Say this about Frank “The Tank” Fleming v. SNY (SportsNet New York): It’s already a far more entertaining and cohesive story than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
So, there’s that.
For those of you who missed it or are unfamiliar with Tank and his toxic relationship with the Mets, he is a die-hard fan in more ways than one. He loves and hates the team and, during one of his explosive, shirt-chewing rants, it’s highly possible that his heart or brain will explode leaving his loved ones with a viable wrongful death lawsuit against the Mets.
He works for Barstool sports, is an influencer and has gained popularity by encapsulating the anger of a vast percentage of Mets fans while simultaneously getting attention from other fan bases and even teams (the Braves watch and laugh at his videos). For the Mets, he’s become something of a bane to their existence. Is it because he goes batshit insane with his reactions to the club’s inevitable flailing no matter what they do? Or is it because what he says about the team is true?
Possibly both.
Recently on X (Twitter), Tank revealed that SNY directors have ordered that he no longer be shown on television when he attends Mets games.
The team does deserve much of the ridicule heaped upon it. SNY sending an edict not to show images of a fan who expresses the frustrations of many will not change that.
How many other organizations would be sold to one of the ten richest owners in sports after a previous ownership known for its cheapness, ineptitude and impulsiveness and within five years have fans looking back fondly at that previous ownership wondering whether things could be much worse if they never sold the team?
Under Steve Cohen, the Mets:
- Are currently on their fifth head of baseball operations
- Have their third field manager
- Have had one winning season and are already 0-4 in 2024
- Are scaling back payroll to look toward the future
Then, on Tuesday night, they refused to call a rainout during an unplayable storm spurring perhaps the biggest Mets fan in club history, broadcaster Gary Cohen, to give this candid reaction not meant for public consumption:
This so eerily mirrors the Mets’ performance under the Wilpons that it suggests the problems are structural or outright supernatural and not based on financial limitations and management strategy.
How many other organizations would hire a baseball operations crew that, within one year, had the new GM, Jared Porter, fired because he sent unsolicited and unwanted images of his genitalia; dismissed his former assistant and interim GM Zack Scott after a DUI arrest (he was acquitted) and that it was clear the owner and team president Sandy Alderson didn’t think he did a particularly good job; hire a new GM in Billy Eppler who “resigned” but was really fired and wound up suspended for misuse of the injured list; hire a proven manager in Buck Showalter and interfere with him relentlessly before firing him; and finally stumble onto the head of baseball operations that Cohen wanted in the first place, David Stearns?
When Cohen gained control of the team, I said that if the Mets intended to try and win fast by spending money, they should have hired Dave Dombrowski.
It was true then and it’s true now.
Will Stearns figure it out and turn the Mets into an annual contender within reasonable spending constraints with a consistent pipeline of talent? Given his history and how well-regarded he is in the industry, it’s more likely than not that this will be the case.
But it’s not guaranteed. Cohen pushed back at Max Scherzer revealing that the plan was to take a step back in 2024. Given the roster and their atrocious start, it’s patently obvious that Scherzer was accurately relating the context of the conversation.
That doesn’t make the Mets foolish for what they’re doing. Still, this is where we come to Tank and his reactive videos and rants as to the state of the team.
Is he truly wrong?
When getting beyond his bellowing, the team has been an objective embarrassment. Even in 2022 when they won 101 games, they did so while blowing a seemingly insurmountable division lead to the Braves in August and September and were quickly dispatched by the Padres who had won 12 fewer games during the regular season.
Is Tank’s perspective any more preposterous than the opposite end of the spectrum where pseudo “experts” defend the club and its processes? This is the same fan base where voices suggested that the Daniel Vogelbach/Darin Ruf platoon at DH had comparable production to Bryce Harper.
Bryce Harper.
Ruf has been traded or released six times and needed to spend two years in Korea to rejuvenate his career. He is not currently with any MLB organization.
Vogelbach has been traded twice, sold/waived twice and is currently on the Blue Jays bench where he will eventually be designated for assignment as well.
Bryce Harper hit three home runs on Tuesday night, is a two-time National League Most Valuable Player and will be a Hall of Famer.
Which is more absurd?
And it’s not just the fans. Supposed “insiders” like SNY’s Andy Martino make nonsensical assertions with no realistic foundation. Martino is the same he/him who said the following about the Mets and former manager Luis Rojas:
They gambled and won at what?
During Mets spring training, he also talked about the communication and hands-on approach of new manager Carlos Mendoza and his staff. Whatever that means.
Is Tank less sensible that this Martino nonsense? Martino says more ridiculous things in a five-minute hit on SNY than anything Tank says in a month’s worth of videos. Last I checked, Martino is still allowed on SNY camera while Tank apparently isn’t.
Who’s dumber: Tank calling bullshit on the Mets trying to hug prospects and sell Vogelbach and Ruf as reinforcements for a team trying to win a championship? Or the “experts” promulgating the idiotic myth that the underlying numbers made those two journeymen difference-makers?
He does get secondary benefit from his self-flagellation to the degree that it’s become his career. Personally, I can’t take the endless negativity and have unfollowed/muted him on X. None of this has any connection to his right to express his displeasure any way he chooses. My take on Tank is that his Mets fandom is so self-destructive and his misery so intense that he could never feel sufficient joy to justify the loyalty. If the Mets win five consecutive World Series, it will literally never make up for the pain he clearly feels with every loss.
But he’s a fan. He can do and say what he wants. The team’s flagship network is not obligated to show clips of someone who is a fan but mocks the team worse than any other team’s fan ever could.
Apart from that, is he over the top?
Yes.
Is it purposeful?
Probably by at least 50%.
Does it hurt anyone?
No.
If the Mets want it to stop, then maybe the first step is to quit validating much of what he says with their play and management – something they’ve done during their entire existence and have inexplicably continued to do despite being acquired by an owner who was supposed to have the cash and competence to put an end to it once and for all.
PAULLEBOWITZ.COM 