A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Same Old Mets

It's tempting to blame Elster for the Mets failures. After all, it was he who recently declared that losing Victor Zambrano for the season is not "such a bad thing" and that Jose Lima "can play on my team any day."

Thus far, in three starts Lima is 0-3 with an ERA of 8.79.

Of course, Elster is not (thankfully) the one making the terrible decisions that have led to the Mets slump. Willie Randolph, the Mets manager, said after Lima's latest debacle that "he did a pretty good job" and will "most likely" remain in the Mets starting rotation.

Randolph refuses to put Aaron Heilman into the starting rotation, ostensibly because Heilman is too valuable is a bullpen set up man. But the Mets already have Duaner Sanchez filling the role well, and Pedro Feliciano has quietly been doing a good job too. In other words, Heilman is valuable, but replaceable in the bullpen. In the starting rotation, Heilman is way above Jose Lima and the others the Mets are trotting out.

The other culprit is Mets GM Omar Minaya, who left the starting rotation without any depth when he gave away Kris Benson. After the Benson for Jorge Julio giveaway, I asked on this blog who would step into the Mets rotation when one or more of the starters went down due to injury. Minaya, apparently, had no idea.

I still think Bobby Valentine would be the best fit for Mets manager, but my guess is that after the Mets fail to make the playoffs this season, owner Fred Wilpon will bring Minaya and Randolph back for one more chance.
posted on 5/19/2006