Hour 4: Expectations for Mets, Yankees

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:30)
This is the Di Pietro & Rothenberg Podcast.
Listen live weekday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m. on 880 ESPN in New York, the ESPN New York app, and on YouTube by subscribing to the ESPN New York YouTube channel. This is Di Pietro & Rothenberg.

**Dave DiPietro** (0:51)
Buster only. You think even though it's a very similar team, this is a better Yankees team this year.

**Buster** (0:57)
It's a better Yankees team that developed over the course of the last year. But I think that what we're going to see is Yankees will get better as this year goes along.

**Dave DiPietro** (1:04)
Their offense is so good.

**Buster** (1:06)
Garrett Cole continues to look great in his rehab. Carlos Rodano will be back. Their pitching is already excellent. This was all about Cam Schlither from a 99 mile per hour sinkers. His stuff is probably among the top 10 pitchers in baseball.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:20)
This is Di Pietro & Rothenberg on ESPN New York. And streaming live on YouTube.

**Dave DiPietro** (1:30)
All right now, the big 9 o'clock hour DNR with you, ESPN New York. So I think the Schlitler component of this is very interesting. Because for all of the Jason Dominguez's of the world, the Anthony Volpe's of the world, the Spencer Jones's of the world, that we hear about them for years and they're so hyped up and they're going to be phenomenal and it's not a question of do they make the All-Star game, it's when did they make the All-Star game. And Cam Schlitler, they brought him up and I don't think most people even knew who he was and Buster just joined us a little while ago and he says he's got top 10 stuff in all of baseball. The guy's filthy and you brought him up last year and he was phenomenal from the jump and he was great in the postseason and what a blessing this guy has been and will be for the Yankees.

**Milo Rothenberg** (2:14)
Right, but it's one of the reasons why I think Brian Cashman felt comfortable running it back.

**Dave DiPietro** (2:20)
I think you're probably right.

**Milo Rothenberg** (2:22)
I mean, again, when you look at what this rotation is going to be in the depth of the rotation once, I mean, once Cole and Rodan are back, not to mention the fact that Clark Schmitt is also coming at some point.

**Dave DiPietro** (2:31)
So think about this now. At some point, Cole is going to probably be your ace, right? Your number one pitcher, like you start a postseason series, you go with Cole, would you think?

**Milo Rothenberg** (2:40)
Yeah, but you got Max Fried there also.

**Dave DiPietro** (2:41)
Right, well, that's, and then Fried, and then Schlittler, and then Rodan, and then Heal, and then Schmitt, and then Weathers. I mean, my God, when you look down the road at what the Yankees potentially can throw out there every single day on the mound, Dodgers included, I don't think anybody compares to that.

**Milo Rothenberg** (3:01)
They're right there at the top of the league. I think we went through the rotations like last week or whenever it was, I think it was, I think it was the Dodgers were up there. I think Seattle was up there. Yankees were up there. But I mean, the fact that the Yankees went out and got Max Fried and Max Fried did what he did last season. It felt like any time, you know, any time the Yankees lost, boom, Max Fried's in the mound. Okay. He's going to stop that. You're going to win. You know, last year saw Max Fried wasn't great, but still from start to finish, outside of that one little blip because of the blister situation he had going on, he was, he was the definition of an ace. He was, he was awesome. Radon's established himself as, I mean, again, it was not, it was not smooth sailing for Radon, but he's established himself as, as a very, very capable, good starter. Absolutely right. And now, I mean, you got Schlittler doing what he's doing. Will Warren's looked great through the spring.
I mean, getting like Clark Schmidt here back at some point, Luis Hill, who won the Rookie of the Year, isn't even making starts right now. Like, I mean, good pitching. Again, we keep going back to the same thing with the Yankees though. As far as Yankees fans are concerned, the reason why they don't win in the postseason is, is less to do about pitching and more to do about hitting. But when you look at what happened to the pitching last year against Toronto, it was not good. The starting pitching against Toronto was not good.