So welcome to the Neil Yawcife! Alright, welcome back everybody, little pre-game edition of pinstripe territory. Joining me is my number two man. His name? Number two. Actually, it's Frankie Baseball, my behind-the-scenes guy, I used to be the highlight guy, now I just keep him around because he's funny, it's like having a subscription service to a reference machine. Frankie, how you doing buddy? I appreciate the comparison, thank you Derek, it's great to be here with you on this night, a night that I didn't think honestly, I didn't think it was possible a couple months ago. I thought for sure this team was going to collapse and it was just going to be another probable year, but this team has figured it out, they've rented the ship, and we are here as the Yankees are on the doorstep of quenching a playoff berth, and in the distance, they can see an American League East division title right there. Let's take a look at the lineup tonight because we got no Stanton, and we got Dominguez back in there after hitting a bomb last night, so we got Torres leading off second base, Soto and Wright, Judge at DH Wells behind the dish, Jazz at third base, Jason in center, Rizzo at first, Anthony Volpe back in there at shortstop and Alex Verdugo out there in left field, Nestor Cortez on the mound, and before we get to anything, I got to do the Nostradaric prediction because we always do that as part of the voicemail show, but since we're coming right up on it, and we didn't do the normal morning show, I want to give everybody a chance to spend all of their hard earned money on my prediction, I'm going to say six plus strikeouts for Nestor Cortez, that's the Nostradaric prediction, six strikeouts or more for Nestor Cortez. So Frankie, if we win tonight, we are in the postseason, Tommy Canely said on foul territory today that Aaron Judge will decide whether or not the Yankees celebrate a mere playoff birth with a champagne shower. What do you thought? Should they break out the bubbly if they if they win tonight? I think not sometimes it's weird for baseball. I remember one year, I think the A's, I think it was 2012, the year that the A's and the Rangers had that race to the AOS, and the A's celebrated twice, one because they crinked the paths first, and then the Rangers collapsed and they won those next two games because the A's, Rangers, three game series, and the A's won the West so they celebrated twice, and I always thought that was the only time I could think of it, and it was weird to me, I don't like it. If you think you're going to win the division, then only celebrate for winning the division. You celebrate for crunching a path first, all right, whatever, like we've known this for a couple of months now, but only to me, you should only celebrate, I think I heard Boone today say that we're going to celebrate both, I don't like that, if you think you're going to win the division and it looks in all likelihood that they're going to win the division unless something else crazy happens in this wild, wacky, at least division race. If you think you're going to go into the division, only celebrate there. Yeah, I mean, it would be hard for me to be in the, you know, in a major league clubhouse and not celebrate, you know, winning, or at least earning a playoff spot, but I think you're right, I think they're going to win the division. I think that, you know, you celebrate the highest goal first, right, so you win the division, if you miss out on that, when you clinch a wild card, you, you know, you celebrate that, but because they're doing it in opposite order, you know, it's because they've got the best record in the American League and makes it a tough decision, but I think they'll celebrate, I think they will. For those of you who don't know, Frankie was the first person I hired for NYY recaps, which is now pinstripe territory, he was doing all the highlights until MLB tried to kill us, you know, and, and every other content creator that was using highlights, at least the ones that were getting decent views, Frankie, I thought I would miss the highlights more than I have. I feel like, I feel like we've adapted well, we're doing well here with our little show. Yeah, I'm, I'm impressed how well it's gone as well. I mean, look, if we found out tomorrow that we can do highlights again, I'd be more than happy to do it because I always, I always love doing it. It was like crafting like a little minute, minute and a half, two minute movie on the game that happened that night. So I always enjoyed that, but yeah, doing photos a little bit, it's a little bit easier for both of us. It's, it's easier to, and it's obviously way easier to get by copyright than, you know, trying to do all these weird highlights, but, but yeah, it's, I've enjoyed it, I'm very happy with this challenge this year. And also the additions of the thing I've, you know, there's been so many changes this year, pinstripe territory, you know, joining the Fats for our terror network, but also adding Terrence and Aidan have been great because for years I was the only guy working for you. I was the only guy in the field just trying to, you know, plant the seeds and get the crops and all that. I was the only one. And then finally I was out there in the blistering sun for days on end with no help. And finally some help has come along the way in Terrence and Aidan who do a fantastic job. By the way, I did a great job last week, so I got to stop, I got to stop you right there because I just fired Terrence and eight and five minutes ago. Oh, okay. No, no, no. Hey, you want to take some voicemails here? This first one is from Jeff and he's calling in about the Grand Slam the other night. Hey, Derek, this is Chuck, big Yankee fan, big fan of yours. Typically you listen to your recap every morning on the way to work, usually watching every game in some way, shape or form on the phone on TV whenever I can. A couple of things. About the game Friday night with the judge Grand Slam against Red Sox. What an incredible moment I've been to a lot of Yankee games. On the wrong end, the 35 grew up in the Bronx in the 90s. I can't remember the last time I was in Yankee Stadium like that. It was just insane. My wife filmed the hole at bat on her phone and I've watched the video of me jumping up and down screaming like 150 times since then. That was my first comment. Next, there's a question about Garrett Cole and I'll just say for a fight, I love Garrett Cole. I think he's great despite that really odd decision with Devers the other day, which I think boils down to him overthinking a situation and again, miscommunication between Boone coaches and players. I had a question about his opt-out. I think it's always been an assumption that the Yankees would tack on the 10th year, keep them on the team. But because of the number of factors, I'm wondering, you know, what are the chances they don't do that? He's going to be demanding a lot of money for what you would assume would be his downward years. He had this forearm issue in the offseason, which is very concerning. And maybe that's a lot of money that could go somewhere else like retining one photo. We also saw this year the advent of Luis Kiel and Clark Schmidt has been a lot better. So maybe there's a future in this rotation that doesn't include Garrett Cole. Thanks, Derek. Bye. Oh, man. That's a great call. So to break it down, Garrett Cole can opt out after the season, but the Yankees can cancel his opt-out by adding on a 10th year to that nine year, $360 million contract or whatever, $336, I can't remember what it was. I don't think that they're going to, I don't, well, I don't want to say, I don't think, I don't think they should bring him back if he opts out. I think they should let him walk. I'm kind of on board with what Jeff is saying. The down years of a pitcher are always bad. We saw the elbow stuff this fall, or the spring rather. And the walking devil's thing, I don't know, like, I don't know about this guy's makeup at that point. Yeah, I think if he opts out, I think he'll let him walk. I know that's kind of a controversial statement. But financially, it's the smart thing to do. I think you've got, like he said, Clark Schmidt coming up and Louise Heel coming up. I mean, who knows, you know, what else is out there? I mean, maybe you can go out and get another piece on the, on the free agent market for cheaper and fill in from the back and not have to worry about paying him 30 something million. What do you think, Frankie? If he opts out, do you, do you think the Yankees are going to add on that 10th or do you think they should? It depends on, I have a question for you here. It depends. So let's say they let Cole walk. Who is replacing him? Who's going to be the new number one for this team? Oh, man, probably Louis, you all right, then, you know, I can love with that. He's younger and he doesn't cost as much. So I'll take that. And yes, I, I love Cole too, but he's like one of the most easily rattled players I've ever seen. Like, remember the Billy Crystal thing? Yeah. Like there's all the weirdest things set this guy off. He's got to be more like judge or God forbid someone like DJ where he has no emotion. Nothing rattles him and just just sit there and pitch. He's a great pitcher. But when something goes off, when there's a little problem, he just implodes. Like, I don't understand it. For a great pitcher, for as great of a pitcher as he is, it's such a glaring weakness. But yeah, I mean, we'll have to see what the Yankees do here. I would if you put it like that and he was going to be number one and we don't have to pay the rest of the money. I think I have it. Yeah. But he's a little finicky. He's a little bit finicky. I think a lot of pitchers are like that though. I don't want to give Corbin Burns a big contract because I think it's the same thing where it's like, you know, he's going to be falling off. He's not a big strikeout guy anymore like he was. You know, these power pitchers. I just don't know if they can go until they're 38, 39, 40 anymore. You know, I think if Cole opts out, the smart thing to do is let him walk, let him walk. So you know, Luis Hill obviously had a really good year, Clark Schmidt has looked really good. Either one of those guys could be your number one next year. Hell. I mean, Lester Cortez was the number one this year. He was the opening day starter and the Yankees were fine without Garrett Cole for the first couple of months. I'm not saying that. I mean, I would obviously rather have, you know, a Garrett Cole who's pitching well than not have him, but I could live with not having him if he opts out. You know what I mean? If he's giving you a free exit from that contract, I think you've got to do it. I think you've got to spend that money elsewhere. All right. We got another voicemail here. How about the Yankees? This is working from the Bronx. I just want to say I love watching the post game, the best insights in the YouTube. So for Yankees fans, I just want to say, I like the direction we're heading in. The best are clicking. Everything is clicking. I just want to see more consistency from the starting pitchers. And I would like to know your thoughts on the rotations, who you think starts getting to after Garrett Cole and who starts game three. Once again, keep up the good work, love the part. So we had a call a little later on that I wanted to play in relation to this call because I think this guy has the best take on what the Yankees are going to do, the most realistic take on what they're going to do with their playoff rotation. And the way he put it, I feel like it's, just listen, let's play it. Hey, Derek barks down in Virginia, just making a head here and having a little fun. Let's say the Yankees do win the division and go straight to a five game series in the DS. So I'm going to say something that might be a little sacrilege here, especially on this channel. But obviously, you go and call game one. Then I would go nasty nester and game two in the Bronx, rode on the road, game three. Then for the potentially unnecessary games, I'd go one, two punch of heel and Schmidt and four, game four, and have called ready for a potential game five. No hate towards Gil, Gil, as soon as he has, as good as he has been, he has shown he can be wild and he's also never pitched this much in the season, nor in the playoffs. Nester has been good at home all season. And this bullpen stint that they just put him on has so far little fire under his ass. All right, so he goes into some numbers and things like that. But what he's saying is, is actually one of the better takes that we've had here because I feel like this is exactly what the Yankees will do. I can absolutely see them going with nester at home in game two, just because of the home road split. So that would make it Cole in game one, Cortez in game two, Rodon on the road in game three, and then a combination of Schmidt and heel in game four and then Cole again at home in game five. Doesn't that sound like something the Yankees would do, Frankie? Yes, but I think actually they would have heel start game two, replace him after an inning and then bring Debbie Garcia up. Yeah, yeah, man, that was an all-time boner. That was all. That was awful. Yeah. And Davey, I mean, poor kid, his career fell off after that. Think of all these prospects we've had over the last several years that just disappear like Jackson Frazier, formerly Clint Frazier. I've just learned them. I've been dead naming him as Clint Frazier, which I just learned is a bad thing. So Jackson Frazier, Miguel and Dujar, gray bird just retired like the old baby bombers 2.0 is now baby bombers six feet under. Done. All right, we're going to run a real quick thing about thank God for judge. Yeah, we're going to run a real quick ad and then we got a couple more voicemails to get to and then we'll head out and see after the post game. We get it. Mornings are nuts. No time for breakfast, but you need to get your day started right. What if a delicious, nutritious meal could be ready in seconds? Support for foul territory is brought to you by Huell, the world's number one complete nutrition brand with over 400 million meals sold worldwide. Huell is trusted by millions of people looking to fuel their days with convenient, complete nutrition. Try for yourself with this exclusive FT offer 15% off with the code foul@huell.com. You know we're all about saving time, but we get hangry like a lot. I recently fell in love with the Huell ultimate super greens powder, which is a perfect blend of 91 vitamins, minerals and whole food source ingredients. I also love their complete nutrition bars and those hot and savory pouches are fired too. FT fam, give it a shot. Get 15% off with the code foul@huell.com. Unlock a healthier, easier way to eat with Huell, nutritionally complete meals in minutes so you can focus on what really matters. All right, all right. So let's take another voicemail here. Hey, what's up, Derek, was just curious what you thought about the Waldo Rizzo situation. Waldo's just been slugging the crap out of the ball lately. It's pretty incredible actually what he's been doing. I know you mentioned it over the last, I forget that I think it was a 60 at bats or something like that. Maybe for his last 60, 33, 33 and then since then I believe he's won about four for eight or something around those numbers. So he's just been absolutely on fire and Rizzo is pretty much ghost up there. He hasn't been this. He's been a shell of himself really ever since the concussion. He might not ever be the same player. But he did save a couple errors the other day from our jazz specifically. Just wanted to know if you thought that the Yankees just basically see Rizzo as the defensive value at this point or? So yeah, cut you off there. So basically, I think you're kind of right. I think the Yankees see Rizzo's defensive ability to save runs as way more important than his offense at this point and saving errors by jazz or labor or even Volpe whose arm is not the most accurate. So there's two ways in a baseball game to win. Run production and run prevention. And I think they see him solidly on the run prevention side of things. It does seem like he stepped up his defense a little bit since he's come back. Like he wasn't great earlier in the year. So interesting take there. I do wish they would get Waldo more bats. I like Waldo. I think he's done a nice job. But he's been like the perfect utility guy this year. Any thoughts on all that stuff, Frankie? Yeah, I'm with you there. Waldo's had a really, really good season. I mean, when you look at your belt leaderboard, Waldo has like, what, six, seven belts. I think he's like fifth. It's crazy to think about. He never would have guessed that he'd be a top five guy at the beginning of the year. He's been really impressive watching him. I just tried to show it, but it's not working right now. So yeah, he's like, he's had some impactful hits. He drove in a ton of runs early in the season. And you know, this is probably Rizzo's last stand with the Yankees. It wouldn't surprise me if they said, hey, your focus is defense right now. We know you can't hit anymore. Just save as many runs as possible. Here's our last voicemail of the day. Hey, Derek. I was wondering if in the introduction when you say welcome to pinstripe territory, you could use a Bob Shepherd, somebody impersonating Bob Shepherd to open up your introduction. That would be pretty neat. Thanks. Well, definitely can't use Bob Shepherd. I mean, maybe we can get Billy Crystal in here to record something. I don't know. I feel like a lot of people do Bob Shepherd in front. Do you do one Frankie? Do you do a Bob Shepherd? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to pinstripe territory. That's actually pretty good. Like a lot of people I think do a Bob Shepherd impression and it stinks. I'm going to try it. Good evening. Actually, that's more Dracula. Good evening. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to Yankee Stadium. Is it good or does that suck? I don't know. That's pretty good. You're a regular witch ladle. I don't know who that is. How do you have all these? You got so many weird references, man. I end up Googling stuff like three times a day because you make a reference. Ritual was like one of the most famous impersonators of like the 60s and 70s and 80s. So I've completely dated your entire audience or entire audience has lost my apologies. Yeah. All right, Frankie. Well, here's what we're going to do. We're going to wrap it up. And then tonight I will be back with Terence after the game and we'll talk about Spencer Jones. We'll talk about Anthony Volpe who is back. Roman de Los Santos says you were the winner. Frankie. I yield to Frankie. I yield to Frankie as the superior impressionist. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you all so much. But I'll keep working on it. I'll keep working on it. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we'll see you after the post game thanks to Frankie baseball for joining for his first appearance or second appearance of the season. We'll see you in the last appearance of the season. All right. All right. I want a shot right across the bow. We'll see you. If you enjoyed this video, please drop a like and give us a subscribe. It helps other Yankees fans find the channel. We're also on all your favorite podcast platforms and social media. Join the community. Have some fun. And after every game, this is pinstripe territory. 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