Mets Mess: Luis Castillo Released - Perez Still Pitching In

Article first published as Mets Mess: Luis Castillo Released - Perez Still Pitching In on Blogcritics.

I picture Luis Castillo during this spring training as a guy with a bucket on the Titanic. He kept trying to get the water off the deck, but you know how this story ends. So now Luis is gone; either he jumped overboard or got into a lifeboat. Either way, the ship is still sinking.

Castillo always seemed to be the target of the fans. Not only did his hitting leave something to be desired, but so did his fielding. When I think of him I see dropped pop-ups and remember the booing of the crowd. Not a very pleasant memory at all. By all accounts his teammates liked him, but the main reason he is gone is because the fans demanded it.

While the Mets parted ways with second baseman Castillo, troubled pitcher Oliver Perez is still hanging in there. He pitched one scoreless inning yesterday, even striking out Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves. Does this mean Ollie might get a shot at being in the bullpen? I'd say grab a bucket, Ollie. Someone has to take up where Castillo left off.

There are also alternating reports of Carlos Beltran feeling better and his knee bothering him. Take your pick, Mets fans, because this is not the player the Mets were supposed to get. He should have been their star center fielder, ostensibly their centerpiece to the puzzle, a super star around whom to build a team. We see how well that has worked out, right?

Alas, the old regime of GM Omar Minaya (and Steve Phillips before him) shelled out lots of money to players who have gone bust. Just take a look at the short list: Beltran, Perez, Castillo, and Johan Santana. Millions and millions of dollars wasted as well as time and at the expense of the team and the fans. People can talk all they want about the money the team lost investing with Bernie Madoff, but the worst investment the Mets ever made was in these players who gave them no return.

Now maybe the Mets can get back to what they used to do well: establish a strong farm system that develops great players like it once did. Clearly, guys like Ike Davis, David Wright, and Jose Reyes give us a glimmer of hope of what can come from that kind of cultivation. We have to hope that GM Sandy Alderson has the vision to do this for the long haul because free agents are just not working out for the Mets. It seems they never have (can anyone forget Bobby Bonilla?).

There isn't much to look forward to this season, but we have to remember the band kept playing on the Titanic even as it was sinking. So grab a bucket, Ollie, but don't think it's going to save the ship before the fat lady sings.

Photo Credits:
Castillo - Daily News
Wright - espn.com

NY Mets Mess: Goodbye and Good Riddance to Minaya and Manuel

This article first appeared as NY Mets Mess: Goodbye and Good Riddance to Minaya and Manuel on Blogcritics.

Make no mistake about it: the NY Mets will finally part ways with Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel after Sunday's last game of the season. This cannot happen fast enough for me. Goodbye and good riddance to them both.

In the beginning I liked Omar Minaya. I figured this fellow who grew up in Queens in the shadow of Shea Stadium had been a Mets fan all his life. Surely, he would bring something to the table that other GMs lacked: knowledge of the good, bad, and ugly Mets past. This would have to help him fashion a team that would be a winner because every Mets fan wants that, right? Wrong!

Minaya was blamed for many things, but the worst thing I think he brought to the Mets was this: complacency was okay. He seemed to sit on his hands as big fish got hooked by other teams - especially the Yankees - and that made him look either inept or unconcerned about the team. Both attitudes (and I believe Minaya suffered from both afflictions) are deadly in the game and put the Mets into a terrible situation.

Things started to turn for me when he got rid of Willie Randolph. I don't believe that Randolph got sufficient assitance on the field from the GM; therefore, how can he be blamed for the team's performance. Randolph was another local boy who made good, one who went with his father to Mets games from his native Brooklyn. I liked Randolph very much and felt he had a chance to take the Mets all the way, but he was like a carpenter without his hammer and saw. No one can blame him for the team Minaya saddled him with back then.

Of course, Jerry Manuel is not as culpable in this situation. He got dealt a bad hand. He took over for Minaya and he too never got the personnel he deserved. Minaya seemed like a guy standing on the subway platform, letting all the good trains shoot by him. He never made an effort to get Manuel help this year. We wanted Cole Hamels, but what we got was Dillon Gee.

None of this makes any sense and it never will because there is no explaining Minaya's baseball philosophy. It seems to me that he was like a guy trying to hammer nails into a table, but all he did was stand over it and toss the nails in the air. The table is never going to be completed that way, and I think that's why we have the Mets mess we have today.

So goodbye and good riddance to Minaya. I wish Manuel well, but he needs to go someplace else. He is a good fellow and deserves better. Much better.

Whom will the Mets hire as GM? The only more salient question is who will be the new manager. I like Wally Backman very much, and his kick butt attitude got him a long way with the Brooklyn Cyclones. Maybe he is what this team needs. It also needs a guy who can hit 30 homers, a couple of starters who can win 15-20 games, and a bullpen that can close the door.

We have all winter to think about these things, but the Mets organization had better get working on next year this Sunday, October 3, 2010, as soon as the last inning is played. Otherwise, next year Citi Field is going to be a ghost town.

Mets Honor '86 Greats; Get Blown Away by D'Backs

Article first published as Mets Honor '86 Greats; Get Blown Away by D'Backs on Blogcritics.

Sunday, August 1, 2010, started as a nearly perfect day for the Mets and their fans at Citi Field in New York. The Mets organization honored some of the key members of the 1986 World Series Champions by elevating them to the team's Hall of Fame. On hand to accept the honors were Darryl Strawberry, Dwight (Doc) Gooden, Davey Johnson (Manager), and Frank Cashen (GM).

It was a golden moment for the fans as they vigorously cheered the heroes of '86, but it also seemed incongruous that the current team, watching with perhaps a bit of envy from the dugout, could not expect to have similar adulation coming its way any time soon. Predictably, the current Mets (53-52) went out and got crushed 14-1 by the Arizona Diamondbacks (39-66).

The legendary sports cartoonist Bill Gallo created Basement Bertha, a kind of sympathetic figure who helped fans who felt down in the dumps. Bertha cheered up Mets fans through all the tough years, but it now seems like Bertha needs to be brought back, because the 2010 team is starting to look an awful (emphasis on awful) lot like the hapless Mets of long ago.

Who in the stands couldn't help but wish for Doc Gooden to pick up a ball and stride out to the mound? All of us were wishing so. Wouldn't it have been even more grand for Doc to look over his left shoulder and see the lanky and reliable Strawberry standing in right field, basking in the shouts of "Darryl - Darryl" as he always did? I personally would have loved to have seen Davey Johnson walk into the dugout, suit up, and stand on the top step as he used to do while the Mets' brass showed Jerry Manuel the door.

Yes, Mets fans can't help but think about the past because the present is so confoundingly depressing. This 14-1 loss ruined any good feeling the day started with, and thoroughly exposed this team for what it really is: one that, at best, can hope to have an 81-81 record when all is said and done (but even that may be too much to ask at this point).

Finally, what about Frank Cashen going into Minaya's office and teaching an abbreviated GM 101 course? Cashen was the architect of the '86 Mets, swinging very good deals to bring Howard Johnson, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, and Ray Knight to the team, pushing them into the playoffs and ultimately winning them a World Series.

Those were the days my friends, as the old song goes, and sadly it had to end. Now, it breaks this old Mets fan's heart to see what's happening on the field. Manuel had to lift Jonathon Niese who got pounded, and then Elmer Dessens who also got punished, but the worst offense of all was for him to insert Oliver (Space Cadet) Perez into the mix. Besides the terrible booing that followed, Perez allowed four more runs and that's just rubbing salt into the wounds.

So on a day that should have been a celebration for the Mets and their fans, what we got was a day that highlighted the ruination of this team. No trade was made to help them, and now it looks like we're going to have to settle for much less than anticipated. Can someone call Basement Bertha and ask her to get the place ready for the Metsies? It looks like they're coming back home to live for a spell.

Mets Lose To Lowly D'Backs; No Trade in the Wings

Article first published as Mets Lose To Lowly D'Backs; No Trade in the Wings in Blogcritics.

As pro-Mexican immigration demonstrators stood chanting across the street from Citi Field in New York last night, inside the Mets were blowing yet another game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Of course, the demonstrators were there because of the controversial immigration law in Arizona, with which I am certain none of the Diamondback players have any tangible connection.

The Way This Guy Runs, Maybe the Mets Should Sign Him Up

Besides David Wright's two homers (17) and five RBIs (74), the biggest excitement of the night probably came when two pro-Mexican protesters ran onto the grass at Citi Field with a big Mexican flag flowing from their hands. As hapless Mets security members reacted as cluelessly as Keystone Kops and struggled to corral these invaders on the field, one could only think of Jose Reyes's error that sent the Mets from a 5-4 lead to an eventual 9-6 defeat.

The Mets have looked terrible in many ways since the All-Star Break, and their 6-11 record since then is actually worse than it seems. The pitching can at times be brilliant (like R.A. Dickey's 8.1 innings allowing just three hits in a game against the Cards on Thursday), but as in last night's game, Mike Pelfrey seemed in trouble all the way until Reyes's error sealed the deal.

Is any help on the way? As usual, Mets GM Omar Minaya is like a teenage boy at a high school dance sitting on his hands in the corner. While other guys are out dancing with the best picks on the floor, Omar seems content to bop his head to the music and see everyone else having fun. How sad for the team and their fans that Minaya continues to disappoint as someone who cannot get the job done.

We hear rumors that the Mets have been "inquiring" about Ted Lilly, who is now like the last girl on the dance floor as the last song of the night is being played. Now that Minaya has seen all the best prospects get up and dance, he is listening to George Michael's "Careless Whisper" and wondering if he should get off his hands before the party is over.

Lilly's stats with the Chicago Cubs this season certainly are underwhelming: 3 Wins and 8 Losses with an 3.69 ERA. There's obviously a reason he is the last choice on the dance floor, but according to all sources Omar is not going to budge from his place in the corner. As George Michael's voice fades away, Lilly might walk off with some other partner, but it looks like poor Omar is going home alone again, naturally.

How sad for the Mets and their fans as this 2010 season continues to spiral into oblivion. Excuse me while I go start dreaming about possibilities for the Jets and their acquisition of Mark Brunell as back-up quarterback for Mark Sanchez. Hey, that gives Rex Ryan a better arm than the Mets can hope to acquire, and at least the Jets know how to make a move that will help the team.

 

New York Mets Sinking Like the Titanic

This article first appeared as New York Mets Sinking Like the Titanic on Blogcritics.

The once venerable ship known as the New York Mets has hit a figurative and literal iceberg this season, making it ready to sink like a stone to the bottom of the Major League waters it has navigated tenuously all season. If you will bear with this extended metaphor for a bit, you will come to understand that I foretold this sinking of the ship early in the season, but those supposedly water-tight doors took a while to give way. Now the fall to the bottom of the sea is seemingly inevitable.



Jerry Probably Wishes that Finger Was Loaded

At the helm is Captain Jerry Manuel, who looks no more confident than Captain E.J. Smith did when he stared over the starboard side of his ship (captured forever by an amateur photographer) and was probably wondering, "Why don't we have more lifeboats?" Manuel may have well done the same thing in spring training, staring at his porous lineup and rickety vessel thinking he was never going to make the crossing of the season's waters intact.



Captain Smith Looking for Lifeboats

Like Smith who was prodded by his superior Bruce Ismay into pushing his ship beyond its capabilities, Omar Minaya seems to have done the same thing here. He spent little capital in getting the team sea worthy and brought in guys like R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi without ever going for a front-end starter. He knew Frankie Rodriguez was combustible as the Titanic engines with all that coal causing a big fire down below, making the steel soft and just ripe for that iceberg.

Now that the Mets have hit the inevitability of the iceberg known as the West coast road trip, we see the sinking ship for what it really is: the pitchers can't swim, the bullpen can't find the binoculars in the crow's nest, and the hitters are struggling with the ropes on the lifeboats. Manuel may be running to the rail and thinking, "Man overboard," but he has to be reminded that like Captain Smith he has to go down with the ship.

All of my fellow Mets fans have to face the facts here. This vessel was never unsinkable and never pronounced to be. In fact, it was so obvious in spring training, that it seemed like putting out to sea in a submarine with screen doors. Still, we were wooed by the surge at the end of April, convinced by the trickery of knuckleballer Dickey and that some sort of second coming of Jerry Koosman could be found in Takahashi, but the problem was that there just are not enough water-tight doors to keep this ship afloat.

Since the return of golden boy Carlos Beltran, the Mets are 2-8 with Beltran hitting an abysmal .188. The rest of the team is not doing much better, so they would do well to jump into the lifeboats, but if they can manage to handle the oars as well as they do bats, they probably wouldn't do enough to get away from the wake of the stinking ship (oh, I meant sinking ship).

Mets fans have to look at the reality of 2010 as it is: another lost season. Put on the life vests, get into the lifeboats, and row fast as you can toward the H.M.S. Carpathia of 2011. As with the survivors of the Titanic, that is the only hope we have and we will have to make the best of it.