Do Not Expect REAL Changes In Queens Anytime Soon!

    If any Met fan thinks that changes for the better are coming in 2011, then you might be in for

the same disappointments.

     It seems like an eternity ago.   Shea rocked louder than ever after “the catch” in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS.  It was supposed to be that sign of mystical “Met Magic” we waited for during that torturous 7 game series.  A series that felt like a roller coaster ride after you engulf a sausage & pepper sandwich on the boardwalk.   That ride ended with our best player looking at a curveball that sent everyone home wondering if our Mets would make it to that point the next season.

      That next season, we were 7games up in first place with 17 to go before even getting to that point.  But as we all know, the sky fell and this franchise has not been able to recover from Glavine’s Sunday Serenade.   In 2008, despite acquiring baseball’s best left handed starter in Johan Santana and a controversial managerial change, the season ends in heartbreak on the last Sunday of the season again. And Shea closes its doors forever with a weak loss to the young Marlins.   

       This leads to what should be a sign of lean times ahead.  Team owner Jeff Wilpon after that last loss at Shea seemed more enthusiastic about the new Citi Field opening up in 2009, then feeling any public anger over the finishes in 2007 and 2008.  Not for nothing… George Stienbrenner in his hey day would have been like a tornado if his Yankees had back to back finishes like that.   The team would have had to run and hide as they entered the clubhouse.  Changes would have been made throughout his organization and he would have done his best to put the best team on the field.

        The problem is of course that the Wilpon ownership regime does not have the same passion for winning that George, or even former Met co-owner Nelson Doubleday had. (Or any other owner of a top-tier revenue team for that matter.)  They built a new ballpark, but for a team that LEFT New York over 50 years earlier.  It took a wave of bad reviews from fans and media to make them “recognize” the history of the team they actually own... the Mets.  And one year later, the Mets had a place the team AND fans could call home.  This lack of passion leads to the inactivity the Mets shown this past off-season, and during the 2010 trading deadline.  

      You can change the GM, and you can change the field manager.  These actions appease the fans and media.  But if the philosophy of the ownership does not change from what it is now, then lean times are ahead for the Mets.  They must change the philosophy of signing second tier free agents instead of front line players.  The must put a top tier field manager in place.  Give up on these second tier guys like

 Manuel, and Melvin. Wally Backman is a good candidate and I, as well as others would not be opposed to that.

      But bringing back Bobby V would be like the phoenix rising from the ashes.  The energy in the off season will be unbelievable waiting for spring training to start. Fact is… Jerry should NEVER have returned to Citi field after that 2-9 road trip.  In fact, Bobby V coming out of the dugout for that first home game back would have been what the players needed to get them back to playing the way they were while they were the front-runners in the NL Wildcard race.   And the fans would have responded with thunderous enthusiasm.   But like I said, this ownership has a different philosophy.   Omar Minaya should have been canned after that embarrassing press conference last year when they fired Tony Bernazard.   Money or no money.   Omar should have been canned after that road trip ALONG with Jerry.  Money or no money.   Heck, the Oliver Perez contract alone would get most GMs fired in ANY sport.

       Another quick note.    If Met fans expect David Wright, and Jose Reyes to “lead” this team to the “promised land”, they are sadly mistaken.   It is now proof that we need outspoken players/leaders inserted into that clubhouse so they ( David & Jose) can be used to build AROUND a new core of winning players.  Not bring in those second tier players to try and build around them.  But this would take

changes in thinking upstairs to let this happen.

 Let’s hope that these last 2 months of irrelevant baseball can change their thinking.

Written by…

Anthony Reccoppa