Rick Peterson's Reign Of Delusion Continues

By Metstradamus
Posted Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I'm sure that you're all recovering from the big news of the week.

No, not that big news.

I'm talking about the news that the Mets have offered a four-year deal to the immortal Kyle Lohse.

Kyle Lohse, for the efforts of background and perspective, is a career 63-74 pitcher who was 6-12 in Cincinnati before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he went 3-0 down the stretch without pitching particularly better than he did as a Red (Lohse actually had a higher ERA in his short stint as a Phillie than he did in his Reds career). If you look past the 2003 season, at which point he had a 31-26 record, Lohse's record reads as 32 wins and 48 losses. According to inside sources, that's disgusting.

Yet he gets a four-year offer from the New York Mets.

At first glance, it seems that Lohse is simply taking advantage of a low supply of good available pitching combined with a high demand for the very same good available pitching. When you combine that with the organization's recent history of being penny wise yet pound foolish, a shotgun marriage between Lohse and the Mets seems inevitable.

But there's something else at play, and that something else wears a jacket in 95 degree weather.

The fact that Rick Peterson is still employed by the Mets makes no logical sense. And I don't say that necessarily as a knock against Rick Peterson. But there have been many times over the past four years where Rick Peterson could have, and in other situations in other cities, would have been fired. He could have been fired after the '04 season when the old regime of Art Howe and Jim Duquette were washed away for Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya. Peterson was part of that old regime ... and guru or not, most old regime coaches are thrown out with the bath water and the rest of the old regime. Somehow, Peterson survived that.

Then, there was 2005 when there were rumors of Peterson's demise after the team fell apart early that September. While the pitching itself wasn't the problem, again ... few would have batted an eye if Peterson was let go to chase greener pastures. Again, Peterson survived.

But the fact that it was the bullpen failures that were the backdrop of that dreadful September collapse, and Peterson would have been the easiest and least controversial scapegoat when fans were screaming for a scapegoat, makes it completely unbelievable that Peterson still survives, to this day. Maybe the heat has been off him because bigger fish like Minaya and Randolph were being considered for the frying pan. But in any event, Peterson survives. This begs the question, who does Rick Peterson have under his spell?

***

A reunion between Barry Zito and Rick Peterson seemed inevitable, seemingly for years before Zito became a free agent after the '06 season. Zito's old pitching coach being with the Mets, combined with the team being a division champion and one hit away from the World Series one year ago at this time made Barry Zito in blue and orange seem like it was only a matter of time. When it didn't happen, we were all surprised, weren't we? Sure, it was lots of millions of extra dollars that Zito spurned the Mets for, and understandably so. My theory has always been that the Mets, in their insistence (stubbornness?) of staying at five years or less for a pitcher at that age bought the Giants enough time to search their couch cushions to find enough millions to bring Zito on board.

But it was what Zito said after the fact that always stuck with me. At first, I thought Zito's proclamation of Mets arrogance during free agent negotiations rang hollow considering the size of the paychecks that the Giants are now signing for him. While it still rings hollow, I'm thinking that there may be something to that. The pattern of the Mets signings and their attitude towards big name pitching and the amount of seasons they're willing to give them tells me that they don't need to spend for the big names, when all they have to do is unleash mediocre talent on the genius of Rick Peterson and watch them blossom.

"Why Mr. Zito, if you can't see what the genius of Rick Peterson can do for you, then you're not a fit for our baseball club."

When you think about it in those terms, why wouldn't Fred Wilpon (known in some circles as "Freddie Coupon") be completely enamored with Rick Peterson? Peterson, the guru, is Wilpon's built-in excuse. "Who needs to give away the entire farm plus $130 million for one guy, when I could get five guys on the cheap and have at least one of them be the next Santana, with Rick Peterson's help of course" is what Wilpon is surely thinking. It makes sense. Why else would the Mets be willing to offer Barry Zito only one more year than they're willing to offer Kyle Lohse?

Think about that. One more season.

Of course, the danger in that is that coaching is a tad overrated at the major league level. While it's extremely important to have important teachers with a consistent philosophy in the lower levels of the minor leagues, bonafide major leaguers already know how to play baseball. They need shrinks more than they need coaches. "But wait", you say. Peterson's folksy saying such as "ketchup on your ice cream" and "rainfall on the road barricades" speak more of shrink than of coach. Fine. But does that mean that Rick Peterson doesn't need top notch talent to unleash those gems on?

If you're reading this and taking this as a condemnation of Peterson's abilities as a pitching coach, you're probably missing the point. In fact, saddling Peterson with a whole bunch of raw talent and expecting him to save every single one of them isn't fair to Peterson. Saddling Peterson with a guy who's 32-48 in the last four years is certainly unfair. But the problem is that Peterson has input into player personnel decisions (does "I'll fix him in ten minutes" sound familiar?), and he's the one probably whispering sweet praises into his bosses' collective ears about Lohse that has made the Mets go after him.

I understand if you want to tell me that six prospects with a $130 million cherry on top for Johan Santana is too big a sundae for any ownership to stomach. But if you were one of the people that thought that the Giants completely overpaid for Zito one year ago then let me ask you this: If Barry Zito was available this season at that price, considering what happened last September, would you take it? At this point, I would take it. Heck, I'd build a time machine and kidnap a Wilpon if I could until that deal went down. And I say that completely considering the off-year that Zito had at 11-13 and 4.53 in the National League, because I believe that Peterson could have made a difference with Zito. Call me a hypocrite if you wish for saying that last sentence in the same piece that I say that coaching is overrated. But if the Wilpons believe that Rick Peterson will turn Kyle Lohse into a 15-game winner, then yes ... they're overrating their coach. But to say that Rick Peterson could have been the difference between 4.53 and say, 3.98, I don't think that's too much of a stretch.

The bottom line, for me, is that the Mets play in the market of New York City. And while prudence is appreciated in manageable portions, any team that plays in the New York market without a hard salary cap should not be afraid of talent. The New England Patriots, for example, went 12-4 and were thirty minutes of football away from the Super Bowl. After three Lombardi Trophies, who could have blamed them for sticking with the formula that has worked for them so well, which is to stock their team with interchangeable team guys? Instead the Patriots, unafraid of talent, traded for Randy Moss ... and now they're 14-0 and are headed to another championship. Granted, the price for Moss was only a fourth round draft choice, but if anybody has earned the title of "coach who can take marginal players and make them into championship caliber performers", Bill Belichick has earned that. Yet the Patriots had the foresight and understanding that Randy Moss would help the Patriots go from a great team to a phenomenal team.

The Mets, winners of one lonely divisional title since the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, seem to be afraid of going for that brass ring, instead depending on Peterson to turn a 63-74 pitcher into Randy Moss, Barry Zito, and Johan Santana all rolled into one. Nobody's that good a coach, not even Rick Peterson.