Rice on the Mics

Sports Talk Raw: From Record-Breaking Contracts to Mental Health in the MLB

• Ian • Season 1 • Episode 7

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Sports are delivering exceptional storylines from Vladdy's historic $500 million contract with inventive structuring to Jaron Duran's powerful mental health revelation about his suicide attempt.

• Knicks achieve back-to-back 50-win seasons for first time since 1993
• Challenging playoff path ahead through Detroit, potentially Boston, then Cleveland
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. secures 14-year, $500 million deal with $325 million signing bonus
• Contract specifically protects against work stoppage payments
• Jaron Duran shares powerful mental health struggle including suicide attempt
• Mets dominating with 1.91 team ERA, contradicting preseason pitching concerns
• Yankees struggling with pitching consistency despite Max Fried's strong performance
• Brett Baty experiment appears to be ending with poor performance
• Juan Soto showing patience but waiting for power surge
• NFL draft preparation continues with Jets restructuring Lazard's contract

Call in and leave a voicemail at 732-588-6869, and follow the show at Rice on the Radio on Instagram and Twitter.


Speaker 1:

I guess there's only one way to find out. Let's do it to it right 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. All engines running Liftoff. We have a liftoff. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Speaker 1:

Tranquility Base here, pumping content out. We're diving straight in though, boys. Big bags, broken arms, belly flops, vladdy's half-billion-dollar deal, ob breaking the record of all time. Woo, mets are throwing like it's October. Those arms look good. Meanwhile, yankees can't really find the strike zone and the Knicks are picking up right on schedule. I'm still a little nervous, but they're picking up.

Speaker 1:

Wild, wild week in sports. Yes, I hate to say it, I think the Brett Beatty experiment may officially be over. Pour one out, boys. We're talking cycles, contracts, conspiracies and why Juan Soto might be the most passive superstar in baseball. Buckle up, tap in. You know the name it's Ian Rice Rice on the mics. Let's go. I teased it. Good, we'll dig into some of the Mets magic soon.

Speaker 1:

But first let's make a quick little detour over at the Garden. Let's talk about the Knicks. First time since 1991, 93, knicks have had back-to-back 50 win seasons. Boys, remember last episode I talked about the lineups that the Knicks used to be running out there Back-to-back 50-win seasons in 30 years. Man, yeah, it's 2025. 1993 was that long ago. Brunson's return, stabilizing force, nice MVP-level play, like he always gives, looks good. And OG has done the damn thing, man, he's been on demon time, as the kids say, Game changer on both ends.

Speaker 1:

Just, I don't know. I'm still a little nervous about this first round here because, man, they have the hardest path. If they're going to go to the finals, which, oh boy, it would be great. But they have the hardest path, okay, Realistically, they're going to have to play Detroit, okay. And Cade Cunningham again, I've mentioned it before, nothing to sneeze at, he's a hell of a player. They're young and they're going to have to learn how to play in the playoffs.

Speaker 1:

But being in Detroit and not getting any shine on national TV and everything and everybody, just kind of mentioning Cade Cunningham you're going to tell me he doesn't want to come play the Knicks at the Garden where everybody shines at the Garden. Everybody, for since the beginning of time, the Mecca of basketball everybody shines at the Garden. You don't tell. You're gonna tell me he doesn't want to drop 20, 30 national spotlight, his coming out party. So Detroit scares me a little bit. And then, yeah, it's like, okay, do we go down to the fourth seed? So what, we can play, giannis, and we can. Or, indy, be careful, what you wish for man. I don't want to run into no NBA championship, two MVPs for Giannis, because guys like that are likely to turn it up and fuck your day up.

Speaker 1:

But they would realistically have to go through Detroit, then the Celtics, then the Cavs and then whoever win in the west coast. So that could be, I don't know. Golden State, okc, the Lakers, denver do any of those sound appeasing to play in the finals? No, I mean, they would have to get there first. But whoo, knicks are going to be okay.

Speaker 1:

There's two scenarios here. The first is it's all overblown. The Knicks roll through Detroit and then they try to give the Celtics a match. Maybe Tatum gets hurt or Jalen Brown can't go left, which is what his thing is. Maybe KP made a glass gets hurt. I don't know, but you're banking on a lot of injuries for them to get through the Celtics and then they got a run into Cleveland. But okay, that's the best case scenario, right, and we'll see how that goes. Or the worst case scenario they get cooked by Detroit. Or it's a game seven and they lose on a buzzer beater or something and they bounce first round. Now every Nick fan every, every irrational nick fan instead of being patient, is gonna go fire tibbs, get him out of here. Michael malone is now available. Go get him, bring him in trade cat for giannis or whatever it's. There is no happy medium. The knicks are screwed either way.

Speaker 1:

I think and I think this is part of the the whole team has changed. So this is part of the building thing. You know, how long can the Knicks be patient? Because that Bridges contract is coming up soon. There's a lot, man. The Knicks are in a rough spot and you hope that they can work it out. But oh boy, man, it is definitely sketchy at best and we hope for the best and we hope the Knicks are the best. But hey, time will tell right, anything can happen in basketball. Man, best five guys versus their best five guys. The defensive rating with Mitch has been so much better. It's just going to be nice to see this whole original five that was supposed to be now get to be in the playoffs. I think they've built enough chemistry to handle it.

Speaker 1:

Say what you want about Bridges, but he is an assassin from inside the arc. Og is a defensive lockdown, brunson has the best clutch points in the league and Big Cat has the best center three-point shooting of all time. So there is hope, boys. I don't mean to build a damn Brunson thing. There is definitely hope. Can't wait, can't wait in the words of Bart Scott, can't wait. So we're not ready for the NFL to get its own full segment just yet, are we? I mean the draft's still 13 days out. But hey, look, look, look, look when pieces start to settle, I've definitely got a few thoughts. Some stuff for the Jets around the league. Lazard restructured. He was at $11 million per year. Yeah, that's not happening. Your boy, mr Rogers, is no longer with the team, rescheduled at $2.5 million with a bunch of incentives, just making some space. Something's cooking. They're building some draft capital.

Speaker 1:

Fields did a little bit of an interview, said he was humble and motivated by bench for wilson last year, which is a great mindset shift for new york. I love that. I'm rooting for the kid, I really am. I hope for the best. I uh, you haven't heard anything else out of the jets camp, the only thing you've really heard. You haven't heard anything else out of the Jets camp. The only thing you've really heard is maybe they might move Brees Hall if Ashton Jantz is there, but that's I don't know. That's stupid. I think that's more the Asian side, because Brees is due for a contract soon and draft picks are the currency of hope, right.

Speaker 1:

But why trade a known great commodity for the hope of something to turn into that known great commodity? You know, brees is a hell of a player man. He's just been utilized wrong. He's run into just coaches that, oh, we want to run the ball, we want to run the ball. Now Roger's going to ball, now Rodgers is going to throw the ball. You know this offense.

Speaker 1:

First of all, jets have no business taking Chanty, okay, none, you take the offensive lineman from LSU and you don't look back. And now you have a solid, monster, mean green machine line behind a running quarterback, behind three running backs. A solid monster, mean green machine, line Behind a running quarterback, behind three running backs that are slicing and dicing and powering and everything. And you also got the Garrett Wilson-Justin Fields combo. That sounds great to me. Take that.

Speaker 1:

The thoughts where he could move to pretty small I'm talking about would be the Cowboys. But that's stupid. It makes no sense. First of all, they don't pay running backs. Going back to Emmitt Smith, and they sure as shit don't pay him now, considering what they just paid Zeke all those years ago, and how'd that go. And then, on top of it too, everybody that they should pay, they draw it out to the 11th hour. Dac CD, probably, micah. I mean, it's all a mess, it's not going to happen, it's all smokescreen. That's the agent side.

Speaker 1:

And then also, speaking of moving players, for anybody not paying attention, tyreek Hill, who is a problem, isn't a problem, is the cheetah, whatever. You know got arrested opening day last year, literally the first game, got arrested outside. Yeah, his wife's. The report is his wife's mom called the police because she feared for her daughter's life. Okay, then apparently they got into a bad argument or whatever. Then, when the cops came, the wife said no, our argument wasn't physical, we just were having a normal husband and wife fight. But the police did note that there was bruises on her.

Speaker 1:

If I'm Miami, he already said he maybe wants to be here, probably doesn't want to be here, but now he does want to be here If I'm Miami. This whole draft I was trying to move him for a first-round pick and get back into the first round this year that whole draft value is now tanked Tanked, I mean, do you trust? To him it looks like shador might fall. Now if I'm miami I think they're picking 13. Could you move hill and swap ones, maybe give up a third next year or a fourth next year or something, and move up to nine, where the scenes are and be able to figure it out. Maybe take Shador if he falls that low. I don't know.

Speaker 1:

You got to see where the draft shakes out. Cleveland is the big wild card here. 100% Cleveland takes quarterback, all hands on deck. Everything is now a mess. But if they take Abdul Carter which I really in my heart of hearts believe they should just have Carter and Garrett next to each other and just rip the quarterback's head off for the next 10 years, yeah, that's the play. Draft is going to shake out. It's going to be pretty gnarly, but we're still a while away. So we'll see how everything goes.

Speaker 1:

All right, this is what you've all been waiting for Baseball time, seasons heating up and these stories, my God, we got to lead off, we, we have to. We have to lead off with vladdy's contract, because it's in it's. First of all, from a mets point of view, everybody said, all right, re-sign pete. But vladdy's coming right. The los mets, the dominican connection wrong. The Los Mets, the Dominican Connection Wrong. 14 years, half a billion dollars.

Speaker 1:

Woo, I mean, he's 26, so he kind of got a little bit of a solo contract. He's not going to be a Prince Fielder, that's not just a contract man, it's a fucking monument, especially for Toronto. They can't get anybody to play for them. But I'll tell you what, boy oh boy, did they figure it out? They got creative as shit. You see the Dodgers pushing money back. You see the Mets with Soto giving them sweets and jets and this, that and the other $325 million signing bonus for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. God, his father must be proud. What a goddamn tax break. Okay, so they're going to pay bonuses every year and it specifically stays active if there's a work stoppage. That's in the contract language.

Speaker 1:

So, going back to last week's episode, did I or did I not call this? Every owner is bracing for it and every player is bracing for it. Oh, and also, his contract bonus is based upon his Florida residence. So, for those that don't know about Florida, no income tax. So the Canadian currency and the Canadian taxes do not apply to more than two-thirds of his contract. That's crazy. That's crazy.

Speaker 1:

I love it, though. I love it, and there's nobody happier than Pete or Kyle Tucker right now, because they look at them. They look at this Vladdy deal and go, oh boy, and I'm on the Mets, especially the way Pete's playing right now. I go right to his agency, not Scott Boris. I go right to his agency and go okay, fuck it, let's get this done. How's four years, win 15-10? And then he's a Met forever. His number gets to go up on the wall at City, probably next to David Wright's, unless they retired to Grom's beforehand. Oh boy, you love it. If you're Pete, you're smiling so hard.

Speaker 1:

There is a little bit of some real shit that needs to get discussed. That is a story that got picked up on an ESPN article that I don't think got as enough shine as I think it should have, and it talks about players' mental health. Talking about Jaron Duran, the Red Sox Young rookie, absolute monster, just lighting it up, got in a little bit of hot water last year, but he, uh, he discussed in an article about how he dealt with mental health struggles for a long time, especially when he got called up and he would, you know, be in the outfield and struggling a little bit and people would say you don't get sent back to triple a, you know, you're not worth shit, you don't deserve to be up here, etc. Etc. And uh, he talked about trying to kill himself actually not even trying to kill himself, literally made a full attempt and the gun clicked on him. His exact quote is I was sitting in my room, had my rifle, had the bullet pulled the trigger and the gun clicked and that was the moment that I realized maybe I'm here for something better. That's not just a quote for clicks, no pun intended. That's a man who damn near didn't make it. And telling you why he is still here, okay, okay.

Speaker 1:

This is a sport that eats people alive for showing some emotion and then, when they finally do emotion, they get poo-pooed or driven away. This isn't a bad flipping emotion, this is a real emotion. Duran gave you his whole fucking soul in that interview and I respect the heart of it. I really do. I think that's a good thing to remember in life that life is tough and it will beat you down if you let it. And sometimes you do need that. Sometimes you do need what alcoholics call a moment of clarity, to quote Tarantino, to set you straight and set you on your right path and trust in that you are doing the right thing. It's an important message to take to heart and it's something that I value. So just really wanted to touch on that before I got into any of these Mets here. All right, deep breath.

Speaker 1:

Now, from one heavy moment to something a little lighter, let's talk about the M-E-T-S Mets, who apparently decided to be a pitching factory while nobody was looking. Well, actually, while everybody was looking, because all the offseason talk was that the Mets pitching is going to be shit. Well, the Mets team ERA is a 1.91. Okay, that's 2.40 for starters and a 1.29 for relievers. They had three bullpen starters with a zero ERA over four games. Man, oh man, does David Stearns do it again?

Speaker 1:

But I will concede the Brett Beatty experiment, which I've told you from day one he's a quadruple-A player. It's over, that's it. It's cooked. I need him out of here and it sucks because he's cooking his own trade value. Because what I want is I want mcneil to come back and I want akuna to play when he has to and I want them to move brett baity and two or three of their shortstop prospects that they're trying to try out in center and try out and left, and this, that and the other. I need them to move all those players for a dominant pitcher or a cesspitous level hitting back in 2015.

Speaker 1:

Like, I don't know, you can't bench a guy for underperforming and then try to sell him like he's the future. Nobody's buying that shit, man. It sucks, but it is man. I mean, look, maybe it's new york, maybe you know, maybe he's one of those guys that can't play here but go be the best player in colorado, go be behind chris bryant or something like that, but I don't know, man. The brett baity cycle I'm done, I'm over it. I'm over it, it's over.

Speaker 1:

And Soto, soto, look, he's not slumping, okay, but he's not smashing either, and I'm not. It's only. We're only 12 games in and the Mets are first in their division, which, by the way, called in the futures betting called that. He's on base all the time. It's great. Would I like a rocket to right field? Would I love a bases clearing double in the gap? Sure, it helps pete's rvi numbers that he's always on, but fuck, I would love to see him and he's gonna. He's gonna. Eventually, probably by like mid-may, there's gonna be like a two-week span where he legitimately has like eight doubles, three home runs, ops of over a thousand, like it's. It's gonna come. I'm not worried about it coming. This guy, if lindor don't win an MVP, he will Okay.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, I'm being a Mets fan, I'm being a little impatient. I'm being a little worried. All right, I'm used to the days of signing Jason Bay and he crashes into the wall, which I had a little bit of a flashback when Soto had that catch and crashed right into the wall. I got nervous for a second here. But you know the old adage is as soon as you put that blue and orange on, your average goes down by about 10 points. It's not going to happen with him and I'm being a little impatient, but man, I just can't wait for him to get going. I can't wait for him to start cracking balls. Golly. It's nice to see him in the lineup. Though man, some of these guys behind Pete needs to start hitting. Nimmo grow a beard, and now he thinks he's Daddy Hack, and Vientos couldn't hit water If he fell out of a goddamn boat. So some of these guys gotta start Hitting behind them. But that 1-2-3 punch at the top, woo, god bless you, boys. Good luck Now while the Mets Are out here. God bless you, boys. Good luck Now while the Mets are out here.

Speaker 1:

Like a goddamn pitching clinic, yankees can't find five healthy arms to save their life. Obviously, cole is out. Rodan is shaky. Stroman almost didn't even make the goddamn roster. They wanted to trade him. You got Cookie Carrasco out here, who has no business being in this rotation. Max Freed is the only adult in the room. I mean, they just can't find stability despite all the big contracts. They just, you know, can't Cole going there? If this was Cole and Freed back to back, yankee fans would be a lot happier. But I mean, look, you paid Max Freed. He did what he was supposed to do.

Speaker 1:

The Yankees were on a three-game losing streak and your ace is supposed to come in and stop the bleeding. So what does he do? Comes in cold weather in Detroit, pitches a jam, I think, threw seven like eight strikeouts, something like that. That's what you pay a frontline guy for no vibes, no bullshit, no excuses, just get the job done. And if they had Cole and they had Cole and Freed back-to-back, you know the Rodon struggles wouldn't look too bad. The Stroman struggles wouldn't look too bad because you had those two guys going back-to-back. So the pitching is all right.

Speaker 1:

With Devin Williams, I mean, whew, oh boy, I know you didn't. You talked up the prospect so much that you gave away for him and he's probably going to turn into being nothing, which is fine. Good on Cashman for that. But man, devin Williams, I think P Alonzo might have ruined his career. Jesus Christ Should have maybe kept the beard shaved off. Maybe he'd pitch better.

Speaker 1:

Guy comes in a non-save situation and almost there's nothing. You know what's worse than blowing a save? Almost in a non-save situation and almost, but there's nothing. You know what's worse than blowing a save, almost blowing a non-save situation? Comes in for a non-save just to get work and almost blows. It has to get pulled for weaver to come in. Yeah, that's, that's not. Weaver's gonna be the closer by the end of the year for sure, maybe by the end of the month.

Speaker 1:

Jeez, I will give the hitting some credit, though it is all or nothing with the yankees. I mean, they get shut out. Then they hit 10. Whatever ben rice shout out, rice has been pretty good. Goldie has been getting the job done, even in his old age. I mean, goldie's always been a gold no pun intended gold standard player at first, and anything over. Rezzo is better and belly, you know, when he's not looking shot out, looking high as a kite. He's been hitting pretty well too. And judge is a constant judge is, judge is the judge, he is the man. So I mean, look, they'll be all right. Sure Will they win the division Too. Be determined.

Speaker 1:

Baseball's a long season. Devers, you know, boston looked dead and now Devers started 0 for 19, and now he's 10 for 29, or something like that, which is double after double. It's hard. It's a long, long, long season season, man, and it's hard not to react game to game. But man, man, is it fun to do that? We love it, don't we? We go from, you know, we go from watching nfl, where it's week to week, where every, every game means life or death, and then you start transitioning into the NBA and there's only 82 baseball, there's 162. To freak out over a game in April, it's silly, but fuck man, we love doing it. Hey, now that's a wrap on episode 7 of Rice. On the Mics Vladdy got the bag, duran got real, the Mets are locked in, yankees are looking for answers, knicks hit 50 wins, freeds is fired up in New York and Tyreek is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Speaker 1:

As always, I appreciate you guys tapping in. Make sure you follow the show at Rice on the Radio, that's on Instagram and on Twitter. That's R-I-C-E-O-N, t-h-e-r-a-d-i-o. Also, don't forget to call in on the show. We got a new number here. We're innovating the game. Okay, call in, leave a voicemail, I'll put you on 7-3-2-5-8-8-6-8-6-9. Nice, call in. I'll take care of you Wherever you get your sports news and wherever it gets you takes. Just know I got the best of them. We'll be back on Friday with more heat, more stories and, of course, more of your boy Rice. As always, tell someone you love them, spread good energy in this world. People need it and I'll catch you next time, boys. Peace.