5
2012
School Is In Session With Mr. Petanick
An article by 
Can I have everyone’s attention please? Today we are going to be covering the 2012 New York Mets. I want to start off this lesson with a question, so by a show of hands, who thinks the Mets season is over?
Good job everyone. The Mets would need an absolute miracle to become relevant in 2012 again. Sitting 8 games behind the Wild Card leader, and 11.5 games behind the National League East leader, the season is all but over.
Who can tell me why the Mets are in the position they are in, right now, in the standings?
Yes, you in the red dress.
The reason the Mets are in the position they are in is because they lack talent. The first half of the season they played way above their potential. It was a fluke. This team was supposed to finish in last place, and now it seems like the only thing that will prevent that is the collapse of the Philadelphia Phillies. Terry Collins did a great job keeping this team relevant the first half of the year, but I just think the Mets will continue to decline the rest of the season. The future isn’t much brighter either. I mean, who is going to play the outfield next year?
That’s a very good question. So class, who do you think will be patrolling the green pastures of Citi Field next year?
Yes, you in in the grey shirt.
Um…well…my daddy hates Jason Bay, but he says due to his contract we’re stuck with him through 2013, so I guess he will be one outfielder. Then I hope Lucas Duda is another outfielder because I just got his jersey for my birthday, and I don’t want my friends to make fun of me when I wear the jersey because he’s not on the team and in the minor leagues. Then I guess the third outfielder will probably be Jordany Valdespin.
OK, but why do you think Valdespin will be the third outfielder?
I really just picked him because he has a cool name.
Very cool indeed, but I think the Mets will probably address some of their issues in free-agency. Outfield will probably be one of those positions that are addressed. But I do like your answers.
OK class, one last question. Who wishes their parents raised them as Yankees fans instead of Mets fans?
Detention for everyone!
You can follow Mitch Petanick for more Mets insights on Twitter @firstpitchmitch, and on his personal blog The Petanick Chronicles.
About the Author: Mitch Petanick
Mitch is currently an Editor and Minor League Analyst for Mets Merized Online. His baseball experience includes being a former All-Conference collegiate baseball player who had numerous professional tryouts, and he is currently a hitting instructor. He has been involved with the game of baseball for over 30 years now as a player, coach, and consultant. Mitch is also a former Featured Columnist on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @FirstPitchMitch.
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Thanks for the uplifting article…NOT!
So, Mitch, if we win today, we will have gone 7-4 on a West Coast road trip, and when we began it we were completely in the Crapper.
You wouldn’t take that as a positive sign that this team can continue to play above, well above, expectations?
You don’t strike me as a Mets lifer.
Russel,
Neither do you!
I guess some people have a problem with facing reality.
We’ll have to play something like 600 ball the rest of the way to have a shot at post season. Not impossible but highly improbable.
Also, I’ll put the odds of Bay not being cut before the 2013 season starts as low. It’s a sunk cost anyway. Move on. Can replace his spot with someone from within the organization so it wouldn’t cost much to replace him – even though the Mets are still broke.
Bay should be gone by spring training. I’d say there’s like a 5% chance he’s on the roster opening day.
They’ll give Bay probably most if not all of spring training to see if he somehow has anything left before they cut him. I would highly doubt they just eat 19 million before ST begins even though it’s painfully obvious he’s toast.
So I guess the starting pitching, primarily by Dickey & Santana, which carried the team in the 1st half was an aberration. According to this article there is no chance of Santana and Dickey can pick it up again. No chance – and with 2 months remaining and 8 games out of the Wild Card and no possibility of making anymore acquisitions if they were to.
8 games out on August 5 and people like this writer, who is no doubt a Sandy supporter just by the tone of his article, have thrown in the towel.
Never in my life have I ever seen the fan base throw in the towel so quickly. Ever. While growing up, if the Mets were ever 8 games out in August i remember the general feeling was always trying to stay in the hunt, doing what you can to stay in the hunt, and helping to keep the season ..or summer for that matter..as enjoyable as possible.
Now the bar is lowered, lack of hustle and fan passivity is the in thing. A disgrace and for the people who buy into that type of atmosphere – you DESERVE to lose.
Well said, Bro’!
It isn’t really relevant if the fans throw in the towel. Fans don’t play.
Your comment fulfills a je n’sais qua need to be at once douchey and nerdy. Thanks.
Exactly
Connor you’re 15 and have a LOT to learn about competition. During the runs of 1999 and 2000 players would refer to fans as the 10th man. Even in the 80s you would hear that. But you’re too young to remember any of that and like any 15 year old, and I’m sure parents out there would agree with me – you seem to think you have all the answers when you have no answers. You read a book and think you’ve learned the game and how it works – at 15. I
I think you need a few more seasons of ups and downs to experience to be able to properly gauge what competition is all about – outside of “plate discipline” and “getting on base” which is what probably guides your understanding of baseball.
And when talking about 2010 you write”
“And on top of all that, the farm system had been decimated by Omar Minaya.” it just shows that no matter which side of the fence a person stand on – everybody should be in agreement that comments like that just show inexperience and speaking out of emotion. and just proves what you’re about. You see the game through tunnel vision and if you look at something with tunnel vision..at 15 then you still have a lot of listening you have to do.
Am i glad i didn’t grow up accepting sports passivity as a way of enjoying my summer. So to come out and say something irrelevant like “fans don’t play” is just an excuse for not trying to fight, compete, and think of what your boy Alderson could have done to help the 2012 Mets DURING and BEFORE the season.
He’s done nothing.
That 10th man thing is a load of crap.
And lording over peoeple because you are old and “seasoned” is D-U-M dumb. If you were only as articulate as Conner at that age. Articulate means speaks good.
And yes, he is correct in the fact that the minor league system was neglected by Omar. A nugget of goodness coming out every now and again is comparable to a blind squirrel finding a nut every now and again. In general, he did not leave the minor league system in good standing. If he did, we would not have to wait until 2013+ to have some blue chip prospects start rolling through on. Consistent basis.
I must be a Sandy supporter because I don’t back your thinking, if you can call it thinking…
I also must be a masochist for responding to you.
Geez, I thought Bayonne was banned for the good of mankind.
Too bad.
He’s back with more irrelevance and drivel.
I always wondered why Bayonne, NJ was such a hole.
Now I know.
And Connor–this Bayonne guy is THE biggest joke in the Met blogosphere.
Of course Mianya left a garbage minor league system, terrible contracys, and mediocre minor leaguers.
Bayonne is just mad that you are FAR wiser at 15 than he can EVER hope to be.
A lot of fans get swept up in the excitement of half a season of decent baseball. Should Alderson just scrap his long-term plan just because an overachieving team had a nice first half? Of course not. You gotta keep everything in perspective.
You can’t treat each season like the be-all-end-all. Teams and farm systems take a few years to develop. The Mets will be good. They have a nice core of young players, and a few promising prospects coming up in the near future. Before this season, I said that I wanted to see improvement out of the young players on this roster. Wins and a late-season run would just be a bonus.
Take a look at the 2011 Pirates. Last year, they made a nice run, but the FO didn’t scrap their plan and acquire a bunch of high-priced players. Look where they are now.
I know a lot of people are going to kill me for saying “be patient” but just keep in mind the big picture when you’re criticizing a GM for not making moves.
Comment not necessarily directed at you BTW Bayonne. I’m just saying fans in general
Pirates are a bad example because they actually made moves to bolster that team last year; the moves just weren’t enough. But even more important is that they showed they can bolster the team, energize the fan base, all the while still letting the minors grow. I think that’s the big gripe.
The Mets can’t seem to do both. Again no one’s saying trade the crown jewels of the system (Wheeler, Harvey, and now maybe Flores). Just because your team is “overplaying” doesn’t mean you have to sit and watch them regress to the mean. Improving a team playing over it’s head bolsters that team, excites the fan base, all while still letting the minors grow.
It’s not about patience, we haven’t won since 1986. I think patience is most of our birthright. It’s about believing in the future. And if the GM of a team can’t BOTH let the minors grow, while adding pieces to improve the MLB team, then he is out of his league. And the wait will continue. Like I said, good thing “patience” is our birthright. At least we’re not the Cubs.
Pirates sort of did stuff. (LOL at that sentence) Maybe not the best of examples but I wouldn’t really call Ryan Ludwick and Derek Lee “going for it.”
Sure, maybe the Mets should have gotten a reliever or two, just to reward the team, but this team wasn’t going to make the playoffs unless Alderson did trade away some of the jewels of the system IMO.
“At least we’re not the Cubs.”
Then why were the Yanks able to acquire Suzuki for practically nothing? They didn’t give up any jewels for him. What did the Dodgers give up for Joe Blanton and Shane Victorino? Dodgers traded their number one pick there? What about Traded 3B Hanley Ramirez and LHP Randy Choate? What future stars did the Dodgers give up for them?
You mean Sandy can’t make 1/3 the level of those moves to help this team? There are some catchers out there and he’s not doing anything.
Again, it’s more about defending Alderson for people like you because you don’t have to think as hard to have that point of view. He thinks for you and it’s easier to support him than think on your own.
exactly
Yeah. The Dodgers didn’t give up much for those guys because they aren’t big-impact players anymore. All of those guys are shells of their former selves. Respectable, but not players that are going to push the Mets towards the playoffs.
yeah, Randy Choate, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Blanton, & shane Victorino – any combination of those players would not help the Mets.
You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about yet, at 15 you keep reminding the readership here that you know just as much baseball as anyone here. You’ve said that before. Keep that up kid.
Oh yeah and just keep it limited to the examples i brought up. What about the Tigers? What did they give up for Anibel Sanchez and Omar Infante? They raped their farm system to get those 2 guys? I don’t think so.
Point is a smart GM who wants to win COULD make a trade to improve this team. I don’t see anything smart being done by the Mets current GM – that is my OPINION
Jacob Turner is widely thought of (see, working on the fact vs opinion thing, eh?) as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball.
So what? The Tigers are primed to make a World Series run and you have to give something to get something. They took a risk in the even that they win the World Series.
And winning the World Series is what all of this is all about.
“Point is a smart GM who wants to win COULD make a trade to improve this team. I don’t see anything smart being done by the Mets current GM – that is my OPINION”
We have:
1 – Owners who would NOT support a SMART GM
2 – A GM who doesnt want to really be here and is really just a glorified baby-sitter…
what we NEED:
1 – Owners who support SMART GM’s
2 – SMART GM’s
you can argue if Sandy is/isn’t a SMART GM til the cows come home…but you cant argue that Selig begged him to take this job…I believe all but forced the Wilpons to hire him…and that this arrangement is not working out….
the mets still dont know who they want to be…or at least if they do…they have a Sybil-like way of showing it…
are they building for the future?
well if thats the case…why in the hell did they put Duda in RF…I made several comments on this a few weeks ago and got BANNED from metsblog b/c i blamed ownership
if they are building for the future….why in the hell would they platoon young players…if this is a “learning” year for them…
if they are building for the future…why in the hell would they NOT sign a veteran catcher to mentor their young and inexperienced Josh Thole….
if they are building for the future…why did they hold onto Scott Hairston and Tim Byrdak…?
what type of cohesive message are they sending by playing Jason Bay when he stunk up the joint for 3 years…
what type of cohesive message are they send down Kirk and Duda for getting into slumps…but play Bay and Ike Davis who performed exponentially worse than either 2…
some of that blame HAS to go on Sandy….( sorry yall )….
but the majority of the blame ultimately falls on ( MR. The Buck stops with Me ) Fred Wilpon and his loyal dopy son Jeff…
The Mets are neither Building for the future…nor playing for the present….I sadly think they are just biding time til their finances go back in order…then they can play the same silly game they did for the past 20 years…
1 – sign several high profile …big name free-agents…to draw in crowds who want to see stars..
2 – go cheap on the farm…
3 – non-existent development…no cohesive philosophy on hitting/fielding/pitching from A-AAA
4 – blame the GM….
5 – wash…rinse….repeat…
You don’t have to scrap a plan to help keep this current team in contention. And unless the ownership really does not have any money – and we do not know that all we know is we were told by Sandy Alderson that there are no more financial constraints. Well then spend and he has not done a damned thing to help this team which fought hard almost all season long. Not a damned show of support for Terry, his team, or this fan base. That’s bad business any way you slice it.
You have to be prepared to spend and move prospects every single time you may have a shot at competing and keeping the stadium full – especially in New York City and you don’t have to move your top prospects all the time to do that too.
And the Mets can trade some lower level prospects to help keep this team in contention too – it’s not going to break the farm. Not all of these guys are going to be stars and besides part of the business IS TAKING RISKS and keeping fannies in the seats otherwise you lose money and you lose fans. You have to compete and you have to try your best to compete
Are you kidding me? You could always tell the new-fangled Mets fans from the ones who followed this team from the sixties on down. Why call yourself fans at all? Looks like Jessep recruited someone to join him and Pomes in their annual Mets got no shot agenda.
The fan base? If you think the knowledgeable fan base expected at any time to be in the playoffs this season then you are gravely mistaken, Any knowledgeable fan should be happy with the overall results which in all likelihood means a .500 season. Too many fans got caught up with the explosive beginning for Capt Kirk as well as Mike Baxter and Valdespin. Baxter got hurt, the pitchers found the weakness in Kirk and Valdespin after some terrific pinch hitting exploits showed that he needs more seasoning too. An overall disappointing bullpen and 3-4 starters who in general fade after the 5-6 inning!
Ike Davis had a sophmore jinx if ever there was one but has shown his potential again
Real Met fans know that Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler are the future of this team. We have a few major holes to fill and I would be willing to bet that the off season will be a busy one for Sandy Alderson. We have some depth available that are good trading chips and the team is no longer broke…..
If you have thrown in the towel for the playoffs and the best you can do is complain and criticize the brass because you think you know better….wise up !
Real BASEBALL fans are not going to throw in the towel with the promise that Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey are guaranteed to lead the Mets in the playoffs in the future either.
You fight and you work for those opportunities every summer whenever you have the chance because you do not know when that chance comes again. Other teams in our division, like the Nats are going to get better too you know. What do you think? The future for the Mets is promising while none of our competitors will try to get better too? And what if Daniel Murphy, or Ike Davis, or Ruben Tejada, or (name future player here) make a big error in a future September game and cost the Mets a chance at the post season? Or one of them takes a called 3rd strike and Mets get eliminated last game of the regular season? That’s guaranteed not to happen again? Let’s just lay down because we WILL win in the future? That’s the way you think?
Santana & Dickey can’t finish strong? Duda and Kirk can’t come up again and contribute in September? Their current slumps now determine how they will perform in September?
What if Zack Wheeler is out for the year in 2014? You’re a Mets fan you know what that feels like right?
The lack of ability for the newer generation of fan to THINK for themselves is sad.
Mets may not make the post season this year but this is baseball and this is the summer..in NEW YORK. You TRY to make a run at it and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that with a little help this team can help to salvage a summer for New York fans this year.
You have to try. At least that’s the way it was for the rest of us growing up and at least we had fun fighting for it.
Now it’s just lay down and see who can make the most creative comment on Twitter. That’s the enjoyment for the newer generation of fan
No one is “throwing in the towel.” Of course, we all root for the team to win each and every day. It’s just being reasonable and THINKING.
It’s not a generational thing. It’s not that younger fans give up easily, we are just using common sense and setting reasonable expectations each year. It has nothing to do with what you call “the book” because that’s not what this is all about. The newer generation of fans doesn’t live by Moneyball or even think about it on a daily basis nearly as much as you say we do. Newer fans are just as passionate as you (and every older Mets fan) are. Younger fans aren’t stupid or ignorant. We know just as much about baseball as you do. I don’t know why that’s so unbelievable. You don’t have to have been a Mets fan since the 60s for your opinions to be relevant.
I don’t want Sandy Alderson to make an impulsive decision that will risk the long-term future just so a third-fourth place team can win five more games. You mentioned in another comment guys like Shane Victorino, Hanley Ramirez, and Joe Blanton. You think that if the Mets added one of those guys, the Mets would be a playoff team? No way. They would need to acquire one or two big-time pieces in order to make the playoffs, and that would require giving up a few “jewels” (as Hank put it) from the farm system.
Just because “this is New York” doesn’t mean we have to be the Yankees every summer.
All done. Fire away.
I’m being reasonable and thinking and I take exception that a 15 year has already decided what reasonable and thinking is. You’re agreeing with the GMs point of view, you’re not thinking.
And you do NOT know as much about baseball as I do or anyone else my age. You DO NOT KNOW and it’s ARROGANT for you – a 15 year old – to think you do.
What is your experience? And be prepared because you will be asked that question a lot when you get older.
Your latest response is your OPINION. Try to learn the difference between that and mistaking it for fact.
Yikes. Now it’s getting a little too nasty for my liking… Just one more point, though:
I am thinking and I am thinking that I agree with Alderson’s philosophy because I believe that, for the most part, he is building the team the right way. Sure, maybe he has been a little bit too patient at times, but in the grand scheme of things, he has the right idea, and that’s to build an organization from the lowest levels up. There’s nothing wrong with supporting a GM…
Who knows? I’m probably wrong, considering that I’m an arrogant 15 year-old who knows nothing at all about baseball other than “the book.” I really have to start thinking…
“he is building the team the right way”
Conner I have to ask….
Please list the moves he has made since he got here that suggests that to you!
I’ll help you out and start you off….
1 – Wheeler
2 – ????
Connor–Bayonne has been banned from other sites, and is the single most mocked Met “fan” on the Internet–take his putdowns as THE best proof that you are right.
Thank God I’m not in your class.
8 games back of the WC means the season is over? Yeah, because NEVER in the history of baseball (or the Mets in general) has there ever been a comeback from such a deficit. Nope….
If you think Jason Bay will be back in 2013, you are on crack. That outfield situation you have set up most likely won’t happen. I cannot stress this enough: Lucas Duda is NOT an outfielder. Doesn’t matter if it’s LF or RF, let me embed it into your head…..
Lucas Duda is not an outfielder.
Lucas DUDA is not an outfielder.
Lucas Duda is NOT an outfielder.
LUCAS DUDA IS NOT AN OUTFIELDER.
LUCAS DUDA IS NOT AN OUTFIELDER!!!!!
Do you understand?
The future isn’t any brighter? With the armory of arms we have on the way within the next year to two, including OF help, don’t be foolish.
As far as the Mets supposed to finish last in the standings, it just goes to show you that you shouldn’t believe what “experts” tell you and games aren’t won on paper. Do I need to remind you of 2000? Do I need to remind you how NOBODY thought the Pirates had a shot in hell this season, even after the very promising 1st half of last season? Then again, it’s funny now how the same pessimistic people who said that we’ll finish last, how we’ll suck, and so on in the beginning, now believes.
Only thing we shouldn’t feel confident about is the catching situation, specifically Thole. Wasn’t happy the slightest bit he fumbled the ball because Quentin came at him the other night. Spare me the concussion talk, because if you’re scared to take hits, you shouldn’t be a catcher, period.
The talent is there. Question is, can they manage to stay sync from now through a stiff September?
Maybe I’m confusing you with someone else and I apologize if I am, but weren’t you one of the guys who thought Alderson did right by not supporting the team with a right handed bat or reliever? I seem to think you left me quite a reply when I admonished this front office for waving the white flags.
Yes you are confusing me for someone else, because I have always acknowledged the fact that we needed more pitching and more depth, even when people were saying the Mets were good on the SP front. When it came to RH bats, I was all in favor of it for fear of being exposed by LHP, in which we were.
I can’t agree with this at all. You cant have great comeback unless you have something to comeback from. In the history of baseball, dozens of teams came back from greater deficits to win a World Series. In one of those late seventies Yankee titles, I believe they came back from 14 games back in September and that was before the wild card. Some of you fans have a lot of quit in you and you give up too easily and too quickly.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PLAYING OVER YOUR HEAD!!!!!!!
There is however both a Playing to your capability and NOT playing to what your capable of but there is no playing above your head!
If you have done something before then that is what your capable of, all it takes is to do the same things you did then now!
So I am so tired of the bull that is “They Played Over Thier Heads”
No they didn’t! They played under it vs Two Division leaders and two other tough opponents they happened to face back to back and in 5 consecutive series coming out of the All-Star break!
ATL, WASH, DODGERS, WASHINGTON AGAIN, and ARIZONA.
Perhaps if our front office did not wait for a playoff position to drop out of the sky, tried to solve the bullpen issues instead of going with them in hopes of them redeeming him and went and got that RH Power bat that isn’t Jason Bay they would not have lost all those series they did!
We lost two good guys in our rotation and our only solution was to start Batista and Hefner (hefner being the one decent one of the two!)
When that didn’t work they brought up Harvey and well well well, they start winning games again!
Maybe we don’t lose two series if we bring Harvey up right away when Gee goes down?
Maybe we don’t flip flop from being buyers in a week?
Maybe they play what you call ABOVE thier heads because people like you and Sandy Alderson don’t make a press release that says you know what these guys suck and have no chance so no reason to even TRY to stay in the playoff race!
And so they did what Sandy suggested…And lost 5 series in a row…
Not because they played above thier heads before…But because they played below due to giving up as thier GM and many fans said they should!
I agree with what you are saying for the most part…Iif a player can accomplish something once, it means they should be able to accomplish it again. I think that’s the main factor the Mets keep marching Jason Bay out there every week.
But there are seasons where everything just clicks for players, and they seem to put up stats better than what their talent level should allow – Brady Anderson in 1996 comes to mind.
Right Mitch, everything just clicks…
They are more focused, Are in good condition, See the ball better….
If they don’t repeat it’s not that they went above thier talent level it’s that they did not recreate the condition needed to meet thier talent level.
A guy who has been a great hitter and all of a sudden stopped being great did not play above his talent level. It might be possible that he can no longer recreate what made him great due to physical limitation of age or injury…
In those cases you can say he doesn’t have the talent he had but you sure wouldn’t say he layed above his talent level those years he was good.
Think Bay in that regard.
But these guys are a team. There are definit reasons why they lost. They may not be singular reasons and instead a combo of problems that all hit the same time (and I noted two in my reply)
In this case it was we faced all the best teams in the league! And lost two starters who were a big reason why we had a winning record in the first place!
You can find something that may have been lost in any down situation and the down could last longer than the high but it is not proof that the high was a Mirage! It actually happened and can happen again provided you meet the conditions needed to do it!
As for what I said about Sandy well all things ebb and flow have highs and lows!
The key to building a winning team is to help it out so that while some parts are low new parts can bring it back up to the highs.
That didn’t happen. The team hit a tough stretch, thier GM and many fans gave up on them and that made it even harder for them to dign themselves out because everyone around them sucked the energy right out of the attempt!
It appears my post meant to be taken as a joke has angered Metsmerized Nation…but its nice to see there are still passionate and optimistic fans out there
For the record I am not an Alderson backer lol.
Mitch, talking baseball is no joke.
Mitch Petanick — Unmistakably you were being humorous with your post. It seems that some Mets fans are getting a tad cranky. Those with a vendetta against Sandy and Terry seem to be the most angered. Instead, if you blew smoke from where the sun doesn’t shine, some fans would see you as “the best sports writer since Jimmy Cannon or Dick Young”. Yup, the odds are against the Mets miraculously becoming relevant in 2012 again. But in keeping with the tradition of never giving up, let’s not forget the 1951 National League pennant race.
On August 11 the Dodgers were 13 games ahead of the Giants. Earlier in the season, the Dodgers had won 12 of the 15 games played between the teams. Starting in the second week of August, the Giants won 16 straight games. By the end of the streak, the Giants took out 8 games of the Dodger’s lead and were only 5 games back. They went on to win the pennant in the third game of the playoff on Bobby Thomson’s walk-off home run. It was the famous “Shot Heard ’round the World.”