A Few Last Thoughts on Rick Waits

As we all know in Mets minor league land, Rick Waits, head pitching honcho, has been notified that he will not be part of the Mets organization anymore.

I've gotten to know Rick over the past three years and there hasn't been a warmer, more professional member of the organization. He has always greeted me with a smile and went out of his way to spend a few minutes bee-essing about what's going on out on the back fields.

I especially enjoyed seeing him in Savannah when he came to town to spend time with the local pitching staff there.

Not everyone loves "roving coaches", I being one of them. The last thing a pitcher needs is someone to spend three nights in town telling you to throw with your right hand instead of your left. That being said, I have never heard a single Mets pitcher say a bad thing about this guy. 

This screams of shit rolling down hill and  it makes me remember the day I took over as General Manager of a group of radio stations in Florida. The stations had gone without a General Manager for around a month and the General Sales Manager and Program Director had split the staff in two and managed things before I arrived.

Upon my arrival, I had a meeting with the current Business Manager and the last thing she did was to hand me the name and phone number of a previous employee that had been let go just before my arrival. I called that guy, checked out the situation, and rehired him as my number two in command.

I'm not accusing anyone of anything... especially this week... and in defense of the dismissal, there hasn't been much pitching success at the upper levels of the Mets minor league system lately. Robert Carson has been a disappointment, Jeurys Familia has lost his control, Eddie Kunz has disappeared, Emary Frederick has been mis-handled, and Brad Holt has, frankly, been a total bust.

But, I also know how the Mets minor league system works. Nothing... I repeat, nothing happens at the minor league level without the approval of Queens. I used to call the phone on Tim Teufel's desk the "bat phone". And, I can't tell you how many pitching coaches answered many of my questions with "don't ask me...". That's how it worked under Omar.

In closing. I wish Rick all the best and I hope he's financially well-off enough to walk away from this grind and play with his grandchildren.

I would appreciate it if any of you players out there (your correspondence would remain confidential) would email me at macksmets@gmail.com either his home email address or cell phone number, so I can call him and say hello.

Boy, I'm glad I'm on hiatus.

Mack