00:00Is the Mets starting rotation the reason for this recent slump, or are the bats just not batting?
00:05Let's talk all things Mets baseball with your favorite Mets content creator, Tyler Ward.
00:10Ward, he's in the building. What's up, my man?
00:12How are you, Brandon?
00:14Another beautiful day in Zamunda, man.
00:15Let's talk about some Mets baseball, because hopefully you can be the silver lining in whatever is going on right now,
00:22because as you know, when you drop six out of the last seven, fingers are going to point somewhere.
00:28What unit, I guess, would you say should take most of the blame for this recent funk and the struggles?
00:36Man, it's tough because, you know, it's bad when it's kind of been a little bit of everything,
00:40but what's headlined at all has certainly been the Mets lack of length with their rotation.
00:44That has plagued them so much, so it doesn't just go back or their past seven games in which they've lost six of their past seven,
00:51but also goes in hand with the fact that over the past 46 games, if your name is not David Peterson,
00:56you have not averaged much more than four innings as a starter for this Mets team.
01:00So there's been a complete divide when it comes to not getting length from your starters,
01:05as well as the Mets' continued struggles with runners in scoring position.
01:08With the exception of that one victory they had in this stretch, they have been absolutely abysmal in that regard,
01:13which is why they are still a bottom feeder and team batting average with runners in scoring position at the time of us talking right now.
01:19All right, let's stay on the rotation a little bit more because that's a unit that wasn't addressed at the trade deadline,
01:27but David Stearns did say that the team needs to kind of wait for the right opportunity to call up top pitching prospects,
01:35Brendan Spro and Nolan McLean.
01:38When do you think one, if not both of these dudes, will be called up?
01:43When's that opportunity going to present itself, Wardy?
01:45It has to be over the next week or so.
01:49I'm really not much sure how much longer David Stearns can wait because the Mets sat on their hands in the first half of this season,
01:55leading into the all-star break and then the trade deadline coming up with every single excuse as to why they shouldn't consider one of their top young guns there in AAA Syracuse.
02:04And the excuses were threefold.
02:05It was one, they didn't want to rush up a kid, potentially hurt his confidence if, say, he doesn't look good at the major league level.
02:11And you certainly don't want to bring up a guy based on maybe team need because it shows a level of desperation.
02:17Or maybe you don't want to bring up a player because of the fact of the actual configuration of the roster and trying to get benefit of the doubt to others.
02:23You know, they've thrown out the Justin Hagemans, the Brandon Waddells, and the Blade Tidwells of the world.
02:28What do those kind of pitchers have in common?
02:30They're all guys that are not going to be needle movers at all for the Mets this year.
02:33They're spot starters when the Mets had a clear opportunity to utilize these arms more than just a spot start in the first half of the season.
02:41Now, as we talked today, it's post-traded line.
02:44You can't add anyone externally.
02:45That's at least going to really do anything that could get close to moving the needle for you.
02:49So now when the Mets do inevitably call up one of, if not both of, Noel McLean and Brandon Sprout,
02:54it's going to be in complete contradiction from why they didn't want to, which is based on team need and a level of desperation.
03:00The Mets need a length from their rotation.
03:02They need fresh arms and they need some type of spark.
03:05And that's what the two dominant young right-handers have been doing consistently now that we've seen for a good stretch of time there.
03:10All right, you touched on the rotation, but you also talked about how they kind of struggle or been struggling offensively as of late.
03:19This Fab Four ain't been fabbing at all.
03:21The Fantastic Four, whatever DC or Marvel nickname they want to give these guys, Nemo, Soto, Lindor, and Alonzo, they ain't been marvelous.
03:30So Pete did hit that home run Monday night, but the top of the lineup as a whole, Wardy, you know, they haven't been able to match that production or even that energy that they brought back in July.
03:41When do the Mets get their bats back?
03:44Because this slump can't last forever.
03:48It can't last forever, right?
03:49And I think the big problem that this Mets team has had with our offense this year has been this lack of cohesiveness.
03:55The way that we saw them really rally together after being down 11 games in 2024, they really came together as a tight-knit group and took advantage of having that lack of expectation.
04:05I think expectations are putting a lot of pressure and a lot of weight on this team in 2025, and we're witnessing in real time how they're combating that for the good or for the bad.
04:14You know, we look at guys like Alonzo, he's really turned things on for the better.
04:18Now just one home run shy of tying Daryl Strawberry for most home runs in team franchise history at 252.
04:23Lindor's starting to find a swing more, which is fantastic to see, but when you look at Brandon Nemo and the leadoff spot going 0-5 this past night with four strikeouts, that's inexcusable.
04:32Juan Soto had a multi-a-game, but Juan Soto can't even bat the Mendoza line with runners in scoring position.
04:38So again, there has been a lack of cohesiveness when you look at that top four at times, as well as their five through nine.
04:45A lot of youth in that movement between Francisco Alvarez, Brett Beatty, Mark Vientos, you have there as well, and Ronnie Mauricio.
04:52These guys have been great in flashes, but not nearly enough consistently to have a say in confidence that this Mets offense is really a deal-breaker.
05:00We know how much talent is here. It's about putting these pieces together, and they are just one kind of silly rally away from, I really think, bringing themselves together the way that they did with Grimace, as well as the rally guy and everyone else that took part in their amazing 2024 run.
05:15All right, real quick, final thought, Wardy, give us your final word or your final word.
05:21I just made that up, so run with the final word.
05:23I love it, Brandon. Word plays electric right now. Final word, we'll go with a couple words, and just as you got to wake up, you know, in the snap of a finger, what felt like a certainty in playoffs is not necessarily the case now from the Mets.
05:36A game and a half out of the Philadelphia Phillies for first, as well as the Miami Marlins right now.
05:40What a better record than the Atlanta Braves.
05:42They're one game below 500. Who knows if they're going to go on a run right now.
05:46The boys got to wake up.
05:47They got to get themselves together as a tight-knit group, and hopefully we can see that transpire in the coming day.
05:52All right, Wardy, always a pleasure, man.
05:54Always a pleasure to you too, Brandon. Thank you.
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