From: ez027993@dale.ucdavis.edu (Gary L. Huckabay)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Jason Abner Miller and the Mets - a Nude Revue!
Date: 23 Dec 92 00:38:07 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Failed Broadway Promoters, Inc.

Jason "I sentence you to watch Jean-Claude Van Damme Films" Abner Miller inks:

>	When Jeff Torborg arrived from Chicago late one night in 1991, 
>the popular sentiment was that the Mets were going to run away with
>the whole thing.  Gooden, Cone, Fernandez, Saberhagen in the starting
>staff, John Franco in the pen, Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray added to
>the lineup, with Bill Pecota and Willie Randolph to provide some sort
>of up-the-middle stability.

What?!?!  Popular sentiment here was that the Mets wouldn't score any runs,
or catch any balls on defense.  Gooden's an average pitcher, Sid and Bret are
fragile, and Cone, despite his great stuff, is Randy Johnsonesque at times.
Eddie Murray was 93 years old, and Bobby Bonilla was moving to a pitcher's
park.  Pecota was a 31 year old middle infielder whose best offensive
year was about a .710 OPS, and Willie Randolph was a 37 year old second
basebman with the range of Carney Lansford.  If anyone was going to tell
you that an offense of Vince Coleman, Bobby Bonilla, Hundley, HoJo, Murray,
Shortstop Du Jour, and Generic Met Infielder [tm] was going to be a winning
offense, I hope you slapped them for insulting your intelligence.

When you add in the 'defense' in the outfield of Coleman (two left feet),
HoJo (three left feet), and Bonilla (The Amazing Amputee Outfielder) you
should ask yourself the question..."Gee, can the Mets allow 2000 XBH in
one year?"

>	And, as he did with the White Sox, it was hoped that Torborg
>would come along, take a struggling team, and win with them.  Maybe 
>Harazin just thought that Torborg was a good manager, after what he did
>with the Sox; but the Mets were in such disarray after '91 that they
>needed a leader.  Torborg couldn't provide this.

No, but he could have played better defense than the Mets did, and he
could have known that the Mets offense in '92 was going to be nothing
short of weak.

>	All Torborg did was get frustrated with players early in
>the season, juggle them around, and moan to WFAN about how he couldn't
>get the team to win.  His intentions were sincere, but the man has
>no managerial instincts whatsoever.  Anthony Young went from the starter
>of the future to the closer of the future, and in the long run, succeeded at
>neither; HoJo's head was severely messed up, as Torborg would decide
>what to do with him at 3 PM of game day, during his daily interview on
>WFAN, and HoJo wouldn't find out what was going on until he drove in to
>work; the media rode Bonilla mercilessly.

In other words, he managed in New York.

>	What the Mets needed, more than just a Torborg type who once
>won 90 games with a good team, was a leader, someone to stabilize the
>team.  Instead, a promising nucleus (if maybe a bit old at some positions),
>fell nearly to last place, and all those injuries didn't help.

WHAT THE FU$% PROMISING NUCLEUS ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?  Bonilla, Murray,
Gooden, Fernandez, Saberhagen?  Hell, I prefer the 1993 Oakland A's,
and I don't think *SQUAT* of their chances.

Anyone who thought the 1992 Mets were going to contend was deluding
themselves.

>	The Mets need direction.  Trading Cone and letting Magadan walk,
>and geting nearly nothing in return, did not help. 

Agreed.  But 'direction' is a mighty ephemeral concept.  I prefer "The Mets 
need to wake up, get an offense, get a defense, and realize that Dwight
Gooden isn't a #1 starter anymore.  He might be OK with a real defense
behind him, and he might be a winner if we could score some runs.  Let's
start by taking out Vince Coleman, and shooting him."

> I think putting a guy
>like Cito in charge of the Mets would hurt as badly as putting Torborg
>in charge did; could Cito make all the Mets perform as one?

The idea is to get them to perform as nine when on the field.  They
looked like about 6.85 on defense last year.

>	I would've liked to see Don Baylor managing the Mets; he has
>a reputation as a natural leader of men, whether that's a mediot's myth
>or not, and the Mets certainly need direction right now.  Torborg is
>not the manager Harazin thought he was; the Mets need a manager with
>patience and faith, and a manager who won't mess with players' heads.

Patience and faith in whom?  The Mets DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE ENOUGH TALENT
TO WIN THE WORLD SERIES.  The NL East is weak, but I don't think it's
Mets weak.

>	Guaranteed, the Mets *do* have holes in 1993:

Winner, the "Joe Lundy Understatement of the Year Award."

>1B:  Murray - numbers sink a little more each year

Well, the guy turn 37 in February.  The Mets were fools to sign him.

>2B:  Kent - unproven

Best non-HoJo infielder they have.  Leave him alone.  He'll be OK.

>SS:  T.Fernandez - rumour has it he's headed sharply down

Stiff city.  Won't hit, has no power, doesn't walk, a disaster on the
basepaths, and has lost two steps in the field.  I'd rather have
Belliard.

>3B:  HoJo - a big question mark

Just leave him alone.  He'll be OK.

>LF:  Coleman (yuck!)

Capital Y.

>CF:  Thompson (yuck!)

Don't really know anything about him.  Some help, please?

>RF:  Bobby Bo - I think he'll bounce back, but not too strongly

Probably reasonable.  How about .280/.360/.440?  Sound reasonable?

> C:  Hundley (yuck!)

Considering the dearth of catchers, it could be worse.  He could be high
priced.

>SP:  Fernandez, Gooden, Saberdude, Schourek, *gasp* Frank "I Suck Mightily"
>     Tanana

Looks slightly better than average.

>RP:  Franco (closer - YUCK!); Young

Looks like dog food.  Franco's been less than stellar for a few years now.
Where's Machado when you need him?  *bang*  Ah, he's over that way.
Exercising dispute resolution the Libertarian way.

>	This is not a great team, but not a last-place team.  The big
>problem is that of talent - the young players simply just don't have it,
>and Kent will be under such a big microscope that I wouldn't be shocked
>if he couldn't hit .210; Hundley has to learn how to hit; Frank Tanana
>just blows boulders.

The only reason it's not a last place team is because of the Cubs.

>	Torborg and Buddy can't win with this team.  Someone who can handle 
>players might, though.  But there is no stability in the Mets' organization,

Who the Hell on that team is going to score runs?

>beginning with Harazin up there as GM, and I'm not excited about 1993.

I am.  I hate the Mets.
And Giants.  It's gonna be a great year.

-- 
*    Gary Huckabay     * "Hi, Joel, it's Kathy."  "Hi, Kath."  "I think you 
*  "Official keeper    *  better come over.  Gary's not well.  He's chewing 
*  of the r.s.b. ammo  *  on the carpet, his eyes are red, and he's sobbing 
*   and weapons hoard."*  uncontrollably." "The A's signed Storm.  He'll live."