With the 2009 season finally over, the rebuilding for 2010 officially has started. Yesterday Jeff Wilpon along with Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya had a press conference, discussing this horrible 2009 season and what to look forward to for the 2010 season. Later on in the afternoon/early evening Jeff Wilpon, Omar Minaya and Dave Howard went on WFan to talk with Mike Francesa.
Fred Wilpon reiterated in the press conference as well as on the radio with Mike Francesa that the Mets are dedicated to delivering a championship-caliber team next year. He also said that what happened this past season was disappointing and unacceptable. Jeff made statements that make for nice sound bites and encourages fans to buy season tickets for 2010.
However, there are some things that Jeff Wilpon said that shows what is wrong with this organization. Instead of admitting their mistakes and fessing up to what went wrong this season Jeff continued to make excuses.
On The Handling Of Injuries: Jeff said that the reason for the mishandling of the injuries was that most of the injuries happened while the team was on the road and that the team relied too heavily on other team doctors. This is without a doubt a big cop out. They could have easily put the injured player on a plane back to New York and got them looked at by their own doctors. He even said on WFan that Jose’s calf injury was misdiagnosed while on the road and they didn’t learn of this injury until he got back from the West Coast. One of your star players, you don’t send to a team doctor to get checked out? You wait until something else develops?
Free Agents/Trades/Budget/Jerry Manuel: Jeff put all this responsibility solely on Omar Minaya. When asked about how much the budget will be and how agressive the Mets would be with free agents and the trade market he said over and over it depends on who Omar wants to make this team a championship calibur team. He never gave an exact number or for that matter an estimate on what ownership has in mind for a budget, just “as much as Omar needs.” What a way to throw your General Manager under the bus one day after the 2009 season and well before the 2010 season starts. Him putting this all on Omar pretty much will make them avoid responsibility if 2010 goes the way 2009 went.
This is exactly what is wrong with the Mets. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything that happens, they blame it on the most convenient person(s). Look at how Omar handled Tony B’s firing this summer, he blamed Adam Rubin on wanting a job with player development in exposing Tony B’s bad behavior.
Until this organization steps up and takes responsibility for their actions we will never be in the position to win championships. You know they have at the very least a ballpark figure they would like the budget to be at yet Fred Wilpon doesn’t say that. So if they don’t sign or trade anybody Omar is the one who takes the beating in the press. You see what Jeff Wilpon has done now? He actually has me feeling a little bad for Omar. Shame on you Jeff, shame on you!
I don’t know that I read it that way. If Jeff had said “We have 25 million to spend.” And then they offer Matt Holliday 20 million a year (just numbers, not what I expect to happen) his agent is going to know they have 5million more to spend, and try to get some of that. It gives the Omar less bargaining power.
As long as they actually will let Omar do what he needs and not veto something due to money afterwards.
It wasn’t a great interview, but It could’ve been worse.
Hi, I heard the entire interview yesterday and after reading this post I felt like we he heard two different messages. I came away from the interview feeling pretty positive about this off season, and I was very encouraged by much of what Jeff had to say regarding payroll. I know he danced around the injuries, but seriously, what could he say or do about it now? At least he took steps to see it wont happen again, that is all we can ask for. The HSS is one of the best hospitals in the country so you cant expect the Mets to cut ties with them. I just think you’re beeing to harsh.
Yeah. I agree. They stuck to Manuel, which stinks, but the biggest concern is going out there and fixing the team. And they probably much said they’d spend to do so. That was the most important part of the conference.
They always said ‘whatever Omar wants’ in regards to how to fix the team, and Omar didn’t tip his hand. (as he shouldn’t)
They _will_ have more Mets stuff there next year, so they’ve promised to improve the stadium feel and the team. so. that’s all I wanted to hear.
Besides Omar’s usual indecipherable comments and Jerry doing his best to justify decisions he was forced to make, the media’s performance at yesterday’s press conference was terrible. How come not one writer challenged Manual when he said that the inordinate amount of walks by the pitchers this year was really detrimental because of the park they play in. Are you kidding me? Number one, tell me a ballpark where it’s good to have walks. Two, wouldn’t it actually be the other way around? If you have a park where it’s difficult to hit home runs, you would be less hurt by walking guys because they wouldn’t turn into two or three runs on one swing of the bat?
And how about the comment that pitchers like Maine, Pelfrey and Perez have had good years under Dan Warthen so that kept the pitching coach safe from the ax. Excuse me, but didn’t those three guys develop and pitch very well when Rick Peterson was the pitching coach. Everyone connected with this team, from the front office to the on field management to the PR department to the media covering the team is a joke.
Francesa didn’t ask those questions either. But he’s not very good. To him, Murphy and Perez are already flipping burgers for a living, so he doesn’t care. He tried to trap them into admitting they were bad players with no value, which would be a stupid PR move from every direction.
He also didn’t ask how the ‘season ticket’ discounts would affect regular gameday sales. (Francesa is clueless on day to day ticket sales because he doesn’t haveto buy them) He didn’t ask about Reyes’ injury and his recovery.
I got the same feeling regarding what Francesa was trying to do regarding Pagan and especially Murphy. If either of them were Yankees in their first full season, he wouldn’t stop gloating about them, but because they are Mets he couldn’t resist taking plenty of undeserved shots at them. I’m not saying either of them were great, but come on already! Is .265 – 12 – 66 really all that terrible for Murphy’s first season? And Pagan showed some flashes of being an electrifying player. Murphy may end up being just a DH type in the end, but I bet Pagan would have some impressive numbers given a full season of at-bats.
Apparently UZR suggest Murphy is an excellent defensive first baseman, which just confirms what I’ve seen with my eyes. I think his biggest problem is mental, pressing type mistakes. And hopefully one’s that will be improved with repetition and practice. You could even compare to Reyes, in that Reyes has never been a great instinctual/smart player, but he’s learned and worked hard to know what he should do and when.
Murphy was (basically) a rookie, forced to learn two positions (sometimes at the same time) in the majors, bounced around in two platoons as well as all over the lineup. Those 12 home runs become 15 projected to a 155-160 games started, and it’d be silly not to expect him to improve.
If Wright hits 25, Beltran hits 25, Murphy hits 20, Reyes hits 7, Francouer/RF hits 10 or so, that’s 90+. Sign a solid 30HR type LF and suddenly the Mets aren’t exactly strapped for power.
Agreed. And as for your math on the homerun numbers, you are spot on in your quick analysis.
More bull**** to come guys.
Greg, I found the response Jeff gave to the injury issue terrible. He can’t tell me the entirety of the mishandling injuries is the fault of other team’s doctors. Here you have the “core” of your team, and the vast majority of your payroll injured and you don’t seek 2nd opinions, additional MRI’s, etc.? If that really is the case, and management depended on the doctors of your competetors that alone should be enough of a reason to find a new GM. The injury mishandling issue is a big thing in my mind, and gave us a real insight to the flaws the front office has, as well as the on field management team. I had hoped Francesa would hammer them on this, but he did not. To me, this issue is one of the biggest failures of 2009.
I did think Fracesa gave a good interview. I wanted him to hammer those guys, but I understand he could not do that and stay employed. I did enjoy the way he put Omar on the spot with the question of Murphy. I think Omar fouled up as usual when answering this and Francesa hammered him for it. I mean I can’t believe Omar actually compared Murphy to Youkilis. Simply ridiculous!
Omar’s answers to the Ollie questions were stunning as well. He actually said he would sign him again, and thinks he could return to 2007/2008 form? Return to what, 2-3 innings of decency?
Jeff did say no options were off the table, but Omar’s said he pretty much wanted to keep all of the “complimentary” players. How will that help?
Overall, I think yesterday’s interview was nothing more than an attempt to retain good ticket sales next season. Basically, they said they know the club sucks, and we are going to be a championship caliber team in 2010, have we heard that before?
Did Fred Wilpon actually speak at Citi Field yesterday? He didn’t speak at the FAN – only Jeff, Omar and Dave Howard were there.
He usually puts Jeffie out there to say something, anything and will dispute it if it causes a news item.
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FRED’S SMART TO STAY THE “OFFICIAL DENIER” THAT CAN CHANGE ANY PRIOR ANNOUNCEMENT BY OMAR OR JEFF AS A CLARIFICATING MESSAGE FROM “ON HIGH”. FRED’S NOT REALLY INTO THE TEAM OTHER THAN AS A METHOD TO PAY HOMAGE TO DADDY’S MEMORY. WHEN DOUBLEDAY WAS PRIMARY OWNER, FRED WAS RARELY IF EVER SEEN. HE’S ALWAYS BEEN THE ANTI-BOSS. HIS BIGGEST PUBLIC OUTING WAS AS THE POINTMAN ON FIGHTING IMPLEMENTATION OF LUXURY TAX PENALTY WITH BOSS AT HIS SIDE & JUST BEHIND HIM. #1 MET RULE: NO LUXURY TAZX PAYMENTS. THAT’S THE REAL BUDGET FOR OMAR, ALWAYS HAS BEEN PHILLIPS GOT LESS & HAD TO BEGF FOR MORE SINCE FRED DIDN’T TRUST HIM TO STAY UNDER. HE TRUSTS OMAR
I don’t know what a lot of you people want but I too also heard yesterday’s Francesa interview and came away from it with a positive feeling. Nothing ever pleases Greg Pomes. People who know me know me here know that I pull no punches and am very critical and I have to admit Jeff Wilpon handled himself very well at the interview yesterday. Maybe it wasn’t perfect to EVERY Mets fan, maybe he doesn’t have the best baseball knowledge but what else do you want from him? He just supplies the money, that’s all. You may not agree with a lot of things said yesterday, such as bringing Minaya & Manuel back, I don’t like it either, but it’s DONE. I was very encouraged that they’ll be no changes in off-season spending habits. I like that he’s making changes to Citi Field to make it more Met-centric and called criticism of it – proper. Talked about filling all the right spots. I liked how Francesa challenged them on Murphy. They addressed getting another starter. They probably should have gone more into guys like Warthen and the rest of the pitching staff but there’s just so much time. They covered a lot yesterday and I watched the same season here as everyone else.
Omar was NOT thrown under the bus. I liked the way Jeff said that they must step up.
Most of Greg Pomes posts this year have had too much blaming and negativity. Granted it’s been an awful year but sometimes try to suggest solutions.
Yesterday was a GOOD day for the Mets.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that heard a completely different press conference at the same time Greg did. I thought, while Jeff had a defensive tone in his speech, he did accept responsiblity and said they did a poor job handling in in many different aspects.
I am not buying the farm yet, but I feel they mentioned many aspects of things were are all up in arms over.
Last year our biggest concern at the end of the year was the bullpen, Omar went out and did a decent job and it “seemed” like most fans were pleased with it, until of course Putz went down.
As much as improvement is needed (and ALOT is…..) we fans demand no less then the best, which is fine, but sometimes we need to take a step back and realize its a gray world out there, no so much black and white.
I think Francesa did a good job overall with the interview as well. I also agree tha it is positive Jeff said no offers are off the table with re: to player moves and trades. I especially liked when they asked Francesa’s opinion on what should additions they should make. I agree that was all positive talking. However, Jeff did say it was all up to Omar when it comes to management and aquisitions. When the interview turned to Omar, he continued to step on his tongue. I realize as you say it’s done and he is staying on for another year, but to expect this guy to achieve different results is flawed at best. He continually surrounds himself with people like himself, not good, and did you hear his comments on Murphy and Perez? I mean really, what games was he watching? I know we have no choice but to live with Omar as the GM, but to simply say he has sucked thus far but he’ll bring us to championship contention, is crazy
I agree with everthing you said. I know that you can’t please everyone, but I saw plenty of positives during that YES interview and I can’t wait for the post season to end and the hot stove season to begin.
Let’s stop a minute here and look carefully. Despite what we as fans ultimately want (a World Series Championship) the Mets are not just a baseball team. They are a business! While ownership certainly wants a winner and in this case has spent millions upon millions to do so, the main objectrive is to keep ringing the cash register. The Wilpons hired Omar Minaya to run the baseball operation at a time when the team was bad and had lots of bad contracts with the Roberto Alomars, and Mo Vaughns. We might still be paying Bobby Bonilla too! Omar went out and signed one the highest profile players available, Pedro Martinez who from day one gave the team a new profile and made the turnstiles at Shea turn again. He had a very good first season and despite the falloff because of injuries was worth every damn dime he was paid. His presence attracted Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and others who saw the Mets as legitimate contenders and a team dedicated to winning. The Mets fell just short in 2006, but unfortunately did choke in 2007. I really believe that 2008 was different and that had Billy Wagner not been hurting and eventually go on the DL that the team would have hung on to their division lead and who knows! Omar saw the weakness of our bullpen and knew that Wagner would not be able to pitch in 2009 and got the best guy available in K-Rod (and without a long contract). He also took a shot with J.J. Putz who could still be of service down the road and he got rid of Schoenweiss and Aaron Heilman who needed a change of scenery anyway. Fans and bloggers screamed that Omar didn’t enter the Teixeira bidding. Omar and the team had been rewarded by Carlos Delgado’s resurgence in 2008 and who again was a productive player and one of our power guys. I think that Omar looked hard to get a good left fielder with power but could not make a deal that he thought was good enough. Sheffield’s signing was smart and he delivered well for a decent period of time. To blame Omar for the team’s failure this year is wrong. He screwed up with the Adam Rubin bit but truthfully who gives a damn. Omar has been accused of everything from being too pro Latin in his player selection to being a guy who employs only his cronies. All the bloggers and media people in New York make for a ridiculous amount of bull#$it to deal with and it is a circus of bad journalism and reporting 365 days a year. There are some tough decisions to be made in the next few months so we should patiently await the outcome and let Omar and ownership look carefully at what happened and improve this team. The only real criticism I have is the way that bad injuries are dealt with but too often the player has most of the control. We need to stop our players from participating in the WBC totally! What happened this past year with Jose Reyes was very bad. He was told that surgery was the best option but like many Latin players he was hesitant. So, the Mets were caught with a no win situation. Do fans really think that the team was happy with Jose’s decision. Now, we willl be lucky if he is ready to play by May or June of 2010. I hope they will draft a top shortstop in the next year or so because Reyes may be our catalyst and one of the most exciting players around the game… but he is still immature and his dancing antics are old hat.
It will get better..but patience will be a virtue that will again be tested!
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FINALLY, ANOTHER SANE VOICE WITH PERSPECTIVE. I’VE BEEN LABELED A LOT OF THINGS ON THIS SITE DUE TO MY PRO-OMAR PERSPECTIVE. SORRY, TO SAY THIS; BUT I’S A FACT IN THE 21st CENTURY, BASEBALL IS NOT AMERICA’S PASTIME ANY LONGER. THE DEATH OF BASEBALL IN OUR INNERCITIES, FOR A LOT OF VARIED REASONS HAS SPELLED DOOM FOR TRADITIONALLTY AMERICAN PROSPECTS(WHITE & AFRO-AMERICAN, ALIKE) FOOTBALL & BASKETBALL ARE PLAYED MUCH MORE BY AMERICAN YOUTH & ARE QUICKER METHODS TOWARDS RICHES/PRO LEVELS. LATIN AMERICA IS WHERE THE TOP YOUNG BASEBALL PROSPECTS ARE APLENTY. A LATIN AMERICAN APPROACH TO TEAM BUILDING ISN’T A NEGATIVE; BUT A POSITIVE AT THIS POINT IN TIME.(TRY LOOKING AT NASTIONALITY OF TOP MLB PLAYERS TODAY)
FOR THE RECORD I’M A NATIVE NYer, WHITE AMERICAN OF IRISH-ITALIAN DESCENT AND A MET FAN SINCE ’62 MARRIED TO A NICE JEWISH GIRL FROM L.A.
I DO HAVE ONE CRITICISM OF OMAR FOR ’09 AS HE WAS TOO LATE IN IDENTIFYING THE SEASON’S ABSENCE OF MAJOR PLAYERS WHICH MEANT HE COVETED HIS $14M NESTEGG FOR ACQUIRING EITHER HALLADAY OR HOLIDAY BEYOND THE ABILITY TO SPEND SOME ON TEMPORARY STOPGAP FIXES TO APPEASE THE SCREAMING MASSES. ALL WOULD BE FOR NOUGHT SINCE BY 7/31 EVEN ADDING A LINCICUM,PUJOLS OR RAMIREZ WOULD NOT HAVE PUT THEM IN THE PLAYOFFS. ACQUIRING A HOLIDAY,DiROSA,LEE AS SOME SHORTSIGHTED FANS WANTED, CERTAINLY WOULDN’T DO IT EITHER. I FOR ONE, BELIEVE THE REPLACEMENTS WERE TOO OFTEN OUT-TALENTED BY OPPONENTS; RARELY IF EVER OUT HUSTLED.
THEY CAN POSSIBLY; WITH LUCK FIX THIS. PKG 2 OR 3 SP WITH 2 OR 3 POSITIONAL PROSPECTS TO TORONTO FOR HALADAY(15.75M) ACQUIRE CRAWFORD,HOLIDAY OR BAY FOR LF, MOLINA AS #1C CAN ALL BE ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT LUXURY TAX INCURMENT. PATIENCE WILL BE A VIRTUE IN A DOWN, SLOW F/A MKT & OFFSEASON. HIGHEST TEAM BA IN NL, HIGHEST TEAM BA W/RISP IN NL AND FEWEST BATTERS STRIKING OUT IN MLB CERTAINLY SPEAK WELL OF HOJO ESP WITH SO MANY REPLACEMENTS.
GIVE WARTHEN FULL ST & SEASON WITH MAINE & PEREZ. GIVE PELF TIME TO CHANGE BACK TO HEATER/CURVE FROM SINKER/SLIDER. GIVE THEM ALL AN AGGRESSIVE, VETERAN, TAKE-CHARGE CATCHER. SEE THE DIFFERENCE. U CAN’T TEACH RAW TALENT OR 93+ STUFF.
LESS THAN TWO THIRDS OF 162G STARTED BY INITIAL ROTATION OF:
SANTANA-PELFREY-PEREZ-MAINE-REDDING
METS HAVE NO SEPTH UNDER OMAR? WHER’D 4 SS,4 CATCHERS, MYRIAD OF LF & 1B ALONG WITH 12 SP COME FROM? WHO’S YANKS #4 SS? OR ATLANTA’S OR PHILLIES’ NO NOT TRADITIONAL YOUNG PROSPECTS; BUT HE DIDN’T START WITH ANY AFTER PHILLIPS/DUQUETTE LEFT.(MILLEDGE-SOLE POSITIONAL PROSPECT)
POSITIONAL TRADES IMPORTED: DELGADO,NADY,CHURCH,SCHNEIDER,FRANCOUER FOR NOTHING WE EVER REALLY MISSED. BTW. PETERSON WAS IN CHARGE OF ALL PITCHING MOVEMENT DECISIONS PER JEFF WILPON HIRING HIM AS GURU.
I HATE WILPON RULES; BUT STILL BETTER THAN PITTSBURGH,CINCY,KC,ATL (ALL FORMER PERENNIAL CONTENDERS ON THE ROCKS)OWNERSHIP. WHEN WAS LAST TOP PLAYER MOVED FOR SALARY REASONS ON NYM?
assumptions…assumptions…assumptions
Dude,
knock it off with the filibustering – i ain’t gonna read this stuff.
Just make your point
WHEN WAS LAST TOP PLAYER MOVED FOR SALARY REASONS ON NYM?
Let’s see I remember Wags being move about 3 weeks ago for salary reasons! The rest of your note is inomprehensible and no one can fathom your point whatever it is.
MASK, BS WAGS DIDN’T HAVE A JOB WITH NYM FOR 3 YRS. HE’D NEVER AGREE TO SETUP BEING SO CLOSE TO BREAKING FRANCO’S RECORD SAVES FOR LH CLOSER.
WHY PAY 3M TO A PLAYER WITH NO JOB & NO POTENTIAL TO ALTER TEAM’S OUTCOME. EXCELLENT BUSINESS DECISION NOT A DETRACTION CAUSED BY AVARICE.
62, You asked for a name and I gave it to you. Then you don’t like the answer and write it off with your personal assumptions. You say Wags had no job and no potential? Seems like he did pretty well for a team like the Red Sox who are sporting a prettty good pitching staff these days. It was a salary dump pure and simple with plenty of “avarice” to it putting $3.5 mil in the owner’s pockets. You can’t just always have it your way. Were you a spoiled only child as a kid? Seems like it.
The Wilpons must go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah maybe the Dolans can buy the team because that would be SOOOOO much better………
Keep the Dolans out of here! Let’s go with The Donald and Seinfeld in a new alliance of money, creativity, and achievement. Jerry S will make sure things are great for Mets fans because he is as real a fan as there is.
I just didn’t hear anything positive. They fired 1 coach who didn’t really affect the team, Sandy Alomar’s reassignment does not really hurt or help this team. The 2 coaches they should have fired, HoJo and Warthen are still with the team. I know the Mets as a team had a good BA and a good OBP but their situational hitting was horrible this season and since he has become the hitting coach. Wright changing his swing obviously didn’t work. The pitchers did not perform better, in fact they got worse and how did Warthen not know Santana was in pain? That is his job to look out for his pitchers.
Great point on Santanna. I don’t understand how that was the fault of other teams doctors. I think they did alot of positive talking…..but same old crew making decisions
Confession may be good for the soul but it does not make you a better GM or a better COO. Just saying “I take responsibility” should not entitle you to repeat your mistakes. I cannot be optimistic about anything with Omar making the call. He is a laughing stock among GMs. But I suppose Jeffie is too. Jeff sounded like what he is: a spoiled rich boy whose Daddy gave him a team to play with. He is clearly not a heavyweight. Not firing a disgrace like Jerry tells me that Omar is hanging by his thumbs. Bringing in a new guy would be counterproductve since a new GM would want his own manager. Met fans do not deserve so precarious a management situation. Both of these guys should be gone so people around the team can breath again, instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Does anyone think Omar will not rip the farm system apart to keep his job? The same farm system he called “very good” a few months ago he called “average” in the interview. Do these guys ever stop lying? Is he going to sign a few Type A free agents? Is he going to trade what few prospects we have? You betcha. We will lose a draft pick if he signs more than one, will we not? Will we go over slot for our number 7 pick this year? Does Omar even care about that? He has no incentive to build the farm system up with his job hanging by a thread. The Mets are back to patching… patching.. patching. No plan. Just survival.
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JDON, EXACTLY WHAT IS IT U THINK OMAR SHOULD DO? WITH 2 VERY INTYRIGUING TRADE TARGETS OOT THERE IN CRAWFORD & HALLADAY, IT SOUNDS LIKE U PREFER PASSING ON BOTH. ARE U A PROPONENT OF MR. PEABODY’S WAYBACK MACHINE? WHEN IT COMES TO SETTING PRIORITIES IN NY, THE MLB CLUB SHOULD ALWAYS TAKE PRECEDENCE, NOT THE MILB SYSTEM; DON’T KNOW’BOUT U; BUT THERE ISN’T A GUARANTEED PRODSPECT OUT THERE ANYWHERE IN MLB. PROSPECTS ARE ONLY VALUABLE AS TRADE FODDER. ONCE THEY MAKE “THE SHOW” THEIR PROSPECT STATUS FALLS OFF & THEY’RE NOW PART OF A SOLUTION, HOPFULLY. F-MART, IKE DAVIS,BRAD HOLT ARE SUPPOSEDLY SOME OF OUR BEST, YET EACH IS JUST 1 APPEARANCE FROM MAJOR INJURY THAT TURNS OUT THE LIGHTS OF A PROMISING CAREER. IN 2005, OMAR INHERITED A FRANCHISE, WHO’S ONLY PROSPECT WAS LASTINGS MILLEDGE. REYES & WRIGHT WERE ALREADY PROMOTED,KAZMIR & ESCOBAR, DEALT.
U WERE ABSOLUTLY CORRECT IN ASSUMING WE MAY LOSE OUR TO FIRST ROUND PICK DUE TO OWNERSHIP RULES FOR ADHERING TO COMMISSIONER’S SLOTTING GUIDELINES U WANT TO BLAME OMAR FOR THAT? OWNERSHIP PLAYS THE MUSIC, GMs DANCE TO THE TUNES, THAT’S TRUE ON EVERY SINGLE SPORTS FRANCHISE I EVER HEARD OF. AS A FAN WE GET TO LISTEN & WATCH THE SHOW OR TURN IT OFF & LOOK ELSEWHERE.
I DAMNED WELL HOPE OMAR DOES GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRADE “THE FARM” AS U PUT IT; BUT ONLY IF A CRAWFORD OR HALLADAY IS RETURNED. OFF THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD, WHO WERE THE PROSPECTS DEALT FOR PIAZZA? DO WE CARE? YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT THE “PATCHING”. WELL U EITHER PATCH OR THE ALTERNATIVE IS BECOMING A FORMER CONTENDER TURNED INCONSEQUENTIAL LIKE PITTSBURGH,CINCY,KC OR YOU WIND UP COMMITING 200M IN PAYROLL IN BANKRUPTCY COURT. OF THOSE ALTERNATIVES I VOTE FOR PATCHING WITH BEST SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE.
JDON, You make a very good point. Omar’s incentive for this coming season is simply survival. He will adopt short term expediency over long term benefit. So more than likely, we wll be seeing some more typical Omar moves. Unfortunately, the splashy headline only lasts a day, but a deal that goes bad once the rot takes over weighs down the team for years to come. For evidence, I cite Ollie and Putz as examples. The handwriting was on the wall if you looked beneath the covers, but Omar opted for a day in the sunlight at the expense of the future. What we need is intelligent decisions by knowledgeable baseball people rather than flawed ones made by an incompetent trying to hold onto his cushy position which is way over his limited ability. This offseason will be very interesting and I hope that Omar proves me wrong, but it’s doubtful he will.
MASK U R RIGHT; BUT I WASN’T CONSIDERING A DEALING A PLAYER WITH A HIGH SALARY AND NOTHING TO ADD AS A “DUMP”, RATHER I TAKE A MORE CONSERVATIVE, CONVENTIONAL DEFINITION LIKE JAYS TRYING TO DEAL HALLADAY IN ’09 WAS A DUMP ATTEMPT. ATLANTA’S DEALING TEX TO ANAHEIM WAS A DUMP. I EQUATE THE WAGNER MOVE TO THE UNLOADINGS DUQUETTE DID WITH BENITEZ,ZEILLE,VENTURA,BURNITZ.
IN MY OPINION, MOVING WAGS OFF A TEAM GOING NOWHERRE WITH BARELY ENOUGH CLOSE GAMES T KEEP K-ROD WARM AS A PRUDENT MOVE THAT FAVORED A VALUED PLAYER BY GIVING HIM A REAL OPPORTUNITY FOR JEWELRY HE’D NOT HAD BEFORE.
SYMANTICS. U’D HAVE CRITICISM WITH FINDING A PONY IN A CRAP PILE BECAUSE U’D HAVE TO FEED IT.