Latest / Foul Territory / Mets checkup w/Abbey Mastraco

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Mets checkup w/Abbey Mastraco · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Abby Mastraco joining us right now, a Mets writer for
0:06
Speaker 1: the New York Daily News. Excited to have her on
0:08
Speaker 1: the show. Abby, thank you for joining us, and we
0:10
Speaker 1: want to first to start with a nice and simple
0:12
Speaker 1: state of the Mets. How does this team look compared
0:16
Speaker 1: to last year? And I would like at least one
0:18
Speaker 1: inclusion of defense in there, since that was a problem
0:21
Speaker 1: for them in their latest loss. But run prevention was
0:24
Speaker 1: brought up ninety times in the offseason, your thoughts.
0:27
Speaker 2: Run prevention was the sort of trendy buzz term over
0:31
Speaker 2: the winter. This is a team that is, you know,
0:34
Speaker 2: it's the work in progress. They've got some really.
0:37
Speaker 3: Good pieces and they've got some pieces that are still adjusting.
0:40
Speaker 2: They're really good up the middle, more solid up the
0:42
Speaker 2: middle of that includes run prevention, pitching, and defense.
0:47
Speaker 3: But on the corners they're having some issues.
0:49
Speaker 2: You know, they've got a lot of guys adjusting to
0:51
Speaker 2: new positions. Bobachett at third base, first base, it was
0:55
Speaker 2: supposed to be Jorge Polanco, now it's Marc Bianto's. Sometimes
0:59
Speaker 2: the combination of Biento's or Brett Baty, Brett Baty than
1:02
Speaker 2: the outfield. Sometimes the team has been I would say
1:07
Speaker 2: at certain points better than last year, and at certain
1:09
Speaker 2: points they've looked similar. So I think it's I've been saying,
1:13
Speaker 2: you know, since since since fen training started, this is
1:16
Speaker 2: the high risk, high reward team. A lot of things
1:18
Speaker 2: have to go right, but not everything goes right throughout
1:21
Speaker 2: the course of a baseball season. And this is also
1:23
Speaker 2: the Mets, so there's plenty of opportunity for things.
1:25
Speaker 3: To go comically wrong. So it's it is a work
1:28
Speaker 3: in progress.
1:30
Speaker 4: Talking about that defense specifically, is there any hope that
1:34
Speaker 4: this team finds this solidified lineup, because if you're trying
1:38
Speaker 4: to please everybody, nobody gets better. I mean, obviously we're
1:43
Speaker 4: talking about it today, but last night, the throat of
1:45
Speaker 4: the plate wasn't really the issue that Mark Biento's made
1:49
Speaker 4: just an absolute yard dart to the plate. It was
1:51
Speaker 4: the fact that he chose to go home when there
1:53
Speaker 4: wasn't going to be a play. But how can he
1:56
Speaker 4: be in that experience, Like if a coach hits him
1:58
Speaker 4: a ground ball and they're like, hey throw it home, Mark,
2:01
Speaker 4: Like he doesn't play there enough. Like if this is
2:04
Speaker 4: a team that wants to win a World Series, are
2:06
Speaker 4: they able to address the fact that there's just people
2:09
Speaker 4: out of position that don't have experience in those spots
2:13
Speaker 4: in big games, let alone in playoff games.
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Speaker 2: You know, I think what the Mets are sort of
2:19
Speaker 2: hoping is that these early months are when they see
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Speaker 2: the biggest learning curve, and then as we get through
2:25
Speaker 2: sort of the early months where they're adjusting to things,
2:28
Speaker 2: learning new things, trying to figure out certain instincts, that
2:31
Speaker 2: the defense is a little bit more solidified going into
2:34
Speaker 2: June July. Now that's that's risky. But again, that's why
2:37
Speaker 2: I said this is the hybrid ward teams. Would Jorge
2:40
Speaker 2: Polonco have made a better play at first base last night,
2:44
Speaker 2: I don't know, because we've only seen him play two
2:46
Speaker 2: games at first base. He's dealing with the achilles ted
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Speaker 2: the night is. But he's also not a natural first baseman.
2:51
Speaker 2: Mark Biento's has played a lot of first base, but
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Speaker 2: he's not a natural first baseman either. So the Mets
2:57
Speaker 2: have said that they're willing to live with the learning.
3:00
Speaker 2: I just wonder how quickly this learned, you know, how
3:04
Speaker 2: quickly these guys can make these adjustments before the Mets
3:07
Speaker 2: have to start saying, all right, maybe we need to
3:10
Speaker 2: figure out some solutions to solidify this defense all the corners.
3:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you hit that perfectly. I mean, you
3:18
Speaker 5: think about the guys that you know, they got rid
3:20
Speaker 5: of a Brandon Nemo who was fantastic, who's thriving over
3:23
Speaker 5: with the Rangers, never even offered pet Alonzo at first
3:27
Speaker 5: base and leaving and letting Edwin go. I mean, we
3:29
Speaker 5: can go on and on about that, but I want
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Speaker 5: to talk about one person in specifically, Carson Bench. Young
3:34
Speaker 5: man coming in, you know, all the hype, a little bit,
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Speaker 5: struggling a little bit, he's got one home run, four
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Speaker 5: hits out of thirty seven at bats.
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Speaker 6: What does it look like for him?
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Speaker 5: Are they just gonna let him keep pushing through until
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Speaker 5: they think, you know, it's not the right fit, or
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Speaker 5: until he snaps out of this.
3:50
Speaker 2: You know, I think that they've got some positional versatility
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Speaker 2: if they want to then bene back to TRIAA to
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Speaker 2: figure it out. The one thing about Carson Bench is
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Speaker 2: that he's not really phased by anything. He's not phased
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Speaker 2: by these struggles, you know, to him, it's sort of
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Speaker 2: one pitch at a time. He's gonna take it. He's
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Speaker 2: gonna take things until he figures them out. You can
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Speaker 2: kind of see the wheels turning in each at bat.
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Speaker 2: He fells off a lot of pitches. He takes some
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Speaker 2: hard pitches, but yeah, there is there are some issues
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Speaker 2: with maybe some pitch selection, you know, maybe thinking a
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Speaker 2: bit too much of the plate sometimes, which is funny
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Speaker 2: talking to him the other day, he said, well, he
4:25
Speaker 2: thinks that the plate.
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Speaker 3: He doesn't really think before he talks. He's just sort of.
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Speaker 2: A waid bat guy who isn't really intimidated by the
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Speaker 2: big lead.
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Speaker 3: So that can be a good thing or that can
4:34
Speaker 3: be a bad thing.
4:35
Speaker 2: And with you know, if the Mets are really confident
4:39
Speaker 2: that Brett Bady can handle right field, then they wouldn't
4:43
Speaker 2: they wouldn't hesitate to send Parson Benge to Triple A
4:46
Speaker 2: to maybe get some confidence at the plate. They've also
4:49
Speaker 2: got Tyrone Taylor, who is a very good outfielder at
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Speaker 2: all three outfield positions. So if they need to send
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Speaker 2: Bene down they will. I think at the moment they're
4:57
Speaker 2: okay with letting him figure things out because they think
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Speaker 2: that he's got the right mental makeup to do so.
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Speaker 2: But you know, at some point, if he really is
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Speaker 2: unproductive at the plate. They are going to have to
5:08
Speaker 2: make a move there to try and get him some
5:11
Speaker 2: reps in a lower pressure atmosphere.
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Speaker 4: All right, talk about that offense, the offense that currently
5:17
Speaker 4: does not have Wan Soda won the first four games
5:20
Speaker 4: without him in the lineup. Francisco Lindor has been you know,
5:24
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if he's taken the face mask off
5:28
Speaker 4: his face, and you know, he's not enjoying this cold weather,
5:30
Speaker 4: but he played in Cleveland. He's gonna like Wan Soto's
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Speaker 4: gonna come back. He was killing it when when he
5:37
Speaker 4: was there. Francisco Lindor is gonna hit. And this team
5:40
Speaker 4: is still treading water at a decent clip right now.
5:43
Speaker 4: They're not lighting the world on fire. But is this
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Speaker 4: offense exactly what they built for this offseason? The fact
5:52
Speaker 4: that they're like, it's totally fine, we don't know where
5:55
Speaker 4: a lot of these guys are gonna play, but we're
5:58
Speaker 4: gonna hit because we didn't put enough money into our pitching,
6:01
Speaker 4: which is doing ridiculous right now. But we're talking about
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Speaker 4: the offense.
6:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is this is the lineup that
6:09
Speaker 2: they built and when when they're at their best and
6:12
Speaker 2: they play very long, that's what David Stearns wants them
6:15
Speaker 2: to be, and we have seen flashes of that in
6:17
Speaker 2: a couple of games. What's happening right now is that
6:20
Speaker 2: they're sort of all or nothing. They're feast or famine,
6:23
Speaker 2: and a lot of that does go with Lindor. Historically
6:26
Speaker 2: this team has gone the way that Lindor has gone,
6:28
Speaker 2: and Lindor is also a historically slow starter. We've seen
6:31
Speaker 2: this now a couple of years in a row, and
6:34
Speaker 2: he sort of keeps up around May June. Good time
6:37
Speaker 2: for that, but yeah, they could use they could use
6:40
Speaker 2: a bit more production.
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Speaker 3: From him right now, especially without Juan Soto.
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Speaker 2: But I do think that they this is an offense
6:45
Speaker 2: that's not built around one sort of big hitter or
6:48
Speaker 2: one focal point. That was intentional by David Stearns because
6:52
Speaker 2: he felt like in recent seasons they have been to
6:55
Speaker 2: top heavy, they haven't been as deeper as long as
6:58
Speaker 2: they've wanted to play. I don't think anticipated having the
7:01
Speaker 2: same issues hitting with runners in scoring position that they
7:04
Speaker 2: had last season. I think they anticipated that being something
7:07
Speaker 2: they'd be much stronger at early in the season, especially
7:09
Speaker 2: when you bring in a.
7:10
Speaker 3: Guy like Boba Schet. But you know, so be it.
7:13
Speaker 2: The entire offense is like I said, they're either overperforming
7:17
Speaker 2: or they're underperforming. There isn't a lot of sort of
7:20
Speaker 2: we haven't found the mean, they have not found their
7:23
Speaker 2: offensive stride yet.
7:24
Speaker 3: We've seen what they're capable of.
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Speaker 2: Doing when they're at their best, we haven't really seen
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Speaker 2: what they're capable of doing when they're just sort of average.
7:32
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Speaker 4: Honestly, expectations kill the kill kill. The actual presentation of
8:40
Speaker 4: what happens is Nolan McLain going over is he is
8:45
Speaker 4: he exceeding expectations right now based on the fact that
8:48
Speaker 4: he's still learning pitching. He's still going out there in
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Speaker 4: big league games and like making adjustments on the fly
8:55
Speaker 4: because of as Ron Darling says every game and Keith
8:58
Speaker 4: Hernandez says every game, he's so incredibly athletic. Are we
9:02
Speaker 4: missing it nationally? What Nolan McLean is going to be
9:06
Speaker 4: able to do for this season?
9:09
Speaker 3: I think so.
9:09
Speaker 2: I think, you know, man, that start in San Francisco
9:12
Speaker 2: was so impressive, the way that he was able to
9:15
Speaker 2: lean on his cutter, that's not a pitch that he
9:17
Speaker 2: throws very often, and just watching some of those pitches,
9:20
Speaker 2: like watching the replays trying to slow them down the
9:23
Speaker 2: break and the spin is just insane. And the fact
9:26
Speaker 2: that he was able to make that adjustment and only
9:28
Speaker 2: his tenth big league start, Nolan McLean is he's my
9:33
Speaker 2: favorite one to watch right now. Honestly, Like I might
9:36
Speaker 2: be biased, I shouldn't be as a beat reporter, but
9:39
Speaker 2: like every start should be appointment viewing for him because
9:42
Speaker 2: of what he's able to do when he gets in trouble.
9:45
Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen two games when he hasn't even
9:47
Speaker 2: been very pitch efficient, he'd gotten into some bad counts,
9:50
Speaker 2: and yet he's been able to get himself in and
9:52
Speaker 2: out of trouble. Sort of deafthly again, I go back
9:55
Speaker 2: to that start in San Francisco. I thought he was
9:58
Speaker 2: pitching pretty well, and then he gets up there and says,
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Speaker 2: I didn't even know that I was throwing a no
10:03
Speaker 2: hitter or a perfect game because I just didn't have
10:06
Speaker 2: my best stuff. But I didn't feel my best out there.
10:09
Speaker 2: He didn't have a good feel for his pitches, and
10:11
Speaker 2: he still managed to accomplish that. You know, last night
10:15
Speaker 2: with another great start for him, he was at one
10:17
Speaker 2: hundred pitches through into the seventh inning, so you know,
10:20
Speaker 2: he can work on more pitch efficiency, and I think
10:23
Speaker 2: as he gets through the season, understands the game plan,
10:26
Speaker 2: understands the hitters a little bit better the big league hitters,
10:30
Speaker 2: he's going.
10:30
Speaker 3: To get there.
10:31
Speaker 2: But right now what he's doing is it's so much
10:34
Speaker 2: fun to watch. His stuff is just ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
10:39
Speaker 2: It's so nasty.
10:41
Speaker 4: Somebody else is pretty nasty right now for the Mets
10:45
Speaker 4: and was above average last year for him was Clay Holmes.
10:49
Speaker 4: Clay Holmes start to this year? Does it make New
10:52
Speaker 4: York exhale a little bit knowing that they think Senga's
10:56
Speaker 4: probably going to get hurt, knowing that Freddy Perolta, Oh no,
10:59
Speaker 4: he's just number one that got brought in. But Clay
11:02
Speaker 4: Holmes is the guy from last year that carried over
11:04
Speaker 4: his success. And can they get more innings out of
11:09
Speaker 4: him and not be the fore and dive that the
11:12
Speaker 4: entire Mets rotation was last year?
11:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, last year that was the big problem was starters
11:17
Speaker 2: were ridiculously pitch inefficient and they were not able to
11:20
Speaker 2: go deep into games.
11:22
Speaker 3: That's a domino effect. Play.
11:24
Speaker 2: Holmes is such a steady performer that it was like
11:27
Speaker 2: sort of lost last year because he did hit a
11:29
Speaker 2: wall after he reached a certain innings point at threshold
11:33
Speaker 2: that he hadn't hit as a reliever in the past.
11:36
Speaker 3: Well, okay, he pushed through that. He ended the season
11:38
Speaker 3: really well.
11:39
Speaker 2: He now has sort of a base to work off
11:43
Speaker 2: of this season and as long as he kicked the
11:45
Speaker 2: ball on the ground, which he understands.
11:47
Speaker 3: There were times last year where he found himself trying.
11:49
Speaker 2: To miss bats too many times, and he learned from that,
11:52
Speaker 2: and Play is He's a really intelligent pitcher. He's one
11:57
Speaker 2: of my favorite to talk to, and he just bring
12:00
Speaker 2: such a steady presence in the clubhouse, in the rotation.
12:03
Speaker 2: I think the play is going to have a really
12:06
Speaker 2: quietly good season. I don't think he's going to be
12:09
Speaker 2: getting all the attention at like Nolan McLean. He's not
12:12
Speaker 2: the flashy guy. Todi Singa is probably going to get
12:16
Speaker 2: a few more headlines. But yeah, I think play Holmes
12:19
Speaker 2: is set up for a really big season, even if
12:21
Speaker 2: it kind of goes under the radar.
12:25
Speaker 5: I want to talk about what happened the other day
12:28
Speaker 5: with with with Peterson or David Peterson and Carlos Mendoza
12:34
Speaker 5: I've been in those locker rooms. I've been, I've been,
12:36
Speaker 5: I've played with the met I understand how the media
12:40
Speaker 5: works a little bit. Carlos, the manager, was talking about
12:43
Speaker 5: one thing about what he might have needed to work
12:45
Speaker 5: on and execute, and then David came through and said, hey, listen,
12:49
Speaker 5: I actually thought I needed to do better in this
12:52
Speaker 5: kind of pitch and the sinker they were talking about,
12:54
Speaker 5: can you talk about the miscommunication or are we blowing
12:59
Speaker 5: this up a little bit too much?
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Speaker 2: I think maybe if it happens a couple more times,
13:04
Speaker 2: if it happens in another start further down the line,
13:07
Speaker 2: then yeah, we're going to see that maybe they're on
13:09
Speaker 2: two different pages.
13:10
Speaker 3: But you know, yesterday talking.
13:12
Speaker 2: To Mendoza, he had said, well, we looked back at
13:16
Speaker 2: some of PD's things. Ndoza stood by what he said
13:20
Speaker 2: and he said that they were able to sort of
13:23
Speaker 2: get on the same page yesterday after going over his start.
13:26
Speaker 3: So I think maybe.
13:27
Speaker 2: If it happens again, yeah, then you got to wonder,
13:30
Speaker 2: are these guys on the same page with the pitching group,
13:33
Speaker 2: with you know, with the manager. It is a new
13:36
Speaker 2: pitching coach and there's always going to be some adjustments
13:39
Speaker 2: when you've bought a new staff. So far, the reports
13:42
Speaker 2: on Justin Willard have been really good. Players really like
13:44
Speaker 2: dealing with him. They feel like he relates really well
13:46
Speaker 2: to them, and he is able to break things down
13:50
Speaker 2: in ways that individually everybody is able to sort of
13:53
Speaker 2: digest the information and understand. So, you know, Peterson hit
13:58
Speaker 2: a wall last year, a similar to play homes when
14:01
Speaker 2: he hit a certain inning spreshold.
14:02
Speaker 3: Managed to push past it. He learned a lot from that,
14:06
Speaker 3: But you.
14:06
Speaker 2: Know, I don't think he anticipated hitting one early in
14:10
Speaker 2: the season or this early in the season.
14:11
Speaker 3: Especially. He felt really great coming out of spring training.
14:14
Speaker 2: He looked pretty great coming out of spring training, So
14:18
Speaker 2: maybe this is just sort of a couple of bad
14:20
Speaker 2: starts that he's able to work through. And also that
14:24
Speaker 2: was sort of like, you know, heat of the moment postgame.
14:28
Speaker 2: He had just come out of the game when he
14:30
Speaker 2: talked to the media. And I'll be honest, I wasn't
14:32
Speaker 2: actually there that game. I was in California with my
14:34
Speaker 2: nieces watching K pop demon Hunters all and stuck in my.
14:39
Speaker 3: Head for the last few days.
14:41
Speaker 2: I did go back and watch that game, though, and
14:43
Speaker 2: I talked him and Dove about it. Yesterday, it seems
14:45
Speaker 2: like everybody is okay right now. I am curious to
14:49
Speaker 2: see what happens in the next few starts though, and
14:51
Speaker 2: again if this happened later in the thevinight.
14:54
Speaker 4: Abby, you are are representative from the New York media,
14:57
Speaker 4: and we're so glad that you're on the show today
14:59
Speaker 4: because yesterday somebody on our show said, well, you know,
15:03
Speaker 4: sometimes you know people from the New York media, you know,
15:06
Speaker 4: they can like kind of twist some stuff and then
15:08
Speaker 4: they go to this guy and they go to that guy.
15:10
Speaker 4: I won't say who it was that said this, but
15:12
Speaker 4: it was on our show. So can you give us
15:16
Speaker 4: Todd Ta ta Todd, don't interrupt my question? Okay with
15:20
Speaker 4: your with your hand gestures. So can you be our
15:26
Speaker 4: media representative for New York and explain how these stories
15:32
Speaker 4: either a get embellished or B are fair in a
15:38
Speaker 4: city that is notoriously considered tough. Sure.
15:43
Speaker 3: So, I've been in New York for almost ten years.
15:45
Speaker 2: I came from California, from the Lost Angelets market, which
15:49
Speaker 2: is very different. So I think I've sort of been
15:51
Speaker 2: able to, I don't know, sit back and watch it
15:53
Speaker 2: from a different perspective, and yes, things do get taken
15:58
Speaker 2: taken out the contact, or blown out of proportion at times.
16:01
Speaker 3: This is a passionate fan base. This is the passionate
16:04
Speaker 3: media market.
16:05
Speaker 4: You know.
16:06
Speaker 2: I think the best way that the term I heard
16:08
Speaker 2: when I first moved to New York was that Yankees
16:11
Speaker 2: fans have expectations, Mets fans have hope. So when you
16:15
Speaker 2: see when reporters see things that are maybe blowing up
16:18
Speaker 2: on social media, oftentimes we'll get a call from our
16:21
Speaker 2: editor saying, blow this up even more. The good editors
16:25
Speaker 2: are going to say, hey, is there anything to this?
16:29
Speaker 2: Should we be looking into this more? Is this just
16:33
Speaker 2: fanned backlash? Or you know this was on wsan is
16:38
Speaker 2: you know Joe from Staten Island with Colin and screaming
16:42
Speaker 2: and wfan Is there any merit to this?
16:44
Speaker 3: The good editors are going to ask if there's merit
16:46
Speaker 3: to this?
16:46
Speaker 2: But I do think that a lot of things get
16:48
Speaker 2: one out of proportion by you know, not necessarily the
16:52
Speaker 2: beat reporters, but some of the reporters who just drop
16:55
Speaker 2: in periodically and then they have to give their takes
16:59
Speaker 2: that what they're paid to do. Or it's the aggregators
17:03
Speaker 2: who will use what we report and put a different
17:07
Speaker 2: headline on it.
17:09
Speaker 3: I try to be very fair.
17:10
Speaker 6: That's my goal.
17:12
Speaker 2: I do think I still have some laid back California
17:14
Speaker 2: in me where I'm not necessarily looking for the sexy headline.
17:19
Speaker 2: I'm just sort of trying to understand all parts of
17:22
Speaker 2: the situation before i make a determination.
17:25
Speaker 3: But yeah, this is New York.
17:28
Speaker 2: Things are going to be bigger Here's that can be
17:31
Speaker 2: a really intimidating thing.
17:33
Speaker 3: For some players. That can be a really annoying thing.
17:36
Speaker 2: I think sometimes players know how to cut through that
17:41
Speaker 2: and understand which reporters can be trusted and which reporters
17:46
Speaker 2: they might want to stay away from, or just choose
17:47
Speaker 2: their words more carefully. That's where I think being a
17:51
Speaker 2: Beat writer is a little bit different, because, yeah, I'm
17:53
Speaker 2: on the road with these guys. I'm getting to know
17:55
Speaker 2: them from spring training. I ask about their kids, not
17:58
Speaker 2: just after a game at about their worst performances.
18:01
Speaker 3: You know, I'm there from the Beat.
18:03
Speaker 2: Reporters are there from day one until I mean all
18:06
Speaker 2: your buntins really so look, it's a lot of fun
18:09
Speaker 2: in New York. But it can also be It can
18:12
Speaker 2: test your media literacy, It tests your sort of BS
18:17
Speaker 2: detector for lack of a better term, but things are
18:22
Speaker 2: bigger here for a reason.
18:24
Speaker 3: Things matter here.
18:25
Speaker 1: People care, Yeah, they care, right, you want that passion?
18:28
Speaker 1: I mean that drives the sport and the industry in
18:31
Speaker 1: this area. It was great answer and the one thing
18:34
Speaker 1: I also did want to highlight because I didn't think
18:36
Speaker 1: about this as much until now. The sports radio scene,
18:41
Speaker 1: which now turns into also a podcast scene in New
18:43
Speaker 1: York can get very aggressive and competitive. And with that
18:48
Speaker 1: you do sometimes see a sports radio host throw a
18:52
Speaker 1: rumor out there and it is complete bs, but it
18:56
Speaker 1: drives them for the week. They get in fights with
18:59
Speaker 1: each other. You know, all of this, But that's a
19:02
Speaker 1: great That is a great example.
19:03
Speaker 6: That's true.
19:04
Speaker 1: There's sports radio in almost every city, but it really
19:08
Speaker 1: started in New York in the way that it does.
19:10
Speaker 1: And I think it's even gotten crazier now, Abby because
19:13
Speaker 1: it's so competitive in the space to get through the noise,
19:16
Speaker 1: when it used to just be, oh, sports talk, you
19:18
Speaker 1: go to the radio, Now you can come to our
19:20
Speaker 1: so you can come to a million other shows and
19:22
Speaker 1: podcasts and everything. The way to try and cut through
19:24
Speaker 1: sometimes is someone literally just makes something up and then
19:27
Speaker 1: it becomes a story in New York.
19:28
Speaker 6: It happens. I'm telling you, we all know it. That's
19:30
Speaker 6: example this year.
19:31
Speaker 5: Sure Abby gets it too. I get people hitting me
19:34
Speaker 5: up and I'm still sleeping at seven in the morning.
19:37
Speaker 6: I heard this on the radio and my call to
19:38
Speaker 6: work is this true?
19:39
Speaker 5: And I'm like, here we go. Like I might get
19:41
Speaker 5: that two or three times a week, and I'm like, really, dude,
19:44
Speaker 5: stop listening to the dawn radio and stuff. But I
19:47
Speaker 5: think you hit it perfectly. I think the Hope versus
19:53
Speaker 5: I forget what you said, and that's they're in Hope.
19:55
Speaker 5: But the Yankees are like expectations. I forget what you said.
19:57
Speaker 5: That was fun, Yeah, that was fun, and you understand it.
20:01
Speaker 5: You've been here for ten years. You and I both
20:03
Speaker 5: know how they work. You know, there's certain guys and
20:06
Speaker 5: girls that come in. You see them from the corner.
20:08
Speaker 5: I'm like, you're here for a reason. You're trying to
20:11
Speaker 5: get juice like that. It's not that hard to figure out.
20:14
Speaker 5: But for some guys it is hard when they haven't
20:17
Speaker 5: played in this area, definitely, And.
20:21
Speaker 2: I think that's where the teams come in and they
20:24
Speaker 2: do media training to say, hey, here's our beat.
20:26
Speaker 3: Media.
20:27
Speaker 2: You know, these guys are going to be with you
20:29
Speaker 2: all season. Here's the columnist who you guys are going
20:31
Speaker 2: to see often, but not every day. That doesn't take
20:35
Speaker 2: account for, you know, some of the bigger series, like
20:38
Speaker 2: the Subway Theory. There are a lot of media members
20:40
Speaker 2: that I don't know who show up for bigger series sometimes,
20:43
Speaker 2: you know. So it's you really never know what you're
20:46
Speaker 2: going to get in the city, because this is the
20:48
Speaker 2: capital of media. So that's a good and a bad
20:50
Speaker 2: thing because these teams are going to get a lot
20:53
Speaker 2: of attention and the players are going to get a
20:55
Speaker 2: lot of attention, which is great if they want to
20:57
Speaker 2: promote a platform and their charities things like that, But
21:00
Speaker 2: it also can be tough if you come from a
21:03
Speaker 2: small town, you came from a college program that really
21:06
Speaker 2: never had a lot of media, you know, if you
21:10
Speaker 2: came from a team that didn't have a lot of
21:12
Speaker 2: beat writers. There aren't a lot of traveling beat writers anymore.
21:15
Speaker 2: We're sort of dwindling in numbers, not in the New
21:17
Speaker 2: York market, not in the Northeast in general. But it's
21:21
Speaker 2: it's really beneficial to the fans to have people like
21:24
Speaker 2: us around because that's how they learn about these players.
21:27
Speaker 2: That's how they sort of connect with the players and
21:29
Speaker 2: the teams and the coaches. And it's a fun job.
21:35
Speaker 2: It's a tough job, and I think it's tough for
21:37
Speaker 2: the players at times to have to stand up in
21:40
Speaker 2: front of us after some of their worst moments, which
21:43
Speaker 2: again that's why I try to be very fair. But
21:45
Speaker 2: there's a lot of entertainment options you think, Like you said,
21:47
Speaker 2: not just on the radio. I mean, there's entertainment options
21:49
Speaker 2: in terms of streaming services. You know, Baseball is trying
21:55
Speaker 2: to bring in new fans and keep new fans, and
21:58
Speaker 2: the media is one of.
21:59
Speaker 3: Those tools that they can use to do that. So
22:02
Speaker 3: it's New York.
22:03
Speaker 2: Like I said, it's intense because people care and at
22:06
Speaker 2: the end of the day, that's cheaping us all in business.
22:10
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's a great point. On the beat writers too.
22:11
Speaker 1: There are some teams that are essentially down to one
22:14
Speaker 1: and it's you know, the beat writer for the league.
22:16
Speaker 6: Like there's some.
22:17
Speaker 1: Markets that are really kind of seeing a dwindling of
22:20
Speaker 1: coverage out there too, and you're not seeing that of
22:22
Speaker 1: course in New York.
22:23
Speaker 6: Abby. This was great.
22:24
Speaker 1: Really enjoyed the whole combo, especially the end here. Thank
22:26
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. First and last name
22:28
Speaker 1: is super easy for fans to check out more of
22:30
Speaker 1: her work on Twitter and then of course articles in
22:33
Speaker 1: the Daily News.
22:34
Speaker 6: Thanks Abby, you appreciate it.
22:36
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
22:37
Speaker 6: Guys,