Full Show: C-Mac’s Bold Trade Proposal to Save the Yankees Season

**Chris McMonigle** (0:00)
Yes, sir! Yes, sir!
Two o'clock straight up. Welcome in on a summer Friday. It's The Carton Show with me, Big Mac. I got you for four hours and maybe a few minutes more than that as we take you to Yankee Baseball as they will head to Washington off of what was the most needed win of the season. And we were able to talk about it yesterday. We came on after the game and obviously that win for the New York Yankees was huge. We're going to get to that. We'll get to the judge injury right now. Taking your calls at 888-808-1019 on this fun summer Friday. We got some games. We're going to spin the wheel. I had to come up with my own wheel categories and I am excited. Hoff's excited. He got here just in time. We got Gallo's excited. We're going to have a fun Friday. And it's fun despite the fact that we don't know when judge is coming back. I'm going to try and have a fun look at what's gone on here with the New York Yankees. And it's impossible, right? It's impossible. Off that win, yes. And that was a huge win. We talked about it yesterday. That was a win that at least makes you feel like the division is a chance to be had. Because if they would have fallen behind the Rays six games already give them the tie break. That's a long second half of the season trying to make up what would incess... in essentially be eight games in the lost column. So that was a huge win. But what really the story of yesterday was, once you get past that and the idea, okay, they didn't just get buried by the Rays. They were able to find a way to beat a pitcher they never beat. And they had an offensive explosion after having the worst 20 games in arguably franchise's history. You got to go back to 91, you got to go back to 35 You got to go back all these decades to find the last time they were this inept over the stretch of 20 straight games offensively. Once you get past that, they won the big game. Now you got to go turn to Washington, you can't squander it. You got to go get your ass kicked in Washington. Who cares what happened the other day? So they got to keep the momentum going. But once you get past all that, obviously, the biggest story of the Yankees season and the biggest story of the Yankees right now, as we had three more games this weekend in Washington before the All-Star break, and we'll get to the All-Star break and the home run derby on Monday, which is always a fan favorite at the McMonigle household. We love the... my wife is a huge home run derby fan. And we'll see if Ben Rice can take the title, Schwabber and Harper in the home run derby. But obviously, the biggest story is whether or not Aaron Judge is coming back. And you know, Cashman giving the report yesterday that makes us all sick to our stomach. Let's be totally honest with you.
Sick to your stomach when you hear the idea that they were going to finally take a picture of it. They even want to take a picture of it prior to the All-Star break. They're going to examine his injury at the All-Star break. And then from there, they hope there's enough healing, because they don't expect it to be completely healed. They just hope there's enough healing where maybe he could start moving again. That would be great.
So the idea that Judge isn't coming back anytime soon and what we've seen offensively is terrifying for Yankee fans because you're holding on for dear life. And the goal isn't, despite many of you thinking I think the goal is, the goal isn't just to make the playoffs and not be a formidable team. The goal is to get to the postseason, hopefully by division, because that's how the Yankees have had their most success with home games in the playoffs, specifically under this head coach and under this manager and under Aaron Judge being their best player. They have traditionally lost when they're on the road, won when they're at home. The division is huge for this team. But having said that, the goal is to get to the postseason healthy, be the best team when you get there, and then go in. And so Judge and whether or not he's coming back is obviously the huge topic, but I honestly think once you've said that, like once you've acknowledged they need Judge back, which I don't think took a lot of acknowledgement. I don't think we needed hamsters on a wheel. I don't think we needed a crack staff working around the clock to find out that, hey, if Judge doesn't come back, the Yankees are in trouble, clearly. And that's why, as much as you wait for him, I don't know if that's the biggest news that came out of yesterday. I don't think the Judge injury is the biggest news that came out of yesterday, because let's be honest, can they get to the postseason without him? I think they still can. In a lousy American League, I know I got into a big argument yesterday and the social media team put it out. They don't have to look like a championship team now, they have to look like a championship team when it comes to the postseason. And they don't have to beat the Dodgers today, they don't have to beat the Braves today, they don't have to beat the Brewers today, they have to outplay the Rays, they have to outplay Seattle, they have to outplay the Cleveland Guardians, they have to outplay a lousy American League. So here's the question, without Judge, can they outplay a lousy American League, get to the playoffs and hope Judge is back in time? I think so. But once they get there, here's the point. Because the biggest news isn't necessarily Judge, because if Judge doesn't come back, forget it. There's no trade they could make, there's no move they could make, there's no call up from the minors, there is no solution to a judge-less problem. There's no solution to it. So after we say they need Judge, there's no more conversation there. They need Judge back or they can't win. Plain and simple. So the question is, how do they have the best team ready to go once Judge comes back? And to me, the news about Giancarlo Stanton is actually more important than the news about Aaron Judge. Because I think we all expect Judge back on some level, whether he's going to be himself, whether he's going to be hampered by the injury. Judge is going to come back, they need him for the postseason, and when he gets there, they have to have the best team around him. So when it's specific about Brian Cashman, whatever you think of him, and however poorly you think he's done his job, or how good he's handled the trade deadline, or like when you look at August 3rd and the trade deadline and building this team, Aaron Judge isn't in the thought process. When you're looking about how to improve the Yankees to go win a championship since the first time since 09, you're not thinking about how do I replace Aaron Judge? Because there's no, I heard Evan talking earlier, well, they'll have to, if there's no judge, you have to replace this and you have to replace that and you have to replace this and you have to replace that. There is no amount of upgrading on the margin to replace losing the best hitter in baseball. There is no star available, quite frankly, that you could bring in here and feel like this team would be okay without Aaron Judge. So the question is, if they don't have Giancarlo Stanton, and now you have seen what Paul Goldschmidt is if you play him every day through the dog days of July and August, and now you have seen what Cody Bellinger can look like through a slump and without Judge and being asked to be the guy. And I'm not saying that can't change, but he was just asked to be the guy for a month and he fell on his face for three weeks. And maybe that will change.