The Fallacy of the "New York Yankee Fan"

A fantastic post by Matt Cerrone over at Metsblog about why he's optimistic for the 2012 New York Mets season. He explains in excellent terms something I've always thought but have never quite been able to put in terms as perfect as these when it comes to that team in the Bronx and their pathetic fair weather fans:

"...I will never understand how some Yankees fan, who barely check in on baseball from April through August, then only watch in September and October, are happy when their team wins. To each his own I guess, and I try not to judge, but, to me, that would be like tuning in to the last five minutes of a movie and cheering when Luke takes down Vadar. At that point, I'd rather not watch at all. I mean, how can you really appreciate the accomplishment and be truly happy for the people on field if you have no real idea about what went in to getting there?"

This explains why I've met so many "Yankee fans" that say they don't like baseball in those seasons when the Yankees are losing but act like they've been there through the years all along when the Yankees are winning. This is even though they have probably never heard of the likes of Steve Balboni, Mel Hall, Kevin Maas, Roberto Kelly and many more.

Wheeler, Harvey, and Familia all make MLB.com’s ‘Top 100 Prospects’ list

Metzilla has a great recap of the three Mets pitching studs, Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, and Jeurys Familia, making MLB.com's top 100 prospect list.

Also on the MLB Network last night was an interview with Paul DePodesta, Mets VP of Player Development and Scouting. He was also the inspiration for the character played by Jonah Hill in the movie "Moneyball", which he talks about here:

Chris Christie: “Mr. Wilpon, my number, you’ve got it.” | Metsblog

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a diehard Met fan offered to be the team's next GM should Sandy Alderson decide to step down. Since the Mets are the only thing with which I agree with the governor, I didn't bother to watch the full clip to splice out the Mets-related piece. So sit back and enjoy Gov. Jabba the Hut as he talks about his (lack of) accomplishments and adds the Mets GM piece somewhere along the way:

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Reyes contract breakdown

From this post on metsblog.com:

"In case you’re interested, according to Newsday, the Marlins will pay Reyes $10 million in 2012, $10 million in 2013, $16 million in 2014, $22 million in 2015, $22 million in 2016, $22 million in 2017 with a $22 million option for 2018 or a $4 million buyout."

This is backloaded like Carlos Delgado's contract in 2005.  Which basically means it's a two-year/$20 million contract for the Marlins, followed by a four-year/$82 million contract for someone else, with a $22 million option in 2018 or a $4 million buyout. This second part is scary in light of this exchange Metsblog founder Matt Cerrone posted:

"Matthew Cerrone: I talked to a player’s agent yesterday who ruined my night by saying, ‘How much do you want to bet me that the Marlins trade Jose Reyes to the Yankees in two years, when the Yankees can buy out Derek Jeter‘s contract?” He wasn’t basing this on any inside information. It was simply an opinion, and clearly designed to get a rise out of me. It worked, because I hadn’t thought about that scenario before. At that point, Reyes would have four years and $75 million left on his deal and Jeter will be 39 and with a $3 million buyout. It’s fairly plausible, which makes it all that much worse."

Metsblog | The Mets are better today than they were yesterday!

This is how moral victories are celebrated. All joking aside, this is a great point:

"The Mets were sixth in the National League in runs scored last season, despite missing Ike Davis, a half season from Daniel Murphy and Carlos Beltran, a poor year from Angel Pagan, and with Jose Reyes on and off the disabled list, and with David Wright and Jason Bay having down years. Yet, they scored more runs than every other team in their division. At the same time, the Mets were sixth in the league with 24 blown saves."

That's where the new bullpen guys and the better defensive centerfielder come into play. Just 10 of those blown saves being converted turns a 77-85 team into a 87-75 team.

What is a New York payroll? | Metsblog.com

I never thought about it this way but Matt Cerrone of Metsblog.com makes a fantastic point about the difference between a New York baseball team and the other 28 baseball teams:

"The difference between New York sports and other cities is that our teams have to compete with eight other franchises, not to mention Broadway, world-class restaurants, historic museums, and a variety of other ways to spend an entertainment dollar."

Jose Reyes, David Wright, and that Great Wall of Flushing

This year's World Series is a brutal reminder for Met fans that the National League representative is the same team that knocked the Mets out in that magical 2006 season just five years ago. Joel Sherman acknowledges that reminder and takes it further by laying it out as a reason for letting go of both Jose Reyes and David Wright. Sherman writes:

"Losing both of their signature players this offseason might be too large a hit for an organization already in bad stead with its fan base. However, plugging the leaky ship around Wright and Reyes since that fateful 2006 NLCS has not worked. It might be time to build a new boat."

Sherman doesn't connect the two dots that, in my opinion, what happens with Reyes will determine what the Mets do with Wright. As I've said before, the current top prospects in the organization would not be ready for the MLB until Wright is past his prime and I'm begrudgingly starting to agree with the premise (as Sherman says in his column) that Wright is a great player but not the cornerstone player that Albert Pujols is.

Speaking of Wright, David Lennon of Newsday first reported/tweeted that the Mets should be making an announcement on the walls at CitiField shortly after the World Series. As reported on Metsblog.com:

"Lennon says to expect the left-field wall to be ‘shortened and pulled in,’ the right-center bullpen fences to be ‘pulled in,’ and Mo Zone ‘fenced off.’

The last day of the season, while broadcasting from Citi Field, WFAN’s Mike Francesa reported ALL fences in the outfield will be 8 feet tall next year. Also, he said both foul poles will remain exactly where they are, but the walls in center and by the Mo Zone in right field will be 390 feet."

I also had another thought when I was watching the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS this year. When they brought in the left field wall at Comerica Park, they moved the bullpens to the newly formed space between the old wall and the new wall, allowing the Tigers to add additional premium seats in right field. Considering the easy access to the current bullpen area in CitiField, it's worth investigating if the bullpens can be moved to left-center field and the current bullpen area turned into a picnic area like the one that used to be behind the left-field bleachers in Shea Stadium. I hope the team considers this, although it would be a shame if they do this and then trade Wright before he has a chance to play in smaller dimensions.

Take a Guided Tour of Citi Field

This is pretty cool. Nifty little way to make some money on the side from diehard fans like me too.

1963 Ford Thunderbird magazine ad with unfinished Shea in the background (Pretty Cool!)

From Metsblog.com: A great ad in the October 1963 issue of Popular Science magazine with an unfinished Shea Stadium in the background.

Selig: Mets never threatened over cap flap - NYPOST.com

Here's more proof that Bud Selig is, and always will be, way in over his head as the commissioner of Major League Baseball. The fact that he could be so clueless as to the importance of the Mets wearing the first responder hats like they did in 2001 is pathetic and sad. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog, Adam Rubin of ESPN, John Harper of The New York Daily News, and George Willis of The New York Post agree that the Mets should have been wearing the NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD hats for 9/11.

Blue Mets Jerseys in 2013? Sounds too good to be true!

Looks like the blue uniforms the Mets wore for Fiesta Latina weren't a fluke after all. Apparently the team was testing fan reaction and was impressed with the positive response:

"“We did receive quite a bit of feedback, almost all of it anecdotal, but fairly extensive and fairly uniformly positive about the blue jersey,” [Mets executive VP for business operations Dave] Howard said. “It’s something we wanted to try. We had been discussing it internally. And we had been hearing from fans -- and observing on blogs and things like that -- of people having a view that they’d like to see more of the blue and orange. So with the “Los Mets” jersey, obviously it’s something you wear for one day for a promotion. And we thought it would be a good opportunity to try out this particular design. And it was very well received.”"

Everyone from David Wright (via Metsblog) to Metsblog readers (91% in favor) to me weighed in on the blue jerseys, nearly all of it in favor of the blue.

The only drawback of this is Major League Baseball's uniform rules are so ridiculous, teams have to submit their uniforms for the following season prior to opening day of the current season. Meaning, if the Mets wanted to make the blue uniforms part of their regular jerseys for next season, it would have to have been submitted for approval to the league offices this past March. How ridiculous is that?!?

David Wright endorses the Blue Jersey over the Black one - Metsblog.com

I miss the old jersey from the '80's above but the updated version is pretty nice too. Hopefully they'll keep this one and get rid of that black one, which aside from not being one of the team colors, is the worst possible color to be wearing while playing sports on a hot summer day or night.