22
2012
From Left Field: Francesa Should Lay Off The Mets
An article by 
Mike Francesa
Has anyone been listening to Mike Francesa absolutely kill the Mets on WFAN lately? Most likely many of you have, since Francesa garners a large audience, and rightfully so.
He is a knowledgeable sports personality that commands respect based on his reputation. But seriously, talk about something other than degrading the Mets.
This whole past week, Francesa has been tearing the Mets apart for their pathetic play. Yes, the Mets are pathetic right now, but why does Francesa feel the need to drive the stake deeper into Mets’ fans hearts?
I’ll admit that I do sometimes enjoy listening to Francesa. He can easily get on my nerves, but he does provide great insights into the sports world.
There are so many more important New York sports topics going on right now than the Mets. The Yankees are entrenched in an AL East pennant race, the New York Football Giants are looking to repeat a Super Bowl title and the New York Jets are an absolute circus, from the quarterback debate to Bart Scott threatening journalists.
The Mets are no longer relevant in this town, but it’s a shame that Francesa keeps on talking about how bad they are. His shows this week have been so repetitive when it comes to the Mets.
And also, have any of you been following along with Terry Collins’ weekly spot on the show? For the past four weeks, the interview by Francesca has been exactly the same. Mike asks, “Terry, have you ever seen anything like this out of a baseball club?” And Terry always responds, “No Mike, I’ve never seen an entire lineup all go cold at exactly the same time.”
OK, we get it, the Mets stink right now. But the misery is almost over. The last thing Mets fans need is for a die-hard Yankee fan to use his platform to continuously bash our team.
There’s plenty of other things to fill a 5.5-hour period. By talking about the Mets, Francesa is beating a dead horse.
It almost seems like he’s “asleep” to what else is going on in New York sports…
About the Author: Jim Mancari
Jim Mancari hails from Massapequa, N.Y. He recently earned a Master's degree in Journalism at Hofstra University. He is a devout Mets fan and takes pride in his team, despite their lack of success over the last few years. Like all Mets fans, Jim has plenty of hope. He also writes as the sports reporter for the Brooklyn Tablet newspaper and the senior editor of metroBASEBALL Magazine. Click my name to view my personal website.
46 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
Recent Comments
- Major Mofongo: on Prima Donnas and Clubhouse Chemistry: A Met Perspective: forget the fact that its America... its NEW...
- Judge Holden: on Internal Discussions Of Ike Davis Demotion ‘Intensifying’: YES! YES! YES!!! Finally. This crap has...
- Timothy: on Internal Discussions Of Ike Davis Demotion ‘Intensifying’: You can send him down for 10...
- Timothy: on What Do We Have In Lucas Duda And Is He The Solution At Left Field?: He has been hitting the ball really...
- Major Mofongo: on Prima Donnas and Clubhouse Chemistry: A Met Perspective: The one thing this team is scared...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5357 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1270 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Fair game, IMO.
We need a focal point to force the Wilpons to either sell or make this team competitive. SA was dierected to cut payroll and losess from 135 M to 90 M shich equals losses on the P&L went from 70M to 25 M. Francesa has in the past shamrd the Wilpons to getting Piazza. I dislike Francesa condescending attitude toward callers but if not him who else would be the voice to stop us from being laughing stocks.
I did say Beltran so I answered my own question.
Even if they did not eventually get him to sign….
Just the act of taling contract with him would have gone a long way to showing the fans that this FO was serious about making a competitive team!
Would have eased some of the scorn cast at them from letting Reyes go without even making an offer, and would have quieted all the talk about a possible trade of Wright in his walk year knowing full well that these guys might make a trade to get kids and then go sign him back anyway to have thier cake and eat it too!
If your going to pay a player in FA might as well get kids for him first and then pay what you were lkely going to pay even if you did not trade him!
You can probably count on one hand the number of times a free agent to be was traded and brought back by that club. Rarely ever happens and I don’t think they’ll take that chance. I think unless Wright wants a 7-8 yr deal they’ll do whatever it takes to keep him as long as he wants to be here.
Just because it is rare to happen doesn’t mean you hould not try when the opportunity exists!
The reason why it is rare is usually because the team that you trade with works out an extention with the player before the season is done and in some cases before the trade is even made!
So they never get to FA in the first place to go after them.
teams should actually try to do that more because your going to pay market rate in FA anyway might as well pay that and get some kids out of it at the same time!
So while it may be rare to happen doesn’t mean it should not be tried or is impossible to do!
So what happens if you do trade Wright and he likes where he is and says screw it I’m staying here? Why take that chance unless you have an under the table agreement with him. For the record, I think from a baseball point of view it would be smart to sell high on Wright now but from a PR standpoint the team can’t afford to let another homegrown player go. It would be a PR nightmare. My opinion has been for a few years that they should’ve rebuilt this team anyway.
Well first you have to convince me they are actually interested in resigning him.
The proposals some here seem to suggest are not going to get it done!
He wants one of two things…To remain with one team for his entire career and/or winning a World Series!
A 3 or 4 year deal if thats all you want to go won’t get him! UNLESS you can show him something that leads him to believe a World Series is going to be a factor with this team before it expires!
That means signing another big FA to make it happen you think thats even a remote possibility in the next 2-3 years? They are alergic to big signings!
I don’t!
Which means your talking about at least a 6 or 7 year deal which this FO is also alergic to!
And while your What if is certainly possible it’s also more likely that they will not come to years and money terms and he will go FA anyway only this time with much less compensation than they used to get!
I personally don’t see this Front Office resigning him to anything he would want to accept and that will meet either of his goals for what he wants to get out of this contract.
Only way that changes is if the Addition of Harvey and maybe Wheeler plus guys like Davis and Murphy having better years makes them so good that next year is a playoff year.
What odds do you give on that happening?
That’s it! Brilliant! The Mets are a bad ball club because Mike Francesa rags them. I love it, just love it!
Disagree. Francesca should keep the pressure on every day. That’s the only way to keep the pressure on the awful Wilpons to sell this team and expose how pathetic it has become. We can’t just sit back and say “the misery is almost over”…we deserve more as fans.
Well said….I wish the Wilpons would sell
I dont mind Francesa crushing the team, he’s no different than any other Yankee fan in that regard. He just has a bigger soapbox. If his rants can put some pressure on the front office to improve the product on the field and make some moves by acquiring difference makers, so be it. The team has not performed better, has more concerns now than it did in 2010, and we lost three all stars and replaced them with none.
Krod contract option had to get rid of it. Beltran hurt and I am sorry we did not resign him but not that we traded him for Wheeler. Reyes contract years were ridiculous for a guy who relies on speed. Yes the bullpen guys of SA ecept for Rauch after a horrendous beginning were the downfall. As for a hitter who should have we signed.
You didn’t have to trade K-Rod to get rid of the option, thats the mistake people make!
He WAS traded and his new team managed to get rid of the option didn’t they?
We could have as well if we were not so busy looking at the easy way to reduce salary and worked at making a deal that would have extended K-Rod for another two years to an incentive laden deal that would buy out the option in the name of guaranteed salary.
We took the lazy path with him (and lets face it with everyone we have signed!) because the one thing this FO is not any good at is dealing with players and thier contracts!
They only seem tobe able to make a deal when the player is desperate, has no other options, where they can dictate terms.But the second they have to deal with a player that will get offers from someplace else they throw in the towel and refuse to negotiate at all!
It was much easier for Milwaukee to get rid of that option using him as a setup man and not a closer. He had no way of reaching the 21 more games finished he needed to have that option vest being used as a setup man. He had all the leverage in the world against the Mets. If yo really want to pass blame in that situation pass it on to Terry Collins who knew he had that option hanging over him and continued to use him in non save situations to close out game and also used him trailing on the road to stop the bleeding in games they were getting beat big where all you have to do is finish the 8th inning and get credit for a game finished. If Collins did a better job using him then they could’ve gotten him to renegotiate an extension just like you’re suggesting.
You guys keep clinging to that story but the truth is the brewers didn’t need to get rid of the option at all! It was a worthless clause in his contract once they got him!
The Option was not a problem for them! He had already lost what he wanted by that time which was to be a closer!
So all the leverage was on OUR side!
If he wanted to remain a closer he could have sold off the Option either via extention or flat out buyout like he did only he would get what he wanted and remained a closer going into FA as a closer not a setup man!
Once the trade happened he had LESS reason to let them buyout because selling off the option still would not have changed his Setup status!
You guys think the option was all about the money but it was about remaining a closer and he lost that the second the trade happened!
He had no more leverage on anyone to get what he wanted!
If we had said we will keep you as our closer provided you sell off the option then he would have.
WE REFUSED just as we REFUSED to negotiate with Reyes!
Of course the Brewers didn’t need to get rid of that option. Of course that option was worthless once they got him. He wasn’t closing anymore so he had no way to finish 21 more games.
The leverage was completely with him. Why would you try and work out an extension when all you need to do is finish 21 more games to get a one year 17.5 million dollar extension. Why would he renegotiate a 2 year incentive laden deal when he could get paid all that money in one year. Why would the Mets even want to extend him for more than a year. He’s been regressing since we signed him.
We had no leverage at all. Collins using him in so many non save situations killed any leverage you may think we had. He had no leverage once he was traded but while he was here he had all the leverage.
Unfortunately for him he didn’t put Milwaukee on his no trade list. Also 29 other teams besides the Mets had a chance to sign him as a closer and not one of them bit. He accepted arbitration as a setup man cause nobody wanted him to close. He’s a set up man now and not a good one either. They gave him a chance to close again after Axford failed and he blew all 3 save chances. 6 Blown saves in 9 chances.
No it wasn’t he had MORE reason to keep the option in place in Mil because he stood to make a ton of money if thier closer got hurt which was the ONLY way he would ever meet the option numbers!
He had LESS reason to give it up and they had less reason to buy it out! NO LEVERAGE the part he wanted was already lost!
But we had the leverage to say look lose the option and stay a closer or we trade you to someone who won’t use you as a closer (which is what we did!)
But we never had that conversation with him to put our leverage to him!
We RUSHED the deal because he had failed to submit a list of No Trade teams and took whoever it was that was willing to pay most of his salary!
I disagree. I look forward to listening to him bash this team because they deserve it. I will continue to watch every game but this team is pathetic. Major changes must be made and I hope Sandy and the Wilpons are listening. I went the game last night and it was totally empty. It was the last Friday night game at home and it was a ghost town. Maybe its because the Braves and Nats have more home wins in the second half then the Mets..The Mets deserve every rant or criticism for their play in the second half. Unfortunately it may all come at the expense of Terry Collins…Let Mike rant and rave about it because his frustration in pimple compared to the frustration that most fans feel for this NEW YORK team that this hasnt made the playoffs ince 2006…
It continues to amaze me how people hold Francesa in such high regard and actually think he can affect how the Mets FO does business. Francesa will not have any influence now, nor has he had any influence in the past on moves the Mets make or have made. It’s utter nonsense that some people actually believe he is the man responsible for bringing Piazza to NY because one of his theatrical rants may have preceded the trade. People, please get this in your heads……Francesa is nothing more than a blowhard. An arrogant talk show host that has totally worn out his welcome in the NY area. His only motive right now is to survive by boosting his ratings anyway he can. I don’t understand how people can’t see through his act. Do listeners really believe that his vein popping, cardiac ranting tirades are actually genuine??? I listened to him, as most of us did, 20-25 years ago when there was some substance to his show and he appeared to be knowledgable. The man has nothing left now folks. I can’t even listen to him no matter what the subject matter may be.
Okay so when you have Omar Minaya, Jeff Wilpon, & David Howard on your show, at the same time, to discuss the fate of the Mets – and with his audience you let us know, okay?
Francesa is RIGHT about the Mets and he DOES have some influence. Why? Because he’s reflects the anger of the fan with his top rated show in one of the biggest markets of the world.
Take a back seat and listen.
People seem to forrget that his radio show is almost produced by the Fans that call in every day and they are the ones who decide how much time is spent on what topic.
Yankee fans aren’t angry they still believe in the end they will get into the playoffs.
Met Fans have been pissed since the ASG and since watching the game is not helping them they call into MF instead!
Good point Bayonne. What other sports talk show host gets an Owner and GM to discuss the teams plans coming off a year like 2009. Even though Jeff Wilpon was blowing smoke up our asses by saying he will do everything in his power to make sure the Mets put a championship caliber product on the field and then do nothing but bring in Jason Bay.
I don’t get why people get so annoyed by Mike Francesa killing the team. He may be a Yankee fan but he needs the Mets to be successful. It helps his show. His rants would be the same if he was a Met fan. He’s speaking for the Met fan. He’s even said it himself, the Met fan deserves better. As far as I’m concerned I hope he rails on the Mets every single day until this team makes major changes. The truth hurts.
“I don’t get why people get so annoyed by Mike Francesa killing the team”
For the same reasons they get on anyone here who gets on the team….
They don’t want to deal with the bad news and would prefer to pretend everything is ok instead!
A lot of people are in denial and since they can’t make a case to say things are really good that aren’t easily shot down they prefer to shoot the messenger instead!
Francesa hounded Art Howe into playing Piazza in LF speeding up Howe’s demise and exit from town. Francesa needs to keep the pressure on the Mets FO and ownership. It they react and do something stupid because of him, we may get rid of the bums who put this excuse of a team on the field. GO Mike! Eat ‘em up!
Jeez…God Forbid anyone should have to listen to the truth of the situation!
Why is he driving a stake into the hearts of Met Fans?
Cause thats how you kill the UNDEAD Excuse making, everything is going great, the GM is doing a good job folks who support the guy sucking the life blood out of this franchise, thats why!
I got some advice to everyone who thinks things are going to be fine and Sandy just needs more time to win a championship if only the rest of the folks would stop calling out his mistakes…
Try the old LALALALALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU LALALALALALALAA trick!
It sure will be more effective than complaining about the Wilpons and hoping they sell the team.
Would reduce the insults and arguments everyone claims to be sick of around here…
And it probably a more mature and efficient than coming up with a new xcuse everyday for a GM who has ruined this team!
^^^^
THIS
Its this new Generation thinking “Dont criticize— nurture ” lol
I don’t love Francesa but I think he is a voice for the Met fan.
Coupled wit the fact that SNY seems to be ‘sanitizing’ the after game press conference. We only heat Kevin Burkhardt asking the easy questions, no more hearing other reporters. I’ll take Francesa harping on Mets ownership and management about what a bunch of pathetic, failures they are.
I wouldn’t listen to Francesa if you paid me to do it.
I might tune in if the Yankees blow the post season. It would be worth suffering thru him to hear Yankee fans calling in.
Other than that, I have no interest in his show.
Why shouldn’t he? Because he’s speaking the truth and some of us can’t handle it? Yankee fan or not, there needs to be a voice out there that puts a foot in management’s ass. Some of Francesa’s rants have worked in our favor. Who knows what would’ve been if he didn’t push for Piazza becoming a Met.
There are ton of people here that are in DENIAL and would prefer to shoot the messenger instead of seeing the truth of what they are seeing…
I have no great respect for this guy at all but you don’t need to be a baseball genius to see how bad this team has gotten over the last two years.
It would seem some people are just hoping that if they deny those who don’t think everything is fine and dandy a platform to say it that the issues will just go away….
the old “He Needs More Time!” thinking…
The more time this guy has the longer it will take to get us back on the winning track!
Exactly. With the current administration in charge, this ship is headed under the waves. Francesa can scare them into taking some kind of action. Even bad actions are good, because that will speed up the process of cleaning out the adminstration. In order to get better, we might axctually have to get a lot wores real quick. Francesa can cause them to panic into doing something stupid that gets them all sent out of town.
I’m not sure he will cause them to panic…What he will do is keep the story going long enough for someone to put thier foot in their mouth or find some issue with legs that will become a turning point on what the story is.
And when the pressure mounts, the Wilpons will do what they ALWAYS do. fire the GM to get out from under the media.
They haven’t gone outside their inner circle to get a PURE baseball guy since they hired Cashen!
Sandy is not really a baseball guy he is a business guy who hires baseball guys!
Phillips. McIlvane, Hunsicker and the short tenure of harazin were all guys who were already here and took over for someone who was under fire in the press for one reason or another.
Sandy is the first to come from outside the organization and he isn’t the baseball guy they needed to make trades freely and evaluate talent.
He is a better candidate for Jeffy’s job with an Omar or Phillips as the GM who can talk off the cuff and freely about potential trades with other teams without having to see the spreadsheet and call a meeting of his advisors to throw out counter proposals.
And so far all he has done is count beans without any sense as to the effect it would have on the baseball or attendance which is the REAL reason we can’t spend.
I need to make a correction…Hunsicker wasn’t hired because of press pressure he took over for the retired Cashen who moved up to an advisor role…
Yeah great article(sarcasm)…………….KILL THE MESSENGER!!! huh
I cant believe any Mets fan (whom have no voice)would be upset with someone who has a voice and is using it to speak up for Mets fans.
You think the Wilpons,Katz and Alderson and his merry men dont here about how they are being killed everyday on the radio (especially his rant that went viral)for this embarrassment of a team??? There home radio station for that matter??? You think the Wilpons are happy to hear,”You and your team have become bigger jokes than you were before”
This current team is being compared to the worst Mets team ever!!!! And thats saying a lot cause we’ve had some REALLY bad years.
Why would any Mets fan be upset when someone with influence takes up there cause…..and no im not saying he can make the Wilpons do anything.
“Wah Wah Wah” Francesa making me feel bad cause my team sucks and his team puts mine to shame year in year out….
In the end Alderson will go down in History in the same category as Grant did!
The guy who made the Teams laughing stocks for a decade!
“This current team is being compared to the worst Mets team ever!!!! And thats saying a lot cause we’ve had some REALLY bad years.”
Exactly. After all, this is the 50th anniversary of the ’62 Mets. This season has been all about trying as hard as possible to match that performance. The good news is that 50 years ago, the team progressed to where it was able to win a championship only 7 years later. Unfortunately, that does not seem in the cards this time around.
Francesa needs to keep calling it as he sees it and keep the heat on. That has more chance of doing something for us than any possibility from SA and his brain trust.
This has nothing to do with Alderson and everything to do with Selig and Wilpon…
I hate Mike Francesa as much as the next guy, but if there is anything the Wilpons hate it is negative media. And I like the fact that Mike calls out the team. However, until the Wilpons are gone, there will be no point in any of the story lines on the field. The story is in the front office that has no idea how to put together a winning organization….
yes Ellis because we all know it was Wilpon and Selig who forced Sandy into trading Pagan for two stiffs and to not sign half a draft class!
Sandy didn’t want to trade Pagan and wanted to sign the entire draft but Wilpon and Selig stopped him!
And it wasn’t the Wicked Witch who gave Snow White the poison apple it was the unnamed 8th Dwarf called “Pervy” who slipped her that Mickey!
“The Mets are no longer relevant in this town, but it’s a shame that Francesa keeps on talking about how bad they are. His shows this week have been so repetitive when it comes to the Mets.”
So in other words, you are advocating that they become the Islanders or the Nets? Nonsense- keep the pressure on. It keeps them relevant.
Tell me why he should leave them alone. the first problem with the mets is the owners, let’s face it they suck. They don’t want to win cus the only way they win is keeping the money in their pockets. They are sad and a bunch of jerks as owners. the second problem is the gm with that phony smile, and the look like i don’t care either. the third problem is the whole system with personnel and player development. The fourth is the manager terry collins, where is anger, where is his fire, where is his jump start o get these players in motion, his coaches suck too. But terry keep using andre torres why he sucks, why play bay, why play any starters any way, cus it won’t make a difference or are we in the playoffs,, we need to play the kuids at this point to see what they got at this level, this is way our mets in the long run won’t win. The owners please sell, sell, sell, do u get the message now, we don’t want u so sell, sell and make us happy.
Yep because a team that is reporting to lose 23 Mil this year is just stuffing thier pockets full of cash!
I have to laugh at some of the things people say to find motivation for the Wilpons to want the team to suck!
You are correct in bringing Torres into this discussion. He is only half a player and now will not bat left handed for the remainder of the season. Where did anyone get the idea he was a bonafide switch hitter to start with? The guy is awful and makes Pagan look a superstar by comparison. How can Collins keep playing this guy? He should have been released long ago and we should be playing a promising youngster instead. The people who run this team are stupider than cow dung starting with the owners, their GM brainiac and his brain trust triumvirate.
Francesca has told the truth, and that’s helpful to Mets fans who have been insulted, humiliated and disgraced by current ownership and management. I say: keep the pressure on Mets ownership, Mike, because that’s the only way to bring about change and less pain for us long suffering fans.
Francesa should continue to hammer this sorry-ass organization. He’s not “putting a dagger into Mets fans hearts”…. Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz are!!!! DON’T STOP HAMMERING THEM, MIKE!!!!
He’s 100% right in everything he has been saying.. not sure exactly what the problem is here, Mets fans don’t like hearing the truth…