This past summer at a family reunion, I engaged in a friendly sports conversation with two of my New York cousins. The Mets are religion to these guys.
When I dared to ask about their favorite team’s fading playoff hopes and the seeming failure of the Amazins’ major acquisitions following the 2003 season, what followed was pure gold.
Cousin Greg lamented the faux-big ticket purchases made by owner Fred Wilpon’s people, and Wilpon’s cheapness. Cousin Tony stood on shaky ground as he clung to his loyalty to Kaz Matsui and Mike Cameron as big acquisitions, and defended the team’s inability close the deal with Vlade Guerrero, who was then in the midst of an MVP season.
After several minutes of this back-and-forth banter, Greg unleashed one of the most appropriate sports analogies to have ever described a team like the Mets. It went something like this:
(Exasperated and incredulous): “We do this every week, Tony! Every week! (pointing a finger) TONY! LISTEN! YOU GOT PAPAH PLATES AND PLASTIC CUPS, AND YOU COULDA HAD FINE CHINA!!!”
I knew exactly what he meant, and it appears so did Mets new GM Omar Minaya, because he’s spent the off-season collecting some pretty expensive pieces.
The Mets are closing in on Carlos Delgado, and have already unveiled Pedro Martinez. Plus they’ve delivered Carlos Beltran a month earlier than he was expected to sign anywhere for what many would call a bargain, considering his agent is Scott Boras.
If they do in fact land Delgado, they would have a very marketable, big-ticket team, with a number of aging stars, a lot of overpayment, some glaring holes, a huge payroll, a stacked line-up and one or two up-and-comers. Who does that remind you of? Well, other than the part about the up-and-comers, it’s the Yankees.
But you know what? Slam the Pinstripes all you want, any Mets fan can tell you that just a pennant every other year or so would be a pretty notable improvement.
Minaya is to be commended for putting together such a team, but with all the overwhelming optimism abound in New York right now, I’d like to warn against appreciating something too much for its aesthetic value.
If fine china is anything, it’s expensive and breakable. In the case of all three free agents at issue here, we know the first is true. Certainly, in Pedro and Carlos D you’re getting players who are aging and have had injury issues as recently as last year.
And while Beltran is well under 30 and only getting better, anytime you pay more than 110 million for a player, they become pretty delicate to you. I don’t know about you, but if I pay over 10 dollars for something, I generally treat it like it’s the Holy Freakin’ Grail.
And then there’s Sammy Sosa. If Minaya is serious about his Latin super team, you’d think Sosa, baggage and all, would be a must-have. And you could be certain at that point, that for Wilpon’s big money, they would have a big audience, and probably more than their fair share of wins.
But it is a gamble, and it could blow up huge if there are some key injuries, or some egos get out of control. With any big investment there exists the possibility for massive loss.
But in the meantime it’s understandably all celebration in the Big Apple. And so to Tony, Greg, and all the other Mets faithful, congratulations. You’ve got your fine china, now you’d just better hope it doesn’t shatter.