Category: This Friggin Team

Take Your Seats

So another word about tickets. They did finally announce single-game tickets were going on sale, but only for games though June. It’s not enough to keep season plans limited to those requiring fans to buy more tickets than they can use, feeding the secondary markets which the Mets also get a cut of, but “make-your-own-plan” fans like me who’ve reliably occupied seats for decades, all on the hope that a good first half can what last year’s entire season couldn’t, and that’s drive actual demand for Mets tickets.

Anyway, I tried what Stu suggested and bought a few games in the secondary market, and the rest we can try to buy (through June anyway) when the window opens on Thursday. I paid a few bucks above face value on these tickets and part of that goes right back to the Mets who essentially get to sell the same ticket twice, depending on demand.

Oh, and they’re having a presale this weekend on single-game tickets, but only if you have a Citi credit card. I went and applied for one, got approved in like 5 seconds but they won’t release the account number and code until the card gets here in a few business days. Too late.

I also saw where they raised parking fees for non-season ticket holders to $50. I’m OK with that–surface parking is a terrible waste of parkland and I use public transport as all good people should–but it’s another middle finger to people who just want to go to a game. And like number retirements, nothing can be done to stop it.

When we finally get to the ballpark we’ll see Luis Robert wearing No. 88 and playing center, Freddy Peralta wearing No. 51 and probably pitching on opening day and maybe even Craig Kimbrel in the bullpen. As noted in the comments the roster shows Devin Williams taking over 38 but Tylor Megill still hanging in there fighting for it. Tobias Myers, acquired along with Peralta, is listed as 32. Brandon Sproat’s abandoned 40 appears yet to be reissued so maybe Megill winds up there. Kimbrel is a non-roster guy for the moment but has rarely been seen without wearing 46.

There remain several guys on the 40 who still need number assignments: Pitchers Luis Garcia and Joey Gerber; infielder Vidal Brujan and outfielder Nick Morabito. They also signed outfielder MJ Melendez, a one-time hot prospect from the Royals who’s now a fringy guy, or an everyday player in Syracuse.

 

 

Relief Pitchers and Number Retirements Suck

Long time, no see!

There’s been a confluence of events that’s kept me away, and laziness/real job is only part of it. Like the Mets I sort of petered out at the end of last season. I was never expecting anything along the lines of 2024 but that was a rotten season for the Mets who somehow both sucked and underachieved simultaneously. They gave up when I did.

Then there was the drudgery of keeping the data fresh. At some point, the work here became less about the Mets and more about chronicling whichever 13th reliever the Mets had up for the day. By the time he’s entered in, he’s gone, and I’m like anyone else looking up what number the next one is wearing on Mets.com. In a few days or weeks I’ve forgotten these guys even existed much less their predecessor in No. 68 or 82. Seems like, there was a time when obscure Mets had a story behind their obscurity. Now they’re too damn ephemeral, and even where the job is writing it down, my memory cannot fit any more Richard Loveladys or Jonathan Pintaros.

I’m also fatigued with uni-number retirements if you want to know the truth. There’s definitely some dissonance associated with chronicling numbers for a team with fundamental differences in the purpose of them. Please reissue 8 today.

My friend and counterpart at the  Ultimate Mets Database is encountering the same exhaustion I have and as a result he’s in the process of transferring that site after 25 years in business. The new owner intends to refashion it, which is nice, but it leaves the uni-number data in some uncertainty. In case you don’t know I moved that info from here to UMDB several years ago and I still manually maintain that part of it. It’s not clear if that be the case in the future.

I’ve considered retiring my own number, so to speak, but not quite yet. New year, new look for the website, hope springs eternal, etc. I’ll address this massive Met overhaul in a separate post. For now, goodbye and hello.

Requiring Retiring

Today out at Big Shea they are honoring one of the greats. Really, the greatest of the greats–the best homegrown offensive player in team history and a wire-to-wire Met good enough to go to 7 All-Star Games, and win a few Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves. That distinguishes David Wright from say, the man whose many records he erased, the late Ed Kranepool.

This is a resume of a number-retiree, and what we’ll see today. It’s not what we’d been seeing with the Strawberry, Gooden and even Hernandez retirements, although Keith’s post-playing career as a figure in Mets history is a persuasive extenuating circumstance. And for god sakes, its not Gary Carter, even as they’ve held his number in limbo for more than two decades, presumably waiting for the right moment. Now that they’ve demonstrated 8 is kind of special they lack the courage to go back, which is very Wilpon-y. That they’ll solve the problem by recklessly retiring it is very Cohen-y.

But uni-number retirement shouldn’t be about waiting for the right moment. If there’s a moment to be waited for then that’s not a guy whose number you should be retiring.

The only solution, I’ve come to believe, is to do away with number retirements entirely. It doesn’t do anything that a statue couldn’t do or a well-managed Hall of Fame couldn’t do and it will arrest this urge to cashier perfectly good uniform numbers that’s only going to accelerate as the team attempts sustained success for one of the few times in its history. You can’t look at Francisco Lindor today and not consider him a retiree shoo-in. We’ll have Juan Soto for 15 years or whatever, he’ll take 22 with him when he goes. Even Brandon Nimmo is creeping into immortal territory, Met-wise. deGrom? Dickey? Diaz? It may never end.

Plus, I’ve argued this before, how does not issuing a number honor a guy? You’d do better to remember him through the guys who follow in his path.

I’ll say one more thing, and that’s to honor in proportion to the rest of the retired-numbermen, they must erect a giant statue of him outside the stadium just like they did for Seaver. The True Greats.

I know, Cohen would prefer building a casino there.

*

Congrats to Brooks Raley for making it back from arm surgery and resuming his Mets career in No. 25. Richard Lovelady was DFAed to make room. Bad loss last night; not impressed with Mendy’s handling of bullpenny things this year.

Oil painting above was done by my dad shortly before he passed away.

 

It’s time to retire retiring numbers

I don’t need to tell you David Wright was an all-time Met great. Fielded his position well. Hit for power and average. Could take a walk. Clutch? You bet. Well spoken. Model citizen. Dad was a cop. Met stock through and through draft pick who grew up rooting for the Tides, never played for another team and acquired as a compensation draft pick for just the kind of fleeting mercenary he wasn’t, the one-and-done Mike Hampton. Tore up the team record books to lead all-time in hits, runs scored, plate appearances, doubles, walks, total bases and runs batted in. Got along great with the press. .296 batting average, same as Mike Piazza as a Met.

If they didn’t go and hang his No. 5 high up in left field next summer, all of the above things would still be true, and needn’t be forgotten, since Wright at the same time will be entering into the Mets Hall of Fame.

I don’t need to tell you, and neither does the retired number.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Wright is the perfect example of a player whose number should be retired, for all the reasons above. But numbskulls are already writing dumb articles about who should be next as though there’s a well of guys as accomplished as Wright out there in Mets history who somehow just haven’t gotten their due.

The sad truth of the matter is the Mets don’t have a great history when it comes to developing retirement-worthy ballplayers and no amount of number-retirement is going to fix that. So I’m calling for an end to number retirements, not just for the Mets, but as a thing. Find a more creative way to salute the accomplishments of these guys. Name a field after Gary Carter. Have the best rookie win the Dwight Gooden Award. And I’d much prefer a Darryl Strawberry statue by the right field gate than no more No. 18s. Wouldn’t anybody?

Let’s end this madness.

Half and Half

So I was out there on Friday, watching the team in the black jerseys that are unreadable from the stands, and felt the magic. People were going crazy, the Grimace was there, people watched the comeback and walked out chanting LGM, giving one another high fives and the only thing that worried me was the realization: This team is one game over .500. And now, after losing the last two games of the series to the Astros due to their complete lack of pitching depth, the team sits 40-41, exactly half the season gone, and “on pace” for 80-82. It’s been a great month anyway.

Lots of new Mets to meet.

On the mound there’s Ty Adcock, who was given No. 52. Tyler Jay (74) is back and we were unfortunate enough to make acquaintances with Matt Festa, who stunk it up wearing No. 73 tonight. Gone are Edwin Diaz, popped for a stupid sticky-stuff violation that is hurting the entire team. Sean-Reid Foley has been out since June 22 with shoulder trouble, and Drew Smith out  since June 24 with elbow issues.

Smith’s issues appear to be serious enough to warrant season-ending surgery. That’s too bad because he will become a free agent in the offseason.

I wanted a long time for Smith to be the closer I thought he could be, and reward for the trade of one of my favorite all-time Mets, Lucas Duda. He was all over the places though. He wore 62 then 40 then 33 (he’s pretty much still a 62 to me). He had long hair for awhile, remember that? For a time it was easy to confuse him in print for Dominic Smith. If boxscores still existed, it’d be DrSmith and DmSmith.

Now he’s gone, and so is Tomas Nido, a forgotten man in the catcher scrum until resurfacing briefly this year. Here’s a fun piece of trivia you might have forgotten in the seven years that Nido’s been a Met: He started off his career wearing No. 77, in September of 2017.

For a moment we saw Joe Hudson as a Met, wearing 57 like he was Eric Valent out there, and now there’s Ben Gamel, wearing 21 like he’d Duda or something.

Maxed Out

I’ll miss David Robertson and his reliable socks more than I’ll ever miss Max Scherzer and his reliable gopherballs.

Who knows whether Luisangel Acuna actually becomes a star; what we know was that Scherzer wasn’t one anymore. At best, he was a fading one whose 2024 looks pretty risky, so I’m glad he and all that money are gone.

Next up? Probably Tommy Pham and maybe Brooks Raley. Verlander? He might stay. Hopefully the rest of these guys give us a starting pitcher because I’m not looking forward to David Peterson and Tylor Megill.

Up from Syracuse to take Max’s place is Vinny Nottoli. Reed Garrett, No. 75, replaced Robertson.

Catch Them While You Can

A flurry of fast-vanishing minor league palookas have inhabited the bullpen lately. We’ve seen Edwin Uceta (64), Zach Muckenhirn (71), and Dominic Leone (50), not to mention emergency starters Jose Butto and Denyi Reyes. Leone appeared so suddenly he beat the transactions column.

While inputting some of these guys I realized I’d neglected to mark the end of their predecessors like RJ Alvarez for Muckenhirn and the unforgettable Nate Fisher for Uceta. Early May seems too soon to be this deep into bullpen depth, but these guys are churning already. Only Leone is still up, now that Tommy Hunter and Stephen Nogosek are back from injury.

I’m not certain how the Mets shake themselves out of this malaise but more consistent work from the top three in the lineup would a place to start. They gave off “Worst Team Money Can Buy” vibes this week in Detroit.

Sour Patch Kids

So much for the Mets not screwing up the jersey-sponsor patch opportunity. It’s enough to desecrate the uniform itself with advertising; but to do so in the wrong color is inexcusable. The “white space” in the patch represents the allowable sponsor real estate on the sleeve but clearly doesn’t help the design, it’s an eyesore through and through and a tragic moment in Met uniform history.

On the bright side it looks like Francisco Alvarez will be here for the home opener ad Omar Narvaez lasted a week till needing the injured list. And just in– Alvarez has been issued No. 4 and the 50 he wore late last year. I don’t want to overstate it but this season seems teetering on the edge of going way wrong already.

Losing Ugly

You wonder if this isn’t some psychic damage from having lost Diaz and Quintana and Verlander at inopportune moments, but the Mets look awful in Milwaukee so far.

Last night if you could bear to watch you saw Max Scherzer give up a buttload of hard hit balls and get relieved by Denyi Reyes, who was making his Mets debut. Reyes was in because Tommy Hunter went to the injured list after himself getting beaten up the day before. Reyes, who was signed as a minor league free agent and has a few innings of MLB experience with the Orioles, was wearing 72, last seen on the back of Jake Reed last season.

You’re bound to get thumped a few times over the course of a long season but you’d prefer they not be in a row during the season’s first week. It makes you look unprepared and that’s a thing that has to rankle Buck. Let’s hope they get out of Milwaukee with some dignity and a winning record.

Over the Top

What if things go wrong now? Will they trade Eduardo Escobar or turn him into a designated hitter? What of the young players like Brett Baty and Mark Vientos?

I’m not here acting like I saw this fiasco coming but Carlos Correa just became to Met infielders what Carlos Beltran was to Met managers.

And so, despite Steve Cohen proclaiming we needed another bat “to put us over the top” it looks like Escobar and Baty are what we’ll get in 2023. I have no problem with that. A right-handed designated hitter (Andrew McCutcheon?) might still make sense but better off not being locked into a dozen years of a $300 million injury risk.