00:00Joel Sherman back with three things. The Yankees and Mets had good weekends. The Yankees could have
00:07gone a little better. They were in control of the game on Sunday, let it get away with their
00:10bullpen. They took two or three from the Marlins. And maybe we'll remember this New York baseball
00:17season for both teams went out to San Francisco early in the season. The Yankees swept to begin
00:23the season. The Mets just won three out of four. And why don't we talk about the Mets today? Because
00:28I thought it was an important stabilizing moment in their season. They were starting to get that
00:33negative vibe out of last year and getting off poorly this year. Suddenly they win three in a row
00:39to finish this thing, take three or four in San Francisco. They're six and four. It really felt
00:47like an important moment for them. And the weekend, I think if we're going to do three things, let's
00:53talk about three areas of the team that I think really got a boost. Let's start with one, which
00:59is the starting rotation. Kodai Senga, to me, is such a key to this rotation. It's two starts. It's
01:07two good starts. The second one on standard rest, four days, and then pitching on the fifth day,
01:14which Carlos Mendoza has made clear he's going to have to do this year. Senga, he pitched well.
01:21His stuff looks good. And if they could go forward with a Senga, Peterson, Peralta top,
01:28I think Clay Holmes has really been one of the great success stories of David Stern's two plus
01:33years running this team. He signed him to a three-year contract. He had been a reliever.
01:40And Holmes has come in and beaten a sturdy back of the rotation guy. He's got a 119 ERA plus
01:47since
01:47he joined the Mets. That's very good. It's 19% over league average. He's handling his business
01:53there. And he's an interesting guy because he can actually opt out after this season.
02:00Both him and David Peterson could be free agents after this year. And it's interesting,
02:04Holmes, who's three years older, is he putting himself in better position?
02:08Peterson is right now the guy who there has to be some concern about.
02:12Not a strong second half. His last start was very poor for the Mets. Is he going to rediscover
02:19his stuff? Or are we going to have Sean Minaya discussions? Are we going to have Tobias Myers
02:24discussions? Are we going to have Christian Scott discussions? But Senga joining McLean and Peralta
02:31at the top to give a sturdy, really quality big three. That was the hope coming into this season,
02:37though I think the Mets thought Minaya would be part of that also. And it hasn't happened because
02:41his fastball hasn't come back. But if they have three really strong ones going round and round,
02:47that's a big deal. Who are they handing the ball off to? Penn has also stabilized. And I think the
02:55most important thing that happened there, just because the bad jokes would have come if two guys
02:59who left the Yankees and Luke Weaver and Devin Williams had gotten off poorly, there would have
03:04been the whole Yankee reject stuff, especially off of how poor Williams performed last season.
03:12I know all about his underlying numbers were pretty good. But the reality was he wasn't good. He got
03:18off terrible with the Yankees, kind of recovered at the end. But that him and Weaver have gotten off
03:25good. Prazo Bond's been good. Tobias Meyer has been really good. Brooks Raley is always good. And now you
03:31could begin to count down towards when the Mets get A.J. Minter back and having Minter and Raley form
03:38one of the better tandem lefty situations in the major leagues as far as setup men. That would be
03:45really, really good if this is what it's going to look like moving forward. But I do think that
03:53Williams and Weaver were very, very key to this, getting off strong. And they have, you know, again,
04:01a couple of blown games, I think would have looked just really bad and put the Mets in a bad
04:07spot.
04:07Instead, the bullpen has gotten a little sturdy. Again, we're 10 games into the season. We're taking
04:12snapshots as we go along. But what could have been and what is, is an improvement for the Mets.
04:19Lastly, let's talk about the offense. Lindor is walking, but not hitting. Soto, who's been an
04:27Ironman, we'll find out on Tuesday if he's going on the I.L. with this calf thing. Interestingly,
04:35the Mets offense really perked up without him. But obviously, they need him. He's one of the great
04:40hitters in the game. And he has hit early. Bichette showed some life over the weekend.
04:46And Polanco, I do think there's probably a little concern just about. His former teams had always
04:54wondered, Minnesota and especially Seattle, if you overplayed him in the field, would his legs hold
04:59up to it? And early this season, he's had an Achilles thing. But I just mentioned those four
05:04guys. I think you have to give them as the givens. I think the Mets are going to have a
05:07strong top four
05:08in the lineup. It's going to be those four guys, as long as they're healthy. As long as Polanco's legs
05:12are there, and Soto, that this is a minor thing, and either a short I.L. or no I.L.
05:18at all, I think
05:19the top of their lineup will be really strong. We saw Bichette start to hit over the weekend.
05:24I just believe Beau Bichette's going to hit close to 300, hitting the clutch, and that his poor start
05:31is going to become a memory. To me, they had a bunch of wild cards. And therefore, I think what
05:37we're
05:37seeing is three of those wild cards start to pay off for them in Francisco Alvarez, Luis Robert Jr.,
05:44and Mark Vientos. And the Vientos one is a reminder that it's like when people talked about Jason
05:51Dominguez going to the minor leagues for the Yankees, and was that the right decision or not?
05:56I was like, he will get a chance. He'll get 200, 300 at-bats in the major leagues this season
06:01at some
06:01point because of injury, production, something. And then he'll have to show if he's a major league
06:07player or not. And to me, Vientos was going to get another shot here. He did. The Soto injury came.
06:15Polanco needed to be off the field. And maybe Vientos is nailing down first base here. The Mets in 2024
06:23were a shocking, surprising, pleasant story for a lot of reasons. One of them is Mark Vientos
06:28was a high-level, top 25-30 hitter in the sport. And if the Mets can recapture that guy, like,
06:36look,
06:37the rest of the sport has a lot more doubt about Mark Vientos than the Mets and maybe their fan
06:42base
06:42does. But Vientos has had a moment where he's hit in the major leagues. 2024, last year was a downturn.
06:49Can he come back? Francisco Alvarez was really stinging the ball. The Mets have been waiting for the
06:55consistency of his offense. He's still a young player. If he's going to be a 30-home or high-impact
07:02catcher, it just changes their offensive profile. And so far, so good for the most part for Luis
07:08Robert. First of all, he's played. The Mets slow played him in spring training. They followed the
07:14Brandon Nimmo path. Don't play early. Keep working on your legs. Do a lot of stuff on the backfield.
07:21And then unleash it all in the last two, three weeks and get ready for the regular season.
07:26And Robert has come out and he's hit and he's moved well. And there's suddenly some length to
07:32this Mets order. If there's going to be an Alvarez, Vientos, and Robert Jr. portion that really
07:41produces, it will be a big deal. Because again, I know Lindor is not hitting now, but I would suspect
07:49he's going to hit. And I would suspect that Bichette is going to hit at a high level. And
07:55you know, Soto, Soto. And Polanco, I think as long as he's upright, will be a good offensive player.
08:00So to me, the key is how many of the wild cards they get. Like Benj hasn't hit. Semien showed
08:05life
08:06over the weekend. You know, the Benj thing will be an interesting question about what is their
08:11patience level moving forward. Clearly, Mike Tauchman's injury allowed Benj a little more
08:18runway here. But for example, if Jared Young, another potential wild card, is going to hit
08:23like he did over the last few days, it could begin to eat into Benj's playing time or even
08:29force them to consider if Benj needs a little more seasoning in the minor leagues. Once more,
08:34it's 10 games, but that the Mets kind of turned it around and San Francisco stabilized things
08:40and really good things happen in all the phases. Rotation, pen, and the length of their lineup
08:46was a good sign for the Mets.
Comments