The You Ain't Shit Offseason

As a blogger and as a thinker I find myself drawn to unifying themes. I've always loved the big ideas, the macro level concept under which everything else makes sense.

When a coherent unifying theme is absent, it's very hard to find a workable strategy. As I wrote in a now woefully embarrassing two-part piece in April 2007, from very early on it was clear the Mets were a team without an identity in 2007. They were a collection of guys 25 deep, but really there was no there, there.

That team never had a trademark or a rallying cry, never, that is, until the final day of the season, when its trademark became underachievement, a trademark that weighed on the team through the first half of 2008 and which threatens us anew heading into 2009.

It's with the recent past in mind that David Wright spoke to reporters at his annual Do the Wright Thing gala.

“You go through two seasons that we’ve been through the last couple years and you’re going to need a little bit of a facelift,” Wright said.

Team Tightrope meet Team Facelift.

* * * * *

But back to the unifying theme. For years the Mets supplied their own with some handy sloganeering. The result? A little hit or miss.

2002: "Always Believe". The Mets go 75-86, finishing 26.5 games out of first. Not a good year for believers.

2004: "Feel the Energy". Jason Phillips started at 1st on Opening Day. Guy was a gamer. Gogs!

2005: "Next Year is Now". Easily the best slogan the Mets have ever had. Came about a year too early.

2006: "The Team. The Time. The Mets." Another winner. And you really believed it for about 172 games there.

2007: "Your Season Has Come". And our would-be dynasty has gone.

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In 2008 the Mets tried something different. They ditched the slogan, so I supplied my own, "Season on Fire". It was a hope as much as a slogan. A hope that the Mets would respond to the downer of 2007 with a season of inspired play.

I had just seen Field of Dreams the day before, and really, the film inspired the piece. As I wrote at the time:

"Ask me what I want from this Mets team and it's simple: I want them to play with the passion and the joy of a young Moonlight Graham, with the urgency and appreciation of a banned-for-life Shoeless Joe. Really, the man said it best:

Shoeless Joe: Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money! It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?

Ray Kinsella: Yeah.

Shoeless Joe: It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!

That's how I want these Mets to play. I want them to play like they never forgot what's so great about this game. I want them to play like they care."

In the end it was a bit of a mixed bag. They played like that eventually, only when they did it was about 81 games too late.

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And that brings us to today, to the search for the unifying theme behind the 2008-09 offseason.

Right now I've got two candidates. The first expands on David Wright's concept: the "Team Facelift Offseason". This team is in desperate need of an attitude adjustment, or a conversation changer, or, to borrow from the national dialogue, change! and change! alone.

The second expands on a comment from a classmate of mine, circa 11th grade. Another classmate came into the room and started boasting of his SAT score. The conversation went a little something like this:

Mike: Hey Albert, what'd you get anyway?
Albert: Man, I got a 1400!
Mike: 1400? You ain't shit!!

To me that's what this offseason has to be about. Because for all the close finishes in recent years, and for all their seeming self-satisfaction, the Mets ain't shit.

Man, we finished 1 game out of the wild card in 2008!
Wild card? You ain't shit!!

Man, we finished 1 game out of first in 2007!
1 game out? You ain't shit!!

Man, we made the NLCS in 2006!
2006? You ain't shit!!

The Mets have been resting on some pretty unimpressive laurels for far too long. It's time they take a long look in the mirror and assess where they are.

That's Omar's job. He's got a flair for making the big splash, but me, I want him to construct a team that doesn't rely on one big splash (although another Johan Santana would be nice).

He needs to understand why this team has fallen short the past three years, and he needs to realize that when all you've got are late season pennant chases and late season disappointments, you aren't an elite team.

When that happens, all it means is you ain't shit.

- A.F.O.M.G.