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In a post to SNY.tv, Ted Berg looks beyond Willie Randolph to profile the team’s newest manager, Jerry Manuel, writing, among other things:
“Manuel emphasizes the leadoff walk, is willing to break from ‘the book,’ and has shown the ability to handle the peculiarities of the big-league ego. Other aspects sound painfully familiar: Manuel remains calm and collected in the dugout, prefers not to consider the percentages when running his ballclub and is compared to a Yogi for his patient approach to managing…But one word comes up over and over again to describe Manuel: fearless. Given the way the Willie Randolph era ended, Manuel’s lauded courage will be welcome in Queens.”
Earlier today on MetsBlog, I put up an e-mail from a White Sox fan describing Manuel’s time with the Chicago White Sox, which you can read here.
The Mets should hire Ozzie Guillen when he becomes available. I’d love to see him with the NY media.
I actually had a dream last week that Ozzie was brought in…Suffice it to say that he blew up during his introductory press conference, and that was that.
Wait…this isn’t the Phillies manager?
“FEARLESS.”
Willie turning and asking Jerry whether to bunt or let Floyd swing away in the bottom fo the 9th? Coward!
like letting Cancel bat?
Manuel was part of the collapse/failure/ineffectiveness. Does anyone really think that if he knew how to turn around this team he wouldn’t have opened his mouth earlier, and that Willie wouldn’t have tried anything he had suggested?
I, for one, am completely giving Jerry the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see what he can do.
I am not only for it, I am ecstatic about it! Can’t do any worse than Randope.
Two words: interim manager
He may not last the road trip if a big name comes thru, which I would not doubt at all with $140mil on the table.
Talk about distractions. Another firing a week later?
You can do worse than Randolph. A lot worse.
I agree and will add to that point.
The Mets needed to put the guy in charge that will be easy to fire in the offseason. That guy is Jerry Manuel. Let’s face it, the playoffs are not a guarantee. They are within reach, but will take some amazing baseball to reach. If Jerry cannot get our team there, he’s the easy guy to let go. He’s part of the old Randolph regime and cutting him will be easy. You can then hire the big guns or promote the promising Ken Oberkefell in the offseason to give your fans a sense of hope. If Oberkfell, or the big outsider, is named midseason, and fails to improve this ballclub, it will be much harder to get the fan support you need heading into the new year and the new stadium.
I like this move…give Manuel a shot.
Bring in Manny Acta.
Remember it was Jerry who got thrown out arguing the Delgado non-HR against the Yankees. Not Willie. Also reamed out Frank Thomas a few years ago. Maybe a little more fire.
He’s been described as calm, but didn’t he lead MLB in manager ejections while with the White Sox? At least that’s a factoid that’s been repeated quite often in the last few weeks.
He’s described as calm largely relative to his successor.
I’m pretty familiar with the Sox, given the South Side origins of my Dad, who has been a die-hard Sox fan since the ’50s. Manuel was no favorite. (My Dad was an enormous Guillen fan, since his rookie season as a SS, and correctly predicted a World Championship after his hiring as manager.) Manuel tended to sit back and wait for the home run, but with the roster he had in, say, 2000, with Thomas, Ordonez, Konerko, Lee, etc., it was pretty much all he could do. Not much in the way of “small ball” in the AL Central in 2000. His later teams looked a lot like this year’s Mets, unfortunately — inconsistent, lethargic, mediocre. But, again, that was sort of the entire AL back then.
One good sign is that Manuel is intimately familiar with the abilities and leadership of one Jose Valentin. I hope Jose is up with the big club pronto. Easley or Cancel can take a hike.
who is ted berg and what are his “credentials?
Val Pascucci’s agent
Manuel is a lame duck!
honestly, i dont know what to say. if i thought willie was gonna be fired it was gonna be sunday. i thought they were going to give him another week or too. manuel better get this team going. but, i dont think manuel is the guy to do it. sorry.
No B.Schen on the fan today guys……….
Yeah, that’s so sad! I was looking forward to it. We have yet to get any player reaction. It would be nice to know what their initial reactions are. We’ll probably never know how they really felt about Willie in the clubhouse.
Well I’m assuming that the fspot was cancelled precisely to avoid discussing Randolph, because I’d bet that all questions would center around Willie.
lol what kind of “Courage” are the exactly talking about? WIll he dive in front of a bean ball of his star player…
This guy sucks. The White Sox won a World Series within 2 years after his departure. Ozzie Guillen won with basically the same team (with exception to Magglio Ordonez who left for the Tigers). Ozzie ignored oft injured players like Magglio Ordonez and Frank Thomas unlike Manuel. The White Sox got rid of guys like Carlos Lee to bring in scrappy Ozzie Guillen players like Podsednik. I want to see that with Omar Minaya and whoever will be the Mets future manager. Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen dont have the best relationship, but they know how to win. Same cannot be said about the Mets.
The elephant in the room is pitching. The White Sox juggernaut was based on a mix of determination (Rowand, Podsednik, Iguchi), which came largely from Guillen, and terrific fortune with starting and relief pitching. The same five starters started every game for the Sox in ‘05.
I hope to see Oberkfell take the permanent position but let’s give Manuel–and our team–a chance by showing tremendous support, for once. Starting at 7:05 pm PST, tonight, let’s let this dead dog lie. It’s clean slate time!
I love the optimism, Big Stapler! I’ll be praying for a win tonight, baby.
That’s the thing, keeping Manuel isn’t a clean slate. Oberkfell would be the clean slate.
Hopefully we can move past it and just focus on baseball, but I don’t see it happening like that.
Agreed…thats what I’m hoping for. A win tonight will help to difuse the situation. Right now, we should be discussing the evolution of Mike Pelfrey (pitching that 7th inning ruined what would have been a quality start), who is seemingly bringing it all together, and a revitalized Reyes and Beltran/
pelfrey’s development is a very encouraging sign
it’s going to be different not seeing #12 in the dugout tonight
I love the optimism. did the mets suddenly get younger, healthier, develop a caring attitude? Jerry is gone come october, hopefully willie saves him a spot in the unemployment line. How did Hojo or Alomar escape the firings? By putting a Willie clone in there the front office is saying they have given up on the season as well. Let the fire sale begin!
Manuel is the worst person possible for the job. He’s basically Willie-lite. The team needs the opposite kind of manager to possibly pull them out of their ways. John Stearns would be perfect, but knowing the brass, they’ll let Omar keep his Latino manager.
Viva la Metinos.
I can think of one person worse for the job. The type of person who continues to harp on the make-up of the team because they have nothing better to do/constructive to say.
Will Arnett?
Either him or GOB. Both would make poor managers.
Wow…and there is that comment. First off, Jerry is not Latino, so there’s a swing and a miss right there.
Second, do you really think for one second that Omar would just play latino guys, regardless of how they perform? Frankly, the BEST players in baseball all hail from Latin American countries. Omar has NEVER exchewed a better player from a different race for a Latino ball player. People like you need to get a clue.
Well, the “BEST” players in baseball aren’t REALLY “all” from Latin America. Chase Utley? Berkman? Alex Rodriguez? (Yes, he’s latino, but he’s also American). In fact, of the top 20 players in OPS, 17 are American, and 3 are Latin American. Say what you will, but the days of Juan Gonzalez, Sammy Sosa, and Miguel Tejada are pretty much over.
not to mention pitching. Alot of the best young pitchers are either American or Asian as well. The days of all the best players being latino is behind us.
lol….Manuel is basically Willie Randolph. Break from the book = go with his gut. Calm and collected, this guy is exactly Willie Randolph. I’m not a Willie hater or supporter, but if you’re going to fire the guy what is the point in hiring the exact same type of manager?
I would agree with you if they signed Jerry to a 5 year deal and called him the permanent manager. However, they did not.
I’m surprised they kept anyone from the former regime, because if you’re firing somebody as obscure as Nieto why not fire everyone else and just put in place a bunch of new people. I think its a little bit odd that some guys like Alomar or Manuel survived at all, I can see Hojo staying because he is still relatively new.
It’s hard to get a permanent manager hired mid season like this. Getting someone in the offseason is easier because they could start with the team fresh in spring training. Manuel is just an interim, a stopgag until they get the person they really want. So I don’t think it’s a big deal at this point.
I’m interested to see whether Delgado starts tonight.
If Manuel keeps Bernazard out of the clubhouse, he can be Randolph’s twin, for all I care, and he’ll have taken a huge step in the right direction.
The way it seems is that Bernazard is a huge problem and Omar should be worried, because Bernazard might just have some strong allies and could be our next GM.
If he has Jeffie-poo’s ear, it could be bad. I’m not sure how reliable that sort of info is, but I haven’t trusted Bernazard since Delgado exposed him as slime. Oh and also, the farm system sucks. And he undermined Willie. And. . . .
2008 METS – NL CHAMPS
Jerry Manuel for Manager of the Year!
WOW!
it would be nice
I’ll have what Cuban’s having.
the champagne from last September. Boy is it sweet. Open up your bottle.
ok, how bout Jerry starts off with CHANGING THE LINEUP! for once and changing it the right way it should be….whatever that is…