Tom Brennan - TEAMS THAT REALLY WANT TO WIN
Thinking of teams that are determined to win...daydreaming.
Let's consider 3 of them:
The Yankees, despite having the great Dellin Betances in their pen, last season also had Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman; the latter two were spun off for super prospects and Chapman re-signed for 2017. Playing better than they anticipated, they add David Robertson and Kahnle to their pen in July, giving them a lethal strikeout foursome for the pennant/wild card chase - because NOTHING means more to the Yanks than winning with superior players. Those 4 as Yanks this year have not been quite as good as hoped, but still have 217 Ks in 146 IP.
Cleveland has won 19 straight. Key guy in their pen? Andrew Miller, who since 2013 is 19-6, 51 saves, 1.84 ERA, 433 Ks in 284 innings. And they grab Jay Bruce in August, helping them to be formidable enough to reel off 19 straight.
Boston does not keep Andrew Miller a few years ago, and even lose the great Papi to retirement, but do they fold up tent and rebuild? Heck no - they want to win, very, very badly. So they get Craig "the Machine" Kimbrell (5-1, 1.50, 32 saves, an astonishing 112 Ks in 60 innings this year) and trade Yoan Moncada to get Chris Sale (16-7, 2.76, 278 Ks in 198 innings). Without those two acquisitions, they are several games behind Yanks, instead of 3 games up on them. Boston got them because they really, no I mean really, want to win.
The Mets have had injuries, a lot of them, but they NEVER do what it really takes. Even in 2015, when they went to the World Series after their moves, I think their moves were good, but not overwhelming, and they got momentum greater than warranted from their acquisitions. Because getting just Cespedes, Kelly and Uribe should not alone have made them baseball's highest scoring team the last 2 months after 4 months of being baseball's lowest scoring team.
So they took some decent steps in 2015, didn't quite go all out, but got lucky. "Lucky" gets you there once in a while - a burning desire to win, and taking extreme measures like the Yanks, Cleveland and Boston have, reduces the "luck factor" greatly.
The Mets do not lust to win, sometimes they give it a pretty aggressive player acquisition effort, but they do cross their fingers and hope for luck an awful lot as a policy.
Mets fans deserve better.
15 comments:
Agree with you 100% on this Tom. When it comes to chasing championships, organizations like the Yankees and Red Sox go balls deep. The Mets like to play "just the tip" smh
I'll keep saying it until I lose my voice (or typing fingers) -- the Mets care more about the bottom line than they do about winning. They are very short sighted because winning brings in all kinds of revenue from tickets, increased viewership (translation higher advertising rates), merchandise sales, etc.
Pablo - true, and it is time for fans to demand "all in" every year.
Reese...100% true. 100%.
Sooo.....the organization limits its commitment to its fans (winning) but fans that are frustrated, tired, and care more about the Mets being a quality organization are told they are not true fans because they stop Rah-Rah-uncunditional-cheerleading support by some judgemental "true fans
I never understood this.
Bob, they never seem to understand why they draw so many fewer fans than the Yanks either: Yanks have drawn essentially sell outs - 40,827 per game. Mets' attendance? 31,037 per game, or just 76% of the Yankees' attendance. If you assume $100 revenue per attendee, 9800 less fans per game is a lot of dough, dontcha think? Try $80 million in revenue, much of it pure net revenue. If $100 per attendee is too much, well $50 per would still be $40 million.
Extreme - and successful - efforts to win result in extremely happy and loyal fans - who like to spend $$.
I saw that Michael Fulmer needed ulnar nerve relocation surgery - the fourth guy coming out of the Mets' organization to need it (Jake, Lindsay, Matz, Fulmer) in just the last 12 months - how odd.
With the pitchers, i wonder if is the routine and or a particular pitch ie the slider. More fluky with lindsay
It's all about choices. Reasonable, intelligent, planned out choices.
Don't want to overspend on major league free agents (like the beginning of Alderson's era)...fine.
BUT.... you need to go to the top shelf choices in the draft & international free agents (major league ready &/or prospect worthy). Plus you need to truly invest thought, effort, & money in the minor league system to develop a strong coaching staff & support structure for the minor leaguers.
Instead...Alderson chose to go half-way in all of these areas. End result is a major league team that does not look promising for next year + a minor league system that is not capable of feeding the major league club enough to make a difference in the foreseeable future.
Best advice I could give for next year is to get 2 quality pitchers (ex. Alex Cobb) for the rotation (NOT power pitching aces- too prone to injury & a waste of $$ compared to the difference they will make next year) and go all in to try and trade for a top-shelf 3rd or 1st baseman such as Donaldson, Goldschmidt, or Machado.
Slider is such an unnatural movement for an arm...
GM Bob Gregory - it has a ring to it, and better ideas to boot
Anyone know why Aoki is playing over Nimmo after a day off so our 24 year must be rested right so its Terry being Terry again and just crazy not to get him lefty AB's.
Gary,
Barring a health or personal issue with Nimmo that is a sin.
It starts with ownership and their financial limitations...Alderson is far from perfect but his task is to implement what he can given the parameters dictated by the owners.
Gary, if Aoki played, it has to be that they are seriously considering signing this guy in the off season...someone else's released player is our goldmine. Welcome to the Mets. Nimmo should play daily, as should Lagares.
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