Following a disastrous 2023 campaign that was basically over at the trade deadline in late July when New York traded away aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, the Mets have made a number of key moves during the offseason to attempt to make the 2024 season less of an embarrassment. The team brought in executive David Stearns from Milwaukee to serve as ballclub president and he has mostly added low-cost free agents who will not significantly impact New York’s already inflated payroll. The Mets also have a slew of prospects in the minors who could get called up to the big leagues in 2024 to try to get New York, who finished 75-87 last season, back to the playoffs.
The Mets are also hoping the addition of a dance team, dubbed The Queens Crew, will be a hit with fans in ’24.
A co-ed dance team focused on offering “hip-hop hype” to the crowd at Citi Field, The Queens Crew is the brainchild of vice president of brand marketing Trisha Donlin and based on similar groups formed by the Braves, Astros and Marlins, according to The New York Post. The Queens Crew currently has 19 members, but only about 10 will perform during each game with performances primarily occurring before the first pitch and between innings.
According to Donlin, the new dance team will “break the boundaries honestly of traditional entertainment when it comes to Major League Baseball” and “bring Queens to life” with routines that reflect the local culture. “I had to think about what makes Queens, Queens and what makes New York, New York,” Donlin told The Post. “That’s where I thought about diversity, different performance styles, street dancing. Looking at subway performers, looking at the fact that we have the greatest talent pool in the United States with Broadway. All of that played into the identity of this team.”
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Bonilla gets paid more than a million per year despite not playing in MLB since 2001All due respect to Donlin and her dancers, but it’s hard to picture Mets fans getting too jazzed up about the sweet dance moves they are seeing in the bleachers if the team on the diamond isn’t performing at a high level and winning ball games. The Queens Crew will also have to steal some of the spotlight from Mr. and Mrs. Met in order to get attention, which will not be an easy task.
Given what happened last season during New York’s $490 million failure, it makes sense that the team is making some changes both on and off the field, but the addition of a dance team doesn’t exactly feel like a home-run idea.
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