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As noted yesterday, Fred Wilpon said he is 
happy that Carlos Beltran showed confidence to reporters over the weekend, adding…
“It’s a championship season. We expect to be in the playoffs - and deep into the playoffs. That’s our expectation.”
According to Mike Vaccaro in the New York Post, Wilpon feels your pain from last September, writing, “He knows what you were feeling, knows how badly you were hurting, because he understands what it is to suffer and to bleed – literally – when your baseball team is careening helplessly into the abyss.”
In Newsday, Ken Davidoff takes note of the long road for Wilpon, spanning just four seasons, from ‘Meaningful Games,” to “Deep in to October.”
Willie Randolph, in response to Wilpon’s comments, as quoted by the New York Post:
“That’s the way it should be. That’s what I want to hear…I’d rather have it that way than the other way around. That’s why we’re here. I don’t concern myself with expectations and so-called pressure. The pressure to win is always there. It’s how you handle that and how you deal with that.”
Also, in the New York Post, Burt Hubbach talks with Pedro Martinez about Wilpon’s statement, as well as Billy Wagner, who he quotes as saying:
“I think it’s fantastic. I love it. We’re a veteran team with a lot of All-Stars, so we should have the expectation of going to the World Series and winning the World Series.”
For more on Wilpon, check out the Journal News, Bergen Record and the New York Times.
I hope the pressure is handled differently than last year!
I get the feeling that Beltran is trying to finally be a leader on this team. Maybe he is finding his “voice” now that the blowhard LoDuca is gone. Wright tends to just say the right thing rather than the thing that will lead the club. Wright is a bit Piazza like in that they lead with their play not their mouth.
I am behind the push Beltran tossed out there. I am also pleased to hear that Reyes is planning to tone down the act and simply play the game and forgo the handshakes and midair bumps after and during games. I am also excited to hear that Delgado has broken his swing apart and recreated it from the ground up. I see the biggest question marks this year as..
1) Delgado’s bat reawakening
2) Health and readiness of Duaner
3) Pedro’s abiility to win us 15 games….followed by
4) OP’s ability to play out a contract year.
I am most worried about OP frankly. As good as I think he is and can be…he has never been seen as “consistent”. This year with the pressure of the pending free agency and the money on the line for him…he will have to become consistent to make climb out of his current status which is electric at times and awful at times.
I want someone to come out and say we are going to treat every game against the Nats, Phillies and Marlins as game 7 of the WS. Win or die situations. Those teams were the ones that punished us down the stretch and caused the historic collapse. Time for payback. I want someone to say they are angry about it and plan to do something about it by treating those games as the most important ones on the schedule.
But even if they dont say it….I want them to do it. I want them to destroy the teams that made us pay last year. Exert the dominance we can bring on them and get our retribution!
Agree about Piazza/Wright comparison, except to say that Piazza was an extreme example of the “silent example” type, so much so that he sometimes came off as detached and withdrawn. We don’t know about Wright yet, since his role on the team will develop as he becomes a veteran player.
I’m afraid that Ollie may always be a “three good starts followed by a train wreck” type pitcher. I hope I’m wrong there, because when he’s on, he’s dominant.
Worthy comments.
Many of the Mets and management have had their say so early now. I am happy for the confidence and even the mixed opinions; not every man is built the same.
There is, however, a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and from this point on I am much more interested in Mets’ actions. This is where I totally side w/ P. Martinez, who is quoted in today’s NYT as basically saying, You’ve got to prove your confidence on the field.