The Intangibles All-Stars

One quick note about this blog – while it’s going to be Mets-centric, I’m also going to hit on some overall baseball issues and discussions. I might even try to analyze some of our less-sane players. And there is the potential for some guest bloggers as well. I’m going to try to find silver linings following the 2009 debacle (the jury’s still out on how successful that endeavor will be) and I’ll be touching on some of my favorite topics this off season while we wait patiently for something good to happen. First up: the Intangibles All-Stars.

Now, we all know that the New York Mets have a love affair with bad contracts (see: Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez). We also know that, for some inexplicable reason, the team actually seeks out aging superstars that no one else wants a la Gary Sheffield (were those 10 home runs and .276 average really worth it?). But let’s be realistic here – that hasn’t been working for us. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a new approach. I think we should go after an entirely different type of ball player, the kind that I call Intangibles All-Stars.

The Intangibles All-Stars are the guys that might not lead the league in stats but they get under your skin with their gritty, hard-nosed, never-say-die attitude. You won’t see these guys “forget” to run out a pop up or have to watch as their egos take over the clubhouse. Some of my favorites that fall into this category are David Eckstein, Dustin Pedroia, and Carl Crawford. They are the guys you don’t want in the batter’s box, because every at bat turns into an epic battle that wears down your pitcher (especially if he’s Mike Pelfrey... but we’ll get to him some other time). On the bases, they are alert, aggressive, and – get this – they make smart base-running decisions! It’s a problem when your base-running decisions are so bad that people “watching” the game on Gamecast can pick up on them. This actually happened to me on a Jose Reyes dumbass moment in May. Over the years I’ve become more and more convinced that Reyes actually makes more dumbass base-running decisions than anyone realizes because he has the ability to outrun being an idiot (which could be an issue in 2010 given this whole hamstring-tendon-surgery inducing injury disaster).

Whether management realizes it or not, the Mets are desperate for Intangibles All-Stars. Citi Field is huge, which means we should be building around speed, defense, and those often overlooked intangibles like grit and hustle. Hate the Phillies all you want, but we need our own version of Chase Utley or Shane Victorino – they both fall squarely into the Intangibles All-Stars category. How many Mets would have had the presence of mind or motivation to run out Utley’s foul ball single against the Rockies in the NLDS? And that’s just scratching the surface of what is intrinsically wrong with this team. It’s time to stop putting our faith in players that no one else would trust for a second, let alone a 3-year deal. We need someone to come in and shake things up by going the extra mile and lighting the proverbial fire under his teammates, and that’s who we should be targeting. A few guys who could potentially be a good fit come to mind, specifically Chone Figgins, Nyjer Morgan, and Crawford. While I doubt the Mets will be able to entice the Angels, Nationals, or Rays to give up these guys… it’s nice to dream.