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Yahoo! Contributor NetworkFinally, Fernando is Freed…Mets’ Martinez Released: A Fan’s View
In a previous New York Met era, the reaction to Fernando Martinez's release might have been different. Martinez, the product of ex-GM Omar Minaya's unrealistic expectation of the deep pool of available talent in the Dominican Republic and other Central American locations, never materialized into a superstar. In fact, he never cracked a Mets' major league roster.
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F-Rod, a moniker anybody with the name of Rodriguez is burdened to carry, was signed as a 16-year old, and typical of the New York Met franchise, Minaya made no secret of his megastar capability overselling his value and promising his eventual arrival. We continued to hear, ad nauseum, that he was still young and developing. If not for injuries, he would be much further along, blah, blah, and interminable blah. He is now 23 years old, so we've been served this bag of baloney for seven years.
But frankly, it's difficult to discern who's really standing in the winner's circle today. As a fan, you applaud current General Manager Sandy Alderson for cutting ties with the latest overhyped, oversold, over-publicized, over-valued Met product. It's a time-honored franchise pastime Alderson has now disparaged. The names of Bill Pulsipher, Paul Wilson, Eddie Kunz, and to some extent, David Wright rattle around your head among the many that have been failed experiments in Met prospect history. As a fan, you're grateful there'll be no more waiting, no more false hope, no more
F-Rod updates, at least until he crushes his 30th home run for his next team.
Realistically, though, isn't Fernando Martinez the fortunate one? He'll be approaching a fresh start, leaving a franchise that just hired an organization to help them manage finances, i.e. stay afloat. He's leaving seven years of unmet expectations. He's leaving a team that has been waiting forever, and the weight of that wait has been cumbersome for Martinez. He's leaving a team that has skidded so far out of control, off the road would be an epic improvement. He's leaving a team that is no one's idea of a contender.
Released? Or set free?
Glenn Vallach has been a New York Mets fan since foolishly abandoning the mighty Yankees in his youth after Mickey Mantle retired. Since the fond, fleeting memories of the Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee years, he sits quietly yearning for a fraction of the success enjoyed annually by the team that inhabits the borough in which I was born…waiting and hoping…waiting and hoping.
Sources:
- · Yahoo! Sports New York Mets page
- · Yahoo! Sports Fernando Martinez page
- · Andy Martino, New York Daily News, Mets waive one-time golden prospect Fernando Martinez…Mets cut loose outfielder discovered by Omar Minaya
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