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.
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.
http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsAbout 600,000 fewer of us visited Citi Field in 2010 than in 2009. That pretty much says it all. There just hasn’t been a reason to get excited about this team all year. Although the Mets were mathematically eliminated in recent weeks, we’ve known since after the All-Star break that this team was going nowhere. That 2-9 road trip to the west coast coming out of the break took what was left of the wind out of their sails.
Nobody other than Scott Boras cares if Mike Pelfrey gets his 16th win today. It’s a meaningless feat for an irrelevant team.
The good news, depending upon your perspective, is that the firings will start tomorrow. You’ve probably heard the rumors that Omar Minaya will be fired or moved to another job where the damage that he does is contained. Jerry Manuel won’t return as manager. Most of us knew that when the Mets didn’t get off to that hot start that Manuel talked about all spring. He was cooked by April.
I, for one, happily say “goodbye” to the 2010 Mets. And good riddance. I won’t miss you when you’re gone.
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?
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”
Game 1 was practically given away to the Brewers with Jon Niese giving up 6 runs in the 3rd inning. The Brewers, not to be outdone, allowed the Mets right back into the game by giving up 2 runs in the 3rd and 5 runs in the 4th to briefly give the Mets the lead 7-6. The Mets gave that lead right back by allowing 2 runs in the 8th and that was all the scoring for the game as the Brewers defeated the Mets by a score of 8-7.
New York used 8 pitchers in the first game because soon to be ex-Mets Manager, Jerry Manuel, could care less. He’s out of here in a few days. Niese started the game and went a full 2.2 innings followed by Ryota Igarashi, Raul Valdes, Sean Green, Elmer Dessens, Pedro Feliciano, Manny Acosta & finally, Hisanori Takahashi.
Game 2 featured a pitching matchup of Dickey vs Bush. No this is not a typo and Twitter users certainly caught the double entendre. R.A. Dickey, the new Mets ace, gave up 6 hits in 7 innings but only allowed 1 earned run. He still took the loss in the nightcap as the Mets offense was completely overpowered when the Brewers trotted out the way past his prime, all time saves leader, Trevor Hoffman, who pitched the 9th to earn his 601st save of his career. Note the Brewers regular closer, John Axford, was not available to close because he was used in Game 1.
Mercifully the season is over in 4 days.
Injury Update: Carlos Beltran is out for the rest of the season due to “Mild Inflammation” in his right knee (What’s New?) and Nick Evans injured his left, non-throwing, shoulder.
New York Mets (74-79) at Philadelphia Phillies (93-61) 7:05pm
Dillon Gee (1-1 1.80) vs Kyle Kendrick (10-9 4.78)
TV: WPIX Radio: WFAN
What to watch: The Mets try to avoid their seventh straight loss as the Phillies go for their twelfth straight win and march into the playoffs again. Gee has made three very impressive starts this month but Kendrick has pitched well in his last two starts allowing 4 runs in 11 innings.
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