Seems like a good morning to work in some other voices:
Sparks has left a new comment on your post “The Dodgers Broke The New York Mets Backs Tonight“:
I’ll repeat what I said some time last week: find HoJo another job.
Even a full-on AA lineup should be able to score a run in 22 innings and not go days at a time without an extra-base hit. Even accepting this as a lost season, that kind of performance has to be addressed, and thanks to Omar’s incompetence (no depth, contracts that can’t be unloaded, throwing money at Oliver Perez), it isn’t going to be via the roster.
Yeah, it’s going to get ugly if Perez doesn’t have a good start, and it should. The thing is, he can throw a 9-inning a no-hitter and still get a no-decision because the few major-league hitters in the Mets’ lineup are so screwed up right now, every opposing pitcher looks like Cy Young.
The injuries are not the problem. The lack of depth is. Beltran getting hurt at some point is always a possibility. Filling his spot with a 20-year-old when it happens is inexcusable.
I read another person say it’s not Omar’s fault, because he’s constantly facing a “win now” mandate. OK, fine. How does throwing money and years at Castillo and Perez as if you’re being extorted help that cause?
If the miracle turnaround doesn’t come and Minaya is still the GM come Spring Training, the fans need to quit enabling this incompetence, abandon the franchise, and send Wilpon hurtling toward bankruptcy until he sells it.
When the Mets were still holding their own just after Reyes went down, I started thinking “trade bait.” I agree that’s probably the only route to actually building a team over the next few years, but there’s no way the Mets are going to do it.
I fully expect more of the same that hasn’t worked yet. They’ll go out and overpay for a free agent that won’t change anything and parade him around in the hopes that the fans will be stupid enough to buy into it.
It’s really, really hard to be a fan of this franchise right now, and this is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoyed following it in the Kent-Vizcaino-Hundley era. I’d much rather watch a rebuilding project than a “Groundhog Day” situation. At least the former offers one some hope.
A rebuilding effort seems unlikely. I think the Mets are now in Yankees-mode forever. The carrot of the new stadium is gone. Sure they could fill the park 5-10 times by going nuts with Keith Hernandez Day, Doc Gooden day etc (like the Yankees did in the 80s) but I think they would otherwise play in front of 19,000 every night (see the Kent years).
The new stadium is nice and all, but will you feel compelled to buy tickets just to see Citi Field next year? That leaves the Mets in the position of selling hope – which means grabbing flashy free agents…and hyping that the core is back.
Hey there’s a good slogan…remember “the Magic is Back” (no you don’t, because every Mets fan seems to be 24) – well it was a major marketing campaing once (1982 if memory serves) – and no it wasn’t. “The Core Is Back! Buy 2010 Tickets Now!”
The good news is Omar will be out. The bad news is Tony will be in. It’s bad enough when your owner and his Robert Moses wannabe son aren’t even fans of the team, but you have to wonder if they’re even really baseball fans at all. A blind pig could have built up a better system, from top to bottom, with the money they’ve spent. I don’t know what Omar’s excuse is. Remember when he was considered a genius running the Expos on a shoestring budget?
The injuries will be the defining factor for 2009, and that’s unfortunate because they mask the deeper problems. If you ask me, the Mets wouldn’t have been much more than a .500 club this year even WITHOUT the injuries. Talented, yes, but no heart and no guts. The leadership vacuum on the team was of equal importance to fill after Collapse 2008. But no, sign a couple of relievers to make it look good and call it a day. The 2009 season was a bust before 2008 was even over.
This next guy didn’t leave his name but judging from his comments I bet he is now a fan of the Mets Police: Anonymous has left a new comment on your post “Shopping At The New York Mets Team Store (Part 4)“:
The Mets are shockingly bad at advertising and self-promotion. Who’s in charge of this stuff for the Mets? If it were me, I’d do the following: (1) Get rid of the black uniforms forever; make gray the road uni and white with blue pinstripes the home uni, period. (2) Bring back Old-Timer’s Day (3) Bring back Banner Day; (4) Retire #36 for Jerry Koosman and #17 for Keith Hernandez asap
Finally, while trying to convince us to buy 2010 tickets – I think price CUTS would help, as would a promise of a more baseball like atmosphere. All they have to do is position it as “we heard you…”
With the Make Noise Department I feel like I’m falling on deaf ears…
Seriously, I’ve always wondered whether the department has complete autonomy or who on the Mets Hierarchy higher up gives there two cents, for example, is it
Jeff Wilpon who says, hey, we need more noise in here so we can sell more sponsorships, or placate our present sponsors?Or does the department just go to it’s annual trade shows to exchange notes on what other teams in other sports are doing to maintain (or ruin) a buzz.
One thing appears imminent, the NBA style of
public address guy will make it’s way to MLB, in fact, I think I have heard one or two teams, where the public address guy elongates the players name.Bob Shepard would die if he heard any of it.
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You're gonna love this, but it will have to wait until later on tonight when I have a chance to put it all in a nice little package. Here's the short version: Investor information put out in the most recent CitiField bond prospectus details how the Mets plan to increase ticket prices by 4% a year for the next 5 years, AND they project falling attendance as well. The implications are staggering, but it's all there in black and white.
It's one thing to be in "Yankee Mode." It's a different thing altogether to be mind-bogglingly bad at it.
I haven't read anything recently about the Yankees' entire minor league system being in shambles.