BONUS: Bryce Harper & Aaron Judge UNDER the MICROSCOPE in 2026 - Breaking Balls with Tony Mazz

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Welcome in, once again, to Breaking Balls, National Edition, so I said the other day that

we are trying to expand our content here, baseball content a little bit at 985, the sports

hub.

And one of the things we also wanted to do is beyond just the city limits of the city

of Boston, get into some national issues throughout major league baseball and storylines, really,

entering the 2026 season that I think are worthy of following.

And let me just say, for those of you who don't follow Boston sports regularly, may be

interested in baseball.

I've been covering baseball or sports in Boston for about 35 years now, and had a Hall of

Fame vote for a long period of time.

And you know, always been interested in the sport, it's a way to say it.

So thank you for watching.

Thank you for listening.

I'm going to try to hit on most of the big markets throughout the course of the year.

We'll have guests, things like that, at least that is the hope.

Here is the year goes on.

So a couple of things, again, interesting storylines to me that are going to come up or have

already come up during the course of this year.

So I want to start in Philadelphia.

I think Philly and Boston are very similar in a lot of ways.

Passion at fan bases, Northeast cities, a lot of history in both of those markets.

I would say passion at fan bases, sometimes angry fan bases, that's also a factor.

So to me, the story in Philly certainly is the fact that they brought back the entire

team.

And really it feels like there's this little spit match or pissing match going on between

Dave Dumbbrowski and Bryce Harper, a clash of massive egos in Philly and Elfie.

I'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

So I'm going to start here with Dumbbrowski and what he said about Bryce Harper at the

end of last season that really caused quite a stir, a throw-based moment in Philly and

Elfie certainly seemed to rank a Bryce Harper.

But here's what Dumbbrowski said about Bryce Harper at the end of last year.

Bryce's case, of course, he's still a quality player, he's still an all-star caliber player.

He didn't have an elite season like he has had in the past.

And I guess we only find out if he becomes the elite or he continues to be good.

Can he rise to the next level again?

I don't really know that answer.

I mean, really, he's the one that will dictate that more than anything else, I mean, is

what it comes down to.

Well, I don't think he's content with the year that he had.

And again, it wasn't a bad year.

But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think an elite, right?

You're thinking one of the top 10 players in baseball and I don't think it fit into that

category, but again, very good player.

I have no idea when you see somebody, I've seen guys at his age that level off, or I've

seen guys rise again, we'll see what happens.

Okay, so before we get to, before we get to Dumbbrowski, let me start with Bryce Harper,

because I think this raises an interesting question.

Okay, let's stick to the content of what Dave Dumbbrowski said, give rid of all the

extraneous bullshit and stick to the content.

Let me ask you this question.

It has Bryce Harper lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he came into majorly

baseball.

He actually asked a couple of people in the office about this recently just to get some

ideas.

The first two answers I got were, yeah, absolutely, no question.

The other one I got was, no, not really, he hasn't.

So I think there's a little bit of a divide there.

And I happened to agree with the second part of it.

So here's what I'm getting out of Bryce Harper.

He's been in the league 14 years now, played basically half of his career with Washington,

half his career with Philadelphia.

Washington got rid of him and won a world championship.

He went to Philadelphia and has him one since, okay, not his fault, per se, fine.

But I would also tell you that if you look at that period of time, he's won two MVP awards

in 14 years.

Yeah, man, he's the two time MVP.

I get it.

I would also tell you what about the other 12 years?

So quick question, how many times is Bryce Harper finished in the top five of the MVP voting?

The answer, twice, he won it both times.

The other 12 years, he never finished in the top five.

And with regard to 2025, which is really what Tom Browski was talking about, I don't think

he's off base.

So I looked up some of the numbers, we'll punch him up for you here.

But Bryce Harper with runners in scoring position last year, hit 233.

His OPS was 762.

He runners in scoring position in two outs, which I equate to third down in baseball.

See equivalent of third down in football is what I'm getting that.

The money down is third down.

Two outs in runners in scoring position is the money at bat, pitcher versus batter, what

are you going to do?

Harper hit 172 with a 575 OPS.

Those numbers suck.

They stink.

So I would tell you this, do I want Bryce Harper on my team, do I think he's a good player?

Of course, yes.

But the run production over the course of his career has been lacking.

Last year was especially notable.

But when you look at the run production, he's played 14 years.

How many times Bryce Harper's had 100 RBI in a season?

Twice.

Okay, yeah, but he walks a lot.

When you know how many times he's had 100 runs scored three.

So 14 years in the league, he's had two MVP's, 200 RBI seasons, three seasons with 100 runs scored.

That leaves a whole bunch of baseball where he hasn't had a lot of impact.

And again, I go back to Washington and the fact that with the nationals, they never won

while he was there.

Now they've gone to Philadelphia, and they haven't won while he's been in Philly.

And now this, so all I'm saying is what David and Brusky is saying about a Bryce Harper

isn't wrong.

Let's start there.

So I agree Harper still has something to prove.

Secondly, now let's jump to Don Brusky, who has a massive ego as an executive.

And in the eyes of many is one of the most overrated executives in baseball history.

And I'll tell you why in a minute.

Now has Don Brusky won a couple of World Series?

He has.

He won one with the Marlins that they completely sold out for and then dismantled the team.

Okay, that goes all the way back to 1997.

He also won one with the Red Sox, we inherited a good team, signed David Price, which then

failed, traded for Chris sale.

And the Red Sox went over the top and had a fabulous 2018 season.

But I guess what I'm getting at is generally speaking, those teams were built with cash,

certainly Don Brusky's cash, some of the key places in Boston in 2018 were there through

the farm system, but not guys that he drafted and developed.

And people in most markets or many markets, specifically Boston and Detroit would argue

that Don Brusky went in completely destroyed the farm systems or left them barren and then

left town and the team was in shambles.

So Detroit now has recovered and the Tigers never won a World Series while Don Brusky

was there.

He didn't win one in Montreal, which admittedly is a tough task.

And he built a good team there in Montreal.

But the point is that Dave Don Brusky has a clear identity as a general manager and that

is to take a good team and then put it over the top largely through spending, which frankly,

I think many people could do.

I don't know that I would call Don Brusky one of the great team builders of all time because

I don't think he is.

Now Theo Epstein, for example, served as a general manager with two teams in Boston, he

inherited a good team, but also built a good farm system that he won a second World Series

with one, two titles in Boston.

Then he went to Chicago and did the trick again.

So if you were asking me, would I take Theo Epstein or Don Brusky, I would take Theo

Epstein a million times?

I wouldn't even think twice about it.

All I'm saying is you could really make the argument that Don Brusky and Bryce Harper

are birds of the same feather, which is to say that they are effectively high achieved

by players who are overrated.

They're both a little overrated and maybe that's why there's a clash of egos there because

they're too much alike.

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That's just my two cents on that one.

Now, since we mentioned the Tigers, let me just jump into this.

I thought one of the best moves of the offseason was made by Detroit when they signed Framber

Valdez as a free agent, and most of the facts or reasons are obvious.

Most and foremost, they clearly have an issue with Terrick Scoobal as far as his contract

and may lose him at the end of the year.

Valdez gives them an immediate replacement, so Scoobal goes out, Valdez stays, they can

still be competitive.

The Tigers, unlike the Phillies who have the 20th ranked system according to baseball

America, the Tigers are in the top five.

So Detroit looks at it and says, okay, if we can't keep Scoobal, at least we'll have

a guy who slots in and replaces him or comes close.

And with our farm system, we should stay good and stay competitive.

That's the number one reason I love the move in Detroit.

In the short term, there is the chance that Detroit could win the World Series.

So I looked this up out of curiosity.

And again, a lot of these numbers, I'm sure were offered up and digested and analyzed

at the time that Valdez joined the Tigers, although many people at the time also thought

that Scoobal was going to be traded and that hasn't happened.

So going into the season, what Detroit has now at the top of the rotation is one, what

I think might be the best one to punch in baseball.

The last two years combined, Scoobal and Valdez 59 and 28 with a 2.79 ERA.

That to me is outstanding.

If you basically cut that down the middle, that translates into 30 wins per year in an ERA

under three.

So if you operate under the premise that they will do something comparable this year, I would

venture to guess that it might be 30 wins combined between the two of them.

But in games, they start.

The number could be closer to 40, especially in the American League Central.

And when I say the number in games, they start.

They might not get the wins, but the pitch starting pitching is going to be so good in Detroit,

particularly on two out of the five days.

If the Tigers can go, you know, 500 on the other three days in their rotation, they're

going to be a team that comes in, you know, 20 games over 500, 30 games over 500 somewhere

in the 90s.

The lineup in Detroit is obviously a question, but I think the Tigers are situated for

the short term in 2026.

They are situated for the long term and now protected somewhat that if Scoobal goes,

I think they've done a nice job there behind President of the baseball operation, Scott

Harris, to just hedge their bets a little bit.

Do I think they're the best team in the game?

I don't, but I would also submit to you that the Dodgers are clearly everybody's number

one.

After that, I think you can make an argument for a lot of teams throughout the game as the

second best team in baseball.

That includes Detroit, Boston, Toronto, both of the New York's Seattle, maybe the

Braves.

You can go up and down all over the place.

Did I say the mats?

So there are a lot of teams in the game that you can look at and say could contend for

that second spot.

And if something goes wrong in LA and let's face it, it is baseball, strange things can

happen.

Then I think any one of those teams, I'm sure I left some out, could make them run

at the championship.

Again, it's hard not to like that top two in Detroit with the Tigers.

But to me, that's a nice tandem there.

Maybe it's good in the game.

I'll just add quickly because I did a little research on this.

Top 15 American League pitchers last year in ERA.

And I still think ERA is a good way to look at it for this reason.

Qualified for the ERA title, you got to pitch a certain number of innings.

You got to make your turn.

So it's about being exposed, you know, being on the mound a lot and still being able

to pitch consistently well.

There were only a couple of teams that had two guys in the top 15.

Detroit was not one of them.

But now with Valdez, who was in the top 15 during a joining school, they have a terrific

tandem there, Max Fried and Rodon in New York.

You add Schlittler to that scenario, potentially Garret Cole.

We'll see how that looks post injury.

They could be very good at the front end.

The Red Sox had two in Garret, Crochet and Brian Bale.

But I think Bale was a little phony there as a true number two starter.

We'll see how that one looks.

The Mariners have exceptional starting pitching.

But you get the idea.

There aren't a lot of teams that have been able to pull that off in Major League Baseball.

Third.

And finally, I want to get to the Yankees because New York is always a story.

The Yankees certainly have have a good rotation.

As I mentioned, they have back to back MVP winner in Aaron Judge, who is really what this

story is about.

It's about judge and it's about whether or not he can get to a certain level and elevate

the Yankees.

And when I say get to a certain level, individually, judge is already there.

But Bamakarthy, whom I work with at 90 if I have the sports hub in Boston, Bamakarthy

made a comment recently that in baseball, there are lots of players that you look at throughout

the course of the Major League, or through history of the Major League.

And you'd say, okay, there are a lot of great players that didn't win World Championships.

We were talking about Bryce Harper earlier, Kevin, I can griffy rather, never won a World

Championship.

Karyo Stremsky, Ted Williams, never won World Series.

So we can go on and on and on.

But let's ask the question, and Makarthy did this.

How many great Yankees have gone without a championship?

How many high profile, high production Yankees have gone their entire careers without winning

a World Series?

So I looked some of this up, okay, this is in Yankees history.

From 1920 to 2025, so we're talking about over a century, 105 years.

Players who have played a thousand or more games for the Yankees, or at least a thousand

games, and had an OPS over 800 for their careers.

So these are accomplished players who played in New York for lengthy period of time.

How many of them went without a World Series?

First of all, let's start with this.

There are 24 players in Yankee history who meet this criteria.

You see the names here, Derek Cheter, Mickey Mantle, Garrick, Berra Ruth, Williams, Pasada,

Dickie, Mattingley, Demagiel, Azary, A-Rod, Combs, Canoe, Musil, Henrik, Mercer, Winfield,

O'Neill, Judge, Skyron, Keller, Martinez, and Gordon, okay, that's an accomplished list.

In Yankees history, some of those are higher than others.

When we go to the next thing, and we look at it, here are the guys who have not won World

Series, Mattingley, which everyone knows, Mercer, Winfield, Aaron Judge.

Now Winfield won one with the Toronto Blue Jays many years later, so he did have a World

Series 2 as credit, but that is a small group, and that's a small list that Aaron Judge

does not necessarily want to be on.

And this is the one that's going to get held over his head until his career ends.

Somewhere along the line, Judge has to be on a World Series winner.

Now, you can say this is unfair, and I would agree, it is, in a lot of ways it is unfair.

Judge finally had a terrific postseason in 2025 for the Yankees, and it really didn't

do them any good.

The team can be very stagnant, they don't have a lot of athleticism, it's more of a softball

team built around Judge and Stanton in the middle of that lineup, they certainly have

added some athleticism.

The pitching, starting pitching appears to be very good, questions in the bullpen.

But look, when fair or unfair, when you play in New York, and you are Yankees icon, let

alone the fact that you are given a massive contract, which Judge has, it's all about winning

your title.

All about winning a ring, Judge has not done that, and that story will persist for as long

as Aaron Judges in New York, and frankly, beyond.

So again, three storylines to watch this year, Price Harper and Dombrowski, what happens

to the Phillies internally, how does Harper perform in the wake of that conflict?

The two mantandom and Detroit, the Tigers to me, could be one of the surprise teams in

the league, and obviously the Yankees and Aaron Judges, which is an ongoing story.

The Dodgers are an easy one, so I leave those out because we all know how low they are.

Anyway, if you're a first time viewer or listener, thank you.

Again, we hope to do all kinds of stuff here as the year goes on.

So we encourage you to check in and visit us here on Breaking Balls, courtesy of 985

to sports up in yours truly.

All right, thanks and enjoy the season.

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