The New York Mets are just days away from having their pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training on February 20th. They will be packing up their supplies, gear and personnel and driving to Port St Lucie, Florida.
The road trip for the team from New York will take a few days and we can expect updates from several members of the team as the February 20th deadline draws near. One of those Mets has already started. Mets GM Sandy Alderson has become a recent addition to the world of Twitter. You can follow him here.
He has only been tweeting for a few days, but is already stirring up some reactions form fans and media alike. His first few tweets poked fun at the Mets finances.
On February 9th, he said "Big fundraiser tonight for gas money. Also exploring PAC contribution".
Two days later, he tweeted "Prepping for trip. Bought four like-new tires at chop shop across from Citi. He threw in free wiper fluid. Better than the Wheeler deal!".
The next day, he made fun of Jose Reyes and himself by tweeting "Inspired by Jose & Joba, got a haircut for charity, but MLB Network wasn't interested".
On Sunday, he continued to make light of the Mets finances when he posted "Will have to drive carefully on trip; Mets only reimburse for gas at a downhill rate. Will try to coast all the way to FL".
While fans have loved these pokes at the team and the lighter side of their hard-nose GM, the media have reacted with less levity as they reported these tweets as if they were news.
Call it a boring patch of the off-season or an excuse to write something about the Mets not financially related, but the media has a way of not being able to take a joke too well.
After all, it was this same media that over-reacted to R.A. Dickey being reminded of his contract when he decided to climb a mountain for charity. It was this same media that over analyzed every single rumor over the past few months.
It was this same media that painstakingly posted every boring word of each legal document released over the past few months in regards to the Madoff lawsuit.
They lack a soft side, a funny bone. They don't respond with emotion as the fans do. They embrace the journalistic side of every scenario with the sole purpose of reporting the story.
Sandy Alderson discovering twitter and poking fun at himself, his former player and the financial status of his bosses is NOT news unless Fred Wilpon releases a statement saying Alderson will be fined or punished for said statements.
This is the same Mets ownership that endured Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel for several years.The bigger story here is that the Mets brass isn't overreacting to this and letting it go for now. Perhaps the media needs to take a lesson from them in this case.
Not everything is news worthy and reportable. Try to relax and enjoy the laughable moments the team you cover provides without ruining it with your straight-line analysis.
After all the Mets fans and this media have been through over the past few seasons, we could all use a laugh.
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