As a Met fan I know, realistically, that being happy is something that comes fleetingly these days. And that when the Met fan in me is happy, I expect a cold bucket of water to douse that flame of glee.Joel Sherman's framing of Omar Minaya as the culprit behind Ike Davis' hurried call-up might be a bit off, but it serves its purpose as cold water. And the fact that Davis' day was unnecessarily a long one isn't what caught my eye from Sherman's blog:
"Mets general manager Omar Minaya told me he did not make his series of calls to get ownership's blessings, and to explain the plan to Jerry Manuel and others in the organization until yesterday morning. So instead of making a crown jewel's first day in the majors easier, the Mets turned it into an obstacle course."Remember this. Remember this when Minaya gets fired, and you're all having your "Fire Omar" parties and you're shooting fireworks off your roof with the Gruccis. Remember that every move that Omar makes, good or bad, and the moves the he makes that will eventually get him fired one day, has to go through and be approved by ownership. While you may focus on the fact that Minaya didn't call for ownership's blessing until Sunday, I focus on the fact that Minaya has to get ownership's blessing to call up a minor league player in the first place.
I find it hard to believe that this happens everywhere in major league baseball. If I'm wrong, then please enlighten me. They have final say to the point where Minaya can't even make a call-up without calling Jeffy. Remember that the reason that Ike Davis was preparing to bat cleanup for the Bison in the morning only to fly to New York to prepare to hit sixth was because the Mets' general manager has to ask for "ownership's blessings" when it comes to trades, call-ups, pitch counts, and whether he's going to have the soup or the salad with his dinner.
Remember this when the next GM comes in and has the same puppet-like restrictions, and we wonder in five or six years why absolutely nothing has changed.
7 comments:
...and this is precisely the reason why there is no chance that Bobby V will ever be back with the Mets. In fact, this is why we will always be restricted to managers/GMs that are willing to make that phone call for approval every time.
I understand and agree with your point that it's looking more and more like Jeffy is going to make any GM/Manager gig for the Mets a losing effort, but I actually like the Ike Davis call-up, especially because they waited until April 19th so his free agency clock doesn't start ticking until 2011, and he's 23...I mean, if he were 20 and being called up for a position that wasn't originally intended for him cough cough, Jenry Mejia, cough cough, I'd be singing a different song. Although now that I've posted this, expect Ike to go down with a strained tongue muscle or something the day after we trade Chris Carter for an Albert Pujols baseball card.
good article metstra.. they should learn from the yankees mistake 2 years ago. Let the baseball guys handle the baseball moves, the money guys have to stay out of it
So much for that autonomy speech
I don't know about this one. I thought Sherman went overboard. They played a 20 inning game on Saturday and had to wait until the game was over on Sunday to determine if they needed another pitcher to eat some innings on Monday. Ike got the call up midday on Monday - who cares?
Your point on ownership approval is a good one.
I agree with your premise, you can't kill a GM that has not autonomy, but he can't hide behind this forever. I want Omar fired because he's just not a good GM. Sure he needs Jeffy approval to cough up the dough for a Bay, a Lackey or a Piniero, but I doubt he needed approval to build the disaster that is our bench. How can you justify having Tatis and Cora for the same money you could have had Hudson, or either of the Lopezs. I mean, it's not like we have an injury prone infield or anything.
It's a damn shame we can't fire the ownership. Although I'm not thrilled with Omar, I know that there is a ton of moves he would like to make, but Jeffy and his dad nix because they hate spending the green stuff.
Here's how a successful team work..the manager and GM run the on-field operations. The owner gives them a budget and signs the checks. Period.
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