Think of one’s attitude about the 2012 Mets as a scale. Let’s say the stuff that’s bad, depressing, worrisome, etc. goes on the left, and the good, happy, optimistic stuff goes on the right.
BAD STUFF
- The team is broke
- Bud Selig is going to keep looking the other way instead of doing anything about it
- How quickly and thoroughly the team gets un-broke will be determined by lawyers
- Those lawyerly determinations will probably take a long, long time
- We finally have a smart GM — and he doesn’t have any money
- Help from the farm system is probably at least a year away
- The Mets play in a division with a very good team, a pretty good team, and two improving teams
- Even if everything breaks right, forget about obtaining pricey veteran help
- The Yankees are an aggravating, omnipresent point of media comparison
- The starting pitching is in all likelihood going to be somewhere between mediocre and bad
- Key players are coming off injuries
- Other key players are trying to reverse scary declines
- Smart Mets fans reflexively assume anything said by ownership or the business side is untrue
- Did I mention the team is broke?
GOOD STUFF
- The Mets are playing spring-training games next week
But hang on. Let me put that the way it came to me, lying in bed this morning:
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS THE METS ARE PLAYING SPRING-TRAINING GAMES NEXT WEEK! YOU CAN SEE IT RIGHT ON THE SCHEDULE AND EVERYTHING! WE CAN WATCH THEM! THERE WILL BE GREEN GRASS AND INFIELD DIRT AND SUNNY SKIES AND THE POP OF CATCHERS’ MITTS AND THE CRACK OF BATS AND RUNNERS TAKING LEADS AND GUYS WORKING COUNTS AND DUDES IN THE DUGOUT SPITTING SUNFLOWER SEEDS AND UMPS BRAYING BALLS AND STRIKES AND FANS YELLING HUM BATTER AND MANAGERS AND COACHES CLAPPING AND SAYING SILLY THINGS! THERE WILL BE METS! THERE WILL BE GAMES! THERE WILL BE METS GAMES!
And all of a sudden the scales are all the way over there on the right — CLANG! — on the good side. And somehow, at least for now, none of that stuff that fell off the bad side of the scales matters.
Let’s play some ball.
Just in case you feel the need to peek at the other side of the scale..
Lucas Duda and Ike Davis look like serious mashers.
Johan Santana is standing upright with his arm attached.
R.A. Dickey.
While not quite knocking, the Mets have some pitchers (And outfielders) waiting outside the door.
Win or lose, the Mets WILL play 162 baseball games this year, and you’ll get to watch them.
well put Ceetar .. i’m looking forward to seeing the development with the young players both at the major league level and minor league level .. keeping an eye on the future and what great things may come
As I see it, this team is not as bad as some out there are predicting. This is not the Mets of the late 70s. Those teams were completely devoid of talent. There is quite a bit of offensive talent on this team. I’m not saying they’re going to win 90+ games but on the other hand, I don’t see them losing 90+ like quite a few predict. I see them winning anywhere from 75 to 85 depending on how their pitching, particularly the bullpen, performs. Then again, you never know, no one predicted that the Diamondbacks would win 94 last season. Most pre-season predictions had them finishing last in the NL West and winning 70 to 75 games.
Oh, this team should score some runs. We get to see if tejada and duda are every day players moving forward.
I’d feel better if I knew Johan would make, say, 25+ starts. My fear is that he’ll make 10ish. If that’s the case, it’s going to be a rough year. It could be a rough year regardless. But yea, baseball exists again and that’s the most important thing
Never even heard of “valley fever” until like 10 minutes ago.
Yeah, things sure are looking up.
WTF.
Hi Jason,
Vegas has the Mets at 70 wins but I don’t think the team is that bad, either. What bothers me is how much better it could have been had Sterling Equities not been in such financial chaos.
Notice that I said “Sterling” and not the Mets. Sterling is the parent company that owns the Mets along with a majority share of SNY, Citi Field, and merchandising along with it’s other non-baseball related real estate holdings.
But SNY is the key. The Mets as a component of Sterling could lose $70 million in lieu of the revenue Sterling receives from owning SNY (I think the TIMES reported Sterling’s share of the profits amounted to over $200 million). Without the Mets there is no SNY other than perhaps “Beer Money”.
That’s the way most sports franchises make money. It’s less attendance as it owning it’s own sports network or selling it’s television rights. YES does it for the Yankees, NESN does it for the Red Sox and selling the rights enabled the Angels to offer that ludicrous contract to Albert Puljos. Baltimore also waived it’s territorial rights to allow the Expo move to Washington in exchange for a share of the Nationals television revenue.
So it really doesn’t matter that the Mets lost money as it is the parent corporation – which must be in really bad shape to have to water down the product that brings in the cash in so many other ways.
The downturn in commercial real estate hit Sterling hard.
I know, and it must have been real hard for even SNY not being able to absorb the blow so much – combined with the half a billion dollar loss from Madoff (forget the impending civil suit).
It’s also been reported today that the Mets lost money even in 2009 when Citi Field first opened. In the unlikely event that the Wilpons do sell the franchise, it is doubtful new ownership will turn a profits with the Mets playing in just a 42,000 capacity ballpark necessitating outrageous ticket prices with add-on fees making them much higher than it appears (two years ago, two $19 upper promenade tickets wound up costing us $63). Some of SNY will have to be included in any such deal.