Monument Pod: A New York Yankees Podcast

In the first episode of Podument Park in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. Era, Andrew and Kunj are feeling something they haven’t felt in a hot minute with the 2024 Yankees: happiness. After a comeback win to secure the series win against the Blue Jays, the Yankees enter the Monday offday having won their past three series, and winning seven of their past eight games— which includes a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies! The Yankees look like they’re having fun again for the most part, and playing a little less high-strung. This has led to a return to winning ways and quite a welcome sight for folks who’ve been paying attention to this team since mid-June. Hopefully, they continue trending upwards. The biggest boon for the team has probably been injecting the Trade Deadline acquisition Chisholm into the lineup. Chisholm had a thrilling to start to his pinstriped career with two two-homer games and has played an extremely smooth third base despite never having professionally played that position prior to coming to the Yankees. On the episode, Andrew and Kunj do a quick recap of the Trade Deadline, again highlighted by Chisholm Jr., talk a bit about the midgame benching of Gleyber Torres, and also discuss how Aaron Judge scares Blue Jays manager John Schneider so much it’s actually comical at this point. In addition to the musings of the latest in Yankeeland, they check in at the Baseball Reference WAR leaderboard, a look ahead at the coming week of baseball, and finally close out the show by handing out the first Yankee and Manfred Awards of the second half. The results will shock you!* *No, they probably won’t. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you subscribe to the halfway mark of the baseball season being the 81st game or the All-Star break, the first half of the 2024 campaign is officially in the books. The Yankees started out very strong as one of the best teams in the league but absolutely fell flat on their faces over the past month plus as everything that could go wrong went wrong. The rotation crashed and burned, the bullpen continued being a weak spot, and basically anybody not named Judge or Soto lost their ability to make plays with the bat. Welcome back to Podument Park! After a short hiatus, our hosts return to discuss the end of the first half of the Yankees’ 2024 season and give their overall thoughts on what happened. The short of it is: almost everyone needs to be better. Judge and Soto continued to prove to be one of the best duos in the majors, but outside of that and a possible emergence from rookie first baseman Ben Rice, there’s not much going right in Yankeeland. They did end the first half by at least winning a series against the Orioles, albeit while also dropping the series finale in awful fashion. Actually, the last play of that game probably recapped the Yankees first half better than anyone could. Besides just general grumbling about the way the first half ended, this week’s episode looks ahead towards the Trade Deadline and ponders if Brian Cashman has any tricks up his sleeve to right the ship, provides a quick recap of how the Yankees fared at the All-Star Game, and finally concludes with the usual look at the upcoming slate of games, a check-in of where the B-Ref WAR leaderboard stands as they enter the second half -- plus a ceremonial awarding of the Yankee and Manfred of the First Half Awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even though the Yankees lost weekend’s series at Fenway, the vibes were still pretty good for a team that was the first in the majors to reach 50 wins on the season. Even after a bad week this past week, they’re still one of only two teams to have at least 50 wins. It’s been a frustrating week and some flaws have been exposed, but these Yankees are still a good team and there’s still a lot of season left to play. Every team hits some bumps in the road. This week’s edition of Podument Park is here to help remind fans to not fully succumb to the doom and gloom just yet. Andrew and Kunj also spend some time discussing the recent shakeup in the bullpen with both Dennis Santana and Victor González being designated for assignment, the injury to Giancarlo Stanton, acquisition of J.D. Davis, and the long-awaited return of Gerrit Cole.  As always, the two co-hosts also take some time to preview the upcoming week of baseball as the Yankees go on a long road trip to Queens and hop across the border to Toronto. They also do their regular B-Ref WAR leaderboard check-in, before closing out the show with our weekly Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After almost a month-long hiatus, your favorite Yankees-centric podcast with a Monument Park pun title is back! Since the last time the podcast assembled, the Yankees went 23-5, which our expert analysts have determined is: good. Sure there have been some bumps in the road, but the Yankees have the best record in the league and feature two of the best players in the game leading the way. The vibes are positive in The Bronx. In this edition of the podcast, Andrew and Kunj talked about Anthony Rizzo going on the IL with a fractured arm, Ben Rice getting the call to make his MLB debut, Gerrit Cole’s return to the rotation, and Cody Poteet admirably filling in after Clarke Schmidt went down with injury. We also got our first view into how All-Star voting has gone in the early offing, with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto leading the field in the American League and easily looking like favorites to make the team and start. The Yankees also have some dark horse position player candidates to start the game or at least make the team, but none of those are guaranteed. The podcast then ends with a look at the coming week of games, our usual B-Ref WAR leaderboard check-in, and handing out of the Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yes, the AL Central is a weak division but the teams still need to play the games and take care of business, and the Yankees did just that. The Podument Park vibes are strongly dependent on how the Yankees played in a particular week, but when they go 6-0 while only allowing six runs total in consecutive sweeps, the vibes are high.  On this edition of Podument Park, Andrew and Kunj review the past week in Yankees baseball while highlighting some fantastic individual performances. Starting with the pitching staff only allowing one run to the Twins over three games, moving on to Luis Gil’s 14-K masterpiece against the White Sox, all while Aaron Judge essentially took just two weeks to resume his rightful place among the MLB leaderboards and Jose Trevino and Giancarlo Stanton turned back the clock, the co-hosts had to dig very hard to find any nits to pick. Even then, they came up short! We'll all take that trade. In addition to just highlighting everything that went right this past week, Andrew and Kunj previewed the Yankees upcoming slate, which starts with them facing what’s been perhaps the best rotation in baseball so far this season and ends with them beginning their first West Coast trip of the year to visit old friends Michael King and Kyle Higashioka. Outside of that, the podcast ends with a refresher on the B-Ref WAR leaderboard, on top of which sits a new non-Juan Soto. You'll never guess who! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Yankees listened to Andrew and Kunj's pleas and decided not to take the weekdays off last week. They've decidedly won series against two of their biggest rivals. Admittedly, neither the Astros or Rays have played well this season so far, but seeing the Yankees handle them with relative ease remains definitely a sight for the sore eyes of anyone who’s followed the Yanks the past few years. Podument Park is back this week to discuss all the latest happenings from the past week of Bomber baseball. There was some good power on display this past week, including Aaron Judge launching a ball 473 feet (some might call it a “Judgian blast”), and some very good pitching as Luis Gil easily took care of business against both the Astros and Rays, and perhaps the pitching highlight of the week: Clarke Schmidt pitched into the seventh inning! It was easily the best performance of his MLB career.  Outside of that, the podcast also discussed what could hopefully be a turning point for Gleyber Torres’ season, some injury updates mixed in with Remembering Some Guys, and the secret to Luke Weaver’s success: locally made orange juice with pulp. And of course, this week’s podcast rounds out with the weekly B-Ref leaderboard check-in, a preview of the upcoming week of baseball, and delivering of the Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last time Andrew and Kunj recorded a podcast, they talked about how the Yankees let themselves off the hook for splitting a series with the A’s by exploding for 37 runs against the Brewers. It wasn’t quite the same this past week, but a new pattern might be emerging. Welcome to the latest edition of Podument Park! In a similar pattern to last week, the Yankees started the week dreadfully by losing a four-game set against the Orioles, who are now leading the AL East. They managed to win a game thanks to a lucky Oswaldo Cabrera home run, but the offense was essentially a no-show in Baltimore. Knowing that Podument Park was set to come together on Monday, the Yankees came to life a bit and swept the Tigers, but there were still nits to pick. Besides the general grumbling around the team’s inconsistencies, the co-hosts also discuss the impact of Jon Berti’s return to the ballclub and what might be ailing Anthony Volpe — is he leadoff intolerant*? *Trademark pending  This week’s edition of the podcast also includes a preview for the upcoming week of games against the Astros and Rays, plus a discussion around the star of Saturday’s game who everyone came to see, Ryan Blakney. The home-plate umpire gave Aaron Judge his first career ejection. What a guy! As always, Andrew and Kunj round out the podcast with a check-in of the Baseball Reference WAR leaderboard before handing out the Yankee and Manfred of the Week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a week off, it’s time for a new edition of Podument Park! Most of the past week — especially Friday night — had Andrew and Kunj champing at the bit to yell at the Yankees, and that does still happen a bit. However, as if the Yankees themselves were reading the back-and-forth Slack messages, they did their part to change the narrative. Fifteen runs on Saturday! Fifteen runs on Sunday! Wonderful stuff, and the co-hosts were delighted to talk about it — especially Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo. The pod does, however, also has some grumblings for Aaron Boone’s decision to pull Clay Holmes from the game on Friday night, and of course we can’t fully ignore splitting a home series against the 2024 Oakland Athletics. Eek! Tune in for the highs, the lows, the Judge slide talk, Gleyber Torres preparing for another rumble against the color orange the Orioles, the B-Ref Check-in, and the Yankee/Manfred of the Week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Yankees had a rather uneventful week overall as they went 4-3 since the last time the podcast assembled. They mostly played fine, but there were certainly some duds along the way. Some injury news as well happened, as Jon Berti hit the IL with a left groin strain and DJ LeMahieu is working his way to a rehab assignment. In any other week, this would be considered a relatively quiet week of Yankees baseball. However, on Monday afternoon the real news hit. John Sterling retired from his post as the radio voice of the Yankees on WFAN, effective immediately. This news isn’t entirely surprising considering he’d been reducing his workload in recent years, but the timing of it and facing the reality of it is shocking nonetheless. Since the news broke, many have shared their thoughts on what Sterling meant to them as Yankees fans, or baseball fans, or broadcast fans, so we gathered here at Podument Park to do the same.  Our hosts talk about what Sterling meant to them, to the organization, and just what a true change it’ll be to no longer have that presence in the radio booth. Still, not to be too put down, and never ones to miss an opportunity for a draft, we end the podcast by doing two drafts of the man’s legendary home run calls (around the 19:30 mark). The first draft has Andrew and Kunj selecting their overall favorite calls and the latter has them selecting their Top Three “what was that” or WTF calls, still good but definitely raising some eyebrows. As always, the podcast ended with the Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. There was a joint recipient for Yankee of the Week, and you know exactly who it is.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Yankees did drop a couple games in this first full week of the season but overall went 4-2 to move to 8-2 on the young season, so Andrew and Kunj are happy here at Podument Park! Just the difference in how they’re getting these wins compared to last year when sometimes the game felt over from the early goings, right now they at least have us feeling hopeful that games aren’t over until they’re actually over. Yogi would love it! This week saw Juan Soto flirt with looking human and Oswaldo Cabrera coming back down to Earth after their scorching starts, but Anthony Volpe’s torrid start to the year has continued and Giancarlo Stanton closed out the weekend by coming to life and being charged with first-degree murder of a baseball. Outside of the offense, the co-hosts talked about the rotation (sans Marcus Stroman) needing to step up and start providing more length, and Nestor Cortes in particular needing some better outings. The bullpen has been mostly good but they’re only 10 games into the season and they’re already taxed. As legendary YES announcer Joe Girardi would say, it’s not what you want. As always, Andrew and Kunj round out the show by previewing the upcoming week and handing out the weekly Yankee and Manfred awards. This week saw the return of the long-awaited (?) Baseball Reference WAR leaderboard check-in, now we just await the return of Aaron Judge’s face on the leaderboard. Surely, it’s coming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a thrilling start for the Yankees and what a way for Juan Soto to get started for his new team! A four-game sweep of the Astros at Minute Maid Park is something no one could have predicted and yet that’s what just happened. It probably doesn’t happen if the Yankees don’t get Juan Soto, but they did and he is a Yankee and never has “Give him a blank check, Hal” been more appropriate. Juan Soto belongs in pinstripes. With the first series of the 2024 season under our belts, Podument Park is back to recap an exciting opening weekend for the Bombers. The starting rotation was more than commendable considering the absence of Gerrit Cole and the bullpen was mostly lights-out. The Yankees came from behind to win the first three games and didn’t lose their composure after letting the Astros tie it up in the finale. It’s early, but this year’s squad has a whole different feel to them. While most of the conversation revolved around Soto and the overall series, Oswaldo Cabrera’s great start to the year did not go unrecognized. Andrew and Kunj also discussed the two moves the Yankees made to shore up their pitching depth (welcome to Jake Cousins, actual cousin of Kirk Cousins) and previewed the upcoming week of games before handing out the first actual Yankee and Manfred awards of the 2024 season to close out this week’s episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We made it! Opening Day is finally here and the awfulness of 2023 is officially behind us all. This is the one true day of the year that all baseball fans should be optimistic, because the clock has reset for everyone. The Yankees have spent the long winter talking about how they felt embarrassed last year and they’ve promised to do better. Now it’s time to see if their actions will speak louder than their words. With that, Andrew and Kunj bring you the Opening Day edition of Podument Park. In today’s episode, they quickly recap the last-minute deal that saw the Yankees acquiring Jon Berti from the Marlins and sending Ben Rortvedt to the Rays. The Berti deal was made necessary due to DJ LeMahieu starting the season on the IL, and Berti’s a better bet to hold down the hot corner than relying solely on Oswaldo Cabrera. The co-hosts also go through and do an Opening Day roster preview, complete with excitement over the offense, hesitation over the starting rotation, and curiosity over the bullpen. Lastly, Andrew and Kunj end the show as they do every Opening Day, by drafting the top three things that each are most excited for with regards to the coming season. Yes, Juan Soto is mentioned. But the highlight of the draft might come from speculation over the Joe Girardi/Aaron Boone dynamic, now that the former World Series-winning manager is in the YES booth. No Yankee and Manfred Awards were handed out this week to truly honor the spirit of Opening Day, but we’re coming for you next time, prospective Manfred of the Week winners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just about the worst possible injury news for the Yankees came this past week, as we learned Gerrit Cole will miss "at least" the first 1-2 months of the season. The extent of the damage is still unknown as he flew to Los Angeles to meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache to discuss what’s going on, and get a better idea of a timeline for return. Join us as we cry into the void on this week’s edition of Podument Park. The main focus of the week is obviously around Cole’s injury, what it means for the team who absolutely could not afford a Gerrit Cole injury, and potential options to replace him in the rotation. Cody “Potato Poteet-o” Poteet, Will Warren, Clayton Beeter are all in the mix unless Brian Cashman gets some last minute help from the outside. We know Dylan Cease is off the table as he heads to San Diego. If only there were a two-time Cy Young winner just hanging around and could be had for just money... In addition to the Cole news, we discuss Aaron Judge’s minor dalliance with being hurt, his potential return to action this coming Saturday, and how “mid-spring beat up” is just not a thing. Lastly we discuss we look at some of the last spots on the bench that are still up for grabs, especially now that we know Oswald Peraza has a hurt shoulder and will miss some time as well. (Is there an opening for Ben Rortvedt?) And as always, we wrap up the show with handing out our weekly Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are so back, folks. With Yankees baseball back in action, it’s time for our friends at Podument Park to gear up for the grind of the regular season as well. It’s an interesting race at Podument Park to see who’s going to make the Opening Day roster; of course, it’s a two-man roster and there are only two candidates, but maybe Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery will make a last-minute surprise signing and put Andrew’s roster spot in jeopardy! Back in the real world, however, Juan Soto is a Yankee. There are a number of new faces in camp for the Bombers this year, including Marcus Stroman, Alex Verdugo, and Trent Grisham. We start our 2024 podcast season by welcoming the new additions to the Yankees and also going through some of the top storylines in camp. Mainly the health of some of last year’s Yankees and hope the likes of Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, Anthony Rizzo, and Giancarlo Stanton can bounce back. There are some conversations around Snell and Montgomery as well, even if it's highly unlikely that the Yankees sign either of the two. And lastly, we close out the pod by handing out our season’s initial Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. Congrats to the recipients; you truly deserved it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finally, the misery that was the 2023 Yankees is over. Baseball is still being played as the Division Series for both leagues gets ready to start this weekend, but the Yankees will not be participating, something many had resigned the Yankees to as early as June or July. Their play this season was simply pathetic and Aaron Judge’s long absence highlighted many of the roster construction flaws that his presence can usually cover up.  Alas, the first Podument Park in awhile eulogizes the Yankees and how things likely won’t be much different in 2024 unless significant changes are made. However, reports are indicating that there are going to be no drastic changes made to the front office or coaching staff. Even Sean Casey seems like he’ll be returning as the no-longer-interim hitting coach.  In addition to just the overall makeup of the organization, the hosts do take some time to celebrate some of the good, such as Gerrit Cole seemingly on his way to his first Cy Young award, Michael King’s emergence in the rotation, and that week of Jasson Domínguez. The show closes out out with the official 2023 Yankees and Manfreds of the Season. Congrats to our lucky recipients. You truly deserved it.  Lastly, a huge thank you to anyone and everyone who tuned in and listened to us during a dreadful baseball season!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Note: This week’s podcast was sadly recorded prior to the news of Josh Donaldson’s release from the organization. But do know that we would have enjoyed dancing on the grave of his Yankees career. Technically this past week of Yankees baseball was slightly more palatable than the previous week. They actually won two whole games this time, which is still an improvement over the eight-game losing streak they took into last week’s podcast. The streak went up to nine games before Aaron Judge had enough and put the team back in the win column, courtesy of a three-homer game. Still, the Yankees haven’t won a series since they swept the Royals in mid-July, unless Harrison Bader’s moral victory against the Astros counts for something (it counts for nothing). This week’s podcast continues with the usual grumbling about the 2023 Yankees, but the co-hosts do offer some potential things to look forward to for the last month of the season. It's mainly all about Gerrit Cole’s Cy Young chase, debating how many dingers Judge can hit with nine toes, and wondering if there will be a Martian landing in the Bronx. After checking in on the Baseball Reference WAR leaderboard, the weekly Yankee/Manfred awards were skipped with worthy recipients and a sequel to last week’s 2013 Yankees game presented itself in the form of Kunj guessing how many games players from the 2014 Yankees played that year. Will Suit Lady get revenge for last week’s defeat? There’s only one way to know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a few weeks now, readers of this site and listeners of this podcast have read/heard us all talking about how much the Yankees flat-out stink. Well, the Bronx Bombers, er “losers of eight in a row,” have shown us that even we undersold how bad they truly are. With that, Andrew and Kunj had no desire to actually talk in detail about the 2023 Yankees (beyond recent prospect promotions), so they chose to avoid them as much as possible.  The co-hosts hopped in the time machine and traveled a decade down memory lane to 2013. Today’s podcast focused on Remembering Some Guys. Andrew named players from the 2013 squad and Kunj had to guess how many games they played for the Yankees that year (the nearly-always voiceless Zoom recorder we call “Suit Lady” was his foe in this exercise). They also added in a bonus element of trying to guess whether the particular player had positive or negative Baseball Reference WAR.  Prior to the game, the promotions of Oswald Peraza and Everson Pereira were briefly discussed. Along with Anthony Volpe and we suppose Gerrit Cole’s Cy Young bid, they’re the only real reasons to watch this team going forward! So tune in for that anyway. Once the 2013 game concluded, there was an abbreviated check-in for the WAR leaderboard of the 2023 Yankees before handing out default and unenthusiastic Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. Join us all in remembering the second-half fun brought by Alfonso Soriano, but stay to remember unquestioned Yankees legends Chris Bootcheck and Brennan Boesch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Believe it or not, the 2023 Yankees are not a good baseball team. The times when you think they’re going to win a game are few and far between, and even then, they go and find a different way to lose in frustrating fashion. They have a 60-58 record going into recording this podcast, and 58 of those losses all feel like they could qualify for “worst loss of the season.” That number is only going to get higher; the win total might not, though. After another mini-hiatus, Andrew and Kunj return here at Podument Park to discuss the continuously annoying season that the Yankees are having. In addition to just general complaints about the team, they discuss the latest injury and roster moves, posit whether or not Aaron Judge should even keep playing, and then possibly narc on Nestor Cortes’ side hustle of selling game tickets.  In addition to that, they do the usual check-in of Baseball Reference’s WAR leaderboard (where Randy Vásquez firmly sits in ninth place), and squint their way through handing out the usual Yankee and Manfred of the Week awards. Sprinkled into this week’s episode is a look at the upcoming schedule and their baseline for moral victories this coming week, because the Yankees almost certainly won’t have many actual ones.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to some real-life things happening, Andrew and Kunj haven’t been able to record the podcast since before the All-Star break. What doesn’t help is that the Yankees haven't done much to motivate us to find some time either. It’s just been all bad. The highlight of the second half has essentially been being mildly amused at Domingo Germán getting scratched from a start due to armpit discomfort and then finding himself pitching five shutout innings in relief of Jhony Brito. They’ve only won six games since the calendar flipped, and three of those came via a sweep of the second-worst team in baseball, the Royals. And now the trade deadline has passed and the Yankees did...nothing. Technically they acquired relievers Keynan Middleton and Spencer Howard, but those don’t really count as moves. They had the opportunities to be either buyers or sellers, choosing either direction would’ve been better than doing nothing. So, of course, they did nothing (as well-articulated by Sam this morning). So, the co-hosts vented frustrations at basically everything that’s happened since the All-Star break. If you’re looking for trade deadline-only discussions, jump ahead to around the 16:25 mark (though ads might bump it a minute later). After saying their piece, they wrapped up the podcast with the usual check-in at the dire Baseball Reference WAR leaderboard and wrapped things up with handing out Yankee and Manfred awards of the week/second half to date. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you think the first half of the baseball season is the 81-game mark or the All-Star break, the first half of the baseball season is officially in the books. And was it ever so ... dull and disappointing for the Yankees? Scattered among the lifeless and uncompetitive at-bats of the first half were some moments of fun and competence, but overall this first half was just not a memorable one for the Bombers. The struggles of the offense were so profound, it led to general manager Brian Cashman making his first-ever midseason coaching change by relieving hitting coach Dillon Lawson of his duties (and the title today riffing on the old #NextManUp mantra). On today’s podcast, Andrew and Kunj discuss how it’s never good to see someone lose their job, a change was needed just to see if a different mindset can get some of these guys going. While Lawson was the main topic, they also discussed Carlos Rodón making his much-awaited Yankee debut, the MLB Draft officially being underway and the Yankees making their first-round pick in George Lombard Jr., and then provide the weekly injury updates. After that, they wrap of the podcast with our usual check-in of Baseball Reference’s WAR leaderboard, and then hand out the Yankees and Manfreds of the Week. Best of luck to Lawson in his future, and even better luck wished to Sean Casey, who will be tasked with making DJ LeMahieu look like a machine again. (As a programming note, Casey’s hire was revealed followed the podcast recording.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices