Opinion: Two Thoughts after Today’s News
First off, I just want to watch my favorite baseball team actually play baseball, do it well, and win. Is this such a huge request? I mean no disrespect to Angel Pagan and Alex Cora, but, I want to watch Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes because they’re tremendous players, they’re exciting and entertaining, and I have fun watching them do what they do.
So, news of Reyes likely being out for Opening Day, and who knows for how long after that, is disappointing, not just because it hurts the team’s chances of winning, but because the product is more fun to watch when he’s on the field… and it’s been so long since I’ve watched him play, let alone watched him and Beltran play.
It’s frustrating. I mean, this team does not make it easy to be a Mets fan, whether it’s being without its best players, or the constant up and down, or the public relation ‘situations,’ which all lead to constant mocking from media and other fanbases; lately, it always feels like there is some other issue, totally unrelated to real-life baseball, that makes being a fan exhausting…. yet I keep watching.
“The thyroid talk is just the latest in a whole bunch of really weird things to happen to the Mets,” Joe Posnanski recently explained on his blog. “It’s all part of the tradition. The Mets have a proud history of “The Mets Being The Mets” that, of course, goes back to the 1962 team.”
Frankly, I’m tired of this tradition… I’d like to see this franchise work start a new one, built on more than just hoping everyone stays healthy, and hoping for wins.
Lastly, in terms of winning, losing and on-field performance, I realize Cora is a ‘character guy,’ but he is not a starting shortstop for a major-league team. He has zero range in the field, which wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t playing next to 2B Luis Castillo, who has even less range than Cora. So, now, for a team supposedly built on pitching, speed and defense, they may very well enter the season with the worst defensive middle-infield duo in the league. What’s more, Reyes’s absence increases the likelihood that Cora’s second-year option will kick in.
By the way, a) Mike Pelfrey better be nervous, because, for a guy who needs a strong infield defense, he’s got his work cut our for him the next month or so; and b) Pagan need not play the lottery, because he just won it.
Not only did Pagan win the starting center field job when Beltran got hurt, he now locks up the leadoff position, all by simply being in the right place at the right time… Carpe diem, Angel.
