The New Mets lost their first game out of the break on Friday night, but at least Jeff McNeil turned in his best game of the season.
Can Jeff build off a two-HR game, which also included great highlights in right field?
Host Ryan Finkelstein was at the game and breaks down what he saw.
Also, could Ryan Clifford's emergence in the minors factor into the Mets' decision on Pete Alonso this winter?
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It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. The Mets wasted the best game of the season so far for Jeff McNeil as this a sign of more things to come. Can Jeff get his season on track? We'll be talking about that more on today's show. You are Locked On Mets, your daily New York Mets Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans, you're listening to Locked On Mets, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making Locked On Mets your first listen every day. Locked On Mets is friend available on all platforms including YouTube. On the show today, a Mets loss to discuss, I'll break down that game in the first segment. The second segment, I want to talk about Jeff McNeil, and a great game on Friday night. Is this the sign of more things to come? I'll talk about that. Then in the final segment, could Ryan Clifford play into the Mets decision on Piedalonzo? The slugging left-hander has been great in double A lately, and he could be the first base of the future. We'll talk about Clifford, how it relates to Lonzo and so much more. 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 XF Fickelstein-Ryan, you can also find some of my writing at just baseball.com where I work as the managing editor. Well the Fickelstein winning streak has finally been snapped. For those of you who have been listening to this show for a while, you might know that I have not seen a Mets loss in person this year. It goes back to spring training, the Mets won the game that my dad and I went to. Then I saw a Mets vs. Marlon's game with Sean Maniah on the mound. That was earlier this season where the Mets won that one. Then we went out to that series in DC where the Mets had a sweep. My dad caught a couple of games in Chicago and the Mets were playing at Riggly. They won those games. So it was just nothing but Fickelstein this year when the Mets played and we were there. Fortunately, that all ends. I guess maybe my dad was more of the rabbit's foot than I was as it was just a frustrating game to watch in person tonight. I will say that the Mets sort of felt like they were in a little bit of a malaise. It was similar to me to the game where the Mets came out the London series and they faced the Marlon's and they lost the first game of that series before they ultimately came back and won it where they just didn't quite look right. Although just some things weren't going their way. That's what happened in this one. First inning, Francisco Lindor draws the lead off walk, steel second base, picks up right where he left off from the first half. And Brandon Nemo nearly gets a base hit to drive him in, but Otto Lopez makes a diving stop the second baseman that keeps Lindor at third. JD Martinez draws a walk and in my head, I couldn't help but think that penalons a good hint to double play a ball. And sure enough, broken bat double play, he did not get out of the box very well either, which is understandable when you get blown up and your pack gets shattered. But I feel like you got to be booking it out of the box with a runner on third base that could have scored regardless. It's not all on the lawns of the Mets lost the game because of that one run, but it's just one of many examples where I felt the Mets just didn't have the luck on their side. Second inning, same thing as far as base run is concerned. Mark Vientos hits once the left center gap and I felt like he sort of took it for granted that he was going to get the second base, sort of slowed a little bit as he was rounding first and that cost him as he got gunned down at second. Brian De La Cruz made a great play on the ball, cutting it off, making a strong third a second. But had Vientos gotten in there and it wasn't bang, bang, bang, play, Jose Iglesias later that inning, rips a line drive just right at the shortstop, maybe the shortstop's holding on the runner that gets through and Vientos scores. So it's just little moments where the Mets could have scored some extra runs in this game. Regardless though, the guy that's at fault for them losing a shaman eye because it was just not a good start for Menaya. Bottom of the second gets the first out on a flyout, then gives up a double pair of singles, sacrifice fly. It's too nothing Marlin's. I still wasn't concerned. I really wasn't. But then the bottom of the third happened and I started to worry to get a lead off single to jazz. Chisholm is still second, Jake Berger ends up ripping a double to drive in jazz, then Berger scores on a base hit from Josh Bell and is for nothing Marlin's. With that said, Jeff McNeil nearly got the man to back in the game. He hits a solo homer in the fifth inning and the funny thing about that was I was actually with a listener at the time, also named Ryan. So shout out to you Ryan and your wife Melissa was great meeting you guys and we were just talking about Jeff McNeil. We were talking about McNeil and throwing a little bit of a temper tantrum earlier in the game. Took his helmet off when it was a 3-1 count, thought it was ball four, starts walking down towards first, calls a strike on him and he couldn't believe it and McNeil had his typical sort of fit on the field and then he ends up popping out in that first at bat. So we were going over that. It was just funny as we were talking about McNeil and all of a sudden it's like, wait a minute. Is that a home run? You hear the crowd cheer? Look who hit that? Is that Jeff McNeil, rounding second base? So I missed the first homerun from McNeil. Also I want to give a shout out to Zach, another listen to the show that I met up even before that. Zach and I didn't have as good as luck when we were talking as two runs came across and it was in the bottom of the second when we met up. But regardless, I'm always so humbled to meet the listeners of this show at these games. To hear you guys tell your stories of how I'm part of your daily routine and Zach was talking about how a lot of his family listens, his dad, his uncle, so many people, it's just awesome. It really is and when I have a listener ask me to take a picture with them, all that stuff, it still doesn't even compute to me. And I'm a shy guy in person also. So if I am awkward, Zach, Ryan, those that met me tonight, I apologize. I can't help it. I'm introverted. So it's always just cool though to feel that that's a poor from the listeners in person. So I really wanted to give the two of you guys a big shout out on the show today. Getting back to the game though. So McNeil has the home run and the Met scored another one in the inning as Harrison Bader grounds out. But Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nemo, the each straw walks on Edward Cabrera who started to just lose it, which is what you were hoping for. But Skip Schumacher, that's how to manage, huh? He got him out of there. There was runners at second and third. He did go up a sacrifice fly. He didn't need a lot to walk, but he got him out of there in time. Francisco Alvarez had to face an arm out of the bullpen. He flew out to end the threat. But still that's got a couple there in the fifth. Sean and I though you want to hold down the opposition when your team scores a couple runs and he didn't do that. First batter he faced was Jay Burger, but a solo home run, five, two Marlins, sixth inning. The Mets crept very close Jose Iglesias with a double Jeff McNeil, a two home run game. He makes it five four Mets and the funny thing was I was texting Ryan who I met at the game throughout and I predicted that the final score was going to be six to five. So I also said that the bullpen was going to melt down because I think at the time it was maybe four nothing or maybe it was four two. I think it was four two when I made that game score prediction. I thought that the bullpen give a run late, then it was the Burger home run. I'm like, all right. Well, there's the five. When McNeil hit that home run and became five to four, I think both of us believe that my prediction was going to come true. We were holding on to that. It just never happened. Top of the eighth inning, Mark Fientos lined out, Jose Iglesias walked Jeff McNeil in field single hit a comeback into the pitcher that he couldn't feel able to get on. There was a wild pitch to put runners that second and third with one out and at that very moment, I thought for sure the Mets are going to win the game, but Harrison Bader could not get that time run to come across. Tanner Scott comes on for the four out save and that was pretty much it for the Mets. Every team in baseball can win at any given time and if you're playing the Marlins and you end up in a position where it's Tanner Scott on the mound for them and the Marlins have a lead, you failed because Tanner Scott, for the most part, is going to get the job done. So the goal for the Mets throughout the rest of the series is don't let that happen again. That means you got a score on the starting pitcher and the Mets didn't do enough of that in this game. I'm not necessarily blaming anyone. It was just like I said, there was some opportunities that just didn't go the Mets way, but you have to take advantage of the Marlins rotation, which is just awful right now. So you got to score runs early. You got to score runs on the bullpen before you get to the few arms that they trust. And that's what they had here. They were able to pitch their best relievers in this game. It was tight and they were able to hold on to it. I'm not going to be concerned about this series just yet. Three more games in Miami. The Mets are a better team. Go out and handle business and prove that this is just like that hangover coming off the London series, right? You can go out. You win the next three games. Who cares about dropping the first one? It was frustrating, of course, and Sean and I has to be better, but you move on to the next day and hopefully the Mets can get things right back on track. We'll see though. Obviously, and part of it is going to be Jeff McNeil. So I want to talk about him in just a minute here because Jeff McNeil had such a great game. Do we have faith in Jeff McNeil as a starting player for the Mets for the rest of this season? I'm going to go through that in just a minute. First, though, a word from our sponsors today's episode is brought to you by game time. The fastest and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. 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Anytime some news breaks on the meds, he has to be questions anytime. You also get the starting lineup, send to your phone in a graphic every day so you never think on social media to see who is starting for the New York meds. If you want to be locked on meds insider, find the link in the episode description. Go to subtechs.com/lockedonmeds. Jeff McNeil has been the most polarizing player on the team outside of maybe penalons of this year. It has just been a rough season for Jeff, but this was a good game. Rob's a home run, makes another great catch in the outfit, hits a couple of home runs. Was this just a flash in the pan? Maybe. But there are some encouraging signs. Jeff McNeil has gotten on base in his last seven starts. He is hitting 350 over those last seven games. In July, all together, he's in 262-322 with a 548 slug at the two home run game tonight, had another home run earlier this month as well. Not horrible. You look at his OPS this month, rock on a what? 870? Not bad. He's now granted small sample size, but Jeff McNeil is one of the most interesting players in the New York Mets right now because they need him. They need him. Look, I talked about it on Wednesday's show, I believe, where I went through the top ten candidates that I could find in the outfield. There's just not a lot of trade candidates on the market that are available and that makes sense for the Mets. Yeah, you could talk about Jesse Winker. Here's the problem with Jesse Winker. Don't play defense for the Mets. Just can't. Doesn't have a fit. Also, you need someone that can hit left handed pitching. Can Jesse Winker hit left handed pitching? No, he can't. So you keep going through the different list of names. You have Michael Conforto I talked about. Is Michael Conforto a better player than Jeff McNeil? Probably. But what does it take to get him? Are the Giants even selling? I don't think they are. I just don't see that as a likely road. Mark Canis. That's a better season than Jeff McNeil. Maybe but not much. He's not playing well right now and you think Mark Canis going to farewell playing right field? He's not. Tommy Pham has been struggling lately. Kevin Polar has been struggling lately. The more you go through different candidates and different names, there's not an ideal fit. Those were all former Mets. You'll get the indivision trades. I talked about jazz chism. We saw him tonight. Sure. It makes a little bit of sense but are the Mets going to give up the prospect package at the Marlans are going to expect for one of their best trade chips? Probably not. And I honestly see jazz chism and Tanner Scott being combined so that the Marlans can extract a really good value in one trade and I don't see the Mets being the team to pull off that deal. Lane Thomas, another option. Is he going to be the answer for the Mets? Doesn't hit left handed. Excuse me. Doesn't hit right handed pitching at all. Has been terrible on right field this year. So you really look at the options are not a lot of good ones. We talked about some blockbuster possibilities with Luis Robert, Brent Rooka, Randy Rosarina and each of them had their flaws. So I say all of this to get back to Jeff McNeil because Jose Iglesias has all but won the starting second base job. Guess the start tonight to open up the second half against the right. Tyrone Taylor has played fairly well against right handed pitching but it was Jeff McNeil that put in the lineup in right field. I think that says something. Here's the thing about Jeff McNeil. And I tweeted this after he made the catch on the home run robbery. His defense gives him value to this club regardless. It does. Might not agree with me but I'm telling you having a guy that can play above average defense in right field and at second base is a huge asset to any ball club. Now if he's going to hit with an OPS that's in the 500s, yeah, not that much of an asset because he's detracting so much offensively but this is a guy that won a bag title. This is someone who has been a very good hitter for a long time and he's not at the point of his career age wise where you think that alone is the end all be all while he has been or why he has been struggling. So I look at Jeff McNeil and there's just something about the law of averages. For a guy that has been this bad, maybe he's due to be good to meet somewhere in the middle because we saw that last year. We saw Jeff McNeil struggle and then figure it out. Now that was on a team that had nothing to play for. So if you want to say all the pressure and expectations were gone, that's why he hit. Okay, you can certainly make that argument. But when I look at the market, look what else is out there, I just don't see the ideal fit that makes clear sense that the Mets can go out and get that is a better player that will provide more than Jeff McNeil when you also again take it to account the fact that you have to give something to get them. I don't see the overwhelming upgrade is what I'm getting at. So if the platoon in right field is Jeff McNeil and Tyrone Taylor where McNeil is starting most days but maybe every once in a while against the tougher righty, Tyrone Taylor's and right McNeil's in second base, however it ends up working out, that still could be the best way the Mets can get to the rest of this season and compete. Honestly, I can't completely sell my stock in Jeff McNeil. I know that makes me crazy. I talked about this a couple of weeks ago where I thought Jeff McNeil was turning a corner when he hit that home run against the Astros. So I guess every time Jeff McNeil home runs, I come on here and say, "Is this the turnaround?" And then he'll inevitably go on another slump and make me look bad. But I am not selling the stock. I am still buying into the idea that Jeff McNeil can be a good player for the Mets down the stretch here and it changes the entire complexion of their team when he is hitting. Because now that bottom half of the lineup looks that much better and you can plug him into so many different places and give you what should be an above average offensive option. It's been far below average this season but I'm not necessarily accepting that as the rule of thumb moving forward. There is that law of averages, maybe Jeff McNeil ends the season with an OPS over 700 which would mean a lot more positive progression from this point on the OPS is now at 6.22. For his career, he has a 780 OPS. He's a career 290 hitter. This year it's 223, career 352 on base. This year it's 282. If he meets the middle on all of those numbers, so if he raises the average by the end of the season, he's hitting over 260. He gets his own base percentage and he gets it over 330, gets the OPS and finds himself over 700. That would be a great second half for Jeff McNeil and it might just be one of those things that helps propel the Mets into a plus spot when it's all said and done. So great game out of the break for McNeil. Let's see if he can build on it. Bad game from Peter Lanza though. I want to talk about Pete, the pressure that's on him, but also a prospect in the minor leagues that could make Peter Lanza even more expendable beyond this season. We'll talk about Pete and Ryan Clifford in just a minute. First though a word from our sponsors. This episode of Lockdown Mets has brought you by booking.com, booking.yea, with summer travel heating up, especially travel from baseball games, it's time to explore those US cities. 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Pick more, pick less, if that easy with PriceFix...app. If you want to stay up to date on everything in the world of sports, make sure you check out Lockdown Sports today during 24/7 on YouTube. Peter Lonzo came up empty a couple different times in the game today and he has just not been good at all over the last couple of weeks. This is a problem for the Mets because without Peter Lonzo, they're not going anywhere this year. As great as Lindor and Nemo have been. Lately, JD Martinez and Peter Lonzo have not been carrying their end of the bargain. And what made this line so special was getting contributions from all four. Especially when at least one of those two power guys is going, it just gives you so much more of a threat. So when Francisco Endor draws the walk and ends up on second base because the steal is a bag, you get him in. You don't miss that opportunity. You put that run on the board in the first inning. The Mets have to be better in those spots. And Peter Lonzo, he's got to get back to the guy he was in 2022 because that year it felt like every time Peter Lonzo came up with a runner on third base, less than two outs. He was at least going to get a sacrifice fly at least. And a lot of times he shortened up and got a base hit and extended the rally. But we haven't seen that guy this year and the pressure's on. I don't think that Peter Lonzo is going to get traded. But the Mets have to decide they're going to invest in him. If the right course of action moving forward is to have Peter Lonzo in the fold for a long time. And that's what I want. Ultimately, I've made the argument for it, but you do have to realize what is coming. And right now, if you look at the Mets farm system, when it comes to position players, the guy that is coming is Ryan Clifford. He has been ridiculously good lately in the month of July is hitting 400 with the 471 on base, 733 slug. He has six doubles three home runs in June, he entered a PS over a thousand in 50 games in double A, he's hitting 240, 330, excuse me, 380 on base, 557 slug. That right there is a 937 OPS, really good numbers. The bats are always in control. He has great discipline in the box and he has ridiculous power. Where does Ryan Clifford play? Well, they're trying to keep him in right field, but he's getting a lot of time at first base. If you look at the Mets in their future, Mark Fientos could be the first baseman moving forward. You have Ryan Clifford, he could be the first baseman moving forward. If he's not, where is he going to play in the outfield? You have Nemo, you have Marta next year, which obviously isn't a big deal. You have Jet Williams, you have Drew Gilbert, both on their way up. They've been out this year due to injuries, but Gilbert is back. Hopefully Williams gets back at some point in September, but regardless next year, they should both be healthy, ready to go. You have Luis Hellucunya, who could be pushing to the outfield. You have Jeff McNeal, who could be pushing to the outfield if Jet Williams or Acunya is playing second. You still have Tyrone Taylor beyond this season, not that he's going to stop you from doing anything or pursuing anyone, but you look at all the different players that Mets got to fit into the puzzle. Ryan Marie is here in Brett Bailey also. Do you need to spend $20 plus million on Piedalonzo, especially if you have a prospect in Ryan Clifford that might just win the hit of the year in this system, who could be your first base in some point into 2025? It's just another layer into the big, big equation of Piedalonzo and his looming free agency. We don't know what's going to happen. We won't know what's going to happen until we get there. If you think that Ryan Clifford does not weigh into the mess decision, once you do get to that point, you're not giving him enough credit because I think this is a guy that really could be a big part of the New York Mets as soon as next season. So it's great to see him swinging to well and Piedalonzo has got to step it up. You want to be a Mets for a Mets forever? You love the city. You love the fans. We all appreciate that for sure, and he has been nothing but the model citizen teammate everything. He has done all you can ask for across his stand with the New York Mets up to this point's career with the New York Mets. But a right-handed first baseman who probably shouldn't even play that position at the end of his next contract because if he signed a long-term one, how much value do you place on that? And when there's other options at that position, you can much easier talk yourself out of giving him $200 million, even if it is with heavy deferrals, regardless, giving him that level of commitment. It becomes so much easier to say, you know what? Let's let Pete walk, let's get our comp pick, and let's move forward with Mark Vantos on opening their red baye a third, knowing that Clifford could be up and you can sign Vantos back at third if Baye doesn't hit. There are so many options that the farm system could present to the Mets over the next couple of years. Now, Pete Alonso could just be the DH, and it would maybe solve a lot of things where maybe that doesn't matter. But I just thought it was interesting to talk about Clifford because he has been hitting so well and sort of attached that to Alonso because the rational side of my brain, not the emotional fan one, thinks that David Stern is going to look at whatever Pete's going to command for agency and just decide that's not worth investing in, and that's going to be his recommendation to Steve Cohen, and I think Steve Cohen trust his baseball people. So, we'll see exactly how that all shakes out, but I just thought it was worth mentioning considering some of the missed opportunities and what Ryan Clifford has done to talk about that on today's show. I appreciate all of you who tuned in today. Make sure you follow, rate and review, wherever you get your podcasts, I'll be back breaking down Saturday's game on tomorrow's show. If you want to follow me on X, you can do so. Finkelstein Ryan, you can follow the show a lot. I'm Matt. If you're making lockdown match, your first listen, your first watch every day, and after your second watch, head over to YouTube and check out the first ever 24/7 streaming channel that covers everything. The world of sports with our local experts from each team and our league wide experts from each league, you find locked on sports today streaming 24/7 on YouTube. (upbeat music)
