 |
| Don't drive angry |
We'd moved on from the Wilpons just about a year ago, but the club's ongoing search for someone to run their baseball operations is once again evoking memories of Harold Ramis' great film. Names keep getting bandied about in the press as candidates, then we soon read that the person isn't interested or their current club won't give the Mets permission to formally speak with them.
While this scenario is far from ideal, it's not what's making me hear the unwelcome saccharine strains of "I Got You Babe" playing on a loop each morning. What evokes the movie is how the media coverage has coalesced into a uniformly negative take on what's happening. It's gotten to the point where I've mostly stopped paying attention to the press reports. For me, the crux of it all is I am not at all interested in those who don't want the Mets job — I'll check back in when there is something substantial on those who are interested in the position.
I understand the New York media market very well. I've been a fan of New York teams, including the Mets, for more than half a century. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle famously postulated that "nature abhors a vacuum." While there is debate over the accuracy of Aristotle's theory, it is decidedly true of the horde of media that covers New York sports. There hasn't been much leaking out of the Mets' executive search, and what has been made public is mostly about folks the Mets had targeted whose clubs denied permission or just weren't interested in taking the job. Because of this, the idea that "nobody wants the Mets' job" has become the common wisdom of media types.
Back in October, when the smoking ruins of the Mets' 2021 season were still visible in the distance, I wrote about the search for a PBO. Although it would have been wonderful to see a quick, triumphant resolution to that search, such as a press conference introducing Theo Epstein, it seemed obvious even then that the most obvious candidates weren't coming. It seemed likely that the Mets would have to ferret out someone in the more obscure category of Assistant GMs. Rather than inking an already famous name, the task would be to identify and hire the next great executive.
For a day or so at the end of October, there was a strong rumor linking the Mets with Matt Arnold, the Milwaukee Brewers GM under David Stearns. Reading about Arnold, he really did seem like a fantastic candidate for the position. Sadly, those rumors proved to be unfounded. Matt Arnold would remain in Milwaukee. What seemed briefly promising was just more grist for negative coverage of the Mets. The alarm went off the following day to an annoyingly familiar refrain:
Then put your little hand in mine 𝅘𝅥𝅮
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb ♩
A couple more weeks have elapsed, but the song remains the same. The Mets still have not hired anyone to head their baseball ops, and the press coverage continues to slant heavily to glass-half-empty commentary. In the New York Post, Joel Sherman's latest piece on the subject offers nothing that we haven't seen many times in the past month.
Babe... I got you babe 𝅘𝅥
As pessimistic as the media's coverage of all of this has slanted, Mets Twitter has become Apocalyptic at times. Then again, that's the nature of Mets Twitter, and that's what makes me love it. It offers all of the hot takes of local sports radio without the interruptions of endless commercials. The undercurrent, which Sherman alludes to in his piece, is that everyone else is laughing at the Mets and, by extension, those of us who root for them:
The background noise in the game is incredulity and laughter at what is transpiring — as if the Mets are trying to enlist someone to work in an unstable coal mine rather than to run baseball operations for MLB’s richest owner in the game’s biggest city. Is there anything worse that can be said about this organization than that, a year into new ownership, this feels Wilpon-ian?
Jokes that are told at the Mets' expense are nothing new to Mets fans. Even those like myself who have followed the team for a long time aren't immune to being rubbed the wrong way by them. That's why stating that others are laughing at the team has become a staple of local media coverage. After all, the best way to draw clicks is to evoke strong emotions.
To finish reading this article on Mike's Mets, please click here.
7 comments:
Mike Staffanos -
Your rant it too long and kind of ridiculous. Your foray into the anti-media gravy train is for what...a few extra clicks?
If you want readers with brains, then show some respect for those with common sense who need neither you nor anyone else to see the obvious - That it's November 9th, 2021. The Mets still don't have a POBO, nor GM, nor manager and just one coach - and Sandy Alderson and his son are representing the Mets at the GM meetings. The Mets are a laughing stock and it's well earned.
And the portion of the fan base that bend over backwards to excuse Steve Cohen from obvious incompetence, are part of the problem....probably fervent members of the anti-Wilpon crowd who can't admit the dysfunction not only continues - but is worse. Such is the excuse-making and contrived outrage from Mike Staffanos at the media to deflect Mets dysfunction.
He who laughs last laughs best. Hopefully, we Mets fans can laugh best more often.
Instead of more often than not being the Gang That Can't Shoot Straight.
To be fair, it's difficult to stride both sides of the fence -- preaching patience for the process to evolve or hurling stones at the team for not getting things done quickly enough. The one thing that has changed with ownership is a more secure control over gossipy mouths in the front office. Consequently, we don't know where they are. During today's press conference Sandy Alderson more than once said he hopes to have some hiring news by the end of the week. That is not a promise of it happening. It is not a revelation of who is involved. It is simply stating what everyone in business wants -- prompt resolution to open problems. I hope it happens, too, though I wouldn't bet more than the pocket change necessary to operate a gumball machine that it will.
I am not sure that it is fair to say that Execs werent interested in the job, we dont really know that. It is possible or even plausible that they were all "interested' but after deeper consideration, they decided that where they are is best for them. This is also perfectly understandable because in many cases, they have invested years into their current team and the Big Wigs like Theo are certainly interested, but under their terms only
Anon Joe F
LongTimeFan1 - What a stupid comment. Please feel free to go f*** yourself
And if you feel the need to make a dumb personal attack in the future, at least spell the person's name correctly
Well said, Mike. It's sad that 95% of what fans are reading right now is about the lack of hires for the organization and that those articles are all slanted towards attacking the team rather than reporting an objective truth. I agree- who turns us down is certainly NOT interesting to any Mets fan, and certainly cannot be interesting enough to non-fans to buy papers over or generate clicks from. Anyway, this will all soon be over and we can focus once more on what we DO have, and WHO we do have, instead of this current game.
Post a Comment