Joel Sherman of the New York Post, asks if the Mets lack of aggressiveness is just a series of good baseball decisions by the front office or evidence that they are still feeling the fallout of the Madoff debacle and simply don’t have the dough?
Don’t you just hate it when the media concocts these false paradigms and narratives? Why is it an either/or situation? Why can’t it be both, which is evidently – and sometimes painfully – obvious to anyone with half a brain?
I wanted Yoenis Cespedes back as much as the next guy. Ditto on Jason Heyward. But at what cost in years and dollars? After six years of trying to dig out from under the weight of some financially crippling and flexibility killing second generation contracts, did we really want to venture into those dangerous waters again?
Do you really want to see the Mets make a terrible financial commitment that would have hog-tied the franchise in the latter half of a six-year deal to Cespedes or a an eight-year deal to Heyward? Is that what you want? Do we really need the Mets to make a God-awful commitment just to prove whether or not the team has moved past the financial quagmire?
Or would you rather an intelligence guided approach that keeps the future in mind and is unwilling to perilously put the team in a compromising state that could risk their longterm viability?
I imagine that most of you would opt for the latter.
Sherman accuses the front office of suffering from paralysis by analysis to the detriment of the team. Really? Is that what the last five years have shown you, Joel? How did you ever get the moniker of baseball insider?
Here’s my take on this and it’s pretty much the same thing I’ve been saying since last Winter only now I feel even more confident saying it. It’s apparent that we are heading into the new season with an Opening Day lineup that is superior to the one we had last year. Sandy Alderson has earned the benefit of the doubt based on how he went about constructing last year’s roster and then bolstering it when the timing was right as he guided the Mets to their first World Series in 15 years. Excuse me for not ignoring that ever happened as so many are choosing to do.
Would I have liked to see some more robust spending on better acquisitions this Winter – especially for a team that is coming off a year that saw revenue increases of 30 percent or more across various streams? Of course, but I also understand that we are stuck with an ownership that only spent big when they were playing with Monopoly money reaped from ill-gotten gains. It’s easy to spend big when you’re duped into thinking that all your accounts are outpacing the S&P 500 by 15 percent or more for ten straight years.
I believe we have the perfect GM to guide this team under the intense financial stranglehold that has been placed on them from day one. I look at next season knowing full well that we’ll have Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Michael Conforto right from the get-go and locked in for the long haul. I’m excited to see our five starting pitchers go full throttle with no innings limits and lessening the stress on our bullpen.
I’ve already shared my thoughts on the additions of Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera who not only boost last year’s middle infield production offensively and defensively, but also instantly upgrades the bench with Wilmer Flores replacing Kelly Johnson or Juan Uribe as the quasi-super utility guy if you will.
I expect big sophomore campaigns from Hansel Robles who’s stuff is every bit as filthy as anyone else in that bullpen. Having a healthy Jerry Blevins for an entire year as opposed to just two weeks, instantly gives us that reliable left-hander the team lacked all last season. If Addison Reed can pitch as well as he did during 2012-2014 when he saved 101 games, the Mets may just have themselves one of the best 1-2 punches in the league fronting the back of the pen. Reed turns 27 tomorrow and is well-positioned for a comeback season.
Could we have done better than an Alejandro De Aza and Juan Lagares platoon in center field this offseason? No doubt about it, but if it fails to produce I know we can count on Sandy to address the situation just as he did last season.
The number one thing to remember and always keep in mind is the division the Mets play in. I may have been the first person to point out last January that the Mets could win the division simply because the Washington Nationals were overrated and not as good as the team that ended the year in 2013. They proved to be worse than even I imagined. And now they are worse still in my opinion. The Braves have already moved onto 2017, and as for the Phillies and Marlins – well, they’re the Phillies and Marlins.
I have the Mets pegged for a 92+ win season in 2016, and I believe they will end the first half firmly entrenched in first place with a team that is thoroughly the class of the division and National League powerhouse.
I know that no matter what there will always be that contingent that loves to worry and complain about the team no matter what. I still remember that Chicken Little crap I saw by one prominent Mets blogger last September – September can you believe it!?!
But I’m hoping that even that small “Oh Woe Is Me” minority are astute enough to see how substantially better this team is than last April’s model, and that our divisional competition have all taken steps backwards.
The cold hard truth is that while the Mets could have made one or two more substantial moves that befitted a team that plays in the largest market it the game, I understand the reality of the situation with our dysfunctional ownership who have turned over their financial say to the banks and lenders they owe $880 million to.
The debt financiers call the shots now and all Sandy can do is use his know-how to override the shitty hand he’s been dealt. So far, Alderson’s rebuild plan and his responsiveness to team needs have been staggeringly impressive. And still, the best is yet to come. LGM
