very disappointed and upset if it's anything anything beyond a one-year deal with an option or something like that.

[20:14] Neil Keefe: Yeah, it's gonna oh, it's gonna be a three at least if he comes back. And that just I mean, hey, I'll get Rich betting the uh the opposing money line every night against the Yankees because this team is not going anywhere with that guy there. I don't care what the roster is, he'll fuck it up, he'll screw it up. He's can screw up anything, anything, and all he does is talk about how the Yankees are so close and that the margin of error is slim. The margin of error is so far apart from you and the World Series champion every year, and the quote he had after the wildcard game loss where he said the league has closed the gap on the Yankees. The Yankees haven't won in 12 years. The Yankees haven't been to the World Series in Boone's tenure.

What gap was there? There's no the gap is you. You're closer to being at the bottom of the American League than you are to the top right now. If you really look at it, is this team better than the Astros? No. All they did was like Garrett Cole walk lose Verlander to Tommy John surgery. They didn't lose George Springer to free agency. They're going right back to the ALCS and probably the World Series. The Red Sox let Mookie Betts walk, didn't have Chris Sale for the majority of the season, found some scrap heap guys. Yankees fucking let Garrett Whitlock go for nothing so they could protect Nick Nelson and Brooks Christie. It's honestly amazing. And I know that those moves aren't Boone's level, but as an organization, this thing needs to change. They need serious change here because it'll be 13 years next October since they've won. And we'll be lucky if that number doesn't get doubled by the time they win again if things continue this way.

[21:48] Al Malafronte: Now, one guy who I know you're a huge fan of, um, you know, talking about some of the changes that we may or may not anticipate. I know you're a Gary Sanchez fan. Um do you think they tender him a contract? Because there's an argument right now that yes, technically he is one of the better offensive hitting catchers in baseball, but with what it would cost to bring him back, which might be in the nine to ten million dollar range, you can allocate that money elsewhere. Uh, there's not necessarily a ton of great catchers out there. I'm not a big fan of the catching platoon thing. We saw, you know, back when it was like Cervelli and uh Chris Stewart, how well that worked out. Nice uh four third place finish, fourth place finish, whatever it was in 2013. You think they're gonna bring Gary Sanchez back, uh given the fact that they have an option to really let him go if they wanted to?

[22:35] Neil Keefe: If Brian Cashman's telling the truth, and he usually does tell the truth in that they had discussions to non-tender him a year ago, which would have been fucking nuts. I think that they're gonna have those discussions again. And to me, it's tough to say. I mean, I would bring him back. Like you said, he had the third highest OPS among American League hitting catchers. The problem with Yankees fans is that everybody remembers 2016 and 17 Gary Sanchez, which I do. And I don't know where that guy went. And I don't know if he's ever coming back because that was what four years ago now, by the time next season starts, or five years ago. But the when what that guy brings when you match up, you know, the Yankees roster against whoever they're playing, they have such an advantage at the position from a hitting perspective that you can't find that anywhere else.

And I don't know what the Yankees think they're gonna do. Are you gonna let Hakhail Higashioka play 120 games? The guy can't play five games in a row without an 0 for 30. He hit essentially a good National League hitting pitcher. That was his batting line for like the last three months of the season. He's if he doesn't run into a fastball every other month, you know, he's lucky. The only time he gets on base is if he hits a ground ball and it finds a hole between short and third. He's not good. Everyone runs on him because he can't throw anyone out. He okay, he has good framing ability. That's all he has. That's literally and the fact that he played high school summer baseball with Garrett Cole, that's keeping him a roster spot.

So it's it would be a mistake to move on from Sanchez. But at this point, I think they're going to because it's an easy, like it's an easy move for them to do to say, hey, look, we're we are changing the roster. We got we moved on from Gary Sanchez. And if that happens, I hope Sanchez lands somewhere like the Padres and grows a beard and hits 35 home runs and they win the World Series because the shit that guy's had to put up with. And yes, at times it's been deserved. At times he's looked lackadaisical. He's you know made boneheaded idiot decisions, but for the most part, he's been good at his position. I don't know why everyone thinks that he needs to be Jorge Posada or Johnny Bench or Mike Piazza.

Like those guys are dime a dozen. Like those are Hall of Famers and borderline Hall of Famers. Gary Sanchez doesn't need to do that. He just he shouldn't need to do that on this team. And you brought up a phrase allocating the money elsewhere. That's a problem. Is that Yankees fans shouldn't have to think about allocating money elsewhere. There's no salary cap. It's fake. The luxury tax threshold is fake. The Yankees could go out and sign and give whatever they want to anyone. If you think about small market teams, there's no team smaller market than the Padres. They gave 300 million plus to Machado, a trillion to Tatis, set nine figures to Hosmer. If that team can afford it, the Yankees can do 30-fold on them.

So it shouldn't come down to like, oh, we need to move on from Sanchez because we need to invest that in starting pitching. No, just invest it. It's money. You have an endless supply of it. Who cares? And the reason you were under the threshold this year was to reset it. So now it's reset. So now you're supposed to go out and go crazy because there is no threshold. So I don't know what they'll do, but yeah, it's an easy move for them to move on. And the fans, you know, the majority of the fans would love it because the majority of the fans are idiots. And yeah, we'll see Kyle Higashioka start every fucking day, and maybe Rob Brantley can back up for the whole season. We'll see how that goes.

[25:52] Al Malafronte: Well, I'm a Higgy fan, and I wouldn't mind having him be the backup catcher. I do think he handles the pitching staff very well. I'm gonna give him that. But yeah, with it with the offensive return, I don't know about him starting every day. If he could find a suitable replacement, I don't know if maybe he could get someone in a trade or whatnot, but um, it's gonna be interesting to see what they do as far as the trade market because a lot of the blue chip stock that they had um isn't necessarily in a position where you'd be trying to sell so low, unless I say like a Clint Frazier or a Glaber Torres.

[26:22] Al Malafronte: Now it's funny, I know that Gary's been a guy that you've really followed since he came up, and certainly I have too as a Yankee fan, but uh Glaber Torres was a guy that I heavily invested in. I was so excited when he came up back in 2018 and the season that he had in 2019. Um we've basically seen a season and a half of his right now with I hate to use the term, but laxadaisical play. Uh the power is completely gone. Another issue that I have with Aaron Boone is that he didn't address uh he obviously didn't address the Glaber issues well enough in the beginning of the season when he wasn't hustling out of the box since we saw it as recently as the final regular season series. Um, do you think Glaber Torres's best days are behind him, or can we look forward to any sort of a comeback?

[27:06] Neil Keefe: I mean, he's only 24 years old. He's a two-time All-Star, he was nearly the rookie of the year despite missing a month of the season. The kid was a superstar. Now, whether that's attributed to the Super Bowl a few years ago, maybe, but I don't know how you go from being a 38 home run hitter with the Super Bowl to like six. Like that's not the type of decline and drop that you should see. It lacks a daisical, you didn't want to use the word, you should use the word. The guy doesn't fucking run to first base, and I don't want to hear oh, Luke Voigt got hurt doing that recently, so Glaber shouldn't. That's his job. His job is to run to first base. Are you kidding me? But I don't know. I know that there was a Sunday night broadcast, uh, the second, you know, and that might have been the last Sunday night of the season when they played the Red Sox and um and Arod, who says the dumbest shit ever on Sunday night baseball.

He the one thing he actually said was I talked to Marcus Timbs yesterday, and he told me that when they told when they brought Glaber into the coach's office and told him they were moving it back to second, he was relieved. It was like a, I think he said like a 10,000-pound gorilla was you know off his back. If it took until the second week of September for the Yankees to make that move, that's so bad from an organizational standpoint. Like, how do you not recognize that sooner? And the final straw was him losing the game, single-handedly losing the game against the Mets a few Sunday nights before in the uh the Francisco Lindor three home run game. So I mean, I like to think that Torres can bounce back.

Ever since he came to spring training 2.0 in July of 2020 out of shape, his career sort of been in decline. Um, you know, the last month or so of the season, he looked sort of like his old self, just no power. And the reason Boone didn't bench him, to your point, is because he's a Boone favorite. And the Boone favorites don't get benched, they don't get called out to the media. Clint Frazier, he would get called out. Gary Sanchez, oh yeah, Miguel Anduhar, you bet. Glaber Torres, no, we'll bat him lead off. That's how we'll roll it in. We'll take him from sixth and fifth to lead off when he doesn't run out to first. So I hope he rebounds. Because like you said, he you know what that kid was two, three years ago was the future of the Yankees, the face of the franchise. They're they're he should have been the three-hitter for the next decade and a perennial all-star. Instead, he's like, if they traded him this offseason, I wouldn't even be surprised.

[29:28] Al Malafronte: One thing I'm really curious about is whether or not they bring back Anthony Rizzo. And I got some shit for this one, but I personally think he's the most likable Yankee since Derek Jeter. Just as far as his attitude, his winning pedigree. I know he didn't have the best 70 games or whatever it was that he played with the Yankees, but I really hope they bring him back because he balances the lineup very nicely as a lefty bat. Uh, he plays a pretty solid first base overall. I know he had a few blips, but I wonder if there is some sort of a scenario where if they don't go out and get the big ticket free agent where you could have um Rizzo at first, Glaber at second, DJ at third, and maybe you do maybe you put Urshela at shortstop over a full season. Do you think they'd roll the dice with that?

[30:14] Neil Keefe: Yeah, if you want to uh be sitting here a year from now watching two other teams play in the ALCS and uh we'll be talking about it again. That'd be a great idea. But I mean, you should get shit for that, Al Rizzo, the most likable Yankees since Jeter. I when Rizzo was a cub, I hated him. I I can't stand him when he came to the Yankees and made it a little, you know, less because hey, he's playing for the team you root for. But I I don't know. I mean, his numbers are declining on a natural curve that baseball players' numbers decline as they age. And yes, he plays great first base. What I see when I see him is I see Mark DeRosa 2.0. I see a guy who's going to, if you give him a new deal, he will come here and all he'll try to do is hit home runs, and then you'll see a 225 hitter with a good glove at first base, and they'd have to pay pretty good money because the the um the rumors and the reports of what he turned down from the Cubs to stay there, he was not looking for just you know a two or three year deal.

He was looking for one final big payday. I don't know if he'll get that. I think the Yankees will probably step aside because they'll claim oh, you know, luxury tax issues. But if he came back, yeah, it wouldn't be bad. At least you know that when Glaber throws seven hoppers to first base, someone's gonna catch him. Um, so if he came back on a what a two or three year deal, sure. But I don't I don't I just don't think he'd accept that.

[31:29] Al Malafronte: Come to your head, who's playing shortstop next year on opening day?

[31:33] Neil Keefe: Um I think that depends on what happens in the next 10 days. I think if you remember when we were when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2013, the Yankees they weren't gonna do anything. They were gonna you know stand back, luxury tax threshold, Red Sox won the World Series, they went out and spent a billion dollars on Tanaka, McCann, Ellsbury, Beltran, and they were like, okay, we have to fix this right now. So if for some reason the Red Sox were to ever win the World Series, which I can't even believe that's a fucking possibility with the roster they have. Like, how are we in this spot again? But it reminds me of the 2013 team because at least the 2013 was stacked. But yeah, the 2013, it's this is like the Johnny Gomes team again, and like the Shane Victorino garbage and different hero every yeah.

No business being there. And so I think that could change in the next. I really do. I really think that that could all depend on if they were to get there, if they were to win it. I think the Yankees change course. But to me, uh it's really it's an impossible question almost because it's not Glaber. We know that he's done. He'll never play shortstop for the Yankees again unless it's like an emergency situation or to give someone a day off. He's not going there. So it's like, do you think Peraza could play at some point next year? Volpe's not for a few years. And again, these kids are prospects. Like so, everyone who's getting excited thinking Anthony Volpe's Derek Jeter, there's been a lot of these uh the Anthony Volpes over the years, a lot of them.

And and they fucking flame out because they're prospects, they're not proven commodities. CJ Henry, right? Exactly. This chance right here with Story Seager Correa. You could get Correa, you could get Seager Correa on the right side of 30. Like this opportunity will not present itself again for a maybe ever, because everyone locks up their young players now. This is their chance. If they fuck this up, if they don't get Corey Seager or Carlos Correa, and they bank on Volpe or Peraza and they give us like Simmons for a year, and then Peraza and Volpe suck. That's like that's a franchise setting back decision at up the middle. This is an enormous offseason. Enormous. Like they have huge decisions to make with ramifications that could last years because they don't operate like the Yankees.

Normally the Yankees could say, we'll go out and give player X X amount of dollars. And if it doesn't work out, well, who gives a shit? We'll just release him, pay him to go away. They don't operate like that anymore. They operate now. Like if you have an Albatross contract, you're stuck with it. The way the Royals or the Rays would be stuck with an Albatross contract. They don't they don't want to void contract. They don't want to release guys. They don't want to pay guys like David Justice to go play for the A's like they did back in the day. They don't want to pay Brian McCann to go play for the Astros again. They don't want to do that. So they'll sit and they'll waste 40-man spots and they'll waste 26-man spots and they'll let these guys play and eat up at-bats because they don't want to waste money.

That's the Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman Yankees. So I honestly I can't tell you what they should do. But if it came to me, I I want I take Corey Seager. He's the he's left-handed. The guy's a World Series MVP. And I always kind of shy away from getting guys who've already won because it's like what he's gonna get paid, and he's gonna be like, I don't fucking care. I already won. So that's never good. But he's he knows the big moment. He's played in a big market, he's left-handed, he's a good defender. He's a he hits for contact. He does it, he does it all. That's the guy I would go after, but that's most of the things I want the Yankees to do, they don't do.

[34:54] Al Malafronte: Oh Neil, I'm in your camp on the Corey Seager front. And uh, you know, throughout this offseason, I'm so looking forward to listening to your podcast and you know, reading Keefe to the City. For the folks at home, can you tell them where they could find some more information on all the cool stuff you're up to on the uh baseball front?

[35:10] Neil Keefe: Yeah, just KeefeToTheCity.com. And uh, you know, this is the first time I've spoken at length in a week. I was sort of in mourning that it's the when the baseball season ends, it's it's the worst. And I knew it was gonna end, and I was ready for it. I mean, I accepted the week before the playoffs that they weren't even gonna make it. And then the night of the wildcard game, I accepted they were gonna lose, and then the two run home run the first inning. That was like sort of it, and then it just drags on. And for three hours, you're sitting there thinking about like, wow, remember that game? Remember this. Remember how much time I wasted watching this team, writing about this team, speaking about this team.

And the finality of baseball season is so brutal because you have it every day with you for six months, and then it just comes crashing to an end. I mean, thankfully the Rangers start on Wednesday night because fucking Giants suck again. So now I'm sitting here and I get six months till baseball, it's just horrible. It's Al, it sucks. It sucks. And I had to sit here with my wife's Dodgers still in the thing. You have to, and if and if so, like if they don't beat the Giants, then she's gonna be upset because the Giants are in. And then I have to sit here and watch the Red Sox and the Astros. Two worst teams. You can't put two worst teams together as a Yankees fan. One of them has to win, and then one of them's probably gonna win the World Series, and we're gonna be sitting here two weeks watching the Astros laugh in everyone's face because everyone called them cheaters and said they couldn't win without cheating, and they're probably gonna win it all.

Well, where we have Cole who couldn't win one fucking game, and they don't even have Verlander, and they don't have Springer, and they have a new manager, and they just did it. And it's it's disgusting.

[36:42] Al Malafronte: And hey, I don't know when the next time is we'll we'll have a chance for other fan bases to be jealous of us because it's been a long time.

[36:50] Neil Keefe: I know it sure has, but man, if there's anyone who embodies the passion that I have for the Yankees and being an objective fan, man, it's you. This was this is just so awesome getting to chat with you. I mean, maybe we'll uh we'll see where we're at in the offseason, you know, come November, December. We should definitely chat again because uh you had I came on your show when things were going really well for you. I know we were like, oh, this is great. We're gonna do this, this is a 13K winning show. Yeah, we're gonna win the division, we're gonna come back. The Yankees are gonna win a division, they're gonna do this.

[37:19] Al Malafronte: Oh my god. I I had a bet this season. I uh I always bet oh the Yankees over win total. So I had over 95 and a half wins. And you know, when they were 41 and 41, I was like, okay, well, that was just a waste of money. But then they got it down to one point. All they needed to do was go 14 and 10 or 16 and 10. And I was like, they're gonna do this. Like, they're gonna fucking win 90 games against the Orioles and against the Indians on the schedule. Yeah, and then they lose 13 or 12 out of 15, and and that was it. But I do appreciate you saying objective fan because anyone who's objective, we've you speak to most Yankees fans in the way I do. You're not objective, you're negative, you're a pessimist, you're not.

No, I'm a realist. This team doesn't win. I don't know why everyone continues to think like, oh, they're the Yankees. This they haven't been the Yankees in more than a decade. So yeah, this is this is objectivity. This is being a realist. This is not being a homer. This is not believing in every move that Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone makes is in the best interest of everyone because it's not. So, yes, I appreciate you being a fellow realist.

[38:20] Al Malafronte: Oh, of course, Neil. I uh always look forward to your tweets. Be sure to follow Neil on uh Twitter. What's your Twitter handle, by the way, Neil?

[38:27] Neil Keefe: Just at Neil Keefe, yeah.

[38:28] Al Malafronte: At Neil Keefe, it's a great follow. And uh man, thank you so much again for joining me today. It was a blast, buddy.

[38:34] Neil Keefe: Yeah, Al, thanks for having me.

[38:36] Al Malafronte: Well, folks, uh, thank you so much for listening to Break a Bat tonight. Be sure to check out Keefe to the City and subscribe to Break a Bat wherever you get your podcasts. This is Al Malafronte signing off for the Broadway Podcast Network. We'll see you next time.

[38:51] Neil Keefe: Thanks for listening to Break a Bat. This is produced by the fine folks at the Broadway Podcast Network. Visit and subscribe at bpn.fm slash breakabat. You can find me online at break underscore a underscore bat underscore podcasts. And you can also find the Broadway Podcast Network on Instagram at Broadway Podcast Network. It's been so great having you here with us today, and we'll see you next time.