Audio: Mets Q&A

by 2 August 26, 2012

This morning the Mets held a Q&A session with fans who have ticket plans. I am the owner of a 15 game bundle and made the last minute decision to run over there. The panel was held down by Mike Baxter, Jon Niese, Tim Teufel, Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson. Josh Lewin from WFAN was the master of ceremonies and explained the crowd as at least 1,000 strong.

The Pepsi Party Patrol ran microphones throughout the crowd and the panel answered the best they could. Fans were shown on the video scoreboard while asking their questions. The first of the day? A woman asked, "Who do you like the best? Batman, Superman or Spiderman?" The crowd seemed restless and confused. Did we really wake up early to get to the stadium by 9am to find that out? I didn't. No offense to that fan but this isn't SNY's Kids Clubhouse. The crowd wanted the nitty gritty. Another woman asked what a balk was. Really? Crickets for that one too. When is the appropriate age to start throwing a curve ball? Niese said he started at 12. One fan asked if the team employees psychologists. Stating that players performance inconstancies could be a result of mental issues. He then explained that he was in fact a psychologist and it seemed like he was asking for a job. Sandy answered that the team employees three that look over all levels of the organization. Josh brought up to Sandy, "do you see it could be an either or, or do you see the possibility that you will peruse both?" meaning Dickey and Wright. Sandy's answer "I fully expect that Wright and Dickey will be here not only next year but longer term". That seemed like an obvious answer, but the crowd cheered and clapped. Sandy also used words like "predictable" to answer questions. "Baseball is unpredictable, so I don't like to make predictions" when answering a question a fan had on when they'd field a playoff team. A fan brought up the question to the players. Are they simply going through the motions to ride out the season or are they still trying hard to win? Baxter answered "I hang my hat on the fact that I play hard day in and day out". He also said that every player in the clubhouse has that same mentality. Sandy then jumped in to point out Bay although the fan didn't even make a mention of Jason in his question. The fans want results and I don't see the perception of Bay changing after Sandy's request to applaud his efforts. I want Bay to play like a beast just like the next guy, but there's a time to cut the cord like they did with Ollie and Castillo. The last question of the day? Why no changes were made before the trade deadline. The crowd seemed to cheer most for this one. Sandy said that none of the available options were right for the budget and the ones that were would have cost them too much in players they'd have had to give up. He also noted that the pitchers available haven't had strong numbers since the deadline, so getting them wouldn't have made much of a difference. Nothing too groundbreaking was discussed but it was a cool experience. Hopefully it turns in to an annual event. It would be fun to see the Wilpons out there to field some question next year.