Good Riddance- Change On The Way

You've probably heard by now that the Mets have let Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya go on Monday. Although there were rumors of the Mets reassigning Minaya to a lesser role in the organization, ownership decided to let the new General Manager decide who he wants on his staff. The Wilpons explained in their Press Conference today, that they are just as annoyed as us fans. 

This move was a long time coming. Jeff Wilpon, Mets COO said the only reason these moves weren't made earlier is because before the season ownership said they would give Minaya and Manuel another chance, and ownership was committed to giving them a whole season. While the Mets were just one game away from going to the World Series just a short four years ago, for Mets fans it's been a long four years. 2007 ended in heartbreak with the Mets blowing a seven game lead with 17 games to go. In 2008, the Mets again couldn't hold on onto a playoff spot as the dog days of September wound down. 2009 was a season of injury and anguish, players fell like dominoes getting injured. This season, the Mets started off strong and were playing well up until the All-Star Break, and then forgot how to hit. After four seasons like that, especially 2007, 2008, and the way this season ended, it seems like the Mets just ran out of power as the dog days of summer came, and change certainly the dugout was necessary.

Many Mets fans will remember Jerry Manuel's first game managing the Mets, when he forced Jose Reyes to come out of the game. Manuel managed to get the Mets back on track in 2008, but again the Mets fell a game short of the playoffs. While 2009 you can't really blame on anyone(except maybe the medical staff), 2010 you could blame on him. As noted earlier, 2010 started off well but the Mets seemingly forgot to hit following the All-Star Break. I've never seen a whole team not hit for a significant amount of time as the Mets did earlier this season. While you can blame this on the hitting coach rather than the Manager, he is called a manager for a reason, and he should be managing a team properly motivate the team, or change the approach when change deems necessary.

As I wrote a couple months ago in evaluating Minaya, his tenure as Mets GM was very up and down. He made a lot of right moves, and made the Mets relevant again. Again, as I wrote in the post, while all that is great, none of that matters now. As the Fred and Jeff Wilpon said today, this is New York, and you must win. If you don't win, your past doesn't matter. While I wrote in that post that really Omar should go because the deals he gave Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo, it was more than just that , if you look over the moves Minaya made, he didn't exactly know which direction to go. At times, it looked like he was trying to rebuild, and times it looked like he was trying to get a championship now. While the Wilpons and Minaya said they want to build there team around pitching and defense, Minaya goes out and signs Jason Bay, a power hitter, with bad knees, and certainly not a good defender (at least that was our impression), while Carl Crawford, the perfect player for Citi Field is going to be a free agent in the off season. 

All in all, change was necessary, while it should have been done earlier, ownership decided to give Minaya and Manuel a full season, and change is coming. It was a good sign to see ownership open and honest today at the Press Conference, and explaining they are just frustrated as us fans.

Be Sociable, Share!

•