The owners of the Mets sent out an email Friday night that can either be seen as an explanation or an apology. It arrived around 8:30 p.m. or so, which means it might’ve begun as the former and morphed into the latter as the Mets were soon getting thumped, 10-3, by the Orioles.
Among the highlights of the note signed by Steve and Alex Cohen:
“We do not take your support or loyalty for granted. It is your passion that makes Citi Field such a special place. When we purchased the team in 2020, we said that we were doing it for the fans, our community. It was true then, and it remains true today.
“When our players arrived in Port St. Lucie for Spring Training, you had high expectations for the club and so did we. We added several key pieces to our team, but things have not turned out how we planned. You are rightfully disappointed and so are we.
“This is not where we wanted to be in 2023. Our goal is to be a consistent contender. The only way to do this in a sustainable way is to build a pipeline of high caliber talent in our farm system that will fuel our major league team for years to come.
“As we approached the trade deadline, we made the decision to expedite that process. It became clear we needed to pivot and build for the future. The trades we made over the last several days have allowed us to do that. In a very short period of time, we have infused an unprecedented amount of top-tier prospects into our system that would otherwise have taken years to accumulate.
“We promise you, we will work hard to field a competitive team in 2024. Our core group of experienced players including Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Edwin Díaz, plus supplementation in the free agent market, will allow us to put together a formidable team next season.
“We can’t stress enough how grateful we are for your continued support. Without you, none of this would be worth it. We believe in this organization and our future, which only got brighter over the last few days.”
It was an interesting blueprint the Cohens followed. You may recall 2018, when in the middle of the hockey season the Rangers decided to do similar to what the Mets did this week and blow up their core with an eye toward getting younger and more athletic.
Glenn Sather and Jeff Gorton, then the team’s brain trust, sent out a similar letter to Blueshirts ticket holders, and the meat of the message was this:
“[A]s we do every season, we have been continuously evaluating our team, looking for areas that can be improved to enhance our chances of winning. We began the process of reshaping our team this past summer, when we traded for assets that we believe will help us in the years to come. As we approach the trade deadline later this month and into the summer, we will be focused on adding young, competitive players that combine speed, skill and character.
“This may mean we lose some familiar faces, guys we all care about and respect. While this is part of the game, it’s never easy. Our promise to you is that our plans will be guided by our singular commitment: ensuring we are building the foundation for our next Stanley Cup contender.”
Now, it should be noted that five years later, the Rangers actually have generally done what they promised to do, a couple of coaches and a couple of GMs later — notwithstanding last season’s disappointing first-round playoff ouster by the Devils. If Mets fans could fast-forward five years, perhaps they’ll feel as generally good about their team as Rangers fans do about theirs.
Right now, it’s hard and it’s brutal to watch, night after night, and it actually inspired this small piece of genius from a reader named Roland Chapdelaine, a song parodyist after my own heart, who offered up this, to the tune of the “The Letter,” the 1967 hit for The Box Tops:
Get me a ticket for Syracuse
The next two years the Mets are gonna lose
Playoff dreams are gone
Fourth place comin’ on
Uncle Stevie just wrote me a letter
Well he wrote me a letter
Said he couldn’t pay free agents no more
Canha, Scherzer, Verlander, Robertson all went out the door —
Pham too!
I don’t care how much money he’s gotta spend.
I just wanna see the Mets in first place again
Playoff dreams are gone
Fourth place comin’ on
Uncle Stevie just wrote me a letter
At least we can all still laugh …
If someone had told you in 1963 — or ’73, ’83, ’93, 2003 and ’13, for that matter — that the Astros would be the most hated team to visit Yankee Stadium, you’d have suggested that maybe it was time to call a cab for him to go home.
Those three days in Kansas City were a wonderful reminder that you never quite know where rock bottom really is until you hit it. And I don’t believe the Mets have gotten there just yet.
If you watched that Browns-Jets game to the bitter end the other night (raises hand, mutters “guilty”), then you really must reevaluate the way you parcel out your time.
Can’t say I know more than five Taylor Swift songs, but someone who provides that much happiness to that many people in these times is doing something very, very right.
George Corchia: The 2023 Mets are now one Pete Alonso away from being the Washington Nationals.
Vac: Hold that thought for the day (maybe this week!) when the Nats pass the Mets in the NL East.
Tom Cooney: The Mets under Wilpon: We hope to play meaningful games in September. The Mets under Cohen: We hope to play meaningful games in three years.
Vac: You know it’s a tough week when Mets fans — and Tom isn’t the only one I’ve heard from — are pining for the good old days of 2018.
@JJpizzaloverMN: Steve Cohen never repurposed anything in his life. Now he’s running a salvage yard. This is about as bad as Wilpon’s “skill sets” mantra. God help us Mets fans.
@MikeVacc: As I was saying …
Jack Ridolph: Brian Cashman has been the sole architect of this stifling, costly and epic Yankees failure and franchise demise. No GM has performed as poorly as he. Train wreck is understating the current Yankees mess.
Vac: Meanwhile, on the other side of town …