10 Years Ago Today

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

On this day in 2002 came word that Japanese third baseman Norihiro Nakamura abruptly backed out of a 2 year/$7 million contract with the Mets. The story was, he was all set to sign but hadn't yet informed his NPB club when it was "leaked" on the Mets website, which offended him.

Not for nothing but this little mistake might have saved the Mets career of David Wright and the MLB career of Ty Wigginton, who were the respective Plans C and B at that point, and the Mets might have thought twice before letting Alfonzo walk.

Nakamura resurfaced with the Dodgers two years later and hit .120 before spending the rest of the season in the Minor Leagues.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow, I had forgotten about that. You may be right; if Nakamura had been the Mets 3B, David Wright might have been traded for a Victor Zambrano kind of guy.

[metirish]

What a memory....I remember it being a big deal, there was a lot of talk about the guy...

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Are you saying that the Mets screwing something up actually turned out to be good?

[smg58]

I'd hate to think they would have been that hasty clearing out their other options, but Phillips had been getting more and more desperate by then and Duquette wound up being even worse. I also can't imagine how the fans would have treated Nakamura if he couldn't get off the interstate. Kaz Matsui was a small fraction of the player the front office made him out to be, but he was at least competent.

[batmagadanleadoff]

This thread is a big blow to my Met fan bona fides. I don't recall this player at all.

[Edgy MD]

What a disastrous offseason that turned out to be, that it took them doing something wrong for things to work out right.

They fire Valentine. They keep Phillips. They hire Howe after a goofy jerkaround with that maniac Pinella. They sign future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, presumably with some mileage left on him, and bring joy to absolutely nobody. They see David Cone out on blocks in the Red Sox front yard and actually haul him off. They sign Jay Bell, and he stays around all year, because he might be a good coach, and he never coaches for the Mets.

Even good stuff, like Glavine, tastes bad. They go out and give a minor league dealio to his brother, and everybody wonders how Glavine has so much juice after four offseason months in the organization. They get Cliff Floyd and he rips Vee at his intro press conference. They bring back Shinjo but the shine is off of him.

Best move that offseason may have been Tony Clark.

[metirish]

They see David Cone out on blocks in the Red Sox front yard and actually haul him off.

great line......man, those were crazy times, IIRC Glavine alluded to but then retracted saying he would not have signed for the Mets had Valentine been here....I think that was the year Sanchez was working the scissors in the clubhouse?

[Edgy MD]

We also lost Feliciano at the start of that offseason and got him back at the end. Strange stuff.

[G-Fafif]

Was also the offseason of Mike Stanton and Rey Sanchez. The full effect of the goings (Valentine, Fonzie, Ordonez) and comings (MFY Stanton, useless Sanchez, Marlin Floyd, Brave Gl@v!ne, invisible Nakamura, Con Ed's own Art Howe) left me in as bad a place as I've ever been, Metwise, culminating in the night of May 9 when Jesse Orosco came on for the Padres with two out in bottom of the ninth and the Mets' tying run on third and I reveled in his strikeout of Roberto Alomar. I was rooting for Jesse to gain one more save at Shea and didn't care at all -- at all -- if the 2003 Mets were his victims. It wasn't even "I can't lose either way" rooting.

Promotion of Jose Reyes and emergence of Jason Phillips began to draw me out of my funk, but I wasn't really back on board until May 18, 2004, when Cliff Floyd -- whose Fishiness and anti-Bobby Vness had faded -- beat Jason Isringhausen in approximately the same minute's span when Randy Johnson was perfect-gaming the Braves.

[G-Fafif]

I'd also throw in those miserable orange batting practice jerseys as 2003 unattractiveness personified.

[metirish]

Yeah, I remember distinctly Fran Healy getting in to some rather heated exchanges with Ralph Kiner over Alomar , Healy would go on and on about how Alomar was the greatest 2nd baseman ever.....Kiner as was his wont would counter with Rogers Hornsby. So many silly tings stick out from that ST/season...Stanton driving his Hummer(of course he drove a Hummer, the dick) from NY to PSL.....

[seawolf17]

I miss Jesse Orosco. Wonder what he's up to these days.

[ashie62]

And Wright and Wigginton are still in the game after all this time.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

seawolf17 wrote: I miss Jesse Orosco. Wonder what he's up to these days.

We should bring him back for one game so he can play in five decades like Gordie Howe.

[smg58]

metirish wrote: Healy would go on and on about how Alomar was the greatest 2nd baseman ever.....

Well if you needed a convincing argument against Alomar, there you go.

[smg58]

G-Fafif wrote: Was also the offseason of Mike Stanton and Rey Sanchez. The full effect of the goings (Valentine, Fonzie, Ordonez) and comings (MFY Stanton, useless Sanchez, Marlin Floyd, Brave Gl@v!ne, invisible Nakamura, Con Ed's own Art Howe) left me in as bad a place as I've ever been, Metwise, culminating in the night of May 9 when Jesse Orosco came on for the Padres with two out in bottom of the ninth and the Mets' tying run on third and I reveled in his strikeout of Roberto Alomar. I was rooting for Jesse to gain one more save at Shea and didn't care at all -- at all -- if the 2003 Mets were his victims. It wasn't even "I can't lose either way" rooting.

I remember debating whether the Mets beating up on Orosco in that game would have made me feel worse than the Mets losing -- and I didn't come up with a firm answer.