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WHEN THINGS FALL APART…
By Anthony | August 4, 2009
Greetings,
We should have known it wasn’t going to be easy, however this is absurd even for the Mets.
Oh, but there were many ominous signs from the jump.
At the christening of the brand spanking new Citi Field - designed to slay the demons of two consecutive historic collapses down the stretch at the dilapidated Shea Stadium - light-hitting centerfielder Jody Gerut led off the game with a home run (by the way, he’s hitting just .199 and has since been traded from San Diego to Milwaukee) in a Padres win.
Did I say home run?
Forgive me Mets fans. I didn’t mean to touch a nerve.
This year’s edition, barring an heretofore unforeseen power surge, will struggle to just hit 90 homers collectively, and are led by soon to be 41-year old Gary Sheffield with 10 as no other player has double figures in this category. So if you need to see a doctor or some other professional to speak with for this I understand.
My bad again, I forgot that the diagnosis of seemingly minor injuries by team physicians has added insult to, well you know…
Three of the team’s cornerstone players have missed significant time. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran started with seemingly innocuous ailments only to be out of the lineup for months, and in the speedy Reyes’ case it’s anyone’s guess when he’ll recover from hamstring woes. Meanwhile, first baseman Carlos Delgado – 38 homers, 115 runs batted in a year ago – needed hip surgery in mid-May.
Where can a fan turn to for relief?
Did I actually say that? Please forgive me.
Setup man J.J. Putz, acquired in the offseason to aid all-star closer Francisco Rodriguez and bolster last season’s shaky bullpen first didn’t live up to expectations and has now been sidelined since early June after elbow surgery.
Surely, it’s no surprise that the rash of injuries affected the team, but even with a healthy squad the defensive and mental miscues have occurred all too frequently.
Remember, coming into this season there were several question marks in the two corner outfield positions, so predictably as Mets’ fate would have it in the sixth game of the season Daniel Murphy, a natural third baseman initially converted to outfielder and now a first baseman, misplayed a fly ball in a 2-1 loss to the Florida Marlins spoiling Johan Santana’s 13 strikeout performance.
On May 18th in Los Angeles the season was perhaps summed up in 10-plus innings, three hours and 41 minutes of errors (mental and physical) and numerous men left on base, all magnified by outfielder Ryan Church’s inexplicable missing of third base when scoring the apparent go-ahead run. Then in the Dodgers’ half of the 11th two of New York’s five errors handed them the win.
A month later in the opener of this year’s Subway Series when there were still postseason aspirations, second baseman Luis Castillo drops the final out and turns an 8-7 win over the Yankees into yet another crushing one-run defeat.
To make matters even worse is the mirage season of third baseman David Wright.
On the surface he has been among the league’s top hitters for average, but upon closer inspection it is pillow soft, with high strikeout numbers, few homers and runs batted in.
All of this brings us to the man responsible for fielding this club picked by Sports Illustrated to win the World Series.
Last week Omar Minaya endured perhaps his toughest time as general manager after firing close friend and assistant Tony Bernazard he received unbalanced heat for outing a beat reporter who requested help in landing a baseball job, and then backtracked as if doing the moonwalk.
From my vantage point, Minaya has benefited from the deep pockets of ownership and by being in the New York market.
He has acquired expensive free agent talent that clearly helped the ballclub, but other than the 2008 trade that brought in one of the games best starters in Johan Santana he has not been able to add essential pieces to a winning roster via trades with other general mangers.
This season is the best example of that, as they had to reach deep into the minor league organization after all the injuries while failing to acquire much needed major league ready talent. Yet, when other clubs had holes to fill they moved swiftly. The recent acquisition of right fielder Jeff Francoeur was the kind of move that was begging to be made two months ago.
Certainly, the talent of the minor league affiliates has to be considered when not being able to make that necessary move to right a sinking ship when money won’t bail you out.
Why haven’t the Mets cultivated or acquired a caution to the wind player like Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds, who smacked four home runs at Citi Field, made a daring grab of a foul ball and called out his teammates. Surely, we’ve all known that since their last postseason appearance a hard-nosed guy like this was needed. Or even a steady reserve corner outfielder like John Mayberry, Jr. of the Phillies who has stepped in when needed and the team hasn’t missed a beat.
Instead, they’ve signed aging, yet experienced, performers who eventually succumb to injury during the course of the year; i.e. Moises Alou for two seasons and Gary Sheffield this time around.
We haven’t seen the savvy shrewd moves from Minaya that are needed to circumvent the actions of Bernie Madoff and its effects on the Wilpon fortune.
After last season’s second straight September collapse a strong argument could’ve been made to break up the nucleus or not bring back Delgado, but based on their history of late the miserable outcome was already determined.
PEACE
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August 6th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
David Wright
1 Thursday, 06 August 2009 12:11
Superficial comment with misleading statistics. Wright is 3d in NL in on-base average. Yes, his home runs are down [can you say “park factor”?] but he has 40 extra base hits - less than last year but still healthy - and a higher OPS than the Ryans (Zimmerman and Howard)
August 6th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
David Wright
2 Thursday, 06 August 2009 16:30
ADH
Greetings and Thank You for the dialogue,
Yes, he has the numbers you pointed out, but do you remember a clutch hit he’s had this season? And though I’ll grant you he does appear to be hurt by the Citi Field dimensions, his numbers (though admittedly a small sample) at 3 of the 5 top home run hitting ball parks are glaring:
The home run hitting parks are:
Yankee Stadium - Wright is 5-for-12 0HR, 1 RBI
Citizens Bank Park - Wright is 0-for-17, 0HR, 0RBI
Miller Park (Milwaukee) - Wright is 4-for-13, 1HR, 3 RBI
Totals - .214, 1HR, 4RBI
August 9th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
David Wright
3 Sunday, 09 August 2009 16:50
Chuck Durante
ADH - Thanks for your comments as well. Your column cites many points ably.
As for Wright, I have trouble remembering details after 1980, so I have to cheat. I started on May 1, and found Wright’s game-tying 2-run homer in Mets’ 5/4/09 comeback over the Braves, followed by his double and RS that launched the Mets’ win the next day.
After finding his first-inning home run that buried the Phillies on May 7, I realized there are people who are paid to watch these things and, given my loyalty to Old Media, migrated to USA Today to learn that with runners in scoring position, Wright thus far is hitting .348 [.432 OBA!] and slugging .502.
These are not Kevin McReynolds numbers. Wright has done very nicely with ducks on the pond. If he were following José and Carlos B, and preceding Carlos D, he’d be on his way to another winter of guesting on on Letterman, Terry Gross and Jean Shepherd …
August 10th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Greetings Chuck,
I appreciate the dialogue based on upholding one’s position with facts.
Yes, I can not dispute the numbers you’ve provided, and David has certainly been affected by all of the injuries - perhaps more than anyone in the organization, except maybe Minaya and Manuel - but when it has really mattered he hasn’t produced consistently in my opinion, which isn’t just exclusive to him.
Now, this is by no means saying that he’s a bad player. Remember, Barry Bonds was awful in the postseason. Vladimir Guererro has really struggled too, and I’m sure we know all about Alex Rodriguez.
The career numbers speak for themselves, but after two successive historical post season collapses - by no means am I holding him solely responsible - where the team failed in critical situations and so did David Wright, it is time to look closer, for just as you can cite successes there are also opposite moments.
The 2006 NLCS vs. St. Louis where Wright hit .160, 1HR, 2RBI in the disappointing 7-game series loss. And this was not an awesome pitching staff the Cards had, except for maybe Chris Carpenter.
Last season down the stretch his numbers were impressive.
However, during the collapse there were times when an rbi here or there from him, or anyone else for that matter, would’ve helped significantly.
There’s the Cubs game - a crushing 9-6 loss after leading 5-1 - where in the bottom of 9th with the game tied at 6 and after a leadoff triple by Daniel Murphy he struckout swinging against Bobby Howry and others didn’t get the job done afterwards either..
This season in the final of a three-game series sweep against the Phillies Joe Blanton got him to hit into a double play with the tying run on base in the 6th.
Clearly, this can all be viewed as knit picking, but numbers are a part of the attraction to sports and in this case baseball.
Remember, this was just one paragraph in an over 700-word piece summed up on management’s inability to get key players.
No doubt David Wright is a solid player. I think he, perhaps more than anyone else in the lineup, when all healthy, will benefit from the acquisition of a slugger. Just someone, in their prime, who is known for hitting the long ball - a Ryan Howard-type or even someone like his close friend Mark Reynolds (who I cited in the article) he of 36HR, 80 RBI and a .290 average, though he is a third baseman.
Lastly, and forgive me for the soap box, in this market the profile players are scrutinized very heavily, and when there’s a series of disappointments they usually receive the heat.
Really enjoyed the conversation.