The Tipping Point
The vultures are circling around Willie Randolph.
It started with the crazies on the Fan. It continued with Tim Marchman in the New York Sun last week. It intensified at Bar/Grill in Brooklyn Heights with one of Nails' patented rants. And it exploded on to the message boards of Y2K yesterday.
The people are calling for his head. Truth is it's tough to blame them.
* * * * *
I don't think the Mets' uninspiring first 32 games are Willie's fault. I think it's the fault of guys like Carlos "Team to Beat" Beltran hitting .218, or Reyes hitting .254, or Castillo .242, or Wright .262 (I won't even mention the ghost of Carlos Delgado).
And I think it's the fault of Aaron Heilman having a rough go of it in the early going, and Oliver Perez, and Jorge Sosa.
Bottom line, the players aren't getting it done. But I feel an old adage coming on, don't you? You can't fire the players so you fire the...
Rick Down died for the 2007 Mets' sins. The team was languishing, underachieving in the dog days of summer. The Mets made a move to jump start the team, jettisoning Down in favor of Howard Johnson and Rickey Henderson.
It was, we prayed, 2007's answer to the Yankee Stadium massacre of 2000, when the 27-28 Mets fired three coaches, won the night's ballgame, and won 67 of their remaining 107 games. In 2000 it worked.
Last year, not so much.
* * * * *
Because of the way last season ended, this year is quite unlike any other, ultimately, in Mets history (and I say that as somebody who despises hyperbolic sports writing). The Mets aren't looking for a jump start, they're looking for something like a rebirth.
One thing everyone -- you, me, Omar, Willie -- agrees on, is that the Mets are better than they've played. The problem is it's been that way far too long.
For other talented teams, a 17-15 start wouldn't be the end of the world. It'd be a matter of working out the kinks, or finding the right lineup or bullpen configuration. Hell, the Yankees have played sub-.500 ball for 40 games the last 4 seasons it seems, and then all of a sudden something clicks and they realize they're the Yankees.
The problem for us is that we can't hang our hat on the team waking up and realizing they're the Mets, because waking up and realizing you're a Met means memories of Heilman serving one up to Yadier Molina, or Franco giving up a grand slam to Brian Jordan, or Benitez blowing Game 1, or Rogers throwing Ball 4, or the team losing 5 straight when one win would've meant the playoffs.
There is no inherent magic for the Mets to unearth. This Mets team, like every Mets team, has to make its own luck.
For almost 162 games now, the Mets haven't made any luck at all. They've looked lackluster. They've looked joyless, directionless, they've looked... mediocre.
* * * * *
I've said for a long time they're one winning streak from turning boos in to cheers, and I still believe that.
So what then?
To those calling for Willie's head... I hear you, but I'm not there yet. I'm giving him until June 1, roughly the one year mark of when things started to go south, to turn things around.
On June 1 we'll have something like 50 games in the books; that was time enough to blow it in 2007, and it'd be time enough to nail it in 2008.
The thing that I keep coming back to is the question of who I blame it on, and right now, I'm not satisfied that it's the manager's fault. I still think it's on the players.
There's comes a time when you can't fire the players so you fire -- no, not Rick Down -- you fire the manager. If the Mets play sloppy, uninspired ball for 2 months of this season, on top of 4 months last season, that'll be enough.
The reasons why a manager fails to get the most out of his players goes beyond what you or me can ever know. As much as New York fans think they know everything, on this one we know nothing. We're not in the clubhouse; we're not on the planes or buses; we're not out there near the batting cage.
But that doesn't mean we don't know players falling short of their abilities when we see it. Or more importantly, it doesn't mean we don't know when an entire team is falling short.
Willie's reached the tipping point. He's bending now. I say give him to June 1 to break.
- A.F.O.M.G.
It started with the crazies on the Fan. It continued with Tim Marchman in the New York Sun last week. It intensified at Bar/Grill in Brooklyn Heights with one of Nails' patented rants. And it exploded on to the message boards of Y2K yesterday.
The people are calling for his head. Truth is it's tough to blame them.
* * * * *
I don't think the Mets' uninspiring first 32 games are Willie's fault. I think it's the fault of guys like Carlos "Team to Beat" Beltran hitting .218, or Reyes hitting .254, or Castillo .242, or Wright .262 (I won't even mention the ghost of Carlos Delgado).
And I think it's the fault of Aaron Heilman having a rough go of it in the early going, and Oliver Perez, and Jorge Sosa.
Bottom line, the players aren't getting it done. But I feel an old adage coming on, don't you? You can't fire the players so you fire the...
Rick Down died for the 2007 Mets' sins. The team was languishing, underachieving in the dog days of summer. The Mets made a move to jump start the team, jettisoning Down in favor of Howard Johnson and Rickey Henderson.
It was, we prayed, 2007's answer to the Yankee Stadium massacre of 2000, when the 27-28 Mets fired three coaches, won the night's ballgame, and won 67 of their remaining 107 games. In 2000 it worked.
Last year, not so much.
* * * * *
Because of the way last season ended, this year is quite unlike any other, ultimately, in Mets history (and I say that as somebody who despises hyperbolic sports writing). The Mets aren't looking for a jump start, they're looking for something like a rebirth.
One thing everyone -- you, me, Omar, Willie -- agrees on, is that the Mets are better than they've played. The problem is it's been that way far too long.
For other talented teams, a 17-15 start wouldn't be the end of the world. It'd be a matter of working out the kinks, or finding the right lineup or bullpen configuration. Hell, the Yankees have played sub-.500 ball for 40 games the last 4 seasons it seems, and then all of a sudden something clicks and they realize they're the Yankees.
The problem for us is that we can't hang our hat on the team waking up and realizing they're the Mets, because waking up and realizing you're a Met means memories of Heilman serving one up to Yadier Molina, or Franco giving up a grand slam to Brian Jordan, or Benitez blowing Game 1, or Rogers throwing Ball 4, or the team losing 5 straight when one win would've meant the playoffs.
There is no inherent magic for the Mets to unearth. This Mets team, like every Mets team, has to make its own luck.
For almost 162 games now, the Mets haven't made any luck at all. They've looked lackluster. They've looked joyless, directionless, they've looked... mediocre.
* * * * *
I've said for a long time they're one winning streak from turning boos in to cheers, and I still believe that.
So what then?
To those calling for Willie's head... I hear you, but I'm not there yet. I'm giving him until June 1, roughly the one year mark of when things started to go south, to turn things around.
On June 1 we'll have something like 50 games in the books; that was time enough to blow it in 2007, and it'd be time enough to nail it in 2008.
The thing that I keep coming back to is the question of who I blame it on, and right now, I'm not satisfied that it's the manager's fault. I still think it's on the players.
There's comes a time when you can't fire the players so you fire -- no, not Rick Down -- you fire the manager. If the Mets play sloppy, uninspired ball for 2 months of this season, on top of 4 months last season, that'll be enough.
The reasons why a manager fails to get the most out of his players goes beyond what you or me can ever know. As much as New York fans think they know everything, on this one we know nothing. We're not in the clubhouse; we're not on the planes or buses; we're not out there near the batting cage.
But that doesn't mean we don't know players falling short of their abilities when we see it. Or more importantly, it doesn't mean we don't know when an entire team is falling short.
Willie's reached the tipping point. He's bending now. I say give him to June 1 to break.
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 10:15 AM
4 Comments:
This is an extremely articulate and entirely reasonable "take" on the Mets current mediocrity. I'm 100% with you. June is fine with me. Though I must admit that, in light of Willie's distrust for change or inability to effect it, I can't imagine anything new will happen between now and then. Worst case is that we run off more wins than not before June 1 (which will happen at some point this season with the current team arrangement no matter what; this team has not underperformed to the degree that it only loses) but, nothing having changed, we slide back into the comfort zone of .500 ball.
Marchman's second article against Willie was particularly to the point. He's not an NL manager. And he's shown that he's not going to become one. If the market for potential managers is somehow a desert right now - truthfully, i doubt it, but who knows? - fine, Willie is far from the worst. But I suspect we could at least get someone under whom the team will be no less mediocre but, as a manager, has a tactical clue. That alone would constitute an improvement, and one that I imagine to be eminently available (rather than, say, a good first baseman), which is all I'm hoping for.
I'd love to see Pelfrey get some swings and misses tonight. Beware Brandon Phillips. And, now, I'm back to writing them papers...
Also, do hawks circle around things that are about to die? They might, but I thought it was vultures that did that. Does more than one species circle like that?
Fucking birds.
You know what's funny is I knew when I wrote it that there was a particular type of bird that I was thinking of, but was completely blanking on what they were. Vultures! I've updated the post, good catch.
As to whether hawks circle, got me.
I don't think lister's right when he says Willie is a bad NL manager. Maybe he's not the best strategist with some smallball type things, but I think he's just fine really. Everyone has their quirks, and I've never met a manager that fans didn't criticize one aspect of their strategy.
The way I look at it, if you don't fire Willie for last season in the offseason, you can't fire him for last season during this season. If you dismiss last year as last year, this 71-71 stuff is bogus. And it's true, those numbers don't count. Of course, if the Mets continue at this pace, you _can_ fire him for 30 and 28. I just think if you're going to make a change mid-season, you do it for the benefit it might do in that season, not for the overall evaluation of him. And like you said, you can't fire the players, but you have to try to do something if they're continuing to play bad. Whether or not it's a good move or not.
We've got 10 games (at home*) coming up against bad pitching teams. This is the time for the offense to raise there averages, get some wins, and strengthen themselves for that 4game series with the Braves culminating with the release of Indiana Jones. I think Willie will know if he should start sweating or relaxing by the time he sits down for the movie.
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