It’s been quite the week…and it’s only Thursday. There’s been a lot of activity swirling around Citi Field and Opening Day is five months off. It started with the announcement of the Mets signing Michael Cuddyer late Monday afternoon, followed later that evening by Jacob deGrom’s coronation as NL Rookie Of The Year. The Veterans’ Day holiday on Tuesday allowed your intrepid reporter to grab a full day’s worth of opinions on those events from the MLB Network. The earliest take came during the late edition of their “MLB Tonight” show – the anchor of the channel’s offseason evening programming – when analyst and former Atlanta Brave hurler John Smoltz caused a stir over here when he said that with “[Matt] Harvey coming back, deGrom, [Noah] Syndergaard and now Cuddyer coming over, the Mets are a playoff team…in the playoff mix.” Wow! That was the first time a non-snarky Mets appraisal was heard on the MLB Network since Matt Harvey went down late in 2013. Very impressive.
The next morning, Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds opened their daily live “Hot Stove” show with the question, “In the NL East next year…Why not the Mets?” They asked this with a straight face. They had a similar reasoning as Smoltz: young pitching, improved offense, adding in bounce-back years from David Wright and Curtis Granderson. While admitting the obvious – that the Washington Nationals are the class of the division – they still had some reservations about the wherewithal of the team from the Capitol to bring it home. “There’s just something about that team,” opined Reynolds, “they just never seem to get over the hump.” I was starting to get giddy.
After that, Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo praised the Cuddyer move right and left in the opening of his “High Heat” program. His slant was that this was the first “pat-on-the-back moment for the Mets in a long time.” His long tenure in New York as partner to Grand Poobah Mike Francesa had inured him to any good Met news, for sure, so his comment carried a slight backhanded slap. Overall, though, he was generally laudatory. The rest of the day was a run-up to the bestowal of the Manager Of The Year Awards, so the Met chatter died down as the day went on.
The next day, super-mega-ultra-agent Scott Boras made his annual wisenheimer pronouncement about the state of the Mets’ finances. Every year, he disdainfully disparages the team’s inability/unwillingness to play in his rich-kid sandbox – more accurately, failure to line his own pockets in the name of his clients. It’s usually a line about the Mets avoiding the “steak aisle of the supermarket” and shopping in less expensive avenues. This morning, Sandy Alderson fired back on his way out of the Phoenix GM Meetings: “Boras has been shopping near the meat section. That’s where he gets his bull[blank]” Pretty strong stuff, no?
After that, another famous Wilponian leak was discovered. A report came out that Jon Niese cursed out his manager late last year – sometimes, the jokes just write themselves, don’t they? – a report that was quickly debunked by all parties involved. To most fans, though, it’s an indication that Niese is not much longer for Queens. There’s usually some kind of anonymous smear when anybody leaves the organization. Could Niese be included in a package for a legitimate shortstop? In mid-November, anything is possible.
Why not the Mets?
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If the Mets want to increase their chances of making the playoffs then they should upgrade at shortstop and also obtain a reliable right handed hitting backup outfielder. Improving the middle infield defense to supplement the pitching would improve the team. The extra outfield bat is for depth, something legitimate playoff teams have. The Nats are a very strong team. It is wishful thinking that they are going to regress so the Mets should set their sights at getting better than the Nats.
Sheesh, a lot of us curse out the manager.
I love Alderson’s comeback. It literally made me laugh out loud. However, I am once again depressed by the Wilpon PR blunders that just keep on coming. If they were smart, which they are not, they would stay out of the headlines by avoiding moronic comments like this. It doesn’t help team chemistry, it doesn’t show confidence in the manager’s ability to communicate with the players, it doesn’t bolster trade value of the player, and it makes the owner and his minions look like meddling children. Worry about not being the kind of person who insults a woman for being pregnant, and leave Jon Niese alone.
I hate to say it, but when Alderson implied that he would not freak out if Flores was the 2015 starting shortstop, it was actually Alderson language for “We will not be getting a shortstop unless we get quite the bargain”. I could be wrong, but historically speaking…I have strong reason to feel the way I do
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If Alderson has no problem overpaying for Granderson, Colon, Young, Cuddyer, why would be so concerned about overpaying for a SS?
The leak today pertaining to Niese was shameful, and not for Niese as much as it was for the organization. If the “Mets Family” cannot keep their dirty laundry out of the newspapers, it is embarrassing and shameful. It makes them look Mickey Mouse.
How many times these last few years I regretted still being a Mets fan, not because they aren’t winning but the things you hear coming out of their locker room that we don’t hear from the other team in the neighborhood or any other.
Niese cursing at Collins is simply not a big deal. It’s not a “leak” in the same frame as kicking guys on their way out the door—Beltran, Reyes, Dickie, Turner……. This all just “standard fare” when these guys spend 8 months straight together. An F Bomb is about as remarkable as a Fart.
For once, this is just a writer generated slow news/no news/hot stove speculation story.
If this came out the next day or a couple of days thereafter, it can be said that Niese was insubordinate and his team should punish him. But, two months after the fact makes it look like a smear campaign and nothing more.
Whatever respect I had left for Terry Collins just went down the toilet. Only the players standing on the mound and Collins know what was said. So for Collins to run to SA like a kid who cant let a player vent out his frustration That’s pretty sad. Tells you where Collins’ alliances are with. No if you disagree with Terry he’s going to run back to his mother and report you. Good god! Nothing like throwing your own player under a bus? The antithesis of Jim Leyland. Yes you have to be careful what and how you speak to Terry. If not you’re out the door because everyone knows how indispensable he is to this franchise. Maybe the players can do a collection and buy him a pet rat?
Pete,
If I read it right, Niese failed to follow an order to bunt (and instead swung and flied out to RF) and upon reaching the dugout Collins asked him why he didn’t bunt. Niese told him he was being charged by the corners and thought he should slash. Collins told him he does what he’s told, Niese told him F U.
Anyone and everyone probably heard this. I don’t see Collins being the type to harp on this because while we all call him all kinds of names, he does seem to be a decent person unless you’re a young player. Even if he told his boss, Sandy Alderson about it, Alderson probably wouldn’t let this out. He is definitely professional all the way. No, this is a Jeffy move…
Gus thanks for the info. Of course! This is probably the work of well respected Jeffy who fired the female executive. Two wrongs don’t equal a right. Maybe Niese apologized afterwards privately? We just don’t know. If given an opportunity to really say how they feel about TC without ramifications I wonder how many players would say they run through walls for him? I just feel there is a disconnect between TC and the players and the front office with their fan base.