Joel Sherman’s must read Mets article in the Post

Devastating stuff from Joel Sherman.  A few clips:

It is easy to demonize Omar Minaya for the Mets’ ills, and I am not here to praise him. I do think the job of Mets GM is too big for Minaya; that his deficits in areas of communication, organization and ability to creatively multi-task — in particular — outweigh his assets.

One AL official said the Mets do have money worries tied to Madoff. It is not that they lost in the Ponzi scheme, but that the government is seeking to recover funds from those who took out profits over the years as the Wilpons likely did.

“Is that $20 million, $100 million, $200 million?” the AL official asked. “If it is in the hundreds of millions and they actually have to pay that back, what does that mean for them even owning the team long-term?”

Meet the Mets Bloggers: Checked Swing

Another in the Meet the Mets Bloggers series…if you have a blog drop me a note at [email protected], and since you are a blogger you’ll understand it helps to format it nicely.

1.) Who are you and what’s the name of your blog?

My name’s Thomas Ogilvie and I’m Scottish, blogging from just south of the capital, Edinburgh. My blog is called Checked Swing, and it’s more a ‘Mets fan’s blog about baseball’ than specifically a blog about the Mets.

2.) What kind of things can we find on your site?

Baseball from the perspective of the other side of the pond. I like to think the combination of distance and my unfamiliarity with baseball until 2004 gives me a unique overview of the sport. In truth, it probably means I’m enthralled by things most baseball fans dismissed in little league. You’ll find posts about balking, Mets performance in different uniforms, summaries of baseball in Scotland and everything else I find interesting or amusing.

3.) Expectations for 2010?

After a long dark postseason of pessimism, the seeds of cautious optimism are beginning to show themselves. The Mets have a solid core of players that, if they stay healthy, should put up the numbers, while I have great hopes for Daniel Murphy. Plus, I doubt the Mets will have to content with the Sports Illustrated cover curse this year.

The Mets’ big gun Tom Seaver could not make peace with – 06.27.77 – SI Vault

One last memory from 1977:  The Mets’ big gun Tom Seaver could not make peace with – 06.27.77 – SI Vault

Like Speaker 61 years ago, Seaver is in the prime years of a glorious career; also like Speaker, his hassling with management precipitated his removal at a startlingly low return in players. Seaver‘s dissatisfaction was more than financial, however. In light of last winter’s free-agent signings, he considered himself underpaid at $225,000 a year, but he was also disturbed that the Mets had not been diligently seeking the hitting and fielding help they so obviously need. Seaver had personally recommended Gary Matthews, but the Mets, despite attempts by their management to make New York fans believe otherwise, failed to make a competitive offer for the San Franciscooutfielder. Matthews went to the Atlanta Braves instead.

“The money was always secondary to my loyalty to the Mets,” Seaver told SPORTS ILLUSTRATED‘S Kent Hannonlast week. “The people who think I was bitter about not making more money or who think I was trying to force a trade by asking that my contract be renegotiated won’t believe me. But for the record, my loyalty to the Mets and my desire to make them competitive always came first. I don’t think I’ve shown myself to be a greedy person.”

Seaver‘s disagreement on these points with Met Chairman of the Board M. Donald Grant and General Manager Joe McDonald was so intense that it spilled like hot lava into the New York press. Seaver even charged that constant criticism directed at him by Daily News Sports Editor and Columnist Dick Young was one of the reasons he wanted to leave the team. Nevertheless, Young’s support of Grant and McDonald—the Met executives perceive Young as their man in the press—was not much different in degree from the boosting of Seaver that appeared in the other two New York papers. On the day Seaver was traded, Young—whose detractors have claimed his views are colored by the fact that his son-in-law works in the Mets‘ front office—wrote that the pitcher was “very deceptive” and “very greedy.” The next afternoon Maury Allen of the New York Post responded, “It is Young who forced the deal, who urged Grant on, who participated strongly in the unmaking of Tom Seaver as a Met.”

Whoever was responsible for Seaver‘s departure, Met fans were furious. Even before the negotiations were completed, they flooded the Shea Stadium switchboard with complaints. The night after the trade, they welcomed the team home from a road trip with signs reading BURY GRANT—BRING BACK OUR TOM and with leaflets suggesting a boycott of home games until Seaver returned on Aug. 19 with Cincinnati. “On that occasion,” the flyer read, “we urge all true Met fans to attend that game to show Tom our appreciation for the many magnificent performances he has given us.”

Ebbets Field suites in Texas

Previously I mentioned that some of the suites at The Ballpark at Arlington have some unexpected names like “Ebbets Field” and “Caseys Corner.”   There seemingly had been no outrage from Rangers fans about ignoring Rangers history.  I wrote to Chuck Morgan who is VP of In-Park Entertainment who was kind enough to write back:

Ballpark construction started in the early 1990’s, club president, members of the ownership group, architects just went down the list and picked the top Hall of Famers, added in a few with Texas ties and put the names on the suites….they are not marketed that way, more of way to identify the suites instead of just using numbers or letters.

I thought it was interesting and it got me back to thinking about Citi Field.  The fan frustration comes from not balancing the Robinson Rotunda with anything Mets.   Between the stadium design and the rotunda we all walked into a building feeling like it was someone else’s home.  Compare that to the Bronx – do you hear much whining about the new stadium?  They sure made that feel like Yankee Stadium, and of course winning the World Series never hurts with the fanbase.

Thanks to chuck for getting back to me.