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According to Ken Rosenthal at FOXSports.com, Willie Randolph is among three managers whose job’s could be in jeopardy.
In the report, Rosenthal writes, “Still, the Mets probably will not even consider firing Randolph unless they fall significantly behind in the NL East.”
…for those who are not aware, the Mets are tied in the loss column for first place in the NL East…so bizarre…i am not sure i ever recall a first-place manager coming under such fire before, all while the fire is valid…
In a post to Bugs & Cranks, Brad Bartone lists 20 Things You’ll Never Hear at Shea, such as, “I think Pedro’s pitching tonight,” and, “The alcohol-free section is full.”
According to Jim Moloney at MLB.com, a few teams are currently scouting Reds OF Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr.
Lastly, to watch a video clip of Kirk Gibson’s one-legged home run, as told through baseball cards, go to Big League Stew.
does any ‘expert’ reporter use the phrase “Probably” as a qualifier more than Rosenthal?
Does anyone still long for a manager like Bobby V…Maybe I took too many bong hits in college during his era as skipper but i thought he was great with in-game moves and pitching changes among other things. I know players hated his in your face style but i can’t take Willie’s “gut” decisions, Like he has the kid from Angels in the Outfield as the batboy
I know I’m in the minority who believes you can’t always blame the manager. I just don’t see how this is any of Willie’s fault. Someone made a comment the other day on here questioning Randolph using four relievers in one game X number of times this year. How can that be avoided when starters are only giving you five innings?
As I’ve said before, if last year’s choke job isn’t enough motivation, then nothing is. Apparently getting paid millions to play a game isn’t enough motivation either.
if you can’t blame this on the manager, then, conversely, you can’t credit anything to the manager. so what difference does it make who is manager, then?
14th time this year he has used 4 or more pitchers… This is the culture Willy has created…
Well if getting paid millions of dollars is all it takes to get players motivated enough to win, then they could save a lot of money and just have a bench coach making a lineup and running the bullpen.
Explain Willie’s job to me if it’s not to motivate his players. Can’t be anything he does in-game.
It’s not just his use of relievers, which is beyond horrible, but it’s his spectator-like approach to managing. I used to think that Willie got most of his managerial training by waking up Joe Torre whenever a pitcher seemed to be struggling. Now I’ve learned that it appears most of that training was Joe Torre teaching Willie how to sleep while standing on the top step of dugout with his arms crossed.
A team’s personality flows from its manager. After 2006 when we, to quote Gray Cohen, “ran roughshod over the National League”, this team had zero swagger. Matt even quoted earlier that the Mets are simply a .500 ballclub since last July. How can this be? I’m not asking for Willie to throw bases or water coolers around the field, but at least look like you care. And how about answering a question without saying, “Ya know, my guys gotta…….”
I’ve been a Met fan my whole life and it kills me to watch this team. Even when we didn’t have the talent, we played hard for Bobby V. Willie has been given everything a manager can ask for and he’s killing us. He was wrong choice to replace Howe and he may have caused the Mets to miss a golden opportunity to be great.
Wrong choice to replace Howe? Come on, how many Mets fans were jumping up and down when Randolph was hire? A lot. Who do you suggest they should have hired?
Remember that fans were calling for Reyes to be traded for Pinella. That would have been funny.
Wally Backman. He was the right hire in 2004 and he’s the right choice now.
Just want everyone to know my bags will be kept packed all season in case I get the call from Omar or the Wilpon’s. There have been some grizzlies in the area here in Oregon, and I’d rather be away from them.
And as you know, I have fire! I’d bring a sense of urgency. Hey, is that a grizzly out there in the yard?!!!
They only “give” five innings because after the fifth any sign of “trouble” (that is anyone getting on base for any reason in any manner — okay hyperbole.) Willie yanks them.
Starters are only giving you five innings because that’s the current trend in MLB. Pitchers now a days are on tight “Pitch Counts” and as soon as they approach 100 pitches that’s it, with Willie it’s almost automatic, god forbid he allows one of his Pre-Madonas to throw over 100 pitches in a game. As far as being Willie’s fault, the buck stops at the manager’s door. I really believe a team (regardless of the sport) takes on the manager’s personaity and demeaner. You cannot excuse alway the fact that under Willie Randolph last year his team had the BIGGEST (yes, the biggest) collaspe in the history of MLB, that’s all you need to know. You can blame the players for not playing hard down the stretch, you can say the bull pen was burned out, you can spin it anyway your hearts content, at some point you have to look at the “common” denominator and we all know deep down inside what (who) that common denominator is.
The Mets are only “tied for 1st in the loss column” because of the lackluster division. The team seldom plays with fire and passion, and that comes from their leader, Mr. Cool William Randolph. Well, he never panics, and neither does his players…
I know that. I’m just saying, usually this level of concern and criticism and fire is directed at a team in last place - not first. That’s all. To me, the odd part is not the criticism, but that the criticism is valid - all while the team is in first. I just don’t ever recall seeing this before. And in April, on top of it all.
…the team is not really in first…
Agree Matt, it’s way too early for this panic that has set in….it’s over-reaction based on last year’s collapse, and I guess we can’t blame the fans who over-react b/c of the teams lackluster start…we all hoped they’d come out like gang busters this season, ticked off at the world….and that has not happened….and the onus always falls on the team’s leader.
PS- I got this ridiculous orange Mets jacket at the clubhouse in Roosevelt field….Mitchell & Ness, great stuff!
Even if the Mets were in first right now and had a little distance between themselves and the rest of the pack, you would have to be concerned with what you are seeing on the field.
By now everyone has learned that you can’t just look at first place at anytime of year as permission to phone it in.
I don’t even look at the standings before Memorial Day. Not for this division. I know it’s going to be close. I look at what’s going on during the games.
The best thing that could have happened to the Mets last year would have been to NOT be in first for so much of the season. They allowed themselves to get full and fat while other teams got hungry.
Agreed, and who do you blame for allowing the team to “get full and fat?” I wonder.
I recall seeing it. Seeing it many times. Over in that house that Ruth built, called Yankee Stadium. Seen it there many a time. So I guess you can say that the fans have become to act like what they hate the most….Yankee fans.
Don’t blame the fans.
My grandfather took me to my first game in 1978. I was a little kid, but I remember a few things about that day.
The team wasn’t very good. The fans booed a little. They cheered a little too. The Mets lost. People complained on the way out… a lot.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win. If I ever stop caring, I’ll just stop going.
There is nothing wrong about wanting to win. Mets fans have always wanted to win. Yankee fans have always been of the expecting to win, that its their entitlement and birthright that they win. Which of course is why Met fans as a whole, never really liked Yankee fans. Thing is, Matt said the level of concern, criticism, and fire is usually directed at a last place team, not at a first place one. Pretty much all of this is coming from the fans. You’re reading the threads, most everyone here is calling for Willie’s head, saying changes have to be made, because we’re suppose to be winning. Sounds like the sense of entitlement to me, thus my comparison to Yankee fans. Just remember that its just one person’s opinion.
OK, I understand what you’re saying.
I don’t expect this team to automatically win anything because every game has to be played on the field.
What I do expect them to do is play hard. By their own admission, at least Delgado’s, they were so good they got bored.
A team with this much talent that plays hard will win. Then we don’t have to expect it. We can just watch and enjoy it. :)
Look at the division, Matt. We aren’t in first.
actually, now we are.
The funny thing is that if the Mets were 15-11, they’d be on pace to win 93.5 games this season. It’s Willie’s job to motivate the team to get back on that pace. While WIllie should feel some pressure, we as a fan base need to relax. Baseball is supposed to be an escape from our real world stresses and problems. Otherwise, you won’t enjoy the season at any point this year since you’ll constantly be waiting for the other shoe to drop like Cubs fans do and pre-2004 Red Sox fans did.
Matt, honestly….you could have managed this team thus far to a 14-12 record. It’s sub-par, considering expectations and team-wide talent.
And they have looked worse than the record. That’s why you can’t just go by the standings. The answer is not “everybody panic”, but it’s not “everybody just relax” either.
Not that I’m sticking up for Randolph or anyone else but a 14-12 record is just about par for both leagues right now. Scan over the leagues and you’ll see just about every team, with the exception of D-Backs and the Angels, have similar records. Maybe, just maybe, that teams around the league are better and therefore everyone is fairly competetive. That is the point of having a luxary tax and revenue sharing.
The Mets are playing some bad ball but give some credit to the oter teams for being just as good as the Mets.
That’s kind of the point. This team shouldn’t be on par with the the other teams in the league we should be way ahead of the pack like the Angels and the D-backs, obviously it’s possible if they’re doing it. Especially when our payroll is so large compared to most other teams and we just traded our top 4 or 5 prospects to get players in order to win now, and I know the Santana deal was a steal but there was no point in making that deal if we thought even with him we’d only be a few games over .500.
There’s probably going to be too many holes to fill in one off-season next year, especially with little minor league talent to call up or trade and not much going on in free agency, so if we’re going to win in the near future it has to be this year. Other wise we just wasted a year we could have used rebuilding so we would be able to win soon.
“the Mets would have benefited from the infusion of energy that the White Sox gained by acquiring outfielder Nick Swisher and shortstop Orlando Cabrera, and the Angels gained by signing Torii Hunter.”
i disagree, ken. i think all three of those moves blew. swisher is looking OK so far though.
I love how sportswriters love “guys with energy” more than “guys who are good at baseball” (see also: David Eckstein).
How about guys with energy who are also good at baseball?
For starters that makes me think of Jose Reyes right away, but something’s been missing.
A Major League manager’s job is to get the most out of his players…the in-game stuff is very important, too, but we all know Willie is poor in that area. In 2006, he got the most out of those guys. Are you confident over the last year or so he’s getting the most out of these players? I’m not.
Neither am I. Listen, I have nothing against Willie and I actually liked when they signed him as manager but it’s becoming more and more clear to me that the NY Mets will never reach that next plateau with him at the helm. Writing is already on the walls folks, if the Mets don’t make it to the playoffs this year (and not just make it but also win playoff games) Willie will be gone, you can bank on that. Alot also depends on what Carlos Delgado does or doesn’t do the remainder of the season. You can’t reach that high level of elite teams when you’re power hitting first basement and RBI guy is hitting below the Mandosa Line.
DO the people’s comments that show in blue links mean they work/write for the site?
they have their user name linked to their own web site.
It is strange to see a team that is close to first under this much speculation. The problem I think is multi phased. Yes we had the historical collapse last fall. The lack luster start and Every time we lose or play bad we have to listen to willie tell us it is a long season and we will get them next time. I don’t think any one thing alone is cause for the criticism but when you add them all together it is getting old quick.
Couldn’t agree more Jim. It’s starting to sound like an old record. I don’t know about you but I can’t even stand anymore to listen to Willie on the post-game interviews. The team is a reflection of the manager and all those things you mentioned above are symptoms of a manager that no longer has a grasp on his team.
I could care less if its early in the season, after that choke job against St. Louis two years ago and last years debacle and now this half ass start, patience is running thin. There seems to be no sense of urgency in Willie. He needs to realize that Mgrs don’t get traded they get FIRED!
Exactly! You got it Edwin. As a Mets fan you don’t want to bash your manager and you always want to give him the benefit of the doubt but you are absolutely right, too many signs pointing in the wrong direction. This year will tell the tale on whether Willie returns next year or………….if he makes it till next year. If the Mets with their 200Million dollar payroll are 10 games behind first place in July…………..it’s time to make a change. Like you said, you don’t fire the team you fire the MGR!. Period.
Matt,
I know the reason that you pulled the Willie polls off the site and you were probably right but it is funny how some posts get a luke warm comment response but as soon as you put up something about Willie people can’t type fast enough.
LOL…………..how true. Could there be a good reason for that? I wonder.
Gibson’s HR was actually a “no-legged” shot. he had a strained left-hammy and bum right knee.
That was super clutch (see also 86 Mets, Mike Piazza) - something that’s missing with this team right now. I’ve been a Mets fan my whole life - since the fairly miserable teams of the 70s - and I don’t know if it’s me but these guys seem so lifeless once they get down. Last year I remember the first time I turned a game off - August against the Dodgers - during the bullpen implosion. This season I’ve already turned them off 3 or 4 times. Between the unreliable pen and clutchless and anemic hitting I’ve got better things to do with my time than be disappointed.
Brock werent you a 1st round pick around 1972 ? i seem to remember you were done after 2-3 yrs in the minors.. what a shame !
Same here. I’ve probably turned them off more than 4 times, more like 10. With this team you just know that if they are down 4 or 5 runs it’s basically over. What a difference from “86″. With that team it was the oposite! Even if they were down 10 runs you almost knew for certain that they would come back and more times than not they did! That was the fun of it, you didn’t turn off then, you actually became more interested to see how they would come back from a 10 run deficit to win. BOy I miss those days. This team of 2008 is far removed from that “86″ team by Light years.
one thing bugs me about the quote above. Why wait until they fall far behind in the standings? If the team is not playing well, make the change before they fall out of it!
If the team implodes and gets way behind, might as well just keep Willie and let him sink with the ship.
I think all the leasks/buzz etc. are the gorundwork being laid to ditch Willie while the Mets are still in the race. Just do it now, and get it over with.
You know, in all of these Willie threads, nobody ever suggested something that I will suggest now. At least I haven’t seen it, so I say it here.
Maybe Willie doesn’t even want the job so much anymore. He’s not going to tell Ed Coleman on Mets Extra, but there could still be something to it.
Before anyone jumps on me, I’m not saying “Willie doesn’t want to win” or “Willie doesn’t care”
But maybe he thinks the honeymoon is over too. Manny Acta comes into town and is treated like royalty. Last season it came out that Tony Bernazard told some players to come to him with any of their concerns and he would take care of it for them. That undermines a manager too.
Maybe he thinks the Honeymoon is over too. But he’s not gonna quit. Something tells me he won’t be too broken-hearted about moving on to something else either. I mean, he hasn’t been even a little bit flexible in any way that would make me think he wants to stay and fight. Maybe it’s a bad fit for everyone involved.
Agreed!
Agree also. Willie was a Good coach but as a manager…………………………hmmmm. It’s not starting to look good, it’s just a matter of time.
Willie has had more than a fair shake, time to get Mazz out of the booth and back on the field. You listen to his game analysis and it just feels like he hasn’t missed a beat in his time away from the dugout. I think he could inject a little bit of fire in a team that is too passive and laid-back.
Can we please get any semblance of a Willie poll? I know the other one was pulled, but there was supposedly a new one coming. Its May 1. You can make it a monthly poll.
Hopefully, it will be short-lived and will become the Mazz poll by June 1.
Just read this on Ken Davidoff’s blog:
“Just for the heck of it, let’s look at where baseball stood at this very moment last year, to get a feel for what we can expect in terms of the trend/aberration percentage.
Thanks to Retrosheet (link on left), we see that these were the division leaders at the end of play on April 30, 2007:
NL East: Atlanta 16-9
NL Central: Milwaukee 16-9
NL West: Arizona 16-11
NL wild card: Mets 15-9
AL East: Boston 16-8
AL Central: Cleveland 14-8
AL West: Angels 15-11
AL wild card: Detroit and Minnesota, 14-11
So that’s four of six division leaders (all three AL clubs and Arizona) that proceeded to win their divisions. Although, it should be noted, the Indians and Diamondbacks fell out of their division penthouses for extended periods before regaining their respective leads. The Phillies, whom, you might have heard, won the NL East last year, were 11-14. The Cubs, who overcame the Brewers, were 10-14.”
ourmetsmoments.blogspot.com/2008/05/fire-willie.html
At this moment, the Mets are in first place. Leave it up to some Mets fans to call for the firing of their manager when the team is at the top of the division. On May 1st.
Insane.
Still in 1st Place!
Except we’re not.
But we were most of last year!
Except when it counted.
I don’t get your post.
The Mets are currently in 1st place since the Marlins lost this afternoon.
Could be short-lived if the Phillies win tonight. But for now they are kings of the division (if only by percentage points)!
The point is that is doesn’t matter who is in first place on May 1st. It matters who is in first place on October 1st.
It was very frustrating to watch and listen to people when the team was falling apart last year, and they kept saying, “Relax, we’re still in first place!”
That didn’t work at the END of last season, and it sure as hell doesn’t work now. You cannot judge a team’s performance by looking at the standings on May 1st.
You can’t really be watching these games without noticing that something is wrong that won’t be fixed by flipping the calendar.
I don’t want to watch this team wait to address and fix things that should be fixed now. That’s the kind of arrogance that makes everyone wake up at the end of the season and say, “What happened? We were in first place!”
Of course it’s too early to put too much into that first place position. And I’m not.
The point is, the first place position makes any talk of replacing a manger sound irrational.
You can gripe all you want about how the Mets look when they lose. But fact is, no team looks good when they’re losing. Maybe the Yankees should fire Girardi. He’s got a team that cost $70 million more than the Mets and heck, they’re below .500 and in 4th place.
Or maybe they should fire Leyland. They’ve spent just as much as the Mets on their team this year and they’re under .500 too.
Talk of firing a manager in the Mets’ case is just ludicrous. Give Willie a first baseman that can hit and field and you’ll be amazed at how much further this team can go.
“You can gripe all you want about how the Mets look when they lose. But fact is, no team looks good when they’re losing.”
How about the game they took from the Pirates the other night? The looked bad WINNING.
Willie should have been fired when the team collapsed. That way nobody could call it ludicrous by doing it in May while they’re playing like garbage and benefitting from “the other teams being just as bad”
And if you think Willie Randolph is even in the same galaxy as Jim Leyland, we should just stop right now.
Do you really think there is any team that looks good in all their wins? Can you name one?
All teams have wins that look ugly.
Who cares how the Mets look when they win, lol? All I care about is the outcome. And that they get into the playoffs. And play competitively once they get there.
IMO, Omar should never have been hired. They should have hired a younger GM with a better grasp and appreciation of statistics. One who didn’t rely so much on making decision based on sentimentality and friendships. One who understands the concepts of aging and the effects of PEDs on performance. Someone like Epstein, Beane, Moore or Josh Byrnes.
That was the mistake by the Wilpons. And if you think Omar is in the class of those GMs, then we should just stop right now.
I made a prediction the other day and I’m going to stick with it. The Mets will never win a WS with Omar as the GM. They will be competitive. They may even get to the WS. Their big budget gives them an advantage every year to make that easier to achieve. But they will NEVER ever win one as long as Omar is making the moves.
Omar is not a bad GM. He’s just average.
“All I care about is the outcome. And that they get into the playoffs.”
Jim Mora…
Paging Jim Mora…
By the way, where did I say anything about Omar?
I happen to agree with you on Omar.
Who is Jim Mora and what relevance does he have?
I like how you conveniently left out this part when you quoted me:’
“And play competitively once they get there.”
My point about Omar is that if there’s any problem on this team, he’s the one most responsible for it.
Firing Willie is like having leaky windows on your home so you go out and buy a new door.
“‘I like how you conveniently left out this part when you quoted me:’
“And play competitively once they get there.’””
Conveniently? It wasn’t worth addressing. Ya gotta get there first.
So would you say that Willie is doing a good job?
“My point about Omar is that if there’s any problem on this team, he’s the one most responsible for it”
I agree. I think Willie is average, at best, and I would hope we would be able to do much better than him, but I don’t think firing him is going to change much. If anyone’s responsible it’s the guy who constructed the team.
Hey, I did say “And that they get into the playoffs.” Is it so hard for you to consider everything I said? Or does your argument only work when you use partial quotes?
As for the type of job Willie is doing, I’d say he is doing about the same type of job that most managers are doing — Average to Good. It is my belief that managers have very little impact on a team’s record. The biggest impact is by far the GM.
And where the manager can be second guessed, it is rarely, if ever, certain that doing something another way would have had an alternate, more positive outcome.
The only instances where one can say for certain that a manager is having a negative impact on a team is where it’s clear a good portion of the team dislikes the manager. Not idle speculation and tea-leaf reading such as Willie bashers here engage in. But clear evidence that many players dislike a manger. The only recent cases I can think of off the top of my head are John Boles, Bowa, Showalter, and Bobby V with the 2002 Mets.
Hey, Gina is one damn smart Mets fan! :smile:
I think we all are. We just don’t all agree on everything. Sorry if you don’t see it that way.
Oh geesh. The smilie was put there on purpose. Too bad it went for naught.
Not really so insane as you say. They were in first place almost all of last year and what happened? I understand your point and you’re right, they are in first place and it is only May1, I think we all realize that. But after that Historic (Monumental) Collaspe last year you have to understand that Willie is on a “short Rope” here and fan patience is at an all time low. Nothing short of a division Championship and making it deep into the play-offs will do. If they don’t go far in the playoffs this year Willie is gone, it’s that simple.
Apparently there was a lot of discussion in the offseason amongst Willie and the players and between the players amongst themselves concerning the collapse.
As a result the Mets are pressing. They are trying not to lose. It is no surprise that the best players so far are Church, Schneider and Pagan and guys like Figueroa. They were not on the team last year and they aren’t pressing.
The Mets have to put this behind them.
Its not hard to do but they have to change their game philosophy a little to do it.
Rather than thinking they have to knock runs in or get the big hit, all they need to think is get on base any way possible. If that means bunting, walking, dink hits, leaning into a pitch it doesn’t matter. It will loosen up the offense when they can do this.
For pitchers, they need to think only about throwing strikes. If a guy hits it out of the park, so be it. Let the defense do the work. Get through a couple of 6 pitch innings. Success breeds success.
Once they do this, the other stuff will come. From what I can see, the players are trying to have a game winning hit each time they get up, and the pitchers are trying to make the perfect pitch each time up.
Interesting thoughts. It certainly makes a lot more sense than pinning all or most of the blame on Willie or saying all they need is a manager to yell in their faces and throw furniture across the room.
I think what you say may be part of it. I also think it’s because a few key parts of the team are underperforming (Ollie, Heilman, and Beltran, for example) as well as the makeup of the team, especially it’s elder laid back veterans.
Willie should have been fired the day after the last game of last season. The fact that he has stayed on and virtually no one has been held accountable for the collapse is the number one reason why Mets fans are so fed up with this team’s play right now. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the Mets will all of a sudden click and start playing great baseball. The urgency just isn’t (and hasn’t) been there. It is time for the Mets to get a real manager who won’t take the lethargic BS that too many of the Mets players obviously feel like they can get away with.
metsfan119 I totally agree with you. It’s about accountability and there simply is none. Willie, Omar, the players no one has been held accountable for the collapse. It was shocking when willie didn’t get fired last year. I thought for sure omar or the wilpons would make a move to cut him loose. Basically now if ownership does nothing, mets fans will get so fed up if they don’t take a big lead in the division and I can see attendance getting affected. I am almost now wishing that they lose so that Willie gets fired. I am a die hard mets fan but I can’t root for this team easily without getting aggravated at willie, lackadaisical play, poor hitting and errors in the field. I then think about Santana’s signing and the $138 million payroll and I go nuts! We should be tearing up the league…no mercy…take no prisoners…….but we lose to crap teams!!!! Ughhhhh
the problem with your theory that attendance will be affected is that we are in the last year at shea stadium…people are going to go no matter how piss poor of a job willie is doing managing or the team is doing playing.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. You are 100%, absolutely right on the money. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We are talking about the BIGGEST Collaspe in MLB, that’s no small feat. 9 out of 10 managers would have lost their jobs automatically if for no other reason than to turn the page and start fresh. I feel like this is just a continuation of last season and nothing has changed other than acquiring Santana and I fear that Willie and this team will pull Santana right down to their level of play and turn the best pitcher in Baseball into a loser.
i think ollie has hdadd (high definition attention deficit disorder).
Marlins lost today — guess what, we’re in first place by a half game right now. Phillies play tonight.
The bottom line here is that this is a .500 club: they are for the first month of 2008, and they were for the final 2/3s of 2007. So, for the last 130 or so games, they have been, by definition, mediocre.
More important, they show no signs of improving. If this team does not improve dramatically and consistently in the month of May, then how could Willie not be fired? Then Omar moves to the head of the People Who’s Jobs Are on the Line list.
“If this team does not improve dramatically and consistently in the month of May, then how could Willie not be fired? Then Omar moves to the head of the People Who’s Jobs Are on the Line list.”
That’s probably the only reason Omar went to bat for him after the collapse. Isn’t this the last year of Omar’s contract? He knows that the longer Willie stays on board, the more likely he can at least get a one year extension for next year under a new manager, and from there who knows what happens?
It kind of bothers me that I am seeing some Mets fans defend Willie to no end when he doesn’t even have our players’ backs. He’s admitted twice now on record that he doesn’t argue because the umpires will get tired of him and eject him. That’s not someone to defend. Not in my opinion anyway.
I just re-read that and I didn’t like the way it came out.
What I mean is the longer Willie stays on board, the more likely Omar can get himself a one year extension with a new manager on board. Then if things turn around, he’s safe.
Last weekend against the Braves when Bobby Cox was ejected for sticking up for his pitcher, Mazzilli on the post game supported what Bobby Cox did and he said that a manager has to stick up for his players when it comes to arhuing with umps. Obviously willie fails in this area too since he never defends his players when they argue with umps…..Fire Willie hire Mazzilli! Hey it rhymes……
In the extra innings game with the Pirates, Ryan Church argued balls and strikes. He was lucky the ump got it wrong, because that got him a little bit of a buffer zone to argue instead of an automatic ejection. That happens sometimes. But Willie should have been out there, not to argue in that case, but to get his player back in the dugout before he DID get thrown out.
There are too many examples to list, but that was just a recent one. The guy does not defend his players, who happen to be OUR players. What’s the loyalty to this guy?
Sometimes I wonder if at least a few people weren’t Yankee fans who followed Willie over here after they watched their own team collapse in 04. Just a thought, because I can’t think of anything else that would make a long time Mets fan be so loyal to a guy who played for one year here at the end of his career. He’ll always be a Yankee.
We’re 14-12. Let’s look at our team.
Ryan Church is playing great, and although I’ve loved that trade since day one (I might’ve been the only one,) he’s not going to hit .370 all year.
Wright and Reyes are hitting below average, and will probably heat up. Wright had a slow start last year, and went on to have a monster season.
Beltran’s been terrible. There’s no way he hits 210 with no power all year.
Schneider’s been hurt due to freak injuries, hurting our pitching staff significantly.
Castillo had a bad start. Alou hasn’t played. El Duque and Pedro haven’t pitched, and between the two of them, will probably contribute at least a little something this year.
Delgado’s sucked. He might continue to suck, but I have a feeling he’ll do the same as last year, and have a mediocre second half after an abyssmal first half.
So, it’s safe to conclude that EVERY starting player, except Church, is going to start improving, to some degree.
And yet we’re still 14-12.
Stop talking about heart, or killer instinct, or all those other meaningless things. All our players aren’t hitting, and we’re still winning more often than not. What’s going to happen when we start hitting?
You didn’t finish your thought exercise, Dafatone: let’s look at the starting pitching:
Johann Santana: continues to be the great pitcher we expected. Sometimes doesn’t get run support, sometimes doesn’t get defensive help, sometimes the bullpen blows his leads.
John Maine: has proven that spring training really doesn’t count
Oliver Perez: a mind is a terrible thing to waste, especially with that kind of stuff. Shows no indication that he’s learned a thing
Nelson Figueroa: a great story and a pleasant surprise. Overwhelmingly, odds favor a regression to the mean: he’s probably going to pitch a little worse than he is now.
That doesn’t look so pretty to me.
Johan’s been great, he’ll be great, let’s not worry about him.
Maine has been mediocre. I think he’ll improve, or at least not fall apart too much.
Perez has been up and down, perhaps as always. I doubt he’ll end up significantly worse than he’s pitched so far.
Pelfrey’s been fine with Schneider, and terrible without. Figueroa’s really the only starting pitcher that’s overachieving.
So I’m fairly confident that if this level of performance gets us 14-12, everyone working up to their usual level of performance gets much better.
I like Church, but like you said, he will come down to earth a little. Still someone to feel very good about.
I’m not worried about Wright. I’m not sure about Reyes. This is an awfully long slump. I know what he can do, but I don’t know when he’s going to start doing it again. Maybe now, but maybe not.
Beltran will find his power, but I’d like to see him be more aggressive with the bat. For a guy with that much power, he seems like he’d rather walk sometimes.
Schneider will help again. No worries there. I want to see him stay healthy, and I do expect the hits to slow down a little as the season progresses, but he’s a good guy to have.
Here’s where things are not so simple. I don’t expect much from Castillo. I know his resume. I just don’t expect much. Alou will help as long as he’s here, but who knows how often that will be? El Duque will never pitch another inning in a Mets uniform again. The team must go forward as if Pedro will not be back, and if he does, it’s a bonus. Not much hope for Delgado.
And if heart is such a meaningless thing, how come there are scouts who have said they are impressed with the heart the Phillies are showing, but not so much with the Mets? These are people who know. Heart isn’t everything, but it’s part of the equation.
Finally, what’s going to happen when we start hitting? Honestly? The Braves and Phillies are going to start hitting too.
The Mets are not playing good baseball. That has to change. I think it will, but it’s not going to happen just because we want it to happen.
The Braves have been hitting the hell out of the ball. Chipper’s batting 790.
Phillies have been hitting too, with Burrell and Utley pretty much leading the league in everything. That being said, Howard’s sucked.
I agree we’re not playing good baseball, but I think mistakes get magnified when no one’s hitting and your pitching isn’t blowing everyone away. When Wright and Beltran catch fire, we’ll look much better. And they will catch fire.
Last, let’s consider Jose Reyes. As you said, this is an awfully long slump. But it’s nothing compared to David Wright’s Home Run Derby, 2006 to Late May, 2007 power outage, and look how he ended up last year.
OK, agreed on all points there.
There are certainly reasons to be concerned. If all the underachievers don’t come around, we’re in deep, deep trouble.
Right now the biggest concern to me is the back of the rotation, as I have trouble seeing Figueroa or Pelfrey being long term solutions. Pelfrey could be in the future, but I’d like him to get another year of AAA.
If only we had signed Livan…
You make a good point. The team hasn’t hit and we’re still 14-12. It’s all about pitching and so far overall our starters have done a good job, although we’re starting to see cracks recently. There are however too many “ifs” in your statement.
Yes Beltran is eventually going to heat up and he will finish the season with his normal numbers which are very good and Alou will add balance and more power to the line-up and help everyone down the line see better pitches and Wright will have another monster year and Reyes will be Reyes. But how long is Alou going to stay healthy before he goes back on the DL? Will Delgado ever be able to catch up to a 90 hr. fastball or is he as it’s becoming more and more apparent….washed up? Will Pedro come back healthy and pitch like the old Pedro? Will El Duke’s legs hold up? Will Mike Pelfry ever become that consistant 4th or 5th starter? Will Willie once again overwork his Bull Pen because he babies his Strating pitchers too much? Too many Ifs on a team that’s suppose to be if not the best then one of the best in the NL with the Highest payroll. Too may things have to go right and too many possible concerns with a team that’s one of the Oldest in average age.