THANKS A MILLION by Tom Brennan
Thanksgiving is upon us, so how about
an article involving the word THANKS as we get ready to chow down?
I am thankful for my family, God, a
great Mets season, and writing for a great blog site.
That said, on with the article.
When I was a little kid many years
ago, doctors used to make house calls. One time, my father had to drop
off Dr. Gedarovich and as he exited Dad’s 1953 red Mercury Monterrey, he said,
"Thanks a million, Jack."
You see, back then, a million bucks
was a lot of money. A million was really an amazing amount. Huge.
We even had the Million Dollar Movie on TV five nights a week. The Crawling Eye and other such classics. I was riveted.
A million is not so much today.
At least for Mets’ management and ownership. Why else, since 1999,
has the Yankees' home attendance exceeded the Mets' attendance by an average of
about a million per season, if not for their not trying hard enough?
What have the Yankees offered its fans
that the Mets have not? How about a desire to be dominant whenever possible? How about fielding a team with swagger?
How about an unswerving commitment to always be in the playoff hunt?
How about fielding offensively muscular, scary teams?
How about a willingness to keep on
spending? How about having a core of elite players come through the system
(Jeter, Williams, Rivera, Posada, Cano) and with that winning hand surrounding
them with more elite talent?
How about the Mets, by contrast, too
often signing Sean Marcum retread types and hoping for the best? Calling up Pat
Misch types? Having a chance to go boldly forth and sign Cespedes or Abreu as
they exited Cuba? But not. How about playing Ruben Tejada at shortstop
because, well, yes he is boring but he is kinda passable? I could go on.
So could you.
Which brings us to the 2015 off
season. The Mets arguably have the chance (when Wheeler returns) to
have the best young starting 5 in baseball history. They could spend big, try to be a dominant squad for years....or hope (with all fingers crossed) that
their Nimmos and Cecchinis will blossom into stars and make them dominant,
as the Yanks were for so many years, but on the cheap.
Those 16 years where the Yanks out-drew
the Mets by about 1 million per year (plus many more playoff box office gate bonanzas)
likely cost them well over $1 billion (with a B) in revenues.
What to do?
The Mets now have the core elite. Great starters. Great closer.
Build on that core aggressively, and draw 1 million more fans per year. For
years and years to come. That's what I want to see.
The only time as a Mets fan I felt
swagger with my team was in the mid-1980s.
We have a chance to again build a team
with swagger, that pitches great and
hits hard (so often the missing ingredient), for years to come. A team that
owns the playoffs. If ownership chooses boldness, Yankee style.
If they do, I'll be saying,
"thanks a million."
Thanks for reading.
11 comments:
We had that swagger this past October didn't we?
We'll have to wait and see what kind of team Alderson and Company builds this off season before seeing if we have it again in April.
Thomas is talking about not having to "wait and see" season to season, month to month, week to week, and day to day in order to feel relatively comfortable that "Met Swagger" is appropriate
Mack, you're right.
What Bob Gregory says is what he and I want: has to be sensible deals, but spend $$ with the intent for the Mets to virtually guarantee several years of dominance.
We have once-in-a-lifetime starting pitching. Mets decision makers need to recognize that and go all in. Don't squander this huge competitive advantage by going cheap. Cheap sux
Just some Math here:
Murphy at $8 million
Colon at $11 million
Gee at $5 million
Parnell at 3.7 million
are all coming off of the payroll for 2016 most likely.
Now, if:
Granderson at $16 million
Duda at $4.2 million
were able to be sell high (or above low) value....
the payroll would then have about $48 million coming off of it.
What did the payroll end up at last season? just about $100 million?
So that would put the 2016 payroll before arbitrations, etc....
at about $52 million?
Still needed would be:
1st baseman
Rightfielder
2nd baseman
additional outfielder.
so, even if 3 of these needs were to be filled with $20 million/yr players the payroll would only be at $112 million/yr (before arbitration, etc..)
That is WITH three $20 million/yr additions?
Does that mean 3 such players have to be added??
Of course not.
But, I think it shows that excuses for not getting any player that fits short and long term needs for the Mets should not be ruled out simply because they are too expensive at the $20 million/yr mark.
Bob, you make way too much sense :)
why do most of the people on this blog tend to review the film even before the previews are shown?
Mack
I don't believe anybody has "written a review".
I believe the only thing put forward are facts from the recent past.
Logical interpretations of most likely outcomes, if similar actions/reactions continue forward.
And logical presentations of likely benefits of alternative actions.
Hey Mack, what we're trying to do is like one of those flicks where they get some audience input as to which path to take the rest of a film down. We want the story to be "It Happens Every Summer."
We assume (maybe naively) that Met owners read blogs to get a sense of fan thought, and also look for ideas that might be useful. Why not point them in the right direction?
I will say this much - when Sandy talked at the time the last fence move in took place, he sounded like my articles:
1) fans love homers
2) good for attendance, and hence good for the bottom line.
I think there is a slight chance they got the idea for that sales pitch here.
We've got a lineup with AT LEAST 6 players capable of double-digit HRs.If Ruben is the everyday SS, I count 7 if Lagares (alone or with a platoon partner)chimes in. I expect 20+from both Duda and Grandy, and TdA and Conforto could join them.
Our problem isn't lack of power. I look for an improved pen and better D. If we had those in the WS, we'd have won it. And that's WITHOUT and help from Murphy and Cespedes.
Ruben as SS and either Flores or Herrera at 2B make us better at D, and I look for improvement from TdA and a healthy Lag as well.
I want Sandy to concentrate on the pen.
Metsiac. Ffair enough. Pen needs help. Don't go cheap there. Lose Murph and Cespedes, big hole, though
Offenses problem is not power as you state Metsiac.
Big problem of offense is consistency and reliability.
Due to low batting avgs, high strikeout rates, and injury history.
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