NY Baseball Check-In: Cole Returns. Mets Deadline Questions.

New York baseball is sitting in two completely different places.

The Yankees just got Gerrit Cole back, and he looked a lot less like a pitcher easing his way back from Tommy John surgery and a lot more like the ace walking back into the room. Aaron Judge is in a rough stretch, but that feels more like normal baseball turbulence than real panic. Ben Rice keeps making the case that his bat is too valuable to mess with behind the plate, and the Rays are putting real pressure on the AL East race.

Then there are the Mets.

The record still gives just enough 2024 flashback hope to keep fans from fully letting go, but the roster construction, leadership questions, offensive inconsistency, and looming trade deadline decisions are getting harder to ignore. Should the Mets sell if they are still buried by the deadline? Who is actually part of the future? And how dangerous would it be to chase a big bat like Yordan Alvarez if it means taking on bad money with MLB’s next CBA fight and possible salary cap structure hanging over the sport?

This episode is a New York baseball check-in built around one bigger idea: the cost of pretending.

The Yankees look like a contender trying to finish the roster.
 The Mets look like an expensive team still trying to define one.

Topics include Gerrit Cole’s return, Aaron Judge’s slump, Ben Rice’s role, Anthony Volpe, the Rays’ pressure on the Yankees, Mets deadline questions, Carson Benge, AJ Ewing, Nolan McLean, Juan Soto, Carlos Mendoza, David Stearns, Steve Cohen, Yordan Alvarez, Tarik Skubal, the Astros as potential sellers, and MLB’s looming CBA/salary cap battle.

Transcript

New York Baseball Check-In

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I guess there's only one way to find out. Let's do it to it, right? Well, New York baseball is in two very different places right now. The Yankees just got Garrett Cole back, and he looked a lot less like a guy easing back from Tommy John and a lot more like the Ace walking back into the room. Aaron Judge is a little bit of a slump. Ben Rice is forcing the Yankees into some interesting lineup math. And yet the Rays are making the division race feel real difficult. A lot more serious than anybody expected. And then you got the Mets. Same city, completely different conversation. The record still gives you just enough hope to be annoying, but the roster, the leadership, the deadline questions, all of it, starting to feel real expensive. So today, today is New York baseball check-in. Cole returns, Mets deadline questions, and the cost of pretending. Guess there's only one way to find out. Let's do it to it, huh?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Extra, extra. Keep the lights blow. New York talking with the late night go from the garden glow to the stadium street. Every win, every last, every what does it mean? Right on the radio, coming through your speakers, big things, bar tools, car breaks, believe with medic games, death giants, next on the ride. Full of the channel, let the whole city decide. No we are answered, no sitting on the fence. We don't talk loud, laughter, making it make sense.

Why The Yankees Feel Normal

SPEAKER_01 1:35

We'll start this week's MLB episode with the Yankees, which is a nice change of pace, by the way. Because the Yankees right now, conversation feels a little more normal. Not easy, not perfect, didn't say any of that, but normal. This is what a good baseball team looks like when it's dealing with regular baseball turbulence. Aaron Judge slumps for a week. Everybody starts checking the locks on the windows. You know, the offense looks dead for a couple games. People start wondering if the whole thing is broken. The Rays get hot or stay hot, I guess, and suddenly the division feels a lot more uncomfortable than it did a few weeks ago. That's baseball, Susan. That's the season. Good teams go through ugly pockets. Great players look human again. Lineups go quiet. Bullpins cough stuff up. You lose a series you should have won, and then two days later you score 15 runs, and everybody acts like the sport makes sense again. Trust me, it does not. Baseball is a lunatic. It's part of the reason we love it, it's part of the reason we hate it. But the Yankees are still in a much different place than the Mets. And that's really the contrast of this episode. The Yankees are dealing with contender problems. The Mets, the Mets are dealing with construction problems. Big difference.

Cole Returns And Changes The Mood

SPEAKER_01 2:57

With the Yankees, we start with Garrett Cole. That's the headline. Not Judge, not him slumping, not the offense going quiet against Toronto, not even the Rays putting pressure on them in the division. No, Garrett Cole coming back and looking like Garrett Cole. This guy missed 569 days. Tommy John surgery is not a twisted ankle. This is not, eh, you know, give it a couple weeks, put some ice on it, we'll get an MRI. No, this is baseball's ACL tear. That's the injury where even if you come back, most guys need time. You need the ramp up, you need the awkward first couple starts. Figure out what's real, what's still a little rusty, what you can trust, what you don't trust. Cole came back, and he looks like he found a cheat code. Six scoreless in his first start back, velocity there, command is good enough, looked composed, looked like he belonged immediately, right? Then he follows it up with a six and two-thirds, 10 strikeout performance. This is not normal. You know, we throw around built different way too much in sports, but every once in a while, the phrase actually fits. There are certain athletes who come back from major injuries and you almost feel stupid for being worried about them. You know, Adrian Peterson tears his ACL and he comes back like a myth. Cooper Cup gets hurt and returns like nothing ever happened. Tom Brady tore his knee and then just kept playing until everybody else got old around him. Look, it is early. So I'm not going to sit here and say Garrett Cole is better than ever or anything crazy. You know, I'm not quite there just yet. But I will tell you one thing. For a guy coming off Tommy John, he does not look like a guy dipping his toe back into the pool. He looks like the ace that walked back into the room and all of a sudden everybody started sitting up a little straighter. And that's what Cole does for the Yankees. You know, it's just it's not just innings, it's not just the fastball, it's not the box score. It's another big voice, it's another feeling in the room. The Yankees' rotation with Garrett Cole feels different than the Yankees' rotation waiting for Garrett Cole. I know that sounds stupid, but it it's the truth. Cole coming back is not just a pitching upgrade, it's a complete mood stabilizer.

Judge Slump Panic Gets Debunked

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Now, on to Judge. Look, I know the slump looks ugly. I get it. When Judge goes one for whatever with the Ribby drought and you know starts getting mentioned, it feels like a bigger deal than it probably is because it's Aaron Judge. He has trained everybody to expect nonsense from him. He has made absurd production seem routine and normal. So, you know, God forbid when he looks like a regular, excellent baseball player having a week, it's like the Wi-Fi went off at NASA. But this is basic still baseball, man. Nobody hits 600. Nobody just lives at the top of the mountain for six straight months without some bad stretches. Even the best hitters in the world have weeks where the timing is off, the breaking balls look a little sharper. You know, and sometimes you just hit line drives right at people. Still, Judge is sitting there with real numbers, hitting around 257. He's got 17 homers, 34 ribbies. Most players would donate an organ to have those stat lines by the beginning of June. The only reason it looks weird is because Judge is usually flirting with stuff that doesn't feel real at all. So, no, I am not panicking on Aaron Judge. He'll come around. He always does. Maybe the average is lower than we're used to seeing this late in the year, and it's kind of fair to bring up, you know, he was hitting around 330 for a while in May. But if the conversation is, is Aaron Judge broken? No. Stop, take a breath, drink some water, go touch some grass outside, everything's gonna be okay.

Ben Rice And The Catching Trap

SPEAKER_01 6:51

The more interesting Yankee lineup conversation to me, though, is Ben Rice. Shout out Rice on the Mikes. I think I'm starting to fully understand the case for not catching him. Early on, I get the temptation. You look at the catcher spot, you look at Austin Wells not giving you much offensively, and you look at Rice's background, and the brain starts doing some math. You know, well, he caught before. The bat is great, catcher position is kind of weak. Why not just put him back there, you know? Two birds, one stone. Sounds easy. Until you remember that catching is insane. Catchers are hockey goalies and cleats. They are just built different. You're squatting for three hours, getting foul balls off every part of your body. You're catching 95 with movement, blocking balls in the dirt, calling a game, managing pitchers, getting run over emotionally and physically sometimes, while still getting four at bats a game. Then waking up and doing it the next day. You know, only a crazy person wants to catch a ball moving 90 plus miles per hour behind another crazy person, swinging a wooden stick as hard as he can. That's the job. So with Rice, the Yankees have to be careful not to get too greedy. His bat is too valuable. He's keeping pace with Judge as one of the best hitters on the team. If you have a guy like that, the goal is very simple. Keep him in the lineup as much as possible and don't create new problems while trying to solve an old one. If he gets a day off, he gets a day off, man. It's a long season. But I don't need to see the Yankees turn him into a science project behind the plate just because the catcher spot is annoying. You know, the quickest way to ruin a good thing is to ask it to solve three other problems. Keep his bat fresh, keep him healthy, find a catcher somewhere else if the position really needs help.

Volpe Debate And Roster Optimization

SPEAKER_01 8:46

The Volpe conversation kind of fits into this too. The Wednesday mic check was almost split. If you're new here, every Wednesday on Instagram I put out a mic check poll. Series of things for you guys to participate in, help shape the show a little bit. 55% said Volpe earned his spot up top, and 45% that it said that he needs more time in AAA. Kind of a fascinating split to me. It kind of actually says something about where the Yankees are. I mean, they have real debates, but they are roster optimization debates. You know, how do we fit these pieces? Who gives us the best version of the lineup? Who is part of this October picture? Those are good team problems. The Yankees are debating how to fit useful players into a winning roster. The Mets are debating whether they even have a winning roster. Completely different conversation.

Rays Pressure And Yankees Deadline Posture

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Now, for the Rays, quickly, we got to talk about Tampa because this is kind of not cute anymore. You know, there are teams that start hot and you roll your eyes just a little bit. Yeah, nice April, cute May, call me in July. You know, baseball does that every year. Somebody gets off to some wild start, the graphic gets thrown up on the MLB network, and then by Labor Day, they're 14 games back, and everybody pretends that they, oh, I never took them seriously. I knew they were going to collapse. Yeah, the Rays don't really feel like that though, man. The Rays being this good puts pressure on the Yankees. Not like panic pressure, not oh no, the season's falling apart pressure. But there is a little bit of sense of urgency now. Look, the Yankees are good. Cole was back, Rice looks real, Judge will wake up. The roster still has October upside, obviously. But Tampa is forcing the conversation a little bit. The division may not wait around for the Yankees to figure out every little thing at their own pace at this point. And I know it's far away now, but this is where the deadline comes in. You know, unless catastrophe happens, the Yankees are going to be buyers, like real buyers, not please save our season buyers. You know, they feel like a team that already has the bones of something dangerous, and they just need to raise the ceiling a little bit more. You know, there's a difference. A desperate buyer is trying to create an identity at the deadline, a serious buyer is trying to sharpen theirs. The Yankees know who they are, man. They they need to make sure the final version is good enough that when the games shrink in October, they get it done. Maybe that's a catcher, maybe it's another bat, maybe it's bullpen out. More than likely it is bullpenhout. But the Yankees should be aggressive. They should be serious. They should understand that Garricol coming back looking like this is not something you just shrug at. This is your window talking. The Yankees don't feel like a team searching for an identity. They feel like a team looking for a final few pieces that make the identity dangerous in October.

Mets Hope Feels Like A Trick

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Now, for the lovable, the lovable loser Mets. Well, that's mean. But it's true. Look, same city, completely different show. The Mets conversation is exhausting because I I am very close to giving up on the season, and yet somehow I still cannot fully do it. I can't pull the plug. That's the sickness. That's the Mets fan illness. You look up at the record and your brain says, pack it up. Then that annoying little Mets demon on your shoulder goes, Well, hey man, remember 2024? Yes, unfortunately, I do. The Mets had basically this exact same record in 24 and still ended up going to the NLCS. So every time I want to bury this team, every time I watched the bullpen blow something, or they can't get guys in with no ass and bases loaded, that little piece of history taps me on the shoulder like an unpaid bill. The Wednesday mic check made it pretty clear where everybody else is, too. I asked about the Mets scoring four runs in five games, and 88% said pack it up, season's done, while only 12% said that they can still make some moves and figure it out. I'm probably somewhere in the middle, which is the worst place to be emotionally. You know, I'm close to giving up, still stupidly holding on. But here's the problem. This does not feel like 2024. Not even close. There's no vibe, there's no magic. I mean, the record might be in the same neighborhood, but the team does not feel how that felt. That 2024 team at least felt like there was something underneath the mess. You know, it felt like there was a group that could wake up, and they did. It felt like there was a little bit of structure behind all the chaos. This team feels like it was built with whatever was left on the shelf after the first plan fell apart. The lineup is a mess. The rotation is a mess. The roster feels like a hodgepodge of, oh no, we missed the guys we wanted. Get what we can. Doesn't feel connected. It doesn't feel like every piece is pulling in the same direction. I'm not going to sit here and spend 20 minutes crying about Pete Alonso, Nimo, or McNeil. Like everything would be perfect if they were still here. I don't believe it. Clearly, there was something wrong with that clubhouse mix. Clearly, the Mets felt they needed to move on some personalities and reset the room. Fine. I get it. It is what it is. I understand it. But understanding why you moved on from certain guys does not mean the replacements automatically solved the baseball problem. You know, Jorge Polanco has already missed more games than Pete Alonso has ever missed in his career. Brandon Nemo has not exactly been lighting the world on fire in Texas, so this is not me pretending he became prime Albert Pujos the second that he left. But as it is to say, a 267 average type bat would look pretty useful in this Mets lineup right now. McNeil and Simeon, honestly, it's kind of a wash. Whatever. Simeon has more ribbies, McNeil has the higher batting average. Neither conversation makes me feel good.

Why The Mets Lineup Stalls

SPEAKER_01 14:40

But that is the larger issue with this lineup. You know, the kids get on base and nobody drives them in. That's where all this frustration starts to build. It's not just that the Mets are losing, it's how they're losing. It's the feeling that there are little sparks, little signs of life here and there, and then the rest of the roster shows up like a bucket of water. Carson Bench gets on. Ewing gives you something. The young guys create some traffic, and then the inning just dies. Nobody cashes in, nobody changes the game. That's how a season starts feeling heavier than the record. The Benge story is one of the few good things right now. He was slumping for a while. He shaves the mustache, gets a couple big hits, and suddenly, hey, there's a little life. I'm not saying the mustache was the problem, although listen, baseball players are psychos, so if shaving the mustache gets you two riby singles, shave the mustache. Burn the clippings. Do whatever ritual you got to do. Go give Joe Boo a shot of rum. But the real story is not the razor. The real story is a rookie falling behind O2 twice and not disappearing. That's what you want to see. Tough at bats, adjustments. Not trying to hit a six run homer with nobody on. Just stay alive, fight, put the ball in play, and give yourself a chance. That is the kind of thing you can actually build around. Bench, AJ Ewing, Nolan McLean, even though he's looked rough as of late. Those are the three that I'm protecting. Those are the three I'm not trying to talk myself into moving unless somebody wants to come up with some ridiculous godfather

Youth Movement Without Overvaluing Prospects

SPEAKER_01 16:13

offer. But everybody else, I'm listening, man. I'm not shopping, I'm not shopping, but I'm listening. Jonathan has real potential. I love the kid, and he is a kid. I think he could be a really good pitcher in this league, but he also feels like he's being pushed into a starting role when he realistically probably needs another year. If the right deal is there, I could live with moving him. By the way, it's the same idea with Beatty and Vientos and Mauricio and Alvarez. They're great players. They're good players. They're talented players. Not garbage. Not guys I'm giving away for a bag of baseballs and a coupon to Shake Shack. But as far as I'm concerned, they are not untouchable. There's a difference between protecting the future and falling in love with every young player who has a pulse. You know, the Mets have to be very careful with that. A bad major league roster can trick you into overvaluing every young player who gives you one good week. Suddenly everybody is part of the core, everybody's part of the future. Everyone's a building block. Yankee fans know this all too well with all the prospects that Brian Cashman has hoarded over the years. No, some guys are just building blocks. Some guys are useful pieces, some guys are trade chips, and some guys are just guys. A serious organization knows the difference.

Leadership And Culture Get Questioned

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Which now brings us to the Mets leadership problem. This is where the Mets conversation gets uncomfortable because I do not think this is one person. I don't think you can put the whole thing on Mendoza. I don't think you can put the whole thing on Stearns. I don't think you can put the whole thing on Cohen. And I really don't think you can put the whole thing on the players. It's all of them. You know, leadership trickles down. That's the golden rule. Good, bad, ugly, all of it. Doesn't matter. If Steve Cohen is in over his head, or if he operates a certain way, that sets the tone. If the answer keeps becoming throw money at it, eventually that seeps into the whole organization. Throwing good money after bad is not a plan. It's a very expensive panic response. What makes it even more confusing is that David Stearns is notoriously known for not building teams like this. Stearns is supposed to be the guy who doesn't get dragged into the bloated, messy, expensive roster trap. So when the Mets look like this under his watch, it feels even more out of a character. It feels like the organization is caught between two brains. One brain wants to be disciplined, smart, efficient, developmental. The other one sees a problem and reaches for the checkbook like it's a fire extinguisher. That is how you end up with an expensive roster that still feels patched together. And that's what the Mets are right now. And then as far as Mendoza, look, I don't think Carlos Mendoza forgot how to manage overnight. I mean, we were ready to crown him manager of the year in 2024. The guy didn't wake up one morning and lose every ounce of baseball knowledge he has. But he's in the last year of his deal and he's on the hot seat, and there's a club option sitting there that the team is probably going to deny. And this team, this team looks like it does not have a message that is landing properly. You know, the players are either not receiving what he's trying to get across, not understanding it, or not caring. Pick whichever one you want. None of those are good. You know, the players can say they love him all they want. Great. I'm sure he's a nice guy. I'm sure he's respected in a lot of ways. But do they love him because he's a great manager, or do they love him because they get away with things? That's the real question here. You know, everybody loves the boss who never yells at anybody. Everybody loves the teacher who doesn't really check the homework or the manager who lets things slide, lets the standard slide until the place falls apart. And then everybody's looking around, wondering, oh, how did we get here? Look, the best coaches know how to coach different players differently. Some guys need the arm around the shoulder. Some guys need to get challenged. Some guys need a quiet conversation. Some guys need to get grabbed by the collar behind closed door and says, What the hell are you doing? You cannot coach every player the exact same way and expect the same response. And that's what's happening. Right now the Mets look like professional players playing with juco ball habits, missing details, bad fundamentals, no edge, no internal corrections. When Ron Darling is on the broadcast basically saying this stuff happens all the time and then they just don't point it out that often, that's a culture review. Ron Darling is not some hot take lunatic screaming into a webcam. He is as steady as it gets. So when he drops the hammer on the broadcast, that should make everyone in the room feel a little uncomfortable. You know, Ron was one of the leaders of that 86 Mets championship team. So it's not like he's speaking on a turn here. I mean, do you think Keith or Gary Carter or hell, even a guy like Tim Tuffle would not back up a base or play bad fundamental baseball? No. Because that's what it takes to be a champion. That's what it takes to be a good ball club. The youth movement makes that leadership issue even more important here. If the Mets are about to lean into Benge and Ewing and McLean and maybe Tong and maybe some other young guys, well then who's going to teach them how to be good pros? Soto can teach hitting, absolutely. You want approach, you want plate discipline, you want to understand an at bat. Go stand near Juan Soto and take notes until your hands cramp. But Soto is not necessarily the vocal clubhouse standard setter. And that's not a shot at him either. It's just a different kind of leadership. I mean, you would take hitting lessons from Barry Bonds, but you might not take teammate lessons from Barry Bonds. That's where the Mets are, man. Soto can teach the craft, but who's teaching the standard? You know, there is no David Wright walking through that door, no Curtis Granderson, no Daniel Murphy, no obvious veteran voice where you say, okay, that guy is going to make sure that the kids understand how this is supposed to look. So if the organization wants a youth movement, it also better find the adults, man.

Deadline Reality And Avoiding Bad Contracts

SPEAKER_01 22:24

And let's talk deadline. You know, I don't I don't want the Mets to sell. I want to be very clear about that. I do not enjoy this. I am not sitting here excited to watch another year become a let's collect future assets summer. But if they're still around 10 games under when the deadline rolls around, what are we doing? You know, at some point, you cannot keep pretending. That's the theme here. The cost of pretending. If the standings tell you the truth, you gotta listen. Sell what you can get a good price for, keep anything you truly believe in. That's part of this next good team for the Mets. But if someone calls you on rest, you listen. Not because you're quitting, not because you're waving the white flag just to make the fans miserable. You listen because forcing a dead season to look alive is how you make the next one worse. This is kind of where the Jordon Alvarez idea gets interesting, too. There's been some rumors floated around that the Mets might pick up Jordan in a trade, but they would have to pick up Carlos Correa's monster contract. This is where you gotta see the forest through the trees. If baseball is heading towards some kind of harder payroll world, like a hard salary cap incoming, why are the Mets volunteering to be the team holding the bag? You already have Lindor money, you have Soto money, and depending on how that opt-out language plays, maybe that number gets even more uncomfortable. You got Bo Bachet money that you thought he would probably opt out of, but because he's not gonna have a good season, you're stuck with him for another three years. Devin Williams isn't cheap. You know, real pitching costs money, the rotation is not exactly great. These things add up fast. So, yes, Jordan could be interesting, but the Mets have to stop acting like every problem can be solved by volunteering to become somebody else's financial landfill. You know, it's the same idea with Tariq Scuble, too, just from the pitching side. You're gonna have to pay him eventually if Detroit moves him. And if Houston actually does sell here, the whole market changes. You know, the Astros aren't exactly a normal seller. That's not some bottom feeder with two rental relievers and a veteran bench bat. You know, you're talking Alvarez, Hunter Brown, Jeremy Paina, Christian Walker, Isaac Parades. Those are real names. Real players that can make a real impact.

Salary Cap Talk And Big Spending Risks

SPEAKER_01 24:40

That kind of also brings us into the bigger baseball money conversation. The CBA stuff is not always the most fun topic. I know. I get it. Nobody throws on a podcast and says, Man, I hope we get some collective bargaining talk today. That's very normal behavior, totally healthy. But it does connect here. The MLBPA has made its proposal, and the MLB is expected to push some kind of hard cap and for system. The numbers being floated around, whether it's 300, 290, 320 million, whatever version actually survives the fight, it changes the way you look at contracts going forward. Fans hear salary cap and they think, alright, it's fair all around. Owners hear salary cap and they think cost control, great. Players hear salary cap and they say, no, thank you. I want to get paid every last dollar. Yeah. Unfortunately, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I mean, every other league has a salary cap and there are still players getting paid, and it does create more parity in the sport. But I don't know. When there's no hard ceiling, a rich team can make an expensive mistake and absorb some of it. It hurts, it's annoying, and it might affect the tax bill, but the richest teams can usually keep it moving. If a harder cap system comes in, those mistakes become a lot harder. They become bigger anchors. You know, you can't keep stacking expensive maybes on top of expensive certainties and called out a plan. The Mets at a cautionary tale right now. Spending money is not the same thing as building something. And the Yankees are in a different spot. They are already good. They can buy from a position of strength. You know, if they take a swing, it should be with October in mind, not to convince themselves that they're something that they're not. That's really the whole episode. The Yankees have contender problems, the Mets have construction problems. That's the cost of pretending. You pretend a slump is a crisis, you make bad panic decisions. You pretend a bad roster is one bad away, you inherit someone else's bad contract. You pretend every young player is untouchable, and you never build the next core correctly. Baseball is a funny way of exposing teams slowly, not all at once, you know? It just keeps asking the same question every night until the answer becomes too loud to ignore.

Final Takeaways And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_01 27:01

That's where we'll leave it for this week. Yankees have real reason to feel optimistic. Garrett Cole looks like Garrett Cole. Judge is still Aaron Judge. The Mets, meanwhile, staring at some hard questions. Not impossible questions, but honest ones. Honest ones that need an answer. So we'll see what happens over the next couple weeks. You know, the deadline is still kind of far out, but it is getting closer and closer. And the standings are starting to matter a little more every day. And both New York teams are headed towards decisions that could shape the rest of their season and maybe their future. As always, let me know what you think. Drop your thoughts in the comments, vote in the next mic check, keep the conversation going. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure you subscribe, follow, leave a rating, tell a friend, do all the podcast things we're supposed to ask you to do. You can follow along on Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube Shorts, same handle, same conversation, same nonsense, just chopped up probably differently, depending on the app. I appreciate everybody who listens every week, everybody who sends in messages, sends me good memes. Just keep showing up to talk sports with me. But until next time, enjoy the games, try not to overreact to one bad series, and remember, baseball always tells the truth eventually. Spread good energy, tell someone you love them. I am Ian Rice. This has been episode 70 of Rice on the Mics on our weekly baseball update. And I'll catch you for the next one. Have a good night and good luck. Cheers.