Daily Archives: January 17, 2010
Anthony DeRosa, in a post to Hot Foot, says the Mets need to re-vamp their public relations department, writing:
“The Mets public relations is a mess, and the only way to change that is to bring in new, fresh blood. Jay Horowitz is a sweet, lovable guy but it’s time to give someone else a chance to manage this team’s fragile image. Playing in the same city as the Yankees is tough enough without having to deal with your team being a punch line.”
… i think some fans put too much of the blame on jay, actually, who does his specific job very well… from what i can see, jay is more of a player-relations, media-liaison, type facilitator, and he’s great at it, in fact he is considered one of the best in the business… however, i think some fans believe he is the lone person in charge of everything… and he is not… instead, the Mets have an entire Communications Department, with directors, employees, and so on, up and down the line, above and below him, all of whom handle a variety of different tasks, from marketing to community outreach to the coordination of conference calls and press conferences to the writing of media guides…
… i have seen many of these people work up close, and while there are some who seem totally out of touch, there are others who are doing the best they can, but i get the feeling they feel like their hands are often tied, pointing out that the rest of team’s actions repeatedly put them in a no-win situation…
… for instance, yesterday morning on WFAN, i heard the show’s host and several callers question why the Mets felt it necessary to create confusion in a press release and conference call, in response to news that Carlos Beltran had knee surgery… sure, they could easily have just sent out a short release essentially saying, ‘Yes, Beltran had surgery, as a result of recent pain in his workouts, he’ll probably miss April,’ end of story…
… however, early on Wednesday, there was already buzz in New York suggesting the team was taken by surprise when hearing of beltran’s decision… i mean, i heard about beltran’s surgery, and that the team was unaware he had it, as early as 3 pm that day, and i know i’m not the only fan, or person in media, who knew of this… and so, the point is, let’s say the Mets did release that basic, obvious press release… great… but, it would only have been a matter of time before a reporter like Joel Sherman of the New York Post, or Bob Klapisch, or Jon Heyman at SI.com, or David Lennon or Adam Rubin, etc., all started reporting on rumors of chaos, followed by hard news and the truth, because that’s what they do for a living, and then, boom, here we are anyway…
… yes, the media strategy of the team can seem off at times, but they’re only trying to spin the situation they are handed… to me, the bigger issue is the situations they are constantly being handed, from injuries to shirtless executives, and not necessarily the people spinning them…
In a must-see graph, posted to Amazin Anevue, Sam Page draws up a creative, sad and hilarious flow-chart of how the Mets must make decisions.
According to Jeff Spencer from the Bleacher Report, “The Mets have limited options to replace Carlos Beltran,” noting how Rick Ankiel and Alfredo Amezaga are the only center fielders left on the free-agent market.
…well, i don’t think the Mets need to ‘replace beltran,’ so much as find a fill-in for a month or so… in some ways, he is irreplaceable… i still believe the team will try to sign a free-agent outfielder or two to minor-league deals, who, along with Fernando Martinez, can compete with Angel Pagan, who the team probably just doesn’t want to hand the job over to, since he, too, has proven to be pretty fragile during his career…
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak told fans in a Q&A yesterday that the return of Ankiel to the Cardinals would be a ‘longshot.’
…i have heard all winter that ankiel has zero interest in playing in New York City… there are also rumors of a rift with players on the team… also, i’m sure we are not his favorite fans in the world, due to us mocking him during the 2000 NLCS… wild pitch, clap, clap, wild pitch, clap, clap… ouch…
Ankiel, who is among the best defensive center fielders in baseball, hit just .231 last season, with a .285 OBP, 11 HR and 38 RBI in 122 games for the Cardinals, though he hit 25 HR in 2008.
Free-agent 2B Orlando Hudson would like to sign a new contract soon, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com, who believes the Nationals are still interested.
…one of the by-products of last week’s Surgery Fiasco with Carlos Beltran was that any conversation i had with people in or connected to the team was about beltran, and so i have totally lost track of where the team is in terms of player acquisitions…
…last i checked, which would have been exactly one week ago, the Mets were still trying to work out a deal with free-agent C Bengie Molina, while also trying to sign a free-agent pitcher, or trade for one, while keeping tabs on pitchers like John Smoltz, who could pitch in the bullpen, but also compete for a spot in the rotation… though, i now have to think signing an outfielder to a minor-league deal jumped up on the list, so to have someone besides Angel Pagan in camp to fill in for beltran…
Jon Heyman of SI.com believes the Mets, Angels and Dodgers are all in on free-agent RHP Joel Pineiro.
Doug Miller of MLB.com recently said the Nationals and Cubs had also shown interest in Pineiro this off season.
Last week, Tony Jackson of ESPN Los Angeles said Pineiro would need to be flexible to find a deal with the Dodgers, because of the team’s issues with ownership.
Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse said last Monday that the Mets were discussing a two-year, $15 million contract with Pineiro, but Jackson also says that might be in the right price range for the Dodgers.
The 31 year old Pineiro earned $7.5 million and went 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA in 32 games and 214 innings pitched with the Cardinals in 2009.
… like i said last week, though he will not have Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan over his shoulder, pineiro on a two-year deal, paying him, say, $8 million per year, is a reasonable risk, because i actually believe he will do quite well for the Mets, because of the ballpark… not well enough to justify a three– or four-year commitment… but, two years is a whole other story…
…in any case, i don’t think any team will make a move until Ben Sheets pitches for teams next week… which makes sense… i mean, why sign pineiro for $8 million, when for a few million more you could get sheets, assuming sheets is seemingly healthy…
Yesterday, in response to my post about the World Baseball Classic, Peter Greene from Pacific Palisades, California sent the following email:
The real question is how it affects pitchers, and in particular starting pitchers. Also you might want to look at older players as well.Oliver Perez was this classic’s Jake Peavy. Also something that can’t be quantified: besides the high number of Mets playing, they had a new manager. Think about it…new coach trying to implement his own philosophies…then more than half his team leaves in the middle of spring training.
I think it’s easier to deduct the WBC might have a greater negative impact on starting pitchers than it does with position players, but like i said yesterday, I just don’t think March is the right time for Major League players to be playing competitive baseball, and while playing baseball in March just very well might appear to impact pitchers more, I feel the problem might impact both to the same degree…
To a certain extent, I suppose the changes the Mets made from a managerial standpoint could impact the team, but in the case of the Mets, Jerry Manuel took the helm in June of 2008, which gave the bulk of his current club more than half of a season to adapt to his philosophy whether they liked it or not, and I think the lack of preparedness, as a TEAM, could be partially the result of age and half of them not being around for the bulk of Spring Training last season. But I also have to take a look at the situation with the Colorado Rockies, in that Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle midseason last year, turned his ship around, and guided the Rockies to the playoffs, so in this case, why couldn’t Manuel do that in 2008 with arguably a more talented club.
However, with regards to the Mets, I think we are speaking of two different problems Peter, but you certainly bring up a good point which I feel contributed to their 92 loss season – I agree with the possibility of this team might not have been prepared for the 2009 regular season based on early lackluster play with the key players, but like I said yesterday, while there is no way to truly determine the impact of the WBC on the Mets, it’s impossible not to link the two together when it comes to injuries and how many players, both pitchers and position players, participated in the tournament, and ask whether or not it COULD have been one of the causes.
Keep in mind, while Perez, J.J. Putz, Francisco Rodriguez, and Johan Santana all pitched in or were involved with the WBC and either got injured, or underperformed, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and David Wright all played their respective positions in the WBC and either got injured or underperformed as well – Pedro Feliciano seemed to be the only key player who came away with a good year in 2009 – and if you look around baseball, there are other players, like Peavy and those I mentioned yesterday, where you could make the same argument.
Now, if this problem is combined with the Mets apparent problems with handling these injuries, it becomes one giant catastrophe.
In October 2006, I spoke with someone who had knowledge of the team’s medical situation with regards to Orlando Hernandez and the calf injury he sustained that fall, and he told me doctors felt he could pitch in that postseason and certainly in the NLCS against the Cardinals, but the Mets decided to take the safe route and keep him sidelined.
I think the commonality with this and for example, the handling of the Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes injuries is that the Mets appear to act rather conservatively in hopes they simply return healthy and i think in all three cases, I think it’s distinctly possible they were wrong and they burned themselves because being conservative with Hernandez might have cost them a trip to the World Series, and being conservative with Reyes and Beltran has certainly been contributing factors to a lost 2009 with a potential overlap into 2010.
To make matters worse, the team causes their own distractions, and they create their own questions about themselves when all of the posturing, the standing off, and the he said/she said games in the press could ALL could be avoided, and this has been happening for years.
As a fan, I’m not as much upset about Beltran being out of action for the next three months as I am with what led to this, the team dueling with their star center fielder, and them trying to make themselves look good when I think NEITHER side looks good in this situation, thus causing an unnecessary distraction as we head towards Spring Training. I mean, why couldn’t they just say ‘the player hasn’t recovered as we expected, and he had minor surgery in hopes of correcting the issue’, deal with the internal problem quietly amongst themselves, and move on. At this point, it really doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong, because it doesn’t bring Beltran back any sooner, therefore I feel this game between the team and the player/agent is a big waste of energy.
In the end, I’m hoping the best center fielder in baseball returns to the Mets ASAP and I wish, for once, the focus could just be on winning a World Series and finding the best path towards doing so and NOT dealing with the constant damage control on bad decisions by management and/or players.
It’s all i wanted for Christmas…
Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse says the Mets will be among those in attendance for Ben Sheets audition on Tuesday in Monroe, Louisiana.
…at this point, i’m really hoping the Mets make a play for Sheets, because if he is healthy, he has ace-like stuff and would be a real boost to their rotation…
Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors lists the other teams who plan to be in attendance, including are the Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals, Rangers, and Blue Jays.
