I’m not really a negative fan, at least I’d like to think so. I never booed Oliver Perez or Luis Castillo, and I never called for Omar’s firing. I don’t think I’m smarter than the people who run a professional baseball team, and I try to recognize there’s always more to a story than we know.
Now yes, it’s early, and anything can happen. However, you don’t win games with a lack of talent. The Mets have no bullpen, and without diving further into their problems, that alone is going to make them an under .500 ball club.
I’m a very pro-Alderson guy right now, and its not because I read Moneyball. It’s because I think he’s the right man for this job right now and the alternative is what created this mess. Minaya was great from 05-07 but he lost control of the team and totally ignored the minor leagues. You can’t sustain a winning franchise by depleting the minor leagues.
With that said, I think we as a fan base need to start coming to the realization that blowing up this entire team may be the best thing for the future of the franchise.
It wouldn’t make me happy, but it has to be the wisest plan imaginable for Alderson and the Wilpon’s moving forward doesn’t it?
Look, nobody reading this has any idea what the financial status of the NY Mets is or will be. We have to at least consider it to be “not good.” After all, when the owner of your company is or will be involved in a heavy financial lawsuit (guilty or innocent), its never good for business.
In 2007, WFAN’s Mike Francesa suggested the team get blown apart after the epic collapse. I disagreed then, because they still have enough talent to win a division and had the team filled in some depth for the 2008 season, they would have made the playoffs.
With all of that out of the way, the Mets have to look at the franchise from afar and see what everybody else sees.
They have no farm system; literally they have nothing. I can’t think of another MLB team who doesn’t have a single prospect everybody is waiting on. More so, I can’t think of a single last place caliber team with nothing in the farm.
When you’re in last place, and you have over $100m in payroll and not one legitimate prospect in the farm, you are in a heap of trouble.
If the plan is to rebuild the franchise, the only way to do it is to start dealing away veteran pieces. They aren’t going to revamp the franchise by waiting for June to roll around and drafting a few long shots.
It has to be done right, and the only way to rebuild correctly is to do it with depth. You not only need a few highly touted homegrown guys but you also need a successful young bullpen. Bullpen’s are not purchased, they are grown. All of this cannot be done over night.
David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, Johan Santana (when healthy), Mike Pelfrey and Francisco Rodriguez could net this franchise some good young players. Do I know which? Of course not, none of us do and to start listing off names is pure guess work.
The point is, the only reason to not totally blow up the team is fan backlash. Something tells me the fan backlash is only going to get worse and nothing gets done and the team falls into a permanent last place team with a 10 year waiting period for the farm system to rebound.
It won’t be pretty but I think fans would appreciate it more in the long run if we knew what the plan was earlier rather than later. If you want me to buy into a complete overhaul, start selling it to me now, not at the last minute.
If the Mets management came out and told the fans that the focus will be on the future, and they are open to dealing the players listed above, how would you react?
