Swing Out Sister

by Taryn “the Coop” Cooper

Could 2012 be Jon Niese’s breakout year?

Jon Niese looks to be a future breakout in 2012

There’s one thing for sure on the Kult of Mets Personalities podcast: we love Jonathon Niese.  We may disagree on some players, but Niese is someone we all want to see succeed as a Met.  My husband even wrote a resounding plea to Sandy Alderson to not trade him when rumors showed up that Niese was being shopped around.

I’d had a bad feeling that he might be traded, but it looks like we might be safe to see him on the Mets’ roster on Opening Day 2012.  Of course, I ordered a customized 50th anniversary patch jersey with Niese 49 on the back…so who knows.

Anyway, I hope that Sandy Alderson read this glowing review on Niese called “Sleepers and Busts” on RotoAuthority (hat tip to Mets Fever for the link…starring Denny Terrio…I keed, I keed).  I’ve busted on Dan Warthen, whom I’m convinced has incriminating photos on all Mets front office personnel which is why he’s still around, but I feel his litmus test is Niese.  Niese is a good pitcher, a lefty with a fine arsenal of pitches, who can have potential be a great pitcher.  Our own Gene Anthony categorizes him as “smart,” a pitcher who “gets it.”  And most importantly, a pitcher whom if he was on another team, we’d be saying, “We should get that guy!”  Of course, my husband says if he was doing fantasy baseball this year, he would draft Niese.

Seems like Roto-Authority is promoting the same idea.  See, I feel like Warthen is a coach who doesn’t really try to get the best out of his pitchers.  The good news is, Niese has the confidence to overcome subpar coaching.  I hope so, anyway.  Niese hasn’t regressed, though, like other pitchers (*cough, cough* Mike Pelfrey *cough, cough*), but he’s stayed at a relatively even keel for his career.  Niese could easily become the guy on the staff who everyone wants to take credit for.  If he can stay healthy (and ironically, he hasn’t been injured pitching, it’s been other weird stuff that’s happened to him), it very well could be the year Niese stands out.

So Jon, the time has come to make or break.  Move on, don’t hesitate.

It’s time for Jonathon Niese to Breakout.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Dan Warthen, Jonathon Niese, Mets 2012, Mike Pelfrey, Sandy Alderson

Kool-Aid

by Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

Someone clued me in on it.

“Turn on SNY.  The 2011 Mets Yearbook is on.”

Huh?

I know some people can’t stand the Mets Yearbook.  Well, I understand, kind of, because they have so few of them, we see many of them over and over and over again during rain delays and what not on SNY.  But a Mets nerd like me who likes the porn of Mets history, I always enjoy them.  Some years more than others.  Like 1984: good.  1977: bad.

But what was funny is that when they had the marathon on a few weeks ago, the 1977 yearbook was comical.  Then-manager Joe Torre spun the Midnight Massacre as the “Doug Flynn” deal.  (Don’t quote me on the player — it could have been Steve Henderson for all I remember, but it was definitely a player not named Dan Norman).  I laughed my ass off.  Possibly the most horrific deal in Mets history, to summon the post-traumatic Mets disorder of all Mets fans, spun as “Doug Flynn” or “Steve Henderson” or “Pat Zachry” (but definitely not Dan Norman).

Anyway, 2011 yearbook.  Huh.  I had to check it out.  I missed about half of it, but there was a LOT of spin in it.  For a team that finished under .500, for a team that has financial difficulties, for a team that had to trade away top talent midseason and lost their marquee player to free agency…sure, yeah! Let’s make a documentary on one our worst seasons EVAH.

But you know what…?  I kind of liked it.  They got rid of a lot of the crap and they showed a lot of the fun things.  Like the walk off on July 20th.  Yeah, that was about it.  Yet, I still liked it.  I am such a baseball fan, that I can look at the good times and be like, “They weren’t that bad, were they?”

Yes, they were Coop.  But you know what, keep feeding me the blue and orange Kool-Aid.  Cause I’ll keep drinking it.  Like an idiot.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Mets 2011, New York Mets, SNY

Defining MoMets

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

We often hear the term “True Yankee” for that team in the Bronx to define a guy who made his mark with the pinstriped brigade.  The Mets fan, in typical response, roll their eyes.  Thank goodness, we often say, we don’t have that type of legacy, we don’t have that “stuck-up” type of thinking surrounding our history.

The Mets are different.  What the Mets may lack in the department of defining Mets, we make up for in defining moments…or defining Mo-Mets.

Just follow me here.

When CitiField first opened in 2009, the lack of Mets-focused “anything” besides the team stores was astounding.  Some of the harsher critics found that the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, while good in theory, was ass-backwards in celebrating more of Brooklyn Dodger accomplishments rather than the New York Mets.  A team that left over 50 years prior, to the team that was with us here and now.  Combine that with the “Ebbets Club” (now the “Champions Club”) on the field level of CitiField, and it seemed like it was a shrine to Fred Wilpon’s fascination with a time gone past.

To answer the criticism, the Mets marketing and fan relations folks opened the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.  The museum focused on great moments in Mets history, along with the great players celebrated who once wore a Mets uniform.  Yet, the joke of it was, if the Mets ever won another championship, they’d have to redesign the whole stadium since everything was focused on the 1969 and 1986 teams.  And the quintessential Mr. Met himself, the “Franchise” player, Tom Seaver.  The so-called Ring of Honor that showcases Mets in the Mets HOF was highlighted again in 2010, when they celebrated four members of the 1986 team: GM Frank Cashen, manager Davey Johnson, players Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.  While the museum does a fantastic job of celebrating the past players and the championship teams, I started to think recently…what else do the Mets have?  It’s 50 years of Mets history in 2012, and it’s pretty sad that there’s only *one* player whose number is retired, and two managers…one of whom is well-deserved (Gil Hodges, inaugural Met and first Mets manager to lead the team to a championship), the other not-so-much (a crotchety old man who presided over some of the worst teams in Mets history).

This isn’t a rant about retired numbers though.  It’s more of a retrospective of what makes the Mets the Mets.  I would argue that to be a Mets fan, and to root for the Mets, has more to do with stories of the team and times/places of these stories, rather than loving a certain player.  Granted, there are people who gravitate towards the team for one certain player (my husband was always a huge Mookie Wilson fan, and I know a young lady who started to become a Mets fan because of Carlos Beltran).  For me, though, why am I a Mets fan and what makes the Mets more palatable than another team?

The Defining Moments, or rather the Defining Mo-METS, in the team’s history.

Take for example, 1973.  That season wasn’t about the Mets coming from behind in an unprecedented fashion to win the NL East or go to Game Seven of the 1973 World Series.  It was about Tug McGraw, in the middle of a team meeting with M. Donald Grant, shouting, “YA GOTTA BELIEVE!!!”  The tag line that would give every single Mets fan hope and the ability to believe, even in moments when they probably didn’t have a damn good reason to do so.

What about 1980?  This was the season that ownership had transferred over to the Doubleday consortium, and a rebranding of the team took place.  The team sucked, but the “Hendu Cando” walk-off home run gave all Mets fans reason to hope and believe that even after the darkest of years, the light could certainly be shining at the end of the tunnel.

Who here remembers Cubs Busters in 1984 or fights with Cardinals fans over who was exactly “Pond Scum?”

The biggest championship year was 1986.  The Mets were so good that everyone hated them.  At the same time, there was a ton of dramatics that made that team not just a champion, but a force to be reckoned.  What about the Cincinnati Reds game where Ray Knight and Eric Davis got into fisticuffs?  What about Game Six…not the World Series one, but the NLCS against the Houston Astros?

The 1988 team also fell short of expectations, but who here remembers the Tar-Ball game against the Dodgers?

In 1999, the Mets won the Wild Card and forced a Game Six situation in the NLCS that year.  They may not have won a NL Championship, and may have lost to the hated Braves.  What made that team so special?  The stories.  Todd Pratt’s “tank” of a walk-off in Game Four of the NLDS.  Robin Ventura’s grand-slam single, which as a visual is even as fantastic as any story behind it.  It had rained and rained that entire game, and as he rounded first base, after the “go-ahead” run technically scored, he waved off his teammates so he could circle the bases.  The team was so energized and fun and quirky, they didn’t care…they won the game already.

Forget about playing in the World Series in 2000.  The come-from-behind win against the Atlanta Braves on June 30, 2000, remains one of the best people stories that I have ever witnessed.  It was only a foregone conclusion that when Mike Piazza came up to bat in the bottom of the 8th, that he would hit the go-ahead three-run home run to solidify overcoming the seven-run deficit in the 8th inning.

I am a Mets fan.  I love the history of this team.  Yet, there’s something that the museum can’t give us that makes the celebration of Mets history fall just short.  It’s the people stories, it’s the moments that make us all fans, that can make us nod our heads emphatically, as if to say, “Hey buddy, I’ve been there too.”  Like when Metstradamus was at the Terry Pendleton game in 1987.  When Paul LoDuca tagged out two men at home plate during the NLDS in 2006, my dad told me, “I didn’t know how to score that one!”  My dad also made it a point to go to the 1977 game when the Cincinnati Reds visited after the Midnight Massacre (guess who started that game that day?).

During the 1999 playoffs, I was watching those games at my aunt and uncle’s house in Keansburg, NJ.  This house was the place of good memories when the Mets played in 1986, and my dad was over there watching most of the games.  I was over there with all of them, eating dinner most nights, doing Zorba-the-Greek dances after each win.  We watched Pratt’s walk off together, and Ventura’s too.

I guess my point is that the Mets are a lot more than just defining players or defining teams.  Even the teams that didn’t win much have a fantastic story to tell, or stories that may help define those team.  In fact, the night of the Hendu Cando walk off, there was a “Magic Moment” time in the stands.  Everyone there that night was astounded that the Mets, this team that was so horrible could come from behind and make it seem like it was Mardi Gras and the Fourth of July rolled into one.

What makes the Mets so unique and makes them ours are the defining moments that bring fans and teams together in one shot.  Forget championships, forget players.  The moments and stories behind them are what makes them the Mets.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Defining Moments, Mets 2012, Mets Hall of Fame and Museum, Mets History, Mets Stories

How the Wilpon Stole Metsmas

How the Wilpon Stole Metsmas

by Dr Z

Every Met fan
Down in City-ville
Liked Metsmas a lot…

But the Wilpon,
Who lived just North of City-ville,
Did NOT!

The Wilpon hated Metsmas! Every Metsmas season!
Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn’t screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his Brooklyn Dodgers jersey was too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his wallet was two sizes too small.

But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his jersey,
He stood there on Metsmas Eve, hating the fans,
Staring down from his SNY fancave, making expensive ticket plans.
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For he knew every fan down in City-ville beneath
Was busy now, hanging a Mets-branded wreath.

“And they’re hanging their Blue & Orange stockings!” he snarled with a sneer.
“Tomorrow is Metsmas! It’s practically here!”
Then he growled, with his stubby fingers nervously drumming,
“I MUST find a way to keep Metsmas from coming!”
For, tomorrow, he knew…

…All the fan girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They’d rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That’s one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

Then the Fans, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they’d feast! And they’d feast!
And they’d FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on Shake Shack, and rare Keith Mex Burgers
Which was something the Wilpon couldn’t stand any further!

And THEN
They’d do something he liked least of all!
Every fan down in City-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Metsmas bells ringing.
They’d stand hand-in-hand. And the fans would start Cheering!

They’d cheer! And they’d cheer!
AND they’d CHEER! CHEER! CHEER! CHEER!
And the more the Wilpon thought the more he raised price of beer
The more the Wilpon thought, “I must stop those sick queers!
“Why for over 12 years I’ve put up with it now!
I MUST stop Metsmas from coming!
…But HOW?”

Then he got an idea!
An awful idea!
THE WILPON
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

“I know just what to do!” The Wilpon Laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, “What a great Wilpon trick!
“With this coat and this hat, I’ll look just like Saint Nick!”

“All I need is a reindeer…”
The Wilpon looked around.
But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Wilpon…?
No! The Wilpon simply said,
“If I can’t find a reindeer, I’ll make one instead!”
So he called his son Jeff. Then he took some red thread
And he tied a big horn on top of his head.

THEN
He loaded some bags
And filled them with Madeoff money
On a ramshakle sleigh
And he hitched up old Jeffy.

Then the Wilpon said, “Giddyap!”
And the sleigh started down
Toward the homes where the Fans
Lay a-snooze in their town.

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the fans were all dreaming of championships without care
When he came to the first house in the square.
“This is stop number one,” The old Wilpon Claus hissed
And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.

Then he slid down the chimney. He weighed a ton.
But if Santa could do it, then so could the Wilpon.
He got stuck only once, for an hour or two.
Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue
Where the little Who stockings all hung in a row.
“These Mets stockings,” he grinned, “are the first things to go!”

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Reyes! And Beltran! Niese! Wright!
Ike Davis! The pitchers! Even Duda in Right!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Wilpon, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!

Then he slunk to the icebox. He earned the Fans’ ire!
He took the Shake Shacks! He took Keith’s Mex Burger!
He cleaned out that icebox quick; in a jiffy.
Why, that Wilpon even took the Fans R A Dickey!

Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
“And NOW!” grinned the Wilpon, “I will stuff up the tree!”

And the Wilpon grabbed the tree, and he started to shove
When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small Fan!
Little Cindy Beartran, who was not more than two.

The Wilpon had been caught by this little Who daughter
Who’d got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at the Wilpon and said, “Santy Claus, why,
“Why are you taking our Metsmas tree? WHY?”

But, you know, that old Wilpon was so smart and so slick
Although he couldn’t run a franchise worth a dick!
“Why, my sweet little tot,” the fake Santy Claus lied,
“There’s a light on this tree that won’t light on one side.
“So I’m taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
“I’ll fix it up there. Then I’ll bring it back here.”

And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head
And he attempted to sell her a $20 million share.
And when Cindy-Beartran Who went to bed with her cup,
HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!

Then the last thing he took
Was the log for their fire.
Then he went up the chimney himself, what a cheap old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks, and some Mets Fliers.

And the one speck of food
The he left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.

Then
He did the same thing
To the other Fans’ houses

Adding fuel
to the fire
For the other Fans’ causes!

It was quarter past dawn…
All the Fans, still a-bed
All the Fans, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their pitcher! The catchers! The gamers!
The hitters! And the defenders! The coaches! The players!

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mount Flushing,
He rode to the tiptop to dump it!
“Poo-poo for the Fans!” he was wilpon-ish-ly humming.
“They’re finding out now that no Metsmas is coming!
“They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!
“Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
“Then all the fans down in City-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!”

“That’s a noise,” grinned the Wilpon,
“That I simply must hear!”
So he paused. And the Wilpon put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow…

But the sound wasn’t sad!
Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn’t be so!
But it WAS merry! VERY!

He stared down at City-ville!
The Wilpon popped his eyes!
Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Lawyer down in City-ville, the tall and the small
Were litigating, They were after the payers after all!
He HADN’T stopped Metsmas from coming!
IT CAME!
But this time the lawyers said, it won’t be the same!

And the Wilpon, with his wilpon-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
They came not for hitters! They came not for pitchers!
“They didn’t even come for my butt scratchas!”
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Wilpon thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe money can’t,” he thought, “just come from a Clubhouse store.
“Maybe next Metsmas…perhaps.. I won’t have any more!”

And what happened then…?
Well…in City-ville they say
That the Wilpon’s small wallet
Shrank three sizes that day!

And the minute his wallet started feeling more tight,
He whizzed his bladder’s load throughout the bright morning light
And he borrowed money from Bud, and from banks he did resort
And he…

…HE HIMSELF…!
The Wilpon knew his time was short!

—

Merry Xmas to all
Happy Hannukah too
To all Mets fans, Christian, Atheist, Muslim, Jew.

Take light from this parody this holiday season
but know a more joyous one is soon to harken

The Wilton story is tragic, Saul Kats is too
while we make light, remember they’re human too

They made mistakes and are paying, with us along for the ride
the Mets may not be solvent, but they may take it in stride

In time past with his expectations
the results ended with us in deflation

Perhaps this year the opposite will be true
we expect so little from our orange and blue

perhaps a change is coming, then again perhaps not
what’s on the field matter most, so let’s see our lot

take joy one and all, and maybe you can conceive
that tomorrow is a mystery, YA GOTTA BELIEVE!

MERRY METSMAS!

from Robert Z & the entire KinersKorner.com gang

Filed under: Robert Z

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

Credit to Sharon Chapman

Being a season ticket holder with the Mets has its “perks.”  I can get club access no matter where I sit in the park.  I can get a discount on parking (if I only had a car and didn’t prefer taking mass transit there anyway).  I can get a personalized jersey.  I take CitiField tours for free.  Last year, I was able to take the field with a player, and Scott Hairston was chosen for me.  I took the field for batting practice before a game.  I know some people who TOOK batting practice with some of them.  I’ve had meals with players and Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins in the same room.  I could even win things like a luxury box game with Tom Seaver and his vintage wines, or a seat the Mets Welcome Home Dinner. I’m sure if I ask, I can get things like special access at spring training games.

 

Even by just going to games, I have things like access to Mr. Met at the Kiddie Field area!

Hubby, me and Mr. Met on our anniversary this year

And if I spend $20 million for a minority share, I don’t get much more than that.

I knew when this story with the NY Times hit the wires last night, mountains would made of molehills.  In a way too, the Mets kind of have a bullseye target on them for anything they do.  In a sense, with this whole minority purchase auction that is going on, from David Einhorn to backing out of that deal to getting Yankee-like “silent investors” (whom I pretty sure don’t have personalized business cards from Office Depot that say “Owner” on them), it’s hard not to scrutinize.  We can either say “they’re not getting the interest in the deal” that Jeff Wilpon is so certain there is demand for, or for all we know this is par for the course for these types of investors.

Call me crazy though, if I’m throwing $20 million into a black hole, I’m sure it’s not going to be so I can get a picture with Mr. Met or take batting practice with the team I am invested in.  No, if I’m an investor, I want a RETURN ON MY INVESTMENT, and not to bail out a bunch of idiotic rich dudes who got fleeced by a Ponzi scheme.

The reason WHY the Sterling consortium holds the Mets is simple: they want to be cool.  His whole life, Fred Wilpon has been cool by proxy.  His best friend growing was some dude named Sandy Koufax who played for the “neighborhood” team and became a Hall of Fame pitcher.  He was a real estate investor who was fortunate enough to have a successful enterprise with his business partner and brother-in-law.  He could have stopped there, but then he got involved as one of these minority investors in the new neighborhood baseball team, the Mets.  Wilpon had the worst syndrome of it all though: he started to believe his own hype.   He truly believes he IS the Mets.

But here’s the thing, okay: Fred Wilpon his entire life has tried to remain “cool,” so by being the majority owner of the team and keeping it in the family, he’s the coolest kid of them all.

I am not an investor nor do I have $20 million lying around.  What I do know is that if I did have access to this, I wouldn’t want to do this to be “cool.”  And I’d certainly want a few more “perks” than what a schmoe season ticket holder will get by spending $5000 a year.  Big difference in amount of zeroes there, right?

The date on the calendar may be December 21, but leave it to Mets news to provide us a little Christmas Eve-Eve-Eve-Eve festivities by having this story leak to the public.  Let’s be fair: the Mets will only allow news that they think makes them look favorable, only to see it blow up in their face.  Again, I have no idea who minority investors are for other teams, nor do I care.  I only want to know how it effects my team.  Seriously, are they going on a PR campaign to say “You TOO can have a Shake Shack Burger* with Mr. Met!”

*That you’ll be paying for

So when I first read the NY Times article, I thought it was satire.  Was Richard Sandomir really a journalist disguised as Jonathan Swift?

Is this who is writing about the Mets these days?

I just thought to myself, “Why on earth is this news?”  I guess I wasn’t the only one.  The Christmas-Eve-Eve-Eve-Eve festivities have come in the form of Twitter and instant gratification type of ideas called #metsminorityownerperks.  Some of the favorites have been by our own Hemingway of the Mets world, Greg Prince, who said “If you misspell ‘Horwitz’ as ‘Horowitz’ Jay promises to spell it your way #metsminorityownerperks,” or “You’re the answer to Acela trivia, you present the prize, you’re the recipient, you must use by 5th inning  #metsminorityownerperks.”  Of course, Greg regales us over at his site Faith and Fear in Flushing with his own satirical piece Mets Fan Club For Minority Owners.

Rusty Jr from Real Dirty Mets had “Mets trainer Ray Ramirez will personally diagnose your medically related symptoms #metsminorityownerperks.”   Steve Keane from Kranepool Society: “Lawn care tips from recently retired Mets head groundskeeper Pete Flynn #metsminorityownerperks.”  Our own Rob Z: “Attend Ritual Book Burning of Howard Megdal’s “Wilpon’s Follies” at Wilpon Estate. (Note: Just Deleting File) #metsminorityownerperks.” From Brad J @BlueandOrange: “Make unlimited dugout to dugout calls from the bullpen phone. #metsminorityownerperks.”

Some of the best reactions have been on Facebook, such as Rob Z who said it was like a “diamond club perk.”  Poster YaGottaBelieve says, “$20 Million Can Buy Quality Time With Mr. Met???? It’s like they’re offering a free balloon animal with every purchase. Good GRIEF just sell it ALL already.” Metscellaneous Dee? “The only thing they’re perking is bad cup of coffee.”  Lastly, Gal for all Seasons (aka, me) says “They can’t afford me,” to concerned fan Senor Solly when he suggests that Coop should be GM.

So yes, we’re four days away from Christmas, but leave it to the Mets to give us something to laugh about and make us even closer as a tight-knit community of fans.  We’ve all survived a lot of things together, and it’s this deep in the trenches humor that has allowed me to stay over the years, even when stupid stuff like this hits the wires.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Amazin Perks, Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon, July at Christmas, Mets 2012, Mets Perks, Saul Katz, Sterling Equities

Mark It “9″, Duda

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper
Terry Collins has let it be known that he intends to start Lucas Duda as his right fielder in 2012.  Well, it’s not like he has much of a choice these days!  Duda had some big shoes to fill when Carlos Beltran left in a trade at the deadline.

Most of all, fans took the Duda, though.  We liked his name, and the play on Big Lebowski field day we’d have every time his name was mentioned.  Twitter would blow up like a Lebowski Fest when he did something good.  “The Duda Abides,” among others.  Heck, even my title here is a nod to the cult-favorite movie.

What wasn’t to like about Lucas Duda, the 6’4″ blond California kid?  He just LOOKS like a “Duda,” right?  And my philosophy on Mets fans is that if we’re gonna lose, we may as well do it with the young guys.  Young guys who are home grown and we can get behind.  Unless they’ve overstayed their welcome and we eventually turn on them.  Like Bobby Jones or David Wright, underrated Mets in their own right.

But what happens when we overrate our own players?  Steve Keane from Kranepool Society has said this several times and even said it on our podcast a few weeks ago.  I can pretty much put up a dartboard and put any names of Mets whose bodies have littered the Roosevelt Avenue of Broken Dreams.  See: Milledge, Lastings or Jefferies, Gregg.  Duda, to me, is a low-risk/high-reward kind of guy, in that he’ll give you plate production and decent fielding.

When Richie S detailed our mid-winter board meetings (essentially, Monday Morning GM-ing), he found himself to be in the minority about The Duda.   From his board meeting minutes, he transcribes: “Is he a RF or trade bait? I was surprised at how many want to give Lucas a shot in RF. I want to give Lucas a shot to be what I think he is, a DH. I say use him in a package to get a RF who can lead off. I was out voted.”

As I said during our many diatribes about the Mets Saturday evening, I was prepared for losing Jose Reyes, since I had all season to prepare for it.  Now, that doesn’t mean I was happy about losing him, but it was what it was, and it was easier for me to move on.  Trading someone like Ike Davis or Jon Niese (though it seems like the Mets are asking for the moon for them, which is the RIGHT thing to do) would make me more upset AT THIS TIME because a) I wasn’t prepared for it and b) I like those two players specifically.  Also because I wasn’t prepared for it, plus liking them.  That would not make for a happy Coop.

Yet, as Richie says, use him in a package, I can get behind that.  I actually like Duda, and possibly my feelings about him being the starting right fielder for the Mets in 2012 doesn’t bother me that much.  I mean, someone Sandy Alderson should be trading (Daniel Murphy, whom I also love) is scheduled to be the starting second baseman.  I’ve detailed why I think defense is schmefense, but Murphy would be a quintessential DH.  Duda doesn’t strike me as such.  However, as Richie once said to me at a game, Duda as a right fielder “Scares the beejeezus out of me.”

I never forgot about that.  I never felt strongly about Duda either way which means either I think we can do better or there is no one else I’d rather have (translation: the devil you know, etc etc).  Yet, I can sympathize with Richie’s stance on being in the minority on something.  The non-vocal minority was out there about trading Angel Pagan prior to the 2011, and I was one of them.  People told me I crazy, I was nuts, I didn’t know what I was talking about.  Believe me, I realized that a young-ish dude who was under team control and cheap was a better option that most at the position he played.  But it was just that: he had a career year and under team control.  Trade his ass when his stock is high!!  I guess Sandy Alderson might have seen it that way too: under team control, and maximizing his value.  He took a risk, it didn’t work out.  But I had the last laugh when we got a warm body for him.

That’s how Richie is about Duda right now.  And I can’t say I blame him, and that it doesn’t give me pause that maybe he’s someone that we can sort of trade “up” for, kind of like Pagan this off-season.  True, the crown jewel of the Pagan deal with Ramon Ramirez, but a potential every day player (till Kirk Nieuwenhuis arrives) came in the form of Andres Torres.

For now, we’ll be marking Duda in at “9″ for every day, but I don’t think it would hurt Alderson to look into seeing what the market is for a young studly DH for an American League team who can be fleeced for young pitching.  As we all pretty much agreed on, trading Jon Niese would be a bad idea for a young lefty whose best years are presumably ahead of him (and cheap and young and under control and etc).  Duda-rino is a guy you shop around, at least for the sake of shoring up weaknesses on the team, which there is no shortage of on this team.

Hop to it, Sandy.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Big Lebowski, daniel murphy, Jon Niese, kranepool society, Lucas Duda, Mets 2012, random mets thoughts, RF, Sandy Alderson, Terry Collins

Join the Podcast Krew at 8 pm Tonight!

Join the Kiner’s Korner Kast of Kharacters at 8 pm EST tonight for some out of the box thinking, fun times and overall nutty Mets thoughts.  Join us in the chat room and who knows…we may accept some callers at some point, who knows?

Always expect the unexpected with the Kult of Mets Personalities…see you then!

Filed under: Kiner's Korner Podcast, Taryn "Coop" Cooper , kiners korner podcast, kult of mets personalities, Kult of Mets Personalities Podcast, Mets 2011 Offseason

Bridge to Nowhere

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

I feel the need to address the Mets recent situation and most specifically the financials of this team.  This team is as close to being a “public trust” as it could be, in that we as fans and consumers put money into it and take to forums such as this to air our grievances and think we can control the destiny of our team.  Yet at the same time, because they are owned by a private equity entity (The Sterling Equities group) and realistically, the team does not have to disclose it’s financials, a lot of information that’s based on what the public can see (like corporate bonds that are filed with the SEC) and some things are leaked out in the media, it’s a lot of connecting the dots that’s going on, and we’re left to figure out what’s going on by speculation based on the information we’re given.  There’s a little push and pull here.

There are a few variables to the equation I want to bring up before addressing the news that the Sterling ownership group has taken out yet another loan, this time a bridge facility from an actual financial institution Bank of America, when they haven’t paid their $25 million loan from MLB granted by Bud Selig on behalf of all the MLB team owners.  (That was long).  One is the payroll restrictions that clearly Sandy Alderson has imposed on the team for the time being (now in the neighborhood of $95-$100 million).  Two is this great schematic that Amazin Avenue has brought up yesterday, with two glaring eyesores in Johan Santana and Jason Bay in the current payroll.  Yowch.

A few things that jumped into my head as the loan news hit.  One is that I think it’s great that Selig thinks that the Mets will have no problem paying the $25 million loan they have taken out. Has he asked the other MLB owners about this? Are they concerned about it?  The other is that if Bank of America is granting a loan — granted, a bridge loan which typically isn’t the best type of loan to take out due to higher interest rates and quicker turn-around for payment times (the only place I have found a “due date” for this loan is March, according to Howard Megdal’s piece today).  Bridge loans can be good for cash-strapped organizations that need a “bridge” to cover the gaps in payroll or operating expenses or whatever.

It’s hard for me to say that it doesn’t “look good” for the Mets though because a financial institution (that is reluctant to dole out money in this day and age) extended them a loan.  They could be paying their bills for the most part, but right now it’s robbing Peter to pay Paul, the type of money they’re getting involved with.

"I'm the Barber of Seville...Figaro! Figaro!"

Jeff Wilpon may have told us a few months ago that their minority investor process was “none of our business” but it could be going along okay for all we know.  To be clear, I could personally give a rat’s ass who is a 1% owner in the Mets, let alone the 25-1% pieces they seem to want to sell (at least that’s how it’s being pitched for now).  But I do want to know if someone like a David Einhorn was coming in at 25% total.  That stuff interests me because it’s one guy.  The Wilpons knew, though, somehow Einhorn wanted to sweep in if they couldn’t pay their bills.  Until checks start bouncing and players aren’t getting paid, we have nothing to worry about…well, let me rephrase that.  The Sterling ownership group has nothing to worry about.  We know that for the time being, we’re stuck with these idiots running our team into the ground.

“I don’t have any concerns about the Mets, as I’ve told you before,” Selig said during a World Series news conference in October. “They are working on an alternative financing plan and they seem to be very encouraged, and I’m encouraged. I do have a lot of worries today, but frankly, the Mets are not one of them.”

An “Alternative Financing Plan” (the emphasis is mine, above).  Isn’t that what got the Mets into trouble in the first place? From Bobby Bonilla’s annuity pay-out after he left the team, from using fictitious profits from being involved with Bernie Madoff all those years to buy out Nelson Doubleday in 2002, to using MLB as their personal piggy bank, isn’t “alternative financing” or “financial voodoo” more aptly, what the Wilpons are all about? No, this should not surprise us because like many things in their lives, the Wilpon/Katz consortium has once again tried to help a little too much.  Help themselves, that is.

So let’s break this mofo down.  The numbers that the ownership group owes, on paper that we know of at least, consist of this new $40 million bridge loan, plus an overdue $25 million loan from MLB (which was also supposed to tie them over, clearly not enough).  Concurrently, their advisors at Allen & Company are running an auction for several stakes of the team for “minority investors” so they don’t have to worry about sharks coming in and feasting at the sight of blood in the water for the owners.  Then at the same time, as Megdal stated on the Happy Recap podcast two nights ago, the ownership group has a $430 million debt due against the team and $450 million due against SNY, total of $880 million due by 2015.  Did I mention they owe $600 million against the stadium?  Throw away the Madoff decision, which hasn’t even been figured in but actually may work out to Wilpon/Katz favor (since this Irving Picard dude lost his getting a billion out of them suit), but we have no idea what legal fees are being owed in conjunction with that.  Theoretically though, that could come out of the Sterling Equities coffer, not just the Mets, since that’s who the lawsuit is against.

Now, to play devil’s advocate here…the Wilpon/Katz consortium is incredibly visible because of their stature in a large market and as owners of a baseball team.  A few things have come to mind in this so-called witch hunt (for lack of a better term) of finding out how badly the Mets ownership group truly is.  As an example, I know that the Yankees operate in the red and they are seen as a “profitable” team.  Truly profitable teams are also seen as the smaller markets because the owners just pocket the revenue sharing and don’t realistically go to improve the team.  Sadly, every time the Mets team has tried to invest into doing better, it’s failed miserably.  This was also way before the Madoff news ever hit.

But I don’t think it’s an unrealistic question to see how many other teams operate like the Mets do, taking out loans but don’t live in a fishbowl where fans are disgruntled and want to know the why of things?  I know that $880 million on top of $600 million on top of $65 million that we KNOW of doesn’t look good.  But comparatively to say, the Los Angeles Dodgers who are now under bankruptcy, how was their debt strategy?  Is it comparable?  Or are the Mets ownership team a lot more worse-off?  I can say this: many teams may take out muni bonds to finance a stadium build…but the Mets financed it by that and by thinking their fictitious profits would continue to sustain them.

Quite frankly, I think that Selig being an enabler for this bad behavior is disgusting.  It was evident he had an axe to grind with Frank McCourt and disallowing him from trying to better the franchise with a potential saving deal with FOX.  The New York National League franchise is too big to fail, in his eyes, and doesn’t want panic in the streets.  Clearly, this man does not read Twitter.

Right now, the Mets are in limbo as long as this ownership is allowed to keep on keepin’ on.  Say what you want, but they owe a lot of money, but are not entirely cashed-in as they are being kept afloat by the powers that be.  After all, they are still paying their bills for what it’s worth and no paychecks are bouncing (yet, anyway).  We might see more unfold in March, but for the time being they are being kept afloat.

ALL IS WELL!!!!!!!

Yet at the same time, they are not able to sink more money into making this a winning team.  This is large market team, with lots of potential streams of revenue that were supposed to be depended on, yet are not to be relied on. Alderson may have thought he had more wiggle room for the payroll but is obviously the front-and-center guy taking questions from the media about the team’s operating expenses.  He’s not about to throw ownership and his bosses under the bus but the reality is, he’s being kept from making moves that he needs to make.  Such as: getting a backup catcher.  A backup catcher would break the proverbial bank he has in mind for the team’s shoestring budget.  A flippin’ backup catcher!

So what does this all mean?  At the root of it all, we’ve got an ownership group that’s not completely broke but not wealthy either.  They claim to “love” the team, but if they loved it so much they’d find a way to make it successful again.  Putting Sandy Alderson and his FEMA Dream Team analysts on the job is one way (but they were forced by the hand of Selig to do at least that).  Yet, things that could be construed as being a potential future star, such as Jon Niese, may need to be put on auction block to get more prospects.  Or Ike Davis’ name was floated around.  We can argue till we’re blue in the face about who is untouchable, but the reality is, if Ike Davis is traded, they better be in serious talks with Prince Fielder to play first base at CitiField!!  My point is, Jon Niese and Ike Davis are the types of players you build around.  We can argue about the long-term effects of Jose Reyes playing for the Mets and the benefits of a long-term contract for him.  Yet there is never anything wrong about building around young cheap players who are under team control for awhile.

I’m tired of trying to look at this from every angle because quite honestly, it’s exhausting and all it’s done is create infighting amongst the Twitterati.  I know the team is not broke.  But things are not looking up right now, from a fan’s stand point.  Not right this very minute.  Doesn’t mean we can’t be excited about the long-term future of the team because there is an adult in charge of the team operations at least.  Yet, I won’t shed any tears if the current ownership group is forced out by whatever measures.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Bernie Madoff, bud selig, Fred Wilpon, Howard Megdal, Ike Davis, Irving Picard, Jeff Wilpon, Jon Niese, Mets 2012, New York Mets, Sandy Alderson, Saul Katz, Sterling Equities

Mega Podcast 8PM

We will discuss the state of the New York Mets beginning at 8PM on the Kult of Mets Personalities Podcast  http://bit.ly/uNtcRa

Tonight we are joined by Mike Silva and Steve Keane, and of course, the entire Kult.  Tune in at 8!

Filed under: Kiner's Korner Podcast, Matthew Fazelpoor

The Show You Won’t Want To Miss

After a brief hiatus, The Kult of Mets Personalities is BACK for a jam-packed 1 1/2 hour show tonight (Tues Dec 6) at 8 pm EST!!!

Surprisingly we’re at a loss for topics…KIDDING.  We have tons of fodder, plus we’re being joined by Steve Keane from Kranepool Society and Mike Silva from NY Baseball Digest.  If you know Steve the way WE know Steve…you know then that anytime he rants against the ownership, it’s a version of Mets pornography!

Seriously, join us at 8 pm in the chat room and if we have time, we may be able to accept a few phone calls.  MAYBE.

If there was a show ever to not miss, this would be it.  Talk to you then!

Filed under: Kiner's Korner Podcast, Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Fred Wilpon, Hot Stove 2012, Jose Reyes, kiners korner podcast, Kult of Mets Personalities Podcast, Mets 2012, podcast, Sandy Alderson

How Soon Is Now?

By Taryn “the Coop” Cooper

“You shut your mouth

how can you say

I go about things the wrong way?”

~ Morrissey/The Smiths,

“How Soon Is Now?”

I was a guest on Paul Francis Sullivan’s show on Seamheads radio show, What’s on Second/Sully Baseball, last night, discussing the state of affairs with the Mets and baseball, there was even some Red Sox and 1986 Mets porn thrown in there as well.  (I appear about 60 minutes into the clip)

Sully is a Red Sox fan, but is a keen observer of baseball in general.  He even appeared in the Red Sox documentary on HBO a few years ago called “Reverse the Curse of the Bambino” (and it’s funny because I mostly quoted him and Denis Leary afterwards on the history of the Red Sox, and this was before he and I were ever friends), but he also writes for Baseball Digest on the Dodgers since he now lives in California.

In any case, we talked ad nauseum about the state of affairs with the Mets.  I’ve come to the conclusion that 2006 was the aberration, the blip on the radar, for the New York Mets franchise, and was almost an accident that caused the state of affairs to be all mussed up today.  Well, that and the state of finances for the Wilpon/Katz consortium and refusing the acknowledge that they need to sell the team.  It’s one thing if they are not bankrupted; it’s totally another if they are not cash-flow friendly enough to make this team better.  If their resources are dwindling that much, they need to sell the team if they cannot improve upon it.  Our friend from Real Dirty Mets, Rusty Jr, makes a plea for them to sell the team today that is on the money.  Read it.

Anyway, as Sully and I discussed, he made a keen observation about Mets fans.  He said that after 2009, the Mets should have been blown up.  I said it at the time, but people thought I was crazy.  Yet, having the mentality of “we’re one or two players away from it all clicking” is a bad one to have, in my opinion.  As Sully said, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in his prime aren’t coming back to that.  But I distinctly remember just saying back up the flatbed to the outfield of CitiField and get everyone on, with Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez leading the way.  Doesn’t seem too crazy now, right?

Here’s the thing: it’s one thing to lose with overpaid and broken down veterans.  It’s another to exploit the farm system and lose with the young guys.  I don’t think this is a Mets-fan specific attitude, but it’s certainly one that I can identify with, is that we’d rather lose with the young guys around.  Look at the year 2003, when Jose Reyes was brought up to placate the fan base during the dark days.  Remember when Jeromy Burnitz and Roberto Alomar were supposed to be the saviors of the team, only to be sold in a fire sale to promote the young talent?  It didn’t matter that team was gawd-awful.  We had something to look forward to: Jose Reyes and little buddy David Wright.

So what was the reluctance to losing with the young guys rather than letting go of the dead weight?  I’m not saying we needed to trade Reyes or anything like that…but would it have been so bad to lose with Justin Turner, Josh Thole or Lucas Duda, as opposed to Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay or Luis Castillo?  Losing is losing, but I feel like we might have been more receptive to it if we could see the talent in front of us and seeing them click together.

A song that helped define a generation of teen angst was The Smiths “How Soon Is Now?”  They never ask that question in the song, but rather try to give an answer.  After all, we’re just souls floating around looking for answers to whatever our belief system is.  Yet, the question could apply to the Mets now.  I feel kind of bad for Sandy Alderson because his bosses keep pulling the rug out from underneath him when he thinks he might have X amount of money to spend, it’s really X-Y.   From his body language and even tone of voice on Sunday night, it was evident to me that he knew letting Reyes walk was a bad idea, but what could he do?  On one hand, I agree that six years is too much right now.  On the other, if he had signed a 10-year deal back in 2006, he’d still be under control for about the same amount of time.  So this is a problem of poor planning.  Now, because of circumstances out of his control, Alderson is once relegated to dumpster diving while the Wilpons eat filet mignon in their luxury box.

At the root of it now, we hear about all this talent clogging up the lower rungs of the minors, but AA and AAA are scarce.  Of course one day the bottom rungs will be moving up the ladder and they’ll be Mets some day.  I mean, that’s the way it’s going right now.  For the immediate though, the “now” means we’ll be choosing to lose with the young guys as opposed to veterans.  I guess that might be a good thing.  Once upon a time, the Mets lost with guys like Mookie Wilson and Hubie Brooks who became fan favorites, while the team grew into a late-80s powerhouse.  We lost with the young guys then, but looked forward to guys like Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden coming up one day.  Now, we have to wait for Reese Havens, Matt Den Dekker, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Zach Wheeler and Matt Harvey to someday make their mark, and hopefully not be lovable losers.  But how soon?  Who knows.  They’ll be ready when they’re ready, and it will be time for us to look forward to something.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , David Wright, Fred Wilpon, Jose Reyes, Mets 2012, Sandy Alderson

Aim High

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

In a year where the Mets finished in fourth place, having the Nationals of all teams ahead of them in NL East standings, their dynamic shortstop Jose Reyes (who won a batting title in his last year with the team) has gone on to greener pastures…no literally, green as in money, years and the lush green of Miami, Florida…and took his talents to South Beach last night.

Can anyone blame Reyes for taking the YEARS and run? Yes, I said “years.”  Because I don’t think this about money.  We all knew the Mets wouldn’t go over five years, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.  If you want a well-rounded view of the “blame game” in Flushing, check out Adam Rubin’s piece on ESPN from today.

Jose Reyes was my favorite player in a long time for the Mets.  I try not to get too attached to players because I understand the dynamics of baseball as a business, and that there are rarely any franchise players (especially the Mets).  But it was hard to NOT like Reyes.  And because the other teams hated him, I loved it even more.

At the end of it all, if the Mets can finish in fourth place with Reyes around, they can certainly finish in fourth place without him.  If you think about it, if the Mets continue on this downward spiral, wouldn’t the cries be heard around the world about how Reyes’ contract is hindering their abilities to sign or improve elsewhere?  Oh and that the Nationals and Marlins are finishing ahead of them in the standings.

No one is more disappointed with how the Mets have been playing since basically 2007 than I am.  If you think about how great 2006 was from a fans perspective, be sure to read our blolleague Ed Leyro’s piece at Studious Metsimus on where the 2006 team is now.  It will put into perspective just how flawed this team really is and has been.

Sadly, one man does not a team make.  That doesn’t make this particular situation any less sad.  Is it Midnight Massacre worthy? No.  We’ve been at least prepared for this one for awhile.  As I told our friend Wooo on Twitter last night, Tom Seaver = Franchise, Jose Reyes = Very very very very very very good player.

We’ve overcome a lot as fans…we’ll get over this one.  Yet, the reality is, this team is going to be poorly operated for a very long time.  I was watching highlight reels of Jose Reyes sliding into second, and it just brought back so much of the joy I was able to feel while watching this team since he was a tadpole.

This will take awhile, but it’ll happen.  Eventually. I suppose.

Till then, we’ll be prepared to aim high.  ‘Cause it can’t get much lower than this right now.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Jose Reyes, Mets 2012, Sandy Alderson

How Much Of This Is on Reyes?

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

Sandy Alderson has been the Mets general manager for one year now.  His first year with the team was a lot of a wait-and-see approach, sprinkled in with waiting out some bad contracts to either expire (Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo) or dump (Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez).  Time will tell what happens with Zach Wheeler, the return on investment for trading Carlos Beltran to the San Francisco Giants, or his staff’s first draft year.

Mostly, 20/20 hindsight is a hell of a thing.  Alderson was unfortunately in a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t situation coming in, especially at the beginning.  While it was evident that Mike Pelfrey might have been better off traded out of the NL East after his overperformance in 2010, or Angel Pagan kept around to continuously brainwash the masses into thinking he’s any sorts of good, Alderson could have traded these guys at the peak of their market and heard the wrath of fans…or risk keeping them around and deplete any kind of value they could get in return.  The latter, of course, is what happened.

What I like to say about this is that we want the best of both worlds: keep around our favorite prospects while getting the best free agents on the market.  Yet, while they can coexist but sometimes you have to sacrifice one for the other.  This isn’t just Mets fan specific, but every fan I suppose. One can argue till they’re blue in the face about the Mets though, about being a big market team which means they should spend at all costs, which to me is a bunch of crap because they’ve DONE that.  Because of reckless spending without a plan, we have the crap cake we’ve been chomping at for the past three seasons, possibly more if you can include how disappointing 2007 and 2008 were.

Now, Alderson had a huge task to basically “re-do” the New York Mets, but throw in the mix at the beginning the potential loss of fan favorite Jose Reyes to free agency after the 2011 season finishes and it’s an even more unenviable task.  There will be some in the camp who believe that Alderson should have negotiated with Reyes prior to spring training or the Reyes-imposed deadline of before Opening Day.  I will admit to being one of them.  For a front office that is supposed to be comprised of the smartest guys in the room, and be so conscious of costs, the best time to negotiate an extension with Reyes would have been prior to April.  He’d been injury-marred for a few seasons, having missed most of 2009 as well.  The flip side to that is with the Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth’s contracts that were given out like Skittles, Reyes had absolutely no incentive to even talk an extension for 3-4 years because all he had to do was play well in 2011.

But see, therein lies my issue with this whole shenanigans.  Douchecanoe Deluxe Dino Costa “reported” (e.g. “stirred up shit” because he wanted to) a few weeks ago that Reyes was all but signing with the Marlins.  Funny, I haven’t seen a press conference yet.  For Reyes’ agents who only vocalize anything about their client is when they say he wants to “shop around,” something struck me funny that he would sign immediately with the first team that offered him a contract, ANY contract.  But also to give the Mets the right of first refusal.

And isn’t it funny that with Alderson’s crew, there’s something else going on: leaks are very contained now, and if anything is leaked, it’s very controlled. You know why?  Because competent people are actually running things now.

Which leads me to this.  Last night, a bit of a kerfuffle occurred because during the day, Adam Rubin of ESPN had reported that Alderson said that he only knows what’s going on with Reyes “in the headlines.”  Which led to an uproar on Twitter and other portals of social media, about how Alderson isn’t trying to sign Reyes and he sucks and he’s awful and he’s playing “Moneyball” now.

You know what we don’t hear, though?  Is how much of this negotiation or lack thereof is on Jose Reyes and his agents.

Think about it.  All we knew at the beginning of the season is that Reyes would have liked to negotiate prior to the start of the season.  Another dude did that too: Albert Pujols in St. Louis.  His team went on to win the World Series…a feat that no one predicted at the beginning of the season.  Pujols has every incentive to stay with his team now.  The only thing that would keep him from doing so would be money or perceived disrespect. Does anyone think that Pujols is going to sign anywhere else?  Probably not. (And Pujols was also offered a contract by the Marlins)

This leads me here.  Jose Reyes IS the Mets.  He has been for several years.  Yet, the Mets are in a precarious position.  They had one of the highest payrolls in baseball with nothing to show for it.  The farm system is in neglect and bottom-heavy for now, while there are still bad contracts that may handicap the team (namely Jason Bay and Johan Santana) short-term.  Sadly, Reyes has become a luxury and not a necessity.  Don’t get me wrong: I love Jose Reyes.  I will miss him if he goes.  The team hasn’t won anything with him, that also means they can lose without him too.

Yet, no one has brought up the other side of the equation: sure, Alderson may say all he knows is what he reads…but where is Reyes and his people in this mix?  If they desperately wanted to either a) stay in New York, they’d be planting more stories or b) his agents could also conversely put negative stories there to make it seem like it wasn’t their fault.  Either way, no one talks about what Reyes might be thinking.  He may say he wants to stay in New York, but if someone blows him out of the water, he’s not going to say no to that too.  And we all know there is a cap to even Jose Reyes, despite what the lunatic fringe may try to convince you of.

When Alderson traded Beltran, there were those of us upset because Beltran was no longer a Met (I was one of them), those who were ambivalent or those who felt that the Mets front office gave up too early on the season, that they still had a “chance” to somehow win.  Yet no one ever brought up that Beltran, in his tenure with the Mets, was demonized by fans, media and even his own team alike for certain perceived behaviors.  It wouldn’t be the first time this team’s front office or local media tried to run a superstar out of town.  Yet, no one brought up that perhaps behind the scenes, Beltran and Alderson may have had a chit-chat, and Beltran may have green-lighted any deal do that he could wash away the negativity that has plagued him since signing with the team in 2005.  The Mets were in no position to do so, especially since they owed him a lot of money and whoever picked him up would not be able to offer arbitration and get their draft picks.  But they did and Beltran went gently in this good night.

What’s to say that Reyes might not be interested in talking to the Mets because in his mind, he’s moved on, or that his agents want him to negotiate with the Mets after they’ve shopped him around?  The fact is no one knows and I think that’s a good thing.  I’ve had nothing to really write about this offseason because all the stories have been bland.  And I swore I wouldn’t write anything else on Reyes until SOMETHING happened.  But really, I had to address the insanity, because it’s only going to get crazier until something happens.  But I’ll make my judgments after the press conference.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Hot Stove 2012, Jose Reyes, Mets 2012, Sandy Alderson

Nepotism & The NY Mets

On December 1st, 2011 the NY Mets announced a slew of changes to the professional, amateur and international scouting departments. Among those announcement was the hiring of the poorly named Byrn Anderson, a 5 year veteran of the Oakland A’s, as a scout.

Byrn is the son of Mets GM Sandy Alderson. When the Mets twitterverse got word of it, this happened:

To be clear all that I know about Byrn is that he has 5 years experience. I do not know if it is good or bad. However, in a city where James Dolan, Hank Steinbrenner, and Jeff Wilpon are so prominent, many already were imagining the worse.

The visceral reaction strikes me though as very hypocritical. Many Mets fans want Wally Backman as manager. Why? Because he was on the 1986 championship team? Yes, the Diamondbacks hired him before word got out about his transgressions, but it is telling how much people are staying away from him with exception of the NY Mets and a brief flirtation with his ex-manager in Davey Johnson.

This is not the only case. Many fans would jump for joy if Ron Darling was named pitching coach despite having no recent experience in coaching. People would be ecstatic if Mike Piazza was added as a hitting coach. Mets fans were devastated when Mookie Wilson was relieved of his 1b/OF coaching duties, despite the poor baserunning and outfield play of the 2011 NY Mets.

The NY Mets players are like an extended family. If you are jumping for a former player to join the team you are encouraging the Mets to participate in the very same nepotism you are accusing Sandy Alderson of displaying with the hiring of his son.

Posted by Robert Z

Filed under: Robert Z

Mission: Accomplished

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

See this? That picture was taken in July, in celebration of our friend and brother in the Mets community, Dana Brand. Dana passed away earlier this year. He was a real hero and champion to the Mets community, especially the Meterati, who fancied themselves as sort of writers with feeling and emotion, and tying in our love for the Mets with our daily zest for life.

Mets fans are a quirky bunch, and hey, it takes one to know one. Or several. Back in 2007, I was invited to a reading by Dana Brand for his then newly-released Mets Fan book. The Mets literati was a club I desperately wanted to pledge. When I walked in that day, Dana looked at me, recognized me right away, and motioned for me to join in on the fun. I’ll never forget that. If you want a real-life example, if you ever saw the movie Independence Day, when Judd Hirsch’s character is forming the prayer circle, and tells everyone to join hands, THAT was Dana Brand.

If you noticed in the first photo I posted, I was speaking in front of a sign that said, “Bring Back Banner Day.” Perhaps it was done a little tongue in cheek, perhaps it was a little wistful. Yet, the idea of banner day is very Metsian in its roots, and perhaps defines the very essence of being a Mets fan.

I attended my first Banner Day in 1986, which used to be in between a scheduled doubleheader (try getting that done anymore). At the time, I didn’t understand the history and roots behind it, but it does remain one of my fondest memories. After all, how could I forget the one sign that has been a Cooper family punchline ever since: “Shea’s Bathrooms Are Worse Than Chernobyl.”

Things are different now. Mets fans can be snarky and wise-asses, but we’re a little more educated now and attuned to the inner-workings of the team. I didn’t think Banner Day would fly again. Sure, I am a fan who certainly wanted it to return. For a stadium that has a strict banner and sign policy (and CitiField is hardly the ONLY place that does this), I didn’t think Banner Day would ever be again.

Till the 50th anniversary festivities were announced and Banner Day IS returning for 2012!!!

Can I get a WOOOOO?? WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Of course, no good deed can go without wondering what it’s ulterior motives are, perhaps Bitter Bill asked with are Mets pulling the sheets over our eyes? What, covering a crap cake, as I like to call things nowadays? This, I feel, is a step towards making us fans happy. We wanted something like this for years. Wanna hear my theory on questions like that? Mets fans are afraid to allow themselves to be happy about anything. I’m not afraid. I’m really thinking about what kind of Banner Day I want to make. The 50th anniversary is bringing the fun back.

Fun is something that has been missing for quite some time, especially since CitiField opened up. When the Mets were the Loveable Losers in the ’60s, Banner Day was something for everyone to enjoy and to forget how bad the team was, it was for the fans and BY the fans. If you think about it, blogs and podcasts and videos are done as a way of expressing our love and even our frustrations with the team, and how they impact our lives. I guess that it’s like with any relationship, you give, you take, you love, you hate.

I said when I heard of Dana Brand’s passing this year, that I was sure he would be one of the first people some of us would think of when the Mets won a championship. His name was the first person who popped into my head for this announcement about Banner Day, that he would have loved to see it. Along with many of us who fought the good fight to get Banner Day back where it belonged: in CitiField, with the Mets, once again.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Banner Day, Mets 2012, Mets 50th Anniversary, New York Mets

Podcast 8PM

Tune in to the Kult of Mets Personalities Podcast tonight from 8PM to 9PM at http://bit.ly/v1oZ4S

Filed under: Kiner's Korner Podcast

Blue Walls For Christmas

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

It’s official: the dimensions are changing.

I’ve made my position very clear that I don’t like the dimensions changing, especially in the name of making the Mets a more “offensive-friendly” team, or even handicapping the pitching (which the reality is, it doesn’t need any more challenges to being a moderate success…unless they get better pitching…which is another story in and of itself).

As far as the aesthetics of it, I happened to think they did a good job, especially making more seats, which will ultimately drive down the price, or so we hope. The prices have already come down significantly since the stadium opened in 2009, perhaps we’ll see some people who want to spring for those seats in the Mo Zone or between the outfield reserve or wherever. Fact is, for this to be a win-win for everyone, the team just needs to play better. The number of seats increasing or the team hitting more home runs will almost be inversely proportional.

Wow. I think I’ve waited since junior high to say something like that. I haven’t used that term since Algebra I class, to be sure.

Something that caught my eye is not only the dimensional changes, but the color changes. See, when CitiField first opened, one of the major complaints was that it was not cognizant of Mets history. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda was a shrine to a guy who never played for the Mets, and if you dropped a blindfolded Mets fan in the middle of CitiField, and they had no idea where they were, they’d never guess. It wasn’t just cookie cutter: it had no mention of the quirky history of the Mets. Certainly, nothing blue and orange, or anything notable besides the team on the field.

The “Great Wall of Flushing” had an orange line, but other than that, the ballpark was a generic black. I wonder if the Wilpons got a sale from Home Depot for buying it in bulk. Yet, some people thought that there was not enough blue representation. I was neutral. I could honestly care less about the wall color in the back.

But now it’s blue? And orange? According to the new schematic, it is.

I’m sure it won’t bother, but of all the things they’re concentrating on, repainting the walls in the back just smacks more of disguising a cake that’s actually full of dog doo. It’s pretty on the outside, but it covers up something hideous.

Remember in 2009? My friend CharlieH said as he sat up in the Promenade Left Field, that the left fielder was simply a “rumor” from where he sat. To address the sight line issues, the Mets added some shiny new TVs, probably to distract us from the ugly product that was taking the field each night.

I went to Camden Yards over the weekend to do a tour, and I got to hear a lot about the history of how it was built, and the idea that was put behind it. The architect studied the old school ballparks and used inspiration from Ebbets Field, Polo Grounds, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, among others. The idea was to put the generic in it and make it an overall enjoyable experience for the fans, to make it an interactive experience.

Is painting the walls really necessary?

Look, I said I was Switzerland on it. I would have been fine if they stayed black, or fine with painting. I really don’t care. It just makes me wonder how much of it is to silence the vocal minority, or maybe from doing customer satisfaction surveys, Hell maybe they are reading Metsblog for ideas. I know it’s flogging a dead horse, but out of all the things they could be concentrating on to make the team actually WIN ballgames, the emphasis on the cover-up seems to be the rigeur du jour.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , citifield, CitiField Dimensions, Great Wall of Flushing, Mets 2012, New York Mets

KOMP Podcast

Kult of Mets Personalities podcast at 8PM tonight http://bit.ly/s2WFb7

Filed under: Matthew Fazelpoor

#BlameBuckner /sarcasm

Today is the 25th anniversary of a gigantic moment in Mets history, and that’s the celebration of Game Six.

Whether you were alive, a child, a baby, an adult, not even born yet, chances are an elder has sat you down and either played the last inning of the game or has told them the story verbatim. I like to say that Mets fans are into the history of the team like no other fan base…we celebrate it and love to analyze it more than any other I am aware of (Yankees don’t count since mostly it’s about them winning…we appreciate the losing years a little TOO much at times I feel). I call Mets history “Mets porn.” This game is just probably the biggest money shot of them all, with all the ghosts of miracles past coming into play and as one of my dad’s friend put it that night, “God put his hand over Shea Stadium tonight.”

I was at home, watching the game with my mom. She fell asleep around the time Dave Henderson hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the 10th inning. I was 10 years old. My dad, as I alluded above, was at the game. I know it sounds cliche to say this 25 years after the fact, but at 10 years old, sitting on my mom’s bed watching the game, I wasn’t aware that the Mets *could* lose, that they were allowed to. I often say that in Dwight Gooden’s rookie year, he lost eight games, and I swear I was at four of them. I knew the Mets could lose or had the capacity to, but I also didn’t think they would lose THIS game.

This isn’t going to be a retrospective of “What did I do during Game 6,” though Mark Simon from ESPN Mets Blog does that for me today. It’s how history has rewritten Game Six as a Red Sox loss rather than a Mets win. Sure, today we have a bunch of warm fuzzies discussing the event in most Mets forums today (after all, it’s much better to look at the past today than the present or at least the very near future), but for the most part if you look at how Game Six is in the lexicon of baseball fans, it’s how the Red Sox, Cursed Team of the North, were one strike away on several different occasions from tying up the win AND the series, but did not. It’s never been about how the Mets were going on sheet guts and guile to win the game in a dramatic come-from-behind victory.

I’ve also felt bad for Bill Buckner for several years. Just like how history rewrote the game as a Red Sox loss and not a Mets win, Buckner has gotten his share of the blame for the last play of the game. Even the documentary Catching Hell discussed how the Red Sox media and fans treated Buckner afterwards. Certainly, I can understand the power of the scapegoat…I am a Mets fan who has had to deal with the nuclear fallout of Carlos Beltran taking strike three in 2006.

Yet, being an amateur Mets historian as I like to think of myself, it amazes me just how many people think that the Mets actually WON the World Series in that game. If it was…why was the loss and subsequent comeback so dramatic? They still have Game 7 to play. The Red Sox STILL blew a 3-run lead that game.

Buckner misplayed the “little roller along first,” but in order for the Mets to win, they had to have tied it at that point, right? Furthermore, the dynamic changer of that inning was not the bunch of singles that got the Mets’ juices flowing, but it was Bob Stanley’s wild pitch. I’ve often said that no one was happier about Buckner letting the ball go through his legs than Stanley, who had allowed a run to score from third on the play.

Yes, even the good times in Mets lore have been marred by backhanded compliments, and ways to discredit their victory. The biggest discredit of them all is blaming Buckner. I’d like to hope that people don’t blame him or look at the bigger picture. I know that five years after the fact, people still blame Beltran for all the Mets woes to this day (I, personally, blame Duaner Sanchez for getting hungry on July 30, 2006, in Miami). Did you know, as a “for instance,” that then-Red Sox manager John McNamara usually replaced Buckner defensively in later innings but opted to keep him in the game so he could “celebrate?” Where’s the ire towards him for putting the proverbial cart before the horse?

Today is a significant day in Mets culture. There is no question about it. However, I hope it doesn’t take another 25 years before people see the bigger picture of what really happened here…and that the Mets earned this victory by sheer determination, hard work and grit: something really lacking in today’s game.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Bill Buckner, Boston Red Sox, ESPN, Game 6, Mark Simon, mets 1986, Mookie Wilson, New York Mets

Which Way Do We Go, George?

By Taryn “The Coop” Cooper

People who know me as a Mets fan know that I live, breathe and eat (sleep too, since they can show up in my dreams) all things Mets. So when they ask me “what would YOU do this off-season in regards to…fill-in-the-blank?” (Mostly concerning Jose Reyes, but also how to improve the team)…I really have no clue how to respond.

The past season wasn’t just one thing that stood out to me. The Mets ranked number six in the National League in runs scored, so scoring runs wasn’t a problem…yet, they didn’t have a 100+ RBI guy at all (and the guy who led the entire team in 2011 was no longer on the team as of the end of July). Plus, even with the scoring run potential, that didn’t mean much since it wasn’t enough to win. This suggests to me that what needs the most revamping is the pitching, from top to bottom. There just needs to be a douching of the entire staff.

First things first, I want to address the “Jose Reyes Factor.” I love Jose Reyes, I’d like nothing more than for him to be a Met for life. If you had asked me at the beginning of last season what I thought should be job one, I would not have blinked when I said, “We need to keep Jose Reyes.” Being a big market team is one thing: being a shithead with your payroll and tying it to one player is another. Not to mention, other ownership outliers, which Mike Silva from NY Baseball Digest addresses.

This post isn’t about Jose Reyes though. It goes into where the crux of the Mets problems has been for the past five years essentially. Pitching hasn’t been horrible, but hasn’t been fantastic or show-stopping either. I love R.A. Dickey, but when he’s your ace, this is a problem. Please, spare me the whole “Well, when Johan Santana comes back…” That is Omar Minaya-esque rationalization, and we have no idea what he’ll be like when he returns from several injury-ridden seasons, and one season where he was out for its entirety.

It’s time to see where Sandy Alderson views as pros, cons, strengths and weaknesses of this team. I had a conversation with Metstradamus a few days ago about how he could have bettered the team going into 2011, like trading Angel Pagan and/or Mike Pelfrey when they were at their highest value. Now they have about as much value as dog poop under a shoe. The point is, in 2011, Alderson was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t…do anything, that is. If he traded Pelfrey, we would have screamed as he had a better in St. Louis or someplace like that. People would have “never rooted for the team again” if Angel Pagan their darling who clearly peaked in 2010, was gone. Of course, I am exaggerating but this was something that clearly could have been something positive for the Mets if Alderson had gone the proactive root.

Don’t misunderstand me: I am happy Alderson is on our side. Yet, with Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran officially off the books, this is now HIS team to run with and improve. If Silva is correct and the money thing is more of a deterrent than we know (I happen to believe Wilpons are holding onto the team for selfish reasons, but don’t believe it will preclude from them spending money this offseason if need be…Selig, warts and all, would never let a large market team go under on his watch), we may not have Reyes, but there are other places I think that need improvement that probably don’t need millions of dollars to revamp or just for the sake of spending.

My philosophy now is with the official release of the dimensions changing, this is the time to address a big gaping hole in the Mets organization in the last few years and that’s pitching. Getting good starters is one thing, but if you look at the playoff teams this year, they ALL have deep and very strong bullpens. Where have the Mets lost a lot of games these past few years? In back innings. There were two games against the Milwaukee Brewers in the summer where they have late inning leads, just to see them blown by an inconsistent jumpy bullpen. Since we’re on the topic too, why the Hell wasn’t Dan Warthen let go in the coaching shake up this year?? That’s mind blowing. You see the Cardinals, you see Rangers, they have Dave Duncan and Mike Maddux, respectively, as their pitching coaches. We have Warthen. We suck in the pitching department. Bring back Peterson or get better pitchers, goddammit.

So which way do we go? Barring any catastrophe with Reyes, I will not jump ship, but if pitching is not seriously addressed to go with the new dimensions of the stadium and for a stronger ‘pen, I will go ape.

Filed under: Taryn "Coop" Cooper , Jose Reyes, Mets 2012, Pitching, Sandy Alderson