New York Mets Let Go Of Carlos Mendoza’s Coaching Staff – Rico Brogna Episode 563

New York Mets Let Go Of Carlos Mendoza’s Coaching Staff – Rico Brogna Episode 563

[Music] [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] It’s the Amazing Rico Bron podcast with your host Evan Roberts. Rico Bron episode number 563. Welcome in to this edition of the Rico. There’s a lot of things we’re going to hit on. The headline being the Mets are making major changes on their coaching staff. We will address it. some interesting tidbits about the Mets locker room for this past season. We will address it. We will also put a bow on Yankees versus Mets bets that me and Big Mac made right before the start of the season. And then finally, we are going to preview the real Major League Baseball playoffs uh Rico style. And what I mean by that is with a Met tinge. We’ll talk about the former Mets that are competing in the postseason and truly who we should be rooting for. So, that’s all coming up on this jam-packed edition of the Rico Brilliant. Let’s start off with the coaching changes. I don’t think any of this is truly a surprise. You know, when you have a failure of a season, and that’s what 2025 was, a colossal failure of a season, heads are going to roll. And even when they made the decision to maintain Carlos Mendoza, you looked at this coaching staff and this is the way I honestly looked at it and it’s come to fruition. Other than Anton Richardson who we can see the difference he made based on turning Juan Sodto into Ricky Henderson and turning the Mets into this aggressive and for the most part wildly successful team on the base paths stealing bases. No one else did their job. And the one thing we have to understand about coaches, because we got so many emails and so many strong opinions over the course of the regular season about you got to fire Eric Chavez, you got to fire Jeremy Barnes, you got to fire Jeremy Hefner, like all of these strong opinions about coaches. And for the most part during the season, my answer is routinely shrug of shoulders. Sure, you want to try to spark the team by firing a coach. Okay, sometimes it works, a lot of times it doesn’t. We all remember the Donnie Diesel situation from about four years ago. But I think once the season is complete and you have a chance to evaluate everything that went wrong, you got to do a deep dive on this franchise. And obviously it comes down to the players. I think we all know that and that will certainly be addressed when the real off season begins in November in terms of player transactions and and who knows where this offseason is going. But you have to look at this coaching staff and say, “How do we get better?” And you also have to look at the coaching staff. And I want to start with Jeremy Hefner because I think if anybody is a surprise, it would probably be him based on how successful he mostly was here and based on the fact that he was able to last different administrations. But sometimes, and I think this is the case with Jeremy Hefner, it’s just time. It’s just time. I’m like, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Jeremy Hefner’s a bum and that he’s an idiot and they had to get rid of him because he doesn’t know what he’s doing cuz none of that’s true. Jeremy Hefner was here for a long time and there were some pretty good results. We can’t ignore that. 2024 was filled with good results. Luis Severino had the best year in years. Scha Mania had one of the best years of his career. David Peterson turned into a really solid major league pitcher after most of us assumed he’d be a failure. And so that’s just last year. That’s not even, you know, the whole shebang. But Jeremy Hefner had a pretty good run as Met pitching coach. And the reason I leaned towards moving on from him, and the reason I agree with the Mets moving on from him is not because he’s a bum, and not because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s going to get a job quickly. He’s gonna get another prominent job very quickly, but sometimes you just need a new voice. And I think when you have the season like the Mets had, it makes sense to look at basically everybody. And essentially, it is based on the Mets press release. They’re looking at all new coaches. I think when you have a year like this, you almost have to. I’ll read their press release so we get the details on who’s out. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coach Jeremy Barnes, and Eric Chavez, as well as third base coach Mike Sarbaugh will not return in 2026. Bench coach John Given has resigned. Catching coach Glenn Sherlock has announced his retirement. Assistant pitching coach Desi Driscoll and bullpen coach Jose Rosado have been given permission to speak to other teams pending the selection of a new pitching coach. First base coach Anton Richardson, strategy coach Danny Barnes, and coaching assistant Raphael Fernandez have been invited back for the 2026 season. I’ve heard good things about Raphael Fernandez, and obviously we talked about Anton Richardson, so it makes sense, but that is sweeping changes. And I suggested on the air about 5 days ago on the fan, I did it here on the Rico, that getting a strong bench coach, getting somebody with not just managerial experience, which isn’t a must, but doesn’t hurt, but someone who understands the pressures of this job, I think can only benefit Carlos Mendoza in a year three in which he is facing a lot of pressure. So, two names I mention, and I’m not even sure if these two names would be interested in jobs, would be Willie Randolph and Carlos Beltron. And the reason I brought those names up was not just let me name random Mets who I’d like to have back. I didn’t suggest Wally Bachman, though I know that’s incredibly popular. I didn’t I didn’t suggest Tai Wigington. Uh Willie Randolph apparently was somebody that Mendy has a good relationship with and somebody he was interested in bringing with him in 2024 when he took the job. And for whatever reason, I’m not sure if it’s David Stern saying no. I’m not sure if it’s Willie Randolph maybe losing interest. I don’t know. But it didn’t happen. Now, Willie knows about the situation Carlos Mendoza is in because the 2007 collapse, which we have brought up a lot over the last few weeks and months as this collapse was going on, is certainly something we point to. And even though it’s a bad moment in the history of our franchise, you would assume that the guys involved in it since it’s been a long time now have learned from it. And I just think Randolph with all the experience that he brings, having a good relationship with Mendy, which helps. I mean, you want guys on your coaching staff that you can trust. If it’s a shotgun marriage and you don’t have good relationships, how much are you really trusting him when you lean on your bench coach in the seventh inning for some kind of big decision? So, I’m not sure if Willie even wants the job to be honest with you. So, I don’t know. Willie could be watching the Rico right now saying, “Shut up, Evan. I don’t want this job.” But I think his experience, the relationship factor, uh, the New York experience, I think all make it a positive. The other one is Beltron. Now, Beltron already has really good relationships with a lot of the people in this room. And because he was hired to be the manager, even though it was a past administration and a past ownership group, I do think that Beltron on the staff kind of brings more pressure, intended or not, because he is a guy who very easily could have been the manager 5 years ago if the Will Pond showed any stones when the pressure was coming down from Major League Baseball and Rob Manford on the Astros cheating scandal. But I think Beltron provides so much. I don’t know how much you guys have been paying attention to the postseason, the preliminary rounds of the postseason as I like to call it, but the Yankees do an incredible job of stealing signs. And I’m not saying that in accusatory of way because stealing signs is a part of baseball. The stealing signs aspect that’s not a part of baseball is when you’re using technology and you’re banging garbage. That’s not what I’m talking about. And it’s obvious because you can see like Aaron Judge is on second base and he’s signaling to Cody Bellinger, hey, watch out for the fast ball. Beltron was great at that and he talked openly about that prior to obviously the scandal in which things were taken up a notch. So even little things like that, his ability to to read pitchers, his ability to pick up on signs, which you would think is more difficult to do nowadays because of the fact that we’re using PitchCom, but it still can be done, especially locations. I think there’s a a baseball-like cue that Carlos Beltron brings you. As far as some of the other names we’re going to hear, like JPIA is a name that’s being mentioned and logically so. He is down at Triple A. He’s been there for a couple of years. He has experience, which means he has experience with some of the guys on the roster. I I’m going to make you this promise, and I apologize if it bo this bothers some Met fans. There’s no coaching hire that I’m going to crap on. Nor is there going to be a coaching hire outside of the Beltron Randolph idea that I’m going to celebrate because the truth is we don’t know what kind of impact these guys make. All I’ll say is, and this is a great simplistic line that Joe B used to use all the time, you better get it right. It’s a very simple line, but it’s so true. David Sterns is beginning his third off season running the New York Mets. Off season number one didn’t know what to expect. The guy was bowling 300 games. This past off season, pretty much everything he did did not work. He knows it. He’s admitted it. So, when it comes to building this coaching staff, you better get it right. You better get it right because if you don’t get it right and the Mets are struggling early in 2026, Carlos Mendoza is going to lose his job. And that’s a part of why, as unfair as this sounds, someone on this coaching staff, whoever you hire probably as your bench coach, it’s got to be a guy that you look at and say, “Hey, that guy may be the manager in the middle of June.” And that sounds harsh. It is, but that’s the reality because that’s the kind of year Carlos Mendoza is going to have in 2026. He’s going to be on the hot seat. Everyone should be. So, as this coaching staff is being built, keep an eye on that. the pitching coach hire is going to be fascinating uh because again they did have somebody who was here for a long time and for the most part was really really successful. So we’ll obviously follow this over the next few weeks and next few months as they build a coaching staff. I’m glad they’re getting a head start on it because come November it’s going to be about the more important thing which is acquiring players. Now, let me put a nice exclamation point on the Yankee Mets bets that me and Big Mac made prior to this season beginning. It’s one of our traditions here at the Rico Bronia as we’re getting ready for the season to start. We make predictions, we do kinds of bets, we do all sorts of stuff getting ready for the baseball season. And so this year, me and Big Mac, he does overnights on WFAN. We put together Yankees versus Mets bets. And I have the results here and they are fascinating. We made a grand total of eight bets. All right. Number one, Carlos Rodon versus David Peterson in wins. That didn’t go well for me. He actually doubled me. Carlos won 18 games. David won nine games. So that’s a point for the Yankees. Number two, this is a funny one. Innings pitched out of the bullpen and you want the number to be lower. You don’t want to win this bet. And it was Marcus Strowman versus Klay Holmes. And ironically enough, Marcus Strowman before he was DFAD never pitched out of the bullpen. And Klay Holmes didn’t pitch out of the bullpen until the very, very end of this season. He threw four innings out of the bullpen. So that’s a win for the Yankees. I’m down two nothing. Here’s my favorite bet. Aaron Judge home runs versus combined starts by Kodi Sena and Klay Holmes. The results, Aaron Judge at 53. Klay Holmes and Kodi Sena 53 starts. So we we actually finished in a tie with that one, which is nuts. 5353 home runs. Ben Rice versus Brett Batty. You know, both guys ended up having good years. Rice had a better year. ended up hitting 26 regular season home runs. Brett Batty 18. So, I’m down three nothing. It’s not looking pretty. Our next bet was on base percentage. Aaron Judge versus Juan Sodto. It’s crazy. Both guys led the league. Judge led baseball and Sodto led the National League, but it was still a very convincing victory for Aaron Judge. 457 to 396. So, as you can tell, not going well. Much like the much like the actual season, four nothing Yankees. I’m about to make a comeback, though. Saves. Edwin Diaz versus Devin Williams. Shockingly enough, the numbers are actually a lot closer than you would think considering Deon lost the closing job. Edwin Diaz ended up with 28 saves. Devin Williams 18. So, I won, but maybe not by as much as you would think. So, now we got four to one Yankees. All right, this is where we have to do a lot of math. Home runs by Sodto Alonszo Vientos. That number added up to 98 mainly because of Juan Sto and Pete Alonzo. And then stolen bases by Vulpi Dominguez and Jazz Chisum. That number ended up at 72. So a 9872 victory. That makes our score 4-2. Then we’ve got combined home runs. Paul Goldmid and Cody Bellinger. They got to 39 versus Mark Ventos and Brandon Nemo. We got to 42. So an edged out victory mainly because Goldie didn’t have power this year. That was really the problem. Vientos had a disappointing year but still almost doubled the amount of home runs by Paul Goldmid. 4239. So that makes it 4 to3. And our final bet unfortunately did not go my way. It was OPS by designated hitters. The Yankees 935, the Mets 742. And that’s kind of understandable. Like the Met number isn’t great by any stretch, but it’s not awful. It was that the Yankees were dhing Aaron Judge and John Carlos Stanton, who both ended up having good years. So, this shouldn’t be a surprise considering the Yankees are playing October baseball and we’re sitting here doing offseason RIOS, breaking down coaching staff changes and giving a Metscentric preview of the playoffs. That’s the status of where we are. But the Yankees did win in the Yankees versus Mets bet. So, I do want to congratulate Chris Big Mac McMonicle. Now, let me get to this locker room because when this season was spiraling, I think I made the prediction, I forget which day, we were doing Rico’s every day. I said, once this is over, there’s going to be a story, right? The story is going to come out probably in the Athletic, maybe somewhere else, in which we’re going to hear like what went wrong. And so, we got two really good stories. I think they’re both reading. one by Disha Totoar and the other one by the athletic. Um I apologize for my brain screwing up on the writers from the athletic article, but in the athletic and they both had articles really focusing on the Met Locker room and I’m going to read you quotes. I’m going to read you the I think what I think was the most interesting information, but let me give you a quick summary. The quick summary is unlike 2023 where it felt like oh the locker room was a problem even though I never fully believed it. It was just a team that went bad. There is no kind of answer on the Met struggles being connected to the locker room. So I want to start off with Disha’s stuff because there were really interesting direct quotes from Juan Sodto, Francisco Lindor, and Stling Marte concerning the dynamic. Here’s a little bit of Sodto talking about leadership and and his brand of leadership. I always want to help in any way I can. Definitely, I’m not the guy that’s going to be on you all the time, but definitely when you have a question or any thoughts that I can help with, I’ll be open to it. So that’s the kind of player I am. Ronnie Mauricio said, “Especially for me, a young player, we learn a lot from him. Just watching him every day, how he works, how he plays every day. I want to be like him. So I spend more time with him.” So I think what you see here is that some young players felt comfortable kind of picking the brain and learning from Juan Sto. One thing I’d heard about Juan, his time with the Yankees, his time with the Mets, even before that, is that he’s an incredibly hard worker. He busts his ass and treats his body like a temple and studies tape and is like a real student of the game, even upon getting this monster contract. Here’s what Edwin Diaz said about Juan Sto. As a teammate, we love him. He’s pushing everyone to be better because every time he’s doing such amazing things on the field as a player, you want to help him to win. Every time he hits a home run to take the lead as a pitcher, I’m fired up to get three outs to give him the chance to win. Here’s what Lindor said about Sodto. I think this is probably the most interesting thing. Uh, and it’s honest. I mean, you could tell based on what Lindor says. It’s a very honest assessment. And I’m curious how people are going to take it because the Lindor Sodto dynamic is fascinating. Uh our good loyal listener to the Rico, Dan, was sending me emails over the last few days showing pictures of the way Sodto would interact with his teammates and specifically Lindor. And there’s no question when you really evaluate it, there was a coldness between the two players that eventually as the season went on, if you follow it, we’d get a little bit warmer, but the sodto celebrations with Lindor wasn’t exactly the same celebrations he’d have with all his Yankee teammates. So, it’s easy to kind of read something into it. And I admit, I read something into the sto comments from earlier this season when he said, “Mart is the real leader. He’s the real deal.” almost felt like a shot at Lindor. Here’s what Lindor said about Sodto’s personality. He’s away from the world. It’s him, his family, his little group, and that’s it. He comes in and out. He shares moments with us, but he has said it multiple times. I’m quiet. I just want to come in, win, do my thing. That’s just who he is. He’s just in and out, in and out, in and out. And that’s perfectly fine. At the end of the day, not everyone needs to be a big personality. We all love him. We respect how he’s gone about it. He makes us better. He goes on to say this. I want everyone to digest that because seems like a very honest assessment and it’s very similar to everything I heard about Juan Sto with the Yankees, which is that he never was very close to any of his Yankee teammates, but that wasn’t a bad thing. No one disliked him. He was just not going to the bars with all his teammates. He wasn’t going to the restaurants with all his teammates. He was in his own world. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you want to make it a bad thing because the Mets had a bad year, you can. When he was with the Yankees, they went to the World Series, so clearly it wasn’t a bad thing. Lindor goes on, and I thought this was great because it was reflective of Lindor’s time here. He’s completely different than how I was. I tried to hug too much, and he has a good understanding of what he can hug and stay within that. He hasn’t changed once. So, he’s definitely ahead of where I was and he’s ahead of his age, too. And what Lindor was referring to was his first year here. And we all saw it like the difficulty of adjusting and especially the pressure that came with it. So, he was kind of comparing how Sodto was very businesslike and was able to overcome a lot of the loud noise that followed his slowish start. Here is something Stalling Marte was saying about Juan Stoodto and again this is all from Disha’s article which I thought was really very interesting and I advise everybody to read it. Disha Tozar who did a great job covering the Mets for many years and and wrote this piece about the locker room in which again I don’t think there’s any grand conclusion. I don’t think there’s a yep the room’s an issue. They need more leadership. It was more just interesting hearing how everyone describes each other and really how different the room is than last year. Not that different is bad. The only thing that was bad were the results. I mean, that that was the bad part. Even if it didn’t show up in Sodto’s numbers, getting acclimated to a new team carries its own weight. That goes the other way, too. For some teammates, Sodto’s business-like attitude could be intimidating. With Marte’s help, Sodto came out of his shell a little bit more. It’s possible the superstar just needs more time to get used to what he characterized as quote the Mets way. It’s my fourth different team in four years. So, I’ve been learning that things are going to happen organically. So said, I don’t have to push it. I don’t have to try. For me, the talks are going to come whenever you sit down with your teammates, go out for dinners and stuff like that. We’ve been doing that already this year and getting to getting to know each other a little bit more. But like I said, it will happen organically. You can’t try to make it happen. So I think what you sense here is that it’s not a fractured locker room. I don’t think that’s fair to say. It’s just it’s a very different dynamic in the locker room and I think Sodto’s adjustment in is more people getting used to the fact that he is a very to himself kind of guy. The athletic part that I thought was fascinating was trying to see all right what about the differences between the 24 room and the 25 room. So, I’ll read a little bit. This is from The Athletic, and it’s definitely worth the subscription. Among sources, a consensus emerged. The 2025 clubhouse was understandably different from the one in 2024, and it didn’t carry as much day-to-day energy. However, 2024 had an almost impossible clubhouse standard to match, and nobody viewed the clubhouse near the top of the team’s problems this season. Hold right there before we continue. That right there tells you the story. It’s different. It’s impossible to match that energy, but no one thinks the room is anywhere near towards the top. And David Sterns said as much. Now, David Sterns is in the room, but he’s not in the room all the time. And look, a part of your job as team president, team GM, is to try to understand what that locker room needs and what it doesn’t need. But it not being as electric as 24 doesn’t mean it’s bad. Anyhow, here’s a quote from Brandon NMO. We didn’t have OMG or a pop superstar on our team. We don’t need to try to make that happen. Huh. One player wondered if the team possessed the same drive that propelled it in 2024. If that want to existed at the same desperate level, after all, the group had proven a lot of longtime doubters wrong last season, would they be motivated quite the same way this time around? However, others saw a group working as hard as ever. Pete Alonzo, and this was from Sunday, playing with these guys every single day, there’s no question of heart or passion or want or desire or work ethic. You can have all those things and that doesn’t guarantee success. We had plenty of effort. We believe that Brandon NMO late summer, according to the athletics, said, “If somebody’s being lazy or not working, that a hard conversation needs to be had. But that’s not what I’m seeing here. Several Mets mentioned they missed the presence of energy guys, specifically Jesse Winker, Jose Siri who missed a bunch of months, Shawn Maniah, and Francisco Alvarez. When asked when asked if the chemistry was off, a veteran player said, I wish his name was attached. What veteran player are we talking about, by the way? But whatever. A veteran player said, I don’t know if that is the case. We have a lot of different personalities, but the guys are great. Everyone gets along really well. I don’t know. We have so many veterans that know how to do the job, handle their business, and address things and people that need to be addressed. We are not lacking leadership. So, you see this, and I take it at face value cuz look, players aren’t necessarily going to come out and just say, “Yeah, the room sucks. Yeah, we need some leadership.” But when a season does spiral like this, there is more comfort for a player to come out and say, “Yeah, it didn’t work. We have to change a lot of stuff.” You don’t get that from any of these two stories. And so it feels like team chemistry, while we like to talk about it and we like to try to figure it out, it doesn’t seem like it’s the biggest issue. I I think the concern that I have and a lot of us have is we look at this core specifically McNeel, NMO, Lindor, and Alonzo and unfortunately we see more failures than success. You know, 2024 was awesome and we were all pumped up about it, but we remember 2021 which was a collapse. A different kind of collapse, but a collapse. We see 2022, which was a wonderful regular season until it wasn’t. until collapse may be too strong, but in the biggest series of the year, they came up small. And even throughout August, they didn’t play their best baseball after that Dodger series in early September going into Labor Day. They didn’t play great in August. In September, they didn’t. And obviously, we know what happened against the Braves and against the Padres’s. They went down without a whimper. 2023 was just a disaster. Everything was set on fire. 2024 feels like the outlier. So, my initial feeling attacking this off season in terms of chemistry, locker room leadership is, and this may change because I’m giving it a lot of thought before we get to November and the real offseason begins. My gut is that yeah, you want leadership in this room. And I think when you’re adding veterans, maybe to fill out your bench, you look and say, “Hey, would it help to have that kind of veteran leader in that room, a JD Martinez like, but I don’t know if I’m building the roster to get better?” And I’m debating bringing Alonzo back or adding another slugger or going to get a third baseman or just improving the athleticism of this team. I the more I’ve read this and the more I’ve thought about it for now. I don’t think leadership has to be the number one thing they have to attack. I think it comes down to baseball players, good baseball players, players that make this team better. I know that’s simplistic. It feels simplistic, but I do know that there was that thought that is the room going to be an issue. And I’m not concerned about the Juan Sodto Francisco Lindor dynamic. I mean, this doesn’t feel like an adversarial relationship. It feels more like a they’re really different and they may not be best friends. And I remember I said this a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago, when talking about leadership, the 1986 Mets had two distinct leaders. Keith Hernandez was a leader and so is Gary Carter. And both guys couldn’t have been any more different. And in a lot of ways, not that Lindor and Sodto are like personalitywise to Keith and Gary, but they’re different. I mean, you hear it. Sodto is a more quiet to himself, come talk to me kind of leader, and Lindor is the smiling, happy, I’m going up to each team, hey, Pat, saying what’s going on kind of leader. And a room can use both guys. So, my attack going into this off seasonason is going to be it’s going to be roster. It’s going to be what makes this team better and the old baseball debates of, you know, should they sign Pete Alonzo? How many years should they go after Alex Bregman? Should they go after this guy, go after that guy? Now, one thing I will tell you, we have a long October and that kind of sucks. It sucks that we aren’t watching our baseball team play in October. October is going to be here on the Rico a very reflective month. Coming up next week, we’re going to grade every player who played for the Mets. We’re going to do offensive grades. We’re going to do the starting pitching grades. We’re going to do the relief pitching grades. We are going to really be reflective on the kinds of seasons that every single person had in 2025. We’ll also have award show where we hand out the good awards and the bad awards from the 2025 season. And in a couple of weeks, the geekiest Rico Bron of all time. I haven’t even told Hoff about this yet. Hoff’s going to be like, “Oh my god, the geekiest Rico Bron of all time.” We received an email from a loyal Rico listener who said, “Evan, off season, lot of time. Can we do a deep dive on 0 and 70?” And of course, that is the crazy stat. The Mets didn’t have any comeback wins, trailing after eight. So, we are going to have an entire episode dedicated to diving deep on every single one of those losses and if a comeback could have happened, why a comeback didn’t happen. Were they in position to make a comeback? Who failed as they were trying to make a comeback? It is going to be the deepest dive ever in 070. It’s all coming up on some Rico Bronz as time rolls on. But I do want to remind you that you could celebrate your highlights with Mio’s sparkling sake. A true crowd-pleaser. Light, bubbly, and easy to enjoy. Whether you’re at City Field or your favorite spot, ask for Mio Sparkling Sake by name. A new tradition served chilled, imported from Japan. The official sake of Rico Bron. Enjoy responsibly. Let’s get ready for the playoffs. And here’s what we’re going to do. A very Rico Bronacentric real baseball playoffs preview. If you are listening to this podcast, if you downloaded it Friday night, Saturday morning, Sunday, we are looking at the eight remaining teams in the Major League Baseball playoffs. I look at the wild card round. I felt this way when the Mets got knocked out against the Padres’s, when the Mets got knocked out against the Giants back in 2016. It’s as if you’re not really in the playoffs. So, we’re going to go through the players we hate, the players we like, and who as Met fans, based on my opinion, Hoff’s opinion, everyone’s opinion, who we should root for in these individual matchups. So, Pete, I want to play a game. I’m going to name to you each and every former Met that’s participating in the MLB playoffs and I want you to give me your quick emotion on that player as in f that guy. Ah, I don’t really care. Or, oh, I liked him. I’d like to root for him. And don’t think too hard about it because that’s the key to this game. You understand? Oh, trust me, I won’t think. I promise you that. And trust me, there’s going to be a few people where you’re going to be like, “That guy was on the Mets.” Of course. Well, they had a lot of turnover, especially in the bullpen. Are you ready? Give it to me, baby. Let’s start off with the Philadelphia Phillies. Harrison Bader, your thoughts. I I I’m rooting for him. I love him. I have nothing against Harrison Bader. Like Harrison Bader was a fine New York Met, but him performing for the Phillies with the hair flowing really pisses me off and it’s nothing against him. Like honestly, this is more about the Phillies and more about my anger at David Sterns for a letting him go, which I was actually okay with and b not acquiring him when they were desperate for a center fielder. So, I will be passionately rooting against Harrison Bader, but it isn’t personal. It’s more about the situation. Yeah, you’re you’re bitter. Yeah, well said. Number two, David Robertson. Pass. Completely agree. No, no care towards David Robertson. Yeah. Doesn’t doesn’t do anything for me anymore. I think of him more as a Yankee than I do a Met. I wanted him as a Met. Yes, we could have used him as a Met, but that that’s honestly if they brought David Robertson in and didn’t trade for Ryan Hley and they used David Robertson in the Ryan Hley situations and there’s two less blown saves, the Mets are in the playoffs and who knows what happens. Maybe maybe Nolan Mlan pulls a Cam Schliter. Who the hell knows? All right, the third Philly. Not sure he’ll even be on the roster, but I’ll mention him anyway. Taiwan Walker. Any emotions towards Taiwan Walker? Nah, I I I I don’t want to say hate, but let’s move on. Like again, don’t care. Don’t care. I agree. All right, so let’s move on to their opponent, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Anthony Bonda. No. Uh, nothing. Yeah, I’m not rooting for him at all. I So, I have to be totally honest. Anthony B has turned himself into like a really quality reliever, left-handed reliever for the Dodgers over the last two years. I completely forgot that he pitched seven and a third innings for the Mets in 2021. Yeah. So that’s one of those Mets you’re like, damn, I didn’t remember we had that guy. No, it was him and now I’m blanking on the other lefty that we had because one Drake Miller Lightite, the other Drake Corors light or something like that. I I’m blanking on it, but it was a few years ago. Oh, you’re thinking of Aaron Loop. Yes, it was Loop and Banda and they were both drinking after a post game and I’m like these guys are great. Can they win? Anthony Bond is a great example of you don’t know with relievers. You know, the guys on your team for five minutes, like probably a lot of the guys that were on the Mets this year on the Syracuse Shuffle or whatever you want to refer to them as, a year or two from now, they’re going to show up somewhere else and be a top reliever. Like crap happens. Uh the other Los Angeles Dodger, Michael Conforto. I am I am rooting against him so hard, dude, it’s not even funny. Yeah, I don’t have negative emotions towards Conorto. I mean, it it’s disappointing cuz I think we all hoped it would work out better, but he did give us some cool moments. The two home runs against the Royals in the World Series in one game. So, I don’t go nuts one way or the other. So far, the only guy that causes me emotion is Harrison Bader, your buddy. No, no offense to him. It’s more the Phillies and the Mets messing up. Uh, let’s look at the Brewers. The Brewers only have one former Met, Jose Canana. I’m pissed. I’m not rooting for him. I’m I’m not rooting against him either. I’m just pissed because again, somebody that should have been on the Mets this year. 100%. That’s more of a why didn’t we keep him? They could have used him, especially when they had some of the injuries in spring training. And this guy’s not a former Met, but do we have any emotions towards um Yeah. Well, no. I I was going to skip to the Cubs, Craig Councel, because we wanted him to manage the Mets. He left the Brewers, went to the Cubs. We thought we were going to get him. Or are we completely like, who gives a crap about Greg Council? No, I’m bitter towards him. He’s a jerk. Yeah, I moved on for I totally forgot about it already. In fact, I was forgetting like he existed. All right, here are your former Chicago Cubs or former Mets on the Chicago Cubs, I should say. Number one, the obvious one, Pet Cro Armstrong. Emotions towards PCA. I am rooting for him. I have a lot of emotions for him. I am hoping he does well, but it hurts what I see him do well. Yeah. I I’ll tell you why this one doesn’t hurt me anymore. I I think that it was so a past administration. The guy they got for him worked. This is like the Doyle Alexander John Smoltz trade in that Doyle Alexander pitched great for the Tigers. I mean, it worked. They It It did what they wanted it to do. I think the Tigers had success. They didn’t win a World Series, but they had success and Doyle Alexander put up these awesome numbers. The problem was the young pitcher they sent to Atlanta was John Smoltz. He puts together a Hall of Fame career. Obviously, I I don’t know if PCA is going to go to the Hall of Fame, but Javier Bayz was a good Met. And I think that’s something most of us forget because of the way the team collapsed and the fact that he was a part of the thumbs down stuff with Francisco Lindor. But Javier Bayz statistically probably had his best stretch of baseball with the New York Mets versus anyone else. So I’ve kind of grown to say it sucks. They could certainly use PCA. Imagine this Met team with that glove in center field and that bat. I mean, he feels almost like the final piece, but we’re talking about multiple general managers ago. So I maybe it’s just mentally healthy. I’m getting to a place to be mentally healthy where I’m not freaking out over something a guy three GMs ago did. Right. Right. But mental health is good, but the problem is that I’m still bitter because you say Jav Bayz in that stretch was good, but where’s Jav Bayz? Not on the bats. No, he’s actually We’re going to get to him in a few minutes. His name is about to be mentioned again. Uh, and the other former Chicago Cub is Justin Turner. I’ve always liked Justin Turner. He’s one of those guys where I I wasn’t mad at him for having success. I was mad at Sandy Alderson for non-tendering him a deal. I think because he partied too much or whatever stupid reason they gave. He’s clearly not the same player he was when he went to Los Angeles. But whenever I see Justin Turner, I don’t have any negative feelings. He’s one enough though. I could move on from that. Okay, let’s move over to the American League. Let’s start off with the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers are taking on the Seattle Mariners. Paul Seawald. Paul Seawald has now bounced around. Any emotions towards Paul Seawald? I do have emotions because again, when he was with the Mets, he was terrible. So, it’s like I I don’t want to see him succeed on another team. Maybe I’m just bitter. The Seaw wall thing is crazy because he isn’t unlike we mentioned Anthony Bond of the Dodgers. Anthony Bond pitched for the Mets for six minutes. He made like a handful of appearances through seven innings and it was like the Mets were just a pit stop on his train around Major League Baseball before it worked out. Paul Seawald was a guy we saw in four different seasons pitched for the New York Mets. Like we saw him a lot and you know I never really had much hope for him but you never know. First year in the major leagues made 55 appearances pitched to a four RA. It’s like all right maybe this guy can be a helpful reliever and it never worked here. And then all of a sudden he goes to Seattle and it’s like this guy’s a borderline all-star. And he goes to Arizona and he has some successful years and now he’s, you know, kind of bouncing around baseball. Not that he’s some kind of superstar, but he is one of those relievers that had success elsewhere, but we actually put in a lot of blood and sweat in watching him and that bothers me when that guy turns out to be good. Yeah, it was like he was a joke when Paul Seald came in. was one of those guys where I vividly hear Joe B going, “Get Paul Seawald off this team. I can’t watch this guy anymore.” No, you’re right. Uh Raphael Monttero is another guy. And we’re talking about the Detroit Tigers. These three guys we’re talking about are on Detroit. Raphael Montero, any emotions towards him? He still played baseball. [Laughter] Monttero is always going to be famous for being the prospect who was supposed to stay in the rotation and Deg Grom was going to go down and Deg Grom pitched so well in that major league debut against the Yankees. They kept him up. Monttero ended up back in the minors. It never worked out and you know eventually turned himself into a quality relief pitcher who is now just bouncing around Major League Baseball. But I think Monttero will actually live and met history because of the connection he has to Jacob Deg Gro. Yeah, I don’t even remember that happening. I I don’t remember I dude was I thought he was on Seattle still if anything. He was and he was on Houston. I mean he’s bounced around baseball. He was on the Astros I think relatively recently. The Braves too if I’m not mistaken. Uh and finally on Detroit Javier Bayz. I just gave you a positive review of Javier Bayz. Uh any emotions towards him as he suits it up for Detroit? Yeah, I I I’m totally anti-Javz. I don’t need to see him be victorious and that’s just and maybe that’s selfish of me, but again, he didn’t do enough for me and he kind of caused uh animosity towards the fans. So, f him. Yeah, I I’m over it. Like I I think he holds an interesting place in Met history because of the weirdness of that being a trade that sort of worked out and then looks all time bad. Like what a mix of being, hey, that kind of worked in 2021 into holy crap, the guy in the trade, the prospect who was not as highly thought of as Matthew Allen at the time is turning into a superstar. So, it’s a weird dynamic, but I I don’t hold any ill towards Bayz. Let’s get to the Yankees. They’ve got two former Mets. Paul Blackburn, I couldn’t believe he was on the wild card roster. Obviously, he didn’t get into a game, but Paul Blackburn, ah, yeah, he makes me want to vomit. Uh, no offense. I mean, he’s a nice guy probably, but just just the thought about Paul Blackburn back on the mound at all is ridiculous. So, I am definitely a lot of feels. Unfortunately, Paul Blackburn has blood on his hands, proverbial blood obviously, in that he pitched in the game that caused the Mets season to spiral. the June 13th game against Tampa Bay. He was the reliever that Mendy went to when he pulled Klay Holmes prematurely. So, Blackburn was very much instrumental in the Mets season beginning their spiral. Forget about that one. Yeah. All right. Ahmed Rousario. Ahmed R. In fact, both guys in the Lindor trade were about to mention Ahmed Rousario, who ended up getting a big hit for the New York Yankees in the third game of their winner take all series against the Boston Red Sox. Rousario is like I’ve almost forgotten about his time with the Mets. Now, he does have that moment that will live in history, the walk-off home run at Yankee Stadium against the Rolless Chapman, which I don’t think anyone could ever forget. was certainly fresh in my mind when I was watching the Yankee game the other night and Rousario was out of it and wasn’t facing a Raldis Chapman with the bases loaded and I’m thinking to myself, my god, that would have been quite a situation to have him face a Raldis Chapman. No bad emotions towards Rosario. He was a prospect that the Mets really cashed out on before it was official that he wasn’t going to become a star. To Rousario’s credit, he’s a serviceable major leager, and I’m going to mention him, you know, probably in a few more weeks when we talk about offseason additions and guys that could have a good role as a super utility player, someone who meshes left-handed pitching. He’s put together a solid major league career. No, no disrespect, but the Mets were able to move him before he was a failed prospect. So, no ill will towards Ahmed Rousario. We got three Toronto Blue Jays and they all offer very different kind of emotions. Number one, I’ll stick with the Rario trend with Andres Jimenez. He was the guy who probably it was most difficult to give up in the Francisco Lindor trade. I remember that being Joe’s biggest issue because Jimenez in 2020 was impressive and he was smart. He played with a very high baseball IQ. Uh, I was okay moving him mainly because Lindor was such a great player and I think sometimes we just have to stomach the fact that to get a great player you have to give up a lot and certainly looking back on it it’s a no-brainer. Jimenez had a great first year in Cleveland but since then he’s kind of more known for having a bloated contract. So, I think of him fondly because that trade will probably go down as one of the great trades the Mets ever made, trading Ahmed Rosario and Andres Jimenez to Cleveland for Francisco Lindor. But two other Blue Jays, Chris Basset. I I can’t get over two things about Chris Basset because he really had a good year in the one year he was in New York Met. But there were two things that leave a very sour taste in my mouth about Basset. Number one, the comments that he made about New York and we as fans and how we go so crazy. I forget the exact quote of what he said about New York fans, but I remember it. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Okay, let’s see if I could Google it real quick because I remember when it happened late in the season. It was like I don’t know. Uh he says positive things after he was gone. I’m trying to find it myself. I’m back. Sorry, by the way. It’s all right. It it’s so funny that we all think of the comments and we we get upset about it and then at the end of the day, you know, you don’t even remember what he said. It’s like I I’m mad by it. I have a bad taste in my mouth about it. Meanwhile, I don’t even remember what it was. This is what it is. This is This is the actual quote. It goes, “We lose two or three and holy crap, the world’s burning down.” So, it’s kind of like the I think of the up and downs of the Mets fans and how quick we are to uh to jump on a losing streak or something like that. Yeah. And he’s right, but shut up. Like, he’s right, but yeah, that’s who we are. That’s New York. We care. You know, you can look at it and say, “Boy, they freak out. The world is burning.” But it’s a passion. And would you rather have a fan base that cares or a fan base that barely pays attention? So, I I mostly have negative feelings. The other thing is the way he pitched in game three against the Padres’s. That was the other thing. Like he had a chance to save us. He had a chance to go toe-to-toe with Joe Musgrove and he gave up hits early and let the game slip away early and let Musgrove kind of put us away. So even though his first year here was a good year, his only year here was a good year. I think of that. I also think of that Friday night with the Blue Jays where his wife went into labor and he pitched against the Mets while like she was giving birth. got the job done and then left and got there in time to see the baby being born, which I think is really badass. Like, Basset was, “Hold on, she’s got time. Don’t worry, let me kick the Mets ass.” And all right, I’ll go. I I’ll go track her down. Uh, but Basset’s been hurt recently. He should be back to make a start in the Blue Jay Yankee series, but we’ll see. And then finally, this one is so easy. Max Scherzer. Feeling starts him off. Yeah, I I’m so anti- Sherzer at this point in time. I I kind of was hoping that he wouldn’t make the playoff roster, but he is. He’s there. I I I would like to see him get punked as quick as possible. Yeah, I don’t think any of us like Max Sherzer. I I think we think of him crapping the bed in every single big moment he was handed. Now, I think we’re going to be different in a lot of ways. our Metentric view on who to root for. A rootor’s guide to these series. We’ll start with the easy one. Obviously, if you’re a Met fan, you are rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays. That is very straightforward. Get the Yankees out. Nobody wants to hear Yankee fans rubbing in about the failures we had. So, get them out as soon as possible. I I know there are some Met fans, very few, who are, hey, I’m pro New York. Yay, New York. I think that’s few and far between. I think for the most part, misery loves company. So, even though there’s nothing that can change the fact the Yankees have had a better year than the Mets by a lot, like nothing’s going to change that, at least at least get them to Malibu or Cancun as quickly as possible. So, I think that’s very straightforward that even with Sherzer and Basset being on that team. Uh, that’s a clear let’s go Blue Jay spot, especially if you’re a Canadian, you’re definitely going that way. But I I gotta be honest with you, like I I because maybe it’s my household. I have to uh go Yankees. Like I I know this is going to hurt some people and I apologize, but I don’t hate the Yankees as much as I used to when I was younger. It’s more about the Yankee fans that I hate more than anything else. But like living in these I can say I hate Yankee fans, but then I live in the house with them. So it I I have to respect them a little bit. Uh so I kind of am pulling for them to do as well as possible. Hoff will blink three times now to show us that he has to say that, but really doesn’t believe any of what he just said. And that’s okay. And we we all understand. So, we’re all going to nod at you and say, “Okay, Pete, whatever you say, pal. The Detroit Seattle series I see this is where we’re going to veer off because I know a lot of people are going to say, “Well, I don’t care. I mean, whoever wins wins.” I for whatever reason, and this is a weird thing I have, the Tigers winning the World Series and their last championship was 1984 will kind of bother me. Like any team that has a streak longer than the Mets in terms of not winning a championship, them winning a World Series would bother me. And yet, for whatever reason, the Mariners, who have never been to a World Series, never been to one, never won one, they will bother me less. like a first championship like Texas a couple of years ago or in this case Seattle, it would just be, oh, cool. Okay, they won a title. But I admit that push comes to shove, Detroit, who won their last championship two years before the Mets would actually bother me. So I am rooting for the Mariners to win that series and the Mariners to win the American League. Like I look at those two division series and these aren’t predictions. These are wants. I will want Toronto to win. I will want Seattle to win and I will want the Mariners to go to their first World Series. That will bother me less than any of the other scenarios. See, I agree with you, but for two different reasons. A, I think the Detroit Tigers are phonies. I don’t I didn’t believe with them in them at all this year. They were a game away from pulling off a New York Mets and missing the playoffs. They didn’t do that. Uh, and also I always had a soft spot for Seattle. Like like I loved Kenri Jr. as a kid. Ichro Suzuki is one of my favorite players of all time. I just love the Seattle scene being a grunge kid. So like I always enjoyed I I don’t want to say I rooted for Seattle, but I always enjoyed the Seattle. So out of all my teams, they are definitely my favorite right now to uh be the AL representative. Yeah. No, I felt that same way in the ‘9s that I wanted the Mariners whenever they were playing Cleveland or the Yankees in postseason series. I always wanted them to advance and they are the almost World Series. Like in 2000 when we’re sitting there, you know, getting ready, it was Mariners Yankees. Yankees up 3-2, game six of the American League Championship series. And I’m still haunted by Michael K’s call. Get your tokens ready. When David Justice hit the home run. All right. On the National League side, the Dodger Philly thing. Let’s just attack this. To me, it’s easy. Like, I don’t like Otani, obviously. I don’t like the Dodgers. I don’t like anything about them, but they are clearly, in my opinion, the lesser of the two evils than the Philadelphia Phillies. I will have no issue holding my nose and rooting for Otani and the Dodgers to absolutely smoke the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s tough because I hate them so much. Like everybody like I just there’s nothing about the Dodgers I like. I hate how they get away with basically cheating. And I understand it’s not cheating, but to have one of the best players in baseball say, “You know what? I don’t need to get paid anytime soon. Defer my money. Go sign everybody else. It’s bull crap.” Like, it it is it’s a kick in the balls to every other team. So, I don’t want to see them be victorious. I want to see them get embarrassed, but I hate Philadelphia. So, um, nobody could win. I I am glad they’re facing each other. Like I I cuz I think them in an NLCS would just be hell cuz I know one team I really don’t like is going to be in the World Series. At least this series it makes me know someone’s getting eliminated. Like one of these bastards are getting knocked out. And the other reason why I go Dodgers over Phillies and it’s not that complicated is if somehow the Phillies get to the World Series and the Yankees get to the World Series. I remember the feeling of09. It was such a helpless feeling. Yankees Phillies is the worst case scenario when it comes to a World Series because like every time someone asks me who are you rooting for, it’s like I’m doing something awful by no matter what I say, I’m a bastard. No matter what my answer is, I’m an awful human being. If I say it’s the Phillies, oh my god, you’re rooting for Philly over New York. You’re such a loser. And if I say the Yankees, it’s like, how could you root for the you want the Yankees to win a world? Like, it is hell. There’s no good answer. And I remember 2009 and I was honest. I rooted for the Phillies. I didn’t like it. I didn’t feel good about it. And I’d argue rooting for the Phillies in09 was probably worse because remember who that team was. remember who that team was. They they they took our soul in seven and eight. This Philly team, as much as I don’t like them, they haven’t taken anything from us. I mean, we beat them in the playoffs last year and then this year, yes, they did sweep them in that four game series in Philly. And I I give them credit for that, but for the most part, we have fought them to almost an even kind of tooth and nail. So, rooting for Kyle Schwarber will be a hell of a lot easier than rooting for Jimmy Rollins. Ah, yeah. I got to root for the Dodgers. It’s not even not even close. I do like Bader out of all those guys we talked about, though. That’s my one guy. I know you do. The Brewer Cub series, I actually find myself rooting for the Brewers. And it goes back to something I said before about the Mariners. Like, the team that’s never been there doesn’t bother me. So, what I am rooting for ultimately is a Mariner Brewers World Series. And I understand that Rob Manfred may not like it. I understand that the ratings may not be very good, but there’ll be a little uh little angle to it. All right, you ready for the uh Brewer Mariner angle? Give me the angle. The Milwaukee Brewers originated as the Seattle Pilots. Ah, so it’s Seattle versus Seattle. Oo, yeah. You like that? That’s not gonna That’s not going to sell very much. Yeah, I don’t think it’s G, but Cal Raleigh will sell at least, right? Yes. So, that’s my hope in terms of this postseason. Uh, the ultimate that would make me happy sitting there in October is to watch a Mariner Brew World Series. What World Series would you like to see? I, you know, I’m not trying to like do the same thing, but yeah, like I told you before, Seattle’s the team that I I I’ve liked out of the AL. Like, I have the soft spot for them. And I don’t like the Cubs. I don’t like the Phillies or the Dodgers. So, there’s really no other choice, the Brewers. And it’s something about the Brewers that I here’s the only reason why I wouldn’t want them to win, but I have no other choice to to go back to the NL representative is because David Sterns came from there and they’re still successful. So maybe it wasn’t David Sterns. Yeah, that doesn’t affect me. I know that some Met fans may look at that as some kind of negative. He he turned that franchise around and deserves credit for that and left them in a very good place. And that’s how I would view it. I wouldn’t view it as David Sterns as an overrated bum. I mean, he helped turn the franchise around. And also, what he did in Milwaukee, good or bad, is now irrelevant. It’s about what you do here. And on the very next Rico Bron, which we will be posting and producing live for you at some point on Sunday. It’s our award show. And our award show last year was a lot of fun. We had a lot of laughs, a lot of smiles, a lot of great memories. It’s going to be different this year. We will name our Mets MVP. We will name our Mets Sai Young. We will name our Mets rookie of the year. surprise of the year, disappointment of the year, but we also have our negative moment of the year and we will hand out all the awards coming up on the newest edition of the Rico Bronia. And also next week is grades week starting on Wednesday in which we start to grade the starting pitchers, the bullpen, and the offense from this highly horrific 2025 season. So, we got a full slate of Rico Brillias in store for you and we’ll also be doing a lot of mailbags. So, any thoughts, questions, opinions, offseason plans, you could email us the [email protected] and we will certainly do our best to hear your voice throughout this offseason and throughout this review month of October where we do a lot of looking back and figuring out what went wrong with the 2025 New York Mets. We do appreciate you listening and downloading. Remember to subscribe to the Rico Bronia so you never miss an addition. When there’s breaking news, we will try to give you instant reactions. And at least twice a week, three times a week usually, you will get live and new Rico Bronas. So make sure you’re subscribed and ready to go. Thank you very much for listening and hanging out with us on another edition of the Rico. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Rico Brono podcast. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Make sure you download it now to keep it on you at all times.

On a Friday newsdump, the New York Mets decided to move on from many of the coaches under Carlos Mendoza. What’s the plan now? Plus, it’s a very special Rico centric playoff preview!

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