Could you imagine Jerry Manuel if he had Figgins? Would Figgins EVER swing the bat? He'd probably be bunting at every pitch he wasn't looking at. The Mets are obsessed with name players. They couldn't dump Looey and Ollie and hope to get some kind of undevalued M's system player like they did when they got John Maine from the Orioles....they'd have to take back Figgins so they could keep up this facade that they're contending. It's amazing to see the disconnect between players and fans. I think the fans, by and large, would support a rebuilding effort that had a vision of some sort, but the management keeps making these half-hearted desperate moves to respond to last year's problems so they have something to point to. -X-
I don't know if they would. I wanted the team blown up after the '07 disaster. I suggested either Wright or Reyes should be moved. That was met with great displeasure on this board. The next day on the radio Francesser was talking about the same thing. Almost every Mets fan caller was vehemently opposed to it. The Wilpons should have gone nuts after that historic collapse. Minaya and Randolph should have been fired immediately and One Third Glavine should have been buried alive in a wooded area.
The Mets just don't get the idea of having a core and then putting young, inexpensive, controlled players behind that core. They're severely deluded in that regard. They think free agency as it stands will be here forever and that they'll get value players that way, but that's not really the case. Small market teams are wised up about retaining the good young players, and the only ones that will hit the market are going to be the damaged goods types(Prince Fielder, just before his back explodes, for instance) who will give you more down years than up years and be immovable. Ollie Perez, who they bought into as the second coming of Koufax, is never going to regain his velocity or, alternately, become a crafty lefty in the El Duque mold, but they continue to keep him around instead of cutting bait. Louis Castillo will probably be brought back next year with even less in the tank than this year, and they'll overvalue Ruben Tejada, who is probably best suited to be the Mets utility infielder for the next decade. Or worse, they'll go out and sign a now mid 30's Orlando Hudson to the same prohibitive deal they gave Castillo, two years too late. It's just predictably awful and unwatchable. It's like they'd rather ensure mediocrity than take a chance. It's halfhearted crap. -X-
I don't see '11 being any better. They are likely stuck with Beltran, Castillo, and Perez for one more year each. They are stuck with Bay. I predicted 14 or 15 home runs from him this year, but he may finish stuck on 6. I hated the Bay signing and he's been worse than I expected! It's tough to take. As for Wright and Reyes, the Mets chose not to be bold in late '07/early '08. I wish one was moved. Why couldn't one of them have been dealt for another veteran or two? Now, almost three seasons have passed. What have these two guys done? They have not helped the Mets make the playoffs. The fans don't seem too crazed about them anymore. The attendance figures indicate so. Wright and Reyes are both going to be up for new deals in the not too distant future. What the hell will the Mets do then? Well, whatever they decide to do, it is a safe bet it'll turn out to be the wrong decision.
I agree with almost everything you say, besides the notion that they should have traded Wright or Reyes. Neither one of those guys is responsible for Carlos Beltran's sub .800 OPS in 2007 or the Mets giving a zillion at bats to a combination of Gomez/Milledge/Green/ in the outfield. Also, Paul LoDuca sucked balls. Moreover, do you want a guy that gave up so much depth for a setup man with a bum arm(Putz) dealing your top talents? Do you honestly think Omar Minaya would have gotten a good return on investment? The Mets are an organization, remember, that went into this season thinking Alex Cora, Mike Jacobs, and Gary Matthews were acceptable bench players. -X-
Yes, but I wanted Minaya fired. I wanted the Wilpons to go ballistic like George Steinbrenner would have done. Minaya? You're fired. Randolph? You're fired. One Third Glavine? You're coming with us. Get in the back seat. The Wilpons then should have gone outside the organization for the new general manager. That man would have evaluated everything. Perhaps he would have decided to peddle Wright or Reyes. If nothing good came from that, then they stay and the team could be built properly around them. I didn't want Reyes or Wright traded for unknown prospects. I wanted a big hittin' vet in return. We must understand that what happened in 2007 was historic. It's damn near impossible to come back from that shit with the same people. Hell, the 2008 Mets proved it is extremely difficult. The collapse of '07 haunts them to this day. Heilman should have been discarded after the home run in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. This clown team brought him back for '07. If your QB fouls up a big game (see Romo at Seattle in playoffs), you have to live with it and move on. If a far less important player messes up real bad in a huge game, get him the fuck off the team as soon as possible. Doug Brien missed two kicks late in a playoff game. The Jets got rid of him after that. Why the hell do the Chargers continue to employ Nate Kaeding? I don't get it. Same idea with Heilman. He was not the ace pitcher. He was just a relief pitcher. I believe allowing a home run in a huge spot leaves scars. He should have been moved that winter.
That's like saying Kellen Clemens had some good games with the Jets. I can pull up all sorts of anti-Heilman posts from 2007. He's one- http://forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=606843&postcount=144
I think it's so complicated. Jeff Wilpon has accomplished nothing on his own, and his dad's experiment in giving him a legacy is what drives this team. This doesn't work with the Knicks. They take the wrong hands on approach. The Yankees hands on approach, which you're referring to, means holding managers accountable and finding the best person for every job, whether it's on the field or in the organization, whatever it takes. The Mets approach is "find the best guy who can work within this broken framework we've created so Jeffy can have some self-esteem and we can have balanced books." That's absurd. It's penny smart, dollar dumb, and it gets you where they are now. -X-
Watching the Mets is like watching a car accident, there is a bunch of twisted, mangled steel and metal yet you know that there was somebody driving that car that is responsible for it. I don't even know where to begin, this team hasn't won back to back games in nearly 2 months and they announce that they'll bring back an inept GM which likely means they'll bring back Jerry. I was so close to jumping off the bridge with this franchise last September and they haven't shown any inclination to improve. The Bay signing was terrible and it shows. The Wilpons lost how much money in the Madoff crap yet they give Omar a blank check book to overpay for mediocre talent. Where is the return on that investment? I had a chance to go to the game on Sunday in Philly for free and decided against it, what was the point? There is a part of me that says fuck this franchise but I have invested so much money and emotion into this team that it's not easy to do and say lets start over with somebody else. That's the easy way out but it's difficult to root for an organization that tells the fans your not important and fuck off on a near yearly basis.
