Episode 749 - Bo Bichette Has His Mets Moment

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3:12Rico Bronia. I'm Evan Roberts. The Mets take two out of three against the San Francisco giants. He didn't look that way. Sunday was dicey with the offense being completely steamy until a dramatic rally in the eighth inning, capped off by a three-run home run by Boba Shett, and the Mets take a series loss and turn it into a victory as they went two out of three against one of the few teams in baseball that has a worst record than the New York Mets. There aren't a lot of them, but the giants are one of them. The Mets cap off what was a successful season against San Francisco. If you remember way back at the very beginning of this year, the Mets went to California. It was one of their first road trips of the year. In fact, I think it was their very first road trip of the year. They went to San Francisco and they won three out of four. That was the High Watermark. Believe it or not. The High Watermark of this dreadful season was winning three out of four against the San Francisco Giants. And here we are many months later, Labor Day weekend,

4:12the Mets are out of it, the giants are out of it. Both teams are very different. And the Mets win the series two out of three. We'll go over all three games. We'll break down some of the decisions that have been made, including the return of Jonah Tongue, the farewell to Jeffrey Yan. So we got a lot to talk about on this edition of the Rico, Bronia. I think the defining thing of this three game series against San Francisco were the young pitchers. This was a series in which we got to see. I don't know if I should call them the big three, but the three youngins that we are to different levels excited about. Nolan McLean, Zach Thornton and Christian Scott. And I think all of them gave you completely different performances. We'll go back to Friday, the opener of this series with Nolan McLean's outing. I think most times you look at the results and say, that's all that matters. It really doesn't mean that much how you got there. Like if you give up six, two runs and six innings and you cruise through the first five and two thirds, but then you give up a two run

5:17home run at the end of it, it's still six innings, two runs. Nolan McLean gave us a very creative way to get the six innings, two runs, which I know six innings, three runs is the definition of a quality start, but a real quality started six innings, two runs. That's a three ERA versus a four and a half ERA. Nolan McLean gave us the kind of performance that is frustrating because of his lack of command and the kind of trouble he worked himself in, but also really exciting because something Nolan has shown us since he got to the major leagues a little over a year ago is his ability to wiggle out of trouble, his ability to make the big pitch when he needed to. And in Friday night's game against San Francisco, that was really the definition of his outing. He had a couple of innings in this game. I mean, really three innings of the six that he threw that could have derailed this performance completely. And it really started in the third inning, which was not a good inning for him. There's one out of nobody on. He's fathing the ninth place

6:19hitter in Christian cause. So at this point was a light hitting shortstop. He would leave this series as Troy Tulawitsky, but he came into this game and in this moment as a 200 hitter with one home run and five RBIs more on that pain in the ass known as Christian's costs a little bit later on. But the inning in the third derailed because Nolan McLean had a tough time commanding. Now it was a three two pitch. So it was a battle with Christian cause, but he walked the ninth place hitter. And he did it with a big lead. We'll get to the meta offense in a little bit, but the meta offense jumped all over. What were they calling him tugboat Wilkinson? Boy, hey, love calling him that nickname, tugboat Wilkinson. Basically, Matt Wilkinson is chunky. And I think that's why Gary just loved calling him tugboat, even though that was his nickname, tugboat Wilkinson. Mitch jumped all over him, which we'll get to in a little bit, but I want to focus on my claim to start. He has a seven nothing lead. It's the top of the third inning. He has a chance to have a really

7:25kind of easy victory. Let's face it. You have yourself a big lead, throw strikes, pound the strike zone. Maybe give up a couple of runs, but you should at least be efficient. And he issues the walk to the ninth place hitter Christian costs. And we didn't realize what he would later do in this series. Then he gives up a base hits a Drew Gilbert and then Rafael Devers, who was, I mean, you couldn't get him out in this series. Rips a two run double. And from that moment, a seven nothing game becomes seven to two, but what the danger is from a claim is if you throw too many pitches and that pitch count was elevating now with the trouble he got himself into, how deep into this game are you going to even go? He gets a strike out of Bryce Eldridge, works around the walk and then gets a ground out of Jungholy. But now you see McLean's pitch count elevated and you see the danger that not that he's going to lose this game. No, you never know. Seven to two game in the fourth inning is certainly not over, but McLean could really labor.

8:25And what is he doing the fourth thing? First two guys get on base and he has to work out a trouble again. And that just throw a lot of pitches, but have to throw a lot of high stress pitches. But he did a great job getting out of it. Two on nobody out in the fourth inning. He works his way out of it, but what really defined McLean and I thought I was curious if Andy Green was going to tell no one McLean when he got into his trouble in the fifth inning. Screw it. I'm taking you out. Your pitch count is exploding or would Andy Green do what he's done a lot so far since he's taken over, which is challenge the young arms. In the fifth inning at this point, it is still seven to two. He's facing the middle of the order. He falls behind Rafael Devers gives up a double. He walks price Eldridge and I thought this was probably the most inexcusable thing McLean did in this game. He walked them on four pitches. You have a five run lead in the fifth inning. And it shows you that one area of McLean's game that he obviously needs to clean up moving forward is his lack of

9:29command. Like if you ask me right now and he's had a good rookie year, it feels like we're grading him on such a high curve. He may well win rookie of the year, but we're grading him tough because the expectations were so high for him coming into this season created by himself with the way he pitched at the end of last year. But if there's one critical thing McLean needs to clean up is his lack of command. And it isn't just shown in walks, which is an elevated number. It just shows with falling behind hitters, being in situations in which you should just be attacking the strike zone five run lead one on nobody out in the fifth inning. That's where you have to attack price Eldridge and he walked them on four pitches. And then he gives up the base hit to Turner Hill and the bases are loaded and there's nobody out. And this game is now starting to become a little suspect. It's in jeopardy. You have a five run lead bases loaded nobody out. They sit away from this being a very close game, a home run away from it being a one run game. And this is where Nolan McLean really stepped up. He

10:34put his foot on the gas and turned in what I think overall you could define as an impressive outing because he got to that magic six sitting to run. But with bases loaded nobody out and a pitch count sitting in the eighties in the fifth inning. I don't know what kind of odds you would have got that he's going to get to the six innings two runs. He needs to get six outs and his pitch counts in the mid eighties. And there's bases loaded nobody out. He strikes out. Jung Holy. I think that was on three pitches too. And then he gets Drew Kavanaugh the backup catcher to bounce into a nifty lead turned four six three double play. And I was curious because McLean was pumped up as he should be. How can you not be bases loaded nobody out. You find your way through it. So between the excitement he showed coming off the mound, the pitch count being at 94, the meds coming off an off day. So you have yourself a fresh bullpen. I was fully expecting that Nolan McLean's outing was

11:41done. And what would I say on the reek. Go ahead say, all right. You know, we got to five. I expect more. But fine. He only gave up two runs. But Andy Green allowed him to pitch the six innings. And the story they're telling or at least the story Nolan McLean told and Steve Gell was followed up on was that Nolan went to Andy and said, give me one more inning. And Andy said back to him, I'll give you three hitters. And Nolan McLean, the stuff that legends are made of. I say this with half a laugh. I mean, it's September or the month for a million games under 500 legends are not made there. But legends are born there. Legends develop there. Nolan McLean says back to Andy Green, I only get three batters. That's all I need. And he proceeded granted against the bottom of the Giants order, not exactly household names when it's Osleves, Basabe and Nate Furman and Christian Koss. But he proceeds to barely break a sweat, throw 11 pitches to do it and pitch a one, two,

12:48three, six inning. So he got there in an impressive way. He got there in a dare I say ballsy way. And so the final script on Nolan McLean was he did his job because in this day and age, six innings, two runs, that's fantastic. That's that's the perfect outing in 2026. If we're being honest, you know, I know a lot of met fans, I'll be one of them and we'll debate it during the off season. They're going to fight about tarryx school ball and what tarryx school ball. I'm telling you right now, if the meds get tarryx school ball be ecstatic. There's going to be a lot of six inning to run performances. If I went to his game logs over the last two years, I'd venture to say, that's half this outings. So I'm okay with six innings, two runs. How McLean got there though was, it was gutsy, man, bases loaded. Nobody out in the fifth inning, granted it's a big lead, granted it's the giant offense. It is still not easy to get those six outs the way he did. And

13:53to do it in an efficient enough way to allow, or for Andy Green to allow McLean to come out and pitch the sixth inning. And he did. So Nolan McLean delivers a six inning to run. I can't call to Jim. I can't call it a masterpiece, but it was gutsy. And it was helped out by the fact that the med offense was wonderful in this game. They attacked tugboat Wilkinson and they did it right from jump credit to Mark Vientos. I will not be fooled. I will not be fooled. I will not be fooled by what Mark Vientos does in the final month of the season. But he did what he's done rather well this season when he plays. He hit a left hand pitcher and he hits the three run home run that set the tone for the game after Lindor led off with a hit and Boba Shatt drew a walk and they piled up. Francisco Alvarez hit a home run and then Boba Shatt I thought put, I don't want to see the icing on the cake because it's the second inning, but the icing on really a big offensive onslaught

14:55against Wilkinson with the two run home run that he pulled over the left center field fence to give them a seven nothing lead. So it was good to see the offense mash. Let me focus on Alvarez briefly because Francisco would go on and hit another home run later in this game. He now has 15 home runs 36 RBIs with the average in the two thirties. Francisco Alvarez has not blossomed into probably the guy we had hoped for. He hasn't blossomed into the next Mike Piazza. He hasn't blossomed into a star. His defense. It feels like it's been stymied has actually gone backwards this season. He's not great at blocking balls on the dirt. He's not great at throwing guys out at second base. I wouldn't say he's an atrocious defensive catcher, but I'd say he's a below average defensive catcher. At least that's the way he played this season. But I have to remind everybody while he is overall at disappointment. And I think that's okay to say the catching around baseball is so bad

16:00that when the knee jerk reaction is, well, they've got to get rid of him. Just understand that while I'm not preaching, he's going to be a star or he's going to develop. But what he is right now as streaky as he is, as inconsistent as he is. And it's nice to see him hit a couple of home runs in September because the way he was looking for a while, it could have been a horrible end to this season. But in judging Alvarez, we not only have to judge him around what we expect from him and the disappointment that he's been, which is all fair, but we have to also judge him on there aren't many catchers that are better. And so if you're in a rush to trade him or cut ties with him and by cutting ties, it's trading him. Obviously, he'd have enough value to where you get something back. Understand you have to replace him. And what I'd argue in favor of Alvarez is that because the Mets have such a solid backup catcher in Luis Terenz that I'd put the Mets one to punch of

17:06Alvarez and Terenz. And we can kind of divvy back and forth on the playing time and how it should be mixed up. But that's a pretty damn good catching tandem. I'm not fooled by him hitting two home runs in a game in September. I'm just reminding everybody that there aren't exactly a lot of better options. But he hits two home runs. And the Mets has a team hit five home runs, including Lendor going deep in the sixth inning of this game. And the Mets go on and win this game 10-6. It did get a little dicey because after Nolan McLean left after six, Jeffrey Jan came into this game and he struggled, which I guess to skip ahead because Jan pitched Friday and Saturday, which will get into ultimately these performances led him to being sent down. And I'm sorry, you can't be surprised. Would I have sent him down? The answer is no. I would have kept him up here because I look at this as an audition. I think he's got potential. And it's not just because of the

18:07celebrations, which he's clearly toned down. We don't see him jumping up and down. We see him dancing a little bit, little shimmy. But we also haven't seen the velocity. Like his debut a month ago, he was still in 99. He was touching 100. Hasn't been the case since. But he was shaky. He comes into this game with a very comfortable lead. I mean, it's nine to two. You feel okay about it. And he puts a bunch of guys on base gives up a base hit to turn her hill. But more importantly, doesn't get the three outs in the seventh inning. They've got to go to Austin Warren, who comes in, gets an out and then runs into trouble in the eighth inning, including giving up a three run home run to Rafael Devers. It got to the point where Kodai sang a hat to come into this game. We also saw Robert stock after the Devers home run. And he made this game. I think it was eight to nine to six at this point when Devers set the home run. Nine six ballgame with two outs in the eighth

19:09inning. So hold safe situation. Robert stock out of the bullpen. Hey, go. That's what I want to see. That's how I want Robert stock used. Let's throw him an audition out of the bullpen. And he kind of gave you a mixed result. He gave up a 0-2 double the Bryce Eldridge before he got Turner Hill to fly out to right field. So we got an out face two batters, whatever. And even though the bets had the insurance from an Alva resist second home run, I've talked about this a bit, going to closers with a four run lead. Why it makes sense. Once you have the closer warming up, and I apologize. I'm going to be repetitive. I think I said this on the last week. Oh, and talking about going to sangle with a four run lead. The reason you go to him is he's warming up because it's a three run game. So you're already kind of using a half a bullet by even warming him up. And if you don't go to him in a four run game, all it's going to take is a guy or two to get on before you say us crude. I'm going to go to him anyway. So instead of messing around, just go to him. Baseball is

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21:16money down financing and lightning fast shipping, so you weren't stuck waiting months for your furniture to arrive. Plus, Bob's still makes furniture shopping fun, with friendly associates and cafes full of free treats and ice cream. Wanna see for yourself? Stop into your local Bob's store this Labor Day weekend to party it up like it's 1991, and celebrate 35 years of doing things the Bob's way. And he came in, did his typical thing, put a guy on with a walk after two outs, and then got Nate Furman to ground out. The meds take game one of this series against Matt Tugboat Wilkinson, and Nolan McLean, if you're one that cares about wins, wins his eleventh game of the season, keeps his ERA at 3.06, and continues to really strengthen his case to be the nationally rookie of the year. The way we view our rookies could be very different than the way writers view our rookies, because it's a stats game, and it's very difficult to take a right

22:21fielder like Carson Bench, an infielder like Sal Stewart, and then a pitcher like Nolan McLean and say, let's compare them. I'm trying to remember who it was in 2019. For some reason, I think it was Mike Soroka of the Atlanta Braves, but there was another candidate for rookie of the year outside of Pete, and it was a pitcher, and he was having a really good year. And I remember even admitting it, saying, look, Pete's the rookie of the year, he put up historic numbers, sure. But how the hell do you compare for an award that's not based on values, or not debating the MVP award, which is debating the best rookie? How the heck do you take a starting pitcher, and then a sluggish first baseman, and a really good all-around player who plays right field? And don't tell me war, because we all know it's flawed. So I think, and the reason I say this is I think, and I guess we could do this unofficially via the Rico Malback, or maybe I'll put a poll out on social media. If I ask Met fans, who's the rookie of the year? And I only gave you our guys.

23:26Like, who's the Met's rookie of the year? We actually have that award during the off-season Rico. A few days after the season ends, it'll be the third year we do this. We have an award show. We hand out our MVP, we hand out our Saiyung, we hand out our rookie there, just for the Met's. The Met's rookie of the year may be different than who the National League, or the baseball riders vote on. But I think to Met fans, and this is my hypothesis, I think Met fans would say Carson Bench, and I don't know if that's based on to Met fans. It's like this subconscious that he wasn't here last year, and Nolan McLean was. It's almost like a negative thing to McLean. Well, he's a rookie, but he made a handful of starts last year, or maybe it's the expectations about, I'm not sure. I don't know the reason, but I really think if I put that pull out there, and I will, Met fans would say Carson Bench, but the riders may say Nolan McLean. The other thing about Friday

24:28night's victory, a couple of other small notes, Wonsoto Played Left Field, for the first time. I wasn't sure how often the Met's would use him in the outfield, or just DHM, but they wanted to get some DHF ads from Mark Viento, so Soto Played Left Field. He was fine out there. There was nothing noticeably good or bad. It was also WWE night, which is to shame I missed, but I did see the picture comps that they used on theme nights. They'll take that theme and they'll put the Met player and the lineup over somebody. So in this case, it's professional wrestlers. Wonsoto was the undertake or fine. My big issue, if you haven't seen it, is that the tribal chief, the heavyweight champion of the world, Roman Reigns, was Christopher Morel. You made Christopher Morel the tribal chief. Come on, man. What are we doing? Anyhow, the other noticeable thing from the opener of this series is that yes, Matt Wilkinson is a lefty, sure, but AJ Ewing was not in the lineup.

25:32The Met's decided with his slump, let's give him 48 hours off. And since we know the results on today's Rico, before we get in the game too, we can say it worked. Let's get to game two. And I mentioned at the top, it was a mix of the kids and how they performed in the rotation. Nolan McLean gave you that really solid, gutsy effort. Get enough to beat the giants in the opener. We saw the worst of Zach Thornton. We did. He gave up home run after home run after home run after home run. And it looked for a while like Zach Thornton was actually going to put together a fine back of the rotation kind of performance. He gives up the first inning home run to Rafael Devers. The Met's get it right back to when he's later when the aforementioned AJ Ewing in his first at bat, since the 48 hour break lines a two run home run into the seats and right. And then we see Zach Thornton almost immediately give that lead back to the eight and nine hitters when he

26:37gives up a base hit to Crant McCray and a home run to Christian costs as Christian costs was about to take over this series. Where things went to hell for Zach Thornton was even after the home run to Devers and even after giving back the lead and giving up the home run to Christian costs. It's a three to two game. And if you could at least give me five innings and you give up three runs, it's certainly not a great performance, but fine. You kept your team in the game. It's not awesome. It's not great. We played that game with the ERA earlier, but for a back of the rotation arm, it's a keep you in the game. Conor performance. And if that's going to be your worst performance of five innings three run outing, fine. As long as you can mix in some good ones, I'll live with that every once in a while. After Thornton gives up the two run home run to costs, he gets the next three hitters in the third, the next three hitters in the fourth and the first two hitters of the fifth.

27:37He's retired eight in a row. There were two outs in the fifth inning. His pitch count is in the low seventies. And now Zach Thornton, if he can get Christian costs out the ninth play center, he's going to get the seventh, he's going to get the sixth. And so he can give you the definition of the quality start according to the statistical manual, a six inning three run outing. And he just lost it. It was crazy. It happened so fast. A three to two game with Thornton having retired eight in a row went the hell as fast as you'll ever see. First pitch home, first pitch home run to Christian costs gets ahead of Jonah Cox. Oh, and two gives up a base hit. First pitch two run home run the other way by Davers. And it's like, what the hell just happened? What? What? So he gives up two home runs in three batters, two home runs in four pitches. And the game just,

28:37it just fell out of reach. And it turned what was a borderline acceptable, okay performance by Zach Thornton. And it turned into one of his worst performances as a starter. That was his 12th major league start. And his ERA went up by about a half a run. Not goodbye, Zach Thornton. It is very tough to win a game in which you your team. This wasn't all Zach, but your team allows seven home runs, six home runs. I want to get that right. Six home runs. Devers twice, cost twice, uh, Bazzabay late and McCray late. And the Metz let the game absolutely slip. It couldn't hit Anthony Malena. They had some opportunities in this game, uh, really in the seventh inning against the giant bullpen when they had the bases loaded with one out and Francisco Alvarez struck out. And then after a walk to Bati Lendor came up in a big spot and grounded out. So there are a few offensive opportunities, but this was defined by Zach Thornton.

29:39Jeffrey Yann, who we mentioned earlier, struggled in game one of this series came into a game in the Afinning in which it's six to three. I mean, the Metz are in it. They had just scored a run on the bases loaded walk by Bati. That was the ining where I just mentioned Alvarez strikes out. Lendor grounds out all with the bases loaded, blowing this awesome offensive opportunity, but it's six three in the eighth. The game is not over. And Jeffrey Young comes in and after walking Bryce Eldridge gives up a two run home run to Bazzabay. And that may have just sealed Jeffrey Yann's fate on this major league roster because he gets sent down the next day, barring injury can't come up for 10 more days. So you're looking now final two weeks of the season. If Jeffrey Yann gets a return visit up here, we even saw just an Hagenman come out of the bullpen. He gives up a home run. And while yeah, the Metz offense didn't do enough and failed with their big opportunities. It was a bag star by Zach Thornton. It was a bad performance by Jeffrey Yann.

30:46The positive was AJ. You only got on base three times at that home run drew a couple of walks. Brett Bati had a two run double as they tried to put together the Fugazee rally late. But they were unable to really rough day by Lindor. He was old for five at the plate. Not a good day for him. Not a good day for Zach Thornton. Juan Soto and Boba Shet did nothing. It's very difficult when one two three four of your batting order, which in the case of Saturday was Lindor, Soto, Boshet and Benj. They actually went a combined old for 17. Very, very tough to win a game when that happens. And so the Metz lose game two of this series behind a very mediocre performance by Zach Thornton. Now the good news was if you went to the game, you got to see really nothing. You got to see a lot of home runs. That's what you got. Think about it. Metz at a home run. Giant sits six. You saw seven home runs. And apparently there

31:48was a really cool giveaway of Mrs. Met playing tennis. But the other thing you were able to do if you went to the game was not going out of the park with Takarachu. Hi, which is a sparkling cocktail that blends real show two spirits with the delicious flavors of fruits locally grown in Japan available at city field and Fuji Apple. Of course, white peach and lemon before we get to game three. I want to address something that was on everybody's mind if you watch these three games. And I'm pretty sure what was on your mind was Raphael Devers. Raphael Devers hit two home runs in game two of this series. The game we just talked about driving in three runs. He drove in five runs in the opener of this series with two doubles at a home run. And I'm sure you probably then gandered Devers' numbers and said, wow, 35 home runs 91 RBIs. Where are we on this? And we talked much earlier in this season. I couldn't even tell you the episode number. I'm sure

32:50our archivist Dan could, but we talked a little bit about Devers when it became obvious that the giants were open to moving him as well as some of the other bad contracts on their team. And while Raphael Devers can still hit and those numbers show it to you 35 and 90 and his home games are not exactly the most friendly hitters ballpark. While he can still hit the biggest concern about Devers, there's two. There's two reasons why despite looking at his bat this week and saying, my god, would he not be perfect for this lineup? There were two things we have to keep in mind if we're going to have an open and honest discussion about Raphael Devers. Number one, I'm not even going to say his contract. I'll wait on that. His defense and where he pictures to be long-term. And I guess that does kind of connect to the contract because if you trade for Raphael Devers, understand he's on your team through 2033. He is now a first baseman. I think for this team, for this met team,

33:53that would be the position he played. Now right now, they don't have a first baseman. We could all love Jared Young as much as we want. I think he's ideally a bad off the bench. He's not your first baseman. Raphael Devers next season is going to be 30 years old, certainly a reasonable age. And so for age 30 and 31 and even 32, I think you could look at him at the first at the first baseman and say totally fine. He should get better. Maybe he'll never be a go-glover. He may never be a Pete Alonzo, but he could at least play the position on somewhat competent of a level. The problem you run into is now it's 2030 and he's 33 years old and he's likely a DH. And considering the contract that Wantsoto has and even the contract that Lindor has, you only have one DH. Are you okay because Devers again is signed through 2033. 2030 he's 33, 2031 he's 34, 2032,

34:56he's 35, 2033 the last year of his contract. He is 36 years old. Now all the while he's making 28.5, which kind of reasonable. It's not the amount of money. It's the years. And it's figuring the position that he'll play over the course of those years. In the right now, in the can he help the Mets in 2027, 20, of course he can. And even with his numbers being down, I'm trying to remember what I thought back then when he was struggling. I don't think I ever thought he was done. And again, our archive is Dan could double check that that's what I was saying here on the RICO and even on WFF. And I don't think I ever thought he was done. But I probably looked at that contract and I looked at his position and I looked at one so don't and I said, how does this fit? And that remains the same. He will be available during the off season. I think it's worth a conversation because his

35:56offense is something the Mets do need. The Mets have not scored enough runs this season. That's the facts. Those are the numbers. David Sterns at his press conference on Friday said he hasn't yet revealed the biggest thing the Mets need to fix in 2027. Well, I hope you because I said the same thing last year and I'll say it again. So I guess I was right. So, let me. You need to score more runs. You didn't score enough runs in 2025. The pitching wasn't good. I get it. It struggled down the stretch. They did not score enough runs. I thought that was the problem last year. And I think this year it's the same thing. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial decisions.

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39:07So clearly a guy like Devers and the 35 home runs and the 95 RBI's and maybe even better numbers when you get him to city field, which is a better hitter's park than San Fran is, and you get him in this lineup, he could be 40 and 100. No doubt. But the world doesn't end in two years. It doesn't. How what does 2031 look like? And I think that that is something you have to factor in. Let's get to the finale of this series. Christian Scott against Cesar Perdomo, making his first Major League start and his second Major League appearance. I mentioned how all the starts were different. Nolan McLean gave you that cut sea effort. Zach Thornton was bad. I don't know what to say about Christian Scott. He was given the extra rest and he came out and despite having to throw a lot of pitches early because Drew Gilbert gave him a long at bat and Rafael Devers gave him a long at bat. He retired the first 11 guys. And while we're tiring the first 11 guys, he struck out

40:10five of them. He was off to an unbelievable start. And then it felt like bad luck really got to him. He gives up the base hit the Bryce Eldridge. He's ahead of Jonah Cox and he gives up a little base hit to him a ground ball. Then the bloop to Jungho Lee was a bloop. It was a bleeder that leads to a two run single. And because of the aggressive throw by Benz to try to get Eldridge going first to third, which allowed Cox to go to second, that bloop instead of making a one nothing makes it to nothing. So he gives up the two runs after retiring the first 11 guys. And you don't feel that bad about it. He gets out of the inning. Okay. His pitch count is 67 through four. I was kind of gauging. All right. How long does Andy push him? They gave him the extra rest. So based on that, you could push him longer. And selfishly, I was hoping they would. I had picked up Christian Scott and fantasy last ditch effort to win my playoff week, which is not looking good.

41:13And so I was hoping Christian Scott could get me a quality start. That was always going to be tough sledding. But Scott then comes back for the fifth. Gives up a lead off hit the Drew Cavano and then gets a ground ball. The first that marked the end though boots. I mean, goes off his leg. No, I think it was off his glove. But he was thinking ahead to tagging first base and then throwing the second and trying to turn a double play something that giants actually pulled in the sixth inning of this game. The three unassisted, then three six three double play getting Lindor out. That kind of defense, though, is inexcusable. And I haven't watched Rafael Devers every day to bring it back to him. He cannot be as bad as Mark Vientos. Mark Vientos sucks defensively at first base. Any idea and Gary Cohen suggested it. I wanted to throw something at the TV when he said, I know metaphors aren't going to be happy. And then he proceeds to say, I can see a scenario where it's Vientos and young at first base. Okay, I can see that scenario too, Gary. But

42:16you know what? The scenario sucks. Yes, David Sterns may do that. He may say, you know what? Vientos hits lefties, young at a seven, seven, the OPS. There's your platoon at first base. We're good. Yeah, I could see that happening too. I don't like it. I won't be defending it. I'll root for it because what choice do we have is lose their fans, but I don't want it. So Scott gets the bad luck of the error and then strikes out Drew Gilbert with second and third and one out. He's now a batter away from getting through this. Now Devers is the hitter. You figured you'll walk him and he goes after Bryce Eldridge should define his start and Andy Green pulled him. Andy Green said, no, you're done. 80 pitches coming off the strike out of Gilbert and coming off of striking out Devers twice too. Keep that in mind. Not that I would have had Devers face Christian.

43:17Scott, I would have walked him, but just full transparency. Scott struck out Devers twice in the first and fourth inning, but he takes him out. So after giving Scott the extra days more than a week of rest, they go back to the conservative show with him and take him out and go to Nate Lavender. So Nate Lavender comes in. I actually didn't have an issue with facing Devers because much like if Scott faced Devers, even if though my gut says don't do it, I don't mind challenging the young player, whether it was Scott or Lavender against Rafael Devers. And I guess that's the moment. And I've had a few of these so far over the last few weeks where I put challenging a young player over winning the game because if you're trying to win the game, you're not facing Rafael Devers. If you are trying to learn about Nate Lavender or you're trying to challenge Christian Scott, then fine. Then they can face Rafael Devers, but Nate Lavender answered the call.

44:23He struck out Rafael Devers. Great work by Lavender. Great work by Jonathan Pintaro who comes in and gets six outs, including a great diving play by Carson Bench. Then we see the return of Tobias Myers who got the call for Jeffrey Young. He even gives you a scoreless inning. And then you get the drama of the eighth inning offense. Met offense did nothing in this game. They could not figure out Cesar Herdomo. And honestly, they didn't really have that many opportunities, like a one on, one out in the first, a caught stealing in the second lead off man on the third that didn't go anywhere. In fact, they didn't get a runner in scoring position until the seventh when Carson Bench had that one out double. And that ending went nowhere. Jared Young ground out, Marcus, Simion, fly it out. And so this two-nothing deficit that they were seeing since the fourth inning, it looked like it was going to hold up because the met offense was doing nothing. And then finally, we get that rally in the eighth inning that started on a home run by Brett

45:27Beatty. Brett Beatty ended up having a really good series. He didn't play in the second game of this series, but in the opener of this series, actually, it was the second game of the series, I should say. Beatty didn't play the opener, but in the second game of this series, he had that late double that tried to get the met's Fugazie rally in ninth, but he drove in three runs. He had to lead off home run to make it two to one. AJ Ewing. And this is where AJ Ewing is going to get some love for the Rico on the man right now, star of the series. He we begins the rally after the home run by Beatty with a base hit, completely agreed, bunting with Luis Turens. Lindor gets robbed of a little fly ball in a right field where Junho Lee makes a gray play. Soto gets walked after two pitches. They gave him the intentional after Seymour fell behind two and O and then Bulbashek delivered. Bulbashek delivered a, you want to call it a met moment on September 6th, the million games under 500. I wouldn't. I just call it a nice Sunday afternoon

46:29moment as he crushes the game winning three run home run in the bottom of the eighth, giving Kodai Senga the lead, the two run lead. Senga gets the three outs and the met's win the game. And Bulbashek and the metal offense do nothing for seven and two thirds innings, but at the very end comes through with a dramatic moment leaving the fans very, very happy. And I think making Bulbashek before I get to anybody else, Bulbashek is the man right now. Sometimes when we debate or argue via email or me talking in on microphone or Pete Hoffman, we always bring up the numbers of what a guy did over the course of a series to see are they the man right now? Bulbashek was three for eleven. Doesn't jump out at you, but he hits the home run that really blew open game one. And then he hits the home run that completely changes the finale

47:32of this series. The met's lose this series without the big swing by Bulbashek. So there are a lot of other guys I'll mention now as honorable mentions for the Rico on the man right now, but to me it's clearly Bulbashek. Without his swing without that moment, the met's lose this series. He ends up driving in five runs. He hits the two home runs. I mentioned the winning game one blew the game open. The two run home run that he hit. It made it seven nothing and they were going to need a lot of that. It's not like they won the game 15 to two. So he starts game one strong and he finishes game three strong, but there are some other guys that deserve a lot of credit. I mentioned Brett Bady. Brett Bady only played in two of these three games. He went two for four. He had a home run. He drove in four runs. I think he deserves a lot of credit. I think that Nolan McLean for the gutsy outing he gave in game one. Cody Senga for protecting two leads. A four run leading game one, but then the many a skill two run lead in game three pitches two score

48:35listening. I think he deserves a lot of credit. But the man right now is Bulbashek. And believe it or not Bulbashek has now moved into sole possession of second place on the Rico on the man right now list this season. This will be his fifth award this year for Fasotto for from a claim. The leader continues to be Carson Benj with eight now the net negative. Jeffrey Yon's a candidate. I mean, Jeffrey young was so bad in these first two games and they were sort of pivotal moments that he got sent down. That's how bad things went for Jeffrey. He comes in with a big lead, a nine to two lead in the seventh inning can only get two outs which forces Austin warn to have to come into this game and eventually Robert stock to come in this game and then even eventually code I sang it. It didn't hurt them the next day. But Yon comes in with a blowout and doesn't do well

49:35including issue in a walk, which to me is completely unacceptable when you have a big lead. And then in game two, he comes in with six three game metrics to limit and he lets the game slip away by giving up the two run home run to Bessabé. So I think he is an absolute candidate. Offensively there was a lot of minor nothing performances. One so to do didn't do anything. You want to give him credit for his intentional walk in the rallying a thinning he was one for 11. Francisco Lendor after a quick start to this series ended up going I think it was like O for his last nine and ends up two for 13 in this series. But the net negative is Zach Thornton and I we all feel bad saying it's Zach's out of great year. He's won a bunch of on the man right now's but the meds give him a lead in the second inning. He instantly gives it right back by giving up a two run home run to the ninth place center and then as he settling down and keeping

50:37them in this tight game this three to two game. He allowed an implosion to occur in the fifth and then giving up the home run to cost the second one he gave up giving up the base hit the Jonah Cox ahead on to and then giving up the bomb to Rafael Devers. So Zach Thornton we still love you. We still have faith in you but you are the net negative and congratulations that's your first one. So it's like ripping off the bandaid. You're a part of the group now. A lot of guys have won that negatives. You had never won it. You got it. You're the net negative Zach Thornton for the first time this season. Now we look ahead because we know that Jonah Tongue is coming back finally. Jonah Tongue is at a very uneven season at AAA. We saw him briefly up here not too long ago and Andy Green did confirm that Jonah Tongue is coming back. He's making the start on Monday Labor Day against the Marlins and then he's going to take the baseball to rest of the season. This is a minor audition for Jonah Tongue. I think while I'm excited to see him,

51:39I don't know how much we can learn from it. I don't think there's enough time for him to earn a rotation spot. I don't think there's enough time for him to change. I guess any approach to the off season in terms of adding a starting picture. I think Jonah Tongue needs to be a guy who you don't rely on next year. He's one of those guys that if he pitches well in spring training, sure he can earn a spot. But I don't think anything can be handed to him. But I am excited to see him pitch. Justin Hagenman is still here for now. Robert Stock is still here for now. And I think their roles, if they remain on this roster, should just simply be out of the bullpen. And with the mets having off days, they've got off days. I know the following week, they do not have an off day. They are are playing three against Miami off day three games against the Yankees. And then they play a ton. They got the three with the Alonso's and the Orioles for with the Phillies. So there won't be an off day next week, but there isn't off day this week. So I assume based on that, they'll mix in a sixth starting picture. But I want to see Jonah Tongue as

52:43much as possible, even if nothing can really be drawn from it. But I am excited that they are finally calling him up. And I continue to to look at a lot of these moments in games like I did with the Devers spot against Lavender in game three and view it more under the prism of challenging a young player to see what they have more than just flat out. We need to win the game. Let me read some of your emails, the Rico B at gmail.com Fred asks the question. A lot of people have been asking over the last few weeks. Evan, if Andy Green replaces Carlos Mendoza in late April, are the mets sniffing 500 right now? Green has challenged this team in a way, Mendy never did. Maybe with the exception of that Severino shut out in 2024. If Andy Green really doesn't want the manager job next year, he needs to become the GM under David Sterns. Sterns was asked again, are you looking to hire a GM? He gives the same answer all the time. Maybe in every don't we'll see if we think it helps us. Sure.

53:44And the same answer about Andy Green that the intention of Andy is to go back into the front office. I continue to be skeptical about all of that. But to answer your question, we could drive ourselves nuts and say yes, it would have made a difference. And I was calling from Andy's firing probably by mid April. And I don't say that proudly. I don't love calling for anybody's firing. I like Carlos Mendoza, but the team clearly needed some kind of change. And so even though I could sit here on all microphone and say yes, if I got what I wanted, we'd be in a pennant race. I don't know if any of that's true. I don't have a strong sense that that's true because a lot of what Andy's doing. I don't know if he would have done in April in May with the season still alive. Sometimes it's easier to challenge your team and challenge your young players when the intention isn't like I said earlier, I have to win this game. The intention is I need to grow this young player. When you are out of it and the meta been out of it for a while, it's easier to do

54:47that. So I get the point Fred, but I remain very skeptical that the results would have been just completely different because I don't know if Andy would have managed the exact same way. Chris writes there are many reasons this season is a disaster, but David Sterns will need to focus first on run production. The meta averaging 4.2 runs per game, which is towards the MLB bottom, as compared with 4.75 last year, which was in the middle. But it's even worse than that. We are not scoring 3, 4 or 5 runs per game often enough as you think, which are often winnable games like the other day. Over 50 times this year, this team has scored 0, 1 or 2 runs. How many of these do you think we won? The answer is 2. We offset this with a 9 or 10 run game every series or 2. I'll save what I would do for October, but this wild inconsistency needs to be looked into. If you're still in Disney, please make sure you hit the Toy Story ride. Oh, we did. Now, there were a few Toy Story rides at Disney Studios. They have like a Toy Story land, but at Magic Kingdom, they've got that

55:52ride where you shoot and you get the points. That is the ride that we went on the most. Spence, my youngest loved it. And so I think I rode that thing three or four times. And it was a lot of fun. And it's pretty good at it. That's sort of knowing when we're to point the the thingy, McGiggy. And I got a lot of points. Chris, I agree with you. I mentioned that earlier. Offense needs to be the priority. We'll do a deep dive on how they got to 4.2 runs per game, which is where they're sitting at. Because you're right. This is something I've noticed with the Yankees at times too. They'll lead the league and runs, but there's a lot of wild inconsistencies mixed in. A few thoughts on some former Metz, Luis Robert Jr. I am not laughing. Luis Robert Jr. pulled his hamstring. He's likely done for the season. So the Baltimore Orioles. Thank you, Baltimore. paid $5 million. Essentially the remainder of this year's deal. And then to say no to his option, they paid that money to get six seven plate appearances. Whatever it turned out to be.

56:58I get the gamble. I think the gamble made sense. If you have the money, why not? That's all you lost, but it clearly didn't work. And I think that's a reminder of what Luis Robert Jr. is. He is a world of talent. I think we saw a little bit of that this season. He just cannot stay healthy. Tyrone Taylor is tearing it up for the Chicago Cubs. I'm happy for it. I'm good for Tyrone Taylor. I think that of, you know, the former Metz that go elsewhere, he's probably the one you're root for the most. I'm talking about this trade deadline. I don't mean other former Metz. And speaking of other former Metz, Peter Lonzo was at 297. That's how many career home runs he's at. The Orioles have six games before they play the Metz a week from Monday. So it is lining up. If Peek and Hit A home run or two, that he's got a real shot to hit 300 at city field. What does that mean? It don't mean anything. Like it's already embarrassing enough. He is already going to get a monstrous salvation. He's already going to have the motivation of the world to stick it to David

58:04Sterns and the Metz and all that. So 300, 301298. It doesn't really matter. But we are finally a week away from the dramatic return of Peter Lonzo. We're also a few weeks away from Carlos Beltran, getting his number retired. And finally coming up this week on the Rico Bronya mixed in the midst of breaking down these games and talking about this season, we will have our tribute to Carlos Beltran. We have collected it. I kept debating if it should be the best moments and the most memorable moments because sometimes bad moments are memorable. It's like those guys that were us by Steve Gelbs the other day. If you missed it, they gave tickets to somebody to not go to the US open. And they said, what's your most memorable moment as a Metfan? The guys like doesn't have to be good because as a Metfan, it's not good. So we're going to keep it mostly positive. I'm going to make it the most positive memorable moments in Beltran's curve. We don't need to hear a replay of Strike

59:053 called. That is not needed. But that Carlos Beltran tribute is coming up this week plus Metz Yankees where we Rico a lot during the midst of the subways series. So we got a lot of Rico's coming on your way. Make sure you subscribe to the Rico Bronio wherever you download your podcasts or you subscribe to the WFA and YouTube page and you can always catch it live. Your thoughts, your comments, your disagreements, you can email us the Rico B at gmail.com, the Rico B at gmail.com and be sure to share your favorite Carlos Beltran moments in the mailbag and we will read it throughout our tribute episode, which will be debuting later this week. Thank you very much for hanging out with us on another edition of Rico Bronio.