Mets Free Agent FRENZY | Latest Mets News & Rumors | Alonso, Diaz, Valdez, Schwarber, Bellinger Etc
get this party started. Now, I’m going to ask you guys straight up everybody and to my replay viewers, we will be officially beginning the show now, everybody. So, let’s go ahead and break down all the latest Mets land, the key takeaways from day one of MLB Winter meetings. And it begins with the following. Now, we were all very grateful to see the Mets go ahead and do something very special at 10:10 p.m. Eastern, December 8th of last year. What exactly was that, you might wonder? Oh, yeah. that was going ahead and signing Juan Sodto to a record-breaking $765 million contract across 15 years. And should the Mets opt into the final decade along the contract, an additional $4 million per year on top of the initial 51 million average annual value, making it to $55 million, then the Mets would have SOT lock down for those remaining years and get a total worth of that contract of $800 million. It was not only a groundbreaking deal, it was something that we were grateful to be a part of live in real time as it happened. But I’m here to tell you that if you have the expectation that the Mets are in fact going to make a splash of that significance or close to today, I think you’re going to come out disappointed in the end. And the reason why I say that is look at the direction as to how last offseason went versus the direction of how this offseason’s going. I’m just going to shove all my hair in my hat right now cuz it’s driving me up an effing wall. And that’s okay. We’re going to do it nice and easy like that. So, if you guys do not recall, last off seasonason went in the manner of the Mets being connected to Juan Sto from quite literally the beginning of the off seasonason. Like, we all knew the Mets were going to be in Sodto’s market, but it was abundantly clear that they were going to be heavily involved from the very beginning, which is why we covered an abundance of difference reports from the time of the offseason beginning for the Mets after their deep postseason run to then signing him, you know, a month or so after their run came to an end. In that process, we saw a lot of consistent reporting that the Mets were heavily involved and that this was a market that would pick up and that Scott Wars would get his top client to sign right in the beginning of winter meetings. All that held true held true in the end. And what’s held true to this point is that the Mets love Edwin Diaz. They want Edwin Diaz back and we’re going to talk more extensively about this, but the Mets still have their hard line in the sand on not really wanting to go beyond three years for Edwin. Edwin has been the more the market of five, but I’m here to tell you that’s a fallacy. Okay. Uh, this is what happens when you get relayed information, one, but two, when you connect the dots. Edwin Diaz is more than likely not going to get the same record-breaking contract that he had that we saw a couple years ago with the Mets after his groundbreaking 2022 season, winning Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year award. Fast forward three years later, of course, he won that award again for the Mets. He hit the market again, opted out, have a couple years left in his contract. We’re going to talk more about Diaz, but a couple things are true. One, I’ll be fairly surprised if Edwin signs tonight. And secondly, I’ll also be very surprised if he is not a New York Met by time that these winter meetings are done or close to. The reliever market is expected to pick up, and we’ll get into that more. But when you compare and contrast how last offseason went for the Mets and evaluating and going after players versus now, what is held true this time around is that while the Mets have been steadily these markets, the Mets are not going to act in any true form of desperation unless it’s truly needed. And right now there’s no reason for them to act desperate. They feel confident that they have some things in their control. The qualifying offer certainly helps him in the in the sense of bringing Edwin Diaz back having that attached to him. There’s a reluctance by the Dodgers to spend a certain amount of money this off seasonason unless they can trade away a contract like Tay Oscar Hernandez who they may be famously trying to part ways with in a similar fashion to the Mets trading Brandon NMO away for the sole purpose of having an outfield spot open and going after a big swing of one Cody Bellinger or Kyle Tucker. The jury is still out as to whether the Dodgers will do that or not, but as of now, the market is not at all shaped up like it was a year ago heading into night one of winter meetings. If that was the case, then I will tell you guys all in confidence that the Mets are absolutely going to go ahead and bring back Alonzo. They’re going to bring back Diaz. They’re going to sign Shore. They’re going to do all these fun things in the next 12 to 24 hours. And they may do some of those things. We of course have yet to find out exactly what they will do over the next couple days. But I just want to preface again that I think tonight is going to be far more about just understanding what these markets are currently shaping up to be. because I truly do believe that what’s happening right now of the winter meetings based in Orlando this year that I would have loved to attend but sadly is easier said than done at times when you of course got a lot of things going on at home you know you are a father you got kiddos to feed and you got to make sure that you’re present so I will be attending spring training next year but as a sacrifice I was not able to make winter meetings this time around hopefully I will next winter but all I’m trying to say is we will have a lot of breakdown in this one but I definitely want to preface once more that the type of moves that the Mets do may in fact surprise you. It might not be as clear-cut in the coming days that the Mets are going to go ahead and just land the biggest pieces. There’s a world where they may go ahead and land, you know, more maybe mid-level moves or or moves that surprise you in the sense of the Boston Red Sox just did a very interesting trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates for, you know, Aedo, who has a lot of upside as a pitcher that they’re trying to get creative with. The Mets strike me as a team that could go down a creative route along those lines should they wish as kind of a precursor to a bigger move still to happen this off season. So when we look at how the markets have shaped up for guys like Kyle Tucker, Pete Alonzo, Cody Bellinger, Kyle Schwarber, what do all these big batters have in common for the most part? They are not at all an established market to the same degree as what Juan Stos was leading into day one of winter meetings. So do I think that we will see moves happen over the next couple days? I absolutely do. And that was contradictory to what we saw Bob Nyangel of USA Today report this morning saying that he’s really not expecting anything to happen in the winter meetings from all that he’s heard in the buildup. And mind you, again, I have all the respect in the role to Bob. Nothing personal. He’s a friend on the platform. I’ve had him on plenty of times, but Bob, like everyone else, is not always right. And nor was he right as early as 48 hours ago thinking Zack Allen was signing with the Chicago Cubs. So, the point is, we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen in the coming days. But the Mets and David Sterns are absolutely involved in abundance of markets and we’re going to go ahead and break down everything that you need to know about it. So, uh, here comes the excuses. No, not at all. I’m just I’m just trying to give you guys an expectation. I’m not trying to steer anyone in the wrong direction, you know. So, please do not take that as excuses. It’s far from it. I’m just saying there’s a lot of uncertainty each year when we head into the winter meetings. And if you look at the track record since Steve Cohen became owner in these winter meetings, they’ve definitely fluctuated what happened. You know, a couple years ago, nothing happened at winter meetings at all. Then the next year, a lot of things happened. You know, last year was beyond eventful. The Mets slam dunk won the winter meetings last year. Can they go ahead and win it this time around? We’ll just have to wait and see. But rest rest assured they’re going to be involved in a lot. And I don’t know why I’m making you nervous. I’m just trying to speak common sense. That’s all I’m saying. This is not that I’ve been relayed any information or anything like that that fans should be worried about. I just don’t want fans to be upset if the Mets do not see make groundbreaking moves as soon as tonight. Why? Because as everything is looking at the moment, there is not a great belief that there will be anything crazy that happens in night of one. Night one. And a key factor as to why this is is because everyone’s getting settled. This was a night that everyone is first arriving in Orlando. Some people are flying completely cross cross country to make this happen and maybe are still just now just starting to show up. So there’s a great reality where most teams as things currently stand are just getting their feet wet. They’re just getting themselves established. They’re just getting comfortable as they’re entering those hotel rooms and they’re really just starting to mingle and start to figure out the negotiation process for certain top players that they have been targeting as well as teams that they have a heavy appetite to actually go ahead and um make a trade with. And I would love to see the Mets do trades of great significance over the couple next couple days. I think their assets are what they’re going to be able to flex potentially greater than even their financial flexibility this offseason because the Mets have more assets than they’ve ever had before. This is the best position the farm has ever been in in my honest opinion as a Mets fan. In my entire lifetime as a Mets fan, I’ve never seen the farm look as good, as comfortable, and as deep as it does now. So much so that even if the Mets go ahead and make a massive swing and land school in the end, it’s okay. You don’t have to lose sleep over it cuz even if they traded away four or five top prospects of this organization or just guys I have a lot of future belief with this team. You know it’s going to be okay cuz how deep the farm is currently. How much guys they still have on the up and up and how much I truly have confidence and David Sterns, Chris Gross, and Andy Green. What do those three have in common? David Sterns is the Mets president as we know. Andy Green of course has been our guy spearheading player development and we saw Chris Gross acquired two years ago to be our VP of scouting. These three have cultivated into a fantastic draft and player development process throughout the minor leagues each of the past two years. That’s why the Mets now have arguably the most coveted farm in Major League Baseball. That is also why currently the Mets have the number one ranked farm in baseball statistically when looking at their pitching prospects. So, not just guys, no MLAN, Jonah Tom, Brandon Sprro, but you think of Christian Scott coming back from reconstructive Tommy John surgery. You think of RJ Gordon, you think of Will Watson, you think of Jonathan Sanuchcci, you think of Jack Wigger, you think of again the laundry list of fantastic starting talent the Mets have on the farm. And that, in my opinion, is going to be the key assets that they can allocate elsewhere to make splashes of significance to help this club. Now, we have said this verbatim for a while, but the reason why I reiterate this tonight, everybody, is because obviously there are things I hear throughout the industry and obviously I would not be saying these things in confidence if I didn’t feel very comfortable and saying that no one should be surprised should the Mets make a trade of significance as soon as this week. Hopefully, it happens sooner than later. If it doesn’t happen till later on till December, that’s fine, too. Uh, this is again the blessing and the curse of an MLB offseason. It’s very entertaining. It’s very exciting. But without that hard deadline as to when you need to make moves by like what we saw a couple years ago of course when the Mets signed Max Scherzer when they tried to land Gossman they tried to land both of them at the time Gosman turned down a greater offer from the Mets to go to Toronto at the time mind you when they signed Marquetta when they signed Eduardo Escobar when they signed Stalia Barde on the same day that was electric but the reason why it was electric is because it was like MLB tree deadline where you had a hard deadline cuz then there was a lockout for a couple months in the offseason you know I don’t want a lockout to have a deadline the season. I just want a nice hard deadline to further push the needle on how much time teams have to negotiate and how long of time players have to really flex their leverage before they either hurt their markets or the other hand they absolutely dominate their markets and have a market so inflated that they get a contract twice as large as what they otherwise thought that they were getting. Some people didn’t think Juan Sto was going to get beyond say 600 million this past offseason and what does he do? gets a contract worth of north of 800 million in the process. So very excited to see how this is all going to shape up everybody. But let’s go ahead and let’s deep dive some key remarks that we have seen from SNY among others. And we’re going to get into everything on the news and rumor front that we know as of now. Okay, I’m just checking everybody. I’m getting relay information as we speak. Nothing that I can I I unfortunately cannot share this with you with with you, but it’s all good information. Let’s put it that way. Everything that I’ve been relayed over the past 48 hours has been encouraging on the front of the Mets. And needless to say, David Sterns is as busy, if not more busy, than what we have seen across presidents in Major League Baseball at the moment. Pass and bomb, can we stop with the fake news, please? My god. I love you, but too early for that. We got a whole winter meetings process before you guys can do that more where you’re going to catch me. I want Bros Media to crash out. I would too. that that mean that Kyle Shver signs with the Mets or elsewhere. That’d be fantastic. Not opposed to that happening. Uh but let’s go ahead here. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. F it. Let’s just go ahead and get right into the latest piece of news. Let’s start with the news, everybody. Let’s start with the news. And yes, I’m saying e it because news just happened. That’s why. Give me one second everybody. Okay. Or don’t load the way that I need you. It’s perfectly fine. There we go. Okay, here we go everybody. First, here’s Jeff Kent getting in the hall that we posted on X today at the award. Give me a follow if you guys have interest. Jeff Kent, of course, played 17 years and was one of the most consistent second baseman that Major League Baseball has ever seen. Uh, didn’t stay with the Mets as long as we otherwise should have kept him. But, nonetheless, shout out to Jeff Kent for finally getting the hall. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about tonight. What we’re here to talk about is the following. John Morosei, again, you guys could say he’s credible. You could say he’s the most uncredible guy in the in the game. To each their own. I understand all those respective opinions when you go ahead a couple years ago and say that show Otani is on a flight to Toronto and none of that was true naturally the credibility is never going to be the same unless you can rebound as good as John Haymon did going from arson judge to San Fran to breaking the news of Juan stood last off season I don’t think anyone gives a rats you know what about the John uh the John Haymon mishap with Judge since then right all right guys Frasier Frammer Valdez met with the San Francisco Giants officials at GM meetings last month and addition the New York Mets and Baltimore Royals as I mentioned earlier tonight. So, here’s what’s interesting about this report right away from John Morosei. Okay, there’s been contradiction already on the front of Framer Valdez. You want to know why? John Morose saying that the Mets supposedly met with Framer Valdez at the winter meetings. I don’t think that’s entirely true. And I think he honestly just assumed that they did because the Mets are one of the top teams believed to be in Valdez’s market. But what if I told you that that does appear to be more of a fallacy? Not to say that the Mets can’t sign Valdez, but the belief that the Mets actually had a conversation with him at the winter meetings isn’t exactly true. Reporting came out from SNY among others that the Mets did in fact not meet with Fred Valdez at this year’s GM meetings. So why is John going ahead and saying that they did? I think that he’s just connecting the dots and truthfully doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And I don’t mean that rudely to him. I mean that honestly. Again, we saw the reporting altogether. I don’t know if you guys saw it. I saw it. I’ll actually go ahead and pull it up for you guys right now just just to confirm, you know, and just to make sure that there’s no misunderstanding here. Let me go ahead and pull up exactly this. But I’m I’m very confident actually that the Mets did not meet with Rammer Valdez at the GM meetings. Again, they’re in his market right now. I know they like him quite a bit, but let’s go ahead. Mets did not meet Rammer Valdez. Hold on everybody. I’m trying to find it. I want to show you guys this article so I know I’m not going crazy. And the audio if it’s an echo, it’s just because of the fact that I’m putting my echo down for a sec. Um my my mic down for a second. That’s all that is. Here we go. I’m not going crazy. Okay, so here we go, guys. Take a look at this article with me. This is from um this is from SI covering the New York Mets. Shout out my guy Pat Regazo. But this was initially reaffirmed from Annie Martino Vest and Y. As you guys can see here, this goes back to November 20th of this year. Right here, everybody. Peri Martino, the Mets were not among teams that met with Fram Valdez at the GM meetings. I’m gonna go ahead and post this because Mosi is saying um only said that because nothing was going on. Exactly. I know. Hold on. All right, I just want to correct that because that kind of pisses me off. I just I get so tired of when I see contradiction like this from different people of levels of credibility here in the media space. You’ll have literally one person say one thing, then one person say the next. So stream could use some music. Maybe tomorrow we’ll do music. We used to do music back in the day, but we don’t need to do them tonight. Let’s see. Holy crap, we just got conferred on Miley Deal yet. Not not a chance. Come on. What are we doing here? Bobby G, my guy. Happy to have you in the chat. I appreciate that. But again, everybody, we are just kind of checking up on the Fremir Valdez talk right now. As we saw, John Marosi initially stated that the San Francisco Giants had met with Mr. Firm Valdez at this year’s GM meetings a month ago and that supposedly the Mets and the Orioles were among those teams as well. But I’m just here to correct that John is in fact wrong. So again, this does not mean this does not necessarily mean and here’s the thing guys, you guys aren’t going to like this. Some people already say in my comments, “Oh, you mean Andy Misreport?” No, I I I actually disagree. I will take Andy Martino every single day of the week when it comes to credibility covering the Mets over John Morose. With all due respect to John Morosce, John is not a newsbreaker. Look at his track record. John is not at all notorious for breaking any true news of significance across Major League Baseball over the years. few and far in between. You know, a squirrel finds a nut, of course, but again, it isn’t going to necessarily happen often for his case. And he’s actually paid to solely have industry sources constantly of the Mets and the Yankees. While I certainly do not agree with Andy on everything, far from it, I will absolutely go to defense there because I do know that he is connected, far more connected than John when it comes to strictly the New York Mets, the New York Yankees, New York baseball coverage. So, that’s what I have to say about that. Now, let’s talk a little bit more on Frammy Valdez because I think that this is a perfect opener for tonight’s show because there’s been a lot of talk, a lot of rumblings going on with Valdez. I’m someone who’s had a lot of mixed emotions regarding Valdez as to if I believe he’s a viable fit for this New York Mets team or not. There’s a part of me that says he absolutely is, and there’s another part of me that says he absolutely isn’t. Uh but what I’ve come to the conclusion is that at the right price, say four, five years, Framer Valdez is a fantastic option for the New York Mets. Now, if we get pushing north of seven, I say I got you a bridge to sell you. Well, that is not happening. But this is what I’m trying to reiterate. Valdez at the right price quite literally might be one of the biggest pickups undoubtedly that the Mets make this off season. And that really is not an exaggeration when you understand how good Frammer is, how great his track record is, and how little certainty there is in this free agent market. You know, the Mets need certainty. Something they’re very adamant about adding this off seasonason is guys that can give them quality innings, meaning starters that can go out there with ace caliber upside, give them six to seven innings every fourth to fifth turn out there and go ahead and dominate in doing so. And the common consensus that we have seen from Jeff Pass of ESPN among many others in the industry since the offseason has began is that the Mets are a perfect fit for Valdez and that the expectation is that if the Valdez does not say sign with it seemed like the Baltimore Orioles that it is in fact going in in fact be the New York Mets. And if we’re comparing the Orioles and the Mets as to who’s going to have more of a willingness to spend, I mean, do we really need to have this conversation? As long as the Mets actually like Valdez are in his market, I know and confidence that they are. There’s more than I know that I could go ahead and tell you guys right now, but I know that they like Valdez a lot. And I know that so much so that I would be genuinely surprised if Valdez is not a New York Met or a Baltimore Orio or a San Francisco Giant. I do believe it’ll be one of those three teams. And I think it’s more inclined to be a team that has both orange in their uniform and white. And I’m being a smart Alec by saying that because all the following players I just broke down have those to very degrees in their jerseys. So Valadz, let’s talk more about him and let’s talk about the pros and then we’ll get to the cons. And you guys, of course, let me know in the live chat and in real time if you guys are for or against Frammier and then of course once we’re done breaking him down, I’ll tell you guys a little bit more as to what I know the Mets are looking for with someone like him. What’s most appealing for the Mets for someone like Frammer Valdez? It starts with the following everybody. Valdez, as we know, is entering his age 32 season. So, naturally, there’s a bit of an aster to go after starters that have qualifying offers attached to them, where you have to give up draft pick and draft pick compensation for top uh top free agents available like this. But, it’s one thing to give up these picks for any player. It’s another when you’re going after the best ace available in the free agent market. And that truly is what Frederick Valdez is on paper right now. You can’t really suggest otherwise. I mean, with all the respect in the role of Dylan CE, Dylan CE is not as good of a starter as Frederick Valdez, nor has he stayed as consistent as one. Valdez in this past season, 31 starts, just under 200 innings, a 3.6 RA, a 3.7 expected year, a 3.3 fifth, a 3.6 SIR, a 1.2 whip, 187 strikeouts, just under a 9K per nine, and a 3.2 walks per nine, a four season that he has steadily been each of the past four years or so. Valdez is a workhorse. He is someone who has consistently given north of 200 innings each of the past three plus seasons. He has went into so many deep playoff runs for the Houston Astros. He has been their stopper. He has been their ace time and time again that we have seen. He has been a man with no nos on his resume. He has been a man with dominance at the most elite level getting all the way to the World Series, winning that championship in six games against the Philadelphia Phillies a couple years ago. Valdez is the epitome of what it means to truly be a well-rounded ace in today’s game who’s given a lot to a very good top contending team at least over the past half decade there in Houston. Now, why do the Astros not want to bring Valdis back and likely what he’s seeking? Well, the Astros have a little bit of a limited payroll. They don’t just have the free ability to spend to the significance of the New York Mets. And if you think about the Astros construction of a roster, they heavily were invested on player development and drafting. And who had their hands on all that over the great success that the Asters had, cheating scandal or not? And of course was Chris Gross who’s now the Mets head VP of amateur scouting. So that’s great news to see that we have seen over the past couple years. But in the process, the Astros have maximized their core ability from their great drafting and of course their international scouting. They have done a better job than most in baseball, especially in the American League when shorting out top prospects to hit the major league level and impact them right away. And in doing so, we’ve seen guys like Frammer Valdez and many others thrive in said rotation over the years. But the Astros do not have an appetite to bring Framer Fmer back at say north of 5 years at least of however much millions it’s going to be. Say anywhere from 150 to 200 plus million dollars. They don’t really want to go there. But the New York Mets have an appetite to go there. And the New York Mets, I can tell you in confidence, love Framier Valdez. Think that he is one of, if not the best fit for them in this year’s market. And truthfully, I think that the Mets will find themselves putting more effort into Land Valdez than say the others and a Tatsuo Ei or a Michael Kane. I of course could be wrong. The Mets may land multiple players for all we know in the free agent market of great star status on the pitching front. But when you look at the totem pole or the laundry list rather of the current free agent starters available, it sour pretty fast. You have Framer Valdez. You have Zack Allen who’s coming off of a wishy-washy walk here for Arizona. East Coast native from New Jersey. You also have Tatsu Emai who apparently has some of the best upside in this free agent class. Only have the young age of 27, but a lot of uncertainty too. Someone coming over from Japan in the prom baseball league. You think of Michael Kane a year ago is looking like one of the best pickups that we have seen in all the National League. part of that Wan Sodto trade that had Sodto landing as a Bronx Bomber for a simple one and done season. Just a nice little pit stop to get his feet wet before he made it clear he wants to be in New York long term as a New York Met obviously. You look at the laundry list of starters available out there. It really does drop off fairly quick. And then you look at track records. How many of the starters out there have the success that we have seen Frammer Valdez have, have the playoff track record that Valdez has had, and also have has the innings that Valdez has had. And the simple answer to that is no one out there has it. So if the Mets are determined, if they are stubborn on the notion that they have to land the best starter in this year’s market at a price that’ll hopefully not get to seven years, look no further than the man that we’re talking about right now in Frederick Valdez. I definitely want to hear from you guys and if you’re for or against Valdez. Again, I think the trade market has a lot for this Mets team, but I do not believe the Mets are honestly in a position where they’re pigeonheld to only acquiring one starter in either of the trade or free for agent market. I will be genuinely surprised if the Mets begin spring training in 2026. And I’ll be there right at the beginning of spring training. So, I hope to see you Mets fans there. It’s going to be a lot of fun to cover as it always is in Port St. Lucy. But the point stands out of everyone available, there’s no one that’s a more surefire guaranteed thing than Valdez. And the Mets have all the assets and then some to make a trade for a quality starter happen all while still going after a key starter in the Fian market. And we will get into that in regards to John, pardon me, John Maros’s talking point on Pete Alonzo. All he’s saying is more common knowledge of what we know. We’ll get into that. But I definitely want a simple spam in the live chat from all you guys watching live on replay. Firm Valdez, the Mets are just one of reportedly like three teams in his market. the Mets are the best position team to land him with the exception of the Giants depending on how desperate they show interest here. But do you believe the New York Mets are going to land Fram Valdez in the end? Give me a simple yes or a no in the live chat and a why. If you’re asking for my personal opinion, I’m actually going to be surprised at this point if Framer is not a New York Met. I think he is a New York Met. I think the Mets are already deep in discussions with him. And this is more speculation than is what has been relayed to me. I will be surprised genuinely if primary Valdez is not repping a Mets uniform potentially on opening day for 2026. And if it is on opening day, hopefully that’s because Turk Scobble’s towing the rubber on opening day. You know, let’s get a little crazy here. But definitely want to know your opinions on all that. Everybody give me simple yeses and nos. And if you don’t like the idea, let me know why. I do not disagree with any fan on the planet at all that says, “Listen, I like Valdez, but I don’t want him on the years at all.” If you don’t want Valdez longterm, I don’t blame you. I fall in that category. But if you get Valadez on anywhere from, say, three to five years, we’re cooking. We are absolutely cooking. At worst, if there’s a six-year option, you’re worried about that when you got to worry about that. The Mets can get out of Brandon Nemo’s contract with 5 years left when his his defense is severely regressed. I feel fairly confident that they could get out the final year or so of Valdez if they really were desperate to do so. So now let’s go ahead and from talking about FM Valdez, let’s go ahead and talk about some other key players in this one. Everybody, let me just go ahead and double check what we have here. Uh What I don’t understand for the people saying to me that they believe Andy misreported because he reported from two weeks ago. Why would you think, just genuine question, why would you think that Andy’s the one who misreported when he’s the one who reported shortly after the GM meetings but not John who’s trying to report on this like weeks, multiple weeks after the fact. It does not add up to me at all. at all. So, I I respectfully disagree. I not that I want to take sides with this one, but I I’m taking sides. And I do think John Morose is in the minority. Why? Because as much as you guys can say that Andy has fluctuated with his credibility over the years, he has still been so much more on the nose than John Morose has ever been in at the major league level when looking at coverage. And that is not an exaggeration. If you follow the off seasonasons the way that I have as someone who literally covers the Mets for a living since the off season of 2020 entering 2021, I again can tell you in confidence who’s been more right than Ron. Moros has been far more wrong than Andy Martino in comparison cuz Annie doesn’t put out there as often that oh a play the Mets were involved in this market and then that was ultimately not true in the end. What Annie tends to get wrong is that he always throws cold water on things even when things aren’t nearly as down as it’s made out to believe. And I don’t know if that’s because he’s relayed information to try to calm talks down for the sake of having not things get too spicy right away and have them have more longevity or just because he was not actually connected properly on a certain report. You know, I think of obviously Yoshinoamamoto sweep stakes and he didn’t think the Mets stood any chance. He thought the Mets were a far cry from really being involved. He thought the Yankees were the team the whole way and he couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The Mets were of course one of the top dogs for Yamamoto. They were used like a puppet sadly for Yamamoto to match the offer that the Mets gave $325 million across a decade long deal and give that to the Dodgers. The Dodgers only exception that deal that was a little different even though I think the Mets would have went there as an option after the sixth season which is something the Dodgers like never do. So that was a big deal at the time. But the Yankees were third in the bidding that year. They didn’t even go beyond 300 million for Yamamoto. And yeah, we had Andy every step of the way telling you how. Oh, the Yankees put aside number 18 so that way Yoshobo Yamamoto can get his ace number that they so heavily covet there in the Pro Baseball League. Oh, the Yanks have had Yamamoto circled on their radar for years upon years on end. Oh, they will surely land the race. And no, what did they get a nice slice of humble pie? How believe it or not, you can’t move on the margins. You can’t move lateral in an offseason when you have guys like Steve Cohen, Mr. Freriedman and everyone else involved in Major League Baseball that are going out there to spend the big bucks. So now go let’s go ahead everybody and let’s continue our conversation. We got a lot more players and a lot more things to break down in this one. And let’s go ahead and see what is the next thing that I want to share. Speaking of Andy, let’s actually go ahead and play some remarks from Andy Martino today than I definitely want to know your opinions on if you agree or disagree as to what he had to say. There are some things I agree with with Andy and other things I I disagree with, but not not to a heavy degree. I will expand as to why that is here in just a moment. Everybody, let’s listen in and listen together. What is the the balance that he is willing to go of trading for that top end starter if he’s available without necessarily giving up the type of prospects that would take? Where does he fall in that? That to me, I don’t know the answer to that, but that to me is where it’s the most interesting. I don’t know the answer to that either at the end of the day, Steve. But my sense here from covering this off seasonason so far is that the Mets do understand that you have to give to get. And whether it’s a Sprro or a Tong I I think they’re not eager to move any of these guys, but they know that that might be necessary. I would only put Nolan McClean, that’s what I sense, in a different category where it’s like that would have to be like Paul Sches or Walter Johnson or somebody like that. But you’re not trading Nolan McClean. Otherwise, I think they understand they got to talk about guys. Hey, make sure we tell the fans. Walter Johnson is not available. He’s off the trade market at this point. He’s just as available as skins, unfortunately for the fence. Uh, you don’t have to give up anybody though if you sign a free agent. So, what about the free agency market? Yeah. Well, I don’t think they’re going to I I don’t know if Sterns is ever going to shop at the high high end of the free agency market, Steve, for the reason that you just stated. He believes in developing those guys and then signing them maybe to a first gen. This is where Andy is just doing his best to combat the scenarios where the Mets don’t do anything. He doesn’t believe that there’s ever an ever a world where he ever signs the top free agents in the market from the starters. I mean like it’s a Andy, are you forgetting the Yamamoto sweep stakes just two years ago? Do do I need to remind you? Maybe you forgot because you were Ron most the entire process and you’re reporting with it which again see and I say wrong in the sense of completely thinking the Mets were out of it and when they most certainly weren’t for a good stretch of time. Um I find that remark very fascinating because that’s the farthest thing from the truth. That’s completely contra um that’s a complete contradiction to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reporting that he fully anticipates to Mets to sign a top starter in this year’s market because David Sterns is going to deviate away from how he’s previously operated. Why? Because Sterns just watched in real time how operating on the margins this past year will get you absolutely nowhere. You will fail miserably. And the Mets did exactly that by having the worst established rotation from mid June on this year. So I don’t trust Andy’s reporting. There are things I agree and disagree with him on. Yes, you have to understand there are tears to this. John Morose is towards the bottom of the totem pole for me when it comes to credibility in this current space. And that’s not all a personal slight to him, but he has not proven it. and the track record speaks for itself. And he has more things that he has proven over the years, specifically on the front on covering the Mets because he’s literally hired to be in this industry solely to cover the Mets and the Yankees. There’s a difference between that and someone who has Major League Baseball coverage as a whole and is more so of a talking head than he is necessarily a true insider when he’s sharing his opinion every now and then on MLB Network when they’re asking for Jon’s latest takes. Now, if John if it comes out that Jon is in fact accurate on the reporting of Fremer Valdez and Martino is wrong, then I have no problem going ahead and correcting myself for thinking that and he was right for a change. But I do think again between the two and he was more on the nose than the other one and then we’ll get into more of that. Not even that I’m feisty. It just like there’s so many games and there’s so many things that go behind the scenes each and every offseason that you guys have no clue about. Like literally at all. And Billy, I love the fact that you love the content. Thank you so much for that. love you too. You guys just got to understand there’s a lot of contradiction that happens in offseason reporting and there’s a lot of things that are relayed purposely for the sense of to have a reaction of a contradiction of a report from someone else. I know that may seem silly, but there’s a game that is played by many teams, many agents, and many people in the media. There are agendas that are made. I’m not saying that everyone has one, but there are them to a degree because they’re literally paid to do exactly that. Now, let’s go ahead and listen in more from Andy here. Generation extension rather than the second generation free agent contract. Um, I I still do think that they could fill rotation spots with free agents. A guy like Mel Kelly, a guy like Ranger Suarez, a little higher end, but he doesn’t have that VO that makes them in maybe a one. Uh, but they they could be in the market for guys for two, three, four spots on in in free agency. I could see that. Gallon, Kelly, guys that are are have upside and give you innings. All right, so quick quick refute here. Do the Mets have an appetite to give up draft pick compensation and a draft pick for Zack Allen and this year’s free agent market jury still out. Do the Mets have an appetite to do that for a Mel Kelly who’s been on record, and I’m not even joking. This is according to, if I’m not mistaken, um, Adam Adavino, fitting coming from Adam, that Mel Kelly hates New York. not a fan of it. And that holds true would make sense as to why Kelly will not be New York Met. And for those that are unaware, the New York Mets heavily targeted Mel Kelly at the traded line this year. The only reason why the Mets were not able to land Mel Kelly wasn’t because of a lack of effort, what they were willing to give up assetwise, as it was far more in Kelly’s lack of appetite to want to play in the New York market. Mel Kelly reeks of a Ryan Hley type situation is what we have here. So, no, I do not believe the Mets will sign Melo Kelly. He is absolutely a profile that would thrive in this rotation. I would love Kelly for the sense of his commitment to innings, his ability to be a bulldog, as ability to be a true veteran in the heart of a rotation. I think Mel Kelly from a player profile is very appealing. The problem is who he is as an actual individual, his personality does not coincide from everything that we know at this point that he would handle New York and the market well. So until that actually happens, I’m not believing it. Zack Allen is an East Coast native, so he’s more of a fascinating circumstance cuz I do see the upside with Gallon. I don’t think Gallon would be a terrible pickup at all. But is Gallon the kind of starter that the Mets would have more of an appetite to sign in this year’s market instead of some others just for the sense of, you know, you’re getting innings? Possibly. Possibly. I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but I don’t know how likely that is. I really don’t. And I I would still venture I would still venture to guess that a Frammer Valdez pickup is still more likely than a Zack Allen until we find out that say Valdez signs with the Giants or the Orioles. And should that be the case, that’s fine as well. Not losing sleep over it, but it will slightly surprise me just from everything that I’ve heard to this point in the industry. But as anything else goes, until it’s officially pen to paper and you’re finally done and have everything set for that signing, anything and everything can happen. I.e. Carlos Koreah beating a San Francisco Giant, a New York Met, and a Minnesota Twin all in the same offseason. Now, let’s go ahead and break down more on this one from what Mr. Eddie Martino had a state here for SNY and is the following on Edwin Diaz. But if Diaz ultimately does get that fourth or fifth year deal somewhere else, where do the Mets go? Hey, they’re talking to Robert Suarez and Pete Fairbanks. And as I was saying before to your first question, Steve, they’re engaged in the top of the relief market. So they could go there, but for the same reasons of uh David Stern’s rationality and desire for deals that make sense, it’s not like a sure thing it’s going to be one of those guys either depending on where those markets go. Uh they’re in pretty good shape in the back end of the bullpen right now. They’ve signed Williams and Williams. Brooksley who was so dominant coming back from Tommy John last year. AJ Merch who’s expected back. That’s a great place to be right now. And they’re going to add somebody else. Might be one of those guys I mentioned might be Edwin. uh they are an organization also that has an increasing amount of confidence in itself to find undervalued assets, use their pitching resources to turn them into uh you know star players. So it’s not it could be a star, it could be a former all-star, but it could people who we might not target at the beginning of the year as like a big name and the Mets could turn someone into a big name. So a lot of different ways they could still go here. Yeah. So, I don’t really think Gandandy said anything inherently wrong there. And here’s why. The Mets are very confident in their ability to turn out some great reliever talent next year. And they have a lot of reasons to feel that way. Mainly because of the guys that we have right knock the door to impact the bigs as soon as next season. Who you might wonder that that will be? It will be guys like Dylan Ross. It’ll be guys like Ryan Lambert. It could be guys like Douglas or Lana if he’s not picked up in the rule five draft this year and actually looks good after say his first month or so there. in Syracuse. It could be if he’s in the organization and can be impactful because he’s dealt with ailment at Dell Nunees again. It could be abundance of many other guys the Mets have in a farm. I I can tell you someone who had the privilege of covering the farm every single week for the first time on Warden this season that the Mets have a lot more talent in the farm than you think. That can impact them right away as potentially high upside relievers. But are the Mets going to operate in a fashion this off seasonason where they’re dependent on that uncertainty do become uncertainty? Not a chance in hell. So that’s where Eddie misses the mark yet again here. But he’s just relaying the abundance of options the Mets have should Edwin Diaz not return. Now he did first speak about two key notable names that being Robert Suarez and Pete Fairbanks. If you guys have been followers on the platform, you should you should not at all be surprised to hear those names as we have broken them down extensively. You know, Fairbanks I I see plenty upside with. He’s coming off of a very good season with the Tampa Bay Rays. Yet again, his caper nine has fallen off a cliff each of the past couple of seasons. Used to be a guy that was well above a 10k per nine. Now he’s sitting more north of the 9k per nine to still respectable just over 2 and a half walks per nine. But the problem with Pete Fairbanks and the main reason why I want nothing to do with him truthfully is that Fairbanks suffers from a disorder or a syndrome, one of the two. And I apologize that I don’t know the term off the top of my head right now, but he has an ailment which basically means that anytime that he pitches in cold climate, cold weather, which is what he would have to do with the Mets in the first couple months of the year and deep in October should the Mets have deep playoff runs, the most pivotal time of the year for the Mets, mind you. Pier Fairbanks, Pete Fairbanks gets numbness in his fingertips. Why is that a problem? He’s a pitcher. So when you do not have proper pitch grips because your fingers are numb because you feel like you got icicles for fingers, you’re going to have a problem. So again, do I like Pete Fairbanks? Of course I do. But do I think he is at all logical fit for the Mets after they already brought in Devin Williams? No, I do not. I think it would be counterintuitive for the Mets to bring in someone like Fairbanks given his continued drop off in his Capern. Not that you need to be dominating the strike zone with Ker9 to have success. That is not true at all. Tyler Rogers is a great example as to why that is not the case. Diaz ultimately does get that four. Okay, just play when I don’t ask. The hell was that? My god. So, point stands. I like Fairbanks. He’s not a guy that I think the Mets need to land. If they do land him, I’ll be cautiously optimistic as to what his upside is. You’re banking then on Devin Williams to be a star closer in New York for the New York Mets and you’re banking on Fairbanks to keep his fingertips intact as your setup man throughout a good chunk of the season. I don’t know how realistic that is truthfully. So Jury’s still out on Fairbanks. Now when we talk about the other here because he didn’t talk about just Fairbanks, he also talked about Robert Suarez. Well, Robert Suarez throws gas. He has been consistent for the Padres’s coming over from the MPB if I’m not mistaken a couple years ago. Lot to like about him. Let’s see. Was it Renard’s disease or Renod’s disease? One of the two. Regardless, thank you so much Met Fanatic for relaying the chat. I appreciate that. Robert Suarez is very appealing. He throws gas. He has a very respectable north of a 10 strikeout per nine to a two uh two walks per nine. Very consistent, one of the more dominant closers in the National League that we’ve seen each of the past couple years. The problem that I have with Robert Suarez is Robert Suarez is an Edwin Diaz. He’s entering his age 35 season, isn’t getting any younger, and while I’m sure Suarez will have plenty of success next season, and he did eat roughly 70 innings this past year. Not a bad thing at all. I don’t want a consolation prize when Edwin Diaz is out there. You want to know why? Because if Edwin Diaz is not returning the New York Mets, where in God’s name do you think he’s going? He’s going to a top contender not named the New York Mets. So any move that is not bringing Edwin Diaz back is the Ron move. And I will put my foot down on that. Unless we find out that Edwin gets like an absurd seven-year contract somewhere that no one could even fathom right now. There is not a chance in hell that it makes logical sense to allow Edwin Diaz to walk to have a Robert Suarez at Pete Fairbanks or what have you be the replacement because we heard how Andy stated how the Mets are in kind of a comfortable position right now with their bullpen. They’re not comfortable at all. Are you effing kidding me? one injury to one of Devin Williams, Brooks Reley, AJ Mentor Saints currently stand there cooked. AJ Mentor’s velocity has significantly dropped the past two seasons due to injury. If that continues, he might be batting practice. We don’t know what we’re getting AJ next year. He is not nearly a luck of a guarantee as to what you’re getting as Brooksley is. Brooks is a dog. Brooks doesn’t give a rat’s ass how you feel. He is going to get out. That’s what I love about Brooksley. I will always love Brooksley. Edwin Diaz is a shorefire guaranteed thing to what you’re getting. Sugar is the best closer in the National League and he will more than likely continue to be even with the expectation that he will have not have as much success next season. And the reason why I say that is not that I wish it, it’s just kind of common sense. The two best seasons that Edwin Diaz has had in his career that we’ve seen as a New York Met cuz he had a 60 save season back in like 2018 or 2017 with the Seattle Mariners. Effing amazing in his early 20s. But Diaz since then that we have seen has dominated for the Mets. But his two most important years that we have seen him have success is his walk years 2022 2025. How will he fare next year on a new four to 5year contract? We don’t exactly know. We know he will be dominant, but will he be as good? Might not be as good. He might just be very good instead of the best in the National League. But regardless, he is still far more of a guarantee in what you’re getting from what we’ve seen over the past four seasons than anyone else that could be acquired in this year’s free agent market. Now, the Mets get creative in the trade market, then it’s a different discussion. There’s a lot of top talent available to a degree in the trade market. But how far how willing are you going to go ahead and get it? We just saw the Seattle Mariners trade a consensus top 100 prospect with a lot of hype to the Washington Nationals who have had a slam dunk start of their offseason. I love their front office hires. They keep prying guys from the New York Mets, which pisses me off separately. They’re making the right moves there. But the Nationals with their new ownership, new front office, everything else in between for the most part, they are doing smart, savvy moves. And in the process, they acquired a top 100 prospect for a good reliever, but not a great reliever, and one who may very well not have as much success as he’s had, even though he’s entering a very good pitching lab in Seattle. Seattle’s done a very good job on developing pitchers over the years, but they have not hit the mark consistently on acquiring pitchers to have that same level of success. I especially think of one of the most recent signings that they have done for their bullpen over the past two years and that was Ryan Stanick. They wanted nothing to do with Ryan Stanick by the time he got to the halfway point of the season, which is why he was salary dumped to the New York Mets paired. Um, was that with Chris Flexon? No. No. Chris Flexon was a year prior. I remember doing a walk-in with Wardy segment down by the beach. If you guys remember that content when the Mets acquired Chris Flexon back from the Mariners as a salary dump and they got a schmuck reliever who was not good down the stretch. Who was it that year? Oh my god, I’m blanking. Who was that reliever? Bonus points to someone who can figure out that reliever that the Mets got with Chris Flexon a couple years ago. Flexing. Flexing. Flexing. Flexing. But all right. Edwin Diaz point stands. Love sugar. Want him back. Anything else is not good enough when you’re in a win stage because if Edwin goes to the Dodgers, if Edwin goes to the Blue Jays, if Edwin goes to any other top contending team, you are going to look like an idiot. David Sturds and everyone else in company. Trevor Got. Oh my god, that bum. Yes. Was he not even in Major League Baseball last year? Feels like he wasn’t. Yeah, we got got is what happened. If you know, you know. All right, let’s go on from Edwin Diaz. Let’s talk more here, everybody. Oh, by the way, Rody Murio hit a walk-off bomb for the Dominican Winter League tonight. Take a look at this. Manchester. Got to love it. It’s that time of year, baby, where we completely disregard Ronnie doing little to nothing at the major league level. This was more so because of the fact that Ronnie got very limited playing time. Also, could not hit a beach ball bang from the right side. He needs to be a full-time left-handed hitter. Once he does that, he will be so much better for his player development. I assure you that was the Cedric Mullen route, not the Mullen New York Mets Mullins, but when Mullins first broke out with the Orioles like four years ago, he stopped being a switch hitter and he committed fully to the left side and that’s what led to his breakout season and success from from there on after from there onward. I expect somewhere from Ronnie, but I don’t know how much playing time a the Mets are going to give Ronnie, nor do I even know if he’s going to be on this team next season. What I do know is that this another prime example as has been the case with Luis Helkunia because listen, I’m not going to crown these guys too much in Jamaican Winter League. They make everyone look like a star player and you know that cuz Akuni didn’t even have one home run this season in like a 100 plus games. But he already has like what three or four home runs in the Dominican Winter League so far this year cuz they’re just serving up meatballs down the dick. What do you think’s going to happen? See youa. That’s what’s going to happen. But Ronnie Mariso having some fun. Let’s see if he can rebound uh next season. Here are the latest regarding Jeff McNeel. And this is where we’re going to have a disagreement. Here we go. And I’ll say one other thing because they don’t just have one prospect coming in the outfield in bench. They’ve got a few Jet. Never mind everybody. It’s Steve. I I thought it was Andy talking, but it’s Steve. I don’t need to hear that. Nothing personal, Steve, but um I’m good. I’m fine. Um, so Steve just relaying basically, you know, that McNeel has a lot of value on the team to the Mets this season on a one-year deal, can be moved around. Just just stop. Just shut up. Like, we’re like, that’s an easy way of just trying to say we’re trying to increase his trade value. Like, come on. What are we doing here? Jeff Pass in his latest piece that he put out over this past week had the highest percentage of a likelihood of a player to be traded out of the top 25 trade candidates this offseason being, yes, you guessed it, Jeff McNeel at 80 plus percent to being dealt. John Haymon just relayed in a piece the other day of essentially his own version of that because he looked at Jeff pass and did a little nice copy pasta there and he did 70% instead. So goes without saying Jeff Manil is going to be traded this off season and you’re a fool to think otherwise and here’s why. This is not at all personal slight to Jeff. I would like to make that clear. I have no ill against him or his family whatsoever. I truly wish him their best in their futures when they are no longer New York Met. Chevill is entering his age 34 season. Okay. He is not someone that’s going to progress defensively in the outfield. He’s going to start to progress if he has not already. Nor has he been a stud defensively at second base either at this point in his career. He has essentially one year left on his contract because there’s a club option for 2027 as we know after 2026 at 15.5 million or so with a multi-year a multi-million of a buyout. Jeff McNeel is a perfect fit for a team looking for a veteran second base/c corner outfield option. When you think of the Pittsburgh Pirates, when you think of the Kansas City Royals, when you think of the Seattle Mariners, these are all teams that come to mind right away that check off those boxes that make logical sense for McNeel via trade. And secondly, McNeel is coming off of the first positive offensive season that he has had since the breakout 2020, not breakout, but his big 2022 batting title year, besting Freddy Freeman for the highest batting average in all the National League. He has fallen from grace since then, and he’s changed his game since then. McNeil’s no longer that slap hitter just trying to get on base. He’s that guy going gap to gap trying to hit home runs because, you know, that’s the only way to market himself at this point in his career. Slap hitters do not even stay in the bigs anymore. And that’s exactly why we’ve seen such a drop off from high contact hitters with low power since the juice baseball era came to an end entering the short in 2020 season and then 2021 with the dead in baseballs and so on and so forth. McNeel finally has positive trade value for the first time in a minute. He has value in the sense of his defense as a versatile player. It’s not a newfound defense which is something that Heymon um highlighted in his recent piece but that just simply inaccurate. McNeel has been a versatile darling for the Mets for a number of years now in the organization, but he’s fluctuated with his consistency. Now that he finally has positive value, and now that there actually is a market out there for someone of a player profile like him, and now that the Mets trade for Marcus Simeon, you’d have to be a fool to suggest that the Mets are going to roll into next season with Jeff McNeel at roughly $16 million average annual value, having him in a role where he will not be at all a starter solely off the bench. Now, if the Mets somehow someway do not trade chef McNeel, I believe this is far more because they initially thought that they had a strong market for him and it completely soured and they still believe he has enough value to warrant not giving him up all completely outright as a DFA candidate. That happens, okay? But I do think that there are enough suitors out there that like Jeff McNeel and that’ll be going after to make a trade for him happen. So the idea that we should buy into him right now is simply stupid and reaches a moot point because yeah, no [ __ ] pardon my French. He would be viable for the Mets right now because they traded Nemo. It’s common sense. Yes, the Mets have glaring holes in their outfield. Of course, McNeil slotted, but what did David Sterns famously say at the GM meetings? Oh yeah, he stated that McNeel’s not expected to get much reps in the outfield next season. not nearly as much as what he had this past year. Who’s someone who technically was our best center field option because that’s how effing low the bar was with guys like Tyrone Taylor and his incompetence on the offensive front and Jose Siri breaking his leg and that being that for his entire Mets career before it even got started. Okay, the route the Mets are going to go in is they’re going to maximize the trade value of players that they believe the ship has sailed in the organization. Jev McNeil and Kodi Singa are right at the top of that list. So now going on beyond talking about Jeff McNeil because we got more things that we want to talk about in this one everybody. Let me go ahead and pull up some more things for each and every one of you to check out that I think you guys will appreciate. Me go over here. Just give me one second everybody. And hold on. Want to pull up one more thing for you guys and then we’re going to continue on with our conversation. Just give me one second here. and everybody. I will get to some donations. If you guys have donated, I haven’t answered yet. Please know it’s not personal, just because I’m trying to be up to date here and answer as many comments as I can as we’re doing all this live in real time for night one of MLB meetings there in Orlando. Hope everyone’s having a blast who’s in attendance right now, too. Very, very cool to see. So, a couple more things I would like to get into today, and this all goes in hand with Bob Ninkill’s latest report today, as he came out with a big big primer early this morning to get you set for winter meetings. Um, regardless on how you guys feel about Bob, he’s most certainly connected. doesn’t mean he’s always going to break news accurately, but he is certainly in on the no. And I can tell you guys that in confidence as someone who’s now gotten a chance to know him more on a personal level than just, you know, someone who’s had admired his work from afar, essentially. Um, and as you guys can see, let’s let’s talk about a key quote or two from his article today. And it includes the following. Let me just go ahead and make sure I have this accurate from before because I think I just got rid of it. What am I doing, Tyler? You’re an idiot. Get your stuff together. Not what I needed. Come on. Where are you? Here you are. Okay, let’s go ahead. Shout out to Bavarian sports fan as well. Very good, fantastic Mets fan follower of mine. And they do their best to try to relay quickly certain things from certain pieces that we see in the media. And today, and I want to make sure I I pin this, David Sterns won’t go 5 years, 100 million for Edwin Diaz, as we know, says that moving Klay Holmes from the rotation the bullpen could happen. I think that that’s just more speculation from Ningale than anything else. But for the sake of having the conversation, because I know we will have more of one tomorrow in that regard, I’m really, really, really interested to see how this is all going to shape up regarding Klay Holmes and his future. Cuz two things are true. Klay Holmes was the Mets most reliable starter that they had this past season. I know that might be hard for you guys to fathom, but it is factually correct. From the start of the season to the end of the season, Klay Holmes was the most consistent. David Pearson fell off a cliff from June on. Kodai Sena fell off a cliff as soon as he went down with injury from June on. Shamaniah was never healthy all year long. Frankie Monttos, Frankie Mont, need I say more? That’s about it. The Mets didn’t really get much. And no Mlan was great, but he was not impactful until he got called up after the second half of the season had already begun. So Klay Holmes brought value to the Mets. The thing that I personally did not like about Klay in his first year as a starter was just his struggles with not only his his um his walk rates, but also his inability to go deep into games. But funny that I say that considering the fact that he had quite literally the most dominant outing imaginable to keep the Mets playoff hopes alive until the final day of the season as he carved up the Marlins and went what was it north of seven if not eight strong that we saw. So there is value to Klay Holmes and I I do like him. I don’t hate him. He just kind of stuck out more like a sore thumb last year because of how incompetent the rest of the Mets rotation was. It set a low bar. So I don’t completely hate the notion of Holmes going back to a reliever role, but I I do not anticipate that to be the case. That only makes sense to me truthfully is that the Mets somehow someway swing a miss on like all the reliever options in the free agent and trademark that are quality and they also look at their rotation and add say three starters and like listen Clay nothing personal but it’s in our best interest to move you back to the pen. Clay did not sign a three-year contract at over $30 million with the Mets to be utilized as a reliever. While he might not be opposed to going back there if called upon, he clearly wants to stay with his starter makeup and I’d anticipate that to be the case moving forward. But I’m not here to really talk as much about Klay Holmes at the moment as I am more on the David Stirts front. I’m not wanting to go five years$und00 million. The initial relay in the market, whether it was from John Haymon of the New York Post, or whoever initially put out there that Edwin wants another record-breaking contract, from everything that I’ve seen at this point, appears to be more of a fallacy. From everything that I’ve from every single person that I’ve talked to in this market of credibility of every single person, not a single person has told me that it was accurate that Edwin Diaz is actually going to be landing five years. The common consensus that I’ve heard is that Edwin Diaz is going to land on right around a four-year contract at just under $90 million. So, should that be the case, that’s more than enough in the Mets wheelhouse. That’s more than enough when it comes to being feasible for the Mets and their spending. And that would completely coincide with Devin Williams on an average annual value of like 14.5 million each of the next three years with the deferred m with the with the deferred payments getting the setup money while Edwin gets more of his closer money at of course 20 plus mil AEV. He’s going to dominate. He wants the big bucks and I’m sure there will be deferred money in that new contract should he get it from the New York Mets because you got to again take a page out of the Dodgers playbook. The Dodgers did north of $80 million including 20 million deferred or close to I believe with Tanner Scott a year ago. And that same Tanner Scott uh finished up round one year one as an LA Dodger winning a championship by being that schmuck who got an A+ on the group project all while being that little pain in the ass that was on his phone the whole time while everyone else was on their textbooks actually reading and doing the work that they were supposed to be doing. Tanner just got a free ride with a big payday and had literally nothing to show for it. was a non-factor, was not even on the World Series roster for the most part. So, the reason why I say this is because Edwin, rightfully so, is going to look at that contract and say, “Well, I got to at least get more than that, if not a good amount more, right?” Is Tanner didn’t even have the track record for more than a couple seasons to suggest that he’s a guaranteed thing in what you’re getting. Edwin Diaz has the best track record among all relievers available in this year’s Frasier market. Hence why he’s looking for a bag again and hence why he’s more than likely going to get it. So for Edwin and for the Mets, this really feels more like a circumstance where the Mets may find themselves betting against themselves than it is anything else. And the reason why I feel that way has a lot more to do with the fact that again, just look at his market. The qualifying offer attach is not helping him right now. The Dodgers look to be more inclined to spend for guys like Harrison Bader, which is ironic, and Robert Suarez unless they can trade away a bigger contract like a Jay Oscar Hernandez. And until that happens, I’m not believing it. So, right now, the Toronto Blue Jays are a team that would love Edwin Diaz, but how far are they willing to go? How much of an appetite does Edwin have to go to Toronto when he has his family and everything comfortable in New York? Like as long as the matches show a valiant effort in bringing Edwin Diaz back, there’s no at all justification to allow this man to walk because of say a one-year difference. I do not see a rule where that is going to happen. I will be genuinely shocked if Edwin Diaz does not return the New York Mets. With Pete Alonzo, completely different discussion. And we’re going to get to Pete Alonzo more here in a second because the Alonzo circumstances are not the same as they are with Edwin Diaz. But what I’m trying to say again is that Edwin Diaz, he needs to return this Mets team. And I will be very surprised if that does not in fact come to fruition. Now, we are getting close to the cut off mark for our uh replay viewers, but I do have some more things to say before I cut off that live stream for them. And then, guys, like I said, we’re going to be live here for a while tonight. Rebecca, please don’t do the breaking news nonsense with me. I love you. You’re a great member. Don’t rattle me. Please. I appreciate that. Okay. Um, but let’s talk now on the polar bear, okay? Because a lot of you guys have been asking about the polar bear. Let’s talk about Pete and let’s talk about the status of his market and let’s see how much you guys would like to either take it with a grain of salt or say that there’s something more to it on the following. Shout out to Mets news and rumors on um on X here. According to John Marosi, Peter Lonzo has a 40% chance to stay with the Mets. There’s a greater than 5050 chance that Peter Lonzo is not a Met on opening day. And I actually don’t entirely disagree with him. And here’s why. From everything that I’ve heard on the Pete Alonzo front this off season is near identical to how it was a year ago. The Mets love Pete. They don’t have a big issue with him, but they have a huge issue with Alonzo at the asking price and years that Alonzo wants. The Mets are not going to give in to Pete Alonzo. That is what appears to be happening truthfully and I think that’s accurate from everything that we know to this point, everything that I know personally. Alonzo is someone that has a shrunken market, does not have a lot of teams after him, has a handful of teams currently in his market that are serious in him. And maybe I’m even exaggerating as to truly a full handful having heavy interest. Most teams that are in the market for Alonzo have the exact same belief. They like Pete, but they don’t want Pete to have five plus years. Many of them don’t even want Pete Beyonce a threewood fourth year option. And why? It’s because the exact same thing that I’ve been relaying you guys constantly. Yes, some of you guys continue to disregard as if it’s not a factor when it most certainly is. His defense is not good enough. He is not a good defensive first baseman. He does not have an elite status in that regard. The glove is not at all ever going to be something that carries his value in this market. That is why after swinging and missing terribly as a Scott Boris client an offseason ago, he has made it known that he’s more willing and having an appetite to play at DH. And the reason why is because again, Alonzo is not a good defensive first baseman. You guys can argue with me all you want. You can tell me how great his scoops are, how he throws his body out there. Trust me, I’ve watched every single game Pans has played as a New York Mets since his rookie breakout in 2019. I like to think I have a grasp as to how he’s handled his defense. He has done a fantastic job in staying healthy every single year for the most part. even while he throws his body out there. The problem for him is the market doesn’t give a [ __ ] about nearly that as they do him being a bat first player, a righty bat that is something that’s less desirable now more than ever it feels in the market. Heavily favored towards lefty bats and guys like Tucker and Bellinger because they bring more defensive upside than Alonzo could possibly fathom. And Pete is someone that is not looking at a market that has a laundry list of teams are in desperate need of first base DH profiles. There’s a handful, but there is not much more beyond that. So that is what’s led us to now the unfortunate reality for Petonzo. If Petonzo comes back to the New York Mets or Petonzo lands elsewhere, it ain’t going to be seven years. It ain’t going to be six. It might be five, but if it’s five, then I would venture to guess it comes with a fifth year option after the fourth year being a guarantee. Could it be another circumstance again where he signed a multi-year contract and he has player optouts after each of the first couple years? Sure. But again, it’s more of Alonzo just having to kind of go up against himself and see if he’s willing to hit the market again when a lockout is a near certainty a year from now. So there’s a lot of ways to go about how Alonzo is approaching his market, but the one thing that we know with certainty is that this is very much falling in a very similar category as it did a year ago. Which now begs the question, what happens in these years winter meetings if Kyle Schwber signs? Let’s say hypothetically Kyle Schwarber signs back with the Philadelphia Phillies. So let’s say the Pittsburgh Pirates somehow someway land the guy because if you don’t know the Pirates actually offered four years 100 plus million to Schwarber to let you know that they were in his market when they inevitably do not land him in the end because not a chance in hell the Pirates will sign Schwarber. If the Pirates sign Schwarber, I will have a entire stream breaking that down as breaking news and saying how I’ll be so the Pirates actually did it. Until then, not a chance it’s going to happen. The Reds would love Schwber. Hometown native kind of thing. Would have to take a little bit of a pay cut. Maybe it’s possible. Or maybe it’s the New York Mets because if it is the New York Mets, Pete Alonzo’s time in New York has officially come to an end more than likely. Now, if he goes back to Philly, if he say goes to Boston, if he goes to any of these other areas that is not Queens, that being in Schwber, then the clock starts to tick on Alonzo, cuz who are the two biggest bats in this year’s market? It is obviously Alonzo and it is Schwarber. When you look at these two, they have similar makeup in their power ability. Alonzo is the better overall hitter. Schwarber has been unbelievably consistent as a true DH profile. That’s where Alonzo falls in the category of as well. So, it really is going to come down to what domino falls next between those two, which will really warrant how quickly his market picks up. So, yes, there’s a world where nothing dramatic happens this entire winter meetings because neither of Schwarber or Alonzo signing, meaning that no big bat is going to come off the board. If we see a Kyle Tucker sign, if we see a Cody Bellinger sign, then that does change the game a little bit too because even though that they are not the same profiles, some teams that are in the market for Alonzo are most certainly in the market for those other players. So, it’s a domino effect. It’s that ripple effect. We see this happen with teams and players every single offseason. When one certain position player goes down and is coveted in the market, it usually opens up the floodgates for the next man up. And we saw in real time last year Alonzo thinking he was the next man up quickly in the offseason, but then one by one, domino after domino, they all fall down. And Alonzo standing on an island, walking in that bedroom, walking in that living room rather, just like Will Smith, Fresh Prince of Bair, looking around in the empty room. No one’s in the house. It’s just him. Or we can pull ahead a Mr. John Travolta from the fantastic, the OG Pulp Fiction. when he’s in the room, got his hands up, he’s just looking around like what’s happening here. Alonzo is going to find himself on that island again if he plays stupidly this market the way that he and Scott Boris did a year ago. And yes, a key factor behind his lack of marketability a year ago was not just the lack of defense, was not just the underwhelming regular season, excluding his big bomb against Williams in playoffs and then onward as he dominated to the LCS for the Mets, but it’s more so the fact that he’s a Scott Boris client and Scott Boris is very stubborn in how he operates. Scott Orus evaluates his free agent class all as the same in the sense that for the most part he’s going to gas them up like they’re the next best thing since sliced bread was first embedded when in reality they’re a very good player but they’re not an elite player. Juan Sodto is an elite player. Juan Sodto is a superstar player. Pete Alonzo is a very good player but Pete Alonzo is not a consistent superstar talent. There are levels to this and worse Scott Boris has missed the mark over the years has been the following. Not doing a good job on marketing his very good talented players as what they actually are. Instead, he’s tried to make them look far greater than what they have been because of the sense of trying to maximize his marketability and has come back to bite many many times. And I do think that we are falling in a very similar category yet again with the with the exception that if Schwber signs in the coming days, things may pick up fast for Alonzo. And maybe, God willing, he does make a decision before Christmas and all the holidays this December. We’ll just have to wait and see. But what I will tell you guys right now is that the Mets are yet again positioned to give Alonzo a respectable shorterterm high AEV offer. And I do not think that there will be a world where if they do bring him back, that’ll be something drastically different from what they have done in the past. And I say that in confidence. I say that as someone who has been following this entire sweep stakes for a while and everything else in between. And I’m going to say this right now. Summer Rebecca, kiss and make up. I’m not doing this. Please stop the spam. I beg of you. I’m just going to kick you if you continue. Love you guys both to death. I don’t care how much you hate each other. Be civil. You’re not here to be yapping back and forth about having to scream in the chat. You’re here to at least hear a thing or two that I have to say while sharing your respective opinion. Get it together, kiddos. All right, please. And thank you, cuz I don’t have tolerance. I I quite literally don’t. I used to when I was younger. I don’t now. I don’t. If you cause an issue in the chat, if you get make things toxic at all, I’m just going to kick you. That’s just how it’s going to be. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. And no, no, deaf. Don’t be saying that [ __ ] either. I’ll kick you, too. Trust me, I I do not have tolerance for this stuff this time around. Like a dad quite couldn’t be more accurate. Since I became a father, the the switch has changed. As much as I still have my moments of voice cracking out of frustration or excitement regarding this club, we have definitely dialed back a little bit. Okay. So, disappointed Papa. Exactly. Exactly. Don’t Don’t make Papa Wardy mad. Come on. Come on. We’re in this together, kids. Come on. Let’s come together. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come together. Kiss and makeup. I said kiss. All right. All right. Okay, guys. I have a lot more to say in this one. I got a lot to say in regards to Cody Bellinger. I have a lot to say in regards to Kyle Tucker. And I have a lot to say regarding answering your questions, comments, and concerns regarding other thing. And I appreciate the apology. Thank you so much. Really do. Thank you. Glad we’ve all figured that out. But now guys, we’re going to continue on the live show for solely our live viewers. But before I cut things off for replay viewers, I do want to make sure that I do not miss anything on this front and that is any specific donations that I have not gotten a chance to address yet. So, let me do that and then we’ll go forward. Shout out to my guy Subway to Shave. If you guys do not know Anthony Rivera, please make sure to check him out. Great friend of mine. I hope Ant is doing fantastic. He like me has become a father not too long over the past couple years. So, we have both been very busy bees while still being full-time grind in this math space. So again guys, if you do not know Anthony, please make sure to check out his respective content. Does a very good job covering Mets as a whole. Let’s see. Buster reports. Mets trade darling for Wardy. Why we trade in Ron? That’s what I want to know. And here’s my question. What team was I on prior? Manuel, thank you for the donation. But what what effing team was I on prior? I that what you going to say I was on the Phillies cuz I’m a PA resident. What’s happening here? I appreciate the donation but what is this? Webs love five hala. Thank you so much. I personally want Okamoto at first base two time Glover that besides a short in 2025 averaged 32 home runs a night for RBI’s the previous six years with the league defense. Webs love I have preached that exact same thing to the choir and we’ll talk more about him in tonight’s show just cuz you brought him up. Thank you for that donation. Jonah with the $2. Huge congrats to Jeff Ken on the Hall of Fame induction indeed my friend. Thank you so much for that. Daniel with $5. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Nicholas says to what sleeper pick do you think can happen for the New York Mets? My sleeper pick that I think can happen for the New York Mets is that they sign. I’m going to go more sleeper here because he doesn’t have the innings track record but he has the upside. That’s Michael Kane. That’s my sleeper pick. If the Mets don’t sign Valdez, if they don’t sign Tatsuya, who I really hope that they do, Michael Kane is a unique one because he has ace upside, but he doesn’t have at all the track record of success with innings because he’s only been a starter for like two full seasons. He was transitioning from a reliever to a starter halfway through the year for the Yankees a couple years ago when Carlos Mendoza was still their bench boss and he had great success in just over a 100 total innings, but he only had like nine starts out of like 40 appearances that year. Then he goes to the Padres’s as a key piece going the other way for the Wan Soda trade with Trent Gisham. Has a dominant year. Gives you 30 starts. Looks like an ace in that rotation for the Padres’s. Then he was out for a good chunk of this past season with injury. But Michael Kane feels like the kind of guy on a shamanized structured contract of three $75 million or so that I think could be a very good sneaky pickup for the middle of the Mets rotation as long as you of course make sure that you add another starter of greater significance. That is what I think. You’re a PA resi as well. Love that. Thanks so much for the donation, my guy. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let’s see here. Um, Wardy, we all love Pete, but maybe Kyle is a better fit for three to four years being a nightmare lefty lefty match up with so obviously the LA. So, here’s the thing. If Schwarber is actually down to go on a three or to fouryear contract and isn’t say wanting demanding what we have believed to a degree which is five years which is being relayed in the media right now like if there’s a clear like two-year gap from what Alonzo’s getting to what Schwarber is getting yeah I would venture to guess that that might be more appealing to the New York Mets is that I do not believe the Mets want long-term commitment with Alonzo as more of their fair space option. I think they want him more on the short to midterm route at best. Akunia hit a grand slam. F off. Did he really? I could believe. Hold on. You did. Oh, that’s funny. Hold on, guys. Let me show you guys the Lanel Akunia Grand Slam here in a second. I will I’ll go ahead and do that. But now that we answered all the donations, everybody, let’s go ahead and break down more Mets landl viewers. So to everyone that’s watching this on replay, thank you so much for watching. Like I said, hopefully we have news for you. And if this is chopped up in a way where the conversation continues, that means breaking news did in fact happen tonight. Otherwise, this is where I will cut things off for a replay. Viewers, be on the lookout as we’ll be be live again for multiple hours. Monday with a big jersey giveaway to one lucky subscriber in our live chat. Tuesday we’ll be live. Wednesday we’ll be live and so on and so forth. Everything and anything in Mets land is what we’re going to have to cover in these year winter meetings. But everybody watching live to our thousand people watching, let’s continue on the live discussion. Let’s answer your comments and everything else in between. Everyone else on replay, this is where we’ll be cutting things off. Let’s go Mets, baby. Peace out.
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9 comments
Alonso is going to Boston and going to tear up the green monster.
Mets will sign Diaz.
They all used to get boozed up and make crazy deals 😂😂 I just want good news for Wednesday my birthday. Something good by then please 🙏🏻
Don’t want Valdez due to his personality
Stop talking about rotation. They bolstered the bullpen at the deadline that you loved! Come on
1:17:45 hey is Vicman006 under a different name. Glad to see the denim back and also happy to see this. Enforcing a good environment calling out toxicity. Now I’m interested to see if Rebecca made it to the end 😂 I was here when we were only 5K
Martino is completely correct. Walmart Stearns stays away from big contracts no matter who it is.. Because It was Cohen who got involved trying for Yamamoto.. Like how it was Cohen that signed Soto because Stearns is a clueless dumbass and shops at the dumpsters….
The joke was a good try but the real joke should have been “SNY trades Ron Darling and a bag of chips to YouTube for Wardy and the camera person.”
Peterson Left hand picther Sean Menea Left Hand Picther framer Valdez Left hand picther Tarik Skubal Left hand picther how many Left hands Sean has 2 years more i would change and peterson has 1 year we can with out no body in change