Will the Mets Land a Big Fish?
At MetsFansForever, Will Sommer asks several bloggers which “big” free agent will be signed by the Mets
Andrew Vazzano unearths a slice of good news from the winter meetings – that David Wright and Daniel Murphy were working out with Howard Johnson, and Jeff Francoeur may be with HoJo later in the winter.
Ted Berg wrote an uncharacteristically long post poo-poohing the concept of a #2 starter and arguing that the Mets should pass on John Lackey.
Bob Klapisch says the Mets are pretenders
We’re only a day and a half into the winter meetings, but Brooklyn Met Fan is already tired of the rumors.
Kerel Cooper responds to yesterday’s question, “Would You Want Pat Burrell?” :
I hate Bob Klapisch, but not only because he is constantly pointing out the obvious fact that the Mets are inept. He’s a Yankee fan, so that makes his criticisms that much more unbearable. And even when the Mets were a gritty, likeable team in the late 90s, he still had nothing good to say, and always was more than happy to point out, regardless of how fun and successful the Mets were, they weren’t as good as the Yankees. So, this latest article, despite its truth, only makes me hate him more.
Yet, I still find things within the article that he has to embellish, subjectify, and contradict in order to get his point across. Examples:
– “The Mets are nowhere in the Matt Holliday/John Lackey auction.” Um, didn’t Omar just have a meeting with Lackey’s representatives last night? Apparently Klapisch had already retired to his hotel room when this news broke. More than likely the Mets won’t sign Lackey, but they have their reasons, and it’s not as if they’re completely ignoring Lackey either.
– “Maybe the Wilpons are too broke to write another big check. If so, they should stop propping up the 2010 team as a contender.” Okay, so the alternative would be to tell the fans the 2010 team is going to suck and not to bother watching any games for a while. And would Klapisch not slam the Mets for doing that, also? As if Klapisch expects the Mets just to announce 2010 is going to be a lost season. Yeah, that would go over well. Fans with any sense know that 2010 looks bleak; we don’t need the ownership to reinforce that fact.
– Klapisch says in one paragraph, “What the Mets really need is…Lackey and Holliday, right? It’s practically a no-brainer,” but then, in the very next paragraph, says, “The Mets realistically can’t afford both players.” Contradiction, much?
– And really, throughout the entire article, Klapisch admits the Mets may have no money because of Bernie Madoff, and have already been priced out of the auctions for Holliday and Lackey. But, true to form, regardless of that information, Klapisch can’t help but compare the Mets to the superlative Yankees again, saying how the Steinbrennars dished out more money than is contained in Fort Knox for three players last offseason, and that the Mets should do the same this offseason, because spending the most money always equals a winning season. But, to buy into his philosophy, not only do you have to once again contradict yourself into believing the Mets have the money to spend this winter, but also trick yourself into believing Holliday and Lackey are worth all that money, which any clear thinking person can see they’re not. And then leave to Klapisch to criticize the Mets in a year’s time if they do sign Holliday and Lackey, because they won’t have the money at that point to go after Joe Mauer or Roy Halladay, two players with much more upside than Holliday and Lackey. Alas, it would be just another Klapisch Kontradiction – something I have grown all too familiar, expectant, and tired of. Does anyone feel the same as I?
Also, Joe, thank you for having the only reasonable and realistic voice at MFF. I don’t know what those other clowns are thinking/smoking, but if I were them, I’d wake up to reality fast.