When Dave Hudgens was fired after the game Monday, the ice under everybody’s feet got a little thinner. From Sandy Alderson to Terry Collins to anybody on that 25 man roster, they all have been put on notice.
Firing Hudgens isn’t going to turn the Mets offensive woes around, but it’s a symbolic gesture that poor play is no longer going to be tolerated. Sandy Alderson is listening to the frustration and disappointment from the fans. Now most fans would rather Alderson go out and acquire players to fix problems and not fire coaches, but it’s a step in the right direction.
The season is about a third of the way done and this is the time for general managers to take stock in their team and see what changes need to be made. With the summer about to begin, this is where players can play themselves onto another team, or in a manager’s case out of a job.
Poor play will not be tolerated throughout the summer. This firing proves that. But going forward, not only do the players here need to play well, but better players need to be brought in.
Everyone likes to point to Citi Field’s dimensions as the problems for the Mets struggles. But opposing teams seem to have no problem succeeding here. It’s about the players. There is talent on this roster. Lucas Duda has talent and potential, so do Juan Lagares, Eric Campbell, Wilmer Flores and Travis d’Arnaud. It’s about getting more major league caliber players on this roster.
But if the players here don’t get the job done, they will be on the hot seat as well. All signs point to Terry Collins being on the hot seat now, and that’s warranted. If the Mets get into July and August and the team has fallen of the face of the earth, it may just be time to pull the plug on Collins. He might be a good motivator for the young players, but winning matters. And if a poor offensive showing got the hitting coach fired, then not winning ball games should get the manager fired.
Mets baseball just got interesting again. Even though they are struggling, no one is safe. Any day now changes could be, players could be demoted, traded or benched; managers could be fired and the lineup could look drastically different.
This wasn’t the ideal situation for all parties involved, but the fact is this is where the team is; at a cross-roads. Are they going to take the necessary steps and tough moves to keep progressing to success or are they going to let failure define this franchise? The next few months are going to be very interesting, because the last two days everyone in New York has been talking about the Mets and not in a good way. Change is about to be underway. Who survives and who doesn’t is all up the air. But Alderson seems to be listening and for fans that should be encouraging.
Sorry Chris but I think the Hudgens firing was just window dressing but warranted. The philosophy is hit the best pitch according to Dave but under his tutoring since 2011 the Mets led the majors in 0-1 counts. I don’t think he could communicate the message to the players. I mean some of those first pitch strikes were good hitting pitches. I hope the Mets have a nice 8 games against the Phillies and Cubs but what happens if they go 2-6? TC might feel the heat generated by the media but would Sandy fire him? I don’t believe so. LGM and get some distance on the Phillies!
I don’t like to focus on Park dimensions, but all evidence does point to the park suppressing offense—granted, it also makes your pitching better. As an added “factor”, the park most definitely has worked against David Wright’s Line to Line Power. Nothing has hurt Wright as much as Being Hurt too often, but the Park has caused him to change his approach—he’s virtually abandoned the RF Power Ally.
It’s always about being better than the other team….and That is the real problem for the Alderson Mets.
Was at met game today great pitching. Home runs. But if this is a new beginning Chris Young needs to be released play bobby Abreu or Eric Campbell.
Just a thought but if you have an team with a more talented pitching staff than hitting, wouldn’t you want to reshift the stadium dimensions to help the offense?
Has the so-called talented pitching staff actually been as advertised yet? Nope