We are just a couple of weeks away from opening day, so perhaps this a bit premature, but if the Mets fail to make the playoffs, there will be one man and one man only, to blame. It won't be Omar Minaya, or Jerry Manuel. It won't be the Wilpons. It won't be Reyes, Wright, Beltran or Delgado, either. It won’t be any of the bums vying for the 5th starter’s spot or other targets of our collective ire, such as Luis Castillo or Brian Schneider. Then it's gotta be Heilman, Shoeneweis, Sanchez or Ayala, right? Wait, all those guys are gone. Well then, who is it you ask? It's not a player, coach, or any member for the Mets organization for that matter. The man responsible for the Mets potential 2009 demise is none other than Bernie Madoff. Now I'm not suggesting that anyone remove SNY from their favorites button of the remote control. Nor am I saying it's time to wave the white flag before the season even begins. The Mets have a solid team. In my opinion, they have the best starter, the best one-two punch at the back-end of the bullpen, the best center fielder and lead-off man in all of baseball. From top to bottom, the Mets are a talented team that has a realistic shot of winning it all.
With all that said, the Mets had a chance to go from a legitimate contender to the prohibitive National League favorite had they been more aggressive in a market that saw salaries for All-Star caliber players completely bottom out. Orlando Hudson, a brilliant defensive second baseman with above average skills offensively was allowed to go to the Dodgers for $3 million. The perfect replacement for Luis Castillo was allowed to slip away for less than what the Mets paid Scott Shoeneweis two years ago. They tried to low-ball a possible future Hall-of-Famer* in Bobby Abreu by offering him about $3.5 million. I don't love Bobby Abreu. He's soft, afraid of the wall, and he's left-handed, while the Mets’ are crying out for a righty slugger. Even so he would have been a major upgrade over Ryan Church in right. It is pretty obvious there was no chance he was coming after the Mets demonstrated a Pittsburgh Pirate-esque display of financial prowess when dealing with the aforementioned Abreu and Hudson. In a down market, a mega-market team like the Mets needs to strike while the iron is hot. They had the wherewithal to at least sign two of those guys. Or did they?...
*I know the words Hall-of-Famer and Bobby Abreu don't seem to be synonymous with one another but if you don't think the guy has a shot at the Hall, think again. He has eight seasons of 100+ RBI, a career BA of .300 after 13 seasons, an impressive 318 steals and barring injury he is a lock for at least 2,500 Hits. If he sticks around until he's 40, a liberal projection of his career numbers factoring in a decline would be 1500+ RBI, 300+ HR, a near .300 BA, 2,500+ Hits and 350+ SB. With these numbers he's a slam dunk for the Hall-of-Fame. And this tainted baseball era, that he's never been once mentioned as a steroid user, will only enhance his Hall-of-Fame resume.
Does it annoy you that our team is moving into a virtual cash cow of a new ballpark, has the aid of lush revenue streams courtesy of a regional sports network and is receiving $20 million per year in stadium naming rights courtesy of us taxpayers…ahem…I mean Citigroup, and is acting like a stiffer miser than Ebenezer Scrooge! Do the Wilpon's spend money lots of money? Sure they do. The Mets’ $145 million payroll is nothing to scoff at, no doubt. But even the lowly Pirates significantly raised payroll when they moved into their new ballpark. The Nationals were prepared to fork over $180 million for Mark Teixeira until he chose the Evil Empire, then they dropped $10 million for Adam Dunn. Look at the Royals recent transactions; they signed Jose Guillen for 36 million over 3 years, Gil Meche to 55 million over 5 years, re-signed Zach Greinke for 4 years and 36 million. They even aggressively signed some veteran relievers over the past few off-seasons.* The Mets, on the other hand, with all the extra revenue decide to maintain the exact same payroll. I hate to compare the Mets to the Yankees, but it's hard not to when you live right next door. Does anybody think there would be a snowball's chance in hell that Luis Castillo would be starting at 2nd Base if the Steinbrenner family owned the Mets? Is there any doubt that Manny, the greatest right-handed hitter of this era, that final missing piece, would not be wearing an interlocking NY on his cap?
*Many people scoff at the recent signings of the Royals. Most criticize the team for moves they deem dumb and overpriced. I can't blame them though. They know that premium players will never sign with them if they can get the same money elsewhere. They have no other real choice than to overpay for 2nd tier talent and hope that their young prospects can carry them to the next level. At least their ownership, lately, is showing they care by giving their fans a reason to show up to the ballpark. Look at the Twins, before his death in January, team owner Carl Pohlad, with a net-worth of $3.6 billion, was ranked #102 on Forbes list of the 400 Richest Men in America, and yet he would routinely let his best players walk in free-agency despite being a playoff contender every year. So would you rather be a Royal’s fan, knowing that ownership, at least recently, is making an attempt even if they fail? Or a Twins fan, knowing that your team might contend, but will never take that extra step because their ownership won’t make the extra acquisition necessary? Who really wants that agony?
Whether it’s dropping the ball after getting humiliated by the Yankees in 2000 and not signing A-Rod that off-season** or failing to fix their mistake by signing Vlad Guerrero in 2003, the Mets have had a disturbing history of coming up small when great players are there for the taking. Do I want the Mets to be exactly like the Yankees with a bloated $200 million dollar payroll? No, but do I expect our team who, according to Forbes has the 3rd highest revenue dollars in the sport, to throw caution to the wind and sign the one or two players that could put the team over-the-top? Damn right I do. As Mets fans we should not only expect it, we should demand it!
**As for A-Roid, this is one of those ‘had we known then what we know now, we wouldn't be complaining’ deals. Maybe signing A-Rod in the 2000 off-season would have blown up in our faces amid his turbulent stay here in NY. But I will defy anyone who claims, with a straight face, they weren't pissed as all hell that the Mets didn't sign him at the time. With respect to Vlad, Met officials actually used the bogus excuse that ‘doctors didn't like what they saw in the medical reports’, what a disgrace!
So why do the Mets, in big spots, with a chance to steal the back pages of the local tabloids always come up small? In past years, it was being gun-shy after the big money disasters like Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Frank Viola, Brett Saberhagen and Mo Vaughn. Then Omar took over and it looked like the Mets had finally taken that next step towards accepting the fact that NY isn't a mid-market and that in order to succeed with the fan base here you've gotta spend. To the Wilpon's credit, I think they started to make strides. Omar was able to convince them that building slowly through the farm was not the answer, and that the fans would not tolerate his Scroogism. So what happened? What changed? Well, it's time we come full circle and get back to our boy Bernie Madoff. Wilpon has lost up to $500 million in the Ponzi scheme, but claims this wouldn't effect their baseball operations. Does anybody believe a team like the Mets, under normal circumstances, would have allowed a guy like Abreu to sign with another team over a mere $1.5 million? Does anyone believe that our 5th starter would be one of the three bums who need either A-Roids, Metamucil, or both, instead of Pedro Martinez, if everything was kosher? Does anybody believe that the Mets wouldn't have shown some interest in Manny, even if it was just to appease the fan faithful, if everything was A-OK? The answer is NO! Rot in prison Bernie, and savor it while it lasts, because your new penthouse after prison will be in that luxurious, palatial living space known as, hell! With any luck O.J will be your cellmate! -J.P.G.
