Nine Years Gone, but a New Dawn Thanks to Uncle Steve

Nine years ago, my son was in fourth grade and thinking about playing soccer. Nine years ago, my daughter was 5 and thinking about Scooby-Doo. Nine years ago, the Mets had a losing record and Sandy Alderson was completing his first year as the GM.

Nine years later, my son is playing soccer in college, my daughter is a freshman in high school thinking about anything but Scooby-Doo, and the Mets have a multi-billionaire owner who has re-energized a franchise that has wallowed in the doldrums for far too long.

What a difference a near-decade makes.

Nine years ago was the last time I posted to this blog. I don't really remember why I stopped, but it was likely because I was tired of trying to stay optimistic and lauding the team's pluck when what I really wanted was wins and a championship.

Of course, the last nine years haven't been completely bereft. A year after I shut this bad boy down, R.A. Dickey had a season for the ages and won a Cy Young, and Alderson later traded him for a package that included Noah Syndergaard. The Mets swept the Cubs to make it to the 2015 World Series and deserved a better fate. David Wright's amazing Mets career came to a heartbreaking, injury-shortened end, but his last game was one we won't soon forget.

Mike Piazza was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame. Johan Santana threw the Mets' first no-hitter. We saw the rise of home-grown talents like two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Dom Smith. But playoff success continued to elude the Amazins.

However, a new day has dawned. The Katz-Wilpon ownership era, horribly undone by blind faith in a Ponzi schemer named Bernie Madoff, finally gave way and sold the team to Steve Cohen, a lifelong Mets fan who in his short tenure as owner has shown that he gets it. He's going to upgrade all aspects of the organization, drag it into the modern day, spend serious cash, and tweet back at the faithful. So far, it has been glorious.

So what better time to dust off the keyboard and get on this train?

After a pandemic-shortened, super-weird season, the Mets are in position not only to pay up for top free agents but grab the best of a motherlode of players who will have been made available by teams that are cutting budgets after losing a ton of money. Uncle Steve didn't take that bath, and the Mets will certainly benefit.

A Tom Seaver statue is coming, but unfortunately, The Franchise won't be around to see it. You'd think that in addition to Old-Timer's Day and possibly Bobby Bonilla Day, we'll see statues of Piazza and Wright outside Citi Field as well, and a few more numbers retired, starting hopefully with Wright, Hernandez, and Carter.

The hot stove season will be a wild one. The 2021 roster should be juicy. We don't know if we'll be able to attend games in person. But we'll be there for the ride.

All aboard.