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

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Hope you are doing well. We wanted
0:03
Speaker 1: to let you know. We recorded this podcast episode on.
0:06
Speaker 2: The evening of Monday, February twenty fourth, twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 2: By the time you hear this, some things may have
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Speaker 2: changed here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show.
0:30
Speaker 2: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:33
Speaker 2: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show.
0:36
Speaker 1: In the world, over eleven and a half years strong.
0:40
Speaker 2: This coming April is twelve years of the PST podcast show.
0:44
Speaker 2: We appreciate you listening, we appreciate you downloading the show,
0:48
Speaker 2: and we've got a great Opposition Territory pod coming your
0:50
Speaker 2: way this week as we start getting into spring training. Yes,
0:55
Speaker 2: major League Baseball teams throughout the country are heading to
0:58
Speaker 2: their spring training facilit and we recently were talking about
1:02
Speaker 2: the Atlanta Braves, a rival of the Philadelphia Phillies. We're
1:06
Speaker 2: gonna be talking about another rival this week of the Phillies,
1:08
Speaker 2: the New York Mets. What does this Mets season look like?
1:13
Speaker 2: What does their roster look like? The batting, the pitching.
1:16
Speaker 2: Of course, there are some major storylines that have gone
1:18
Speaker 2: on with the New York Mets during the course of
1:21
Speaker 2: this offseason. We're gonna get into all of it on
1:23
Speaker 2: this show. Let's get right to it and joining us
1:26
Speaker 2: this week to get into this New York Mets team
1:28
Speaker 2: and how things are gonna look for this team this
1:31
Speaker 2: year in twenty twenty five, going through the NL East.
1:34
Speaker 2: We have one of our good friends from a great podcast,
1:37
Speaker 2: a pod of their own, and yes it is a
1:39
Speaker 2: Mets podcast, friends, but they've got great content over at
1:44
Speaker 2: Home Run Applesauce dot com and again a pod of
1:47
Speaker 2: their own. One of those podcasts. We've got our good
1:49
Speaker 2: friend Allison McCaig. Allison, how you doing.
1:52
Speaker 3: I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.
1:54
Speaker 2: Jack love talking Mets with you.
1:56
Speaker 1: Your co host.
1:58
Speaker 2: Maggie Wigan, she comes on every now and again to
2:00
Speaker 2: talk about baseball, talk about the Mets in the NL
2:02
Speaker 2: East and baseball's around the corner here.
2:05
Speaker 1: I'm so excited.
2:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a long winter. I am very.
2:10
Speaker 2: Excited to have absolutely all Right, well, let's get into like,
2:13
Speaker 2: let's get into what this Mets season may actually look like.
2:17
Speaker 2: And to get the discussion started, we of course have
2:20
Speaker 2: to talk about Juan Soto and what he's gonna bring
2:23
Speaker 2: to the Mets team this season. Look, I mean, we
2:24
Speaker 2: all know Wan Soto. If you watch Major League Baseball,
2:27
Speaker 2: if you follow baseball at all, you know who Juan
2:30
Speaker 2: Soto is. But you know, it's gonna be interesting to
2:33
Speaker 2: see what the dynamic is going to be of this
2:35
Speaker 2: team as he is the focal point. And look, already
2:40
Speaker 2: in spring training he's homered. He homered in his first
2:43
Speaker 2: at bat down in Florida this past week. The guy,
2:46
Speaker 2: the guy's going to just be a beast behind the
2:48
Speaker 2: plate for sure, as we have known him to be
2:50
Speaker 2: for many years. I mean, you've all talked about Juan
2:54
Speaker 2: Soto on your podcast. You know what he brings. I've
2:58
Speaker 2: heard it on a pot of their own a number
3:00
Speaker 2: of times. You all talking about Juan Soto, and I'm wondering,
3:04
Speaker 2: what do you think is floor is gonna be in
3:06
Speaker 2: terms of being that dominant offensive presence. And what I
3:10
Speaker 2: mean by that is like, hypothetically speaking, what if he
3:13
Speaker 2: dips perhaps down to say a two sixty batting average.
3:17
Speaker 2: We know that his career batting average is about two
3:20
Speaker 2: eighty five. Would that potential, again hypothetically speaking to sixty
3:25
Speaker 2: batting average be a cause of concern, so wanted to
3:29
Speaker 2: kind of get the discussion started about Wan Soda, what
3:31
Speaker 2: his actual floor may be in terms of what he
3:35
Speaker 2: gives the Mets this season and beyond here.
3:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think I mean his it's hard to
3:42
Speaker 4: talk about like Juan Soto's worst seasons, right because one
3:46
Speaker 4: so has been Uh, he's.
3:48
Speaker 3: On a Hall of Fame caliber track, like.
3:52
Speaker 4: He is a as things stand, like on track to be
3:56
Speaker 4: an Inner Circle Hall of Famer, not just a Hall
3:58
Speaker 4: of Famer yep, So even a down year for him
4:02
Speaker 4: is someone else's like incredible year. But kind of the
4:06
Speaker 4: air quotes worst seasons he's had are you know, the
4:09
Speaker 4: first couple of seasons when he was you know, a
4:12
Speaker 4: teenager trying to adjust the big leagues, and the season
4:18
Speaker 4: that he had after he was traded to the Padres.
4:21
Speaker 3: So that's sort of like a sense.
4:23
Speaker 4: Of the like worst version of Juan Soto, and even
4:26
Speaker 4: the version of Juan Soda that was on the Padres
4:29
Speaker 4: had like a one forty WRC plus right, right, So
4:33
Speaker 4: I feel like even if he gets even if we
4:36
Speaker 4: get the air quotes bad version, it's still doesn't concern.
4:41
Speaker 3: Me all that much. He's pretty sick he just put
4:43
Speaker 3: up his best season.
4:45
Speaker 4: I think, barring injury or something else going on, I
4:51
Speaker 4: think we're in for great season for once.
4:53
Speaker 3: I think it's not concerned about it.
4:54
Speaker 1: I think so too.
4:55
Speaker 2: Look, I wanted to talk about it right off the back,
4:57
Speaker 2: because you know there's others, you know, with whether it's
5:00
Speaker 2: in Phillies Nation or whether it's within Braves Nation, They're like, well,
5:04
Speaker 2: you know what if Juan Soto man bat's like two
5:06
Speaker 2: fifty for the year, what's that gonna do for the
5:08
Speaker 2: Mets and stuff?
5:09
Speaker 1: And it's like, come on, he's not going to bat
5:11
Speaker 1: two fifty. Look, you know, not going to. No, he's
5:14
Speaker 1: not going to.
5:14
Speaker 2: But then again, you do have talent in Major League
5:19
Speaker 2: Baseball that sometimes have disappointing seasons. I mean, we're gonna
5:22
Speaker 2: we're gonna get to one of those gentlemen next here.
5:25
Speaker 1: But there's that.
5:27
Speaker 2: I guess there's the hope from the rivals that somehow
5:30
Speaker 2: that's gonna happen on Soto, and I don't think that's
5:31
Speaker 2: gonna happen at all.
5:33
Speaker 3: I mean, is it possible.
5:34
Speaker 4: Sure, of course, anything that's possible, and things happen, But
5:39
Speaker 4: if you look at the underlying metrics, like, there is
5:43
Speaker 4: no indication that he is in any phase of decline
5:48
Speaker 4: or any like. There were no there was no indication
5:51
Speaker 4: that he got lucky last season. In fact, there was
5:55
Speaker 4: some indication that he got a little unlucky that in fact,
5:58
Speaker 4: his top line numbers should have been even better than
6:01
Speaker 4: they were, which is insane to think about.
6:03
Speaker 3: And also his statistics.
6:05
Speaker 4: Lifetime and career at City Field are absolutely bonkers. As
6:10
Speaker 4: you know, as a former arrival of Wad Soto's, he
6:14
Speaker 4: has really good numbers in City Field playing against the Mets.
6:18
Speaker 4: So I'm hoping that those translate to good numbers in
6:21
Speaker 4: our ballpark.
6:22
Speaker 2: Four ours, they're going to all right, I'm gonna move
6:24
Speaker 2: on here. That what I feel like an idiot even
6:26
Speaker 2: asking that question right off the bat. But I wanted
6:28
Speaker 2: to get into something at least quote interesting about Wan Soto,
6:32
Speaker 2: and I completely missed the mark for sure. So let's
6:36
Speaker 2: move on to pi Alonzo. Okay, got to talk about
6:39
Speaker 2: pe Alonzo because he's now back in the fold with
6:42
Speaker 2: the Mets organization.
6:44
Speaker 3: That's a player who has more of a floor.
6:46
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly, he's the player I was just alluding to.
6:51
Speaker 2: I mean, he is certainly the sturdy cornerstone of the Mets,
6:56
Speaker 2: and they just had to bring him back. I mean,
6:59
Speaker 2: you know, you know, everybody's waiting. I mean, of course
7:02
Speaker 2: folks in medsination waiting to see what's gonna happen. Even
7:06
Speaker 2: us on the periphery are like her is pet alan
7:07
Speaker 2: what's gonna be happening with Pete Alonzo here? But yes,
7:10
Speaker 2: they had to bring him back. But he kind of
7:12
Speaker 2: had a you know, quote sluggish year in twenty twenty four.
7:16
Speaker 2: He drove in only eighty eight runs, batting average was
7:18
Speaker 2: about two forty. He certainly wants to get back to
7:22
Speaker 2: that hundred rbi kind of season. Allison, and as much
7:27
Speaker 2: of a great culture guy as Pete Alonzo is for
7:30
Speaker 2: the Mets, I'm wondering, do you think he can get
7:32
Speaker 2: back to that kind of offense that they're really gonna
7:35
Speaker 2: need from him? What are your thoughts here with regard
7:38
Speaker 2: to Peter Alonzo, where he is in his career and
7:40
Speaker 2: what we may see from him this year.
7:42
Speaker 4: I think it's possible that he could get back to
7:45
Speaker 4: being the guy that he was, you know before last
7:49
Speaker 4: season or like in twenty nineteen. Say, I think that's
7:52
Speaker 4: certainly possible. I think what's more likely is maybe a
7:57
Speaker 4: small bounce back a season that's a little better than
7:59
Speaker 4: last year, but not the player is still not the
8:02
Speaker 4: player he was before, because, unlike Wan Soto Pede, Alonzo
8:06
Speaker 4: has some underlying things that lead you to be concerned,
8:10
Speaker 4: which I think that other teams saw, and there's a
8:13
Speaker 4: reason why he didn't get that contract that he and
8:17
Speaker 4: Scott Boris wanted from the Mets or anybody. Not that
8:22
Speaker 4: I'm not happy that he's back, don't misunderstand me.
8:24
Speaker 3: I'm very happy that he's back.
8:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the Mets needed to do it in
8:28
Speaker 4: the sense that they needed another hitter in that lineup,
8:31
Speaker 4: and every other option was kind of coming off the table,
8:35
Speaker 4: and it was like, all right, just kiss and makeup.
8:38
Speaker 3: Come on, you guys can do it. It's fine.
8:41
Speaker 4: I think Peter Alonso is a very good hitter, but
8:43
Speaker 4: I think that his long term prospects are not as good.
8:48
Speaker 3: That said, to.
8:50
Speaker 4: Get one hundred RBIs wouldn't be this season, wouldn't be
8:53
Speaker 4: that insane, and it's not like he has to hit
8:55
Speaker 4: that much better to get there, because he's hitting behind
8:58
Speaker 4: Juan Soto now, and that is a huge difference. I
9:01
Speaker 4: think that given the fact that Wan Soto is gonna
9:05
Speaker 4: be above him in the lineup and a broken having
9:09
Speaker 4: broken out Mark Vientos is gonna be probably ahead of
9:12
Speaker 4: him in the lineup, the lineup looks very different. And
9:15
Speaker 4: he doesn't have to be the guy any He doesn't
9:17
Speaker 4: have to be the best hitter on the Mets. He
9:19
Speaker 4: just needs to be maybe like the fourth or fifth
9:21
Speaker 4: best hitter on the Mets. And I think he's capable
9:24
Speaker 4: of that, and that's and that's good enough. And I
9:27
Speaker 4: think that he's fully capable of having one hundred RBIs
9:30
Speaker 4: just because of the guys that are hitting ahead of him.
9:32
Speaker 3: There, he's going to get better pitch hit.
9:34
Speaker 2: Absolutely, there is something to be said for baseball players
9:37
Speaker 2: once they get to a certain echelon in their career
9:39
Speaker 2: where being good enough is what is needed for a team.
9:43
Speaker 2: There is something to be said for that. And really,
9:45
Speaker 2: Planza right now is kind of the poster boy for that.
9:49
Speaker 2: And if he is able to just get done what
9:51
Speaker 2: he needs to get done. And again, and I hate
9:55
Speaker 2: using the phrase too, because you know, I hate using
9:57
Speaker 2: the phrase at the bare minimum, but if he's able
9:59
Speaker 2: to get done what he should be getting done, he's
10:02
Speaker 2: going to provide some results for this Mets team for sure.
10:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah.
10:06
Speaker 2: Sorry, sorry, I have to end of the statement. There,
10:09
Speaker 2: enough of Pete Alonso. We're done with him right now
10:12
Speaker 2: at this point. All right, Well, let's move on here
10:16
Speaker 2: about I wanted to get into some under the radar
10:19
Speaker 2: signings in terms of the Mets offseason here, guys like
10:24
Speaker 2: you know, Frankie Montas, who's now injured for the next
10:27
Speaker 2: six to eight weeks. Here, AJ Minter, Yeah, yeah, AJ Minter,
10:33
Speaker 2: Clay Holmes. I'm wondering, is there a signing or two
10:36
Speaker 2: that you really like that really isn't getting the attention
10:41
Speaker 2: that you think it should, whether it's from Mets fans
10:43
Speaker 2: or Major League Baseball fans and analysts in general. What
10:47
Speaker 2: about that under the radar signing here that you're really
10:50
Speaker 2: going to be keeping your eye on, Allison.
10:52
Speaker 4: Well, I think you listed Clay Holmes, and I think
10:55
Speaker 4: that that's the obvious answer to that question. I think
11:00
Speaker 4: there was obviously a lot of risk that the Mets
11:03
Speaker 4: took on in signing a reliever to make him into
11:07
Speaker 4: a starting pitcher. But early in spring training, Clay Holmes
11:11
Speaker 4: pitched in the mets first spring training game, on.
11:14
Speaker 3: Saturday, and he looked fantastic.
11:18
Speaker 4: He's already up to three innings stretched out to three innings,
11:22
Speaker 4: so he's on pace to be able to throw you know,
11:25
Speaker 4: six innings or so in the first turn through the rotation.
11:30
Speaker 4: So I think that that is already showing dividends, showing promise,
11:35
Speaker 4: I guess, is the best way to put that. He's
11:39
Speaker 4: debuted two new pitches that he's working on, the change
11:42
Speaker 4: up being the one that he showcased during that first outing.
11:48
Speaker 3: And it looked really good.
11:50
Speaker 4: So I think Clay Holmes is gonna be absolutely essential
11:53
Speaker 4: to this Mets team, especially now with Montes down and
11:57
Speaker 4: Sean and Iyah down as well, so they really need
12:02
Speaker 4: Clay Holmes to be a good signing where they're pretty
12:04
Speaker 4: screwed quite frankly. So I think Clay Holmes is probably
12:07
Speaker 4: the one I'm most excited about. And just in other
12:13
Speaker 4: than that, like the less sort of obvious answer is
12:17
Speaker 4: the way in general, not any specific guy, but the
12:21
Speaker 4: way in general David Stearns has built this bullpen is
12:25
Speaker 4: like he is, He's a GM who just brings on
12:29
Speaker 4: a bunch of guys with interesting pitch traits and see
12:33
Speaker 4: who sticks. And so he's done that again. He did
12:36
Speaker 4: that last season and he did it this season. Signed
12:38
Speaker 4: a bunch of non roster invitees that may or may
12:42
Speaker 4: not pitch with the Mets at all this season, or
12:45
Speaker 4: they might end up being the next breakout guy. He's
12:49
Speaker 4: not a guy that he brought in this offseason. But
12:51
Speaker 4: Max Kranick is a guy who Sterns picked up kind
12:55
Speaker 4: of off the scrap heap last season, and he is
13:00
Speaker 4: looking like, you know, a crazy relief ace in spring training.
13:04
Speaker 4: Who knows if that's gonna pan out, but like that
13:07
Speaker 4: sort of guy that they that he takes flyers on,
13:10
Speaker 4: and he does.
13:10
Speaker 3: He just does a bunch of those.
13:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, and so inevitably one of those is probably gonna
13:16
Speaker 4: pan out.
13:16
Speaker 3: And David Stern's is really good at that.
13:18
Speaker 4: And so i'm i'm I will be paying attention to
13:21
Speaker 4: kind of those, uh, well more lower key non roster
13:25
Speaker 4: invitee relievers that he brought on.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're definitely gonna get into the bullpen in a
13:30
Speaker 2: little bit here. But yeah, you mentioned Clay Holmes, and
13:34
Speaker 2: it's interesting when you look at this Mets starting rotation,
13:37
Speaker 2: they may not be the splashy type of guys on paper,
13:41
Speaker 2: but it's really gonna be interesting to see what they
13:43
Speaker 2: do with the talent already, you know that they have
13:45
Speaker 2: done in Florida. Kind of going to what you were
13:47
Speaker 2: just saying, yes, you know, we we essentially know and
13:50
Speaker 2: have an idea what the Mets starting rotation may be.
13:53
Speaker 2: But I do wonder if they will acquire anyone over
13:57
Speaker 2: the next few weeks.
13:58
Speaker 1: I mean when it comes.
13:59
Speaker 2: To the starting row, Allison, what what is your biggest
14:02
Speaker 2: concern of the season. Do you have any concerns as
14:05
Speaker 2: as it pertains to the rotation?
14:08
Speaker 4: Sure, I mean, yeah, I am concerned about it, especially
14:11
Speaker 4: with the two injuries. Absent the two injuries, I would
14:15
Speaker 4: have far fewer concerns. But now that Frankie Montes is
14:19
Speaker 4: down in Shaun Mayah, Frankie Montes is down for a
14:22
Speaker 4: long time, and Shaan and Ia is down for a
14:24
Speaker 4: short time, I obviously am concerned. The Mets built a
14:29
Speaker 4: very deep, uh starting rotation. Uh, but it's one that
14:34
Speaker 4: doesn't have that true ace power. And again that goes
14:38
Speaker 4: back to just that's the way that David Sterns operates.
14:41
Speaker 3: He's not gonna sign a Max Freed type.
14:44
Speaker 4: He's just not that type of GM yeah, so that
14:47
Speaker 4: comes with its it's positives and negatives.
14:50
Speaker 3: The positive is.
14:51
Speaker 4: That the Mets are very deep, and even though they
14:54
Speaker 4: have two major starting pitchers down, they still have enough
14:58
Speaker 4: major league quality start pitching on their roster to be
15:01
Speaker 4: able to run out a rotation of five guys who
15:04
Speaker 4: are at least major league caliber such that they probably
15:07
Speaker 4: don't have to panic sign a Jose Kintana or a
15:12
Speaker 4: an Andrew Heaney or that's where.
15:14
Speaker 1: I was getting with this. Yeah, that's where I was
15:16
Speaker 1: going with this. Yeah.
15:17
Speaker 4: Might I mean, I like, would it shock me if
15:21
Speaker 4: they did that? No, dude, I think they're going to
15:23
Speaker 4: do that. Also, No, I think that the only thing
15:26
Speaker 4: that they might do is trade for Dylan Cees.
15:30
Speaker 3: They were already connected.
15:31
Speaker 4: To him, So I think that that has the possibility
15:35
Speaker 4: to still happen regardless of the injuries that they are
15:39
Speaker 4: currently enduring, because they were already interested and Cease to
15:42
Speaker 4: begin with. But it's a question of what the Padres
15:45
Speaker 4: are going to want in return, because if they want,
15:48
Speaker 4: you know, one of the starting pitching prospects that could
15:52
Speaker 4: help the Mets, uh, whether these injuries plus Tyler or
15:56
Speaker 4: McGill or something like that, and they're trading too from
15:59
Speaker 4: their depth chart just to get one back. Then the
16:03
Speaker 4: Mets night not like their end of that equation because
16:06
Speaker 4: they're gonna need their depths. So you know, they have
16:09
Speaker 4: obviously talking about how the rotation is shaping up now
16:14
Speaker 4: with these two injuries.
16:15
Speaker 3: They have code I Sanga at the.
16:17
Speaker 4: Top, who is in theory healthy going into the season,
16:21
Speaker 4: but again with him that's still a question mark. But
16:23
Speaker 4: as of right now is they are considering him a
16:25
Speaker 4: healthy player going into the season, so they have him.
16:28
Speaker 4: They have David Peterson, who is in the rotation all
16:31
Speaker 4: of last year, had a breakout season, big season for them,
16:34
Speaker 4: so he's going to be established now. They have Clay
16:37
Speaker 4: Holmes who they are stretching out to be a starter
16:40
Speaker 4: so far successfully, so far, so good, crossing my fingers
16:42
Speaker 4: on that. And then they have a bunch of guys
16:45
Speaker 4: that are gonna sort of mix in for those final
16:47
Speaker 4: two spots without Montesen and Andy are around. They have
16:51
Speaker 4: Griffin Canning, who they signed to sort of be a swingman,
16:55
Speaker 4: but he's a starting pitcher so they can mix him
16:57
Speaker 4: back into the rotation. They have Tyler McGill, who has
17:00
Speaker 4: been in and out of the Mets rotation over the
17:02
Speaker 4: past few years. He's still around. Tyler McGill is inevitable,
17:07
Speaker 4: as we like to say, on a pot of their own,
17:09
Speaker 4: because someone always gets hurt and Tyler McGill is always
17:11
Speaker 4: the next man up, and so they have him as well.
17:15
Speaker 4: And then they have they have Paul Blackburn, who they
17:19
Speaker 4: acquired at the deadline last season but then immediately got
17:22
Speaker 4: hurt but is maybe sort of healthy now we'll see
17:26
Speaker 4: back surgery, but he might be healthy enough to take
17:29
Speaker 4: one of those spots.
17:30
Speaker 3: And then they have guys it.
17:31
Speaker 4: Waiting in the wings prospects who could contribute, namely Brandon
17:36
Speaker 4: sprote is the foremost among them, but they also have
17:39
Speaker 4: a couple of others McLean Tong who could contribute. So
17:42
Speaker 4: the Mets have some starting pitching prospects who are either
17:46
Speaker 4: ready major league ready or close to major league ready
17:49
Speaker 4: who could be in the mix.
17:50
Speaker 3: At some point this season.
17:52
Speaker 4: So I'm not like in panic mode about the rotation yet,
17:56
Speaker 4: come back to me, code, I think us nice, all.
17:58
Speaker 2: Right, sounds good, sounds good looks. It's a deep you know,
18:03
Speaker 2: it's deep for the Mets, I mean rotation, but.
18:06
Speaker 4: It doesn't have the true ace in it its issue exactly.
18:12
Speaker 2: I Mean what's interesting though in terms of this Mets
18:14
Speaker 2: pitching is what the bullpen is going to look like
18:16
Speaker 2: as we as we move over to that particular subject here,
18:20
Speaker 2: it seems like a lot is hinging on Nunyez. And
18:24
Speaker 2: I didn't say his first name because I'm gonna mess
18:26
Speaker 2: it up. Is it dead now?
18:28
Speaker 1: Yeah? Seriously, I mess up Joe Smith half the time.
18:31
Speaker 2: But what with Nunyaz in his health and how he
18:35
Speaker 2: holds up here in twenty twenty five in terms of
18:38
Speaker 2: how this bullpen may perform. I mean, I think from
18:41
Speaker 2: everything I've known and read, a lot is really hinging
18:44
Speaker 2: on his health. I mean, he has an upper nineties
18:48
Speaker 2: fastball that's pretty wicked from what I understand what I've
18:51
Speaker 2: seen actually on.
18:53
Speaker 1: The Twitter slash x. But his health is a big
18:56
Speaker 1: issue again.
18:56
Speaker 2: So what are your thoughts on Nunyez and the overall
19:00
Speaker 2: state of the bullpen heading into this season for the Mets?
19:04
Speaker 3: Yeah?
19:04
Speaker 4: So Deadnel Nunias has a lot of Mets fans really excited.
19:08
Speaker 4: He's he broke out last season in a big way
19:11
Speaker 4: and looked like a relief ace basically before he got
19:15
Speaker 4: hurt and I and he's looking like that again in
19:19
Speaker 4: spring training. He looks like exactly like the dead n
19:21
Speaker 4: Nunias he looked like before he went on the injured
19:23
Speaker 4: list last season.
19:24
Speaker 3: So that's been really encouraging to see.
19:27
Speaker 4: I think a lot of Mets fans feel that a
19:30
Speaker 4: lot is riding on him because something that the Mets
19:34
Speaker 4: have lacked consistently over the past few seasons has been
19:38
Speaker 4: that consistent bridge to Edwin Diaz. They haven't had the
19:41
Speaker 4: good setup man really in some time. They've had to
19:46
Speaker 4: kind of cobble that together with different guys, and the
19:48
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four Mets, even as deep in the playoffs
19:51
Speaker 4: as they got, they had to acquire Phil Maton and
19:55
Speaker 4: Ryan Stanek at the deadline in order to bolster that
19:58
Speaker 4: bullpen and you know, make it okay for the playoffs,
20:01
Speaker 4: and even then it was it was a leak point
20:03
Speaker 4: for them. So I think that people are kind of
20:06
Speaker 4: projecting all those hopes and dreams onto deadnel Nunez, which
20:09
Speaker 4: might be a little unfair to him, but I mean
20:13
Speaker 4: the stuff backs it up like he can be a
20:15
Speaker 4: relief face. But I think that even if he's not
20:19
Speaker 4: healthy or or God forbid, isn't actually that good.
20:23
Speaker 3: You know, I don't think that they are doomed.
20:25
Speaker 4: I think that, like I mentioned earlier in the show,
20:29
Speaker 4: David Stearns has kind of built these contingencies into the
20:31
Speaker 4: bullpen and has like brought on a bunch of interesting
20:34
Speaker 4: guys and hope and will and through sheer volume and
20:38
Speaker 4: just like and just like probability, one of them will land.
20:43
Speaker 4: It kind of happened last season with Red Garrett, who
20:47
Speaker 4: is in the mix probably will almost certainly make the
20:50
Speaker 4: opening day roster again.
20:52
Speaker 3: Read Garrett was kind of a nobody.
20:54
Speaker 4: Before this season, before last season, and he really broke
20:58
Speaker 4: out last season. I'm not saying he was like an
21:00
Speaker 4: elite setup man or anything, but he you know, became
21:03
Speaker 4: a reliable, semi reliable late inning reliever. I also think
21:07
Speaker 4: that part of the reason that Nunia's got hurt in
21:10
Speaker 4: the first place, and Read Garrett spent some time on
21:13
Speaker 4: the injuredless last season as well, is because, like you know,
21:15
Speaker 4: the Mets didn't have enough of these guys and they
21:18
Speaker 4: had to go to the same guys over and over
21:21
Speaker 4: to pitch those innings, and then they just got hurt
21:23
Speaker 4: because they were overused. So hopefully if more of those
21:27
Speaker 4: guys are in the bullpen and Minter and they brought
21:30
Speaker 4: back Ryan Stanek. You know, if they can all take
21:34
Speaker 4: a step forward, Jose Budo as well, If they can
21:37
Speaker 4: take a step forward and they can cobble together a
21:39
Speaker 4: decent bullpen full of more guys that are reliable, then
21:44
Speaker 4: they don't have to over use anybody and you know,
21:47
Speaker 4: potentially tax Nunia's arm too much.
21:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what this Mets
21:51
Speaker 2: bullpen does, especially right at the onset of the season,
21:55
Speaker 2: you know, because it doesn't seem like there's too too
21:57
Speaker 2: many role guys from from the bullpen perspective, but how
22:02
Speaker 2: that manifests over the season, It's gonna be interesting for
22:04
Speaker 2: sure for US baseball fans in general. But Allison, before
22:08
Speaker 2: I let you go, I want to talk about the
22:10
Speaker 2: biggest strength and the biggest weakness of this Mets team
22:13
Speaker 2: heading into the season. So let's start off with the
22:15
Speaker 2: biggest strength here. What is the biggest strength of the
22:19
Speaker 2: Mets heading into this season? Assuming a swan Soto But
22:23
Speaker 2: maybe you have something different here, But what are your thoughts?
22:27
Speaker 4: Well, I was gonna say the lineup with Juan Soto
22:32
Speaker 4: as it's most important, right. I think that the Mets
22:37
Speaker 4: have a pretty complete lineup front to back in a
22:42
Speaker 4: way that they didn't to start, even to start last season.
22:45
Speaker 3: Obviously, that team ended up being pretty good in the end.
22:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, But I think that this at least on paper
22:52
Speaker 4: obviously because not just just because of Wan Soto, but
22:55
Speaker 4: in general, this is a more complete lineup that they
22:58
Speaker 4: have put out there because of the rides that Mark
23:00
Speaker 4: Fientos has made, for example, and now we know that
23:04
Speaker 4: he can be like.
23:05
Speaker 3: A middle of the order, a true middle of the
23:07
Speaker 3: order back for the Mets.
23:09
Speaker 4: And obviously Francisco Lindor continues to be Francisco Lindoor. And
23:14
Speaker 4: so the the top half of that lineup at least
23:17
Speaker 4: I think can go against anybody. And I think back
23:19
Speaker 4: to front, it's there's not an obvious weak spot in
23:23
Speaker 4: the Mets lineup. I think the two kind of biggest
23:28
Speaker 4: the two biggest question marks, the two biggest wild cards
23:31
Speaker 4: in the Mets lineup are Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil.
23:34
Speaker 4: If if they can put up seasons that they have
23:37
Speaker 4: put up in the past, they can put up the
23:39
Speaker 4: best versions of themselves, then this Mets lineup is pretty
23:43
Speaker 4: damn Fearson.
23:47
Speaker 2: Deal.
23:48
Speaker 3: He's still under team control.
23:50
Speaker 1: He's still under team control. Okay, yeah, he.
23:52
Speaker 3: Signed an extension. Oh when was it?
23:55
Speaker 1: Remember that's all right.
23:57
Speaker 4: I don't remember what year it was at this point,
23:59
Speaker 4: but Bill did sign a relatively like cheap extension a
24:04
Speaker 4: few years back, so he's still under team control. But yeah,
24:08
Speaker 4: So Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez are two players that
24:12
Speaker 4: have had like, very wildly.
24:15
Speaker 3: Different like seasons in different years.
24:18
Speaker 4: Like Jeff McNeil's won a batting title in in the past,
24:20
Speaker 4: but he's also had really bad season yep. So if
24:24
Speaker 4: we get the batting title version of Jeff McNeil, then
24:28
Speaker 4: that's a huge boon to the Mets lineup. Francisco Alvarez
24:32
Speaker 4: is a young, still very young, developing catcher.
24:37
Speaker 3: He had a bad.
24:38
Speaker 4: Season last season, but he has shown a lot of
24:42
Speaker 4: promise in the past that he can have twenty to
24:44
Speaker 4: thirty home em power and can be like a solid
24:49
Speaker 4: hitter in your like seventh spot in the order or whatever.
24:52
Speaker 4: So you know, I think how those two go is
24:56
Speaker 4: going to determine a lot.
24:58
Speaker 3: But overall, the Mets.
24:59
Speaker 4: Line I think is their biggest strength strength mostly because
25:03
Speaker 4: Wan Soto is in it, but because.
25:05
Speaker 3: It's it's it's complete, right, it's a complete team.
25:08
Speaker 1: Yeah.
25:08
Speaker 2: Well, on the flip side of the coin, what do
25:10
Speaker 2: you think the biggest weakness of this Mets team is
25:13
Speaker 2: heading into.
25:13
Speaker 1: This season right now?
25:15
Speaker 3: It's the starting rotation.
25:17
Speaker 4: And I think, like, like we said, I am not
25:20
Speaker 4: necessarily worried about the depth and being able to put
25:24
Speaker 4: out like major league quality innings, but I am worried about,
25:29
Speaker 4: you know, the consistency of it and you know, guys
25:33
Speaker 4: who they don't have an ACE, I mean code I
25:36
Speaker 4: Synga can be that.
25:38
Speaker 3: He's shown that he can be that.
25:39
Speaker 4: In his first year in the big leagues, he was
25:41
Speaker 4: that he was an ACE, but then he had health
25:45
Speaker 4: issues and now we don't know what we're getting from him,
25:47
Speaker 4: and I don't know if he has enough of a
25:49
Speaker 4: track record to say he's an ACE. He's probably the
25:51
Speaker 4: Mets ace right now, just kind of by default that
25:54
Speaker 4: would have been Sean and Iya, I think, but the
25:56
Speaker 4: Mets rotation just doesn't have that upside.
26:00
Speaker 3: I think that.
26:01
Speaker 4: Sterns did a good job of sort of raising the
26:03
Speaker 4: floor of it to the point where like it probably
26:07
Speaker 4: won't be a disaster, and unlike last season, they won't
26:10
Speaker 4: have to sign Julio Tehran to come out of like
26:13
Speaker 4: semi retirement to make one start or whatever. Like, They're
26:17
Speaker 4: not gonna have to do that sort of thing, we hope.
26:21
Speaker 4: So they've done a good job protecting against that eventuality,
26:26
Speaker 4: but they haven't done a good job of, like, you know,
26:29
Speaker 4: building the ceiling. I think that, honestly, Clay Holmes has
26:32
Speaker 4: the highest ceiling of anyone, just because we don't know
26:36
Speaker 4: how his transition is gonna go, and his stuff is nasty.
26:40
Speaker 4: So if he can develop into that ACE, then that
26:42
Speaker 4: would be really fantastic, But we don't know, So I
26:47
Speaker 4: think that that kind of the rotation as far as
26:50
Speaker 4: just like the lack.
26:52
Speaker 3: Of an ace is the biggest weakness. Don't have Zach
26:55
Speaker 3: Wheeler anymore.
26:56
Speaker 2: No, No, And I'm very happy about that. I'm very
27:00
Speaker 2: glad about that, folks. She is Alison McCaig from a
27:06
Speaker 2: pod of their own podcast, great podcast Her Baggie Linda
27:10
Speaker 2: doing good stuff there over at home run Applesauce dot com.
27:14
Speaker 2: You can check out all their baseball podcasts, their Mets podcasts,
27:18
Speaker 2: great great content. As always, Allison was fantastic talking to
27:21
Speaker 2: you as always love talking to you, and I'm hoping
27:24
Speaker 2: we can talk again at some point down the road,
27:27
Speaker 2: whether we're getting into the Mets, whether we get into
27:29
Speaker 2: the NL East, some Major League Baseball.
27:31
Speaker 1: Come back and join us. I'd love to have you again.
27:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would love to be back.
27:35
Speaker 4: It'll be it'll be fun to check in again when
27:38
Speaker 4: the division is inevitably a dogfight.
27:40
Speaker 1: Once it's gonna be a dog fight. It is certainly
27:42
Speaker 1: going to be a dog fight. Just come back and
27:44
Speaker 1: join us. I'd love to have you back on my friend.
27:47
Speaker 2: Thanks always great talking to Alison, And yes, I really
27:50
Speaker 2: think this least is going to be a dog fight.
27:52
Speaker 2: I mean the Braves, we specifically talked about them a
27:56
Speaker 2: couple weeks ago here on our Opposition Territory Pod. And
28:00
Speaker 2: with what the Mets have done this offseason, and Allison's
28:02
Speaker 2: absolutely correct, I mean, the starting rotation for the Mets
28:06
Speaker 2: is going to be very interesting to see how that
28:09
Speaker 2: all manifests self, especially the fourth and fifth spot in
28:12
Speaker 2: that rotation. Certainly something I'm gonna be keeping tabs on,
28:15
Speaker 2: and I know certain folks in Phillies Nation are gonna
28:18
Speaker 2: be keeping tabs as well, it's gonna do it for
28:21
Speaker 2: us here on Opposition Territory. If you are on various
28:23
Speaker 2: social sites, search out the Philadelphia Sports Table. You can
28:26
Speaker 2: search me out as well at Jeffrey Underscore Warren on
28:30
Speaker 2: the Twitter slash x, and you can follow the show
28:33
Speaker 2: at Philadelphia PST. I'm over on Blue Sky. You can
28:37
Speaker 2: search out Jeff Warren there. I'm also on threads at
28:40
Speaker 2: mister Jeff Warren and the show. You can follow on
28:43
Speaker 2: threads at Philadelphia Sports Table.
28:46
Speaker 1: It was great being in your ears everybody.
28:47
Speaker 2: We got a great regular show coming your way this week,
28:50
Speaker 2: dropping Thursday morning.
28:52
Speaker 1: Take care, everybody, We'll catch you next time.