First of all, sorry again to those of you who were reading my blog regularly and missed it (if there are any of you out there).  I'm actually working on another project right now as well.  For those of you who are into fantasy sports, check out www.FantasyPhenoms.com.  I've been writing weekly fantasy football columns previewing and recapping each NFL game from a fantasy perspective, and I may be writing other various articles for both fantasy football and fantasy baseball.  Fantasy Phenoms is a really great resource for fantasy advice and insights, especially for baseball, where we have provide some really in-depth sabermetric analysis.  A lot of the articles are free to access but some require a membership.  If you're interesting in a membership (very cheap), shoot me an email (mdeutschman@gmail.com) and I'll give you my promo code.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse"

Part Two:  The Core

     After the Mets collapsed in 2007 Omar Minaya made several changes to the roster, the most notable of which was, of course, acquiring Johan Santana.  The Mets came one win shy of a post-season berth in 2007, and the obvious presumption was that Santana would have increased the Mets’ win total by, at the very least, one win.  So after going 88-74 in ’07, the Mets went 89-73 in ’08, and once again coughed up a division lead late in the season and finished one win shy of the promised land.

     With Willie Randolph already fired mid-season, fans and media types have had to search elsewhere for a scapegoat.  As a result, many have opined that the Mets’ core of offensive talent (Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran) is simply unable to take the team to the next level, and should be broken up via trades.  Let’s take a look at what getting rid of those players would mean for the Mets, one by one.

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse - Part Two: The Core"

           On June 16 the Mets defeated the Angels to pull within one game of .500, at 34-35, but more importantly they made a managerial change that would alter the scope of their season.

           Up until that night in Anaheim, the underachieving Mets seemed to be playing through a haze, still haunted by the demons of the 2007 collapse.  Each and every loss was rife with heartbreak and every win included threats of the same.  Starting with the first loss of the season, rumors and uncertainties about Willie Randolph’s job security swirled around the Mets and ran rampant throughout the intense New York media.

           With every loss Randolph moved closer and closer to the edge, and became more and more noticeably distressed in his dealings with the prodding media.  His insecurity came to a head in early June, when he mistakenly made some off-hand remarks that were construed to mean he thought he was treated unfairly by the SNY broadcast team, the media and the Mets’ organization in part due to his race.  Naturally, his comments, although somewhat taken out of context, did nothing other than add fuel to the fire.

Continue reading "In the Aftermath Of The Collapse - Part Three: The Skipper"