Looks like Darryl talked to a number of members of the media yesterday. Although some writers appear to be taking his comments to be an indictment of Omar Minaya, I think that he tried to stay away from it. He mentioned that the acquisition of Jason Bay as a positive, but that it hurt to lose Carlos Beltran. That’s a win-lose wash. And Darryl said that the club needed more pitching. You can probably get members of the front office to say that publically.

More telling were his quotes regarding the Mets intensity. Fans will agree with that. Darryl’s characterization of the 86 Mets’ moxie is similar to my own. It’s not so easy though. Frank Cashen referred to it as “fire in the belly” on the day he fired Davey Johnson in 1990.

By that time, a different set of players were around. No Ray Knight. No Roger McDowell. No Lenny Dykstra. No Jesse Orosco. No Mookie Wilson. A far different chemistry existed in the Mets clubhouse. A different formula for success was in place that didn’t work as well. The club didn’t play as well as it had because it wasn’t as good. Cashen unfairly took that to mean that the team wasn’t playing as hard or cared as much. Bobby Ojeda took exception to Cashen’s statement and spoke to both him and Buddy Harrelson who shared similar views.
Harrelson was gone before the end of the next season. Cashen sceeded control to Al Harazin and Jerry Hundsicker a few days later.

Essentially it has little to do with caring or intensity. Chemistry in a positive sense spawns from winning combination of players. To be sure negative influences can cause harm . See Gregg Jefferies, Eddie Murray, and Tony Bernazard.

I’m hopeful that a subtle change can occur in these Mets’ clubhouse. With the departure of a subdued Carlos Delgado, a new hierchy will emerge among everyday players. The example of intensity will come from David Wright, Jeff Francouer and Jason Bay. A healthy Jose Reyes, the lovable foil.

And if the pitchers can get enough outs we just might see some of that “fire in the belly”.

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The Post’s Kevin Kernan is one of my favorite NY sports writers and has a nice piece this morning in the Post about Gregg Jefferies.

Jefferies is candid about his Mets days, but I don’t believe that there was as much resent for him replacing Wally Backman amongst the team as is indicated in Kernan’s piece. Much of the problems that Jefferies and the Mets suffered occured as a result of the organization’s plans for him. After Jeffereries extremely successful late season stint in 1988, the plan was to have him play third base. Who can blame them? He was that good and it was while he was playing 3B.

Howard Johnson was long rumored to be traded during the off-season in a deal which would bring lefthander Mark Langston to the Mets. The trade would allow Jefferies to play third. Talk continued during the spring, but the deal never materialized. The Mets made the decision during spring training to make Jefferies a second baseman – a position for which he was never suited for and had played only a handful of games. .

It was a disaster and Jefferies stuggled terribly in 1989, proving to be a drag on the entire team. The club’s energy slowly bleed. Looking for a boost, on June 18th the Mets traded Roger McDowell and Lenny Dykstra to the Phillies for Juan Samuel. A career second baseman, Samuel had been moved to centerfield by the Phillies before the start of the season. When Jefferies poor season continued, many were calling for Jefferies to be optioned to AAA Tidewater. Davey Johnson was the lone voice in the organization that desired keeping him and ended up being one of Johnson’s rare faulty assessments.

While Jefferies was a recluse and had no friends on the club, players were sympathetic of the situation he’d been put into. The club was in second place and many wanted the Mets to send Jefferies down, to bring Samuel in from center to play second and for Mookie Wilson be inserted into centerfield everyday.

It never happened. Wilson was dealt to Toronto on the same day Frank Viola was acquired and Samuel was sent to the Dodgers that winter. The Cubs won the division by six games and the Mets did not appear in the post-season again for another decade.

With Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter at the end of their careers and soon be gone, the Mets looked to build their everyday line-up around Johnson, Darryl Strawberry and Jefferies. Frank Cashen’s momentous decision to low-ball Strawberry in contract negotiations during the 1989 season sent the vulnerable gifted star into a personal tailspin. He would leave after the 1990 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Realizing that Jefferries was not a player they could not build around he was traded along with Keven McReynolds after the 1991 season for Brett Saberhagen. Bobby Bonilla was signed the same winter. The Mets slid into mediocrity finishing 5th in 1992 and last in 1993.

One can easily hypothisize that the Mets fall in the later half of the 1980′s and into the early 1990′s can be traced to the organization’s handling of Jefferies. If Jefferies had been sent down during the 1989 season, it would have served to alleviate the tremendous pressure that had been put on him. His presence had almost become cancer, not all of his own doing. The drama palyed out daily on WFAN and in the newspapers. Page Six fodder came from the Mets’ clubhouse. Optioning Jefferies would have been the most prudent decision. If the Mets – sans Jefferies had rebounded and wrested the division from the Cubs in 1989, the club’s legacy and direction would have been far different.

A great might have been to be sure, but it could have been the same for Jefferies.

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Finally.

Frank Cashen, Davey Johnson, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry to the Mets Hall of Fame.

Matt Cerrone’s informative post indicated the Mets quietly named four people – Marty Noble, Howie Rose, Gay Cohen and Jay Horwitz – to it’s Hall of Fame committee. I can’t think of four better people.

The inclusion of Horwitz is telling and signals a change in the way the powers that be make decisions. For many years, the club sought to supress Horwitz’ influence. He was perceived to be too close to on-field personnel, and it took almost two decades before he was named a vice president. It always seemed that some were jealous of Horwitz’ ability to forge relationships with people throughout the game. Even while overwhelmed with paranoia, they could never bring themselves to fire him. He’s just too good. And it’s time they started taking advantage of this remarkable and gifted man.

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By VP of Marketing Dave Howard’s own words, the Mets are indeed not sensitive to their own history. Says Howard to Newsday:

“Admittedly, we did underestimate the interest that our customers and fans have in seeing our imagery, especially on the concourses,” said Dave Howard, executive vice president, business operations. “We heard them. Then we decided where we can start to do things immediately and respond to their desires.”

So is it Howard or the Wilpons? The later have recieved much criticism that Citi Field was designed to be to much of a tribute to Fred Wilpon’s beloved Dodgers. Perhaps it was the uproar over the plans to earse Doc Gooden’s autograph on a wall inside the ballpark did the owners begin to see that their fans were not happy with them. It should never have come to that in the first place?

Someone needs to have a David Niven moment on the River Kwai.

The Wilpons are blessed with a franchise that has two of the most storied World Series titles in the history of the sport. Often they curiously seem to want to keep this glorious past at arm’s length. Howard’s is on record of saying that the club does not do an Old-Timers Day because they don’t have significant advance ticket sales. Trying to measure the value of an Old-Timers Day by ticket sales demostrates an amount of short-sightedness that’s alarming. The Mets failure to have a Hall of Fame that compares to the Kansas City Royals is shameful. There have been no new inductees since 2002.

Ownership still hasn’t made up with its winningest manager of all time in Davey Johnson who has yet to be inducted.

It’s becoming clear that the Mets only embrace their past when it suits them. The Wipon’s have proved that they can do the big things such as to build a stadium or start a TV network. But their attention to detail of the intangibles has proved to be flawed. The recent ugly Tony Bernazard episode didn’t help. Every sports franchise has to have show it has some sort of consciousness about its identity. When will the Mets start showing that they do?

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Good job by Jeff Wilpon yesterday by meeting a difficult issue head on. Amid all the criticism heaped upon him – including my own – he demonstrated leadership for an organization badly in need of it.
When Omar Minaya came to town, somehow he became the face of the franchise. For better or worse and whether or not it was intended it became the Mets’ reality. But while Minaya became famous for his interpersonal skills, his rock star status didn’t actually lead. The 2007 collapse, fueled by the meddling of Tony Bernazard who made Willie Randolph impotent, was the first sign that Minaya really wasn’t in charge.

An odd triumverate emerged between Minaya, Wilpon and Bernazard. Ironically not unlike the Davey Johnson coined three headed monster of Frank Cashen, Al Harazin and Joe McIlvaine of the 1980′s. Power sharing really doesn’t work – especially if no one realizes they’re actually sharing power. When everyone is in charge, no one is.

So it was an amazing 24 hours for the Mets. Bernazard’s ouster and Minaya’s meltdown forced Jeff Wilpon to take the reigns. It seemed that he did a very good job of it yesterday. At least for the time being Jeff Wilpon will need to be the face of the franchise he’s spent his entire adult life preparing to be.

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Mike Vaccaro believes so. Its worthy to pay tribute to Jackie Robinson, the great man who broke down the racial barrier in baseball. But from all reports it seems that the Robinson rotunda is afocal point of the new stadium and one which focuses on a man who never played for the Mets but did for Fred Wilpon’s beloved Dodgers.

There still is no worthwhile Mets Hall of Fame. In fact the current list carries as many non-players as it does players. Its a disgrace that Davey Johnson, the winningest manager in the club’s history is not in its Hall nor was in attendance at the date which recognized its 20th anneversary.

This fault clearly lies with Fred Wilpon whom has the clout to get Davey back to Shea Stadium, but it would take a personal contact on his part. Whatever problems the Wilpons had with Johnson, it was with them and not Mets fans.

There have been whispers that they Wilpons were more interested in creating a ballpark that focused more on the Brooklyn Dodgers and not on the franchise that is playing in its 48th season. During that time it won two of sports’ most magical world titles.

The slights over the seasons the Wilpons have been in control are measurable in their failure to make peace with Davey Johnson and its disinterest in a Hall of Fame for its own players.

A few of the most important Mets of all time have passed on in Casey Stengal, Gil Hodges, Tug McGraw and Tommie Agee. Many, many more are still with us and deserve a home that helps fans stay close to their teams history. There’s still time for the Wilpons to right this wrong.

Begin a Mets Alumni Organization thats seperate from the memrobilia dealers. The team will have to spend its money to bring ex-players and coaches in for one weekend every season on say, Old Timers Day, but it needs to be done. They could entrust Matt Cerrone’s growing network of blogs to maintain a website for former Mets. I’d help in any way they’d let me.

Change in some fashion is in order from the Mets point of view and badly needs to embrace its former stars in a manner thats reflects the way their fans do.

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I’ve not seen any photographs of Davey Johnson in long time, but the knowing light still twinkles from the eyes. But the most successful manager in Mets history is back in a fitting role as manager of Team USA. Mel Stottylemyre is the bullpen coach.

All this is really cool.

It’s easy to understand that Davey somehow knows how to beat those guys.

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If the answer is yes, its a good thing.

Not unlike a certain current political figure, Mets GM Omar Minaya was seen often in Messianic visions. But the realities of baseball set in which delivered things accustomed. A loss in the NLCS. A historic September collapse. His hand picked manager messily fired during the season. Another collapse – albeit understandable with a makeshift bullpen. Predicatable media suggestions for his ouster.

No longer was Minaya’s people skills and rock star status enough. But it was never going to be enough anyhow. It had to come from the field and the original Minaya blueprint somehow assumed to circumvent that reality. No, his unique way with people would not be enough. In fact the structure put in place at the beginning of his tenure may well have been the real reason for the epic collapse of 2007. He created a power vaccum that circumvented the manager who’d potentially been a powerful one with his own New York street cred in Willie Randolph.

But it became all wrong and Minaya was left no other choice than to let Willie Randolph go in what proved to be a sloppy, classless manner. He may prove to be a lucky man that Jerry Manuel was available to be given the job on an interim basis.

It quickly became clear the interim tag would be removed from Manuel. The club played differently and responded to all things baseball differently. Not that is was just Randolph. It was something far more subtle in a shift in energy and influence from Minaya to Manuel.

Faced with the “Three Headed Monster” of Frank Cashen, Al Harazin and Joe McIlvaine, Davey Johnson was quoted as saying in 1985 the Mets needed to speak with one voice. He took alot of heat but Johnson had been right. Only when the team on the field’s strongest influence came from the field did the team begin to succeed. And Johnson and the Mets demise after the 1990 season should have been predicatable when two of his coaches were fired. The same was done to Randolph when Minaya fired Rick Down during the season.

If the lesson holds and the club become’s the manager’s and not the GM’s in perception, it could turn out to be a very good thing indeed.

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