The Cloud Remains…
Posted by trs86 on 11:00am, Monday October 5th 2009
After the year that was 2007, clearly the worst ending for me as a Mets fan, still remains fresh in everyone’s mind from the owners, to the GM, to the coaching staff, to the players and even more so to the fans. In early 2008, after many called for a change in the off-season of 2007, the Mets struggled and rumors were constant. When, not will, Willie get fired? The players answered question after question and time after time stood up for their manager. Hard to think about the game when you don’t know what the hell will happen from day to day.
From the New York Post
“Amid that tumultuous backdrop, the Mets players tried to block out the noise and regroup. David Wright, though, indicated the players aren’t overly sympathetic to Randolph’s plight because they know Randolph wouldn’t want that.
“He’s a New Yorker, he’s knows what’s going on and he knows when he signed up for this job that there was going to be a lot of scrutiny,” Wright said. “The finger has to be pointed at somebody. That’s just the nature of the beast.”
From the AP:
“The Mets have lost seven of eight and 10 of 14 overall. With few fans remaining at Shea Stadium in the late innings, a chant of “Fire Willie!” could clearly be heard.
“It’s like being booed,” Randolph said. “It’s the same thing more or less. They’re expressing themselves.”
“Willie’s job was never in danger going into this meeting,” Minaya said. “Willie has my support. He has the support of our ownership. … There is no limbo period. Willie is the manager.”
So, was he told he’ll definitely manage the Mets for the rest of the season?
“No, they didn’t say that,” Randolph answered.”
What precedes to happen. The cloud remains until a midnight flight and a firing in the middle of the night. Once the cloud is temporarily removed the players, refreshed go on to put themselves back in the race only to lose steam in September and fall just short again. What happens during September? The players see a return of the dark cloud, what will happen next? Instead of clearing that cloud the Mets return the next season with the dark cloud firmly in place. After a sluggish April the Mets free and clear of any clouds burst through May having their best May ever. Leading to what? Another dark cloud, the shoe that may drop at anytime. What seems like an injury a day and players left and right go to the DL, some never to return. Think this is not in the back of the players minds? When they see guys like Beltran and Reyes go down, considering those two accounted for almost 1500 plate appearances between the 2 in 2008.
In a town where pressure has been mounting since 2006, it wants answers. Many, from owners, GM, Managers, Players and Fans, expect their product to perform on the field. This is not the teams of yesteryear, this is our chance to win that 3rd WS, the one for our generation. So with that in mind, instead of removing the dark cloud of 2007, 2008, 2009, the Mets have retained that cloud and will undoubtedly have to deal with it in embarrassing fashion at some point next season. Let the 2010 rumors begin, let the shoe hang above our heads and throw the sunglasses away, FOR NOW.
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Agreed TRS…as I have verbosely expressed, the team needs a breath of fresh air from the manager’s office, not the cloud that has basically just continued to darken since Wainwright struck out Beltran three very long years ago.
As others have said, it is just day one of a long and hugely important offseason, but the clouds are a bit thicker now.
Oh, and that is a truly disturbing picture.
If Willie was a cloud he’d be a mammatus.
(oh ho ho meteorology joke)
LOL! I looked it up.
Nice one!
Hmm, more of this and I’ll be marching on SNY! There is no way in hell, Jerry should be the Manager going into Spring Training!
What the hell is this?: From MCblog.
“Manuel said Razor Shines will remain on the staff, but is not yet sure in why position.”
That would be unusual for Manuel to ask why?
And this one really cracks me up:
“Sandy Alomar Jr will have a more prominent role on his staff next year, and will be consdered among candidtes for his bench coach or first base Coahuila, as will Shines and others.”
What the hell is a Coahuila?
Hmmm….
State (pop., 2000: 2,298,070), northeastern Mexico. It covers 57,908 sq mi (149,982 sq km), and its capital is Saltillo. Coahuila occupies a roughly broken plateau intersected by several mountain ranges. The first Spanish settlement in the region was at Saltillo in 1575. Coahuila and Texas formed a single state (1824 – 36) until Texas declared its independence. In 1857 Coahuila was combined with Nuevo León, and in 1868 it became a separate state. Its economy is based on livestock raising, agriculture, and mining; southern Coahuila has long been known for the wine and brandy it produces.
damn liveblogging, can’t he invest in a laptop with Wifi?
Let’s face it….good journalistic skills have never been a strong point for anyone posting on that blog. And the defense is ‘it’s a blog, not a newspaper’.
Half the time, they can’t get the ‘throws lefty/righty’ details correct, let alone concise, correct sentences….
Or lineups with more than 7 batters. :p
Am I nuts or do all the stories say that Alomar will not be back in bench coach position?
anyone see Mets have the 7th pick in the draft
Well unless they radically change their modus operandi they will draft a 3rd round level talent with that 7th pick due to their slavish adherence to slotting and signability.
Figures we’d sweep the Astros and move from 5th to 7th draft pick. Mets can’t even lose right!
Even when they win, they still find a way to choke. :p
Actually, I think they only would have had the sixth pick. Royals and Indians both finished with 97 losses, I believe. How does the draft system work? Mets and D-Backs had identical records, why did Arizona get the sixth pick?
These two points seem relevant, Per wikipedia:
Draft Order
Teams chose players in reverse order of the previous season’s standings, with picks alternating between the National and American League.
The general draft order is the reverse order of the previous year’s standings. If two teams finish with identical records, the previous year’s standings of the two teams is the tiebreaker, with the team having a worse record receiving the higher pick.
Thanks, so the Mets indeed could have had the fifth pick under those rules, correct? So even when they win, they lose….Gotta love the Mets.
Indeed, Grave. Indeed.
Have you seen this?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/10/mets-to-be-players-for-top-free-agents.html
Yes, I read that. At this point, I have to wonder if Omar even knows who the core is.
This is getting scary.
At least Wilpon said they are NOT reducing payroll:
‘He said the team will continue to have one of the highest payrolls in the National League, despite being the second year of a new ballpark.
The payroll is ‘what Omar needs,’ he said, there is no set limit.’
But with Omar making the moves, we’ll get four-year, 50 million deals for past-their-prime injury-prone players. If they brought in someone like Towers to help out, I might have more confidence. But if Omar is left to his own devices we get three years and 36 million of pea-brained Oliver Perez and a four-year deal for no-range Luis Castillo. I know Luis had a good year this year, but i certainly hope he gets dealt. He’s a terrible second baseman and while OBP is nice, he doesn’t steal like he used to and I’m more likely to hit a ball into the outfield than he is…
While there is undeniably some “spin” aspect to what I’m about to type, I look at it this way: with Omar (currently) intact in his position, I am encouraged by the fact that his best work as Met GM was when he had to deal with a team that had finished 20 games under .500 the year before. In 2 seasons he improved the team by 12 and 14 wins respectively (2004 - 71 wins, ‘05 - 83, ‘06 - 97). He’s done it before, even his loudest detractors can’t ignore that fact. Let’s see if he can do it again.
YES WE CAN!
LoL
“Let’s see if he can do it again”
If the injured players return and avoid further injury your question (statement?) should be answered in the affirmative.
I really wonder how well the handful of posters on this blog and that other one that happen to be season ticket holders represent the fans in geneneral?
If they do, ticket sales could be taking a massive nosedive, even with that well timed lower price announcement!
I am probably ambivilant at this point about Omar, since I expected him to be back, in some capacity. I actually think it is a good sign that he is looking at Towers. It may just mean he already has worked out his new role in the organization, but they aren’t talking about it until the new BB mind is in place?
Omar being some kind of scouting guy, with towers hadnling the nuts and bolts GM stuff, with Rocco hadnling the number crunching, just mind be good enough to get the team back on it’s feet. And likely, appease the subset of fans that realy care about the FO bodies!
But, the big but, bringing back Jerry and all these coaches is going to generate a major negative buzz and backlash. And god help them if the team starts out slow, or looks sloppy in April!
The Willie death march, part II, looks quite possible.
My biggest question? Is the Mets leadership so clueless to not realize what is going to be the reaction, or do they know, and just not care?
I almost hope these moves are money driven (keeping Jerry) and not because they think it is the best chance of winning!
Regarding this statement:
‘On possibly changing the medical staff:
“No. I thought our trainers – Ray Ramirez and Mike Herbst – I thought they did an excellent job. They kept me informed every day with the information they were getting, I thought they did an excellent job. An excellent job. I know it appeared that some things were kind of lost, but as far as what I needed from them and what they gave me, and those types of things and the work they put in, they did an excellent job, in my opinion.”’
I can’t tell if we’re getting our hand slapped b/c he’s trying to say we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes so stop making assumptions
or
It’s all damage control.
True, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. But I saw enough of what was going on upfront to have my opinion leaning towards ‘damage control’….
“I really wonder how well the handful of posters on this blog and that other one that happen to be season ticket holders represent the fans in general?”
I would guess very, very little if at all.
Many, if not most, season tix—and just about ALL holders of the insanely pricey ones–are held by corporations who will not be giving them up.
All of us represent the serious hardcore %, which is certainly in the single–and maybe low single–digits.
That sounds like a survey question.
Hello gentlemen (and ladies),
Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. I haven’t really posted much baseball-wise on my own blog of late but I just had to weigh in…WTF?
I really hate the Mets organization (or lack thereof) right now. We fans just sat through one of the most excruciatingly frustrating seasons on the heels of three straight gutpunches to end years 2006-2008, and this is what we get? More of the same? I’m not a big HoJo fan as hitting coach, but I think he did a nice job this season given what he had to work with. The team batting average was good, Castillo had a nice season and Francouer showed signs of being an offensive force after his trade to the Mets. Shines and Warthen should have been fired during the season, they’re so worthless. Let’s just fire the first-base coach and moldy old Sandy Alomar, Sr. Yeah, that’s real change, guys. The same loser culture returns next year. I kind of liked Manuel when he first replaced Randolph. Seemed to be more upfront, definitely better with the media. But after observing things he did this year (injuries notwithstanding), I’ve come to the conclusion that the guy is clueless. Benching Church and Murphy early when they were hitting. Never playing Evans at all in September at the expense of Tatis. Sitting Murphy vs. lefties down the stretch. Not giving Parnell until the end of the season in the rotation. Terrible fundamentals and embarassing mental gaffes throughout the season. Guess all of that was Alicea’s and Alomar’s fault. This organization is clueless. Sell the team, Wilpons….Mets in 2055.
This all has bummed me out. Not just because I have seen enough of the Jerry show, but because of what it tells me (that is, the message from the roganization).
Basically, I read it as “we are fine, it was really just the injuries that sank us, along with a couple minor bumps”. and, “don’t expect anything more than a few moves, just like anyother off seaosn, but nothing radical”.
So, a combo of status quo, and stay the course!
So really, what point is there in coming on here all day and dreaming up creative trades and signings, and of course responding to the 500 that TRS will dream up? With the same old crew with the same old blinders on, nothing like that will happen.
Basically, I expect it to be like last year. a couple FA signings, but not the big (expensive) names, or lkiely the right ones. And maybe a head scratcher trade for some parts.
Then, back to the grind with Jerry and Warthen.
Hey, the Mets don’t seem to care about ficxing what many of us perceive to be the flaws with the team, so why should I?
It’s sad, but you’ve summed up almost perfectly how I feel. Today’s non-moves seemed like a big “F YOU” to the fan base. I hate the Wilpons, I really do. Are they really so stupid to believe the injuries were the only reason this team struggled? Granted, it had a great deal to do with it. But even with a fully healthy squad, I’m thinking the Mets win 85 games and still miss the playoffs by seven games or so. The reason? The continuous parade of sloppy play and embarassing mental gaffes. They happened when a full squad was there (Reyes admiring non home-runs, Church missing third base, Beltran not sliding) and when the backups were playing. At the very least, if you’ve got a good coaching staff that truly stresses fundamentals, we would have seen crisp baseball, even without the regulars. Instead, errors upon errors, walks upon walks. I really don’t see the value of Warthen, he hasn’t had much success anywhere and he certainly didn’t do a good job this year.
Yes, I can’t recall whether I read it here or elsewhere but I do recall reading that the pitching numbers of the teams Warthen has been pitching coach of improved dramatically in the year after he left those teams.
And again, going into next season, we’re going to see a similar situation as 2008. The team struggles early and the grim reaper hovers around the team for awhile until the Wilpons finally decide to make a move, a move they could have easily made earlier. Just can’t see why they can’t wipe the slate clean and get a new set of coaches in here, establish a course of action and a culture from spring training on, where it really should be established. They have to do everything a** backwards here.
I’ve never been a big fan of the word “proactive” but it is something that I would love to see from my favorite team, and rarely ever do.