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.
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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.
There’s a lot to talk about since my last update including the City Connect unis (should have used more 7-train purple, don’t like the hats but better than I feared they’d be) the “new” black look (terrible), the new guys (the miraculous Luis Torrens and the dazzling Jose Iglesias), and the old guys (Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, rocketed to eternity). Then there’s the whole month-of-May thing where it’s plausible the Mets might not have won any games and it seemed at times our rookie manager, whom I liked in April, was getting in over his head.
Take Jerry Grote. He’s a Met Hall of Famer who passed away in April, and the the Mets haven’t done a thing to remember him, beyond (I assume) a pregame scoreboard video. Yet there’s a patch for Grote’s longtime teammate and fellow Mets Hall of Famer Bud Harrelson there.
Back to Iglesias for a moment: I was surprised he didn’t come north with the team in March and it was obvious a versatile infielder who could actually play the infield belonged on the team. Now he’s getting starts ahead of Jeff McNeil who looks like he’s getting the Daniel Vogelbach Treatment. I was also mildly surprised to see them cut ties with Omar Narvaez, despite his performance, being a David Stearns Milwaukee stock.
If you believe the reports there wasn’t anything that could have been done to prevent Jacob deGrom to fulfill his childhood dream to play for the Texas Rangers, which I always thought to be one of those teams who every so often bang a fist on the desk and insist they win a free agency lottery.
As disappointed as we all are to learn the start of the baseball season has been delayed as part of the economic wreckage of incompetent U.S. preparedness for the coronavirus, perhaps there’s a silver lining in not immediately experiencing how dumb it’s going to be when new rules requiring relief pitchers throw to at least three batters takes effect. And the March 26 opening date seemed obscenely early anyway. I don’t often bother to show up in Flushing until May, given that place is guaranteed to be 20 degrees colder and twice as damp as anywhere else in the five boroughs, but let’s hope they get it going by then.
How are we going to pass the time though? I’d been suffering through the Islanders season and now that’s done too. So we’re rewatching The Wire on the stream, and reading some books.
There’s a little Met content too, with J.J. Putz, Lastings Milledge, Angel Pagan, Razor Shines, Ambiorix Burgos and Xavier Nady among those featured.
That’s what we did to and from Hawaii and now I’m back. Mets coaches in the meantime are busy flying into new and kinda weird unis, as you guys were astutely noting below.
Terry Collins pretty much spoiled the idea of returning to wear No. 1 once he invoked the name of Jim Leland, but it doesn’t mean Luis Castillo is in the clear yet. Newspapers last week were speculating that Mookie Wilson would be named to fill the vacant first-base coaching job — and maintain the proper quota of 1986 laborers in continuing employ with the Mets as stipulated in a secret contract somewhere.
Darryl you might know has a new 