Foot and Firings

Chien-Ming Wang looks to be out for anywhere from 6 weeks (just healing), to 10 weeks (calculating rehab), to deep into September (in the worst case). This, obviously, is bad. Very bad. And although I hate interleague play and having our pitchers hit and run the bases, I can't truly blame this incident on anyone or anything in particular. Wang is a professional athlete. Not only does he run for workouts, but he subjects his arm to extreme unnatural stresses every 5 days. This foot injury wouldn't have happened if he was playing under AL rules, true, but at the end of the day it was no more than a freak accident.

...Which is why Hank Steinbrenner's recent comments both amused and angered me:

"My only message is simple: The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century. I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s."

First off, his anger and outrage over an act of randomness is pretty funny. So are his condemnations of the NL and insults to an entire league. Really, it's good stuff...until you realize he's serious. Like, for real, Hank? Getting 3-strikes was also a rule from the 1800s...should we updates that too? And I also don't think pitchers should hit, but to call the NL old fashioned because of a rule that really does makes sense is going too far. Way to make the Yankee organization the laughing stock of the major leagues.

Mike Mussina didn't help this situation with this gem:

"We don't hit, we don't run the bases. You get four or five at-bats a year at most, and if you happen to get on base once or twice, you never know. We run in straight lines most of the time. Turning corners, you just don't do that."

Yup. Professional pitches can't run in curves. In fact, their houses are all straight lines so they don't have to do any turns. Honestly, Moose? Could you be any more nonsensical?

It was a random accident. It sucks. No one is to blame for it. We'll have to deal. End of discussion.

Well, while the Yanks are victims of foot-in-cast and foot-in-mouth, other organizations are seeing worse fates. The Mariners (24-46) fired GM Bill Bavasi yesterday. This is understandable; he assembled a team that was supposed to be a contender but became a victim of poor chemistry and miserable morale. If your job is to deliver upon expectations and you fail this much...oops.

Less understandably is what the Mets (34-35) did overnight. After weeks of speculation, manager Willie Randolph is out. Ok, it's understandable to an extent--mangers are always the scapegoats. When a team is doing miserably, it's always the easy choice to blame them, even though no one can ever really put their finger on what the manager does. Well, I'll tell you what he does. He creates the workouts, organizes the lineup, puts plays into motion, makes strategic lineup switches, and manages the bullpen. Oh, and he also can have a number of psychological effects on team effort and morale. It's a subtle, yet important, job, and failure to deliver on it IS grounds for dismissal.

Unfortunately, I don't think Willie truly failed at any of them. Randolph isn't the reason for Delagdo's huge contract and quick decline. Randolph isn't why the players collapsed right before October 2007. Nor is he why Wagner can't hold a save, or why Pedro was DL'd and Santana isn't as stellar as he should be. And Randolph also didn't trade away the farm system. But yet, Willie is the easiest one to point yet, and thus Willie was axed (over email at 3am!). A stupid and reactionary move by the Mets, if you ask me. Way to stay classy, guys.

Oh, and above all, someone tell the FO that they're the Mets. They're not a team, like the Yanks, that is supposed to be postseason-bound annually. They had a good run over the past two years, and now they're having a semi-firesale because they're a few under .500 before the half? Please. Wake up and realize who you are.

(Geez, this sport has too much drama.)