Futility in Motion

Let's all think back to the 2012 pre-season.  Sandy Alderson had apparently fleeced Brian Sabean in a trade for Ramon Ramirez and Anders Torres.  The bullpen had been set, and was deemed an improvement, everyone was convinced the Mets were going to have an above average offense, and the biggest concern was the starting pitching.  Now here we are, with Santana's ERA under 3, R.A. Dickey with 7 wins, a negative run differential and every Mets media outlet calling for the heads of the entire bullpen.

It all seems kind of silly in retrospect, doesn't it?

It turns out, this is why we have a season, rather than a bunch of talking heads simply just tell us who the best team is going to be each year.  After 51 games, The Mets are 5 games over .500 and in close contention for the division.  For whatever reason, this team is winning more than in recent history and should stand to improve.  There are important position players coming off the DL soon, while Lucas Duda and Ike Davis have been under-performing.  The only regular position player who has been over-performing lately has been David Wright, and while he looks to be coming back down to Earth, this should not hurt the team dramatically.

As for the rotation, it's great to see Santana pitching as well has he has ever pitched for the Mets, and Dickey seems to get better each year.  Honestly, the 1-3 spots in the rotation look very solid.  Gee has been decent as well.  With a little bit of luck, Chris Young can shore up the back end of the rotation and all of a sudden Met pitching starts to look pretty good.

The team has been winning, and it's evident on the TV broadcasts that more people have been coming out to games.  The baseball has been fun to watch, and for the first time in a long time it looks like the team has some solidarity and drive to win games.  Hopefully this translates into funds available to put back into the on-field product, because while the team has been scrappy and competitive, it is nowhere near ready to take on playoff powerhouse teams like Texas and Los Angeles.

The bullpen is the most obvious candidate for an upgrade, but as can be shown by this offseason, even the most well meaning bullpen acquisitions can be a crapshoot.  I would hope for another left handed reliever, and perhaps a long man/spot starter for some added protection at the back end of the rotation.  I would also like to see a power bat added, though we may all be singing a different tune if and when Ike Davis shows up to play.

Trying to predict the outcome of a season without playing the games is pointless.  I'm glad that the Mets are winning and can't wait to see what the rest of the season has in store, but I have a good feeling about this season.  I think the ship has been righted.

Early Season Check In

2012 is shaping up to be a refreshing season for Mets fans. The team is winning baseball games and staying healthy. Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda and David Wright are fun to watch and to root for. Injuries have not been as detrimental to the team as in previous years. The team will probably not contend for a championship with the current rotation, but that is a better situation than watching a team that should contend melt down. I believe that Sandy Alderson is well on his way to righting the ship and hopefully we can look back on 2012 as a turning point.

4-0

Baseball is awesome. F**k the haters. Nothing much else to say other than LETS GO METS!

Open Foot, Insert Mouth

Spring training is in full swing, and so is the accompanying media blitz. Spring training offers unparalleled access to the players', coaches' and even team owners' views on the beginning of the season, and already the Mets cunning owner Fred Wilpon has come up with this gem. (Emphasis added, full story at The Bergen Record.)

"When [Sandy] came in [he said], ‘I want to do some things; I want to have some flexibility and I want to have flexibility in the four or five areas you can have flexibility in.’ And that’s what he’s doing. I don’t remember a time where we’ve turned down [our baseball department] when a general manager and the manager and the people wanted certain people. Look at our history. We had a lot of payroll for a period of time. Some of it wasn’t well invested.”

Hah.

Ha ha ha ha. Hah.

So we have a supposed real estate mogul who is currently caught up in the legal trappings of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history talking about making wise investments in a baseball team. That is too rich.

I'm actually glad Sandy Alderson appears to be behind the decision to cut payroll. It's a lot like one of those reality shows where Gordon Ramsay shows up to a failing resturant, swears a bunch, throws out a ton of things, and then starts over with his own menu. I hope that's what's going on here, because so far all the Wilpons have done to distinguish themselves is hand out some confusing t-shirts and admit that they make bad investments. Clowns.

Play Ball!

Alright friends, winter is coming to an end and baseball activities have officially resumed. A lot of fans are already phoning this season in for the Mets, but I'm not one of them. For one, baseball is totally sweet and I'm exited for its return in general. Another reason is that I saw the movie Moneyball last year and it inspired me to believe that a team lacking in so-called "star power" can still win. Perhaps the strongest reason that I'm exited to watch this Mets team play is that I read the book Moneyball as well. I realized that the same people in charge of that floundering, backwards, cash strapped organization are now in charge of this floundering, backwards, and cash strapped organization and that gives me great hope.

Sandy Alderson seems to be a very smart guy, and I think he has something up his sleeve. I think Terry Collins is in on it too. The quote "we are going to be better this year than a lot of people expect us to be" has a certain air to it, a tone that these guys know something that the rest of us don't. If I had to guess, I would say that the secret weapon is Lucas Duda. I expect a monster year from him, as well as an offensive spark that the team has not seen since Carlos Delgado was healthy.

Another point of interest to be taken from Moneyball is that we should not expect the opening day roster to look the same as the roster after the All-Star break. I expect Sandy Alderson to capitalize on opportunities to make the team better in ways that Mets fans have not seen before. This year's off season market was relatively thin and supremely overpriced, and Sandy simply didn't bite on the big players. I can respect that, especially considering the current state of affairs was partially caused by Omar Minaya's offseason spending sprees.

I highly suggest reading the book Moneyball if you have not. Doubly so if you are a Mets fan, because if there is ever going to be a sequel, then the source material will come from what is happening right now. The philosophies explained in that book definitely cast a new light on Sandy's actions and non-actions this offseason. All the noise and outrage over not making a big move, even not retaining Jose Reyes, is ridiculous. I understand the fan sentiment, but the Mets entire history has been defined by spending big on free agent busts. It's time to move away from the conventional wisdom and try something new. Sandy is the man to do that, and this season we get to see what that looks like.

I'm not going to talk a lot about what happened this winter, because there's not a whole lot to report. We lost Jose. We have a ton of young talent eager to make its mark. We have a former ace starting pitcher returning from injury. Most importantly, I think, is that we have a plan for the future and I'm excited to see those seeds get sown this season. Let's play ball.

The Past is Only the Future With the Lights On

I had been taking a break from blogging due to the fact that I find the offseason rumor mill tiresome and nedlessly stressful. That being said, I just watched the press conference from Dallas welcoming Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins.

Yikes.

Based on Jose's remarks during the conference, everything building to this moment sort of makes sense now. Fred Wilpon's comments in the paper, the quiet wait-and-see approach to Reyes during the offseason, even the bunt single on the last day of Reyes' Mets career for the batting title. It's clear in hindsight that the Mets had no real intention of keeping Reyes, and Reyes had no real interest in staying. It's a shame, since Reyes is so good and has been somewhat of a point of pride for the Mets, but realistically Jose Reyes does not make sense on the Mets; he'd have been wasting his prime years.

I wish Reyes had expressed a bit more of a bittersweet sentiment about leaving the Mets, but he seemed fairly eager to start fresh with a new team. I don't blame Reyes or harbor any ill will towards him for making the sensible decision to go where the money is. Miami seems to be poised for success in the near term, and seemed to welcome Jose with open arms. I just wish as much could be said for NY.

David Wright and Jose Reyes had been billed as "the future", and perhaps with more competent ownership and management we'd have more to show from that era, but after financial scandal and emptying the farm for disappointment on the open market, the core has finally been blown up. It's time to cut bait and start building for a new future. Sandy Alderson seems to understand that, and I hope the fans will be willing to let him make the hard decisions necessary to fix this trainwreck of a franchise. Hopefully the next time we get a chance to re-sign a homegrown superstar talent like Jose Reyes, the decision to go with the winning team will keep him in NY.

Wave Goodbye

That's it, all she wrote. The 2011 season for the New York Mets is in the books. They finish the year 8 games under .500, marking the 3rd straight losing season for the team. This was a tough season to endure, and a true "rebuilding year". The Mets cut a few infamous players, but not their financial obligations, and replaced them with bargain bin players off of the scrap heap. I have faith in the direction of the new front office and management, but the current financial hole the team is in will make the near future difficult. Bad luck still seems to follow this team, with injuries to 3 of the team's star players in Ike Davis, David Wright and Jose Reyes.

Speaking of Reyes, the uncertainty regarding his future is as prominent as ever. All I have to say on the matter is that I hope Jose's last game as a Met was not the premature outing we saw today. Jose is a pillar of the organization and will be immensely hard to replace in the offseason. Without Reyes, or a player of similar caliber, the Mets take a giant step backwards and further distance themselves from serious competition in the increasingly difficult NL East. I can't speculate on the moves Sandy Alderson will pursue over the offseason, so I can only hope that Reyes, Santana and Davis return to help the club next year.

Enjoy the offseason,

-Keaston

Carlos Beltran

For this post, I'm going to share an e-mail I sent to Ted Berg regarding the departure of Carlos Beltran. This was sent the day after the all-star game and bears mentioning in the wake of the recent trade.

Hi Ted,

Something about last nights game really moved me. I think I came to grips with the fact that Carlos Beltran will be leaving the Mets soon. Say what you will about the All-Star Game, but I'm extremely glad I got to see his two plate appearances, rally-starting single, and coming across the plate as the tying run off of Price Fielder's home run. Somehow, that one inning put his entire career as a Met in perspective for me.

I realized last night how much I'm going to miss Carlos' understated-yet-graceful style of play, and how central he has been to these Mets we've come to know over recent years. Moreover, I began to fully comprehend the tragedy of having his whole career unfairly boiled down to one plate appearance, one pitch, and one backwards letter "K".

Carlos Beltran truly is awesome, and I hope he gets the chance to win a World Series on a legitimate contender. He is clearly past his prime physically, but continues to carry himself with dignity and has proven time and time again that he can still play.

I'm sure Carlos will do anything he can to help whatever team he's on, and will continue to do so quietly and without hesitation, unlike so many of his aging counterparts that we've heard about this year.

Beltran, playing in a largely meaningless game and in an unfamiliar setting, showed just what kind of a ball player he is last night. He made the absolute most out of his two plate appearances, and contributed to giving his team, and NL fans everywhere, the win. He did it for a team that he has never played for before, and never will again. Carlos Beltran is not selfish, he is a treasure of the game, and Mets fans are lucky to have witnessed his peak years. Hopefully we're also smart enough to realize this.

If there's any way you could pass this sentiment on to people closely associated with the team, I would appreciate it. Beltran might be one of the most under-appreciated players on the team. I'd like for him to know that the fans are going to miss him dearly, and that we wish him the best of luck in future baseball endeavors.

Yours,

Kevin Easton

Ted, a professional journalist for SNY, took the time to respond to me. He's a passionate Mets fan and a funny, clever guy. If you're not reading his blog, do yourself a favor and fix that.

Goodbye Carlos Beltran. We'll always miss you in flushing, but best of luck with the Giants!

All-Star Break

We sit now, finally, at the beginning of a new era in Queens. Sandy Alderson is at the head of a team that was crafted by someone else, and that is over-achieving to play .500 baseball. The first major trade of the season has occurred, with K-Rod going to the Brewers. Most of the one-year-deal players brought in during the spring seem to be readily available to any team willing to kick the tires, and Alderson seems poised to start running things his way this off-season. Nobody can really tell when the Mets will be serious contenders again, but hopefully a few seasons of competent and responsible player management will pave the way to sustained success.

Quick opinion on the season so far:

It's impossible to overstate the importance of having so few "automatic outs" on the roster as compared to previous seasons. This is reflected by the apparent "gritty/scrappy" offense of Turner, Murphy, et al. A team is far more likely to rally when they don't have a roster full of rally killers.

David Wright, Ike Davis and Jose Reyes are good, but may not be the kind of superstar talent necessary to compete with the modern iterations of the Phillies and Braves. The roster could use some bona-fide offensive players in the outfield. Something to look out for in the future.

Turner, Murphy, Thole, R. A. Dickey and Capuano are fun to watch and great players to root for, but may bring in more in an off-season trade than what they produce on the field. Unfortunately, at this point the team should be focused on getting better no matter what. I'm glad that Alderson has to make the hard choices and not me.

Lastly, I'm all for the K-Rod trade. It was the responsible thing to do. Frankie was always a bit more of a headache than he was worth anyway.

Midseason Mets

It's been awhile between posts, and for that I apologize. I've been busy moving into a new house. In the meantime, the New York Mets have been playing some truly uninspiring baseball. I did not expect too much from the Phillies series, but the team has also endured tough losses to the Cubs and now the Pirates, both of which are teams that the Mets should be capable of steamrolling. There has been a rash of unfortunate injuries, but so far that seems to be no worse that what befalls any given team during any given season.

The most interesting news regarding the team lately has been happening off the field, which is unfortunate. I view this as a baseball blog and try not to get into the off-field drama, but since there is almost nothing else to talk about, I'll weigh in on the recent happenings.

Fred Wilpon has got to go. Ever since I started following this team, the ownership has done nothing that put them in a positive light for me. Weather it was the 3am decicion to fire Willie Randolph or the most recent comments to the press, everything that ownership has done publicly has been unsavory. I'm glad that the Mets have found a minority investor, and I hope that this is the beginning of a transfer of power.

Recent rumblings indicate that the team may have to move either Wright or Reyes to meet payroll restrictions for next season. I am fairly tired of the speculation and have always adopted a "wait and see" approach. I am glad, however, that this is a change from all of the recent babble about how Reyes was absolutely going to be traded. Once again, wait and see. The incessant yammering and the foregone conclusions have grown tiring.

Lastly, I'd like to share a few links:

Terry Collins' Postgame Press Conference 5/01/2011
This is interesting to listen to and shows a passion that was apparently absent from the team's past two managers.

Ted Berg Shares a Story About Minor League Baseball and Tacos
As a Rochester, NY native, I found this story charming. Hopefully you will too.

Let's hope that Terry was able to identify the changes he was talking about last night, and brings them to the table. Let's Go Mets!