Tom Brennan - Do Boo Bird Fans Make for Boo-Hooing Mets Players? And...a Few Player Moves. And One I Hated.

With so many flights from LaGuardia around Citifield, how come boo birds of the Met fan species are never sucked into those ubiquitous jet engines?  That's a puzzler to me.  So many jets, so many boo birds, so few scattering feathers.   BOOOOO!

Is it me, or do many Mets fans boo mercilessly at times?

Francisco Lindor had a rough year overall and a particularly tough start to it in 2021 - and he caught an awful lot of Mets fan angst.  Many Mets fans aren't known for their patience...or IQs.

Jeff McNeil hits .319 from 2018-20, then slumps in 2021, and it seems like hordes of screaming Mets fans with bulging neck veins want him GONE.  ARRGGHH!!

Edwin Diaz has certainly blown some high profile save opportunities since becoming a Met, but many fans want to send him into exile, seemingly overlooking his outstanding work in most of his (successful) save opportunities.  Those same fans might not be impressed if he had a 100% strikeout rate.  I think it is Edwin Envy.

Armando Benitez blew some big saves, too, but most of the nostalgic sentiment I hear about him over the years are about his foibles and being a choking bum, not about the fact that in 4.5 Mets seasons, he went 18-14, 2.70 with 160 saves, which levels of output only fans of the Yankees (who had the Mariano Maestro) would have scoffed at, but which most other baseball teams would have highly coveted.

Lots of Mets fans rag on beaming Brandon Nimmo, and many want him gone, too, ignoring the fact that over the past 3-4 seasons, he is either in, or close to, the top 5 (the top 3% if you like to think in percentages) in the entire major leagues in on base percentage.  And yes indeedy, his career on base % of .393 is higher than that of that great Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn (.388). "Let's Boo Brandon."  No, let's boo those who boo. 

"Hey, I bought a ticket, if I wanna boo, I can boo."  Yes, and you can also be a moron.  Boo hoo.

A year after Pete Alonso stunned the baseball world with 53 rookie homers, a good number of Mets fans booed him while he struggled in 2020.  They probably would have booed him if he hit 60 orbit-bound rockets, as a "sophomore".  Booing is one of their inalienable rights, you see.

So the question is: 

Are we, the collective Mets fan, too hard on Mets' players?  

And does Met fans' negativity make Mets' players press at the dish and play worse?

I think YES, on both scores.

Which makes those fans who don't boo quite blue.

What do you folks think?   Be forewarned - if you don't comment, I'll BOOOO!!!

And, before I go, a few player moves that I saw here and there:

The Mets re-sign Johneshwy Fargas...

I am probably the only person on the planet that has nicknamed him Johnny Fargo - apparently, he tweeted he has come back to the Mets' fold.  When everyone got hurt or couldn't hit in the Mets' outfield in 2021, he finally got his call up, played with real energy, but carelessly (as I saw it) crashed into a wall and poof, his ever-so-brief Mets career ended.  Overall, between the Mets and Cubs, he hit .250 (13 for 52) with but a single walk in 2021. His next MLB home run will be his first.

The Mets sign Felix Pena...

My brother Bob is a big Felix Pappalardi fan, so he's happy the Mets got any Felix P. a few days ago.  Pena for the Angels had been surprisingly effective, but had a horrific 2021 at age 31, allowing 71 runs in 70 innings, mostly at AAA...but in 259 minor league innings before 2021, his MLB career was 15-8 in 259 innings with 265 Ks and an ERA around 4.50.  Kind of Rob Gsellman result. Felix is now 32, if/when 2022 baseball starts, but since he is not on the 40 man roster, it starts now for Felix.  He is 1 for 33 at the plate as a pro, so he won't be pinch hitting.

The Mets sign R.J. Alvarez...

Alvarez is almost 31, and pitched only briefly in the bigs in 2014 and 2015.  A righty reliever, he has fanned 464 batters in 359 innings in "el minors".  Based on that "last in MLB in 2015" thing, it is hard to picture him being more than AAA filler.  Good luck, RJ.

Lastly, one player move I wish to Pete the Mets had not made was trading Pete Crow-Armstrong to the Cubs for a short term rental of thumbs-down Javy Baez...

Here's an excerpt on Pete from a very recent MLB article - read it and weep:

...the Cubs have worked with Crow-Armstrong on finding ways to keep his barrel in the zone longer, given the quickness of his swing. The outfielder said they have made adjustments with his hands to help the bat give "angle and direction" to the ball.

"He's so explosive, which is a great thing, right?" Folden said. "It's just making sure that his barrel stays working through the middle of the field so he can cover more pitches."

So far, the club has loved the early results.

"I think the biggest difference with Pete this year," said Justin Stone, the Cubs' director of hitting, "is he might have the biggest exit velocity jump of anyone we have in camp. He's just way more physical. He's healthy. That's going to make a big difference."