Category: Management

Manuel And Positive Change

This morning the local papers are filled with stories about the Mets new manager Jerry Manuel and the changes afoot at Shea Stadium. During last night’s SNY broadcast the announcers Gary, Ron, and Keith praised the new Mets’ attitude.

There really isn’t all that much that a new manager can do with a team. It’s essentially up to the players to perform better, we know that. But there have been a few things that I’ve liked from the team in the first week of Jerry Manuel’s tenure with the Mets:

  1. Pitchers staying on the mound during a change to encourage the incoming pitcher
  2. More “life” or energy, or whatever you want to call it. It’s hard to quantify this but I’m seeing it in this team.
  3. New tactics to improve performance. For example, I liked that Ramon Castro stayed in the middle of the plate for Mike Pelfrey’s start in Colorado. I thought that was a great way to try to keep him in the strike zone. You don’t really see anyone doing that.
  4. Players taking a game off here and there. Willie Randolph ran these guys into the ground and it showed at the end of ’06 and ’07.
  5. Carlos Beltran stealing more bases. This has been talked about forever, but it looks like it’s actually being implemented now.
  6. His press conferences aren’t filled with apologies and unfounded knowledge of better days coming in the future. Manuel talks about concrete changes that need to made to create a winning team.

All of these changes are great to talk about but they need to translate into wins and that isn’t happening yet. Manuel is 3-3 as the Mets manager, a small sample, but .500 isn’t going to get it done. Manuel can’t speed up Carlos Delgado’s slow bat and severely declined skills. He can’t fix Luis Castillo’s brittle knees. But maybe he can create a positive atmosphere and energetic brand of baseball that the fans can enjoy.

Stories in the news:

Dan Graziano of the Star-Ledger writes about Manuel having a chance to succeed here

George Vecsey of the Times writes about the “new dawn of the Mets”

Mike Fitzpatrick of the AP writes about Manuel having the power of the lineup card

Bill Eichenberger of Sporting News writes about Manuel’s touch with the players

Bob Raissman of the Daily News writes about Manuel’s media skills

Vic Ziegel of the Daily News writes about the lighter atmosphere

Fred Wilpon Finally Speaks About Randolph Firing

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon spoke about the firing of manager Willie Randolph and MLB headquarters in Manhattan while attending the Welcome Back Veterans press conference.

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He spoke briefly to ESPN Radio after Randolph was fired only to say that it was Omar Minaya’s decision. It’s left a lot of people, including me, wondering why he wouldn’t talk about the situation publicly.

Ken Davidoff of Newsday reports the following from Wilpon:

Wilpon said that Minaya alerted him on Sunday, June 15 that he intended to fire Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto, but Minaya wanted to sleep on it. That night, Randolph and his two coaches took the team’s flight to Anaheim.

Asked whether he regretted sending Randolph out West for just one game, Wilpon said, "You can always look over your shoulder and think things like that, but the intent here clearly was to respect Willie. To do it in person. It’s never easy to fire anybody. Omar took a lot of time. We took a lot of time listening to him and thinking about it. He wanted to respect Willie, and that’s what he did."

It looks like he and Minaya are on the same page here, which is good to read. But Wilpon really should have come out earlier to talk about this issue. This turned into such a media circus and the Mets organization was getting killed by every media outlet in the country over their handling of Willie’s firing.

For an owner that has a reputation for being very image conscious about the franchise, it’s suspicious that Wilpon didn’t speak earlier. It almost makes me think that he had to get his story straight before talking publicly about this.

Mets News Today: June 23

There’s plenty in the news today as the Mets come home to face the dreadful Seattle Mariners.

  • Jerry Manuel says that he has to prepare to go the rest of the season without Moises Alou.
  • Luis Castillo won’t play again tonight after aggravating the quadriceps injury he suffered earlier this season.
  • Brian Schneider will probably get a couple more days off after bruising a finger on his glove hand in Colorado.
  • Ryan Church plans to take batting practice with the Mets tonight and play a couple of games this week in Brooklyn. The plan is for him to return to the big league team for the Yankees series this weekend.
  • Goose Gossage says that the Mets didn’t treat Willie Randolph fairly.
  • The Mets seem to have a new trend with pitchers staying on the mound to hand the ball to the incoming pitcher. Manuel said he thought it would be a one-time thing with John Maine until Pedro Martinez did it on Saturday. Now they’re all doing it.
  • Jerry Manuel joked about Mets fans booing Aaron Heilman at Shea Stadium to fertilizer.
  • John Harper of the Daily News writes that the Mets are in good hands with Manuel. He even addressed the perception of a racial divide with the team.
  • Adam Rubin of the Daily News writes that Manuel’s comment about fertilizer was made in reference to Aaron Heilman using the fans booing him at Shea as a source of growth, not calling Mets fans “manure” as the NY Post reported.

Mets Hire Wayne Krivsky

The Mets announced the hiring of ex-Cincinnati Reds GM Wayne Krivsky. He’ll be a major league scout for the Mets. Obviously, having an ex-GM on the staff when the current GM is rumored to be on the hot seat will lead to speculation. We’ll see if that has a foundation or not in the coming months. Krivsky and Omar Minaya have known each other since their days working together for the Texas Rangers in the 1980’s. Krivsky has local roots as well, he’s a 1972 graduate of New Canaan (CT) High School.

Report: Bernazard May Be Next Mets GM

New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Image via Wikipedia

New York Mets VP Tony Bernazard may end up being the next Mets GM if Omar Minaya is fired after this season according to a report by Adam Rubin of the Daily News. It’s an open secret that Bernazard allegedly attempted to engineer the firings of Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto.  He was seen having deep conversations with Jerry Manuel in the dugout while the Mets were preparing to play the Los Angeles Angels, in what turned out to be Randolph’s final game as manager.

Bernazard was a special assistant to the MLBPA prior to joining the Mets. He’s made no secret of his desire to be a Major League GM having interviewed for the Pittsburgh Pirates position when Dave Littlefield was fired.

Bernazard has been the brunt of many scathing indictments of his back-stabbing, politicking in the Mets organization. There are stories of his being the sounding board for the Latin players to complain about Randolph, his locker room interference, and his close relationship with Jeff Wilpon.

The report goes on to say that Bernazard positions himself as a proponent of building the Mets from the farm system, not free agency.  If that’s the case, Minaya better watch his back or he may end up on the unemployment line with Randolph.  It sounds like Bernazard is already beginning to draw distinctions between himself and Minaya.

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Randolph Writes About Being Fired

This is an incredible scoop by the Daily News.  Willie Randolph writes a first person account about his firing by Omar Minaya.  There isn’t that much new that we don’t already know here.  We knew that he was passionate about managing the Mets and that he wants another managerial job.  The only new piece of information that I didn’t already know is this:

I stood up and shook his hand, told him I wished him and the team well. Then he handed me an envelope, a little parting gift, and told me to make sure I reviewed it with my agent, Ron Shapiro.

It was a copy of my Met contract that basically says I better not say anything detrimental about the team, or I might jeopardize the rest of the money I have coming to me.

This is the story that will never end.   I’m really just looking forward to seeing what Jerry Manuel can do with this team and forgetting that the 2007 and early ’08 Mets ever happened.