Oftentimes I feel as though we have some of the most irrational, bipolar, manic-depressive, flip-flopping fans and writers I’ve ever seen. Win three games, order the champagne and playoff tickets. Lose three games, open the windows and get out on your ledges.
In a matter of 13 days I saw one site go from “Do Something Mets” to “Sandy’s In All-Out, Full-On, Hustle Mode” to “Where’s Sandy? He Needs To Get The Cavalry”.
For years I’ve seen fans absolutely thrilled to get away from the knee-jerk-reaction way of doing things under Omar Minaya, and embracing Sandy Alderson’s methodical, well-thought-out approach to building a team that can give us a long run of sustainable championship caliber success.
It’s amazing how after a little taste of winning and contending, you now have many fans and bloggers caving in, and who want to go back to the old, dated, and counterproductive ways of doing things.
These are actual quotes:
“Let’s do something! We gotta do something! Look at the Atlanta Braves, they’re doing something!”
“Sandy needs to get off his ass and do something! Anything! Stop sitting on your f–king hands and do something!”
“Obviously this front office don’t give a shit about winning!”
One of things I love about our team of writers is how they will often post on potential options for the Mets in such an objective manner, considering all the pros and cons and not ignoring the cost in dollars and prospects.
What drives me insane is all the drivel about the Mets needing to sign a bat, or a reliever, or a glove, but never mentioning any specific players and what they’re willing to part with. Just a bunch of incoherent ramblings and mutterings with no substance or ideas, just mindless screaming and dubious finger pointing.
I’d love to know exactly what these people want Sandy Alderson to do?
They act as though the Mets have their pick of any players they could possibly want, all for the rock-bottom price of Dillon Gee and Danny Muno.
“Why weren’t the Mets in on Trumbo? At least we’d know they actually care about winning.”
That was another gem I read elsewhere. It’s like no rational thought is given about acquiring a player that actually fits a need and has an open position to fill.
The Mets are reeling after a great start. The Mets have been mired in a June swoon since losing Daniel Murphy. I get it.
I’d love to see the Mets get a bat to beef up the offense, but who? And at what position? And most importantly, at what cost?
What I don’t want to see is Alderson make a move that will undermine what we’ve been trying to build over the last five years just so we could win 3-4 more games. And that’s if we’re lucky and the move actually pans out. Most of the time such fixes never work out.
Imagine if we had a general manager who would react and make moves just to pacify the lunatic fringe of the blogosphere? Well actually we don’t have to imagine it, we’ve already experienced it.
This is exactly what led to the downfall of Omar Minaya. He came in talking about a five year vision, but as soon as he got a taste of winning four years ahead of time, he scrapped his plan and went into balls-to-the-wall, win at all costs mode. And as we’ve seen all too many times, it failed epically and set the organization back another five years.
Now we have some who would see us go though this vicious cycle again, all because we spent a few weeks in first place.
We have some who are willing to trade seven years of Steven Matz or Noah Syndergaard to get a bandaid type fix that probably backfires on us. I’m sick and tired of shooting ourselves in the foot.
What blows my mind about those calling for Alderson to go out and get the cavalry, is that they have their heads so far up their asses they can’t even comprehend that the cavalry may already be here in the form of Dilson Herrera and knocking-at-the-door Michael Conforto.
We’ve been so patient for five years, why can’t we wait another few months? Why can’t we allow “the plan” to play out and come to fruition when we’re so f–king close?
In the meantime why can’t we just enjoy what we’re seeing and understand that whether or not we win or lose this season, our young players are getting the experience of grinding it out in the heat of a playoff push. This is so invaluable to say the least.
The Mets are tempering and hardening many of their young core players and readying them not for a one-and-done as in 2006, but for something much more substantial and lasting. This is our 1984 and 1985. Let’s not ruin it.
So my message to Sandy Alderson is to ignore the lunatic fringe and stay the course. If you can find a tweak or two for this season at a reasonable cost, fine.
But if other teams are only demanding our best prospects for their over the hill, overpaid, and overrated dispensable parts, please take a pass.
The smarts ones among us understand the greater good and realize that the other 29 teams are not bending over backwards to help us as others seem to think.
