|
|
|
Billy Witz of the New York Times, writes an excellent piece on the Jerry Manuel’s difficult task of managing Jose Reyes.
Manuel’s approach with Reyes is much different than one Willie Randolph took, writes Witz…
“In the end, the somewhat restrained Randolph got along with Reyes but never seemed able to establish a special bond.
Manuel’s approach to Reyes already appears to be more personal and contemporary than Randolph’s. It may be the difference between formal and familiar — or, in Reyes’s native tongue, tú and usted. When Randolph did criticize Reyes last season, he paused in his remarks, choosing his words cautiously. Manuel seems to have no such filter.”
…managing reyes has always seemingly been a seperate entity from managing the Mets…it’s not because he has the superstar ego, but different because reyes wears his emotions on his sleve at all times, as evident by is immature tirade on Tuesday night…
…as witz points out, many still point to a benching in july of last season as the turning point in the reyes/randolph relationship, as reyes went in the tank inthe months following, but perhaps with manuel taking a different tact, reyes will again flourish under the guidance of his new manager….
 |
 |
 |
RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.
JOSEEEEEE JOSE JOSE JOSE!!!!!
you do
Reyes had already begun to come out of his slumber before Willie was fired. I doubt the benching by Willie last year had anything to do with Reyes long slump.
Maybe it was Hojo instead of Down. Or the presence of Rickey. Or the absence of Valentin. Or the addition of Castillo who, according to rumor, may have been a bad influence on Reyes’ in terms of late night partying. Or maybe it was some personal problem on the home front. Or, how about he just had a bad slump?
Oh, I forgot to add resentment over Wright’s contract compared to his. And jealousy over Hanley Ramirez. I mean, I’ve heard so many theories as to the cause of Reyes slump that it’s clear no one has a good idea of the cause.
I confess to being partial to the Hanley Ramirez jealousy theory–trying to hit homeruns, hitting popups instead. He seems (or some I delude myself into believing) to have regained the joy of hitting singles and creating havoc on the basepaths.
It was Tony B, in the library, with his soul stealing powers.
well played, Gina
I think Reyes has a heck of a lot going on in his swing. Also, he’s a very emotional player, and was not responding well to the pressure last September. It carried over into this year.
I’d go with slump and horribly unrealistic expectations of the most exciting player in the game tag.
With the team struggling last season, Reyes at time was clearly attempting to do things in his at-bats beyond the simplicity of the game, the guy was having a big year in the first half and teams were actually routinely pitching around him and he we often early being intentionally walked based on his propesnity the year before to hit with RISP,
Personally my biggest gripe with Randolph was his insistence that Reyes was a leadoff hitter.
Especially with Castillo on the team.
Castillo has a respectable OBP, but he doesn’t put as much pressure on the opposing pitcher that Reyes can. Jose, although not as disciplined at the plate as Luis, he’s a MUCH bigger threat on the bases. Thus, Reyes is leadoff and Luis bats 2nd
the stolen base is the most overrated element of the game of baseball, it might be exicting, but it is entirely not a difference maker, batting second does not preclude him from being a threat on the bases anyhow, Reyes has the potential for a plus .500 slg percentage because of his gap and corner to corner power, he would in my opinion if batting second be more free to go at some fast balls and likely increase his extra base hit potential from the mid 60s to the mid 80s, batting second does not prevent him from scoring runs, but it does increase his opportunity to drive in runs.
“the stolen base is the most overrated element of the game of baseball, it might be exicting, but it is entirely not a difference maker.”
That is just silly. The first run wednesday night, and monday night, came as a direct result of stolen bases. Secondly, a pitcher is not able to give their full attention to the batter while worrying about holding the runner on. Hence pitches miss their spots and you see more fastballs.
If reyes is unable to get to second on the passed ball, Wright’s single means nothing.
Wait, so Reyes is not a leadoff hitter?
the problem wasn’t that willie benched reyes. that was the right decision in a vacuum. the problem was the willie didn’t do the same thing to his veterans. and this caused jose to resent him and sent a message to older players that they could do whatever they wanted.
exactly. it also might have had something to do with how willie talked to (or didn’t talk to) reyes about it afterwards, but we have no way of knowing that.
Yet when Manuel(c) did this to Rollins, it was toted as ‘brilliant’.
I’d always heard Willie and Reyes had a very personal relationship, in that they were always talking, which is a good thing.
But that said, Reyes seems like he’s one of the easiest guys to manage. There are no complicated feelings or thoughts. He shows what he is feeling, and what he wants most is to play baseball. What more could you want?
Articles like this will get Manuel the credit for ‘fixing Reyes’ When he’s been good most of this year, Beltran helped, and he didn’t actually start ’slumping’ last year until well after the benching incident.
this caused jose to resent him
Simply your speculation.
No manager benches long-time vets like Delgado for things like not hustling.
rollins is not a long-time vet like delgado?
I would say Rollins is borderline. He’s just 29. Not a green player like Reyes. But not an established vet like Delgado.
I should add “high priced” to my statement. I think in today’s climate, no manager benches high-priced veterans (like Delgado) for failure to hustle.
I would be careful saying No manager. most managers maybe, but not all. Leyland has done it, LaRussa has done it as well. Piniella, if he hasn’t already, would do it. Takes a manager who is not afraid of his players to do it. Willie wasn’t that manager, and hence, you see him treating young players different than veterans.
Oh yeah? Which high paid older vets did Leyland and LaRussa ever pull from a game because of lack of hustle? If you can’t come up with names, I can only assume there are none.
I can’t think of a single player who goes all out on every single play. They all let up at times. Given this, I’m sure there have been many times were high-priced vets didn’t hustle for Leyland, LaRussa and Pinella and were not pulled from the game.
Just want to point out to the world, when Reyes got benched, he stood two yards out of the batters box watching a grounder stay fair as he watched the infielder run acroos the diamond to make an unassisted out at first.
All players whether we like it or not generally make some assumptions within the course of a 162 game season and dont go 100% on some routine grounders or pop ups, not perfect, but it happens.
Reyes was not, not hustling, he embarrassed himself and his entire team.
Good point. Jeter once failed to run out an infield ground ball in a postseason game in which the Yankees were losing badly. The announcers all called him out for it. It was obvious. Needless to say, he was not benched by Torre. Hardly any player runs out all balls at 100% effort 100% of the time.
According to this from the Post, he seems to have good feelings towards Willie:
Jose Reyes, who had a handful of run-ins with Randolph last season before patching things up over the winter, is hoping to reach out to his now ex-manager once the furor dies down.
“I just feel sorry for the guy because we weren’t able to play good baseball for the guy,” Reyes said. “He’s going through a tough time right now, but when I get a chance, I’m going to call him and thank him for everything he’s done for me.”
Gotta love media spin. I heard someone say this comment meant Reyes didn’t like Willie. To me it says, When I get a chance fro my #1 focus, playing baseball, I’ll give a call to a guy I like, say thank you.
“He’s one of the best guys in the game,” Reyes said. “I love Willie. We are the ones to play. He don’t play. He has to make the decisions. We’re the ones performing in the field.”
This is what Reyes said about Willie at the end of May. It’s clear that Reyes likes Willie. It’s sad that some fans hate Willie so much that they will make up things such as “Reyes doesn’t like Willie” just to try to support their cause.
especially now that it’s irrelevant. I see this in the mainstream media too, which is ridiculous. It’s like now that they don’t need his comments or interviews, they can kill him.
It seems like too many fans would rather be right than the Mets do well.
I personally don’t think Manuel should be the manager, but I still hope he is because the Mets win the World Series.
Few hate Wilie. Many saw a need for a change.
I think it was clear by the nature of the comments that there were many fans who disliked Willie intensely.
Regardless, there is no need to make up things just to try to make your case.
Nobody has any clue. It’s funny to me that the media and the fans have speculated everything from too much partying, to Ricky to Willie to expectations to Castillo to immaturity, to T. Bernazard, to MLB2K, etc.I mean where does it stop. Everybody goes through slumps. He’s been as hot recently as he was cold in April/early_May. Reyes is still somewhat raw, he’s young, immature and still growing as a baseball player. Stop throwing people under the bus and creating gossip and conflict.
This ‘gossip and conflict’ I feel is probably part of the reason the Mets have been so distracted this year. (Not that that’s any excuse)
If he finishes this season with a .300 BA, 18 HR, 65 RBI, 60 SB (which is what he is currently on pace for), then what else can you ask for?
how about 120 runs and a .390 OBP?
Also forgot to mention the 47 doubles he is on pace for as well.
Reyes went into the tank 3 days after HoJo was named hitting coach…plain and simple, he didnt lack hustle, he didnt play the field less aggresively, but he kept popping the ball up every friggin at bat…how can you think this is not about the hitting coach?
But Hojo is still the hitting coach and Reyes is on pace to have a season like 2006.
So then HoJo gets no credit for the resurgence?
DoDo is neither a help, nor a hinderance.
I do however loathe his approach of being aggressive in the strikezone early in the count, because it makes no sense and does not take into account the need for certain hitters to exercise better seletivity.
David Wright without question, although he strikes out more, is a better eye hitter than Reyes, who is very instinct driven, so for Reyes to be aggressive early in the count assumes he is getting great plate coverage and assessment of the strikezone, neither of which he does particularly well.
So much like Peterson drives you batty with his one size approach to pitching, hitting is the same with Hojo
Patrick:
Someone has stolen your name and used it on Metsblog. You don’t sound like a knucklehead. For once.
The over-aggressiveness early in the count was a problem under Down as well. “Watching” most Mets games on Gameday really drives home poor at-bats. Pitch 1: Out(s) recorded, Pitch 2: Out(s) recorded, etc, etc…
I always blamed Down for the poor at-bats our hitters were having, but when it didn’t really change under HoJo, I started to wonder if this aggressiveness at the plate may have been influenced by Willie. We’ll see if the hitters start taking better at-bats and making opposing pitchers work more under Manuel’s tenure.
maybe someone benched him for not hustling out a blog….or he stopped partying too much….or he was in a writing slump before :)
My only point is the only thing that coincides with Reyes offensively going in the sh**er (aka popping up to shallow OF every time) was HoJo being hitting coach….make your own conclusions, but it didnt start after the benching, it started after Hojo, if he pulls himself out of the slump, like he is in the midst of…Dwright, Delgado, Beltran have all been worse since Hojo took over too…
All these guys turn it around I will stop ripping on hojo every chance I get…unlike how most of you wouldve treated Willie, but thats jus tmy personal gripe with the few Mets fans who were callign for Willie to be fired in 06…or at least long before the collapse…either way, up until the collapse, record wise he was the best manager in Mets history…go figure.
So you are saying that Hojo somehow erased everything Reyes knew about hitting and retrained him using the unsuccessful Hojo approach all in three days? Interesting theory.
so you are saying all the players went into cold streak at the same time was Willie’s fault? oh….hmmm, and its funny how it works like that
Beltran actually exploded in late July through the end of last year, and Wright clearly had a better second half than first.
It is more lineup balance than anything.
When you have a healthy .330 hitting rightfielder in the lineup, DoDo is a genius.
When not, he is a screwball.
Delgado was actually better after Hojo took over last year, but I think it has less to do with Hojo and more to do with his wrist starting to heal.
Anyone listening to Russo right now? I’ve had it with this guy. Why does the Met organization stay affiliated with this program. Its a constant Mets bash. Every situation is spun until Chris Russo opinion becomes fact in this town. He’s irresponsible and unbalanced in his opinions. You can’t have the biggest talk radio show in the country bash the Mets every single day. It would be a mistake to allow this to continue any further. Stop giving them interviews, stop it all!!! We do not need this program. We need a show that talk Baseball,,,, not sensationalism. They become a tabloid new program. Its time SNY gets it together. End this PR nightmare. They only hurt this franchise.
I agree 100%. I stopped listening to Mike and the Mad Dog a year ago. Half the time I don’t believe they even know what they’re talking about and I cannot stand the way they talk over everyone. Heard someone post the other day their contract is up end of this year. Here’s hoping it is not renewed.
You know, sometimes, it’s just not about the money and how much that show might generate……
If SNY can’t do it because WFAN is the Mets flagship station then make it a part of Metsblog. SNY has the money to put this together. Hire a couple of guys and have an internet radio show. Matt had something going a year ago with his Blog talk radio.
why do you bother listening then?
The fact that you’re listening and getting so upset from Mike and the Mad Dog proves that they’re good at what they do. Neither of them are Mets fans and they both watch about 10 Mets games a season between them, so either stop listening or take what they say with a grain of salt.
well MMD suck but…its better than Max Kellerman…
actually Im in Albany, you should see the guy we got up here opposite MMD on ESPN radio…he bashed Omar and Willie for Kazmir and when callers called in to tell him that was during the Howe/Duquette regime he had no idea Art howe managed the mets and then he continued on that it was all Omar…even after the fact…
Thats fine,, there is still room for another show. SNY has GARBAGE on all day. Get us a show. I wish more people would get behind this idea. The Met fan doesn’t need to call a Mets bashing program and ask for advice. It doesn’t make any sense. SNY better have the balls to do this. It would boost there afternoon rating ten fold.
Sound of with Sinkoff.
I know nothing about baseball, blah blah
Dr. Jones – He gives credit to the Mets when it’s due but let’s face it, we have been a joke since last September and deserve every negative piece of press until this ship is righted.
Russo’s not even well informed. He spews falls accusations like their bible. Its time for us to have an option.
dr jones, we agree!!!
SNY has awful, just awful programming besides Mets games and pre/post games, which are really the best in baseball with the likes of Maz, HR & Heyman on them (ok, and Cerrone)
but Daily News Live is the worst, I liked Cotter durin games but the guy just spews the company line, Beningos a moron and the guests usually have an agenda (and no clue). All of the other shows are atrocious
oh yeah and Kirk “thats the enchilada” gimenez….yikes, thast the espnews guy we could get? yikes…and again….yikes
put on reruns of jets & giants nation, and mets clubhouse, and old kiner corners and rerun 1/2 shows about all otehr NY sports teams…heck, id rather watch yankees nation on sny than beer money or anything with that scott ferrall, dude get a voice change or get off tv
I was going to compliment you on an earlier post but I hesitated. Wasn’t sure if this was the same guy..
You don’t like “beer money” or “loud mouths”? That’s quality programming at its finest. The first 5 or 6 times you see an episode it’s not so good but right around 7th time (which is usually within 3 days of seeing it the 1st time) you really start to appreciate it.
How dare you downgrade Loud Mouths. Adam Schein is making major inroads for hermaphrodites everywhere, the least you can do is support his progress.
did I just read correctly that the blue jays hired back Cito Gaston??????
Bring back Dallas Green haha
Hey, he won a title. . . Bring back Davey Johnson!
You know, I think people have written that. . . .
I hate WFAN’s morning chatter, but someone (Essiason?) made a great point. Jose was drafted at age 15 and has lived in a protected MLB-prospect bubble the past 10 years. He never graduated high school, never went to college, never really had any opportunity to ‘exist’ outside of the MLB system. So: Was he ever given the opportunity to ‘grow up’?
BTW, anyone who wants to trade a 25-year-old who has 800 MLB base hits and a ton of triples and stolen bases just knows zilch about baseball…