Latest / Foul Territory / The Mets have 10 days to save their season? + Ben Rice’s MVP’ish run

Transcript

The Mets have 10 days to save their season? + Ben Rice’s MVP’ish run · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Great headline here on the Mets from Tim Britton this
0:07
Speaker 1: week in Mets the Mets have ten days to save
0:09
Speaker 1: their season. Tim senior writer at the Athletic, joining us
0:12
Speaker 1: right now to explain this one. Tim, thanks for joining us,
0:15
Speaker 1: and let's start with the headliner. What do you have
0:18
Speaker 1: for us?
0:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously, it's an eleven game
0:21
Speaker 2: losing streak. It's my longest since two thousand and four.
0:24
Speaker 2: They're seven and fifteen. You can be seven and fifteen
0:28
Speaker 2: and still win eighty five, eighty six games, win ninety games,
0:31
Speaker 2: you know you can. You can be the nineteen fourteen
0:33
Speaker 2: Boston Braves or whatever it was who who won the
0:36
Speaker 2: World Series despite starting four and eighteen. But I think
0:40
Speaker 2: their next nine games this homestand over the next ten days,
0:42
Speaker 2: you've got the Twins coming to town. You've got the
0:45
Speaker 2: Colorado Rockies this weekend, and the Nationals start next week.
0:48
Speaker 2: That's nine games and ten days against teams you should
0:50
Speaker 2: be and if you want to get off the mat here,
0:54
Speaker 2: this is the homestand to do it.
0:56
Speaker 3: This is the home stand.
0:56
Speaker 2: To go six and three on and get yourself back
0:59
Speaker 2: to thirteen and eighteen, which is like a reasonable point
1:02
Speaker 2: to be and and perhaps make a playoff run. But
1:04
Speaker 2: if they have a losing homestand they go four and
1:06
Speaker 2: five or three and six, and you're looking at a
1:08
Speaker 2: ten and twenty one record, that there's not a lot
1:11
Speaker 2: of success stories that start ten and twenty one.
1:13
Speaker 3: It's it's the classic.
1:15
Speaker 2: You can't win a World Series in April, but you
1:17
Speaker 2: can lose your shot at one and ten and twenty
1:19
Speaker 2: one would be a way to start that.
1:22
Speaker 4: But doesn't matter who they're playing. When they don't score
1:26
Speaker 4: any runs at all, it doesn't. I mean, they've lost
1:29
Speaker 4: eleven games in a row and they've scored like what,
1:32
Speaker 4: twenty runs in the eleven games, or it's something crazy.
1:34
Speaker 5: I don't know exactly right, I.
1:35
Speaker 3: Know I have it.
1:36
Speaker 1: It means runs per game ninety.
1:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was close. I knew. I knew it was lot.
1:42
Speaker 3: You get an extra credit.
1:43
Speaker 5: I actually came.
1:45
Speaker 2: Six of those game in one game, So it's it's
1:47
Speaker 2: it's thirteen runs in the other ten games.
1:49
Speaker 3: You know. Look, look, if you're looking at the opponent, Yeah,
1:51
Speaker 3: like Colorado and Washington don't have great pitching stats, maybe
1:53
Speaker 3: you do something against them.
1:55
Speaker 2: The main thing is you've got one Sodo perhaps coming
1:57
Speaker 2: back as soon as Tuesday, that that will get the
2:00
Speaker 2: lineup a much needed lift. Basically, I mean, you look
2:03
Speaker 2: at their numbers over these these eleven games. They're hitting
2:06
Speaker 2: two hundred as a team, and if you watch the games,
2:08
Speaker 2: that feels high, like they're going one, two, three, inning
2:11
Speaker 2: after inning. You know, this fan base is used to
2:13
Speaker 2: complaining about not coming through with runners and scoring position.
2:16
Speaker 2: That's been an issue for the Mets at times over
2:18
Speaker 2: the last several years. They're not giving themselves chances with
2:21
Speaker 2: runners and scoring position on a consistent basis, and that's
2:23
Speaker 2: what's really you know, you've got Lindor and Bashett having
2:26
Speaker 2: a really, really hard starts of the year, Planco's on
2:28
Speaker 2: the injured list, Luis Robert had a nice first week,
2:30
Speaker 2: but you know, had a four for thirty one over
2:33
Speaker 2: the last week outside of MJ. Melendez, who went five
2:35
Speaker 2: for fourteen over the last four days. I mean, that's
2:38
Speaker 2: that's been their offense. Basically. They keep scoring one or
2:41
Speaker 2: two runs every night, and that puts so much pressure
2:44
Speaker 2: on a pitching staff that you know has done okay
2:47
Speaker 2: at times, but you know, can't make any mistakes. That
2:49
Speaker 2: has made too many of them over the last week.
2:51
Speaker 3: And a half.
2:53
Speaker 6: Does it look like a lack of continuity in the
2:55
Speaker 6: lineup or does it look like a lack of ability
2:58
Speaker 6: in the lineup, Because continuity can be these guys haven't
3:01
Speaker 6: all played together, so they don't know how guys are,
3:03
Speaker 6: how teams are pitching them. But it could also be
3:05
Speaker 6: the fact that Bob Baschett is playing a new position.
3:08
Speaker 6: Orgey Polonko is, Yes, he's dealing with things, but is
3:11
Speaker 6: he a second basement first base, No, he's not.
3:13
Speaker 3: Is he?
3:13
Speaker 6: Vientos is now playing like there's a lot going on
3:17
Speaker 6: there the continuity? Is it the continuity or is it
3:20
Speaker 6: the ability?
3:21
Speaker 2: I mean, I think there was a lot of change
3:23
Speaker 2: thrown out a lot of guys on this team in
3:25
Speaker 2: one offseason. You've got an entirely new you know, like
3:28
Speaker 2: you said, Bashette, Polanco, Bientos, Brett, Baby, Carson, benj They're
3:32
Speaker 2: all learning positions that they didn't necessarily play a lot
3:34
Speaker 2: of last year. And you know Benj is learning the
3:37
Speaker 2: major leagues. They're learning how the lineup works differently. Like
3:40
Speaker 2: I talked to Baschette and spring training about the comfort
3:43
Speaker 2: of hitting behind Vladimir Guerrero Junior for so many years
3:45
Speaker 2: and knowing, Okay, I'm gonna watch how they attack Laddie,
3:48
Speaker 2: and that's going to be I'm gonna get a read
3:49
Speaker 2: on how they attack me. Hitting behind Sodo or Lindor,
3:52
Speaker 2: who are often from the other side of the plate,
3:54
Speaker 2: gives him a different impression of what that first at
3:57
Speaker 2: bat is going to be like. And then you throw
3:59
Speaker 2: in that they're they're playing in this market after a
4:02
Speaker 2: really disappointing twenty twenty five season. There's a lot of
4:05
Speaker 2: pressure on them because of the guys they're replacing in
4:07
Speaker 2: the lineup, and you get off to this kind of start,
4:10
Speaker 2: it can snowball fast on you, where there's a lot
4:13
Speaker 2: of questions about whether these are the right moves coming in,
4:15
Speaker 2: there's a lot of questions about the manager's job security
4:18
Speaker 2: and whether this all fits together and whether it can
4:20
Speaker 2: fit together over the remaining one hundred and forty games
4:23
Speaker 2: at this baseball season.
4:26
Speaker 4: Okay, Tim, why not just put Bo at second, Beaty
4:29
Speaker 4: at third, and just go back to the way they
4:31
Speaker 4: had to keep Lindor? And why are we trying all
4:33
Speaker 4: these other tricks? Why can't we just put them back
4:35
Speaker 4: where they originally were playing at it one time?
4:38
Speaker 2: Well, I think because they've got Semi in at second base,
4:40
Speaker 2: and the reason they wanted to bring him in was
4:43
Speaker 2: to have better up the middle defense. You know, that
4:46
Speaker 2: was David Stern's big thing, was run prevention coming off
4:48
Speaker 2: of last year. The idea that, okay, if you Lindor
4:51
Speaker 2: should have a better defensive season at short stop than
4:53
Speaker 2: he did last year. That hasn't panned out yet. Semian
4:55
Speaker 2: should solidify second base, just worked okay defensively, but he
4:59
Speaker 2: hasn't hit Robert in center field to be better than
5:01
Speaker 2: what they had last year. Was an all around player,
5:03
Speaker 2: but you know, you can't play every day to the
5:05
Speaker 2: same extent as some other guys. You know, Bute hasn't
5:07
Speaker 2: been bad at third base. Like their defense has had
5:10
Speaker 2: some bad moments. It's not been a strength for sure,
5:13
Speaker 2: but it's not been as bad as it was last year.
5:15
Speaker 2: But certainly it seems like in some guy's cases you
5:18
Speaker 2: mentioned Beatty, it feels like what they're going through defensively
5:22
Speaker 2: might carry over to what's going on in the box
5:24
Speaker 2: and then vice versa. So it's just been a lot
5:27
Speaker 2: of uncertainty for a lot of guys on this roster.
5:30
Speaker 6: What have you seen from Simeon since he's been over
5:33
Speaker 6: what have you seen? I mean, run prevention. If you
5:36
Speaker 6: create a defense, is run prevention. Well, they're preventing runs
5:39
Speaker 6: in their own offensive side right now. But what have
5:41
Speaker 6: you seen from Simeon since he's been over here? That
5:45
Speaker 6: doesn't seem like it's working or hey, you know, we'll
5:48
Speaker 6: just wait and see.
5:50
Speaker 2: It feels a little bit like a continuation of last
5:52
Speaker 2: year for him that just you know, is chasing a
5:55
Speaker 2: little bit more, isn't controlling controlling the strike zone quite
5:58
Speaker 2: to the extent that we're used to during his best years.
6:00
Speaker 2: You know, that was the concern when they acquired him.
6:02
Speaker 2: You know, it was basically to get out from the
6:05
Speaker 2: last five years of Brandon Nemo's contract, and you understand
6:07
Speaker 2: you're taking on the last three years of Semians at
6:09
Speaker 2: a higher rate. You think he might be a better
6:11
Speaker 2: fit because of where he plays defensively, but the bat
6:13
Speaker 2: was probably not going to play to the extent that
6:15
Speaker 2: Neimo's had over the last couple of years.
6:17
Speaker 3: I mean, this is the you know, had a.
6:19
Speaker 2: Downturn in twenty four at a bigger one in twenty five,
6:22
Speaker 2: and is you know, in his mid thirties. This is
6:23
Speaker 2: what happens to guys at that age, and so you know,
6:26
Speaker 2: outside of I think a really strong series in San Francisco,
6:29
Speaker 2: that really strong series for the entire offense in San
6:31
Speaker 2: Francisco right before this losing streak, sameans that's looked a
6:34
Speaker 2: little bit slow, hasn't been able to control the strike zone,
6:37
Speaker 2: like I said, the way we're used to see him
6:39
Speaker 2: when he's at his best. And so that's why he's
6:41
Speaker 2: been in kind of at the bottom half of the order,
6:44
Speaker 2: not one of those candidates to come up and try
6:46
Speaker 2: to help out a top half that's also flagging.
6:50
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7:51
Speaker 5: I'm just I just listen.
7:52
Speaker 4: We all love Marcus Simon here, but if it's not happening,
7:56
Speaker 4: then we need to try to do something different. I
7:59
Speaker 4: just don't know what you can do different if they're
8:00
Speaker 4: not willing. And the run prevention thing I get. But
8:03
Speaker 4: also I've seen balls, I've seen mistakes made on defense
8:06
Speaker 4: from Bo because he's at a position, right Vianto's baby,
8:09
Speaker 4: They're everyone's at a position except for Lindor and Yes
8:13
Speaker 4: and Simeon. But what it seems like you want Simeon's
8:17
Speaker 4: bad in there didn't let them d H. I don't know,
8:21
Speaker 4: you know you want to. It just seems like there's
8:23
Speaker 4: there's other ways to go about it. But the way
8:25
Speaker 4: this team's built and the way I don't want to
8:27
Speaker 4: say the way the ego is on this team, because
8:29
Speaker 4: that's not really the case. The players, players will play
8:31
Speaker 4: wherever you tell them to play, right, But there's something
8:34
Speaker 4: that it seems like there could be an easy fix,
8:36
Speaker 4: but you're gonna have to hurt someone's feelings, and then
8:38
Speaker 4: you have to choose whose feelings to hurt.
8:40
Speaker 1: Almost can I add to Tim before you answer? They
8:43
Speaker 1: made an awful trade. Brandon Neimo looks good. They could
8:46
Speaker 1: use a NEMO right now. Like I know, our guys
8:48
Speaker 1: mc neil's singing a pretty good too. McNeil's not doing
8:51
Speaker 1: bad yea. And I'm just gonna be blunt. I mean,
8:53
Speaker 1: I know it's too early to kind of do all
8:55
Speaker 1: of this, but there is one guy who's had bad
8:58
Speaker 1: metric clash year going into this series towards the bottom
9:01
Speaker 1: and bat speed and exit velocity literally down the line.
9:03
Speaker 1: I know others aren't hitting too, but you know, I'm
9:05
Speaker 1: watching most games and I'm just like everyone's out of
9:07
Speaker 1: position for this one trade they made that looks awful.
9:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think they knew when they made
9:14
Speaker 2: that trade that it was not one that was going
9:16
Speaker 2: to make the twenty twenty six roster better. It was
9:17
Speaker 2: about twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty, the last couple
9:20
Speaker 2: of years of Nimo's contract. They thought that they were
9:23
Speaker 2: in a bad spot with Soda locked up long term
9:27
Speaker 2: in a corner outfield spot. They didn't want the other
9:29
Speaker 2: corner outfield spot locked up long term. They weren't you know,
9:32
Speaker 2: they weren't sure they would be able to unload Nimo.
9:34
Speaker 2: They figured this might be their last opportunity to do
9:36
Speaker 2: so and get something back of value, and they thought
9:39
Speaker 2: Semi and fit. Look, it looks terrible right now because
9:42
Speaker 2: of the way that Nimo's performed. I know a guy
9:44
Speaker 2: who who hated hitting in City Field in April and
9:46
Speaker 2: May he finally gets out of that ballpark, he gets
9:49
Speaker 2: off to the kind of start he's long wanted to
9:50
Speaker 2: get off to with the Rangers and Semi, and it
9:53
Speaker 2: does not look like he's reversed kind of the trend
9:55
Speaker 2: line that we've seen the last couple of years.
9:57
Speaker 3: And you know, they thought.
9:58
Speaker 2: That their offense would be enough to with stand that that,
10:01
Speaker 2: you know, if if Sodo's healthy, if Lindor has the
10:03
Speaker 2: kind of year you expect, if Bashett is the kind
10:05
Speaker 2: of player you expect, Like Bashett offensively is enough to
10:08
Speaker 2: mitigate the defensive, you know, fitting a round peg into
10:11
Speaker 2: a square hole. That that signing him mad, It made
10:14
Speaker 2: it out to be, but that just hasn't been the
10:16
Speaker 2: case so far. That the offense has underperformed so much
10:19
Speaker 2: across the board that they just haven't been able to
10:21
Speaker 2: do anything.
10:23
Speaker 4: All right, Tim, I don't want to just kill Marcus
10:24
Speaker 4: Simmy because I like Marcus a lot and he's had
10:26
Speaker 4: a great career. So I feel like we're kind of
10:28
Speaker 4: piling on and I don't want that to be the
10:29
Speaker 4: case at all. So let's move on to another problem.
10:32
Speaker 4: Francisco Lindor has one homer and one RBI on the season.
10:35
Speaker 4: We're twenty two games in or twenty two, it's twenty
10:39
Speaker 4: two or twenty three, whatever whatever is there? Seven twenty two
10:43
Speaker 4: games in? What's going on with him? Defensive lapses, you know,
10:48
Speaker 4: not hitting. People are saying he's uninterested. I'm on those
10:52
Speaker 4: something crazy out there? Is there a chance he gets moved.
10:56
Speaker 3: I would be surprised by that at this point in
10:58
Speaker 3: the season.
10:58
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you're getting to the like, what
11:01
Speaker 2: do we have to do to solve this part of
11:03
Speaker 2: the season already? Like you know, usually we talked about this,
11:06
Speaker 2: like you guys were talking about mid May is kind
11:07
Speaker 2: of the time you start to think about maybe doing
11:10
Speaker 2: something a little bit differently.
11:11
Speaker 3: The Mets have gotten there quicker with Lindor.
11:13
Speaker 5: Yeah.
11:13
Speaker 2: I think you know you mentioned it deeper than the
11:15
Speaker 2: the offensive issues which we've seen most years. Last year
11:19
Speaker 2: was the one year in New York he got off
11:20
Speaker 2: to a really good start, and this year the offensive
11:22
Speaker 2: issues you can you can trace him back to the
11:24
Speaker 2: fact that he had hadmate surgery right at the start
11:27
Speaker 2: of spring training, didn't get that many at bats in
11:29
Speaker 2: spring That's probably played into some of the miscommunications he's
11:32
Speaker 2: had with Semion on the infield. They didn't play together
11:34
Speaker 2: very much in spring training. You know, you could understand
11:37
Speaker 2: if you told me at the start of the season,
11:39
Speaker 2: you know, twenty games in Francis School indoor is going
11:40
Speaker 2: to be off to a cold offensive start. Okay, I
11:43
Speaker 2: get that. It's been the issues on the on the
11:46
Speaker 2: field defensively, you know, forgetting the number of outs that
11:48
Speaker 2: were in the in the first inning in Saint Louis,
11:51
Speaker 2: that that's the last guy on the field. I would
11:52
Speaker 2: have expected that to happen to some of the other
11:55
Speaker 2: issues of not charging the ball that he should have charged,
11:58
Speaker 2: laying back on it, you know, trying to get all
12:00
Speaker 2: it's on the other side of second base. It just
12:02
Speaker 2: it adds up to a weird look for him. You know,
12:05
Speaker 2: you don't know what's going on in someone's life that
12:08
Speaker 2: leads them to have kind of those these mental lapses
12:10
Speaker 2: on the field, especially someone who you expect to be
12:12
Speaker 2: on top of the ball the way Lindor is. But
12:15
Speaker 2: it's just been another major part of the story of
12:18
Speaker 2: what's going on with this team that we don't quite
12:20
Speaker 2: understand yet.
12:22
Speaker 6: Is David Sterns more at fault for this because of
12:26
Speaker 6: what we've talked about for the first ten minutes here,
12:28
Speaker 6: the construction of this lineup, the run prevention they're preventing,
12:32
Speaker 6: you know, them scoring their own runs, let alone the
12:35
Speaker 6: other team run prevention not working out so far this year?
12:39
Speaker 6: Or is it Carlos Mendoza, Because I choose to believe
12:43
Speaker 6: it's more in the construction and less on the environment.
12:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I think when you look
12:49
Speaker 2: at a roster that is underperforming as comprehensively as this one,
12:53
Speaker 2: I don't know what button there is that Mendoza can
12:56
Speaker 2: push to change it. I think, you know, if you're
12:59
Speaker 2: thinking about Mendoza's job security, you go back to the
13:03
Speaker 2: middle of last season, and like when they started that
13:05
Speaker 2: spiral down, whether it was the one in June or
13:08
Speaker 2: the bigger one in August in September, you know, why
13:11
Speaker 2: wasn't he able to stop that the way that he
13:12
Speaker 2: had been able to turn it around in twenty twenty
13:14
Speaker 2: four when they got off to a bad start. You know,
13:17
Speaker 2: why wasn't he able to generate the same kind of turnaround?
13:20
Speaker 2: And then you look at it this year. Is he
13:22
Speaker 2: the guy we want to try to do that again?
13:23
Speaker 2: I think that's the question you have to answer with Mendoza,
13:25
Speaker 2: with Stearns, who I don't think his job is in jeopardy.
13:29
Speaker 2: You know, Steve Cohen waited several years to hire him,
13:31
Speaker 2: so I don't think he'd let him go in year three.
13:33
Speaker 2: But I think you get it there. It is very
13:36
Speaker 2: legitimate to question whether the roster construction decisions that he
13:39
Speaker 2: made in the offseason were wise. You know that the
13:41
Speaker 2: Nemo trade has not looked good. The decision to sign
13:44
Speaker 2: Jorge Planco over some other first base options has not
13:47
Speaker 2: looked good. The decision to kind of sacrifice the durability
13:50
Speaker 2: of your position player corps for a group that has
13:53
Speaker 2: a lot more health question marks has not looked good.
13:56
Speaker 2: You know, signing Bashett to play third base, a position
13:59
Speaker 2: that not everyone believed he could play in the major
14:01
Speaker 2: leagues hasn't worked out to this point. So yeah, I think,
14:04
Speaker 2: you know, some years the GM has kind of the
14:06
Speaker 2: perfect offseason, and some years you're taking an over twenty
14:09
Speaker 2: two games into the season. And that's what it looks
14:10
Speaker 2: like for Sterns and Mets right now.
14:13
Speaker 4: Also, let's not forget some of the pitching decisions haven't
14:15
Speaker 4: worked out well. So I mean, they're they're allergic to
14:18
Speaker 4: long term deals with some of their pitchers, the Frankie Montoss,
14:21
Speaker 4: I mean, the Shaan and I. We love Shaman and I,
14:23
Speaker 4: but that hasn't worked out since he resigned. So there's
14:25
Speaker 4: been some you know, short term pitching decisions that haven't
14:29
Speaker 4: exactly worked for David Sterns and the Mets either, So
14:32
Speaker 4: you know, it's just a it's kind of like everything
14:35
Speaker 4: has gone wrong at once. And I don't want to
14:36
Speaker 4: blame Mandy. We love we love love Mendy, So I
14:39
Speaker 4: don't want to blame Mendy at all.
14:40
Speaker 5: And it's not his fault. He's doing the best he
14:42
Speaker 5: can with what he's given.
14:43
Speaker 4: And you can look at any manager and say, oh,
14:45
Speaker 4: he made this wrong decision, he made this wrong everyone.
14:48
Speaker 4: It's the job of a manager to accept those. But
14:51
Speaker 4: I hit on Lindor a little bit earlier. Once Sodo
14:55
Speaker 4: went out. They won the first three games, and they've
14:56
Speaker 4: lost eleven in rows and Sodo went out. Is there
14:59
Speaker 4: any true to the stuff about Soto and Lindor? And
15:02
Speaker 4: I don't want to get into the rumor mill, but
15:04
Speaker 4: is there any truth to that? Because it keeps coming
15:07
Speaker 4: up and on Twitter and in other places. You know,
15:09
Speaker 4: they didn't hug, they didn't hug each other perfectly on
15:12
Speaker 4: opening day, and their lockers are on opposite ends of
15:15
Speaker 4: the clubhouse.
15:16
Speaker 5: Is there anything to this that Mets fans should be
15:19
Speaker 5: worried about?
15:21
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you know, my colleague Will Salmon
15:23
Speaker 2: and I reported on this at the end of last
15:24
Speaker 2: year that it's taken a little while for those personalities
15:28
Speaker 2: to mesh that. You know, some people wondered, is this
15:31
Speaker 2: gonna be Lindor's team or Sodo's team, and other people
15:33
Speaker 2: in the organization said, it's got to be both, like,
15:35
Speaker 2: it's got to work that way. You can't just it's
15:37
Speaker 2: not one guy taken over. It's their their personalities coming together.
15:39
Speaker 2: They're meshing a little bit better. And you know that
15:42
Speaker 2: that takes time to happen organically, and people thought that
15:44
Speaker 2: was happening, uh towards you know, when when Sodo got
15:47
Speaker 2: comfortable the second half of last year, people thought, you know,
15:49
Speaker 2: he was in a better place, Lindor was in a
15:51
Speaker 2: better place. They didn't think it was gonna be any
15:52
Speaker 2: issue going forward, you know, it was. It was interesting
15:55
Speaker 2: to be there on opening day and see that they
15:57
Speaker 2: had moved Sodo's locker from across the door from from
16:00
Speaker 2: Lindor to all the way on the other side of
16:01
Speaker 2: the room. There are some other things that go into
16:03
Speaker 2: that service. Time you acquire Marcus Semi and makes sense
16:06
Speaker 2: to put Semi and near Lindor. It makes sense to
16:08
Speaker 2: Soto on the other kind of anchoring the other side
16:10
Speaker 2: of the room with with Louise Robert, who we wanted
16:11
Speaker 2: to lock her next to. But that certainly feeds into
16:16
Speaker 2: that narrative. And look, the way to change that is
16:18
Speaker 2: to play better is for Soda to come back, for
16:21
Speaker 2: Lindor to start hitting, for other guys in this lineup
16:24
Speaker 2: to start hitting, for them to take advantage of a
16:26
Speaker 2: really weak schedule over these next certainly nine games at home,
16:30
Speaker 2: and then they.
16:31
Speaker 3: Go to Anaheim, Denver, and Arizona.
16:32
Speaker 2: That's a road trip where you can also do some
16:35
Speaker 2: things to get yourself back in the picture. But that
16:37
Speaker 2: you know, until they start doing that, you're gonna hear
16:40
Speaker 2: daily questions about the relationship between Sodo and Lindor, what's
16:42
Speaker 2: going on in Lindor's head, Mendoza's job status, Why did
16:46
Speaker 2: David Sterns do all this in the off season, Like
16:48
Speaker 2: it's just gonna be a cloud of that until they
16:50
Speaker 2: actually start playing, start start winning. You win a baseball
16:52
Speaker 2: game and then go from there.
16:55
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17:23
Speaker 4: I'm gonna concert tickets, game tickets, anything tickets. There's some
17:27
Speaker 4: big concert tours on the Heck, I went there with
17:29
Speaker 4: it yesterday with my daughter. All the damn festivals. She
17:33
Speaker 4: wants to go to Gosh, summer Fest, winter Fest, spring Fest, Lollapalooza,
17:39
Speaker 4: Coach of Palooza, Burning Woman, Burning Man.
17:43
Speaker 5: I don't know. She was making stuff up at one point.
17:44
Speaker 5: I'm like, but unless you're going on Seek, we can't
17:47
Speaker 5: afford the stuff.
17:48
Speaker 1: Hey, that's where you go, okay, and they help you out.
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18:12
Speaker 1: Props to Sea Geek Tim.
18:14
Speaker 5: How close the city field do you live?
18:18
Speaker 3: Not that close?
18:19
Speaker 2: It is about Okay, I'm in Central Jersey, so it's
18:21
Speaker 2: it's a little ways.
18:23
Speaker 6: But if you open your door, do you think you
18:24
Speaker 6: could hear them booing already for the first game? Because
18:28
Speaker 6: how brutal the time is it to come back to
18:31
Speaker 6: a city that expects this team to be better? And
18:36
Speaker 6: do you see a I mean, if it's ah, if
18:40
Speaker 6: it's a one two three bottom of the first inning
18:43
Speaker 6: in their first game.
18:45
Speaker 5: Do we do we hear the boo birds?
18:46
Speaker 6: Or is it going to be even when they announce
18:49
Speaker 6: the first the first batter in the lineup?
18:52
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, a one two three bottom of the first
18:54
Speaker 2: is the absolute latest. We'll hear them on Tuesday night,
18:57
Speaker 2: you know, we'll see what I'm in intrigued by. You know, first,
19:01
Speaker 2: what the crowd looks like, you know, how many people
19:03
Speaker 2: are there for first pitch Tuesday against Minnesota?
19:06
Speaker 3: Uh? And then what the reaction is.
19:08
Speaker 2: I think that is something you know as much as
19:10
Speaker 2: players hear about it when they sign with the Mets,
19:12
Speaker 2: uh and they come to a place like New York.
19:14
Speaker 1: Uh.
19:14
Speaker 3: It takes them getting used to that.
19:16
Speaker 2: You know, you have a bad home stand to start
19:18
Speaker 2: the season, you're gonna get a boop.
19:21
Speaker 3: You know, you're you're you.
19:22
Speaker 2: Have you're like Wan Sota last year, where your overall
19:24
Speaker 2: numbers are fine, but you're not doing your best in
19:26
Speaker 2: with runners and scoring position.
19:28
Speaker 3: They're gonna boo you.
19:29
Speaker 2: Mike Piazza got booed into the same scenario when he
19:31
Speaker 2: first got to the team. Like it's kind of the
19:33
Speaker 2: right of passage for anyone here that they're gonna get
19:36
Speaker 2: booed that first month regardless of how they play almost Uh.
19:39
Speaker 2: And so I'm you know, when when they get off
19:41
Speaker 2: to this kind of start, when they look this bad
19:43
Speaker 2: for this long. Uh, Well, we'll see what the fan
19:45
Speaker 2: reaction is uh this week and why this week really
19:48
Speaker 2: does feel like kind of a point of no return
19:50
Speaker 2: for them if if they don't play better in these
19:52
Speaker 2: next nine games.
19:52
Speaker 3: I don't know that there's there's a way out.
19:56
Speaker 4: Jim, before you let before you let you go. Who's better,
19:59
Speaker 4: who's in a better position?
20:00
Speaker 5: Right now? The Mets are the Phillies.
20:04
Speaker 2: It's been funny to read mac Gelb and see everything
20:07
Speaker 2: going on with Philadelphia and be like, oh, that's I didn't.
20:10
Speaker 3: I hadn't. I had no idea like.
20:13
Speaker 1: That.
20:14
Speaker 2: You know, I think neither's in great, great position, but
20:20
Speaker 2: I you know, I think you'd probably still take the
20:22
Speaker 2: Phillies that they don't they they have kind of a
20:25
Speaker 2: track record of doing it there in a way that
20:27
Speaker 2: the guys on this Mets team they don't have a
20:28
Speaker 2: track record of doing it together. Then a tracker doing
20:31
Speaker 2: it together in New York yet, whereas those guys in
20:33
Speaker 2: Philly have done. I know a lot of them are
20:35
Speaker 2: on the wrong side of thirty, but I'd still take them.
20:38
Speaker 2: And they've got, you know, Zach Wheeler coming back. They've
20:41
Speaker 2: got a pitching staff that is a real strength. So
20:44
Speaker 2: I'd probably take their spot in the game and a
20:46
Speaker 2: half and the standings that they have on the Mets
20:48
Speaker 2: over New York right now.
20:50
Speaker 1: And I remember a couple of years ago the Mets
20:52
Speaker 1: started twenty two and twenty three and then they ended
20:55
Speaker 1: up in the NLCS. I'm not saying that's going to happen,
20:58
Speaker 1: but they've been in an even worse position in terms
21:00
Speaker 1: of games under five hundred before.
21:02
Speaker 5: That's one game under.
21:05
Speaker 6: Thirty three, twenty three you said twenty three, you said
21:09
Speaker 6: twenty two.
21:11
Speaker 5: Have done that.
21:12
Speaker 1: Thirty three. I have mixed up my numbers.
21:14
Speaker 5: They also a good starting pitching. So there's that.
21:18
Speaker 1: What two years ago. Well, first of all, I mean
21:21
Speaker 1: Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLain are awesome. They're both very good.
21:24
Speaker 1: I know Fridday has but you.
21:25
Speaker 4: Have to This goes back to what we said about
21:27
Speaker 4: the Phillies. You have to score runs.
21:30
Speaker 5: Tim, thank you.
21:30
Speaker 4: Here's here's running in baseball. Here's the thing in baseball, Tim,
21:34
Speaker 4: And I'm sure you've been told this before. If you
21:36
Speaker 4: score more runs than the other team, you always win
21:40
Speaker 4: the game. So you can run prevent all you want.
21:42
Speaker 4: But if you don't actually score more, then you can
21:45
Speaker 4: ever win because that means the other team is score more.
21:49
Speaker 3: You know, I was an English major. I don't go
21:51
Speaker 3: for that math stuff.
21:52
Speaker 5: That's Braves.
21:53
Speaker 4: The Braves had the best ERA and the most hits
21:57
Speaker 4: and most runs scored. So you know why they're in
21:59
Speaker 4: first place because they score more runs and they give
22:02
Speaker 4: up the least amount of runs. So it was like, wow,
22:04
Speaker 4: I wonder why they're doing well.
22:08
Speaker 5: It's twenty AJ's on a different level right now. He's
22:11
Speaker 5: really able.
22:12
Speaker 1: Differently, Hey, do you think that fans and just the
22:17
Speaker 1: general public are highlighting a move from the latest loss
22:22
Speaker 1: and say, okay, well that's it, that's the final straw
22:24
Speaker 1: for the manager. The reason I bring this up is,
22:27
Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about Carlos Mendoz. I think we've
22:29
Speaker 1: all been clear on this show that we don't think
22:31
Speaker 1: that this start is his fault. The roster construction is
22:34
Speaker 1: very confusing to me. You even have like the host
22:38
Speaker 1: of the Cubs postgame show after the game yesterday, Cole Wright,
22:42
Speaker 1: his name is, who does a nice job on there.
22:44
Speaker 1: He said, I think Carlos Mendoza may want to update
22:47
Speaker 1: that LinkedIn page. Former major league manager not great at
22:50
Speaker 1: managing late game situations. That's what the update may look like.
22:54
Speaker 1: So can you take us through what happened with the
22:57
Speaker 1: Nico Horner decision and then also the bigger picture of
23:00
Speaker 1: how Mendy has managed late game situations in the past
23:03
Speaker 1: few years, because I've never looked at them and thought,
23:06
Speaker 1: you know what the problem is, They're not doing the
23:08
Speaker 1: right things late in games.
23:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's bottom of the tenth yesterday one one game.
23:14
Speaker 2: You know, Craig Kimball throws the wild pitch that moves
23:16
Speaker 2: Pete Crow Armstrong as the bonus runner to third. He
23:18
Speaker 2: strikes out Dansby Swanson, and then you've got Nico Horner
23:21
Speaker 2: coming up runner on third, one out. Horner obviously is
23:24
Speaker 2: off to a fantastic start for the Cubs, had had
23:26
Speaker 2: a good series to that point against the Mets, and
23:29
Speaker 2: they elected not. You know, you could have walked in
23:31
Speaker 2: there and face Michael Bush, who's off to a slow start.
23:34
Speaker 2: You could have walked Horner and Bush and brought up
23:36
Speaker 2: Alex Bregman with the pitcher's spot behind him, and probably
23:39
Speaker 2: get Miguel Amaiyah pinch hitting. You know, there's a couple
23:42
Speaker 2: of different ways to go about it. Most people think,
23:44
Speaker 2: you know, oh, you walk Horner, you set up the
23:46
Speaker 2: double play. Mendoza said post game that if if we
23:48
Speaker 2: walk Horner, he's still in second base right away, we're
23:51
Speaker 2: not getting a double play out of that. You're in
23:53
Speaker 2: a similar spot. You're just you've just got Kimberly against
23:56
Speaker 2: the lefty in Bush. You know, if I'm saying, if
23:59
Speaker 2: you walk to is loaded, you've got Kimbroll with the
24:01
Speaker 2: bases loaded, not necessarily the control pitcher you want in
24:03
Speaker 2: a situation like that, I probably would have walked corner.
24:06
Speaker 2: But I understand where Mendoza is coming from, and to
24:09
Speaker 2: the broader point. You know, there's never been a time
24:11
Speaker 2: where we've talked to Mendoza about late game moves and
24:13
Speaker 2: he has sounded like he was not prepared for them.
24:17
Speaker 2: He always has a really detailed answer for why he
24:19
Speaker 2: wanted to do something this way versus that way. So
24:22
Speaker 2: I don't think it's the minutia of late game decision
24:25
Speaker 2: making or how he's handled the pitching staff. You know,
24:29
Speaker 2: the bullpen has been coming into the season, wasn't really
24:32
Speaker 2: configured flexibly for him, especially once Sean and i Ah
24:35
Speaker 2: went there out of the rotation. So I think there's
24:38
Speaker 2: been some issues there, but not a lot of great
24:40
Speaker 2: options for him to go to. So I'm with you,
24:43
Speaker 2: I don't think it's really late game management. I think,
24:45
Speaker 2: you know, like I mentioned earlier, the question you asked
24:47
Speaker 2: about Mendoza is, you know, why wasn't he able to
24:50
Speaker 2: stop that kid last year? What was missing from that
24:53
Speaker 2: that team last year? And why does it still seem
24:55
Speaker 2: to be missing With so many different people this year,
24:57
Speaker 2: with so many different coaches this year, we haven't talked about.
25:00
Speaker 2: The coaching staff is almost entirely new as well. You know,
25:03
Speaker 2: it's it's tough for all that to gel in twenty
25:05
Speaker 2: two games. It took, like you mentioned, fifty five of
25:07
Speaker 2: them in twenty twenty four before they were able to
25:09
Speaker 2: turn it around. But they're in a bit of a
25:12
Speaker 2: more urgent straits right now to start the year.
25:16
Speaker 1: That's a good point. That's the kicker there. You have
25:18
Speaker 1: a new coaching staff, and not to mention, Jeremy Hafner's
25:21
Speaker 1: crushing it with the Braves right now and they're missing
25:22
Speaker 1: half their roster pitching wise, but new coaching staff, you
25:26
Speaker 1: have so many different players coming in and playing different positions,
25:29
Speaker 1: Like it's just too much. And the computer projections. Hate
25:32
Speaker 1: to be that guy that said they're going to be
25:34
Speaker 1: the second best record in baseball, like fangrafts, like, you're
25:37
Speaker 1: just not factoring in some things that that they don't
25:39
Speaker 1: put in the models. So that's my take. I'm a
25:41
Speaker 1: number struggle.
25:43
Speaker 5: Devin Williams is hasn't been good. I'm sorry, Louise Robert.
25:47
Speaker 4: Louise Robert, as much as he got off to a
25:49
Speaker 4: nice start, he's not doing that great anymore.
25:51
Speaker 5: He's come back down to reality.
25:53
Speaker 1: He's like their second best hitter, which which is insane.
25:55
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it's like rushing.
25:58
Speaker 5: Listen, we don't I hate crushing the Mets.
26:00
Speaker 1: But they've lost eleven in a row and fans are pissed,
26:02
Speaker 1: and I think this was a great fifteen minutes. So Tim,
26:05
Speaker 1: this was awesome, man. I really enjoyed having you on here. Obviously,
26:09
Speaker 1: maybe better times for the Mets, and we'll see how
26:12
Speaker 1: this ten game playoff stretch goes for them, right.
26:16
Speaker 3: So any time, thanks for having me, guys.
26:17
Speaker 1: To summarize our conversation just now on the Mets, you're
26:22
Speaker 1: going to smash them when they're not playing well, and
26:25
Speaker 1: you didn't like the overall moves at the end of
26:29
Speaker 1: the year, right like you like parts of the pickups,
26:32
Speaker 1: like oh picking up.
26:34
Speaker 4: We're not smashing them. We just asked the questions, Tim
26:37
Speaker 4: then had to give the answer to which which again
26:40
Speaker 4: we were just asking questions that the fans and people
26:42
Speaker 4: and you want to know, we're not I don't make
26:45
Speaker 4: a judgment on anybody.
26:46
Speaker 1: I'm more direct. So a year ago, you.
26:49
Speaker 4: Don't have to go into clubhouses every Saturday.
26:51
Speaker 1: Don't talk to these guys that's true, although I would
26:55
Speaker 1: I used to for.
26:55
Speaker 4: Actually, you know, I went up to this is kind
26:59
Speaker 4: of remember we had the Jonah Haim conversation about Yes.
27:03
Speaker 4: I went up to him on Saturday. I said, look, man,
27:05
Speaker 4: I said, I don't. He's like I saw it. He's like,
27:07
Speaker 4: I understood what you were saying. And I was just like,
27:10
Speaker 4: I want you to know. That wasn't a personal it
27:12
Speaker 4: wasn't about you. It was just kind of a general statement.
27:14
Speaker 4: You just happened to be the guy in the line
27:15
Speaker 4: of fire. He's like, no, I got it. He's like,
27:18
Speaker 4: I didn't know though, and he explained. He's like I
27:19
Speaker 4: was asking if we were challenging and if we wanted
27:22
Speaker 4: to replay, and he said, next thing, I know, so
27:25
Speaker 4: there's at the mount. He's like, d And I was like, okay,
27:28
Speaker 4: I just wanted to like so.
27:30
Speaker 1: That's the good stuff though, because yeah, you go over
27:31
Speaker 1: it with him. For me. Orioles last offseason mess transaction wise,
27:35
Speaker 1: we crushed it. They sucked. This year they did well.
27:38
Speaker 1: We'll see how they do. Same thing with the Mets. Here.
27:40
Speaker 1: Weird offseason. A couple of things that we might not
27:46
Speaker 1: have time to get to. So let's do it now.
27:48
Speaker 1: I mentioned Ben Rice, but he's mentioned he's homered in
27:51
Speaker 1: four consecutive games. Yankee swept the Royals over the weekend.
27:58
Speaker 1: How good does he look? How good do you think
27:59
Speaker 1: he can be? Like? Is this a all star player?
28:05
Speaker 1: Like a multi year caliber all star? He's saying he
28:10
Speaker 1: can hit.
28:11
Speaker 5: He just you can hit. He's always been able to hit.
28:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've had trouble developing position players and he nailed it.
28:17
Speaker 4: No, this one's good. He can hit. He's going to
28:19
Speaker 4: be a star. He's already a star. He's going to
28:22
Speaker 4: be a star.
28:25
Speaker 6: He nailed it himself. He was a catcher. The dude's
28:28
Speaker 6: super smart. He's figured out exactly what they're trying to
28:32
Speaker 6: teach in the minor leagues. But I feel like what
28:34
Speaker 6: they're trying to teach he then put it into like
28:37
Speaker 6: a big league swing, like the fact that he's able
28:41
Speaker 6: to control the strike zone, the fact that he's not
28:45
Speaker 6: afraid to just do damage pool side in the air,
28:48
Speaker 6: which I get it sounds like, well, why shouldn't everybody
28:51
Speaker 6: do that? But his ability to do that, his ability
28:55
Speaker 6: to essentially walk the same as he strikes out, are
28:59
Speaker 6: his superpowers. And oh yeah, he has a ton of
29:03
Speaker 6: He has a ton of power. And what what is
29:06
Speaker 6: crazy too is the fact that eventually he's gonna be
29:11
Speaker 6: either protection for Judge or I see them moving him
29:16
Speaker 6: in front of Judge because they love that right.
29:19
Speaker 5: Left right, left, right left. And I don't know.
29:22
Speaker 6: I I think his numbers could go now, obviously not
29:26
Speaker 6: up from where they're at, but continue to do it
29:28
Speaker 6: and continue to be, you know, this type of player
29:32
Speaker 6: for a long time, as long as They'aron Judge is
29:34
Speaker 6: hitting around him somewhere in the lineup.
29:37
Speaker 1: I don't want to simplify things, but sometimes we look
29:39
Speaker 1: at players and go, oh, they added this much muscle
29:41
Speaker 1: and stronger and whatever. We did a show in Somerset
29:45
Speaker 1: when he was in the minors and he was probably
29:47
Speaker 1: six two two ten, two fifteen, and now he is
29:51
Speaker 1: a six two two thirty monster. He grew into his body.
29:56
Speaker 1: He's clearly lifting and doing all the things.
29:58
Speaker 5: He figured it out. He's got he's figured some stuff out.
30:01
Speaker 3: Man.
30:01
Speaker 5: He looks really good.
30:02
Speaker 1: He does.
30:03
Speaker 5: He looks really good.
30:04
Speaker 1: Powerful.
30:06
Speaker 6: Takes people a little longer, like he's not twenty two
30:09
Speaker 6: to twenty three years old, he's almost twenty eight. I think, No,
30:11
Speaker 6: he's twenty seven, just turned twenty seven.
30:14
Speaker 1: Yep, twenty seven season. He turned twenty seven right February
30:18
Speaker 1: twenty second. So yeah, late bloomer, it's kind of the
30:21
Speaker 1: dream in baseball. You're not gonna have to pay him
30:23
Speaker 1: as much I would have.
30:25
Speaker 5: Still old for Kans, just saying mmm,