I have go to stop listening to the WFAN – or at least take what I hear from the mentally challenged segment of the Mets fans brotherhood with a grain of Xanax . All I can say is that it took no more than 15 minutes after the new broke of the Mets hiring Paul DePodesta as the Vice President of Player Development and Amateur Scouting before the first negative Mets call came in.
” Oh wow Mike ” , the caller began his rant ” We’re not going after Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford but we got DePodesta!!”. You could just hear the sarcasm dripping from his lips. But unfortunately I guess these past four years of futility and mediocrity have jaded and malignd a small but loud segment of the fan base. The caller has a right to his opinion – but he fails to see the smoke through the trees. We all know that the hiring of Alderson was a no brainer as was his recruitment of former Toronto G.M. J.P Riccardi along with DePodesta, who was most recently a executive with the Padres and before that he was the Dodgers G.M.
Both men have served under Alderson when during the late ’80′s with those powerhouse Oakland A’s teams. I believe with this trinity of expertise that Alderson has assembled, he has brought instant credibility to the Mets brand as well as their front office. It doesn’t seem like this will be a ” lunatics running the asylum” scenario that took place under preoccupied nose of Omar Minaya , and so far it seems that the perceived ” meddling ” of Fred and Jeff will be kept at a minimum. Okay so there might not be enough payroll flexibility to get the sexy big name free agent – I say SO BE IT!! This team has a chance to once again develop the most envious farm system in baseball – like they had in the late ’60′s and early ’70′s as well as most of the ’80′s. Riccardi and Depodesta, with all their failings as general managers still have great eyes for talent and player development. They are not calling the ’11 season a wash they will try to field the best competitive team possible and when over ’50 million dollars worth of payroll comes of for the ’12 season well then we can expect the importing of top dollar free agents – but only if needed !
I have to admit that I have never been excited about changes in the front office – that has always been small blurbs written in small print in the back pages of the sports section. But with the Alderson regime finally assembled , I cannot help to feel that within a short period of time a golden age of Mets baseball will be usherd in and with it and a real winning tradition will be forged in the flames of the funeral pyre that was the later Omar Minaya years of ’08-’10.
" The only diference is Alderson and company won't bomb !!"
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni that are celebrating birthdays today include :
Former Mets scout and Minor League Director,Whitey Herzog (1931) . As a teenager who grew up during the mid 80′s I hated Herzog. But once I found out how much he had to do with the development of some of the all time Mets greats that came out of the Mets farm system during the late ’60′s and early ’70′s , I learned to love Herzog and to despise M . Donald Grant even more !!!
FormerCardinals great who would become the Mets pitching coach during the ’81 season, Bob Gibson is 75(1935) .
Mets coach during the ’83 season, Gene Dusan is 61 (1949) .
Reserve outfielder from the ’00 team, Jon Nunnally is 39 (1971) .
New York Mets sold middle reliever,Ed Glynn to the Boston Red Sox on November 9, 1984. I don’t know why but Glynn was one of my favorite Mets players as a kid.
Colorado Rockies signed pinch hitting specialist, Lenny Harris of the New York Mets as a free agent on November 9, 1998.
Mo Vaughn is still running the New York City Marathon, He just crossed the Verrazano Narrows Bridge !!!
4 comments
kingman 26
11/9/2010-9:06am at 9:06 am (UTC -4)
“I have got to stop listening to the WFAN.”
Yes my friend, you do! It simply angers you and rots your otherwise excellent brain!
I feel that Ricciardi and DePodesta, as assistants, are really good choices. They bring their skills, but have each other and Alderson to bounce things off of.
I do worry about Ricciardi’s honesty—clearly he was lying to the media and the fans about more than one issue, and I also think he gave Wells that unreal contract, so let’s hope he is watched quite closely.
But overall I totally agree—this gives the team a serious braintrust, and one that will develop a fine minor league system, and be able to begin serious spending a year from now.
No one is writing off 2011–of course they will try to be competitive, but there is just so much the Wilpons will–and should be reasonably expected to–spend.
As for Bob Gibson, I say this to people all the time, but go to baseballreference.com and check his World Series numbers—three series, 9 starts, and numbers so amazing they will make you laugh.
I was at the game in 1981 when Fernandomania hit Shea, and I think the Dodgers won 1-0, and then Met pitching coach Gibson, in his inimitable way, gruffly told reporters after the game that he didn’t “give a damn about Valenzuela”–he wanted to talk about Met youngster Mike Scott!
CaseStreet
11/9/2010-9:32am at 9:32 am (UTC -4)
Thought you’d go with a little “Charmed” instead. You know, the Power of Three.
Anyway, the only point of listening to the WFAN is for game broadcasts and Boomer & Carton, though they’re getting annoying, too.
I’m excited about the Mets future, but we also have to remember that whatever improvement in the scouting system likely won’t be seen in Flushing for some years down the line. Though, IIRC, these guys are more in favor of recruiting college players (which Omar seemed to agree with).
A big difference that we’ll see is that the team will hopefully stay away from giving away their first round draft pick by signing Type A free agents and will do a better job when selecting in the draft.
Ceetar
11/9/2010-9:41am at 9:41 am (UTC -4)
Carton has long since gotten on my last nerve.
I lsiten on the way to work and the way home, rarely otherwise. at least joe and evan are okay. They can be a pain too, but I can understand where they’re coming from most days.
GravediggerHebner
11/9/2010-10:53am at 10:53 am (UTC -4)
Oh no woe is us, we won’t be getting Cliff Lee! And I thought for sure he was coming here – damn that Alderson guy and his amigos for going with a strategy other than annually signing one of the top free agents and doing nothing. That was so successful why change anything?
If I really think about it I have a tough time deciding whether the Mets losing Nolan Ryan or losing Whitey Herzog was worse. They were both pretty awful losses but I’d lean toward losing Herzog because of the impact he had on the whole organization as opposed to one game in every five.
But having a no-hitter or seven would be sweet too.