Hour 3: Mets “Corporate” Clubhouse, Soto vs Lindor, and Knicks Trade Deadline Smoke

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hour 3 starts with the Mets, as Carlos Mendoza’s comments on a “corporate” clubhouse reignite the chemistry conversation. The guys break down what Mendoza really admitted, why Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor’s personalities matter when things go bad, and whether leadership has to come from someone other than the highest-paid star. They also hit the idea that locker rooms are messy everywhere, even for “great leaders,” and why David Stearns is about as untouchable as it gets in New York sports. Then it pivots back to the NBA with Ian Begley joining to sort through the Giannis noise, Jrue Holiday rumors, Karl-Anthony Towns tension, and what the Knicks can realistically do with the trade deadline a week away. Begley gives a sober read on whether this roster is truly championship built, what happens if the team sputters before the deadline, and why any Jrue move is likely tied directly to the Giannis chessboard. The hour closes with quick hits: Buffalo’s Joe Brady hiring reshapes the coaching carousel and Brian Daboll’s options, plus a rapid-fire look at what’s next on the sports calendar as deadlines and Super Bowl week collide.

Transcript

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0:00.0	As we creep closer to the start of the baseball season, there continues to be talk about the match locker room and all the changes that were made and then the changes that weren't made because Juan Soda was still there. Francisco Lindor is still there. Carlos Mendoza did an interview on the John Heyman, Joel Sherman podcast, and it was brought up the locker room. I want to play you his answer because there's some interesting things.
0:37.9	I'm not going to lead you down the road. I'm going to let you listen. We can all be open-minded. And then I'll tell you some of the things that jumped out at me and jumped out at you. We'll start off with Carlos just addressing again, hey, were there issues in your locker room last year? Yeah, look, I know there was a lot of noise. and like you mentioned,
0:40.7	I addressed it a little bit during the winning. locker room last year. Yeah, look, I know there was a lot of noise and like you mentioned, I
0:38.5	addressed it a little bit during the winning meetings. We had a professional clubhouse. When you're
0:46.4	winning, everything is fun. Everything is, you know, all you guys got the best team chemistry.
0:52.4	Everything is perfect, right? And then you go through stretches
0:58.0	where it's hard and you're not winning as many games. Then for me, and I take responsibility
1:04.7	for it because I think it became like a corporate clubhouse, you know, where guys respected each other, but I don't think we celebrated each other enough.
1:15.7	Interesting.
1:16.9	A corporate locker room.
1:18.8	Yeah.
1:19.1	So he answered the question with his very first word.
1:22.7	Did you have locker room chemistry issues?
1:25.8	He said, yeah.
1:26.7	No, I don't take it that way. Trust me, psychologically people do this.
1:30.7	They answer this. Otherwise, he would have said, no, we were fine. He said, yeah. So subconsciously, he
1:38.1	answered the question. But then he described it. I give him credit because he gave us details.
1:43.3	And it makes perfect sense.
1:46.4	And probably this is led by Juan Soto because this is how Juan Soto is.
1:50.7	Wow.
1:51.3	He is the highest paid dude in the league, basically.
1:54.7	He is your, I don't know, your shining star of last off season.
	...

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