Hey all you MLB fans out there, what’s going on? Ready for spring training? Ready for the big games?
Okay, now let’s cut to the chase. Look at, oh say, the New York Mets. How have they progressed over the years, or should I say unprogressed? The Mets dealt with obtaining star players that were terrible in New York, and now they sit atop the big apple, making some of the biggest moves in the last two off seasons, most notably Billy Wagner and Pedro Martinez. So the overall message I am trying to send to you is, less is really more when it comes to baseball.
Let’s stay with the subject of the Mets. New York has brought in general manager Omar Minaya to sharpen the fuse a little bit for this team and he has done his job. The Mets did very well last year finishing with and 83-79 regular season record. People like Cliff Floyd had breakout years and Carlos Beltran did not have quite as good a year as expected. If you do remember, a couple of years ago the Mets cashed in on some big free agents that they thought would make New York into a playoff team. Guys like Mo Vaughn, Jeremy Burnitz, Jeff D’Amico, and Cliff Floyd were brought into the club. Floyd is the only one left. These guys did horrible and the Mets made some changes firing general manager Steve Phillips, and manager Bobby Valentine over a two year span. Since then, the Mets have gone through only one more manager, Art Howe, and have received better quality players, rather then more players. This is the point I am trying to make.
In major league baseball, teams have cashed during an off season and gotten a lot of good players. This results in a bad job done by the team the following year. In my opinion, the Mets were the first team to display this in the new millennium. Last year, the team with the largest payroll in baseball did it as well, the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers revamped their pitching staff signing a lot of big name players like Randy Johnson, Tony Womack, Tino Martinez, and Matt Lawton. They did terrible in the first half of the year and barely made the playoffs over the Redsox to win the AL East and got snubbed in the playoffs.
So, what’s the message? Don’t think that after one season of total dismay, your team needs to refill its entire roster. Work with what you have, give young guys a chance. Don’t always skip all the middle resorts and go to the last one, free agency. Give your team a chance to flourish and become better without changing half the names on the back of uniforms.
I know, I know. There’s no way anyone can hear me, but other people are speaking this message to. People that are closer to baseball then I am.
Hey, maybe I’ll be there someday, too. But that’s another story.