8
2012
Maybe It Isn’t All Bad…
An article by 
Despite the Mets lack of big offseason signings, the departure of Jose Reyes and the news that the payroll is being regulated strongly for the first time in years brings most Mets fans into a dark, dreadful place. Talks about boycotting Citi Field, putting an inferior product on the field and expecting the fans to pay and even the latest media-slam against writer of “Wilpon’s Folly” Howard Megdal have given Mets lovers less to love.
You know what though? Maybe how the team is being constructed and trotted out onto the field isn’t so horrible after all. A few points I plan to make all revolve around things that have not been common in recent Mets’ campaigns, and could show a large ideological change for both the players, management and fans.
1. No Big Signings, Room For Player Development
As with most big-market teams, when positions open up in the bullpen or in the starting lineup, the first way it is attempted to be filled is by the free agent market. The only time that doesn’t seem to occur is if a team is sitting on a can’t-miss prospect – which at the moment the Mets do not possess. However players like Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda, Josh Thole, Dillon Gee and Daniel Murphy will be given every chance they can to prove they are valuable MLB players. To a lesser extent, prospects like Zach Lutz, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Robert Carson and Matt Harvey may have a shot at playing for the 2012 Mets at some point. The Mets have logjammed some prospects in their system due to contractual obligations in the past, but this season offers a chance for fans to see the potential future of the Mets
2. No Player Drama
Regardless of the “David Wright Saga” people are trying to create since it is this year and then an option year left on his contract, it isn’t a concern. David has said he wants to play in New York, and regardless of his streaky play has been nothing but positive and the face of the Mets. Last year began with Castillo/Perez still being on the team and being grossly overpaid, hogging up roster spots. Beltran, Reyes and K.Rod were on the hot-seat, due to expiring contracts, bad blood between the team and the players and albatross contracts. This year seems to offer none of the chaos that the 2011 season gave to Mets fans.
3. Another Year of Terry Collins
After being given a team in flux, being built by a previous GM and geared towards Jerry Manuel, Terry Collins came in with an entirely different attitude. Terry Collins was passionate, dealt with the fact he was going to have to part with K.Rod and Beltran before the deadline, and dealt with major injuries to his three star players, and then Daniel Murphy. The players seem to love and rally behind Collins, and how he manages the bench shows he has a better feel for managing then his predecessor. He defends his players the same way he defends his own logic for plays, and never leaves someone else holding the bucket for his decisions.
4. It’s Baseball
I am not what you would call a fair-weather fan of any of the teams I support. I will be a Mets fan if they go 0-162. I am a fan of any kind of baseball, whether it be good baseball, bad baseball, winning baseball or losing baseball. Its still a game, and the slowest 5 months are in between the World Series and Opening Day personally. While everyone predicts teams to win X amount of games for Y factors, it always goes back to the saying that the game isn’t played on paper, its played on the field. The NL has lost major offensive players to the AL and everything is up for grabs. The Phillies are a few injuries away from not being the juggernaut in the NL East. Nobody will know how good the Mets are, until they get on the field and show what they can bring on a day-by-day basis.
So look on the bright side, the Mets will be playing baseball again and trying to give new hope and really make us believe. So what if the believing just starts as the fans believing that the Mets are going in the right direction as a franchise. Its a start, isn’t it?
About the Author: Sean Kenny
Sean Kenny is a student/writer currently attending school at the City College of New York. For more Mets news, notes and thoughts follow him on twitter @TheSeanKenny
43 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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69-93
Off Topic: Congrats on D.R. winning the Caribbean Series. Former Met coach Ken Oberkfell was the winning manager.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20085577&c_id=mlb
that’s Right MNJ… Los campeones del caribe!!!! wish it was el LICEY but i’ll take it…
It was the Leones who won it all. You know Escogido, the team that owns the stadium Licey plays in and now after long being a doormat owns Licey too and not just in the City they share but the entire Caribbean.
Felicitaciones! En hora bueno ! Escogido.
Next year there’s talk about including Panama and Colombia and even Cuba back and that would probably mean adding someone else like Curaceo or maybe Nicaraugua.
YOU KNOW, agee, if you read again you’ll notice i said i wish it was EL LICEY who would’ve won la serie del caribe, but i know EL ESCOGIDO won it, now, to make you shut the f*** up i will teach you a little history about dominican baseball, EL LICEY was founded 104 years ago.. so the first team in DR was EL LICEY, the stadium they play in is called “el estadio quisqueya, EL LICEY has 22 championships, the most in DR and a total of 10 caribean series championships in all.. EL ESCOGIDO was founded in 1939 by TRUJILLO a dictator for over 30 years in my country, the reason why they chose the name of the team is because TRUJILLO loved lions (LEONES in spanish) and he picked the best players to play for the team, hence the name ESCOGIDO (CHOSEN). since then EL ESCOGIDO HAVE WON 14 championships.. 8 less than el licey.. they play what’s called the CITY CHAMPIONSHIP. kinda like the subway series here, so whoever wins most game against EL LICEY VS EL ESCOGIDO wins the CITY CHAMPS.. LICEY leads that series all time 41-31.. now, do me a favor and SHUT THE F*** UP if you don’t know what you’re talking about ok..
My friend Alex68 — Stay classy Alex in both languages. I know that sometimes it’s a big challenge for you. lol.
Your friend,
Des
i did not say anything offensive in spanish, i am sure that snitch who outed me last time would’ve been all over that by now.. thing is, if he doesn’t know history he should stick to what he does best.. SECOND GUESS!
Thanks for educating me Alex. I feel so much better that you weren’t offensive in both languages — only one.
Des
Good job alex and thanks for the REAL story,
Not only is t agee the ultimate SECOND GUESSING magnet i’m noticing a lot more how he passes off his opinions as facts. Yeah facts according to his pathology.
Do you own a mirror? Look at one, you’ll see yourself in everything you just complained about.
Telling someone who’s nothing but a second guesser and tries to talk baseball from DR without having any knowledge of it to STF_UP it’s not offensive..
Alex68 — Thanks for explaining your point of view, Alex. I see one of your buds wants to help you. Do you really need it?
And Licey was formed by stealing players from another team and don’t tell me about Estadia Quisqueya. I’ve been there many more times than you have. Been on the field too and I’ve been to Javier Julian, Tetelo Vargas, Cibao and the Stadium in La Romana as well so you shut the **** up.
Besides Trujillio MERGED Licey and Escogido into one team and recruited Negro stars to play on it in the 30′s.
jajajjajajajajaja, this guy is purely ridiculo!!!! loco, just because you heard of those stadium doesn’t mean you’ve been there, i even played in estadio quisqueya palomo, i played en la normal where they were playing before so please, go second guess something else..
stop trying google the history of the baseball in the DR after i butt whip some sense into yours.. what do you know about baseball in DR?? if you did you would’ve not mention el licey being some sort of second fiddle to los leones del escogido, Las Aguilas have more championships than el escogido. who prior winning the championship a few years ago hadn’t won crap since 1990 when junior noboa and junior felix, sammy sosa, rufo linares and others were part of the team. please agee, stop it ok, you sound even more pathetic now !!!
alex, the guy actually said he’s been there more than you – as if ANYBODY would know how many time you’ve been there – or he’s been there for that matter.
But he knows he’s been there more than you, and he says that IN THE FACE of you just explaining the whole situation to him. The other day he also said he’s been a 1,000s of more baseball games than me – which is just an impossible thing to say without who or what you’re talking about.
Every day this crazy person exposes just how pathological he is. Now when he writes his long manifestos and says all these things about the minors everybody (who even bothers to read all that) will now have to take into consideration how much of it is true and how much of it is his VERSION of things that he’s passing off as fact. The guy is nuts.
He’s just a very sad person… bayonne, i used to go walking to the stadium.. i lived in ensanche la fe.. 4 minutes away from the stadium. imagine how much i was there when the good tickets were like $10 bucks LOL..
Of course i meant $10 bucks dominicanos.. so… just move on man… ok …
Well I did say “after being down for so long” in regard to Escogido and I’m well aware that they won last year. Fern was the MVP.
As for the rest I couldn’t care less what you think. I’ve been to lots of Dominican winter league games and all 6 stadiums as well as the Mets and Red Sox camps.
Believe or not whatever you want to, doesn’t change a thing.
Tickets to a regular DWL game haven’t even reached 10 bucks yet.
Maybe for the most expensive VIP, fully catered and open bar if there is such a thing.
A regular seat on the 3rd base side (better to enjoy the cheerleaders) is RD 200 or 250 which is like 3 or 4 bucks.
For some reason I’ve never been able to understand tickets are available right outside the stadium on game day (I usually go at noon) for that night’s game from less traditional outlets for even less.
Alex, I know you’re from the DR, but I also know that Agee spends an enormous amount of time there and spends most of it on the playing fields, academies, watching the players, etc.
Can we stick to debating the topics and if you can’t agree then simply agree to disagree and move on without the insults.
It’s starting to get heated again on these threads, and as I warned last time, I’m not going to tolerate it anymore.
In the next two weeks MMO is taking a GIANT step in its evolution, and I can guarantee you that these comment threads will stay clean and remain clean. I hope you choose to be a part of it because I sincerely like and respect all of you and it would sadden me to lose any of you permanently.
Joe D, he was the one saying he’s been in the stadium more than me, how would he know?? i used to go alsmot every weekend since i was a kid living there.. good for him if he’s gone there, i’ve PLYAED there.. how come i am the only getting singled out… ???
I believe you, I’m just saying you have so much more in common than you think. Why not build on it? Why not share your stories and your experiences about the DR so we can all share in it? It would add more to the debate, make the threads more interesting and we are all better off and more educated for it.
“….the game isn’t played on paper, its played on the field.”
That is exactly what worries me. When these Mets do take the field, their starting catcher will be Josh Thole. I like Josh. He’s a really nice guy. But he’s not a major league starting catcher, not by any stretch. And there is no ML starting catcher on the team. Were any available? Both Ramon Hernandez and Chris Iannetta changed teams this winter. Both are affordable (making less than Frank Francisco), and both are a thousand times better than what we got.
They have maybe four starters going into ST. I for one don’t think that Johan Santana will be a factor for the Mets this year, or ever again. Even if he does come back to pitch in the big leagues, his days as “ace” of a pitching staff will be over. Who did the Mets bring in to pitch if Johan can’t go? Miguel Batista, 41-years-old. And of course there is Schwinden who shows some promise, but is completely untested. I look at a season that begins with a rotation of Dickey, Niese, Pelfrey, Gee and Schwinny/Batista, and it makes me want to puke.
This team also has no center fielder this year. Not a true big league starter at the position anyway, and that will put undue pressure on two players that don’t need any additional pressure, Bay and Duda.
And this Mets team has absolutely no lead-off hitter, and really no obvious choice for a number three hitter either.
Their shortstop is young and untested, and the 2nd base position is totally up-for-grabs, and none of the candidates make you feel warm and fuzzy.
I feel there is no question that this team is so full of holes that they will ultimately have one of the worst records in baseball this year. Who knows maybe we’ll be playing for the top draft pick in 2013?
Pete, the CORE salutes you.. my sentiments exactly.. this people here think it is all abou the money, but sandy hasn’t bother to even check trade posibilities to upgrade the team and make it better.. he’s had back to back awful offseason and nothing but 1 good day acoording to some idi-ot..
You need to have something to trade in order to make a deal. Grandal was moved this off season but anything short of Harvey wasn’t getting him. The facts are that certain positions have been woefully unaddressed in the Met system for a quarter of a century if not more.
C – Last good catcher we developed was Todd Hundley drafted in 1987.
RF – Last good right fielder developed was Darryl Strawberry drafted in 1980.
CF – Last good Centerfielder developed was Lenny Dykstra drafted in 1981
LF – Last good left fielder developed was Cleon Jones signed in 1963.
2B Last good 2nd baseman developed was Edgardo Alfonzo signed in 1991.
3B Only two good 3B developed in fifty years, Wright 2001 and Brooks 1979
SS Only 3 good SS developed in fifty years Bud ’63, Rey ’93 and Jose ’99.
You obviously make some good points. I was hoping they would go after a guy like Pudge but understand why they did not sign a guy like Ramon. As bad as Thole was last year though I think the Mets see a need to find out if he is that guy or what they originally saw.
As for CF, yeah it’s awful and I expected to see someone brought in to compete with Torres.
The pitching situation is tough. How do you convince a good MLB starter to come to the Mets and wait and see if Johan is healthy? We can assume that he will not be but then if he is you are bumping Gee to the pen? Sending him back to AAA? How does that help his development? Hopefully they will still find some guys to compete for that #5 spot in the event that Johan is not ready.
2B like it or not does not appear to be up for grabs until Murphy gets injured again.
As for SS, yeah he is obviously young and untested.
I have said all along one of the more interesting things about 2012 will be that many questions will be answered and the Mets will have much more of an idea what areas they need to improve on after the season.
After the Super Bowl, I realized how awesome it is to actually have your team win. My euphoria as a Giants fan started to wane when I realized, wow, I won’t feel this same way about my Mets for a really long time. I think that’s why fans are really in an uproar.
That said, it’s a good thing to actually be excited about prospects. Yes most might never turn out to be productive major leaguers, but some we don’t ever see coming turn out to be our favorites. It’s a bad thing that we might not see .500 this year, but it’s a good thing that we’re letting young guys play and seeing what they can offer. Lastly, it’s a good thing that the Dodgers might be sold for $2B. That might be our saving grace when it actually comes time to supplementing this young core we’re hopefully seeing grow.
It’ll be enjoyable for all those who want to stop living until the “prospects” show up and save the team. That’s the way Sandy israining the new fan base – let’s not even compete until the kids show up and if some of the kids tdo good but we don’t compete then lets move them for more prospects. Let’s keep doing it that way until we are SURE, absolutely SURE we can contend than maybe, just maybe they’ll spend money on a difference maker.
I don’t care what anybody says, with some smart moves last year it could’ve helped keep the Mets relevant longer with the only caveat being Ike’s injury. That’s what killed the Mets last year. And Sandy had another awful off season this year with plenty of players within the Mets financial constraints being signed by other teams.
So what we are going to watch is a team was not handled properly during the offseason. The roster SHOULD be better but it was a lack of effort to compete by the GM that the roster is what it is right now. His best moves were made in the name of prospects – if the relievers he acquired do well and the Mets tank than he can move the relievers for more prospects. BS way to handle a team. You play to win every year, not get players just to obtain more prospects because you think you’re team isn’t going anywhere so why bother
We’ve been playing to win every year and all we’ve done is not win.
In fact we have 4 times as many under .500 seasons as playoff appearances in the last two decades.
Personally I am sick and effin tired of winning the off season every year only to wind up under .500 where it counts.
This.
I don’t think anyone who commented above me really grasped the point of this article.
Nope.
I love this post! It says everything that I have been saying throughout the entire Hot Stove. Everything! All those big contracts and wastes of space (Castillo/Perez) are gone so it is great that we can possibly see some of this young talent we always read about. We sometimes get to see them on SNY when they broadcast Bisons games or if we’re able to see some action in person. I am totally psyched about that. If some of the young kids are flops than that’s the way it is. Maybe this year they’ll be able to come up and test the waters a little bit. I would love to see Nieuwenhuis don a uniform this season. Yeah sure ok, we’re not in it to win it all this year, but just like you said it’s baseball. It’s Mets baseball! There are way too many “predictions” in the game. All of us who know the game well know that you can’t predict baseball. You can predict footyball because that league has become nothing more than a “I can stack my team higher than yours” concept. I can’t wait to hear the crack of the bat and pop of the mitt this year!
“I can’t wait to hear the crack of the bat and pop of the mitt this year!”
We obviously agree on a lot.
I’ll take a tall cold beer please to go with that.
yeah but if i want to watch minor league talent i would go to a minor league game not pay a buttload of money to go watch them at citi.
then don’t go.
that’s my plan.
good article. and even a “bad” year (in quotes, since every fan has to define that for itself) is better than no baseball at all.
And yes, you can look at holes as opportunities. there are some guys with potential, so it is possible that someone steps up into a void and becomes a keeper. duda did so last year. Maybe someone like Havens this year?
Of course the perfect storm of crapitude (injuries/contracts/team finances) sucks. But, at times every team goes into a valley and has to retool.
So, you can either p&m about not being a WS contender this year or next, and that Sandy could have made some different moves (as could every other GM). Or, look for whatever positives there are (young guys developing in front of you like Ike and Duda). And hope for the best.
My opinion? The team is not as bad as many other people do. The offense should actually be pretty good, but SP needs some help. And other than SP, the biggest problem frankly is being in a tough division.
We all know there are weak spots on the team, but to be balanced, there is also some real talent (assuming of course it does not get hurt this year). And if you took the Mets and stuck them in a patsy division (I guess that would be the centrals?) they would look a lot more competitive.
DUDA FOR MVP! LOL…….
MF, I think by now you should not be scoffing at my duda predictions…
Good post, Sean. I especially agree with #4.
It doesn’t matter what team you root for. If you can’t get excited for Spring Training, you’re probably not that big a baseball fan.