The New York Mets are not easy to love in 2014. We’ve got unlikable owners who just fired the executive in charge of ticket sales, apparently because fans are getting tired of paying good money to watch bad baseball.
We’ve got a captain who keeps playing despite neck and shoulder injuries, even though the Mets have been out of contention for weeks (even by the most optimistic of estimations.)
David Wright is going to have the worst season of his major league career, and he’s in just the second year of a $140 million contract he signed after the 2012 season. If he doesn’t get better next year when he’s healthy, things could get even uglier at CitiField between now and 2020.
And as fans, we’re not necessarily dreaming about which star shortstop and/or left fielder that GM Sandy Alderson could bring in this winter to address the team’s two most glaring deficiencies. Instead, we’re wondering if (and maybe hoping that) he can unload our only All-Star and our winningest starting pitcher in 2014 because they make too much money.
It’s enough to make a game like Monday’s 9-6 loss to the Miami Marlins seem like the final straw. Even Terry Collins — who always seems to have an excuse for everything — was briefly at a loss for (repeatable) words after an ugly game that was “highlighted” by six Mets errors.
A sensible person probably would have taken the hint to give up on the Mets – at least for 2014 – long ago.
I hope we all know that I’m not really that sensible when it comes to baseball.
I haven’t been out to CitiField since July, and Mets baseball has lost it’s “must see tv” status. But that doesn’t mean I’ve given up watching. I’ll enjoy Juan Lagares‘ spectacular catches, Lucas Duda‘s home runs, Jenrry Mejia‘s victory celebrations (however infrequently they might happen) and all the rest right up until the end.
I’m also sure there will be more days that the Mets make me want to bang my head against the wall before it’s all over. It goes with the territory.
PaulHadsall.com 
Paul,
You’re not ready to give up on the Mets just yet? I am and I have. I knew this season would be a washout. Next year, especially if Harvey comes back and the pitching really gels? Could be a good one.
But, signing Granderson (.212/.316/.358 and those numbers surprised me because I didn’t think they’d be THAT low) and Chris Young (sayonara)–even Colon ($20 mil a two years for a 41 year-old pitcher) told me the Mets had no idea what they were doing.
Besides watching the outfield defense, especially Lagares (though there’s not much of a market for a .270-ish one dimensional hitter who doesn’t steal bases and I don’t care how great his glove is–and he may turn out to be the best defensive CF of this generation) and listening to Gary, Ron and Keith, there’s nothing worthwhile going on at Citi Field.
And what do the Wilpons do, fire the person who was selling deck chairs on the Titanic. And, though marginally, there were more people sitting in them than last year even though the actual turnstile count is a fraction of what they report.
And still I root for the Mets. I must be a masochist. Oh, heck, there’s always next year. 🙂
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Mark, I don’t view acknowledging that the 2014 season will be another losing one as giving up on the Mets. You may have tuned them out this year, but you’re still thinking about 2015 – you haven’t really given up either.
Giving up means choosing another team to root for, or just walking away from Major League Baseball in general. I pretty much did that after the 1994 strike – it took the 2000 Subway Series to really get me back.
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Paul,
Oh, THAT kind of giving up! That’ll never happen. I just give up on the Mets one season at a time. Not that emotionally involved, but I could never root for another team and I couldn’t root against the Mets no matter badly they play. I guess that makes me a realist.
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I’m happy to see Lagares out there because I’ve been saying for the past two years that when you’ve got a bunch of young pitchers, you’ve gotta go with defense over offense. If you lose 2-0, the pitcher can say “I didn’t get the run support, we’ll get ’em next time”. If you lose 9-7, all you can say is “We suck”.
These are fairly empty words coming from a Mets fan who has yet to visit CitiField and who doesn’t often get the chance to watch them on TV, but I’m hanging in with this team for the rest of the season. Come for the prospects, stay to see Grady Sizemore drop a ball with the bases loaded. 🙂
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