Behold! A gateway to your own past if you wish. All that you knew has been altered.
As Mets fans we have been blessed to have this current dynasty after all those years in the desert. This team is stocked, and as exciting as the recent run of championships has been, I think the future is just as bright. Let’s take a look at the three key moves that have led to this run, and how close the Mets were to being stupid and missing out on all this fun!
November 2015: Mookie Betts for Matt Harvey
Coming off the 2015 World Series run, this was a bold move, that incredibly, laughably, fans at the time hated.
Matt had given up his arm to the Mets, and the Mets knew it. The Red Sox were desperate for pitching, and wound up getting completely fleeced. The Mets knew they had enough pitching in Syndergaard, deGrom, Matz and Bartolo Colon and they sure didn’t miss the 4 games Harvey won in Boston. Harvey bounced around to Anaheim, Oakland and Baltimore, and we have one of the All Time Mets.
A decade later, with #50 destined to hang in the Citi Field rafters some day, it’s hard to imagine life without the Most Popular Met.
March 2022: The Mets sign Freddie Freeman
Another bold move. This one reminded me of Hundley and Piazza. In Todd Hundley, the Mets had a fan favorite slugger who came around when the team was down. But when an even better player became available in Mike Piazza, it was a no-brainer to upgrade the decision.
Similarly, as loved as Pete Alonso was, it was a no-brainer to go get an MVP caliber player to play first base when one was available, and Freddie’s 2023 MVP season proved the Mets were right.
It’s a shame that the DH wasn’t around for 2022, or Pete could have stayed…and the Mets did “sell low” that March, not getting all that much back for Pete, but in the end, how can you be mad about taking the Braves best player away and getting an MVP and a few World Series runs out of it? (Not to mention the monkey getting off Buck Showalter’s back for never winning a ring.)
In the past, the Mets would have listened to the fans and held on to Pete, and they’d probably be scraping by for a wild card.
Steve Cohen goes all-in on Ohtani
This is something that wouldn’t have happened under the Wilpons. We were told that Ohtani wanted to play on the west coast, or that he didn’t like the cold (is NYC THAT cold? (It is 67 right now in Tokyo as I write this). There was no way Ohtani would come to New York, so why even bother checking to see if that was true. A builtin excuse for the Stupid Cheap Wilpons.
Steve was having none of that, and this was the dream of Uncle Steve come to life. Our beloved billionaire owner picked up the phone himself, and blew Ohtani away with a deal that man couldn’t refuse. Now, baseball’s brightest star is in Queens, and it’s been great for the sport, not to mention another World Series run this October and this great Subway Series we are having. $900,000,000 in deferred salary sounds like a lot, but the franchise will easily appreciate by that much in the meantime. Steve knows you have to spend money to make money, and spend money he did.
The Stupid Cheap Wilpons would never have done that, and we’d likely be sitting home watching the Dodgers or someone in the World Series.
What a great time to be a Mets fan!
Time has resumed its shape. All is as it was before. Many such journeys are possible….let me be your guide.
