Hour 2: Necessary Changes

Summary

Don, Hahn & Rosenberg Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Hour 2: Necessary Changes
Release Date: July 8, 2025
Hosts: Don La Greca, Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg
Description: ESPN New York and New Jersey's legendary sports voices discuss the latest in New York sports, offering insights, opinions, and engaging conversations on various topics.

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1. Introduction to Yankees' Roster Adjustments

The discussion kicks off with the hosts delving into recent changes within the New York Yankees' roster, focusing primarily on the repositioning of DJ LeMahieu.

Peter Rosenberg [01:28]:
"Here's Aaron Boone talking about the Yankees. He's playing second tonight. We'll continue to work through it again, depending on all the moving parts and things that could possibly happen."

Alan Hahn [02:07]:
"Fluid means back and forth, right? Fluid means it's moving all over the place."

The team analyzes the implications of shifting LeMahieu to second base, questioning the necessity and potential impact on his performance and the team's dynamics.

2. Impact on Key Players

The conversation shifts to the future of DJ LeMahieu, highlighting concerns about his aging and performance.

Peter Rosenberg [03:36]:
"Peraza was in the lineup when they scored. He's not a great offensive player, but if he can play great defense, I think that makes up for it."

Alan Hahn [04:14]:
"This is the first step in showing you, okay. The status quo is no longer acceptable."

The hosts express skepticism about LeMahieu's ability to remain a daily player, suggesting that his role might diminish to a bench position or limited playtime.

3. Bullpen Struggles and Injuries

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the Yankees' bullpen issues, exacerbated by injuries to key relievers like Mark Leiter Jr.

Alan Hahn [10:55]:
"Mark Leiter Jr. is a workhorse. He sustained a stress fracture in his left leg covering first base in the extra inning game in Cincinnati."

Peter Rosenberg [12:28]:
"I cannot believe their bullpen is just. He pitched in four games since the Cincinnati series... That's crazy."

The hosts discuss the strain on the bullpen, emphasizing the challenges posed by Leiter Jr.'s injury and the lack of depth in the pitching staff.

4. Trade Deadline Strategies

The conversation moves to potential strategies the Yankees might employ as the trade deadline approaches, considering the team's numerous roster holes.

Alan Hahn [41:00]:
"If you can get two in a trade that are sort of disposable arms, not like going to cost you a ton, and then find a Triple A guy who suddenly becomes important, you just go with him."

Peter Rosenberg [43:17]:
"Who is going to give up the most? Who's going to be the most aggressive?"

The hosts debate the feasibility of the Yankees making impactful trades without sacrificing top prospects, highlighting the competitive nature of the trade market.

5. Future Outlook and Team Morale

Wrapping up, the hosts reflect on the Yankees' current standing and future prospects, emphasizing the importance of internal adjustments and maintaining focus.

Peter Rosenberg [45:51]:
"If you're three and a half out on July 31, you might have to think about, forget about the championship. I got to find a way to win this division."

Alan Hahn [45:48]:
"Division. So I'm avoiding Wildcats."

The episode concludes with an optimistic yet cautious outlook, urging the team to concentrate on consolidating their strengths and addressing weaknesses to improve their standing.

6. Listener Engagement and Personal Stories

Interspersed with the main discussion, the hosts engage with listeners, sharing personal anecdotes related to aging and health, adding a relatable dimension to the episode.

Alan Hahn [21:49]:
"When you take the train, you got all kinds of time. I watched that all the way to the end, and it's exactly what you said. You get caught up in this."

Peter Rosenberg [27:45]:
"I'm in the same way. All the men on my father's side didn't make it to 60."

These segments provide a personal touch, illustrating the hosts' connections beyond sports and resonating with listeners facing similar life challenges.

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Notable Quotes:

• Peter Rosenberg [03:36]: "Peraza was in the lineup when they scored. He's not a great offensive player, but if he can play great defense, I think that makes up for it."
• Alan Hahn [10:55]: "Mark Leiter Jr. is a workhorse. He sustained a stress fracture in his left leg covering first base in the extra inning game in Cincinnati."
• Peter Rosenberg [43:17]: "Who is going to give up the most? Who's going to be the most aggressive?"
• Peter Rosenberg [45:51]: "If you're three and a half out on July 31, you might have to think about, forget about the championship. I got to find a way to win this division."

---

This episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the New York Yankees' current challenges and necessary adjustments, blending professional insights with personal reflections to provide a well-rounded perspective for listeners.

Transcript

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[Don Hahn]

This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That sounds like heaven to me.

[Don Hahn]

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[Peter Rosenberg]

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[Alan]

You sure? Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

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[Alan]

All right, what's this change? Because I've been busy today. I haven't seen all the news yet. I'm just catching up. What do we got? What's going on?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, here is Aaron Boone on talking Yankees.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

John Boy Vehicle on this change.

[Aaron Boone]

He's playing second tonight. We'll continue to work through it again, depending on all the moving parts and things that could possibly happen. But I think right now I want to move him back over there.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Jazz is playing second. Harraz is your third base. Who's playing third.

[Aaron Boone]

Raz is going to play there tonight will just be fluid and we'll see how it unfolds a little bit.

[Alan]

Fluid.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Fluid. Didn't want to do it. Remember he said, I don't want to keep moving them back and forth. Well, sounds like it's very fluid. Fluid means back and forth, right? Fluid means it's moving all over the place. Did you.

[Alan]

Did you mean to do the Caddyshack? Didn't want to do it. Felt I owed it to him. Didn't want to do it, but clearly need to do it. Right? Like, clearly. And with Parasa, can you just. Can he just be capable? Put him in the nine hole and just hide him? Like just do something. Put your elbow out, get hit a few Times bunt, whatever it is, just figure out a way to just be useful at the plate. Can he be that bad? Well, he can't be that bad. Like, just don't be horrifically bad.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He got a rally started. I think it was on Saturday.

[Alan]

That's my thing. Like just. And then they, I guess they've signed a couple of guys into the organization that can play third and they're gonna just see who they can get. Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But just you go from one minute, I don't want to move them back and forth, and now it's a very fluid situation. Listen, I'm not going to rip them doing this. It's the right thing to do.

[Alan]

It's the right thing to do.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Now, why it took so long, I don't know, but maybe it just shows you that they're looking at it and saying, you know, first of all, his shoulders barking. So do you really want him at third base?

[Alan]

No.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And this ushers in the opportunity now to see if Peraza can find a foothold there. If you see the defense is good, you'll live with.

[Alan]

Yes.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Listen, the circular lineup back in the day when the Yankees had, you know, hall of Famers basically at every position, that's over, but they can score. All right? Perazzo was in the lineup when they scored. He's not a great offensive player, but if he can play great defense, I think that makes up for it.

[Alan]

Now what does this mean for DJ lemayhue?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, it probably means that it could be the beginning of the end. Right. I mean, if this works, where is he going to be? I guess he'll. He can, he can stand's probably not going to play every day, even at dh. So you can plug him in there, he can play some outfield positions. If you wanted to give judge, I'm good. You know, arrest office feet, as they like to say. Yeah, but no, this is the right thing to do. Right. He's an aging player. It's a shell of what he was. It seems like now we can look at the Yankees actions and say they are now concerned.

[Alan]

Yes.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And Right.

[Alan]

This is the first step in showing you, okay. The status quo is no longer acceptable. Right. Like that's what this feels like. They finally are acknowledging now we, we know now we have a problem and that's the first step. Acknowledge you have a problem and go from there.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, because you just listen. Do I believe that they err on being positive to the public, to the players, but behind closed doors they have to see the same thing. We're seeing. And the difference now is, is if Jazz's shoulders bothering him, well now you can find. And then he might lose him. He's a big bat now. He's starting to hit.

[Alan]

It's important.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So you can't, you can't have him injured. You got to navigate through this week because then you got the All Star break and then he could rest it and maybe, maybe they come back and he plays third again. But this is probably motivated by him not being 100% with the shoulder. But it also has to just be an acknowledgment that we're not playing well and our defense is poor and we, we're three and a half games out now because the Blue Jays won their ninth in a row last night. They're, you know, three and a half, three in the loss column. And again, no reason to panic. But when you look at a team that once upon a time had a seven and a half game lead, hey it, you don't want to all of a sudden have to be settling for a wildcard here and have three and a half become six and a half going into the All Star break. The Seattle's a good team. That should be a fun series starting tonight at the stadium. But no guarantee that there's any wins. And with the Blue Jays taking on the White Sox, you know, good luck getting help from a team that's 40 games under.500. So they got to get to work here.

[Alan]

You can't look at the standings, you can't look at the scoreboard. You can't deal with any of that stuff with the Yankees. Have to do is get themselves right. Because if the Yankees are right, what.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Are they if the Yankees aren't right?

[Alan]

If the Yankees are right, if you get them right, if you get right, what are the Yankees?

[Peter Rosenberg]

They're a first place team.

[Alan]

They're the best team in the league. Well, that's what Aaron Boone said. No, what do they are? Come on, Don. If you look at it just logically, what he said to his players was not that off base. It was literally incorrect because of where they were in the standings. But in all honesty, when you look at them, that's what they are. When they're right, they're the best team in the league. American League. Yes. Yes. So that's why you can't worry about the Blue Jays. You can't worry about anybody else. Don't worry about Detroit. Get right from now through the trade deadline, get right. And then August and September, that's when you get yourself where you need to be. And have your April May do it again. June was not great. July's not starting off well. But this is your get right time right now. And that there's still plenty of time. But you can't. Scoreboard watch. And you can't start worrying about, oh, my God, they're this, this many games away and we lost these. No, forget it's. Forget it. Forget all of them.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, just get right.

[Alan]

Just get right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Just get right. It's just about you.

[Alan]

And get right means not just all right, Jazz back to second where he should be. That's not just the get right. You know, Wells get the finger right so he can catch and then be a regular hitter. He can hit again. Whatever it is. Volpe, get him right. Those are little things. But the get right also includes get your bullpen right because you know it's not. And get yourself a starter because you know that's not right either. And those are things that aren't just get a player out of a slump or get him get himself right. That's get your roster right. Because what you said about the roster is it's the truest thing to say about the Yankees. It is not a complete roster. It is an expensive roster that has holes in it. That's unacceptable.

[Darren]

Yeah.

[Alan]

It's get it right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It's clunky. And you heard Michael say that yesterday.

[Alan]

Yep.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It's very clunky. And right now the Yankees have three with Seattle, you know, Seattle's a good club. Second place. And then you don't pitch well.

[Alan]

If you don't pitch well, they're going to hit the crap out.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And then the Cubs come in and they're playing well and they're a first place team.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So even when you're playing at your best over the next six games, you know, four and two. But the way the Blue Jays are playing right now, Alan, again, you might lose.

[Alan]

I don't care. But.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But you don't care.

[Alan]

I don't. I can't worry about them if I'm not right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You understand what I mean? You're right. But I'm trying to tell you, what I'm saying to you is while you're trying to get right.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You might start to see a team distance themselves. I'm with you. Don't worry.

[Alan]

I'm not telling you this, period could have cost you the division. I don't like at this point, you got to let it go because you know what I mean?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Because right now, Toronto's one of the hottest teams in the league, they've got two games with Chicago, at Chicago, and then they go to Sacramento to play the.

[Alan]

Oh, God.

[Peter Rosenberg]

All right, so listen, I don't think they're going to go into the All Star break, you know, riding a 13 game winning.

[Alan]

But if they did, you wouldn't be shocked.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But if they did, softest part of their schedule. But if they did, then that means with the way the Yankees are right now, you're probably losing a couple of games in the same. You're going into the All Star break, five and a half games back again. I hear what you're saying. Don't worry about that. You can't concern yourself with it. Just get right because you can make up five and a half games in a blank.

[Alan]

And you guys, again, we're all in.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Love with Toronto right now. Don't be surprised. You come out of the All Star break, they drop 12 of their next 13.

[Alan]

You're going to the month like you're gonna see him, you're gonna be able.

[Peter Rosenberg]

To take care of business, but it's never going to. Even if you're. Even if you're two games ahead of Toronto, it's not gonna work out unless you get yourself right, because eventually it's all gonna come apart on you.

[Alan]

That's the message I have for Yankee fans, is I just feel like right now, because we have gone through the consternation of the last couple of weeks and everything that has happened and the frustration and anxiety and calling out the messaging, and I thought what you said yesterday was so on point, and it is amazing to me how many Yankee fans have really, like, embraced you when it comes to what you said about their team. Because normally a Mets fan says something about their team. It's like, you know, mind your business. But everybody loved what you said because you were so on point about it. All that. All that has been said now. So all you have to do now as a Yankees fan is now just don't pay attention to anyone else except your team. Focus on your team. There's plenty there to keep you busy and make sure that they're doing the right things to get right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Let's go to Darren in Newark. You're on. Don Hanna, Rosenberg. What's up?

[Darren]

Hey, guys, what's up? Real quick, every Allen, everything you said and Don said, both of you guys are really on point. But the thing that I really don't like is I understand that Jazz is having some problems and he has to go over there to second base. I do not like Parasa. He can't hit. And right now with them struggling the way they are, can't hit because of the finger and Volpe, can't hit. The lineup is four or five deep where they're not hitting. So they can't situationally, you know, hit when they have runners in scoring position. And that's what's killing them. And then the bullpen is killing them, too.

[Alan]

Well, Darren. Yes, the Bull. I'm going to touch on the bullpen in a second here. But Darren, I understand the offense. They average five runs a game against the Mets. The offense is not an issue. That's enough runs to win. But what you said, Darren, about the bullpen nailed it. And here, how about this? I'm gonna add this now. Listen to this. Brian Hoch just put this out. Mark Leiter Jr. One of their, you know, one of their tough relievers. This guy is a workhorse. He sustained a stress fracture in his left leg covering first base in the extra inning game in Cincinnati. In Cincinnati, Doc. He's not been given a timetable for his return in Cincinnati. He's been pitching for a week. How many innings has he pitched since then?

[Peter Rosenberg]

He's.

[Alan]

I've seen him, I saw him. At least a lot of it's, oh, that's another reliever. So you got to get more relievers now.

[Darren]

I heard some rumblings a couple of days ago that they were thinking about cutting him. I don't know if you heard that.

[Alan]

No, but I mean, they. He's been a workhorse for them, though. But.

[Darren]

I know, but I saw that, I read it a couple of places that they were basically getting rid of him. I don't know what happened.

[Alan]

He pitched, he pitched in. Thank you, Darren. He's pitched in four games since the Cincinnati game. So he must have had like a pain in his leg and he didn't really think much of it. And then he finally, like, reported it. He probably finally said, like, all right, this is bothering me. I should get it checked out. And they gave it an X ray and boom, fracture. That's crazy. Covering first.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I cannot believe their bullpen is just.

[Alan]

It's, it's, it's.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He had. What did you say, Anthony? Four outings. Four outings, Cincinnati Series.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Now I believe I blame the player for that because if the player's not going to tell you he's hurt, he.

[Alan]

Should have said, no, no, no, this isn't a Yankee issue. This is more of a. How much more bad luck can you come across?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Injury wise, it's bad luck. And you know, sometimes Players have to say, hey, listen, I'm, I'm not, I'm not feeling right. We got to get it corrected. Because he ended up playing. Because, listen, if they, if they, if he had went to them the second that he heard it in Cincinnati, he might be okay by now.

[Alan]

Crazy.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But now he might not be available to them until after the All Star break. Pretty crazy. Always a pleasure to talk to Griffin in Connecticut. How are you, sir?

[Alan]

Griff?

[Griffin]

Okay, so our bullpen keeps falling off a frigging cliff. Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely. Can you pitch, Alan?

[Darren]

Maybe they'll, maybe they're going to give.

[Griffin]

You a call pretty soon to pitch.

[Alan]

No, we're going.

[Griffin]

I was wanted to talk about that Cody Ballinger play on Sunday, that huge play that ended up, yeah, really, really helping us win that game. We all, we all, we all were like, oh, God, here we go again. So he makes that huge play. We talk about every time you need that spark to turn things around. We talked about, was Nimmos grand slam, the spark that the Mets needed to turn it around. Was that the thing the Yankees needed? Like, could the Cody Bellinger play catapult? Can that help them feel confident? Say, oh, you know what? We got this. We can do this. Can that play, catapult them on a streak here?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, can it? Yeah, because that's the kind of play. Now, it didn't win him the game because if, if Lindor gets back to first base, it's one out with a runner on. But still you're only down two. Mets get a home run there, get a rally going. But all that is grasping at straws. Griff, unless you're going to go ahead and take care of business and do it now, you win the series against, against Seattle, yeah, that'll look like a catalyst, that'll look like a turning point, but you got it. You got to go out and do it. The door is open for them to do it. Let's see if they can walk through.

[Griffin]

And you're home. And the one thing that we have done despite this is we have still been able to play okay at home. They took, they've been taking two out of three at home in some of these series. The road has been the really the bad part in this stretch. So now you're home. Let's try to go back and build and feel. Build on it and not, not dig yourself holes early on, Take it early on. 2, nothing lead, 3 nothing lead, build on that. Don't be down. And then all of a sudden you're like climbing up the hill again, you.

[Alan]

Got to keep in mind, Griff, is there's only so much you can do when your relief pitching doesn't just hold the fort, and that's that. That, that's everything. It's your helpless to it. And then you put more pressure on your offense. And Don, I believe this because I. I'm big on the mental game and I know that analytics says it doesn't exist. I'm telling you it does. And that's why I've been so steadfast with Anthony Volpe. I truly believe that when your starter like what we saw from Rodon on Saturday and you're already struggling as a team and now you're down for nothing, I truly believe you're at bats following that inning are not as disciplined and not as patient as they should be because there's just this sense of, oh, we got to make it up, we got to get it. We got to get runs here. We got to do something. We got to do something. There's a pressure that you put on yourself because of it. Now, does that exist everywhere? It should, but there also, to me, there is something about the weight of the pinstripes that I know you're going to roll your eyes at me, but it does exist. There's something a little different about the intensity of, you know, the Yankees. You're supposed to, whether it's right or wrong. And for some of these guys, I do think they carry that weight.

[Peter Rosenberg]

All right, let's got. We got some, some.

[Alan]

Let's hear this.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He discusses Mark Leiter stress fracture and timetable.

[Aaron Boone]

Yeah, obviously not great. Hopefully sounds worse and hopefully, you know, I know he's not going to throw for a couple days, but hopefully after that can get up and throwing and start getting back. But I think it's, you know, when he kind of initially kind of started feeling some stuff in Cincinnati, I think it's definitely compromised. And we tried to get him some days there, but, you know, I think really started to creep up again on him, you know, from a pitching standpoint, warming up Saturday and then into the game Sunday. So hopefully this is something that we can get hammered out and get him back to, you know, throwing as well as he was really the first couple months of the season.

[Peter Rosenberg]

What's your understanding of the timeline for him?

[Aaron Boone]

Don't have one. He's going to get examined by the doctor tonight. You know, they have the MRI and the CT scan, so they'll examine him again and kind of get a feel.

[Alan]

I mean, we don't know what kind of fracture we're dealing with here either. Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And it sounded like they knew, but they were monitoring, keeping an eye on. He probably told him it's not bad. And sometimes those fractures you can't pick up right away. So maybe it's not a case of lighter. Not saying it can have. They were trying to push it a little.

[Alan]

You can have a hairline, like a little tiny bit, and it could be something where it's like, you know, it'll heal on its own, and then it just becomes too annoying or it impacts your ability to pitch, push off, whatever it is. And then they finally say, all right, we got to shut this thing down.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Now. You're going to need length out of your starter. So this series against Seattle, you got Warren going tonight, Schlittler going tomorrow.

[Alan]

Love to hear his nickname.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And Schlitley and Stroman will go again on Thursday. So you're probably looking at that. You're going to have to get 12 outs out of your bullpen the next three games.

[Alan]

Oh, my God. So not only 12 outs, you're probably still going to need five to six runs to win.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So you're probably not going to get that bullpen any kind of significant rest till the next time FR Pitch. Right?

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So that, that's. That. That. That's what you're looking at.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And that's going to be tough. And so you go to Friday's game, and I'm just seeing when Freed's going to pitch again. We don't have anybody determined yet, but say Freed pitch Sunday. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday would be his fifth, so he'll pitch Friday against the Cubs. That's the next chance you're going to get. Now, luckily for the Yankees to go into the All Star break, so they'll be able to rest the bullpen, but now you got to get to the All Star break and there's still six more games and you're just.

[Alan]

And you're losing guys left and right now. This is rough.

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[Don Hahn]

Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

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[Peter Rosenberg]

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[Alan]

Let me talk to you about something, Don.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Go ahead. You get us started.

[Alan]

So when you're a man of a certain age, you know how today on social media you are targeted with ads.

[Peter Rosenberg]

We all are.

[Alan]

And it's not necessarily what it used to be. With things that you looked at. Right. They used to, like, aggregate that way. Now it's. It goes even deeper now it's just your age. So I'm 54. And so what do you think? I'm seeing ads about Viagra, Some of that.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Probably something like some fat burner. Something that can help you lose weight.

[Alan]

Mm. And testosterone stuff, right? Yes, a lot of that.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And then I would think maybe, you know, hair color, you know, dye for your hair.

[Alan]

Yeah. Which, by the way, I'm out if I made that clear. No, no, you. And I've been inspired by you and others who have told me to just let it go. And I'm letting it go. So anyways, I am like. I'm at a point now where I'm sort of like, there are times where I almost fall for it because you see the ad, and it's always like, this guy who has gray hair, yet he has skin of a 20 year old. So I always wonder, are they, like, dyeing this dude's hair gray? Like, what's going on here? And it's not AI, Although I would believe it would be. But the more you see this stuff, the more you're like, all right, let.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Me give it a look.

[Alan]

Let me just see. I'm just. Now I'm curious. And you. Then you go into that sort of rabbit hole of watching this thing and starting to be convinced that maybe this is something I need. And I'm now reaching a point now where I feel. And I wonder if anybody else out there feels this way. We almost feel paralyzed, like a. Damned if I do and damned if I don't. I don't want to be suckered into this, but it does sound like something I could probably use.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah. Happened to me the other day.

[Alan]

What'd you do? What do you got?

[Peter Rosenberg]

There's a guy that. I don't even know his name or whatever, but it's got this. He's all. He's ripped.

[Alan]

Of course.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He's got, like a 12 pack.

[Alan]

Never seen a fat guy tell me.

[Peter Rosenberg]

About health saying that we. We as a society don't. Don't understand carbs. What if I were to tell you.

[Alan]

Oh, the guy that wants the guy that eats the.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Eats the donut. You can eat whatever you want. You don't have to. You don't have to do cardio. That's the big lie, yo, that I know. What if I were to tell you you didn't have to do cardio. You didn't have to watch what you eat. I'm like, Just click the video.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Like, all right, I'll click the video. It's four minutes.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Now, when you got twins and you're running from place to place, four minutes, a pretty big bulk of time. So the phones ring, whatever. I got, like, three minutes into it, and he's still not telling me.

[Alan]

Of course not.

[Peter Rosenberg]

What if I were to tell you? So I know I'm gonna have to now go on to the next stage, and I just didn't have time. I had to go. So I don't know what the next stage would have been. I'm assuming it would have been pay. You know, I'll tell you what it.

[Alan]

Is, because I did it. I was on the train. Oh, you did it. See, the thing is, when you take the train, you got all kinds of. All of a sudden, you have all kinds of time. And I found myself doing. This is a while ago. I watched that video. And towards the end of the video, because I know I don't look it, but I'm like. I am trying like hell to be, like, as healthy as I possibly can for everybody to know. Let me open up. Let me pull the curtain back. You and I both have lost our dads. Yes. All right. So we share that. That terrible thing that we share. I lost my dad. He was 61. I'm 54 now. If you don't think that I'm feel like I'm on the clock, I do. Like, I'm sharing that with everybody. I literally every day feel that way. So I am. Like, I'm obsessed with it. I want to beat that. How do I get to 62? Because, by the way, both my grandfathers. Same thing. Not past 62. Okay. So that's something that's become an obsession of mine since I turned 40. And I have bad genetics, so I got to fight it every day. So these are the types of things that get me caught up, and I get caught up in this stuff, and I watch it and that. So I watch that all the way to the end, and it's exactly what you said. You get caught up in this. Whoa. Okay. Yeah, that's right. Cardio is a myth. It's true. You should be lifting more. That's right. And I'm all into it. And now I'm like, all right, what's it gonna. So what is this thing about? Cause I'm really believing in it. Then they give you a quiz. Yeah, I click here. Click here. Do the quiz. Tell them all about yourself. Because everybody's different, and they're right. Everybody is different. It's not a one size fits all kind of thing. And then the minute you do the quiz, you know, then that's when it's okay, we have your program. Click here, pay this, and we'll send you the program.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Alan]

And it's. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. So now that's what I mean. Like, I. I don't think men talk enough about this stuff when we reach our age. Like, we were in our twenties, did we care? Like, you had energy, you were able to bounce back from things a lot faster. It was so easy to, you know, like, they had a Knicks Twitter day last weekend on July 5th. Which, of course, I'm like, why would it be on July 5th of all weekends to do it? Why that weekend? Because somebody MSG asked me, hey, do you want to go to this thing and, like, cover it? I'm like, I got my family together. Like, I can't really last minute. And I was watching a little bit of the clips on social media and I was saying to myself, well, I'll tell you what, in my 20s, not only I wouldn't cover this, I'd be in it. I would love this. Right? Like, it's just. But you feel like that's all past you now. It's gone. Somebody else's life. And then you see these videos and you think, well, maybe, maybe one last time I could do it one more time. And so that's something that I just. I thought I needed to talk about. Like, I get suckered in these. I don't know if anybody else does too, because we're all. We're all hoping to find that fountain of youth and the ability to just feel like we used to feel when we were young. And for those of you in your 20s, embrace it. Like, embrace the ability to bounce back the way you can bounce back. Because, man, when it goes away, it's sad.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I gotta be honest with you. I'm in the same way. You know, we. My whole. All the men on my father's side didn't make it to 60.

[Alan]

Wow.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You know, and so I quit smoking cigars 13 years ago because they all smoked cigarettes.

[Alan]

Oh, yeah, no, no.

[Peter Rosenberg]

My dad was really strong and he was a brown belt karate back in the day. He could bench press 500 pounds. He's a strong guy. But, you know, smoking three packs a day for 30 years and not eating right is going to catch up with you. So I made sure. Never smoked cigarettes and had the occasional cigar. Stopped that, you know, so you want to give yourself the best chance. But you're right. I start thinking about ways. That's why I do the kickboxing. Anything to kind of keep me going. Because the genetics aren't great, you know? So I understand where you're coming from there. My thing. It's not really a complaint, but I was thinking about. You could see it on social media. I want to thank Amanda Stein from the Devil. She interviewed me this morning on Zoom. And it's up on the Devils NewJerseyDevils.com about the new gig.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And it's out there in social media. ESPN New York has retweeted it.

[Alan]

Nice.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And she's younger. I don't know how old she is, but she's a lot younger than I am. And it's not her fault. She'll just say, do you have any pictures of you when you were a Devil fan? And I started thinking about it. I'm like, I don't. Because we didn't have cell phones back then.

[Alan]

We didn't take pictures.

[Peter Rosenberg]

We didn't take pictures. I would have to go to a game and bring a camera.

[Alan]

Yes.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And I wouldn't think to bring again. The only time I think I brought a camera with me to a Devil game was on one time. We got seats right on the glass.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And I said, I'm gonna bring a camera. Cause I want to. They were playing the Red Wings. I wanted to get pictures because that's how close I was.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's a big, bulky camera, you know, with the lens and everything.

[Alan]

I thought you weren't allowed to do that.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I don't know. Maybe I snuck it in or I remember bringing it with me. Having the camera might have been that bulky.

[Alan]

Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And then the other thing would be, like one of those disposable cameras that you would see a Kodak thing back in the day. They'd put it on the table at weddings. So you take these candid photos of the wedding. But I didn't think to get my pictures. Like, now there's a billion pictures. I've always joked that between the ages of 0 and 16, there might be 20 pictures of me that are in albums someplace. My parents took birthdays, Christmas, maybe occasionally Thanksgiving, maybe one rogue day when my dad wanted to take the film to get developed. And there was, like, still two more pictures. And let's just take a couple pictures.

[Alan]

Stand over here with your sister.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But meanwhile, like, from just from my kids between 0 and 7 and a half. I can't download an email now. On my phone because I've got a billion pictures. Their entire life is being documented through pictures.

[Alan]

Yes.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And the bulk of my life was not. So I found one picture in 95 of me have my arm around the cup in 95.

[Alan]

That's pretty. Damn.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I did send that to her, Right?

[Alan]

That's good.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And I'm still looking if anybody has a Devil media guide from 8788. The 8788 season when I worked at Sportsphone, underneath all the TVs, they had, like, every media guide you can think of. Because that was before computers. So you needed a media guy. When was the last Portland TrailBlazer to score 50 points? Grab the Portland Trailblazers media guy.

[Alan]

I still had that Newsday. Not to get off track, just quickly. We had an area in the sports department at Newsday back in the 90s, and it's not even in the same building anymore, but they were like file cabinets with all the old papers. And then above it, stacks of media guides from all the New York teams. Stacks of them from, like, that was going back to the 80s, but yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And I still have them in my garage. I moved them out from my garage in my mom's. So I've got. If you need like the 1986, 87 Portland Trailblazers media guide or the Seattle Supers. I had a lot of NBA ones. I just kept. I didn't want to get rid of them. Sometimes my mom would have a garage sale and I would sell them on ebay. I should sell it on ebay. So it was like one lane, and I see that the media guy. I'm flipping through it and I get the Patrick Sundstrom. There's a picture of Patrick Sundstrom playing for the Devils at the Middlelands. And I look, go, oh, my God. There's me and Nancy in the crowd.

[Alan]

1987.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, 87. 88. Says probably somebody of the Devils has to have it. Or it could be the 8089 from a picture from the previous season. Okay, so it's one of those two media guides. So hopefully the Devils have it. And I was looking for it through my basement today. I know I have it. I just couldn't find it because that would be a cool thing to post. But, like, that's all I got. Like, we didn't take pictures back then. It was a big production to take pictures, you know, but now there'd be a billion. There's a billion pictures of me now.

[Alan]

Again, think about that again. Back to the future is 40 years old. And if we did it again. And, you know, Marty's son goes back to 1985 and he wants to take selfies. What do you think kids in 85 would say if you turned, like took a Kodak and turned it backwards and said, hey, come here, let's take a selfie? Like, what the hell you doing? Yeah. How do you even know if we're in the script? Like, nobody did that. Nobody did.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Nobody did that.

[Alan]

It was just like it didn't make sense. And then it felt weird to do things. Like it was not a normal thing that it has become today. But now we have to find this picture, though. Don.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, I got. I'm. But if anybody has the media guide from 8788 or 80 89, most likely, now that I think about it, the 88 89. Because any pictures in the 8889 media guide would have been from the year before. Yeah, I mean, since my first game was February 1987 and I didn't start going to Nancy until the 8788 season, it's probably the 8889 media guide. And I believe it's a picture of Patrick Sunstrom. And you see Nancy and I in the Meadowlands crowd. I'm getting like. Because you know what's so crazy about everything with the Devils?

[Alan]

I mean, can you believe this? It's on Amazon.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, yeah. But I need it now.

[Alan]

Ebay. Yeah, but he needs it today, though. But I want to see if I can just open some because usually you can, like flip pages, but you can't in this one. Damn. But I'd love to be so close and yet so far done.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I'd love to be able to see that picture again. But, like, because my. Because I've. Yeah. I started covering the Rangers for this radio station coming out of a lockout. 85, 86. So that's 20 years. So, yeah, you know, the days of like going as of. It's been a while. So it's been in a hiatus for a little bit of a while, but I'm starting to get it back. It's going to be a lot of fun. So that was. Talk about it Tuesday. Sponsored by better help. Visit betterhelp.com timeout today for 10% off your first month of therapy. That was a little bit of therapy.

[Alan]

I needed to get that out.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Wasn't us necessarily complaining.

[Alan]

Does it always have to be a complaint?

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, but it's talk. We're talking about it.

[Alan]

I needed to talk about that because I felt like I'm getting caught up in this And I wonder if other people of our age would get. And you. Right away, we're like, oh, yeah, I do that, too. I just felt a little, you know, like you get to an age and you start saying to yourself, like, yo, I need to reverse. Reverse the aging process here.

[Peter Rosenberg]

1-800-9193776. Before we get back to the phone calls, here is Boone on LeMayhue. And can LeMayhue play third?

[Aaron Boone]

I think physically it's a challenge for him right now. So right now, no plans of doing that, but we'll see.

[Alan]

So physically it's a challenge for him. And you know what that means. He doesn't have the range. Well, if he can't move his feet.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Anymore, do you see him run the bait? He just, he's getting old. He's starting to lose it here. Boone on DJ's role if he can't play third?

[Aaron Boone]

Yeah, I mean, just, you know, as a bat off the bench or, you know, some kind of roll off the bench. We'll see how it, how the days unfold.

[Alan]

What is the. How does it work? And forgive me for not knowing, but I'm not afraid to ask. The buyout process, but he's got a couple of years left, right? Lemayu.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Mm.

[Alan]

At some point, though, don't you just have to say, like, look, I need the roster spot. Just take the money and go?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, because if you're looking for, you.

[Alan]

Can'T Bobby Bonilla him. Is it that bad?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, I would think the Yankees have the financial wherewithal to do it, but clearly they were trying to make it work because I guess they want to be able to justify his salary. But now he's a bench player, and then.

[Alan]

And then you're almost, like, embarrassing him because now you're benching him. Like, for him, he's probably like, what the hell?

[Peter Rosenberg]

This is what Boone said on how DJ took the news.

[Aaron Boone]

You know, not great, necessarily, but that's kind of the situation we're in right now.

[Alan]

Not great. He's not going to leave that.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I get it. It's hard, man, to be told that you're done. So I wouldn't expect DJ to react any differently. But just to hear that's not good.

[Alan]

Not great.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But it was not a great conversation. But I would think it's a good day for Yankee fans. Jazz is back to where he's supposed to be. How you feel about Peraza? Third? Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today.

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[Alan]

And breathe.

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[Griffin]

1-800-Contacts.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton?

[Alan]

And time just stands still?

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[Don Hahn]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg Podcast.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I didn't listen to anything you just said.

[Don Hahn]

Catch this show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.

[Peter Rosenberg]

ESPN SportsCenter is coming to New Jersey for their 50 States in 50 Days tour on Saturday, July 12, when the Somerset Patriots take out Take the Field at TD bank ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey at 7:00pm we'll have ESPN merch for the first 1,000 fans in attendance and a chance to meet SportsCenter host Ryan Smith. Check out ESPN.com 50states, 50days for details on when you Sports center is hitting every state this summer to celebrate fans and sports forever. If you go on our social media page, myself and Chris Carlin did the top five New Jersey Diners. Obviously you're going to get people riled up. It's a big I know it's a tiny state, relatively speaking, but there's a lot of diners in New Jersey and Chris and I have eaten on a lot of them. So to narrow it down to five was tough. But it's up there on social media. Be able to check it out. Should be a lot of fun. I had fun working with Chris on that. That was pretty cool. We agreed on a couple of them. Long Island's got a few diners, right?

[Alan]

A few?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, a lot.

[Alan]

My favorite. Can I shout one out?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, sure.

[Alan]

Town of Huntington Mondays. Old school now. It's not like a typical drive up in Park Diner. It's like in the Village. So it's right on Main street, but I mean, that place is the go to after church on Sunday morning. The best.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, so we got a few. I don't want to give them away, but check out the social media. It's a pretty good video that Chris and I put together yesterday. A nice curated list of diners. Nice 1-800-919-3776. Mike in Connecticut. You're on ESPN New York. What's up, Mike?

[Darren]

Hey, guys, thanks for taking my call. And before I ask my question, Don, congrats on the new gig.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

[Darren]

And I know you're going to kill it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Thank you.

[Darren]

So initially when I was calling was actually right when Brian Hoek's tweet popped up about Lighter Junior. So my question has now changed since I've been sitting. Initially, I was going to ask if it's realistic to expect the Yankees to plug all the holes, that is multiple bullpen arms, a starter, a third baseman, all that. Now I think the more interesting question is, realistically, there's no way they can go and get two or three bolts on arms, one starter, a third baseman, and whatever else will pop up at the trade.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, that's too much.

[Darren]

What is the realistic trade deadline plan then? Is it now more realistic that as the holes keep popping up, do you not go and sell the whole farm just to plug some holes and then still, for lack of a better term, have water leaking into the boat because you can't plug all of them? Do you kind of stand pat and see if you can hold on until guys get healthy? What, what's the smart move now? Because there's just too many things to try to fix.

[Alan]

Well, I think the easiest thing you can do is I think this is the only way you can do it if you're Brian Cashman, is I think you try to hit on one or two in, in, in a trade because they did that last year. They brought in two, two arms last year right in the bullpen. They did that to trade the line. Leiter Jr. Was one of them. I'm. I'm escaping the other one. But they had two. And then what you want is last.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Year or the year before, who.

[Alan]

That was two years ago. Two years ago. You know it was. And Anthony's not listening, but if he was, he'd tell me who the other one was besides Lighter, Lighter junior last year. And there was one other cousin. No, it wasn't cousins. Maybe it was cousins that one blends from year to year. Cousins but he brought in two last year, and I remember Leiter Jr being with it. No, Frost was two years ago. Anyways, what you need to do now, this went on too long. If you can get two in a trade that, you know are sort of disposable arms, not like going to cost you a ton. And then somebody in the organization, you got to find Luke Weaver, you got to find like somebody that just suddenly becomes an important, like, hey, this. We found this guy. You know, it's. It's unfortunate, but, like, they've had some guys that have been that and, you know, now they have not lasted that long, but you could. If you can just get one guy in the organization that's a Triple A, hey, all of a sudden he's just. He's on it, he's got a pitch, it's working. You just go with him. So that's what you're hoping for, but it's hard to do.

[Darren]

I guess the other problem is who's actually selling that many people with three wild cards in each league, so many teams.

[Alan]

That's the problem.

[Darren]

They're a.

[Griffin]

That has two arms.

[Alan]

No, no, you'd have to. You're taking like Colorado. Right. You'd have to try to. Colorado, take bad guys who are having bad seasons on a bad team and hope they just get right coming to you.

[Darren]

I would think Finnegan from Washington makes a lot of sense. And they're way out of it and they just fired everybody.

[Alan]

Yeah, that's who you're trying to. You're trying to bird dog off those, right? You're picking from those carcasses. That's what you're trying to do.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Here's the issue with them is you just said it. Who's going to be out of it on July 31? Not many. Because that third wild card opens the door for even teams that are under.500 to say, hey, I'm going to want.

[Alan]

To go for it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Everybody and their mother wants help in the bullpen, Right. Because no pitchers go more than five, six innings. So everybody wants depth in the bullpen. Even teams that have a bullpen want to make sure they got the insurance. So it just comes down to who is going to give up the most, who's going to be the most aggressive. If you look at the Yankees, they always seem to find bargains without having to give up top prospects because they're willing to take on salary. And there are teams that have players that have no trade clauses. And the Yankees seem to be on a destination for every team that has Players with no trade clause. The Yankees are a place that they're going to want to go, so they seem to win out without having to give up what hurts. Does Cashman get to a point where he might have to give up something that hurts? Is he willing to do that? He never has to do that. There's not the laundry list of former Yankees killing in other places. Really, the only one was King in San Diego, but that was for Soto. People understood that. Are you willing to give till it hurts to get what you need to try to win that championship? Are you going to try to bargain Hunt? I think you do try to outsmart other general managers and keep all your prospects.

[Alan]

I think you do if you have a firm belief that you have a full roster that can do it. And I don't know if you can have that firm belief. Don, you don't have Garrett Cole. Like, you don't really have. You've already lost two starters and you're waiting for a third guy that's been out all season to return at some point. How could you really feel all in in a season like this?

[Peter Rosenberg]

I don't know.

[Alan]

Just quickly. De los Santos was the other. I forgot about him and he didn't really work.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's easy to forget about him, of course. But here is where the Yankees are at. They like to play the game of, hey, you just got to be in it to win it. Postseason's a crapshoot. We just want to be able to navigate through to 162. Where are they July 31? Because if there are four or five games out of first, I'm sorry, you're going to have to try to go for it to solidify that division, because I don't think they've got the ability to navigate through a wild card. Do you like, if you're the second wild card, have to play on the road, play that extra series like you want to win the division, you want to avoid having the wild card. So don't you have to be. If you're sitting there as the Yankees, like, I don't know if I'm good enough to win a championship, but I can win this division, then you can play the game of, let's just get to the postseason. But if your postseason is going to be through the wild card or, God forbid, maybe not making it at all, then you got to be aggressive. So I really think where they. If they're three and a half out on July 31, you might have to think about, forget about championship. I got to find a way to win this division.

[Alan]

Division. So I'm avoiding Wildcats.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, you want to avoid that at all points.

[Don Hahn]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Alan]

I don't want to know how the sausage is made, but I just want to know it's good.

[Don Hahn]

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.