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Let me issue a mea culpa on part of my Buck critique;

I assume the reported story that Buck did not want to play Vogy, and was forced to do so by Eppler, is true. Buck did a good job of supporting Vogy publicly, and Buck may have wanted to use the younger players more, though that is not entirely clear.

No matter, Buck saw what many of us saw with Vogy, and Eppler was likely looking to justify an acquisition that was unwise. This does change my view of Buck, and I take back part of my harshness towards him.

Going forward, I am worried that:

1. Stearns talked about the "partnership" between him and the manager. This sounds like the GM/POBO gets to dictate lineups more than I believed - the Moneyball fight between Brad Pitt and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (may he RIP) is still going on today.

2. Stearns acquired Vogy in 2016 while with the Brewers, though he gave up very little for him. I still believe Holderman was a loss for the Mets, though Holderman has worts, he is better than every Met reliever other than Diaz (low bar)

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