Mets Mishandled Chili Davis Firing in Willie Randolph Fashion
Look, it was only a matter of time before Chili Davis was going to be fired as the New York Mets hitting coach. If you’ve followed his career, his approach doesn’t work, and teams are better when they move past him.
Baseball has moved past his philosophies. His tutelage results in an increase of ground balls, decrease in homers, and an increase in strikeouts. It’s a disaster.
We saw the Mets falling into the same traps, and there was no juiced ball to bail them out. It certainly didn’t help Davis’ case Francisco Lindor, a traditional slow starter, had one of his worst ever starts.
There was also Zack Scott’s elevation to GM. As noted by Michael Mayer, Scott was with the Boston Red Sox when they fired Davis. A large part of that was his “old school” philosophies and their resulting decrease in offense.
Note that the Mets acting GM Zack Scott was the Red Sox head of R&D when they fired Chili Davis after a short stint.
Scott was initially hired to run the Mets analytics, not exactly something Chili is known to be well-versed in. https://t.co/I9UDpUsX8I
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) April 30, 2021
Firing Davis was absolutely the correct decision. The Mets could ill afford to continue to hold back their team. They needed to make the change.
They needed to make the change on Wednesday when they ended their homestand. They needed to make the change when the Mets prepared to depart Philadelphia, which is in driving distance to New York, to head to St. Louis.
Instead, the Mets opted to fire Davis after the team flew to St. Louis. They made him go through all that extra COVID19 screening and protocols only to fire him immediately thereafter.
It’s cruel and unnecessary, and it’s how inept front offices operate. It’s like when the Mets run by the Wilpons fired Willie Randolph one game into a West coast trip. That was a low moment for the Mets.
St. Louis isn’t Los Angeles by any means. However, it’s still a flight. It was unnecessary to have him on that flight if the intention was to fire him. The Mets had the notion they were firing Davis soon, and they should’ve done it before he got on that plane.
Hopefully, this will be the last time the Mets act in a way reminiscent of the way the Wilpons ran things. This should be the last time it ever happens because it’s unacceptable.
The Mets fired Chili and Slater because they want old school out the door in all baseball categories. Everything else concocted is nonsense. The Mets bit by bit undermined Chili Davis’s status, and rather than pair old and new school to get benefits from both, they fired a very knowledgeable, well liked hitting coach who helped a bunch of players thrive through his guidance and feedback.
I think more firings are coming including Luis Rojas either during the season or after, and then after the season, Mets look for new GM who isn’t uncomfortable in his role like the current.
No, they fired a bad hitting coach, who has really hurt a number of teams offensively. The stats are there.
Mets players thrived under Chili Davis whose focus is line drives, using whole field. and not to swing for the fences..
It’s a shame he was fired. The Mets players really liked him as hitting coach, bringing his real world experience, and old school expertise to them from both sides of the plate.
They thrived with the juiced ball, and most did better last year when he wasn’t there.
Please stop with the juice ball nonsense which you’ve been fixated on for a broader agenda, with ridiculous claims about players only hitting for power because of it.
The current baseball travels a tad less distance which will have little impact on physically fit, strong players who barrel up at appropriate launch angles with exit velocity that create homers. A few feet difference is of little consequence to players capable of hitting the ball out of the park at any fence distance. Whatever small reduction in homers, and increase in outs at the fence, should result in increase of other extra base hits, sac flies and more bloop hits in what would have been fly balls caught. There are 5 more months of data collection, and warm air to assess.
Juiced ball agenda? You do realize MLB admitted to tweaking the ball and worked to deaden the ball entering this season.
Whether you like it or not, it’s a fact.
You must not have read my post if you think I’m unaware the baseball being used this season slightly reduces distance traveled.
I read it and the part where you’re dismissive of the overall effects
Pete Alonso Today As Reported By Beat Writers:
“Pete Alonso says that he found about about the firings on Twitter while eating his post-game meal. He says he had a professional chat with Zack Scott after seeing the news, gave Chili and Tom Slater hugs and then went back to his locker and cried a bit.”
“Pete Alonso and why the Mets fired Chili Davis and Tom Slater: “Things just aren’t clear to me right now.” He said that is true even after acting GM Zack Scott spoke to the team today. ”
“Pete Alonso says he cried at his locker after learning on Twitter that the Mets had fired Chili Davis and Tom Slater. “It really caught us all off guard,” Alonso said. ”
“It’s confusing for me. I respect everybody who made that decision, but to me it doesn’t make sense right now” – Pete Alonso on the Mets firing Chili Davis and Tom Slater.”
“Pete Alonso on the Chili Davis firing: “It was an explanation that still doesn’t make sense to me right now.”
“Pete Alonso said he is “perplexed” by the Mets’ decision to fire hitting coaches Chili Davis and Tom Slater. He called them “Uncle Chili and Uncle Slate” and “outstanding individuals.”
That speaks to Alonso’s character.
Alonso liking Chili Davis does not turn a really batting hitting coach and suddenly make him good.
Mets players don’t agree with you. They thrived under his watch.
They didn’t thrive under his watch.
I have every reason to be skeptical because I actually looked at the data surrounding old ball vs. new, comparing 2020 homers if used 2021 ball, and that MLB told teams testing shows a loss of a foot or two off balls hit over 375 feet.
The Athletic also reports the new ball has more bounce.
We’ll need a full season of data to gauge impact, including what happens in-game to fly balls and liners that would have been homers. How many other types of hits and runs do they produce? How many turn to outs, sac flies, and how many previous outs now drop in as hits between infield and outfield?
So, my original assertions about your comments were correct