June 2, 2026 • 30 mins
Mark and Tommy Football talk Steelers and Watt in the wake of the Myles Garrett trade. They talk Bucs and the Cup Final as well.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Here the Rams are doing right by Matthew Stafford at
the end of his career, which the Steelers never did
for Ben at the end of his Cleveland put themselves
in the arch manning Derby. They sacrifice pride for reality,
which the Steelers will never do. Reality has to happen
(00:24):
organically with the Steelers, and you accidentally get Bradshaw and Ben.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The Steelers are paying what forty million.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So he can be a one helmet guy and we
can witness his decline already in progress. Let's talk to
Tommy Football. Tom never remind not trading Watt. The Steelers
never considered it and never would if you gave them
a shot at turning back time, you know, three years ago,
(00:59):
two years ago, and they could trade Watt for the
huge return to get they still wouldn't want to, even
knowing what's happened.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Since they still wouldn't want to.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I was gonna say, if they turned back time and
they still had the knowledge of what was about to
transfire transpire in the coming three years, I still think
they would hold onto Watty. They value that one helmet
thing and that him being a you know, cornerstone member
of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They view him that way. But
it's hard to really say that when you look at
the rest of the players that you would list as
(01:27):
a cornerstone member of this franchise and all the rings
that are claning around their Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
They won all of them. Me and Joe Green's the
one helmet guy because he won, right. Ben's a one
helmet guy because he won.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Troy one, Hines one, all of.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Them, Yeah, yeah, Jack, Cam, Jack Klambert. But they're one
helmet guys and it matters because they won. TJ Wats
the one helmet guy just doesn't matter. Cam Hayward's the
one helmet guy, just doesn't matter. You're celebrating a long
tenure of mediocrity.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And they never have that foresight to see or they
don't look at it as a positive to take that
step back where you trade somebody in his prime like
a Watt and grab so many first round picks. And
I'm not saying that you know always have to do that,
but in the purgatory that they were in with the
quarterback position, you should have wised up to say, hey,
you don't need a game wrecking defensive player when you
(02:17):
have no clue what you're doing at the most important position.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I am saying you always have to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I think when you see the window closing, you have
to slam it shut, swallow your pride, accept reality, and
try to open up the next window. Is what washed up?
Only seven sacks last year, never really took over a game,
Only one game with multiple sacks, and eight games with
zero sacks, including the last four that guy Scarps that
(02:43):
used to work for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
He pointed out statistically that.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Once pass rushers reach thirty two, they're generally washed up,
that their stats generally disappear. And it's worth repeating my
stance that sacks don't matter that much unless run third
and fourth.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I think it's fair to have that conversation this summer
leading into this year about is he washed up?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Is he passed his prime?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And then this year will rubber stamp whether or not
that's true or not, Like maybe he has some last
gas in him where he gets thirteen fourteen sacks, but
find it hard to believe that that's going to happen.
There's a lot of mouse defeat on that defense as
far as sacks are concerned, too, Like high Smith might
start beating him to the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
In fact, he was last year at times.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, here's the thing with what not only is sacks fading,
it's made all the more inexcusable by the fact that's
all he tries to get.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Its true, it's the only play he tries to make.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
He rushes the passer pretty much every down, and when
he gets the odd interception, it's because they throw.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The ball right at him.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean occasionally, yeah, he drops back into coverage, but
he is purely a pass rusher.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That's all he does.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And yeah, you're right. High Smith makes fourteen point five mil.
Got more sacks than what Herbig wants like money in
that Vein likes what nine to ten million per year.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
That seems nuts. Her BIG's the backup.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Now, if you had traded Watt a couple years back
and you knew about herbid, you know how Herbery's gonna
respond to being you know, a guy who plays more
Donzel though, Wat sits so much, you know, even fourth
quarter to be fresh so he can get more.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
He only plays for stats.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, you know, and none of these guys that we're
mentioning can be Wat in Watt's prime. But we don't
think Watson his prime anymore. So, these guys could absolutely
equal the output of what TJ. Watt is giving you
at this point in his career. In fact, as you
just referenced, Ty Smith was giving you more last season
than what was And I don't want to forget about
Sawyer either. You know that room is extremely deep with
(04:37):
real talent. As far as the depth is concerned, you
are in a position that you can trade away from
the edge rushing room and still have three guys that
are starter capable of Not now you can't well, yeah,
he's washed up. Now, Yeah, as far as the trade
market is concerned, he's washed up. He wouldn't command the
value that Garrett.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Davis, Well, the guy Sawyer from Ohio State, the second
year guy. Yeah, he's perfectly adequate to your number three,
and he did good last year when he plays.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And he does the things that her Big can't do
as far as like setting that edge and stopping the
run because her BIG's too small to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
See.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I think it's telling that Watt's never won. I don't
think that's a coincidence. I don't think guys like him
play to win. I think they play for stats.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I think that it's fair to say that. I mean
there's a lot of evidence towards that, specifically him pouting
over the Defensive Player of the Year award and seemingly
to have more of a dump in his pants over.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
That, wanting to get more money than Garrett.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Like by one million. It had to be by that match.
So he's you know, keeping score in awards and contracts.
It seems more so than playoff wins, which Garrett hasn't beaten.
And by the way, I bet we see some real
separation between the head to head rivalry of Watt and
Garrett now that he's in LA. I know they're not
in the same division playing each other twice, but Garrett
gonna win. Garrett's gonna dominate out there. He's still well
(05:52):
in his prime.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Here's the separation between Garrett and Watt and their individual rivalry.
It's over Garrett won any won big, and if he
tacks a Super Bowl onto it in LA, I think
he might, the victory will be all the more lop sided.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Mini Camp started today.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Tom Herbig and Joey Porter Junior are there, but they're
not participating. Me.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I got no problem.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I don't think much of consequence happens at Mini camp anyway,
and these guys looking for a new deal and that's
become a Steeler tradition.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Why would they be any different?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, And I mean her BIG's mentors TJ.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Watt, right, and he's one of the forefathers when it
comes to this new Steelers tradition of holding in and
getting your way.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I don't really have a problem with it as far
as the mini campus concerned. I guess the only thing
that rubs me a little bit wrong, Mark, And let
me see if you agree with me on this one.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Her Big is a backup.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I mean, I guess that might be a little unfair
because he's not your typical backup, but he is a backup.
He's a depth guy on this roster, whereas Joey Porter
Junior is a fringe all pro caliber corner knocking on
the door of potentially being that all pro. You know
you're gonna sign him to that extension. I totally get
ps Junior sitting on the sidelines for this her Big,
I get it, but I don't know it's a little weird.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
No, you're right, he's a backup, but they've never treated
him like a backup. They too too, They've treated him
like a third starter in the way they talk about him,
the way the media talks about him, the way the
fans talk about him. Why would he not think this
is appropriate? It is kind of jinski esque, though, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
A little bit?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
He's more accomplished than Carmen Leginsky, as I think, really,
how many rings he got?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
None, how many games he started? At least Leginsky got
to start.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
For a while. Herbig started a little bit, but then
he always gets hurt.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Well, yeah, but he never started when the other two
were available, did he? No?
Speaker 4 (07:31):
No, no, no, not in front of anybody.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It says here, I just I just googled this.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
It says that a contract extension for her Big could
average between sixteen and twenty million per year.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Ooh, you can't pay a third string player that, a
third edge rusher that.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, but what if that's what he wants?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And I bet he does, And you think that they
give it to him, I bet you they do give
it to him.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Maybe not that much.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
He's all ye talking about oh mus Steeler for life,
blah blah blah blah blah. Okay, well let's give a
little money back. Then, if you associate pious about being
a Steeler for life.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
The Steelers will give it to him because there's one
word to describe Art Rooney the second and I'm gonna
spell it up for you.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
S A w F T soft fine.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
This playoff season, But I love the show.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But he likes eight legal nowhere but bet I E
and the exit one O five nine.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Tom, You're fired. Put the old credit anfleet song back.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
It was at a permanent change.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I said that.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Did you say that?
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I did? All right, you want to leave right now?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Now, let's finish, finish the show. Okay, it's time for
the Bucko Rondo Bubba.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Chandler pictures tonight at Houston Wild Thing, You make my
heart sing, walk this way, keep the momentum, make it
four in a row, don't play Ozuna and Lezinski is
back in uniform, ready for some bulk relief at Sam's Club.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
If Chandler sucks.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Leaves the game early tonight and Maleaginski bails him out
in bulk relief, I'm sure Malagenski would see the irony.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I don't think he'd call it irony.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
He'd be pissed because from Leginski, it's not just about
Jones bumping him from the starting rotation. It's about Bubba
sucking and staying in the rotation. Bubba has sucked mostly,
but this in Indy Rodriguez, he don't suck. He's hitting
(09:39):
two sixty nine and has eleven walks and thirty seven
played appearances. His OBP is forty six. Andy Rodriguez should
be the number one catcher period until he proves he
can't do it, because Henry Davis has proven he can't
do it except for washing skeins his car and keeping
the job through. How is it nepotism favoritism? Should they
(10:04):
get a room? I don't know, Tom, what would you
do with catcher? I'd go with Andy again untill he
proves he can't.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
You just gotta get away from Davis playing as much
as he's playing, and honestly, get away from Davis playing
at all if you can afford to. And when Bart
comes back from injury, maybe that's the move. And it's
an Indy and Bart tandem as far as your catchers
are concerned, because Davis is quite literally like a pitcher
still is batting for your team. You're the only team
in Major League Baseball that still has to hit a
pitcher ninth. I know he has what four or five
(10:31):
home runs and occasionally held pool ball down the left
field line, but it's in like one forty.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
It's a joke.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
He's a dead spot in the lineup every night when
an era.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Where walks or paramount And you got Indy with an
OBP of near five hundred, and he shouldn't okay two? Yeah,
how can you not just automatically say, okay, this guy's
the guy? I mean, at what point does it matter
what the guy does instead of who he is? And
and I make fun a lot of Skeens preferring Davis
because sken should have a say not for guys hitting
(11:02):
one forty one. If he was even hitting two forty,
that'd be different. Yeah, but I don't care if Skeen's
prefers Davis. Skeen's is gonna be a good pitcher no
matter who's catching. And I often refer to Bob walk
who was often said, if you give me a choice
between a catcher who calls a great game or hits
a two run homer, give me the two run homer.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think that's a no brainer. And you know you
just said, what if Davis was hitting two forty. I
think Davis would be a fine player if he was
hitting two forty. He's a really great defensive catcher. But
he's hitting one forty. It's an absolute joke. So you
gotta put Indy in there. I guess four out of
five days of the week because Skeen's is gonna want
to keep Davis as his guy, as his starting catcher,
and I don't know if they'll have the guts to
(11:42):
once Bart comes back DFA Davis try to get Davis
down to the minors and have Bart be yours backup catcher.
But that's absolutely the move that they should go with.
And Skeens has pitched well, but not phenom level, Like
I don't know how much of us say he really
needs to have anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I don't know how much say.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I mean when when I see Leginski saying I'm going
to talk to my agent, when I see when I
see Jones and nol Tuna saying I don't want to
pitch on a bullpen. When I see Skeens dictating who
his catcher is, I think the tails wagon the dog,
And in this case, the dog ain't won a playoff
series since nineteen seventy nine. I just and Skeens. I mean,
(12:19):
it's not to do with how he's pitching or lately
not so well.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's to do with what's best for the.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Team not And again I don't know why why is
Skeen so tied into Davis?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Can he possibly be that good?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And with with the Andy, I'm not trying to pay
not like he's you know, Johnny Bencher or whoever, Like
he's this Hall of Fame potential catcher. But I don't
want to ride it out until he starts doing bad
because how long has it been since a catcher contributed?
I mean Bart had the one was it last year
of the year before he was.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Okay, okay, yeah, Bart was fine. I mean I'm trying
to think, like you got to go back to the
Russell Martin in Cervelli years, right when the catcher was
actually a contributing factor for a Pirates lineup. Maybe maybe
I'm forgetting somebody in the era after those two.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But maybe you're not.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Tom.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
They ain't done something.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Hand on that. Well.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah, but Davis is just an unbelievable bust. He's never
really been spoken about in that light, but it's so true.
And the one thing he brings to the table is
handling a staff and pitch framing. Pitch framing means nothing.
Now it's an ADS system.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
He's especially a bust for being a one to one.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Oh yeah, you know, he went from being the guy
who was supposed to, you know, be a slugger to
being a guy who's just a good defensive catcher.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
But but what I would connor that argument with is,
you know what what they have invested in Davis. You
know they have a lot invested in Endy too. He
was supposed to be the he was supposed to be
a big time prospect.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, both of them big bats too.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Like, the funniest thing about Davis, as you just said,
like he was supposed to be a bat, and everybody
was saying, you gotta put him in right field, you
got to make him a first basement he can't catch
at the big league level. And then the opposite came true.
Andy was a big time bat too. People were saying, hey,
put him at first base, see what he can do
in the outfit. You got to get that bat up
here and get that back in the lineup. That bat
might be translating, we don't know, but you gotta at
least find out give them a big swath of games.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah, the minute they adopted ABS, I said on the show,
and you just repeated that that takes away the value
of framing pitches. With the limited amount of challenges, you
might get away with stealing a strike call here and there,
but it generally doesn't matter. Now, I've had pictures tell
me that that a catcher calling a game isn't overrated.
(14:28):
But also I refuse to believe that a pitcher doesn't
know what he should be throwing yes to batters in
every situation. They do the homework, they watch the video,
they get the scotting reports, They know exactly what the
catcher does.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
And most catchers too today will look at the dugout
and there will be like a pitching coach in there
calling the game, or the manager might be calling the game,
or somebody in there is calling the pitches. Then they'll
relay that to the pitcher. So you can get by
without Henry Davison his acumen behind the play calling such
a masterful game.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Well, you know what I've been told though, that they
want the catcher to call the game or the dugout,
not the pitcher to call the game because they don't
want the pitcher to think too much.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
They want them to just throw.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
That's why catchers and managers, you know, like in Bulldoorum
get upset when the pitcher shakes shrikes a call because
they want him to just pitch.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
And Skens tried to say, well, remember a couple weeks ago,
He's like, I barely shake anybody off when I'm out
on the mound.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I just go.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
That's just trying to gas Henry Davis up and try
to keep Henry Davis. I don't know why he tries
to elevate him so much.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Not only that it's a flat out lie. Yeah, Ski
all the time, shakeoff pitches all the time.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
As he should. I think Paul Skeen should be the
one that calls his own game. And look, if Henry
Davis calls such a great game, what's the deal with
all of these fastballs that you're calling That maybe Skeens
is elevating them, so maybe it's on him, but still
like people are jumping all over them. Maybe open up
the games and some curveballs and some off speed stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Well, my point has always been, and even with you
know the recent uptick, the three game winning streak, the
apparent inspiration, the momentum provided by the Reynolds walk off
snatching victory from defeat on Friday. I still maintain this
is a very marginal playoff team. The standings currently reflect
exactly that. And if there was a way I could
(16:09):
plug a hole and replace Henry Davis with any Rodriguez,
and Rodriguez keeps producing to some fraction of what he's doing. Heck,
all he has to be is better than Davis. I
would keep Rodriguez in there.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yeah, because let's try to think about what their holes
are right now. Catcher's still a big hole. I think
they're probably still what one arm shy in the bullpen,
because we talked about last week, there's a bullpen kind
of forming out.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
You know, you know what somebody said to me. And
we have Rob king On and Dave Smith to talk
baseball later in the show, and I'm curious to hear
what they think about this. I was told by somebody
who kind of knows that the bullpen doesn't lack arm.
It just needs organized better. Okay, it is deployed to haphazardly.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Okay, I could buy that.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
But well, no, I buy it just because it sounds
like because I think there are some arms there.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
He went over. There seems to be something there, and
I think.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
They're underachieving arms like like my guy, the less the
Mason Montgomery. Yeah, but they also deploy these guys totally
according to analytics.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And that's why.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
If you'll remember when they took mit shot and put
sisk in and six gave up the lefty lefty home
run for the first time in his big league career,
the lefty lefty extra base hit even yeah, for the
first time in his big league career. I said, Okay,
that's that's the right move. But I also see guys
come in here, guys come in there, and there doesn't
seem to be a pattern to it.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Then again, analytics aren't supposed to have a pattern.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
They aren't.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, it's strictly by the book, so it can look
a little weird like that. I think that's still a
flaw hole. The back end of the rotation, all of
a sudden as a pretty decent hole. I'd say, with
Chandler's struggles and Jared Jones, we just don't know what
he's gonna be like, bad start, but it's okay. He
can get them all again off of that after just
coming back after four hundred plus days off. So we'll
see how he goes. But that's a problem. And then
(17:49):
they just have no depth. I think you said this
all year long, Like they get an injury to the
wrong person and it's gonna be really hard to survive.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Now, even Connor Griffin, Now.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
It's tenuous with Jared Triolo just being able to slide
right into that shortstop.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
POSI No, it's worse than ten was.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
He sucks and they were Thank god Horowitz is hitting
the way he is, because that was huge with O'Hearn
being out for those couple of weeks. If Horwitz didn't
carry the load like he did, they could have really
floundered in that.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Do you sense the nozunas being phased out?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I do, and I like it a lot. I think
it's what's best. I mean, how do they solve that though?
Do they just rotate DH and use the young outfielders more?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And they can't dfam right, Like, we're never gonna admit
that because of the twelve million dollar paycheck.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
That's a lot to eat for Bob ninety.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I gotta admit I wouldn't dfa I wouldn't eat that
kind of money. I don't think it matters who the
last guy and the roster is, so let it be him.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
And every once in a blue moon he hits at
PNC Park against the lefty whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, everyone's the blue moon. Maybe hits against the lefty
who he has a great split against.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
He could be a valuable pinch hit or too.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
If there's just a great matchup that comes along the way,
just throw him out there for one at bat.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
It's not just his numbers, Tom, he looks terrible done.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I think the I.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Test he funks.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Every test you got that the eye test is is
one of those. We'll get more baseball talk later with
Rob King at four thirty and Dave Smith our Baseball
Gut five thirty. At the top of the art, we
have our Stanley Cup Final preview with Peer McGuire. Nobody
better to talk about hockey than Pierre and U. Up next,
(19:27):
the Steelers have some great marketing ideas coming up for
the new season. I'll tell you about those here on
one oh five ninety X.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
This is Doug Gottlieb. Here's what's trending from the Iheartsports Network.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Presented by iheartadvertising dot Com.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
The final phase of the Steelers offseason programs underway now.
The team returned to the practice field today for the
opening of mandatory minigames. I'll pour straight win that's in
reach for the Pirates Tonight in Houston, Pama Chandler takes
them ball for Pittsburgh, who's coming off a sweep of Minnesota.
ANDed NBA superstar Steph Curry has a new endorsement deal
with Chinese shoemaker line At expanses Curry brand venture globally.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
I'm Scott Davidson run a business.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Steelers Mini campus underway. Everybody's really excited. Joey Porter Junior
and Nick Herbig are there but not participating. As I
said earlier, I don't blame him. It's a contract. Thing
in mini camp means so little. I'm more excited about Latrove.
I heard that the Steelers are going to unveil some
exciting new marketing ideas when training camp opens. I heard
(20:29):
they're going to sell Will Howard blow up dolls and
replicas of Eli Heinriichs war medals. Hockey know Zach Wrensky
from the Columbus Blue Jackets. He won the Norris Trophy
as the NHL's best defenseman. Very deserving both within the
context of the season just completed, and it's kind of
(20:52):
a lifetime achievement thing too. Also, he made the play
that won the gold medal for the US, so that
caps off a really terrific gear for Zach Larenski, even
though the Blue Jackets did not make the playoffs. He's
the kind of guy you think might want to get
to a better team, but he's perfectly content there. He's
the King of Columbus, and I get the appeal of that.
(21:15):
Now it's time for things I like. We got the
Stanley Cup Finals starting tonight and the NBA Final begins
tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I like the final in.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Anything, whether it's the Championship Series, the Championship Game, World Series,
super Bowl, Champions League, college football, well not so much
college football because they've ruined it, but whatever, I like
the finality. I like when it's over, tom What is
your favorite of the finals in sports?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Everybody's going to say the Super Bowl? What say you?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Super Bowl is pretty tough to beat. That's really at
the top of the list. But if I'm capt to
pick one that's not the super Bowl, I think I'd
probably have to go with the Stanley Cup Finals just
because also just following the Penguins my entire life and
them having such mass of success in the Stanley Cup Final,
that would be the number two.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You know what, I'm going to shock you. I'm going
to say the.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Super Bowl is your number one?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Well you know why? It's one game? Yeah? Oh no,
I'm not. Actually Champions League Final. One game is better
than a series.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Now, if you if you narrowed it down and said
Stanley Cup Final, game seven or the Super Bowl, I
would pick game seven.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Now, what's in last place?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
For me?
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Kind of along the lines of what you were just
saying there with college football, it's not college football, it's
actually college basketball. I kind of feel like the end
of March madness is just kind of like a wet fart,
you know what I mean, Because the big event of
the tournament is the first weekend when all the games
are happening, and that's the true madness.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
And I think they're ruining that because even though you
got all them games and you got the true madness,
the expanded format is going to mean.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
More bad game yes and nil.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
And the free transfer thingy that that's that's made for
more bad games too, because the minute good players get
to a lesser team, after a year, they transfer to
a better team. What could happened with Robert Morris basketball
where they keep having the conference MVP and he transfers immediately.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
After exactly, So that's the last place for me. Do
you find the NBA Finals this year in particular kind
of elevated? And sometimes that can elevate sometimes for you
as far as your sliding scale goes based on the
story I watched some of it.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
I mean, New York and Wemby is such a great matchup,
such a great story.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Where's that open?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
It's in San Antonio for the first two games. They
have home court advantage.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Boy, if it goes back to New York with San
Antonio up two games to none, and then San Antonio
takes a lead in game three, the garden will turn
really nasty. Then again, anything other than that, New York
will be going nuts at the opposite end of that spectrum.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And Timothy Shalamy might actually channel Paula Trades from Dune
and like try to take over Madison Square Garden by force.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I've told you I have such respect for Chalo May
as an actor that I've watched both Dunes.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
They're not bad, right, I haven't actually seen them, and
I'm a science fiction guys.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
These are not the kind of movies I would watch.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
But he he heals it.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And if you see Marty Supremia, I haven't seen Marty
Supers He's really good. The story itself, especially the finish,
is kind of hokey, but he's so good in it
that it makes up for I don't know. I mean,
you always suspend disbelief, but there's some pretty gaping plot hole.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
He's getting to that point where it's he's such a
good actor that it's tough to say any of the
movies that he's gonna be in is a bad movie.
Like even Wonka, I think was a decent watch when
he played his turn as Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Who's he dating Kylie Jyler Jenner. Yeah, they'll be court
side probably in San Antonio too. He's been traveling with
the team.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That doesn't make sense because he's white.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Tom we got Pierre on to talk about this Stanley
Cup final in a few minutes top of the hour.
Who's your pick to win the Stanley Cup? Who's your
pick to win con SMIKEE this playoff MVP.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I'm gonna go with the Hurricanes and six and then
I'm gonna take stan Covin as the con smya. He's
got nine goals, and I bet he scores a couple
of big goals in this final.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
They won't give it to a guy who's that.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Much of a non name, so they'll give it to Anderson.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, he's been around dudes, paying, et cetera, goaltending, YadA YadA.
I mean, you might be right. There's no clear cut
pick right now. I mean Marner, I guess, but Michael
has well, I only has two goals.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
That's weird.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
He has sixteen helpers only two goals. But I think
too many Leafs fans are in the media and have
a vote for Consmike, and they just won't give it
to Marner, won't get won't give it to Carter Hart.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
They'll look for someone else.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, Michael, if he scores like three or four goals
in the Cup final, that could vault him towards the
top of the list, like him having a really strong
Stanley Cup Final. I know it's a playoff award, but
that could you know, inspire some recency bias with the voters.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
And he's a big name anyway.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know who could get it for Carolina too is
Taylor Hall because he's having a great playoff. He leads
them in points, I think, and he's a former big name,
you know, former league MVP was gonna slip down the
depth chart and had a very short prime. This would
be looked upon. You know, the people vote for stories.
I probably would be no better, and he'd be this
redemption story.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, no question about that. I think he's definitely got
a stake to the claim. I think the pole positions
right now, Martin's probably in first. Then I'd say probably
Freddie Anderson second, and then there's so many guys who
could put in that third spot. I'd put stankovin and
I'm not talking about who I'd give it him. Talking
about it is like what the pole position is right
now as we enter it. Anderson thing bothers me though,
because you go back and look at his like box score,
if you will, he's got twelve shots faced in a
(26:27):
game against the game the nine shots face.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's how they play.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That system they play that I hate so much, works
perfectly in a playoff situation, and.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
The Canadians played right into that because they don't shoot
at a high volume anyway.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And all they did was get frustrated.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Montreal.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, they showed that they're a year away in every
way you can be in Maturity is one of those ways.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Who you're picking in the NBA Final.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I'm gonna go with the Knicks and six. I think
both go six. I'll take the Knicks. I think the
Spurs obviously have the best player on the court, but
I think he's going to be out of gas.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, I'll say I'm saving my Stanley Cupp prediction for
the last word. I'll make an official week got Pierre
at four Cock. But I'm gonna go with the Knicks
because what you said, I think Wemby's out of gas,
and I think the Knicks or anything, but they've they
played how many games did they play total?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
In the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
They won in six and round one and then they
swept the next two rounds.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So yeah, and they've bet a lot of time off.
I bet, I bet, I bet they win Game one
at San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
And that I think would be huge. The Garden is
going to be such a tough place to go into
and win. Even at full strength, san Antonio will struggle there.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Whenever you whenever you win a home game out of
the first, whenever you win an away game rather on
the road in the first two, you switch the heat.
But but this would be switching the heat to the
teenth degree considering the rest factor in the garden factor.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
And Brunson is just such a killer. I mean, he
just has that assassin instinct. Such a fun player to
watch too, right, really throw back. He got that mid
range game, will take it to the hole as a guard,
can make a three if he has to. But I
love launching Brentson play. And he's a big time you know,
fourth quarter performer.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
One other playoff note, Tom Wilkes by Toronto in the
third game of the conference final in the AHL the
Playoff semi finals. I think they do it. It's East
and West, right the conference. It's Eastern Conference and the
home team has lost every game in the West two no, no,
no in the East. Okay, So Wilkes trails two games
to one. That z on and scored again. He joined
(28:26):
the team at the beginning of the prior round and
he has four goals and uh he's like only nineteen
first round picked this past year. I projected him as
a middle six and I still am, but I wonder
if he can maybe be better.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
He's big, yeah, no doubt, I'm excited about him.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You had a little bit more seasoning, like this isn't
one of those guys that's probably knocking on the door
next year right out of training camp. And honestly, as
we talk about all the time on this show, there's
not many of those guys anyway, because there's still a
lot of old on this roster that's blocking those guys
from doing that. But maybe he's onen's like an earlier
than we expected, better than as you just illustrated expected prospect.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Do you agree?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I wrote in the trip, and I said earlier on
the show, I have no idea what the Penguins approaches.
It looks like they're running it back because they brought
Malkin back, but wouldn't surprise me if they traded like
a raquel either.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Well, if they do that, then I think that their
approach is still trying to walk in both of those worlds,
right of trying to turn the page while still maintaining
your trio that can't be touched and.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
What about my two UFAs that'd signed Marchminton lining.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I love them both, but again they block young players
from being in the lineup, like I want to sign
short term and if you move another one of those guys.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Well Mars when I signed long term because I don't
think I think a player like that is going to age.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Well, he'll help no matter what.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, yeah, and line a one year with incentives.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Tremanta as you said yesterday.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, and he would believe he could come in and
get used right and get goals.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Could you PLoP him if you did trade like a
Rusta Raquel, you PLoP a line on that top line
with Sid? Would that play Kate Sid at all? I
don't know, Like, hey, here's forty goal scorer at one point.
It's not like we'd left. He abandoned a.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Very long time ago. You know how Talline is six'.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
FOUR i never would have thought that HE i, seriously
WHEN i looked it, UP i, said this can't be.
Right SO i went to another website and it confirmed sixty.
FOUR i thought it was like five eleven because he
plays really small
Here the Rams are doing right by Matthew Stafford at
the end of his career, which the Steelers never did
for Ben at the end of his Cleveland put themselves
in the arch manning Derby. They sacrifice pride for reality,
which the Steelers will never do. Reality has to happen
(00:24):
organically with the Steelers, and you accidentally get Bradshaw and Ben.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The Steelers are paying what forty million.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So he can be a one helmet guy and we
can witness his decline already in progress. Let's talk to
Tommy Football. Tom never remind not trading Watt. The Steelers
never considered it and never would if you gave them
a shot at turning back time, you know, three years ago,
(00:59):
two years ago, and they could trade Watt for the
huge return to get they still wouldn't want to, even
knowing what's happened.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Since they still wouldn't want to.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I was gonna say, if they turned back time and
they still had the knowledge of what was about to
transfire transpire in the coming three years, I still think
they would hold onto Watty. They value that one helmet
thing and that him being a you know, cornerstone member
of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They view him that way. But
it's hard to really say that when you look at
the rest of the players that you would list as
(01:27):
a cornerstone member of this franchise and all the rings
that are claning around their Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
They won all of them. Me and Joe Green's the
one helmet guy because he won, right. Ben's a one
helmet guy because he won.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Troy one, Hines one, all of.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Them, Yeah, yeah, Jack, Cam, Jack Klambert. But they're one
helmet guys and it matters because they won. TJ Wats
the one helmet guy just doesn't matter. Cam Hayward's the
one helmet guy, just doesn't matter. You're celebrating a long
tenure of mediocrity.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And they never have that foresight to see or they
don't look at it as a positive to take that
step back where you trade somebody in his prime like
a Watt and grab so many first round picks. And
I'm not saying that you know always have to do that,
but in the purgatory that they were in with the
quarterback position, you should have wised up to say, hey,
you don't need a game wrecking defensive player when you
(02:17):
have no clue what you're doing at the most important position.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I am saying you always have to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I think when you see the window closing, you have
to slam it shut, swallow your pride, accept reality, and
try to open up the next window. Is what washed up?
Only seven sacks last year, never really took over a game,
Only one game with multiple sacks, and eight games with
zero sacks, including the last four that guy Scarps that
(02:43):
used to work for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
He pointed out statistically that.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Once pass rushers reach thirty two, they're generally washed up,
that their stats generally disappear. And it's worth repeating my
stance that sacks don't matter that much unless run third
and fourth.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I think it's fair to have that conversation this summer
leading into this year about is he washed up?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Is he passed his prime?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And then this year will rubber stamp whether or not
that's true or not, Like maybe he has some last
gas in him where he gets thirteen fourteen sacks, but
find it hard to believe that that's going to happen.
There's a lot of mouse defeat on that defense as
far as sacks are concerned, too, Like high Smith might
start beating him to the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
In fact, he was last year at times.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, here's the thing with what not only is sacks fading,
it's made all the more inexcusable by the fact that's
all he tries to get.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Its true, it's the only play he tries to make.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
He rushes the passer pretty much every down, and when
he gets the odd interception, it's because they throw.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The ball right at him.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean occasionally, yeah, he drops back into coverage, but
he is purely a pass rusher.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That's all he does.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And yeah, you're right. High Smith makes fourteen point five mil.
Got more sacks than what Herbig wants like money in
that Vein likes what nine to ten million per year.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
That seems nuts. Her BIG's the backup.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Now, if you had traded Watt a couple years back
and you knew about herbid, you know how Herbery's gonna
respond to being you know, a guy who plays more
Donzel though, Wat sits so much, you know, even fourth
quarter to be fresh so he can get more.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
He only plays for stats.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, you know, and none of these guys that we're
mentioning can be Wat in Watt's prime. But we don't
think Watson his prime anymore. So, these guys could absolutely
equal the output of what TJ. Watt is giving you
at this point in his career. In fact, as you
just referenced, Ty Smith was giving you more last season
than what was And I don't want to forget about
Sawyer either. You know that room is extremely deep with
(04:37):
real talent. As far as the depth is concerned, you
are in a position that you can trade away from
the edge rushing room and still have three guys that
are starter capable of Not now you can't well, yeah,
he's washed up. Now, Yeah, as far as the trade
market is concerned, he's washed up. He wouldn't command the
value that Garrett.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Davis, Well, the guy Sawyer from Ohio State, the second
year guy. Yeah, he's perfectly adequate to your number three,
and he did good last year when he plays.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And he does the things that her Big can't do
as far as like setting that edge and stopping the
run because her BIG's too small to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
See.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I think it's telling that Watt's never won. I don't
think that's a coincidence. I don't think guys like him
play to win. I think they play for stats.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I think that it's fair to say that. I mean
there's a lot of evidence towards that, specifically him pouting
over the Defensive Player of the Year award and seemingly
to have more of a dump in his pants over.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
That, wanting to get more money than Garrett.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Like by one million. It had to be by that match.
So he's you know, keeping score in awards and contracts.
It seems more so than playoff wins, which Garrett hasn't beaten.
And by the way, I bet we see some real
separation between the head to head rivalry of Watt and
Garrett now that he's in LA. I know they're not
in the same division playing each other twice, but Garrett
gonna win. Garrett's gonna dominate out there. He's still well
(05:52):
in his prime.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Here's the separation between Garrett and Watt and their individual rivalry.
It's over Garrett won any won big, and if he
tacks a Super Bowl onto it in LA, I think
he might, the victory will be all the more lop sided.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Mini Camp started today.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Tom Herbig and Joey Porter Junior are there, but they're
not participating. Me.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I got no problem.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I don't think much of consequence happens at Mini camp anyway,
and these guys looking for a new deal and that's
become a Steeler tradition.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Why would they be any different?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, And I mean her BIG's mentors TJ.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Watt, right, and he's one of the forefathers when it
comes to this new Steelers tradition of holding in and
getting your way.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I don't really have a problem with it as far
as the mini campus concerned. I guess the only thing
that rubs me a little bit wrong, Mark, And let
me see if you agree with me on this one.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Her Big is a backup.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I mean, I guess that might be a little unfair
because he's not your typical backup, but he is a backup.
He's a depth guy on this roster, whereas Joey Porter
Junior is a fringe all pro caliber corner knocking on
the door of potentially being that all pro. You know
you're gonna sign him to that extension. I totally get
ps Junior sitting on the sidelines for this her Big,
I get it, but I don't know it's a little weird.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
No, you're right, he's a backup, but they've never treated
him like a backup. They too too, They've treated him
like a third starter in the way they talk about him,
the way the media talks about him, the way the
fans talk about him. Why would he not think this
is appropriate? It is kind of jinski esque, though, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
A little bit?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
He's more accomplished than Carmen Leginsky, as I think, really,
how many rings he got?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
None, how many games he started? At least Leginsky got
to start.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
For a while. Herbig started a little bit, but then
he always gets hurt.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Well, yeah, but he never started when the other two
were available, did he? No?
Speaker 4 (07:31):
No, no, no, not in front of anybody.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It says here, I just I just googled this.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
It says that a contract extension for her Big could
average between sixteen and twenty million per year.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Ooh, you can't pay a third string player that, a
third edge rusher that.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, but what if that's what he wants?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And I bet he does, And you think that they
give it to him, I bet you they do give
it to him.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Maybe not that much.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
He's all ye talking about oh mus Steeler for life,
blah blah blah blah blah. Okay, well let's give a
little money back. Then, if you associate pious about being
a Steeler for life.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
The Steelers will give it to him because there's one
word to describe Art Rooney the second and I'm gonna
spell it up for you.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
S A w F T soft fine.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
This playoff season, But I love the show.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But he likes eight legal nowhere but bet I E
and the exit one O five nine.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Tom, You're fired. Put the old credit anfleet song back.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
It was at a permanent change.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I said that.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Did you say that?
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I did? All right, you want to leave right now?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Now, let's finish, finish the show. Okay, it's time for
the Bucko Rondo Bubba.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Chandler pictures tonight at Houston Wild Thing, You make my
heart sing, walk this way, keep the momentum, make it
four in a row, don't play Ozuna and Lezinski is
back in uniform, ready for some bulk relief at Sam's Club.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
If Chandler sucks.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Leaves the game early tonight and Maleaginski bails him out
in bulk relief, I'm sure Malagenski would see the irony.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I don't think he'd call it irony.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
He'd be pissed because from Leginski, it's not just about
Jones bumping him from the starting rotation. It's about Bubba
sucking and staying in the rotation. Bubba has sucked mostly,
but this in Indy Rodriguez, he don't suck. He's hitting
(09:39):
two sixty nine and has eleven walks and thirty seven
played appearances. His OBP is forty six. Andy Rodriguez should
be the number one catcher period until he proves he
can't do it, because Henry Davis has proven he can't
do it except for washing skeins his car and keeping
the job through. How is it nepotism favoritism? Should they
(10:04):
get a room? I don't know, Tom, what would you
do with catcher? I'd go with Andy again untill he
proves he can't.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
You just gotta get away from Davis playing as much
as he's playing, and honestly, get away from Davis playing
at all if you can afford to. And when Bart
comes back from injury, maybe that's the move. And it's
an Indy and Bart tandem as far as your catchers
are concerned, because Davis is quite literally like a pitcher
still is batting for your team. You're the only team
in Major League Baseball that still has to hit a
pitcher ninth. I know he has what four or five
(10:31):
home runs and occasionally held pool ball down the left
field line, but it's in like one forty.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
It's a joke.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
He's a dead spot in the lineup every night when
an era.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Where walks or paramount And you got Indy with an
OBP of near five hundred, and he shouldn't okay two? Yeah,
how can you not just automatically say, okay, this guy's
the guy? I mean, at what point does it matter
what the guy does instead of who he is? And
and I make fun a lot of Skeens preferring Davis
because sken should have a say not for guys hitting
(11:02):
one forty one. If he was even hitting two forty,
that'd be different. Yeah, but I don't care if Skeen's
prefers Davis. Skeen's is gonna be a good pitcher no
matter who's catching. And I often refer to Bob walk
who was often said, if you give me a choice
between a catcher who calls a great game or hits
a two run homer, give me the two run homer.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think that's a no brainer. And you know you
just said, what if Davis was hitting two forty. I
think Davis would be a fine player if he was
hitting two forty. He's a really great defensive catcher. But
he's hitting one forty. It's an absolute joke. So you
gotta put Indy in there. I guess four out of
five days of the week because Skeen's is gonna want
to keep Davis as his guy, as his starting catcher,
and I don't know if they'll have the guts to
(11:42):
once Bart comes back DFA Davis try to get Davis
down to the minors and have Bart be yours backup catcher.
But that's absolutely the move that they should go with.
And Skeens has pitched well, but not phenom level, Like
I don't know how much of us say he really
needs to have anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I don't know how much say.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I mean when when I see Leginski saying I'm going
to talk to my agent, when I see when I
see Jones and nol Tuna saying I don't want to
pitch on a bullpen. When I see Skeens dictating who
his catcher is, I think the tails wagon the dog,
And in this case, the dog ain't won a playoff
series since nineteen seventy nine. I just and Skeens. I mean,
(12:19):
it's not to do with how he's pitching or lately
not so well.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's to do with what's best for the.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Team not And again I don't know why why is
Skeen so tied into Davis?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Can he possibly be that good?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And with with the Andy, I'm not trying to pay
not like he's you know, Johnny Bencher or whoever, Like
he's this Hall of Fame potential catcher. But I don't
want to ride it out until he starts doing bad
because how long has it been since a catcher contributed?
I mean Bart had the one was it last year
of the year before he was.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Okay, okay, yeah, Bart was fine. I mean I'm trying
to think, like you got to go back to the
Russell Martin in Cervelli years, right when the catcher was
actually a contributing factor for a Pirates lineup. Maybe maybe
I'm forgetting somebody in the era after those two.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But maybe you're not.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Tom.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
They ain't done something.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Hand on that. Well.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah, but Davis is just an unbelievable bust. He's never
really been spoken about in that light, but it's so true.
And the one thing he brings to the table is
handling a staff and pitch framing. Pitch framing means nothing.
Now it's an ADS system.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
He's especially a bust for being a one to one.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Oh yeah, you know, he went from being the guy
who was supposed to, you know, be a slugger to
being a guy who's just a good defensive catcher.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
But but what I would connor that argument with is,
you know what what they have invested in Davis. You
know they have a lot invested in Endy too. He
was supposed to be the he was supposed to be
a big time prospect.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, both of them big bats too.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Like, the funniest thing about Davis, as you just said,
like he was supposed to be a bat, and everybody
was saying, you gotta put him in right field, you
got to make him a first basement he can't catch
at the big league level. And then the opposite came true.
Andy was a big time bat too. People were saying, hey,
put him at first base, see what he can do
in the outfit. You got to get that bat up
here and get that back in the lineup. That bat
might be translating, we don't know, but you gotta at
least find out give them a big swath of games.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah, the minute they adopted ABS, I said on the show,
and you just repeated that that takes away the value
of framing pitches. With the limited amount of challenges, you
might get away with stealing a strike call here and there,
but it generally doesn't matter. Now, I've had pictures tell
me that that a catcher calling a game isn't overrated.
(14:28):
But also I refuse to believe that a pitcher doesn't
know what he should be throwing yes to batters in
every situation. They do the homework, they watch the video,
they get the scotting reports, They know exactly what the
catcher does.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
And most catchers too today will look at the dugout
and there will be like a pitching coach in there
calling the game, or the manager might be calling the game,
or somebody in there is calling the pitches. Then they'll
relay that to the pitcher. So you can get by
without Henry Davison his acumen behind the play calling such
a masterful game.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Well, you know what I've been told though, that they
want the catcher to call the game or the dugout,
not the pitcher to call the game because they don't
want the pitcher to think too much.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
They want them to just throw.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
That's why catchers and managers, you know, like in Bulldoorum
get upset when the pitcher shakes shrikes a call because
they want him to just pitch.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
And Skens tried to say, well, remember a couple weeks ago,
He's like, I barely shake anybody off when I'm out
on the mound.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I just go.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
That's just trying to gas Henry Davis up and try
to keep Henry Davis. I don't know why he tries
to elevate him so much.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Not only that it's a flat out lie. Yeah, Ski
all the time, shakeoff pitches all the time.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
As he should. I think Paul Skeen should be the
one that calls his own game. And look, if Henry
Davis calls such a great game, what's the deal with
all of these fastballs that you're calling That maybe Skeens
is elevating them, so maybe it's on him, but still
like people are jumping all over them. Maybe open up
the games and some curveballs and some off speed stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Well, my point has always been, and even with you
know the recent uptick, the three game winning streak, the
apparent inspiration, the momentum provided by the Reynolds walk off
snatching victory from defeat on Friday. I still maintain this
is a very marginal playoff team. The standings currently reflect
exactly that. And if there was a way I could
(16:09):
plug a hole and replace Henry Davis with any Rodriguez,
and Rodriguez keeps producing to some fraction of what he's doing. Heck,
all he has to be is better than Davis. I
would keep Rodriguez in there.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yeah, because let's try to think about what their holes
are right now. Catcher's still a big hole. I think
they're probably still what one arm shy in the bullpen,
because we talked about last week, there's a bullpen kind
of forming out.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
You know, you know what somebody said to me. And
we have Rob king On and Dave Smith to talk
baseball later in the show, and I'm curious to hear
what they think about this. I was told by somebody
who kind of knows that the bullpen doesn't lack arm.
It just needs organized better. Okay, it is deployed to haphazardly.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Okay, I could buy that.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
But well, no, I buy it just because it sounds
like because I think there are some arms there.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
He went over. There seems to be something there, and
I think.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
They're underachieving arms like like my guy, the less the
Mason Montgomery. Yeah, but they also deploy these guys totally
according to analytics.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And that's why.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
If you'll remember when they took mit shot and put
sisk in and six gave up the lefty lefty home
run for the first time in his big league career,
the lefty lefty extra base hit even yeah, for the
first time in his big league career. I said, Okay,
that's that's the right move. But I also see guys
come in here, guys come in there, and there doesn't
seem to be a pattern to it.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Then again, analytics aren't supposed to have a pattern.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
They aren't.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
No, it's strictly by the book, so it can look
a little weird like that. I think that's still a
flaw hole. The back end of the rotation, all of
a sudden as a pretty decent hole. I'd say, with
Chandler's struggles and Jared Jones, we just don't know what
he's gonna be like, bad start, but it's okay. He
can get them all again off of that after just
coming back after four hundred plus days off. So we'll
see how he goes. But that's a problem. And then
(17:49):
they just have no depth. I think you said this
all year long, Like they get an injury to the
wrong person and it's gonna be really hard to survive.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Now, even Connor Griffin, Now.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
It's tenuous with Jared Triolo just being able to slide
right into that shortstop.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
POSI No, it's worse than ten was.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
He sucks and they were Thank god Horowitz is hitting
the way he is, because that was huge with O'Hearn
being out for those couple of weeks. If Horwitz didn't
carry the load like he did, they could have really
floundered in that.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Do you sense the nozunas being phased out?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I do, and I like it a lot. I think
it's what's best. I mean, how do they solve that though?
Do they just rotate DH and use the young outfielders more?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And they can't dfam right, Like, we're never gonna admit
that because of the twelve million dollar paycheck.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
That's a lot to eat for Bob ninety.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I gotta admit I wouldn't dfa I wouldn't eat that
kind of money. I don't think it matters who the
last guy and the roster is, so let it be him.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
And every once in a blue moon he hits at
PNC Park against the lefty whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, everyone's the blue moon. Maybe hits against the lefty
who he has a great split against.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
He could be a valuable pinch hit or too.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
If there's just a great matchup that comes along the way,
just throw him out there for one at bat.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
It's not just his numbers, Tom, he looks terrible done.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I think the I.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Test he funks.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Every test you got that the eye test is is
one of those. We'll get more baseball talk later with
Rob King at four thirty and Dave Smith our Baseball
Gut five thirty. At the top of the art, we
have our Stanley Cup Final preview with Peer McGuire. Nobody
better to talk about hockey than Pierre and U. Up next,
(19:27):
the Steelers have some great marketing ideas coming up for
the new season. I'll tell you about those here on
one oh five ninety X.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
This is Doug Gottlieb. Here's what's trending from the Iheartsports Network.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Presented by iheartadvertising dot Com.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
The final phase of the Steelers offseason programs underway now.
The team returned to the practice field today for the
opening of mandatory minigames. I'll pour straight win that's in
reach for the Pirates Tonight in Houston, Pama Chandler takes
them ball for Pittsburgh, who's coming off a sweep of Minnesota.
ANDed NBA superstar Steph Curry has a new endorsement deal
with Chinese shoemaker line At expanses Curry brand venture globally.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
I'm Scott Davidson run a business.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Steelers Mini campus underway. Everybody's really excited. Joey Porter Junior
and Nick Herbig are there but not participating. As I
said earlier, I don't blame him. It's a contract. Thing
in mini camp means so little. I'm more excited about Latrove.
I heard that the Steelers are going to unveil some
exciting new marketing ideas when training camp opens. I heard
(20:29):
they're going to sell Will Howard blow up dolls and
replicas of Eli Heinriichs war medals. Hockey know Zach Wrensky
from the Columbus Blue Jackets. He won the Norris Trophy
as the NHL's best defenseman. Very deserving both within the
context of the season just completed, and it's kind of
(20:52):
a lifetime achievement thing too. Also, he made the play
that won the gold medal for the US, so that
caps off a really terrific gear for Zach Larenski, even
though the Blue Jackets did not make the playoffs. He's
the kind of guy you think might want to get
to a better team, but he's perfectly content there. He's
the King of Columbus, and I get the appeal of that.
(21:15):
Now it's time for things I like. We got the
Stanley Cup Finals starting tonight and the NBA Final begins
tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I like the final in.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Anything, whether it's the Championship Series, the Championship Game, World Series,
super Bowl, Champions League, college football, well not so much
college football because they've ruined it, but whatever, I like
the finality. I like when it's over, tom What is
your favorite of the finals in sports?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Everybody's going to say the Super Bowl? What say you?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Super Bowl is pretty tough to beat. That's really at
the top of the list. But if I'm capt to
pick one that's not the super Bowl, I think I'd
probably have to go with the Stanley Cup Finals just
because also just following the Penguins my entire life and
them having such mass of success in the Stanley Cup Final,
that would be the number two.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You know what, I'm going to shock you. I'm going
to say the.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Super Bowl is your number one?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Well you know why? It's one game? Yeah? Oh no,
I'm not. Actually Champions League Final. One game is better
than a series.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Now, if you if you narrowed it down and said
Stanley Cup Final, game seven or the Super Bowl, I
would pick game seven.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Now, what's in last place?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
For me?
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Kind of along the lines of what you were just
saying there with college football, it's not college football, it's
actually college basketball. I kind of feel like the end
of March madness is just kind of like a wet fart,
you know what I mean, Because the big event of
the tournament is the first weekend when all the games
are happening, and that's the true madness.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
And I think they're ruining that because even though you
got all them games and you got the true madness,
the expanded format is going to mean.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
More bad game yes and nil.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
And the free transfer thingy that that's that's made for
more bad games too, because the minute good players get
to a lesser team, after a year, they transfer to
a better team. What could happened with Robert Morris basketball
where they keep having the conference MVP and he transfers immediately.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
After exactly, So that's the last place for me. Do
you find the NBA Finals this year in particular kind
of elevated? And sometimes that can elevate sometimes for you
as far as your sliding scale goes based on the
story I watched some of it.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
I mean, New York and Wemby is such a great matchup,
such a great story.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Where's that open?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
It's in San Antonio for the first two games. They
have home court advantage.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Boy, if it goes back to New York with San
Antonio up two games to none, and then San Antonio
takes a lead in game three, the garden will turn
really nasty. Then again, anything other than that, New York
will be going nuts at the opposite end of that spectrum.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And Timothy Shalamy might actually channel Paula Trades from Dune
and like try to take over Madison Square Garden by force.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I've told you I have such respect for Chalo May
as an actor that I've watched both Dunes.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
They're not bad, right, I haven't actually seen them, and
I'm a science fiction guys.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
These are not the kind of movies I would watch.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
But he he heals it.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And if you see Marty Supremia, I haven't seen Marty
Supers He's really good. The story itself, especially the finish,
is kind of hokey, but he's so good in it
that it makes up for I don't know. I mean,
you always suspend disbelief, but there's some pretty gaping plot hole.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
He's getting to that point where it's he's such a
good actor that it's tough to say any of the
movies that he's gonna be in is a bad movie.
Like even Wonka, I think was a decent watch when
he played his turn as Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Who's he dating Kylie Jyler Jenner. Yeah, they'll be court
side probably in San Antonio too. He's been traveling with
the team.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That doesn't make sense because he's white.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Tom we got Pierre on to talk about this Stanley
Cup final in a few minutes top of the hour.
Who's your pick to win the Stanley Cup? Who's your
pick to win con SMIKEE this playoff MVP.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I'm gonna go with the Hurricanes and six and then
I'm gonna take stan Covin as the con smya. He's
got nine goals, and I bet he scores a couple
of big goals in this final.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
They won't give it to a guy who's that.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Much of a non name, so they'll give it to Anderson.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, he's been around dudes, paying, et cetera, goaltending, YadA YadA.
I mean, you might be right. There's no clear cut
pick right now. I mean Marner, I guess, but Michael
has well, I only has two goals.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
That's weird.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
He has sixteen helpers only two goals. But I think
too many Leafs fans are in the media and have
a vote for Consmike, and they just won't give it
to Marner, won't get won't give it to Carter Hart.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
They'll look for someone else.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, Michael, if he scores like three or four goals
in the Cup final, that could vault him towards the
top of the list, like him having a really strong
Stanley Cup Final. I know it's a playoff award, but
that could you know, inspire some recency bias with the voters.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
And he's a big name anyway.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
You know who could get it for Carolina too is
Taylor Hall because he's having a great playoff. He leads
them in points, I think, and he's a former big name,
you know, former league MVP was gonna slip down the
depth chart and had a very short prime. This would
be looked upon. You know, the people vote for stories.
I probably would be no better, and he'd be this
redemption story.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, no question about that. I think he's definitely got
a stake to the claim. I think the pole positions
right now, Martin's probably in first. Then I'd say probably
Freddie Anderson second, and then there's so many guys who
could put in that third spot. I'd put stankovin and
I'm not talking about who I'd give it him. Talking
about it is like what the pole position is right
now as we enter it. Anderson thing bothers me though,
because you go back and look at his like box score,
if you will, he's got twelve shots faced in a
(26:27):
game against the game the nine shots face.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's how they play.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
That system they play that I hate so much, works
perfectly in a playoff situation, and.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
The Canadians played right into that because they don't shoot
at a high volume anyway.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And all they did was get frustrated.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Montreal.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, they showed that they're a year away in every
way you can be in Maturity is one of those ways.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Who you're picking in the NBA Final.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I'm gonna go with the Knicks and six. I think
both go six. I'll take the Knicks. I think the
Spurs obviously have the best player on the court, but
I think he's going to be out of gas.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, I'll say I'm saving my Stanley Cupp prediction for
the last word. I'll make an official week got Pierre
at four Cock. But I'm gonna go with the Knicks
because what you said, I think Wemby's out of gas,
and I think the Knicks or anything, but they've they
played how many games did they play total?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
In the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
They won in six and round one and then they
swept the next two rounds.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So yeah, and they've bet a lot of time off.
I bet, I bet, I bet they win Game one
at San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
And that I think would be huge. The Garden is
going to be such a tough place to go into
and win. Even at full strength, san Antonio will struggle there.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Whenever you whenever you win a home game out of
the first, whenever you win an away game rather on
the road in the first two, you switch the heat.
But but this would be switching the heat to the
teenth degree considering the rest factor in the garden factor.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
And Brunson is just such a killer. I mean, he
just has that assassin instinct. Such a fun player to
watch too, right, really throw back. He got that mid
range game, will take it to the hole as a guard,
can make a three if he has to. But I
love launching Brentson play. And he's a big time you know,
fourth quarter performer.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
One other playoff note, Tom Wilkes by Toronto in the
third game of the conference final in the AHL the
Playoff semi finals. I think they do it. It's East
and West, right the conference. It's Eastern Conference and the
home team has lost every game in the West two no, no,
no in the East. Okay, So Wilkes trails two games
to one. That z on and scored again. He joined
(28:26):
the team at the beginning of the prior round and
he has four goals and uh he's like only nineteen
first round picked this past year. I projected him as
a middle six and I still am, but I wonder
if he can maybe be better.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
He's big, yeah, no doubt, I'm excited about him.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You had a little bit more seasoning, like this isn't
one of those guys that's probably knocking on the door
next year right out of training camp. And honestly, as
we talk about all the time on this show, there's
not many of those guys anyway, because there's still a
lot of old on this roster that's blocking those guys
from doing that. But maybe he's onen's like an earlier
than we expected, better than as you just illustrated expected prospect.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Do you agree?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I wrote in the trip, and I said earlier on
the show, I have no idea what the Penguins approaches.
It looks like they're running it back because they brought
Malkin back, but wouldn't surprise me if they traded like
a raquel either.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Well, if they do that, then I think that their
approach is still trying to walk in both of those worlds,
right of trying to turn the page while still maintaining
your trio that can't be touched and.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
What about my two UFAs that'd signed Marchminton lining.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I love them both, but again they block young players
from being in the lineup, like I want to sign
short term and if you move another one of those guys.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Well Mars when I signed long term because I don't
think I think a player like that is going to age.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Well, he'll help no matter what.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, yeah, and line a one year with incentives.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
Tremanta as you said yesterday.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, and he would believe he could come in and
get used right and get goals.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Could you PLoP him if you did trade like a
Rusta Raquel, you PLoP a line on that top line
with Sid? Would that play Kate Sid at all? I
don't know, Like, hey, here's forty goal scorer at one point.
It's not like we'd left. He abandoned a.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Very long time ago. You know how Talline is six'.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
FOUR i never would have thought that HE i, seriously
WHEN i looked it, UP i, said this can't be.
Right SO i went to another website and it confirmed sixty.
FOUR i thought it was like five eleven because he
plays really small
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