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00:09You mentioned the pitching here, Andrew, because for most of the season,
00:13I think it's fair for us to say starting pitching has been inconsistent,
00:16but recently we've seen some encouraging outings from Nolan McClain,
00:19Freddie Peralta, Christian Scott, Sean Manai, and even David Peterson.
00:22We've seen some encouraging signs from him.
00:25Is the recent improvement from the rotation believable in your eyes?
00:29Do you believe this, or is this just like who we're talking about with the whole team
00:32and you need to see more?
00:35Yeah, so I'm going to amend what you're asking because it's not the rotation for me
00:41that I think is the sustainable signs of encouragement.
00:45It's the entire thing, the rotation plus the bullpen.
00:48I think this bullpen is good.
00:50I just think this bullpen is flat out a good bullpen.
00:53The ninth inning does leave something to be desired.
00:55Devin Williams, like Devin Williams, when he's bad, it's a full implosion.
01:01It's never just like today he had a rough outing, but he hadn't pitched in five days
01:06and they just need to give him work.
01:07I'm attributing that to rust.
01:08But in his losses this year, when he's really imploded, it's like I don't throw a strike
01:14and I give up three to seven runs.
01:16And his good stretches, it's I go three weeks without giving up a run.
01:20So outside of him, I have four to five dependable, short outing, high leverage guys
01:28between Luke Weaver, who hasn't given up a run since the end of April, Austin Warren,
01:34I trust, Brooks Raley, I trust, AJ Minter hasn't given up a run since being activated.
01:41So we're talking about Brazabon's been outstanding this year so far.
01:45So you're talking about five arms there outside of your closer that you trust.
01:50And then like we can talk about the encouraging signs from Sean Minaya and David Peterson.
01:56None of them have come as a starting pitcher.
01:58It's been as bulk middle middle inning guys, which this is one of the things with analytics
02:03that I've always agreed with limit the amount of times that these guys go through the batting
02:08order and what they've done with Sean Minaya is picked like come into the game toward the
02:13bottom half of the order and then just get through the end and then one more time through
02:18and then you're good. That is how they have strategically used Sean Minaya to take it to
02:23where the last two months, really since April, he's been a dependable bulk reliever, if that
02:30makes sense, in place of just like the old school way. We need a fourth starter. We need a fifth
02:35starter. David Peterson was very successful at that too, which makes it very confusing why they
02:40suddenly made him a starting pitcher again. So if you keep using both of those pitchers,
02:46those lefties and deploying them in a way that I believe is the most successful for them,
02:52then you have the other three. Freddie Peralta, Nolan McClain, Christian Scott, who's been a revelation
02:57and a godsend since Clay Holmes went down. I think he got some consistent pitching. Dexter,
03:04the entire rotation plus bullpens rankings in the National League, they're fourth in total strikeouts,
03:10fourth in team ERA. They've given up the second fewest home runs in the sport and they're fifth
03:16in total F4. That's not like a thing that's costing you wins. Their offense has been the thing
03:23that's let them down. And I think a bad offense can lead to a bad month, a bad pitching staff
03:29and
03:29rotation can lead to a lost season like we saw last year. So if you are an optimistic Mets fan
03:35and you
03:36think they have a chance to get back into it, it's because like the pitching has carried them to this
03:42far where they haven't completely fallen off the cliff yet. And maybe the bats will start to turn it
03:46around.
