{"id":214210,"date":"2021-03-30T02:29:24","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T23:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/yess-kay-cone-oneill-talk-yankees-prior-to-opening-day\/"},"modified":"2021-03-30T02:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T23:29:24","slug":"yess-kay-cone-oneill-talk-yankees-prior-to-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/yess-kay-cone-oneill-talk-yankees-prior-to-opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"#YES’s Kay, Cone, O’Neill talk Yankees prior to Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#YES’s Kay, Cone, O’Neill talk Yankees prior to Opening Day<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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With the Yankees about to embark on their quest for a 28th World Series<\/a> crown, the YES Network crew of Michael Kay, David Cone and Paul O\u2019Neill fielded some questions from Post columnist Steve Serby:<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What does Opening Day mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kay:<\/strong> It\u2019s always meant to me through all these years as a new beginning, everybody starts fresh. But not to sound overly dramatic, but it kind of almost indicates a new beginning for everything, to see people in the stands again, and enjoying themselves, and smiling after what the world has gone through. It\u2019s gonna mean a lot, it\u2019s gonna be a little emotional just to see people sitting there and cheering after what everybody has gone through and the way the season was last year. It\u2019s gonna be Opening Day times 10.<\/p>\n

Cone:<\/strong> It means hope, it means that there is hope. That we\u2019re coming out of it. Baseball has always been something that\u2019s kind of marked the culture as we go, going by, all the way back to players that had to go to the army during wars \u2014 Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra \u2014 all those guys had to give up part of their careers to go to wars and when they came back \u2026 it just marked time. And maybe this is another one of those times where baseball Opening Day marks a transition, certainly for the New York area who\u2019s been through a lot over the last year.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill: <\/strong>I was always trying to get off to a good start, so it was always a little anxiety, but I\u2019d just say exciting because you\u2019re so tired of spring training, and you finally got to the point where the game<\/a>s matter and the season\u2019s at hand.<\/p>\n

Q: How much fun will these Subway Series matchups be with the Steve Cohen Mets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill: I<\/strong> think that definitely adds some excitement to it. Obviously the Mets are a much better team, they\u2019ve got some star power now with (Francisco) Lindor and (Jacob) deGrom. Let\u2019s face it, the Yankees over the past years have had a better team than the Mets, so for the Mets to be relevant as far as trying to win the National League and the Yankees expected to win the American League, that could add a lot of excitement to the Subway Series.<\/p>\n

Cone:<\/strong> It\u2019s a huge game-changing difference for the Mets franchise, their fan base. I think they feel that finally, they\u2019re gonna have some sustained resources that are gonna be put into the team that are on par with the Yankees. And that\u2019s saying something. Because they haven\u2019t had that in a long time, going back to the Nelson Doubleday days. You get the feeling now that their payroll will be very similar to whatever the Yankees payroll is \u2026 at or near the top.<\/p>\n

Kay: <\/strong>I think it\u2019s lost a lot of its luster the last couple of years. I think there\u2019ve been too many games, to tell you the truth. But if both teams are good \u2014 and the Met offense is gonna be top-of-the-line good this year \u2014 if you give me a (Gerrit) Cole versus deGrom game in the Subway Series, there\u2019s juice there. It\u2019s gonna be fun.<\/p>\n

Q: Impressions of Gerrit Cole?<\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill: <\/strong>He can be overpowering, he\u2019s smart, great stuff. He doesn\u2019t shy away from being the ace. Coney was one of those guys, too. If he was deemed the No. 1, that didn\u2019t bother him. Some people don\u2019t want to be the No. 1, they would rather be the No. 2 or the No. 3. When he talks to the media<\/a>, it\u2019s almost like a perfect script<\/a>, he says the right things. He didn\u2019t really have an adjustment period last year.<\/p>\n

Kay:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been so impressed with the responsibility that comes with a contract like that. He\u2019s embraced it. He\u2019s been The Guy. It seems like the media is therapeutic for him. I really like that about him. He doesn\u2019t shy away from being a spokesman for the team.<\/p>\n

Q: Does his stuff, his demeanor, remind you of anybody?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cone: <\/strong>Max Scherzer \u2026 the arc of their career is similar in that they were pretty good and then they got better and then all of a sudden, they were on top of their game, they really figured it out.<\/p>\n

Q: How would you compare Cole to deGrom?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cone: <\/strong>Similar, I would say. DeGrom is a cut above everybody right now, I think, he deserves that kind of respect. You kinda feel Tom Seaver dusting off a seat in the Mets lore, here\u2019s deGrom, your chair is waiting for you. Before he\u2019s done, he\u2019s gonna take a seat right next to Seaver \u2026 You\u2019re looking at Hall of Fame pitchers in the making. It\u2019s fun to watch.<\/p>\n

Q: Thoughts on Jameson Taillon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cone: <\/strong>You talk about adversity, he\u2019s been through it all, and everybody universally says what a great guy he is to be around. If you\u2019re gonna be a starting pitcher for the Yankees, you gotta be accountable. You gotta face the music when you\u2019re good, bad or ugly. If you get consumed with trying to control the narrative in New York, you\u2019ll get swallowed alive. I think those guys understand it, they\u2019re accountable and they\u2019re honest.<\/p>\n

\"YES\"
The Yankees broadcast team on YES of Paul O\u2019Neill, Michael Kay and David Cone<\/figcaption>
Robert Sabo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q: What do you think of his stuff?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cone:<\/strong> His curveball\u2019s legit, it really is. One or the better curveballs I think I\u2019ve seen. The thing that\u2019s in vogue with pitchers nowadays is that everybody\u2019s shortening their arm swing, and he\u2019s one of those converts.<\/p>\n

Q: Thoughts on Corey Kluber?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cone:<\/strong> I was always a big fan of his stuff. He\u2019s an elite control and power pitcher together. If he can paint his fastball \u2014 \u2019cause he\u2019s never really had an explosive high-velocity fastball, he\u2019s always had late movement on his fastball and excellent control. The Kluber slider\u2019s been one of the best sliders in the game since he brought it in. He\u2019s still got that, he\u2019s still got the spin on the breaking ball. The supreme command of all those pitches really was his calling card, that\u2019s the part that we\u2019re kinda waiting to see if he can retain that.<\/p>\n

Q: What is your definition of a \u201cSavage in the box?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill:<\/strong> It almost becomes a mindset. It becomes kind of a team concept \u2026 being in there every pitch, having long at-bats, not allowing pitching to just mow through your lineup. Those wear on even the best of pitchers. Long at-bats and owning the strike zone are a big part of that.<\/p>\n

Kay:<\/strong> I think their lineup is as good as any lineup in baseball. Every single one of those guys is gonna give you a quality at-bat and make it dangerous for the pitcher to attack him.<\/p>\n

Q: Who\u2019s \u201cThe Warrior\u201d on this team?<\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill:<\/strong> I like the way (DJ) LeMahieu goes about the game, I love the way (Aaron) Judge goes about the game. I think Aaron Judge a lot of times is overlooked how good a baseball player he is because he hits the ball so hard. \u2026 Luke Voit, another guy that you enjoy watching because he has a lot of intensity, everybody\u2019s wired a little bit different, but some people need to grind every single day and some people need to just sit back and know that it\u2019s gonna happen.<\/p>\n

Q: Why is Gary Sanchez such a polarizing figure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kay:<\/strong> He\u2019s polarizing because so much is expected out of him. He burst upon the scene in such a way that you just assume that he was gonna be one of the greats of the game, and he\u2019s had his ups and downs. I think that the Yankees\u2019 dogged defense of him, no matter how much he struggles, probably rankles fans. \u2026 In terms of what do I expect this year? I don\u2019t know. I think it\u2019s imperative for him to get off to a quick start, because with fans in the stands, if he has a bad two months, they\u2019re gonna be all over him and all of a sudden that\u2019s gonna be the story that everybody\u2019s gonna be commenting everywhere on social media. \u2026 People are gonna be calling for him to lose his job. I think fans have this perception that he doesn\u2019t work hard, and I think that\u2019s wrong. I think he probably puts too much pressure on himself.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill:<\/strong> I expect him to get off to a good start this year and have a good year. He wants to have a good year. Sometimes, as a player, when you want something too much, you try a little bit too hard. And he\u2019s a guy, to me, that has power everywhere, and when he gets in that pull mode, he can get himself in trouble.<\/p>\n

Q: How much progress has he made behind the plate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cone:<\/strong> It\u2019s a full buy-in on the new catching style, down on one knee. It has never been harder or more difficult to be a major league catcher nowadays. All the things that they have to understand and do and the signs and the wristbands. \u2026 It can create paralysis by overanalysis. I think at times that\u2019s what happened to Gary last year, too much thrown at him, and a lack of feel.<\/p>\n

Q: How critical a year is this for Judge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill: <\/strong>Aaron Judge is the leader of the team, whether he\u2019s having a great year, whether he\u2019s having a great game. He helps the young guys right when they come up, he is the face of the franchise so to speak, and he doesn\u2019t shy away from that. Part of being that is being able to stay on the field. \u2026 It does get in your head that every year seems to crop up with something. I\u2019m rooting for him. I\u2019d love to see him get back to his rookie year where you\u2019re seeing him day in and day out.<\/p>\n

Kay:<\/strong> I look at him as a top-five player in baseball when he\u2019s healthy. Some might say he legitimately won the (2017) MVP, it was given to somebody (the Astros\u2019 Jose Altuve) who kinda knew what the signs were. On a more personal level for him, I think it\u2019s important for him to start putting 150-game seasons on the back of his baseball card. Because when he becomes a free agent, you\u2019ve got to know that he\u2019s durable, because he\u2019s gonna become a free agent in his 30s. Just being in that clubhouse after they lost to Houston, David and I walked over and talked to him, he was almost inconsolable. He cares about winning as much as anybody in that room, and I think that\u2019s kinda what makes him a special player.<\/p>\n