Due to the holiday, there was no Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny show today. Instead, Mike Missinelli (who used to do the midday show with Stephen A. Smith) hosted the show on 1050. Rather than reviewing Mike's views on the weekend in Sports, I would like to give my own take on the #1 baseball topic of conversation (covered in great detail last week by Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny, along with every other sports pundit in NY) - should Willie Randolph keep his job?
The vast majority of the views expressed on air have been that Willie needs to be fired based on the Mets track record. Today, Mike Missinelli said (in the name of Louie Gold, who I assume must have drawn the short stick and had to work today) that in the last calendar year, the Mets have a sub-.500 record under Willie. This is probably true as Louie is a passionate Mets fan (and probably can do math) so I have no reason to doubt it. I have also heard a great number of radio jocks (Max and Brian included) who have criticized Willie Randolph for having a "Joe Torre like" approach to managing and that his laid back style cannot work with a team with the flaws that the Mets have. This also may be correct. But I would like for a moment to look at the other half of the equation and ask why Omar Minaya and the players don't share the blame.
As to the players, one of the most brilliant lines in this regard was uttered by Michael Kay (within the context of a different manager who was in trouble a while back) "you can't fire all the players." This is certainly correct. And I'm not about to start making fantasy-style trade suggestions since these things are great when you are playing video games or trading baseball cards or rotisserie rosters, but are not the least bit realistic. But the players who have tanked quite a few games, either for lack of talent or lack of desire (in a perfect world) should be sharing in Willie's pain as they are partly responsible too. Yes, some of them do get their share of press when the team loses, but they are safe in their positions, thanks to guaranteed contracts.
But leaving aside the players, Omar Minaya should bear the lion's share of the blame for the Mets debacle. People are quick to forget, but in 2006 (the year the Mets lost in Game 7 of the LCS to the Cards) Willie had to manage a fundamentally flawed team. When the season began, the Mets were so short on starting pitching that they had to use such gems as Jose Lima, Geremi Gonzales and Alay Soler. Somehow, Willie was able to manage them to a tremendous regular season, despite the fact that Omar had left the team without starting pitching. And before anyone blames injuries, the starting pitching depth was this low because Omar had traded away starters in the off season in exchange for relievers.
The other major roster flaw in 2006 was that the team had no outfield depth. The Mets went down the stretch in 2006 with superstars Rickey Ledee and Michael Tucker in the outfield. Somehow, Willie managed to guide them to the LCS.
Last year, the Mets did collapse and maybe Willie's lack of fire had something to do with it. I'm not saying that the man is perfect, or even that he deserves to keep his job. But a large part of the collapse was the implosion of a bullpen as most of the losses down the stretch were games that the Mets had led, before the bullpen gave it away. September 2007's pen featured allstars in the pen such as Sosa, Schoenweiss, Sele, Urdanetta and Collazo.
And this year - its just too simple to spot Omar's flaw - the team has no power. In the starting line up you have Wright, Church, Alou and Delgado who have HR power, but only Wright has managed to stay healthy. The bigger problem is the bench , if the Mets are losing by a run with a man on base in the sixth or seventh, there is no one on the bench who can hit a HR. And when someone gets hurt, the starting lineup features Raul Casanova, Gustavo Molina, Damion Easley, Brady Clark and Marlon Anderson - no speed, no power.
But for reasons that I can't explain, Omar Minaya never gets called on the carpet by the media to explain how he can sign off on mega$$$ and build $150 million+ fundamentally flawed teams. Willie may not be a great manager, but to quote a line from a movie (the name of the movie escapes me) "don't spit on my head and tell me its raining."
So what is the Torah thought in Max's show today? Well as I said when I started this post, Max did not do the show, so I can't tell you specifically how his weekend wrap up touched on Torah thought. But before signing off, I will make brief reference to the players on the Mets and tie that in to Torah. As I wrote before, some players have seemingly been dogging it on the field, while others have shone (Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in particular) because they have put in the effort. The Talmud teaches us that if a person says that they did not try hard and succeeded, they should not be believed. Similarly, if a person says that they were successful without trying don't believe them. Willie can't play instead of the players, but if they do try hard, the team can succeed, despite Omar's efforts.
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