Thursday, April 26, 2012

I Like This Lineup

Today's Mets lineup features nine homegrown players. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Lucas Duda, Ike Davis, Josh Thole, Jordany Valdespin, and Jon Niese have all made their way through the Mets minor league system. A lot of people like to see this. They like to see that the farm system so many experts called weak and barren has somehow found success.

But the doubters are still there. Now they're saying this shows the Mets don't spend enough. Yes, for the past few years their budget has been tight but they still have Johan Santana and Jason Bay on the books.

Wait. Hold on. Does it matter if they spend ridiculous amounts of money on big name free agents? I would rather have them spend the money on David Wright and Jon Niese. The "big market" argument doesn't bother me. Fans should demand winning, not spending. Organizations can create winning teams in more than one way. If the Mets win with their farm system those players could become the big names. Those players could be the ones everyone wants and if the Mets were the ones to sign them they'd simply be locking up their stars.

If the Mets continue to win this team will be easy to root for. The Mets have more homegrown players that aren't in the lineup today. If one wanted to include any player that has spent any time in the Mets system they'd have almost the entire roster. Not many teams can say that. I'd rather brag about that than brag about having the highest payroll.

This lineup is exciting. I can't wait to see it this afternoon.

Let's Go Mets!

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