Its been a long time since my last post here on MMO, but it’s great to be back. I’ve been a Met since in 1973, I know there are those of you out there who go back even further tan I do, and I salute you. Especially those of you who are original Met fans, almost fifty years of believing in the Amazins is quite an accomplishment. In my time as a Met fan, I’ve seen some good times and some bad times. The good times of course were the mid 1980’s, 1999 and 2000. The bad times were the late 1970’s, we lost our way a bit in the 1990’s, but those two periods are nothing compared with what the last four years have been and what the future appears to be holding for us fans.
Fred Wilpon’s comments late last week about Omar Minaya’s status as GM (Is the sun going to rise), and his son Jeff (he’s doing an excellent job), have me very deeply concerned. Has Fred Wilpon even been following this club? Does he even care anymore? Has Fred become the Lorinda DeRoulet of the 2000’s, owning the team, but letting a bunch of buffoons, disguised as baseball executives run the Mets? Even id I was to look at the past four season through blue and orange colored glasses, I still see something deeply disturbing with this ball club.
In 2007 Willie Randolph managed the Mets to the worst collapse in baseball history. In the off season the Mets issued an apology to the fans, but didn’t do much else. When 2008 started, it was obvious that Randolph and the Mets still suffered a hangover from 2007. It wasn’t until June 2008 that Willie was relieved of his duties as Mets manager. But in naming Jerry Manuel has Randolph’s successor, the Mets made an error. Manuel was Randolph’s bench coach. He was just as much as a part of the crash of 2007 as Randolph was. To Jerry;s credit the Mets rallied under him in 2008, and didn’t fall until pitcher’s John Maine and Billy Wagner went on the disabled list. Why in the summer of 2008 Omar didn’t make a move for some pitching is unknown to me.
2009 was on embarrassment or injury after another. The 2009 season was also the year the Mets started their policy of misleading (lying) to the fans. In the first part of the season the Mets suffered a bunch of injuries. Then in June the Mets started telling us how the “stars” will be ready to back right after the All Star Break. That timetable was then pushed back till July 31, then mid-August. Soon it became apparent that some players were going to be shut down for the season. The Mets new state of the art home, CitiField, became home to nothing more than a bunch of AA and AAA players. During the 2009 off season, I had the chance to speak with a lot of partial or season ticket holders who said “enough is enough”. Fans were quickly tiring of ownership’s misleading statements, and the lack of activity by G.M. Omar Minaya.
Here we are now in 2010. The Mets come back from the ASB, and have a 2-7 road trip. Then win a series at CitiField against the Cardinals, but then get embarrassed by the Diamondbacks. The biggest road trip of the season six games against the Braves and Phillies, and the Mets 2-4. But even better in the middle of this road trip, Met owner Fred Wilpon states that GM Omar Minaya will back as sure as the son will rise, and his son Jeffy is doing an excellent job as COO. Really Fred? In what world? Perhaps, in the board room when you guys are reviewing financial statements and the bottom line is healthy. But in terms of winning games, or even showing fans you care, Omar and Jeff are complete and utter failures.
The Mets didn’t make a move this year at the trading deadline. Was anyone surprised? In fact can anyone name ONE major in season trade Omar Minaya has made in his entire tenure as Met GM? One?
How about back in May when the Mets were in Atlanta, by that time most of us knew Jerry would not be able to get the job done. So, Jeff, Omar, and John Ricco fly down to Atlanta to meet with Jerry. After the meeting Jeffy tells reporters, “sorry guys it’s too early to fire anyone. If I was going to fire the manager, I would not have let him start the season.” Okay Jeffy, fair enough. But what about after the 2-7 west coast trip? How the just completed 2-4 road trip? Is it still too early? But in Jeffy’s world daddy’s opinion is the only one that matters, and Jeffy is doing an excellent job.
Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon, Omar Minaya, and Jerry Manuel appear to be so far out of tough with reality that we fans are ready to revolt. The last time the Met fans revolted was in the late 1970’s. There were about 7,000 fans each night at Shea. So far this year the Mets attendance is down more than any other team in majors, at about 6300 fans per game. You can expect those numbers to get worse now that the Mets are out of it. fans want to boycott. One this blog not so long ago, there was a post about boycotting the August 25th game. I’m all in. The only way to bring ownership back to reality is to stay away. Ownership is so far gone, that the only thing they may understand is a “hit” against the bottom line.
Sadly Met fans, it appears that the Bad Old Days are here again. Hopefully, the kids will surprise us, but I’m thinking it will be quite awhile before we see meaningful September baseball at CitiField.
