Centerfield

Hey. That’s not bad. Three well pitched games. Won 2 of 3. Even in a lost season it’s good to beat Atlanta.

Lotta pitches that inning for Scott. But he gets through it. Showing some toughness.

It’s funny that I hate the Braves so much. But I like their uniforms.

I wonder if the fact that there are fewer sellers will cause these deals to happen right before the deadline. A seller can just hold and wait for a higher offer. With more sellers, a buyer can say "if you don't do this now, I'm going to get my LHRP elsewhere". But if there's no elsewhere, there's no downside to holding.

Ok. I’m convinced. Let’s run it back next year. Same exact team.

Keith and Ron not happy that the Braves left this kid out there to get rocked. I see where they’re coming from. Not sure how bad a shape Weiss’s bullpen is in, but this is not good for the game.

Also. What if Daniel Duarte is good. Or is he Austin Warren.

We were at Japanese Heritage night on Friday. The posters had Matsui. Shinjo. Even Hisanori Takahashi. No sign of Senga.

Trade him. Obviously. Kidding aside, or nothing. If he finishes with a .712 OPS then he’s just a rookie with upside. If he manages to get his OPS to the high 700s then you feel good about him for next year.

Maybe we'll trade Marcus Semien.

I like the kid a lot. And I wouldn't be looking to move him either. He's often cited as one of the bright spots of the 2026 season, and a cornerstone of future Mets teams. Does his production warrant being untouchable? Overall, he's had an ok season. .712 OPS, 11 HR, 1.8 WAR. The numbers don't jump out. But a lot of that is marred by his terrible start (.525 OPS in March/April). If you remove his terrible March/April, his OPS since is pretty good: May: .801 OPS June: .750 OPS July: .748 OPS A guy who puts up a mid to upper 700s OPS and plays great defense is a pretty good asset to have. His lefty-righty splits are pretty close. .717 OPS against RHP. .697 vs. LHP. Small sample size, but I think it's encouraging that his splits don't suggest he'll be a future platoon player. Michael Conforto put up much better numbers as a rookie, but his splits gave some insight into his future (.872 vs. RHP, .481 vs. LHP). He's stolen 16 bases, while only being caught twice. So if his power develops, maybe he can be a 20/20 player. One thing he doesn't do, is hit doubles. Only 13 on the season, only 4 since June 1, and one of them was that bullshit throw behind him so he moved up play. I don't know. I can't put my finger on it. I'm high on AJ Ewing. Less convinced about Benge. Hopefully he proves me wrong the next two months.

It may be a little early to revisit this trade. But roughly 100 games in, things are not looking good. This trade was a bad contract for a bad contract. It was just a matter of who's going to beat the aging curve. 2026 Numbers: Brandon Nimmo. .764 OPS. 2.0 WAR. Marcus Semien. .607 OPS. -0.8 WAR. Nimmo isn't an All-Star, but those numbers aren't terrible for $20M. He would have been one of the best hitters in the Mets lineup. Meanwhile, Semien is shot. He failed to put up numbers even as good as last year, and now his defense is gone as well. So let's assume this is Nimmo's last productive year. Starting next year, he will have 4 years, $82M remaining on his contract. The Mets threw in $6M, so the total money they'd have to eat is $76M, spread out over the next four years. The Mets, on the other hand, took on Semien with 3 years, $72M left on his contract. Semien was terrible, so the Mets are basically eating that entire contract. Plus, they took on that additional $6M, so that brings the total to $78M. $78M over three years, versus $76M over four years. Safe to say the Mets already lost this trade. If Nimmo continues his production through next year, or even through 2028, then the deal gets even worse for the Mets. In hindsight, the better play would have been to retain Nimmo, not sign Polanco, and let Brandon be the DH/1B. I get that we have no idea of Brandon can play 1B, but we're in August, and we still don't know if Polanco can either.

I’ve joked before that it’s crazy to think that Eric Chavez was the only thing holding this ship together last year. And Eric Chavez is a moron. imagine if we got competent coaches this year instead of whatever crap we brought in.

I still believe a competent coaching staff can unlock his talent.

Bad defense. Bad fundamentals. Poor performance across the roster from nearly every player. I don’t know goes on behind the scenes but the results are among the worst I can remember.

I agree with being cautious. Calf injuries can lead to Achilles problems. Was probably dumb to let him try to play through it.

The Clay Holmes situation is complex. It’s not just “is the prospect we get back better than the comp pick we’d get for the QO”. By offering the QO, the Mets dampen his market, ultimately making it more likely that we resign him. I think the proper question to ask is whether the prospect(s) you get back are worth forfeiting the competitive advantage you get to resign him. Take Michael King for example. I think the Mets potentially sign him last winter to a short term deal if not for the QO.

Lifeless game. No energy from the crowd tonight except from Dodgers fans. Stearns has really just turned this franchise into a joke.

Skinny. Hits from the left side. Exactly what you’d expect from Benny’s offspring.

I feel like the Mets did something similar last year, albeit from higher overall numbers, before a hot August got them back to normal. I’ve never felt “clutch” was anything more than random luck from year to year. But this makes you wonder.

I don’t know how everyone missed the story that came out this week about the Mets use of an AI program for in-game decisions and how this led to a ban of such use. And since it’s reported that roughly a third of baseball teams were guilty of this, that means yes, Stearns is different than his counterparts on other teams. I mean, there was an actual MLB rule change and you’re accusing me of fabricating a narrative. Is he on the phone making the decisions in real time? Probably not. Does he spell out specific protocol to be followed? Almost undoubtedly yes. Is he handing out IPads and saying hey use this program when making decisions? Proven yes. You talk about “input from all those connected to those decisions”. Like I mentioned in my prior post, there’s a difference between a guy that says “are you crazy? Putting Baty in the OF is stupid” and a guy that says “great idea!” They just fired a “great idea” guy. It’s not outlandish for me to think they’ll hire another one. And maybe you think Mendoza wasn’t a “great idea” guy. Maybe you think it was Mendoza that went to Stearns and said “hey look at this cool AI program I found”. I said earlier why I think that isn’t the case. But if you want to cite to examples of Mendy’s autonomy and fierce independence I’m all ears.

I can't speak for Radar. What I meant is that I believe the manager will be a "yes man" for Stearns, rather than someone who acts autonomously, or even pushes back against his directives. And I understand that in today's game, there are few, if any, that act autonomously, but on the spectrum of autonomous to yes man, I think the new hire will be closer to "yes man". And I think there's plenty of evidence that Stearns controls, or at least has a say, in the in-game decisions. There is direct evidence, including the story that broke this week about the Mets use of AI Ipad programs. There are the post-game press conferences where Mendoza is asked about a player decision (one example is whether Senga would stay in the rotation), and Mendoza cites the need to have conversations with the front office, and how that decision will be made collectively. And there is David Stearns himself stating in his post-2025 season press conference that he has a say in every decision made in the organization. There is anecdotal evidence, from anonymous sources, to guys like Eric Chavez and Adam Ottovino. And you can give that evidence whatever credibility you want, but it's still evidence. And there's tons of circumstantial evidence. Like Stearns immediately firing the veteran manager and hiring the guy with no experience, who is less likely to push back. There are the personalities of David Stearns (again, the "every decision" guy), and Carlos Mendoza, who is without a doubt a very nice guy, but perhaps the epitome of yes man. There is Stearns full-throated support of Mendoza, and Cohen ultimately describing his firing as a "mercy firing". There is Zac Thornton being sent down after shutting out the Phillies, and the fact that two separate managers thought it was a good idea to play Brett Baty in the OF. I think if you're weighing the evidence, there's so much more that points to Mendoza being a puppet than having actual autonomy, or even having sufficient authority to push back. And I'm not naive enough to think we're going to hire Jim Leyland who would tell a GM to fuck off if he ever told him how to manage, but I do think part of the reason we are here is because there's no one in the organization that will push back on David Stearns and say "WTF are you doing. Why are you playing Baty in RF". Or "David, why are you changing the arm angle of Jonah Tong when everyone in baseball feels it's his arm angle that makes him special". Everyone needs checks and balances.

yup

Just tuning in. guys. What if Zac Thornton is good.

Looks like I picked a bad game to tune into. Turning the channel now. Good luck guys.