Great, Or Not So Great, Expectations?

By Deb McIver
Posted Thursday, December 6, 2007

I’ve been thinking about things lately, what with the Hot Stove season heating up, furiously, without the Mets having made a huge, semi-huge, mildly huge, or even slightly significant deal of any kind.

So far, Mets fans can't even call this the Warm Stove season, or the Somewhat Better Than Cool Stove season, or even the Slightly Above Freezing Stove season.

Assuming things stay status quo through spring training, as Mets fans, should our expectations for next year be great, or not so great?

As for this fan, I’m actually lowering my expectations next year. I probably should have done it after the Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS, but stupid me, I really thought more of this team than I think it thought of itself. Or maybe, the team thought TOO much of itself, and not enough of anyone else, which is equally as bad.

I should have known when “The Catch,” probably one of the greatest catches of all time by an outfielder, did not result in a Met rally or win, but rather, in a Met roll over and play dead, doggie…..

I should have known when after a breakout start at the beginning of the 2007 season, the team played little better than .500 ball for most of the rest of the year. You would think, after the aforementioned Game 7 loss to the Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS, which served little purpose other than to showcase the team's total inability to come back from adversity, even after the jump start given them by The Catch, they would realize the importance and the urgency of every game this year, despite them having had such a healthy lead in the NL East for a great majority of the year.

You would think.

And then, of course, they suffered The 2007 Collapse; an epic collapse, a collapse of the ages, worthy of historic notation.

And now, of course, in the midst of the Hot Stove season, watching one free agent after another slip away; watching A-Rod, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera re-sign with the Yankees; watching Johan Santana, the prize of the off-season, all but gone to the Red Sox; watching Dan Haren slip slide away; watching Erik Bedard apparently gone the same route; watching Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera sent off to the Tigers for a bunch of prospects………

And watching the Mets do the sum total of ridding themselves of one Lastings Milledge, formerly prospect extraordinaire, for Ryan Church, a lifetime .271 hitter, and one slightly aging fairly mediocre Brian “What, I Have To Hit, Too???” Schneider, and shedding Guillermo Mota, whom I argued last year should never have been re-signed in the first place.

And of course, signing Luis Castillo, who may or may not be the right choice for second base for the next few years.

So pardon me if I don’t yell “Yippee Skippee” or cry out a couple or three “Booyahs” over all this.

I’d love to be bullish on the 2008 Mets, I really would. I’ve been a fan, a REAL fan, not a casual, “watch once in a while, yeah, I like the Mets” fan, but a day in and day out fan, watching every game, every day, of just about every season. Well, ok, maybe I missed one or two seasons, but in the scheme of things, a minor lapse.

But based upon what I’ve seen over the past two or so years, I’m afraid I just have to lower my expectations going into the 2008 season. This team, which hasn’t changed all that much since 2006, has shown me that it really doesn’t have the killer, win at all costs, instinct; in fact, the opposite appears to be the case. They seem to have little or no sense of urgency, a sort of laziness of a kind, and for all appearances, seem to suffer serious bouts of ennui with the game, the daily grind that is baseball, and themselves.

And it still lacks a true "ace," a true stopper, a real, bona fide, upper-echelon pitcher for the top of the rotation. Even if you argue that Tom Glavine was not that guy, you still have to deal with his loss, a void which, thus far, hasn't been filled.

We will also have to contend with the division-rival Phillies, vastly improved over the last year, and the always dangerous Braves. Both of these teams will probably be serious challengers indeed, and look as if they’re intent upon repeating the division title so propitiously taken from the Mets in 2007 (the Phillies), or regaining the division title they held for 14 or so straight years from the mid-1990s through 2005 (the Braves).

So you know what? I’m returning the favor… I’m going to start next year with hope, but no great expectations, and with a certain ennui of my own towards Mets baseball. I’m not going to expect everything or anything; I’m just going to watch, one game at a time, and see what happens. I’m going to enjoy the games, enjoy the rivalries, enjoy the marvelous rhythm that is daily baseball, without having the nagging voice in the back of my head urging me to anticipate the postseason.

I’m going to learn to take it as it comes, and remember that it’s just baseball, and my life isn’t going to be substantially better or worse if the Mets win or lose.

I’m going to…… the HELL I’m going to!!!!!! I’m going into next season with lowered expectations reluctantly, somewhat mystifyingly, and somewhat angrily, fully knowing that this franchise is capable of doing so much more, and wondering why they don’t appear motivated enough to make necessary changes.

If things stay as they are, which Omar has pretty much indicated they very well might, I’m going into next season with lowered expectations, all right, but I’m not going to be happy about it.

I’m not going to be happy about it at all.