Wednesday, March 04, 2009

THE JOHAN SITUATION.

Here’s my take on the Johan Situation^TM:

• We don’t really know what’s going on. No, we don’t. Even if you’re a beat writer, all you know is what you’re being told, whether it’s from Johan, Jerry Manuel, or anyone else in the Mets organization. They’re not going to tell us the 100% truth. The status of the health of your ace pitcher is not constitutionally protected. They’re going to tell us the version of the truth that they are comfortable revealing.
• We’re seeing a lot of spin control. The Mets might feel that the media and the fans felt they mishandled the public view on the Ryan Church situation from 2008, so they’re handling the information flow with kid gloves this time. This means there is more information being distributed more frequently.

• A lot of the media thinks that the Mets mishandled the Ryan Church situation. That was not exactly the golden hour of Mets PR. That was the same time period that produced Willie getting fired during what equated to the middle of the night in the NYC news cycle. It’s not that they’re holding grudges, it’s that they’re going to ask a lot of questions in many different ways until they’re satisfied with the answer, or realize that they’ve gotten as much of an answer as they’re going to get.
• It’s Spring Training. I wrote about this last year. I got Spring Training burnout because every single beat writer is down there, and has to file, and instead of just articles, they now have blogs and articles. But in 2009 they have blogs and articles and Twitter feeds and podcasts and videoblogs and every non mainstream media blogger is, with a few exceptions, reblogging every single thing that’s being regurgitated out there, so it’s even worse. (This is a big reason you are not reading about Spring Training here; I’m not there, I don’t have a beat reporter there, and unless I have something completely unique to add to someone’s coverage, why would I waste your time? You know how to get to Mets Blog.) The point is, at least the Church situation happened during the regular season. During Spring Training there isn’t a lot to talk about so there’s a lot of high-powered magnifying glasses on the situation.
• It’s Johan. Subway Squawkers wrote about this yesterday - that the reason Mets fans are all so freaked out to a hyperactive degree is that we can’t go get another Johan Santana. There might be random pitchers available for a couple of sacks of baseballs but there is no JOHAN SANTANA available for love or money. Don’t tell me that Omar needs to go pick up leftover LHP X or Y and we’ll be fine, because I will tell you that you are smoking crack. And it is easy, if you are fans of a team that does not have Johan Santana, to sit there and say “it’s not that bad,” but it is also downright stupid to the nth degree. (You know better. Stop it.)

All of these factors combined create a situation that feels like panic instead of quiet command.  The whole confusion over what was happening on Sunday is a prime example. First he was flying back to New York. Then he wasn’t. Then it was that he wasn’t because he threw a bullpen session and felt fine. Other reports said he wasn’t flying back to New York because of the weather. (No one has ever addressed why there is no qualified physician within the entire state of Florida available to a team who goes there every single spring, but that’s another story. [But seriously, why does no one ever ask it and get an answer?])  It felt hectic and not very assuring. I don’t think that’s what they want to project, but it sure feels like it - and given the factors listed above, I’m not sure that there’s anything they can do to fix it.