There’s something about trust and hope and faith and optimism, or maybe there’s something about me, that makes it so hard to find and so easy to lose. Yet for some reason, I keep believing the Mets. I believe them when they tell me they’re going for it, when they’re going to bring in power hitters and aces and an unstoppable bullpen. They keep telling me they’re going to compete, to make a run of it, to play baseball in November.
Eventually, I have to stop believing them.
The offseason began with promises of Bryan Shaw and Addison Reed. Then all of a sudden, they didn’t have plans to leave the Winter Meetings with a reliever. Yusmeiro Petit was off the board. Luke Gregerson was off the board. Brandon Morrow was off the board. But the Mets are playing the long game, right? Surely someone will still be left in January, right? Right? Right?
They’re not getting a starting pitcher. “A fourth priority out of a list of three,” or something like that. But that’s fine, because they have plenty of starters! Too many starters! They are all either injured or bad, sure, but they exist. Wait, you mean relying on Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler for 180 innings each is a bad decision? Nonsense. Rafael Montero is going to be a star.
The Mets won’t get a second baseman or a center fielder or a corner infielder. I’m not sure why. I’m not sure if it’s financial (it’s definitely financial) or because Sandy Alderson thinks he has a competitive team (he doesn’t). The Mets have built a high-variance team, like they always do. But this is also a team reliant on health, which, if it goes their way, would be the first time ever that a team reliant on health stays healthy. Maybe Montero really does become a star. Maybe Harvey has the second comeback of the century. Maybe Michael Conforto’s fluke injury will have absolutely no impact on his development. But how do you rely on everything coming together like that?
I keep seeing people suggesting a boycott, suggesting that if fans don’t show up, the Wilpons will have to do something. It’s a nice theory, but it won’t work. There will never be enough fans who stop showing up to make that work. Because the Mets keep spewing the same lines, just enough that you believe them. They promise you the world. And you’ll keep coming back.
Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports
Its the same slow dance every year. Big promises followed by deception. After 7 years of this, I don’t believe anything Sandy says.
As much as I think Sandy Alderson is indeed a con man, he is merely doing the bidding of the guys who sign his paycheck. If people are coming out and paying for a mediocre product then there is no incentive to take the risk to make it any better because big spending does not equal World Series victories (right, Dodgers?)
My bigger problem is not that they won’t spend but in how they choose to spend. For example, they have a guy in Wilmer Flores who hit .271/18/57 in a half season’s worth of ABs, but they think spending for a 2nd baseman (in dollars or in trade chips) is a high priority. They had the worst pitching staff in baseball last year because they relied up on health with no backup plan and apparently are taking the very same approach this year. They have a 1st baseman who gave them 30 HR power in his short sample but that’s a problem, too. Fans would probably be less hostile if there was at least logic behind a plan.
Killing Alderson makes no sense. He’s dealing with an unrealistic budget and is hamstrung by all the injuries to young pitchers. He has to find bargains because that’s what kind of money he is given. He does a great job.
However, I would have liked to see Alderson target a reliever or two that they really liked, and then go after them. Waiting out the reliever market isn’t a strategy that works very well anymore. Spending 10-20M per year on two relievers you really want isn’t a bad investment these days.