In a day where you can’t even find a positive story on a Mets blog, Rich Coutinho gives the Mets fans hope in his article:
Coutinho: The Mets Are On The Rise, And The First Steps Will Take Place In 2013
It’s a very well written counterpoint to many of the articles that have flooded the Mets pages for the last few months. I won’t copy and paste any of the article so you can read it for yourself only the final statement to Mets fans everywhere:
I know that Mets fans are being told a much different story from other people, and I am not promising a World Series or even a playoff appearance in 2013. But this team is on the rise and will make you proud in the coming years.
21 comments
kingman 26
1/2/2013-1:46pm at 1:46 pm (UTC -4)
Very positive and even more silly.
Alderson has made two excellent moves–the Beltran and Dickey trades.
Aside from that his acquisitions have almost all ranged from blah to mediocre to horrific. Are we going to cite Hairston and his 20 HR and .299 OBP as some sort of brilliant pickup?
The team does not have one true MLB everyday outfielder, and the bullpen is a historic crapshoot at this point. Tejada and Gee are second-tier complimentary players, not cornerstones. And we HOPE Ike becomes what he has yet to be.
The minor leagues are nearly totally devoid of serious prospects aside from the top 3, and while it surely is early, Alderson’s two 1st round picks have hardly set the world on fire.
In addition, we have no idea if payroll will increase in the next couple of years, and even the most cursory examination of the new baseball economics show that salaries are quite clearly entering a new phase of escalation due to new TV deals, and even if the Wilpons DO spend some more, many, many players might still be out of their range.
I love building around Harvey/Wheeler/Niese, but really, this team is many, many miles away from being complete, and plays in a totally brutal division with two very high-spending rivals.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:02pm at 2:02 pm (UTC -4)
Kingman, I knew how much you would like it.
kingman 26
1/2/2013-2:40pm at 2:40 pm (UTC -4)
Almost as much as you would Chief!
Say hi to Alex!
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:42pm at 2:42 pm (UTC -4)
Hello Alex…. LOL.
kingman 26
1/2/2013-2:45pm at 2:45 pm (UTC -4)
Hahaha–good answer!
Happy New Year to you and yours sir.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:48pm at 2:48 pm (UTC -4)
Same to you Kingman!
wanny
1/2/2013-2:24pm at 2:24 pm (UTC -4)
King: i don’t know what your definition of serious is but your comment about the farm system being devoid of serious outside the top 3 is not true.
and your statement about recent draft picks is also not true. Nimmo has demonstrated plate discipline very unusual for a player of his age and experience. this is something the player development team is really focusing with the farm. he also improved a lot over the course of the season.
and you are way premature on cecchini, a HS kid who battled injuries. plawecki had a nice rookie season and also shows an advanced approach.
john sickels’ recent article gives you a nice summary and list of prospects that you may not have read about on BA or other lists. There are other potential impact players in the system but like all teams they are no guarantees. we dont have as many as the padres or rangers but progress has been made.
kingman 26
1/2/2013-2:44pm at 2:44 pm (UTC -4)
Wanny–I never pretend to be a minor league expert, and I rely on learning about these things from folks like you.
What I meant to say, and omitted a word or two, was that at the TOP of the minors, guys who are say, 1-2 years from possibly seriously contributing, there is not much aside from Flores as position players.
Would be happy to hear your rebuttal.
And again, Wheeler, d’Arnaud, and Syndergaard were fabulous pickups.
But again, they are not unknowns, diamonds in the rough, castoffs obtained like Eckersley or journeymen MLB FAs like Dave Stewart. They were top prospects everyone knew about, and we received them largely because we cannot afford to re-sign our stars.
So while Alderson DOES deserve a lot of credit for those pickups, this is nothing whatsoever like what he was doing with the A’s over 20 years ago.
Aside from these deals, in two years, he and his two GM cohorts have does very, very little to help the team on the field, and the lower minors are all we really have to look at aside from Wheeler and d’Arnaud.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:46pm at 2:46 pm (UTC -4)
Kingman you don’t do much to help the current MLB team when you are rebuilding. Other than patchworking what’s the point if you have no intentions of really competing until the players you are developing are ready?
kingman 26
1/2/2013-3:22pm at 3:22 pm (UTC -4)
Yes TRS, and we could go around and around on this (sorry to be so absent; was out of town, crazy busy, and leaving on biz again tomorrow early AM) but while I agree with what you say in theory, I just still see little to really get too excited about now that the excitement of the trade has worn off.
Of course you are right theoretically, but now that there are no more expensive stars to trade off, where do we go from here?
If the OF and bullpen turn out as poorly as they could, where exactly does the team go? Hope that Flores is ready by 2014 and what else?
What the hell do they do in this insane new market with the laughable contracts being given out to the Swishers and the Lirianos and the Jacksons? Who are they going to afford in 1-2 years?
It’s not like they are doing this and that, they are doing N-O-T-H-I-N-G.
Trs86
1/2/2013-9:48pm at 9:48 pm (UTC -4)
And I am ok with their lack of activity for now.
greggofboken
1/2/2013-2:35pm at 2:35 pm (UTC -4)
It’s a heavily anecdotal article where he’s emphasizing the quality of what he’s seeing in the minor league camps and the singularity of approach, as well as the thinking of the front office — not especially quantifiable. I have no quibbles with their approach and applaud much of it.
Any report card on the front office which doesn’t take into account their willingness to walk away from bad money (Castillo, Perez, Bay), extend quality talent when prudent (Wright — debatably — and Niese — his extension isn’t given enough credit, nor is Dickey’s extremely affordable extension), seems remiss to me.
While the club’s got glaring weaknesses, and several of the signings have been busts, beyond Hairston, there are the Byrdaks and Capuanos and Isringhausens. It’s not all bad.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:38pm at 2:38 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, I would imagine you can actually count Baxter and Rauch towards the positives as well.
kingman 26
1/2/2013-2:47pm at 2:47 pm (UTC -4)
Which illustrates ideally how incredibly weak his regime has thus far been at the MLB level in terms of player acquisition.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:48pm at 2:48 pm (UTC -4)
Which also illustrates the fact that they have 1) Had no desire you window dress. 2) Most likely had no money to buy the dressing.
srt
1/2/2013-2:43pm at 2:43 pm (UTC -4)
I sure hope there is a plan – even if they weren’t willing to admit two years ago this would be almost a total rebuild.
If it’s just treading water for the Wilpons, I’ll lead the mob with the pitchforks.
And I just hope I’m still alive when they finally have a contending team.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:47pm at 2:47 pm (UTC -4)
” I’ll lead the mob with the pitchforks.”
Right there with you. I will be holding the Core’s pike with Alderson’s head attached.
TRS86
1/2/2013-2:49pm at 2:49 pm (UTC -4)
Imagine this headline on Mets blogs today:
Mets Looking at Bobby Abreu….
LOL, poor Redsox.
Prismo
1/2/2013-3:55pm at 3:55 pm (UTC -4)
New piece up on Andrew Brown. Has some good stuff, thanks to a really nice blogger over at http://www.purplerow.com
darknova306
1/2/2013-10:14pm at 10:14 pm (UTC -4)
Wow, the Rich Coutinho that condescendingly says fans are “overly negative” when they point out a flaw in the team has written a bullshit article, based on nothing but anecdotal speculation, about how great the Mets will be soon? Fantastic! I look forward to reading all of his condescending nonsense on twitter this season. What a clown.
gategem
1/3/2013-3:27am at 3:27 am (UTC -4)
He writes for CBS and CBS radio owns WFAN, the flagship station for the Mets. Could it be……no forget it.