Hey Fred, Jeff, Omar ! Do you hear that sound? That whooshing sound that sounds remarkably like a toilet flushing ? Well that is the sound of the Mets season quietly whirling into obscurity. There is no denial here, hell even Fred Wilpon realized it before last nights debacle against the Phillies when he refused to even talk to reporters. When broached by reporters about the state of the Mets his answer was ” Nope I have to go to the Universty of Michigan” (he hosted a alumni event during last nights game). Great way to show that you are listening to the loud voices of a pained and frustrated fan base Fred. This is the time that we need to hear from ownership ! We need somebody to admit some kind of accountability !! We don’t get that from Jerry Manuel – he’s too bust yukking it up during his post game press conferences ! But even in a brief moment Jerry became both sober and somber. Manuel conceded that it is getting late very quickly, and it’s no wonder why when the Mets finished 0-5 with runners in scoring position. This is after going 0-6 in such situations on Saturday night.The Mets hit a beyond pitiful .088 (3-34) with runners in scoring position over this past home stand. That is unacceptable ! Where is our offense? How can David Wright be mired in the worst slump in his career? He has not one r.b.i this month ! I know that hindsight is 50/50 but lets face it we all should have realized that Carlos Beltran wasn’t at full capacity to come back to help this team. And lets face it , with the exception of R.A Dickey’s one hitter among the strong starts by Johan, Big Pelf and Jonathan Niese, the month of August has been a living hell ! I think it’s time to eliminate some dead wood. So Frenchy and Slappy don’t want to be here anymore unless they are playing every day ? RELEASE THEIR ASSES! Frankie Rodriguez gets into a physical altercation with his common law wife’s father – sending him to the hospital ? CUT HIM LIKE YOU DID VINCE COLEMAN !! Fred had the stomach to do that back in the early ’90′s why not today? I can give you about eighteen million reasons why, but come on Fred what ever happened to principle and common decency !!!All I know is that for the second straight year the Mets have become after thoughts before “meaningful games in September could occur. And I know there are a faction of fans that will argue that we aren’t out of it until we are eliminated. I used to be a member of that faction, but you know what when this team plays like it doesn’t give a damn – it makes it hard to believe that that they will summon up enough intestinal fortitude to make one last ditch effort to save the season. We all know it isn’t going to happen.
” Time to break out the rally bags folks !!!”
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!
Celebrating Birthdays today are :
Original Mets outfielder,Gene Woodling , would have been 88 today (1922) .
One time top Mets prospect who became a capable journeyman first baseman,Mike Jorgensen is 62(1948) .
The best non union pitcher we have ever had, Rick Reed is 46 (1964) . It’s funny how Reed never got all the respect that he deserved – just because he crossed the picket line in ’94. He pitched his heart out for the Mets and we all know that he deserved to be treated alot better than he was.
Outfielder from the ’99 season and again from ’02-’03, Roger Cedeño is 36 (1974) . He was one of the biggest surprises of the’99 team but by the time he came back to the Mets in ’02 he was the shell of his former self.
New York Mets sold pitcher,Gerry Arrigo to the Cincinnati Reds on August 16, 1966.
I can’t believe that it’s been eleven years since the Mets signed José Reyes as a free agent on August 16, 1999.
New York Mets traded reserve outfielder, Mark Little to the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitching prospect,P.J. Bevis on August 16, 2002.
And Mo Vaughn is only hanging around Citi Field for the Shake Shack and the Rums of Puerto Rico kiosk .
38 comments
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-8:59am at 8:59 am (UTC -4)
Always liked Rick Reed. Solid pitcher.
PS,
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-9:00am at 9:00 am (UTC -4)
my skills in the art of HTML are bad. I meant to write you need to “center your image” but my poor choice of brackets made it go away.
rustyjr
8/16/2010-9:04am at 9:04 am (UTC -4)
i have almost 0 computer proficiancy all i do is find a picture, copy and paste lol
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-9:03am at 9:03 am (UTC -4)
And for my 3rd post in under a minute, Stick brought up a good point in the post game thread. Where is the tipping point? is 5 games under the magic point? is batting under .100 with runners in scoring position for more than a weekend the magic point? Oh, wait…
Dirtysanchez
8/16/2010-9:05am at 9:05 am (UTC -4)
tipping point for what?
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-9:06am at 9:06 am (UTC -4)
for the ax to finally fall on jerry and company.
rustyjr
8/16/2010-9:05am at 9:05 am (UTC -4)
there is no tipping point until the last game is over and Jeff goes on the Fatmans show to give us fake anger & frustration
Dirtysanchez
8/16/2010-9:04am at 9:04 am (UTC -4)
The only thing we have to look foward to is hopefully not finishing under .500. Which is sad given the “talent” on this team. I just dont understand how atlanta can coax performances from the likes of omar infante and company yet our biggest stars are not doing anything. Hell Angel Pagan has carried the team most of the year. The Organization waived the white flag along time ago and are just riding out the season as is…my ONLY hope is that there will be a mass amount of lay offs come the offseason.
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-9:08am at 9:08 am (UTC -4)
Assuming Pagan keeps doing what he’s been doing, our past 2 “MVP’s” will be Castillo and Pagan, all the while having Reyes, Beltran, Wright, Delgado last year and Bay this year. yikes.
kingman 26
8/16/2010-9:13am at 9:13 am (UTC -4)
Dirty is right. Hoping for .500 is all that is left.
There really is just no accountability for ANYTHING at pretty much any level.
Even Bernazard got to pull his nonsense over and over again before getting canned.
Now, I must say with all utmost due respect to my dear colleague Rusty that the KRod and Vince Coleman situations are utterly different—Coleman was a rancid scumbag who reveled in his own ignorance and threw strong fireworks into a crowd of people including kids in a visiting parking lot. KRod got into a fight with a near-relative inside a private area of the stadium. Both bad, to be sure, but Vince sucked on the field—without KRod in 2010, we would be 5–10 games under .500 and we definitely need him next year.
Overall, though, the time for change was 1-2 weeks ago when MAYBE there was some life. We literally need a shutout to win now.
We used an option for FMart to come up to watch Frenchy and Carter play?? Moronic.
Sorry to finally be forced to agree with the Nabobs, but in ALL ways, the Wilpons right now are most definitely showing that they are WAY out of touch, and indeed do not really care as much as the fans about the very sorry–and rapidly deteriorating–state of this team.
metsfan4decades
8/16/2010-10:15am at 10:15 am (UTC -4)
I’m firmly convinced now Omar must go. This has to start at the top. The perception of this team, is at an all time low this decade. There is something fundamentally wrong with this team, which is why talent on paper isn’t translating to wins on the field.
Even if we had big bucks to spend next year, I don’t trust Omar any longer to get it right. Sad part is, I’m getting the impression that Omar doesn’t even come close to ‘full autonomy’ anymore and since Jeff will never eat that contract, he’s now got his hands in too much of it. To me, the problem with that is Jeff W. is not a smart baseball man. If he was, however, a smart business man, he’d hire the best baseball minds he could find and let them build/run this team. Right now, I get the impression he no longer trusts Omar and treats him like some kind of wayward child and much like that scenario, even though you recognize problems, you can’t just cut ties with that child. (Although if this was about anything but the almighty $$ you certainly could.)
I’m starting to worry that 2011 being might not be much better than this year, even with a new set of coaches. Change has to start at the top.
IMO, Jeff W. should reassign Omar to a position that maximizes his strengths and minimizes the weakness. Then get a GM in here that can take the talent on this team and build on it. One that has a better vision of what it takes to succeed in that area. Oh, and one that has more proficient skills in addressing the media b/c perception is 50% of the battle…
stickguy
8/16/2010-10:28am at 10:28 am (UTC -4)
agree 100% about Omar and the Jeffy “problem”. although of course I have no idea what the actual dynamics are. Who knows, maybe jeffy really is the “brains” and steadying influence in the organization!
2011 certainly seems like it will look similar (the team), but that is not a reason they can’t win. A new attitude, some good support players brought in, and they will once again be good enough on paper.
So the key will be a fresh, smart and professional coaching staff to come in, set the tone, lay down the law and expectations, then follow through on everything. ANd wok on identifying and rectifying what the hell is wrong with these guys!
IOW, exactly what Buck S. came in and is doing in Baltimore. Based on his histroy, maybe that was exactly the guy needed to come in and sweep away the BS, and restore the focus where it belongs?
Besides, Jeffy would probably be afraid of him!
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-10:32am at 10:32 am (UTC -4)
Man, it really is draining reading the “they really look good on paper” comment. Been reading that for years now.
saltygary
8/16/2010-11:31am at 11:31 am (UTC -4)
The New York Mets : “Looking better on paper since ’92″
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-11:59am at 11:59 am (UTC -4)
Paper Tigers, ROAR!
metsfan4decades
8/16/2010-11:12am at 11:12 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, I think I would have been excited to see Buck S. here as the next manager….
stickguy
8/16/2010-10:21am at 10:21 am (UTC -4)
I really don’t understand why they went down to pluck F Mart out of AAA after 1 hot week. but then again, roster handling has been a head scratcher for years with these guys.
but, I think the wilpons care very, very much about the “very sorry–and rapidly deteriorating–state of this team.” It may not manifest itself into Boss-like rapid fire firings, or spending many more millions getting reinforcements (and just as importantly, trading the crops they are trying to cultivate), but they care.
Fred has been in BB in NY for a long time. He is acutely aware of the correlation between met wins and met revenues and his wallet.
Now, you may be defining “winning” as being the WS or it doesn’t count, vs. being a serious playoff contendor up until the end of the seasons (like they probably do), but still, this is not close.
THey will have to react this off season, after the last couple of 1 more chances.
kingman 26
8/16/2010-10:28am at 10:28 am (UTC -4)
“I think the Wilpons care very, very much about the “very sorry–and rapidly deteriorating–state of this team.” ”
And your evidence over the last few months is:
(crickets)……
Hope you are feeling better!
stickguy
8/16/2010-10:33am at 10:33 am (UTC -4)
It is costing them money, and they are getting lampooned in the press. They care. They probably are totally befuddled about what to do, since their BB people ARE the biggest problem.
It is really, really hard to change a FO out mid-season. And firing managers and coaches is usually cosmetic, and done by teams that have given up and waved the white flag.
so, even if theysaw some holes on the team, what can they really do other than ask the BB guys what to do? And who knows what the answer was, or if they even trusted them enough to ask.
Or they had no money left in th ebudget to spend. But, neither did the rangers, and it didn’t stop them!
The winds of change are finally coming. Getting close my friend.
Ceetar
8/16/2010-10:31am at 10:31 am (UTC -4)
In a way, I’m happy they’ve done nothing. There have been no reactionary firings, no lashing out, no emotional steinbrenneresque blunders.
I hope this means they have a plan. it very well might. The subtle signs are there. They released Cora, they benched Castillo (clear sign they were giving up) they brought up Martinez. They didn’t sign marginal pitchers or waste money in that regard. They may have figured 2010 was a gimme. Despite all the ranting and raving, the Mets aren’t obligated to operate how we think. And it doesn’t mean they’re inept. So let’s see how they procede. Let Omar sign or not sign the draftees. Today was the point you’d keep Omar throughg anyway. Do they replace him? This/next week would be the time. We won’t seem uch, but there will be subtle “forward movement” type moves coming. Mejia, Gee, etc. I suspect a lot will happen between now and opening day (I’m booking a trip to Puerto Rico shortly, gambling on the Mets being tehre as was rumored, if not , hey, i’m in Puerto Rico for vacation)
stickguy
8/16/2010-10:37am at 10:37 am (UTC -4)
I hope along the same lines that you do. Hoarding the prospects (many of whom are rewarding them for the faith) last off season was a good sign.
What Kingman might see as signs of inertia (crickets) others might see as part of step by step LT plan to bring the organization back to health.
Most everyone has been railling on the team to make a plan, and stick to it. Well, if they did, good! We may not like the plan they drew up, but at least they have one!
Ceetar
8/16/2010-10:44am at 10:44 am (UTC -4)
And it’s not for us to know the plan. Joel Sherman panic posts aside, 2011 does look sunnier.
oleosmirf
8/16/2010-10:56am at 10:56 am (UTC -4)
does it really?
Mr North Jersey
8/16/2010-11:11am at 11:11 am (UTC -4)
The plan was to try and win that is why they added Bay.
One can look at every scenario and find reasons to explain why certain moves were done or not done as evident with every move so far made since last off season.
The one thing that I see as a constant are consistently ugly seasons since Beltran struckout in the NLCS back in 2006.
The reasons for this are so big that no single person or group can shoulder the entire blame.
The problems with this club is not just that they don’t have enough talent. This is more than that I cant put my finger on exactly what it is but I know it’s there.
This is more than a manager or a bad GM move or poor quality players. I fear that the longer it takes ownership to realize this the longer we will be left with teams that play below their talent levels.
Teams that simply find ways to win games when they shouldn’t not just fight back to make games close are the teams we are not.
I may be wrong and we are on the cusp of truly changing things around for the better but I watch or listen to these games and one thing has been constant since Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006.
This team can’t win the big games needed to get to the next level.
2006: Game 7 Beltran strikes out.
2007: Mets choke unable to win division in historic fashion.
2008. Mets lose on last day of season failing to force a playoff tie breaker
2009. Epic season of injuries where the mentality of it being ok to lose since they didn’t have their horses was acceptable.
2010: With the surprise of a very good rotation and having many of their players back Mets cant hit even the league average. and other than a 32 game stretch have played miserably.
2011:???
This is not good for us and we may not be able to right this ship anytime soon.
kingman 26
8/16/2010-11:29am at 11:29 am (UTC -4)
Excellent, true, and very well-said.
And one other point–each season has gotten clearly and progressively worse—2008 was not as good as 2007, 2009 was clearly a disaster after contending in 2008, and this year is abominable as we do not have the 2009 injury situation to blame it on.
Hard as it may be for some of us to accept, the team’s just not very good. The complimentary players have been getting worse for four straight years, and injuries which have diminished Jose and Beltran (and Wright never being the same since the beaning) have all combined to make us a .500 club.
I still love the team, but it is hard to see how we get much better anytime soon. Ike and Tejada and FMart’s play does not show much serious promise. Too early to tell with Thole. Niese is really the only one we can maybe seriously count on in 2011. We should have a fine starting staff, but possibly little else.
For the realistic, this is most likely going to take 2-3 years to fix.
kingman 26
8/16/2010-11:20am at 11:20 am (UTC -4)
“others might see as part of step by step LT plan to bring the organization back to health.”
And what is the sign of a plan and who are these mysterious “others”??
metsfan4decades
8/16/2010-11:15am at 11:15 am (UTC -4)
Nice….it certainly sounded like they were opening in P.R. next April.
kingman 26
8/16/2010-11:23am at 11:23 am (UTC -4)
Yes Ceetar, using an option on FMart for him to sit and watch Francoeur and Carter play is most definitely the sign of a well-thought out plan….as is bringing up Hessman and playing him over Ike.
Cannot wait to see the continuance of this plan.
oleosmirf
8/16/2010-11:25am at 11:25 am (UTC -4)
at this point F-Mart’s future is very much in doubt. Wasting an “option year” is the least of their worries.
Ceetar
8/16/2010-11:28am at 11:28 am (UTC -4)
Those decisions are at least partially Jerry Manuel (and Omar, who may not be a part of the future either).
Particularly the HEssman thing. then again, it may be the right move. Ike has been struggling, and if this is merely a temporary 1-2 week thing for Ike it’s fine.
Signs of the plan? They kept their prospects. They didn’t overpay to sign crappy starters or anything that they thought may be suspect to help them in 2011. They didn’t lock up a lot of payroll, despite Sherman, for 2011. They should have some wiggle room next year to upgrade at 2B and get another pitcher or two.
oleosmirf
8/16/2010-11:30am at 11:30 am (UTC -4)
unless Omar changes course from years past, the 2011 season will be a disappointment as well.
kingman 26
8/16/2010-11:32am at 11:32 am (UTC -4)
They didn’t trade their prospects because they had zero intent of adding one cent of payroll. That is most definitely how I see it. They didn’t sign mediocre pitchers last offseason to save money for a mid-season deal, right? Which did not happen.
If we had Halladay instead of the Phils? We very well might be a couple of games out of the WC.
I hope you are right, I really do, but I don’t think you are.
As for FMart, him sitting is indefensible nonsense. He’s healthy, which is rare for him, so he should sit? He should be playing EVERY day, either in Queens or in Buffalo.
GravediggerHebner
8/16/2010-11:42am at 11:42 am (UTC -4)
I cannot say that you’re wrong to suggest that they held onto prospects because they had no intention of adding payroll.
But I can say that it’s possible, however remote, however little faith I have in the organization, that they recognized that while the system has improved it still lacks depth and that any prospect based trade they might have made would not have been made from a position of strength.
In case it’s not clear what I am getting at is the team doesn’t have, hypothetically, 2 hot SP prospects so they could trade 1 and keep 1, or 2 hot 2B prospects so they could trade 1 and keep 1, and so on.
For this same reason I think it would be foolish and counter productive for them to trade Wright or Reyes or Santana as they have no one in the organization to step in and take their place.
They may, emphasize may, on the other hand have someone who can step in and take Beltran’s place in Pagan and so I think if there is anyone that the team can afford to trade (depending on return) this off season it’s Beltran.
GravediggerHebner
8/16/2010-11:46am at 11:46 am (UTC -4)
Rusty I like your use of the flushing metaphor for the season especially considering where the Mets play their home games.
This is total supposition on my part but my wild unsubstantiated theory on why David Wright has been so horrid recently is because he became completely deflated when the organization, despite it’s talk, did nothing to improve/change/alter itself this July.
I feel it’s possible that the weight of the preceding underwhelming seasons combined with the lack of a boost of any kind added to this one crushed his spirit. That and he’s standing too far from the plate for no apparent reason.
metsfan4decades
8/16/2010-11:57am at 11:57 am (UTC -4)
‘That and he’s standing too far from the plate for no apparent reason.’
- LOL….
I think you’re on to something. I believe too often we take for granted these ballplayers are same as us, getting paid to do a job. When you want to do that job to the best of your ability, and management above you is making it damn near impossible for whatever reason, you get real tired, real fast, of banging your head against the wall. No matter what you do, what you try, you get nowhere.
I’ve seen this too many times to count in my 30+ years in the working world. Had one year where they completely changed the direction of the team plus new management. Before 3 months were over, one team member was in the hospital w/ extremely high blood pressure, one had two trips to the emergency room with newly diagnosed migraines, one developed ulcers and one published a list of reasons to the team why they were taking a step back, with #1 being for the good of their mental well being.
I know my situation isn’t exactly the same as multi million dollar ball players, but the team concept is the same and the individual mindsets can’t be much different than the average working Joe.
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-12:04pm at 12:04 pm (UTC -4)
Does the head beaning still play a factor in Wright standing in the ondeck circle for his AB’s?
to further that question, I know it looks flashy and all, but what is going on with his “O-Laying” of the one hoppers that are hit his way? Is he scared of the ball? Looking to score style points? Every time I see him do it, visions of Dorn from Major League come bounding into my brain.
GravediggerHebner
8/16/2010-12:12pm at 12:12 pm (UTC -4)
I think I recall a broadcaster (Keith?) suggesting that the pro to that approach is that you’re in better position to make a throw after catching the ball but the con is that you’re less likely to actually catch the ball.
njstuckintx
8/16/2010-12:17pm at 12:17 pm (UTC -4)
Quite the conundrum.