Baseball Needs The Mets To Be Good!

I read a great quote from a scout in the latest edition of Jayson Stark’s Rumblings & Grumblings on ESPN.com.

“You know, baseball needs the Mets to be good,” one scout said. “Baseball is more fun when the Mets are good and that rivalry between them and the Phillies is cooking. But this just isn’t a real good team. If you look past Santana, and Pelfrey the way he’s pitched so far, you see where the Mets’ problems lie. They’ve got legitimate concerns in that rotation. I watched that bullpen six days, and they’ve got four guys on pace to pitch over 80 games. That says their starters just are not getting deep enough. And I don’t see that changing.”

I completely agree with him. When you play in the baseball mecca of the world, New York City, ownership must do everything in their power to maintain a good team that will build on the incredible tradition and rich history that has made New York baseball what it is. A longtime rivalry like that of the Mets/Braves or Mets/Phillies, loses steam when one team becomes so much more worse than the other.

Stark also added that twice in the last week, he’s heard two scouts make a remark like this: “I think Washington is a much better club than the Mets.”

That’s not acceptable. Not in this city. Not ever.

The Mets have the Braves coming into town this weekend, and what better way to sell some baseball tickets, in what has been a sparse Citi Field turnout thus far, than to start elevating your level of play on the field, and making smarter and better decisions off the field.

They can begin by ousting Gary Matthews Jr. to the waiver wire and replacing his spot on the team with either Chris Carter or a sizzling hot Nick Evans who is literally tearing the cover off the ball in Binghamton.

Calling up Ike Davis was a good start, but it will take more than a great catch and a two hit day to put fannies back in the seats at Citi Field.