Latest news with #JakeMintz
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
How could the Harper-Manfred spat impact MLB's CBA talks?
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman explain why the battle between the players union and the league - which reportedly came to a head in the Phillies star and commissioner's recent clubhouse meeting - may only get more contentious before a new deal is reached. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript How important is this story? Like, what type of impact does it have? Let's start with the cap as a character, because the cap is going to be the most important discussion point in the upcoming CBA negotiations, almost certainly. I think that it is important to understand the historical context here where players are just not gonna go for a cap. The league has been trying to get one for years. It is the only league that does not have one. It is going to be a central character here. That sets up the dynamic of how these negotiations are going to go. In the last round, the union was on offense and the league was on defense. And in this round, I think those roles are gonna switch a little bit, where the league wants to create change in the system, and the players are more content. With the status quo, then the league is. Now, obviously, the two sides are both trying to pull the situation, the CBA in their general respective directions, but I think that that is just a fair way to classify how this relationship is going to be. For the league to be like, we need to energize the workforce is, is like both fascin. and almost backwards, right? Because in theory, so much about this is the union sticking together and the union being on the same page. And so it is one hell of a tactic to be like, no, no, no, we're just going to jump over the union and try and convince them that they want what we want. Now, Manfred can say this is not my intention, all he wants. The outcome is to foster a level of discord and disagreement within the union about the cap. In theory, where the league can make headway is by convincing the lower salaried rank and file players that a salary cap and a floor would be good for them because they would then make more money. But like, that's what the union is fighting against, is keeping everyone on the same page, everyone together, advocating and arguing for the same things. The general energy. Right now is no bueno, like, it's ugly and it's going to get uglier. Do we lose games? Ask me in a year and a half. Ask me on March 15, 2027. Close
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 'contrasting journeys' that defined 2025 HOF inductees
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman look at highlights from 2025 Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript This class was so good, and of course this is true every year, the contrast of the journeys and styles and careers of all the people going in together, it is really cool that they just kind of, by circumstance and the nature of the process, end up going in together and will associate them together. And I think this class in particular, it will endure in that way. Any other just highlights from those speeches that you wanted to shout out? To have Parker and Sabathia together was very interesting. Kind of these two titans of black baseball from two completely different eras. And when you hear the way that people talk about them, it sounds similar, right? The players that looked up to Dave Parker at the end of his career, that he played with Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Gary Sheffield, saying that to have that guy there was important to me. And then you had CI talking about how for him, watching baseball and seeing black players that looked like him, how that was important. And now CI is that for kind of the next generation in a lot of ways, and it was just cool to have those two stories being told up on the same podium at the same time. Um, and of course the Ichiro speech, I mean, just an all-time, just an all-timer. The shade to Miami was incredible, incredible. Let's be real, obviously Ichiro would have heard of the Marlins at that point. That was a joke. It's a great joke, and then Billy Wagner, who is so important to us as D3 dorks, Division 3 baseball, to see D3 on the plaque in bronze. Honestly, that was one of the parts where he got the most emotional, uh, when he was like, you know, the fact that, um, you know, someone that's 5' nothing who played Division 3 baseball in the middle of nowhere could be a Hall of Famer is really special to him. One of my favorite stats of all time, one of my favorite fun facts, the top 3 K/9 seasons in NCAA history, they are all three of Billy Wagner's seasons. He was dominant in a way that no one has ever been at that level. Uh, and congratulations to him. Congratulations to all of the inductees. Close
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Is Aaron Judge's elbow injury a big problem for the Yankees?
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman react as New York's slugger is placed on injured reserve with an elbow injury and decide how the team might use him the rest of the season. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript The drama began Saturday morning when Yankee reporters strolled into the clubhouse, and they noticed who was missing from the light out, Aaron Judge. And given that the Yankees had just had an off day, and they were facing left-hander Raider Suarez, it stood to reason that something was amiss, something was wrong. And that turned out to be the case during pregame, when Aaron Boone said to the world, uh, Aaron is dealing with some discomfort in his elbow. The whole reason we even got to this point is because Aaron Judge couldn't throw. And even though Aaron Judge said he felt this for the first time during the series in Toronto, he was kind of gutting it out until he couldn't, until he realized if I need to make a play, I cannot right now. And even at that point, it sounds like he was still arguing, hey, I'm Aaron Judge. Don't you want me in the lineup? Can I just DH and just play through this? They were like, yes, but also there's this other big guy that hits the ball really hard. And we really don't want him to play in the outfield. But the point is, it sounds like they would prefer because of what you just described that there is a path to rest and getting him back to throwing a baseball in this somewhat near future, that they're going with this path, which is still not a sure thing, but it is at least a first step. I would describe this as good bad news, right? Aaron Judge will continue to hit for the rest of the season, right? Like that, that is a that is a win. I think this is just the Yankees deciding to play this safe for now. There is no reason to push it. At this point, better or worse, the division feels kind of out of reach. Yeah, the Yankees could come back, sure, but it's about making sure the Judge is able to throw, giving themselves the best chance at Judge being able to throw during the postseason. That's kind of where we're at now, and I think giving him 10 days to just kind of chill makes a lot of sense. Close
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Should the Yankees trade prospect Spencer Jones?
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz explain why it's the perfect time for New York to deal their hot-hitting outfield prospect. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you View more Video Transcript I have a couple of thoughts here as someone who thinks a lot about Spencer Jones. One, the Yankees should absolutely trade him at this deadline, like 100%. I hope Spencer Jones gets to have a long big league career. If he wants to be with the Yankees, I hope that that happens. However, his value is never going to be higher than it is right now. Him hitting 13 home runs in 19 games right in front of the deadline when the Yankees have holes to fill, just, just go, just do it right now. Now, you mentioned that he's doing his best Aaron Judge impression. That is more recent from a mechanical standpoint than you might realize, No, Judge is a righty, Jones is a lefty. Only over the last year or a bit more has Jones kind of fully adopted the Judge swing, the Turner Man style back hip load, one leg type deal. The stance is incredibly ugly looking; it is not fluid. And if it looks like someone who's never, who hasn't played a lot of baseball, like when he stands there, but when he makes contact, holy freaking crap. And the one other important thing that's worth noting about Spencer Jones is that he could probably play a little bit of center, right? And I think that gives him a slightly higher floor than what he's being given credit for. Well, and this is why the spit on the Yankees, if that is to be, because I think your points about the deadline are totally valid. He's only played center. Now, I don't know what that means because so did Jason Dominguez, and he's like one of the worst left fielders I've ever seen. So I don't know how to project any Yankees defender at this point, so I think we can stay focused on the bat, but that's the other thing, as I say, oh well, he's got to be up at some point. But like I, like I also said about Suarez, the Yankees are not craving home runs right now. So that's why I think, to your point, trading him for something that they actually do need would make a lot of sense, even though you have to imagine there would be some level of fear that like, oh my God, what if he is 60% of Aaron Judge, that's a hell of a hitter. Close
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The wild story of how Josh Luber acquired one of the rarest Ohtani cards
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz are joined by StockX co-founder and MLB card collector Josh Luber, who discusses the crazy story of how he acquired one of the rarest Shohei Ohtani trading cards. Hear the full conversation on the 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript I'm sure you have quite a crazy collection at this point of all of the baseball cards. That you have with you right now. Are there any that stand out as a favorite, sentimental, particularly notable? I was buying Otani at the very beginning of him starting to come back and starting to get hot and people started to look at it. I made a lot of money buying Otani early. I bought and sold and sold, but there's one card that I will probably hold on to forever, and the story about this is extraordinary, so, and I don't know how how well you guys know cards, but so this is the Bowman Chrome number two 5 autograph. So this is basically his second best card. The only card better is gonna be the one of one, the Super Fractor, and I mean, this is, this is I don't know what this would go for on the market. Maybe. Maybe a million plus, like, I don't know. I paid $30,000 for it. But the story is even better, which is that I was, I was buying up Otanis at the time. I was at a couple different car shows. I was buying all the biggest Otanis in the room and I was just trying to accumulate them, and I met a kid, typical hustler kid who was just sort of like trying to help me find him. He'd call me up and say, hey, this guy's got this guy. So he found the guy who owned this card, and the guy was in Hawaii, and I live in Austin, Texas, and the guy in Hawaii, we made a deal, but he refused to ship the card. He's like, you know, I was buying it for $30,000, which at the time was a fair market price, maybe a couple bucks high, and he says, Listen, this is the most money I've ever made in my entire life. I pulled it out of a pack. You know, he's like, I make $40,000 a year. He's like, I'm not sending this in the mail. There's this kid, this 23 year old, and I said, I'll pay you to fly to Hawaii. I'll pay you for your vacation, stay there as long as you want. He's like, I'm not sending this in the mail. There's this kid, this 23 year old in the, I said, I'll pay you to fly to Hawaii. I'll pay for your vacation, stay there as long as you want. I'll pay. You want to hang out there for a week, I'll pay for it. Get the card and fly it back to me. And he did. So, you know, he figured out how to make it work, and this kid got a free trip to Hawaii out of it. I'm laughing about that kid going through airport security in Honolulu and holding $50,000 in cash, too, right? Because I had to give him cash to be able to go and buy it. Can you imagine, man, you're like on the plane clutching, you're like holding to it like it's the nuclear football. Close
