I always appreciate a good comment and/or guest post:
Sparks has left a new comment on your post “The Missing New York Mets Leader Was Lo Duca“:
All this leads us right back to the front office. LoDuca was firey and told it like it was, so of course he had to be shipped out ASAP. Never mind holding the other players accountable for the behavior of which he spoke.
The question isn’t so much leadership as it is one of putting together complementary pieces. These “leaders” everyone speaks of don’t really change anybody’s disposition, they just fill in what’s lacking in the rest of the locker room. Wright didn’t suddenly go soft because LoDuca left. He was always soft, and LoDuca merely provided a counter-balance.
It’s clear by his actions that to Mr. Wilpon, the franchise is an investment first, a nostalgiac trinket second, and an active team third. As long as the roster is filled with well-behaved guys and he can turn a profit, who really gives a crap about winning anything? To him, buying this team was like me going on ebay to buy a team set of 1988 Topps cards. It’s cool to have, and while I may be able to re-sell it some day under the right circumstances, I don’t expect it to do much. Yeah, they’ll re-vamp the bullpen a year too late and sign a Piazza or Santana every decade, but only to give the appearance of trying when ticket sales are about to take a hit.
If one seeks the true leadership problem with this team, one should look no farther than the owner’s box, where the game is always secondary. While the Wilpons choose to focus their efforts on creating new jerseys to sell, establishing “poster child” players, and grabbing headllines with one signing, other owners are actually putting together complete and competitive baseball teams.
It will be very interesting to see what happens this off-season if the Mets miss the playoffs. I haven’t done my homework, but are they going to after some high priced first baseman? Starter? Second baseman? That kind of talk is reminding me of the Eddie Murray/Willie Randolph team, and we sure look back on them fondly.
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