As a New York Mets fan, here's to hoping they don't acquire Alex Rodriguez this coming off-season. This is probably my last chance to talk about baseball for a while, so here goes: kudos to the Yankees for winning the World Series. But let's not forget that it was the other New York team who put together a more impressive season, and nearly toppled the store-bought Yanks, getting outscored by just three runs in the five-game Series.
The Mets brought an outfield consisting of Jay Payton, Benny Agbayani, and Timo Perez to the field. That is, a rookie, a second-year player not expected to even make the team at season's beginning, and a minor-leaguer brought up because of injury. None of those guys have ever played for another baseball team. Add second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and shortstop Rey Ordonez to the mix, and you've got five of eight position players who've never donned another major league uniform.
As expected, shortstop Mike Bordick filed for free agency already, meaning a decision is pending on whether to bring in A-Rod or keep Ordonez, who was out for most of this past season. Consensus seems to be that the team is heavily pursuing Rodriguez, which is only natural, because it is the "Steinbrenner-esque" thing to do.
The Mets were just an inch short of beating the Yankees, so pull out the wallet and bring in a superstar to push the team over the top. But then the Yanks sign Manny Ramirez, the Braves bring in Mike Hampton from the Mets, and all the big-name, big-market teams continue the cycle of getting even bigger. Nothing changes in the business of sports. The Yankees earned their third straight championship, earned it real good by spending $113 million.
This year's Mets provided some insight into how to build a team, not buy a team. New York had the right mix of rookies, lifetime Mets, and free agents, and even a scattering of actual New Yorkers, a team that fans could truly appreciate. Sure, the Mets had their store-bought names in Mike Piazza and Mike Hampton, big contributors to the run. But Piazza earned the respect of New Yorkers after a few seasons with the team and Hampton was arguably not an absolutely essential piece to the puzzle.
Add dedicated New Yorkers Al Leiter and Jon Franco, the youngsters in the outfield, and veteran Robin Ventura, and you've got a pure blend of young and old, of players honed by the team they currently play for as well as players purchased or brought in via trade.
That's not to say the Yankees are evil and only won because of recent acquisitions - in fact, many of the key elements are lifetime Yanks, including MVP Derek Jeter, Bernie Wiliams, and Orlando Hernadez. But bringing in David Justice and Denny Neagle at the break certainly played a role in the eventual World Series title, at least more so than the Mets' moves, which brought them Bordick, Rick White, and Bubba Trammel.
So I'm hoping my team doesn't go out and buy a title, but instead brings back the same core, with the return of Ordonez, and maybe an addition to a pitching squad that will likely lose Hampton. That's probably not going to happen, but if it did, I bet you this would still be a squad capable of going to the World Series. When the worst outfield in baseball can nearly lead you to a World Championship, you've got to be impressed. So why fix it if it ain't broken, even if you could trade it in for a new, shinier model?
As fun as it was to watch these Mets succeed, it's also great to see a team like the Dodgers spend megabucks only to disappoint and not make the playoffs. I wish the same would happen to the Yankees, and it almost did this year, as the team lost almost all of its late-season games. I would have loved to have seen the Red Sox overtake New York in those last couple of games, and I would have loved it even more if the A's beat them in the playoffs. Oakland is another team like the Mets, but even less store-bought, that deserves the respect of fans everywhere. This squad is full of youngsters and guys getting their first real break, and has really come out of nowhere to field an explosive offense and a fiery young pitching squad.
The A's and Mets were not the only good stories this year in baseball; in fact, the season was full of them. Seattle sent Ken Griffey Jr. packing and still made the playoffs, while Griffey floundered in Cincinnati against NL pitching. The Reds had a tiny payroll in '99 and just missed the playoffs, but dished out big money for Griffey and actually got worse. The White Sox, too, turned heads this past season by emerging as the league's top team for most of the year, surpassing everyone's expectations and dethroning another baseball king, the Cleveland Indians.
Even though we live in an era where money wins titles, underdog teams still impress us and small-market squads are still fan favorites. Granted the Mets are neither an underdog team nor a small-market squad, but they strike a balance between that and the Steinbrenner way of doing things.
The Boss, I'm sure, will bring in Manny Ramirez to a team with Justice in the outfield, and a dynasty that appeared on the outs will remain the dominant club in the league.
Unfortunately, for all my enthusiasm about the Mets, they're a business like anything else, so they'll probably sell out and buy Rodriguez.
