Re: Where did it all go so terribly wrong for the Mets ?
- From: Jottland <jottland@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:53:28 -0800 (PST)
On Jan 20, 7:21 pm, montygraham <monty1...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As recently as the Bay signing, there were high hopes. Before the
2011 season began, the great Sandy Alderson said he thought they could
be a "pretty darn good" team in 2011. Most fans seemed to like the
Bay signing, and few if any "experts" railed against it (I don't
remember one doing that). Yet despite a career year by Reyes, they
were clearly "done" before the trade deadline, and expected trades
occurred. Towards the end of the season, Terry had to tell the
players to get their heads back in the game (whatever the precise
language was), yet he was quite happy with things not long before
deciding that the players seemed to be giving up on the season. Why
do so many experts as well as fans have difficulties assessing the
team in an accurate way?
Let's look at the recent history. They lost the deciding game of the
NL Championship in 2006 at home and against a team that was clearly
not a "great" team. Then the has massive collapse seasons in 2007 and
2008, under two different managers! Then came a years with massive
injuries and a sub-.500 record. 2010 witnessed a nice run for a short
while, followed by a trip to Puerto Rico, which seemed to exhaust the
team. Look up how many series they won after coming back to the
USA! Then there is 2011, yet another sub-.500 season, despite Sandy's
notion that they seemed to be a "pretty darn good" team.
There are a few obvious possibilities here. One is that there are
players who have been on this team for those years (especially Wright,
Reyes, and Beltran) that are the problem, for whatever reason. Unlike
the position players, pitchers have come and gone. I was especially
pleased at how Ollie and Maine were finally told to "get lost,"
essentially, after their antics and poor performances had gotten to
the point of absurdity. Yet they haven't done the same thing with
their position players. Think of the 2010 run, and think of how good
the hitting was during the run versus how pitiful it was after they
returned from Puerto Rico that year.
That brings up the next possibility, which another person recently
mentioned on another thread: they are not properly conditioned. I
would go further and mention that Bobby V. would give everyone days
off, while none of the managers since seem to be that interested in
doing this. The players don't seem to understand the importance of
pacing themselves and doing what's necessary to prevent certain kinds
of injuries. Thus, the GM and/or manager must step in and get the job
done. So far, I have yet to see that happen. Moreover, even if they
get to the playoffs, how much will they have "left in the tank" at
that point? Remember "El Duque" Hernandez? Remember how good he was
in the playoffs? Remember how he always seemed to get "injured" for
about a mont during the summer? What does two plus two equal?
Lastly, there is another obvious possibility: there are too many
"paper tigers" on this team. The hit "meatball" pitchers but against
a pitcher who "has a clue," they are much less effective. Otherwise,
one would have to call Sandy an idiot for saying they could be "pretty
darn good" in 2011, it would seem. He sees the numbers but did he
watch them actually play, other than a few at bats here and there?
Ultimately, the players have to win, not the manager or GM. A "bad"
manager can only cost them so many games, and even if we assume all
three of the recent managers are "bad," they still should have won
over 82 games if they were a "pretty darn good" team! Instead of
bringing in Bay for 2010, they should have realized this is a team
that "doesn't work" after the second major collapse (2008). If they
did that, 2009 would not have happened, because it would have been a
rebuilding/youth movement year and injuries would be less likely and
not particularly important (since you would be trying to sort, out
which young players could play at the MLB level anyway).
By the 2012 season, things would likely have been sorted out, major
prospects could have been gotten for Wright, Reyes, and probably
others. Instead, failure was rewarded, with predictable results (that
is, more failure). The "can" gets "kicked down the road," because the
"fans won't understand." Perhaps when there are hardly any fans left,
they will realize that this is a group of losers, for whatever reason,
and only guys who have a winning attitude or have not yet shown
themselves to be losers (Dickey and Ike are examples) should be kept
on the team. For some reason,. something so simple is beyond the
comprehension of all these "experts."
Will you shut up already??
.
- References:
- Where did it all go so terribly wrong for the Mets ?
- From: montygraham
- Where did it all go so terribly wrong for the Mets ?
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