NY Sports Guy breaks it down.
Please forgive me. I’d like to write this in advance to all 8 of you that will read my blogs this season. 7 of those 8 will be my friends who will be reading just because I will make them. As for the rest of you, well, I’ll say it again. Please forgive me. I may write a few things this year that you may disagree with. I may write some things that will anger you. But with every time you disagree or get angry, you will be enlightened another time. Or you’ll at least laugh a little bit. I also, like most fans, think that I am actually a part of the Mets Organization. I will say things like “Why can’t we get a groundball” or “We have to start hitting the ball in the gaps”. I know that I am not but its easier, so stop hating.
With that said, I’ll get right to it. The New York Metropolitans have done barely anything to improve the team this year. With every move they made, there was another move they didn’t make. As an overly critical fan, I realized that with every positive development, there was an equally negative regression.
Here are the Pros
We picked up a crafty, veteran, right-handed bat in Moises Alou. He will help Wright see some better pitches. Yeah he’s forty but he’s still 15 years younger than El Duque
Acquisitions of Scott Schoeneweis, Ambiorix Burgos, and Jorge Sosa highlight a list of relievers that fortify the bullpen. They will have to memorize Rick Petersen’s triangle of peak performance theory before they even pick up a baseball.
Re-signed important role players such as Tom Glavine (phew), Jose Valentin, Endy Chavez (my boy) and yes Willie Randolph. He wears a uniform too.
Bye Bye Cliff Floyd. You could have cemented yourself in Mets history in game seven last year but a strike out was way more appropriate. Cliff’s a good guy and all but so was Mo Vaughn.
Uh yeah that’s about it. I don’t know maybe Anderson Hernandez learned to hit by now?
In the Middle
Chan Ho (hit it out of the) Park. Considering we only gave him 600,000 dollars and he could potentially be an inning eater, I can’t disagree with the signing too much. But then again he is really bad and watching him pitch in a big spot gives me anxiety already. The same type of anxiety I got when…
Steve Trachsel was pitching. Or should I say throwing. This guy is why I take Paxil every day. I mean he came in there every 5th day and pitched his little heart out. He gets an “A” for effort. But in the major leagues “effort” means as much as “potential”. About as much “potential” as Kaz Matsui had.
Here are the Joes (worst show ever), I mean Cons.
Starting pitching. Absolutely nothing was accomplished. Wasn’t Barry Zito supposed to be a New York Met this year? I mean that’s what I thought. 126 million dollars is a lot of money to spend on a number two pitcher. In the long run that was the best choice, but we could have definitely used another arm and it is by far the biggest question heading into the season. Maybe Heilman could be a starter this year? HAHA just kidding.
Bye Bye Bradford. The knuckle scraping righty killer wasn’t worth the 10 million the Orioles gave him…. NOT (Borat brought it back). Omar apparently didn’t see his value as much as I did.
Bye Bye Victor Zambrano. Actually that’s a Pro. My bad.
We picked up a crusty, old antique in Moises Alou. He could be Reyes’s grandfather. This guy stays on the field about as much as JD Drew and Carl Pavano combined. Maybe he should get the same trainer as Guillermo Mota?
Our best reasonably aged offensive acquisition was a tie between Damion Easley and David Newhan. I couldn’t decide who was better. I racked my brain for hours but I just couldn’t. Sorry.
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Now I realize there is so much a General Manger can do. There are only so many players available and you don’t want to be handing out long-term contracts like Bill Belicheck hands out dirty looks. Overall I think that at best, we stayed the same. Which in hindsight isn’t so bad. Mets fans want Championships to brag about, and unless you have a ring on your finger, you have to improve by adding new blood to the team. We have the core of Jose, David and Carlos as position players but starting pitching is more important than anything. Can the likes of Mike Pelfry, John Maine and Oliver Perez step up and give the team what it needs in 2007?
We may just have to hope that our 3 perennial MVP candidates carry us again in 2007. Maybe our patience will pay off. I hear there is a big lefty from Minnesota that might be available in 2008. Something tells me he will be worth a 126 million dollar price tag. But until then, we will just have to be optimistic and wait for Pedro to come back in August. Did anyone else hear that he is throwing 95 mph again?
