Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - New York Mets | Profile & Projection | 640

Episode Date: March 26, 2023

The New York Mets had the most exciting offseason in baseball following up a 101-win campaign in 2022. Have the escaped the Metsy label and can they find new heights in 2023?Use code JOMBOYPRESEASON for 15% off your next purchase at SeatGeek* https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/JOMBOYPRESEASON*max discount $50, expires 3/31/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You got to believe, Trevor. Gotta believe. What's going on? Welcome back to another team profile and projection here on talking baseball. Today we're talking about your New York Mets. Voted as the second best team in baseball by our audience, but votes were polled while Carlos Carrillo. was a Met, which might have changed a lot, might have changed it a little bit, but they are

number two per fan voting. Jake, did they have an interesting offseason? Man, they're always interesting now, which is kind of nice for Mets fans. 101 wins last year. They lost to those same San Diego Padres, took down the Mets and the Dodgers. How about them? Who they added? How about Justin Verlander, Jim? Cy Young winner last year. He's got like, Trev says he's got new parts in his elbow. He got another five years in him now. Jose Quintana, some pitching depth, which will already be tested because he got hurt.

Kodai Sanga, let's see it, kid. Excited to see what that's all about. D-Rob in the bullpen just got more important. Omar Narvaez is behind the dish. Don't sleep on that. Danny Mendick, Tommy Fam, for some depth. Brooks Raley in a trade. Eliezer Hernandez for some depth.

A couple other pieces. Don't make me say Jimmy Yakobonis ride in the bus a couple times this year. Who did they lose? Chris Bassett. Favorite signing of the offseason. Taiwan Walker, he's a Philly now. That's fun.

Jacob de Grom! He's a Ranger. Remember him? Trevor Williams, Seth Lugo, some good depth guys for them last year. Joelle Givins. Trevor May, some bullpen pieces. Dom Smith Experiment is over in Flushings.

He's a giant. James McCann got dumped as the Chasin Shreve and Tyler Nakeen. So, man, it was a big offseason for the Mets. A lot going on. And Trev, the lineup. The lineup. It's there. The lineup is a lot like your calves.

I like this lineup a lot. Unfortunately, we start off a little caveat here. Brandon Nimmo, expected to play center field and bat at the top of the lineup. He's hurt. Questionable for opening day. We'll see what happens there, but he's going to be there eventually. Starling Marte will be out in right field. Lindor doing his thing in shortstop. Pete Alonzo, Jake's favorite player in the big leagues will be at first base,

batting champ Jeff McNeil, second base. And then I think we're going to see some funny business at DH, some platoon stuff between Vogelbach and probably Tommy Fam. Mark Kano will be out there in left field. My guy Eddie Escobar will be playing third base. And then between the catchers, we have O'Warned of Valles. We have Thomas Nito. We have Francisco Alvarez on his way up.

And then some bench pieces. Luis Giorme, Darren Ruff. I mentioned Tommy fan before. Lineups deep. I like the bench. This team's looking really good, especially that rotation. James. What about that in the bullpen?

Yeah, the rotations got some names and some age. 40-year-old Justin Verlander just won the Cy Young, 38-year-old Max Scherzer just had a hell of a start in spring before we recorded this. Kodi Senga comes over from Japan. He's 30 years old, so he's a young buck. 36-year-old Cookie Carasco. Kintana is already out.

What was he's got? Bone graft surgery. Ow. Bone graft surgery. Bone stimulator. Bone stimulator. So David Peterson slots up into the rotation for now is what it says here. Having a big spring.

Okay. D-Rob. Adamadovino. John Curtis. More kids out of the bullpen. Yep. Yeah, I mean, all their bullpen, the youngest person, their bullpen right now listed is, I don't even know if this guy's going to make the roster or not.

Mets fans, you know more about your team than us. Dennis Santana. 26.9 years old. You might not know more than Jolly and Jerry on Shea Station, though. Yeah, Mets fans. If you want your own little TPPs, but for each individual player, our guys, John Moy Media,

podcast, Shea Station, have been doing one for every player as they go. So go check those out. And I've got to talk to Jolly, because I think I said this to him last year. Say that again. What? I got to talk to Jolly.

I think I said this last year, but, you know, my assignment as I started the show, was to look at the rotation and the bullpen. It's all Ritees. I know they're good. I know they're good, but you got four out of five starters are Ritees. And then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven out of eight relievers are Ritees.

We didn't talk about Edwin, also Ritey, but who's out, and that sucks. But my only problem with having so many Ritees is that last year, the two teams in the division, the Phillies and the Braves, their lefties, had the fourth and fifth highest OPS versus right-handed pitchers in baseball. And they are both top six versus righties, no matter what side. But you're looking at two teams who got lefties

who just crush righties. And yeah, the starters of the Mets have are really, really good. And I don't think that's going to affect them that much. But that bullpen being so righty heavy against those two teams, it just does, you just need some. lefties like you're you're a lot of games against guys that heart of their orders um left-handed on the flip side i think their their lineup has awesome balance both skill-wise pop um contact uh taking walks they all get hit by pitch a billion times and then righty lefty split so i don't know jake you

like the lineup man i i was just about to say we live in new york true big reveal um Come find me. No. When I saw the Mets at number two, I almost did like, I right, like, you know, I think the Mets are a class team, but also this was a team that the big bad wolf in their division, the Braves, snuck up on them and snagged him last year. And then they lost in the wild card.

The more I look at this roster and the depth, man, the people got this right. And I don't think it was Correa driven because we're talking about all the veterans. Trev, you named him in the lineup. Jim, you mentioned with the pitching. I think this Mets team also has a lurking young core of players between Alvarez,

Beatty, Vientos, David Peterson should count in that, man. He's got a chance to be good. Tyler McGill, remember when he was the big talk of last year? And, you know, right now, we don't even know if he would have a spot that this team has

the veteran guys that you know are going to be there and do their thing. If those veteran guys, because another word for that is age, that we've talked about should they have health concerns, even though like Justin Verlander doesn't have a health concern after outside of the Tommy John, like they have those death pieces that, man, I love seeing some of the veterans on the bench. You know, what Darren Ruff can do is just a lefty mauler if you need it. Good.

And the other thing that Mets fans have, that if you heard it in our Yankees, TPP with kind of those weird clouds I was talking about, the Mets will make the move. They punted on Kanoe when they still owed him a chunk of money. They punted on McCann before this season because he wasn't living up to expectations. So between the veteran outlets that they have, the young guys that will stumble into opportunities

over the course of a baseball season, and if the Mets just need to call on them, God, the Mets are the real deal. And I even think those things, You know, some of the lefties in the bullpen, they got Brooks Riley, who can be really good for you. You know, the Montez de Oka kid, and I might have slaughtered his name, he just got hurt in spring training. But watch a video of that guy pitch. You know, he's from that Camilo Doval school of how do you ever hit this.

The Mets are stacked this year, and it's going to be another fun year. And how could it not be, man? and it starts at the top with Uncle Steve and it's through the whole organization. Yeah, I mean, the vibes are high with Mets fans. And honestly, like the lineup, we're looking at all these lines we do all these TPPs and we just went over the Dodgers. I'm going to get some made for this one.

But they were the first in pretty much every offense, pretty much every dang category could think of. The Dodgers were first last year. And offensively, average, an OVP, I believe they were. The Mets at two right behind them. If I had to choose between those two lineups right now, I think I might choose the Mets. I think it's longer.

I think it's, I think there's less outs in the lineup. Not saying the Dodgers are a bad lineup. They're an incredible lineup. We just wax poetic about them. I took the freaking over on them, okay? This lineup is, has a chance to be really, really special. If Francisco Alvarez comes up and is like an offensive threat, like he has been in the minor leagues,

one through nine, there's not an easy out in that lineup. And you cannot say that for many teams in the biggest, maybe not any other team. like this is a this is a deep deep lineup they're going to be able to platoon guys where they need to platoon guys but most of these guys are set in their positions they know they're going to get at bats and i really like that too like when you have a set team that's going to go in there and do it more consistent at bats more plate appearances this is a very very strong offensive lineup and you got to watch out for the buck effect one of the only teams i'll tell you about that

with the manager new rules i mean you already saw scherzer in spring training finding the limits of the pitch clock and all that, there's a manager that's going to tinker and toil with all these new rules and how to get advantage of it's Buck. I mean, this is a guy that teaches his players. What was the latest one that I heard about that was in a rundown situation or say you're the run around first, ball hit to the second basement, second baseman is trying to tag you and then throw to first. That scenario.

Buck is teaching all of his players to just hit the deck and get as low as you possibly can because most of the times the ball is in the throwing hand and not the glove hand and if you go to review you'll see that he tagged you with an empty glove and the ball was out of the hand like i think moyland was telling me about that like they're holding it together they're holding it together down it'll separate yes and they can go to review and see that they tagged him with the glove and the ball's out like but we've heard about that about showalter forever that like you will find the little little nitty-gritty like ways to map maximize outcome, which is cool.

So look out for that. And all the old guys. Trev, to cover you on the Dodgers comparison, because the Dodgers have been the regular season class of the National League for four years now, if not longer. You know, as we've gone through these top teams, I feel like we've been a little tougher on them, but that's because they're so elite that we're kind of looking for the weaknesses. Like, the Dodgers have things they're going to have to figure out throughout the season,

between the kids and the veterans who is clicking. And I'm sure it will, but, you know, they're going to have to do that. Same thing with the Yankees. The Mets don't. Like, it's, they have the guys. And, yeah, when the trade deadline rolls around and all the teams are looking at, I'm sure the Mets will need something. And do you doubt, you know, they've got the full support of ownership.

If, you know, Ronnie Maricio, who's been a kid who's killing it for them as a prospect, If he's got to go to bring the right piece in, I mean, shortstop for the Mets is locked up for the next decade. So, like, this team organizationally, Buck Showalter, you won't find a manager that me and Jim are more locked in on as the dude. Steve Cohen is like the king owner of sports right now. And, I mean, just talent-wise with veterans and young depth, they're built for it.

I don't know. I guess I was kind of coming off of last. year with like, you know, it was a little Metsy that ending, right? You know, the Braves caught them and then they got beat in that three game or that was a little Metsy, right? Now re-looking in, it's like, oh, shit. It's, uh, I hope the Yankees keep pace with them. Otherwise, our Mets fans are going to get awfully loud in the office this year. Watch out for the last three series of the season for the Mets.

They got seven. Oh, schedule watching? Seven again. Well, you know, the, the rug got pulled out for them at the very, end. Big time. So let's watch it again. Seven games against the Phillies, the last three series.

It's like four against the Phillies, then three against another team, and then three against the Phillies. So four against the Phillies, two again, or three against Miami, three against the fills. So don't let it happen again. Oh, my God. I don't know what we're talking about all year. They also have a, they have a, at least my perception, harder first half than second.

and half until you get to the end there. Like they got a pretty gnarly stretch in the first half as just as I was going through it. I mean, this, we talk about a lot of things, how good this team is and all the depth they have. like, you know, Eddie Escobar might get kicked to the bench either to start the year or during the year at some point for Beatty. They were ready to put him on the bench that, I mean, that's a great bench, a great bench piece to have. So everything is going well.

You have, you know, four prospects in the top 100. you have ownership that's willing to spend make moves you have veteran guys there a really stable core of dudes there right now everything is going well but then we got to talk about the elephant in the room that is Edwin Diaz going out for the season

best Relever in baseball last year how do you replace him and I said David Roberts is my favorite signing and here we are I don't know if he's going to be the primary closure I mean I do know it's probably not going to happen we're going to have a

committee, but him and Ottavino and who else is going to step up. Like, that's the question mark for this team, back into the game, right? D-Robble do it. He stepped up when Mo went down after Sorin-Romwell. Okay, that's a while ago, but there's no one that respects D-Rob more than me. But I think that's the question mark of this team. We'd be remiss not to talk about it. You can navigate it.

Having a lights-out closer is awesome. It's just less stressful. You've seen teams without lights-out closers navigate this and get through the season. trade for one of the deadline if someone comes available like i it's a huge hit and it stinks the way it happened it'd be different if you know verlander was out for the season or shers was out for the season like you can navigate it it sucks it's more stressful there's going to be a lot more learning early in the season finding out who is going to be the guy that's going to get this done for you but whether it be closer by committee it it come the postseason you want one

guy. Regular season, you can navigate it. And by the way, we, you know, I think we're kind of agist and fastballist because D-Rob closed 20 games last year. Like, it's not like we're talking about the D-Rob from, you know, 2015, who he's not that guy anymore, he saved 34. Like, he closed out 20 last year. Um, so, and, you know, in the bullpen, things can happen fast. Like, Trevor, there's literally no smoke or fire to this at all, but we mentioned Tyler McGill's name, and guess what, if he finds himself in the bullpen and that, you know, 100 mile per hour fastball is working,

that's a way to find some outs back there. Like, again, I'm too hot on him probably because he's just a kid who hasn't put it together yet, but watch the way de Oka throws the ball. That's like that's... Deo. You don't hit it if he throws it over the plate the right way. So you wonder it would be really funny if that became a clear Achilles heel early

and they were really searching for something out there. Could they go out and address it? But yeah, I mean, we're talking about MLB vets out there that there's going to be someone who figures it out and they'll be good. And then hopefully the fun storyline becomes if Edwin can somehow make it back for the end of this season, my goodness. Just going to throw it out there because we talked about before the show.

Over under, Tommy Hunter saves this year for the Mets. I'm going to put it at a half. Under. Under. You think under? Okay. Sound off in the comments. What about this stretch in June?

Calendar watch. Okay. Philly's Blue Jays, Braves, Pirates. There you go. That's an easy. Oh, tough pirates. Okay, so Phillies, Blue Jays, Braves, Pirates, Yankees, Cardinals, Astros, Phillies, Brewers.

That's a tough June. That's a 500 June. Those teams are all looking at having to play the Mets as tough on the other half. But man, I think you like that month in June rather than August, but that's a tough June. You hope that's a 500 June. That's tough. Mets are good. So, yeah, but they don't know how many of them are road games.

Yeah, I mean. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Trev wants to wait a minute. I went straight to the over under. I wanted to see what it's going to be. Okay.

Do you guys, have you looked at it? I have not. It's 91.5. Tough division. Tough division. Easy over for me? Yeah, it looks really easy. I don't like when it looks really easy.

You know that. I'm going to bet it right now. I'm taking the over too. Take the over. Sometimes you got to run and place the bet before people figure it out. After going to, over that roster and seeing that number, it's an easy over for me.

And I get things happen. Things happen during the season, sure. But right now, if you're looking and trying to project, yeah, I'm taking me over. I forgot that Gonzaga over cash last night. Yeah, I mean, we're placing that right now. Yeah, I'm going to go play. I'm going to put my normal unit, $10,000. All hits.

No, regular season wins, yes. Jake's Bitcoin is running right now. Do we need to say anything about the division? I know we've run through it a lot. The Phillies added Trey Turner and have a chance to be better than last year. The Braves are, you know, they've kind of been their big bad wolf. They won 101 last year. Like, where does that line come from?

Because how many games, the Mets won 101 last year. Like, is that the Phillies and Marlins getting better? Like, I just don't, I don't know. That line? Yeah. I don't know, just pumpkin Mets fans? Just Punkin Mets fans. Pumpkin Mets fans?

We're all on the over. We're all going to cash it. Trying to find it. I cashed it. Regular season wins. Okay. Team futures. Team Flushings.

That's the episode then. See ya. Thanks for watching. Go Mets go. I love Alonzo. Well, he's awesome. Did you see how big of a salute? He wanted to give the salute the Team USA salute so bad,

and then he got that hit. That's who he is. He's a big strong guy. He's not going to think around with his salute. Like, that's the proudest he's ever been in his life that he got a hit for Team USA. I wish your face was right in front of his salute. Just got punched.

Just cracked.