Fired Mets' Hitting Coach Takes Some Shots at Keith Hernandez

The 2014 New York Mets offense isn’t pretty. As of Tuesday morning the Mets are 22nd in runs scored, 25th in batting average and last in slugging percentage. You don’t need a degree in advanced Sabremetrics to tell you those numbers aren’t good.

Fittingly, Monday the team fired hitting coach Dave Hudgens because obviously you can’t fire the players, making the coach an easy target. Coaches come and go and it’s usually not that big a deal, given that this is New York and the Mets, it made for a story. Hudgens praised his relationship with GM Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins. He left out the team’s owners and then took a swipe at the SNY broadcast team.

Newsday‘s Marc Carig (a good Twitter follow by the way), spoke with Hudgens on Monday to talk about his dismissal. Here’s what he said about the broadcast crew, not mentioning Keith Hernandez or Ron Darling by name:

"“The naysayers, the guys who disapprove of us, the guys who I listen to on TV all the time, those guys that know everything about the game, I’m just amazed at it,” Hudgens said. “What’s wrong with getting a good pitch to hit? Somebody, please punch a hole in that for me. I just shake my head at the old-school guys that have it all figured out. Go up there and swing the bat. Well, what do you want to swing at? It just confounds me. It’s just hilarious, really. “That’s one thing. I’m glad I don’t have to listen to those guys anymore.”"

For what it’s worth the Mets are sixth in baseball in strikeouts and 10th in walks.

The other question? How or why is the hitting coach listening to the team broadcasters when he’s in the dugout? I know I’d rather watch a Seinfeld rerun when I got home from the ballpark rather than a replay of the game I just sat through, but that’s me.