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00:00We're breaking down the tea that Adam Adovino spilled on Carlos Mendoza, the Mets bullpen, and of course, Brandon Nimmo.
00:08We're also going to talk about if Kodai Senga should be dealt out of flushing.
00:13Let's talk with Tyler Ward, your favorite Mets content creator.
00:17Wardy, haven't seen you for a long time, my man.
00:19Let's get straight into all this news that's been breaking about the Mets.
00:23It was reported Tuesday that Kodai Senga is extremely available for trade as the Mets look to revamp the starting rotation.
00:33Are you in or are you out with dealing Senga?
00:37Oh, absolutely in.
00:39It's not a question as to if the Mets should trade him, but when they're going to trade him.
00:43There are currently at least eight plus teams in his trade market right now,
00:48and that is thanks to people that have relayed information my way over the past 48 hours.
00:52That certainly are in on the know, and it's telling that Senga is going to be traded because the Mets, as we all know,
00:58had everything imaginable go wrong for the rotation in 2025, so much so that even Kodai Senga,
01:04who was once this coveted ace in this Mets rotation going back to his breakout first year in Queens back in 2023,
01:11has really been a show of himself, not so much because of performance, but more so because of the lack of health and availability.
01:18Senga looked fantastic to begin the 2025 season for the Mets, but as soon as he went down with yet another ailment there in June,
01:25he was a show of himself once he returned from injury, and he was so bad that the Mets decided to send him down in the minor leagues
01:31where he finished the year in the minor leagues.
01:33That was even in attendance for potentially the last ever game he pitched in the Mets organization there
01:38against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
01:40And Senga, the biggest problem with him is not only how meticulous of a pitcher he is, but this is the type of guy that needs things his way,
01:47not so much how everyone else goes about their operation when getting the best out of a pitcher and their health.
01:53And because of that, David Stearns looks like he's pretty much had enough of one Kodai Senga who needs a six-man rotation,
01:59needs this kind of special treatment.
02:01And in order for the Mets to upgrade a rotation that heading into next season right now has eight pitchers under contract
02:07that are expected to impact the club, they have to make roster room.
02:10And out of their current veteran options, Senga is far and away the most appealing via trade.
02:15His ceiling is as good as an ace-caliber pitcher, but his floor is as good as someone who couldn't even be in the Mets rotation.
02:22So not only does he have plenty suitors, but again, the likelihood of Senga being traded is almost a near certainty at the time of his talking right now.
02:29Yeah, if you're going to get something good for him, then you might as well deal him away.
02:32You said it best yourself.
02:34The best ability is availability.
02:36And this man is the Ben Simmons of baseball when it comes to the Mets.
02:42So Mets, Mets, it's all the same.
02:45It all rhymes.
02:46But yeah, I'm in with you on that one.
02:49And I was a huge Kodai Senga guy when he first got here.
02:53But now let's break down the T because, you know, everybody goes on these podcasts now
02:57and they rip and they rant and they just talk about everything that goes down in locker rooms or just in sports in general.
03:05Adam Adovino pretty much went scorched earth on the full franchise.
03:10But let's first break down what he said about Mendoza, how he said that he's got no feel, poor communication, and that he doesn't protect arms.
03:19He also said that they went through 46 different pitchers throughout last season.
03:23Are these fair critiques or is Adovino saying and doing too much?
03:30I think it's fair to an extent because you have to realize Adovino is someone who was with the Mets in 2024 to a degree.
03:37He understands the Mets more than most current former or active players outside of the Mets organization.
03:42So to hear his input, it was more so out of his own personal frustration as someone who was actually part of the organization,
03:48was a part of the clubhouse to a degree, and understands how Mendoza's way of thinking is.
03:52He also went on to say in comments from that same live stream that he had on YouTube over the past 24 hours
03:57when replying to fans that he thinks Mendy is still, by all accounts, a good manager.
04:02There's a lot of things that he likes about him.
04:03But he didn't make it known how much he's been frustrated with his fellow relievers that he's seen over the past calendar year
04:09all go down with Tommy John-like injuries.
04:12As the Mets, as we know, utilize more pitchers than any other team in Major League Baseball history in 2025
04:18between the rotation and bullpen.
04:19So it begs the question, who's that most to blame here in that kind of scenario?
04:23And I think Mendy kind of took a bit more of the brunt than he otherwise deserved, and here's why.
04:28David Stearns is the one who builds this roster, right?
04:30He's the Mets president.
04:31And he went into the 2025 season with the Mets having a rotation.
04:35Build one uncertainty with guys that have not had great track records of health,
04:38paired with a bullpen that obviously Stearns loves to rotate different kind of LB caliber pitchers
04:44that you call up for the minors, that you pick up off the waiver claim,
04:46whatever the case may be, for the sake of eating innings in the short term.
04:50And that really came back to bite the Mets heavily.
04:52So you have a rotation that doesn't pitch deep for you,
04:54and you have a bullpen that's been very fickle in the quality.
04:58Color me shocked.
04:58You're seeing guys get overworked and seeing guys get hurt at a large rate.
05:02But what we have seen since then is even former Mets bench coach John Gibbons,
05:07as of today, come out and state that Adovino's comments really aren't accurate
05:10to how he believes Mendoza utilized the bullpen to the best of his abilities.
05:14So I see both sides of the coin here.
05:16I see the player point of view, a reliever mind,
05:18who understands the struggle with being a reliever in Major League Baseball
05:22on how you're expected to get your outs,
05:24no matter really how healthy or not healthy that you are.
05:27That's why guys like Reed Garrett for the Mets, for example,
05:29has pitched through injury before he was put on the injured list each of the past two seasons.
05:34Now it really is how the Mets separate themselves from other teams of baseball in that regard.
05:38I don't believe that they have, and I'll go as far as to say as
05:41this is as not much of a Mets issue or a Carl's Mendoza issue
05:46as it is a roster building issue and a league-wide issue.
05:49I stated this on X yesterday, and I'll say it again to you, Brandon.
05:53You know, in my opinion, my key takeaway from these remarks has more so to do with
05:56why we should focus as to how this is a league-wide issue
05:59on how the LA Dodgers, the back-to-back reigning champs,
06:02have set in my mind and in the minds of many
06:04a terrible example on how to go about pitching orchestration
06:08for your bullpen, for your rotation.
06:10And what I mean by that is the Dodgers built a team over the past 15 years.
06:14That's been great.
06:15A continued competitor looking to not only make playoffs, but to win a World Series.
06:19But what have the Dodgers done to change in their philosophy each of the past couple of years
06:22that has led them to now being World Series champions?
06:25And that's by deviating away from heavy emphasis on player development
06:28and making sure that you do everything in your power
06:30to make sure that your pitchers aren't hurt
06:32to now having max effort, max velo pitchers that you spend millions upon millions of dollars on,
06:38heavy influence in the trade market for guys that you know can be boom or bust
06:41because of their velocity.
06:42And in doing so, the Dodgers have built a rotation that's the best in baseball
06:46because they can handle all the races going down with injury in the first half of the season
06:51because they know that they're going to be healthy by the year's end.
06:54And I think there's something to be said when you look at how the Dodgers operate
06:57and how they separate themselves from the rest because they've spent more money,
07:01they've done more drastic trades than anyone else,
07:03and they've been able to bite the bullet with those continued woes they're pitching.
07:06So do the Dodgers care about player health?
07:08Clearly not to the same degree as other teams in baseball.
07:11Clearly not as much as you could argue as the New York Mets right now.
07:14Both have a lot of pitching injuries, but at least to the point,
07:17I think this needs to be talked about lesser in regards to someone like Carlos Mendoza
07:20and more from a league-wide issue top-down
07:23because it's going to continue to get worse before it gets any better.
07:26Boy, that was a very passionate rant right there, man.
07:29I'm ready to write an email to my senator and just regurgitate what you said.
07:37You left me at a loss for words just now.
07:40Absolutely love it.
07:41I'm glad.
07:41But I want to throw this out of vino clip on what he said about
07:45Brendan Nemo at Francisco Lindor, just anything and everything.
07:50Keep that same energy for when we come out
07:52so I can get your thoughts on what he said about Nemo.
07:55This is a very delicate situation.
07:57Let me speak about this for a second.
07:59When I saw that Nemo popped up on the trade rumors, I said,
08:01oh boy, that is not going to sit well with Brandon.
08:05Brandon's a very proud player.
08:06Brandon got pissed when they did like a Yankees-Mets team a couple years ago
08:11and Andy Martino had Verdugo as the left fielder and not Nemo.
08:15Like, I saw Nemo go at Andy Martino in the hallway about that
08:19and I was like, damn, like you read the paper like that?
08:21Like, you care about what the talking heads say that much?
08:24Like, that's surprising to me.
08:26Also, I don't think he liked all the talk about Lindor being the captain
08:28just based on one of the articles I read.
08:31Now, I don't know any of that inside.
08:32Nemo's a very gentle, nice, great human being,
08:34but I think he's a little proud of a player.
08:36And so I think he also likes potentially being a Met for life.
08:40I think there's a world in which Nemo could have a couple more great years
08:43and get himself way up on the Met leaderboard.
08:45You might start to think about his number getting up there in the rafters.
08:47That's how long he's been a Met.
08:49So to me, it's going to be hard to convince him to go.
08:52I think he's going to want to stay unless he feels super disrespected
08:55and then he'd probably go to someplace he's comfortable.
08:57But this is an eggshell situation.
08:59It's an eggshell situation.
09:01Stern's not the best at communicating.
09:02So this is, I would love to be a fly on a wall for this conversation.
09:05That would be so exciting to me.
09:08But I don't know what's going to happen.
09:09The floor is yours.
09:11How do you feel about him coming out and saying the things that he's saying,
09:16especially when he's, what, one to two years removed away from this team
09:20and this roster?
09:22Yeah.
09:22So the Nemo quotes are interesting because everyone knows Brandon Nemo
09:26as being this, like, golden retriever type personality.
09:28Like, when you think of a selfless human being,
09:30you'll go further than Brandon Nemo.
09:32He's the same guy that's been driving his, like, late 2000s, you know,
09:35Nissan Altima or whatever it is for the longest time just to stay humble.
09:39And I love that.
09:40But to hear these remarks, I find interesting because there's two key takeaways.
09:43There's one, the reaction with Andy Martino.
09:46And Andy did actually state on X as of yesterday that, yes,
09:49that interaction did in fact happen.
09:51But Brandon is such a good human being that, you know,
09:53they had a really good cordial conversation out of it in the end.
09:56So I think it's one Nemo being a bit more prideful than maybe what us fans
10:00from our perspective have known at this point,
10:02which is really interesting and good to hear
10:04because we only know so much about the players
10:06other than what the media or talking heads like myself
10:08have the chance to relay when we find information.
10:10So for Nemo to come out and, you know,
10:12basically have an issue with Andy Martino,
10:15as Andy, like many others in the space,
10:17has included Brandon Nemo in trade talks over the years.
10:20You have to wonder if that coincides with the other.
10:21I'm sure it does.
10:22I also think of, you know, the idea that maybe Brandon Nemo
10:25doesn't love the idea of having Francisco Indora's name
10:28thrown in as captain.
10:30So I find it very fascinating.
10:33And I think what this tells us is that there's more that meets the eye
10:36from just what you see, first and foremost, from a player's personality.
10:39Once you start to kind of understand a little bit more on how they are
10:42from the inside, it gives us a greater understanding from a fan point of view.
10:47Do I think that there's anything bad that's coming out of these remarks
10:49regarding Nemo?
10:50No, I don't.
10:50Because trust me when I say there's a large contingent of players,
10:54not only in baseball, but you can know this obviously from the NFL perspective
10:57of guys that get disgruntled with the media
10:59because they're not happy to hear their names either involved in trade talks
11:01prematurely, among many other topics that they just don't want to see
11:05out there in the public.
11:06So my biggest takeaway personally is more so on the leadership aspect of things.
11:11You know, if Nemo at all maybe doesn't love to hear Lindor's name
11:15in the light of captain, is that telling him how Nemo feels as a leader
11:19in the Mets organization that maybe he feels he deserves more credit
11:22than when he's gone at this point?
11:23I'm not entirely sure, but I'm just spitballing for the sake of trying
11:26to connect the dots the way that Adam Adivino has kind of laid out
11:29the floor plan for us to go ahead and read.
11:31So to hear from his perspective, I thought was key, considering the fact
11:34that he, again, was Brandon Nemo's teammate, understands all these guys
11:38in the back of his hand.
11:39I'm sure still has very good relationships with plenty on the roster.
11:43All right.
11:43The man spilt the tea.
11:45Luckily, we were able to have you on so you can break it down for us,
11:48Wardy.
11:49Appreciate you, man.
11:50We got a long off season, so we'll be seeing you again shortly.
11:54Absolutely, Brandon.
11:55Thanks so much for having me on.
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