Too Many Mets Scarecrows

I just got my call from JCP&L asking me to conserve electricity so, being a good citizen (or a not so bad one), I turned off everything but the fridge and Francesa (necessities are after all necessities) and have my PC running on the battery.

There’s a lot happening in the sports world on which to comment, even if not much of it can be positive. The Mets, fuggedaboudit, they’re getting worse, but at least the NFL lockout looks to be ending and we won’t have to contemplate the angry visage of DeMaurice Smith anymore.

I had thought they’d miss the first four games of the regular season. My thinking had been based upon the knowledge that the owners were insured for the first four weeks. But, what I didn’t realize (and neither did the owners apparently) was that the players were insured too, to about 200 thousand bucks per player.

That latter fact certainly accelerated the pace of negotiations. And this marks the first time in my life ‘ve ever been thankful for the insurance industry.

Now we can all get back to perusing our fantasy football magazines while sprawled on the beach listening to some baseball game. And that’s not all. The delay and shortening of the signing period means that our next few weeks will be chock full of surprises, who’s being signed, let go or just asked to take one for the team…..heh-heh.

Meanwhile, as the July 31st trading deadline approaches, Mets fans can wonder how bad things can really get without K-Rod and now probably Beltran. From the looks of things thus far, they can get pretty bad in a hurry, just from the thought of losing Carlos.

I know I’ve become inured already to the poor play and lack of talent on my favorite team. Looking at the bright side, maybe the Mets will finally do something about these pieces of dead wood that litter the roster.

It’s not even so much the really raw players that exasperate me. It’s the players that have been with the team for a long while now, the Pagans of the world and the Bay’s and the Pelfrey’s that just seem to keep stinking it up.

I had thought that Jason Bay might be coming out of his funk finally after almost two years of playing worse than anyone could ever have imagined. Alas, it was not to be. His big day a couple of weeks ago was just a cruel aberration, just another reminder of how much we’re truly missing while he flounders. I mean, it’s not just the poor performance per se, but the opportunity loss of what the man could be.

The entire Mets season kinda reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard would have to be the GM Alderson or Manager Terry Collins. The lion looking for courage could be Jason Bay. The scarecrow looking for a brain would definitely be Angel Pagan. The tin man seeking a heart could be Carlos Beltran, that is, seeking another team to love him.

But the Mets have too many scarecrows. Angel Pagan heads the list of stupid players but there is also Mike Pelfrey and especially Lucas Duda. And that sometime closer Bobby Parnell isn’t the brightest light in the heavens either. Willie Harris and Scott Hairston have all the brains they need to play but just lack any discernible talent.

That being said, any professional baseball team needs at least a bit of production from all 25 players. On the Mets, it’s easier to identify the keepers for next year. It’s a much shorter list. In the outfield there are no keepers unless you count Beltran. I suppose he could return after a brief sojourn with the Phils or Giants or Brewers but I wouldn’t count on it.

The infield could be good though. Ike Davis at first base, Justin Turner at second, Tejada at shortstop (if Jose should go elsewhere) and David Wright at third would certainly be representative of a real live major league team. The starters except for Pelfrey are all pretty good too. The catcher, Josh Thole, has a lot of potential and is good enough to be a regular.

As dealing Jason Bay would be next to impossible without a deep discount of some kind, I look for him to continue playing, at the very least, a very steady left field. Maybe he could be viewed as one of those defensive specialists, who are usually found at shortstop or second base. If Reyes could be retained, a weak-hitting left fielder could be tolerated.

So the Mets need to get rid of the dead men walking. That means Duda and Pelfrey and Pagan have to go. They are symbols of losing baseball. At least Bay is a smart player, good outfielder and good on the basepaths and, presumably, in the clubhouse.

So we need two outfielders. Surely there are two outfielders that can be had on the cheap if necessary, players who would make us forget Angel Pagan, Lucas Duda and the horror of Daniel Murphy out there. Murphy has value though, for sure, as a utility infielder who can spell Wright at third, Davis at first and Turner at second.

A couple of relief pitchers are also needed. Izzy and Beato and even Parnell could be keepers but that’s about all. Of the rest of them, only Tim Byrdak has performed pretty creditably. Surely something could be had in return for Beltran and K-Rod, and maybe even a big guy with some power.

Those are just the obvious moves. If one gets imaginative, it’s conceivable that David Wright could be traded as both Turner and Murphy are capable of playing there, if not providing as much power. But at this point anyway, I’d rather see a couple of good outfielders. Wright is the only player on the roster that could provide any appreciable value in return.

Get rid of all the scarecrows. A wizard could certainly do it.

Winning at What Cost?

How strange that I should feel tongue-tied. George Steinbrenner is dead. The National League finally won an All-Star Game. The second half is starting in baseball, and Carlos Beltran, heretofore my favorite Mets player, is coming back.

So many thoughts go through my mind, some of them not even coherent, especially with respect to Steinbrenner and Beltran.

We’ve heard, over and over, “all George cared about was winning, he was all about winning,” while acknowledging that he was a sonova bitch, usually followed by a story about some anonymous contribution that everybody seems to know about. I’ve seen sportswriters wax poetic and get tearry-eyed because he remembered their name.

When Steinbrenner came into baseball, I thought he was a jerk. Most people did. He didn’t do anything unless it was stupid. Later on, when he finally stepped back a bit to let baseball people run his club, he made sure to get his face and name back in the papers, usually by doing something outlandish and petty, something brash and mean and arrogant.

I’m sorry the man died, I truly am, and sorrier still that he was apparently gravely ill before his heart finally gave way. But I never liked him. I was sorry Yogi and he got back together. And I don’t think he should be in the Hall of Fame, not that that’s even all that important.

If I were ever a Yankee fan, I’d probably feel much different. But I was never a Yankee fan. It goes against my nature. I’m one of those champions of the underdog…always have been. And that is why I became a Mets fan, after having been a Dodgers fan before that.

I don’t believe in winning at all costs. Yankee fans do. George Steinbrenner certainly did. His every action was self-serving, at least his public actions. And self-serving meant Yankee-serving by definition. So I can understand Yankee fans liking him, even loving him. And that may be the only thing I’ll ever understand about Yankee fans, that, and their win at all costs philosophy.

If George had bought the Mets, and ran the Mets the way he ran the Yankees, I’d have become another team’s fan, probably a team like the Phillies or Boston, but not the Cubs or Kansas City. My team would have to care passionately about winning, but not at all costs.

There are examples of the Yankee avarice too numerous to mention but the most recent and heinous example was their attempted acquisition of Cliff Lee. The Yanks have Sabathia, Pettitte, Burnett, Vazquez and Hughes. That’s five very fine starters. That should be enough.

For anyone who cares about competitiveness, the Yankees were already loaded. They didn’t need Cliff Lee. But the Yankees don’t care about the rest of baseball. They only care about the Yankees, their storied history, their hallowed stadium, their rings, their monuments and on and on.

The Yankees tried to guarantee their World Series win. It wasn’t enough to have Arod and Jeter and Teixeira and Cano, Posada and even Swisher, and all those pitchers. That wasn’t enough surety for the Evil Empire. For Yankee management and fans, what fun is there in watching a good baseball game?

All of that now brings me to Carlos Beltran. Carlos was out of the game for most of last season and most of this season with a bone bruise of the knee. Not that I don’t believe he was really hurt. I do. But I know there are probably contract issues that entered into the situation.

Beltran has it made in the shade, if he can find any of that in Flushing. The Mets are 4 games out, have a nice pitching staff, some good young players and, as he will still be considered as recovering, there are no outlandish expectations of him. As he always has been a great player though, we can expect that he will provide some big hits, make some nice catches, and, in most respects, be Carlos Beltran. But he won’t be expected to carry the club.

What annoys me most is that he’ll be playing at someone else’s expense. In every case, that someone else has been a key player for the Mets this year, whether it’s Francoeur, Pagan or Jason Bay.

Once again, that brings me to my point about winning at any cost. As good as Beltran has been, I’d like to see him earn his way back into the lineup. But that won’t happen, it can’t really happen, it probably shouldn’t happen, as winning certainly takes precedence over some bruised feelings.

But it doesn’t go down easy for me as a Mets fan. This Mets club seems well-knit as a team. So I worry about chemistry. But I also enjoy watching every one of those outfielders, especially Francoeur and Pagan. From my standpoint, I’d rather see Bay sit.

But, for the same reasons as Beltran must play, Bay must play. It’s that crazy but true axiom in baseball that says players eventually find their level. It’s very often true. As hard as it may be for me to believe right now, the axiom says that Jason Bay will get hot, or even torrid. And Carlos Beltran will eventually hit .300, drive in 100 runs and score a hundred times in a full season.

But it’s those exceptions to the rule that grate the most on a fan’s patience and compassion. David Wright had his worst year by far last year. His power just disappeared and never came back. Recall the lean times of Carlos Delgado in years past before he went absolutely crazy at the plate to carry the club seemingly all by himself for about six weeks.

Mets fans have to hope for the best, that a club that finishes 4 games out at the half, with Francoeur and Pagan, can finish first at season’s end with Carlos Beltran, all other things being equal (which in and of itself is saying a mouthful).

Go Carlos!!