SERBY’S MLB SPECIAL Q&A WITH ... YES
Michael Kay David Cone Paul O’Neill
With the Yankees about to embark on their quest for a 28th World Series crown, the YES Network crew of Michael Kay, David Cone and Paul O’Neill fielded some questions from Post columnist Steve Serby:
Q: What does Opening Day mean to you?
KAY: It’s 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’s gonna mean a lot, it’s 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’s gonna be Opening Day times 10. CONE: It means hope, it means that there is hope. That we’re coming out of it. Baseball has always been something that’s 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 — Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra
— all those guys had to give up part of their careers to go to wars and when they came back ... 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’s been through a lot over the last year.
Q: How much fun will these Subway Series matchups be with the Steve Cohen Mets?
O’NEILL: I think that definitely adds some excitement to it. Obviously the Mets are a much better team, they’ve got some star power now with (Francisco) Lindor and (Jacob) deGrom. Let’s 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.
CONE: It’s a huge game-changing difference for the Mets franchise, their fan base. I think they feel that finally, they’re gonna have some sustained resources that are gonna be put into the team that are on par with the Yankees. And that’s saying something. Because they haven’t had that in a long time, going back to the Nelson Doubleday days.
KAY: I think it’s lost a lot of its luster the last couple of years . ... But if both teams are good — and the Met offense is gonna be top-of-theline good this year — if you give me a (Gerrit) Cole versus deGrom game in the Subway Series, there’s juice there. It’s gonna be fun.
Q: Impressions of Gerrit Cole?
O’NEILL: He can be overpowering, he’s smart, great stuff. He doesn’t shy away from being the ace. Coney was one of those guys, too. If he was deemed the No. 1, that didn’t bother him. Some people don’t want to be the No. 1, they would rather be the No. 2 or the No. 3. When he talks to the media, it’s almost like a perfect script, he says the right things. He didn’t really have an adjustment period last year.
KAY: I’ve been so impressed with the responsibility that comes with a contract like that. He’s embraced it. He’s been The Guy. It seems like the media is therapeutic for him. I really like that about him. He doesn’t shy away from being a spokesman for the team.
Q: How would you compare Cole to deGrom?
CONE: 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’s deGrom, your chair is waiting for you. Before he’s done, he’s gonna take a seat right next to Seaver ... You’re looking at Hall of Fame pitchers in the making. It’s fun to watch.
Q: Thoughts on Corey Kluber?
CONE: I was always a big fan of his stuff. He’s an elite control and power pitcher together. If he can paint his fastball — ’cause he’s never really had an explosive high-velocity fastball, he’s always had late movement on his fastball and excellent control. The Kluber slider’s been one of the best sliders in the game since he brought it in. He’s still got that, he’s still got the spin on the breaking ball. The supreme command of all those pitches really was his calling card, that’s the part that we’re kinda waiting to see if he can retain that.
Q: Who’s “The Warrior” on this team?
O’NEILL: 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 . ... Luke Voit, another guy that you enjoy watching because he has a lot of intensity, everybody’s 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’s gonna happen.
Q: Why is Gary Sanchezsucha polarizing figure?
KAY: He’s 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’s had his ups and downs. I think that the Yankees’ dogged defense of him, no matter how much he struggles, probably rankles fans . ... In terms of what do I expect this year? I don’t know. I think it’s imperative for him to get off to a quick start, because with fans in the stands, if he has a bad two months, they’re gonna be all over him and all of a sudden that’s gonna be the story that everybody’s gonna be commenting everywhere on social media . ... People are gonna be calling for him to lose his job. I think fans have this perception that he doesn’t work hard, and I think that’s wrong. I think he probably puts too much pressure on himself. O’NEILL: 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’s a guy, to me, that has power everywhere, and when he gets in that pull mode, he can get himself in trouble.
Q: How critical a year is this for Judge?
O’NEILL: Aaron Judge is the leader of the team, whether he’s having a great year, whether he’s 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’t shy away from that. Part of being that is being able to stay on the field . ... It does get in your head that every year seems to crop up with something. I’m rooting for him. I’d love to see him get back to his rookie year where you’re seeing him day in and day out. KAY: I look at him as a top-five player in baseball when he’s healthy. Some might say he legitimately won the (2017) MVP, it was given to somebody (the Astros’ Jose Altuve) who kinda knew what the signs were. On a more personal level for him, I think it’s important for him to start putting 150-game seasons on the back of his baseball card. Because when he becomes a free agent, you’ve got to know that he’s durable, because he’s gonna become a free agent in his 30s.
Just being in that clubhouse after they lost to
Houston, David and I walked overand talked to him, he was almost inconsolable. He cares about winning as much as anybody in that room, and I think that’s kinda