10/10/20

SAVAGE VIEWS – ROJAS: TO BE GONE OR NOT TO BE GONE

 


This seems to be the latest hot topic and I thought I would get my two cents in.


To be gone or not to be gone, that is the Rojas question.  Actually, we should not even be having this discussion.  If we lived in a rational world, Mickey Callaway would have been the Mets manager in 2020.  Think about it.  He inherited a truly terrible Mets team and managed to win 77 games in 2018.  The only productive Mets hitter was Conforto with 28 homers and 82 RBIs.   The next best player had 18 homers and 58 RBIs.  Jason Vargas was part of our regular starting staff.  The bullpen was really lousy.


Callaway followed up with an 86 wins season in 2019.  The team played hard and they had a nice stretch in the second half.   Imagine for a moment that the Seattle imports of Cano and Diaz having average seasons and the Mets are in the playoffs and Callaway retained for another year.  Thus our discussion today would be whether Callaway should be retained for another year.   Clearly, he had problems with the New York media and if the media does not like you in NY then you are history.


Take a look back at 2019.  deGrom wins the Cy Young.  Michael Conforto emerges as a star, Alonso bursts on the scene to break rookie home run records,  Davis has a marvelous season, Rosario shows the talent we all though he had, Ramos is productive and Dom shows promise in his third year with the Mets – no longer considered to be a wasted draft pick.  Unfortunately, the bullpen was an unmitigated disaster.  No playoffs – no more Callaway. 


The decision to hire Carlos Beltran as manager pleased me.  I loved his demeanor and thought he would be effective in running the team.  When he was forced out of the picture, I supported the hiring of Luis Rojas.  I wanted the Mets to hire a young talented manager who could be around for the next decade. Having stability on my team was important to me instead of the carrousel we seem to be on. I am opposed to the hiring of retreads such as Girardi, Showalter, or Baker.  Girardi had a team superior to the Mets and missed the playoffs.  Baker stepped into a difficult spot in Houston but really did not distinguish himself.  To be honest I simply do not care for Showalter.


So here we are having the same conversation every couple of years.  There is a solid argument to be made for retaining Rojas.


·         Hired at the last minute – did have the opportunity to get to know the team before the season


·         Not fair to base an evaluation due to a COVID19 shortened season


·         Spring training was cut short


·         The Media love his communication skills


·         Players seem to like him


·         He’s a minority and MLB needs more diversity


·         Interference from above.


The arguments against him.


·         The team lost – played lackluster ball for most of this season.


·         All of the RH on the team underperformed the prior year.  Every single one, Alonso, Davis, Ramos and Rosario.


·         Most will disagree with me and I know Rosario had a slow start, but someone needs to explain to me how you bench a player for the rest of the season following a three hit, three RBI game.


·         Sitting Nido after a two homer – six RBI game.


·         Batting an unproductive Davis in the two or three hole all season long.


·         There were too many times when a starter was left in the game too long and other times when the SP was pulled too early.


·         Hard to detect in-game strategy.  Hit and run, attempted steals, aggressive base running was not seen in abundance.  Seems to be a very passive approach to the game.  I think Rojas is partly to blame for Rosario not stealing a base.


My gut feeling tells me that despite his shortcomings, Rojas will be allowed to stay on as manager and that’s probably the right decision.  There is no Bobby Valentine nor a Davey Johnson sitting in the wings.

9 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

If there is no truly viable and superior alternative to manage, give him a real team without glaring flaws in 2021 and see what he can do with it.

Gary Seagren said...

Keep him as I agree with both of you who else would we hire here? He has a great pedigree and has done his time in our system and can we really know where the "who play's and who doesn't comes from"? I was surprised Nido didn't get more playing time and then he gets Coronavirius dam bad timing after all he did win a batting title in St. Lucie. Is it me or does it seem like this last month or so waiting for the announcement is going soooo slow.

John From Albany said...

Lots of great points Ray.

No Bobby Valentine or Davey Johnson waiting in the wings? We had one at Brooklyn who won a championship emphasizing speed, defense, fundamentals, hitting with runners in scoring position, and scoring runs on outs. I think the Mets could have used that this past year. But Fonzie was not Brodie's guy - so just like Callaway...he had to go.

I would keep Luis for the long term but give him a Don Zimmer type bench coach to help him like Torre had. Torre was much better with Zimmer next to him than when he was with the Mets. I would also bring up Endy Chavez to be the first base coach and bring back Fonzie to be the third base coach. Fonzie to drill the infielders and Endy the outfielders on defense and both to instil the 2019 Brooklyn running game in Flushing.

John From Albany said...

One more thing. We saw plenty of examples of players having a good game only to sit the next with the Managers prior to Luis. Think that could have been a front office decision.

Unknown said...

YOUR RIGHT HE WAS TO PASSIVE..BAD BULLPEN MANAGEMENT...NO CHANGE IN IN DRIVING IN KEY RUNS UNTIL THE LAST FEW WEEKS..POOR YEAR FROM TO MANY OF THE STARTERS...WHAT COMMUNICATION,AFTER GAMES I HEARD YES WE NEED TO START DRIVING IN RUNS,AS AN EXAMPLE WOW ,GUESS WHAT HOW ABOUT WINNING GAMES ,OR ARE WE TO IGNORE THE FACT,THE TEAM COULD NOT SCORE LATE IN GAMES FOR MOST OF THE ENTIRE 60 GAMES...HE IS TO QUIET BORING AND THE TEAM TOOK ON HIS UNINSPIRED APPEARANCE...TEAM DEFENSE SAME STORY ,NOT GOOD....I DONT CARE HOW LONG HES BEEN WITH THE THE METS,MAKE THE CHANGE BRING IN A LEADER,AS WELL AS THE TALENT WE DESERVE..IF WE WANTED A QUIET FELIPE ALOU,THEN HE WAS PROBABLY AVAILABLE....EVEN THOUGH I RESPECTED THE ENTIRE ALOU FAMILY AS PLAYERS...I DONT FEEL INSPIRED BY ROJAS IN ANY WAY.....GJBOLD

Rds 900. said...

Love the idea of bringing Fonzie back in some capacity.

MBS67 said...

I have been a Mets fan for almost 40 years, off and on because I didn't appreciate feeling like Jets fans do after every game. Sadly, I felt this way this season because of the golden opportunity the Mets squandered to make the playoffs, 2 games aver 500 would have done it.

Instead I saw too much bumbling and lack of execution. We heard comments about leaving runners in scoring position and leaving pitchers in too long... That being said, the only conclusion I can reach when a team has talent and fails to capitalize, is because of coaching.

bill metsiac said...

Just to keep Reese active and fired-up, let's bring Terry in as bench coach. 🤣

Remember1969 said...

This is the first time I have seen those comments about Calloway. There were many things he did well that merit another opportunity. Starting pitching, the 2nd half push in 2019, etc. There were a couple things that were killers - the back to back June swoons . . cooling to the media, and ultimately, not being a BVW guy.

With that said, I'll advance to John's comments. I would really like to see Chavez and Fonzie back on the field. I think Rojas deserves another chance and perhaps a Zimmer type of a bench coach would help - how bout Clint Hurdle who was quietly released from Pittsburgh at the end of the year?

The other things that have been discussed here must be corrected - situational hitting, baserunning, and also overall defense. They need to get a true centerfielder. That would make the starting pitching better without anything else. The relief pitchers need to be taught how to throw strikes, especially if they are entering in the middle of an inning with runners already on base.

So, not sure where to put all the blame or who should ultimately pay, but it feels like Rojas should get a full year to show whether he is everything they said he was before he started in 2020. Perhaps the bench coach and pitching coach should be looked at. Hard to tell on the short season.