Whose Fault This All Is: 2019

[Centerfield]

All kidding aside, here is who I think is to blame. In descending order, from most to blame, to least to blame.



1. Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Without a doubt. If I had to guess, I'd pin 75-80% of the blame on them right out of the gate. As Greg pointed out in the other thread, this culture of failure has spanned multiple GMs, Managers, scouts, players. The incompetence starts at the top and permeates throughout the organization. If they did nothing else but just set the payroll at that of a mid-market team, they'd have already badly crippled the team. But their meddling makes it even worse. A mid-market team with smart owners would have hired Chaim Bloom, and would leave the management to the baseball people. Instead, Jeff runs everything and hired an agent for cover. The pages from Pedro's book are making their rounds through twitter recently. This is the episode in 2005 when Jeff Wilpon came in, overruled the medical staff and forced Pedro to pitch hurt in a meaningless game. This goes a long way in explaining the Mets "bad luck" with injuries. Familia, Nimmo, even Cano. You can't lose this much by accident.



2. Brodie. He is the GM after all, but just how much control he has I have no idea. I don't know whether to give him 10% or 1% since I don't really know how much of this is him. If I had to guess, I'd say he had a fairly big hand in the Cano Disaster trade. For his part, I'm glad that he talked big. It makes what the Wilpons did that much more egregious. I don't know if there is a way out from the Wilpon mess, but guys like Brodie help illustrate their incompetence. He also did a shit job in getting an effective LH reliever. But again, Sandy couldn't do it either, so I don't know if that's Brodie or Wilpon.



3. Manfred/Owners. Their stupid baseball. Baseball is the only sport where the ball itself changes from year to year. You talk about all this stupid shit aimed at speeding up the game, then you introduce a stupid baseball that makes pitching impossible. I know it's bad luck that our pitchers seem to be affected by it more than others, but it's stupid that we even have to deal with this.



4. Callaway. Nobody can win under these conditions, but if you put Callaway in charge of the Dodgers he'd figure out a way to fuck it up. He said that DiSarcina made a good send and that it took a perfect throw to get Davis. If that's a perfect throw, then I'm a GG outfielder.



5. Eiland. This is a guess. So many guys are struggling more than you'd expect. Maybe we need Warthen back.



I don't blame the players. They're all trying their best. Some are putting up amazing numbers, and even some of the guys I don't like are making valiant efforts. Vargas, Frazier, I didn't like these moves at all and I don't think they're worth the money. But man are they battling, and I give them a ton of respect for that.

[Edgy MD]

=Centerfield post_id=13640 time=1561039956 user_id=65]I don't blame the players. They're all trying their best.

[Centerfield]

I get that. But I also saw him out there trying to play through a bad hamstring having been rushed back too early.



Cano is a tough call. Much like Cespedes before him, it's easy to see him half-speed it and assume it's lack of effort. But I think there's a mental aspect of it that we may not understand. Both Cano and Cespedes are "make it look easy" guys. They play with a natural grace and ease in the field. They also play with a healthy amount of arrogance, which, if I had to guess, is a big part of their success. Maybe that arrogance, which helps them succeed, plays a factor in them not running out these balls. Maybe it's self-preservation. After all, Cano did bust it, and hurt himself.



What I do know is that both Cano and Cespedes went out there hobbled for the good of the team, so that means something. I totally get if someone wants to get on him for lack of effort. I don't expect anyone else to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Guest 41Forever]

I give Brodie some slack -- for now.



I think he did sign a good lefty reliever in Justin Wilson, and it sucks he got hurt. The depth options there didn't work out so far. But I also think about 28 of 30 teams would say they are always in need of solid left-handed bullpen help.



I think he did a good job creating depth at other positions. Rajai Davis, Carlos Gomez, Adeiny Hechavarría have all been solid when needed, at least when you compare them to what we were trotting out there last year.



I didn't like the Cano deal, but we can disagree on whether its too early to call it a disaster. The Broxton deal was bad, but at least he moved on quickly.



It's sucks that Jed Lowerie got hurt before even a spring game and it sucks that Cespedes likes to play cowboy and got hurt doing it. It sucks that Familia was hurt, but it explains a lot. It sucks that Nimmo is hurt.



But I can't blame Brodie for that.



He's an outside the box pick and I think I have to give him more than four months.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Good Brodie: I like JD Davis. He made a good decision with Alonso. Ramos hasn't been awful.



Bad: Everything else

[batmagadanleadoff]

Who cares about Brodie? It wouldn't matter if BVW was Albert Einstein and Branch Rickey all rolled into one with eff and Jeff sticking their greedy paws into everything. 28 out of 30 teams have bullpen problems? So why aren't 28 out of 30 teams under .500? I suppose 28 out of 30 teams play in the biggest market in the world, too.



Two first place finishes in 31 seasons.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=13660 time=1561054265 user_id=68]
Who cares about Brodie? It wouldn't matter if BVW was Albert Einstein and Branch Rickey all rolled into one with eff and Jeff sticking their greedy paws into everything. 28 out of 30 teams have bullpen problems? So why aren't 28 out of 30 teams under .500? I suppose 28 out of 30 teams play in the biggest market in the world, too.



Two first place finishes in 31 seasons.

[G-Fafif]

Jeff Wilpon marked "Dave Eiland" and wrote in "Chuck Hernandez".

[whippoorwill]

I just noticed I only voted for other bullpen stiffs and that's still my vote

[Fman99]

Went with the Wilpons, Mickey, Diaz, Cano and Cespedes. I agree with CF, though, this Wilpon stink rolls down the hill and sticks to everyone else.

[kcmets]

Diaz with only 3 votes has to be a fake count manipulated by Russian bots?

[nymr83]

=kcmets post_id=15214 time=1562434699 user_id=53]
Diaz with only 3 votes has to be a fake count manipulated by Russian bots?

[Vic Sage]

BVW, the Pons, Mickey, Cano and Diaz.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Bump.



Also adding write ins:



--JCL Taking a long vacation

--Ben Grimm's wild night of sex

[Centerfield]

We would have to know when he had sex to accurately gauge.



I have this feeling it's my fault. Our vacation ruined them. On Friday, August 23, Jacob deGrom hit a HR to tie the score against the Braves. Then we got into our car and drove to Baltimore. Listened to the game while driving down and was miserable when they lost it. That was the first of 6 losses. They haven't been the same since.



I remember thinking to myself as the losses piled up: "This is the anti-Peru."

[Gwreck]

We're no different than where we were at the start of the season:



1. Fred and Jeff, for being cheap.



2. Brodie, for making a stupid trade for Cano and Diaz. Yes, we didn't know Diaz would be this awful. But we all knew it was a stupid trade at the time at least as far as Cano went. In conjunction with #1, instead of giving up useful prospects, we could have just spent money like a major market team and signed Manny Machado.



3. Mickey's made a lot of stupid moves.



4. Familia. This was a good signing, and he turned out to be awful. This one isn't Brodie's fault.



5. Diaz. Wasn't his fault the Brodie overpaid. But he also inexplicably became awful.

[Benjamin Grimm]

My losing streak and the Mets' losing streak ended virtually simultaneously.

[seawolf17]

Player-wise, this is on Cano and Diaz more than anyone else. And by a lot.



And of course everyone at any and every level of management, from the clubhouse crew all the way up through the Wilpons.