John Harper revealed that Tony Bernazard made the entire organization emhasize hitting the ball the other way. The grip this man had on the Mets continues to amaze me.

The fact that he could control a major league manager’s philosophy like that is surprising. The minors, yes. But not at the major league level. Why Omar Minaya let him get away with it is beyond me. But the fact that he did shows that Bernazard was out of control and had the Wilpon’s snowed.

Organizational moves since Bernazard’s departure indicate that Jeff Wilpon is taking a bigger role. Minaya did not want Wally Backman, but he’s back now. The philosophical change could have only been prompted by Wilpon. Recruitment of Mets alumni from the 1980′s seems to be ongoing. Maybe they finally realize that having these guys around is a good thing.

Posted under Uncategorized

It would be easy to assume that Omar Minaya has been totally immersed in the Tony Bernazard incident and his ill-advised handling to be involved in any trade talks. But its likely that highly regraded assistant Jon Ricco has been ably making inquiries on the club’s behalf. It was Ricco whom made the inquiry with his Braves counterpart that brought Jeff Francouer to the Mets. The one time Braves phenom seemes to be retooling in a new environment with the help of Howard Johnson.

At any rate, the Mets need not be sellers unless its a player whom has no future with the club. That can easily be accomplished over the waiver wire in August. The most practical way to look at the Mets fortunes are to see that they will be acquiring some significant talent over the next few weeks. Their own. When Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner return.

No realistic assessment of the club can be made until the their talent is on the field. The removal of Tony Bernazard is a weight of significance of the shoulders off the entire organization that will be felt even at the major league level. One only need to look to the confrontation that occurred between Bernazard and K-Rod on the bus to see what kind drag Bernazard’s presence had been on the big club. My own sense is that K-Rod took on the bully for the team. It would have to be a player of his stature to do so.

I don’t think the Mets will be affected by the questionable status of Minaya. Liked and respected by players and coaches, Minaya also will not burden them with his problems. I would imagine that Minaya frequently may have had to play good cop to the volatile Bernazard with some players.

Still one club’s efforts over these next few hours are worth following as there is a match. The Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly be willing to deal Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford and Steve Kazmir to move some salary to possibly acquire Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee. Any or all three make sense and its conceivable that the Mets would get involved in a three-way deal.

Posted under Uncategorized