Baseball’s fandom fall into one of two categories. They either are glass half empty or glass half full in outlook. The adage: hope springs eternal either means everything or nothing. It’s just how it goes in spring training.
As a Met fan, even when the glass looks half full, somebody comes and pours some hope out just to temper the hope of its faithful. The rallying cry of: “Ya Gotta Believe” has sounded more like a plea and perhaps a more appropriate phrase would be “Ya gotta bereave”.
But over the span of the last seven days hope began filling the glass of even the most pessimistic of Met fans. Let’s take a look, one by one, at what occurred for me to suggest this:
– Chase Utley, the elite second baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, was sent back to see a specialist on his knees. The Phillies are not commenting on the severity of it but think it significant that they are not providing a timetable but immediately ruling him out of opening Day. While his injury alone may have been bad, that coupled with Ryan Howard out until June (at the earliest), is devastating to a lineup that suddenly lacks a true clean up or number three hitter and now more than ever leans on a stable full of true ace horses who will have to be pushed to eat as many innings as possible and keep games low scoring.
– The Miami Marlins are opening up their brand new stadium and relying on a host of high priced imports to create a compelling product, enough so that their market will come in droves to a state of the art ballpark, to root for a team the area has never had an affinity with despite the fact that in the last twenty years they are one of three teams to win multiple World Series titles. Their ace is recovering from Tommy John which usually takes two years to fully come back from and a suspect pen.
– The Nationals too went after the big catch but only netted Gio Gonzalez in exchange for prospects. The team’s strength is their minor league system where they hope to unveil their next phenom number one pick, Bryce Harper, soon and hope to get their already established Phenom, Stephen Strassburg, back from major elbow surgery.
– The Braves responded to the biggest collapse in League history by not making wholesale changes, a rarity in today’s reactionary sports climate, and having one of the greatest players in the history of the organization announce his retirement. Its been a while since Chipper Jones had a eff you moment against the Mets but he remains one of the sharpest thorns on the side of the team. His retirement is just another Met killer leaving the league which is good for a fan base used to bad news.
So to sum up, the National League East in one year is going through what the Mets have been through over the last five years. This years Met is picked to finish last by virtually all of the experts which is fair. Nothing the Mets have done this offseason make it’s fan base excited about the prospects of this upcoming season. They are hoping that the favorable ruling in the Madoff trial and getting Ike Davis and Johan Santana back from injuries will help the team offset what it lost in Jose Reyes.
Johan is set to be the Mets opening day starter if all things go well and has looked good thus far. His overall health has been the biggest question during Spring Training and his spot in the rotation the most pressing need for the Mets. Last year’s over confidence in Mike Pelfrey backfired big time as the team found out what it should have probably known from the start: Mike Pelfrey is NO ace. Johan’s arrival means that everyone moves down a peg which seems like it should be the natural order of things.
The Wilpons legal problems, hanging over the franchise and how it operated financially, finally was given a verdict and despite the wishes of the majority of the fan base it was much better than predicted and it allowed the Wilpons to publicaly celebrate even if no one else was partying with them. Invariably this would mean that the owners have more money to spend, the kind they either offered or didn’t to Jose Reyes depending on who you believe. This is important considering the Mets will have virtually the same dilemma come this All Star Break.
Last year during the All star break, GM Sandy Alderson had the opportunity to ship Jose Reyes in trade for prospects. If Carlos Beltran net the Mets a prospect in the area of a Zack Wheeler, surely they could get a better haul if not quality, certainly quantity for an entering his prime lead off bat. That didn’t happen. Instead the Mets dealt Beltran and kept Reyes.
David Wrights situation is slightly different this year. Wright has a club option that automatically gets waived if hes dealt so even if a team acquires him they would do so knowing he’s perhaps at worst a half season rental. Wright is truly the face of the franchise thus making his decision potentially more important. Imagine what the trading of Wright, or worse, outright losing him to a higher bidder would do to the morale of the fan base or the reputation of the Mets? Alderson knows how big a move it is and Wright’s first half may dictate which direction he moves.
My belief is that Wright should be traded. As tough as it would be to lose him, Alderson’s role in this tangled mess that are the Mets is to restore and rebuild. I believe we have seen David Wright’s best. He is not comfortable in his current role as leader of the clubhouse. I don’t blame him. He was forced into this role without decision makers ever properly assessing whether or not he was ready for that spotlight. For too long the Mets had cast Wright as their version of Jeter. The truth is, Wright could NEVER be Jeter and whether it takes a fully healthy first half of the season for Sandy Alderson to recognize it or not I believe he will not repeat the mistake of letting Reyes walk for nothing. He will trade him either now or during the next offseason and get pieces for the future that he is diligently building towards.
Despite reasons for optimism, a cloud hangs over the Mets. The Wilpons beat the Madoff rap but their long term financial stability is still a huge question mark. Out of twelve $20 million shares they have sold, atleast 8 are either SNY, or have the name Wilpon or Katz attached to it. One billionaire’s name, Steve Cohen may disappear if his group wins the bidding to acquire the Los Angeles Dodgers. In reality, they haven’t gotten anywhere to acquire investors to help keep the Mets afloat. On the field, the Mets hope that injured stars on other teams, similar misfortune having familiar results and their own top flight minor leaguers come out of nowhere. Hey, it happened for the Knicks and Giants, why couldn’t it happen for the mets right? Of course that would require the Mets to be helped out by lady luck, something NO Met fan, in spite of all the optimism Spring Training falsely brings, is counting on.
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