SBNation.com User Blog: KranepoolRools

Maybe It's Time I Stopped Sniffing Glue

KranepoolRools — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:29:31 -0000

I’ve been a Mets fan since 1969. Lest you figure me for a front-runner, I was eight at the time; the Miracle coincided with—and maybe was responsible for—my discovery of baseball as a spectator sport.

Of course, I was to suffer for my choice. In the years to come, for every Seaver and Koosman, there was an endless supply of Bombacks and Falcones. For every play-off appearance, there were dozens of seasons lost to ineptitude … on the field and in the front office. Fans of other franchises might have had it worse (God help Cubs fans), but I’m quite sure we Mets fans have suffered more than our share.

’86 is forever ago, and 2000 seems a lost memory. Mediocrity is the default position of the Mets, and has been ever since Wilpon bought-out Doubleday and started making noise about "meaningful games in September."

"Meaningful games in September." Not pennants. Not World Series Championships. The implication is that it’s enough to sniff the Wild Card—to take it down to the season’s last week before being mathematically eliminated. That’s enough for Fred and Jeff, apparently, or they would’ve cleaned house after the collapses of ’07 and ’08. Those Mets teams played meaningful games right up until the last day of the regular season. Sure, they choked in consecutive Games 162, but they were in it to the last. That should be enough, or so we’re to infer.

But as I sit through another season of ineptitude, watching this team slog through the summer at a win-one/lose-one pace, all the while trying to convince themselves and the fan-base that "meaningful games in September" are right around the corner, I’m coming to the conclusion that it isn’t enough, not by a long shot. I’ve been to hundreds of Mets games over the years-watched thousands on TV, and listened to as many on the radio. I’ve devoted more hours following and caring-about this franchise than anything else in my life outside of my wife and kids. My devotion has been rewarded by mismanagement, an eye on the bottom line by ownership that precludes making the team a real contender, and a clueless Chief Operating Officer who won his position in a birth lottery.

I’ve seen them spend money lavishly but foolishly, finding themselves in a position where they either refuse to (or simply cannot) swallow their mistakes. I’ve watched as the owners fired Davey Johnson and replaced him with Bud Harrelson (and Jeff Torborg and Dallas Green); Joe McIlvaine and replaced him with Steve Phillips; Bobby Valentine and replaced him with Art Howe, Willie Randolph, and Jerry Manuel. For every good management hire—and there haven’t been many—this ownership as thrice-as-many horrible ones, which are inevitably followed by bad signings, incompetent field leadership, and season after season of disappointment.

The last Mets game I attended in person was the next-to-last game at Shea, when Johan Santana willed himself and the team to a remarkable win that kept them alive ‘til the season’s final day. Of course, they lost that final game. The next season, they opened Ebbets Field II, doubled and tripled their ticket prices, and put an inferior product (even by the Mets’ degraded standards) on the field. I vowed not to attend another Mets game until the product on the field justified the price of the tickets. That has yet to happen. It may never happen.

I’ve still followed the team, watched SNY, read the blogs and papers. Lately, however, even that seems more than the franchise deserves. I’m starting to think that three hours-a-night I waste watching this abomination of a team might be better spent doing something else. Rooting for another team is out; I’m too old to make a new emotional connection. But I can simply start caring about other things. After all, the frustration I feel night-after-night, summer-after-summer can’t be healthy. This organization obviously puts the good faith of its fans far beneath other considerations. Maybe it’s time I return the favor, for my own good.

via www.ubeek.com

Six Degrees of Wally Backman

KranepoolRools — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:21:24 -0000

With the Twins in 1989, Wally’s back-up at 2B was, for a brief time, current Mets third-base coach Chip Hale. Hale was then a hot prospect in the Twins’ system, and was considered by some to be Backman’s heir apparent. Hale is now a candidate to replace Jerry Manuel as Mets manager on an interim basis if the latter doesn’t last the season.

As a manager in the Chisox minor league system, Wally was once fired for allegedly campaigning to replace Jerry Manuel as manager of the big club. Adam Rubin suggests that a highly-placed White Sox official fabricated the incident in order to push his own candidate to replace Manuel—current Mets first base coach Razor Shines.

After being hired then quickly fired by the D’Backs, Wally was replaced by Bob Melvin, currently in the employ of the Mets’ front office. Melvin is reportedly a candidate to replace Manuel if the latter is fired.

Backman is currently considered by many the leading contender to replace Jerry Manuel as Mets manager for 2011. If he gets the job, Manuel, Shines, and probably Hale and Melvin will lose theirs.

My what a tangled web we weave ...

Backman is currently considered by many the leading contender to replace Jerry Manuel as Mets manager for 2011. If he gets the job, Manuel, Shines, and probably Hale and Melvin will lose theirs.

My what a tangled web we weave ...

This Fish Rots From Jeff Wilpon Down

KranepoolRools — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:07:33 -0000

via www.metstoday.com

So Howard Johnson is gone as hitting coach, or soon will be, replaced by another guy who will presumably tell Mets hitters to "take more first pitches" and "look for a pitch in their zone," and whatever else a hitting coach should be telling a team that’s been approaching every game like a meaningless contest on the last day of the season ("Go up there hackin’, son; I gotta plane to catch!"). And of course the Mets hitters will come out of their slump and start hitting the ball again, whether because of the shock of their friend’s firing or the law of averages (most likely the latter).

Meanwhile, Jerry Manuel will remain manager, and he will find ways to lose, whether the team hits or not. He will continue to play Rod Barajas over Josh Thole and pull Johan Santana after 100 pitches (gotta keep Jo’s confidence up) and bunt Reyes ahead of Castillo and use his worst reliever in the most critical situation while saving his bajillion-dollar closer for the ninth inning of blowouts at Citi Field, and the many other nonsensical bows to conventional wisdom he’s employed over the past three seasons … moves that have resulted in a reasonably talented team playing to an under-.500 record during his tenure.

Jerry Manuel’s job is safe for the rest of the season. It’s the hitting coach who pays the price.

(I ask this, apart from my main point, which I’ll get to shortly: Is there some reason Jerry couldn’t have talked to his hitters about "taking more first pitches" or "looking for pitches in their zones?" He is, after all, the manager.)

None of it makes sense, but then again, how can one expect something sensible from such a poorly run organization? Moreover, how can you expect an organization to be run anything but poorly when the guy at the top got the job solely because his daddy owns the team? As someone once said of a certain prominent politician who also made a mess of his daddy's inheritance, Jeff Wilpon was born on third base and thought he hit a triple.

Look at his history: According to the NY Times, the Montreal Expos drafted Jeff in 1983 as a favor to daddy Fred Wilpon. Jeff never played an official game for the ‘Spos organization or any other in MLB. Jeff went to work for Fred, rising (surprise!) to Vice President at Sterling Equities. Fred gave him the Brooklyn Cyclones to run for awhile, before handing him the keys to the Bentley. Now he’s driving the big club off the road. Into a ditch.

Jeff is probably a decent guy. It’s not his fault he’s rich (after all, he didn’t do anything to make it happen). Neither is it his fault that he never had to learn the baseball business from the ground-up. After all, who among MLB team owners did?

But to run a successful business, one has to recognize the gaps in his knowledge and experience, and hire people able to compensate for his shortcomings. In Jeff’s case, he obviously knows nothing about building a winning organization, so he should put it in the hands of someone who does, and become what Mets fans should be praying for: the most absentee of absentee owners.

One assumes Jeff Wilpon loves the Mets and wants them to succeed. But unless he’s willing to step back, hire a real baseball man and let him do the job, the Mets will remain a joke … baseball’s Knicks, run into the ground by Queens’ answer to James Dolan.

via www.metstoday.com

Jerry Manuel’s job is safe for the rest of the season. It’s the hitting coach who pays the price.

Today's Post-Game Presser in an Alternate Universe

KranepoolRools — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:12:30 -0000

via ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com

Reporter: "Jerry, did you consider hitting for R.A. in the eighth with runners on first and third and two outs and a three-run lead?"

JerMan: "Uh, I considered it before I un-considered it, you know what I'm sayin'? It would have been nice to get that other runner in from third, but with our pen as overworked as it is, and the fact that R.A. was cruisin', had only thrown 115 pitches--which for a knuckleballer is nothing--and had actually probably gotten more big hits for us this year than the pinch-hitters we had available, I thought that the prudent thing would be to keep him in the game and see if he could give us nine ... which we did, and were able to give Pedro and Frankie a day off, which was a good positive result for our ball club."

Wherever that alternate universe is, I want to go to there.

via ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com

Reporter: "Jerry, did you consider hitting for R.A. in the eighth with runners on first and third and two outs and a three-run lead?"

Wherever that alternate universe is, I want to go to there.

Oh Goody, Luis is Back! Reason #1276 Why The Mets Are In Trouble As Long As JerMan is In Charge

KranepoolRools — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:40:36 -0000

via www.coverbrowser.com

In the wake of another embarrassing stumble to a game's finish caused by Jerry Manuel's inept handling of his pitching staff, let us not forget a piece of especially disturbing news relayed by the SNY crew during the game.

Luis Castillo begins his rehab in the next few days. Jerry says that, when he returns to the club, Castillo reclaims his starting job. When asked Tejada's role after Luis' return, Jerry essentially replied "Nada."

Listen closely to Ron Darling these days, and you can hear him becoming less and less able to hide his disgust with Jerry's handling of this squad. You could hear it when the team was in Puerto Rico and Ron was subbing for Bobby O in the studio. His thinly veiled criticism of Jerry's early-season misuse and abuse of Fernando Nieve was especially damning.

Darling tried to be even-handed in his analysis of Jerry's imminent shit-canning of Tejada, but when Tejada made that brilliant daylight-play to pick-off Bernadina and pull Jerry's nuts out of the fire, Ron couldn't help himself. "Don't tell me there's not a place on this team for that young man!" he said in so many words, the implication being, Yes, he has a place. and yes, it's as the starting second baseman for the New York Mets.

That Manuel would even consider returning Castillo to the line-up given the team's--and Tejada's--performance since Luis was injured is bad enough, but to discount out of hand the possibility that Tejada could remain as the starter is anothr prime example of Jerry Manuel's incompetence.

Don't let up, Ron.

via www.coverbrowser.com

Don't let up, Ron.

Of Innings Eaters and Eighth Inning Guys

KranepoolRools — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:21:27 -0000

via www.hagenspan.com

I stink at math. Always have, which is why I'm a bit in awe of sabermetricians. My understanding of advanced metrics pretty much ends with OPS, which--as I'm sure someone would be happy to point out--isn't advanced at all. As a consequence, I peruse sites like this and read with interest about the various means of evaluating performance, even if much of the time I don't entirely understand what I'm reading. I can, however, count to 97 and 162, which are two numbers that stick in my craw on this morning following another Mets walk-off loss that didn't have to happen.

97 is the number of pitches Johan Santana was allowed last night before being pulled too early for the one-bazillionth time, in order that Jerry Manuel might place the game in the infinitely less trustworthy hands of Elmer Dessens, Pedro Feliciano, and, ultimately, Ryoto Igarashi.

On what planet does it make sense to remove your 31 year-old two-time Cy Young winner after less than 100 pitches in order to "get him out of there with a positive," as Manuel later explained his motive, as if Santana were some emotionally-fragile rookie just getting his feet wet in the bigs? Maybe I missed something, but I thought the object was to win, not to protect the psyche of someone who obviously has skin as thick as an elephant's.

How many times in the Manuel Era (and the Randolph Era, for that matter) has an effective starting performance been ended prematurely, only to be wasted thanks to an under-talented and mismanaged bullpen?

The possibility of Cliff Lee coming to the Mets is exciting, but who among Mets fans has any confidence that he'll make the difference he should? So far this season he has almost as many complete games as walks, a ratio that would be sure to change once Manuel and Warthen start pulling him in the sixth or seventh, start after start. Lee's an innings eater, they say, but the Mets already have the ultimate innings eater in R.A. Dickey, a knuckleballer who could conceivably throw 180 pitches, no problem, but who under Manuel is time and again pulled at or around 100 pitches, regardless of how effective he's been. Why should we think Manuel would keep his grubby paws of Lee?

Which leads me to the second number I mentioned in the lede, 162 ... as in the number of 8th innings there are in a major league baseball season. Jerry blames games like last night on the lack of a dependable 8th inning guy, to which I say, find a guy who can pitch an inning a day every single day and I'll show you the moldering corpse of Iron Man McGinnity. If you let an effective starter pitch into the eighth when he can--even if it means letting him throw 120 pitches once in a while--you eliminate the need for an eighth inning guy. You mix and match, and even let your stud $12 million closer get a four or five-out save once in a while. You don't burn out your dependable set-up guys through overuse. You don't rely on a LOOGY trying to impersonate Jesse Orosco, or an erratic rookie with an ERA over eight trying to get out of the nest-to-impossible situation Igarashi was thrust into, last night.

I'm willing to give Manuel the benefit of the doubt on things I have no way of evaluating--leadership in the clubhouse, for instance. Maybe he's great in that capacity, I don't know. But when it comes to managing a baseball game, he's seriously wanting. There are worse tacticians, to be sure (as Manny Acta proved during the Mets' series in Cleveland), but that's damning with the very faintest of praise. The Mets can't win a championship under the charge of so inept a manager. And I don't need a math degree to figure that out.

via www.hagenspan.com