In many ways, 2007 will be a year to forget for most New York baseball fans. Rather than recap the obvious debacles; the Mets' collapse, the
Yankees' third straight first round ouster, the Mitchell Report -- this
last Going Nine of the year will instead focus on the year to come.
Fans of Gotham's big league clubs have reasons to be excited -- and concerned – for the upcoming season.
In the Bronx, a determined (and apologetic) Andy Pettitte returns to lead a Yankee starting staff that already has vets Mike Mussina and Chien-Ming Wang. The latter is surely raring to go after his poor showing in the ALDS against Cleveland, while the former is hoping to stay in a group that will be infused with the emerging Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and perhaps even Ian Kennedy. If what figures to be Mussina's final season in pinstripes fails to materialize into a close-to-vintage type year, the Yankee rotation will be completely homegrown. When is the last time that happened?
The lineup is superb, but the bench is a bit suspect, and while the closer is still unbelievable when it counts, his bridge is untested in some spots, and unstable in others. New manager Joe Girardi thinks he can get the best out of Kyle Farnsworth, and told me at the Winter Meetings in Nashville that he think that another young arm like Jeff Marquez, could be utilized in the vacated (for now, anyway) setup role that Chamberlain dominated in the second half surge. It may not be as easy as Girardi makes it sound, but he sure sounds like he thinks it can be done. Sometimes that's half the battle.
The skipper is new, yet familiar, and time will tell if his approach – which differs in many ways from his former manger and mentor -- will click with his former teammates.
Though the failures of the past seven seasons are quite visible and fresh on the minds of Yankee ownership and the front office staff, the hiring of Girardi, the youthful arms and the bat of A-Rod will more than keep Yankee fans focused on the present, rather than dwelling on the departure of Joe Torre, the Mitchell Report or Roger Clemens.
The fan base has already (for now) forgiven Pettitte for his past transgressions, don't seem care about Clemens either way, and won't give a whit if Jose Canseco's new book names their third baseman as a juicer if the Bombers win a championship.
That's just reality.
Going Nine believes that this season will be a special one for the Yankees, who – if they can tinker successfully with their pen – should regain the AL East from the suddenly dynastic Boston Red Sox.
Meantime, things over in Flushing are a little more complicated.
Though you'd never know it from reading the tabloids, the Mets fan base is crankier than it's been since Black Friday (or the day the Mets dealt Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano). Losing the NL East was bad enough, some say. Watching the Rockies get to the World Series was just as annoying to many, but having the New Year upon them with no newcomers save a Matt Wise to the bullpen (not to mention the unpopular trade of rookie Lastings Milledge for Ryan Church and Brian Schiender) has plenty of fans ticked off.
Mets' ownership is none too pleased that they find themselves in this predicament, and might have itchy trigger fingers come the All-Star Break if their talent-laden team is misfiring. If they do, let's hope the search for a new skipper is a little more creative than the Terry Collins/Jim Riggleman window dressing we were all subject to in 2004.
That said, Willie Randolph holds the key to the amount of success (or lack thereof) the Mets will attain in 2008. We also strongly believe that firing him midseason, if the Mets are struggling, is also a very bad idea, especially if the consolation prize is Jerry Manuel. If you're talking Wally Backman (very unlikely) or Gary Carter (who might be the best pitcher-friendly candidate out there), we might feel differently. If anything, it would be intriguing to any writer that's covered any of Randolph's press conferences since 2005.
By refusing to fire Randolph after the team's collapse – a gutsy and loyal call by Minaya – he probably put himself and his manager on equal footing as far as the respective shelf life is concerned. The last time that happened, Steve Phillips and Bobby Valentine overcame their “General Hospital” relationship to win the NL pennant.
The perception by many that the once-tranquil clubhouse (dubbed Camp Happiness by WFAN's Mike Francesa) is now a divided house doesn't help matters either, as Mets ownership is (far too often) is often very sensitive to media and fan criticism. The Sept. 21 interview that first baseman Carlos Delgado, who had a less-than-representative season while making nearly $15 million in 2007, gave to WFAN still lingers with Mets fans.
“I think at times we can get a little careless. We’ve got so much talent; I think sometimes we get bored.”
The Mets need Delgado, in the final year of his contract (which Minaya very shrewdly declined to extend in 2006) to resemble the less "bored" Delgado of 2006, who made the Mets' offense the best in baseball.
The Mets must also get more from their pitching staff in 2008. The starters, led by a healthy (hopefully for Mets fans) Pedro Martinez, 15-game winners John Maine and Oliver Perez, are shaky at the back end. Youngsters Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber have yet to prove their mettle in a pennant race, and Orlando Hernandez, who despite some brilliant work in a Mets uniform, must stay healthy in September and beyond.
However, the most crucial element for the Mets in 2008 must come from the bullpen. The individual performances of the pitchers that will make up that group, however, are just as important as their implementation by the manger and the pitching coach.
"We've been throwing four innings a night - for months!" Wagner told New York Magazine in September. “Our pitching coach has no experience talking to a bullpen. He can help you mechanically, but he can't tell you emotions. He has no idea what it feels like. And neither does Willie. They're not a lot of help, put it that way."
Of course, Wagner could have pitched better down the stretch, but his points are well-taken, if not welcomed by Randolph and Peterson (Wagner has since apologized to both, sources say). The Mets can ill afford another meandering summer of "mixing and matching" bullpen arms when recent history proves that the opposite is more successful.
Just ask D'Backs manager Bob Melvin (which we did at this year's Winter Meetings in Nashville). We weren't going to ask him any bullpen-specific questions until we heard him answer another writer's question about his team's successful 2007 season.
“When you have a bullpen that sets up after the sixth inning, and the guys know their roles and have success doing it, I think the team confidence rises knowing that you have a lead going into the back end; that you have a chance to win,” said Melvin. “That was certainly one of the most important aspects of our team last year.”
It was the remark concerning confidence that intrigued me when I asked him to repeat it.
“So just take that back, when you're saying that it raises the confidence level of the team when the bullpen guys know their roles, seven, eight, nine,“ I asked. “Do you think that even if you don't in your mind in your Spring Training know who those seven, eight, nine guys are, that it's important or imperative that after the first month of whatever time that you deem necessary that by the end of the year, at least by mid season, that you have a good idea of where those guys are.”
“No doubt,” Melvin replied. “Those guys, they can prepare when they know what their role is and they know the time of the game and they know when the score is X and they get to a certain time when the phone rings it's going to be you, so you can visualize and prepare for those roles.”
Given the importance of the 2008 season for Randolph, Peterson and Minaya, it's an approach that might serve the Mets well in 2008.
***
Each fan base will bid farewell to their respective ballparks this season, and while the House That Ruth Built will garner far more attention and fanfare (s well as the 2008 All-Star Game), Big Shea's passing will be mourned by many, especially METS FAN author Dana Brand.
Similar farewells, and probably far too many to count, will be written for Yankee Stadium, and we'll be sure to seek out the best ones for our readers. I, for one, will be eager to a new Yankee Stadium, if for no other reason, than to see the famous facade reclaim its proper place atop the entire stadium.
One less than appealing aspect of the upcoming season will be marketing of each ballpark's demise, which undoubtedly figures to be a lucrative enterprise for those seeking and selling memorabilia for each incumbent ballpark. If the early forecast by some collectible merchants are correct, there might not be much left for construction crews to demolish when the time comes.
In many ways, 2007 will be a year to forget for most New York baseball fans. Rather than recap the obvious debacles; the Mets' collapse, the
Yankees' third straight first round ouster, the Mitchell Report -- this
last Going Nine of the year will instead focus on the year to come.
