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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 boy Dexter Henry with my guy, Tyler Ward, a.k.a. Wardy.
00:17Saw a very busy week for myself and Wardy with the trade deadline,
00:20a lot of content we were putting out, Wardy busy on his streams.
00:23We put out a couple videos on the prospects,
00:25and Wardy's talking about how the Mets having fun again.
00:28And so a lot of good stuff, good vibes that we've been talking around the Mets, my friend.
00:33Crazy, Dex. Crazy. I'm not used to this.
00:37We're not used to it at all, but here we are.
00:39But here, this episode, I thought you had a great idea for something for us to talk about,
00:43and I thought it was good.
00:44So Wardy was like, yo, we got to talk about the Mets' new look bullpen.
00:47They have gotten rid of four major relievers, big parts of their pen,
00:51and now this pen looks completely new.
00:54And there's some very, in my opinion, very interesting names.
00:58To watch here in this Mets' bullpen.
01:01So let me start with this, because we also picked, we don't know who we picked,
01:05but we picked the three of the most intriguing names we are watching in this bullpen down the stretch,
01:10or we're most excited to watch, is what I'll say.
01:13But the first thing I want to know from you, Wardy,
01:15is with all the change in the bullpen, are you, does this excite you?
01:20Is this something that really has rejuvenated you to look at the rest of the season and say,
01:24hey, I want to see what some guys here in this pen could do?
01:28I don't know if rejuvenation is the word, but definitely a level of excitement versus what has been
01:33a really frustrating and very underwhelming beginning, or really the entire first half of this season.
01:40You know, the Mets traded away, in a lot of ways, one of the better bullpens in all major league
01:44baseball,
01:44not just the national league.
01:45And normally you say to yourself, well, if you're trading a bullpen in that good a way,
01:49why should I at all be happy about who's replacing?
01:51Well, again, when you look at the names, when you look at the personalities,
01:54especially with some of these guys, you should have a level of enticement and really see,
01:58oh, are these guys that could impact us beyond the 2026 season?
02:01And the answer to that may very well be yes.
02:03So I think that goes into hand as to why this is a fun discussion this evening,
02:07and I'm looking forward to getting into it.
02:08So, Dex, without further ado, let's just hop right into this,
02:11and let's begin with, in no particular order,
02:13let's start with one of your three relievers that you are keeping the closest eye on
02:18down the stretch here, and why?
02:19Who would that be?
02:21All right, so I made a, I don't know if it's sort of in order,
02:24but I put this in this way.
02:26One I think is going to be interesting for the fans.
02:29Nate Lavender is for me because, look, we saw him make his major league debut on August 4th,
02:38and look, he's had an injury-interrupted path, I guess you could say,
02:41through the Mets farm system, right?
02:43But the first two outings that he had with the Mets, they looked pretty good, right?
02:46Two in the third inning, zero hits, one walk, three strikeouts.
02:49You liked the swing and miss stuff that you saw from him?
02:53Now, is that real?
02:55Is that something that can continuously be there for him?
02:58Because the strikeout ability looks like it could be there, right?
03:02That's kind of been his calling card when you look at his numbers through his minor league career.
03:05And for me, that's the thing I want to really watch with him over these next, you know, under two
03:11months now, right?
03:12Like, how does that minor league strikeout ability translate against major league hitters?
03:16And I think the other thing, when you look at this with him, this is a huge opportunity because with
03:22Brooks Raley, with AJ Minter going out,
03:26this is a huge spot for a lefty, a left-handed reliever, which Mets now need and need to see
03:31what they could have for 2027, Wardy.
03:33This is a great opportunity for him.
03:35So for me, when I look at it like that, you know, along with Jeff Yon, it's what are these
03:40guys going to do to try to win that spot?
03:43Can they be part of the solution as a lefty reliever in 2027?
03:46And then I think the last thing for me, right, when I'm looking at a lefty like him, a young
03:51lefty, it's, okay, what are you going to do against right-handed hitters, right?
03:56Now, the Mets are not going to be playing meaningful September baseball, but I would think Andy Green is going
04:01to have him against some righties.
04:03Let's see how useful he is, how he rises to that challenge, right?
04:08Because if not, well, not if not, you will know then, okay, is he just a lefty specialist that you
04:14use against left-handers?
04:15Or is this a guy you could bring in to compete against right-handed batters?
04:19Like, that's the thing for me that I'm watching.
04:21So for me is that, hey, man, could this guy be a left-handed bullpen answer for 2027?
04:25The early start for him that we've seen from him since his debut on August 4th has been good.
04:30The thing for him is, does he have to swing and miss stuff?
04:33Can he stay healthy?
04:35And what can he then do against right-handers?
04:36Those are the big things for me.
04:38So right off the bat, Dexter, certainly in the line, because Labdog is one of my three picks as well,
04:43and not a lot to stay on him.
04:45You know, so for those that don't know really the story with Nate Lavender, it's an interesting one, because with
04:49the Mets, it kind of all started going back to that 2024 Mets spring training,
04:53where he just looked like a little nasty Nestor Cortez out of nowhere.
04:57He's doing these little leg hezzies, you know, being, you know, I'm going to slow down the first time I
05:01throw versus the second time, you know,
05:03not being consistent in his pace to those batters.
05:06And it was very deceptive, and it was leading to a lot of great spring success.
05:10As we know, he then went down with injury for pretty much the entirety of that season.
05:13Then he was picked up by the Tampa Bay Rays, if I'm not mistaken, the Rule 5 draft, and then
05:19with the Rays, got injured, and then was out all the ensuing next season or so.
05:23And then he was returned back to the New York Mets, now entering this season, as we saw, entering, and
05:29now we see Lavender finally healthy.
05:31And in his 25 or so innings at the AAA level this year, you want to talk about swing and
05:35miss decks, 14.5K per nine, okay?
05:38Like right around a three walks per nine, an insane K-to-walk ratio, and expected to erase sub three.
05:44Really good numbers for Lavender.
05:46So to see what he's doing at the major league level now, if we want to take more than a
05:50grain of salt as to what he did in the minors this year,
05:52should be, again, a sign that, oh, wow, this is actually a solid southpaw, true lefty option that could be
06:00formidable for the Mets beyond the 2026 season.
06:02And it's great, too, because, again, it took him this long to get his major league debut.
06:06You know, that's going to be a trend, I feel like, in this conversation as well.
06:10You know, it's great to see these guys, you know, not necessarily being your heralded prospects in their early 20s,
06:15but guys, you know, towards their late 20s, if not really 30s, finally getting a taste of the bigs and
06:20having success.
06:21And, you know, Dex, before we get into our next pitcher here, this is not me saying that he's in
06:25my group, per se, just in general.
06:27It reminds me as well of a veteran that was in the Mets bullpen in the farm for a while,
06:31and that was Daniel Nunez when he got the call in 2024.
06:34He came out of nowhere, you know, when no one really had him on his radar.
06:37And David Stern said, oh, this guy throws like 98 consistently and has a nice slider similar to Diaz.
06:43Let's give him a call.
06:44Why not?
06:44And that held true to be successful up until he went down with injuries.
06:48So, Dex, any final remarks you'd like to make before we get on to our next player here?
06:52No, I'm glad we both had one of the same guys here.
06:56I was wondering if we would.
06:57I thought we might have this.
06:58I thought you might be interested in seeing what Nate Lavender could do.
07:00I do have to say, you just mentioned one of my guys on the list, and that's Daniel Nunez.
07:07So, I'm going to bring him up now.
07:09And the reason is because for me, Wardy, and I know people are like, yeah, well, we've seen him before,
07:15but I think it matters.
07:17This matters here because we've already seen what he can do at the major league level, right?
07:22This is about him reclaiming.
07:26I'm going to go reclamation, reclaiming his spot of what he can do again, right?
07:29You look at the numbers in 2024, and I had to pull it up because I was like, Dan, I
07:32remember how good he was and how impressed I was when David Stearns called him up.
07:37And I like the proactivity.
07:38We keep coming back to that word.
07:41There you go, Dex.
07:51That was a dominant statistical profile that we saw from Daniel Nunez, right?
07:56So, this for me is different than Lavender because you're not asking whether he could pitch at the major league
08:01level.
08:02We know that he could do this in a major league bullpen.
08:05The question is, can he be that guy again?
08:08Can he be the guy that we saw in 2024 again?
08:11Now, here's the thing.
08:13Tommy John surgery last year, he's just coming back.
08:16The Mets have said they're going to be careful with his workload.
08:19They're going to, you know, as you would following the surgery.
08:21So, I think when I look at it over the next, you know, we say eight weeks or so with
08:26Daniel Nunez, for me, it's how does he handle the workload, right?
08:31How does he look when he's pitching multiple times a week?
08:35You know, early, his fastball early on has looked pretty good.
08:38We saw him top around 98 miles per hour.
08:41That's pretty good.
08:42You know, we know he's got a great four-seamer.
08:44We saw him throw that very well in 2024.
08:49He's got a good slider, too.
08:50You just talked about that earlier about the mix that he's got there, right?
08:54It's just how does he hold up against usage?
08:56That's the thing.
08:56Listen, I think he might have some rough spots at times.
08:59He might get hit.
09:00I'm not focused as much on the ERA.
09:02It's the bounce-back ability.
09:03How's he holding up for the rest of the year?
09:05That's the big thing for me because how does his body hold up with the repeated bullpen usage?
09:10How does he work back to that?
09:11And if he's in a place where he's working back well to that and we're seeing sort of strength in
09:15his recovery after his appearance after appearance as we get to the end of September, then I think we're all
09:21like, okay, he is a situation where we know what he can do.
09:25And you might look at the guys we mentioned here and say, because we've seen a body of work, plus
09:30this in 2026, he's probably one of the safest bets of these guys that we're going to talk about in
09:35terms of contributing to the bullpen in 2027.
09:38So he's very interesting to me, but it's less about watching his stuff.
09:41For me, it's more about how does he hold up in terms of his usage?
09:45Yeah, you got to hold up.
09:46And that's the main thing for Nunez because he has looked good.
09:48And I know he hasn't looked the greatest in his first couple outings here, but I'm saying in general, like
09:52as long as the stuff is there, everything is going to, you know, the rust will come off eventually.
09:57I do think that he'll give us some solid showings this season, as long as the Mets aren't quick to
10:01maybe send him back down to the minor leagues.
10:03Because who knows exactly how aggressive versus conservative they may be now, knowing that they're not in a position where
10:09they're, of course, they're trying to win every game, as Andy Green will tell the media.
10:13But we all know the story.
10:14This is a team currently at the time of us talking 16 games below 500.
10:18They're losing nine to nothing in game two against Pittsburgh.
10:21You're likely watching this either before or after the series has gone wrapped up.
10:26So these stats for these pitchers might be slightly off here.
10:28But regardless, one outing doesn't change the fact of how we feel.
10:31If that is the case, then we should not be talking anything in regards to baseball because we are way
10:37too flip flop.
10:38Oh, one good eye and one bad eye.
10:39And we're going to or we can't do that.
10:41OK, we can be somewhat inconsistent, but not that bad.
10:43All right.
10:44Right.
10:44So now to get into my pick here on number two, I'm glad you picked Nunez because that's contrary for
10:49mine.
10:50You probably have him on your list as well.
10:52But we have to talk about, obviously, the towering southpaw, Mr. Jeffrey on.
10:56I mean, how can we not?
10:57I didn't I didn't have him on my list.
10:59I didn't have him on my list, Wardy, because I thought you might pick him.
11:02And so this is where we do.
11:04We differ.
11:04But this is good.
11:05OK, this is great.
11:06Well, we can I say something real quick?
11:08Yeah, go ahead.
11:09And you just did a great video for us on this.
11:12Hey, man, I love the Jeffrey Yan is out here having fun.
11:15I love it.
11:16Now, some people may think he's doing too much with the celebration.
11:18Man, I don't care about all that.
11:20Like and if you're not going to have fun watching Mr.
11:22Jeffrey Yan pitch, I don't know what's up.
11:23But go ahead, Wardy.
11:24I'm sorry.
11:25Yeah, no, I won't go on a long tangent as to why I like Jeffrey on, not just because
11:29he's a New York man.
11:30I mean, I've liked him prior to he was a man.
11:32I've talked about him for a couple of years now.
11:34My friend has been following him when he was in the Rockies organization as well.
11:37I remember seeing his jumps and his antics and spring training of a year ago in Arizona.
11:42I mean, this is not new, but it is new in case you guys don't know ball as much.
11:47And Jeffrey Yon's been around for a while.
11:48He's at the age of 29.
11:49He's been bouncing around teams, but finally made his major league debut for the New York
11:54Mets as we saw.
11:54And of course, that first strikeout 89 inside, it got him looking and the emphatic drop of
12:01the jump, the drop.
12:03People think it's going to be Edwin Diaz 2023 situation with the knee.
12:06I don't think that's going to happen.
12:08Okay.
12:08I think Jeffrey's done.
12:09It's so consistently that, you know, God forbid if it does happen, you know, okay, then that's
12:13karma.
12:14But he's done it a lot.
12:15He's done it like hundreds of times and that's not an exaggeration.
12:18Jeffrey Yon strikes out guys at an insane rate.
12:20And that's why he got the call by the New York Mets.
12:23Okay.
12:23He will be at a 16 K per nine for the New York Mets and triple a this year in
12:26a solid sample
12:27size at six walks per nine, because he's wild thing.
12:30He is kind of looking like Vaughn straight out of major league half the time on the mound.
12:33You don't know if he's going to be dotting corners or if he's going to be going right for
12:36your head, right?
12:37But that's what makes it worse.
12:38Cause if he accidentally misses, it goes up and in on you.
12:41And then he strikes you out happening.
12:43Does that celebration.
12:44It's not a great look.
12:45I completely understand that, but he's unequivocally himself.
12:49As I would like to say, he's always been this kind of personality and he was pitching well
12:52for the New York Mets against a right around a three year, right?
12:55If not lesser there that we saw in triple a throughout his entire minor league career
12:59that we've seen, he's averaged right around a 13 plus K per nine.
13:02So he's always been known as a strikeout machine.
13:04And, you know, in ways of a role as Chapman, this is a truly flamethrowing southpaw.
13:09We're talking about a guy sitting right around a hundred on the gun.
13:12Okay. So if the Mets can continue to fine tune that arsenal a bit and get that walk
13:17rate to even like a four walks for an eye would do wonders if you can keep that strike
13:22at Ray high of anywhere in the, you know, 13 to 15 K per nine category, this could be
13:27a real weapon for the New York Mets.
13:28And listen, I understand that opposing fans and opposing players may not like the antics
13:33and should things happen from it, we'll worry about it then.
13:36But in the meantime, allow him to continue to be himself.
13:39It's causing eyes to major league baseball.
13:42Last time I checked, the game most certainly needs it.
13:45Okay. This is a sport for entertainment purposes.
13:47I think we lose sight of that a lot of the times.
13:50And in a year that's been so not entertaining for the New York Mets, I appreciate this little
13:55sliver that we're finding ourselves getting in the second half.
13:57Yeah. Completely agree with you on having, having fun and allowing him to be himself
14:0240. Um, look, I think baseball needs more of it.
14:06I'm a fan of bat flips.
14:07I'm a fan of celebrations by pitchers on the mound.
14:10If you don't like that, they're celebrating after they struck you out, get a hit, be better.
14:14If you don't like that, somebody styles on you with a bat flip after hitting a home run,
14:18make a better pitch.
14:20I don't have a problem with it.
14:21As long as you don't do anything, obviously like offensive or coming somebody, you know,
14:25for ethnicity, personality, anything like that, that that's different.
14:28But like, man, he's just having fun.
14:30He's jumping.
14:31He's slapping the mound.
14:31Like don't care.
14:33I think as long as it has to do with just the sport in general, when it comes to competitiveness,
14:37you know, in any way, shape or form, fair game.
14:40You know what I mean?
14:41Like, and then it's up to you and how you react as well.
14:43Like y'all knows very well.
14:45He, he does this in a manner that causes a reaction.
14:48He's so aware of that as a matter of fact, that like, if anything were going to happen,
14:52he'll be the first to tell you, yeah, I expected this.
14:54You know, so like, God forbid, if a brawl happened or something, you don't think Jeffrey's
14:58going to be there right away.
14:59Like, I feel like Jeffrey's going to stay ready.
15:02I feel like he's 100%.
15:03He's 100%.
15:04He probably, he probably trains, you know, some trains for this.
15:08Yeah.
15:08He's doing something.
15:11I think I know.
15:12I think he's, it was tough.
15:13Cause I had, I was going to put him on.
15:15I thought you might go with him.
15:16Now, my last person, I'm kind of intrigued, Wardy.
15:20If you went with this person, I think I did, but let's find out.
15:23Okay.
15:24To me right now, this is the most fascinating experiment in the entire bullpen.
15:31Now, everybody knows, and Wardy, I got to own this, my friend.
15:36This is my boy.
15:38Okay.
15:39This is my boy.
15:41Kodai Senga.
15:43Oh, great pick.
15:44Wasn't mine.
15:45Wasn't your pick.
15:45That's what makes it better.
15:46Wasn't my pick.
15:47And you want to, it definitely went in hand.
15:48Cause I, I'm like, Dex, this is a chance for you to redeem yourself.
15:53Or, or, or to be fair, a chance for him to redeem himself.
15:56Yes.
15:57Even more importantly, a chance for him to redeem himself.
15:59Exactly.
15:59Okay.
16:00So, and I'm glad you used the word redeem here because maybe we should use the word
16:05reinvent because that is the case here for Kodai Senga, right?
16:09This is a potential career reinvention for him.
16:13Um, this is a guy, a lot of us, including myself at the start of this year was high
16:19on as coming back and bouncing back as a starter.
16:23But now the Mets are trying to say, Hey, we're going to lean into him as a one inning
16:26high leverage reliever.
16:29Right.
16:30And look, the thing about Kodai Senga that we all know has been dope is he's got two
16:35pitches that make him special.
16:36It's the four scene fastball and it's the ghost fork.
16:40Now, the thing you've seen Andy Green already talk about this is you've seen the velocity
16:46up on this.
16:47So now what you're asking him to do, right?
16:49Like, and I think what's to be, just to be clear on what's different from him being a
16:52starter is you just, you're simplifying everything for him.
16:55We know that as a, this is the difference between a starter and a reliever.
16:59Senga has to think as a starter, okay, I've got to navigate through a lineup multiple
17:03times, right?
17:03I've got to preserve my velocity.
17:05I've got to mix up my pitches, right?
17:08I've got to try to pace myself through five, six, maybe more innings, right?
17:13But now for him, he doesn't have to think about all that.
17:16It's just give me your nastiest fastball, your best ghost fork, give me 15 to 20 pitches,
17:22hopefully.
17:24And that's it.
17:25Now, all that being said, I'm not saying I know that's going to work and I'm not going
17:28to make any projections here about Kodai Senga.
17:31I already did that for you guys this year.
17:32We're not going to do that again.
17:33Because then Warty's going to be on me.
17:35Yeah, Dex is not allowed.
17:36Yeah, we get one and done.
17:37One and done, now we know.
17:39Warty's going to be on me and be like, see, see, you were riding for your boy again.
17:42And look what happened.
17:43So I'm just going to say no to that.
17:46But here's what I will say.
17:50Theoretically, his stuff, as we know, the ghost fork and the four-seamer could play well
17:54in a bullpen role.
17:55Now, he's a very expensive bullpen role.
17:58And you're hoping to see.
17:59So for me, is the velocity hitting where it's supposed to?
18:02Are we seeing it in the upper 80s, right?
18:04Can we even see it hit triple digits?
18:06Because you're only asking him to throw a certain amount of pitches.
18:09You meant to say upper 90s, right?
18:11I'm sorry?
18:12You said upper 80s.
18:13I hope you meant to say that.
18:14Upper 90s, sorry.
18:15Okay, there we go.
18:15No, Sean Mania.
18:16Sorry about that.
18:17Yeah, I meant upper 90s.
18:19My bad.
18:19Thank you for the assist, my friend.
18:21No, you're welcome.
18:23The key thing is, can he survive here in the bullpen, right?
18:25And I think the real question is, can he be more dominant in the pen as he's a starter?
18:31Now, if that question is answered and the Mets feel good about what they see about him
18:35over these final seven weeks or so of the season, then that's a very interesting situation.
18:43Again, would he become an expensive reliever?
18:46Yes.
18:47But he's still under contract for 2027.
18:49We've seen his struggles as a starter.
18:51Could he be a setup guy for Devin Williams?
18:54Could he be a seventh inning guy, right?
18:56Because the thing is, and you know this, Wardy, this stuff hasn't been the problem with Senda.
19:01It's one, being healthy, and two, throwing strikes consistently.
19:06Because sometimes we've seen him get a little bit wild, too.
19:09And that's the one thing I'm cautioning as a reliever.
19:13He's got to throw the strikes consistently.
19:15He can't get wild.
19:17He's got to keep attacking the zone.
19:18He can't waste pitches, can't find himself in innings that are going more than 20 pitches,
19:23because then that's a problem.
19:25The question I have for you, though, I do have a question for you about Senda.
19:30And I think this is where we have to think about it from a human job athlete standpoint.
19:35Do you think he's all right with this, and he views himself as a reliever?
19:39Because that is a mentality change, right?
19:42If he's always been a starter, he's like, yo, man, I'm a starter.
19:44I go out here, I focus, I'm a starter.
19:46But do you think he views himself enough as a reliever that we could see him maybe dominate
19:52for these next two months, right?
19:56And if that's the case, two-part question for you, Wardy, if that's the case,
20:00and he does look good over the next two months, do you just sit there and say,
20:04okay, forget trying to turn him back into a starter.
20:08Reliever is his prominent role in 2027.
20:10Let's let him cook there.
20:11What do you think?
20:13Yeah, so let's start with the first half and just go back to Kodai Senga's remarks that he had
20:18with the media a couple days ago.
20:19He stated that he himself doesn't love the idea of being turned into a reliever,
20:23would much rather be a starter, as that's what he's been throughout his career,
20:26but is very aware that he has no say in this.
20:30He can't look at the Mets and say, hey, I should still be starting,
20:33because they literally turn around and just show him his stats.
20:36He can't do anything, and I have nothing to say.
20:39Like, that's exactly how Kodai should react.
20:41He's like, enough said.
20:43All right.
20:43You know, how do I get back to that point?
20:46And the fastest rap for Kodai to ever be looked at as more than his current role right now
20:51is to just have success.
20:52He needs to build this back up.
20:54So I think for himself, it goes without saying that it's important for him to lock in on this role,
20:58because should he have success, it's going to prolong his career in New York,
21:02which he clearly wants at this moment from everything that we know.
21:05So if you're Kodai Senga here, you have to take this and run with it
21:10and appreciate the fact that this is a less strenuous thing for you to do.
21:14Yes, it's an adjustment for you mentally, but a lot of this has been an adjustment for you mentally,
21:19and unfortunately, it hasn't benefited yourself nor the club.
21:22We have to try to take that mental aspect out of the game as much as we can here
21:26and just focus on having your best stuff for one pure inning.
21:30If you can bring that to the Mets, then there's a great reality that you will be here for 2027.
21:34And to answer your second question, to be, again, a potential high-quality reliever,
21:40and if Senga still has his discretions with that role, then the Mets will part ways with him,
21:45because they've already opted to try to send him back down.
21:47He said, no, thank you.
21:49They kept him on the club.
21:50He sucked in the rotation, and now he's in the bullpen.
21:53So, again, he doesn't have much leverage to play here,
21:56but if he doesn't even pitch to his role as a one-inning reliever,
22:00he will not be New York Met come spring training, if there is spring training,
22:04or whenever baseball begins in 2027.
22:07Yeah, no, I was curious as to what you thought about that.
22:10Good point by you about his comments the other day, and good points by you.
22:14He does not have many options here.
22:17I hate saying it like this, but it's like, you better pitch good out the pen.
22:22You know what I mean?
22:25Beggars can't be choosers.
22:27Kodai is in no position where he can be trying to dictate.
22:31In a lot of ways, you can argue that he kind of did,
22:34and the Mets' reluctance to trade him in the end at the start of the season
22:38because he didn't find a deal that they were most satisfied with.
22:41It wasn't that there was no interest in him, it's that there was no interest to the level
22:46that David Stearns felt was satisfactory.
22:48Have we seen a trend here of David Stearns not being satisfied
22:52and not aligning with what the club should be doing?
22:54Because I have.
22:55So, having said that, can he learn from that?
22:59I guess we'll wait and see how the next two months goes with Senga and then the offseason.
23:04We'll see.
23:04But if it doesn't go good, just remember here,
23:07I said he's the most interesting reliever to watch here in the bullpen.
23:12Don't come for me, people.
23:15That's Dexter's boy.
23:16That's Dexter's boy.
23:17Exactly.
23:18Don't do that.
23:19Who's your last person, Wardy?
23:20Who you got?
23:20All right.
23:21So, my last person has been a really fun story for the New York Mets here,
23:24and something that he's had in common, as was the case with AJ Mentor this year,
23:27was pretty much having his first 15 or so outings or close to
23:30without allowing either one earned run or not more than one or so,
23:34and that is Daniel Duarte, okay?
23:36He has looked really good for the New York Mets
23:39since being called upon over the past month or so,
23:41and in 15.1 innings at the time I was talking right now,
23:44just has a 1.170-year array.
23:46I believe he hasn't allowed an earned run to more than two of those outings or so.
23:49He has a K per nine, like around seven and a half,
23:51and a respectable walks per nine, a 2.3.
23:54And he's done a really good job on not only eliminating the home run ball
23:57in his first outings as a New York Met,
23:58but this is, again, one of the stories where you have to give some credit
24:01to David Stearns.
24:02Again, the small market mentality isn't always terrible
24:06when it comes to building a bullpen
24:07because you want a lot of major league caliber guys
24:10stored in the farm and aren't necessarily just at the major league level
24:13because when injuries and inconsistencies do inevitably happen,
24:16who's not to say that you can't find a guy
24:18because everyone can find relievers out of thin air every single year.
24:22It's just a matter of how do you develop them,
24:23how do they bounce back maybe from a down year or due to injury,
24:27whatever the case may be.
24:28And Duarte is a prime example of someone kind of bouncing back from injury.
24:32You know, he's not someone who's pitched in the bigs much at all since 2023.
24:36He only had a small sample of four innings over the past two years,
24:39and then we go back to 2023 was the last true breakout for him
24:43with the Cincinnati Reds.
24:44It was the only season in his career
24:46in which he pitched beyond four innings of the major league level.
24:48And in that season, he had a K to walk ratio that was atrocious
24:52of like a 6.5K per nine to a 5.5 walks per nine,
24:55but a respectable ERA of right around 3.69
24:58and a 3.5 expected ERA.
25:00So not bad numbers.
25:02And when I saw that when the Mets picked him up entering spring training,
25:05I'm like, okay, Duarte's healthy.
25:06He has a fastball that isn't completely flat.
25:08It has some velocity to it.
25:10And his off-speed and braking offerings don't look terrible.
25:12So let's see what he can bring to them.
25:14And so far, so great.
25:15So again, I don't know if this is someone that the Mets
25:17are going to bring back next year,
25:18but the way that he's pitching right now is should he continue the trend
25:21that he's on as being one of our more reliable reliever options right now
25:25and not break, but at worst, Ben, maybe just not in an airbender way
25:30like Devin Williams, because that ain't going to be consistent.
25:32Then maybe, just maybe, this is, and yet again,
25:35another arm that the Mets showcased throughout the final couple months
25:39and actually brings them some upside to consider
25:42if they would like to bring them back for 2027.
25:45I think currently speaking out of this bullpen decks,
25:48there's a couple of guys that the Mets will bring back for next year.
25:51It all depends on their respective contract statuses,
25:54but for guys, especially competing for a contract,
25:56I'm looking at them and seeing, okay,
25:58can they really make a name for themselves here
26:00when the Mets don't have the expectation right now,
26:02but they just need guys who can go out, eat innings,
26:05and if they eat innings of quality, great,
26:07but if they don't, we're not overly shocked by it.
26:09Right. No, it's great.
26:11I like that we only had one person that was the same.
26:13Yeah, no, that was good.
26:14I thought we were going to be more aligned than what we were.
26:18Not that you picked great names, to be clear,
26:21not that Wardy didn't pick great names or I needed to.
26:22I'm just glad we had different people to talk about.
26:24I think that was dope.
26:27Hopefully, the bullpen shows us some promise.
26:30Right.
26:30I think that's, it's funny,
26:32and I think we were able to talk about with all these guys
26:35different things that you're sort of looking for
26:38with them here down the stretch
26:39because every reliever is not the same.
26:41For some, it's about the numbers.
26:43Some, it's about bouncing back.
26:44Some of it, like, Kodai Senga, it's about reinvention
26:47so you can become my boy again.
26:49It's all these different things, right?
26:50So, it's interesting how you look at teams
26:52and guys in different situations
26:54and what that can mean to the team overall.
26:56This is what makes it so fascinating.
26:58So, the bullpen, listen,
26:59there's so much change in the bullpen.
27:00There's so much turnover with the trade deadline.
27:02To me, I think as a fan,
27:03it has to be one of the things
27:04you're definitely keeping your eye on
27:06for the rest of the season.
27:07You know, we will.
27:08We'll be watching,
27:09and I'm telling you,
27:09if Senga doesn't pitch good,
27:11you know Wardy's going to let me know about it
27:13for sure.
27:14Oh, for sure.
27:15I always have to remind you of your boy.
27:17That's the first and foremost thing
27:18we got to do to begin the show.
27:19No doubt about that.
27:20Everybody, let us know in the comments.
27:22Let us know what you think
27:24about the Mets bullpen.
27:25Who are you keeping your eye on?
27:26Is it a name that we didn't mention?
27:28Maybe you keep your eye on Devin Williams.
27:29See if he doesn't implode
27:30or give you a heart attack down the stretch.
27:32Let us know what you think
27:34about this Mets new look bullpen.
27:36Yes, sir.
27:37Dex, am I allowed to spoil
27:40what you were going to be doing Monday
27:42or should I keep my lip sealed?
27:43Keep your lip sealed.
27:44I will keep my lip sealed.
27:46That's why I asked first.
27:47Thank you for asking.
27:48Keep your lip sealed.
27:49Just know that Dex has some fun things
27:51cooking, everybody.
27:52Make sure you check it out
27:53on the future episodes
27:54of the New York Post Sports YouTube channel.
27:56Yeah, if you guys are locked in
27:58in a way that I am about a certain thing,
28:00you're going to be very happy about it.
28:01Yeah, there's some interesting stuff coming
28:05that Wardy's doing.
28:05For sure.
28:06Wardy is in the know.
28:07He's going to keep that on the low.
28:08He's in the know.
28:09Wardy's in the know.
28:10I've told Wardy.
28:10Wardy sources.
28:11Wardy sources.
28:12It's good.
28:13My friend, this was a good one.
28:15We will talk more about the Mets
28:17as we watch this team
28:18over the final couple of weeks
28:19of the season
28:20for the great Tyler Ward,
28:22who Kodai Senga is not his boy.
28:23I'm Dexter Henry.
28:25We will catch you next time
28:26on another edition
28:27of Straight Outta Flushing.
28:28Peace, everybody.
28:29Peace out.
28:36Peace.
28:36Peace.
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