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00:00John, usually it is the moment where I set you up about our guest, but our guest this week, you're
00:05my guest, and I guess vice versa.
00:09We're going to talk a lot about the trade deadline, the Yankees-Mets.
00:12We'll do some winners and losers at the end.
00:15Why don't you give us a quick thought on the trade deadline?
00:18Yeah, this is a rare chance, I think, for us to say nicer things about the Mets than the Yankees
00:23after that trade deadline.
00:25Yeah, we'll talk all about it.
00:26We'll talk about the Mets sell, the Yankees buy, and as I mentioned, we'll get through some of the teams
00:34I think we like at the end on Hit and Error.
00:36Please stick with us on the show with Joel Sherman and John Heyman.
00:45John, we've completed the trade deadline.
00:49It was busy.
00:51One tremendous star went.
00:53Tarek Skubal did get traded, shockingly, right, to the Dodgers.
00:58No shock.
00:59But some of the other big ones, like Mason Miller in particular, never went.
01:03Adrian Morihone, his setup guy, never went.
01:07John, the Yankees are, to me, in a precarious position right now.
01:12They've got the second-best record in the American League, but they make some second place in the AL East.
01:16The Red Sox are playing the best of any team in the majors.
01:19They just – we saw the Yankees play the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium.
01:22They lost two or three.
01:23The Red Sox went out to Chavez Ravine and won all three.
01:26They're flying.
01:27They got Adley Rutschman.
01:29The Yankees were the runner-up there.
01:31It was a did-not-get.
01:34And this is my big problem for them, and I wonder what you think, John.
01:37So they got Helio Ramos and Luis Garcia, both of whom I think can hit and will hit and help
01:43an offense.
01:44Neither is particularly good on defense, especially Ramos in the outfield.
01:49But I think their pitching is on fumes because all they've done is play two-to-one games when they
01:54could win.
01:55They've had to use their best guys.
01:57And their theory of the crime now is their pitchers are going to stay healthy.
02:01Their other pitchers are going to get healthy.
02:03That's going to allow them to stock the bullpen with probably Ryan Weathers and Clark Schmidt
02:08and maybe Luis Hill down the line or some combination like that.
02:13John, I think they're playing a razor-thin game.
02:16And, of course, all of it also includes, I'll believe Aaron Judge is playing Major League Baseball
02:21when I see him playing Major League Baseball.
02:23John, take it from me.
02:25I think they had a bad deadline.
02:27I think they had to get a depth reliever, too.
02:29Yeah, I mean, they acquired the slugging leader in the National League, Luis Garcia Jr.
02:34Normally, we would celebrate that.
02:36Garcia and Ramos are the two pickups.
02:39You know, to me, they don't really fit.
02:43I don't really get what they did.
02:47And it was a difficult deadline.
02:48Let's say going in, it was going to be difficult for the Yankees.
02:52Excuse my voice.
02:53I talked a lot yesterday.
02:55It was going to be tough, right?
02:56The relief market was terrible.
02:58The righty-bat market was terrible.
03:01That said, they had to do something.
03:02You have to overpay in some cases.
03:05I mean, you had a note a month ago or so that I repeated like 10 times now where the
03:12best prospect,
03:14or at least the prospect that became the best player that Brian Cashman ever gave up at the deadline,
03:19is probably Mark Melanson.
03:21Look, you're going to have to overpay in this circumstance.
03:24And I think he's just so resistant to overpaying.
03:28You know, in a sense, it's good.
03:30He knows who his prospects are.
03:31He's never done a PCA deal.
03:33He's never given away the store.
03:36But in this case, they needed relief pitching.
03:39Any decent team knows that all their relievers have pitched a lot in the first half, and they need relief
03:46pitching.
03:46You can't really go without a relief pitcher.
03:54I think Garcia is going to play most of the time, but they're going to be, you know, not even
04:01full-time players for the team.
04:03I don't think they were so good that they could afford to do that.
04:06I really don't.
04:07I think they needed to overpay.
04:08The Cubs didn't overpay.
04:10The Red Sox didn't overpay.
04:12You know, teams that want to win desperately do an overpay.
04:17I mean, I suggested Rutschman and Neto, and, you know, maybe they were beaten out for Rutschman.
04:24You couldn't even get Tyler Stevenson.
04:25I mean, you know, you couldn't get anybody.
04:29Jeffers, I think, you know, I mean, I think there were discussions.
04:33The Twins probably didn't want to trade him, but if you gave him a major overpay, you know, this is
04:39a guy with a 900 OPS who's a right-handed hitting catcher, who's great in the clubhouse.
04:44You know, give up somebody good.
04:46It just feels like, you know, they're going to, on paper, I guess, when we look back on it, it's
04:52going to look good.
04:53But on the field, I don't think it's going to look so great.
04:56Yeah, John, look, I think one of the reasons, I think Boston went to a place for Rutschman, from what
05:02I understand, went to a place the Yankees weren't going to go.
05:05But part of the reasons the Yankees couldn't go there was they've left themselves with so little pitching margin, and
05:11I think it was going, part of the trade had to be Wethers-A-Warren, right?
05:17Part of the trade was going to be Wethers-A-Warren.
05:19And somebody who goes right into the Baltimore rotation, the Yankees really can't subtract from their major league staff anymore.
05:26They've left themselves with nothing.
05:27And by the way, I understand it.
05:29Deval and Byrd failed here.
05:30That was a bad trade deadline last year.
05:33And they got rid of depth.
05:35Also, Yovani Cruz.
05:36Like, they have no depth now.
05:39They have zero pitching depth.
05:41Their theory is, all the current guys who have been overworked, they're going to stay healthy.
05:46By the way, I expect all of those guys, I expect Schlittler to pitch worse the rest of the season.
05:51I expect Cruz to pitch worse.
05:52I expect Bednar to pitch worse.
05:54I expect Hedrick to pitch worse.
05:56You know why?
05:57Because their track record said they shouldn't be this good.
06:00So, like, I'm not saying they're bad pitchers.
06:02It's just, like, I think they've gotten the best out of them.
06:05Guys like Hedrick and Blackburn have never been full-season relievers.
06:08Are they really going to make it to the finish line?
06:10I just think they've left themselves.
06:12They needed to get Antonio Sensatella.
06:14They needed to get Tyler Wells.
06:16They needed just another human being who's a good major league relief pitcher to bring in here to feel comfortable
06:23about.
06:24And, like, that's off the beaten track of you've got to give up a top prospect to get Rutschman or
06:30Mora Hone or Miller.
06:31I just think they failed on the, you do not, like, if they have an injury in their pitching staff
06:37in the next three weeks.
06:39And, by the way, like, it's a fragile pitching staff.
06:41You know, Rodan is always fragile.
06:44You know, Schmidt's coming back from Tommy John surgery.
06:47Cole's coming back from Tommy John surgery.
06:49Like, Freed just came back from an elbow issue.
06:52Schlittler's going to go so far beyond any innings he's ever pitched in his life.
06:55I just mentioned all the relievers.
06:57I just think they've left themselves incredibly vulnerable when we, there was all this worry about the hitting.
07:03And, yes, they had to address it.
07:04And, I guess, to some degree, they did with these mismatched parts.
07:07But, like, I think they needed a reliever or two, even depth reliever.
07:11Forget about eighth and ninth inning.
07:13Somebody you feel comfortable giving the ball to in the sixth and seventh inning.
07:16Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
07:18Hedrick and Blackburn, you know, they've pitched well beyond the expectation.
07:24And, Hedrick's been one of the best relievers in the game from a left-handed standpoint.
07:29I agree with you, Wells, Zephyr, John.
07:32I mean, there were relievers that were traded and gotten.
07:35I mean, Luke Weaver would have been optimal.
07:38Maybe they couldn't have matched what Pittsburgh was willing to do there.
07:41I don't know.
07:42But there had to be some reliever on that board.
07:44It was a bad market for relievers.
07:46Roselon would have helped them a lot.
07:48Yeah, certainly.
07:50They were unlucky in the fact that their needs were really not on the board.
07:55There were a limited number of players who could help them.
07:58But they didn't really get any of them, in my estimation.
08:01And I don't, you know, it's Luis Garcia.
08:04We saw him at the home run last night.
08:05He's very good.
08:06He can hit.
08:08I don't get that for them at all.
08:10I really don't.
08:11You know, I guess they like those guys that they traded as a trade piece.
08:15But, you know, they really can't give up a Warren or a Weathers.
08:20I mean, that's what kept them from getting a star catcher.
08:24I hope not.
08:25Well, then I think they would have had to find a starter or more pitching on the market.
08:29And, like, I think that's the problem.
08:31But what about all these guys they keep building up in the minor leagues?
08:33They're no good.
08:34Elmer Rodriguez.
08:35John, I'm with you.
08:36I have been a go-for-it-more guy.
08:42Like, as we learned, most prospects don't turn out.
08:46Major League Baseball is hard.
08:48And I would use them to get the stuff I need.
08:52I just think that they left themselves on a Rob Peter to pay Paul thing.
08:57If they were going to go for more of something.
09:01But they've got Rodon and they've got Schmidt coming back.
09:04John, they lost the game last night, right?
09:07Because they simply couldn't use any reliever except for a guy who gave up three homers in an inning.
09:13They didn't want to go to Cruz.
09:14By the way, that's the best Cruz's pitch in a while because he was just out there throwing and remembered
09:19he has good stuff
09:20and doesn't have to throw a freaking splitter on every pitch.
09:24But, like, Hill hasn't pitched well, Tim Hill.
09:29They lost that game because Tim Hill and Chavilly, like, they couldn't go to the best of their relievers yesterday.
09:34They needed more bullpen.
09:35They needed to get somebody.
09:37There were other relievers.
09:38Yeah, there were other relievers to get and they didn't get them.
09:41That's number one.
09:43But the catcher, look, Wells did it a home run.
09:45He is doing a little bit better lately.
09:47I think they needed help from the catching standpoint.
09:51Particularly a right-handed catcher as well.
09:52So, they didn't fill their needs at all.
09:55Look, the Cubs and the Red Sox are analytical teams, too.
09:59They're not exactly throwing prospects around and they filled their needs.
10:04Now, you know, obviously the Cubs gave up some good prospects and the Red Sox, I mean,
10:09gave up Ionson, who's an outstanding prospect.
10:13They're going for it.
10:14And, you know, I got to admire the teams that really do go for it.
10:18There's a little full circle there, right?
10:19Because Breslau was getting, and the Red Sox ownership was getting killed for not going
10:23for it for so long.
10:24And they were a team that really went for it at the deadline.
10:28John, there was one other major piece of news with the Yankees.
10:31After they lost on Monday night, it was announced that Anthony Volpe is going to the minor league.
10:37Jason Dominguez is going to the minor league.
10:38George Lombard Jr. is being called up.
10:43I think this is, I think it's both, can something, John, be both the right move and a Hail Mary?
10:51Yeah, I mean, Hail Mary's work, you know, if you've got Aaron Rodgers, then Hail Mary might work.
10:56Yeah, I mean, it gives us something positive to talk about.
11:00He is a very good prospect.
11:01Is he Derek Jeter?
11:02Now, I mean, Derek Jeter was hitting .330 at all the stops, right?
11:06This Lombard is an outstanding defender from everything that you hear, and he looks like
11:11he's hit very well lately, and I think Camillero will be excellent as a utility player, and
11:20you know, I think that was the right move.
11:22I don't mind it.
11:23I don't think it's a Hail Mary.
11:25I think it's the right move, but I get where you're coming from.
11:29Yeah, because, look, forget about Jeter.
11:33I went back and looked, the last time, to me, the Yankees and the Red Sox were really, really
11:40both competing for a high-level guy was Eric Gagne in 2007, and I remember the Yankees'
11:51bullpen was, like, trying to get the ball to Rivera.
11:56It was, like, Kyle Farnsworth and, like, just Jose Vera.
12:00It was terrible, and they desperately needed Gagne, and they lost out because they, we
12:04could go back then.
12:05They wouldn't include Melky Cabrera or Ian Kennedy in a trade.
12:08Now, both of those guys turned out to be very good baseball players for a long time.
12:11That's who they would include.
12:12The Red Sox included a guy named Engel Beltre, by the way, again, proving baseball's hard.
12:19That was the prospect that got them Gagne, and then Gagne almost tanked the Red Sox.
12:23He was so bad for them, and the reason I'm bringing the story is not only because it was
12:28Yankees' Red Sox, but the Yankee Hail Mary was to call up Jabber Chamberlain and put
12:32him in the bullpen, and he was great, and the Yankees almost caught the Red Sox.
12:35They were seven down at the deadline, and they almost caught him with Chamberlain in it,
12:39and I'm wondering, is, like, Lombard a guy who kind of just brings something defense,
12:44energy, homegrown, and really just turning the page away from Volpe?
12:49Like, it just brought them down, I think, because, like, the first round draft choice,
12:55the kid from New Jersey just hasn't worked.
12:56He needs to go play second base and probably needs to do it someplace outside of New York.
13:01It's possible.
13:02I mean, you're putting a lot on this kid now.
13:04It's the savior, right?
13:05I don't know.
13:06He didn't hit it.
13:06Well, I didn't put it.
13:07I'm telling the story.
13:08I'm telling the story.
13:09It was amazing.
13:10You have incredible recall.
13:10I called it a Hail Mary.
13:12I can barely remember anything in 2007.
13:14I thought you were going to say Jose Contreras.
13:16Yeah, they've had some battles before that have been interesting.
13:20That is funny, the way that turned out.
13:24You know, I don't know.
13:26I don't see him as the savior.
13:28We're not calling up A-Rod or Griffey or Jeter.
13:32They need energy.
13:32You're calling up a very good prospect who should do a nice job,
13:37and he's a very good defender, and maybe he'll bring a little extra, you know,
13:42juice to the club.
13:45But I don't know.
13:46I don't see a savior.
13:48I'm concerned about them where they are right now.
13:50Yeah, I think, first of all, I want to be clear,
13:52because I think you're putting words in my mouth.
13:53I didn't call him a savior.
13:55I said this was a Hail Mary.
13:58I'm not sure I would be doing this.
14:01I think I also said they're in big trouble because I think their pitching staff
14:05is exhausted and razor thin and one injury away from huge, huge problems.
14:10That is not a compliment, and I thought they had a bad trade deadline.
14:14So I please, I want to be clear that this was not.
14:17No, I knew you weren't complimenting anybody.
14:19I would recognize that rare compliment when I see it.
14:22And this would be the last thing.
14:25You mentioned Caballero.
14:28If Lombard is playing short, should Caballero be the second baseman of the Yankees?
14:34Wow.
14:35I mean, I mean, you...
14:37What is Jazz Chisholm bringing to the party?
14:39I'm just curious what he's bringing to the party.
14:41Well, he does have big power.
14:43He does have good speed.
14:44He does have range.
14:46No, I personally, I would write it out and see what he does.
14:51It is funny looking back on...
14:53What he does is mark the team a lot.
14:55It seems like a lot of people are mad at him.
14:59I'm not mad at him.
15:00I could give a shit if you win the games or not.
15:03I'm blocking the game.
15:03No, not you.
15:04I didn't say you were mad at him.
15:05I think there are people around the team that are mad at him.
15:08Yeah, I think that's very true.
15:11Exactly.
15:12And I think people around the league are denigrating him, but he does have great talent.
15:17You know, can't they just get him to focus a little bit better?
15:20I mean, the guy's got amazing talent, you know.
15:23Can't they get Jason Dominguez to slide properly?
15:26It seems that they're not good at some stuff.
15:30That is funny to see a guy who's that kind of speed, that kind of athlete doing that.
15:35I mean, you know, most people aren't moving that fast that they would overslide by that much.
15:40But I give Joe Girardi credit on the broadcast.
15:43He said it the day of the other day.
15:44No, he did.
15:45He slid.
15:45He's like, he's sliding.
15:46But he's not the manager.
15:47He's not the manager.
15:48Dominguez isn't listening to the broadcast.
15:50There's never been more coaches.
15:52Is somebody not saying to him, slide earlier?
15:55Well, I think they did afterward.
15:57I mean, yeah.
16:00Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's their biggest problem.
16:03Their biggest problem right now is they didn't fill their needs.
16:05I still stick with that.
16:07But, you know, with young players, you're going to get mistakes.
16:10So I'm not shocked that they make mistakes.
16:13But their team isn't good enough.
16:15They don't have a good enough right-handed hitting.
16:17They don't have a catcher.
16:18And I think the bullpen, which was among the better ones in baseball in the first half,
16:24is going to go down now.
16:26I'm not saying it's going to be terrible, but it's not going to be the same.
16:29The team that traded most of their bullpen all over the major leagues is the Mets.
16:34And we'll be talking about them next on the show.
16:41John, there was no team that traded out more players than the Mets.
16:46Was it seven by the end?
16:49All the guys we thought would go except for Lewis Robert Jr. went.
16:53There are two veteran lefty relievers, Minter and Raley, two starters, Holmes and Peralta.
17:01Tyrone Taylor, Oscar Brazabon.
17:03Did I miss somebody?
17:04I mentioned Peralta.
17:05Did I miss anybody?
17:06I think I hit the seven, right?
17:07I think so.
17:09John, in some way, I'm happy to go wherever you want to go on this.
17:12It just feels like their grade is really, do they use these prospects in the offseason
17:18with other stuff to go get players?
17:20You pointed this out a bunch.
17:22This is not a good free agent class, especially for position players.
17:26If you're going to improve externally, you're probably going to have to make
17:29a trade or three.
17:31They have a little more collateral to do it.
17:34And then beyond that, it's going to take some time to know if they got the right players
17:40or not for all of this.
17:42We learned with time that Drew Gilbert, Luis Angel Acuna, and it looks like Ryan Clifford
17:50weren't the right guys to get for Scherzer and Verlander.
17:55Go wherever you'd like on the Mets, John.
17:57Yeah, I mean, we had to have pretty low expectations.
18:01They traded two Hall of Famers, as you pointed out, and got very little, as it turned out.
18:06Last time, they were a seller.
18:08It's not easy.
18:09It's not easy to pick the right prospects unless you're selling somebody like Scoobble,
18:14which you probably shouldn't miss.
18:17But in this case, they didn't have anybody like Scoobble.
18:19They didn't.
18:20I will say this.
18:21I do like the fact that they went a little bit more for quality.
18:25You know, they get two for one.
18:26They traded Holmes with Taylor to get Rojas, who's looked really good this year and could
18:33be.
18:33I don't know.
18:34He's not rated that high, but I think the ratings must be off based on how he's performed.
18:40Maybe they need to update the ratings.
18:41Because I saw one where the Mets don't have any top 100 prospects anymore.
18:45And look, Sammy Stafura with the Pirates, they got for Weaver.
18:51I like that, that they got one very good prospect.
18:54He's had 16 home runs in the last 22 games.
18:57He's a New Yorker, which is an extra bonus point for us, or for me anyway.
19:02I like the fact they went for quality.
19:04That said, you know, they're not going to necessarily be superstars, but I think they
19:09got two really good prospects, at least there.
19:12I mean, with Peralta, I'm shocked they got anything, really.
19:15To be honest, I mean, he had a five ERA.
19:18I think the only reason they could get anything is because other teams felt it was their fault
19:23that he was performing so poorly, right?
19:25So they got rewarded, right?
19:28They got rewarded for, you know, perceived incompetence.
19:33So, but I mean, seriously, you're in the playoff race.
19:37You really think you're going to fix somebody who's got a five ERA?
19:39And by the way, it's not just a five ERA.
19:42It's more like the last month, it's been more like a 70 ERA, I believe.
19:46So, you know, I think they did well with these trades.
19:50We'll see in years.
19:52But, you know, they didn't fix everything.
19:55I mean, obviously the offseason that they had.
19:59I mean, they've got guys who make you $20 million who are not worth anything, right?
20:02Luis Robert, who we kept hearing had a market, apparently had no market, right?
20:07Or if they had a deal for him, they didn't do it in time and somebody got Joe Adele or
20:13whomever instead.
20:14He had no market.
20:17Polanco, he's making $20 million a year.
20:19He clearly has no market, right?
20:20Devin Williams, $17 million a year.
20:23He doesn't have a market.
20:24So, all these moves in the winter are hurting them now and they're going to continue to hurt them and
20:30they have to make brilliant moves to make up for what happened in the winter.
20:34But, I mean, I like what they did.
20:36I give them a good grade on what they did, but they got a long way to go.
20:39Yeah, I generally feel the grade is just incomplete until we know a lot more.
20:45That's probably true for almost anyone who's a seller.
20:47And can I just say something generally that I'm more and more uncomfortable with, which is we go – and
20:55I am not on anybody's case at Baseball America or MLB.com.
21:00I'm sure these guys work incredibly hard to create team top 30 list and team top 100 list.
21:07But I'm sure they don't match up very well with what teams have for themselves and for others.
21:14And I always just caution, like, if you traded with the Yankees 24 months ago, Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler
21:22would have been unranked, right?
21:24Like, they were nobody's top 100 list, right?
21:26If you made a trade with the Mets in 2017, Pete Alonso was unranked.
21:32Aaron Judge was never like a top 50 prospect.
21:35Right, and Dominguez was untouchable.
21:37He was ranked so high.
21:39I mean, Anthony Volpe was like number six in Baseball America one year.
21:44He was one of the key pieces in the offer for Otani, Volpe and Dominguez, right?
21:50I mean, it's good that they offered them.
21:52I mean, you know, obviously the Angels had better offers.
21:55They had the San Diego group with Abrams and Wood and whatever, and they still weren't able to do it
22:00because Artie Moreno, the owner, doesn't want to do anything, at least until this – at least until yesterday.
22:05They didn't want to do anything.
22:06But, yeah, I mean, right, Volpe rated it very high.
22:09Peraza was a guy they didn't want to trade.
22:11It's very difficult to figure out who the top prospects are.
22:14So I don't really believe the lists, and I do think the Mets got – even if they're not on
22:18the list, Stifura and Rojas look like good prospects if you look at their stats and you talk to people
22:24about it.
22:25So somebody who covered – and again, this is – so I always want to be cautious about it.
22:30It's one person, it wasn't a Met person, and it's not a Ray person, but it was a person who
22:35covers the Ray system, said the Mets did well for Peralta.
22:40They got guys who you could believe will all play in the major leagues with some ceiling.
22:45Will they be grateful – like, and to your point, like, that's amazing for a guy in his walk year
22:51having a bad year.
22:52But it's also a reminder.
22:54Tampa Bay, for example, has a very, very good farm system.
22:58So even if you get legitimately their 10th ranked guy, that's somebody else's second ranked guy.
23:04Yeah, did you see the way they moved up on the Mets rankings?
23:06They were, like, ranked, I don't know, 17, 19, and 25, and now they're ranked 12th with the Mets.
23:12They're ranked a lot higher.
23:13You know, people say don't trade with Tampa.
23:16I mean, to me, this looks like a fantastic trade.
23:19You know, Peralta, you know, people denigrate with – oh, that's a good personality.
23:24Maybe his good personality helped.
23:26Maybe his good contract, he's only making – he's only got $2.4 million to go or something like that.
23:32Maybe that helped.
23:33There were different factors.
23:35But, you know, I'm shocked that a 5 ERA brings you three prospects who are ranked in the Tampa Bay
23:42system.
23:43You know, Tampa Bay is good at what they do.
23:45You know, maybe these guys aren't going to turn out.
23:47But then again, also, you know, they are trying to win.
23:51They didn't get Scoobull.
23:54So, you know, Peralta's not Scoobull.
23:56But they made trades, right?
23:57They got some pieces, Hicks and Wells, right, who might help them.
24:02So –
24:02I think Hicks is a pretty good hitter.
24:05He can hit.
24:05Yeah, he really improved as a hitter.
24:07So, they're improved, I wouldn't say, around the margins.
24:10But they made some improvements.
24:12And in the American League, that is saying something.
24:16I mean, anybody who was, like, rumored to be getting Scoobull and didn't get Scoobull, I'm going to say, wow,
24:21you could have done better.
24:22But, you know, as usual, they did pretty well.
24:26Other than, I love Peralta.
24:28He does have a great personality.
24:30I want to see it to believe it.
24:31If they turn him around right away, we're going to wonder why exactly he was so terrible with the Mets.
24:37And he was terrible.
24:37And he admitted it.
24:38I mean, he's a terrific guy.
24:40And he'll be missed in the clubhouse.
24:43You know, John, the Cubs have turned around David Peterson.
24:46So, I'm –
24:47Well, their defense, their defense is –
24:49It's very good.
24:49I think it's the best.
24:50And I don't know what the metrics say, but you've got Bregman.
24:53You've got Swanson.
24:54You've got Horner.
24:55You've got arguably, you know, probably Bregman's not the best third baseman, but he's in the top five.
25:01Swanson is in the top five.
25:02And Horner is the best second baseman.
25:04I think Terrain's pretty good as well.
25:05And Bush is a good first baseman.
25:07He's good.
25:07Right.
25:08He's good.
25:08So, I mean, he's a ground ball pitcher.
25:12Yeah, I see his BABIP.
25:13I hate to bring up stuff like that.
25:14But his BABIP is 125 points better, right?
25:17It was like a ball in play when he was with the Mets were like 350, and now they're like
25:22220.
25:24So, that doesn't make a difference.
25:25Peralta's not a ground ball pitcher, and I don't think Tampa's defense, you know, it's certainly good, but it's not
25:31the Cubs.
25:31So, I don't know that that's going to do it.
25:33We'll see.
25:34You know, if he certainly turns back into the pitcher that he was last year, we can all agree it
25:41was the Mets' fault that Peralta was not himself.
25:45John, it's for shows in coming weeks to probably talk about what's left with the Mets to care about or
25:53whatever.
25:54But I was looking.
25:55Are they really down to fans coming, I think it's September 14th to 16th, to boo because Pete Alonso's back
26:02in town with the Orioles?
26:03Is this what's left for the Mets?
26:05To cheer, right?
26:06You mean to boo the team?
26:07Well, boo the team and cheer.
26:09Yeah, I got you.
26:10Yeah, I'd probably put that part.
26:12I don't know.
26:12If you're a Mets fan, you're probably used to losing and, you know, you like to go out to the
26:16ball game.
26:17They have great food.
26:19Not that I'm selling, but they have great food.
26:21I love Citi Field.
26:22It's a beautiful field.
26:24I still would rank San Diego and maybe Pittsburgh as the top two, but I think it's a top five
26:32field.
26:33It's a fun place to be, and they do a great job.
26:36And it's too loud for me.
26:39Unfortunately, my hearing is still good at my age.
26:41It's too loud, but it's not like Yankee Stadium where they're, like, trying to blast you out of there, right?
26:46I mean, I don't even get it at all.
26:49I don't get it.
26:50I think the Mets, other than the team, it's a very, very nice time, I think.
26:55I think the fans would trade some worse than that.
26:58They would.
27:01We did the Yankees at Mets.
27:02John and I will do hit and error and close up if you stick with us on the show.
27:12Well, John, we usually thank a guest right now.
27:16Instead of doing that, I'll go right to it.
27:17Hit or error this week?
27:19I'm going to give a hit to the Cubs.
27:20We've had a lot of praise for the Cubs on this podcast.
27:23I think they did a great job.
27:25They gave up some prospects, but they improved their chances.
27:29They have a terrific positional team.
27:31And as is their M.O., the way they go, they get decent or good starting pitchers to go with
27:38these star position players.
27:39And I think they're more than decent.
27:41And Gaussman, I think, in Chicago will be good.
27:45And I think Holmes was great at the beginning of the year before he was unfortunately struck by that line
27:52drive off the bat of Spencer Jones.
27:54Not blaming Spencer Jones.
27:55But I think Holmes and Gaussman is what they needed.
28:00I like Zephyr, John.
28:01He throws very hard.
28:02I know a lot of people don't know about him.
28:04He's with the Angels or was with the Angels, so people aren't following it.
28:07I actually think Braxton Garrett has potential as a starter, a lefty.
28:12And I love Taylor.
28:14I mean, the guy was doing great for the Mets.
28:16He's very hot.
28:17And he's a great fielder in the outfield.
28:20So I think the Cubs have given themselves a real shot here.
28:24And it's not easy to have a real shot in the National League because, obviously, the Dodgers have a super
28:29team.
28:31Somebody else is going to need a little luck to beat the Dodgers, too.
28:34But I do love what the Cubs did.
28:37Yeah.
28:38Zephyr, John, actually strikes out one out of every three batters he faced.
28:41He walks a little too many, but he's very, very hard to hit.
28:44He's an unknown guy.
28:44I would be curious what it feels like to go from the Angels into the fire, into a big city,
28:49and into a pennant race.
28:50John, I'm going to give a – we both gave hits this week.
28:53I'm going to give a hit also.
28:53I'm going to give a hit to the Padres.
28:55There were questions if they'd go for it or not.
28:57And maybe we should have never had that question.
29:00They're run by A.J. Preller.
29:03And I know he took lots and lots of phone calls on Mason Miller.
29:07He took lots and lots of phone calls on Adrian Morajone, on a lot of his relievers.
29:11There's – the Padres played a lot better over the last few weeks.
29:16Their offense finally woke up a little.
29:19Merrill, Tatis, Machado, and they've hit well for a few weeks.
29:22They were trying to do pitching chaos around Michael King.
29:27They had no starting pitching.
29:29And I keep hearing that A.J. Preller doesn't have any prospects, but he did get Robbie Ray, who's pitched
29:36really well.
29:37And he did get Casey Mize, who's when he's been healthy this year, has pitched really well.
29:41And he's given himself a puncher's chance, which is they're two games out of the wild card.
29:45As you mentioned, the beautiful ballpark.
29:47The reason I want to make them the hit here is I am so tired of teams playing for 2029
29:53and 2030.
29:55I am so tired of surplus value.
29:59I just can't.
30:00Like, this is the greatest error in the history of the Padres.
30:03They have never been a contender for this sustainable period, right?
30:07They've never drawn fans this consistently.
30:10They draw over 3 million fans, which means they've made fans for a lifetime over the last five or six
30:16years in their town.
30:18Will they be bad in 2029 and 2030, as everybody keeps telling me?
30:22Yeah, probably.
30:23These will be bad contracts, whatever.
30:25But I hear we're playing the 2026 season.
30:28I hear we played the 2025 season.
30:31I hear we played, by the way, like they almost beat the Dodgers a couple of years ago.
30:36They might have won the World Series if they just would have converted one of those last two games.
30:39They were like the Blue Jays last year.
30:41They had a real shot to win their first ever World Series.
30:44Can we honor the season in front of us?
30:47And I give AJ Preller and new ownership because they had to take on especially the money of Ray, which
30:51was not insignificant.
30:52Again, I give them credit for they've got 3 million people coming.
30:57They're in a good period of time.
30:59They have veteran players who are making a lot of money.
31:02They're go-for-it players.
31:04For somebody who wasn't looking for surplus value and worrying about 2029, my hit is to AJ Preller, the new
31:11ownership, and the San Diego Padres.
31:13Yeah, I'm with you.
31:14They were actually my number two winner in the post today.
31:18If you want to go out and get the paper, the Dodgers, obviously, everybody's number one winner.
31:22The Cubs on the list.
31:23But, yeah, I think the Padres did great to get Mize and Ray.
31:27I get that they're rentals.
31:29I get that they probably overpaid by the surplus value or whatever.
31:33But they didn't give up a top 100 prospect, if that means anything.
31:37Was it Cash Mayfield?
31:38Is that his name he gave up?
31:39He's not a top 100.
31:41They have cool names in their system, too, right?
31:43Cruz Schoolcraft is their higher-ranked pitcher.
31:49But they ended up with Mize, and they ended up with Ray.
31:52Those are two coveted rental pitchers in this market.
31:56Once School Bowl was gone, those might have been number one in two rental starters.
32:03So they did well.
32:04I think they wanted a left-handed bat.
32:07They tried for many, many players.
32:10They tried for Burleson, who had three home runs against the Yankees.
32:12Good thing St. Louis held on to them.
32:14But they tried for many, didn't come up with them.
32:17And I still think, you know, I'm with them.
32:21I get it.
32:22And really, they don't get enough credit.
32:24The fans are there, but I think they've won three times the number of playoff series
32:29that the Brewers have in this.
32:31And, you know, the Brewers have done fantastic.
32:33But they've won, like, one playoff series, right, in this hole in the last seven years
32:38or whatever.
32:38And I was there.
32:39I was there when they were up 2-1 because I was waiting for the Mets to come play them.
32:44And, right, they had a bullpen game.
32:46They had Dylan Cease against a bullpen game.
32:50And didn't pull it off.
32:52Cease was terrible.
32:53He came in short rest.
32:55He wasn't good.
32:56And they lost that game.
32:57I was 7-1 or something like that.
32:59Then the next one, they are 7-0.
33:01And they lost the next one 2-0.
33:03If people say Dave Roberts might have gotten fired, I don't really believe that.
33:07I think Dave Roberts even said that he might have gotten fired.
33:10I don't really think so.
33:11But look how it turned out.
33:12He won that.
33:13Ended up winning the World Series.
33:14Then won the next World Series.
33:16So, yeah, give the Padres credit.
33:19They're in a tough spot there against the Dodgers.
33:21And they managed to make the playoffs a lot.
33:25And they even win some playoff series occasionally.
33:28Yeah.
33:28Look, they might not get in this year.
33:30They're not.
33:31The season ended today.
33:32They're not in.
33:32But the idea is to try to win.
33:34And I honor the idea of trying to win the season in front of you.
33:38Our untouchable player, as always, nobody could trade for him, is Tommy Hogan, our great producer.
33:43Tommy, thank you for joining us so early this morning, hopping on early and making this possible.
33:49Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, please rate and review us.
33:52The New York Post sports YouTube page.
33:55Give us a view.
33:56And we're beyond the trade deadline.
33:57But now we're steaming towards the playoffs.
33:59So stick with us on the show with Joel Sherman and John Heyman.
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