The Carlos Mendoza Line

0:00But let me get to the guy I'm concerned about because so far and hopefully I'm being fair here. Not worried about Lindor. Obviously not worried about Soto despite the bad app at the 10th. I think Boba Sheta showing signs are coming out of it. Polanco had that double before they pinch ran for him. Robert Jr. mostly has been good. Vientos too early to tell. How about Marcus Simeon? Marcus Simeon and we have to remind ourselves of this and this is why I'm not panicking. Right. I think I'd preface this episode with six games into the season. Okay. Let's everybody take a deep breath. Panic City hasn't arrived yet. But we do need to remind ourselves. Marcus Simeon has been declining the last few years. He has. He's been declining. He's not getting any younger. And so of all the guys on this roster who is an everyday player who they need production from. Yeah. I'm a little worried about Marcus Simeon a little bit. He's the first one. He took an old firm. How many? One, two, three, four, over four.

1:04In the 11th inning, he comes up with the bases loaded. Get the head of the count. 2-0. I'm thinking how this would be. This would be the moment. This would be such a big moment for a guy who's done absolutely nothing in the five minutes he's been here. And he flies out the right field. Got a good pitch to hit. Drove it decently, but not decently enough. Marcus Simeon has done nothing. He came into this game two for 18. He was over four. He's two for 22. And currently Marcus Simeon is over his last 18. And not only is he over his last 18, think about the opportunities he had in those 18 at-bats. A lot of them comes up in the seventh with a guy on base, comes up in the ninth inning with a runner on third and two outs. He strikes out. He comes up with the bases loaded in the eleventh, flies out. He ends up leaving six guys on base in this game.

2:05And that's just this game. Then you have Francisco Alvarez. I thought we saw bad Francisco Alvarez in this game. He is so freaking streaky. Not even just his performance, but his approach when he just starts swinging from his feet. I mean, Alvarez was all over the place. Terrible at-bats. I mean, really the best moment he had was getting on base with a catcher's interference. That was his best moment. But top to bottom, I mean, this is awful, offensively. Now, let me get to Mendy because they do have a problem with Carlos Mendoza. And that's fair. Like, what's the problem, Evan? What do you got? Is it the bullpen usage? No. And if any of you in Carlos Mendoza in this loss was vindicated, he was vindicated- before I rip him, he was vindicated for the dicky love lady thing. On episode six, six, one, because we've been basically doing Rico's every day. I got to slow down on that. I defended what Mendy did with love lady because Mendy's got bullets that he's being careful on how he uses. And he wanted

3:10in game three of this series, a rubber game with his ace on the mound, all his bullets available. Devon Williams, Luke Weaver, Lascar Bros. Bond, Brooks, he wants them all available, and he had him. And those bullets, let's be honest, I'll get to them in a little bit. They all fired off beautifully. Wasn't their fault this they lost this game? Wasn't their fault the LD offense has showed up? That ain't on them. So Mendy's decision, some of you like to call it punting, I don't. I like to call it, you know, you're being strategic with how you use your guys. And it sucks. My biggest problem is that dicky love ladies on the team. Not that Mendy used them. But he gets vindicated on his bullpen usage because he has this cavalcade of arms. He can use it as disposal in a close game. It happened to go 11. But my problem with Carlos Mendoza was the situation he put Carson Benjen in the seventh inning of this game. Carson Benjen is a rookie. And at times he looks a little overwhelmed. He doesn't look fully ready. Now that doesn't mean

4:14I'm sending him down. That doesn't mean I'm giving up on him. But let's be honest. Like he has his home run on opening day. That was great. That was a great moment for him. He's had a couple of base hits. He's played mostly good defense in the outfield till the 11th. We'll get to that. But I would think that the Mester is still trying to protect him just a little bit. Just a little bit. So when Matthew Liberator is on the mound, they don't play him. Now why did Carson Benjen start this game? He didn't start this game because they didn't want to put him out there against the tough lefty. Is that why he didn't start the game? That's why he didn't start the game. So Tyrone Taylor, who hasn't played it all this season, but we know Tyrone Taylor, at least capable Major Liger, he goes over to in the seventh inning after Francisco Alvarez gets on with catchers and a appearance. Carlos Mendoza in a spot in which I know and you know he's got Jojo Romero warming up in the bullpen who's actually a capable reliever who's really tough on lefties.

5:16He's warming up. Why is he warming up? Is he warming up because Carlos Mendoza played a horrible game of chess in which instead of letting Tyrone Taylor hit against Ryan Stannick, who I felt like in my bones will hit this guy. We weren't able to do it the other day, but man, I still eventually get to Ryan Stannick because he's Ryan Stannick. You make a decision that not only allows Marmo to take out his worst reliever, but you put this kid who, if we're being fair, doesn't look a thousand percent ready in this small sample size. Again, not saying I'm sending him down, I'm just being honest with what we've seen. You put him in a spot to face Jojo Romero, but you didn't want him to face Liberator to start the game, which I agree with. On episode 661 of the Rico, I told you how I would align it up. I had one slight difference. I probably would have played Beatty over Tyrone Taylor and Ryan, but you know what? I get that.

6:20I get why Tyrone Taylor needs to play. You got to get him some at-pats, but pin-shitting for him in the seventh inning was stupid. It's just called like it was dumb because I'll ask you, I'll ask the audience, and I'm sure there's a lot of Yankee fans who are drinking our second series of the year tiers. So I'll ask the IBO out there, and of course the Metfan. What's a better matchup for the New York Metz? Tyrone Taylor, professional major leagueer against Ryan Stannick, who is due to implode, or Jojo Romero, who holds lefties to like a 520 OPS against Carson Bench, who's a rookie, who you've avoided having to face too many lefties, and the reason you sat him to begin with is because the leftie was on the mound. It was stupid. It's called like it is. It was a bad move by Mendy. For everyone bitching and whining about his usage of Dickey Love Lady,

7:22there was a reason for it. What was the reason for this? And then what happened? What do you think happened? Carson Bench looked awful. It was dumb sending him out there. And look, Carson Bench struck out. You want to blame him? I mean, again, he's at his moments where he doesn't look great. He comes up again in the 10th inning against the leftie, pops up the shortstop, and then obviously what happened in the 11th inning just sucked. He had a terrible read on that pop-up. This game should have gone to the 12th. So Carson Bench is going through his rookie struggles. Don't make it more difficult for him. Don't use them as a pinch hitter in a situation in which everybody knows we all know they're going all lasty. See, this is the only thing that's making me scream. I've been very calm today. That's probably surprising off, right? You probably thought it wouldn't be me screaming about using Carson Bench as a pinch hitter for tie-around talent. That wouldn't be my breaking point. But it really pissed me off. It was stupid.