Stolen Base Inefficiency and Season Outlook

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Try Welch's fruit snacks today it's the amazing rico bronya podcast with your host evan roberts rico Welcome in everybody to episode 675 of the Rico . I want to wish everybody a very happy we can't lose today day if you're a New York Mets fan in the midst of this brutal , brutal stretch, 11 straight losses, the New York Mets mercifully have an off day on Monday, April 20th. And we're going to use that opportunity on this special Rico Bronya to have a nice open therapy session. And what I decided to do for the visual audience, for those that consume this on YouTube , is I decided to broadcast this from our rooftop here at the WFAN studios, where you can see New York City in the background and maybe that relaxes you. Maybe seeing my ugly face with the Empire State Building behind it, seeing the beauty of the city we live in, maybe that'll kind of help in relaxing all of us. If you are downloading the podcast, well then it's just the same podcast. Except we're gonna talk to you and we're gonna try to calm everybody down. Now when I say calm everybody down, that doesn't mean I'm gonna tell you everything's gonna be okay because it's very tough to imagine watching this team suffering the losses that they have suffered over the last two weeks, looking at the town on this roster. It's very tough to preach to you that everything is going to be okay when it comes to baseb all. But I think this is an opportunity to talk about it. So I'm gonna read a lot of your emails today. I've collected uh thousands of them over the last few days. I can't get to all of them, but we'll get to a decent amount of them and we appreciate each and everybody that has reached out. Let me start with the manager, because I know that is the kind of the hot discussion on an off day. Will they or won't they? And I fully understand that there's a chance that this Rico Bruno could be outdated in the next few hours if the Mets decide to remove Carlos Mendoza as manager of the New York Mets. I I could try to guess. I could try to get into Steve Cohen's head or David Stearns' head. And based on the words that David Stearns used on Friday when he said Carlos Mendoza is doing a wonderful job, he's doing a really good job, and said the same thing that Francisco Lindor said on Sunday, which is that he's getting everybody prepared to play . You can hear those words from David on Friday and say, well, there's no way they're gonna make a change. Based on that, based on the fact that Stearns and their best active player, Francisco Lindor, is Is exonerating the manager, that has to mean that he is safe. And the reason I can't come to that conclusion is because things change very quickly over the course of a baseball season. If I'm David Stearns and I'm Steve Cohen, who are right now the final bosses of the New York Mets, and I say, let's have meetings on Monday. Let's just talk about the state of the franchise and where things are going and what we can do to change it. And I'm David Stearns, who right now is number one on everybody's hate list as the guy who deserves the most blame for this mess, which is absolutely fair. He built this roster. He's the one who made a lot of the controversial decisions we hated. But until further notice, he's the boss. He's the decider. The Mets are not firing David Stearns. So the mere suggestion of it around here on the RICO is a waste of time. Can we talk about it in October? Sure. Talking about it now, waste of time. So David Stearns is in a meeting with Carlos Mendoza, and he simply says to Mendy, you got the guys prepared to play. You've tried various lineups. Please walk me through, explain to me how you came to the conclusion to face Nico Horner with a runner on third base in less than two outs in a spot in which you need a strikeout . When we did our series recap, Rico Bronya, we talked about that move. I screamed about that move. It's probably the only time I raised my voice over the course of that one hour Rico as disgusted as I am because that one pissed me off. Little did I know that Mendy's answer for why with a runner on third in a tie game, why he would decide to face Nico Horner, his answer would actually be worse than the decision. Because his answer was: well, if we walk Horner, he's gonna steal second base. Who cares? The run doesn't matter. And my idea on walking Nico Horner to face Michael Bush wasn't about turning a double play. It could happen. It's a possibility. But there's a good chance you're going to put the infield in anyway because you can't risk the fact that you don't turn the double play . The reason you walk Horner to get to Michael Bush is because Nico Horner strikes out about nine percent of the time. The MLB average is 22%. He does not strike out. He's also hitting 350. Right now, in this moment, he's the Chicago Cubs best hitter. And you could certainly argue he just flat out is their best hitter. So you're not walking him because you're afraid of him stealing second base. Or I should say you're not walking him because you're afraid of him stealing second base. Who cares if he steals second base . Like it doesn't matter. You're walking him simply put because the on deck hitter is sitting 155, and I mentioned Nico Horner strikes out 10% of the time. Michael Bush strikes out about 28% of the time. And that's the numbers he puts up, even in a year like last year, where he's really successful. He strikes out a lot. And in a position like that, after the wild pitch, you need a strikeout. So I do not understand for the life of me, and I I guess I gotta get back into the role playing of I'm David Stearns. I need to remain calm. Please explain to me again, Mendy, why you didn't walk Nico Horner ? And your answer better be better than the BS you uttered to the media on Sunday. Is one move enough to get Carlos Mendoza fired? No . And again, it's not as if this is all his fault. Francisco Lind or says he gets the team ready to play. Okay. We're not in the locker room. Maybe he does. But here's what I know. Here's what we all know. They've lost 11 in a row. And at some point you have to try something. So even with a good night's sleep, even with a chance to think it over, my irrational opinion from yesterday, minutes after they lost to the Cubs and lost their eleventh straight, was that the clock has struck midnight on Carlos Mendoza. I remain the exact same way the following morning. They should make a move . Will they make a move? I look, there's no track record of David uh of Steve Cohen doing that. As much as we've compared him to George Steinbrenner, as much as he'll go on social media and call us out for a variety of reasons, he hasn't been impetuous. I know he's been through a lot of general managers, but think about why. He brought in Sandy Alderson who brings in Jared Porter who for whatever reason can't control himself and is sending odd pictures to people. And then you've got Zach Scott who has a DOWI or DUI, but I think the biggest problem with that is he never told Steve Cohen what happened. Whatever the reason, I don't want to re litigate that. So those guys were removed not for baseball reasons. Billy Epler wasn't even removed for baseball reasons. Billy Epler was removed because the apple of his eye was Wonder Kid David Stearns . The managers. Like, sure, he fired Luis Rojas, but that's because he inherited him. And Buck Show Walter again was fired because David Stearns made the decision. Steve Cohen so far has not been this overreaching owner. Like a lot of people want to claim he overreached about Juan Soto. I don't buy that. David Stearns wanted Juan Soto. Why wouldn't he? He's one of the best players in baseball. He's one of the rare guys that you tell the owner he's worth every dime . So my point is, we haven't seen Steve Cohen over Connor Reach. We haven't seen him say I'm firing the manager. We haven't seen him say I'm gonna go get this guy. He didn't get involved with Pete Alonzo. He didn't involve with Jacob DeGrom. He didn't involve with trading Brandon Nemo. He allowed it to happen. And I defend that because I think you want an owner to allow whoever they hire to make those decisions, even as it turns out, if most of those decisions absolutely suck. So I have no track record or reason to believe that Steve Cohen is going to react to what happened over the last two weeks and what happened on Sunday and say I'm stepping in I need to do something . So if I had to guess they don't do anything . But Tuesday night at City Field, and I plan on going. I planned on going a long time ago as soon as I saw Nolan McLean was scheduled to make the start. I'll be there Tuesday . There will be some Met fans there Tuesday. I cannot blame you if the reaction you have is overwhelming negativity. Because over the course of an 11-game losing streak with very high ticket prices . I get it. I understand it. Am I gonna stand up and boo when the Mets take the field? I'm not gonna do that. But I'm certainly not gonna lecture anybody to act a certain way. Should we all stand up and cheer? I I sure if we want to try that bit, the bit from Philadelphia, if we want to try, hey, let's just cheer everybody, that's great. I tend to believe when a game starts, when a guy comes up for the first time, you do cheer them, and then you react to the negativity . You react to leaving guys on base. You react to giving up five runs in the first inning. So I don't think it would make sense to boo this team as they take the field, but right now I cannot tell any Met fan how to react if they actually go to City Field on Tuesday night. And let me read some of your emails. Uh the RicoB at Gmail.com. I've got all of them printed out. I waste paper. What can I tell you? We'll start with Nick. Nick writes, hey Evan. Alright, so here's the exercise. What date is it when the Mets have regained a 500 record? Note you can choose never . Well, they're eight games under 500. And I don't believe eight games under 500 is insurmountable. I I don't believe that they're gonna just erase it immediately and respond to this 11-game los ing streak with an eight-game winning streak as great as that would be. Am I negative enough about this team to let go of the rope and tell you that they'll never see 500 again? I lean towards no. I do because as much as this may be a flawed team, as much as the answers don't seem to be there, the question you have to ask yourself is are they a bad team? Are they a bad enough team where they don't even have that couple of hot streaks that gets them back to 500? So my guess Nick and I guess this is me being positive is that they will see 500 again and my guess is you know what? I'm gonna go full circle. They will see 500 again on June 13th . So it'll take a while. It'll take a little less than two months. But the full circle of the Met collapse from a year ago, well that they be they will get to 500 but you know what's crazy because i've had a few people ask me this which is who and what team do you compare this to is this the 03 mets the 04 Mets, the 02 Mets, the 2009 Mets . I hate to say this because it scares the crap out of me, but it feels like the 1992 Mets. And that was one of the first teams I ever watched. I was only eight going into nine, so I was my oldest son's age. And they had a big offseason. They brought in Eddie Murray. They brought in Bobby Bunia. They brought in Willie Randolph. They brought in Dick Schofield. And they had a pretty good pitching staff, right? They had Sid Fernandez. They had Doc Gooden . On paper , the Met should have been really good. And I have weird memories of this. I remember going to opening day. It was the second of my streak that I don't even know if it exists anymore. But Gary Cohen, who at the time was the radio voice of the Mets, was outside. I think WFN was doing like a big opening day live from the parking lot show . Note to the current staff may not be a bad idea for next year. And I remember Gary Cohn said, I don't know if the Mets are gonna win the division, but the Mets have as good a chance at winning the NL East as anybody else. And it gave like everybody gave like a rousing ovation. That's how we felt going into 1992. It was a very different team. Uh it was different. And by s but what I mean by different team is from ninety-one to ninety-two, they went out and invested a lot. They changed the core of that team. Some of the guys were still there, like Dave Magdon was still there, Doc Gooden was still there, El Sid was still there, but a lot of things changed, and as we all recall, that team has been labeled the worst team money could buy. And a book was written about the 92 meds and then the 93 mats were even worse. But in nineteen ninety-two, and and I had a tough time remembering this, I had to go back on the baseball reference page, they were at 500 as late as July . So even nineteen ninety two, which is remembered as this unmitigated disaster in the history of the franchise, even that year didn't start off badly. It wasn't like they were done in April. They were actually a relatively functioning baseball team until the bottom dropped out in the second half of the year. But in terms of big money expenditures, in terms of the team being so different from the years prior . I hate to tell you it reminds me of 1992 . But obviously, one of the big differences between that year and this year is that they didn't bury themselves in the middle of April. They waited until the summer to bury themselves. This episode is brought to you by Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed sponsored jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate C. According to Indeed Data, sponsored jobs have four times more applicants than non-sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed . Get a $75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com/slash podcast. Terms and Conditions apply. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa. Whether it's Verde , Roja, or the Orange One. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower . Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon. Haban ero ? More like habinier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon . Uh loyal Rico listener Will writes, this team has its Limp D offense and it's a train wreck. I came up with a question: what chance should Met fans shout when they come home? Hit these baseballs, win some ball games, or fire Mendy . Situational hitting, please, is kind of a mouthful. Curious your guys' thoughts . I think that the Met fan is going to chant fire David Stearns very early. And that doesn't mean they're going to do it. It doesn't even mean they should do it. I think, as I talked about briefly the other day, firing your general manager, your team president this early on is dysfunctional. And there's a lot more that goes into being a team president than just the acquisitions we respond to and the kind of near-term responses to the acquisitions. But I think that's who the MetFan is ang ry at. I don't think there's a specific player. Obviously Bo Bachette has been a massive disappointment. Jorge Polanco before he was mercifully placed on the IL. Massive disappointment. Devin Williams blew a huge save when he couldn't. So there are plenty of people that Met fans could chant towards and Fire Mendy's an easy one because that's on the tip of our tongue right now. But I wonder I wonder if the fire sterns or stern sucks or I I don't know what else may come out of Met fans' mouths. But keep this in mind about this series coming up against Minnesota. The weather early on is gonna be very cold. I don't know how many Met tickets have been sold prior to this. I don't think there's gonna be be a lot of people there . So I'm not sure how it's gonna sound. And Nolan McClain has a chance to shut everybody up. Because if Nolan McLean , who takes the baseball before anybody else, starts Tuesday night by striking out the side and looking electric and being the hope that we think he is, that in a way can calm the Met fan down briefly. James from Freeport writes, Hey Evan, love the show. I wanted to point something out that hasn't been discussed involving the Mets poor play, and it has nothing to do with Steve Cohen, David Stearns, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nemo, or Edwin Diaz. It has to do with our history. On June 12th, 2024, Grimace threw out the first pitch at City Field, sparking a Mets win streak which would eventually lead to an appearance against the Dodgers in the NLCS. Exactly one year later, on June 13th, 2025 , while holding an MLB leading record of a hundred and five and sixty since Grimace's appearance, the Mets played game one of their series against the Tampa Bay Rays, which many Met fans, including myself, cite as the turning point in the 202 5 season. It's obvious that Grimace felt snubbed when not invited back to throw out a first pitch in 2025 and removed any and all positive juju . He surrounded the Mets in their magical 2024, rightfully so. It's clear that the key now is to make amends. June 12th, 2026 is a home game against the Atlanta Braves. Fireworks night. Steve Cohen, I don't think I need to tell you what needs to happen . So this is where we are in the Met season. We are desperately calling for the return of grimace. We need gimmicks and bits to save the Met season . You guys will like this one. This is from E Tai, who writes, Hey Evan, what if the Mets are actually losing strategically? As you have mentioned yourself, they have the second highest payroll in baseball, with the salary cap being a major sticking point what better counter argument than the Mets? Everyone points to the Dodgers as having broken baseball, but if the Mets have the worst team in baseball despite having an equivalent payroll, then the case for the cap be comes a lot flimsi er. Yeah. Steve Cohen is thinking long term. We're playing chess here. And that is let's lose. Let's prove that spending doesn't guarantee you anything, and that'll keep us from having a salary cap in twenty twenty seven. I have said this many times, and I think I've said this a lot to Yankee fans when they have destroyed Brian Cashman and have said that he hasn't done anything impressive because if you have a lot of money, winning is easy. Winning is not easy. And even when you do have a lot of money, which the Mets have, which the Yankees have, which the Dodgers have, spending it doesn't ensure anything. Does it make it easier? Is it advantageous to have a lot of money and be able to spend it? Absolutely. I don't think there's any question, but I think not only this Met team, but teams of the past have proven that winning doesn't guarantee you anything. And sometimes, and maybe this is partially the case with the Mets, you feel pressure to spend. You know, remember the conversation around ownership uh before they signed Bobachette, before they made the reactionary moves to losing Peaton Edwin. There was talk about well, Steve Cohn doesn't care about the team anymore. He's not gonna spend money on the team. And he had to come out voc ally and say that's not true. It was a stupid idea suggested by some in the media. If he doesn't spend because he doesn't like the players available, we're all screaming he don't care about the Mets and he's cheap . And so sometimes that does force you to spend and spend dumbly. And right now it does look like the Mets have spent dumbly. Let's hear from Nikki Kay, who writes: Evan, looking at the Mets roster in 2026. One thing that jumped out at me was how awful the Mets have been at developing players. This forces you to buy overpaid mediocre free agents. The 2015 Mets World Series roster had the following non-homegrown players. There are only eight of them. Cespitus, Clippard, Cologne, Kedyer, Granderson, Kelly Johnson, Reed, and Euribe . The 2026 Mets roster only has the following homegrown players: McLean, Peterson, Alvarez, Beatty, Vientos, and Bench. That is 20 guys who are not homegrown. It's too early to rip Bench. Peterson is mostly fine, although not that good this season. Alvarez isn't amazing, but is fine. McLean is amazing, and Beatty and Vientos have shown flashes, but let's face it, they are bums . Not having productive players like Flores, Tejada, Duda, Nice, and Ligueras on the Liga Minimum arbitration team-friendly deals has led to a need to buy everything, not just what you need. This team has too many players who are old and potentially washed . I I your email isn't wrong, but you know what really annoys me and I know you didn't mean to do it. They had a lot of homegrown players on this team. They chose to let them go . So I get it. The player development specifically with Mark Vientos and Brett Beatty has been bad. Absolutely , we'll see about Carson Bench . But if we are being fair, did they not have homegrown players that they decided they didn't want to pay? Isn't that exactly what happened? So I I don't know, man. By the way, this is a great email from Danny Lanigan speaking of homegrown players and letting them go. Danny writes, it was right in front of us. I know that the timing is not right and that we will have the off season to litigate this, but the answer at first base was right in front of us. We had a plus bat, left handed fielder, Keith loves to talk about lefties being superior first baseman, who no longer play the outfield because of a noodle arm, playing every day, no show of decline, and we gave him away for a corpse. When the Mets decided that they didn't want to pedal or pay Pete Alonso to be part of their future, the answer was right in front of them. Brandon Nemo. In hindsight, that may have been the biggest mistake of the offseason . So he's suggesting that once they make the decision, and they they pretty much knew for a while, that Pete Alonzo wasn't going to be their guy , that they weren't going to pay Peter Lonzo . That what they should have done was move Brandon Nimmo to first base . By the way, I I this is so crazy because we watch every Met game. I'm pretty sure Brandon Nemo throws with his right arm. He hits left-handed. And it's crazy to me. I've watched every game of the dude's career, and now I'm like struggling to know that for sure. But I think that part is a little inaccurate about being a left-handed fielder. But it's actually a very fair point. That if the concern on Nimmo was health and decline and they knew we were in keeping Pete Alonso, was the best option to say instead of signing Jorge Polanco who's oft injured and is not a first baseman, why not move somebody who's already here? I think it's a great point, Danny. And you're right, it's relitigating the offseason and we will unfortunately have a lot of time to do that, which is depressing considering where this season is going . But no, it's absolutely fair because right now the Mets are playing guys out of position at first base. It's become a joke. Vientos and Beatty and Polanco before he got hurt and Jared Young and MJ Melendez is working out. It's it's become a cavalcade of guys playing first base . Just to clarify, Brendan Nimmo does throw with his right hand. Thank you. Okay. I I was sure I was right, Pete, but you know what? Enough time goes by where you're like, wait a second. Yeah, I couldn't even remember if he was a lefty or not. Uh hitting the ball. No, I that I did not. By the way, can I just say one thing about Brandon Nemo and and this was tot totally typical? And I'm not saying like hindsight twenty twenty. Listen, Marcus Simeon sucks. So that's that's besides the point. But Brandon Nimmo made it very known that the winter the the the first month of the season sucked here in New York. He was not he didn't like the early April. He didn't he made a point last year with Juan Soto saying, hey, I'm telling you, the weather's gonna change, things are gonna turn around and we'll be able to the bats will heat up. So this is a thing that he even knew. He's in Texas now. It's a different, it's a different weather. It's a dope. Yeah. So uh it may it makes sense why he is You go to Hawaii in your head all the time, but when you're actually ready to go, there's Expedia. 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Opt-in required. Bonus issue does not withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restriction supply , including any token expiration and maximum amount. See full terms at fanbule.com slash sportsbook. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat. By the way, I was gonna do something interesting here on our rooftop Rico Bronya episode six seventy-five, and it involves you talking for about a minute. I'm using this headset microphone, and I have no idea how it sounds. Hopefully the people think the sound is okay, but I also brought another microphone. So I was gonna do a mic change in the middle of this Rico Bronya just to see the difference and then we can decide for future Rico's which one is better. Okay . Well I I do want to say that I can't hear you. So clearly uh clearly something's wrong. So talk for a little bit. I'm gonna change the microphone, okay, pal? Thank you. Okay, you got it. He sounds good, I think. And this is like Evan's version of like a wardrobe change . This is like if it was an award show and we need to uh we need to you know change outfits every you know couple segments. Evan has a different mic for every segment. He's now tried this by the way. He looks very handy today. Maybe it's the back trail . He um he has about 1015 different mics, and he continues to try to see which one sounds the best. This kind of looks like the Simpsons backdrop . I can hear you. I'm working on something right now. Can you hear me? Yes, you sound you sound good. Does it sound better than before? Nah, it's a little bit uh uh distorted. Oh really? Alright, so I'll go back. Alright, wardrobe change happening Oh, you can't you can't make it up. But yeah, but you can't make up the fact that Brandon Nemo's now hitting better in uh in Texas. I mean that that was something I always knew was gonna happen. Alonzo is not hitting the cover off the bowl by the way,. So friend there you go. You're back . All right. So what what we learned from that short wardrobe change is that the headset microphone is the better option when doing these outdoor reeftop movable Rico Bronias, correct? That is correct. All right. Good to know. Let's get back to some of your emails, the RicoB at Gmail.com. And I do want to address one huge difference. Actually, there's a lot of huge differences but one not talked about difference between the New York Mets of last year and the Mets of this year but let's hear from Jay Jay writes Evan has a team ever been booted as they take the field I don't think I've ever seen it and I wonder if you have I.'m bracing myself for what's gonna sound what it's gonna sound like on Tuesday night. As for the four play it goes beyond just a ten game losing streak. To twenty one games, which is a small sample size, but not an insignificant one. The Mets are ranked twenty ninth in OPS through 13% of the season. They have the second to worst offense in all the baseball. A team with this payroll, which was projected to be among the best teams in baseball, should not have a 21-game stretch like this. Or now twenty-two. Since June 13th of last year, we have one of the worst records in baseball. Worse than some of the teams that aren't even trying. Multiple long losing streaks that make you wonder how a team can play this bad for this long. You can change the players, change the coaches, even change the manager, but this suggests some sort of issue within the organization. Whether it's a problem in the organizational philosophy or a bad analytics department or a competing mindset, something is not working. I always felt like an owner who puts their money and hires smart people will lead to sustained success. Steve Cohn has done that. I can't believe this is the result. I refuse to believe the Mets are cursed. I think there is some underlying issues, and until we find out what it is, we're going to see more of the same. It is odd and almost impossible to understand and explain how a team that was one of the best teams in baseball instantly morphed into a team that was one of the worst teams in baseball and then changes their roster almost completely. Unrecognizable team the following year and they're even worse. It it is very, very tough to explain. And I guess that's the beauty of baseball because I asked on episode 674 when the Mets had their 2024 miraculous turnaround . Most people did not believe that turnaround was coming. Did that turnaround or would that turnaround surprise you more than if this team turns around? And I gave that question a lot of thought over the last few hours, but the beauty of baseball was that it did turn around in 2024 with zero signs of it happening. And there were zero signs that this team was gonna go and become the worst team in baseball. If you wanted to tell me last year that they were overachieving into June because they weren't clutch and their starting pitching was unsustainably good carrying a limp offense. I get it. I didn't think they were going to sustain that either. But to turn into the worst team in baseball, that's the part that's crazy. But let me answer the hypothetical question I did bring up yesterday, which is if this team saves their season and turns it around, would that surprise you more than the turnaround of 2024? And the reason I'm gonna say it would , or it would not, I should say, is that there was more of a sample size of crappiness in 2024. I also didn't see how the starting pitching was ever going to be a strength for that team in 2024. And yet in the second half of the year, Luis Severino was going seven innings every five time every five days. Jose Cantana was giving them innings once he came back every five days. And And so in a weird way, as much as I don't trust this team or believe in this team, I think the sample size is probably why I would have like a smidge more fate that this team could turn it around. Also Jay acknowledged how the crowd is gonna sound. Will they be booed upon coming on the field? I probably have heard it before. I'm just trying to remember when. I'm sure some of those early to mid-90s teams, worst team money could buy, faced it. I'm sure in the height of their losing in 03 and 04 , they probably faced it. I think it's on the table that that happens. The only reason though that I would lean towards holding off on any kind of booze is that the man who's towing the rubber on Tuesday deserves zero booze. He deserves a standing ovation, and that being Nolan McClain . Uh George from Independence, Kentucky writes, Evan, love the podcast. I listen and watch on YouTube every show. We appreciate it. I'm a longtime Met fan who was actually at game six of the 86 World Series. Very cool. My question to you, what do you think about moving Kodai Sanga to the back of the bullpen use him for an inning that can allow him to just let it go the 97 98 and then the ghost fork can be more effective I think right now the Mets have two options with Kodai Senga. One of them which, I am against now, is just keeping him in the rotation. Like, I think you've got to try something. He wasn't just mediocre in his last few starts. He was non-competitive . So I think when you're non-competitive, and they already tried something with David Peterson by using him the bull guy after they let Tobias Myers open. You could do that with Kodai Senga. You could try that. You could do the tag team approach. And the other option which George brings up is could this bullpen use a back of the rotation uh back of the bullpen arm where you tell Kodai Senga go throw 98, 99. Let it all hang out. The only concern I have about an idea like that is can he pitch on back to- backto-b daackys ? And we know how much they've handled Kodai Sengo with care . Can he pitch two days in a row? Or are they gonna have to Seth Lugo him? Remember a few years ago with Seth Lugo? More than a few years now, almost a decade ago, where they would use him and they'd use him effectively for two innings or an inning and a half and then he'd have to come out of the game or not come out of the game you knew he wouldn't be available the next two days so that would be my only question about making Kodai Senga a reliever. The Mets could push Kodai Senga back another day if they'd rather him face the Rockies than Minnesota because Freddie Peralta, his fifth day is Thursday, which I am for right now. I would move Peralta up so that you have McLean going on Tuesday, you've got Holmes going on Wednesday, and then you bump Sanga. You could bump him more if you'd like, and have Freddie Peralta make the start on Thursday in what is the final game of the series against Minnesota, a series that they gotta freaking win. I mean, Jesus Christ. At this point, you look at this nine-game homestand and say, you gotta go six and three. Which I know sounds absurd considering they can't even win one game, but if you want to start kind of cracking this under-eight game 500 mark that they're at and the huge deficit they now face in the National League East because the Braves are off to a great start. Yeah. Call me crazy when you're facing three teams that were expected to be close to last place teams. The Rockies are projected to be a last place team. The Nationals were projected to be a last place team. The twins maybe not last place, but they weren't projected to be good despite their decent start. Yeah, you gotta win all of them . Oh Oh man. Alright, a couple of other things I want to get to on this therapy session. Rico Bronya. Where have the stolen bases gone? Last year the Mets were not only effective in stealing bases, they did it often. They were in the top four in the national league in stolen bases. They are now at the bottom. And not only the sheer amount of stolen bases, last year the Mets stole bases at an 8 9% clip. Which means they weren't thrown out a lot. This year it has been completely different. They are 11 for 16 in stolen base attempts. Do the math. That is not 90%. And most of those stolen bases and the efficiency has come from one guy which is Carson Benj who's five for five. So if they're five for five, let me do some math here. If Benge is five for five but they're 11 for 16 as a team, I think that makes them six. I don't know. I can't I can't do any bath. Point is they are horribly inefficient at stealing bases. They're six for eleven . There you go. That's horrible. That's horrible. So one of the weapons that the Mets had a year ago, and yes, Q the Anton Richardson and they miss him talk. If you want to make it that the reason that's up to you. I'm just giving you the numbers. They do not steal bases, which was an effective weapon one year ago. Now, Huff, I ask you uh the question I brought up yesterday. Do you have because you did not have faith in 2024? It's not like you sat here on the RICO saying, hey, don't worry, it's early, we'll turn this thing around. Would a turnaround with this team be more surprising or less surprising than the now infamous turnaround of 2024 ? Yes, because I don't think I was still very qu I was I was questionable about this team to begin with um for so many different levels that I and I disagreed with a lot of moves that that Stearns made. Um and I don't think this team was much better than last year's team. It's just different. Uh so I predicted them to be an 85-win team, and I don't think that's good enough to make the playoffs. So they would have to go above and beyond what I thought and predicted they'd be to begin with. So yeah, I I that would that would be shocking to me if they turn it around. I think that 2024, there was more hope. Will the Mets see 500 again? No. Uh no, no, that's a that that's a lie. That's a lie. They will they will. It's gonna be in like end of August, September. Well, here's what's crazy, and this is why I went on my diatribe the other day about not thinking about history when it comes to losing streaks and making the playoffs. If they're at five hundred in the middle of August, they're probably in a pennant race. Like that's just the way the format is. Obviously every year could be different because two years ago it took eighty nine wins to make the postseason. Last year that number was So while the Braves have run away so far with the NL East, the Phillies are only a game and a half better than the Mets, which the reason that's a good thing is such a good thing is not because I'm just being a douchey person towards the city of Philadelphia. It's that they're a real threat. They're a real playoff threat. And it's bad enough to bury yourself to like five six teams you don't want to bury yourself to a team that I think is legitimately really talented in Philadelphia. So if they're at 500 they're probably in it now I can't say that about 199 2. I can't say that about even 2008, 2009, when there's a wild car team. So that's the hope that you have. And that's why I stressed on the last Rico, and I even heard Tommy say that. So it's one area where me and Lugie are on the same page. Maybe he took that from me, I don't know. Which is you can't look at the history of losing streaks and equate it to this team right now because it's just a different baseball so there's a lot of time but time is ticking and it starts on Tuesday because this is a nine game stretch and I can't believe I'm saying this in April this a nine game stretch that defines their season. It defines it. They're eight games under 500. How many games under 500 will they be when they hit the road in a week and a half? And again, the teams that they're facing Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington are beatable te ams. They at the bare minimum have to go six and three. And that's crazy considering they have a won a game in two weeks. But I'm being real, that's what they have to do as they try to save this season. And Hoff made this declaration the other day. We will follow suit. We are going to Rico Brohnia every day until the Mets win a game. With that said, our next Rico Brohnia, barring a instant reaction, they fired Carlos Mendoza Rico, which could very well happen. Our next Rico will be a drive home podcast after game one of this series coming up against Minnesota. I do plan on going to the game. I also plan on being a lot safer and not wearing both headphones while I drive so I've got a new plan for that so we'll have a drive home reaction to Mets Twins game one on Tuesday night and yes we promise you we will be here holding your hands side by side as we reco every day until this freaking loser franchise wins a game. With that said hang in there. Right? I can't give you baseball. I'll just say there's more to life than baseball. That should make you feel good. Thank you very much. Rico Bronya