Archive.fm

Locked On Mets - Daily Podcast On The New York Mets

Did the Mets Play it Too Safe at the Trade Deadline?

The New York Mets got swept in blowout fashion, as the Seattle Mariners looked like one of the best teams in baseball.

Host Ryan Finkelstein recaps the game, and wonders if the Mets should have done more at the deadline.

Duration:
33m
Broadcast on:
12 Aug 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

The New York Mets got swept in blowout fashion, as the Seattle Mariners looked like one of the best teams in baseball.

Host Ryan Finkelstein recaps the game, and wonders if the Mets should have done more at the deadline. Especially after watching Randy Arozarena and the impact he's having on the Seattle Mariners.  

Without getting much impact from their deadline acqusitions, outside of Paul Blackburn, will the Mets get more help from the players on their injured list. 

 

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

 

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

SupplyHouse
SupplyHouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast. Shop for your next plumbing, h-vac, or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast.

Booking.com
The right stay can make you a fan of any US city - even your rival’s. Book today on Booking.com on the site or in the Booking.com app! Booking.com, Booking dot YEAH!

PrizePicks
Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100!

eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

FanDuel
FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Did the New York Mets play it too safe at the trade deadline? I'll talk about that more on today's show. You are Lop Don Mets, your daily New York Mets podcast. Part of the Lop Don Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans. You're listening to Lockdown Mets. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown Mets your first listen every day. Lockdown Mets is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. On the show today, horrible losses because I'll break down Mets Mariners in the first segment. Second segment, I want to talk about this trade deadline, were the Mets too hesitant to make a move at this deadline? Did they not push the chips in enough? We'll go through that a little bit. Then in the final segment, I'll talk about the reinforcements on the way, Staling Marte, as well as some others that could come back down the stretch. Will those pieces be enough to lift the Mets over the top? We'll go through it all. Before we do, 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 managing editor. Today's episode is brought to you by Supply House. Supplyhouse.com is a reliable way to get parts fast, shop for your next plumbing, HVAC, or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast at supplyhouse.com. Well, that was an absolutely brutal series for the Mets against the Seattle Mariners. They're worst in a very long time. They get swept, they nearly get shut out, and it was just one that you want to flush and never talk about or think about again. Now we will break down this game a little bit because it was a disaster, but it should be covered. Luis Severino was hanging in there with Luis Castillo through the first four innings. Only running allowed was a solo homer. Fifth inning, Severino nearly gets out of an inning where he gave up a lead-off double. He gets very close, sack-bunk, gets the first out there, gets a big strikeout, gets Randy Rosorana hit a chopper to Francisco Lindor, was gonna be a very tough play as Rosorana was booking it down the line. Lindor comes up with it, but on the transfer, he loses grip of the baseball and can't even get a throw-off, and that scores a run. Then Cal Rowley promptly hits a two-run homer, and all of a sudden Seve's day looks a lot worse, and the Mets are in a big hole that we all pretty much knew they weren't gonna get out of with the way they swung the bats in Seattle. So it was a rough series, and that was a play that if Lindor makes it, maybe hanging the game a little bit longer, maybe the momentum doesn't swift, so heavily into the Mariners' favor if it's one-nothing, and maybe Severino goes back out there for a sixth inning. Regardless, the Mets just had as bad of a series as they have played since May, and they've only lost a couple series, and they just happen to have been on this road trip lately. The Angels series, and then this most recent one against the Mariners, two series losses. brutal road trip, brutal, and the bullpen which had pitched fairly well, really fell apart in this game, front of all eyes during Sunday night baseball. Ryan Stanick went up against the team that traded him to the Mets, and they made him look pretty bad. Gives up a lead-off double, walks the bases loaded, got a strike gap, but then gave up an RBI single. He gets pulled for Adam Adavino. Adavino didn't pitch the Mets at the jam by any stretch. He gave up all three inherited runs, as well as a fourth and a fifth run on a Cal rally through on Homer, and as a six-run frame and bottom line, the Mets just got completely embarrassed, and he didn't pitch well either. The only silver lining for the Mets coming out of this road trip is for one, it's over. So maybe there's more silver lives. That's the big one, right? They're done with it, four cities, 10 days, we all knew it was going to be brutal, didn't expect it to be that bad. I still stand by the statement that where the Mets really messed up was in Anaheim, and they just won that series like they should have. You're coming home on a five-and-five road trip, you did win the most important game of the road trip beating the Cardinals, a team that you needed to win the season series against who is in the thick of this wildcard race. So that was good. You did handle business in Colorado winning that series. Obviously, you would have loved to have all three games, but you do have to give them a little bit of a pass considering the fact that they had gone from Anaheim to St. Louis to Colorado, and then they lost the first game after all of that travel. You can give them a little bit of a pass. This series over the weekend was just not the Mets series, and I don't really take any sweeping declarations from this team or about this team from this series. Now, I talked about this a lot on yesterday's show, why Mets fans should not be hopping off the bandwagon. It pertained to the first two losses of this series, but losing all three, it holds even more weight. The Mets are still in a good spot. Okay, luckily on Sunday, you had the Phillies lose, the Braves lose, the Brewers lose, the Pirates lose, the Pirates lose, and the Giants lose. The Diamondbacks and the Reds were the only teams that won in that big lump of teams in this wildcard race. So, the Mets didn't really lose ground from anybody except for the Diamondbacks, and it's feeling more and more like the Diamondbacks and the Padres are going to continue to push the envelope and be those top two wildcard teams, although the Mets will see them in a couple of weeks. The Mets are only a half a game out. They have 45 games left to play, and they are half a game out of a playoff spot. Everything is in front of them. All the teams that are ahead of them in the standings, they will play down the stretch. Like I just mentioned, the Padres, the Diamondbacks, they had that big series at the end of the season against the Braves, and I will note, the Braves had a worse loss than the Mets today. They gave up with seven runs in the ninth inning to lose a game that they had in hand. What was the exact deal on that one? Really quick, it'll make you feel better, so that's why I'm pulling it up. Yeah, going into, okay, it was the eighth inning where the Rockies scored all those runs. The Braves had a eight to two lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Colorado Rockies hung seven on them. And one, eight, nine, excuse me, nine, eight, whatever. Bad loss for the Braves. They lose the series to the Rockies. At least the Mets didn't do that, and now the Braves are going to play the Giants. So two teams that are right in the mix with the Mets right now, they're going to beat up on each other for a four game set. So we'll see how that ends up shaking out. I don't even know what it wanted to happen there. Obviously, I'd like to see the Braves lose, but if the Giants win all four or win three or four, they're going to be right in the forefront of this race, and you might see four teams make it from the NOS this year. So kind of crazy stuff going on in this race, but the bottom line is the Mets now get to come home, they get a day off, and they're going to play the A's in the Marlins. Now they got to handle business against those teams at home, but if they do that, and they start off this homestand win in four or five games before the Orioles come into town, they can still finish with a nice homestand, set themselves up to be in a really good position when they do head off on the road for that tough series against the Padres, followed up by the one against the Diamondbacks. So you got to flesh this one as a fan, and hopefully have some faith that the Mets are going to turn things around. But what I want to talk about next year, as you watch Randy Rose Arena play a huge role, not only on the field helping the Mariners, but also it seems to be playing a role giving that team an emotional lift down the stretch. Do the New York Mets come up short at the deadline? Should they have been more aggressive? I want to talk about that in the next segment first though, a word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Supply House. Get supplies from the site that's made for skilled trades, supplyhouse.com, supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC, and electrical products online. But they're easy to use website which is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help get the job done right. Get expert support and industry leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time. Pros and the skilled trades can get a competitive edge by joining Supply House'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-m and order of plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies from anywhere which is a few clicks at supplyhouse.com. - Delicious, nice, nutritious, and the snack that packs a real protein punch, wonderful pistachios, one the highest protein nuts out there. Miller Thomas of Lockdown Dyebacks here and I love these pistachios because each one ounce serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value. So whether you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every night or you prefer the convenience of no shell pistachios, wonderful pistachios has got you covered. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snacking game today. Visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn more. (upbeat music) - If you're an everyday listener to the show, make sure you become a locked on meds insider. This is our texting service where you get updates from me. Anytime news breaks on the meds, you also can take part in our lockdown meds signed photo giveaways and you can ask me questions anytime. If you want to be a locked on meds insider, find the link in the episode description. Go to subtext.com/lockdownmeds. Now in 14 games as a Seattle mariner, Randy Rosorana is hitting 306 with a 452 on base, a 469 slug, he has scored 14 runs, he's driven in five. When he went into his first game as a mariner, they had a 54 and 51 record. Since then they're nine and five, granted they were six and five prior to facing the Mets this weekend, so you can take his impact with a little bit of a grain of salt when it comes to that record, but you look at the batting average, the on base, what he's done for that team, getting Justin Turner for them as well, the mariners look like a team that is going in the right direction at the right time, that got a big lift at this trade deadline to add some much needed pieces to add some firepower to their lineup and now they are ready to hopefully realize their full potential. I say hopefully because I kind of like the mariners, I didn't like them this weekend, but I want to see the mariners in the playoffs more than the Astros and I'm sure a lot of baseball fans hold a similar sentiment. They did a great job being aggressive on their window and looking to win now. Now, as we'll get to the full picture of this from the Mets, you could also say they had more of a reason to go all in, wide open division and one of, if not the best rotation in baseball. They can win a World Series this year. So maybe that's the difference, but I want to talk about a couple other impact players that were on the market. Jazz Chisholm went to the Yankees. He's hit in 296, 345 on base, 704 slug has seven home runs and 13 games played for the Yankees with forced only bases and he just picked up third base out of nowhere. Jazz has been very good in the Bronx. Now, would he be as good with the Mets? I don't know. He stepped into a dugout that has Aaron Judge as his captain, not that Landor isn't a great leader as well, but considering who Jazz is as a player, he might need the absolute upper echelon superstar to sort of keep him in check and to have a leader that can guide him. So I don't know if he would be the same thing with the Mets, but is he a better impact player than Jesse Winker? Is Randy Rosa Reyna a better impact player than Jesse Winker? I think so. Another guy I wanna mention is Carlos Estebes. Five appearances for the Phillies, he's got a zero ERA. Now you look at the Mets editions, right? Jesse Winker, eight for 28, he's hit in 286, that's not bad, but he's only walked once, so it was on base percentage, is in the low 300s, not nearly what it was with the Nationals. He only has one RBI and one run scored in nine games play. Hasn't got a ton of run, but still has not necessarily been an impact guy. There was a moment in the game today where there's a couple runners on, he's bad in third, chance to get a big hit, and he struck out looking. Wesgar Brosabon blew the game that was most winnable on this series of the Mets lost, and that was that game where they had a lead against Anaheim, and Brosabon gave up the thrower at home. He got good stuff. I think ultimately it was a good addition for this bullpen for sure, and you also have control of him moving forward, so I do still like that trade, but if he's the best arm you added at this deadline, or the Phil Mayton could have something to say about that, you did not add a real impact, impact arm in that bullpen. You had some guys that could be good, but you didn't get the lockdown guy. Ryan Stanik has been bad. He has an era over 15 now after today's meltdown. Brutal. There's every chance that Ryan Stanik does not make it to September on this team. Because Danielle Nunez, Sean Reed Foley, they're on their way back from injury. I'll talk about those guys in the next segment as I get into some reinforcements that are on the way. And every chance that Stanik is just gone. Say goodbye to Ryan Thomas for what might be seven appearances or something like that for Ryan Stanik when it's all said and done. Ryan Thomas, not the best prospect. I don't think the mess really feel that one, but he's a mariner moving forward and you never know. Paul Blackburn has been the saving grace for the New York Mets from this past trade deadline because getting this guy to solidify your rotation down the stretch and also for next year as well. Great trade. Great trade. He has looked so good in his first two starts. He is definitely a huge upgrade over Tyler McGill. So that's the one that you definitely have to give your acknowledgement to the front office that did right on that one trade. But you do have to wonder, had the Mets pulled a trigger on a Randy Rosa Reindeer trade. How would they have come out of the deadline? Would their lineup be as sluggish with that firecracker being entered into the mix? I don't know what they would be and what type of emotional lift would it have given the Mets to have gotten Randy a Rosa Reindeer? They talked about on the broadcast today. Randy walked into that clubhouse and said, "I make the playoffs." Essentially, letting them all know we got a goal, let's go do it. I don't know if Jesse Winker said that. I know he fits in that clubhouse well. But Jesse Winker can't necessarily say those words and hold the same impact as a Randy Rosa Reindeer. Now, the cost of acquisition drastically different. But if the New York Mets put Jonah Tong or Drew Gilbert on the table, that's keeping Brandon Sprott, that's keeping Jett Williams. Obviously, you weren't going to trade the guy you just drafted in Carson Bench, that's keeping Ryan Clifford. If they had put Drew Gilbert, who is a top-owner prospect, and Jonah Tong on the table, who has the future potential of being a top-owner prospect, but definitely one of the top three arms in the Mets system right now, they probably could have pulled off a Randy Rosa Reindeer trade or a Jazz Chisholm trade, or for just Jonah Tong, they probably could have gotten Carlos Estevas. Now, would any of those pieces push the Mets over the top? That's where there's risk involved. But I'll tell you what, when you see what has happened with Jared Kalenick and Pete Crowe Armstrong, two top prospects that have not amounted to what they were supposed to. And they both still have time, but for now, it doesn't submit the Mets were burned on those trades as bad as we once thought. It does make you wonder if the Mets should attack a window when they have one. And if they had got a Randy Rosa Reindeer, that might have made the difference. Maybe you could have pulled off a trade where you got Randy Rosa Reindeer and Jason Adam, if you package Jonah Tong and Drew Gilbert with some other stuff on the side. Something other pieces that you ended up trading, like a Cade Morris, for example. But there's also where you do all that, you don't make the playoffs this year. When it comes down to it, do I think the Mets made a mistake at this year's trade deadline? No, I don't. Do I think that the front office believed in this team at the trade deadline? Not really. They believe this team can make the playoffs and they fortify the roster to do so. But they did not and probably rightfully so believe that the New York Mets could win the World Series. It could make noise come October. If Kodai's saying it didn't get hurt, maybe the Mets would have been a little more aggressive. Maybe they would have pushed some more chips forward. But without Kodai's anger, not knowing if he was gonna be ready for the playoffs, thinking about a playoff rotation that just is not as good as the other teams that may make it. I understand why the Mets did what they did at this deadline. And I said it at the time that it was a really good deadline and I still ultimately stand by it being a good deadline for the position the Mets were in. Jesse Winkler could still get hot over the final month and a half. And he could be absolutely worth giving up Tyler Stewart. Okay, Kane Morris giving him up for Paul Blackburn. That's already a good trade because Blackburn's gonna give you a lot of quality and anxiety I feel over the next year and a couple months. So I think that was a good trade. The trades they made for the relievers, I mean, yeah, the static one looks bad right now, but Ryland Thomas probably has a ceiling of a fourth outfielder. I don't think you're gonna end up losing sleep over that. And we can go down the line with the other trades that they made as far as the trade for Brazaban, the trade for Tyler Zuber. We'll see if any of the men's up hurting, but I just don't wanna imagine they will. But I don't know if any of those pieces are gonna be the ones that put the Mets over the top this year. Honestly, I think the Mets have a better chance of getting production from the guys that are gonna get added back to this roster from the injured list and maybe a little bit from Syracuse. Then the pieces they got at the deadline stands. Of course, Blackburn, who I think is gonna continue to play a big role. But if you're just thinking about this season and you see you got like Randy Rose Arena and how much of a lift getting that level of a player at the deadline can bring to a team, it can make you feel like a little bit left out. But it might be for the best in the long run. And you just have to accept that and still hope that there's enough in this organization to get the Mets over the top to still make the playoffs and just give us a fun end to this summer. Hopefully the season ends on a positive note and it doesn't just spiral and fizzle out. But again, we'll wait and see. And the final segment today, I wanna talk about the reinforcements that could come into play, namely, Strawley Marte, but I'll get into some other names as well. So we'll talk about all that in just a minute. First though, a word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by Ibada. In summertime, which means it's barbecue season. Stock up on all your grilling favorites and earn cash back on every purchase when you use Ibada. Ibada is a free app that gives you the most cashback every time you shop on hundreds of items from groceries to beauty supplies and more. The average Ibada user earns $256 per year. That can cover the cost of an entire shopping trip. Other apps give you points that don't amount to much. With Ibada, just add your offers in the app, upload your receipt and you get real cash that you can cash out to your bank account PayPal or gift cards. Join the over 50 million savers and earn cash back every time you shop from over 2,700 brands and retailers, including Lowe's, Macy's, Sephora, Best Buy and more. Right now, Ibada is offering our listeners $5 just for trying by using the code locked on MLB when you register. Just go to the App Store or Google Play Store and download the free Ibada app to start earning cash back and use the code locked on MLB. That's Ibada, I-B-O-T-T-A in the Google Play or App Store and use the code locked on MLB. Today's episode is also brought to you by FanDool. I love sports, I love them so much. I never want them to stop as the playoffs wind down in the NBA and the NHL. We've just gotten fewer games and the sports aren't sports 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. In 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/lockedon and start making the most out of your summer, FanDool, official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. (upbeat music) Step to date with all the latest in the world of sports by checking out Lacton Sports Today, streaming 24/7 on YouTube. The New York Mets will be getting a lift at some point on this upcoming homestand probably this weekend. That is Starling Marte coming back into the lineup. Marte went 0-2 with a walk in a strikeout and three at bat in Binghamton on Sunday. He played six innings in right field. The next task is to play back-to-back games, which could happen on Tuesday and Wednesday. All minor league teams get Monday off. So Marte will likely be back in the lineup in Binghamton on Tuesday. Again, might play Tuesday, Wednesday. And if all goes well there, maybe has an off day Thursday and rejoins the Mets on Friday, I'd expect them back in short order. Obviously, you wanna get them into rhythm offensively, but Starling Marte is also the type of player that likes to just go right to the show. We saw it back in 2022, where he just didn't have any rehab games and went right back into the fold down the stretch. I imagine we see Marte pretty soon. Now, when they make that roster move, Ben Gamel, likely to be heading either to Syracuse or I guess DFA. I'm not sure if he has any minor league options. I don't believe he does. So I think they'll probably have to DFA him and assuming nobody claims them, they can outright him to Syracuse unless he elects for the agency. But the reality is the Mets will have a very crowded outfield when Marte comes back. It'll be Nemo, Bader, Marte, Jessie, Winker, and Tyrone Taylor. So you have five outfielders. I imagine you see a lot of mixing and matching in-game. So you might see on some days, the Mets go all offense. Where Nemo's in center, they have Winker and left, Marte and Wright. And then as the game progresses, you see Bader and Taylor insert into the game for defense, speed, whatever it is. Now, I also think that Starling Marte is gonna be on a little bit of a, I wanna call him innings limit, but they're gonna monitor him pretty closely, okay? That knee injury was pretty serious. He's been out since June. And I imagine it's something that can flare up pretty easily. So you can't run him into the ground. And there's no reason to when you have this deep of a team. Having Starling Marte as a bat that you can call if you're bench against a lefty late in the game is extremely valuable. If there's a lefty on the mountain to start the game, Marte's gotta be in the line up every single time. But he's got some pretty drastic splits this year. So now all of a sudden, playing more of a reserve part-time starter role, actually, you could get more out of Starling Marte and you still let Jess and Winker eat a little bit, getting starts against Wright. He's because you're acquiring for a reason. He's having a better statistical season than Starling Marte. He doesn't bring the same complexion to your team when it comes to his speed or even his arm and right field. Although, I don't know how much better Marte really is defensively than Winker and Wright. I mean, probably a little bit 'cause of the arm, he actually brings a skill out there that's of value. But when it just comes to running down fly balls, dealer's choice, who's better at that? Tyrone Taylor should be in Wright field at the end of games. That's what I'll tell you for sure. But the Mets are gonna have, again, a very crowded mix, and that means less time for Jeff McNeil in the outfield, more time for him playing second base, which then means less time for Jose Glazius unless he steals a little bit of time from Marc Fientos. Now, Vientos was scratched from Sunday's game with a sore ankle, makes sense that they'd be cautious, especially with an off day. On Monday, they're not too concerned about it right now. If he did need some time on the IL, obviously Brett Beatty would come back into the fold. But Beatty has not been swinging a good bat in Syracuse anyway. So even if Beatty was called up, I think Jose Glazius might be still number two on the depth chart at third base. And the more likely starter, even if Vientos does go down with this injury, although it doesn't seem like that'll be the case. Instead, probably just be a day or two potentially if he does at the missing time. And Glazius can just start those first couple games against the A's and then you go back to playing Vientos primarily. But again, with McNeil being more an infielder probably down the stretch whenever Marte is available to return, I'd imagine that you will see Glazius still steal a little bit more time from Vientos than we've seen up to this point because they won't have second base to play a Glazius as much. And you really don't want either a Glazius or McNeil out of the lineup right now because Jeff McNeil after Homer again, all of a sudden is one of the best power bats in the Mets, which is beyond me how that's happened. And then as far as, you know, a Glazius goes, he continues to get hits. Obviously you wanna keep Mark Vientos in the lineup as much as you can because he gives you that game-breaking power that few other bats offer in this lineup. But this team just becomes really deep and Carlis Mendoza's job gets harder. He's gonna have to mix and match more. But ultimately I think that's going to make this Mets team even better. So that should solve a lot of the issues with the lineup. And as far as Brett Beatty's concerned, I do think he plays a role in this team but that's as a September call up. He's getting a ton of time at second base so that just gives you another option. But I think he's probably more left-handed bat off the bench, occasional starter, just a guy that you wanna have back up in the fold when the rosters expand as probably the best player you can call on from Triple A. But I am doubtful that we see much of an impact from Beatty on the stretch. Now on the pitching front, getting Reid Garrett back the way he looked the other night, I think that was a huge addition for this bullpen. But at the same time, Ryan Stanek and Adam Montevino, all of a sudden look like guys who could be on the hot seat. Adam Montevino has avoided that for a long time. We talked about that the other day on this show, his comments to the media, an article by Mike Puma, just about how the Mets would be foolish to get rid of him. But he does bring a lot to the team and he has had a lot better run of success from June through July into parts of August. His last couple outings said that article went up, funny enough, had not been good. So I still think he's on the hot seat a little bit. But I think Ryan Stanek probably is even more so just because if you need to get Danielle Nunez or Sean Reid fully off the IL, you don't have as much invested in Stanek as you do Adam Montevino has been with this club all year and does have some leadership qualities. So I think Stanek is on thin ice right now, just considering how bad he's pitched. And getting a Danielle Nunez back at some point is going to provide a huge lift to this bullpen if they can get to a stretch where it's Diaz Garrett throwing the ball well, Jose Budo and Danielle Nunez as your top four in the pen. I think you got a pretty good bullpen, especially with Phil Maiton as your fifth, all of a sudden I sort of like what the Mets got. So I think that's where they're at right now. You still don't know when Nunez is gonna start pitching in games. Next step for him is a bullpen, which should happen on Monday. So we'll see how that goes. If he ends up facing live batter soon and then ends up on a rehab assignment, getting Nunez back is gonna provide a huge lift. Sean Reid Foley is on a rehab assignment, but he's still just not quite right yet. So I'm not entirely sure if we're gonna see an effective Sean Reid Foley this year, just because of sort of the murky situation there where Reid Garrett beat him back and the Mets are just saying that they want to see how he keeps responding, hoping there's no pain, can he pitch back to backs. That does lead you to believe that there might be some more going on there. Beyond the bullpen, the starting rotation feels pretty set right now, but I talked about this on yesterday's show how I wanted to spend a little time today on Mike Vassal because he has absolutely pitched himself into the conversation if the Mets need to grab a starter. He has been very good over his last 10 starts. Had another good outing on Saturday where it was a quality start, went six innings, he allowed just two runs on four hits and one walk, and he struck out eight. So he really has started to turn a corner in these past 10 starts. Mike Vassal has gone six innings or more, seven times out of 10. This is a guy that prior to June 26th, which was the second start of this 10 start stretch, he had not gone six all year. So now he has locked into something where he's able to navigate lineups and pitch duper into games. That is a very welcome sign. This is a guy that has had over a year now to try to figure out Triple A, and it has taken every bit of that time to get to this point, but now all of a sudden he is doing it and those 10 starts, he's throwing 55 innings. So you're averaging five and a half innings to start. That's really good. He has a three, seven, six ERA. If it was my decision and we had to see either Vassal or McGill make a spot start at some point, I'd prefer to see Vassal because we've been down the McGill Road a million times. Do I think the Mets would go to Vassal over McGill? Probably not. And last McGill just starts pitching horribly in Syracuse and he was in the middle of a game tonight. I can't remember how many innings they got to before the game was suspended, but he had allowed two runs and either three or four innings. He hasn't been that impressive down there, McGill, but he has 61 MLB starts and he's on the 40-man roster. Probably will keep him ahead of Vassal on the depth chart whenever they might need an arm, but I did want to acknowledge that Vassal has really shaken off what was a bad start to this season. He's throwing the ball better and he's pitching himself into the conversation. Next year, he'd have a chance potentially to win a fifth starter spot in spring training. Wouldn't be likely to, but he'd be in that mix with how he's throwing the ball lately. And that's a good sign because there's nothing else if he finishes off this year strong and the Mets need to make a trade this off season. Mike Vassal can probably get you a little bit of something. He's not going to be the headliner for a big trade, but can he be the second or third piece in the deal? Absolutely. All right, that's going to be all for today's show. Monday's an off day for the Mets. They will try to get back on track starting this Tuesday. On tomorrow's show, I will break down the road ahead. Preview that series coming up against the A's. Talk about a lot more, so make sure you tune into that. If you're listening on the audio side, follow rate review wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching on YouTube, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button, try to get to 10,000 subs by the end of the season. So I appreciate all of you who continue to subscribe. If you follow me on X, I think we'll stein Ryan, follow the show at lockdown, Mets. If you want to be locked on Mets insider, finally, link in the apps in the description or go to subtext.com/lockedonmets. Thank you for making lockdown Mets. You're first listening to your first watch every day. Now, for your second watch, head over to YouTube and check out the first ever 24/7 streaming channel that covers everything, the world of sports. Talking about lockdown sports today, which you can again find streaming 24/7 on YouTube, as well as on Amazon Fire TV. - A prime member. You can listen to this lockdown podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. (upbeat music)