Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo recap a rough week on the latest episode of The Mets Pod.
The guys take a look at the offense, which is mostly missing-in-action, the state of the pitching staff, the struggles of Francisco Lindor, plus roster moves made so far and others that might be ahead.
Later, Connor and Joe go down on the Farm to talk prospects Cam Tilly and Elian Peña, and discuss how much blame for the Mets' early-season struggles should fall on manager Carlos Mendoza.
Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
TORONTO (AP) — Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber was transferred to the 60-day injured list Monday when Toronto acquired infielder Lenyn Sosa in a trade with the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Jordan Rich and future considerations.
The move means Bieber won’t be eligible to come off the IL until May 21. The right-hander was placed on the 15-day injured list March 22 with elbow inflammation.
Toronto acquired Bieber from Cleveland at last year’s trade deadline. The 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner went 4-2 with a 3.57 ERA in seven regular-season starts for the Blue Jays after coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Bieber then went 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in five postseason games as AL champion Toronto advanced to Game 7 of the World Series. He exercised his $16 million player option in the offseason to remain with the Blue Jays rather than explore free agency.
His move to the 60-day IL clears a roster spot for the 26-year-old Sosa, who batted .212 with three RBIs in 12 games for the White Sox this season.
Sosa hit .264 with 22 home runs and 75 RBIs over 140 games in 2025.
Rich has yet to make his professional debut after being selected by the Blue Jays in the 17th round of the 2025 amateur draft.
Juan Soto hasn’t started a running program at this point, but the Mets are hopeful that he’ll be able to do so in the next couple of days, manager Carlos Mendoza said before Monday's game in Los Angeles.
Soto didn’t travel with the team as they kick off a road trip against the Dodgers; instead, he stayed at Citi Field to continue progressing his way back from a calf strain.
The star outfielder hit and played catch for the first time since the injury last week.
If he is unable to take that next step in his recovery, Mendoza said that the team could potentially send him for another MRI, but they are happy with his progress thus far.
The team remains hopeful that Soto will be able to meet the two-to-three week recovery period that they put out when he first landed on the injured list last week.
While they'll continue to play things safe, they certainly need him back as soon as possible.
Entering play on Monday night, New York has lost five games in a row and they are averaging just 3.38 runs per game since Soto was placed on the IL.
They did recall Tommy Pham looking to provide a boost, but they need their superstar slugger healthy.
Apr 13, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez (61) throws a pitch against the Chicago Cubs during the second inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
“Javier Assad has faced 51 batters without allowing a single barreled ball”. So said the helpful auto-generated commentary in the MLB app’s Gameday feature after Trea Turner grounded out to start the bottom of the first. The next play read “Kyle Schwarber homers (5) on a fly ball to center field”.
Well. Can an AI create a jinx? If a billy goat can, probably (then again, goats may be stronger than robots, since they eat tin cans). At any rate, the Phillies had a 1-0 lead against the visitors from the Senior Circuit’s Chicago club.
It was a battle between sinkerballers: Javier Assad and Cristopher Sánchez. Both got off to a bit of a rocky start: Assad with his inability to reach 52 batters without a barrel, and Sánchez with his putting two on (via liner hit and walk) to open the second. It got worse for Cris when another single loaded the bases, with just one away. What’s a sinker specialist to do when he gets that sinking feeling? Well, rely on ol’ faithful. A trio of low and inside sinkers produced a trio of whiffs for Pete Crow-Armstrong. Sánchez showed one more sinker to Matt Shaw, decided four in a row was enough, and got out number three by inducing a weak grounder on a changeup.
In the second inning, Brandon Marsh got on base with a worm burner through the right side. He stole second, then scored when the Cubbies lost a fly ball from J.T. Realmuto, allowing it to land harmlessly on the grass (well, harmlessly for the ball, less so for the visitors). A bad break for the baby bears, but they got a better one in the bottom of the third, when Turner smacked a ball that went just to the wrong side of the foul pole; a crew chief review confirmed that the Phillies would have to wait for the next ringing of the roundtripper bell.
Not much longer, though. Turner singled to left, and Assad gave Schwarber a two-seamer that hung up in the middle of the zone, and in turn Schwarber ripped open a few more seams on it. The ill-fated sinker went sailing into center, and the Phillies were up 4-0.
They were cruising. Then the robots chimed in. Not the ABS robot (which helpfully confirmed a fourth ball for Brandon Marsh in the bottom third). Rather, it was the Gameday AI, which noted that “Sánchez’s slider is dropping more vs. last season” after Carson Kelly singled. The good news for the Phillies was that the AI didn’t really jinx Sánchez; it wasn’t his slider that cause him trouble. It was his sinker, as Dansby Swanson swatted one over the right field fence to narrow the Philadelphia lead to two in the fourth.
Sánchez faced more trouble in the top of the fifth, as an error by Turner and a walk to Seiya Suzuki put two on with one away. Fortunately, though, a sinker specialist is especially well equipped to navigate that situation: a sinker low and inside to J.A. Happ induced a weak ground ball, as the pitch is designed to do, and the inning ended without further damage.
Sanchez’ sibling in sinkerhood would not be so fortunate. Assad walked Schwarber to start the bottom of the fifth (Gameday AI noted that Schwarber’s bat speed is down nearly 2 MPH from last year, and that one is actually interesting, thank you robots), then allowed singles to Bryce Harper and Adolis García to load the bases with none away. Marsh hit one to center to score two, and Bohm produced a sacrifice fly to score another. Marsh scored soon, since Stott swiftly smacked a subpar sinker to center for a swell single, successfully stretching to second subsequently. Stott himself scored when J.T. Realmuto joined the hit parade, and Assad’s night was done. In the duel of the sinkers, Sánchez emerged as the decisive victor.
Things didn’t get much better for the Cubbies in the sixth. Reliever Charlie Barnes plunked Schwarber, walked Harper, and allowed an RBI double to García before recording an out. Bohm scored Harper with a productive groundout, Realmuto scored García with a single, and the Phillies had a dozen runs.
As the seventh dawned, Sánchez’ day ended, with a 6 hit, 8 K, 2 ER line. Seth Johnson replaced him, and navigated through the inning without allowing a run. The same could not be said of the Cubs. Sorely missing the Friendly Confines, they looked all around for some sign of comfort. But it was BOGO hot dog night, and the Cubs were in the land of the Phillies Frank, not Vienna Beef. Perhaps shaken by the lack of celery salt and sport peppers on the dogs, they allowed a 13th run on a throwing error from Swanson.
They must’ve found a lucky piece of Wrigley ivy in a pocket after the seventh, as Johnson and his fielders struggled mightily in the top of the eighth. The first six runners reached base and four runs scored before an out was recorded, aided by errors from Marsh and Bohm. Johnson got two outs, but allowed another run on a Suzuki single, and was pulled. Orion Kerkering subbed in, offered Happ a trio of sweepers on the outer edge, watched him take all of them for called strikes, and the inning ended. So did the game, after Kerkering’s quick work (leadoff double, then three consecutive outs) in the ninth.
The Phillies are 8-8. They’ll return to action against the Cubs tomorrow at 6:40, with Aaron Nola and Colin Rea scheduled to duel.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 05: David Peterson #23 of the New York Mets throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning at Dodger Stadium on June 05, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Mets lineup
Francisco Lindor – SS
Luis Robert – CF
Mark Vientos – 1B
Bo Bichette – 3B
Jorge Polanco – DH
Francisco Alvarez – C
Tommy Pham – LF
Marcus Semien – 2B
Tyrone Taylor – RF
David Peterson – LHP
Dodgers lineup
Shohei Ohtani – DH
Kyle Tucker – RF
Will Smith – C
Teoscar Hernández – LF
Freddie Freeman – 1B
Andy Pages – CF
Max Muncy – 3B
Santiago Espinal – 2B
Miguel Rojas – SS
Justin Wrobleski – LHP
Broadcast info
First pitch: 10:10pm EDT TV: SNY Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2
First-year Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz was struck in the face by a foul ball off the bat of his second baseman, Jeremiah Jackson, in the fifth inning of the team's 9-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, April 13 at Camden Yards.
Albernaz, 43, was positioned in his usual spot in Baltimore's first-base dugout when Jackson looped a line drive measured at 70.6 mph off his bat. It struck Albernaz in the side of the face and he was immediately escorted down the tunnel to the Orioles' clubhouse by coaches and players.
Here's video, courtesy of MASN, of the foul ball off Jeremiah Jackson's bat that struck Orioles manager Craig Albernaz. Scary scene. pic.twitter.com/5OjR39MSkH
The ball came up on Albernaz quickly, leaving him virtually helpless to avoid the baseball, though he turned his head and perhaps absorbed a more glancing blow.
Albernaz, the Orioles said, was evaluated on site by the team's medical personnel and returned to the dugout some 45 minutes later. Meanwhile, his team battled back from a six-run deficit to claim the victory.
He did not meet with the media following the game, but bench coach Donnie Ecker told reporters that Albernaz is expected to get a scan but is doing well.
Jackson hit a grand slam one inning after his foul ball struck Albernaz, and the Orioles pulled ahead of the Diamondbacks 8-7 on Pete Alonso's two-run homer in the seventh. Jackson hit his second home run in the eighth.
"It really speaks to what Alby means here and the culture he wants to create," Ecker told reporters. "If it were up to him, he'd be sitting right here. Not surprised to see him (return to the dugout)."
Even after waiting all offseason to find a new club, Tommy Pham didn’t consider hanging up the spikes.
It took him right up until a couple of hours before first pitch on Opening Day, but Pham did finally land himself a deal, rejoining the Mets on a minor league pact.
He spent the past couple of weeks building himself up in the lower levels of the system, but was called upon on Monday to help spark the struggling club.
“Happy to be back, happy to be up here,” Pham said before Monday’s game in Los Angeles. “Still some familiar faces here, lot of smiles on the faces today, so I’m happy that I could provide some sunshine.”
The Mets are hoping that Pham can provide more than just smiles, though.
He’s already been inserted directly into the starting lineup, batting seventh and playing left field, and Carlos Mendoza has heard nothing but good things about his new veteran.
“Competitor, a pro, he goes about his business the right way,” the skipper said Monday. “When word got out, I got a couple of texts from ex-coaches of his telling me how much you’re going to love this guy -- he knows what it takes to play in New York and wants to be a part of it.”
Mendoza expects to mainly use Pham against lefty pitching, but thinks he still feels has a lot to offers this team as a right-handed bat off the bench.
Heading into his 13th MLB season, the 38-year-old certainly agrees.
“Body-wise, I’m in better shape than a lot of guys in the league,” Pham said. “That’s just because of how I work in the offseason -- I signed two weeks ago so I still feel there’s a bit left that I need to handle, but for the most part I’m great.
“I show up. I prepare. I’m just a pro. I know how to play the game, I love the game, that’s what you’re going to get -- one thing I told myself this year is I’m going to go harder because I was thinking I want to leave everything on the table.”
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 13: Josh Naylor #12 of the Seattle Mariners reacts after scoring a two-run home run during the third inning against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park on April 13, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Maddy Grassy/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Coming out of the All-Star Break in 2025, the Seattle Mariners had some juice. They’d faltered from their scalding April-May surge, ceding the division lead to the Houston Astros at the start of June with a brutal 4-13 stretch from May 24-June 11th featuring multiple losses to Houston and dismal sweeps. A crucial, prescient drubbing of the Detroit Tigers to close the first half set the club on better footing, and with increased health from their rotation the club took two of three from Houston to start the back half. Dropping the third game in an 11-3 drubbing was a disappointment, a presumed pitcher’s duel that got away from Hunter Brown and Bryan Woo but remained uncorralled by the M’s bullpen on July 20th, 2025.
Today’s 6-2 M’s victory ensures that that date will remain the most recent time Seattle lost to Houston until at least mid-May. It buries the Astros where the Mariners found themselves at the outset of this four game series: last place in all of MLB. It solidifies what Three Nights in Houston dared us to believe: the center of gravity in the American League West is rooted in the Pacific Northwest.
Houston got their best start of the series from young righty Mike Burrows, whose line belies a reasonable enough performance given his task. Hell or high water, which at least three Astros pitchers are on the injured list with I believe, Burrows would be working deep into this afternoon’s game to save a beleaguered bullpen further indignity. 11 hits, six runs, all but one of which came on beautiful, Canadian moonshots. This was a tactical retreat of a ballgame from the start by the injury-riddled Astros, and while that’s no source of joy, the wins count the same.
That’s especially true for three stars of tonight’s game, which will not account for three of the five Mariners to secure multiple hits on the afternoon. Brendan Donovan, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodríguez each notched a pair of knocks, looked good doing it, and boded well for the Vedder Cup to come. Raleigh even gets an honorable mention for the most Lastros moment of the evening, an infield single where nobody decided to get him out. You can almost see the deflated spirit of this bedraggled, dying empire in this resigned miscommunication.
But they take standing positions on this train to the honored, seated standouts: Josh Naylor, George Kirby, and Luke Raley.
Raley’s day was lizard-brain simple. Hit ball, line drive. Hit ball, line drive. Hit ball, hmm, let me consider the panoply of optio-just kidding obviously it’s line drive. The absence of Raley in 2025 was muted by Randy Arozarena’s early fireworks and Dominic Canzone’s late emergence, but this has been an excellent baseball player when healthy, and right now he’s just that. That the game capped with two deep fly balls in the park’s most treacherous gap, where Raley came up just short of a Yordan Alvarez robbery over the weekend, was an added bonus.
For Kirby, things progressed as close to perfection as imaginable against a still-potent offense. The efficiency the 28 year old carved through Houston’s order with allowed him to work 7.2 frames, yielding two runs in one inning that might’ve been mitigated with a bolder backstop to challenge his two-strike breaking ball to Taylor Trammell, reversing what became a leadoff single into a strikeout. As it was, Kirby hounded and pounded Houston with sliders, forcing the aggressive offense into the ground on pitch after pitch. For a pitcher who still worked the upper half of the zone prominently, it was a third straight performance reminiscent of Logan Webb or prime Marcus Stroman more than the fly-ball dependent walk-avoider we – and the league – have come to expect.
The moment of the game for Kirby was, in many ways, one that went poorly. With two outs and a runner on in the 8th, manager Dan Wilson strolled to the mound, apparently to a call from J.P. Crawford to let Kirby remain in. After counseling Kirby, Wilson allowed Kirby, at 94 pitches, one more hitter. It sadly was a four-pitch walk to Alvarez, yielding to Matt Brash to tidy the mess with an Isaac Paredes lineout. The message was well-received postgame, however, with Kirby lamenting his poor command at the end but effusive in his praise and gratitude for the willingness of his manager to hear and adapt to the feedback from his players in the moment. Might it have been adjudicated differently without a four-run lead? Perhaps, but with the stakes slightly lower than the typical M’s-Stros matchup at that stage, the opportunity to give the bullpen extra rest in an off-day-free marathon was taken by Wilson, and unpunished by Houston.
Like his fellow sluggers in the heart of Seattle’s order, Josh Naylor was seeking results to match increasingly encouraging processes. Through the first two weeks of the year, he has made his usual rash of intriguing swing decisions, as well as scalding and just missing several big flies and big hits. With a soft single and a scorched double ahead of him by Cal and Julio, Naylor’s missed connection was found, with help from an added mechanical tweak:
Incredibly, upon his next plate appearance, Burrows offered him an encore, a belt-high heater with no buffs or damage reduction. This big day has been on the horizon for the pride of Mississauga, but Mariners and Astros should know better than anyone that chasing the horizon isn’t a surefire avenue to imminent success. Monday, it was enough to lift Seattle’s ships and send Houston scurrying deeper into the cellar, far from the light of the stars they once knew.
Apr 5, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Fans filtering in to the grass berm in center field before the start of the game between the Houston Astros against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images | Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
Athletics pitcher Luis Severino gets his first home start of the 2026 season tonight against the Texas Rangers. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Fresh off a three-game sweep of the inter-league rival New York Mets, the A’s return home today for a division series matchup with the Texas Rangers. Not only are the two teams tied for the lead in the American League West, but they are tied for the second-best record in the American League, period!
Tonight, Luis Severino returns to the Sutter Health Park mound for the first time in 2026. He’s made three road starts and has a 0-1 record with a 5.40 ERA. He’s struck out seventeen batters in 13.1 innings. His challenges at home last season were well documented. In nearly an identical number of innings his splits were dramatic; a 3.02 away ERA compared to a 6.01 home ERA, and a 2-9 home record compared to a 6-2 road record. He’ll go up against 36-year-old righty Nathan Eovaldi for the Rangers. Eovaldi is 1-2 with a 7.98 ERA so far in this young season.
Eovaldi will face this lineup for the A’s in West Sac tonight:
The Mets received good news on Clay Holmes on Monday.
Holmes felt normal during his high-intensity bullpen session in the afternoon, and he has officially been deemed good to go for Wednesday's start in the series finale against the Dodgers.
He told reporters at the time that he wasn't too concerned about the issue, though, and expected to go through his normal throwing progression in between outings.
After doing so successfully, Holmes has now officially been cleared to get back out there.
That's certainly encouraging news for the Mets, as Holmes has been one of their most reliable arms in the early-going, pitching to a 1.50 ERA over his first three outings.
New York will hope for more of the same on Wednesday against the Dodgers' two-way star Shohei Ohtani.
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe will begin a minor league rehab assignment on Tuesday with Double-A Somerset.
Manager Aaron Boone said ahead of Monday’s game in The Bronx, the club was still waiting for official clearance from team doctor, Dr. Christopher Ahmad, but with that hurdle cleared, as the Patriots confirmed the assignment, the shortstop will suit up for four games this week.
“Probably three to five innings for the first couple,” Boone said about the plan for Volpe to start in Somerset and then “go from there and build him up kinda like spring training.”
“He’s had over 50 live at-bats [at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa],” he continued, “and has had a lot of work at shortstop getting out on defense. He’s a little ahead of the game from when you would start spring training, probably.
“But that said, we wanna build him smartly, too.”
Volpe, recovering from an arthroscopic labral procedure he underwent in October after playing most of last season with a torn left labrum, struggled during 2025. In 153 games that campaign, he slashed .212/.272/.391 for a .663 OPS (83 wRC+) with 19 homers and 72 RBI.
The manager added that the 24-year-old has done “really well” over the last few months at the team’s complex, which should allow him to “hit the ground running” during this rehab assignment.
“When he first went down to Tampa right after the new year, he almost immediately started making big gains and feeling better,” Boone said, via Bryan Hoch. “I know he’s excited to get back, and I know how he works. He’s taken a ton of at-bats and gotten a ton of reps in the field.”
Volpe’s assignment can last a maximum of 20 days.
Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon next steps unclear
Boone said on Monday that the next steps for the two starters are still being determined.
"Gerrit threw yesterday, three [innings] and 42 [pitches]," Boone said. "Assuming everything goes well this week, he'll go again in five days. Whether that's another live or into a game, that will be determined over the next couple of days."
Rodon, coming off elbow surgery and a hamstring issue that cropped up recently, is also waiting and seeing what to do next after throwing a live batting practice on Monday, the skipper said.
“Looks good. He was three innings, 50 pitches today,” Boone said. “So he’ll go again in five days, whether that’s another live or in a game, not sure yet. He’s doing well.”
Los Angeles, CA - April 10: Pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers stretches in the outfield prior to a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Texas Rangers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images) | MediaNews Group via Getty Images
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has completed six innings in all three of his starts so far in 2026, and will try to keep that streak alive in the middle game of the Dodgers’ series against the New York Mets on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Fifteen of Yamamoto’s 18 innings this season have been scoreless, fueling his 2.57 ERA and 3.62 xERA to date. He allowed two runs in the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks and in the third inning against the Cleveland Guardians, and a lone tally in the sixth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays. Yamamoto pitched into the seventh in that last start, last Tuesday in Toronto, but didn’t retire any of his two batters faced in the win.
Mets rookie Nolan McLean starts on Tuesday, making his 12th major league start. He has a 2.70 ERA and 1.91 xERA with 20 strikeouts and six walks in 16 2/3 innings.
Mar 27, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ben Casparius (78) reacts in the sixth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
The first two and a half weeks of the season were uncommonly stable for the Dodgers pitching staff, but on Monday they made their first pitching roster move since opening day. Ben Casparius was placed on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation before the Dodgers’ series opener against the New York Mets, and Kyle Hurt was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Casparius allowed two runs on a pair of singles and two walks in the seventh inning of Sunday’s loss to the Texas Rangers. On the season he’s allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings for a 9.64 ERA and 6.21 xERA, with four walks and four strikeouts among his 23 batters faced.
Last week, we asked True Blue LA readers which pitcher, among the relievers on the 40-man roster plus the final two non-roster invitees in spring training, they would like to see called up. Hurt was the overwhelming favorite, and now he’s in Los Angeles.
This year with the Comets, Hurt has a 5.79 ERA in six games, having allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings, with eight strikeouts and five walks. He last pitched last Thursday, making Hurt a certified fresh arm for a bullpen that used four pitchers to cover the final five innings of the series finale against Texas.
