22
2011
Why Can’t Everybody Be a Met?
An article by 
There’s a lot of negativity in the Mets fan base when it comes to the direction of where the 2011 team is headed. I don’t really have a problem with it, because at 6-13 we all should be frustrated.
However, this idea that the 2011 season is all the fault of Sandy Alderson is just laughable. First, lets call a spade a spade.
If the Mets were 14-6, and playing great baseball, the same people would be crediting Minaya for the success, just because they do not like Alderson. They don’t know why they dislike Alderson, they just think they should because they heard there’s a book out there.
Somebody who looks at the Mets franchise objectively cannot possibly say that Alderson did a bad job. Did he do a great job? No, but how could he? He wasn’t exactly given an open checkbook this winter, and he didn’t exactly inherit a farm system that is highly thought of around the league. Everybody has a Lucas Duda in their farm system. Everybody has a Captain Kirk or a Reese Havens.
They aren’t special prospects, or can’t miss guys. Do we wish them the best? Absolutely, but they aren’t guys who will net you a player like Zack Greinke or Matt Garza. You know the Mets had no shot at Cliff Lee also.
It just wasn’t happening, so what was Alderson to do? He had to find 2 starting pitchers, deal with the fact he’s throwing money down the drain with Castillo/Perez, and he had to find 4-5 bullpen arms.
I’m not sure if you realize this, but most teams don’t create a bullpen through free agency. They create a bullpen with their farm system and fill in 1 or 2 holes with free agency. When you have to go into the free agent market and sign 70% of your bullpen, you’re in a lot of trouble. That wasn’t because of Alderson, he inherited that mess.
My biggest peeve when it comes to the critics of Alderson’s winter. They wanted healthy starting pitching, but they mention names like Aaron Harang. Or they mention Jon Garland.
Look, here’s the fact about both of those pitchers. Aaron Harang is off to an amazing start, but he’s also coming off a season where he got hurt in late June, and when he returned in August he didn’t make it out of the 5th inning in any of his 5 starts off the DL.
In fact, in 3 of his 5 appearances, he pitched 4 innings, 2.1 innings, and 2 innings. The other two appearances were in relief. Not exactly a sign of good things to come for Aaron Harang.
So health was not on his side, and I’m not saying it was in Young or Capuano’s case either, but you can’t sit here and demand Alderson go get healthy starting pitching and follow it up with Aaron Harang.
Most important regarding Harang, he wanted to pitch in San Diego, where he and his family live. He’s 32 years old, no longer a big money pitcher, and his career is coming to an end in a few years.
When Harang was introduced by San Diego, he said “There were a few better offers out there, but I talked to my wife and we thought it would be cool to pitch for my hometown team. It really came down to being the best fit.”
“It’s a great fit and I wanted to do something now. We’ve got a four-year-old and my wife [Jennifer] is due with twins in a few weeks,” Harang said. “It’s going to be nice being at home.”
Now, if you discredit that and turn and say the Mets STILL should have gotten Aaron Harang, then I’m sorry but you’re not paying attention and you’re complaining for the sake of complaining. Aaron Harang signed a $4million deal with a mutual $5million option for next year.
The Mets signed TWO starting pitchers for less than that, and nobody was complaining about Chris Young until he got tendinitis in his arm. Aaron Harang could hurt his back tomorrow or injure his arm again, and then what? Nobody was complaining about Capuano last night either.
The bottom line with Harang is that he was not coming to New York. In order to get Harang to come to New York they would’ve had to blow him away with a financial offer that frankly, he didn’t deserve.
He’s a pitcher on the tail end of his career, having a great April and is always a risk for injury. If the Mets signed him for more $ than San Diego did, it would have been crazy. Harang told you the offer he signed wasn’t the best he got, so how high would the Mets have had to go? Too high.
The same can be said about Jon Garland. You don’t have to like it, but you need to accept that the New York Mets do not play in Southern California. Jon Garland had indicated that he’d like to stay out in California, where his family is.
And oh there’s also this from the LA Times in December.
“Garland this week on the 790-AM Mason and Ireland Show about why teams may have shied away, telling Steve Mason:
“I had a few teams that were a little worried about my MRI on my physical. They were a little weary about committing that much money over a few years when there’s so much up in the air, especially with starting pitching.’’
So when it was clear he’d be accepting a shorter term deal, why in the world would he relocate his family to the east coast for a short term deal, when he could play where he grew up?
So take Lee, Greinke, Garza, Harang and Garland off your list. You can complain about them all you want, but the fact is, not every player wants to be a Met because you root for them, and not every GM wants to trade with the Mets when there are better options available.
What other starting pitchers signed deals similar to Young or Capuano? Bruce Chen? Jeff Francis? Dustin Moseley? Vicente Padilla? Ryan Rowland-Smith? Brandon Webb?
Or was a minor league deal the right way to go? Miguel Batista? Dave Bush? Bartolo Colon? Freddy Garcia? Rodrigo Lopez? Kevin Millwood?
For every pitcher available, you could come up with a reason why it didn’t make sense for Alderson to sign them. If he did, the same people would turn it around and look at Chris Young or Chris Capuano and say “why didn’t Alderson get one of those guys.” It’s a carousel of complaints in 2011.
Bruce Chen – Stayed with Kansas City
Jeff Francis – Not a bad complaint, but you don’t end up signing in Kansas City on a 1 year, $2m deal if you had other suitors.
Dustin Moseley – If the Mets sign a guy who has never pitched more than 92 innings in a season and tells us “this is our #4 starter”, you’d run to Citi Field with a pitchfork.
Vicente Padilla – The Rangers ran him out of Texas calling him a “disruptive presence” in 2009, and in November of 2009 he accidentally shot himself in the leg (haven’t we seen this before in New York?). Also, he’s had recurring injuries and in February had surgery on his forearm.
Ryan Rowland-Smith – Couldn’t even make Houston’s big league team out of Spring Training.
Brandon Webb – First threw to live hitters yesterday. I think he would have been an interesting project, but nobody can argue he’s worth more money than both Young and Capuano combined. Not yet, anyway.
Miguel Batista – In the Cardinals bullpen, and 40 years old.
Dave Bush – One could make an argument here that he was worth a minor league contract. I can’t tell you why he got a minor league deal and took it from Texas. I have to assume if he signed a minor league deal, that he had several minor league contracts offered and took the best opportunity to win. Why would you take a minor league deal from a bad team over a good one?
Bartolo Colon – If anybody sits here and tells you that the Mets should have signed Bartolo Colon, and that they thought of this in November, they are either a liar or shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car. Colon has been a great find thus far for the Yankees, but he’s already far exceeded their expectations. This is a guy who has appeared in total, 48 games from 2006-2010. That’s 5 seasons, an average of less than 10 games per.
Freddy Garcia – I know you didn’t want Freddy Garcia. You can try to tell me that you did, but you remember 2009 when he couldn’t even hack it in Buffalo or Spring Training when he had an ERA over 16.00 for the Mets.
Rodrigo Lopez – Currently pitching in the minor leagues.
Kevin Millwood – He’s so good that he didn’t get offered a minor league contract until March 25th. If that’s not a red flag, then take your blindfold off.
Were Chris Young & Chris Capuano the best fit for the 2011 Mets? I have no idea really. The truth is, every available option had or has something wrong with it, so you get the best deal you can for the right price.
The Mets are a franchise in limbo right now. The entire culture of the team is going to change, and it will not happen overnight. Did Brad Emaus bust? Yeah, but he was a Rule 5 pick and not one of the Mets 2B’s ran away with the starting job, so why not give the kid a chance? Ruben Tejada had a nice spring, but he is 21 years old and has more to learn with the bat. He’s wasted in the major leagues right now.
The fact that Mike Pelfrey, Jon Niese, Angel Pagan have underperformed is not Sandy Alderson’s fault. The fact Jason Bay and Johan Santana are hurt, is not Alderson’s fault. The fact there are no players who can come up and contribute from the farm system, is not Alderson’s fault.
I’ll criticize Alderson like all of you when and if the Mets have not righted this ship in two years. You have to give him a 3 year window to show you results, otherwise you’re not being reasonable. Let him build the farm, let him test the waters and find his way. After all, he didn’t inherit a good team.
About the Author: Michael J. Branda
My time with MMO began in July of 2009 when I wrote a Fan Post defending Omar Minaya (before it was cool to do that.) I grew up a Mets fan with the mid 1980's teams. My favorite Met of all-time is (and was) Wally Backman. When it comes to sabermetrics versus old school thinking, I like to think I meet in the middle. I believe thinking of new ways to get answers is helpful, especially when the same way has not produced results. However, I think over-thinking certain situations can get you into trouble. I'm excited for the new regime, because I believe they have pieces in place to focus on several aspects of the Mets organization. I've waited this long for a World Series, waiting a few more years for another chance isn't going to kill me.
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But he inherited a playoff ready team!
That finished 12 games out of the Wild Card last season with Santana in most of the year.
reyes wasn’t 100 percent all of last year, Beltran missed more than half the season and Bay missed a lot of time too. If those three stay healthy we can STILL be a playoff team – I’m not giving up on the season before easter.
As for Harang, he for signed 3.5 million, so the Mets could have possibly have blown him away with reasonable money – lets say 7 million? That’s double of what he got. would that be enough to get him to come here? I have NO IDEA, and nobody will know because the Mets didn’t offer him a contract. Sure 7 million may seem like a lot, however looking at the list of available free agents pitchers, you’ll understand why i would pay him that much.
Btw, Harang started almost TWICE as many games by himslef in the last two years than Young and Capuano COMBINED, so he would obviously be the safer option.
Beltran is still missing a good chunk of the season because he needs off days. And Bay didn’t set the world on fire before he hit that wall.
“As for Harang, he for signed 3.5 million, so the Mets could have possibly have blown him away with reasonable money – lets say 7 million?”
You call that reasonable? By the way, it was $4.3 million when you include bonuses and such. So, now we are pushing $9 million. What was the offseason budget?
“would that be enough to get him to come here? I have NO IDEA, and nobody will know because the Mets didn’t offer him a contract.”
How do you know? Maybe they did or maybe they heard his asking price and figured they couldn’t be involved.
“Sure 7 million may seem like a lot, however looking at the list of available free agents pitchers, you’ll understand why i would pay him that much. ”
Looking at the available pitchers this offseason made me want to say “wait til next year”
“Btw, Harang started almost TWICE as many games by himslef in the last two years than Young and Capuano COMBINED, so he would obviously be the safer option.”
Ya, he gave more innings. they were lousy innings, but there were more of them.
Finally some sense. Thanks Jessep for the much needed dose of reality around here. The fact is hardly anyone with any options would want to come here at any price. The team is in transition, the Owners financially challenged and inept. Freaks like Bernazard undermining the manager, threatning 20 year olds. The media and fans hostile and quite frankly there are much nicer places around the Country to live and work. Many of them. Most a lot closer to where players grew up. The upper minors hold no chance of help this year and only Mejia looks to have a shot next year.
This team and organization is completely lacking in credibility. The medical staff has botched numerous injuries, the owners attempt to publically embarrass players, the clubhouse guys sell steroids, drugs, run bets and who knows what else. We’ve probably had three guys come here in the last 28 years that actually had a positive experience, everyone else told everybody to stay away.
Now that the checkbook is gone we won’t be able to get anyone with any other options here until we regain some credibility and that starts with addressing areas of the team that we have left unaddressed anywhere from a half decade to four decades. Namely Catcher, 2B, RF and LF.
If you cannot even produce a league average player at the easiest of all positions to play since Cleon Jones was signed in 1963 what the hell are you doing in this business?
It is almost a waste to even have competent play from 1B, SS, 3B and CF when you continue to get the leagues worst overall (offense and defense) production from four of the eight starting positions and anyone even remotely close in the minors is either one dimensional or playing a position nobody believes they will be able to handle in the Majors.
When the plan for procurring talent extends beyond relying on a Division rival’s financial problems to provide us with the majority of talent then perhaps players WITH other options might consider coming here but until then we should just be happy that Young and Capuano did because otherwise it would have been Millwood, Lopez and Wang.
This organization under the Wilpon has been the worst managed Sports Franchise in the whole Country.
Even if Beltran plays lets say 120 games? that’s almost double of what he played for us last year and for some of the game he did play, he was just rounding into form. Bay missed a little more than two months, yes he wasn’t doing great, but he was doing a hell of a lot better than the guys who replaced him did.
7 million for a SP is reasonable. It’s not a big free agent signing at all. Of all those guys that were available I’d say Harang was far away the best guy (in my opinion) so i’d pay a little more to get him.
there was not one story, not one rumor, or anything this offseason connecting Harang to the Mets. NOHTHING – if there was I’d like to see it.
Harang started almost double the games that Young and Cap pitched, which makes him the safer option. That was my point.
I understand you wishing the Mets went after Harang. Especially after the start he has had this year. You want to suggest that Harang would of pitched just as well had he signed with NY? OK, but they didn’t sign him and the truth is there was never any assurance he would of signed anyway based on comments Harang himself made. You wanna fault them (Mets) for not making public their attempt to sign him if indeed they truly attempted to sign him?
OK, go ahead.
Where does that leave us? Harang is still in San Diego.
Vinny – I’m sorry but you (as in Sandy) could not possibly justify giving Aaron Harang a $7-8million dollar deal in December.
When Harang was in his prime, he made 4.25m, 6.75m, then 11m, 12m, 12.75m.
Off of two injury plagued years and getting older, you want to justify giving him more money than he made when he was a healthy younger pitcher? I’m sorry but that is just poor baseball economics and the only reason one can sit here and say “yes I’d give him 7m” is because they have the luxury of seeing his first 4 starts.
Nobody was looking to give Harang $7 or $8m in December. Saying it now and denying its hindsight is a joke.
Harang has 4 quality starts to Young+Capuano having 3 right now. So 1 more start is worth an extra $5million? Really?
You have to admit the Mets financial situation this winter was a big question mark. You’re not spending $7, 8 million dollars on a guy who could end up on the DL because it means you likely don’t sign your entire bullpen.
I’d sign him for 7 million because he’s a good pitcher and all the other options were VERY weak, So i’d pay a little more to get him.
So if we did that we could have done something like this:
Harang – 7 million
Taka – around 4 million
Choate – around 1.5 million
I would sign Millwood to a MINOR league contract for depth – I’d rather him making a spot start instead of Carrasco. If we did something like that I’d be fine with Young – thats what? 1.5 million? I liked the Harris contract, so i’d do the same thing there, and maybe instead of Paulino we bring back Blanco, bad hitter i know, but he’ll save some money there, and gives us better defense behind the plate, and works well with the pitchers.
We can’t afford that? That probably isn’t that much more than what we spent in the offseason really. That would improve the rotation, and the bullpen. It doesn’t seem like a WHOLE lot, but how many games did the bullpen blow this year? a lot right, so you add TWO better pitchers, left handed pitchers, and maybe our recrod would look a lot better right now. We lost a lot of close games this year, if we had a better offseason maybe we would have won some of them.
Vinnie you should have ran the off season for the Mets. That’s not much money at all and HAS to be a do-able for a New York market, especially with the Yankees across town.
The Mets middle 4 with the table setters of Reyes and Pagan could be one of the best lineups in the NL.
If we had your off season Vinnie, instead of being 6-13 we could be about 10-9, maybe better. And with Bay back I really like this lineup a LOT. Very reasonable and very BELIEVABLE approach.
“I’d sign him for 7 million because he’s a good pitcher and all the other options were VERY weak, So i’d pay a little more to get him.”
No, you’d pay him a lot more. Way more than a good pitcher who doesn’t get hurt.
Seriously, if the talent pool so weak that your only option is make that kind of deal, maybe you’re better off just not getting involved.
“So if we did that we could have done something like this:
Harang – 7 million
Taka – around 4 million
Choate – around 1.5 million”
Takahashi wasn’t that good. He had some good stretches, but he was spotty, especially out of the pen. And since we get to use hindsight: have you seen his line?
Choate is 35 and pitched 85 inning last season. Did you forget what that does to a LOOGY?
“I would sign Millwood to a MINOR league contract for depth – I’d rather him making a spot start instead of Carrasco. ”
When we were still seeking out pitchers, Millwood was still looking for the $5 million range. The reason the Yankees got such a deal for him is because it was the last week of Spring training. How many other teams could use a veteran pitcher? And he still had to settle for a minor league deal. St Louis and Milliwakee found themselves suddenly missing their aces and he still can’t cut a deal.
Taka wasn’t that good as a RP? As a starter he wasn’t but as a RP he was VERY good.
2.03 ERA 1.13 WHIP and had more strikeouts than innings pitched That’s not good? According to Donal is isn’t.
Choate is 35, but Brydack is older and not as good. I’ll spend a LITTLE bit more the get the YOUNGER and BETTER pitcher.
I should also add that Choate only pitched in 6 more games than Byrdak the past two years. And byrdak pitched 20 more inning than choate did the last two years.
Harang doesn’t make it past the 6th inning… who’s coming in for 7-8-9? The same pitchers coming in for Chris Young and Chris Capuano. Aaron Harang isn’t 4-0 if he pitches on the Mets. If he were then Chris Young would be 2-0. For $3million ish dollars the Mets have 3 wins, and for your $7million how many wins would they have? A maximum of 4 wins. So I fail to see how 1 game is worth paying an extra $4million.
And oh by the way, Harang has pitched against the Astros, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants. 7th, 8th, 10th, 14th in runs scored in the NL.
He hasn’t exactly faced a challenging lineup in his 4 games that make him worth $7million dollars
You’d give Aaron Harang $7million. I get it. No baseball executive would have, but they are wrong and you are right.
I can’t debate with you something where you get the luxury of having hindsight back you. Thanksgiving Day there isn’t a person in the world who could be taken seriously for saying $7m to Aaron Harang.
Javier Vazquez got $7m from Florida — how come nobody mentions him EVER? Tell me that Harang’s history of performance and health outweighs Vazquez’s, especially in the NL.
Why didn’t you want Kevin Correia? He was healthy… is it because he isn’t 4-0 right now?
Maybe next year we can see if Bud Selig will allow all free agents to play elsewhere until May 1st and then allow the Mets a chance to sign them based on how they do. That’s fair no?
Jon Garland was a more reliable talent than Harang and he got $5million.
I said Harang ALL ofseason long. I remember deabting it with ExteemIcon….before the season started I’m remember him telling me that he was in “decline”. And I’m sure there are other people who remember me saying we should ge Harang in the offseason.
If you don’t want to believe me fine, I don’t care. And didn’t I say I would that I was OK with the Young move? So you have Harang and Young in the back of the rotation, with Millwood on a minor league contract just in case Young has to miss some time – I’m just not OK with going with BOTH Young and Cap, I felt together they were too risky.
Vinny’s right. That did happen.
That being said, with all things considered (including performance and salary), Capuano will finish the year better than Harang.
And what’s this fascination with HEALTHY pitchers? Why don’t you want GOOD pitchers? Sure, Millwood is healthy. But so am I. How about I pitch instead of Capuano? Would you feel better about that?
I guess the red sox are 8-11 because of the terrible off season they had. If they didn’t get Crawford and A-Gon and got Millwood and Harang they would be 12-7.
I have to admit that Harang has been great so far and those who touted him deserve credit for that.
Hasn’t Alderson won 4 division titles as GM and 2 as CEO ? Why do people insist he sucks ? Because he signed Scott Hairston and Brad Emaus ?
There’s being a hopeful fan and then there is being unrealistic.
Do I HOPE the Mets make the playoffs? Absolutely… but its going to take something short of a miracle for it to happen
Here’s where we rank at BEST per position: I’m not going to rank each team in order just tell you the teams I feel undoubtedly have a better player than the Mets in the NL.
When I say at best, I mean I can list players that no doubt are better than them, then the debate begins
Catcher: — At best the Mets are 7th here
First Base: — At best the Mets are 5th here
Second Base: — At best the Mets are 12th here
Shortstop: — At best the Mets are 3rd here
Third Base: At best the Mets are 2nd here
Right Field: At best the Mets are 3rd here
Center Field: At best the Mets are 7th here
Left Field: At best the Mets are 5th here
Rotation (without Santana): At best the Mets are 10th here
Bullpen: At best the Mets are 10th here
I don’t see how that’s a realistic playoff team. If anything its a team with limited materials to trade in order to revitalize the farm
I don’t care how YOU rank the players on our team.
The Mets were 7th in the MLB in ERA last year, and on offense, our best hitter missed more than half the season, and in most of the games he did play in he was just rounding into form because he missed so much time. Reyes the whole year wasn’t 100%. And Bay didn’t play 100 games.
So if those three guys can stay healthy, and the pitching can come close to something like last year, i know they aren’t going to do THAT again, but I think they can come somewhat close – The Mets doing that is not unrealistic.
Without Santana, the pitching won’t come close to what it did last year. The difference between Santana and Capuano is huge, like 2 runs a game.
This team can win anywhere from 65 to 85 games, nobody can tell. If Cleveland can have the best record in baseball, any team can surprise.
Look at San Diego last year. Nobody saw them as contenders, they won 63 and 75 games in ’09 and ’08, but it turned out that they had a team that was put together better than most people understood and won 90 games.
Guys like Latos and Richard were surprises, and Mike Adams and Heath Bell were awesome. None of those guys were originally signed for more than a million dollars, two of them used to be Mets, and they all were major contributors.
i knew yesterday’s post was too good to be true. you are right back to yourself. nobody that works for the mets every does anything wrong. the mgr your savior hired is a complete joke. he has been fired at every stop, has the mets playing the worst fundamental baseball in their history, while the team is making base running blunder after base running blunder and throwing the ball around the diamond like little leaguers. hit your head against the wall again and maybe you will go back to yesterday when you actually wrote something intelligent and worth reading not more of this bs, we can’t do because we already spent all our money, it’s ny baby if you cannot spend then sell because u are not winning in this town being kc. this front office is going to be kicked to the curb soon. only support is from bloggers who like them because they can get interviews but the fans see what is happening and citi is a ghost town so stop writing like annie and call a spade a spade and the wilpons got it wrong again but I guess what can you expect when you need a ponzi scheme to run a business
Cool story, brah
“the mgr your savior hired is a complete joke. he has been fired at every stop”
—- This is simply too easy to refute. First of all, what Manager hasn’t been fired? If a Manager is available to manage your team, odds are he’s been fired. Collins is here as a stopgap. I am sure he isn’t the long-term solution.
“we can’t do because we already spent all our money, it’s ny baby if you cannot spend then sell” — Did you sleep through the winter? Are you not aware of the Mets financial situation? Is it ideal? Of course not, but until the court case is settled and a minority owner is brought in, the situation in December 2010 still won’t change. They had limited funds. Case closed. With their limited funds they still managed over $100m in player payroll.
the mgr cannot get the team to play simple fundamental baseball or play any type of defense. forget that he has thole bunting or krod pitching down 4 with an appearance option. he is a joke defend his moves not the hot air portion of my rant. you cannot because no matter the glasses you wear the games and the elementary moves speak for themselves
if you cannot run a business or afford to run it, the way it needs to run then sell it. dont act like you have great team and have your robots out there saying we can make the playoffs, nobody is buying it, so either make moves to get better or sell because the pittsburgh mets is not going to work in this town.
If fans would sign players, we would have in our rotation J.Lackey, J. Vasquez, Zito, Millwood and who knows who else.
You forgot Chein Ming Wang.
and Brandon Webb
There is always certain drawback in everyone because no one can perfect in all fields even not all the time. This is good to read your entire stuff. Keep continue to update your post.
I just don’t get why Met fans are so negative, disappointed or frustrated with what has happened so far.
They are pretty much what SHOULD have been expected by us and if you expected otherwise the fault is in your expecations not what Sandy did or the state of the current team.
If you bet on a 20-1 shot you shouldn’t blame the 20-1 shot for losing you should blame yourself for thinking it had a chance to win!
Is the team a disaster? Hardly! It got off to a slow start, And if you didn’t expect that I guess you were in hibernation last season when they were just as pitiful in April with the exception of a very fast start by Pelfrey and a healthy Santana who got no run support.
And like last year we had only ONE game so far with our full A team lineup. Unfortunatly Pagan got hurt in that game.
Bay is going to help the hitting.
Pelfrey seems to be sorting himself out and pitched a fine game. Gee goes to day and he did a pretty good job last time vs Atlanta, Maybe he gets us three straight today.
We are .12 into the season. No need to panic, no need to be frustrated and no need to fret.
Unless you thought they were going to have a .600+ winning percentage at this time and if you did the problem isn’t their not meeting it the problem was those rose colored glasses that made you think it was possible!
We are 6 games behind the Phillies who some thought were going to win every game they played!
We are 1.5 games behind Atlanta who will likely be our chief competition for a wildcard spot in our division if the Mets merely play to their capabilities.
And with the trading deadline who knows what we might add to the mix considering it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that Beltran will be shipped out then (although I myself am starting to have some second thoughts on doing so)
They won two in a row and I say they may be poised to turn the corner with a few good pitching performances and a little more timely hitting.
I did not expect them to make the playoffs this year but I do agree it’s possible if they play the way they are capable.
We are hardly the best team in baseball and despite the record we will not be the worst come september.
Just let it play out. As the Deep Purple song goes, It’s not the Killing it’s the thrill of the chase!
Sit back and enjoy, you got enough going on in your life to worry about than what the Mets do or wind up this year!
And with 60 Mil due to come off the books, Lots of guys who can be traded both on the <ML roster and Minors, there will plenty of moves made between now and this time next year!
Metsie, they are currently the worst team in the league. Not second worst, first worst. That’s reason enough to be negative.
Of course with some pitching they are capable Metsie,
I’m not talking any trades yet because a middle of the order of Beltran, Bay, Wright & Davis can be pretty potent – among the best in the NL. Add to that Reyes/Pagan/Murphy at the top of the order and Thole and when this team faces RHP there isn’t an automatic out.
I’m taking it day by day because we can have one helluva lineup – question is the pitching.