Followup on Vegas Rich's Desire To Have The New York Mets Fire Jerry Manuel

As Mets Police picks up more and more followers, I don’t want anyone to think I’m schizo – so just for clarity, although 95% of the things on here are posted by me (Shannon) there’s a few other guys who write. Lately it has been Vegas Rich who has been stirring things up with his calls to fire Jerry Manuel (scroll down).

I don’t agree with Rich. I don’t care who is managing – you can’t manage against walking the pitcher, or falling down, or having to start your 4th string shortstop for a week. I don’t think the Mets problems have anything to do with arguing about use of the bullpen, or a failed double-switch, or even a tendency for awful starts (see Bobby Valentine). Bringing in Buck Showalter, Don Mattingly or Bobby V part two right now would just be a back page distraction – and bringing in an ex-Met (we know Carter wants the job, or maybe Backman, or I am known to have a Mazzilli crush) will just wind up in the fans turning on an old friend (see Buddy Harrelson’s 20 year exile).

This team deserves to be 10 games back. They aren’t. Everyone remain calm, and don’t freak out about today’s lineup.

Mr. Met has left a new comment on your post “Are the New York Mets Stupid or Liars?“:

Agree that it’s not Jerry’s fault, but I think it most certainly is Omar’s fault. He did NOTHING in the offseason once the bullpen was addressed and there were at least 3 positions he needed to shore up, not to mention the leadership vacuum on the team that everyone was complaining about after Collapse 2008: The Sequel.

It all rests squarely on Omar’s shoulders.

They haven’t handled injuries well for years. Their MO is to downplay every injury, no matter how serious, and not put a guy on the DL until a week or 2 later, suffering with the abbreviated roster in the process during that time. Sure, you can retroactively DL a guy, but that doesn’t change the fact that you played with less than a full roster for those days in between. It’s like clockwork, and you could make book that that’s how it goes down every single time a guy gets hurt.

I share your angst that the freefall has begun and there won’t be a lot of excitement around New Shea come August and September. The silver lining (Mr. Met always smiles because he always sees a silver lining) is that tickets will be that much more affordable as the summer goes on.

Sparks has left a new comment on your post “Are the New York Mets Stupid or Liars?“:

I am a board certified and licensed athletic trainer, and once worked under an orthopaedic MD who did a fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery, which included his covering Mets games. As much as it pains me to criticize other professionals, the Mets’ medical team looks more and more clueless with every occurrence. Granted, it is *entirely* possible that they’ve just run into a series of strange injuries that are tough to diagnose and/or haven’t responded as they should have–those things happen, and weird stuff tends to come in streaks in this profession–but there do seem to be an AWFUL lot of surprises and trial-and-error going on involving guys who are supposedly getting some of the most expert care available.

I will say very bluntly that I completely disagreed with the handling of Church’s concussion from the start, even as it was taking place. Putting him on a plane to Denver the same night as he was knocked nearly (if not completely) unconscious was both an awful and dangerous decision. As a matter of treatment, he should have been allowed to rest in Atlanta for a couple of days, and as a matter of safety, what were they going to do if his condition had suddenly deteriorated 20,000 feet over Nebraska?

DyHrdMET has left a new comment on your post “Are the New York Mets Stupid or Liars?“:

there’s a lot of blame to go around. jerry and omar aren’t responsible for the injuries, save for one or two players that omar acquired that may have been damaged goods (in a general sense, not a specific known case). the medical staff and communication (not necessarily lying in EVERY case) around injuries is an absolute joke. they can’t be blamed for EVERY injury, but i have a feeling that they can be blamed for SOME injuries. the WBC for sure is to blame for a lot.

it’s almost a perfect storm (the WBC’s cause, the medical staff and bad communication around the injuries, and just some bad luck) to be a joke.

I welcome new writers to join the Mets Police, so if you’re interested (even for a one-off guest column) just drop me a note at [email protected] I’ve actually never met Vegas Rich!

Also appreciated are any pictures from Citi Field or any stadium, the quirkier the better.