|
‘Oliver Perez is in the bullpen until further notice,’ writes David Lennon in a report for Newsday.
Manuel, who met with Dan Warthen and Randy Niemann and talked with Omar Minaya by phone yesterday, told reporters the team has yet to make an official decision, though they will likely make an announcement during the team’s trip in Atlanta.
…from what i can gather, if he’s pitching from the bullpen, the announcement will come sooner than later, maybe even monday… if he’s going on the disabled list, the team will likely wait until later in the week…
However, suddenly, Perez had an ice pack on his knee Sunday morning in Citizen’s Bank Park, during which he told reporters, according to Lennon: “The knee has been bothering me all season… This is my first time pitching with something that bothers me. That’s not easy.”
…well, isn’t that convenient…
In the New York Times, Ben Shpigel writes:
“Just as he was about to address his murky future, Perez was intercepted by Jay Horwitz, the team’s vice president for media relations, who spoke with him in the trainer’s room for about 10 minutes… When he came out, Perez said that his knee had been bothering him all season. Asked which knee, he paused and looked down. The right one, he said.”
Following Saturday’s loss, Perez said he would consider a trip to the minor leagues.
However, prior to yesterday’s rainout, Perez said he now can’t say whether or not he will accept a minor league assignment.
…i bet one of the following two scenarios shake out: 1) perez is sent to the bullpen, and Ken Takahashi starts on Friday against the Phillies, or 2) perez is put on the disabled list, and the Mets call up one of Nelson Figueroa or Dillon Gee, or Tim Redding, depending on how he does in his rehab start on Tuesday…
By the way, due to yesterday’s rainout, the Mets pushed back their rotation, meaning Johan Santana will pitch Thursday on six-days rest, while Perez’s spot in the rotation will be Friday.
Not buying the knee problem, huh?
To me, that would actually be better news – as long as it’s something relatively minor. If Ollie has been bothered by pain anywhere, that might explain the poor performance and inability to reach his velocity of past. Cure the injury, maybe he gets back on track. Otherwise, it’s anybody’s guess as to the problem.
Yes..but does he really have a knee problem, or is he suffering from the same ailment as Wang on the Yankees? Either way I suspect he’ll get better working through it away from dan warthen.
“Ken Takahashi starts on Friday against the Phillies”
that would be a disaster. KT stinks
I beg to differ.
He’s got a sneaky fastball for a lefty. He pitches have movement. He throws strikes and he doesn’t look rattled at all on the mound, i.e. he has poise.
I agree that it would be better news if he really was hurting.
But picturing him being asked which knee, pause, look down “uh, the right one”…yeah.
I don’t buy the “knee injury.” Besides, his right knee would have nothing to do with his velocity because it is not his pivot leg. If his right knee was bothering him that bad, he would be grimacing every time he landed, especially with his delivery style.
This is all a hoax…he will be in the BP for the week and then when his start comes up he will be sent down, you watch. No way they start Takahashi when the club is under .500.
Right. The Mets can’t even fake an injury correctly. They should have wrapped the left knee instead.
Ugh. This organization is inept.
Mets fans…. Lets stop the hating and bashing.
Just as we need the Murphy-LF experiment to work, Reyes to start stealing basis (Crawford has 17 already) and DWright to start hitting (and Beltran to start hitting when it counts), we need Ollie to figure things out and return.
Mets invested 36 million. Ollie is not overweight like Mo Vaughn and not closeted like Alomar, he is an investment that needs to work, that must work, if the Mets are going to win.
This is our team. This is what will win in 2009 if the Mets are going to win in 2009.
Lets hope Ollie can regain his inconsistence (i.e. Good Ollie and Bad Ollie) rather than just bad Ollie.
Sure we are a fan base that is frustrated. I am sure owner ship is as well. And I can tell Ollie is not happy either.
Lets stand behind him. And hope he figures it out.
great post!!!
Agreed. I’ve said the same over the weekend. It’s in everyone’s best interest for them to do everything possible to help Ollie and get him back on track.
They’re paying him to be a starter, we need him to be a competent starter.
Putting him in the BP solves nothing, unless it’s the solution to temporarily taking him out of the rotation and getting someone to work with him on whatever the problem is.
As much as I like to complain about this team at times, you’re right. This is why adults shouldn’t get paid to play a kids’ game.
agreed!
Ollie in the bullpen? I’d actually prefer Heilman over him and that’s no endorsement for Heilman. There’s no way he’d be in a position to succeed in the bullpen. When do you bring him in, when we’re down 10 runs?
Ollie you don’t wanna take any chances with your heath. Just retire.
Q: What’s worse than seeing Ollie pitch 1 1/2 times a week?
A: Seeing Ollie pitch 3 1/2 times a week.
Just say no to reliever Ollie!
Minus the other day, how many times has Ollie looked great in the first inning or two and then imploded? If I’m remembering correctly, its been just about every start.
The bullpen might be a great way for him to get things going. If he has two or three quality relief appearances and actually gets to leave on a positive note, he may turn things around.
I think Ollie’s given up runs in his first two innings in around half of his starts. Is it okay for a reliever to give up multiple runs every other time out there?
No, I think you’re wrong.
vs CIN: No runs in first two innings.
vs SD: No runs in first four innings.
vs STL: No runs in first four innings.
vs. WAS: No runs in first inning
Counter-attack!
1st inning ERA: 3.6
2nd inning ERA: 5.4
3rd inning ERA: 12.6
That’s not good! Even the 3.6 is only mediocre reliever grounds. And I don’t see how Ollie pitching for 3 outs every few days will get him back in shape to start.
Haha, good counter attack, except you forgot the part where I said “minus the other day.”
Yes, his first two innings in Philly were abysmal and I am not excusing them. My point was that prior to yesterday he had been decent in his first two innings of work in each game, allowing only two runs in the total of 8 innings (all in 2nd inning vs WAS).
Another thing is, relievers get to work on things every day, unlike starters who have to take days off in between starts. Relief pitchers throw side-sessions just about every day, which is a good opportunity for him to work on things.
ERA is a pretty manipulative stat to be using with just five total innings of work. Two runs allowed in those five innings and your ERA jumps to 3.60 like you stated
I didn’t forget that you said “minus the other day” – I chose to ignore it. You can’t just “subtract” certain starts when compiling information about a player!
“Oh, minus all of Adam Eaton’s cruddy starts, he was a cy-young pitcher for the Phillies!”
I was making the point that he has the ability to be solid for short stints of time. Like I said, even though his ERA may be inflated in his first two innings of work this season, its mainly because of one start. In his other four starts, he has been good in the first two innings.
Past that, he’s absolutely horrible.
Amateur hour.
By the way, is anyone else having trouble posting from certain locations?
I can post from work, but not at home. It’s incredibly frustrating.
Not sure what you mean by can’t post from home….
Is your browser at work and home the same one and same revision of that browser?
If no, it’s possible your home browser is the problem. I remember we all had problems with Firefox V. 3.0.6. Whatever the problem was, it was fixed in the next version.
If it’s the same at home and at work, could it be possible that for some reason, you’re being banned according to your I.P. address (not login)? I remember one poster had that problem and he had to create a ‘dummy’ I.P. to get around it as he said Matt couldn’t immediately fix the problem.
Thanks for the reply! It’s definitely the same browser. I might have a banned IP (definitely not something Matt did on purpose), and I’m not sure how to create a dummy IP, or if it’s even worth the effort.
Matt should just reset the banned list, but I’m sure that won’t happen.
You’re welcome. I know that other poster said creating that dummy IP was not fun. I’m not sure I would even know how to begin with that…..
And yes, he too said ithat banning wasn’t something that was done purposely….
…in most cases
The cynic in me says the injury occured when he was out of shape in the WBC and threw 90 pitches in a game. But I’m just being cynical. Treat the knee. A bull pen stint won’t help. Hw can’t even be longman. We like our long men to be able to go at least 3 innings
the cynic in me says he’s not injured.
the cynic in you is right…
“When he came out, Perez said that his knee had been bothering him all season. Asked which knee, he paused and looked down. The right one, he said.”
Wow. Does this remind anyone of George Costanza and his fake handicap during his job at Play Now? Better remember it’s your right one, Ollie. For the record, I used to have s oft spot for Ollie–a bit of a moron, but well meaning. No longer.
Okay, well this is your $36 million investment Omar. If his knees been hurting for a month now, shouldn’t you make Ollie get an MRI to determine if further activity could make it worse? Oh, that would expose you all for a bunch of BS artists? Got it.
If Ollie is really hurt, then shut him down. Don’t send him to the bullpen, which even when 100% healthy (ha ha) and 100% on his game is the wrong place for him because he always has trouble throwing strikes (i.e. on even on top of his game he’s effectively wild).
You guys succeeded in coming up with the phantom injury and getting Ollie to buy into it. Now DL him and get someone in here who can at least stay focused for 5 innings.
Santana starts Wed. on 6 days rest, Pelfrey goes Thursday
I was about to post that. Not sure where Matt got Thursday from.
Why can’t the mets dfa him if he refuses to go down to AAA?? I don’t think any team in baseball is dumb enough to pick him up.
They can DFA him… And give him his 36 million. He has option left. He doesn’t need to be DFA’d. He just needs to be talked into going to Buffalo. A bonus to his agent would probably do it.
my understanding is that if the team wants to send him down, he can refuse the assignment and opt to become a free agent, since he has 5 years of service time in the bigs. If he does that, he walks away from his 36 million contract. Even he’s not that dumb.
Look, we’ve all become accustomed to Ollie’s inconsistency, but it’s clearly gotten out of hand at this point. He simply has no confidence at this point and really doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what is going on.
I’m not really buying this knee injury story so I will assume that the issue has to be mechanical or mental or some combo thereof. In that case, sending him to the BP is not going to solve this issue. He will either take up a spot of someone who can pitch effectively or he will come into games and only make things worse.
Best case scenario at this point is that he accept an assingment, go down and get his head straight away from NY and then hopefully come back and pitch effectively. I have no doubt that he can still contribute, but let’s not put a bandaid on the situation by sending him to the Pen…SOLVE the issue by sending him down.
Absolutely agreed.
While I think the pen isn’t a “bad” choice, I would rather see him sent down as well. The main reason for that is because it will clear roster space for either Figgy, Redding, Niese, or Gee to come up and start.
Agreed. Because walks out of the bullpen haven’t haunted us the last three years or anything…(rolling eyes)
I didn’t know one’s brain was located in the right knee.
No wonder football players are so dumb.
I think the ghost of mackey is haunting ollie right now.
Just remember, Mackey has “en edge,” whether he’s hitting or haunting
Mackey’s problem was too advanced for the medical science of the time….he was SO filled with grit, that the grit clogged up his rotator cuff area in his arm, so he could simply not throw accurately anymore….today, they can easily fix this, but as with Ankiel, doctors are VERY reluctant to, as removing even a tiny bit of grit from a major leaguer can cause him to become a soft player, like David Wright.
ha, nicely
just put his dumb *** on the DL with the “knee injury” and stop the drama. They are going to reactivate redding soon but i think they ought to call figgy up to help the bullpen out….
Figgy up, Green down…
This is another guy who is quickly working his way up my list. I said this last week, he has no clue where the ball is going when it leaves his hand.
i dont think he does either…
Great thing about this is Parnell will finally get the shot he deserves. He has been our best reliever so far this year (not including K-Rod). Green could work on a few things and I still think he will contribute.
Let me ask you this. Bases loaded and Ryan Howard coming up. You really feel confident in Ollie getting him out and not walking him? Need a reliever that throws strikes. Find an injury and DL him.
Yeah Parnell has been good no doubt. I just worry that he starts pressing trying to do too much pitching later in the game. That said, yes I would gladly take him over Green at this point. I would take Stokes over Green at this point and I’m not the biggest Stokes guy out there.
I’m not a huge Stokes fan either. He seems very hitable. However, as a 6th inning guy (sad that we need a “6th inning guy”), I’ll take him.
Good news is Putz’s velocity is creeping to the mid-90’s and he was really solid on Saturday.
green is ok…i would just like him to show the ability to throw a straight pitch for a strike. I like the movement as it keeps the batters off balance but when the time calls for a strike..i want to see that he is capable of it. The pitch he threw sat was not even close…
Not even remotely close and I saw it coming a mile away. Good thing I was tanked.
If he throws a staright pitch it will go over the wall. He sucks. End of subject.
id rather him throw a straight pitch and let victorino do something with it than him throw that bs of a pitch to him and let him walk…let the guy work for it. Let the guy at the plate beat you…dont just hand it over to him…
yea. and if his knee isn’t bothering him, just say he has a hairline fracture in his chin strap beard.
Darn it!! I have tix to tomorrow’s game and was really looking forward to watching Johan take it to the Braves. Ugh.
On a side note, don’t be surprised if tonight’s game is rained out as well. It’s pouring out, here in Atlanta, and is supposed to rain all day. At the very least, it’s going to be very wet conditions tonight.
Yay. I have tickets to Wed’s game and was hoping to see Johan. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure :-)
Excuses, excuses…
I’ve had enough of this clown…
I think it’s Tony B’s fault.
Just for what it’s worth everyone, Oliver Perez will not come in relief for the New York Mets. He will be put on the DL and sent to Port St. Lucie to work it out. Sooner or later you have to start making moves to put yourself in a postion to win. We all know, and I’m sure Jerry Manuel does to, bringing Oliver Perez in relief is a mistake. Manuel even said his confidence is shot. If the bullpen were the answer then this whole “knee issue” wouldn’t have happen and he would have been moved there alot sooner.
agreed kl…this “knee” issue is the precurser to a DL stint for sure.
Mets are playing the Pirates on Friday, not the Phillies.
Can someone be put on the DL against their will?
Say what you want about Brett Myers and Adam Eaton, they were team players enough to go to the minors last year, even though one of them never got to come back.
of course he can be put on the DL against his will. If he gives them a problem about it, I’m sure Omar has some guys that would die to pull a Jeff Gillooly on him.
Putting the Bullpen Killer in the Bullpen. How ironic.
Why do we care if the Mets made up a DL injury? Teams do it all the time. Wang??? Fact is that he will be in the minors trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
Also, I brought up this last night, but before anyone rides their high horse out of town. although many of us said no Ollie, NO ONE that was rational could have predicted this. At worst I saw a 4.50-5.00 ERA and 180 innings.
no one could have predicted the heilman of 08 either….
but im sure the people who wanted cc and aj and manny will find their justification because of ollies early struggles lol
Bottom line we got guys that can do the job until ollie comes back. Ollie should take his time and get baseball ready because like it or not we are going to need him in order to do this thing…
Just gotta hope he can turn it around. I think he can. He just needs to be embarassed. We all know he is better than this and so does he. Maybe we need Vinny Castilla to be the manager.
i know olie is a space cadet and all but i think the philly outing REALLY and FINALLY got to him. The way the showed him with his head hung very low on the bench…ive never seen him that affected…hopefully this is the bottom for him and all he can go is up
The way he was swiping at the ball from the catcher and pounding his glove when he missed by a few feet. I was actually hoping he would hit everyone. Would have been better than just throwing balls.
I agree with you about revisionist history.
I didn’t really want hi, and thought the $ was a tad high, but figured 3 years was fine, and we would get some average of the last couple of years. Not this mess.
Although it does seem that a sore knee could be true. Something is impacting him, even though he usually can look good for a couple of innings. That could be pain creeping in, or lack of conditioning.
I remember his one game (SD?) putting the radio on in IIRC the 3rd inning, to hear that he had like no hits and 5 Ks (or something close to that) in 2 innings. Then I come back and he’s knowcked out in the 4th or 5th.
How can someone start out that could and just fall apart if there isn’t something wrong?
But, who knows. Maybe if he doesn’t have to worry about going more than 2-3 innings he can just let it rip and be an effective long man?
eh id rather him try and regain some form and be an effective starter…the thought of a 12mil long man irritates me lol.
Bullpen?? he is wasting a roster spot. Send him to the minors, let him work out whatever the heck he has. Beside if we want someone to give up multiple runs in an inning coming out of the pen, sean green is already doing a fine job.
he is going to the minors they just want to call it DL and take it out of ollies hands…
After saying he had right knee pain, did Ollie start to limp on his left leg?
Put him on DL, take some time off and pitch couple games in Minors. Hopefully that’ll help.
5.11, 5.94, 6.67
ERA’s of Brett Myers last year in April, May and June.
that was before he got sent down right real?
Myers ERA only got as high as 6.30, and that’s with home games in a bandbox.
Ollie’s ERA is only under 10 because his inherited runners were stranded thanks to that lucky DP.
Who the hell cares if the knee injury is made up? Who cares? First off, he is not throwing as hard as he should be, so something physical may indeed be wrong. Maybe it is the knee, maybe it is not.
Of course, I understand that this is yet ANOTHER thing to bitch and moan and whine about, but who cares if they lie about an injury in this context? This probably happens fairly regularly, and certainly does in football and basketball. I mean, we are not talking about war and peace and life and death here.
its a slow morning kingman chill out…
just funny how they would rather make up an injury instead of asking ollie to accept a minor league assignment…
Yeah, but maybe Ollie and Boras have made it clear that Ollie will not accept the minors, so the fake injury maybe is LESS of an embarassing way to deal with this whole rancid issue?
You are right Dirty, but if Omar reads his watch wrong by 1 minute, 12 people are going to come on here and bitch about it, led by Fiya Minaya and the Tiny Apple Core.
Hey! Did you read the papers this morning?
Sheffield has joined “the core”! He’s saying flat out that this team is soft.
The core is growing daily!
people are going to complain no matter what kingman…the mets can go 161-1 and people will complain about the 1 loss and attribute it to omar…that unfortunatly is our fanbase of late imo.
Agreed 100% Dirty.
Well, in Omar’s defense (first time ever), if they option him, that’s his last option. If they DL him, they can have him work things out in the minors anyway.
I’d rather have them make up a fake injury.
Agreed.
Off Topic,
I’m not sure if anyone talked about this on Saturday, but isn’t Sean Green turning into the next Heilman? The dude cannot throw a strike!! His ball has a lot of movements, but he cannot throw a strike!!! I’d rather get beaten by a walk-off double or HR than a walk-off walk. Why can’t this guy throw a strike???
ask warthen…..but dont hope he can give you an answer though
Good points…..but remember, he was basically a throw-in, as JJ was the focus of the trade….it is not like we are that heavily invested in him or anything….I think Parnell has taken his 7th inning spot, and Stokes and Feliciano maybe have taken the 6th, so Green may only be pitching in games like Sat, where the starter kills the pen…..
Yes he was a throw in, but everyone was raving about his breaking pitch this off season. I really hope he just becomes a mop-up type of guy.
Granted that if Beltran didn’t run into a double play, it would have been KRod rather than Green. But I’d much rather see Stokes in a tight spot like that than Green.
Agreed all around….Green can be like Jeff Nelson IF his pitches break just right, which, alas, does not happen very often.
And I totally agree about Stokes at this point.
Stokes/Parnell/JJ/KRod looks pretty good still…..
Yes. Didnt like him from the forst time I saw him pitch. That slider or cut fastball he throws hangs over the middle of the plate with a “crush me” sign on it. Very similar to Heilman. I really hope Manuel is seeing what he has during the first month, month and a half and if he doesnt like what he sees they are gone! I hope that mentality is taken with this bullpen. If you dont perform….OK NO PROBLEM…NEXT GUY!! I really hope so but Manuel is probably just saying that because we are losing. lets see what he does.
I agree, but unfortunately, that is the same bullpen strategy as September 2008.
They went through 100 relievers, and each one was utter crap. Looks like we’re back to square one in 2009.
Yeah but this year, Mets have KRod and Putz. It’s not the same Bullpen.
Cut Green some slack. He has gotten off to a bad start. He is by no means Aaron Heilman. He does tend to give up a lot of hits, but check out his HR totals over the last 2 seasons. He keeps the ball in the park,
which has been a problem for our bullpen the last few years. Green should be the guy to come in when we need a crucial DP in the middle innings.
I guess it was little too harsh to call him the next Heilman. But every time I see him, he cannot throw a strike! All his stuff seems to hang up and drop down. If I were a hitter I’d just sit on one of his hanging breaking ball. He cannot throw his fastball for a strike to save his life.
Hasn’t the Buffalo team suffered enough? Aren’t they like 2-16? Now we’re forcing Ollie on them. Enjoy.
any Reason Manuel is pushing back our ace??? Does he really need 6 days rest??? I understand you don’t want to push the guy too early, but throwing him on 5 days rest isn’t exactly pushing the guy. I may be nit-picking, but we need this guy to make as many starts as he can for us.
Now Delgado….Castillo with back spasms. Ugh..you can’t expect to get on a roll and reel off 8-10 games with a lineup that changes everyday. I know the starting rotation is our major concern, as well as it should, but, I strongly feel we need one more consistent bat in the lineup that you can pencil in day after day. Someone like an Ibanez who comes to the park and works hard, is consistent, and gives you the numbers. Not much was made when the Phils picked him up but in my opinion it was the one of the biggest moves of the off season. Great pickup on their part!! We are missing that professional player who is calm and does his job i.e., Beltran, Olerud.
I think we’re cornered the market on “calm” players. Jerry has to hold a mirror under a player’s nose sometimes just to see if he’s still alive.
I’d prefer adding someone with a pulse at this point. Sheff is an idiot, but I do like that he already trying to stir up some sh-t.
Dodgers 18 and 8…are you kidding me! I hate baseball!! lol…Cmon Mets!!!!
Yeah, but did you know that even in the 8 losses, MANNYMANNYMANNY is hitting .923 w/RISP?
AND Ollie has a picture of Fred and Jeff in their Dodger blue loincloths cheering MANNY, so that is why there will be no minor league assignment for Ollie. But, they do think the Braves may be willing to sublet Lowe to us on his off days, to tutor Ollie.
LOL…loincloths…no doubt about it.
Without Manny, they are a .500 team.
Without Manny, Bill James and Sabermetrician have actually calculated that the Dodgers would be
-2 and 28! It is complex, but it does make sense……
This cannot be blamed on the WBC any longer. He has been under the supervision of Dan Warthen for a little over a month now. Any regression the WBC caused should have been overcome by now.
Why were Maine and Ollie so much better for Peterson I wonder?
Because Peterson had them breathing through their eyelids and wearing garder belts.
Um, Ollie rattled off his best stretch as a Met after Warthen took over last season.
Why is everyone always so quick to blame coaches….does anyone hold players accountable for their performance, ever?
when a player has inconsitancies, its up to the coaches to get them on track. A game or two that a pitcher coughs up…thats on the player i believe…but the way the whole staff outside of johan(which johan has his own regimne) has performed…the spotlight has to be on warthen
Dave, Ollie in 2007 was CLEARLY his best performance as a Met.
.:: hat tip to mets 17 ::.
One of the biggest things Sheffield sees is that the Mets are a bit too “comfortable” as a ballclub. This is what having an edge is all about.
“I’ve been playing 22 years and I can honestly tell you I don’t remember one time that I’ve been comfortable,” Sheffield said. “I’m on a mission when I walk into the ballpark.”
Being uncomfortable, Sheffield said, “Brings out your fight.”Sheffield looked around the clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park after yesterday’s game against the Phillies was rained out and said he believes these Mets have that fight within, noting, “You didn’t make it to this level if you ain’t competitive. It’s there, it’s just got to come out.”
But there has to be more of a top-step mentality, he said, a statement echoed by fellow veteran Alex Cora.
“We’ve got to learn how to play with intensity when we’re losing,” Sheffield said.
After Oliver Perez put them in a ridiculous hole Saturday, the Mets battled back, but not enough, losing 6-5 in 10 innings.
Sheffield said the Mets take this approach when losing: “We’ve got the talent, we’re going to come back, but we’re going to do it quietly.”
Sheffield said that must change to: “We’re going to do it like we know we’re going to do it.”
Not quietly, with a big stick. When the Mets are winning, they have to pour it on.
“You got to celebrate when you’re doing well,” Sheffield said. “You got to be up there on the top step of the dugout letting teams know, ‘We’re going to beat you.’ If you do that, teams will quit a lot of times.”
Sheffield is not talking about being a cheerleader.
“It’s like I wrote in my book ‘Inside Power,’ you don’t have to be a rah-rah guy, you don’t have to be the loudest guy, but there has to be something inside you that ain’t going to allow you to lose,” he said. “Even if you do lose, you want to give yourself a chance to win.”
That’s the secret.
“People always said I got mad in the toughest of situations, it wasn’t that I got mad,” explained Sheffield, the 25th player in major league history to reach 500 home runs, “it was that I had that refuse-to-lose mentality. If someone said I couldn’t do something, I’m not going to give you the satisfaction to see that you’re right.”
Can Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, David Wright and others do that or acquire some form of that refuse-to-lose mentality? Sheffield said it’s too early to evaluate individuals, but as a team, “Guys want it,” he said.
Sheffield believes Beltran can become “a quiet assassin.”
Asked if the Mets will get the edge, Sheffield said, “They are going to have to get it. There’s no other way to put it.
“We’re talking about a lot of situations, and we’ll address them,” he continued. “You can’t just change things over days and weeks, it takes time, but at the same time, we’ve been in every game, we could have won every ballgame. Great teams thrive on winning those games.”
How do the Mets get over the hump?
“You have to talk about it and we’re talking about it,” he said. “Now when you’re on the field, you are aware these conversations are taking place, so you say, ‘OK, we got guys noticing.’
“If you don’t get it done, I want to see you rooting for the next guy, pick him up, that’s the way the game is played.”
Ehhhhh….I went back and forth on Shef, and this, to me, is a bunch of self-serving nonsense….how much was he leading his teams and refusing-to-lose in incidents ranging from deliberately throwing balls away in Milwaukee to calling Torre racist?
This guy should keep his big yap shut, and take extra BP and shag extra flies in left and right.
Other than the 97 Marlins, which he was a small rent-a-part of, he has been out of the 1st round of the playoffs once, and has a mediocre postseason record, and all of his other postseason appearances are early losses for Yanks and Brave teams that would have probably been there without him.
I mean, I like the idea of Shef as a PH and backup OF, but it is not like he is Manny or Reggie here!
this is shef thou brok….it was only a matter of time….one way to lead is by example and frankly gary was in position to get the job done during the phillies game(gd out with bases loaded). The manager needs to instill that kind of agressiveness and it is possible because we did so in 2006. It starts with the manager and spreds on to the players and so on. The problem is the manager is an idiot.
LOL! Jerry has not been acquitting himself well lately…..most of all, why the hell are Murph and Church not just playing every day! This makes no sense…..
I think it’s self-serving in that Sheff is looking for reasons why the Mets should keep him on the roster.
On the other hand, he’s 100% right in his comments.
And on my third hand, Omar flat out admitted that was part of the reason he brought in Sheff and Cora, was because he thought the team was too soft.
And this is why Sheff got that lead off walk in the ninth against the Marlins the other night when the Mets lost by one. Sheff walked up to the batters box with the mentality of “I’ll be damned if I don’t get on base” and the others walked up say “oh crap I hope I don’t screw this up”.
eh for a while ive felt they are too confortable in their positions and thats why manuel(when he was interm) made sense by saying the hot hand will play. Obviously now thats not the case and the only thing that he has done so far taht i approve of is putting wright 5th until the gets his act together. People need to compete to stay on the field but you send the wrong message when church is on fire and you bench him for gary/tatis or castro goes 2-3 and omir bats for him….
hit the nail on the head.
That’s all well and good, the issue is how long will take for Sheff and Cora to teach how to have an edge.
It may take until September, when they will be 8 out with 17 to play, and proceed to narrow the gap to 2 out with 1 to play. In other words…..it may be too late by the time they get the message.
Santana is pitching Wednesday, not Thursday.
Seriously, it’s like this site has reverse fact-checkers to make sure every post has some inaccuracy in it.
Right. And he’s pitching against the Brewers. ;-)
Here is the biggest issue showing it’s face again. The front office doesn’t know how to make a decision. They let things fester in the media until it gets beyond repair. The decision of what to do with Ollie should have been made before his start and executed immediately afterward. Instead you have a manager saying he isn’t sure what he is going to do even though he is just waiting on Omar. Now Monday, 2 days after his start there are articles saying he is on the bullpen others saying he is going on the DL. Talk about lack of grit, the front office needs a pair of marbles too and just settle on a decision and deal with the consequences.
No doubt there going to pull a Willie on Ollie and make him travel to Atlanta only to tell him he is not on the active roster.
It is ALL on the grit…all of it…the Wilpons’ cleaners had their work orders messed up, and removed all of the grit from the front office suites over the weekend. I am sure this clarifies everything.
They are having David Eckstein shaved, and the grit will be FedExed to Citi and spread about in time for Weds’ game….
what does grit have to do with a roster decision?
Wow everyone gets so fired up around here with the grit word. Was just trying to say managements doesn’t know how to make a decision…
Wait, are we talking about Ollie’s leg/DL fiasco, or Church’s concussion/DL fiasco?
Hey, I am just trying to make gritty jokes…..
because people throw that word around very loosely around here….
Off topic…What is everyone else doing on here this morning? I’m at work at a software place in Mass. You guys log in from work too?
I’m at work too.
LOL at work at a software company. I am so overwhelmed with our work load that I need to procrastinate so I don’t go insane.
oh yeah.
Yes work too… Goldman Sachs.
Stop blaming Ollie like he is the only one to blame here. The whole Met organization is to blame and it starts at the top with the Wilpon’s. First it starts with the Wilpon’s giving Minaya a limited budget to work with. I understand its a huge budget but do you think Minaya wanted Lowe or Perez? He wanted Lowe 100% but Freddie Coupons said no. So for all of you who stated Minaya wanted Perez you are completely incorrect. I can’t blame Minaya because he made some good deals for the Mets. Now, you have the Stadium…uh hmmm, I meant citi-broke field. First of all this team was chastised by the media for the last few years for being a team with no identity. Now they have a stadium that doesn’t even identify them as the NY Mets. This is where the hierarchy failed as an organization. You need to start building with tradition and it starts wit the new stadium. We are not talking about dodger/giant tradition but NY Met tradition. Let’s build on the 69, 73, and 86 Mets for once! Also, this team doesn’t play gritty and dirty. While they have the talent they need to start playing with the same intensity as they used to. Remember the media getting on Reyes for celebrating too much or shall I say the Mets. Do you see that anymore? Everyone made fun of the Mets and called them arrogant. Nw Sheffield is stating this is what they need to do. I totally agree! They need to bring the swagger back and make teams hate them like the 86 team. Playing hard and showing emotion is all about the game. As a fan, the first time I’ve ever been pissed off at the Mets was after Saturday’s loss. I think I showed more emotion after that loss than the Mets did. I’m not going o condone hitting a player with a pitch or getting into a brawl but they need something to fire them up. Why don’t you throw a first pitch fastball and buzz Jimmy Rollins? Show everyone that we are still here. That’s what the Mets need. We can stay here and complain all day about a lot of things but what it boils down to is having that energy and passion. Until they show raw emotion they will be the same team. You know who is going to provide that will be Sheffied, Cora and some of the other vets. These guys are not the core but they will bring the fire. I will guarantee that. You think these guys are role players but they were brought in to change the “edge” of this team. Minaya’s plan is to stir up some fire in the clubhouse and this will happen soon enough. This team has to turn it around but they need someone to get in the player’s faces. Sheff will not be afraid to do that.