It's The End of Their World As They Know It (And We Feel Fine)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled day of blog reading to give you breaking news that's already been broken. Omar Minaya has been relieved of his GM duties and Jerry Manuel's option for the 2011 season was not picked up.

Of course, this wasn't even breaking news before it became official. It was a foregone conclusion that the man famous for inserting the words "that being said" into every other sentence and the man known as Dead Manuel Walking were not going to retain their positions after the completion of the 2010 season.

The team had underachieved since the end of the 2006 season. The players were performing below expectations and if there was camaraderie between the players, it wasn't as evident as it should be with winning teams.

It is the general manager's job to put the team together and the manager's job to get them to perform between the white lines.

Omar did his best to put Los Mets together. That being said, that also included offering contracts that were far too long to the ostracized Oliver "El Perez-idente" Perez and Luis "Squeam Queen" Castillo. Other players that were signed for more years than they should have been were Orlando "The Dookie" Hernandez, Pedro "I Left My Fastball In Beantown" Martinez and Carlos Beltran (sorry, we like Don Carlos, so we won't give him a demeaning nickname). He also traded for fan-favorite, but now increasingly fragile Johan Santana.

Jerry Manuel was forced to manage an oft-injured group of ragtag players, a job that most managers would have difficulty doing, although a fellow Manuel (Charlie) had no problem doing that when his star players were dropping faster than Citi Field's paid attendance figures.

Part of Charlie Manuel's success with being able to survive his club's injuries was that his GM, Ruben Amaro Jr., was able to provide him with the right players to fill in the holes left by the disabled players.

When Rip Van Winkle (Jamie Moyer) went down with an injury, Amaro swung a deal with the Astros for Roy Oswalt. All four infielders for the Phillies (Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco) were also hurt at some point of the season. Amaro made sure each player had better than adequate replacements in Ross Gload, Ben Francisco and Wilson Valdez. Those three players combined to hit .266 (170-for-640), which was higher than the team's collective batting average (.260). In those 640 at-bats, which are about the same amount an everyday player would collect over a full season, the trio collected 37 doubles, three triples, 16 HR and 85 RBI, while scoring 77 runs and going a perfect 16-for-16 in stolen bases. They also excelled defensively, combining to make a total of four errors in 569 total chances.

While the Phillies didn't miss a beat when one of their star players got hurt, what did Omar Minaya give us? Either not yet ready for prime time players (Ruben Tejada, Jesus Feliciano, Lucas Duda) or the curious case of Joaquin Arias, who, like Benjamin Button, seemed to age backwards as seen by the photos below.



A general manager is the head talent evaluator. His job is to put together the best team possible so that his manager can put the best possible lineup on the field. Unfortunately for Jerry Manuel, the best team possible was never THE BEST TEAM. There were 25 guys, or 23½ as suggested by The Better Half in her recent post for Mets Merized Online, but these guys were never a team. Ruben Amaro has put together a team of guys in Philadelphia, not guys who were part of a team, like Omar Minaya put together in New York.

The new general manager has to realize that teams win games. He has to give the manager not just the best individual players, but the guys who stand the best chance to become a cohesive unit that can all contribute to winning ballgames. Twenty-five individuals don't lead teams to championships, but one team of players can do that.

Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel had early success with the Mets because they had a team of guys. Over the past few years, that team dissolved into a group of guys whose only common trait was the shirts on their backs. The formula is simple: Have team, will win. If the new general manager can't get the new manager a team of guys to work with, then they stand a good chance of being shown the same door that Omar and Jerry were last seen walking through.

Luis Castillo: I Pity The Fool

Listen up, fools. This is Mr. T, filling in for your usual Studious Metsimus staff. Unlike Justin Bieber, I'm not going to waste your time, so I'll get right to the point. I pity the fool who says stupid things and right now, I pity Luis Castillo.

If you hadn't already heard, during the Mets' recent trip to Washington, the team visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where they met and talked to various wounded veterans.

I respect the Mets for visiting these American heroes who put their lives on the line protecting the freedoms we have in this country. However, there were three members who were absent from the team event.

One was Carlos Beltran, who was tending to business surrounding the construction of the high school/baseball academy that will bear his name in his native Puerto Rico. I respect a man who wants to give back to his community, especially in the education department. (Stay in school, don't do drugs.) Therefore, I'll give Beltran a pass for not visiting Walter Reed, especially after finding out that he had already visited a Veterans Hospital last November.

Another of the Three Missing Amigos was Oliver Perez. Although Ollie didn't give a clear excuse for his no-show, it can be assumed that he was doing one of three things:

a) Attending a special screening of "Machete".
2) Opening up his latest restaurant.
iii) Contemplating whether or not he should accept a minor league assignment (even though the minor league regular season is over).

I figure that with the all the free passes Ollie has given to opposing hitters over the years, it's about time someone gives him a free pass, so I won't pity him for skipping out on the team trip to Walter Reed. (But I better get VIP treatment at his restaurant!)

The fool I have a problem with is Luis Castillo. Did you hear the jibber jabber that came out of his mouth when he was asked why he didn't attend?

"I don't like to see people like that, so I never go there. Sometimes you see people with no legs, no arms. I don't like to see that."

So Luis Castillo gets a little squeamish when he sees people without legs or arms. Perhaps our resident Squeam Queen should be reminded that the Mets invite a different wounded member of the military to each home game at Citi Field as part of the "Welcome Back Veterans" program. Some of these veterans lost their limbs while trying to protect the foundations that this country was built on. In other words, those veterans are there to see Luis Castillo. But apparently, he can't spend a few moments with them?

Does Castillo need to be reminded that although he has two hands, he only knows how to use one of them on the field (and sometimes his working hand has been known to be defective)? Perhaps Luis should donate that appendage to one of the veterans who could put it to better use.

Get off your knees, fool! You can't apologize now! You already stuck your foot in your mouth with your insensitive comments. So you cringe at the prospect of seeing a veteran with only one hand. Now you know what Mets fans feel like when you go after a pop-up with that same one hand.

You could have come up with a better excuse, like the one given by Beltran or the multitude of possible excuses for Oliver Perez. I would have forgiven you if you had said you were playing in a "Battleship" tournament to honor the members of the military.


(Side note: Can you imagine Luis Castillo playing "Battleship"? It would sound something like this):

Luis Castillo: K-9.
Opponent: Miss.
Luis Castillo: Crap.
Opponent: E-4.
Luis Castillo: Hit. You sunk my battleship. How did you know it was there?
Opponent: I didn't.
Luis Castillo: Then why did you call out that number?
Opponent: I was thinking of you playing defense and E-4 just naturally popped into my head.


I expected better from you, Luis Castillo, but you had to be a punk by insulting American military personnel. But don't worry. I know where you work. I'm gonna bust you up. Remember my name, fool!

First name...Mr.
Middle name...Period.
Last name...T.

Those men and women fought for YOUR right to have the freedom to come to this country and make the millions of dollars you're making. The next time you have the opportunity to thank them, you better make sure you do, or else you'll have made the worst kind of error.