Keidel: Mets Must Strike Fast Because Sustained Success Is Not Guaranteed
By Jason Keidel
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The montage of media has spoken: The Mets are the now team, the big boys of Gotham.
For the first time in a quarter-century, the Mets will have a better chance of making the World Series than the Yankees. Not only are the Kings from Queens a better club than the Yanks, they've also bumped the Bronx Bombers off the back page.
With the swipe of a single pen, the signing of Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets, not the Yanks, are the chalk and talk of the Big Apple.
Those of us who were alive and lucid 30 years ago remember the last time the Mets were the best team in the five boroughs. If you were a Yankees fan, you loathed the orange-and-blue hue of New York. If you were a Mets fan, you've waited an eternity for the good times to return.
There was no doubting their '80s eminence. The arc shot up after 1984, when Doc Gooden blew away trembling batters with his fastball. Gary Carter came from Montreal to add that final veteran to a team bubbling with young talent.
The 1985 Mets won 98 games. The 1986 Mets won 108 games and the World Series.
And that was that.
They had the best record in baseball in 1988, yet lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS, a team they had whipped 10 times in 11 regular-season games. And it wasn't all about Orel. The Mets actually won the first two games Orel Hershiser started, then lost twice in games started by Tim Belcher, and another by John Tudor. But Hershiser's transcendent performance in Game 7 made it feel like he was the singular reason.
By 1989, the dynasty had dissolved. Enter the Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray Mets, famously coined the "Worst Team Money Can Buy." It has taken decades, financial commitment and final stability in the front office for the Mets to return from the baseball dead.
But in 1986, the Mets had an army of studs who were either in their prime or had yet to reach it. The following Mets were 25 years old or younger: Howard Johnson, Kevin Mitchell, Ron Darling, Lenny Dykstra, Sid Fernandez, Rick Aguilera, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.
Doc and Darryl famously fell prey to their demons. Carter and Keith Hernandez got older. Ray Knight went to the Orioles. Jesse Orosco left for the Dodgers. So a team that had the time and talent to rip off several World Series wins wound up with one. Here we are, exactly 30 years since, enjoying the bright and wide sunrise of the franchise.
Today's Mets sport a similar, 20-something gang of bucks. Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Travis d'Arnaud, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, Jeurys Familia and Michael Conforto are all 26 or younger. Jacob deGrom, the geriatric of the group, is 27.
The Mets also have a few, key 30-plus players who can corral the younger players when they need it, from David Wright to Curtis Granderson to Bartolo Colon, who, at 42, may be the youngest soul on the team.
But between age, wage and injury, no team is assured a sprawling playoff run. Which is why signing Cespedes speaks to the mood of management as much as the needs of fans. Time to cash in. Before they cash out.
The Mets are going for it. It's the right move to make. Unless they lock up their virile pitching staff, the Mets will lose many of their most potent players in a few years. Assuming they even hold up. Four of the their five, bejeweled starters (Harvey, deGrom, Matz and Wheeler) have already endured Tommy John surgery.
While the Cubs, Nats and Dodgers are retooling, there's nothing to suggest that anyone other than the Cardinals are assured long-term success. Since 2000, only the Yankees (13) have reached the playoffs more than St. Louis (12), which is the only club in MLB to reach the postseason the last five seasons.
You've got the 2015 Executive of the Year, arguably the Manager of the Year and easily the best hitter over the second half of the season. This is the best confluence of timing and talent in Flushing since 1985.
Meet the Mets. Greet the Mets. Before you lose these Mets.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
