In 2008, voodoo financier Bernie Madoff supposedly called his family together to reveal that his business empire was a con game, and that they should grab the silverware and run for Upper Canada. Over the next few months, Mets owner Fred "Bensonhurst" Wilpon - whose chicken neck foreshadowed Lincoln Chaffee - began publicly weaseling about how he'd been chiseled out of part of his family's infinity of money, which left them with infinity-minus one - less than their previous infinity. (Money is hard to count, when you own practically every square inch of Brooklyn.)
Over the next four years, with Fred Wilpon screaming like a stuck pig, the Mets continually finished fourth in a remarkably bad five-team division, unable to finish last due to the reverse genius of the Washington Nationals. (If Bernie Madoff had happened three years earlier, who knows? The Mets today might have Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg.)
Hamstrung by their poor-mouthing billionaire owner, the Mets could not buy star players like Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran, though they wouldn't have spat in Beltran's direction, considering that their last memory of hope - until now - was of Carlos watching a meatball bisect the plate - strike three - ending their post-season. Ahh, memories...
Anyway, over the four years following Bernie Madoff, the Mets always drafted high. They selected Matt Harvey in the first round - just the seventh player picked - and Stephen Matz in the second round. They drafted several trade chips and prospects who are still bobbing through the system. They drafted Michael Conforto with the 10th pick in the draft. They succeeded through the approved gentlemanly way: They sucked.
Yep. That's how you do it. Just suck. Come in fourth enough times, and the sheer volume of your high draft picks and low payroll eventually will bring a resurgence. That's the reality of modern professional sports. If you wait your turn, if you take your losses, you eventually will be good for a while. Tampa did it. Houston, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, the Cubs - they all did it. It's the gentlemen's agreement among the owners. Just suck, wait your turn, and everything will be OK.
That's why Bud Selig hated the Yankees. Old George didn't play the gentleman's game. (His son, Prince Hal, is conflicted about it. He wants to feed his siblings, each of whom wants their cut, and he wants to honor his dad, too.) That's why Jerry Jones and Bill Belichik are hated in the NFL. They don't play by the rules.
So the Mets are on top, and let's face it: They'll be good for three to five years, until the low draft picks and the salary caps take over. The question is whether the Yankees will continually chase that extra Wild Card birth - the mirage - which they won this year with a record that was 6 games over .500. In other words, we are stuck in Purgatory, going nowhere.
I'm not sure sure which option is more repugnant - waiting your turn, or constantly chasing the one-game mirage. But the Yankees used to be the only pro team in American sports that you could count on. Now, that team does not exist. They are just another franchise, owned by just another owner's son, and they're too rich for their own good, and the best thing that could happen to Yankee fans might be a financial adviser who suddenly calls his family together and unfurls a map of Upper Canada.
Is Kyle Schwarber available next year? In case we need a defensive replacement in the outfield...
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThey are just another franchise, owned by just another owner's son
...and they play in just another stadium, whereas they used to play in baseball's One True Cathedral.
GOD, I LOVE THIS POST, EL DUQUE.......REMEMBER FREDDY COUPONS' COMPLAINT TO SELIG THAT THE METS PLAYING THE YANKEES 6 GAMES A SEASON WAS "TOO MANY TIMES" ? .. REMEMBER, SELIG AND COUPON ARE REAL LIFE FRIENDS- SELIG ACTUALLY LISTENED, AND TRIMMED THE SERIES TO 4 GAMES! .....I ALSO REMEMBER YEARS AGO, THE YANKEES WERE SHOPPING FOR A LOCATION FOR THEIR DOUBLE AA AFFILIATE, ONE OF THE LOCATIONS THE YANKS WANTED WAS SUFFOLK COUNTY IN LONG ISLAND NEW YORK, (I LIVE IN NASSAU COUNTY LONG ISLAND-IT WOULD BE A 45 MINUTE DRIVE FOR ME)...I WAS SO EXCITED..THE YANKEES ASKED THE METS FOR THEIR "BLESSING" ON THE LOCATION. THE METS MADE A STINK, AND OPPOSED THE IDEA (REMEMBER, SELIG AND THE COUPONS ARE FRIENDS), SO THE YANKS WERE FORBIDDEN TO MOVE THEIR DOUBLE AA TEAM TO SUFFOLK COUNTY. THE FUCKING METS THOUGHT IT COULD BE A "DETRIMENT" TO PEOPLE COMING TO SHEA STADIUM AS OPPOSED TO POSSIBLY SEEING A YANKEE DOUBLE AA GAME!...CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?? THE METS LONG SUCKED THEN. THEY WILL SUCK AGAIN SOONER THAN PEOPLE THINK. THEY'RE WAY TOO CHEAP..IT LOOKS LIKE THEY WILL NOT PAY THEIR #3 AND #4 HITTERS NEXT SEASON, AND ONCE THEIR PITCHING "STUDS" COME UP FOR BIG PAYDAYS, MOST OF THEM WILL BOLT WHEN THE METS REFUSE TO PAY THEM. THEY BETTER WIN RIGHT NOW....GO ROYALS!!
ReplyDeleteEL DUQUE...JUST A CORRECTION...THE YANKS FINISHED 12 GAMES OVER .500 THIS YEAR..87-75.. ALTHOUGH, IT REALLY FEELS THE SAME, 6 GAMES OVER, 12 GAMES OVER, WTF IS THE DIFFERENCE? IT'S NOT WHERE WE NEED TO BE, THAT'S FOR SURE.
ReplyDeleteIt's a six game swing. If six of those wins are lost, it's a .500 season.
ReplyDeleteOK...I GOTCHA...IF WE WOULD HAVE PLAYED 6 MORE GAMES DURING THE REGULAR SEASON, WE WOULD HAVE WOUND UP 6 GAMES OVER, THE WAY WE WERE GOING....DISGRACE.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, the Yankees entered ( though failed to compete in ) the one-game p[lay-in this year, thus qualifying them as a top team who gets dirt for draft picks.
ReplyDeleteYou have seen what our mediocrity has achieved.
Now, wxpect more of the same.
Prediction; The Mets, as WS champions this year, will sign better draft picks than the Yankees.
Same NY baseball story, but different.
ReplyDeleteOne team made significant trades at the deadline because it wanted to take a shot at a championship.
The other did virtually nothing because the owner is cheap and was satisfied with playing "meaningful" games in September.
I'll never root for the Mets, but I won't be wasting money at NYS III next year.
Why make the $teinbrothers even richer?
THIS TROIKA OF HAL, CASH, AND JOE G. ARE REALLY SCARING ME.....IT'S LIKE, THEY ARE "STUCK IN-BETWEEN" DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, AND DOING WHAT "FISCALLY" NEEDS TO BE DONE...OF COURSE WITH THE YANKEES, THERE REALLY CAN'T BE AN "IN-BETWEEN"....THEY NEED TO BE "BALLS OUT" ALL THE TIME. THIS WAS GEORGE'S WAY (EXCEPT FOR THE MUCH OF THE 80's-AND, SURPRISE, NO TITLES IN THE 80's)...WE ALWAYS...ALWAYS, NEED TO BE A BIG PLAYER IN THE FREE AGENT MARKET...IT SEEMS LIKE THE LAST FEW YEARS, THE "TROIKA" HAS AGREED TO NOT DOLE OUT BIG MONEY FOR THE BEST FREE AGENTS BECAUSE "BEING THE YANKEES, WE WILL ONLY DRIVE THE PRICE UP IF WE ARE IN THE NEGOTIATIONS"...SORRY BOYS, BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, WHETHER THE YANKEES ARE IN THESE NEGOTIATIONS OR NOT, THE PRICES FOR THESE GUYS STILL WIND UP BEING NUTS, EITHER WAY!...SO, WE PASSED ON SCHERZER, I GUESS WE WILL PASS ON PRICE AND GREINKE...OH, WE WILL PROBABLY WIND UP GETTING SAMARDJIA, BUT WON'T THAT COST US A COMPENSATORY PICK? IF WE ARE GOING TO LOSE A PICK FOR SIGNING SOMEONE, GO "BALLS OUT" AND BRING BACK A PRICE OR GREINKE INSTEAD. SURE, IT WILL COST MORE FUCKING MONEY, BUT I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, GEORGE DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT, AND NEITHER SHOULD THE "TROIKA" GIVE A SHIT. THE YANKS MAKE A FORTUNE, AND ARE WORTH A FORTUNE.. SIGN PRICE OR GREINKE AND THEN RAISE THE FUCKING PARKING AT THE STADIUM FROM $35 DOLLARS TO $38 DOLLARS! I WILL HAPPILY PAY IT!!! TACK ON $10 MORE DOLLARS ON EVERY TICKET PRICE, I'M IN!...I WILL PAY!! I WILL HAPPILY PAY!! I WILL FUCKING "SKIP" UP TO THE TICKET BOOTH!...BUT STOP THIS "STEPHEN DREW/CHRIS CAPUANO" 5 MILLION FOR 1 YEAR STOPGAP SHIT!!! I GUARANTEE THAT IS CASHMAN'S WORK, TELLING HAL, "DON'T WORRY, I WILL GET COMPARABLE PRODUCTION AT A FRACTION OF THE COST, I'M GOOD AT IT." ..NO CASH, YOU'RE NOT!!!!! THAT STEPHEN DREW PICKUP WAS A FUCKING DISASTER LAST SEASON, AND I DON'T WANNA HEAR ABOUT "17 HOMERS" -(BLOW SNOT)- THAT MOVE ALONE SET US BACK, AS IT RETARDED THE GROWTH OF REFSNYDER (WHO BY THE WAY, WOULD HAVE HELPED US WIN A FEW MORE GAMES, IN MY OPINION).....AND THE CAPUANO SIGNING (ONLY 5 MILLION!) WAS AN EMBARRASSMENT. HE WAS DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT 45 TIMES LAST SEASON.....I'M JUST SO ENRAGED WITH WHAT WE'RE DOING (OR NOT DOING), THESE DAYS...AND WATCHING THIS MET SHIT
ReplyDeletePICK UP STEAM, IS MUCH MORE THAN I CAN TAKE.....PLEASE A.L. TEAM, CRUSH THESE METS, CRUSH THEM GOOD.........
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ReplyDeleteGod bless you
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