A Facebook post discussing whether Luis Rojas should stay as manager of the Mets or go popped up in my notifications today.
One guy's take (paraphrased a bit) follows:
(Rojas) should not be retained for any reason. Actually, he DESERVES our CONTEMPT.
Took a pretty good team and mismanaged it to early elimination.
Didn’t even KNOW you’re allowed to hit and run OR steal a base!!!!!
Never had a TAKE sign. So (Rosario) swings at a pitch a foot outside on 3-0.
He did NOT manage. That is the problem.
A manager makes adjustments to help put the team in the best position to WIN!!!!! He did not make adjustments!!!
Kept doing the same idiotic things over and over and over again. Definition of insane. Expecting different results and all that.
Dumb lineups: (Nimmo) in CF. NO! JD at 3rd. NO!!!! (Rosario) in the lineup. NO! Frazier cleanup??? NO!!!!
Give me a break.
The baserunning.....OMG.... teach them please. About the worst fundamentally sound team.
(Rojas) has PROVEN beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is incompetent and can NOT LEAD this team to the playoffs.
If you want to talk about our pitchers' ERAs, go look at (Nimmo's) and (Smith's) defensive "skills". So many fly ball "outs" were doubles, triples, and even inside the parkers. Because they never touched the ball, they were never given errors. So not only did our guys have to get FOUR outs an inning, but they had to deal with runners in scoring position.
(Those 2) in left and center DESTROYED this team. You'll see next year, Wacha and (Porcello) will have ERAs in the 3s for another team.
(Rojas) wasted a whole season when HALF the teams made the playoffs...
We have our EXPECTATIONS and 34 Years is ENOUGH already.
Well, 34 years IS way too long, but Rojas was here for only one of those years.
But this commenter threw out some ideas as to Rojas' failures.
He also raised an obvious point - the Marlins made it, despite their inferior talent and early season huge COVID disruption.
What do you think? Was Rojas a success or failure? Stay...or go?
14 comments:
I give Luis Rojas an "Incomplete" -- he was not given the horses to win the race and had people drop out for illness and injury that were unexpected. Could he have done better? Yes. Was he a Terry Collins level of bad? No.
I kind of feel the same. Give Luis a chance with a real team, and hopefully in a full 162 game year. For anyone to succeed with the Mets pitching would have been a huge challenge. Change for the sake of change is not a good enough reason.
Rojas is not responsible for having a roster that does not prioritize defense. He is not responsible for Matz completely forgetting how to pitch, Thor having TJS or Stroman abandoning the team or Wacha being really bad. The baserunning was really really terrible. I don't know who that falls on but it was pretty embarrassing.
That being said, he made moves quicker than we have seen others in the past. Gimenez replaced Rosario, Smith took over at first base, black holes in the lineup did not bat cleanup very a long period of time just because of their past history. I really don't think we saw enough of him. I agree with Reese and Tom that he needs more than a 60 game chance. The person who wrote he deserves are contempt seems to have a flair for the dramatic and I'm not sure is really objectively looking at the bigger picture of the reasons we failed.
Dallas, a very good perspective. Who knows if he had discussions with Cespedes that led to him thankfully bailing from the team early on.
I do blame him for Jed Lowrie though LOL. Not a single at bat.
Yup. Jed would have propelled us into the history books (shelving the 1962 records).
I agree that he should be given a full season to prove his ability. One issue i had was him batting the unproductive Davis at the top of the lineup.
Except for his Terryphobic comment at the end, I agree with everything Reese said.
The major leagues is not the place to teach fundamentals, nor id it a place to find fundamentally sound players. Luis didn't create the players; he put them where he could. If he didn't play Nimmo in CF, Dom in LF, and JDD at 3B, who would play those positions?
Why was Fonzie fired, after doing a great job teaching fundamentals? A re-hiring, as AA or AAA mgr or ML coach, would be a great help, but blaming Luis for the deficiencies is just plain wrong.
I do wonder, though, why Amed didn't even ATTEMPT a SB in the entire season. Yes, he has a CS to his "credit", but that was pickoff, not a legit try to steal. Someone, somewhere, must be held accountable.
Bill, John is our Fonzie public defender - and he presents a good case - the Fonzie dismissal was a puzzler.
There is a fine line between supporting a player and not getting in a player's grill over things that should be changed but aren't. The ,bewildering lack of Rosario walks and lack of SB attempts, to me needed a Billy Martin wake up call moment for Amed. He did get one wake up call of sorts when he lost playing time to Gimenez, but he and Matz were my biggest head scratchers of 2020.
He's a natural free swinger, as are a lot of Dominican players (I remember Vlad Guerrero Sr saying "You can't walk off the Island"). Jose rarely walked early in his career, too, though he adapted, so I'm willing to be patient.
The SB situation makes no sense, though, since back in ST (the "real" one), both Amed and Luis said stealing more bases was a goal for him. The zero attempts is totally bizarre, and the lack of comments from the media is also.
Lack of starting pitching depth was the main reason they tanked. This was a very unique and strange 60 games, Rojas deserves a full season (hopefully 2020) to drive the bus.
Luis Rojas
I say let the young man develop into a great manager here.
How many times have the NY Mets (or Yankees for that matter) allowed a young rookie manager this opportunity? A: Like maybe never. Maybe Yogi Berra? Not sure. I would liked to have seen Ron Swoboda get a shot here.
This was not a WS team in 2020. Yes, it had awful injuries and players bolting home. But to me it was a chance to have a rookie manager get his respective feet wet. I liked what I saw from Luis Rojas this season and look forward to him next season 2021.
It's a NY Team
Meaning, high expectations to start each season. Followed by disappointment and almost loathing of life itself (for a few days anyway) if not a WS Champion. It's unfair, we should been crowned by now. It's a NY thing. I understand this. I hear you.
But the steps to greatness sometimes take time, and time is not a NY franchise's friend in any one sport. We want it yesterday.
How close is all this with the Mets right now?
To me, they easily could have taken the Marlins place in this season's playoff race. I was actually surprised that they did not. But sometimes there are reasons why, and those very same reasons why are what this off season is really all about. Repair work, here and repair work there. Nothing so drastic, just a few really wise tweakings are all.
Look at the Houston Astros. 29-31 record and I believe leading 2 games to one over a 36-24 Oakland Athletic team. Houston has been there, they know what it takes in the clutches. It's a learned thing.
My point, this is baseball. No one cries, everyone is in it until the last shoes drops. Anyone can win. And no Fat Lady better sing.
It's a game of chance. A game of fun. Reality delivered (like pizza) right to our door with all your favorite toppings on board. It's outstanding excitement (at times) for all us armchair Met fans who still can dream the dream, and hope big hopes. It's baseball. It's our team. Orange and blue.
It just better be next season though or we'll die!
My Quick Take on Amed Rosario this Season
If memory serves me correctly, Amed Rosario finished with an exceptionally strong final few months of the 2019 season. .287 BA / 15 HR / 72 RBI's / 19 SB. Pretty good numbers for someone just 23 years old then.
Me?
I thought and said here before, that Amed could easily have himself a big season in 2020 and make his name very well known, maybe even make the 2020 All Star team.
2020 was a short bastard season because of whatever Covid19 is. It was worrisome for us all. Anyway, Amed started this shortened season a little bit slowly. But I do believe that Amed could have been an All Star NL shortstop as soon as this season if it was nor abbreviated as such.
Here's what I have never liked on any MLB team.
There is always some big deal purported "stud player" down in the MiLB catching scouts and reporters there eyes. The raving begins, it's like the second coming. The comparisons begin to whomever has that position on the parent club and it is heard loudly and clearly. "It's the second coming! For goodness sakes!"
Would it bother most players hearing this stupid crap, all-the-time? A: It would me man.
I call it "crap" because there really is no comparison between AAA pitching and MLB pitching. Gimenez has never been a big bat. True, fielding is fielding and Andres Gimenez is very, very good. But second half of 2019, I thought that Amed Rosario had really stepped up his fielding noticeably.
Right now, Amed leads in hitting potential and Andres leads in fielding potential, but each one could easily be an All Star shortstop one day really soon. Both are younger players.
So what does one do?
Trade one. Keep the other.
Having two really good and young shortstops on one team is like having Terry Bradshaw and Terry Hannratty (Pittsburgh Steelers 1970's fame) dueling for the starting quarterback role indefinitely. Each one having really solid talent and some success young.
It's not really right. It's not really fair to either player. No 23 year old with the stats I just mentioned above, (Amed's 2019 numbers) should have to hear all this comparison crap for three straight seasons.
The advantage here I give to Amed Rosario.
He has a quality Andres does not have, electricity, and explosiveness. And that stuff is not only rare, but it can win ball games single handed on offense. And we have all seen this from Amed Rosario.
Treat your workers better! Because there could reside a diamond within each one.
The Mets make a lot of big mistakes, but hopefully, they know every aspect of Amed...iQ, EQ, drive, willingness to adapt and improve. Family issues. All of it. And make the right decision for 2021. Based on my partial view of Amed, I have my doubts. Guys can irrevocably reverse. Zoilo Versalles? MVP at 25. As a 27 and 28 year old, 2 seasons of .200 or less.
Post a Comment