Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Art Howe to be fired
And hooray for that. Howe was clearly bad at his job. He repeatedly showed a staggering ineptitude in strategic areas of in-game managing, and in these last two years there's been little to suggest that he has much more to offer in the more intangible areas of the job. Whether a largely veteran team has "quit" on him in two consecutive Septembers is debatable, as is the question of whether or not he could have done anything to prevent it. But he's been obviously incapable of dealing with the New York media, from his bungling of the announcement of Mike Piazza's move to first base last year to his nauseating insistence that the team had "battled" in every game. And so firing him at the end of the season seems like a no-brainer of a move and an encouraging sign from this front office.
Except that the events of the last month and a half have revealed that, incompetent as he may be, Art Howe is no longer near the top of the list of the Mets' problems. The fact that the team's apparent desire to be rid of their manager at season's end has already leaked to the press and prompted Howe to publically wonder why they don't just fire him now is simply the latest and among the mildest of the indicators that this front office is a hopeless mess incapable of figuring out how to return this team to contention, let alone executing such a plan. After two-thirds of a season of appearing to be on the right path, the unfortunate trades of July 30th revealed the Mets' front office to be at best dishonest about their willingness to be patient as the team is rebuilt and at worst clueless about the true quality of their team in the present and going forward. The weeks of finger-pointing that followed the trades illustrated that talent evaluation wasn't the only area of running a baseball team in which Fred Wilpon has "no competence." The New York media has painted a picture of a front office filled with warring factions which if even half-true casts serious doubts upon Wilpon's managerial acumen.
Whether or not the image of a chaotic front office with an impotent general manager bears any resemblance to reality, there can be no doubt that the Mets have shown a complete inability to come up with a plan an stick to it. In the offseason we heard that the Mets were going to be patient and build their team the right way. Fred Wilpon said the plan was to get "younger and more athletic." (He also said Scott Kazmir was "untouchable," but that's a whole other story.) Perhaps that was just spin in the wake of the failure to sign American League MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero, but at the time, it seemed believable. That the team was going to be patient with its young players and wait until they were ready to really reach for the stars was the only explanation that meshed with the signings of Karim Garcia and Shane Spencer to fill the void in right field, so while it was also exactly what smart Mets fans wanted to hear, believing the words coming out of the owner's and general manager's mouths seemed like more than just wishful thinking. Some of the moves the team made didn't really mesh with this philosophy, like the time when they decided they'd rather have Ricky Gutierrez and Joe McEwing than Danny Garcia on the major league roster. But they did other things, like promoting David Wright and acquiring Richard Hidalgo for less than nothing, that made it seem like they knew what they were doing. Then they took some of those young, athletic guys they had and traded them for a couple of pitchers who'll each be at least thirty years old by the time this team's ready to win anything. Again, either they don't mean what they say or they just don't know what they're doing.
So while it'll be nice to say so long to Art Howe, it hardly solves this team's most serious problems. And even worse, it leaves this newly inept front office with the task of hiring a manager at the same time they ought to be out finding a first baseman or a corner outfielder or half a dozen relievers. And do we really trust the guys who can't tell the difference between a potential ace and a number three starter with a bad elbow to hire the right guy for the job? It's been rumored that this team wants to hire Larry Bowa in some capacity and people aren't laughing, because with this front office you never know. I can hardly imagine a manager worse at utilizing his bullpen and his bench than Art Howe, but at this point, a Mets fan has to expect the worst until further notice. ¶ joe | 3:11 AM |
And hooray for that. Howe was clearly bad at his job. He repeatedly showed a staggering ineptitude in strategic areas of in-game managing, and in these last two years there's been little to suggest that he has much more to offer in the more intangible areas of the job. Whether a largely veteran team has "quit" on him in two consecutive Septembers is debatable, as is the question of whether or not he could have done anything to prevent it. But he's been obviously incapable of dealing with the New York media, from his bungling of the announcement of Mike Piazza's move to first base last year to his nauseating insistence that the team had "battled" in every game. And so firing him at the end of the season seems like a no-brainer of a move and an encouraging sign from this front office.
Except that the events of the last month and a half have revealed that, incompetent as he may be, Art Howe is no longer near the top of the list of the Mets' problems. The fact that the team's apparent desire to be rid of their manager at season's end has already leaked to the press and prompted Howe to publically wonder why they don't just fire him now is simply the latest and among the mildest of the indicators that this front office is a hopeless mess incapable of figuring out how to return this team to contention, let alone executing such a plan. After two-thirds of a season of appearing to be on the right path, the unfortunate trades of July 30th revealed the Mets' front office to be at best dishonest about their willingness to be patient as the team is rebuilt and at worst clueless about the true quality of their team in the present and going forward. The weeks of finger-pointing that followed the trades illustrated that talent evaluation wasn't the only area of running a baseball team in which Fred Wilpon has "no competence." The New York media has painted a picture of a front office filled with warring factions which if even half-true casts serious doubts upon Wilpon's managerial acumen.
Whether or not the image of a chaotic front office with an impotent general manager bears any resemblance to reality, there can be no doubt that the Mets have shown a complete inability to come up with a plan an stick to it. In the offseason we heard that the Mets were going to be patient and build their team the right way. Fred Wilpon said the plan was to get "younger and more athletic." (He also said Scott Kazmir was "untouchable," but that's a whole other story.) Perhaps that was just spin in the wake of the failure to sign American League MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero, but at the time, it seemed believable. That the team was going to be patient with its young players and wait until they were ready to really reach for the stars was the only explanation that meshed with the signings of Karim Garcia and Shane Spencer to fill the void in right field, so while it was also exactly what smart Mets fans wanted to hear, believing the words coming out of the owner's and general manager's mouths seemed like more than just wishful thinking. Some of the moves the team made didn't really mesh with this philosophy, like the time when they decided they'd rather have Ricky Gutierrez and Joe McEwing than Danny Garcia on the major league roster. But they did other things, like promoting David Wright and acquiring Richard Hidalgo for less than nothing, that made it seem like they knew what they were doing. Then they took some of those young, athletic guys they had and traded them for a couple of pitchers who'll each be at least thirty years old by the time this team's ready to win anything. Again, either they don't mean what they say or they just don't know what they're doing.
So while it'll be nice to say so long to Art Howe, it hardly solves this team's most serious problems. And even worse, it leaves this newly inept front office with the task of hiring a manager at the same time they ought to be out finding a first baseman or a corner outfielder or half a dozen relievers. And do we really trust the guys who can't tell the difference between a potential ace and a number three starter with a bad elbow to hire the right guy for the job? It's been rumored that this team wants to hire Larry Bowa in some capacity and people aren't laughing, because with this front office you never know. I can hardly imagine a manager worse at utilizing his bullpen and his bench than Art Howe, but at this point, a Mets fan has to expect the worst until further notice. ¶ joe | 3:11 AM |
