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Welcome to Mets Hot Stove with your hosts Rob and CP, the go to podcast for all your New York Mets news and rumors. What’s up Mets fans? Welcome to episode four of the Mets Hot Stove live right here on the channels and on X. And we’re getting deeper into this off season, getting closer and closer to the winter meetings. And we got a lot to talk about as rumors, news, reports, all that fun stuff is just spilling out day by day. And there was a lot of news that came out today. But before we get into it, Chris, how you doing, buddy? Yeah, I’m doing well. It seems like the off season is really starting to ramp up now. We have some uh reports of some rumors from some really credible sources. If you uh are listening in on the channels and Rob and myself speaking on that in some of the videos that we had before this very stream. So, it seems like things are starting to finally take place. We do have the decisions for basically all of the qualifying offers that were given out and surprisingly there were a handful of qualifying offers accepted around the league too. Uh and that’s something that we can definitely touch on because I know that some of those players, you know, we talked about and were there were also rumors surrounding a few of those names, particularly one in center field going the Yankees on that qualifying offer um that accepted it. So, uh a lot of good stuff happening. It’s still not really the fullon throttle of like the Mets hot stove season, but we’re slowly starting to get there and that’s the most important thing. And uh once we do, buckle up because there’s going to be a lot of of news coming out in a very quick manner. Yeah, exactly. And you could just tell that it’s starting to heat up a little bit as uh me and Chris are were posting like crazy today as a lot of things were going on today, videos, shorts, and all that fun stuff as well. But, you know, like you just talked about the qualifying offer uh uh final or finale was today. Players had to decide if they were going to accept it or not. 13 players uh received the qualifying offer. 22 million, a little over 22 million. And um only one, two, three, four, five um accepted it. And Trinkus, Gryom, uh Shota Imanaga, Glaver Torres, and Brandon Woodruff are the ones that accepted it. I think that I think there’s one more if I’m not mistaken, but maybe that’s all of them. Uh, but obviously Bo Bashette, Dylan CE, Zack Gallam, Michael King, Schwarber, Suarez, Tucker, Valdez, and of course our own Edwin Diaz declined it as well as we all knew he was going to. Uh, but you know, wi with that being said, and this is when the offseason really kicks off, right? Because now there are actual more free agents because of the qualifying offer that they declined. Now we have to look at all right show Imanaga we talked about him on the last hot he’s obviously not an option anymore. Trent Gisham a lot of people were like you know he probably gonna be a free agent. I’m surprised he took that qualifying offer considering that he had a great year with the Yankees and you would think he would get a multi-year deal but sometimes you like where you are. $22 million is not too shabby in your bank account. And you know, you do wonder, you know, that’s one guy off the books and obviously Josh Naylor, who signed a big deal with the Seattle Mariners out of nowhere. And that kind of leans into the later conversation with Peter Lonzo. Um, what does that mean contractwise for Peter Lonzo? Is that good or bad for him? We’ll definitely get into that, but you know, uh, Chris, I want to get your thoughts on on the qualifying offers and people the players that accepted it. Um, were you shocked by any? You know, I was really shocked about Imanaga’s decision because you have a guy where, you know, I know that he had a little bit of a drop off and this is a guy that I talked about on my channel. He had a little bit of a drop off from year one to year two. Um, the home run balls, like you know, everyone that was not in favor of the Mets pursuing him would probably tell you, you know, he’s a lefty, gives up too many home runs. And I understand all that, but you know, he’s only got two years in the major leagues, right? And so he had that second year of hitters adjusting to him, but he hasn’t gotten that opportunity to make the counter adjustment and really solidify himself as a force. I think with the two years that he even posted because year two statistically all around I know that he faltered in the postseason uh for the for the Cubs and I understand that but I think with what he’s posted collectively in his first two seasons that was going to set him up for another long-term uh payday and to kind of bet on himself and double down and take that one year for 22 million. I understand it is 22 million. a lot at the end of the day. But, you know, I was kind of surprised that I took it and Gisham maybe not not much because I know that he put 30. Listen, I will say Gisham, yes, I am surprised. I think a lot of Yankees fans and maybe even their front office was surprised too. uh sure why they gave him the qualifying offer with the chance of him taking it because I’m sure that they would have looked at bigger and better things to sort of solidify their outfield and now they’re kind of handcuffed there, especially with that money coming onto their books for 2026. But, you know, even with him putting 30 plus home runs over the fence, it’s Yankee Stadium. He hit 235. I’m sure other teams knew this going into his free agency. like, yeah, he’s a lefty playing at Yankee Stadium. He’s definitely going to be putting a lot of home runs over the fence. I didn’t really buy too much stock into the train Gisham uh train, and I know that a lot of other people in this fan base didn’t either. So, I think that more so it was a surprise from perhaps the Yankees organization front than it was from my front. So, um yeah, I don’t know. I’m actually thankful because I saw a lot of rumors out there kind of linking the New York Mets to Trent Gisham and that’s the last thing that I wanted as solution to center field and I think out of all those players Wood drove with the injury history and who was the other player that you said was the last player? Uh good question. Uh anyways even with that as you search for that who is it? Uh, Woodruff, Woodruff, Woodruff, Ianaga, Gisham, Zerforth, uh, Glabberes, Gla Torres. Okay. Yeah. See, you know, I guess I guess it doesn’t really shock me uh, outside of Emanaga from the actual production value standpoint, too. But at the end of the day, when you talk about qualifying offers, it’s a very rare occurrence that a lot of these players take it at the end of the day. And to have four in this off season alone, I mean, I’m not really sure when the last time we’ve seen four qualifying offers being accepted around the league. I feel like that’s kind of a rarity without having the actual uh, you know, facts in front of me. But yeah, I think Imanaga was my biggest surprise. And again, I understand that he’s had a little bit of drop off in his numbers. I understand that. But like, come on. that guy was definitely going to get a multi-year deal uh with a triple AV to be at least a top three starter in somebody’s rotation. You know, I do wonder if some of the players took this qualifying offer with the uncertainty of next off seasonason with the possible uh strike that could happen with the CBA and all that. I wonder if they’re a little bit worried. They want to cash in now because if they do sign a contract and you know they’re not getting paid, maybe they’re just like, you know, let me just get a big payday. They don’t want to go through the offseason losing out on that 22 mil and then a lot of teams might be shy to give certain deals because of the CBA that might be coming up. They might be a little wary about doing it. But again, that’s yet to be determined. But you know what? Listen, it’s nice to see that some players took it because again, when you have good seasons with your team, why not stay with them sometimes? You know, I I never understood why players, you know, like bolt out of here, out of their teams, like it’s nothing, like it doesn’t mean a damn thing to them. like all their postgame interviews, all their, you know, onfield interviews and stuff like that after games and they always seem like they love it there and all that fun stuff and we have one of our own and Pete Alonzo, you know, how fast is he going to bolt to Boston if they give him a six-year deal. You know what I’m saying? So, it’s something that you always have to look at. But, it is interesting because Cody Bellinger, I don’t know if he’s going to be a Yankee anymore considering that transition is back. All right, so let’s get into the the Mets news uh officially when it comes to what we just talked about. Uh the Mets DFA and uh Frankie Montage, we both did u I think we both did shorts about it um not too long ago and of course Diaz declined qualifying offer. Um this was interesting because the Mets had to pay obviously insurance will cover it but they had to pay at least a portion of the $17 million that Frankie Montages owed and you would think that the Mets would have just kept them on, but I guess it’s some roster implications and all that stuff. I don’t know, you know, the ins and outs of the contracts and all that. You know, what’s the Mets could have been saving money on the back end or whatever it might have been, but um that news came out of nowhere. And you have a re a good reason why you think they did it? 40man roster spot implication because the corresponding move was protecting Nick Morbido, who is a Mets prospect from the rule five draft. And so there’s no reason when this guy is going to be rehabbing from Tommy John surgery all of 2026 to have him on, you know, your 40man roster and taking space away from that. So I’m not sure if the Mets do save any money given that he’s uh, you know, rehabbing. uh you know they gave him that player option with the contract which was kind of stupid as it is whatever. Um but they just wanted to strictly save the roster spot on that 40 man which makes all the sense in the world. There’s no sense in you if you’re already paying the guy you might as well just free up the roster spot and that’s all it was. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s what it was. Yeah, I thought I thought it was just that. I know I saw something quickly. I knew it had to be it just seemed like a roster spot. It just made a lot of sense for the Mets to do so to protect a player or two. But now in this case, Morabido. So, you know, that that was a quick topic because we, you know, who the hell cares about Montas? He was terrible. He got hurt and, you know, we all know about the contract and, you know, we both liked it when they when he signed. You know, we was like, all right, back end of the rotation guy. It wasn’t a ter I mean, the money was crazy, but it was like, you know what, got him early in the offseason. We thought the Mets were going to do a lot more and they did a lot, you know, very little in the rotation. 17 million was crazy for Montas. That was But we we thought it was good because we saw Sterns be aggressive early and that kind of got us a little excited. I think it was more about Sterns being um aggressive than Montage being the pitcher in this rotation. Even though we thought it it was a good signing, clearly it wasn’t. And now that um that little uh story is over with Frankie Montage. So, let’s move on to the the next topic that we’re going to get into the the news that’s been happening over um today where Jeff Pass, I’m not sure he because I looked at his tweets. He didn’t tweet this. He must have said it in an interview probably on foul territory of one of the the shows because do you know where he said it from because I know a lot I think it was an that it was written by him if I’m not mistaken. I think it came from an an article. Yeah. Okay. So, if you guys don’t know, uh Jeff Passen basically reported that the Mets have a list of a tradable available players on their roster and I think everybody thought Sanger would be there, Jeff McNeel, but then you saw Batty, Vientos, Luis Alkunia, and at the top of that list, Brandon NMO. Why is that important? And obviously me and Chris Paul know, but if you guys don’t know in the chat, Brandon Emmo has a full trade clause. I do wonder the Mets don’t leak nothing out. Like how Jeff Pass got this, I don’t know. But let’s say Jeff Pastton, we all trust his reporting. Everybody waits for the the passing bomb and that’s how you know a trade goes through or something goes through or a signing happens. Do you think the Mets spoke to Brandon NMO and say, “Listen, we might look to trade you to see if we see what’s out there for you depending on if it’s a package deal or, you know, taking on some of that money and trying to get a top prospect or something like that. Do you think they spoke to Brandon NMO in this regard? Because why would they make sure he’s on that list and somehow passing finds out from whatever sources he has? Rob, I think you and I both understand this that I’ve been talking about Brandon Nemo and how he’s going to handcuff this team since last off season. We already started talking about Brandon NMO and the hindrance that he is going to provide for the New York Mets from a roster flexibility standpoint. Let me preface this all by saying I have full awareness of what Brandon Nemo has been and probably will continue to be with his bat. But I’m talking about the necessity of paying this guy the money that they did to show up and be a good defender, a reliable defender also in the field so that they can address DH elsewhere. And now they have guys who many think there’s multiple guys on this team that can be suitors to be the DH and by default for Brandon Nemo given the plantar fasciitis and any other injury that is hindering him. This is this is news because it’s coming from passing but it shouldn’t really be news because first of all Brandon NML was not given this contract by David Sterns. This was a previous regime that gave him this contract. It seems like it’s an overpay now, but at the time when Brandon NMO was still a center fielder, putting up the production in 2022 that he did, it was a necessity to have him come back given the competition that was out there, the Rockies, the Giants, whoever else was in on the services of Brandon Nemo when he officially hit free agency. But I think that David Sterns understands that probably a per a conversation with Steve Cohen, if there is a world where there is a set amount of dollars that Steve Cohen is willing to eat on his remaining 102 million that over the next five years that he’s owed, then they would be willing to go ahead and find these suitors. Now, of course, like you said, the biggest thing here and I still think Brandon NMO a trade for him is not going to happen given all the constraints of money needing to pay the contract down and also the full no trade clause like you said. But I think that it’s it’s great to at least hear that the Mets are open to doing so because they understand that that is one roadblock in terms of the flexibility of this roster and an inability to have him and also still pursue free agents outside to better this lineup. So what I’ll say about this is that, you know, I don’t know. I can’t even begin to speculate if they approach Brandon Nemo about this. For a guy that’s been in the organization for as long as he has, I would have to imagine and them understand that he has a full no trade clause. I would have to think that yes, there were some conversations being had about, you know, is this even feasible? Should we even entertain this or are you just going to say no to any team? Now, what I will also say is that I see a lot of Mets fans saying, well, this trade can’t happen because he has the full no trade clause. Yes, he can veto any destination that he wants to, but how do we know that he will? You know what I mean? Like, how do you know that he doesn’t have a select few organizations out there that he’s like, “All right, listen. If you can make this happen, I understand. No hard feelings. Send me over there and and free up the roster spot if you really want to.” So, we don’t really know what’s going on in the minds of Brandon Nemo. That is the wild card, right? In the mind of Brandon Nemo, I should say. That is the wild card. But David Sterns, we now know with this Jeff Passen report what’s going on with David Sterns and his mind and the mind of this front office. They want to move off of a contract like that. They want to free up the roster spot and they want to pivot. I think the biggest thing here is the pivot to how they will address making up for losing potentially the production offensive of Brandon NMO. Because you can’t just get rid of Brandon NMO and then put in, you know, a random left fielder and call it a day and and expect that, you know, for all of us to be happy. There has to be a corresponding bigger move out there. And I’ll throw the name out there. I think it’s very unlikely. I think we all know who’s on the market that’s going to be commanding probably 400 plus million dollars. It’s Kyle Tucker. And we can all speculate all day long about that. I think that’s far-fetched. I think me just saying that is just dreaming. But like I said, you can’t just make this move happen and get rid of Brandon NMO and then tell us that everything is going to be okay by putting out there putting a mediocre left fielder out there. So, I think that of the names that Jeff Passen listed, and I know we’re going to pivot on to some of the other names, I think that Brandon Nemo is the least likely to go. But at least at the very minimum with what we’ve been saying and what I’ve been saying on my channel for quite some time now, going back to last off season, David Sterns is actually thinking about that possibility because he knows that DH has Brandon NMO’s name written all over it. Yeah. And that’s just the bottom line. Yeah. And you know what? You hit the nail on the head with with the the fact that um Brandon N like there’s a bigger picture here where you’re looking at the fact that David Sterns is probably looking at somebody either on the free agent market or the trade market that can replace the offense of Brandon Brandon Nemo. Not the defense. I mean, 90% of the baseball left fielders can play better left field than uh Brennan NML, probably even more. So, that’s what that’s what I think it is. I think the fact that David Sterns is like, “All right, I know my budget.” Because there is a budget. Even though Steve Cohen is very, very rich. There is always a budget. You have to think that Brendan NMO possibly trading him. And and look, they’re going to have to pay a lot of that money if they’re going to trade him. But if they can save 30 $40 million of whatever’s left on that contract that can go to a player a high price free agent or possible trade to bring in that money on the books with similar offense to Brandon. Can we can we that’s a great point that I want to just get out of the way so that people viewing this right now understand that. So, the way that I think about this, in order to make this move happen, a trade of Brandon NMO, it’s almost like you have to sell the team that you’re trying to trade him to on taking on the contract value of what he would be worth right now in free agency, right? So, let’s just say this, right? He’s got five years left remaining on his deal, worth about $102 million. That is what Brandon NMO is owed as of today. Moving forward in free, let’s just say Brandon NMO was a free agent this off season. What do you think a top offer, a top deal that he could sign on a on an open market would be? Is it a two-year deal? Is it a three-year deal? Do you think teams would be even scared of that? Or would they prioritize him being a DH and giving him a four-year deal? But we can’t play around with a AAV. We can’t because he’s already set at $20.75 million AAV. So knowing that, do you think he would get a two, three, fouryear deal? What do you think, Rob? I probably a two-year deal. You know what? Maybe if it’s a three-year deal with like an option, a club option or something like that. But he wouldn’t be getting what he wouldn’t be getting. Like I said, he had a great year that year. George Springer was a free agent, too. I hated that deal. Like if you go back a couple of years ago when NMO signed that contract, I was pissed off. I I did many videos, many lives saying I don’t want to resign Brandon Nemo. I didn’t I knew he was going to get a long-term deal. I didn’t want him back. I wanted George Springer. And yeah, Springer ended up not he’s not a center fielder. I understand that. But what George Springer is, Brandon NMO will never be clutch. And I’m talking about playoff clutch. This guy basically was hobbling around in the playoffs with Toronto. Big home runs, big games. He’s just a a great player that performs in the biggest moments. And I’m not saying Brandon Nmo is a bad player or anything like that. It’s just that you saw the writing on the wall with him. You you clearly did with Brandon NMO. You did. We We already We knew why Brandon Nmo became a a better center fielder. they he had issues going back on balls. So he he always played shallow most of his career with during his career with the Mets. He was great coming in on balls, he was terrible going back on balls. So what did the Mets do? They aligned him defensively to play deeper. So it’s easier for him to get to the deeper part of the gaps left and right and to dead center. That’s what that’s what they did to him. So, it made him look like in defensive metrics look like a better center fielder. But you know what else happened? Balls that were falling in that he usually would catch when he was playing um shallower. Now those balls fall in. So those defensive metrics, if you look at it from that moment when he started to play deeper are better. So it looks like he’s a better center fielder. But nobody’s stupid enough because that’s the reason why the Mets couldn’t leave him in center field after what, a year? That’s the problem. And and this this is the thing, Chris, when when it comes to Brandon NMO and knowing that he would get a two-year deal maybe on the market today is just another way that again, this is not Star’s fault, another way this organization, I don’t think, evaluate their own players well enough. And I think it bites him in the ass time after time. Different regime, I understand that. But they do this too many times. And we’ll talk about this later with Pete Lonzo. I think it’s the same issue. I think it’s a very similar issue. Even though Peter Lonzo has much better numbers, I think it’s similar. But yeah, I agree with you when it comes to NMO. So, so going back and going back to that conversation surrounding the actual contract value, if you’re saying that you would think that he would get a two-year deal in this current market this off season, that puts him right around, let’s say, $42 million over two years, given his current structure of AAV with the New York Mets. I think that he could potentially get a three-year deal to serve as somebody’s DH for the next three three years and put up 25 plus home runs and however many RBI’s. So that’s between 42 to 62 million between two or three years, right? You’re going to subtract that number from $102 million of what he’s currently owed over the next five years. And the difference is what the Mets are going to have to basically cover if they want to trade him because that’s the only way that the Mets are persuading any team to bite. Just act right. This is David Cern selling a team. Just act like this is a free agent acquisition for you. Okay, that’s fine. I will tell you at that AAV I’m only signing Brandon NMO for two years. All right, that’s 42 million. Mets, cover 60 million of his contract. Are you willing to do it? If not, no deal. That’s how I see things playing out in the perspective of a trade. Now, things obviously will change if you attach a prospect or two prospects as well onto the deal. That means more prospects means that the Mets cover and have to cover less money. But that’s like in in simplicity terms, in simplistic terms, that’s how I see that happening with the Mets trying to persuade because let’s be honest, Brandon Emmo’s a great offensive weapon, but you’re going to have to persuade a team with that kind of money on the books to take it on. And I just don’t see with the negative value now that he provides you defensively and almost negative value on the base paths, there’s really no incentive for a team to, I guess, give in to the Mets demands should the Mets truly be in on trade talks of Brandon NMO. And so it’s not shocking that Passen came out with this and named Brandon NMO, but I just still think that there’s just so many hurdles and an uphill battle to climb for the Mets to make this happen. And so I would fully still expect as of November 18th when we’re doing this stream that Brandon NMO is still going to be in New York Met in 2026. Not because David Sterns wants him to to be right, wants him to be, but because the Mets just simply will not be able to persuade another team on unfair terms, quote unquote, to take him on. Yeah, exactly. And I see people in the comments saying it’s the Brandon Bashan hour, blah, blah, blah, and all that. And you know, some team would love to have those numbers and want him. Numbers at the end of the year are skewed. There’s a reason why Juan Sto’s year became MVP caliber according to the MVP finalist and Pete Alonzo wasn’t. A lot of people right here and me and you agree Chris, Pete Alonzo technically had a better year offensively all around than Juan Sto. So why did Pete Alonzo get no consideration for MVP but Juan Sto was a finalist? See the numbers are skewed guys. That’s why when and Chris did an excellent job last year of breaking down the Peter Lonzo numbers. And this is not just about Peter Lonzo, but it’s about every player. Break down the numbers month by month. There’s a lot of months for a lot of these players that everybody wants to, you know, cry to the to the world about, oh, Brandon Moash or Petonzo Bashan hour, which will come from me at least. You have to understand, you got to break it down month by month. And this is why me and Chris always get along when it comes to doing shows because when Chris broke that down because I was getting killed all year all year in 2024 killing Peter Lonzo day after day after day and Chris because he he knows what he’s doing and he broke it down. He put the work in. It’s not just about the endofear numbers. We have to understand that with baseball nowadays. Wait, too many. Do Do people really think that Brandon Emmo had a good year this year? Why was Why was he a ghost for how many months this year? He’ll have two hot months, like scorching hot months, and then he’ll have a lukewarm month, and then he’ll have three cold months, like ice cold months. You can’t have that as a player. That is not somebody saying, “Oh, well, every player is streaky.” Understandable. But don’t tell me that Brendon Nimmo wasn’t part of the problem this year with an offense that scored less runs this year than they did in 2024. And you would think they have a better core of players. Add in Juan Sto. That’s the problem, guys. You got to break it down a little bit more. You can’t just look at the endofear numbers and say, “What a great year from this guy or that guy.” You got to break it down more because when you break it down more, you understand why we get frustrated when or not just frustrated, but we get a little animated or, you know, have a little bit more emotion when it comes to stuff like this for certain players. And nobody’s saying that Brendon Nemo is a terrible player. Yeah, the Colorado Rockies would love to have Brandon NMO, but you’re going to tell me a contending team is going to say, “Hey, we’ll take Brandon NMO and yeah, he might get a two or three year deal, so let us pay that amount of money and you pay the rest of the contract.” No contending team’s probably going to do that unless they’re so desperate for a DH or so desperate, which oh by the way, the Mets do so desperate for a left fielder that can’t play left field paid like a center fielder. That’s the problem. It’s not about Brandon NML the player as just the offensive numbers. It’s just that you’re paying him a god-awful amount of money to be a all-around player and now he’s onedimensional at best. And there’s no reason to think he’s not going to get worse every other year. That’s and he’s already breaking down. That’s the problem. That’s the issue, guys. It’s not about just bashing a player. It’s just the fact when you break down numbers. How many times this year have we complained about Brandon NMO? He goes quiet for a month, month and a half, and he’ll have two scorching hot months, and it changes his whole outcome of a season numbers-wise when it clearly didn’t feel like he was that good just by the numbers. So, the Nemo Bashion is over, guys. We got we got a lot more to talk about here with that list. Kodai Sena Chris Kodai Sena I think hopefully I would think most people understand why he is on this list me I’ve been done with him I said it from the beginning it’s all smoky mirrors when it comes to Kod when it comes to Kodak Sanga 100% I think it’s a fluke what he did early on in the season I truly believe that I think when teams start to see him second third time around during the season he doesn’t adjust He never adjust. Teams adjust to him. He don’t adjust. That is why he performs so good in the beginning of the season and then, you know, fades out during the rest of the season. Oh, by the way, he often gets injured as well. And with all that being said, the last three weeks of the season, what did the New York Mets need to make the playoffs against the terrible Cincinnati Reds? What did they have to what did they need more than anything besides wins? They needed somebody to start games because there wasn’t enough injuries, bad pitching. They needed somebody who was actually, you know, healthy that had their arm and, you know, had their arm attached. Kodi Sanger wasn’t injured. He just couldn’t figure out his quote unquote mechanics, which I think is just horseshit. He gave up on his team. I don’t want that guy back on our team. I just don’t trade him. Trade him and get somebody else in this rotation because I’m sick and tired of Kodi Sanger that he he’s so great apparently that you have to change your whole complexion of a rotation for extra off days having a six-man rotation. Not every pitcher why do why does every pitcher have to suffer? Because not every pitcher likes to be stronger on their day-to-day pitch because of the extra day. So you’re weakening your rotation or you’re hurting other pitchers on your in your rotation because of Kodi Sena. You can’t do that for one player, especially a guy who basically screwed you at the end of the season and basically didn’t even help this team at the end of the year when they needed him the most when they clearly needed the pitcher. I’m sorry. I trade him, Chris. I don’t know about you, but he’s got to be gone. I don’t want him on in this rotation. I still think it depends on how far David Sterns is willing to bolster this rotation in terms of getting top arms in here. I think if you’re thinking about only getting one top arm, then you kind of need Kodi Sanga to be that sort of consistency in the first half, at least in the back end. I’m not like if you’re selling me on a rotation where Kodi Sangga is anything but your number five then I’m not buying it and I’m kind of going into 2026 skeptical. But as a number five at the very minimum given the young talent, given you know hopefully a rebound of Shawn Mania, that’s a very big if. Um and maybe the next top arm that you bring in, okay, then your your hand is forced. But I really do think a lot of these reporters, and Jeff Passen’s report today just solidified it, but Bob Nightingale even was kind of alluding to it that the New York Mets are not thinking about just one top arm. They’re thinking about two this off season. And if they are thinking about two, that means Kodi Singa is more than expendable. Um, and that’s just the bottom line. And so you see this list that Jeff Passen dropped. I made a video about it. If you missed, I actually dropped two videos today. One about Tyler Rogers, one about this passing rumor article that he dropped. Right? So check out my description if you’re if you’re listening on my live stream. I’ll link those in the description. Um, but the one thing here is that Passen said, “Okay, all these guys are available.” He named Luis Anelakunia, Mark Vientos. We got to talk, we have to talk about Brett Batty. We already talked about Brandon NMO. Um I forgot if he named one more. Jeff McNeel, he he named in there. We’ve already known that the Mets might try to move Jeff McNeel. But of all these guys, Kodi Sangel was the only one that he was willing to go out there and say the Mets are not just making him available, he is extremely available. Meaning he is it would be a surprise. Yeah. if he is not gone. And so again, you know, if that’s the case, I’m not saying that what Jeff Passen is saying is gospel, so to speak, right? Because he could be wrong at the end of the day as well, although he is one of the more credible reporters that we have to listen to this early in the offseason. But if that’s the case, that gives you an idea of how aggressive the Mets might be looking to be in terms of trading for that one frontline starter, whatever the name might be, and then maybe also going out there and pursuing a guy like Dylan Cece or Tatsuya in free agency to give you your two arms that can make Kodai Sa expendable via trade. And it doesn’t even matter what you get in return at this point. it’s an expiring contract and you’re just freeing up the roster spot there. Although I will say I will disagree just a little bit. If Kodiena is not traded, I think that I would like his role to be reduced in capacity, but I still think he would have a little bit of a role. He would have at least some value uh on this team, but I think that the pros or the cons outweigh the pros here. And I would also agree with you, Rob, that I would prioritize moving Kodai Sena out of this organization this season or this off seasonason. Exactly. So again, you know, let’s just hope that this these signs that all these news and rumors uh when it comes to all this possible change of culture or change of, you know, roster construction is a sign of Sterns being aggressive and putting on his big boy pants because that Steve Cohen money is mighty heavy and you just hope that he’s finally realizing he’s in a big market and he gets that going. Let’s hope those these signs are what we might see in the future, which would be nice. So again, next on the list is Brett Batty. And and this is something, guys, that you know, I we talk about a Brett Batty topic last year. This time, 99.9% of Met fans probably want Brett Batty off this team. If if we were talking about Brett Batty last year, next year, we’re talking about him right now on November 18, 2025, and he had a really good season. you remember, you know, getting sent down, coming back up, had a You finally seen the potential of Brett Batty. This is a guy that I was always I always had his back. I liked Brett Batty. I I felt like he got a raw end of the deal on opening day when he clearly won the job against Luis Lakunia, but Luis Lakunia had to play on opening day because of a lefty, which already irked me from day one of the season while I was in Houston in the hotel room when we had the first pregame of the year. This is a problem where and and this is a situation where this entire list when it comes to what passen reported. I already said this. Do what you got to do. If everybody on this list gets traded for players that can help us, I don’t care. Nobody’s off limits to be quite honest with you. You can’t win 83 games and miss the playoffs with all the all the the potential and being big contenders and you’re going to tell me that somebody’s untouchable. I don’t care. This whole list can go if it brings back better players. But realistically, it’s probably not going to happen with all these guys. But Chris, with Brett Batty, we talked about it from day one last year. A lot most Met fans wanted Brett Batty gone, gone because he was a bust. He had a really good season this year, you know, getting sent down all that. I was pissed off that he didn’t start on opening day when he won the job clearly over Luis Ankuni when McNeel got hurt and he didn’t start opening day because of quote unquote our favorite uh framer, you know, word matchups. Those are stupid from time to time. Yes. But put the better player out there. I’m sick and tired of, oh, we got to put in a righty who is not as good as the lefty we usually have and I’ll start him a lineup. So, let’s put the righty in here who is a worse a player. Worst player. It’s just stupid. So, this is an interesting topic with Brett Batty because I think we all can agree that Brett Batty can play second or third depending on what the Mets do with McNeel, Vientos, whatever, who is also on this list by the way. I’m open to everything. Do I want to trade Brett Batty? No. But what are we getting? That’s the important part, right? It It’s not about losing Brett Batty. What are we getting to make us better? And if that means getting rid of Brett Batty, I’m on board. But it has to be the right trade. It has to be the right player or in the right package, so to speak, because the list is weird because we’re talking about, oh, trade Brett Batty for this, trade Sanger for this. These some of these guys can be in a package as well obviously, but the the way the list it seems like everybody’s doing like individual trades with individual players when these guys some of these guys can be packaged which is a whole new outlook on possible uh trades that could happen. A lot of Mets fans wanted to crown Mark Ventos the third baseman of the future after 2024. Yep. Now, a lot of Mets fans want to crown Brett Batty the future of third base after 2025. Like I understand I understand being hyped about these guys that we’ve been waiting for so long to get the chance, right? And seeing them have good seasons, but we need to also just temper our expectations on what we realistically can expect them from them moving forward. Brett Batty has all the potential in the world. I’m not denying it. But if you’re telling me that Brett Batty is a deciding factor of getting you a topline arm and ace via trade because this team really wants a controllable young potentially upand cominging third baseman, I’m sending Brett Batty in a trade all day long because the Mets have the farm system to recuperate from losing Mark Vientos and Brett at Batty. They do. They have eight top 100 MLB pipeline prospects. They are the number one team with the most top 100 prospects and a handful of those have the ability, actually a couple of those have the ability to play third base. But even given that, dude, even given that, you know, you’re probably talking about back failing third base externally anyways, right? I mean, with the whole Red Sox situation, if you don’t get Pete Lonzo, the Red Sox probably will get Peter Lonzo, and therefore, Alex Bregman is out there for the taking. You trade Brett Batty, you get Alex Bregman. Is anybody really crying about that? Because I won’t be. I will not be whatsoever. And and that’s just the bottom line because theoretically, you’ll have Brett Batty going in a trade for a top arm and you back fill that third base spot with Alex Bregman and it works out the end of the day. And so I just want to like I know that there’s a lot of Mets fans that are fans of certain players and certain players only. There’s a lot of Jeff McNeel fans out there that are like do not trade Jeff McNeel. We’ve been hearing it for the past few seasons at all costs. Now that’s transferred over to Brett Batty because he had a really good season. I get it right. These guys are easy to root for. They’re likable. Whatever. I Whatever draws you to them, that’s fine. But you are not going to tell me that with what Brett Batty put up. Yeah, he hit 18 home runs. OPS was mid700s for the first time in his career. I’m not crowning him the third base of basement of the future without at least seeing what I can get for him in a potential trade package to bolster my rotation. And that’s just the bottom line. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not me saying that Brett Batty is a bad player. I was wrong about Brett Batty. I had my doubts that he was going to bounce back the way that he did in 2025. I give him all the credit in the world for doing so, especially in such a tough market when a lot of Mets fans were asking, “Does this guy have the capacity to perform in a high-end market like New York?” And he proved everybody wrong, including me. But I’m still not going to shut the door on making my team better because I need to keep Brett Batty. That’s just not how this works. And I think that David Sterns also, you know, if this list is correct from Jeff Passen, also understands that that there are a lot of ways to backfill Brett Batty’s position if they end up letting him go via trade. And I I made this video a couple weeks ago. This shouldn’t surprise anybody. It doesn’t surprise me that the Mets are listing on offers on Brett Batty. They told you all like told everybody in this fan base that they were shopping Brett Batty this past trade deadline when they wanted they they didn’t want to because they didn’t do it and and thank goodness they didn’t with the way that this this whole thing played out. But they discussed a one deal with the Yankees that would send Brett Batty to the Bronx in exchange for Trent Gisham at the time. Can you imagine how bad of a trade that would have been first of all, but second of all, just including him and floating his name out there this past season was an indicator as it is. And so, yeah, I don’t think that what Brett Batty produced is enough to make him an untouchable prospect or an untouchable player because he’s graduated from that prospect status on this team. I’m sorry. It is what it is. There’s a handful of ways to replicate his production defensively and offensively. And that’s just the bottom line. You can fan, you can be a fan of a certain player. I I have certain players on the Mets that I like. And you know, I’m a Pete Alonzo fan. I’d like to see Pete Alonzo be back, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Pete Alonzo is not replaceable. I haven’t done it this off seasonason so far. I could continue to not do it. I think Mets fans have to graduate from this. let me root for this one player and one player only and realize that a lot of these guys minus maybe Edwin Diaz because he’s really not replaceable in my mind a lot of these guys are replaceable. That’s just the bottom line. Yep. And exactly. And uh yeah I you know I love Alex in the comments saying I’m a Debbie Downer. I mean what is there to be up about? The Mets missed the playoffs with all the expectations. Like, stop acting like we should be positive when what positive is there right now? There is none. This team needs an overhaul. Like, let’s stop acting like this team won the World Series and we’re celebrating. We wouldn’t have Debbie Downer shows if this team actually did what they’re supposed to do, including the organization who run things. So, you got to understand that as well. Sorry, Chris. Um, but yeah, exactly where Brett Batty that that’s look again, there is no guy on this list that I would not trade and and that’s obvious. So, Jeff McNeel is the obvious one, too. We always thought he was going to be on the market. I don’t think there’s really much to talk about, Chris, unless you have something to bring up. He he’s not the average guy he was a couple of years ago. If he was, it might benefit the team more in my opinion. I think him changing into a quote unquote power guy, which he’s not, hurt this team because you got a guy like Brandon Imo who was an average guy decid an on base guy. Bolts decided to hit more home runs and I I don’t know if anybody noticed, but how did that really help the Mets? I think it hurt them because it makes their lineup just not situated right. How many times have we talked about oh why Lindor shouldn’t be leading off like the common sense thing he shouldn’t be leading off like NMO and McNeel should but because NMO and McNeel aren’t the same player as they were a couple years ago is the reason why this core probably needs to be broken up a little bit because the the lineup doesn’t suit itself in the top in in the top one or two guys in the lineup or at least the the leadoff there. There’s no reason why Lindor should be leading off. You It would be nice to have your better players two, three, four, five instead of one, two, three, four, because then you got to put Brendan Imo fifth or McNeel seventh and it just messes up the lineup. And I I think it it messed up what the Mets are trying to do. And it’s not Sterns’ fault per se, but in general, I think changing their mechanics and changing their their way of hitting hurt both of these players in my opinion. Yes, Nemo has better numbers, but what the Mets need from these guys, especially when you had Alonzo, when you had Lindor, and now you had Sodto, you need guys to actually get on base for them. How many, you know, there was a lot of solo home runs because these guys were constantly at the plate with nobody on base. And why is that? Because your best hitters were so pushed up early in in the order that it just messed up everything in my opinion. And again, I don’t care about Jeff Pil. He can be on this team or not. If Jeff is on his team, he’s going to be a role player and because he could play multiple positions. Other than that, see you. It’s an expiring deal, too. It’s just a common theme here. You talk about Sanga and McNeel, right? I mean, I know Sanga’s a pitcher, McNeel’s a position player, but uh a guy that’s, you know, getting owed or is set to be owed $15.75 million. That’s a complete overpay for Jeff McNeel as it is because that’s not what he’s going to produce for you in a single season. Um, but also, he’s an aging player. He’s got one year left on his deal. Uh, I think he has some sort of option. I think it’s a club option maybe attached to the back end that the Mets I would have to imagine are going to decline. I have to look at Sprack if that’s if that’s true or not, but I think it is true. Um, but yeah, man. And like like you said, this so we are now at a threshold here with these prospects where it’s like it’s time to make a decision on some of these names because I hear Mets fans say this all the time. Do not trade Jet Williams, right? You can’t trade Jet Williams. Don’t like don’t even think about it. All right. So, like, okay, so that’s fine. We won’t trade Jet Williams, but how about this? It’s now Jet Williams time to be a contributor at the major league level. Yep. So, the position that he will probably be overtaking is probably being the successor to Jeff McNeel at second base. Something has to give here, right? Jeff McNeel fans that are also Jet Williams fans that don’t want to see both go can’t have both. You can’t have both. It’s not It’s not feasible. It’s not feasible. So, some of these prospects like Benge, like Williams, like we’ already seen these these pitching prospects are going to have to graduate to make room for the next set of prospects that are willing to come up and are are are trying to make their case in double A and AAA. And so, I think that Jeff McNeel is completely expendable. I don’t think that anything that Jeff McNeel provides you mediocre outfield defense, right? Like I get that he’s a versatile player, but like I’m not gonna Nobody’s batting an eye about the way that he plays outfield. It’s just a guy to stick out there. He’s got he’s just got thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, right? He’s he’s like 33, 34 years old. This is the most expendable guy of this entire list, I feel like, of what passing dropped. So yeah, I don’t think there’s anything else that needs to be said about, you know, Jeff McNeel. Appreciate his time as a New York Met. But objectively speaking, you know, if you’re trying to make this team better in any facet, then I think that you have to try to get Jeff McNeel out of the door because I don’t think that he fits on this team in 2026 with the prospects coming up and just the overall ability. Not to mention, if Brett Batty sticks around, I would have much rather see Brett Batty at second base and take that position over and keep our options open at third base rather than committing to Brett Batty being the third baseman of the future. And that’s just the bottom line there. So, uh, I think Brett Batty has a lot to say about Jeff McNeel of Jeff McNeel trade upcoming this off season, but apparently both are up for, uh, are up for trade, too, according to Jeff Passen and what the Mets have either leaked or he’s assuming they have leaked, too. So, yeah, I don’t know. This there’s I think that there’s just so many moving parts right now and it’s kind of hard to see how this all plays out. There’s a lot of uncertainty and that’s what has a lot of Mets fans worried and that’s and that uncertainty is the reason why a lot of Mets fans are like no we have to keep these guys because like they can’t even think of a plan to they don’t think that this front office has a plan to truly replace these guys. That’s the fear of uncertainty right there. And at this point what do we have to fear? We’re coming off of a season where we missed the playoffs. There’s nothing to fear. It can’t get any worse than that. It cannot get any worse than that. And so I I see a lot of fans after the season saying there’s no way we can bring a replica of the 2025 team back. There has to be I think Jody said it too, an overhaul. like these names being included, whether you’re comfortable or uncomfortable including some of these names in trade talks, it’s good because that points toward a willingness to complete an overhaul. And that’s at least what I’m happy about in hearing this report that the Mets are open to doing. Exactly. If the Mets were openly, you know, if this list was true after the 2024 season, we would be concerned because like, hey, we just had a great season. why you trying to, you know, completely change this roster. But when you have a [ __ ] season like he did this year with all the expectations, this has to happen and that this this is start of a good sign as me and Chris were talking about and agree with. So Mark Ventos, Chris, another one on the list. What you know, again, he lost his job, didn’t deserve to keep his job. I don’t know. I mean, would you keep Ventos to be the everyday DH? Can you trust him? Because he can hit righties, he can hit lefties when he’s on, but can you afford to keep him as the everyday DH if you’re going to think about somebody at second or third or just trade him? You you can absolutely give Vientos another crack at DH. Is that my number one option of what I want? Absolutely not. That’s not what I want. Would I understand the rationale of why they do it? Yeah, sure. Like, fine. Okay. But if that’s the case, like that’s that’s where I that’s where I push back on it, too, because like I don’t want a lineup that possesses both Brett Batty and Mark Vientos. Again, I don’t think that’s the best thing for the New York Mets. I think it has to be either one or the other getting moved this season. And I think that a lot of people right now would probably prefer Brett Batty stick around over Mark Ventos. I think that’s probably the objective consensus, right? Although you can argue Mark Ventos’s bat has higher upside. We just didn’t see it in 2025. And with the lack of versatility that Mark Ventos provides, unlike Brett Batty, you know, Brett Batty is going to give you, I think, the higher return of the two names because Mark Ventos is the definition of a one-dimensional player. Um, and so, yeah, I I don’t know. I I think it has to be either or. That’s the way that I would approach it if I was if I was David Sterns. Um, I think the common denominator here is leaving third base open depending on what Peter Alonzo does. Again, there’s a at this point I would give it a 50-50 chance that Pete Lonzo returns to the New York Mets. That’s what I would give it at. There’s a lot of rumors circulating and and we’ll get into it. I’m sure we’ll talk about Pete Lonzo here in just a second, but there’s a lot of rumors circulating about the Mets approach to these negotiations with Pete Alonzo. And so if that’s the case, if Pete Alonzo does walk away, I’m not positive the Mets will backfill first base in free agency, I think they might give Ryan Clifford, whether I think that’s the right move or not is a different topic. I think Ryan Clifford could be up for that spot. But that means you have to go ahead and prioritize a competent third baseman somehow some way. I don’t know if Mr. Ramirez in Cleveland is available, but that could be another option that you could potentially pursue. I don’t care. Breman Ramirez, I do not care. You cannot leave. If you lose Peter Lonzo, Brett Batty is now your third baseman. That’s that’s that’s what I’m going to leave it to. That’s as simple as that. Pet Allonzo leaves, Brett Bait is now your third baseman. And so that’s where I’m like with Mark Ventos, it might just be a little bit easier to try to persuade teams that he could be a staple in somebody else’s lineup and maybe get a pitcher in that manner. Even if it is, and even if that means that you have to attach a little bit on the back end in terms of prospects. So yeah, I don’t know, man. This is a this is a tricky merry-goround that David Sterns has to uh has to has has to answer here. Yeah. Uh doesn’t this list sound familiar though? Three out of the four players that the Mets should have looked to trade in the trade deadline. They’re back on this market in the offseason. So, it shows you Davis Sterns didn’t want to pull the trigger for whatever reason. Remember I said two out of the four needed to go and three out of the four are here now. And Mauricio is obviously not part of this list. So, last but not least, Luis Lakuna. That was your guy, Chris. Earlier in uh in the beginning of the year, I had a problem with Luis Luna. I I think he’s a role player to be quite honest with you. It’s It’s not a bad thing. It’s not a bad thing. You need role players on your roster, but a role player should not be a top five prospect in my opinion. you you didn’t portray him as a role player bringing him up and hyping him up and you know getting him from the Rangers. You you just it wasn’t the case and you have that this is where I think people are going to probably get annoyed at me again. Luis Luna I don’t think if he don’t learn how to hit for average his speed is nearly pointless as a starting player. It matters on the base pad pinch running. Very good defensively. But you have to understand if he doesn’t learn how to hit for at least a decent average and is on base doesn’t go up and then strikeouts continue to rise, that speed and that production he can provide with his legs means nothing. You can’t bat 220 and think that you’re going to be, you know, a speedster on the base pads and your on base sucks. You’re not going to be a very good player. You you’re basically a bench player and a role player. The problem with Luis Lakunia with this current team. Now, obviously, a lot of things can happen, but I don’t see him being a starter. There’s no consideration for me in my opinion for him to play second or third and obviously not short and not even center field. So, what does that tell you? That tells you this guy’s going to be a role player on the 20206 team if you keep him, which I’m not against per se, but I can’t have a top five prospect that they portrayed as a very good to possibly great player, you know, the brother of Ronald Lunir and he’s not even half of his brother. That’s my problem with him. He’s probably a better asset to the New York Mets and probably a better asset for another team. Why I think Luis Lokun got to be traded 100% in a package on his own whatever gets on back here that can help this team in a better way because I don’t think Luis Analoney I know in winter ball he’s hit a couple of home runs I mean it’s nice to see him hitting home runs in winter ball when he couldn’t hit a lick in the pros in major leagues. So, this is probably going to be, you know, on the negative end here when it comes to Akunia, but I don’t trust him when it comes to a starting role. I can’t I can’t even put him over Vientos, even though I’m not a big fan of Ventos. It’s that’s the problem. I see Akunia on this team as a role player for 2026. You can do better with him in a trade getting somebody else in here to help this team long term. And the flip side of that, I agree with you. He is definitely a role player. I just don’t think that he’s gonna have that much value for teams if he’s not packaged. I don’t know. Hype around him where, you know, there’s a team that like a the Pirates or, you know, like a a smaller market team that is trying to get rid of a player that they don’t want to pay or they don’t want to keep that salary. I think they would take a chance. These there’s always teams out there that are always taking a chance on tape like on those players like the Rays or something like that. If you and that if that’s true, then I think what Strike is saying in the chat here, I think that’s a perfect uh synopsis is that the Royals could be a perfect match for a trade of Louis Helakunia. Two teams that have already discussed uh you know potential trades as recent as last offseason. I think that could be a perfect fit. But I in a one forone deal, right? I think you’re better off packaging him. I think you’re better off sending a package of Ventos and Akuna combined rather than just those guys one for one. And so I think that provides you a lot more value. And so um that’s that’s also the common denominator here is like is Sterns just trying to free up these roster spots or is he really trying to build value here? And how much value can he actually get in return for these guys one for one versus a package? And so that’s really what his job is as president of baseball operations right now with no acting GM underneath him to try to figure that out. But I I just I I’m just skeptical on how on what the return I guess I should say would be of Luis Anilkunia going somewhere else in a one for maybe even one deal. Um, I think other teams have have gotten a chance to see what he posted, you know, two seasons prior down the stretch and they saw when he got a little bit of increased sample size and an ability to win a job and he couldn’t do so that could turn some teams off and kind of give them the upper hand and leverage. And I think even coming into this organization, there was a lot of hype surrounding the name of Akunia. I I bought into the hype only because I was like maybe he could build on what he did when Lindor was injured back in that 2024 season. He didn’t. Now I’m past it. Right? It’s all about what you can do for me when you get the opportunity. Can you seize the opportunity? Right? And Luis Helokuna didn’t. And so I think with where the Mets are at in their organization, especially right with these prospects coming up again because that’s why these guys are expendable. Say it one more time. If the Mets didn’t have the farm system that they did right now, then I’d probably be talking about this situation in a different light, I’d probably be like, well, how can you trade Luis Son Hillunia if a guy like Jet Williams is not coming up, right? Like, how how can you do that? How could you trademark Ventos if you know you don’t have a guy like I don’t know whoever else coming up that it matters because the Mets have built a competent enough farm system to make these MLB ready guys that are on the cusp of being true everyday players. they have the ability to give them away and they have the ability to get value back for them and just sort of retool through the farm system and externally with what the value they get back. So, um I’m not surprised with Luis Helkuna. Yeah. So be it. He’s a role player. I’m not I’m not batting an eye at that. Exactly. So, this list is going to be a lot to look at throughout the offseason and, you know, keep your eyes open for, you know, these guys being in, you know, a possible deal. Maybe not just, you know, solo, you know, singular trades, but like package type deals. That would be uh interesting. But it, you know, if this is true, Sterns is actually, you know, being more aggressive than some of us, uh, Dodie could be. So, you know, turning on to the next topic right now. Um so earlier today if you weren’t I know somebody brought it up in the chat um WFAN Salakata in his morning his one of his um on show uh with be with Brandon Tierney earlier today and I heard it coming home from work he said that industry sources saying that no we know the Mets made an initial offer to Pete Lonzo whatever it is I don’t know but it seems like the Mets aren’t going to budge much if at all on that initial offer. A lot of people believe according to Salakata and his industry sauces, which I kind of was curious. I was like, am I going to believe him? No. But Chris, I I didn’t message you this, but I want to say something. So, you know, I have a friend, a reporter that, you know, good guy, knows this stuff. I asked him, I go, “Have you?” Because industry sources doesn’t mean that it’s coming from the Mets or, you know, any reporter from the Mets, but it could be could be coming from outside sources. And when they come from outside sources, you wonder where, you know, h how are they hearing that? So, I asked my friend who is a reporter for a team. Um, I’m not going to put his name out there. You know, I’m not going to do that unless he wants to put it out there, you know, because he might do an article about it. So, I don’t want to blow up his spot uh yet until, you know, so he can get views and, you know, eyes on his article and stuff like that. He said to me, he goes, “I heard something similar.” He goes, “I’m not going to agree with everything the radio host said in Salakata, but I did hear similar things when it comes to the Mets not budging too much on their initial offer for Peter Lonzo.” And everybody’s going to be like, “What was the initial offer?” Well, it seems like the Mets are doing similar to what the contract they offered Penolonzo last off season, but it’s an extra it’s basically a similar setup. It’s a two for one. Basically, what that is, guys, is where it’s a guaranteed two. It’s a three-year deal guaranteed the first two years. The third year is another player option. Now, the third year is kind of up in the air. That where the sources get a little tricky. It it could be where it could be a club option for the third year or a mutual a vesting option or a mutual option between team and player. So that hasn’t really been confirmed um with that part. So again, I’m not saying this is true. I’m not saying that, you know, Salakott is wrong. um my guy that’s a reporter for a team um is wrong or but when you start to hear those type of rumors, you know, Salaka has a big mouth, but he’s also a good guy. We had him on the show couple was it two years ago on on the the round table. He was a great guy and he’s cool, right? I met him a couple of times at the Queens baseball convention and all that stuff. He’s a good guy. He’s not a type of guy to throw [ __ ] out there and, you know, just because he feels like it just to get, you know, you know, eyes and ears on the show. He He’s not that type of guy. He is the type of guy that if he believes it that somebody’s saying it, he’ll put it on the air. So, that’s why I was like, you know, do I really believe him? But I asked my my reporter friend and he kind of confirmed similar talk throughout the industry that they don’t think the Mets are budging much. Now how much I don’t know but I do think they have a three-year deal on the table with a possible option whatever the third year might be. Uh club option investing option whatever mutual option. So Chris, I’m gonna tell you this. I don’t think the Mets want Peter Allonzo unless it’s a very team friendly deal. and he also has to DH a little bit which I think is gonna piss off Alonzo more than the actual contract because that’s not a low ball offer. I think they’re going to give him between 29 and $30 million which he got last year. I think I think they’re going to the the yearly number AAV is I think it’s going to be right on par what Allonzo wants. The years are going to be the problem. The the DH part of it is going to be a problem. Now I think the Mets are stupid. I wouldn’t tell them anything about DH at first base. Once you sign up dotted line, you play what we tell you. I don’t care. If you got a DH for a week, you DH for a week. If there’s a better third first baseman that’s a much better third base first baseman, put him out there as a defensive uh first base. I’m okay with that. So, Chris, I’m going to ask you, do you believe these rumors? Number one, and or and do you believe the Mets? Because the Red Sox seem very aggressive in the case of Peter Alonzo. Do you think the Mets would go five, six years? Because I think they can go four, but five, six, possibly seven if there’s a little bit of a battle for Peter Lonzo. Yeah. And I think that’s important to also distinguish too is that that battle like what is it? because like you can’t expect to make an offer to Pete Alonzo and Scott Boris and them not to match that offer for you know from the Red Sox. So what’s the incentive of giving your top offer to Pete Alonzo right off the bat? That that’s my that’s why I don’t believe what’s being said because if you know that Scott Boris is going to take this offer and go to the Red Sox and ask them to top it, why would you even why would you start off with your top fiveear deal or your top sixyear deal? you’re gonna give the three-year deal and say, “Okay, going to the Red Sox. We’ll see what they say. We’ll potentially match it, but we might also not match it because we might be moving on to bigger and better things and keeping our options available.” This is where I think that Sorry, I don’t believe Salakata. I’m sorry. I just don’t believe it. I I don’t um First of all, I think this I’m sure Style is a great guy. Isn’t he the guy that said Pete Alonzo was a clubhouse problem a couple years ago, too, going back into last offseason? Industry sources, industry sources said that Peter Lonzo was the clubhouse problem. That’s why that’s why. Yeah. Okay. Anyways, that’s besides the point. But what I will say here is is that yeah, the the Mets are not going to make the Max offer right away. That’s expected for any bigname free agent because Scott Boris is going to just take that offer and go to the Red Sox and say, “Wow, look at this. You can get him for one more year, $25 more million, and he’s yours.” It just doesn’t make sense. And so that’s why it’s like pretending to know. I I don’t want to say pretending because I don’t want to to like put that on these guys are saying industry sources are saying that but I have to I I have to go out on my on a limb and say that’s they’re pretending because if you’re telling me that David Sterns is giving David Sterns and Steve Cohen by the way are giving out their hand on how they’re going to approach these Peter Lonzo negotiations on November 18th like a month away or a little bit less than a month away from the actual winter meetings. I think that’s a total croc of [ __ ] I’ll just say that. I I think it is. Um and so therefore, I think that the Mets would be willing to go that four or five years. I would be willing to go that four or five years, but I would be questioning if I would go that six years for Pete Alonzo knowing that if he walks, Bregman could be out there. You know, I know that they’re not rumored to be in right now on Okamoto, but Okamoto’s going to be posted. They can go after him as well. Like, there are plan B’s and plan C’s out there. And really Bregman is like a plan 1A, right? Like right alongside Pete Lonzo at the end of the day. And we had these same uh talks last season where I prioritize Peter Lonzo over Bregman and you were kind of like even like I think you I think you actually took the side of Bregman last off season. But now I’m kind of like all right if Pete Alonzo really is holding out for that you know five sixyear deal you know that so be it. That’s fine. Let’s go get Bregman. That’s it. And so, yeah, I I don’t know if I believe to just answer that question that you posed if I believe that the Mets are only going to give him a three-year deal and say, “That’s it. You’re It’s done after that.” He’s getting more than a three-year deal. He’s getting more than a three-year deal. I know that. You know that. Salacotta knows that. Your Pirates buddy knows that. Everybody knows that he’s getting more than a three-year deal, right? Um, I now this conversation surrounding the deal that Josh Naylor just got makes things interesting because I think that David Stern seeing that deal go through and a lot of these teams seeing that deal go through, that’s a good baseline of what Pete Alonzo should get given the age gap of Naylor and what he just signed for because clearly he wanted to go back to the Mariners because I thought he would have definitely tested free agency coming off the season that he did versus a 31 31 or soon to be 31y old Peter Lonzo. Yeah. And I think we all know Peter Lonzo is better with the bat than Josh Naylor above and beyond. But the defense and Josh Naylor’s coming off of a season where he just swiped 30 bags. A first baseman stealing 30 bases is almost unheard of in today’s day and age. That is a big deal. So you talk about the well-roundedness of a first baseman. Five years, $100 million for Josh Naylor. Vlad Jr., he’s also younger. He just got 14 years for however much. I think it’s about $35.7 million AAV. Peter Lonzo will come in the middle of that in terms of AAV. But what is it going to be in terms of years? Are you going to see that five-year deal for a 28-year-old and also offer it to a 31y old? Or are you going to say, “Hey, listen. This 28-year-old just got five years. you’re 31, maybe we’ll go four years for you. That’s what remains to be seen is how this deal stacks up because I know what Martino said. I know Martino said that, you know, executives don’t expect the Josh Naylor deal to not, you know, they’re not expecting it to be a baseline for Pete Lonzo’s deal. I think that’s a load of BS. I think that Josh Naylor’s deal hurts Pete Alonzo in the end. Point blank period. I agree with you. I 100% agree with you. And and on top of this as well, you know, I’m going to, you know, for on the positive end of Peter Lonzo, which I don’t have a lot coming out of my mouth when it comes to the positive part with Peter Lonzo. Here’s what I would do. I never said I did not want Peter Lonzo. I never said that. I think people seem like I just don’t want him. I don’t want him for those amount of years and all that money because it’s going to be a disaster those final couple years. I I just assume it will. But here’s what I would do. I give him I I would offer him four years with a club fifth option. I would not go higher than that. So a guaranteed four years with a club option for whatever amount of money. I don’t really care about the AAV. I don’t think the Mets care about the AV. They worry about the years. This is where I don’t think Peter Lonzo is coming back. I think again a desperate team like the Red Sox and a desperate team like the Reds who are willing to spend money this year, I think are going to go six years easily. I think they’re going to start with five years, maybe four, just to kind of match a Mets offer or something like that, but go to that fifth or sixth year guaranteed that I don’t think the Mets the Mets are even thinking about going for Pete Alonzo. That’s the problem. So, do I want Pet Do I think Pete Alonzo fits will be a better player for the Mets than anywhere else? It’s hard to say. Yeah, I could say that now because he’s never played anywhere else. But you want to see him on, you know, you know, with the Green Monster FA Park. I mean, Jesus, you know, like ballparks matter as well. Even though you only play, you know, 81 games a year in your home ballpark, but I just don’t see the Mets going past the fourth year guaranteed. I just don’t. And I think that’s where we’re going to, you know, find out how important is Peter Lonzo to the overall quote unquote culture because we didn’t say that. Stern said that the culture shift, the change needs to happen. Unfortunately, Peter Lonzo’s in that bracket where or in that core that is easily, you know, obtainable or removable from that culture. Unfortunately, and I don’t think Peter Lo is a bad guy. I don’t think he’s a cancer, you know, clubhouse cancer. But when you can make changes, what’s the easiest one to do? The guy who’s a free agent. And if you if you think that he is part of the cultural change that you want, if it’s right or wrong, we won’t know. But we also won 83 games with Peter Lonzo having a really damn good year. So it just puts into perspective that yes, it’s not just one player, but he’s been here through a lot of choke seasons, a lot of bad seasons. He’s part of that. Just because people don’t like to throw Peter Lonzo in that loser bracket, he’s he was the face along with Jacob Deg Grom with choke seasons, losing seasons, bad seasons. So when everybody wants to give all the credit to the face of the franchise, give the blame when things go bad because Peter Lonzo had always the opportunities to become the leader of this team for years before Lindor, before Sodto, before Marte. He never took that leadership by the horns. Not saying that that is gonna make or break a team. They could have won 90 games if he was a leader, but there’s something there there’s a there’s something with this leadership thing that it seems like there’s one body, three heads. Lindor’s a leader. Martee’s a leader. Alonzo could be a leader. Maybe NML foreheaded the monster. when that when that when nobody knows who to go to as a leader and they got their packs because Chris, we’ve talked about this many times over the years. What has we’ve always seen with this Mets team, everybody notices it when Sodto hits a home run, he goes to that group, that click, Pete Lonzo goes to that click. You know, you see different clicks. Lindor has his own click. You see the problem here? this team has like subgroups in this clubhouse and I think it’s a problem. I don’t and that’s when we talk about culture change. I think there’s something to this overall clubhouse that is an issue. And does that mean the Mets are not going to pay Peter Lonzo the years and money because of just that? No. I think the defense has a lot to do with it as well as Sterns was not shy to say run prevention was a huge problem for this team. He wants to change that. Peter Lonzo isn’t good defensively. Don’t give me the defensive metrics. He sucks. He can scoop balls. 99.9% of real first baseman, starting first baseman, can scoop a ball. His throwing sucks. And his range is It’s not terrible. It’s pretty good. It’s I would say it’s about at 60%. He’s not a good defender. I can’t have a guy that can’t throw through any bag properly. It’s dangerous. And on top of that, he will be getting older over the years. So with Peter Lonzo, I don’t know. It’s going to be very interesting, but Peter Lonzo cannot dictate this off seasonason. And I think me and Chris agree with that. So, uh, next up, he gets posted tomorrow, guys. Tatsuya Mi is getting posted. We didn’t think the Mets, we haven’t read anything from the last hot stove until today or a couple days ago that the Mets might be serious players in this sweep stakes for Amay and he gets posted tomorrow. You know, quickly Chris, uh, do you think the Mets have a chance because it is about money clearly? Yeah, I think that the Mets are going to be really big players for Amay. Um, I think that the big players for every single one of these players coming from overseas over the past couple of years and the deciding factor was whether or not they’re going to go to the Dodgers. And so, um, you know, has the Dodgers luck run out? Are they at, you know, capacity in terms of, you know, this talent that’s coming over from the pitching side? Um, and I think that’s the biggest indicator here. Now, I’m sure a team like the Giants could use, you know, that same rhyme and reason of the geographic location to their advantage and kind of swoop in. I think that they will be players for Amaya as well. But I think Amaya will be a really big priority for the New York Mets, especially if they’re able to get a trade done for a true number one starter. Now, that is a separate conversation within itself because now you have conflicting reports saying, you know, there’s a lot of guys that are probably not going to be, you know, on the trade block like a Scoo or whoever else, right? But there’s another report that I will just kind of tease it that the the twins will be listening in on offers for um uh Lopez and uh Joe Ryan. So that will be something to monitor and then I think that if but so let’s just say they are able to go ahead down the trade route and get one really big arm then I think that Amaya is a perfect guy to go after on your own free will with your own negotiations because you dictate that contract and you don’t have to give anything up minus maybe the extra posting fee etc that goes into the contract that you do give him but also you know given What this rotation needs is a guy that can perfectly slot in right in front of a guy like Peterson and Holmes and right behind your guy that you just traded for and Nolan Mlan. So that three spot in the rotation is exactly where I would expect him to fit in. And you know, I haven’t really heard too many rumors about this guy’s geographic preference or any preference at all. And I think that we’ve already heard that from Munitaka Murakami. I think that it’s been less reported from Okamoto. Uh I think the general consensus of all these guys is that they would prefer the West Coast. But we’ve seen in years past with Sanga and Ianaga, that’s not the end all be all. So we’ll see what happens. I think that I’m gonna hold my hopes up just a little bit with Amay rather than some of the other pitchers that we’ve seen prior, right? Like Susaki most recently. Yamamoto, my hopes were kind of high. I’m not going to lie. He did us dirty. But Sasaki, I was like, not again. But Amaya is kind of one of those guys where I’m like, all right, maybe I can be entertained with this topic one more time here to see how this plays out. And um I think that this would be a perfect fit. And I think that all signs and reports so far that we have indicate that the New York Mets are going to be heavily in on the market of Tatsuya Mai. And I think that he’s officially posted as of today if I’m not mistaken. I read a report it’s tomorrow, but Oh, maybe tomorrow. Okay, that sounds good. All right. Anyways, either today or tomorrow. Yeah. So, exact. Look, I’m all on board. Any any picture that could be better than what we have, great. I’m on board. Like again, he’s a question mark because we don’t know how he’s going to perform. But you know what? It is what it is. He He’s pretty young. You know, he’s got a electric arm. Let’s go. You know, I’m sick and tired of getting these hasbins and, you know, reclamation projects. I don’t I don’t need those. You know, he’s an established pitcher in Japan, right? There’s no I didn’t see any major injuries. like Kodai Sena had many injuries in Japan before he you know was posted and that was always a concern. You didn’t hear much about that here with him with MI. So we’ll see again the Mets need two starters. I think you need to round out two guys that are one top ace that’s in front of McClean and a number three that’s solid and that’s a top three and then you can mess around with your four, five, and six in my opinion when it comes to the rotation. So, you know, again, we’ll see. So, Devin Williams, Chris, go figure. The Mets have him on his radar on their radar. And you know what? I’m not against it. I’m not because again, you have to have a backup plan if Diaz, you know, gets blown away with an offer and the Mets seem seemingly screw this one up and they lose out on Diaz. Devin Williams, we saw he had a very bad start with the Yankees. lost the closer role. Wasn’t really the closer afterwards and but he was very good. Now the Mets can get Deon I don’t think Deon Williams getting closer money by the way. So, this can be a situation where the Mets might get Deon Williams and still get Edwin Diaz because Deon Williams, I think, lost a lot of money last year when he lost his closer role, but he ended up being a very good setup man or seventh to eighth inning guy later in the year and pitched well for the Yankees. So, I think the Mets are not looking at him necessarily as a closer, but as like a a setup guy or a seventh inning guy, a bridge guy to Diaz. In my opinion, I’m not against it. You know, I think he’s still got to go after Diaz. And I have no problem bringing in Deon Williams. He’s shown he can pitch in the eighth inning. He’s shown he can pitch in the seventh inning once he figured all that out because it is different when you’re a closer going to the seventh and eighth inning, especially when you lose your job. Chris, what do you think about Deon Williams? Yeah, I think that this has to be an and situation. and it has to be Edwin Diaz and Devin Williams and not an or situation cuz Devin Williams is not going to replicate what Edwin Diaz can give you. Um, and that’s just the fact of the matter, especially with what Devin Williams posted last season as a New York Yankee after they traded for him. Um, but if you’re telling me that the Mets can can boast a back end of the bullpen that has the names of Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Brooksley, AJ Mter, sign me up. Sign me up. I’m doing that all day long. And then uh I I’ll probably release a standalone video at some point on my channel channel talking about um you know, Devin Williams and and how he fits into this bullpen as a setup guy if they do bring back Edwin Diaz. But you know, I just I just look at the differences in the couple of pitches that he throws. I think it starts off with this four seam fast ball and the ability to set up the change up. he had a lot less success with his four seam fast ball um in 2025 than he did in 2024. And so, you know, once when you talk about these two pitch pitchers, like we all know what the strength of some of these guys are. Edwin Diaz is the same thing, right? But with him, instead of the change up for Devin Williams, like or like Deon Williams, it’s a slider for Edwin Diaz. You have to be able to be confident with the fast ball enough to set up your secondary pitch to put, you know, get that putaway. And I think that, you know, when you saw Edwin Diaz falter and he got hit a little bit, not this past year, but the season before that, which was a little bit of a down year coming back from injury, we were all questioning like how confident is he with this fast? And even at the beginning of 2025, people are like, um, the fast ball velocity is down. What’s wrong with Edwin Diaz, etc. And then he really started to ramp things up. Same thing goes for for Devin Williams. The the key to his change up and why it’s so good is because batters also fear his fast ball. And if they eliminate that fast ball as being a serious contending option to utilize in any given situation, they’re going to be sitting on the change up and it’s not going to bode well for him. So, yeah, I don’t think that I really don’t think that this should be even a question if it’s Devin Williams or Edwin Diaz, but if both of these guys are headlining the back of the rotation or the back of the bullpen, I should say, I’m definitely all for it. Uh, and then I also made a video about Tyler Rogers as well earlier today on my channel. If you can, if you can somehow swing that Rogers, Williams, and Edwin Diaz, let me dream for a little bit. Let me dream for a little bit. I’m ready to rock with that. I’m really ready to rock with that. So, uh, yeah, I I like this a lot. I like the report. I don’t I think the Devin Williams market will still be a little bit competitive. So, I’m not getting my hopes up here as well because I do think that, you know, whoever loses out, if the Mets do somehow retain Edwin Diaz, and I think they will retain Edwin Diaz, I’m really hoping they do, but teams like the Dodgers and maybe the Blue Jays will go extra hard for a guy like uh Devin Williams in the back end of their bullpen. So that’s where I’m like I don’t see how realistic it is to get both Diaz and Williams. But if that 89 combo tandem for a guy that already knows David Sterns and David Sterns knows him very well for the Milwaukee Brewers days is is able to be achieved. I’m all here for it. I’m all here for it. Yeah. And David Sterns tried to do that at the deadline with Hley, right? That was the idea, you know, having two closes eighth and ninth. So you see Sterns was thinking about that and with the the connection he has with Deon Williams from the Brewers, maybe it is a possibility. Um, but you know what, you can have a great bullpen if your damn starters can’t go past the fifth inning. You know, you’re going to destroy your bullpen regardless of who’s there. So, you know, finish up a couple of the top of the cricket before we end the show. Uh, said is a 50 50-50 chance. uh when they spoke to him at the MLB awards, uh I think we all agree it’s probably 5050 because we know the Dodgers are very heavily going after high-end relievers. Diaz is one of them. You know, with Tanner Scott being a disaster, we know the Dodgers don’t care if they have seven closures that they paid. They don’t care. They’re going to do what they have to do and that’s the reason why they’re back toback champions and going for a three. So, I think it is 50-50. Chris, what do you think? I think this is I think the reason why this is a controversy is that Edwin Diaz said himself that it was 50/50. It wasn’t like a reporter saying it. It was Edwin Diaz. How could he not? And how could he not though? Like it really is 50/50 because you have to think about it in the mind of Edwin Diaz. you know, not only is are all these teams going to be in line to give you this deal that you’re asking for, which has been reported that he wants a similar deal to the first, you know, contract that he signed with the Mets in that five-year deal worth $102 million. But also, you know, you have a guy that in David Sterns that does not prioritize giving these deals to these relievers, any reliever, right? He doesn’t care what your name is. you’re not getting a five-year deal worth anywhere close to $100 million. So, I think it’s really fair, sorry, for Edwin Diaz to say that that’s 50/50. So, I don’t put too much stock into it. I just hope that uh David Cerns realizes the uh production value that that he was able to or I hope that David Sterns uh realizes that the production value is something similar to um 2025 and they they they give him that valuation. I’m not saying to just spend recklessly here um but Edwin Diaz is such an anomaly and that’s why this topic of conversation is is so hard. So, I’m not putting too much stock into what Edwin Diaz says with the whole quote unquote 50/50. It’s fair for him to say that, but if everything remains true of what he said before of him liking the Mets organization and being maybe maybe prioritizing coming back if the offer is something similar to what he gets elsewhere, then I think it’s a no-brainer. David Cerns have, you know, has to change the philosophy just like he has to change the philosophy on the rotation and bring back a guy that is a lockdown closer and is arguably, especially with Claus A and that whole drama that’s going around now, he’s arguably the best closer in baseball right now. And so Edwin Diaz is going to get paid like it. And that’s just what you have to do uh to retain a player of his caliber. Yeah, exactly. Uh David Sterns, don’t [ __ ] it up. Diaz needs to be back. I don’t care what it call. I don’t care. Like if it makes you feel uncomfortable, that means it’s probably the right deal. And Davis Cerns needs to get a little uncomfortable in his situation and not just with Diaz, but in general with this offseason to get this team back on track to winning ways and playoffs, uh hopefully going for a championship. So guys, over an hour and a half of hot talk and a lot a lot came out happened over the last two days. So there was a lot to talk about, a ton of topics. We appreciate everybody hanging out with us for an hour and a half, guys. You guys been great. a lot of comments, a lot of questions. Uh we hopefully answered all the topics that we we had to get into in regards to the Mets uh latest news and rumors. So guys, with that said, have a great night. As always, Met fans, let’s go Mets, and we’ll see you next time on the Hot Stove, guys. Have a good night. Let’s go Mets. [Music] Meet the medicine. Meet the Mets. Step right up and greet the Mets. Bring your kitties. Bring your wife. Guaranteed you have the time of your life because the Mets are really sucking the ball. Knocking those homes.
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