On Tap Today: Alou gets MRI.
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- May
- 22
-No word yet on Moises Alou’s MRI. He’s in NY now being examined. Alou has a strained left calf, something he said that has bothered him for several days. Alou has had these things before and said it will be a few days. Fernando Martinez, by the way, is on the minor league DL with a popped hamstring. He’ll be down for three weeks. Brady Clark is injured. There’s no help coming up from the minors.
-Ryan Church hopes to play tonight, but that decision probably won’t be made until after BP. If Church can’t play, look for Endy Chavez to start in right. Damion Easley or Fernando Tatis could end up in left tonight.
-Tonight is when Johan Santana earns his money. Let’s face it, the team has hit the skids and Santana has to hit the brakes. Tim Hudson for the Braves, so it won’t be easy.
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on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm by John Delcos.
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”...There’s no help coming up from the minors.”
Valentino Pascucci.
Don’t worry, though!
If they lose, its just because the umps are prejudiced against Willie!
I voted for Hilary in the Cali primary but… the comparisons between her inability to quit and Willie’s inability to admit that he needs to step down are… stunningly similar.
Every excuse in the world, change every metric, they’re both like The Black Knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”...
Lying there, limbless, and saying its only a fleshwound.
Obama has the delegates.
Willie’s bullcrap stoic-and-professional thing doesn’t motivate 21st century primadonna players.
Time to quit before your flailing thrashing screaming attempts to justify your hanging on makes things worse.
Time to go, Willie.
If the bats don’t wake up, not a whole heck of a lot Santana can do.
Unless he hits a couple of home runs to support himself.
wow Mikey C….compairing Willie to Hillary is a real stretch.
Look, this team is fatally flawed and in my estimation, there is no fixing this year. Alou is done and even when he’s in the lineup, the guys got no homers and about 4 rbi’s. Castillo, even though he played well last season, is toast. The guy bobbles every ball hit to him. The Mets need to sever these relationships and let the kids play. the season is over Johnny….let the kids play. In the offseason, we’ll have to worry about LF, 1B, 2B, #2 pitcher, and #4 pitcher. That’s a big bill to fill for Omar and many of these positions are gonna have to be filled with rookies/journeymen.
BTW, free Willie now and let’s get it over with!!!!!!!!!!!
If Mets lose 6-2 or worse tonite, I stand by prediction that Willie won’t make the flight to Col.
Team is playing tight as a drum.
Anybody got the over/under on how many home runs Santana gives up tonight, if not, lets make it 2. I got the over, I’ll say Santana gives up three tonight.
Another prediction, this isn’t a hard one, Alou on the DL. What a surprise.
The good news is that the season cannot be lost in May – no team has jumped out to a big lead in the NL East. The bad news is that the Mets seemingly cannot win as constituted. I don’t know that anything can be done for this season; I think they need some new players AND a new manager, not because Willie is a bad manager, but because he is managing a group of players who need motivation. Willie, for whatever reason, isn’t getting through – guys like Delgado and Perez may be gone next year, but others like Reyes and Pelfrey are here to stay. Joe Torre wasn’t fiery, and he wasn’t even a mediocre strategist, but his players never wanted to let him down. More often than not, he got the most out of them. That isn’t happening here.
Does anyone have info other than his current stats on Pascucci? Someone that plays first and OF and has some pop in his bat would be a definite plus right now.
I for one am pretty sick and tired of having to look at another line in an article or post that says “Tonight is when Johan Santana earns his money.” There have been far too many times in this short season so far that we have had to read this. One of these days he is going to be off and not “earn his money.” Not everyone is perfect.
JM—I think it’s safe to say that most coaches/managers, outside of a select few, have a limited shelf life with a given group of players. Sooner or later, the players begin to tune that manager out. That doesn’t mean the manager is a bad manager—just that he’s no longer right for the given team.
I think most Met fans saw this with Davey Johnson, who was certainly the right guy for turning a bunch of young players into winners—but not so much for when they became established veterans. We might be seeing something similar with Willie: He might have served a purpose in instilling an expectation of winning in the organization—but might not be the right guy to take them to the next level.
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=11018
He hits homers and draws walks. In short, a welcome addition to any struggling team.
This team needs to be be jump started. The only way to do that is to either find something that unites them all, like a mutual hatred for an opponent, or, something to shock the team as whole. WFAN suggested today that if the Mets do not want to get rid of Wllie than they should dump Delgado as a message to the other players. I do not think the Mets would ever do this because of the salary dump and buy out for 2009 they would have to do. The other thing suggested, which Ron and Keith also said last night, was to get in a brawl with the other team and see who on your team is going to back you up. The problem with that idea is that they may find the guys that will back you up to be very few.
Any entertainment value in watching the Mets is all but gone. As soon as they fall behind, it feels like even a one run deficit is insurmontable. I do not think this team can turn it around with the current players. And if they are still a .500 club near the trading deadline and the division is largely out of reach, that they become sellers and trade all but their nucleus players (Wright, Beltran, Reyes, Maine, Santana) for young talent to look to the future.
Thanks Tiffany!
Santana could very well earn his money tonight and pitch 8 innings, give up 2 runs, and the mets will still lose because they can’t score more than 1 run (except in garbage time).
yes, there is a lot of season left to play but it is looking more and more like we are moving further and further away from the goal of winning a world series (2006 last being when we were closest).
I think that if this type of play continues through all of June, regardless of where we are in the standings (meaning if we’re still at or around .500 but only 3-4 games back) then we should look to sell as many players as possible in an attempt to rebuild.
Alou, Castro, Chavez, Anderson, Easley, Pagan, Ollie Perez, Heilman, Schoenweiss, Feliciano, Wise, Sanchez and even Wagner should all be made available (I would include Delgado and Castillo if I thought they were movable—which obviously is not the case).
Alex – I especially like that the list did not include Joe Smith, who I think has a successful future ahead of him!
All I’m saying is:
Other than the two Yankee games where the Yanks were even MORE demoralized than the Mets were, is this team awake and alive?
They’re asleep at-bat, asleep on the bases, asleep in the field and streaky on the mound.
Motivation is one of the FEW things you CAN pin on a manager.
And motivation is lacking deeply.
To the Wilpons:
I understand that you recently met with Omar and Willie and issued a warning of †turn things around by __ or there will be changes made.â€
As a forty year customer of your business, I ask that you please advise us, your fan base the deadline date of this ultimatum. Because I for one, am done watching this pathetic team right now.
Please let me know when I can tune back in with hopes to see a team with the heart, grit and determination to win some ball games.
Every day, we the general public have to deal with rising gas prices, rising food prices, downturns in the job market and all the other BS. There used to be nothing better than tuning into the Mets game and enjoying the entertainment while watching with my son. There is no enjoyment here, and hasn’t been for months.
I know you’ve tried. You put a lot of money out there, brought in some great talent – but things are just not working out and changes need to be made NOW. To heck with that “it’s early†crap, do you forget how many games we lost the division by last year? EVERY game counts.
So please, just post a date when we can expect some changes and I’ll be sure to watch again. In the meantime, I’ll be outside throwing pitches to my three year old son. He hits the ball better than most of your team.
alex your reaction actually make the firing of Willie logical.
If you fire Willie and the team is still playing horrible under a new manager then selling off any or all of the above players would then make sense.
Then you know it is the players.
At this point it really is not known how much of the problem is the players and how much is the manager not getting through to the players.
Amidst the garbage that is the 2008 New York Mets…
Let’s all take a moment to reflect on one of the great days in Mets history. Exactly 10 years ago today, the Mets acquired Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins. I still remember where I was the second I found out about this trade and how I instantly knew things were different the moment we got him. I’ll never forget the 8 years Piazza played at Shea and he single-handedly contributed to some of my happiest moments as a sports fan.
stillsane-
the exclusion of joe smith from the list was on purpose. he is young and cheap and effective (at worst as a righty specialist and at best as a setup guy). three highly desirable commodities when filling spots in the bullpen.
scott –
i am in favor of firing willie. i think he is a poor in game manager (and i do feel that is of some importance) and that he is clearly having trouble seeing the reality of what is happening to his ballclub (dating back to last year) and that it may very well be a situation where change for change sake might be needed to get this group to play better. but, that said, i’m still of the belief that it’s not the manager who is playing and that regardless of who is the manager, this team is not capable of winning a championship as currently comprised.
Willie showed by his comments and apologies of last week that his preoccupation is with his own image and how people perceive him, and, treat him. His team’s performance ran a poor second. Managing a team that is doing well suited Willie just fine in 2006. Managing a team that is not doing well,or, failing to do so, is the true testament of a successful manager. I do not think Willie had the mangerial experience to handle the situation. Consequently, it has now degraded to where it is now, and, I believe has Willie overwhelmed.
Mets lose tonight and Willie is gone. It may even be too late if they win.
I for one would not mind dumping Delgado. I am sure you can get a platoon of some sort that can do at least as well. It may be something that wakes up the team. He has been underachieving for some time and I do not believe you lose much by cutting now.
The salary dump is an issue for the owners and the GM would have some ‘splaining to do. But something needs to be done. As for Castillo, they just signed him to a 4 yr, so they would have to pay to get him out of here. That means Omar has to tell his boss that I screwed up.
Bringing up this guy Pascucci is a good idea. There needs to be more youth here. I think dumping Easley and/or Anderson for some youth and energy is doable.
I agree strongly with the tenor of these arguments. I particularly like stillsane’s comment regarding the fact that it is “easier” to manage a winning team—Willie has had since the middle of last season to show that he can positively influence this team. He is clearly incapable and, as JD commented, his oddball comments of the past few days only contribute to his lack of focus and command of what appears to be a sinking ship. Yes, grownup men making millions of dollars to play a game and entertain people shouldn’t need a “cheerleader” to perform to their potential (or at least for goodness’ sake come CLOSE). So maybe Alex is correct—hell, even my teenaged son said last night that he thinks 2008 will be a rebuilding year, what a comedown from “WS or bust”, right?
But all that I know is that I’ve been a baseball fan for over 40 years and I cannot watch these guys anymore—it’s just not fun.
JT
Regarding Val Pascucci: I’m positive a 29 year old career minor leaguer is just the medicine that ails the Mets!
And wait a second..this just in…Roberto Petagine is available too!!!
Alex yes this team is not championship caliber today, but the 2006 Cardinals also would not be considered a championship caliber team.
At this point Willie most likely could not get them into the playoffs.
This is why a change could not hurt.
If the Mets win tonight and take 2 of 3 in Colorado Willie saves his job otherwise the end is near.
Dave: As far as Castillo, yes his contract is bad but if his being A Met helped them even a little bit to get Santana it was worth the money. The fact is Castillo is really the only bad contract with any length that will be on the books at the end of the year.
This team was founded for Queens and Long Islanders years ago, WE have to stop with these third world immigrant players coming here, playing OUR game, taking OUR money, not standing for theAnthem, and choking all the time doing cuchi cuchi dances and embarrassing us.
Moises Alou gave us 14 games and 47 at bats of great hitting before re-injurying himself. About what we should have expected.
How many of these “Santana earns his money” comments have we had so far this year?
Great point Dave, and add the manager to your list. HABS INSIDE/OUT and Blue line are organozing a hockey tourney on the Island this month. Go to either site for info.
Well, dude was Joe Torre’s protege…
Of COURSE he only knows how to manage when its going well… that’s the knock on Torre too.
Well, that and an inability to handle the bullpen better than just throwing darts at a list of your relievers.
...and an inability to ever give young players a chance.
Yeah, he’s Joe Torre Lite.
He is what he is… and what that is should be fired.
Dave, with comments like that, you’re the embarrassment.
Val Pascucci is not going to turn things around. There won’t be any quick fixes for this team.
Parcells used to say that you are what your record says you are. At this point and time the Mets are a .500 team.
So, let me get this straight. Firing willie is going to make Delgado become a good hitter or Alou staying healthy or the bull pen especially Heilman pitch well or the starters going 7 innings or reyes taking pitches and getting on base or Beltran
hitting in the clutch or castillo hitting the ball. If you think this is Willie’s fault than you people are not seeing the big picture.
tomg, so when is the manager accountable for his team underachieving?
Keith: AHA!!!!!...Who says this team IS underacheiving?
Steve, let’s not play revisionist historian. Going into the season if you looked at this team on paper they looked like contenders. Even with Delgado playing horribly and Alou in and out of the lineup, they should still be better than this. Reyes, Beltran, and Wright have not been performing up their All Star standards and Castillo hasn’t been hitting either. On the pitching side, other than Johan, Maine, Wagner, and Smith everyone has been up and down.
In short, the team has underachieved and played inconsistent ball for a while now. One game they look like world beaters and the next they look like they’re underwater. The main job of a manager is to have his players ready to play, and all too often these guys do not look like they want to be on the field.
Keith: Further to my comment…we all knew whether we wanted to believe it or not, that this team was flawed coming in. Relying on bounce back years, old players, hopefully flukey downturn from our shortstop. And how did we rationalize it? By saying, “oh the teams in our division have as many holes as we do.” What kind of argument is that? I don’t want to have big gaping holes and be thankful that the Mets might have a little less than anyone else. Let’s face it, this team may not be underacheiving. They may just be a .500 team and no better than that.
Keith: Yes, they were contenders comparing them to the other questionmarks in the league. There was no way you could tell me that coming in this team was the best team in the NL, or even the NL East.
Keith,
is this team underachieving? or is this team over rated? We tend to do this in New York. We have aging players. We don’t have a farm system. This is the team Omar has developed, obviously the logical thing to do is fire the manager. If your going to fire the manager than the pitching coach should follow with all the other coaches. I don’t think it will turn crap in to gold.
True Willie is not responsible for how the teams hits or fields , and the performance of the starting pitchers but his management of the bullpen is his fault. Willie has not gotten the best out of the pen and he has most certainly overworked them.
Willie should be fired now and if the pitching continues to perform the same Peterson should be out the door at the end of the year.
One question for everyone is this team in better shape for the future ( no matter what happens this year ) than at the end of 2004.
Of course Pascucci is not goint to “turn the team around,” but he is better than Easley, Anderson, Tatis, Pagan, Clark, Chavez… basically every player on the Mets bench.
Willie isn’t responsible for how the team hits or fields? I’d say he’s responsible for getting his personnel to perform to their abilities. Who on the team is currently doing this?
If every manager were fired because they have players who don’t perform “to their abilities” then they’d have to fire all 30 of them.
They pretty much do get fired eventually. But tell me this: How many of them have presided over the worst collapse in baseball history and get to keep their job?
After presiding over baseball history’s worst collapse, Torre kept his job for three years while being paid more than any other manager. Plus, he never got out of the first round again despite a $200 million payroll.
His collapse wasn’t worse than Willie’s. And, besides, he already had a handful of World Series titles by that time. Willie has won nothing that would provide him such benefit of the doubt.
But I can’t help but notice that you haven’t answered my question: Who on this team is playing to his ability?
Torre’s collapse was worse than what the Mets went through last year. Most definitely. And Torre had a handful of WS titles thanks to better talent and a little help from PEDs.
I didn’t answer the question because there is no one answer for any single player. For example, ask 10 baseball savvy people what the ability of Delgado is at this endpoint of his career and you’ll get 10 different answers. So it all depends what standard you apply to each player.
JK, you’re fighting a losing battle here. The Mets were more talented than the Cardinals in 2006. They should have at least made the Series. And to minimize all of Torre’s WS rings because the Mitchell Report named a handful of guys on the 2000 team that did them is just ridiculous.
I don’t see how you could call this team overrated.
They won 88 games last year with crappy production from their C and almost 0 power from RF, and a revolving door at 2B. You would think adding Church in RF, Schneider behind the dish, and Castillo at 2B would improve the lineup. Oh yeah, we also added Johan.
I’ll restate my point from another thread. Reyes, Wright, Castillo and Beltran are not getting it done. Ditto Perez and Heilman. You can whine and moan about Delgado being finished or Alou being injured, but the bottom line is Ryan Church has been our best hitter, with Angel Pagan not far behind. That’s just not going to get it done.
No loss in a playoff series by any team in any sport can be considered worse than a collapse in the regular season. The 64 Phils and the 07 Mets will be infamous forever. Those that blow playoffs with 3-0 or 3-1 leads are mentioned when another team comes close to such a feat. to spend an entire year in first place and give it away in the last 2-3 weeks is devastating. Everyone knows playoffs are a crap shoot, and losing 4 in a row isn’t nearly as devasatating as throwing away what you spend 6 months working to achieve.
Gene Mauch/Willie Randolph will be tied together forever in the annals of baseball for choking. Torre will be remembered for winning 4 WS.
Joe Torre’s Yankees won because of PEDs is a truly amazing statement, since this is the first time anyone has implied that the Yankees were playing on PEDs while the teams they defeated weren’t. I would like to see the evidence for such a major accusation.
Keith—You’ve crystallized my thoughts eloquently: We can bitch and moan about older players, but it’s the young guys—guys like Reyes, Wright and Beltran—who aren’t getting it done. If those three were doing their thing right now, we wouldn’t be worrying about the old guys.