Welcome to another series thread, this time against the hated Braves. Both teams would be in the playoffs if they started today. There’s even a realistic chance that they could play against each other in the Wildcard round, so this series carries a lot of weight. The Mets have a record of
3-3 against them so far this season. Kodai Senga will be making his season-debut in this series. The Mets completed their road trip against the Marlins & Yankees to start the post All-Star Break portion of the schedule with a record of 4-2. Click
HERE to read a series preview of this series. Enjoy 😊!
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Mets vs. Braves: Game 1 –⚾Severino (R) vs. Sale (L)⚾– 7:10 pm EDT
Starting Lineups for both clubs tonight.
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Probable Starting Pitcher Matchups for tonight & tomorrow in Flushing against the Barfs.
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#LFGM!
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Notes:
-Tonight’s game will be televised on SNY, as will tomorrow’s game.
-The weather for tonight's game at Citi Field is expected to be decent. Showers were expected around gametime before, but that's no longer the case. Click
HERE to keep updated & see the Hourly AccuWeather Reports from there.
-The Mets are 53-48 now & are sitting in the 2nd Wildcard spot in the National League as of the start of business today. Click
HERE to see the Wildcard standings for both leagues. By virtue of their impressive victory yesterday, the Mets are now 5 games over .500, which is their high-water mark of the season. They’re only 1.5 games behind the Braves too, who are in possession of the 1st N.L. Wildcard spot going into this game. The Braves enter this series having lost 7 of their last 10 games; the Mets come into this series having won 7 of their last 10 games.
-Click
HERE to see the list of Mets transactions so far for July.
-Click
HERE to see the Mets' 26-man active roster.
-The Mets' 4-man bench for tonight’s game will consist of
Torrens (R), Bader (R), Nimmo (L), & Gamel (L). 
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Hope it's not Achilles....or torn calf....he was looking real good....Hope you are OK Senga
Don’t think he’s walking off with either of those. Strain is not good news either but hopefully not done for year. Did not look like a cramp so I think it’s at least a strain which is at least 2-4 weeks but more likely 4-8.
Yea when I wrote it he was on ground holding his calf area...should have waited a min to post cause like you said he walked off
I was just telling someone the other day that I don’t think the Phillies are for real. Lucky for them, they are the beneficiaries of an injury riddled Braves team and a Mets team who forgot how to play baseball for the first part of the season.
Or perhaps, they just peaked too soon? I just don’t see it with them.
Exactly
I don't know. Their lineup is great. Rotation is above average. Bullpen has pitched great but I do see some regression there. It's not much of a surprise they're doing this well.
Would be open to trading real prospect capital for a good starting pitcher. Nothing crazy but maybe one of our top 4-6 prospects. A little extra term even better.
I hope they can bring Walker back.
Would be open to trading real prospect capital for a good starting pitcher. Nothing crazy but maybe one of our top 4-6 prospects. A little extra term even better.
I wouldn't go too crazy man. This is still about 2026 more than it is this year or even next year.
Has anyone heard anything about Garrett's progress in rehab?
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There isn't anyone in the N.L. that makes me shake in my boots. The Mets are a threat to beat any of them. This club needs to get healthy (i.e., Marte, Senga, Garrett, SRF, Scott, etc).
Has anyone heard anything about Garrett's progress in rehab?
He started throwing on flat ground today. Wants to work off a mound soon.
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Stearns needs to be better than this. A lot better.
I don’t care if they are the best clubhouse guys in the world - they are horrible.
He messed up with the bullpen this off-season.
The thing is though, early in the season, they were both pretty steady but when you factor in the loss of Raley, Diaz being up and down and starters only going four/five innings they got cooked quickly and now they probably are both dealing with arm fatigue.
I say it like this because I believe both just need an IR stint once we settle in with some bullpen additions
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In comment 16560898 CooperDash said:
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Stearns needs to be better than this. A lot better.
I don’t care if they are the best clubhouse guys in the world - they are horrible.
He messed up with the bullpen this off-season.
The thing is though, early in the season, they were both pretty steady but when you factor in the loss of Raley, Diaz being up and down and starters only going four/five innings they got cooked quickly and now they probably are both dealing with arm fatigue.
I say it like this because I believe both just need an IR stint once we settle in with some bullpen additions
They walk a lot of batters but I tend to agree. The Raley injury was really the killer. He was such a lynchpin.
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I think they over achieved this year big time to date.
I don't know. Their lineup is great. Rotation is above average. Bullpen has pitched great but I do see some regression there. It's not much of a surprise they're doing this well.
They won 90 games last year for the first time in forever. All of a sudden they are a 110 win team? I don’t see it. They are overachieving.
ALL of their starting pitchers are playing above their norms. Most of their Raps are playing above their norms. And most of their position players are playing at or well above their norms. I mean…good for them…but they are most certainly overachieving this season. Hopefully a regress to the norm for that team will continue.
Personally, I think they are posers.
some mets/conforto rumors out there too.
rogers checks a lot of boxes. rogers and conforto together save them a bunch of money. in for a penny in for a pound, rogers, conforto, snell may make them a legit contender even without senga. ties up a lot of 2025 money if snell doesn't opt out, but that probably only happens if he gets hurt.
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In comment 16560927 Metnut said:
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I think they over achieved this year big time to date.
I don't know. Their lineup is great. Rotation is above average. Bullpen has pitched great but I do see some regression there. It's not much of a surprise they're doing this well.
They won 90 games last year for the first time in forever. All of a sudden they are a 110 win team? I don’t see it. They are overachieving.
ALL of their starting pitchers are playing above their norms. Most of their Raps are playing above their norms. And most of their position players are playing at or well above their norms. I mean…good for them…but they are most certainly overachieving this season. Hopefully a regress to the norm for that team will continue.
Personally, I think they are posers.
I haven't done a deep dive but the team has been building to this kind of year. I know Bohm and Scott have been playing above what we've seen. Turner under performed last year. Their bullpen seems to be above their head which I think will come down. They do seem like a 100 win team not 110 I'll give you that easily.
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In comment 16560903 Optimus-NY said:
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In comment 16560898 CooperDash said:
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Stearns needs to be better than this. A lot better.
I don’t care if they are the best clubhouse guys in the world - they are horrible.
He messed up with the bullpen this off-season.
The thing is though, early in the season, they were both pretty steady but when you factor in the loss of Raley, Diaz being up and down and starters only going four/five innings they got cooked quickly and now they probably are both dealing with arm fatigue.
I say it like this because I believe both just need an IR stint once we settle in with some bullpen additions
They walk a lot of batters but I tend to agree. The Raley injury was really the killer. He was such a lynchpin.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - using the “overworked” excuse doesn’t fly with me. Most of these guys were NEVER good pitchers. Stearns got too cute and filled this pen with a bunch of garbage that we was hoping would work out. Garrett is not good. Diekman is not good. Otto is not good. and there were plenty of others.
Unless you want to believe that Garrett was pitching through pain for a month+, it wasn’t being overworked that caused him to suck. He just….kinda….just sucks. Like most of his career.
Stearns fucked up. Plain and simple. It’s okay - I still believe in Stearns. But he royally fucked up with this bullpen. And now his solution is to trade for someone else’s garbage in Ryan Stanek? Yeah, loving his near 6 ERA. Stearns is losing me.
some mets/conforto rumors out there too.
rogers checks a lot of boxes. rogers and conforto together save them a bunch of money. in for a penny in for a pound, rogers, conforto, snell may make them a legit contender even without senga. ties up a lot of 2025 money if snell doesn't opt out, but that probably only happens if he gets hurt.
Would love to roll the dice on the 3 player SF package. Don’t think the cost would be too bad. Easier to gamble on Snell’s player option with the Verlander money all clear in 2025.
some mets/conforto rumors out there too.
rogers checks a lot of boxes. rogers and conforto together save them a bunch of money. in for a penny in for a pound, rogers, conforto, snell may make them a legit contender even without senga. ties up a lot of 2025 money if snell doesn't opt out, but that probably only happens if he gets hurt.
I'm out on Conforto besides sentimental value. We could do better but again that's in a vacuum.
Well, it might have come off contradictory, but I do still believe in Stearns. But there is no denying he lacked imagination with this bullpen. This isn’t his first rodeo and I would hope that he would come in with a plan - and it’s clear that his plan was to bargain hunt and hope for the best (a plan that almost NEVER works out).
As for Garrett - I just don’t see it. Yes, he was worked a lot. But there were a lot of other pitchers that were worked just as much, including if not more, that didn’t completely fall off a cliff or “get hurt”. Personally, I think he caught a hot streak in the first part of the season and quickly regressed to the norm. And that regression lasted a long time. He wasn’t pitching hurt for a month plus.
We’ll see. But I think this season will succeed or fail with the bullpen. And I really hope Stearns has more in him than Ryan fucking Stanek.
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scott is the obvious one, i expect he ends ups costing similar to D-rob last year, but could also be rogers and he may cost less bc he has 1 more year at 12m next year.
some mets/conforto rumors out there too.
rogers checks a lot of boxes. rogers and conforto together save them a bunch of money. in for a penny in for a pound, rogers, conforto, snell may make them a legit contender even without senga. ties up a lot of 2025 money if snell doesn't opt out, but that probably only happens if he gets hurt.
I'm out on Conforto besides sentimental value. We could do better but again that's in a vacuum.
no way to do better, there arent many hitters on the market especially if you want a lefty. whether or not it's better to just leave room for someone to come up like gilbert or acuna once marte is back is really the decision.
he's def not worth any kind of big return but conforto will probably have a minimal cost since he has $6m left. taking his money may help you get someone else. he hasnt been great and he's been in a slump, but he still has bat speed and he can still square balls up.
P.S. I died laughing from that Craig Cartoon line, lol.
maybe but someone unexpected isnt an impending FA, and the cost will be higher for that alone.
i dont see them giving up big prospects this deadline. if they got Tanner Scott for exactly what Miami gave up for D-Rob last year, even that would be painful. I'm not sure id do that and i think that's about what the cost is going to be.
id rather continue using $ to get depth like stanek/maton with higher end RP like martinez or rogers who have $ next year.
1) have a really good slider by stuff+
2) k-rate over 10 per 9
3) GB rate 40%+.
not coincidentally, the guys who have both good sliders and good FB while walking the fewest batters, have been their best relievers (diaz, garrett, nunez).
diekman has not been good because he's crazy wild (7 walks per 9) and given up a bunch of homers, but he too fits this exact profile. so they seem to have a type even when there are other glaring issues. stanek fits this profile pretty well - 152 stuff+ slider, 133 stuff+ FB.
so how do the deadline options fit?
tanner scott fits like a glove. 134 slider, 152 fastball, high velocity lefty, 10.2 k/9 and a 49% gb rate on top. the walks are concerning but other than that he's near perfect, and we know the mets dont mind the walks too much. if there is a big name they are in on id guess it's scott.
carlos estevez fits but to a lesser degree. good slider (129) but not a great FB (103). also just 8 k/9 and 25% groundballs. very low walk rate is nice and he'd provide a very different option from what's already in their pen, but doesnt seem to fit their profile.
both Rogers in SF fit most this profile but each missing 1 of the 3 common denominators.
Tyler is an extreme groundball at 58% with his crazy arm angle and has a 144 slider with a 120 fb (despite extreme low velocity). also a crazy low walk rate. Only thing he doesnt have is the k-rate. he's at 6 per 9. in some ways he's duplicative of Maton but he is interesting. the arm angle adds something funky/different.
Taylor also checks a bunch of boxes but not all. good gb rate (44%), decent k-rate (9), low walks. gives them a 2nd lefty. his stuff doesnt rate as well in stuff plus, but his slider is his best pitch at 109.
yimi garcia and puk both also sort of fit, but neither was as good of a fit as scott. Garcia's slider is great this year but hasn't been that great over his career. only 25% groundballs. Puk's slider has been ok but not great.
nick martinez and moll don't grade out as obvious fits but they check enough boxes.
best guess is that stearns will be hanging around the hoop on Tanner Scott until the bidding exceeds his tolerance and he probably goes to the dodgers, and then from there mets pivot to the SF guys. SF being in position to want to save some money makes them probably the best dance partner.
im not sure they can get him because he's on an affordable multi-year deal, but if they can and he's open to the BP Jordan Hicks would be perfect. 57%+ career gb rate, tons of velocity, big time slider (137 stuff plus for career).
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Eric a general statement but we have no idea who's really on the market. Players get dealt all the time where fans are surprised. Writers aren't getting fed everything. Stearns might be able to find a better solution.
maybe but someone unexpected isnt an impending FA, and the cost will be higher for that alone.
i dont see them giving up big prospects this deadline. if they got Tanner Scott for exactly what Miami gave up for D-Rob last year, even that would be painful. I'm not sure id do that and i think that's about what the cost is going to be.
id rather continue using $ to get depth like stanek/maton with higher end RP like martinez or rogers who have $ next year.
+1
Exactly this. The Mets need to keep their top and mid minor leaguers. Take advantage of Cohen's financial power and teams trying to dump salary.
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Try and add one more. Add a cheap lefty bench bat too (hopefully mostly just salary absorption).
Would be open to trading real prospect capital for a good starting pitcher. Nothing crazy but maybe one of our top 4-6 prospects. A little extra term even better.
I wouldn't go too crazy man. This is still about 2026 more than it is this year or even next year.
Are you serious? When you are close, you go for it. Don't trad e the farm, you add pieces...
Him getting a month of rest before the stretch run is nice timing. I expect him to return and give us a couple of high leverage innings a week.
1) have a really good slider by stuff+
2) k-rate over 10 per 9
3) GB rate 40%+.
not coincidentally, the guys who have both good sliders and good FB while walking the fewest batters, have been their best relievers (diaz, garrett, nunez).
diekman has not been good because he's crazy wild (7 walks per 9) and given up a bunch of homers, but he too fits this exact profile. so they seem to have a type even when there are other glaring issues. stanek fits this profile pretty well - 152 stuff+ slider, 133 stuff+ FB.
so how do the deadline options fit?
tanner scott fits like a glove. 134 slider, 152 fastball, high velocity lefty, 10.2 k/9 and a 49% gb rate on top. the walks are concerning but other than that he's near perfect, and we know the mets dont mind the walks too much. if there is a big name they are in on id guess it's scott.
carlos estevez fits but to a lesser degree. good slider (129) but not a great FB (103). also just 8 k/9 and 25% groundballs. very low walk rate is nice and he'd provide a very different option from what's already in their pen, but doesnt seem to fit their profile.
both Rogers in SF fit most this profile but each missing 1 of the 3 common denominators.
Tyler is an extreme groundball at 58% with his crazy arm angle and has a 144 slider with a 120 fb (despite extreme low velocity). also a crazy low walk rate. Only thing he doesnt have is the k-rate. he's at 6 per 9. in some ways he's duplicative of Maton but he is interesting. the arm angle adds something funky/different.
Taylor also checks a bunch of boxes but not all. good gb rate (44%), decent k-rate (9), low walks. gives them a 2nd lefty. his stuff doesnt rate as well in stuff plus, but his slider is his best pitch at 109.
yimi garcia and puk both also sort of fit, but neither was as good of a fit as scott. Garcia's slider is great this year but hasn't been that great over his career. only 25% groundballs. Puk's slider has been ok but not great.
nick martinez and moll don't grade out as obvious fits but they check enough boxes.
best guess is that stearns will be hanging around the hoop on Tanner Scott until the bidding exceeds his tolerance and he probably goes to the dodgers, and then from there mets pivot to the SF guys. SF being in position to want to save some money makes them probably the best dance partner.
im not sure they can get him because he's on an affordable multi-year deal, but if they can and he's open to the BP Jordan Hicks would be perfect. 57%+ career gb rate, tons of velocity, big time slider (137 stuff plus for career).
Awesome stuff! I noticed under ineppler they started to bring in RPs with monster sliders or at least pitchers that had stuff with big horizontal movement. I think that led them to Ottavino, Raley, and some others. Seems like Stearns following same path.
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In comment 16560953 Metnut said:
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Try and add one more. Add a cheap lefty bench bat too (hopefully mostly just salary absorption).
Would be open to trading real prospect capital for a good starting pitcher. Nothing crazy but maybe one of our top 4-6 prospects. A little extra term even better.
I wouldn't go too crazy man. This is still about 2026 more than it is this year or even next year.
Are you serious? When you are close, you go for it. Don't trad e the farm, you add pieces...
I am deadly serious. There's no way I trade a Sproat, Gilbert, or Williams for a rental. That's some George Steinbrenner $hit right there.
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In comment 16560955 Optimus-NY said:
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In comment 16560953 Metnut said:
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Try and add one more. Add a cheap lefty bench bat too (hopefully mostly just salary absorption).
Would be open to trading real prospect capital for a good starting pitcher. Nothing crazy but maybe one of our top 4-6 prospects. A little extra term even better.
I wouldn't go too crazy man. This is still about 2026 more than it is this year or even next year.
Are you serious? When you are close, you go for it. Don't trad e the farm, you add pieces...
I am deadly serious. There's no way I trade a Sproat, Gilbert, or Williams for a rental. That's some George Steinbrenner $hit right there.
I agree....Not sure who else to add to the untradable list, definitely Mauricio, maybe Acuna.
But Kevin Parada is a tradable asset, though not sure how much value he has. Hopefully, Alvarez is your catcher for many years (still only 22 years old!), etc.
Man, losing Senga is tough....will be watching for news of his MRI today. I'll settle for having him back in September, I suppose.
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In comment 16560960 Rory said:
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In comment 16560903 Optimus-NY said:
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In comment 16560898 CooperDash said:
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Stearns needs to be better than this. A lot better.
I don’t care if they are the best clubhouse guys in the world - they are horrible.
He messed up with the bullpen this off-season.
The thing is though, early in the season, they were both pretty steady but when you factor in the loss of Raley, Diaz being up and down and starters only going four/five innings they got cooked quickly and now they probably are both dealing with arm fatigue.
I say it like this because I believe both just need an IR stint once we settle in with some bullpen additions
They walk a lot of batters but I tend to agree. The Raley injury was really the killer. He was such a lynchpin.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - using the “overworked” excuse doesn’t fly with me. Most of these guys were NEVER good pitchers. Stearns got too cute and filled this pen with a bunch of garbage that we was hoping would work out. Garrett is not good. Diekman is not good. Otto is not good. and there were plenty of others.
Unless you want to believe that Garrett was pitching through pain for a month+, it wasn’t being overworked that caused him to suck. He just….kinda….just sucks. Like most of his career.
Stearns fucked up. Plain and simple. It’s okay - I still believe in Stearns. But he royally fucked up with this bullpen. And now his solution is to trade for someone else’s garbage in Ryan Stanek? Yeah, loving his near 6 ERA. Stearns is losing me.
I know your stance. Mine is different. We'll see what happens when Garret comes back and if they decide to do what I predict.
IR Diekman/Otto.
Him getting a month of rest before the stretch run is nice timing. I expect him to return and give us a couple of high leverage innings a week.
Meh, Garrett gave runs plenty of times even with 2+ days rest. I just don’t have faith in him. And if you have a RP who is only reliable on 3 or 4+ days of rest - how is that realistic? I do hope he comes back and succeeds (and shuts me up). But I’ve seen enough of him just losing every sense of control to believe that his early season success may have just been a lucky streak in what has been a very mediocre career for him.
Awesome stuff! I noticed under ineppler they started to bring in RPs with monster sliders or at least pitchers that had stuff with big horizontal movement. I think that led them to Ottavino, Raley, and some others. Seems like Stearns following same path.
yeah my guess is if we knew more about how the "smart teams" do it, they have followed similar trends. it doesnt seem like coincidence the mets/rays have had their eyes on a lot of the same players. even fringe guys like sulser.
fairbanks is another possible name i didnt mention but mostly because i think cost will be very high. he has 2 more very reasonable years under control. he is another fit across the board, maybe the best one because he probably has a higher floor than scott with better control and more time under contract.
if the rays are willing to move him, hopefully whichever teams are most aggressive in RP market are willing to step up and that allows mets to get Scott.
I am deadly serious. There's no way I trade a Sproat, Gilbert, or Williams for a rental. That's some George Steinbrenner $hit right there.
I agree....Not sure who else to add to the untradable list, definitely Mauricio, maybe Acuna.
But Kevin Parada is a tradable asset, though not sure how much value he has. Hopefully, Alvarez is your catcher for many years (still only 22 years old!), etc.
Man, losing Senga is tough....will be watching for news of his MRI today. I'll settle for having him back in September, I suppose.
i too am not trading any of the top 10 guys. the best prospects I would trade are Parada, Houck, and maybe Vargas if Miami for some reason sentimentally is like demanding him back for Scott.
Parada and Houck are both pedigree plays, teams like trading for recent first round picks.
you should be able to get some very quality RP without trading more than 1 of those guys and while keeping all the real top prospects.
A guy like Puk would have been more than a rental. He could have been part of the core for the next 2 years after this rest of this season, but the price paid by the D-Backs seemed to rich for the Mets. They can go for the gusto in the offseason though once they figure out what the deal is with Mauricio and Baty in combination with what's gonna happen with Pete in FA.
A guy like Puk would have been more than a rental. He could have been part of the core for the next 2 years after this rest of this season, but the price paid by the D-Backs seemed to rich for the Mets. They can go for the gusto in the offseason though once they figure out what the deal is with Mauricio and Baty in combination with what's gonna happen with Pete in FA.
not sure i agree that trades need to be made in the offseason.
plan A and plan B and maybe both should be Soto/Alonso. no prospects required.
on the pitching side i'd try to retain Severino/Manaea, hopefully at least 1 of them, then continue the bargain shopping Stearns has already shown he's good at. Maybe grab Montgomery off scrap heap. If they want to make a big pursuit of Burnes or Fried I'm ok with that too.
once Tanner Scott gets traded, he will hit FA and have no QO attached too. So if you like him now you can get him then too. Believe the guy Toronto just traded is also now going to hit FA.
so net/net almost everyone in discussion for mets now can be had for nothing but cash in 4 months. only question is if it's worth giving up a parada/houck/vargas type of prospect now to get that player early for a postseason run now? if the player is good enough (like scott, or snell) id say yes.
i think if a big enough met trade happens we just make a thread for that specifically.
deadline thread will probably end up mostly non-mets discussion and we are probably going to do mets discussion in here since the games will be ongoing. in the period where nothing happens it will mostly be griping anyway.
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Lemmee know what you fellas think. I'm thinking we should today. Or should we just rock solely with the generic MLB Trade Deadline thread. Opinions?
i think if a big enough met trade happens we just make a thread for that specifically.
deadline thread will probably end up mostly non-mets discussion and we are probably going to do mets discussion in here since the games will be ongoing. in the period where nothing happens it will mostly be griping anyway.
Makes sense. Take it as it comes then. If something big happens, then we'll switch it up. Until then, our game threads will do. Shecky & Capone are the insiders on the thread linked below:
NFT: MLB Trade Deadline Thread | capone - 7/21/2024 - 12:59 pm - ( New Window )
doubt it he threw 40 pitches 2 days ago.
i would guess the youngs are on standby for 4+ innings combined if necessary today. probably a call up coming too since Senga should at least be an IL move.
the Houser DFA was very unfortunate timing. would be nice to have him in the pen today behind megill.
maton and diaz had yesterday off and stanek hasn't pitched since 7/22 so those 3 should be fresh if it's close. diekman has only pitched once in the last 3 days so he should be avail too.