Evaluating Luis Robert Jr and Sean Manaea

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You want to say defending David Peterson, I say just analyzing that his end of the season run in which he fell apart has been defin ed sort of unfairly. And I'm gonna do it one more time. I feel like I do this all the time with David Peterson , where I go through his starts to just kind of remind you that it wasn't the entire second half of the year. It wasn't the entire month. I'll do it real quick. Going into his start on August 30th, his last start of August, David Peterson had a 3.180 RA. Now that was up a little bit from earlier in the month, but on July 30, he also had a 3.180 RA . So he started through really August to have a lot of up and down starts. And I'll go through it real quick. August 1st, six innings, two runs. Good. August sixth, six innings, four runs. Very mediocre. Disaster on August 13th, three and a third, six runs, but then bounces back with eight innings, one run, ten strikeouts, and five and two thirds innings, two runs. So while I acknowledge there were some bad starts in there, there were also some good starts in there. He went into his last start of August with a 3.18 ERA. The same ERA he had on July 3rd. Again , just facts. He then crapped the bed, no doubt about it. Starting on August 30th, two innings, eight runs, five and a third, four, five innings, three, five innings six, inning and a third five, ballooning his ER rate of 4.22 . It was his last five starts . If you just look at his August numbers, they're not good. But if you're fair and know that there's an eight-inning one run start mixed in there and there's a six-inning two-run start in there, you'll know it wasn't all bad. I bring this up because I think what we're gonna do now is say, well, second half David Peterson and now the first three starts of the year. I don't think they're related at all . I think what you can do, and this is where I will now join in on ripping David Peterson, is that David Peterson in these two starts, start two and three of 2026, has been awful . He got jumped on a lot two starts ago. He got jumped on again. In that second inning, the RBI hit he gave up to Catel Marte, which was the second run of the game, first pitch. The two-run double to Corbin Carroll, one of the big plays of the game, first pitch . He He was ahead of Pordomo, gives up a rip-line drive that turns into a sacrifice fly. The sack fly in the first inning, first pitch. You saw a lot of ambushing of David Peterson . And no, I'm not going to give you , because some of you may expect this, I'm not going to give you the, well, he settled down in the third, fourth, and fifth. I'm not doing that because you lost the game by giving up five runs in the first two innings, which is what he did . So there's no silver lining. Like, I mean, is it better than not that he pitched through the five fifth? Yeah, I mean, it's better than him getting knocked out after two or getting knocked out in the third. And instead of it being five-nothing, it's you know nine-nothing. Sure . But it was a bad start. And he has now put together two bad starts in a row. And I mentioned that McClain is going to be challenged by facing the Dodgers. Well, so is David Peterson . And there's pressure on David Peterson. Because while I didn't think Minaiah was great by any stretch of the imagination, the Mets have a starting pitcher in waiting, who remains stretched out. He threw 70 pitches in this game. He makes $25 million a year. And the Metso David Peterson, nothing. He is a free agent at the end of the season. They have more , I guess they have more um loyalty, that's the word I was trying to find, to Sean Maniah than they do David Peterson. Shawmania signed for one more year. David Peterson ain't . So the age doesn't matter. Nothing matters. It's performance. Picture this: a curve in the road, a change in plans. Well, what do you say? With the all-new Audi Q3 , the answer is always yes . Yes to adventure. Yes to escape. Yes to performance. Yes to comfort. Yes to right now. Because saying yes without hesitation, that's real luxury. The all-new Audi Q3 made for the Yes Life . And I thought with Mania , like the velocity still is down. He's still giving up some hard hit balls. But the two runs he gave up was absolute BS . Because Luis Robert Jr. has to make that play on what was somehow ruled a double by Jorge Barros a. It was an error. When you get to the ball and it bounces off your glove, it's a freaking error . And Luis Robert Jr. should have been charged with one. And yes, I am very unimpressed by his defense. I'm impressed by his at-bats . Like I'll totally give him that. I think he's had some really good at-bats despite the strikeout that he had in game three of this series. But I think he's had good at bats in which he lays off close pitches, he draws walked, he's obviously hit, he hits the home run. Like Luis Robert Jr. offensively has been really good . But I am very disappointed by his defense. His arm sucks. His range isn't that good. And on that playable, he got to went off his glove. Got to make that play . Gotta make that play , Mikey . And the base running. Like, nothing there. He's got a lot of speed. He's stolen a lot of bases in his career. We haven't seen it yet. Now, maybe that's a part of the Mets really trying to keep him healthy . But very unimpressed by his defense and his base running. Offense, great. Offense has been awesome. No questions about that. No, no qualms about that. But the defense was bad. Maniah was average. Like, I don't have a lot of faith in Sean Mania . I think a part of that is the velocity being down. I think a part of that is a lot of the hard contact. He's been fortunate to get through some of the innings he got through. Uh with that said, he's breathing down David Peterson's throat. Or neck . I don't know if he's breathing down his throat. That'd be interesting. I don't think that Christian Scott is yet breathing down his neck. Christian Scott had a dominant start at AAA on Thursday. But I think he needs to do a lot more than that. Same with Jonathan . But Scott, to prove he's healthy. So I think those two kids are going to be factors at some point, but not yet. The factor right now for David Peterson is Shaw Mania h. And I'll ask you, like, think about this. And I'm a Peterson supporter, right? I not even a supporter. I'm defending what I think is the misconception of his second half last year. It was really just five starts. But if the Mets announce tomorrow, we're going to flip-flop Manai and Peterson. Are we going to be against that? Like, I give Peterson another start or two if you're asking specifically. All right, Ev, how patient do you want to be? I would give them a few more starts . That'd be my answer. And if it's bad, like really bad, they've got their built-in option to replace them . And that next start against LA, that's a test, man. That is that is not an easy situation . And I like is where I give Mindy some credit. And we mentioned this a few Ricos ago. I forget when. I lose track. We're on episode what episode are we today? Six, six, seven. Nice . But it is important to keep them stretched out. And it's not that difficult to do. Like when Menaya comes into a game, whether you call it a tag team or a mop-up duty . He comes in, just let him finish the game. Especially in game two of this series, when you're down five to one , uh, you're down seven to one. You just let him finish the game. It saves your bullpen, which is valuable . But it also allows you to keep Shaw Maniah stretched out so that if you do want to insert him, six-man, or you want to insert him into the rotation or replace somebody, he's ready to do it . And I think he is ready to do it whenever Carlos Mendoza decides. Now they're going to continue with a five-man rotation. And if there was ever a moment where they could go to a sixth guy would be right now because they're in the midst of a stretch where they're playing nine straight days. Three down, six more to go. Like lock. How can I help? The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't. One in four taxpaying Americans has paid the price of identity fraud. What do I do? My refund, though. I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this. Life lock fixes identity theft guaranteed and gets your money back with up to three million dollars in coverage. I'm so relieved. No problem. I'll be with you every step of the way. One in four was a fraud-paying American. Not anymore. 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