Ah, the Mets. After 46 years, you'd think they'd have a decent Human Resources handbook, or something.
Within hours of capping off a 9-6 victory over the (Insert Geography Joke Here) Angels, Omar Minaya, General "Manager" of the Mets, fired manager Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson, and first base coach Tom Nieto. They were replaced by former bench coach Jerry Manuel, AAA pitching coach Dan Warthen, and the recently-hired Kenny Oberkfell, respectively. Yeah, that'll help.
I have no words. I'm going to write anyway, because I have nothing better to do at this particular moment. Remember when 2008 looked like a pretty good year? We had Johan, we had Wright and Reyes, this Church guy looked like a pretty good pickup, Pedro was healthy, Alou was healthy, Beltran was still in his prime, and though Delgado was not looking great, but he could still be counted on for 20-25 homers and some RBI's. Duaner was coming back fairly early, Billy the Kid was still there, Joe Smith looked to build on his impressive 2007 stint, and despite the fact we still had Schoeneweis and his ridiculous salary, he couldn't get any worse, could he?
Wow. It's all officially circling the drain now. Johan's been great, but the farm system we gave up to get him is as dry as my front lawn. Alou needs ID to get into the stadium he is there so infrequently. Delgado is an embarrassment. Beltran has only finally gotten going recently, but still isn't up to his normal standards. Church got a concussion and was subsequently sent on road trips (see lack of Human Resources handbook mentioned above). Wright can't hit righties, and Reyes is more streaky than usual. Luis Castillo is making $6 million dollars to slap balls to the shortstop. The bullpen is very close to having to be registered as a WMD. Oliver Perez pitches great one outing, and can't get anybody out in the next. Mike Pelfrey probably belongs in AAA, but with El Duque out indefinitely and Pedro in and out of the rotation, we have no choice but to let him learn how to pitch in the majors. There are guys who hadn't recorded a hit in
several YEARS prior to 2008 getting significant playing time.
So now we finish 2008 with an interim manager, an interim pitching coach, and a GM who has no clue and probably should be fired. This is a very bad mess, and a very expensive one at that.
How can we get out of it? Well, fire Omar and get a GM that knows his way around a sabermetric report would be a start. What GM in his right mind counts on Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, and Pedro Martinez to continue to perform at high levels well into their late 30's and 40's? How can Omar not see that Carlos Delgado is toast, and not at least have some idea of how to replace him? Why did Omar pay $6 million for Luis Castillo, when he could have paid the minimum for Ruben Gotay and gotten equally bad performance? How can Omar let a guy with a concussion go on road trips? WHO IN THE HELL IS ROBINSON CANCEL?
Here's a suggestion, Lords Wilpon: farm out the GM job to the Baseball Prospectus crew. They are pretty good a critiquing every other GM, so why not get them to put up or shut up? Gary Huckabay and Rany Jazayerli can be in charge of player personnel, Joe Sheehan can handle media relations, Will Carroll can direct the medical staff, Neil deMause can negotiate contracts, Clay Davenport can be the Assistant GM in charge of Advanced Statistical Methods, etc. If they win, it's good for the Mets, and if they lose, every other organization and Joe Morgan will send you gift baskets when they have to shutter their site.
Think about, guys. It can't be worse than what's going on now.
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