Open the Tab

Episode 55 is here — and we’re opening the tab on the cost of contending across every league.

We start in the NFL where the Jets are making real “grown-up” moves — tags, culture-building, and the QB conversation that can either set you up… or set you back. We break down why some options make zero sense in New York, why the boring answer might be the smartest answer, and how the league keeps treating the salary cap like it’s just a math problem (because it is).

Then it’s Knicks time: quick check-in on the Spurs win, and a deeper dive into the OKC game — the kind of night that shows you what contending actually feels like when it’s physical, messy, and nothing comes easy. We also hit the Celtics angle and the big question around a potential star return and what that really does to a team.

From there we go MLB + WBC: Mets and Yankees spring storylines, Judge wearing the Team USA captain patch, and why in the WBC the conversation always comes back to one thing — pitching. We wrap with a quick NHL deadline whip-around because the league is in full fire sale mode.

If you’re new here, welcome — tap follow/subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. And as always… spread good energy in this world, and make sure you tell someone you love them.

Transcript

The Cost Of Contending

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I guess it's only what we define out as it does. So quick question. What is the most expensive thing in sports right now? Because it's not a contract, it's not a ticket, it's not even a trade package. It's pretending you're a contender when you're not. And it's pretending you can contend without paying for it. So that's the theme today. The cost of contending. Everybody wants a parade, everybody wants the we're back tweets, but nobody wants to talk about what it costs until the receipt prints and the whole fan base is standing there looking like, wait, what's the total? And you see it everywhere right now. The Jets are the perfect example because they're doing the grown-up stuff. The tags, building the skeleton, shopping the Lion's Isle with a little bit of Aaron Glenn Institute. And then the quarterback conversation shows up. It's like trying to figure out which friend to bring along as your wingman. And all three of them are terrible in their own way. So we'll touch on why the Tua idea makes absolutely zero sense. Why Derek Carr isn't happening, and why honestly, if you want a move that doesn't torch the whole plan, Jacoby Purset might be the most Jets thing you can do in the best way possible. And then we gotta get into the Chiefs stacking picks like it's a Costco run, and how the Jets can play the same chess game if they're being serious. Giant side, we'll hit it on the O'Karake move, the center situation, and what's actually untouchable on that roster, what it says about where they are and where they think they are right now. From there, we'll swing into the Knicks. A quick check-in on the Spurs win where they snap San Antonio's streak, and then we're going heavy on OKC. Because last night felt like they were playing a contender and the whistle at the same time. Brunson didn't have it, but he still had 15 assists. And once again, Kat looked dominant, but somehow still felt underused. Celtics 2, we got a mailbag take that I actually love. Tatum coming back might not be the boost people expect, and there's a real risk in trying to be Superman inside 10 months. As for the Yankees and Mets and the WBC, well, we got Judge wearing the USA Captain Patch, we got the USA looking like the favorites, and why best lineup is cute until you remember pitching is where the bills really get paid. The NHL deadline is tomorrow, the league is basically a fire sale right now. So we'll rip through the moves and what they mean without turning this into a three-hour trade machine. Lots to cover, like always. Can't wait to get into it with you. That's the teaser. Episode 55 of Rice on the Mics. Let's open the tab. Time to do it too. Alright. Alright. Alright, NFL time. And we kick things off with the NFL here. So the the cost of contending is loud right now. So we kick things off with the NFL here, and staying constant to the theme that this week is of the cost of contending. The cost of contending is loud right now because the league's basically in that phase where everybody's either buying, selling, or pretending that they're not doing either. Right? And the Jets are Jets are the perfect place to start for this conversation because for once the structure of what they're doing makes sense. And then the quarterback conversation shows up and tries to hijack the whole thing. So, first off, out of the way, the Aaron Glenn and Lions connected free agency talk. This is normal. This is normal, by the way. New head coaches usually always bring a guy or two over from the old neighborhood. I mean, think about Rex Ryan walking in. Next thing you know, Bart Scott's unpacking boxes and telling everybody can't wait in a couple years. I mean, that's how this goes. The difference here is that Glenn had to sit on his hands for a year. He couldn't just immediately grab his guys from Detroit. They weren't exactly free agents. But now he can. So that Lions list of potential free agents of the Jets popping up, that's not by accident. That's not random. That's Glenn finally having access to the type of familiar pieces that'll help him install your his culture without teaching it from scratch. The Jets also franchise tag Brees Hall, which to me is a very clear message. You're not letting your young talent walk while still trying to figure out the most important position in sports, which is quarterback. So it's paying for stability in a room that's been anything but stable as of late and forking up the big price tag for a one-year deal. But now the elephant in the room, right? The quarterback tab, the big liquor tab at the end of the uh dinner bill. The mic check that I ran on Wednesday, and if you're new here, first episode, uh every Wednesday on Instagram I run a mic check with a series of polls, and this is where you guys get to vote to make your voice be heard on the show. The first mic check I ran out there was Kyler Murray as a potential option, or skip it and build around whatever you bring in. The mic check came back Kyler Murray as an option at 62%, and no thank you as 38%. Jess fans are basically saying, I'm tired of the slow cook, turn the stove up, let's get this water boiling. And I get it. But but the Kyler conversation needs to be framed the right way. If you're doing Kyler, it can't be a here's a couple years, you're a former first-round pick, please save us thing. It has to be more of a team-friendly, one-year prove it type setup, and then whether he does good or bad at the end of the year, you let him go. But here's the long-term cost of bringing in Kyler. Kyler is not a scrub. Contrary to popular belief and all his woes, he's actually a pretty solid quarterback. He's just short. And what happens when you give a quarterback a prove-it deal with his back against the wall? Well, sometimes that dude starts winning you games that you didn't exactly plan on winning. That's the cost of contending in real life. It sounds great until you realize you might end up in mo in the most Jets place ever. Not good enough to be a real Super Bowl threat or even a playoff threat, but too good to draft what you really need. I mean, no one wants to go into a season planning on tanking it before it even starts. But Kyler on a prove-it deal might raise your floor more than you think. And that's the real danger for this franchise. I mean, yeah, you're paying for competence, and competence can mess with your long-term plan if the roster isn't fully ready. Another name getting floating around for the Jets is Tua. And I'm sorry, this one is this one's comedy. In no world would I bring in Tua to MetLife. I mean, the knock on Tua isn't just his health, it's also the elements, right? Miami was the perfect was a perfect fit for him. You're basically playing football in a screensaver. Now, now you want to bring him into MetLife where you get, what, four games a year in actual sunlight and like warm weather? I mean, the rest is windy, cold, wet, that dead gray sky where the ball feels like a brick in your hands. He doesn't have the arm strength or the I'm fine getting hit in 18 degree weather toughness profile to even make that make sense. So, I mean, look, that's not even me being mean. That's just the wrong environment. And the cost of contending can't be we bought the wrong product for the wrong weather. Derek Carr, yeah, perfect. Not happening. That's a headline that exists because it needs to exist on ESPN. So moving on. Jacoby Brissett, though. I I keep coming back to it because it's the rare option that actually kind of fits exactly what the Jets need. Brissett is the perfect mix of let's see what the offense has while also being realistic about where you're at. I mean, he's stable enough to run the system and not sabotage your Sundays, but he's also he's also not good enough that he actually wins you eight games that you didn't plan to win in the first place and nuke your draft position. That that's kind of the sweet spot where you're building. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't, but you need to be able to evaluate and see if you can function and see if this defense and head coach, I don't know, whatever, under Aaron Glenn can actually be a thing. And you don't want to get trapped in the middle. Brissett, Brissett could win you four games, and he could probably lose you 11-12 hard fought games that make it seem like you know the team actually gives a damn. That lets Aaron Glenn keep his job. I don't know. We'll see. Jets are always a mess when it comes to quarterback. But there are uh two things that I do want to get into when it comes to Jets with a quarterback situation here. That's one is a what if, and who knows, probably not, but maybe, and the other one is just a petty conversation. So the first thing is if you didn't see, the uh the Chiefs made a trade, they traded their star young corner to the Rams for a first-round pick at number 29. Everybody sees the Chiefs stacking picks and thinks, oh, must be nice, right? But uh the Jets already did stack ammo for these next two drafts. And that's the point. They're set up to maneuver. But the bigger question here is can they can they stack even more? So this is where the Chiefs story gets interesting. So Jeremia Love is uh the number one consensus running back coming out of this year's draft. Probably honestly the number one consensus talent coming out of this year's draft, offensively at least. And he is the exact kind of player that Kansas City desperately needs. A strong, all-purpose, can't miss back to pair with an offensive mind like Andy Reid and a quarterback who isn't getting any younger and coming off major surgery. That's a let's protect Mahomes and modernize the run game type of move. Let's stop trying to pull Kareem Hunt at a retirement kind of move. Problem is love probably isn't making a nine, which is where the Chiefs are drafting. So here is a what if, and I'm saying what if in all caps, because you know, I'm not reporting anything, I'm just kind of connecting dots like a sports fan with too much time on his hand does. What if? What if the Chiefs sold off their corner, that win now corner move, to position themselves to move up for love? And what if the offer to move from nine to number two, where the Jets are drafting, includes both of those first round picks they just stacked? Plus maybe something next year to sweeten the deal a little bit. Now, now you're talking about a Jets draft where you could realistically be sitting at number nine, number sixteen, and number twenty nine in the first round this year, and then looking at next year like, wait, do we have the potential to have four first rounders next year? I mean, that's enough ammo to literally do anything you want. That's the type of capital that can turn a rebuild into a contender real fast. It's also the type of capital that gives you the freedom to move up for a quarterback if you need one. And you get that quarterback in this offseason that wins you one too many games. Or move down and load the roster if you don't. That's what the contenders actually do. They don't just make picks and hope for the best, they buy options. Now, speaking of options, here's the other one. So the Colts and Daniel Jones, and this is my favorite kind of petty football math because it's real and it's messy and it's definitely doable. It wouldn't happen, but God, it would be so if it did. So the Colts use the transition tag on Daniel Jones. And a lot of people hear tag and they think it's all the same. It's not. Here's a quick simple little breakdown. So the franchise tag is basically a one-year lockdown saying, you're not leaving unless I allow it. It's control, it's a leash, it's you're on this team for one year, all guaranteed money. The transition tag, it's more like uh, you know, go go go test the market. But if you do find something, I get first dibs to match the offer. So another team can make you an offer sheet and the Colts can match it, right? But here's the key if they don't match it, they generally don't get any compensation back. So it's less you're stuck and more, yeah, we just want the right to match it without fully committing to you right away. And this is where it helps the Jets either way. If the Jets want it to be petty, if the Jets want to go for it, they j they make an offer to Daniel Jones, right? They push up the price. And Indy either matches and overpays, which tightens their flexibility, or Indy doesn't match and they lose out on him with no other quarterback in sight, because they've already told Anthony Richardson he could request a trade, which is chaos for them. Either way, the Jets end up benefiting because you only have Daniel Jones for one year, which he'll probably get hurt, and then it helps your draft stock with no repercussions to anybody because it was a hurt quarterback. And the Colts, whose pick you have in next year's draft, will probably be pretty high because they don't have any idea what they're gonna do a quarterback with that. It's kind of a win-win situation, to be honest with you, and it's the ultimate petty tag, and I'm sure feathers will be ruffled if they ever made that uh move. But tell me it's not genius. Tell me it's not the full on, oh, that was so petty, I love it, kind of move. Anyway, Giants time, Giants. Uh well, the Giants are in that spot where every move kind of feels like it's it's about the timeline, right? Like, how fast can we be good? We've been bad for so long, John Harbaugh, this, that, and the other, letting go of O'Kerake, what are we gonna do at center, all of it. But I do want to spend a little time on the draft projection because all I keep seeing is them linked to Caleb Downs. And I'll be honest, I honestly I think Caleb Downs might be the best prospect in this entire draft. He's kind of that rare, I don't care what the position is, I just I know the player is a dude type of prospect. The the problem is the tough look is the math. You know, taking them top five feels like a luxury pick on paper because I know what's gonna happen. They're gonna take them, and Giant fans are gonna go, oh, cool, can't wait. The secondary is great. But then it's gonna really quickly turn into so who's protecting Jackson Dart? Who's separating? Who's scoring points? And I kind of get that too. I mean, the Giants, as much as they want John Harbaugh to fix everything, there are a lot of holes here. And they need to start making some free agency moves. And this is where the cost of contending comes in for the Giants. If you keep drafting need over best player, you're gonna end up with a roster of compromises. So if Downs is truly that level of prospect, the type that changes your defense for the next seven years, you take him and you figure out the rest. That's how good teams get built. And the Giants haven't been a good team built in a long time. So, yeah, I look, it's a tough look, but it might be the right look, and I think it's the right play. Now, with all that, uh with all that being said, let's go around the league a little bit. Because there are no shortages of moves, not just in New York, right? And w we uh we'll kick it off with the cap here, because the cap went up to a record wrecking 300.1 million or 301.1 million dollars, which is ludicrous. Cap goes up every year, every year. These uh you know, Roger Goodell really doing a good job making these uh billionaire owners even bigger billionaires. So no chance of him getting fired anytime soon. But the NFL salary cap is it's it's a it's the biggest joke, I guess, across all four sports, because you know, a team could be over fifty million dollars and then all of a sudden rework a couple contracts here and there, and just add some signing bonuses, and all of a sudden they're twenty million dollars over, under, excuse me. It turns into signing bonuses and accounting gymnastics. Dallas restructures everything, and then the next year they open the closet and there's monsters in there. That's the cost, right? You can borrow from the future, but your future is always gonna send you the invoice. Chiefs did the same thing: cap rework, trades, keeping the pipeline moving, you know, all that stuff. The cap is a joke in the NFL as well, basically what I'm trying to say. So anytime the team tells you, oh, they're in cap hell, they're not. They can always negotiate. There's always something that they can do to solve the problem. A couple uh moves or I guess uh reported moves and free agency moves or deals agreed upon that can't actually happen yet till Wednesday of next week because that's when the league year resets. So the Patriots are gonna be releasing Stefan Diggs. That's another version of the same story. You know, he he's got too much going on, and his talent just doesn't outweigh the cost of having him on the team, so to speak. So sometimes the cost is admitting the name just isn't worth the number, right? The Texans are grabbing David Montgomery from the Lions, making a trade. I love that move for them, man. That's a control the game move. That's a we're not asking our quarterback to be a superhero every week, even though he kind of can be. Joe Mixon was supposed to be the answer, and then they brought on Nick Chubb, who has one working knee maybe the last three years. So grabbing David Montgomery, who is a dog and is gonna fit right in in Houston, it's a big move for them, and I've uh I'm pretty happy for them. It's also kind of a brutal loss for the Lions because now you're looking at Gibbs and going, all right, you're the full-time guy now. I mean, look, he's a he's special, right? No debate. He's a monster. But can he handle the full load the way that Dan Campbell likes to run the ball now? I mean, it's a different job than he's being it's a different job than just being the lightning piece, right? It's gonna be fascinating to watch. I'm really interested to see how it goes. And you better believe that Jameer Gibbs' fantasy value just went through the roof because of that. The Bills also uh trading for DJ Moore tells me two things, right? One, the new head coach looked at the roster and said Josh Allen cannot be out here with Khalil Shakir as the whole plan. So they take a real swing at a playmaker, match him with uh James Cook coming out of the backfield, who just led the league in rushing. Bills offense trying to make a play here, trying to stop having allen wear the Superman cape every week. And two, yes, if we're keeping count, that was one, and now this is two. It tells me that the Bears are confident in Luther Burden and they're ready for him to have a bigger role. You don't move more unless you think you can redistribute those targets and not lose your identity. They want to get Burden the ball more instead of just him being buried behind a true alpha, but it seemed like Luther was always the guy that came into clutch with Caleb when they absolutely needed it. Don't forget the Bears won most of their games in the fourth quarter this year. Rams, well, we talked about it before, the Rams are making the win now corner move, and that's kind of the team saying, Yeah, we think this is the Stafford window, and we have to strike right now. More than likely, this is Stafford's last season. I mean, everybody thought last year was his last season. So they're putting all their eggs in one basket for him. That's what contenders do, by the way. They pay the tab. Uh as far as like mock drafts and everything like that, I really don't want to get down the rabbit hole too much today. I mean, every everywhere you look, every sports website has a new mock draft coming out. Rounds one and two, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And they're fun to read, but it's all before free agency. So it's all just kind of loud noise. Teams haven't even made the real moves yet, so it's just kind of clickbait with a better font. We will do a real draft episode once the league stops moving for five minutes, like we did last year, too. And if you go back and listen to last year, I was kind of on the money with just about everything I said. So you're definitely not going to want to miss it. And last but not least, before we get out of NFL, Lou Holtz. Just got to give the man some flowers. Live to the ripe age of 89. I would sign up for 89 right now. I mean, one of the all-time voices, all-time careers, part of sports history everywhere you look. I would be remiss if I didn't at least give him a quick salute. So rest in peace, Lou Holtz. God bless and good luck. But uh yeah, alright. That's that's the NFL tab. Jets are just trying to buy options without buying disaster. Giants are staring at a top five pick decision that might be the best player versus what they actually need. And the league proving again that the cap is just math with good PR. So now let's take the theme of the episode, the cost of contending. And we bring it to the garden. Because the Knicks, the Knicks just played a game where it felt like you're battling OKC and battling the whistle at the same time. Got a lot to get into with the hardcore. Keep it right. I said, go New York, go New York, go, go New York, go New York, go. NBA time. And uh sorry, Nets fans. Not much to talk about with your tanking team. I am sorry that you guys missed out on Cooper Flag last year. But the league clearly does not care that they rigged the draft right in front of everybody. So we're gonna be talking about the Knicks. And if we're talking contending, the Knicks are a perfect example of what it actually costs, right? When you're good, every game turns into a report card. Every night is either, see, I told you we're real, or see, uh-oh, we're in trouble. So we'll kick it off with the easy one. The Spurs game at the garden. It's one of those nights where you're like, oh yeah, we can do this. Spurs come in on an 11-game heater, unbeaten in February, really just feeling themselves. And the Knicks basically slap the streak right off of them. 114 to 89, and the run in the first half, discrasiad, disgusting. 26-2 stretch is the type of run where you look down at your drink, you got a burger, you're eating, look back up, and the game's pretty much over. I mean, Bridges is cooking, Brunson flips the whole vibe late in the first. Dioara gives you points off the bench that actually matter. It was clean, it was controlled. It looked like a team that just knew what they were doing. And then OKC happens. And look, OKC is not the Spurs, right? The Spurs this season have owned OKC, but they are nowhere near close to the same team. OKC is one of those teams where you don't just you don't get to play your game. They're they're gonna make you play their game, right? And if you're off by even just a little bit, they're gonna make you pay for it. Now, the mic check for one second, because it kind of fits perfectly here, honestly. It was about Katz defense. Over the past couple weeks, Katz defense has uh shot up and it's helped the Knicks overall defense efficiency shoot up to ninth in the league, I think. And the options were hot streak or it's the real deal. 76% of you said hot streak, which is like the most true Knicks fans answer ever, right? It's like, yeah, I see it, but I still don't believe you yet. And I guess that's fair. I mean, Kat really hasn't given you much to show that he can play defense throughout the season so far. Maybe he figured it out, maybe he ratcheted it up. But it's games like OKC why people feel that way, right? Last night, look, I hate being the it's the refs guy. I really do. And I'm usually not, to be fair. But right away from the first quarter, it was obvious the Knicks were playing two games. One against OKC, and then another where whatever the whistle decided was gonna happen. And that's not, oh, we didn't get a call. Also, sidebar, I'll be the first person in line to speak up against the Knicks, that the Knicks players sometimes do a little too much whining for my like about not getting calls. Kind of actually can't stand it. But last night felt like we were just breathing too hard and still getting a whistle for it. The whole garden knew it too. As soon as SGA drives the lane, Brunson steps in front, takes the charge, doesn't get called for it, gets the foul, and had Mike Brown lose his mind, which he never does, and gets a tech for it. SGA got the two free throws and the tech, and that was the three-point swing that the Knicks lost by. Here's what made it even more frustrating. The Knicks still hung in anyway. I mean, they were down huge. 15-point deficit crawl clawed all the way back and tied the game up and took the lead. I mean, Brunson didn't have it either. The shot wasn't there, it happens, fine. But then you look up and he's got 15 assists. That's the leadership. That's him going, all right, man, you know what? I'm not scoring tonight, it's just not happening. I'm gonna run the whole thing. That's a point guard dragging the game to where it needs to go. But then I'm watching Big Cat. And I'm like, why does it feel, again, like he's dominant and invisible at the same time? Because he looked like he had it. He looked like he could tilt the floor, and still it felt like he wasn't getting fed consistently. And that's where I get annoyed. Because if you're trying to contend, you can't waste your best mismatch. I've talked about this ad nauseum at this point, but yet again, you cannot be the second best player on this team, be the quote unquote offensive seven-foot juggernaut, and when Brunson doesn't have it, finish the game with eight shots. Eight shots for the game. And you went seven for eight. So it's not like they weren't going in. I don't know if he really is just like Shaq called him out on, and is just not the guy who wants to ruffle feathers or take shots away from other guys, which is stupid because other guys in post-game interviews have said they all know their roles and they have been begging for you for weeks to be more ball dominant. Or it's a Mike Brown just not having the wherewithal to say to the team in the huddle, get the ball to cat. And you know, and that brings me to Mike Brown because this is the whole experiment right now. Higher ceiling, lower floor. There are nights the ideas look great and the offense feels smoother, and you're like, okay, yeah, we can beat anybody. And then there are nights like the OKC night where the game gets ugly and physical and the whistle is weird. And now you need answers, you need counters, you need a plan that isn't just Brunson, please save us. And this is where the other stuff matters: the stuff that decides playoff possessions. I mean, Mitchell Robinson, that dude changes possessions, right? He's not a cute stat guy, he's a you don't get one shot tonight guy. And in the playoffs, that's priceless. But he doesn't play back-to-backs. I mean, in the playoffs, he will. That's why people love him. He makes the game miserable for the other team. So on a night like this, where you don't have him, who knows? Maybe the game could have gone different. But he wasn't there to change the game. Josh Hart, look, I love Hart, but teams are gonna ignore him. They are. It's just that simple. And when the teams ignore him, the Knicks need answers. Yeah, he can give the vibes, give the energy, sometimes run into a triple-double, but the team needs answers. I mean, you can hustle your way through the regular season nights, but in a series, they're gonna hunt that spacing. You know, if you are out on the three trying to draw the guy out and he doesn't respect you, what does it matter? Dioara, I mean, I like what he's giving you. He's not scared to say the least. He jacks up the ball every time he can. I guess you need at least one bench guy who isn't scared. And sham it, same thing, man. I mean, he knows his role. You can get the real minutes out of him, and he's good for a three every now and then, but then you also can get the ugly side sometimes, too. And that's the cost of depth, right? Nobody's perfect, you just need to be playable. The ultimate question comes down to what is the right combination of guys, and can Mike Brown change that formula on the fly when the initial game plan isn't working? You know, the Knicks last year beat the Celtics in the playoffs because they couldn't hit their threes. And the Knicks took advantage of it. This year, seems like a lot of the time I get on this microphone and say, well, you know, the Knicks just couldn't hit their threes last night, and that's why they lost. And that's all well and dandy in a game in February against the Pelicans. But in a game seven series in the playoffs, you can't drop a game because the shot wasn't there. You need to be an adult and figure out a new game plan when shit hits the fans, so to speak. So when I zoom out on the OKC game, here's what I say, right? I see a game that you could have stolen if a couple things break differently. A game that kind of also exposes what you still need to clean up if you want to actually contend. You can't have nights where Kat is dominant but not involved. And you also can't have nights where the whistle gets weird and all of a sudden you lose your composure. You can't have nights where spacing is a problem and you just sit there and stare at it and not try and figure it out. Celtics, real quick, too. Uh I got a mailbag that was perfect for this week because the listener sent this in. He said, quote, Tatum coming back might not give Boston the boost people expect. And I love that take. Not because I think Tatum isn't that dude, right? Tatum is that dude. He is. But it's because returns aren't automatic. I mean, people act like you just plug a star back in like it's 2K and the overall rating on that team just jumps up, right? No. Real life isn't like that. There's rhythm, there's timing, there's chemistry, there's conditioning. And there's also the simplest part. Coming back inside 10 months from an Achilles injury in a sport where 80% of it is jumping up and down, yeah, there's risk. So it's not just is he good? It's it's can you get him back without getting him hurt again? Look, if you're boston, I get it. Jalen Brown's playing out of his mind, but the cost of contending might literally be managing your own superstar. If you rush it, you're playing with fire. Look, and look, man, if you slow play it, you might drop some games that you don't exactly want to drop. But either way, there is going to be a bill for bringing Tatum back. So I'm going to be keeping a close eye on that whole situation because either way, it's a story. And it's either it's either going to look smooth and Boston looks like geniuses, or it's going to look clunky, and NBA Twitter is going to get flooded with opinions, which I love to read. But alright, that's the NBA tab. The Knicks, uh, the Knicks are good enough to be in the room. But OKC reminded them what the room costs. And Boston is about to find out if getting him back means getting better, or if it just turns the spotlight up on everyone. Now, let's switch gears over to some baseball because the cost of contending in baseball is different, right? It's not one night, it's six months. And yet somehow everybody panics by week two anyway. Diamond Talk up next. Expensive beers, shaking hands with friends at the ballpark that you don't even know. God, looking forward to it so much. And you know what I love about March baseball? Everybody's either delusional, terrified, or both, honestly. And that's before we even get into the WBC stuff where people start talking like we owe somebody a trophy. So let's start with the Mets first. Freddie gets the opening day shove. And I'm cool with it. I mean, the mic check was basically a landslide, too. Most of you were like, yeah, he's the ace. Smaller group wanted Nolan McLean chaos pick, which I get it. You know, you want to see the young kid in McLean versus the young kid in Skeens. It's fun. I'll be going an opening day, so I would have liked to have seen that, but that's okay. I'm cool with Freddie Peralta, too. It's like ordering the spicy thing just to see if you can handle it, you know? But Peralta is the adult choice. If you're trying to contend, you can't be doing vibes on opening day. And the Mets vibe this year, it's not subtle. I mean, Cohen's annoyed, like openly annoyed. Don't hate that. If you're spending that much money, you don't get to pretend you're just happy to be here now. That's the cost, that's the expectations that you've set. Now you gotta live with them. Bashed is part of it too. And I'm not even talking about talent-wise. I'm talking about fit on the team. Playing third base, the New York pressure, the Philly crowd factor after he thought they were signed with them, and now he's not. All of it. Contending isn't just add names. It's does the puzzle actually click when things get ugly? And going back to Noah McLean's situation, hovering over everything, because of the WBC overlap, vertigo-like symptoms, flu whispers, delayed reporting, it's a reminder that you can have the plan, you can have the roster, you can have the hype, and then the human body goes, nah. Injuries will always be a part of baseball. I mean, a guy can throw his back out from sneezing. You could have Lindor with a ham eight bone, which he is on track to make it back to open, make it back for opening day. Looks like he's gonna start taking swings coming up this week. So you're excited to see that. You're excited to hear that. We'll see how it works out. Uh the whole loss of power thing. I don't really care, dude. Just hit singles, hit doubles, move the chain, be a leadoff hitter. Alright, Yankees. Uh well, the Aaron Judge team USA captain thing, first of all, the Mike Czech vote wasn't even close. Most of you said perfect choice. That's not a debate in my book. That's basically a roll call. And look, man, I I agree. I mean, who else is going to be captain on that team? Harper didn't want it. He's not that guy. Not that Judge is that guy either, but you know, Kershaw's too old, Trout's not even on the team. Scoobyl, no, it's it's Judge. It's Judgy. And I'm happy for him. Now, look, he's not exactly the leader that's gonna try and go viral. I mean, he's not trying to be the motivational speaker. He's just the guy that when when the room goes quiet, he talks. The silent but deadly, the quiet, cool, you know. So that's why the whole uninspirational speech thing that went viral with him. You know what? That's just fan brain, man. People people want him to give a movie monologue. Like it's uh any given Sunday or the replacements, or you know, this, that, and the other. Not everybody has to be a locker room poet. Hell, I know Juan Soto isn't. I mean, yeah, he has fun, he has this, that, and the other, and he's the leader on pretty much every team, but he leads by example. And that's exactly what sometimes leadership is. It's just show up, play, don't panic, and be the biggest presence in the building. Now, the Yankee stuff, like the real Yankee stuff, not the WBC stuff, it is what it always comes down to. Okay, cool. So who's healthy? You know, Volpey's timeline has has you doing math immediately because the Yankees are kind of one of those teams where next man up is always said, but nobody ever really believes it for long. And then you you hear about that there were actual talks for the Yankees pursuing Corey Seager as a Volpey replacement. And I'm sure most Yankee fans would have been happy about that, but then you realize that Corey Seager's age is not what it was. That's the Yankee brain. If there's a leak, there's a shortcut. If there's an injury, there's a big name solution. They did it last year, Cole got hurt, and they've signed Max Fried right away. And look, I'm not even saying that it's wrong either. It's just who they are. They're always looking for the cleanest way to patch the hole so the season doesn't turn into survival mode by May, which it doesn't often. But the Seager thing didn't pan out. And it kind of makes sense too. I mean, Texas isn't just going to hand over that guy, and you're not making a franchise altering trade just because you caught an early spring injury or somebody is not quite ready just yet. That's how you end up paying for your quick fix for five years, which is what the Yankees have been doing lately with McMahon, with Rizzo, with a guy like Goldschmidt. You know? So now you're back to what contenders actually have to do sometimes. It's take the boring route, it's running it back, piece it together, trust the depth, ride it out. That's the cost of contending, too, because the easy solution is usually the most expensive one. And as Halstein Brenner said, we are not in the business of uh going over a$300 million payroll. You got Cole's recovery timeline, too. That's a real one. That's the bill, right? With with the Yankees, it's always a pitching Jenga tower. One piece moves in, the other one's moving out, everybody's sweating. Is the tower gonna fall? But the fun part, the fun part is the young stuff. Spencer Jones, who everybody's been crying for to come up, which they have to call him up eventually. I mean, he's 25 in AAA. Spencer Jones changing the swing a little bit, and got the judge cosign out of it. That's huge. Then you put this larang kid out there throwing a hundred plus like it's nothing. That's a that's the kind of prospect story Yankee fans need because it uh it gives you hope that you're not just buying everything, you're actually building something in the farm system and you're seeing results from it. I mean, Dominguez trade proposal universe exists always, it's always there. Every time there's a young player, half the Faye Mace wants to trade him for three guys that they've never seen play, and then the other half says no, he's gonna be the best thing since Slice Bread. He's the next Mickey Manno. That's New York. That's oxygen in New York, just how it goes. Lots more to unfold between the both New York teams. Both teams should be very good this year, hopefully. Make my job easier, so I have a lot more to talk about. But for now, let's get into a little WBC, the world baseball classic. How could you not be hyped about it? And to be fair, this is where people get a little patriotic and maybe a little irrational. The mic check said USA wins it all by a mile. And I get it. The the roster is nasty. But I did have a mailbag question that actually kind of nailed it. Somebody sent in USA and DR have the best lineups. True, 100%. DAR the Dominican Republic is terrifying. I mean, uh I think who was it? Teoscar Hernandez, maybe? Or somebody. Somebody of great value is batting seventh. USA is stacked too, though. And my answer is the same as what I put on the story if you saw it. The difference between both stacked lineups and both the Dominican Republic and the USA is the hammers that the USA is throwing. I mean, you can have the cutest lineup in the world. You can have all the studs in the world. But pitching is what cashes the checks in this tournament. That's it. Simple enough. The vibe stuff matters too. The exhibition where the guys stay locked in. You know, nobody took their jersey off. Judge and Harper are leading. That's great. Those details matter. But you can tell when Team USA is just doing an all-star weekend and when they actually care. And this one, this one feels like they really care. Plus, you got a little uh sideback going on between Akuna and Soto. That's one of the best parts of WBC. It's like you get all these players together. I got I'm watching video of Paul Skeens learning from Scooba in the bullpen. Tell me that doesn't scare the shit out of batters. But yeah, apparently uh Kuna playing for Team Venezuela and Soto playing for the Dominican Republic. They got a bet on whose team will go farther, and uh whichever team does, the other team, the other player has to wear the Venezuela or the Dominican Republic jersey on opening day. So, you know, that'll be fun. Uh quick whip around the league just to get some headlines that you ought to know for fantasy baseball or for whatever. Dodgers, well, Snell is not going to be ready for opening day, so there's an early wrinkle, but you know, the Dodgers will slow play it because they always do, and they'll always find somebody or buy somebody or whatever. They probably got Peanut Boy in the stands getting ready to throw 110. Pirates. Pirates have the teenage superstar in uh Connor. Kid is Kid is unreal. He's gonna be a huge name in baseball in the next three, four years. Probably hell, they maybe even this year. And the unfortunate argument of service time versus let the kid play always pops its head up. Pirates are cheap, so of course he will not start the season with the team. My speculation, not my true, not the true uh thing here. But if I know the Pirates, they're not gonna let him start. They want to save service time on him. For the Tigers, uh Frambert Valdez looks sharp in spring. So if you've got arms, you got a chance. And Detroit sure as hell has arms. Braves, Profar, you idiot. Suspension. Another one for PEDs. That's 162 games. You're cooked, brother. The only other person that got popped three times is, of course, it's Amet. Oh God, what the hell was his name? One of the closers. I can't remember, but he's the only one that's got popped three times. Profar. What's more embarrassing? The fact that you need the juice to stay in the game, or just admitting that you can't hang anymore. You know, you were never a bad player. You weren't a great player, but now doing juice and getting popped twice, I mean, any kind of legacy you build up is is cooked forever. The Reds, this one kind of sucks. Hunter Green, great pitcher, somebody who I wanted the Mets to trade for. Good thing they didn't. Getting an elbow MRI. And uh, yeah, it's not looking good. So that's baseball. You hate to see that. But yeah, that's that's kind of what I got for now for baseball for the MLB and the WBC. Really can't wait to get into the WBC going forward here, and spring training will be over before you know it. But that's that. Real quick, we're gonna hit hockey because the NHL deadline is Friday, 3 p.m. And this episode comes out Friday morning. So I'm gonna miss it. But I got some moves. The whole league is basically on a fire sale right now. There's trades flying everywhere. So we gotta some ice talk and then a little motivational speech to get you out of here. Keep it ready. For those rabid hockey fans out there, I got your quick hitter right here. Okay. I mean, obviously, hockey is not my strong suit. I know enough to talk about, and I know enough to follow along about the ESPN articles that I read, and I got some insider information from some of you uh listeners out there, so I really appreciate all of it. But yeah, let's get into a little hockey trade talk. Because apparently the league is, like I said, a fire sale right now. There's no good goalies out there, so the league can be had. This is the part of the season where every contender looks around like, yeah, yeah, man, we're we're one bottom six winger away, and every team that's out of it suddenly turns into a full-on pawn shop, right? It fits the theme perfectly. The the cost of contending. In hockey, in hockey, you don't pay with headlines, they're never flashy. You you pay with second-round picks, you pay with prospects you've never heard of or seen, and you pay with half salaries retained, like it's like it's a coupon that you're redeeming. The first thing that jumped out to me was Dallas. So the stars go and grab Tyler Myers from Vancouver. That's not a classic contender move. Not sexy, not look at me, just yeah, man, we need a grown man on the right side. We're on a heater, let's not get cute. Vancouver retains some money, Dallas upgrades the back end, and the Canucks take picks and keep it moving. That's uh that's a whole deadline in one trade, honestly. Contenders buying stability, sellers buying options. As for Vegas, Vegas is kind of doing the same thing, just a little bit louder. They already grabbed Cole Smith from Nashville, which was a nice move. Now they go and grab Nick Dode from Washington. And that's not we need a superstar. That's our roster's banged up. We need adults. We need a fourth line that we trust. And we need to survive April without turning into a science experiment. Dow's got the term. So it's not a rental panic move. It's them trying to lock in certainty while while they got guys on IR and long-term IR, which is always crazy to me still with hockey. There's an IR and a long-term IR. That's like I guess it's like baseball with a 15-day, 30-day, 60-day, but I don't know, man. It's just I don't know. It's funny. Anyway. Nashville is uh Nashville's playing the other side perfectly. They're basically saying, hey, if you want to contend, come and pay. They move McCarron to Minnesota, they move Cole Smith to Vegas, and now suddenly they got stacked picks in those middle rounds. That's the bill. Everybody loves draft picks until you got to hand one of them over. And this week, teams are handing them over like crazy. Same thing with NFL, too, man. It's funny. It doesn't matter what the sport is. Trade deadline or not, picks get thrown around. Minnesota grabbing McCarron is one of those my favorite moves at a deadline, honestly. Huge body, wins face-off, great on the penalty kill. That's hockey playoff math. That's what you want. That's what you need to win. And they're not asking him to be a hero either. They're asking him to win a couple ugly shifts that keep you alive in tight series, which in hockey, as you guys know, every series is tight. Here's one that's a little bit different. The Sharks giving Kiefer Sherwood a big extension. That's not a deadline buying. That's the Sharks looking at a guy and saying, Yep, we're not flipping him. He's not going anywhere. We're keeping him. Which is interesting because that's a rebuild team deciding, yeah, man, the rebuild starts with him. This isn't just an asset. This is part of the plan. Kind of the cost of contending on the other end. Sometimes the cost is being patient enough to keep a good player instead of turning everything into picks. Jets could have done it with Brees Hall. They decided to hold on to him instead. You got some Rangers Tro Trick stuff on its own, too. The window into how messy this gets is basically Tro Trick saying, Yeah, I got a I got a no trade clause and I've got West Coast teams on my no trade list. I'd much rather stay to the East Coast because family matters. Then turns around and also says, you know, I'd like to win a cup. I don't know if you know this. There's not a lot of teams on the East Coast that are too good to win a cup. But anyway, that's kind of the human part that fans forget, I guess, right? It's not just NHL 26 franchise mode. Dudes have kids, they got real lives, their wives don't want to move around, they maybe just bought a house. Those no-trade lists become leverage at the exact moment the league is trying to move you like a chess piece, and this is one of those moments. And for Buffalo, if we're saying on the New York side, well, Buffalo kind of got screwed over. I mean, Buffalo was about to make a real statement. There was a deal for Paracco, I think that's how you say his name. Again, forgive me, I'm not the best with hockey, but there was a deal in place for Paracco. Paracao? Paracayo, maybe? Yeah, that's we're gonna go with Paracco. You know, the deal's in place, everybody reports it, and then he goes, Ah, actually, nah, I'm good. Uses again the no movement clause and shuts it down. That tells you two things. One, Buffalo is dead serious about snapping that drought, and they're hunting a right side defenseman like it's gold. Two, even when teams want to pay, you can't always buy what you want. Utah, the mammoths, which I wish they would have been the Yetis, but the Mammoths. Uh Uyghur trade is a big one. There's a that's a franchise trying to take a step into a real playoff territory. Now, to be fair, they are kind of a new franchise. I mean, they moved from Arizona, so I'm sure they get some things, some players, some picks, some this, that, and the other, but they paid real money for it. Picks, a player, a prospect, and Uyghur isn't a rental either. He's locked in for a couple years here. That's the cost of contending right there when you're trying to become a real team and not just the new guy on the block. You don't add for this spring, you add for the next five. Edmonton, Edmonton's another one pushing chip, pushing all their chips in, which they should. You know, this is pretty much their last year with uh Connor McDavid. They did right by him, they gave him that two-year deal and said, look, just stick with us for two years. We'll try and do everything we can to get you a cup. If we can't, then you're on your own to you know, do what you want to do. He's gonna end up a ranger, by the way. Hot take Rice, hot take Johnny over here. Connor McDavid is a ranger.

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Yankees Leadership, Health, And Depth

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Anyway, they go get Dickinson and Dash from Chicago there, and they already got Connor Murphy. The Oilers are saying we're not wasting any time here. McDavid and Dry Side, oh, we have to go get it done. Period. End of story. You can argue about the price, you can argue about the fit, but the intention is crystal clear. More depth, more two-way reliability, more bodies you trust when things tighten up, and you go to a game seven against the Florida Panthers, and to Chuck steals another cup from you. There's a bunch more, but the last thing that I want to touch on, which I do think is one of the more bullshit rules in hockey, and that some GMs have been complaining about this whole deadline week, is that the league cap rules have changed a little bit. So that's the inside baseball stuff. If you guys don't know about it, I I mean I don't I can't give you exact details, but there's a thing in hockey where you can trade for a player or you can grab a player, and as long as he's on IR, his salary doesn't count, count against the cap, but then once it turns into playoffs, you can activate him and then it doesn't matter. So Florida did this last year. They picked up somebody, I forget what it was, some great player, and basically sat him the whole year, the whole rest of the season and put him on IR, and then as soon as the playoffs started, they got an elite defenseman for nothing. So now they tightened up on it, and some of the GMs are pissed. Well, you know what, dude? Nah, you can't do that, man. That's that's crummy gamesmanship, I guess. But yeah, that's the uh that's the NHL right now. That's kind of what I got for you. Not my best, but not my worst for sure. There's contenders buying insurance, there's sellers cashing out, and the Rangers sitting there with a thumb up their ass, pretending they're doing a full rebuild while they can't trade anybody away because they already traded them all away before they went to the Olympics. Oh, God, the Rangers, what a mess. Alright, whatever. Hockey tab closed for now. Let's bring it on home. And here we are. That's gonna do it for this one. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The theme of the day was simple. The cost of contending. Everybody wants to win, everybody wants the fun part, but there's always a bill. And this week, every league was basically waving the receipt in our faces. I mean, NFL, it's a cat myth. There's tags, there's leverage, quarterback conversations that can either set you up or set you back. NBA, it's nights like the OKC game where you find out what you're made of when it's physical, messy, and nothing comes up easy. And MLB, it's leadership, depth, pitching, surviving the long season without panicking by week two. And the hockey deadline is the purest form of it. Contenders paying in picks and prospects just to buy themselves a better chance at two months of hope. So here's a little life part before we get out of here, like I always leave you with. Contending in anything, sports, work, life, your goals, it's never free. You either pay up front with discipline and consistency and patience, or you pay for it later with regret. That's really the choice. People love the idea of winning. But the habits that create winning, those are the subscription fees that nobody wants to swipe for. If you're listening right now, you got something you want, a goal, a change, a next step. Just remember, you don't have to do everything today. You just have to pay something today. One small rep, one decision, one hour, one message you've been avoiding. Because the people who end up where they want to go aren't special. They're just consistent about paying the bill and getting after it. As always, I appreciate you rocking with me. If you're new here, welcome. Make sure you hit follow or subscribe or whatever, whatever that little bell says on wherever you're listening. Helps the show, leave a review, you know. You know, don't miss the next one either. Keep tapping in on the socials. It's at Rice on the Radio, on Instagram, on TikTok, on Facebook, on everything, you know. Mic check every Wednesday. DMs are always open, mailbag questions are always open. Just DM me. I love a good meme. Just send me stuff. I always answer. Trust me. So, with all that being said, now it's time to go enjoy the rest of your day. But while you're doing that, make sure you spread some good energy in this world. Make sure you tell someone you love them. Being good is good. Good things happen to good people. It's important to remember that. I am Ian Rice. This has been episode 55 of Rice on the Mics. And I'll catch you same time, same place next week.