Dave Sims on Yankees Playoff Roster & Memories of Ichiro Suzuki

Craig Carton (0:00)

Happy to have The Voice along with Susan Wallman. All of the New York Yankees, our pal, Dave Sims. Dave, I don't know if you've met Big Mac before.

Dave Sims (0:08)

Good to see you, pal. Good to see you, too. Good to be with you guys. I saw Mac in the cafeteria a couple of months ago. Oh, he was wearing shorts. I was wearing shorts.

Craig Carton (0:15)

Yeah, the day he made him dress appropriately as a professional that came up here.

Dave Sims (0:19)

That's right, I remember that day.

Taking no prisoners, comma. Yeah. That's what he does.

Craig Carton (0:27)

All right, so this is your second year in the Yanks, back-to-back playoff appearances. You as a play-by-play broadcaster. You know the big story line now, Aaron Judge not on the wild card roster, Stanton on the wild card roster. Just give me your 30,000-foot view of that first.

Dave Sims (0:42)

Well, it's probably a 10,000-foot view now. But hey, when you're called upon to get a pinch hit, a big knock, seventh, eighth, ninth inning deliver. That's what they're looking at. Yeah.

You can see him putting in the time right now. And I know Boonton's always raving about his professionalism, his integrity, his work ethic is off the chart. And we're seeing that right here with this BP. I mean, I've been here 20, 25 minutes. You've probably seen longer than that, right? Yeah. He's been on the cage this whole time. He's a good half hour in now. Yep.

Craig Carton (1:10)

Good.

Dave Sims (1:11)

Hey, God bless.

Craig Carton (1:12)

Yeah. So outside of that, Big Mac made the point, and I think he's right, that when you look at the roster for the wild card, that's going to be 10 pitchers, 16 position players. So seven guys on the bench.

I'll have eight guys on the bench, pardon me. I'll be able to come in outside of the pitching staff. This is going to be an iron boon series.

Dave Sims (1:31)

It's going to be both for both managers. It's a chess match. It's going to be matchups like crazy. Right.

And that's why both teams pretty much loaded up and gone in the same direction. And everything's on the table here, man. So you got to take advantage of every availability that you can make exist.

Craig Carton (1:48)

Are you surprised that Volpe gets to start at second base?

Dave Sims (1:52)

Yes, somewhat.

But I tell you what, I think he's done a very nice job defensively. I tell you what, he really takes his time when he attacks every ground ball. I don't know if you've seen that. There's been no rush. So there has been a mind change there and he's got a shorter distance to throw. Right. So get to it. You got time. Make it good.

Chris McMonigle (2:14)

I mean, it felt like there was a rush at shortstop.

Dave Sims (2:16)

Absolutely.

Chris McMonigle (2:17)

That was the thing. There was a rush knowing the arm strength.

Dave Sims (2:20)

And especially in a six hole. If it was in a six hole, good night.

Chris McMonigle (2:23)

So he's much more comfortable.

We've talked about it for a while that he was probably better suited to play short second base. And it's nice to, when you talk about that, and then he goes down there and he comes up and immediately you feel like that was true and he's fit that to a tee. It's nice to the point where, look, Jazz is a viable player. He hit the home run off of Toley in Boston. Toley's splits aren't necessarily as dramatic as some other lefties. I thought Jazz would have a chance to play, but they're going with Anthony Volpe and the platoon right-handed lineup.

Dave Sims (2:50)

Hopefully, it'll deliver. Even when he was going at his best Volpe, he had a second baseman's arm.

Chris McMonigle (2:56)

Yeah. Right. Right.

Dave Sims (2:59)

That has worked out now. It looks like, and who knows going forward, but that's all another hour discussion.

Craig Carton (3:04)

Yeah. If you had to pick something about the Red Sox that worries you from a Yankee perspective, what is it the Red Sox bring to the table in this series that you'd be concerned about?

Dave Sims (3:17)

They're pesky. I mean, Roman Anthony is back. I hear nothing but raves about this kid, but I know when I see highlights and I talk to other people around the game that followed this kid, they say he's the real deal. The other thing, Chapman scares the hell out of me. Sure.

Craig Carton (3:28)