Putting Things Into Perspective

I went a bit off the reservation last night with my rant about the back of the rotation "open competition,"  I can admit that.  And then I woke up this morning, came into work, logged into my computer to read the post again and start surfing the net before I was officially on the clock at 8AM.  And as I perused the latest MLB news on various sites, suddenly it struck me that I made way too big a deal out that situation, especially considering everything else happening in the baseball world right now.

If you look around the MLB landscape right now, there are stories galore.  You've got Miguel Cabrera gettin' slizzard like a G6 and falling off the wagon big time right before camp starts.  You've got Albert Pujols' Flying Free Agent Circus setting up shop in Cardinals' camp.  And you've got the continuing disaster that is the New York Mets organization.  If anybody should be posting daily rants about their team's problems it should be Mets fans.  I mean, look at that situation.

- They've got a lineup of mismatched parts, unproven youngsters, and declining veterans, none suited to put up good numbers in that ballpark.

- They have a rotation that right now consists of Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, R.A. Dickey, and Jonathon Niese, with Chris Capuano and Chris Young competing for the 5th spot and Johan Santana and what's left of his shoulder not coming back until July.

- They have a new manager who has a reputation for being a hardass and has had teams quit on him at every stop in his managerial career taking over a team who has lacked energy, passion, heart, and effort over the last couple seasons playing under a guy who was considered a players' manager.

- They have a rapidly-declining, overpaid, physically abusive closer who will draw more unwanted negative attention to the team just by being a part of it returning to the roster and the bullpen this season.

- They have an ownership group who appears to have lost more money in the Madoff schemes than I can even comprehend and are so in debt that they are looking to sell off 20-25% of their stake in the team to anybody with a heartbeat in order to cover settlements with everybody who's suing them .  Mark Cuban, Charles Dolan, Martin Luther King III, and Donald Trump have all been mentioned.  Lotta baseball knowledge in that crew.

If you're a Mets fan, then your season has already ended before it has even begun.  The Mets roster sucks, their manager is going to make them worse, and the financial troubles caused by the Wilpons are leaving new GM Sandy Alderson no room to maneuver.  They are screwed.  Meanwhile, the Yankees' biggest issue is finding some viable options for the back end of the rotation whose weakness can be covered by their dynamite lineup and potentially lights out bullpen.  When I really step back and look at it, the Yankees have it easy compared to the Mets and I have it much easier as a fan of the Yankees than Mets fans have it.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a bad baseball move to eliminate Hector Noesi and David Phelps from the rotation competition.  But I'm much more at peace with that today than I was last night, and I know it's going to be just fine for the Yankees this season.  And any time I get a little down, I can just think of the Mets and the mess of an organization they have become from top to bottom and smile.