Darryl Strawberry is out doing his promotional tour today of the two Shea Stadium DVD sets that were released. He did this spot on ESPN’s First Take show to talk about the state of the 2008 Mets. He discusses Willie Randolph and the responsibility of the players to win games, and the intensity level of the teams that he played on in the 80’s.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3435615
Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal has a new column out today and writes about the fading job security of Mets manager Willie Randolph and the Mariners John McLaren. Of the Mets he writes:
The Mets could have fired Randolph at the end of last season. They could have fired him two weeks ago during his well-publicized meeting with ownership. Instead, they keep delaying the inevitable — and, thanks to the play of the Phillies, their season is slipping away.
He also writes that it wouldn’t be a surprise if Randolph was fired this week after the embarrassment the Mets suffered in San Diego. The second four game sweep in two weeks must be very difficult to swallow for the Wilpons right now. “Citi Field: Home of the Fourth Place Mets” would be a nice banner to hang for the 2009 opening day celebration.
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New York Mets GM Omar Minaya only has three to four weeks to decide if the Mets will be buyers or sellers on the trade market. The non-waiver trading deadline ends on July 31 so the Mets need to give themselves two to three weeks to work out trades prior to the deadline.
I would imagine that Minaya has no idea what he’s going to do right now. Standing at 7.5 games back of the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies and two games under .500 after the first 62 games makes their situation ambiguous at best. The Mets need to play 20 games over .500 for the rest of the season to win 90 games which is about what it will take to win the division. If the first two and a half months of the season are any indication, and they are, that is highly unlikely.
The wild card is a long shot right now as well. The St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins are in a much stronger position to make a run, especially the Cardinals playing in a weak division.
That leaves the Mets in the awkward position of potentially scrapping the 2008 season and selling off the team for parts. For a team that went into opening day with a payroll of $137,793,376 the proposition of selling prior to the deadline is a complete and utter embarrassment. Flushing a season down the toilet in New York is particularly difficult because the team’s revenue goals are tied to the tickets sales and television advertising revenue. Last season the Mets sold over 3.8 million tickets and the Mets jointly owned television station SNY generates plenty as long as people are watching. Watching this team becomes more difficult with each passing loss.
Possibly the most embarrassing situation of all would be for the Mets to limp into their new stadium Citi Field. I’m sure that the Mets will sell plenty of tickets despite the team that shows up to play every day. But it’s certainly not what the Wilpons had in mind when they broke ground on Citi Field, a team that’s a reclamation project. Continue reading “Are The Mets Buyers Or Sellers This Season?”
Arizona DiamondBacks (34-30) at New York Mets (30-32) 7:10pm
Micah Owings (6-4 4.50) vs. John Maine (6-4 3.47)
What to watch: The D-Backs have been struggling since their hot start to the season. This is a good chance to catch them playing flat on a long road trip. Maine had a very good start in San Francisco last week going six innings and giving up just one run. Moises Alou may be in the lineup tonight as well. Ryan Church is out for the next two weeks.
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Today the Mets placed outfielder Ryan Church on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to Friday June 6. He’s still been feeling lingering effects from a concussion suffered in Atlanta on May 20.
There’s been a lot of speculation that the Mets botched the situation by not placing him on the DL immediately. Initially I disagreed with that because a concussion requires that the patient be completely honest about the symptoms that they’re experiencing. I don’t think that Church was completely honest when he told the team that he was okay to continue playing.
The problem that I have with the Mets is that they should have put Church on the DL as soon as he told them that his symptoms were recurring. I suspect that the Mets didn’t do that and kept Church on the active roster is because:
The fortunate thing about this is that Church can now concentrate on getting better, not playing better. And the Mets are preparing for the return to the roster of Moises Alou or Marlon Anderson.
Moises Alou told reporters in San Diego that he’ll be ready to play tomorrow night against the D-Backs. He’s been eligible to come off the disabled list from his strained left calf muscle since Friday.
Marlon Anderson may come off the disabled list this week as well. He has a tear in his left hamstring but his rehab has been going well.
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Former Met and current SNY analyst Darryl Strawberry will be at the Rockefeller Center store tomorrow June 10th from 6:00pm-7:00pm for an autograph signing. He’ll be signing copies of “New York Mets: Essential Games of Shea Stadium” and “Shea Goodbye: 45 Years of Amazin'” DVD sets. The address is 559 5th Avenue.
Hopefully, he now understands the tax implications of an autograph signing after this judgment that was signed by a judge in February 2008.
Remember to enter the MetsReport.com contest to win a free copy of the “New York Mets: Essentials Games of Shea Stadium” DVD set.
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