There are 15 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, 15 days until grass looks green instead of snow-covered white or dingy grey. Many among the Mets’ fan community can hardly wait. There are some staunch glass-half-full types — right here in our own back yard — who see the potential for great things in 2014, if we just squint a little bit. Even your intrepid columnist looks for at least a modest improvement in the team’s performance, in contrast to the last couple of years. Is this sunny outlook well-founded, or is the fanboy in all of us rearing his head? Are we coolly assessing the talent on hand and the potential for success this season or are we setting ourselves up to be disappointed…again? As with many things about the New York Mets, there are conflicting answers.
The fans have been told (sold?) that the offseason of 2014 would be The. One. The shedding of payroll, so painstakingly pursued in 2011, 2012 and 2013 was finally over and the Mets would be in a position to flex the financial muscle befitting a major league entity housed in New York City. When the winter started, this really looked to be true. The oft-cited additions of Curtis Granderson, Bartolo Colon and Chris Young are certainly welcome. For some reason, however – with a perfectly viable and plausible explanation to mask looming debt and financial instability, no doubt – all activity seems to have come to a standstill. Oh, there were the minor-league-deal-pitching-depth signings of John Lannan and Daisuke Matsuzaka, but otherwise, it has been all quiet on the player-acquisition front since everybody packed up and left Orlando in early December. Stephen Drew would appear to be an attractive solution to the dearth of talent the organization has at shortstop, but is being greeted with little more than a derisive sniff. The bullpen could use another veteran arm as a hedge against Bobby Parnell struggling to regain full health, but suitable candidates seem to be being bypassed. It makes it all very tough to decipher what the organization is trying to accomplish. Are they looking to put the best nine on the diamond? Are they looking to add necessary depth in the lineup? Are they looking to win? The answers seem to be lost in rhetorical murk.
And so, if the savvy Met fan sees some good things a-happenin’ in 2014, that fan must do so with more than a little bit of caution. While the new blood pumped into the team by GM Sandy Alderson and company is most welcome, there is a nagging suspicion that they see the job as “done,” when clearly, there is still much up in the air. No, we fans have no clue what goes on behind closed doors in Flushing, granted, but still…
They can’t be finished, can they?
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Absolutely!!!!
I see a lot of opportunities to see some core players grow and have great seasons, and newbies make the show and do well. There is a ton to be excited about!! THe future is nearly here!!!!
If a 500 season is reason for optimism, then there is a chance. I don’t see much more than a seven game improvement with what has been added and let go. Hopeful re the young pitching but not so much on C. Young. We shall see what we shall see.
There will have to be a lot of “career years” for this bunch to compete for a wild card spot. Not saying it can’t happen. But a lot would have to go right.
For all the noise coming from SA about payroll flexibility the 2014 Mets payroll will be less than last years. I am wondering who will be this years Rick Ankiel? Speaks volumes about Met managements faith in their farm system. That being said if Colon and Young are consistent and perform well, they’ll be gone by the trading deadline and payroll will be at 65 million. How’s that for a big city market like New York. Too many question marks on this team offensively and the bull pen is still in need of another veteran arm. Health and luck always play a key role in any winning season. If the Mets can be a .500 team at the end of this coming season I’ll take it and build for 2015.
The state of the current Mets team is making me reconsider how long I can stay a Mets fan. After almost 40 years of staying up all night to see the result of west coast games, I am now rooting for a team that does not seem to have an urgency for winning, does not seem to want to get the best player but rather does it the Wilpon way of signing cheaper secondary players, and although I am very happy the farm system is coming around, it cannot be our one source of hope.
I understand Choo and Elsbury were expensive. I understand that we don’t just want to throw away Davis but rather want to wait for a quality offer. I understand that Tejada should get another shot. There is no problem with any of this; but, there is a problem with all of this. I could live with Granderson, but Granderson and Young is two players whose production can be considered an unknown. Granted, everyone is an unknown, but you know what I mean. Young hasn’t done much outside of his Arizona launching pad stadium. Granderson at least has a recent history.
I like the Colon signing. He will help fill the void, Perfect! But, Tejada + Davis/Duda/Satin + Young + Granderson for about $30 million? Why not get Granderson, leave EY in Left Field and sign Drew. The tradeoff is Drew and EY instead of Young and Tejada. Every way I look at it, I come back to not understanding the Chris Young signing. He was their first signing. Seriously? This guy should have been a January signing.
I think Alderson completely blew it this off season. Whether the decisions were made by owner’s request, by owner’s financial constraints, or by his own free will, Alderson did a horrible job constructing this roster, just like he left his team without a backup SS last year, and without an outfield at the end of 2012. “What outfield”? Very funny Alderson.
Now, I’m not saying that Drew is the answer, or that this was a healthy free agent class. And, we saw how salaries jumped. But, other teams found a way to plug their holes much more correctly than the New York Mets, better thought of as the Boise Mets.
Not to mention that Duda/Davis is not a new issue for SA. Waiting for what he believes is a fair offer for Davis is ridiculous. What ever happened to keeping things in house until after a deal is done? If CY and Colon play up to expectations they’ll both be traded at the deadline. When is the fan base going to say enough patch working a teams roster year in and year out. Where is the cohesion in that? Who are we rooting for? Other teams rejects like Rick Ankiel? Eventually it comes back to bite you. Filling out the roster with 13 minimum salaried players brings the Met payroll to 81 million dollars. Once Colon and Young get traded payroll will be 65 million. Can someone please petition Citibank not to re-fiance their loan with the Wilpons? I think Boras is waiting for the Yankees on Drew sorry TexasGus.
Pete, I’m not really a big Drew supporter. However, he just signed two outfielders that are recent uncertainties. What did they accomplish there? They may become good players, and I hope they do, but you have Lagares who has proven to you that as a rookie he had promise, what are you going to do with that now since the talkative Collins says he wants to play EY? And catch this: Alderson comes out public ally and says Duda may play the outfield? I hope that was just arbitration posturing.
Instead of CY I can see the money better spent on Drew with Tejada as your back up infielder. The outfield was not a priority since there were and still are available options out there. It’s nice to know that the GM and manager are on the same page(sarcasm). Maybe SA was trying to add value to Duda for a trade. Or maybe he’s just kissing Davis’…. Either way it doesn’t make any sense. The Mets are becoming more each day the northern version of the Marlins. I do understand your point. The Mets keep signing questionable players who may or may not pan out. Lagares has shown the team that he is able to play an above average center field. So why sign Young for 1 year? You’ll still have the same issue next year since SA will trade CY at the trading deadline.
At least the Marlins know when to blow things up and start again, and with fantastic young talent I might add. Not saying I think the Marlins are a better organization, but after four years of immense struggling, you’d think it wouldn’t have taken this long to put a respectable group on the field for a NY team.
Patrick both teams have an owner who the fan base dislike or mistrust. The only difference ie the Wilpons are very cozy with the commissioner. If what you’re saying is that the Marlins have done a better job of drafting? Maybe you’re not so far off base. I’m amazed at how the Cardinals are able to re-load year in and year out while drafting much lower than the Mets.