At 3:14 the hammer dropped on former Yankees Captain, Mr. Randolph, as Mannequin summarized. Was it time? Surely. Was it classless? Without a doubt. The fact that Willie confronted Omar about his lack of faith in his, then, current employment, before going on the trip to California (super cool to the homeless) only to be reassured that he was safe....mind boggling. I heard he phoned Omar again after the bus departed to the airport, for re-reassurance. Oh well.
It was the right decision, because Willie was a straw man. Omar built the straw man, but nonetheless, that's what he was. Now, I don't mean the popular meaning of straw man here, I mean, he could basically be a uniform stuffed with straw (maybe scarecrow?...no, he's NEVER been scary. my bad), instead of an actual body in there. After watching Omar speak today, I realized what the problem was.
As ladyface pointed out, there is an overall lack of drive/hustle/caring that can be seen from time to time with the Mets. It plagues all the players at any given time. Here's the reason: Omar is the king of that clubhouse, where in the other 27 clubhouses in baseball, the skipper is. Minaya's savy with wooing and coralling players into the blue and orange is his gift. Keeping personell in line and motivated, victory oriented clubhouse certainly isn't. The media problems, the hustle issue, managerial decisions (namely bullpen), just to name a few things a manager has to deal with, aren't dealt with at all, due to broken structure. How to fix? Hire a skip that won't take a backseat. Anyone can watch that roster go .500 over 4 years (think Willie was right around there), but it takes a real man(ager) to take them to .600+. Who's it gonna be? Good news: somebody else.
Adios Willie. I'll always remember you as the mediocre second baseman with the useless C on your jersey during the Yankees worst times ever....and for turning the Mets around when you first got to Queens, only to settle into your seat on the 4 year ride of dissapointing mediocrity that you just took us Mettys on. Good riddence.
2 comments:
Knist,
Your a Mets fan, ok. You HATE the yanks, ok. But please don't let that cloud your perspective. Willie was a heck of a 2B.
He was a OBP manchine..finishing his career at .373. .276 lifetime BA. He was solid defensively .980 FP at 2B. And he was a 6 time Allstar. Do some research...all told, his batting stats are not unlike Pee Wee Reese. Legendary Dodger and HOFer.
Mediocre?...stupid face.
MDC on Knisty's playing day willie hating..."SHUT YOUR FACE!"
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