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See how far our fries can take your business at Shercrisp.com/slash delivery. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're now a few days past the Major League Baseball trade deadline. And so, of course, there's some overreactions as to what some teams have done now that they've made some moves. No bigger reactions, as most times, than the New York Yankees.
We have some other teams that are looking to break through and maybe win a World Series later on in a few months. Joining us right now to talk all things Major League Baseball is someone who covers the league for USA Today. Joining us right now is Gabe Lacks. Gabe, thank you for taking the time. I'm Dave.
Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me. No doubt about it. Of course, with the New York Yankees hitting the trade deadline and then losing three games, getting swept by those Marlins. There's some overreactions going on.
What are your thoughts on the New York Yankees? Their defense, their manager, their future? Not looking good right now. Yeah, it's not particularly well put together team just with regard to the fundamentals and stuff like that. I mean, you saw a lot of it in the World Series last year, and it's carried over a lot into into this year with Not having a real third baseman until they traded for Ryan McMahon a couple of weeks ago.
Anthony Bolby, kind of erratic in his play at shortstop. Uh you know it's just uh I don't know if it's an organizational thing in terms of fundamentals at all levels, but yeah, it really makes you kind of wonder what. What exactly is going on foundationally there? I'm a tepid Boone supporter. I mean, I think he.
He plays the players that he's given. He does what the free you know the front office wants in terms of matchups and who to play and all that kind of stuff and handles the media pretty well.
So you know, ultimately it it comes down to the you know the the players the front office provides. And a lot Has gone right with that this year with regard to you know guys like Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger playing pretty well, uh, but um. Really, kind of shorthanded starting pitching-wise. The loss of Garrett Cole was massive, and they really haven't spackled that, and along with a lot of the other. Lot of the other holes there.
So it's a flawed team. And so it's a. Little wonder they're struggling a bit, but certainly getting swept in Miami and the way they were swept was a little bit eye-opening.
Well, Gabe, we know that in New York on WFAN, it's going one of two ways. People want to fire Boone or they want to fire Cashman, who constructed the team. And Cashman is like the furniture at this point in time. He's a lifer in the organization. Is there any point in time?
Where there can be any expectation that he moves along or is moved. That would certainly enter or usher in a new era that. is pretty much going on twenty five to thirty years at this point. Right.
Now, furniture is not a bad way to put it. He's a.
So intrinsically tied into what the Yankees are doing, not just in the Bronx, but also in Tampa. And he kind of did a really good job centralizing the power because there used to be these factions within the organization.
Now the buck really stops with him. But it's uh that's a little bit tricky because Yeah yeah It's the devil you know. If you're not a big Cashman fan, you know, this is a guy who is a. You know, has never had a team below 500, even though there have been a few retoolings here and there, a couple of missed playoffs. You know, the machine has rumbled along pretty well.
And the draft and development apparatus is pretty good. They're always in it when it comes to trading players. Yeah, and of course, that's like three-fifths of the Yankees' whole purpose for minor leaguers and drafting. And they've additionally produced some everyday players, too.
So it still feels like the organization is healthy, but I think they could definitely stand to do a little bit of self-reflection just in terms of. why their play is so sloppy and why guys uh have not fully you know taken the the final step towards the you know being fully polished formed players. Gabe Lacks is joining us, covers all things baseball for USA Today's Sports. You want to talk about roster construction? We could look at Preller in San Diego and look at all the moves that he's made and bringing in Mason Miller and You know, getting rid of the entire future of the team at this point in time.
Are you confident that these moves are going to work out in San Diego for the Padres? I think they will. And the so much was made of the Mason Miller deal because it involved Leo DeVries, the number one number two, three prospect in the game. But a lot of the other things that happened that day, most notably the trade with the Orioles for Ryan O'Hearn and Ramon Laureano really deepens, improves the team. They're much better left-right matching up now, elite defensively in the outfield.
And it's You know, A.J. Preller is basically, you know, when the roadrunner goes off the cliff, right? And he's kind of scrambling and treading water and he's hanging in the air. And eventually the roadrunner falls to the ground.
Well, A.J. Preller manages to kind of stay elevated. You know, he manages to kind of defy gravity, which is the only way to really kind of imagine what he's done with just constantly burning prospect capital. And then, you know, drafting well too, you know, and getting decent guys out of Latin America. That's also how this becomes possible.
But, you know, it. After this year is going to be really interesting because this is kind of a significant window. This is the last year for. Michael King and Dylan Cease, who are basically the last vestiges of the Of trading Juan Soto away to the Yankees.
So it's interesting to see how aggressive they are backfilling that. In the winter, to try to do this again in 2026. But I think they're really well positioned, and I think they're going to give the Dodgers a pretty decent rundown stretch.
Well Gabe, we know that NL West is going to be tough. What are some other divisions that you think are in for a wild ride down the stretch now that we're after the trade deadline? Yeah, I mean, it's pretty crazy that the answer is pretty much all of them, you know, with maybe the exception of the. Of the AL Central. And I think the best races by far in the National League, give or take.
Kind of want to hone in on the Brewers and Cubs. Kind of back and forth with them all year. Right now, the Brewers have the best record in baseball. They just pounded out 56 hits in destroying the Nationals over the weekend. And it's a heck of a rivalry there when you talk about their old manager, Craig Counsel, now, you know.
Now, managing the Cubs and obviously the proximity and all the Cubs fans that. I invade uh And made uh Miller Park, or whatever it's called up there now, but interesting kind of scheduling. There's a rainout in here somewhere, but these teams hook up. For five games in a couple of weeks, five games at Wrigley Field from Monday the 18th through Thursday the 21st. And that's going to be really creative of how the division's going to go.
And I do believe that's the last time those teams meet this year. The schedule is very funky that way, very front-loaded with the with uh you know with with intra intra divisional matchups so it's kind of like you know say your piece now and then you got to go back to your your neutral corners and and see what you can do but uh you know i'm really looking forward to that in two weeks uh you know five games at wrigley uh bookended by day games at the front and back of that so i i that that to me is the the most compelling uh compelling race that's out there Oh, Gabe, you talk about the race. We just mentioned the New York Yankees. They're in action right now against the Rangers. They got a run-up against them.
Um, one on the board so far. What are your thoughts on the Rangers and what they've been able to do to help fortify that starting rotation? Dollar Shape Club is the real grooming MVP. Their six-blade razor gives you the closest, most comfortable shape. The four-blade features swift rinse tech for longer, thicker hair, and the handle has a no-slip 360-degree diamond pattern grip for comfort and control.
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To find a dentist near you committed to treating all of you, visit smilegeneration.com slash confidence today and live longer, healthier, and happier with confidence unleashed. Shouldn't bring me a Merrill Kelly. Yes, I'm very impressed with the way the Rangers played the last I guess basically the month of July leading up to the trade deadline. This has been the most maddening year In recent memory, when it comes to teams that are kind of, you know, under 500, three to five games under, they crawl up and get their head above water for a sec, then they go back under. But the Rangers, you know, they kind of kept pushing that boulder up the hill.
got on the right side and you know Chris on you. Aggressive in the base operations, and they still want to win. The 2023 championship is still fresh in their minds. They want to leverage that with their crowds, and they're still drawing pretty well at. At Globe Life Field.
So I'm impressed with the way they were able to You know, able to make sure there's no ambiguity. We're not selling and we're going to add a little bit. Kind of a tough series over the weekend. You get that nice trade boost, and then they end up losing a series to the Mariners. Two back of the Mariners, four and a half back of the Astros.
But man, that pitching, you know, you talk about, you know, talk about the hall of pretty good. You know, Nathan Ovaldi is probably a first ballot hall of pretty good. He's a, you know, he's such a valuable pitcher, you know, not a cy Young guy. uh but uh you know you combine that with jacob degrom you know being able to dominate uh not quite to met's levels he's not going seven eight innings he's more like going five six innings but uh yeah you take degrom and you take a valdi and then you add meryl kelly to the mix you know good luck matching up with that in a three-game series so A lot of on-ramp here for them to really leverage that acquisition and do some things.
So you're absolutely right. That's a team to watch, and it should be fun to see how that AOS shakes out.
Well, Gabe, you mention The weekend. We had baseball in Bristol, Tennessee. It took two days and a rain delay. For us to get the the the the Braves and the Reds to to finish up. Was this a disaster for Major League Baseball, all things considered?
The Field of Dreams was amazing, but this wasn't. As planned, there's a lot of horror stories coming out of this. Yeah, I mean, you can't predict ball, you can't predict the weather. And uh, Eastern Tennessee, East Tennessee, renowned for pop-up storms. Yeah, uh A lot of the stuff was out of their control.
I know there were horror stories about the concessions, you know, and the, you know, where does that. Drop pop-up land in between MLB and the food service provider and Bristol, the racetrack itself. But by all accounts, the folks at Bristol did a nice job kind of leveraging their knowledge of turning it into a good place to visit, a playable field. There's a few things I learned this weekend. I'd never heard the phrase, it's Bristol, baby.
But that's apparently a thing there. And I think that's the best way to kind of. Chalk up this experience, and again, it's kind of a gap in Major League Baseball's map, if you will. You know, pretty wise to match the Reds and the Braves, one looking north, one looking south. The concept of maybe expanding to Nashville someday was a really good idea.
Place looked pretty sweet, but it wasn't entirely aesthetically pleasing, just with kind of that. That dead area where the track comes around, you know, but also pretty cool. You know, you're hitting a home run onto that thing.
So, not a disaster, a worthy try, a definite bummer that, you know, that the rain came and you feel bad for the fans who were among the 91,000 that bought tickets and couldn't stick around for the rain days.
So, definitely understand the disappointment.
So where's the next vanity game? We got one coming up at uh like Area 51 or something like that. That's a really good question. You know, they expanded to London. They weren't able to get into Paris.
I don't know if that's still. You know, a you know, a concept still on their, you know, on their dance card. I guess a Navy fighter ship wouldn't be big enough like the hoops a few years back. But, you know, there's a lot of unconquered territory out there. You know, I don't know if they'd ever consider.
You know, um The non-continental 48, you know, Hawaii, Alaska, somewhere in there. You know, Alaska's got a great tradition as a. With the summer baseball league, the Wood Bat League for the college kids. That would be kind of interesting. Play it at.
10 o'clock at night, and when it's still light out, that might be kind of fun. But you're right, they've mined a lot of it, and they certainly, you know, these games get a pretty nice attention pop.
So I don't think we're going to be seeing the vanity games going away anytime soon, and especially as they workshop toward eventual. expansion sometime, you know, around the the start of the next decade. We'll see. We know they got to get through this CBA first, and we'll see what that looks like.
Well, Gabe, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can follow your work with USA Today. Yeah, absolutely. MLB.usatoday.com, Twitter at Gabe Lacks. And yeah, we're on that internet.
So it's all out there. And it's bringing to the season, just a couple months left.
So we'll see what we can gin up and then head to the playoffs for sure. We'll see. We're going to blink and we'll be staring right at the playoffs. I'm trying not to rush it. Yes, sir.
Thank you, Gabe. We'll catch you on down the line, okay? I appreciate it, JR. Take care, man. Dollar Shape Club is the real grooming MVP.
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For a healthier you. Smile generation. Trust a dentist. Look at your care through the lens of the mouth-body connection because what happens in the mouth plays a critical role for the rest of your body. To find a dentist near you committed to treating all of you, visit smilegeneration.com slash confidence today and live longer, healthier, and happier with confidence unleashed.
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