REPORT: Mets FINALISTS For Tucker? Mets SIGN 2 Players, Soto Shuts DOWN Narratives, Shopping Vientos

REPORT: Mets FINALISTS For Tucker? Mets SIGN 2 Players, Soto Shuts DOWN Narratives, Shopping Vientos

What a way to start our week, Mets fans. How we doing everybody? It’s Wardy here. It is Monday, December 15th, 2025 at the time of this video dropping. And when I tell you that we have literally so much of significance to get into in this one, I would say that’s an understatement. And with the exception of the Mets having breaking news, they’ve signed or traded for players potentially as soon as this week, I think this may very well be one of the biggest discussions that we have all week long here on the platform. Why? Well, let’s start off with the fact that to begin today’s conversation, we’re going to break down how the New York Mets are in fact a finalist for Kyle Tucker and his services. We’ll get into where that reporting is stemming from. We have a lot to say on that front. We’ll also get into ultimately the upside downside if the Mets can somehow someway land the most coveted outfielder in the market for his second consecutive year. They landed Juan Sto a year ago. Now, they of course may land themselves Kyle Tucker. Let’s see what is in store for David Sterns and this Mets team. As we know, they need to make big moves. And like I said, I have a lot to say on the Tucker front. From there, we’re going to break down Juan Stoashing and putting to bed the silly nonsensical media narratives that have plagued Mets fandom, including myself, over the past month. That, oh, Juan Sodto has a bad relationship with Lindor, that there’s a tumultuous clubhouse going over there, or that, oh, guys like Sodto and Lindor aren’t relayed information ahead of time when evaluating how David Sterns and Steve Cohen operate the offseason. guys. I mean, come on. What are we even talking about? But Juan Sodto spoke to the media himself in this regard, and we’ll not only break down his comments, we’ll get into Edwin Diaz’s comments as well that reaffirmed exactly why he chose the Dodgers over the Mets, in case you guys don’t know by now. From there, we’ll talk about Mark Ventos being shot by this Mets team, which is as absolutely nobody. What the Mets may get in return for a player of his services. We’ll also get into other rumblings, include the Mets continued interest in one Luis Robert for the outfield market. how the Phillies may have just made a move that will help the Mets in that regard to bring Robert in should a trade actually happen. And to wrap up the show, we’ll talk about some lower level signings for the New York Mets that transpire today or the or over the past 24 hours that you guys may need to know about regarding their levels of impact heading into 2026 at minimum. Thank you guys so much for hanging that like and subscribe button on your way and it’s a fantastic way to support the platform. Please don’t hesitate from helping us get to our next short-term goal of 37,000 subscribers. Uh that way you guys can get involved on our next jersey giveaway that we do after every new 1k subs we hit here on the platform. And of course, shout out to our amazing friends at Segeek that have you covered for all of your ticketing needs. Use my promo code wardy10. That is WY10 for 10% off whatever you want in the ticketing space. Whether that’s NH NHL tickets, NBA tickets, NFL tickets, concerts, comedies, you name it. Check out CE link down below WY10 for 10% off your next ticket purchase. Now folks, before we break down all the meaty details about Kyle Tucker that I know you’re longing to hear about, let me start by saying there’s been an abundance of fake news that has played X specifically to start the week today. I’m not surprised by this. The winter meetings has ended and in doing so, usually people that have little or no credibility whatsoever find the time to act as if they are now credible, saying that, “Oh, the Mets are close to having this happen or ex player is going to be landing with the Mets and it’s really heating up.” Something along those lines. people. All I implore you, and this is not to pick out one specific person because they know exactly who they are. They’re schmucks that act like they know what they’re talking about when they never do. All I implore you guys, in case you guys are wondering, “Oh, Wardy, is this news true or is that true?” Do yourself a favor and do the actual homework, go on those individuals accounts, go through the laundry list of their posts, look up keywords like breaking news, close reports, you name it, and see how much they actually’ve gotten right. But in case you’re lazy, don’t worry. I already have the summary for you. None of them have the credibility to warrant the remarks that they find themselves making. I just would like to reiterate that because for all I know, some of these people either may be coming out in articles, videos, or whatever the case may be talking about these things. But I assure you, they are not as connected as maybe what they think they are. And should the Mets make signings or trades as soon as today or in the coming days, it’ll not be because of, oh, Joe Schmo going out there to say, “Oh go uh oh guys, this is getting close.” Far from it everybody. I promise you that. But I just wanted to reiterate that because I know that fake news is plaguing us all at this point in the offseason when we’re dying to see the Mets continue to make signings and trades which I look forward to discussing heavily and thoroughly as we always do on the platform when it is warranted. Now going from that now let’s get into the discussion about Kyle Tucker because this is going to be a fascinating discussion to have and I would like to be very clear in how I explain this because this was not something that was necessarily supposed to happen. What I mean by that is the information regarding Kyle Tucker is something that I was not crazy to hear from initially because a I heard about this over the past 48 hours from people credibility that I know in the industry that relayed the following to me that all right Wardy here’s what I know the Mets are among the finalists for Kyle Tucker and the other two teams are X and Y. I’m going to explain those teams in a second but I just want to give you that background. I was already aware over the past two days really since the weekend started that the Mets appear to be a finalist for Tucker. But what do you do when you find out this information? You wait until people of credibility relay set information. That way I can warrant having the discussion. Well, someone of great credibility relay this information, but not in the way they necessarily want to. But because it’s been out there, we have to have the discussion because it’s been doubled down now by someone that I know and great confidence is one of the most connected people in the industry. And who exactly am I referring to? You might wonder. Well, let’s go ahead and break down the following cuz as you guys can see here, this is going to be coming from one Robert Murray of Fanited. Now, as you guys can see, Robert Murray’s right there. That’s his article. Sources Kyle Tucker was spotted visiting the Blue Jays facility in Florida on Wednesday. Now, mind you, Robert was the first to break this news that dropped what just in the beginning of December that Kyle Tucker was actually at the Blue Jays facilities. Now, what does Robert also do? And I would just like to make clear I have no issues or qualms with Robert Murray at all. I wish him the best. He’s been doing a fantastic job covering MLB as an insider there. Not only that, we have seen for fanided, but I also believe that he’s recently started working with foul territory too. All great things. But Robert Murray, who was in attendance at MLB Winter meetings like everyone else, and since then has been continuing conversations online, etc., did have a paid Discord chat where he was interacting one-on-one with baseball fans, answering questions. But if I’m not mistaken, you did have to pay a certain level of fee to be involved in this kind of, you know, tight-knit group chat, if you will. And in doing so, someone asked Robert verbatim, “Do you know who are the likely finalists for Kyle Tucker, or is it too early to say?” And his response was, “The Toronto Blue Jays, the LA Dodgers, and the New York Mets.” Unfortunately for Robert, I think he didn’t put two and two together. That by relaying such information that is of course important information because you know he’s speaking of credibility for this to come out the way that I did that naturally you’re going to have people that of course make that public and that is exactly what happened. Now I’d like to reference to you guys what exactly I am referring to in this one because I saw this post initially on X yesterday and shout out to him. He knows who he is. Bavarian guy, but he’s the Bavarian Mets fan on X. A very nice guy. I had interactions with him. I hope he’s doing fantastic. And he initially had posted the screenshot of that disc D discord conversation of Robert Murray answering exactly that the Mets were among those three teams as finalists. Not only was this then taken down after a period of time of blowing it up, I’m using this as an example in these accounts. Some of them follow me, some of them don’t. That’s fine. But these are all people in the Mets space I know is a following that you guys can see here that you know it was again Mets, Blue Jays and Dodgers. And the only reason why I am not relaying the screenshot while I have it is because this is out of respect to Robert if he doesn’t physically want that presented. That’s fine. However, I do feel inclined that we have this conversation because he’s someone of great credibility who took it down. I’d assume took it down. I’d imagine that he probably reached out and I don’t know this for certainty, so don’t quote me, but I’d imagine that given the fact that not only this account, but I saw two other accounts on X all post the same thing of the exact same screenshot and then was taken down not long after it was blowing up is clearly telling that this was maybe something that he did not initially want out there or at least didn’t want it public to the point of X. Now, I don’t exactly know what that reasoning would be. You could think to yourself, maybe it’s because he has a plan to talk about in his own article separately that he wants to drop as a big thing. Maybe he just didn’t think that this was a conversation was going to get public. I’m not entirely sure, but I promise you, and I say this literally on my kid on everything. I am not going out of my way to relay this information you unless I know in confidence that is true. And just to double down and reaffirm how truthful it is, not only were these posts taken down, but the entire chat room that Murray initially had was taken down entirely apparently. So that goes to show you that again for writer in this case Ron Reason for Robert Murray, this was information that he felt comfortable relaying to people that paid a subscription or whoever the case was to get in that group conversation and then it was taken down because it blew up. It got public in ways that he simply didn’t want. Now, the only reason why I’m having this conversation today is not because of, oh, who the finalists for Tucker are, but specifically because the Mets are one of them. One of them. And because I cover the Mets for a living, of course, I’m going to have this conversation, but I would like to preface once more. This is not me at all trying to make Robert look bad or anything like that. It’s just for the sake of he put this out publicly. It has now been taken down. But I already did see it’s still on X according to multiple people. But I’m not going to go ahead and show you guys physically that be out of respect for him if he wanted these physically down because I don’t know if he actually just didn’t want the chat down, but he’s okay with the conversation be had. I’m not not entirely sure. All I know is that Robert has been very respected the industry and he has been on the money with his reporting for a couple years now. And again, he was the first to break this news that Kyle Tucker was there visiting the Blue Jays facilities on Wednesday going back to December 3rd. So, I’m inclined to believe that a Robert Murray is going to go ahead and I’m literally again I’m just just to reiterate that I’m not BSing here. Again, the exact comment was who do you think is most likely for Tucker or is it too early to tell? And Robert replies and this was going back not long ago, Jay’s, Mets, and Dodgers. Okay, so just to reiterate that now, let’s talk about the fact of should this be true and I most certainly believe it to be true cuz I was relayed this information separately from people I know of great credibility starting as of Thursday Friday range because at least a couple days ago right at the beginning of the offseason beginning to then hear this relayed after the fact and see it with my own eyes on the timeline as of yesterday is telling that we’re going to connect the dots here and come to conclusion that someone of great credibility like Robert Murray is saying these things because he knows and uh for great confidence one way or the other that he felt the need to actually relay that. So knowing this to be true, let’s break down Kyle Tucker in the New York Mets being one of the finalists because I don’t have too much to say on the Tucker front outside of a he would be a tremendous pickup for this New York Mets team. I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out. If the Mets bring in someone like Tucker, they undoubtedly become one of the best outfielders outfields in all Major League Baseball. Maybe not from the standpoint of a defensive viewpoint because of course Tucker’s a riding league average defender. Sodto is known for a lot of things, but his defense is not one of them, but Tucker, as we know, who’s a World Series champion. He’s been an MVP type finalist. He has been one of the most well-rounded outfielders in the game today. The baseball savant numbers beside me relay exactly that. So, I don’t really need to pitch you much as to the value that Kyle Tucker would bring to this organization. And it would completely warrant why the New York Mets traded Brandon NMO to get rid of the five remaining years out of contract to bring in Kyle Tucker who can bring them so much more of overall value immediately for the next number of years. He’s coming off of a season with a 841 OPS, 266 average, 377 on base, which NMO is never going to do again in his career, more than likely. 22 home runs, 73 RBI’s, 25 stolen bags in his one and done year in Chicago, cuz we know the Cubs ain’t resigning him more than likely. Uh Tucker, a huge lefty bat. I know you might not love the idea of replacing them with another lefty bat, but I think you could stomach it knowing it’s a talent as good as Kyle Tucker. So, one thing I want to relay is these numbers quick, then I’ll expand more as to where the Mets stand and what they need to do in order to get this job done because it goes without saying David Sterns has to, if he has already, approach us in a manner where maybe he hasn’t before. 90th percentile batting room value, 78th in base running value, 92nd in XW OBA, 84th in expected batting average, 82nd in expected slugging, 65th and barrel percentage, 80th in sweet spot percentage, 82nd in squared up percentage, 98th in chase percentage, whip percent 76, 85th in K percentage, 96th in walk percentage. A lot to like there if you are in favor of Kyle Tucker. Elite numbers is what we’re looking at. Again, a bit below league average and now it’s above average in the 25th percentile. Great arm value and above league average in arm strength. Below average sprint speed, but that doesn’t matter because if he had 25 stolen bags last year, if if Sodto had north of 40, I’m inclined to believe they’ll be just fine. And mind you, this is the same Kyle Tucker that back in the 2023 season had 30 stolen bases. So, he’s most certainly a guy that can provide those numbers. When you look at his final year with the Astros, again, dominant numbers. When we look at 2023 Astros, dominant others, Tucker has been unbelievably consistent and he had an OPS just under a thousand in 2024 in his final year with the Astros. Now, of course, you have to bear in mind him playing a batter box half the year there in Houston, it may help his offensive numbers in a way where if he goes to City Field, he may be more of the version that we saw for the Cubs, more in that 850 to tops 900 OPS range of a guy that’s still going to be elite battering 36% above league average this past year. But we have seen Tucker skyrocket his numbers being as elite as 60 to 70 plus percent above league average as a batter in the league. Almost a five or season. A lot to love about Kyle Tucker. But understandably so. There seems to be at least a hard line to see as to how far are will are teams willing to go to sign someone like him. So much so that if you hear the Mets, the Dodgers, and the Blue Jays are the top teams for for services. I can’t tell you in confidence right now because I don’t know truly fully at this point the type of contract offers are in there. But I’d imagine the Mets are in a healthy mix. So it comes down to this. It’s no different than when we talked about Edward Diaz and when we talked about Tyler Rogers. You cannot in the right mind if you’re David Sterns and Steve Cohen heavily pursue a top player in the free agent market who you know might not have the most robust market but will have a market where top contenders are involved. If the Blue Jays and the Dodgers are all involved in any market that the Mets find themselves in, they have to do something different. And what do they have to do different? they have to separate themselves from the rest. You cannot expect or anticipate someone like Kyle Tucker to go out of his way to want to sign with a team like the New York Mets if the New York Mets and David Sterns give him eerly similar contract offers consistently to what the Dodgers and what the Blue Jays are doing. Because again, when we think about Diaz, who we’ll get to his remarks in a second. When we think about obviously not only him, when we think about Tyler Rogers, what these players have in common, they got contract offers that were great contract offers, inflated contract offers, but the Mets didn’t separate themselves enough to want why they should return to Queens. Cuz think about it, if you’re Edwin Diaz, you’re taking the Dodgers because they’re the back-to-back reign champs every day of the week. Unless the Mets blow them out of the out of the water, would see a contract of five five years, couple years, and the Mets aren’t going to bid against themselves. So that was more of a circumstance where Diaz really just wanted LA more than anything. Even while the Mets made a respectable offer and were willing to offer more, Diaz demon circle back for his own rightful reason. We’ll get to Diaz’s remarks here in a second. But Tyler Rogers, who had a robust inflated market as an reliever, the Mets could simply not approach in similar like um in similar manner as other top contending teams because the Mets don’t have the track record. Okay. When you have the Dodgers winning back-to-back championships, having all-stars every position, when you have the Blue Jays this close to winning the World Series this past year, with a lot of talent, a lot of top talents now landing there in the fringe market, headlined by Dylan and others, it’s clearly telling that those are desirable places to be, especially if you’re in a win now stage. So, how do you separate yourself if you’re the New York Mets with only one truly impressive playoff run under Steve Cohen? Because no one cares about the 2022 curb stomp by the Padres’s at City Field, it comes down to the 2024 run. That’s one run in five years to try to sell to top players who have won championships already in the case of Tucker, why they should come here. And how did the Mets sway players when they first started with not only the Jared Porter, then Zack Scott, then Billy upper regime? It was by going above and beyond the next closest team in the market to land top players because the Mets are not as desirable location. Okay, they have Jan Sto, they have Lindor and that is exciting. They have an amazing farm and they’re going to take that take advantage of that this offseason, no doubt. But to suggest that the Mets are this organization that has endless winning, that knows what’s winning like or can stay afloat consistently as winning, these are all false promises at best. So if you are again in Kyle Tucker’s shoes, what can be the best way to sway him to go to New York? It can either be a being being sold on being in the best outfield in baseball with overall talent uh between himself and Janoto. It can also be B be not wanting to go to those other top contending teams because maybe he really wants to be more of a face of an organization the way he would be with the Mets greater than what he otherwise would be with the Dodgers or to a certain degree the Blue Jays because Vlatty is their guy as we know and if they bring Bo back then they’re going to have more of those pieces that have been there since the start. So to kind of put a pin in it or wrap this one up on the Kyle Tucker conversation, it’s great to know that the Mets are one of the finals for him currently, but to suggest that they’re locked to land him is silly. They have to do things to separate themselves. Until we find out that they are separating themselves, your guess is as good as mine as if the Mets are just going to be used for leverage here. Or are they actually going to do something creative? Give him the contract he’s looking for. Separate yourself. Even if that means going north of 10 years, $400 million in ways that you don’t want to necessarily see, but you worry about the second half of that contract once you get there. The way that the Mets worried about NMOS 5 years remaining when it was time to do so. And they were able to handle that properly by essentially saving $30 million by bringing and Marcus Simeon who’s on lesser years while still getting a good AV still lesser years. So there’s less overall money to worry about. Could the Mets go down that route with someone like Tucker? They signed him long-term. Sure. We’ll worry about when we get there, but that’s what we’ll worry about it when we get there time. Not right here right now as the Mets again appear to be one of three teams. And once more, this is not at all slight Robert Murray. I love his work. Just an unfortunate situation for him. Nature of the beast. you’re going to make something public, naturally it’s going to get out there and naturally people like me who are going to be covering those clubs are going to have something to say about it because that’s a juicy piece regardless of the fact that it came out prematurely to the public versus maybe what he necessarily wanted. And I will say that if say I find out that Robert reaches out to me or something like that and shares his displeasure, then we can have that conversation when it needs to be had because I’m not trying to ruffle any feathers, but I have a job to do as he does as well and I think he understands that. But now going on from talking about Kyle Tucker, everybody, let me know if you’re for or against the Mets signing. What do you think the likelihood is of the Mets signing? Like I said, I don’t see it being likely at all unless the Mets separate themselves from the Dodgers and from the Blue Jays and their spending and contracters more than likely to really show not only how much they want Tucker, but how much they’re willing to bend in ways that other teams won’t for his services because they really want him paired with Juan Sodto. Now, to go on from talking about Kyle Tucker, we got a lot of other topics break down this one. So, like I said, grab your popcorn. This is not going to be a quick discussion here. And beyond talking about Kyle, who I have only great things to say about, let’s now go ahead and get into our next topic in this video. And the next topic is going to be a brief on a couple miscellaneous things I’d like to just shed some light on. One, we see MLB Network today saying how the Mets are reportly shifting their focus towards Mason Miller and Luis Robert Jr. This is common sense for those that actually just pay attention. I don’t know, maybe check out my video from a couple days ago talking uh through the initial reporting from Dennis Lynn, Wolf Salmon, and Ken Rose with all the athletic that the Mets have been in active trade talks for these players from the Padres’s. Um, this is something that we’ve known about for a couple days now. I would love Mason Miller and I pray to God it happens. I’ll be ecstatic if it happens. Same thing that I wouldn’t be opposed to Luis Robert at the right price. And Luis Robert is someone that we’re going to talk about in a second here. Actually, as a quick pivot before we get on to other conversations regarding Sodto, Diaz, Ventos, and the signings of the Mets is because Robert actually appears like there might be a greater likelihood that he lands with the Mets. But I would like than the Phillies, I should say. But the reason why I want to preface this piece, nothing personal against Steve Phillips. He used to work in the Mets front office, we know, but I’m still waiting to find out when Steve Phillips has been accurate on anything that he has reported that we’ve seen through the network over the past couple years. Again, not a personal slight against him. I just pay attention to track records, okay? I literally cover the mess for a living, I cover everything under the sun of who they’ve been connected to and why. And the one commonality I found with someone like Steve Phillips is every single time that I have reference that he’s had these talked about these players has never come to fruition or close to. And that doesn’t mean that he’s been relayed raw information. But it does however mean that he has not been able to nail connections of players to actually come to fruition one way or another. Whoever’s at fault, that’s beyond me. I’m just relaying what I know. But what we do know is that yes, the Mets are involved in both those markets. So let’s go ahead briefly and talk about Luis Robert in particular that I want to get into in this one everybody. So as you guys can see here going back a couple days ago from John Haymon of the New York Post, the Mets checked in on Luis Robert and a million other trade notes. And expand more on that. I just want to pull this up here. You guys can see Jeff Passen stated Garcia and the Philadelphia Phillies have finalized a one-year $10 million contract. The reason why I emphasize that when talking about Robert is the following. Robert is someone who the Phillies have been in the market for and they may still be in the market for because realistically Adullies can be in your corner outfield. Robert can be in center. Trey Brandon Marsh and then figure out the rest. Nick Costianos we know will not be a Philadelphia Philly next season. All things that the Phillies have been trying to do in trading. Costianos bone potentially obviously to a greater degree. Brandon Marshian to a lesser degree. Um we have seen Sto in conversations each of the past year and a half, two years now. So they want to mix up their roster after like the Mets not winning with their core each of the past four to five plus years now. But Adolei Garcia, who I do think will be a nice bounceback candidate and at Batters Park, pardon me, Batters Park, half the year there in Philadelphia, will thrive in that lineup all things considered. What Schwarber Harper, a lot of big boppers, and I really do think he’ll do well there. And he’s not a bad defender either, believe it or not, at Garcia. However, the notion that Robert is maybe a locked in line with the Phillies, I don’t necessarily believe that to be true at this point in time because this kind of move only, I think, lessens slightly the likelihood of that coming to fruition. Again, not saying it’s a guarantee. I’m just sharing my opinion. But expand more on Robert. As you guys can see here, as Heymon reiterated, we have talked about Luis extensively here on the platform. Okay, so I’m going to be fairly quick as I break down what you guys need to know more on Luis Robert. And it really just comes down to the simple fact that Luis Robert was an MVP candidate two seasons ago for the White Socks on a team that didn’t even win 70 wins uh 70 wins that year. Did not have a good year. The year prior, Robert did very well in a smaller sample size and a 500 ball club season there for the Chicago White Socks. So, what has happened with Robert the past few years, which is why his bats fallen off cliff, he went from 857 OPS with two with a 264 average, a 315 on base, and a 542 slug. Good for 20 stolen bases, and 38 home runs and 90 runs scored in 2023 to now being a sub 700 OPS each the past few years. Robert one has struggled to stay on the field to a degree, even though he’s had over 400 play appearances each the past couple years. And B, he just has lost his mojo, his drive to want to play. And you can’t blame the guy when he’s playing for the sorry White Socks are never going to go anywhere because they never put in the effort to actually go anywhere. At least the Mets, it’s not for a lack of effort. It just fails miserably with a big payroll. And that’s a frustration that we can have a discussion of on another day. But in the meantime, Luis Robert and something that I really, really just want to make clear with someone like him is that he is one of these guys that is a massive bounceback candidate. And that’s why the Phillies have been in his market. That’s why the Dodgers have been in his market. Yes. It wouldn’t shock me if the Dodgers land him. It feels like the Dodgers are going to land one of him or a Harrison Bader or someone along those lines. The Phillies may try to run it back with Harrison Bader as well. But should those things not happen again Luis Robert is a very appealing bounceback candidate, but as reporting has stated, the Mets of course have an appetite for Robert. But what was reaffirmed from Will Sam of The Athletic, which we have a piece to break down in this video that he dropped it today on separately from this discussion, is that he did state earlier this past week that the Mets do have an appetite for Robert, but they would like the White Socks to eat some of his contract because he had to opt in to a $20 million contract for next year when he most certainly doesn’t deserve it. We have heard other rumblings which have stated that the White Socks are actually okay eating some of that salary to trade him if that helps with the trade return. So, what could that trade return be? That very well could be a Mark Vento situation that we’ll get into here shortly in our conversation as to it being a swap along those lines or just for prospects that the Mets aren’t going to lose sleep over. Again, Robert we know has been around league average and well below league average in a whiff that we see there. Big suite of miss has struggled mightily of course handling off speed and breaking balls. 93 percentile and that’s above average though. That’s why you want him 90th in sprint speed. This is a guy that if he can click in a deeper lineup and have excitement again as a player, could very well go back to being similar to what we saw in 2023 as one of the best pure outfielders in Major League Baseball. That is such a lottery ticket that the Mets are enticed by. That’s why they want him so bad. The trade line, it wasn’t for a lack of effort there. But now that Robert’s still available and at a more I think palatable price for most teams, it’ll be really interesting to see which team in the end actually ultimately lands his services. I won’t lose sleep if the Mets don’t land Robert, but I do hope that they do land him if they do go down the route of kind of that short-term option in the outfield in center and then kind of seeing what’s going to happen with the future of Carson Bench depending on if you sign a Kyle Tucker or or to a lesser degree a Cody Ballinger or someone along those lines that kind of shrews up your outfield completely before Bench even really gets a look heading into next season. But definitely let me know guys if you’re for or against Luis Robert. Like I said, I completely understand the criticisms with him. I know the Mets can shoot above their weight versus someone like him, but I also understand the appeal, like I said, which is why we’re having the conversation. Now, to expand beyond just Luis Robert, let’s get into these other topics as I mentioned because there’s a lot of them in this one. And let’s begin here with the following. Edwin Diaz spoke in an interview. And now, I didn’t know that what he said here, but thankfully we have awesome Mets fans in the community that do know what he said um because they are Dominican, they’re Puerto Rican, or whatever the case may be. know specifically who I’m referencing um I believe is Dominican as well. So he was able to break this down. Now I understand Edwin Diaz is Puerto Rican, but we also understand that they’re going to communicate with each other for the mo for the most part without an issue. This is Edwin Diaz interview. I’m going to play it and I’m going to tell you what he said. So, what did Edwin Diaz say? And in case you’re clueless like me, well, shout out to my guy, Master Flipon X, the man who started all the nonsense with Tatis to Queens. And now that’s why we’re hearing Lindor to San Diego. He is the reason why you hear media heads in the Padre space talking about Lindor hypotheticals because him posting daily how much he wants Tatis and Queens. I just like to make that clear. Uh, but as he relayed the following translation as as follows. Edwin Diaz, and I quote, “We have a team that’s going to win. At this point in my career, I’m looking for a team that has the opportunity to win. The decision was the Mets or the Dodgers, and I chose the Dodgers because again, I think they’re going to win and I’m going to do well.” So, once more, Edwin Diaz making abundantly clear as much as he loved the Mets and appreciated them, there is a clear difference in being being with the New York Mets versus being with a team like the LA Dodgers. And because of that reason, that is why he signed with the Dodgers. He wants to be in a winning organization. You could call him KD, you could call him a snake, call him, whatever you want, but hasn’t changed Yavi’s facts that that is why he’s no longer in New York Met. And we have ourselves to blame, that being the organization for their lack of success and only having one true playoff run in the seven years that he’s been here since the start of 2019. Now, to go beyond that with Edwin Diaz. Now, let’s get into other remarks. One, shout out to Juan Sodto for the second consecutive season was anointed the most outstanding Dominican player. Love to see that. Shout out to Juan. We saw that happen last year as well before he was a New York Met. Now he’s a New York Met and lands that. Very cool. We also see everybody the following that Juan’s speaking to the media that we saw over the past day. Juan Sodtoan’s relationship with Francisco Lenor. I get along very well with him. He’s a great player, great person. He is a cheerful guy. He’s always happy in the dugout. And this is specifically what Janoto said for those who actually want to hear it. and those aren’t the only onto remarks we’re going to reference in this one. Okay, because that’s one thing. Here’s another thing. Let’s go ahead and break it down before we get to all these other uh remarks here because I got a lot of other things that we’re going to talk about. Juan Stoodto talking about the Ponzo news. I’m going to play the audio then I’m going to tell you what he said. No. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so here’s what Juan said. Apologies for that everybody. Sodto, before the news came out, we already knew what was going to happen. Like I said, I always keep in contact with the team. This was after STO had said to the media verbatim that he has been in close contact with Sterns and Cohen throughout everything in the offseason. How he’s been always in the know, which is something that we’ve already always known with Lindor for years on end. Yet, and I’m not going to say names, and they know who they are. We have seen this silly media spin and narrative that oh the Mets have to have Sodto and or Lind Lindor involved in these conversations. They have been this is literally nothing new. Okay. So, and this is something that tends to happen at times because people in the media and I can see this as well who’s balancing you know being a media head and a talking fixture and also being a fan. I see all sides of the coin here. So, I see the fan perception as well as the media perception. And the media perception is headlined by the fact that naturally you want something to get out there. You want there to be you want there to be something in the sense of I want to push this narrative because a this is how I feel as a fan because you have to realize just because people write or comment about the club doesn’t change the fact that they may have their own fandom for the club or disgruntlement with the club depending on whatever the case may be. So naturally narrative may be pushed for the sake of a trying to drive clicks which is very common or b because that’s genuinely how they feel and they want to see if other fans resonate and that is the case a lot of the times the latter when we talk about certain articles or videos that come out from respective talking heads and actual you know reporters in the space but I just want to clarify this once more because we have seen this silly divide that oh Juan stood doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into or that Juan Sto on the largest contract in North American sports history has no clue how the team’s going to operate. I’m like, you can live with your head in the sand all you want and stay out of reality. That’s fine. But then don’t act like you know what you’re talking about when you most certainly don’t. That holds true when when we talk on this topic in particular because Sodto will continue to be involved. Sodto knew well in advance about Edwin Diaz not returning. He knew well in advance about Alonzo not returning. Lindor knew well in advance that he wasn’t returning. Diaz even said in the media in in that scrum I just showed you that he spoke to Lindor and he understood why he left and he wished him well. Again, the players know if you guys genuinely do not think or believe that Juan Sodto and Fritz Cisco are in constant contact with the Mets and their front office with Sterns and Cohen and how they’re planning to operate and what they have in vision to do. I got a bridge to sell you because we literally hear it out of the horse’s mouth himself and Sodto saying exactly that. Again, like I said, I always keep in contact with the team. So, no, Sodto’s not caught off guard by the Diaz and Alonzo news. Lindor is not caught off guard. No one in the Mets organization is for the most part. The only ones that are are us Mets fans that are still trying to stomach the reality which is that this core group is going to look vastly different next year one way or another regardless on how much we may agree or disagree. So now going on from talking about those those talking points now let’s talk about here Mark Ventos because as we know Pat Regaza shadow my dog Pat’s a good friend of the platform did report that the Mets are open to trading infielder DH Mark Ventos this offseason as sources told uh Sports Illustrated. Now, this is not surprising to hear. We have known Ventos’s name has been involved for a great stretch pretty much since the start of the offseason that he could find himself being traded, especially now after the Mets signing Jorge Palano that will be getting split time at first base even though he’s really has never had DH rep. So, counterintuitive behind the strings philosophy on maximizing defense unless they’re really confident that Blanco because he’s played over the infield in his career can comfortably handle on first. I think that’s what they’re thinking, but they’re going to platoon him at first NDH. So, what does that mean? Less and less playing time for Mark Ventos, especially after you brought in Marcus Sime to help sh up the infield. And Brett Batty is solely going to be a third as of now, unless you trade Batty. This is no personal slight against Ventos at all of wish him and his family the absolute best should he be traded. But the writing’s been on the wall that Ventos really does not have much of a future in this organization. And just to kind of put the little cherry on top for those that did not see the other news, let me relay the following. As you guys can see here, Will Se of the Athletic earlier today, Mark Ventos hired Scott Boris as his agent. So, in case you guys needed any little wrinkle to suggest, oh, is Ventos going to be traded? I’m not saying that Boris being hired is the sole reason. It’s far from it. This is just the cherry on top. This is what really gives you a greater idea as to where things are. Ventos has probably felt unbelievably undervalued in the organization. He was mistreating the organization this past year. He wasn’t utilized in the way that he wanted. He said verbatim to the media leading up to the traded line that he didn’t he felt that he didn’t have anyone to help him because of the fact that he didn’t know how consistently or lack thereof he’d be playing nor did he really have any proper guidance from the coaching staff. So say what you will in regards to Mendoza and everyone else in regards to that cough cough Eric Chavez who will give you a nice little fiveminute tangent of a video on his thoughts of the Mets and of course doing that comfortably on the couch collecting his hundreds of thousands of dollars as someone who’s no longer employed. But regarding Ventos, why is this happening again? He’s trying to maximize his worth and his value. That’s why you sign with someone like Scott Boris. That’s why Peter Lonzo signed with someone like Scott Boris. And while the Mets have of course inked the largest contract in North North American sports history with Boris and have done a lot of other work with him, it doesn’t mean that they necessarily want to in each time. And Ventos, who has no minor league options left on his contract, is under club control until um you know, I believe 2029 or 203 2030 as you guys see on my graphic down there. It doesn’t change the fact that Ventos is still someone that has no immediate path in this organization. So genuinely, I will be shocked if Mark Vantos is on this day, is on this roster by the time we get a spring trading. I think he’s inevitably going to be traded to a team like the San Padres’s as part of a trade in which the Mets get relievers and or other talent in return like what we talked about, or he’ll be dealt elsewhere. But one thing is certain, Mark Ventos, who has already boxed enough from this organization this past year after dealing with a sophomore slump and being such a liability defensively, has now boxed greater than he ever has been in his career as a New York Met. Pair that with Jeff McNeel has also been abundance abundantly boxed. It goes without saying McNeel, Ventos, one of Sanger Peterson. What do all these players have in common? They more than likely will not be in New York Mets uniforms next season unless things change, unless the Mets do feel confident find a route for Ventos in limited playing time, which will not be great for his development, but might be the best path for the organization depending on if they really can’t find any value for him. So, to be determined as to what happens on that front, but yes, Mark Vantos and trade talks sounds like a day that ends on Y. Now, let’s go on to the next one here, everybody. As we have a lot of breakdown in this one, as I mentioned, it’s going to be one second cuz I’m making sure that I’m not missing anything on this one. I’m just being sent some things from people that I know of credibility. They’re starting to blow up. And there is that. So, let’s go ahead and break down more of what we have to talk about today because there’s another key wrinkle in this I want to talk about briefly. And this is actually from Will Sammon. So, let me go ahead on to Will’s account real quick and show you guys what exactly I’m referring to. So, let’s get away here from Robert Murray’s account for a second. Shout out to Robert Murray again. Sorry, Robert. Was nothing personal, but we had to have that conversation because you can just mention the Mets as one of the top three finalists for Kyle Tucker of all people. What you’ve had all the scoops on Tucker throughout the offseason. Think I won’t talk about it. Um, here’s a piece from Will Sam that just dropped over the past hour or so. And be on the lookout. We may have Will on the platform as soon as this week for an exclusive interview. So, I’m going to actually follow up with him this evening to make sure to see what day works best for him. What’s next for the Mets? attempting to answer the questions here which contains reporting on who they are open to moving a new player profile they’re considering and a possible bullpen scenario. So in this article everybody just to give you guys a nice rundown of a summary the Mets are keeping an eye on the 2026 pitching class including guys like TKO Chris Sale Freddy Peralta etc. So, you do have to wonder how much of that class is going to hold true to the Mets. Either A not trading for them because they’d rather sign them at next year’s free agency depending on what happens with the pending CBA and lockout or b do they really swoop in to try to land one of those starters with the adamy that they extend them beforehand. One of those two scenarios may very well happen. He also did state that the Mets are actually keeping an eye pardon me that they’re actually more inclined and are open to adding a bat first player. Huh. Who’s a player that checks off being bat first? that isn’t known for their defensive value and is far more known for their consistency with their bat. Oh yeah, it’s Kyle Tucker. Wow. Caller me shocked. Who who who could have saw that one, right? Um it’s almost common sense sometimes. And this is one of them. And I’m not saying that I’m not saying that as a slight to will. I’m just saying like when you hear bat first player, you think of guys more known for their bat than their defense. And Kyle Tucker with a 25 percentile outs above average is far more known for his offensive output and ability than he will be known for his defensive value as he enters his age 29 season and onward. He also did state that Palano is again someone that’s going to be more in the market of first base than just a guy that’s going to be at D8. So to be determined how much Palanco is going to be utilized at first base versus DH. But I did want to relay all that information for those that were maybe unaware or were kind of saying to themselves, okay, this piece came out for from Salmon, but what is the summary? What should you guys know best about this article? And that’s what I’m trying to relay to every single one of you, you know. And also have to bear in mind, Will has broken more news than literally anyone else covering the Mets or MLB for that matter. Will has been one of the best overall beat reporters across Major League Baseball this offseason. He’s broken the Edwin Diaz news, the Devin Williams news, uh the Jorge Palanco news. He’s broken leaguewide news separate for the Athletic as well, doing a tremendous job. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t he just have the Isaac Collins scoop or maybe he was one of them involved? I could be mistaken. um from the Brewers going to the Royals, which wouldn’t shock me because he used to be on the beat for the Brewers before he started working with the Mets. He’s been with the Mets as long tenured as David Sterns has for the most part. So, you know, he clearly has good rapport and connection there at least. So, yeah, the Mets are in a position right now where they very well could be finding themselves landing a more bat first player. So, again, Kyle Kyle Tucker obviously comes to mind when you think of someone like Cody Bellinger. Cody is fantastic, but Cody is someone that has his defensive value right now um working. So, and just to reference specifically on the front of Kyle Tucker and Cody, this is what Will had to say in his article. Is there a path in which the Mets add a bigname free agent? And he replies, “Yes, I just don’t know if it ends up being the path they take, but he does know it is a path. From the position player side, there’s an openness to adding someone like Cody Bellinger or Kyle Tucker for instance. However, it likely depends on the market developing to the Mets liking. And that goes without saying, too. That’s why again the Mets cannot play this in the sense of Tucker and think that oh if we give him similar offers to the Dodgers and the Blue Jays that he’ll certainly come here. Far from it. You have to do more than that if you’re David Sterns and New York Mets. But I think you guys are aware. So again check out that piece in its entirety. Will it does a great job and I don’t want to steal all the steam and momentum with it. I really implore you guys to check that out when you get a chance to but expand more. Well now let’s get into more topics here because we talked about Ventos. We got a couple other topics I’d like to break down in this one as well for each and every one of you. Let’s go ahead and get into this is a very small miscellaneous thing. We did see Arizona baseball guys, I don’t know if you saw this over the past day, lost their pitching coach, 25-year-old pitching coach that you guys can see, is now landing with the New York Mets. John, pardon me, John Duin, if I’m pronouncing his name correct. If I’m not, I apologize. John, is now being hired in the Mets minor league system as a pitching coordinator. But this is kind of exciting news because the Mets have a very forward way of thinking what they’re pitching and they’re bringing in someone working at Arizona as their pitching uh pitching coach. Now coming in here, you know, not to the same degree same degree as seeing, you know, um Tony getting hired as a new manager from Tennessee to now being the manager for the Giants for uh for Buster. That’s a big deal and that’s a huge adjustment that like never happens in Major League Baseball. But I think we’re going to see more and more of a trend of guys coming from again D1 ball among others getting hired to big league organizations because they see the value in their forward way of thinking how they handle especially the new information that they use as well as what they physically use for their machinery among other things. So to expand on this everybody just to give you guys a nice little breakdown more on him what’s so impressive. John was hired by head coach Chip Hail as Arizona’s baseball Arizona baseball in August 2023. He was subsequently promoted twice and in June 2025, he was elevated to assistant coach and took over leadership of the Wildcats pitching staff. Over the last two seasons, Jon helped develop the Wildcats pitching staff into one of the most successful units in the nation. Under his direction, Arizona improved their team year array over a run and a half from 2023 to 2024, the 20th largest year RA improvement in the country and ranked among the top 12 teams in the nation in strikeoutto ratio at a walk per nine rate in both 2024 and 2025. John was critical to the planning, development, and execution of the Wildcats Wildcats brand new and state-of-the-art pitching wing lab located inside the Terry Francona hitting center. The lab, one of the best in the nation, has been a key piece of Arizona’s comprehensive pitching development program that Jon has spearheaded. Under John’s guidance, what the Wildcats have had the uh have developed two all-American pitchers, three first team allconerence arms and four MLB draft selections. So, I really like that hire for the New York Mets. We’ll see how he develops in the farm, obviously, and when he eventually makes him his way to the major league level, because that feels like a move you make to start in the minor leagues to ultimately build up to get to the major leagues eventually. but really like the forward way of thinking that the Mets have had there. And Chip Hail, again, the head coach for Arizona, had this to say on Jon, and I quote, “John is like the pitching whisperer.” So, nice little hire for the New York Mets there. We’ll see what entails of that, if at all, moving forward. Now, folks, let’s get into some of our final topics today, which include the signings for the New York Mets. And let’s start with the fir uh one of two signings that the New York Mets made here. one that I like more than the other and that is going to be of course this refresh. My apologies everybody. It’s going to be one second so I can refresh this myself. Unfortunately, this happens on X at times right when I want to go and pull up exactly what I’m looking for. And we’re going to go ahead and do that now in real time because I’m not going to cut it out. It’s okay. Just a couple more seconds. As we go down here, let’s get to the signing. I know exactly again what I’m looking for. I know no m clips. We may show them as well before we get out of here. Oh, this is doing it again on me. Okay, so this is what we’re going to do. Easy way to troubleshoot this. Not going to operate for me. Fine, I’ll figure it out myself. Here’s how we do it. Okay, Mets signed Daniel Dwarte to a minor league contract. So, this is one of two minor league moves the Mets have made over the past day or so. We talked about Zack Peak, which was a separate reliever pickup that they signed um to the pitching who had a very good year in the Brewers Farm last year in TripleA to like a three and a half or so year rate and a solid sample size. Jart is interesting to me everybody. And here is why he’s interesting. Because as you guys see from the numbers down below, Dwarte did not pitch at the major league level. In 2025 due to injury when he was in the league in 2024, he had a very small sample size, a 2.2 year, and only four innings. Now, Darte, why did the Mets bring him in? Because again, he’s a minor league signing with a spring training invite. This is the kind of arm that you guys may have no clue who he is now, but I assure you will probably be considered should he have a solid spring as someone that impacts the bullpen at some point in the year because like the Dodgers, like any other top contending team, they go through a plethora of relievers every every year because injuries are inevitable and consistencies are inevitable and sometimes you just need innings eaters. So, at minimum, I think that’s what Daniel Darte will be. But let me expand a little bit more. In the 2023 season for Daniel Dwarte, he had 30 plus innings at the major league level to three and a half or so year. respectable numbers. K to walk ratio wasn’t pretty, but he’s clearly not a guy that’s going to be dominating necessarily the strength zone to have a great K per nine. But he does however have some solid metrics that you guys can actually see here per baseball savant from the 2024 season. Again, very limited sample size, but fast velocity sat 96 plus on the gun. As long as that VO still holds true, that’s nice. He’s then sitting in the 95 to 98 category. And he had a lot of things that Oh, okay. And he had a lot of things to be enticed by all around. Uh you have the slider that he sits right around 84 on the for seam which he sits 96 plus on the cutter 92 plus on the change up 89 90 plus on and the sinker 95. So at minimum Darte is a minor league signing with a spring training invite that doesn’t impact the Mets at all in their plans next year. At maximum he is one of a laundry list of pitchers that may impact them to varying degrees next year. So when Daniel Dwarte gets called up after having say a nice stretch in Syracuse you’ll say to yourself Wardy who is this schmuck? and I’ll reply by saying that’s Daniel Dwarte. Don’t you remember when we did a video breaking him down briefly on December 15th of 2025? Of course, you’re not going to remember, but that’s fine. Nonetheless, uh Daniel Dwarte is one of the smaller moves the Mets have made. I know you love D Mr. David Sterns making these small moves happen. Cue the sarcasm. Beyond Darte, we have another pickup, but this is a name you guys know a lot more. If you guys didn’t see already from as I was scrolling through these, everybody, you can see it with me. Let me go all the way up here just for a second to show you what I’m referring to. The New York Mets did in fact sign former Philadelphia Philly, former Atlanta Brave, and former at the time Oakland A. This is a man who was once a very coveted prospect in baseball, and now he’s going to be more of a standard minor league minor leager than anything else. The Mets have signed Mr. Christian Pache. And Mets signed Christian Paste for two reasons. One, minally depth is never a bad thing. Never. Especially if you’re going to deplete the farm at all as you have some petting trades. Catch my drift? B, because he’s a speed demon. And in a world where say the Mets trade someone like Louis San Halakunia, that’s where Christian shows a level of value where at minimum he could be a guy that’s caught up as a pinch runner, lateg game defensive replacement, who’s a very good fielder in the outfielder, fast as all heck, and can steal bags for you. Now, the 2024 season was the last time he was in the major leagues. He was not in the major leagues at all in 2025 uh because he just didn’t have a role with his team to really warrant it. But in 2024 in 88 games with three different teams, one home run, 16 RBI’s, and a lot to be desired on the offensive end. I’m not here to tell you that Christian is a slam dunk of a pickup or anything along those lines. I’m just trying to tell you in in in summary why this move happened. And it’s headlined by the fact that a he has elite arm strength, he’s a very good fielder, and he has elite sprint speed in the 80th plus percentile. So, if he’s a guy that doesn’t impact the Mets at all and we just see him in spring training and that’s that. I would say that’s very valid. And if he doesn’t impact the Mets at all, that’s because again, it’s a minor league signing with a spring training invite. No more, no less. But I did of course want to give you guys a quick breakdown of those players because no matter how small or how big the Mets moves that they find themselves making, we are inclined here on the platform to break down every single one of them. So, having said that everybody, that’s all I got for you today, at least for now, because we do have a big live stream that’ll be happening later on tonight that you guys are not going to want to miss out on. It’ll be myself at minimum. We may have a guest, but it’ll definitely be me. We’ll be breaking down the lace rumblings. We’re going to be going a lot more in on Gallucker. We’re going to be talking a lot more on the Padres’s. We’re feuding the nonsensical reports out there from people who act like that they have sources when they have anything but that. Just trying to get clicks because it’s that time of year, mid December, getting spicy before moves actually happen. But be on the lookout as we will be covering a lot of things this evening. And God willing, we actually have some breaking news that we can get into either as soon as today or in the coming days. But all I will say is to everyone, please, I know it’s hard to under Sterns right now. Just have a level of patience. He’s working on a lot of things right now. This is not to give him benefit of the doubt. I’m just saying there’s a plan. Juan Sto and Lor are very aware of what that plan is. And if they’re not losing sleep over it, you shouldn’t either. For better or for worse reasons, that’s still to be determined. But that’s all I got for you guys. Thank you again guys so much for watching. Have a fantastic rest of your night, evening, whenever you’re watching this. I will see you all in our live stream to two tonight. It’ll probably be around 9 or 9:30 p.m. at earliest as I want to make sure there’s a solid gap from this video dropping to that. But thank you again once more and as always, no matter what, let’s go Mets. Peace out, everybody.

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00:00 Hey! Here’s Todays Topics
5:34 Mets Finalist For Tucker?
19:50 Mets Continued Robert Interest
26:20 Diaz Talks Mets Departure + Soto Talks Lindor & Front Office
32:50 Mets Shopping Vientos
37:00 Sammon’s Latest Mets Piece
40:39 Mets New Pitching Hire
44:00 Mets Sign 2 Players

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