Why Jerry's gotta go....

I’ve heard a lot of arguments for why Jerry should be gone – fundamentals start with the manager, the manager sets the tone in the clubhouse, time to clean house and start over, etc. I agree with all that, but for me, there is one more reason to add to the list: he isolates his own players.

I know everyone remembers Ryan Church for reasons other than the fact that he missed third base in Los Angeles once. He was a solid defender with some power and Jerry didn’t like him. Granted, I don’t know anything about what goes on behind closed doors. Maybe Ryan Church is a jackass who showed up his manager while simultaneously turning everyone in the clubhouse against him (I seriously doubt this). Manuel was against Church in March. He made public statements that right field was going to be a platoon position before spring training had even started! Within the first two weeks of the season, Church was taken out of the starting line-up even though he was batting .400. Then he started slumping, which was another reason to keep him off the field. Jerry was either unable or unwilling to notice that inconsistent at bats probably contributed to these issues. Church is not the first guy this has happened to (anyone see Pat Burrell this year?), and he certainly won’t be the last. But Jerry isolated him, and it earned Church a one-way ticket to Atlanta.

Ramon Castro is another guy who seemed to fall out of favor with Jerry for no real reason. He’s not exactly an All-Star, but for goodness’ sake he was better than Brian Schneider. This situation was less noticeable because Castro wasn’t supposed to be a starter like Church. I wasn’t the biggest Castro fan either, but I realized that he was a decent backup who was probably more consistent than our starter. And what did that get Castro? A trade for Lance freakin’ Broadway.

And finally – where the hell was Nick Evans this year? This is a guy who probably should have made the club out of spring training and was sent back to the minors instead. He’s a young guy, so you kind of take that with a grain of salt. But there was no excuse not to give him at-bats and experience at first base when (A) the Mets were already playing with a mostly minor league line up, (B) they were completely irrelevant, and (C) Daniel Murphy is by no means a Gold Glover. Sticking Evans in the line-up could not have possibly hurt the Mets, and yet he spent the season either in the minors or on the bench.

Jerry creates an “us vs. them” atmosphere that is awful for a clubhouse and shreds the confidence of anyone who falls out of favor with him. As my baseball buddy/sounding board put it – he doesn’t pull guys together, so there is no accountability within the team. That kind of attitude would normally end in a last place finish... so I guess we can thank the baseball gods for one thing this season: bringing a team back to the DC area.