The Agony of Being a NY Mets Fan Part 2 How I would Fix the NY Mets

So what's the answer? I know, as many Mets fans out there do, we all have our theories. For me though, first you have to decide: is this a win now team, or a team that needs rebuilding? Personally, I think it's a win now team, if for no other reason then the fact that Santana, Beltran, your two best players, are in their prime at 30-plus years of age. With that in mind, I would say to myself as owner "We are a win now team. So let's spend and give it our best shot, even if we have to eat some contracts and over-pay a bit." So here is my plan for the 2010 New York Mets.

• I would try to trade Castillo and eat some of his contract. It's only for two years now and he had a good bounce back season so a team should want his services.
• I would undo a terrible wrong and sign Orlando Hudson like we should have done.
  
• I would make Murphy our full time 1st baseman with no excuses, maybe just a utility man to give him a day off every three weeks (Tatis?).
• I would seriously see what the market is for Jose Reyes and if I can get some major pieces for him, I would move him (It hurts me to say it. I mean I have the guy's autographed baseball, so I'm not a Reyes-hater).
• I would look over our entire outfield. Jeff Francoeur looks like a player so I would give him a full season. For left field, I would make my first major off-season acquisition and sign Matt Holiday
  
• With Beltran's status up in the air, I would go two ways. If he's good to go but has to miss some of the beginning of the season, I would use a stopgap player (Pagan?). If he's out for 2010, I would start looking for a major league centerfielder (Wells, Crawford, Bay?).
• As for catcher, I would keep Santos. He's a solid backup but for our starting catcher, I would go after Benji Molina as a stopgap until we go after Victor Martinez or Joe Mauer in 2011.
  
• As for the rotation, Santana is a given. Aside from trades, I would sign John Lackey, release Maine and Livan, put Neise in and give him the whole season, and try to move Perez. Then I'd go after Bedard or try to trade for Kazmir, Holiday or Webb.
• As for our GM, I would give him one more year with free reign to spend what he wants for that season. It's make or break for him.
  
• And the Manager.....well I could give Manuel one more shot.. or I could go after Bobby V with an all-star squad Hummmm?
  

In the end, those are just fantasy dreams, like any other Mets fan. After daydreaming, you open your eyes. You remember that you are a Mets fan. This is your team and you know what you're going to expect from them, don't you? But you hold out hope with the simple phrase in the back of your head repeating: "Hey! If I make it through these tough years and all this suffering, it's going to be so sweet when they win it all!" I never believed that until the Giants won it all two years ago and that phrase was proven true to me. So I say to all those Mets fans like me: keep watching with "cautious worry," and think, hey it could be worse, we could be talking about the New York Knicks.... oh don't get me started on them!!

The agony of being a NY Mets fan Part 1 Why they suck!

Well what is there to say about being a Mets fan since the late 80s? Simply put it's...... as I like to put it "cautious worry." If only I knew that the catch by Endy Chavez was gonna be the pinnacle of this cast of characters, or if I knew that Mike Hampton being held up by all of his teammates as fireworks echoed at old Shea, was going to the the high note for the Mike Piazza lead teams. Then I would have enjoyed it more but I didn't...why? because I am a Mets fan and I'm always cautiously worried until that last pitch is thrown. That's not to say I don't get pumped up on a big home run or a game winning hit cause. I do. It's just that underneath it all, I am just waiting for that ball to drop. I have been around the block so many time with this franchise that I know it's always gonna be a battle to the death and it's not gonna be a laugher unless we're the ones getting blown out.

It's not just that though, cause I'm sure there are other franchises with bad times in their history. Even the mighty New York Yankees were awful in the late 80s. That is not what sets the Mets apart from other franchises where their fans are left to ask every season "what just happened?" or "You have got to be kidding me!" I think ultimately what tortures this franchise is that we the fans are left scratching our heads on all aspects of this franchise, from the owners to public relations to the scouting to the GM and Manager, and of course, the players. Whether it's the notorious name of our owner "Fred Coupon" or having a press conference to announce that Mike Piazza is not gay or our GM always saying during the off season "Well I didn't see a player that we could get for fair market value...you know what I'm saying? But this does leave us to make a major upgrade before the trade deadline cause now we have flexibility," then the trade deadline comes and goes and he tells us "Well, based on the market and the asking prices we didn't feel there was big impact value for us to part with any of our prospect chips" Huh? So conceivably, our crafty GM can say this every year! I mean, if you don't want to over-pay and you don't want to give up chips, then what are your options? Should I even start to get into the team's Medical Staff? Why bother, I mean I can write a whole blog on that alone!

Then, of course, there is our faithful Skipper, who I cant lie isn't that bad, but to be honest, he is nothing to write home about either. I mean whether it's him laughing up a storm with the media (which I know loves him) while the team losses it eighth in a row, or his patented "putting a player who just got called up that day right into a key spot to make or break a game" and more times than not he fails. His statements that don't mean anything, however, are the best. I remember watching a spring training press conference with excitement and him saying "Hey if you produce, you play. It's that simple." Well I don't know about you, but remember Ryan Church was producing and then the Skipper benched him for like 4 games and he was never the same. The same can be said about poor Daniel Murphy. I mean, I don't understand. The guy goes on a 5-game hit streak, he has two doubles in his last game and then the Skipper benches him because the team is up against a lefty? I don't know, but last I checked, Murphy is actually pretty good against lefties.

Anyway, last but not least, our players. If it's not Wright not coming up with a clutch hit or Church missing a bag or Murphy falling in the outfield or yup, Castillo dropping the game ending can of corn catch.... yeah I know all you Mets fans remember that one. I mean I can go on and on. I mean what more can I say, this is the only franchise that screws up the unveiling of a new ballpark! Jeez can we have a statue or two? I'll even settle just for a few more Mets logos around the ballpark. Also, last but not least, do we have to be the baseball franchise with the lowest number of retired numbers? What do we have, TWO?? And the last two numbers that we have are for a building and a number that all teams had to retire! I mean, you can't make this stuff up! Mr. Wilpon, can we at least retire players that won us a championship? Like Carter, Keith, Doc and Strawberry and not to mention Piazza, who resurrected a dead franchise? Or how bout Koosman for Godsakes!

Stay Tuned for part 2 of my story where we will answer "How do we fix the Mets?"