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Start Daniel Murphy

The Murphy/Tatis platoon perplexes me. It’s not just because Murphy already looks to be a better defensive first baseman, although that does help. It seems Tatis hasn’t been solid defensively anywhere he’s played this year. He’s not a liability, but he’s not good either. Sometimes you have to look at the upside.daniel_murphy

The best case scenario for Tatis is that he’s a solid guy off the bench, and can spot start at first or in the outfield a couple of times and contribute offensively. The best case for Murphy is that he develops into a solid major leaguer and is your everyday first baseman for the future. Depending on how good that best case is, that future could easily be 15 years.

For a team that could use some more offense, shouldn’t we find out what Murphy’s got as an everyday player? He platooned most of the time last year as well. Maybe it’s time for him to be put out there for 10 games and see what he looks like everyday. Some lineup consistency couldn’t hurt.

In my fire Manuel rants I’ve suggested that Manuel sets up his players to fail. Here’s another test: Manuel says Murphy will start one of these two games against the Phillies. Tonight is the lefty Cole Hamels who is a pretty good pitcher. Thursday is the lefty Jamie Moyer who hasn’t had a good year and lefties are able to hit. I would start Murphy both games, but if Manuel’s going to choose one the obvious choice is Moyer. Tatis had a good game last night, and it wouldn’t hurt to try to ride out that success by starting him again today. Murphy would be better suited to hit Moyer than Hamels. The only downside is that Murphy is a better defender for the ground balls of Pelfrey tonight, versus Redding tomorrow. Let’s see what Manuel does, but starting Murphy against Hamels and then claiming he can’t hit lefties if he doesn’t hit one of the better ones is not fair.

Sidebar: I didn’t see a lot of Phillies fans on television. No surprise there, they’ve never traveled here as well as we’ve traveled there. The ones that do only come to cause trouble. I noticed this at the last series, and I’ve heard stuff from last night as well. The Phillies fans come in bearing 2008 flags that they like to wave around and be obnoxious with. Luckily there is always a drunk Mets fan somewhere that will run in and grab it. I saw this happen in the Pepsi Porch in May, and I saw reports of it last night as well.

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Fire Jerry Manuel

I’ve suspected Manuel was the wrong guy for the job since the day he was hired. I kept hoping I was wrong, but he keeps proving me right.

You can’t excuse the mistakes the players make, but it’s on the manager to teach his team and form a winning combination. Jerry Manuel often does the opposite.

Manuel said earlier when this insane streak of bad plays and errors started, that he’d give the team more infield practice/fundamental drills when they got back home after this road trip. As if these 10 games or so weren’t really a big deal, whatever, we’ll worry about it later. That’s the wrong attitude to take. He’s also said that he doesn’t really care about the standings in May, and while it’s true you don’t need to scoreboard watch, you still have to try to win every game.

Manuel sets up guys to fail. One example is bringing in Pagan with almost no AB this year off the bench to pinch hit for Daniel Murphy, who was supposed to be the ‘starting leftfielder’ and actually hits left handed pitching well. Or keeping Feliciano in to face Brian Mccann because you’re scared if you bring in Stokes, he’ll have to face Garret Anderson.

Manuel manages scared, which is fine if you’re playing with a crappy team, but this is arguably one of the best teams in the game. You don’t need to sacrifice bunt with Castillo, who was hitting over .300 most of the year, in the first inning. Or in the 8th for that matter, as you don’t play to tie on the road by the book. Castillo messed up the bunt, but they got the run in anyway to tie it. What if Castillo swings the bat and manages to get a hit? Maybe you win the game right there. Also, Manuel intentionally walks guys way too much. I’m okay with it in situations. I don’t care that much about walking the 8th place hitter with Redding to get the pitcher, even if Redding was throwing well. I’m not okay doing it with Santana, one of the best in the game. Against the Marlins a couple of weeks ago, Manuel called for Santana to intentionally walk Alfredo Amezega hitting eighth, twice in the same game. Santana can get anyone out, and allowing him to start with the pitcher the next inning would just make him even more successful. Amezega had never faced Santana to that point.

Manuel gets too match-up happy. Pulling Murphy to put in Pagan (cold) because he can bat righty. He pinch hits for other regulars in this manner too, late in games. Usually Sheffield for Reed or Murphy if he starts. Trust guys to get hits against all types of pitching, as Murphy tends to do when you actually play him.

Last night Church came into the game cold. This doesn’t excuse him, but Church is a starter, he’s a guy that’s used to getting ready to play, and then playing. He’s not used to coming off the bench, which is something people say is hard to prepare for. Church didn’t look prepared. Running the bases, fielding the ball, or running the bases. Manuel isn’t utilizing Church in the way that gets the most out of him. Jeremy Reed is more used to coming off the bench, but to play outfield. He basically said after the game that “He hasn’t practiced that play.”, not as an excuse, but just as a fact. He hasn’t played 1B, and all of a sudden he’s thrust there late in the game out of nowhere, when his baseball instincts are all OF related. Watch that play again. (if you can bare it) Doesn’t he look like he’s an OF getting ready to make a long throw to the plate to catch a runner? He’s used to being about 200 feet further away. This goes back to Manuel setting up guys to fail. 1B has become an issue, one that we knew about at least a couple of days ago when Delgado went on the DL, and something Manuel should’ve been preparing for as a worst case scenario. We don’t have a guy that can play first base on this team, so the best thing to do is pick a guy that’s going to play there, and let him get the playing time so he can learn and get comfortable. Whether that’s Tatis or Murphy or Reed is a personal choice, but be consistent, and let them learn the position.

These games are important. If you’re serious about winning, it’s time to put Reyes on the field even if he’s not 100%. Maybe you tell him not to steal bases while he’s aching. He’s still better than Ramon Martinez, and we still need his bat in the lineup. Stop listening to the Dodger doctors. If I’m Reyes, I come to the park today claiming to feel fine. If I have to put ice on it to hide swelling before hand, then I do that. Obviously don’t do something that’s going to hurt it more, but we need him.

I’d also start Murphy and Church in the outfield. I feel like they need to play everyday, and they give us the best chance to win. Given how Wright and Beltran are playing, that’s more than enough ‘presence’ for whatever that is worth. It feels like Jerry Manuel has another agenda than winning, at least with certain players.

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Managing Scared

Fire him before it’s too late. Send away the pitching and hitting coach while you’re at it. If you’re really desperate to keep HoJo with the organization, make him the new bench coach.

Why give away 4 outs? Why pinch hit a guy that’s hot for a guy that wasn’t watching the game and hasn’t been watching what Lindstrom was throwing. We all know this team needs confidence. so what kind of confidence does it show Castro in that spot? Murphy that he’s replaced defensively and would’ve been up in the ninth? Reyes when you won’t let him steal early in the count or only hit and run and tell him when to go? Or that you’re constantly bunting in front of him like he can’t drive the guys in himself.

Drawing the infield in in the first. Managing scared. Manuel set the stage from the very beginning saying “Even though it’s the first inning, I don’t think you guys are going to score enough runs to win if we let this run score.” Well, ask and you shall receive.

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Fresh Ideas

The players are the players. Fundamentals are the result of practice and training. Look at how much better Jose Reyes has gotten at shortstop over the years. To me, this is on the coaches. They don’t seem to be doing proper base running drills, or proper training in general. Perez is what he is, but you know he has talent. It’s on the coaches to bring out that talent.

Between clutch hitting, stolen bases, good defense, and good pitching, this team has shown it all at times. These players have all show they’re capable of it. And you can’t fire the players. It’s time for a real change in management. Sometimes when you’re too close to the problem, you can’t see what needs to be done. It’s time for Howard Johnson, and Jerry Manuel, and probably Dan Warthen too, to get lost. I want some outside influence on this team. Some fresh ideas.

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First Offseason Move

Well, Omar’s poised to make his first mistake of the off season. Hopefully it’s his only mistake. I have confidence he’ll do what’s needed to improve this team, without caving to what whiny fans think is the best course of action. However, keeping Manuel who failed as a bench coach, failed as an interim manager, and may have even failed as a leader in the clubhouse and managed a team that was succeeding and cruising, even without Billy Wagner, and managed to have them crash and burn again.

Luckily managers don’t have that big an impact, and if you give anybody the right players they can’t succeed. If the bullpen did, or will, pitch well enough that Manuel doesn’t have to constantly tamper with it, he won’t be able to screw it up. Maybe if he resides over a spring training for real, he won’t treat next September like one.

Omar’s decisions can only get better from here.

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Bad all Around

That game was miserable. Manuel’s managing of it no better than the situational hitting. The crowd felt alive, energetic, excited..it was almost a borderline playoff feel. Until Sanchez let up the tying hits.

How can Manuel be so inconsistent? How can he use reliever after reliever when someone is in trouble in earlier innings, but leaves Ayala in there for two? Shouldn’t he have gone somewhere else, or at least pulled him after the first hit, if not the second? Why did he pinch hit for Schneider, but leave Argenis in to bat when he already got his hit for the month? And then pull Argenis after the inning anyway!

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Ouch

(The included picture came up when I did a google image search for ‘baseball ouch’ How depressing is that?)

I’m so sick of Manuel. Not that his poor handling of the bullpen is any excuse for the poor performance of the bullpen, but you know what they say, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The last game before the Mets 10 game winning streak was a game in which Santana dominated the Phillies for eight innings and 95 pitches and was lifted by Manuel in the 9th only to have the lead, and the game, be blown. Last night he did the same thing, with a couple more pitches thrown, and a couple more runs as a cushion. However, he knew Wagner wasn’t available, and he instead went to a closer by committee, changing his mind three times in the inning.

Hopefully Manuel hasn’t transported this team to the way it was before the winning streak; sandwiching it between (at least) two poorly managed games and shipping it off to 2006. If anything, this team has shown remarkable resilience for taking a devastating loss and coming back from it. The Phillies have also shown the remarkable ability to take any advantage they’re given and squander it, so we’ll see where the chips fall tonight.

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Have to Listen to the Leaders

Reyes: Fly Like the Wind

Here’s my take on the Reyes thing, I support him fully in this. I think it was a mistake to keep Manuel while firing Willie. If a change was going to work, it needed to be a clean slate, not someone leading that’s been through the same problems. So when Manuel starts his tenure by pissing off Wright and Reyes, it doesn’t look good.

Wright and Reyes, by example or otherwise, are going to be or already are the leaders of this team. The team revolves around them, and Manuel needs to work with them and allow them the ability to do that.

At least give Reyes the chance to walk it off, jog in the outfield, really see if he’s hurt. Manuel, admittedly, said that it was his first day played into his decision. This isn’t about Manuel though, it’s about Reyes and winning the game, which we had less of a chance to do with Easley. Reyes wanted to play, and the only message this sends besides “I know best” is that he doesn’t have to play hard when he’s not feeling 100%. Reyes is who he is, and we don’t need him molded into some media-darling cookie cutter player. So what if he throws a tantrum? Haven’t so many of you been saying how you want to see fire and fight with this team? Well Reyes has got it, he is who he is and trying to make him something else is detrimental to the team, as we saw early in the season when Beltran reminding him to stop worrying about how he’s perceived and play the game the way he knows how.

This whole firing situation reeks to me of setting up the team to fail. It sounds like “You can’t fire me, I quit!” by Mets management. They’ve decided the team isn’t going to win, set up a fall guy, and laid the groundwork for next year. What they forget is it’s early June. I still think the Mets can and will break out of it, but it also feels like the media and management are fighting against it. The team needs to be able to relax, and it doesn’t look like this is going to afford them that. Only time will really tell; will this team be counted out on August 1st and pull a Colorado Rockies to make the playoffs after the pressure is off? It’s still too early for that too.

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The Only Way to Fire Him Badly

While I like Willie Randolph and didn’t want him fired, I’ve long said I could live with it because I felt a change needed to be made for changes sake, and who knows what the problem is?

However, if Randolph was the problem, then undoubtedly so was Manuel and Howard Johnson, but they are still here. Of course, the shoddy way the Mets handled this so far could mean they’re gone when they wake up in Anaheim today. Ken Oberkfell is promoted from Triple A manager to first base coach, and I assume that the idea is he’s the favorite for manager and Jerry Manuel is truly an interim guy, but if the Mets go on to win in the playoffs like they are capable of, how can you fire him? And firing coaches/managers twice within a season is just an unneeded (for the players) distraction and disruption.

If they were going to fire him, Friday was the time after a bad stretch of games. Instead, now they’ve won four of six and three of the last four. They didn’t make a huge move, bringing up triple A guys to fill the coaching spots, so why did they need to hold off on making this decision? I even went to bed last night thinking the Mets were on an upswing and Willie probably even had a days reprieve or so. To make a guy fly out to Anaheim and win a game well with a young pitcher on the mound, a game where he made the right bullpen moves to win the game, and then fire him after it is silly.

Maybe it was in deference to Randolph? If they fire him Friday and then the Mets start winning, he looks bad and like the cause of the Mets struggles. However, now that they’re playing well again, it just looks like any other manager firing and maybe he doesn’t get all the blame.

I know nothing about Nieto and have no reason to understand why he got fired, but Peterson I can live with an am almost happy with. I don’t really know how much impact he has had, and how much impediment he has been. I tire of his babying pitchers and his pitch counts and what seems to me to be molding a pitcher to his philosophies rather than teaching the pitcher how to succeed with what he’s got. I know nothing about his replacement though, and it’ll be interesting to see how things go. The only guy I’m really curious about is Perez. Maine has progressed enough that I think he’ll actually benefit with someone else’s suggestions and only get better. Pelfrey to me was just a matter of confidence and practice, not necessarily who was giving it to him. Plus having Pedro here is worth as much as any pitching coach.

So we have all day and night to talk about this, and then it’s time to move on and start/continue playing good baseball and get back to the ultimate goal of winning the World Series.

Does Willie still get to go to the All Star game? Also, I don’t want to hear from Yankees fans on this. The Yankees totally mishandled Joe Torre (although at least it was in the offseason) and have a crybaby for an owner.

And in a game of what if?

Willie Randolph gets Jim Leyland’s job, and manages the Tigers to a championship over the Mets. Then after asked “You’ve just won the World Series, what are you going to do now?” he returns to Anaheim where he was fired. “I’m going to Disneyland!”