Letters to the NL East, Part 2/5
(To read past year’s letters, click here)
Letters to the NL East, Part 2 of 5. (part 1)
Dear Washington Nationals,
You’ve won the award for biggest roster turnover, and biggest hyped prospect, but this doesn’t mean that you’re going to be vastly improved. Kudos on working to make the future of baseball in Washington DC a little bit brighter.
With Steven Strasburg looming in the minors it sounds like there will be more to look forward to this season beyond Barack Obama throwing out the Presidential first pitch. This tradition was actually first started by Taft 100 years ago.
You’ve got some talented young pitchers on the team already, and a couple of guys that can actually swing the bat. However this isn’t enough to field a complete team, and though you’ll be improved, you’ll still likely be the caboose of the National League East and end your season along with everyone else on October 3rd.
Look on the plus side though, if Strasburg is talented enough to make the majors this year he’ll draw a lot of fans to come see him pitch!
Sincerely yours,
Optimistic Mets Fan
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Tags: barack obama, caboose, letters to the nl east, Mets, New York Mets, NL East, obama first pitch, presidential first pitch, steven strasburg, Washington dc, Washington Nationals
Letters to the NL East Part 1/5
(To read past year’s letters, click here)
Letters to the NL East, Part 1 of 5.
Dear Florida Marlins,
Congratulations! You’ve been caught stealing from the league! No one was surprised after you were told by the league to stop pocketing the revenue sharing money that you handed your star pitcher a big check. Why look at free agents or try to actually improve the team in any way? That’d cost money! Maybe when you get that new stadium right?
This isn’t to say you don’t have any good players. The aforementioned Josh Johnson and the whiny guy at shortstop are stars. Some good prospects and young talent floating around down there, but who knows how reliable or talented they will end up being. Chances are you’ll be the team that’s semi-talented, capable of winning any ballgame but just not that often. Yes, you’ll probably beat the Washington Nationals, but that’s not exactly high praise.
You’ll be in to Citi Field to open the season this year, and I suspect that’s the closest you’ll be to the Mets in the standings all year. You’ll play the Mets a series in Puerto Rico this year as well, and despite having last licks, I suspect there will still be more people in the stands rooting for the Mets.
Your disgusted rival from up north,
Optimistic Mets Fan
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Tags: Baseball, Citi Field, florida marlins, Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, letters to the nl east, Mets, New York Mets, opening day, puerto rico, revenue sharing
David Wright Is, and Should Be, The Captain of the New York Mets
Not every baseball team has, or needs, a captain. Currently only four of the thirty teams have captains: Derrek Lee of the Cubs, Paul Konerko of the White Sox, Jason Varitek of the Red Sox and Derek Jeter of the Yankees. The Mets haven’t historically needed to trump up the ego or perception of one of their players and proclaim him captain. In fact they’ve only had three in their history and two were co-captains. Keith Hernandez was named captain after the Championship season of 1986. Gary Carter soon joined him, and they were co-captains until 1989. John Franco, after the 2000 Pennant year, was named captain and served until 2004.
Is it time to name a new captain? Could the Mets benefit in 2010 from an on the field leader? There are arguments for and against, but I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that title or not, David Wright is a leader on this team. He’s hardly the only one: Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana both provide leadership as well, but the team might still benefit from an official captain.
Johan Santana is a cheery guy in the clubhouse, and he’s also a fierce competitor. He provides a nice mix of enjoying the game, yet still preparing and competing to the best of your ability. Francisco Rodriguez provides energy and passion at the end of the game, and is also a fiery guy. It’s generally assumed that a pitcher, despite John Franco, cannot be a captain because they do not take the field every day. I don’t really buy that argument. While there is a benefit to being a leader from the front of the lines every day, there are plenty of ways to lead from the dugout, between innings, and before and after games. Santana is on the mound 20% of the time and the pitcher is definitely front and center of the guys on the field batting for a win.
Still, it’s obvious to most observers that the guy most likely to be the Captain of the Mets is David Wright. He’s well-spoken, confident, and a star. He’s a fan favorite and one that will hopefully spend his entire career with the Mets. He’s never worn another uniform. He grew up a Mets fan. He’s a guy that’s willing to instruct, support and motivate his teammates and they respect him for it. David Wright can lead this team.
The 2010 Mets have a void in leadership with a lame duck manager. The players are now familiar with the plusses and minuses of the current management and it’s time for them to step up and provide for themselves. Whether this is David Wright walking out to the mound to talk to Pelfrey, or Johan Santana signaling to the infield what he’s going to throw so they can cheat and reposition themselves a little bit, 2010 is about moving forward, and it’s time to name a captain. The last two times the Mets named one it was after a pennant year and the team lost. Maybe it’s time to name a captain that will lead us to another championship rather than rewarding a player with a title afterwards. But one thing is certain whether it becomes official or not: David Wright is the captain of the 2010 New York Mets.
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Tags: Baseball, baseball captain, baseball leaders, captain, captain david wright, captains, David Wright, Gary Carter, john franco, Keith hernandez, leadership, mets captain, New York Mets
Heading Out to Citi Field This Season
As usual, I’ll be heading out to Citi Field more than a couple of times this season. I’ve currently committed to four games, as you can see in the ‘upcoming games’ box on the sidebar.
I try to get to Opening Day any chance I can. I wasn’t able to secure or afford second hand tickets to the Opener last year, but this year with demand a little down and it not being a new stadium, I was able to get tickets. I’ll be in the Promenade Box, and Opening Day can’t come soon enough. I always remember the early April games, and walking into Shea Stadium, and remembering how much I missed being there, and how much I felt I belonged. I suspect this season will be no different, and I already have a bunch of things planned. If you’re also going to be there, you should check out Mets Police’s Blue Cap Army. All you have to do is show up wearing a blue Mets cap. Easy!
Opening Day has a lot of hoopla to get out of the way, and it’s more about the return of baseball games that count, so I like to get to another game early on to devote solely to the Mets. Friday April 9th will be that game. I’m going alone, will probably spend most of the game on my feet wandering around to different parts of the stadium and enjoying the different vantage points. I’ll probably buy a scorecard and keep score, and have my camera and take a billion pictures.
Pyrotechnics night is July 5th. I was frequently at Shea for Fireworks night, and I was lamenting it’s disappearance once Citi Field’s construction starting taking up the parking lot, so I’m glad it’s back in some fashion. I have no idea how they’re going to do it, and what the difference between pyrotechnics and fireworks is, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.
The Hall of Fame ceremony game is August 1st. Something that has been somewhat lacking in the last couple of years is a true celebration of long time Mets greats, and properly honoring them. This day will rectify that, and it should be a game that sells out. After all, there has been tons of screaming and yelling about Citi Field not having enough Mets history in it. If you’re one of those people, you pretty much have to be there. It would look really bad if Mets fans were clamoring for Mets history but don’t sell out a game celebrating it. This isn’t about the team this year, this is about being a Mets fan. As of right now, not even the cheapest section is sold out.
Tags: 2010, 2010 season, Baseball, blue cap army, Citi Field, hall of fame, Mets, mets hall of fame, mets police, mets promotions, opening day, pyrotechnics, pyrotechnics night
More Pressure For a Quick Start
It’s not just Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya that have to worry about fast starts to the season or their jobs being in jeopardy. The same case could be made for Jeff Francoeur,
Daniel Murphy, and Rod Barajas. The way Ike Davis, Fernando Martinez, and Josh Thole have been playing in a way this spring that makes you suspect they’ll be knocking at the door to Citi Field sooner rather than later.
With Reyes possibly being out some, or all, of April the pressure on the starting pitching has just doubled. The most recent report on April suggests that he may be back closer to mid April, but that’s still a rough estimate.
We’ve known for a while that the season was going to hinge on the starting pitching. The offense was projected to be one of the top in the league, and surely would’ve won some games on it’s own even when the pitching struggled. With Reyes and Beltran out, they may not have that cushion for a while, but this doesn’t mean the Mets are doomed to a 9-13 type record to start the season.
The fast start is more important than ever, and if Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey can have a good month of April the Mets will still win games. We all know they’re each capable of pitching good games. It was expected before the season that they could definitely pitch competitively and keep us in games, but now they may be pressured to actually win the games. Instead of quality start performances and limiting the opponents to three runs over six innings, stepping up and going seven innings and occasionally limiting the other teams to merely one or two runs becomes important to the Mets early success.
This isn’t to say the Mets lineup is useless, and that they won’t occasionally put up a crooked number, but Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are two of the most irreplaceable players in the game today. The season is never won and lost in April, but if the pitching can step up and win more games than they lose, not only will it minimize the damage caused by losing Reyes and Beltran, it will set them up nicely once they return.
This post, and vibrant discussion about it, also featured on The Real Dirty Mets Blog.
Tags: Baseball, Carlos Beltran, daniel murphy, fast start, fernando martinez, fire jerry manuel, fire manuel, ike davis, jeff francoeur, jerry manuel, John Maine, Jose Reyes, josh thole, Mets, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, rod barajas
Aftershocks of the 2009 Mets Season
The 2009 season for the Mets was a disaster. After careful review, it appears that the specific type of disaster was earthquake. Even after the disastrous season ended we’ve been hit with aftershocks. Aftershocks are known as smaller earthquakes that follow after the original quake, not to be confused with the alcohol beverage that was needed for us fans to get through the season. They can still be dangerous, but generally get smaller and farther apart as time goes on.
Carlos Beltran’s scoped knee surgery was the first aftershock of the 2009 disaster. While final damage totals are not yet in for this one, it’s expected he’ll miss up to a month of real time. The last report I heard suggested that he’d be cleared to resume baseball activities right around the time the Mets head north for Opening Day.
The Jose Reyes Thyroid aftershock hit last week, when blood work revealed that Reyes has an overactive thyroid. The results and treatment for this are still being determined, but many opinions suggest that it shouldn’t be a big deal and he can get back to playing soon. This smaller aftershock was still upsetting, but it seems like it won’t be one that did much damage.
Other smaller aftershocks have occurred throughout Spring Training for the Mets. Francisco Rodriguez came down with pink eye, 
but didn’t become a zombie. Fernando Tatis is batting some knee issues, and Nick Evans strained his forearm. Neither is considered serious and Frankie is back and pitching again.
The big thing to remember here is it’s not 2009 anymore. You can check the calendar if you don’t believe me. Every tweak or setback or injury is not indicative of disaster, and the bad luck that plagued the Mets in 2009 was just that; bad luck. The way Reyes did not adequately recover from his hamstring injuries has nothing to do with what his thyroid may or may not be doing right now, and the bone bruise that Beltran had does not relate to his recovery from having his knee scoped in the off season. Right now we’re still in limbo waiting on how Reyes will be treated by doctors and when he’ll get back down to Florida to continue Spring Training, but once he does everything will be alright. Soon it will be time for baseball to count, and we can start obsessing over wins and losses and pitching performances and home run totals instead of thyroid levels and pink eye symptoms.
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Tags: 2009 mets, 2009 mets disaster, 2010 mets, aftershocks, Baseball, Carlos Beltran, earthquakes, injuries, Jose Reyes, Mets, New York Mets, pink eye, south park, Spring Training, thyroid