The other day, when the Mets were playing the ChiSox, Ron Darling opined that they were just an afterthought in Chicago to the Cubs, who owned the town.
It was very different than in New York, Darling told us, where the Yankees and Mets were pretty much even in terms of fan followings—"Maybe, for a short time, it gets to be more like 60-40 Yanks," he conceded.
Sorry, Ronnie. But that isn't close to true. I don't know much about Chicago, but in New York, the Mets are indeed an afterthought, much like the Pale Hose. And that's a problem for your New York Yankees.
Ron Darling is one of the most astute commentators in baseball today—maybe the most astute. I wish we had a TV team that was half as entertaining as Ronnie, Keith, and Gary. But on this, he's dead wrong.
The Yankees—first in the AL in attendance again—will outdraw the Mets by a wide margin this season, just as they usually do.
In the time when the two teams have co-existed, the Yanks will have outdrawn the Mets in 40 of 61 seasons (There was no attendance in 2020.). On 16 different occasions, the Yanks have outdrawn the Boys from Flushing by over 1 million fans—and may do so again in 2023—as opposed to just 4 times that the Mets were cock of the walk by such a number.
The last time that happened—Mets outdrawing the Bombers by over 1 million fans—was in 1972. In fact, the only two periods when the Queens team outdrew our boys were from 1964-1975, when the Mets moved into Shea Stadium and experience their first "miracle," and 1984-1992, when it took another miracle.
That's right. The Mets have not been the most popular team in town for over 30 years.
Maybe it was the Mets making their home about as far as possible from the rest of the city, without actually moving out of it. Must've seemed like a good idea—until New York rebounded.
Maybe it's because they stink so bad. And that's not good.
Just look at all of the gyrations the Metsies have gone through since, say, 2006—the last time before this year that everybody thought there was a serious chance of a Subway Series.
Consider, after they missed out on the World Series by one fastball right down the pike to Carlos Beltran,:
—Missing the playoffs on the last day of the season in 2007 and 2008, and firing Willie Randolph along the way (boo!).
—Finishing 4th 4 times in a row under Terry Collins, 2009-2012, with a losing record.
—Returning to two straight, 4th-place finishes with a losing record under Terry Collins in 2017-2018, after a miraculous run to the Series in 2014.
—The Luis Rojas years.
—Last year's flameout in the playoffs against the Padres.
Hey, Steve Cohen probably belongs in jail...but what major-league owner does not? I give him his props for at least deciding to burn it down and start over, no matter what the cost.
Sure beats the nonexistent game plan of Brian "Endless Stasis" Cashman and his boss.
But are three low-minor infielders really a good haul for two HOF pitchers? (Either of whom, of course, could have brought several championships to the Bronx, had Cashman ever shown the slightest interest in them.)
Can the Mets really be any good, any time soon?
I have my doubts—and that's where the Mets' problems end, and ours begin.
Without a strong, winning, POPULAR baseball team to push the Yankees at the box office (and in the TV ratings), nothing is going to change. No doubt, Cashie and HAL watched the Mets meltdown and sell-off with a sneer.
"Hey, nothing to see here! No one to compete with! Ho-hum. Did you know the playoffs are a crapshoot?"
Keenan Wynn Middleton for the bullpen! Game changer!
And the Mets, once again, are an afterthought.
You're most probably right, Hoss, that it's a Yankee town. But attendance can be a misleading tool. It could be that Yankee fans have more money and more time for pleasure than the Met fans. We'd have to do a survey, observing all proper statistical methods to weed out bias. Surveys are something akin to curse words these days. They can't even predict presidential elections these days. Seems to be a great deal of error, bias that they can't account for.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Mets getting three prospects. It all depends on the quality of the prospects, I guess. Did they scout these guys carefully and get what they wanted? If so, it ain't the quantity of the prospects that counts. All it takes is one or two really good players developing out of these trades. They had to move these old pitchers out anyway. Anything they got is like found money. Did they find pots of gold or some loose change? Time will tell.
That's baseball, Suzyn!
ReplyDeleteDown 2-0 early. No way the Yankees come back and win. They aren't a good team and Tampa Bay is. Tampa is a much better team for a quarter of the payroll.
ReplyDeleteWho owns New York? Tampa.
ReplyDeleteWho cares what Darling thinks?
ReplyDeleteThis team is a mess and the reason The Intern didn’t do anything is because the Yankees are cooked.
I can just hear the sales pitch tomorrow:
“ I believe in our players. They been working their butts off - we have a championship- caliber team and believe we’ll be there fighting for a spot in the playoffs.”
Life's a piece of shit
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughin' as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you
And . . . .
ヤンキースは吸う
Fun Fact: Rodon threw 97 pitches through 4 innings. We will see so very much bullpen today. And the bullpen isn't good and getting worse.
ReplyDeleteCashman fuckin sucks ... There's no way this team wins anything so as long as he's the GM..prime opportunity for a fire sale for some prospects but NOOOO
ReplyDeleteLife's a piece of shit
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at it
But the 2013 New York Yankees are a shit stained disgrace to this franchise.
Good to know Winny, but I’m curious….what your take on the 2023 Yankees?
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees have 2 singles and no walks through 5.
ReplyDeleteEvery team ahead and just behind the Yankees got better. The Intern sat on his shrinking twsticles.
ReplyDeleteWhen will we ever see the last of this guy. He has King Midas in reverse.
I can’t believe that the Yankees got shut out for 6 innings by the kid from the “High School Musical” movies.
ReplyDeleteActually, scratch that. I think “Radar” from “M*A*S*H” could probably toss a complete-game shutout against us, and he’s 80. Hell, Pee-Wee Herman might be able to do that, too, and he’s dead.
This is a pathetic display.
ReplyDeleteI saw the score and wondered which non starter was on the mound. Another genius pickup by Brain.
ReplyDeleteRodon started far behind Stanton as the worst acquisition in Yankees history, but he is gaining ground rapidly. Did he throw any kisses when he was pulled this time?
ReplyDeleteBern, is PeeWee available?
ReplyDeleteJM, Cashman would probably trade a decent prospect for him.
ReplyDeleteIf we had a decent prospect.
Has the bar been set so low that Anthony Rizzo getting a weak single — that doesn’t drive in a run — is somehow a cause for celebration in the booth?
ReplyDeleteRight now there are four team ahead of the Yankees for the final wild card spot, each of which improved at the trade deadline.
ReplyDeleteIt’s time raise the white flag. Or was that yesterday?
Terrific article by Joe Najarian posted on SI tonight, in which he suggests that Cashman should be fired, and (very politely) airs much of what we have been raving about for years.
ReplyDeleteHere is a key passage:
"The biggest evidence of this is his behavior during this trade deadline; according to a rival executive, the Yankees have been frustrating to negotiate with, and felt that they were in 'in-between land waiting to be bowled over for their rentals.'
"This behavior isn't new from Cashman, as he has become notoriously stubborn with his handling of the organization, priding himself on under-the-radar moves instead of making clear upgrades, while touting an inherently flawed version of analytics.
"The definition of analytics is to use data to operate a team at peak efficiency, discovering things that can't be seen with the eye test. However, analytics don't care for the IDEA of a good player, they just want good players who can perform NOW."
I understand that the fans tonight started chanting, "Fire...Cashman."
ReplyDeleteSweet.
Wait, wait, wait! I'm being unfair.
ReplyDeleteTurns out Cashman also acquired Spencer Howard from the Rangers. Lifetime 3-11 record, with a 7.20 ERA.
Double sweet.
"Yankees have been frustrating this deadline," a rival executive said, who got the sense that they were in "in-between land waiting to be bowled over for their rentals."
ReplyDeleteCashman showing a slow growing but tangible disconnect with reality. The over reliance on analytics and his ever burgeoning ego is proof of this. We see this behavior all around us these days be it Supreme Court justices, U.S. Senators, or General Managers of the New York Yankees.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI became depressed last night. NOT by the lack of trade results (I had hoped for a wholesale dumping of some deadwood). And this morning I was NOT affected by last night's game result, which is kind of expected at this point, isn't it?
But --
I had the MLB TV geniuses on near the trade deadline. At some point they discussed the Orioles, how they needed to get a starting pitcher (they did!).
What got me was a comment along the lines that the team's total payroll was low (I didn't hear it clearly -- my hearing is gone in one ear (2016 car accident caused that, and it was my fault) -
- but it sounded like "less than $30 million."
I checked a website, Spotrac. It puts the Bawlmore total 2023 payroll at $72.65 million. It's not clear to me what that excludes or includes, or how the diff between what I think I hear and that number could be resolved....But, no matter.That's a lot less than Hal is spending, ain't it?
They have a heck of a good young team for not very much money, don't they? Even at $73M. We all probably guess that the NYYs could be looking up at Bawlmore for YEARS.
Is this what it's like to have a savvy GM (and to emerge after years of mediocrity)---??
To get Flaherty, their new starter, the Orioles gave up their #16 and #18 prospects. ESPN.com notes that "Baltimore did not part with any of its eight prospects ranked in baseball's top 100."
Flaherty could be a rental (free agent at end of year). His 2023 salary: $5.4 million.
What does it feel like to be in First Place in your division, have a big number of young players on your major-league team, and yet still have 8 prospects ranked in the Top 100?
This team bothers me much more than the terrible teams from the early 90's, even though I was more "rabid" then.
ReplyDeleteI think part of it was that it was a diversion from work and raising a family so there was intensity in the immersion from what was really important.
Yet, also cuz when you are 30something you still feel like you have an infinite future.
Now, most of us here are upper 60's or older and life and reality have shown us our mortality.
Most of us realize that we will not see another WS in our lifetimes with this Evil Empire in charge.
That just sucks, but we know that we can't really change a thing. Like when we find out another guy from HS or college dies.
We just turn the page.
The Yankees are like finding out one of your college apartment-mates is terminal.