I actually fell asleep listening to the much-ballyhooed "Press Conference" that took place yesterday afternoon. This wasn't a press conference as much as it was a waste of all of our time. These jokers ought to be ashamed. I'm not sure if you can actually say that Freddie, his Idiot Manchild, Omar and Willie actually talked about anything while they sat over what were probably some very tasty sandwiches, probably catered from a high-class Midtown Deli, and had a nice little chat about life and stuff and things pertaining to baseball, without resolving anything at all.
I suppose Omar's lukewarm endorsement of Willie wasn't any bit of a surprise, but then again, he said the same thing three days ago. What was the point of all this, anyway? Willie stays, at least for the time being, and the team goes out and puts forth a shot-for-shot replay of every lousy game they've played over the past two months against the Marlins.
It's pretty close to the point now where it's time to give up. I had a long series of discussions with my infamous co-worker over the past weekend, against the backdrop of a major Arts Festival.
Right now, there's no way to sugarcoat anything. And nobody should be sugarcoating. It's bad enough that the jackasses on SNY say things like, "Well, the Mets are only 4 games out of 1st place!" Bullshit. These are the same people who kept saying, "They're still in 1st place!" while the Mets played with their heads up their asses most of the way last season. The Mets are no good. They're not a playoff team, they're not even contenders right now. And yet, despite the "collapse" that magnified everything that was wrong with the team, the same cast of characters was retained, with the addition of Santana, who, despite his prowess, is only one guy and can't fix the fact that Delgado is a corpse, Beltran is overrated, Reyes has no head for the game and Wright is pressing while trying to pick up the slack. How would you like to be Santana right now? I don't think he came here expecting to see this. He could throw a fantastic game, 8 innings, 5 hits and 2 runs and there's no guarantee he's getting the victory. Not the way this team has been looking.
It's easy to make Willie the fall guy for the problems with the team. After all, he's the one steering this ship and it's pretty clear that the ship is heading off into the abyss. I've said plenty about my feelings on Randolph already. But the truth is he would be getting a raw deal if he got fired, just like Art Howe got a raw deal. It's not easy to defend either of them, but it's also not their fault that they were given shitty teams to manage. Omar is just as much at fault, and Freddie and Dopey are at fault for not being proactive. This wouldn't have gone on under Nelson Doubleday's watch.
Willie can be the fall guy, and I still think that they're silently giving him another two weeks to right the ship. But the only way I'd feel comfortable truly saying the Mets have a chance is if they turn it around and roll of 12 of 15 or so. I don't think they have it in them. Right now, I'm not totally sure they have 12 wins left in them all season. My co-worker and I discussed this. I think the Mets look like a 77-85 team. He says that's too generous. They look more to him like a 68-94 team. Neither one would surprise me right now.
But the only way the team can really change is if they hit complete rock bottom. Last year wasn't enough. The team wasn't any good, but the "collapse" magnified the problem, yes. But it was all too easy to hide behind the "We were in 1st place most of the way" defense when the same damn team was retained. If they're going to change, everyone, every player on this team needs to come out and say "We suck." This team needs to finish dead last, and everything needs to be broken down and rebuilt. Coaches need to go, managers need to go and players need to go.
So, if after all that's gone on, after the Mets, with their payroll spiraling into the $100 millions, continue to play boring, lackluster, uninspired baseball, Willie is going to remain, what, then, is the plan here? If Willie's sticking around as the indication seems to be, then they have to start going after the players. Cut Delgado. Designate him and eat the contract. That might send a message to these guys. Start breaking things down. Give Nick Evans or Mike Carp some time at 1B and let them figure it out from there. Just show us, PLEASE, SHOW US that there's something being done, and don't just feed us a bunch of empty quotes and stupid cliches that put a happy face on a team that's right on the precipice of being truly terrible.
For the 19 games: 4-9.
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