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In the Star-Telegram, Dave Sessions reaffirms that Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo will entertain offers from other clubs when he becomes a free agent at the end of October.
Last week at his blog for ESPN.com, Peter Gammons wrote that the Mets should hire Jaramillo, among other moves, in an effort to help improve for next season.
On Monday, in the Daily News, Adam Rubin explained why the Mets will not finalize Willie Randolph’s coaching staff until Jaramillo’s contract expires at the end of the month.
…as i wrote earlier in the week, this is a noteworthy maneuver, which will certainly push Howard Johnson back to coaching first base in place of Rickey Henderson…why…well, 1) jaramillo, and Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long are widely considered the Rick Peterson of hitting coaches, in terms of how they are changing the way the job is done, but 2), and most important, jaramillo and Omar Minaya are close friends dating back to the mid-80s, and, if you recall, jaramillo was a top candidate for the managerial job at shea before it went to willie, which would suggest that jaramillo could be willie’s obvious, some-day replacement, while sitting next to him on the bench all season long…
For more on Jaramillo, check out this report in the Sporting News from 2004, which, among other comments, reads…
“Jaramillo inspires such reaction because of a never-ending work ethic, complete belief in his players’ ability, adaptability and a method of teaching that is equal parts understanding hitting and understanding players.”
…also, from what i recall, he’s a disciplinarian, father-figure type, especially when it comes to the younger latino players…
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Jaramillo + Reyes = MVP
Omar, do it! Sign Rudy!
Who cares if poor sensitve Willie’s feelings are hurt and he has to constantly look over his shoulder. It’s the right move and the right time to do it.
I would love to see someone change Reyes’ ridiculous lefty batting stance. He keeps his hands too low, bails on every pitch, and overstrides. Amazingly, he still hits around .300. I am not one of those who believes he should slap balls on the ground. He has too much talent for that. Let Castillo hit that way. I never cared for Hojo as a player. I think people remember him as better than he was. Davey did not give him a sniff in post season 1986. He was a dead red, inside fastball hitter with tremendous pull power. Nothing else. That does not mean he can not know hitting. After all, those who can, do, and….
I’ve always liked Jaramillo and was shocked that Omar did not hire him to manage the team back in 2005.
this was the guy that I wanted to be the manager all along, but I’ve grown to like Willie, and I think Jaramillo’s hiring might signal a rift between Omar and Willie…I would love to have him, but I’m afraid of what it might mean for Willie.
Will Willie interview for the Yankee job?
Hopefully so we can get Bobby V back over here. Ugh, just the thought of him in that dugout next year with his stupid smirk and mustache makes me cringe.
I seriously hate Willie Randolph…not as a person. As the manager for this team and his boring, redundant, broken record post games. Possibly the most uninformative and BS’d postgame interview by any manager in the game.
Tell us how you really feel Willie. Is the champaigne going to taste sweeter now? Only on New Years bud.
What is this love affair with Bobby V? The guy was a clown who relied more on “shock and awe” tactics rather than fundamental baseball smarts.
I’m not saying Willie is great, but I can’t see guys like Beltran and Pedro putting up with someone with Bobby V’s personality.
your right X,
it was “shocking and awesome” that Bobby V managed to get a team into the WS that featured an OF of, Jay Payton, Benny Agbayani, Darryl Hamilton, Timo Perez, Shawn Dunston.
Obviously the guy has no managing ability! Talent like that should be in the WS every year!
if Bobby V managed the Mets the last two years, it would have meant back to back NL pennants if not WS championships.
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptIn the Star-Telegram , Dave Sessions reaffirms that Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo will entertain offers from other clubs when he becomes a free agent at the end of October. [...]
Took a bit of a vacation from Metsblog….but just caught up on the last few Cerrone posts.
There seems to be a very alarming complacency amongst Met fans on this blog. I’ve ready these posts thoroughly and see things like Fukudome (no one has a clue about the guy being good at the MLB level), NO to Santana, NO to trading Reyes, Bring Sean Green back! Give Lastings a shot. Bring Alou back, possibly bring Glavien back, and so on and so forth…
Boys…wake up. Our team accomplished a collapse of embaressing proportions. Luckily its taken a backseat to the Torre saga, but simply put..THIS TEAM NEEDS TO BE MIXED UP!. Time to chaaaange it up because its obviously not working. No Shawn Green, No Glavine, heck I don’t even want Alou back. He’s old, and will get hurt….AGAIN.
We need new players. Young players. Different players. It can’t be worse than last season…so experimenting needs to occur. No more hanging on to these veterans and sucking every drop out of their worn bodies. Change needs to start now.
I don’t get paid millions to be the GM, so I don’t know every move. But I watched 162 games this season and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize THIS Mets team stinks the way it is. The more of the same guys we bring back…the same product you will get.
All you have to do is look at Colorado for the blueprint. Fiesty young hungry bats and young hardthrowing pitchers.
Mets have old crusty veterans, DL allstars, and soft tossing washups…..not gonna get it done. Just not.
Dude,
1 – Changes should be made (like the bullpen) but youre suggesting drastic stuff. And yes, it could get worse, like being under .500 and having a completely meaningless summer. Just try to remember the 3 years prior to Minaya and Co.
2 – The Colorado blueprint is great, but it took 5 years for them to get to this point. After being handcuffed by Hampton’s and Neagle’s deal, they built from within. NY wouldnt stand for a 5 year rebuilding project and I doubt any of the fans that suggest it will either.
While your concept is fine, in reality, not that easy to implement. It takes time to redo a team from the ground up.
Sure, you can decide to cut ties with more of the old guys. But if you do, you then have to replace them.
That’s the dilemma Omar faces. That, and budget constraints (easy for us to say cut Mota and Delgado, but will the Wilpons want to write those checks?)
If he lets Alou go, he needs a power bat to play LF. Delgado goes, a 1B. And so on.
I agree with you about guys like Green and Glavine. Then can, and should, be replaced.
So, unless you want to go with all young guys (Gomez, Carp, whatever), they still need to find a better solution.
IMO, 2008 will be more carry over then most fans will lkie (although the results could be fine), with much bigger changes coming in 2009 (lots of contracts expiring).
With any luck, by 2009 (Citifiled opener!) Beltran will be the oldest guy on the field, assuming the find a younger, LT solution for LF, 1B, C and 2B. All of which they need to do by 2009, but hopefully they get some done for 2008.
If he is that good, get him! So what if it makes Willie look over his shoulder. maybe that will keep him focused, and push the team harder to win, not slack off, etc.
If there isn’t anyone pushing you for your job, most people get complacent of lazy. Nothing like the hot new guy 1 rung below to kick your butt into gear!
This could be interesting though. For the poster that keeps asking about Willie and the Yankee job, that is up to the mets.
Yeah, they brought Willie back. Probably for a combo of PR and not wanting to eat the money. They might not have thought he deserved to be fired based on last year, but they certainly don’t give off the vibe that he is the best man to lead them in 2008!
So, if Rudy gets locked up, why not let the Yankees talk to Willie if they ask and he wants to? It would be weird, and would almost have to be a done deal before they go public with it (not just tire kicking).
Omar and Fred would love it. Willie goes away, they don’t pay him, and they get the guy they probably wish they had all along!
Better bet is that he comes on board, and Willie keeps the job until the team flounders, and they pull the plug on him.
Interesting points…too early to tell how it will pan out.
But, if Willie’s squad sputters out of the gate in 2008….his tenure here is toast.
Make no mistake about it…..the leash will be short. And NO ONE…no one wants to hear his cop out explanations of terrible double switches, bullpen management, etc.
Time for Willie to start taking it on the chin for his awful managing moves.
managers are disposable. ALways have been. Pretty muc overrated too as to their impact.
most of the time they get canned to take the heat off the front office for the bad moves they made with the roster!
So, if Willie goes, no biggee, except to the extent that it means that the team is floundering.
I think Willie is average at best, but I truly hpe that next off season, there is not 1 post or thread about getting rid of him, since that probably means they won the WS!
Yeah, lets get Jaramillo because the players he coached put up good numbers hitting in perhaps the #1 hitters park in the majors and many of them also had a rep for taking steroids, and this year the Rangers team OPS was lower than the Mets and about 50 points lower than the Mets under HoJo during the second half despite that great hitters park. Yeah, that makes sense.
Willie isn’t the issue with Jaramillo. I don’t think Jaramillo wants to be a manager and Willie at any rate wouldn’t be worried about someone replacing him. The problem I have with Jaramillo is him replacing HoJo as hitting coach when the team improved under HoJo during the second half.
What a way to reward a job well done! Demote the guy!
Screw Jaramillo. A new hitting coach isn’t even on the galactic map of things to be done to improve this team. HoJo did a great job. The offense wasn’t the problem at all in the 2nd half. Only Reyes stumbled down the last 6 weeks, but his overall game fell apart, not just hitting. He was beat.
Mets ownership is giving the fans the finger so far this off-season. They’ve failed to hold anybody accountable for the historic choke. Mazzone’s available and not even a murmur of discontent towards Peterson and his inability to even put a finger in the dyke before the entire pitching dam collapsed.
And Jaramillo is touted as the Rick Peterson of hitting coaches? Wonderful.
So, no one is talking about the effect on HoJo? He is the hitting coach now, right? Does he just accept a demotion to 1B coach (which is not as prestigious as 3B coach, by the way)? I think Rudy could mean losing HoJo, about which I’m not sure how I feel. But, I think it was worth mentioning.
What this team needs is a manager with:
(a) a shred of intellect/strategy
(b) an ounce of passion
Randolph has neither…enough said.
But we are STUCK with him. So, lets at least Willie-proof the staff and roster. That being said, you can’t bring back most of the 2007 players! Eat some contracts and get fresh blood on some of those expendable players. Also, there has to be an “impact” move to say…holy crap, this organization means business.
I guarantee Minaya will bring Mota back….guarantee!
Anybody want to bet a few beers on that?
He will want to justify this 2-year contract…and he will also want to justify a lot of the other veteran garbage that he recruited for 2007. The roster will be 90-95% the same (which is exactly what can’t happen…there should be as much roster turnover as possible to have less players around that remember the collapse…)…you watch! Same team next year!
This is why Omar should be relieved of his duties, and obviously Willie should too.
Anybody want to take my bet on Mota? He will be a Met on Opening Day ‘08. Guarantee.
Every single one of the above comments has a shred of truth, but is taken way too far.
If you don’t blame HoJo for Reyes (the comment above that you agreed with says that Reyes just ran out of gas and it was not something HoJo could have done something about), how can you blame Peterson for the collapse of the bullpen when we all know that those guys were gassed because of how inefficient the starting pitching staff was throughout the year. The bullpen was exhausted from overuse due to short starting pitching. Short starting pitching was due to age and the quality of pitchers. Peterson might be overhyped, but let’s not jump on him too much.
You advocate change for change sake, which is not what the team needs. It needs smart, directed moves that improve the players on the field. Let’s start with improving the roster.
There is no basis for saying Reyes ran out of gas. He didn’t run out of gas last year or the year before. He is 24. And please, batting coaches are no big deal. Hojo didn’t do anything. This team can hit. They were slumping hwen Hojo came in and they started hitting. Did he personally improve 3everyione”s approach? Come on. All teams go through slumps. These coaches don’t do much. These hitters are in the major leagues. They already know how to hit. That is how they got here. I made my comment about Reyes because he has an awful stance. His physical and mental approach at the plate needs work. A coach could do something about that. But 99% of the time these guys change nothing. The hitters just need a pat on the back. You do not need an Einstein for that. Batting coaches are grossly overrated. They are there to make the hitters feel good, not to fill their heads with a lot of crap. Down was doing that for two and a half years. The team had its share of slumps. But they always came out of them. Omar got rid of him to stick it to Willie. Omar talks out of both sides of his mouth. I am not a Willie fan, but I do not get the same sense about him.
Reyes attempted and stole more bases than he ever has in his career by a fairly large amount. He was also on base more than he has ever been.
Throw in the most demanding position in baseball that isn’t catcher, and the fact that he only missed 2 games (as opposed to 9 last year) and now you understand why he wore down. Also, he actually played in the AS game this year when he sat out last year with a broken bone in his hand.
Willie did a poor job managing Reyes’ rest last y ear. It was obvious down that stretch that this kid was gassed.