That the most excited Met fans have been since the All-Star break happens as a result of two AAA players getting scratched right before game time on Friday shows you that this is a fan base waiting for anything to be excited about.
Seriously … when Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada were scratched on Friday, the speculation went anywhere from “Martinez is getting traded” to “Frenchy and Castillo are going to Kansas City” all the way to Seattle, where the Mets were going to take Chone Figgins off the Mariners’ hands and swoop in to save New York from certian disaster.
Turns out, it was only Jesus Feliciano going down, and Alex Cora being released. It means that people can laugh in the clubhouse while still showing respect.
It means a couple of other things too …
For one it means that Cora, and probably Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo, will be the next players to bash the Mets after they leave. It’s been a trend, hasn’t it? It started with Doug Mientkiewicz, continued with Heath Bell, Lastings Milledge, and Paul Lo Duca, and now there’s a flurry of them within this season, with Nelson Figueroa, Brian Schneider, and Pedro Martinez taking their shots … Schnieder and Petey taking aim just in the past week. Cora could be next.
My rule of thumb when it comes to something like this is the following: One is a fluke, two is a trend. I’m not sure what seven is, but the common thread in all these instances is the Mets organization. It’s easy to look at all seven of these instances in a vacuum and say stuff like: “Aah, he sucks anyway” or “sour grapes”, or the ever popular “STFU”. That’s my personal favorite. We’re fans … so we’re supposed to say that. But if this organization is ever going to engage in real change … the kind of change that comes straight from the top and makes a difference, then the best thing that the common thread can do is LTFU. Listen. Filter out the bull, because certainly some of it is sour grapes from the gallery of the washed up. But in these seven players you have a cross section of ages, gripes, and success level. Surely the Mets can take something from these “bad apples” as to what can be done better.
Now I’d honestly be surprised if Cora said word one unless it had something to do with “they just released me because of the clause that would have kicked in”, where 19 more games or so would have guaranteed a contract for 2011. Because Cora probably made more money than he had any right to make this season because the Mets wanted to pay for intangibles. So I’m more inclined to dismiss anything Cora says. Much the same, every time somebody complains, it’s a small peek into how the Mets do things … the culture, if you will. And we all know that the culture has to change. Maybe the disgruntled employees can give out the clues, but only if people are willing to listen to the truth.
But the other thing this means is that there’s at least a step in the right direction. Let’s face it, any direction is a good one. It’s better than being stuck in neutral. Martinez gets to play in right field, Tejada gets to play, and while it’s not quite “sell” mode, purging of the players who no longer serve any real purpose is a direction. If the Mets truly want to keep going down this road, the next step needs to be the release of Oliver Perez. You can relegate Frenchy and Castillo to the bench all you want, but those two at least give effort. Limited ballplayers they may be, they try hard. That’s not to say that they should play simply because they try because that’s not the way it works. Perez, despite his reality show claims, doesn’t convince me. I’m not convinced he works hard, I’m not convinced he has major league stuff anymore, and I’m not convinced his head will ever let him “put it all together”. Now what I think matters about as much as what Bobby Bonilla is doing to earn his current paycheck from the Mets, which is zero. Believe me, I’m not the expert here and don’t claim to be such. But if the organization feels the way I do, and that’s who matters, then they need to cut him. That’s sending a message of accountability to the roster … accountability which is sorely lacking around here. Cutting Cora is good for opening a slot on the roster for a younger player, but it can also be construed as a money saver (the clause). Cutting Perez goes a long way in changing a culture which needs to be changed.
But it’s just a step … a giant step, but one step nonetheless. It’s one step in a series of things that the Mets need to figure out if they’re going to be a complete team going forward, even if it takes a couple of years or more. You see a game like they played Saturday, a 1-0 victory over the Phillies thanks to Johan Santana and Frankie Rodriguez, and it kills you because you wonder why this team can’t perform like this every night. It sure as hell kills me. Yeah, I’m a counter-culturalist when it comes to this franchise (what some call “too negative” I prefer to call “counter-culture”). It’s good for a laugh, but more often than not I die a little inside. I can remember an era when the Mets were kings in this town. I lived through it. I remember when this organization did things the right way, and when the focus was on winning and nothing else. I believe it can return to those days. But there isn’t one magic pill, whether it be cutting Perez, finding a new right fielder, or getting a hitting coach who preaches “attacking the ball” and gets in hitters’ faces (if you understand why I put “attacking the ball” in quotes, then you know who you are). Or getting a manager with the imaginary trait known as “fire in the belly” (another baseball cliché that’s misguided and needs to go.)
It has to be one step, followed by another step, followed by a few more steps, all while answering hard questions and admitting to some honest answers. It can’t be just holding a press conference at the end of the season and saying you’re going to do things differently and then do the same old thing. I don’t care if anybody listens to me when it comes to all of this. But the Mets need to listen to themselves. I hope they don’t lie to make themselves feel good.
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