I’ve been a Mets fan for a long time, well maybe not that long, but 9 seasons. Yes I became a fan back in 2006, back when the Mets were a truly special team, a team that people where afraid of, they truly PACKED a punch. Now, for this article, I’m going to take payroll out of the conversation as I’ve seen teams easily make it to the Postseason with half the Mets Payroll.
Since the Citi Field era has begun, I have witnessed all of our past stars move on to other teams, retire and well succeed. Yes, Citi Field is a “big” park, but so is O.Co Coliseum (Oakland), and so is Tropicana Field (Tampa), so what do these teams do differently? They make the ballpark their best friend. Every home team spends 81 games on home grass, that means that regardless of crazy dimensions, big hops or wind patterns, you should be able to adjust. Terry Collins has this perplexing theory that all of his players just don’t hit because of the dimensions, and doesn’t do anything about it. I’m not hitting on Grandy, but if Citi Field is big, why not shorten up his swing or make necessary adjustments to enhance his performance? I know I can’t just pin this whole fiasco on Collins, but if the Mets aren’t winning with him, and Wally Backman ( whose team constantly changes due to these roster changes)is winning with every team, bad or good, they should defiantly take a look at Wally. This hot hand approach isn’t working, mainly do to the fact that Collins doesn’t understand the definition of hot hand! In my opinion, a player is hot when they have been constantly good over a span of let’s say 10 games. It’s kind of a get a hit and your in approach which basically means your have no stability, which also means your players are on the edge. Fill out a lineup card and stick to it for a week, then make some adjustments, and work from there. If a teams pitching is so good, you should be able to scratch out 3-4 runs by being aggressive, something Terry doesn’t preach. When I scream at Alderson next week, I’ll talk payroll, but when a team is presented in your face, make the most out of it. Take that extra base, because if this re-building phase fails, bad things will start to happen in the Mets Front Office, I always heard 2014… 2014…. Well, the players are here, lets go already Terry.