After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

I wonder if that's what it felt like in Las Vegas over the past few days with the NBA descending on Sin City. Man it's become a sports hotbed that is for sure. Everything from the Raiders to the Golden Knights who are now Stanley Cup champions to future baseball home of the Oakland A's or the A's or Las Vegas A's.

I'm not sure what they will call them. I wouldn't be surprised if an NBA team landed there before long though I feel like Seattle should be first in line for that. And speaking of Seattle, we do have the All-Star festivities that are descending on the Pacific Northwest coming up in the next few hours actually with the home run derby Monday, All-Star game on Tuesday. Anytime I get to see more and hear more of Ken Griffey Jr, I am thrilled. He'll be the ambassador for the Mariners and for the city and the All-Star game no doubt.

So a lot on our plates this week. It's some some summertime and some some summer league. After hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, our Facebook page too. I've got a unique weekend story to share with you a little bit later on the show as well as photos to go along with. But that will have to wait because Victor Wembanyama making his NBA Summer League debut in a Spurs uniform over the weekend in Las Vegas and he was all the rage to be sure. So we're excited to welcome Nate Ryan who's now back in San Antonio for KENS. Channel 5 was on the ground in Las Vegas in the middle of what was a white hot spotlight and a firestorm.

So Nate, I'm gonna start with something simple because you speak for a living. This is almost like a what you did on summer break type of a report when you get back to school in August or September. How would you describe your summer league experience in Vegas? Honestly when you think Las Vegas like I would describe it as just bizarre first off. Like for me when the plane landed, opening up my phone and seeing Britney Spears, Victor Wembanyama, incident. I'm like I'm going there to cover basketball and I'm going there to cover you know a rookie sensations debut first time on the court and it was not that for the first 24 hours. I was like oh are you kidding me like this is turned into like something you could put out of a movie script. I mean an international basketball sensation and international pop star.

So I would just describe it as bizarre having to chase that down for my first 24 hours. Scratch that off the bingo cards for dealing with Britney Spears. Literally of all NBA teams like the San Antonio Spurs operate behind like a steel curtain in a way. They're very private. They're very private.

They're very you know by the book and they're very culture oriented. Britney Spears would be the last person that you would think would be involved with the San Antonio Spurs but for about 36 hours it was and then it got into bizarre into a point of just honestly you know buzz. Just going around before this guy even stepped on the floor because everybody's eyes are just on one player. It really didn't feel like summer league. It felt like before like in the in the 10 minutes before he stepped on the court it felt like we were covering the NBA finals. Well not a game that you know didn't really matter from a standings you know perspective because all the hype leading into this guy because he that was some of some of the hype that went around Victor Wambunyama that we had never really seen him in the United States. Everything that we knew about Victor Wambunyama was from an outside perspective from highlights that we saw in grainy Euro league gyms and whatever.

We had yet to really see him for the most part in person on an NBA court in the United States. It was it was a spectacle to watch. Well before we talk about the actual basketball because it is Vegas and you mentioned bizarre how exactly does one go about covering an incident between Victor Wambunyama and Britney Spears? How did you do that Nate?

It was literally like there's no script for that. I mean me and my photographer were on our plane from San Antonio to Las Vegas on Thursday morning. We were on the plane and just happened to be also on our same plane was RC Buford who is the CEO of the Spurs and their communications director. They were also on our plane like they were at the same I'm like were they aware of everything that was going on when the plane was in the air because none of us have service obviously and then the plane lands and then we like the communications director I see when we land and I'm like he goes oh hey Nate how are you I'm like dude how am I how are you you your phone is probably blowing up off the hook man and like I have a buddy who works at TMZ and we don't even really talk to each other a whole lot he's a nice guy but I knew that when I landed and I got service again and I saw a text from this guy being like hey Nate I've got something for you I'm like oh my god why does this guy why does this guy have something for me I'm like he's a great dude but if he's hitting me up like something is totally up I just knew my day went from I had to throw out my playbook that I had for that day and it was just it went completely by the wayside but you just kind of you know go as by the facts as you would for for anything because we're there to cover basketball and Victor Wambunyama he's 19 years old but he's wise beyond his years I mean you talk to the guy he's speaking in metaphors he's very profound he's got a great head on his shoulders for being 19 years old and we think in the last three weeks he moved countries he's been herded around three different cities New York City for the draft and then San Antonio which is now his new home you know welcome and now Las Vegas and he's got cameras on him at all times he right now is what Britney Spears was when Britney Spears was 19 years old honestly like yes and probably Britney knows a thing or two about it so it's it's crazy it's not something I would have expected to cover that's all that's before we get to basketball oh it's like a crash course in journalism you could teach that at some university somewhere now Nate Ryan makes a good point about Britney Spears and Victor Wambunyama but that's of course not why people were in Vegas initially he's with us from San Antonio now KENS channel 5 their sports anchor it's after hours on CBS sports radio how would you say that Wambunyama handled the actual basketball part once he got on the court in Las Vegas oh yeah he's a smart guy he was honest I mean his first night on Friday night in game one he had nine points eight rebounds and five blocks which in the NBA that's a solid stat line he played 27 minutes his first night and that was with the lack of sleep that he's had and when you think a lot of these college players they haven't played actual physical contact games in three months for the most part because their season ends whenever they get knocked out of the NCAA tournament if they even make the NCAA tournament and then you're going through workouts Victor Wambunyama playing in Europe he's playing against grown 30-year-old men guys who were the best players on their college team and now playing in Europe amongst those same guys but three weeks ago and I think his last game was like June 18th or whatever and five days later he's getting drafted by the San Antonio Spurs he knew he was going to be the number one pick and he wanted to play in summer league that was something he said on the podium and the Spurs you know whether or not it was their goal the whole way to have him play in summer league like I'm not so sure it was because they want to keep him as fresh and as healthy as possible while you know indoctrinating the the playbook and the systems that they run but just his sheer want and his nature of wanting to be you know soaking everything in it just is a total testament to who he is but he even admitted this first night he was tired he said there was a quote he said at the podium where it was just like I didn't even know what I was doing out there it was me in cheek I mean because he you know he had so much coming at him the cameras were on him at all times I was in the gym his first his first game playing you would have thought that it was game seven of the NBA finals like wow everybody had their cell phones out you know taking video of the opening tip-offs and like tonight watching from a tv camera's perspectives all tv cameras were on him like they're talking about like another player but the cameras are still fixated on him because he's such kind of a transcendent you know cultural figure just you know covering two countries and he's a player we haven't seen before so it's it's bigger than basketball with him why does he fit with the San Antonio Spurs, Nate? He fits with any team just given his skill set and with how tall he is but with the San Antonio Spurs especially because you look at the Spurs track record with international players Tim Duncan was you know a guy from the virgin U.S. Virgin Islands and when you look at Tim Duncan that's another thing Tim Duncan was the first ever number one pick to ever play in summer league and he was relatively schooled in summer league when he played in 1997 he was dominated by Greg Ostertag of the Utah Jazz in 1997 he turned out pretty well I mean now his jersey's in the rafters that you know the AT&T centers he's in the hall of fame but Tony Parker is a French player just for one reference I mean he's going into the hall of fame himself and Tony Parker, Victor Wambunyama are very close and they've had a lot of conversations before even getting to San Antonio there's pictures of Wambunyama wearing Tony Parker's jersey when he was a kid Boris Diage was a French player who had a lot of great role minutes through Spurs championship seasons. Patty Mills was from Australia he came in you know he had no problem fitting into this culture all these players who are coming from elsewhere they you know come to San Antonio Duncan, Parker, Manu Ginobili from Argentina all those guys still live in San Antonio and it's totally by choice they found a home here and you know they're still hanging around the facility it's very much a melting pot of basketball here and all those guys have been in Victor Wambunyama's ear just not from a pressure standpoint but just hey man welcome to San Antonio it's an easy place for you know you to adapt from you get your privacy you're not going out fans respect you in the in the sort of sense of you know being in the public and it's it's a great place to fit in from you know you're cool with all the assistance there's continuity with the coaching staff. Greg Popovich is you know over the age of 70 just signed a five year extension you know he's not going anywhere it's it's very much a culture fit for for Wimby obviously the five championships are are the marking point for it. I'm glad you mentioned the contract because I was going to ask you obviously no retirement in coach Pop's future they've had four consecutive losing seasons though and have missed the playoffs and that's how they get to Wimby and yet I remember he said that he's really enjoyed coaching at least it was around the draft I think where he talked about how much he enjoyed coaching still this past season what is your reaction to his contract extension now? The players I'm sure do but when they let the media in their practice facility to shoot practice we all still see coach Pop in the facility all the time like we see him on the elliptical he's working out he's just a guy who loves the game he's a basketball lifer and yeah the Spurs have not had a couple they haven't had you know winning seasons the last few years but at the same time you like in 2020 or 2022 for the the most recent Olympics during the COVID era I mean he was coaching a Spurs team that wasn't at the top of the NBA but he was also coaching Team USA to a gold medal in the Olympics I mean he has that kind of credibility where he's won five championships he's the winningest coach in the history of the game of basketball he's been to the top he took this organization from the bottom and saw it all the way through he's not doing it necessarily I don't think for the championships anymore he does it for the relationships and you look at you know the product of the assistants that have coached under him half the NBA is essentially former Spurs assistants Will Hardy from the Utah Jazz, Emay Yudoka who just took the Rockets job, Monty Williams played for the Spurs, Steve Kerr played for the Spurs, Mike Brown coached under Greg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs his blueprint is everywhere in the NBA and he's at a point now too where in the twilight sort of of his career he it's almost like a Mr. Miyagi and the karate kids kind of deal where he's just like he's this guy who's got all this wealth of knowledge it's speaking totally from opinion for him it probably makes him feel younger and takes him back to his earlier days where he doesn't have to worry about wins and losses and he can just get back to basics and basketball 101 and now he's got this great new young player who you know is very worldly and you know has all these various profound opinions about a lot of things but also has got the spotlight on him 24-7 Popovich probably sees that as like as a cool challenge. Andy Reid said something similar about Patrick Mahomes when he got into the league and how now Pat and the challenge of working with a generational athlete generational quarterback makes him feel young as well. Nate Ryan is with us from San Antonio it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio other than the Wembanyama buzz what else were people buzzing about with so many NBA movers and shakers in Vegas at the same time? It really is I mean like NBA Summer League has kind of turned into like a who's who everybody kind of goes there whether you're a budding assistant coach or like a video coordinator looking for you know looking to network if you're you know just a fan of the game looking for you know different who to watch for in the upcoming season whether you're a current NBA player who's just looking to go and see the next wave of players you look every single game it's cool like they've done this in the past but now more so than ever yeah it's Summer League and people on these NBA rosters the players don't need to go it's not mandatory but they're all there sitting court side I mean the San Antonio Spurs are playing Summer League games with you know 75% of these guys aren't going to be on the NBA roster but you look at the guys who are on the NBA roster they're all sitting front rail court side for the Spurs Devin Decel, Jeremy Sohan, Sandro Mamukhele-Shvili I mean they're all sitting right there cheering on the guys that you know they might not even necessarily be playing with it's turned into like a you know summer vacation but also kind of convention sort of deal where you've got fans and players like I saw media members from across the country I mean I saw college coaches that I knew from across the country I'm like I was doing taping a segment for you know CBS at the end of the night on Friday night at like 11 p.m and a college basketball coach Joe Golding who's the head men's basketball coach at the University of Texas at El Paso he's a college hoops coach he's walking out he's the head coach and I knew him from my previous job and I shout that Nate Ryan they turn around I'm like Joe Golding what is up man like how are you um it's just one of those things where you run into people that it's just a congregation of basketball fans minds people handing out business cards that sort of thing it's it's very very cool the very very cool to see all in all in the the ides of Las Vegas if you will where when the sun goes down they all go off and do whatever and then they're they're back there at noon the next day so what's the one big thing you learned coming out of Vegas Nate that Victor Wambunyama is not just a basketball star but he's a he's a guy who's gonna you know move you know shake culture he's a cultural influence he's on and off the court he is going to impact the way people buy clothes way people travel the way people watch the game you know he's got kind of the same aura that a LeBron James or that a you know Kevin Durant but not even really Kevin Durant where it's like because Kevin Durant is he's played for a lot of different teams I can very much see Victor Wambunyama especially being with the team he is I see Victor Wambunyama being with the Spurs for eight ten years but also you know attracting fans from a whole new fear that at the NBA that never knew they could reach and he's got because he's got the cameras on him at all times and like his jersey I could tell you like he his jersey by far was the most populated out of anybody at the Thomas and Mack center in Las Vegas I'd be walking around I'd be like oh where are you from and they're wearing a Wambunyama jersey like I'm from Boston I'm from Hawaii I'm from California and I would literally be like are you a Spurs fan they'd be like uh not really I just love Wambi like I just want to see Wambi I'm like all right yeah that's cool you don't even need to be it's wearing a Wambunyama jersey it's like it's not even just being a Spurs fan it's a fashion statement now he's got that kind of aura about him because hey you can't miss him with his size so see you know how the way he talks and the way he carries himself he you know he's very he doesn't shy away from big questions but he's also not about you know he doesn't say things that you know people can sort of run with I mean the Britney Spears thing was just that was he didn't even recognize what was happening there it was just he was I guess the wrong place at the wrong time I but he but the way he plays the game and just how how different he is and how mature he is for his age he's going to be somebody who you know he's got that Lebron James sort of effect where it transcends not only basketball but culture as well and Britney Spears is not required actually for that that just happened to be a bonus incident on the top of everything else in Vegas so good stuff from Nate a crash course and how to cover a cross between basketball and pop culture you can find him on twitter at nate ryan sports he's the anchor for kens 5 in san antonio with a lot of excitement and a buzz around wimby wimby fever if you will nate thank you so much for a couple of minutes I know it was a crazy few days oh no I have you know where's anytime wimby fever could it be more than just a summer league phenomena I like the fact that nate was able to connect with fans from all over the country and certainly internationally as well and that is why these various pro sports leagues in the united states want to attract international talent because it taps into all new fan bases think about what otani has done and he's not the first japanese player but every time there is a japanese player who becomes a huge hit in the united states there are more and more japanese fans and asian fans who not only follow baseball but will travel to the us to see him play now it's wimby where it was tony parker and manu ginobili and tim duncan before that all international stars well duncan different but you know what i'm saying the fact that there are various players here yanis being another great example who come from other countries and other cultures obviously no nikola jokic and he goes home and he's he's not a star after the first week people stop asking him for his photo i love that people stop asking him for his photo i love that luka doncic too and that's just the nba major league baseball has got its own international flair and flavor a lot of hispanic cultures that are intrinsic in baseball culture but it means so much to these other nations too south america central america it's amazing how excited these countries get i've seen it firsthand for instance in cuba my travels to cuba these are their players and it makes them want to watch and consume more of the product now in cuba that's hard a lot of times it's on tape delay but oh and the cuban government sometimes doesn't acknowledge those athletes who've defected but the people get so excited and that's what these leagues are hoping to tap into grow the fan base with more of an international flair all right on twitter a law radio your mvp candidates are rolling in the braves finish up the first half as the best team in major league baseball 26 consecutive games with a home run at least a single home run now a franchise record do they have one two three four i don't know how many mvp candidates and finally the rays long nightmare is over seven consecutive losses but one win right before the break so we'll dive into baseball a little bit love to hear from you again on our social media if you're out of your work routine this week maybe it's a some some summertime week a vacation or a staycation or just time off or just time off thanks for taking us with you we're glad to connect with you after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio you are listening to the after hours podcast two two swinging the ball hit off the end of the bat to left center field over and back is harris to the wall gone and a swing at the ground ball toward third through in the left field base hit christian bethancourt taylor walls helps manufacturer run the rays get one back and now lead five two swung on in line in the left that's going to drop for a third base hit of the game for yandy diaz rounding third scoring parades here comes walls there will be no relay throw home to run double for yandy diaz tama bay and double digits on this last day before the break and they now lead it 10 to 4 this is after hours with amy lawrence the atlanta braves have the best record in baseball at the all-star break but the rays finally come up with an answer on the last day before the all-stars head to seattle and the rest to get to breathe it's after hours with amy lawrence cbs sports radio on the rays network zack efflin finishes the first half if you will with a 10 and 4 record to end the race seven game losing skid and even though they stumbled and bumbled and crumbled into the break they do take this break with 58 victories that's the most in their franchise history so kevin cash looking at the silver lining we're really encouraging and kind of what we we wanted we needed uh and we wanted to kind of let zack settle in and he certainly did that but the offense you know big at bats we had reason to be frustrated the last week or so um felt we were still doing some things okay just not to the standard that we had maybe set but to win a ball game and go into the break like that feels that much better and congrats to that group out there anytime you're you're doing something that is a first time in franchise this franchise has won a lot of baseball games over many years um you're saying something we're heading into the break with with our spirits high everybody's you know great in the clubhouse we had an awesome first half but i think it could even be better you know throughout 162 games you go on skids you know things happen but we're in a really really good place as you know as a team physically and culturally so we're excited to get to the second half and then you know enjoy these next four days and then come out swinging so zack eflin can see a bright future a bright summer rest of the summer for the race he allows two runs on four hits and and five k's yeah for the race there's a lot to be happy about but that seven game losing skid meant they couldn't get to the break none too quickly as for the atlanta braves what we've seen from them over the past month and a half is nothing short of remarkable not only have they taken over as the top team in baseball they're the only team with 60 wins as we get to the all-star break so travis darno with the braves finishing 60 and 29 heading to seattle coming up on 10 years to be in this situation um with 60 wins before all-star break is really special man and um just happy to be a part of it and i think the coolest thing is all of us joke around with each other 24 7 even even during the game and we're able to uh flip the switch and focus in when the pitch is coming and then right back to joking around so it's it's a special group and something i've never seen before would you choose a national league mvp from the braves they've got more all-stars than at any point in franchise history and what we've seen from guys like spencer strider oh really impressive he's not the only one they've had a couple of different guys that have filled that void since they lost max freed now max made a rehab start on sunday first time since may 5th that he's pitched remember he was shut down with forearm pain throws the 35 pitches goes into the second inning this is triple a gwinette and maybe a sight for sore eyes if you're a braves fan who thinks there's still room for improvement got to keep the rest of the nl east and the national league in our rearview mirror max freed a healthy max freed for the second half could do the trick feel great um you know hot day here but was able to go out get my work in got all 35 pitches of what we wanted and came out feeling physically really good so really optimistic and looking forward to you know just knocking the rest off what's the plan 35 pitches wherever you're at come out uh yeah it was two innings two innings of 35 pitches so i was able to to accomplish that so we'll see when max freed is cleared to pitch again but yes spencer strider has 11 wins at the break charlie morton has nine good old charlie he is steady eddie nine wins at the break and then bryce elder who's been another great revelation for the braves in that starting rotation seven and two and he actually leads the team in innings pitched as well as in era among the starters era among the starters so those two guys both spencer and bryce have filled in valiantly no issues there at all can the braves keep up this pace well that would mean what 115 wins when it's all said and done they were already a world series favorites serve and maybe if you don't want to go favorite then you go candidate but would you say the mvp comes from the atlanta braves that's the question we put out on social media who are your american league and national league mvps at this point so on twitter after hours cbs or you can find us on facebook we'll do a little more in baseball as we head up toward the top of the hour because not only do you have ken griffey jr serving as ambassador for the all-star festivities but the draft was taking place on sunday and remember last week we talked about surprises and a lot of us pointed to the surprises on the negative end like what the heck happened to the mets one of the worst months in franchise history probably but they had 101 wins last year same as the braves and really not relevant at this point though maybe just maybe there's hope for them in the second half that's how the padres feel they believe they're getting their bleep together they believe they're getting their bleep together and will look much different in the second half i don't have any trouble believing that both the mets and the padres can put together win streaks that's not out of the realm of possibility the issue of course is how far back they put themselves at the break and the number of teams they have to compete with simply to to make a wild card game or a wild card series also a great story the cincinnati reds sitting on top of the nl central as we take the break we've talked about them a bunch over the course of the last couple weeks or really the last month since ellie de la cruz made his debut and i love the combination of he and joey vato you know what it reminds me a little bit of it's a loose analogy but when luka doncic was drafted by the mavericks and dirk novitsky was still there and the two of them i don't know if they hung out away from the court but the way that they were kind of bookends to what the dallas mavericks were doing bridging the gap from one era so to speak to the next not that joey vato is going away anytime soon he's not but at 40 years old he's got a new i would say a new energy a fresh perspective and excitement about being a member of the reds and ellie de la cruz certainly is the spark for that so the cincinnati reds are a great story too we're tying a bow on the first half of the baseball season asking you who are the nl vps at this point again twitter facebook our phone number eight five five two one two four two two seven it's after hours with amy lawrence you are listening to the after-hours podcast so surzer is set here's the pitch and manny gets a hanging breaking ball hits it a ton deep to left field way back gonna go second level of balconies in the western metal building and a three-run homer in the bottom of the first for manny machado the padres jump out in front of the mets and max surzer here's the 3-0 manny swings hits it in the air to deep right field towards the corner mcneil's back turns around gonna go pepco porch for manny machado his second home run of the day and a five nothing padre lead in the fifth this is after hours with amy lawrence on padres radio could we see a surge from san diego over the second half pretty stunning the way the padres have languished to a losing record at the all-star break considering their appearance well not just the money they spent and the trades they've made but their appearance in the nl cs last year losing to the phillies right so the phillies go on to the world series but the padres they spent even more money over this past off season shoring up their roster and feeling like they were poised and ready to move forward not to mention they get fernando tatis back to add some energy some speed some skill to that lineup and yet they're at 43 and 47 with the victory over the mets on sunday it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio manny machado with a pair of home runs five rbi and yes the padres did win five of six before the break there's still a lot left um you know it's a lot of baseball we gotta gotta be played and you know we just gotta continue playing the baseball we've been playing this last week um you know i think everything's been coming together as a group um you know uh you know earlier has been bits and pieces here and there but you know ultimately uh you know this last week or so it's been it's been all clicking so we just gotta continue doing that think about the guys they have on that roster they and they add zander bogart jake kronenworth juan soto fernando tatis manny machado i know they've got some others too nelson cruz has been hurt i think matt carpenter's part of that lineup too they spared no expense in adding big bats and it kind of felt like overkill tatis does lead them in home runs which is a bit surprising not sure that's what they were after however he leads them in home runs and in batting average machado soto they're part of the mix in terms of getting on base but just not enough offense from them their offense has been a major disappointment blake snell has got an era below three 132 strikeouts we know what josh hater is capable of i mean they've gone out and they have stockpiled pieces so you could certainly call it a flop or a disappointment even though as machado points out there's still plenty of room to improve and plenty of real estate left in the season and that's likely feel the same exact way believe it or not the records aren't that different padres are 43 and 47 metts are 42 and 48 are these the two biggest disappointments of the first half we'll get to the yankees here in a second but theirs has got to have a lot to do with erin judge being and then there is the disappointment erin judge being on the il for an extended period of time but when you talk about the metts theirs is the opposite it's more about the pitching and i know the edwin diaz injury at the world baseball classic was i mean that was brutal and he's not the only guy who's been injured justin verlander spent time on the il max sherzer's been suspended but also not as good as advertised he finishes up his first half he could pitch the day before the all-star break because he's not going to the all-star game five runs on six hits and he is eight and three but i just need to pitch better um you know i i got it i got to pitch better there's no other option here uh i don't think it's necessary reinvent the wheel is just execute better and be more consistent when you do that that's when you can chew through the lineups and right now i'm just not consistent it's so you know with like this one magic key there is none you know you gotta have all you gotta have different things clicking like i said before today when something's not working well something else picks it up that's what it's like justin was talking the other day the really good teams and championship teams said we had flaws so we had a lot of flaws everyone there's no perfect team or perfect player and uh it's that's why it's the epitome of a team game you know so you know the key is uh you know when something's not the way it uh can be that some other face picks it up that if you want to look for one key there's about 100 certainly that is the case there's no such thing as a perfect team and no team starts out the year ready to win a championship that would be on paper anyway and it doesn't matter until you actually get out there and start playing and then injuries definitely play a factor what the other teams around you were doing that also plays a factor but the Padres and Mets had much higher expectations both below 500 roughly four to five games or i guess it's four to six games the Dodgers have now taken over first place in the NL West again because the Diamondbacks are backpedaling and i'm not laughing at Arizona i'm laughing because it sounds funny the Diamondbacks are backpedaling the Dodgers are two hundredths of a percentage point ahead of the Diamondbacks they have one four in a row seven of their last ten we'll see whether or not the Dodgers can flex their muscles in the second half second half but the big bads that are the Dodgers and the Yankees have certainly spent a good portion of the first half scuffling the Yankees actually fired their hitting coach Dylan Lawson on Sunday before the break i felt like this was necessary you know our offense has struggled mightily more so than i can recall um you know the the team that we have i know we in fairness to Dylan we have had some injuries without a doubt but uh but collectively we really have struggled and and i feel like we're best served um kind of changing things up a little bit as we move into the second half here so right now the Yankees are sitting on a 231 batting average Aaron Judge could definitely boost that but and then 18th in run scored near the bottom of major league baseball in on base percentage it's not just the Yankees hitting but there's certainly a lot a lot of question marks about the lineup that they put out there day in and day out and so Brian Cashman says we're just going based on pure numbers it's not the standings it's it's it's the offense so um you know so ultimately i just believe that uh i just think our players are going to potentially you know if we if we can select the right person we'll benefit from a change um as simple as that Dylan Lawson becomes a bit of a fall guy and yes i do agree that a pitching coach or a hitting coach can make a major impact especially if someone who's played before and has great insight not having Aaron Judge puts a damper on all of your numbers all of your numbers and it's certainly a huge disappointment that the reigning American League MVP who had such an incredible 2000 or sorry 2022 but also the finish and all the excitement over the American League home run record and him being healthy and then getting that massive contract turning down the offer from the Giants to stay with the Yankees want want wall midway through our first show of the week it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio