Who Would Want to Manage Mets?
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.

As could have been easily predicted, the impending dismissal of manager Art Howe already has many Mets fans and commentators scheming for the quick fix. Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella’s name has taken on the aura of magic – as it did when the Mets were looking for a manager after the 2002 season – as if Piniella could just wave his hand to make this ill-conceived team competitive.
Piniella would be far from the worst choice for the Mets, assuming they could get him out of his contract with the Devil Rays. Leaving that aside, I wonder if anyone can think of a single reason why he would want to manage the Mets rather than the Rays.
In New York, Piniella would be part of a 97-man committee. In Tampa Bay, he’s the dominant figure in the organization. He has massive input into acquisitions, and has the strongest voice in deciding when to bring up prospects.
The Mets are built around two 38-year-old pitchers, a 36-year-old designated hitter, a 21-year-old shortstop who has yet to prove he can hit in the majors (but has proved he can’t stay healthy), and a 21-year-old third baseman about whose play not a single bad thing can be said.
Tampa Bay is built around Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli, two 23-year-old throwback outfielders who rank among the most talented and exciting young position players in the game; B.J. Upton, a 20-year-old shortstop who’s already proved he can hit in the big leagues; and Aubrey Huff, an old man of 27 who was the best third baseman in the American League before Alex Rodriguez moved from shortstop.
The Mets traded their best prospect, Scott Kazmir, to the Devil Rays for a no. 4 starter. The Devil Rays have Delmon Young, possibly the best hitting prospect in the minor leagues; given their aggressive promotion of Crawford, Baldelli, and Upton, he could see the big leagues next year.
The Mets, whose record after last night’s game sits at 63-82, came into the year with a payroll of $97 million. The Devil Rays’ was $30 million, and they’re 62-80.
Many see the Mets’ wealth as a distinct advantage in luring Piniella away from Tampa Bay. Who wouldn’t rather have command of a team with a massive payroll, the argument goes, than a team with the second-lowest in the major leagues?
This ignores relevant facts. Most of that Mets payroll is tied up in Tom Glavine, Al Leiter, Mike Piazza, Mo Vaughn, Cliff Floyd, and Kaz Matsui. Without any disrespect to any of them – these are all, with the obvious exception of Vaughn, fine players – it’s not money well spent.
The Mets are already committed to spend $56 million next year, and while they’ll still have a lot of money to throw around, the issue is less the cash outlay than flexibility. With Piazza in the picture, they can’t get a star catcher or first baseman; Floyd is far too good for them to go get a new left fielder, and far too fragile for them not to need one.
The Devil Rays, on the other hand, are on the hook for only $13 million next year, $4.75 million of it for Huff. With few long-term commitments and good players like Baldelli, Crawford, and Upton not due for salary arbitration until the end of 2005 at the earliest, the team has an extraordinary amount of freedom. Knowing that the core of the team is locked in place for less than what the Mets will likely end up paying Kris Benson next year, they have the flexibility, in terms both of money and playing time, to sift through the discount bins and experiment with retreads and failed prospects.
If that doesn’t sound like freedom worth having, compare the Devil Rays’ team ERA, 4.77, to that of the Yankees, also 4.77.There’s a lot a shrewd team can do on a budget, and under Piniella’s guidance the Devil Rays have been doing it – well enough to win as many games as the Mets on a payroll a third as big. Consider how young all their best players are and the contributions players like Young and Kazmir will be making as soon as next year, and this is clearly a team that will keep improving while the Mets decline even more dramatically than they already are.
What, then, would make anyone prefer to work for the Mets rather than the Rays? Fear of teal uniforms? The Mets’ aren’t so pretty, either. The hideous Tropicana Dome? Shea Stadium is hardly Wrigley Field. Money? Piniella makes plenty, and gets to live near his home and family as well.
Piniella may well abandon the team he’s been methodically building and the young players who under his guidance are already starting to show the first signs of becoming legitimate All-Stars; but if he does so, it will be for his own idiosyncratic reasons.
Several months ago it looked as if the Mets understood their position. They had embraced a sound organizational plan, that of rebuilding around a core of young talent while staying respectable by using their huge revenues to sign good players like Mike Cameron. Unfortunately, they’ve now thrown that plan away.
The making of decisions by committee is an awful idea in its own right, but the composition of that committee makes it worse. There is too much input from veteran players with a clear interest in doing whatever it takes to win now, no matter the consequences, and too much emphasis placed on Jeff Wilpon’s idea of being a “perennial contender.”
Making matters worse, the Mets have neglected the hard, boring work of letting young players learn and grow together at the major-league level without a misguided emphasis on unattainable short-term goals. It’s what the Devils Rays are now doing, and it’s what was done in the Bronx, Atlanta, Minnesota, Oakland, and everywhere else where teams contend every year. Until the Mets understand this reality, they will remain less appealing employers than even the lowly Devil Rays – a fine state of affairs in Flushing.