As a kid growing up in the 60's and 70's, the business side of baseball wasn't something I thought about, as to me it was still a game. That changed, of course, forever on June 15th, 1977, when my team, my New York Mets, who I dreamed about all year long, traded our franchise player, Tom Seaver, in what came to be know as the "Midnight Massacre." My dad had the very unenviable tasks of first, informing me of the deal, and, second, explaining to me why it happened and how money and jealousy and a prickly sports-writer and a tightwad managing Director had a hand in taking from me, from us, my favorite player of all time!
Fast forward, and through almost 50 years of (consciously) being a Mets' fan (although I saw my first game in 1968 at the tender age of 4), we've experienced every excuse for NOT getting the player of our dreams!!!! Whether the name was Gary Matthews, Dave Winfield, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero or Aroldis Chapman; and whether the reason was $$$, $$$, Madoff & the Wilponzi's, or $$$, the result was the same- feeling like a second class citizen in a small market instead of a first class team in the biggest market in the world!!!!
One thing I've learned- there are just going to be teams that don't win, often or at all, and too often the owners are making too much money to truly care about their fans, let alone the outcome of their team once many of them have made their money for the season. I have given up on the Wilponzi's ever acting like great owners could, or should, and the fact of the matter is, if the team spends above $130 million dollars on the 2018 payroll, it will be a miracle of MAJOR proportions.
So- for those of you, like myself, who have grown beyond frustrated with the spending "habits" of our current ownership group, let's have a quick run of "What Would the Team Look Like if the Fans Were in Charge!!!" Now, since it's baseball, and since we have to live with the many strikes against it the organization has weathered under the current owners, we can't just go out and spend crazy money at every position overnight and sign an all-star at every position. In fact, that strategy has rarely worked - from basketball (beyond a "big 3") to baseball and for almost every team sport that is played. However, there are MORE than enough reasonable things that the team COULD do if, indeed, you or I inherited a few billion dollars tomorrow and suddenly forced the Wilpons to sell to us. Hey- the name of this post IS "Dream A Little Dream With Me" after all!!!
Here's my plan, under my first day of ownership of the New York Mets as I build towards the 2018 season. But first, just a few notes- we want to win now, in 2018, because no one knows how long we've got left on this big blue marble and waiting is just getting OLD! We do NOT have the bank account that the Dodgers did when their new ownership group took over the team, so we're not going to take on bad contract after bad contract- if we take on dollars, something you'll see that I plan on doing, it has to be for contracts that matter NOW!! Also, we are NOT going to wait until after the 2018 season to make all of our big cash outlays- as I said- the object is to win in 2018!!!!!! Finally- we have to be reasonable. The Angels are NOT trading Mike Trout no matter WHAT anyone offers. So we stay away from the absurd or even the slightly absurd, as best as possible.
Now - on to the plan!!
First, I congratulate myself on such a great hire in Mickey Callaway (although I would have hired Gabe Kapler if I had the chance originally) and I immediately bring in a top flight group of coaches that includes Sandy Alomar Jr (bench), Jason Bere (pitching coach), LaTroy Hawkins (Asst pitching coach), Kevin Long (returning hitting coach), Glen Sherlock (returning 3rd base coach) and Perry Hill (first base & infield coach)- after paying $500,000 to the Marlins to release him from his contract.
Second, I sit down with Derek Jeter and congratulate him on making his first big trade as owner, as he and Gary Denbo leave our offices via their Maybach limousine (don't worry- WE paid!) The Marlins receive a star to base their PR campaigns around, for the next 3 seasons, and acquire starting Outfielder and Cuban ex-pat Yoenis Cespedes, along with second base prospect Gavin Cecchini and pitchers Tyler Pill and PJ Conlon to the Marlins for star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton and second baseman Dee Gordon.
Third, I sit down with David Wright and pay him out his entire contract, in installments, after making a deal with him to forego playing again and accepting both the insurance settlement (for us) and a lifetime contract with the organization in a role that he will determine (that is NOT manager or GM).
Fourth, I erect statues of Tom Seaver, Casey Stengel, Gil Hodges, Carter lifting Orosco, Mike Piazza and David Wright outside of Citi Field, in a beautiful monument park that is built as a small scale Shea Stadium to house them.
Fifth, I sign Todd Frazier to sign a 3 year, $48 million dollar contract to play third base for us and replace some of the leadership we lost with Wright's retirement.
Sixth, I bring back reliever Addison Reed on a 2-year, $18 million dollar deal and Outfielder Jay Bruce on a 3 year, $63 million dollar deal, hedging my bets in case Michael Conforto doesn't bounce back quickly enough and to ensure that Familia isn't relied upon too much, too quickly while giving Callaway a "big 4" in the 'pen of Familia/Ramos/Reed/Blevins. We'll leave it up to Mickey to decide who gets the nod for the other spots in the 'pen, and we allow him the chance to decide upon the rotation above and beyond our "top 2" of Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. It will be HIS job to get the most out of our prized arms, so it's only fair that he has a say in deciding which arms he's willing to bank his career (and our standing and $$) on in order to bring a championship back to NYC!
Seventh, I bring in the most cutting edge equipment and doctors, to ensure that simple things like scans aren't taken for granted nor ignored due to cost, and also enabling our coaches to obtain the most important and ground-breaking information possible, you know, like OTHER big league teams in big markets do!!! I know- you can't believe it either!!!! The words "Mets" and "cutting edge" in the same sentence- NOT something any of us ever thought we'd live long enough to hear!!!!
Eighth, I let Curtis Granderson know that, as soon as he's done playing once and for all, he's got a job waiting for him as our permanent community ambassador and also set about hiring 12-15 former Mets players and utilizing them throughout the community to create goodwill. Yes- we WILL recognize that other teams actually played in Queens PRIOR to Nelson Doubleday selling (sadly) his share of the team to those dreaded Wilponzi's!!!
Ninth, we hire additional, top level coaching talent at all levels of the minor leagues to ensure that the talent we draft and develop will continue to develop and not stagnate under the watch of the wrong people. That also means that every minor league team will have healthy, quality clubhouse spreads and that each team at every level will be first class all the way.
Tenth, and finally, we will sign SHOHEI OTANI with the promise to work him into the line-up and the rotation, under the careful watch of Callaway, Bere and Long and we add some major promotions to the schedule, from giving away Otani jerseys to bobbleheads and everything in-between!!!!
Funny enough, even with all of these signings, we'd still be well under the $200 threshold (one of Manfred's favorite words) and have a very competitive team for the next 2 seasons.
Okay- I've dreamed enough for one day- now it's YOUR turn!! You can make 10 changes/additions/subtractions to the organization - what would YOU do with your newfound power??? We'd love to know- so fire away in the comments section and remember to try to keep it as "real" as possible - after all, we don't want this to turn into a nightmare, do we??? (Sorry- couldn't resist!!)
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