Matt & Jay Talkin Ball

We did it again! 2 out of 3 with a classic poop-fest. Bassitt shoved, MV-Pete is alive and well, David Peterson seemingly struggled but James gives some reasons for optimism regarding his development, say a prayer for our guy Tylor Megill, a hectic comeback win, good series let's keep it rolling. We do a few minutes on the Braves and Phillies after the game-recaps and tell Mets fans not to fret and close the show with some big time listener/supporter shout-outs because, guys, this is the last episode of the Mets'd Up Podcast as you know it.....

Series Recap (0:00)

Game 1 (5:24)

Game 2 (11:45)

Game 3 (19:15)

Phils/Braves (44:36)

Marlins (49:10)

Shoutouts (55:21)

The Mets finished off their long West Coast swing with another series victory. They held the Angels in check and are heading back home on the right foot. Tylor Megill returned on Friday and James was encouraged by his performance. Brandon Nimmo got on track, Pete Alonso and Starling returned from their injuries to get a few big hits, Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme showed off their wide array of defensive skills, and Taijuan Walker hurled a gem on Sunday Night Baseball. However, Edwin Díaz's 8th inning punch-out of Mike Trout was the premier moment from that game. After the breakdowns, Marc has a bunch of fun '100th Episode' stats and trivia to celebrate our milestone. The show ends with a fun listener mailbag and preview of the Brewers series.

Game 3 (0:00)

Game 1 (15:49)

Game 2 (23:40)

100th Ep (32:10)

Mailbag (37:28)

Brewers (47:41)

Tough one this week. The Mets lost their series of the year at the hands of the Padres and it could have been a whole lot worse. Pete Alonso and Starling Marte each left Tuesday's game, but each appear to hopefully be ok. Keep those fingers crossed. Otherwise, Eduardo Escobar hit for the first Mets cycle in more than a decade (shout-out Scott Hairston) on Monday and Carlos Carrasco twirled another gem. That's about it though lol. With a not-so-great-series, we have our deepest prospect report in a while and discuss Mets prospects from Francisco Álvarez to José Butto to Wyatt Young to Javier Atencio. Episode closes with a preview of the Angels series. Hello Noah Syndergaard.

Game 1 (2:31)

Game 2 (12:52)

Game 3 (18:45)

Prospects (28:13)

Angels (43:19)

Wow. What a series in LA against the Dodgers. First the Mets were down, and then they came all the way back for a series split that had playoff vibes. Francisco Lindor got his finger caught in a door and then came back to have some nice games. Pete Alonso looked like the MVP front-runner. Starling Marte stayed hot, Jeff McNeil threw his helmet, Max Scherzer was bit by his dog, Jacob deGrom threw a bullpen, Edwin Diaz pitched the 8th inning, David Peterson got yanked mid-batter, David Roberts didn't know all the rules, Colin Cowherd had a bad tweet. This was a crazy weekend in Mets Land and we cover it all right here.

Game 4 (0:00)

Game 3 (23:35)

Game 1 (41:25)

Game 2 (47:14)

Padres (52:27)

Great series. The bats came out hot with huge performances from Luis Guillorme, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Mark Canha, Tomás Nido, and of course Starling Marte who is blazing hot. David Peterson didn't look great and James dives in to why he struggled. Wednesday was hilarious too with Carlos Carrasco's dad in the building and Gary, Keith, and Ron having a grand ol' time. This week also marked the 10 year anniversary of Johan Santana's no-hitter, Marc and James each talk a little about what that meant to themselves and the Mets overall. We have a listener mailbag where we discuss the Mets upcoming roadtrip, Dallas Keuchel, Nick Plummer, and ballpark food before closing out with the Dodgers series preview.

Game 1 (3:00)

Game 2 (13:47)

Game 3 (24:46)

Mailbag (42:37)

Dodgers (57:47)

The New York Mets just completed their first sweep of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies which pushes their NL East Division lead to 10.5 games over Philly! Pete Alonso continues to own the city of Philadelphia and make a case for MVP talks. Francisco Lindor is really good so of course he had another great series. Jeff McNeil soared like an eagle around the bases after hitting a big HR in game 2 and we even saw Nick Plummer hit a game tying HR in the bottom of the 9th for his first MLB hit. Mets pitching continues to shine with great performances from Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco & Taijuan Walker. Mets are good, really good and continue to dominate the NL East division!

The Mets had an action-packed series in San Francisco. David Peterson looked really good again which is awesome and we had one of the craziest games in recent baseball memory on Tuesday with our massive comeback and Joc Pederson's heroics. Otherwise, Pete Alonso hit another dinger, Starling Marte stayed hot, Eduardo Escobar may have gotten hot, and wow shocker Francisco Lindor is really good. The pitching depth is not looking great though and that's even scarier with Drew Smith and Edwin Díaz struggling during game 2. Shoutout Stephen Nogosek though, legend. Listen through for info on Memorial Day schedule.

Game 1 (3:59)

Game 2 (13:14)

Game 3 (35:23)

Prospect Report (44:20)

Phillies Preview (51:20)

The snow subsided in time for the Mets to get all three games in against the Rockies and win another series. Starling Marte hit a HR in his first game back in an emotionally charged moment. Carlos Carrasco had another very good starts and James points to an interesting adjustment he made. Luis Guillorme was all over the diamond this weekend, Francisco Lindor too. Good team baseball. Afterwards, we do a listener mailbag where we discussed Chris Bassitt, replacements for Max Scherzer, trade options for DH, a potential Met contender for the batting title, and another Bartolo Colon rumor

Game 1 (3:58)

Game 2 (12:23)

Game 3 (17:41)

Mailbag (35:30)

Giants Preview (57:50)

Wow, what an eventful week for the Mets. The games went great! We handled the Cardinals with relative ease and took 3 out of 4. Pete Alonso mashed some big home runs, Jeff McNeil stayed hit, Luis Guillorme and Mark Canha were getting on base, Chris Bassitt looked good, we got lots of help from guys like Trevor Williams, Jake Reed, and Adonis Medina, this was an all-hands on deck series and it showed. Francisco Lindor had a good series too, despite what some fans want to believe. However, the big news from this week is Max Scherzer being out 6-8 weeks with an oblique strain. We gave some possible replacement options though and try to stay positive during this sad time. Bad news, good series, great episode.

Scherzer Talk

Game 4 (2:45)

Game 1 (6:24)

Game 2 (24:24)

Game 3 (30:29)

Pitching Options (51:28)

Rockies Preview (55:05)

The Mets lost their first series of the year which is sad but Max Scherzer pitched well and Francisco Lindor started to heat up. Drew Smith and Chasen Shreve also looked mortal for the first time all season which is sad but Edwin Diaz reminded everyone how good he is. The Mariners are a pesky bunch though with Jesse Winker and Paul Sewald having fun with Mets fans even though some people (Marc) think Sewald took things too far. Carlos Carrasco also got touched up which is scary with the news of Tylor Megill heading to the IL. Thankfully Chris Bassitt is still rocking and rolling. What a jam-packed episode

Game 3 (0:00)

Game 1 (32:17)

Game 2 (42:44)

Cardinals Preview (55:15)

Slow series, slow episode. Lots of Megill talk during the series recap, then some fun mailbags about Luis Guillorme, JD Davis, Dom Smith, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo

Game 1 (3:09)

Game 2 (13:41)

Game 3 (22:25)

Mailbag (26:28)

Mariners (45:55)

The New York Mets just wrapped up a series victory in Philadelphia against the Phillies which saw the Mets complete the greatest comeback in their teams history after being down 6 runs in the top of the 9th inning. Pete Alonso has a 2 Home Run game which propelled the Mets to a series win, Francisco Lindor is finally breaking out of his slump along with Starling Marte & Brandon Nimmo being hit machines to start the month of May. Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer pitch well enough to help the Mets continue to grow their lead over the division rival Philadelphia Phillies! The boys are PUMPED!

Weird set. Game one feels like a lifetime ago. We can't really hit but we're still winning and that's good I guess?

Game 1 (0:00)

Game 2 (12:20)

Game 3 (20:06)

Game 4 (27:55)

Phillies Preview (47:19)

Title says it all, huge series win from the Mets this weekend and break it all down here. Fun episode

Game 1 (2:10)

Game 2 (13:35)

Game 3 (17:30)

Mets Offense (32:29)

Braves Preview (37:49)

Fight! Fight! Fight! What if I told you the Mets' benches would clear twice in a month and Pete Alonso would be threatening to put people in the hospital? Would you believe me?? Also the crazy comeback, Max Scherzer's dominance, and Chris Bassitt being Chris Bassitt. It's 3:30 AM and I forgot to make marks for timestamps but we talk about the fight for the first like 10 minutes and start the Mailbag around the 35 minute mark. Enjoy ;)

Not a bad series. A weird, dry series. Which makes sense for the desert. Don't be scared about Edwin Díaz, be excited about Tylor Megill, and be curious as to what's going on with Robinson Canó

Game 1: 0:00

Game 2: 17:03

Game 3: 27:02

Housekeeping: 40:33

Cardinals Preview: 48:46

We said this would be a test and we passed it baby. The Mets took 3/4 from the Giants and we let you know how it happened. The boys are BUZZING!

Game 1 (0:00)

Game 2 (20:17)

Game 3 (27:24)

Game 4 (41:23)

Prospect Report (51:36)

Diamondbacks Preview (54:07)

Big weekend for the Mets. We tell everyone about our Opening Day Shenanigans before diving into all three games. Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil, I love you all.

Game 1 (0:00)

Game 2 (20:42)

Game 3 (31:46)

Giants Preview (44:22)

Monday got hairy, Tylor leveled us out though and Max finished the job. Breaking down a wild series in Philadelphia plus prospect report and Diamondbacks series preview

Game 1 (0:00)

Game 2 (14:10)

Game 3 (25:07)

Prospect Report (42:43)

Diamondbacks Preview (46:44)

Opening Weekend, it feels damn good to talk about baseball. The Mets played super well but Sunday got weird. And guess what?? Timestamps

Game 4 (0:00)

Game 1 (20:06)

Game 2 (29:05)

Game 3 (41:02)

Phillies Preview (52:34)

The deGrom injury kills some of the Opening Juice, but it can't take it all away! Otherwise, we talk about the insane trade that almost happened, the minor one that did happen, preview the season, and answer some of your questions! BIG THINGS COMING

Sunday was a great day for Mets baseball. Possibly the most anticipated Spring Training game in baseball history. We go through it all and share some thoughts from the last week of Spring. Then, we get into the roster and what this team should/could look like on Opening Day

Hope springs eternal. The real-life Mets were on a real-life baseball field this weekend and we talk about what we noticed and let you guys know what you should be watching for over the next few weeks

Title says it all. The Bassitt trade was huge and we break it down. Also touch on Adam Ottavino, some other minor RP signings, and figure out what is next as Billy Eppler fills out the rest of this roster

Title says it all, we are super pumped, quick primer to how the Mets should approach the next month. Rodón signed while I was editing so just ignore that part

Title says it all, we are not happy

Guess what? No baseball news. We spend the first half of the episode breaking down what happened between the players and owners over the past week and what exactly it means for the season. Then, we switch back to the Mets and give our nine-man starting lineups and pitching rotation. We close out with some fun listener questions and have a big announcement for next week!

Breaking down the end of the 30 For 30. The NLCS, Mike Scott 'Scuff King', the infamous plane ride, getting down to the Red Sox, coming back, Game 6, and an underrated Game 7, and how the 1986 Mets fell apart. Real Mets content coming next week, send us questions for the mailbag!

We said we would wait for a rainy day and my goodness, it's pouring. Here is a brief news round-up followed by our review of ESPN's 30 for 30 'Once Upon a Time in Queens' about the '86 Mets. Of course, we just could not help ourselves and talked way too much about every little detail so enjoy part one of this review! Lenny Dykstra, omg

The Mets had some coaching news this week so we get into that. Craig Bjornson is riot. Also, some more CBA breakdown and realistic view of when we could have baseball. Then, Nick Pollack talks Mets rotation, potential free agent fits, and whole lot of other stuff. Little of this, little of that, a fun conversation with Nick. We close with a ~brief~ discussion of the Hall of Fame.

Hey! News!! Once Upon a Time in Queens is on ice for when there is literally NOTHING to talk about, so enjoy us talking about some real stuff. The Mets hired Glenn Sherlock which isn't the coolest thing ever. Good news, he's super good friends with Buck Showalter! Next, we talk about the Mets two biggest signings from this international class, Simón Juan and Willy Fañas, and what their potential could look like. Then, we get deep on the latest update on the lockout and the new proposal from the owners to the MLBPA. This is some good stuff and we hope you guys like some non-Mets content for a change! Next, it's back to the Mets and some in-depth prospect talk with Matt Eddy. Matt is the Executive Editor at Baseball America and one of the sharpest scouts in the industry. We break down where the Mets fall in BA's brand new Top 100 and who could make a jump this season. The show closes with answering your guys' questions!

News! Real-life news! The Mets hired Joey Cora, Wayne Kirby, and Eric Chávez for various assistant coach roles last week. We gave a little background on each and broke down what they can bring the Mets. Next, Brandon is now a Scott Boras client. This could be a disaster and we tell you why. Lastly, Kyle Schwarber and Nelson Cruz have both been rumored to the Mets recently. James explains why it might not be the best move to sign either.

A little different episode this week. We wanted to tell you guys about some of the craziest things to EVER happen in Mets history and boy, do we have some stories. Like the time the 1986 Mets completely trashed an airplane after winning the pennant. Or how the Mets missed out on Reggie Jackson. Or how they denied Alex Rodríguez. Or being involved with Bernie Madoff. Or Brett Saberhagen's secret contract. There is even MORE craziness in this episode, hope you guys like it!

Hey! We have news!! It was reported that the Mets have placed Jeff McNeil on the trade block and we break down what that means. Why would the Mets want to trade Jeff McNeil? What went wrong last season? Can he rebound? Who would want him? What types of players could we expect to get back? It's all here in the MOST comprehensive Jeff McNeil analysis on the internet. Also, the Mets have promoted Ben Zauzmer from Director of Research and Development to Assistant General Manager and we give some background on Ben, our lovable nerd.

The Mets managerial search is over and Buck Showalter is our guy. We get into exactly what that does and does not mean, somewhat focusing on the shockingly unified reaction of Mets' fans to this news. Next, we each have a wishlist of 5 things we want for the Mets this holiday season. Some things are serious, some things are funny, this was a lot of fun. We also get pretty off-topic throughout. it's the holidays, James has Covid, this episode was something else.

Things are slooowwwwwww here in Mets Land. The manager search has narrowed down to three finalists, Buck Showalter, Joe Espada, and Matt Quatraro. We talked extensively about Showalter and Espada last week so James sheds some knowledge on Quatraro's background and explains why he would be a good fit. The Mets also keep hiring new members to their Research and Development team and we touch on that. Next, the MiLB draft was last week and we scout the new players. I told you, things are slow. Last but definitely not least, we decided we wanted to do a draft. While an all-time Mets team was a little bit too easy, we decided to draft a team of the 'most Mets Mets ever'. Yeah, you heard me. All the failed FAs, busted prospects, aging veterans, and chaotic relievers are here. Get ready to take a trip down memory lane...

Major League Baseball may be locked out but we aren't! Marcus Stroman and Javy Báez signed contracts since we last spoke so we start the show out by breaking down what they got and what it could mean for the Mets moving forward. Then we jump into ALL the managerial rumors coming at us Mets fans. James tells us 'who is Joe Espada?' and breaks down why he could be a very logical choice. Then we both break down Buck Showalter and explain why his accolades and 'experience' are being overblown. Next comes some dreaded CBA talk. We offer a very simple explanation for what's going on, how baseball came to this point, and a glimmer of hope and how it can get resolved. The show closes with a few minutes on the Veteran's Committee Hall of Fame ballots and a congratulations for Met-lifer, Gil Hodges.

FULL DON LAGRECA RANT:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzgpbE3xrE

***James called Tony Oliva a Red when he was a Twin, hand up

It's a celebration

Big Friday for the Mets. Biiiiiiiggggggggg Friday. Steve Cohen opened up his wallet and pulled in Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, and Starling Marte in a 5-hour window. We break them down and offer very fair expectations for each. Kevin Gausman seems to be next on Uncle Stevie's list and we talk about what that could mean for Marcus Stroman. We close the episode by telling you guys what each of our starting lineups would be before being interrupted by the worst Hall of Fame ballot of all time. Don't want to miss that

Happy Thanksgiving! Early drop!!! Aaron Loup is GONE and we break it down. Some Mets fans are freaking out but we are not quite there. James took a journey through Baseball-Reference and found 7 relievers who have seasons most similar to Loup and showed why it is unlikely the king of Busch Lite can repeat his success to that extent. Afterward, we get deep into the Japanese phenom Seiya Suzuki and talk about what kind of player he currently is in Japan and just how it will translate to the major leagues. We learn a lot about Hideki Matsui during this segment, that guy was criminally underrated. We close the show by trying to figure out just what the Mets were thinking in letting some of their minor league depth go last week when 40 man rosters were due. Hint, we are not sure. 

James texted Marc "we have nothing to talk about" on Monday night and then all hell broke loose. Noah Syndergaard is an Angel and we are shocked. Billy Eppler is our GM and we're not thrilled. James doesn't know where Japan is. Luis Rojas is the Yankee's new third base coach and that's funny. JimBob made another stupid comment about analytics and we make fun. The episode gets serious when we break down Marcus Stroman's future in light of recent contracts given to Eduardo Rodríguez and José Berríos. What we think he will get, what he should get, and how he matches up with the remaining free-agent pitchers. It's the best Marcus Stroman break down on the internet, guaranteed. We end the show with our Brett Baty interview from the Arizona Fall League. The audio isn't perfect but Brett is so stay tuned for that!

We are back from Arizona and have an action-packed episode ready for you guys! First off, Pedro Feliciano passed away and we pay our respects to the G.O.A.T Loogy. Then, things get dicey when talking about the status of our front office. Why the Mets aren't hiring a president, why they can't persuade talent to join the organization, and some talk on new GM-frontrunner Adam Cromie. Afterward, we quickly wrap up our player grades focusing on the bench, bullpen, and back-end of the rotation. The last 30 minutes of the show is dedicated to our off-season preview for the Mets. What direction we think they can go, who are options, and analyzing some free agents we'd like the Mets to chase. James thinks Trevor Story can be a fit and gets way too excited when talking about Alex Cobb. There was also somehow a dispute about Frankie Montas. Check it all out!

Live from Phoenix, the boys open up with Zack Scott being officially fired this week by the Mets. Everyone thought it was a pretty good move...except Buster Olney. Or did he? It's hard to tell because he contradicts himself every couple of weeks. Lucky you, we spend about 25 minutes outlining each of his recent contradictions, hope you like it! After we got that out of our system, we continued with our player grades and took a look at Dom Smith, Taijuan Walker, Carlos Carrasco, James McCann, and Tylor Megill. The show ends with some POBO talk and man has this situation gotten boring. So boring that we had to move it to the end of the show. Well, enjoy this one because we sure did.

Jam-packed episode! Who said the off-season was not fun? The search for a president of baseball operations is getting a little bit scarier and while still optimistic, our confidence is beginning to waiver just a little bit. Afterward, we give props to our boy Jeremy Hefner for getting his option picked up and comment on Luis Rojas interviewing for the Padres' managerial vacancy. Then we dive back into our player grades giving out marks for Edwin Díaz, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, and Seth Lugo. James really breaks down where Lugo struggled this season and how he can instantly regain his 2019 form, fantastic content here. The show ends with a discussion on Javy Báez: who he was this year, who we think he can be in the future, and a debate on what type of contract he will get. This was a lot of fun.

The Mets have officially missed out on their POBO 'Big Three' and people (baseball media people) are freaking out about it. We tell you why this is not a big deal and James dives into about 10 other executives who could and SHOULD be in play in an attempt to kill this narrative. Andy Martino also dropped a rumor that the Mets and Javy Báez were talking about a contract, so we touch on that briefly. Afterward, it's Sporcle time! Listen to us try to name all 64 players who appeared for the Mets this season. With the whole roster fresh in our brains, we start our Player Grades segment, getting through the five most important Mets from 2021. We close the show with an AFL (aka Brett Baty) update. Packed off-season show woooooo!

The boys are back from their quick hiatus with a jam-packed offseason episode! We start out with the news that Luis Rojas will not return to the Mets as manager. Sure, it happened a while ago but we haven't spoken since! Marc and James differ on who they would like to see as the next Mets manager and James breaks down what he thinks the modern baseball manager could look like. Really, this all comes down to our next President of Baseball Operations and GM, so we touch on that for a while and the CRAZY rumor that it could be Paul DePodesta. That discussion takes us to a conversation about where the Mets' roster stands and I have some bad news....it's not great. We close the show with a fun poll about Álvarez posted last week by Anthony DiComo and some listener shoutouts. No games can't slow down the Mets'd Up Boys.

The season has finally, mercifully come to an end. We tie up the loose ends of this Braves series. James talks about how Tylor Megill can be used most effectively in 2022 while Marc reminisces on his guy, Jeurys Familia, in what was probably his last outing as a Met. The games were the games, they happened, Thor looked bad, Pete didn't get to 40, whatever. We ramble about baseball for a little while before sharing our plans for the off-season. Tune it!

Ah, bittersweet, bittersweet. This was weirdly an eventful week for the Mets because...well...they all are. We started out talking about Thursday's game here because we were in attendance and it was fresh on our minds. We had a great day and met so many of our amazing listeners which was an incredible experience! On top of that, the Mets smacked the Marlins around and Michael Conforto got emotional in what might have been his last home game as a Met. Afterwards, we broke down the first three games of this series. James gave some unbelievable double-header facts as the Mets played their final twin-bill of the season. Noah Syndergaard pitched the 2nd game and his return gives us a lot to think about. Lastly, we close with the Mets' disappointing loss on Wednesday where Seth Lugo blew the lead and James broke down why Lugo has not looked quite right all year. Packed episode, almost to the finish line!

So awful, just terrible. The Mets were swept by the Brewers this weekend and did not even make it competitive. They couldn't hit, field, or pitch in a brutal display of apathetic baseball. Such a shame to have seen this team fall so hard and so fast. Javy and Lindor are still hitting, same with Nimmo, but that's it. Gary and Keith let their opinion be known this weekend and we discuss that for a little bit. Also, Noah Syndergaard's weird rehab, the Kyle Boddy rumors, and number retirements. Woo