Here’s a new feature that will take a look at some of the stuff making the rounds in the Mets blogosphere. Tell us if you think the following statement is Fair or Foul.
Trying to piecemeal together a ballclub like the Mets have done almost never works. Incremental upgrades work for contending teams. They’re wasted money for teams intent on slicing their payroll by one-third as the Mets are. As tough as it would have been to hand the injury-prone Reyes the six years Miami did, the structure of the contract actually made sense for the Mets, who have no money now but, whether under new ownership or a vanity-share-stabilized Fred Wilpon, should a few years down the road.
Instead, the Mets – the least-talented team in the NL East by a fairly large margin – spent the winter working on their bullpen. And while it projects as a potential strength, relief pitching is notoriously difficult to peg year-over-year, and the possibility for implosion is almost as strong. Moreover, bullpen strength is almost always an endgame for teams on the upswing.
Lock down the starting pitching, fortify the lineup, then bolster the bullpen. The Mets are trying to build from the bottom up, the sort of strategy that works just about never. ~ Jeff Passan, Yahoo Sports
What do you think – fair or foul?
