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

Transcript

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

0:25
Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:28
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:31
Speaker 1: in the world, over thirteen years strong. We got a
0:34
Speaker 1: great show coming your way this week on Opposition Territory,
0:37
Speaker 1: where we're going to.
0:38
Speaker 2: Dive into the New York Mets.
0:40
Speaker 1: Yes, the New York Mets, who we thought were going
0:43
Speaker 1: to be competing with the Philadelphia Phillies for that top
0:46
Speaker 1: spot in the NL East this season. Both teams, the
0:49
Speaker 1: Phillies the Mets certainly having a rough go of it
0:53
Speaker 1: in various ways.
0:54
Speaker 2: But we have with us from the home run.
0:57
Speaker 1: Apple Sauce podcast platform over there on a pod of
1:02
Speaker 1: their own with her co hosts. Loved that podcast, and yes,
1:06
Speaker 1: even though they're talking Mets, love that podcast.
1:08
Speaker 2: We've got Alison McCaig my friend.
1:10
Speaker 3: How you doing, Hi, Jeff, good to be here, Thanks
1:13
Speaker 3: for having me.
1:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Look, it's a shock quite frankly, the last time
1:19
Speaker 1: we talked Mets on our Opposition Territory podcast had your
1:22
Speaker 1: co host Maggie Wiggan on, and there was a lot
1:25
Speaker 1: of optimism coming into the season. There was a lot
1:27
Speaker 1: of optimism about where the team could go. The off
1:29
Speaker 1: season acquisitions that were made that would help position this team.
1:33
Speaker 2: Very well in the NL East.
1:35
Speaker 1: And of course, as of us recording this seriously, I'm
1:38
Speaker 1: not saying this would be a jerk or anything.
1:39
Speaker 2: Bottom of the barrel in terms of the NL East.
1:42
Speaker 2: Bottom of the barrel.
1:43
Speaker 1: And I mean it's been a disappointing year for the
1:46
Speaker 1: fan base. For sure, there are injuries, and let's face it,
1:50
Speaker 1: there's underperformance from high priced acquisitions, poor defensive fundamentals that
1:55
Speaker 1: were seeing on the field. And aside from the word disappointment, Alice,
2:01
Speaker 1: what's one word that you would characterize this Mets season
2:05
Speaker 1: and why let's start there.
2:07
Speaker 3: I think I would probably use the word disillusionment, okay
2:11
Speaker 3: to describe the twenty twenty six Mets season, or even bewilderment,
2:16
Speaker 3: like take it one step further than disappointing. It certainly
2:20
Speaker 3: has been disappointing, but I think as Mets fans, you know,
2:24
Speaker 3: the second half of the twenty twenty five season, when how.
2:27
Speaker 4: It went, the Mets collapsed.
2:28
Speaker 3: They finished in a very disappointing fashion, just one game
2:32
Speaker 3: out of playoff position, and many people were like, you know,
2:36
Speaker 3: obviously we're not happy about that, but thought to themselves.
2:39
Speaker 3: You know, hopefully this is just a blip on the radar.
2:43
Speaker 3: You know, next year they'll get right back into it.
2:45
Speaker 3: Like this team can't continue to be like this forever.
2:49
Speaker 3: And because they had been, you know, everyone noted that
2:52
Speaker 3: they in the second half of last season had as
2:54
Speaker 3: bad of a record as the White Sox and Rockies,
2:57
Speaker 3: the bottom of the barrel teams, and everybody's like, a
3:01
Speaker 3: team that's this good on paper can't stay that bad
3:03
Speaker 3: for that long, Like twenty twenty six will be better.
3:06
Speaker 3: And as it turns out, this might just be who
3:10
Speaker 3: this team is because they continue to play it exactly
3:13
Speaker 3: the same clip more or less as the second half
3:17
Speaker 3: of the twenty twenty five season. So now it's been
3:20
Speaker 3: more than a calendar year of the team being this bad,
3:25
Speaker 3: and you start to wonder, you become disillusioned by it
3:28
Speaker 3: because it's a different it's not entirely different, but a
3:33
Speaker 3: lot very different group of players than it was last year.
3:37
Speaker 1: Great on paper, let's just say that, like a team
3:40
Speaker 1: that is great on paper, kind of reminding me of
3:42
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that is pretty great on paper,
3:45
Speaker 1: but you are seeing just lack of fundamentals in certain
3:48
Speaker 1: areas and you are seeing just surprising elements.
3:52
Speaker 2: Of the game of baseball being played from a shocking fashion.
3:55
Speaker 4: Yeah.
3:56
Speaker 3: Correct, So like a different group of players and still underperforming,
3:59
Speaker 3: still injuries, a different group of a different coaching staff,
4:04
Speaker 3: and now a different manager as well, and obviously the
4:09
Speaker 3: you know, I'm sure you've talked plenty on this podcast
4:12
Speaker 3: about the Phillies move to fire their manager pretty early
4:15
Speaker 3: in the season and that helped kind of turn the
4:17
Speaker 3: team around, turn the trajectory of their season around. The
4:20
Speaker 3: Mets chose not to do that until, you know, fairly
4:23
Speaker 3: late in the season. Chose not to part with their
4:26
Speaker 3: manager until fairly late in the season after like the
4:29
Speaker 3: season was already over quite frankly for them.
4:32
Speaker 4: But I'm not sure.
4:34
Speaker 3: That even though I do think that the Mets should
4:37
Speaker 3: have fired Carlos Mendoza earlier, I'm not sure it would
4:40
Speaker 3: have made much of a difference. So, like, disillusionment is
4:43
Speaker 3: a good word, because it's like, Okay, different manager, different
4:46
Speaker 3: group of players, different coaching staff, all these things are different,
4:48
Speaker 3: but the team is still struggling.
4:50
Speaker 4: So it's really.
4:51
Speaker 3: Hard to say what is happening here, Like, is it
4:55
Speaker 3: just bad luck?
4:56
Speaker 4: All the way through because you change everything you've changed,
5:00
Speaker 4: you rearrange.
5:00
Speaker 3: The deck chairs, and the Titanic is still.
5:02
Speaker 4: Sinking, right, So, like, what are you doing at this point?
5:05
Speaker 2: Because I said there are strengths on this team? For sure.
5:09
Speaker 1: You know, from a paper standpoint, this team looks pretty good.
5:13
Speaker 1: If you look at the positions on paper, you look
5:15
Speaker 1: at what a lot of members of this team have
5:17
Speaker 1: done over the years.
5:18
Speaker 2: Of their career, they look like a pretty good team.
5:20
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is every team in
5:22
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball, whether it's the Phillies, the Mets, Nationals, Braves,
5:26
Speaker 1: even everybody has strengths. Everybody has weaknesses. Let's get into
5:29
Speaker 1: that with regard to this Mets team here. Let's talk
5:31
Speaker 1: about the biggest strength on this team so far, and
5:33
Speaker 1: then we'll, you know, we'll get to the weakness, the
5:35
Speaker 1: biggest weakness.
5:37
Speaker 2: What is that biggest strength on this team?
5:38
Speaker 1: And I wonder if that strength is able to propel
5:40
Speaker 1: them possibly, as I know a lot of the fan
5:43
Speaker 1: base is already looking towards twenty twenty seven, We're certainly
5:45
Speaker 1: going to get to that.
5:46
Speaker 2: But what is the biggest strength on this team at
5:49
Speaker 2: this point?
5:50
Speaker 3: I would say the starting outfield is the biggest strength
5:52
Speaker 3: of this team. They have Wan Soto obviously, although Wan
5:56
Speaker 3: Sodo is on the injured list right now, just as
6:00
Speaker 3: the other day he hit the IL with a calf strain.
6:03
Speaker 4: But you know, Wan Soto has been Wan Soto this year.
6:06
Speaker 3: I know we're going to get into that too, but
6:08
Speaker 3: he is, you know, going to be a fixture in
6:10
Speaker 3: the Mets outfield for many years to come. So we
6:13
Speaker 3: know that we know what we're getting there in Wan Soto,
6:16
Speaker 3: and he's been very Wan Sodo this year. And then
6:18
Speaker 3: the Mets called up two rookies this season, Carson Bench
6:21
Speaker 3: and a g Ewing, and both have been as advertised
6:25
Speaker 3: or even better. And so the Mets have at least
6:29
Speaker 3: a starting outfield for the future. And that will absolutely
6:32
Speaker 3: be the foundation in the future of this team, and
6:35
Speaker 3: that is its biggest strength. All three outfielders are excellent
6:38
Speaker 3: baseball players.
6:39
Speaker 2: Let's flip that coin. Biggest weakness of this team.
6:42
Speaker 1: There are certainly some weaknesses here that we've seen in
6:44
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. My goodness, I mean, what would you
6:47
Speaker 1: say is the biggest weakness at this point?
6:49
Speaker 3: Oh, my goodness, everything else I would say. I mean,
6:54
Speaker 3: I would say that the infield defense is a big
6:59
Speaker 3: week and.
7:00
Speaker 1: And right here, seriously, the infield defense is absolutely incredible.
7:06
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, infield defense and starting pitching two big weaknesses
7:10
Speaker 3: of the Mets right now. The Francisco Lindor, though he
7:14
Speaker 3: is so he he's been injured a lot of this
7:16
Speaker 3: year and that's been a big reason the Mets have
7:19
Speaker 3: struggled as injuries to major players, Francisco Lindor being one
7:23
Speaker 3: of them. However, he has even though he looks like
7:27
Speaker 3: since coming back, he looks like himself offensively for the
7:30
Speaker 3: most part, but he has taken a huge step back defensively.
7:35
Speaker 3: He's lost a step defensively. So his shortstop defense, which
7:38
Speaker 3: is one of the things that makes him such a
7:40
Speaker 3: great player that he is, he's not been as good
7:44
Speaker 3: this year defensively. Marcus Semion, who the Mets acquired for
7:47
Speaker 3: Brandon Nimmo in the trade of sort of two bad
7:51
Speaker 3: contracts if you want to call them that, yeah, sort
7:54
Speaker 3: of an exchange of bad money, underwater money. I think
7:58
Speaker 3: that David Stearns's thinking and acquiring Marcus Semion was maybe
8:02
Speaker 3: he's cooked offensively, but he will at least provide strong
8:05
Speaker 3: second base defense for the Mets, that does not happen.
8:07
Speaker 3: Marcus Semi has not been good defensively at the second base,
8:10
Speaker 3: nor has he hit much, so that's been a huge issue.
8:14
Speaker 3: Boba Schet's actually been pretty good moving to third base,
8:17
Speaker 3: so that's he has improved defensively from what he was
8:21
Speaker 3: at shortstop, so that's like one good thing. But he
8:25
Speaker 3: played much of the season at shortstop when Lindor was injured,
8:28
Speaker 3: and at third base the Mets you would either have
8:30
Speaker 3: Brett Bady sometimes Mark Viantos. Those are they have not
8:34
Speaker 3: played well defensively, especially Viento's. The Intos has seen time
8:39
Speaker 3: at first base as well. Obviously, we know that the
8:42
Speaker 3: Mets have struggled to fill the pie Alonzo shaped void
8:45
Speaker 3: on their team, and they signed for Hey Polanco to
8:49
Speaker 3: play first base. He's been injured for most of the
8:51
Speaker 3: year and even now once he has returned, he can
8:53
Speaker 3: only dh He can't play the field because he has
8:57
Speaker 3: a lingering achilles issue that prevents him from moving around
9:00
Speaker 3: the field. So the Mets have sort of had to
9:03
Speaker 3: do a patchwork first base, and none of those players.
9:06
Speaker 3: Mark Ventro's got a lot of at bats at first
9:08
Speaker 3: base early in the season. He is horrible defensively, like
9:11
Speaker 3: really bad. They've played Jared Young a lot at first base.
9:15
Speaker 3: He's fine defensively, but yeah, the infield defense as a
9:19
Speaker 3: whole as a unit has been poor, and the starting
9:22
Speaker 3: pitching has been poor. Yeah, I was going to see
9:27
Speaker 3: an underperformance and injuries.
9:28
Speaker 4: The starting pitching has been very poor.
9:30
Speaker 1: It's astonishing to think where this can go in the future.
9:33
Speaker 1: And again, like I mentioned, we're going to talk about,
9:35
Speaker 1: you know what, maybe twenty twenty seven might end up
9:37
Speaker 1: meaning to this team, because that's where a lot of
9:40
Speaker 1: this fan base is already looking towards. But I do
9:45
Speaker 1: wonder because we're going to see a number of Major
9:48
Speaker 1: League Baseball teams making some moves to buy or sell
9:51
Speaker 1: in the very near future here right before the trade deadline,
9:53
Speaker 1: that's right around the corner. And I just wonder what,
9:56
Speaker 1: in terms of thinking about the Mets, as I've been
9:58
Speaker 1: looking at other teams in the NL East at and
10:00
Speaker 1: how do you see this team in front office from
10:04
Speaker 1: a directional standpoint, a pure directional standpoint, really addressing this
10:08
Speaker 1: particular trade deadline, how do you see this playing out?
10:13
Speaker 4: Well, the Mets are one of the few hard sellers.
10:15
Speaker 3: In the market, which is obviously not a position that
10:19
Speaker 3: the fan base expected to be in going into the season.
10:22
Speaker 3: They expected the Mets to compete, but they are not,
10:24
Speaker 3: and so they find themselves, you know, And it's always
10:28
Speaker 3: a seller's market at the deadline these days with the
10:31
Speaker 3: expanded playoffs, because so many teams are still in it,
10:35
Speaker 3: and the Mets are one of like a small handful
10:38
Speaker 3: of teams in the entire league that are really out
10:39
Speaker 3: of it at that point, and they probably of all
10:42
Speaker 3: of those teams, have the best pieces to sell. So
10:46
Speaker 3: they are going to sell hard, and they are going
10:48
Speaker 3: to unload as much of their of their inventory as
10:52
Speaker 3: possible and hopefully get you know, some Hopefully some teams
10:57
Speaker 3: will overpay because the Mets have like one of the
11:01
Speaker 3: few desirable set of pieces amongst the teams that are selling,
11:06
Speaker 3: and hopefully they'll be able to get some prospects back
11:08
Speaker 3: and help build up the farm because the Mets went
11:11
Speaker 3: from this season. Another thing that has happened is that
11:14
Speaker 3: the Mets went from having one of the best farms
11:17
Speaker 3: in baseball to like bottom third probably in baseball, because
11:20
Speaker 3: they've graduated so many prospects this year, so they don't
11:25
Speaker 3: have a whole lot of depth in their farm right now,
11:28
Speaker 3: and they could use some bolstering of that. And I
11:31
Speaker 3: think that that's how David Stearns is going to approach
11:34
Speaker 3: this deadline. Everything that is not nailed to the floor
11:37
Speaker 3: and everything that is not one of our super young
11:40
Speaker 3: players that's going to be a part of the future
11:41
Speaker 3: is going to go. The bullpen, pieces on expiring contracts
11:45
Speaker 3: are all going to go, and even potentially Luke Weaver
11:47
Speaker 3: and Guoscar Brosmon, who both have years of team control remaining,
11:52
Speaker 3: might go as well.
11:53
Speaker 4: I expect the bullpen to empty out.
11:55
Speaker 3: Entirely because we didn't talk about the bullpen in strengths
11:58
Speaker 3: and weaknesses, but it has been actually one of the
12:01
Speaker 3: better parts of the team, the bullpen. The Mets bullpen
12:05
Speaker 3: has actually been decent this year for the most part,
12:07
Speaker 3: and Luke Weaver has been a huge part of that.
12:10
Speaker 3: But the Mets, the Mets, I think see Luke Weaver
12:13
Speaker 3: as one of the most desirable relief pitchers available at
12:18
Speaker 3: the deadline, and teams are always looking for relief pitching
12:21
Speaker 3: teams trying to cont in so he could fetch a
12:25
Speaker 3: hefty price.
12:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's really going to be interesting
12:29
Speaker 1: to see what happens too, because you know, when you
12:32
Speaker 1: look at the Philadelphia Phillies too, they're going to be
12:34
Speaker 1: needing to buy in some way, shape or form.
12:36
Speaker 2: There are a number of weaknesses in this Phillies team.
12:38
Speaker 1: I do wonder at times, because of the bullpen of
12:41
Speaker 1: the New York Mets, if the.
12:43
Speaker 2: Phillies would actually be able to make some sort of.
12:44
Speaker 1: Deal with the Mets to bring in some bullpen help,
12:48
Speaker 1: because Phillies certainly certainly need that. So anyway, as we're
12:52
Speaker 1: going to be going to a break here, folks again,
12:54
Speaker 1: talking to Alison McCaig from the home run Apple Sauce
12:58
Speaker 1: podcast platform. She's over there with her good friends and
13:01
Speaker 1: co hosts on a pod of their own, great great podcast.
13:05
Speaker 1: And Alison, let everybody know where they can find you
13:07
Speaker 1: on the innewebs. They want to connect with you.
13:09
Speaker 3: Sure thing, So I am at PETITPHD on blue Sky
13:13
Speaker 3: and you can also find our show at a pod
13:16
Speaker 3: of their own on all of the apps on Twitter, Instagram,
13:19
Speaker 3: and blue Sky.
13:20
Speaker 1: All right, very good, We're going to take a break, folks,
13:22
Speaker 1: we get back more New York Mets talk. All right,
13:27
Speaker 1: we're back with our friend Alison McCaig from a pod
13:30
Speaker 1: of their own over on the home Run.
13:32
Speaker 2: Apple Sauce podcast platform.
13:35
Speaker 1: And as we are moving along with this discussion about
13:37
Speaker 1: the New York Mets, I wanted to get into Juan Soto.
13:41
Speaker 1: That massive contract that he signed fifteen years, seven hundred
13:44
Speaker 1: and sixty five million dollars last year, he was a
13:48
Speaker 1: bit of a polarizing figure within Mets Nation. Of course,
13:51
Speaker 1: this year and as you mentioned earlier, it's been a
13:54
Speaker 1: bit of a different vibe for him. We are seeing
13:57
Speaker 1: that quote Jan Soto that we've seen in the past
14:01
Speaker 1: because of last year and the polarization that kind of
14:04
Speaker 1: went on within within the fan base, and where he's
14:06
Speaker 1: at this year. How would you assess Wan Soto's tenure
14:09
Speaker 1: so far on this team?
14:12
Speaker 3: I mean, Wan Soo has been at advertised the Mets
14:15
Speaker 3: struggles are not because of Juan Soto. He's he's every
14:19
Speaker 3: bit the elite player that the Mets thought they were getting. Yeah,
14:23
Speaker 3: last year, he did get off to a bit of
14:25
Speaker 3: a slow start and there were some concerns, but I
14:29
Speaker 3: was never I was never worried about his long term
14:33
Speaker 3: success on the Mets, even with his slow start, because
14:37
Speaker 3: he's just one of the like top like five, maybe
14:41
Speaker 3: even top three hitters in the game, like it's and
14:44
Speaker 3: he's still in his prime. The Mets still have many
14:47
Speaker 3: years of his prime remaining, and so I I think
14:52
Speaker 3: that he's still every bit worth that money that they
14:56
Speaker 3: gave him, because you know, the Mets, as we're gonna
15:00
Speaker 3: talk about, like, have a lot of other holes they
15:03
Speaker 3: need to address, but at least they have this one
15:05
Speaker 3: sure thing, and a free agent like that does not
15:08
Speaker 3: come around all that often anymore. Guys of his caliber
15:13
Speaker 3: are often locked up to extensions with the team that
15:17
Speaker 3: you know developed them or drafted them very very early
15:20
Speaker 3: on if you sense that a player is of that caliber,
15:24
Speaker 3: and so it's pretty rare that a player of want
15:26
Speaker 3: Soto's caliber becomes available during his prime and free agency.
15:30
Speaker 3: So the fact that the Mets got that opportunity to
15:34
Speaker 3: snag a player like that, I'm still like, you know,
15:38
Speaker 3: that is the one thing as a Mets fan where
15:40
Speaker 3: you do the Lebron James smiling through it all, can't
15:42
Speaker 3: believe this is my life meme, like even though everything
15:47
Speaker 3: else is terrible, like the one thing, one nice thing
15:51
Speaker 3: that they have, And of course he's on the injured list,
15:53
Speaker 3: so they can't even have their one nice thing right now.
15:56
Speaker 3: But you know, get him healthy for next year. That's
15:58
Speaker 3: all I'm concerned about.
15:59
Speaker 1: It absolutely absolutely, Look, you know, like you said, he's
16:03
Speaker 1: in his prime and this Mets organization is going to
16:06
Speaker 1: kind of need to go back to the drawing board
16:08
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty seven, which we're going to get to
16:10
Speaker 1: in a bit, but I wanted to talk about the
16:13
Speaker 1: pitching depth before we move into where this organization actually
16:16
Speaker 1: goes as well, because pitching depth has certainly been under
16:19
Speaker 1: a microscope. They've had to lean on some patchwork solutions
16:24
Speaker 1: of course throughout this season, and I'm wondering, like what
16:27
Speaker 1: changes should or even could be made to the starting
16:31
Speaker 1: pitching rotation, maybe even at this point. Again, yes, trade
16:34
Speaker 1: deadline is coming, but just in terms of looking to
16:37
Speaker 1: the future, what changes do you think could or should
16:40
Speaker 1: be made?
16:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's going to be I think the most interesting,
16:44
Speaker 3: like the most interesting storyline of the off season for
16:47
Speaker 3: the Mets is going to be what their starting rotation
16:50
Speaker 3: ends up looking like. Right now, they have two sure
16:53
Speaker 3: things in their starting rotation, or like as close as
16:55
Speaker 3: you can get to a sure thing.
16:56
Speaker 4: Obviously, nothing is ever one hundred percent sure.
16:59
Speaker 3: But they have Nolan McLean and they have Christian Scott,
17:04
Speaker 3: two very solid prospects who have made big leaps forward
17:09
Speaker 3: this year. Obviously McLean borderline Rookie of the Year candidate.
17:12
Speaker 3: I think, obviously, like JJ Weatherholt, that's going to be
17:15
Speaker 3: a very that's a very crowded race. The nationally Rookie
17:18
Speaker 3: of the Year is a very talented field this year,
17:20
Speaker 3: and I.
17:21
Speaker 4: Don't think McLean is gonna.
17:22
Speaker 3: Make it, but he in a year that is less
17:25
Speaker 3: stacked than this year, he would have a shot at that.
17:29
Speaker 3: And Christian Scott, who had Tommy John surgery and missed
17:33
Speaker 3: all of last year, is back now and took a
17:36
Speaker 3: huge and has taken a big step forward this year.
17:38
Speaker 3: I think the Mets are hoping to see both of
17:40
Speaker 3: them continue to develop and take steps forward next year
17:42
Speaker 3: and be the two sort of anchors of that rotation.
17:46
Speaker 3: Beyond that, it's a big fat question mark. The Mets
17:49
Speaker 3: are going to probably trade Clay Holmes and Freddie Peralta,
17:53
Speaker 3: who are on expiring contracts. Clay Homes has a weird
17:56
Speaker 3: option for next year, but those are they're probably not
18:00
Speaker 3: going to be on the team.
18:00
Speaker 4: Anymore.
18:01
Speaker 3: They have Zach Thornton, who's been a pleasant surprise this year.
18:05
Speaker 3: He wasn't like a highly one of their super highly
18:08
Speaker 3: touted pitching prospects, but he has stepped up and pitched very,
18:12
Speaker 3: very well in his first handful of major league starts.
18:15
Speaker 3: So I think in the second half, once you know,
18:17
Speaker 3: the Mets unload some of their more veteran arms, he
18:22
Speaker 3: will be sort of taking starts for the whole rest
18:25
Speaker 3: of the season for the Mets to see what they
18:27
Speaker 3: have in him and if they think he can be
18:29
Speaker 3: part of the answer for next year.
18:30
Speaker 4: So but that leaves at least to slots.
18:33
Speaker 3: That the Mets are going to have to address some way,
18:35
Speaker 3: either through trade or free agency or some other method.
18:39
Speaker 3: I would not be surprised if we see more young
18:42
Speaker 3: arms coming up through the Mets system in the second half.
18:45
Speaker 4: Jonah Toong was up last year.
18:47
Speaker 3: He's probably their top starting pitching prospects still in the
18:51
Speaker 3: minor leagues, but he kind of, unlike the others, he
18:54
Speaker 3: kind of took a developmental step back this year unfortunately,
18:57
Speaker 3: so the Mets are trying to see if he can
18:59
Speaker 3: be a part of the solution moving forward, and we
19:02
Speaker 3: might see him take a couple of starts. They have
19:04
Speaker 3: a couple of other names that are close to major
19:06
Speaker 3: league ready. Lenninger might take some starts. So we'll see
19:10
Speaker 3: if the young guy can fill one or more of
19:13
Speaker 3: those holes. But they're gonna have to sign probably at
19:16
Speaker 3: least two free agents of some caliber. I think there's
19:22
Speaker 3: a chance they could go after Tariq's google. Obviously he's
19:24
Speaker 3: going to be the biggest name, the biggest free agent
19:27
Speaker 3: on the.
19:28
Speaker 4: Market by a lot.
19:29
Speaker 3: But I don't know that that is not David Sterns' style.
19:33
Speaker 3: David Sterns' style is not to commit large amounts of
19:36
Speaker 3: money to u to free agent pictures for better or
19:40
Speaker 3: for worse. Obviously he has, he has, He has had
19:44
Speaker 3: a mixed results with the pictures he's chosen to acquire. Obviously,
19:48
Speaker 3: this year he acquired Freddy Peralta in trade that has
19:50
Speaker 3: gone about as hardly as it can go. But but
19:55
Speaker 3: but this this uh, this off season that the Mets
19:58
Speaker 3: are going to go into now well reminds me a
20:00
Speaker 3: lot of the twenty twenty three off season when they
20:03
Speaker 3: were coming off a very disappointing season that year, had
20:06
Speaker 3: to unload a bunch of their veterans that they had
20:08
Speaker 3: in their rotation, like Max schers Are and Justin Furlander,
20:11
Speaker 3: and David Stearns replaced those with like, you know, lower
20:15
Speaker 3: key signings like Sean Manaya, who is still on the
20:17
Speaker 3: team but not.
20:19
Speaker 4: As good as he once was.
20:20
Speaker 3: But in twenty twenty four, those those pictures that he
20:23
Speaker 3: acquired turned out to be really, really good for them,
20:26
Speaker 3: and they made a deep playoff run the next season.
20:28
Speaker 4: So I think he's going.
20:30
Speaker 3: To look to continue to shop in that sort of
20:32
Speaker 3: tier where the tier he got clay homes from that
20:36
Speaker 3: ended up working out well for them if he hadn't
20:38
Speaker 3: gotten so injured this year. But something of that ill
20:43
Speaker 3: kill look in like the mid range. They could make
20:45
Speaker 3: a run at Treeks Google, but I would be it
20:48
Speaker 3: would be counter to what how David Stearns usually operates.
20:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I get to end our conversation here. You know,
20:55
Speaker 1: I think about this Mets team, what the hopes and
20:58
Speaker 1: expectations were for this season, in the fact that the
21:00
Speaker 1: fan base right now it's already looking towards twenty twenty
21:04
Speaker 1: seven and we don't have a crystal ball at all.
21:07
Speaker 1: But I'm wondering, like, what changes do you see really
21:10
Speaker 1: possibly coming to the Mets as much of this fan
21:12
Speaker 1: base is already looking next year. I mean you mentioned
21:15
Speaker 1: it here with regard to the pitching, but in terms
21:18
Speaker 1: of offloading any other additional contracts, bringing in new talent,
21:22
Speaker 1: maybe maybe a philosophical base change perhaps, I don't know.
21:26
Speaker 1: How do you how do you see them? You know,
21:29
Speaker 1: how do you see them taking those next steps? From
21:31
Speaker 1: an overall standpoint.
21:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting.
21:34
Speaker 3: The Mets are really out of crossroads at this point
21:37
Speaker 3: and what they want to decide to do. They do,
21:41
Speaker 3: like I mentioned, have like a strong core to work from.
21:44
Speaker 3: That it's not like they if they decide to change
21:47
Speaker 3: things up, they'd be starting from scratch.
21:49
Speaker 4: They certainly have.
21:50
Speaker 3: That outfield of the future all set to go. They
21:54
Speaker 3: have a couple of young starting pitchers who will be
21:57
Speaker 3: a part of the future.
21:59
Speaker 4: So it's not like they have enough to work with.
22:01
Speaker 3: David Stearns, like I said, I see I see this
22:06
Speaker 3: off season as very similar to twenty twenty three, where
22:09
Speaker 3: he didn't rebuild, but he retooled a little bit and
22:14
Speaker 3: it did work. At least it gave them a temporary bump.
22:16
Speaker 3: It didn't lead to the long term you know, competitiveness
22:20
Speaker 3: that I think David Stearns would have wanted, but it did.
22:24
Speaker 3: They did end up better the next season, and so
22:27
Speaker 3: I think that is still possible. And you know, alluding
22:31
Speaker 3: to alluding to that that sort of similarity between twenty
22:35
Speaker 3: twenty three and this year. Steve Cohen, Me's owner, Steve
22:39
Speaker 3: Cohen was on John Hayman's podcast recently. You know, for
22:43
Speaker 3: better or for worse, the Mets have an owner who
22:45
Speaker 3: likes to yap like you know, you get you do
22:48
Speaker 3: get his thoughts, which is not It's unusual among ownership groups.
22:53
Speaker 3: You don't usually hear what the owner has to say
22:55
Speaker 3: about anything, but in the Mets case, you do. Uh.
22:58
Speaker 4: And Steve Cohen.
22:59
Speaker 3: Kind of betrayed a little bit of like implied that
23:04
Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven might be a rebuilding year and not
23:06
Speaker 3: a year where they go all in. So that wouldn't
23:10
Speaker 3: surprise me if that's the case again, that they don't
23:13
Speaker 3: go all in. All of the trade rumors involving Francisco
23:17
Speaker 3: Lindoor during this during this deadline, pretty much everyone has
23:23
Speaker 3: said that it seems unlikely that Lindor will be dealt
23:27
Speaker 3: at the deadline, but that it might be an off
23:30
Speaker 3: season move, so those rumors will continue into the off season.
23:34
Speaker 4: I really, I really don't know.
23:37
Speaker 3: I get the sense that you know, David Stearns may
23:41
Speaker 3: want to trade Francisco Lindoor if he can because of
23:44
Speaker 3: the amount of money remaining on the contract. But obviously
23:48
Speaker 3: he has a full no trade clause. He he does
23:51
Speaker 3: have that money that makes it harder for him to
23:53
Speaker 3: move team. A team that's willing to take on that
23:57
Speaker 3: money intersecting with a team that he be willing to
24:00
Speaker 3: be traded to makes the list of teams very, very small.
24:05
Speaker 4: So, but it might happen.
24:08
Speaker 3: I would be personal on a personal level, I'd be
24:11
Speaker 3: devastated if it did.
24:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's my favorite player. I would be very sad.
24:16
Speaker 3: But it is a possibility, I think. For I think
24:21
Speaker 3: a lot is dependent on, potentially if bo Baschett opts
24:25
Speaker 3: in versus opting out, what decision he makes, because the
24:29
Speaker 3: Mets don't have a very clear replacement at shortstop forl
24:34
Speaker 3: Indoor unless Bashett opts in and they decide that they
24:37
Speaker 3: are willing to display him there every day, which they
24:39
Speaker 3: did for a large chunk of this season. Yeah, there's
24:43
Speaker 3: a lot of moving parts. I don't it's really hard
24:47
Speaker 3: to see, like envision what the Mets are going to do,
24:50
Speaker 3: but I think it is going to be some version.
24:52
Speaker 4: Of not full tear down, but like a retooling.
24:56
Speaker 2: Yes, they say, like you said, this Mets team and organize.
25:00
Speaker 2: They are at a crossroads.
25:02
Speaker 1: And when you're at a crossroads, it's no easy.
25:05
Speaker 2: Situation to be in for sure, folks.
25:08
Speaker 1: She is Alison McCaig from a pod of their own
25:12
Speaker 1: over on the Home Run Applesauce podcast Network, and my.
25:16
Speaker 2: Friend, it was really great talking to you.
25:18
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for giving us the update on what's
25:20
Speaker 1: going on with the Mets, your thoughts and with the
25:22
Speaker 1: fan base, maybe thinking in terms of the future of
25:24
Speaker 1: this team. Always great talking to you. Let's jump on
25:27
Speaker 1: the podcast at some point down the road. I'd love
25:29
Speaker 1: to have you back on.
25:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, Thanks Jeff, Thanks for having me as always.
25:34
Speaker 4: Really I really appreciate it and I really enjoyed our conversation.
25:38
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
25:41
Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
25:44
Speaker 1: and family members who are Philly sports fans or sports
25:47
Speaker 1: fans in general. We thank you our listeners for being
25:50
Speaker 1: part of this online community with us.
25:52
Speaker 2: And within this space.
25:54
Speaker 1: Make sure to check out our website, Philadelphia Sportstable dot
25:57
Speaker 1: com for all of our podcasts, and follow hellow us
26:00
Speaker 1: on our social sites. You can follow the show on
26:03
Speaker 1: Twitter at Philadelphia PST, on threads at Philadelphia Sports Table,
26:07
Speaker 1: and over on Instagram as well at Philadelphia Sports Table.
26:11
Speaker 2: Take care, We'll catch you next time.