Mets Provide Multiple Updates...

The Mets released multiple updates as David Stearns continues to look to build towards the future for the Mets, bringing in a waiver claim in a reliever from the Orioles, as well as looking to recall Jonah Tong in an extended preview of what the young right-hander can look to build on, and also scouting a very highly prominent prospect currently playing in Japan, who could be the Mets' future third baseman. What's going on guys, I'm Josh Byrne, you're unnoticed, and if you're one of the 67% of viewers who are not subscribed but are watching these videos, it would definitely be much appreciated if you would hit the subscribe button. You can also find us now on TikTokX, and you can also download the episodes wherever you get your podcasts. So David Stearns, gotta credit him for at least continuing to do his job, even though he's getting paid handsomely to do so. But one of the things that he did just yesterday was make a waiver claim for none other than Cameron Weston. Cameron Weston is a guy that is a relief pitcher, and he's a right-handed relief pitcher, and essentially this is someone who can fill up the bullpen and provide a new body there, a fresh arm. In terms of his long-term viability in the Mets' pen, I'm not too keen on him being a huge piece. Via baseball media and yardbarker.com, the 26-year-old Weston has been a strikeout machine as a reliever this season in the minors, with 66 strikeouts over 51 in a third innings pitched with AAA Norfolk. He struck out one over one scoreless inning at the Major League Baseball level this season. That's all fine and dandy, but guys, I mean, this is his prospects of on-page. He gets a lot of swings in the strike zone. That's good, I guess, and the exit velocity isn't terrible, but opponents are slugging off of him. They're getting the barrel out, and it shows because what he has done cumulatively this season is he's put up a 7.89 ERA, a 1.93 whip. He's been a walk machine. He's given up plenty of hits. He's not a guy that you have a lot of confidence in that he's going to somehow figure it out right now at the Major League level, which is why I we need a body, and we're going to bring up Cameron Weston. So, you know, Dylan Ross looked really good the other night for the Mets. He's back in AAA. I'm sure he'll be back up soon. For now, they need arms. Cameron Weston's that arm. Again, he did pitch one scoreless inning in the Major Leagues this year, so good for him on that, but this isn't a guy who is playing into the long-term plans of the Mets more likely than not, but someone who is is none other than Jonah Tong. We've talked so much about Tong on the show, why I believe he should have been called up a couple weeks ago at this point instead of us having to watch Robert Stock. To his credit, though, Robert Stock has put together a couple of really nice performances, but Tong is the guy that we've heard so much about for multiple years, being at one point the Mets' number one prospect and still ranked amongst their top five to ten unanimously, no matter which platform you get your resources from, and there's a reason for that because last year he had one of the most electric minor league seasons ever with an under two ERA, working his way up from single A all the way up to the Major Leagues. It was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, though, this season has been a different story, and he has faced far more rocky results across 23 starts in AAA, where he's pitched to a 4-5-4 ERA. However, recently he has been much, much better, and in his last start he came one out away from a no-hitter in a shortened game due to a double header at the AAA level, and Will Salmon is providing an exciting update. You may have seen this. This was from a couple days ago, but Salmon points out that while Jonah Tong is scheduled to start for AAA Syracuse on Saturday, he is more likely to instead pitch for the Mets early next week in their series against the Marlins, and I certainly hope this is true because we need to evaluate young talent, and Jonah Tong is amongst the biggest question marks in the Mets' farm system because of how much talent he does possess and how little we know about his viability in the Major Leagues moving forward. The Mets introduced him to a new cutter. They asked him to throw his curveball more this season, and that's largely been the reason why he has dealt with the adversity that he has because he was mainly a fastball change-up pitcher, kept it simple. He added more pitches into his repertoire. Things have been different, but over the past two months, he really has been settling in nicely in AAA. Has he been perfect? No, but he's 23 years old right now, and frankly, with a rotation with a good amount of questions heading into next year for the Mets, you need to know or at least have a better idea of what you're going to get from Jonah Tong, so that's why him coming up starting as soon as early next week can be a real opportunity for the New York Mets, and it's definitely been a tough season for Jonah, but he was forthright about it and honest when he was asked, saying there's a lot of things from a season standpoint that didn't go my way from a results standpoint. I own that. I wear that, and I'm going to be better for it, but honestly, from a mental side, it's only helped. It's given me more experiences to lean on, and I'm really excited to see not only the person I am this year, but for the rest of my career and how I can relate back to this at any point. You got to give him credit there. He certainly has the right mentality about it. He's saying the right things, and I'm sure for Jonah, this season was the first time that he ever had any sort of opponent success against him. I mean, he's a professional athlete. He was a top prospect in the major leagues. He still is, so it's really a big test for him. How is he going to deal with the adversity, and based on what he said there, I believe he answered that question. Now, one more huge update, and this came yesterday. It was pointed out by a photographer and basically built upon that on Twitter. First, we're going to start with Mark Vientos, so the photograph we'll get into next, but the segue into that is that Chelsea Janes reports Mark Vientos is a non-tender candidate this winter as the Mets could look to cut ties with him. That makes a lot of sense. I made a video about how Mark Vientos is likely not going to be on the Mets next year. It's just there's been too many opportunities for Vientos, and he has not taken advantage of them. I know he's back and he's healthy now, but I don't know if there's anything he can do in this final month to convince David Stearns and Mets management that he is a piece they should move forward with in building around for the future. I believe he's a piece on another team in the future, but this is what I wanted to get into earlier. The Mets bat flip on X deranging from a photo from Heimchen Sports that was taken in Japan a couple days ago. Yesterday, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns was in attendance to see Hanshin Tigers star Teruaki Sato. In that game, Sato blasted two home runs, giving him 34 on the season. Sato has primarily played third base and outfield so far in his career, but reports have said that he could switch to first base if he signs with the Mets. Look, guys, whether he plays first base, third base, I don't care. We all know that the Mets have a hole at both of those positions right now. I guess you could say, yes, Bo Bichette will be the third baseman next year. Fine, but if you look at it, they need another bat on the infield, and perhaps that's Jefferson Rojas replacing Marcus Simeon effectively, but at first base, we know that it's a dark hole because as Chelsea Janes reported, Mark Viento's probably not coming back, and even if he was, that wouldn't be good because we don't want him to start at first base. He struggled. Jorge Polanco, you got to treat him like he doesn't exist. I mean, the guy's going to be coming off major ankle surgery. He provided nothing this year. He was the worst player in baseball when he was on the field. The Mets need more offense, and Hiroaki Sato would potentially be the best guy on the market because this is going to be an underwhelming free agent class, so it's good to see that. I think for Sato, he's a guy that could play both first and third. He's probably going to play more first base, but having that flexibility is nice, but most importantly, another guy who can be in this lineup and provide 30-plus homeruns. You know you're going to get that from Soto. Lindor, if he stays healthy, is a 30-homerun candidate, but outside of that, there's not a ton of power in this Mets offense. I don't think Carson Bench is a 30-homerun guy. I don't think A.J. Ewing is. Boba Shett, not a homerun hitter, really, more like a 15-20 guy, so you need more firepower in this offense, and Sato would be able to provide that, so I do believe that this shows, especially because David Stearns was in attendance. He flew out to Japan to see him. The Mets will be amongst the top suitors, but let me know what you guys think about these updates the Mets have provided in the comments below. Let me know what you're thinking. As always, guys, let's go Mets!