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New York Yankees’ prospect rankings shake up the farm system conversation as George Lombard Jr. rises to #1, but will he deliver big-league impact by 2028? Uncertainty looms over the future of Spencer Jones—will the Yankees trade him or finally give him a shot? Recent roster moves, including the signing of Randal Grichuk to a minor league deal, spark questions about the team’s outfield depth and strategic flexibility, while Cody Bellinger’s recurring back issue surfaces but shouldn’t worry fans.
Stacey Gotsulias and Brian McKeon dissect the implications of MLB Pipeline’s updated Yankees top 30 prospects, highlight standout spring performances, and compare the Yankees’ prospect development to league rivals. The episode also covers Max Fried’s controversial ranking, news from around MLB, and Team USA’s pitching rotation in the World Baseball Classic. Will these Yankees prospects propel a new era of success, or will stalled development and missed opportunities set the team back?
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There is a possibility he's seen in 2027, but it does look like more likely his expected
time in the major league starts in 2028.
You are locked on Yankees, your daily New York Yankees podcast.
Part of the locked on podcast network, your team, every day.
Welcome to locked on Yankees, which is part of the locked on podcast network.
Now the number one sports podcast network in the country.
I'm Stacy Gottsulias alongside my co host Brian McKeon.
We'd like to thank you for making locked on Yankees your first listen every day.
Brian, we're getting a little deeper and deeper into March and real baseball is on the
way.
How are you feeling on this Tuesday?
Really, really great.
And you know, USA's world baseball classic team was actually like introduced on Monday.
So the juices are flowing, the baseball juices are flowing.
Yeah.
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since like the legend of Zelda and Super Mario 3 in the 80s.
So I don't know what I'm talking about.
Do you have a PS5?
Yes, I do.
I actually bought it during COVID because it was one of the pure forms of entertainment
during COVID.
And MLB, the show was played plenty of times.
But none of them are quite as good as MLB, the show 26, which you should all go out and
buy.
Yep.
All right.
So coming up on the show, we have some news from around the league.
We're going to be talking about Yankee stuff because it's a Yankee show, obviously, Randall
Gritchick, who is another one of these guys that the Yankee should have signed probably
like five years ago when they had a chance, but, you know, we're going to talk about that
as I went to.
But first, MLB pipeline updated all the top 30 prospects for every team.
And we're going to look at a few of the top 30 from the Yankees list.
It is funny when you look at this list, though, and we're going to start reading off the
names to you of guys whose whose value starts to get higher and higher as years go on.
And the guy to his value gets lower and lower as years goes on.
There's a significant name in here.
That's value is kind of dipped a little bit over the years, whereas he was not the number
one prospect in the system at one point.
And guys who just completely leapfrog the system.
So it is interesting to see where guys and how they adjust the year by year.
So George Lombard Jr. is the number one prospect for the Yankees via MLB pipeline overall
in Major League Baseball.
He is number 32.
Not very surprising.
His stock keeps rising year after year.
It does still feel like he's about a year or two away.
You're not going to see him in 26.
There is a possibility he's seen in 2027, but it does look like more likely his expected
time in the Major League starts in 2028.
So we'll see.
He's not as close as I think people want to see him be.
But you know, you never know how the minor league system goes.
If he comes in and just tears it up this year, there's a chance that he winds up appearing
in 2027.
You just kind of don't know what these guys, but it is a good sign that he is the number
one prospect now in the Yankees system and 32 and all of baseball.
Right.
He's still young.
He's turning 21 in June.
And I believe his birthday is.
So he has time.
He did make a really good play the other day in the field.
I think he was playing was he playing short or was he playing second and he threw the ball
to Ben Rice and Ben Rice actually made a great play on the other side at first base
scooping up the ball.
And I was like, I see what George Lombard Jr. is doing.
He's taking advantage of this.
And with the bat hitting over 300 and spring training so far.
I know he's not playing in like premier time in the top of the order.
But like, you know, he's playing, he's getting subbed in later in games.
But still hitting over 300, you know, you can only do it.
You can only do with the opportunities you've been given.
So he's doing pretty good so far.
Number two, Carlos Lagranhe, he's number 79 overall in baseball.
So that's a big difference between 32 overall and 79 overall.
But good for him for being number two with the Yankees now.
And you're seeing the struggles of the Yankee farm system based on the trades they've made
in the last couple of years.
It has dipped and we actually highlighted that a few weeks ago in an episode of how much
their farm system is dipped and it shows by their second ranked prospect in their system
as the 79th ranked guy in baseball that it's not too positive.
But on the positive note of that, Carlos Lagranhe is one of the, you know, younger arms
that people are most excited around the league to see a debut in 2026.
And it's almost a guarantee at this point you're going to see him in 2026.
It is a positive sign that he's going to be seen on the field in the major leagues.
His ETA is 2026, along with the next guy on our list that we're going to mention.
But you are seeing how the more guys get called up and the more guys that are treated
at deadlines is the more that that list kind of starts to drag a little more down.
Right.
Next up is Elmer Rodriguez at number three for the Yankees 82 overall in MLB.
So now far behind, Lagranhe.
And you're probably going to see him in 2026 as well.
It does seem like as Moore has talked about these two are going to debut next year.
Rodriguez, they say a little further along.
So probably later on in 2026 Hill debut, maybe a late season call up one of those kind
of things.
Ron, hey, it does look like though there's potentially makes the opening day roster,
but you're going to see him pretty early on.
Right.
Coming in at number four is Dax Kilby and he is number 94 overall MLB.
He was drafted by the Yankees young right out of high school.
And he is impressing people, even at his young age.
And he's one that we've talked about a lot.
He had really well in St. Haye last year.
We've brought him up a lot this like again, he's very, very young.
So it's kind of hard to judge him.
But to be in the top 100 at the age that he is right at a high school, that's a really
positive sign.
So he's one again, not close to the major leagues, but he's an infielder.
We'll see what wants to happening.
They do have a track record of developing infielder's pretty well over the last couple
of years.
Paraza, although it didn't work out here, was it was a top tier prospect in baseball
and before it was called up Crabrera, Volpe, Lombard.
So you've got a lot of these kind of middle infielder that have been working out for the
Yankees, at least in what their prospect pool ranking, I expect Dex Killby when we're
doing this episode in a year from now, I expect Dex Killby to be much higher up on that
list.
Right.
I believe he's turning 20 in November, if I recall correctly, what his birthday is.
So it's still so young.
And rounding out the top five, Ben Hess, not in the top 100 prospects, but number five
for the Yankees.
It's a name that we've mentioned a lot.
Yeah, and he's thought about very highly in the Yankee organization, plus having a really,
really good spring so far with the eighties.
So you'll see him at some point.
I don't think 2026 is the year 2027 could be a year that you see Ben Hess make his majorly
debut.
Right.
Other notables in the top 30 Spencer Jones right outside of the top five at number six
and not MLB's top 100.
And this is one that I mentioned, you talk about him the last year, I can't even begin
to count.
The amount of Spencer Jones episodes that we did where his name was mentioned and his
name has dipped and dipped and dipped kind of subtly in the Yankee farm system, though.
Now it's down to six out of the top five is not in the top 100 in baseball.
So you talk about a top tier trade target that teams were really inquiring about.
And now that noise has kind of dipped a little bit, I don't want a two island horn, but
I do kind of start to think that the time to trade Spencer Jones, they might have, they
might be a little bit past that time at this point.
So I don't think the package right now is going to be as good as it might have been,
you know, maybe a year or a year and a half ago.
So he does dip a little more and more and the older he gets and the more time it takes
him to get to the major leagues is the more that he's going to slip.
So they got to make a decision on Spencer Jones at some point, Stacy.
He's got to play major league time or he's got to get moved.
I will say at one point, he had a palindrome of results, you know, me, home run, strike
out, strike out, ball, strike out, strike out, home run, so if you fold them over, yeah,
which I thought was really cool.
Nanny ruined it with a ground out.
Yeah.
Unbelievable.
How could you do that to me, Spencer Jones?
How dare you?
Next up, Chase Hampton at number eight, Chase Hampton coming back from, was it from
full Tommy John that he had, right?
Yeah, it was.
Which kind of delayed his start up, I guess, or getting towards the major leagues because
he had some really solid numbers before that injury and especially when it happens in
the minors, it's such a setback for these guys, especially when they start building momentum
and different levels and having these gritty RAs, the Yankees love him a lot, but again,
you don't know how guys at that level are going to, you're not an established stud like
that.
It's kind of hard to come back from Tommy John as it is when you're like a Gary Cole
when you're an established major league or so.
But he was close to being someone that we were going to look at and then the injury happens.
So that really kind of messed with him.
It's just such a setback for him.
It really is.
So we're going to have to really keep an eye on what he does.
That's one of those guys that we're going to have to keep an eye on what he does throughout
the minor league segments that we do throughout the year because again, he's, what if he comes
back from Tommy John and he's better than ever, and he's stronger than ever.
I mean, that could be a guy that you see, you don't expect to make the major league roster
that good.
It's tough to diagnose these things, Stacy, but again, I always bring back to last year.
Cam Schletler was not a remote thought at all to be on the Yankee Major League roster
at all.
And then he's starting games against Boston in huge critical spots in the postseason later
on that year.
So you just don't know how it's going to work out sometimes.
Right.
Next up is Caden Kent, Jeff Kent's son at number 13, Caden with a K. We joke about that
early 2000s typical stuff.
And the last one is the name that I really want to mention, that's, that's a big deal
because his stock with these within the Yankee organization just keeps rising and rising
and rising as the days go on.
So one of my favorite names in the Yankee system at number 17, Cade Winquest, who sounds like
a hero in a video game or some sort of hero in some sort of story telling medium, whether
it's a video game or maybe even a movie, I just love his name so much.
And I hope he does well because I want people to talk about this kid, probably not going
to seem in the Bronx anytime soon, but they love, they love what they see out of him.
A great movement on his pitches, plus putting up some really good numbers in the mind and
the spring training it so far, not throwing at the top of games.
So again, I do want to preface that with he is facing the Walmart employees or the future
Walmart employees of the other minor, the other teams, the Yankees are currently playing.
So it is kind of a little bit of a, you got to look at it with a grain of salt a little
bit, but he is still putting up really good numbers in the spring training.
So I'll give him that Yankees love what they see out of him.
So maybe not this year or next year, but a guy that definitely you're going to hear his
name a lot.
Right.
All right.
Coming up next, the Yankees signed Randall Gritchick to a minor league deal.
So we're going to talk about that.
And House Cody Belinger's back.
We're going to talk about that too next.
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So there's a lot of Yankee news out there besides news of the day.
We were still to news of the day in segment three, but there is plenty of Yankee news to
discuss.
I do want to kind of leave a preface before we enter the segment.
These ideas have been floated around Yankee universe for the last couple of days, but
I didn't want to really address them on the show because they weren't that big of a deal
and the players that were attached to these storylines hadn't spoken on them yet.
So it's not really fair to speculate on something like Cody Belinger's back injury when Cody
Belinger or Aaron Boone haven't spoke publicly about it yet.
So I kind of wanted to leave that up in the air until they had spoken publicly about it.
They have.
So we will address it when it comes up, but first let's bring up what Stacy mentioned
at the end of last segment Yankees are officially bringing in Randall Gritchick to camp, probably
it's just another right, right handed outfielder.
I don't, you see a sign like this, Stacy, and people start freaking out like he's going
to be getting 120 starts this year, like it's a right handed insurance bat.
They're bringing him on a minor league deal to see if he's got something left.
If he doesn't, they cut him and lose nothing for it.
And if he works out, he works out, he makes the major league roster.
He provides some to my bats here and there.
It's not that big of a deal.
I don't think.
Would you agree or no?
Oh, no, I agree.
It's funny because it's a minor league deal.
Like when does that ever really turn?
I mean, sometimes it does turn into something, but the Yankees are so overloaded with people
in the outfield and so far people are healthy other than what we're going to talk about
with Cody Belinger.
I just, it's so funny.
I say this all the time.
Baseball fans are like Drew Barrymore in 51states, except instead of losing their memory every
day, it's at the start of every season.
They forget how baseball works.
They forget how things go when spring training starts and they bring these guys in on these
deal.
Like, you know, 90% of the time these guys don't work out or do anything or the time that
they spend in spring training with the Yankees turns into them getting signed with someone
else who needs them.
Yeah, and that's the benefit too is a lot of guys take minor league deals because they
want to play.
They play really well with the Yankees.
They can get released from their minor league contract whenever they request.
Some guys have deadlines on their minor league deals.
So if the Yankees, for instance, don't add them to the 40-man roster or call them up to
the major leagues by I'm going to throw a date out there may first that guy in his contract
has the option to stay in the minor leagues or get released and try and search in free
agency.
Yeah.
Or guys can just request to be released from their contract.
So it is kind of an opportunity for Gritchick to play well in spring training.
Maybe a team wants them, picks them up.
So I don't think it's that big of a deal.
It's not something worth worrying about.
I will say this.
I did see a theory floating online that I do kind of like.
Maybe Gritchick is going to be brought in for a month or two to let them in guys play
in the minor leagues, let him kind of get his feet wet, let him get full-time play time.
And then if he plays really well, then you cut Gritchick and you bring them in guys up.
So there are many things that can happen here, but I don't think it's a major move for
people that's worth stressing out over if you're Yankee fan.
Right.
And not even stressing out, it's just this is another guy that they were looking into
a wild back that would have made sense a wild back and then someone else scooped him up
and we were just like, what was the point of that if you weren't going to pick him up?
It's always, I always feel like the Yankees do this with so many guys where they finally
get them years after you wanted them.
Yeah, I feel like the other New York team that this is like rampant with is the Knicks.
The Knicks for years did this, like acquiring guys that are after their past their prime.
This would have been a really good signing seven years ago.
Right.
But yeah, like, you know, this kind of stuff happens.
I don't think Randall Gritchick is a guy that's worth losing any sleep over if you're
Yankee.
He's not going to take time away from everyday starters.
One of the everyday starters that people lost their minds about when this story got broken.
Cody Ballinger has a stiff back.
Now what people forgot is the fact that Cody Ballinger has had a stiff back pretty much
since he debuted in the major leagues and he deals with this all the time.
It's a common back thing for him.
Um, this did not seem like a major deal when it was reported and then Yankee fans kind
of took it and ran with it.
Cody Ballinger finally did speak publicly about it.
So I did want to kind of wait to address it until Cody Ballinger spoke to, you know,
avoid people from freaking out about it.
Um, it's a stiff lower back.
He assured reporters that it's nothing at all to be concerned about.
He said it's a very mild case, which by the way, good work on the Yankee's medical staff.
Let's keep him out of the line up in a spring training game.
If it's a very mild case of a back pain, let's not let this progress.
Keep him out.
Wait till he's better than put him in these games games aren't that important.
Um, he said it's very similar to what he's dealt with throughout his entire career, including
he missed a couple games last April because of this exact same issue.
Uh, this should not be anything you're concerned about.
And if you were concerned about three to five for a share, Cody Ballinger is going to
take BP later on on Tuesday and he will play on Thursday against the twins.
So he's going to be in the lineup.
He's going to get play time.
It was just a very precautionary thing, which is the point of spring training, Stacy.
Yes, these guys want to get at bats and stuff, but if there's anything wrongly going
on, it's okay to have a guy out of the lineup.
So it wasn't worth freaking out of a Cody Ballinger, right?
And he's like you said, he's been dealing with this his entire career.
I, I had forgotten about what happened in April and then he came back, he was fine.
And there weren't really any issues.
That's how that, that's how irrelevant the injury was last year that you had literally
forgotten that it had even happened.
So not worth freaking out about Cody Ballinger is not freaking out about it.
You shouldn't either.
Um, this is kind of strange.
Ryan McMahon was caught taking shortstop reps earlier on in spring training.
We didn't talk about that for a little bit.
Um, he's going to play in Tuesday and Thursday spring training game at shortstop.
Uh, Boone then escaped reporters went after Boone and said like, what's going on here?
Is he going to play shortstop?
He kind of froze all that and said to the reporters that there he is not going to play shortstop
at the major leagues.
He's simply an emergency thing.
They're just testing him out there to see if they can trust him later on.
If there is an emergency later in the season where Ryan McMahon has to again, might as well
open up all the windows here.
He is an elite fielder at third base, um, and the Yankees have a very good experience
as an organization on moving the guy friends and elite shortstop to third base.
So why not see if it's elite third base can move over to shortstop?
What if something happens in it?
The vote will be he's no good this year and Rosario's not the player they want to be.
What if there's a top tier third base for something happens to Kambi arrow while he's
covering for Volpe and they need someone to come in?
What if there's a top tier third base been available at the deadline that they look at
a require and they can move it man over to short and put the guy at third base?
There's a million things that can happen.
I'd rather them test these scenarios out rather than do what they did a couple years ago
with jazz putting him at short, not working out, putting him at third, not working out.
This is when you do these things.
This is when you test these things out in spring training when the games don't matter.
So I don't hate that at all.
You'll can see that in Tuesday's game.
You can also see Max Fried making his first spring training start of the year.
We knew they were going to let it take its time with their starters.
We'll see how Max Fried looks again.
If you guys turn the game on on Tuesday, don't freak out if Max Fried doesn't have a good
start.
It's one start.
Did you see the athletic headline about Max Fried, something that Ken Rosenthal wrote
that people were like, something about don't call Max Fried soft.
Really?
No, I didn't see that.
I wouldn't call Max Fried soft.
No.
Speaking of which, I didn't want to say this, Max Fried was ranked 29th in overall players
in Lofton MLB's top 100.
That is soft.
There are pictures that he's better than including Christopher Sanchez, Hunter Brown, that
I thought he should have been way higher.
Check that out because that list comes out.
You guys are going to want to see the top 100 players are in baseball.
I think Max Fried was a little disrespected.
We'll break it down a little more in a future episode, but I think he was a little disrespected
there too to be honest with you.
I think so too, because I ranked him higher than that.
Yeah.
So 29th is soft from Max Fried.
I agree.
Yeah.
So yeah, you'll get to see him later today.
That'll be exciting.
Are you going to see him later today?
Wait, what is the game on?
Are we actually going to be able to watch it?
I actually don't know if it's televised.
Excuse me.
You know what?
This is Spring Training Baseball for you.
He's got a pitch checked box score.
I'm sure you can find it somewhere, streaming somewhere.
It's either on the year.
Why not all of Spring Training has been on the ESPN app, so it's not on God, but it'll
be on the ESPN app.
Oh, wait.
That's the game they're playing Panama today.
Oh, they are.
There you go.
So you can see Max Fried base up against Panama.
Yeah.
The TV USA is playing the Giants.
Yeah.
Just pretty cool.
Yeah.
There was some cool.
There was some cool.
There was a moment earlier where Aaron Judge walked up to a podium to do an interview.
And they're working out at the Giants Spring Training facility.
And he walked across like a Giants like Matt had their logo on it.
And I was like, that's kind of ironic.
That's funny.
That could have been.
That could have been you.
Yeah.
You could have been there for Spring Training, but.
Shame.
It's a shame that you.
Yeah.
One another.
Another MVP with the Yankees and two MVP's with the Yankees since you signed.
Resigned.
Yeah.
Good for you, Aaron Judge.
All right.
Coming up next.
Some news from around the league.
Because it's your favorite segment.
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So we did go over your Yankees news somewhere on the news not not.
It's not news from around the league.
It's just Yankees news from around the organization.
I guess.
But we did assure you Cody Ballinger again.
It's just a stiff lower back.
He deals with this all the time.
He is healthy.
Don't freak out over it.
But news from around the league.
It was kind of a fascinating day to get some news around baseball.
Connor Griffin.
The pirates have become an interesting organization stays.
Because the skin stuff and people are kind of wondering what's going to happen once he hits arbitration.
Are they going to be willing to pay him once he hits arbitration because we saw what's our school.
We got what the heck is skiing is going to get.
But they've got young top tier pitching prospects coming up.
And Connor Griffin Connor spot with a K obviously a 2000s baby.
But this kid is 19 years old Stacy and it's harrowing up spring train hit another 360 foot home run the other the other day.
It's a third of spring training.
He's the number one overall prospect in all of baseball and he's doing these things.
I mean, this is kind of cool that they prior.
This is the other parents are ever going to win by the way.
If they have young affordable players that have not hit their big time deals yet.
That are going to have to play really good really early in their careers.
If this kid is able to get up and make an impact at a major league level while Paul schemes is still in Pittsburgh.
That could be a pretty big deal.
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's so young though.
He's so young.
But he's hitting tanks.
Yeah.
Like a 440 the other day.
Yeah, like he's not he's not getting hit in sheepies.
Like if you watch these highlights like he gets under the ball.
This kid got some serious power.
Like I don't know if it's going to be 20 years old.
I've seen him called up, but he's got some serious power out there.
It's he's fun to watch.
And again, the number one overall prospect in all of baseball.
Especially the pirates fall out of it.
There's a chance they call him up just to see what they have.
So that is really interesting.
I just looked it up.
So he's turning 20 in April and he's 63222.
And he's hitting the ball like he's.
Aaron judge and John Carla Stanton who hit the ball.
And he sees 220 pounds.
That's a.
It's a big boy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How about this to us?
Frander Framber Valdez.
He debuted for the Tigers in spring.
He went three rings of no run ball looked really good.
So we'll see what he winds up looking like.
And speaking of the Tigers.
The illitch family who's been in the news a lot lately.
They are famous for owning the Red Wings and the Tigers.
They also own little Caesar's pizza.
That's what got them.
They're claimed to fame.
Well, they are starting.
Illich sports and entertainment.
Which will be a sports local market that covers both the Red Wings and the Tigers.
This feels like 20 years too late.
For a family like them to be doing this.
I mean, am I wrong here?
Because I mean, this is that this is a.
Seems to have been starting regional sports networks for years now.
Lesson's been a while for around for a long time.
The yes network.
Obviously SNY like.
This is not a new thing.
So I'm shocked that they're now doing this.
Like years after teams got this this bright idea to do this.
I mean, the illitch family is a poor family either.
So I don't really understand this at all to.
I mean.
Good for them for doing it at some point.
I just don't get why you would do it.
Now.
If that makes sense.
Why was this not done a decade ago?
What were they on before this?
Where they believe they were they were being covered in the last couple of years.
Not like the ballies regional network that does a bunch of those different.
Right.
I can't grasp why they wouldn't have done this years ago.
Because it just makes sense.
The team.
Why not have a regional sports network that you can profit off of from the team.
Right.
You don't have to go sign a TV deal with someone to broadcast your games.
Now your all your games your broadcast and you collect all the revenue from the ads and stuff.
So I don't understand why this is now being done.
Good for them.
It makes sense.
But it's crazy.
This took them took as long as and it's crazy too.
Because.
Some organizations that.
Baseball had such a split right now, Stacy in the in the, the rich and the poor.
And I mean that facetiously because none of these guys are poor, but you have some organization and even richer.
Yeah, some of these organizations are profiting like crazy off regional sports networks and starting their own, right?
The yes that work does, the Yankees just bought all the shares back from the yes network.
The Mets have, Steve Cohen's been trying for ages to buy all of us in Y-back.
Nesson does fantastic for the Red Sox.
So you have all these owners, then you have the Braves and the Tigers starting their own regional sports networks.
And then you have teams getting rid of their regional sports networks and having majorly baseball take care of the broadcasting rights for them.
Right, it just makes no sense what's got this sport is so incredibly divided by even ownership.
It just feels like this thing is a mess, it really does.
Yeah, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of years with some of these ventures, I guess.
Yeah, it's not good.
So we'll see, it's going to have a lot to do with the, I think it's going to be, there is definitely divide I think too.
And this is kind of lesser talked about, but there's a divide between the owners when it comes to the CBA coming up in a few months.
Because again, you have different, if the priorities are this different for the rich owners and the even richer owners,
it's going to be a problem when you start seeing negotiating things go out and some things that teams at the Yankees
might be willing to lay low on to let the players get advantage here.
Some owners might not want to give him the players advantage on.
So we're going to have to keep very high track of that because it is very weird how some owners
in baseball cry poor and some owners just like flaunt their money.
It makes absolutely no sense to me.
Team USA, Mark DeRosa announced the first three starters for their games.
Their first game that counts in pool play will be Friday, that's the opening game against Brazil.
Their pool will be played in Houston.
They're actually technically in that game at Brazil, Brazil is the home team in Houston, that's pretty fun.
Logan Webb will start that game, the Giants Ace, that'll be fun to see.
The second game, game two will be a Saturday against Great Britain, USA is the home team for that game.
TARG school will make his one and only team USA start in that game, which I am still very upset about.
And then Monday will be Paul Schien's first start, that will be against Mexico.
So pretty cool to see, yeah, I am the face you're making.
I am very upset about the TARG schoolable stuff.
Why against Great Britain, like why can't you do Mexico and then Schien's do a later one
and is there someone else who could do Great Britain?
Like they're not going to lose to Great Britain, put someone else in there.
Schien's did was very adamant in an interview earlier on Monday, saying that he is planning
on making three starts in the WBC and doing whatever it takes to win.
Like he just wants to win this thing.
So I wish schoolable seems like he has that same attitude towards it,
but contractually it just didn't make sense or I get where he's coming from.
I do, it's still annoying.
Yeah, it is, like both can be true here.
Yeah, it can be really annoying that schoolables not willing to do it,
but also I totally get where he's going.
Yeah, like it's annoying, but also understandable at the same time.
There's probably $400 million in the line for him.
Right.
So like don't get hurt.
Right.
Yeah, it makes sense.
I get it.
It's just annoying.
I'm excited for the WBC.
Regardless.
I'm not being happy, I'm not being happy, it seems like it's going to be so much fun.
Bryce Harper did a bunch of interviews.
He's really excited for it.
Aaron Judge, there was a really cool story told earlier.
We'll close out with this.
It didn't work, but it's still a cool story.
Aaron Judge apparently, when driving into Yankee Stadium during the Boston series last year,
got a phone call from Bryce Harper.
And Bryce Harper basically just wanted to give him a little bit of advice coming
into like a big moment in a big game like that.
And he is advice to judge and playing in these massive games
was own in the moment.
Don't let that moment own you.
Which is a pretty cool like just sports kind of quote,
which I you kind of get when you think about it.
And Judge said he really took that to heart.
Really appreciate Harper given him that phone call,
but really took it to heart what he said and it kind of made him relax a little bit
when it came into hitting in the postseason.
He did for his credit, he did have his best postseason.
Right.
You couldn't have called.
You couldn't have called him in 2024.
One year to layman.
And just like the idea of like Harper,
like I feel like anybody who knows Aaron judge personally
is not going to call him like three hours before the Yankees play the red socks in a postseason game.
But Bryce Harper was like, I can make this phone call.
Like did it.
It's so great.
I love seeing stuff like that.
But yeah, Judge told that story like publicly for the first time.
And it was it was pretty cool to hear.
Yeah.
Could have been his teammate.
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I'm Stacy Gottsuleus.
And I'm Brian McKean.
We'll catch you guys tomorrow.
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