Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Classless, Cowardice

What else is new? I am disgusted again by the New York Mets. I am disgusted with Fred Wilpon for showing no authority as the owner of this franchise. I am disgusted with Tony Bernazard, the Latino King of espionage, who can't keep his ass out of the clubhouse. Most of all, I am disgusted with Jeff Wilpon, who has had it in for Willie ever since he came on board for a large contract and subsequent extension.

I know he managed during the collapse of last year and the terrible start we have had this year. And his in-game management is average, at best. And I believe the comments he made about racial perception proved to be his ultimate undoing. He was out of line.

But I like this guy. He's a tough, quiet leader. Willie never had his own coaching staff. The one guy he hired, hitting coach Rick Down, was fired midway through last year. These guys strung Willie out to dry. Now I've read blogs for weeks screaming for Willie to get fired. It means nothing to me, a lot of the people who post in these things are knuckleheads. Was a change needed? Probably? But if the Mets were going to fire him all along, then why not do it after the Padres swept them in four games? Why not after the Diamondbacks disaster last week?

But no. Right after the Mets knocked off the Angels in Anaheim 9-6, Omar Minaya fires Willie, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto at the team hotel. Why Minaya allowed all three to make the long trip to California instead of firing them in New York on Sunday makes the timing that much more disturbing. But that's not even the best part. The shocking news was delivered by a mass e-mail sent to the media at 3:11 in the morning. A freakin' e-mail sent after the newspapers had already been printed. So they were hoping this could slide under the radar? Have you ever heard of the Internet? This is not 1965? That is the work of a bunch of a p*****s. Plain and simple.

And I look back to 2005, when Omar came in as GM. He said he wanted to mimic the Braves model, creating a farm system that would make the roster self-sustaining. He inherited Jose Reyes and David Wright, and other than that, has basically used the system for his favorite pastime, obtaining older, established players.

Minaya has constructed a roster that depended on Moises Alou, who after returning from the DL for one game Tuesday, got injured again. Minaya put together a clubhouse with such a leadership void that Marlon Anderson was orchestrating team meetings shortly after being obtained last year and was trying to be inspiring at another gathering on Tuesday, his first day off the DL.

And thank you to our dearly departed pitching coach Rick Peterson for pushing trading Kazmir for Victor Zambrano. Have all 10 minutes expired? And good luck finding a new job to Tom Nieto. I mean how good does "first base coach" look on a resume? What exactly did he do wrong?

Good luck to Jerry Manuel, our interim manager. Excuse me if I'm not doing cartwheels.

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