David Wright for Miguel Cabrera & Dontrelle Willis!

[metsmarathon]

hmm.. good thing i was perusing the RLF today...

i'm not quite sure how i missed bret's response to me up there.

honestly, bret, i'm not sure what we were actually arguing about, except perhaps degrees of reactions.

the biggest thing would likely be my lack of shame in other met fans who have prioritites other than winning the world series at all costs.

met fans are a diverse group. in that diverse group, i'm sure there are many varied reasons and motives behind why we root for a given team, and what we root for that team to do, and how we hope that team accomplishes said goal, and with what business practices, and to what priority we hold each of these factors.

the loyalty thing is a minor point, and one that i'm more curious about hte actual effects of han suggesting that important business and player-personnel decisions be made based upon it.

i'd love to have the mets win the next 15 pennants. if trading wright for miggy and willis bings that to fruition, i'd still love it, just a little less, because it means the trading away of a player whom i like, whom i look forward to rooting for, and whom i look forward to seeing play for the mets for a very long time. - am i correct in saying that the mets have sorely lacked such a player, particularly a position player, who ultimately pans out, for a very long time? - stupid mixed priorities!

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Sorry to take so many of you fine folks over the side with me...

mm, do you really suppose the mets and other teams are mere "content providers"? The analogy would be to televised wrestling matches, where entertianment, and not genuine competition, is that main attraction. Can you really root for a team if you know that they've accepted a non-competitive status? "We're just providing you with viewing material between commercials, which purports to be a competitive baseball game, and occasionally the weaker team will win a few games, but we all understand how this will come out, and we're fine with that."

The whole interest from my POV lies in thinking that every single person in the Mets organization is obsessed with winning the Division, whatever that takes, at the soonest point possible. If you believe strategically that we're a few years away, and so you think we need to build a team that's competitive in 2012, I'm fine with that. If you think we're a win-now that can take the 2006 pennant, I'm fine with that. I disagree with both, but you're still focussed on winning, so we're just disagreeing about strategy.

But if you're claiming that the really important part is getting to see widdle Davey Wright grow up and make a bar mitzvah speech in a Met uniform, and winning pennants is just so much gravy, well, you're not a mets fan, as far as I can tell. I don't know what you are (or why you are that way), but I have very little use, and no kinship, with you. You're not someone whose goals I share on the most fundamental level.

[metsmarathon]

to an extent, they are exaclty content providers. thier primary focus should be, and i hope usually is, to win baseball games, and lots of them. they tehy must also be focused on having players that fans will like, and come back for, etc. because even if the best laid plans for baseball world domination fail, you still want the fans to come out to the park, right?

and really its a matter of degrees. the really important part is winning pennants. watching widdle davey wright step up to the altar in his pretty white dress and receive first communion is a nice to have.

for some, i assume, its nicer than for others. for me, i'd much rather win than see any of the current players in a dress. but i'd still one day like to walk a grown up davey down the aisle.

i'm gonna regret these analagies, aren't i?