Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Welcome to the Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon got to the bottom of the Clippers and Raptors trade for Kawhi Leonard NOT being complete until the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers is over. Plus, Jon Paul Morosi joins the show to talk about the World Cup and MLB.  And how the heck have the Commanders not retired No. 44 for John Riggins??

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings, Happy Thursday. Now I'm three for four getting the
days of the week right now.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, let's go. Welcome inside the Jason Smith Show with
my bas friend Mike Harmon.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
Well dressed hobo.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
When your logistic business is moving fast, so should your workforce.
Express Employment Professionals connect you with qualified talent fast. Express
helps you hire smarter and State Productive is a expresspros
dot com to find a location. Express some ployment professionals
respecting people impacting business. After a day of no soccer,
we had one game today, Yeah we did. I mean,

(01:08):
it's you gotta understand, Harry Jam I understand now It's
not gonna be the you know, the the salad days.
We've gotten used to of Oh there's three games. I
can watch a game and I can have lunch, and
I can watch a game, and I could have dinner,
and I could watch a game and go of ice cream. No,
now it's you get one game a day if you're lucky,
and you're gonna like it.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Oh, you better hope it's a good one.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
You're dear to where we are we having to And
this is why the World Cup is great because it
shows you, Hey, we're gonna give you all this great
soccer for a long time, but we can't go forever.
So instead of going cold turkey, we're just gonna taper
it all right. Hey three games a day. Oh it's
a great guy. Now now okay, now we're take a
day off. Don't worry, we'll come come back with one game.
They're gonna give you one game, don't get two games.

(01:49):
Then it's gonna be one game. Then it's gonna be
a couple of days off. And that it's gonna be
my I mean, it's it's how it is.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's the opposite of the old Let's entice you with
one game for free and then make you realize how
much you love it, you want to pay for it,
you know, that's like so many street drugs.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, but that's the thing is that you know where
that's never going to happen. Streaming, No a game for free,
But we're not giving you anything for free.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
We spent a million dollars on this one game and
it's the Dolphins and the Jets. You are spending money
to watch this game. We're not giving it as away
for free.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, we might find a way to entice you with
a little bit of extra incentive, but yeah, it's it's
a new world order, no question about it.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
So today's game France and Morocco. France wins it to
nothing and another big day for Mbope nearly two goals,
nearly tying leon Old Messi for most World Cup goals
all time, but he misses a penalty early.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
In the game. The stupid ass stutters step. I don't
know if I'm going forward, if I'm going to fall
over or whatever, because it is not working in this world. God.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
The thing is, I'll tell you is that you know
how much I hate that. I'll I always tell you
someone who stutter steps and does that does not have
confidence in addressing the ball and making a shot.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Oh ball, But but Bope, is.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
You know it was his first miss? Yes? There he
was nineteen for nineteen all right, general and bope, Yes,
Frostburg sent me the general. Uh bope, Dictator. Yeah, I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
He's had a weird week with politicos man. I don't
even know where to start with all of that back
and forth.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
But we kick things off our big discussion right now
on the World Cup, and we've been ab with our
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buying should be. Well, yes, he missed the penalty, but

(03:38):
then finding the back of the net, that was all
France needed to move into the semifinals. And that is
our play of the dead. Denia crosses it in, walked
away by mosrally Odio heads it back in to able
to fight in Boppe to.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
Traffic twenty tops.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Gives translate the.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Harry Kane.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
No Harry Kane today, he did not play today. No,
it wasn't on television.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
He hit a score. He didn't have some good rips.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Hurricane did not play today, Yes, he did not play,
although you know I will. You know. My favorite thing
of today was the picture making the rounds of when
Harry Kane when he was a youth player him and
and it shows you the picture here's Harry Kane, who
is a great youth player, and here's this girl who
was a great youth player when they met Beckham when
he was young and Beckham was the obviously the guy

(04:36):
in England. And then it's like, yeah, and now you
know these two are married and they have kids, they've
been together, and it's like that's a football life right there.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I would just keep finding out more and more examples
of what an insulated world is. I refer you back
to a young Lionel Messi bathing.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I mean that's
that would be the man, like, you know, if that
winds up, if they wind up playing, right, like you know,
if you if you wind up playing, I would think
that'd be like the end of for love of the game,
when Costner has to get out the son of the
guy that was his teammate to complete the perfect games, Like, really,

(05:15):
who would ever send a kid up there? Yeah, go
up there and wreck a perfect game. Nah, I'm not
gonna do that, but that's kind of what remind me of.
Oh yeah, my dad says, I great, and he's the
final out of the perfect game.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Okay, it's awesome. Yeah, it all all ties together. It's
a very very strange world. I'd like to go explore
it and do a deep dive research project.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
I bathed you. I brought you into this world. I
could take you out of it, just so you know
I can do that. I'm messy, Okay, I bathe. But
the big conversation coming off today right the first of
the of the quarterfinal games in France's booked a spot
in the in the semifinals. Boy, I it's really hard
at this point in the tournament to see another team

(05:54):
beating France. I know that we talked about them being
the overwhelming favorite all the way through and but yes,
there's a lot of soccer to happen. A lot of
things can happen, not a lot's gonna happen. There's only
two more games for France, and of the likely teams
that are going to advance. They all have problems. Right England,
their offense looks pretty good defensively talked about how shaky
they look. Argentina, Hey, they needed everything they could end

(06:19):
and and and and fortuitous officiating just to beat Egypt.
You know, the other day that.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Was a good way to say it. The Egyptian coach
would have come a little stronger.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Is Spain can't score and you won't score against them,
but they can't score. They all have problems. France has none,
right France, France that you're seeing, this is the most
complete team and there's a reason why we talked about
them as being the overwhelming favorite. But again remember as
games go on, things happen. You have no idea how
this is gonna play it, this is gonna play out.
But there's no weakness and Embape is simply going to

(06:50):
score at least a goal every game, no matter why.
He could have a brace against Spain and I wouldn't
be surprised pain out a goal in the World Cup.
But France is just overall, it's the best roster top
to bottom. They are playing the best they are. They
have peaked from the beginning of the World Cup It's
not like they played difficult at first, and no, they've
been playing peak performance since the beginning of the World Cup.

(07:11):
Morocco is a terrific team, right they blew out Canada.
Canada was was you know, it was a feel good story,
but they in Canada is not a bad team, but
they blew them off the pitch.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Hey, Jesse marsh And is still defending his nation and
Keny team.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
They're doing a podcast, yes about what Yes, and Mitch Johnson. Yeah,
they're all on the same podcast together. But you know,
this is this Morocco team that just blew Canada off
the pitch and they looked like they didn't even belong
on the same They managed five shots.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
The one shot on goal came very late in the game,
although they started getting possession towards the end. I'm like,
all it takes is one of these set pieces and
all of a sudden we got a little bit of chaos.
It never came, of course, but you know, you look
at just the one sided nature of it twenty two
to five. But defensively, they they stood strong. I mean,

(07:59):
because you you thought it was gonna get out of
sorts pretty fast. The way France started their attack.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, but watching this game and seeing how it unfolds,
you see the speed of France and the speed of Imbappe,
and and just forget, Morocco looked like a team that
you forget, this is a top ten team in the world.
They looked like they looked like the United States playing Belgium,
where it's like, okay, we're just well, we just have problems. Man.
That's what France is able to do to a top
ten team overall in the World Cup. Like it's it'll

(08:28):
be great theater, whatever, the matchup's gonna wind up being
France beats Spaint. France and England insane, France and Argentina insane,
and in the end, France will win both of those games,
probably to nothing, like that's how good they're playing.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
But you watch the offense, right, and obviously imbape is
gonna be the record setter in so many ways, tied
for the Golden Boot, all those things. But you got
Dimballe who's been fantastic, And we were passing around the
note Earliers Laton with the over over praise, the over
the top on Michael Michael Elise who's got five assists,

(09:01):
and it is just like watching a point guard play
in the NBA. Well, he said he was like the
Tom Brady of he gave him the Tom Brady.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
I took it back to the point guard, the Tom Brady. Okay,
two different sports. Not but I get what you're saying
is a lot on. Okay, I know what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
But but just that idea of how he sees, anticipates,
and you just go into the space because the ball
is going to be waiting. It's and it's very much
the Tom. Look, he's got to give his teammate Tom
Brady a little bit of love.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yeah, to where if.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
You're the running back out of the backfield, wide receiver,
tight end, run your route, it's gonna hit you in
the face. So I mean, it's perfect. And this is
the way this offense runs. And you saw what they
were able to do in a dominant form today.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Now I do have to give you a hot take
as we're going on, cause you name Jets to the super.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Come on, he did that the last couple.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
No, three years ago, Man, three years ago, Nix and
five Nixon five, just Nix and five. Uh, I'm a
disappointed and his lot on?

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Why is that?

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Okay? Now think he hasn't beaten up right now and Lexi,
let's go right now, right now. No, I'm a little
I'm a little disappointed in a lot of time because
quite real, because quite honestly, I didn't expect him to
give this much credit to teams playing well or individual

(10:24):
players playing well in the World Cup, because I always
expected to say, hey, what do you think of him?
Bape's a lot of time he is good. He is
no oh but but wow, but look at the record
he has Goald. I mean, he's been holding a couple
of World Cups. He's gonna finish with thirty five goals
when it's all said and done. Yes, but he has
not Alaton Like okay, all right, hey how about uh
what about Jude Bellingham? What He's been terrific player for England.

(10:47):
There's a lot done. He's better player. Like I mean,
I really, I really, every time somebody plays well, I really,
I'm hoping and expecting him to tell this guy's not
that good. He's not me just to you know, how
many what do you think about that goal that Messi scored?
How about that second goal to give them the lead?
How many goals has lot tons scored that way in
his career. I can't even count. I can't even count

(11:07):
how many.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
He has been pretty effusive with the praise, there's no question. Really,
I thought, like the only place where he's gotten a
little bit negative But even then it was the snark
as we talked about the gone fishing kind of things
as teams exit the stage.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
But I thought it would go a little more barkley.
He'd be a little more barkley in that I'll give
you praise, but when somebody does something poor, they play badly,
I'm going to really just rip into Oh.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
No, he's gotten after that a little bit, but he's
generally it's the coverage just focused on the positivity of
all us surround, really right.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
And I hate to say this because you know me
something when we talked about World Cup coverage of the
past and whether it's Fox or anywhere else, it just
is inherently negative, you know, mainly because teen USA doesn't win.
But like I really I feel like I feel like
it's too positive, Like Lot Dons too positive. Man, I
love positivity. It's a positivity Thursday, But like I feel
like he's Lot he's been too positive of overall the

(12:00):
World Jason, you want to know I can't agree with you. Yes,
this stupid take he.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Had that I want one word from you.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Can the US win this World Cup?

Speaker 5 (12:07):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Or no?

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (12:09):
And has spoken didn't age? Well no, But again that
was positive. That was positive.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Maybe the door's open. How positive was that? The other
the others? Everybody telling you so great? At some point
it's just like, wow, they're liking that. I'm Joe positive.
I'm gonna keep giving.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Them what they want. I mean his answer should have
been the lot of time, yes, in one word, can
the United States win the World Cup? It is joke time.
Now we tell jokes, Okay, I will tell you my
favorite joke. Like that's that's what I'm expecting from him.
More so that. I mean, he's been so entertaining and
it's it's been fun seeing them go back and forth.
But man, I'll tell you I really thought that, you know, hey,

(12:51):
a little bit more negative man.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
But off of that take that Tysher just played, I mean,
it is more proof that everybody listens to the show. Yeah,
and he got sucked in to your why not us?

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Sure? Sure, that's okay, So you'reful.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Unless you created positive slots all right, and well super
villain I did we could get a little negatives lot on.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Oh oh is this gonna be the weather one? Oh
you hear he is talking about the weather is the
great one.

Speaker 5 (13:16):
This is enjoy today. They're gonna do their thing. I
guess a difficult opponent. And this is the best eight
teams in the tournament so far. So let's see how
it plays down. And we are excited. The sun is shining.
We are burning from behind. But if you're hot as me,
you can handle it. Yeah, yeah, very true. And if
you're white as the Lexi, you cannot handle it. But

(13:37):
I'm gonna cover you.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
If you, as I described myself as pasty, go off, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I understand.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, the glare off of you, Alexi is going to
blind people watching on television, you know, or something I like,
cover you. Uh, I can't believe I've ever said that.
I'm never gonna say that, but yeah, is too much
positivity coming out of his lots on? I really, I really, look,
you didn't know how much I enjoyed the negative spind
that he would have on things.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
But does that go back to Lawless has covered that
enough and hen Ree's kind of just straight down the middle.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Well, another day, I'll tell you that nobody more excited
for football season to start than the US men's national team.
Fair boy, are we just going to get beat around
the head every single day until teams report for football? Yes,
that's what's happening. Uh. The aftermath of the loss to
Belgium got even crazier today and we'll get to the

(14:44):
Christian polistic part of it in a couple of minutes,
because there's something we're really not talking enough about with
regards to Polisic. But something I saw that was that
I thought was so interesting today was seeing ESPN had
a big breakdown of one of their experts what went
wrong for the United States in the game against Belgium

(15:05):
and what their overall grades are in certain perspectives, not
just coaching, great defense grade, but what was there great
for the attack? What was it great for preparation going in?
And you know, and it's interesting and I'm going, okay,
because I want to see it goes all different, you know,
perspectives on what people think. But the thing that stuck
out to me the most was what the person writing

(15:25):
the article wrote about what they were told by a
fellow coach anonymously. Right, you heard Carly Lloyd say on
Fox that she felt the United States lost the game
against Belgium before the game started, Right, They came out
with no energy, They looked terrible, and Belgium just you know,
ran the table from the beginning. And in the article,

(15:47):
it was the coach who was anonymous was quoted that
watching the United States warm up, I've never seen a
worse warm up before a game than the United States uninterested.
They looked awful and they carried that into the game
and that's why they started. And I thought that was
so interesting because you know, coaching as long as I have,

(16:13):
soccer is so different than any other sport in that
when I was coaching softball, you'd see teams warm up
great and teams warm up badly, and it was zero
indication of how they played like I had. I had
my team. Sometimes we warmed up awesome and I'm like, yeah,
we're ready to go, and then all of a sudden,
it's five to nothing after the second inning, and I'm

(16:34):
like what happened to us? What happened? And certain times
I'll see another team warm up while we're doing our one,
and I look at the other team and I'll see
what the how the picture is throwing and what they're hitting,
and they're just hitting lasers and they're stationed to station there,
and you would say, wow, they look like they're ready
to play, and then we wind up winning the game
eight one. Right, So softball, I've never really seen any
sort of correlation between how a team warmed up and

(16:57):
how they played, right, So sometimes it's it's about your
If you're that you're warms up good and you're picture's
stowing great, doesn't matter. But I've never I've never able
to say, well, hey, don't worry, you know. I always
tell I always tell the girls the same thing, like
if they may finish warm up, we get to the
dugout first, and uh they would say, uh, boy, look
at that boy, they're really warm. Well, that girl's really
big and she's hitting the ball here they're doing this,

(17:18):
and I would say the same thing. Takes more than
a can of paint to make it a thunder road,
right like, and they're like, what, I go Eventually you'll
see grease. But I'm like, you know, they just because
they look good doesn't mean they're gonna be great. Reference
their grandpa. But no, no, everybody's seen Greece.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
Every point.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Everybody's seeing Greece. Uh so softball, there's zero, literally zero correlation.
And all the games I've ever coached, sometimes they warm
up great, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the other team. But
in soccer, I would always watch the other team warm up,
and every game, I can tell you every single game,
I knew the kind of game that we were in
for after watching the team warm up. If I saw

(17:55):
if they were warming up and they were sharp, and
they were powerful, and they were on their I would say, Okay,
this is gonna be a tough game. They're gonna take
it to us right at the beginning. And I was right.
If I saw them warm up a little bit loosely,
I would say, Okay, here's the defenders warming up. They're
a little bit loose. We're gonna be able to get
after them. We're gonna be able to get after them
on the ball. We're gonna pressure them, pressure their defenders.
Watch them warm up, right, Who was watching your team one?

(18:17):
So I I know my team were I know, I
know my team, I see, I seem enough. So I
would watch it and I would always say and I
was always right. I was always right. I knew games
if my team didn't warm up, great, Ago, we're coming
out of this gate badly. And I got to really
pick them up before the game, going, hey, are we
ready to play? Because they're gonna take it to us
right out of the gate, right and they're gonna get
a goal in the first two minutes. If you're not
ready to go soccer, I always knew, because there was

(18:39):
just you can tell why a team how ready they
are for this game, because it's it's about the frame
of mind when you start with running and the physicality.
There is nothing else you have to worry about starting
soccer outside of your effort. When you are starting a game,
it is about your effort. Right with baseball, Hey, the
pitcher is great, okay, what are you gonna do? Right

(19:00):
in football, if the quarterback's great, what are you gonna do?
If the offensive line is blowing open holes, what are
you gonna do? But soccer, the beginning of the game
is all about your effort and where you are. And
I again, I owe every single game. This is gonna
be a tough game. This is gonna be a game
we're gonna we're gonna roll over them. This is they're
gonna be They're gonna be vulnerable here. They're not vulnerable here.
And to see that and it just I just shake

(19:22):
my head and I go and this is where for Poachatino,
who I thought that's such a great job. I'm like,
this is on you, Like, this is the one thing
I can say, all right, you want to talk about Poach. Okay,
the guys are flat and that really is unbelievable, but
it happens. You gotta get them. You got to grab
their attention so they know coming out of the gate,
this team, this is the bleeping World Cup.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
Man.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Fifty million people are watching this game and you're warming
up like we're getting ready to play a friendly uh
in Canada? Right? I mean, what are we doing? What's
going on?

Speaker 3 (19:54):
What are we doing?

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Like?

Speaker 1 (19:54):
What's going on? You have to find a way to
get their attention, whether it's before the game or something,
or find a way because you can't just get on
the field and and and have the team start the
game that way right like they were out of the
game very early because of their lack of effort and
their lack of focus and being flat. And I can't
but I can't believe that that's gotta be something that

(20:15):
the coaching staff saw. It's got to be something they say, Hey,
our warm ups are in great man, we gotta do
something here a little bit. Okay, let's make sure we're
foot whatever it is mentally, well, you need to talk
to a player. You talk to your captain. You gotta
talk to Tim Reim. Hey, Tim, first of all, want
to tell you, hey, you're you're in for a bad game,
just you know, just you know, try to try to
do the best and don't freeze whatever it is. You

(20:36):
got to find a way to make sure that they
are at peak performance ready for the game. And I'm sorry,
but that's a yes. The players should be motivated. I
don't know how you're not motivated to play that way
in the World Cup when you're at that level. But
this generation has always had a problem playing flat in
big games. The polistic generation has always had a problem

(20:56):
being flat. Why are they so flat? Why is Anthony Robinson? This?
Why is death? This are how are they all playing
this way? But that's when you're a coach. Okay, I
see this problem and I got a rectified and it
was not rectified. That that to me was the biggest fail.
It doesn't matter when you get on the pitch with
Belgium and you see that they're a better team and
they're executed a little bit better. Okay, but you damn

(21:16):
sure can control your effort in the beginning of the
game and make sure you are mentally ready to play.
And and that was we talked about the mental aspect
of this game, and that's where the United States fell
the most short. Was mentally playing this game.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yeah, we talk about showing up, and showing up. That's it.
That's all you can control. I just know for many years,
you know, all of the youth soccer and and different
teams and watching it. There were days where you'd watch
the warm up and be like, yeah, you know, it's
the middle of the afternoon. We had to drive two
hundred miles to come to this game, and everybody arrived

(21:49):
at a different time. This this is going to start ugly,
but they'll snap into it. Hopefully they don't give up
the early early goal and fall out early. But for
the United States, I mean everybody went out of their
way to for excuse making in that thirty six hours
leading up to kickoff. Right of Oh, if it goes
bad and it became the political thing, ah, the referees

(22:09):
are going to be out. Oh, it's us against the world.
It's always us against the world. If you're not been
paying attention for low these many years, no matter what
it is, that has been the case. But for this
group of individuals. And I like that you made it
the Policic era, Polisic generation. Well it is, He's Captain America.
I mean Pepsi was the choice of Adie. It's a reason,

(22:32):
it's a reason why I'm done with. I told you
I'm done with the Golden generation. That's happen to retool
around that the three stud players you got Balligan and
Tillman and Freeman and find your next group, right, I'm done,
like even And to get into the politic part of
this now, is that obviously his injury bone bruise.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
That is going to keep him out for a while.
That story comes out today and obviously we knew Politic
was dinged up because he had the bad step. He
comes out of the game after the third goal for Belgium.
Forget the on and off field hate that he's been
getting the last couple of days from basically everybody. Right,
this is a guy that needs a vacation, go somewhere
where there's no phone. But he just had a Now
he can rest. Now, now you can make a lot

(23:12):
of rest before. He's had a lot of missteps both
on the field, what he has talked about, the opinions
of him, all of that is legitimate, right, all of that.
You've heard that, you know, you've you've for the last
twenty four to thirty six hours, that's all you've heard
about Polisic. You've gotten stories from former us Men star
players saying, ah, you know, he's not the greatest guy.

(23:34):
He doesn't shake hands with the analysts before the game.
He's not somebody that's really approachable. You've heard of all
of that, right, And all of that is legitimate, Right,
All of that is legitimate for Christian Polisic. But what
needs to be talked about more is that, Okay, again,
here it is another game where Polisic got hurt and
he missed a lot of the game and now he's

(23:56):
going to be out for a little while, like no whatever,
and forget about the the aspect of the oh, how
injured is he really? Is this just an excuse to
try to get more publicity.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Whether it is or not, it doesn't matter, because what's
not being talked about enough with Polisic is that his
entire career he has not been able to stay healthy.
Go back to twenty twenty. He's not been able to
stay healthy. Right. He has had alternating injuries for the
past six years. Right, go back to twenty twenty twenty two,
the fine hamstring problems that dogged him for a long time. Right,

(24:27):
the pelvic contusion he got on the goal against Iran.
Right that, Hey, we won a game in the World Cup.
But now I'm hurting him out, Okay, And now you
want to talk about him getting hurt twice in this
World Cup. Right, you had the bone berus, now you
had the calf injury. He's been limited with games he
has played overseas because he just can't stay healthy. And
that's just as big a problem. But no one's focusing

(24:50):
on that because obviously the sexiness of the story of
I can't believe we lost and I want blood. But
one of the other reasons why, hey, turn the page
on this on Polisic in this generation. But but this
is a Polisic thing, is that you can't count on
him and you need to be able to count on
your players. And there's lots of guys in the last
ten fifteen years you thought, Okay, this could be a
really good player for World Cups, and then they get

(25:11):
hurt and then they're gone, like Josie Alta.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Waltador is a great example right right alongside with him.
They were gonna be contemporaries, and that was the stack.
He couldn't stay healthy. And for Polisic, we talked about
it after the loss on Monday, right the stub goes
for the kick into the opponent's foot and then he
ultimately comes off the pitch and can't play through. And

(25:35):
I was saying micro fracture all these other things. And
you know, you all can decide on where you come
down on this being released today of their trying to
back off and put up a little fort around the
around Polisic in his feels to save a little bit
of face after the attack that's been out here. But

(25:57):
you were the face of it, all right, You weren't
the captain, which is a whole other discussion point that
has been raised throughout all of this is that's not
a guy that was elected captain by either of these coaches,
and now it would appear that it's done and if
he's around, he plays his secondary role going forward.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, I mean, if I thought that there would be
a case of he'll get healthy, but you've seen the
times supposed to be healthy, right, he just and when
it's big games and he can't stay healthy, all right,
like that, that's just as big a deal as all
the other things we talk about him in the underachieving.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
But but it becomes the mental and physical thing. To
your point earlier about warm ups and being ready blistic,
I mean, can you fight through it? Can you play?
Play and give give another twenty minutes because most of
these games that's all you're asking.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, I mean when when he's missing one hundred and
fifty days half the year in Europe half the time. Now,
you simply get to a point with a player when
they have an injury history where if they're hurt early,
you say to yourself, Okay, you get hurt here a
little bit, but it's the riggers of the game. He's

(27:08):
got to get used to the pounding and it's going
to get better. Then okay, then he's back, but then
he gets hurt again and you go, mmm, all right,
you know now he's injured. But boy, hopefully he's able
to put this injury stuff behind him. He's still young enough.
But then you get hurt the third time and it's okay,
we can't count on him anymore. And that's really political.

(27:30):
I mean, for two years he was hurt off and
on earlier in the twenties. Then he was hurt a
couple of years ago. Now he's ht Now it's like, okay,
you can't. You can't count on him. You just can't.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
He didn't play shit for half a game though.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
You can't play minutes. Can't play minutes, man, he can't
play it more than half the game, right, I mean
that's why why the Golden Generation? Yeah, But moving on
from Polisic, the guy can't say that that part is
not being talked about enough.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Hello, Welcome in Side our three, The Jason Smith Show.
With my best friend Mike Harmon, Concrete Jungle Dreams of
made Welcome Back, Jordan Clarkson. Look at the Knicks front
office cooking. They're just cooking, you know, just just miss
one glue guy, just for a second. The Knicks now
have brought back everybody on their team except for Mitchell Robinson. Right,

(28:24):
They got three players they wanted to bring back to
take as much money as it would take them to
just bring back Mitchell Robinson, but they have cut. We
just won the championship. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
It's hurt. He's not even gonna be cleared to wrestle
Dan Housen or we want Dan Housen next week.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Never wrestling Dan. I won four thousand dollars, right, remember.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
When he wanted to fight come?

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah. But this this tells you that that
we're living absolutely in the bizarre world where the Knicks
front office is doing things that every NBA front office
should look at them and say, I aspire to be
able to get guys to take less money to come back.

(29:08):
Not just Jalen Brunson taking hundreds of millions of dollars
less money to keep the team together, but even the
guys like Landry Shaman and Jordan Clarkson, who decide yes,
I'm gonna take less money too to come back because
I want to come back here, because this is where
I want to be, because winning in New York, this
experience I had is incredible. Those three guys and Alvarado,
they all come back for as much money as it

(29:30):
took the Celtics to go get Mitchell Robbins, who, oh,
by the way, was going at it with Celtics fans
on social media today. The Knicks front office is absolutely
cooking in this offseason. They're probably not done. Maybe DeMar
Derozen wants to go there, maybe somebody else, but they
are showing you that, oh hey, in New York, we're
getting people to take less money. Not in a smaller mart,

(29:52):
Not in Sacramento, we can convinced people to take less money,
not in Oklahoma City. In New York, we're convincing guys
to take less money to keep a team together. God's
still getting paid, but they're leaving money out there because
they want to win. That. The Knicks are the model
franchise in the NBA. Think about that. They are the bot.
They blow They blow out everybody through the playoffs and

(30:13):
dominate all the way through their record, the championship, and
now everybody is staying they're taking less money. The Knicks,
the long time laughing stock of the NBA, are now
the model Lanchise, the model stop you look.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
But it's investigation into how guys took less moneies. I mean,
are there any no show is Dan Housen? Are there
any more no show tree jobs out in the Greater
New York area to make it greater. But legitimately one
of the things that can be considered here obviously one

(30:48):
of the higher tax rates in the country. We understand
all that stuff cost a living, but what I think
these guys also recognize, and we talked about it with
cat and respect and all that. That's all find and
good that that's not paying a bill, but the fact
that you sell out every appearance. Look at Landry Shammitt
probably did twenty appearances.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Oh, I've got a mural.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
He's got a mural outside of him, legitimately one hundred
and fifty Yeah, plus the autograph. Yeah, like to me
and hang out and be in the room with this guy.
He's made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last
month being part of this team, recognizing that that gravy
train don't end because if you win, especially in the
city like New York, He's gonna sit cashing out forever.

(31:33):
He's gonna sign pictures of that three that bounced off
the rim four times for one hundred bucks a pop
for the rest of his life. But you saw the
the sales for the other jerseys, right, we talked about
the Sandobi went for a quarter million dollars. That was
the game one jerseys from the finals. But all of
that to say, I think some of them sat down
with their accountants and their agents realize we can go

(31:54):
play there. You're not gonna win. And a lot of
these guys have experienced not winning. Yeah, right, That's the
other is like they're not fresh to the league. They've
all had their experience either because of injury, rotation issues,
falling out of favors with a coach, whatever. Like they
like me here. I might not have huge minutes, might
not top out my salary, but I'm in a good

(32:16):
spot and I've got a lot of good will, never
paying for another meal or drink here again. And any
time I decide I want to go to a card
shop or anywhere else where. I'm gonna sign autographs and
post for pictures. I'm making bank right, fanatics fest is
get ready to go on the amount of money those
guys are making just for walking into the door makes
up a lot of that cash they left on the table.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
But again, getting them to buy in to do it
like the model franchise, Well.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
It's like, it's like Jerry maguire, why don't we have
that kind of relationship? And and and the Knicks are
making the rest of the NBA go crazy, like all
the crazy free agent moves because the Knicks won, and
all the all the trolling they've done. Boyd, they they're
just been crushing the Spurs. And now maybe this is
a Knicks aspect of it. Maybe this is the next
story that's got this happening with the Spurs today. But

(33:02):
I thought you were going to do the Knicks. And
here's how they've categorized all the celebrities and people they
have to look at when they come into the low thread,
high threat Jon Major.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Let that guy in, yeah, leave him out, let him in.
Let Charles Oakley in before you let him in. But
apparently no, it's so bad that the Spurs lost Nix
is so bad it's affecting their play by play guys. Uh,
this story out of the NBA today, the insanity of it.

(33:36):
Jacob Toby has been the Spurs play by play guy
for the last couple of years. He is now the
ex play by play voice of the San Antonio Spurs
because he has been fired after allegations have been having
an affair with a sister of one of the Spurs players. Okay,
all right, how did we find out about this, glad,

(33:56):
you asked? Late Tuesday night, his Instagram account had a
post that appeared and it said, this is my girlfriend
of six years, but I cheated on her with Lauren Waters.
So feel free to continue following me if you really
think I'm a good guy, because I'm not.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
Now.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
When I see something like that, I go, Okay, that's
a guy that got hacked. But all right, we'll see.
Turns out his girlfriend got according to her, according reports,
she got on his phone posted that picture on Instagram
because she found out he was cheating on her with
Lauren Waters, against sister of Spurs player. And then later
on in the post was a picture of Toby with Waters.

(34:34):
One of those the strip films where you go into
a boothy, you take like four pictures in a row.
Your guy goes out he lost his fantasy league, and
you gotta out yourself that you're having an affair. So
this is not this is you know, this is him
and his girlfriend and he gets fired because of this.
And I've seen a lot of reports today and I

(34:55):
had a feeling we would we we this is where
people would go with When I'm knowing the angle, I
think we could take on it. For people who talk
about during the day, is that boy, the guy's got
a case to keep his job. Why do you get
fired off of this? This isn't you know what did
he do? Is anything illegal happen? Well, he has a
big case to keep his job. And yes, I get
that in the world, we have really blurred that line

(35:16):
between what is acceptable and unacceptable in the world when
an embarrassing event happens. It used to be hey, if
you don't protect the shield, you're gonna be let go.
Now there's so many different angles to it. You're gonna
find your supporters online and it's much more difficult, and
you don't see teams making decisions like this like they
normally would. But there's part of me that you know,

(35:39):
to go the other way on this, is that I
kind of feel good that the Spurs have a standard
that they feel they want their players to and they're
franchise to live up to. You just got to work
on Wenby for the flagrant Fels. But I kind of
like the fact that, hey, this is the story that's
incredibly embarrassing to us. Here's our play by play announcer
and his girlfriend gets on his phone and puts this

(36:02):
tweet out there, puts this Instagram post out there, which, okay,
kind of a live wire relationship we're dealing with here.
Who's this guy that we have employed as our play
by play guy? Right?

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Her future relationships now as well, because I mean, who's
getting on board that Burt, Like.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
The end of Keith Hernandez's fanast is right, it's Burt.
It's Burt. So you're the Spurs and you're saying, okay,
here's a young guy. We hire, this up and coming
play by play guy, very highly rated, people said many
good things about him. But now his girlfriend gets his
phone posts this, this is embarrassing for us. Affair with
a player's sister embarrassing for us. So we're going in
another direction, and and there's a large part of this

(36:37):
is I'm glad that they are living up to a
standard of you know, just because we've seen this line
blurred so much doesn't mean we're not going to do
what we feel is right in the situation. Because this
is the definition of not protecting the shield, right. This
is embarrassing for the for the franchise. Involves somebody that's
directly employed by the franchise and is a player on

(36:59):
the team. So yeah, I get the Spurs letting him go.
And I kind of feel that, Okay, maybe all sorts
of decorum isn't lost in the world when you still
see teams making a decision like this, when it'd be
easy to go the other way and go, well, who
did you really hurt? Well did anybody that was it
was an affair. Other people have affairs. People have affairs.
Here's the people on social media that are coming to

(37:20):
his defense. Boy, look at the retweets on this. Ah,
we'll keep him. It's going to be a bit of
a firestorm.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
No.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
I kind of like that. Here's the Spurs saying, no,
we have standards, This is not it. When we're looking
for somebody.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
Else, standards, morality, clauses, whatever you want to invoke. Talk
about what the old don't insert word here where you eat? Yeah,
all right, I mean kind of thing. What it does
locker room? I mean, does that become a talking point
in the locker room where everybody's looking around, relatives and
whatever else?

Speaker 1 (37:52):
I mean, this is a plot line from a movie
where the person steals the other person's phone and posts
on social Media's a movie plot line, insane, that's certainly problematic.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
And for the young lady, I mean, if you I'm sorry,
she was wrong, feels wrong, she was mad. Now his
life is ruined, her life okay to uh, you know.
For the Spurs, they don't have a currently have a
local TV deal, so it's also a well, we're in
a spot where we can make this go away. It'll

(38:24):
be uncomfortable from it's in the off season. People stop
talking about Mitch Johnson and questionable maneuvers and deer and
fox no showing uh and all of those things.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
But but they wouldn't get past this, like this guy
being the voice. They wouldn't get past this embarrassment of oh, yeah,
you're messing around with me. Blank you man, here you
go here's a social media post. I got your phone
and I'm posting this.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
But he keeps going back to you know, you've got
a comment on the games, right, assuming Waters would still
be a member of the Spurs. And even if you say, well,
that's that's it, it's like, well, no, other people have sisters,
they have wives, they have girlfriends, they have whatever. And
I'm not saying these some predatorial kind of thing, but
it's stuff that can get in and be pervasive in

(39:09):
a locker room. And We've heard millions of stories through
the years working media. Some of them have leaked out.
Others are urban lore about how teams get fractured over things.
A lot of it just coach, player or players whatever.
But you had the broadcast, they're traveling with the team,
they're around whatever. I mean, it's yeah, it's the idea

(39:31):
of all right, here's an organization that was always about quiet.
Just go do your work. This did not allow them
to be quiet. Yeah, just go back into an off
season of retooling.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
And there's usually a couple of times a year. I
think about this. One of the most truthful things I've
ever been told about working in the media is this.
And JT. The brick who is here for a long
time and now he's in Vegas doing his thing. Is
he told me this is twenty years ago. Twenty years
ago only he said you were going to see in
your life that you are going to get your opportunities

(40:05):
because people in front of you can't handle success and
they blow themselves up more than you will get chances
on your own talent. And I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah,
the figure's just saying that, and that is one hundred
percent true. There is what because now somebody's gonna get
a chance to be a play by play voice to
the San Antonio Spurs and they're getting it. They never
thought they'd get it, but they're gonna get it because
of this. Because Jacob Toby's relationship went sideways and and

(40:28):
and this life, everything that happened to him just came
crashing down on him. I mean, he's a again, it's
a sitcom story, it's a it's a streaming TV show story,
and that's gonna happen. And I've seen it throughout my life.
I've gotten most of my opportunities have been because you know,
somebody that had that had a gig couldn't handle it.
So I was able to get it, like, Okay, that's great.
But you know I see stories like this and I go, man,

(40:49):
not twenty years and that still happens. People can't handle success,
and that's how it goes.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Do you think the inbox slash voicemail had enough room
for all of the entry for the spurs, because, I mean,
Rich Paul was set up for what twenty seven voicemails?

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Well, do you think maybe one of the voicemails was
actually about, Hey, I hope this is the number to
call for lebron Uh? Is this Rich Paul's numbers? I'm sorry,
I'm just you know what, I'll call back. I'll call back,
I'll send my tape. Moral of the story, guys, go ahead,
that's where you eat. Oh, I mean that's that's you see. Yeah,

(41:25):
that dropped the Mike Frossburg whoa, whoa ty shirt?

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Whoa?

Speaker 1 (41:31):
It's the emphasis The mic was drawing fastest on the selabs.
The mic was dropped. It's all good, Mike, it's all good.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
Something else.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Joining us now on the hot line of man who
is uniquely qualified for many things. Right now, he's uniquely
qualified to talk about the Major League Baseball trade deadline,
what is next for the Yankees, what we could see
next in the World Cup? MLB Network insider extraordinaire, World
Cup reporter, all around good guy, still trying to get
a meeting with the Pope. It is John Paul Morosi,

(42:10):
John Paul, it's happening, man, How are you.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
I'm doing great, my friends. I think what we're gonna
see a whole lot of between now and the end
of the World Cup is imbape and Bemble and les Blue.
Because I just don't see anyone beating France. That's my
That's not exactly a hot take, but I have not
seen anybody out there that's better than France right now. No.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Look, we talked about that at the beginning of the show,
that of all the best looking we look like we're
in a collision course of Argentina and England and Spain
and France. Everybody else has problems, right hey, Spain's defense
is terrific. I have a lot of goal but they
can't score right England is scoring, but their defense is leaky.
Argentina needed every bit of officiating help to get by Egypt,

(42:57):
but France has no problems at all. I mean, Frank
fran did that, you're seeing the best roster, you're seeing
the best players, and they started the World Cup and
they looked like they were peaking, and they're still peaking now.
And it may just be a very boring next couple
of weeks with France winning. You know, two nothing, you know,
three nothing, two to one, and that's kind of how
it's gonna go.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Well. I will say this that this World Cup has
taught us not to expect anything boring about the beautiful
game or this particular tournament, that even when results happened
that you expect, they often transpire and unfold in extraordinary ways.
And that was certainly the case when you look at

(43:38):
Argentina vi. Cabo Verde, and even even the game today
France over Morocco. The way the French won it was,
of course goals at halftime and then just their extraordinary
skill took over the Imbape goal. I'm sure most people
listening to us right now have seen it. But the
degree of difficulty there was the defender right in front

(44:01):
of Killian and Bappe at that time, he was right
in front of him. He just bent the ball around
him in a way that almost defies physics, gravity and
anything that humans are supposed to be able to do,
and then he tucks it right inside the post. I mean,
it is an unsavable shot. He cannot be guarded, he
cannot be controlled or stopped. He's elite, and of course

(44:25):
if he runs up against Messi, which would just be
extraordinary theater. It's there's this, this World Cup, and again
I realized our our nation is crashed out early, at
least by our standards right now and our expectations. But
there is still so much great to go. And by
the way, I love it that the US I mean,

(44:45):
I don't love it that the US lost, but I
love the way that we're responding to it, which is
in such a fashion that tells us that that it
matters that we care about this, that what happens at
the Olympics in two years will will matter, and the
Kopa America will matter, and qualifying for the next World
Cup will matter. So I love it. I love the passion.

(45:06):
You know me, I'm a passionate guy. And so to
see the soccer fandom and debate and hot takes. Hey man,
sign me up for this all the time. This is
far preferable to most other things that we can discuss
right now, unless we're talking about the plight of the
New York Yankees, in which case I'm all in. But
we can talk about anytime.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Let's talk about all of that outside of a guy
named Ben Rice and maybe cloning him, issues with the
pitching staff, even got Aaron Judge talking a little out
of school as he's on the comeback trail. I mean,
they won today and they're still well above five hundred,
but certainly not the season anticipated. What do they do
with the deadline?

Speaker 4 (45:46):
Man, They have got some work to do, and I
think that it's at least at least one bat, one
significant bat. Is it Taylor Ward from within the American League? Eest?
I think he would help. He's certainly one when named watch.
The issue is there's not really an abundance of position

(46:09):
players impact position players available right now. It's a market
that is a little heavier on the pitching side of things,
and certainly you could argue, well, I believe that the
Yankees should add a little bit of pitching help too,
But you look at a team like the Nationals, for example,
They've got some bats to trade, but they're not really

(46:30):
motivated to trade Dj Abrams or James Wood would is
the better fit. I just don't know if the Yankees
have enough prospects that would that would entice the Nationals
to make that move. And if you believe that Lombard
is your future shortstop, are you really gonna block him
right now? With with Abrams? I love Abrams, but are

(46:53):
are you going to layer in someone right over the
top of a guy that you believe is your future, unless,
of course, you are fearful of promoting Lombard in the
way that you promoted Volpi. And we've seen how the
Volpi thing has played out, which is not good, and
all is back and forth. Did he refuse to play
second base? Did he now refused to play second base?

(47:14):
It's it's an interesting time if i'm if I'm advising Volpi,
not that anyone's asked my opinion. He's in a spot
where he's he has to do whatever he can to
get on the field. No, obviously he's been playing shortstop lately,
but quite simply, you look at his his batting averages
in his four years of Major League baseball two oh nine,

(47:36):
two three, two, twelve to forty two. Yon Bassis has
gone up this year markedly because at least he's walking,
but he's got one home run. So it's to me,
they're they're a team that, yes, in name, they're the
New York Yankees, that they've got the uniform and the
ballpark and everything else, But when you take Judge out

(47:58):
of the equation, they're not a scary team to face
right now. And that's not really not Aaron Boone's fault.
It's not Judge's fault. He got hurt. But you look
around and this is not what I would describe as
a dynamic lineup. They have got some work to do
to support the guys they've got, and count me among
those who are wondering exactly what is in store for

(48:21):
the Yankees at the deadline and beyond, because we're just
not seeing a team that is scaring other ball clubs
right now now speaking.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
That's a big word, John Paul that you threw out there, scared,
because when did the Yankees turn into this scared franchise.
They're afraid to make moves, they're afraid to trade their prospects.
They're afraid to move on from their prospects when they
haven't played well. They're just I mean, not even the
team that they were when you say twenty twenty five
years ago where they were, but not even the team
like ten years ago where they would at least take

(48:51):
some big swings. Now. I feel like they're they're just
afraid to do anything now because they're paralyzed by indecision.
And if we make the wrong move and the guys
we trade out turns into a star, it's going to
be the worst thing in the world. Like, when did
the Yankees just start operating in this scared fashion?

Speaker 4 (49:07):
That's a good question, and I think it's it's happened
over time if you look at it. Brian Cashman's been
a pretty bold GM and making any number of moves
over the years. At the time he initially acquired Chapman,
that was controversial. He's made bold and controversial statements when

(49:28):
it comes to Alex Rodriguez over the years, and he
had the handle and the later years of Jeter's career,
which wasn't always easy. Posada's career wasn't always easy. A
lot of different things he's handled with a degree of
candor and decisiveness. But you're right, it does seem as
though in some ways the Yankees have been a little

(49:49):
bit too cautious. And also take for example, Spencer Jones,
and we can debate was he ever a guy that
would have brought back the players that you that you needed.
Spencer Jones is not twenty one, he's twenty five, and
he's played a little bit at the major league level
thirty games year with one hundred played appearances, And basically

(50:11):
with Spencer Jones, the numbers at the major league level
reinforce the concern people had about him in the minor leagues,
which is he strikes out too much. He's averaging more
than one strikeout per game play right now with two
home runs at the major league level. So I'm looking
at this lineup in this team, and obviously they've got,

(50:32):
when he's healthy, the best pure offensive player in the game.
I believe that Aaron Judge Bellinger has had an okay year,
Grisham's had a solid year. Caballero has done what you
expect him to do, but he shouldn't be batting in
the middle of a lineup. So it's just a team
that has been I believe whether it's analytics or a

(50:52):
change in ownership philosophy, or not wanting to extend themselves
too much because they're concerned about what sort of salary
cap might be coming down the line in the future.
It's a great question, but I'm seeing the same thing.
They're just not as decisive of an organization as they
used to be, and they're gonna potentially pay for it

(51:12):
with yet another year without a title. Guys, it's been
since two thousand and nine. That is an eternity for
the New York Yankees, and I just don't see that
rout ending here in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
JP with an eye toward the trade deadline and further
off in the horizon the potential of the labor dispute,
how much activity do we see over the next couple
of weeks for the trade deadline? And where is Treek
Schoobll going.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
It's a great question. So, first of all, I increasingly
I think terror School might be staying with the Detroit Tigers.
That they're twenty one and twelve since the first of June,
best record in the American League over that time span,
and they keep getting more and more confident. I actually
had a conversation with Terrek after his start earlier this
week on Tuesday, so forty eight hours ago, was talking
with him, and he it seemed pretty confident that this

(52:02):
team is going to keep playing well and keep forcing
the front office to keep this group together. And right
now I believe it. Last check, there three and a
half games out of a playoff spot. So as a
lot as they have been and as awful as they
played in May, they're right back in this thing. And
if they can finish at five hundred, which I think
is certainly within the rama possibility, they're right there in

(52:24):
the conversation for a playoff Berth. So it may not
be the most the most logical course to take it
for the Tigers, but I believe they can keep schooble
and make a run of this thing. So I think
he stays put. But I do think one of the
interesting things that I'm going to be looking for, Mike
is how many teams. I think there are some out there.

(52:46):
The Giants come to mind that are not playing well
that might look for a way to unload a little
bit of money because they're concerned about if they might
run up against whatever the new salary cap is obviously
a lot of us expect if it comes into play,
it's going to be a more graduated time where it
takes a few years to roll it out. But if

(53:07):
you've got a contract and move now is not a
bad time in the movement because being able to clean
up your books, entering a potential work stoppage, and whatever
the new future looks like, that might be a pretty
wise way of going about it.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
So do you see any change to the deadline? Do
you see deals happening earlier? Deals happening not at all,
because of you know, teams might be afraid of the
unknown of what the next labor situation could be.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Yeah, it's a good point. I think that we will
still see a relatively normal, normal amount of behavior and activity.
It's interesting that theoretically, I think that what we're talking
about with labor relations, et cetera puts more ideas on
the table, and I do think when more ideas are

(53:54):
on the table, you do see teams getting more creative.
That being said, a deadline's deadline and a deadline for
the new normal and whatever the new pay structure of
the game is going to be is still a long
time away from now whenever it's going to happen. And
if I know anything about covering Major League Baseball for
two decades, the people in charge of teams, they don't

(54:16):
make choices until about a half a second before the deadline.
About whatever the deadline is, They're going to take this
thing to the limit. And of course right now they're
mostly focused on the draft, and they should be, it's
the big deal in the industry. But I do think
that we will have a relatively normal amount of activity.
It'll be concentrated probably in the final week before the deadline,

(54:39):
and I don't think that we will see any dramatic
uptick in moving because of the CBA situation. It will
be I expect a standard level of activity, which which
I like. Sign me up for a normally busy, frenetic,
hectic deadline day and lead in and giving us the
three of us plenty of time to discuss such matters

(55:02):
here in the week's ahead.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
Now I know, I know there's a lot of hand
ringing right now. JP then a number of starters that
won't be available for the All Star Game because of
their scheduled pitch day. So let's just talk about Misowski
versus Skeens for a moment. Shall we early Sunday morning?
How about we get after it seven and eight with
his three five eight e r A. Paul skeens sky

(55:23):
is falling when he gives up two or few u
two or fewer runs in almost every start.

Speaker 4 (55:29):
Skeans is interesting, Mike, because there does seem to be
a little bit more labor in his in his delivery
right now. It's it's it's not quite as easy and
as fluid as it's always been. And and my colleague
Mark Durosa broke it down recently on on m WILLB
Network about this. So I think that Skeenes, it's probably

(55:50):
not the worst thing that he won't be pitching in
the in the All Star Game for him, for his sake, obviously,
we all want to see him, and we want we
all want to see him is but I think that's
a pretty good it's a pretty good little break for him,
and I think that'll be wise. I'll be really curious
to see guys if the Pirates back them off a
little bit coming out of the break and maybe slot
them into a little bit of a later position in

(56:13):
the post break rotation to give him even a little
bit more time off the Pirates. They're still in it.
The Reds have falling away. The Reds will be and
should be sellers, but the Pirates are still in this thing.
The other matchup for Sunday, to get your popcorn ready
for this one. The Phillies in Detroit for Interleague Zach
Wheeler against Scooble. How about that to end the first half.

(56:36):
So a good test of whether the Tigers can sustain
their momentum. Of course, Kevin McGonagall, the Philly area native,
will be playing against the Phillies, which will be a
lot of fun, so tune in. I mean it's there's
I love the World Cup two and we gotta we
gotta interst experience. But I'm gonna I'm on the hard
cell here for Genes in the mizz and then Wheels

(56:58):
and Trek. We got some pretty good pitching matchups to
conclude the first half.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
He's on Twitter at John Morosi, that is, at John Morossi,
MLB Network insider stardinir. John paul is always appreciate it,
my friend. We'll talk to you next week. Unless Sturgey
starts offloading players, then we're calling you back.

Speaker 4 (57:15):
You call me anytime you guys, I love you, love
the conversation, and appreciate the chance to talk about the
beautiful game and the national pastime with both of you.
As always, we'll talk to you