It was finally good to see Willie Randolph talk about Duaner Sanchez not being ready. But, why doesn’t he cut the nonsense with him and Orlando Hernandez and say they aren’t going north?
Neither are close to being ready and he knows it. And, I can guarantee the issue of Brian Schneider’s lack of playing time will become an issue if he gets off to a bad start. How can it not?
23 Comments
I agree.
I think with El Duque it is just a matter of a veteran who has a lot of pride. You kinda go with it. At the end of spring you just sit down with him man to man in the office and look him in the eye. You probably don’t have to say much.
El Duque will do what is right as long as you leave the door open for when he is ready.
Sanchez is younger and does not have the resume. You state the obvious. He is not ready to pitch at the major league level. He needs to work to get his body ready. They will need him later in the year and don’t want to damage him two years in a row. It is all the truth and if he can see the truth for what it is will do what is best for himself and the team and not force the issue.
To be fair, all the spring training in the world wasn’t going to make Schneider ready for the season… he just isn’t very good.
But fair points otherwise.
why would Willie make an ultimate assertion right now about those two players? What would be the point? What if they are able to make it? then you say, oh i was wrong? Why not just say, i don’t know, we’ll see. I know it doesn’t make the media or fans happy, but why should the manager or the team care about that? They’re concerned with winning games, if they’re not sure a guy will be ready, why make any assertion on that? What’s the point really? why should they care? They have time, there’s no reason to make a decision now. THAT would be ridiculous in my mind, to make a decision righ tnow, and then be like, oh we’re sticking by that. What sense would that make?
You’re all gonna faint, but I’m gonna agree with Metsfan on this one…..
As for Schneder JD, how would you know if he got off to a bad start? Everyone said he wasn’t here to hit…. But he’s sure not learning to work with any of the pitchers is he?
John your so right about El Duque, Duaner and Brian Schneider. I don’t understand why Willie has this Eric Mangini like attitude when it comes to talking to the media, it seems like he still doesn’t trust the press. Like you said just “cut the nonsense” and be honest, it’s not like it’s going to give the Mets a competitive disadvantage. Everyone knows whats going on with both these guys, other teams scouts have been watching them all Spring, it’s no secret. You bring up a great point about Schneider getting off to a bad start, but I think he’s in a loose, loose situation. He’s already a poor hitter to begin with, hasn’t gotten many at bats this Spring and he’s replacing a fan favorite in Lo Duca.
The lack of information or candid comments from Willie, Omar, etc. has and will probably remain the Mets MO. Your not gonna get a forthcoming answer.
Scheinder does not have to play to work w/the pitchers. He has been working with them in BP sessions and I’m sure he has been talking w/them all spring about their pitching. It isn’t the same as games, but it isn’t accurate to say that he has not worked w/the pitching staff.
Sloppy: Suppose he’s around .200. Or worse, can’t you imagine a game when some pitcher gets taken deep that costs them a game and says he wasn’t happy with the pitch? Happens a lot.-JD
I agree with MetsFan. There is no need for Willie and the organization to make a definitive statement on these two. I know we’ll see doesn’t move papers, but from an organizational perspective, its probably the best way to go.
”...and he’s replacing a fan favorite in Lo Duca.”
Eh, speak for yourself. I know a lot of Mets fans, myself among them, who were tired of LoDuca and his act last year. He was an average ballplayer who got a lot of attention for his “fire” and was lucky enough to play in big markets in LA and NY.
Say what you will about Lo Duca and his off the field antics, the guy is more then an average ballplayer, you want to see an average ballplayer your going to get one in Brian Schneider. Duca is a 4 time All-Star, a legit number 2 hitter who can pretty much bat anywhere in a lineup, with a career .288 average. I know Paulies defense wasn’t the best, but it’s solid enough. I mean we were one game away from going to the World Series with this guy in 2006., now he’s not good enough. How many All-Star appearances has MR. Schneider appeared in?
Lo Duca was that player you described. He is no longer that player at the age of 36, which is 6 years older than Schneider. That is a considerable age difference. One could also question some of Lo Duca’s past accomplishments upon which his All-Star selections were based since he was named in the Mitchell report. Further, last year from an offensive standpoint, Schneider and Lo Duca were basically the same with an OPS+ of 77 and 80 respectively. However Schneider was better defensively. I think going forward, Schneider is a better all-around option than Lo Duca, even with the bat.
I’m really not worried about Schneider’s lack of playing time in ST. As others have said, he’s been working with all the pitchers in the bullpen. I have a feeling the whole lineup is going to struggle in April anyway, mostly because of Delgado, and for the simple reason that pitchers are usually ahead of the hitters early in the year. But the Mets will nevertheless be fine because of their improved rotation and bullpen.
JD: I do imagine games like that. I made that comment about his hitting because he hits so poorly normally, what is a slump and what is a lack of playing time to get ready in his case. I agree with you and Keith that he loses the feel for the pitcher in a game.
I didn’t catch, but a practice session and a game can’t compare. I’d leave him and Castro in PSL until theweather gets warm up North, otherwise these hammies will go first real cold night…..
JD: To suggest that Schneider starts off and hits .200 in April is hardly a reach. Anyone expecting more than .240 is living in fantasy land. As long as he is catching well and the Mets are winning, noone will care what he is hitting.
“Lo Duca was that player you described. He is no longer that player at the age of 36, which is 6 years older than Schneider” I completely agree with you.
I was simply responding to the comment that Lo Duca was just an “average ballplayer”.
We will see Paulie and LM often enuf this year.
It will certainly be the topic d’jour when we meet.
The amount of playing time Scheinder gets will probably depend more on how healthy Castro is than on Scheinder. He certainly won’t play much against lefties and I would bet he won’t play in day games after nite.
If Castro is healthy, I’d guess he will get 60-70 games and scheinder will get 90-100 or so.
When it comes down to it, there are only a couple of guys who catch who can hit. So to expect much hitting from your catcher is not something to be counted on. But Mets will have better defense back there this yr. Hopefully that makes up for offense, not that LoDuca was some great bat.
Mets are expecting low scoring games. It wasn’t reported much but the coaches had everyone out there going thru the drills to be sure that team plays crisply. I take that as a sign that they know they are in for alot of 4-2, 5-3 games.
I was sick of LoDuca’s BS as well… it was one thing when he could hit, it was another thing when he lost the ability to hit.
I mean, I’m sure he’ll still produce better than The Schnide but if he had been replaced by a catcher with even rudimentary hitting skills, I’d be very happy to see Captain Roidass gone.
scoop: I take the drills as a sign the team was having the same listless, who cares attitude they had last year. Wow, the coaches tried to get them to play hard… Sad for the players…
slop, I don’t see this lasse fare attitude. No reporter has even mentioned this idea. It would seem that the coaches know they are in for alot of close games with no Alou and an unsure Delgado.
Last yr they had some of the lasse fare. But when you get down to it, the RP ERA went from 2nd to 15th and the record in games where they lead after 6 inn went from something like 74-2 to 65-10. You lose that many more games late and your gonna walk away with 88 wins instead of 97. Throw in a couple of starts by the latest retread (Lawrenece) and throw Humber into the deep end of the pool and you get a collapse.
Attitude matters. But you can have a great attitude but w/o talent you are not going anywhere (ask your Pirate friends). Mets BP lacked talent (depth), they had no #5 all yr, no elduqe (#4) for the last 6 wks or so, and a tired OP and JM for parts of the 2nd half. Those things matter too.
If it means anything, the RP this spring has been very good. And they are 14-7 this spring. Go back to 03, 04; spring records were dismal. 05 was very good, 06 was fine and 07 was about .500. Is there a correlation? Well we know how bad 03/04 teams were. Maybe when team is bad there is more correlation.
I got that impression clearly from Keith last night when Wright hutled to 2nd.
Spring reord is irrelevant. The way you play the game isn’t, and you can’t just say, I’ll go thru the motions for a month and then try hard for a while. Bad habits don’t go away quickly…..
I think it is time to name David Wright the Captain of this team.
Forget his age – he is the eldest of four brothers (he is putting them through college although he never got to go himself) and the son of the Chief of Detectives in Norfolk and an elementary school teacher.
David’s way of playing the Game has always spoken for itself – his idol was Derek Jeter and now they are friends and speak often. Both of them are young, single and handsome in NYC, but they are absolutely professional veterans at their game.
Just watch them.
Omar, Willie, Fred or whoever – Please ask David to be the Mets Captain now – you will never regret it.
I got the impression from keith H that it was about DW’s attitude of being a hustler, not that there was an issue of the rest of the team not hustling.
LoDuca was an average player. Making an all star team, especially at a thin position such as catcher, is not indicative of anything. And we’re talking about LoDuca, not Schneider, so even bringing up Schneider is irrelevant. No one would ever try to make the argument that Schneider had a better career than LoDuca.
We also made the WS with Bennny Agbayani playing LF… does that make Benny a great player? I don’t think so.
Anyway, what’s wrong with being an average ballplayer? I don’t understand why/how/when this became an insult. League average production is very valuable, so for the most part, LoDuca was a valuable player, especially considering his position. But let’s not mention him in the same class as Piazza, Carter, etc.