Tuning Out the Noise

Don't listen when someone tries to sell you the "everything short of a championship is a failure" philosophy. It sucks the fun out of being a fan.

In May, back before the New York Mets' season turned to fecal material, I started writing a piece that ended up sitting on a back burner for most of the season. I always knew that I would get back to it. I just didn't think the entirety of spring and summer would pass before I did. I never conceived of the year going quite this badly for the Metropolitans, even as I began to suspect quite early on that this team wouldn't live up to all of the preseason hype. Even that didn't prepare me for the reality of a sub-.500 team, so clearly playing out the string as we head into the final week of this disastrous campaign. But, in a way, this reality check of a season reinforced the truth I hoped to convey when I began this piece.

Appreciating What You Have

Matt Harvey's star burned so brightly, it's hard to imagine that his greatness only lasted for 3 MLB seasons.

I've been working on another piece for several days, outputting about 1,800 words of prose, never coming close to producing something I wanted to share with my readers. That doesn't happen to me very often, but it's very frustrating when it does. It's a subject I care about very much, so I'll get back to it soon with a fresh start. In the meantime, the announcement on Friday night that Matt Harvey is retiring from baseball produced a slew of memories for me as a lifelong Mets fan. It also gave me something to consider in how I approach being a fan.

Protect Your Sanity

No matter how often they insert the word "nightmare" into an article, it's too early to lose your mind over the 2023 New York Mets.

First off, let me assure you that I, too, am a bit demoralized by the Mets' awful showing in Milwaukee. I won't pretend otherwise. The team essentially failed to show up for the first couple of games. Then, when they had the chance to salvage one before heading home, the Mets coughed up the final in a very disheartening manner. Baseball season is so long you're guaranteed to be disgusted with the team you root for at times. However, it does suck a little more when it happens so early in the year. But hey, we're back in the win column today.

Prospecting for Gold

The Mets' top prospects are having a productive spring training. The toughest challenges still lie ahead.

God help me. Did the Post's Joel Sherman really grab for the clickbait gusto, dipping his ladle into the tired waters of the Jarred Kelenic well yet again? Tragically, yes. Although Kelenic's struggles — and the terrific season Edwin Díaz enjoyed in 2023 — have combined to dim the usefulness of this story recently, Sherman assures us that the deal can still turn out to be a big winner for Seattle. After all, back in 2020, Sherman actually compared Brodie Van Wagenen's folly with the Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi deal, as if young Kelenic was Cooperstown-bound before he even took a major league AB. Joel's most recent piece didn't go quite that far, but I can't believe he's still trying to get some mileage from this stale saga.

Better Than Magic

It's not a "magical season." This year's Mets team doesn't need magic to win.

Decades of incompetence and mismanagement of the Mets franchise under the previous owners have conditioned New York Mets fans to a generally pessimistic view of their team's chances. The formula was pretty basic. In the rare years that the Mets seemed like they had a chance to contend, they could do so only by overcoming the obstacles put in place by an organization that simply wasn't built on competence and a can-do attitude. Even when the Wilpons were willing to spend some money in the pre-Madoff days, that money wasn't always utilized in ways needed to build a club primed for sustained success. Particularly since the turn of this century, good Mets seasons were rarely followed by others. Making the playoffs twice in succession only happened in 1999 and 2000 and 2015 and 2016 — with that second one being a one-and-done wildcard game in 2016.