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00:03welcome back everybody to another edition of straight out of flushing dexter henry my guy
00:08tyler ward here with me wardy what's going on man dex how we doing feeling pretty good right now
00:16listen uh mets playoffs are not happening but playoffs have been entertaining i've been enjoying
00:21them uh steve cohen's been enjoying them as well uh which we'll probably talk about on a later date
00:25found that interesting what he was doing this past night uh but i had a nice weekend dex how about
00:30you my weekend was good i was telling you before i was like this sunday i had some time to
00:34just relax
00:35i got to just watch some football uh you know do a little bit of stuff for work but i
00:39just got to
00:39watch football i didn't do anything on sunday that was nice that was that was really nice i mean it
00:43would be nicer if you were watching the mets in the playoffs but you know a little bit can't have
00:49you can't have everything you know i'm saying you can't you can't have everything so wardy and i we
00:54you and i have talked we have a lot of things to get to this offseason but we want to
00:59do for the
01:00fans is we're going to try to do this each week through the offseason we're going to go through
01:04a position and evaluate the position like how is the position for the mets this year are they good
01:09at that position do they need to upgrade that position so we're going to do it and i said i
01:13said
01:13to wardy say hey where do you want to start what position do you want to start with and my
01:17guy wardy
01:18i won't say he chose violence but he chose what he knew the fan base would be very interesting
01:24hearing and that is a fun position we're going to start off with the position of first base
01:32might be a guy that people miss at first base just just might be saying there might be a guy
01:37that
01:37people miss at first base i thought this was an interesting choice by you my friend we know that
01:43the mets decided to move on from pete alonzo and transition to your boy jorge polanco okay
01:50do you think we're not in five minutes index we're not in five minutes index look man if you think
01:57there's a time limit on me assigning somebody as your boy that's never happened people here at this
02:03job they get people assigned them they don't want to be their boy at all whatsoever this is fair
02:09this is fair i'm equal opportunity with your boy i'm equal opportunity opportunity with
02:14i love the word play god
02:20but after the move right i'm going from alonzo to jorge polanco i won't rehash just too much because
02:26we both i won't say that either of us felt that it wouldn't work we had questions about it for
02:34sure
02:34particularly banking on jorge polanco when he had a limited track record of actually playing the
02:39position so that was a red flag there but after seeing everything that we saw or i should say
02:46what do you we didn't see in 2026 was the bigger mistake letting alonzo walk or actually not finding
02:55a legitimate replacement for him what how do you view view this when you look back at it
03:03it's it's hard to pick one over the other because i think one goes in hand with the other so
03:07much
03:08but at the end of the day i would say that allowing pete to walk given his connection with the
03:14fan base
03:14and it was obvious you know how much he meant to so many people here as a homegrown talent
03:20i do think that in general not running it back with pete when you especially didn't have a really
03:26viable replacement option was the wrong move to make so if i had to pick exactly between the two
03:31i would say letting pete walk in general was the wrong move for the organization yes yeah it yes i'm
03:40yes it's gonna be yes and yes for me right absolutely the wrong move right that um the answer is
03:46yes and
03:47yes right it's absolutely the wrong move but at the same time you if you're gonna let someone walk at
03:54the stature of pete and i i'm gonna say what i said on the record i was fine with that
03:57happening
03:59all right well then i'm gonna take your favorite word of the show not your favorite phrase which is
04:04your boy but your favorite word which is proactive be proactive you were not proactive in getting
04:08someone who could adequately replace him and i think that was a massive failure now i think you and
04:14i both we both were looking at jorge polanco and it's like can you hold it down are we really
04:19trusting you as the guy to hold it down i think we both would have said no when it came
04:24to jorge
04:25polanco so right the failure of letting alonzo walk to me it was only more magnified because there was
04:33not an adequate replacement for him and we didn't see much from jorge polanco when we saw it it wasn't
04:38good and there were some bright spots you can say with jerry young we'll get to jerry young a little
04:42bit
04:42later but the fact that there didn't seem to be a plan or it's not just a plan didn't work
04:49you did
04:49not go it's not it's not even the fact that they didn't have a plan they had months on this
04:54alonzo signed at a reasonable time they had months on this to figure out what to do and this is
05:01what
05:02they settled on decks you know so i think that's something to bear in mind you know this is something
05:07that they settled on and this was david stern's having his mitts on the club in more ways than
05:13he's ever had and this was the outcome you know this wasn't like oh he just rolled out of bed
05:18one
05:18day i was like you know who i need right now first base or a polanco has no major league
05:22reps at first
05:23base in his entire career like it it happened in a organic and strategic way in player evaluation the
05:30offseason where he failed was on actually properly evaluating these players for these rightful positions
05:36you know banking too much again on someone coming from a smaller market that's been injury prone
05:41that has a clear offensive upside but needs to be able to stay on the field especially you know to
05:47be at a position that usually doesn't play it just from that logic alone it never made sense and that's
05:51why we talked about it how his bat plays his bat makes a lot of sense if he platoon between
05:56first
05:56base and dh and have more dh reps in first base i said this verbatim yeah after the mets initially
06:01acquired him and they fit and they didn't even get a chance to do that because the guy was hurt
06:05from as soon as he got here and then the mets really thought to themselves you know what guys
06:10we got mark vientos okay it can be worse let's have him as our platoon option which you're yana and
06:16we're fine so it was just honestly what it was more than anything decks take the pitalonzo factor out of
06:22this because i think the dh position should be emphasized and lumped with first base here because
06:26they go in hand with one another a lot of the times and how the mets have operated and since
06:31the
06:31mets have had the universal dh they've done nothing to take advantage of it outside of maybe
06:36trying to maximize roster flexibility it's not like that's moving the needle for them to have
06:41continued success and pete alonzo the debate there was he's gonna need to be more of a dh as time
06:48goes
06:48on and he will likely be more of that as time goes on but for the mets here it's a
06:55two-fold problem
06:56not only did they not properly address first base but they also still have taken zero advantage of
07:02literally a guaranteed position where you should have a guy slugging and raking there every single
07:08day like that's the one spot that every single contending team should have a big bopper in or a
07:13rotation of like two guys maybe between like dh and outfield or if they're playing for space
07:17that actually are like feasible like guys are gonna be able to give you like 30 plus home run seasons
07:22you know the mets were looking at polanco and his success in 2025 and we're looking at that as
07:29pretty much a certainty by throwing him 20 plus mil a year across multiple years which is just an
07:35albatross of a contract in its own right the time of us talking right now as is the case with
07:39a lot of
07:39other moves so when we just look at how they've operated one this was thoroughly thought out two it was
07:46so poorly executed and three this is something that the mets have to make sure that they don't do again
07:51and david was the first to tell us this at the end of season presser and trying to write the
07:56rons and
07:56clearly having way too much emphasis and players that lack the most important factor which is
08:04availability availability and that's the thing and i'm glad you brought that up awardy because
08:09yeah he acknowledged it and to me it was kind of crazy when he's like yeah we didn't get enough
08:15production out of first base when we had the lowest f war at the position in the league and he's
08:21like
08:21yeah i'm like we all we all knew this thanks for acknowledging this but i hope that he takes
08:28responsibility and learns the lesson that you said about availability going forward that's the thing for
08:33me what's the lesson going to be learned right here into building this team going forward right like
08:39that's the thing for me is he going to actually learn from that and say hey we can't bank on
08:44a guy
08:44where there was there was data there was numbers that he's generally not that available he's actually
08:51not played enough at this position and let's not bank on that that's a big question for me wardy is
08:57he going to learn from this because it's fine we all make mistakes and i'm not going to be here
09:02to just
09:02drop the hammer on david sterns repeatedly but for me it's is he going to learn from this that's the
09:07biggest thing for me when i when i look at this so let's move on to this part and i
09:12think the big
09:13question about this here is is the answer for first base already on this roster because
09:21jared young and i mentioned him earlier he was one of the bright spots in 2026 did he show you
09:25enough
09:26wardy to make you think that he deserves a starting job next season or do you look at him as
09:31a guy who's
09:31better better suited as a platoon option how do you how do you view it he's definitely best suited as
09:39a platoon option but if we're talking the hypothetical world where you had young with
09:44the mets next season where they did not address anything that first space again like let's just
09:48say that david sterns looked at what happened this year and said let's go ahead and make things even
09:52worse and does even nothing okay in the hypothetical where they're only banking on solely in-house
09:57options jared young is absolutely number one on my list no hesitation there is not there is jared
10:05young there's a gap and then there's a second closest player as to who deserves continued reps
10:09at first who is that second closest player i'm just curious that second closest player after him
10:15i would probably say would be like brett beatty i wouldn't even put okay we'll get conversation okay
10:20no oh no no no no yeah no no he should not be in the conversation sorry i didn't mean
10:24to hijack you
10:24but go ahead i was just curious and that and that's also with beatty not being a good defensively
10:30sound first baseman you know what i mean like the ball is very low here so i'm looking at it
10:34from an
10:35athleticism standpoint of someone who if they do get on base can they be impactful on the base pass
10:39at all are they someone that could actually move the needle a bit besides solely what they're braiding
10:44with their bat and for as good as vientos again was against left-hand pitching this year look how
10:48small of a sample size they needed to really have the kind of success that he did um for young
10:53i think
10:54he too falls in the category of someone who is best suited in a limited sample because i think him
10:59kind of in a guaranteed role where he knows exactly what is asked of him each year we're like
11:04think of the guy that we hyped up so much entering the year and mike talkman who never played a
11:09single
11:09game in the major league season this year with the mets or anyone from an injury he sustained back
11:14in spring what's relevant about that is that mike talkman truly embodied the role as a veteran who knew
11:20exactly what it took to be a platoon and having the veteran mentorship aspect as well as someone who knows
11:26who can step up in clutch positions when called upon to do so that's why he's his numbers have
11:31been so good when healthy the past number of years regardless of the teams he's been on young reminds
11:36me a bit of talkman as someone who again if he's getting around say you know three to four hundred
11:41plate appearances in a season absolutely can be an impactful positive player for you but not a guy
11:46that you want all the way getting to 600 plus plate appearances you don't want him playing every single
11:51day and every single matchup because for as good as jerry young is even him at his best is still
11:57likely going to be a guy sitting 265 270 average at north of 800 ops but not someone that's going
12:03to
12:03i think move the needle enough for you and your lineup if you don't properly bolster elsewhere and
12:10why i say elsewhere i really just mean either adding a true dh or someone that could flip-flop with
12:17soto throughout the year from dh to corner outfield that provides the power that this team has been
12:23wanting since losing a guy like pete lotsman yeah no i i'd agree with that too i think jared young
12:29was
12:29nice i i'll say this bluntly i think it'll be a problem if the mets go into next season saying
12:36he's our first baseman you do nothing to address it like i'm with you on that like none of that
12:41would
12:41be good at all whatsoever that can't be the thing you also brought up brett baity and i agree
12:47because somebody might say hey dex and warty in this conversation are you not going to bring up
12:52vientos and the answer for me is no like why why why would we why would we do this we've
13:00vientos
13:01you you and i've talked about this and we had him he was on our list of total three mets
13:05we think
13:06should be gone you've seen enough for him right we we know what he is um he hasn't got it
13:12done at a
13:12plate and he doesn't bring you anything else defensively so what are we doing so when we talk about
13:16baity um look we can go to the signs that he showed late in the season offensively but this
13:25is the second season in a row where he had that little bit of a hitting surge towards the end
13:29but
13:30the overall product was mid basically what i would say with him it was just it was what it was
13:36um
13:38is he do you think he's even a realistic option long term or should the mets be looking at him
13:44particularly is hey he's a guy who gives his defensive versatility we can play him in a bunch
13:48of different places and that might just be his future and his role with this mets ball club
13:53i'm gonna say this not just in regards to baity but in regards to every single current player
13:58profile in the mets organization that can play the first base position i don't think that there's a
14:04single player actively in the organization that can be viewed as a long-term option there
14:09that's a problem it is a problem and that's why the mets need to address it yeah absolutely right
14:15because some people are going to be like oh what about ryan clifford clifford and i know he's young
14:19and we've talked about him as a prospect but the strikeout rate is way too high for me so that's
14:25and
14:25billy amic for as great of a year as he had he still needs to work on that obviously and
14:30defensively is he someone that profiles better as first base or more of a dh profile
14:35the best out of this group might even be a guy like cory collins who you know was awesome in
14:40double
14:40a this year but again another player where for as good as he's looked there is far from any
14:46guarantees that these guys will a perform at the major league level and be be able to be a consistent
14:52player at the major league level that is warranted to be here long term i think when we look at
14:56the
14:56landscape of the new york mets and their positions right now and having longevity there uh you can make
15:01those rightful arguments to the carson benches who's a finalist for gold glove this year which
15:06is awesome congratulations to carson aj ewing to a lesser extent and center i see lesser as aj has
15:12more growing to do but he's just turned 22 he's gonna get a lot of ample runway and for great
15:18reason
15:18as long as he's performing okay and working on his game still when you look at the mets infield
15:24there's really not anyone there that you could say is a long-term commitment besides what you have
15:29contractually to lindor but you and i both know that lindor will not finish his contract in the
15:34mets uniform unless he really ages like a fine line and handles a less strenuous infield position
15:39in his final years so all in all the mets have a problem in multiple areas not just for first
15:47base
15:47but it's a big problem and something that they haven't even thought about needing to address
15:53for the past seven years because alonzo was such a mainstay of that position because again
15:59bringing us back to our point decks availability yeah something that is i'm glad you even brought
16:06that word up in the alonzo conversation because that's something that is i don't think by us but
16:11maybe some maybe some people took it for granted maybe it was a little underrated in terms of how you
16:15talked about alonzo did he have his shortcomings particularly defensively or how he might age the
16:20position sure but he was there every day and i do think that matters to some degree however you look
16:27at it so it sounds like you and i are we feel the mets need to address this position very
16:34very very
16:34seriously in a serious way right warty and jared young and brett baity is not going to get it done
16:41this we're in agreement on that that's not going to get it done for the mets in 2027 and beyond
16:46so let's let's try to explore the first base market out here uh throw some names ty franz
16:54coming off a good season maybe the best all-around season of his career that we could say do you
17:00think
17:01he's the kind of established first baseman that the mets should try to prioritize or do you look at
17:08that as a risk of bringing in a guy that's kind of riding in high off of a career year
17:13where are you
17:13and ty franz i think what's high there's definitely a risk factor no doubt i don't think he puts up
17:20these numbers if he was with the new york mets this season and i think it's not because the
17:24mets having a really bad lineup but more so on playing in city field for half a season versus
17:29sunny peco park which with that fan base and the way that they had this summer uh what was a
17:34tremendous
17:34run it is just such a great environment for players to buy into in ways that's very contrasting from
17:40what we have here on the east coast for the mets like these are factors that are very important to
17:44weigh and understand because some players you may see have consistent success no matter where they are
17:50other players you may see drastic differences and for ty i think he's someone who definitely thrived by
17:56loving the market that he was in and i also think that he's someone though that would be beneficial to
18:01the mets i think that he's a hybrid here because he's not enough of a guarantee i think into what
18:06exactly
18:07the mets need at all at first base when we think long term but when we're talking placeholders when
18:12we're talking to contend and have success in 2027 when we're looking at what's available out there
18:17again it is slim pickings this phrasian class is garbage decks we don't need to sugarcoat it it's
18:22the worst one i've ever seen since covering baseball it's the worst one i think i've ever seen as a
18:27baseball fan transparently and while that's not great listen you have to deal with the cards are dealt to
18:33you so while yes they can of course export things in the trade market that we may discuss later
18:38what is out there in the fraser market ty france has definitely done himself a big favors with the
18:44run that he had this year for the padres with the 21 home runs 72 rbis roughly 300 buying average
18:50of
18:50a 502 slug with a 363 on base 41 percent of public average is better the most valuable season he's
18:56ever
18:56had his career at a 3.6 f4 i mean he was he was a nails he was unbelievably clutch
19:02should have had that
19:03a home run in playoffs that hit the ceiling that we saw milwaukee i mean this is a guy who
19:07i think
19:08would be awesome and two does have things to be happy about from a defensive standpoint he's not a
19:13massive liability there he was a fantastic defensively at first base last year too when he's splitting
19:17time with the minnesota twins and the blue jays down the stretch of their playoff run now one little
19:23thing that can benefit the mets even if it's not a big thing to benefit them in their pursuit is
19:29always
19:29connections right when we think on how david stearns has operated right what is something that
19:34we notice connections connections connections whether it's connections with previous organizations
19:38that he's worked for or people that he knows from these organizations or players in the market that
19:43he's had recent rapport with there's obviously an aspect of familiarity that they like whether or not
19:50it equates success is a different conversation because it really hasn't but it's something that
19:55they favor should that continue derek falvey who's just hired in the mets front office who's going
20:00to be part of every key decision that they make was the key factor behind ty france becoming a
20:04minnesota twin a year ago so one does have to wonder what does derek have to say on ty france
20:10who put up
20:10solid numbers when he was with the twins but again has just fluctuated you know the main thing that i
20:15like about ty france besides him coming off of a very good year with the padres like very impressive year
20:20against both the right-handed and left-handed pitching is that he has availability on his side
20:25right he's played at least basically 500 play appearances every year since 2021 yep and i think
20:31that's really important when we're looking at what can the mets get as a certainty next year so throw
20:37it back to you dex i like ty france but i think ty france should he happen would be a
20:43scenario where
20:44the mets platoon him and jared young where maybe ty gets two games out of three in a series and
20:49jared
20:49gets a game and for the game that he does it maybe ties at dh you know what i mean
20:52it's not going to
20:53be exactly how you want it because ty france for even though they he can play every day the mets
20:58would probably look at and say we could actually use this as a perfect tandem with young based on
21:03matchups especially if say ty comes down to earth a bit with the bat going from sunny san diego to
21:10frigid city field to begin whenever next season is going to start so here's my thing with ty france
21:19um he's 32 all the numbers you all numbers you mentioned solid last year 21 homers 865 ops
21:28and very clutch hitter too yeah very clutch very clutch so the profile's good i mentioned age for
21:34a reason the reason i mentioned the age here warty is okay what kind of contract is david stern's
21:40going to offer him right is this is so you're thinking it's going to be a short-term deal you
21:45know
21:45stearns is not going to want to go above three and if you're going you maybe not even want to
21:49go
21:49above two to be honest with you guys but if that's the case and you talked about placeholders
21:57is he a guy you trust to hold it down at first for you for the next two years
22:01the answer would probably be no if you're platooning him with jared young and have the
22:05situation you have where you're playing him two out of every three games i don't love that situation
22:10but the problem is like you said the market stinks this free agent class is trash right like it's
22:16just your options he is the best of the bunch that is already playing in the majors we'll get to
22:23another part second that is playing in the majors right now he's the best of the bunch so if you're
22:27looking for a sexy name no and i get that there's some mets fans are going to come out and
22:31say
22:32yeah you know what we got ty france now could have been it could have been alonzo i understand
22:39where you're coming from i do this is going to happen every year as long as it's not pete alonzo
22:44until they get the until they get the position right until they get it right that's that's what
22:48it's going to be now that you can say that's fair or unfair and that's fine um would would the
22:55platoon excite me no could they do worse than that yes well we we saw they can do worse than
23:06that um yeah it's it's you're replacing ty mark viantus with ty france and having ty play a lot
23:11more that's really what it comes down to so if you view it in that in that lens yeah it's
23:16a lot
23:16more palatable right and if it's a short-term deal which we have been led to believe david sterns
23:24would like for him i'd be fine but i don't know if he's going to want a short-term deal
23:29when he is the best domestic first baseman free agent on the market and is probably looking for
23:36something a little bit longer i would think now what's that market going to look like especially
23:41with the potential lockout and all that i have i don't know but i would think he's probably going
23:46to want to cash in more than two would you pay him give him a high av for the two
23:53years maybe
23:53overpay him a little bit in the short term to get him in the door yeah but then i i
23:59think the
23:59question i would ask then warty is if you're going to do that what's your plan coming up in the
24:07farm
24:07system who's that young guy you have come in developing that hopefully two years from now
24:11that could come in because if it's not a ryan clifford or others right that we're not and it
24:17seems like the mental organization themselves are not really in love with right now or feel like
24:20is ready to come up to the show you gotta i kind of like to know what the plan is
24:26on that do i think
24:28this could be fine in the short term sure but do i think the fan base is going to be
24:34excited about
24:34this no not at all whatsoever i don't i don't think this is a move that's going to excite the
24:41fan base
24:41they're not going to be excited about that now if we look internationally and we do we take things
24:48you know in this in this market we've got before we get to international yes if you don't mind i
24:53just
24:53want to answer what you were saying there because i don't disagree with you in the sense that if you
24:58bring in someone like thai france on say like high av which is what do we take because realistically
25:03what do the mess have to do in order to land for agents as a not desirable location for the
25:08most part
25:08it's to make themselves desirable and there's no better way to make themselves desirable than to
25:12flex the hospitality and the dollars that steve kellen can flex especially knowing that this is
25:17potentially the last time that steve is able to spend exactly the way that he has knowing that
25:22the pending cba could cause a lot of changes a year from now for next offseason so that's something to
25:28bear in mind and how teams are operating throughout multiple facets of what will be a flurry of moves
25:34before we get to the inevitable lockout so for thai france and for the mets here i agree it's it's
25:40in a
25:41lot of ways it would be very similar to when the mets landed jorge polanco we're separate from the fact
25:45that polanco you know didn't have the first base reps the fan reaction pete alonzo side was not a
25:53bad player not a bad pickup but you got to do more here you obviously got to do more here
25:58and that's
25:58what would be the case if you brought in thai france to then you say okay what does that mean
26:03for the
26:03farm well big opportunity for a guy like billy amick to prove himself next year piggybacking off of what was
26:10a dominant year with the bat in 2026 you also look at corey collins can he build upon that can
26:15ryan clifford dig himself out of his rut or is is that about that it may very well be about
26:19that
26:20can the mets find someone else internally this year the way that we have prospects blossom every year i'm
26:24sure that there will be but the good news dex is that you know how we've been raving about the
26:29million petries the gary gill hills the aiden smiths i mean the sammy stefores the jefferson rojas is all
26:35these all these guys what do they have in common their prospects that the mets acquired via trade
26:39yep and the mets can always position themselves in a trade to acquire a young uprising for a space
26:45town you know there was a guy that they were actually in the market for to a degree it is
26:49to
26:49materialize past offseason and bryce eldridge who had a very good rookie year for the san francisco
26:55giants this year that would have been a viable option to you know at least get some potential
27:00stability of a new young homegrown not homegrown but new young rookie first baseman to kind of
27:06be the heir apparent to pete even if he's not going to fill the shoes to pete alonzo to that
27:11same
27:12magnitude you know um i think that they will go down a route like that without with the expectation
27:19that they're not going to land a long-term first base option this offseason i would be fine with that
27:25honestly like get me a younger guy in here with some upside um if you can explore that through
27:31the trade market if even if you want to say hey i want to get a tie fronts in here
27:35and you know have
27:36a bridge and there's ways you could do both i would love to see some creativity with an eye towards
27:44somebody with a real shot to hold down that position for the future we'll see now maybe you
27:49want to still look at the free agent market there's the japanese slugger terryaku sato who's out there
27:54he's got you know intriguing power combination offensive upside um but there's always the uncertainty
28:01of transitioning to major league baseball and then learning the position here so i ask you this wardy
28:08with dipping into the international market and going and getting a sato would that be
28:13worth the gamble here is that a risk you'd be willing to take
28:17given this free agent class i think that there should be no one that's prioritized more than sato
28:22from a position player perspective for the new york mats he is the cream de la creme he is the
28:28guy
28:28that everyone's going to want and the reason why everyone's going to want him is for the following
28:32reasons a he's entering his age 27 season yep it's always appetizing to bring in an international
28:38talent before they have the age of 30 you know this is a guy that's still very much in the
28:41peak prime
28:42of his career it's not like he's on the downward kind of like murakami who's a couple
28:46years younger getting a guy at 25 26 and how look at what he did and their first run was
28:51he
28:51striking out like crazy yes but when he wasn't he was helping carry the white socks uh slugging away
28:57into the postseason you look at cosmo akamoto even a veteran who signed around the age of 30 with the
29:02blue jays 30 home run season north of 90 rbis like again two guys that were big sluggers for their
29:08respective clubs while having great track record the mpb sato is right in the conversation with both of
29:14them when it comes to great track record the mpb has been more impressive than either of those
29:19players depending on the year and this season especially he had another dominant year back to
29:25back years that was sato is essentially 40 home runs and 100 rbis and he's batted from 277 pretty
29:31consistently throughout his career 260 to high 270 to this season turning up a notch a 306 average 383 on
29:38base 609 slug he batted roughly 100 better than the average hitter in the mpb for context that's
29:44really good uh triple crown type player where he's essentially their mvp there that we see in the mpb
29:49and he's found the power in his swing now he's striking out at a rate that is between 26 and
29:5627
29:56so he's going to be striking out at 30 the major league level is pretty much no doubt about that
30:02but can he do that and still have success and murakami and akamoto prove that you can and you
30:07can be impactful players to your team now the big question with sato is transitioning to first base
30:12we talk about palako not being you know a true first baseman nor is sato he's played more of the
30:18hot corner and around the infield but his expectation and the projections for him is that he will be best
30:23suited at first base at the major league level so the mets want to take a little bit of a
30:28gamble but
30:29someone who has a significantly high ceiling and a bat who could come in and be quite the weapon
30:34as a 25 to 35 home run guy in the major leagues right away that's what you would be getting
30:40in
30:40someone like him and there's a belief that sato very well could be the best out of the bunch in
30:45recent years of position players that have come out of the mpb uh with the exception of one shohei
30:50otani so yeah a lot of teams are gonna want him a lot of teams are gonna have their hands
30:54on him
30:54the mets are gonna have to separate themselves from the rest of the pack they would have to overpay
30:58and yes this is a player that you would likely have to give i'd imagine a four or five year
31:03contract to barring changes because of how much he's separated from the rest of the pack in the
31:08market and how much a team could utilize someone like him given his age it's going to be an
31:13interesting one to see how this all unfolds this offseason but in the way that the mets fell
31:18short on murakami nakamoto is a way that they simply should not be falling short in this pursuit
31:23of a fellow japanese town a year later yeah i i think the thing for me warty is with the
31:29mets this
31:29offseason and we'll i'm sure we'll get to this when we get to pitching but as we've talked a little
31:34bit
31:34about before but when it comes to free agency are they going to be willing to spend more in pitching
31:38or will it be to fill this this very dire position of need in first base right um i won't
31:46i because
31:47there's something i wanted to ask you about like which way you'd want to go with this
31:49i will say this if you're going to go the free agent route i would much rather go sato than
31:56go
31:57france much much rather do that i i understand there's some uncertainty and i'm saying this with
32:03the caveat of saying you believe you being the mets if you believe that this guy's skills and
32:09hitting can translate to the major league level and you believe that he's got the tools as many
32:15scouts have said to play the position of first base then go and do this you don't have to give
32:20any any prospects still you can still give yourself a little bit more time to develop i agree with you
32:25what he's gonna look for four or five year deal for sure this is what he's going to want um
32:29the mets
32:30at a time looked like they did have some a good international signing and kodai singa
32:35uh until the last couple of years but it did look good when it started
32:38i i don't believe you should always look at those things and have them deter you from
32:42signing this guy now look it could cost you nothing but money i understand it's not my money
32:48but if i was in mets this is an area i would try to plug up one of these holes
32:52with
32:53in spending this way go get yourself a guy that can be more of a game changer
32:58there's still this that's not guaranteed there's no guarantees with this just want to be very clear
33:02but we are all looking at france as more of a placeholder i don't think any of us think he's
33:07a game changer sato has more of a potential to be a game changer for the lineup at that position
33:14exactly so that's why i would go with that but with all that being said you you talked about how
33:20this free agent market is trash right and sadly it's it's it's just it's not it's so not fun to
33:27look at the phrasing list and be like i'm good you know like looking at the majority of each each
33:33category not not a personal slight on any any player but it's like just you know just you got
33:38your diamond and then you got basically a whole lot of a whole lot of nothing that's about it
33:45with that being said do you think stern should look at this and maybe say ah let me maybe let
33:51me
33:52prioritize a trade over free agency even if even if that means which you're not going to just get
33:57something for nothing right even if that means you have to surrender some valuable prospects
34:03what do you think stern should do i i would say look if there's a guy you believe in too
34:07and you
34:07via trade go get him but what do you say oh yeah i i think i think this off season
34:13is is a perfect
34:14time for the mets to try to continue to do what they did last year again on paper the trade
34:19for
34:19freddie peralta wasn't a bad one you know for as much as stern's fell short this year on where
34:24maybe player evaluation and bringing in small market players is where we're continuing to
34:28shoot ourselves in the foot or what you know the approach in deals has not been a bad thing for
34:34a
34:34lot of trades that stern's to make both acquiring players and selling off on players so i do have a
34:40level of optimism there that if the mets are going to go out and trade for a starter they can
34:44be able
34:44to go out and get one because there's a laundry list of them you know especially if they're going for
34:48a trade or if they're going to do something you know in the in the class for a first baseman
34:53there aren't many first baseman and necessarily trade for on paper but there also are some teams
34:58willing to shed some payroll some teams that are willing to get a bit creative to shake up their
35:02rosters as well after maybe falling short the last couple years so there's just a lot of possibilities
35:07with trades and the mets bolstering their farm the way that they did the deadline helps position them
35:11to actually have these conversations instead of it being brushed aside right away because they had
35:16like one of the worst farms of baseball after all the promotions that they had in the first half
35:19of the year so yes i think trades are inevitable i expect trades to happen and i i honestly think
35:25that we will see the mets do more trades with small market teams whether we like or not and in
35:30hopes that it's a different type of response or uh pardon me a different type of turnout than what
35:36they had with uh peralta among others you know what i mean yeah yeah no i know what you mean
35:41i
35:42this is what makes this offseason fascinating i i don't know how you feel about this but i think
35:48particularly for this position i will reiterate this i think for this position of first base
35:54this is if you can go get sato just to be very clear him in particular this is one if
36:00you can go
36:00get him you might have to overspend a little bit you go feel because of how bad it was last
36:05year
36:05you got to go fill this via free agency in my opinion this is but if you can do it
36:11via trade if i had
36:12to rank and this guy was gonna ask you are you more would you be more inclined to go trade
36:16free
36:16agency i i think we're both no on this i don't even want to ask this or platoon players already
36:23in the organization i think we're both like yeah i mean if we if we have to go in if
36:27we have to go
36:27in order if it's like if you're signing the player that i i want the most to get if they
36:31sign sato i
36:32think that's number one on the list okay because you're not giving up any assets and that can be
36:36you know a really viable option for you for the next number of years as long as that goes
36:40as hope plan expected right okay then it's trades and then it's platoon because platoon is
36:47i just hate that term because something that i bought into so much initially when the mets did
36:53this at dh like when we saw a platoon of like dom smith and guys a short 2020 season it
36:59worked
36:59really well the offensive numbers were sick and then we didn't have the universal dh for 2021 that
37:04we officially get in in 2022 we got in daniel vogel back we got tower and ake when we got
37:10darren ruff out here all these players would exit the league in the next year or so mind you after
37:15the mets acquired them um and they would just continue this seesaw the of these platoons whether
37:21it's at third base whether it's at dh or now at first base i'm just i'm sick and tired of
37:26it decks
37:27because it hasn't worked out the way that they've wanted it to you know like if we have a kick
37:33-ass
37:33platoon part of my french where you literally had a perfect balance of your guy that's just raking
37:38against lefties and a guy that's raking against righties and it's working so brilliantly throughout
37:42the year then okay but even like jesse winker when the mets acquired him in 2024 like that was
37:48one of the few exceptions where a platoon did kind of work at the time and it wasn't even the
37:53sexiest
37:53thing it just it did what it needed to do and helping the mets continued their run down that stretch
37:58so miss me with the platoon nonsense decks i'm sick i'm tired of it i want nothing to do with
38:03it
38:03i'm with you because i'll put it simply as this if you have to platoon you know that tells me
38:08you don't have your guy that's all it tells me there's not you don't have your guy you don't
38:12have your guy it's not it's nothing more than that if you have to platoon that means you don't
38:16have a guy that you trust to be there every day and to me in my book that means you
38:22have a problem
38:23you have not identified and solved that problem so i'm out on platoon i do agree with you in the
38:29rankings if you can get sato and that's very clear sato number one free agency then i go the trade
38:35route i won't even talk about platoons it's not even on the list like platoon to me is not even
38:40an
38:40option it's it's somewhere over there is actually it's not even an option there is only one position
38:46that i am content with having the platoon label catcher because i know that it would make sense
38:51separate from catcher because you know we inevitably have that that's a that's fair point
38:55though no it's it's left field with one soda just because we know one is going to need more dh
39:01reps
39:01you know what i mean you right him staying healthy is far more important than him trying to steal 40
39:06bags ever again in his career as much as i want him to right bobblehead beside me is going to
39:11be worth
39:11so much more money in the next number of years because he's likely not going to do it again so
39:15bearing
39:16that in mind knowing knowing your 765 million dollar man needs to stay healthy and available
39:21expect more dh reps which is why if you have a platoon outfielder that also rakes that maybe is
39:28you know mediocre defensively or you know around league average it's fine as long as the bat is
39:33playing the way that you want that's why as we're talking about sato as we close here one bat that
39:39i
39:39see some similarity in is another player who i'm not opposed to the mets pursuing that we'll talk in a
39:44separate video and that's say suzuki yeah suzuki is someone who can handle the corner outfield just fine
39:50has clearly shown ability to have a quality bat at the major league level coming over from overseas
39:55and would be able to balance in the corner outfield as well as at dh with someone like soto so
40:02that is
40:03my exception to platoon other than that get it away fair the other thing i'll add to that is you
40:08can't
40:10have like you can't have multiple platoons in a lineup and think you're really going to contend
40:16for a world series like it's just it's not going to happen like that's just not going to work
40:21for most not most any major league team no good major league team has multiple platoons in their
40:27lineup because again you know what that would mean exactly granted i do think the exception you brought
40:30about soto just to give you credit i do think that's a fair and notable exception exception that
40:35is talking about managing his load in the field and also keeping him healthy for your mega superstar
40:42that's different right or where the mets are right now a catcher with luis torrens and francisco alvarez
40:48that i look at a little bit differently but like let's say let's say you got a platoon for soto
40:53you got
40:53a platoon a catcher and you have a platoon at first base nah come on that that's you can't that's
40:59just
40:59that's not you're not even being a serious baseball club at that time like that's not well if this
41:03question is about the mets being a serious baseball club but that's a whole other story
41:08last thing before i get out of here we get out of here so i said sir listen you got
41:12you got to be
41:13honest not the people not fans know you if you're a man you know they know you know they know
41:18um
41:20question for you warty i'm gonna give my grade on this too we're gonna put our professor's cap
41:24if you have to give a grade for the mets first base production in 2026 i'm curious if you have
41:31the
41:31same great as me um what would you give them and then looking ahead how confident are you that the
41:39position will be significantly better in 2027 so two-part two-part professor question for you
41:46professor warty what what are you going with so i'm going to answer the first question two parts if
41:51we're talking on how the approach to first base was bad app no no you got no you got to
41:57give a grade
41:58what's your grade yeah you what's the grade you're given for the production at first base
42:04yeah the grade for the production at first base i'm going to give it a d oh that's the grade
42:08oh
42:08that's higher than me yeah i have it at his at a d because jared young was a lot better
42:14that people
42:14are making him out to be here this year that's why if jared young was not a thing it would
42:18be an
42:19easy f but jared young brought it from being the absolute worst to not the absolute worst so that's
42:26that's a little bar that's fair but still that's where i stand jared deserves his credit he was not
42:31a problem for the mets this season all things considered that is so that is fair i i will say
42:36production okay i'll go d with you on production process is an absolute f there's no doubt about
42:42that that was my process to get there yeah absolutely an f like no doubt about it right now i
42:48think some
42:48people can't get past the process being an f so they're just like everything is an f and i understand
42:54where they're coming from but jared young you're right jared young was a blip of a bright spot
43:00for the mets at first base not enough to make me confident i want to start yeah blip of a
43:05bright
43:05spot is what i'll call him but like that yeah d is fine these these are i'm going you know
43:10what d
43:11minus i'm giving him a d minus you kind of just just above an f give you a d minus
43:16that that's where
43:16i'm gonna go all right now what was the second the second part was are you confident how confident
43:22are you that things will get significantly better at the position in 2027 oh i'm not confident no
43:30they have to go out and prove it this is not about me having blind optimism dex that that ship
43:35i was
43:36hoping for a blip of optimism from you blind blind optimism's two years removed we're like we're so far
43:43past that now there there are a few things i might be having blind optimism for still at the club
43:48as we
43:48under the off season sure but you know at the end of the day like they failed so bad this
43:53year you'd
43:54like to say that they're going to learn their lesson but until we actually see them learn their
43:57lesson and we can see the results and the players that they bring in i i feel the way that
44:03i do so
44:03i hope that they bring in someone along the lines as we discussed today if they don't we should be
44:10the last bit surprised should the turnout be what it would be next season you know it just oh oh
44:19you
44:19mean turn out by fans in city field oh no i don't mean turn out by production now in the
44:24sense of
44:24production correct oh well yeah well yes i would not be surprised by the production i would be surprised
44:33if they did nothing just considering that david stearns said how terrible the production was and like
44:38we said that position had the worst f war in the entire sport at first base yeah it's crazy right
44:44like yeah it's ridiculous it was that that's why we might be even being nice by giving them a d
44:49minus
44:49we might be nice giving them a d minus on production i am being nice yeah i am being nice
44:55you know what
44:55i'm switching my grade give them an f it's an f f for process that's fine production that's that's what
45:00it sticks here guns decks you want enough to begin with anyways yeah let's you know it's okay yes what
45:05we if they do nothing to your point we can't be surprised if the production is just straight
45:13garbage right like we can't be surprised at that at all um yeah am i confident there'll be i gotta
45:20ask myself my own question am i confident it'll be better in 2027
45:28slightly because sometimes like if we have was 2026 rock bottom at first base because you can't get
45:36worse than an f like there's nobody out here giving f minuses you're already at the f you failed like
45:42you
45:42can't get worse than the f so i'd like to think there's no way nowhere to go but up however
45:49fans of
45:51some other teams know this you just went and watched the jets the other day sometimes you just
45:55stay in the same place sometimes it's just i'm not saying i hope that happens
46:03just i don't know i'll i'll give slight optimism that's that's what i thought like this this much
46:08slight optimism slight optimism let me put this it's gonna be very telling once we get into the first
46:15two weeks of the offseason how this team responds how quick they act because one thing that we notice
46:21about david stearns is he does make moves early and he will make them early there might be a gap
46:27like maybe i shouldn't put any stock into how he's operating previous off seasons by having derek
46:32follow the year but i i'd imagine the mets are going to be aggressive as soon as the floodgates open
46:37once the playoffs are done and should that be the case i'm going to really look at how they're
46:43reviewing first base what's initially being rumored and reported out there what we're hearing
46:47throughout the industry and around the club and then come to the conclusion as to if i'm feeling
46:51confident or not about the team you know that's fair um we've seen we we've seen david be very
46:56proactive about specific player pursuits and you know wasn't for lack of effort whether we landed them
47:02or not if he wants a guy he's definitely going to put forth that effort but will he show that
47:07willingness to go above and beyond and actually finally recognize that this is not a market
47:11that is nearly on the same level as la with the daughters or some other contenders that have a
47:17more storied franchise or just have more consistent winning even teams that don't spend as much but
47:23might be more inclined to now after falling short like the atlanta braves or to a degree the philadelphia
47:27phillies right like the mets don't have anything to flex besides their financial muscle and their
47:33exciting young town but a lot of people are not just going to buy into the exciting young town part
47:37so if the dollars need to carry the weight let that carry the weight okay uh because you can't
47:44allow yourself to be going tit for tat with a guy like andrew freeman and the la daughters and expect
47:49to win that battle it's not going to happen not going it's not because it's things that are out of
47:54your control what's in your control is separating yourself from the rest the best of your ability
48:00and if they still go ahead and do everything to top you then at some point you got you got
48:06to make a
48:07decision if you're going to concede or if you're going to even make it more of an exaggerated deal
48:12than what you otherwise wanted right like do we want the kyle tucker contract right now god no
48:17carson bench does last around that guy as far as i'm concerned yeah you know edwin diaz would we have
48:22loved edwin if he was healthy this year yes but here's the thing even if edwin was here and healthy
48:27the mets still probably don't do jack this year the mets bullpen was not the problem this year
48:32okay and then they would have had that tie down of another albatross of a contract okay so
48:38thankfully these falling short of player pursuits haven't necessarily hurt the mets in various ways
48:45but you can't look at those situations and view them all as the same in a case of turk skuble
48:51in the case of sato these are guys that are worthy of exceptions of going above and beyond i agree
48:58what your otherwise comfort zone might be if you're david sterns yeah we'll see what happens
49:03it's gonna be interesting we'll see what happens at first base i think it is a very fascinating
49:07position we're going to do more of these we'll have another position next week that warty and i will
49:11talk about that we're going to break down and see what we think about this this was a good
49:15good discussion a good position to discuss but i'll tell you what the mets better do something at
49:19first base because i we didn't even mention his name you know who i don't want to see out there
49:24jorge polanco i already told y'all can't have warty's boy back out there sorry warty can't be
49:29boy back out there just is it's just what you know what this is what as much as that pains
49:34me dex
49:34i i'll give in i had a feeling you would i had a feeling that you would uh let us
49:40know in the
49:40comments who you think uh the mets should bring in at first base or maybe you actually want to see
49:45jorge polanco back let us know too uh and we'll dislike that comment for sure that is the great title
49:50award i am dexter henry we'll catch you next time another edition of straight out of fleshing peace