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more cluelessness

iramets Jul 21 2007 05:31 AM

Frayed Knot wrote: fractured tibia for Valentin (off a foul ball) pretty much eliminates him from the competition for now. So yet again, the Mets are going to get their nuts removed from the blazing fire of their own cluenessless by the providence of the great god Injury. As with, say, the Rey Ordonez in 2000 NL championship season, they get a disaster removed from their lineup, to whom they've been clingly blindly and fearfully, out of habit, mindless conservatism, a misplaced sense of loyalty, a stubborn desire to justify their own poor judgment, and all-purpose cluelessness. Finally when the great god Injury deems it that the misguided fools have suffered enough, and He decides to make the colossally obvious move for them, they make the move that everyone in the known universe is screaming for, and You Guys (tm) all mildly applaud their sound judgment in doing so. Me, I want their heads on a pike. How much brains did it take to give Gotay the job outright when the Mets offense was sucking wind, he was hitting, and Valentin was not? None, which apparently exceeds Willie's brainpower by about 50%. I honestly believe he's not right in the head. Not across the board, but he gets things into his skull (or maybe his pants--I can't tell without a physical diagnosis) and he can't get them out. He's just completely nuts on the subject of second basemen--almost certainly because he still identifies with his second baseman, and wants all of them to play as close to perfection (that is, to his own play at second base) as possible. He was a skillful fielder? Then by God Gotay doesn't get the job until he proves that he can field like Willie did. Gotay doesn't walk as much as Willie had? Then by God...etc. I think that also got Wiggy off the team, and Keppinger, and maybe that was also part of the whole Matsui mess. Let's face it, the Mets under Willie have had an ongoing crisis at second base, and since that's the one position he should understand best, I think it's fair to question his judgment, and his emotional impairment (and what that says about his overall skills as a judge of horseflesh) on the subject. I used to be married to someone who viewed every problem as personal: when one of my daughters had some small or large problem, she would address it in a very peculiar way: she would try to remember what childhood crisis of her own this most reminded her of, and then use that as her constant template in dealing with the current issue, no matter how poorly her solution was working out. In fact, if it worked out terribly, she would just redouble her effort and her energy, because after all, my daughters weren't really independent people so much as they were mini-clones of her, so of course their problems could only work out as hers had. That's what Willie reminds me of. The Mets don't have any second basemen , and never had. They've just had mini-clones of Willie and he applies his own template to their careers.

Benjamin Grimm Jul 21 2007 07:01 AM

Art Howe was the manager when the Mets traded Wigginton.

Edgy DC Jul 21 2007 07:23 AM

He also started for a year and a half at third base.

iramets Jul 21 2007 10:49 AM

Omigish! I put Wiggy on Willie, instead of on Artie (who was also a second baseman, and a terrible manager--it's OK that I opine thus since the Mets fired him, innit?). Aside from that earth-shattering, devastating, deathblow to my credibility, does anyone else have any comments to make to the main thrust s of my post?

Rockin' Doc Jul 21 2007 11:09 AM

Essentially, the Mets traded away Ty Wigginton and Jeff Keppinger to eventually end up with John Maine, Orlando Hernandez, and Ruben Gotay. Last year, Wigginton and Valentin's numbers were amazingly similar. This year, Valentin's numbers have pretty much sucked since he returning from his knee injury. Wiggy is younger than Valentin, but Gotay may (or may not) turn out to be his equal at an even younger age. I liked Wigginton when he was here, but I think that Maine and Hernandez are of greater value to the Mets right now than Wigginton would be.

iramets Jul 21 2007 12:00 PM

Wiggy just popped his 15th HR of the season off Kei Igawa. You're giving the Mets too much credit for making a stupid, stupid trade that compelled them to get several years of piss-poor 2b play out of Matsui when they had his equal or better at virtually no money, getting Kris Benson for him--you give them credit because they then made another trade, Benson for Maine (and in another deal Julio for Hernandez) but that doesn't mean they didn't drop the very card they needed, a powerhitting secondbaseman (and before someone brings up his limited range, let me just say: Kaz Matsui. Then I'll say Gotay. If a smooth fielder is what you want at second base, you sure haven't had that since you dumped Wiggy.) You got Maine for Benson? Great. But you gotten have gotten Benson anyway, as a FA after the season for the same fucking money you paid to get him in-season without giving up good players. And if you hadn't signed Benson, you would have signed another pitcher of his quality for the same money and then you coulda traded HIM for Maine etc. Besides, I already acknowledged my colossal error in including Wiggy in this discussion. Does anyone else care to comment on my insightful analysis of Willie's personality defects?

Elster88 Jul 21 2007 12:06 PM

I wish we had Keppinger back too.

OlerudOwned Jul 21 2007 12:15 PM

Valentin was starting to look better at the plate, honestly. I still wanted Gotay to get the playing time, but I'm not going to applaud this turn of events.