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00:03welcome back everybody to another edition of straight out of flushing's your boy dexter
00:07henry alongside my guy tyler ward with you and listen last couple of weeks we haven't had that
00:15much happy things to talk about but this this is going to be a different show i'm not saying we're
00:19all the way back but we are someplace different the mets they are 10 and 5 in the month of
00:24may
00:24they're just coming off of a thrilling seven and six victory over the yankees on sunday they won
00:31two out of three in the first leg of the subway series so i gotta ask my guy wardy wardy
00:36how are
00:37you feeling my friend how you feel uh dexter for the first time in a long time i actually felt
00:43like
00:43i want to wake up today this is awesome you know i gotta be honest with you feels great you
00:47know
00:47back-to-back series victories you beat up on the on the yankster at city field life could be worse
00:53right now as a mets fan i will i will say that much it most certainly can't happen let's turn
00:58it
00:58back to you now dex as someone who's literally been going through doom and gloom with me
01:03since the start of the season and us first finally doing this together as co-host of the straight out
01:09flushing podcast in 2026 how are you feeling after seeing the mets finally start to actually get some
01:15resilient victories to actually be happy about as a fan well and we'll get to this more later in the
01:20so but i will say in uh if i put in two words slightly hopeful okay slightly hopeful right
01:26like cautiously optimistic yeah like cautiously optimistic yeah it's fine um i rock with that
01:32okay sweet i think i'll say this and i don't know how you felt watching the game yesterday
01:39but on sunday um just to be clear for everybody seven six comeback victory the mets go down in this
01:45game and they get down four runs and i think most people are thinking ah it's over now maybe you
01:55should
01:55have had some hope because all five of their wins on this homestand were in the comeback fashion right
01:59so maybe you should have had some hope but i still still was like ah it's not gonna happen i
02:07just
02:07i don't see it but now you're starting to see fight right i talked about five and one in this
02:13homestand all five of the victories were in comeback fashion obviously sunday being the most dramatic
02:20so while i'm cautiously optimistic the mets are still 20 and 26 they're still six games below 500
02:25i said it the last episode they got to get back to 500 before i can talk about this team
02:33doing anything
02:35but but but sometimes wardy we've watched sports long enough i don't know if you well let me ask
02:42you this do you think the comeback victory on sunday against the yankees take two out of three
02:47in the subway series do you think that's the best victory of the season would you say that's their
02:51best victory of the season i would for a couple of tiers but the most obvious one is and i
02:57was going
02:58over the numbers yesterday because initially i was thinking is this accurate or not and it is
03:01that was the first time in essentially 92 games the new york mets finally won a ball game entering
03:07the ninth inning trailing a runner more okay so that alone is a big deal just because it has
03:12essentially been a calendar year since they have done something along those lines right and then you
03:17add in the fact that it was literally down to their final out tyrone taylor who did not even start
03:21the
03:21game mind you who did not look great defensively earlier in the game when he came in after mg melendez
03:27or so
03:27so there was a lot of things to make you believe that the mets were not going to have the
03:31type of
03:31comeback that they did against david benar and the yankees so as soon as that hanging curveball first
03:36pitch winning was ripped to left i was like okay like there's actually something here and you know
03:41what it is another big takeaway for me as to why this is the biggest victory of the year it's
03:45because
03:46you beat up on a yankees team that let's face it on paper that's probably the toughest competition
03:50the mets have had so far this year you could rightfully argue you also add in the fact that this
03:54is now
03:55you know back-to-back series we're on a series finale you know a day game on you something that
04:00the mets are so notorious to roll over and die with they just again look two or if not 10
04:04steps behind
04:05with their offensive approach you know no francisco lindor no luis robert nor no jorge polanco
04:11no jared young no mike talkman we could go down the laundry list francisco alvarez you name it of guys
04:16are not available which is essentially half the mets current roster if not more for their lineup
04:21and they're finding ways to win and they're chipping away and they're chipping away and
04:25chipping away so i think between their ability to close out these rubber matches series finale games
04:30on a day game the way that they were resilient in their comeback and more than anything you can tell
04:35that this resiliency is now starting to build a level of identity with the team now to be determined
04:41as to how consistent that identity is going to be for the club but going back to 2024 and other
04:46runs
04:46the mets have had you think of the great first half in 2022 as well what's so common about all
04:51these teams is their ability to play loose and to play fun and to clearly look like they're not
04:55constantly pressing and now with the mets six games below 500 at 2026 it finally feels like
05:01if they don't just go on a complete spiral in their seven game road trip that will break down before
05:06wrap up the show this has all the makings of finally being something that could be a momentum swing
05:10for them in the right direction this season so for all those reasons and then some that's why i think
05:15this is the biggest victory of the year for the mats yeah i think it is because i don't think
05:19i'm alone
05:21in feeling like hey you probably lost some faith even though you'd seen some comeback victories
05:26on this trip and that the mets could win that game that they did on sunday like you said down
05:31to the
05:31final strike tyrone taylor being the hitter like this is this is wasn't juan soto coming through this
05:37is even carson bench who's been hitting really well lately coming through in this situation this was
05:41great all series except for louis castillo drop ball like boba shet back to back games
05:48first of all i tweeted after that drop ball i'm like another drop ball by the mets against the
05:52yankees great um and i was in person for that game that's that's a whole other story for that
05:57but i do think this was the best one of the season i'm with you on this wardy i do
06:02think it's the best
06:02one this season now all that is beautiful and well and we'll get to the road trip but you're 100
06:08%
06:08right if they don't build on this then none of this matters right like they have to build on this
06:14now what i did think was interesting was after the game carlos mendoza the word he used and said
06:20singly one word fight he talked about fight right you just said resiliency so whichever word you want
06:26to take i do think when you see a team win the way that they won on this homestand in
06:31particular
06:31even before the fantastic win on sunday in extras all those comeback wins start to mean something
06:40guys can play a little bit looser they start believing in right there's no gimmicks around this
06:45there's no omg there's no grimace this is just gut check time this is a team that's banged up
06:52right still don't know when lindor's coming back polanco the achilles bursitis he's going to be
06:58with that all season long that's going to be a tough issue but guys are starting to believe
07:03you're starting to see guys get confidence again you'd like to see that build a little bit more
07:07and as the mets try to can get closer to 500 but to start to get back to where you
07:12want to be
07:12there has to be some fight i like the energy that we're seeing around this team and i think that's
07:18a
07:18perfect way to transition to the player i want to talk about young player who we saw join the
07:24mets last week and that's aj ewing dog yo man i don't i don't know about you and i you
07:33and i've
07:33talked about this i don't know if we talked about this on the show we've talked about this offline
07:37i'm a big fan uh i love speedy guys i've always have i love the triple i think it's one
07:42of the most
07:43exciting plays in baseball you can have i love stolen bases so i like a guy who can bring that
07:48speed
07:48element to a lineup aj ewing it's very early so i want to i do want to say tell myself
07:56to pump the
07:56brakes i'm just telling myself to calm down right even though you don't want to i don't want to
08:00reward if i go too far just like dex calm down calm down but he it appears that he is
08:06bringing a new
08:07energy to this roster just by the way he plays and i think you'd agree me warty sometimes the way
08:13certain guys play this is in all sports it can be infectious do you feel like he's in the it's
08:18a
08:18very small sample size i want to be clarified that again but do you feel that energy that he's
08:23bringing and what have you liked about what you've seen from not just at the plate but on the base
08:26pass as well too i mean dex this is why i've been such a heavy advocate for him going back
08:31to spring
08:32training we talked about this as aj ewing was a constant of really being someone that you had to
08:37pay attention to between himself and carson bench these were the clear standouts throughout spring
08:41training until aj's spring was up and you know this is someone who when we go back to last year
08:46really put himself on the map you know i want to start with kind of the build up how he
08:50got here
08:50because aj ewing is one of these prospects that most mets fans whether you're casual or diehard
08:55really wasn't paying attention to to begin the 2025 season uh but his ability to skyrocket it across
09:01three different levels from low a to high to wrapping up the year with the brummel ponies
09:04getting better every single time he was being promoted a 70 stolen base season 7-0 let me emphasize
09:11that the most in the entire organization the ability to play the infield and the outfield comfortably and
09:16kind of like a jet williams fashion but in his own unique and positive way heading for 300 getting
09:22on base around 400 also slugging for 400 or more so even though the power is immense he's constantly
09:27going gap to gap and lagging singles into uh doubles or doubles into triples and we saw that full display
09:33getting set for his mlb debut because a player like him what's most important and why the mets have
09:38needed someone like him and carson bench now be firing on all four cylinders together it's great
09:43is because these are multi-tool athletes that the mets severely lack right you think of the
09:47acquisition of louise robert and what was the highest ceiling and peel with him why i was such
09:52a heavy advocate and i still like robert a lot it's just an unfortunate circumstance the mets banks so
09:57much on uncertainty with health of players entering this year and color me shocked all of them are down
10:02and out with injury essentially around the same time but robert at his best is that true five tool talent
10:07that can not only kill you with the bat kill you with the base running kill you with the defense
10:12and
10:12everything else in between so to have essentially your louise robert replacement being aj ewing who
10:18is a perfect plate setter at either the top or the bottom of the line for you is unbelievably important
10:23like for that major league debut to go the way that it did to have get on base all four
10:27times to literally
10:28have a rbi triple for his first hit and mind you i texted my buddy at 220 that same day
10:34saying aj ewing
10:35will have a triple soon that will be his his first thing and he did it in syracuse for his
10:40debut
10:40he did it for the mets in his debut now and just this past night at the time i was
10:45recording getting
10:46on base all four times against the yankees a run scored a hit a stolen bag his second this season
10:51but three walks like that's the difference maker here okay you you have someone with the elite hand
10:57eye coordination you have someone that is clearly going to be locked down at the plate no matter if
11:01they're facing writers or lefties it's really not going to face him too much and to have that say at
11:06your number eight or number nine spot and carson benj at your number one just like that you have
11:11all these things clicking of high flying plate setters that the mets have severely lacked you
11:16know brandon nimmo isn't here anymore and when he was here he wasn't that plate setter like he used
11:20to be because the mets moved him out of lead off back in 2024 jeff mcneil someone that the mets
11:24have
11:25toyed with in that position at times but they obviously only had varying degrees of success you think
11:29of all the players and that's a part of what the past two years they really lost all those guys
11:33that bring this kind of value to your top and or bottom of your lineup so that's been i think
11:38the
11:38most encouraging exciting thing about aj ewing we talk about you know the mental fortitude that comes
11:43with someone like carson benj who's exemplifying it better than he ever has as a young big leaguer now
11:48the same can be true right from the jump with aj ewing in more impressive ways you know not really
11:52needing an adjustment period you know even if he goes on a dry spell we already got a great sample
11:57size
11:58of two series batting right around 300 with a thousand ops i mean i don't think you can complain about
12:02that as a mets fan especially for a prospect that wasn't even viewed in your top 15 or top 20
12:07a counter year ago and now entering this season was arguably your top prospect and is already viewed
12:13as a top 10 top 15 prospect in major league baseball by many so very encouraging early signs
12:19with aj ewing we'll stay cautiously optimistic for the season too far ahead it's like when your first
12:24date goes so well and you're like okay it's only up from here and then you're you realize oh after
12:28the
12:29honeymoon phase it's not going to go the way that you want hopefully that isn't the case here with
12:32aj ewing it's not just a honeymoon phase of like a two-week span of good baseball and then we
12:37realize
12:37oh he should be back in the minor leagues i don't think it's going to be the latter i think
12:40this is
12:41actually going to be someone that's going to be here to stay um but going back to the bench aspect
12:45you
12:45know i'll throw it back to you dex there's something about these young kids in the mental organization
12:49these outfield prospects in particular about the way that they carry themselves unbelievably well it all
12:54comes down to that mental game and focus and juan soto is the best example of all of someone who
13:00carries himself so well doesn't get too high doesn't get too low goes about his game every single day
13:05so to have carson bench from the jump to now have aj ewing from the jump have juan soto in
13:12the outfield
13:12with them as someone to lean on and actually you know talk the ear off and actually be influenced
13:18positively it feels like the sky might be the limit for these young outfielders and what they're able
13:22to do this season i has a good point you make too about soto being here and the way he
13:27goes about
13:27his business as we know and how much of the impact that can have on these young players um i
13:33think
13:33the mets fan base is so used to heralded prospects coming up and then not panning out in a way
13:40and
13:41they've seen that over the years but also you have seen the organization maybe not bring up guys
13:46necessarily at the right time look i'll i'll keep it a buck here the aj ewing's move was a surprise
13:52to me
13:52i we know how good he was we had heard everything oh i was surprised x i didn't think it
13:57was going
13:57to happen when it did i really right it was going to happen soon but i didn't think it was
14:01going to
14:01happen that's the surprise for me i did not think it was going to happen this soon i thought it
14:07would
14:07happen you heard this from everybody you talked to around the organization how high they were on this
14:11kid you know we talked about in spring training we thought ben's was a real possibility if he showed
14:15out in spring training he did and then he's been here and you're also starting to see the fruits of
14:20his labor and his work here here before we move on from aj ewing i kind of have a question
14:25for you
14:26because you said i think he's here to stay and i happen to agree with you now i get it
14:31small sample
14:31size he's hitting just under two it's 294 he's got over a thousand ops um he's been good on the
14:37base
14:37pass so you like all that that you've seen from him you said he's here to stay if this mets
14:43young
14:44outfield with juan soto is here to stay my friend um what happens when louise robert uh gets back
14:51i mean this feels like a good problem to have i'm just what what what goes on there do you
14:55stay with
14:56the young kids if they're cooking or you're going to take them out the kitchen what do you think goes
15:00on here you definitely don't take the kids out of the kitchen if they're cooking that that goes
15:05without saying you know like i'm not saying have your kids cook in the kitchen if they're not age of
15:08cooking but you get right yes yes as a young father don't let the kids cook in the kitchen
15:13when you're not around um but what i will say though is that david sterns spoke to media this
15:18past week and actually kind of you know made it known that yeah we need to do a better job
15:25with our
15:25player evaluation moving forward when it comes to risk management and specifically the amount of risk
15:30we invest in um and now dealing with a lot of risk at the same time with all these guys
15:36going out
15:36when they knew when they invested in the jorge polanco's the loose roberts etc of the world that
15:41this was very much a possibility if not a likelihood and sadly for the mets that has become a likelihood
15:48and we look at someone like jorge polanco he might not even play again this season that that's how bad
15:54we're looking right now um because nothing's progressing positively for him and unfortunately this
15:59is not what you're going to want to hear dex but i'm not expecting at least robert any anytime soon
16:03and then probably after the all-star break at this rate like he unfortunately with the back issue and
16:09the flare-up that he has this is not something that can be rushed and it reminds me a bit
16:14of jesse
16:14winker last year when he went down with injury and game on the doubleheader in may against the carnals
16:19it was a rainy day which is always a terrible idea for a guy who can't play the outfield to
16:23play the
16:23outfield but carl spendoza said you're going to left buddy first play that he made literally the last
16:29play that he had for the new york mets last year and he hasn't played again since major league
16:32baseball robert who's having these lumbar you know inflammation issues among other things whatever
16:36is you know really barking there that's something that they're not going to rush and if aj even
16:41continues to play the way that he's playing they're just going to let that slow roll so if robert does
16:46return at any point this year where he could be a factor for the club what will likely happen is
16:51the
16:51following scenario you're going to have robert back he's probably going to split time at dh maybe get
16:56some outfield reps but he will not be a guy playing nearly as much daily outfield as he was to
17:00begin
17:01the season for the mets because they're going to want to make sure you can stay healthy and for the
17:04times that he's seeing the lineup the mets can get creative because here's the thing aj ewing i mentioned
17:08you already dex he is a very diverse player he can play center he can play left he can play
17:13right but
17:13what can he also comfortably do he can play second base for you you need him to play shortstop he
17:18can
17:18handle shortstop so this is someone where if you look at say marcus simeon who has you know
17:24been more cold and hot to say the least this year yeah if marcus doesn't really like become this like
17:33spark plug as we reach the halfway point a year and see robert returns that could be an avenue where
17:38the mets say listen the best guy's got to play so aj you're going to go in second for a
17:41game marcus
17:42you're going to come off the bench and then robert you're going to be in center again there are various
17:46ways they can go about it thankfully right but aj ewing's diversity i think is going to be the key
17:52x factor and making sure he doesn't go anywhere because the best way for carlos mendoza and david
17:56sterns to operate here is if you have a a plus bat of a player but they can bounce all
18:01around the way
18:02that a brett baity can it opens up you know the endless possibilities for them to choose from with
18:07their lab configuration so that's kind of you know my thoughts on it currently but to be determined as
18:13to if these guys are even going to be available for the mets this year that that's more of the
18:16greater
18:16concern for me is i i have a very unfortunate feeling that i think we may have already seen
18:21the best of some of these new acquisitions this year which not happy to say and i hope that isn't
18:27the case just being a mets fan and being pessimistic cheese and wine go so well together so used to
18:32it
18:33not yeah not happy to say it but i do like what stern said about you know they've got to
18:40be better
18:40about their player development uh perspective and then also being ready for if injuries come about
18:47like there is to pivot that's where i give them credit it could have been easy to say
18:52let's keep running guys out here that are not major league ready instead of let's see what we
18:57have in aj ewing you make a good point of with aj ewing that his positional versatility which people
19:03know that's something i love i think it's so important in baseball the more guys you can have
19:08like that in your team the better it is going to be for your roster the mets have that with
19:12you and
19:12you're right if simeon doesn't perform it's a great job he has not performed well offensively
19:16defensively he's been fine you then have to say okay all right do we have to move him and if
19:23louise robert can come back and hit in the dh role and you there's some days where ewing's playing
19:28center he's dh-ing or wherever you're going to put him or he's play center and you know ewing is
19:33a
19:33second base so i'm fine with that but if the kids are cooking you got to keep rocking with it
19:40i know
19:40that's a problem for later i know that's one for down the road but i think that's something you have
19:44to do now health we got to talk about a little bit of bad we always have to talk about
19:50bad when
19:51it comes there's had to be something bad in this episode wasn't gonna be all that happy
19:54the mets are obviously catching a tough break uh with clay holmes his injury um and just a very tough
20:01injury taking the liner off his leg and he's not gonna be here for a while all right he's not
20:09gonna
20:09be here for a while how do you see the mets going about this in terms of replacing him the
20:16pitching
20:16has already not been what we thought it would be this season that to say the least wow dex who
20:22would
20:22have thought what do you mean running back with the same rotation with the exception of adding one
20:26starter yeah well what do you mean you're getting i'm sorry it was it was only in the great tyler
20:31ward who said maybe you should have done a little bit more we talked about this a couple weeks ago
20:35maybe you should add a little bit more to the rotation just one more would have been nice but
20:39what do i know i i don't want to get into all this today because the roster construction has been
20:45shaky particularly around the pitching rotation and to be fair pitching has been the least of the
20:50mets problems has been more offensive although the offense has been starting to wake up a little bit
20:54lately but clay holmes has pitched well so well so well for this team he's been a fantastic signing
21:04by david stearns there's no doubt about that whatsoever and this is a loss with the way the
21:10pitching has been up and down if you want to say despite being average this is one that's going to
21:16hurt so how do you see them we're talking again we talked about the roster construction and having
21:22to do things when louise robert who we may not see again if you said or not see anytime soon
21:25or
21:25or hey polanco but what are the mets to do now with clay holmes out of the mix for a
21:31while how do
21:32they replace that do you think stearns will go make a move to bolster this rotation do you think
21:36it's bringing up a young a young arm like a jonah tong uh down the road we know christian scott's
21:41already here what do you see as the plan with holmes down 40 you know let me start by saying
21:47that i
21:47had a fantastic conversation with mets owner steve cohen at this past subway series uh one-on-one in
21:52the dugout was really cool to catch up with them for the first time in a while and i had
21:56brought up to
21:57him because we got on the topic of prospects that you know it's really interesting time for the
22:01mets now that clay holmes is down as to kind of like who's that next man up you know i
22:05spoke to
22:06him about it and um you know obviously i'm sure he's tapped it and knows these players maybe a
22:10little bit more than me uh that being in guys like zach thornton who pitched a sick shutty outing
22:15on the same day that clay holmes went down with injury he was literally just called up to triple
22:19a syracuse like a week and a half ago but he's skyrocketing the farm right now as someone who
22:23dominated last year up until he went down with injury in june with a sub two era across two
22:28different minor league levels you have zach thornton as an option in there you also have jonathan who
22:32has been very shaky at the triple a level kind of giving me brennan sproat first half vibes from
22:38kind of last year where still wasn't getting settled down the way that you want to you know it's
22:42it's not easy to pitch in triple a the baseballs are garbage they're not consistent at all and
22:47some guys especially if you're working on your new pitch grips or working on your new arsenal like
22:51jonah's using his cutter now in which he wasn't using last year for example among other aspects
22:56of the arsenal so these things factor in intentionally or not because jonah might have
23:01a game plan for certain games in syracuse where it's not necessarily just about the results but
23:05it's the execution of utilizing a newer pitch so that's something to bear in mind when we look at
23:10his numbers and like when he's doing well versus when he's not doing well and then you have jack
23:14weniger who just got pulled from his start yesterday after just over two innings um because he was at
23:18like 60 plus pitches didn't have his sharpest start but up until then he pitched to just around
23:23a one or so year ray for triple a syracuse this year those are the guys knocking on the door
23:27right
23:27now like immediate internal options for the mets because christian scott is already here he's
23:32honestly like perfectly fine his past three starts he hasn't went overly deep in the games but he has
23:36not been a liability you know he's kept the mets in those games and for that i appreciate because
23:40you know he had a long layoff coming back from the reconstructed tommy john surgery but i always
23:44knew that scott would be a factor for the mets relatively early this year you have him you
23:49obviously have you know the swing mans of the world and the tobias myers and the shaman eyes but
23:53you don't want to take myers out of his bullpen role because you know how valuable it is
23:56shaman eyes looking closer to being a dfa candidate than someone that's actually going to be on this
24:00team post all-star break right now so you don't really have a lot of that depth the way that
24:05you
24:05were hoping in the sense of quality right and that goes back to our conversations earlier this offseason
24:11as to why it would have been nice and the mets were able to land at least one more established
24:15starter because you know injuries and inconsistencies inevitably happen kodai singa is starting a rehab
24:20assignment today if i'm not mistaken so he's working his way back but it's like i know he was your
24:24x
24:24factor preseason but does it really matter you know like it feels like kodai singa again is in a
24:29shamanaya category where you're kind of just waiting for that core to be cut so you can move on and
24:34try
24:34to build something new in that spot of a roster spot so yeah how i expect the mets to go
24:40about it
24:40currently as as follows i think the mets are going to go with once they get close to clay
24:44homes the actual day they're either going to do a bullpen game or they're going to bring up
24:48one of those youngsters i told you that youngster may go anywhere from two to four innings for them
24:52and then it's a bit more of a bullpen game that's where you're going to want your tobias myers if
24:56not
24:56a shamanai to kind of pick you up in the piggyback situation and go on from there but i have
25:02a feeling
25:02that the mets are going to f around and play some solid baseball for a bit where they're kind of
25:08getting
25:08back in the mix but it's going to be up down up down so then eventually by the time we
25:12get to the
25:12trade deadline or you know clay homes is still not going to be returning but the mets know he'll be
25:17returning before the end of the year my fear which is very met scene is that oh we have our
25:22trade
25:22deadline acquisition coming in just a couple weeks like let's just let's just wait to get him back
25:27you know we don't got to be overly proactive at the deadline here if we're winning because we know
25:31clay homes is coming back and then clay comes back and he doesn't pitch the way that you need him
25:35to or you have someone else in your rotation go down because for whatever reason you thought to
25:39yourself as a new york mets oh yeah everyone's gonna be healthy and fine the second half of the
25:43season there's nothing to worry about when there's always someone to worry about yeah why would you
25:46why would you do that exactly but the reason why i i reference this is because this comes from
25:51experience as fans and as talking heads we've seen them operate in this fashion literally last
25:56year we've seen them operate we've seen them sit on their hands until it's too little too late
25:59to be proactive with moves to make internal decisions and call-ups if not trades and then
26:03you're you unfortunately dug yourself in a hole that you can't dig yourself out of
26:07um in order for the mets to avoid that this year they just have to make sure they're on top
26:11of this
26:11okay the rotation doesn't have nearly as much stability as you hope you do you have
26:15no mcclain and freddie peralta awesome is there anyone else that you could honestly say in great
26:20confidence that you're really feeling comfortable about in this rotation
26:24probably not no right now it was homes right those ones homes exactly and that was a great
26:29one two three when they had it right when you lose someone of clay homes his value when literally last
26:34year across 165 innings he was your most reliable starter looked even better this year one of the
26:40best bargain contracts in baseball and now you don't have him for at least two two and a half months
26:44of that longer like that's a big deal for this team so christian scott is not something that they can
26:49bank on but he's someone that they're gonna kind of have to bank on right now david
26:53peterson is not someone they want to have to lean on but they're gonna have to kind of lean on
26:57him
26:57now even though it'll be hawasker brosbane or you know a joey gerber whoever that comes in as your
27:02spot starter and then david gives up two or three runs across five innings like that'll kind of be
27:06the norm with him not the end of the world but again is that going to allow the mets to
27:11have sustained
27:12success probably not so getting back to your point how are they going to operate i think it's going to
27:17be
27:18as follows i do hope however that david stern's kind of like the aj ewing column maybe has a
27:23trick or two up his sleeve that we're not completely anticipating at this point in time
27:27i'm i'm expected to be disappointed but i hope that that is not the case in the end here so
27:31flipping back to you dex how do you feel about this rotation makeup now you go from the start of
27:35a
27:36season with what felt like a solid amount of certainty this is before we knew exactly how much
27:40code i single would fall off a cliff after two or three starts sean mania you didn't love how you
27:44looked in spring but you know he was still somewhat of a viable option for you
27:48metz are in a very different position now a month and a half or so into the season so thank
27:53you very
27:53let's let's hear very different very different so how do i feel about the rotation um i felt good i
28:01felt okay good is probably okay before the holmes injury because like you said i have peralta you know
28:08despite peralta didn't have good stuff in the series finale yesterday but battled through um
28:14holmes had been great he's leading the team in era was leading them in innings pitch the mets
28:19don't remind me dex yeah the mets i think i think the record was five and four in his nine
28:24starts
28:25that had a winning record in his nine starts um so losing holmes is huge with how he was pitching
28:31now he's got the fracture that takes about six to eight weeks to heal as somebody who's recovering
28:37from surgery and injury i am here to say you always still want to add a little bit more time
28:42onto that for professional athletes trying to get back so this is why you even said wardy
28:46you're talking to two months minimum two and a half months he's probably out like all summer at
28:51minimum you know i'm not expecting back until probably september i think that's being honest
28:55i think that's fair because what we're thinking about you're thinking not you but people are thinking
28:59about oh it's six to eight weeks but that's fine that's just to be healthy to then be able to
29:04do
29:04baseball activities right and then you have to do your whole ramp up ramp up right then you need that
29:08time to ramp up right that's just to be healthy to do baseball activities then you have to get good
29:13he's got to get the arm strength back he's got to get the reps he will not have pitched and
29:17stepped
29:17on his leg and you know forward in a week so there's a lot of stuff going in there i
29:23am with you as much
29:25as i like tobias myers and you and i love that the mets got him in the trade for freddie
29:29peralta the
29:30way the mets bullpen is right now you cannot move that man you have to keep him in the pen
29:35because they
29:35need his arm in the pen he's reliable he can give you multiple innings you trust i trust tobias
29:39myers right now here's a problem you went to sean mania who i kind of don't need to see anymore
29:50from being honest sucks i'm such a great guy i just want him to be i want him to pitch
29:55good so bad and
29:56just is not happening unfortunately it's just not there and i think he's hurting the mets roster
30:01construction by being i agree would you agree with that yeah i do it's he doesn't you can't
30:07you can't have multiple guys of swing man options and only one of them actually be a true swing man
30:11while the others constantly you know can't eating innings but eating innings doesn't matter if you
30:17don't have the results when you're eating innings you know the fact that the mets would probably be
30:20better off even when i get brandon waddell for example who was effective effective for them last
30:25year as a soft tossing southpaw over sean kind of tells you all you need to know it tells you
30:30everything there you need to know we we beated this trump i was bothered by it i'm still bothered
30:35by it i can't wrap my head around the thought process of not having surgery on loose bodies in
30:39your elbow when it was a detriment to you at the end of last season i can't fathom that i
30:44understand
30:45that they were trying to work around it but like that doesn't work more often than not especially in
30:50today's game the amount of times of pitchers or players that try to push inevitable surgery when they
30:54know they need it just to get a cortisone shot or whatever the case may be it doesn't work
30:58especially in the case of shamanaya who's lost his velocity in direct hand because of it you know
31:04he says oh you know like once we get the season going and the juices are flowing like the adrenaline
31:08and i'll be there i'm like he's been going like sean i'm like i'm like all right we're dotting 91
31:1392
31:13i get it that you haven't been known like as a huge flamethrower but in 2024 second half you were
31:19hitting 95 you were hitting 96 you were hitting upper 90s like with your adrenaline like we could tell
31:25like you had that end game feel we're like you locked in like once you got in the groove we're
31:30getting all these swings and misses on that new arm slot angle you know especially the sweeper lefty
31:34lefty like he was feeling like let's call it how is he was feeling like hot shit like that's exactly
31:39how he was in that moment but let's go but now it's not the case right we also got to
31:44call like it is
31:44right now as you're saying wardy he's hurting the team like i said it hurts it hurts the team
31:49construction it constricts david sterns and what he can do in terms of flexibility in the bullpen
31:54so no so if we're talking about this is the point i was getting to we're talking about the fact
32:00that
32:00we're you want to move sean manai into the rotation based on what you've seen this season out of him
32:05in the pen that's a hell no for me you want to you want to bring now we're counting on
32:11this was my x
32:12factor so i'm gonna take all of this kodai senga who you need to come back and need to be
32:19right now
32:20if kodai senga comes back and he's right does that help the mets a ton absolutely but how many
32:25times in the last couple years have we been talking about kodai senga coming back and being right this
32:30is what wardy's talking about this is the point of when you were not prepared and it's fine but now
32:37you got to be proactive not reactive i got to get wardy's shirt that says that be proactive not reactive
32:42we got to get wardy's shirt that says it because now is the time or are you and i'm not
32:48saying this is
32:48the wrong thing i'm kind of fine for this let's let's get some fresh blood i know jonathan's been
32:55up here already but jack wenninger if you want right or if you want zach thornton if you want to
32:59bring these guys up and say okay let's see what they've got here why not but i still think you
33:05need
33:05more depth i still think you have to look at this like i can't trust david peterson i can't trust
33:11that
33:11kodai senga is going to come back and give me what i need and i damn sure can't trust sean
33:16mania
33:17based on what i've seen from him out of the pen and how he's just hitting 91 on the gun
33:21that's not
33:22going to get it done for me so if you're going to bring jonathan up and get his lumps or
33:26it's
33:26or it's thornton i'm fine with all that or i'm not saying it's going to happen right now hey be
33:34aggressive early in the season for in the trade market go see if you can add yourself another
33:38starter it's going to cost you sure but if you want to be serious you're now six games under 500
33:44and you want to try to make a push look at what the phillies are doing now with don manningly
33:47look
33:47at how they've turned their season around and they're now a game over 500 don't give me stars
33:52x i'm not i told myself i wouldn't go there but i had to go there all i'm saying is
33:59i'm with warty
34:00on this let's be proactive because what you don't want to happen i want to put i got to put
34:05out the
34:06worst case scenario for mets fans you don't want it to come back that we're talking three four weeks
34:11from now a month from now we're like ah they tried sean manai at a rotation which seriously
34:16seriously guys i hope that they don't or kodai singa comes back and he doesn't have it do i think
34:23kodai singa could have it sure would i bank on it no so you have to get you have to
34:29do something
34:29i'd rather see jonathan come up here personally he's been he's got to work on some of those secondary
34:35pitches still he can cruise through innings and then he's giving up meatballs for you know for home
34:40runs and we've seen this in the minors however we know the kid has got good stuff he's got to
34:44work
34:44through some things i'd rather see that at the major level and if you're going to lose lose that
34:48way and find out what you have or go out and be aggressive and go and get a guy but
34:52you can't
34:53bring the guys my to wrap this up you can't bring the guys that haven't been getting it done and
34:58then
34:59we're sitting here in the middle of june warty and you and i are doing an episode talking about
35:02well why is the mets pitching what it was ain't nobody trying to hear that nobody's trying to hear
35:07that anymore especially when you've seen it from a mile away right that's the whole aspect of being
35:12proactive like i again i don't understand this is my biggest gripe at times with david stearns among
35:17others in this front office i just don't understand the lack of vision there it's like why is it that
35:22i look at so many other teams in major league baseball they seem to have a complete grasp as to
35:26the handle the roster how it's constructed and they're always on top of it when it comes to if an
35:31injury goes down like they have a next man up one way or the other for the mets it feels
35:36like
35:38what do you mean this happened like as you literally sign jorge polanco who has been known
35:43for an injury riddle career yet you thought it was a good idea to have him be potentially your
35:48majority first base option when he's never played first base in his professional career and he had
35:5270 reps at th last year i liked the polanco acquisition for the sense of the bat i really did
35:58but that never made sense and never aligned and we literally saw it blow up in the opening series of
36:04the season release robert similar thing right you settle with him after you you fall out on kyle
36:10tucker and you don't push harder for cody ballinger because you don't want the years okay but you know
36:15too much risk to depend on that as a certainty and i say this as someone who really likes robert
36:21and i'll be advocating heavily for him if he comes back and he balls out again because i really like
36:25him as a
36:25player it just these are the things that again you and i are going to continue to scratch our head
36:30on
36:30until the mets get their act together or they have some type of change when it comes to front office
36:35or coaching staff down like to wrap it on the pitchers and then we can get into our next segment
36:39here i think and i understand it's probably a rush so like if he gets rocked it is what it
36:44is but at the
36:44same time you know it's not like the mets have these endless options and they're not going to just trade
36:50for a high quality starter right now unless david stern says not so fast we might just do something
36:56that okay but zach thornton i think might be the one just because he's literally aligned the exact
37:01same day as clay holmes like he literally pitched six shutty for syracuse the same day that clay went
37:05down with injury so my thought process is bring him slot him in have him pitch two three innings at
37:11least see how he looks if he looks really overmatched if he pulls like i don't know if you remember
37:15this
37:15dex from like three years ago uh southpaw by the name of thomas sapucky made his majorly debut for
37:21the new york met in san francisco gave up about like seven to nine earned runs and like one one
37:26and a half so what we hope that is not what happens out of this but i think especially you
37:31know when we
37:31look at how the mets road trip is we'll get into it in a second i just want to double
37:35check right now
37:36because i know we have the nationals for the upcoming series but depending on when clay would be slotted
37:41for his next start okay i think it would either be might actually be the end of this nat series
37:46you know that's not that's not a long road trip for zach thornton to you know be a part of
37:51right that
37:52would actually i think make a lot of sense you have the nationals in miami so like if you're going
37:56to
37:56do it you might as well do it against a team like the nats that granted they're three games above
38:02the
38:02mets and wins because of course they are somehow right now but ideally they shouldn't be so if zach
38:07thornton can be put in that spot i could see him having levels of success and who knows maybe just
38:12maybe this is the southpaw the mets have been eating right shaman is not it david pearson is not
38:17it on a consistency front jonathan santucci was the guy i was most bullish on as a lefty option
38:22beginning this season uh but zach thornton has kind of leapfrogged him in the mets farm right now so
38:27ride the hot hand while you can and see where it takes you again how much do you have to
38:32lose right
38:32now genuinely well i mean we we saw how much they could lose right like we've already we've
38:39already been through hell and back yeah so it's right that's the one point i'll make before we
38:44move on quick and then we wrap here is what you can here's my thing i always talk about you
38:51always
38:52bring about pro proactivity and i break i'll bring up some costs or some costs you've already spent the
38:57money if something doesn't work and i'm i get it i'm saying this is not my money steve cohen's money
39:02i
39:02understand what i'm saying here but when you have mistakes like this sometimes i want to see
39:08okay let's move on it's fine you can admit that it didn't work out we can keep this thing moving
39:14that's why i like the aj ewing move to some degree don't care about what you paid or what you
39:19gave up
39:19for louise robert jr aj ewing is here if he hits he'll be our center fielder of the future if
39:26not
39:26whatever we'll do we have to do but be proactive even when you moved even if it's a young player
39:30so
39:30bring up thornton why not now why not this road trip i agree with you against the nats the nats
39:34are
39:34not a great team at all whatsoever you've got the seven game trip why do i have a pitch on
39:40thursday
39:41i do not think that is the the end of the road now final things x yeah you mentioned how
39:48what the
39:48mets gave up for louise robert want to take a wild guess but louise on how cooney is doing so
39:54far this year
39:55the fact that you said that the way you did makes me not want to take the guess because it
40:02makes it
40:02it makes me feel like he might be doing better than i realize and it's probably going to piss
40:07mets fans off so so okay go ahead wardy just make me angry tell me why not oh if you're
40:13angry by this
40:13then i i don't know how your day is going to go a 179 by an average oh so it's
40:18oh okay all right
40:19zero home runs three rbis eight stolen bases leads the team but a whopping 429 ops playing
40:24center field so i would say the mets even though that yes robert is not available right now
40:31i don't think they're losing sleep over that they're doing fine i think they're doing fine
40:34they're not losing sleep okay i thought you were going to tell me something else i'd not pay attention
40:37i know usually that's the case yeah i paid attention to how uh mr mr onahel kini jr was doing
40:43but uh
40:44uh yeah okay all right i'm not i want if i'm mad about that something would have been wrong
40:49you were right about that how do we how do we feel about two things and we'll kind of close
40:55on this
40:56the mets are 10 and 5 in may it's fine five games over 500 they're now six games below 500
41:02in terms
41:03of their record how do we feel about the way they played in may particularly with the comeback wins
41:09that they've had and now they're embarking on i know this sounds weird to say but in my eyes this
41:15is a big seven game road trip you've got four games in dc you got four games in south beach
41:24look you go six and one you're back at 500 okay
41:31i i think yeah i think yeah i think that's got to be the standard you got to do that
41:36you
41:36if you think you are if you believe that you're a good team because you were just talking about
41:40the nationals and you're like ah they shouldn't necessarily be better than the mets you're right
41:43but the mets have stunk if you think you're that team that can get back there's a world in which
41:51next week after memorial day we're talking about this team back at 500 how are you feeling about
41:59so it gets two parts how you feeling about what the team has done because i think there's been
42:04okay this month they've shown a pulse they've shown some fight i think there's some good things to
42:09feel about it's all the homestand all the home they did what they're supposed to do in a homestand
42:13but now you got to go on the road against teams that you believed before the beginning of the
42:16season that you would be better than right and now you got to show because if it's if this is
42:21a
42:22dare i say a two and five road trip okay which wouldn't shock me at all unfortunately none of
42:30this is good none of this is good for warty what did warty say at the beginning of the episode
42:33he
42:33said i was i felt like waking up this morning i felt good i mean you should always feel good
42:38after
42:38you beat the yankees you're a mets fan you feel good about waking up but if if you don't build
42:42on
42:42this this is what i also said earlier if you don't build on this it doesn't matter it doesn't matter
42:48at
42:48all right i know it's weird it's the gnats and the marlins and i'm saying this is a big road
42:53trip
42:55okay it is a big road trip all right okay i'm not crazy for saying that they got to take
43:01care
43:01of the business on this road trip but do you have any faith they will take care of the business
43:05on this road trip i actually do just because i feel like this was a really good momentum swing
43:10for the team they don't have an off day they're going to right into the thick of it i think
43:14that's
43:14going to benefit them i like the fact that they're going from home to dc that they're not doing too
43:18far
43:18travel seeing that the past month the mets have been absolutely screwed with absurd road trips
43:22having three separate west coast trips like really actually heinous like i don't know who
43:28thought that was a good idea but anything to screw the mets sounds like a day that ends and why
43:32so
43:32between the nationals and the miami marlins this is this is pounce time for the new york mets like
43:36they they did not do any of that in the first month of the year they did not take advantage
43:39of
43:39their strength to schedule now they most certainly should and listen on paper i mean the mets should
43:44be better but at the same time the gnats and the marlins you could argue are better teams than
43:48the mets right now you know the marlins have a lot of fun dynamic young loose
43:52players that are going to be pests for the new york bats the nationals also have that including
43:58all the key assets from the juan soto trade and obviously you know james wood you also have cj
44:04abrams you have you know to a lesser degree robert hassel the third or so i mean there there's a
44:10laundry
44:10list of guys a part of that one soda deal that are x factors for the gnats currently so my
44:16honest
44:17estimation or guess if you will for this road trip is that the mets are going to wrap up the
44:20road trip
44:21and still be at least two games below 500 um but i don't think that'll be a bad thing like
44:26i'm not
44:26expecting them to go six and one on this trip but they do amazing then dex you called it and
44:31we're
44:31gonna be like kids in a candy shop next time we talk you know this time a week from now
44:34okay um but
44:35i think they're gonna probably wrap up the road trip above 500 be two to three games below 500 still
44:41overall in the season but that's still them chipping away you know that's still them getting closer you know
44:47think about it they have a four game set against the nationals you got to try to take three out
44:51of
44:51four the mets like constantly split that last year between pete alonzo making botched throws you know
44:56what ryan stanick at first base we remember those like it was yesterday the bad fundies galore by this
45:01mets team i don't know what bad funnies we're gonna get uh this national series against those gnats but
45:06what i do know is that the mets again can hopefully take three out of four the miami trip might
45:11be
45:11interesting um i think they're gonna be okay like for the first time this year since the
45:16opening week or so i feel like yeah no like even though their roster isn't the prettiest i think
45:22that they still have enough talent and they're getting a momentum swing i think aj ewing and carson
45:25band are just gonna be real pains in the asses for these opposing teams i think you're gonna see both
45:31of them be like wow like these kids just have non-stop motors and there's nothing you can really do
45:36about it like oh cj abrams has himself a triple okay so will aj ewing oh carson bench another multi
45:42a game drives in a run and he makes a gorgeous diving catch like those little things are what
45:46helps build the momentum then juan soto is i'm gonna call right now juan soto is gonna have at
45:51least two home runs in the series against the nationals loves playing his former teams especially
45:55in dc it's not a matter of if but when he's gonna hit bombs against them so i think this
45:59is gonna be
46:00a really good series for juan and yeah hopefully this mets team can continue to play loose and play
46:04the way that they're supposed to be playing against these kind of clubs especially yeah we'll see
46:10look six and one would be lovely excuse me i would settle for five and two i think that's fans
46:18will be
46:18happy with that five and two depending also on what both those teams do in the series after or before
46:24they play could put the bets right back in the third place they're only half a game behind the
46:28marlins they are two and a half games behind the nationals they could get in the third place by the
46:34end of the trip maybe that should be the goal can you get can you get up to third place
46:37in the nle
46:37sure um by the end of this trip can you feel good when you're coming back home to play cincinnati
46:42next
46:42week if you do that i think you could feel really good about that look they gotta get i like
46:49i agree
46:49you make a good point it's great that they're keeping the momentum going they didn't have an off day
46:54today they're right into things as we're recording this on monday they'll play the nationals beginning of
46:59four then they're down to south beach to play their marshal three win the series that's that's
47:04it that's got to be the goal every time you know six and one putting together streaks is nice but
47:08if you focus on winning series take three out of four take two out of three you're right back into
47:13where you want to be and then you can build on that and hopefully the mets are able to do
47:17that but
47:18we'll see this is probably despite talking a little bit about the pitching probably the most
47:24positive you have heard myself and warty in weeks about the mets who are 26 and 20 you know what
47:30all
47:30i want warty all i want is us to get to the end of the month and you can say
47:35the mets are 500 or maybe
47:38above it they've got a chance to make this summer fun if memorial day is coming the unofficial start
47:43of summer we just want summer to be fun for the people that's all we want and we've already seen
47:47some
47:47fun with aj you and carson bench doing their thing you think was so is going to do his thing
47:51we just
47:51want to see a little bit of fun that's all we want give me give me a reason to not
47:55like just try
47:56to enjoy like an entire beach day while having the mets on the background and be like up here we
48:00go
48:01again dragging my feet to go and talk about them you know like i want i want to be locked
48:05in i'd much
48:05rather than ruin my summer because they're playing so well and i'm just constantly like it's mets mets
48:11mets baby that's all i can focus on right now that's what every diehard fan really wants to
48:15experience and the idea of the season being written off a month month and a half in is the worst
48:19feeling imaginable because you like i don't know how you are dex but i know a lot of other fans
48:23and
48:23you know to a degree talking at skill this way it's like i build my entire schedule around this
48:28team like they're they're such a constant for me so like when they're consistently garbage
48:32consistently not good it's like it's not good for my health to have them more involved than what they
48:38need to be so like please by all means please give us the reasons to want to stay locked in
48:43give us the
48:44reasons to me for me to have my overreactions one way or another on a nightly basis on my platform
48:49and then a more i think um more um civil approach when i'm here on the post with you to
48:56break
48:57everything down you know so you have that that's that's my two cents on it just just give us a
49:03reason
49:03to be happy you know that's what we want as fans oh all we can say right now is the
49:08mets are showing
49:09some resolve what that will lead to is this the blueprint for a turnaround with the mets i don't
49:14know time is going to tell but that's going to do it for this edition of straight out of flushing
49:19tyler ward is smiling again and that is good for the people he can smile some more with a good
49:25road
49:25trip we hope to do that next yeah well listen i like seeing you smile my friend i want to
49:29see
49:29i know you want to see me smile too we want to see the fans smile too let us know
49:34in the comments
49:34what you think uh are the mets starting to turn things around do you believe do you are you waiting
49:40for more hope what do you think they're going to do on this road trip please let us know we
49:44will
49:44definitely get back to you with our thoughts as well too as i said that's going to do it for
49:48this
49:48edition of straight out of flushing he's tyler ward i'm dexter henry we'll catch you next time peace
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