|
The following e-mail was relayed to me, which is initially written by a White Sox fan to a Mets fan, regarding what Mets fans can expect from Jerry Manuel:
“He’s definitely a laid back type of manager. If the Mets need someone to give them a kick in the ass, he’s not the guy for that. But if they need a calming influence, he’s the man.
He was Manager of the Year once with the Sox, but they got very complacent on him after a few years…he’s not the inspirational type. It got so bad that the Sox went in the complete opposite direction when replacing him with Ozzie Guillen.”
…from what i can gather, manuel has a very good relationship with the players, but i do not think he’s going to be the great disciplinarian, or revolutionary mind, that most Mets fans had hoped would eventually replace Willie Randolph…which is not to say he can’t success, it’s just i do not think he’s cut from the cloth that most fans had been hoping for…
They should hire me.
Just hire Wally Backman!!
Wally WHO!!!!?????
Who do you propose they hire?…. Sir…..
I think you meant WALL-E from the robot movie, no?
Might be better than Willie’s conjoined twin….
Replacing Willie with Manuel was a lateral move that in no way will effect the players in any way except negatively. These guys will sleepwalk the rest of the season and if were lucky theyll finish at 500. IF WERE LUCKY.
If thats what it takes to get rid of Minaya then so be it. Unfortunately, there is no getting rid of the Wilpons.
Exactly. If Willie was the problem, Manuel certainly is.
The offense is the biggest issue, and HoJo is still there.
I don’t necessarily think they’ll finish at .500, I still think they can win it all, hell, they’re already starting to win again. They needed a change, but this is just about the only way you could make a change that won’t help.
Yes, the change was needed even if they started to win, because even good teams lose two in a row and if Randolph is still there the tension would start up again no matter what.
I hold out hope that Manuel was told, or will be told, that he is manager on a strictly interim basis, and that as soon as when they get back to NY he could be back in his normal, bench coach role when they find the official replacement. It’s unlikely, but possible he knows this and accepts being interim — he gets to keep his job for now.
i agree completely, how is hojo still here?
The team will WIN if they get healthy.
Willie and Manuel are the same.
If Alou and Church and Pagain can get healthy, if Pedro can stay healthy, the Mets will win.
This was more about the players being hurt and no help down below.
As I said before, it was Omar’s bed, but Willie was forced to sleep in it.
Wow, are you saying that Willie the Sillie was a good manager?
Forget about it, he was bad. very, verry bad.
And it is not worth going into so many mistakes he made, cause it may not matter to you.
I agree. This is fine for the short term, but if Manuel is the manager for the rest of the season I’d rather have just kept Willie.
I want fire in the clubhouse! Not more complacency.
You are so right. they need a real change not a lateral one.
FIRE JEFF WILPON
This is much more like replacing John McNamara with John McNamara than it is like replacing John McNamara with Joe Morgan.
Will Jerry take willies place in the ASG??
No — Willie is allowed to coach at the ASG game if he wants. I am unsure what uniform he would wear, however…
No, Willie is allowed to coach the ASG still. Unsire what uni he would wear tho…
I can’t think of a third way to say the same thing.
Damn you WordPress!
the NYT article mentioned that now willie won’t be able to….maybe a miscommunication on their part?
I fully expect the Yankees to have a good laugh at the Mets expense, by having a ceremony for Randolph and throwing out the first pitch.
Does anybody know when the Japanese league’s season is over?
We need to bring back Bobby V.
Wish we could bring back Bobby V. But hes not leaving Japan.
Note1: If Wagner did not blow his three saves, Mets would be 37-32 and right in the race.
Willie would not have been fired. That is how thin a line staying and being fired is.
Note2: Why The Jacket? Pitching has been better than offense. If The Jacket has to go, why is HoJo still here? (I like HoJo, but I am just trying to make sense).
Note3: At least the booing will stop, right? No more ‘Fire Willie’. How long will that last?
The Mets only lost two of the three games last week where Wagner blew saves. They won the other in extra innings on a Beltran homerun.
You really need to check your math.
Maybe it’s just me being cyncial, but I wonder if the mood among the pitchers brightens a bit, and ElDuque (remember El Duque? he pitches for the Mets sometimes) decides he suddenly feels better, and Pedro does the happy dance a little more.
Just spitballin’ here…
This organization is an absolute disgrace. It is so pitiful that it’s incomprehensible. Fly the man to California, after their 3rd win in 4 nights, and fire him. Wow. What gall. I just don’t understand what it was? Why wasn’t he fired last week after the Padres debacle or Arizona debacle? You had to sit around, dilly dally and wait for the team to string a few wins together and fly out to Cali? You need to humiliate the man like that? This organization should be ashamed but OF COURSE they’re not ashamed. The papers bashing them, the fans criticizing them, ESPN – all these entities are simply beneath the mighty Wilpons. I’m sure they could care less what the whole baseball WORLD thinks about this classless, pitiful, disgraceful move. I never wanted Willie to get fired but you know what, I accepted that it was probably necessary in this day and age. But to humiliate the man like that? It’s a joke. This organization is just laughable. Yankee fans, Phillie fans, Brave fans, they all deserve to point their fingers and laugh at this disgraceful team that all of us feel the need to support. Fans always want that quick fix – so most probably don’t care about the ‘timing’ issue but don’t worry! YOU GOT YOUR LAME DUCK MANAGER NOW! Willie’s gonna seem like Lou Pinella ripping first base off the field once you guys start complaining about Mr. Manuel. What. A. Embarassment.
Woah..hold up. The Yankee fans have no right to do anything. They totally mishandled the Joe Torre situation and their owner is a crybaby about the DH rule.
The Yanks did mishandle the Torre situation. But not like this one. The Yankees were dirty, true. Lowballing Mr. Torre with a contract he would surely never agree to – a snake move, sure. But that did give him some kind of dignity, to leave willfully. And face it: he COULD have signed that offer and remained their manager and gotten paid millions. They didn’t fire him; and they certainly didn’t humiliate him.
I’m not saying the Yankees handle all their business in a professional way, I’m saying the Mets CANNOT be defended right now because this was absolutely pitiful.
An. Embarassment. I’m fuming and could care less about grammar. Not actually fuming out the ears because this team has no tangible connection to my every day life. But to watch a professional sports team in the media capital of the world run like a Mickey Mouse club, it’s simply baffling.
To the Wilpons: Sell the team. Sell the team. We’ll have a parade for you on Broadway. And if the Dolans sell the Knicks, all of New York will have the day off and celebrate. 2 inept owners.
Jayson Stark said this morning that Jerry Manuel is “asleep.” Stark is an a$$Wipe, but if what he said is correct, than how was this a change?
Is he the interim manager, or is he actually the “permanent” replacement?
He was named as the replacement. Shocking, because now if they don’t turn the ship around Manuel will have to be fired to! If they had named him interim and he did well then it would have been easy to give him the nod.
Another debacle.
I’ve read actually that he is the interim manager. Who is available that fits the profile of what this team needs?
My bad, he was named as interim.
I’m just so ticked off at the way this way handled I misread the news story.
All managers are interim managers.
Yea, not the best way to separate from willie although manuel is experienced as a manager but in the AL. He’s also is the “interim manager” which covers minaya for a little while. Its a plus to keep someone who knows the players but a change of pace in manager would have been nice.
Hopefully, he will not make the same silly in-game decisions Willie so often used. Despite the laid-back appearance, lets also hope he’s willing to protect his players and get tossed for them.
Blah blah blah . . . this sucks. Lets just play baseball.
I’d rather a few more ‘good influence’ players.
Did you guys see Burkhardt’s interview Trot Nixon on the pre game show.
Trot spoke with more conviction than any Met I’ve heard in the last three years and he’s been here three days.
Stating “these guys want to win and we will win” This doesn’t make our problems disappear, but it sounded good, kind of inspirational.
Hopefully it rubs off.
I like Trot Nixon because he’s dirty, disgusting and grimy. He’s a tough S.O.B. and a real baseball player, not a salsa dancing princess with a glove. I hope he punches somebody in the face and then they go on to win 17 of 18 games. Red Sox type of stuff
Ah, so you like him because he’s white.
I am also wondering if the interim tag is for a few days as opposed to the rest of the season.
The team needs a little time to regroup and sort out the pieces, any other moves, etc.
Maybe they didn’t want to jump straight to Oberkfell on the fly? The fact that they brought him and his pitching coach up still seems odd if they don’t plan to make him the manager.
It also makes sense to keep Alomar and Hojo during the Manual interim period. Once a permanent guy is announced, he can have input on the 3rd base coach and hitting coach.
Wow I can’t wait to hear what people say when they see Jerry Manuel act the EXACT SAME WAY as Willie did. I’m not a big Willie supporter (truthfully I blame Omar a lot more for the way the team has performed) but if the Mets really were serious about changing the clubhouse culture everyone would be gone (how the hell is HoJo still here along with Sandy Alomar?).
I’m not saying that Bobby V. or Backman is the answer but the Mets need a manager who would be a strict disciplinarian, is willing to bench a veteran, will play a rookie if need be and will get thrown out of a game once in awhile.
MEMO TO OMAR: Now you’re on the clock.
Yep. Here we go, before everyone was saying “Fire Willie…bring ANYONE in here….we just need CHANGE”
Next, we’ll hear “Well look HOW could you fire willie and bring in the SAME type of manager? What a DUMB move”
Hey, does the marketing department read this? Here’s a slogan for next year.
The New York Mets: Idiotic and Classless.
Please go away, the owners are doing the best that they can, and all you can do is put them down.
So many clubs make decisions that went the wrong way.
So why can’t that happen with this team.
We were happy when the club got Omar. and Peterson and so on and so forth.
How may people in the world never makes foolish moves. None.
And how could they help it if they accepted Sillie to manage and he ends up being so bad.
So they are making changes in an effort to turn the team around in order to be a winning team. To fire him made sense, and it does not matter what time they did it, but just do it. Who ever is laughing at the time that they did it is a jerk.
And if this does not work (and I do not believe it will work with a lateral manager still at the helm, I would like to have seen Backman there.) they will have to make other moves, until it works.
How the hell do you know what the Owners are doing? And who put you in charge of asking people to leave this site. You sound like a sniveling know-it-all idiot yourself, so maybe you should just go away.
The time and the manner that they fired their manager does matter, because it seemed unplanned and disrespectful to a baseball man who has always tried to win. It puts the entire organization in a bad light to the media and every other organization around the league.
The description of Manuel mirrors Willie’s description. Maybe the in game managing changes, but nothing else.
I am looking forward to Oberkfell, I’ve heard nothing but good things.
You miss the playoffs in what is now known as the “worst collapse in team history”. Cost the Wilpons (your boss) 135 million dollars in playoff money. Then, they give you an opportunity to go out and get off to a fast start, you fail. Your team fails. You cost the Wilpons (your boss), even more money. The media defines class. We are all along for the ride. I can care less what the story line is. Middle of the night, covert operation, etc. Guy got fired for not adding 3.5 mm dollars of value and costing the fans and the owners a championship.
Who is the bench coach now?
Omar is staking his job on Manuel? Might as well fire Omar now!
Looks like you may be righht on that call.
I think that the Mets should have hired Matt Cerone as the bench coach. Then he could blog from the dugout, and poll us about any in-game decisions they need to make. That way, it would be our fault and not the coaches’ fault.
:)
we would be like Packers fans, only managing instead of owning.
unfortunately Endy Chavez would play everyday and Carlos Delgado would be PH for in the 2nd inning…
LOL…Good idea…then if we can get El Duke to pitch with both boots on….we can still make a move on the Phills
wow, what good thinking that is.
Who is the Mets Bench Coach now?
Obviously, Manuel’s only there as a stopgap, right?
If Minaya and Wilpons think this season is cashed, then totally Phuck Them!
The only reason to fire WR is to do everything possible to make the lowly Mets contenders. Planning for ‘09 right now (of course, one has to plan regardless, but that’s not my point) would be the ultimate disrespect shown to us, the fanbase.
I’ve been hoping there’s some big story here, such as Manuel always contradicted Willie, or give WIllie the advice that helped the Mets get near .500…something, but for all we know he is as unaccomplished in every way as WR has been for the past year. Dunno but would love some answers.
one of the player development field co-ordinators is being promoted to bench coach.
I hope that move is temporary, because I cant see what a guy who’s primary role is to make sure the minor leaguers get to the proper field each morning in spring training, can offer as a bench coach…
Oberkfel should be in that role, he would have more to offer being a full manager in the minors.
This team still needs a new hitting coach, so move HoJo to 1B, Obie to bench coach.