NewsInbox: Explaining defensive miscues
Beat reporter Marty Noble answers fans' questions
By Marty Noble / MLB.com
07/06/09 7:38 PM ET
I've been a Mets fans since Marvelous Marv and Rod Kanehl. I've seen the bad and the good and the great. Now what we have is the bad and the sad. They're almost unwatchable except for the entertainment value of their unbelievable mistakes. I think they're the equal of Casey Stengel's Mets. What do you say to that?-- Chuck W., Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
On certain days, you may be right. The mistakes the current Mets have made in many cases are comparable to those Casey's first Mets made 47 years ago -- dropped pops, pratfalls in the outfield, missed bases, missed coverage, et al -- in that they are so egregious, so memorable. It isn't the number so much as it is the degree and that they seem to bunch their mistakes. (See Saturday, bottom of the sixth in Philadelphia.)
These Mets are more fundamentally flawed than anticipated, no question. Alex Cora called them, "The worst defensive team in the league," Saturday. And no one took issue with that assessment. They certainly have more talent than their earliest ancestors. Those Mets had no player with skills comparable to those of David Wright, Johan Santana, Francisco Rodriguez, Ryan Church and Mike Pelfrey. For that matter, they had no players comparable to the current, high-profile disabled list assignees -- Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and J.J. Putz.
With the exception of Al Jackson, the '62 Mets had older players of markedly diminished skills and/or modest skills. They made physical errors by the score, pitched poorly and didn't hit at all. And occasionally, Marv Throneberry would miss a base or two -- on a triple. But they slid when they were supposed to, hit cutoff men (they had many opportunities), backed up bases and got in front of ground balls and outfield caroms.
They took infield practice every day -- as all teams did.
The current Mets too often are out of position and not alert. Injuries have forced manager Jerry Manuel to deploy some players at positions unfamiliar to them. But popups are supposed be caught, regardless of assignment. And all players are familiar with the demands of the batter's box. The injuries have a far greater effect on the batting order. And remember, the Mets hardly were mistake-free before the injuries.
Baseball values were quite different in '62, and those fumbling Mets with Giants and Dodgers resumes became beloved, or at last understood and tolerated, despite their foibles. Fans and those who embrace the drive-time alarmists these days demand more -- too much, in many cases. The game is difficult to play under the best circumstances. And those circumstances don't exist for the current Mets.
Do you think the Mets ever will make a move to get their batting order back to where it might scare an opposing pitcher? Injuries happen. We accept them, even all the ones they've had. But don't they have to do something to give themselves a chance to be competitive and give their fans reason to hope and buy tickets? I haven't seen any lower prices on tickets.
-- Sandy L., Totowa, N.Y.
I don't anticipate any high-profile personnel moves that will effect the "regular" team and rotation unless another club is looking to unload payroll to the club with more revenue as the Marlins did in 1998 and late 2005. From what I've been told, the chance of adding a player was characterized as minimal during a recent meeting of Mets policy makers. The reason: the club wants to retain its prospects.
My sense of it is they don't have enough of them, anyway, to make a deal; moreover, they expect -- read, hope -- Reyes and Beltran to return at some point before August or a tad later and are not inclined to import a stopgap player.
I'm sick of hearing and reading that baseball players are tired. Aside from the pitchers who are off four days out of five, and the catchers who do a lot of squatting, baseball players have it a lot easier than their counterparts in the other team sports. Now I read Wright is weary. He should be tired of striking out so much. He ought to run back to he dugout after each strikeout just to get the exercise. He's never on base, so when else does he run and get so tired? I don't remember Willie Mays getting tired.
-- Alan S., Saddle Brook, N.J.
I'll bet you Willie Mays does, even though Spring Training, the regular season, the postseason and 99 percent of the games were significantly shorter. Lest we forget, John Milner, Mays' teammate with the Mets in the 1970s, testified in court in 1985 that Mays kept a bottle of red juice, a liquid amphetamine, in his locker.
Some 39 years ago I had the good fortune to cover some 50 games played by the great Knicks teams of Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Dave DeBusschere. I discussed the difference between baseball and basketball with DeBusschere, who had pitched for the White Sox until the likes of Harmon Killebrew made shadowing Elgin Baylor a more rewarding proposition for him. Few players in any sport used more energy than DeBusschere did on a basketball court. And he found baseball comparably taxing, though in different ways.
I recall him comparing baseball to shopping -- stop and go, stop and go -- and saying something to the effect of, "You don't get winded [as is the case in basketball], but in the end, you're just as tired."
Wright is striking out at an alarming rate, and, believe me, his 84 strikeouts in 81 games have created different kinds of stress and fatigue.
Now that Oliver Perez is ready to pitch again, how much do you think he can do for the Mets? You wrote he's throwing a changeup more now. Will that make him more effective, or will it be just for show? And how is his knee?
Mets general manager Omar Minaya and Manuel occasionally have spoken of getting the "old Ollie back," and that phrase has raised my eyebrow. Their reference is presumably a positive one, but to me, it doesn't apply as much as they would like it to. The "old Ollie" was an inconsistent Ollie, prone to remarkable swings in his performance. Now, if time in the Minor Leagues has changed that, and Perez provides on a mostly consistent basis the kind of pitching that prompted Minaya to bestow $36 million on him, well, good for him and the Mets.
Left-handed pitchers, for reasons even Sandy Koufax can't identify, seem to need more time to mature and gain consistency. And Perez won't turn 28 until next month. But I'll have to see it to believe, and see it over an extended period of time. He had a pretty good run in July and August last season, but since then he has been unreliable. I don't see his addition of a changeup altering his career path, unless he is more consistent with it and his fastball and slider. The Mets said he was squeezed by the home-plate umpire in his last Triple-A start Friday. But 46 strikes and 46 balls make for a terrible ratio. And if a pitcher with his stuff is getting squeezed, then he has to adjust, use more of the plate and change speeds more.
I'm not sure Perez will or can do that.
Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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-- Allen D., Bronx, N.Y.
