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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: New York Mets · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, folks, you're listening to this installment of Opposition Territory here at
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the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
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in the world. That's right, ten years strong. We got a great
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discussion coming your way, as always on our Opposition Territory shows. I love
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doing these podcasts because it gives us all some insight into what's going on outside
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the world of Philly sports. Now as we know this n Least Division.
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My gosh, it is so tight in terms of the middle of what's happening
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with the Mets, the Phillies, the Marrow Lens. I mean, anything
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can happen with these teams. One of these teams is going to get hot
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at some point in the near future. And this week we are talking about
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the Mets, specifically the New York Mets. We got a great guest.
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Why don't we just get right to it. It is great to have back
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on the podcast joining us from another great podcast, a pod of their own
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over at Amazon Avenue dot com. You know we love our SB Nations sites.
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You can follow her on Twitter at Maggie one six two. We've got
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the one and only Maggie Wigging how you doing. I'm doing well, Jeff,
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how are you? I'm doing all right. I really appreciate you coming
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on to talk about the New York Mets, because I'll tell you right now,
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I am absolutely intrigued by how this NLA's division is shaping up here in
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twenty twenty three. Maggie. I mean, we're certainly going to get into
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it. I mean, the Mets, the Phillies, the Marlins just just
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middling right in the middle of this division. There's not it seems that these
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teams they're just struggling. There's a lot of challenges, but it makes it
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interesting for sure. And I just want to say I appreciate you coming on
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to talk about the New York Mets because New York Mets they're having some issues,
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for sure they are. I will say, I'm much happier to be
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here today talking about the Mets than I would have been this time last week.
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Yeah, yes, it is. It's been a much nicer week than
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some of the several that came before. Absolutely, well, let's I like
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to on our opposition territory shows talk to my guests specifically about strengths and weaknesses
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of the teams that we're specifically focusing on So let's start off our discussion with
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strengths and weaknesses of this twenty twenty three Mets team at this point and at
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this point in the season around the end of May. Here, let's start
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with the biggest strengths of this team. When you look at what this team
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has given its fans and just where it is right now, what are some
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of the biggest strengths of this twenty twenty three Mets team. I mean,
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that's a that is, to some extent, the harder question to ask.
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But I mean, as long as we're talking strength, I gotta give my
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big boy Pete Alonso. He has in a in a season when a lot
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of Mets have sort of left plenty to be desired, Pete is giving exactly
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what Mets have come to hope to see from him. Um, you know,
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the average is a little on the low side, but we have seen
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before he's perfectly capable of pulling up. He's around two thirty right now to
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like to sixty two seventy. He's got that in him. But he is.
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He's just absolutely crushing the ball, major league leading seventeen home runs.
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He's giving that power in the middle of the lineup, which the team really
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needs. And I would say the other another strength would be just in general,
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the young position players that they have brought up now, they have not
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been m not every single one of them has been super, super consistent.
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But you've got this steady stream of Francisco Alvarez and Brett Beatty and Mark Vientos
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who have all come up and been a part of getting this team back on
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the right track. And I would say especially I think Beatty and Alvarez have
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you know, they're both producing above average offensively, which is I think especially
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impressive for Alvarez, who is a baby. He is twenty one years old,
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and I think he took like two deep breaths in triple A before getting
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before getting pulled up. And what's great is like, I mean, he's
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his bat has been just fine or more than fine, which long term is
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what you'd expect, although you wouldn't necessarily expect it at twenty one. And
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then also he's actually like beyond serviceable behind the plate, which I think was
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for the short term. Those were the big worries like, oh, my
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goodness, is he going to be able to stick at catcher this young and
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so far, he looks great there. And then Brett Batty just has settled
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in like like he's been around for years. He's just stepped right into that
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everyday third baseman made it position, made it impossible for them to uh,
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you know, to let him linger on the sidelines. Although you know,
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the the lineup still gets a lot of mixing around and Escobar is going to
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get his reps there as well. Vento's probably too um but you know,
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those to have that um, to have that unexpected or you know, maybe
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unguaranteed production from young players is really has really been a nice surprise and definitely
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gives the Mets, you know, something to build on. Um. I
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would say the weakness is this. This one's a pretty easy one. It's
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m it's this starting pitching. The starting pitching has been hurt and it's been
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bad, and it's been hurt and bad. It's a theme for the Phillies
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too. I mean, it's a theme for the Mets, theme for the
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Phillies, even even the Marlins. You're seeing these middling teams here in the
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NL East. When you look at it in the end, the starting pitching,
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my gosh, it's just so completely inconsistent but go ahead, I'm sorry
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to interrupt you. With the starting pitching has been unbelievable to watch. Yeah,
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they just have not been able to get any good consistent production from their
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starting pitchers. And I guess one of the you know, of looking at
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other teams too. One of the ironies of all of this is like,
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certainly there were many other big names out there that the Mets could have gone
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after in the off season, and they've all been bad. And you know,
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Rodan is hurt, and the gram is hurt, like everybody who was
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on the Mets, you know, Radar was hurt. So it isn't even
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like this feels like something it could have been avoided. Like, no,
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very much. This is just what the Mets were destined to be facing,
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I suppose this year. But like, you know, you've got um,
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You've got Verlander, who and this you know, this will be a big
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asterisk in terms of recording today as opposed to last week. But you know,
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Verlander was hurt for a long time and then he just wasn't looking himself,
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and then last night he comes out and throws eight brilliant innings and just
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is exactly the guy. Then that's what hope too, and so and this
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is really like, you know, I've sort of hinted at this, but
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this is a real kind of, um like go hard or die sort of
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moment for the team, just in terms of like they're on a really good
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stretch suddenly and for the first time all season. And is that going to
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define the rest of their season or is it just sort of a blip in
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the radar. So, like, you know, just like Verlander, is
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he is he going to settle back into being an ace? I think yes,
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what I mean, he's certainly like he was old last year when he
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won't so young, Like you know, him being old this year doesn't mean
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that he has forgotten had a pitch, although it can come on fast.
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So always trying to like, you know, steal myself for for that disappointment,
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but I have I think that what we saw last night from Verlander was
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what he's capable of doing when he's not rusty, because he was rusty.
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Absolutely, And it's a really good segue, Maggie for the next topic I
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wanted to get into, which is the actual starting pitching here, because my
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gosh, the Mets they've circled through nine different starting pitchers this season, which
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is third most in Major League Baseball. Now they've got thirty four year old
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Jose Quintana getting ready to come back after rib injury, and I'm wondering you've
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been assessing here, you know, in terms of the weaknesses of this team,
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this Mets, you know, pitching rotation to an extent here. But
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I'm wondering how how you correlate that and the struggles that they have had with
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what the expectations were before the season started. And also wondering too if Jose
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Quintana may help to actually provide some more stability to this rotation in the coming
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weeks. Perhaps. I think the story coming into the season was always that
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the Mets top five was, you know, on paper, as good as
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anyone's UM. When you have Serzer and Verlander at the front there, Uh
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yes, I mean you still might be a lot of season left, yeah,
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and Sea coming in from Japan very highly regarded UM. And then you
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had Quintana and Carrasco as your four or five, which is like, that's
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a nice situation to be on the four or five, except that immediately they
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started running into problems, which is that Verlander didn't throw a pitch until May,
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and Quintana's not going to either. Carrasco was visibly hurt, missed a
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lot of time, just came back looks a little less visibly hurt. Um,
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And so I think it's always just a matter of figuring out at this
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point, like is um like is Max Scherzer again just kind of getting into
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the rhythm after he has had a tumultuous start to his season. Um,
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you know, is he is he really getting back on track? He certainly
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looks like he is. But at the same time, it you know,
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it could be a season of ups and downs for him and the same you
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know, for that matter, like we feel good about Cantana coming back,
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like he's certainly better than a lot of the Mets alternatives, but you know,
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how is he going to look? How long is it going to take
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him to settle in? And other than the other side of the problem that
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the Mets were having is that, you know, like any team in this
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situation, they had to dig into their depth, and the depth also underperformed
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from what we would have expected last year. David Peterson, despite what he
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has shown consistently at Citizens Bank Park, is like a perfectly cromulent sixth starter
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like, yeah, in general should see time on most major league teams,
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except this year, he couldn't pitch to save his life. And it was
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just really like it was the worst of David Peterson every single time he was
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out there. And so you know, when you have you have guys that
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you start to rely on, not to necessarily, you know, mow down
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the world, but at least to like just be able to give you a
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half decent spot start, that consistency, Yeah, that just disappeared. Yeah,
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So that and and that has been the other problem. That's also why
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I mean at this point the season, we've gone through nine of them,
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because you just couldn't you couldn't keep throwing David Peterson out there. I mean,
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at the end of the day, the thing is when you have really
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good starting pitchers who are pitching badly and everyone else is pitching injured and your
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depth is just god awful, I mean, you're going to end up where
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the Mets are, which is with a really disappointing performance on the pitching especially.
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Yeah. Absolutely, Look again, it comes down to consistency for this
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Mets team, and I think once they start getting that consistency, again Jose
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Quintana. Once he does get back on the bump, once he gets back
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on the mound, I think, I think that you're gonna see some of
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that a little bit more. And of course we know the arms that they
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have there. Once the consistency starts for some of the huge names you know
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that the Mets pitching staff have, I think you're gonna see some good things.
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And I think Mets fans are gonna be happy. Phillies fans are gonna
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be extremely sad. So let's look from a bullpen perspective now, Maggie.
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You know, I think what's interesting is that a very low key Mets trade
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that happened during the off season has been, you know, kind of working
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out for the team thus far. Jeff Bringham. He's been one of those
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I think under the radar acquisitions who's who's proving to be a valuable part of
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the bullpen. And I tend to like these type of trades that happen for
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any MLB team, you know, because at the end of the day,
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we're always following the superstars. Jeff Bringham not necessarily a superstar, but his
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story has been more of a quiet victory for the Mets in their front office.
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I believe, you know, he's put up like decent numbers and I
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think that's what you want to see in terms of again that word stability for
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this Mets a pitching staff and some of the arms that you're seeing coming out
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from the bullpen. How would you have said, assessed where the bullpen is
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at here in late May, Well, I think, um, you know,
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the bullpen is one of the stronger bullpens the Mets have had in a
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while, which is I mean, it's saying a lot because of course,
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one of the things about the Mets bullpen is that they are missing just only
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the best reliever on the planet, right right that they you know, they
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came into the season down one superstar, right, so the fact that they're
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holding their own at this point is is pretty impressive. But of course the
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bigger, the biggest issue for the bullpen has been the starting pitching, right
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because you know, even when the starting pitching wouldn't be too bad for a
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while there, they just if they could not go into games. So your
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best case scenario for a Mets starting pitcher would have been five shutout innings,
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and like, you get those five and you're like, oh, thank god,
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we got five out of him. Like it's and you absolutely cannot have
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a decent bullpen for four innings every single game. It does not work.
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No one has ever done it, and the Mets will not be the first.
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Yeah, And that's where I mean the value of a guy like Brigham
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has been really high, because I mean he's already he's appeared in fourteen games
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and that's you know, and his ability to kind of go out there and
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give the Mets some quality, some quality pitches, especially like a good strikeout
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right, Like, yeah, I mean he's just the kind of middle reliever
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that the Mets desperately need, but also the kind of middle reliever who is
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at risk of getting overused, and both in terms of like keeping his arm
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healthy and in terms of him being overexposed to the league, because like,
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Brigham's not gonna strike out a third of the batters that he faces forever.
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But but um, as long as he is now, that's fine by me.
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I'm not complaining. But you also, I mean, I think,
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like in terms of somebody who was brought in to be a distant number two
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to um to Edwin Diaz, the fact that David Robertson at thirty eight years
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old looks like a god is um is just what the doctor orders. Where
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was he with the Phillies with looking like this, dear lord, sorry I
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mean the hashtag sy Sorry sorry, No, I mean And and that's another
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one where like, look, David Robertson is not going to have a one
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ra a forever um And certainly, I mean, the faster the Mets can
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work out they're larger pitching issues, the better. Just in terms. I
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mean we we even saw it yesterday, like for the first time Robertson really,
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I mean, I think that might have been his first blown save.
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I um, I think you might be right, Quay close enough attention to
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that. But but yeah, I mean, he gave up the home run
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yesterday, almost lost the game. I feel like I want to get a
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screen cap of his space when he did that. He had his hands kind
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of over his head and I was just like, boy, same buddy,
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right there with you. But you know, and again, like for a
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team that lost the best closer in baseball to have stumbled into a really ding
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dang good closer, is is incredibly lucky. Yeah, and so you know,
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very again, you know there's no good way to run a bullpen in
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this situation, but all things considered, they are getting some really good stuff
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from that bullpen. Drew Smith is another one. He has been around the
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Mets forever, just kind of always nibbling at some kind of a high pressure
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roll and I think I think he's still maybe not one hundred percent there yet,
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but he's but he's shutting down the offense is when he needs to.
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He looks m he looks great much of the time. Stills walking too many
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guys, but that's that's going to happen, UM. And so it's you
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know, it's great for a team to have, um, to have a
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couple of guys like that who you can go to, but then um,
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you know, it does start to get thin around the middle and on the
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middle. I also sort of have to include Adam Onavino in this who UM.
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I think there was a lot of optimism and you know, he's just
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not looking like the guy he was last year, UM, which is you
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know, understandable. At UM he's you know, moving into those late thirties
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kind of ages right there and just not um, yeah, not not delivering
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in the way that the Mets really could use him delivering and um, and
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you've got like Brooks rarely looks mostly pretty good. He was pitching kind of
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men when he got hurt um and he's you know, after adjusting, he's
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been back again and looking fine. And then Noga Sak is the other one
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who had a good start to the season, but I think, you know,
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is another one where the workload is starting to pile up on him.
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And I think that's that is part of the challenge for the Mets and figuring
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out how they're going to manage this bullpen over the course of the season,
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because that is always a big job. As the question is how many of
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these guys are just getting worked too hard, yeah, and how many of
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them are just not good and should probably move on from them as quickly as
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possible. Well, I do think there is a theme throughout our conversation here,
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Maggie, which is with regard to the Mets, those gentlemen who seem
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to be having some challenges this season, maybe the more aged individuals on this
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team, the older individuals, which we are going to get to in a
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little bit because of where Mets Nation is in terms of wanting to see some
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other you know, players and talent on the field. But before we actually
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get to that, I wanted to talk about what's going on with the hitting
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with this Mets team, because the Mets hitting in the batters box has kind
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of just been all over the place this season from what I've seen from my
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understanding here, I mean Starling Marte, who I absolutely I've talked to you
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and passed about him. I love him as a major League baseball player.
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He's a talent I wish was on the Philadelphia Phillies. Frankly, he just
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you know, he's hitting his way out of a slump recently. Again,
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you talked about Pete Alonzo. He has seventeen home runs already as of us
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recording this. He's that fantastic stability in the batters box in terms of that
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Jeff McNeil, you know, he's batting two ninety one as of us recording
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this. But Francisco Lindor, you know, he's got forty nine strikeouts batting
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average of two twenty eight. Other members of this team haven't been too too
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steady and consistent in the batters box. So how would you grade the batting
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that you have seen of the Mets? Just after six weeks of play here
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and why I mean, I can't imagine going any further than like a B
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minus on this one. Um. And certainly, I mean the theme as
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always is that they are just consistently inconsistent. Is that? Um? You
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think like you think, like I can't watch this guy take another at bat
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and then he hits a bomb the next inning, Like it's just, um,
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it's almost maddening. UM. And I think like if I had to
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kind of come together on a theme for the Mets hitters, um, it's
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really a lack of power that has sort of been a very clear issue.
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And it's interesting in the way it kind of contrasts to last year, you
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know, Starling Marte and McNeil, just to kind of pick two examples.
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You know, they're they're the kinds of players who they've got power, but
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they are going to deliver most of their value, um, just with lots
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of hits at a higher average and some speed in there. Um. And
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that's that's their profile. But then this year they're like no power at all,
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right, like none whatsoever. You know, it's it's really and then
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you see like Daniel Vogelback, Daniel Vogeback has like two home runs all season,
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Like, what are we doing here with Daniel Vogelback if he's not hitting
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home runs? Like and he's getting on bass and that's really nice, But
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like, at the end of the day, you can't have like Daniel Vogelback
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and Jeff McNeil as your only players on base, um when you there's nobody
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to like hit to like knock them in. Um, so I think,
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but we are seeing a little more, Um, we are seeing some development
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from again. McNeil is someone who has sort of like righted the ship a
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bit the last two weeks, um, you know, in just in terms
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of going from like what was kind of an empty average to a little bit
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more than that. And Lindor, I think is another is another guy who,
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um, you know, he's he's trying to find that balance he's always
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been he you know, he power is part of his game. He is
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a good, solid power hitter, but he's not like a thirty home run
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hit, so he has to sort of thread that needle between delivering on power
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and just being a decent all around hitter. And he's not quite there yet
22:08
right now. But I think the last couple of weeks you've seen like he
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is settling and he is looking better and better, still killing it in the
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field like always like just so reliable, you know, and and some decent
22:23
base running, like you know, Lindora is one of those players where you
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know, it's it's been a rough start to the season for him, but
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I'm just like his WRC plus is one hundred and eight, Like do you
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want to stop there? Absolutely not. You do want to see that get
22:38
higher. But we're still talking about someone who is above average offensively for the
22:42
league overall, let alone for a solid shortstop, Like that's a good you
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know, you'd like to see that. You don't want to see that necessarily
22:52
from your like superstar shortstop, But there's also plenty to look at there and
22:56
think that, like this is going to be fine. Um, I would
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say another another player who is holding his own because he always always does is
23:07
Brandon Nimo. You just you look up, you look up, and his
23:11
on base is like three seventy Like you just like you know, if you
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if I ask you to guess, like what is you know, what is
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like walk strike out ratio? You probably could like he's he really is.
23:22
For all of the talk of them Mets being inconsistent, which they are.
23:26
Um Nimo is just always in there a thorn and everyone's sides. He gets
23:32
on base, he can hit for some power. He hit a home run
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like halfway to Main Street, Flushing last year the other day, like just
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absolute bomb um so and and his defense has been um so much better this
23:45
year. Like it's a really like for a team that needs some consistency,
23:51
it's wonderful to have Nimo there. And you know, there has been some
23:53
inconsistency in Pete's game. He came off of a a bad week or so
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stretched where I mean, I think he had like an over twenty in there.
24:02
It wasn't pretty, but at the same time, seventeen home runs,
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it's incredible. M and he is and he is, like you can see
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the average is starting to tick up. You know, he's he's just a
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monster, and he's um brings everything the Mets could possibly want from him.
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And I'm just gonna like, look, Steve Cohen, if you are listening
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to this right now, the love of God, sign that man to an
24:25
extension, Holy bro. More he humps your dugout fence to death. That
24:32
man signed again, Folks talking to Maggie Wigging from a pod of their own
24:37
over at Amazing Avenue dot com. You can listen to her and her co
24:41
host on a weekly basis at Maggie one six two on Twitter. She is
24:45
a great, great follow. All right, we are going to take a
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quick break here, but we want to keep talking with Maggie about this Mets
24:53
team. We're gonna pay some bills. We'll be back in just a bit.
24:57
All right, we are back here on opposition territory, getting into and
25:02
continuing, I should say, to get into this Mets team with Maggie Wiggan
25:07
and to kind of piggyback on something I had said a little earlier and kind
25:11
of a theme I think within Mets Nation there seems to be a little bit
25:17
of a frustration within part of the Mets fan base that I wanted to dive
25:22
into with you, specifically Maggie, like with regard to like younger players not
25:26
necessarily getting the chance that a lot of folks within Mets Nation want to see.
25:33
Like. So, I've been reading some articles recently about how Buck shoal
25:36
Walter might not be the right manager, perhaps he might not be the right
25:38
skipper for the Mets due to a number of managerial type of issues. You
25:42
know, he's getting he's getting some getting a little bit of heat, you
25:45
know after six weeks. You know, sometimes I have to look at certain
25:49
managers and say and fan bases and say, you know, pump the brakes
25:52
a little bit. This may be one of those situations. But the let
25:56
the kids play mantra has really been a slow again for a lot of Mets
26:00
fan this season. Again from my understanding, and whether it's Shoe Walter or
26:04
GM Billy Eppler, there seems to be a lot of fans that just want
26:10
the young talent within this ball club and even the farm system to get out
26:14
there and see what they can do to help provide some more consistency and stability
26:18
for this Mets team. What are your thoughts on this theme that doesn't necessarily
26:23
seem to be going away anytime soon, so I think I'm I mean,
26:29
there's always going to be heat on a manager when a team comes in with
26:32
these high expectations and underperforms to the extent that the Mets have underperformed. I
26:37
mean they went, yeah, two weeks where it was like they couldn't buy
26:40
a win, and there's like you always have to look towards the top when
26:45
something like that is happening. Now that said, um, you know,
26:48
I think he certainly Showalter certainly does have a reputation for perhaps coddling veterans a
26:56
little bit or being overly deferential to their play time. I would like him
27:03
to play the kids more, but I also have seen just over the last
27:08
week that that that he is playing them more, you know. So I
27:15
don't think it's in terms of like, oh, he's never going to play
27:17
the kids. I don't think that's true. I think he is. I
27:19
think he has his sort of like default leaning inclination and has been gradually adjusting
27:27
that to the reality of like clearly seeing the energy coming from the young kids.
27:33
And I think it's unfair to Buck to act as though he is just
27:37
incapable of recognizing that and adjusting. And I think the other thing to remember
27:41
about Buck's approach, while it might be frustrating, is that he has vocally
27:48
put a high value on keeping guys rested and not running out your same set
27:55
every day, like that's you know, so that you don't end up at
27:57
the end of the season with everybody asked, right, So you are going
28:02
to see some vogel Box and some Escobar at bats, and they also you
28:06
know, and they're not going to be three weeks apart, because then you're
28:10
not getting anything from those guys, because nobody can hit three weeks apart.
28:14
So they are going to get in there, probably more than folks like,
28:18
and maybe even a little bit more than is optimal. But if you think
28:22
you're getting an optimal manager, like, there's no such thing. So I
28:27
totally understand why, especially where the Mets are in terms of having these young
28:32
guys knocking at the door. I understand the lack of trust around show Alter,
28:37
but I also think, first of all, there's nothing on this team
28:41
that I think like warrants the kind of explosive impact replacing him would have.
28:49
Yeah, they love him right like. He is a he is a deeply
28:53
adored I mean, Francisco Lindore's daughter alone would would throw tantrum the likes no
29:00
one has ever seen. I mean, he's he's a beloved figure there.
29:03
And for a team that's underperforming, that's that's a big That would be a
29:08
big step. I mean if they were if they were still if they'd continued
29:11
their losing streak this last week instead of turning things around. I mean maybe,
29:17
but like that is just like, you know, he's not going anywhere
29:19
that would be nuclear and there's nothing about this team that needs like a nuclear
29:23
change. Can't pitch. I feel like it's a good reminder. I mean,
29:30
I think like there might be a talk about another like well regarded figure.
29:33
I mean, Jeremy Hefter, the pitching coach, might be the more
29:37
um at risk person. Although again also really wealth thought of buy the staff
29:44
and buy baseball overall. But you know, if if we're still seeing a
29:48
lot of this team's trends not improving over the next few months, if we're
29:53
still seeing you know, all the depth pitchers just being terrible, and all
29:59
the starter not really getting their a game or being able to go deep into
30:03
games at all, then maybe he's the guy you look at. But at
30:06
the end of the day, the kids, what we've seen over the last
30:08
few days, especially the kids are going to play. You know, is
30:12
Escobar are going to sit for the next two weeks? Right? No,
30:15
and he shouldn't. Like everyone on the team has a role, and Buck
30:21
will shuffle people through those roles to try to keep them fresh and keep them
30:25
focused. It's gonna be Is it gonna be successful? Hundred percent of the
30:29
time? It's not right. But if anyone who's wanting bad from a manager
30:33
again, like Pooh, find him right, show me the manager everybody loves
30:37
all the time. Part of the theme here, it reminded me of Joe
30:41
Girardi with the Phillies in a way where there was that stubborn nature about the
30:45
manager. And I'm not I'm not saying that Show Walter is exactly like Joe
30:49
Girardi by any stretch of the imagination. I would not say that at all.
30:53
But I do wonder how because of the money that was spent, because
30:59
of the investment that were made in this team during the off season, and
31:02
the fact that that those investments necessarily haven't come to fruition with the type of
31:07
record I think this team in the fan base expected to see at this particular
31:11
point in the season that because of Show Walter's stubbornness in a way that it
31:15
kind of becomes a scapegoat. And I do wonder if that's that's part of
31:21
this equation as to why the quote let let the young kids play has been
31:25
part of a theme h this particular season. Yeah, I mean, I
31:30
think, um, you know someone who and I try not to like throw
31:33
this word around too much, but but Buck show Walter is certainly iconic as
31:37
a yes, and so you know, to come in with those own expectations
31:42
that he has built for himself. I mean again, in a way,
31:47
it's sort of like it welcomes the criticism. In some ways you're like,
31:51
whoa is he just lost it? Like That's the other thing is, once
31:53
you get a certain age, even when it's not like pitches that you're trying
31:57
to do, I think it really is easy to be like, well,
32:00
he's you know, he's past his prime. He's crotchety like setting his ways.
32:05
You know, you can you can build these narratives really easily, but
32:07
you also just have to look at the reality of what's happening on the field,
32:12
who's playing, who's not playing. And the thing is like, for
32:14
the most part, it's fine. I like the bigger delays were honestly on
32:19
the part of Eppler, just in terms of getting the young kids up and
32:23
you know, and you can make the argument and I think probably people do
32:27
that he waited until their egos were through the moon because they were absolutely destroying
32:32
the miners and like that's you know, there is that argument to be made,
32:37
and I think it's very very easy to say, like, look,
32:40
I just want to see the kids play. I just want to see them.
32:43
But then you also like you want to keep them confident, you want
32:47
to give them good matchups. You know, you never know which guy tweaked
32:52
his wrist because he slept on it, funny last night, like if there's
32:54
always little things behind them, behind the curtain that we don't necessarily know.
33:01
But I think because of Buck's stature, and because of his fairly well known
33:06
personality and inclinations, it is very easy to assign specific blame to him.
33:13
All right, very good. Well. A topic that I kind of touched
33:16
on it as we started our discussion, wanted to close with it, Maggie,
33:21
is the fact that this NL East division is just, my gosh,
33:24
just all over the place. You've got teams changing positions, the number two,
33:29
number three to number four positions within the division. It almost seems like
33:32
on a daily basis at this point, Mets, Phillies and Marlins are just
33:37
these middling teams in the middle of the NLL East that haven't really shown us
33:39
too too much. After six weeks of baseball. The Braves obviously favorites at
33:45
this point to win the division. But I just you know, as we
33:49
close things out here, how do you see that number two spot in the
33:52
NLL East kind of taken shape over these next few weeks and months. I
33:57
mean, that's a great question. I will start by saying, like,
33:59
I don't think the number one spot is particularly cemented. I mean, look
34:05
again, this is this is I'm a little biased in this just because like
34:08
we saw it last year, right, but the Braves have not put up
34:13
anywhere near the lead in the division that the Mets did. And then I
34:16
mean you could also say that the Mets through it away, although I don't
34:19
think that's entirely fair. I mean, if nothing else, it's not particularly
34:22
fair to the Braves who just played like absolute monsters for two thirds of a
34:27
season. But you know, the men, I think currently the Braves have
34:30
a five game lead. A five game lead is solid, but also a
34:34
five game league could be gone by next week. And they look and they
34:38
look great, but they also you know, the Braves also have not had
34:42
to weather much on the injury front. I know that every Braves stand would
34:45
be like well what about blah blah blah. But like in the grand scheme
34:49
of things, they have not been losing, you know, this the caliber
34:52
of players at others, it's not like the Mets, it's not like the
34:54
Phillies exactly exactly. So I don't think that they have a lockdown on first
35:00
place, although certainly they are the favorites at this point and for good reason.
35:04
But when it comes to that second place, I mean, man,
35:06
it is going to be a dog fight, I you know, and I
35:07
wouldn't be shocked to see a little more separations start to grow over the next
35:13
few weeks, just as everybody starts to you know, the team, like
35:15
the Mets, is getting healthy and seeing if that starts to make some difference.
35:20
The Nats, I think I've been playing a little over their own capabilities.
35:22
Right now, we're only nine games behind, and I think that's going
35:27
to change past um, you know, and I think, but it's it's
35:30
really I think it's really hard to say. Right now, it's fun and
35:34
I and it's fun, and I do think, especially looking at the rest
35:37
of the National League, which is like not not like destroying the world out
35:42
there right now, like National League Baseball is is not like feeling these moments
35:46
of pride. But I mean, certainly it's hard to see at least one
35:52
of one out on Alli's team not making it in as the wild cards.
35:55
So I think, like one way or another, at least one of these
35:59
these kind of middle teams is going to is going to get that, is
36:04
going to get that. And I would not be surprised if it's as close
36:07
as the first place spot was last year. Absolutely, and of course like
36:13
and all that, you know, the Meds and the Braves in an absolute
36:15
like dog fight for first place and the team that made it to the World
36:19
Series was the Phillies exactly. So if that doesn't like, if that doesn't
36:23
show that, I mean it could really this season. It is a total
36:29
crapshoot for the NL East as far as I'm concerned, Like, I would
36:32
not be putting big money anywhere on that. Anything can happen in baseball,
36:37
folks, As we know a lot of the twenty twenty two playoff teams not
36:39
doing too too well this season. I gotta say it was amazing talking to
36:45
her. Maggie Wiggan, thank you so much for jumping on our Opposition Territory
36:50
podcast. And folks really quick again a Pod of their Own. It's a
36:54
great, great podcast over to Mason Avenue dot com. You can get it
36:58
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, whatever podcast platform you are on. And your
37:02
co hosts do a great job. Alison McCaig has been on our podcast.
37:07
I know she's one of your co hosts. Get some plugs out there with
37:09
it. Begum So. I think A Pot of their Own is one of
37:14
the best podcasts out there. There you go, um and you can.
37:16
You can find a Pot of their Own on Twitter at at a Pot of
37:21
their Own and Alison, one of my co hosts, is at Petite PhD
37:27
and then Linda Sarevich is also a wonderful follow um and that's Elsarevich at um
37:34
All on Twitter, so you can find us there. We're part of the
37:37
podcast network home run Apple Sauce. You can find us on all your podcast
37:42
spots. Um and yeah, come check us out. And we also have
37:45
a we have a Patreon. I'm supposed to be I've been really bad about
37:49
some Yes, Okay, you can actually pay us for all the work work
37:52
that we do trying to bring you really good Mets content and sports social justice
37:58
content. You know, we're really passion about about telling different kinds of stories
38:02
on our show, and I hope you come check us out. All right,
38:07
sounds good again, folks, Maggie Wiggan, it was great talking to
38:09
you. Maggie. Come back and join us down the road. I'd love
38:12
to have you back in the pod. I'd love too, Thanks so much.
38:15
Deep I love talking to Maggie. Love talking to the folks over at
38:19
a pod of their own about this specific Mets organization and this team. You
38:25
know, we talked about last year's team, and there are definitely some differences
38:29
that we're seeing, of course, in terms of performance with last year's Mets
38:32
team this year's Mets team. And I do think the Mets have the opportunity
38:37
to go on that winning streak at some point in the near future here because
38:42
you know, look, they are a stacked team. There's just so much
38:45
inconsistency when it comes to the NL East at this point. You know,
38:49
I gotta say, Maggie really made a good point about the Atlanta Braves.
38:52
Can they keep the number one overall spot? I mean it looks pretty good
38:55
right now of us recording this, you know, at the end of Hey,
39:00
here is their five games up. I don't know anything can happen.
39:05
I think in this NL East. We've been talking about on this podcast how
39:08
this division is going to be one of the most intriguing to watch in the
39:12
game of baseball, and it certainly has not because each team is just lighten
39:16
it up and on fire. But as Maggie was saying, you know,
39:20
there's gonna be a wildcard team likely coming out of this division. Who is
39:23
that going to be. There's gonna be a lot of great battles, There's
39:27
gonna be a lot of challenges for these teams. Again mainly with regard to
39:32
the Mets, Phillies and the Marlinsos. Middling teams that we've been talking about.
39:37
What are they gonna do? It's gonna be really fun to watch and
39:40
continue to watch as well. That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition
39:44
Territory. Make sure you're following us on Twitter. If you are new to
39:46
the podcast at Philadelphia PSD, you can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren.
39:52
We have got a great regular show coming your way this week which will be
39:54
dropping Thursday morning. Do not miss it. It'll be in your podcast speed
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40:07
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40:10
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40:14
catch you next time.