5
2012
And Here We Go Again
An article by 
So 50 years of Mets baseball. It feels like I have seen so much and yet I have consciously been around for only about one fifth, from 2001 to present. Today is Opening Day 2012 and I cannot help but be excited once again. Although this time around it is not the same excitement that I am used to, it is an excitement nonetheless.
No matter what happens in my personal life, baseball is always around. And even if we went ahead and won only 69 games like my good friend Alex predicts, I would enjoy each of those victories with the same magnitude that I would enjoy every victory in an 80 win season – if not even more because of the expectations of this year’s team. On multiple occasions, I have expressed my awareness that the likelihood is that this team is not going to do very well and will probably not compete for anything of historical magnitude.
Yet, there is so much to look forward to this season. Why, you ask? Because every game is an opportunity for the first no-hitter in Mets history and every young player that starts for us is a glimmer of hope for the future. The world will not be set on fire if Ike Davis drills 40 HRs or if Johan Santana wins 20 games. Nobody is going to jump to rooftops screaming if Jason Bay hits 25+ HRs again or if the team finishes at .500. But hell, that stuff matters to us – as Mets fans. And if it does not, I should ask you to politely get the hell out.
On Opening Day 2012, every team that is not the Mariners and Athletics have the same record and no one starts in last place. Bottom line is, I can see how much there is to be negative about this season. If that is your cup of coffee, then best of luck to you, because it will just make this season harder to stomach. Expectations are low and there is more talent on this team than people are giving us credit for… for once. I know that a multitude of people are going to read this, scoff, think to themselves “This kid is an idiot,” and laugh. They will say, he has been drinking the kool-aid again and he does not care about winning championships or anything of real substance.
Bullshit. I damn well do.
But if championships were the only thing that were important in this world, I would be worshiping the Skankees and jumping on the nearest bandwagon over in Los Angeles, Detroit, or even Miami. For the record, you will see me using the term Skankees a bit more often these days. If you happen to wonder why, it is a portion of the plethora of things that I picked up from my late mentor – an exceptional man, Adam Baker. It has been a year now, my dear friend, and I still miss you as deeply now as I did then. We sometimes look at life as a difficult journey because we look at it as a whole – where we fear we are not strong enough to persevere. In a similar sense, looking at the 162-game season as a whole also makes it seem that much more insurmountable. Taking life one day at a time, and taking each game as a new challenge, provides a different outlook on everything.
In closing and on that note, I feel it is necessary to remind you to cherish the fact that you are around for another beautiful baseball season – filled with the allure of the unknown. We are not the worst team in the league, we do not have the worst players, and we do not have the worst owner.
And although people will choose to debate me on that previous statement – no one can debate me on this one.
We do not, and will never, have the worst fans.
Enjoy the 2012 MLB Season, MMO Readers. Because here we go again…
About the Author: Satish Ram
I am a Senior Writer and Editor here at MetsMerized - where I specialize in Minor League coverage. I have been on the staff since 2007 and I am currently in my third semester of college in New York City. You can find me at www.facebook.com/SatishRam or @SilverHeatMMO. Feel free to message me - I love talking about the Mets or baseball overall with anybody.
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” We are not the worst team in the league, we do not have the worst players, and we do not have the worst owner.”
Nice article.
‘In closing and on that note, I feel it is necessary to remind you to cherish the fact that you are around for another beautiful baseball season – filled with the allure of the unknown.’
Well said.
As someone who was around to experience the Miracle Mets of ’69, I ain’t getting any younger.
Here’s to them getting another ring sooner rather than later.
Satish!!! You’re very optimistic, i am glad you keep you’re optimistism up the way you do, it’s been more season of disappointments for me that i could’ve handled, but i am very excited for baseball…
Glad to have you writing articles again..
“Expectations are low and there is more talent on this team than people are giving us credit for”
Well Satish your correct and the point that is being mised by the “all is wellers” here (I know your not one) is that the excuses made for the purge/rebuild were we were SO FAR AWAY from being a good team that it needed o be scrapped and redone!
I agree there is a ton of Talent, Talent that was ALREADY HERE! It’s what has been purged and replaced around them that leaves me thinking how good things COULD HAVE BEEN with all this young talent we have if only we kept the ALL-STAR VETERAN talent around it!
If say this team wins 77 games (same as last year) How many might we have won with Reyes at SS and K-Rod closing out games?
I think what many an argument here has sidestepped is many of us (Pessimists) feel we ALREADY HAD a ton of kids, a good solid CORE to build around, and it was the (Optimists) who downplayed how good this team actually was in the Kid dept in order to justify the Talent purge!
Lets face it other than guys coming back from inujury plagued seasons (Wright, Davis and Santana. You can also count getting a full season of Duda in there…)
The only other changes are we lost our top RBI guy, Batting Champ and Closer!
I have lower expectations only because I had such high expectations for this team last year before the purges knowing the kids we had close to coming up!
And that train is still about to bring in new arrivals for the next two years!
I have lower expectations merely because I think about how good this team could have been if we had Kept at least one of the three All stars or did not replace those All Stars BEFORE we had an answer to take over for them (see K-Rod and Beltran)
But if you look back at the complaint I have made in the offseason it all started because some thought this team was SOOOOO BAAAD OFF, that it needed to be scrapped!
And then when they realized what many of us KNEW about the Kids we had, they got on this kick of how good a job Sandy has done despite the fact he isn’t the architect of all this hope, someone else was and all he has done is let three all stars go with his only real future hope being Wheeler!
I don’t count Nimmo because Sandy didn’t orchestrate that anyone could have taken Nimmo in the draft!
Well to figure out Reyes’ wins you would have to take away wins from either Tejada or Murphy as they would get less AB’s. Reyes would most likely be worth about 4 wins but does having Tejada and Murphy in the lineup help balance that out? Depends on how bad their defense is.
Both played roughly half a season last year so even if you platoon them it’s a wash!
Personally I would still play Murphy at 2B as the main bat at least until I decided what to do about Wright!
The oly reason Murphy is being kept is he makes trading Wright easier because he has the bat to compensate. If not he would have been traded by now!