{"id":957,"date":"2011-02-22T10:30:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T15:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/?p=957"},"modified":"2011-02-22T21:30:06","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T02:30:06","slug":"optimism-is-not-a-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/2011\/02\/22\/optimism-is-not-a-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimism Is Not A Sin!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last week Ted Berg<\/a> wrote this piece about optimism in response to a different optimistic post by Patrick Flood<\/a>. Scratchbomb <\/a>retweeted it, noting that optimism is not a sin. \u00a0I like the phrase, and it\u2019s good to see others jumping aboard the optimism bandwagon and joining the club <\/a>(see the sidebar to join the Optimistic Mets Fan Club on Facebook), whether it\u2019s just front office philosophy or not.<\/div>\n
\"Optimism<\/div>\n
Ted and Patrick wrote about optimism mainly in regards to the Mets offseason moves, and sabermetrics. \u00a0A lot of discussions these days get twisted into an \u201ceverything Omar did was bad and Alderson is a sabermetric genius and won\u2019t make those same mistakes.\u201d \u00a0Sure, Omar didn\u2019t rely on advanced statistics as much as Alderson does, but as Ted suggested, the Mets aren\u2019t in a position to lose 120 games. \u00a0There were flaws in this team, even without the injury issues, but the team is talented, promoted minor leaguers that have contributed and will contribute in the future, and is in a good position to add pieces in the future as need be. \u00a0Moves are not necessarily easier to be positive about just because they are made with a larger emphasize on advanced statistical analysis and the Chris Youngs of 2011 are looking to fill a much larger role than the bench spots Omar signed Jacobs and Matthews Jr to last year.<\/div>\n
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Sabermetrics or not, the Mets offseason was a collection of minor signings meant to represent depth and upside. \u00a0There weren\u2019t many good or great players to be had at anything approaching reasonable value and the Mets roster wasn\u2019t the swiss cheese of baseball rosters that many made it out to be. \u00a0Alderson hit the holes, and hit them hard. \u00a0Multiples options for second base and lots of bench guys to slot in at various positions around the field to provide suitable backups and provide depth should a regular need to sit out a couple of days. \u00a0A handful of pitchers who have potential, or have had a great year or two when they stay healthy to make up the two empty rotation spots, and a barrel full of relievers to make up a bullpen in what sounds like it will be a no-holds barred cage match in Spring Training for the last three or four spots.<\/p>\n

Optimism is not a sin. \u00a0I try, and I\u2019ll continue to try until the division is clinched, to make a case for how and why the Mets will win the division. The odds may be stacked against them and they may need more things to go right than would be considered normal luck but that doesn\u2019t mean they it\u2019s impossible, or that it\u2019s useless to be hopeful and upbeat that they can happen, and that the Mets can win.<\/p>\n

I truly believe that the Mets could have one of the best offenses in the National League, and I\u2019m not going to be shy about proclaiming that. \u00a0Looking at the lineup, it\u2019s certainly not a stretch. \u00a0There is a certain amount of recovery from some and growing from others needed for\u00a0it to happen, but it\u2019s not out of the question. \u00a0Closer to Opening Day I\u2019ll make my official case for how and why I\u2019m predicting the Mets will clinch the division on 9\/25 against the Phillies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Most importantly, the games still have to be played. \u00a0Every year there are dozens of pitchers that were great and revert to being pretty average. \u00a0There are rookies that take off in their second year to have great years, and players that overcome injury in previous seasons to have bounce back years. When those players bouncing back are perennial All-Stars, the bounce is that much higher. \u00a0There are surprises every season; no one knows what\u2019s going to happen. \u00a0Even the predicted favorite from the offseason rarely makes it all the way to the World Series. Take the Sports Illustrated<\/a> picks from last season; not even one supposed expert got either of the pennant winners correct.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t get caught up in the negativity around the Mets. \u00a0There is nothing wrong with thinking some of the Mets signings will have a good year and stay healthy, that Ike Davis could blossom into an excellent player or that Reyes and Beltran in their walk year put up numbers close to their career norms. \u00a0With better coaching and leadership it\u2019s a pretty good bet that the Mets will get more out of their talent than they have in years past. \u00a0Remember: Optimism is not a sin!<\/p>\n

Update: Here’s a post by Brian DiMenna<\/a> who’s joined the Optimistic Mets Fan Club.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week Ted Berg wrote this piece about optimism in response to a different optimistic post by Patrick Flood. Scratchbomb retweeted it, noting that optimism is not a sin. \u00a0I like the phrase, and it\u2019s good to see others jumping aboard the optimism bandwagon and joining the club (see the sidebar to join the Optimistic … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Optimism Is Not A Sin!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[809,1133,19,528,124,6,71],"tags":[2968,1388,1389,1391,1390,11,1233,5,2964,1382,1384,1386,840,14,1385,32,1381,748,961,286,1184,1387,292,1383,1158,966],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}