Ball Drops on Minaya & Manuel as Mets Drop the Ball

by Mike Trovato

Since the early 1900's, it has been a New York tradition to ring in the changing of the calendar year by gathering together to watch the dropping of the ball. Over 100 years later, certain inhabitants of the Big Apple are honoring the age-old tradition in their own unique way.

Replace a bitter cold Times Square with mild air wafting throughout Citi Field, the excitement of a dense Broadway crowd with the solemness of sparsely scattered die-hards rushing the countdown as the Mets said goodbye to 2010 in the spirit of New York- dropping the ball.

Over their last five games of the season the Mets did just that, committing six fielding errors as the final home stand of 2010 adequately represented some of the glaring shortcomings of the past few years. Some poor fielding, the ever-present injury bug, and a pinch of Oliver Perez.

The errors were only part of the scene during the final handful of games. Though the Mets did manage to score 19 runs in that span, 14 of them came in two 7-run productions, with the remaining five runs scattered among the other three games. Without the help of Carlos Beltran, who was once again on the shelf with mild inflammation in his surgically repaired knee, the Mets stranded 37 men on the base paths, including 10 in Sunday's 14-inning defeat at the hands of the perennial cellar-dwelling Washington Nationals. And to add insult to injury, what better way to close things out than with a vintage Ollie P performance?
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In just his fourth appearance since August 1st, Perez issued more free passes than a middle school hall monitor, hitting Adam Kennedy, then walking the bases loaded before sending Jason Maxwell to first with the easiest game-winning RBI he'll ever have. Only then did Jerry Manuel pull the plug, and Perez trudged off the field to the familiar chorus of boos, as Mets fans got one last reminder of exactly why he was the the Kevin McCallister of the Mets bullpen. Frankly, he might as well just have stayed home.

The Mets went quietly in the bottom of the 14th, and that was that.

2010 is officially over.

Not literally, but as far as the New York Mets are concerned, welcome to 2011. Because the 2010 season was a "last" year in many, many ways.

We've heard the last of Omar Minaya's promises, the last of his disjointed statements to the media. We've seen the last of his roster maneuvers, along with the last of his non-maneuvers. We've shared the last of Jerry Manuel's warm laughs, and empathizing with the last of his stressed-out groans, trying to justify the unjustifiable.
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To assign all the blame to these two men would be totally unfair. I like Jerry Manuel, I really do. And although he was often criticized for his lack of fire and questionable managerial decisions, Manuel deserves credit for a 55-38 finish in 2008, reviving the Mets season after replacing Willie Randolph. Likewise, credit Omar Minaya for a number of seemingly forgotten great moves over the years. Tally up the acquisitions, draft picks and free agent signings. Tally up the Johan Santanas, the Mike Pelfreys, Jon Nieses and Josh Tholes. Chalk up the Angel Pagans, R.A. Dickeys and Hisanori Takahashis, all players that made major contributions in 2010.

Good moves and bad moves aside, when all was said and done, the bottom line remains that a General Manager and Manager are not measured by the moves they make, but whether or not those moves translate into one thing and one thing only: winning. And the Mets have won virtually nothing. No World Series, no National League pennants, and just one NL East crown.

Minaya and Manuel dropped the ball, and the ball had dropped on the New York Mets. Now it's time to turn the page. Time to face the music.

Happy New Year.


Looking Back

Looking back at a 2010 full of lasts, without mentioning any names, let's hope for a few more lasts...
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Let's hope that we've seen the last of the unnecessarily massive contracts for sub-.500 pitchers or 32 year-old second basemen past their prime. No more number forty-sixes in blue and orange, whose selfishness and unwillingness to do so much as to try to straighten himself out in the minor leagues left the poor manager an arm short in the bullpen day in and day out. No more embarrassing dropped pop-ups against those cross-town rivals.

Let's hope that we've seen the last of the disconnect and lack of communication between players, coaches and front office personnel. No more tirades by development personnel directed at players, Major Leaguers or minor leaguers, shirtless or otherwise. No more surprise off-season surgeries and the he-said, he-said as to whether or not they were sanctioned by the team.

Let's hope that we've endured the last of trying to stay afloat until the regulars return. No more medical mishaps, no more pushing back onto the field the clearly injured, just to further clarify the realness and severity of their injuries. No more sitting on our hands like we've done enough, when clearly more needs to be done. No more of the "we can compete if" this or that. No more second half collapses. No more negativity.

Instead, let's make some resolutions for 2011. In fact, let's make just one. From this point on, let's not just say we want the New York Mets to be a winning franchise, let's operate like one.


Looking Forward

If you look at the eight teams in this year's playoffs, only two of them have a payroll of over $140 million. Perhaps it's no coincidence that those two teams- the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees- were adversaries in the 2009 World Series. But the remaining three quarters of those teams made the postseason having spent under $100M, which just goes to show that money doesn't necessarily buy you a playoff berth.

The Cincinnati Reds ($68.2M) locked up the NL Central spending half of what the Mets ($136M) spent this year, and the Texas Rangers ($55.2M) bought their playoff champagne with the extra money the 5th-lowest payroll in baseball afforded them.

And then there's the Minnesota Twins. With a payroll of just over $90 million, the Twins are a perfect example of how a franchise should be run, and in 2010 they secured their 6th AL Central title in the last ten years. Minnesota has put together the right combination of affordable talent year in and year out for a decade, proving that it's not how much money you spend, but how you spend the money.



Since 2001, the Mets have reached the playoffs as many times as Minnesota has finished under .500- once. Yes, the Mets recent record book is quite the contrast to that of the Twins, and I'd say it's time to take a page out of a different book. Perhaps it's time for the Wilpons to re-evaluate how they will allow their front office to operate.
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Newly appointed GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kevin Towers would have been an ideal candidate for the Mets. Having assembled most of the San Diego Padres team that nearly stole the NL West this year, Towers worked with roughly half the budget that Omar Minaya had in New York. Although he was not there to see his work come to fruition, the Padres team that held onto first place until the very last week of the season had Towers' stamp all over it. Now, with Towers gone to Arizona, the Wilpons will have to look elsewhere.

The New York Mets are by no means a small market team. They are going to spend money, we know this. But how about a resolution be a bit more cautious about how and when that money is doled out, while developing a consistency that can change the perception of being those "same old Mets."

The Mets have always been in the colossal shadow of the New York Yankees, and seem to have spent money to show their fans that they can keep up. Clearly, this hasn't worked. Whether or not that has been their motivation is not for me to say, and the Wilpons have never said so either. What they did say on Monday, however, was that they're looking for a GM with a fresh perspective.

Here's a fresh perspective:

Omar Minaya spent each winter making his biggest moves- Pedro, Beltran, Wagner, Delgado, Santana, Putz, K-Rod and Bay were all signed between seasons. Yet, Minaya never pulled the trigger on any major mid-season trades to put the Mets over the top.
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On the other hand, the Philadelphia Phillies have made their biggest moves not just between seasons, but during them as well. The four-time reigning NL East Champs and two-time reigning National League pennant winners have ridden, and will presumably ride, their winter signings to the playoffs- Lidge in '08, Halladay in '10. But it's the players they've traded for mid-season that will help carry them through the playoffs- Cliff Lee in '09, Oswalt in '10.

And it's not just the Phillies, either. Cliff Lee was a trading deadline pawn for the second straight year, and was one of several players the Rangers added in the midst of their playoff surge, along with NL East castoffs Christian Guzman (Nationals), Jorge Cantu (Marlins) and Jeff Francoeur (Mets). The San Francisco Giants revamped their entire outfield, adding Jose Guillen (Royals), Cody Ross (Marlins) and Pat Burrell (Rays) to their roster over the summer. The Braves traded for Derek Lee (Cubs) in August, while the Yankees picked up Lance Berkman (Astros) and Kerry Wood (Indians), who a key cog in their bullpen down the stretch. And those Twins. Minnesota bolstered their bullpen by trading for Matt Capps (Nationals) and Brian Fuentes (Angels). The common thread- all of these teams are in the playoffs, and it's not by accident that they got there.

So, new Mets GM, whoever you will be, please be tactful. You can do a lot in the off-season with $100 million. Just because you have $140 million to work with, that doesn't mean you have to spend it all before April. The Minaya Mets were thin in the wallet come July, and it cost them. If you put the right pieces in place between October and March, not the most expensive, you can make adjustments along the way.

Many, if not most or all teams would kill to have $40 million to play with at the trade deadline. Be that team, the one that instead of waiting for reinforcements to come back from injury to stay afloat, brings in their own reinforcements voluntarily.

Fred, Jeff. Don't ask the GM and Manager to be the source of excitement. Ask them to be the architects for it. If you want to re-energize the fan base, there's only one way to do it, on the field by winning games. Period.