The Amazing-ly Bad Mets and Early Rumblings

September is a grueling month in the world of Major League Baseball. The final month of the regular season, it decides who plays on into October and who goes home early for the offseason. Yesterday saw most teams play their final game of the season and, apart from the American League Central, which will not be decided until Tuesday in a one game play-off between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox, the remaining seven playoff teams have been determined. Sadly, the New York Mets have now turned in historically bad performances two seasons in a row to force themselves out of the playoffs when leading the division with seventeen games to go. For the next five months, my interest will be in how the Mets and the rest of the MLB plan to solve any problems the teams have via the free-agent market, via trade, or even through changes in the front office. For some early rumors (the big moves and real discussions do not usually begin until the winter meetings in December) I decided to surf the blogosphere. To my delight, I found two very interesting posts in the very same blog, ESPN.com's Buster Olney Blog. This was a great find because Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine and has been covering baseball since 1989. Before ESPN The Magazine, Olney worked at The New York Times for six years covering baseball, the Mets and Yankees in particular. I was initially drawn to this blog because his most recent post, Mets' big hope for 2009... fix Wright was concerning the Mets 2008 collapse and speculated on things they could look to change in 2009. The second post that attracted my attention was Ten thoughts about the free-agent market, a post in which Olney presents ten interesting thoughts about what to look for this offseason. In addition to publishing my comments directly on Olney's blog, I have also posted these comments below.

(Please Note: Only subscribers to ESPN.com's Insider will be able to view the blogs and comments in full. I apologize for any inconvienence caused)

Mets' big hope for 2009... fix Wright

Comments:

Thank you for a great post that highlights something I also saw as a major problem for the Mets this season. While most of the discussion of the Mets' failure this season will focus on the torrid time had by the bullpen after Billy Wagner went down with an injury, I think the offense kept too many games close enough for the bullpen to be put under pressure and blow the game. When you look at their lineup, the Mets look like a time that should rarely struggle to score runs. Yet, throughout the course of the season the fact that the Mets never overcame a four-run deficit shows that the offense might be prone to just give up or disappear some games. I agree that David Wright's struggles with runners in scoring position were a huge part of this. In the last week of the season alone, it seemed like every time Wright had the chance to make an impact he was a non-factor at the plate. This was hugely disappointing after he put up numbers through the season that could have gained him a few votes in the MVP race.

I like your idea about the sports psychologist. Look at Wright when he is happy and relaxed: he's all smiles, flashy handshakes with Jose Reyes (pictured to the left), huge numbers and Met wins. What concerns me most is that next year, with two consecutive September collapses on their minds, will Wright and the Mets offense disappear entirely? Also, do you see the Mets entering the Sabathia race? Do you think they will make a strong attempt to sign K-Rod? Do you think Minaya deserves his extension?

Ten thoughts about the free-agent market

Comments:

Thank you Buster this is a very interesting post for those of us without teams playing ball in October. As a Mets fan, the only things I have to look forward to is a new stadium and potential free-agent signings. As I maintain a blog about contracts, trades and statistics, your post served me very well. I think your first thought is very interesting because it shows how baseball's economy works in relation to the nation's. In recent years

contracts have skyrocketed in value and an economic recession could play a large part in reducing the number of overpaid players. With Sabathia (pictured to the right), do you see him making whatever team he decides to play for favorites to reach the World Series? With seemingly only contenders vying for his services and seeing what he has done for Milwaukee in the past nine days let alone the past few months, he seems like he could be a real difference maker in '09. Since "the market for starting pitching, in general, is going to be better than expected" do you see a decline in $10 million contracts being given to mediocre starters? Something else I was hoping to find in your post was a discussion of young players that may be ready to make some sort of an impact, the Soto's and the Longoria's of next year and also, who you feel the biggest impact bat will be this offseason. As a resident of Los Angeles, I am curious as to what the future of Manny Ramirez will be.