For the love of God, trade deGrom. Give the man a chance to use his talents for a real team.
As for the Wilpons, the team is worth nothing as it is. Wilpon's will want top dollar no doubt which almost no one will pay. So we are stuck UNLESS someone sees future value, pays the W's what they want with the leverage that the new owners can rebuild the team into a winner and recoup their initial loss. Hostile takeover? We can only hope.
I wish Alderson good health, & a Speedy recovery, I also wish he never comes back to the Met Organization.It isn't all Aldreson's fault as he works for a management that's only concern is the bottom line & balancing the budget.That is why the Mets have the oldest team in Baseball , made up of has beens which he picked up in the bargain basement of Baseball.with one exception a power hitter with chronic leg ailments.The only hope for the Mets is the Met Fans that if they love the team just don't support it. When Management starts to lose money, they will either take an interest in the team & take a page from the Yankees or sell the team.
1
Lifelong, suffering, despondent, discouraged, depressed, Mets fan here. They’re near impossible to watch and if it were not for the very fine tv and radio announcers, I wouldn’t pay attention at all. I’m a hopeless romantic who keeps thinking an arc of golden sunshine will appear, and from that arc, a prospect who will hit with men on base, pitchers who remain healthy, and a big-contract player whose hips won’t lie. But then, I remembering the Wilpons and the Mets. And I’m despondent once more.
1
Simple solution: Get Wilpons OUT!
Hire Billy Beane away from Oakland. Look what Theo Epstein did for Cubs.
This surprises no one.
Sandy Alderson was forced on the Wilpons in 2010 as a condition of their being able to keep one of MLB's flagship franchises, and Alderson turned out to be entirely willing to sell his reputation, for $4 million a year, to put lipstick on the pig that the Wilpons had turned the franchise into.
Since 2008 the Mets have been the cash cow propping up the Wilpons' other business. 10 years on and there's no evidence that's ever going to change. Nor has there been as much as a single paragraph the Wilpons have ever spoken that evinces they've bothered to learn anything meaningful about the game over the 36 years they've been involved with the team.
Anyone watching yet another Met team play its older players into the ground, wear out its bullpen, and refuse to DL its unproductive, obviously injured players just in order to try to save a few bucks, knows that even the front office's blather this past offseason about taking a 'new approach' to injuries was just another lie. Amazing, really.
1
Going to an MiLB game can still be fun, but MLB is both too expensive and no longer entertaining. Fortunately, there are many other entertaining options, including getting outside and actually doing something rather than staying indoors watching baseball on TV. Certainly a walk, even on a hot muggy night, is better than watching the Mets fail to score runs or to protect a lead.
3
Speed, pitching, defense.
This is what it takes to win in the National League.
The Mets have the pitching but not the other two.
Why is this so hard to figure out?
1
Speed? How about hitting?
I think the Wilpons have found out that fielding an average, or even a far below average team, is far more profitable than putting a true contender on the field. They don't object to their team winning a pennant -- someday -- but they're not going to let that hope stand in the way of increasing their bottom line.
5
Just an awesome, well-written article.
2
Just a word or two on the way these men have conducted themselves during the past couple of months. I think they have shown an admirable ability to work hard in the face of little reward for their efforts. Other than money, of course.
Cabrera is the best example of this; his legs seem to be wrapped in bandages, but his efforts to play through pain are to me an example of someone who shuts up and gets on with it.
And look at the achievement of Jose Reyes. Yes! He signed for the minimum salary and he's played third and short and he's struggled to hit. But he was put in at short for a few days in a row, and he's begun to hit. And he runs like very few players his age. I like Jose Reyes. He holds his head up, as an indication of pride.
Who else has this quality? Look around. Has there ever been in your experience a player with the talent and gumption of Wilmer Flores? Does anyone on the planet enjoy playing the game more than Brandon Nimo? And if you watch the Mets and you are not pulling for Michael Conforto, then maybe you should take your pulse -- you may not be alive.
3
Been a fan of the Mets since 1964 & worry that we are watching history repeat itself. The fluke appearance by the '73 Mets in the WS gave ownership an inflated sense of the quality of the team. Did 2015 do the same thing to the Wilpons? Now, I read that deGrom & Syndergaard are being shopped to the YANKEES of all teams! Perhaps the team will get the same handful of 'magic' beans it got when Seaver went to the Reds in 1977. Or perhaps, one of those arms will get shipped to Anaheim for Albert Pujols (Ryan for Fregosi, anyone?)Moves that crushed the Mets spiritually until the team was sold. In 1978, I bought an upper tier ticket for a late season doubleheader against the Phillies. Shea was nearly empty, and by the 5th inning of the first game, I was in a seat behind the Mets' dugout. It was so depressing...I swear I heard Joe Torre quietly sobbing below me...and that team hit better than the current Mets (.245 v. a current .232), pitched better (3.87 ERA v. 4.30) and had a roster that was an average of two years younger! I think the Wilpons have good intentions and aren't as craven as M. Donald Grant, but this ownership is the one constant is the long, deep, dry spells this franchise experiences. MLB cannot be happy that one of the teams in its biggest market is a continuous object lesson in 'how to waste talent and money.' Ah, if only the NBA's season ran from April to October, then the Knicks might take some of the attention away from the Wilpons' Folly...
1
I was born in Canarsie in 1965, came to baseball consciousness during the Mets' brief heyday, and thus am stuck rooting for the blue and orange "laundry", as the world's most famous Met fan would say. Clearly, the problem with the team has been its history of pathetic ownership, save for the brief interlude Mr. Doubleday ran the team. I have often wondered if perhaps the Wilpons incurred the wrath of the baseball gods with their treachery against a descendant of the inventor of the national pastime, cursing them and the franchise unto eternity. Certainly, that would explain Madoff.
I, too, shared the fatalism and ennui of many of the comments in this thread, until events unfolded last Tuesday. Just as young Ms. Ocasio-Cortez can use social media and community organizing to upend a Queens political machine that fails its constituents at every turn, so too we Met fans can use social media and organizing to overthrow the Queens real estate and family machine that has failed its fans at every turn. A complete boycott of Citi Field is necessary, as is a cancelling of all subscriptions to SNY. Imagine if no one had shown up to watch the bullpen implode Wednesday night. And then the next night. And the next night. Manfred would get the message and at least push the Wilpons out of the baseball end of things, as Rozelle did after Giants fans rebelled in the 1970's. Met fans of the world, unite! We have nothing to lose but our chains.
5
Sunday, for the first time in 50+ years, I watched a regular season Yankees game. ( I watched playoff games when the Mets were absent). I can't take it anymore. Divorce is difficult, but I'm now there.
For a change, no one is blaming Terry Collins. You have good healthy players and the ability to develop or get a player, you win. You sit holed up counting nickels, you don't.
1
Baseball is a game with a very long history and relatively few rule changes in that time, so there's a lot to be learned from the past. Consider Ty Cobb, the rough, tough, near-crazy brilliant player who understood that the object was to score runs, and to score runs you had to get on base. You have to shake your opponent's confidence, do the unexpected, make him fail at little things and keep pushing. And when things aren't going your way, you have to take a new tack.
Even Cobb, still the best hitter over a career, ever, had his slumps. And what would he do? Bunt, Bunt, Bunt! He'd bunt to get on base, bunt to advance runners, bunt his way out of a slump. Drag bunts, push bunts, whatever was needed. He was famous for setting stolen base records, but analyzed and practiced all kinds of slides so he'd automatically use the ideal slide to beat the tag.
Cobb was famous for spiking fielders, but he rarely did that, instead relying on them THINKING he might do so. Unlike John McGraw, who, in his playing days, spiked every defender every chance he could.
But most importantly, Cobb worked everyday at improving every aspect of his game, especially those things he wasn't very good at, and at things he was good at when they weren't working.
I'm not holding Cobb up as a paragon, but he was the very best ever because of his drive to improve every aspect of his game everyday. Even late in his career he was willing to improve his fielding from Connie Mack, playing for the A's.
3
Thanks! I enjoyed reading this very much.
Great column, Michael Powell. In the tradition of Dave Anderson and Red Smith. The Mets are destined for to remain a punchline as long as the contemptible Wilpons remain in control of their fate
4
Terrific piece of analysis. I commend Mr. Powell. I doubt, though, that he has my provenance as a Mets' fan. I attached myself, a once Pirate fan, to the novice Mets as a first year Columbia student in 1962 (mainly because Ralph Kiner, a boyhood hero, was a Mets broadcaster.
The problem with the woeful organization that is from the beginning, the Mts have been a chronically underfunded franchise. Their first owner was a socialite, for God's sake, who probably watched what games she did watch through a pince-nez.
I think that the Wilpons are by professional team owner standards, decent fellows, but they continue in the penny-pinching tradition of Mrs Payton and (the infamous) M. Donald Grant. I sometime wonder if the institutional rot affected the franchise will ever be corrected. It's sort of an "as the twig is bent" situation that ends up being karma
2
Payson and Grant were the only 2 Giants board members who voted against the move to SF. They then turned their efforts toward creating a replacement club, and leveraged their resulting franchise in the short-lived Continental League against MLB, who countered with a franchise to them of their own to squash that league, and The Mets were born. Institutional rot indeed - bad juju from the beginning...
Hiring Mickey to manage the club seemed like a good idea. He was a pitching coach, and the Mets' pitching represented their biggest advantage.
Unfortunately, Mickey's biggest credential proves to be his Achilles Heel. He lacks the profound understanding of the whole game. And, unfortunately, he doesn't understand managing a National League pitching staff, where the pitcher has to hit. The logistics end up much more complicated and much less consistent. Starting pitchers have to go longer (which means more at bats) and and orchestration of the bullpen requires a bit of flexibility and imagination. In game after game, the starting pitcher has done well, and then the bullpen has surrendered it. At the very least, so drastically limiting starters' innings must be discouraging to them when the bullpen surrenders leads painfully frequently. In how many games would deGrom have earned a victory if the bullpen hadn't imploded after he left? I'm sure that he would love to have 10 or 12 wins. He's certainly pitched well enough to do so. And if a starter stretches to pitch longer, then he'll be able to go farther into games later in the season. That's been part of the game since I started diligently following it in the 1950s
1
Good comment. However, deGrom's won-loss record has suffered more from lack of run support than failure of relief pitching. To the extent that the bullpen has failed him, I think you have to consider the fact that they've had little to no margin for error, rarely having anything but a slim lead to protect.
As a life-long (theirs, not mine) fan, I would disagree about trading DeGrom and Syndergaard. Trade them both, but only if the takers will accept the Wilpons, the Katzs and Alderson in the deal.
2
As a born Met fan:
Yankee rebuilds = 6 months
Met rebuilds = 18 years.
I say this because if the Washington Nationals hadn't gone into the tank because they didn't like their Manager in 2015, the Mets would not have made the playoffs and 2016 was a gasp of pure luck, not a way to run a major market team. It is best they do not trade their "Aces", as the return will result in just another "Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi" trade or a "4 For Two Tom Seaver" fiasco. The front office has proven their complete baseball ineptness by the state of their minor league talent pool and reinforced daily by watching their "up and coming 'Exciting' players" fail whimperingly. The best thing to happen to the Mets would be forcing the ownership to sell as they made the McCords (owners of the Dodgers) do a few years back, but that would require a Commissioner who cared more about the health of the League and its Fans, not just playing "Patty-Cake" and "Footsie" with his pals the Wilpons.
3
2016 may have had some luck in it, but over a period of 162 games, I think some human sense of credit where credit is due has to be
added to any assessment, unless you paint with a very, very broad brush.
1
The Wilpons can’t sell the Mets because all their other assets are leveraged against the Club’s cash flow. So give up that fantasy. And Jeff is blood, so give up that fantasy too. He is here to stay. And he will make the final, usually very stupid, decision on, well, everything. A few years back he even weighted in on a female employee’s pregnancy. The guy has a lot on his mind, something as mundane as bunting drills just aren’t going to register. He has to find the cheapest source of Tebow tunics he can. Let’s stay focused on what is important here.
3
What a superb and marvelously
written column! In the tradition of the greats of yesteryear: Runyon, Jimmy Cannon. Arthur Daley, Red Smith. This man Mr. Powell is a wonderful talent with a “real” perspective, an educated man who enjoys sports & helps us enjoy it too. His writing is literature. Long may he wave! Keep it up sir. You and the female NYT sports writer colleague who exposed the fact that the USA gymnastics establishment were actually going to send the young girls/team to train back at the Texas ranch where Nassar raped & abused. Until she wrote that article. She deserves a Pulitzer Prize! GREAT duo, Mr. Powell and Ms. Macur (?). Fabulous. Thank you!
2
When is Tim Tebow going to join the Met's roster as a regular player? They need something to boost their morale and fast. Next up--the Mets play the Marlins to see who can get sole possession of last place.
Perfect example of a fish rotting at the head. Until ownership goes, it's the same troubles year in, year out, from the top of the organization to the bottom. Keep Syndergaard, Keep DeGrom, a few others here and there, and jettison the rest. Up to and including the front office.
5
Michael, you're too kind ....
The Wilpon's are real estate people, not baseball people, and heavy investors with their "friend" Bernie. Calloway must be wondering if he should have stuck with Cleveland and waited for another call ....
I agree with you ... make the game exciting for the fans and the players .... "eat" the salaries of the under-performers, pro sports is not a geriatric game ....
As a Brooklyn Dodger to NY Mets fan I have learned to moan, complain and wait till next year, and, can't wait for the Jets training camp .....
3
I keep trying not to care, but I just can't help it. I saw the Mets play at the Polo Grounds twice. It's in my bones.
The Wilpons are awful, but the previous ownerships/managements weren't much better. Even after the dream year of '86, they couldn't leave well enough alone. Frank Cashen couldn't even wait till after the locker room celebration to announce the changes he had planned. A week later, Ray Knight was gone, and in a way, the magic was gone.
Fifty -six years, and not a single MVP. One home-grown Hall of Fame player, who they foolishly traded away while still in his prime. Countless bad acquisitions, and don't get me started on the all players they traded away or let go who became stars on other teams (Nolan Ryan, Jeff Kent, Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy, to name a few). How is it that every other team seems to be able to generate hitting stars, but not the Mets?
After beating the mediocre Pirates the other night, they were jumping all over each other as if they'd just won the World Series. How much more pathetic can it get? Yet, I keep caring.
I don't think I'm a masochist, but maybe I'm just deluded.
8
Jeff Wilpon has no business running the Mets. He was handed the team by his daddy as a toy to play with. He has broken it and until the Wilpons sell, it's beyond repair. The main reason the Mets have their Triple A team in Las Vegas is because Jeff Wilpon interfered so much with the Mets' AAA team in Buffalo, they refused to renew their lease with the Mets! Just one example of the inefficient way Jeff Wilpon runs this team.
6
And not mentioned: that mish-mash of a stadium known as Citi Field, with a pavilion here, a grandstand there, some bleachers thrown in, a forum that looks like what it surely is — a stadium built by committee. A lot like the line about the horse. And that “Great Wall of Flushing,” as Howie Rose calls it. First of all, if there had been some uniform concept behind the stadium, the left field distance would have been reasonable in distance and design. But then, when it became clear that it was unwieldy, putting the other wall in front of it, but not re-constructing the whole configuration?! Having that yellow line define what a home run is is just cheap. Which defines the ownership of the team — cheap, in The major market in the nation. As much as I share your feelings, and your sons’ feelings, about the Mets viz the Yankees, at least the new Yankee Stadium is graceful, has a concept in its lines and design. And had the Yanks had to deal with the mess in left field, they would have torn it down and reconstructed it.
I’ve been a fan since ‘64 when I left work at the World’s Fair and caught a game before taking the #7 home. But the total failure of the team, its leadership and ownership, has me looking at other games now rather than watching a poor minor league team (with no hope of talent on the farm).
3
Mets fan since 1962, when my father welcomed the National League back to NY. I have raised 3 Mets fans, in an era when being a Yankee fan would have been a lot easier. We are used to tough times. But this feels different: the owners treat the franchise like a minor league operation, the coaching staff is horrendous ( I challenge the reader to name ONE player who has improved since joining the Mets), many players perpetually injured and a scouting team with Mr. Magoo eyesight. Why should I go to CitiField and give the Wilson’s one cent of my hard-earned money?
They must DO SOMETHING! The Wilson’s should sell the team ( would be lovely if MLB would pressure them). Fire the hitting coach....young players like Rosario and Smith look clueless at the plate. How does Smith not take bunting practice daily? Hire me as GM. Seriously, how did we let Daniel Murphy go? As much as I love deGrom, I feel sorry for him. He deserves a team that can win and is the only player with any value at present. Seriously, hire me as GM.
If we have to suffer at least give us hope...besides Tebow.
5
I don't drink, but the ninth inning of last night's game had me reconsidering that stand. The Mets closer comes in with a two run lead, faces four batters and leaves the game with the bases loaded, no one out, and now a one run lead on their way to another loss. As my son said, that loss was unforgivable.
I'll quibble with one thing MIchael Powell wrote, though - 'Alderson signed Tim Tebow, a failed professional quarterback, a couple years back'. Tebow was not a failed professional quarterback. The one season that he got to start, he took a team that another quarterback had gotten off to a 1-4 start and led them to the playoffs and a first round win, on the road in Pittsburgh. He was effectively blacklisted from starting in the NFL because he refused to downplay his Christian faith.
2
Lest we forget, Gleber Torres has been in the Yankees organization for a little less than two years coming to the Pinstripes in a 2016 trade with the Cubs. So maybe some of the credit should go to their farm system
2
David Wright, Cespedes, Bruce, Frazier. These guys are crippling the team with their below average performance(In the case of Wright, no performance for years!) and lofty salaries. Never understood the hiring of Calloway. While he may be a great person with good baseball knowledge, he was not the man to choose for a team that had been in the playoff hunt for the past several years. That decision reminds me of what the Denver Broncos did(my other team) by hiring a coach with a so-so resume, and no head coaching experience, not to mention a roster full of veteran players. The Mets will always be my team, but I must say that Doubleday and Wilpon has hurt the franchise, and it may be a good idea to turn the reigns back over to Omar Miniya, who I feel did a more than adequate job when he used to call the shots.
2
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Mets that a new ownership, a new front office and replacing 20 players on their 25-man roster couldn't fix.
5
The Mets and The Knicks are never going to win as long as they have these two horrible owners.
Side note: maybe a name change with the change in ownership. The “ets” moniker is a loser with all three NY teams that have it. Mets, Jets and Nets. The Tampa Bay Rays used to be the devil rays. Houston used to be the colt 45s. New thinking starting with on top with new owners is overdue. BTW, the Jets could join the sell please club too.
4
Been a Mets fan since their inception. Used to be fun watching the lovable losers in the early sixties. They're still losers just no longer lovable. As long as the Wilpons call the shots, they will continue to make decisions based on what they perceive are bargains, such as Jay Bruce. They have balls of money but would never make a splash by signing a Manny Machado or Bryce Harper.
5
Short of selling this team and cleaning house (the best option), the Mets next year should:
— Replace their manager and coaches
—Nurture their young talent and and start them every day: Nimmo, TJ Rivera, Conforto, Rosario and Flores.
— Ease by 25-33% the workload of injury-prone Cespedes and Bruce
— Make rest of 2018 season tryouts for Cabrera and Bautista and their catchers
— Trade Syndegaard in next 30 days for another linchpin starter or bevy of prospects
— trade Familia and cabrera in next 30 days for whatever you can get
— keep degrom unless mike trout is offered
— start degrom, wheeler, matz, lugo and ... my aunt clara (who cares)
— hire the Full Metal Jacket drill sargeant as bullpen coach.
— buy reyes, wright and vargas retirement watches.
7
This ownership has been catastrophic for the team since Fred Wilpon finagled sole ownership from Nelson Doubleday in 2002. Since then they have discarded the Mets hard won orange and blue, Queens, working class, World's Fair brand in favor of indulging a narrow 1950's Brooklyn Dodger fantasy still within the living memory of octogenarian majority owner Fred, with the attendant guilt-assuaging monument to DODGER icon Jackie Robinson, at the expense of Met immortals, in the entrance to the Ebbets Field replica that replaced the orange and blue clad late lamented Shea. The Mets are dead under the weight of institutional chauvinism and Madoff debt, a repository for the likes of Bill Maher to donate a $1,000,000 (explicitly non voting) mitzvah.
8
Oh no! Now you've gone and reminded us of Citifield - a nice shopping mall, but not so good for watching a game. Shea was a ballpark of its era, with the decks too far from the field. But with the chance to build anew, and with the clear examples of the great SF and Pittsburgh stadiums available, it is remarkable how bad the Mets ballpark is, with thousands and thousands of seats without a view of the full field. A ball down into the corner on your side of the field? Unviewable. A ball on the warning track if you are sitting in the left field stands? Unviewable. You know, this is why they have computer modeling, but I guess that slipped by the Wilpons.
2
John Ombelets of Boston has the only correct and viable solution:
Mets fans need to demand a change in ownership.
But the only way to do that is to deprive Wilpon of the cash he needs to hang onto this team.
The only way is to facilitate any type of real change in owners who are desperate for cash is to cut it off. Stop going to games, watching them on TV (I haven't done that since 2010) or purchase anything with a Mets logo.
Since Wilpon had sole-ownership of the team, after he swindled it from Nelson Doubleday, hundreds of millions of dollars and valuable resources have been squandered and there is absolutely nothing to show for it. (I do not count World Series losses, NL East/Wild Card finishes as success).
I am a true orange and blue Mets fan and fondly remember going to Shea in the very dark years of 1974 through 1984. I will always be a Mets fan, but Wilpon has to go!
Enough is enough.
7
Perfect. After 50 years of following the Mets I no longer care. No updates on my ESPN app, no review of the night's TV schedule for the game, and definitely not buying tickets. It is a lot easier to click down one channel to watch the Yankee's- who care about winning.
4
You mean to sit there and tell me you switched to the Yankees after all those years and you don't miss: Cohen, Darling and Hernandez?
You mean to tell me you LIKE the Yankee broadcasters? Do you drink coffee to stay awake, or do you watch with the sound off?
Normally I hate to drop strong starting pitchers, but pitchers are so fragile these days. Considering the Mets' track record with free agents, I think they'd be better off trying to rebuild with young players, like the Astros. If they do that, who knows if DeGrom or Syndergaard will still be pitching at a high level by the time the team grows up? If they do try to rebuild with some free agent patches, I would keep the two of them, otherwise they have nothing to rebuild around.
1
Tim Tebow is coming Mets fans.....he had a hot month in AA. Look out, the savior is around the corner.
4
..... Bringing his torrid .256 (in AA ball) batting average to Flushing for your pleasure and disappointment. How will we contain our excitement till then?
I am struck by, and sympathize with, the commentators who regret passing on the defective “met-fan” gene to their offspring. I did to my son. My daughter could care less and married an avid Red Sox fan (a great choice). I keep trying to leave, but with every infrequent win I get sucked back in. Such was the case least night and I watched one of the most depressing and poorly managed games ever played in a long list of them.
Players who showed individuality like Turner and Murphy were eliminated. Relief pitchers were considered replaceable commodities available at rock bottom prices. Young players were poorly developed. 89 million dollars was spent on players who were all over thirty and clearly on the downside of their careers.
But perhaps overlooked in this horrid mess was the total mismanagement of the location of the AAA team. Too cheap to stay in Buffalo and satisfy the legitimate needs of the team’s owner, the Mets went to Las Vegas creating tremendous problems in not only managing their 40 player roster but, more importantly, player evaluation as the weather and the ballpark made all data circumspect. Next year this will be fixed but the long years playing in Los Vegas significantly contributed to the overall destruction of their minor leagues — and their future.
I hope, after last night I can start watching Yankee games. Only Kieth, Ronnie and Gary keep me watching Met games. But last night might have been the final straw.
16
I really don't give a hoot about the Mets but I know really good sports writing when I read it, and this is. Informative, just opinionated enough, and humorous without being hurtful. One more example of why I subscribe to the Times.
8
After Sandy and Jeff made their comments the other day, it seemed the true nature of Mets leadership was laid bare in the clearest way imaginable. It left me feeling really bad for Sandy, and for thinking the things I had about him. It showed to me that he had been a good soldier all along, working as creatively as he could over the years with what little he had been allowed, and taking full public responsibility for the results despite many hidden constraints. Jeff Wilpon is the classic case son of a rich father who was handed a the family business to run, demonstrating no skills or aptitude that would have gotten him into this position from scratch on his own (sound familiar, everybody?). The Mets are his personal toy, and by golly, he's going to play with it the way he wants. Joffrey (er, Jeffrey) confirmed it the other day - Sandy's 3 assistants will draft things out, then come to him for final decisions. He's the King of The Mets. Was there ever any doubt? Google back 15 years or more to see his meddling cited in numerous articles consistently through the years. And the covering up is worse. Wilpon friend Mike Barwis is strength and conditioning coach, despite his lack of a baseball background. The team gets injured in droves, and the entire training staff is fired offseason - all, that is, except Mike Barwis. This season they get injured in droves again. Hello? Tough to be a Mets fan, knowing that they will never sell. We're stuck, I'm afraid..
4
As others have commented in this space, there is a real and sad parallel with the Knicks. Both teams have bad owners who have created dysfunctional organizations. In the Mets' case, the Wilpons' continuing financial limitations are just the start. Jeff "ThanksDad" Wilpon is in over his head as president and the incompetency filters down. For example, Powell is right to call out the creation of a GM triumvirate as a stupid idea. That is a recipe for making decisions based on office politics rather than business smarts. I am not averse to trading one of our ace pitchers to get a haul of good young talent in return. But I have no confidence that these bozos will get it right. We need a change in ownership.
10
So few comments, yet Trumpville articles get gazzillions.
Come on, N.Y., he'll be gone at some point, but the Mets are eternal.
Who recalls this question, "Is the Mets empire crumbling?"
5
Great column, "Despondency is the reserve of the major league club."
3
Is it that ownership still has deep financial issues?
3
Anyone who invested millions with Madoff that was clouded with greed and gave an aging player $1,000,000 a year for 25 years has no sense to even own a toy. What do Mets fans expect?
2
MLB needs to force the Wilpons to sell the team like they did the Dodgers a few years back. Until that happens hope will spring eternal the start of each season only to be squashed along with all Mets fans hopes by the next years trading deadline. Mets fan since the 60s.
5
If the Mets are ill-advised to trade deGrom and Syndergaard how in heck can they hope to improve? There's no one else on this team who would bring anything worthwhile in return. No one in their right mind would pick up the contracts of Bruce or Cespedes. Nimmo, Wilmer, Matz, Wheeler?: low-level prospects at best. There's no one in the Minors worth watching. Perhaps they could convince somebody that the real Conforto was the one who was playing for them before he got injured last year as opposed to the nonentity who's been parked in the outfield since. This is a nothing team going nowhere. It might sound heartless to fire Sandy right now but this is all on him and he really needs to go.
3
Everyone except Noah and Jacob should be used to get younger. You need something to build around. The yanks saw the writing on the wall, and really stepped up , as painful as it was at the time. The Dems saw the writing on the wall and voted for a 28 year old. Positive Energy is the luck of being old. Luck spreads like wildfire. The Mets do not seem too positive right now, do they? Jacob could win Cy young with 8 victories
2
Good line about the Zeppelin.
For some reason this column reminds me of a tv broadcast of a Yankee game a few years back: Yogi, Phil Rizzuto and Bobby Murcer were talking about their respective careers: Yogi and Phil talked about championships, playing in exciting WS games and high times. Stories went back and forth. Then someone mentioned the wasteland years of the late 60's - early 70's. Suddenly, Murcer, who had been mum throughout piped up:
"Yup! I was a big part of that!"
Poor deGrom - hall of fame material - will one day wake up during a conversation about the Mets and chirp "Yup, I was a big part of that!"
Sometimes, though, just when you think the Mets are dead meat, they make a run. As another member of the Queens community, now living in DC, likes to say about other matters "we'll see what happens"
3
Most important step is for the Wilpons to sell the team to an ownership that is willing to spend intelligently to rebuild the Mets.
Of secondary importance, but more likely to happen soon, is for the Mets to part with Syndergaard in exchange for some badly needed serious prospects. I love Thor, but long term I'd rather roll the dice with de Grom and his pitching acumen.
4
It's interesting that Jeff Wilpon even used the word business. The Wilpon family have never operated like smart businessmen who own a franchise in the biggest baseball market in the US. They spend and manage like they are a small market team. They are cowed and consistently overmatched by the Yankees, who operate with passion and a business insight that investment to exploit this huge market will almost always make sense, building brand recognition, fan commitment and team depth, even with the occasional overspend on a contract. The Wilpons may have been good at real estate development, but they are simply inept and overly timid baseball owners. Mets fans can only wish that the family cashes out and ownership passes to a bolder and more savvy group.
15
As a ten year old living in Jackson Hts. Queens, I would go to Mets games, sometimes a double header on Sunday. I never go to Mets games anymore, they are just not fun to watch like they were in 2015.
If at all possible, not sure with his no trade clause, they should trade Cespedes, Bruce, Cabrera, Matz or Wheeler and hope they can get a break with a return on some minor league talent.
3
With all due respect what can they possibly expect to get for this collection of thrift shop scratched and dented junk?
2
Keep Noah and Jacob.
Sell the team.
Dump aging players' contracts.
Rebuild a new team from the ground up with new money.
And here I am also keeping faith in the Knicks.
Sigh.
1
Oy, Mets & Knicks, feel for you...
2
Please explain to me why you need a government-issued license to operate a $1,500 clunker, while the Wilpons and Dolans can own professional sports franchises worth billions with no evidence of competence?
New York hasn't seen mismanagement like this since Peter Stuyvesant woke up to find Colonal Nicholls' fleet in the harbor in 1664. Break out the white flags.
6
Good piece, as usual from Mr. Powell. The Mets are bad - so bad the Times hasn't assigned a beat writer to them.
7
I have been a Mets fan since birth.
The Wilpons have owned the team for a long time. They starved it for a number of years when they got caught up in the Bernie Madoff scandal, which drained them of financial resources. I would suggest that neither they nor the team has ever recovered fully from that.
Operationally, they somehow wound up with a bounty of great young arms a few years ago--Harvey, DeGrom, Syndergaard and Matz, among others--and save one magical season in 2015 when they went to the WS, they have managed to mismanage the group into injury or ineffectiveness. They also had a couple of hitting prospects, like Michael Conforto, who looked like they could be really good but now look lost. The other few good players they developed, like Daniel Murphy, have been let go. For whatever reason, they seem to have most of their good players on the disabled list for large swaths of every season.
Sandy Anderson, a nice man with a history of success, has been past his prime for probably 7-8 years now. They now have little talent at the major league level and one of the worst farm systems in baseball. We all wish him good health and a speedy recovery. But the game passed him by awhile ago.
Under the Wilpons the Mets have been mostly bad with very small windows of half-way decentness.
Much like the Knicks, which James Dolan has incompetently mismanaged for years, we fans cannot fire the owner. We can only stop going to the games. We should do so until things change.
12
The Mets have a history of inept: The league "found out" the secret to Conforto, Murphy can't play a position where he doesn't look like he's wearing oven-mitts (aside from hitting), players fresh from the Minors come in overweight and don't know how to bunt, their "Best New Player" was scouted from an American Legion team from that hot-bed of baseball in Wyoming and was on no one's radar (but he was cheap), we draft players fro Latin America at 13 years old because (And here's the payoff...) BECAUSE THEY'RE CHEAP! Sandy may be a nice man, but he had one spin with the A's (and Billy Beane was the architect, not Sandy) otherwise he's a repeat failure with the Padres and the Mets.
It will never happen but soccer has relegation. Don’t win, and the team goes to the minors. MLB should force owners to sell if their win percentage averages under .500 for a decade. They don’t deserve a team nor should they have the right to hold regional, lifelong fans hostage. It’s a fantasy, I know.
1
Hey, if you're gonna play fantasy games to keep short attention span fans in the seats...how about a DH for EVERY PLAYER! Sure, who cares if it's not how the game was formed originally...get a bunch of guys who can field their positions well, inning over they can start up a card game when their professional hitter surrogates step to the plate for them. If the professional hitter doesn't hit it out of the park, a professional runner, someone who can't hit or field but can run with some alacrity, takes off for the base pads at the crack of the bat!
Gee, that sounds watchable...huh??
I"m not exactly sure what your are replying to, I'm upset with bad ownership, not the rules of the national league. Are you actually Jeff Wilpon?
It’s crazy that Anderson is leaving but not leaving. If he stepped down, at least they could hire someone new and start to wipe the slate clean. But if he’s lurking, how will they ever do that?
That state of indecision is the worst possible state of affairs.
11
From a team that drafted Steve Chilcott instead of Reggie Jackson, what would lead you to believe they'd get selecting a new GM Right?
I grew up on LI, went to Mets games as a kid, was at Seaver's almost no-hitter with my dad in '69 (I was 12). However, when we played stickball, batting we always pretended to be Micky Mantle. In college I saw the Reggie WS home runs in a crowded dorm room, and that pretty much solidified me as a Yankee fan - pure excitement.
One can make the switch. Save your children!
The Yankees are what you expect from NY'rs, and have often been the straw the stirs the drink. The Mets are a mediocre suburban team somehow placed in NYC. The Wilpons are cut from the same used-car cloth as Bud Selig.
5
Bernard "Bernie" Lawrence Madoff!!!
The media and too many Met fans have bought into the idea that the Mets must somehow operate as a small market team. When the Mets are good, they sell out. They can (and have) drawn 3 million—you could look it up.
The revenue is there, but they choose to spend on free agents that are old, has- beens, or they get fleeced by agents like Scott Boras (Ollie Perez) or whoever Swarzak’s or Vargas’s agent is.
8 million per year apiece for Swazak, Vargas, Frazier-or 24 million per year for Eric Hosmer? Met fans, which do you prefer?
They’d rather have 3 mediocre players than one really good one and the results make them worse than mediocre.
There’s no imagination or creativity in how they put together teams. You have 4 good starting pitchers—note Wheeler and Matz’s recent outings. Yet they are thinking of trading them rather than going for Manny Machado and signing him and then seriously pursuing Bryce Harper and another big bat over the winter. Do that and guess what, Wilpons —you’ll fill the stadium every year.
Get Joe Girardi in here (pull a reverse Joe Torre) and start going big. Spend 50 million a year on free agents and another 50 million re-tooling your farm system with players and coaches. I’m wondering what they do in A and AA ball all day—would 30 minutes a day teaching guys to bunt be too much to ask?
Just stop whining, media , and Stockholm Syndrome fans that the Wilpons don’t have the money to compete. Get Machado and trade Conforto, Flores, Cabrera.
4
Spend $50,000,000. here....another $50,000,000 there...throw another $20,000,00 over there...really?
What color is the sky on your planet?
Why won't this happen? With these owners?
Bernard "Bernie" Lawrence Madoff, Bernard "Bernie" Lawrence Madoff, Bernard "Bernie" Lawrence Madoff!
1
It’s the same color as the sky on the Steinbrenner’s planet. This is the 6th highest valued franchise in baseball with access to a market of 10 million fans in its backyard.
The Wilpons are just too dumb to understand that a proper investment would create years of returns as a legacy of class and success has provided the same for the Dodgers, Cardinals and Cubs.
I would like to return as defective the product I unwittingly bought in March of this year. Advertised as an improved version of the previous year's edition, the 2018 NY Metropolitans are nothing more than a warmed over hash of the same sorry, injury riddled, retreaded veteran laden, anemic hitting, sore armed team as last season. I can watch no more and will be turning my attention to more stimulating pursuits such as watching the grass in my yard grow (it actually moves faster than some Mets players). Please advise television camera crews not to pan the upper decks unless it is to suggest a solution to New York's homeless problem. Then again there's probably some law against torturing the poor. Best of luck in your chase with the Marlins for worst team in baseball honors. My money's on you!
8
Name one hitter- besides Nimmo-- who scares an opposing pitcher. One?
Get rid of most of the rest. Bring up Jarred. Why not? Could it get worse?
We left NY about 45 years ago. The City has continued to fall apart. So have the Mets. Oh, how about lowering prices? If all you have is schlock, charge less. A lot less. DO SOMETHING.
4
The Mets are unwatchable, with no clue whats going on,The best three on the team are Gary,Ron, and Keith. I still think Keith is their best 1st baseman. No fielding, no hitting, no relief pitching. PS is Yoenis Cespedis anywhere to be found ? They are a mess.... Good article, but not harsh enough.
20
Do the Mets explain what’s wrong with us?
Some of us like losers.
Some like winners.
Some seem to like self flagilation.
There is an explanation.
It’s short.
I confess that I absolutely LOVE a baseball season in which the Mets flounder. Why? Because I'm a Yankees fan? Nope. Because of those horrible, detestable Miracle Mets of 1969 that kept my beloved Cubs from advancing. I'm sure that the Mets will rise again someday, but for today.....I gotta love it.
WOW! You sure can hold a grudge.
3
Good God, you gotta get over 1969. I was at opening day against the Phillies and Billy Williams Day against the Cards, It was a fun year but the Cubs had five pitchers and Durocher never gave the starting lineup a rest. The Mets didn't "keep the Cubs from advancing." The Cubs ran out of gas. They were built for a 125-game season that unfortunately had 162 games. It's ancient history. Let it go!
3
The Mets are having yet another tragically farcical year. This seems to happen in streaks of consecutive years on end where they're absolutely horrible. My perspective is from growing up where my friends grandmother taught us to score games as we listened on the radio in the early 1970's. Tom Terrific and the boys had some good years then we dived into the doldrums until the 1986 win, then almost immediately back into stink-ville until a brief glimmer of hope in 2000, another long pause, then 2015... and now back to ...well... being the Mets.
This team thins out true fans from casual baseball viewers with their behavior. The problem rarely is the players' fault but more the front office. Who they trade for and why are too often a huge question mark. I'll keep rooting for my beloved Mets but it's times like these that are painful.
Let's Go Mets.
7
Keep Thor and deGrom, along with Nimmo and Flores. Sell the rest for minor league prospects.
For the rest of 2018 and for 2019, be the best AAA team in the majors. For 2020, try for a winning season. And go for the gold in 2021.
2
T.hese Mets don't care whether they win or lose. Watching them (something I've stopped doing) makes it appear that they are more worried about sustaining an injury than winning a game. Traditionally, New Yorkers stay with losing teams when the players are making a supreme effort. Strange how the Mets are mirroring the Knicks, and the fans suffer.
1
I wonder if you took the current Mets roster and the current Knicks team and had them play the other's game if it could turn out worse?
I've been a Mets fan since day one, having grown-up in Brooklyn in the 50's while the Dodgers were still there.
The early Met years were joyful, and the late 70's (under M. Donald grant) and early/mid 90's were terrible. But this is rock bottom. The team has absolutely no talent in the minor league system. None develop their talent, if they ever had any. Players are reaching MLB without knowing how to hold runners, how to bunt, even how to run the bases. How is this possible?
I'm feeling hopeless, as I'm reaching 70 and may not see the fruits of a long re-building process--although I also have no confidence that this organization is now capable of a successful rebuilding. Yes, we fans must face it, all is lost.
8
Suffering is the essence being a Mets fan since 1962. The age of analytics has taken away hope and replaced it with despair- where once Bob Murphy would console us with " that's why they put erasers on pencils" we now have 24 hour coverage reminding us of how brutal this year is- and offer the blame of the day as food for righteous indignation. Signing on as a fan for a team means never having to say your sorry to paraphrase that love story of 1969 where out of nowhere my team put on a show for the ages. As giddy as the 11-1 start was, and as our injury list became a worst case scenario- it would be nice to see this team- which has never stopped playing with determination- show some fundamentals- hit and run, bunting, burying an 0-2 pitch, putting the ball in play and defining bullpen roles come to mind in recent days.
5
Like Oxfdblue, I became a fan in 1968 at age 10. As with many previous years, this is painful but more so this year after the 11-1 start. The lack of hitting isn't new - the last couple of years was the same as this year. It doesn't matter who they bring in, as soon as they get here the production withers. Current ownership has given us a better product overall than the previous regimes, but I am convinced they are more enamored with the idea of being owners than being savvy baseball-minded people. Sandy did a good job with what he had - I am grateful and wish him well. It is time for ownership to move on as well. Sell. There is a lot to fix here, and we deserve better.
3
Sell the team to someone who has the funds and is willing to spend it. This reminds me of the Dolans and Knicks.
I'm a Yankee fan with friends who love the Mets and I feel for my friends, honestly I do. I've been known to hang with said friends and check out a Mets game. Do something
1
It isn't just about funds, its also getting people that have a clue to baseball, which most of the players and the management who drafted them, sorely lack
It does seem to me that if you are the Mets and you clearly do not have the payroll possibilities of the Yankees (or several other teams for that matter) then you had better concentrate on youth, whether that be drafting or trades, stock the farm system, and develop winning, energetic, young players (e.g. Brandon Nimmo). In the end I think Alderson did a good job of turning over the roster when he arrived, which is how players like Syndegaard and Wheeler got there in the first place. However, too many of his draft choices did not pan out. We also have to remember that if the offense had the numbers that are on the back of their baseball cards we likely would not be having this discussion. However, in a way the real issue is the pen. Yes, the offense is underperforming but if the pen did its job the Mets would be in contention. As for Dominic Smith the real issue is not bunting, it is caring and playing hard. Let's face it if Mr. Smith played with the same caring and intensity as Mr. Nimmo he'd be able to bunt, make real throws from left field, run out grounders, make contact, etc. In the end all of the talk of trading youth like deGrom is misplaced. If any trades are going to occur move what you can of the veterans and get younger. Don't move youth that are affordable and under control for a few more years.
3
Why a picture of Wilmer accompanying an article lamenting the Mets woes? He's been one of the few consistent performers for this team, and a fan favorite. C'mon!
7
The Mets wont win, or attract quality free agents until Jeff Wilpon and his family sell the team. The Wilpons are cheap and Jeff especially has no idea what he is doing. He's in it for the celebrity status of "owning a team" to prove he's rich and important. Sell Mr. Wilpon and the Mets will rise again.
11
The Mets should adopt some if not all of the best practices employed by both the Yankees and Braves. Management has failed to identify, either through free agency or draft, talented young players who can run, bunt, and put the ball in play with men on base. Fans - don't endure another losing season. Stay away from Citi Field until the Mets change their losing ways.
5
The Wilpons need to sell the team now.
9
As long as fans show up at Citifield (they do) & pay to watch this team, lead by a manager who seems to be lost and is learning on-the-job, with a line up composed of AAA & re-tread players, the Wilpons have little `need' to sell the team. Best way to get them to sell is by stop showing up at Citifield.
2
Being a Mets fan is like falling in love with the wrong woman (or man). It is not logical in a city with an obvious alternative. But the spell is cast and there is no turning back, no ability to come in from the cold. If it was ever a choice (inevitably somehow is less onerous), it cannot be revisited. Some try to discern nobility at choosing the underdog, but that is little solace when I consider the faulty gene I have passed on to my sons adrift in a wider family of Yankee fans. I try to apologize and beg them to reconsider, if only for my future grandchildren. What to do with the reply that “that new relief pitcher they brought up looks great, and how about that Alonso in AAA?” I nod sadly, agree with their optimism, and tell them again about 1986.
14
Bill, I had my chance to break away as a 7 year old in 1964, when I decided to jump from Met fandom to the Yankees in order to join the crowd in my 2nd grade class. I had not yet shared this heresy with my Brooklyn-born former Dodger-fan dad, when he called me into the house from playing in the yard and, with a big smile, handed me a non-descript cardboard box that contained a Met bobblehead. Not wanting to disappoint him, I was back in the fold, as are my three children. (I still have the bobble head).
2
Oh, that is even worse. You were torn between fatherly love and individual well being. One's very life outlook is shaped by these choices. I am a glass not only half full, but its not even my glass and I think I drank from it.
Yankee fans can see the world as generally benign, things will work out, that hit/out/play will be made.
I watch games predicting doom, annoying everyone around me, but I am correct in my predictions. I tell them, I've been doing this for over 40 years, I know what I'm talking about.
I wrack my brain (literally) trying to recall the moment I was sucked in. I believe I was rooting for the Yankees as late as 77-78. If the Seaver trade (ending my childhood, the world is not meant to make you happy) and the 79-82 Mets did not give me cover to go Yankee, I must have been deranged. The best I can come up with is that Shea was closer (Long Island), and I wanted to get in on the ground floor, not be accused of joining the bandwagon. The problem is the elevator is broken, and we're still on the ground floor.
As my son says, "Let's Go Mets".
Well said!
The7 look more like the 1968 Mets than the 2018 Mets.
As for Smith, so far looks like he cannot play 1B or LF, and has zero baseball instincts. Nice choice.
3
One reason the Mets find bunting and stealing blasphemous is their embrace of the analytics you seem to want them to have. The analytics tell managers to avoid both at all costs and keep taking pot shots at the fences on every bat. Too bad there's nobody on staff who understands analytics enough to take into consideration that doing what the Yankees and Red Sox do doesn't necessarily bear fruit for a lineup like the Mets. It's much easier (if they'd prefer to cheap out) to build a team of contact hitters and go for the gaps than try to emulate the expensive, big-inning teams who can afford to wait for the next home run.
11
It's tough watching these games, but at least the best broadcasters in the business keep it interesting. Thanks to Gary, Kieth and Ron!
42
And fantastic radio broadcasters as well. Best in the industry. I wish we could have more to say about our Amazins
1
And Howie Rose on the radio. At least Mets fans don’t have to listen to the inanity of John Sterling and Suzy Waldman. They are the penance Yankee fans must suffer.
2
I agree—those guys are great, but right now they can barely hide their disgust about how poorly the team plays the game.
The franchise (aside from the announcers) is mismanaged. The owners found their perfect GM in Sandy Alderson (who is a smart and classy gentleman) in that his conservative leanings and skepticism regarding signing big stars to long term contracts was music to their ears.
This town supports the Mets when they are aggressive and go big—they owned the city in 1969, ‘73, ‘86, 2000, and ‘06. NYC has more baseball fans than any other city—it seems that the Wilpons are content with total, perfect mediocrity, knowing that they’ll get their crumby 1.2 million diehard baseball fans who show up out of habit.
They are utterly cynical and uncaring about having a World-class franchise as long as they can muddle along at a small profit.
3
I'll admit to bias as a Nats fan but I could see this disaster coming in the off season. Start with a wrecked pitching staff that has never recovered from being pushed much too hard in 2015. Was there any realistic possibility that the Mets could get thru the season without one or more pitchers breaking down? Add a truly baffling collection of free agent signings of players clearly on the downside of their careers. Throw in the overall aged and fragile condition of the holdovers from last season. Projecting this team to be a contender was a fantasy from the get go.
5
I've first started following the Mets when I was seven years old and went to my first game at Shea. That happened to be sometime in 1969.
It is torture being a Met fan, but it is impossible to give up.
My advice for the ownership is simple: Sell the franchise.
Find someone with very deep pockets who is willing to spend not just on talent for Citifield, but also to create a build a real farm system to supply the team with talent in years to come.
Anything less than that is window dressing. Trading Syndergaard and/or deGrom isn't going to solve anything. In fact, it will probably just make things worse.
The Wilpons do not have the money or the desire to field a championship team. They should sell the franchise to someone who has both of those qualities.
32
The Wilpons are more interested in developing Willets Point than developing the Mets.