Category: Latest News

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 2011 Ticket Pricing Strategy

Empty Citifield
Ticket Sales down 16.5% but 60% of seats are empty.

According to Adam Rubin, for ESPNNewYork.com, the Mets are in the planning stages of developing a pricing strategy for 2011.

Ticket sales are down 16.5% this year over last year. I would accordingly expect a 16.5% drop in ticket prices. That follows the law of supply & demand. It is not a theory but a law that successful businesses understand. It’s also not a law I expect the Wilpons to follow.

Failure to follow this law could alienate your customer base and judging by the turnout I have witnessed at recent Met games, the fans are speaking with their wallets and staying away.

Demand is low so ticket prices must come down to reflect that. The Mets have the 6th highest ticket price in the majors  at $32.22. A 16.5% drop would set the average new ticket price at $26.90. This is much closer to the major league average of $26.74. Continue reading “Mets 2011 Ticket Pricing Strategy”

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”

Mets Should Part Ways With Carlos Beltran

July 23, 2010 Los Angeles, CA..Mets Carlos Beltran in action during the Major League Baseball game between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Mets defeated the Dodgers, 6-1..Josh Thompson/CSM.

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsThis week’s saga of three Mets skipping the teams appearance at a local hospital is just another negative story that has surrounded Carlos Beltran and the New York Mets this season.

In case you haven’t heard, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez and Carlos Beltran all skipped a visit to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C.

David Wright had a thought about that “You’d Like to see everybody. I don’t think it’s big enough until you get everybody.

Still some Met fans don’t see the big deal. The visit to the hospital wasn’t mandatory but however you slice it the visit or non-visit by the three Mets is a distraction in what has a terrible season.

For Beltran his behavior has been uncalled for, for a while now. Many fans and people in the front office still don’t understand why the center fielder waited until February to get surgery on his knee when he knew about it since October. Continue reading “Mets Should Part Ways With Carlos Beltran”

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?”