Category: Management

Mets Minaya, Manuel Jobs Safe; Manuel Denies Report

Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison
Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison

Both SI.com and New York Post are reporting that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon met with GM Omar Mianya and manager Jerry Manuel during the Subway Series at Citi Field. The purpose of the meeting was to assure both that despite the horrible season that the Mets are having, their jobs are safe.

When asked about the assurance from Wilpon, Manuel said that no such meeting took place. He said that he wished it was true, but it wasn’t.

Jeff Wilpon has long been rumored to use Jon Heyman of SI as his media mouthpiece. This was especially evident last season before Willie Randolph was fired and Heyman always had the scoop from a “confidential” Mets source about what the organization was planning. It looks like that’s the case this season again, minus the “confidential” part.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints about Minaya and Manuel from Mets fans and some are valid. But this season was just completely lost to injuries. It really wouldn’t be fair to hold them accountable for what’s happened this year. Although if things go awry next season, the Wilpons might have a quick hook especially for Manuel.

Minaya has three more years on his contract and there’s no way the Wilpons are going to eat three years. It’s just not going to happen. So for those of you that want Minaya gone, and I’ve heard from you, don’t get your hopes up. He’ll be here for at least one more year.

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Rosenthal: Mets Manuel Communication Problems

Jerry_ManuelThis is something that we’ve been talking about since spring training as Mets fans. Jerry Manuel seems to be a different person than he was last seasonwhen he took over for Willie Randolph in June. Now I can see why the Mets only gave Manuel a 2-year contract instead of the three years that he wanted. And I can see how Manuel lost the locker room in Chicago in 2003.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports writes a pretty lengthy piece about how Manuel has thrown his players under the bus. He does fail to mention how Manuel threw third base coach Razor Shines under the bus this week for failing to point out the bad call at home plate that involved Fernando Tatis being called out when the replay showed he was safe.

From Fox Sports:

Manuel, in baseball parlance, “throws guys under the bus.” His candor appeals to fans who are tired of hearing excuses for overpaid, underperforming players. But such an approach rarely works long-term.

I haven’t been a major detractor of Manuel. I thought that he did a great job last season working without a bullpen. But he does seem to be different this year. It’s almost like he makes everything about himself.

His dealings with the players have become odd this season as well. He fell in love with Daniel Murphy way too quickly. And that hasn’t worked out at all. Manuel clearly dislikes Ryan Church and Ramon Castro. But I don’t think that he’s the only one in the Mets organization that feels that way about both players. So Manuel may not be as out of line on those players as he appears to be to us fans.

It’ll be very telling to see if the Mets allow Manuel to go into next season as a lame duck manager of this team. I doubt that will happen. If the Mets make the playoffs, I think they’ll give Manuel a one or two year extension. If they don’t make the playoffs this season, we’ll be talking about the new Mets manager in November.

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Mets Executives In Atlanta To Discuss Oliver Perez

Omar MinayaSeveral of the Mets beat reporters are writing today that Mets GM Omar Minaya and COO Jeff Wilpon are on their way to Atlanta today. The purpose is to discuss the ongoing Oliver Perez saga. Presumably, they’re going to try to convince him, and his agent Scott Boras, that it’s in everyone’s best interest for him to accept a demotion to Triple-A Buffalo.

I get nervous whenever Jeff Wilpon sticks his nose into something. Remember, Jeff is the one responsible for Kaz Matsui and the much-maligned Citi Field. The Wilpons are the ones that forgot that the Mets play at Citi Field, not the Dodgers, and that fans would actually like to see the whole field from their seats.

Perez has the right to refuse an assignment to the minors. That’s his right under the Collective Bargaining Agreement as a player with more than five years of MLB experience. Jeff Wilpon’s involvement certainly doesn’t inspire confidence that this situation will be resolved properly.

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NY Post Tiring Of Mets Manager Jerry Manuel

Jerry ManuelI knew it wouldn’t be too long before a newspaper wrote a column about Jerry Manuel using them. As a matter of fact, I wrote about it last week. Manuel’s been working the media with his comments to his own ends.

But now the NY Post has had enough of it. Mike Battaglino wrote this post for their blog today. And I think it’s a self-serving indictment by a company that’s been used by Manuel since last June. The Post isn’t the only company that Manuel is using to motivate players, inspire confidence in others, and inform the fans and players of his methodology to manage the New York Mets.

Bart Hubbach of the NY Post even wrote a nasty post defending himself against everyone that said he misinterpreted last June’s “fetilizer” comment by Manuel. Adam Rubin of the Daily News and Keith Olbermann were named in the post by Hubbach.

Clearly, the NY Post as an organization has an axe to grind with Manuel’s style of speaking that can lead to sensational headlines by a paper like the post. Generally, I like the work that Hubbach does covering the Mets and it very well may be the editors that create the sensational headlines that we see. But in this case you have to be careful to understand the motivation that the Post would have to put this story on the back page.

I don’t think that Manuel has made communication gaffes. I think he’s a calculating speaker that uses the media to help generate the results from players and fans that he wants to see.

Manuel Works Mets, Media With Mind Games

Jerry ManuelJerry Manuel has been busy working the local beat writers to his own ends this spring. And as such, he’s been working us in the blogsphere that write and talk with friends and fellow fans about the Mets.

Is he really going to hit Luis Castillo leadoff? Is he really going to platoon Ryan Church and Fernando Tatis in right field? Does he really think Daniel Murphy is a better hitter than Ryan Church? Is he really going to play Brian Schneider more frequently than last season? Why is he discussing these issues with the media before telling the players that are impacted?

Manuel is proving himself to be a master manipulator, using the media and us for his own purposes. He’s verbalized the fact that he’s going to challenge his players this year. We just didn’t know he was going to do it through the media.

Although Manuel took over the Mets last June, we were used to three plus years of Willie Randolph’s stoic personality. Randolph didn’t give us much except a quiet, occasionally bewildered, discussion of the day’s events.

Manuel is using all of us to push, pull, and prod the players. He’s poking at them with his comments, giving confidence to some while putting others on notice. He clearly knows what he wants from the players and is busy preparing them mentally as well as physically for the season.

I like what he’s doing this spring. Each player needs to be treated differently, in the way that will draw the most out of them during the season. Castillo and Murphy are getting confidence building comments. Church, Jose Reyes, and Ramon Castro are being challenged to improve.

While I applaud Manuel’s ability to read his players, I take his comments with a grain of salt. I anticipate that Reyes will get the vast majority of games batting leadoff, and Fernando Tatis will get most of his playing time in left field. I’d like to see Manuel take advantage of Ramon Castro’s big bat at least twice a week. But Manuel is sure showing that he’s a manipulator… He’s gone gangsta on the media.

Mets Hitting Drills And Propoganda

Jerry ManuelThere’s been a lot of talk this spring about a new hitting drill manager Jerry Manuel has installed for the team. Each player takes 80 pitches from a machine and has to swing at every one during a lightning-fast six minute session. The goal is to get the players into the mindset of having to put a pitch in play, even if it’s a bad pitch. This is all part of Manuel’s team-first philosophy.

Ben Shipgel of the NY Times does the best column on the drill that I’ve read. There’s been plenty written about the drill but this is the best one.

The next part of the hitting program for the Mets will be for the players to spot their favorite hitting zone and can’t swing at a pitch unless it’s in that zone. The goal is to improve discipline at the plate.

These are some of the drills that Manuels has identified as being successful during his career as a player and coach. There has been some concern about the players getting blisters on their hands from the grueling drills. But Manuel has been quick to point out that this will toughen them up and make them prepared to fight through fatigue throughout the season.

The other thing that Manuel has done is install TV’s throughout the Mets locker room this year. The TV’s play an endless loop of the Mets best opposite field hits from last season. The TV’s, even in Charlie Samuels’ office, all play the same video. The players are getting the propoganda treatment to show them how important the hits were that went the other way.

The coaches keep telling the exhausted players after hitting that it’s the price they’ll have to pay for a championship. I know that managers are hired to be fired, and I’m sure that Manuel will run his course eventually with the Mets. But I think he’s been a great fit so far for this team. His personality and dealings with the media have been excellent. And he seems to have built a good rapport with the players as well. Now all he needs to do is win.

Click below to watch the Mets players talking about the drills.

Mets swing into spring training
Mets swing into spring training

Mets Minaya Still Has Holes To Fill

We’re about three and a half weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie. And we still have one big hole in the pitching rotation. Derek Lowe is gone, and gone to a division rival in Atlanta. There have been several quotes in the media that Omar Minaya isn’t going to move forward to fill voids in the Mets roster until the pitching situation is settled.

Omar_MinayaThe bullpen needs have been addressed, and in a big way. Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz are fantastic additions to the team. That’s great… But holding up the rest of the roster for a starting pitcher doesn’t make sense anymore.

There has been speculation that the Bernard Madoff- Ponzi scheme has affected the Mets ability to sign free agents this year. By now, we’ve all heard that Mets owner Fred Wilpon was victimized by Madoff to the tune of as much as nine figures. There are other writers that claim that the Madoff scheme has nothing to do with the Mets losing Derek Lowe. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

The point here is that Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf, Ben Sheets, and Jon Garland are still out there and won’t require a significant financial commitment for the Mets. I could understand waiting to see if the Mets could sign Derek Lowe, he would require a major financial commitment and would affect the Mets’ ability to sign other free agents.

We still need to look at adding an outfielder. I like Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy. I should say that I liked seeing them last season in small doses. It’s questionable, in my mind, how things will turn out with them playing every day in left field. Minaya should really take a look at an outfielder with experience playing every day like Garret Anderson, Jay Payton, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu.

The other problem that needs to be dealt with is the fact that the Mets have two backup catchers in Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro. I like them both as backups but neither is suited to play every day for various reasons. Schneider is an automatic out and Castro is an injury waiting to a happen. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for an every day catcher on the free agent market now. Names like Pudge, Varitek, and other 30-something players dominate the remaining free agents. So a trade might be the only way to get a starting catcher to Queens.

These important issues with the Mets roster shouldn’t be left on hold waiting for a back of the rotation pitcher to sign a free agent contract. It doesn’t make any sense to me to leave other business left unattended while Minaya dances with Scott Boras and Oliver Perez. Minaya needs to be able to multi-task and we’re not seeing that right now.