Sorry Jerry.
I don’t like anything I’m about to write, but fans of the Mets Police know I call them as I see them.
I’ve enjoyed Jerry Manuel’s time as Mets manager, and I in no way blame him for any of the disasters the 2009 have faced. (I am looking in to the rumor I started that Citi Field was built over ancient Indian burial grounds).
I don’t think anybody could have coaxed 90+ wins out of the “Nieve/Berroa/what was the name of that guy who was the SS for a week” Mets.
This was a season in which somehow Gary Sheffield and Livan Hernandez became really important. That was never anyone’s plan.
Think back to March. I had the Mets going to the playoffs. You had the Mets going to the playoffs. Look at SI’s baseball preview. Look where they picked the Mets. Even at my most cynical I had the Mets finishing second. Don’t act like you knew this team would be a disaster. You didn’t. Nobody was talking about depth at Buffalo in April.
So to sit back now and suggest that Omar Minaya put together a lousy team is unfair.
However, Ownership won’t be able to market 2010 as “Everyone’s Back!” Telling us that the crew that was here for the biggest collapse of all time, the worst stadium closing in history, and the all-time injury bug just isn’t enough for the fans.
You can’t break up the core because you will get diminished value for all four. Nobody is sure how healthy Delgado, Beltran and Reyes are – and do you think trading David Wright when he has 8 home runs is going to get you back what if might have a year ago (not to mention the Seaveresque riots that would follow)? Plus pesky things like no-trade clauses and such.
So you have to sell change. That change, unfairly, is going to come from the managers chair.
Who will it be. Mazzilli, Backman, LaRussa or Manny Acta? None of those guys for reasons we can talk about in the days to come.
There is one man for this job.
The job is about more than managing ballplayers. It’s more than trying to coax a performance out of players (which is a Buck Showalter type job; he too won’t be the choice).
The job in 2010 is about distraction.
Appease as many fans as you can, give the sportswriters something to write about other than lack of pitching depth, and give the haters an enemy.
A fallen hero will return.
Distract the fans.
Casey Stengel is dead. So is Billy Martin. That leaves one man.
This is going to pain me to type, because I think the name I am about to write might take the team to second place, but his teams start slow, and the fact is he just hasn’t won the big one.
That being said, I know who the next manager of the New York Mets will be, and he will be the distracting face of the team for 2010 and 2011 while this organization gets its act together.
The next manager of the New York Mets will be…..
Bobby Valentine.
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