REShow: Joe Sheehan - Hour 2

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Call a Dell Technologies Advisor at 877-ASK-DEL. That's 877-ASK-DEL offered to business customers by Web Bank who determines qualifications for and terms of credit. Taste some of this. This OMG is the Rich Eisen Show. No other way to put it. With guest host Brian Weber.

Oh my gosh. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'm not talking to you. I talk to anybody out there. Haters. Rich Eisen. I talk to the haters right now. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. And it's another hour of the program. Great to have you with us coast to coast. 844-204-7424 is the number to call. My Twitter handle is BWWeber, Weber with two B's.

I've lost the blue check mark. Probably shouldn't say that because it destroys the authority that you think a man who has been shouting at you for the better part of an hour should carry with him. A lot to get to here in the second hour of the program. Need to turn my attention once we get past more LeBron talk to start this hour of the show. To the game coming up tonight in Miami. Could be the possibility for the first time in the current format since the NBA in the early 70's went to the conference set up with division standings. We've never seen sweeps in both the East and the West should happen tonight unless the Celtics show a little bit of pride at last. Miami has been the embodiment and reflection of a team concept every step of the way with just enough playoff Jimmy to get them where they're headed to the NBA Finals as they were able to do in the bubble when they lost to LeBron. So we'll talk Miami and Boston coming up in 20 minutes.

40 minutes from now we'll say hello to our first guest. If I'm talking baseball, I'm playing the hits. I'm looking the direction of superstars. Shelly Otani continues to have his name linked to a variety of trade possibilities. Angels at this point have to view him as an asset and flip him. Would it be the baseball equivalent of the Herschel Walker trade?

What can they get back? Understanding the next team would have to have the agreement wink wink nudge nudge that Otani is going to sign a mega deal in free agency. Looking forward to talking about the relevant themes in MLB with Joe Sheehan. Long time baseball scribe. You have read his work in the New York Times as well as Sports Illustrated and you should become a subscriber. I'm not being compensated for this endorsement. It's just a friend whose time I value. I am a subscriber.

I think you'll enjoy it as well. The Joe Sheehan baseball newsletter. NFL runs the world so let me acknowledge a small rule change and then LeBron back on the agenda in less than 90 seconds. I spent a good chunk of the first hour of the show after I had in-depth thoughts on why we should not believe what LeBron James said after the game.

Yes, probably was valid. He could be thinking about his future. I don't think that future involves retirement now.

Now retirement is coming just like unfortunately we all have to plan for our demise. We know what the future holds. We just don't know the timing but LeBron is very smart. He's a outstanding businessman. He also has been the de facto GM of the Lakers and that's really what's going on here. I'll tell you why I think this is all about leverage coming up in just a handful of minutes.

But since I was being as sanctimonious as possible and I'm not just doing a bit here. When the world is zigging it makes sense to zag. But I truly believe the greed of the NFL has become so over the top that somebody even a fill-in hack for rich has to point out that you don't have to bend over and pick up every quarter that's lying in the street.

And they already have the money from Amazon. All they're trying to do with this tweak and I now see Roger Goodell has been addressing the media as the owners meetings are winding down saying that what he was able to ram through with the bare minimum of the necessary votes yesterday. He needed 24.

He got 24. The adjustment allows the flex option when we get to the end of the Thursday night slate weeks 13 through 17 and Goodell is saying it's a minor revision if it's used at all. And they tried to throw a bone to the actual fans who pay the freight in person in addition to all of the TV dollars that the NFL has been printing money with their media partners to generate the flexes have to be done with four weeks notice still screwing the folks who actually show up at games who plan their lives around traveling potentially to those games.

It's all about keeping the media industry of which I am a member happy because they pay the bills. The other thing that is pretty obvious about Thursday Night Football. It is the greatest advertisement that the NFL cares nothing about players safety by its very existence. You should not be asking these guys to drag their asses back on the field on the Thursday. I'm not saying cause and effect, but didn't we learn anything from the to a tongue of via low incidents in Cincinnati.

After he somehow came back on the field in a misdiagnosed situation staggering around against Buffalo four nights later, we're all watching him lay prone on the field. What's that tell you about player safety but the league wants you to know before the billionaires gotten their private jets. They did push through a new rule, and this is huge you're going to want to write it down on kickoffs now, the fair catch can be called for between the goal line and the 25 just like we've seen in college for a while you put your hand up the ball comes out to the 25.

Okay, great. You know what that is foreshadowing the league is going to do away with kickoffs entirely because they've run the numbers and the data says it's the single most violent play in all of sports. Just do the physics I don't know E equals MC squared I don't really know what that means, but I know one guy running down with his helmet down, looking for the hitting zone, another guy running up with his helmet down, trying to avoid what would be tacklers is not good. So that's where it's going and the league can claim player safety is our priority. No, no, no, don't worry about Thursday Night Football. We're going to modify the kickoff.

Hey everyone, I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Isom. If you want to have your voice heard 844-204-7424 in fact if you're an NFL fan if you are a season ticket holder, you're somebody who travels with your family or buddies or you have an annual trip. I feel now about one more thing you have to factor in when you want to hand the NFL your money as if you're not giving them enough.

How about preseason football? Nobody wants to pay for those tickets. They're holding you hostage when you're a season ticket holder. Same thing with personal seat license, but I got to get to LeBron. BW Weber, Weber with 2B. So we spent the vast majority of how we opened the program trying to mix in thoughts about the game itself, trying my best to acknowledge history for the Denver Nuggets, who were the better team.

That should be the story today. Jokic in retrospect maybe should have been the MVP for the third consecutive year. He didn't win it because we had I think voter fatigue. Remember nobody has won three in a row since Larry Bird in the 80s. I'm not diminishing what Embiid did leading the league in scoring, but if you didn't pay attention to Nicole Jokic for whatever reason, and I don't know where you've been, back to back MVPs runner up this year, the Western Conference Finals has been a magnificent platform for his phenomenal skill set, his tremendous array of talents. And another player, great to see him come all the way back from that ACL injury. Remember before he got hurt in 2021, Nuggets were the Vogue pick to make it out of the West to go to the finals. Jamal Murray has been exceptional on both ends of the floor. In fact, he was impactful in the play that I think was part of LeBron's postgame rationale to suddenly start talking about, quote, going forward with a game of basketball. I've got a lot to think about. Do you think he would have said that if the Lakers had won?

Of course not. I think it was a shrewd maneuver with the following reasons in mind. One, LeBron did not want every talk show, every highlight show focusing on what he failed to achieve with the final 30 seconds sequence being the headline, which would have been unfortunate. Because the headline should be LeBron at the age of 38 had 31 in the first half finished with 40 and one assist shy of the triple double. But there is a thing called recency bias. We remember what happens last. Also, the game came down to the last 30 seconds because the Nuggets came back again down 15 at the half, just like every game in the series came down to the fourth quarter and it was a compelling watch and anything but an economical win by Denver.

I know they swept, but if you watch the games, you know what I'm talking about. We get down to the final half minute of play. Lakers bucket will keep him alive. LeBron with the shot clock winding down puts up a an atrocious shot off the side of the backboard. But he gets bailed out because the Nuggets miss one more chance for hero ball four seconds left. You know, it's going to LeBron you figure out a minimum. He's going to get the foul call but none of that happens because Denver played sensational defense because they were the better team because they were the top seed in the West had the second best home record in all of basketball and not just because of the stars. I spent a lot of time yesterday talking about the need for complimentary players to be heard from Aaron Gordon was straight up lethal defensively on that play with LeBron and he got help from Murray who with that tandem coming together, LeBron could barely get the shot up and didn't get it off game over. So would that have been the lasting image of the series LeBron gassed can't even maneuver his way through a double team that would have been the talking point instead of oh, by the way, the Nuggets have KCP and Michael Porter Jr. Who's come all the way back from the back injuries that plagued him in college at Missouri Bruce Brown given the quality minutes off the bench throughout this postseason. Get back to the notion of team sound like Robert De Niro playing Al Capone in the untouchables.

I'm Brian Weber. I'm allowed to go with arcane movie references because no show mixes sports and entertainment better than the rich eyes and show rich and the fellas back tomorrow. They went all the way to New York, understandably, so it was a business trip. What a great acknowledgement and honor the program received again, nominated for a sports Emmy for the second straight year in the category of best studio show. Rich also nominated his best studio host didn't win either award.

But since I work in the business, if you can even get that nomination, especially a show like this, which is the reflection of riches vision and his entrepreneurial spirit, a major accomplishment. So the guys all coming back tomorrow, they'll have their stories from the road. They'll tell you about what it was like to be in the room and they'll be talking LeBron as well because the NBA was handed a gift postgame by LeBron James. Because let's just again be transparent, and this should not be a concern to you unless you work for the league or you're in the advertising business. We talked TV ratings as a barometer, a measure of fan interest. Let me also fill you in on what's gone on in sports media. This is going to be the lowest rated finals.

Remember NBA finals, Stanley Cup final of all time. And how about the Panthers? As we had that conversation with Pierre Maguire yesterday, good time to be a fan in South Florida.

Florida Panthers keep it going, a commanding 3-0 lead over Carolina. Looks like they'll be playing for the Cup, probably against Vegas. The NBA finals were locked in when it comes to their start dates. Calendar told us because the league usually finds a way to massage things. Tim Donaghy on line two, they had a fifth or sixth game, not the case last night. But the NBA finals can't start until next Thursday.

I know a lot of shows would have been crippled. Wait a minute, I got to talk about the Joker and Jimmy Butler for a week? No way. Well, here's LeBron, who is a content creator. He makes terrible movies like the sequel to Space Jam. He destroyed that franchise. I don't think the barbershop is that interesting, nor is it a novel concept, but LeBron knows how to get paid in Hollywood. And he is effectively the executive producer of the Lakers. So, while I'm glad now, I actually dug deeper into what's been working for Denver and their terrific coach, Michael Malone. You're probably going to have to tell me, put that in your pipe and smoke it, because he was concerned after Denver moved ahead two games to none.

The national storyline was all about what's wrong with the Lakers. How come Anthony Davis can't do it on a nightly basis when we should be spending more time acknowledging the greatness of Denver. LeBron shifts the landscape postgame when he brushes up against the notion of retirement.

Saying he wasn't satisfied with going to conference finals, that's never been his goal, especially at the age of 38 with all the minutes he's logged. And again, if you're not a LeBron supporter, and I try my best to be totally candid with you, I'm old, my life is over, I'm in my early 50s. I'm a Michael Jordan guy, plus when I was involved with the NBA circa 93 to 2000 as the Warriors sideline reporter when they were worse than the Clippers, that's my league. That's the league I know, and that's Jordan. I interviewed Jordan when he was retired. I got a little pub when I was the Warriors sideline reporter, when he would only give me a 99.9 guarantee that he was going to stay retired. And we know what happened there. If you're asking me to put a number on the likelihood that LeBron is going to retire, I'll go 99.9, he's not going to.

Because of the following reasons. First, don't you think LeBron wants a retirement tour? Who wouldn't? He's the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA, the record that most of us around the sports business, especially people who have any affiliation with the NBA, thought would never be broken. Well, he did it. And no one's going to touch LeBron's record other than the three points shot allowing folks to put up monster numbers, but load management's changing everything. Because to get to LeBron, you got to play 70, 75 games for two decades. Not going to happen.

So that's one component. I think he wants and deserves the retirement tour. Secondly, he's the one for the last few years been telling us he wants to play until his son makes it to the NBA. Another piece of leverage, because if the Lakers don't find a way to get Bronny on their roster, you know what LeBron will do? He'll force his way off the Lakers because he has all of the power until this year. Now, I don't want to discount raw emotions postgame. Some truth to what he was saying, it would be understandable for anyone at the age of 38, especially being so gassed, not only physically, but in terms of sentiment after bowling out last night, although he came up short in the final 30 seconds.

I'm not going to bury him for that. I'm going to give Denver more credit, especially for what they did defensively on that final play of the game, but LeBron could have been caught up in his feelings. I get it. That's the whole reason why we have postgame press conferences to get that immediate raw access. I think what he was really doing was having a conversation via the media directly with Laker owner Jeannie Buss and GM Rob Polenka. Because while Polenka, as I come to you from Southern California, I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen.

I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger. Rob Polenka had been destroyed throughout his tenure prior to the series of moves he made just before the trade deadline along these lines. Well, he only got the job because he was Kobe's agent. He had done nothing of substance to make the team better. How in the world could you justify bringing Russell Westbrook in? And I try my best to be open-minded, and I may or may not have come up with a couple takes that, well, it might work because LeBron respects Russ.

Russ is washed. We knew that within the first game or two. Plus, he's so ball dominant, it was never going to work. So Polenka finally reasserted control of the franchise away from the GM, LeBron James, who was not as skilled in player personnel, like his obsession with Tristan Thompson over the years, as he is as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA. Polenka did his job and somehow was able to, and I think it was also because LeBron has eyes, and he was on a team that started 2-10, and had it concede the Russ thing wasn't working. You get rid of Russ, you bring in a good core of players to support LeBron and AD, and magically, this team plays the second best level of defense in the entire league down the stretch. Now, if we're talking about how they arrived in the Western Conference Finals, we have to acknowledge Memphis was in crisis, a dysfunctional team, and the Warriors have gotten old, and Steph can't do it alone. And if you're a Warrior fan thinking Jordan Poole is the future of your franchise, good luck with that. So it was a favorable draw, but Denver should have won this series. I know a sweep feels demoralizing, but all these games were tight and competitive. So LeBron, I think, feels like, okay, Polenka, we did it your way, but what did we really get? And the answer is, I know this is going to sound contradictory. There's nothing wrong with making it to the NBA's version of the Final Four unless you have LeBron James, which skews all of the expectations, and you know the clock is ticking, because the window for him moving forward is finite.

I don't think it closes now. I think he's just signaling overtly to Polenka and Jeannie Buss, get me Kyrie. That's what he said, because the subtext was, I need more help. And look, Austin Reeves is a nice player. There's a reason he wasn't drafted, but I got no problem with him knocking down threes.

Hajimeur was a revelation. I would keep him, but can you justify if you're LeBron continuing forward with this roster as currently constructed, even though it worked on a lot of levels? Or do you go back to what you know has worked, and that's Kyrie, but here's the problem with that.

We're going to hit pause momentarily. More LeBron coming up. We'll talk Miami, Boston in a second. Just because it clicked in 2016 doesn't mean you can put the band back together in 2023, because Kyrie, while he was quirky then with the whole Flat Earth nonsense, is a totally different dude and in no way for the better. Because when you sign up for Kyrie, look at what happened to the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Doncic seems to love basketball.

It was like his soul got snatched from that situation. If you're getting into business with Kyrie, you're also acknowledging you're going to have to deal with all of the issues that come with him, including the hideous links to anti-Semitism and other problems that he created of his own doing. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. We'll get to the baseball and the future of Shohei Ohtani coming up in 20 minutes when we say hello to Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball newsletter. Coming up, I got more to get to on LeBron.

Plus, got to be balanced. There is a Game 4, after all, coming up in Miami as the Heat look to close out the Celtics. So, when the Boston loses, because no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the history of the NBA postseason, who should be held the most responsible?

We'll tackle that next. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. It's the Rich Eisen Show. That's right. Everything you've earned doubled all the cash back from eating at your favorite soup dumpling restaurant. Doubled all the cash back from that trip where you sort of learned to snowboard.

Also doubled. And the best part, you don't have to do anything ridiculous to get it. Nope. Discover does it automatically. Seriously, though, see terms and check it out for yourself at discover.com slash match.

That's right. Men plus care antiperspirant, wherever personal care products are sold. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm Brian Weber, always a delight to be sitting in for Rich, and I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you, call us at 1-800-827-7200.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Much more NBA to get to. We'll do it presently.

We'll start the final hour of the program coming up in just over 30 minutes by spending more time in addition to what I want to address here. Get you set for Miami and Boston tonight. A reminder, should Miami complete the sweep and make history?

We've never had sweeps in both the West and the East under the new format going back to the early 1970s. We'll have a nine day, nine times, Mrs. Buehler, a nine day break until game one tips off next Thursday, which is a interesting dilemma for content creators, but I know Rich and the gang will keep you fully informed and entertained. I'll be concise because coming up in just under 15 minutes, we'll talk baseball with Joe Sheehan. You've read his work about MLB for outlets like the New York Times and Sports Illustrated.

Now you should become a subscriber to the Joe Sheehan baseball newsletter. Let me put a period for now on the LeBron detailed analysis. I know there's been, if you've been with me every step of the way, a lot to process, but that's how I choose to do business when I'm lucky enough to be sitting in for someone I respect and admire as much as Rich.

I try to bring my A game, but I realize it can be a touch overwhelming. Reasons continue. I'm laying him out why he will not retire now. He doesn't want his quote unquote legacy.

The video we queue up to be those final two possessions last night after it felt like he was on his way to 50, maybe 60. Now, as I mentioned the first hour, but I know the audience always changes. I am a traditionalist with my prep. I take notes just because the way my brain works, if I write it down, I remember it. I know a lot of you like to put on those funky laptops. I think that's a fad.

In fact, I still have my Commodore 64 and my modem and it's working just fine. But when LeBron was exceptional with 31 the first half, I wrote, can he keep it going? And the answer unfortunately for Laker fans was no.

Now 40 points is still transcendent. The most ever scored in the playoff game by somebody 38 years old. He needed one more assist for a triple-double. Still, he was spent at the end of the game in part because of how hard he was playing defensively trying to at least limit the Joker who had, oh, by the way, another triple-double and Murray who was terrific again. But to get up that lousy shot that barely grazed off the side of the backboard and then get thoroughly denied on the final drive as Murray and Gordon were in total synchronicity, LeBron does not want that to be the highlight that the haters would have on their phone trying to settle the LeBron-Jordan debate one more time.

I also think that if you want to give him more of a belief in that he was being thoroughly transparent, you could say, OK, well, why not take a year off if you believe he's been honest that the goal is to hang around to play with his son? Well, we know Bronny is committed to going to play for the one year at USC in downtown L.A. So couldn't both things be true? Couldn't LeBron hit the pause button, step aside for a year and then come back and play with Bronny?

I guess. I just don't see it. It's a scenario. But if I'm coming up with how plausible it is, I don't buy it because this is who LeBron is. For all the positives and the negatives, he can be someone who is manipulating us. And I think to a degree that's what he did last night. He is someone who is extremely proud, as he should be, as the all time leading scorer in the history of the league. And I don't think he wanted to sit at that podium and have people ask him questions.

Hey, old man, did you get tired? So because he is so shrewd and such a bright guy, he shifted the dynamic before people could try to probe him. He sees the moment and throughout this bomb, quote, going forward with a game of basketball, I've got a lot to think about.

And then everything blew up. And this is all we're talking about. But it doesn't mean it's factual.

Two things can be equally true. He could have been emotional last night. He could have been going through scenarios, but I don't buy it. And I think the real crux will be when we get into what should be a wild summer of NBA transactions. We had the conversation yesterday with Curt Heilin, lead NBA writer for NBCSports.com, who said not only did he expect a lot of player movement, but he said this would be the year of trades.

And we love that, right? In sports talk radio, nothing better than coming up with implausible moves that you throw in the old trade machine to see if it works from a cap standpoint. But I think the fundamental takeaway is LeBron was telling those in charge, although we know he's to a degree really in charge of the Lakers, namely Jeannie Buss and GM Rob Polinka, go get me Kyrie, which I think would be an absolute nightmare for a lot of reasons, mostly coming down to who Kyrie has demonstrated he is. There's that old line from Maya Angelou when people reveal themselves to you, believe them. Kyrie has consistently shown us who he is.

Do you want to sign up for that? How do things look in Dallas? You don't have to go all the way back to all the nonsense in Boston and all and some of it reprehensible stuff that happened in Brooklyn.

I'm talking months ago. The Mavs were a debacle. It's not all on Kyrie, but he's part of the overall dynamic and we'll get back to this coming up at the top of the hour as we'll spend more time on the potential reunion if LeBron has his way between LBJ and Kyrie. Couple minutes here on a game that's been lost in the shuffle, although Celtic fans now are all channeling their hot tub time machine abilities and they gotta love the bravado of Jalen Brown, who is still probably still trying to recover from Bam Adebayo putting him in the spin cycle in that embarrassing loss the other night on Sunday in Miami, as Brown was brought down to the floor as Bam just blew past him. Brown now taking us back to the Red Sox back in the day, going Kevin Millar, cowboy up with this quote, don't let us win tonight.

Okay, I like the sentiment. I like the belief, but here's the pushback. What happens if you win tonight Jalen? Is there a reason to believe this team with all of the apparent dysfunction now and all of the issues mostly coming down to defense?

And that's about will, belief and effort. You're telling me, even though Miami is a mortal team, they were the eight seed for a reason this year, although remember they were the one seed last year and took Boston all the way down to the final minute of Game 7 riding Jimmy Butler until he missed that three. But you're saying either Brown or Red Sox slash Celtic nation now because we've found the way to merge the franchises. Suddenly, wherever that switch is, it wasn't in Boston when the Celtics found a way to create the opportunity for Miami both in Game 1 and Game 2. Game 1, they watched the Heat because the defense went away, go off for 46 points in the third. Game 2, looks like Miami is going to be a little bit more of a regression to the mean situation, then Boston goes scoreless for four minutes in the fourth and Tatum traveled twice. But just because they win this game tonight, which I don't think they are going to, suddenly everything's going to change? What, Joe Mazzola is going to figure out how to call a timeout? This is propaganda, this is spin, but we love when athletes talk because suddenly now we get the what-if scenarios.

Would the Heat get tight? Boston's a better team. I've spent the majority of this show saying, even though LeBron has hijacked the narrative, we should be acknowledging that Denver was the vastly superior team. Boston has the best roster of any team that made it to the playoffs.

They made it to the NBA Finals last year and added Malcolm Brogdon in the offseason. What changed? Something's going on. It appears from a distance between Tatum and Brown. The defense has gone away and Joe Mazzola doesn't know what he's doing.

None of that's going to change magically based on one win. I'm going to talk more about Miami and Boston coming up in the final hour of the program and we'll also cover it one hour from now when we check in with a terrific NBA journalist that's Joe Vardon of The Athletic coming up, we make the move to baseball. Shoei Ohtani's been mentioned in trade talks now with both the Red Sox and the Cardinals over the last 24 hours, so what's his most likely destination? Looking forward to rounding the bases with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball newsletter. I'm Brian Weber, always having fun when I'm in for Rich and the Guys.

It is the Rich Eisen Show. So you open Google Chrome on your phone, you're hunting for a super rare first edition vinyl of a band you're obsessed with when you're supposed to be working, but the site you tapped on seems pretty shady and Daryl from IT just jumped up from his desk. Oh no, he's coming your way. It's a good thing built in malware production keeps you safe and sound.

Not from Daryl though. Sorry. There's no place like Chrome.

Download Google Chrome on your phone. The boys of summer are playing on the Believe Podcast. The product of baseball is much more watchable. Get your baseball fix from podcasts like Wake and Rake, Farm to Show and Ring the Bell.

He's not really hitting balls through the screws. Plus local podcasts like Believe in Astros and Believe in the Bronx. You're going to have to get some more innings out of the rotation.

Just search BLEAV Podcast wherever you listen. Brian Weber back with you. Always a delight to be in for Rich and the Guys. Although here's good news for you. They return tomorrow. Bad news.

I'm back in the chair Monday celebrating Memorial Day with you. 844-204-7424. The number to call. We can have the conversation on Twitter. B. W. Weber. Weber with two B's. As promised if I'm talking baseball I'm talking big picture and I'm trying to talk in an entertaining fashion. Especially when I have the great opportunity to say hello to an old friend on the radio. Joe Sheehan. You've read his work in the past for outlets like Sports Illustrated and New York Times. These days you've got to check out what he's doing every day at JoeSheehan.com and be sure to subscribe for the Joe Sheehan Baseball newsletter. Joe, I'm always appreciative of the time. Especially today because you've taken me to an island away from all LeBron James talk all the time.

Oh wait I thought we were going to talk about that. Of course I said Willie Mays in 1973 stumbling around in the outfield for the Mets when he looked old at the end of the game last night because I'm a radio hack. Hey it's the Rich Eisen Show. Rich like myself grew up in New York so we're going right to the Bronx because I'm throwing out a wide net here. So the last time we chatted earlier in the month Yankees got Aaron Judge back. They've also now added Luis Severino.

New York after the sluggish start finding the rhythm. They've won four straight. What's your assessment of the team that plays in New York City at this stage of the season? Well you look at the Yankees the last two years and they've really become a run prevention team. They're trying to win with pitching and defense. The offense is Aaron Judge. You know, Anthony Rizzo's been really good but not a lot around those two guys.

And you look at this stretch now Brian. They've given up four or fewer runs at eight straight games, seven straight games, excuse me. Clark Schmidt starting to come around. He was going to be a big part of that rotation. They got Luis Severino back on Sunday. Starting to see what the Yankees wanted to be in April and were prevented by a lot of these injuries. So they're coming around a bit. Obviously the Rays are going to be tough to catch but I think you still look at the Yankees as one of the favorites for one of the wildcard spots. And then how much you buy in the Orioles? It has been, it feels like decades since we talked about the Baltimore way but here's a team that's 15 games over.500. Finally had a respectable year a season ago after their payroll challenges and mismanagement from ownership.

We'll take you west. I saw a lot of Adly Rushman when he was a star at Oregon State. I think he's going to blossom into a superstar in the bigs.

How much you buy in Baltimore? I'm buying them in part because of Adly Rushman. I mean if you look at, he got called up I believe it was a year ago this week and the Orioles are basically a 95 win team when he starts behind the plate. He is a superstar. I mean this is something that's not an original thought but he's the new Buster Posey where he's not just a fantastic offensive catcher but he has all the skills behind the plate as well. Now what the Orioles are going to have to do is give them some better guys to catch. It is not a very good starting rotation.

It's better for his skills and this is a team that has a ton of young infielders coming through. We've seen Gunnar Henderson get squeezed. We've seen flashes of Joey Ortiz and Jordan Westbrook. One of the top picks in the draft last year, Matt Holliday's kid, Jackson Holliday, is raking in a-ball.

He's just flying through the system. So they've got to start turning some of these young hitting prospects, likely through trade, into some better pitching. Talk of baseball with Joe Sheehan.

Check out his excellent work and subscribe to the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter by heading over to JoeSheehan.com. This show is carried on a blowtorch. The mightier 1090 in San Diego. 50,000 watts taking us up and down the West Coast.

So let's head to America's finest city. Felt like their dynamic postseason run a year ago talking about the Padres and the addition of Xander Bogart has really changed the level of expectation surrounding this team. But if you think about where they are now, five games under, eight games back at the Dodgers, and the Dodgers have been dictating the terms head to head this year. What's your evaluation on the Padres and do you expect them to have a surge as the season rolls along?

Well, the second question is easier to answer. I absolutely do. This is a team that has so much offensive talent and it's completely underperforming the level of talent on the team. They've had some injury issues, not just in terms of guys being out, Manny Machado currently on the IL, but you know, nagging stuff for Juan Soto, Xander Bogart. They haven't been completely healthy.

On the pitching side, Joe Musgrove, this one starts at the start of the year. So we haven't seen the Padres firing on all cylinders. And I'll tell you, Brian, there's just no way this team is going to finish the year in the bottom three in the NL and run scored or an OBP or a slugging, which is where they are right now. There's a lot of focus in San Diego on their hitting with runners and scoring position, which has been terrible. But their hitting overall has been the problem. It's not just they don't hit with runners and scoring position. It's that they're not getting enough opportunities with runners and scoring position. I expect both those things to change as the summer wears on. I don't think the Padres will win the division.

I never did. I had the Dodgers winning, but I do think they'll end up in that four seed with the home field advantage in the wildcard round. Talking MLB with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. Joe, I have several friends from the East Coast who surprisingly have relocated to Southern California.

What a novel approach. And unfortunately, a few of them are from Boston. So they were all jacked up because the Red Sox not only were in San Diego, now they're in Anaheim.

Got me thinking about that franchise. Do you buy the notion that Boston could have a legitimate chance of picking up Shohei Ohtani, giving up whatever it would take? I use the cop of the Herschel Walker trade from the NFL going all in to get him to come to New England. Tell me which John Henry is going to show up. If you look at the changes in the Red Sox over the last five years, people focus a lot of energy on high and blue. But Henry has changed as much as anybody. For a long time, the Red Sox ran top five payrolls. If you look at the Red Sox in 2004 to about 2019, they had a top five payroll in almost every year. Henry was willing to go over the luxury tax threshold and pay that penalty as well. And Henry in the last four years has treated the luxury tax threshold as a bit of a limit, something that he wants to try to get under. So I don't think the current iteration of John Henry wants to add a $50 million player, and that's what we're talking about with Ohtani, a $50 million player to the payroll. Like I say, if that changes, if the Red Sox win this year, put some more money in the coffers, depending on whether I know the Fenway Sports Group is involved with Liverpool, so there's issues there. I have to say, Brian, though, I don't think the Red Sox are in my top five landing spots for Ohtani. Okay, good. So I can throw that back in my friends' faces because you know they're convinced the Red Sox are getting everybody.

Hey, finally, just to prove I'm comprehensive, and you know all my references are back in the day. How about the Buckeyes? Now, I have no delusion that Pittsburgh is going to somehow become a powerhouse again, but here's a team that hasn't made it to playoffs since 2015. Positive story back at top along with Milwaukee. The standings in the central. Brian Reynolds, they're going to pay him. They brought McCutcheon back to the Steel City. Even if it's not sustainable, is there at least hope finally in Pittsburgh?

Oh, absolutely. You know what the record ends up being this year? Maybe the end of around.500, but you look at the young players they've brought through. Jiwon Bay and Rodolfo Castro. They committed, in addition to Reynolds, to K'Brien Hayes. The Japs went off to a good start.

Luis Ortiz with the start last night against the Rangers. It's not about whether we make the playoffs this year. It's are we putting the pieces in place to be the core of a very good team in the middle of the decade? Let's not forget, too, they have two top-catching prospects in Andy Rodriguez and Henry Davis, who was the top pick in the draft a couple years ago. Got some pitching down there as well. The Pirates are really pulling it together. And to tie these two together, Ben Charington in Boston was a big part of building the team that ended up winning the 2018 World Series. He's now building that same kind of farm system-led team in Pittsburgh. Joe, you're the best.

I love the connection. Plus, you've given me an excuse in the final hour of the program to run through the entire starting lineup of the 79 Pirates. Omar Moreno's walking through that door. Tim Foley?

No, Omar Moreno didn't walk anywhere. Bill Madlock, Willie Sargill, Bill Robinson. Come on, Renny Sinnet. The Candyman! And I love the hats, too.

Late 70s. Joe, this is why you and I need a podcast. Keep working on that. Arcane references, as if you're not busy enough. Thank you, my friend.

And because Rich is off today, that means vacation season's coming up. We will be in touch when we get to later June and July, okay? Sounds good, Brian. Thank you. Joe Sheehan, the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter.

JoeSheehan.com. Please do check out all his great work and consider subscribing right now. Let me spend two minutes on the situation of now former Oakland A's announcer Glenn Kiper. If you know who I am, and you don't need to, but I got my broadcasting start in the San Francisco Bay Area. I worked for a company that was Sports Channel Pacific at the time, which is now NBC Sports Bay Area, who made the announcement that they were terminating Glenn for what he said on the air in Kansas City a few weeks ago, an audible, an undeniable racial slur. To be totally transparent, I've not spoken to Glenn in 20 years. There's no animus.

We work together, but lives are different, and I'm now based in Southern California. I can tell you this, and I've not spoken to anybody that knows him, nor common friends or anything. This is just me opining. I worked with Glenn for a long time. I saw nothing to indicate behavior or a mindset that would reflect anything more than a colossal mistake on the air. However, we are responsible for every word we say, especially in this job, and it's not about intent. The apology is terrific. I think he could have helped himself in the moment. Obviously, he was stunned. If you saw when he came back on camera in the sixth inning, it was a clumsy apology.

It was clunky. I can also say this can sound critical. I'm just being, again, upfront. Glenn is not the most articulate guy in the world.

He's a nice guy whose older brother was a star and played in the big leagues, one of the most popular announcers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Glenn got some help because of that, but he's not the most articulate fella in the world. No excuses. I understand why he's been terminated. And ultimately, we are responsible for every word we say, and diction matters.

It's not just about intent. Final hour of the program coming up. Back to LeBron. I know you're getting full. I have a sense of what it's been like. Good thing you don't see me on camera.

No simulcast today. Plus, we'll get you set for the Heat and the Celtics. Miami looking to complete the sweep when we check in with Joe Vardon of The Athletic with a big hour on the way. Always a delight to be in this chair for Rich Eisen. I'm Brian Weber. We roll on on The Rich Eisen Show. Waiting for to talk to you. Waiting for me to finish dancing to 50 Cent. It's my birthday! Sit in the corner! Give them Lala wherever you listen.