Yankees’ Embarrassing Season Causes Things to Get Testy on New York Radio Station

Also in Traina Thoughts: College football announcer sends bizarre tweet; great walk-off celebration; acting icon celebrates big birthday; and more.

1. If you like a good radio fight, or if you hate the Yankees (and I know many of you do because you like to tell me you do), you will enjoy this item.

On ESPN Radio in New York on Wednesday, cohosts Michael Kay and Peter Rosenberg got into while discussing the Yankees’ demise into a mediocre franchise.

Kay is in a tough spot because he calls the games on the Yankees' YES Network, so he can't come out and say that it's time for the organization to part ways with general manager Brian Cashman, even though anyone who has paid attention to the Yankees over the past several years knows it’s past time to part ways with Brian Cashman.

Hell, I wanted the Yankees to move on from Cashman two years ago. And things have only gotten worse since then.

Here’s what I don’t understand about the Yankees. Cashman has been the GM since 1998. He built one World Series winner. Does he have the job for life? Is he never allowed to be fired? When is enough enough?

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 29, 2021

So with the Yankees now an under-.500 team, Kay tried to explain how and why things have gone wrong the past couple of years. At this point, though, Yankees fans don’t care about how and why things went wrong. We just want change. And Rosenberg let Kay know that the how and why are irrelevant right now by saying, “Just being honest. This does sort of sound like excuse-making.”

That caused Kay to blow a gasket, which included his telling Rosenberg, “If you think this is making excuses, good, go crap in a lake,” whatever that means.

“Over the last few years they’ve (front office) gotten it wrong, repeatedly.” - @Rosenbergradio pic.twitter.com/o92IeWY0Y5

— Mario G (@marioagomez_1) August 16, 2023

Rosenberg then countered that the Yankees “always get it wrong,” which caused Kay to lose it again.

Kay pointed out that the Yankees got to the ALCS last year, so you can’t say they got it wrong. I completely disagree. 

The Yankees in 2022 barely beat a not-great Guardians teams in the first round and then got swept by the Astros in the ALCS. That is NOT getting it right.

If the goal is to win a World Series, then Cashman has failed. He’s won one in 25 years as general manager.

If the goal is to just get to the postseason and make loads of money for the front office during the season, then Cashman is a great general manager.

2. Someone sent me this tweet from Fox college football broadcaster Tim Brando and asked whether I could interpret it:

Wish ya wouldn’t go there Chad. Placating to a liberal daily sports media made up mostly of embrace debate garbage is a colossal waste of time and air space. Don’t let those that don’t care about CFB control it’s narrative. https://t.co/8aXp6vbJoq

— Tim Brando (@TimBrando) August 15, 2023

I actually have no idea what any of this word salad means, but a couple of things stood out. First, Brando calls out “embrace debate garbage” from the “liberal sports media.”

That is humorous considering Brando works for Fox, and FS1's daytime hot-take programming is a complete embarrassment.

Two, again, Brando works for Fox, which is a major player in college football and has a big piece of “control” that he’s lamenting.

Is Brando trying to say that ESPN doesn’t care about college football, but Fox does? Because that would be rich. 

3. Regular Traina Thoughts readers know I love a good celebration. In the interest of full disclosure, this walk-off home run that gave the Cubs a win against the White Sox Wednesday also clinched a parlay for me, so I tip my cap to Christopher Morel here for multiple reasons.

CROSSTOWN WALK OFF! pic.twitter.com/E1EwOKdVWA

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 17, 2023

4. This is good stuff from J.J. Watt, who is set to work in CBS’s studio this NFL season.

Love seeing footage from NFL training camps, but can’t stand accounts posting video of one rep from 1v1’s and making outlandish statements.

A) 1v1’s are for working on your craft/new moves.

B) Literally every player wins/loses reps every single day. One rep tells nothing.

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) August 16, 2023

5. Michael Strahan ran into an Eagles fan who decided to get Brandon Graham’s strip sack of Tom Brady from Super Bowl LII tattooed on his back.

6. We dropped this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast a day early this week after taking last week off. My guest for this episode is Peter Schrager from Good Morning Football and Fox NFL Kickoff.

Schrager discusses what his travel schedule is like during the season, when he has to commute from New York City to Los Angeles every weekend, what his goal is when reporting for Fox NFL Kickoff, and the huge broadcast and media changes coming to the NFL for the 2023 season.

Other topics covered include why this is set up to be a great NFL season, a sleeper MVP candidate, Netflix’s Quarterback series and much more.

Following Schrager, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss our early opinions on NFL team win total over/unders, why giving up fantasy football is a great life decision, the Blind Side controversy, the Johnny Manziel Netflix documentary and more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 80th birthday to the legendary Robert DeNiro.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.