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According to Bob Klapisch in the Bergen Record, citing one person familiar with Fred and Jeff Wilpon’s philosophy, ‘the honeymoon is over’ for both Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya, who both have only a month or so before ownership starts asking some serious questions about the team’s future - assuming they are still a middle-of-the-pack team around June 1.
…this is a must-read and thought-provoking column by klapisch, who continues to be one of my favorite columnists and writers…
…by the way, i have a fear…it may be premature, and i hope it is soon-to-be irrelevant, but it’s a fear nevertheless…
…i fear that the Mets did what was necessary to make themselves competitive quickly, to gain respect in the game, and move fast from last place to first place in two year’s time, but that the cost for this burst may now be a disorganized team at a crossroads…
…think back, it seems that most champions in baseball do so in phases…it never happens on a smooth, straight-up rocket ride to a ring…instead, there is usually a rebuilding phase, followed by mild success, lots of hype, then some disappointment, a slight reshuffling and then true, ultimate-success is achieved…
…i fear the Mets are in that disappointment-reshuffling stage – moving sideways, not forward – but they just don’t know it yet…
…Carlos Delgado, Orlando Hernandez, Moises Alou, Pedro Martinez, Paul Lo Duca and others may be players who were needed for that initial push, but who will not or may not be part of this team’s next push towards a championship…in 2006, when the Mets were winning, smiling and surging, i never imagined i would see Ryan Church as a key cog in the next phase of winning…in other words, things change…quickly…
…to their credit, i know for fact that some people high up with the Mets realize there may need to be a slight shift in course if the team is going to truly take that next step in winning – and do so consistently over the next decade…surprise, surprise, but acquiring aging veterans to plug holes is not an organizational-wide philosophy…it’s a short-term solution that can temporarily sustain jobs, while gaining instant credibility in the market place…
…the thing is, this team’s needs may be changing…they are respectable now…they have had success…now it’s time to build on that success and grow for the future, pushing aside these short-term solutions so the team can achieve more than just short-term success…
It’s about time. The Mets do not look like a team that can sustain a 162 game schedule. What concerns me the most is the pitching staff…in particular the starters. With the exception of Santana, how may starters eat up innings. The bullpen will feel fatigued in no time at this rate.
To see Minaya and Randolph on the hot seat is nothing new.
grow for the future? we’ve traded our future.
the rebuilding process has to begin in the
minor leagues, we must stop trading good
future prospects for established players.
I agree. We gave away our prospects (albeit so-so prospects) in the Santana deal. Now it’s time for the team to rebuild with players that can play in the big leagues in a few years. Minaya has a track record of getting good players but at the same time has acquired some players that makes you scratch your head (i.e., Alou). Alou’s value says a lot, but so does his health track record. I’m not ready to concede on the 08 season. They need to find their breaks.
Are you kidding me? That’s so hypocritical. A majority of the fans on this blog in a poll said that they would trade the farm for Santana!
BTW, which veterans did we get in a trade for a “good” future prospects? Castillo we got as a steal. Alou is a free agent pickup. Delgado we paid most cash and Jacobs (who’s ok.. but no superstar). El Duque we got for Julio. Anybody else I’m missing?
yes.
yes but, when we signed Alou as a free agent, we surrendered a first round pick for him. So that was a miscue i would say.
I would say that after 50 games we should be at 30 -20 to be happy. That is the pace that the Marlins are set for. Anything less than that , IMHO, is not good. we are a much better team that 500 and treading water. We have the talent to move away from the pack and stay there.
So you’re saying that Willie is Grady Little to an as yet un-named Tito Francona?
Tito?!?! You’ve got Santana on the brain.
I’ve said it a million times… This team has not played to its potential since the Dodger series in 2006. The team has stopped responding to Willie and it is time for a new voice, preferably one who is a better strategic manager. Willie may have once been able to motivate, but I don’t think that is that case anymore.
As for Omar…I don’t know. I see Johan, and I see Bannister. I see Maine and Perez and I see Burgos and Ben Johnson. It has been some really good deals and some really bad deals. Has he gotten us respect again, yes. Has he gotten the pieces that made us the favorites on paper, yes. So what more can you ask for from a GM? But I too would like to see the team get younger and less injury-prone. Of course injuries are part of the game, but you have to realize they happen more often when you are running a nursing home.
I’m not buying into the whole Bannister hype yet. He’s gotta do it for the rest of the year to prove he’s gonna be able to have a decent career. Also, Heath Bell was never gonna blossom here.
Still, right now those seem like some pretty crappy deals, but all in all I’ve been happy with the job Omar has done. The Castillo signing is the only thing that really kills me.
Even if the guy falls off a cliff, he has had an incredible season +. That is already worth more than the Mets got back.
Obviously, this trade didn’t work in the short term, but it wasn’t about the short term. Burgos turned 24 last week; he was aquired with the long term in mind. See if he comes come back from his surgery.
It might not look good now, and it might never work out. But if the trade was made with the long term in mind, give it some time.
Bannister is 27. Burgos is 24 and had a history of injuries. At best the Mets will get one or two years of decent relief pitching from Burgos. Bannister has already given the Royals a full year of very good pitching.
If the Mets had Bannister out there every 5th day last year instead of their terrible 5th starter by committee approach, they might have had that one extra win to get them to the playoffs (where they would have been swept anyway). Its not like Burgos gave them anything. At best he was a step up from Mota.
Omar has done some great things and he’s done some not so great things. But it’s not all so black and white.
1. Santana: Omar didn’t pull off some great mastermind GM move to get him. Maybe he kept what we had to give up to get him manageable, but this isn’t a masterful GM move. It’s hiring a hitman. Nothing wrong with that either.
2. Bannister: Does anyone remember watching him here? It was a Houdini act. He showed some raw talent, but he was constantly in and out of trouble. His biggest strength in a Mets uniform was that he never gave in. But nobody could have known what he was going to become.
I feel like Omar gets too much credit sometimes, and other times too much abuse. I still feel like he has a real connection with the team. I don’t know who you would replace him with, but that’s something for the organiztion to decide if it comes down to that.
As for Willie, I still think he will finish the season. I don’t like him, but who do you replace him with right now? That’s not a reason to keep someone who isn’t working, but mid-season changes like that sometimes end up biting you in the rear end.
They have their work cut out for them.
Hey, you also need to give credit to Omar (and the Wilpons) for walking away from Zito.
Can you imagine if we signed him? Wow, what a mess.
Yeah that would have been a DISASTER.
He might lose 20 games this year!
call me crazy but omar should take a long hard look at acquiring zito if he plans to keep the jacket on board long term.
the mets might be able to buy him out for less than fifty cents on the dollar, and if there isn’t anything physically wrong with him, peterson has a better chance than anyone to fix him.
50 cents on Zito’s dollar is still more than most current MLB starters. And those starters don’t throw with the velocity of Harris from ‘Major League’.
Pass.
1. Santana: I absolutely commend Omar for weathering the long storm on this and making a move while Boston and Bronx were playing chicken. Omar focused on one thing…the clock. He knew Santana demanded to be traded prior to going on his pre-ST vacation. So, as no one else was blinking, he lowered his offer as midnight nearly struck . Very smart.
2. Bannister. I disagree 100%. I think HE knew what he was going to become. I was livid when he was traded for a ‘project’. I lamented about it here numerous times over teh past year. You don’t trade a starter for a bullpen arm, especially one with mechanical flaws and control issues. Absolutely stupid. Sure Bannister showed flaws as a rookie, but no different than what we currently see from Maine and Perez. Difference is, Bannister has since ironed out those flaws. Besided determination, he also showed one thing that suggested he would be a MLB pitcher fo the long term, and that is smarts. The kid was college eductated and a student of the game and brought the pedigree from his father. How the hell did he go from a top draft pick to a 5th starter within 2 years. And then gets shipped for a project shortly thereafter?
I’m of the mindset that it’s still too early to think that way. They have not performed the way we expected, but are still over .500 and just took a series from the Braves which is an accomplishment in itself. What you are saying could very well be true but I think we have to wait and see how some of these injuries play out first before we jump off the plank.
Again, the month’s timeframe makes sense. But it’s still too early. Let’s see where we are come June and proceed from there. I refuse to accept the fact that this team cannot win a championship this year, so I’m not buying into this year being part of the gradual ascent to the top.
Mets WS Champs in 2008. They need to start playing more consistently, but it’s there for the taking.
Haha, you said “proceed.”
EXCELLENT reference AND excellent name…my nickname for the last 15 years is SERCH because i used to rock the same big black MC SERCH glasses…i loved 3rd Bass growing up, they were so before their time
even Guiseppe Franco loves them
3rd Bass is the best! Haha…love those guys. Pete Nice actually is a huuuuuge baseball fan. I think he works in cooperstown now if I’m not mistaken. He also wrote a book called “Baseball Legends of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery.” Check it out.
Wordz of Wisdom!
I’d hate to see the Mets waste the careers of Wright and Reyes by continuing to surround them with veterans on the downside of their careers. If you’re going to build a team, build a team. Why be somewhere between building and winning?
I see them a lot closer this year to having a full team. Think about last year you had Green in RF and Alou in LF. Now you have Church in RF who is young and a solid player overall and FMart ready to come up for late season call-up this year/starter next year. Delgado will be gone next year so if we can replace him with a power hitting 1b this team would be complete. You would only see guys at the end of their careers on the bench if that.
The rotation will be solid and young Johan, Maine and hopefully Ollie with a little Pelf, Nelson Fig mixed in with a FA aquisition.
I like the direction of the team at this point. Overall they are solid all around. They could use a little more pop but I think that comes with 1b next year.
Don’t pencil FMart in for the starter late year or the starter next year. He has another 180 games of seasoning in the minors to go before he comes up. I’d be surprised to see him on the roster this year at all.
I’m thinking Jon Garland is in the rotation next year . . .
Of course, the answer may be simpler than we think- drop the Jacket, and ask Pedro to take over as pitching coach- he can still be a major locker-room presence, and the pressure’s off of him to get healthy.
Yeah I second that. Then drop our team doctor and let El Duque be doctor - since he has experience with just about everything that can go wrong with a human body.
And Delgado can be the infield coach, showing the players all the ways they can avoid getting to routine groundballs and keeping their error total down (and energy saved up, so the fistpump can be employed following a double-play).
these posts made me LOL
How about bringing in the Franco Triplets to try and get these guys on track?
Manager: Julio
Pitching Coach: John
Hair Care Consultant: Guiseppe
Stop denying that the team has struggled, and get on the track to making the playoffs RIGHT NOW!