All Is Not Lost For The Mets

Last night sucked.

Spending the last ten days pissing away the division and then the entire season is a truly epic spiral. The Mets had their best starting pitchers lined up for both the Braves and Padres and walked out of those games going 1-5. Tommy Smokes, for all of his idiocy and repulsive nature made a good point today. He said that Buck Showalter teams seem to play tight at the end of seasons. Tough to argue.

I should also state here that Frank was right. He's been saying for weeks that the Braves would catch the Mets and steal the division. He was right. He said the Mets would play the Padres and that was a terrible matchup and even named Yu Darvish as someone who has always dominated the Mets and would again. He was right about all of that. For all of Frank's negativity about the Mets, he does love the Mets. I saw it last night. He genuinely cares and the negativity is just how he deals with the disappointment. I like being a more positive fan like KFC and Clem have been this season. It makes a full season of baseball a lot more enjoyable but that doesn't mean we were right. We weren't. Frank was.

Having said all of that, the Mets are in a MUCH better position than they were the last time they got knocked out of the playoffs. It all comes down to Steve Cohen. After the 2016 season ended, we were still stuck with the Wilpons. Now, the Mets finally have ownership that is committed to the Mets being great. As we found out this past week, the Mets aren't going to be great overnight. Mets fans need to find patience and allow Steve Cohen's effort to improve not just the major league team but the entire organization.The franchise was in shambles when Cohen bought the team and it takes time to build something up. Look at the Dodgers, It took a few years after Guggenheim bought the team in 2012 for them to be come the juggernaut they are now.

The 2023 Mets will likely look pretty different. They have a lot of free agents to replace but they are also taking almost $100 million dollars off the payroll in free agents leaving. They could lose many key guys like Jacob deGrom, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and more. I think they'll sign one of deGrom or Diaz. I bet they keep Nimmo too.

Mike Stobe. Getty Images.

The core of the team will be back. Francisco Lindor. Pete Alonso. Jeff McNeil. Max Scherzer. Starling Marte. These are really good players. The catching will improve with Francisco Alvarez getting playing time. In 2022, James McCann and Tomas Nido combined to hit .223 (102 for 458) with 6 home runs. Alvarez will outperform that by a mile. The Mets could not make a single move in the off-season and would be a competitive team.

This doesn't change the situation from being really shitty presently. I sit near true evil like Marty Mush, Hubbs and Tommy Smokes. Yankee fans are so happy right now their feet barely touches the floor when they walk. They aren't even considering the Guardians a threat and are already making plans to play the Astros next week. They are living off the fumes of ghosts like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle. They either have blocked out or can't remember that since they've last played in a World Series, they've gone 7-9 in playoff series. 

For once, the Mets have the ownership the Yankees envy. As great as the Mets free agents losses would be, Aaron Judge is also a free agent and is so much more important to them than any Met is. Let the Yankee fans chase their ghosts. I'd rather be chasing the future. We'll get there one day.