Mets fans can feel pretty good about themselves this morning – dearly departed Jose Reyes has been shipped off to test his knees on the Toronto turf, and we have shiny new blue uniforms with which to wear as we beat out the Marlins for 4th place in 2013. The Mets ship is on a rising tide, and Marlins are drowning.
Or should we actually be jealous?
At Least The Marlins Know When To Cut Bait
After the 2007 collapse, and the 2008 disaster, most of us Mets fans realized that our chances for a ring were fading. But we were asked to put our faith in Jerry Manuel, and in the offseason we signed K-Rod for $37 million, gave $36 Million to Oliver Perez. When that didn’t work we spent $66 Million on Jason Bay after the 2009 season. But 2010 was just another year, another 4th place finish. Then all the Madoff stuff came to light and the Omar Minaya era ended and we started rebuilding with Sandy Alderson. Sort of. Sandy told us that Terry Collins was the answer to most of our problems and didn’t really make any big moves heading into the 2011 season, other than releasing Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez. The Mets version of a fire sale didn’t happen until July of 2011, when Carlos Beltran and K-Rod were traded. That is when rebuilding began with Zach Wheeler and Mets fans eyes began to look towards 2014
On the other hand, the Marlins went all in for 2012, failed miserably, and managed to undo all the big contracts they made heading into the season. Rather than wait another year for Jose Reyes contract to start to look terrible (remember, his deal is totally backloaded – the Marlins paid just $10 Million for 29 year old Jose Reyes while it is now the Blue Jays who will be expected to pay $16 Million for 31 year old Reyes and eventually $22 Million for 34 year old Jose Reyes.) And can you really argue with firing Ozzie Gullen or shipping Heath Bell to Arizona?
The media is killing the Marlins right now, and are all “LOL Fish!” but in some respects the Marlins should be applauded by admitting their plan wasn’t working and managing to figure out a way to start anew so quickly.
Sandy Alderson is still handcuffed in 2012 by the bad deals Omar Minaya made in 2009, as he waits for Johan Santana’s deal to come off the books in 2014, but the Marlins were able to start anew just a year after their big plunge and will start 2013 with less than $50M of payroll on the books, a boatload of prospects and the flexibility to do whatever they want going forward.
Still laughing?
If we made like the Marlins we wouldn’t have had a no-hitter, or R.A. Dickey’s magical ride in 2012.
Can you honestly see yourself rooting for a team whose only identity is associated with fire sales? I think its embarrassing for Miami and baseball in general. How do you market a team like that? Cutting bait on a few big contracts is one thing but they are cutting bait with EVERYONE. Could you stomach calling yourself a Mets fan if they jettisoned Tejada, Niese, Ike, Wright, Dickey, Murphy and Thole? I mean thats what the Marlins have essentially done. This is good only for Loria’s pocket, not for some theoretical rebuilding. Maybe he can sell the Marlins back to MLB and buy another team and do it again.
Why should Mets fans “feel pretty good about themselves” because Jose Reyes was traded to Toronto?! That makes no sense in any possible way.