Cancel (The Season) & Omar's Bullshit

"I can't answer that [whether Willie will be the manager for the rest of the season].  He is my manager today, and I have the right to evaluate him as we go along.  Let me put it this way, he is always being evaluated...It's a situation that I'm constantly evaluating."

- The Best GM in Baseball

This is starting to get ridiculous.  Omar, Freddie, and Jeff need to sack up and make a decision.  Anyone who reads this blog knows I'm the last person to defend Willie Randolph, but this back and forth, hot and cold bullshit concerning Willie's job status is getting tiring.

Harold Reynolds made a good point last night on the postgame and I couldn't agree more: Until there is some certainty amongst the team regarding Willie's job status there will be an inordinate amount of pressure on the players - at least the ones who care about Willie.

Yes, they're professionals.  And yes, they should be used to pressure, especially playing in New York.  But it's hard to go out and play loose when you know that your next fuck up could mean your manager's job.

Not that this organization handles the firing of their managers gracefully.  All you need to look at is how Freddie Coupons & Co. handled the departure of one Arthur Xavier Howe IV in 2004.  It's always nice when the beat writers see your pink slip before you.

Instead of constantly evaluating Willie's performance why doesn't Omar sit down and evaluate this waste of a team he assembled.  Sixth inning heroics aside, Robinson Cancel has no business on this roster.  And as JF noted over at Productive Outs, the fact that Aguila was sent down to make room for Trot Nixon instead of Cancel is just migraine-inducing.

 

Willie: Omar, Please Get Off Manny Acta's Nuts

Holy shit, I agree with Willie. We all heard about this last season and it seemed to go away for the most part, but it seems as if Omar and Tony Bernazard (that's a KOYIC assumption) were chumming it up with Manny Acta on the field before the past three games.

From Newsday's David Lennon:

This week's visit to Shea by the Nationals, a team managed by former Mets coach Manny Acta, again featured the kind of affection usually reserved for family reunions. Hugs, handshakes, plenty of laughs... "How does that happen? How does that become normal?" Randolph said. "I don't know. It's just foreign to me, that's all. I'm fine with, 'Hey, how you doing?' That stuff. I wish that we could enforce it more, really. They talk about it, but I don't really see anyone policing it. You can't force people not to talk to someone."

Like David Wright says further along in the article, I can see a hug to LoDuca or Lastings or a former teammate for Church and B-Schnied - but openly recruiting your next manager in front of your current manager is a slap in the nuts no matter how you slice it.

One could argue Willie deserves it for being such a horrendous manager, but if that's the case then Omar should just fire him and get it over with. Hugs and kisses at Nobu the night before is fine - hugs and kisses behind the batting cage is bullshit.

Johan Who?

Yes Mets fans, that's right. Instead of a shiny new dominant LHP under your tree this Christmas morning the management that brought you a %20 ticket price increase is pleased to present The Jacket's newest reclamation project - Kyle Lohse.

A man who gave up a grand slam to Kaz Matsui - and no, it wasn't on opening day - is the starting pitcher that the Mets are "zeroing in on." This after they offered $40 mil/4 years for Carlos Silva only to be brushed aside by the Mariners. Yes, the career 1.368 WHIP Carlos Silva.

Omar undoubtedly has Tony Reagins and Josh Byrnes on speed dial frantically inquiring about Bartolo Colon and Livan Hernandez - just in case the whole Kyle "career 4.82 ERA, 1.432 WHIP, and 95 ERA+" Lohse thing doesn't pan out.

Thank you Mets, thank you Omar, thank you Freddy Coupon, thank you Jeffy, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Wise Decision

Omar, you may not be such a moron after all. Matt Wise has been a pretty decent pitcher in his career. Before beaning Pedro Lopez in the jaw last season, Wise was considered a solid reliever and a live arm.

He has a career ERA+ of 108 so he's slightly better than average - and if the Mets had an average bullpen for the last two months of 2007 the season may have played out a little differently. I'm waiting for the 2008 PECOTA to come out but the numbers seem to indicate that his best season in 2005 may have been a fluke. His BABIP was .190 compared to over .280 in the year before and after. His H/9 was considerably lower than his career average (5.4/8.4ish) and his strikeouts were way up. The most telling sign was his sub-1.00 WHIP compared to a career average of 1.21

All that considered, even when Wise wasn't at his peak he was a better than average reliever who gave 50-60 quality innings without giving up many home runs or walks. If nothing else, it's a step in the right direction.

Apparently Mel Rojas Had Other Plans

(Jeff Fassero in 1998)
From the Daily News (via MLB Trade Rumors):

FASS TRACK: Surprisingly, the Mets were interested enough in the idea of bringing aboard veteran lefhander Jeff Fassero to have him throw for scouts. Fassero, who turns 45 next month, was out of baseball last season and will gear up for an attempted comeback by playing in the Mexican winter league.

That's 45, as in forty-five, as in fucking old.

What were Jeff Fassero's numbers the last time he graced a major league diamond you ask? A sweet 7.80 ERA, 2.067 WHIP, and 58 ERA+ in 15 IP last season for Christopher Russo's favorite team.

Great job Mets! Everyone thought we needed a frontline starter and a reliable bullpen presence. So instead, you go ahead and consider adding a pitcher to the bullpen who has been roughly 25% worse than the league average since he turned 40 and who will probably give up 2 baserunners per inning for his first 10 appearences in April and then retire. Shrewd, shrewd move.

Is this team fucking serious? But after watching the bullpen absolutely turn to dogshit in the last half of 2007 the best this team can come up with is paying someone to be in Mexico to watch Jeff Fassero? Take that cash, buy a handle of scotch and airmail it first class to Bill Smith c/o Minnesota Twins and get on the goddamn horn instead.

Hope Springs...

All the thanks to Riding with Rickey for this...If he makes them, I'll place my order. Kinkos won't give me a reasonable price for blowing up the "Choked to Death" NY Post cover - featuring the unluckiest non-devastated taxi rider in the city.

Lastly, someone needs to get on the Lastings Milledge Facts and re-coordinate the color scheme...navy and red perhaps? I'm sure Metstradamus would be up to the task.

In other news concerning the still Victor Zambrano-less Metropolitans, Omar is upbeat and confident something will get done...to improve the team that is.

From David Lennon in Newsday:

"The fact that we are having dialogue, you know you're in the game," Minaya said. "But it's really hard to tell. I can tell you when these things develop, they develop quickly. There's a lot of back-and-forth going on and we're pretty much in the back-and-forth area."

Minaya found Aaron Heilman to be in great demand, and a National League official confirmed that there was talk about swapping him for Rockies lefthanded reliever Brian Fuentes, as first reported by Foxsports.com. Minaya is likely to need Heilman, however, in a bigger deal for the top starters on the market.

Now pay attention here: Lennon throws some of those scented wood shavings on the pile of vomit that was the Bartolo Colon/Livan Hernandez rumors. Is everyone paying attention? You can come in off the ledge now. Yes, I'm talking to you 'Damus, Rickey, and just about every other Met fan with half a brain.

If the Mets are unable to do that, Minaya did not sound very enthusiastic about the free-agent market, so it doesn't appear that adding Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon or the rehabbing Freddy Garcia is an appetizing fallback position. Rather than package pitching prospect Kevin Mulvey, the Mets could always give him the chance to win a rotation spot and skip the free agents.

Bring Back Bannister

For some reason (conspiracy) Omar Minaya decided to trade one of the organization's more promising young pitchers for a reliever who couldn't make it in Kansas City...yes, Kansas City.

Ambiorix Burgos can throw a baseball as hard as anyone I've ever seen...Unfortunately most major league hitters can hit a Burgos pitch as far as I've ever seen.

As always, the mastermind, prophet, or whatever you like to call Rick Peterson, had a few choice words about Mr. Burgos' velocity.

"The issue is this: High-end velocity without location doesn't get anybody out in the big leagues, That's the bottom line. Until guys realize that's the priority, they won't succeed in the big leagues."

KC Star Columnist and Blogger Joe Posnanski's words about Burgos have been widely discussed, but the question of why Omar would trade a young pitcher who seemed to have the mentality to succeed in NY for a reliever who focuses on "carnival prizes" eludes my thinking to this day.

Leave it to the genius to explain Burgos' velocity and location problems...

"He's just got to understand there are no more stuffed animals to win in the big leagues," Peterson said.

"If you throw 97 and have no idea where it goes, they'll pay you a lot of money . They think that we can make you learn how to pitch. But when they wrote that check for velocity, you cashed out. You're not going to make another dollar on velocity. You'll make all your money on location."

Burgos' opinion...well here's hoping he's far from Queens in 3 or 4 years...

Burgos is confident, too. "There is no doubt in my mind that in three or four years, I will be a closer in the big leagues."