Ike Davis: Surviving Through The Madness

As I jubilantly jumped from my couch while watching Ike Davis's game winning home run soar into the Pepsi Porch I could not help but feel that ineffable sense of excitement that only comes when watching a home grown player make an impact. As up and down this season has been, (inexplicably based on where they play), the one constant has been Ike. It has been a pleasure watching him come up from within the system and make such an immediate impact on the club. And more impressive than his fast start has been his ability to fight his way out of slumps and make his own at bat adjustments to counter the adjustments opposing pitchers have inevitably made in pitching to him. It really has been amazing to watch a rookie show such maturity in the way he plays every aspect of the game. And in reflecting on this I could not help but think of an article on the Met first baseman that appeared in the Daily News on April 25, 2010, just a few days into Ike's major league career. While the article's objective was to profile Davis, what made it most memorable to me was the unintentional glimpse it gave us into the incompetent Met infrastructure.

In the article, written by Wayne Coffey, we learn that the Mets drafted Davis 18th in the June 2008 draft based on the reports of Met scout, Mike Brown. After signing, Davis reported to the Brooklyn Cyclones where he played through an oblique injury and performed poorly in 58 games. While there were a few in the organization preaching patience and attributed his performance partly to his nagging injury, many had determined that Davis was a bust. According to Coffey, a source says that Brown "was ripped for the possible squandering of the pick" and that "[Brown] got ridiculed unbelievably for what happened in Brooklyn [and] caught all kinds of flack." Noteworthy, is that Brown left the organization the following year.

So, what does this little story tell us. Well, if not for the incompetence we have seen from the Met hierarchy over the years and the reports we have heard as to how business is conducted throughout the organization, maybe this would not be such a big deal. But in the context of the circus that is the Wilponian-Omar Mets its says so much. To me it says that the inmates who run the asylum had judged Davis a bust after 58 games in Single A and pushed out the scout responsible for selecting him. Meanwhile, I confidently presume, these same dolts are still gainfully employed with the Mets -and have probably been given raises- despite not one of them having been responsible for the selection of any meaningful player. In fact, I further presume, that many of them are tight with Tony Bernazard, who, from what insiders have described as terrible as an evaluator as he was a human being, would still be be employed with the Mets if not for last year's embarrassing headlines.

Then again, my presumptions could be wrong. But based on what we have lived through over the past five years would you bet against me?