Why Jerry Should Stay

Baseball and New York. They go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly, like apple pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, like Bill Belichick and his hoodie, like Phillies' bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer and his binoculars. Baseball is to New York what hockey is to Canada, what basketball is to Indiana, and what high school football is to Texas. Simply put, baseball matters in New York. Baseball is everything in New York.

So it’s only natural that New York baseball fans are the most prone to overreacting to everything – both good and bad – over the course of the 162 game grind that is a baseball season. New York baseball fans dance in the streets and walk on air during long winning streaks. When a team is at the top of the standings and on top of the world, merchandise flies off the shelves, the ballpark is filled to capacity, and fans can’t stop dreaming about what is about to come next. When a team is in the doldrums, it seems sometimes fans are on suicide alert. (100% real tweet from a fan during Monday night’s game: “I swear to God if the Mets don’t win this game I’m going to kill myself.”) When the team loses, the fans want blood. And in the case of New York baseball fans, they ALWAYS want the manager’s head on a silver platter.

But just how justified is that notion, especially in the case of the 2010 New York Mets?

My partner has suggested that the New York Mets are a talented ballclub. I, however, am not sold on the notion that this is a fair assessment. I don’t want to hear about payroll – that is a ludicrous argument if there ever was when it comes to evaluating a manager. Anybody can throw money away. But if I were to ask the question, “Who is the Mets’ best hitter right now?”, could anybody answer it? I’ve spoken at length about the streaky nature of the Mets’ hitters. Remember when Jason Bay was the worst player ever? He’s now the Mets’ leading hitter. The Mets have a first baseman who has spent one month in the big leagues, a below-average defensive second baseman, and a replacement center fielder. Can somebody give me one reason why Jerry is supposed to win with that, mixed with the historic streakiness of his superstar third baseman, his left fielder, his right fielder, and his catcher?

But that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the Mets’ problems. Their biggest deficiency is their starting rotation. This is not a new phenomenon, of course. We’ve known about it for a year now. Remember who the Mets brought in in the offseason? (I hear a lot of crickets chirping…) Nobody. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Omar Minaya failed miserably in upgrading this rotation. If anything, this rotation has overachieved, all because Mike Pelfrey has stepped up and become a new pitcher. John Maine still has nothing on his fastball and horrible body language. Jon Niese is still a rookie. And Oliver Perez is a lost cause with no fastball and no ability to gut through any adversity. How is a team supposed to win, or even compete, with three gigantic question marks in a five-man rotation?

If anything, Jerry deserves credit for his work. This bullpen has been excellent. How can we really blame him for overusing them? Is he supposed to let Maine, Perez, and Niese stay in games when they can’t even keep the team close? Doesn’t Jerry have to do everything he can to give his team a chance to win every night?

Jerry was dealt a poor hand. He was dealt a poor hand last year when his best players went down to injury. He was dealt a poor hand this year when Omar Minaya did nothing to support the rotation. I’m not going to sit here and say Jerry Manuel is the best manager in baseball. But I will say this: he at least deserves the chance to operate this club through the end of the year.