Manuel Will Focus on Pitching and Defense
Pitchers and catchers have yet to report, yet we’re already being treated to “Manuel Being Manuel”.
A few weeks ago on MetsBlog, it was reported that Jerry Manuel will be focusing on pitching and defense this year:
“Pitching and defense, that’s going to be the game plan. We spent a lot of time last spring on the hitting program. We think we have that in place. It probably needs some tweaking here and there, but we have to play better interior defense. And if we can do that, we feel it will make our pitchers better. That’s going to be the big emphasis.”
First off, what in the world is “interior defense”? Does that mean “infield defense”? Some kind of self-defense (such as karate or tae-kwon-do) in the clubhouse? And, if there is “interior defense”, is there also “exterior defense” ?
Also concerning is Manuel reminding us all of the special focus put on developing offensive skills last spring. For those who forgot, it was centered around Manuel’s inane and exhausting “100-swing drill”, and an emphasis on hitting to the opposite field.
Anyone recall how that offensive strategy worked out last summer? Perhaps you can ask David Wright … or simply check out the Mets’ final hitting stats.
After seeing the results of last spring’s “focus on offense”, I can’t wait to witness how the “pitching and defense focus” works out in 2010.
Talk Is Cheap
I had hoped to shelve the “Manuel Being Manuel” category until at least spring training. Unfortunately, everyone’s favorite zen master couldn’t contain himself through the winter months.
Jerry Manuel spoke with reporters in Indianapolis today, and Brian Costa provides the “highlights” of the conversation.
Among them:
- Manuel claims Read more
Manuel Mystery Tour
Matthew Artus of Always Amazin called the Mets’ multiple press appearances a “curious epilogue to 2009” and included a graphic resembling the cover from the old Beatles’ album “Magical Mystery Tour”. Fitting, and well done, Mr. Artus. (Kids, an “album” was what music was once played on, and “The Beatles” were a popular rock band from the 1960s.)
Artus summed up the mystery with, Read more
Manuel On Auditions: FAIL!
With the late season auditions almost over, Jerry Manuel has proclaimed failure. We don’t know who Jerry is referring to specifically when he talks about the players who have “had a good shot … but … haven’t taken advantage of it”, but we can guess. Among those who have been given opportunities (or expanded roles) due to injuries include Read more
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: Read more
Evaluating the Mets Pitching Staff
In David Lennon’s article on the “housecleaning” of the Mets, the poor performance of the pitching staff — and Dan Warthen’s responsiblity for it — was explained away by the injuries (funny, seems that EVERYTHING that’s gone wrong for the Mets this year is being blamed on the injuries). Manager Jerry Manuel
“I just think it’s difficult to evaluate based on what went wrong,” Manuel said.
Um … OK? See, this is why EVALUATE — because SOMETHING WENT WRONG!!! Rarely do organizations get together to evaluate what went right!
Further, it’s hard to buy into the “injuries” thing as a reason why the Mets pitching staff was a disaster. In fact, many people would suggest that Read more
Setting Up the Excuse File
The 2009 season hasn’t yet ended, but already Mets manager Jerry Manuel is setting up excuses for the 2010 season. In our latest installment of “Manuel Being Manuel”, we have this gem from The Star-Ledger, in response to whether he was feeling the pressure of possibly being fired:
“I know how this particular situation works,” Manuel said Monday. “It’ll be important for us to hit the ground running playing good baseball and giving a feeling that there is a chance of a championship. That has to be established early. I understand that. I’ll be fighting that battle, but at the same time I know I have to have a team in position to get off and play well.”
Translation: if the Mets don’t get off to a hot start in April and May of 2010, it’ll be Omar Minaya’s fault for not assembling enough talent. Nice.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Manuel has invoked the blame game to protect himself.
Now if YOU were the boss of a department at a company, and one of your employees publicly stated the above, how would YOU react? My guess is you wouldn’t be naming that person “employee of the month”.
David Wright was NOT Disciplined
Despite at least one newspaper article to the contrary, David Wright was NOT BENCHED for disciplinary reasons on Sunday afternoon.
I’ll state it again, so that it is perfectly clear: the fact that David Wright stopped running about 15-20 feet before reaching home plate on Jeff Francoeur’s two-out single on Saturday had absolutely nothing to do with Wright being out of the lineup on Sunday.
In fact, it was a scheduled day off for Wright, planned at least 24 hours in advance of Sunday’s contest. That was confirmed by Howie Rose on WFAN during last night’s radio broadcast, and has also been confirmed by Manuel himself.
Furthermore, Manuel absolved Wright of some of the blame, and pointed the finger at Razor Shines. From that same article linked to above:
Manuel put some of the blame on third-base coach Razor Shines for telling Wright he could slow down going into home, but Manuel refused to totally excuse Wright’s lapse.
Scary, isn’t it, that the 3B coach would tell a runner to slow down in such a situation? With less than two outs and no play at the plate, I can understand it — you want to make sure the player doesn’t pull a hammy or something. But with two outs? Mysterious guidance from one of the men paid to lead the team.
So Wright wasn’t benched for slowing down, and some of the blame was passed over to the coach.
Now, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing that Wright was NOT disciplined is up for you to decide. There’s another manager named Manuel who once benched his All-Star for disciplinary reasons, but there’s no proof that the move helped HIS team understand the importance of such things, nor did it help establish his status as the man in charge — right?
David Wright is Unorthodox?
At first I thought this was the reason Wright played on the high holy day of Yom Kippur. Then I realized I had read the quote too quickly, and also realized Wright isn’t Jewish (though he and many Mets had plenty to atone for).
Jerry Manuel had this to say about David Wright’s problems at the plate, per The Daily News:
“There are some mechanical issues we are trying to address with him,” Manuel said. “David is a gifted, unorthodox type of hitter. Sometimes what you find is that type of hitter has stretches of being really, really hot and stretches of not being very good. Because you’re unorthodox, when you’re not good, everybody can point out flaws. That’s kind of the trick or the difficulty you have in trying to make those corrections.”
I’m not sure what it is about Wright’s hitting that is “unorthodox”. To me his swing looks pretty solid, with mechanics that are similar to that of many other good hitters. At times he has a bit of a loop, but it’s no more pronounced than any other big league hitter. In fact at one point while discussing Wright’s style, my good friend (and former MLB scout) Lar Gilligan of Akadema / ProPlayer Academy commented that D-Wright “looks almost TOO mechanical, TOO ‘textbook’ — it’s like his swing is a direct product of constant training at a hitting school”.
David Lennon posted this additional quote from Manuel:
“It’s a little loop that will make him susceptible to balls up and in,” Manuel said. “There seems to be a lot of pitches recently that have been right where he’s looking and he’s fouling them off.”
I’m still not getting what is “unorthodox”. A loopy swing may be considered by some hitting instructors as a flaw, but there are just as many who think a “little loop” is perfectly fine, and necessary to lift the ball (as in, over the fence) and generate bat speed. Heck, Ted Williams felt a slight uppercut (the product of a loop) was necessary in order to defend against the baseball coming at the batter on a downward plane from the mound. In any case it’s not unusual.
This is not to say I disagree with Jerry Manuel. Rather, I’d like him to further elaborate on what he means by “unorthodox”. Saying he has a “loop” isn’t enough to differentiate him from anyone else — and it’s certainly not a Dave Kingman-like loop, when it occurs (I see a mix of “loops” and short strokes directly to the ball — both during his hot streaks and his cold streaks). Perhaps there is something unusual about his mental approach? Or the way he zones for pitches? Inquiring minds want to know.
Manuel Perpetuates Blame Game
Ah, now it’s all clear. Perhaps I was too harsh on Frankie Rodriguez, Johan Santana, and Carlos Beltran. By blaming others, finger-pointing, and driving the bus over their teammates, they were merely carrying out the ethos set in place by their field general.
Because yet again, Jerry Manuel does his own finger-pointing to explain the Mets’ miserable season. When asked about the possibility of losing 90+ games this season, Manuel was quoted last night during the SNY postgame (and recorded on MLB.com):
“You have to go back to the health issue,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “If you don’t have those pieces in place, it’s difficult to do anything, and do anything well and do it consistently.”
(hat tip to TheRopolitans)
See? Blame game. It fits nicely. I absolves Teflon Jerry from responsibility. He can blame the circumstances around him for the Mets’ dismal record, as if he is somehow separate from it. How can he possibly win baseball games when he doesn’t have the “pieces” ?
Funny, though, that this time last year the media and much of the fanbase couldn’t congratulate Manuel enough for leading the Mets into the Promised Land (well, they never guessed ANOTHER collapse would occur in the final days). He was some kind of Zen wizard, regaling journalists with his koan-like bits of wisdom, and managing the Mets with a measured balance of father-like encouragement and stern discipline.
Heck, one journalist referred to Manuel as a magician, and suggested he could win “Manager of the Year”.
Carlos Delgado was a one-man wrecking crew because Jerry motivated him to do so. Fernando Tatis hit like Ted Williams for a month because Jerry gave him the chance. Daniel Murphy looked like the next Wade Boggs because Jerry “worked so well with youngsters”. Jose Reyes was fulfilling his superstar promise because Jerry knew how to keep him focused. Carlos Beltran and David Wright were MVP candidates because Jerry was giving them just the right amount of rest. Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez turned their seasons around because Jerry had them working with Dan Warthen.
And if by some miracle the Mets did NOT make it to the postseason, everyone knew exactly why — because the bullpen would fail.
Huh … sound familiar?
Even amidst all the miracles Manuel was spinning on his way to sainthood, there was a built-in excuse. It would be the fault of the men in the bullpen — not the man managing it — if things turned sour. Jerry’s irresponsible abuse of arms from June through August would be forgotten when the relief crew collectively and colossally collapsed. It would be the fault of Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, or the injury to Billy Wagner, if the Mets blew it again. Anyone but Jerry.
This is the culture that Jerry Manuel created — one where the team learns to find reasons why they lose, rather than creating solutions to win.
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