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Locked On Mets - Daily Podcast On The New York Mets

Kodai Senga Flashes What Could Be, Mets Make First Trade

Duration:
30m
Broadcast on:
27 Jul 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

Friday night everything was going the Mets way. Kodai Senga made his triumphant return off the IL to a raucous Citi Field crowd, with the chance to pitch the Mets into second place in the NL East over the Braves.

The Mets lineup even gave him a great lead to work with, piling on seven runs against Charlie Morton in one big inning on three home runs.  

Senga struck out nine in five strong frames but ended up pulling his calf in the top of the 6th, putting a sour note on an otherwise amazing evening.

Host Ryan Finkelstein is back from vacation bringing you a two-part episode of Locked On Mets.  

In this part 1, Ryan discusses the Mets taking over the top seed in the NL Wild Card race from the Braves, as well as the fleeting return of Senga.

Also, the Mets made their first trade of the deadline, acquiring Ryne Stanek, while also making a handful of roster moves. 

 

JOIN THE LOCKED ON METS INSIDER COMMUNITY: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonmets 
 

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(upbeat music) - It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. (upbeat music) - Here I am, back from vacation in the Locked On Med studios and we have a ton to discuss on this two-part edition of Locked On Meds. (upbeat music) - You are Locked On Meds. Your daily New York Meds Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. - Hello to all you amazing Meds fans, you're listening to Locked On Meds, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making Locked On Meds your first listen every day, Locked On Meds is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. The New York Meds have moved to the first spot in the wild car race by blowing out the Braves. I'll talk about that game in the first segment, the triumphant return of Kodai Singa and then he gets hurt again. We'll go over that a little bit more in the second segment as well as a lot of Rush movies that were made today, which will bring us to our final segment, talking about the Meds' first trade of the deadline of quying relief pitcher, Ryan Stanek. Before we get to any of it though, I'm your host, Ryan Fickelstein. If you want to find any of my work, follow me on X at Fickelstein-Ryan. You can also find some of my writing at justbaseball.com where I work as the managed editor and where we have a lot of great trade deadline coverage for you to check out. So if you're curious about other teams immediately at baseball, I do encourage you to check out some of the great writing we have over at justbaseball, which is why I am so thrilled to be back for both of my jobs here, to be managing the writing staff over there at justbaseball and to be covering the New York Meds, I was on a cross-country flight today, Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale. A lot happened, okay, as I was getting to the airport, there was the news of Daniel Nunez hitting the IEL, Adrian Houser in Chitaro Fujinami going on, or getting DFA, there was so much happening. Eric Orzy was up, a lot unpacked. So on today's show, we got a two-parter. First part of the show, which is gonna be this episode that you're listening to watching, Matt's Game Recap. We're gonna talk about Kodasenga's flash of brilliance and then a re-injury. We're gonna talk about all of that roster turnover and the Ryan's standing trade. Second part of the episode that you're gonna tune in after this, I hope, is about what it looks like the Mets go all in, Blake Snell, Michael Confordo. There's gonna be a lot to discuss on that show, but we gotta start with the Mets victory, because it was a party at City Field for at least the first five innings and the first out, or at least the first part of the sixth, as the Mets blew out the Atlanta Braves to win their fifth straight game and to move into the first wild card seed. There was a point not that long ago that the Atlanta Braves were 10 games up on the New York Mets, and you would have thought it was crazy to think that the Mets could catch the Braves at any point this season. But the Braves haven't been winning and the Mets have had the best team in baseball for about two months now, and this has led to them grabbing that first wild card spot at this stage right now. They're still the rest of this series to be played, but it's been a remarkable turnaround for your New York Mets. And it's funny because when the Mets got, I talked about this on the show the other day, when they got themselves into a wild card position, I said, all right, go get the Braves. And I talked about this series getting close so that maybe by the end of this series, the Mets could be neck and neck with the Braves. I did not think that two games into this series against the Braves, the Mets could actually finally jump ahead of them. It's been an amazing run. And this game, like I said, felt like a party through the first part of it. Early in the Braves, they'd take a lead. Kodai Senga gave up a two run homer in the second inning. But prior to that, he opens up his start with a strikeout on a ghost fork, first batter that he sees, which is Jared Kalinik. He then got a ground out. Then in the first thing, decided to drill Marcelo Zuna. That's a good way to face a batter, let them get on base. If you're going to have a brave get on, you might as well drill a Zuna. Then he froze Matt Olson with the slider to get a strikeout to end that inning. He ended each of the first five innings with a strikeout. That is how you get a home crowd on your side in a return. The Mets then gave him a ton of run support in the bottom half of the third inning. Tyrell Taylor reaches on an air by Austin Riley. Francisco Lindore gets hit by a pitch. Brandon Imo draws a walk. All this, of course, against Charlie Morton, which loads the bases for J.D. Martinez. J.D. actually nearly grounds it out, but a ball went foul that allowed him to extend the bat. He gets a fastball out or half or a sinker. Goes with it, hits a grand slam. So now the whole crowd's rock in the Mets grabbed the lead right on back. After penalizing grounds out, Jeff McNeil rips a double because, of course, he did. He's just going to get an extra base hit. Every game now it seems like. Mark Viento's thing gets a hang curve ball. He puts it into the seats. Now it's six to two Mets. Then Francisco Alvarez says, you know what? Let's go back to back. He gets a hang curve ball. He puts it in the seats. Seven to two Mets. And from that point on Kodai Senga was absolutely shoving. He shut down the Braves in that following inning, perfect frame of two strikeouts, retired the side in order to get in the fifth and was well on his way to doing in the sixth inning. His pitch count was manageable. It was at 69 pitches through five with nine strikeouts. First batter in the sixth, he gets a pop out. And as he's trying to get away from it because it was right past the mound, he's running away from the ball. He ends up crashing to the ground with a calf strain. Now we'll talk about that injury a little bit more in the next segment. But I was riding high as all of you were, and I'm sure I can't even imagine the emotional swing in that ballpark, but I literally was watching this game when I was on the planet. I wasn't able to stream it, but I was able to listen with a shout out to JetBlue. Very good Wi-Fi. It allowed me to be on social media for a five and a half hour flight to be on subtext with our lockdown Mets Insiders throughout that flight, catching up on a week's worth of text. So there was a lot going on through that plane. And I got off and I went right to luggage claim and I recorded a short for YouTube and for social, basically breaking down the standing trade and talking about the plan for tonight for the recordings I was gonna do. And as soon as I go to post it, I see the Sanga injury and it definitely dampened things a little bit. I think we still have to celebrate the fact that this Mets team with now just a tiny bit of Kodai Sanga contributing has been able to make this incredible run up the standings. And I think they can clearly keep winning without him because they've done it all year, but it felt like prior to that, the New York Mets had come into their own as a contender, that they were in the top wild card spot that were gonna pass the Braves tonight and they had their ace back. And now with him out, a lot of questions arise again about what the Mets have with this pitching staff and what else they will do with the deadline. So throughout the show today, that's what we have to talk about here. In the next segment, what I wanna do is I wanna run through all the different roster turnover that we saw today, 'cause like I mentioned, the top of the show, there was a lot of transactions that happened before this game, to get Kodai Sanga onto the roster and to start to set things up probably to make a lot of maneuvers at the deadline. So I'm gonna go through that. What are the implications of this Kodai Sanga injury? Then in the final segment, we'll talk about the staying trade, but before we get into any of it, a quick word from our sponsors. This episode of Lockdown Mets has brought you by booking.com, booking that yeah, with summer travel hitting up, especially travel for baseball games. It's time to explore those US cities. You've always secretly wanted to learn more about yes, we're talking about your rival cities and with hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, resorts, and so much more on booking.com. You might just find your perfect stay, even in your baseball rival city. Like I've been mentioning, I've been on vacation just recently and I've used booking.com for each leg of my vacation, two different stays, all booked through booking.com. We got some great deals. The accommodations were excellent exactly what we needed. The right state can make you a fan of any US city, even your rivals. So book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app. Today's episode is also brought to you by Fandool. I love sports, I love them so much. I never want them to stop, but as the playoffs have winded down in the NBA and NHL, we just get fewer games and the sports aren't sports and like I want them to, but Fandool lets me keep the sports going whenever I want. 'Cause all I have to do is open up the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the mood. And this summer, Fandool's hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right, there's something for everyone every day all summer long. So head over to Fandool.com/locked on and start making the most out of your summer, Fandool, the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) If you wanna stay up to date with all the latest in the world of sports, check out Lacton Sports Today's Dreaming 24/7 on YouTube. And we have no idea how long code I was saying that's gonna be out on this injury. For now, I would assume he's gonna hit the IEL though, probably the 15 day IEL and you hope that maybe in a couple of weeks that calf muscle heals right up and he's right back into the fold. Maybe he makes a rehab starter too and can join this rotation at the end of August, maybe September. And that's what you have to hope for. I think J.D. Martinez really was honest. He's a player that's been around the game for a long time. He said, "I hope he's back for the playoffs." And you really think about where you're at in the season, there's two months left here. You're at the end of July, you have August and September. This is that last push where you get yourself into a playoff spot. Luckily, the Mets are currently there, but you gotta hold serve. There's a lot of teams that are gonna be getting better at this deadline and a ton of action today. The amount of trades. I'll tell you, I feel like it's my fault. I don't typically bookifications in front of the trade deadline and I'm just lucky that I have a really good team around me at just baseball now that was able to cover me while I was gone. I assigned a ton of different stories at the beginning of this week. And the other editors I have were able to sort of manage it and then we got some great content going on over there. But I was blown away today about all the trades, even going back to last night, all the movement. Randy at Rosarana traded, AJ Puck traded. We talked about those two deals on yesterday's show. Then today, you saw Zach Efland traded. And then of course, the Mets make a trade, but so many things are happening. And that means that there's gonna be other teams that are gonna make some moves that are gonna get into this race. So the Mets, while they're sitting in the top out card spot today and that's awesome, you still have to hold onto it. And Kodai is saying it seemed like he was gonna be a big piece to help them hold onto it. Going into the day, you were looking at the Ryan, they're going into the game even. You get Ryan Stanik and you think, all right, that's one edition. The Mets just have to fortify this bullpen. Their biggest edition, as much as that's an old Wilpont thing, the injured guy that comes back, it's our big trade deadline acquisition. That was the case this year. Right in front of the deadline, you were getting your ace back. And not only that, he looked like the ace. He looked like Kodai Senga in prime form from last year. And you just envisioned two months of City Field Rockin' every time Kodai Senga took them out. A near sold out crowd that was just in a frenzy as the lineup piled on all those runs. And Kodai Senga was absolutely dominant with that goes fork and everything else. And it just sucks. It really does because this would have been nothing but positive vibes today. And that injury just makes you question things. Not that the Mets can't make the playoffs or can't overcome this. They have done all the legwork to get in this position without Kodai Senga. But in one week, you lose Christian Scott and Kodai Senga. Two guys that, again, really having contributed to what's happened here. Mets haven't been winning Christian Scott's starts. But we thought those two guys are gonna play a huge role in the final two months where they could ascend to being two of the best three pitchers in this rotation. Come play off time, potentially. Now you're right back to the same rotation that you had that got you here, really. At the beginning of this run, it was Luis Severino, Sean Manaya, Ozak Catana, David Peterson, Tyler McGill. And then just recently, Christian Scott replaced McGill. That fist starter spot was about to be filled by Kodai Senga. And then you were going to expand to a six-man rotation. What was that gonna look like when Christian Scott went down? We really didn't know. It was already in flux. Jose Budo has made himself indispensable from that bullpen. But now all of a sudden, he got some questions. And the funny thing about all of this is I've been pushing back on this narrative for a while on the show. That the Mets were in the race. They should do the buy-sell. How many reporters were trying to float that as a narrative? Jeff Passen even just recently, you know, put out his whole, his column at the Mets and talked about how this was a missed opportunity to not be able to sell. Man, how many good Mets teams have we seen over the last two decades that have played baseball this well for this amount of time leading into the break? And I love who was a Tim Britton of the Athletic today. I wrote a great piece about going all in and just about the opportunity the Mets had that this is a team that has worth going all in on. We're gonna be talking about that in part two of today's show. But the idea that the Mets, who are right in the thick of this race, now they're leading the wildcard race. Would trade Sean and I to get some prospects back or to get bullpen help? I thought it was ridiculous. And I've been saying that on this show for a while and now you see why it was ridiculous. 'Cause it won't fell swoop in a week. You lose both Christian Scott and Kodai Stenga and you don't know when they're gonna come back. You always hope, oh yeah, short end. Christian Scott, UCL spring, Kodai Stenga, calf spring. Two weeks, they're both back. Do we really think that's gonna happen? And so now you have Jose Budo, who again, as I've said time and again, has become invaluable to that bullpen, indispensable. You need him. Now do you need him in the rotation more? Tyler McGill's audition on Saturday is massive for the New York Mets. Massive. Are they going to make a trade for a starter? Are they gonna have to trade for more bullpen help to cover Budo and slide him back into the rotation? The only positive out of this, and I couldn't even call it a positive, maybe it's a silver lining. I don't even know how to describe it, but the fact is you were gonna have to fill a spot in the rotation anyway with Christian Scott going down because you needed a six-man rotation for Stenga and now you just fall right back into a five-man. But that puts more strain on those pitchers. So now there is more strain on Severino, on Manaya, on Cantana, on Peterson, on McGill, or Budo to hold up until you get Stenga and/or Scott back. In the Meyer leagues, Dom Hamels been throwing the ball better. Had a great start tonight. Mike Vassel has really been throwing the ball well lately. Brandon Spro is carving up double A. Could you tap into the farm to get a pitcher down the stretch potentially? Could just DFA'd age your in-houser today? That's the funny thing, not necessarily starter depth, but a guy that's been pitching well as a long man in the bullpen now is DFA'd. The Mets didn't think that Kodas Senga was gonna go down and it's crazy now looking at the moves that were made today, but here we are. A lot of turnover on this roster. So here's what happened before Kodas Senga went down. Daniel Nunez hit the IEL. Your best reliever outside of M&D is, or maybe just your best reliever, he goes on the IEL with a right pronator strain. Now, that was after pitching back-to-back in Miami. Not mistaken. And Carlos Mendoza said the MRI came back clean. No ligament damage. They hope it's a short stint on the IEL. But now you have arguably your three best relievers that have come out of nowhere this year for this Mets team. Nunez, Reed Garrett, and Sean Reed fully all on the IEL. The good news is you should get all them back. And that's gonna be a big lift to your bullpen. Adrian Houser, though, was D.F.H. and Tara Fujinami was D.F.A. So who else is gonna be in this bullpen? Now, to explain those two moves, Houser and Fujinami, I think the thought was, all right, you're gonna clear some 40-man spots because you're about to make some trades. And you had to make room for Kodas Senga coming off the IEL. 'Cause he was on the 60-day IEL, so that now requires him to be added back to the 40, essentially. Houser hasn't been great lately, had a nice run on the bullpen. And the timing of this is by doing this D.F.A. now for both him and Fujinami, here are two pieces that are now essentially on the block. Okay, they're on waivers. The Mets can trade these guys before the deadline. So that's what I would think might happen here with both of them. Maybe they're part of some other deals, maybe they're just getting you some cashback. We don't really know, but the timing of that was to clear spots because the Mets are going to be aggressive adding pitching. They also, when they got Ryan Stanik, they had to make another move. Josh Walker got D.F.A.ed. So there's a lot of roster churn here. You look at where the Mets stand right now as Presley constructed, their starting rotation. Luis Severino, Sean Manaya, Jose Quintana, David Peterson, Tyler McGill. McGill pitches well on Saturday. I think the plan will be to roll with that rotation and hope that you can keep Budo in the bullpen. But if you have to, you can move him back into the rotation. I think that's the plan, but I got to imagine the Mets are going to be checking that starting pitching market a little bit closer now ahead of this deadline to see what's out there. And that's going to be a big piece of part two of today's show. We're talking about what going all it looks like. Is there a starting pitcher the Mets can go all in on? We'll save that for the next show though. For the final segment, there's the trade to discuss. The Mets got Ryan Stanik. Who is he if we're not aware? We'll talk about it. And what does that mean for the rest of the Mets bullpen? First, before we get into it though, another word from our sponsors. Today's episode's brought to you by Supply House. Get supplies from the site that's made for skilled trades. Supplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com is a reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC and electrical products online with their easy to use website which is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Get expert support and interest relieving service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time. Pros in the skilled trades can get a competitive edge by joining Supplyhouse's free trade master program where every trade master gets access to a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order. Join the thousands of trade pros already benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com/T-N and we're plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks at supplyhouse.com. You know we love talking stats here at Locked On Rockies. Here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cashback you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cashback match. That means with Discover you could turn $150 cashback to $300. That's right, you could put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network. You earn and discover doubles. See terms at discover.com/creditcard. Come. (upbeat music) Now let's talk about the big news of the day. The New York Mets have made their first trade of the deadline and for not counting film a time which came a couple of weeks before the deadline. They have acquired another former Astros reliever, Ryan Stanik. Now if that name sounds familiar the Mets showed interest in Stanik this off season and instead he chose to sign up the Seattle Mariners on a one year four million dollar deal. Now the Mets get the circle back around to them. They pick them up as the Mariners have made a trade for a reliever earlier in the day. They acquired Yimigarsia from the Toronto Blue Jays, a guy that I thought the Mets could have really shown some interest in but one that would require a bigger prospect return to get. He was one of if not the best top rental reliever on the market, well maybe not the top one 'cause you have Tanner Scott, you have Carlos Estebes but maybe the top set up man type 'cause the other two might require a closer return. Garcia was a set up man. A guy that has a really good strikeout rate, low ERA, pitching great this season. So the Mariners, they make what they view as an upgrade and then that makes Ryan Stanik expendable. The Mets swoop in and pick up a guy who hasn't had the best results this year when you look at the ERA of 438 but the underlying numbers are good. His expected ERA is 3.44. He still has a bunch of strikeouts, 44 and 39 innings pitch. You look throughout his career. He has basically struck out 10 batters per nine every season and that means he's striking out at least a batter every inning and typically a little bit more than that. He's had two years where he's had a strikeout per nine of 9.9 last year was at 9.1 but this year it's right back over 10. He's touched one-on-one this year. This guy throws gas. He's averaged 98.1 miles per hour on his fastball this year. He pairs that with a splitter and a slider. He shows a lot of energy when he's on the mound and he looks like a pirate, he got flowing hair, nice facial hair as well. This is just an awesome reliever to follow. I think Mets fans are really going to fall in love with this guy quickly, especially if he has good results. And to me, it's the perfect pairing with homemade time. Very similar additions because they didn't require a lot to get, you're taking on some money for some other teams basically. And yes, this one required more of a prospect. We still don't know if it's a player to be named later or cash that the race got in that homemade time trade. This is a prospect, Ryland Thomas. Funny thing about that prospect, I was texting the lockdown Mets insiders and by the way, make sure you become a lockdown Mets insider. You can find a link in the episode description. Go to subtext.com/lockedonnets. This is our texting service. And so I was having a lot of fun catching up with the insiders after being away on the trip this week. And I was mentioning prospects that first, I deemed untouchable. We'll talk about those in part two of today's show. And I also mentioned prospects who I'd be dangling at this deadline for relief help. And one of the names on that list was Ryland Thomas. So I sent out those lists to the insiders. And then about 30 minutes later, the Mets make a trade for Ryan Stanek. Then the return comes in from Andy Martino. Sure enough, Ryland Thomas. The reason why I love this trade is Ryland Thomas is not a significant prospect to trade. He's performed very well, had fantastic numbers in AA. Triple A, he's been solid, but he has a ceiling of a fourth outfielder. Good defensive in the outfield, good bat to ball skills, not a lot of power, not a ton of speed, just a good player who has put up good numbers in the minor leagues, but not a guy that it kills you to trade. And you get a guy in Stanek who throws really hard and has plenty of experience pitching and high leverage, also has playoff experience, 2.70 ERA in his career in the playoffs, won a World Series with the Astros back in 2022. Don't believe he gave up at earned run throughout that entire stretch. Although he was not one of the relievers they relied on heavily. I think it was about an inning pitch in each series, but a good inning. Overall though, I think this was a fantastic addition, not as the big move at the deadline, but as the first move at the deadline. I'm assuming the Mets add more here. If their entire deadline is the Adfill made ton a couple weeks early and they add Ryan Stanek a couple days early and they don't add anything else, not good enough. But if these are the first two moves of a bullpen overhaul that maybe adds four arms to this pen, job well done from David Stern. So this is a really good job jumping on a name that was probably out in the market today. Once they got Garcia, they started to float Stanek around. They had a prospect in mind from the Mets and Ryland Thomas that they liked. Boom, you make the trade, love it. Now what's that mean for the Mets bullpen? You got Edwin Diaz, you got Ryan Stanek, you got Phil Mayton and Jose Budo right now looks great coming out of that bullpen. You got four arms. Okay, who else is in the mix? Currently you have Alex, Jung, and Danny Young, a couple lefties. You have Jake Deakman who struck out three tonight but gave up a home run. You've Adam Adavino who gave up a couple hits and got bailed out a little bit by Jose Iglesias making a diving stop to end an inning. Who has not looked good throughout the year but the Mets like his veteran leadership. So we'll see if he holds onto a roster spot, spot the whole season or if eventually he's a casualty. I think for now he's safe until you get some of those hurt relievers back in Nunez, in Garrett, in Sean Reed Foley. And then you have Eric Orzi who very well could be sent down any day now although because Kodai Senga is probably heading towards the IL. Orzi's spot might be safe for a little bit. I think the assumption was Orzi was gonna go down for Tyler or McGill, probably option him, bring McGill up. Now, I don't really know. Bottom line though, if you look at this bullpen there's three names that right now I believe we'll be pitching for this team for the rest of this season in the bullpen. It's D.S. Stanek and Maiton. Buddha would be there, but there's a chase you might need him in the rotation. So that leads to what the Mets have to do here before the deadline. They gotta decide how much they believe in Tyler or McGill. Saturday start here is gonna be very important for that. They gotta see what's out there in the starting pitching market. If there really is nothing, which I tend to think that's gonna be the case, maybe you get a depth arm, but I just don't know who they're gonna be able to add at this deadline when it comes to the starting pitchers without giving up a haul of prospects. There's also not a lot of stars that are even available. So I'm a little bit curious that they can that a starter. If you're gonna keep Jose Buddha in the bullpen, you're gonna have to add at least two bullpen arms. If you think Buddha was gonna slide back into the rotation, you might need three. So the Mets have to be on the phones. They have to be aggressive. It's gonna be really interesting to see where this team ends up in a couple of days, but what they have done clearly by winning five in a row here before the deadline, they have made it abundantly clear to David Stern. You have a window. This is a team to invest in. Steve Cohen as well, and you know, Cohen does not need much convincing on that front. But Francisco Lindor is playing like an MVP. Danwell might win the NLNVP this year, the way he has been swinging the bat, playing defense, leading the team, everything else. Talked about that a bit yesterday as well. This guy looks like an MVP right now. Brandon Nimmo in his prime. Last year with Peter Lanzo, Marc Fientos, Francisco Alvarez, playing really well as young players on the come-up. Not to mention, guys on one-year deals. JD Martinez, Harrison Bader, you don't know how long this team's gonna be together. It might just be this season, but this is a team that has enough to make some noise if they have enough pitching. So pitching is the top priority, and there's a big name that has hit the market, Blake Snell. In part two of the show today, I'm gonna talk about going all in. What does that look like for the Mets? Could it be taking on Blake Snell's huge contract? We'll talk about that in part two of today's show. As always though, thank you for tuning in. Make sure you follow rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure you subscribe for watching on YouTube, try to make a push to 10,000 subs by the end of the season. So I appreciate all of you who continue to subscribe. If you wanna be locked on Mets inside or throughout this deadline coverage and beyond, find a link in the episode description and go to subtext.com/lockdownmets. 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