The Hot Stove has been, for lack of a better pun, quite cold this winter. Bloggers and baseball analysts have weighed in on where they think players will end up, but in the end, it just ends up as speculation with little concrete information to back any bold statement up. While most teams wait for the market on free agents to come down, the New York Yankees have gotten the most bang for their megabucks - as they always do. Just like every New York Met fan, I'm flabbergasted, outraged, annoyed, and above-all-else, envious.
The Yankees always get their man. C.C. A.J. It goes beyond initialed pitchers. The Mets traditionally settle for second, third or twelfth best. While the Yankees often feel like they don't have enough and need more, the Mets are a franchise that always hold out hope everything on paper will translate to the field and figure problems will work themselves out. While the Bronx Bombers sign marquee players in their prime, the Mets do the same, only past their prime. Look at any or all of the following Mets signings/acquisitions over the past few years: Tom Glavine, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, and Moises Alou.
I could go on and name drop pre-90's signings and trades but why insult Willie Mays, Vince Coleman, and Warren Spahn? They knew they were past their prime. The Mets just didn't. While there are moments of greatness, the franchise always seems to do the wrong thing or handle situations poorly. Look at past lousy trades they've made...paging Juan Samuel - are you there Juan Samuel? Look at how they handled the Shea Stadium closing ceremony last year. Why have it after a game they lost and not beforehand? Half the stadium walked out. I could even take them to task for overcharging for Shea memorabilia and ripping the stadium apart throughout the fall and winter in almost a secretive fashion. I could go on... the way they treated Dwight Gooden, the way they ran Kevin Mitchell out of town, and the way they traded Tom Seaver for a bag of balls. I could go on, and will.
This off-season was crucial for General Manager Omar Minaya to make an impact. The team is moving to a state-of-the-art ballpark and are coming off of two seasons which ended in collapses. 2007 in particular saw the team fail in epic and embarrassing proportions. 2008's answer? Bringing back Willie Randolph and resigning 40-year-old-plus Alou. Randolph couldn't shake the monkey off the team's back, Alou got hurt, and it didn't work. A surprise to nobody.
Minaya started off strong for the 2009 campaign by signing F-Rod to close and trading for J.J. Putz to set him up. But, the GM has been virtually M.I.A. ever since - doing as he always does in trying to find lightning in a bottle by signing low-risk has-been or never-been players. It's worked in the past, but that doesn't mean it's always going to work. Today's Endy Chavez is tomorrow's Pat Tabler.
To get to the point of all this, the New York Mets are a team I love. They just don't love me back. Lately, they are being run like The Montreal Expos version 2.0. I'd be OK with this if the Bronx neighbors didn't get all the good players or if the Mets couldn't afford to land players like Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez. But, they can.
Devil's advocate you can say Ramirez is a liability all around, and that'd agreed. Still, there's no doubt he'd add some character to this team. Why wait for the market to go down? The Yankees have already got stronger. The Phillies have gotten stronger. The Braves have, and even the Nationals have.
Maybe Bernard Madoff is the real reason the Wilpons are standing pat this off-season. Maybe Fernando Tatis can repeat his performance last year like Minaya preaches. Maybe Ryan Church can keep his head-on straight and management will avoid taking him on risky Colorado flights.
Or maybe, just maybe, it's the same Mets. Being a Mets fan is like being in an abusive relationship. When things are going good, you can't believe how well they're going. When things are bad, however, they're really bad...like Timo Perez around the basepaths bad.
Here's hoping the Mets break character, and pick up a quality starting pitcher who can help solidify the rotation; a young veteran outfielder whose proven he can stay healthy, and a few capable bats for the bench. A one-way ticket out of town for Luis Castillo is also in order.
Let's hope the team gets some swagger, and we, as fans, and they, as an organization, stop milking 1986 accomplishments. Not to take anything away from that year, because it was simply amazing and I still get choked up by highlights from it, but we need new highlights.
It'd be easier to accept being a fan of the other New York baseball team if the organization didn't continually remind us that they're second in town. The average fan knows how to run this team. They have for years. It's time the owners figure it out, too. If they do, I'll be watching and buying tickets. If they don't, I'll be watching and buying tickets. Loyal as always. Don't think they don't know that.