Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Now That The Dust Has Settled...Well, Kind Of....

...Let me tell you what I think, for what it's worth.

As for Jerry Manuel, the one thing I will say is that I thought Willie made a serious error in judgment basically shelving the issue of The Collapse as if it were an afterthought, never really adressing it nor dealing with it nor putting it to bed, so I was happy to hear Jerry talk about it and infer that he would use it as a springboard of a sorts to motivate the team. Not that the team looked motivated last night, or anything. Talk about a leaderless bunch of has beens, might bes, and kiddie corps... This team needs strong leadership, motivation, and a resiliency that it simply doesn't have at this point in time.

He made a very eloquent statement without having to utter words in the very first inning of the game last night, pulling Jose Reyes, who grabbed at his hammy after arriving at first base in the first inning. Jose threw a fit, and after Manuel went down the tunnel to talk with him, subsequently apologized to the team, which in the opinion of this opinionated blogger, is a very good sign, indeed.

With regard to Omar's ad nauseum insistence that he has "full autonomy," with all baseball decisions, well, as one of the SNY pundits observed, he "doth protest too much," or something like that. Like the pundit, I did not find Omar's emphatic statement believable, not for a minute.

Another thing that struck me was that the Mets front office is full of back stabbers whispering secrets behind closed doors, so much so that Omar, having made "his" decision (I use the term "his" loosely) felt he has to inform Willie immediately, for fear that someone else will leak the news. This can't possibly be good, Bernazard.

You know what also stuck with me, though? What stuck with me is that somehow, in New York, at least in the Queens side of town, it might be more important to be "cool," or "street," than it is to be intelligent and well spoken. I wish I had a quarter for everytime Omar said "aksed" instead of "asked," or took the circuitous non-erudite route in insisting that these decisions were his, and his alone. I'm thinking, here we are, in the most sophisticated metropolis in the world, with probably the most brains in the world concentrated here, and this is the best we can do for a GM? Ahhhh...... no wonder things are the way they are in Metsland. These are the types of people they put in charge?

Good thing Omar doesn't have the "full autonomy" he so stubbornly and adamantly tells us he does. Or maybe, considering present ownership, it doesn't even matter.

Face it, folks, the organization's a bottom to top, top to bottom mess. No point burying our heads in the sand any longer. A clean sweep is needed, and needed quickly.

In all of this, too, I also wonder whether in New York, the atmosphere is really conducive to longterm success, for many reasons, only some of which involve the media and the expectations of the fans. Others are, of course, the many distractions available to the players, and the somewhat urban hip attitude that it might be better to be "cool," or "street," than contemplative, resilient, motivated and dependable.

What about the Yankees, you ask? Fair question. In reflecting, maybe what happened to them and the success they achieved in the mid 1990s occurred more as a result of them having been able to fly under the radar and do what needed to be done and develop what needed to be developed without any unreasonable expectations and interference than anything else. Once the Yankee Circus went into full-tilt swing, and the Yankees started acquiring rather than developing and showing patience, the team began to go downhill, with predictable results.

So I wonder, with the way things are in New York now, whether it's even possible to achieve longterm success. All I know is, if it is, it will require the hard work and nose-to-the-grindstone mentality of people who are a hellofalot more standup, honest, intelligent and savvy than those that are in place now.

5 comments:

SNK said...

Deb, unfortunately, I agree with you. I have often questioned whether it is even possible for a team to sustain such success in this city. There is so much pressure to win now that it is impossible to build a solid team for more than a year or two and if we've learned anything, it's that you can't guarantee success in the "win now" period either.

But, that doesn't mean a team can't be built in such a way that it is enjoyable to watch and wins more than it loses, right? Still waiting for that team to show up in 2008 :)

GaryG said...

Everyone is saying what a great guy Manuel is, and how he told hold of Reyes and put him in his place. Bottom line, we got our heads handed to us and lost big 6-1.

I don't care what a great manager this guy is, he better get some W's or its adios for him as well. And Omar, don't let the door hit you on the way out either.

Deb said...

Steph, the more I think about it, the more I am starting to believe that in New York, it takes exceptional people and an exceptional organization to do the types of things that should be done in order to ensure a constantly competitive and successful franchise, and I don't define success by monetary gain only. And I don't think the Mets have those kinds of people, and I'm not sure the Yankees do anymore, either.

We need a whole new regime, period.

Gary, I agree that wins are the only thing that matters right now. I just don't think we're going to get too many of them this year; at least, not enough to go anywhere after the regular season ends.

As I said, once the season ends, widespread and wholesale changes must be made in the organization. Only problem is, we'll still have the same owner and son, with the same problems, and the same outlook, which imo is that financial success is utmost, followed distantly behind by actually winning something.

SNK said...

that's absolutely right Deb. It's no wonder that no NY team had won a championship of any kind in 8 long years before the Giants finally pulled out an unlikely win. But we can hardly call them a dominant franchise built to win for the next few years. And yea, Jeff isn't going anywhere.

That said, it doesn't mean it isn't possible to win in New York, it just stacks the deck against the mets.

Whatever, at this point, i'd be content just to watch some inspiring baseball for a few days straight.

And Gary, you know how this town works - Jerry is the man of the hour. Wait till they lose their first series with him.

Deb said...

I'll never give up hope that the Wilpons will learn, though, Steph. I have to have hope... I'M A METS FAN! :)