Mar 14 2019 12:40 PM
First of all, sweet photo, right? It looks like Rockwell did me in oil.
Wait, that didn't sound right.
I'm Chuck Hernandez. And listen. If there's been any method to the Mets this offseason, it's been redundancy. Jeff McNeil seemingly established himself at second base and they go and recruit to secondbasemen to bump ahead of him on the depth chart, and a few more to sit behind him. That's in addition to a whole bunch of infielders they seemingly had at the top off the system pushing to get a shot, or another shot.
You like Lagares, but worry that he's too many years and too many injuries into his career to build on his strong start in 2018, and finally become an offensive asset? The Mets went out and got another, younger Juan Lagares.
So when it came time to get a bullpen coach, did they just stick with Ricky Bones? The longest-tenured Mets coach? The dean of the coaching staff? No, they did not. Did they go and call up an organizational guy, a friendly face that has been around and not distinguished himself but not offended? They did not do that either. They wanted more than a phone answerer. They wanted some reduncancy here as well.
And that's why they got me, Chuck F. Hernandez. I may be the bullpen coach, but I've got thirteen seasons under my elastic-waisted pants as a big-league pitching coach, plus a few more in the minors, a few as a front-office pitching advisor, and a few as (yes) a bullpen coach. Braves, Marlins, Rays (hah!), Tigers, Angels. So not all the professional pitching observations and advising will necessary be coming through Dave "Monster" Eiland. Between him, Mickey Callaway and myself, we have a lot of pitching coaches to go around. If you're dropping your arm, Jesus, you're going to hear it from everybody.
Eiland is still in charge, of course. I'm not saying I'm going step on his toes. Any stepping out of my lane will have to go through him. I'm just saying, if Dave wants to take off a series or two to scout Syracuse and or Binghamton, if he needs to go to his kid's college graduation, I've got him covered. I don't mean to brag, but I seriously know how to walk slowly from the dugout to the mound with my hands in my back pockets, feeling my ass like a pitching coach is wont to do. I'd say I have as much experience in that department as anybody.
And speaking of experience, I have a lot of that in my pen. I've got two All-Star closers, I've got two guys who'd rather be starting to set them up, and a whole bunch of nascent talent to establish out there. Can I be a part of it? Well, I just used the word "nascent," so I'm probably pretty smart.
But that's the game: Act as the extra pitching coach without appearing to be the extra-pitching coach. How's that going to swing for me in 2019?