Evaluating Freddie Peralta and Bullpen Strategy

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And the fact that Francisco Alvarez lost two challenges in this game as early as he did. That can't happen. Because there were plenty of situations later on in this game where Bobichette could have used a challenge, where the Mets could have used one. So this is the first time that we walked into that. Like where, wow they lost these challenges early and I think Francisco Alvarez has to be better. He has to be better because I think he picked some weird opportunities like the sixth inning. Let's go to the sixth inning. This is Freddie Peralta's final inning. And Avon Herrera's up. And he challenged the 2-1 pitch. This was his last one. And I get it's a big moment. Like I understand that, but it is the sixth inning. And if you don't get it right, and he didn't, and it became three and one, and then Peralta walked him on the next pitch, you're done. You don't have any . And then you have what was the other one that was Well, could I could I just later in that inning when Brazeban came in, there was a one-two pitch to I forget who it was, who then went and tied the game up the next one. Nolan Gorman? Nolan Gorman? I thought it hit the inside corner, the low inside corner. That's the one I would have challenged. They didn't have it anymore. I mean, let me see if it would have, because I am curious if it would have made a difference by looking at uh so it was the one-two pitch to Nolan Gorman right before he tied the game. Yeah. In the bottom of the sixth inning. I'm gonna tell you right now. Are you ready? You excited? Are you pumped up? Is it a C B Buckner type of call? It was it would have been a ball. Yeah. It was it was a little bit inside. It would have been a ball. So the point is, though, not that it you needed to be right. It's that you can't lose it. And Francisco Alvarez lost the challenges way too quick. He just did. And the other thing is this is not a nitpick. SNY, you gotta be better, bro. I mean, I love Steve Gelbs. I think he's very entertaining. The hot dog stuff. Ha ha. Let's be frank, whatever, whatever. When there's a challenge, especially early on, because I think we're all kind of into it. We're intrigued by it. When there's a challenge, and I see that the catcher just tapped this set, or the batter just tapped the set, you can't bring the camera right back to Steve Gebbs and the Doug out telling us about hot dogs. I mean you can't do that. Adjust. And I think in the early going, because maybe this will be different in July, like the challenges will be so something we're used to that um okay, some challenge, let us know. But I literally saw the tap of the head, no mention of it, it goes back to Gelbs talking about hot dogs, and I'm sitting there saying, Was there a challenge? And then yeah, eventually they come back . But SNY has got to be better with that. I don't want to miss challenges because Steve Gelbs is doing something funny with the hot dogs. That's just me. All right, let's get to Freddie Peralta . Freddie Peralta was very good in this game. Uh, I know that when they first acquired him, one of the things we went through is how deep into games does Freddie go? And he doesn't really go deep into games. But what I loved about Freddie in this game, so he gets through the Lindor mistake in the first inning, which was good. He pitches uh one, two, three, second, one, two, three, third, one, two, three, fourth, gets into trouble in the fifth, fights out of it. He gets into trouble in the sixth inning. His command is a little bit off. There's two on and nobody out. He falls behind Alec Burleson and he strikes him out. The pressure on data centers has never been greater. Whether you're expanding capacity, supporting AI workloads, or building new facilities, Grey Bar works alongside you with the solutions, specialists, and logistics expertise you need today. We help you power performance every step of the way so your operation is ready now . Yep. Gray Bar does that . And his pitch count at that point is 92. And it's his second start. So I'm not even complaining that Carlos Mendoza said, okay, here's the moment where I take you out. What I loved was how pissed off Peralta was. You know what that shows us in the early going of Freddie's Met career? He can go deep into games, and he wants to go deep into games. So the way the Brewers handled him and the way that the Mets handled him in this game, that's not about him. That's about the organization. And I I think Mendy made the right choice. It is early in the season. It's his second start. I didn't know how much he had left also, because remember, he had gotten into so much trouble in the last two innings that his pitch count went from 51 to 92. That's 41 pitches over an inning and a third. Think about that for a second. I jotted it down. He was at 51 after four. He was at 76 after five. So he threw 25 pitches to escape that fifth inning. And he went from seventy-six to ninety-two, which is sixteen pitches for the three batters he faced, capped off by the Burleson strikeout. So he was he was done. I agree with Carlos Mendoza taking him out. I think he was right And then obviously whilst Gar Brasabon, who's been so good, makes the one mistake. I thought he was gonna get out of it when he got Mason win to pop up. He gives up the base set to Nolan Gorman. So uh just to get into the weeds a little bit, why not? We're on the Rico . When Peralta walked Herrera to put two on and nobody out, I wanted to pull Peralta right then and there. I always like to tell you my first guesses what I was thinking in the moment. And I thought he was done. I thought, you know what? Freddy got nothing left. His pitch count at that point was 86. He ended up at 92. So his pitch counts at 86. It's the second start of the year. And essentially, he's put four of the last seven hitters on base, and he's walked two of them. So I was ready to make the move. The problem is, and this is what ended up killing Was kar Brazaban. He doesn't do well against lefties . Like Brazaban is tough on righties. If you look at his splits from last year, but lefties hit him. And so I think that Mendoza made the decision to keep Peralta in the game because the matchup was better. Like he preferred Freddie Peralta against Burleson, the bulking lefty, than going to Brazabon. And so my first inclination was get Freddie out. I think he's done. But then kind of going through the matchup, I'm like, all right, I kind of get it. I think the matchup is better. Like we talked about earlier with what matchup do you prefer? Tyrone Taylor versus Stanick or Carson Bench versus Romero? So I think Mendy was right on the matchup. But here's the issue you run into. So Brazimon comes in, he gets Mason went out, but then you're dealing with Nolan Gorman. So he gets burned by the lefty . And we live in a world now, unfortunately, and I do say unfortunately because it would have been managed completely differently, where you got the three batter minimum. Because otherwise Prasnabon comes in, gets a batter, here comes Brooks Rayleigh. It's exactly what I would have done . But look, Barazzaban has been mostly good. He was able to get out of the inning as well after he gave up the hit to Gorman, so he didn't let the game slip away. Like mostly good. And you