A headline in the NY Daily News today reads: Slumping Mets eye major shakeup: Coaches on firing line; Pelfrey, Perez or Maine may get demoted.
The Mets are off to a 6-9 start. Their starting pitching, outside of Johan Santana, has been nothing short of miserable. The offense apparently decides what days it feels like showing up to the ballpark.
That leads Jerry Manuel and the Mets to shift gears from positive motivation to scare tactics.
A team insider later elaborated that no one, aside from Johan Santana, has immunity. Translation: Perez or Pelfrey, who can be optioned to the minors without passing through waivers, could be ticketed for the minors, while Livan Hernandez's standing as fifth starter could be on shaky ground.
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While nothing is imminent, dialogue about coaching changes already has begun, a source told The News.
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The more interesting question would be whether to pull the plug on Gary Sheffield, who went 0-for-5 Thursday as part of Manuel's rejiggered lineup, dropping his average to .111.
Manuel has been the king of saying one thing and doing another during his tenure here in New York. Right now, this just seems like the next form of motivation before they actually start to do something about it (i.e. roster moves and coaching positions).
I’m not glad it has come to this, but I’m glad this is what they’re doing. Nothing scares a player more than getting demoted and/or cut.
Let Manuel talk this talk and walk this walk for a while. If it doesn’t work out though, he might be the man out of a job.