Your 2010 Mets Options

[younghem]

Johan Santana, a bunch of question mark SP'ers, a mediocre bullpen and a decent offense as long as EVERYONE is healthy (unlikely). Meet your 2010 Mets ! Hey, at least they're gonna add some more Mets colors to that new Dodger stadium of ours....

Are you excited ? Hoo boy.

[angy]

Johan Santana, a bunch of question mark SP'ers, a mediocre bullpen and a decent offense as long as EVERYONE is healthy (unlikely). Meet your 2010 Mets ! Hey, at least they're gonna add some more Mets colors to that new Dodger stadium of ours....

Are you excited ? Hoo boy.

I'll be excited when they hire a Gil Hodges type as a Manager.

[younghem]

I'll be excited when they hire a Gil Hodges type as a Manager.

Unfortunately Gil Hodges is dead like the Mets chances in 2010 ! *rim shot*

[Emperor Magus]

I'll enjoy watching another Mets team capable of losing at least 90 games. I'm calling 62-100 because injuries will play a role again, and in true Mets fashion, the Wilpon$ give Omar and Jerry new long term deals, thus proving this fact:

If you suck at what you do and your boss is Fred Wilpon, you don't have to worry about job security.

[JerseyScott]

I really, really, want to pretend that it's gonna be a great season.

[younghem]

I really, really, want to pretend that it's gonna be a great season.

So do the Wilpons !

[MeanBaller]

Sincerely, I believe that those who feel this way, and understandably so, to find something else to focus on this summer. Even if ifs another team to watch that you findd intersting. I've kept an eye on the Rays for the last two years,watching a bunch of their games on cable. Also lots of outdoors stuff - beach, hiking.

I find it keeps my mind from dwelling too much on the painful ugliness.

[Lostmet]

84 wins this year!

[MeanBaller]

84 wins this year!

How sad....

It is like the bargain a sick person makes with God....you start asking for health and start settling for relief from pain.

[metsfan247]

I'll enjoy watching another Mets team capable of losing at least 90 games. I'm calling 62-100 because injuries will play a role again, and in true Mets fashion, the Wilpon$ give Omar and Jerry new long term deals, thus proving this fact:

If you suck at what you do and your boss is Fred Wilpon, you don't have to worry about job security.

I think they'll play .500 at least for the year, we as Met fan's over exaggerate about how bad the team is because of last year, what we all need to remember is that almost the whole core was hurt, just with the guy's back healthy there a better team so I'd bet the Mets do better then 90 losses.

I actually hope the Mets have a losing streak in May that ends Manuel's role as Manager. I here that Bobby Valentine is waiting in the wings to take over as manager as soon as Manuel's fired. I really hope that is the case the Mets could use a guy like Valentine.

[Cactus]

you make a good point...to be honest, the mets not playing well might be the best thing that could happen to them this year. overhaul in the front office, change up the mix of players and coaches for next year, jeff wilpon continuing to be exposed, creating a need for a big signing next offseason, etc. etc.

[younghem]

you make a good point...to be honest, the mets not playing well might be the best thing that could happen to them this year. overhaul in the front office, change up the mix of players and coaches for next year, jeff wilpon continuing to be exposed, creating a need for a big signing next offseason, etc. etc.

I can't wait for the 2011 season to begin ! lol

But yea, I agree with everything you've said.

[metswonin69]

I think the Mets will probably win about 80 games assuming they are neither lucky nor unlucky next season.

[Truetemper]

you make a good point...to be honest, the mets not playing well might be the best thing that could happen to them this year. overhaul in the front office, change up the mix of players and coaches for next year, jeff wilpon continuing to be exposed, creating a need for a big signing next offseason, etc. etc.

It's such a sad thing to admit, but you know what I was honestly thinking along those same lines. About the only thing I have in common w/ these Mets are the name, the parking lot and losing. A team that lurchs and struggles to tread water at 500. just might keep the crowds home. Was watching a video edition of the Mets yearbook 1975 last night on FSNY. Man. Did that team stink. They showed the field level seats at Shea (white at that time) and they were empty. When there are more seagulls than people at Greedi-Field this year, maybe I'll visit and just walk around. If the team was to tank in attendance this year, bet it would get something moving. Maybe.

[JerseyScott]

this is some messed up logic on my part, but.....

In the long run, year by year doesn't matter. I know we focus on the year at hand, but it just doesn't matter.

I was ten in '75 and had been going to shea for a while by that point. Those bad seasons did indeed suck, but that feeling goes away. In '86 I was 21 and was living in the middle of a Met's dream. It made '75 go away real quick.

Those seasons in the mid '70's to early 80's are now worn on my sleeve like some demented badge of Met honor. But, you know what? These last few seasons will be worn the same way when enough time has passed to heal the present dissappointment.

Always remember: COMEDY = TRAGEDY + TIME. It will all seem funny some day....

[MeanBaller]

It's such a sad thing to admit, but you know what I was honestly thinking along those same lines. About the only thing I have in common w/ these Mets are the name, the parking lot and losing. A team that lurchs and struggles to tread water at 500. just might keep the crowds home. Was watching a video edition of the Mets yearbook 1975 last night on FSNY. Man. Did that team stink. They showed the field level seats at Shea (white at that time) and they were empty. When there are more seagulls than people at Greedi-Field this year, maybe I'll visit and just walk around. If the team was to tank in attendance this year, bet it would get something moving. Maybe.

The seats at Shea had two different color schemes.

Initially they were metal framed with wooden backs and seats. Field level was pale yellow, loge was orange, mezzanine was blue and upper was green. The rim of box seats on the loge, mezz and upper levels were deeper colors of orange, blue and green respectively.

The second color scheme is what the park ended up with. If you looked at the field level seats, the metal frames still were painted the original pale yellow even though the plastic inserts were a different color.

[Fred A]

The best result for this season would be that the Mets and the Dodgers both have terrible seasons. Why? If the Dodgers are awful and lose money, the McCourts would be pressed to sell the team to finance their acrimonious divorce (and the price of LA divorce lawyers continues to be one of the most expensive in the USA). Meanwhile, the Wilpons will have lost serious money, dissipating their interest in retaining ownership of the Mets. With the McCourts having a fire sale, the Wilpons would then approach MLB to do a similar swap like what happened with the Red Sox, Marlins and Expos a few years back: the Wilpons would sell the Mets to a third party and use the money they receive to buy the Dodgers from the McCourts, since the Dodgers are the team Fred has really always wanted to own. They could even agree to send the Dodgers Omar and Jerry in exchange for Torre, who probably would love to be back in NYC. This would be a win-win for everyone, and maybe the new ownership group for the Mets would be more like Woody Johnson with the Jets, a wealthy man (or woman) smart enough to know to leave the on-field decisions to experienced professionals instead of his (or her) incompetent son.

[JerseyScott]

The best result for this season would be that the Mets and the Dodgers both have terrible seasons. Why? If the Dodgers are awful and lose money, the McCourts would be pressed to sell the team to finance their acrimonious divorce (and the price of LA divorce lawyers continues to be one of the most expensive in the USA). Meanwhile, the Wilpons will have lost serious money, dissipating their interest in retaining ownership of the Mets. With the McCourts having a fire sale, the Wilpons would then approach MLB to do a similar swap like what happened with the Red Sox, Marlins and Expos a few years back: the Wilpons would sell the Mets to a third party and use the money they receive to buy the Dodgers from the McCourts, since the Dodgers are the team Fred has really always wanted to own. They could even agree to send the Dodgers Omar and Jerry in exchange for Torre, who probably would love to be back in NYC. This would be a win-win for everyone, and maybe the new ownership group for the Mets would be more like Woody Johnson with the Jets, a wealthy man (or woman) smart enough to know to leave the on-field decisions to experienced professionals instead of his (or her) incompetent son.

A dream is but a dream.....

But I'm with ya bro.....

[Truetemper]

The seats at Shea had two different color schemes.

Initially they were metal framed with wooden backs and seats. Field level was pale yellow, loge was orange, mezzanine was blue and upper was green. The rim of box seats on the loge, mezz and upper levels were deeper colors of orange, blue and green respectively.

The second color scheme is what the park ended up with. If you looked at the field level seats, the metal frames still were painted the original pale yellow even though the plastic inserts were a different color.

You're right of course. I was watching it at like 2 in the morning and it must have been the 35 year old 35 mm film transfer to video that washed out the color. It most have been early in the year because the red/white & blue bunting was still up. But those field level seats were as empty as I ever remembered them. And know what ? I wished I was there.

[MeanBaller]

You're right of course. I was watching it at like 2 in the morning and it must have been the 35 year old 35 mm film transfer to video that washed out the color. It most have been early in the year because the red/white & blue bunting was still up. But those field level seats were as empty as I ever remembered them. And know what ? I wished I was there.

Me too.....

I am at a unique time and place in my life regarding the Mets.

My late Dad was a National League baseball fan from the time he came to this country. Loved the Dodgers. Before the Mets were born, he would drive me to Philly to see any team play there other than the Dodgers or Giants. Never set foot in the Bronx, other than to take me to the zoo or visit his mother in her nursing home.

In the early days, winning wasn't really possible. The expansion draft was onerous - just about every good player was protected. There was no free agency. The team had no minor league system stocked with developing players in the first years.

So it was just fun to have a home team again and I went every weekend that the Mets were in town from April through September. Usually in a $4 box seat.

Then the Mets won in 1969 and it was heaven. Absolutely HEAVEN.

Joan Payson was a goddess to me. She LOVED the Mets. Absolutely loved the team. I saw her at the park almost every weekend sitting among the hoi polloi, not watching from on high and tossing out popcorn and crackerjack to the serfs below like Fred did at Shea.

She hired people. Yeah, I know M Donald was a jerk. But she also brought in people like Johnny Murphy to be GM and let him do his job. And no one - NO ONE - could EVER tell Casey what to do.

The period you wrote about were dark days for the Mets. Yet I didn't stop caring about the team, I didn't stop going because the period you speak of was post-Payson. It was clear that her daughter de Roulet was NOT going to be a long term owner of the franchise. Her heart wasn't in it - she wasn't a baseball person like her mother (who owned a small piece of the Giants and voted AGAINST the move to SF).

So there was a future - hope.

The opposite of that exists today.

Fred and his idiot son are not short term owners, unless (let's hope) that the Madoff clawbacks are so steep that they have to sell.

Jeffie is younger than me. That means he will always be there in my lifetime, ruining the fun. So unlike the deRoulet situation, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Jeff seems to be one of those guys who is so arrogantly stupid that he's too stupid to know how stupid he is. Hence you won't see talented baseball men in the key jobs, and this team will continue to underperform in ways that will be aggravating and dispiriting.

So I will NOT be going to games or watching them on TV. No way will I support this crew. I will read abou7t things and follow things on the web. Whenever I feel the need to watch a game, I will go to my cable tv and pick out a game from the MLB Extra Innings package. I find that watching young teams - in the last two years the Rays have been my team of choice to watch on the package - is interesting and sometimes exciting.

[Truetemper]

I hear you....

Look at the GD Twins Franchise for god's sake.

You play fundamentals there or you're gone quick time....

Goes back to the Tom Kelley Days....Figures Gardy is the manager now....

Re: the old days...still remember your story about meeting Gil Hodges.....

What a great man he was.....a vanishing breed.....

Will we ever see the likes of him again...?.

BTW....shame he isn't in the Hall of Fame....shame ?

Hell Disgrace....

O & one more thing....no dig on Jackie Robinson and all....

But I ask ya Mb....

WHERE THE HELL IS GIL HODGES STATUE OUTSIDE OF GREEDI-FIELD ??????

[MeanBaller]

I hear you....

Look at the GD Twins Franchise for god's sake.

You play fundamentals there or you're gone quick time....

Goes back to the Tom Kelley Days....Figures Gardy is the manager now....

Re: the old days...still remember your story about meeting Gil Hodges.....

What a great man he was.....a vanishing breed.....

Will we ever see the likes of him again...?.

BTW....shame he isn't in the Hall of Fame....shame ?

Hell Disgrace....

O & one more thing....no dig on Jackie Robinson and all....

But I ask ya Mb....

WHERE THE HELL IS GIL HODGES STATUE OUTSIDE OF GREEDI-FIELD ??????

You know, it's funny you say that....

Hodges was my Dad's favorite Dodger. Given his Dodger pedigree (as well as his status as original Met and Manager of the Miracle) you'd think they'd jump to make a statue of him.

[Fred A]

As much as I loved Gil when he managed the Mets (I was born in '64 so never got to see him play), the first statue of anyone at CitiField should be Tom Seaver. Let's face it, before the Mets got lucky and got George, they were a team of lovable losers going nowhere. Seaver was a winner from the get go, and his intelligence and enthusiasm rubbed off on his teammates, and made a group of young players (Cleon, Nolan, Jerry, Tommy, Gary, Tug, Wayne, Bud), and veterans (Art, Eddie, the Glider, Jerry) overcome the odds and win the World Series in '69.

Meanballer, I share your love of the late, great Joan Payson (nee Whitney). She loved her Mets, loved the fans, and knew enough to allow some great baseball minds (the aforementioned Johnny Murphy, plus Whitey Herzog, George Weiss and the greatest second baseman of all time, Rogers Hornsby) choose the players and build the franchise from the bottom-up. Add to that a string of good managers (Casey, Wes, Gil and Yogi) who all had ties to the 3 New York franchises, and you had something worth rooting for. You are correct about her daughter, Lorinda de Roulet. But while she had no love for baseball, she understood her limitations, and put the team up for sale to a group that she felt would run the franchise which she and the other Payson heirs had no interest in continuing to own.

What this franchise needs now is an owner just like Joan who loves baseball, loves the Mets, respects the fans and understands that a well run professional sports organization requires structure, with a strong, independent GM working together with an on-field manager and a director of the farm system to build a franchise with a future. Clearly, Fred, Jeff, Omar and Jerry are not the right men for this task.