Today marks the first “official” day of Spring Training, 2015. This is the mandatory day for all pitchers and catchers invited to camp to at least check in. From all reports, everybody made it, except Bartolo Colon, possibly enjoying a late lunch in his native Dominican Republic. In any case, there are stories galore about how this year will be unrecognizable when compared to the last six. There is more than hope, here. There is genuine optimism – there is a difference and it’s crucial. If you talk to baseball fans, it’s stark. When you hope, you immediately conjure a best case scenario: everyone will be healthy through one sixty-two and everyone coming back from injury will immediately perform to his previous level; all the sluggers will pass thirty homers; all the young kids will be superb. Genuine optimism, however, allows for taking into account all the variables and coming back with reasonable expectations.
For instance, not many people expect David Wright to be fully healthy in 2015 and return to the glorious offensive heights of 2008 or so, but to definitely improve on his woeful 2014 numbers. Looking for ’08 would be hope. Expecting better-than-’14 is optimism. Another one: Matt Harvey. Most of us can’t ask for a season-long performance as dazzling as his 2013 year, but at the same time, most of us see him getting close to that level before the end of this one. Can Lucas Duda improve on his thirty-homer season last year? Think Jacob deGrom can duplicate his eye-popping rookie year? Will Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud be able to build on their late season successes? Hope says, “Of course!” Optimism says, “Possibly.” You get the idea.
The thing that comes through strongly right now is that, taking into account all the tempered enthusiasm, optimism still seems to win the day. Yes, the Mets only won 79 games last year. Having done nearly nothing this offseason, one would think that would be the predicted mark once again. Yet article after article and broadcast after broadcast predict the Mets to be decently better than that. Hell, even Las Vegas has them being two games better. The Mets are actually talked about in serious baseball terms right now. During the past seven years, they’ve only been discussed in terms of a “LOLMets” opportunity or an “isn’t-it-cute?” mini-story. The timing is perfect, considering the current situations of the Mets’ chief tormentors: the systematic dismantling of the Atlanta Braves, the before-your-eyes aging of the Philadelphia Phillies, the continuing enigma that is the Miami Marlins and the eclipse of the New York Yankees. (Again, hope says they can take on the Washington Nationals and run off with the division; optimism concedes.) Throw in the fact that Mets now have the #5 organization in all the land according to the leading journal on such things and optimism states its case quite well.
Pitchers and catchers have reported. It’s almost time to put all that optimism to the test.
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“From all reports, everybody made it, except Bartolo Colon”
He couldn’t fit in the plane door so they tried getting him in the cargo compartment, still no luck so he waddled into a ships cargo container he will be there in about a week or so.
Damn Rob! The Dominican Republic is not That far from Port St. Lucie! If he catches the right current he could float there in a few days.
You’re right he insists they stop in New Orleans for a couple of buckets of gumbo and a few po’ boys before completing the rest of the journey.
Here you go Pete I think you will enjoy this article:
http://www.amazinavenue.com/2015/2/17/8050361/a-team-of-bartolo-colons
Rob it’s cruel and hilarious at the same time! I can imagine between innings Colon munching away in the clubhouse on some very greasy Spanish foods. Doesn’t Colon with a little less hair on top remind you of the Latin version of Homer Simpson? Not in inch or bone of athleticism!
I’m Latino myself (Peruvian) and I can surely imagine old Bartolo sitting in front of a big pile of pastelitos and bucket of suds on any given day.
I hope my comments don’t give the wrong impression I think he did a fine job last year and hope he does the same this one and brings us a nice prospect at the trade deadline as well.
I truly get a kick out of him on the ball field, there aren’t to many people that out of shape that can compete at a professional level. Goes to show that he is truly a talented individual.
Have a great day Pete.
y’all should look at the newly sculpted frame of Pablo Sandoval. He’s gonna make Bartolo look like a Tour de France cyclist!
Holy crapola Chris is that really from this spring?
Must have been a really big WS celebration!
🙂
Rob I’m Puerto Rican and I tell you Bartolo must come from a big family! Alot of mangu! Amazing he’s lasted this long in the big leagues. Colon re-invented himself and didn’t lift a single weight. He is the antitheses of A-Rod and will probably get more Hall of Fame votes then our crosstown egomaniac.
Ah mangu, I am pulling out some pork chops from the freezer and boiling some plantains as soon as I am done writing this!
I got a little Bartolo in me!
🙂
At a certain point, the hope and the optimism blends together and we get a wish to put under the Christmas tree. The past five seasons have been brutal to be a Mets fan (with the exception of the first half of 2012). It has gotten so rough at times that I’d rather watch a different sport to pass the time. But obviously we can’t complain because the Pirates dealt with two decades of this nonsense.
I’d like to consider myself optimistic about this team, but I just can’t see the 2015 Mets cracking the playoffs. I understand that every team has question marks, but there are just too many Queens. I see the window of opportunity opening up around 2017-2019 when all the Mets weapons are on the table and at the prime age of 25-29.
I hope the Mets make it. But at this point it’s just hope.
Anyone who thinks the last five years have been brutal should be forced to watch footage of the 1962-1968 Mets. Or the 1977-1983 Mets. Or the 1991-1996 Mets.
True Brian. But at least the 78 Mets had Lenny Randle, one of my favorite Mets of all time!!!
Amen!
As someone who experienced 1962-1968 I strongly disagree. The Mets were an expansion team, it was great to have NL baseball back, and it was understood that something needed to be built from the ground up. Please find me fans from that era who do not have nothing but fond memories. I know of none, and know countless Mets fans who were raised by parents who were drawn to the 1962-1968 Mets.
And Joan Payson as an owner vs. the Wilpon family is not even a contest. Sure, the teams were historically bad during this period, but a disgusting criminal ownership did not hang over the teams head.
Same for 1977-1983. 1977-1980 were bad, perhaps worse than the current mess, but once Doubleday bought the team the cloud lifted. And 1977-1980 was only three years. By the end of 1983 you had to be blind to not know really good times were right around the corner.
Following the 1983 season I bought my first set of season tickets, I wanted in on what was coming. So far for 2015 I have bought tickets for all of one game, 4/19, and only because the dog really wanted to go.
I’ve lived it all, and these are the dark ages.
But the next decade is going to be awesome, so save your money and take care of yourself!
Between 1962-1968 the Mets had higher attendance than the Yankees five out of the seven years. Overall, literally millions more attended Mets games.This despite the fact that at that time NL teams counted turnstile count and AL teams counted all tickets sold.
And between 1962-1968 the Mets also had much much higher average attendance than the NL league average.
Now the team is in the bottom third of baseball in attendance.
Yes, if you didn’t experience those years and just look at won/loss records you would think those were the dark days, but they were not. The Mets were new and fresh and they were really building something, which paid off in 1969.
The 1969 Mets won 100 games, and in in 1967 and 1968 fans saw players like Jones, Koosman, and Tom Seaver begin the process.
Now we have a cynical owner and his M. Donald Grant clone trying to put lipstick on an annual pig and praying behind the scenes that one year things work out and the team wins 86 games.
Oh, and they also try to ignore this teams wonderful history because they don’t want people to fully realize the damage they do every day to this franchise.
Sadly, I guess it is working.
The game ownership is playing is pin the tail on the pinata with the Met fans being the pinata. Gives new meaning to sticking it to the fan base.
How old were you in the ’62-’68 time? Were you generally cynical at that age? I’m willing to wager anything that you were just happy to have a team and that happiness blinded you to the shitty play that you saw. It’s nice that you have happy memories – the team was still really bad.
And the cloud did not lift the moment that Doubleday came around. There was hope but it was still lousy play.
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I think if most things go right, they have a shot at the playoffs. Hey, in today’s world, 83 wins gives you a shot at the playoffs.
Unfortunately, they aren’t shooting higher than that. And things usually go wrong.
But, sure, they could make the playoffs. They could win Game 163. They could get hot and . . . and . . .
Stranger things have happened. But it feels unlikely to me.
I’m saying a full 0% chance the Mets are playing post season baseball.
Chris F, I’m much more optimistic—-say 1%.
You’re an optimistic hopeful dreamer norme!
Chris I’m with you.The Mets once again will be watching the playoffs this year in front of their television sets. Maybe then they’ll have Terry placed on irrevocable waivers?
$55.5 M has been spent on the “hope” that their four highest paid players (Wright, Granderson, Colon and Cuddyer) have good seasons.
The “optimism” is that their young players are good enough to carry them to a playoff season in spite of the cost of the expensive hope.
I’ll bank on the optimistic young players to succeed before the hope players do but they will fall a little short of their goal.
Two games better? That’s going to be difficult to swallow considering what other teams like the Cubs have done to upgrade themselves Signing Michael Cuddyer was? I’m sorry but I’m not getting all giddy for an injured 36 year old who is a liability in right field. Was that the entire extent of the Mets off season wheeling and dealing? Being in a wild card race the Mets will need to win at least 86-87 games. Finishing at .500 would mean another year of failure with the window for this team making any kind of significant run already starting to close on them. Like Sandy said this team has the ability to win 10 more games. Okay Sandy if you say so. But the baseball experts in Vegas don’t agree with you.
They do have the ability to win as many as 10 more games maybe a tad more if all the if’s go their way.
By the same token they have the same ability to lose 10 or more games than last year if all the if’s go against them.
I am sure that someone is going to want to remind me about Harvey, Parnell and Wright’s injuries and how their comebacks are akin to bringing in major additions.
My response is “I didn’t know we were the only team in major league history to sustain injuries?”
The Braves lost 2/5ths of their starting rotation before they ever got out of spring training. We had a whole off season to plan for the loses of Harvey and Parnell. Harvey we knew was gone months in advance and if intelligent the Mets brass would not have been counting on a pitcher coming off major neck surgery either.
The “baseball experts” in Vegas don’t know a damn thing about baseball. They do know betting trends and that’s what they’re reporting on.
Charlie,
Who are the real “baseball experts?” The fans? The media? The front office? The scouts? The guys in uniform?
They all make plenty of bad baseball decisions.
In the long run I’d side with the “baseball experts” in Vegas. Bettors react to the line the house sets, and while the line may change to reflect betting trends, there has to be some knowledge involved in setting that original line. Those who set the line are pros at making money.
Plenty of “smart” guys, like the old joke, have driven their expensive sedans to Vegas and come home on a more expensive Greyhound.
Norme, you know who are the true experts ….the gamblers, they will tell you which way you should bet the line and give you all the pertinent mumbo jumbo to go with their “system”. Funny thing though I never met a gambler that 2 cents to rub together even though they all have stories about the big hits they make.
I’ll go with the guys setting the lines against those betting on them everyday and twice on Sunday’s.
It’s fine for us as fans to use nothing but blind hope. The issue is that the ownership and front office are applying that to the product.
Unless doing nothing is the new market efficiency, in which case let the good times roll!
It’s called false advertising. The Mets front office is just like a late night infomercial. You know what they’re trying to push on you doesn’t work and its just used a space filler.
And all this just reminds me it has been yet another “Winter of our Discontent.”
(Due apologies to Steinbeck).
Chris hope is eternal. Just like our vigil for the Wilpons. Can’t lose sight or hope that one day we as Met fans will have honest owners we can trust again