More Slick Talk from Manuel

For our latest edition of “Manuel Being Manuel”, we have this from Jerry Manuel, stated in an interview with Mike Francesa on WFAN:

“I think (my core group) will probably not recognize a lot of the players when they go back to spring training. I think there will be a lot of different complimentary players coming in, then the players we have. The guys we’ve had have had a good shot, they’ve had an opportunity, but, for the most part, they haven’t taken advantage of it… We, as a staff, feel we’ve put ourselves in the position to win, but we just didn’t have the people to put us over the top… For the most part, it will look different from a complimentary aspect… The one thing we feel we cannot fault is the effort… It was just a matter of not being able to get it done.”

Well Jerry, many are hoping the core group won’t recognize the manager and coaching staff next spring.

Beyond Manuel openly ripping the “complimentary” players, there are two things that don’t sit well with me:

“We, as a staff, feel we’ve put ourselves in the position to win, but we just didn’t have the people to put us over the top”

Again, Manuel plays the blame game. There are people in other organizations — baseball and otherwise — who feel that effective “managers” get the most from the personnel and resources they are given. How does one deny responsibility, blame his boss for his team’s failures, and remain employed?

and

“The one thing we feel we cannot fault is the effort”

This one is as laughable as it is frightening. It’s funny because anyone watching the Mets this year knows that hustle and tenacity were a major weakness even when the “cavalry” was intact. It’s scary because the man in charge thinks that consistently seeing a lack of hustle, loss of focus, mental errors, and “mailing it in” are issues separate from “effort”.

That Teflon shield is getting a lot of work this year. I wonder if it’s sprayed with Pam?