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00:09I kind of want to go to Sean Mania, because you brought him up.
00:15And I don't know where you were with him at the beginning of the season with the low velocity,
00:22because anybody who's watched the show knows I was kind of like, yeah, I think it's time to move on.
00:26It might be just time to move on.
00:28Now, to your point, and analytics have shown this, who knew not going through the order as many times could
00:36be helpful?
00:37The velocity has ticked back up a little bit, and he's been pretty successful in his appearances as a bulk
00:45reliever.
00:46Do you view his recent success as one of the biggest reasons to believe that the Mets can stabilize in
00:53the second half of the season?
00:54Or are you at a point where it's like, okay, still with Mania, small sample size, I need to see
00:59a larger sample size here?
01:01I mean, look, he's the highest paid pitcher on the team.
01:04They're going to give us a larger sample size.
01:07I don't – I didn't have as much smoke for the front office for the Mania development, like how we've
01:16gotten to this point.
01:17You know, when you have Steve Cohen as your owner, as much grief as David Stearns has been given,
01:22and as much as I personally think he deserves, the Sean Mania thing is something you do when you have
01:28the bank account
01:29and the payroll flexibility that you are given with Steve Cohen.
01:34Like, oh, he had a really great 2024.
01:36Let's give him three years and see if that's sustainable.
01:38The Mets saw what happened last year.
01:41He was, like, plagued by injuries and then decided to pivot when he wasn't effective
01:45and went into this year not with a guaranteed rotation spot.
01:49They said you got to earn it, and he didn't.
01:51And they've picked and chosen where to use him, and I think they've landed on a spot where it's been
01:59effective
01:59for, like, a solid six weeks now.
02:01So as far as the sustainability, time will tell.
02:05I don't think – and this is what their track record has shown – that they're going to force us
02:10to make Sean Mania
02:12continue to be the thing that turns this season around.
02:15But the way he's being used as, like, a three to three-and-a-half, four-inning starter – a
02:21bulk reliever, I should say,
02:22which is in the place of a starter, I just think they're being really smart with this.
02:27The Mets haven't been very smart a lot this year, Dex.
02:30This is one of the things I can actually say.
02:32They are deploying this correctly.
02:34And, like, I still have a spot in my heart for Sean Mania.
02:38I think he has been a fun personality in this franchise for the entirety of his tenure.
02:442024 will always mean a lot to Mets fans.
02:48And at the bare minimum, I'm rooting for him to have a sustainable stretch here.
02:54It's good to see the velocities back up.
02:56I like the way he's being used.
02:58We'll see if it continues.
