Tag Archives: Jerry Manuel

Jun 02

Collins rant rings hollow.

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It was humorous and a little sad to listen to Terry Collins’ post-game rant last night in the wake of another seventh-inning meltdown. He sounded desperate and out of control, much how his team is playing.

First, he praised the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen for his hustle and hard play and said that’s how his team should be playing, then stopped short and said effort isn’t the issue.

Well, is it or not?

COLLINS: Where's that smile now?

He said his team played hard, but lacked execution. Passion, but poor performance … kind of like his speech.

Collins railing in front of the Mets logo wasn’t quite Patton in front of the American flag. You remember … Americans love a winner.

The problem is his Mets aren’t winners.

They are losing again and the problems are many beginning most recently and significantly with the bullpen, which imploded again. Over the last ten games the pen has given up 32 earned runs.

Last night a strong performance by Chris Capuano was wasted. Last night also featured several defensive lapses, two from Willie Harris, and the Mets’ first homer in 11 games.

Poor pitching, defense and no power won’t win you many games.

Clearly peeved, Collins ran over the same litany of issues that have burned and burdened the Mets for years. Lack of timely hitting; giving away too many at-bats; that no one player is to blame, that this is a team thing; not making the right pitch at the right time.

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Jun 01

Will it ever happen for Bobby Parnell?

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The Mets wasted a sparkling performance by R.A. Dickey last night, but with their anemic hitting lately, that’s hardly a surprise.

PARNELL: Will it ever happen?

 

What I took out of last night’s loss was again a spotty, head-scratching performance from Bobby Parnell, who continually proves it isn’t how hard you throw it, but when and where.

Parnell tweaked the radar gun at 100 mph., but was all over place, needing 32 pitches to get out of the inning, but not before giving up a two-run single that effectively put the game out of reach.

Perhaps the circulation issue in his finger is resolved for now, but that doesn’t mean he’s void of questions and concerns.

One scout said it is the same old thing with Parnell.

“He doesn’t have the command or the ability to control a secondary pitch consistently,’’ said one scout, adding when Parnell muscles up with this four-seam fastball the pitch has a tendency to flatten out. It’s harder than his two-seamer, but without the movement required at this level to get hitters out.

I thought the Mets misused Parnell under Jerry Manuel – putting him in the rotation, then yanking him after a few bad starts at the end of a lost season – but now they seem to have slotted him into one role.

However, Parnell hasn’t adopted to that role, leaving the team with several options:

a) Leave him in the current eighth-inning role and allow him to take his lumps at this level.

b) Pitch him earlier in the game that keeps him exposed to major league hitters.

c) Send him to the minor leagues and assign him one role and allow him to perfect that.

Conventional thinking had Parnell taking over the closer role for Francisco Rodriguez after this season, but his inconsistency and ineffectiveness had shoved those plans to a back burner.

 

Apr 30

Collins admits mistake in starting Pelfrey.

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Terry Collins played the media perfectly last night, even in defeat.

Rather than run away from his obvious blunder to start Mike Pelfrey, or worse point fingers at others, Collins did a un-Jerry Manuel like thing and pointed the finger at himself.

“It was my fault,” Collins said. “I write the lineup. I didn’t need to pitch him. I had a little concern there might be a problem. I know better than that. … It was my responsibility to take charge of that and I sent him out there.’’

From there, Collins diffused the issue. It only becomes a topic again should he repeat the mistake.

Beat reporter want credibility. They understand the game, and when one of the participants screws up they want him to be man enough to stand up.

Managing pitching staffs is a lot about trusting the pitcher, and against his better judgment, Collins listened to, and gave in to, Pelfrey’s request to pitch. After the game, Pelfrey said he was fine and didn’t want to use having the flu as an excuse.

The fact is he wasn’t fine. It is admirable he wanted to pitch, but he wasn’t thinking about what was in the best interest of the team.

Pelfrey should have backed down last night.

 

Mar 21

Perez error over

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GM Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins closed the door this morning on the Mets’ career of Oliver Perez, arguably one of the most scored players in franchise history when they released the frustratingly erratic pitcher known as Coin Flip.

There were no 50-50 odds on Perez when spring training began and giving up back-to-back homers in a relief outing over the weekend was the final image of him in a Mets’ uniform.

PEREZ: We rarely saw him celebrate.

Perez is now free to pass GO, collect $12 million and sign with any team for the major league minimum. For those counting at home, that would be an additional $414,500.

I don’t begrudge Perez the money like some. Afterall, nobody put a gun to then GM Omar MInaya and forced him to offer Perez that contract. What was Perez supposed to do, turn it down?

What annoys me most about Perez is not that he lost his fastball, or never had command. That happens. It’s part of baseball. What was most upsetting about the Perez era was how things were handled last season. Perez said frequently this spring he is trying to get better every time he pitches. It’s the proper thing to say, but rings hollow after last summer.

When it became clear he was losing it, Perez refused to take the minor league assignment that could have helped his mechanics. There was no guarantee, but he had a better chance working things out in the minors than by languishing in the bullpen by himself as the Mets played with a 24-man roster.

Just because it was Perez’s contractual right to refuse the assignment, it doesn’t make it the right thing to do. And, it certainly contradicted Perez’s statements on self-improvement.

The Perez saga paralyzed a reeling team and he became a symbol of all that was wrong and subsequently a pariah in the clubhouse. Nobody denied Perez put the effort in, but there was groaning about playing short and he deprived another player a chance to play. As the losses mounted, it was hard to find supporters in the clubhouse, especially after the bullpen coughed up another game.

Perez made Jerry Manuel’s job more difficult, and with the manager knowing he’d be fired, his parting gift to the Mets – and the fans who booed him – was to give them one last glimpse of the erratic left-hander who put himself ahead of the team. After barely pitching in the second half, there was little doubt he would give it up one more time, and it was symbolically fitting Perez would lose the final game of a lost season.

After Luis Castillo was given his release – he has since been signed by Philadelphia – Alderson said the decision in part was made by the negativity that swirled around him and his perception by Mets fans. The perception of Perez is far worse because the sum is greater and that he represents wasted potential and the disaster that has been the last three seasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 17

Parnell working on slider

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Though nothing official has been said, Bobby Parnell will be the eighth-inning set-up reliever, even if he’s not convinced himself.

“Nobody has told me what I’ll be doing,’’ said Parnell before leaving for spring training. Even now, after a solid spring and no apparent competition, he’s not convinced.

PARNELL: The future closer.

“I still feel like I’m fighting for it,’’ he told reporters yesterday. “I would say that I have a better shot this year than I did last year. Last year, everything was still up in the air _ I was still fighting for a spot, I didn’t really know what was going on.’’

Two years ago, the Mets gave Parnell a handful of starts, but he fizzled and then manager Jerry Manuel gave up on him. No regrets, said Parnell, who said he the experience was beneficial.

“It was a good thing,’’ Parnell recently told me. “It gave me a chance to work on other pitches. I know you can’t get by one pitch, that being a 98 mph. fastball that sometimes touch triple digits.

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