Hour 3: Yankees' Lineup Without Judge & Knicks Playoff Preview

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Game two tonight.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:01)
Game two.

**Craig Carton** (0:02)
And Aaron Judge out. You said you had a plan for the New York Yankees.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:07)
I think it might be something they have to do that they don't want to do, and they have kind of talked about doing, but haven't done it all this year. They did it last year, and I'm hoping, I think they need to do it now moving forward, because the offense is going to be, you know, what they're going to need to overcome, right? Over the next three months without Aaron Judge, they're going to need their best offensive lineup. And here's my concern.
Stanton, Goldschmidt, and Rice could arguably be three of your best hitters in the middle of that lineup. Rice has become an MVP candidate. We know how good Stanton is and what he means to the lineup when he gets back. And Goldie has, did I say Goldberg by the way?

**Craig Carton** (0:46)
You just said Goldberg, Goldie, yeah.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:49)
Well, certainly Goldie, but Goldschmidt is important. And right now you can't play all three of those in the lineup at the same time, because the two of them only play first, and then obviously stands limited to the DH. I think they finally need to, in some limited time, put Ben Rice behind the plate and catch him a little bit. I think you have to, it helps in a couple of different ways. When he did it last year, he came up a catcher. He's not a natural first baseman. They moved him the first base, because they thought catching is tough on the body and it'll hurt his offense, which I think long term it will. I'm not saying he's a long term catcher, but they kind of used him a little bit last year. They're going to have to, I think, it would be a big time help to this offense. One, you get the worst hitting position possibly in all of major league baseball, the hell out of there, because the Yankees don't have a catcher that hits. So you immediately upgrade the offense by putting Ben Rice in catcher. Plus, it allows you to have games specifically against left-handed pitching, where you make sure that Stanton and Goldie are both in the lineup at the same time, because you can't have all three guys in there. So you eliminate Wells, who's been god-awful one of the worst hitters in baseball, and you ensure that three of your best hitters are in the lineup. And it's not ideal, and I know the concern is that it's going to limit how good Rice is, you need him to be great, but sporadically giving him some catching opportunities, I think in a time frame where they're going to need this offense to be better than it is, without Judge, I think these are the kind of moves they're going to have to consider. So I think start putting Ben Rice at the catcher position.

**Craig Carton** (2:17)
Right. You also get rid of a back hit that has produced nothing.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:20)
Get your worst hitter out of the lineup, and make sure three of your best hitters are all in the lineup at the same time. So I think that is something the Yankees are going to have to consider. They've kind of shied away from it, they talked about him doing it a little bit, we haven't seen hide nor hair of it, it hasn't even been discussed. I think now with the Judge injury, that's something they're going to have to consider.

**Craig Carton** (2:38)
Have you seen the lineup for tonight yet?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:39)
I have seen the lineup for tonight.

**Craig Carton** (2:40)
Have they taken your advice, or not yet?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:43)
No, well it's not going to happen immediately, and again this isn't even a concern until Stanton comes back. Without Stanton it's easy, you can DH one of them. Without Stanton you DH one of them, and you don't have to put them at catcher. But I just had it, hold on. Yes, the Yankee lineup is out tonight.
This is, I wish I had the Pinstripe preview here. Oh look, it's right here. The Pinstripe preview is brought to you by California Crime Bank. Help build the dynasty, become a donor with the world's number one sperm bank. Trent Grisham in center field, which might become a conversation, I'll tell you in a second.
Ben Rice is the designated hitter, Paul Goldschmidt hitting third. That's how important this guy is. That's what I'm trying to do.

**Craig Carton** (3:21)
I got you.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:22)
He's literally the three hitter tonight. When Stan comes back, it's going to eliminate him. He's the three hitter in this lineup.