Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

This was in the comments, but I think Sparks makes a good argument using my own words (the quote in the first line).  What does everyone think?

Here’s Sparks:

“No, the Mets can’t go into rebuilding mode. Not in this town in this decade.”

Uh, exactly what do they have to lose at this point? Half the entries to this blog are about how big a joke the franchise has become and how the fans simply aren’t buying what the Mets are selling anymore. What difference does it make if people aren’t buying tickets because the team is in transition or they’re not buying tickets simply because the team is altogether broken? At least the former option offers one some hope.

Wilpon just got named the worst owner in the game by _Forbes_. Is his “brand” going to suffer any more if he actually looks toward a long-term solution instead of pretending there’s not a problem?

Honestly, at this point, today, what do they really have to lose by blowing it up–from the top down; that’s important–and putting it back together? Any combination of Wright, Reyes, and Santana would make a pretty good foundation to build upon. Somebody just has to put the right pieces around them, and I’d much rather accept that that will take a few years to do the right way than be forced to tolerate any more of Mr. Autonomy’s pitiful attempts at solving problems months after they’ve already arisen.

In this article, the Sports Money blog of Forbes magazine says:

Baseball’s worst owner? Always tough to say, given how subjective the arguments can be. But the Mets’ Fred Wilpon is certainly making a good run at it.

The article says that the Mets are flawed because they think New York won’t tolerate a rebuild, and that the Mets are obsessed with the Yankees.

I understand the sentiment, and it is one I used to share, but here in the 2010’s I disagree.   There’s way too many other things to spend money on, including the Yankees.   There’s a generation of future fans at stake.  There’s a 24/7 news cycle that goes beyond the 20 years of sports radio now.  You may have heard about this internet thing.

Baseball was once our passive soap opera.  Something you watched on Channel 9 on a summer night.   Now baseball season never ends, and the Mets can be the lead story every day.  As I wrote in the article below, it’s all about how consumers spend their cash.  No, the Mets can’t go into rebuilding mode.  Not in this town in this decade.

That doesn’t mean the team is doomed.   They just need a new person to run the show.

Wow back to back Big League Stew links.  BLS has an interesting article that answers the question, will David Wright hit home runs this year?  You may be semi-disappointed.

Meanwhile, to be truly disappointed, see what Buster Olney has tweeted about the Mets budget, via Amazin Avenue.

I didn’t see this one while making the rounds.   Blue cap tip to Big League Stew. Oh man, I hate hearing this:

It is a six-bedroom, eight-bath mansion that was once vandalized, littered with beer bottles and dog feces, spewed raw sewage, and close to being deemed a biological hazard.

Lenny Dykstra’s southern California mansion has been put on the market….

More here.

Can we have the skinny charming Lenny back, not the freak-show that appeared in Philadelphia?  Can we untrade for Juan Samuel?

As part of the new design I’ve been trying to keep the non-Mets stuff off this site.

I frequently retweet items of interest @metspolice.  You may choose to follow me on twitter, or just read the sidebar on the right.

The non-Mets stuff is going on Shannon’s Other Blog which I’m treating as my casual blog.  It doesn’t have a real design, or a proper name, but for now it’s “where the stories that don’t belong on Mets Police wind up.”

I may use it more heavily during Super Bowl and Olympics, we’ll see.

In the meantime you may want to check out the SOB for the following stories:

– New Stadium Insider’s Yankee Policing, a ticket agent was feisty with a non-renewer.

– a good idea to move the Negro League Museum to Cooperstown

– something I really support: Save Yankee Stadium Gate 2

and some other stuff related to sports and media (how to save sports sections, the FCC changing the rules so Cablevision can’t horde MSG-HD)

check it out if interested in any of those.