Kuzul

As the season winds down, Mets fans eagerly await the anticipated moves the team will make to try and right the ship. Some players have started lobbying for a Dan Warthen sequel but there has been no such outcry for Jerry Manuel or Howard Johnson. Debates regarding whether or not to keep the youth or trade pieces away rage on, too.

Guess what? It doesn’t matter. Nothing will change unless a fundamental revision in how the team operates takes place. Regardless of who occupies the GM or manager’s office, until Jeff Wilpon decides to step back and let real baseball people run the team, the Mets are destined for the annual ritual of under performance.

If Wilpon continues his active role in the operations of the team, fans can look forward to more Mensa worthy moves, similar to that of bringing in Kaz Matsui to play shortstop and moving Jose Reyes to second base.

As much as I would love it, the chances of seeing the Wilpons sell the team are slim. If not, all future GM’s will be people with no backbone content on taking the Wilpon’s money and nothing else. All I ask is the Mets be honest with the fans. Maybe when Jeff sends his annual offseason apology letter to the fans, he can outline how the team will operate differently.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” He also said, “the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

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I have a few choice words for the New York Mets. In particular three specific players that did not partake in a life-changing experience. Those players are Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo. They recently denied the chance to take part in visiting wounded veterans to thank them for their service.

The choice words: solidarity, brotherhood, camaraderie, unity, and one accord.

These terms apply to a team or a group of people with one common goal to achieve. The terms do NOT apply to the Mets, however. Time and time again this season, this team has displayed a lack of unity and solidarity.

Disrespect and disunity have run rampant in the clubhouse. It shows on the field too. We all know by now of the many incidents where players have been in discord. The list of examples are as long as the list of excuses. Wise-cracking, chuckling, griping, finger-pointing, and ill-fated comments are all the end result of a deeper issue.

Looking back on this season thus far, we can recall, not just once, but several times a Mets player has commented about a teammate being traded by saying, “can I join him?” While this has repeatedly been laughed off in the clubhouse by the players and Morgan Freeman, I mean Jerry Manuel, it is not a laughing matter, despite what “Snoop Chuckles” Manuel thinks. It is a slip of the tongue from players regretting their state in the season.

Any time a player has spoken out against such behavior, they have been cast into exile. Alex Cora and Jeff Francoeur come to mind. This organization embraces laziness and ignorance. It ridicules hard work and respect for the game. How can any team succeed with that type of mentality.

The latest sacrilege occurred yesterday. It seems that the team decided to visit a veterans hospital. It was NOT mandatory for all players to participate, but it was encouraged that they all do. Furthermore, for the sake of the image of this team which is constantly under attack, it would be welcomed that all team players participate. With that in mind, all of them except for three did so.

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You can’t get off to a much more auspicious start to your Major League career than Dillon Gee did tonight. In his debut, Gee held the Washington Nationals hitless through the first five innings. Though the baseball gods and the bat of Willie Harris would not allow Dillon to flirt with history beyond out number fifteen, he nonetheless posted one of the best debuts in recent memory.

The most impressive aspect of his performance was his willingness to pitch to contact. This led to quick and easy outs, especially in the first few innings.

His control was good, his fastball had life, his breaking ball was effective, and he had Nationals hitters confused and off-balance much of the night.

He even brought the lumber…

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Perhaps negative emotions like spite consume our love for sports too much. “Anyone but Philly” is the clean version of a reply I’ll give to anyone who might ask me, “If it’s not going to be the Mets, who’s it going to be?”

Maybe it’s part short memory, or maybe it’s just the sting that’s created from the Mets holding true to the chorus of one of my favorite songs; “you do it to yourself, just you, you and no one else.”

In other words, the self-inflicted agony that back to back meltdowns created was only amplified by the fact that another team took advantage twice and now have a ring and back to back league championships to show for it.

But then there’s the Braves—the other team that haunted the Mets for about a decade and a half. Yet, to me, they seem rather innocent. They’re not quite likable due to their uniform, but in reality it’s for the most part a young team that aside from their manager and injured third baseman has very little to do with “the old Braves.”

Perhaps you could argue that the Braves are still the Mets biggest rival due to the intensity of the rivalry in the late ’90s, but things certainly have switched towards Phillies/Mets, especially considering the Mets have won a division crown more recently than Atlanta.

So now, with 26 games left and one game separating the two, if you were to ask me what I’m rooting for the answer would be simple…

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Jerry Manuel gets criticized for many of the Mets‘ issues on and off the field. Fans get on him for his in-game decisions, which at times is deserved. But what I ask here is that the Mets give Jerry Manuel the opportunity he is owed to manage the team in 2011.

Jerry Manuel took over the Mets back in ’08 in the middle of the night. The Mets were floundering at 34-35. From the beginning, Manuel made his presence felt when he pulled Jose Reyes from the (first) game when he came up lame running out a grounder. Reyes argued with Manuel, but Manuel was stern.

Manuel would lead the Mets back into contention, and even to a division lead late in September. We all know the Mets floundered down the stretch to finish 89-73 and out of the playoffs.

But none of it was Manuel’s fault.

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Jeff Francoeur certainly has his free-swinging ways.

Sure enough, he displays poor plate discipline. Couple that with his low on-base percentage and you have the reasons why he couldn’t stay in the lineup.

Yet, he has talent, and it seemed to me that he was making a concerted effort to change his approach.

On one hand, a guy like Oliver Perez (whom the Mets have tried to part ways with, but still have on the current roster) frustrates Dan Warthen and Jerry Manuel to no end with his refusal to do even the basics, such as repeat his pitching motion. In addition, Perez demonstrated what an awful team player he was in refusing a Minor League assignment.

By contrast, in 2009, with the season in complete tatters and devoid of hope, Jeff Francoeur played out the season with torn ligaments in his thumb. Isn’t that the type of player us Met fans should want to root for?

Especially as opposed to a selfish player such as Perez, who in essence has turned a 25-man roster into 24 this year.

Is this the message the Wilpons want to send the fans as to the type of character they endorse?

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To capture the psyche of today’s Met fan, perhaps no one sums it up better than Green Day:

“Wake me up when September ends.”

Though on second thought, an extension on my hibernation through October would be nice. It’s sickening enough to be subjected to a two horse race in the division featuring the two respective teams that have owned the Mets over the years. But worse, the thought of another Phillies/Yankees World Series might induce vomit—take that comment however you want.

But it’s not all bad, right? The leaves turn and we can now focus on which first round fantasy pick we’re going to make (Aaron Rodgers for this here guy).

But, at the end of the day, and I’ll be frank, we (Mets Gazette) want you to come back and visit us again. So it’s nice to come up with something encouraging to talk about every now and then, no?

I’ll give it a shot.

Lucas Duda and Jenrry Mejia have been called up and Jeff Francoeur won’t be able to swing at any more pitches two feet out of the strike zone as a member of the Mets. At least for a while, because surely they’ll trade for him down the line.

Oh cynicism—err…addressing reality? Now that I’m through with optimism, let me revert to my pessimistic self to join the rest of the Mets blogging world in pointing out a fundamental flaw of the Mets.

Today’s special? The Mets business strategy.

In short, Jeff Wilpon is the Paris Hilton of baseball.

For those out of the loop with regards to pop culture phenomenons embarrassments, Paris Hilton and Jeff Wilpon are similar in that they can both be summed up in one dirty word:

No, not that one…”nepotism” is the word I refer to.

Enabled and unqualified, Mr. Wilpon is as ideal a choice to run a baseball franchise as Michael Vick is to star in Lassie.

Sub-sophomoric? Juvenile? Sure thing, but it’s true.

Sadly, you can’t blame him because he got it from his father—everything that is. From the franchise, to words of encouragement to sheer craziness. Fred, after all, is the guy who took weeks and weeks to realize that firing a man in the dead of night after a cross-country road trip was a bad idea.

What an epiphany. Hence, the point is, what did you expect from Jeff?

Well, here are a few choice highlights:

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Every spring, it is the same scenario. As the leaves bud into a beautiful, green bloom and thoughts of spring renew hopes of glory, there comes a revitalization of interest from each fan.

If hope springs eternal, then for the New York Mets, autumn is where those hopes die.

Throughout the scorching summer months that follow the resurgence of life in spring, the team keeps their chances alive and their fans’ interest piqued. However, as the leaves wither away into a cold, shriveled shell of their former selves, they begin to gracefully fall to the ground.

So with the change of the season, the visions of grandeur change into delusions as the team also withers away into irrelevancy.

As players begin to fall one by one, some in not-so-elegant fashion and others float into another team’s backyard, one thing is clear: The chances grow more dim by the hour. As the seasons begin to change, so the baseball season has already done so; both have changed into an icy, cold and still demise. The eerie quiet of winter will be upon us much sooner than we anticipate.

Just as the change in seasons is inevitable, it is equally so for the Mets.

There will be change. This current management cannot withstand the awesome weight of multiple collapses and multimillion dollar busts much longer before it buckles under the enormous pressure. The one carrying the brunt of the weight is GM Omar Minaya.

How much longer can he sustain the scrutiny and weight of the future on his shoulders?

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The New York Mets are about to enter the home stretch of a wasted season. Along with said wasted season, comes a long winter to recuperate. However before that opportunity arises, the team still has a little over a month of games remaining. They also have several players that they counted on heavily for this season showing their battle scars.

For example, Jason Bay (concussion), with his hefty free agent contract, is just beginning to continue physical activities and just about ready to get back into the lineup. Why? Because he wants to get back in time to play a handful of meaningless games and chance re-aggravating some previous injury?

How about Jose Reyes? He started the season injured (thyroid), and it continued throughout the season (hamstring), not that he missed a ton of games, but he did sit out enough to be missed in that anemic lineup.

In fact, Jeff Francoeur, Jon Niese, and a handful of others all spent time on the DL this year or have missed some time with a nagging injury as well. That’s part of a 162 game season. That’s to be expected. However, at this stage of the season that remains, it may not be prudent to have the most injury-prone players in harm’s way. In particular, the players that are deemed to be “the core players,” are the ones that have the most to lose by sustaining another injury this year.

Reyes may have tweaked his previous injury and still could be ready to go, but why risk it? The aforementioned Bay is worth too much to the franchise to make his current injury worse. So to reiterate, why? If these players are hurting and have nothing to play for, why play?

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We have all heard the old adage “defense wins championships”. This may or may not be true. That depends on who you ask. I could run the numbers of any sport and present an argument that would hold water against anyone to back that up. But the truth is, offense puts people in the seats.

It really doesn’t matter what sport you mention. People want to see scoring. They also want to see defense, but not at the risk of neglecting offense. The New York Mets have pondered this very question for several years. I recall in the mid to late 90’s and early this decade, the Mets had a player that sparked the debate, Rey Ordonez.

He was a three-time gold glove winner at shortstop for the Mets. During his time in Queens, he never hit for a higher batting average than the .257 in his rookie season. His most explosive home run season was in 2001 when he hit three. He never was a base stealer either. His highest total there was 11 in ’97.

Yet, everyone wanted him in the lineup for his glove. When his defensive skills started failing him, he was chased out of New York. While here, the debate raged on, anemic offense and solid defense or potentially solid offense and mediocre at very best defense. I bring Ordonez up because, these days the same debate is brewing at second base.

Just about everyone hates Luis Castillo. In fact, Carlos Mencia could make that into a WB show to rival Everybody Hates Chris. It is certainly a hot topic these days. What to do with Luis? Trade him? Cut him? Play him? Bench him? His range and defensive skills have been under question for quite a while now.

The intense scrutiny of which has caused even Jerry Manuel to play rookie Ruben Tejada in his place. Tejada is the quintessential example of poor offensive skills that wields a great glove. He is batting .191 as of the time of this article. By the time it is published, that may plummet even further.

In comparison, Castillo was obtained for offense and experience. Now, his glove has become such a detriment, that he is riding the bench with his massive contract. However, his current .245 batting average does not make it worth keeping him in the lineup when his glove is so suspect. But when looking at his career, he does have greater offensive potential than Tejada.

They released Alex Cora, who was just the same mold as Tejada, in that he can’t hit but has a good glove. So it is down to two players as options. It is sad that this is the state of the team. They are forced to decide between an old player that is hitting .245, or a young player that is hitting .191 and it is disheartening as a fan.

The only reason Castillo is still in the discussion is due to his contract. He is currently making $6.25M this season. That’s too much money to have on the bench or in the minors. If he was making $1M or $2M, then there would not be a debate. He would have been cut long ago. That would have made financial room for the team to sign or trade for a better option at the position.

So once again, it comes down to the front office. The team is in this bind because they failed to have the foresight to not trade for Castillo in ’07. He was getting older then and he is decrepit and ancient now. They traded for him when he was declining. That lack of vision has crippled them this season and for the next few to come.

In other words, the team is in this position to have to choose bad or worse because they put themselves in that position. The immediate future is not so bright with these options. Though Tejada is young, he really does not seem to have figured out how to hit at the major league level.

Finances being what they are, however, these are the options for the next year or more. So the debate will rage on, but with these players struggling more and more at the plate, the lack of offense will have to force the Mets‘ hand to make some type of move for someone in the off season.

Though the experts all say they will not be able to spend, empty seats will make them at some point. After all, if defense wins championships and offense fills the stands, then the fans will eventually dictate the direction of this team.

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