Willie on hot seat?

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Jayson Stark -- a Phillies homer to be sure -- was on ESPN Radio today saying that there is a tremendous amount of second-guessing of Willie within the organization, and that should the team fall out of first place or lose in the first round, he could be fired.

[Frayed Knot]

Willie especially needs to be second-guessed for those multi-year contracts he handed out to the lkes of Schoeneweis & Mota ... oh wait.

[metirish]

Second guessing by who,Omar ?....the GM that got him the driftwood in the pen...if they are second guessing Willie then I hope they are also doing the same to Miniya...

[Guest Edgy DC]

Plenty of time to build a bonfire in the offseason. Other issues are at hand now.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Willie will be back in 2008. I don't doubt that for a second.

The greater danger for him is his legacy. If this collapse plays out like we fear it will, then he's Gene Mauch, and will continue to be Gene Mauch until and unless he wins a World Series.

Gene Mauch had a long and respectable career, but his name will forever be associated with 1964.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

It's possible Willie is being too good a soldier for his own good.

I'm sure our next manager (rhymes with "Slobby Balentine") would shake off such interference.

On a general level, I think there's a great chance Willie gets whacked if the Mets don't make the playoffs, especially in this way. And that's only some of the blood that will be shed.

[DocTee]

Yesterday's Mets homepage had a brief statement by one "unnamed player" : "we play to the temperature of the manager, and right now Willie doesn't seem too engaged" (paraphrase--lemme find the link)

[TransMonk]

Last night on BBTN, the biggest geek not named Buster Onley stated that no team in the history of the game has had a 7 game lead on September 12th and failed to make the playoffs. He then went on to say that he thinks the Mets will still make it, and I do too. But if they don't, I'd be fearful if I were Willie. That would qualify as a historic collapse.

My bigger fear with Willie is not that the team won't make the playoffs, but that he's lost the faith of the team. I have a sinking feeling that maybe Julio Franco wasn't a lone wolf in his objections to Willie's style, but maybe the most vocal and also the most expendable.

[Benjamin Grimm]

In the Daily News this morning, Willie calmly explained how fiery he is.

[nymr83]

save the torches and pitchforks for after the season.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Willie also (as my post above used to say) garnered some support from some people in the org who felt he was absorbing all the punishment of the Lawrence Debacle while being only partly responsible for making it. So there's some feeling that his decisions are coming from above.

Omar comes off rather testily saying that no, the decision is Willie's, but with input from the scouts and Peterson.

If there's some tension between Omar and Willie (and I believe there must be, what with Omar's booby prizes in the bullpen and complete lack of help at the deadline), then Willie really is all alone. LoDuca and his big mouth are no fans. I can't believe erraticaly deployed bullpenners like Show and Sele and even Feliciano and Wagner are great Willie fans. Reyes could be an enemy what with his dumb plays and lack of hustle.

Peterson was there before Willie, his handpicked batting coach was whacked and replaced with a guy better at connecting with Wright, suggesting that maybe Willie and his guys weren't getting through there.

Do enough of this and it's easy to make a case Willie is on the outs.

[Valadius]

I'm not focusing on what's gonna happen with Willie yet. Let's finish the season first.

[metirish]

Picking up on what Dickshot is saying,Klap reckons that Willie and Omar "have been drifting apart for months"......

] If they do actually blow this lead and fail to make it to the postseason, you can bet there'll be a reckoning. Minaya and Randolph have been drifting apart for months, and the club's performance in September won't do much to heal the wound. The manager has been stuck with Mota (two-year deal) and Schoeneweis (three-year pact), but the GM has to be wondering why Randolph keeps using them.

[Guest Edgy DC]

"Whack Rick Down? Go fuck yourself!"

But while that's not unfounded speculation, it's so not beyond Klap to publish speculation as fact.

[stevejrogers]

TransMonk wrote: Last night on BBTN, the biggest geek not named Buster Onley stated that no team in the history of the game has had a 7 game lead on September 12th and failed to make the playoffs.

There is a slight problem with that, its a complete arbitrary date that has no context. In recent years, yeah that has been roughly around the mark when there is 2 weeks left, but since that date falls on a different calendar day every seven years, there isn't a real context you can grab on to. Sometimes is more, sometimes its less, and sometimes the season went through the first week of October (there is no start date for the data so is it since 1969? 1995? The start of baseball?

Give me a fact with a more soild base to it, like "No team with a 7 game lead with 2 weeks to play..." or even Labor Day (ALWAYS first weekend of September) but the date is hard to make a stand off of.

[metirish]

I'm speechless.

[TransMonk]

SteveJRogers wrote: ="TransMonk"]Last night on BBTN, the biggest geek not named Buster Onley stated that no team in the history of the game has had a 7 game lead on September 12th and failed to make the playoffs. There is a slight problem with that, its a complete arbitrary date that has no context. In recent years, yeah that has been roughly around the mark when there is 2 weeks left, but since that date falls on a different calendar day every seven years, there isn't a real context you can grab on to. Sometimes is more, sometimes its less, and sometimes the season went through the first week of October (there is no start date for the data so is it since 1969? 1995? The start of baseball? Give me a fact with a more soild base to it, like "No team with a 7 game lead with 2 weeks to play..." or even Labor Day (ALWAYS first weekend of September) but the date is hard to make a stand off of.

I think 9/12 is a fairly specific date and not arbitrary at all. If the stat was "No team with a 7 game lead with 2 weeks to play..." as you suggested, wouldn't that prompt just as many questions? Does that mean 14 days or 14 games left? Does the trailing team have off days?

It's just a stat that only has meaning if you buy into the crap that ESPN is selling. Kurkjian gets paid to throw this shit out there...you can take it or leave it as you see fit. It doesn't change the fact that blowing a 7 game lead with 17 games left to play would have to be considered a pretty big choke.

[smg58]

I see no point in speculating on this now. Call me back in two weeks, and if the Mets still have games to play, wait a little longer.