Things caught my eye today. Like this:
“Regardless of the outcome of these discussions, we want to emphasize that the New York Mets will have all the necessary financial and operational resources to fully compete and win. That is our commitment to our fans and to New York.” -The Mets on that whole lawsuit thing… where they made money off Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme.
“Of course! That is why we give you this plentiful bounty of Dusty Ryan, Ronnie Paulino, and D.J. Carrasco! We have spared no expense to fully compete for you!”
That quote … right there (and I’m shocked it wasn’t e-mailed to us in Flushing Flash form), is why I sleep through press conferences, and I put no stock in statements. Because “The New York Mets will have all the necessary financial and operational resources to fully compete and win” means to me, and might mean to others: “We’re going after Cliff Lee.” It’s false hope. That’s the statement the Mets gave us because it’s the statement that the Mets are supposed to give us. The real way to respond to these lawsuits probably goes like this:
“We want to emphasize that the New York Mets will not fold in 2011.”
But we know that we’re never going to get the real story straight. So instead we look for actions and not words for proof. And the proof is in the Kozy Shack, right? I mean, I don’t mind that all the Mets are going to give us is Carrasco, Ryan, Paulino, and a few other scraps from the bottom of the river. These scraps are better than some of the older scraps given to us over the last few seasons. But to say that they have the operational rescources to fully compete and win (and then turn around and sign Dusty Ryan) is statement-speak. All of the operational resources to fully compete and win are in Oliver Perez’s wallet. Too bad he doesn’t have the control, intestinal fortitude, and selfless humility to win, right? So stop with these implied promises of grandeur and just put the scraps on our plate. We’ve expected these scraps all along. We’ll eat.
As for Carrasco, umm … hooray! Elmer Dessens has a protégé, I guess. But just so you know, we’re getting a pitcher who is a bit delusional:
“I’m capable of doing whatever they ask. I’d prefer to be in games that are going to lead to wins and holds and stuff like that — that the games are going to be winning games as opposed to blowout games.”
Yeah, and I’d prefer that my caviar eggs were individually wrapped in hundred dollar bills. But that’s not going to happen because Oliver Perez is using those operational resources to wrap his own caviar eggs. Hey D.J., you signed with the Mets. So good luck finding those “winning” games.
And wasn’t Ronny Paulino the guy the Mets were all hot for to replace Paul Lo Duca back in 2007? Yeah, had the trade all worked out. Instead, he comes to the Mets after his options basically run out … oh, and after a 50 game suspension for those cheatin’ pills. Somewhere, Omar Minaya is letting out a sigh.
Oh by the way, the Mets and Red Sox are talkin’ ’bout a Carlos Beltran trade (so much for that advantage of Carrasco having played with Beltran in the minors).
“I think we’re realists,” Alderson said. “If we felt given all of the components of the transaction that it was in our interest, yeah. Eaten money before and prepared to eat it again.” (…)
Speaking generally, Alderson said, “We’re always open to wild and crazy ideas. Maybe one or two of those have come up. But they usually remain wild and crazy ideas – nothing more.”
And here I thought that crazy idea I came up with of having Alderson, DePodesta, and Ricciardi parachute into Citi Field on Opening Day wearing bear suits actually had a chance. Damn.
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