What exactly happened to the Mets?

[Hasselbeck]

Enjoy it while it lasts, they'll be back within 2-3 years.

[Mogriffjr]

Empire nailed it...

the fact that the Mets couldn't capitalize on "the catch" by Endy Chavez baffles me to this day...who knows if they would have won the series but when he took that HR away, the Mets should have won, they should have been in the WS.

But they didn't...

then the collapse years, led by Mr Glavine who on the final day of the regular season, he just needed to pitch well and he came up short, BADLY...ugh.

Throw in the bad contracts from Castillo to Perez to Bay and it has been a steady decline with an assist to Madoff.

[NAHSTE]

Perhaps I was incorrect but back in the late 1990's/early 2000's they seemed to know what the hell they were doing and not be such a joke.


What the hell has gone on since then?

Cliffnotes/explanation needed.

They acquired really bad players and spent way too much money on them.

Phillips was a terrible GM and Minaya was arguably worse. Reckless spending in free agency, and very little commitment to scouting and development.

[EmpireWF]

They acquired really bad players and spent way too much money on them.

Phillips was a terrible GM and Minaya was arguably worse. Reckless spending in free agency, and very little commitment to scouting and development.

Not so much that the players they got were bad. It's that they gave ENORMOUS contracts to guys who turned to shit (Bay, too). Castillo was a good 2B for the 1/2 season after they acquired him. Then for no good reason, Minaya gives him the 4-year deal and they only get 1 solid year out of him (basically wasting $18 million).

With Perez, he did well in 2006 after they traded for him and he did very well in the post-season. 2007 even, he did pretty well. When the pitching market settled that off-season, for whatever reason, they signed him to a 3-year, $36 million deal.

In 2008, he came down to earth a bit but still had a decent year. Then the bottom fell out and he was shit, so they wasted $24 million on him essentially.

If Minaya had been more frugal with these types of contracts, perhaps they wouldn't have been so hamstrung when they really could've used some freedom.

[NAHSTE]

No that this matters much, but for those blaming the Kazmir-for-Zambrano deal on Steve Phillips, I believe that was Jim Duquette's doing.

[EmpireWF]

No that this matters much, but for those blaming the Kazmir-for-Zambrano deal on Steve Phillips, I believe that was Jim Duquette's doing.

No one blamed Philips for the move....but I still remember the uproar the deal made when the media (at the time) made it seem like John Franco and Al Leiter went to management and said trade the kid because he changed our music in the clubhouse.

[Lumpkin]

No one blamed Philips for the move....but I still remember the uproar the deal made when the media (at the time) made it seem like John Franco and Al Leiter went to management and said trade the kid because he changed our music in the clubhouse.

I remember that story. They said Franco and Leiter were listening to something and he just walked over and changed it to rap music. I also remember their being claims after the trade that the Mets were worried about him partying too much or something like that if he ever got called up to New York. I still remember Zambrano's final moment as a Met, striking out Andrew Jones on a nasty slider in the early innings and than running off the mound into the dugout holding his arm.....never to be seen again.

[Youk]

The Mets never knew what they were doing. It was just a few years of nice luck. Even when they made the World Series, it was a joke. Damn shame.