Alomar’s Strange Firing

The Mets announced Monday that long time coach Sandy Alomar Sr. will no longer be Jerry Manuel’s bench coach, and will be offered another position within the organization.

To me, this is a strange move, and you got to wonder what the motive is behind it. Why would a team fire its bench coach, yet allow the manager to stay on?

Usually the situation is reversed, the manager is let go, and the bench becomes manager. It happened with the Mets last year, when Willie Randolph was fired and Jerry Manuel took over for him. It happened in Colorado earlier this season when Clint Hurdle was fired and Jim Tracy took over. So what’s up here, why was Sandy Alomar Sr. fired or reassigned and Jerry Manuel retained?

Could it be that the manager and his bench coach had a “strained” working relationship?

Remember Jerry inherited Sandy Sr. when he took over for Willie. Could it be that Sandy Sr. was one of Omar’s guys, and ownership is taking another swipe at the GM?

Could it be that Sandy Sr. was a divisive force in the Met clubhouse?

Whatever the reason, this firing strikes me as a strange move, I bet there is more to this that we still don’t know.