Tom Brennan - Time to Move the Franchise? Weather Weirdness; Sid Rosenberg Revolts; Ryan Ward

TEN LOSSES IN A ROW? OH, WELL…

THE FRANCHISE - FRESNO’S FINEST 

Too many franchise failures for the Mets. 

Too many failed deals. 

Too many failed transactions. 

So, what else can one possibly try?

Well, it led me to think of why this team ought to….RELOCATE.

10 reasons/examples:

A) In real life, employees relocate for many reasons.

B) In real life, companies relocate for many reasons. Climate, civility, cost, etc.

C) The Mets fan base have lots of tough, frustrated, angry, despondent fans.

D) Too many stupid fans - booing Bichette in his OPENING SERIES? Really?

E) Cultural - NYC for instance has a million Muslim residents, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens. Think “soccer”.

  - I imagine very few are baseball fans.

 - Does the city demographic really adequately support the team enough?

F) Ballpark is very hard and costly to get to and from, for those in suburbs.

G) Media - so ubiquitous and so tough.

H) Sometimes a change of scenery is a strategic advantage (e.g., Dodgers).

I) Players struggle mightily here, and often do better before & after the Mets.

J) Very, very few notable franchise seasonal successes in 40 years. No WS wins.

 - so much money spent for so little return.

I could go on and on. You readers can add a few.

A guy recently wrote about this, and I add his list here.

Here are the top eight cities that look ready for MLB expansion.

Apparently, in reverse order.

8. Portland, Oregon

7. Sacramento, California

6. Salt Lake City, Utah

5. San Antonio, Texas

4. Oakland, California

(“Oakland recently lost the Athletics, but baseball interest is still strong”.)

3. Charlotte, North Carolina

2. Nashville, Tennessee

1. Montreal, Canada

And…

If Tom Seaver were still alive, he might also suggest….Fresno.

Heck, they relocated “the Franchise” twice, so they have know-how.

But no, I forbid the Mets to relocate to Syracuse or Buffalo.

Here in Jeremiah Jackson is an example of what triggered this article, from this writer and fan who lived in Queens in 1962 and has been a life-long Long Island resident:

This Lad Failed As A Mets Minor Leaguer

But Now Succeeds in MLB Very Shortly Thereafter

I HAD NO IDEA….

I was never expecting Jeremiah Jackson to have success in the major leagues, because he struck out too much as a Mets Minor Leaguer.  I speculated that he was just another flawed, failed Mets minor leaguer.

So, having stopped following him altogether after he left the organization, and not giving him a second thought, I’m flipping through some website looking at articles unrelated to sports, and see that a foul ball from one of the Baltimore hitters nailed their manager right square in the face in the dugout. 

So I decided to watch the video and it turns out that the batter was…

Jeremiah Jackson.

In the MAJORS??  I certainly had him wrong.  VERY wrong.  Why? 

I looked up his MLB stats, and in 2025 and so far in 2026 through Tuesday, he had the following career splits in 233 Major league plate appearances:

 .289/.330/.472.

Wow. 

Compare to Marcus Semien. Or Lindor. Cheaper, for sure.

So the question I have is, what suddenly turned this gentleman Jackson into an apparently excellent major league hitter?  After all…

He hit a mere.205 in 122 games in Binghamton as recently as in 2024…now he already RAKES at the major league level, barely over a year later?

And why does it seem that the Mets are so incapable of doing the same (pulling excellence out of minors hitters) with the prospect guys they do keep?  

They struggle like a guy in deep water who can’t swim, with no life preserver.

I don’t ask that question lightly. 

I really would like to know what the heck is in the water in Queens that makes guys utterly incapable of hitting, only to go elsewhere and rake.

If there are no good answers…RELOCATE!

WEATHER WEIRDNESS

The Mets had great opening the weather. Then it got cold, really cold.

In the mid week series before they headed out to Los Angeles, it was so cold in Queens that two night games were rescheduled as 4 o’clock starts. Which helped only a little bit. It was still freezing cold. 

Meanwhile, the Yankees were avoiding Arctic weather by being out of town. 

When the Mets went out of town, the Yankees came back in. Suddenly, in the middle of April they had memorial day-like weather. Heck, when I was driving to Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon, at one point, the outdoor temperature was 87°, and 88° on Wednesday, which is more like mid June or late June, in mid April. About 50 degrees warmer than in that frigid Mets series.

After Sunday, the Mets return to Citi Field. They have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night games. The weather temperatures that are projected during those nightgames? Mid 40s, right back to March chills. Great weather for bats to…stay asleep. Balls to fly to track and settle into gloves.

This weather pattern seems to repeat itself, annually and OK, endlessly, between the two teams. I’ve periodically noted it in articles before. Simply, one team is seemingly blessed with good weather, and one is seemingly cursed. Same city. 

I will let you figure out which team is which.

SID ROSENBERG REVOLTS

Radio personality Sid Rosenberg joins what could be an increasing revolt:

“I’ll be 59 on Sunday:) For the first time ever I’m sporting a Yankee jersey as I make my way to the Bronx. The official transition from a life long Met fan to a Yankee fan is now underway. 

“Like my friend @CGasparino once wrote “Go Woke, Go Broke!” The Mamdani Mets are too WOKE for me! See ya at the Stadium soon fans!”

- Unpack THAT one.

I DON’T SEE HAPPINESS THERE

I looked at the expressionless look of Mark Vientos (1 for 25 streak though Friday) and thought:

Can we trade him for someone like Jeremiah Jackson?

Then I see the Dodgers “finally” called up 28 year old lefty slugger Ryan Ward, who in 161 games in 2025 and 2026 has 36 doubles, 6 triples, 40 HRs, a .300 average, and 126 runs scored and 136 RBIs.  

Let’s see lefty slugger Ryan Clifford do THAT. Or anything half way close to that. (Well, he did on Saturday - 4 for 6, including 2 HRs - WOW)

He was an 8th rounder, unlike first round killers like Parada and Jett.