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.
I am supporting that the Mets bring back Bobby V. and I saw this move as making room for him. Since the Mets don’t want to let go of Manuel and still pay him for manager’s salary, they would make him bench coach and hire Bobby V. It would be awesome if they did that. So Mets fans, fingers crossed.
Not strange at all. I’m guessing that Jerry wanted his friend Razor Shines as bench coach, so Sandy was re-assigned.
If the team does poorly this year, Jerry knows he’s gone; so he probably wants to go down with his guys, on his terms.
There is no way that Valentine comes to the Mets. Manuel was already guaranteed he’d be back, end of story. As for the bench coach, maybe Wally Backman?
We still have Hojo and Warthen and Razor Sharp. The gang is all here! Let’s try again.
Removing Alomar is nothing more than window dressing. It is another weak attempt by Omar in trying to make the fans think he’s taking action. Clearly after listening to the interview yesterday, we are stuck with Omar and Jerry again and the injury excuse has really paid off for them. But as I have said the 2009 season is not the sum of Omar’s failures. I can’t wait to see what Greg P has to say, I am sure he was fuming as I was.
Nobody wants to or can say the real reason behind letting Alomar Sr. and Alicea go (as well as some of the development guys): The organization is reducing the Hispanic influence in the organization and making Omar lose many of his Hispanic buddies. Let’s face it, for years there have been two factions in this organization that has filtered down to the players: the Hispanics and everyone else. This has created tension and bad communication throughout the organization and in the clubhouse. But nobody wants to admit this.
The Sandy Alomar has been with the Mets for a while, 1st as 3rd base coach, then catching coach now bench coach. Maybe Manuel wants to distance himslef from a threat to his mangerial position.