I didn’t wake up today planning to link to this. ESPN just referenced it in an article about Willets Point.
This is from May 2005 in New York magazine, and I don’t bring it up because of the Los Mets part…take a read through the entire thing and it seems eerily familiar. A team 5 years past winning. A new GM who will change things. Injuries. Laughing stock. All strangely familiar. The boldface is mine.
In 2000, the Mets were National League champs. They lost to the Yankees in the World Series, yet there was optimism in Flushing. The team had made the playoffs two straight years; Mike Piazza was on his way to smacking more home runs than any catcher in major-league history; and an All-Star left-hander, Al Leiter, anchored the pitching rotation. But the Mets spent the next four years splintering faster than a corked bat, finishing last or next to last three times in four seasons.Worse than becoming losers, though, was that the Mets became a bad joke. They spent $42 million on Mo Vaughn, a first-baseman who turned up grossly overweight, with crippling knee problems and a fondness for lap dances at Scores. After appearing in just 27 games in 2003, Vaughn went on the disabled list and never returned. Robbie Alomar, an All-Star second-baseman in Cleveland, arrived in Queens and forgot how to play. Team owner Fred Wilpon spent the 2004 season watching his 43-year-old son, Jeff, get savaged in the sports pages for supposedly meddling in the decisions of G.M. Jim Duquette. The proud Piazza, who through age and injury had become a liability at catcher, reluctantly shifted part-time to first base—and fielded like a man warding off bees while ice-skating. Art Howe, the manager hired to replace the volatile Bobby Valentine, was so stoic as to seem embalmed. Along the way, the Mets bungled negotiations for superstar free agents Alex Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero.
via How Mets Manager Omar Minaya Created a Latin Dream Team.
