Spring training is here. It’s been a long, cold offseason made even longer and even colder by the way last season ended, but baseball is back.

Newsday Yankees beat writer Erik Boland joined me to talk about the start of spring training, the questions Gerrit Cole will have to answer about his time with the Astros, the James Paxton injury news, the position player battles and how Clint Frazier avoided being traded for another offseason.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Next week spring training begins. Baseball is back even if it’s just beat writers live-tweeting intrasquad games and batting practice, reading about pitchers’ fielding practice and back-field infield drills and watching videos of bullpen sessions recorded on a phone through the spacing of a chain-link fence.

Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the possibility of Nolan Arenado becoming a Yankee, how easy it will be for the Yankees to win the division and more than 102 games, the mess the Red Sox are in, staying positive with Aaron Boone’s managerial style and what Giancarlo Stanton needs to do to win back Yankees fans.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

It’s now been more than a decade since the Yankees and Phillies met in the 2009 World Series and neither team has been back to the World Series since then let alone won a championship. While the Yankees have been to the four ALCS since 2009 and have contended for a return to the World Series, the Phillies are going on a ninth straight year without a playoff appearance. I didn’t see this coming when both teams were on top of the baseball world.

Matt Higgins of CBS Philadelphia joined me to talk about the Phillies hiring former Yankees manager Joe Girardi, the Phillies’ bullpen still being a major issue, the free-agent signings of Didi Gregorius and Zack Wheeler, looking back on the 2009 World Series and subsequent offseasons and expectations for the upcomning season.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

For the last few years it’s been the Indians and Twins the Yankees have worried about from the AL Central. The AL Central has sent four teams to the postseason in the last three years and the Yankees have eliminated three of them. But things are changing in the midwest and it might be the White Sox who are the team to beat in the AL Central.

White Sox Dave of Barstool Sports joined me to talk about the White Sox’ heavy-spending offseason, the additions of Yasmani Grandal, Edwin Encarnacion and Dallas Keuchel, the breakout seasons from Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada, the career turnaround of Lucas Giolito, the future for Blake Rutherford, a possible Yankees-White Sox playoff series and the White Sox becoming the best baseball team in Chicago.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!