The “Mets Way”

Last week during our Kiner’s Korner Kult of Mets Personalities podcast (starring Matty Faz, Nik Kolidas, Gene and yours truly), our esteemed host took me by surprise and asked if I thought that Mets manager Terry Collins — with his fiery spirit that I reported on after attending an event at CitiField last month — could be like a New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan-type for the Mets…of course, without the bravado and smack-talk.

I had to think.  Quite frankly, it’s one thing for the Jets, a young and up-and-coming team, to run their mouths.  If I hear something stupid cliched thing out of David Wright’s mouth during camp, I’ll…ahem.  I digress.  Anyway, my point is, I was taken aback, because, well…I hadn’t thought of Collins as a Rex Ryan type or even a Rex Ryan-lite, which was how I described him.

Sure, I see the young guys, and even the vets, responding to him prior to even taking the field with him as manager.  Much like Rex Ryan.  But it bothered me that I agreed to it so quickly…because I had another head coach of another one of my beloved teams whom Terry Collins could DEFINITELY be compared to.  And that’s John Tortorella of the New York Rangers.

I attended a Rangers subscriber event last week with a friend of mine, and several players did a Q&A, much like the Mets event I attended in December.  Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Vinny Prospal were there to name a few (of course, this could all mean nothing if you are not a hockey fan).    Now, I forget who said it, but when a fan in the audience asked about the head coach “Torts” as we like to call him, I believe it was Callahan who said that Tortorella is giving them the “Rangers Way” to play.

The Rangers Way.  The Jets Way.  Even, (blech) the Yankees Way.  You hear several teams give their ethos but you never hear anything from the Mets, and even if they do allude that there is a certain “way” of conducting business on and off the field, chances are, they never adhere to it and we just laugh at the notion of it anyway.

However, I think there is an element of truth to that.  See, the Mets haven’t had a steady way or any sense of function within the organization since the days of Frank Cashen.  Hell, even then the ornery old man took the ship down with him when he left.  I guess, he didn’t want them to be successful.  Or that he was just mad that the ownership was meddlesome when they promised him they would be as laissez-faire as a Republican administration.

Sandy Alderson is making it a point to not make rash decisions and testing the waters before making a move.  I have to agree that this is a safe course of action because right now, Mets stock is at an all-time low.  If we are the adhere to the adage of “Buy Low/Sell High” then he’s absolutely making the right decision in waiting it out to see if there is any value in trading those once their value is lifted.

But the other thing that Alderson has been entrusted to do is craft an ethos, a “Mets Way” of competing, a “Mets Way” of being organized and position themselves for success in the future.  Collins is the man who needs to set this message down on the ground level, meaning for the players who are the faces of the franchise, who are putting forth the “Mets Way” of performing.

I didn’t think Rex Ryan was a suitable comparison for Terry Collins, even a “lite” version.  John Tortorella walks the walk, and talks the talk.  I remember when he was brought on by Glen Sather, my dad sent me a message and said, “This guy will have them doing push-ups when they aren’t performing.”

I could totally see Collins having Jose Reyes do a Willie “Mays” Hayes after popping up…well, maybe not THAT drastic.  But he could seriously get the guys to respond to him.  When I attended this function, Carlos Beltran said in so many words that if Collins took one for the team in getting thrown out, that he had the manager’s back.  I’m sure that if Jerry Manuel or Willie Randolph (as infrequent as that may have been) were thrown out, the rest of the team was probably happy to show them the showers.

For a long time, the Mets have had the semblance of order or direction but the fact is, they couldn’t have been more off the mark.  Each time they’d seem to take one step forward, they’d take two giant leaps back with making progress.  Omar Minaya wasn’t even guilty of this, this can be predated to the Al Harazin days.  Sterling Mets must be mortified that for such successful investors over the years, their one glaring mistake — their association with Bernie Madoff — has marred their success…but the Mets are their most visible arm of their conglomerate and it needs to have the right people running it.  Perhaps they are finally, seeing the light.

John Tortorella, in his quest for conducting business the “Rangers Way,” has the respect of his players, they want to play for him and go above and beyond.  They are a young, hard-working and scrappy team.  The Mets can still do this, if they have the right leadership in the clubhouse and at the top.

Terry Collins could be that guy.

As Sammy Hagar once said, only time will tell if we stand the test of time…or will fully be the key to our understanding if there is a Mets Way implemented.  But that’s the one thing that has been sorely lacking, along with a plan and a winning season.

Can we have it all in 2011?  Or start to, at least?

Filed under: 2010 Offseason, Taryn "Coop" Cooper, John Tortorella, Joliet Jake Blues, Mets 2011, New York Jets, New York Rangers, Rex Ryan, Sammy Hagar, Terry Collins, the Mets Way

What Scares Me in 2011

There hasn’t been a lot of news this offseason, save the change in management and organizational/philosophical changes with the Mets.  So creative Mets bloggers have to get creative with the news.  But what we can do is harp on the past, and how it affects the present.

I brought up the Bobby Bonilla deferred payments plan because there is a lot of misinformation out there on it, and I argued that it was in fact a pretty good deal on the Wilpon’s end.  If there’s a way say we can do something like to Luis Castillo or Oliver Perez, I say go for it.  What’s worse – paying out $18 million total or having it drawn it over several years?  Let’s face it: no one is going to give these guys any money or years in contracts.

But what I’ve come to realize about Alderson and Company’s tenure thus far is this: they aren’t going to go over what the payroll is now.  I can’t say that I blame them.  After all, in six years the Mets have evolved from a 4^th place with a healthy payroll…to a 4^th place team with a bloated and about-to-have-a-coronary payroll.

Some of the arguments I’ve gotten from other writers, and even from my blolleagues here at Kiner’s K, suggest that if the Mets are truly a “big market” team, another $15 million or so shouldn’t be prohibitive to add to the payroll.  I agree to an extent, but how much is TOO much?  I’d rather this new regime dance with the dates they came with, in the event they manage to stay healthy and perhaps overperform to get some value out of them, because right now, it’s like the real estate bubble all over again: they are underwater and need to create a market for these abandoned properties.

However, something kind of was brought to my attention today, and I’m surprised more people aren’t harping on it.  Anna Benson’s husband, former Mets pitcher Kris Benson, announced his retirement from baseball.  Some of the writers were shocked, as my buddy Sully over at Sully Baseball mentioned, it was like hearing “Katrina and the Waves broke up.”  You just assumed they did because you hadn’t heard from them in years.  What surprised me was this line in the Fox Sports article:

“The beauty of my Mets contract was that I got some of that money deferred, so I’m getting paid for the next eight years.” – Kris Benson

What the huh?  Wait: did you mean that the Mets structured a contract with another player not named Bobby Bonilla to pay him to basically sit on his ass?  How does that happen?  Well, if you read my Bonilla’s Millions piece, you would see that deferred payments are pretty par for the course in baseball: you just don’t hear about them.  The reason is that if a contract is structured a certain way, they hit some kind of milestone, then it goes into effect.  In Benson’s case, I have no clue what that was.  Or if because they traded him after the first year of his contract, maybe there was some kind of clause because he spent so much time on the DL (however paying him works) he was collecting disability, being a member of the player’s union and all.

I digress.  It got me thinking about Bobby Bonilla, deferred payments, Kris Benson and his time with the Mets, and the state of the Mets Union now.  It got me thinking who might have horrible contracts that are weighing the Mets down as we speak.

I won’t go for the obvious Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo.  Although to be honest, I’m sure most of us would like to – nay, LOVE – to wipe our hands of those equally abhorrent messy situations.  Though, I know I would like to see if there is some kind of deferred payment clause in their contracts if the Mets part ways with them.  I think it would be more palatable to part with $18 million time-valued money 15 years from now, as opposed to paying them outright $18 million total right now.  Especially with the following nightmares I am going to present below.  I swear, I am getting to it.  Thanks for putting up my wordiness thus far.

If you listened to the Kult of Mets Personalities podcast last night, I went off on a tangent while asked a question about Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez’ contract.  My tangent wasn’t about K-Rod, whom by the way I can without yet another headcase out of the bullpen (I’m looking at you Ollie).  It was about Carlos Beltran and the awful structuring and backloading of his contract could hurt the team more than a potential K-Rod option vesting for $17.5 million to be paid in 2012.

K-Rod is who he is.  Omar Minaya’s fingerprints are literally and figuratively all over that contract, with the unnecessary backloading of a contract to lure talent over for whatever reason.  I guess having a pitcher named Johan Santana or two cornerstones of the franchise named David Wright or Jose Reyes on the team, or playing in a big market where you know one IS more marketable, isn’t enough for players to want to come over.  No, Minaya had to give them contracts usurping more than just money and years:  it was usurping the very sanity of the franchise.  K-Rod, in my estimation, vesting at 50 innings is the least of our concerns.  How much you want to bet that if he does vest that option, they’ll let him walk a la Bobby Bonilla?

However, Matty Faz in our podcast brought up an interesting topic about a potential conundrum about the Mets making a Wild Card run in 2011.  I’m not going to say I believe it…but it could happen.  This team, warts and all last year, managed to have great pitching.  Jason Bay was struggling at the plate due to his lack of protection and schmadjustment year in New York (which I will never buy for a player who just came from Boston), and got hurt when his protection in the form of Carlos Beltran came back from his injury.  So despite all the woes, the fact was, even with an unhealthy Johan Santana, the pitching managed to keep them in the game.  Think about all those games lost on the road after the All-Star Break by 1-2 runs?  Or 1-0 shutouts?  With a healthy intact lineup, who’s to say those games aren’t going to winnable in 2011.

Moving right along, this brings me to Carlos Beltran.  I’ve been hard on him in the past, but I have even gone on record to say he’s become easily one of my favorite Mets ever, and even argued that it was he who is the “catalyst” for the team, and not Jose Reyes.  I still believe that, even though I was torn apart about that statement.

But what’s so terrible about his contract?  Yes, he’s owed roughly $20mm for 2011.  Yes, he’s been injured about 2/3 of his time here, yes even when healthy he’s played on 85% strength legs.

When he walks after this season (and he will), the Mets get nothin’.  A big fat goose egg.  And why’s that?  Oh a little simple clause in his contract (along with a terribly back-loaded and short-sighted no-trade clause) that suggests the Mets cannot offer him arbitration.

Slight problem there, for a management that values those draft picks in letting a free agent walk from the team.

I’m under the impression that Alderson may need to slash some payroll, which I totally get.  There is no reason why, even a big market team, needs to spend as much money as the Mets or the Cubs for that matter and have ZERO return on the field.  But what’s going to happen if (and very big “IF” I am aware, I’m not that much of a Mets Kool-Aid drinker) the Mets are legit wild card contenders at the deadline?

It’s a Catch-22.  K-Rod, let his option vest for all I care.  Chances are, if he performs well this year, the option vests and the Mets are on the hook for $17.5 million, they can trade him so long as they eat a portion of the contract.  That may be more palatable than just outright releasing him.

But the Carlos Beltran Conundrum is something we need to think about.  What I get from the fanbase is that all will be forgotten if they win.  And on paper, the parts suggest that after all they’ve been through since 2008, they could surprise us and make it fun to be a Mets fan again and watch them play.

But if Beltran is overperforming, and the Mets success is a cause-and-effect situation of that fact, what happens?

I think Alderson is going to have to wear an asbestos suit to fan the flames – again, it’s a Catch-22.  He’s damned if he doesn’t get value for Beltran (and a healthy Beltran can get a LOT from a trade deadline contender, even with a robust appetite from the Mets to eat a portion of his contract) – and if he does keep him, because then he really won’t get a damn thing.

I won’t even talk about Jason Bay.  Chances are, if I look something about his contract, which by contrast is equivalent to a unicorn flying over a rainbow to the other albatrosses on the team, I might find a deferred payment clause.  Good thing Bay is likable and has never been caught playing cards in the clubhouse during a playoff game.  Otherwise, that contract is another Minaytmare that Alderson is paying his dues on.

Filed under: 2010 Offseason, Taryn "Coop" Cooper, bobby bonilla, Carlos Beltran, francisco rodriguez, jason bay, kris benson, Luis Castillo, Mets 2011, oliver perez, omar minaya, Sandy Alderson

Bonilla’s Millions

When the New Year kicked in, talk of the Mets turned from looking towards the future to taking a not-so-fond trip down Memory Lane regarding one of the most disliked and controversial characters in Mets history.   Nope, I’m not talking about Richie Hebner.  I’m talking about Bobby Bonilla.

While there is much to be said about the Mets ownership lack of baseball acumen, and even in recent years being linked to a scandalous international Ponzi scheme, this deal is not nearly as bad as it looks on paper.  Invested long-term, I would say that it was even a good deal, benefiting the Wilpons just as much as the Bonillas.  Back when I was completing my MBA, I actually used this as a case study – I no longer have my backing documents or spreadsheet, but with reinvestments and compounded interest, the Mets have made money off of that initial $5 million while Bonilla has not.  So while they are paying him out something like $29 million over the next 25 years, chances are they’ve made their money and are reinvesting it again.  Hopefully, not with another Ponzi scheme.

For Bonilla, it’s sort of like choosing the lottery lump sum payout versus annual payments.  There are tax implications for the lump payout for the winner; the annuity is guaranteed money but is taxed per year therefore not as big of a hit.  While Bobby, from my understanding, is being paid from another fund, not impacting the current payroll from what I understand and adding on to the time value of money, I remember that the dollars and cents of it really wasn’t that far off if he got paid in 1999 or over the course of 25 years.

I won’t bore you with those details here.  But let me give you some lay examples to bring the transaction to light.

In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil comes back from being frozen for 30 years and re-emerges in the 1990s.  He requires a ransom of (cue the pinky) “one MEEELLLION dollars” or in non-evil terms, one million American dollars.  When his number two man Number Two says that amount would get laughed at in the 1990s, he asks  then for “One hundred BEEEEEELLLION dollars!”

Think about that for a second.  To us ordinary working-class folk, one million dollars seems plenty, right?  To a corporation or small republic, $100 billion is certainly a lot but billions of dollars are spent weekly in the stream of corporate transactions.  The most telling part in Dr. Evil’s demands though is that in the course of 30 years, an acceptable ransom has gone up by five additional zeroes. (Meanwhile, when Dr. Evil goes back to the ‘60s and tries to hold the world hostage again, he is laughed at by the $100 billion request, being told it was an imaginary number).

The Bobby Bonilla deal is not THAT bad of a deal and will not be as much of an albatross or worrisome as some make it out to be.  I mean, he signed a $29 million/five-year contract in 1992, 19 years ago.  Today that player would be considered “cheap,” a STEAL even or at the very least a player who probably is on the downside of his career.

Back in 1999, $5 million was and still is plenty of money no doubt, especially owed to a player who didn’t contribute much and had more ill-will than good over that time.  Factor in the time value of money, we know that was once $5 million in ’99 money is not worth anywhere near what $5 million is today.  Yes, I know, boo hoo, but he’s got a family to feed right? (That was sarcasm)

Yes, I get it.  Bobby Bonilla represents everything that’s bad from the Mets’ past.  He is the poster-child of the Worst Team Money Could Buy, and possibly our last image of him was playing cards with Rickey Henderson during the critical Mets/Braves NLCS in 1999.

Our last-ing impression of him will be the fact that he will be “employed” by the Mets for the next 25 years.  However, I am here to defend the ownership of the Mets and say it was actually a decent deal on their end, from a business standpoint.  Yes, I know, where’s the rock salt?  Has Hell frozen over?  I’m actually defending the Wilpons.  Yes, I know, it happens from time to time, but I do give credit where it is due.

That’s not taking away from Bonilla.  Deferred payments are pretty par for the course in contracts; however, you don’t hear a lot about them in baseball due to the fact they are mostly incentive driven (like, a pitcher will have hit X-amount of innings for a deferred payment to kick in or some crap).  Please note, I have no record of Bonilla’s terms with the Mets, but it may or may not have included that deferred payment provision (bonus points if someone can find that for me).  It was a brilliant negotiating tactic, if that was in fact what happened in the board room when they “bought him out.”

If Lenny Dykstra is any cautionary tale, fact is most retired sports figures do not handle their money well or have a long-term game plan.  This was a win-win situation for both sides.  Sure, you would like the Mets to put the screws to him but the Players Union says there’s this thing called a contract that guarantees money, so they’d have had to pay him anyway.  Why not work it out to the best of their ability?

There is a faction that says the Mets should have just paid him his money and cut ties immediately.  Well, sure I certainly agree with that.  However, we are not privy to what happened the day he was released by the team.  There could have been a standoff or it could have simply been written in his contract, fully expecting to, you know, not play cards during a playoff game.

I think what’s happened is that we people who don’t earn player salaries, tend to look at this as an excess of the Player’s Union, lack of a salary cap and that players are overpaid.  Hey, no kidding!  This was not meant to be a piece defending the Mets management nor Bobby Bonilla himself.  It’s a way of saying, hey, there actually are smart business transactions happening in the Mets management.

And in an evil parallel universe, while the Mets are again paying Bobby Bonilla, a parallel universe could unfold and the Mets might do the opposite of what they did during his Worst Team Money Could Buy era and actually have a decent record.

Hey.  You never know.

Until then, the only piece of financial advice I will ever give is to take the annuity payment if you ever win the Mega Millions.  It’s the best case scenario for everyone.

Filed under: 2010 Offseason, Taryn "Coop" Cooper, bobby bonilla, Mets 2011, New York Mets, worst team money can buy

Concessions, Philly and Other Musings

So if you listened to the Kiner’s Korner Debut Podcast on December 14, a “Kult of Mets Personalities” as we like to call it, you’d know that I was ready to concede the division after Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies.

Well, why did I do that?  They haven’t played any games yet, right?  My overall thinking is that the NL East is the Phillies to lose at this point.  After winning four seasons in a row, it’s safe to say that the Mets should not be running their mouths particularly during Spring Training.  That’s not to say I don’t think they’ll make things interesting.  Who knows?  With a starting rotation of Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels (and pitcher-to-be-named-later), the Mets might actually fare well against them.  After all, it’s pitchers with names like Mitchell Friedman (Major League reference for those of you who recognize it) who are making their major league debut tonight who give the Mets the most trouble.

Now what?  It seems like Philadelphia is really giving New York a dose of that so-called “brotherly love” this week.  If you are a football fan, I won’t even touch the whole Eagles/Giants game on Sunday.  Oh wait, maybe I just did.  Though I am a Jets fan (thanks, Dad), I do sympathize with the Giants brethren especially in a loss like this  — beating Philly is something I think we can all break bread on.  It set off a chain of events, mostly shell-shock, but even David Letterman got in on the fun, in his infamous Top Ten List.

“Knicks are doing well, which means somebody has to suck while the Mets are off.”

Ouch.

A local Philly writer heaped on the smack-talk as well, with his “Philly teams are putting a fork in New York” piece.  Give the Eagles an inch, and the sportswriters there take 100 yards.   They take it upon themselves to gently remind us that Cliff Lee didn’t sign with a New York team, he chose to sign with the Phillies.  OOOH smart writing there, jack.  Yes,  it’s true that Cliff Lee didn’t sign with the Yankees (nor the Mets, though they were never in the running really), but why did he do that?  Let’s take a second here.  It’s more because the Phillies put him the best position to win, with their offense, and not to mention NL East hitting will make his stats look a LOT better.  Given Lee’s less-the-stellar stats in the AL East (his lifetime record against the Orioles as an example were abysmal to say the least), I suppose even he has standards for himself.  So that has less to do with playing on the New York stage than Lee wanting to strike while the iron it hot.  Can’t say I blame him.

Then what happens?  You’d think we’d just dust ourselves off and move along?  Heck, no!  Filip Bondy piles the misery on higher and deeper, with his woe-is-me piece on the horrible horrible Philadelphians have stolen Cliff Lee away from the Yankees.  Oh boo hoo.  Can’t say that I am displeased that the Yankees lost out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.  After all, I’m the one who has to hear about it all offseason.  That said, as a Mets fan, besides some fans waxing over having to face him, I really haven’t heard anything at all from Philly.  And why is that?  Maybe because a) their fans suck and b) they are so wrapped up in football season to even remotely care?

I had a conversation with some fellow Mets fans at a game earlier this season.  We discussed the weirdness in Philly, regarding their sports allegiances.  it’s not like New York where you can have multiple teams to choose from — Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Devils, Islanders –  in several different sports, but in Philly it’s pretty cut and dry.  You root for the Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers.  There’s reason why I put those teams in that order.

Fact is, nobody cares about the Phillies in Philadelphia.  Well, save a few well-intentioned bloggers I know whom I respect in that area.  But considering when I was going to games at Citizens Bank Park when the Mets would visit and it would seriously be 65/35 Mets over Phillies fans.  Then after 2007, it became more like 50/50.  Now you can barely see any blue and orange.  It has less to do with the Phillies fans having something to cheer for.  It has to do with all their fans are a bunch of frontrunners who didn’t root for them prior to 2007, and all of a sudden had something to do to distract themselves from football.

Which is all it really is there.  The city of Philadelphia would give up five World Series titles for just one Super Bowl.  That’s what all this smack talk is about these days.  This city craves that, and they haven’t gotten it yet.  When I told my friends this back at CitiField in May, they not only said — Wow!  This is a real sports fan!  But they agreed 100%.

So why is it that we’re getting all this abuse, not even Mets fans, but from Philly in general?  I have to believe it’s the Napoleonic Complex, the Little Guy Syndrome.  They will always be in New York’s shadow, no matter what.  No matter how many championships, no matter how many agonizing defeats, fact is, New York the city is just WAY cooler than Philly would ever hope to be.

And on that note, I wish you all a Merry Mets-mas.

Filed under: 2010 Offseason, Taryn "Coop" Cooper, Mets 2011, New York Mets, Philadelphia

Word Association, Mets-Style

If you listened to the debut Kiner’s Korner: Kult of Mets Personalities podcast last Tuesday (and if you didn’t, well, why haven’t you?),  I mentioned that I was out at CitiField last Tuesday…yes, the day it was announced that Clifton Phifer Lee signed a deal with our NL East-emies, the Philadelphia Phillies.  At this event, which was the “Mets MVP Reception,” several key people with the Mets attended including Sandy Alderson, Terry Collins, David Wright, Ike Davis, Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran (proctored by Ronnie Darling).

There was a Q&A session with members of the audience (which I didn’t get to participate in, unfortunately), and it’s interesting to see these players and managers in another element, not PR appearanced-out.  Of course, I know this is a PR appearance and things might be filtered; on the other hand, I felt as though we got to see a more realistic approach and reaction to some of the questions. I also felt I saw a different side to some of the players, some of which I was surprised to see.

For one, everything you think you know about Carlos Beltran — he’s quiet, he’s stoic, he’s brittle and injury-prone, underrated — and David Wright — he’s the all-American player, a strikeout artist, a hard-worker, overrated — throw it out the window.  I came away with entirely different impressions of these players, even if I had thought some of them myself.  In fact, I chose some of the words above based on my own word association game that I played with several Mets fans on those players.

You remember the one-word association we play.  It’s a question of “What one word comes to mind when you think of fill-in-the-blank?”  I asked some people that question about Carlos Beltran.  Some of the responses included:

Soft.

Quiet.

Reserved.

Underrated.

Mole.  (OK, that was pretty funny)

Knees.

Injured.

Underappreciated.

I get all of those thoughts surrounding him.  Believe me when I tell you, that I have been incredibly hard on Beltran in the past.  And please note: I NEVER hated him for taking strike three in Game 7 of the NLCS.  That game was lost at so many junctures, but I digress.  No, my issues were about his throwing out arbitrary numbers about his health.  “I’m at about 85%.”  I was furious whenever I would hear those statements.  Why wasn’t the manager clued in and furthermore, WHY ARE YOU PLAYING?  You bring the team down when you are hurt.

It wasn’t until 2008 that I realized why: he was SO good, that he could theoretically bring the team down with him when he was hurt.  I even went so far to say that it wasn’t Jose Reyes who was the so-called “catalyst,” it was Beltran.

When I heard Carlos Beltran speak at the event…he WANTS to play.  He has the desire.  It bothers him just as much as it bothers us that his performance has been hampered.  He may be quiet, and he may be injury-prone, but that doesn’t mean he is not valuable to the team.  Unfortunately, he is known mostly for being hurt a majority of his large in both dollars and years contract, and causes a rift amongst Mets fans who lump him in, unfairly or not, with the highly paid prima donnas in sports.

Then I asked the same word association game with David Wright.  I felt like the responses might have been more “glowing” for Wright, but I found there are a lot of fans who don’t think that way.

Strikeout.

Overrated.

Blue-collar.

Nonthreatening.

Sincere.

Mystery!

The last one I found odd, I feel like David Wright is one of the easiest characters to figure out.  I admit, I am a David Wright fan, but I am no “David Wright groupie,” like some fans are (female OR male).  I’m more of a root-for-the-laundry type of gal.  That said, the mystery lays in what David Wright believes HIMSELF to be.  I felt like the more emotional responses are there because of our expectations on not only a fan favorite, and a homegrown talent, but a good-looking “clean cut” dude that we WANT to see succeed.  And believe me, we shouldn’t cry over having someone like Wright to root for.

However, I think he is replaceable.  Yeah, I said it.  What most people think of when they think of David Wright is that he strikes out.  A LOT.  He’s someone who seems to not be able to handle the pressure.  The nonthreatening part of it.

Of course, I am biased.  Carlos Beltran has fast become one of my favorite Mets, while David Wright to me is someone I can appreciate.  What I saw at the event was this.  Carlos Beltran is everything you would think he wasn’t, based on reports and ideas we have based on body language.  He loves the game.  He is passionate.  He isn’t afraid to show his emotion when asked.  The younger guys look up to him as a leader.  Ike Davis spoke nothing but high words about him and how he’s helped him in the clubhouse.

David Wright answers just seemed guarded, and scripted, not to mention generic.  So it’s all very interesting what our perceptions are and what are biases are on certain players, and when you can interface with them outside of the ballpark (well, technically I was in the ballpark, but it wasn’t a game day, so there), you can see their true colors.

Perhaps newest Kiners Korner member, Ed Leyro, put it best when he called David Wright “Diva’d Wright.”  He may have been Santa Claus earlier, but he was the only player who didn’t interact with fans (taking pictures or signing autographs).  Heck, even Jeff Wilpon was shaking hands with some people at the event.  Carlos Beltran, even Sandy Alderson, were out there before the event interacting with fans.  It may sound like I have an axe to grind, but I really don’t per se.  It’s more of a reaction I hear from fans who want to pin the label of “face of the franchise” onto a certain marquee player to identify with.  David Wright’s perception of the “good guy” is good enough for these people.  My thinking is that he is not ready for all of that but he is also not a leader.  He’s on his fourth manager in his tenure of the Mets, his only team.  He tries too hard to get everyone to like him, which leaders don’t necessarily care for.   And here is Carlos Beltran, a working class hero, who gets the shaft from fans and media alike for the perception of not being a “team player.”  It drives me nuts!!

So who is the “face of the franchise?”  My answer to that question is in the form of a Jeopardy response…does it really even matter?  Someone in the audience on that Tuesday asked that very question of Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson…that is, will there be a “Captain” title on the team?  The answer to that was no, from both Alderson and Collins.  Collins said to the effect that there is enough veteran presence on the team that not one specific player should be a “leader?”  It’s more for the fans to find someone to identify with, and I’d rather have someone who can walk the walk, not just throw out blanket plain vanilla response to appease a fan base.

I think we all know, from our day jobs and wherever else in life, that leadership is an innate quality.  So I raise the question to y’all, the Kult of Mets Personalities, to ask yourselves…does it matter?  And why does it matter to you, if it indeed does bother you?

Filed under: 2010 Offseason, Taryn "Coop" Cooper, Captain, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Face, one word associations