Mm-hmm.

Um, y- you know, like, a lot of, you know, you look at Yankee fans and some Yankee fans are born into it.

Some Yankee fans choose it.

Same with Mets fans.

Um, and there is that sense of well, among, 'cause I covered the Yankees for a good bit of time as well, where it's like, "Well, we're, we have this huge payroll.

We're really good.

We are always in the conversation.

Yeah

Uh, uh, now that the season is over, it is kind of a re- a relief for you? Do you look forward to this, uh, little bit of a break?

I mean, I hate to say it because I know I have a fantastic job, and covering baseball is a dream, but it's still a job.

Um, and it, 162 games, it does take its toll on you, especially when you're dealing with a team that was essentially out of the race in July.

Um, yeah, and, you know, you, you kind of felt, you kind of felt that the, um, even among the players, it's not that they don't wanna ...

I'm sure they would've done anything to play in October, but when the season is essentially over, you do kinda want it to end so you can start again.

Uh, you kinda have that blank slate.

Uh, and you know, it was, it was so, the game 162 this year was so diametrically opposed to game 162 last year, where there was this ... palpable sense of devastation in the clubhouse, um, that, you know, last year where intellectually they knew that this could happen, but it was almost like they couldn't believe it actually did.

So i- it, it had a, it had s- you had optimism for like, all right, this year sucked, and no one expected to be where we were, but I'm kind of excited about spring training because [laughs] of the way the team has shaped up since the worst of the worst in the middle of the summer.

So was it your sense, Laura, that the franchise was leaning in the direction of making this announcement? And were you surprised that the announcement was made so quickly? Yeah.

So it was my sense just from being around that if Green had changed his mind, and I'll get to why I thought he was going to change his mind a little bit later, they were very open to the idea.

I mean, Steve Cohen had already left the door ajar, and it sounded very different from Green's introductory press conference in which he found so many lovely ways to say, I absolutely do not want this job, not even a little bit, don't look at me.

And so you go from there.

I am shocked a little bit that they kind of moved so quickly on it and did it in season.

I was shocked in a positive way.

I think going into the offseason, especially with so many young kids on your team, with that level of stability when all this franchise has shown for like the last two and a half seasons is instability.

So give us an assessment on the week that Pete returned.

So was it your sense, Laura, that the franchise was leaning in the direction of making this announcement? And were you surprised that the announcement was made so quickly? Yeah.

So it was my sense just from being around that if Green had changed his mind, and I'll get to why I thought he was going to change his mind a little bit later, they were very open to the idea.

I mean, Steve Cohen had already left the door ajar, and it sounded very different from Green's introductory press conference in which he found so many lovely ways to say, I absolutely do not want this job, not even a little bit, don't look at me.

And so you go from there.

I am shocked a little bit that they kind of moved so quickly on it and did it in season.

I was shocked in a positive way.

I think going into the offseason, especially with so many young kids on your team, with that level of stability when all this franchise has shown for like the last two and a half seasons is instability.

As well as what he really meant to all of us and how we're going to miss him.

Huge.

Yeah.

It's interesting you guys bring up the concept of leadership because I feel like two people who are...

Well, Sean Manaea has always been there.

Like, the young pitchers kind of flock to him, uh, and he has, like, his own kind of way.

He's like, "I'm not gonna enforce anything.

I'm not gonna make you do anything, because everybody's style is different." But everybody comes to him for advice.

Some days a little crankier than others, but aren't we all?

Okay, you do, okay.

Very well.

And it's the future of Mark Vantos.

So Mark Vantos obviously comes back from a broken hand, and this has been, suffice to say, a down season for him, but it's also the second straight down season for him.

So he goes into yesterday's game hitting .211, comes back from a broken hand, immediately hits a home run, and you're like, oh...

I remember that Mark Vientos from 2024.

But right now we're looking at a situation, he has two more years under team control, but he's a strong non-tender candidate, simply just because there doesn't really seem to be a role for him on this team.

Where would the Mets organization benefit most from with Andy Green as the offseason approaches?

Yep.

Or back when we would do it for Yankee games as well.

Um, so a lot of it was just kinda like a baptism by fire.

Like I asked everyone I could.

I asked Keith Rad, I asked Ray Martell, I asked Howie Rose.

I called Eddie Coleman [laughs] up.

Like anyone and everyone, um, and like just, "What tips can you give me? How can I do this?" Um, and it's, it was definitely a learning experience, but I feel like I got, I got a little bit looser as the three-game series went on, and it gave me such different sort of appreciation for baseball.

Yeah

So that was an interesting thing that I kind of noticed here.

Yeah.

I, I think I'm kind of like dovetailing off of that.

I...

There i- the strategy that being...

Uh, Baseball America recently came out with an article about the number of high ranking prospects that actually make it to the Major Leagues, and in reality it's a very, very small number.

So when you're, you're basically taking flyers on guys or kind of like these lottery type ki- types of players, you're maximizing your chances that maybe you might strike gold because you don't necessarily know.

What stands out to you most when you take a look at the overall return the Mets got to restock a pipeline that had fallen dramatically over the last year plus?

So give us a little synopsis on your column today that was really interesting to read.

Yeah, I just thought it was interesting, especially with Freddie coming back to Milwaukee.

I mean, this is a place where he's had a good amount of success, had a 2.70 ERA last year.

And he comes back here and he's surrounded by all this love and all this affection.

You can tell he has that affection right back at them.

And any athlete in that situation wants to do well.

And it just was not working for him.

How pros get more done.

And then, Liz, what have you noticed about Andy Green and his style and his relations with the media? And just give us a little synopsis of what you've seen in two weeks.

I mean, I do think it's a little bit early and, you know, the Andy Green era so far has been marked by a whole lot of loss.

So we're still kind of trying to suss out the situation.

We talked a little bit about this last week, the idea when he did his introductory press conference of him basically saying, okay, I am really an interim manager.

So, you know, I do think that affects a little bit the way that he goes about things.

He's just trying to keep this team afloat.

I mean, it's it's a little bit of a substitute teacher vibe going into this and which is completely understandable.

My question is, what are the odds that he would actually stay another season? But let's get your assessment on Beau.

And I think that's what we've seen.

Yeah, I tend to agree.

I think when we look back on this season, we're going to talk a lot about the human element and how maybe it was pushed to the side a little bit too hastily.

I was speaking to Darryl Strawberry last week on my own podcast, and he had a few interesting things to say.

He was around the team during spring training, And he's like, it's not that there aren't leaders in that clubhouse.

And we can attest to that.

There are people individually who are leaders in that clubhouse.

Let's get to those stories right now.

and

that's what they look like.

And it's not because they're a 500 team because they're just mediocre all the time.

It's because some days they look really good, and some days they look really, really bad, and they can't seem to find equilibrium.

I think the only chance they get is probably twofold.

You have to do it before the trade deadline because you've got to give them a reason to go after more.

You need the starting pitching to step up considerably.

Now that we're sitting here almost in July, where did he go wrong the most?

Because when I was a kid... watching and obviously there's no watch parties and there's no total unity of the city but we're going to get to all of that but i i want to find out first from laura then i'm going to get to sal because your story and this whole thing the way it unfolded just touched my heart in a lot of ways but laura where were you saturday how did you consume the game and tell us about your experience on saturday night

I was actually sweating it a little because I'd been sick prior.

And I'm like, I really don't want to be sick for Saturday.

And I finally felt better.

I'm like, this is great.

And I was able to go to two sports bars in my area.

I watched the first half in one place and the second half in another place, mostly just because I wanted to get the sense of just like the community and how people were feeling.

That's where that emotion came from.

And should he be now brought back into the Mets starting rotation?

I mean, I don't necessarily know that the Mets have much of a choice considering what they're doing right now with these consistent openers and then having David Peterson.

I mean, David Peterson obviously wants to start, but he has historically done better with the opener.

And every time you use an opener, which I've done the past few games, it's going to absolutely limit your bullpen because you're going to have to use more and more guys.

You have the bulk guy and then you have a bunch of guys coming after him.

So reinserting Chaminade into the rotation and stretching him out, because right now he's only stretched out to like 65-ish pitches, I think would be, you have to at least give it a shot.

We know his velocity was down, but his velocity was taking up to 93, 94.

This year he's, to me anyway, a completely different person.

So give us that evaluation, and I wanna hear, uh, everyone's opinion, of course, on Sean Manaea, and, uh, should he be now brought back into the Mets' starting rotation?

I mean, I don't necessarily know that the Mets have much of a choice considering what they're doing right now with, like, these consistent openers and then having David Peterson.

I mean, David Peterson obviously wants to start, uh, but he has historically done better with the opener.

And every time you use an opener, which they've done the past few games, it's going to absolutely limit your bullpen because you're gonna have to use more and more guys.

You have the bulk guy and then you have a bunch of guys coming after him.

So reinserting Sean Manaea into the rotation and stretching him out, because right now he's only stretched out to, like, 65-ish pitches, I think would be a g- you have to at least give it a shot.

Um, we know his velocity was down, but his velocity was ticking up to 93, 94.

This year he's a, uh, to me anyway, completely different person.

What a difference a week makes and what has been the main reason right now for this dramatic turnaround since just a week ago?

They certainly do have a spark to them.

I look at some of these young players.

You look at A.J. Ewing.

You look at Carson Benj.

And they do bring a lot of life into the clubhouse.

I think there's some power in youth and not, quote, unquote, knowing that you're supposed to fail.

So who wants to give us a scouting report on these two young players that the Mets have just brought up?

But it seems like we're now even deeper in the abyss.

Yeah, and I think, you know, you're, you're looking at the first part of the trip, and you're seeing two very winnable games against the Angels and against the Rockies that they just kind of flubbed away.

And then you saw them against the Diamondbacks, which, like, it's a, a tiny step up from those two other teams.

And-It was just the way that they lost that I think was frustrating.

One, because you're getting excellent pitching.

I mean, you're seeing Clay Holmes doing things that really probably nobody really expected when he converted from, from the bullpen role to being a starter.

And you're also seeing just the quality of the at-bats.

And you had two guys that are not here anymore, Nimmo and Pete, who they were developed in this organization and they stayed here for many years, and they were able to handle New York, where I think a lot of guys on this roster right now may not be equipped to handle the pressures of this city.

Um, really the matchup should be, I think, driving who's starting in the lineup that day, and then who are you pinch hitting later in the game based on the pitcher who's coming in.

Yeah.

And, and, uh, again, I do believe in the value of matchups, but, but to Liz's point, yeah, this, also this concept of getting comfortable because, uh, I, you know, I did ask Mendoza about this yesterday where, you know, do you feel like Brett Beatty moving around so much and having to kind of ha- expend that mental energy, uh, at a new position could somehow translate to poorer returns on the offensive side? He's only hitting 207.

Um, and I think this is interesting in particular because so- sometimes when we're talking about matchups, or a lot of times you're also talking about righty, lefty, that sort of thing.

Brett Beatty had proved last year that he can hit left-handed pitching.

Um, and so I do think that that's a factor.

But even, you know, forget for a moment Brett Beatty, Bo Bichette, which I'll get back to Bo Bichette in a second.

Let's go to Laura first, then Liz.

Like I said, it's never fair.

Yeah.

I, I mean, I, coming from a completely different perspective, uh, other than some sort of gross, like, injustice or something else, I have never called for a manager's job in any of my columns.

I do not think that's my place, uh, nor do I think it's fair because we don't know what's going on in the background.

Um, I will say that the deck was very much stacked against Mendoza at the beginning of this year.

You saw it the minute they cleaned house with this coaching staff.

Who else is left? Uh, and with situations like this, especially in New York, it feels like more of a scapegoat situation.

I mean, uh, is this mountain for the Mets too steep to overcome this season? Laura, why don't we start with you? 'Cause you cover them every day.

the, the knockout punches, the blood, uh, coming back, uh, talk to us about that column and, and the-

Yeah, so I think it's more than just Lindor.

Um, I think, uh, you know, you talk about the psychological aspect of baseball, uh, and the fact that it does affect these guys.

When you're looking at that 12 g- game losing streak and you would ask them, "Hey, what's going on? What's going on?" I think the most frustrating part for a lot of athletes is seeing things go wrong and not necessarily having the power to fix it.

Um, these are guys, obviously, like I mentioned before, that wanna win.

So now you have this huge deficit.

Granted, it's April, and the NL East is not very strong, save for the Braves.

And it, it, like I said, it's never fair.

Any shortening of the leash on Benge because he hasn't gotten off to a great start? Defensively, he looks very good, but offensively, he's struggling.

Not necessarily.

I think, I, I think they're gonna pick, uh, their spots with him, uh, against left-handed pitchers.

But I...

This is very clearly a situation where they want to figure it out a, a little bit more on the fly.

Um, I had spoken to Benge's, uh, high school coach, a college coach, pardon me, uh, over in spring training and, and he, he very much said like, "Benge is an instinctual sort of hitter.

He's not gonna overthink things." And I think right now he got into a situation, understandably so, uh, where so much pressure was put on him that maybe he was thinking about things a little bit too much, uh, when he was coming up to bat.

Ju-just knowing him, Laura, from his time with the Yankee, he's very, very chill, and I could see that steady hand, but I'm wondering behind the scenes, is he showing any signs of stress at all with the losing? Because think about it, since June twelfth of last year, this team record-wise has been one of the worst teams in baseball.