The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman · NYPost

Mets losing Edwin Diaz to Dodgers is BAFFLING + Jayson Stark on Jeff Kent to the Hall of Fame

·51 min·3 clips
The Mets let Edwin Díaz leave for a deal smaller than Juan Soto's contract share.
1. The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman centers on the Mets losing Edwin Díaz to the Dodgers and the Hall of Fame vote for Jeff Kent. 2. Joel Sherman and John Heyman host the episode, and Jason Stark joins later as an Athletic writer, MLB Network voice, and Hall of Fame committee member. 3. The episode asks whether the Mets mishandled Díaz, whether Kyle Schwarber changes the Phillies, and how the Hall of Fame committee arrived at Jeff Kent. 4. Sherman and Heyman say the Mets let Díaz go for three years and $69 million with deferrals, a number they contrast with Juan Soto's much larger Mets deal from the prior winter. 5. They describe Díaz as one of the few bright spots from the Mets' 2025 season, an elite closer, and a fan favorite during a period when many Mets fans were unhappy. 6. Heyman says the team may look at Robert Suarez, but he stresses that Suarez is 'a very good closer' and 'isn't Edwin Diaz.' 7. Sherman argues that the Mets have not solved their bullpen, starting pitching, or outfield needs, and he also raises Pete Alonso as a remaining free-agent question. 8. The hosts say the Dodgers were surprised in the last 48 hours before the agreement, while the Mets seemed to let a beatable three-year offer slip away. 9. They also discuss clubhouse dynamics, saying Díaz was an upbeat, accountable presence and that the Mets have lost several of their most positive clubhouse voices. 10. Sherman and Heyman connect that concern to reported player-representative feedback about a clubhouse issue last year and to the Mets' emphasis on metrics and roster construction. 11. The Kyle Schwarber segment puts his five-year, $150 million Phillies deal next to Díaz's departure and notes that the Phillies brought back a player the Mets also pursued. 12. Heyman says Schwarber's age-33-to-37 contract makes sense because of his production, including 56 home runs last season and a strong clubhouse reputation. 13. Jason Stark then explains that the Contemporary Baseball Era committee had 16 people, eight players on the ballot, seven Hall of Fame players in the room, six executives, and three writers. 14. Stark says he prepares by framing each player's case and then asking Hall of Fame players and executives what they saw when those players were active. 15. On Jeff Kent, Stark says Kent was the only second baseman with more home runs and more RBIs than any other second baseman in history, and he adds that Kent had significant value on the Giants with Barry Bonds. 16. Stark says the controversy should focus less on Kent's election and more on why only one player was chosen from a ballot that included Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Barry Bonds, Carlos Delgado, and others. 17. Stark argues that the room's 48 total ballot spots make it mathematically hard to elect more than one or two players, especially when members spread votes across many candidates. 18. He also says the Hall of Fame language around 'sportsmanship and integrity' should include positive character cases, not only steroid-era exclusions, and he cites Joe Torre as an example of a player whose full baseball life mattered. 19. The tone is conversational, argumentative, and detailed, with Sherman and Heyman pressing Stark for the reasoning behind committee voting and roster decisions. 20. Listeners who follow the Mets, the Phillies, or Hall of Fame debates will get the most from it, while casual fans without interest in baseball business may skip it.
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