Buzzing Like Bees, Moving Like Turtles...

By David Rubin

The last few weeks of the Mets off-season would've made old school newspaper edition editors insane. I can see the headlines:

New York Post (morning edition): METS SIGN CATCHER PAULINO

New York Post (late city edition): METS POSSIBLY SIGN CATCHER PAULINO

New York Post (final sports edition): METS SAY "MAYBE" TO CATCHER PAULINO

New York Post (following day): METS OUT OF PAULINO BIDDING

Instead of multiple editions, we have websites, blog-sites, Twitter, Facebook, etc...and lately, it seems that there's no agreement as to WHOM the Mets have actually signed, only that the same names are reportedly in play. Right after ESPN New York reported that the Mets had signed Catcher Ronny Paulino, the Post's Joel Sherman said they didn't; it's been like that for weeks now, and this is probably going to be the lay of the land for the next month or so.

From everyone we've spoken to, both in and out of the Mets organization, it's not that the Mets are putting out contrary info; it's actually quite the opposite, as it seems that every time the team shows any interest in a player, it's immediately being reported that the team has signed that player. This is simply fall-out from the "Omar days" when the team made splashes every off-season, without planning for the future, let alone for how they were going to properly fill out the 40-man roster. And it's not limited simply to players- we've all heard the many rumors about potential coaches, hot on the heals of the recently completed managerial search. This is the fall-out of the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" mentality that the team has utilized the past 5 years, and it's not going to change any time soon. The two operative words right now are "money" - which the team has a limit to, finally, and "2012" - as in the year that the team will have LOTS of money again with which to sign players as they seem fit.

Where does this leave the fans, who've been so loyal over the years and have mostly embraced the new regime? Well, a number of fans have quickly become fed up over the Mets lack of player movement, and I can understand why this is happening. When Omar took over the team, it wasn't like players were lining up to play at Shea Stadium. In fact, although the team played in the largest media market in the world, and in spite of the fact that the Wilpons had shown a propensity to spend largely on player contracts, there were few top-tier players who would have chosen the New York national league team as their first choice for a new destination. If you remember, Omar not only had to over-pay for Pedro Martinez, he also had to offer about $20 million more to sign Beltran, whose first choice, the Yankees, wouldn't raise their offer to compete with the Mets, believing that no one would choose the team from Queens over playing in the Bronx. Even with the knowledge that a new stadium was coming soon, and with bloated contracts littering the roster, it's not like players were clamoring to wear the orange and blue; in fact, the combo of being under the New York lights, in either the old bucket that was Shea or the new digs of CitiField, combined with the perception of the Mets as a bunch of over-paid chokers was more then enough to discourage players from signing with the Mets. Simply think back to the '09 off-season, when the Mets made it obvious that Jason Bay was the only major signing the team was interested in making- if you remember, Peter Gammons reported over and over again that Bay was waiting the contract out as long as he could, in hopes that either the Red Sox or another contender would match or at least come close to the Mets offer. When that didn't happen, Bay STILL didn't sign with the team right away, and many of us wondered exactly what the team needed to do in order to become a "destination point" instead of a "last resort."

Well, the answer to that question is doing exactly what the team is doing right now. The Mets are talking to every available, lower-priced option at both the catcher and starting pitcher positions; they're speaking with a number of candidates to fill the hitting coach and bench coach spots; and they're seemingly dead-set against taking on any long-term, or even two-year deals, that will in any way limit their options for the 2012 season. This isn't making for "sexy headlines" in light of the fact that no 3 information sources can even agree whether or not the team actually made an offer to any player; what it IS making for is a team that, when all is said and done, will be in a position of power come one short year from now.

Imagine this- it's the 2011 off-season, a number of top-line players are available for both free agency and via trade, the team has gone over-slot in order to acquire some top talent in the draft, and there is over $60 million worth of payroll to fill. On top of that, the team still has a relatively new ballpark, that favors pitching, speed and defense; the minor leagues are one year closer to providing additional homegrown talent to the major leagues, and a number of young players have finally proven themselves worthy of the hype attributed to them; and the organization is led by a group of executives who have proven track records and are poised to build a team for the long-haul. Sounds a LOT more intriguing to a free agent at this point, doesn't it? It has taken almost 10 years of continued frustration to get to this point, and thankfully, it won't take another 10 to get the team out of the mess they've been in...in fact, I'd bet that, come the 2012 season, we'll all be looking back on this off-season and viewing it for the anomaly that it was- a "time-out", if you will, during which fiscal and operational responsibility was finally restored to the organization.

I totally understand Mack's frustration with the lack of signings; I understand everyone's frustrations when players like Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford are on the market and they're pointed elsewhere; let's face it- we've all gotten used to having to over-pay for talent, and when that gravy-train finally dries up, it leaves lots of anger and resentment in its wake. But I also remember rooting for teams that featured the likes of Bruce Boisclair, Leo Foster, Ron Hodges, Craig Swan and Nino Espinosa in prominent roles, so it's still not hard to root for a team that has substantially more talent, as the 2011 team does. So let's all suck it up, hope for some decent signings that will fill out the roster in decent fashion for the coming season, and invest together in this team for another year, in anticipation of a far more bountiful 2012. Come next year at this time, and the team isn't in the middle of every transaction for every potential star on the market, and THEN we'll all have some major bones to pick with the team. Until then, I'm going to enjoy this off-season for what it is, and continue to dream about the continued improvements that the team will make across the entire 2011 season- and who knows? Maybe we'll even surprise some teams and contend in 2011 after all??!!

COMING TOMORROW: Part One of my Semi-Annual BASEBALL BOOK REVIEW