Friday, December 11, 2009

The Seven Year Stain

Now, it's going to take a lot of Kaboom to clean up what ails this organization. But one of the oldest stains that once had no hope of being cleaned was the stain left by Steve Phillips when he traded Jason Bay for Steve Reed.

The Mets have made an attempt to clean that nearly decade-old stain by offering Bay a four-year, $65 million contract on Thursday. And there's also a delicious irony in this as just a day after Scott Boras declared the Mets as a "financial juggernaut" in hopes of them opening the vault for a left fielder, that's exactly what the Mets did ... except they didn't open it for Boras' left fielder. Oops.

(Of course, the Mets also made it rain for Bengie Molina, as they've offered him a two year deal. To quote: "The team's bid for Bay, a native of Trail, B.C., was between US$60 million and $65 million over four years. Molina would cost much less." Not significant enough to mention, I guess.)

Bay/Holliday. Tomayto/Tomaato. At least to me. The difference to me is the opportunity to right a wrong committed so many seasons ago. Most likely, those seasons that have passed will wind up to be Bay's most formidable as a ballplayer, and we'll probably be in for the slow, painful decline of Jason Bay. But I prefer not to entertain such thoughts. Instead, I'll consider the power numbers he'll provide over the next few years for a team and a ballpark which could use some numbers, if he indeed takes this offer.

We can't erase the affairs, but we can erase the other stains ... one bottle of Kaboom at a time.

2 comments:

The Metmaster said...

Here's my take on the sudden free agent offerings from the Mets....ticket sales. The Mets' deadline for returning ticket holders is December 18th. I've read a couple of stories that the returns are less than anticipated. The Mets brain trust (wow, there's a statement!)anticipated a drop off of sales after the 2009 disaster and indications now are that the real numbers are even worse than their target. The only way to get through to these clowns is through their wallets. I round-filed my ticket renewal after I stopped laughing. Stand strong Met fans. Deny the Wilpons your hard earned dough. It's the only way we're going to see improvement.

Schneck said...

I agree. Recycle those season ticket renewal reminders! I can't say that I won't visit Citifield at some point this season but for the first time in about 10 years I will not have a plan of any kind. I hope that a lot of people follow suit as I agree that this is the best way to get through to our owners.