Mack - FWIW

          

First, some ‘dirty laundry’…  Reese Kaplan continues to work on his rehab and our hope here is that he is back writing by the time next season starts. Returning to the site to help us keep the boat afloat is Mack’s Mets first outside writer, David Rubin. David and I grew the site back in the early 2000s and I for one are thrilled to see him back. Look for him to post every Thursday morning, right after John from Albany’s morning posts.

Needless to say, we are still short a few slots on our 26-man and I will continue to reach out to you to join us here as a writer. Like I have said in the past, everybody that has ever written here first started as a reader. It doesn’t bite to write. The site is easy to navigate, and you write as often as is comfortable for you. 

If interested, please email me at: macksmets@gmail.com and I will send you two emails… one from me with my suggestions and two, another that will invite you into the site. It can’t hurt to give it a shot.

We here at Mack’s Mets try to come up with new opinion pieces but, I have to tell you, at this point in the off-season, it’s tough to come up will new writing angles. We’ve covered just about every subject three times over. The winter meetings resulted in what I expected… meh. We are all looking for that magic bullet that will get us to the playoffs. I happen to think one or more are already on this team.

I wrote early this month a suggestion that we should pay off all the dead contracts and let them move on so we can build a new young, exciting team. Many of you thought that that was a dumb idea. You said, if we are going to pay them what we owe them, why not keep them around and see what they can do? You probably are right.

One thing I do want to stress is the fact that our problems are within. Robinson Cano, Yoenis Cespedes, Jed Lowrie, Jeurys Familia, and Edwin Diaz did not produce the kind of return needed in 2019 to get this team to the playoffs. We wouldn’t be in this pickle if they played half as better than they did… or, in the case of Lowrie and Cespedes, half of nothing would still be nothing. They need to first, take the field to prove to me that they are worth keeping around.

I am one of the followers that believe in the team that put up a 46-26 record after the All-Star break. Our young, talented stars of this team picked up the ball and almost ran us to a playoff run. Yes, I agree with most of you that we haven’t done enough in the off-season, but let’s remember that our General Manager is still working under a Wilpon budget.

The biggest ‘if’ this season continues to be the one we are faced with every year… health. The second would be production from the five names I listed above. Stay healthy and get a good return from them would make 2020 a season to follow.

There is a good chance we won’t go to the dance again in 2020, but I believe that will be the last year we don’t get to observe playoff baseball. I’ve been asked a number of times lately, by both friends and followers, if the sale will go through. My answer is simple… yes it will. The league approved him becoming a partial owner when he joined Jerry Seinfield and Bill Maher in purchasing 4% of the team. Why would the league change their minds now?

Others have asked me if he’s a shady guy. Hold up for a second… (picking myself off the floor after falling while laughing)… not being shady would eliminate a fair share of the owners in this league that already sit around the table. Being a good businessman counts here and a kid from Queens that worked his ass off to become a multi-billionaire qualifies.

The new money will arrive in 2021. New money to work our long-term extensions with players like Thor. New money to guarantee that the Polar Bear retires someday as a Met. And new money to secure players like Mookie Betts, J.T, Realmuto, and/or George Springer.

Oh, it will become better being a Mets fan.