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June 2001
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New York City
April 2002

If They Can Pitch, Revamped Mets Should Be a Hit
By Tom Kertes

Tom Hanks’ aging rummy of a manager said in the wonderful A League of Their Own, “There’s no crying in baseball”. And that’s a good thing, too–or Mets fans everywhere would be shedding tons of tears over the team’s shoddy spring training performance.

Let’s face it, 9 wins and 17 losses was not what anyone envisioned after General Manager Steve Phillips so thoroughly revamped last year’s underachievers.

Luckily, spring training is more than just lush green grass, wonderful Florida weather, and fans getting a chance to get thisclose to the players on the small Port St. Lucie field. It’s also a time to work out kinks, get all the new gears in the machine humming as one.

“Results? In the spring you don’t worry about results,” star catcher Mike Piazza said. “You don’t get a trophy for the Grapefruit League or at the end of April, so results in the preseason don’t count for anything. Anyway, it takes a team with this many new pieces a while to jell.”

The question is, did owner Fred Wilpon and all the championship-starved Met fans get the right pieces for their $102 million? On paper, the team looks promising and exciting, all right. But there are also too many questionmarks to feel relaxed or safe.

Phillips, who had the most active offseason of any GM in baseball, has addressed the offensive problems – the Mets scored the least runs in the major leagues last year – but may have gone one step too far. After adding the great second baseman Roberto Alomar, ace leadoff speedster Roger Cedeno, and power hitting outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, he went into overkill mode in trading for first baseman Mo Vaughn. The cost — top pitcher Kevin Appier–appears way too high.

Pitching, after all, is the name of the game in baseball. And the onetime great Vaughn–the 1995 AL MVP– hasn’t played in a full year due to a torn bicep tendon.

Phillips’ myriad of moves left the Mets with a lineup that should be tough to hold down–they should score runs in bunches–but perhaps not as tough to beat. The pitching staff seems Ally McBeal-thin, both in the rotation and in the bullpen.

Phillips acknowledges the problem. “Sure, to some extent, we robbed Peter to pay Paul,” he said. ”We took some risks–but that’s what you do and then you hope for the best.”

The biggest risk, in more ways than one, is the 300-pound Vaughn. In addition to the risk factor of the injury, there’s his weight, his lack of mobility at first base, and the fact that he’s spent his entire career in the American League so far. Do you leave your pitching staff vulnerable for an out-of-shape 34-year old with injury and weight problems who could become not much more than an overly expensive bench ornament?

“If we need to make one or two more moves to make this a championship team, we will do just that,” said Phillips.

It may very well come to that. Outscoring the opposition is one thing–but having to outscore your own pitching staff night after night is never a good idea. It may prove to be a too-heavy burden even for this star studded Mets lineup. #

 

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