Blame for Mets’ Collapse Falls on Management
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

New York loves Willie Randolph, and deservedly so, but that affection derives from his playing career, not for his managing. Despite a strong start based on posing himself as a charismatic leader – the polar opposite of Art Howe’s happy-go-lucky know-nothing – Randolph has proved that he has little feel for the actual mechanics of his job.
Jose Reyes has spent the entire season leading off despite an on-base percentage that ranks 64th among qualified National Leaguers. Reyes may finish the year with more plate appearances than any player in baseball despite his ineptitude at reaching base, a weakness that places Reyes out of even the top 100 most productive hitters in the game. It is not in a team’s best interest to give 12% of its total playing time, more than anyone else, to a player who can’t get on base. This is only emphasized by the continued listing of Kaz Matsui in the second spot in the batting order. Matsui has a .302 on-base percentage (this despite a September hot streak). It is hard to think of a more efficient way for Randolph to have crippled the offense.
Conversely, David Wright, the team’s best hitter, spent half the season batting sixth or seventh. He has still rarely been seen in the no. 3 and no. 4 spots. Wright leads the Mets in the percentage of runners on base he has driven in, an above average 18%. Yet he has only 68 RBI from these baserunners (not including the RBI he has amassed for driving himself in on home runs) because he’s come to bat with only 384 runners on. With a smarter batting order, Randolph could have contrived to give Wright many more opportunities.
In other news, Mike Cameron’s May return was allowed to derail Victor Diaz’s hot start. One of the team’s better run producers, Randolph couldn’t figure out a way to get him into the lineup, even at first base, which was populated by possibly the worst collection of non-hitters in the franchise’s history. To date, Mets first basemen have hit .218 AVG/.297OBA/.346 SLG, embarrassing totals for any position, let alone one that’s supposed to provide a lineup’s main power source. Randolph’s handling of the pitching staff was even more maladroit. He was too slow to give up on Kaz Ishii, and his commitment to Victor Zambrano in the face of Steve Trachsel’s return was incomprehensible.
General Manager Omar Minaya must also take responsibility for New York’s weak showing in a year in which the division was, finally, there for the taking. When the Mets had injury problems, his answer was Gerald Williams and Jose Offerman. Randolph’s alternatives were so few that Miguel Cairo and Marlon Anderson combined to consume 10% of the team’s total plate appearances. yesterday, Cairo started in right field. This is tantamount to waiving a white flag.
That’s exactly what the Mets have done. Minaya and Randolph have demonstrated that charismatic leadership will only get you so far. A lack of results will quickly dispel any illusion that there is a plan at work, and morale suffers accordingly. On August 30, the Mets were five games behind the Braves and just half a game behind the wild card co-leaders, Florida and Philadelphia. It just so happened that the Mets were playing the former and were about to play the latter. What followed was one of the greater collapses in team history: two losses to the Phillies, then two to the Marlins. The Mets were just 2.5 games behind the Phillies at that point, but the damage to their confidence was done. The ensuing sweep at the hands of the Braves was the most predictable event of the 2005 season. Since then, the team hasn’t shown much interest in playing, and by sticking Cairo in right field, perhaps management is signaling that they don’t have much interest either.
The Great Mets Shutdown of 2005 has fallen hardest on Tom Glavine, a likely Hall of Famer who made the foolhardy decision to come to the Mets in 2003.At that time he was 37 years old and a long 58 wins away from the magic 300 marker. Since then, he’s gotten three years older but only 30 wins closer, which is a lot like getting further away.
In Glavine’s first year with the Mets, he struggled to a 4.52 ERA and thus carries most of the responsibility for his 9-14 record of that season. Last year, though, Glavine rebounded to 3.60, good enough for more than his 11 wins if he had received more than four runs of support a game. This season, Glavine had a rough first half, posting an ERA of 4.94 and doing well to win six wins in 13 decisions. Since the break, though, he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball, pitching 83.1 innings, allowing 78 hits, four home runs, 15 walks, and striking out 30. His ERA for the post-break period is 2.59.Despite this, his record is just 4-6.
For the season, the Mets have given Glavine average run support of 4.22 runs per game. However, in Glavine’s post-break losses and no decisions, he has posted an ERA of 2.65. In those eight games, the Mets have scored a total of 12 runs, or 1.5 a game. Cy Young himself couldn’t win with that kind of support.
We shouldn’t feel too sorry for Glavine; his five 20-win seasons, two Cy Young awards, and 280-plus wins will lead him to Cooperstown despite his Mets let down. Besides, he was dumb enough to entrust his career to a franchise that has more often than not dwelt in the land of the bewildered since the 1980s. Still, bewildered is one thing, pathetic is another, and the way the Mets season has unraveled is firmly in the latter department. When the team needed help, it wasn’t forthcoming. A veteran of the Braves, baseball’s most professional, focused operation, Glavine makes for a strong contrast with Minaya and Randolph, who had a chance to turn a franchise around and let it slip through their fingers.
Mr. Goldman is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.