Opinion: On Jaramillo
...as referenced in the post regarding Peter Gammons‘ column, Rudy Jaramillo is sure to be among the most sought-after coaching free-agents this off-season…a Texas-native, Jaramillo just finished the final year of a three-year contract as hitting instructor for the Rangers, the same role he has had with the club since 1995…for those not familiar, he is well-regarded around baseball for his tutelage of young players as well as his knowledge of hitting mechanics…quite frankly, his players swear by him…with all that said, is it really worth bringing him to the Mets…
…remember, Jaramillo was a candidate to be manager of the Mets just three years ago…and, if the team gets off to a slow start next season, face it, the New York media will be waiting for the other shoe to drop…another thing, Jaramillo will be looking for a substantial raise…would it be fair to give Jaramillo similar money to what Willie Randolph earned in his first season as manager of the Mets…that is a very shaky scenario…if hired, the leash on Randolph, which will already be short, would suddenly become a lot shorter…also, would bringing Jaramillo aboard be fair to Howard Johnson, a man who guided the Mets to a league-best .284 batting average in the second-half of the season…if Rick Down was fired for the offense struggling during the first-half, well then why should Johnson be shuffled out when they actually perform well…
…trust me, i do realize that i might be giving the hitting instructor too much credit for second-half success at the plate…Johnson could certainly move back to his role as first-base coach while Jaramillo could step right in as hitting coach and a mentor for Jose Reyes, but for a team looking for unity, i fear this may cause more friction and second-guessing of the current skipper than its truly worth…
…of course, this will be all moot if the team goes out there and wins…
