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Don Hahn
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Rosenberg
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Don Hahn
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Rosenberg
This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
Don Hahn
That sounds like heaven to me.
Rosenberg
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.
Don Hahn
Game time is brought to you by Tullamore. Do Irish Whiskey because when it is game time, fellow, I like that. It's totally time. Yankees lose to the Orioles 7 nothing. And maybe lose more than that. Max Freed forced to leave the game in the third inning because of an elbow situation. He's going to get imaging back in New York. The Mets continue their series with the Tigers coverage immediately following us on 880 at 6:30. And the Cavs and the Pistons game five is on 10:50 starting at 7:30. Tullamore due the original triple distilled, triple blended and triple cast matured Irish Whiskey. Be sure to grab a Tullamore Dew or try the new Tullamore Dew. Honey, during today's action, glasses up to enjoying Tullamore Dew responsibly. Get back to your calls in just a second. But you gotta understand the absolute disaster it would be if David Stearns isn't the guy. The absolute disaster. There is no pivot. Steve Cohen wanted this guy from the second he took the job. He waited for his contract to expire in Milwaukee. Somebody told him he's the guy. Whether it was major league baseball, his buddy, his wife, I don't know. And he was committed to this guy, brought him in and now you're saying fire him now. There'd be no pivot. There'd be nobody else to do it. He would have to start looking now for the replacement and then find a guy that he loved and then bring him in. And that would be. You'd be blowing the whole thing up. Because then that guy would come in and say, I don't want these players. These players were acquired by another general manager. And now you talk about another rebuild, another blow up. There is no answer beyond Stern's. As much as you hate him, as much as Met fans despise him and Think he's doing a terrible job. The pivot from him is nothing. It's a cliff. Where could you go? It's not like a manager where there's a bunch of formal. Where would you go? And then you're gonna start over. You gotta let him try to correct his mess. And then at the end of the year, if you say this didn't work, you're gone. I gave you three years. It got worse and worse each year. And then you spend the off season and use all your billions to go find the next guy that's gonna be able to turn around. You can't do that in May. Alan.
Rosenberg
Address the problem, Don. You address the problem. You figure it out from there. There's enough people that can at least guide you to the offseason and have your search, if that's what you think. But you can't. You're really going to. Then leave it in. This is the same guy that. That decided at the end of the year that Brandon Nimmo, who's been nothing but a straight A student. Not worth your time. P. Alonso, who the fans love, who the owner had to. I, as the owner, had to tell him, I don't care. Get him signed. Right. I had to do that. He didn't want to do it. And now he let him go. Fans are not happy. We can't score any runs anymore. He's not only a straight student actually scored runs.
Don Hahn
He's not only a straight A student. He brings an apple every day for the teachers.
Rosenberg
He definitely does. He polished it up and everything. But like. And now we're. And now we're going to let him see if he can fix the roster even more.
Don Hahn
How do I know that he's not
Rosenberg
going to then make another. Make a move that moves somebody. I'm like, you have a farm system, a really good one. I don't know if I want him touching anything at this point.
Don Hahn
You've got to.
Rosenberg
I have to question everything he's done now. Only because what I thought I was getting, I'm not getting.
Don Hahn
I understand that, but are they equipped to go find the next general manager?
Rosenberg
He's an owner who has a lot of money.
Don Hahn
Yeah, And a lot of money. And this is the guy that he wanted from the get go.
Rosenberg
Yeah. And it didn't work out. It happens. You make a mistake sometimes.
Don Hahn
All right, but who you. Stearns has made a lot of mistakes. That's what my point is that. Was there a national search or just he got a bug up his rear end about wanting Stern.
Rosenberg
Well, he knew.
Don Hahn
And now. Now go find the guy. But you're not going to find the guy in May. And no general manager is going to want to take over now if you. In the middle of a season. Unless he's just desperate for work, you know, so you're gonna. That search has to be happening now and then culminate at the end of the season.
Rosenberg
Well, I really worry.
Don Hahn
I'm not saying I love it.
Rosenberg
Decision made.
Don Hahn
Now, I'm not saying I love it, but what else are you going to do?
Rosenberg
But Don, honestly, like, there's. There's time. There's time left in the season. Look at the standings. There's a lot of bad teams in Major League Baseball. You've pointed that out correctly. Pointed that out like there is an opportunity, but you can't wait too much longer. You gotta be able to make moves. You're gonna trust a guy that has made a lot of mistakes with the roster. You're gonna trust him that he's gonna be able to fix this.
Don Hahn
All right? But you know, it's not just Sterns, the entire organization. It's not like one rogue guy doing this. The organization backed him. Cohen backed Cohen at any time, could have said, oh, wait, he's Pete Alonso. He's not going anywhere.
Rosenberg
Well, he did once.
Don Hahn
And then. And then they go in 83 games. And then it's like, okay, do what you want. Right? So he's convinced this is the guy. He stood up to him one time.
Rosenberg
I'll tell you what, here's the other problem. We're a quarter into the season. Stearns has talked, what, twice, three times already, right? Every couple of weeks. Yeah. He's made himself available, which I appreciate. Do you know what it's time for? It's time for the owner to talk. Not a tweet. I need you to talk.
Don Hahn
Well, we'll see. What's he gonna say, though? Well, I would hope he's got questions. It's not gonna happen. This is. This is fantasy. He's not firing him. He's not gonna do it. He's not gonna go from all in on this guy firing him on May 13th.
Rosenberg
Well, guess what?
Don Hahn
Not gonna do it then.
Rosenberg
This will be another season of frustration.
Don Hahn
This is gonna be another season. Okay? Because you're not pivoting. No one's coming here to get to fix the problem in May. I'll see you in the off season. Okay? Figure it out.
Rosenberg
All right.
Don Hahn
The Buffalo Sabres did it out of complete desperation for a guy had been there for a long Time kick a line and became available. He needed a job. It worked. But it's so rare for it. That with the Sabres did is so rare.
Rosenberg
I understand.
Don Hahn
So rare.
Rosenberg
I'm not even using.
Don Hahn
Okay. It didn't touch it.
Rosenberg
Nothing.
Don Hahn
I know there wasn't anything to fix.
Rosenberg
I'm not saying it's easy, but. So what I'm saying is, is that while everybody has their crosshairs on Mendoza that I think we're looking at the wrong person. And the guy, even Stearns even said it himself. He pointed the finger at himself when he talked about the roster. He wasn't blaming the manager.
Don Hahn
And he did that because he knows he's got a job forever.
Rosenberg
No.
Don Hahn
You think he's got a job forever? No, I'm not. It's not even about that. Yankees, they've dropped five of their last six. Lose Max Freed for the foreseeable future. A lot going on there. So a lot on the table at 1-800-919-3776. Let's go to Vincent. He's all the way out in Arizona. You're on espn, New York.
Caller
Hey, guys, thanks for taking the call. I'm a huge Yankees fan. I know that we lost today and we haven't been playing good ball. I'm not starting to worry yet. But I think it's time that we need to trade Jazz, Chisholm and Volpe and we need to get a big time Vulpin arm. I mean, Volpe comes back on his first game and we get the Volpe special strikeout with two guys on and an era. He is soft. He needs to go. Caballero is the guy. And Jazz is just too much about himself. I like him, but he's not made for New York. These guys need to go.
Don Hahn
I don't. I don't disagree with you, but you're saying two things. They need to go. You're probably right. I said it the other day. I don't think Jazz is a Yankee and I don't think he's long for here. I think he's a free agent at the end of the season anyway. He's going to be gone. Volpe. Yeah. I mean, they're going to give him a chance here because they have no choice, right. With Caballero on the IL.
Rosenberg
But Caballero already said I'm on the 10 day and I got nine days to go.
Don Hahn
Right.
Rosenberg
And he's like, I'm not going to.
Don Hahn
And the organization's already said that he is going to be the guy who
Rosenberg
comes back right he's not losing his job, which is a far cry from what things were last year.
Don Hahn
Think about.
Rosenberg
Or even months.
Don Hahn
What you're asking.
Rosenberg
Think about this. Didn't Cashman say, when Volpe comes back, it's shortstop is his? And that's always been the plan was what Cashman said. And now it's a different song. Because Rabbi Arrows played very well.
Don Hahn
Well, good for him for pivoting, but they have to. But here's the problem. Yeah, they got to go. You think you're trading Jazz, who's got one year left on his contract. All right, who's got four home runs and batting.200, and Volpe, who's broken, is going to get you bullpen help. Everybody wants bullpen help. You think trading those two guys is
Rosenberg
going to get you bullpen help, but it's not. You don't trade them for bullpen help. But you are.
Don Hahn
What he said, I trade him for. You're not getting bullpen. You'll get somebody out of the bullpen.
Rosenberg
Every fan is always thinking that I can trade my garbage for something glamorous, which, you know, never really does work out that way. But a young player who needs a fresh start can get you something in a place where the. It's not a crucible. Nimmo talked about the difference playing in. In Texas, how much calmer things are, and it's really laid back. I never knew it was easy. Like, think about that. So maybe that's what Volpe needs, is to go somewhere where it's quiet.
Don Hahn
Listen, what are you going to do
Rosenberg
with him and Jazz? If it's. If he. If they know he's going to walk, the team takes him because they just want to dump some salary.
Don Hahn
Volpe's being given a chance here, all right? He's got nine days to do it. Missed yesterday. Chance. I didn't even looked at what he did today. But if it doesn't work out and Caballero comes back, then he's going to be gone. Yes, there's no question. But what you're, you know, gone in what sense? So what are you trading him for?
Rosenberg
Volpe batted eighth over three with a strikeout.
Don Hahn
Okay, so it just. It's not working out. Tony, he's in Dobbs Ferry. You're on espn, New York. What's up, man? Tony Tone.
Caller
Isn't it sad that had Volpe at one time, when they were on the USA Baseball team, he was considered a bigger prospect than Bobby Wood Jr. And now. And now he's become pretty much an afterthought it's, it's, it's really. The Yankees have had such bad luck with positional players outside of Aaron Judge and now, I guess you could say Ben Rice.
Rosenberg
Yeah.
Caller
But it's, it's really been. As a fan, it's beyond disappointing, guys. But here's, here's my thing. We're very weak up the middle. We can't hit, not defensively. Offensively, we're very weak up the middle. Catching is a minus offensive position for us.
Rosenberg
Major
Caller
second base is a incredible minus offensive position for us. And center field, to a degree, depending on who's playing there that day, has been, you know, average at best.
Rosenberg
Grisham hasn't been great.
Don Hahn
Right.
Caller
So. So my thing is this. The Rays don't look like they're going anywhere, man. And everybody wanted to think, you know, they look like an afterthought. They were an afterthought. Ah, the Rays. You have to worry about the Blue Jays and maybe you have to worry about the Red Sox. No, we got to worry about the Rays. We're two and a half games, might be three games behind them, three back
Don Hahn
in the loss right now.
Rosenberg
Yeah.
Caller
And now we might have lost Freed, who is our number one guy for the foreseeable future. So as a Yankee, nobody wants to take it. I just heard what that other gentleman said. Nobody's taking Chisholm Volpe, maybe. You know what I'm trying to say? Maybe. But as a Yankee, they're not going to get rid of him. The only way, trade him right now.
Rosenberg
Well, Volpe, they're not, they're not going to trade Volpe right now, but there will come a time that they will move him because, A, you want to. You're going to run out of options. B, you want to give him a chance somewhere else. He's not part of what you want to do going forward. It's pretty clear they really like Caballero and he's maybe surprised them with his everyday ability. It's just, you know, got to get him healthy again. But the Jazz thing, I think you can move him because they know he's going to walk. So you get somebody that's looking for a little salary dump opportunity. But yeah, there's reason for concern because we know the Rays are always well managed. They're always going to be a thorn in your side. But I also, I'm not sounding alarms right now. Not alarms. The Freed thing, though, that's alarming. The good news is Garrett Cole is close to coming back, but we do
Don Hahn
have sound from Aaron Boone spoke after the game. When did Freed mention the discomfort in his arm?
Caller
Just felt like early on I was having a hard time kind of getting, getting loose and getting to that point. Like take him several pitches in the inning to get to his point. You know, he's feeling a little something in between starts, not all that abnormal to what he deals with throughout the season. You kind of go through your five and six day, you kind of work through and you're good to go. Threw his pen this week and felt good about that. So just was having a hard time getting to where he normally gets.
Don Hahn
Well, doesn't sound overly concerned about it, but still he's going back for imaging. So what that imaging tells us is when we decide whether you're going to be concerned or not. Exactly what made it bad enough that Freed complained early on just,
Caller
just his. His stuff was down and it would take him, you know, two, three hitters in the inning to get to get to 95 when he needed it like so that it was just having a hard time getting, getting ramped up.
Don Hahn
Well, if, if you remember we were having the conversation, I guess was a couple of weeks ago about Diaz that he didn't pitch against the Mets in a closing situation. They didn't have him on the il, but he had lost velocity. Next thing you know he's out three months. The losing of the velocity, all the things he's saying does not sound good. Now there's nobody more optimistic than Aaron Boone, but just listening to the things he's saying, the loss of velocity, not feeling comfortable, taking a few batters to get warm. These are all the things that you hear about a guy that's got a bum elbow and it just sounds to me like it's not going to be good. Like that imaging is going to come back and it's worrisome.
Rosenberg
At worst he'll have to like whether they do a rest thing or something. But yeah, it is definitely worrisome. But that's why the depth of the pitching rotation once healthy was so critical. Rodon is back. Cole on his way. Will Warren has pitched well. Schlitler has been great.
Don Hahn
I would told you the last outing was great.
Rosenberg
Yeah, he fought it a little bit, but he was still hitting his numbers. But you know, that's, that's where we are right now.
Don Hahn
More from Boone on whether he complained in his prior starts.
Caller
I think, I think there's times over the years that you. When you, you know, I think he felt a little between this one but like you said, got to the Five and six day and felt okay.
Don Hahn
It's such a tough position when coaches and managers have to talk about injuries, especially in the moment.
Rosenberg
Can't speak for the player, right?
Don Hahn
Can't speak for the player. You know, the doctor tells them what they know, but until they see the imaging. So it's a really tough spot. So Aaron's gonna say, yeah, he was feeling this, he's feeling that. But, you know, Aaron's not a doctor.
Rosenberg
It's all speculation.
Don Hahn
It's a real difficult spot to put Boone in. Of course, you got to do it.
Rosenberg
Writers have to ask the questions because they got to explain it as best they can in their stories. And the manager has to explain the same thing over and over again because there's nothing really. There's no depth to any of the information he's getting right now.
Don Hahn
Football coaches have a great Peter, right? Which part? No, they'll if same thing. Let's say quarterback problem with his elbow comes out of the game. What would the coach say? Would he be like Boone say? Yeah, yeah, he was feeling a little twinge here. He's complained to me during warmup. No, the coach would be like, got to talk to the. Got to talk.
Rosenberg
Haven't talked to medical yet.
Don Hahn
We're going to get an update.
Rosenberg
We'll get you an update tomorrow.
Don Hahn
Yeah, we'll let you know. And you know what? As soon as we know, you won't. I blame baseball for that. Right. Like, I understand the manager has to speak, but they would probably complain if Boone just said, look, I got to talk to the doctor. I don't know. The writers would complain. And then somebody would. Somebody at PR would. Getting boons here. You got to give them a little something.
Rosenberg
Hockey. They don't even tell you what the injury is.
Don Hahn
We all saw his arms fall off.
Rosenberg
Upper body.
Don Hahn
In hockey, Mike Sullivan would come out and say, he's got an upper body injury. He's dead to day. Next question. That's it. Yeah.
Rosenberg
And you're like, well, we saw his arm fall off completely. They had to pick it up off the ice. Yeah. We're calling it upper body right now. We don't know for sure that is
Don Hahn
part of his upper body, am I right? Well, I always wondered about, like, a hand injury. I guess it depends on whether if your hands are up, it's upper. If you're down, it's lower. Really depends on where your hands are extremities. Now, we wanted to hear from Max Freed. We have Max Freed. What are you feeling? What are you feeling in your Elbow,
Max Freed
I would say it's. It's hard to completely explain, but just kind of. Just whether it's like a hyperextended or just like, banged kind of that back of the elbow, tricep area, just a little uncomfortable, Tight. Especially in between innings, it's hard for me to kind of warm up, loosen up. First hitter of the inning would be, like, 88, 90, 91. And by the end, you know, fourth, fifth hitter, 20 pitches in, I'm able to kind of get things loosened up, but that just wasn't sharp, and it was just hard to kind of keep bouncing back and, you know, definitely wasn't helping the team. And just at a certain point, we were just say, hey, like, could have kept pitching, but it just, you know, at that point, it was just like, hey, let's. Let's make sure that we can kind of calm this thing down and, you know, try to get ahead of it.
Rosenberg
Does that sound muscular more than it sounds like soft tissue?
Don Hahn
I don't know.
Rosenberg
Ligament generally is like a tweak or a twinge or. Or like, you're not being able to grip this. This is a little different. This is like, he's. It's tight, and he can't get it loose.
Don Hahn
And the other thing. The other difference between baseball and every other sport is you play till it pops, right? Like, there's no. When I took the wrist shot, I kind of felt the wrist was, like, a little. So I'm gonna go get to get it. No, if you play until all of a sudden, your hand falls off, and then they say that there's. There's an upper body injury, right? Football, same thing. Basketball, Right. Maybe they'll give you a little something.
Rosenberg
But who was the flyer that tore his mcl and didn't and couldn't play in, like, game four? Bruce, the linen. And then after the game said, yeah, I tore my ligament and literally just couldn't.
Don Hahn
Well, rant it, too. Ranton was. Was playing on a, like, a torn mcl, right? And it was just lower body.
Rosenberg
These guys are.
Don Hahn
No, they're gonna play till, you know, I. You know, I played and I just heard a break. I heard a pop.
Rosenberg
Awesome.
Don Hahn
There's no, like, preliminary stuff. So the big question to Max is, are you concerned?
Max Freed
I guess you never know. But, I mean, I'm. I'm definitely planning on this thing being a sooner rather than later. Don't want to put any timelines or anything like that. Obviously, we'll find out tomorrow. But where everything is and the initial testing, I'm not too worried about a super long term thing. If I, if I can, I would love to be able to make my next start, but. Yeah, we'll, we'll see.
Rosenberg
All right, that's optimistic.
Don Hahn
Oh, well, you want to be optimistic, that's good. But I don't know if he's felt
Rosenberg
something, if he's already had Tommy John, if he, if he felt something. I don't know. I don't know if he'd go there.
Don Hahn
Well, is this the first time that you felt this in a start?
Max Freed
It's something that I've, I think as pitchers that you just, you kind of get banged up at times and you know, you, you treat stuff in between starts and then, you know by the time the start day happens, feels better and you're, you're able to go compete and it was definitely progressing and getting much better. Just wasn't able to really get over the hump today.
Don Hahn
All right, so very early start.
Rosenberg
Did the early start affect them?
Don Hahn
Yeah, you wonder about.
Rosenberg
They moved that. Remember, it was supposed to be a strike tonight was a seven, right, Wasn't it?
Don Hahn
We found out what was it like right before this. Right.
Rosenberg
Show started. During the show.
Don Hahn
During the show that it was gonna be moved. It was late in the show. Yeah, we were having fun. Like the alarms because they had to find somebody to replace K. Right.
Rosenberg
But it's supposed to rain tonight.
Don Hahn
Supposed to be listening to Susan when I was driving home, I flipped on the game and she said like a storm was coming down in Baltimore, in Baltimore and it was going to rain out the game. So it was supposed to be beautiful during the day. So they just moved it. I don't know. Does that affect you? You find out at like 5:00'. Clock.
Rosenberg
I don't know if it affects pitching
Don Hahn
in less than 24 hours.
Rosenberg
An early start might affect your ability yet. Would it affect both though it's raining in both?
Don Hahn
Well, if he's got something. Was it aggravated by the fact that
Rosenberg
or it was just harder to wait, you know, in the morning to just get loose. You don't know.
Don Hahn
There's so much unknown.
Rosenberg
I'm hoping that's all it is.
Don Hahn
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Rosenberg
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg Podcast.
Don Hahn
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
Rosenberg
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Don Hahn
You just made the list, buddy.
Rosenberg
This is the list with Don Hahn and Rosenberg.
Don Hahn
So I was thinking today as I was preparing for the show, what would make a good list and a nice topical list since A.J. ewing made his major league debut last night, it was not nothing.
Rosenberg
Top five Ewings, couple of hits.
Don Hahn
All right, so Daniel Jr. Patrick, I guess A.J. that's all I got. Patrick Jr. You know, since I'm. Oh yeah, thank you. Since I'm doing all the stuff at Ramapo and I'm I got the commencement speech going tomorrow, by the way. Mic check, sound check, 6:45am So I got to get up quite early in the morning. What. What time is commencement? 8:30. But they can have a nice little breakfast spread. I'm going to be taken care of. The fact that I'm not going to fight back because it's 8:30. If you had told me it was like 10:30, I would have been like, that's a hard no from me, dog. Y' all are going to have to work that out yourself. No, no, no, no, no. But no. 645 for 8:30. That's it. I guess that's fine. So just quickly give you my list. We were talking about Ewing, so my freshman year at Ramapo and I didn't know where everything was. They had wings, right? We love wings. So A wing, B wing, C wing,
Rosenberg
you know, all those wings.
Don Hahn
Yeah, I thought you meant wings. So I had to go to E wing for something. So the person wrote it down.
Rosenberg
Ewing.
Don Hahn
E Wing. And so I'm walking around asking people, where's Ewing? You know where Ewing is? And they're like, I don't know what the heck you're talking about. Is it a person? No, no, it's. They told me I needed to go to this class, and it's a Ewing, and they look at it, so. No, it's E Wing, you idiot. That's why it took me six years to graduate. I should put that in the speech. No, that's funny. That's a natural icebreaker. It is pretty.
Rosenberg
That's very relatable, too. So there's got to be others that probably had.
Caller
Right.
Don Hahn
But I know it sounds stupid, but if you. If you see Ewing on a piece
Rosenberg
of paper, that's a good story I'm
Don Hahn
gonna tell that I love. All right, top five New York rookie debuts. So these are not people that were traded to New York or signage free agents. Their first game. Rookies, they're called up and they make their debut. I guess the first question is, did Ewings review make it? Wait, rookies. Top five rookie debuts in Nueva York. In Nueva. All sports. Oh, yeah.
Rosenberg
Oh, man.
Don Hahn
Across all.
Rosenberg
All the sports, I remember Ewing. Patrick Ewing's debut. I would hope it's on this list. I would hope it's on.
Don Hahn
It's not. What do you know it. Do you have it?
Rosenberg
What he did? Yeah, he's against Moses Maloney. Dunked on.
Don Hahn
All right, that's. That's a nice moment. That's a pretty big deal.
Rosenberg
He's the number one pick in the draft.
Don Hahn
Well, what does that have to do with Moses Maloney? He's not on the list. All right, who are you taking out?
Rosenberg
Well, let's see. Let's see.
Don Hahn
All right, let's. I'm thinking. I'm thinking.
Rosenberg
I'm thinking he dunked on Moses Malin.
Don Hahn
I want every. So what am I supposed to. That's a great debut. But you know what? You're supposed to do that. You're the first Overall he played 44 minutes. Yeah, he scored 18 points.
Rosenberg
That's right.
Don Hahn
Six rebounds, three blocks and a 10 point loss.
Rosenberg
Three blocks. That's a former MVP against Moses Malone.
Don Hahn
That's a very good. Listen, we'll judge. And I want. I want Jacob and Anthony to chime in too, because you guys are sports. All right, I. All right, go ahead. Listen, Anthony, you got. You got a hockey one? I do, actually. All right, go ahead.
Rosenberg
I don't know if Don will go here.
Don Hahn
Maybe he will.
Rosenberg
He was a good player for the Rangers.
Don Hahn
Derek Stepan had a hat trick in his debut, and I have it as number one. 10. 9. 10. Thank you. He just plays his first game as a Ranger, scores a hat trick. I called the game. It was in Buffalo. It's one of my proudest moments. Wait a minute. It's a hat trick. Not 18 points and six rebounds for a guy. That's seven, but. Oh, will you stop with your Moses Malone? Oh, you know who's on that Sabre team.
Rosenberg
Was that the last time the Sabres made the playoffs?
Don Hahn
I don't remember. No. Cause he doesn't know the answer. Come on.
Rosenberg
Ryan Miller.
Don Hahn
It might. It probably was. He probably was in golf. He might have been.
Rosenberg
Yeah, he probably did. He asked me, did I know.
Caller
All right.
Don Hahn
He came up with something. Good guess.
Rosenberg
I got.
Don Hahn
All right, so. So, Derek, step on number one.
Rosenberg
Number one.
Don Hahn
I think I have one. He turned into a strange pull, but at the. All right, go ahead.
Rosenberg
Go ahead.
Don Hahn
I don't know the significance of the player. No, that is the debut. Joe Schmo. He had a hat trick. His debut. Never scored a goal. He's got three goals.
Rosenberg
It's gotta be.
Don Hahn
How many? Oh, go ahead. No, no, Jacob, go ahead. Sorry. Is. I'm guessing a baseball one? Matt Harvey for the Mets. No.
Rosenberg
Wow.
Don Hahn
Thought about it? No, because who are you taking out? We don't know, but you're onto something. You're on to something. Get going. Give me Jacob deGrom. Come on. No, no. Give me. No, listen. Jacob deGrom is definitely an honorable mention. When? Six scoreless innings against the Yankees. But I've got a better one.
Rosenberg
Nolan McClain.
Don Hahn
No, no. I got a better one. It's a pitcher. Doc. Give me.
Caller
Doc.
Don Hahn
No, it's a better one. No, not a better pitcher. But it's just the debut. Was it Noah Syndergaard? No, but you're close. You're right there.
Caller
Right there.
Don Hahn
It was against the Reds. His grandfather was at the game. Local kid.
Rosenberg
Steve Metz.
Don Hahn
That's right. Steven Metz. June 28th, 2015, seven and two thirds innings, two runs. He drove in four runs,
Rosenberg
no batting gloves.
Don Hahn
That's number two. But that was ten years ago already. Eleven. Eleven.
Rosenberg
That's crazy. We're all so old.
Don Hahn
That seems so recent to me.
Rosenberg
So old.
Don Hahn
What are the other sports left? We've got a couple of a foosball and another baseball. How recent are the foosballs? 18 and 19. Saquon? No. Hmm? No. Saquon? No. What about Odell Beckham? No.
Rosenberg
Better not be Zach Wilson.
Don Hahn
No. God's to God. No.
Rosenberg
God, no. Oh, Daniel. Sam Darnold.
Don Hahn
Wait, wait a minute. Daniel Jones first. Daniel Jones, number three. September 22, 2019. 23 at 36, 336 yards, two touchdowns versus Tampa Bay. They won the game because the Buccaneers missed the chip shot field goal. But he was the offensive rookie of the week. I remember that. He came in the game off the injury. Right. And just lit. Played like three and a half quarters. It was really good.
Rosenberg
I remember Sam Darnold.
Don Hahn
Sam Darnold. I have his debut now. The Monday night was somewhat pedestrian. He picked six to start the game Monday Night Football against the Lions. But he threw two touchdown passes. 16, 21, 198 yards. September 10, 2018 in his debut as they thumped the Lions on Monday Night Football. I'll never forget Sam Darnold at number five.
Rosenberg
And he didn't do it against Moses Malone, but he's on the list.
Don Hahn
God, I remember that pick six too.
Rosenberg
Yeah.
Don Hahn
I remember thinking, oh God, how bad is this going to be? That was a really good start.
Rosenberg
All right.
Don Hahn
And number four because you're not going to know, you know what Sam Darnold is now only because. Yeah. Aaron Judge against the Rays. 2 for 4 in his debut August 13, 2016. But he hit a 446 foot home run. Oh, God bless. In his debut. I got him at 4. So I've got. Alan's wishing he was texting Harry Douglas right now.
Rosenberg
Got to be kidding me.
Don Hahn
That's what I get stopped. I don't think.
Rosenberg
I don't think basketball dunking on Moses.
Don Hahn
That's a great moment. That's not who you take it out. I'm going to give. I'm going to give a.
Rosenberg
You're impartial.
Don Hahn
Yeah. I'm going to give a criticism of the list and a criticism out. The list was a little bit recency bias focused. Right. They're like. Like the amount of Jones Darnold. It was judge. But you're Ewing is not getting on. I am dunking Who? One dunk against Moses. It's a decent line. They lost by 10 points. He scored 19 points. It's cool.
Rosenberg
Was a dramatic moment for a franchise. It was in. It was everything.
Don Hahn
Well, then you can make your own list.
Rosenberg
Derek Stepan had a hatchet. Make the playoffs.
Don Hahn
You're. You're adding sauce to it. He's talking about the performance. I'm just making a big debut. I'm not talking about, you know, best debuts by a first overall.
Rosenberg
What do I know?
Don Hahn
You know, some of these guys fizzle out.
Rosenberg
No, I get it. I'm new here.
Don Hahn
That's not the thing.
Rosenberg
And on the first game he played, he had a moment, but that's.
Don Hahn
That says that's not what he was doing. The list on You're. You're using a different criteria. Ewing's more important than everyone on the list. Right. Except for Judge. But the performance from step on hat trick is more notable than a 19.3 block game. I think he's right. Or 18I against the hall of Fame. The other thing too is he's. This is why he's so much like K with the list. This is why there were times I wanted to stop doing the list. Yes. Because it's one thing to disagree. All right. Because you know what sports radio is about. Disagreement. Sure it is. No, he's. He's now out. Like Michael would be out. And he's like, insulted. Yeah. They take it personal. Why are you taking it so personal? You know what we'd say about Michael. If you're not doing you know what, then you're.
Rosenberg
I'm not insulted. I'm just making the case.
Don Hahn
No, I would like.
Rosenberg
But the fact that you dismissed it so, like, backhandedly.
Don Hahn
Who are you taking out?
Rosenberg
Almost. I take all four.
Don Hahn
Four of the five. Sam Darnold won his debut. The jets don't win a lot of games. Monday Night Football. Almost never again.
Rosenberg
What did it lead?
Don Hahn
No, the Turner one is. Is maybe where you have an argument because the line wasn't spectacular. He threw a pick six. He also threw two touchdowns. But it's not a great. Detroit wasn't yet Detroit. It's not. I mean, that's like.
Rosenberg
It was a Monday night game.
Don Hahn
Yeah, it's a horror. But this is just.
Rosenberg
I hosted a watch party in Smithtown at like Napper Tandy's or something like that that night.
Don Hahn
Bless.
Rosenberg
Yeah.
Don Hahn
Stafford at the helm. Forget. Let's not forget it was the first game of the doubleheader.
Rosenberg
Oh, couple notes here.
Don Hahn
By the way. Ryan Miller was in Net other notes. Everybody remembers that there was a playoff drought that the jets still have that the Sabres don't. This was the last year that the Sabres made the playoffs in 2010.
Rosenberg
Did I not say that?
Don Hahn
They were the seventh and they lost to the Flyers in the first round. Do I not get credit for this information? 16 years ago. I have strange polls, but do we have any of my step on calls? I mean. No, we don't. Not in the system. See, that's ridiculous. No, no, no, no. We've moved. I don't know how many. You know, we've moved like six times. How do you not care? They're not on these computers.
Rosenberg
Just.
Don Hahn
Just say we left that early, passed away, and the fan was throwing calls from 30 years ago. I didn't hear. It's not.
Rosenberg
How about this?
Don Hahn
I will find the call before the end of the show.
Rosenberg
Wow.
Don Hahn
All right.
Rosenberg
You will.
Don Hahn
Peter, get ready. You ready? Okay.
Rosenberg
Jason Pommonville. Oh, my goodness.
Don Hahn
Supposed to hit these over. These are. These are strange pull sabers in the game. Tyler Ennis. Wow. Andre Sicara. Tim Connelly. All right. Just ever. It's the whole team.
Rosenberg
It's the whole team.
Don Hahn
I'm standing by my list. Thomas Vanek.
Rosenberg
He had a good career. I know. Tim Connolly.
Don Hahn
Tomas, if you. Tomas. Nasty.
Rosenberg
That's a great line.
Don Hahn
Let's get back to the busy phones. Let's talk to Steve on Long Island. You're on ESPN New York.
Rosenberg
What's up, Steve?
Don Hahn
Hello.
Rosenberg
What's up? That was so good.
Don Hahn
I'm laughing. I'm sorry.
Caller
So. Just wanted to go back to the Stearns thing.
Don Hahn
Yeah.
Caller
And you know what? It's. It's a business world out there. And whether it's the middle of the year, the end of the year, it shouldn't matter. You know, someone has to prove their worth, and he certainly hasn't. So the point. I don't understand Don saying, let's wait till the end of the year and then first look to someone. That doesn't make sense to me, but
Don Hahn
you got to find someone who you're pivoting to. Who are you taking out? This is the true man.
Caller
Listen, I would think we don't know the inside of what's going on.
Don Hahn
There is no pivot because this is the guy he's wanted forever. So he. It's a combination of. It just never happens. And in this case, Steve, it's not going to happen. I understand what Alan's saying. He has not done his job. He's been a problem. Fire him. Who are you bringing in. All right, Somebody on social media said that why don't, why don't they bring in Theo Epstein? Steve Epstein's trying to be an owner.
Rosenberg
He's in ownership.
Don Hahn
All right, he's done. Yeah, he's done being a general manager.
Rosenberg
He's not going to be a general manager. No.
Don Hahn
And who the hell wants to take over and fix this problem? This is something you do in the off season. I kick a line in the Sabres. We're on a Sabres kick. All of a sudden they went to kick a line and firing Kevin Adams. And you know what he did? Nothing. Didn't make a trade, didn't sign anybody because they felt like they were done with Adams. Bringing kick a line, didn't do anything. The person that comes in here to replace Stearns is going to have to do a lot. Come in with that stupid hard hat and the vest that the Mets put on when they hit home runs. That's what this next general manager is going to do, blowing it up like a construction worker or like pest control. Just like the New Jersey Devils protect their home ice, Viking Pest Control protects your home. And I know because I use Viking at my own place. As the pest control provider and proud partner of the New Jersey devils, Viking brings 45 years of trusted experience and expert service to keep ants, cockroaches, stinging insects, rodents and even mosquitoes out of your zone. Their local team builds a personalized game plan that actually works. And when you bundle pest control mosquito services, you score big. Savings one call, one company. Total peace of mind. Visit vikingpest.com protecting your home inside and out. Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows and originals across every ESPN network and service.
Rosenberg
And now you can check if you
Don Hahn
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Rosenberg
Thanks for listening to the Don Han and Rosenberg podcast.
Don Hahn
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
Rosenberg
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Don Hahn
Let's get back to the busy phones of 1-800-919-3776. Joey's in Montclair. You're on ESPN New York. What's up, Joey?
Caller
Hey, guys. Always a pleasure to be on Don. Absolutely no respect to the List. I have the utmost respect for it. However, I do think you have to take out Aaron Judge because I think the greater Yankee moment is Marcus Timms comes up very, very first pitch he sees in the major leagues. Rocks or home run off Randy Johnson. And the only reason I say that beats two home runs in that massive blow by Judge is because I remember that game, but I can't remember who threw that pitch to God, though.
Don Hahn
You're showing it's a strange pole. Yankee fan. That's what you are. I like it.
Rosenberg
That is a strange.
Don Hahn
You know, I dove that when I. When I come with the list, Joy, I dive into my memory bank and then I kind of look and check some things out. But now that's a. That's a good one. I remember that being a big deal, you know, home run on its first pitch and all that. But no, that's good. I like it. And again, really good. Strange poll, Will. North Carolina's got a strange Nick poll. What do you got?
Caller
Hey, Hello.
Don Hahn
Yeah, what's up?
Caller
Hey, from the Bronx. I heard North Carolina, that's what.
Don Hahn
Well, it says NC here, so there's some confusion. Sorry, Will.
Caller
Yeah, no, I was. I was on hold yesterday, but then Rich called. I said there's no way I'm making the last call. Oh, but I wanted to say Don, don't stop the list ever. And then I got a couple strange pulls from yesterday that I wanted to call in, but in Rich fashion. I wanted to see if I could say it in the way he would say it.
Don Hahn
Go ahead.
Caller
If that's okay with you guys. Hey, Don Han, Peter. I. I got some. Some names here. I went to see Ronnie Torioff once. He was the best snick I ever seen. I saw Lord Munson. He was incredible. I also had seen Chris Copeland. He's an amazing Knick player. And people always forget that Mike Bibby played his last favorite to Nick in the Garden. Take care, guys.
Don Hahn
You know what? Great effort.
Rosenberg
That was a good effort. And I love that. The over exaggeration of somebody that you never heard of. Who is the greatest ever?
Don Hahn
Ronnie.
Rosenberg
Tory off. A very good poll. That's a very good poll. We. We did get Copeland. We did get Amundsen. Mike Bibby. You know, that's. That's one of those trivia questions.
Don Hahn
I forgot about Mike Bibby.
Rosenberg
That's two former Knicks.
Don Hahn
I forgot about Tory off here.
Rosenberg
Two former Knicks who have combined for the most points in NBA history.
Don Hahn
I had a list during Henry and Mike Bibby of like the greatest players that ended Their careers in, like, strange places that you forget.
Rosenberg
Yeah.
Don Hahn
That was like, Franco Harris as a Seahawk. Oh, wow. Johnny Unitis as a Charger. You know, like, what was Namath.
Rosenberg
Namath was a. Namath was a Ram. A RAM. Right.
Don Hahn
77 charger.
Rosenberg
Now Starks in a Bulls uniform.
Don Hahn
Starks is a Bull.
Rosenberg
Definitely did not.
Don Hahn
And also Pippen is a Sonic.
Rosenberg
Pippin as Pippen as a Sonic.
Don Hahn
And a Rocket. Rocket.
Rosenberg
Rocket, yeah. Ewing as a Wizard.
Don Hahn
Right. Ewing was a Sonic.
Rosenberg
Ewing was a Sonic. He was a Magic.
Don Hahn
He was a Magic.
Rosenberg
Was he. Was he a Raptor?
Don Hahn
Tool.
Rosenberg
Was that.
Don Hahn
Hakeem?
Rosenberg
That was a Came as a Raptor.
Don Hahn
It's terrific.
Rosenberg
Dopey dinosaur jersey on. That was one of those where it's like, no, you got to go. It's time to go. Like, we can't see you like this.
Don Hahn
There's a lot of football ones, and you kind of forget about them because it was.
Rosenberg
There's also a lot of weird baseball ones, aren't there?
Don Hahn
Oh, sure.
Rosenberg
Certain players that you're like. They put on a uniform, and you just can't believe they're in that uniform.
Don Hahn
Oh, yeah. I'm trying to think of. We love doing this game.
Rosenberg
Yeah. Again, Euclid's in a Yankee uniform. Still blows my mind, that is. Did that really happen?
Don Hahn
Yeah. And even though it was as a manager, it was just weird seeing, you know, Ted Williams as a Washington senator.
Rosenberg
Yeah. Because I have to wear the uniform.
Don Hahn
I'm trying to think of a really good baseball one.
Rosenberg
Give me a hockey one.
Don Hahn
Oh, well, hockey.
Rosenberg
Yaga wore so many uniforms.
Don Hahn
Nine different teams. a certain point, the Penguins became strange. That's how many other uniforms he were.
Rosenberg
Ron Dugay as a Red Wing. Very strange.
Don Hahn
Yeah. Ron Dugay is a Red Wing. That was like, a big deal when they traded him away to the Red. I want to get a good. Oh, this one you forget because he came. He came out of retirement deployment play. But Claude Lemieux is a Shark. You probably don't even remember.
Caller
Oh.
Don Hahn
Think it might like, you mean 2010, 2009?
Rosenberg
Yeah. Wow. Don't remember that.
Don Hahn
Yeah, there's got to be. There's a couple, like, the, like, jarring ones.
Max Freed
It'll.
Don Hahn
It'll come. Was there any of the great Islanders? Well, obviously seeing Trachea.
Rosenberg
John Tenelli has a Calgary Flame. Never sat well with me. Trachea has a Penguin. He won a couple cups.
Don Hahn
No. Yeah. So that was.
Rosenberg
He was great.
Don Hahn
That wasn't. That was another guy.
Rosenberg
What a great decision to move on from Him. Oh, yeah.
Don Hahn
I'm just trying to. Yeah. None of that. Yeah, because they. Some of them did move on, but, like, they moved on to. Nick Fatiu is a Whaler and a flame.
Rosenberg
Yeah, I remember the Whaler. Whaler days.
Don Hahn
Yeah. Oh, those were. Those were strange. And even. Even. You don't even see it, really. But the three years that Messier was a Canuck, where did.
Rosenberg
Or go?
Don Hahn
Oh, War went to the Blackhawks. Yeah.
Rosenberg
That's a.
Don Hahn
That's a very good one.
Rosenberg
That's one where you're just.
Don Hahn
It's one of the repulsive things about sports. What do you really think about it? Like, these moments are like, that you just kind of, like, cringe.
Rosenberg
It's why the Jalen Brown stuff. And as much as, like, this conversation about they're gonna break them up, they should trade him. And I'm thinking, like, you can't see Jaylen Brown in any other uniform. It doesn't make sense, right?
Don Hahn
No.
Rosenberg
Now it doesn't make sense, but it
Don Hahn
feels like it's going to happen.
Rosenberg
I would not.
Don Hahn
They're not going to. They're not just going to stay the same. And if you're going to get somebody like Giannis, you're going to have to give him up.
Rosenberg
Oh, God. You see the stuff Tatum said.
Don Hahn
What do you say? I didn't hear.
Rosenberg
He was. And this was recorded before the playoffs started. It was because his anniversary of when he popped his Achilles. And so they decided, of course, let's commemorate it by doing an interview of where he is right now, which is not in the playoffs. But he didn't know it when he was recording this interview. And one of the things he said when they asked him about, like, you know, your dream or what is your idea of success in a season? And he was just like, you know, winning, holding up the championship trophy and the Finals mvp. It's like, that's a strange thing to say. Nobody ever says the Finals mvp, but it's because he didn't win it when they won the championship. No, Brown won it. And everybody's like, see, there's something between these two.
Don Hahn
It's so crazy when you think how things. Because we always talk about. And I'm the leader of this, you know, Vegas is hardly ever wrong. They. They whiffed on the Celtics how well they played without Tatum, and Tatum comes back and he's playing well, and they're the. They're the favorites, and they didn't even get out of it, and they blew a 3 one. Seriously, like, it's incredible. How much they whiffed on that.
Rosenberg
They were the they looked when you watched them play at the end of the regular season. All I kept how is anybody beating this team? They play so hard. They shoot the three and then they
Don Hahn
lose to a team that couldn't even stay in the gym with the Knicks.
Rosenberg
And they, they lost to a team that couldn't. Literally couldn't defend how.
Don Hahn
But you don't need to defend when you just jack up. But Derek Wright threes out of nowhere. It was definitely a. Telling you it was a bad. That was a. No, it was. People are downplaying it. And I get it. He's won a championship. It's just. It's a bad piece of coaching. Like, it's historically bad.
Rosenberg
Defiant, stubborn, whatever you want to call it.
Don Hahn
And now. And now everyone seems to continue to give him a pass because they run up these numbers in the regular season. But at a certain point.
Rosenberg
But it's very Yankee. It's very Yankee. We believe in the home run. We believe in it. Strikeouts are fine.
Don Hahn
We'll live with strikeouts because we believe
Rosenberg
in the home run. It's the same thing as the Celtics. We believe in it.
Don Hahn
We joke about, like, the NFL messing around with the golden goose because of all the games. The analytics is going to be not the death of sports, but, like, where you're going to see general interest decrease because it's like, dude, this is ridiculous how much you're buying into all of this garbage. It just takes the fun out of the sport.
Rosenberg
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made, man. I just want to know. It's good. Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app, and your smart speakers.
Date: May 13, 2026
Hosts: Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg
Guest Host: Don La Greca
This hour centers on the immediate fallout from the Yankees' 7-0 loss to the Orioles and the worrisome injury to pitcher Max Fried, with in-depth debate about the Mets' front-office struggles under David Stearns and the Yankees' roster evaluation. The hosts also engage in a lively, often comedic breakdown of "The List" — their rankings of the greatest New York rookie debuts — and wrap up with classic sports nostalgia, fan calls, and engaging banter about awkward sports legends in strange uniforms.
The episode is classic New York sports talk — irreverent, rapid-fire, packed with nostalgia, and full of honest, sometimes exasperated insights. The banter is playful yet incisive, with hosts poking at each other’s logic (especially during "The List") and callers contributing strange but lovable “deep cuts” from their sports fandom. Don, Hahn & Rosenberg blend their unique tones: Don’s passionate exasperation, Hahn’s dry wit, and Rosenberg’s pop-culture punchlines, making for a session both informative and engaging for serious and casual fans alike.
This episode is a must for Mets and Yankees diehards, nostalgia-loving sports fans, or anyone who enjoys smart, personality-driven debate about the current and historic landscape of New York sports. From an anxious look at Yankees pitcher health, through the managerial drama in Queens, to the comic relief of listing rookie debuts and legends in weird uniforms, Don, Hahn & Rosenberg deliver a rich blend of insight and entertainment – all without the commercials, intros, or outros.