00:00The Mets at this time last year were a great story, and we're sitting and going, can they carry this on?
00:04They had already turned it around by this point, kind of starting at about June 1st, and they carried it all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS.
00:11They're not the little engine that could this year.
00:13They're a team, to me, that has to go for it.
00:16We've talked about this quite a bit on our podcast, John.
00:19David Stern's history is not wanting to move the better prospects, and yet I think this is a year where he will,
00:27and I just wonder if the owner, Steve Cohen, will give him a little nudge.
00:31And I think the reason is, number one, he has a lot of duplication, and I still think that there's probably organizations out there that go,
00:37I kind of like Brett Beatty or Mauricio or maybe even let the Vientos could play up, et cetera.
00:42So, like, at some point they've got to get out of that jam anyway.
00:46Like, can they use that?
00:47And they're one of the teams when you – I wonder if you find this.
00:49When I talk to executives out there and they say systems that have come up this year, you know the name Carson Benj comes up a lot.
00:56I hope I'm pronouncing his last name correctly.
00:58Jet Williams got healthy.
01:00Obviously, McLean and Jonah Tong to go along with Sprott, who's suddenly pitching better.
01:06They have five guys who I think will be pretty comfortable in most teams' top 75, 100 prospect list.
01:13So you can't take them all with you.
01:16And I just wonder – they so clearly need to fix their bullpen.
01:20And they're such an obvious match with the Twins for me if they ever move Jax or Duran in particular.
01:26And I think that it is not in Stern's nature to want to do that kind of trade for a bullpen piece.
01:33But it's a bullpen piece with control, and the Mets so badly need it with one other proviso, John.
01:37Diaz can opt out at the end of the year.
01:39And so you could protect yourself in the future by solving something that helps you in 2025.
01:45Yeah, that is absolutely true.
01:46That's an excellent point.
01:47I do think they will keep Diaz if he opts out, and I think he probably will at this point with two years and $38 million to go.
01:52He's only 31 years old.
01:54He's arguably, once again, the best closer in the game.
01:57So I think they will keep him, but it does give them protection.
02:01Absolutely.
02:01I do think David Stearns – and, you know, I don't know if he'll admit to this or not – he is very protective of those.
02:07From what we've seen so far and with Milwaukee, he does not like to trade the young players.
02:12Now, clearly, in Milwaukee, you don't do that.
02:14But even with the Mets, he really has not done that.
02:17I think he's going to be protective of McLean, of Tong, probably of Sprout, Williams for sure.
02:24So those guys in the minor leagues, Benji, those guys you mentioned in the minors, I think he's going to be protective.
02:29I think they would probably consider trading Beatty.
02:32Right now you've got Beatty, Vientos, who's not doing well and doesn't have a value.
02:37Mauricio, I think they're going to want to hold on to him.
02:39Well, you've got to give up something the other team wants all, right?
02:41The potential is there, but for a reliever, I just don't think they would consider giving up a potentially starting, maybe even borderline star position player.
02:52To your combo thing, if they were to get Colombe – Colombe?
02:56Colombe, yeah.
02:57The lefty.
02:58Right.
02:58And Jax or –
03:00Right.
03:00You know, like the idea of two, because they so badly need two.
03:04I still think they're going to be protective.
03:06I'm willing to do it.
03:06They're not my players.
03:08I like that trade.
03:09That's the key sentence you just said there I want to say.
03:11They're not your players.
03:12Most of them also are not David Stern's players.
03:14Somebody else drafted – like Benji, he drafted.
03:17But like Jet Williams, who he probably likes and probably has a high value for, I always think about like, oh, that's the previous administration.
03:25And it's more – it's always easier to trade their guys than your guys.
03:30Maybe, but I just don't think that they want to risk it with Jet Williams.
03:33He's having a big year now.
03:35I know that when the Crochet came up, and Crochet is a much bigger player than anybody we're talking about here, they were not willing to do that combination of Williams and Sprott.
03:46Now, I think Tong and McLean have kind of evened up and maybe even passed Sprott, but they weren't willing to do that combination in a package of four guys for Crochet.
03:55I don't know if they're going to regret it or not because Williams is looking good, right?
03:59Sprott's looking good now.
04:00The last few starts have been excellent.
04:03I just don't think they're going to do it.
04:05I don't think they'll give up any of those guys.
04:07At Beatty, I see, I don't think they give up Mauricio, and I don't think they give up those four minor leaguers we just talked about.
04:13It'll be fascinating to watch.
04:14You know, one of the ones I thought hurt them when he got hurt was McGill, who I think has value in the marketplace, but he keeps getting hurt.
04:22And I kept thinking, like, can they use, like, McGill and Beatty?
04:24Two guys, like, help a team today.
04:26Like, that's not, that's your third baseman and a starting pitcher right now.
04:30And I think there's some people who think McGill is like his brother and actually should be pitching at the end of the game and would be dominant.
04:36I mean, we see Tyler's stuff.
04:38It's high-end stuff.
04:40It's a question of does he throw it over the plate and can he have durability over six innings?
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