I Just Couldn't Let This Go

I thought I was finished blogging for today. I wanted to stop, I truly did. But then I read this at The Eddie Kranepool Society.

I took a deep breath, and then another one. I visualized tranquil scenes. It didn't work -- I was just pissed off.

I've said before, and I'll repeat now, that I respect the opinion of any Mets fan, whether they agree with me or not. I respect Mets fans that want to see Manny Ramirez in a NY Mets uniform next season. I will always take the opinion of any real Mets fan seriously, unless...

...unless you begin your opinion with the words, "Mike and the Mad Dog said". If you do that, I will:

1. Laugh in your face.
2. Turn around and walk away from you.
3. Do whatever it takes to avoid listening to you ever again.

As a Mets fan, I'm so tired of having these two cramming their opinions regarding the Mets down my throat. I'm tired of hearing them (Francesa in particular) mock Mets fans that call in to their show and dare to have an opinion regarding the Mets that differs from theirs. There are many days that I just can't listen to them anymore.

I wasn't listening today, but I've heard almost these exact words out of Francesa's mouth in the past. At one point this summer, while debating a possible Milledge for Soriano trade, Francesa demanded that the Mets fan who called in name one position player the Mets' system produced, apparently forgetting about David Wright, among others. By the way, if you call and make a valid point, you're only going to get yelled at and hung up on, anyway. (If I could play by those rules I would win every argument I have with my girlfriend instead of the 0% of them I win now.)

Look, my purpose here isn't to rant on about Mike and the Mad Dog. I'm just sick of this argument that you always hear from Francesa that the Mets don't develop prospects. The primary reason for this is simple: they trade most of them away for guys that are past their prime. The Mets will always sacrifice the possibility of success down the road for a chance to make the postseason "now". That's why their history is a few good years surrounded by a lot of bad ones.

If the Mets trade Lastings Milledge for Manny, and Milledge becomes a star while Manny flounders in New York, guess which 2 radio "personalities" will be first in line to mock the Mets for it? You guessed it.

In the interest of being fair -- an interesting concept, I think -- let me say right now that, if the Mets keep Milledge, as with any prospect there is the chance that he won't pan out. He might have a mediocre career, he might get hurt, whatever. There are no guarantees with talent. There's really no such thing as a "can't miss" prospect. And believe me, if this happens you will never hear the end of it from people like Francesa.

Developing talent from draft to the major leagues takes a level of commitment and patience on the part of an organization. The reward is producing a David Wright: a young, cheap talent that you control for several years. The risk is that the talent never fully develops. As true fans of the team, we all decide for ourselves if we believe the reward outweighs the risk or not. Just don't let some radio host cram his opinion down your throat.