Aaron Judge\u2019s <\/a>prime. And it\u2019s not just any prime \u2013 it\u2019s a historic prime. There\u2019s no two ways about it; Judge has had a five-year run that rivals almost anyone in history. So you want to take advantage of that. That\u2019s why it was important to get (Cody) Bellinger back; he\u2019s still the perfect fit for the Yankees. And (Trent) Grisham is coming off a breakout year. The three of them made up the most productive outfield in the game.<\/p>\nNo one doubts the Yankees are an April-through-September unicorn. But the failed Octobers are weighing heavily on the franchise\u2019s legacy. Not even Steinbrenner and Cashman would dispute that.<\/p>\n
Cone: I guess you\u2019re right if you\u2019re measuring it that way. But let\u2019s also remember it\u2019s a much more difficult postseason run than even 20 years ago. The expanded format makes it more challenging, not just physically but emotionally. There are so many random variants that are out of your control. All you can do is put yourself in the best possible position by continuing to improve your team. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s unfair for anyone to say, \u201cGeorge would\u2019ve done things differently back in the 70s and 80s.\u201d Well, that was a different world.<\/p>\n
What do you make of the accusation that the Yankees aren\u2019t spending enough?<\/p>\n
Cone: It\u2019s not just about payroll. There\u2019s so much going on behind the scenes, including the infrastructure that Hal supports. The truth is no one is cutting corners in the Yankees\u2019 organization. <\/p>\n
Now, if you want to debate about whether the Yankees should\u2019ve gone after this guy or that guy, that\u2019s fair game for fans. Fans are allowed to say whatever they want, like whether the Yankees should\u2019ve signed Bruce Harper, or traded for Verlander back in the day or gone after (Manny) Machado. As a fan, you can make any case you want, and those points would be valid. But the team the Yankees are running out there, with the farm system, especially on the pitching side, that\u2019s a pretty good product. That\u2019s what makes you sustainable.<\/p>\n
To that point, what do you make of the Dodgers winning back to back championships, and three in the last six years.?Does it feel like they\u2019re pulling away from the industry, in part because of their wealth? I guess the real question is whether the Dodgers are too rich for baseball\u2019s long-term stability.<\/p>\n
Cone: People seem to forget about the luxury tax that\u2019s already in place, right? The more the Dodgers spend on payroll, the more they spend in luxury tax. And that money goes right back to the smaller market teams. So there\u2019s already a soft cap in place.<\/p>\n
Except the Dodgers don\u2019t seem to care about the luxury tax, not when they\u2019re paying Kyle Tucker $60 million a year. They didn\u2019t even need him. <\/p>\n
Cone: But you have to consider where that luxury tax revenue goes \u2013 right back into the system from the bottom up. You see the Dodgers spending that kind of money, sure, but it\u2019s not as if the rest of the industry isn\u2019t getting some benefit from it. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of tough talk right now about this very issue. The rhetoric from both sides is intensifying. Are you worried about 2027?<\/p>\n
Cone: Of course I am. But the only ones who really know what\u2019s going on are on in the inside. Based on my experience, there\u2019s a rhythm to labor negotiations. When it\u2019s time to make a deal, the opportunity usually presents itself. Until then, both sides are going to test each other.<\/p>\n
It would be a shame to lose any portion of the season. After all, this is more or less your re-launch on YES. I\u2019m just wondering if, in your wildest dreams as a pitcher, you had any inkling you\u2019d end up in the broadcast booth someday.<\/p>\n
Cone: Not really. As a player, you live in a bubble. You never really think about post-career because you\u2019re so consumed with the job at hand. I got lucky. I knew nothing about broadcasting when I started, but (former YES president) John Filippelli took a chance on me. I\u2019m very grateful.<\/p>\n
So if you didn\u2019t look to the future as a player, do you ever re-live the past as a broadcaster? Do you remember what it was like being on the mound, throwing 90-plus with movement and a power delivery?<\/p>\n
Cone: (Laughs) There\u2019s something very real about the surreal. I see videos of myself and say, \u201cwas that really me? How did I do that?\u201d The feelings still come around. But the problem is, the older you get, the more you forget.<\/p>\n
Then step into the time tunnel. Let\u2019s say 1990-91, your peak years. You led MLB in strikeouts in 1990, led the National League in K\u2019s in 1991. How would that version of David Cone do today?<\/p>\n
Cone: Well, one thing I would notice for sure is the strike zone is different now. The pitches I got, the ones six inches off the plate, the ones (John) Smoltz and (Tom) Glavine got, would never be called strikes today.<\/p>\n
The only advantage I see today is that high strike is being called again. So imagine Dwight Gooden throwing that curveball down AND up in zone, both getting called strikes?<\/p>\n
(Laughs) Doc would strike out 400 today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The end of ESPN\u2019s Sunday Night Baseball represents another facelift for a sport that\u2019s already becoming unrecognizable. You…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-462226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}