2-9 since the All-Star Break, and really 1-10 thanks to umpire Phil Cuzzi last Sunday in San Francisco.
That is probably the worst possible outcome of the first road trip since the All-Star Break.
It was a span of 11 consecutive days where absolutely nothing went right – whether the offense didn’t produce, or the pitching was absent, or both on a couple of occasions.
Tthe Mets are now at a point, five days before the trade deadline, where there are now questions about the internal structure of the team, rather than acquiring a guy to give them a boost for the stretch run.
Personally, I don’t think there is an arm, or a bat, or a guy for the bullpen, or a guy for the bench that can help this group right now. All of the talk, even today, is about trades and getting to the playoffs and I contest that at this moment, the Mets need to worry more about competing than they do about making the playoffs.
They have to walk before they run, and all we have seen, really over the past three weeks or so is this team sinking deeper and deeper out of contention with no change in sight over a combination of poor pitching and a dysfunctional offense.
Now, I want this team to win, and I want them to make the playoffs – don’t get me wrong. But with the current construction of the roster, they just aren’t designed to be successful right now.
I look at it from this perspective – they are really playing with a mish-mosh of 23 guys – three of which are catchers and one of which is now injured, and Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo taking almost 10% of the roster in the final two roster spots. As a result, they are playing short on the bench and short in the bullpen, considering Perez has a spot in it.
All of that said, I think that is only a part of their problem. The day-to-day expectations with the players I’m sure is in flux, as there is no set platoon in right field, a different lineup everyday, and different roles in the bullpen on a daily basis as well. As a player, it’s difficult to prepare on a daily basis if one doesn’t fully know and understand his role on the team. A lot of this game is mental, and so it’s essential everyone’s mental approach is proper and consistent on a daily basis, and based on some of the lackluster play over the past 11 games, I’m not sure these players are consistently prepared for that day’s game.
Now, we can attribute these faults to the manager, and we can attribute the problems with the offense to the hitting coach. While I think that “blame” is appropriate, will changing these guys out with a different look a) restore order to the chaos and b) get these Mets to the playoffs?
If the Mets fire Jerry Manuel, which again I would not be opposed to should the current trend continue, it will be the second manager in two full seasons Omar Minaya has disposed of, with the same core group of players on the field. That same manager would fall victim to a poorly constructed roster after publicly pleading for roster help both this year and last.
I don’t think this core group has failed because they aren’t good – to the contrary, both David Wright and Jose Reyes continue to serve as baseball’s best left-side of the infield both offensively and defensively. Carlos Beltran is currently struggling to find himself as a player again, but his talent is too great for this to continue for much longer, and Johan Santana has once again established himself as the best left handed pitcher in baseball, and so I think it would be ill-advised to break that up because, who would any General Manager replace them with?
Outside of those four, and Ike Davis and Mike Pelfrey as a promising young players who may be able to join that core in the near future, most of the rest of the roster is constructed with too many high priced players with either diminished skills or overvalued skills, and those that should be held accountable are the talent evaluators and the General Manager because they ultimately sign these players and make them a part of the roster.
My point is, it’s fine to take out Jerry Manuel and/or his coaches, but until changes are made from the top level and down, we might be having this same discussion two years from now.
