Pity the Fan

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Face it fans, you are last. Dead last. You are essentially the Rockies.

With only a few exceptions, most notably the Dodgers and Blue Jays, two high-powered, high-priced teams who made it to the World Series last October, yet both are still trying to get better — MLB fans have been hit with the harshest of realities this offseason.

You do not matter. It is that simple.

The word fan can be replaced by another three letters: ATM.

That is what you are to the owners and gambling houses.

The players you love do not matter; they could be gone to another team in a heartbeat, just look at the Mets who lost fan favorites Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz this past week.

And before you counter on X, “Well, the Mets never really won anything with those guys!”

Consider this: The Mets have not won the World Series going on 40 years, so just save it.

Alonso, Nimmo and Diaz were fan favorites because of how they played the game, how they so often delivered. Nimmo was a beloved No. 1 draft pick. Alonso was a second-rounder who set the franchise home run record with 264 home runs, a lifetime .253 average and an .857 OPS. Diaz is a super closer that comes with his own music.

Baseball is a long journey. Half the fun is getting there and the way the Polar Bear delivered like in the playoff win over the Brewers in 2024 created lifetime memories for Mets fans. Same with the way Nimmo and Diaz performed. There is a reason they were fan favorites.

When did that suddenly become a bad thing?

David Stearns is your new age baseball boss. Feelings don’t matter even though they always chirp about building the right culture. They build that culture alongside that assembly line of young talent they also promise.

Casino Cohen insists he grew up a major Met fan, but he signed off on those deals and instead of watching Alonso do his Polar Bear thing, Mets fans will have to get used to Jorge Polanco and his two-year-$40 million contract. Over his last three playoff series, Polanco has hit .143, .182, and .231-  but he did get a couple of big hits against the Tigers last October. Marcus Semien is also a new Met the fans are going to have to learn to like and he has a tough task because he is coming off a season of hitting .230. And he is 35. Polanco willl turn 33 next season. Yes, he’s quite a bit older than Pete.

Now, Polanco is going to have to learn a new position, first base, because that is where David Stearns is going to pencil him in. This is where you cue the Ron Washington quote from Moneyball. Billy Beane is trying to sell the fact to Scott Hatteberg, catcher, that anybody can play first base and enlists Washington’s help, asking, “It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell him Wash.’’

Washington replies: “It’s incredibly hard.’’

People forget that as the scene develops about moving to first base, Hatteberg asks: “What about the fans?’’

To which Washington responds: “Yeah, maybe I can teach one of them.’’

So many teams are out on their fans.

It is certainly incredibly hard to be a fan these days, unless you are a fan of the Dodgers or Blue Jays, who have both hit the ground running this offseason. Diaz went to the Dodgers. Orioles’ fans are feeling a lot better too, with the signing of Alonso not only because of his power but because of his infectious love for the game, he’s already hit it off with the Orioles mascot and will lighten the load of the young Orioles.

Buck Showalter has the unique experience of managing the Orioles and managing Pete Alonso with the Mets and said of Alonso’s free agent acquisition for five years at $155 million, telling my friend Dan Martin: “Pete will get Baltimore, and the fans will get Pete.’’

That is important. See, it is about the fans in some places.

Mets fans are going to have to, and here is perhaps my favorite new-age term: “Trust the process.’’ It is all about Run Prevention, baby, not the three-run home run.

And pay the high prices to trust the process.

Also in New York, Yankee fans are once again asked to trust the process. Trust it with your credit card, that’s for sure. Hal Steinbrenner is not going to go overboard. He has Aaron Judge and from there the Yankees fill in the blanks. They haven’t won a World Series since 2009. Aaron Boone hasn’t won one, but he is treated as if he is Casey Stengel, who managed the Yankees to 10 pennants and seven World Series titles.

Hal has let GM for Life Brian Cashman run the show and does not really get involved. If the fans have grown tired of Cashman and Boone’s ways it does not matter one iota to Hal. He lives in Florida and since 2003 the Yankees have won as many World Series as that Florida team the Marlins – one.

Devin Williams moved from the Yankees to the Mets. Juan Soto moved from the Yankees to the Mets, maybe Cody Bellinger will move from the Yankees to the Mets. The final grades for the offseason are not yet tabulated but it is not looking so hot for Yankees fans, but as we have learned, what they think doesn’t matter.

So many teams are out on their fans.

Padres fans have been willing to fill up Petco Park for years but that doesn’t matter now as the Padres cut payroll. Their closer Robert Suarez just went to the Braves. The Padres are heading down that road where the team will be sold and that is never a good thing as cuts will be made. Suarez signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Braves to be their setup man.

The Tigers may trade ace Tarik Skubal, perhaps to Baltimore, yet I heard their baseball boss Scott Harris say the other day,  “Everything we do is focused on winning.’’

If that were the case, you would sign Skubal long-term. Also, the moment he said that, this thought popped into my head, “Well, if everything you do is focused on winning, why in the world did you take Skubal out of a win-or-go home game after six innings and only 99 pitches with 13 Ks? Oh yes, the Tigers were beating the Mariners, 2-1 when Skubal was removed. They lost the game in 15 innings on a walk-off single by future Met Jorge Polanco.

Why not extend Skubal at least another inning if everything the Tigers do is focused on winning? Dave Roberts and the Dodgers certainly had no issues extending Yoshinobu Yamamoto during the World Series because clearly everything the Dodgers do is “focused on winning.’’

As a result, the Dodgers have won two straight World Series and are looking to win three in a row, something no one has done since the Yankees won the World Series in 1998, ’99 and 2000 when George Steinbrenner’s Yankees were “focused on winning.’’

When you are focused on winning, you do what it takes to win. It may not happen, but the fans appreciate that effort and that is half the battle.

When Harris made his comment, no one on MLB Network dared question him. It was all Winter Meetings happy talk.

At the top I mentioned the Rockies – and how about those Rockies who have finished in last place in the NL West four straight years. Before that they finished in next to last place four straight years. Last year they finished 50 games back of the Dodgers. Count ‘em: 50.

They revamped their front office this year by hiring  Paul DePodesta, who had been in charge of the NFL Cleveland Browns, another perennial loser.

Remember, it’s all about the fans. Rockies fans still show up, they are ATMs in every way.

Pirate fans have been taken advantage of for years and Paul Skenes is all alone on Talent Island. The Pirates made believe they were in the race for some free agents, but they weren’t. I could go on and on with all the teams who treat their fans like garbage, and it is going to get worse because baseball is headed for a lockout in 2027. The Phillies managed to keep their home run slugger Kyle Schwarber when the Mets didn’t want any part of Alonso.

It’s sad, but all this speaks to how much fans love the game of baseball.

That love was exhibited this past week when so many Yankee fans were again pulling for Don Mattingly to make the Hall of Fame. He didn’t. Also on the contemporary baseball era committee ballot was baseball’s all-time home run leader Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens and they were squashed too because of PEDs. Hits leader Pete Rose is not allowed in because of his gambling issues, yet everything in baseball now is connected to gambling houses, including hypocrisy. The former commissioner and former managers who benefitted from the exploits of PED players are in the Hall of Fame and probably some PED players too.

It is not easy being a baseball fan these days unless you are wearing Dodger blue and a select few other teams. I would love to see the Tigers keep Tarik Skubal for the long haul and add real talent to show they really are “focused on winning’’ not just surviving in a bad division.

Baseball owners would do well to remember the words of beloved Tigers broadcaster, Ernie Harwell, who once said: “Baseball? Just a game, as simple as a ball and a bat. And yet as complex as the American Spirit it symbolizes. A sport, business, and sometimes almost even a religion.’’

Indeed. Hang in there, fans.