Rich Eisen Show with Brian Webber Filling In Hr 3

Now, your ideas don't have to wait.

Now, they have everything they need to come to life. Dell Technologies and Intel are creating technology that loves ideas, loves expanding your business, evolving your passions. We push what technology can do so great ideas can happen right now.

Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. It is the final hour of the program. Still plenty of time for you to get involved.

844-204-7424. But you're on the clock because in 40 minutes we'll bring in our third and final guest. Talking baseball with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. A conversation that seems even more timely.

I'll tell you why. Coming up, you can also find your way on social media. I'm on the gram. I'm on the X machine. No threads.

I think threads was a thing that lasted about 48 hours. It is B.W. Weber. Weber with two B's. Nothing but NFL to start this last hour of the show. Coming up, we'll talk NFC East. Then we'll spill over into our takeaways from college football as related to NFL stars in the making.

Coming up in 20 minutes. But I mentioned there is breaking news in Major League Baseball. And it happened just prior to our conversation with Pete Futek of collegefootballnews.com to conclude the second hour of the program. It is TMZ reporting. And however you view how they gain their information, you cannot in any way criticize their results. TMZ rarely has to come out with a retraction.

They get the information and they break many stories. TMZ, the first to report the Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was arrested last night on charges of felony domestic violence. Now, if you know anything about Julio, he had the incident in 2019 at a mall here in Southern California. As I come to you from a regal studios in Los Angeles, that was also a accusation of domestic violence. However, he was not charged. This time he's charged. It's a felony count of domestic violence.

That's all we know. I will ask Joe in 40 minutes from a standpoint of a looming suspension. Because if we're talking felonies, rightfully so, you forfeit your right to play Major League Baseball. So understanding the Dodgers and how that organization operates, especially coming off the Trevor Bauer situation recently. I think the Dodgers will step in first.

He'll be suspended immediately as they gain more information. If they don't, baseball gets involved just from a standpoint of on the field matters. What would the impact be for Dodger team already struggling on the mound?

Although and I'm being very forthright here in no way am I minimizing this arrest nor the charges. But this is a sports program and we're here to talk about how things translate to the field of play. The Dodgers coincidentally got some good pitching news yesterday because Walker Bueller has been gone for a long time.

In fact, I looked it up. First game action in 450 days coming back from a second Tommy John procedure. He was on the mound for a couple innings yesterday playing for the triple A affiliate Oklahoma City.

Still got to see more from him with his rehab starts, but that is significant news. And we'll talk about the baseball implications coming up now in less than 40 minutes. As we wrap up the program with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan baseball newsletter and Joe Sheehan dot com. I'm Brian Weber in for rich. If you want to have the conversation after the program should be clear by now. I have an abundance of free time based on these arcane references. So while I am multitasking and watching a holiday edition of the Rockford Files because you never know what Angel is going to get Jimmy into. We can interact if you want after the show. B.W.

Weber Weber with two B's. You can't go wrong focusing on the NFC East. And I'm not just trying to, as a fill in hack, grab the lowest hanging fruit possible. Now, when I worked at NFL Network and if you don't know who I am, I can't blame you. But I've at least hung on for longer than my energetic delivery would suggest. But I found that quickly as a co-host on that ill-fated morning show we used to do four hours every day.

I'll put it this way. If you enjoy a tremendous program like Good Morning Football based in New York City, that show exists because a ragtag bunch of hosts and producers came to work every day at midnight after getting up at 10 p.m. local time, went on the air at three o'clock in the morning, did four hours every day. So I learned a lot about myself, my temperament, and how the National Football League views its product. And whenever we had an editorial decision to make, we went with, you guessed it, the NFC East.

Why? Because this is broadcasting. And people react to marquee teams and stars. But it's not just a knee-jerk, OK?

As a fill-in host, break the glass, grab the handbook, and all right, you're panicking, talk about Dallas. There are many legitimate reasons to believe in this division. Again, just think back to last year. Three playoff teams with the much-improved Giants winning a playoff game. In fact, all three teams won a playoff game.

You know about the Eagles going all the way to the Super Bowl. But it is interesting, given the undulations that we've seen in the NFC East and a lot of down years, but we always had to endure those teams in primetime slots because of the market size of New York and Washington and Philly, and because of the transcendent brand of the Cowboys. NFC East has not had a team repeat as division champs since 2005. Now, that's balanced by the division having the most Super Bowls won since the merger. But that's also the longest streak of any division, not that back-to-back champs. So, initially, if you're just thinking off the top of your head, you go, OK, Philadelphia, right? Why wouldn't it be Philadelphia ending that streak? Well, not to be too much of a slave to the schedule, look at their schedule, coupled with, I'm a believer in Dallas, and I can't believe I'm saying that. It's hard for the words to come out of my mouth.

I'll give you another current reference. I'm like Fonzie trying to apologize back in the day before he jumped the shark on happiness. Cowboys? I believe in the Cowboys. I realize they have not even made it to the Super Bowl in, what, 27, 28 years? But if we're just talking coherent reasons to think this will be a team that, at a minimum, can make it to an NFC title game, which they have not done in the same duration, I don't think this is outlandish to come up with a cogent argument supporting the Cowboys.

Now, I'll back up. As a film host, a former host of my own program on a variety of audio platforms, I have been the beneficiary of all of the comical decisions that Jerry Jones has made over the years. And again, when in doubt, bash the Cowboys, because if I was a host who relied on phone calls, that's the easiest crutch. Just go after the Cowboys and the phones light up.

I'm not doing that, nor have I done that in the past. Secondly, it's just a byproduct of logic and reason, because this is the franchise that can't get out of its own way. Still, have you noticed it's been a largely drama-less summer for the Cowboys?

Now, the talking head shows have come up with things to dissect because they have producers and that's their daily responsibility. But I have not seen the searing headlines of self-inflicted wounds that Dallas has created so many times over the years, or an infatuation with you pick it, Terrell Owens, or any other free agent, at least for now. And I know the Trey Lance move was made, but I'm not going to fixate on that because I don't think Trey Lance is a threat, too. Dak Prescott, on any level, fully being aware that Dak is getting closer to the next round of contract negotiations. Jerry overpaid. You could even hear it in the way that Kyle Shanahan talked about it, that they were pleasantly surprised they got a fourth-round pick for among the biggest swings and misses we've ever seen in draft analysis.

I got a lot of respect for John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. They completely blew it on Trey Lance, giving up three number ones to get up to number three, and he's already gone. And I'm not bashing Trey.

It's not his fault. He could not stay healthy and get wildly pipped by Brock Purdy, of all people. I root for comeback stories.

I've had second, third, fourth chances professionally and personally. I'd like to see Trey at least get reps. Problem is, depending on where things go with the depth chart, he might still be behind Cooper Rush, as was the case in San Francisco, where he was no better than the third, possibly the fourth-string quarterback behind Hall of Famer Brandon Allen. So good for Trey.

He's got a shot. But other than that media contrived controversy, Dallas has been buttoned up. And if the worst thing I could say about the Cowboys is that Micah Parsons, who, small sample size, I'll pump the brakes, but is showing early on he's going to wind up in Canton, Ohio, if he can stay healthy.

He's that impactful. You know you watch these games. I found a quote from Micah Parsons saying every year that he's been there, the last couple of years, they've got a little bit better, better.

And here's the quote. Now I'm hoping we ain't got to make no small jump to the MC title game and then go home. I'm hoping we go all the way. OK, that's not exactly Joe Willie Namath coming up with a Super Bowl guarantee, getting set to shock the world against the Baltimore Colts. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. 844-204-7424, the phone number.

Social media is the best way to get at me. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. Thirty minutes from now, we talk baseball on Labor Day because it's the last call for the regular season. We're within 30 days of the postseason. This has been a wildly entertaining baseball season in large part because of the pitch clock. I am so happy to have read that report that the league is not going to tinker with anything connected to the pinch clock. It'll be the same pitch clock when you get to the postseason, because why would you? It's working.

We'll talk about all of that when we check in with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. But back to the Cowboys. They have not stepped on any of the verbal landmines that they typically have created in the past. I like what they've done on both sides of the football. That secondary already won the best in the league led by Trayvon Diggs. They got experience to bolster things on the back end with Stephon Gilmore, Brandon Cooks isn't going to blow you away.

But more depth in the receiving corps. Tony Pollard was terrific with his versatility last year. The one running back we didn't talk about going through franchise tag drama because he took the money. Tony Pollard thinking 10 million and change is really good coin in the modern NFL. And Dak, if you are a Dak fan, you're going to tell me.

And I lay this out in the first hour of the program, but the audience is always changing, especially on a holiday. Going to the default position that, well, it can't be as bad as last year really is not penetrating analysis. That could be worse than last year, because remember, the 15 interceptions that he threw came while missing five games with a broken thumb.

And nobody wants to see a frontline starter miss time due to injury. So let's project and hope that Dak can play a full season just from the standpoint of being an interested viewer. Well, if he plays the whole schedule, he's got a real chance to have more than 15 interceptions. As much as you can break down the film and tell me that he was the victim of tips and caroms, Dak was a turnover machine.

Can he clean that up? I think just look at the body of work regression to the mean. If you want to get statistical history tells us he will not be as giveaway prone. But Dak has also thrown some big interceptions in big spots. The defense already mentioned Parsons and Diggs and a pro bowler into Marcus Lawrence. That's why I believed in Dallas the last few years until they gave me reasons to yell at my TV, namely the last play of their last two playoff games. Coincidentally, both coming against the San Francisco 49ers, both drawn up by Mike McCarthy. And here's where the Cowboys lose my enthusiasm. I was talking earlier as we're going through teams that could take the next step this year, that I love the personnel of the Chargers, but I have issues with Brandon Staley.

Just go back a couple of years ago. He had a tie in front of him against the Raiders. Tie means you're going to the playoffs. He butchered that. And do I have to go through every bit of the grizzly fallout from one of the worst playoff catastrophes we've ever seen?

That collapsed on the road in Jacksonville last year. Somehow, Brandon, who's a good guy. I am not getting personal here. I just have major problems with his approach to decision making. He's still employed, mostly because the Spanos family is cheap and he had time left on his contract. But since they paid Justin Herbert because they had to, and now they've imported Calvin Moore, it feels like Moore is the coach in waiting. But to connect it to Dallas, Moore leaving means man-mountain Mike McCarthy is the play caller.

Well, if you've been watching football for more than 10 minutes, remember the last time Mike was X-ing and O-ing? Go back to Green Bay when he had Aaron Rodgers in his prime. And I like Dak, but he wasn't playing at the level of Aaron Rodgers at any point in his career prior to this year. Mike McCarthy only got one Super Bowl out of Aaron Rodgers when he was at the top of his game, in part because Mike McCarthy, as a play caller, runs an offense that feels like it's 1988.

So I have concerns about that. We'll find out when we get to that highly anticipated Week 1 matchup between the Cowboys and the Giants renewing their rivalry. But just to finish my thought on Dallas' conclusion to the last two years, both against the 49ers, at home, no home field advantage when it came to Mike imploding. Remember, with time wasting, no timeouts, what is he called? Dak, draw up the middle, tick, tick, tick, I won't do the full Chris Berman, and time runs off the clock. So he's got a whole year to come up with something more novel, more creative, with a game on the line, again, don't you know, against the 49ers, this time in the San Francisco Bay Area. And what does Mike do?

He runs a version of the swinging gate. Mike, it's not that hard. Mike, get out of your own way.

But I think he was threatened by Kellen Moore, and why have your replacements in your building? And Jerra somehow believes what Mike is selling. Mike must be the best salesperson in sports, because he talked his way into that job, and somehow felt like he had leverage, because the Cowboys finally won a road playoff game for the first time in decades. As the game becomes more expendable, McCarthy fires the majority of the coaching staff. Remember, he didn't have a say when they were hired, because he was so desperate to take the job. He said, whatever you want, Sherry.

Okay, Mike, this is your moment. You've got the keys, but you're not behind the wheel of a Ferrari, like with Aaron Rodgers. This is much more of a functional team, not in a bad way with Dak. There are just limitations.

So that's what I need to see. The Eagles, remember, that defense was historic last year. As much as I was propping up Dallas, Eagles had 70 sacks last year. Maybe not as dominant with Javon Hargrave going to the Niners. Think about that addition to one of the best front sevens in the entire NFL. But because Howie Roseman knows where the talent is, he continues to go back to Georgia. And in the draft, which he should have had his war room between the Hedges and Athens, went with Jalen Carter and Douglas Smith. So I think the Eagles don't take a massive step back. And I'm certainly gratified that Jalen Hurts got paid.

He deserves it. Schedule gets tougher. I think Dallas will be better with the season on the line. I'll go with the Eagles.

But I think it's going to be tighter in that division than a lot of people think. I am not as sold on the Giants, and as I glance at the clock, I'm not going to get to Washington, nor should I. I just wonder what Ron Rivera is doing, saying all the quiet parts out loud. Maybe he's just so filled with euphoria not to be working for Dan Snyder anymore. But it was baffling when he talked about Eric Bienemie's intensity and then had a conversation with Albert Prear. He used to work at NFL Network.

Now does a fine job for the mmqb.com. Basically saying, like, who knew how good Sam Howell could be? Well, Ron, you're the head coach. Shouldn't you have known, especially when your QB 1 and 2 were Carson Wentz, Taylor Heinecke?

So Ron is not covering himself in glory with some of these statements, so I'll leave Washington out of it. But as we wrap it up, my issue with the Giants comes down to how much are you buying Daniel Jones? And I realize now he's got a lot more help at the receiving core. And I'll include tight end there with Darren Waller. Great pickup from the Raiders.

As has been demonstrated, I'll get back to it coming up in less than seven minutes. I watch a ton of college football. Jalen Hyatt was a playmaking sensation with Tennessee. Good addition for the Giants, using a third-round pick on him. Saquon Barkley, healthy, looking to get paid, so highly motivated. Remember, Barkley was the Giants' leading receiver last year. Won't have to carry that kind of load this year. My question is, can Daniel Jones do it again? Brian Dabble coached him up, but we have seen one-year wonders throughout the NFL repeatedly. And I don't have to, just as a fill-in guy, I don't have to do anything because most of you won't hear me again for months.

But as an objective observer, I don't have to say, let's buy the gold jacket for dandy dimes based on one year. I need to see more. And the Giants play much, much tougher schedule than they did last year. Went to their credit. They went on the road and beat Minnesota and defied expectations. But to put a bow on this, if you are tired of the NFC East conversation, I got bad news. You're going to hear a lot more of it because of the quality of that division. I think Philadelphia finds a way. And at last, for the first time since 2005, although they'll be pushed by the Cowboys, the most competitive division in North American team sports. As Mike Torrico once said on Monday Night Football, I'll steal that line. Phillies should go back to back in the NFC East for the first time since 2005. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, last call for phone calls, 844-204-7424.

More interaction is possible on social media, BW Weber, Weber with two B's. In 20 minutes we talk baseball with Joe Sheehan of the baseball newsletter. I'll ask him how he anticipates the Dodgers.

NMLB reacting to the news that broke about 40 minutes ago, TMZ reporting the Dodger pitcher Julio Arias has been arrested and charged with felony domestic violence that occurred last night. Straight ahead, a little more college football. Beyond Dion mania, more takeaways from a monster weekend on campus, but with the ACC expansion news on Friday, with an ACC matchup tonight, Monday Night Football coming up, Duke and number 9 Clemson, are we seeing effectively the end of the sport as we know it? Yes, I'm getting deep and I'm going dire as a filling host, but I'm in a good frame of mind because it's always a blast to be in for Rich. I'm Brian Weber. We continue on a Labor Day edition of the Rich Eisen Show. You know when you wake up after a bad night's sleep, you are not yourself. That does not happen with sleep number. My sleep number setting is 60, my wife's is 70, just 10 numbers apart, but it is the world of difference, especially because couples can choose their ideal firmness, comfort and support on each side of the bed, so it's perfect for both of you. Go for it, folks.

Go for it. Sleep next level. Unlock your unique potential with a smart bed that can perform as well as you, and now don't miss sleep numbers biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. Save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed plus special financing for a limited time. Get on it only at sleep number stores or sleepnumber.com.

See store for details. Let's talk about AG1 people, a new partner of the Rich Eisen Show, a daily foundational nutritional supplement that helps support whole body health. And if you're like me, then it's so hard to keep up with a supplement routine throughout your busy day when it comes to the bunch of products on top of it. So when you drink AG1, you notice an overall feeling of health. It can help support your mental clarity, improve digestion, focus, drink it in the morning, drink it in the afternoon before working out in the morning, before making your coffee, starting your day.

Makes you feel unstoppable, ready to take on the day and anything that comes your way. If you want help taking ownership of your health, and of course you do, try AG1 and get a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free AG1 travel packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkag1.com slash Eisen. That's drinkag1.com slash Eisen.

Take ownership of your health right now. Check it out. Drinkag1.com slash Eisen. Brian Weber back with you. Sad news connected to Smash Mouth.

I'll give you the details coming up in a moment. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I am 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 clickrainger.com or just stop by because no program handles the intersection of sports and entertainment better than the Rich Eisen Show I mentioned. I saw the sad news that broke about an hour ago confirming the passing of Steve Harwell, former lead singer of Smash Mouth. He's passed away at the age of 56.

NBC News reporting cause of death, acute liver failure. 56, way too young. And if you think about the body of work of Steve and Smash Mouth, so connected to sports. Hey Now You're an All Star was the anthem of just about every marquee sporting event for a long time. And on a personal note, I know the group is from San Jose, so I was aware of them when I was working in the San Francisco Bay Area as a young broadcaster back in the mid 90s.

Very sad news. Steve Harwell got way too young at the age of 56. We will keep this concise because I am talking baseball. Now you might think, hey, whoever you are, and I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen with our final half hour on the docket here. Rich and the fellows back tomorrow with all the fallout from a monster sports weekend.

You can have a conversation with me after the program on social media. I'm talking baseball for two reasons. Baseball is relevant beyond the economics. Somebody is watching these games. Somebody is going to these games and the product is much more appealing this year because of the pitch clock and other rule changes. So as much as the NFL drives everything and crushes all that is in front of its path, there are a lot of you still care about baseball and there are good elements to examine and we'll do it coming up in less than 15 minutes when we check in with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan baseball newsletter and we'll get his reaction to the breaking news that occurred in the last hour of the program. TMZ reporting other outlets confirming Dodger pitcher Julio Arias arrested last night on charges of felony domestic violence. Gotta believe it's only a matter of time before the Dodgers. I think they'll go first and baseball will announce the immediate indefinite suspension.

And unless these charges are dropped and remember presumption of innocence still is foremost in this country but if the legal system now has to play out a real possibility Julio has pitched for the last time this year and he's heading into a free agent year so that's another factor to be mindful of. So why don't I give you my thoughts on the overall landscape of college football because I feel like and maybe because I was so happy to have football to watch I've been getting really granular I've been giving you stats, I've been breaking down games, and I got a lot of material handed to me. Coach Sanders was absolutely incredible as a galvanizing force, a recruiter and his players showed up. And I guess we should have believed more in coach prime although my mental hurdle to get over was could you really integrate 75 new players that quickly and the answer really was yes, although as Pete few tech from college football news.com pointed out and I independently passed along those thoughts to open the show TC use defense gave up a ton of points last year on their way to appearing in probably the national title game and they lost a lot of guys to the NFL still no asterisk. It's all about coach prime with a game that's going to be hype like the Super Bowl coming up on Saturday is home debut in Boulder. Matt rule has to be wondering, now no need for go fund me based on the money he got both the Carolina and now to take his talents to Nebraska but Huskers had that game one up seven, less than three minutes to go on the road Minnesota on Thursday and the Nebraska, it's away, in part because of for turnovers but as I think about say Nebraska, and where they are as a program, as I was dating myself as a yard data myself many times as a young broadcaster. When I was appreciating Smash Mouth back in the day in the mid 90s when life was more straightforward without social media. When I was a kid, Nebraska never lost.

Now I'm not going back to Johnny Rogers 74 the game of the century, Oklahoma, Nebraska, but Nebraska was a thoroughly dominant program, guided by Dr. Tom Osborne, everything changed when they went to the Big 10, and the recruiting became much more of a challenge. Now, you literally need a scorecard and a map as we prepare for this final year of college football as we know it to ascertain who was playing where starting next season. And I will not overwhelm you with histrionics as a fill in guy, but I care about this stuff now that's sad.

One of these years I'm going to get a life now the problem for rich is going to be potentially, I wouldn't be available on a holiday he'll figure it out. But the reason that I bury you with so much detail, and so many strong opinions is, again, sadly, this is the second most important thing in my life arguably the most important thing in my life. And I was the luckiest fella in the world to get a break as a very young announcer because of college sports so this is my passion. I'm still deeply invested in college sports if you want to watch a soccer double header with conditions projected to be about 102 degrees on Sunday opposite the NFL in Tucson on your guy on Pac 12 network, but let's take my own bias aside and by the way, call me big 12 bride as of next year. I'm going to be fine, I can work for three conferences now.

I grew up in the ACC in the Bay Area I work for the big 10 here in LA, I work for the big 12 in Arizona. I was going to be rolling in, although streaming pays nothing, but at some point, can we just acknowledge what has happened here. This is abject greed.

That's all it is. Now, it works because the product is so compelling. College football is the best and quantity is quality. When you ride these games all weekend long with Duke and Clemson coming up tonight. But the ACC becoming the all coast conference, adding Stanford California and SMU makes no freaking sense.

I know why it happened. And I'll be transparent, I am a Stanford grad. My alma mater has a $36 billion endowment.

They're just fine I thought they should have gotten independent. And they desperately wanted to be part of a legitimate conference for the teams that matter foremost, women's basketball and the Olympic sports in which we as an alum shine. We're now asking these student athletes and they actually go to class at Stanford to fly to Chapel Hill and Tallahassee to play a volleyball match.

It makes no freaking sense. But Stanford and Cal are joining the conference at a 30% rate. SMU is joining for free for a handful of years. And the rest of the ACC is going to make more money because they added three more teams. So I don't have to go through my normal ham ringing because I want to appreciate the games as they are played. College football is the best.

There's nothing superior to a college football Saturday but the system is fundamentally broke and unfortunately I think it's only going to get worse when we move to probably two super conferences with the SEC and the Big Ten running the show. Coming up we wrap it up with gusto. The goal was to talk about baseball on the diamond. We will do that and we'll get reaction to the breaking news this morning here on the West Coast afternoon wherever you might be listening.

Dodgers pitcher Julio Arias arrested last night on charges of felony domestic violence. We're talking baseball next with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan baseball newsletter. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Visit our Facebook app now and use code field goal to sign up. Gambling problems call 1-800-GAMBLER.

21 plus age varies by jurisdiction. Boyden Ontario see dkng.co slash football for eligibility terms and responsible gaming resources bonus bits expire seven days after issuance eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. NFL Sunday ticket is now on YouTube and YouTube TV, which means that you can stay close to your team, even if you don't live in their town. Like, maybe you're a raven who married a seahawk who got a job in the land of the falcons. With NFL Sunday ticket, you can watch your team's out of market Sunday afternoon games no matter where you live.

Because you shouldn't have to change teams, even if you change towns. NFL Sunday ticket, now on YouTube and YouTube TV. Go to youtube.com slash presale to get $50 off. Terms and embargoes apply. Offer ends 919. No refund.

Subscription auto renews. Ryan Weber back with you. Always a blast to sit in for Rich. Try to build momentum for his return tomorrow. Rich and the fellas back with you with the fallout from this busy sports weekend.

Let's wrap it up with style points. Always a pleasure to talk baseball with Joe Sheehan. Be sure to check out the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter.

Become a subscriber by heading over to JoeSheehan.com. Joe, thanks for taking the time. How are you on this Labor Day? The USC Trojans are 2-0, Ryan.

I'm doing great. Fight on, pal. Did I mention I went to graduate school there? I'll do that rant as well.

Who do I call to get that money back, Joe? But unfortunately, I've got to transition to the serious breaking news. The USC Trojans are 2-0, Ryan. I'm doing great. Fight on, pal. Did I mention I went to graduate school there? I'm doing great. Fight on, pal.

Did I mention I went to graduate school there? I've got to transition to the serious breaking news. Based on other precedents. Well, based on the precedent of Trevor Bauer, the Dodgers will probably let the league handle this. The Dodgers were reluctant to take the Trevor Bauer situation into their own hands and kind of let the league place Bauer on administrative leave a couple years ago. I expect the Dodgers will pass the buck again today. This is not a vague situation.

A lot of times we have these incidents with players and it's not clear what happened. The LA police have charged him and they charged him with a felony. I don't think there's any question the MLB will place him on administrative leave. I would be shocked if Arias pitched again the rest of 2023, including the playoffs, and we'll see what happens after that. But I think as far as from a baseball standpoint, Julio Arias' season is over.

And I think, like all of us, we hope that his partner, who he reportedly allegedly abused, gets the help he needs. Thank you so much. I appreciate the context.

And now I have to make the tough transition to matters on the field. And the original reason I want to reach out to you, in part hinged on what I watched here in Southern California with that potential playoff preview between the Braves and the Dodgers. Atlanta won 3-4. Joe, if these teams meet, say, in the National League Championship Series, any reasons to believe that LA could be more successful other than, say, the randomness of what happens in a short postseason series? Yeah, I think the Dodgers can put together a staffing. Julio Arias, even if they don't have him, he hadn't been the star he was in recent seasons. I think they can replace him with some combination of Ryan Pepio and maybe Walker Buehler if he comes off the aisle.

It's a loss, but it's not a devastating one. The Dodgers have been faking their pitching staff for what feels like three years now. When Clayton Kershaw is not healthy, they do it. When Clayton Kershaw is healthy, they do it. We saw Bobby Miller pitch well last night. I think he's going to be an important part of that playoff rotation. Dave Roberts has a lot of experience assembling a staff on the fly. And if the Dodgers, let's just say when the Dodgers, get to October, it's not going to look like a traditional postseason playoff rotation with three starters going six innings and turning it all through the bullpen.

It's going to be a lot of mix and match and tandeming. And losing Arias doesn't really change that for the Dodgers. I do think they can beat the Braves.

Though, as I say, this weekend, a playoff preview, the Braves looked excellent. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. We're taking you across the bigs with Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. Joe, this has become the most angel season ever with the misery continuing with Shohei Ohitani's elbow injury. Where do you come out on Ohitani continuing to play as a DH despite being shut down on the mound for the rest of the year?

I think it's his choice. I remember he played the year after he had Tommy John surgery. He played that whole year without being a pitcher while coming back from surgery.

And he came back as a pitcher eventually and he was very effective for two and a half seasons. So I think as long as he wants to play, you have to let him do it. I think if you're the Angels, obviously you get the benefit of him playing and bigger crowds showing up to watch him for the final month of his being an Angel.

I give Ohitani a certain amount of credit too. I mean, it would be easy for him to say, you know what, I've got a tour in UCL. I've got a free agency coming up.

The sooner I have my Tommy John surgery, the sooner I can get back on the mound. And he's not doing that. He's going out on the field at personal risk, at potential financial risk and playing the games. I think he's got to give Ohitani a lot of credit for that.

And playing at a high level, still leading the bigs in terms of power production, most home runs in all of baseball. So as we were already, every time I chatted with you heading into the trade deadline, speculating about the future of Ohitani near term and then talking about his looming free agency in the off season. How do you think this elbow injury impacts Ohitani as a free agent? Well, you know, in 2024, he's not going to pitch.

So you're getting a one way player. What we don't know is if whether that player is going to be a designated hitter or whether he's eventually going to translate into being an outfielder. My feeling is that if Ohitani ever gave up pitching, he wouldn't be David Ortiz. He'd be Larry Walker. If you look at the skills that he had, he'd actually make a fantastic right fielder. So I don't know if he gets there in 2024. Does he decide that, OK, I've now had, you know, I've had to have Tommy John in a revision is the best thing from my career to be a one way player. And now you're evaluating him as more or less what Aaron Judge was going into free agency last year. I think there's a lot of unknowns. Right. I'd like to say I gave you a great answer here, but some of this is going to come down to Ohitani, whether he wants to continue to try to be a two way player starting in 2025 or if he accepts that, hey, look, this is as far as my elbows.

Let me go. Let me see what I can what I can do, whether I can transition to the outfield and be a superstar there. Well, it's certainly understandable to have ambiguity because we have not seen a player like this since, dare I say, Babe Ruth. You mentioned Aaron Judge Yankees on track to have their first losing season since 92. Brian Cashman has already described it on the record as a disaster from where you're watching games. How much of what we've seen go wrong for the Yankees is on Cashman for assembling this roster and how much of it is on the players? I think Cashman made mistakes in the last few years. If you look at the second signing of D.J. LeMahieu, if you look at the trade for Josh Donaldson, it made the team older and carried a lot of aging risk, which we saw play out this year.

You throw the Anthony Rizzo second deal on top of that as well. On balance, I think Brian Cashman is a well above average general manager. If you look at the pitching development, the player development of the Yankees, they've got a lot of top prospects. They can transition to the next team, which will have been built in large part by Cashman. Let's not forget, Cashman is also responsible for one of the most successful three agent signings in memory in Derek Cole.

So there are a lot of positive marks on his legend. I do think he deserves at least another year to see if he can navigate this transition to the Volpe Dominguez Yankees to play along with Judge and some of the other ones. I also think we've got to look at Hal Steinbrenner here. This isn't George Steinbrenner paying whatever he would have paid, not paying as much into revenue sharing, not having to worry about a luxury tax threshold. Hal Steinbrenner is working under a much different set of rules than his father did.

And he's going to have to either show a certain willingness to pay more money and pay some luxury tax to get through this transition, or some of the blame for what people are running Cashman for actually should be on Hal. Joe, since you mentioned you think Cashman gets another year, how about Aaron Boone? I don't think Boone has necessarily lost his job. Again, this is one bad year, and it's a bad year that's going to end up being with a 500-ish team.

I think we've got to understand that the stands are a bit skewed. I will say that the next year's Yankees are going to look different because of all these young players. Boone was hired to manage a fairly veteran-laden team.

Maybe you want to bring somebody with a little more of a development background to run this team. I think you can better justify letting Boone go and bringing in a new manager than letting Cashman go, which is not saying Boone should be fired. It's just saying it is more of a case for doing it, given what the Yankees are going to be trying to do here in the next year or two. Joe, always a pleasure. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk baseball on a day in which every other show is going, all football all the time. I mentioned the terrific Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter.

I love when I throw out this question, you give me the predictable answer, I'll do it again. What are listeners going to get if they subscribe to the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter by going to JoeSheehan.com? I'm the only person who covers baseball in September and October anymore.

I'm literally the only person. If you go to ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Fox, I'm the last guy covering baseball. So if you miss baseball, I'm the guy to read. I'm doing the newsletter now for 14. Go ahead, Brian. No, no, Joe, you're supposed to say, I put a lot of words about baseball in the newsletter.

You gave me that the last two times when I've been trying to plug you. Yeah, we read about the game for 25 years starting. It was one of the guys who started Baseball Prospectus. Then I read for SI, the New York Times, pretty much everywhere.

A lot of places that don't have sports sections anymore. But now I write the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. It's a subscription newsletter.

It was one of the first ones out there. Go to JoeSheehan.com. Get a real good sense of what I do. Some excerpts from pieces, some full pieces. There's a whole bunch of free content from the archives you can check out. If you enjoy the game, if you enjoy reading about the game, I think you'll enjoy the newsletter. JoeSheehan.com.

Beautiful. And we just established it's the only place to get MLB news and analysis for the next 60 days. Joe, thanks for taking the time. Enjoy the rest of your holiday. Look forward to chatting with you when we get to the playoffs. Thanks, Brian.

Take care. Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. I'm glad he got more well-versed in self-promotion because I want people to know about the outstanding content.

And the last couple times when I talked to Joe on July 4th and just prior to the trade deadline heading into August, he said, well, Brian, it's a lot of words about baseball comprised in a newsletter. Look, you don't have to be as much of a shill as yours truly is. But in a tough economy, in a 5 billion channel universe, you better get eyeballs coming your way. Who does it better than Rich?

Think about all the platforms this program exists on and all of the different outlets that Rich appears on. In the catchment, Westwood won on Thursday, part of NFL kickoff. Oh, football is back.

It feels so good. It'll be the reigning Super Bowl champs of Kansas City taking on the vastly improved, we believe based on what they did at the end of last year, Detroit Lions. I'll remind you, the Lions have one playoff win since the early 1990s, but I'm not going to step on their hype train. And Rich is back on this very program tomorrow.

After all, it is the Rich Eisen Show. Enjoy the college football tonight. Feels good to have Monday Night Football, whether it's on campus or in a professional stadium. Duke is better than you think if you've not been paying attention.

And I keep revealing myself as a hardcore college football fan. Duke team that only had four losses last year. The Elko longtime defensive mastermind at programs like Notre Dame, Texas A&M, got his first head coaching job in his early 50s, coached up the Blue Devils. Nine wins last year, and you're going to enjoy quarterback Wiley Leonard.

Almost 3,000 yards in the year, 20 passing touchdowns last year, 700 on the ground, 13 more TDs. But Blue Devils are going to have to be at their very best. Here comes mighty Clemson, Daboswini's team, perennially in the top ten, number nine to kick off this season.

That game coming up under the lights in Durham, North Carolina. As always, many people to thank. Want to start with Rich Eisen, Bruce Gilbert, all the good people at Westwood One. Our excellent technical producer, Art Martinez, our guests, Trevor Sikkema, a pro football focus, Pete Futek, collegefootballnews.com, Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter. My name is Brian Weber. Rich is back with you tomorrow.

I'll talk with you, fingers crossed, on Thanksgiving right here on the Rich Eisen Show. For over three decades, nobody has had a wrestling career like Arn Anderson. Conrad Thompson gets all the stories with Arn. After watching AEW's Double or Nothing, Amy wants to know, what does dinosaur taste like? It ain't chicken. It's like biting into a sinewy charcoal briquette, but chewy. Oh wow, that's disgusting. It sure is. Check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.