Comments on: Newsday’s Wallace Matthews Trashes The Mets

By: Dan James

Dan James — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:11:26 +0000

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By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:23:44 +0000

Who cares what Wally says. He’s probably right anyway. I don;t need Wally to get me pissed. 40 years of rooting for this frustrating team is enough on its own. Can anyone of you honestly say that you are confident that they have a sound baseball plan? The smartest move is probably the one that they can’t or won’t make – trade whatever it takes to get AGON. If a top flight pitcher (Halladay or Lackey)is not available at a reasonable price, don’t go half way and sign some mediocre pitcher to a bad contract. Going half way never works. If they are forced to settle on the pitching front, I say take a flier on Hardin for a 1 year incentive laden deal with a team option for a 2nd year(assuming he would accept)and hope that someone becomes available in July. However, we all know they will sign 1 or 2 middle of the rotation guys and overpay in the process.

By: metsrock128

metsrock128 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:14:02 +0000

who the hell cares what people say about the mets? i dont. i live in a very small town in upstate ny and alot of people always tell me the mets suck. i dont care. the mets are my favorite team, and always will be, even if they go 0-162!

By: METS62FAN

METS62FAN — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:48:48 +0000

I AM VERY HAPPY TO SAY, “BY LIVING IN NC & ROOTING FROM AFAR WITHOUT THE VICTRIOLE OF THE WALLACE MATTEWS OR JOE BENINGOS I AM ONE OF THE MORE FORTUNATE MET FANS.” DOES NO ONE CREDIT THE FACT THAT THIS SO CALLED “FLAWED” ROSTER OCCUPIED FIRST PLACE WHEN BOTH REYES & DELGADO WENT DOWN? DESPITE HAVING A PREMIER COMPETITOR/RIVAL HOUSED IN A HOMER FRIENDLY CIGAR BOX SIZED HOME FIELD EMPLOYING & ENJOYING THE GOLIATH SIZED PRODUCTION FROM THEIR DISCOUNTED ADDITION IN LF(IBANEZ) AS WELL AS CONSIDERABLE HR PRODUCERS IN UTLEY,HOWARD,WERTH. WITH THEIR 128M PAYROLL. POSITION BY POSITION COMPARATIVLY THE METS HAVE BEEN YOUNGER & HAVE CERTAINLY SPENT MORE WITH A GREATER WILLINGNESS TO UPGRADE WHEN POSSIBLE/PLAUSABLE.
I’VE NEVER HEARD OR SEEN ANY FRANCHISE THAT DELIBERATLY COURTS NEGATIVISM. EVEN ON THEIR OWN NETWORK IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND SUPPORT OR POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. IF THIS FRANCHISE EVER TRULY BECAME DYNASTIC, THERE WOULD BE ALMOST AS MANY SO-CALLED FANS ON THE LEDGE AS THERE SEEMS TO BE WHEN DISAPPOINTING.
THE METS, FOR ALL THEIR FAILURES & FOIBLES SHOULD AT LEAST GET CREDITED FOR A WILL TO KEEP TRYING BY RELOADING & ADDRESSING. IF SPORTS EXPERTS ARE TRULY CORRECT IN CITING DEDICATED SPORTS NETWORKS & NEW BALLPARKS AS THE MODERN DAY VARIABLES MOST ENRICHING OF BASEBALL POCKETS. THAN THE ATLANTA FRANCHISE HAS CERTAINLY
‘PUT ONE OVER” ON EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE BRAVES FANBASE! TBS, THE TURNER BRAODCAST DYNASTY ALONG WITH TNT & TS(TURNER SOUTH)AS WELL AS PEACHTREE TV, NOW THAT TBS HAD TO RELINQUISH THEIR MONOPOLY ON BRAVES BROADCASTS. ALL ARE/WERE DEDICATED TO BRAVES PROMOTION LONG BEFORE THE ADVENT OF YES NETWORK & SNY JUST AS THE PUBLICLY FUNDED NEW VENUE EMBLAZONED AS “TURNER FIELD” AS AN OLYMPIC VENUE OPENED IT’S DOORS LONG BEFORE YANKEE STADIUM 2 & CITIFIELD. YET THE BRAVES HAVE MORE OFTEN CHOSEN TO LET ICONS DEPART WITHOUT PROMINENT F/A REPLACEMENTS WHILE DECLARING POVERTY & INABILITY TO COMPETE FINANCIALLY WITH THE “BIG BOYS” IN NY & BOSTON.”GIVE ME A BREAK!”
BTW, ANYONE NOTICE IBANEZ WAS THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT F/A SIGNING IN PHL SINCE THOME ACQUISITION PRIOR TO CIGAR BOX PARK OPENNING?
20 YRS AGO THE NL POWERHOUSES WERE THE REDS, BRAVES, AND PIRATES ALONG WITH THE DODGERS. WHERE ARE MOST OF THEM NOW? CIRCLING THE BOWL OF IRRELEVANCY.
WHAT WOULD NY FANS SAY ABOUT A GM WHO OPENNLY DECLARED HIS INTENTION OF “BUILDING A WILDCARD TEAM AS OPPOSED TO A DIV WINNER” AS SCHURHOLTZ DECLARED IN INTERVIEW WITH THEN ESPN ANALYST, STEVE PHILLIPS?
IT WOULD BE A TRUE BREATH OF FRESH AIR TO HAVE NYPRESS SUPPORT, ANYTIME FROM ANYONE. I TRULY CAN’T STAND THE NEGATIVE FANATICISM DISPLAYED BY THE BENINGOS OF THE WORLD. WHY DO THEY EVEN BOTHER? I BELIEVE THEY EARN WHAT THEY GET! I, FOR ONE, WOULD PREFER THE WILPONS TO THE PIRATES,BRAVES,REDS,ROYALS OWNERSHIP! THEY ARE FAR FROM IDEAL AS THEY ARE FAR FROM LEPERS ALSO.

By: Bob L

Bob L — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:54:34 +0000

Wallace Matthews may be right in his criticism of the Mets..that many Met fans, i think, share. Tommy2cat hit it square on: suggest answers to the problem…whether its a Dump Omar move or detailed player suggestions.
And it’s not that simple. It’s not just Omar…it’s the Wilpons too, snake-bit as they are and financially-cautious as they are, not being bold and aggressive to make the right moves to launch us into the playoffs again.
Looking at the landscape out there, competition for all those top guys we salivate over will be odious. Combine that with the fact that Holliday and Bay are not ideal for what we need in LF and why aren’t the Angels hankering to sign John Lackey, leaves us with some knotty issues to discuss and analyze.
Do we eat Wells’ contract and get Doc Halladay? i honestly don’t know, but i don’t think we’re getting Lackey. So do a couple of pickups from the cluster of Marquis, Wolf, Piniero, Sheets, Harden put us in the middle of the hunt next year or not?
With Holliday and Bay gone, do we trade for Crawford or Granderson, or trade Castillo for Pierre? Is Pierre too old?
Would Pierre and Figgins mixed with Reyes be incredible and exciting, along with imports of Jacobs and Nady at 1B…combined with the core..to create a great and captivating brand of baseball?
What do you people think? i think it’s time for ‘Plan B’. Do we get Halladay and (gulp!) Wells..or do we go to Plan B? Because, i do not think we’ll get either Lackey or Holliday or Bay, so instead of sitting with empty hands when pitchers and catchers report…what do we tell our front office to do?

By: Tommy2cat

Tommy2cat — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:26:14 +0000

I recently saw an interview with Wallace Matthews and he’s actually a really nice guy. Unfortunately, he’s not very intelligent. Inasmuch as I agree with him that the Mets rebuilding plan should be better paced, his article is bereft of any details that would suggest how such a plan should be implemented.

Its ok to criticize a baseball team’s rebuilding method, but if a writer wants to maintain journalistic integrity, he should – at the very least – suggest an intelligent alternative and supply some details. He really does neither.

By: russell Zanca

russell Zanca — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:08:17 +0000

Look, most of us are super-disgruntled. We’ve paid hundreds of millions more than the Marlins for people who don’t work out, and we play worse BB than the Marlins. Everyone is feeling like something’s got to give.

We want the “splash”-type guys. Give us Lackey, gives us Holliday or Gonzalez. We want to lock up first place in November. As others have said, it doesn’t work that way.

So Wallace always rags on the Mets and their organization. Basically, he’s right, even if I hate writers who do that.

What I think is what’s more or less been expressed: for a successful season a lot of little things have to go right. Guys have to play really well consistently, and we can have the best guys getting injured for ever. I’m not sure we need to break the bank, but we need much greater productivity out of guys who should have given it this year.

Overall, I don’t think the Mets suck as currently constituted, but we need new blood and at least a couple of excellent, proven winners.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:46:06 +0000

The Mets haven’t won a WS since 1986. That’s what matters. Losing out on the playoffs on the last day of the season sucks…being close isn’t the same as actually winning it. I don’t get those who try and spin that as a positive. How wrong can Mathews be? The Mets have no real plan. It’s a 100 percent reactionary, marketing driven organization. Where is the real commitment to winning, drafting and paying over slot for good players to “fall” to them, development of those players and solid scouting? Building a gritty team? The way the Mets are run is total BS. I say rip away.

By: jdon

jdon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:24:25 +0000

I normally find Matthews annoying but he is usually right about the mets. I think this is all about 2010 ticket sales and not, make that never, about the long-term stability of the organization on the field.

By: john

john — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:29:44 +0000

__________________________Minaya has not developed a minor league system at all. So it’s all free agency (and living off a couple of home grown players that previous GMs picked) and that’s a high risk game unless you spend another 100 million like the Yankees do. So I think it’s more likely than not that this will be cosmetic surgery, even if it happens and I’m not sure it will.

So Wallace, while annoying, is probably right. Though it’s hard not to be wrong here.