Finishing things up here in Tampa. I won’t be able to change my ticket so I have to leave tomorrow. Won’t be able to see a friend I used to have here, so it’s time to grab some barbeque—Lee Roy Selmon’s, where the BBQ salmon is tremendous. Who would have thought?
Spring training is finally over. “Let’s get it on,’’ was the first thing Willie said in his office after the game.
There’s always hope on Opening Day. The Mets have reason for more optimism than most.
What’s your optimism level? You encouraged? Discouraged? Share it now and debate among yourselves. I’ll check in later. Be well.
12 Comments
Hi John –
I want to thank you for taking me and the rest of the bloggers along with you to the Mets Spring Training at Port St. Lucie this year. It was a great trip and I don’t think we missed anything. With the addition of pictures and sound on the blog, we were in the clubhouse, on the field and even got the restaurant reviews.
I don’t think the average fan realizes how much work the beat writers do whether at home or on the road. And, speaking from experience it is hard sometimes to write with deadlines.
The best bit of news I got during Spring training was that Lastings Milledge had a big change in his personality and has now made the team. The worst news came from the ‘other’ clubhouse, where there will be no Bernie Williams on the field on opening day. (It also annoys me for some people to think that only the Steinbrenner sons could run the business, not the daughters)
Watched some of the horse racing from Dubai this afternoon – I remember when those guys used to come to the Lexington sales with black attache cases full of cash to buy yearlings.
Hope Georgetown wins tonight, it’s the only team I have left.
See you in St. Louis
Cautiously optimistic. Will feel better once the team gets off to a decent start. With a shaky spring and offseason, it would be rather discouraging to start off with 0-5 like in Willie’s first year as manager.
Then again, it’s never encouraging to start 0-5. But this would be especially discouraging given the circumstances.
Once again, thanks a lot for the hard work John…Thank goodness for Blogsites. That being said, LETS GET IT ON! I have heard a lot of pessimistic outlooks for 2007 but I remain cautiously optimistic and have complete confidence in the boys from Queens. LETS GO METS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John,
Right now I don’t know how I feel. I’m excited, but nervous. I’d have been much happier had we won more ST games, and our bats looked better. I’d also be more comfortable with Milledge in RF than Green. Not to mention a really good #2 pitcher (Darn you Zito!). All that said, I think this team has plenty of drive in it. They can’t be satisfied with the way last season ended, and I hope they think about it every day. They need to play with more energy than they have in ST. Let’s go, Mets go!!! Let’s go Mets!
I’m discouraged. The team looks a lot worse than at the outset last year. But then again, so does pretty much every other team in our division. I think the Braves actually have a good chance to win it; hopefully I am wrong. I feel they will do better than the Phillies, though. Hopefully, we can get a capable reliever, or even starter, for Shawn Green in a trade. That would make me feel a lot better, and then Milledge can play every day, letting Endy Chavez be the first backup like he should be.
I’m quite hopeful about the season. Most encouraging is that there is little reason to believe this year’s pitching staff will be worse on any dimension than last year’s. It’s easy to forget that roughly a year ago the Mets were throwing has-been’s (e.g., Trachsel and LimaTime!(TM)) and never-were’s (e.g., Jeremi Gonzalez, Alay Soler) out there frequently, sometimes on consecutive days no less. Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey will almost certainly be as good as Trachsel, Zambrano, and LimaTime!(TM)/Soler/Gonzalez but they have a shot at being far, far better. Of course, the issues with young guys like Maine, Pelfrey, and Perez are: will they “get it” and can they stay healthy? For all the focus on the Mets who are getting longer in the tooth, with the likely exception of LoDuca, they’re all guys that should age relatively gracefully. And, for virtually everyone except Glavine there’s a reasonable plan B.
What I am most giddy about as a fan is the prospect of watching Reyes and Wright continue to develop before our eyes. Both have a chance to do something really special this year. How great is it to have a lineup with Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Moises Alou—and yet Reyes and Wright are the two guys that compel you to stop what you’re doing and watch? If Willie bats them 1 and 2 it may be more excitement than I can handle.
I’ll tell you what else I love about this team. Omar and Willie are both guys that concentrate on what a player CAN do versus what he CAN’T—in that New England Patriots kind of way. Obviously, you can’t compare levels of success but the thinking behind personnel and strategy is comparable. That is, NE goes after players to perform particular roles well rather than just the transcendent talent. This approach allows them to find players that can contribute when others see them as past-their-primes or undeveloped talents. Similarly, the Mets have had good success under Omar at finding guys that can play well in their roles (e.g., Valentine, Mota) and then resisting the temptation to take them out of those roles (e.g., Heilman).
I am mixed.
I think we have a great lineup. Omar did a great job as always. I am disappointed at how the bullpen has shaped up. We have a lot of quality guys, but if the starters can’t make it past 6 then it will be touch and go and they will burn out.
I hope Maine can learn to pitch into the 7th as well as Perez. There are more questions than I am comfortable with in the pitching and the spring does not give me confidence that Wagner has gotten any better. Also Heilman bothers me.
If his elbow is a problem..
Dave
Your coverage is amazing, John! The articles on the Lohud site today (Sunday) are terrific. Keep the info coming.
John, I am a die-hard Mets fan and I live in St. Louis. Any way you can get me into the game tonight? :) :) :)
Interesting…
Cool!
Cool.