00:03welcome back to another edition of straight out of flushing special emergency episode i guess you
00:08can say here dexter henry along with new york post-mets beat writer mike puma joining me here
00:12after news coming down that juan soto will go on the 10-day injured list with a calf strain expected
00:19to miss about two to three weeks uh mike i'll start here with you on this what was your reaction
00:25uh to this especially what we knew he had the calf strain uh he talked to reporters on saturday and
00:32then now was going to be determined whether or not he'd go on the il now that he is on
00:35the il what's
00:36your reaction to juan soto going on the il for 10 days yeah it's not a surprise because i i
00:42i could
00:42tell by carlos mendoza's uh body language the last couple of days that uh he wasn't optimistic that
00:50they would avoid the uh il with this but i think they just wanted to give you know just give
00:55it a
00:56chance to see see if something happened where maybe he he could play and uh you know they played short
01:02for a couple of days uh but they got through it but i mean this seems like the smart move
01:08here just you
01:09know shut it down for a couple of weeks maybe three weeks and and then uh ramp it up again
01:16because
01:16there's no reason to try to push through this right now yeah no you you want to especially this
01:21early in the season you want to take the cautious approach here is there any level of concern from
01:26you that this could linger longer than that initial timeline you just talked about two to three weeks
01:31is there any level of concern for you with that for soto yeah and and with the calf i think
01:35i think
01:36you you know you you've got to be a little bit worried about it and uh uh you know but
01:41the the fact
01:42that he's calling at least uh you know soto called it a minor strain the mets are calling it a
01:47minor
01:48strain so um you know unless there's more to it that we don't know about it but um you know
01:55you
01:55always worry that it's going to be it's going to be longer but uh you know the right i still
02:01think
02:01you know the right move here is just to not try to play through it this early in the season
02:05yeah now
02:07here's where the mets fans are going to panic they're going to say look at this mike and dex
02:10subtle's been one of the if not the only consistent bat in this lineup thus far in in the early
02:16season
02:16how much does this injury now expose just how fragile this mets offense has been early on
02:23yeah and you know it has been fragile the the first two series at least it was pittsburgh and
02:29st louis but they broke out of it uh this weekend in san francisco and a lot of that was
02:36without soto i
02:37would say so you know uh you know guys are starting to come around a little bit we saw marcus
02:43simeon
02:43uh contributing here and uh you know polanco uh and uh you know bo bichette spent a little bit up
02:50and
02:51down but he you know he's he's been in the middle of a lot of stuff and uh alvarez with
02:55francisco
02:56alvarez with the long so you're seeing other guys starting to step up here and you know that's a good
03:02sign
03:03that was a good sign i think that's the encouraging sign coming out of san francisco when it took three
03:07out of four do you but i think a lot of people look at this too mike and say all
03:11right well now
03:12that soto is going to be out thank you for a couple of weeks does this put pressure on francisco
03:17indore who's off to another slow start we know lindore gets off to slow starts but does it put
03:21you know pressure on him to carry the offense or do you think we can see more consistently other guys
03:26stepping up like we saw in san francisco yeah i think it'd be unfair to put it all on
03:30lindore's shoulders and uh as tough as it's been for him uh getting hits here he is still getting
03:39on base at a decent clip getting his walks uh and we we know you know we know from uh
03:46the seasons
03:48that he's been here lindore's not a great player in april and he's coming off the hammock bone surgery
03:53also which uh shortens his spring training greatly so i yeah i think you just got to be patient with
04:00lindore but um yeah i think it'd be unfair to put it on his shoulders and say okay he's got
04:06to carry
04:06this lineup now yeah you need you need other guys to step up and then speaking of this lineup mike
04:10and you look at the internal options so ronnie mauricio now back up with the team with soto on the
04:15il and you would think well there's a lot of options i was not saying think there's a lot of
04:19options the mets can go into the outfield right tyrone taylor uh could be an option brett
04:23beatty could get some playing time uh more in outfield maybe in left field that would mean more some more
04:28time for mark vientos at first base do you think this opportunity for those guys baby vientos do
04:35you think maybe soto going down could be sort of blessing in disguise for those guys to get some
04:39more reps and more at bats here yeah and it could be and yeah i don't know how i left
04:43off vientos
04:43before when i was talking about the guys who have uh gotten hot here in the last few days yeah
04:47it's
04:48gotten hot yeah if he has is only at the top of the list he's he's been uh terrific here
04:54and uh
04:55yeah this will give him uh some opportunity and we saw in left field uh yesterday a guy like
05:02jared young gets in there and uh gets three hits make some good defensive plays and uh um you know
05:09i think they would put brett beatty in right and move carson benj uh over to left and uh you
05:16know
05:16beatty was supposed to play yesterday and he he jammed his thumb and they were given that an extra
05:21uh a couple of days here but uh yeah i mean i i think you look at as the bright
05:27side as you get
05:28you get to try and find out about a uh a few guys here but yeah vientos is really uh
05:34really turned it
05:36on here uh over the last week vientos you know him turning it on mike it felt like coming into
05:42this
05:42season and everything with him making the team out of sprint training this feels like put up or shut
05:46up time for him and that's even why i mean i brought him up specifically this even feels more like
05:50a
05:50bigger opportunity for him knowing with soto out knowing that he'll get more bats he's been hitting
05:55the ball really well to start this season do you see anything different with vientos right now you
06:01being in the clubhouse every day anything difference with him with his approach or anything like that
06:04with the way he's not real no i mean not really i think he's just got some confidence here
06:10and he's getting a chance to go out there and play every day which uh which helps too when you
06:17don't
06:17have to wonder if you're going to be in the lineup um so uh and listen i think i think
06:22you know his
06:24defense has been solid here at first base he's made he's made some plays over there and that that
06:28also breeds confidence so um yeah but you're right about the vientos this is a big you know
06:33kind of that put up or shut up here for him yeah no no it is for for sure when
06:39you look at this team now
06:40without soto mike um for the next couple of weeks and the schedule's been you know you could say it's
06:45been
06:45soft to start the season but there is a road trip coming up next week that is going to be
06:51a little
06:51bit challenging where the mets will see the dodgers for the first time of this season what's the what's
06:56the biggest thing you think that has to happen for the mets particularly offensively because the
06:59pitching has been strong thus far for them to survive this stretch without juan soto yeah and it's it's
07:07just got to be that team approach that we've seen here up and down the lineup you know not putting
07:11it
07:11on one guy's shoulders and you're right that's going to be an interesting uh road trip where they
07:16come out to play come out to la for three games and then uh they go to wrigley field for
07:21three games
07:21and you know the cubs are a team coming off a playoff appearance last year they've got a
07:26uh a very good team again so yeah it's it that's gonna listen you can't look past any of these
07:33games
07:33certainly they got the they got the diamondbacks coming up and uh the athletics over the weekend at
07:38city field but uh no you know it's just gonna have to be that grinded out approach uh uh that
07:46we saw in san francisco over the weekend yeah they definitely grinded out there speaking a couple more
07:50things mike before uh we get out of here san francisco as you mentioned they took three out of
07:54four over the weekend they had that grind out approach the offense showed some life
07:59we'll have to see how they bounce back you know in the games they have back at city field this
08:02week but
08:02did you get a sense that the team has maybe snapped out of their funk a little bit or
08:06you know maybe got the monkey off their back they're finally able to score some runs what was
08:10the sense you got from the clubhouse uh after sunday's win in san francisco yeah i think i think
08:16they're a little bit more relaxed now and especially you know scoring some runs will will do that and
08:21you know the consistent thing is they've they've you know they've gone two full turns through the
08:26rotation now and there's really only been what you what you would consider one clunker in that stretch
08:32that was david peterson's start uh in the first game out in san francisco and then you know and you
08:38know you have one peral to start that was kind of so-so on opening day but other than that
08:42i mean
08:43starting pitching has been terrific here and it's it's given them a a chance uh to win every day and
08:50i
08:51think that was uh you know the biggest concern coming into this season was how how's this rotation and
08:57hold them now you know it's obviously they've got to stay healthy but you know through these uh first
09:0210 games here you would you would say it's the rotation that's carrying them yeah rotation good
09:07how about the bullpen too mike the bullpen's been really impressive as well too the pitching all around
09:11has been impressive for this mets team i'm not sure the last time mets fans have been maybe this
09:15confident in a bullpen i know it's early it's only 10 games but how impressed have you been with the
09:19bullpen this far yeah it's early and yeah but uh you know i i like uh tobias myers is a
09:26guy they
09:26they picked up in that peralta trade and he's he's proven to be uh kind of an important swing man
09:32that
09:32can give you the the multiple innings in the middle and uh luke weaver's been very good and you know
09:38we've seen devon williams in the ninth inning and uh you know really it's uh terrific just about
09:45with the meds so uh they they've got some uh options here and you know and let's not forget
09:52about sean mania uh coming in that first game in san francisco and soaking up uh some innings so
09:59they could save the bullpen so all the way around uh they're getting the pitching yeah they have been
10:07getting good pitching and we're going to see if the offense can continue the good vibes that they had
10:11in san francisco but they will have to do it for the next couple of weeks at least from what
10:14we're
10:14hearing without juan soto on the 10-day il expected to be out anywhere from two to three weeks we
10:20will
10:20see how that goes that is mike puma our great beat reporter covering the new york mets for the new
10:26york post i'm dexter henry thanks for joining us we have a lot more coming on the mets on straight
10:30thanks dexter
10:32you
10:34you
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