Category: Management

Video: Fred Wilpon on Minaya, Manuel Firings

Here’s some video from Fox Sports from the Mets press conference yesterday. Fred Wilpon takes responsibility for the team’s lack of success over the past few years, since 2008 really.

Wilpon talks about the job of the new GM and manager being to win games and how the Mets haven’t been doing that successfully recently.

If you have trouble viewing the video with Internet Explorer, try Firefox or Chrome.

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Video: Mets done with Minaya, Manuel

Mets Fire Manuel, Minaya – New Era Dawns

New York Mets newly appointed Manager Jerry Manuel (R) is introduced to reporters by Mets General manager Omar Minaya during a news conference in Anaheim, California, in this June 17, 2008 file photograph. The New York Mets fired Manuel and Minaya on October 4, 2010, just one day after the Major League Baseball regular season ended. Manuel and Minaya paid the price after the Mets stumbled to a second consecutive losing season (79-83) and failed to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year, despite having one of the league's biggest payrolls. REUTERS/Hector Mata (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsAs expected, the Mets fired Omar Minaya and declined to pick up the option on Jerry Manuel’s contract for next season. It was a decisive move, only one day after the end of another disappointing season.

Apparently, Minaya was offered another job with the Mets but declined. It was a reign of mostly unsuccessful seasons. He had six years at the helm of one of the monster payrolls of Major League Baseball with only one playoff appearance to show for it. Declining attendance and fan interest have been rampant since the end of the 2007 “Collapse”.

Manuel didn’t do a poor job but he didn’t do a great job either. He just didn’t inspire the players to do more than we thought they were capable of. I don’t blame the decline of the team on him but it wouldn’t be fair to saddle a new GM with a manager that he doesn’t want.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Wilpons trying to run the baseball operations of the team. Of course, it’s tough to get an accurate gauge on that without being in a room with them. Usually, when there’s smoke there’s fire though.

A new era begins for the Mets and I think we’re all ready to move on from the last few painful seasons. No matter which direction the Wilpons go, we should have some optimism for the future of the team.

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Mets 2011 Management Strategy – “Integr-ious-ness is a Priority”

Yer Out!So no “official” announcement has been made by the Mets as to if and when the Manager and General Manager will be fired.

But… when you wake up to the NYPost reporting the story that both will be fired on Monday then it must be true. Right?

The general feeling is these firings are long overdue and needed to bring back some integr-iousness to the Mets.

If this were you or I, there’s usually some protocol as to when you would be told about your fate. For example, if you were doing a great job but unfortunately had to be laid off you would be given anywhere from 14 – 90 days advance notice. Maybe even more if you’re lucky. The employee could then use the time to transition to a new role or just come up with a reason to leave.

Good reasons are, “I would like to explore new opportunities“, “I would like to take care of my sick grandmother“,  “I would like to spend more time enjoying my vineyard“, “I would like to er, ah, uh do something uhh like integr-ious like“… something that says I’m happily moving on.

If you were being fired for performance reasons, management would wait for the very last minute and ask the employee to pack up and leave immediately.

File these terminations under the latter. Of course, nothing is official yet. These are all just assumptions. Right?

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Mets Links: Joe Torre, Dysfunction, Team Photo

Joe Torre Manager
Image via Wikipedia

I’m clearing out the list of links that I’ve been holding onto now that the Mets are mathematically eliminated from NL East contention. They’re still 11 games behind the Giants for the wild card with 13 games left to play though! Keep holding out hope.

Yahoo Sports– Jeff Passan wrote a scathing column about the dysfunctional Mets. He squarely lays blame on Jeff Wilpon for running the team into the ground. It’s a good read and, although harsh, it’s hard to argue with his points.

Daily News – Mike Lupica writes about the possibility of the Mets bringing Joe Torre back 30 years later with Wally Backman as his bench coach. I find this really hard to believe on several levels. I can’t see Torre wanting to manage a team in disarray. And I can’t see low-key Torre and high-strung Backman as a good fit together.

ESPN – Adam Rubin writes that the Mets will PhotoShop Johan Santana into the 2010 team photo but K-Rod won’t be included. It’s another sign that he won’t be back with the Mets next season for the final year of his contract.

Daily News – Kevin Mitchell will stand trial for punching a guy on a golf course that said something Mitchell didn’t like. It’s certainly not Mitchell’s first run-in with fist-to-cuffs.

MetsBlog – The Mets have been calling season ticket holders offering them free tickets to one of the final games of this season. The seats have been empty, so why not have some bodies in the park buying food and concessions?

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Johan Santana Shoulder Injury Raises Questions

New York Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana throws a pitch to the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning of their MLB National League baseball game in New York, August 12, 2010. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsWell, its that time of the season. Johan Santana has once again, for the third season in a row, been shut down and will need surgery during the off season, this time on his left shoulder. A suitable punctuation to a season highlighted by lackluster play, managerial blunders, and an overall lack of organizational accountability. Of course, this type of grim reality for the ace of a pitching staff can only exist within one franchise, the New York Mets.

Along with agony and disappointment, news of Santana’s most recent injury raises a lot of questions:

Why does the Mets’ medical staff continue to be inept?

Since being acquired prior to the ’08 season, Santana has had some kind of injury/surgery every year. First it was his knee issue, last year he had bone chips in his elbow. What other star player in the league has experienced this type of string? I can’t think of any off the top of my head. I’m no doctor, but I would have to imagine that part of correcting an injury is identifying the measures to prevent future problems. By now, I would have expected that the medical and training staffs have come up with a plan for protecting Santana’s arm. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. This apparent ineptitude has affected other players on the team as well. You have to figure that free agents around the league are probably wary of exploring opportunities with the Mets because of their seemingly shabby and, for lack of a better word, mysterious medical staff. Continue reading “Johan Santana Shoulder Injury Raises Questions”

What are 2011 Mets Biggest Needs?

July 10, 2010 - Flushing, N.Y, United States of America - 10 July, 2010: New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis.

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsThe New York Mets begin to look toward the off-season. There are injuries mounting and disappointments all around. We can only imagine what it must feel like to continue going to work knowing that it means nothing. How can they even pretend to act excited or even mildly interested in the game? Players must be looking at each other wondering who will be with the team next year and who won’t. And so begins the long, slow, excruciatingly painful, end to the season.

Mets fans will now be exposed to some of the young players in the farm system. I do not want to use the term “talent” because I have very little respect for the Mets farm system. We will begin to see players you have never heard of and might never hear of again. There will be a glut of pitching changes throughout the games to allow the youngsters some “in-game experience,” and we will slowly start thinking about football season again.

So what will the Mets do to fix this awful run of disappointing seasons? Well, we can all assume there will be a high priced player or two joining the club. There will be lots of promises of young talent and mending limbs. There will be whispers of big moves and possible trades that will never happen. There will be high hopes and a frenzied fan base waiting for that one miracle season. Continue reading “What are 2011 Mets Biggest Needs?”

Mets’ Managerial Possibilities for 2011

28 Feb 2002 : Manager Bobby Valentine of the New York mets during the Spring Training game against the St.Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. The Cardinals won 5-2. DIGTAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Eliot Schechter/Getty Images

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsWith the inevitable end of Jerry Manuel’s tenure in blue and orange looming down the homestretch of another dreadful Mets season, the question on every fan’s mind is who will be his successor come 2011. There are the obvious and popular “sexy” choices to take reigns, as well as the low profile names who have had success within the organization. Here’s my take on the possible candidates:

Bobby Valentine
The Mets manager from the end of the 1996 season through 2002, Valentine has proved he is capable of bringing rejuvenation to the franchise, but the question is at how high a price it would cost this time around? Bobby V. is a New York guy with a New York attitude and exercises the underdog persona that the Mets fan base can cling to. On paper, the teams he brought to the playoffs in ’99 and 2000 were very ordinary. However, he got the most out of his rosters and put a scrappy, competitive, and excuse-free product on the field. There has been a lot of speculation about how interested the organization is in bringing Valentine back to Queens. We have reason to believe that Mets people were in his ear when he bowed out of the Marlins managerial candidacy earlier in the season. Continue reading “Mets’ Managerial Possibilities for 2011”