I’m trying to be positive on the day that Mets single game tickets go on sale. It’s tough to do that after the team drove straight into a brick wall in 2009, but this is a new season. I’m ready for the Mets to start winning some games next month when the real games start. And I’m hoping that they can get some payback on some teams, especially in the division, that beat them down pretty badly last year.
The links below are pretty negative about the team, in general. I think that’s partially due to the news about the team but it’s also because it’s so much easier to write a negative story than a positive one. Negative stories seem to attract more attention than stories about how everything in great in Mets nation, if there is such a thing. I don’t think the Mets situation is ideal right now but I’m not completely down on them either.
How can you be completely down on the team with the highest payroll in the National League? The highest payroll certainly doesn’t guarantee wins as we saw last year. But it sure gives the Mets a chance to be in it to the end. This isn’t a Pirates situation going on here. There’s no rebuilding or looking forward to two or three years down the road. The Mets roster has a legitimate shot to be in the race late in the 2010 season.
Here are the links for today:
- NY Post – Joel Sherman goes on another negative tangent about the Mets. This time the object of his ire is Jerry Manuel. Sherman writes that Manuel is desperate enough to gamble with the future of Jenry Mejia to get the team off to a good start because his own career is in jeopardy. Start the witch hunt now…
- Daily News – Mike Lupica does a piece on Jose Reyes and his visits to the infamous Dr. Galea, drawing a possible relationship to Reyes’ thyroid problem. I have to admit that it crossed my mind. Galea is accused of possessing HGH, which may lead to health problems for people that take it.
- Fanhouse – The first of many season previews projects the Mets to be better than the 70 win team they were last year, but not good enough to make the playoffs. That’s not completely off-base.
- NY Post – Carlos Beltran talks to reporters about his relationship to Dr. Galea and how he didn’t take HGH. What else would he say? I don’t know if he took it or not, but this is a bad way to start the season for Beltran.
- NY Post – Here’s another hatchet job from Joel Sherman this week. This time he focuses on the Mets medical mistakes and lack of accountability from ownership. I don’t think Sherman will be having lunch with the Wilpons anytime soon.
- NY Times – George Vecsey does a good, lengthy piece on Luis Castillo. The column chronicles Castillo’s awful start with the Mets and his resurgence last season. I still think Castillo is way past his prime and fairly useless at this point, but I did admire the way he stood up after dropping the popup at Yankee Stadium last year.
- NY Post – The players are working on their t-shirt designs for the MLBPA store at Citi Field. I looked at some of the designs last year and they were pretty bad. Hopefully, they’ll do a better job this year.
The Mets Report 