Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Mets Pitchers Were Lazy? Don't Blame Warthen

Pitching coach Dan Warthen was quoted in the Wall Street Journal, saying that the Mets pitching staff became lazy in 2011.
"We got into being a little bit mentally lazy and overly secure," Warthen said. "I think that caused a lot of the homers this year. I really do." The new dimensions, Warthen added, "will help us focus and concentrate and not be so ready to go out there and throw a fastball away and hope they hit it to center field."
I know many fans can't stand the fact that Warthen is still the pitching coach. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who the pitching coach is. If you have a group of pitchers who lack talent, guess what, you're going to give up home runs.

Sure, Warthen can spend his time motivating his pitchers, but let's be realistic. This is not Little League, high school, or college ball. At this level, players should not need to be constantly checked on to see if they are motivated to still play. If they do, they don't belong on the field to begin with.

Knowing that you can get the boot from the rotation, or the big league team all together, should be enough motivation for a Major League ball player.

Personally, if I had noticed any of my players becoming lazy, they would have found themselves a seat on the bench. If the Mets were to do that, however, they would have had nobody to fill those spots. The talent is just not there.

This all brings me to a previous post from months back, where I asked: When do the fans stop blaming everyone else, and start holding players accountable?

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