Jose? Jose? Jose!… (Jose?) (Jose!)

Good news out of Mets camp – somehow, for the first time in recent history, the best case scenario seems to have played out.  Jose Reyes has returned to camp and is resuming workouts, and will be ready for game action within a week.

The importance of this piece of news cannot be overstated.

If you’re like me, you’re sure that he will trip on his shoelaces as he’s heading out to shortstop for his first spring game.  But for now, let’s call it a good day.  No, a great day.

Here’s another reason it’s a great day:  “Jenrry Mejia had another strong outing in relief, getting three outs, including a strikeout, on five pitches in the Mets’ 7-6 victory over the Braves.”  That’s from the New York Times today.  I actually had to read that twice to make sure I had it right, and then count on my fingers to make sure it made sense.  It’s hard not to be excited about a prospect like this.  I just have that lingering feeling of dread that he will be rushed, used in relief, and then ruined for what his real role should be: phenom starting pitcher in 2011.  In Mejia’s case, I think the Mets should be extra sensitive to this, since the background stories on him suggest his family had to press him into pursuing his baseball career.  I’m a little afraid that if he struggles early, he will be thinking about hanging up his spikes.  That would be crazy, but you never know.

In any case, right now it looks like he’s coming north with the club, so all we can do is sit back and enjoy watching him.

We Like Ike: Everybody liked Ike this spring, but the inevitable happened, and the Mets assigned him to Buffalo yesterday.  This was the right thing to do, as he needs to play every day and continue developing a little while longer.  but I think we’ll see him again later this summer.

Note: My posting will continue to be spotty over the next couple of weeks, with Passover coming up.

Where we go from here…

Much like Jose Reyes’ thyroid gland, many sports fans have a tendency to over(re)act at times.  For example, less than 24 hours ago I titled a post on this blog, “2010, We Hardly Knew Ye.”  The meaning behind this title was obvious; it suggested that, with Jose Reyes out for “two to eight weeks,” the Mets season was effectively over before it got started.   That was an obvious overreation, not least because, realistically, the Mets’ hopes for contention in 2010 were not all that stellar before they learned Jose would not be joining them until some time late in April… or May… or whenever.

Having now had a day to reflect on the events of the last week, I can now say this: Man, this team is screwed.

Okay, okay.  Seriously, the news could certainly be worse.  And for all we know, it still will be worse.  (See Delgado, Carlos, 2009; Putz, J.J., 2009; Reyes, Jose, 2009, et al.)  Right now, though, there is at least a chance that we will see Jose back by the end of April.  And everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that, as frustrating as this is for everyone involved, this is not a permanent condition and — if the Mets are to be believed — there is no real medical intervention required.  In other words, less chances for the medical staff to do further harm.

So I’m going to pop a couple of “uppers” today and, rather than crying “woe is us,” I’m going to think about what the Mets should do to fill the hole.  Take a look at this post from ESPN/Baseball Prospectus.  I’ll assume they know what they’re talking about here, since they do all kinds of statistical analysis and scouting, the things I wish I had time for but clearly don’t.  Taking this information at face value, I actually like the idea of handing the job to Ruben Tejada.  Look at his strikeouts versus his plate appearances.  He makes contact, has a decent on-base percentage, and supposedly plays solid if not stellar defense.  I could not just live with that, I could actually get slightly excited for it.  I actually like watching that kind of player get a chance to play a role.  Heck, we all do; if you don’t think so, explain how Super Joe McEwing and Matt Franco became fan favorites.  It should be obvious that no one is going to step in there and replace the offensive numbers that Reyes would (theoretically) put up.  Why not give the job to the young kid who, as BP points out, has basically reached a journeyman-like ceiling, and won’t be damaged by being rushed to the majors?  If I’m making the call, Tejada plays 5 games a week, with Cora spelling him the other two.

Of course, another benefit of this arrangement is that it will keep Alex Cora fresh and ready for when Tejada goes down with, say, mono.

2010, We Hardly Knew Ye

Just click here.  Or here.  Or here. 

As we say in the legal profession, “res ipsa loquitur.”  (Google it.)

Paging Dr. Nick Riviera, Dr. Nick Riveira…

“Hi, evreebodee!”

“Hi Dr. Nick.”

“Now, there are many options available for dangerously underweighted individuals like yourself.  I recommend a slow, steady gorging process combined with assal horizontology…”

Some of you may recognize the foregoing.  Congratulations if you guessed correctly that it was one of the Mets team doctors, discussing treatment options with Jose Reyes earlier this week.

I kid, of course.  But would you really be surprised if the actual prescription began just like that?  I’m sure the Mets medical staff are not the buffoons they seem to be from all the press.  After all, experience teaches that the job of the press is to find the story, and make it worth reporting by creating a hero and a villain, or a victim and an aggressor, or, at the very least, a patient and a team of nincompoops.  But something is just not right here.  Last year’s injury debacle wasn’t simply bad luck, even if bad luck played a role.  No, the Hospital for Special Surgery — or was it the faculty of Hollywood Upstairs Medical College? — clearly must have borne some significant fault in the mess that was 2009′s disabled list.  And so far, this year has featured four basic health-related sequels to 2009, which pick up right where we left off.

1)  In keeping with the team tradition of “Ya Gotta Believe,” the Mets made a notable addition to their medical staff this spring… by adding a poster with a new motto, “Prevention and Recovery.”  Fans and the media suggested it might make sense to add or replace actual personnel, but the Mets begged to differ.

2)  The Mets signed Kelvim Escobar to a guaranteed contract, not so much to pitch but to maintain a consistent performance level of being no more than “two or three weeks away” from readiness to pitch.  (Nod to Metstradamus, who wrote a piece on this yesterday.)  Some questioned the wisdom of relying on a pitcher with a history of severe arm trouble, but the Mets begged to differ.

3) Carlos Beltran — and his doctors — said he was injured and needed treatment, but the Mets begged to differ.

4) Jose Reyes — and his doctors — said he was not injured and does not need treatment, but the Mets begged to differ.

Now, let me say this: I’m all for caution, and as we’ve seen, the player does not always know, or do, what is in his own long-term interest.  So if there is a real possibility that Jose has some kind of problem, I’m with the people who say it should be treated right now.  The problem, as usual, is the way this is playing out in the media, once again.  I’ve had my fill of stories in which a player’s condition is being “debated.”  From a PR perspective, there has to be a better way for the team to control how the story is being portrayed.  I say this with confidence because neither conflicting diagnoses nor aggressive press personnel were invented last season or are completely unique to New York.  And yet, in my 25+ seasons of following the game, I can’t recall comparable public debates over any player’s health and treatment until last year.  Maybe I just don’t have a good memory; that’s entirely possible.

Anyway, from this layman’s perspective, the worst thing for the Mets and Jose Reyes right now is for Jose to be sitting around doing nothing.  I know he’s probably at the gym daily, but nobody can afford for him to fall behind in his actual baseball preparations for this season.  My recent rantings about the front office aside, I cannot wait for Opening Day.  It’s true, my heart has already begun the process of convincing my head that the best really could happen.  Pelfrey, Maine and Perez really are going to have big years.  Francouer really is going to revert to his 2006-2007 form.  Angel Pagan will shine, and Carlos Beltran will be back in May.  Daniel Murphy will look like the guy we thought we saw in 2008.  David Wright will definitely have a massive bounce-back season.  And in keeping with all of this, Jose Reyes is, without question, 100% healthy and about to embark on a campaign for the MVP award.  He just needs to get back to spring training, pronto.

Selective memory — or is it willful blindness? — is great.  I love being a Mets fan.

I Believe the Children are our Future

There has been some increasing buzz from Port St. Lucie about Jenry Meija and Ike Davis coming north in April with the club.  I have to admit, reading about Meija – billed as an amalgam of Dwight Gooden and Mariano Rivera — and seeing Davis hit one out of Port St. Lucie that looked like it landed in Ft. Lauderdale, I’m salivating over the possibilities on the horizon.  But it strikes me as a big mistake to bring these guys home to New York for the start of the season.  As great as these guys may be, they belong in Binghamton, or Buffalo at best.  The team seems committed to Daniel Murphy at 1st base this season, and Davis has been struggling on defense.  If he is as advanced as he looks, he should spend a season down in AAA and tear up the pitching there for a year, while sharpening his glove skills.  And even if Meija really is the next Mariano, we’ve all seen the perils of the pitcher who comes up too soon, gets lit up, and then turns into a head case.  I’ll be happy to wait until 2011 or beyond and marvel at the two of them then.

Speaking of Davis, what exactly is going to happen with Daniel Murphy when Big Ike really is ready?  I read somewhere today that Murphy would shift over to second to fill the vacancy left by Luis Castillo.  (Yes, I know Castillo is already a vacancy of sorts at second, but they’re paying the man.)  Isn’t it clear by now that Murphy just isn’t a second baseman?  Hard work and hours of practice and study do not a second baseman make, at least, not once you get beyond high school varsity.  A second baseman has to have range, quickness, and soft hands.  I’m a big fan of Daniel Murphy, but these are not qualities he has shown in his time with the team.  Daniel Murphy, to me, looks like a 3rd baseman, period.    And unfortunately for him, the Mets already have one of those, and a damn good one.  I guess we should hope that the Mets find themselves faced with this dilemma next year - two good hitters and only one spot to put them.

Speaking of good hitters, how about those Washington Nationals!  They sure lit up Ollie Perez yesterday.  But seriously, once I got past the instinctive joy of seeing Mets baseball on the back cover of the Daily News, my reaction to this was a big “who cares?”  For once, I actually believed Jerry Manuel when he said the team was pleased that Perez threw strikes, not disappointed in the outcome.  Spring training is what it is.  The game results mean little to nothing.  For the same reason we need to temper our excitement over Davis and Meija, we should all relax about Ollie’s affinity for hitting bats yesterday.  Manuel and company are basically assuring us that — box score be damned! – this was Good Ollie out there yesterday.  If his mechanics were solid enough to keep him in the strike zone, it’s a positive sign.  Between now and April, he’ll get in his work and the results will come.

You know, unless Bad Ollie steps in.

Prevention and Recovery

In the spirit of the Mets new motto, I thought I’d talk a bit about each of the foregoing terms.  Here’s a bit on “Recovery:”

My first reaction was, “they can’t be serious.”  My next reaction was, “f&%$.”  And then I just shook my head and laughed.  It appears that Jose Reyes has left spring training and is on his way back to New York.  His hamstring is fine.  It’s his thyroid that’s out of whack.  Let’s hope his recovery is as speedy as his repaired legs.

Now, for “Prevention:”  Congrats to the team for preventing me from buying any advance tickets for 2010.  You may have noticed I’m on a ticket-abuse rant lately.  I had a break at work today and so I decided to follow up on my earlier post regarding the Mets’ preposterous ticket pricing policies.  I guess this isn’t news, but it was the first time I really looked into how the Mets stack up against the other teams in the league.  You may find it interesting to know that 26 of the 30 major league teams offer their season ticket holders some kind of discount over game day prices.  In most cases, the discount is quite significant, especially when you figure in the following: for those teams that have adopted tiered seating based on the date and the opponent (like the Mets), season ticket holders still usually pay one price, which is lower than the “value” level game, and way lower than the “premium” games.  Is it an inducement?  Is it a reward for loyalty?  Characterize it however you wish.

What is also interesting are the details on  the only four teams who offer nothing to their season buyers, or appear to offer nothing.  The first two teams are the Cubs and Red Sox.  I can’t actually comment on how their season-ticket policies work, because neither team sells season tickets anymore.  You have to get on the wait list to get Cubs season tickets, and I’m pretty sure the only way to get Red Sox tickets is to inherit them from a dead uncle.   In both cases, it has a lot to do with the size of the ballpark.

The San Francisco Giants have a funky variable pricing scheme on their single game tickets.  Prices fluctuate depending on the time of year you are looking to buy.  If tickets are selling in June and July, they will raise prices; if you bought in advance, you won.  If the Giants suck, the early buyers lose out.  Since my scientific research consisted of me glancing at all 30 MLB team websites, I can’t say for sure how season ticket holders make out, but clearly, if the Giants are modestly successful, season ticket holders probably make out well.

And then, there’s our New York Mets.  Their offer is this: nothing.

“Jose Reyes Says He Feels Fine.”

Uh oh.

On second thought…

So much for my plan to buy the Sunday Plus ticket plan this afternoon.  I called my season ticket rep (actually, I guess he’s my former season ticket rep now) and left him a voicemail, but he didn’t call me back.  Maybe I’ll hear from him tomorrow.

In the meantime, however, after mentioning in my last post how I thought it was asinine that I pay the Wilpons full price when I buy 81 games in advance, I got around to checking out just what perks other fans are getting from their teams in exchange for their advance loyalty.  Surprise, surprise, it turns out they are getting more than, say, workout day tickets, a free tour of the stadium they will be visiting throughout the summer anyway, and the valuable right to buy more tickets — no fees! – to games they’re already going to.

I’m furious.  Here’s a sampling: If you are an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, and you want to buy, say, upper deck boxes in the infield, you save roughly $972 per seat over the game day price if you buy season tickets.  How about the Padres?  About $729 per seat.  Mind you, we’re not talking about people who are buying field level, premium seats for $27,000 per.  Heck, the Padres don’t even sell tickets like that.  The most expensive seats in the house go for about $3,300.  I’m pretty sure for that price they let you sit in the dugout and flash the signs to Yorvit Torrealba.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “But come on, you’re talking about the D-backs and Padres, for crying out loud.  They need to do that to sell season tickets.”  Mmm-hmm.  Well, let’s look at hotter commodities, shall we?  Cardinals?  “20-40% off of the gate price.”   Dodgers?  Similar.  In fact, other than the Red Sox and Cubs – who have no season tickets left to sell, and therefore don’t advertise their rates — every team I looked at gave at least some discount to season ticket holders, and most of them were significant.  That includes the Phillies, who were in the World Series the last two years, in case you missed it.

But throw all of that information away.  “This is New York,” you say.  “It’s a different business here.”  Nope.  The New York Yankees are the hottest ticket in the game, like it or not.  I make no comment here about the quality of their fans or the team or the organization itself.  It’s simply undeniable that everyone wants to go to Yankee Stadium when they come to New York.  It’s trendy.  You don’t have to be much of a fan to go see the Yankees.  It’s just something people do.  My friend has LOUSY season tickets in the outfield portion of the upper deck at the new stadium, and he did not sell a single seat last year for less than face value – while I was busy trying to give many of mine away if I could.  (Most of the time, I couldn’t.)  It’s safe to say that Yankee tickets sell pretty briskly.  Well, go look at the Yankees’ ticket prices.  Big savings across the board if you buy season tickets.  As an example, in my friend’s portion of the upper deck you save 20% over game day prices.  As if they need to offer that incentive to move their seats.  Again, let me reiterate: the Yankees — the Yankees! — will give you a nice break on ticket prices if you’re willing to buy the whole season.

I am flabbergasted by the Mets policy.  I really wonder if they have any idea what they are selling, and who they’re selling it to.  The tickets are outrageously priced to begin with.  Add on that they are subject to an absurd pricing scheme, where the same seats cost five different amounts depending on what day you are going.  (As my friend pointed out today, this is degrading in and of itself.  This is New York, not Pittsburgh or Washington.  The home team is the draw, and if it’s not, they should go hang their heads in shame.)  And to reward their season ticket holders, they offer NOTHING.  No discount off of the game day price, and not even a break on the “premium games.”  They screw you at every level of the equation.  Do they really think their product is better than every other team in the major leagues?  Or do they just think their customers are bigger suckers than any other fans in the league?

At this moment, I feel like I never want to give the team another dime.  I’m beginning to wonder how long I can keep myself out of Citi Field altogether in protest.

In other words, congrats to the front office on a job well done.

Our Season Has Come

Okay, I confess, that’s a reference to a clearly outdated marketing slogan, one that obviously has certain very negative sentiments attached to it — and with good reason.  And, frankly, it wasn’t even very clever when they rolled it out.  Heck, I’d probably pick “Get Metsmerized” over “Your Season Has Come” any day, even discounting the kitsch value of the former.

But in this case, I’m not even referring to the opening of the 2010 Grapefruit League season.  (In case you missed it, the “Mets” played a “game” yesterday against the “Braves,” and there was measured joy in Mudville Port St. Lucie, as the Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Amazin’s came out on top, 4-2.)  No, in this case, I’m just talking about our season tickets 2010 ticket plan: the time has finally come for us to place an order.

Last month I wrote part of a post about why my brother and I were not renewing our season tickets this season.  It took me so long, however, that I never finished it.  There’s just so much I have to say about it that I can’t fit it in between all the super-fun stuff I have to do at work.  Like most, I suppose our hard decision stemmed largely from the fact that the economy finally caught up with the escalating cost of the seats.  I don’t just mean that it was getting harder to find the $2,000 or so to lay out for the tickets in advance.  As everyone knows, despite last year being the inaugural season of the new digs, by August I was having trouble giving our seats away, much less selling them to cover part of the cost of owning them.  I’m such an addict, however, that the madness would have continued had my much-more-rational brother not intervened.  “I can’t,” he said.  “We lost too much on them last year.”  And without him as my partner, there was no realistic way for me to do it. 

Once he put the kibosh on the season tickets, I could suddenly see clearly that there were just a million reasons not to do it.  Frankly, I started feeling good about the message I’d be helping to send to Fred and Co. by canceling.  After all, among the zillion or so ways they don’t seem to “get” us fans is the fact that there isn’t even any financial incentive to buy a season ticket.  Unlike many other teams, the Mets give no discount on the face value of the seats at all.  It’s exactly like walking up to the box office and buying 81 individual game tickets.  I’ve heard a rumor that their reasoning has something to do with not wanting to penalize the Average Joe fan (whatever that means) by offering financial perks to the richer fans.   Putting aside that this is completely backward thinking to begin with, this naturally made me wonder if they have looked recently at their humorously complex ticket pricing scheme, since there’s not a whole lot on there that’s all that wallet-friendly to good ol’ Joe.  (Or if there is, I must be having trouble finding it among the 200-plus different pricing options.)  In any case, when my brother finally stopped the bleeding, I could finally see that it was crazy for me to be taking on all the financial risk of a bad season while my good buddy William Ianniciello sits in his Citi Field office smiling and counting my money.  (I’m not worried; Bill promises to continue writing to me every December with bold statements about how the team is “disappointed in the way the 20XX season ended but is committed to coming back strong for 20YY”… and how they look forward to having me join them in their quest by sending in my deposit.)

And so, my lifelong dream of being a season ticket holder saw reality for only 2 short years. 

Alright, maybe it’s a stretch to call it a dream.  My real baseball dream crashed and burned about 17 years ago when I stepped on the playing field for tryouts, looked around, and reluctantly accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to grow another six inches in time to get recruited to play first base for the Brandeis Judges, never mind the Mets.  (Also, never mind the fact that I went to a private high school that had no varsity baseball team.)  But whatever you call it, there we were as kids wandering around Shea, thinking about the day we’d have our own seats, maybe even with a nameplate, that we could use whenever we wanted.  Alas, a message to ownership is a message to ownership.  The time had come to stand up and have our silence be heard!  Or something.

Well, my big message to ownership is about to get a little smaller.  Like all addicts, baseball fans are prone to recidivism, I suppose.  So when Mr. Rational called and hounded me for the tenth time last night about what mini-plan we were going to order — that little turncoat –  I finally sat down and looked over the menu carefully.  You know, I said to myself, these aren’t too expensive, are they?  Hey, look, one postseason game (alternate location) for each postseason series.  That could happen, right?  Surely I won’t get stuck with too many games I can’t use or unload if I only buy 15 games, right?  Right?

And so, today we call and order our Sunday-Plus plan.  I’m confident Fred and Jeff will still hear me loud and clear when I boldly say, “Now hear this, Messrs. Wilpon — and you too, Uncle Saul: You’re not getting my money. No way. Not this time.

“ Just a little bit of it.”

And there’s no way they’re going to make me clean the imprint of my hands and face off their 40-Game Ticket Plan display window, either.  So there.

“Oh, man, what’d I do?”

According to reports, that what what Jose Reyes said (humorously, perhaps) when the FBI dropped by to chat today.  (Here’s where I read about it; here’s where the quote came from.)  There is no way you can fail to laugh at that, unless you immediately have the same thought that I did when I saw what was going on:  Oh, great.  2009 was the year of the DL Mets; 2010 is going to be the year of the PED-scandal Mets.

Hopefully, there is no reason to panic here.  Everyone knows Reyes had platelet-rich plasma therapy last year with this suspicious doctor; everyone knows it didn’t work.  As far as anyone knows, that’s all he had done, and he is hearing about this Actovegin (and appraently  HGH) controversy for the first time, just like us.  As far as anyone knows.

Let’s just say that it would put quite the damper on 2010 if Jose Reyes has to miss time so he can testify before the grand jury, particularly about himself.  And we don’t need anything extra to complicate things for us this season.  Things are looking “meh” enough as it is.

I think I’ll just put on my spring training blinders and continue to look forward to Opening Day.