Dwight Hood - So, You Think YOU Can Be a GM? My Mack’s Mets Challenge

I could Google the name of the General Manager (GM) who served the Mets during the 1977 season. I was 7 years old at the time. I did not even know what a GM was, nor did I know the individual’s function, nor did I care. All I can remember was my incredulous parents. “THE METS TRADED TOM SEAVER!” That was their exclamation that morning. Shock. Disbelief. Resignation. What were the Mets going to do? Who could do such a thing?

Fast-forward to the early 1980s. There was a guy in a bow tie that used to stand at a podium when the “new Mets” came. He got these guys named Hernandez, Carter. Well…you know the rest.

I began to understand the role of the GM after that. I was in my teens. I thought I had some knowledge about who should be on the Mets. I mean, why couldn’t we get Rick Sutcliff. Maybe Pete Rose? Harold Baines? Andre Dawson AND Tim Raines? Rickey Henderson? Ron Guidry AND Dennis Eckersley? Why not? I mean, couldn’t we just ASK them to come, and write them a check for their services?

Alas, the teenage mind. Suffice to say, my “baseball” mind is probably not much different as I leave my 40s in the rear view and enter my 5^th decade. I want ALL the top players for MY team. After all, there is no monetary expense too great, no draft pick that can’t be traded. I mean, MY team should have transitioned immediately from Beltran, Delgado, Santana. Martinez, Glavine and the like to Trout, Bellinger, Harper, Kershaw, Altuve, AND…well...you get the picture.

I tell you, I’m not delusional. It can be done. All the superstars at my disposal. Under team control for perpetuity. I can be the Ultimate GM!

I really enjoy virtual, fantasy “baseball” games. They are the grand alternative for a severely myopic teenager who could throw a ball, but could not see the ball to hit it. I could never make it on a baseball diamond as a player, but I can sit at my electronic device, and DREAM about acquiring the “ultimate” team of prospects with a world of potential to compliment my proven veterans.

But wait. I have only won a single fantasy league. And that was a football league with minimal participation. I’ve never won a virtual baseball league is my 5 years of “competition.”

I attribute this to bad luck. After all, I did draft the ultimate team. They just did not perform. Just like the Mets of 1987, 1988, 2006, 2007, 2008…Wow. That’s depressing. Or is it actually validating? Of course. I can’t blame Duquette, Minaya, Phillips. Of even the guy that helped deal Seaver. Whoever he was. After all, the Reds had GREAT prospects in Norman and Henderson, and great pitchers such as Zachry. Was that his name? That slender guy with the beard? Anyway, maybe they just didn’t perform to potential? Who can blame the GM? He wasn’t on the field. Right?

So, as with every cringe as the camera pans to Cano on the bench, and with every deluge of tears that accompany a blown Diaz save, let us tell ourselves that we could have made much better front office decisions as GM than Brody.

I could have made the Mets great again by making Machado mine. I meant, “ours”. I could have found the money. And, the right prospects. Somewhere. Right? Of course, what would I have done with McNeil? Never mind. I could have worked it out.

With every futile Frazier flail at a low outside slider, let us tell ourselves that we could have acquired a more productive aging veteran.

I told myself with every Jay Bruce Bomb for that unmentionable team the south side of the Turnpike that they were not going to make the playoffs anyway. I hope I’m correct.

I think that I could make the decisions that can make a winner.

Could you all do the same?

I think the Mack’s Mets Fantasy Baseball league should start Spring 2020. Any takers?