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00:00This is Straight Outta Flushing, brought to you by your local Ford stores.
00:04Ford F-150 is the official truck of the New York Mets.
00:09Welcome back, everybody, to another edition of Straight Outta Flushing.
00:12It's your guy, Dexter Henry, alongside my co-host, Tyler Ward,
00:17and our fantastic beat reporter covering the Mets for the New York Post.
00:22The one and only Mike Puma is here.
00:24Guys, how you doing? How's everybody doing today?
00:27We're hanging in, man.
00:27So far, we're good.
00:28Yeah.
00:28Well, that's good. That's better than the Mets.
00:30The Mets are 10 games below .500.
00:33I'm not sure how good everybody's feeling in that clubhouse that I'll say.
00:37And look, I will say this, Mike.
00:42Wardy and I were just talking after the Yankee series, and we're like,
00:46okay, things are looking up.
00:48They've got this road trip.
00:49They play the Nationals and the Marlins.
00:51Maybe they can get, I ridiculously said, maybe they can get back to .500.
00:54That probably was absolutely ridiculous.
00:56They don't.
00:58Now I look at where they are now, 10 games below .500.
01:02Do you think the Mets are in danger?
01:04This is for both of you guys.
01:05I want us all to talk about this.
01:07Are they in danger of drifting into a summer of nothing, irrelevance?
01:10It's, you know, we're getting very close to that where, you know,
01:14they could be out of it, meaningful baseball, earlier than expected.
01:18Where do you think the Mets are right now?
01:20Well, we're certainly on the cusp of it right now, and you can't go – you have to start making
01:27headway.
01:28You talked about 10 games under .500.
01:30You can't go, you know, 12, 13, and you can't just sit at 10 either.
01:35So you've got to start going in that positive direction quickly.
01:39And, you know, I think kind of the blueprint you used is where they were two years ago at this
01:46time.
01:47They were in a similar position.
01:49And, you know, I remember the Mets went over to London about this time two years ago.
01:56And it was like, okay, you know, you know, what's going to happen here?
02:02Are they going to start trading people, this and that?
02:04And, you know, Steve Cohen preached a little patience at that time.
02:07And they really put it together over that next month to get back into it and make it an exciting
02:14summer.
02:15But, yeah, we're at the point now where, you know, you can't just – obviously you can't go backward any
02:21further.
02:22And even just treading water isn't enough.
02:24You've got to make some headway.
02:27You know, it's funny, Mike.
02:29We've talked about this before too.
02:302024, you know, I thought – you're right.
02:34Past Memorial Day, the Dodgers series, you thought it was all done.
02:37But that can't be the standard for this organization, right?
02:40You can't have it that you're going to constantly bank on a 2024 run.
02:46You're seeing this again.
02:48Warty, have you lost hope now?
02:50Is all hope lost with this team?
02:52Or is there hope for a 2024 run?
02:57Anything's possible at the end of the day in a baseball season.
03:00But going back to what we've talked about, Dex, for the past, like, month and a half, I mean, the
03:03Mets would have to do something truly historic that no team has done in Major League Baseball history to drop
03:0912 consecutive ballgames in the month of April and still have what could be, you know, a miraculous playoff run.
03:15So they already have that working against them.
03:17And then, you know, we've been talking about – I've been saying this too since spring training.
03:20And, you know, Mike, I'll say the exact same thing now, as Dex has been saying, is that you can't
03:25view 2024 as a certainty when everything about that run was an anomaly.
03:29You know, you look at the vibe and the culture around that team at the time.
03:33You don't have a team currently constructed where you have a fairly healthy roster.
03:38The Mets have the opposite of that with their core at the moment, as well as not having really guys
03:42that bring in a culture that brings, you know, something to kind of uplift the team where, yes, it might
03:47not be sustainable long term.
03:49But for the sake of turning your season around, that's exactly what they were able to do between J.D.
03:54Martinez whispering in Mendoza's ear to say, hey, let's give Iglesias a shot to obviously them having the great summer
04:00that they had.
04:01So when we look at the 2026 Mets, even though they're in relatively the same position, look at the difference
04:06in roster build at the moment.
04:08Look at the lack of certainty.
04:09Look at the lack of everything about this team just does not have the structure, nor I think the culture
04:14that's going to lead you to believe that they're going to be able to dig themselves out of this hole.
04:18You know, there's a reason why I've been as vocal as I've been about the Mets needing some type of
04:22coaching change going back a month.
04:23Plus now, a month ago, the Mets were 10 games below 500, essentially a month later.
04:27They are exactly that.
04:29Where's the bar?
04:29Where's the standard for David Stearns?
04:31That's a question that I've been consistently asking since the start of the season.
04:34So Mike, what what determines whether or not this season will stay alive by July?
04:43I mean, I feel like we're always pushing things back a month.
04:45Yeah.
04:45But you just said they're kind of teetering, right, on summer irrelevance here.
04:50What's going to determine if there's any hope that things change around?
04:53I don't think we have to they have to decide right at this minute what they are, because you still
04:59have that month ahead of you.
05:02And obviously, it's trending in the direction that they're going to be sellers at the deadline.
05:08And, you know, we saw them do this certainly in 2023.
05:14Buck Showalter turned out to be Buck Showalter's last season where they, you know, traded Scherzer and Verlander and David
05:21Robertson and just, you know, shed the veterans from the roster.
05:29But, you know, we're at the end of May now.
05:31You don't have to you don't have to declare right now what you are.
05:35And I think you just see where you are going into the All-Star break, because, you know, there'll be
05:42there'll be teams that want some of the Mets players.
05:46Now, you know, you have a lot of guys with contract situations that are going to make it difficult to
05:53get a great return for some of them.
05:57But at the same time, if they aren't winning at the end of June, it'll give them a chance to
06:04just start turning the page on this year.
06:07Yeah, it feels like that.
06:09Do you think because I want to go off with something that Wardy said there.
06:12Do you think at any point the seat's going to get hotter for Carlos Mendoza, Mike, and maybe they turn
06:18the page on him?
06:20Yeah, that's a good question.
06:21And I go back and forth on that one because it's like, all right.
06:28At what point do you say it?
06:31You know, it doesn't matter anymore if they change the manager or not.
06:37And I don't know, you know, I go back and forth on that one, whether they will cut the cord
06:44on Carlos Mendoza if this thing doesn't turn around.
06:49I'll say this.
06:50I'm wondering out loud where this organization is right now at this point, right, where we're talking about this summer
06:56could be irrelevant.
06:58Are they really trying to win?
07:00You're right, Mike.
07:01They don't have to make a decision right now.
07:03You're 100 percent right about that.
07:04They do have a little bit more time.
07:06But as I like to say, it's getting late early.
07:09There's not a lot of time left with this Mets team at all whatsoever.
07:14And then I think the other thing for fans when they look at this is the offense.
07:19It's like no matter what, the offense just can't get it going.
07:21It's felt flat for long stretches of time.
07:25They're barely scratching out runs.
07:28You know, guys, I guess I'll throw this open to everybody.
07:32You know, there has been injuries, so we can't act like there hasn't been injuries with this team.
07:36We know that.
07:38But is there blame for the roster construction?
07:41There are guys who haven't performed before injuries.
07:43You know, hitters simply underperforming.
07:45Young guys who are up here who I think are providing some hope for the fans.
07:49But what's wrong with this offense?
07:51Why can they just not get it going at all this season?
07:56Yeah, I think the main culprit behind the lack of offense is, one, you had an offensive approach last year.
08:02That if you look statistically, the Mets were, say, you know, top five in home runs, top five in, you
08:07know, getting on base.
08:07Various statistics, the Mets were top five to top ten in baseball.
08:10But when it came to the clutch gene and the resilience that we emphasized so much over the past calendar
08:15year, Dexter, that just wasn't there for this team.
08:17So as the Mets made their coaching changes with everyone not named Carlos Mendoza, Brittany and Troy Snicker, who did
08:23have a very good, very solid track record during his time in Houston, we were hoping and expecting that that
08:28would be a smooth transition.
08:29But I think where the Mets and David Stearns have unfortunately faltered here is that what has been the case,
08:34what feels like almost every year under Steve Cohen, is that there's just so much turmoil in such a short
08:39period of time.
08:39Think of every good team in Major League Baseball for the most part.
08:42What they mostly have in common is the fact that they have had a steady structure of either a core
08:47group and or a coaching staff that has been there for a lengthy period of time.
08:50When you look at the New York Mets now bringing in new hitting coaches and having Jeff Albert at the
08:55MLB level and now adding in all these hitters where, yes, they're upside, at least Robert, if everything clicks, could
09:01be a MVP type caliber player going back to his time in 2023.
09:04But the floor and the downsize that you have an injury play player that might not be able to bring
09:09you too much production beyond see what Tyron Taylor will do because of the lack of availability or hey, Polanco,
09:14another one where you look at the offensive success he had in Seattle last year that a lot to do
09:18with actually staying healthy.
09:20The track record has not been on his side, so the Mets decided to make him pretty much their main
09:25first base option when he had 70% reps at TH this past season.
09:29So the offense, the lack of that, goes in hand with the lack of availability.
09:32You continue the laundry list of moves the Mets made this past offseason, you come to the realization that this
09:37was a team that needed a lot to click when there was a lot of risk ultimately added in before
09:42the season even began.
09:43And that lack of certainty has really reared its head for David Stearns, who said to us media over the
09:49past couple of weeks that, you know, moving forward, I am going to be more cognizant of bringing in players
09:55that have a lack of health track record.
09:57Because when they're all falling like flies at the same time, you're seeing the Mets dig themselves in a hole
10:02again that they can't find themselves to get out of.
10:04And this, you know, this is starting to take on the air.
10:08And I don't know if you guys remember the 2002 Mets.
10:11I do.
10:12I do.
10:13And Steve Phillips went out that winter and brought in some big, splashy names, brought in Robbie Alomar and Jeremy
10:21Burnett came in, Roger Cedeno, Mo Vaughn.
10:25You know, they totally revamped the lineup.
10:28And there was so much excitement going into that season about, you know, what the team was going to be
10:35and the runs they were going to score.
10:37And all those guys just, you know, either with injuries or decline in their career, just kind of fell off
10:44a cliff.
10:45And it ended up being, you know, one of the worst seasons.
10:49It was a terrible season.
10:51Ended up getting Bobby Valentine fired.
10:52And it just seems like this is starting to mirror that a little bit, just the way, you know, they
11:01went about reconstructing the lineup here and to have it just flatline.
11:07And that's a good comp, Mike, because I remember that.
11:11I remember that 2002 offseason and there was a lot of hope for the Mets with that team and it
11:18didn't happen.
11:20And, Mike, because you've been around this team for a long time, though, Mets fans are going to say, well,
11:24we're seeing this again and we were promised sustainability.
11:27You know, we thought there'd be some sustainability, but it's not there.
11:33I've wanted to ask you this for a long time.
11:35Do you think there's a organizational culture issue despite all the changes that we've seen with the Mets?
11:42Is that a real thing or you have to judge each regime as it changes on its own?
11:47Yeah, it seems like there's something attached to it.
11:53Hard to say no.
11:55It's hard for me to say no, but, you know, when you think about it, I mean, you know, Steve
12:03Cohen came in and, you know, really brought a new vibe to this whole organization.
12:09And they're kind of doing things, it seems, the right way.
12:13And, you know, he waited a while to get the guy he wanted as the president of baseball operations and
12:18ended up getting David Stearns.
12:20And it's hard for me to, you know, to rationally connect the two regimes, you know, the Wilpons and Steve
12:31Cohen regime.
12:31So, you know, I just got to chalk it up to it just hasn't worked out to this point.
12:38Yeah, Mets fans are tired of hearing those words.
12:40It just hasn't worked out.
12:42Now, we talked a little bit about Carlos Mendoza before, right, guys?
12:46And Wardy's used on this show a bunch of times the word proactive.
12:53And I really don't like talking about people's jobs and necessarily getting fired, but if Mendoza's going to be here
13:00at this critical juncture that we're talking about, and I don't also want to go back to 2024 and say
13:06that, okay, you know, maybe they can get on this run again.
13:10But what buttons does he have left to push with this team, right?
13:12Especially with the way this roster is right now, guys.
13:15We're talking about young guys, a lot of injuries, waiting for guys to come back.
13:19Is there a button left for Carlos Mendoza to push here that can get this team to competitive baseball once
13:26again?
13:27Or are we just kind of like, ah, let's just see how it goes.
13:31You know, I don't know what that button is when you have games where you're batting Marcus Simeon at cleanup
13:36and, you know, putting Eric Wagaman.
13:40And now, listen, Wagaman hit a home run.
13:41Yeah.
13:42But, you know, I just don't know what buttons are there for him.
13:47You know, maybe you flip-flop Mania and Peterson bullpen and rotation.
13:53I mean, you know, now you're really talking about...
13:55Mike, we're talking about flip-flopping Mania and Peterson.
13:58That's not good.
13:59That's not good at all.
14:00You're really talking about operating at the margins here.
14:03I mean, I don't know what button there is.
14:05You know, and it's not like there's a stud down at Syracuse really tearing it up that, hey, you know,
14:13let's bring this guy up and just, you know, they've went that route with bringing up some of the prospects.
14:19And he gave him a little bit of a boost for a while.
14:22But, you know, and now Bench is obviously looking like he's a legitimate major league player.
14:28But, you know, we'll have to see about A.J.
14:30Ewing and Morbido's already been up and down.
14:33But, you know, they've already shot that bullet.
14:36So, you know, I don't know where else you go from there.
14:39Yeah, if that was the case, they'd hire you as manager there.
14:43Wardy, do you feel there's anything Mendoza can do or is the button to be pushed by David Stearns in
14:51this situation?
14:52You know what I'm going to say in response to this, okay?
14:54Because at the end of the day, you know, in today's MLB especially, when these type of issues happen as
15:00consistently as they do, it usually starts with the manager.
15:02Even if the manager is not a fault for everything, because I've been very consistent in saying that there's a
15:06lot that Carlos Mendoza, I believe, is not a fault for.
15:08It's not his fault that the roster was built the way that it was.
15:11It's not his fault that the team has, to a degree, not been able to find a resilience going back
15:17to last year.
15:18Like, you could say, yes, maybe he missed the mark in one way or another in trying to uplift the
15:22team.
15:22I don't know what goes on in the clubhouse, so I don't want to speak on something I don't know.
15:26But just you try to rationalize and come to a conclusion as to how do we get here, okay?
15:30Because for the sake of Carlos Mendoza and the Mets and what I think is best for them this year
15:34is this is,
15:36and we've been very consistent on this, Dexter, going back to spring training, that this is not about the Mets
15:40not playing bad just now.
15:42This is about the Mets being one of, if not the worst team in Major League Baseball, for almost a
15:46calendar year, once we get to June 12th of this summer, okay?
15:50Since Kodai Singa went down with injury, the Mets have only had around 60 or, I think, 61 wins over
15:55what's been 150-game sample size.
15:57I mean, it's been absolutely dreadful. So, knowing that this has been a continued lack of winning, there's already, I
16:02think, something against Mendoza to stay here as is.
16:06Now, to Mike's point, the question is, okay, we're now almost in the month of June.
16:10How much is it really going to change things if you decide to part ways with your manager in season?
16:14That's a great question, and that further reaffirms why I was as admin as I was going back a month
16:20ago,
16:20the same time that the Phillies parted ways with Rob Thompson.
16:23At the end of the day, yes, you don't know what you're going to be getting in a new interim
16:26manager,
16:27whether that is someone that the Mets, say, is going to be their in-house option of a Kai Correa,
16:31or if that's someone more in the front office of a Carlos Beltran, or that being an Andy Green, one
16:37of those types,
16:37if they don't go externally.
16:39You don't exactly know how much that's going to move the needle,
16:41but the point is that when you're already 10 games below .500, and you have a team that looks deflated,
16:46and a team that one way or another, as Ron Darling stated on the broadcast over the past couple days,
16:51the team is not responding clearly enough to whatever is going on with Carlos Mendoza's voice in the clubhouse,
16:57as well as on the field.
16:59So in my mind, the bar is already as low as it is.
17:02It's only going to continue to get lower more than likely.
17:04It's not going to move up high enough more than likely to justify, say,
17:08Mendy being here for a renewed contract at the end of this season.
17:11So for all those reasons, why not consider someone else when there's actually a potential,
17:16at least, of a team maybe getting a spark and getting on a little bit of a run,
17:20just something to actually give them the momentum that they desperately need,
17:24because between David Peterson, between it sounds like Mendoza more often than not,
17:28these guys just sound so depleted and defeated,
17:30and I don't know if there's going to be a point of return with keeping everyone here
17:34doing the exact same thing every day.
17:37Right.
17:37I don't know if Mendoza, to Mike's point, I don't know if there's a move that he can make.
17:42I don't know if I asked a question that can maximize.
17:44I'm talking about this current roster,
17:46like the way the roster is today at the time of us recording this.
17:49I don't know if that's the move.
17:51Now, I also don't know if bringing a new manager is going to bring them a spark.
17:56Maybe it does.
17:57Maybe it doesn't.
17:58You know, Mike brings up a good point.
17:59We liked it.
18:00We liked the fact that they've tried certain things with the young players.
18:03I thought those were the right moves.
18:05They were proactive.
18:07They were a little unconventional for the Mets, in my opinion.
18:10I thought they're generally a little bit more patient with bringing up the kids.
18:15But they did that here.
18:18I think it's interesting to see.
18:21Now, Mike, I'm going to ask you this, too, because you're around the team.
18:24Because back in 2024, and I remember that after the Dodgers series at the end of May,
18:30was there anything from your eyes that you could have seen that turnaround coming at all whatsoever?
18:36Do you see any similarities here or anything that you could see maybe that, okay,
18:41we could probably see a turnaround coming here for this Mets scene?
18:43No, I don't think I saw it coming in 2024.
18:47I remember they brought in Jose Iglesias, and at the time it was just like kind of a shoulder shrug
18:55kind of thing.
18:56Like, hey, what's – and, you know, then they – and, you know, it was shortly after that,
19:04the next week that they went to London to play those two games against the Phillies,
19:10and Steve Cohen was basically having to, you know, defend himself as to why he didn't think the Mets should
19:19be sellers at that point.
19:20And he pointed to – at that time, he thought the schedule was getting easier
19:26and that, you know, that there would be time over the next few weeks to figure it out.
19:33And they did.
19:34And, you know, Jose – you know, by the middle of June, you know, Jose Iglesias was a thing.
19:39But, you know, no – there was no buzz two years ago, like, hey, Jose Iglesias is here.
19:45This thing is going to turn around.
19:47So I had no sense in 2024 that they were about to right the ship.
19:53Yeah, I remember what you just mentioned about Steve Cohen saying that he didn't think the Mets at that time,
19:59early June, should be sellers.
20:01But the way it looks right now, it looks like they are going to be sellers at the trade deadline.
20:06Now, one of the names that's come up, guys, a lot, and it would make sense, is Freddie Peralta.
20:12Now, I understand.
20:14The Mets just signed – the Mets just traded for him this offseason.
20:16There were talks about signing him to an extension, all that stuff.
20:19On our show here on the New York Post baseball show, the show, with John Heyman and Joel Sherman,
20:26they discussed this week, should the Mets maybe look to trade Francisco Lindor?
20:32And I took that initially, and I was like, I don't know about that.
20:39I'm still processing that.
20:41Should the Mets consider moving their all-star shortstop at this time?
20:44Is that the worst idea here for the Mets in a team that likely is going to need to sell?
20:52Well, the thing I look at is it can't be like, all right, we're just going to trade Francisco Lindor
20:59for the sake of trading Francisco Lindor.
21:02And the thing you look at is he's halfway through that contract, so he's still got $170 million left.
21:11You've got to think teams looking at it are going to be like, do we want to pay that kind
21:16of money for a guy in his 30s?
21:19Because when you sign a guy to that kind of contract, you're paying a premium basically for the front half
21:29of it.
21:30Now you're getting the back end of it.
21:33You know, I don't know, are the Mets willing to take on a lot of money just to trade Francisco
21:40Lindor?
21:41I don't think that would be the wisest idea.
21:45Yeah.
21:45I mean, not my money, but I'm not sure it's necessarily the best thing.
21:51Now, people might say you might get a decent return for him.
21:54Wardy, what do you say?
21:55Would you – is this something you would entertain?
21:59So, before the season started, I was having a conversation of some fellow Mets talking heads that I'm buddies with.
22:05And we were on the topic of Francisco Lindor, especially when offseason rumblings was still kind of going on.
22:10Like, is there any chance that the Mets would do such a crazy thing, even though we knew that wasn't
22:14going to happen?
22:14And what I said, and I'll stick with today, is that if the Mets found themselves with another dormant season
22:20where they are most certainly not going to make playoffs,
22:24while I wouldn't expect it to happen during the season, I will not at all be surprised
22:28when we hear actual rumblings of Francisco Lindor's future come next offseason.
22:33Between the uncertainty of the lockout and the uncertainty as to how this roster is going to be built,
22:38I mean, is it a lock to say that this is going to be the exact same front office a
22:41year from now?
22:42I don't think we can go ahead and make that assumption right away,
22:45knowing what's going on right now with the lack of consistency with this team.
22:48I don't know. It's a great question because Lindor is in many ways the leader of this team,
22:53and he's most certainly not someone I want to see gone.
22:56But as the Mets continue to freefall the way that they do,
22:59I think it's more of a reality check for them to see, okay, what position are they really in?
23:03Are they in a position to win now that they should just continue to try to buy, buy, buy each
23:08year
23:08until they get a roster that satisfies them and lucks out?
23:11Or do they really need to take a step back and say, okay, it is time for a retool slash
23:16rebuild
23:17where maybe we don't go fully into it.
23:19However, we continue to dismantle what was previously here,
23:22and we want to build something up younger and more sustainable versus what we've gotten at this point.
23:27I'm sure that's something that the Mets are going to ponder far more
23:30should the season trend the way that it has.
23:33Yeah, I think they would.
23:36I wonder about the two factors you guys both mentioned.
23:41Mike talked about the money, the $170 million still owed.
23:44That is a lot of money for a team to take on,
23:46and then would the Mets want to pay a good amount of that salary for a player
23:49that's not going to be on their roster?
23:52The other thing is, what could you get for him?
23:55And I'm not sure that trade is as feasible, at least now.
23:58I'll say halfway through his contract, I don't.
24:00And I understand why the question was brought up by John and Joel.
24:05I don't think it's fair to question.
24:07Listen, you can't not question everything with the Mets, right?
24:10Everything is on the table in terms of them at the deadline.
24:13Exactly.
24:15Mike, just taking it off Lindor for a second,
24:19Freddie Peralta, how likely do you think it is they would sell Freddie Peralta?
24:23And is he a guy you want to wait until you get closer to the deadline?
24:28Or if you can sell him now and get something, would you do?
24:30How likely do you think it is they can move Freddie Peralta?
24:33Yeah, I don't think I would sell him today.
24:35But, you know, I think if – and, you know,
24:38we know how these things go with the trade deadline every year.
24:41There's such a dearth of quality arms out there.
24:47Now, Peralta being in his walk year here,
24:54you're not going to get a haul for him,
24:55but you might be able to get a piece for him.
24:58Right.
24:59And, yeah, I would certainly do it.
25:01I wouldn't do it here at the end of May,
25:03but I would do it on, say, July 1st if, you know,
25:07you're still sitting here 10 games under or whatever.
25:09And that would be a point to make a trade.
25:15And I can see it happening, to be honest with you.
25:18If, you know, they don't have a shot to win,
25:21why wouldn't they trade Freddie Peralta?
25:25Any other names you guys would like to see moved by the deadline?
25:29If the Mets are sellers – it's crazy.
25:31We're talking about this in end of May.
25:33We're talking about this already.
25:34But any other names –
25:36Well, that's what happens when your season's unofficially over in the end of May.
25:38This tends to happen, you know?
25:39Yeah, we just got past the unofficial start of summer.
25:42We're talking about the unofficial end of the season.
25:44There we go.
25:45That's what we're talking about.
25:46Any other names?
25:47Freddie Peralta seems like the obvious candidate,
25:48but any other names, guys?
25:50There's a bunch.
25:51Yeah, I mean, why would –
25:52I mean, I don't know how many untouchables there are here.
25:56You know, I would think, you know, most of the roster,
26:00I would think, would be available.
26:02Damn.
26:03I agree.
26:04Yeah, no.
26:05The Mets are in a very unique position right now
26:07because out of every single year under Cohen,
26:10even in the years that they lost,
26:11they didn't go to the degree of saying,
26:13okay, like, we could trade away easily like five-plus pieces right now.
26:17Now, as an extent, they are in a position where they can do that,
26:20you know, especially if they're willing to eat salary
26:21for a remaining year of a contractor.
26:23So, like, David Pearson in a walk year,
26:25he could be of some value to a team that's looking for someone
26:29that could eat innings down the stretch.
26:31Shamanai, if he continues to turn things around slowly,
26:33but surely if the Mets are willing to eat a large portion of that deal
26:36because you've got one more year left,
26:37you could obviously consider doing that.
26:39I mean, Freddie Peralta, I think,
26:41has all the makings of being a Roldis Chapman situation
26:44where the Mets trade him for hopefully at least one strong prospect,
26:47and then potentially he returns that next season
26:49if the Mets get themselves off to the right foot,
26:52and Peralta does have interest in coming back to New York.
26:54I don't think that's an impossible thing to happen.
26:57Clay Holmes is a guy that I think could have fallen in a similar category
27:01where the Mets didn't want to see him go,
27:03but he brings a lot of value, and his injury does throw a wrench
27:06into things right now.
27:08But if you just look top to bottom in this line,
27:10if your name is not Juan Soto or Carson Bench,
27:13you're pretty much absolutely available as far as I'm concerned.
27:16With the rentals and the kind of like the Luis Roberts,
27:19if he does get healthy at some point, probably not in time,
27:22but Jorge Polanco, he's looking good in his rehab.
27:25That's someone that the Mets could potentially deal at the deadline as well.
27:29There's a lot of possibilities for them,
27:31and I'm curious to see if David Stearns is going to go
27:33all the way into the deep end, which is to sell off,
27:36all the way into the other side of the deep end,
27:38which is to somehow buy,
27:40or are we going to be in this hybrid where that's what I've been concerned
27:43about, Dex, and I'll say this to you too, Mike.
27:45My concern with Stearns is the Mets are going to have, you know,
27:48like one toe in, one toe out,
27:50and they're not going to do really anything of great significance.
27:53It's just kind of keeping things lateral at best for the club,
27:56short and long term.
27:57I hope that isn't the case.
27:58Yeah, and one thing that was, I guess,
28:01a credit to Billy Epler in that last year was that he just, you know,
28:05went in and just started trading everybody and tried it now.
28:09And I think we look at it a couple of years later and, well, I mean,
28:14you know, maybe there's a couple of pieces he got out of that,
28:17but it wasn't, you know,
28:18you get excited at the time because you just look at some of these guys
28:22and you think they're going to be the future.
28:24And then you see, like, Acuna, who came in the Scherzer deal was,
28:30he was okay, right?
28:32And then, you know, we still don't know about Ryan Clifford.
28:37And, you know, Gilbert went in the trade to the Giants last year.
28:41So, you know, it didn't turn out to be a great haul.
28:46And some of these guys are still maybe a couple of years away,
28:51some of the younger prospects they traded for.
28:53But, you know, it's tough.
28:57It's really a tough decision to make on, you know,
29:02who to trade and how deep into, you know, to do it.
29:06But Epler, to his credit, just ripped off the Band-Aid and did that.
29:11Yeah.
29:11And I think to Wardy's point, too,
29:14you want to see the team pick a direction, right?
29:16Like, if you're going to do that, don't, don't, you know,
29:19if you're going to sell, let's just be sellers.
29:21You know, don't, don't, you can't be half in.
29:22No halfway step in here, right?
29:25Like, you got to, you got to pick a direction there
29:27and see what's going on.
29:28Wardy, I do have to say one thing to you.
29:30You said untouchables were Soto.
29:33You also said Carson Bench.
29:35Are we throwing Nolan McLean on that untouchable list?
29:37Yeah, that, yeah, that goes without saying.
29:39I was thinking more lineup.
29:40Like, even, even if the Mets eat half the contract,
29:43I probably don't see Bichette getting dealt.
29:46But, like, that's someone that I'm sure the Mets,
29:48if they could get some form of value, would be considered, you know,
29:51I just don't see it with that contract structure at the moment.
29:54But, yeah, no, McLean is the lone untouchable, I would say, in the rotation.
29:57And then everyone else can obviously be had to varying degrees
30:01when you look at the bullpen.
30:02Not that I want to see, like, a Brooks Rayleigh gone
30:04or it's Bias Myers, who I like.
30:06Obviously, there's upside with guys like Devin Williams and McWeaver.
30:08But those are also guys that could bring you actually solid return
30:12should they continue to heat up as we get closer to the deadline.
30:15Like, especially Devin Williams at the Mets say,
30:17you know what, Devin, we enjoy your time here,
30:19but we're not in a position to win and you're better off going elsewhere
30:22for a greater chance to win.
30:23They could get themselves a very significant return
30:26if Devin just kind of locks down after what's been a shaky last couple outings.
30:30Yeah, that's another good name.
30:32Yeah, he's been really shaky his last two outings here.
30:34I guess we'll close on this, guys.
30:37With everything we're talking about,
30:39I always like using the identity word around teams.
30:42But what should the Mets' true identity be right now?
30:47Are we talking about a youth development year with this team,
30:51with the way they've gone?
30:52Because it feels like – I just talked about picking a direction,
30:56but it feels like they're caught between timelines
30:59and then styles of play that you want to see.
31:02Like, with June approaching, what does this team actually want to be
31:06and what do you guys think that this team should be?
31:08You know what the idea is right now?
31:10Giant disappointment.
31:12That's the identity.
31:14I can't say you're wrong, Mike.
31:15I can't say that at all.
31:17I can't say that at all.
31:18Giant disappointment is the identity.
31:20Talk more on that.
31:21Sure, go ahead.
31:22Why not?
31:22You know, it's just – you know, it's hard to make sense of any of it right now.
31:27And, you know, Steve Cohen doesn't want to hear about rebuilding.
31:30He wants to know why – if they end up falling flat
31:36and don't make the postseason,
31:38that's going to be two years in a row where he spent a ton of money
31:42and they will not have reached the postseason.
31:44That will be three out of four if you go back to the last year
31:48of Showalter and Epler.
31:50So, you know, it's hard to – I think it would be hard to sell Steve Cohen on that,
31:58hard to sell a large portion of the fan base on the idea of a development year here.
32:04No matter how you slice it, if they don't turn this thing around soon, huge disappointment.
32:14Morty, what's the identity of this team?
32:17So what their identity should be is something that I've been wanting for,
32:21for what feels like a calendar year, year and a half, and that's resilience.
32:24That's what their identity should be.
32:25It should be the opposite of going north of 0 for their last 100, entering the ninth inning,
32:31trailing a run or more.
32:32You know, that's what I would like them to be as a fan.
32:36But the reality is that what they have been and what they will continue to be is irrelevant
32:42because that's what they are.
32:43Everything about this team is irrelevant.
32:45There's nothing about them that's relevant other than the fact that they're in a big market.
32:49Everything about them defines a club that you should not be wasting your time focusing on,
32:54whether you're a fan or whether you're someone even in the industry with what we do,
32:57just because it's the same story every single night.
33:00And I would be a lot less blunt about this if this wasn't an exact continuation
33:03going back to mid-June of last year.
33:05But that's exactly what it's been.
33:07Last year was the rotation issues and a team that could not step up entering the ninth inning.
33:11This year, it's not as much just rotation as it's a lack of health with now your lineup.
33:16Four core pieces out and don't have exactly a quick timetable of return.
33:21Pairing that with a whether we like or not coaching staff that has been far from moving the needle for
33:26the team.
33:26It's just a lot of the same.
33:28It's a lot of bad.
33:29And that's why I think irrelevant is very fitting to kind of label them as such for their identity right
33:33now.
33:34Giant disappointment from Mike Kuma.
33:37Irrelevant from Tyler Ward.
33:39You know what?
33:41They're an irrelevant giant disappointment.
33:43I'm going to combine all the words together.
33:45That's what I'm going to do here.
33:47Because they're teetering.
33:48You know, we talked about this at the top, right, guys?
33:50They're teetering on the irrelevance.
33:52And I don't know what timeline we want to give them.
33:55Two weeks, three weeks, you know, into the month of June.
33:59This could be a situation where,
34:01Wardy, we're talking and we're talking to Mike in a couple of weeks.
34:04And it's like, oh, yeah, it's really time to talk about selling.
34:08But it's hard to say.
34:10It sounds weird to say that a team is irrelevant, Wardy, when they have a $368 million payroll.
34:17Yeah, that's what makes this even worse.
34:18And that's what Mike's talking about, too, right?
34:20Like, that's what makes it all crazy because there's so much money invested.
34:24And the bare minimum was supposed to be the playoffs this year.
34:27The bare minimum for this team was supposed to be the playoffs this year.
34:30And here we are where it's like, you know, to take the old Jim Moore quote, playoffs?
34:34Are you kidding me?
34:35You can't even think about the playoffs because it feels so far away.
34:40Nothing feels close.
34:41Change doesn't feel close right now with this team.
34:44It doesn't feel like there's any hope at all whatsoever.
34:47No, it doesn't.
34:48The one thing I just want to say is when we talked about the previous regime with the
34:52Wilpons versus now, you know, at least you could get bent for the doubt during the
34:56Wilpons regime when the team was irrelevant, because that also went in hand with their
34:59own lack of spending in a big market for an extended period of time.
35:02Now you can't even make that argument as the Mets have the largest payroll, not
35:05named the L.A. Dodgers.
35:06So to Mike's point, it's it's still very hard to comprehend.
35:10Like, I don't know how we have already gone two months in the season and are in the
35:13position that we're in.
35:14But it's the same again story that we've seen for a counter year.
35:17It's just instead of hitting that off button on your TV, you know, you've kept it on the
35:20entire time or or you have to be like Mike's be right.
35:24He's got to be around his team every day.
35:26He's no choice.
35:27He's no saying.
35:28You know, that becomes when you know you get when you teeter on irrelevancy and it's
35:34it's late May.
35:35You know, I still have a lot of stories I have to write between now.
35:40Exactly.
35:40Game of the season and you start scratching your head like, you know, what what the heck
35:45even matters, you know?
35:47So it it it it really is difficult.
35:50You you know, as the beat writer, you're not necessarily tethered to the team's success,
35:56but you want them to be relevant.
35:58You know, you don't want them to be in, you know, teetering on being out of it on Memorial
36:04Day.
36:04So this is it's it's tough for everybody.
36:08Yes, it is.
36:09Yes, it is.
36:10Well, hopefully they can be a little bit more relevant soon.
36:12We have some happier things to talk about, but we'll see.
36:15That's going to do it for this edition of Straight Outta Flushing.
36:18That is the great Tyler Ward.
36:19Also, the great Mike Puma does a fantastic job covering the Mets for us here with the
36:23New York Post.
36:24We will see next time in another edition of Straight Outta Flushing.
36:34We'll see you next time in another edition of Straight Outta Flushing.
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