Sandycare

Trust me.  I'm a lawyer.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or on Thorazine for the past few weeks, you’re probably aware of how the President’s health care plan, the Affordable Care Act a.k.a Obamacare, has been the finest roll out of a government program since the Kim family started rolling out grey one piece jumpsuits to the masses in North Korea. 

One of his many mantras over the course of his campaign, the President kept repeating the line “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”  He said it so often and focused on it with such dramatic attention that it had to be true, right?  Well, with the verbal deftness of a typical ambulance chasing lawyer, the President was proved to have lied or should I use Washingtonian speak and say he misled or was just being vague? 

Unfortunately we’re lied to everyday by so many people that we’re becoming practically numb and accustomed to it.  Granted what the President did to sell his health care plan ranks among the more ballsy of lies we’ve been told and its ramifications are just now beginning to unravel as is arguably his Presidency now hovering in the George W. Bush poll territory.

But I wonder if the virus that causes “misleading” or “obfuscation” has infected none other than Sandy Alderson, General Manager of the New York Mets?  There was a time where I was completely and totally on board with Alderson’s plan which was to rely more on home grown talent versus the actions of his predecessor which relied on buying talent. I still think that’s how you build self-sustaining, long term winning franchise, through developing your own players.  It’s just this doublespeak that’s starting to sound like outright lies that’s bothering me.

I’ve also finally have come to the conclusion that Sandy Alderson is just a transitional figure – moving this team from the days of spending money and getting little on the return for an owner that was almost financially destroyed by his relationship with a Ponzi scheme artist, Bernard Madoff.  Now it seems the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction where every decision is dissected to the nth degree; paralysis by analysis followed by an unwillingness to make improvements that don't require a trip to the flea market. 

In one breath we’re told that with money from albatross contracts coming off the books (Santana, Bay) there will be far more financial flexibility to bring in better talent.  Hints at signing players to $100 million dollar contracts are floated out to the masses by saying the team has “interest” in players like Shin Shoo Choo or Jacoby Ellsbury, both who will command contract’s somewhere in that range. 

We were told that the team would be interested in acquiring perhaps at least two if not three outfielders, either through free agency or trades or a mix of both.  We were told that the shackles were coming off after a long exodus in baseball purgatory.  So what do we get this week from the annual Winter Meetings held in Orlando?  We’re suddenly told there will be no $100 million dollar signings.  Probably one outfielder will be acquired, at best, and it won’t be the aforementioned Choo, Ellsbury or ex-Yankee Curtis Granderson. 

Look, I’m not pining for the Mets to suddenly offer a hundred million to Joe Schmo just for the sake of it.  In fact, I think this is one of the weakest free agent crops in quite some time.  That said, you don’t send mixed messages to the fan base especially when it comes off as being a lie…err I mean disingenuous, I mean misleading.  Cut the crap.  Either you’re willing to spend the money or you’re not. And seriously, enough with the money (lack of) jokes already. If perception truly is reality, you're doing a great job of making the Mets look broke...of course unless they practically are then you're just lying...I mean misleading.  There I go again, thinking I'm being lied to.  Silly me.

At this point, who the hell knows.  Like the old saying goes, shit or get off the pot.  Stop acting like a politician trying to please everyone because the truth isn’t what you (or the Wilpons) would like people to hear. In the end, you’ll end up looking like a slimy fool with something to hide Mr. President, err I mean Mr. Alderson.

Do the fans the honor of being honest with them.  We can handle it.