Mets STUNNING Schwarber Rumor: BT & Sal Say This Changes EVERYTHING!

Mets STUNNING Schwarber Rumor: BT & Sal Say This Changes EVERYTHING!

some hot stuff. I know it’s football Friday. We’ll have all the picks and all that stuff later on, but some of the stuff from Buster only talking about the juiciest rumor that he heard this week was the notion that the Mets could push the Phillies for Kyle Schwarber. I don’t think I like this idea at all with Kyle Schwarber. We’ve talked about now I love Schwarber’s bat as far as the power goes. A ton of strikeouts that doesn’t play well to me in the postseason. I’m not saying he can’t be clutch, but you see the Phillies struggle in the postseason. Has no versatility. If David Cerns is talking about defense, defense, defense, and uh run prevention, well, where does Kyle Schwarber fit in there? I at this point, I think that’s a mistake. And I’m not sure I believe I’m not saying I don’t believe Buster only. Of course, I believe him as a reporter, but it’s rumors around it. And maybe it is just trying to drive up the price on Schwarber. It doesn’t make sense to me the way David Sterns operates that they would go after Kyle Schwarber. I don’t know why you don’t like this. Every time this comes up, I’m like, Kyle Schwarber is a one-man wreck and crew. I want Kyle Schwarber on the Yankees, but obviously the reports connecting him to the Mets is what we’re talking about. I mean, I look at it this way, s too many times, you and I came in here last summer, right? And obviously in the fall, and of course the pitching was the theme, you know, two innings, three innings, four if you’re lucky, go to the bullpen. That was the story around the 2025 Mets. But I think one of the big stories around the Mets the last couple of years, even going back to Buck’s really good season, uh, 2022, I think it was 22. Yeah, in 2022, like the Mets designated hitter spot has been just, it’s been vacant. You’ve had a little Morte, you’ve had a little Vientos, you’ve had a like it’s just nothing that’s been very appealing. So to me, the thought of Kyle Schwarber not only strengthening the Mets with with an elite eye, predigious power, and strengthening the Mets, but you’re also simultaneously weakening the Phillies. I I I don’t even I don’t like Schwarber to the Mets. I’d love Schwarber to the Mets. And that would mean no Pete Alonzo, obviously. Why though? I don’t know about that. Oh, come on. What do you mean we can’t have Pete and Schwarber? Why not? They’re going to get both those guys. No way. It would be in L. You really think it’s either or? Because I in that case, yes, it’s not a finance thing. It’s a fit thing. They’re gonna give Pete Alonzo five, six years knowing that he’s eventually a DH and you want to play him at DH as well. Like that makes you bad defensively. I know the power as well, but then the power could become redundant where you want to build more of a well-rounded team. To me, the only way here’s the proven fact, right? When we talk about Alonzo specifically, it’s well, my argument is I want his power in the lineup. The Mets need the power of Pete Alonzo. Where are you replacing that proven power if he walks? And the only answer is Kyle Schwarber. And then you could say, not only are you replacing his power, arguably you’re getting better power. It’s not proven in New York, but in a lineup, you know, he’s getting about New York. Yeah. I mean, 46, 47, 38, 56, over 100 ribbies, he’s stud. He’s a machine. Also strikeout. The average is not going to be where Pete is. and no versatility, but are you trading a little versatility, which Pete has, and some of the average and more of a well-rounded uh hitter, I guess, than Schwarber, for extreme highlevel A++ power in Schwarber. I guess that’s the ultimate trade-off. Yeah, but I’m also not convinced. I think we need to revisit this. I’m not convinced that it’s it’s either or. I’m really I’m not. Now, I don’t know that the Mets would be inclined to do this, but let’s say you get Schwarber. I’ll just throw out very loose numbers just to keep the train moving. Four years 100ish. All right. Schwarber. Boom. Peak. 5 years plus one. I don’t know 150ish. Right. Well, yeah, that that’s an interesting allocation of funds to two guys who were pretty heavy-footed. Um, one guy doesn’t play defense at all. The other guy at on his best day is an average defender. I get it. Well, maybe the way you circumvent that is well now you are you are more okay with running whether it’s a Jet Williams or a rookie center fielder out there doing some things. By the way, you’re already exponentially better defensively at second base the moment you get to Port St. Lucy based on the trade they’ve already made. So maybe you you kind of it’s it’s a pivot. It’s it’s a it’s a it’s a surplus of power, but there’s also a lower budget infusion of athleticism and defense. Yeah. which is something that Sterns has made an emphasis on which is how you build the team. So I have a hard time thinking that a they’d go after Schwarber and b they’d go after Schwarber and bring back Pete. I really think it’s one or the other because BT even if you paint it, you know, Sodto’s going to be a part of the outfield. The other two spots are up for grabs right now. One of them is going to belong to a younger player. You have to imagine no matter what men’s, right? Or or Williams. I bet I say men’s je before I get out of here. Benj or Williams. One of those two will be at either center or left depending on what the other one is. So would you rather I mean I think it’s an interesting thought. Would you rather invest in Pete to be your first baseman? Okay. We know we’ll live with some of the defensive deficiencies. You upgrade with Simeon on the right side. Should help a little bit with the range. The arm. There’s nothing you could do about that. But you you I guess you’ll live with it with Pete and you load up at DH with Schwarber, but you just have no flexibility. I’m all for. I certainly used to be of the belief lock in the best def the best offensive bat at DH and don’t worry about it. Although the game has evolved to a point where you feel like you kind of need that to be a little bit open. Well, yes. Yeah, I understand. Listen, flexibility, versatility, at least a little. I I know. And with those two guys, there’s zero flexibility. Understood. And there and there’s not Oh, there’s basically no versatility as well. See, the thing though is I I think this if this is a year from now and certainly two years from now, I don’t think I would have much interest in this because I think at that point you would need to save the DH spot a little bit for Lindor just to get him off his feet in the middle of the diamond, you know, once a week, you know, two, three, four times a month, whatever it might be. I think that they can do this. I I really do. I It’s just Hey, I I know I know it’s about run prevention. We know it’s Sterns to spouses. I get it. We watch the good teams play in October. Got to catch the baseball. Got to have good starters. Got to have a pen. Got to hit in the clutch. Got to run the bags. We know baseball. But I also really do think just as a general, you know, uh like almost um flashback to these last couple of years for the Mets. I mean, it it it’s pretty uninspiring watching these names when you see that lineup pop up on DH. This guy this guy’s a scrub. This guy’s done. This guy’s unproven. You can’t function like that. Let me ask you, would you rather invest in Bellinger and Pete or Schwarber and Pete? Bellinger and Pete. Well, if I’m going to have that as an option, that’s where I’m going. I mean, I guess you could say Bellinger and Schwarber, but now they’re way loaded lefty. They they need a right-handed bat. So, you can’t just have Bellinger and Schwarber and Sodto in there. Now, I wouldn’t just let that be the determining factor, lefty righty bats. But, it is something when you look at that lineup construction. I I would rather and maybe maybe even though you know me, I’m not emotional as it pertains to making decisions with bringing back players or not, but maybe I am just looking at it from a an emotional standpoint of valuing Pete over Shore because there have been times over the years where I’ve said Schwarber is a better offensive player. You’d rather have him. I think I’m just trying to build a better team and not letting emotion get involved in it. I love Schwarber’s power. Of course, he’s a big- time threat. And imagining him and Sodto in the same lineup, the way that they, you know, work at bats and all that stuff. Yeah, that’s as nasty as it gets, but I I still think Pete brings more overall to the table with his value. And maybe they’re just hung up on that. Maybe they’d be better off clean slate, rip the band-aid off, no more NMO, no more Pete. They do what I’ve been asking them to do for years, break up the core. It certainly would accomplish that. I just feel like you might be better off with a Bellinger Pete combo than a Pete uh or Schwarber in lie of Pete. The good thing is they have options. They do have options. Now, even though this is the story today, which is why we’re starting the show with this, the the main mission for the Mets, and we talked a lot about this yesterday, you could bring back Schwarber, Pete, and Bellinger. With that starting staff, you were going to win who got so like like the Mets really, really need to bring in at least two. you were saying, and I agree, via pitchers, via trade, via free agency. I believe, you believe, we all believe the Mets will be very active there. I I feel like right now at this point, this is just a guess, but I think it’s a fairly intelligent one. I I think I feel like right now the Mets have more of a plan on what they want to do with the rotation than how they want to attack the everyday lineup. Let me ask you it this way. If the rumors are swirling about the Mets being interested in Schwarber and like if you just use your noodle for a second, think we talked about this, the only power bat to replace Pete Alonzo is Schwarber. Maybe that says similar to what the Mets did with Diaz and Williams saying, “Okay, well Diaz wants five. We want to give him three. He’s going to hold out for five. Let’s go get Williams at least lock him up. And if Diaz doesn’t want our price, see you later.” Maybe they have that same thought process with Pete where they say, “We’re firm on three years. We want you back. We believe in your power. We want you back to be a Met, but we’re not going beyond three years.” And Pete, I mean, he looks at three years and says, “I want seven three.” Yeah. Yeah. So then they’re saying, “Well, we’re not budging beyond three, and if you don’t like that, we’re going to go get Kyle Schwarber to replace you.” Maybe that’s where this is coming from. Okay. Now, that’s interesting because last year Pete signed very late. I think a lot of people anticipate that Pete’s going to sign very late this year. That’s a dangerous game to play. If you dangle the possibility, I’m talking about two Boris and two Pete, uh, of us being the Mets right now, of us signing Schwarber and but you just but you don’t sign Schwarber. Like it’s one thing to threaten. I’ll put quotes around the word threaten and and certainly leverage I think the situation better word leverage the situation with Pete by saying hey we could very easily pivot to Schwarber but you better sign him because what you can’t have happen is leverage Schwarber to Pete. Schwarber signs elsewhere and then Pete’s like screw you. But maybe they’d rather invest in Schwarber’s power or overpay or whatever it would take to get him saying all right well here’s our line on Pete. This is where we value you. Let’s see where Schwarber is at. Schwarber’s at. They know they can’t come away with without at least one of those two guys. Yeah, there are ways to do it. And I respect a part of me respects the Mets discipline here. Of course, the natural instinct of a fan is going to say, well, bring back Diaz, bring back Pete cuz it’s going to make you better because those two guys have produced and they weren’t the problem. But if you actually look at it from a business standpoint, well, the Mets sucked last year anyway, winning 83 games. So, why would they need Diaz and or Pete Alonzo, especially if it’s going to be where they’re not comfortable going? I respect the hard stance. This is what we believe you’re worth. We want you back. If you are going to hold out for more and you think you can get it, see you later. We’ll move on. Everybody is replaceable. I I agree with that. You know, and the other thing, too, we’ll get to these phones in a second. TripleA 8081019. Obviously, the uh this is going to go on for a while, you would imagine. And we all talk about how much the meth fan and not everybody there are definitely and I think it’s a growing faction over the last year or so. Two years ago this would have seemed absolutely you know bonkersville and now I think there are a decent amount of Met fans who are like maybe we could build a better team without Pete. So we we’ve we’ve attacked that angle. We’ve always tried to guess how much Pete wants to remain Met. Like we we don’t I think we don’t know that quite as much as how what we know about the fans. Well well that’s where I’m going. Like hey Pete there’s and and intonation matters here. Hey Pete, you want to be a Met or Pete do you want to be a Met? Do you want to finish here? Big difference. You want to be You know what I’m saying? Or do you want to be a Met? Yes. It’s the It’s the same words, but the inflection matters. The passion that will and and and I would like to hear Pete say, “Yeah, I want to be a Met.” that’s business. Or Pete, look Coen in the eye and say, I want to fit. I want to be a Met. I want to be the best Met all time. And there’s a difference. But I don’t know if Pete feels that way. Yeah. And I was thinking the same thing with Diaz. I feel I feel like Diaz wants to be back with the Mets more than Oh god, this is going to get taken out. More than what Pete More than Pete does. Yeah. I I don’t say that again. Let me lay out. Get that. I don’t even want it out there on No, I just feel it. I believe Edwin Diaz wants to be back with the Mets more than Pete wants to be back with the Mets. Meaning I don’t think Diaz is just going to ch I could be wrong on this. I have no insight. I’m just based on what has happened in recent history where they came to the agreement early with Diaz. He talked about how much he loved it here and they came to that agreement with Pete. Obviously there’s been some kind of disconnect even though he’s come back. Pete thinks he’s worth a lot more. Dude, here’s the bottom line. If the Mets are willing to go to three, it’s not even close to where Pete wants. So already, not to mention last year, already if you’re Peter Lonzo and you’re saying you want seven and the Mets are countering with three. Already if you’re him, you’re like, I’m out of here. Yeah. And he might have that mindset. He might be pissed off to the point in overturn. He might get and I’m not I don’t know if I blame him, by the way. Honestly, took the words right out. I’m not blaming Pete Alonzo. All I’m saying is I don’t think that there’s this notion the same way we talked about Sodto last year. I think it was different Sodto versus Bellinger as it pertains to the Yankees. I really believe, I don’t know this, just using a hunch and some common sense, Bellinger would prefer to remain with the Yankees where Sodto wanted the most money. And it’s not a knock on him, it’s the reality. I believe at this point, while Pete would like to ideally be a Met, he wants the most money from the Mets. Hey, life isn’t perfect. Sometimes you don’t get what you want. And maybe some other team is going to give him more money and he it’s his right to go take that. I think that’s where Pete is at versus I really want to be a Met so much that it’ll take three years, whatever the offer may. I still think the Red Sox could come knocking. Let let me just say one more thing. Like so you look at the finances here and there’s not a doubt nobody can possibly contest this statement. If the Mets absolutely unequivocally wanted Pete, not saying they don’t want him, but absolutely wanted him back. No m like nothing to interpret, the contract would be there because Cohen’s got as much money as anybody. So you give them credit for how they’re playing horrible with some of these stances. I’m going to take kind of a subset of that and I give them a lot of credit for being of the mindset that they are prepared to radically shift the DNA of this team and I think if they have to I think that that’s smart because I think on a lot of levels they need to. It’s proven not to be good enough. Now a fan favorite might be sacrificed at that expense but that’s the that’s the cost of business when you try to win a World Series. Right. That’s so that’s where I’m at a crossroads being smart versus well why wouldn’t you want Diaz? Of course everybody in the league would want Diaz. It’s not about wanting him. It’s about how far you would go to get him. So the Yankees in their heyday would just go over the top to get the best player. End of story. Nobody else would really compete. We’re seeing now the Dodgers maybe do that in a lot of aspects. The Mets could do it. The Yankees could do it, but you’ve seen the Yankees act in a more disciplinary and we get on them calling them the bronze bombers or some people say how needs to spend more money, but in reality business-wise, building a teamwise, it it makes sense. Same thing as it pertains to that just because Cohen can do it. Is it really smart to give Diaz 5 years 100 or Pete Alonzo 6 years 200 million? I don’t think either is worth it. If I ran the Mets, I would not give five to Diaz or six to Pete. I would say no and no. Okay. And now the counter to that is, but you have the money to do it. And clearly losing those two players does not make you better. See, it’s not about the money. It’s about the lack of of of of wiggle room and versatility to build my team out in a way that I think could be better. So then you need to see what the next steps are. Okay. Well, yeah, but so far just use the bullpen. Forget the the Alonzo Schwarber. We’ll get more into that in a second, but because they did already sign Devin Williams and most people are under the assumption and and hoping and you know saying they need to bring Diaz back in addition, which still could happen. But what if that was their pivot and they say, “Hey, we brought Williams in who we think is going to be a great value, which I agree with could be a great value off a down year, was the best closer in the sport two years ago for multiple years.” Three, exactly three years. 51 million is a nice value and compared to where Diaz might get double of that. So, if they let Diaz walk and then it’s Devin Williams, then it then it’s that’s their plan to say build it out elsewhere. I’m not saying that that’s the only move they’re going to make, but they short up the bullpen with their closer at that value and now let Diaz walk and then we get to see how they use that money elsewhere. It’s a very interesting offseason, man. I mean, it it kind of seems fairly quiet for the Yankees. I I feel like I don’t think it’ll finish as quiet for the Yankees as it feels now, but I feel like this is going to be a nutty one for the Mets, and I’ve always felt that way. I told you I’d go to six for Alonzo. Yeah. But I’m like hearing that the Mets are only going to three. Yeah. And if that’s the case, the Mets the Mets are right. I I would say three is a bit like it’s also they’re not going to get him. If they we had this Remember when I told you they’re not going to get him at three. Remember when I told you industry sources we were talking about that the Mets were not I don’t know if I gave a year thing on it, but I said the Mets were not going to budge this time again from a different industry source. I was just hearing that only three only three years for Pete. That’s the the most the Mets. Unless that’s interesting news there. I mean, if he unless he comes back left-handed, uh, a little younger, uh, and a little more fleet of foot, the the impediments in the negotiations a year ago are still there. Yeah. So, nothing changed in that regard. Larry is in Westchester. What’s up, Larry? What up, Larry? PT S. What’s happening, my guys? Hi, Larry. Listen, the comment on the Schwabber Alonzo thing in a perfect Met world, they would sign both. That being said, I think Schwabber is going to back it would go back with Philly and I do think the Mets will go with Pete, but not they’re not going to he won’t take three years for him. It’s going to cost them more. The other thing is uh to build play hard ball with him and Diaz. I agree with that. I mean, look, they’re an 83 win team. You could tell them, look, we sucked with you. We can suck without you guys. It’s just that simple. We got, you know, we got to make a change here. I hope he did in fact say that. I’d love to be at the table with Stern and say, “Look, Pete, we sucked with you. We could suck without you.” Exactly. And the other thing is even if the everything breaks right and they get Schwab and Alonzo, they still need a center fielder. S on your SNY. They had a thing if they’re interested in Boston. Yeah, I’d love to see that. They got all the chips to trade to the Twins. Me too. that that oh sorry Larry to cut you off there and thank you for the call. We talked about that yesterday on baseball night and then again on sports night where Buckston could be available. He’s always banged up but last year you saw what he could actually do BT when healthy. I would take a chance on him and we talked about it with Joe Ryan as well because I guess it floated out there the Mets were we did we discuss we did two days ago came up the Twins might be interested in Tong. The Mets are interested in Ryan. He’s not a top of the rotation guy. Maybe has the potential to be a two or something. I look at him more as a three, but maybe the Mets can package get a package deal with Buckton and Ryan. Now you shore up one spot in the rotation and center field and then obviously have to go via free agency with either Schwarber or Alonzo. I like Buckston. He’s got tantalizing talents and I’m not saying no to it. I’m I’m not I’m I’m open to it because man, he’s he is good, but I only like taking a flyer on somebody’s health when I know everything else is buttoned up. And right now there’s too many other issues with the Mets. Like I can’t have the Mets primary one or one of their primary offseason moves being bringing in Buckton unless you’re bringing in like a Tucker and a Schwarber or a Bellinger and and a Tucker. Not a Bellinger and a Schwarber or a Pete and a Bellinger. Because if it’s the guy who’s always banged up, you look up in July, you might have a worse roster than you had this year. [Music]

BT & Sal open the show with a fiery debate on the Mets’ biggest offseason dilemma: Should they pursue Kyle Schwarber—and what does that mean for Pete Alonso? The guys go deep on Buster Olney’s rumor, David Stearns’ defensive mantra, DH flexibility, Mets roster construction, Schwarber vs. Alonso power, and whether the Mets are ready to break up their core. This is one of the most intense Mets conversations of the offseason.

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