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!!!

More Cowbell

It’s that time of year again, when the grass grows and flowers bloom, marking the end of the flu season. Almost poetically, you start hearing a chorus of fans chanting the words of Christopher Walken in that SNL skit, “I've got a fever, and the only prescription...is more cowbell!” And then you see the elderly man in the stadium banging on that old instrument with a youthful effervescence, an image which coincides with the dawn of the new baseball season. For some this commencement is formulaic, but for others like me, it’s a time when heartbreak is forgotten and pain becomes a thing of the past, when there is forgiveness due to the promise of a brighter day. There is an old scripture that says, “…Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5). Well, fellow Mets fans, its morning time again in New York and our apparent incurable fever will now regress to a healthy temperature with a simple prescription called baseball!

Obviously, we have suffered these last two seasons with the collapse of epic proportions by our cast of ‘lovable losers’. The good news? There is only one direction left to go when you’ve hit rock bottom. Let’s pick ourselves right back up, dust ourselves off and start shouting from the top of our lungs that old familiar tune, ‘Let’s Go Mets!’ There should be plenty of optimism heading into this new season with our recent acquisitions of J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez to solidify the back end of our bullpen. This is an immediate upgrade over a bullpen that blew 29 of 72 save opportunities and pitched to a 6.23 ERA over the final 17 games last year. The Mets had more than enough offense last year. They were tied for 2nd in the NL with 4.93 runs per game and in total runs with 799. They also lead the NL in stolen bases with 138. The Mets starting pitching last year ranked 5th in the NL with a 3.98 ERA, and 7th in the Majors, which was better than the rest of their competition in the NL East. They also ranked ranked 5th in the Majors with 771 Ks from their starters. Just think, the Mets starters put up these numbers despite a variety of starters filling in for an injured John Maine and Pedro Martinez throughout the year. Their bullpen clearly fell short ranking 13th in the NL with a 4.27 ERA, the Phillies, Marlins, Atlanta and Washington all ranked ahead of the Mets in bullpen ERA last year. This, my friends, is what cost us our playoff berth!

We have all heard the old adage that baseball is a game of intangibles. Baseball purists argue ‘it’s the little things’ that make the difference. One intangible the Mets have going for them is failure, that’s right I said it, FAILURE. I once read a book entitled “Failure is Written In Pencil” by David Ireland, whose clear message is that we all have the ability to erase our failures and transform them into success. The Mets have suffered collapses that cannot be matched within the baseball world. They needed a leader who recognizes true success can be garnered through adversity, and they got one when Minaya made the decision to go with Jerry Manuel. Well, Skipper, it’s been said that you’re a spiritual and philosophical man, so I’d like for you to share the following message to our team this Spring:

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now Mets fans, let’s unite, every single one of us, including the Cow Bell man and join together in this new season of hope and help our team persevere through our baptism under fire! And just to get you a little pumped up for the season, here's a video of what I hope we see a lot of this year: