Saving This Franchise: Mets need to bully up
This team could probably use more 'tude, I guess. When the going got rough last September, the Mets collectively looked like they needed a hug and a warm bowl of soup.
That wasn't the case when things didn't go their way in 2005. They got up, dusted themselves off and started swinging, literally and metaphorically. Besides, I'm from the school that five-game winning streaks tend to cure most chemistry and attitude issues.
Am I missing something? None of those would appear to be unfixable problems, especially with a pile of coins sitting on the mantel, waiting to be spent on anything that catches their eye.
Totally non-helpful and semi-realistic suggestions:
1. Start acting more like a big-market bully. The Mets have been proactive in the top tier of free agency over the last few years, dishing out more lucrative and longer-term deals to Martinez, Billy Wagner and Beltran than anybody else would offer (though to be fair, the Beltran contract no longer looks too outlandish in the wake of the eye-bulgingly insane Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter ones). That's the right strategy to take, swimming in the deep water, rather than throwing $36 million at Carlos Silva. Too, from the tangible-intangibles perspective, it can't be overstated how much the Pedro acquisition meant, in terms of altering the internal and external perception of the franchise as an also-ran.
The Mets have to keep moving in this direction. With a new stadium on the way, a bunch of contracts coming off the books and a Mets-first regional sports network in place, it's time for the team to throw their weight around as obnoxiously as possible. They should prey on the weak and stupid, much as they did in the deals that netted them Maine and Perez. Hell, have Mr. Met rough up a few grade-schoolers, just because he can.
2. Stop the Johan Santana daydreaming. Unless the Twins back off on their reported insistence on Reyes in any deal, the Mets don't have the prospect depth to get him, talk radio wingnut assertions notwithstanding ("a package of Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber would get it done!"). Instead, they should concentrate on Oakland's Joe Blanton, who's the kind of innings guy the Mets need to relieve pressure on their half-plodding middle relief corps. Blanton isn't anybody's idea of an ace, but his performance should improve against the weak-sister NL lineups. A's GM Billy Beane, who invented baseball general managing as we know it, seems to have a jones for Aaron Heilman. Maybe there's some trade compatibility here.
My quick take on all the Santana noise? I wish we'd collectively stop with the nonsense about how the Twins can't afford him. They can afford him, as owner Carl Pohlad has more cash than Steinbrenner v.2.0 and the Hawking-smart Red Sox brain trust combined. The Twins simply don't want to pay Santana what the guy wants, which is perfectly within their rights. So please, let's dispense with the mewls of poverty and small-market woe. Last I checked, the Minny/St. Paul market ranks around the middle of the MLB pack in size, plus the soon-to-be-completed stadium means new revenue streams and a more favorable lease arrangement. Blame the owner, not the situation.
3. Study the way the Padres have compiled a cheap, hyperfunctional bullpen over the last few years. Yes, some of their success can be attributed to spacious Petco Park, but it's not like Shea Stadium is a hitter's haven. Given that the Mets have players in center and right field who can catch up with just about anything hit in their area code (I'm assuming Lastings Milledge, a far superior talent to Melky Cabrera and most other young outfielders, claims the RF gig), the Mets oughta put out an A.P.B. on right-handed relievers who throw strikes. Yes, in an ideal lollipop-and-cotton-candy world, you'd have six flamethrowers in your pen, but we've all seen what happens when teams go ga-ga for the Kyle Farnsworths of the baseball universe.
4. Tell the commissioner's office that it can stick its draft-slot contract/bonus recommendations somewhere just east of its colon. Many other teams, big market and small, have ignored the completely unenforceable decrees, but the Mets have inexplicably toed the corporate line. This has to end. The whole point in being a big-market bully jerkhead is that you can take advantage of the system in ways that other teams can't. If the Mets start ponying up second-round cash for supposedly unsignable 10-round picks, they're going to have one of the five most fertile farm systems before too long, especially when paired with the team's skill in ferreting out international talent (Fernando Martinez from the Dominican Republic, Deolis Guerra from Venezuela, etc.).
Odds of becoming the next Rockies: About 7,200 thousand times better than the other teams who either barely missed or just wangled their way into the playoffs. One legal-in-Guam website has the Mets listed as a 7-to-1 shot to win the pennant in 2008, behind the Dodgers (OK, maybe I can kinda half-see that if Joe Torre is forced under threat of deportation to play the kids), Cubs (more flaccid up the middle than your average Midwest housewife) and even the Phillies (ladies and gentlemen, your fourth starter ... Adam Eaton). That is folly.
I'm going to bet with my head and not my heart. My dad would have sold me to the gypsies if I even considered regarding the Mets as anything other than a dismissible younger sibling with snot dripping from his nose, but this is the mother of fan-bandwagon opportunities about now. And there are plenty of empty seats.
