Hour 2: Justin Shackil & Antwan Staley

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You know when you're locked in, focused and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo.
Every did you see that moment?

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You bet.

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast. I gotta get more Kay. Listen live weekdays at 1 on the ESPN New York app and your smart speaker.

**Jake Asman** (0:41)
We led the show talking Yanks and we'll continue that conversation right now as Justin Shackil is with us here. Justin, appreciate your time. Great job this week on the broadcast. Thanks so much for coming on today.

**Justin Shackil** (0:52)
Jake, what's going on, man? Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

**Jake Asman** (0:55)
Yeah, dude. So, I mean, I opened the show just as a Yankee fan. I'm just I've just disgusted. And I'm also just getting to a point where there's a lot of apathy setting in with this team. I feel like we watch the same version every night where we know the Yankees are going to score probably two runs. And the question is, do they let the other team score more than that? If the answer is yes, they lose. If the answer is no, they win. That's basically been most of these games now for a couple of months.

**Justin Shackil** (1:20)
Yeah, they're really forcing the pitching staff into making high leverage pitches virtually every single night. Whether it's the starters, the bullpen, you got to give credit to both the rotation and the bullpen. But you're right. I mean, they go for 10 with runners in scoring position last night. They were moments late in last night's game. And again, it's not just looking back at last night. It's been a large, large sample now.
But you did feel like they had a surefire chance to come back against that Cardinal bullpen. There were some moments where they were making loud contact, but it wasn't finding grasp. In the end, though, the result is what matters. They weren't getting it done. And it's building now because it's slowly morphed into a three-team race in the AL East. And you just wonder until Judge Bellinger and Stanton, until they come back, is this team going to be able to tread water? That's the big question right now.

**Jake Asman** (2:17)
Did it surprise you as someone who spoke with Brian Cashman right after the trade deadline that the big moves the Yankees made was basically just Garcia and they didn't add a catcher, didn't get another reliever, just all the criticism the Yankee fan has had since the deadline. What was your level of surprise if at all that that was all the Yankees ended up doing?

**Justin Shackil** (2:35)
Yeah, I spoke with Brian on Tuesday and he said that they had promising deals that got away from them where the opposing team, they changed their mind or maybe they went in another direction. He said they were big game hunting, but it wasn't to be had. So look, from the outside, I thought they could have used more relief help for sure.
They felt differently about what was available and now they're kind of hedging their bet on having Carlos Rodin coming back and then potentially putting a Will Warren or Ryan Weathers into the bullpen, Clark Schmidt returning, having him perhaps serve in a multi-ending role in the bullpen. So those are moves that they're probably going to make. I feel like they're going to lean toward putting Ryan Weathers into the bullpen over Will Warren. Now, Weathers is pitching better from a starters role, but he's relieved before. He's done it more often than Will Warren. I think there's something to be said for that. I also think there's something to be said for making that transition. It's not just, hey, flip a switch, you're a reliever now.
There is a transition that they're going to be doing on the fly right there. But I think once that happens, it's going to feel like a big anvil is lifted off the back of the relievers that are in the bullpen right now. So I thought that was the biggest need. Yes, I was surprised. I think they have a solid plan in place if it works. I do believe in the names that I just mentioned to you. But a lot of things have to fall into place here. We're going to see if it happens down the stretch.

**Jake Asman** (4:14)
One of those names is someone they called up, and he's now getting an opportunity to play. You had the great interview the other night with the Lombard family. What have been your impressions being around George so far, and obviously how he's performed through his first two major league games?