Rebuilding can be a funny and yet cruel mistress in the sports world. I always go back to one example of how a Rebuilding project that goes too fast can be fun, but could also give people delusions of grandeur.
The 2005-2006 New York Rangers were picked by most Hockey experts to be the worst team in the NHL that season. No Goalie, only one real superstar and a bunch of players the fans had never heard of.
That season, of course, like we all expected it would end, with the Rangers losing 5 in a row. The weird thing is that it didn’t lead to a lottery selection. It led to losing the Atlantic Division by one point, only…ONLY getting 100 points on the year and making the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
They found a Goalie out of seemingly nowhere named Henrik Lundquvist who was nominated for Goalie of the Year. Jaromir Jagr, that lone superstar set the single season Goal record for the Rangers. Oh and all those European players we never heard of? They used the newer, more wide open NHL game to have career years.
That season, and the one following it, saw the Rangers change course. GM Glen Sather went back to throwing money around at guys like Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Wade Redden. Forget rebuilding, like was the plan before, the Rangers were going for it, and none of the big money spent worked out.
The team rock bottomed by missing the playoffs in 2010 and the rebuilding process was put back in place. This season the team made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, two wins from making the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Mets of 2012 remind me alot of that 2005-2006 Rangers team. One superstar (Wright/Jagr), a breakout player from out of nowhere (Dickey/Lundquvist) and a bunch of random guys who have played well enough all season long.
But now the fork in the road is upon the Mets as the second half of the season has seen the team go 2-7 and needed a ninth inning comeback against the Phillies to keep it from being 1-8.
The Mets bullpen has been a disaster for the whole season, no matter who comes in to try to change things, and the offense has been more miss than hit recently as the team begins to show cracks in the foundation.
The emotional pull that you feel when watching this team today and think about its future makes being a rational fan difficult at times.
Winning today is more fun than winning in the future, because this is a “what have you done for me lately” kind of sports world we live in.
The Mets, with a young group of players that have shown flashes of brilliance on the Major League level and have shown in the Minors they are worthy of a promotion to either AAA or the Majors, gives us that fuzzy feeling the future is so bright.
But that winning record, now whittled down to 46-44 after it was 44-37 just two weeks ago, gives us that hope that a bullpen arm here and there and maybe a power hitting, right handed batter can bring us that 2nd wild card in the NL.
That tug of war between being patient or being aggressive when it comes to the Mets of 2012 and beyond is one that Sandy Alderson and the front office are dealing with everyday.
They understand the power of making a move or two to improve the team, get the fan base excited and back in the ballpark and go for the brass ring and make the playoffs.
They also understand the power of patience, letting the young players learn from the mistakes they make, take their lumps now and be better for it in 2013, 2014 and beyond. To sacrifice one year for the potential of 5 or 6 years of dominance down the line.
The point is that, sometimes the immediate success of a rebuilding project can lead to the people in charge and fans thinking that everything is fine, when its nothing more than part of a learning process.
The Rangers of 2005-2006 forced people to think that the rebuilding of the franchise was already over, when in reality, it did nothing more than stunt that process for a few years before once again the playoffs were missed and first round exits became the norm.
The success of the 2012 Mets to this point in the season has been fun, but don’t allow yourself to think too far ahead, as rebuilding a team, much like the building of Rome, doesn’t happen in a day.
Keep calm and don’t worry, trust that the Mets, who have been solid in their thinking of how they want the franchise to be run will continue to make the right decisions.
It would be great if the Mets made the playoffs this year and went back to spending money left and right.
But sometimes, its even greater when they build a team where it goes from if they make the playoffs, to when they make the playoffs.
