Any day now, pitchers and catchers will begin reporting to spring training all across Florida and Arizona. In a few weeks, all teams, including our Mets, will begin their spring training games, and then less than two months from now, Johan Santana will likely be throwing the first live pitch for the Mets since last October.
Usually around this time of year, once the Super Bowl has been played and sports docket is less than fulfilling for most of us, I start to get that itch for baseball. I can almost smell spring when having visions of baseball, either at the ballpark or on TV. And it’s usually accented with the hope that my team, the Mets, are going to head into the season as contenders again, hoping for their first world championship since 1986.
But alas, I feel more than a twinge of apathy right now. Omar Minaya has once again given us false hope, as he signed modest slugger Jason Bay but then made no other significant moves. Well, unless you consider Kelvim Escobar, Henry Blanco and Gary Matthews, Jr. significant. I’m sorry Omar, but with each marginal move, you are increasing my own margin of apathy.
That doesn’t mean I won’t root for the Mets. After all, when fandom is in your blood, you can’t ever remove it. But beyond the fact that this Mets team has as much chance to contend as the ’62 Mets, is the fact that I almost would rather not watch it all unfold. Clearly there are better things I can find to do with my time, and the fact that I’m saying that and writing that really bums me out.
Would I feel differently had the Mets added the likes of Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay or Matt Holliday? Probably yes, but even if they somehow added all three of those guys without magically depleting the farm system, there would still be holes, and that’s not good. It’s not good for the Mets, their fans, or my apathy.
