Category: Management

Highest Payroll in National League Should Be Good For Fourth Place

David Daniels writes that the Mets, despite the highest payroll in the National League, will continue to underachieve in 2010.

Courtesy of permanantly scatterbrained FlickrEditor’s Note: This is a guest post by long-time Mets fan David Daniels. David is a Long Island native that gives his take on the state of the Mets in 2010. You can read David’s work at his site on Long Island life and tech.

Baseball’s back! Let the season begin, but before it does here is where I think this Mets team will stand at the end of the year. Stock up on your Rolaids and Tums because we’re in for another wild ride and when the dust clears this team will be in 4th place and possibly fighting for the basement of this division.

Why? This team has entirely too many issues so I’m going to start at the top:

Management – A clown of a GM, two straight collapses, a ballpark dedicated to another team, a manager fired in the middle of the night, a beat writer blamed for the team’s troubles, not to mention the Madoff mess where the Wilpons may, or may not have, lost significant money – Mets Management has one debacle after another to their credit and, yes, we will get more of the same this year. I just don’t trust this management team with making any decision bigger that deciding if “Frankie should go back to glasses.”

From managing the media, to managing injuries to managing the farm system, the Mets have failed miserably at all three. The newest instances with Reyes’ and Beltran’s most recent injuries just reaffirms that management and the medical staff are still not on the same page. Expect more bad decisions by management regarding injuries. I just hope they don’t ruin any careers.

Having solid management from top to bottom is the foundation of a successful franchise. Another losing season and Omar’s gotta go. We’re stuck with the Wilpons because I really don’t think they will ever sell the team. The Mets need a new blueprint for success. Paying top dollar for free agents and plugging all your holes with retread players is a formula that Omar has proven does not work. Let’s cut our losses early this year. No waiting till 2012 when Omar’s contract expires. The Wilpons should have a replacement for him ready to go by the July trading deadline or there will be many empty seats after July. Except me. I enjoy buying $.99 seats on Stubhub. Really!

Continue reading “Highest Payroll in National League Should Be Good For Fourth Place”

Mets Links: Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Jerry Manuel, More

New York Mets Jerry Manuel walks with his head down to the dugout against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field in New York

I’m trying to be positive on the day that Mets single game tickets go on sale. It’s tough to do that after the team drove straight into a brick wall in 2009, but this is a new season. I’m ready for the Mets to start winning some games next month when the real games start. And I’m hoping that they can get some payback on some teams, especially in the division, that beat them down pretty badly last year.

The links below are pretty negative about the team, in general. I think that’s partially due to the news about the team but it’s also because it’s so much easier to write a negative story than a positive one. Negative stories seem to attract more attention than stories about how everything in great in Mets nation, if there is such a thing. I don’t think the Mets situation is ideal right now but I’m not completely down on them either.

How can you be completely down on the team with the highest payroll in the National League? The highest payroll certainly doesn’t guarantee wins as we saw last year. But it sure gives the Mets a chance to be in it to the end. This isn’t a Pirates situation going on here. There’s no rebuilding or looking forward to two or three years down the road. The Mets roster has a legitimate shot to be in the race late in the 2010 season.

Continue reading “Mets Links: Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Jerry Manuel, More”

Mets 2010 Stars Already Aligned

Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

I’ve been disappointed that the Mets didn’t do more to shore up the pitching rotation this offseason. I’m also surprised that they didn’t attempt an upgrade, even incremental, at first base. The more that I thought about it, after John Lackey, Matt Holliday, and Jason Bay signed their free agent deals there wasn’t anybody left on the market that I’d consider a “difference maker”. Sure, there were, and still are, some players that would be solid peripheral players for the Mets. But the 2010 season doesn’t hinge on any free agent that’s been available since Holliday signed with the Cardinals.

The 2010 season does depend on Johan Santana, Francisco Rodriguez, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Bay. They’re the ones that are going to carry this team. I know it’s a long season and everyone needs to make a contribution at some point. But there’s a big difference between making an impact and making a contribution.

Continue reading “Mets 2010 Stars Already Aligned”

Mets Links: Matthews, Offseason Review, Wilpons

Mike Piazza

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

I read a great post by Matthew Artus at Always Amazin’ about the Gary Matthews, Jr. trade. It’s become somewhat comical that the offseason hot stove activity has turned into such a frenzy for mainstream media and bloggers alike. Every team is interested in every free agent at some point if you keep reading for long enough. And every pending deal gets up prepared for a blockbuster that almost never happens. Such is the case with the Matthews deal. The Mets acquired a fifth outfielder for a middle relief pitcher. That’s it.

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports does his offseason review of the Mets entitled “The Mets are getting little traction”. What?!? The Mets already had $100 million in payroll committed to 2010 when the offseason started, meaning they already had most of the “star” players that they needed. They got Jason Bay to fill the hole in left field and the middle of the lineup. The offseason still has five more weeks to go and there are still several capable starting pitchers without contracts. Things don’t seem that bleak to me.

Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing writes a great piece about the Mets ownership history and current situation with Jeff Wilpon at the helm. It’s a must-read post about how we got where we are today with this team. Considering the fan backlash against the owners in recent years, like the one capably written on this site, the post by Prince is very timely.

Carlos Beltran Surgery Highlights Mets Medical Problems

Antonio Margarito v Kermit Cintron

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js

By now you’ve likely heard the news that Carlos Beltran had knee surgery without the Mets permission. The surgery was performed by Beltran’s doctor in Colorado. His contract requires that the Mets provide written permission to have elective surgery from the reports that I’ve heard. At issue is whether the knee surgery was medically necessary or not. Now Beltran will miss spring training and likely won’t be able to play until mid-May.

There are several factors involved here including:

  • NY Times– Beltran’s agent, Scott Boras, says that they did have the Mets permission for surgery
  • NY Post- David Wright wonders like every Mets fan why the surgery is being done now?
  • Always Amazin’– Beltran has gone against team medical advice before, in 2000 with the Royals and got suspended for 30 days by the team

This is where the Mets are going to get killed by us and the media for not making any changes to their medical staff after last season’s miscues. Every star player was on the disabled list at some point last year and there was constant confusion about what to do with the players. Remember Carlos Delgado flying to San Francisco for the Mets series there, only to be sent home to go on the disabled list? This situation goes as far back as the 2008 season when Ryan Church was flying around the country with the team after his second concussion of the season.

Continue reading “Carlos Beltran Surgery Highlights Mets Medical Problems”

Mets And MLB Winter Meetings 2009

Jason Bay at a game between Orioles and the Re...

Image via Wikipedia

We haven’t seen much from the New York Mets yet this offseason but it’s still early. None of the big free agents that the Mets should be interested in have come off the board yet anyway. It’s been in the news since yesterday that Chone Figgins signed a 4-year/$36M deal with the Mariners. As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine with me. I like Figgins but don’t see where he would fit in with the Mets roster. Maybe left field. But that’s a stretch for a guy with a long term contract at $9M/year.

At least the Mets are set at catcher. That was easy. Chris Coste will be the third string guy staying in shape at Triple-A Buffalo. And Henry Blanco should back up Omir Santos. Yahoo Sports wrote that the Mets are still in the market for a starter at catcher like Bengie Molina, Yorvit Torrealba, or Rod Barajas. But I think the Mets have bigger fish to fry than another catcher.

Continue reading “Mets And MLB Winter Meetings 2009”

NY Times: Mets Should Trade For Halladay And Wells

Vernon Wells

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

A couple of writers that I’ve never heard of at the NY Times are touting the idea of the Mets trading for Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells. I hope that Elena Gustines and Jay Schreiber are only temporarily filling in for Ben Shipgel on the Bats blog there. We need the voice of reason back.

The writers touch on the idea of multiple needs on the Mets (and forgot to mention the Mets need a first baseman that can hit). They also only touch on the fact that trading for Halladay and Wells adds $36 million to the Mets payroll next year, which is the total amount that the Mets are likely to add based on the salaries that are coming off the books.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind the idea of bringing in Halladay and Wells. The problem that Gustines and Schreiber don’t address is how complicated it’s going to be to reconfigure the roster to address the existing shortcomings at catcher and first base within the $140 million payroll.

Continue reading “NY Times: Mets Should Trade For Halladay And Wells”