Monday Morning — November 2002
The 2002 season is a distant memory, but 2003 is still a long way off. In the meantime, Fred Wilpon and Steve Phillips will be reshaping the Mets in order to prepare for the new season.
The Art of Managing - Most of the Mets headlines over the last month concerned the search for a new manager. That search officially ended on October 28th when Art Howe was announced as the Mets' 17th manager. Howe signed a four year contract worth $9.4 million. Meeting the New York media, which initially criticized the new manager because he wasn't their presumptive first choice Lou Pinella (who was available from the Mariners, but at an exorbitant price (Roberto Alomar reportedly would have had to have been sent to Seattle as compensation!)), Howe impressed them with a disarming mix of confidence and humor, saying, "I'd like to thank you all out there for all the nice articles you've been writing about me. I guess this means I'll never get a roast, because you've already done it."
Howe comes to the Mets from Oakland, after taking the Athletics to the postseason for the last three seasons. One of the Mets' first moves in the Art Howe era was to name Denny Walling as the new hitting coach. Walling, who was Howe's hitting coach in Oakland 1996-1998, replaces Chris Chambliss.
kcmets.com wishes Howe the best of luck in New York!
He's a Keeper - The Mets have exercised their $8 million option to retain Roberto Alomar for 2003.
Meanwhile, Alomar is one of the Major League stars who will be playing an exhibition series against Japanese all stars in Japan November 9-17. The team will be managed by Art Howe.
Sayonara - The Mets waived Satoru Komiyama rather than exercise the option to pay him $1 million for the 2003 season.
Kane Davis cleared waivers to become a minor-league free agent.
Two days after signing a one-year contract with the Mets, Pedro Feliciano was claimed off waivers by the Detroit Tigers.
Free as a Bird - The 2002 Mets who have filed for free agency include Edgardo Alfonzo, Steve Reed, Jeff D'Amico, Steve Trachsel, Mark Guthrie, and John Valentin.
Other Roster News - Jorge Toca was outrighted to Norfolk in October.
Hey Now, He's an All-Star! - Mike Piazza was named as the National League catcher on 2002 The Sporting News All-Star team. Additionally, Piazza was awarded his 10th Silver Slugger Award, which is presented by Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the maker of Louisville Slugger bats to the best offensive players at each position in each league, as voted on by major league managers and coaches.
Shaping Up - The Newark Star-Ledger reports that, at the urging of Fred Wilpon, Mo Vaughn is at home this offseason in Columbus, Ohio working with a physician, a nutritionist, and a team-provided personal trainer in order to shed some weight. The Star-Ledger further reports that Wilpon threatened to void the remainder of Vaughn's contract, which includes the standard clause that a player must "keep himself in first-class physical condition and to obey the club's training rules," if the hefty first-baseman fails to shape up!
Pitching for Another Cause - Al Leiter has been named the official spokesperson for Ultimate Software, a provider of web-based payroll and workforce management solutions.
Rest in Peace - Sal Harder, the Mets pitching coach in 1964, passed away on October 20th at the age of 93.
Rant of the Month - Much is being made in the media of the low television ratings for the World Series. From my vantage point, I'm convinced there would be more viewers if MLB made the games more accessible. With 60% of the population of this country living in the Eastern time zone, the games should start significantly earlier. If people know that they won't be able to stay up for the end of a postseason game, they have little incentive to watch any of it. And with the current length of games, a 7:00 PM Eastern start would still encompass almost all of prime time, but would allow East Coast fans the opportunity to follow games that could end before midnight.
Beyond that, MLB needs to reach out to the potential baseball fans of tomorrow. School-age youngsters are unable to watch most night games. An occasional day game or late afternoon start would make it possible for children to watch entire games. As things currently stand, MLB is cutting itself off from its future fan base because the youth of today has been prevented from following the excitement of the World Series.
I understand that MLB sold out to the networks for the money, and they have no qualms about having done so. Fine, it's their prerogative. But it's disingenuous for them to then turn around and blame the fans for not tuning in. MLB should be courting these fans instead of making it affirmatively difficult for them to enjoy America's Pastime!
Special Feature: Baseball as America
Special Feature: Talkin' Baseball with Terry Cashman
Unless otherwise stated, these stories have been extracted from reports on www.nydailynews.com, www.nypost.com, www.nytimes.com, www.njo.com, www.newsday.com, www.bergenrecord.com, AP , and www.mets.com reports.
