LMAO with that one.

It seems being a Met fan of late is like being a skeptical Jack Lemmon in “Some Like It Hot” trying not to agree withTony Curtis to place all their money on a horse. Jack asked “what if” and Tony replied “What if the stock market crashes? What if the Dodgers leave Brooklyn? What if Mary Pickford divorces Douglas Fairbanks?”

Ciao

Will finances every cease to be a problem?
Will the rejects and lower level players always be on the 25 man roster?
Will moneyball ever producer a winner in NY?
Do we have to always relie on a box of chocolates to complete a good deal.
At the winter meetings do we as fans feel Sandy has excess baggage?
At the trade deadline is it time for the Mets to fold up as one of Sandy’s cheap suitcases?

Stay tuned or hit the snooze button. Yes it”s Groundhog Day again.

Oh wait Keith shaved off his mustache.
There is no Jason Bay.
There is no Mike Pelfrey

Maybe its February 3rd and we can move forward.

I see Sandy Alderson being more like the radio – same program as the alarm goes off each morning.

The movie I can relate to more Is Groudhog Day. Especially at the Winter Meetings. SA has to look in the mirror and see the collateral damage done while saving the Wilpons. SA has to start putting together a contender not in some distant future, but today. His bosses invested alot in DW. By doing that he chose to forgo the opportunity to rebuild intensely. He could then have had a 100M payroll. Everybody knows we need talent playing with DW or his remaining prime years will be further wasted. Will Groudhog Day end? This Winter Meeting we tell us if its the same old same old.

So you are giving Sandy a pass on the past two seasons because the financial situation kept focusing on the team out of his hands and today he starts a new leaf? If so, I can find that fair. Can also understand your thoughts about why David Wright was re-signed as well and that this might be the starting point of his true Met legacy, not before.

However, while one might look at it in terms of this “being the first day of the rest of your life”, some others might be seeing it as a remake of the nuke film “Panic In The Zero”. LOL

It is just that I do not trust Sandy and it might not entirely be due to his own actions but because of the pedistal so many put him on and how for two years they justied the wisdom of almost each and every one of his moves based on vision, his analytic baseball sense, that the team needed to be broken up due to too many how priced but underperforming players how he was the architect at Oakland, the grandfather of sabermetrics, money ball, etc., etc.

Had they not equated those moves with baseball wisdom and said Sandy was trying to fill a roster as cheaply as possible to save the Wilpons’ own neck, I might be a less bit cynical about Sandy himself. However, he was as much a part of that B.S. spin as anyone so it is hard to find trust in him now. Also, after two years of observing his total lack and appreciation of baseball as an observed education in lieu of his steadfast belief in statistical analysis – which he has enforced throughout the system – it is hard to find faith in him now as well.

Most of us fought hard against one another to nuke the team and rebuild or do what it takes to keep resources and fill needs by smart trades or FA. DW is signed and right or wrong an opportunity cost to the alternative was forgone i.e. get young talent. However DW is a valuable asset only if surrounded by talent.

Now that the Wilpons are here to stay- like it or not if SA lets the investment in DW go down the drain because he cannot surround DW with talent to contend then the signing was to appease DW fans and the fear of loss of more attendance. The clock is running as now is a new phase : “After the Wilpon’s survival”. SA chose not to nuke the team and rebuild/retool. SA has to transform the Mets into a contender quicky while DW is still young: Do it now.

They just need to operate at a fiscal level that can enable them to be competitive – how much they feel that is necessary and applicable within the framework of their overall operating budget we don’t know. Though a budget indeed needs to be set, it is not so much a market level figure as you suggest that is important as it is more how to become competitive within the financial framework they can afford or are willing to to use. There is no set margin as we have seen based on the gap between the Yankees, Oakland and many teams in-between.

But up to this point, the Mets either haven’t been able to or haven’t allowed themselves to be competitive because either 1) the money (as many of us say) is not there, 2) the money is there but they don’t want to spend it (as others contend) or 3) they simply do not have the right people in the front office who know how to properly use whatever financial resources they do have (which most all of us agree with).

Whatever the reasons are (and I, of course, vote for numbers one and three), I don’t see them changing in the near future and thus not allowing the Mets to pursue a new course.

Not that it would not be great to keep him and have great players at every other spot, but when you don’t have them, you have to give to get.

I know, and this isn’t a problem limited to MMO but something I have heard mentioned by some Met fans I know personally.

Many of those don’t accuse Omar of being bigoted but rather that he gave favortism to those of his own Hispanic descendance. Unfortunately, they don’t recognize that putting two and two together and coming to such a conclusion like that is still reflective of their own, inert racisim.

As of 2011, Latinos made up 27 percent of all major leaguers and more than 42 percent of all those in the minors. There are many reasons for such rising figures – socio economic, less interest in the game by those of other ethinic backgrounds or simply that a large chunk of the raw talent happens to come by those with a Hispanic background. I think that is a problem when one uses stats to measure things like racial motivation just like like it is using stats to measure major league talent and how to approach the game.

Remember back in the sixties the rap against the Pirates organization was that it had so many more Latino players compared to other clubs? The more things change, the more things still stay the same.

I don’t think any Met fan could be so full of hate as to rather seeing Brandon Hicks in a Met uniform – even with anti-Latino hate groups growing almost 50 percent in seven years.

But I am disturbed how often the subject of race has to come into the conversation simply because the Mets had a Hispanic general manager. People forget that Omar also signed at least three of my Jewish brethern to contracts during his tenure (Green, Schoenweiss and his draft pick Ike Davis) and hired an African-American as his first manager. He also traded an African American (Miledge) for two Caucasian players, Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, and Church was one who asked the National’s team chaplin if Jews were doomed because they did not accept Jesus and then felt it was his duty to spread the word (I personally did not feel Ryan was anti-semetic more than he felt what he was doing was going to help others – but as we know, that type of mindset with others has led to catastrophic results).

http://www.hispanicmpr.com/2008/02/12/anti-latino-hate-groups-grow-almost-50-percent-in-7-years/

Yes, I meant BBLB.

Alex, thanks for pointing that out.

Leroy, sorry about that.

Bayonne, this doesn’t mean I don’t like ya too.

Fonzie – thanks for the cut and paste suggestion.

Who is going to overpay for Zack Greinke or Josh Hamilton. The days of FA building are over. Firstof all you lose draft picks. The smarter use of FA is to tweak a need like getting a lefty reliever. The Yankees and Dodgers will soon be paying the price of being a “large market team” as we were during the Phillips, Omar days. Not rebuilding or if you prefer retooling and relying on second genration older players thru FA is waiting to fall as the Marlins did.. The Mets shouldt operaet as a “Mid-Level” market. They use to be in the top 2-4 in payroll. Their goal should be be in the top 3rd but no higher than fifth. A 130 M payrioll would be ideal.