Rice on the Mics
Welcome to "Rice on the Mics", where sports talk comes with no script, no filter, and just the right amount of chaos. Hosted by Ian Rice, this is the spot for real fans who love the game but aren’t afraid to call out the bad takes, blown calls, and overpaid benchwarmers. Whether it's a legendary performance, a brutal choke job, or your fantasy team crashing and burning, we’re here to break it down like it’s last call at the bar. No corporate PR spin, no forced debates—just unfiltered sports talk with passion, personality, and maybe a little trash talk along the way. If you’re looking for stats read off a teleprompter, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want bold opinions, real conversations, and the kind of debates that might get a drink thrown at you, pull up a mic and let’s go.
Rice on the Mics
When Both the Mets and Yankees Hit Rock Bottom at the Same Time
Twenty episodes in, and we're celebrating a major milestone with a jam-packed sports roundup that starts right in our backyard. New York baseball has reached a breaking point, with both the Mets and Yankees limping into a Subway Series that feels more like a desperation bowl than a championship preview.
The Mets' pitching staff has been decimated with twelve arms on the IL, raising serious questions about whether they should finally bring up their top prospects for a baptism by fire. When my brother joins the show to break down the disaster, we dive into the fascinating managerial decisions, lineup changes, and that impossible question: do you sacrifice potential future stars for a shot at this year's World Series? Meanwhile, the Yankees have been swept by the Blue Jays in embarrassing fashion, with Aaron Judge getting the Barry Bonds treatment from opposing pitchers who refused to give him anything to hit all series.
The basketball world hasn't taken a summer break either, with the Knicks finally naming Mike Brown as head coach amid swirling LeBron James rumors. The NBA free agency period has teams throwing around monopoly money like never before – SGA signing for a record-breaking $70.1 million per year, Dame Lillard being unceremoniously dumped by the Bucks, and the Celtics making moves after their championship run. Not to be outdone, the NFL decided this was the perfect time for the Steelers and Dolphins to swap defensive stars, with Pittsburgh looking like they're playing Madden with the salary cap turned off.
Between the Wimbledon upsets, the pitching collapses, and the billion-dollar basketball contracts, this milestone episode captures exactly what has made these first twenty shows special: real talk about our teams, no corporate sugarcoating, just authentic sports conversation. Whether you're a devastated Mets fan, a curious Knicks supporter, or just someone who loves seeing athletes get paid ridiculous money, this episode has something for everyone. The summer sports season is only heating up – stick around, because the next twenty episodes promise to be even wilder.
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. Folks, let me welcome you to a milestone moment. This isn't episode 10. It's not episode 15.
Speaker 1:We are now officially 20 weeks in. That's one-fifth of the way to 100. Who's counting Me? I'm counting. You better believe I'm counting. Look, there's no big corporate office upstairs giving me pats on the back. No employee of the month, unless I want to make myself that. No gold stars on the board when you're your own boss, the milestones, you got to celebrate them yourself. That's important to learn and I'm here for it. Episode 20, this feels good and, of course, in true New York fashion, my teams decided to give me the best gift they could with a complete dumpster fire heading into July 4th weekend. Mets and Yankees are struggling hard and somehow the Subway Series comes up feeling like Desperation Bowl, more than a baseball showdown that it was supposed to be. I got Kershaw striking on half the planet. Nba free agency is handing out money like it's Monopoly. The Knicks finally hired a coach and LeBron rumors starting to swirl again.
Speaker 2:What else is new?
Speaker 1:Oh, and just when he thought it was safe to move on, miami and Pittsburgh decided to swap defensive stars and blow up our NFL offseason again. And I'm not alone. Today, backed by popular demand or at least maybe some family obligation, my brother will be joining us once again to break down some of this madness. I got a packed show for you guys 20 episodes down, with a whole lot more to come. This is Rice on the Mic's, episode 20. Let's do it Well, all right, listen, there's a lot of ways you could celebrate a milestone episode.
Speaker 1:Episode 20,. We're here, we're're feeling good, but let me tell you something whatever positivity I might have had coming in, the mets and the yankees went ahead and stomped all over it. Goodness gracious, new york baseball right now. God, someone get me his annex, please. All right, let's start in queens, because man, oh, oh man, the Mets got hammered in Pittsburgh and you guys agreed, voting overwhelmingly on the midweek poll, that the Mets clearly had the worst weekend. They weren't just swept by the Pirates, they got embarrassed. When it was their chance to break out of it and break out of the slump they were in. They got outscored 30-4. They had a players-only meeting which I'm sure half of it was break out of the slump they were in. They got outscored 30 to 4. They had a players only meeting, which I'm sure half of it was in Spanish, and Alonzo was the only white guy that probably understood it.
Speaker 1:Mendoza does his best boon impression and gets tossed to try to rally the boys, but the bullpen just continues to melt down and every day ending in a Y. And then, and then Wednesday, just when you thought you know, know, they turned the page. No, they blow the lead. They give up another Grand Slam and drop game one of the doubleheaders to the Brewers, because, of course, of course they did. But hey, let's give some credit where credit's due. Mendoza makes the move.
Speaker 1:Lindor finally gets moved out of the leadoff spot after 191 games. Can you believe it's been that many games already? And what happens? Finally, the bottom of the order does their job, which is what Stearns criticized. They turn it over and give Nimmo a shot and he hits a grand slam. Then follows by Lindor going deep to right, right behind him, little Yabo back to back. Look at that Smart baseball decision leading to some immediate results. Who would have thought about that? Huh? So then you get on to the rubber match. Okay, great outing for peterson. A couple calls that went our way from the umpire. Look, a win is a win is a win. You take them no matter how you get them. But unfortunately, mets fans, the good news ends quick. More pitching woes. Blackburn hits the IL Nunez, who came back and looked great and was somebody we can count on yeah likely headed for Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 1:The pitching staff is decimated. Man Twelve pitchers injured, mets fans twelve. It's between us and the Dodgers who can fill the most IL spots at this point. But you know what? Look, the sun will surely rise, and it's always darkest before the dawn right. Senga and Minaya are coming back. They're on their way. They might even pitch before the all-star break, at least Senga might.
Speaker 1:So, there, words of uh, in the words of Mrs Doubtfire, little Robin Williams. Help is on the way, dear, they're coming. And uh, I just want to give a quick shout out to Lindor, finally finally getting the recognition he deserves since he, uh, since he became a Met. He was and finally announced the starting shorts out for the NL, for the all-star game, something he hasn't had his entire Met career, which is crazy. Guy finished second in the MVP voting last year, but he wasn't an all-star. Not to mention, by the way, pete might have gotten snubbed by Freddie. I know it's a popularity contest, that's voting, but uh, I don't know it. It's interestingly enough that during this year's contract negotiations the whole thing was is Pete better than Freddie and does he deserve more money than Freddie? Well, he just lost out to him in the All-Star game. So you know interesting.
Speaker 2:But speaking of slivers, of hope.
Speaker 1:Let's take the train over to the Bronx and let's get on the Yankees a little bit, because, dear God, break out the brooms. A team you used to always, always beat up on, just swept you out in their building on Canada Day. Nonetheless, game 1, rodon and Scherzer go blow for blow. Yankees lose 5-4.
Speaker 2:Okay respectable.
Speaker 1:Game 2, your new ace Someone you tied so much money into and stopper after a loss all year with a .79 ERA. After a loss. Max Freed Doesn't come through like he has all season, lets up four runs and then the bullpen, they took care of the rest, letting up another eight. They lost the game 12-5. Okay, 1-1 on the series. It's a wash. It is what it
Speaker 1:is. Game three god damn, what a mess. Before you can even sit down and scratch your balls and open your beer, the bombers got bombed for seven runs in the first inning and look, they ended up calling all the way back. Judge finally got a pitch to hit the series after he got walked the whole series and he sure as shit did not miss it. Tied the game up 9-9. But guess what? Here we go. Here comes Devin Williams wild pitch, blows it. Yankees lose 11- 9 and break everybody's hearts. Kept you right on the edge and then didn't let you finish. Then game four just just doing your best, just don't get swept. Tied a division back up, go up a half a game. Worse thing Clark Schmidt leaves after three innings elbow tightness and then Springer just continues to dominate. He put up three home runs and 11 ribbies in the series. Yes, that is not a typo, you did not mishear me 11 ribbies. Suddenly, pitching depth is looking real thin in the Bronx too, not just in Queens. You know what that means. A subway series that felt like our October preview last time now feels like an episode of Survivor. Both teams are limping in, they're desperate, they're scrambling. It's going to be messy, it's going to be ugly, but man, you better believe I'm going to be locked in for it. But look, I've said
Speaker 1:enough. Episode 20, milestone Show. I gotta bring in some reinforcements. I got a special returning guest, actually my only returning guest. Family obligations or not? Ladies and gentlemen, my brother is back on the mic. You heard me vent about the Mets and the Yankees, but let's hear from the voice of reason or chaos. I'm never really sure which one it is that I'm going to get with you. Welcome back. Let's start with the Mets. Rob, where do we even begin.
Speaker 2:I mean, we just went through an embarrassing series with Pittsburgh. I wasn't sure what the exit plan was. Looking at it, I thought that's it. You know you go into panic mode the fact we won today. We got two out of three from milwaukee, one of the hotter teams in the league yeah, it's a big steal they are.
Speaker 2:They've definitely been playing good baseball as of late it's after they got rained out game one, we go into game two. We're facing freddie peralta. We never hit him, ever. And then, guess what you're looking at? You're facing the next Paul Skeens and Mizoroski yeah.
Speaker 1:Mizoroski is. He is I mean pitching ninja.
Speaker 2:He went three starts and gave up one run Pitching ninja did a.
Speaker 1:You can tell he watched the Grom growing up Pitching. Ninja did a comp one by one by him. It was literally the same pitcher. So the him, it was literally the same pitcher. And so the league is in good hands with the future pitching coming up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm just as surprised that the mets were able to pull that off the two people we're talking about are both in the central the pirates and the brewers, and the biggest shame out of all, that they're all small market teams. I know both of those will want to end up on the mets, one on and on the yankees yeah, skeens has Yankees written.
Speaker 1:All of them tall right hander power mustache don't need white guy. Yeah, he, yeah, he, he he has Yankees written all over him and Mr Askew, well, that'd be nice. On the Mets, I'll take that all day. But yeah, I, yeah, I agree, I mean they, they got embarrassed in Pittsburgh. You really thought it was rock bottom. Gary almost hit the rock bottom line again during the broadcast but decided to shy away from it and uh you know, just when you think you're out and there's no hope, they pull you right back in.
Speaker 1:They take two out of three from milwaukee here. They look like they're getting right back on track and now we move right into almost the uh subway series here. But I gotta give mendoza credit, man. He moved lindor out of the leadoff spot, which was his doing in the first place. Lindor is a leadoff hitter, but you know what you got to give Mendoza credit, man. He moved Lindor out of the leadoff spot, which was his doing in the first place. Lindor is a leadoff hitter, but you know what. You got to shake things up. I mean, you're not going to draw the lineup out of a hat or anything, but you got to shake things up a little bit.
Speaker 2:So the way it was going, I mean you could have did better taking it out of a hat. But you know, I heard on on the radio today last year when the Mets made the change of putting Lindor at one, lindor was always at three. It was Nimmo one.
Speaker 2:Marte two, lindor three, and when everything started to go bad, all he said was if you're going to move me from the lineup, I just want to be in the same spot for the rest of the year. I want to be comfortable where I'm at, which is hilarious, considering when you look at Aaron.
Speaker 1:Boone's. Yeah, I was just about to say tell, tell everything it that.
Speaker 2:Everything. It's Goldschmidt's one, wells' one, judge's one.
Speaker 1:I will give Boone credit on batting Judge one, just because if you're going to walk him all game, fine, then you walk my leadoff hitter, then fine, that's the only way. But otherwise, yeah, it's a line of roulette with Boone, but go ahead.
Speaker 2:You moved Lindor last year. This year it worked out for one game. The one thing that surprised me was you moved Lindor to the two hole. Yesterday in the game you had Nimmo at one, lindor two, and then you know, soto three, alonzo four. You won last night and then today you come out with a lineup of Marte's at the one and then Nimmo's at the five, and again it worked. You still won.
Speaker 2:But, I guess you're catering to your 2-3-4, which are your stars. You have Lindor at your 2, soto at 3, alonso at the 4. They don't want to move, but I couldn't believe Marte at the 1 today.
Speaker 1:No, honestly, I think at this point Marte and Nemo are kind of interchangeable Righty-lefty bats, that's really all what it is. You get a little more speed with Marte, but he's also 36. But you get the hustle from Nemo. But I don't hate it, that's kind of what it is. So that's kind of like for the trade talks, right. So, like, what do the Mets need? Realistically, they need a serious center fielder Like Tyrone Taylor is great, but he's a defensive center fielder which you can hide. A defensive center fielder when he bats ninth in your lineup, not sixth or seventh, correct, so fine. But let's say, you know, if you traded for a guy like Duran who doesn't play center, but whatever.
Speaker 1:Not that I exactly want Duran, they just have three other people that play better, not that I want Duran either but Duran is a true leadoff hitter, either, but Durant is a true leadoff hitter, but Lindor is a true leadoff hitter. So then Durant and the two, okay, maybe whatever. Really, honestly, I'm fine with a guy like Cedric Mullins you know, that's kind of our Juan Uribe of this year like, can get a hit when you need it, knows how to lengthen the lineup, you can bat him anywhere. Really, if I'm the Mets, what I want is I want the best, closer or best possible setup man available to so that my 789, my 89, is unmatchable, especially if the pitching rotation, with all the injuries, how it's going to be, if I'm only going to get five, six innings out of them when we set it from the start of the year.
Speaker 2:This was the toughest part of we spent, I guess, on average sodas getting 51 to 54 million dollars a year and everybody, because we did that, wanted them to win the world series this year. And I said they're not going to win the world series this year, they're going to win it next year.
Speaker 1:Right, I was with you with that too, because it's not. Listen, I'm not the Yankees. I didn't sign him for one year, I signed him for 15 exactly, and my thing was like this year.
Speaker 2:it was like we're playing with somebody like McNeil, who he's good, it's fine, he's had a solid season. We're going to move on from him eventually I'm over McNeil.
Speaker 1:I need to see Acuna have 300, 400 at-bats here.
Speaker 2:He's on the roster next year but he plays second base and this year I wanted it to be a test year. Nobody wanted it to be a test year with signing Soto to that contract. Nobody wanted to be a test year with signing Soto to that contract, but this year was a test year. Who's playing second? Mcneil? He's out.
Speaker 1:Well, who's playing third too?
Speaker 2:Again that all interlaps. Second base is it Acuna? Is it Jet Williams? Now Brett Beatty plays there. Who's playing third? Is it Mauricio Is?
Speaker 1:it. Vientos Beatty booted that ball at second. Today, beat EZD or a third baseman or ZDH, and then you look at center field.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden I got an alert today. All of a sudden it said I'm sorry, Drew Gilbert has his third home run in two games. Today we have all these guys coming up so like if we're going to make a trade this year, it sucks, Like if we're probably not going to win because the rotation like listen, if, if peterson, mania and sanga are healthy, that's awesome, but I'd rather next year when we're all in, when you have tong mclean sprout come in with some hammers and sanga's still on the roster.
Speaker 2:You have to resign, peterson, you're stuck with montas. Yeah, but it's next year. This year I make, I make moves, that again I'm. I don't think we win the World Series this year. We can.
Speaker 1:We definitely can Just get in Anything's possible. They proved that last year.
Speaker 2:I'm not trading any of these prospects that we will win the World Series with next year to not win it this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't have an issue with that either, but at the same time I don't want to be Cashman either. I mean, you look at Cashman holding on to Volpe to not trade for Machado and then not moving Dominguez for you know whatever. And then now it turns into who's the kid that had the Drew Gilbert?
Speaker 2:No, no, that's us.
Speaker 1:No, yankees. Who's the Andrew Jones? They have Andrew Jones, spencer Jones. Excuse me, spencer Jones is the, now he's the and then. So they're going to turn over Volpe, and Volpe looks like he can't hack it.
Speaker 2:So then, what they're going to move on from him? Jones is another judge. He plays the outfield, so right.
Speaker 1:So now we have Stanton, Judge and Jones, all fucking six-foot-nine giants, whatever like.
Speaker 2:No man, you need a Right there's.
Speaker 1:So Babunda excuse baboon, excuse me cashman doesn't move any of them because he's scared of what. What happened? Like looking at the mess of trading pca for bias. Honestly, dude, this trade deadline needs to be like the 2015 trade deadline and it needs to be like you move michael fulmer for un assessment and then michael fulmer goes on to almost throw a no-hitter or I think he did throw a no-hitter with detroit or some shit like that and he, he looked dominant or whatever.
Speaker 1:and it's like damn, because then in the next couple years the Mets had some pitching woes. It's like damn well we gave up Michael Fulmer for yeah but you went to the fucking World Series.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:It never matters what you gave up for Stafford with Goff. No, they want a fucking Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:They don't care Exactly. And again, the one thing I saw today, like we have so many prospects coming up. We didn't grow up with this. We grew up with oh, there's an injury, sue plays. There's an injury, josh Satin plays.
Speaker 2:Alejandro De Azza is leading off One of the best things today was and I hate Andy Martino, but he made a good point. He was like right now we're dealing with the problem of Mauricio Beatty Vientos. They all play the same position. And now guess what? You now have Jet Williams with Acuna, all the way you have seven infielders that play two positions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're going to have to move guys. It is what it is.
Speaker 2:You have to bite the bullet and guess what If one of them sucks or you trade one and they end up becoming good. You deal with it, because if we trade Vientos and he goes on to be a fucking star, Then you know what God bless him.
Speaker 1:It is what it is.
Speaker 2:God bless him you still have Jet Williams and these other guys coming up. You always hope for trading, jared.
Speaker 1:Kalinic, you never hope for trading Pete Crow Armstrong. That's what it is. But, honestly, you can't let the fear of trading a guy who you don't know hinder you from somebody that is already a proven guy. If you tell me hey, listen, man, you need to throw Jet Williams in this deal, for I don't know again, just use Jaron Duran or not, that they would trade.
Speaker 2:but like Kyle Tucker, or like you know let's say they needed a third baseman.
Speaker 1:Was it Arizona, auneo Suarez or fucking government, jose Ramirez or some shit like?
Speaker 2:that you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like you have to throw this guy in. I'm sorry there's nobody off the table, man, I have too many guys at one position, 100%.
Speaker 2:It is what it is. How close did we get to? We traded P Crow Armstrong he wasn't great in the minors with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then he came up and he figured it out, and that's what happens with guys.
Speaker 2:We trade him when he was 18. 19, 20, and 21 with the Cubs. He wasn't good. This year he's finally good us to the world series. I make that trade every day. It was worth it, always it was worth it all right, let's shift here.
Speaker 1:Let's for we, because we can go on a tangent all day with the fucking, with the mad caesar. How, how good and I hate to say it, but I can't not give credit where credit's due how good is fucking, judge, right now? I mean, it gets walked the whole series and you know baseball is a team game but it's really a solo game, but it's, you know, whatever the guy is, barry Bonds level of doesn't get a pitch, the whole series and then finally, the time that he does get a pitch, he destroys the ball.
Speaker 1:Honestly, listen, if he does this, which it looks like, he's going to take care of business this is going to be his third MVP and, realistically, it could honestly be his fifth MVP, because the one year he lost to altuve who the cheating year, the 2017 year, 2021 year, whichever one it was and then the other one he lost to golden boy otani in the angels. So realistically he could win his third mvp this year and it kind of might be his fifth. I gotta give credit where credit is due, and I know you're on the same page.
Speaker 2:I am. But now let's also look at it this way of Ron Washington with the Angels. First of all, I'm sorry he's out for the rest of the year. Ron Washington, he's having health problems, don't know what it is. I wish him the best. Last I checked, the Angels were like 39-34. For them to be over 500 is fantastic, yeah. But Ron Washington started that of you start the inning, I walk you, or there's two outs, I walk you. Now we saw Toronto do that. This series, mm-hmm. Everybody starting to understand it. But now who is protecting Judge? They walk Judge, and then you have Volpe after him hitting to double plays or whatever. If the Yankees are going to do it, they I'm not saying this as a Mets fan, but they need Soto behind him.
Speaker 1:Or in front of him, right? Well, yeah, so that's the thing, right? So Jazz has come on as of late, but they're forcing him to play third and you know, jazz kind of already has like some swag or some attitude to him, like realistically, like jazz is doing well, playing third. Now if he was playing second he would probably be lights out, whatever. But boone does his fucking lineup roulette and it's like oh, ben rice is catching and leading off today, and then it's this guy and then that whatever. So there's no chance for them to get into a rhythm. At least, when Soto was there, it was Soto 2 and Judge 3 or vice versa, whatever the fuck it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you're, I mean you're sacrificing defense for hitting, which is what lost you the World Series last year. You're trying to stick with LeMayu for God knows what reason, and it sucks that Oswald Peraza broke his ankle. If he didn't break his ankle, then there's your third baseman. Jazz can play second. You can figure out why. Honestly, yeah, it was. And honestly, the way that Volpe's struggling, I still have some hope in Volpe. I know you don't, but I still have some faith in Volpe. He's a hometown kid. I want to root for the Jersey kid, but at this point you might as well be. Jazz is short. I mean, he played some short in Miami, right?
Speaker 2:That's the problem. Jazz came up as a shortstop prospect.
Speaker 1:Which every great player does.
Speaker 2:He came up as a shortstop. They play him at shortstop, then they move him to center field, then when? Then? When he got traded to the Yankees, they're like, come play second. Then he goes to the Yankees and they're like, oh just kidding, play third. And listen, jazz is performing in whatever set. You want to say he's doing okay, but could you? Unless you're Ben Zobris, you can't play five fucking positions.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, I forgot about that. Good name job. That's brutal, yeah Like.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm not going to compare it to slow pitch softball, but like no, yeah, but no. You're comfortable batting second and playing third.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know where you hit the order. You feel good about it. You know who.
Speaker 2:He plays the game trouble. He hits the button.
Speaker 1:Right and he's like well, you know it also plays into. You know who's in front of you. You know who's in behind you front of you. You know who might be taking a pitch behind you. You know how they work. The count in front of you, like you know, it's 100, it's not 12 games not 15 it's 162 games.
Speaker 1:You learn everybody's tendencies of okay, hey, it's two, two. This guy, if he gets a slider outside, I know he's gonna maybe push it to the right, but now it's not that guy that I know, it's another you know whatever he said.
Speaker 2:Lindor said if you want to move me out of the one or a couple years ago, you want to move me from the three to the one, I just want to stick in that spot. I want to have a routine and know what I'm doing. Right, see the pitch, see who's behind me, know their tendencies.
Speaker 1:But I I couldn't imagine playing on the yankees where judges one, two, three, I gotta look at the lineup card and you know the other day maybe I'm playing catcher today, like you know, I have no idea right, the other day dominguez leaded off, then he bet ninth. Yeah, yeah, yeah exactly what a dog show too that's terrible oh, he needs it. That's the old school terry collins day. I'm like, oh, he needs a day off. What do you go four for five? Yeah, give him a day off. He was too hot crazy all right, so let's just touch on it. We're running long on time here. Let let's touch on it quickly. How about Kershaw hitting 3,000 strikeouts?
Speaker 2:We've seen all the good lefties. Oh yeah, that have done it. I think it said it was Johnson Kershaw, johnson Kershaw. There was two other lefties in our lifetime that we've seen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I forget who they are, but RJ is the big one, rj. So Kershaw just hit 3000. Rj has got 48, 48. And, by the way, nolan Ryan has like 52. Like it's not even close. Nolan Ryan always has the best story when he beat the hell out of Rob Ventura at like 45 years old.
Speaker 1:That was the greatest thing ever. But yeah, congratulations to Kershaw. You know, number 22, that's my number, that's, that's, you know, proud of him, happy for him, just nice, nice to touch on there, all right. So, lastly, before we get you out of here, this weekend, 4th July weekend, happy 4th of July weekend, happy 4th. Everybody Mets Yankees. How much weight does the Subway Series actually hold this year, or this second half?
Speaker 2:And give me your prediction on games one.
Speaker 1:Well, it holds a lot because last year the Mets swept both two-game series home and away, yeah, but now it's three games and they lost two out of three at Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it sucks. It wouldn't mean as much. The Mets and Yankees have been both two of the best teams.
Speaker 1:Yeah, except as of late, right Now they've both been terrible.
Speaker 2:And now this series, you have the Mets. They're about to throw two bullpen games.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's crazy to think about Now, this series you have the Mets?
Speaker 2:They're about to throw two bullpen games. Tomorrow is Hagerman. Who Exactly who he's supposed to start the game?
Speaker 1:What are you going to do?
Speaker 2:You could have easily brought up one of your prospects Today. Noel McLean, we love McLean.
Speaker 1:We want him to come up, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:We let him start in AAA today.
Speaker 1:He went five innings, seven hits, two runs, one walk. Ten strike seven hits is rough.
Speaker 2:Ten strikeouts is nice, ten strike seven hits and ten strikes and five innings.
Speaker 1:Yes, what the fuck was his pitch count 89 pitches 58 strikes seven hits and had ten strikeouts, and his pitch count was only 89. Yes, what?
Speaker 2:that's what we look at, clay home, clay homes does that every week every week he goes five innings gives up one run yeah, I mean, it looks like they're gonna.
Speaker 1:It looks like they're gonna probably bring up sprout or sprout. Yeah, whichever it is sprout is sprout, sprout. Whatever he's supposed to go sunday right, don't worry, producer, we'll get clarification on that eventually.
Speaker 2:Right now they have bron uh, brandon waddell that's what's going.
Speaker 1:It's going to be.
Speaker 2:Hageman tomorrow throws 90 pitches. They option him, they bring up Sprout you know what dude?
Speaker 1:Just do it. Just bring up Jonathan. Just do it. Just fucking throw him out Sunday night baseball he's 20 years old. Double A baseball, the fucking major leagues.
Speaker 2:Throw him out. I told you before, guy looks like Tim Lanscombe. What did we do in 2014? 2014 Mets-Yankees Subway Series. We had Rafael Montero.
Speaker 1:Who was supposed to be the next coming of God?
Speaker 2:And he went May 14, 2014. Yeah, he went. What was his line? Six innings, five hits, three runs. Okay, respectable. The next day we brought up Jacob DeGrom, May 15, 2014.
Speaker 1:He's the GOAT. And he went seven innings, one run, six strikeouts and we lost 1-0, which was the story of his career. Yeah, not to step on you, literally the story of his career.
Speaker 2:Yikes, when you look at it like that, that was two stars that were coming up. They both threw great games. Why can't we repeat this? We got swept by the Pirates.
Speaker 1:Yes, we won the series with the.
Speaker 2:Brewers, as I said to you when we were talking before this, Mendy tried to amp up the team while we were getting swept. He got ejected. It didn't work when we brought up these two stars that's a kick in the nuts.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh shit, shit. It kind of shows the other guys too.
Speaker 2:Like you know, we're not fucking around can you imagine pitching for the mets and you did be against the yankees and you sit them down?
Speaker 1:and, by the way, that's, that's what de grom did, and look how that turned out. By the way, I god, I it's not gonna happen, but I would love, love for them to bring de grom home killed me because stearns was asked.
Speaker 2:After yesterday he he said why aren't Sprout and McLean coming up? And he's like well, you know, if I'm going to bring them up, I want them to come up regularly. I don't want them to come up for a spot start. Here's the thing. You bring them up for a spot start. Then these starters then say back to Stearns I dare you to send me back down. Look how good I just did yeah, back down.
Speaker 1:yeah, right, yeah, yeah, watch this. Oh, you need pitching help. For now I'll stick around. You need pitching help? Shit. That's what tyler mcgill's been doing for fucking four years exactly but you know what.
Speaker 2:To be fair, though, he never went back no, yeah, he didn't. My terrible back down, my never went.
Speaker 1:Right now, to be fair, though, like these guys that they're gonna pull up, they expect them to be like the. They expect them to be smoltz maddox and fucking um uh glavin. They expect them to be Smoltz Maddox and fucking Glavin. They expect them, these three, four guys. They expect them to be the next generation of Harvey Wheeler, matz and Syndergaard.
Speaker 2:Let's figure it out if it works now. It worked enough. I mean, it's a World.
Speaker 1:Series Went, I would force a hand.
Speaker 2:I hear you, I hear you, I hear you also said he was like I'm in no rush to bring the kids up because next week sanga and mania are back. Force his hand yeah then guess what, in the middle of those two starts montas.
Speaker 1:You better pitch good well, I'm telling you right now you said I'm tipping.
Speaker 2:You said I'm tipping pitches. You better correct it tomorrow. Yeah, correct it. Here's Pearson's with us. He's good. Yeah, pearson's good. Holmes has been good.
Speaker 1:Eventually he's going to die with the innings well but then you got McLean well, the good thing with the, the thing with Holmes is, like you know, even if he dies with the innings. Well, guess what? Now I have a seventh inning man exactly right so, all right, let's wrap this up. I, uh, I will say the say the only non touchable prospect for me at this point is Jonah Tom.
Speaker 2:That's it. It's not even close. Guy looks like 10. He's only 20. He's only 20. All right, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, there it is, new York baseball in a nutshell a little good, a little bit of bad, actually a lot of it a bad. A little bit of bad, actually A lot of it of bad. And probably some ugly baseball ahead of us this weekend with the Subway Series. But hey, man, that's why we watch, that's why we play the games. Stick around, we're going to take a quick breather. Some NBA and some NFL coming up and, trust me, the cast is just getting started. All right, friends, deep breaths now. We survived the baseball chaos, and I had to pry the mic out of my brother's hands, and he's probably cooling down somewhere with a white claw.
Speaker 1:After that, mets and Yankees rant, but the madness continues, and now it's my turn to sound off, because the NBA decided this was the week to start throwing Monopoly money around again, just like they do every offseason. So let's dive right into the chaos. We'll keep it local and start with the Garden the Knicks Finally, finally the Rock. To the chaos. We'll keep it local and start with the garden the knicks finally. Finally the rock. Finally the knicks have a head coach. And let me tell you, based upon the midweek mic check, your reaction to mike brown was a little less than warm, probably about under 40 approval. And look I, I get it. Nick fans. Look he he wasn't the flashy choice and based upon every name that got thrown at us, you got to admit at least it's. It's nice just to have someone nailed down. And here's the thing with it. Look, he's coached LeBron, he's coached Steph, he had a stint with Duncan Hell. He even coached the Black Mamba, kobe Bean, brian himself.
Speaker 1:So now tell me, what is something that all of those great players have in common? They are all masters of their craft and have exceptional talent, but all of them need someone who isn't afraid of their stature and how good they are and will get in their face and push them to be the best player they can be. Tough love is a lost art in the coaching game and a lot of players are soft nowadays. But the great ones, the great ones know how good they are and how good they can be, but they also aren't afraid of an authority figure getting in their face and pushing them even harder. Now tell me, that's not exactly what gets Brunson going. What gets Josh Hart going? How about OG shit? That's probably what Big Cat needs to take his game to an even higher level. Look, he's got two coach of the year trophies. Uh, you know he can handle New York and the media. Honestly, I hate to say it, but he's basically Thibodeau 2.0, but he's willing to actually play his bench which, by the way, just got much stronger, with Jordan Clarkson added to the mix. I don't know. The more I think about it, the more optimism in me grows for him and with the east being as wide open as it looks this upcoming year, if, if he can't handle it, if he can't make it happen in New York, I don't know who can. And speaking of making it happen in New York, this whole LeBron to the Knicks thing, I don't know.
Speaker 1:On the poll this week week your words, by the way, your words, not mine overwhelmingly voted, just posturing, and it's bullshit. All except one person, my buddy, local Knicks diehard. You know who you are. He was the only one that voted that everything lines up perfectly. Optimism level 1,000. Are? He was the only one that voted that, uh, everything lines up perfectly. Optimism level a thousand. Delusion level maybe higher. But you know, I respect the opinion, my friend, and I love you for sticking to your guns. First, base buddies for life bud. So now let's ask ourselves about this though when there is smoke, there is fire, right, and things kind of do actually line up.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of worth talking about. Look, big Cat's making $53 million and LeBron just opted in making $52.5 million. So if you got to make the money work, that'd be a one-for-one right there. You wouldn't have to blow up the roster and it'd be superstar for superstar, so to speak. I'm not saying I wouldn't want LeBron, but I kind of also don't want LeBron. He's jilted us in the past and that's something that this fan base doesn't forget. Plus, if they won the ship with him, it would be all about LeBron instead of Brunson and this team of hard-fought grinders that put the work in. I don't know, that would be annoying as hell, but but, but, but, but. But. On the other side of the coin, the Knicks haven't seen a ship in what is it? 50, 60 years, and at this point you'll take it how you can get it? I mean, hell, you wouldn't kick a dog out of bed, never mind one of the best players of all time, and not to mention the legacy status that would come out of it. You know, we all read the article and if you listen to the podcast I talked about it last week he, lebron, came out and said this ring-chasing culture is weird and it's a team game blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we all read through the lines of that and basically that was him saying I'll never be able to catch Jordan, but if you came to New York and you won, you're not only talking about cementing yourself as a God in New York and everywhere and swaying the public in your favor, because you know, everyone knows, that if you win New York, you walk on water. But now it turns into to make an equivalent for my baseball fans out there a Theo Epstein level of gravitas. You did the undoable. You brought a title to Cleveland, something which nobody thought was possible, just like the Cubs. Then you break the curse and you bring a title to New York, just like Theo Epstein did in Boston. So, look, if you do that, you might not match Jordan and rings in the long run, but you win in New York. That's enough to really start having a serious conversation about the best to ever do it.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, now that we got the Knicks and LeBron out of the way, time to buckle up for the money getting thrown around in free agency. It went from zero to a thousand in a blink, so let's run through the big ones real quick, right, okay? Well, let's start us off DeAndre Aiton. He gets bought out in Portland and then joins the Lakers, which they didn't even think was a possibility, gets a two-year deal and they desperately needed a center. So now you pair him with Luca, both from the 2018 draft class. By the way, and while LeBron is still there, lakers fans are convinced they're a shoo-in for the title already. So that's great.
Speaker 1:James Harden goes back to the Clippers $81.5 million. They give this guy a raise coming off a vintage step-back year and I don't know, I guess, a locker room leader role I don't know, let's see how. Leader role I don't know, let's see how this ages. My money's on, not good. Jabari Smith Jr stays in Houston, gets locked up 122 million.
Speaker 1:Bucks Rockets picked who they wanted to build around and they made sure to keep him out of the Durant deal, and they're gonna build their franchise around him, for better or for worse. Loyalty remember that loyalty. The Bucks decided to just rip up their roster. They were their waving Dame, who gets his full 113 million that he's owed. But it clears room, I guess, for miles turner instead.
Speaker 1:Which a business decision? A business decision, clearly, one that uh, when the reports came out immediately that giannis was not happy about and the midweek mic check poll was split 50 50 this week. Half you say that business is business and the other half said that you got to respect the legend. I'm personally leaning business. I mean older player, great, but older player torn Achilles. You know, I don't know, but man does. Dame have a hell of a fan base. The Celtics move on from just about everyone and there were even reports of them potentially shopping Jalen Brown on draft night or Derek White on draft night, which neither one happened. But again, where there's smoke there's fire. Right, and the Pistons are swapping Malik Beasley, gambling Malik Beasley for Duncan Robinson. You can't bet on your players, apparently, but I guess you can bet on Duncan hitting some corner threes right. The Cavs picked up Lonzo Ball, who's never healthy, and they send Isaac Okoro to Chicago. Darius Garland's hurt again. Sam Merrill gets paid. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'll let you guys decide if that's exciting news or not. Uh, as I mentioned before, the Knicks, they get, uh, yabu Sally from the from Philly Great takeaway from Philly Love. That Get a nice center. And they also signed Jordan Clarkson. Finally, adding some scoring off the bench Could definitely fill that DiVincenzo role that we missed so much last year. So you know, I'm not mad at it. Some smart moves by Leon so far, the Nuggets and the Nets. The Nuggets trade Michael Porter Jr for Cam Johnson and they got some picks with it too. Denver got off the luxury tax by doing that. But I wonder how Joker feels about it. I mean, him and MPJ were good buddies and now he's Brooklyn's problem. But you know what? Maybe he'll flourish in New York. There's no pressure, we'll see.
Speaker 1:Nas Reed ends up back with the timberwolves. Five years, 125 million dollars that's crazy number. And apparently minnesota loves nas and nas loves minnesota. What? What are we talking about? Tough break for memphis.
Speaker 1:Jaron jackson jr undergoes turf toe surgery literally, literally the day after they signed him to a five-year $240 million extension. Talk about a Peyton switch. I mean, look, he'll probably be back by the season tip-off. But if you're Memphis, I mean not the news you wanted or the situation now that you have to monitor Jesus. And last but surely not least, after winning the Triple Crown and the NBA title, thunder go right after it and they lock SGA up on a historic Supermax Four years, $285 million that's the largest per season salary ever. $70.1 million a year that makes Soto blush. But I guess you know what, when you win MVP, when you win the finals MVP, when you're the scoring champ, when you're the champion of the NBA, that's what happens, that's what you get. So, thunder fans, congratulations, sam Pressy, congratulations Must be nice to draft an MVP, you know? Eh, whatever, folks, that is really it for the NBA right now, but, knowing this league, there for sure will be more to come by the next episode, but nonetheless, a whirlwind, as usual.
Speaker 1:We covered it all today Knicks, lakers, bucs, thunder, pistons, free agency Nobody's safe. But stick around because we're not slowing down just yet. Coming up next, we got some NFL Deciding to throw some blockbuster trades and some drama our way. This is episode 20, milestone episode Rolling on. Let's get it. Well now, with the NBA money out the door, and just when you thought it was okay to sit back, relax and watch some baseball and some summer sports, nope, nfl GMs are out there looking at their phones, looking at their roster and they're saying well what if we blow everything up again?
Speaker 1:right, steelers and Dolphins are swapping defensive players in Ramsey and Fitzpatrick. And Miami, how you feeling? Look, minka's back home, but you're sending Ramsey, jonu Smith and a pick swap to Pittsburgh. Not to mention that Zach Wilson is a two-way injury away from being your starting quarterback. So you know, and Steeler fans, you've added Rodgers, you added Metcalf, you added Ramsey, now Darius Slay, jonah Smith, jonu Smith. I mean, it basically feels like the Steelers are running a maddened franchise mode with the salary cap turned off at this point.
Speaker 1:And the mic check poll this week was split pretty evenly down the middle on who won the Ramsey Fitzpatrick swap. So clearly, neither fan base is entirely thrilled or devastated. So clearly, neither fan base is entirely thrilled or devastated. But Raheem Mostert took to social media with some choice words for Miami. So apparently not everybody is happy in Dolphin Land. And oh wait, miami did bounce back, though. They traded for Darren Waller. He's now given up his music career and is coming out of retirement and he's uh, back in football. I guess gets traded from the Giants to Miami. Look, uh, he joins Frank Smith, his former Raiders tight end coach, which he flourished under, so maybe he can make something happen.
Speaker 1:I don't know Dolphin fans, if nothing else, you got to love the resiliency. I guess Right. But speaking of resiliency, or maybe lack thereof, tj Watts holding out man and he wants his money. After watching Miles Garrett get paid like he just bought the Browns franchise Steelers well they're not biting just yet.
Speaker 1:And because of that now some teams are calling, calling if TJ Watts available and Pittsburgh continues to play roster roulette in an increasingly harder and harder division. So just when you sign all these guys, just when things start looking up, I mean you got to have that classic Steelers drama. There's not too much else going on in the NFL right now. Unfortunately, it will pick up before you know it. But stick with me here. Episode 20, we're breaking new ground. Here we're going to go from gridiron trades to jumping across the pond for some strawberries, some cream and some tennis chaos. Yes, that's right, we're talking Wimbledon today. Yes, that's right, we're talking Wimbledon today. Greengrass, fancy hats, strawberries, cream and, oh yeah, complete chaos. Four, one, two, three, four top five seeds have already gone. Goodbye in round one. That's not a typo, that's not a misread. Absolute madness. Coco golf, fresh off her french open win, gone. Round one pagula out of here. Round one zeverev, early flight home. Gone.
Speaker 1:In round one, daniel medveded, who's one of my favorites, and round one Daniil Medvedev, who's one of my favorites, also first round exit. And you know what? Let's pour one out for Jasmine Paolini too, our favorite five foot three. Italian stallion. Tough break, tough bracket. She got bounced too, but that doesn't mean we don't have the heavyweights still either. Djokovic and Alcaraz Are looking locked Into a finals trilogy. This collision course feels like Djokovic got an appointment. Every year you can always pencil him in For the grass court. And on the women's side, iga is handling business, and so is Sabalenka. Number one and number two seeds. Everyone around them is dropping like flies, but these two, they're on a dead-on collision path for the finals, and that's exactly what tennis has been looking for. And so, just like that, we've gone from blockbuster NFL trades to some Wimbledon tennis chaos.
Speaker 1:Episode 20 continues to keep the hits coming. Football season is ramping up slowly but surely, and when the time comes, trust me, we're going to have so much coverage and so many hot takes and fantasy and betting. We're going to have so much for football season. You won't know what to do with yourself. But until then, settle in. I got all the sports news covered and everything you need to know to keep yourself sounding like the smartest person at the bar. All right, we made it at the bar. Alright, we made it. 20 episodes, folks. One-fifth of the way to 100.
Speaker 1:And it's a number yeah but you know, milestones matter and when you're building something from the ground up, every single milestone counts. So big thanks to all of you, thanks for joining me on this ride and an extra thanks to my brother for coming on fending about the Mets and the Yankees. That's therapeutic, as always. Look, we covered a lot today New York's baseball turmoil Heading into a desperate Subway series, weekend NBA free agency Breaking the bank as always, and NFL teams forgetting that the salary cap even exists, and even some Wimbledon Jumping in, some upsets and some chaos. If nothing else, we learned today that no lead is safe, and even some Wimbledon jumping in, some upsets and some chaos. If nothing else, we learned today that no lead is safe, no paycheck is too big and no bullpen is safe. But seriously, 20 episodes in and I can't thank you enough, every listen, every review, every vote on the midweek mic check every single comment on a post, every DM of hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker 1:It means the world to me and I love building this community, listener by listener, brick by brick, as Portnoy would say. Community, listener by listener, brick by brick, as portland would say. You, you guys shape this show as much as I do. I mean, look, I'm the voice, I'm the talent, but you guys, you guys are the conduit and without y'all I'm just. I'm just another idiot yelling into a mic. So you already know the deal. But if it's your first time listening, make sure you follow along on the instagram that's at rice on the radio, just how it's spelled. Dm me whenever you want about whatever you want. Hell, don't be afraid to even send me a meme or some reels or something. I'm always up for a good laugh. And if you have the courage, call the hot 732-588-6869. Leave me a voicemail, even if I don't even use it on the show. I'd love to hear your voice and I'd love to hear from you. So, as always, keep your take sharp, keep voting in the polls and keep the conversation flowing.
Speaker 1:Man, we've got big things ahead and the next 20 episodes. You're not going to want to miss them. So have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend. Don't end up like JPP and lose some fingers. Enjoy the Subway Series if that's even possible. And the most important thing I want you to take out of all of this is spread good energy in this world. Make sure you tell somebody you love them. That positivity you put out there, it comes back tenfold. I promise Rice on the mics, episode 20, officially wrapped up. Catch you guys next week. Love y'all.