Jim Bowden’s Trade Ideas, Jeremy Peña to IL + Are the Mets OK?

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Right now, they are going through stretch where things are not okay. Will they be okay like down the road? Yeah? Maybe, but they need some things to happen.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: First sixteen plus years former MLBGM Jim Bowden joining us right now on ft JB. You've got all three of us here in Vegas, caffeinated, I think, and fired up. So let's hit some recent articles that you've put out there and I'll let you go. You want to go National League or American League first, dealer's choice.

00:00:34
Speaker 3: Let's go American League first?

00:00:36
Speaker 2: Okay, American League, And I would like to start with the Toronto Blue Jays. You came out with an article in The Athletic on one difference making trade for each American League team in the wildcard race. Blue Jays have another strong weekend against the Red Sox. They've been rolling for a while now, and it's a team that you would think is pushing their chips in which is also playing in a weaker American league than we usually see.

00:01:00
Speaker 4: So what's your plan for them?

00:01:02
Speaker 3: Yeah? So I had them trading for Merrill Kelly. Why did I have that? Well, when I.

00:01:06
Speaker 5: Talked to the Blue Jays, they say their biggest need is going to be a starting pitcher at the deadline.

00:01:10
Speaker 3: That's what their goal is.

00:01:11
Speaker 5: And so I kind of look at Arizona and even though right now they say they're buying and they're trying to buy pitching, I just have a hard time believing that's where Arizona is going to end up in thirty one days. Why because I don't think this is a playoff team because of the injuries that they've had. And I believe that running that organization, knowing that Zach Allen, Merrill, Kelly Josh Naylor and your Henneosrez are all free agents at the end of the year, this is a seller's market at the trade deadline. Why in the world wouldn't you be shopping those four players, try to get ten to twelve players in return, and then try to resign whoever you want to in the off season. And you know, I spent the last five days being in contact with all the gms and presidents of all thirty teams because I'm writing an article for The Athletic that's either going up tomorrow or the next day, kind of on an anonymous poll of who is going to get traded between now and the trade down, Who did they think, because last year when I did this, we nailed it right. And coming from them, they're talking to the clubs. They couldn't mention their own players, they could only mention other teams players. I thought it was fascinating and it was interesting. In terms of Merrill Kelly, his name is mentioned quite a bit, and I think there's a lot of executives that believe that when Arizona gets to the end of the month, they will be dealing him. And so the fact that that's the blue Jay's biggest need, and the fact that I think Arizona probably is going to move one or two of those starters, I think it makes sense.

00:02:44
Speaker 6: Hi, Jamie, the next trade you said is a possibility, less about the team that's getting him, and more about Kyle stours Kus. Stowers doesn't even have two years of service. Is it really possible that he is that much somebody that the Marlins are looking to move, like they're that far out from ever even trying to contend or compete.

00:03:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't think it's a matter of that. I think it's a matter of what Peter Bendex is trying to do, and he is trying to collect as much young talent as he can for the long haul. They're playing really well. They won seven in a row, they had a tremendous road trip. They're feeling good about themselves. But if someone's going to overvalue Stours and that left handed power that he has and he can win a trade, he'll do it. You know, it's interesting in talking to and texting with all the gms and managers, how many people think al Contra is actually going to get traded and that Cabrera could get moved and Stowars could get moved. It's because they're having conversations with Miami. That's why those names keep coming up. And although I don't think al Contra's value right now is what it should be to move them, maybe someone's going to pay that price. And for Stowars, there's just enough teams the Kansas City Royals, the San Diego Padres that are looking for that you know, left handed power bat that they can put on. The Corner Guardians another team that is looking for that power. And so there are teams that might overpay to get Stours because he is controllable and he isn't expensive, and they might pay a price that Peter Bendex likes when you look at the history of the trades he's made, you know, he's made a lot of trades. He traded to Jesus Lizardo, who he was still controlling for a couple of years because of the prospect attorney got from Philadelphia.

00:04:30
Speaker 3: So it's kind of where Miami is.

00:04:32
Speaker 5: And it's more importantly, Peter Bendex came from Tampa Bay and he wants to trade for those young guys. He doesn't care if they're an A ball or double A. He wants to stockpile as much as he can to win in the long term, and that's what he's doing.

00:04:45
Speaker 7: All right.

00:04:46
Speaker 8: I got a couple questions for on this is. First of all, you mentioned the race Hunter Goodman. The Rockies aren't trading him. He's there one bright spot on this whole season of not very bright spots, and tadj Bradley and Theogillian.

00:04:57
Speaker 9: If you're TODG.

00:04:57
Speaker 8: Browdley, you're like, please don't send me there, keep me in Tampa, right.

00:05:01
Speaker 9: So I would say that one is questionable, But then the big one for me is number four.

00:05:05
Speaker 8: Acquire Luis Robert Junior from the White Sox to the Guardians First of all, Jerry Reinserfer said he won't trade in the division, which we've seen in.

00:05:11
Speaker 9: Louis Robert right now has no value. He's on the il and he's been terrible when he's played.

00:05:15
Speaker 8: Why would the White Sox even look to trade him because they're not going to get anything in return.

00:05:20
Speaker 3: Well, they're not going to trade him if his value is nothing.

00:05:22
Speaker 5: They're only going to trade him if someone's going to believe what he did a couple of years ago when he hit the thirty eight homers and stole twenty bags. They're only going to trade him if they can get value back. If they can't get a top ten prospect for him, the hold onto him and they're waiting until he gets healthy, maybe he finishes the year strong and then move him then.

00:05:40
Speaker 3: But this is a seller's market.

00:05:41
Speaker 5: There's not a lot of bats that are out there on this marketplace right now. So if they get the offer, they'll do it now. In terms of Hunter Goodman, you know, Tampa Bay has made it very clear they're trying to get a long term answer a catcher. They haven't been able to do it, and you know they do match up with Hunter Goodman is not a great defensive catcher, but he is a really good offensive catcher. If Colorado gets some pitching back, he gets a young stud outfielder and someone wants to overpay. Why wouldn't you, Why wouldn't you trade your only all star? And then you know Kansas City Royals, they've got three really good catching prospects, Carter Jensen who just got promoted, Blake Mitchell. You know, perhaps they match up. I don't see how they match up as well as possibly Colorado. You know, for the Rockies to get pitching, you got to trade for to draft it. Right, You're not going to sign him in free free agency. We've watched the same rotation finished in the last place for five straight years, at least three of them. How many more years are we going to watch the same pitchers before they start finding a way to trade for different arms? And I think Taj Bradley with his makeup, would be a good cultural fit for Colorado rebuilding and I think he would certainly help their rotation.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: All Right, Harry's is going to get an award here MVP in the shaving world, and Aj, if you want to equate it to things that we talk about, it's not expensive and it's super versatile right the company itself, because there's other products that you can get on the site do odorin, body wash, et cetera. But for your everyday shaving needs, Harry's has you covered. And you look at the pricing, you look at the quality, and you're like, wait, why was I using the old classic brand for a long time.

00:07:19
Speaker 8: Listen as somebody right now that needs a Harry's, I've just been lazy. Harry's. I have plenty of them lined up or need to use. You can use them for more than one shave, which is huge for me, and the pricing is right. I gotta go get my Harries because my neck beard is sick. But Harry's will fix that. It'll line me up straight and no.

00:07:35
Speaker 9: Bumps, no cuts.

00:07:36
Speaker 8: It's exactly what I need for a great price.

00:07:39
Speaker 1: That's right.

00:07:39
Speaker 2: Get the edge on your shave with Harry's. Normally their trial set is ten dollars, but right now you can get it for just six dollars at Harry's dot com slash foul. That's our exclusive link Harrys dot com slash foul for a six dollars trial set.

00:07:51
Speaker 6: I know we're in a different age of being able to see so many different minor league players and all this stuff and evaluations have changed. Do teams still pump up prospects falsely and hide guys? Did they used to do when you were when you were a GM?

00:08:09
Speaker 3: Yet?

00:08:09
Speaker 5: I would say for the first half of my GM career there were teams that still did it. But I mean, like, come on, let's all be sensible. I mean, everybody has their scouts and eyeballs on these guys. Everybody has analytics, everybody has the science. Now, you know, we're not guessing first step quickness or we're not guessing angle. You know, we know we know those we know arm strength, we know bat speed. We're not guessing bat speed. You know we're not guessing that. You know, Junior Cameron Era is Gary Sheffield bat speed. All we got to do is look at baseball savan and it shows it to us. So yeah, there's no guessing. I mean, I think the one part where you try to do a little deception even today is the mental part of it. Right, Like you win with players as human beings. You don't win with the baseball player. You win with the human And so there are a lot of very talented players that maybe don't have that competitiveness or they don't have the makeup and character to win, but they have the tools that are all star tools. And so if you have a player like that in your organization, and as an example, the Rockies have some guys like that, I'm not going to mention you know, you may want to really prop the guy up because he may have the stats and the tools, and if that team hasn't done their homework on what the player and the human being he really is, perhaps you can make.

00:09:35
Speaker 3: A good deal that way.

00:09:37
Speaker 5: So I think if there's one way of propping up or propping down, it would be on the human element.

00:09:44
Speaker 6: But that was gonna be so you led right into what I was going to ask. How do some.

00:09:48
Speaker 9: Teams just keep missing them?

00:09:50
Speaker 6: How does because we all have the same information, everybody has the same information. You see dudes that just do not hit the ball in the air. I get it, you know, like a justin Craft, he's got an elite skill, he's still not elevating the balls. But how do teams miss consistently more than other teams?

00:10:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's the world, right, I mean, I could parallel to politics, I could parallel to running organizations. Everybody has different lenses, you know. I can tell you if I had thirty six scouts. Out of thirty six, I would tell you I probably had four or five that I could really trust. And it's not that the other thirty one weren't extremely talented and knew what they were watching, but perhaps they didn't really understand what kind of makeup and character Michael Mustakis had, or Brett Boonton had or aj Prazinski had, right like, not everybody can really understand that. You know, people can think makeup and character is you know, a really nice guy and went to the right schools and says the right things and is very polite and opens the door. But that's not necess necessarily the best baseball makeup, right I'll take Roger Clemens, I'll take Barry Bonds, you know. So you know, at the end of the day, it's you know, not everybody can process the information and see it the same.

00:11:14
Speaker 3: And it's same with teams. Some teams just get it.

00:11:17
Speaker 5: Eric Neander, Andrew Friedman, you know, theo Epstein. You know, I can go on Alexander Thalp. There's just a lot of guys that get it, not just no players, not just look at the information, not just study analytics, not understanding the swing or the delivery, but they understand human beings and makeup and character and what motivates them and what doesn't motivate them. You know, it's funny as I saw Jeremy Paine, you go on the injured list today, which is very disappointing with the cracked REB and a big setback for Houston. But you know, I was watching his season this year. He had a five two war according to stats, which is the second best in the Majors, and he's one of the top three short stops in the league with Bobby Wood Junior and Jacob Wilson. But it was funny because it was spring training with Joe A. Spot of the manager and Dana Brown. The GM told me Payne is gonna have his best year. He's gonna have a breakout All Star year. And I asked them why, and they told me because he's in the best mental space he's ever been in in his personal life and in his approach and his preparation. It's a different guy. They said, watch. I'm like, I'll watch, and I saw exactly that. That's the human element. That's what people that have good judgment understand. You know, Hunter Brown struggled when he first came up, right, he has some maturity to do, He has some understanding to do. But you could tell even talking to him when he struggled. You could tell as I sat there in spring training a couple of years ago listening to him. I left spring training go, I'm betting on that guy. Not just because of the stuff. We can all measure the stuff and see it, but I was how bad he wanted it. I knew he was going to adjust and become an ace, and that's what he's become.

00:12:56
Speaker 8: Okay, this is why team's missing the draft also too, because I don't do make checks, and then the draft info is all there too, and that's why this pick and this pick, if people don't understand, there are makeup things. And also I was in Houston this this weekend is Saturday, and I talked to Joe Spata and if Jeremy Payne, even with going on the aisle, is not an All Star, it's a crime against humanity because he's having an unbelievable year and they are not the same team without Jeremy Payne.

00:13:21
Speaker 3: Amen. Yeah, I agree completely, He's their best player.

00:13:27
Speaker 4: JB.

00:13:27
Speaker 2: Let me let me get to the National League with you here real quick. So I want to touch on one NL West team and then kind of summarize the NL Central together. This is a big one that I'm sure you will receive many comments if you haven't already about Padre Is bringing in Sandy al Contra from the Marlins, and you're.

00:13:46
Speaker 4: Like, great, that's awesome. Uh.

00:13:48
Speaker 2: Ethan sallas Leo debrees. Brandon net amberto Cruz first, Nit two names are the ones that most people know. So you went hard. You got to give up the top two prospects. They're super young, They've been talked about already for a while. Right, how did that one get received and how did you put it together?

00:14:06
Speaker 4: Oh?

00:14:06
Speaker 5: I got all the hate, which is great, and that's what you should do. You know all we can't give up these guys. These guys are all superstars. How potteries will never do that? You're crazy? Yeah, that's fine. When Sandie al Contra is right, he won the cy Young Award. Anyone that's met him understands make up is eighty out of eighty. He's got the size, he's got, he understands how to win. He's getting healthy. We've watched the last three or four starts. Some people are gonna want to see him do this more before willing to give up that kind of package. But he's an ace that he's controllable. You get him for three postseasons. Right, they're gonna lose Dylan Cees and Michael King in free agency, you know unlikely they're going to be able to extend either one.

00:14:49
Speaker 3: And then where are you're gonna be next year? Right?

00:14:52
Speaker 5: You don't know what Muscove is gonna come look like after Tommy John. You don't know what you Darbyship thirty nine years old is going to be. So here's your ace, because your windows here to win, not just this year, but when you have Machado and Boguards to tease and all these guys signed, you want to keep winning. So here's your chance to get an ace. And will the price come back and burn.

00:15:11
Speaker 3: You with devrees? It will?

00:15:12
Speaker 5: It'll be like James would and you'll sit there go, oh, how did you give him up? I get it, he's gonna be a great player.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: I love him.

00:15:20
Speaker 5: But you're not going to get al Contra without paying a price in terms of sallus look I love the bat speed like everyone else does. He hadn't hit yet. I know he's nineteen in Double A. I love that hadn't hit yet at all anywhere. Not saying he's not going to I like the player, but sometimes we overhype these guys. You know, you do have to hit a break in ball the big leagues, right, You do have to do that, and it's pretty hard hitting the big leagues if you can't hit in the minor leagues.

00:15:44
Speaker 3: I'm not saying he won't.

00:15:45
Speaker 5: I love the player, don't get me wrong, But I think a lot of times people are reading about prospects and they're just assuming that they're going to live up to what everyone says. And all I would do is ask all of the viewers right now, go back and look at the top fifty prospects from all the websites you want over the last fifteen years, and then maybe look at it a little bit differently.

00:16:09
Speaker 6: Is it NL Central going to be one at the trade deadline? Is it going to be the team that moves first. Is it going to be the Reds acquiring O'Hearn. Is it going to be the Rockies actually parting with Ryan McMahon and the Brewers picking him up. How is is this trade deadline going to shape the NL Central, which has become pretty tight race. Had the Brewers won yesterday, it would have been one game back. There's still just two games back of the Cubs.

00:16:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a great question. The Cubs are going to win the trade deadline in the NL Central. They're everywhere right now, and they're willing to part with Owen Cassie, one of their top power hitting outfield prospects, as part of the package. And Jedheaier and Carter Hawkins literally are everywhere.

00:16:56
Speaker 3: I mean, as I talk.

00:16:57
Speaker 5: To people in the industry, they're all in and they're going to do what it takes to win. You know, the Reds don't have a lot of money to spend. They could use a bat. I can see them getting a bat. I don't think the Cardinals are going to do much. They need impact, but they're not going to trade the future for this year.

00:17:14
Speaker 3: Brewers have a.

00:17:14
Speaker 5: Really good team and I think they're starting rotation. I think the Brewers, in my opinion, is a huge threat because of that, and Brandon Woodruff is going to get back, but I don't expect them to be busy at the trade dead I understand they're trying to upgrade the left side of the infield. They're not getting much offense from shortstop or third base, so that's what they're trying to do. Easier said than done in this marketplace. And again, you know, we have to look at this market right now. It's going to change a lot in thirty one days. But you've got a lot of buyers right now that have to turn to sellers because the sellers don't have a lot, And so you need the Orioles right You need the Rangers, the Red Sox, Diamondbacks, the Twins, the Guardians and all of them could be sellers of the deadline.

00:18:02
Speaker 3: If that happens, we'll have a lot of fun. We will.

00:18:05
Speaker 5: And it was interesting because in my poll and talking to people, I was getting, you know, Emmanuel Classe and Stephen Kwan names if the Guardians sell, I was getting Duran and Jack's names from the Twins if they sell. So I think the deadline changes a lot. But in the NL Central I kind of feel like the Cubs are the one team that are in position to make the splash.

00:18:28
Speaker 3: They've got the.

00:18:29
Speaker 5: Better system and willingness to give up the system at this particular trade deadline. Remember Jed Hory and Carter Hawkins contracts are up. With Kyle Tucker right here, right now, they're going to be an interesting team to watch for sure.

00:18:45
Speaker 9: Well, the Cubs can hit, Jim. They can hit again, I saw them this weekend. They can really hit.

00:18:50
Speaker 8: And also, by the way, you mentioned Crow test you about pumping out prospects. By you writing these articles and putting prospects names in, guess what it does to fans.

00:18:57
Speaker 9: It pumps up.

00:18:58
Speaker 8: These prospects to fans and then the Vans clamor for oh, we want this guy.

00:19:01
Speaker 9: We want this guy. So don't say it.

00:19:03
Speaker 8: Doesn't happen, because just by you writing this article, it happens. My last thing, though, is Luis Severino is in Sacramento and he's not happy.

00:19:11
Speaker 9: But he just signed a three year deal to go there.

00:19:14
Speaker 4: Did they trade him?

00:19:15
Speaker 9: What do they do with them?

00:19:16
Speaker 8: Because he will not stop basically complaining about the place he picked to go. I know they gave him the most money, but he picked to go there. Now he's like, this place sucks. Other people on the team can't really say it because you know they're they're brought up there.

00:19:29
Speaker 9: They're kind of stuck with Severno's like.

00:19:30
Speaker 8: Get me out of here. I don't want to be here. This place sucks. I can't pitch here. And they're like, well, you just signed three years. Guess what you might have.

00:19:36
Speaker 5: To Louis Severino AJ knew exactly where he was signing, right He.

00:19:44
Speaker 9: Did he know?

00:19:45
Speaker 3: Because I twere he knew he was going to West Sacramento.

00:19:50
Speaker 5: Not for one year or two years, three years, they're not going to Vegas.

00:19:53
Speaker 3: Still after that, he knew exactly where he was going. AJ.

00:19:57
Speaker 5: And this is what happens with greed, right, I want to take the most years and the most money. My agent wants me to as well, because he gets a better commission. No one else offered three years, sixty seven million. That's where I'm going. Well, then you have to live up to it, like if that's where you decided to go. Now that being said, look I've heard the criticism. Zach Wheeler said the mound feels like cement. Carlos Correa said it's the worst batter's box he's ever been in. Joe Ryan of the Twins said that he wonders if the mound isn't why his teammate Pablo Lobez got injured. Look at those kind of comments I take seriously, and I think Major League Baseball should look into it. Because I'm not hearing the complaints about Legends Field, George em Steinberner Field in Tampa. I'm not hearing those complaints. But in terms of where he was signing and where the clubhouse was going to be, he knew that when he signed the contract, and now he wants to get out, and now he wants to be traded if he can try to go to a contender and hope some contender will take the sixty seven million dollars. But that's what happens. And you know, I always said to people, you know, don't make decisions based on how much money someone offers.

00:21:09
Speaker 3: You go to a place where you're going to be happy. You know.

00:21:12
Speaker 5: I always wanted players that wanted to go to a place to win. That's what I wanted. I wanted players that were willing to take less to stay. I wanted people that were driven to win and be part of a team more than the most money in the most years. And personally, I have followed that up in all my decisions in life. I've taken huge pay cuts from time to time to be in the right position with the right people. Winning, to me is everything. And for Lewis Severino, you know, and I would sit there and love to say that No GM is going to want him now because he said all these things. That's a lie, because there are teams that need pitching bad enough that they actually will get engaged. The athletics have to pay down some salary, but he will still be movable in a market where there's not a lot of starting pitching available.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: Hey, were you gonna.

00:22:02
Speaker 9: Still rub in a little bit right there? What guys, It'll take less money to go to a different city. Guys, it'll take the mood.

00:22:09
Speaker 4: Article he did work for you.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: It's a former GM hat. That's why I'm on this show.

00:22:18
Speaker 4: It is it is.

00:22:18
Speaker 2: I love it in that chair, JB. We're going to cover that Severino story later. I just I think you'd like my take. Yeah, he realized he made a mistake. Might as well talk and try and talk your way out of the place. He signed there. He didn't know what he was getting into, even though he was very very well informed by many people. He's like, Hey, maybe I talk and I get myself out of here.

00:22:39
Speaker 6: If he stays signed, doesn't move, how bad could it be?

00:22:42
Speaker 9: Is probably what he said.

00:22:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, come on, I'm getting extra ten here versus anywhere else.

00:22:47
Speaker 6: There's no air conditioning in the clubhouse. Come on, there's no way, JB.

00:22:52
Speaker 4: I love it. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll catch you again soon, okay.

00:22:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, win today in the cards, will you?

00:22:58
Speaker 6: Uh?

00:22:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well we got defending champ right next to me who acts like he's not good but he is.

00:23:03
Speaker 4: But thank you, JB. Appreciate you.

00:23:05
Speaker 3: Thank you.

00:23:05
Speaker 4: Guys. Building a hair growth routine is easy only if you go with neutrofol Why is that Todd father?

00:23:13
Speaker 7: Neutrifoil. You think about hair for me, sometimes the hair gets thinning. This thing will thicken your hair up as much as you need. You think about going to weddings, you're going to the beach, you're just hanging out with friends and you want to take photos. You want your hair to look good and this is the best possibility for it.

00:23:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, And thinning hair is different for men and women.

00:23:31
Speaker 2: So at one size fits all approach to hair growth, that's not it.

00:23:35
Speaker 4: Okay.

00:23:35
Speaker 2: They have multiple formulas for men and for women. That are tailored to fit different stages of life. Okay, so go check out neutrifol. Building a hair growth routine can be easy and you order online. There's no prescription needed as well, free shipping, automated deliveries, and for a limited time, Neutrifoil is offering the Ftfam ten bucks off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to nutrifol dot com and enter the promo code foul f u L. Find out why neutrafold is the best selling hair growth supplement brand at neutrofold dot com spelled n U t r a o l dot com promo code foul.

00:24:08
Speaker 4: It's gonna be the easiest t up ever.

00:24:10
Speaker 2: Here Will Sam and joining us here from the Athletic Talking Mets. Mets have crumbled lately, yet they're still fine. They're in a playoff position. But will easiest question to start are they okay?

00:24:22
Speaker 4: Are the Mets okay?

00:24:25
Speaker 1: Oh? I don't know if that's an easy one, man. That's actually I don't think they're I don't know if they're okay at all. No, I mean you can I don't think you could have a weekend like that and be okay. Can you that's that's really tough. That said there, like you said, like they're they're there. Francisco Lindora said it best, I think the other day when talking about their meeting that they had after one of their losses in Pittsburgh, like, hey, we're still in it for the for the playoff spot. And they are, but that's on the strength of their first two months of the season, not what we've seen lately. So they have some proving to do from here on out to make sure that things are okay. But right now they're not. Right now, they are not okay in what sense?

00:25:08
Speaker 6: In what sense are they not okay? Because the plan everybody the plan is always just make the playoffs. Right now they're in line to make the playoffs. Other teams are, you know, we'll put them on il for a little bit. Is this indicative of the team that they are or is this just a really rough stretch.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: Well, I think that you could be a fairly decent team and still go through a stretch where things are not okay, And right now they are going through a stretch where things are not okay. Will they be okay like down the road, Yeah, maybe, but they need some things to happen. First, Like, they need these guys to get healthier. Sean and I are for one, could I saying is another guy, Justy Winker is of low key importance to this group just because of what he brings to that lineup, and he's been missing. So they have some guys who are on the men who they expect to get back relatively soon. That said, though, like we've seen some things that are just not great from the Mets, whether it be the depth of say their bullpen or their pitching staff in general, which we thought was a little bit more of a strength, or frankly, their defense has not been good either, and that's been a season long issue for the most part. And so even when they do get these guys healthier from the pitching staff, they need to start helping their pitching staff out by catching the ball the ball a little bit better. And then offensively, you know, they have their top guys who are continuing to produce, but the lineup is just not as long as we thought. Like David Stearns and his group went into the season sort of expecting some good things out of Mark Fiento's at third base and Francisco Alvarez Thatt Catcher to sort of lengthen this lineup out a little bit in addition to those big key guys that they have, and that really has not happened the way that they wanted it to. Francisco Alvarez is of course in Triple A at this point, and Mark Fiento's yes, he just got back from the IL, and so I don't want to take out too much from a from a weekend, but he has not gotten going offensively, even dating back to when he was held before his stint on the IL. So you know, things could be okay down the road, but for right now, like they have some things that they need to iron out.

00:27:08
Speaker 8: Well, I just want to know this team meeting Ozzie Gan. I played for Ozzie Gan and he always said, good teams win, bad teams have meetings.

00:27:15
Speaker 9: Well, they had a.

00:27:15
Speaker 8: Team meeting on Saturday, and you're gonna tell me what you think was said.

00:27:19
Speaker 9: And then they went out and lose twelve to one on Sunday.

00:27:21
Speaker 8: So like, apparently the meeting didn't do much in thirty to four against the Pirates in a three game series. The worst series in the history of the match, which is a long history, is amazing.

00:27:31
Speaker 9: So what was said in this team meeting?

00:27:32
Speaker 8: Lindora apparently spoke, Alonso probably possibly spoke.

00:27:36
Speaker 9: What are these I was always a.

00:27:38
Speaker 8: Thing like, when you have team meeting, what do you really say? Everyone knows they got to be better. Oh, let's try harder. Baseball is not really a try harder sport.

00:27:46
Speaker 1: You're right, And I think that also, like you could have a meeting go fairly well, like it wasn't as if like this team has a whole lot of issues in their clubhouse. I don't think they do. I think they have a pretty veteran group that have gone through a lot of things and they've experienced. Hey, they and they experienced plenty just last year for instance. And then a lot of these guys are back. A lot of these guys are the same guys, and they brought in others like Juan Soto, and so to answer some of your questions, Lindora was one of the guys who spoke, so was Pete Alonzo. Juan Soto said some things on the pitching side. I think that they have leaders like at David Peterson, who's been in the organization for a long time. Ryan Stanek, a veteran reliever ried Garrett's another guy. So they have guys in the room, and I think it's worth mentioning. And some guys pointed out to me even that, like when you do have whatever it was seven eight nine guys speak up during a meeting, that's probably a good thing where it's not just something that's ran by one or two people, like you have all these guys who are comfortable speaking up and saying their piece. But to your point, it doesn't always translate. Like you could have a pretty good group in that room, and morale, like they said or suggested, could be pretty high or fairly okay for relative to what they're going through right now, and it just not translates. And that's what we've seen. So I think Brandon Nimmo actually hit the nail on the head when he spoke to the media about the meeting and he said, look, it's not going to be something that gets fixed overnight. It's just not He said, I wish it was something like that, but that's just not usually how it works. And so I really appreciated just that perspective and that sort of realism that he brought to the conversation because some of their issues just won't be fixed that easily. Like these are things that maybe the dreadline at the deadline they could address, but they are also some season long things that just need to get better. And I just feel like it's a combination of a few different things, and it's just not something that a meeting is going to, like you said, AJ just all of a sudden switch things up and now they're going to play this inspired branded baseball and everything's going to be okay. They had the meeting, they fell down five nothing in the first inning, and then after that the game was pretty much over on Sunday. So it just hasn't translated. And it certainly was never going to be the one answer anyway though.

00:29:56
Speaker 6: But the one answer you said in the trade deadline you can find it and Suta you could address some issues. Is there any way that David Stern's kind of abandons his way of looking at pitching that he has had success in Milwaukee, had success until about sixteen games ago, about how you build a pitching roster. Does he abandon that at the trade deadline?

00:30:20
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I don't think you necessarily have to abandon the whole thing. You do need some help though there. They have yet to have a pitcher go and recorded out in the six hitting. I think it's up to thirteen straight games. That's a long time to go without somebody recording it out in the sixth inning for your starting staff, and it's weighed on the bullpen and it's forced them to show guys onto and off the roster, and they've needed to rely on these guys to get some big outs day in day out, and even when they've eased off on some of these relievers, just I feel like the communicative effect of needing to do this from the beginning of the season on has caught up to some of these guys from a command standpoint just not having it on some days, so they clearly need to address it. I feel like they need to get a starting pitcher. I don't know if there's going to be like that Ace caliber that's out there for them to go out and acquire, but they'd certainly need help. And I think that asking say Sean and Ia to come back and be the guy that he was in the second half after dealing with some health issues is asking a lot. I think that he has the potential to be that guy, but he has to demonstrate some health first, and so they're asking him to come back and be a prominent factor. He can be, but they really need Code I saying it, to be back from that hamstring issue and pick up where he left off as well. I think if you get those contributions plus add a starting pitcher to the mix that has some veteran experience and can give you some reliability as far as getting to the sixth inning at the very least, it helps things out. It really does, because they're just not at the point where I feel like they have somebody in TRIPLEA even that could really come up and make that much of a difference right now. They tried it a little bit with Blade tidwell mixed results at best, and I just feel like at this point season, with a few weeks left to go before the trade deadline, it's definitely been an area where they're going to need to address, and for me, it's their biggest concern.

00:32:08
Speaker 2: A well, last one for you thoughts on the offense here, I mean that seems to be the one part that I think is a world series lineup, especially with the way that obviously Wan Soto just dominated the month of June I mean, where would they be without the lineup they put together this month.

00:32:25
Speaker 1: Well, it should be, it just has not produced in the way that you could convince me that it is right now, because to your point, like Juan Soto is coming off a really historic tune. I mean, he put together one of the best calendar months in franchise history when you account for his walks, the power that we've seen, just the way that he dominated, dominated and dictated, dictated so many at bats. It was just unreal to watch on a day and day basis, and they didn't really take much advantage of it. They've gone through this tough stretch of sixteen games or so and it's just has not been good. As much as the pitching has been an issue, and it's probably their biggest issue, the offense hasn't really helped them that much. And it's a shame because when you went into this season, you kind of figured that, like it would be the lineup, it would be the offense that pick things up for the pitching staff, and it wasn't happening in the first couple of months of the season. But their starting staff in particular, and their pitching staff as a whole, was so good that it didn't really matter that much. But right now, in these last few weeks, it has really been on the offense to pick up the slack and they haven't done so. So when I look at this lineup, that sort of baffles me, because you have Lindor, you have Soto, you have Alonso, you have Nimo, you have McNeil. Those are five guys right there, and then you add in some of the young talent that they have and it's like, okay, like one through nine, you should be pretty deep here, just hasn't happened. I think it's between six, seven, eight nine most days, the fifth spot as well, before Jeff McNeil's hot streak a hot stretch, they just haven't gotten enough from the back end of their lineup. And so when that happens, and if one of your star players goes into a little bit of a slump, you simply can't afford it. And I feel like that's what's been going on so far for the Mets. It's particularly this month, you will.

00:34:01
Speaker 8: It's our schedule eases up though they get the Brewers and the Yankees coming up the next series.

00:34:06
Speaker 4: At least, do you know who they have in the Brewer series that they're facing.

00:34:11
Speaker 2: Freddie Pea, Maze and Kutana against his old team who's gonna try and carve them, and.

00:34:18
Speaker 4: Then the Yankees, and that is a tough little stretch coming up. Well, well we might.

00:34:24
Speaker 9: Least a new month. At least it's a new month though, so they can look at that. They can have a meeting stage to light June.

00:34:29
Speaker 2: That's right, Well, yeah, exactly, Thank thank you so much. Everyone good will follow. He does great notes with Ken rosenthal To in the Athletic. Check out his articles and we'll be right back. Oh and we have a met show called nets Up. As those two are going through it right now. I would love I haven't done it yet, but I will be very excited to listen to uh Mark and James just absolutely go through their therapy session from the weekend. So make sure you check out Mets Up, even just for entertainment purposes. These two are very entertaining. So if you hate the Mets, you might have fun with the latest episode. We're Backlet size up the NL East for a couple of minutes. Kratz the Phillies took two out of three from the Braves. As we talked about I mean, the Braves might make a crazy run for a wild card. They're not catching up in the division. But what do you think about the Phillies getting Bryce Harper back? While the Mets looked at a series against the Pirates and thought, man, at least we're going to take two out of three, they got stopped.

00:35:28
Speaker 6: They scored some runs, I mean Phillies specifically, they actually scored some runs. Some Schwellenbach held them down yesterday. Ranger Suarez, who's sneaky, having a ridiculous season. Yeah, besides one clunker, he's been doing unbelievable.

00:35:43
Speaker 4: But they need Harper.

00:35:44
Speaker 6: They need Harper, but they don't just need Harper of who he was. They need Harper like who he was other years. Because it's Turner, Schwarber and Bom driving guys in.

00:35:56
Speaker 4: That's it.

00:35:56
Speaker 6: And that's really like you look at their ops's it's high. They're they but they pitch the absolute lights out like they're they're pitching. Their starting rotation is the best in the game right now on the field, not on the roster.

00:36:12
Speaker 2: On the field, and Dombrowski a j has mentioned how obviously they're going to do something with the bullpen since Albarado.

00:36:18
Speaker 4: You know, he's not going to be playoff eligible and they just need help in the back end anyway.

00:36:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, but do they need to kind of switch up the offensive flow because that's the problem for them in the playoffs.

00:36:29
Speaker 4: It's top heavy though.

00:36:31
Speaker 9: They just need somebody at the bottom to figure out.

00:36:33
Speaker 1: They need j T to get going again.

00:36:34
Speaker 6: They need.

00:36:37
Speaker 4: You for

00:36:39
Speaker 9: Ye