It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in locked in all over North America. Thank you to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey in New York City. We got two more hours to go in the show.
I get started every weekday 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific. Hey, we're in the midst of the start of the Sweet Sixteen. And at this second, Alabama is leading BYU 48 to 38. Meanwhile, we got them Gators. We got the Maryland Crabs.
And right now, Florida is leading Maryland 18 to 9. We'll keep you up to date on all the games as things continue on. We got two more games after this one. Later tonight, we got Arkansas versus Texas Tech. They'll get going in a little bit more than two hours. And then in about an hour and a half, we'll have Arizona and Duke. Yes, Cooper Flag Watch and make sure you tune in. So thank you so much to John Crispin, college basketball analyst for Westwood One for coming through and joining us.
And then how about this? Baseball started today as well. Opening day all over North America. We're going to have Brett Boone, three time All Star, Seattle Mariners legend.
He's going to come through and join us in about 20 minutes. And so we've been able to talk about a lot. Opening day in baseball, the Dodgers, all they do is win and win and win and win some more. They unveiled their championship banner.
Good for them. I think they may have some more on the way. Hey, we talked about Stephen A. Smith. This guy can't get enough of himself.
What else is new this time? Just going after LeBron. Oh, LeBron is such a bad guy. He didn't even go to Kobe's funeral. His memorial service. Oh, I'm sorry.
He was there. I'm sorry. That's what Stephen A. Smith said.
Like, this is how low things have gotten. LeBron James is such a terrible ass human being. He didn't go to Kobe's memorial. Oh, I'm sorry. He did. My apologies.
This is just bad all over the place. Speaking of the Dodgers, they are in action right now. The Dodgers lead the Tigers one to nothing. This is the debut of Blake Snell.
A school bull, Tarek Scubel, who won the American League Cy Young is on the bump for the Detroit Tigers. We'll keep you up to date on all the games as well as the Sweet 16 matchups as the show continues on. If you want to be a part of the show, you can. The phone number is 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. I told you we got Brett Boone coming your way in about 20 minutes. We'll have that conversation with him.
I'll get to the phone lines in a second. But I did want to bring this up because this was a point mentioned by John Crispin. And I think it also ties in very well for what we just discussed when it comes down to Stephen A. Smith and him talking and chatting it up. And this is just people just there's a lot of talking right now, right? A lot of commotion.
Less emphasis on action and more gossip and more drama. And Crispin brought up the fact that when you when you take a look at college basketball right now, there's so much talk about like Kevin Willard. Is he going to stick around with Maryland tonight?
Very well might be his last game. Coaching these Maryland Terrapins because he might just go to Villanova. There's so much talk about players who are just jumping in and out of the transfer portal.
The players are just hired guns. And maybe that's one of the reasons that we got a guy like Danny Hurley, who's just he's realizing how difficult it is to keep a squad together. And we'll hear from Danny Hurley in a second. Speaking of Kevin Willard, the man coaching right now, Florida leads Maryland 20 to 16 against that Crab 5. Kevin Willard has been very vocal over the past several weeks and it goes back even further. About Maryland, not not willing to spend NIL money or devote resources to keeping in players. Now, what a world we live in. I couldn't imagine such a conversation about five years ago, let alone 10.
There's no conversation to be had. Well, Kevin Willard has been unhappy that the athletic director didn't try to help find money. The AD ended up leaving to go to SMU. Now he's coaching. He's thinking about, you know, how he's going to pay players for next year.
And so Kevin Willard has been on a run. A matter of fact, just last week, he talked about Maryland Athletics. And let's just say for a guy who coached his team to the Sweet 16, he didn't sound so happy with the program. Obviously, it's difficult right now because I think we know his situation.
He's probably going to SMU. So it's kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that's maybe not here. But I need to make fundamental changes to the program. That's what I'm focused on right now. That's why probably a deal hasn't got done because I want to see, I need to see fundamental changes done. First and foremost, I need to make sure that where we are with NIL and RevShare is not where we've been with NIL in the past two years.
We've been one of the worst, if not lowest, NIL in the last two years. I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team. And I was told that we can't do that because it's too expensive. So I don't know how we can be a top tier program and I can't spend one extra night in New York because it's too expensive. So there's there's fundamental things I'm fighting for for my team and my program. It's not so much about me. Oh, boy. It's not about you.
It's for your program. And this is he's coaching his team right now. That was the last week. We all saw the amazing shot this past Sunday.
Derek Queen against Colorado State to advance. That was last week. I mean, not keeping you hostage. I mean, damn it.
You go walk away and leave to you. Not so happy. And so just yesterday he was asked about this. Kevin Willard was asked. About whether or not he's going to stay. Is he dealing with this process? And he didn't want to answer any of it. This time, he just wanted to focus in on the Florida Gators.
Why have you felt like kind of bringing this discussion in the open has been the best way to advocate for your program? Well, I mean, I'll be honest. I think our biggest thing is we got to stop Clayton. He's really good. He shoots the basketball going left. Forty eight percent.
He shoots it right going at like thirty eight percent. So really the last couple of days trying to come up with a game plan to stop, you know, Clayton, because I just think he's one of the best guards in the country that we've seen. Wow. Wow. This is like asking, hey, what do you want for dinner?
And somebody telling you about, I don't know, their favorite car, like totally irrelevant. This guy's gone. He's been linked to the job at Villanova. We know Villanova has been a well since Jay Wright left and Kyle Neptune took over. They've they've sucked. Not too easy when you got a guy who won two national championship and championships was basically a national icon.
This is. He might as well just lose tonight and get it over with. OK, it's been nice looking at Derek Queen.
We'll see him go on to the NBA and people are calling him anywhere between Zach Randolph and baby Jokic. This will all be over soon. And in Maryland, we'll have to figure it out because it ain't easy trying to win at the top.
Not at all. I mean, look, they're in a close game right now against Florida. Maybe this is somehow a rallying cry to bring them closer together. They have made their sweet 16 since I think it was, what, 02. It's been a long time for Maryland. So they're at a place that they haven't been in a while. And then worst case, OK, doesn't work out. Things break up after the year, but I think at least for the next 30 minutes.
Oh, boy. If you're a Maryland fan, you can enjoy this and then maybe go into it. Why do I want to be invested in something if I'm a Maryland Terrapins fan? And sure, you got the die hards and people who understand how the system works nowadays. But if I'm rooting for the Terrapins, how am I supposed to be really invested into something if you're not invested? Right. Like if you can't sell me on the program and why should root for you and you don't even want to be here and you're complaining. Then leave. Beat it. Simple as that. No crab five. Hickey, I hope they lose today. OK, I'm just saying I like crab five in a crab dip, crab dip, crab cakes.
Just mash them up real good and sell them. OK. Don't need any of that. It's not easy winning. And I told you, somebody who is who learned that and maybe he has been humbled, I'm not so sure. It's Danny Hurley. Yeah, the guy who just decided to complain as he just lost to Florida 77 to 75. He's walking off of the court. He's saying how the referees, you know, kind of robbed him.
That went viral. Him and the SID, SID got in trouble for threatening the guy who recorded it. And so Danny Hurley is going through so many spats this year, yelling at referees, telling everybody he's the best and the greatest coach.
I'm sure the Los Angeles Lakers offering him a job that kind of went straight to his head. And so it's hilarious because Danny Hurley actually spoke and he said that he's learned his lesson and that he thinks moving forward that he's going to change his behavior. Listen to this. There are mistakes. There are things I wish I didn't do. It's part of what you get with me. It's I hope to not do it again. I'm going to look to attempt to take measures both internally, mentally and externally. Not a security team, but, you know, just being able to get me. I wouldn't change one aspect of how I coach a game or or how hard we fight. You know what?
I like to be able to get on and off the court without incident. But do it. Yeah.
The answer is yes. So then just do it. Stop bagging like a baby. A grown ass man complaining all the time. Now, you're going to do all this complaining when you lose, when you don't have as good of a roster. Hopefully, Dan Hurley's been brought back down to earth because he was unbearable. I mean, we don't need any more Dan Hurley's and Kevin Willers. Just just go coach the team. Stop complaining and whining all the time.
I mean, if we got the coaches whining and complaining, what should we expect from the players? Come on now. 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN. Let's go ahead and hit the phone lines. Justin is here from Arkansas. Justin, you're on the general sport brief show. Hey, good evening, Jr. How you doing?
I'm very well. What's up? Hey, man, just wanted to touch base with you on Arkansas. Obviously, kind of a rough start to the season. We lose a couple of key guys. I've always been had the idea that, you know, a lot of those news and sports media outlets don't give Arkansas a lot of credit. Especially when it comes to football, because we're terrible.
But basketball and baseball are different stories. So I kind of want to get your idea about the game tonight and then see what you think. Having Boogie and Ado Thiro back, how we're going to move forward. And your idea of Coach Cal taking Arkansas to where he was with having no roster when he came, except for one guy. And who's the one guy? You talking about Boogie Flan deciding to join him instead of going to Kentucky?
Well, no. So Trevin Brazil was the only guy that came back from the roster when Musk left. So he was down to, you know, one guy and then, you know, number 13 ever played. Yeah. So when he came in, he completely rebuilt that roster.
And, you know, now we're in the 2016. Right. And I know Boogie, I mentioned Boogie Flan. I thought you were talking about someone who came in with him. I know Boogie wasn't initially supposed to be at Arkansas. He's supposed to be with him up in Kentucky. I'm familiar with Boogie Flan a little bit more because he's he's from New York, where I grew up in the Bronx.
And then meanwhile, on the other end, and this is this is a tough one. I don't know Boogie Flan from a hole in the wall. He just is from my neighborhood. But then on the other side, on Texas Tech, I've watched one of the young men grow up for the past 10 years here in Georgia. And that guy's name is Christian Anderson. Christian Anderson, his dad played overseas. His dad played here domestically. And I remember watching this kid like at my kneecaps, like out here shooting three pointers and shooting shots.
And now he's six foot two going out there getting it done. Look, you know more about Arkansas basketball than I do. I've watched their last couple of games when they knocked off Kansas. I watched them go out there most recently. And I saw what they did against St. John's. I know the name of the game is coaching. And Coach Cal got a lot of coaching experience, especially in this space. You know what we can expect from Grant McCaslin at this point?
I have no idea. I saw Texas Tech. I saw what they did in the first round.
I saw what they did against Drake. But you would have a better idea about what Arkansas can do than me. I just know Coach Cal has just as much experience in this tournament than anybody outside of Coach Izzo at this point. Are you feeling confident about Arkansas? Man, if you would have asked me that about three weeks ago, I would have told you no.
But obviously, you know, die hard, hog fan, grew up in Arkansas. I just I don't want them throwing boogie and zero back into the groove now that, you know, they've been out for so long. And they've kind of developed, you know, a D.J. running the point.
They've developed a little swag that they've gotten. They're moving the ball around. The key is going to be offensive defensive rebounding. I mean, and if we can if we can drive the paint, I think, you know, it'll it'll go in our favor. But, you know, historically, we like to we like to run fast and then throw up crazy, crazy shots, three pointers. And, you know, from what I've seen, Arkansas is throwing out a lot of guards.
And sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad if you're getting beat out there on the boards. Let's see what happens, Justin. I got a little bit of an investment on both sides.
I am rooting for my guy, Christian Anderson on Texas Tech. Hey, call me back tomorrow, Justin, OK? All right, man, I appreciate you taking my call.
No doubt. Justin calling up from Arkansas. Hey, we got that game.
That's the late game. I'll be gone by then. At least I'll be able to sit down and watch it without having to sit in this studio. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk some baseball. We're going to have a chat with someone who's been a multiple time All-Star in Major League Baseball. He is a Seattle Mariners legend. It's time to have a chat with Brett Boone.
Why? Because it's Major League Baseball opening day. You're locked into the JR Sport Reshow coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You want to call me?
You can. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Waiting to get in touch with Brett Boone, get him on the line to talk about Major League Baseball opening day. Right now at halftime, before we went to break, we talked about Arkansas getting ready to take on Texas Tech. Right now, Alabama leads BYU 51-40 at the half.
Maryland and Florida are playing a close one, currently tied at 33-all. 888-710-4ISN. 888-710-4ISN. Let's go ahead and hit the phone lines.
Mac has been waiting patiently on the phone lines from Buffalo. Mac, you're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up? Good evening, JR, my friend. Thank you for putting me on.
I'm in the wild. I'm going to make it quicker than they get some people coming up. I'm going to spill a little tea about Maryland. As you may remember, I told you, you always act like you don't remember me when I call.
But as you remember, I did my graduate assistantship when I was in my PhD program within the sports department at Maryland. Hold on a second, Mac. We got Brett Boone who's joining us on the line. So I'm reluctantly going to put you on hold. Please stay tuned. And then we'll get back to you when we finish having this chat with Brett. I appreciate that, JR. I really do. You're so polite. I'll hold on and listen. Thank you.
As you should. Brett is amazing. Thank you, Mac, for calling from Buffalo. Mac is amazing, but she's not a three-time All-Star. She's an All-Star human being. She didn't play in Major League Baseball.
She's not a Mariners legend. That's Brett. Brett, how are you, man? What's happening? How you doing? I'm hanging in there. I got no complaints in the world. Today is like Christmas, huh?
We got we got Major League Baseball games all day. Here we are. You excited for the start of the season? Yeah, I am. I am.
You know, we had a long off season. I had to kind of start sharpening it up, find out what's going on. Yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready for today. For me as a player, I loved opening day just because of the festivities. And it kind of kind of launches like, all right, it's go time. But it was really getting past the first day and all the pageantry and and, you know, coming in from right field, lining up on the line at the smoke. And I always felt like you just survived day one. Try not to embarrass yourself.
Try to get a win. I think day two is really what I see. Well, Brett, before we get into the pageantry of the Dodgers, who are currently in action right now on their way to defending their championship. And am I wrong? Spring training is it does it not get boring after about a month, especially a batter? Aren't you kind of like this is a waste of my time?
I'm good. Well, I'll tell you, when you're young and hungry, you love it and you want to be out there and you just want to be playing games as you get into your career. And you establish yourself. It's a way to get ready for the season. And yes, some years you're in spring training and it's long pitchers usually need a little longer than us to get their arms to where they want them to be for opening day. But a lot of times as a hitter, after about three weeks, I was ready to go. And it seems like that last 10 days of spring just drag, you know, that that clock is free.
It seems like you're never going to get there. So, yeah, it does drag on. It's a little longer. But you think about it, if you if you ask position players, they say we short spring training by two weeks.
But I think Florida and Arizona and their economies, what they what they've planned over years and years would like that. So it's part of the deal. It's it's always been that way. It's always been a six week thing. So you just kind of pace yourself.
The guys today with all the with all the data and all what exactly you need. The guys on the field really run it well and really pace the players to get them to right where they need to be. There's a lot of communication. So for me, if it was that last two or three games before we break camp, and I want to be in that zone where not necessarily. Yeah, we always want to get hit.
We always want to be feeling great. But as long as I was on time and I could tell I was on time by the bat, I might fly out that at bat, but I could come back and I have that smile on my face like, all right, I'm there. My time is there. Let's start the season right now.
You know, sometimes it was there early in camp for me the first week and sometimes as I got a little bit older, it seemed like it didn't quite click until I got to the very end of camp. But yeah, we're through all that now and ready to rock and roll. So day one, just about the books, I think Dodgers are playing. And then I think the nightcap, you got the Mariners playing the A's and then we'll we'll turn to my day. Day two.
Absolutely. We got Brett Boone joining us here on the show, our sport re-show coast to coast. Detroit is currently up on the Dodgers right now, two to one to start the game, to start the festivities off. The Dodgers obviously raising their World Series banner from last year.
Should we have just raised another banner for this year as well? How are you feeling about the Dodgers, all this this new talent that they brought in that they didn't need necessarily? Well, I mean, it's it's kind of it's kind of putting it in everybody's face a little bit. What they what they have not only the year they had a year ago, they end up winning a World Series, but they just added to it.
I mean, this is. I am usually very at this time of the year, I kind of look I'm very open minded. You always see a lot of surprise teams come out of nowhere and teams that really, you know, shine that you didn't expect to shine. Yeah, the main players at the beginning of this season, the main teams, you can have an idea who's going to be good and who's not going to be very good.
But there's always those surprises this year. I look at some really good teams. You know, I look at that that NLE and it's going to be a battle over there with with the Atlanta Braves and the Mets have revamped and the Phillies who have been a great team on the cusp for the last few years. I look at those battles and there's a lot of good teams around baseball.
But. Look at that dodge ball club and look at the talent level on paper. I don't know if in my time on this planet I've ever seen a more talented roster than the 26 guys that the Dodgers have on their roster this year. And in the day and time in 2025 where we're being healthy is a premium.
It seems like I drop like flies these days. Everybody gets hurt all the time. So having that depth on a roster is really important. That's the problem for the rest of Major League Baseball is the depth that they get hurt. They might be bringing a guy up triplet this Dodger rotation.
It's ridiculous how talented they are. The starting five. And if they're not, you know, if somebody goes down, they can replace them with an all star.
And that's not even getting to the opposite side of the ball. You know, you had a Kirby Yates, who was one of the best relievers in all of baseball last year. You add him to that bullpen of Trenton and it just goes on and on. Who they add in that often with that green in and out. Tony and now Tony can come back and pitch.
They got the phenom's the stocky from Japan. He's going to, I think, pitch in the three or the four holes. Go with Yamamoto and you bring in a Blake Snell, who is a Cy Young candidate every year. And that's not even mentioning glass now.
And it starts on the I.L. You got May and then Clayton Kershaw signed back. One of the greatest left handers in the history of the game. He's getting a little bit older now. He's 37 years old. But if all these guys are healthy, anytime you can say Clayton Kershaw is our seventh or eighth starter.
Oh, you're pretty talented. So, yeah, it's going to be tough. I don't see anybody being able to beat this team. They're just too good. They're too deep.
Three time All-Star Mariners legend Brett Boone here with us on the J.R. sport re-show, the Infinity Sports Network. You talk about injuries and that's my thought process. I don't think anything can stop the Dodgers, but injuries.
But then they're so deep. There's some other teams, specifically the Braves. They've had to deal with so many injuries. You go further north to New York in the Bronx. Giancarlo Stanton.
Is this always something hurt? You mentioned that there's so many baseball players. They drop like flies. Why do you think that it feels like there are more durability issues today now versus when you or your dad or your family played? It's just different. It's different.
And it's not. I think it's the culture. It's the way these players are brought up. It's the way they're monitored.
It's the way they're they're tracked. I mean, you go into a training room right now and complain of a sore shoulder. It's a test right now. And it's oh, and we've got data to back this up that you need to go on the I.L. for 10 days.
In my day, it was kind of like especially when you're an established guy that that that had some clout. I keep going to the trainer to list. My hamstring is killing. You know, I need give me a shot of this or give me one of those.
I'm playing. And you had that before with your trainer. And if you were a veteran guy that that had earned his stripes, you had that you had that kind of the trainer would trust you. And a wink and a smile like, are you sure?
Yes, I'm good. And you develop that rapport over time where he trusts the fact that you going out there is going to be better than the alternative. Right.
And you will tell him when it's bad beyond bad. That's not the way it is anymore. You come in with it with a with an injury and it's just shut you down.
We've got to get you back to 100 percent. And that's just been the way the game. I understand with the economics of the game changing over the years.
And obviously the game is thriving as far as salaries and how much money these guys are making. Maybe it comes from an owner's perspective. He wants data. He wants his investment to be 100 percent when they take the field. He doesn't want to risk long term injury to these guys that he's got.
Maybe in some cases, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred million dollar investment. So I can see that I can see that logic coming from the owners. But as a player, as a guy that, you know, I was pretty lucky. I stayed pretty injury free my entire career. I think I went on the deal twice in my career. Man, I guess I see a guy, you know, take one off, get hit by a pitch and automatically in my mind I go, well, he'll be out.
It's where rub some dirt. No, we're playing not only this game, but we're never going to miss the beat. So I miss those times of the guys just kind of fighting through. You got to know the difference between being hurt and being injured. There is a difference when you're hurt. It's not good for anybody.
You're not doing anybody any good. But if you've got a little bit of an injury, a lot of times, a section spare player especially kind of has the wherewithal to know, hey, I'm better than the alternative and I can get through this. But today's it seems like if we see anything, we're going to shut you down. And I don't from the era I came from, I hate to see that because I want to see that the big boys out there all the time. And today it's just that they got they got some quick hooks out there. They get them off the field.
They certainly do. Well, Brett, I want to ask you about your brother Aaron. We saw him go to the World Series leading the Yankees there last year, losing to these stack Dodgers. And we saw a big part of that team, Juan Soto.
You talk about money. This guy left the New York Yankees for the Mets for seven hundred sixty five million dollars, something that you would have never imagined. There's a lot there's a lot that's been said about the Yankees culture and how he was treated. Now the Yankees allow beards. And what do you think about that, that that power structure between the Yankees and the Mets now with Cohen in charge? Well, I think Cohen's kind of, you know, Cohen, I've got to give Cohen credit. I mean, he came onto the scene and said, this is my plan.
This is what I'm going to do. And he's doing it. He doesn't care about how much a player costs. I think everybody was surprised when Soto got the number he got. We can kind of explain it and kind of accept it when Otani got it, because he's essentially two players. And you get that two MVP players, an MVP type Cy Young type candidate as a pitcher.
And obviously with the MVPs, he's already won as a hitter. So you expect that. I don't think, you know, I was expecting this off. He's oh, he's probably going to break Trout's record, you know, four in a million.
All of a sudden you broke. You went, you surpassed Otani. It just shows you that Cohen, hey, he wanted his guy. He went out.
He got him. Soto played it perfect. I'm sure he had an unbelievable year for the Yankees. Big part of that got to the World Series. And then he basically said, I love New York. I love playing for the Yankees. I love the fans. But I've earned this right as a free agent. To sit down with 30 teams and decide what's best for me and my family ended up working out great for him.
You know, and I think in the long run for teams that have to operate on a budget, I think it was better for the game. Now, if you'd asked me about the Yankees six weeks ago, they were in great shape. But all of a sudden, Cole goes down. We don't know what's going to happen with Jean-Carlos Stanton, who was a huge part of that postseason run. And really, you need him to be a presence in that lineup. But Mayhew got hurt. Matt picked in their bullpen. Schmidt goes down. He's going to miss some time. He'll come back mid-April. Hamilton out in the bullpen. And the Rookie of the Year a year ago, which was a heel. A big part of that rotation.
They're down. You know, you hear six weeks ago, I'm sure you saw the soundbite of Marcus Stroman saying, I'm a starter. I'm a starter. At the time, he was the sixth starter. Now he's the third starter. So that's not really good for the Yankees that they've lost three of their guys. That being said, you've added a Goldschmidt, who was an MVP three or four years ago.
He's 37. But I think he's a good addition and a good guy to be in that clubhouse. You get a Cody Bellinger. Hopefully, you're getting a Cody Bellinger of his MVP here as Comeback Player of the Year.
A year and not that Cody Bellinger that kind of wallowed in L.A. his last few years. And yet, he added a Max Free from the Atlanta Braves, who's a huge boost to that starting rotation. I think Rodon went out today. He started open today. He did a great job. Max Free goes tomorrow.
That's pretty darn good right there. And you've got Devin Williams now closing game. Holmes went over to the Mets. Started for the Mets today. Now you're going to have Williams finishing games with Weaver kind of going into that eighth inning spot. So bullpen-wise, you've got a LeWise guy. He's going to be coming back bullpen-wise. They're going to be good. But early on in the season, you're going to have to look for some real contributions from the Jazz Chisms of the world. From the Cody Bellingers of the world.
From the Goldschmidts. They're really going to have to pick up the slack for the lack of Giancarlo Stanton in the middle of that lineup. Now, they're capable of doing it, but time will tell if they really step in and do that. I think until these guys get back, you get the heel back and you get that bullpen back. I think you kind of just got to play good baseball.
Not let yourself get out of it and then get healthy. And who knows what you add on your way to the playoffs as far as another arm for that starting rotation. But they should be pretty solid.
I think it's going to be a tough division. I think the Orioles didn't get any better. They're a really good team. Won 91 games a year ago. But you lost Corbin Burns, the horse on that staff.
So, I don't see how you're better. Toronto's a little better, but they've been trying with that group of players for a long time. The team I'm looking at in the ALEs that really, very quietly got a lot better was the Boston Red Sox. They got Crochet, the Chicago White Sox. You bring in a Walker Bueller for the Dodgers.
And if he's a Walker Bueller of three years ago, he's a horse. He had a really good stretch in the postseason last year. And you bring in Bregman, who I think with his skill set, any other park, any other team that Bregman would have signed with. I'd say you got a nice player. But in Fenway Park with his offensive skill set, I think Bregman has the potential in Fenway Park to be an MVP. So, I think that's a huge get for them.
Crochet and Bueller at the top of that rotation. You got a G Alito coming back. He's on the IL now. But they're setting up to be a really good team. Chapman's there at the end. Liam Hendrix, who starts on the IL.
But he's had some great years as a closer. It's going to be interesting to watch. I think the ALEs is going to be a real fun division. And I think if you're going to see the Orioles, Boston, and the Yankees, it's battling all day. Well, let me ask you this.
I could not have you here, Brett. This is my final question to you without asking you about those Mariners. We saw Cal Riley just get that big old contract. We see the pitching depth that the Mariners have. But there's certainly been a lot of conversations about whether or not the organization has been spending to actually be competitive, knowing the pitching that they have. What do you expect from the Mariners? And do they need to kind of shell out a little bit more to get over the hump? Absolutely.
I mean, for me, that's kind of my place. I'm kind of known as a Seattle Mariner. And I hate to see them not go to the postseason year after year. I look at this pitching staff with Gilbert and Miller and Kirby and Castillo and Wu. Take the Dodgers out of the equation. Seattle Mariners have the best starting rotation in all of baseball. They had the best starting rotation statistically in the American League last year and didn't make it to the postseason. If you had told me they'd pitch better than anybody else, you're automatically going to the postseason.
But they didn't. It's probably one of the worst offenses. Julio Rodriguez had a down year. I expect him to be better.
We'll always become a really good player. And he's going to hit 30-plus home runs, but it's what he does behind the plate. He's a rock. Catch throw is really good.
And really, he just has a way about him. He's kind of that rock in the middle of that clubhouse. Crawford's got to have a better year. The Rosarinas had a lot of success, a lot of post-season success for Tampa Bay.
They had a down year last year. It's going to be interesting to see how Robles, the kid that came over from Washington, he had a really good tenure with the Mariners. He looked really promising.
We're going to see if that's for real when we do it for 160 games. The bullpen's really good. He's got a brash that they missed all last year. He compliments Munoz at the end of that bullpen.
He's going to be back in about two weeks. That's huge for them. But you're right. They're no better on offense than they were a year ago. If I'm not mistaken, they were at least 13th, 14th, or 15th in the league. I was very disappointed they didn't go out and make a splash.
It puts a lot on Julio's shoulders. I think it's going to be a similar year to a year ago. But if they pitch in the top five and their bullpen's in the top five like they were a year ago, I see them making the post-season. But yeah, I'm disappointed that they didn't really go out and add and take advantage of a once-in-a-generational-type starting rotation. Really add and bolt that offense and go for it and try to really win a World Series. But I can't control it.
I'm not writing the check. You're going to have to go with what they've got right now. But that's going to be a battle too. You've got Houston's had a death grip on that division for a long time. And Texas is back kind of the Texas they were in 23 when they won the World Series.
Offensively, that team healthy is as good as anybody. And always the big question is Jason DeGrom going to be able to stay healthy? If he can stay healthy, he's the best pitcher in baseball. But he hasn't been able to do that consistently over the last five years. Yeah, that man is a beast.
Point nothing ERA when he's actually healthy enough to be out there. Hey, Brett, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you unless you pick up the bat and help out the Mariners? Check out the Brett Boone podcast and what they tell me always is, hey, make sure you like it, subscribe. You can find it anywhere you download podcasts. I think we've got our own YouTube channel. They just started putting them out there. We put them out a couple times a week. And then Twitter, I don't know.
It's Brett Boone 29, I think. Instagram, I'm on all of them. I'm learning. I'm learning my way. My kids are helping me with the social media side of things. But yeah, podcast is what's most important to me.
Check that out. I think you'll like it. A lot of great guests and a lot of good baseball intel. And thanks for having me on today. Of course, Brett. We'll catch you on down the line when the Dodgers are like 100 and 0, OK? You got it.
Call me anytime. No doubt about it. That Brett Boone Mariners legend, three time All-Star. Yeah, the Dodgers. How can you look at the Dodgers?
And they're just they're winning right now. A matter of fact, to get an update on this and everything else going on in the world of sports in a sweet 16. You are listening to the J.R. sport brief.
It is the J.R. sport re-show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Brett Boone, a Seattle Mariners legend, a three time All-Star for joining us in the last break. He feels the Dodgers shocked to nobody. The Dodgers on their way to another World Series unless there's some type of injury. And then he said he's also disappointed in the Seattle Mariners for not spending more money to be competitive, given where they're starting rotation is.
It's like they got all the arms in the world, but then they they don't have the bats. And when you think about who's spending and who's not, this is absolutely crazy in a general sense right now in Major League Baseball. I mean, we got a team like the Dodgers, like their payroll is almost 400 million dollars.
The Mariners payroll or excuse me, the Marlins payroll is 83. Like where in the hell is any of this competitive, but by any any stretch of the imagination, it's. It's not fair. What are you going to do, though? It's nothing.
You don't do anything. The teams at the bottom just suffer and so do their fans. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN.
That's eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. Alabama leading BYU, 67 to 58 right now by the Gators. In Maryland, they're coming out of halftime.
Florida leads 40 to 38. Let's quickly get some Mac and Buffalo. You're on the chair of sport. We show. Got to go fast, Mac. Oh, gosh.
Oh, you want me to go fast? I'm going to. I worked at them. You know, I worked at University of Maryland College Park.
I did my my my my internship there, my Ph.D. program. And Maryland has always had a problem with transparency, everything. Saloon bias issue. And the second issue is that their coach up until Gary Williams made more money than the president. He always did.
I think when he left, it was one point two million or something like that was what he was making. And my point to go fast, kind of go fast as I can, is that the coach needs to concentrate on the game, coaching the game so that and I have a good feeling about them for this game, but it's going to be really tight. And the coach needs to concentrate on the game and put that other emotional stuff to the side that these other people ask about.
Because ever since they went to the Big Ten, it's been about money for them. I mean, an ACF, it's been about money and I got comments, but I'll say that until tomorrow or some other time because you want me to go quick. Well, it's not that it's not that I it's not that I wanted you to go quick. You needed to go quick and you did a good job because we're up against it. And if I didn't tell you to go quick, you would have been cut off, not by me, but by the computer. Yeah, I know you don't like to cut off. You don't like to cut off Mac and I don't want to obey the rules.
I need I need to stop you now because now you're going to get cut off. Thank you, Mac. Bye.
Thank you so much. I think she got it. Thank you, Mac.
See, there's the music. There's nothing left to say now. And by the way, Maryland is playing it close right now.
Florida leads them 45 to 40. She was referring to Coach Willard, who basically has one foot out the door on his way to Villanova. If he loses tonight, he could quit. OK, you'd be done. It's the JR sport. We show the Infinity Sports Network. We'll be back on the other side. Don't move.
