Cynical - Mack Ade

I’m back from my five day battle with this new flu strain. Trust me folks, you want no part of this one.

I opened the computer twice (during the ‘War Room’) and that was it. The TV never went on and I had to ask the next day who won the Super Bowl.

I did open the laptop last night and went to my worksheet and saw that the last thing I was writing about was how insulting it was to have the Mets try to push off Marlon Byrd as a good enough outfielder for 2013.

Now, I notice two more signees have surfaced. Corey Patterson and Mike Wilson were signed to minor league contracts and assigned directly to Las Vegas. They will come to spring training but reports that neither of them are close to being in shape to compete for an opening day Mets outfield slot.

Patterson (bats left) was a big guy for the Cubs back in 2001-2005, but those days are long gone. Last year, he never got out of AAA, hitting .251 in the PCL as a 32-yr. old.

Wilson, with all due respect, has never been big. He’s a 2^nd round draft pick in 2001 by Seattle that just hasn’t worked. His best year was 2008 at the AA level when his stat line was: .276, 26-doubles, 27-HR, 84-RBI.  He had another great year in 2011 (AAA - .331, 16-HR, 49-RBI), but he hit only .239 last year for the same Tacoma team. The two best things you can say here is the guy needs a new home after 11 seasons with the same team and the fact he bats from the right side of the plate.

Look, I know that some people feel this I have begun sounding more ‘cynical’ about the Mets, but those that truly know me that the only anger I have about this team is the ownership and how they force their employees to operate this team.

I write about the New York Mets. I don’t live in Houston and write about a team whose total payroll is lower than A-Rod. If I did, I would be trying to project to you what year that team will play another playoff game.

No, I write about a baseball team located in the number one media market in the United States, who is also the part owner of the third largest cable-TV sports networks in the county. This is a ‘power’ team. This is a ‘big market’ team. Their only problem should be how much the luxury tax is going to be charged to them.

Instead, I’m lying on my ass for five days fighting off the flu and the only thing my team has done is sign these three yahoos to take the jobs away from possible emerging prospects that are one step away from proving their worth on this team.

Lucas Duda, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Matt den Dekker, Juan Lagares, and Jordany Valdespin. I really don’t know if any of these are going to be a star in baseball. What I do know is they are young and they need people around them that promote what they are doing positively and support their hard work to achieve their goals to make that critical next step.

Yes, a couple may be a year too early, but wouldn’t that be better than five years too late or no years never?

What kind of signs are you sending to these guys? Are we done or are we signing Richie Ashburn today?

Oh shit, I’m sounding cynical again.