December 11, 2006
Crush
Via MetsBlog.com, The Ragsly Reader discusses the Mets fan crush on Barry Zito:
Mets fans want you, Barry. They want you to bring your desirable self (your pitching skills, your actress/model-dating skills and high Q rating) to this greatest city. They want you on the Shea Stadium mound. They want you illuminated under their city's bright lights like you deserve. They promise to treat you right. They know you're not like other ballplayers, Barry. And they daydream about the stability and youth you can bring to their starting rotation.
But the fans and the team don't want to overpay for you, Barry. They want you to realize that what they offer is more than just money. It all sounds so right. It could all be so right. If you only say yes.
He'll want more than Pettitte, however.
Good luck Barry. Mets fans will boo you for the rest of your life if you don't win. No, not winning, like you pitch well and you have more wins than losses...win, like win all the time. Want a hitter's equivalent? See Beltran, C. If you don't perform well? See Matsui, K. I'd recommend that Barry check out those very Mets blogs and their unrealistic expectations. Most are filled with bombast about how great NYC is (is it really?), how "bad" the Yankees are, and trade rumors along the lines of "hey let's trade Lastings Milledge for Jake Peavy."
Be very careful Barry.
Kent,
I'm not going to make excuses for the over the top booing of many NYC fans. I disagree with a lot of it. But they can be won over, and their expectations are not always that unreasonable. Beltran was booed when he struggled. I do not agree with it, but at the very least that changed when he started playing well. Zito will probably come in overhyped if the Mets sign him, but I do not think there is any good reason to believe the NYC faithful will be that unfair to him. They are tough, and at times unreasonably so. But I think you have way overstated the zeal of their booing. The only player I've seen receive the booing treatment you describe is A-Rod in the Bronx.
Further, why the slide into potshots about Mets blogs? You started off with a point about high expectations and quickly changed it into a string of questions about the city itself, their attention to another club and unreasonable trade expectations. Not only is there no need for that, it's the sort of thing you can find at pretty much any blog. Unreasonable trade proposals are not the exclusive province of the fans of any single team.
Truth be told, I'm messy around...somewhat. I mentioned blogs because David referenced them in his original post. I know what many of 'em say because I read them (e.g. Metsgeek, Metsblog, Amazin' Avenue, Mets...damus [spelling I know], EddieKranepoolSociety, etc).
I don't have a problem with NYC's views of itself or NYC fans' views of themselves. I do, however, wonder why so many seem so sure that every baseball player worth anything somehow needs/wants to play there.
To that end, I think that Beltran's treatment is telling: that NYC is not that great of a place to play. Sure, you win and it's great. But, baseball's a game of failure and one's only going to succeed for so long, especially in today's competitive environment. I mean Betran was getting booed by Mets "fans" the first freaking game of the season. 'Cause he failed? Please, the Mets have been a mess of a franchise for years. Then again, we seem to be on the same page re: Beltran. But, I'll add, that I think the booing of Beltran goes beyond just booing. Do we (fans) think that the players don't talk, that they don't consider unrealistic expectation of NYC vs. moderate expectations and the same desire to win in, say, St. Louis or Houston.
Oh, and the Jake Peavy thing was something that I actually read, as if it were a real debate. Yes, the Mets (and Yankees) don't have a monopoly over silly armchair GM stuff. But, it seems to me that this type of talk abounds on Mets and Yankees blogs. Of course, I don't know the ages or intelligence of the posters, but the comments do get posted.
Is it time for Spring Training yet?