Is This Thing Still On?

I've decided to post here on Effing Mets for the first time in forever because hey, the Mets signed Jose Reyes, and the last time that would have been a good idea I was in my twenties and this blog was my life. I know the team has promised that the signing won't prevent them from spending more going forward, but we all know, in reality, they are counting beans pretty closely up there in Flushing.

Jeff Wilpon, the man blessed enough to be the fastest of Fred Wilpon's sperm but who possesses no other discernible talents, joined the press to ensure the fans that the team can be trusted to maximize whatever money they actually spend.

“Certain teams spend $200 million to get value to get the $130 million in value you need to get from players versus other teams who spend $95 million to get that value. You can get there different ways," he said. I have no video, but I choose to believe this line was delivered with a straight face. I suppose he has the Mets long track record of success to lean on when he makes that statement.

This isn't a team in a rebuild, as rob patterson (all lowercase) argues to me. It's not, and the distinction lies here: a team in rebuild has a goddamn plan. This is a team trying to put on a facade of competing now, while tamping down both payroll and expectations as much as they can, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with too many of their starting positions. Hoping for lightning in a bottle year in and year out isn't a plan to win any more than standing at the liquor store counter and furiously scratching off lottery tickets is a retirement plan. Yes, you can win $100, which you will inevitably blow on a handle of liquor that comes in a plastic bottle because your father never really loved you and sometimes it's just easier not to feel anything at all, but largely it is still going to leave you broke. Yet here the Mets are, scratching away.

The payroll number isn't the problem. The amount being spent is fine, I don't demand the team get to $200 million to prove to me it's trying. But this team has real problems that need real solutions, not retreads that can be gotten on the cheap. You have talented teams by either paying for talent or recognizing it where others have missed it, and right now I trust this front office to do neither.