Yea, I’m sure you can finish the rest. As the World Series gets started tonight, this is my response to the constant “who to root for” debate going on . Fact of the matter is, we need a dose of reality. The Yankees also opened a new stadium in 2009 and in their inaugural season, they find themselves winning 103 games and in the World Series(granted, spending 201 million dollars will give you a good shot). In the other corner, the 113 million dollar Phillies find themselves with an opportunity to do something that has not been done in nearly a decade…repeat as World Series Champions. Now what does this mean for a Met fan, to some disaster…in my opinion it should not mean a damn thing.
In “The Last Samurai”, Tom Cruises character has consistent nightmares about his past…to which Ken Watanabe’s character responds that only a man who is ashamed of what he has done has nightmares. Im sure everyone remembers the slogan “The Team. The Time. The Mets” during the 2006 season and how much problems it gave them afterward, especially since they did not get the job done. I believe the nightmare started there, both with the fans and the team. One can only hope after a year like the one we went through in 2009, we would have shed the ‘banwagon fans’ and the Mets wake up from their nightmare. Yes what happened in 06-09 was horrible but a new stadium is a new start. They need to get back that swagger, they need to get back that attitude of expecting to win…they need to forget what the media and baseball thinks of them.
Lets let 2009 be the marker for a new era. One that forgets the curveball of 2006, the collapse of 2007, williegate of 2008 and the injuries of 2009. Its in the past and thats where it should stay. We as fans(in my opinion) need to help as much as we can in this by giving everyone a fresh start. What do I mean by that? For example, give Oliver Perez a fresh start in 2010. To be clear, by fresh start i mean not boing him during his introduction at home. I believe Luis Castillo has made up for 2008 but also another canidate for a fresh start. Lets remember the hope we felt at the end of 2005 and bring that feeling into 2010. The slide has got to stop sometime…let it end in 2009. Congrats to the Yankees and Phillies for being the best in 2009 but you both suck…and if your not down with that, I got two words for ya…
22 comments
trs86
10/28/2009-10:14am at 10:14 am (UTC -4)
LOL, Agreed.
trs86
10/28/2009-10:21am at 10:21 am (UTC -4)
Here’s one for you guys that should generate some debate.
Idea: Mets have a few position players in the waiting in Davis, Fmart, Thole Tejada that may be knocking on the door now or at least soon… but little pitching besides Niese that is even close to ready.
What about this idea.
Have an open competition of in house guys in LF, 1B and C. Let Fmart, Pagan, Carter and Davis compete for LF. Let Murphy, Davis, and Carter compete for 1B and let Thole be the guy with Santos.
Spend your money on pitching. Go get Lackey, Marquis/Pineiro/Wolf, resign Putz for cheap or go get Lyon AND sign Gonzalez. Lets see if that works money wise
18 for Lackey
8M for backend guy
2M-4M for Putz or Lyon
4M for Gonzalez
That brings the total to 32-34M which is damn close to what I expected. Perhaps you could even get Lackey to accept a little less this upcoming year and backload a little.
So now that I have hijacked Dirty’s thread, what do you guys think?
trs86
10/28/2009-10:27am at 10:27 am (UTC -4)
I guess this would be my version of the anti-win now mentality. It would be exciting and nerve racking to see the young guys on the scene. I guess the question is could this team survive as an all pitching team?
Johan, Lackey, Wolf, Pelfrey, Perez/Maine/Niese
Krod, Gonzalez, Putz/Lyon, Feliciano, Parnell, 2 fillers
Is certainly a good pitching staff.
dirtysanchez
10/28/2009-10:34am at 10:34 am (UTC -4)
lol. I agree with bringing in Lacky, in the NL east we now need two front end starters. I would like the Mets to move Ollie to #5, Resign Pelf and make him #3/#4 and bring in one more guy to cover the #3/#4 hole. Knowing omar he will reserve the last space for niese or nieve so you can probably scratch that. We need another Lefty reliever and a setup guy. If you can get putz for 4 mil…they gotta jump on that. With that we have our SP set up and bullpen. That leaves enough for Matt Holiday and improvement on the bench.
metsfan4decades
10/28/2009-10:36am at 10:36 am (UTC -4)
Interesting idea but you know the Mets are never going to do that. By that, I mean bringing up all the prospects and let them compete for those positions. What happens if none of them look anywhere near good/ready in ST? We’re kind of stuck then picking one for each position and keeping our fingers crossed ST doesn’t then translate to the season….
dirtysanchez
10/28/2009-10:49am at 10:49 am (UTC -4)
agreed. Id do that in 2011 if the mets fail in 2010 as a rebuilding situation but i think they are going to do what you said real…give it one last push. Having these kids fight it out is not where we want to go.
CaseStreet
10/28/2009-10:59am at 10:59 am (UTC -4)
way to hijack trs
Despite what Heyman says, I could def see the Mets doing this.
I mean we already know 1B is pretty much Murphs considering how high they’re on him given his youth and resurgence in the 2nd half.
They like Santos and prob don’t want to spend money on a Catcher if they can have Thole or a AAA catcher as the backup.
I’m not so sure about LF. Like I said yesterday, Pagan would be the LFer if it wasn’t for his mental mistakes, but you can’t deny what he’s done at the plate.
OTOH, they also have said they want a BIG BAT. So, IDK how that comes into play.
As far as pitching, of course Lackey but I’m torn about what to do next. Do we need another starter or go w/ Pelf, Ollie and Maine? Do we really want to spend so much on the bullpen? I’d imagine if you bring in another starter Maine would be the SU guy w/ Parnell and Feliciano manning the 7th.
wannybackstra
10/28/2009-11:20am at 11:20 am (UTC -4)
I think it could work; if Reyes, Wright and Beltran are all healthy the offense should at least be league average if they get something/anything from Francoeur.
At least 3 out of the five days you wouldn’t need any more than 4 runs to win. And if Pelfrey pitches like 2008 Pelfrey and Maine can throw 170 innings, then you are probably covered for 5 games of only having to scratch out runs.
trs86
10/28/2009-11:23am at 11:23 am (UTC -4)
I think it would at least be exciting and you could upgrade LF or 1B at the trade deadline. Of course you could also bring in some cheap vets to compete for the job with the youngins like Omar always does.
wannybackstra
10/28/2009-11:24am at 11:24 am (UTC -4)
That’s another good point. If the Mets have pitching depth like that, acquiring another bat at the deadline would not be a difficult task.
stickguy
10/28/2009-12:06pm at 12:06 pm (UTC -4)
I proposed something similar a while back, in regards to having a free for al for LF (possibly) and mostly to fill out the rotation.
but the idea of loading up on pitching is certainly valid. Especially if they are beefing up the pen along with the rotation.
Just stay away from marquis. Please.
Say they get lyon/gonzolez (or similar) for the pen. And add lackey to the rotation. Then 1 more SP, either Wolf or Harden (Myers could be interesting too).
with the incumbants fighting for the last spots (and I do think Ollie can rebound somewhat), that could be a very very strong staff.
If Murphy gets 1B, bring in a cheaper vet to plug up catcher (don’t force feed Thole), then let the masses fight out for LF.
Carter? Who knows what he can do. pagan is decent, and maybe some other younger/cheaper option can be dredged up (like when teh Phils got werth).
Hey, it works for me, and best of all, the decent prospects are still in the system perculating.
Too bad Jerry will still be here to burn the bottom of the coffee pot.
metsfan4decades
10/28/2009-10:34am at 10:34 am (UTC -4)
Great piece. I agree with all of it. Especially two word salute – LOL.
mrbill
10/28/2009-10:34am at 10:34 am (UTC -4)
Lets let 2009 be the marker for a new era. One that forgets the curveball of 2006, the collapse of 2007, williegate/COLLAPSE of 2008 and the injuries, LACK OF FUNDIES, POOR COACHING, LACK OF HUSTLE of 2009.
CaseStreet
10/28/2009-10:44am at 10:44 am (UTC -4)
Nice job dirty
You know me, I’m all about giving guys a break, see Castillo.
But I might have a hard time giving jerry a fresh start. IMO, he can get his fresh start on the unemployment line. The baseball gods forgive if a healthy Mets team makes it to the playoffs and Jerry’s incompetence costs us in the playoffs.
dirtysanchez
10/28/2009-10:48am at 10:48 am (UTC -4)
that might be the toughtest guy to give a fresh start to…i agree
whataputz
10/28/2009-10:59am at 10:59 am (UTC -4)
why is it so bad that Philly repeats? I actually think it’s kind of good. Everybody loves to rip the national league and how much better the al is, but in my opinon thats bs! I mean look at the Angels! Their line-up isn’t even that good! If the Phillies win again, it shows that the NL is just as good. And while yeah maybe the Yanks Red sox and Angels might be in the top 5, its because they’ve depleated the rest of the AL of talented players. I mean, th AL Central is a joke, and the west is a joke outside of the Angels.
CaseStreet
10/28/2009-11:03am at 11:03 am (UTC -4)
I liked the Rangers, too bad they can’t find pitching.
dirtysanchez
10/28/2009-11:15am at 11:15 am (UTC -4)
In theory, i agree this would be awesome for the NL to rub it in the AL’s face(too bad they cant do it in july). Had it been the Giants or Rookies or the Cubs to repeat i would not mind too much but its the PHILLIES. Im sure people take that attiude if they live outside of the east but to have that as yet another talking point for broadcasters will get annoying quick. Hell they still tlak about the collapse….
metsfan4decades
10/28/2009-11:16am at 11:16 am (UTC -4)
That’s been a heavily debated issue over the past two days on this blog…
I’d say it’s running about 60/40 for the Yankees winning it.
My opinion? Yankees in 4, please – get it over with. Don’t want to see either win but to me, right now, Yankees are the least of the two evils.
It’s a given AL league, offense wise, is always going to look better. They’ve got 9 batters in their lineup. NL has eight….
darknova306
10/28/2009-11:32am at 11:32 am (UTC -4)
I like this piece, Dirty, but sometimes a shameful event in the past needs to be atoned for. The collapse of ’07 will be in all of our heads if they’re contending in September of ’10. You know that. They need to face that failure head on and get past it.
And no, I’m not giving Ollie a fresh start. I think he’s garbage and it’s up to him to prove me wrong and EARN his fresh start.
dirtysanchez
10/28/2009-11:44am at 11:44 am (UTC -4)
how do you earn a fresh start? earn your respect and praise i understand but how do you earn a fresh start?
They will be in your head if you want them to. The only way to face a failure of that kind is to succeed where they failed. Similar to the yankees facing their failures of 2004/2005/2003…
trs86
10/28/2009-12:03pm at 12:03 pm (UTC -4)
Great question. There is a big difference in earning respect and a giving a chance to earn respect.