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My mother always tried to warn me, "Don't count your chickens before your eggs are hatched." It's a good rule to live by, especially before the start of the baseball season. A 162-game schedule makes for a long season and a lot can happen. A season can turn on a dime. Things can go bad very quickly.
So when everyone was so quick to label the Mets starting rotation as the best staff ever assembled, you just had to wonder if it was a bit premature. Well they may just be the best collection of talent. But there certainly seems like there is something to be concerned about, especially for those who remember the group from a prior era that carried the tag "Generation K." The hype is great for marketing, but sometimes it can land you with egg on your face.
While it seems like the season has just begun, the first month is already in the books. And while it’s still way too early on in a long baseball season, as we learned last year, there appear to be some clear indications of what lays ahead for the 2016 Mets.
Let’s take a look at some of the takeaways from the first month:
The best pitching staff in baseball. The best pitching staff the Mets have ever had. The best pitching staff ever assembled. Hmmm. Can’t miss. After years of hope…or rather…hopelessness…it is refreshing to hear such high praise…any kind of praise really…for the Mets. And I can understand why the excitement about the Mets starting rotation is erupting like Mount St. Helen.
But is everyone too quick to adorn this group as the greatest ever assembled? Is the hype truly deserved at this point…or is it premature?
Mets fans have been victimized by the hype before. Remember Generation K? The big three in that group were Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher, and Jason Isringhausen. Bobby Jones was also a part of that staff that was supposed to be the greatest staff ever coming together. However, that greatness never materialized. In fact, the only one who had any kind of an effective career was Isringhausen who emerged as a dominant closer for a short time after overcoming numerous arm troubles.
Okay...so now that everyone got what they wanted...and the Mets ownership opened their wallets and re-signed Yoenis Cespedes...now what? The Mets now have four outfielders for three positions and there is not yet a DH in the National League.
When Cespedes was brought to the Mets at the trade deadline, there were circumstances that were much different than they are right now. Sandy Alderson was in the midst of revamping the support staff...bringing in valuable veterans like Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson for the bench and Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed for the bullpen. But he needed to do something about the outfield situation because Michael Cuddyer, who was signed as a free agent almost immediately after the conclusion of the 2014 season, was injured and greatly underperforming. And Juan Lagares had not taken the next step forward after a nice 2014 season in which he won a Gold Glove and looked like the second coming of Andruw Jones in centerfield. It was quite apparent that he was a shell of himself in centerfield, not getting to balls he would have gotten to easily the year before, and his feared rifle arm was reduced to that of a water pistol. We later found out that he was suffering from an injury that vastly curtailed his abilities.
It is just amazing how ridiculous some fans can be. The furor over signing Cespedes was relentless. Fans screamed that the Mets ownership NEVER spends money. And I think it is just incredible that the media feeds the frenzy and perpetuates the insanity.
Whether it was caving into the fan pressure or simply Sandy Alderson sticking to his plan and doing what was right for maintaining that plan and, at the same time, adding additional necessary parts, is irrelevant at this point. The fact is the Mets GM has taken chicken shit and turned it into chicken soup. Yes...he was not very successful with acquiring some bullpen help over the years of his tenure. But then, what GM really has been? Bullpen arms are so unpredictable. But what he HAS done is oversee the reshaping of the franchise, and has made the Mets into a contending team with a strong core of young talent promoted from a revitalized farm system, and bringing in spare parts when and where needed. Isn't that the formula the Yankees used to build their last dynasty?
So for all of the harsh criticism...HARSH criticism...of ownership, Yoenis Cespedes is returning to the Mets. So for all of those who were shouting out that the Mets don't spend money...well...they did...yet again. The fans have done all of the over-the-top clamoring before...and...well...let's just see.
I am glad the Mets did what they had to do to bring Cespedes back. He brings a presence and dimension to the team that alters the look of the lineup and creates a dynamic that actually makes everyone else that much better. The lineup was fine without him, but it could be downright dangerous WITH him.
You would think that after the Mets made it all the way to the World Series in 2015 that the fan base would be somewhat satisfied and have some faith in Mets management and General Manager Sandy Alderson. After all, after taking hit after hit in the media and on every fan blog across the internet, Alderson proved to be correct when he said that the team would be playing meaningful baseball late in the season. None of the so-called experts picked the Mets to finish with a record of over .500...let alone get to the World Series. Oh ye have little faith.
And now the talk is, as always, about how cheap the front office is and that they refuse to spend any money. The fact is...the Mets HAVE shown a WILLINGNESS to spend money...and they HAVE spent money.
Ken Griffey, Jr. making it to the Hall of Fame is a true feel good story. It seemed he was destined for greatness. He was a kid among men, roaming the clubhouses in the major league parks, hanging around like any son who tags along with his father to the office. He learned a lot while hanging out with some of the greatest who ever played the game. But that kid was a natural, and was the very first pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 1987 draft. And he didn't disappoint. He was a superstar from the very beginning, and played like a kid playing in the sandlots, always playing hard, getting dirty, and having fun.
Mike Piazza making it to the Hall of Fame is also a feel good story. But unlike Griffey, his career ventured on a different path. While Griffey was the Number One pick in the first round of the draft, Piazza was way at the other end, selected in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 62nd round!
The Hall of Fame will be announcing the class of 2016 at 6 p.m. Just wanted to chime in with who I would have voted for this year: Ken Griffey, Jr., Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman, Tim Raines, and Jeff Kent.
Griffey, in my mind, should be an absolute unanimous selection. He is the epitome of what baseball is, or should be, all about. He was always like a young kid playing in the school yard having fun. He carried himself well, professionally and modestly, and never seemed to be in the middle of any controversy.
The Mets announced that they will, at times, be sporting their "racing stripe" uniforms in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the 1986 World Series Championship team. I have always had a fascination with the Mets uniforms and to be quite honest, I absolutely hated those uniforms. The home uniforms were bad enough, but the road uniforms had a weird block lettering and then a silly looking script. Heck, Keith Hernandez has so often made his opinion of those uniforms known during broadcasts, calling them "hideous." I am a traditionalist, and although I liked the brief appearance of the blue and orange piping on the sleeves during the Lee Mazzilli era in the late seventies, early eighties, I am truly partial to the traditional home uniforms. But my favorite is the traditional away jerseys with the tiffany style lettering on the front and the full block numbers on the front and back.
And uniform numbers worn by the players always seemed to pique my interest. I am sure most people can be presented with a number and immediately associate it with a specific Mets player. In fact, sometimes you see a number on a player’s back and you either love the player or simply the way the number looks and all of a sudden that becomes YOUR number.
Alan Karmin is an award-winning journalist and author. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and spent most of his life growing up in the New Jersey suburbs. Alan's family were avid Brooklyn Dodgers fans and when the Dodgers moved west, the Mets became the team to root for. The Mets have always been a true focal point, Alan even wrote a term paper in high school to analyze what was wrong with the Mets. While at the University of Miami, Alan honed his craft covering the, gulp, Yankees during spring trainings in Fort Lauderdale for a local NBC affiliate, as well as the Associated Press and UPI. He broadcasted baseball games for the University of Miami, and spring training games for the Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos. New York Mets Mania is a forum for Alan to write about his favorite team and for baseball fans to chime in and provide their thoughts and ideas about New York's Amazin' Mets.
