Moore, Manuel, And Making Poor Decisions

Good morning Fackers. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly glad this week is coming to a close. I mean, I'm glad when every week comes to a close, but this one in particular. The Yanks were out on the west coast, meaning late starts and screwed up sleep patterns. Yesterday was another barely bearable off day. And work has completely, totally, and utterly kicked my ass this week.

In completely unrelated news, this year has been a good one for bad baseball. Entering play yesterday, six teams had winning percentages under .425, the most since 2004 (7), and nine teams had winning percentages under .450, again the most since 2004 (11).

The Nationals, despite a fairly recent eight game winning streak, are playing baseball that has bordered on historically bad. Their winning percentage entering yesterday would be the worst since the 2005 Royals. They've also endured botching the firing of their manager, as well as the resignations of their General Manager and his top assistant as a result of an illegal scheme skimming Latin American signing bonuses.

The Pirates are 12 losses away from ensuring their 17th consecutive losing season. Currently in year 10 of a 5 year rebuilding program, they've traded every saleable arbitration eligible player on their roster with the exception of Zach Duke and Ryan Doumit.

But with all the bad baseball going, no two teams have hit the trifecta of poor on field play, incompetent front office management, and public relations disasters quite like the Royals and Mets.

We've already had a little fun at both their expense when they both pulled off poor trades within hours of each other last month. This week they decided to go head-to-head in the public relations arena.

On Tuesday, the Royals optioned Alex Gordon to AAA Omaha. The second overall pick in the 2005 draft, Gordon made his Major League debut after breaking camp with Royals to start the 2007. Earlier this season, Gordon required the same labrum repair surgery that A-Rod had during spring training. He suffered the injury against the Yankees on April 11th, played through April 15th, and underwent surgery on April 17th. He began a rehab assignment in early July, but rather than taking the full 30 days, the Royals activated him after just 13 games and 53 plate appearances. In the month after his activation until his demotion, Gordon hit just .227/.310/.333. Maybe he could have used the full rehab assignment after all.

Where the impropriety comes in is in that by optioning him down for at least 20 days, the Royals ensure that Gordon will end the season without three full years of Major League service time, pushing his free agency clock back a year. While this isn't all that different from what Tampa has done with Mrs. Tony Parker and David Price or what Baltimore has done with Matt Wieters, all in an effort to keep them from Super Two arbitration status, Gordon's case seems somewhat seedier in that it's happening after he's been established as a Major Leaguer rather than before he was ever brought up.

It may well be a smart move by Dayton Moore and the Royals. But, they were the ones who decided to break camp with Gordon in 2007 after he had just one year and 576 PA of AA ball. They started this clock when they did. While Gordon certainly has struggled this season, the Royals elected to activate him after only half of his allowable rehab time expired. They made these decisions; they have to deal with the criticism that comes with this latest one.

Meanwhile, over in Flushing, the circus continues. In the wake of David Wright's sickening beaning Saturday, the Atlanta Braves just happened to be coming into town. As you may recall, the Braves are the team to which the Mets traded Ryan Church last month. As you may further recall, Ryan Church had a couple nasty concussions last year that the Mets medical staff handled very, very poorly. You may also recall that Jerry Manuel facking hates Ryan Church. Hmmm. I wonder what possibly could have happened next?

When giving his pre-game press conference Sunday, less the 24 hours after Wright has hit, and so soon after Wright was discharged from the hospital that he likely hadn't yet cut the bracelet from his wrist, Manuel had this to say (h/t Neyer):

You have to be careful into stereotyping individuals. David is a different animal, so to speak. How he is made up is a little different than, say, Ryan Church, in my opinion. That's not to say that one is better than the other, but they're different. With Ryan, there was always something thrown from leftfield - 'We need to check that.' That made it somewhat difficult to evaluate that particular situation.

Translation from jive talk: David Wright's a tough guy; Ryan Church is a pussy.

Let's back up the train a second here Jerry. Just because you elicit memories of the "Doctor of Style" Slick, doesn't mean that you are a doctor of neurology. Church, of course, knows this, and took exception. What a mess the Mets are. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and now Daid Wright - their four best offensive players - are on all the DL and all likely out for the year. Meanwhile, the men in high profile leadership roles: Manuel, Omar Minaya, and until recently Tony Bernazard, continue to heap insult on top of the injuries.

So I suppose I could have had a worse week. I mean, I got it better than Moore or Manuel. And I haven't been concussed as badly as Church or Wright. Plus we have Yanks-Sox to look forward to tonight. Either way, I'll still feel a helluva lot better when that five o'clock whistle blows.

Are The Mets The New Knicks?

[Here is a guest post I did for River Ave. Blues last week, and figured the off day would be a good time to re-post it here.]

The similarities go beyond just the blue and orange. Both teams are owned by father/son duos and have been plagued by recent failures despite having payrolls near or at the top of their respective sports. Each franchise has only two championships in their history and has made the playoffs exactly one out of the past eight seasons. They both have had their front offices' dirty laundry aired in the New York tabloids in recent years.

Not that Jose Reyes ever asked a Mets intern if she was going to "get in the truck" or Omar Minaya sexually harassed a fellow member of the front office, but there is a big distinction between having an unsuccessful franchise and having the details of why your organization is a disaster printed for the world to see. At the center of these two debacles are two executives who have/had close relationships with the owners of their teams but terrible ones with the media.

While serving as President of Basketball Operations for the Knicks, Isiah Thomas spoke with the placid monotone of someone who was heavily medicated, spouting off cliches and dropping wincers such as "To me, it’s win or die. And I literally mean death. I don’t mean walk away. I mean death. That’s how I approach it". Omar, on the other hand has a penchant for mixing metaphors, inaccurate tensing ("He has lobby myself") and verbal tics, you know what I'm saying?

Initially credited with making the Mets an attractive destination and recruiting players like Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner, Omar's track record is tainted by severely overpaying for Luis Castillo, giving Moises Alou $15M for 414 plate appearances and locking up Oliver Perez, (who is currently humming along to the tune of a 7.42 ERA) for three years and $36M. The Johan Santana trade alone puts Minaya ahead of Thomas in terms of transactions that turned out favorably for their team, but the number of playoff appearances and dollars each team has spent speak for themselves.

Back on March 12th, 2007, with Knicks holding a record of 29-34 and sitting at 8th place in the Eastern Conference, James Dolan singed Isiah Thomas to a three year extension. Nine months earlier, Dolan had issued an ultimatum, saying the Knicks would have to make "evident progress" in order to Isiah to return as coach the following year.

The team had gone 23-59 under Larry Brown the year before, so they did improve, but the timing was curious. Dolan could have waited to see how the season turned out, but instead said "the improvement needs to be recognized now and not wait". The team responded with a horrid 4-14 stretch and finished 7 games out of the playoffs. Thirteen months later, Thomas was "reassigned" and banned from having any contact with the team, effectively ending his tenure as Knicks GM and coach.

Immediately following the conclusion of the 2008 season, the second one in a row which concluded by the Mets getting nudged out of October on the last day of the season after holding a significant lead with less than three weeks to go, Jeff Wilpon extended a three year contract extension to Omar Minaya. The timing again was questionable, as the GM had a full year left on his current deal, but Wilpon said "we think he deserves another chance to keep getting us to where we want to be".

The Mets are currently in 4th place in the NL East and behind 7 other teams in contention for the Wild Card, 5.5 games back. Unfortunately for Minaya, the on-the-field performance can be largely explained away by injuries, but the power structure of the Mets organization has come under fire as of late. First with the clumsy axing of Willie Randolph last year but most recently the zany antics of Tony Bernazard and the ensuing unsuccessful attempted public sacrifice of beat writer Adam Rubin's journalistic integrity, the team has become a punching bag for the New York Media. Rubin wondered aloud how he could continue his duties as a reporter covering theMets after the incident, but one has to question whether Omar can continue running them.

Even since they hired Donnie Walsh to head their basketball operations back in April of last year, the Knicks have had an air of credibility around them, even though their play on the floor was still sub-par. A well-respected veteran of the Pacers' front office, Walsh is candid with the media and his Wikipedia page doesn't have to have a separate section for "Controversy". Could the Mets benefit from a similar move?

It's quite unlikely that the Mets leapfrog 7 teams (or three in the NL East) and sneak into the playoffs this year. Since Minaya's new contract doesn't even start until the end of this season and won't end until 2012, keeping him around would be a prudent financial move. Rob Neyer doesn't think that will play a role in the decision, though.

Has Omar passed the point of no return?

I personally don't think so and don't feel certain that his successor would necessarily bring a new direction to the franchise, other than the symbolic overture of axing Minaya. That said, public perception and fan placation is a big part of being a successful sports team in New York, and theWilpon's have to be prepared to deal with a lot of backlash if they stand by their man.

The Big Top Comes To The Big Apple

Good morning Fackers. I normally look at the Mets with a sort of "live and let live" philosophy. I'm not a New Yorker, so I don't particularly buy into the whole cross town rivalry bit. Sure I want the Yanks to beat them six times a year, but I want them to beat the Twins six times a year too.

So much like Jason at IATMS, I don't take any particular joy in what's going on over in Flushing these days. But at the same time, it's impossible to ignore what's happening there. Reflecting upon the Bronx Zoo years in his autobiography Balls, former Yankee Graig Nettles quipped "When I was a little boy I wanted to be a baseball player and join the circus. With the Yankees I have accomplished both." That nicely sums up the state of the Mets these days as well.

To summarize, General Manager Omar Minaya's top lieutenant is VP for Player Development Tony Bernazard. Bernazard is bat shit crazy. Rumors have persisted for years about his antics, and he's long been considered the key contributor in driving both former pitching coach Rick Peterson and former manager Willie Randolph out of town. But in recent weeks, Crazy Tony has really stepped up his game. First, he tore off his shirt and challenged the entire AA Binghamton Mets to a fight. Then he nearly got into a fight with fellow jackass Francisco Rodriguez as the Mets team bus left the park in Atlanta. Lastly, he unleashed a profanity laced tirade upon a subordinate when a Diamondbacks scout took the seat Crazy Tony wanted at a recent game.

In short, Bernazard had to go. It was long overdue, but the three incidents this month sealed his fate. So the Mets made it official yesterday. But in what has become typical Mets fashion, they can't even get a press conference right. Minaya made a mockery of the English language ("this reflects upon my watch") and rather than putting the issue behind him, he decided to pour gas on the fire. In one of the most bizarre sequences I can recall, Minaya accused Daily News beat writer Adam Rubin of "tearing down" Bernazard because Rubin coveted Bernazard's job. You can watch the uncomfortably bizarre footage here, unless of course Met-owned SNY realizes what an embarassment this is for the organization and pulls the footage.

So let me get this straight. A beat writer secretly wants to work for the team he covers. So, he hatches an elaborate plot to do his job and write stories about all the zany antics of the flat out crazy executive the Mets continue to employ. His plan works to perfection; the executive gets fired, and of course the logical next step is to hire the beat writer who has exactly zero experience working in professional baseball (and he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you kids!). That's where you lose me Omar - but either way, good thing you were around to foil the plot.

I'm not rejecting out of hand that Rubin may have some desire to work on the other side of the notebook. For the most part, sportswriters cover the game because at some point the loved the game. No one's jumping into that dying industry for the fame or money. That said, Minaya's premise is as ludicrous as anything Crazy Tony ever pulled off. The fact of the matter remains that Bernazard acted of his own accord. He, and the Mets, have no one to blame for this situation but themselves. This is not Adam Rubin's fault.

Minaya should be skating on thin ice to begin with given the situation surrounding the organization, yet he's signed for three more years. I'm not sure he can weather this storm much longer. Omar Minaya is the highest profile front office employee of the organization and his antics yesterday were entirely inappropriate and unprofessional. If there's any justice, he'll be joining Bernazard in the unemployment line soon.

It's Linktastic!

So, I don't have anything specific in mind to write about at the moment, probably because winning breeds apathy. Unless of course you are a Red Sox fan (who doesn't read this blog), in which case it breeds douchebaggery. In any event, here it's what's becoming a daily cop out for me: A collection of links to a bunch of things which are interesting but not worth an entire post devoted to them for differing reasons. Enjoy!

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Mike from RAB thinks the Yanks should deal for a starter. It doesn't seem like one is necessary at the moment, but by the time the need arises, it might be too late. [Update: Joe looks at the bullpen as well]

I take no pleasure in seeing the Mets fail, but I can't say the same about this. At least God still loves them.

Joel Sherman takes the Mets to task for the lack of order within their organization. He compares it to the earlier versions of the Yankees, when there wasn't a designated power structure and almost anyone could have The Boss's ear, "It might be the GM, a scout, a friend, a cab driver". He sees the recent issues with Tony Bernazard as a manifestation of such structural issues. Don't plan on listening to Joel on 1050 ESPN Radio anytime soon, though. He got streeted yesterday (by no fault of his own).

This is terrible for Donnie Baseball. Upshot? I bet you didn't know the term "Battery By Bodily Waste" existed...

Craig from Shysterball doesn't get the Red Sox number retirement policy. I do, it goes a little something like "Well, he's gawtta be in the HoF, ten yeahs with the Sawx, but nawt if left us fwah the fackin' Yanks..."

Is Jesus untouchable? (Montero that is...)

Who was the last pitcher to throw 300 innings in a single season? The man started 38 games that year, went 24-9, and was part of a World Series winning team. The season included 13 CGs and only 4 starts shorter than 7 innings. And he was 35 years old when he did it. The answer can be found in the tags (or by clicking that link).

1.98/game to 3.25/game. Yes, it would seem that homers are easier to come by in the New Stadium.

And totally off-topic, but how awesome is this?

Here's the original, and a shot for shot comparison.