I admit not being a regular reader of “Faith and Fear in Flushing” but I have long been aware of their reputation of writing some insightful posts. I happened to catch a recent post by Greg Prince that touches on the ability or lack thereof of control there can be with the information that makes it’s way into public light. For me there was one paragraph that I most enjoyed where Greg writes,
As a consumer of baseball news as well as a citizen of the United States of America, I appreciate openness and honesty from those in charge of the institutions we cherish. As a Mets fan, I mostly care about having a good team, and if I need to be purposely misled so we could wake up with Giancarlo Stanton batting cleanup, well, to borrow a phrase a former co-worker enjoyed attributing to an executive neither of us liked, “lie to me — tell I’m beautiful!”
If you have yet to read it in it’s entirety I highly recommend it. – Link
16 comments
TX
3/6/2013-12:14am at 12:14 am (UTC -4)
There is a difference between waxing ecstatic about possibilities and believing Baghdad Bob speech that you know no matter what is said does not change the reality you are in. I’d love Stanton to be penciled into the 4 spot and patrolling the OF but deluding one’s self to think it is not only a possibility but it is the Mets/Sandy’s/Wipon’s fault that they didn’t pull the trigger.
gategem
3/6/2013-12:54am at 12:54 am (UTC -4)
“As a consumer of baseball news as well as a citizen of the United States of America, I appreciate openness and honesty from those in charge of the institutions we cherish….”
It doesn’t exist in governments that populate the world, nor does it exist in mass media of any shape, size or type, nor does it exist in “never, never land.” As part of the entertainment world baseball is governed by the same rule of law as any other form of entertainment, i.e. you receive special treatment and lifestyle but you must accept the constant hounding of the baseball paparazzi. Without the obsessive fan base baseball would be in a heap of trouble.
gategem
3/6/2013-2:57am at 2:57 am (UTC -4)
I just saw this over at Newsday:
“Mike Piazza opens up about relationship with Mets in 1-on-1 interview with Newsday”
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/mike-piazza-opens-up-about-relationship-with-mets-in-1-on-1-interview-with-newsday-1.4757105
srt
3/6/2013-7:21am at 7:21 am (UTC -4)
Greg Prince gets it.
That’s why you take everything the FO says with a grain of salt. Baseball is business and as such is operated like every other company striving for success. They tell the public what they want them to know, when they want them to know it. It’s called ‘spin’ and they all practice it to some extent.
srt
3/6/2013-8:42am at 8:42 am (UTC -4)
Talk about spin….this is just a dumb article:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/06/palladino-yankees-problems-almost-enviable-compared-to-mets/
I don’t see where the Yankees have any less concerns than the Mets do….theirs are just different.
They’ve got an aging team including a couple of their SPs and of course their closer, along with ownership wanting to reduce the payroll to get it under the salary cap.
Their farm system sits middle of the pack and remains to be seen if they’ve got enough pieces to replace that aging core.
I’ve stated this before but I will not be surprised if the Steinbrenner boys start making noise about selling that team in a couple of years.
TRS86
3/6/2013-8:51am at 8:51 am (UTC -4)
Not only that but does anyone think that the 2013 expectations for the Mets and the Yankees are the same? Seriously?
srt
3/6/2013-10:33pm at 10:33 pm (UTC -4)
Don’t tell that to this Palladino. LOL.
greggofboken
3/6/2013-9:46am at 9:46 am (UTC -4)
The two teams are heading in different directions. The only action the Yankees are taking to righting their own ship is a back-office one, in committing themselves to not crippling themselves with the luxury tax. The Mets are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Yankees have just begun to see the tunnel itself. (The rest of us saw it when they began to treat their active roster like Monument Park — museum pieces everywhere you turn.)
gategem
3/6/2013-10:56am at 10:56 am (UTC -4)
The Yankees have had an incredible run of post season appearances and I wouldn’t place the tombstone over the old boy’s grave just yet. Just one caveat as long as the Mets are owned by the Wilpons the light at the end of the tunnel just might be an oncoming train.
greggofboken
3/6/2013-11:05am at 11:05 am (UTC -4)
This, from Martino this morning: (BTW, he’s now on a new assignment of sorts, with a broadened scope and a daily blog…the first few articles have been interesting):
———-
Back up north, in Rye Brook and the Upper East Side and everywhere else Yankee fans dwell, the anxiety has built for months, since goodbyes to Russell Martin and Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano did not lead to big-name hellos.
Well, Yankee fans, we’re afraid we can only make your day worse: The scouts and executives in Florida have seen the team, and are ready to confirm your fears.
“Probably going into this year, this is the weakest the Yankees have been in a very long time,” said one National League executive. “The age and injuries are a real problem for them.”
Added a veteran American League scout, who picked Tampa Bay to win the A.L. East because of an outstanding pitching staff: “This is going to be a bad year for New York baseball. The Yankees could finish no better than fourth. The Yankees and Red Sox could end up at the bottom of that division.”
Here’s an American League executive: “The Yankees are in trouble.”
Now, look. You have read anonymous evaluator quotes before, and you probably know that for every “they stink,” another ballwriter can find a “they’re good.” So it becomes the reporter’s responsibility to canvas many evaluators, discern a majority view and present that.
And the majority view of the Yankees is what you would expect. It’s the obvious stuff, confirmed by experts. Rivals are guessing this is finally the year when age sinks the winning era. They cannot quite believe the catching situation post-Martin, wonder where the homers will come from.
There is one interesting twist in the negativity storyline. The more cutting-edge front offices run computer projections of all teams, similar to Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA (developed by the now famous political prognosticator Nate Silver (at r.), by the way).
One executive with a numbers-savvy club told me that his internal projections showed the Yanks winning 87-88 games this year, which would certainly keep them in wild card contention.
————–
Stick
3/6/2013-12:38pm at 12:38 pm (UTC -4)
87-88 might keep you on the fringes, but I really don’t think that will be close to enough in the AL.
Now, imagine if a month into the season that rumor from yesterday about the PEDs suspensions can true, and they lost Cano for 2 months?
but, like with the Phillies, I will not consider the fork stuck until the season is over and they missed out on the big dance.
greggofboken
3/6/2013-1:02pm at 1:02 pm (UTC -4)
Just for kicks, I took a look at Baseball Prospectus a/o this morning.
They have the Yanks down for 88 which they speculate will take the AL East (they project the Jays for 83). The only clubs they’re projecting as stronger are the Reds and Dodgers (89) and the Tigers (90).
They have the Mets down for 81.
I’m in strong disagreement w/them about much of this.
srt
3/6/2013-10:45pm at 10:45 pm (UTC -4)
Baseball Prospectus….is that calculated on the starting 25 going into the season?
If yes, I can almost see their 88 game prediction.
But…and this is the crux of it for me…
- Does anyone think Pettitte will go wire to wire w/o at least one DL sting, if not more than one?
- Will 38 year old Kuroda hold up?
- What Hughes are they getting this year?
- Will this be the year Mariano has a problem staying healthy?
- Tex is already projected to be out 8-10 weeks. Their 1st base back up last year was Swisher and Granderson, if I’m not mistaken. Granderson is starting on the DL, Swisher is gone. Youk could probably play 1st but then who plays 3rd?
- Speaking of Youk…will he stay healthy?
- Their catching situation might just be worse than ours was last year.
- What about Jeter? How does he fare on that ankle once he makes it back?
- ARod is out for at least half the season, probably longer.
- Love Icharo but will he hold up the entire season and return somewhat to his normal numbers?
Yes, it’s not like we don’t have our share of question marks. I’d just rather be trying to answer ours, then theirs.
srt
3/6/2013-10:36pm at 10:36 pm (UTC -4)
This was my thought on this article as well.
What position would us fans rather see their team in now?
One who is well under the luxury tax cap, starting to stock their minors a bit and seeing some nice talent coming up in AA and AAA – as well as a couple ML ready or almost ML ready?
Or the team who is desperately trying to get under that 189 MIL luxury tax cap, has an aging core, is relying on 2 older arms in the rotation along with their closer – and whose minor league system doesn’t seem to be well stocked in the upper minors?
No brainer to me.
Boomer
3/6/2013-8:42am at 8:42 am (UTC -4)
I don’t know why anyone is surprised that not just the Mets FO but every FO does not always tell the whole truth. They are constantly negotiating with each other as well as with agents like Boras who has never been accused of being candid with the truth. Why would the Mets or any team put themselves at a disadvantage by laying out their entire strategy to the public?
Short answer, they wouldn’t.
Stick
3/6/2013-9:58am at 9:58 am (UTC -4)
people yell and scream that they want the GM to open, honest, tell them what is going on, yada yada yada.
then of course, if they do, the same people either yell about the message, or how could they say that kind of mean thing?
same as real life. If you are watching the OJ trial you hate Cochran for getting him off, but if your were on trial, you want the biggest snake representing you!
Personally, I want the FO of my favorite team to be a bunch of sneaky weasels. If it makes the team better!
Joe Isuzu would have made a great GM. Trust me…