Insider Drops HUGE Mets Report...

An insider drops a huge New York Mets report. We're talking the moves the Mets need to make in order to snap out of this awful stretch. And yes, they of course do not include any trades with the trade deadline behind us. So to hear what will unlock this team as they look to make the postseason and beyond amidst a terrible stretch, stay tuned only here on Mets Digest. I'm your host today, Mike Duda. We're going to talk about this report and what the insider had to say. But first, we've got to talk about some subscribers. And that being the fact that 69.4% of you that watch these videos aren't one. So please do me a favor, just a favor here on Mets Digest, and hit that free subscribe button. That way we can bring content to you about the amazing. So without further ado, let's go ahead and turn it over to Colin Logren of Clutch Points. He is taking charge today in an article titled, Two Moves the New York Mets Must Make After the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline. Now I have a few more that we're going to go over, but let's turn it over to the first two from an expert and an insider in Logren. He is going to intro and break down what needs to happen, starting off by saying the New York Mets made significant additions prior to the MLB trade deadline, but there are still tweaks that they must enact to ensure a strong October arrival. Right now, if the season were to end today, the Mets would make the playoffs, but they would be the last team in the National League. They would be the sixth seed. Of course, if you haven't been keeping up with the Mets or Mets Digest, the MLB trade deadline consisted of four pieces. Gregory Soto, Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers, and Cedric Mullins. Specifically, New York has to figure out, one, how to best utilize starter Clay Holmes going forward, and two, also find a way to balance their lineup in a fashion that will challenge opposing pitchers from a strategic perspective. So, maybe that's exactly what David Stearns did at the trade deadline. As Logren says, it could be said that the front office has long understood that solving these challenges could be the key that unlocks another deep playoff run like last year when the Mets made it to the NLCS and were two games away from the World Series. They did not opt to trade away top prospects for a starting pitcher and instead chose to add bullpen help, three significant pieces to the bullpen and lengthen their lineup with one guy in Cedric Mullins. Now, I went over how far a great bullpen can take you in a video titled The Shocking Truth Has Been Revealed. We've seen it time and time again throughout the MLB. Teams that win the World Series, teams that go far in the postseason have great bullpens. You can heavily rely on a really, really good bullpen and go super far and probably even win it all as long as you have a good enough lineup, which I think the Mets do. On paper, they do. They've just really been struggling of late. More to come in just a little bit. And of course, you have a great bullpen, which I believe the Mets really do have after this trade deadline. So maybe we address problem number one about Clay Holmes. Maybe we move him, right? Well, Logren goes on to say, but the club could consider moving starter Clay Holmes into a relief role in anticipation of the postseason. New York has not signaled that this is a move they are strongly considering. In fact, David Stearns addressed the trade deadline and he said basically, no, I right now do not plan on moving Clay Holmes right now for the month of August. September is a different month. We'll see moving forward, but for now in the foreseeable future, Holmes is staying in the starting rotation. But his previous experience as a reliever has made many wonder where he will land down the stretch. So more on this later again, but it probably won't happen like we've heard from Stearns. And we're actually going to hear from the pitching coach, Jeremy Hefner, who says, We see him as a starter, and we see him as a guy that can start in a playoff game for us. Now that's going to be very interesting. We'll hear in just a second how the Mets have three solidified playoff pitchers. And usually you go with a three-man rotation, sometimes a four, but the Mets with a lethal bullpen can probably get away with a three-man rotation and working heavily in the bullpen. So that'll be interesting to see moving forward. But with the information that Hefner has right now, and we could get information as the season goes on and make a different decision based on that, right now we see it as he is in a good spot, he is in a starting spot, and he will be a starting pitcher. So let's turn it back to Logren. he's going to touch on one of the other problems that I personally have, saying outside of their bullpen additions, New York also acquired former Baltimore Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins before the deadline. Mullins' speed and slug adds a unique presence to the Mets' order that could allow others to thrive. Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso have helped from a truly versatile contingent. Mullins could be a piece that makes the order even more challenging to face, but manager Carlos Mendoza will have to devise the right combination. He has been trying super hard to do that, and it hasn't worked. New York has been an above-average club in terms of home runs and OPS thus far, but their offensive ceiling might depend on their ability to generate runs when the main four contributors are not firing on all cylinders. Now, we know this. I've made three videos on this, and I've touched upon this in a lot of them as well. This has Mets fans very concerned Carlos Mendoza under fire by fans the Mets have hit rock bottom we have talked about this time and time again the Mets are a home run team right now when they really shouldn't be and they are heavily and I mean heavily reliant on their four guys in Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto all of which are in a slump right now which obviously significantly hurts the team so why is Mullins such an important piece well Logren goes on to say it could be argued that there are multiple ways to correctly stack Lindor, Nimmo, Soto, and Alonso. In fact, Mendoza in the last game on Wednesday, he changed up the order a little bit, going with Lindor in the leadoff spot, then Soto, then Alonso, then Nimmo. Obviously that didn't work as they had one hit. Yes, it was a solo home run from Juan Soto, but they were no hit for eight and a third innings. So obviously that lineup didn't work and we'll see what he ends up trotting out tonight. Mets play eight o'clock. We'll talk about that in a little bit. So let's see if Mendoza can flip it around. He usually has done a good job in terms of creating lineups that are productive when guys need to be moved around, particularly in that big four. So let's see if Mendy can break out of these slumps by moving some of these guys. Regardless, Mendy should strongly consider placing Cedric Mullins towards the bottom of the order. According to Baseball Savant, Mullins ranks in the 79th percentile in base running value and the 68th percentile in walk percentage the 30 year old has proven he can take a nuanced approach at the plate and make smart decisions on the bases that's good for a guy lower in the order he's going to see more fastballs he's going to see better pitches to hit hopefully he obviously hits the ball puts it in play or draws a walk hopefully the pitcher gets wild then he's on base and then he makes smart decisions on the base path steals at a good rate and obviously you could play small ball from there if that's something that Mendy wants to do because it basically seems dead in modern day baseball But anyway, the 30-year-old obviously has proven he can take a nuanced approach at the plate and make those smart decisions on the bases. Such traits could prove vital if the Mets choose to bat Mullins in a spot that would allow him to help turn the lineup over to their four stars, maybe eighth, maybe ninth, with, of course, the big four, the Fab Four, being at the top of your order. Even if the core group struggles to an extent, an opposing arm might have to face one of them with Mullins on base. The Mets are above the league average in terms of strikeouts. Obviously, we've heard the stats in those videos before. Over 30% strikeout rate from the Fab Four since the All-Star break. This team strikes out way, way, way too much. And they have shown flashes of elite discipline, which is, it's contradicting. One going one way, one going the other. But if the top hitters can take this approach seriously, ground balls, fly balls, and line drives could be enough to drive in a speedy base runner such as Mullins. I've been saying this time and time again. Let's say you put Cedric Mullins eighth and a guy like Brett Beatty, who I believe can bunt in the nine hole. You have Mullins, he gets on base, he draws a walk, whatever he does. You see the high walk rate. Maybe he draws a walk or maybe he gets a base hit. Maybe he reaches on error. Who knows? Who really cares? Mullins on first base. The Mets have been excellent stealing bases this year in a big part, thanks to our first base coach in Antoine Richardson. So let's say Mullins steals second base. Now you have a guy on second with nobody out. Brett Beatty places a bunt down. Then you flip it to the top of the order. Brandon Nimmo, likely. Maybe someone else. Go hit a fly ball. They hit a fly ball. Bam. That's a run right there. So I'd like to see the Mets do it. But let's go back to the pitching front with Clay Holmes and his problems. Now, 122 and a third innings pitched. That is by far the most innings pitched in his career. By 52 and a third. And we are only in the month of August. Holmes has pitched a ton. He was a reliever. he was never a starter. Most innings he's ever thrown in a season is 70, and obviously that increased substantially this season with the Mets. So he's probably pretty tired, and I think it showed perfectly on Tuesday night against the Guardians. He pitched five innings, three hits, two runs, one walk. That's a good night. 75 pitches, and Carlos Mendoza took him out of the game. That's pathetic. Why? Because he's not a starter, and he's starting to get tired. I don't care what Jeremy Hefner has to say. I don't care what Mendy has to say. It's obvious that Holmes is either too tired from too many innings pitched and that arm is getting tired and he needs to go to the bullpen or Mendy is just taking him out too early because Mendy isn't the manager that we all thought he was. Either one of those situations is not good whatsoever. So let's add this. Frankie Montas, a 6.78 ERA. What does that mean? Your four and five starters right now are very questionable you add that with the fact that nobody outside of the name David Peterson anybody in that rotation not named David Peterson has not thrown six or more innings in a start since June 7th we are in August i think it's August 7th today that's two months consecutively that's terrible that is awful in fact it's august 8th that is more than two months consecutively where you haven't gotten six innings out of a starting pitcher not named david peterson which of course calls for these guys to possibly come up Nolan McLean and Brandon Sprotle are four and five prospects according to MLB pipeline respectively Adam dove into this saying no one is talking about this as the title of this video so go check that out if you haven't already he goes over both guys in depth and I think it might be time to bring up one or both of them with Holmes being questionable in terms of the mileage on his arms and Montas just not being an effective pitcher Tyler McGill also injured so what do you got to do well you didn't trade for starting pitcher you're relying on that bullpen I think it's time to bring up a young guy maybe that'll be the spark that flips around the script for this team so let's turn it back to the offensive front and we've gone over this time and time again since the all-star break the fab four has not been hitting here is Juan Soto .172 .294 .345 .363 OPS that is terrible eight runs scored 7 RBIs, 10 walks, 16 Ks for a 27.6% strikeout rate. Yes, 5 stolen bases, but his average dropped from .262 to .249. OPS from .909 to .836. We've seen the same thing from Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo. .195, .179, .232 batting averages since the All-Star break, respectively. OPS is also not much better. .569 for Lindor. As for Alonzo, that is also sub .600 at .598. Nimmo, .671, just not good. These guys are striking out a ton. Lindor at a 28.6% clip. Alonzo, who is the most likely candidate to strike out because he is the biggest power bat out of the Fab Four, has the lowest strikeout rate, but it's still terrible. 26.9% of the time, he's going down on Ks since the All-Star break. Brandon Nimmo, 39.1% strikeout rate. These numbers are truly, truly awful. In fact, overall, the Fab Four since the All-Star break, 53 for 271. That is a .196 average, 34 runs scored, 276 OBP, 343 slugging, 619 OPS, 41 ribbies, 26 walks, 4 hit by pitches, 9 stolen bases, 83 Ks. good for a 30.6 strikeout rate and hey that might fall on the manager at some point I know he's trying he's trying to make some lineup moves but overall he needs to step up this is the last problem that I had as you heard in the article and our author from ClutchPoints he touched he touched a lot upon this the problems that I personally saw and what needs to change obviously Holmes needs to find a true home no pun intended either in the rotation where Mendy is not pulling him out too early or he has to go to the bullpen obviously Montas has to be addressed I think some of these young guys has to come up they have to make their debuts and be in the rotation that all kind of folds into one another the fab four needs to start hitting it is obvious the Mets offense is reliant upon them if not you got to see a ton of production that will produce runs from guys other other places in the order and if that means Mendoza has to move guys around so be it let Carlos Mendoza move guys around. I don't really care where Juan Soto is hitting seventh or eighth and has a couple of nights off. I don't care. I want the Mets to win games and I want the Mets to score runs. So overall, those are my problems. And the last problem that I have personally that was not mentioned in the article, he needs to step up in Carlos Mendoza. He has made countless questionable moves one after the other. It seems like he doesn't know how to manage the bullpen well he's pulling Holmes too early he's leaving Shawn Manaya in for too long in that series against the Guardians the offense just isn't working I know he's flipping around the order and he's doing his job there but overall he hasn't really done his job to the best of its extent and with that the Mets have really started to fall out of the wild card race right now they're only three and a half up on Cincinnati for the last playoff spot if Cincinnati were to win their next three games and the Mets were to lose their next four, for example, they are tied for being out of the postseason. We got to wake up, and we got a tough stretch ahead, like I was talking about earlier, in the Milwaukee Brewers. We've talked about this in previous videos. Kodai Senga has been awful of late. He needs to step up tonight. His last three starts have been pathetic. 8-10 tonight, Friday night. We go up against a tough arm in Brandon Woodruff, and what better time for the Fab Four and this lineup overall to prove themselves than against a guy with a .222 ERA since coming back from injury, a guy in Logan Henderson with a sub two, and a guy in Quinn Presler with a just above three ERA. Time for Senga to step up. Time for Manaya to step up on Sunday. Frankie Montas is going to pitch in that TBD. We don't know if he's going to start yet. Time for him to hopefully step up. And this lineup, particularly the Fab Four, needs to step up or else the Mets are going to fall out of it quickly. So let me know what you think down there in the comment section. do you agree that these are the problems with the Mets and this will address their problems and hopefully allow them to start winning ballgames again, get away from this cold stretch and go make a definitive postseason run? Let me know what you think. Let me know if you agree. Let me know if you disagree with myself and the author we heard from Clutch Points. But unfortunately, that's all the time I have for you in this one. Thank you so much for watching and let's go Mets.