Ritterbusch's Take: What It's Like Being a Mets Fan

Jim Ritterbusch, who contributed to the blog with several Villanova takes throughout the college hoops season, is back with his take on the New York Mets. My comments are listed at the bottom.
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The Frustrations of Being a New York Met Fan

When newly signed free agent closer Billy Wagner struggled during the season’s first home stand, it was of no surprise to me to receive a giddy email from my friend Felbs, your typical obnoxious Yankee fan who takes extreme delight in any NY Met failure (be it on field or at the negotiation tables). “That four year contract sucks” cackled Felbs, “It might be good for the first two years, but after that they will regret it”. The email exchange, combined with the ever-brewing fans-against-Carlos Beltran-situation, got me to thinking about how and why it is so frustrating to be a New York Met fan.

Every major league baseball player knows that playing in New York City is a different kind of animal. The impossibly high expectations of fans, the win-now attitude, the overwhelming media scrutiny; it takes a certain type of psyche to handle it all in stride and succeed. For every David Cone and Paul O’Neill, you have a Vince Coleman and a Bobby Bonilla (who famously dared the NYC media to try to knock the smile off his face – it did not take too long). Given all of the aforementioned pressures, I don’t think it a stretch to say that most MLB free agents who are willing to consider the Big Apple generally look at the Bronx well before they consider Queens. When players look at the prestigious Yankee tradition, the potent line-up and strong team that annually offers a legitimate shot at post-season play, the deep pockets of Steinbrenner, the Bronx is always more appealing than Queens. I cannot say that I blame any player for this mindset. As a Met fan, you just accept that this is the reality of the situation. Given these realities, the only way for the Mets to sign big-name free agents is to overpay. They overpaid for Pedro’s contract, Wagner’s contract, Beltran’s contract and likely Delgado’s as well. That is what the Mets have to do to compete in the free agent world – extra years and higher dollars.

Given the difficulties noted above, it is amazing how harshly the NY Met fans treat newly signed players. Granted Carlos Beltran put up sub-par numbers last season, but has it really been necessary to boo him at every single plate appearance since AB number three this season? When Beltran finally did hit a late inning homerun against the Nationals to put the Mets ahead in a tie ballgame, these same fans who have been mercilessly booing him now gleefully cheered him and chanted his name demanding a curtain call. Beltran was pissed and did not want to acknowledge the fans. I could not blame him for feeling the way he did. Finally, after much cajoling from teammate Julio Franco, Beltran gave a very subdued, half-hearted wave to the Shea Stadium crowd.

I am not saying fans do not have the right to boo a player. They do. But I just wish fans would take a moment to think about what they are (or are not) accomplishing. Are they helping the slumping player? Other than letting out some of their own frustrations, what is the purpose of the booing? Is the objective to “break” the player and perhaps see him cry in frustration at a post-game press conference? Are they making the NY Mets situation in any way more attractive to other future free-agents?

Each new marquee player that comes in and gets off to a slow start receives this treatment. If you recall, Mike Piazza was roundly and routinely booed for about a solid month during his first year at Shea. Some players manage to keep their composure, perform at, or above, the expected level and ultimately win the fans over. Many do not. The list of those who have failed is a long one. Will Beltran be the next one to be swallowed up and spit out? I do not know the answer. As it sits, it is self-propagating cycle and a conundrum for which I have no answers, just extreme frustration.

Prognosis for the Season:
The Mets have managed to put together a strong line-up that should allow them to score runs with anybody. New signees Carlos Delgado, Paul LoDuca, and Xavier Nady have all gotten off to hot starts and thus far have avoided the wrath of the Shea faithful that has me so frustrated. The two keys factors that will dictate the team’s success are the following:

Starting Pitching – the Mets starters have a lot of miles on them and you just don’t know much these guys have left in the tank. Is Glavine going to the guy who kept us in games throughout the second half of last year, or will continue to lose velocity and appear very hittable as he did in the first half? Will Pedro’s toe get better? Will Trachsel’s back hold up? Like so many teams in baseball these days, so much hinges on the health of the aging, veteran starters

Middle Relief – this was the biggest Achilles heel on last year’s team. Part-time starter Aaron Heilman lost the 5th starter job this spring to rookie Brian Bannister (Floyd’s kid) so the hope is that he can eat up innings. However, he is a junkball guy and that is never all that appealing out of the pen. The other big question is Jorge Julio (received in trade for Kris and Anna Benson). The guy appears to be Armando Benitez reincarnated – big fastball that can often look overpowering. The problem is the big fastball is all too often without movement and this can lead to bigger, mammoth home runs at the most inopportune times.

My feeling is that the Mets will win somewhere in the neighborhood of 92 games and make the post-season as the NL wildcard.
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Dils' reaction: As a Phillies fan, it has been fun to watch the Mets spend hundreds of millions of dollars and flouder as badly as the Phillies over the pst 15 years (I think they both have one losing appearance in the Fall Classic). However, at least as a Mets fan, you can look at the brass managing your club and say with certainty that they are at least trying to win. They spend whatever money they have to to bring in players to try to get them over the hump. So management may be incompetent as evidenced by poor decision making, but at least they try. The Philberts are led by a management group that is only concerned with spending enough money to be competitive (not win) but not too much that it will affect the bottom line. The bottom line is that both clubs should be ashamed of the fact that they are in big markets but that neither has won the division since Atlanta came over from the NL West in the early 90s. Ugh.