It was addressed during yesterday’s pregame and postgame and yes even Gary Cohen gave it some time during the game. The statement that Mike Pelfrey said to the New York Post regarding the Mets competing in 2011. He told Collins he was “misunderstood” before the game. Why?
“Unrealistic” I think was the word. You know what? That word is going to be the key word today- “unrealistic.”
I have to be honest here-he’s not saying anything new to me. My expectations, along with a lot of Met fans I know, were pretty simple.
.500
I didn’t expect this team to do any more than that and it’s funny because a lot of other fans of other teams told me that that might be too much to ask. They told me it would be “unrealistic” to expect this team to compete under the current circumstances.
What circumstances you ask? How about an owner who had to borrow 25 million from MLB and was forced to seek a minority owner? How about a new GM who was did not sign a major impact player during the off-season.
Let’s not forget all about the “IF’s” for the Mets. You know what I’m talking about. We do it every year. I’ll do it for you as an example: Could the Mets have been in the race? Sure IF Reyes can stay healthy, IF Santana can come back by June, IF Beltran has an MVP year, IF Bay can hit like he used to in Boston, IF Ike Davis can play up to expectations, IF the pitching can hold up, IF K-Rod can still be k-rod, IF Wright can hit in the clutch, IF Murphy can play second base, IF nobody gets hurt, And the “IF” list goes on and on and on.
And you wonder why Sports Illustrated picked them last in the NL East?
Don’t call me a bad Mets fan! Don’t call me cynical either….I’m realistic!
You can’t have all these ”IF’s” and ownership issues and say to yourself that this is a recipe for a championship team. Maybe for a good movie like Slapshot or the Bad New Bears but not for a Major League Baseball club.
Besides, I think the only way for the Mets could’ve been competitive was to depend on other teams failing. That’s not a strategy. You can’t sit in a room during the Winter Meetings and think that your team is going to be successful if the three pitchers from Phillies Rotation gets kidnapped by gypsies or someone steals all the Braves bats and the Marlins like to lose games.
When Alderson took the team, I knew as well as a lot of fans, that he was going to make some changes and point this team in the right direction. I think he’s doing a hell of a job. Again, let’s be “realistic”, can he do that AND expect this team to compete for the playoffs?
I think he knew the answer to that one.
Right now, I’ll sign any paper that informs me that I’ll have to suck up next year as well “if” the Mets could be competetors in the 2013 season. Alderson is doing that right now.
What Pelfrey said yesterday was the dirty little secret that nobody wanted to hear in the Mets organization. Terry Collins didn’t want to hear, it. His fellow players didn’t want to hear it. Fred Wilpon didn’t want to hear it even though he said it himself in so many words earlier this year.
Mike Pelfrey was being “realistic” when he said those words. I think the Met players and Met ownership should heed them not only because it shows what ownership has done isn’t fooling the players, but not fooling the fans as well-or isn’t the attendance records at every game and the Mets place in the NL East standings proof enough.
8 comments
rustyjr
8/14/2011-2:38pm at 2:38 pm (UTC -4)
I give him a pass – Mike has been under a lot of strees this season – from his sports psichatrist dyng suddenly to being names the Ace of the rotation. He is a enigman – but we are all fallable. He should have waited for the season to have ended before saying what he did
Tommy2cat
8/14/2011-3:30pm at 3:30 pm (UTC -4)
I thought Pelfrey was spot-on.
By comparison, Bobby Thompson didn’t think he was going to hit “the shot heard around the world”. It wasn’t realistic to think the ’69 Mets could win the World Series and it wasn’t realistic to think the Mets could mount a comeback in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
From where he stands right now, Pelfrey speaks the truth. His expectations for next year are realistic, but that doesn’t foreclose the possibility that the 2012 Mets can exceed realistic expectations. He never said that.
I support Pelfrey’s comment. He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet and, while he is not normally outspoken, he’s being extremely genuine in his assessment for next year.
As far as hit pitching goes, I’d like to see him develop a cutter with downward movement that moves away from righties and down & in toward lefties. It would be the perfect complement to his 2-seam fastball that runs down & in to righties and away to lefties.
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MetsFan4Decades
8/14/2011-4:50pm at 4:50 pm (UTC -4)
According to Pelf he did believe they could compete when the season started, along with the rest of the team. Those comments were printed out of context, cherry picked to support the slant Puma wanted to present.
I don’t have any problem with what was printed, what he said – especially after he explained the FULL interview he gave after last night’s game.
Either way, knowledgeable Met fans knew this was a long shot going in. Didn’t mean we couldn’t hold out hope all the cards fell our way. It didn’t and not many of us are surprised. I still believe in the plan this FO has going forward so I’m willing to be patient to see how it all pans out.
I haven’t given up hope for Pelfrey as many Met fans have. He’s having a bad year but doesn’t mean he can’t turn it around to something better next year.
Anonymous
8/14/2011-5:17pm at 5:17 pm (UTC -4)
Look this is an article written by none other than Puma. We all know that he makes stuff up to get attention to his article. His unnamed source is BS. I don’t know why we give this guy any attention and how he has managed to keep his job. Yet another bogus article by Mike Puma.
Anonymous
8/14/2011-6:06pm at 6:06 pm (UTC -4)
Ah the famous “taken out of context” or
“Baby, you understand me nowif sometimes you see that I’m mad.Don’t you know that no one alive can always be an angel?
When everything goes wrong, you see some bad.
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good;oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.”
Hey Gonzo you’re right on and I believe most realistic fans have felt that way all along.
Understanding that the exceptionally talented kid pitchers presently in the minors may not arrive until 2013 and recalling that Jerry Koosman’s first full season was 1968 and Tom Seaver’s first full season was 1967 then we may not see another contending team until 2014 or 2015.
Anonymous
8/14/2011-7:30pm at 7:30 pm (UTC -4)
Great song!
Paul J. Festa
8/14/2011-7:10pm at 7:10 pm (UTC -4)
Not only do I not disagree with Pelf, but this is a great example of why most athletes speak in cliches when they are interviewed. The second you show the slightest bit of honesty, you get raked over the coals by the media.
Anonymous
8/14/2011-7:35pm at 7:35 pm (UTC -4)
And that is what Pelf should have done as well. No need for yet another distraction for this team.
And like the lottery, you play, and you realize you may not win, but you have a chance. When I first read about this, I thought of Kelly’s Heros. “Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves.”
At least he didn’t pull a Zambrano. And I mean Carlos, not Victor.