I’m scrambling a bit today and I’ve got a delicious lunch meeting on the horizon, so I’ll turn it over to some TedQuarters readers.
Remember reader Jim from yesterday? Turns out he doubles as writer Jim. Here’s a timeline of the Mets’ 2009 season he compiled for Vanity Fair. It’s likely nothing you didn’t live through, and it’s a bit brutal to recollect, but it’s sort of hilarious to see it all spelled out in order like this. And some of the juxtapositions are great:
June 1, 2009: The Mets are winning—until J.J. Putz enters the ballgame. He faces five batters, gets none of them out, and gives up four runs. Afterward, Mets manager Jerry Manuel looks on the bright side: “The good thing is, he threw strikes.”
June 5, 2009: J.J. Putz goes on the disabled list with bone spurs in his pitching elbow. He is out for the season.
That being said (to paraphrase Larry David), Steve Sidoti from Seven Train to Shea‘s putting together videos to get Mets fans excited about 2010. My favorite part of this one? The first three home runs are pulled to left. Nothing groundbreaking, just always fun to remember that it did sometimes happen.
Finally, and speaking of the 2010 Mets, Chris M made a pretty interesting point via e-mail yesterday regarding recent comments from Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya about where the Mets’ prospects will start the season, and the reaction from Mets fans about what the comments imply. It’s this:
Most people seem to focus on this “lack of communication” between Jerry and Omar, and see it as some type of problem. I have a different take. Omar is the GM and Jerry is the manager; they do not have the same job. Omar puts together a roster, Jerry’s job is to get the best out of that roster and motivate his players. I’m sure Jerry hears what Omar is saying and understands that some of these guys will be in the minors, but what is wrong with the manager going to bat for some of these young kids? These are players that, if all goes well, will be playing for him in the next year or two. Shouldn’t Jerry say things like he’s saying to boost the confidence of some of the young players? Show that he believes in them and that they belong with the big club, even if he knows they won’t be here just yet?
Tedquarters 
While it’s true that Jerry and Omar have different jobs, I would argue Jerry’s job does not include putting public pressure on the organization to bring up guys to their detriment just so he can save his job.
I’m sure Theo Epstein and Terry Francona have different ideas on roster construction, but like professionals, they dont have those debates in the media.
But your not getting it. Jerry doesnt make the decisions, he can say whatever he wants, its Omars job not to give into that pressure and make the correct decisions. As I said, they have different jobs here, completely different jobs.
Jerry deals with the players, does what he feels is best to motivate them and get the best out of them. Omar makes the tough choices about who stays and who goes. He is the boss, not that guy who deal with the players.
Think of it almost as a good cop bad cop thing. Jerry goes to bat for all the players, Omar makes the choices. Have you noticed that Jerry has praised and advocated to keep far more players that the roster will allow? He ‘made a case’ for F-Mart, Pagan, and Matthews in CF, hes left the door open for Cora or Tejada at short, hes also gone to bat and said good things about Mejia, as well as far more picthers than the roster will allow them to carry.
See the point? Jerry knows not all these guys can be kept, but thats not going to stop him from going to bat for these guys and making a case, because thats what will boost these guys confidence. Thats his job, Omars is to make the roster.
But the media spins such matters as examples of team dysfunction, mismanagement, and poor communication. And that’s why your point is being missed, Chris.
Chris, I don’t necessarily disagree.
I’m just saying these debates should be held in private. Jerry is a manipulative SOB. He knows his and Omar’s jobs are on the line. So Omar needs to win now as well. Jerry makes it a lot harder for Omar to do the right thing when he whips the media/fans into a frenzy about Mejia.
I also think you’re assuming too much when you say this boosts the confidence of these young guys. You could just as easily make the reverse argument — that filling their heads with false confidence and then sending them to Buffalo will have a negative impact. Sort of like it did with something called a “Nick Evans” who rumor has it was once a member of the Mets organization.
What does Nick Evans have to do with any of this? Like I said there isnt even room for all these guys Jerry is pushing on a regular basis. You are again failing to separate the jobs of the manager and the GM. The manager can be everyone friend, he can tell everyone they deserve to be there, because hes not the one to send them down, Omar is. Jerry isnt going to look like the bad guy.
Fair point Ryan. But the bigger issue is why do the Mets as a franchise always feel the need to succumb to public pressure? Having these debates in the media only hurts if the Mets permit the media to play a role in their decisions.
This is how the power dynamics work in a functional baseball organization. Remember, the Mets are not a functional organization. I have heard credible sources state that Omar is a merely a figure head and that Jeff Wilpon is actually the lead decision maker in the organization.
Yeah I agree with what others said. There’s a differences between directly contradicting your gm, continually, to the media, and going to bat for players in private. The problem is Jerry seems to be doing the former.
Plus with the mets, who knows what the organization power flow is. Maybe are MWF the Wilpons let Jerry make decisions, Tuesdays and Thursdays go to Omar and Sunday and Saturdays go to some random person in the front office they decided they like.
Good lord! We killed DJ AM!
Also it’s more than just Jerry saying things. For example Meija only threw 6 pitches tonight. If the organizational plan is to have him in the minors as a starter he should be getting stretched out.