Davidoff's Baseball Insider: Mets can learn from D-Backs

Flash back to Opening Day, April 5. If you had been told that on July 1, a National League team would clean house - firing its general manager and manager - which club would you have guessed?

Yeah, me, too.

But while the Mets have no reason to dismiss Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel at this point - to the contrary, both men have received praise in making their team a pleasant surprise of 2010 - there are some lessons to be learned by comparing the Diamondbacks' dismissal of GM Josh Byrnes and manager A.J. Hinch to the Mets' state of being.

1. Relationships matter. Byrnes and Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall reportedly couldn't get along, leading to Byrnes' dismissal. Fairly or unfairly, the 36-year-old Hinch, a controversial replacement for Bob Melvin last year, never seemed to win the respect of his players. When the Arizona bullpen routinely blew up and lost games, those fissures grew, at least in perception.

With the Mets, however, there is general harmony - not utopia, but harmony - from Manuel up to Minaya up to the Wilpons.

2. Speaking of bullpens, they don't matter. Well, to be more precise, they matter, yet a bad bullpen shouldn't constitute a fireable offense. Bullpens are volatile. Byrnes didn't deserve to lose his job because of the Diamondbacks' relief corps, and the same went for Minaya back in 2008, when a horrendous bullpen spurred The Second Collapse.

3. Starting pitching rules. Who knows how sunny it would be in Arizona if only Brandon Webb had stayed healthy these last two seasons? On the flip side, given how great and reliable Webb had been, who would've guessed that he'd vanish like this? Which is why you try to stay away from long, expensive commitments to starting pitchers no matter how good they seem. (Cough. Johan Santana. Cough.)

4. You need process. The truth is that the Diamondbacks don't have to blow themselves up, because Byrnes left a pretty good roster with almost no financial albatrosses. Byrnes didn't come close to perfection, but you could see the method behind everything he did.

That's not the case with the Mets, although they performed better last winter with the increased involvement of COO Jeff Wilpon. If the Mets decide to reconstruct their front office when or before Minaya's contract ends in 2012, and if Byrnes (getting paid by Arizona through 2015) still is available, a group featuring Byrnes' administrative strengths and Minaya's eye for talent could benefit everyone.

The big hurts

Chase Utley. Dustin Pedroia. Jason Heyward. Placido Polanco. Victor Martinez. Jason Varitek. And before this week, Josh Beckett, Kendry Morales and Troy Tulowitzki.

Are more players getting hurt this year?

Nope. It just seems that way.

As of June 25, there was a total of 265 disabled-list stints totaling 9,987 days. On June 29 of last year, those numbers were 305 and 11,332. On June 27, 2008, they were 328 and 13,047.

Hard to know what conclusions to draw, besides the notion that it appears clubs are doing a better job of keeping their players healthy.

Curse won't live on

After winning the 2000 World Series, the Yankees were particularly stingy giving out rings to employees. The unhappy workers created "The Curse of the Rings," declaring that the team would never again win it all until it rewarded those who felt deserving.

The curse lasted eight long years before the Yankees buried it last year, and it looks as if there won't be another one. According to people familiar with the situation, Yankees management has been far more generous with the 2009 rings, leaving virtually no one dissatisfied.