Regional Sports

Mets can look at Yankees with envy

Yankees are flourishing with their young stars while the Mets are sinking with their young stars doing nothing.

The Subway Series starts this weekend at Citi Field, and yet, you can cut the tension with a ginsu knife.

There’s no buzz from either fanbase. The players don’t care, and to be honest, they never cared for years. It might as well be the Yankees playing the Tampa Bay Rays and the Mets playing the Miami Marlins this weekend in New York City instead of the Yankees and Mets playing each other.

That’s the way it goes when the Yankees keep winning and dominating while the Mets keep seeking new lows each game by losing 13 of 16 while not hitting in the process.

Jacob deGrom gives the Mets a chance to win at least one game in the Subway Series Friday night, but that’s no guarantee since the Mets can’t score runs for him, and they never win when he starts anyway. It’s no wonder why Mets fans are not beaming with pride with him starting.  How depressing.

The Mets may have seen their window of opportunity of winning championships being gone while the Yankees may be getting started after playing in the American League Championship Series last year and almost going to the World Series until they choked a 3-2 series lead to the Houston Astros in the ALCS.

The Mets are likely going through another tired rebuilding project since their farm system is awful and they can’t develop players in their own farm system. That means they are likely going to trade deGrom and Noah Syndergaard either this trade deadline or in the offseason.

On the other side of town, life is great for the Yankees. The Yankees are winning with their homegrown players such as Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar, Luis Severino and Greg Bird, and they could be on the verge of breaking attendance figures at Yankee Stadium this year. They have to be the favorite to win it all with their starting rotation, their starting lineup and their bullpen.

The Yankees are likely going to get a starter this trade deadline whether it’s Cole Hamels or someone good. They shouldn’t count on the Mets trading deGrom or Syndergaard to them since it would bother the Wilpons to see their best starters flourish with the Yankees. Too much pride is in play never mind the Mets can retool quickly if they can get Clint Frazier and another homegrown star for them, but then again, they can say what’s the point since they wouldn’t develop as Mets.

Hating the Yankees should always be a good thing, but give them respect for the way they have develop their young players to the point they are ready to play in the majors. I covered a Yankees minor-league game in 2016 in Staten Island for Sportsology, and talking to then-Staten Island Yankees manager Dave Bialas, he emphasized about the team playing smart and executing fundamentals and hustling. It’s something the Yankees teach their players all over their farm system.

The Mets do the same thing to be fair, but for whatever reason, the Yankees have been effective in getting their young players ready to play in the majors. That’s where the Yankees deserve credit from their farm system across the board. No one can resent them for that.

The Mets hope Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith would have been the stars that Torres, Judge, Bird, Andujar and Sanchez would be. That hasn’t been the case so far. Conforto has regressed as a hitter after a good season last season. Rosario has been okay, but he has no discipline at the plate and his fielding is an adventure. Smith may have eaten his way out of the Mets plans for good after being out of shape and not ready to go this spring training.

To be fair to them, young players go through ups and downs before they can establish themselves as Major Leaguers. But there’s no doubt it’s frustrating the Yankees can have their young players grow up as stars right away.

This is where Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and his staff should be held accountable for not getting their young players ready to go in the majors and not having an eye for talent. This is why former Mets general manager Omar Minaya is back since he has an eye for talent based on the Mets going to the World Series in 2015 with his own players such as Daniel Murphy, Juan Lagares, Jeurys Familia, Wilmer Flores and deGrom.

The Yankees have enough room in their budget to sign a player like Bryce Harper or Manny Machado next season while the Mets don’t even have money to sign a decent free agent. It’s depressing, and that’s why the Mets and their fans can only look at Yankees with envy.

The Yankees’ success has made Mets fans cranky, and understandably so. This is as low point as the Mets and their fans can be right now.

Sadly, it won’t get better now and in the near future.

A potential Yankee sweep this weekend will give the Mets a reminder how far they are from the Yankees’ stratosphere.

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