18
2010
Has Jerry Manuel Earned An Extension?
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Here’s something I read this morning by Steve Popper of The Record who also happens to be one of my favorite beat writers covering the Mets.
Steve caused me to chuckle when he started out this morning’s column with a warning to his readers,
I’m going to make the most common sense argument – and one that is going to irritate a lot of Mets fans. The Mets should give Jerry Manuel an extension.
Did you chuckle or did you throw up a little in your mouth? I figure those are the only two reactions that would come from a Mets fans after reading those lines. All kidding aside though, I thought this would make for an interesting Sunday morning debate on MMO. Steve does put up a strong case in defense of an extension, and the idea may not be as crazy as it sounds.
Manuel is managing the team under the pressure that each new day may be his last. It’s not an easy environment to succeed in, and for most managers it almost always is doomed to failure, something Manuel has not allowed to happen.
Steve gives you the long and short of it, and even criticizes Manuel for how he’s dealt with the Jose Reyes injuries, but in his closing argument for an extension, he writes:
So Manuel has shown little patience for struggles of any individual player, desperately trying to mix and match. Mike Jacobs, the opening day cleanup hitter? Gone. John Maine and Oliver Perez? A long shot that you’ll see them again in the rotation. Development of kids? If you can play today, you’re in. Welcome aboard Jenrry Mejia, Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada — immediately.
You can’t blame Manuel. But it was a situation that Willie Randolph was in before him.
The only power that a manager has in a players game is longevity — the knowledge that he will be here longer than the player. Today, no one in the Mets’ clubhouse would believe that.
So for Manuel to be able to make the right decision the Mets need to take that out of the equation. If he’s “the Man,” let the team know. Let Manuel know.
Yesterday, I read a few comments from our readers who I know would have a differing opinion on the matter. To add some balance to this argument, I wanted to include a couple of them here in case you missed them.
Tomterif wrote: The upside of what could become a disastrous road trip? Jerry might be canned before coming back to Citi Field. At least I hope the Wilpons are ballsy enough to cut the cord on this guy this late in the season. I’m not wishing for the Mets to have a horrid trip but if it they can lose enough to cost Jerry his job yet still stay in the race, I’ll take it. Anything to get this guy out of here (and Omar too, if he doesn’t come up with anything on the trade front).
Kranepool7 wrote: Is there anyone, players included, that exuded with confidence after seeing the lineup Manuel posted before last nights game? Manuel is a first class moron, and I cant believe you failed to mention him as one of the culprits in your blog. First of all, how do you give your worst offensive player Tejada, the most at-bats by putting him at leadoff? Then, Jason Bay who hasn’t hit a lick in over a month is batting second? I would rather have Thole batting second because throughout his major and minor league career, he has proven to be a pure contact hitter and patient at the plate, a perfect number two.
I wonder how they feel about giving Jerry Manuel an extension?
As for me, I would rather let the season play out before making that decision. I always felt that it was unfair to judge Manuel last season because of the record amount of injuries, and that he deserved at least one full season under somewhat normal circumstances before making the decision to fire him or giving him an extension.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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Jerry Manuel is not the problem. He has kept the Mets afloat largely without Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. He has had to work with a rotation put together with spit and mud. His closer has failed him far too many times. The offense sputters when ever he gets a good pitching performance, and when they actual do score some runs the starter implodes on the mound. I’d like to know one other available manager who would have fared better under these circumstances?
Also, yesterday he gave another plea to Omar for help in getting him a top of the rotation starter.
“Obviously, if you see something out there better, then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with upgrading,” Manuel said. “Because we have to evaluate from what we have seen, not wait and say let’s see what happens.”
he “STINK”S UP THE PLACE” for the line up w/ tejada and bay batting 1-2 ????, for not allowing johan to finish a game where he had a strong 8 inning, for not pinch hitting for blonco w/ the bases loaded, boche gave lincecum and zito a chance to show if they had something left in the 9 ! why not santana ? especially with a loser of a closer or so called closer like K garbage in the pen, salavating to lose another lead. want more ?? I got plenty , after walking sandoval to start the inning, a single a single a double ?? whatever they tie the game, davis gives us back a lead, he tells mauel give him another shot, and jerry agree’s ???? BOBBY V !!!!
IMHO Jerry and Omar were given mandates before the seaon. Playoffs or bye bye. No one should mess with the mandate, but it would not surprise me if the ever inconsistent, wishy-washy Wilpons did.
Jdon, as usual you’re believing what u read & hear from folks getting paid hansomely to keep u dissatisfied & riled up. I saw no mandate quoted from Fred, did u? Jeff’s mandates are subject to Fred approval or haven’t u noticed, Jeff’s still trying to fire Omar for the ’07 collapse or hadn’t u noticed? A mandate of win or be fired typically is accompanied by a payroll increase, not a substantial decrease.
As to my perspective, again I doubt what all the soothsayers are assuming, that Jerry’s going sleepless over his lack of security on a nightly basis, if he was than why create a lineup seemingly by lot as he did for Game 2 in SF? Would a desperate mngr rest Reyes 2 days BEYOND HEALTHY PROCLAIMATION? No, I think Omar has encouraged him to believe that despite his contract status, he’s secure as long as
Omar is & thanks to Fred, Omar is by 3 yrs. Omar had Willie’s back until Wilie committed professuional Hari-kari by implying racial motivation to Wilpon issues with his record! It seems the NYpresscorps has necer realized THE WILPONS are not THE STEINBRENNERS. They DO NOT dropkick employees because of public opinion, Hell, they even investigated the Bernazard incident even after Rubin had everything; but photos. Art Howe lasted well beyond his public expiration date! Steve Phillips survived public adultery & job suspension that caused Frank Cashen’s resurrection from retirement/grave (lol) for a year, yet Phillips resumed his imbecilic misdirection. years before his ultimate dismisal. While the Bronx became infamous for it’s hirings,firings,reirings ad nuaseum. The Flushing lifetime nonachievement awards stumbled & rumbled ainlessly. In Flushing, historically, from the beginning, midseason dismissals are rarer than Yankee budget cuts.
Personally, I don’t extend Jerry until after the season is completed & even then not for more than 2Y.
Everybody just loves to play the blame game with this crap. What would firing JM do for this team at this point????? Will it make Wright more clutch? Will it transform Frenchy into a .320 hitter? Will it make Beltran get to those flyballs last night? Would Takahashi had pitched a shutout last night with Torre at the helm? You all place way toooooo much significance on the impact Manuel has on the game, or ANY manager. His number one job is keeping the team upbeat, focused and battling. He has accomplished those things, the rest is ultimately up to the team OMAR MINAYA put together.
I agree. Manuel has managed an injury riddled team to contend for the division lead and wild-card. In February if I told you that:
Maine goes down
Perez goes belly up
Beltran isn’t back until after the All-Star break
Reyes is out a month plus..
Bay has 6 home runs at the All-Star break
You and me both would have siad, “Damn! Another lonnng summer.”
I’ll say it; “Thank you Jerry Manuel!” There I said it.
That’s just good common sense and I to will join you in saying, Thanks Jerry Manuel!
Agree with everything said, but you know in this world, someimes you just need to make a change and get a freash start.
Change for the sake of change isn’t the answer here…
We need a good starting pitcher to replace Takahashi who the league and innings worked has caught up with. Get that and put Takahashi back in the pen and we solve two issues. I think Takahashi could serve in the 8th inning setup role. He usually pitches good for an inning or two then loses it. Lets also not forget that the All Star break does throw off your routine and Pelfrey getting scratched forcing Takahashi to move up a day was probably unsettling to him.
As for the lineup issues you simply can’t hang it all on Manuel. He has yet to have his entire starting lineup available and on the field in one game this year. Yet they are still competing. I know everyone questions his resting key guys at what seems like inopportune times but the few guys he has not rested are the same guys who have been hit with injuries!
This team needs Reyes to get healthy and in the lineup. Once that happens we won’t have these lineups that look wrong in a vain attempt to replace Reyes’ speed at the top of the order. It’s not Reyes’ speed that makes him dangerous. It’s the fact that he gets on base that helps this team score runs.
And instead of resting Frenchy (who gives us great defense) so much maybe he should rest Bay to play Pagan! Move Beltran to Left as he showed me yesterday that he does not have the wheels to stop balls from going to the wall. Happened twice yesterday!
Bottomline is that Manuel can’t really fix what is currently broken. Omar needs to get a good starter so he can use Takahashi to solve his pen problem.
As for Thole and Tejada I expect they will both be sent down once the trading deadline passes! They are here for no other reason than as a showcase.
No.
No more Jerry Manuel. He is not a good manager and I believe that with a more aggressive National league manager we would have at least 5 more wins.
Please get rid of this guy. He doesn’t give our team the best chances to win.
Jerry given a mandate, win or else? Well as we see in our government it is easy to mandate anything you want but you have to put up the money/players to in order for the mandate to Jerry to win to being viable.
We have known since opening day that the rotation was short, and Omar knew this and hoped for a comeback by Maine or Ollie. How is that looking now and then we have to put a Japanese pitcher to start that was great in BP cause Omar has not provided an alternative for rotation and this will continue until Mets get another starter and put Takahashi back in BP.
I think that Jerry, unless he just folds, deserves to play out the season before any talk of extension is brought up and when he wins the WS then we can give him a contract similar to what Girardi got when he won, one year.
I still have doubts about his use of BP and his lineups plus how he just mis-handled the Jose situation again, same as last year.
Still I say lets see how team responds to the rest of this road trip and back at home.
It’s a shame that your career as mgr depends on the likes of Ollie, Maine, streaky Francouer, .212 hitting future mgr, knuckle baller bargain basement deal and a BP that has no, I mean NO, shutdown relievers. Look at the young arms that San Diego has, young, hard throwing pitchers that come and just blow batter away, wasn’t Adams once a Met?
I think we would all agree that Jerry Manuel is a likeable guy and infinitely better in many ways then, say, Art Howe was. But as a tactician and strategy guy he is not very sophisticated and his explanations and justifications for some of his moves are Stengel-esque. Let’s put it this way: do you think Jerry would have gotten the 2000 Mets to the World Series the way Bobby Valentine did? Who would you put your money on in a big game, Bobby Cox or Jerry? Tony LaRussa or Jerry? Jerry says he wants to play a speed game because the team doesn’t have the power some other teams do, yet he is constantly giving up outs with early in the game bunts rather than going for big innings. It’s been clear for two years that he doesn’t know how to handle a bullpen. Now could some of this be the result of managing for his job? Perhaps. But I don’t feel confident that he would be any better with job security. I would take Bobby V or Buck Showalter or Bob Melvin or Wally Backman over this guy in a heartbeat and if that’s the plan for next year, why wait when you can still salvage this season?
When asked about all the first inning bunting, Jerry said the players are on their own.
I still want Wally.
Pops
cut him now get BOBBY V !! he can light a fire under these guy’.
An extension? For Manuel??? PT Barnum was right, there’s a sucker born every minute.
He hasn’t earned an extention, but he does NOT deserve to be fired either.
Interesting points on both sides of the debate.
Personally, I feel that the Mets need to make the post-season for Manuel to return in ’11. Anything less and I think we can say ‘Farewell.’
However, I have not been a fan of his since Day One. Willie Randolph was fired cause of the collapse. Manuel took over and the Mets collapsed again the following year. Now, if Randolph is blamed for one, then Manuel should take the blame for the other.
It’s very simple. Manuel was brought in to get to this team to the post-season. He has not.
Winnahs get extended only on the Mets do people look to xtend loozers.Just win baby and get a contract.Manuel has won nothing except a deceptive laugh contest with Drunken Eddie Coleman on pre games.lol
There are a lot of conflicting points for giving him an extension. On the positive side he has played those who are getting the job done and hasn’t stuck with some of these aging veterans who haven’t gotten the job done. (Perez, Jacobs, Matthews, Tatis, etc) He has either buried them on the bench or forced Omar to get rid of them. The negative is that he hasn’t really handled young players very well in putting them in situations to succeed. He throws them in and hopes that everything turns out okay. If it doesn’t he’ll bury them on the bench.
He kills his bullpen, getting them up and down like yoyos. But doesn’t Warthen bare more responsibility?
The players seem to like him, but sometimes he drops comments that destroys his players. The fact that the statements are true only helps somewhat.
His in game strategy is awful. But he seems to manage the clubhouse well.
So probably on the whole I would try to find someone in the mold of Davey Johnson. Someone who knows how to handle younger players while having the ability to motivate the veterans. Also someone who can handle the in game situation better. Manual doesn’t deserve to come back but he isn’t the disaster many portray him as.
We can all question Jerry’s decisions about the bullpen but most of the time it was because his starters did not get deep enough into a game. We can all question his constant juggling of the batting order but injuries and guys struggling cause the constant juggling. The one thing you can’t question is the fact that this team does not quit. The players may come up short on talent but not on desire. Jerry’s latest problem will be to keep his four outfielder’s happy with their playing time. Frenchy Francouer will lose the most time but he is one of Jerry’s favorite warriors, a terrific club house guy and team player. YA gotta love him. Jerry’s other skill is to stay calm and that helps the player’s too! If the team doesn’t make the post season it won’t be Jerry’s fault
t
You talk about the Frenchman in the clubhouse?How do you know are you in there?If the Frenchman is a real team playa he will sit on the bench, cheer a better playa Pagan & keep his mouth shut!You guys kill me with your love affairs with scrubs.
[...] MetsMerized – Does Jerry Manuel deserve an extension? Sure, if Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon are the ones giving the extension, what’s the difference? [...]
NOW IS THE TIME TO PRESS THE FAIL SAFE SWITCH . THAT’S WHY WALLY BACKMAN …AND DON’T TELL ME WALLY IS IN CONEY ISLAND FOR HOT DOGS AND COTTON CANDY.WALLY IS THERE TO LOOK OVER JERRY MANUEL’S MUCH LOOKED OVER SHOULDER.BACKMAN IS THE ANTI JERRY , WHEN YOU GET A PAT ON THE BUTT FROM WALLY IT’S A HARDER WHILE JERRY’S IS MORE SOOTHING IN IT’S APPROACH . WALLY AND JERRY ARE BOTH PLAYING FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL LIVES ,ONE MAY NOT DRIVING MERCEDES BENZ BUT HE SURE HAS SOME GOOD TOOLS THAT HAVE BEEN MISUSED AT TIMES AND THE WALLY IS SHOWING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE WITH A NOVICE TEAM FULL OF UNKNOWN KIDS MANY AWAY FROM HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME. I VOTE TO GIVE THE LITTLE GUY ,THE EX-MET WALLY BACKMAN. IT’S DUE OR DIE, FAIL-SAFE,ALL THE MARBLES THE GIPPER HE AIN’T BUT IT MAY WORK SINCE CONEY ISLAND STILL IT’ROLLER COASTER!
- JM has going for him the very same thing that’s against him….he’s a lame duck. Fire him and you give have to give his successor a 2yr deal…if he just sees out this yr the Mets can evaluate him and EVERYONE thats available in the offseason.