Latest / Foul Territory / Former Mets GM Jim Duquette joins FT: Mets massive week, Ranking NL East + Orioles next to land big arm?

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Former Mets GM Jim Duquette joins FT: Mets massive week, Ranking NL East + Orioles next to land big arm? · Foul Territory

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Former MLB GM former Mets GM Jim Doucat joining us
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: right now. You can hear him on serious MLB network radio.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: You can hear him on sn HY among other spots.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Buddy of ours. Do great to see you, and also
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I want to commend awesome job with the coverage of
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: what the Mets have been up to and the Kyle
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Tucker sweepstakes. I'm locked in, man. I mean, I'm always
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: following you, but I'm extra following you lately. So we
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: got to go right away with what kind of week
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the Mets just had and do you think that when
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you add it all up, they are a better ball
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: club than last year?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, guys.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: I you know what, first off, if it was literally
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: a week ago they were out on Tucker.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Right and they had nothing.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: They had one of the worst off seasons in the league,
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: and worst one I can remember from a Mets perspective
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: in a long time. So the fact that where they
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: are now, it's pretty it's pretty impressive. I have to
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: say I had my doubts, but in fact, when last
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: time I was with you, guys, you know, I think
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: it was right when Alonzo signed with the Orioles too,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: we're like, Okay, what the heck are they going to do?
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: So to your question on are they better, like, I
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: feel like they're better than they were at the end
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: of the year. Like I didn't think that season went
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: anywhere near where I thought and definitely not the way
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: they thought. But like the way the pitching ended wasn't
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: very good. I think their pitching is a lot better
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: now than it was at the end of the season.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: I think their defense is better. I don't think their
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: offense is better by any stretch. I think it's going
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: to be certainly whenever you have Alonzo out of the lineup,
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: that really hurts. But I do think that they've done
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: a good job of rebounding and they've got I think a.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Little bit better balance with right e's and lefties.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: So you know, I think there's going to have to
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: be like you need Robert to be closer to what
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: he's capable when he's healthy.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Right there's you know, Bishett I think is going to
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: be a beast there.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: But I don't think it's going to be what Pete did,
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: which is, you know, another level. So I think I
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: have some questions with the offense, but I but I
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: definitely think their run prevention is what David Sterns was
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: talking about. I think he's he's done that. It's not perfect,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: but it's I think it's better.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, last year they have five positions that were
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: not they were below average defensively.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: How do we think both how do we think BOE's
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: going to do it? Third base? He's obviously going to
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: play third base, Like that's the one worried, like Police
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: Roberts great when he's healthy, which is about eighty games
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: a year. Has been for a while now, right, except
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: for twenty twenty three. Simeon has gone down a little
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: bit in a lot of his things. Polanco's moving to
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: a new position at first base. So you're saying their
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: defense is better, Bobashett has he ever played third maybe
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: like in travel ball back in high school? So do
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: we do we really know that they're going to be
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: that much better or Mets fans just hoping they're going
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: to be better?
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't know.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: I agree with you that on that ag. You know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: I think though, like I don't know if you've had
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: any teammates either, You guys have had teammates have gone from.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Short to third.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: I've seen guys do it before. Both Bowden and I
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: have talked about this a lot. I mean that the
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: you know, the the reactionary play, no question, that's one.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: It takes a little getting used to, you know, the range.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: I think bo will be fine. I think he has
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: the arm strength just watching eye test, you know, some
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: of the measurements.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: We have now.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Sometimes the slow roller gives, you know, a new third
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  Speaker 4: baseman in trouble, or the angle play where he's throwing
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  Speaker 4: off balance. But I mean, he he's such a good athlete.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: You know, we didn't see him play. I didn't ever
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: saw him play second base, and then right in the
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: middle of the most important games of the year, he's
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: playing second base, and he played it pretty.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Pretty well in a short stint. Now, I think he'd
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: played a little bit in the minor leagues, but I
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: don't know.
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  Speaker 4: I'm reasonably confident, although I can you can never say
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: for sure that he can handle third base.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I am more skeptical about Planco playing first. You know,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: the Mariners that.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Kind of spoke to that that that they thought he
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: could handle first.
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  Speaker 3: But that's a lot harder position, I think.
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  Speaker 4: I anyway than then, you know, some teams give it
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: credit for I think it's a it's a first off.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: We know what's how important it is.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: I mean, you're involved with every play, every ground ball,
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: every thrill across the diamond. But you know, if it's
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: not him, and I've seen Vente's play first it's not perfect. Uh,
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: they do have a little bit of protection there. But
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: I'm more confident at third. Defensively, we know how good
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: Simion is at second, so I'll take those first base,
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: I'm not so sure.
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  Speaker 3: I need to see it in the spring.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: Well wait a minute, you're saying that first base. Anybody
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: can't just play first base, Jim, That's not what I
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: hear from. It's not what I hear from a lot
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: of teams. Oh, we'll just we'll just play at first base.
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  Speaker 6: That's that's all that will happen. I completely agree with you,
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  Speaker 6: and I'm glad. I'm glad you said that. Should the
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: Mets be a team that are hoping? Guys have years
• 4:52
  Speaker 6: hoping they make transitions. Should the Mets, with the money
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: that Stevie Cohen has given or would put into this
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: team and the money that they've put out, should they
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: be hoping? It just seems like there's a lot of
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  Speaker 6: like they're throwing a lot of darts at the dartboard,
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  Speaker 6: but they should be a team that has a lot
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: of darts at the dartboard with like lesser name or
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: lesser known guys and more like solidified positions Or Am
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: I wrong?
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  Speaker 7: Right? No?
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: I think when you're spending an almost four hundred mil,
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: I don't think they're going to get quite the four hundred,
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: but they're going to be close. I think it's fair
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: to say you shouldn't have as many question marks there,
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: no question, you know. I also, you know, with what
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: you know, David Sterns is trying to do, like trying
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: to flip the team from you know, one that he
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: took over, you know, and last year it was more
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: his team than it was the previous year.
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  Speaker 3: That's kind of eballs over time.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: This year, I feel like it's more his than than
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: you know, any of the prior to. When I say
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: that the ones that he put together built more his
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  Speaker 4: fingerprint on it, I feel like, you know, it's it's
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: fair in in you know, understandably to assess that and
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: evaluate it, you know, more towards as we see it
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: in the middle of the season. Right now, it doesn't
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: feel like it's a perfect team. There aren't many perfect
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: teams out there, but I still feel like, I don't
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: know how you guys look at it. Yeah, defensively, you
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: got a couple of question marks, but they had five
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: below average defenders. I thought last year and I watched,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: I watched almost every game.
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  Speaker 3: At third, Nemo took a downturn.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Uh, second base, first base, at least metrically right field
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  Speaker 4: eyeball test, and that's a that's a lot of positions
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  Speaker 4: of people thow average.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: So I think they're better defensively at second. I think
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: they will be at third, not sure at first, uh,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: and better with Roberts.
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  Speaker 4: So you know what does that look like when it
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: comes to run score, runs, runs allowed?
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  Speaker 3: Right?
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  Speaker 4: Like the one thing I've always felt And uh, you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: I'm curious you guys your your thoughts on this too.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: But when we were evaluating guys, we felt we could
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: take guys they.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Could hit and turn them into defenders. Most of the time,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: you can't do it the other way around. If you're
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: a good defender but you can't hit, like you're not
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: going to be able to hit.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: I don't think enough to be you know, a regular
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: or above average offensive player. It's just too hard to
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: frick and hit. So I wouldn't go the way we've
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: seen some of these goals these teams go with. It's just, oh,
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  Speaker 4: we're going to go get the above average defender if
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: they can't hit, because it usually doesn't work out that well.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: And just trying to find good two way players is
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  Speaker 4: just there's just.
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  Speaker 3: Not a lot of them.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: And back to the headliner two.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: They didn't have a Freddie pralt in the rotation last year,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: so when you talk run prevention, we were like, there's
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a lot of activity going on here, but where's the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: starting pitching improvement? Now we see that and I think
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: it's funny how you mentioned Stearns is putting his own
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: stamp on things. Yeah, he clearly didn't love what he
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: saw last year and he blew it up a little bit,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and he's bringing in guys that he is familiar with,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Devin Williams, Freddie p Do you think that Peralta will
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: end up signing an extension with them? Freddie signed an
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: early extension with the Brewers and seems like a guy
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: that more necessarily try to get every last dollar, and
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: you know he knows Stern's If I'm here, I'll put
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it with this way. If I'm the Mets, I'm trying
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to get that done with him and not even let
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: him hit a market that I don't think is great
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: next year. And a lot of those guys are going
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to sign before the lockout begins. So if I'm the Mets,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I try and throw whatever five, one fifty or something
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: his way and see if he'll bite.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: I would Scott.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, it doesn't sound like they're
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: going to do much more, certainly, not anything more impactful.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: I think they're trying to improve some of the you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: fringe parts of the roster we'll call it. But you know,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: I think and they're not going to spend anything any
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: kind of big dollar amount for sure. I think one
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: of the things that get into spring training, you know,
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: part of this is on him too, like he has
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: to feel comfortable, uh, you know, in the in the
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: you know, with the team and in the clubhouse and
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: everything else. We're not quite sure how he's gonna be.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: I don't think he's gonna have any problems pitching in
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: New York, but some guys do. Some guys don't like it, right,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: So there is that element that you have to kind
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: of consider when you're making a trying to.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Make a deal there.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: But I would make that a priority for them, And
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: I think the fact that David knows him is an
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: advantage there.
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  Speaker 3: He should know that he can handle New York long term.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: And so I think that's.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: A little easier to do if you're you know, again,
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: because of the lack of control that they've had in
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: some in some of these other guys. I mean, the
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: last thing you want to do, at least in my mind,
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: is keep flipping this roster over year after year after year.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: At some point you have to have to dial in
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: for somebody long term, right And certainly they're trying to
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: do that with their homegrown guys. But there's a couple
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: guysespecially on the starting pitching front, that you could go
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: down that route. And if you got him signed and listen,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: they're still going to be clamoring for Schooble next year
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: when he's out there as a free agent.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: But that takes a little bit of pressure off you.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: If you get Peralta signed and McClain pitches the way
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: we think he is, and you know, Holmes, you have
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: another year like you might not have to go down
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: that route or go as far as it's going to
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: take to get Scooble.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: So anyway, there's there's some things that they need to do.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I agree though that Peralta would be a priority.
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: Yeah. Agree.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: And by the way, Searns doesn't usually go more than
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: four three to four years pitcher, so getting into go
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: to five it might be a stretch. But that's a
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: whole we don't have enough time for that. I love
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: what the Mets. How the Mets pivoted in like three days.
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: They were all in on Tucker, they lose him to
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: the Dodgers, and they're like, oh, by the way, Boba Schet,
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: you're a nice and then Louise Robert, we can get
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: you for you know whatever. And then oh yeah, by
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: the way, we can get Freddy Peralta for two not
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: even our top prospects, like our third and our fifth
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: or fourth best depending on what publication do you look at.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: So I love what the Mets have done, and I
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: feel like David Sar pivoted nicely.
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: I just have one question for you.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: If the Mets of twenty twenty five played the Mets
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: the way they're constructed in twenty twenty six, who would
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: win a let's say if they played a seven game series,
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: which team would win?
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: That's that's a good one.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: I like the pitching better for the Mets in twenty six.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: I like the defense better. I think the offense is
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: better for the Mets from last year. So and you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: if you're talking about shorter series, I usually take the
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: pitching and the defense over you know, the better offensive
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: team and the blow average d So you know, and listen,
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: there are a lot of things that derailed their season
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: last year, but the number one reason was was how
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: bad their starters were. I mean, there, I don't think
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: there's any There shouldn't be any debate.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I mean it was.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: It was four months of bad, bad starting pitching and
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: not being able to go deep into the game. I
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: think their starting pitching is much different and much better,
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: especially if you think about my claim for a full
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: year in Peralta at the top. So I would say
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: it's close, AJ, but I'd take the twenty six minutes.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: Was it a panic pivot to go get bow?
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: But yeah, that sounds like Boden right there. He used
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: that termed uh Sunday the panic pivot.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: He man he cracks me up.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Uh, you know what, I don't know if there was
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: definitely uh, there was definitely a little bit of panic
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: there going on.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: I would have to say, you know, when.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: You lose out like that, Really the feeling was you're
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: going to get Tucker. I personally did not have a
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: lot of confidence in it, even though they were watching
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: it play out.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: You know, you get the long term option with Toronto
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: and the shorter term option. You aren't.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: I don't care who you are, you're not. You're not
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: winning that battle with the Dodgers, not what they built.
• 12:49
  Speaker 7: So I was very.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: Skeptical that they were going to get it.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Luckily for them, they had you know, we found out
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: afterwards they had been having conversation dialogue with Bo and
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: his representative since the winter meetings.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: I didn't hear, and that they kept it quiet.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: So I mean, you panic pivot would be to me, okay,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: we you're not even on our radar.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: We want you now.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: I think part of the panic was he was going
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: to sign with the Phillies if they didn't get them,
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: and it was going to happen fast, right, So so
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: there was a little bit of that, and you had
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: to you had to really blow his doors off to
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: get him. But that was one of the first times
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: where I felt like, boy, you have a huge weapon
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: in your owner with all that money, Just go do
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: it and worry about the consequences later. Like I'm kinda
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: I wasn't sure David had it in him to do it,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: and he showed me differently, and that I appreciate that.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Just just he got the player. I don't care what
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: the cost was. Who really should.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Care about the cost of Boba Schett when you got
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: the player.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: At the end of the day.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, agreed, Agree, All right, Let's askhim about a player
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: that the Mets re counting on last year the last
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: few years, CODEI singo.
• 13:57
  Speaker 7: Is he going to be a factor for the Mets?
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: I mean he was in Triple A, he was heard,
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: He's been heard when he's the few times he's been healthy,
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: especially at home, he gets the ghost fork going, he's
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: been really good.
• 14:07
  Speaker 7: Can he be a factor and help the Mets? You know,
• 14:09
  Speaker 7: I mean, let's be honest.
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: In a brutal National League, Okay, I mean the brutal,
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: absolutely brutal.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: National League, right I you know, yeah, the bar is
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: pretty low.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: You know, I would say that I can you feel
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: reasonably comfortable if you can get Senga on the mound
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: that it's going to be it's going to be pretty good.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Right when he came back, you know, he didn't come
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: out of the gate real well, and then it seemed
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: like he had trouble with the command of his pitches,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: and so things snowballed almost a little bit like Mike
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: Manaia in the sense that you know, Mania had this
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: late start and then he couldn't really get the lower
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: arm slot going, and and then didn't seem like he
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: could piece together a couple of starts in a row.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: That's where like Sega before the injury was fantastic as
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: we know, but after that it was really a big
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: question mark.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: So I think you can count on him. I don't
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: know if.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: I would count on him for thirty starts or even twenty, Like,
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I just don't just don't know, you know, on the
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: health side of things, he hasn't been able to stay
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: healthy there for a good part of.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: His tenure there with the Mets.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: But I would say this for the number of games
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: that's if I were sitting there and trying to project it,
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: I'd say just count on him for fifteen starts. If
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: it's fifteen, I feel comfortable it's going to be fifteen
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: good ones or most of them.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Are going to be good. I just wouldn't count on
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: him for being more than that, at least the what
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: we've seen.
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: This team thought they had a gold mine in the
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: pitching department and they were like, look what we did
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: with Sean and Iya, Look what we did with Luis Severino.
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: And then last year obviously it fell apart and Jeremy
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: Heffner got fired as a GM. Do you pivot that
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: quick when something was going a certain way? And reality
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: is they gave him the pitchers that he had to
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: work with, And is that was that pivot too quick?
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: Or do you feel like there was something else going
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: on in the background there to make that change?
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: See I think one chrasty one of the worst things.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: I You know, when you're in the front office, you go, well,
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: I need to make changes. When you have a below
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: average season and you know the expectations were really high
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: and you perform below the expectations and you don't get
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: to the postseason, there's there's got to be some accountability.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: The problem is you don't have a lot.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: Of options with with you know, a roster and the
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: guaranteed contracts, you could have could have done something with
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: Carlos Mendoza.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't have thought that was right.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: I personally didn't think it was right to do any
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: of the coaches, but I think there was a lot
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: of call for that within the office, within at the
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: ownership level, to do something, and you know, if you're
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: gonna do it, And again I think it's I think
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: it's overrated how much of an impact Jeremy Hefner had
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: on the decline of their pitching, Like it was the
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: same guy the year before that got the most out
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: of pictures that nobody else really had in a while. So,
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: like I thought, it was completely unfair to let Jeremy
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: go and the other coaches for that matter too. But
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: at some point you end up having to do some
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: something at the end of the day.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Uh So, I you know, I understand it.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: You know, I always thought when I when I fired
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: hitting coaches, I did it during the course of the season.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: It was it was there was no impact on the replacement,
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: or they'll leting him go.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Like I wish I didn't have to. I wish I
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: didn't do it.
• 17:33
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I think Bowden would.
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: Probably say the same thing, like he fired and he
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: fired guys all the time, way more than I did.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: But he's also was a GM for a long period
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: of time, and you you get in that spot and
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: you're like, I got to make a change somehow, So
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: you know that that becomes the message.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: But is it was it fair?
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: No?
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: I would say there's no way it was fair.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Duke, what did you think of the return package?
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: So it's Jet Williams and it's Brandon Sprote okay, And
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the two kind of subset questions I have are did
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: you think that it fares better for them versus the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: d L Hall, Joey Ortiz and pick which is Blake Burke,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: who hasn't you know E merged high up on their
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: prospect list yet but is just drafted a couple of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: years ago. Also, I think I think it was a
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: better return. I'll just throw my opinion in their screwt.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I think it was a better return for them this
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: time around. Okay, But I'm also surprised that some of
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the other teams that were involved in talks didn't offer
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: up more. These guys were saying Spencer Jones and Will
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: warn and I was like, I don't think the Yankees
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: would make that move.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying I'm not saying I would. I don't
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: think the Yankees were throwing names like that out there
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: because they wanted Freddy.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they were in on Freddie. Yeah, I agree.
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: I don't think they would have gone that far. And
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: you know, I think with with Sprot, like I like
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Sprot as a starting pitcher, I agree with you. I
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: think that the Hall that they got from the Mets
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: was better than what they got from the Oriols a
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: couple of years ago. Now, you know, we'll see what
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: the draft pick happens. They might end up with three
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: major leaguer there. But there were some question marks with
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: d L. Hall going back when with his injury, you know,
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: and Ortiz, you know, I saw enough of that.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: I was really I really questioned the bat. I don't
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: know what jet what kind of hit or is he
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: he's going to be?
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: Like, I don't know if there's going to be a
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: power component there. He's not a real big physical guy,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: but he does he does have good bat to ball skills,
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: and so the.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Question mark I have on that is what kind of
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: is he going to be?
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: A twenty homer guy, a ten homer guy like it
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: could That to me is he is a stolen base
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: and a speed guy.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: He's up the middle type of player.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: So you know, they they got a pretty good player
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: and Jet, and they got a starting pitcher like right
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: away starting pitcher and sprot So I think if you
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: look at the impact it's going to have for the
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Brewers both short term and then long term, I think
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: they did better than than what the Orioles gave up.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and you.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: Know, to your point, like Spencer Jones, there's a lot
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: of strikeout there. I think he you know, there was
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: times last year where his bat path was better and
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: he made better contact. But he still has a little
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: ways to go, and I think they have a ton
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: of upside with him. I don't know if he's even
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: you know, I think he's untouchable for them, you know,
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: and and for me, I would rather try to find
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: something for Domingas and give Jones an opportunity at the
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: major league level than trading Jones. But that's that's just
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: a you know, personal feeling and a personal evaluation.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: Jen last one.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: We've been asking this to any teams that are making
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: their moves. Where does this put the Mets in the
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: National League East right now?
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: Well, we were just talking a lot about this on
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: my show today about like the Phillies.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: You know, I still like the Phillies.
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of people out there to have that
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: feel like the Phillies are going to be on the decline.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: Obviously they're a year older, but I mean until they're
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: knocked off, they're a team to beat in the NL East.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: Like I always feel like there's an inherent advantage in
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: winning the division the following year you did it, the
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: other teams didn't. I think the Mets stack up close.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: I don't think they're quite there, but they're close.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: And for me, the.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Team, the wildcard team for me are the Braves because
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: you know, they have a lot of pitchers that were
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: coming off of injury injuried seasons last year. And if
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: they all come back and pitch the way they're capable
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: and the way they're healthy, that's a really good staff.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: But hardly ever do you see that come all of
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: those guys come back all at once and stay healthy.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: So and if I could choose which ones, you know,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: like I want to see Strider come back and I'll
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: bet on him, and I'll bet on Schwellenbach, and I'll
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: bet on Sale. I'm not sure about the others, you know,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: and so they're a huge wildcard.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: There's a big variation for me. I think they're going
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: to be in the mix.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: They always seem to be, with the exception of last year,
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: So you know, I think there's it's a three team race.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: But I think the Phillies are ahead of the Mets,
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: and I think the Mets have a little bit more
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: certainty on our ahead of the Braves.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: So that's how i'd rank them.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: There you go. We're not holding it to it. There's
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: still time left in the UFICE.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: I just want to I just want to say for
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: all that you guys in the chat and in twitter land,
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: that Jim Dukat said he likes the Mets, which we
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: have both said, and that we think there need to
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: prove it and there's still work to be done.
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: Meanwhile, we'll Kratz and Eye Jim will get called the
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: biggest Mets haters in the world because we say the
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: exact same thing. But listen, I think the Mets may
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: have made great moves. I think if Louise Robert can play,
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: and he's healthy. He's gonna be a great player for
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: the Mets. But they gotta do it.
• 22:33
  Speaker 8: They gotta do it all right, as you know, today
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: is Monday and data ends. And why there's another group,
• 22:40
  Speaker 8: a subset of Mets fans that you may that may love.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: You and support you for the same thing. You can't
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: You can't please them.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Philly's Mets braves for me right now, and they're he's
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: pretty close in range.
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: What about the Marlins or the Marlins have all that
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: pitching depth, they're gonna be so good.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Sorry Marlins, Nope, over so much last year, But duke
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: last thing, just to let you know, because I mean,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I'll bring this on. I don't think we ever mentioned
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: this officially, like we had a stalker last year because
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: we spoke slowly of the Mets starting rotation entering the season. Yes,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: we were like, I don't think this has the lasting power,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and how did that go? For the first month and
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: a half, not great Mets rotation was freaking thriving, right,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and the Mets as a team were thriving. And then
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: after the daily messages the last four months of the season,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: they stopped. So we didn't have to call the cops,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: no investigators. The actual results on the field got rid
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: of the stalking situation.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: It's a true story.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: And it also was tied to one of our guests
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: who was on with us, so I won't even name
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: that was also saying, hey, I'm a little concerned that
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: this is going to fade late, and boom it happened.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: So this looks better than it did last year, and
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: that's why we're chatting. So no stalkers were happier about
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the Mets this year. Thanks Duke, good to see you,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: but I appreciate the time.
• 23:59
  Speaker 8: Thanks for the story.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: See you guys.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: Good luck, good luck at your your speech there a
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: j Saturday night.
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: Man, you're gonna be there there, it's a lot of
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: people there. Are you going to be there this year?
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: I can't make it this year.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: Eight hundred people gone to that, A.
• 24:17
  Speaker 7: Thousand people from millions of people.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: That doesn't bother I'm saying, don't stop believing in front
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: of like two million people.
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: Jim Like, let's be serious.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: I can't sing, no pressure, I can talk.
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: I can't sing.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: He talks every day for hours.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: I just imagine Scott sitting out there naked and crats
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: in front of me, and that the trick like you
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: look at someone you imagine the naked that makes you
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: feel better.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Everyone.
• 24:39
  Speaker 7: They'll be next to me, so I can't look at it.
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: I don't have pants on right now.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Great, that's actually probably true. All right, let's let you guys.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks dude, Yeah, baltimoials, you're up. That's Bob Knightingale said
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: to the tweet, Met's get Freddie p Bob says, rival
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: executives expect the Orioles to be the next team to
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: pluck a frontline starter from the free agent market now
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: that the Mets are out of the mix after acquiring
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Freddy Peralta, and then you see tons of replies about
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: from ber Baldez. But I'll continue to say it. Zach
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Allen is also a free agent, and I think you
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: can buy low on him. Yeah, an attractive candidate to
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: have a strong year. I mean, if the Oriols end
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: up with him and not Fromber, I think fans should
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: still be thrilled. He is not the only one out
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: there on the market at that tier. I actually think
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: those two are in a similar tier.
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: Why not, right, Yeah, or go train and get Scooble.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm on, I'm.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Just I don't think the Tigers are trading him right now.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: They're excited for their arbitration battle. But anyway, the free
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: agent board from the Athletic looks like this top ten wise,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: and I'll read it for the podcast crowd real quick.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: We got to get rid of Bellinger.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: So from Bervaldez, aohanney O Suarez, Zach Gallon, Lucas Giulito,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Chris Bassett, Harrison Vader, Luisa Rice. I never heard a
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: thing about him now, but we will, Zach Lettel, Marcella Zunez.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: That's the nine best remaining according to them.
• 26:18
  Speaker 7: Okay, So which free agent is Jack Allen?
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Fit?
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: Nicely there get the pitch in York a couple times.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: A year Fromberg, Gallon, Giorledo, Bassett, Lttel. If I'm an
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Orioles fan, I'll take Bassett and Ltel or Lttel plus
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: one of the other three I just mentioned.
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: Was plus you're going pluses?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, if you want to be a contender,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: especially in the Al East, you need more than five.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Most people are not comfortable with their five right now,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: so are you comfortable with their eight?
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: No?
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I mean I'm getting greedy, but Orioles fans would like
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: to see one.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: They're going to get another starter.
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: Which one? This is their window the next two years.
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: Who do you want? Three for you the next two years,
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: because you're gonna have to get Gallon on some type
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: of like twenty four million for the first year with
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: opt outs, but another like twenty four for the next
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: you know, so it could be like three years seventy
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: two million. Who do you want for the next two
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: years throwing for your team in Baltimore? Framber or Zach Gallen?
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Gallon for me?
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: If you go get Gallon, I say, you get Gallon AMBASSTT.
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: I don't think that's going to command that much. Fifteen
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: maybe ten for one year, yep, one year deal proving
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: you know, as an older guy. And I think you
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: can get Gallon a one on a two or three
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: year deal with opt outs, and so you spend thirty
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: to forty million and you.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Go Frommer's looking for four or five plus.
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: Yeah, he's looking for long years. I don't think he's
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: going to get that though.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: I don't think so either. Somebody just trashed a mail.
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, producer, ladies not paying attention, Come on, producer, lady.
• 28:11
  Speaker 7: Yeah, unfortunately. I mean it's Gollon.
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: For me, it's Gollon because I think not even talking
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: about saving money, like you might save some money, but
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: goes out if it's like four or five million dollars
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: a year, Yes, it's a lot, but it's not that
• 28:27
  Speaker 6: much when you're talking about what are you getting. To me,
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: you're getting a guy who's just going to be a
• 28:34
  Speaker 6: tick more motivated. You might only have them for a year,
• 28:36
  Speaker 6: which is even better for the Orioles in their mind.
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: But to me it's it's Zach Gollan. To pair with
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: Wells Bradish Rogers like. To me, that solidifies that rotation
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: to be four or five deep instead of three four
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: deep