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00:03welcome back everybody to another edition of straight out of flushing it's your boy
00:07Dexter Henry with my guy Tyler Ward joining me here and as everybody knows it's trade season
00:14what have Wardy and I been talking about for the last couple of weeks trades potential trades but
00:18now we've got a trade to talk about Wardy finally the Mets have made a deal they've sold somebody
00:24AJ Minter out of flushing he is straight out of flushing we will say that and he is going to
00:30the Minnesota Twins he was traded for Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani yes Agbayani Mets fans you should
00:36know that name that is the son of Mets former Met Benny Agbayani will be coming to the Mets farm
00:43system Wardy this news came down on Thursday night trade season has really really started for the
00:50Mets I guess my first question to you is what did you make of this deal what did you think
00:55of this
00:55deal for the Mets before I even say what I make of this deal let's start off with the fact
01:01that
01:01since Steve Cohen has become owner the Mets now in five of six years have made at least one trade
01:06on July 30th so the writing was on the wall and what's interesting is this got down the final 10
01:11minutes of the day mind you this broke I believe right around 11 47 p.m eastern last night by
01:16passing
01:17so they just squeaked it in so my initial reaction this was okay the Mets got two top 30 prospects
01:23from a top five farm in baseball for a rental reliever and AJ Minter hasn't even pitched all
01:28that well the past month that's kind of all there is to know about this right I'm happy about I'm
01:34happy
01:35about it and it further tells you kind of what we were expecting which is what route was David Stern's
01:40going to go down at this deadline and it's clearly to bolster the farm you know getting the best
01:45available talents regardless on positional need and even if these guys maybe don't have a future
01:50in flashing queens they at minimum are going to add to a farm that the Mets can maybe utilize more
01:55so
01:55elsewhere either to acquire different players of control at the deadline or come the offseason as we
02:01know it's going to be hard to spend with a lot of things going on with the penny lockout
02:04how much time teams will have actually to spend on players there's going to be heavy heavier emphasis
02:10probably than ever for trades so as we see over the next 24 to 48 hours the more moves the
02:15Mets
02:15have with other relievers expect this to kind of be the trend where they're just going to do
02:19everything in their power to bolster their farm yeah you would you would think that's what's going
02:23to happen that's what's projected we heard what anywhere over a half a dozen players could be moved
02:27the Mets get this started with AJ Minter going to Minnesota do you think that Stern's got enough
02:3340 because he gets two top 30 prospects here as you mentioned some people now I'm not saying that I'm
02:38one of those people because I'm not I think this was as good as personally as you could have done
02:42for AJ Minter but some people are going to say okay you got two top 30 prospects could he have
02:47held out for a higher prospect with the twins or another organization in trading AJ Minter I don't
02:54think so I personally feel like this is as good as you were going to do for AJ Minter how
02:58do you feel
02:59about it yeah I think we have to remind ourselves of the conversation we had with John Heyman here just
03:04a couple days ago on the platform as John said to temper your expectations as to what the Mets are
03:09going to
03:09get in return because let's face it while the Mets have quantity and what they're trading they have
03:14very little quality when it comes to either a very good player that's on a really team-friendly
03:19contract it's either the Mets are trading guys that you know are kind of mediocre fits at this point in
03:24their career or they're very good but they're on rental deals for the most part so unless your name
03:29is really Luke Lever when it comes to trade value it's only going to be so much for these guys
03:34because
03:34we know that they're going to be heading the market in just a couple months from now I mean the
03:38fact that
03:38this was the Minnesota Twins of all teams that the Mets could have traded with was all the more
03:42interesting you know you're thinking oh AJ Minter maybe the Mets trading back to Atlanta or is he
03:45going to go to a more clear-cut contender as what many could argue one of the better lefty relievers
03:50in the game still and now he goes to the Twins a team that's obviously fighting and very much in
03:55the mix and the American League a weak American League we'll see how AJ does there but yeah I think
04:00more than anything Dex and I'll throw this back to you here you know this is the trend that we
04:04kind of
04:04expected strings to go down now the great question is going to be when we look at the other relievers
04:09and Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver especially where is the bar when it comes to what you're looking for
04:16in return because I think AJ kind of just set the blueprint well for real right it's hard to look
04:21at as anything otherwise for Weaver though I don't think any fan should be content if your return for
04:26Weaver is of similar ilk to what the Mets just had here with the Twins you definitely need to be
04:31shooting higher when looking at farms looking for top 100 prospects and thankfully according to our
04:36friend Wolf Salmon of the Athletic and others they're widely reporting that that's exactly what
04:40the Mets are looking for right now they want top 100 prospects across the board for some of their
04:46top talents so what's your takeaway from all so my takeaway from that is I think it's interesting
04:51that this is the deal that got done first in a way sort of I don't necessarily set the standard
04:56you kind of said set the bar right but when you're talking about a reliever at the level of
05:01what AJ Minter you know has pitched to in his couple of seasons and you know the previous season
05:07he had the injury and that took him out of that all that but he is a good reliever he
05:11is able to help
05:12the Twins here if you're getting two top 30 prospects to me that's good but here's the thing you just
05:17brought up if you're going if you're going to move a Luke Weaver we both think the Mets absolutely
05:21should move Luke Weaver because of the value they can get from him as the best arm out of their
05:27pen
05:27that they can trade right now okay now we're talking about can you get a top 10 prospect out
05:32of an organization to me that at least one you've got to do that when you're trading Luke Weaver right
05:37maybe you can get another lower level prospect but I think one has to be in the top 10 some
05:42might even
05:42say top five that might be pushing it but I think at least in the top 10 is what you
05:46got to get back
05:47and I think the other thing I would add is okay when you're trading Luke Weaver just he's a guy
05:51we're talking about is that top 10 prospect that you can get are they close to major league ready
05:57that is going to be the interesting thing for me can you get the prospect that is close to major
06:02ready now through this cold trade deadline and we do think the Mets are going to sell a lot
06:06will David Stearns get a lot of prospects that are close to major league ready that I'm not sure about
06:12but I do think where you have to hit on the guys that can get you the most value Luke
06:16Weaver being that
06:17that you can trade you've got to get a top 10 prospect and that guy should be close to major
06:22league ready if that happens that's fine but what you got for mentor this is pretty dope you get two
06:27top 30 prospects they're both infield prospects I don't know how that shakes up we'll get to that
06:32in a second around either of these guys but we've talked about this too Wardy the two things you want
06:38to do is can you get some guys that are close to major league ready can you also restock the
06:43farm
06:43system so that you have the ability to make more moves where you want to have that flexibility if
06:49you want to trade for a guy if you want to get a cost control player preferably maybe a starting
06:53pitcher for the Mets do you have the option to do that this offseason so David Stearns can actually
06:58cook we're still waiting to see if he can cook an offseason these are the ways you do this and
07:02I
07:02think by adding two top 30 prospects here that is a good move but you're 100% right this deal
07:09is going
07:10to not again not necessarily the standard but if you can get two top 30 prospects for AJ mentor
07:15now you have to look and say okay what can I get for Brooks Raley what can I get for
07:19Luke Weaver
07:20Hwaska Brosman I don't know maybe he gets around the same thing that you get for AJ mentor probably
07:26a little bit less because of his age but he does have years of control that's helpful these are all
07:30the things I think that matters so moving at AJ mentor first to me is interesting because that also
07:35tells me the Mets can then hold out to a degree and maybe Luke Weaver is a name that gets
07:41moved
07:42closer to the deadline as you can get teams to then bid against each other for his services I think
07:47that's going to be interesting to see not necessarily who gets moved but also when they get moved and how
07:53close to the deadline will they be moved that's interesting to me yeah it's funny how this whole time
08:00I was under the full expectation of the Mets would trade a lefty reliever as their first like kind of
08:05domino to fall after Peterson they did do that just the wrong lefty I thought it was Brooks Raley this
08:10entire time and it's AJ mentor who again sent to Minneapolis completely fine I'm sure Brooks is
08:15going to quickly fall suit probably not long after we drop this later on today but before we get out
08:20of
08:20here just one thing that I wanted to mention as well was the emphasis again on players that can impact
08:24as soon as next year you know not that I anticipate this player to make that kind of a jump
08:28because he's
08:29not even cracking technically and the Mets top 30 prospects right now which is interesting and
08:34that is one of the two players the Mets acquired in the steel and that is going to be Billy
08:37Amick
08:38Billy who can play both first base and third base was the 29th ranked prospect for a twins farm that's
08:43deemed by many as top five in baseball well according to MLB pipeline right now the Mets don't even have
08:48him in their top 30 whereas Benny Agbiani's son that being in Bruin he's actually ranked 22nd for them
08:54already so to start with Mr. Billy Amick what you need to know about him is that he's
08:59very reminiscent of Ryan Clifford a guy who swings and misses a lot in the Mets minor leagues right
09:04now he's right at the precipice of making his major league debut but given his inconsistencies this
09:09summer that's why the Mets have not went out of their way to bring up Clifford sooner and I've
09:13actually settled with Jorge Polanco and having statistically a 29th if not 30th ranked first
09:18base in all major league baseball this year so as we await to see more polishing on Clifford and his
09:23game
09:23someone like Billy here is similar batting from the right side because he also strikes out an absurd
09:29rate of 30 to 33 percent right now but he has a 217 average a well over 800 OPS because
09:35he slugs big
09:36time he's going to enter the Mets farm as one of their hardest hitters when he gets all the baseball
09:40he demolishes it okay he's got over 20 home runs this year 70 RBIs that we're seeing the farm a
09:45lot of
09:46actual raw power that could play up the major league level he just has a lot more fine tuning on
09:50his
09:50contact ability to handle major league pitching and then Benny's son Bruin great story obviously
09:55let's see if there's a little bit of added incentive now that he's in the Mets farm after growing up
10:00being around the Mets as much as he was thanks to his father going back all those years ago but
10:05Bruin is someone who's been dealing with injury for pretty much the entire year but the shortstop
10:09second base prospect was drafted in the sixth round just back in 2025 a year ago the 19 year old
10:15is
10:15someone who was looking very good this season up until he went down with injury and scouts are really
10:20bullish and according to multiple rival scouts that we've seen reportedly to this point they
10:24think that at minimum this was a fair deal if not a favorable deal for the New York Mets they
10:28really
10:29like the acquisition of Bruin especially between the two so that's kind of the latest on what you
10:33guys need to know in summary from this deal so a couple couple of things there and you're right
10:37I've seen a bunch of places grade this deal for the Mets and look it's early to grade deals because
10:41you never know what prospects how they're going to be but you've seen some places give the Mets a B
10:45for
10:45this deal you just mentioned with both of these players Amick and Agbayani you know in the age
10:51difference too Amick looking like he should be closer to majorly ready ready so 23 homers 820 OPS
10:57and double a yeah his ETA is next season so that's more more or less why I brought him up
11:02when you
11:02said guys are knocking on the door whether he won't or it's yet to be seen but who knows who's
11:07going to
11:07be at first base for the Mets next year so maybe he will be in spring training actually having
11:11somewhat of a shot who knows what David Stern and the thing is he's got the power right everything
11:16you read about him and from scouts he's got he's got the power except the 23 homers 820 OPS
11:20strikeout rate a little bit high as you mentioned there too and then Agbayani I was looking at his
11:26numbers here 268 average 412 on base percentage which is interesting only 19 as you mentioned there
11:32Wardy do what do you think I guess the question here about them both because you brought up the fact
11:38that Amick could be closer to majorly ready or projects to be closer to majorly ready now
11:44who's the who's the bigger prize of these two for the Mets when you look just I know it's early
11:49we
11:49haven't seen them play but you look at the numbers you read everything from the scouting what's the
11:53real prize in this deal for the the Mets is it Amick or is it Agbayani I think without you
12:00know
12:00sliding Amick at all I firmly believe it's Bruin you know he's 19 he's a more heralded prospect
12:05already in both organizations as is and according to multiple scouts I've read up on over the past
12:10total for 24 hours since the trade happened this past night they were really actually a little
12:14surprised that uh the twins were as willing to give away Bruin regardless of them having you know
12:19arguably it's hot five farm in baseball right now so bear that in mind where Bruin ranks say 21st
12:25or so for or if not 29th for the twins is not necessarily where he would rank for the Mets
12:31if he
12:31here to begin with or other teams as their depth and farm obviously varies from one club to another
12:36but yeah I would definitely say Bruin but above all I think it's more so about these are two guys
12:41that are far from locks that could be impacts of the major league level for the Mets I think more
12:46than anything this is just about bolstering your farm again and seeing where that takes you so that
12:51way Stearns has more assets in which he can get further creative to make this team the best it possibly
12:56can be for 2027 now I understand giving the keys to David Stearns and expecting him to build something
13:01great is you know a lofty task but in the meantime we're going to just have to deal with the
13:06cards
13:06that are dealt because we don't we don't have any other choice decks you know we can't make these
13:10decisions as much as at times I know we find ourselves wanting to I'm sure and as fans too fans
13:15want to we
13:16understand that I guess we'll wrap on this Wardy what does this AJ Minter deal tell you about Stearns
13:24plan going forward through the rest of this trade deadline does it tell you anything what his
13:30expectation for what he should get back I know we've kind of touched on it a bit with some other
13:34players like Luke Weaver Brooks Raley we haven't even talked about Freddy Peralta who it sounds like
13:40he's likely to be moved and there's interest in him but is there anything you take out of seeing
13:45this deal and saying okay this tells me a little bit more about what David Stearns might try to do
13:49here
13:49at the trade deadline oh for sure I think it brings it back to the top and how we started
13:54this
13:54conversation you know people have been wondering okay what is the philosophy heading into the
13:58deadline is it solely about adding prospect capital is it about adding prospect capital but also guys
14:04that can help us at the major league level is it you know one or the other is it something
14:08different
14:08well until we obviously see the Mets go out of their way and trade for guys that can impact them
14:12for
14:132027 and beyond I'm not saying they won't do that I just know the likelihood of that is easier said
14:18than done because if you're say trading for a Reed Detmers or Jose Soriano to the better starters
14:24available from the Angels who are under club control until 2029 the Stearns want to pay that
14:29kind of King's ransom at the trade in line where you're going up against a lot of contending teams
14:34betting for these guys instead of maybe waiting until the offseason for either those players or
14:39someone of similar ilk so I think more than anything this just paints the picture that again going back
14:44to Steve Cohen having a lot of immediate concern about the future of the club because of the farm
14:49and their shortcomings expect Stearns to just do this trade away as many rental guys as possible
14:54as many guys that they know that they can get value for that will not be here long term and
14:59going back
14:59to when we had our conversation if you think it's going to be over under again I absolutely still am
15:04hammering the over on the amount of players I think the Mets are going to part ways with you know
15:08if
15:08I'll be I wouldn't even be shocked if Devin Williams gets traded I'll be surprised but I won't be
15:13shocked by um would I be shocked by that that's good probably not well I'll tell you what if
15:21something like that happens and that happened closer to today than it is to the trade deadline
15:26on Monday that would tell me a lot about how aggressive David Stearns is being or hey your
15:35favorite word Rorty proactive he is being in trying to restock the farm system and then trading like a
15:42Devin Williams would even say more about the return you're trying to get to get more young
15:46players that are closer to being major league ready because if David Stearns to me comes out of this
15:51trade deadline with some more players maybe one or two that you feel are close to being major league
15:57ready I think that's a huge win for the Mets huge huge wins now again I don't know what those
16:01players
16:01will be I don't know if they will be good but getting guys that are young and close to being
16:06able to
16:06contribute to the big club would be really helpful here how much of it he can do I don't know
16:11so I
16:12it's it's weird because it's kind of like a feel like I'm doing a 6-7 thing but it's kind
16:15of like a
16:16balance right between both of the can you restock the farm system and can you also try to get guys
16:22that are ready now you also brought up can you go for a major league ready arm like a debt
16:27merge from
16:28the the angels who I would love to see the Mets get but in talking to some people and I
16:31even asked Mike
16:32Puma about this it sounds like the price would be high right now that you were alluding to right
16:37and you could probably wait for the offseason I think that would be a proactive move but I would
16:42understand why if that didn't happen the Mets weren't able to bring a front of the end of the
16:46rotation arm here that is cost control for the next couple years I understand why they might say okay
16:51let's wait to the offseason because right now the price is too high when you get to the offseason
16:55yesterday's price might not be today's price I get all that but you know it'll be interesting to see
17:00I think it I what I'll say is I do think this tells you that Stearns understands the task at
17:08a
17:08minimum now will the execution always be there in the way that the majority of us would like
17:13we have to wait and see and time will tell but I think he understands the task is to get
17:18the most
17:18value he can out of guys who are not going to be part of the next good Mets team and
17:24that is the
17:25job here at the deadline but first step is done AJ Minter in Minnesota Mets get two top 30 infield
17:32prospects back we will see what more comes out of this at the deadline Wardy and I are going to
17:37be
17:37busy checking our phones checking the news seeing what's going on and then uh we'll be we'll be back
17:42with the people for a trade deadline show on Monday which should be a lot of fun uh any final
17:48thoughts
17:48Wardy here on this deal or what's coming up uh final thoughts are it's going to be a bananas weekend
17:54I look forward to all the news that are inevitably going to come I'll be at a concert Saturday so
17:59expect a live stream right from a concert so that should be an absolute blast so okay that is going
18:05to be fun and listen the show goes on listen I can't I can't tell David you know turn off
18:10the phone
18:10for a couple hours so if he's got to do what he's got to do then so do I you
18:14know it doesn't matter we
18:15got it we got to break down the news wherever it's deemed best fit so yeah I'm excited for it
18:20and my final point going back to what you're saying is there's a bunch of pitching prospects
18:24out there that are knocking on the door that could compete for a Mets rotation spot as soon
18:28as next season with their young core I wonder how much of interest if at all does David have
18:33and that in particular if say he shoots a little bit higher than just getting rental on pardon me
18:39getting assets top 15 top 20 to top 30 prospect wise I wonder if he's going to be willing to
18:45sprinkle
18:45a little bit more along with one of these rental relievers or starters the Mets have to kind of
18:50juice that value to get something a greater semblance in return to help them for next season
18:55that's one thing that I'm really curious to see how David is going to operate from now
18:59until we reach the deadline on Monday it's going to be interesting also very interesting because we
19:03know there's a bunch of relievers the Mets can move who was the first non-reliever that gets moved
19:08by the Mets that I'm intrigued to see if that happens over the weekend we'll see a lot more to
19:12come
19:12here on Straight Outta Flushing that is my guy Tyler Ward I'm Dexter Henry we will catch everybody
19:18on another edition of Straight Outta Flushing and please let us know what you think about the AJ
19:23Minter deal in the comments and hit that like button hit that subscribe button and we'll be back
19:28with so much more on Straight Outta Flushing peace
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