N.Y. METS ~ The 49th Season Of Metropolitan Baseball Starts Now

OPENING DAY

GOOD LUCK THIS SEASON TO ALL!

and now...

From the Desk of:  Head-Butting Mr. Met

Welcome to Mets' Year 9 A.D.

(AFTER DOUBLEDAY)

This is
"The Saul B. Katz Dilemma"

We LIVE in the THE AGE of WILPONIANISM

GAME ONE of the 2011 SEASON

NEW YORK METS

vs.

Florida Marlins

From Some Where in South Florida

Dear Fellow Met Fans,

I just don't know.  The end.  Thank you for your time.

NEW YORK METS:  The S.S. Wilpon has sailed into the perfect storm and threatens to sink our team.  So what am I so happy about?  And what still makes me grumpy?

I was much more angrier heading into last season than I am headed into this one.  Last season we were still desperate for changes.  This year we start under a new regime with some of the changes having been made.  That's a positive right?  We all know there will be more changes to come; with some more drastic than we realize.  See Jose Reyes. 

But there is more for me to be optimistic about this season than last.  Yet the cloud hovering over our team grows darker by the day.

The truth is this season will be our most trying season ever.  Even after our matriarch and original owner; Mrs. Joan Payson passed away, we knew the plan was for the eventual sale of the Mets in it's entirety.  Today we face a radically dis-similar situation with an owner desperately trying to hold on to his team while faced with mounting debt, dwindling assets, plummeting profits and a disconnected fan base.  The present owner's thinking is by bringing in a minority partner, their major financial crisis can be more handily managed through the coming rough times ahead.  The plan seems a little impotent to me.  It makes a Mets' fan almost feel as if we are taking a back seat to Fred Wilpon's grandchildren whom he would love to leave this organization behind to.  Woe is us.

In the mean time, what about us?  Mr. Wilpon..., if you're not considering that question at this very moment, your attendance figures over the first three months will give you an unsolicited indication (I guess) as to how we feel about our favorite team's ever-dimming outlook.  And it won't be because of the players.  They are the ones who just may save your company books from reflecting big fat negative zeroes and a lot of red ink.  No; instead I'm talking about...You.  Your best laid intentions may still go up in smoke if we have little faith in you.  You have a lot of winning-over to do, or, hand this team over to someone who can operate the organization in a New York State Of Mind and not from the New York State Social Services office.

But that's not all.  I don't enjoy kicking a guy when he's down, and seldom do.  But did EVERYTHING Omar Minaya touch turn into coal?  It's as if he is eternally cursed for the Bartolo Colon acquisition when he was GM of the Montreal Expos; you know - the deal that single handed rebuilt the Cleveland Indians with one trade.

Omar's last big acquisition as GM of the Mets was Jason Bay.  Omar's last hurrah will be starting the season on the DL with..whatever.  Me?  As you can see I'm viewing Bay's injury with apathy.

Omar's other lingering legacies; Carlos Beltran? - I'm just done.  I liked him; defended him; - But I'm done with him.  I just want to move on already and hand these jobs over to our younger guys like Lucas Duda and company..  Ditto with the other guy, K-Rod.  Done.  Johan Santana?  Did someone place a curse on Omar?  It's all so bizarre. 

Francisco Rodriguez brings up a fascinating dilemma in itself because of his appearances clause in his contract.  If he makes 55(?) appearances, a $17 million dollar option kicks in?  Well, with the Mets as tight as a tourniquet right now money wise, it's unlikely the Mets will let him achieve that appearance plateau.  Then, that will probably trigger a grievance by the Player's Union.  It should be fun.  Don't miss out on all the minutia.

Back to Lucas Duda, that's when I start to get a lot happier about this team.  I'm happy because we have a collection of "our guys" on the team.  For a change, they are here in bunches.  How refreshing.  And they're a bunch I'm already very attached to.  I don't think it's backlash displacement anger for the other guys.  I genuinely like this crop (and this is where Omar will never get a full serving of credit for drafting many of these kids we're about to rely on).

Josh Thole?  He's my Dude!  I have far more confidence in him than the majority of the Media seems to have in him.  Ike Davis and the Original Brooklyn Cyclone - Angel Pagan return as most favorite players.  I have always been behind Pagan since 2001 when he played for Brooklyn.

Want to know why I'm so with Dillon Gee (AAA), Jonathan Niese and Big Pelf?  Because they weren't hyped to kingdom-come like Generation-K was.  I like what I see out of those three; more-so when Gee and Niese are concerned.  I'm content, and am more than willing to hand those three the ball every fifth day.  And I've been a big Bobby Parnell fan also.  Jenrry Mejia may yet deliver the goods for us one day, as well as Nieve.  But Sandy Alderson made some acquisitions for the pitching staff with high potential reward factors attached.  Yea, they are coming off injuries and they scream of moves Omar made.  But I'm rolling with it.  Chris Capuano and Chris Young will be getting a fair shake from me.

You might call me one of those rare Met fans with patience.  But my head is without a doubt, in the new.  Above all, I'm just happy to see the new faces; finally.  I'm happy to give these guys a full year together.  We know what's in store for us Met fans.  Don't we?  Of course we do.  I'm in total break-away mode folks and I know it's going to take another year to continue purging and reconfiguring this team.

That's why I'm going to have fun watching these new Metsies grow-up.  I've been wanting it.  And now I'm starting to see it.  My complaints have been with what remains of the old.  And I realize the gutting work is still in progress.  Over the years I have screamed loudest for the Wilpons to go off campus and hire a GM unfamiliar to them.  They have done that.

So, I must say, according to my own words and wants, I go into 2011 a happier Met fan than last year, oddly, as the organization's foundation and pillars are crumbling before our eyes.

If it's not one thing, it's always another.

Let's Go Mets!

Mike.BTB