The Mets are working behind the scenes to change the members of the contracted 2027 coaching staff. It remained behind the scene until it didn’t, when reporters announced that ex-Mets hitting coach, Kevin Long, would not return in a similar role, and current Chicago Cubs assistant hitting coach, John Mallee, would also remain in Chi-town in his current role.
It’s obvious… now… that the Mets are not happy with their hitting coach situation.
Additionally, the Mets announced that they have promoted former major league all-star, Mariano Duncan, from the AA-Binghamton bench coach to an “undetermined full-time coach role on the parent squad. He has previously ben an infield and first base coach for the Dodgers.
Duncan was primarily a middle infielder as a pro, but he did also play some leftfield. He lifetime stats were 5.8-WAR, 4,677-AB, 87-HR, .267.
Paul Articulate got to know him last season and said yesterday that Duncan was a ‘nice guy’. Great. The Mets seem to have a lot of these lately. We all know where nice guys finish.
It seems obvious to m that the Mets are not happy with Troy Snitker as their hitting coach, though Mets suits will tell you that both Snitker and assistant hitting coach Rafael Fernandez are returning for the 2027 season.
This tells me that all the Mets might be doing right now is looking for a replacement for recent departed Direct of Major League Hitting, Jeff Albert, who was recently showed the door. Boy, this is a lot of hitting coaches for one parent level team.
I assume this role will not be filled with Duncan; however, assuming anything about this team could be at a risk.
As we used to say at Disco 92, ‘the best goes on’.
imagine what they are thinking about the pitching coaches with the whole Peralta transformation playing out in the media every day
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the Peralta failure on the Mets pitching coaches
DeletePeralta hated being a Met and just never mentally engaged as a Met
Except for last night
ReplyDeleteI think there is an important role for a hitting instructor, but it is not the one the Mets seem to be looking to fill. If you ask me, hitting, like pitching, is an area that calls for a unified understanding of a lot of things, kinetics, biomechanics, and anatomy (which is largely overlooked, even among the modern class of instructors). I'd like to see a group of instructors who are world class movement pattern instructors in conjunction with others who know how to teach/change movement patterns, whose job it would be to teach the instructors. I feel this way about pitching as well. And the mental game is essential to both as well. And I would also be teaching the catchers and the pitchers both separately and together. That relationship should be treated in some ways as a 'joint activity.' I think so many of the legacy categories that impact how development and training takes place have long outlived their relevance and value.
ReplyDeletePitcher/catcher is more a unit than is the double play combo of SS/2B
I don't have reason to believe that Peralta hated being a Met. I like the simple explanation. He just did not perform well and the situation worsened for him emotionally because of how important the walk year of his contract was. Going to Tampa worked overall and it allowed him to present a more accurate picture of who he is as a pitcher -- warts and all. I hope he gets a nice pay day out of it, but what has become crystal clear is that he is not efficient with his pitches, and he most likely going to give you 5 innings an outing -- give or take --but he is going to take the ball every time his name comes up in the rotation.
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