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Kevin Kernan on Richard Neer yesterday

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 07:46 AM

The Post-man delivered some interesting anecdotes and comments, two of which I felt I needed to reproduce here: Kernan felt (as I did at the time, and many occasions since then) that the Mets were dicking David Wright around by keeping him in the minors way too long his rookie year. While Kernan didn't say that he felt, as I did, that Wright had flatout earned the job in ST and the Mets dopily sent him down to the minors, more or less absented-mindedly ("Hmmm, spectacular bat on a kid 3bMan, playing like a franchise type player, hmmm, how's AA sound to ya? Okay, that's done, next..."), he did tell a story about confronting some Mets high muckitimuck (he named him but I didn't catch it) with "WTF are you not taking Wright north with you?" shortly after ST and being told that they were waiting to see his maturity level. Kernan claims he told the Mets "He's the most mature player in your whole organization, this makes zero sense, etc." The context was NOT that of putting the Mets down for their cluelessness, btw, but simply in the context of remarking on Wright's level-headedness. The anecdote was almost a throwaway, as if Kernan had prefaced it by saying, "They've been very conservative in giving Wright high marks for leadership ever since, as everyone knows well, they held him out of MLB for utterly incomprehensible reasons for several months his rookie year..." IOW, as if it were unarguable that the Mets deprived themselves of Wright's play for several months because he hadn't yet jumped through the requisite number of hoops, a point that is still in hot contention around CPF territory. I forget the second point Kernan brought up (I had it a minute ago) but I'll post it when I remember.

KC Feb 26 2006 09:35 AM

Maybe we should give you a night at Shea in that other thread, "Sal Vindication Night" - The first 300 Cranepoolers with an empty Rheingold can get to tell you you were right and we were wrong about all things Mets and we're all a bunch of baseball dolts.

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 09:50 AM

Or we could discuss issues that have by simple majority vote been settled in the Mets' favor when new evidence comes to light. Your call. It's probably easier to conclude that I was an idiot for making the claim when I made it, that I'm still an idiot, and that this shit doesn't matter at all because it's all in the past and we've all long since agreed that I'm an idiot anyway.

KC Feb 26 2006 10:15 AM

No one is calling you an idiot - on the contrary ... We could put you in seat one row one and get you a couple of mock 2002 and 2005 Mets World Series rings (real gaudy ones like the ones like they'd have if you were GM of the Mets) and we could kiss them as we walk by on our way to the john or to get a beverage to pledge our sorriness.

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 10:21 AM

I don't think I could stick a real heavy ring far enough up my ass to make the kissing worth my while.

mlbaseballtalk Feb 26 2006 10:25 AM

Eh does it really matter? A) It was a different GM/Player Development staff B) For some reason members of the Mets (and the fan base that was calling WFAN at the time) seemed to be "in love" with Ty Wigginton to the point where they didn't want him to be traded for Soriano! LOLROMFLMAO! So a "place holder" was in place if they wanted Wright to get "more than enough seasoning" C) Would it really have helped the Mets at that stage? D) Two words about a guy who probably came up too soon: Gregg Jeffereies Steve

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 10:31 AM

I'd much rather discuss the concept of bringing Jefferies up too soon than the concept of inserting a championship ring in a sensitive part of my anatomy, on a little bit of reflection. My position on your thesis: that's crazy. If a kid is capable of playing better ball than the guy you've got playing the position, you need to bring the kid up or else trade him. Keeping an MLB player in the minors is counter-productive, unconscionably cruel, and the mark of an inferior organization that doesn't recognize what talent is.

KC Feb 26 2006 10:34 AM

Gregg's immaturity and inability to fit in and David's maturity and rock solid personality type make the comparison almost impossible, imo.

metirish Feb 26 2006 10:35 AM

Hard to fault the previous managment on Wright, I don't recall any real outrage among fans that Wright should have made the team, I think the Mets were right on Wright.

KC Feb 26 2006 10:40 AM

And btw, for everyone watching at home, this is a typical Bret manuever. You say something like, "you wear rings on your fingers and we kiss them" and he changes it to, "shoving them up my ass won't satisfy me". Nice. We now return you to the discussion on bringing young players along too soon. Thank you for your time.

ABG Feb 26 2006 10:41 AM

Even if you assume (and someone can sure as shit math this out, I'm just not that interested) that Wright would have been a 5 game improvement over Wigginton over a half season, what would be the upshot? The Mets would've won 76 games? Would you now--in retrospect--take the infinitesimal risk that Wright's development would've been worse than what it is now over that improvement? Plus, Wigginton's starting over a half season was probably a necessary factor in the Benson trade (which you can argue fairly was ineffective). I always thought that playing Wigginton was always intended to showcase him on some level.

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 10:44 AM Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Feb 26 2006 11:10 AM

metirish wrote: Hard to fault the previous managment on Wright, I don't recall any real outrage among fans that Wright should have made the team, I think the Mets were right on Wright. Easiest thing in the world to fault, I was practically throwing an epileptic fit at the time (thanks for noticing), and they couldn't have been wronger (other than to have kept him in the minors for another few seasons.) If maturity and level-headedness were anything like requirements for promoting talented young players, would Rickey Henderson have had a MLB career? Babe Ruth? Tug McGraw? Lenny Dykstra? Ty Cobb? Hot-headed, flakey, self-centered, aggressively assertive young men all, as are many talented athletes. You really want to make this into a major factor when evaluating minor league talent? You'll be bringing up David Wright and 24 bald accountants with glasses.

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 10:59 AM

ABG wrote: Would you now--in retrospect--take the infinitesimal risk that Wright's development would've been worse than what it is now over that improvement? Now--in retrospect--I would still have Wright, Heilman, Reyes, Kazmir, Diaz, Jacobs, Castro, and Seo still in the minors with all their options open and the clock towards Free Agency still not started, because the Mets have been out of contention the last five years, so what sense could there possibly be in promoting them to a team that finished out of the running. Unfortunately, retrospect ain't how things work.

Bret Sabermetric Feb 26 2006 11:11 AM

Bret Sabermetric wrote: 24 bald accountants with glasses. Band name!