Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on Soto's Image, Boone Bros Rivalry, ABS Challenge Concerns + Puma’s Mets Report

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Ken Rosenthal on Soto's Image, Boone Bros Rivalry, ABS Challenge Concerns + Puma’s Mets Report · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: I think Mendoza has got a firm grip of the
0:03
Speaker 1: situation here. I've been impressed with this communication skills. If
0:07
Speaker 1: he's willing to hear guys out.
0:14
Speaker 2: Let's at the end six Scoup with EPT senior insider
0:16
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal. Ken a great article out there with Jason
0:20
Speaker 2: Stark about the state of the ABS system, automatic balls
0:23
Speaker 2: and strikes. So I wanted to just start here and
0:27
Speaker 2: then obviously you can elaborate on what you recovered. Do
0:30
Speaker 2: you think that in twenty twenty six we will have
0:33
Speaker 2: a challenge system in Major League Baseball? Or has any
0:36
Speaker 2: of your background homework given you more doubt?
0:40
Speaker 3: No. I believe we're going to have the system, and
0:42
Speaker 3: the people involved, people on the player's side, people on
0:46
Speaker 3: management side. Management side might not want to admit it,
0:49
Speaker 3: but this is coming. The umpires believe it's coming too.
0:52
Speaker 3: In their new CBA, they gave the league essentially licensed
0:55
Speaker 3: to do it, and the Competition Committee, which is comprised
0:59
Speaker 3: of six owners, four players, and one umpire that gives
1:03
Speaker 3: the weight to management, so whatever they want to do
1:06
Speaker 3: they can do. So, Yes, Scott, I do believe it's coming.
1:09
Speaker 3: There is a lot of discussion taking place and That's
1:11
Speaker 3: kind of what the article was hitting on to some degree,
1:15
Speaker 3: just the idea that, okay, there's a margin for error
1:18
Speaker 3: the players requested from the league, just some idea of
1:22
Speaker 3: how accurate this is in the league said there is
1:24
Speaker 3: a margin for error. There is always a margin for
1:26
Speaker 3: error in bold tracking systems. And the question is do
1:31
Speaker 3: you want to tolerate that as players as a league
1:34
Speaker 3: or do you think this is still going to be
1:36
Speaker 3: better than the umpires can do, albeit with a challenge
1:39
Speaker 3: system when the umpires would be making most of the calls.
1:41
Speaker 4: Anyway, So you made a good point there, and I
1:45
Speaker 4: think I want to elaborate a little bit on this
1:48
Speaker 4: human error, something I still love and enjoy, and that's
1:52
Speaker 4: the error that you know, people are like, oh, well,
1:55
Speaker 4: we're trying to get away from the human error, but
1:57
Speaker 4: now we're saying there's an element of this electroc error
2:00
Speaker 4: that is going to be a problem too as well.
2:03
Speaker 4: So we're trying to get rid of the human error,
2:05
Speaker 4: but also there could be a problem with the automatic
2:07
Speaker 4: strike zone here, so back and forth here where What
2:11
Speaker 4: do you think about this whole thing? Because I enjoyed
2:14
Speaker 4: the human error as well, you know, check swings, whatever,
2:17
Speaker 4: it is foulfare blah blah blah. Now the strike zone
2:20
Speaker 4: has an error in it too as well, even though
2:22
Speaker 4: it's slight. Can you can you elaborate a little bit
2:24
Speaker 4: on that?
2:25
Speaker 3: For us Todd, what we reported was that essentially the
2:30
Speaker 3: median error would be less than one fifth of an inch.
2:33
Speaker 3: That's on every pitch. For the most part, MLB is
2:37
Speaker 3: ninety five percent confident it will be within four tenths
2:40
Speaker 3: and ninety nine percent confident will be within five tenths
2:43
Speaker 3: five tenths of an inch. Even at that level of
2:45
Speaker 3: error is not all that great? Can umpires do as well?
2:50
Speaker 3: The umpires might say yes, I don't believe that the
2:53
Speaker 3: league thinks that. So again, there's always going to be
2:57
Speaker 3: some error with any of these systems base Ball wants
3:00
Speaker 3: to eliminate. From what I can tell, is the pitch
3:04
Speaker 3: that's two inches outside that's called a strike, the pitch
3:07
Speaker 3: that's down the middle that's called a ball. With the
3:09
Speaker 3: challenge system, that kind of stuff should go. One concern
3:13
Speaker 3: I have is even with a half inch margin for error.
3:18
Speaker 3: So Corbyn Burns mentioned this to me. He said, well,
3:22
Speaker 3: if there's a pitch a tenth of an inch inside,
3:25
Speaker 3: and four tenths of an inch outside. I'm sorry, let
3:28
Speaker 3: me get this straight. If there's a pinch a pitch
3:30
Speaker 3: one tenth of an inch inside, it could be called
3:32
Speaker 3: a ball because the margin for error is obviously having
3:36
Speaker 3: the four tenths going outside to add up to a
3:38
Speaker 3: half inch. Yes, that can happen, and it probably will happen.
3:42
Speaker 3: But the other point here that is worth making is
3:45
Speaker 3: that this tracking data is used for stat cast, it's
3:49
Speaker 3: used to evaluate players all the time, and the same
3:52
Speaker 3: margining of error exists, and we don't really question that
3:55
Speaker 3: because for the most part, we have faith that it's
3:57
Speaker 3: getting to the right place. I expect that if this
4:01
Speaker 3: system is implemented, we will get to the right place.
4:04
Speaker 3: But yes, there is going to be a margin for error,
4:07
Speaker 3: and there's always going to be a margin for error
4:09
Speaker 3: with this system or a human system, and it's just
4:12
Speaker 3: a question of what you're willing to accept. And there's
4:14
Speaker 3: also this idea too, guys and the umpires and players
4:18
Speaker 3: have at least raised this of a buffer zone where
4:21
Speaker 3: if a pitch is, say, one tenth of an inch outside,
4:25
Speaker 3: and that's what the ABS system says, and the umpire
4:29
Speaker 3: misses it, well, maybe that call can stand, much like
4:32
Speaker 3: in replay when we have a call that stands, that
4:34
Speaker 3: might diminish faith in the system. There are other issues
4:37
Speaker 3: that arise with that, but all of these things need
4:40
Speaker 3: to be discussed. I don't know that we're in a
4:42
Speaker 3: bad place with this, but it's going to be a
4:44
Speaker 3: huge adjustment, There's no question about it. The entire definition
4:48
Speaker 3: of the strike zone is going to change. It's going
4:50
Speaker 3: to be lower at the top, higher at the bottom,
4:53
Speaker 3: narrow on the sides. There's a lot going on here
4:56
Speaker 3: and that is what is going to have to be
4:58
Speaker 3: discussed and talked through over the next several months.
5:02
Speaker 5: Who will benefit the most from this when it gets implemented, dude,
5:05
Speaker 5: In all you're talking about all this stuff was Corbyn
5:08
Speaker 5: BYRNS saying, Oh, I don't know, Like I feel like
5:11
Speaker 5: this is unfair for the pictures because pictures always wine
5:13
Speaker 5: and complain. But through your discussion with players, does one
5:19
Speaker 5: side or the other hitters or pictures feel like this
5:22
Speaker 5: is going to benefit them more than the other side.
5:26
Speaker 3: There are two things that play here. One is the
5:28
Speaker 3: abs and two is the new zone. And with the
5:32
Speaker 3: new zone, it should benefit hitters to some degree because
5:36
Speaker 3: the high strike is going to be lowered, right. But
5:40
Speaker 3: I'm always skeptical of any assumptions with any of these
5:44
Speaker 3: things because unintended consequences do arise. We do know eric
5:49
Speaker 3: catchers aren't necessarily going to like this because it will
5:52
Speaker 3: make framing somewhat less meaningful. It's still going to be meaningful.
5:55
Speaker 3: It won't be challenging every pitch, but that has been
5:58
Speaker 3: something that has come up.
6:01
Speaker 2: Okay, Ken, I want to swing directions over to what
6:03
Speaker 2: you just put out this morning on the Boone duo,
6:07
Speaker 2: the Boone rivalry that is renewed now with Brett going
6:12
Speaker 2: up against Aaron. So what can you tell us about
6:14
Speaker 2: those two of course now getting to coach against each
6:17
Speaker 2: other again, and I would say how different they are.
6:22
Speaker 3: They're very different. And what's really interesting about this is
6:25
Speaker 3: they competed against each other as players. They were teammates
6:29
Speaker 3: when Aaron first came up ninety seven ninety eight with
6:31
Speaker 3: the Cincinnati Reds. But they had times where they competed
6:34
Speaker 3: against each other in a situation where they directly controlled
6:39
Speaker 3: their actions. When you're managing, when you're coaching, as Aaron
6:43
Speaker 3: and Brett are now doing, you don't have that control
6:45
Speaker 3: and That was one element that came through in my
6:48
Speaker 3: conversation with Brett just it kind of drives them crazy,
6:51
Speaker 3: as I'm sure drives Aaron Boone crazy at times that
6:54
Speaker 3: what's happening on the field, you can't really do much
6:57
Speaker 3: about it. You're not getting in the box hitting a
7:00
Speaker 3: three run homer. It's not possible. So that's part of it.
7:03
Speaker 3: But also the article focus is just on the family
7:06
Speaker 3: in general. This is a historic baseball family. Ray the grandfather, Bob,
7:10
Speaker 3: the father, Brett and Aaron of course as the sons,
7:14
Speaker 3: and there's Nick Allen, who is the shortstop for the
7:16
Speaker 3: Atlanta Braves, who is Brett's son in law. There are
7:19
Speaker 3: other offspring that are involved in sports in some fashion
7:23
Speaker 3: or another. So that's a big part of it too.
7:26
Speaker 3: And just the competitive element that's going to take place
7:29
Speaker 3: tonight starting at Yankee Stadium between these guys. I don't
7:32
Speaker 3: know if they're gonna both bring out the lineup cards.
7:34
Speaker 3: That would be kind of cool, right, But it's going
7:37
Speaker 3: to be really interesting to see them in the dugouts
7:40
Speaker 3: opposing each other. And Aaron said he'll probably glance over
7:43
Speaker 3: from time to time.
7:45
Speaker 5: Is there a sense of admiration from either side. Like
7:49
Speaker 5: when you talk to the Boone family, do you say, oh,
7:52
Speaker 5: Aaron wishes he could just be a hitting coach like
7:55
Speaker 5: Brett is now, I know that's new. Or does Brett
7:58
Speaker 5: say you've sent your article you said about how now
8:00
Speaker 5: Brett was like, whoa Like this dude just came straight
8:03
Speaker 5: from not even being on the field and being a manager.
8:05
Speaker 5: Like is there an admiration or is it just a
8:07
Speaker 5: total brotherly competitive vibe that they got going on.
8:12
Speaker 3: I sensed admiration for sure both ways. And it seems
8:17
Speaker 3: to me based on what they told me or what
8:19
Speaker 3: they told me and Brendan Cuddy, they have a lot
8:22
Speaker 3: of admiration for each other. They support each other as individuals.
8:27
Speaker 3: Now when they're on opposite sides, Obviously they want to win,
8:29
Speaker 3: that's the nature of any competitive situation. But these two
8:34
Speaker 3: guys are close, and Aaron made a point of saying
8:36
Speaker 3: he's proud of Brett. He's come a long way in
8:38
Speaker 3: his life and now it's kind of a perfect moment
8:42
Speaker 3: for Brett, who has through two marriages, seven children, youngest
8:45
Speaker 3: of which is seventeen. He can do this now and
8:48
Speaker 3: feel comfortable doing it leaving home, So it's kind of
8:51
Speaker 3: cool in that sense that the family is close. They
8:54
Speaker 3: take this trip. I don't know if it's every year,
8:56
Speaker 3: but they did last year. The whole family goes to Mexico,
9:00
Speaker 3: two people last year and Brett did his podcast there.
9:04
Speaker 3: He interviewed every family member. It's a close knick group.
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10:07
Speaker 4: App That's pretty cool because you know, sometimes baseball can
10:12
Speaker 4: either bring you together or kind of separate you. To
10:15
Speaker 4: see those guys, like a lot of brothers and family
10:18
Speaker 4: members that play before kind of prosper and enjoy the game,
10:22
Speaker 4: playing and coaching wise, I want to go on to
10:25
Speaker 4: Wan Soto a little bit. We talked about that earlier
10:28
Speaker 4: in the show. What do you see in him? Do
10:31
Speaker 4: you see anything different? You know from an outsider looking
10:34
Speaker 4: in you know, because we talked and explained how the
10:36
Speaker 4: New York vibes and playing Subway series can kind of
10:39
Speaker 4: make or break you a little bit, because that's kind
10:40
Speaker 4: of like a playoff atmosphere. You know, a lot of booze,
10:43
Speaker 4: you know, a lot you know, he came back there,
10:45
Speaker 4: they turned their back on him. Did you see anything specific?
10:48
Speaker 4: As a guy who's watching a lot of baseball over
10:50
Speaker 4: the years.
10:51
Speaker 3: Todd, this whole scenario reminds me a little bit of
10:54
Speaker 3: when he first got traded to San Diego that first year,
10:57
Speaker 3: the final two months of that season twenty two, he
11:00
Speaker 3: didn't seem like he was himself and even the second
11:02
Speaker 3: year when he had big numbers typical Wan Soto kind
11:05
Speaker 3: of season, I don't know that he was entirely comfortable,
11:08
Speaker 3: and right now I don't know that he's entirely comfortable. Now,
11:11
Speaker 3: he's performing well enough. Ops is thirty three percent above
11:15
Speaker 3: league average when adjusted for park and league factors. He's fine.
11:19
Speaker 3: He'll be in the nine hundred range before long. He's
11:21
Speaker 3: eight twenty or something. Right now, I'm not worried about him.
11:25
Speaker 3: As for running hard, it's just a bad look. He
11:28
Speaker 3: should do it so people can't yell at him about it,
11:31
Speaker 3: and he's not going to do it every time. Of course,
11:33
Speaker 3: we all understand that. We all understand guys who play
11:36
Speaker 3: every day cannot simply bust in every single play. It
11:40
Speaker 3: risks injury when you do that. But that was not
11:42
Speaker 3: a great look last night, and it just brings attention
11:46
Speaker 3: to himself that he doesn't need. I heard you guys
11:49
Speaker 3: also talk about how he didn't talk the other night,
11:51
Speaker 3: and that's something too that brings attention that you can
11:55
Speaker 3: just deflect really easily by talking. You talk last night,
11:58
Speaker 3: So it's not a thing with him. But these things
12:02
Speaker 3: to me all strike me as kind of little and
12:05
Speaker 3: they're getting blown up because he's won Soto, he's playing
12:07
Speaker 3: in New York, and he's got a seven hundred and
12:09
Speaker 3: sixty five million dollar contract that could go to eight
12:12
Speaker 3: to fifteen. That is a situation when you combine all
12:16
Speaker 3: those things that leads to added scrutiny, and he has
12:20
Speaker 3: to be ready for that, and that's going to be
12:22
Speaker 3: part of his deal. It's always been part of his deal.
12:24
Speaker 3: He's been a superstar from the moment he joined the league.
12:27
Speaker 3: But it seems something.
12:33
Speaker 2: We got cut. Sorry, Ken, if you want to actually
12:36
Speaker 2: just repeat the last like two sentences you froze for
12:39
Speaker 2: a second. Bring us back there the thin.
12:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, it just seems to me that he's not entirely
12:46
Speaker 3: comfortable yet, first year on his big contract with a
12:49
Speaker 3: new team. Not the greatest shock in the world that
12:52
Speaker 3: he's not totally there yet. He's going to be there.
12:55
Speaker 3: I'm fully confident of that.
12:57
Speaker 5: Ken, you're the most professional writer that I know. Put
13:00
Speaker 5: us in that scrum after a game when a player says,
13:04
Speaker 5: a superstar player says I'll be back, I'll be back
13:08
Speaker 5: to talk to you, and then he doesn't come back.
13:11
Speaker 5: Is there a sense because you sit there and you
13:15
Speaker 5: go I have a story that I want answers to.
13:19
Speaker 5: I'm going to write something. Do you have to then
13:22
Speaker 5: go as a writer and say, I'm writing the information
13:25
Speaker 5: that I know. You're not vengeful, You're not spiteful in
13:29
Speaker 5: what you're writing. But if he never says his part,
13:32
Speaker 5: doesn't that skew this story? You kind of alluded to
13:35
Speaker 5: it a little bit towards the other things that you
13:38
Speaker 5: heard and not from him.
13:42
Speaker 3: Eric, That's a really good question, and it's a good
13:44
Speaker 3: question because it speaks to our jobs, and I think
13:48
Speaker 3: a lot of times fans don't understand what we do. Necessarily, Yes,
13:54
Speaker 3: it always behooves a player, in my opinion, to give
13:57
Speaker 3: his version of whatever is taking place, good or bad,
14:00
Speaker 3: because that perspective, as you alluded to, enables us to
14:04
Speaker 3: frame a story and understand what happened on the field
14:08
Speaker 3: in a different way, and maybe in a way that
14:11
Speaker 3: gives you an explanation or an insight that you didn't know. Now.
14:16
Speaker 3: When a guy leaves and doesn't talk in that kind
14:19
Speaker 3: of circumstance, basically you write what you have and you
14:22
Speaker 3: say he declined comment. He had a chance to comment
14:25
Speaker 3: and he didn't. Doesn't or shouldn't skew the story against him.
14:29
Speaker 3: You should just still kind of stick to the straight
14:31
Speaker 3: and narrow unless you're writing an opinion column. But the
14:35
Speaker 3: value of showing up, and Derek Jeter knew this better
14:38
Speaker 3: than anyone, And Derek Jeter did this better than anyone.
14:41
Speaker 3: The value of showing up is at least you can
14:44
Speaker 3: one be responsible to your teammates. They don't have to
14:46
Speaker 3: speak for you, and two you can give your version. Now,
14:50
Speaker 3: Derek Jeter, in all his years, rarely said anything that
14:53
Speaker 3: was of terrible interest. He was pretty dull and down
14:57
Speaker 3: the middle, but he was there always at his locker,
15:01
Speaker 3: and he always had answers, and if you had a question,
15:03
Speaker 3: you can ask your question. Soto has been pretty good
15:06
Speaker 3: throughout his career with the media. This is not like
15:09
Speaker 3: a recurring problem. But in a circumstance like he was
15:13
Speaker 3: in with all hell breaking loose at Yankee Stadium and
15:15
Speaker 3: everything going on, yeah, of course he should have talked.
15:19
Speaker 3: And I would guess he knew that. And who knows,
15:21
Speaker 3: maybe he got pulled away by his family and just
15:23
Speaker 3: couldn't get back to the clubhouse. I don't know, but
15:27
Speaker 3: he probably should have talked before he went out to
15:29
Speaker 3: see the family just got it over.
15:31
Speaker 4: With, right.
15:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:34
Speaker 3: Yeah. One more thing in this Fans say all the time,
15:38
Speaker 3: leave the players alone. No, that is not our job
15:41
Speaker 3: to leave the players alone. It is our job to
15:43
Speaker 3: ask questions and give the most informed version of events
15:48
Speaker 3: that we can, and to do that the best way
15:52
Speaker 3: possible is to include the players in the process, to
15:56
Speaker 3: ask them questions about what happened. In Great Britain, when
16:00
Speaker 3: people cover soccer, if I'm not mistaken, there's no access.
16:04
Speaker 3: You don't ever talk to the players. So what can
16:08
Speaker 3: the writers do. They can just tee off. That's not
16:10
Speaker 3: the way it should be, having the checks and balances
16:14
Speaker 3: when we have to show our faces to them and
16:16
Speaker 3: be accountable for what we write. That's the way this
16:18
Speaker 3: should work and does work.
16:20
Speaker 4: Yeah.
16:20
Speaker 2: Also you get their side of the story, and from
16:23
Speaker 2: a coverage perspective, at least in this country can There's
16:27
Speaker 2: a lot of competition. People want to be able to
16:29
Speaker 2: connect to storylines. We talk about this all the time.
16:32
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't speak to the soccer situation much,
16:35
Speaker 2: but I mean I know soccer rules for a lot
16:38
Speaker 2: of the world, and it's almost monopoly status in certain
16:41
Speaker 2: countries where no matter what they do people are going
16:44
Speaker 2: to be obsessed right in our worlds. I know a
16:47
Speaker 2: lot of people that are, you know, sports fans, maybe
16:51
Speaker 2: a little more casual touch a little football, basketball, baseball,
16:54
Speaker 2: whatever they want more. We talked about this at the
16:57
Speaker 2: top of our show, whether it's miked up or you've
17:00
Speaker 2: had to defend some times talking to a player in
17:02
Speaker 2: a dugout because people are like, oh, we don't want
17:04
Speaker 2: to hear that. And then okay, can you imagine if
17:07
Speaker 2: there's no articles to read, there's no TV coverage, there's
17:09
Speaker 2: no this, right, it would be a little tough to
17:12
Speaker 2: know what's going on and to cover good storyline. I
17:14
Speaker 2: mean the article that just want to sit there watch
17:17
Speaker 2: the game and not hear a peep from personalities.
17:21
Speaker 3: There would be articles written. But again, it enhances the
17:26
Speaker 3: entertainment value of the sport when, as you say, Scott,
17:29
Speaker 3: the players show their personalities. Whatever those personalities might be
17:32
Speaker 3: a guy who is dull. Okay, it's interesting that he
17:35
Speaker 3: doesn't have much to say whatever, But there's no question
17:39
Speaker 3: about that. And also, I will say this too, when
17:42
Speaker 3: you have a seven hundred and sixty five million dollar contract,
17:45
Speaker 3: when you have a two hundred million dollar contract, a
17:47
Speaker 3: one hundred million dollar contract. In my opinion, there's a
17:51
Speaker 3: responsibility that goes with that, and it goes with with
17:54
Speaker 3: going beyond just showing up and playing. It's because it's
17:58
Speaker 3: an entertainment vehicle and you're getting paid that much because
18:01
Speaker 3: people care. So it's not to say players should sit
18:04
Speaker 3: at their lockers for two hours every night. They don't,
18:07
Speaker 3: by the way, But it is to say there's a
18:10
Speaker 3: certain responsibility that to me seems somewhat minimal, and most
18:15
Speaker 3: players are really good about it. Juan Soto in his career,
18:18
Speaker 3: has been really good about it. Maybe the other night
18:20
Speaker 3: it just didn't work out for him, whatever the circumstances
18:23
Speaker 3: might have been. I don't know that we should make
18:25
Speaker 3: a big deal out of that.
18:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, and hey, I mean he's been in New York
18:30
Speaker 2: now for a season and change. But re welcome to
18:33
Speaker 2: New York. Any little thing is gonna get a little
18:35
Speaker 2: bigger when you're in some of these markets. Todd Father
18:38
Speaker 2: knows too. Ken, thank you so much. We'll catch you
18:40
Speaker 2: later this week.
18:43
Speaker 3: Yep, thanks guys.
18:44
Speaker 2: Sounds good. Thanks Ken. Fair Territory also came out yesterday
18:48
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18:53
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20:00
Speaker 2: We've got New York Post Mets Beat reporter Mike Puma
20:02
Speaker 2: joining us right now in foul territory. Mike, good to
20:05
Speaker 2: see you, and we're gonna go right to the big
20:08
Speaker 2: story here. I mean, you're covering this team for a
20:10
Speaker 2: long time. What's it like right now for Juan Soto
20:13
Speaker 2: with the organization? I mean, what are you witnessing from him?
20:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's been a little bit of a rough
20:21
Speaker 1: go for him, and you know, obviously last night wasn't
20:27
Speaker 1: great optics for him hitting the ball off the Green
20:31
Speaker 1: Monster at Fenway and not running out of the box
20:34
Speaker 1: and ending up with a single, and it was you know,
20:38
Speaker 1: it was the second night in a row that he
20:40
Speaker 1: was late getting out of the box, and you know, uh,
20:45
Speaker 1: he had he had a he had a rough Subway
20:47
Speaker 1: series too. Going back to the Bronx. There was the
20:50
Speaker 1: you know, the aspect of of what the fans were
20:54
Speaker 1: given to him, obviously, and then he didn't produce much
20:58
Speaker 1: in the series. So you know, he's going through a
21:01
Speaker 1: little bit of a rough time right now.
21:03
Speaker 5: When you hear the words lack of enthusiasm coming out
21:07
Speaker 5: of the clubhouse, the METS hierarchy, no names behind it.
21:11
Speaker 5: Is it just reading the body language? Do you feel
21:15
Speaker 5: like it is a something that is permeating through the clubhouse.
21:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't see that right now. And I think
21:24
Speaker 1: there's good there's pretty good leadership in their room. And
21:26
Speaker 1: it starts with Francisco Lindoor. And he's a guy. A
21:32
Speaker 1: lot of these guys, especially the younger guys, gravity, gravitate
21:37
Speaker 1: toward uh, you know, soto Is. I wouldn't say he's
21:42
Speaker 1: a presence in the clubhouse. He's quiet, he goes about
21:44
Speaker 1: his work. You don't see him a lot. But you know,
21:51
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say a lack of enthusiasm. You know that
21:54
Speaker 1: that that's tough to say.
21:58
Speaker 4: I want to ask you this. You know, there's been
22:02
Speaker 4: some struggles. Lindor's struggled before. We've seen it happen. We've
22:05
Speaker 4: seen it earlier in the year and now again one
22:07
Speaker 4: for twenty two slump. What do you take of it?
22:10
Speaker 4: I mean, do you see him, you know, doing this
22:12
Speaker 4: for you know a long time or is this just
22:15
Speaker 4: part of his m O. Now, like, what do you see,
22:18
Speaker 4: Is he gonna get kickstarted again?
22:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would totally expect him to get kickstarted again.
22:23
Speaker 1: And listen, he got off to you know, he had
22:29
Speaker 1: a better April than he's had in recent years, so
22:32
Speaker 1: that was a good thing for him. And then it's
22:36
Speaker 1: kind of been the last ten days or so that
22:38
Speaker 1: he's fallen off a little bit here. But you know,
22:41
Speaker 1: he's too good a player. You would expect him to
22:44
Speaker 1: get going. And you know, Sodo's not having a Sodo
22:48
Speaker 1: light year, but you would think it's only a matter
22:51
Speaker 1: of time before he kicks it in the year. And
22:53
Speaker 1: if you have Lindor and Soto going at the top
22:56
Speaker 1: of the lineup, maybe maybe Alonso played out of his
22:58
Speaker 1: shoes a little bit, you know, this first stretch here,
23:01
Speaker 1: and we're seeing him come back to earth a little bit,
23:05
Speaker 1: but you know, you still you still expect Lindor Soto
23:09
Speaker 1: that that top of the line Those those guys are
23:13
Speaker 1: too good a track recage. They're gonna be good.
23:17
Speaker 5: Is the starting rotation enough because man, they were the best,
23:21
Speaker 5: They were literally the best pitching staff in all of baseball?
23:25
Speaker 5: Will they be enough to push this team into the playoffs.
23:29
Speaker 5: First place in the division is what it is. If
23:32
Speaker 5: they can get it, They're they're right there, But is
23:35
Speaker 5: it enough or do they need to add besides Manaiah,
23:39
Speaker 5: who's coming back. Besides I guess they think montass is
23:42
Speaker 5: gonna do good. But hey, that's that's I'm not asking
23:46
Speaker 5: for my opinion. I'm asking for your opinion.
23:51
Speaker 1: I think they still may have to add. You know
23:55
Speaker 1: that the trade deadliner before even what those guys you
23:58
Speaker 1: mentioned coming back now, let's and Griffin Canning certainly been
24:03
Speaker 1: a good story here. A guy who was pitching to
24:06
Speaker 1: five E r A last year in Anaheim, he's doing
24:09
Speaker 1: half of that with the Mets now. And uh, you
24:12
Speaker 1: know they're still getting results out of David Peterson. Uh,
24:15
Speaker 1: you know, the big X factor is staying healthy. You
24:19
Speaker 1: worry about code I Sanga, Uh just based on the
24:22
Speaker 1: fact that you know, he barely pitched last year and
24:27
Speaker 1: he's been doing pretty well here so far. But you know,
24:29
Speaker 1: he's the guy I know. Uh, you know they go
24:32
Speaker 1: to extra lengths to make sure he gets extra rest.
24:35
Speaker 1: And but he's a concern. And you have Manayah and
24:40
Speaker 1: Montas coming back. You know, these guys are still a
24:44
Speaker 1: month away in the best case here, So you know,
24:50
Speaker 1: I don't I don't think they have enough. You know,
24:52
Speaker 1: I don't think they think they have enough starting pitching,
24:55
Speaker 1: and certainly they're gonna I think they're gonna to add
24:57
Speaker 1: to the bullpen too.
25:00
Speaker 5: How are they able to keep Senga healthy? You talk
25:03
Speaker 5: about what Senga can do. I think he's otherworldly. When
25:06
Speaker 5: he pitches in city field, that ghost fork acts kind
25:10
Speaker 5: of like Dickie's knuckleball used to in cityfield. It just
25:13
Speaker 5: kind of floats around. Do they have enough to keep
25:16
Speaker 5: him healthy? You look at the Dodgers who are like, hey,
25:19
Speaker 5: you know what, you know, if you have a hangnail,
25:20
Speaker 5: we're gonna put you on fifteen dail and then you
25:23
Speaker 5: can come back. The Mets were built with death as
25:27
Speaker 5: they're starting rotation, not their starting rotation, and then had depth.
25:31
Speaker 5: Do they have other people within the organ that can say,
25:34
Speaker 5: you know what, Senga, we're gonna skip this start and
25:36
Speaker 5: then three starts, we're gonna skip.
25:38
Speaker 1: That one also, Yeah, And I don't know if they
25:42
Speaker 1: can do that right now. You know, I think when
25:46
Speaker 1: a couple of the if and when a couple of
25:48
Speaker 1: these guys come back there'll be more in position to
25:50
Speaker 1: do that. They've certainly been alter cautious with him though,
25:55
Speaker 1: they you know, they want him to get the extra
25:58
Speaker 1: day of rest or you know, in some cases when
26:01
Speaker 1: you have a day off in a week, it's two
26:03
Speaker 1: extra days. Right, So he's pitching on uh, you know,
26:07
Speaker 1: the seventh days. So they're doing everything they can and
26:11
Speaker 1: they haven't overextended him. That's another thing. They're they're keeping him,
26:16
Speaker 1: you know, ninety pitches. I'm not sure if I don't
26:19
Speaker 1: think he's throwing one hundred pitches that I would have
26:21
Speaker 1: to check. But uh, you know, keeping him the six innings,
26:25
Speaker 1: and they're gonna err on this side of caution with him.
26:29
Speaker 5: Well, last night he was he was pleading to come
26:31
Speaker 5: to go back out. He came off the mound and
26:34
Speaker 5: he knew his outing was going to be done and
26:36
Speaker 5: he was going one one more. So is there a
26:41
Speaker 5: little bit of a leash there?
26:44
Speaker 1: There's a little bit And listen, the Mets. The Mets
26:47
Speaker 1: bullpen has been over extended here too, uh, with a
26:52
Speaker 1: lot of the short starts they've gotten so and they've
26:57
Speaker 1: you know, they're lucky they've they've got a guy like
27:01
Speaker 1: Glascar Brazabon, who has really come on the scene here
27:04
Speaker 1: as a multi inning force. And you know Max Kranick
27:07
Speaker 1: was was very good earlier in the season. He's come
27:10
Speaker 1: back to earth a little bit. But you know, they've
27:12
Speaker 1: got some guys that can give him multi innings here.
27:16
Speaker 1: But you know, Carlos Mendoz is trying to avoid going
27:21
Speaker 1: to that well too often.
27:24
Speaker 4: Let me ask you this, you're a good judge of
27:26
Speaker 4: clubhouse demeanor and the atmosphere and clubhouses right now, Mets
27:31
Speaker 4: came out really hot, and they understand who they are.
27:35
Speaker 4: They've played really well. For one, do you think they've
27:37
Speaker 4: exceeded expectations earlier in this uh start to the baseball season?
27:42
Speaker 4: And how do you think the clubhouse demeanor is right now?
27:44
Speaker 4: I mean you're in there every day, you and I.
27:46
Speaker 4: You can talk about that all the time, remember.
27:49
Speaker 1: Sure, sure I do remember, And uh yeah, you know,
27:54
Speaker 1: I think they've exceeded You know, they got off to
27:56
Speaker 1: that such a great start, and you knew that wasn't
27:59
Speaker 1: going to keep up at that pace, and you look
28:01
Speaker 1: at what they've done here over the last twenty one
28:03
Speaker 1: to twenty two games that they've played right around I
28:06
Speaker 1: think they are a game under five hundred their last
28:09
Speaker 1: twenty one games here, so you know they're they're in
28:13
Speaker 1: a little bit of a little bit of a rut here.
28:16
Speaker 1: The biggest thing has been they leave a ton of
28:19
Speaker 1: guys on base. They haven't hit well with runners in
28:23
Speaker 1: scoring position. And the last time I checked, there were
28:25
Speaker 1: twenty fifth in the major leagues hitting with runners in
28:29
Speaker 1: scoring positions. So that they've been they've been very good
28:32
Speaker 1: guy getting guys on base. But you know, it always
28:36
Speaker 1: just some of these losses that they're just one hit
28:39
Speaker 1: short here in the clubhouse demeanor. You know, like I said,
28:44
Speaker 1: I go back to Lindor and as the guy, a
28:49
Speaker 1: lot of these guys rally around Brandon Nimo's certainly been
28:52
Speaker 1: around long enough. You played with him, Todd, you know
28:54
Speaker 1: what he's all about. You know there's there's some good
28:59
Speaker 1: eggs in that room. So I won't't expect the clubhouse
29:03
Speaker 1: demeanor to go south.
29:06
Speaker 2: Mike, what are your expectations as a media member when
29:10
Speaker 2: you're covering a superstar player, for example, you know it
29:14
Speaker 2: was written about how Sodo didn't it wasn't available a
29:17
Speaker 2: couple of times over the weekend, where ideally you would
29:21
Speaker 2: get a little more time with him. And also when
29:24
Speaker 2: we say media time, I mean, what are we talking
29:27
Speaker 2: five ish minutes? Usually here when a guy shows up
29:30
Speaker 2: to a scrum, maybe ten tops. But curious as to
29:34
Speaker 2: your take of covering baseball for a while, covering this
29:36
Speaker 2: team for a while, if you felt like Juan Soto
29:40
Speaker 2: was slighting the media or if this was just something
29:42
Speaker 2: that comes across your world all the time. I certainly
29:45
Speaker 2: mentioned early in the show, I've never been a beat guy,
29:47
Speaker 2: but I did do a lot in clubhouses when I
29:50
Speaker 2: was working for the league. We had guys show up
29:53
Speaker 2: late or say, oh I can't do it now, you know,
29:56
Speaker 2: we had things pop up all the time. It gets
29:58
Speaker 2: magnified when it's the seven sixty five Mili man.
30:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, it gets magnified with so. But and I found
30:06
Speaker 1: with the Mets it's very seldom you want to talk
30:10
Speaker 1: to a player that that player won't cooperate. So the
30:15
Speaker 1: Soto thing the other night was a little befuddling because
30:19
Speaker 1: you don't see that much where guys just completely blow
30:22
Speaker 1: off the media. And you know, the post game, you're talking,
30:25
Speaker 1: you're talking, you know, sometimes it's even less than two minutes.
30:29
Speaker 1: You know, you're talking like sometimes these guys talking ninety seconds,
30:33
Speaker 1: three minutes, you know, five five minutes would be long
30:35
Speaker 1: a long media session post game to talk to a player,
30:40
Speaker 1: but you know, with the Mets, it's very rare that
30:44
Speaker 1: somebody leaves without speaking if they're requested. So and you know,
30:50
Speaker 1: that was part of the I think that was part
30:52
Speaker 1: of the reason Soto was requested to speak last night
30:55
Speaker 1: was because he had He had left Sunday night without speaking,
30:59
Speaker 1: so it was so to his credit he did speak
31:04
Speaker 1: last night. And uh, you know, he said, you know,
31:10
Speaker 1: and as far as the ball off the wall, he
31:12
Speaker 1: said he didn't think his hustle was an issue. Callos
31:15
Speaker 1: Mendoza said, he you know something, they'll they'll speak, they'll.
31:18
Speaker 2: Talk about last one for you. How do you think
31:23
Speaker 2: that goes knowing Mandy for the last couple of seasons
31:26
Speaker 2: now and now covering the Sodo side of this equation,
31:30
Speaker 2: is that normal or would usually you expect to hear
31:33
Speaker 2: a player go, yeah, well, we'll talk about it. I mean,
31:36
Speaker 2: it sounded like he kind of defended himself and said no,
31:38
Speaker 2: I'm good.
31:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know what, and that's Soto's personality. And
31:44
Speaker 1: I go back to, you know something last week where
31:50
Speaker 1: Mendoza called Soto into the office after Tuesday last Tuesday's
31:54
Speaker 1: game and said, you know, you're I don't want you
31:57
Speaker 1: to play once they were going to give you a rest,
31:59
Speaker 1: and Soto defended himself to the hilt that he wanted
32:02
Speaker 1: to play, that he you know, he should be in
32:04
Speaker 1: the line and Mendoza said, you know, it's all well
32:07
Speaker 1: and good, but I make the lineup. You're not starting
32:11
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. And that was it. So, you know, Mendoza,
32:15
Speaker 1: I think Mendoz has got a firm grip of the
32:18
Speaker 1: situation here. I've been impressed with his communication skills. He's
32:23
Speaker 1: willing to hear guys out. But you know, at the
32:25
Speaker 1: end of the day, he's the one running the ship.
32:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the hafe. He's a hafe. He's the big boss.
32:34
Speaker 2: He's running that clubhouse. That dougout Mike, This was great.
32:37
Speaker 2: Thank you for stopping by. Check out Mike's work at
32:39
Speaker 2: the post. Also give him a follow on Twitter. Appreciate
32:43
Speaker 2: at my post underscore Mets.
32:45
Speaker 3: Thank you Mike, guys, thanks for having me on