I Know It’s Early But…

I know it’s early and ten games is hardly a season, but I would like to point out that everyone in NY, the media, the analysts, the doom and gloom fans (you know who you are) had the Mets being the worst team since 1962. Well, I was reading a post on Metsblog today and saw the following tidbit:

“They are off to the fourth best start in club history at 7-3. They started 8-2 in 1972, 1985, and 2006.”

That’s a pretty darn good start. Hopefully, they keep inspiring, keep proving the naysayers wrong, humble the so-called “experts” and prove to the fans that they are worth watching. Ray Kinsella said it best in the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come.” Every time the young guys do something it reminds me of why I love my team. Keep building Sandy, keep building and I’ll keep believing.

Why I Love My Mets…My Lovable Underdogs

Underdogs are people we can relate to; they’re unrefined and real. In the 1969 World Series, the Baltimore Orioles were the American League’s powerhouse and entered the matchup as the heavy favorites over the lowly Mets. The Mets were called the “Miracle Mets”, why, because they were comprised of a bunch of players who never finished higher than ninth place in a ten team league. They were a team filled with hardened, well-trained professionals and came out on top. When we see a rag-tag band of misfits like the ’69 Mets pull out a win against overwhelming odds, we’re reminded of regular people like ourselves. In the final analysis, New York shut down the most fearsome line-up in all of baseball.

There’s no pleasure in watching people who have had every advantage and financial resources to do what they’ve been trained to do, win. It’s hard to feel a kinship with a player or a team who, as a rite of passage is ‘expected’, to always be the undisputed champion. We would rather root for the average player who picks up a bat and discovers an extraordinary gift for the game. We can’t relate to extravagant packaging, expensive titivation, wanna-be man gods. We like the authenticity of the underdog themed stories that never die. We relate to their desire to belong and be respected, which is why I love rooting for the Mets. It’s why we love movies like The Karate Kid, Rudy and of course my personal favorite, Rocky. Heck, I believe it’s one of the reasons why Sylvester Stallone garnered 10 Oscar nominations in 1976. We love the concept of the underdog and the rest of the world. And we, as movie goers, sports fans, regular people, enjoy rooting for the underdog more than anything else in the entertainment industry.

It's a phenomenon rooted in our human nature from art, work to sports. For anyone who has ever watched the World Series when their team wasn’t a participant, most times, they'll ask: who is the underdog? There are certain characteristics and circumstances which the underdog must possess. First off, the underdog must be someone with whom we can relate. A true underdog hero is someone who comes from the areas we come from, the streets we grew up on and the schools we attended. They are perceived to have weaker skills than their more talented competition, but always have the tenacity to become better, it’s why we love athletes in general, a lot of them come from impoverished neighborhoods. An underdog stands up to society and its opinions of them, trying hard to become stronger and better, no matter what everyone tells them. There's a reason that we see films every single year play out the same formula as their predecessors, people enjoy watching them.

If you look at some of the most popular children’s cartoons they tell the story of the nerdy, quiet kid who is gifted with special powers, or an amazing quest with the chance to overcome all odds. They are often faced with all sorts of obstacles and eventually overcome them, joining the ranks of the truly great. I mean isn’t Spiderman none other than the dorky Peter Parker? The moral message inherent in these and other stories is vital to our connectivity to them. There's a good reason why sports fans willingly choose to suffer and shell out more money. It's a chance to vicariously live one's own experiences through the triumphs of another. It's a psychological release as well as an exciting chance to witness something we can only dream for our own lives.

When Rocky goes the distance with Creed, we can't help to think that if a regular guy from the streets of Philly can make it, why not us? When we see the formless, talentless Karate Kid win the championship, we wonder why our own podgy bodies cannot someday overcome the lethargy that plagues our days and nights and become an athletic superstar. This is why I love the Mets, because they embody one of the best and most enduring themes in human society, triumph against all odds. We all want to overcome adversity and become something special. Since 1969, my team has offered us a glimpse of the determination and will we need to survive. If the Mets can be inspirational despite awful ownership, horrible direction, and dreadful decision-making, I can accept that. Mets fans are always living and dying with their team, mostly dying, but there is always the possibility of the underdog roaring from complete obscurity to conquer the odds.

A friend of mine recently lent me the 1977 movie “Oh, God!”, and I got a kick out of George Burns’ wittiness playing God. In the movie, John Denver asks Burns to prove his divinity by performing a miracle. Burns replies, “The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you have to go back to the Red Sea.” This made me laugh, as we should, because therein lies the reason we love them, because they are entertaining to watch, a real life underdog drama. I’ve realized that Mets fans unnecessarily are the cause of their own stress. The other question from the movie, I think succinctly wraps up our accusatory nature, is when Denver again tests God and defiantly asks “if you're God, how can you permit all the suffering that goes on in the world?” And God, played by Burns, replies, “I don't permit the suffering - you do.” And that’s how I feel about our view of the Mets, we love them, but we only suffer because we allow an inevitable part of the game, failure, push us over the edge.

A True Professional, Thank You Gary Carter!

I was only eight years old when I became a Mets fan; I just want to thank you Mr. Carter, I owe it to guys like you, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez for loving the Mets as much as I have for the last twenty seven years. Thank you Gary for providing me with so much joy in my life, you were the epitome of class and every young player in baseball would do well to follow in your footsteps. It truly is a sad day in baseball, I just hope that my son will be blessed enough to grow up loving and learning from a true professional baseball player and man like you. You will be missed but never forgotten, that smile will forever be firmly entrenched in my mind. That hit with two outs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series has provided me with hope that will last a lifetime. I pray that your family gets through this ordeal with the peace that surpasses all understanding. Mr. Carter, you lived your life believing that all things were possible and you truly were a living example of Jesus’ words in Mark 9 verse 23 when he declared, “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” (NLT) Thank you Mr. Carter.

A BRIGHT FUTURE

With all the negativity currently surrounding the Mets organization, I felt I needed to highlight a few positives so we can all collectively exhale. Here is a list of things we as fans can really get excited about:

1) The rebirth of Angel Pagan.

2) Jose Reyes is finally healthy again.

3) David Wright has regained his power stroke.

4) Ike Davis has brought stability to a position that has been lacking power and defense since the departure of John Olerud.

5) Jon Niese has emerged as at the very least a bona fide #3 starter.

6) Mike Pelfrey seems to have made some adjustments, and although he hit a rough patch, he looks like he’s putting it together. Either way, he has given us a solid year thus far with an 11-6 record and a solid 3.95 ERA.

7) Josh Thole is developing more and more each day; let’s not forget that he recently made his transition to catcher in 2008. Although he lacks the power of a Victor Martinez at this point in his career, the 23 year old possesses a tremendous ability to handle the stick as his current .323BA suggests. The future is bright for this kid and his gap power plus high on base percentage are a perfect match for CitiField.

8) Ruben Tejada has shown flashes of defensive greatness as a 2nd baseman.

9) Carlos Beltran struggled in his 1st year as a Met and rebounded to be an All-Star the following season and hopefully we can get the same kind of turn-a-round from Jason Bay.

10) Fernando Martinez will be our starting right fielder next year and quite frankly, I’m very excited about seeing him in our everyday lineup for the whole year. His latest resurgence in (AAA) really has flown under the radar, over his last 11 games at Buffalo before his call-up; he was batting .324 with three doubles, three HR and four RBI. Toby Hyde on MetsMinorLeagueBlog does an excellent job discussing how Fernando Martinez might be underrated by comparing him to some big prospects down on the farm.

So, in light of all this, we as Mets fans need to realize that at some point the Sun always shines after a storm! Barring any trades it excites me to know that our 2011 starting lineup could look something like this:

Jose Reyes SS
Angel Pagan RF
David Wright 3B
Carlos Beltran CF
Jason Bay LF
Ike Davis 1B
Josh Thole C
Ruben Tejada 2B

And our starting pitching could look something like this:

Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
Jon Niese
Jenrry Mejia
RA Dickey/Pat Misch

I left out John Maine and Oliver Perez because I am hoping the Mets muster up the courage to just cut ties with them. Regardless, it feels good to know that the majority of our roster will be comprised of quality young players from our farm system. Despite the negativity surrounding this team, I feel they are headed in the right direction as long as they cut bait with the obvious bad apples. There is a popular saying which states that “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch”, well hopefully, Wilpon will subscribe to the American Journal of Botany, and skim to the section discussing this process and cut ties with Ollie P., the clear source of the foul gases infecting the Met bunch.


Nonetheless, our young talent is finally starting to sprout, and even with this plethora of young talent on the Major League level, we’ll still have highly rated prospects down on the farm like Wilmer Flores SS, Brad Holt RHP, Reese Havens 2B/SS, Juan Urbina LHP, Jordany Valdespin 2B/SS, Dillon Gee RHP, Kirk Nieuwenhuis OF and Matt Harvey RHP.

To those long suffering Mets fans out there: YA GOTTA BELIEVE!!!

Let's Give Murphy A Chance

I am so tired of hearing Mike Francesa on WFAN sports radio in New York, and everyone else for that matter, arguing that you need a power-hitting first baseman, a gold glove first baseman or a combination of both in order to win. Sure, it would be nice to have but it’s not always a prerequisite for success. I would like to provide you with a perspective that makes this clear. The following is a list of first baseman over the last 19 years, who have been on a World Series winning team, had similar production offensively or had numbers which are not far-fetched for Murphy:

Daniel Murphy, 2009, 1B, Mets:
Totals: .266BA, 12HR, 63RBI, 60R

Todd Benzinger/Hal Morris, 1990, 1B, Reds:

Benzinger: .253BA, 5HR, 46RBI, 35R
Morris: .340BA, 7HR, 36RBI, 50R
Totals: .292BA, 12HR, 82RBI, 85R

Kent Hrbeck 1991, 1B, Twins
Totals: .284BA, 20HR, 89RBI, 72R

Jeff Conine 1997, 1B, Marlins
Totals: .242BA, 17HR, 61RBI, 46R

Tino Martinez, 2000, 1B, Yankees
Totals: .258BA, 16HR, 91RBI, 69R

Mark Grace, 2001, 1B, Diamondbacks
Totals: .298BA, 15HR, 78RBI, 66R

Scott Spiezio, 2002, 1B, Angels
Totals: .285BA, 12HR, 82RBI, 80R

Kevin Millar, 2004, 1B Red Sox
Totals: .297BA, 18HR, 74RBI, 74R

The fact is that teams with a Murphy-type offensive player at 1B have won a World Series 7 times over the last 19 years. For all you mathematicians out there that is 37% of the time.

Granted some were slick fielders, like Grace but others weren’t exactly Keith Hernandez either, e.g. Kent Hrbeck, Spiezio. Why is it unrealistic to say that Murphy can develop into a good defensive first baseman? He wouldn’t be the first in history! In fact, he would be one of a long list of converted first baseman that made a good transition defensively, e.g. Albert Pujols, Todd Zeile, Jeff Bagwell to name a few. In fact, I argue, that he really evolved defensively as the 2009 season went along.

To my knowledge, all but two of the first baseman on the above list is either borderline or average defensively. Grace and Martinez were the only ones on this list who were great fielders and only Grace has won the gold gloves. Grace, however, was already past his prime at this point in his career with the Diamondbacks and his offensive output in 2001 didn’t exactly blow Murphy away. You are probably wondering why I included Tino Martinez considering that he was a good power hitting first baseman for most of his career, but for the first two full years of his career he hit 16HR with 66RBI, and 17HR with 60RBI, respectively. In 2000 he hit a robust .258 with 16HR.

Bottom line? Over the last 19 years a team has won a World Series title with a Murphy-type first baseman almost 40 percent of the time. It's a fallacious argument to say that the Mets can't win with Murphy at first base when other teams have power hitting at this position. I can always counter with the following rebuttal: how many teams in the NL have a Wright at 3B, a Reyes at SS, a Bay in LF, Beltran when healthy in CF or even Johan as their Ace in the hole? Not too many. Finally, it sounds like Murphy has worked hard during the off season, which is good news. Let’s not overlook that Murphy made some adjustments at the plate last year and actually had a decent 2nd half with no protection in the lineup. His final 72 games yielded the following line: .282BA, 7HR, 35RBI and 30R.

Hey, I may be all wrong and he may turn out to be a bust this year. But it’s a bit premature to start labeling this guy a bust or to start saying the Mets have no shot with him at first base. It’s a new season so let’s give “The Irish Hammer” a chance to start driving some nails in that Phillies coffin!

The Torpedo Job

Contributed by J.P.G.

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.