Ace?: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 HIn keeping with the Voice's dissenting view of the Mets' and Yankees' new publicly-subsidized stadium projects, Barra spends some time whacking those pinatas, correctly noting that both structures are designed to exclude, and not include fans - they're smaller, flush with amenities designed to appeal to more upper-class fans, and generally way more expensive, ticket-wise. He asserts that the rank and file New York fan, contrary to the official media line, is not clamoring for new digs; nor is he or she, in Barra's words, "joining in on this 'Come celebrate with us as we tear down our stadiums' nostalgia crap." These are reasonable claims. The Yankee fan would be perfectly happy to see the team play in Yankee Stadium, where a lineage of great players stretching from Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter have roamed the field and where the team has enjoyed 26 world championships. The Met fan, though less than passionate about Shea Stadium aesthetically, will doubtlessly recall the magic of 1969 and 1986, and those of us of a more recent vintage, like myself, will remember how the joint positively rocked on its foundations when packed with 55,000 believers during the 2006 playoff run. While I think that the Met fan looks at the gem of a ballpark rising over the center field fence with more enthusiasm than Barra allows, certainly he or she, like the Yankee fan, will always look fondly upon the old digs.
Where Barra kinda loses me is his positively savage assessment of how each team reloaded for 2008 after disappointing 2007s:
This year, both clubs were in a superb position to erase the ugliness of 2007. Instead, we've gotten one of the worst baseball summers in memory, with both teams more or less hovering around .500 as they limp into the All-Star break. Yet the Mets, loaded with mad money, made no substantial roster change except for the acquisition of Johan Santana, and the Yankees made no substantial roster changes at all—according to ESPN, they actually went into the 2008 season with a payroll $9 million less than last year.This statement is absurd on its face. For one, the Yankees' 2007 was not ugly, at least not on the field: after being 21-29 in May and 14 games out in the division, the Bombers spent the latter half of the season on a rabid tear, winning at an astonishing .700 clip and icing the Wild Card, while nearly eclipsing Boston in the A.L. East. During their run, they brought up Joba Chamberlain, who began his career by pitching nearly 40 innings in relief without surrendering an earned run, an astounding feat. Yeah, they lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight season, a disappointment for Yankee fans harboring ludicrously high expectations every season, but not exactly ugly. Sure, things off the field quickly got messy: Joe Torre was basically handed a "fuck off" offer and split for L.A., and A-Rod created some drama by opting out of his deal, a situation which was later resolved with the $300 million, ten year contract that he frankly deserved, in the world of stratospheric baseball salaries. But Yankeeland is possessed with a certain animating tsuris every off-season; why should last year be any different?
Yes, the Yankees did fail to "reload," refusing to trade for Johan Santana in favor of building around their young prospects, Phil Hughes (who pitched well when not injured and performed fantastically in his one postseason appearance), Ian Kennedy (also terrific down the stretch), and, of course, Joba (who is, so far, looking pretty good since transitioning into the rotation). At the time, this did not seem like such a terrible decision: after all, to acquire Santana ostensibly would have meant parting with a prized pitching prospect who was already locked up contractually, as well as shelling out a gigantic contract extension for a pitcher whose ERA and home runs surrendered ballooned last season. Offensively, the team scored more runs than anyone else in the game; there weren't a lot of pieces on the market that could have ostensibly improved them. Sure, you can point to the bench and the bullpen as weaknesses, but I don't think that for Barra, who focuses his ire on the Yanks' failure to acquire a Santana or a C. C. Sabathia, the question is about finding a solid defensive first baseman or a lefty specialist.
Barra's complaints about the Mets, who did have an ugly 2007 due to the disgrace that dare not speak its name, are even more churlish. The Mets, you see, made "no significant roster change" beyond acquiring the putative best pitcher in the game - the very same Johan Santana Barra roasts the Yankees for not seriously pursuing. Apparently, with a roughly $140 million dollar payroll (third highest behind Boston and the skin-flint Yankees) and an equivalent commitment to Santana over the next seven seasons, the Mets are, as Barra has it, hording resources instead of putting the best ball club possible on the field. Never mind dropping $20 million per year for Carlos Beltran, locking up once and future All-Stars Wright and Reyes, or spinning Lastings Milledge into OF Ryan Church (who was hitting around .320 before his battles with post-concussion syndrome rendered him a question mark) and excellent defensive catcher Brian Schneider. This is a team that clearly does not prize winning, despite the clearly salubrious effect 2006 and the ensuing tidal wave of hope has had on the Mets' box office receipts. And firing Willie Randolph - a move that means the Wilpons will be paying him millions to sit on his ass at home - that wasn't the move of ownership desperate for a winner.
Well, according to Barra, it wasn't: "...the Wilpons approved of or even initiated Willie's termination for PR purposes." He then, after a sarcastic diatribe mocking Omar Minaya's assertion that Willie's personnel moves in part led to his departure, claims that the GM left the manager's cupboard bare in the bench and bullpen departments:
Nearly all of Willie Randolph's choices worked out pretty much as they could have been expected to, given the level of talent available to him—and the man with the primary responsibility for providing that talent was Minaya, with a reputation last season as a smart baseball man. If the Mets GM couldn't be expected to provide a Koufax or Mize, then why, with the team's newfound resources, couldn't he at least have given Randolph a better bullpen and bench than you'd find on an average Triple-A franchise?Nevermind that bench player Fernando Tatis has hit two game winning home runs thus far and is filling in admirably for Moises Alou in left field, or the valuable contributions of Damion Easley and Endy Chavez. And while we're at it, let's forget about Aaron Heilman, who has improved considerably since Willie's exit; that couldn't possibly be because of Jerry Manuel's decision to formulate logical, relatively stable roles for his relievers. No, those guys totally suck, and Omar Minaya should have waved his magic multi-million dollar wand to conjure up, well not "Sandy Koufax" and "Johnny Mize," ha ha, but somebody good.
Look, I don't dispute that the way the Mets handled Willie's departure was bush league: they should have axed him in New York before his tenure devolved into a highly distracting death watch. But after granting Randolph a reprieve following 2007's indefensible collapse, the Mets played like frozen turds for the first two months of the season. He didn't motivate the team, he refused to do anything that might embarrass underperforming veterans like the now-resurgent Carlos Delgado, and worst of all, he didn't win, which is, last I checked, the ultimate arbiter of a manager's success. The 2008 Mets looked like a team in a mortal torpor, unable to shift into any gear higher than neutral. Now, I wouldn't characterize Jerry Manuel's tenure as miraculous; after all, the team has only now gotten its head above .500 for the first time in a month and a half. But anyone who watches the Mets night in and night out can tell you that they look like a different club than they did under Willie: they hustle, play with a little spring in their step, and don't give up when they get down early - a kiss of death earlier in the season. Now, with four straight wins, and six out of their last nine, their nostrils are starting to fill with that sweet smell of success, and one can only wonder if, perhaps, Manuel is at least partly responsible for the turn around.
Frankly, the most bizarre aspect of Barra's article, which aimlessly pisses rain on a season barely half over just as such criticisms seem to be particularly dated, is how ignorant it makes him appear. Sure, he's right to be cynical where money's concerned, but his petulant insistence that the Mets and Yankees could make their teams better simply through sheer force of will and wallet is a queer refraction of the acquisitive Steinbrenner the Elder mentality that brought Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Javier Vasquez, (gulp) Randy Johnson, (double gulp) Carl "Have You Seen Me?" Pavano, and (triple gulp) Roger Clemens Redux to the Bronx with hyperinflated salaries and even bigger (mostly unfulfilled) expectations. You can't sign players who are under contract or don't exist, and if you're the Mets, who just emptied their depleted farm system to land Santana, you can't trade beads and expect to land Matt Holliday or Xavier Nady. Both Brian Cashman and Omar Minaya would love to ink a Mark Teixiera to play first base in their respective pinstripes, and next year when he's on the market, they'll do their damnedest to get him. But wishful thinking simply does not make it so. Besides, as they say, 2008 ain't over 'til it's over, and with the Mets 1 1/2 out of first, the Yanks inching closer to Tampa Bay, and the trade deadline well ahead of us, there's plenty of time to right the ship and keep New York fans glued to their seats and their sets into September, and hopefully, beyond. So cheer up, motherfucker: it's baseball season.
