Strawberry Predicts Backman Will Be Next Mets Manager

21 Comments + Add Comment

• Osse Jorosco January 25, 2011 at 12:28 pm

  He’ll have his hands full managing both the B-Mets *and* the Bisons simultaneously, won’t he?
  • Craig Lerner January 25, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Speed kills! Thanks for the heads up.
• Mr North Jersey January 25, 2011 at 12:30 pm

  I’ve said this before but I just have to say it again. The Wally Backman/Marc Valdes combo down at AA will be interesting to watch in my opinion.
• steve January 25, 2011 at 12:37 pm

  Terry Collins is signed for 2 years,and i think Sandy is Putting these two former 2nd baseman against each other. The manager who has the better year or two will be the next manager of the Mets. Then Collins will become special assistant.Or in charge of the minor leaguers again?
  • Craig Lerner January 25, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    You make a good point, but I have a hunch that though Wally will always have a job with the Mets, it will never be as the manager of the Mets. Not as long as Alderson is running the show. Just my own opinon.
  • alwaysnextyear January 25, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    not sure about the competition angle, but I agree that Collins is just a bridge guy, installed to transition the team/organization to the new culture model. I don’t think he plans to stay more than a couple years anyway.
    • Bayonne Mets Fan January 25, 2011 at 1:49 pm

      Hey, Collins is the manager now, i want him to succeed but make no mistake..in my opinion is 100% the YES man for Sandy. This situation is exactly what there philosophy is all about no matter how much Sandy says Terry is his own man. And yes, during the game Terry is going to do his in-game managing.

      Seeing Terry speak, he looks to me like he is exactly the “yes boss” type of guy Sandy wants.

      But make no mistake – this situation fits into exactly what their “organizational philosophy” is all about. Sandy is calling the shots and Terry is the middle man.
      I don’t like it but not much I can do about it now.
      • alwaysnextyear January 25, 2011 at 1:56 pm

        I look at it differently. I think it is a good thing that the manager and GM have an agreed upon philosophy as to how the team should be run, and players used. And that includes working together to figure out which are the best players to have on the roster, and even big picture who fits where (starter vs. bench, rotation vs. pen).

        Of course though once the framework is set, Collins needs to manage them as he sees fit. Alderson isn’t going to make line ups for him, or call down and tell him who to use out of the pen.
        • Donal January 25, 2011 at 2:08 pm

          Actually, thats how Beane ran things in Oakland. Art Howe had minimal decision making abilites. He was there to implement FO policies, that included who was batting where in the line up, who pitched in what situations, and when to steal etc etc.

          Of course, Moneyball did exaggerate certain things, and Oakland was used as a test subject for an experiment rather than the new standard bearer, and Alderson isn’t Beane.

          But, teams don’t generally put guys on the roster unless they have a very speciffic plan for them.
          • alwaysnextyear January 25, 2011 at 2:44 pm

            that seemed to be the problem with the Mets though. If omar had a plan or reason for putting guys on the roster, it either wasn’t understod by Jerry, or he flat out did not give a shat, and just did whatever he felt like.

            You decide which way is better.

            and frankly, I don’t think any manager has full carte blanche to do anything that strikes his fancy.

            in met terms, moving Wright from 3rd to 5th is his option, but putting Neise in the pen and starting Parnell instead, or moving Reyes back to 2B, would require approval from above!
      • alwaysnextyear January 25, 2011 at 1:59 pm

        If you want a war analogy, the FO is like the generals/pentagon. They put all the pieces in place, and dream up the plan of attack.

        the manager is like a major in charge of the troops on the ground. He needs to make the day to day decisions, and react to circumstances, but that needs to be within the context of executing the plan.
• Bayonne Mets Fan January 25, 2011 at 10:11 pm

  Mah Man Darryl,
  You picked the right day to say this!
  • Mr North Jersey January 25, 2011 at 10:15 pm

    Wow if that impressed you so much you will love this video clip then.

    http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13098627

    Enjoy.
• t agee January 25, 2011 at 10:21 pm

  Strawberry should be wearing the “Stoner” jersey
• METS62FAN January 26, 2011 at 10:57 am

  Can someone, anyone explain to me exactly what Oberkfell & Teufel did to deserve promotions? Are these “time-served” promtions under the “PETER PRINCIPLE”
  For those unaware of that principle, it explains how one gets promoted to their highest level of incompetance. Considering the current 40 has more homeies on it than in many years, it confounds me as to why the titleless misadventures in New Orleans,Buffalo & Binghamton are being rewarded thusly?

  I accept the plumb assignment in today’s baseball development is @ AA level & that Wally’s influence will be significant; however exactly what earned Tim this promo? Can we now state; “Teufel’s shuffle is off to Buffalo”?
  • t agee January 26, 2011 at 11:29 am

    ’62,

    Oberkfell had nothing to work with at all talent wise in 2009 and still the record wasn’t that bad, last year he had quite a few AAA and AAAA types.

    He also did a GREAT job managing Escogido to the Caribbean World Series so I would say he’s a very capable manager, maybe not the manager of our future but a great guy to have in the organization for developing players and also for just in case at the ML level.

    Teufel I cannot comment about.

    Personally I would have liked to see Backman in the FL State League. That’s where the biggest hurdle is for minor leaguers and that’s probably Wally’s biggest strength, getting guys to believe in themselves. He would have had some of the guys from the Penn League, others from Savannah and could have hit Bingimton next year with a full crew of “his guys.”
    • METS62FAN January 27, 2011 at 1:43 pm

      T, perhaps the best thing about Dirt @ AA instead of FSL is exactly what u said, those he had last yr have been exposed to his winning method of playing the right “balls to the wall” way, by insertng him in Binghamton his proteges are multiplied & much closer to making a real difference where it matters most, Flushing. I’m not as certain Oby has the value u seem assured of & I’m thinking he wasn’t given an option; but to be in Flushing or jump ship as he declined the first Flushing job invitation to coach 1B under Jerry.
      • t agee January 27, 2011 at 1:57 pm

        ’62, that’s another way of looking at that has some merit. I was looking at it from the standpoint of having a full team in a make or break league.

        More and more A+ is where guys start seperating themselves instead of AA.

        Wally I’m sure will be great with whichever young kids he has and maybe the more the merrier.
• Metsie January 26, 2011 at 11:59 am

  It’s ironic isn’t it that if Collins fails to win here that Backman will again be fighting with Teufel for the same job. AGAIN!

  You all know my feelings on Backman. He needed to get more experience in the minors and the players there need a guy like him to instill that comepetitive work ethic which was what made Wally as good as he was.

  Lets be honest with ourselves here, Backman was never a HOF type, Hell I don’t think he ever made the All Star game! Yet he was and is loved by the fans to this day! Why?

  Because of HOW he played the game!

  It’s something the current team lacks, and it is doubtful Backman could get that out of the current lot who may or may not survive one more season as a met.

  SO he is in the right place at the right time teaching and moulding the right players who are likely to make up the roster two years from now.

  If Collins fails then Backman will not only be ready to manage he will have a bunch of players that already play the way he wants them to and will follow him through fire and brimstone when needed!

  Now I am not saying Collins will fail nor do I want him to, but Collins’ problems are going to be more about what he has to manage than how he actually does manage.

  If we have a firesale this year then I don’t care who your manager is you are going to have problems winning ballgames and that spells trouble and calls for firing in the press!
  • t agee January 26, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    Well stated Metsie. John Mcgraw couldn’t get a wild card out of this bunch with the kind of roster Omar assembled last year. Perhaps with an emphasis on having guys on the bench who can at least do something along with Bay (no guarantee) Beltran (no guarantee) Johan (no guarantee) Reyes (no guarantee) returning to good form and health and Emaus/Turner/Murphy/Hu being able to adequately handle 2B (no guarantee) and Niese, Capuano, Young and Gee being able to keep us in games and avoid burning down the bull pen (no guarantee) and UFC-Rod not blowing himself up (no guarantee) Parnell successfully setting up (or closing if need be) (no guarantee) and Thole and Davis continuing to establish themselves. That’s a lot of question marks. Not what one would have expected in what would have been year 7 of the prior regime.

    Collins job is to detox the clubhouse, integrate well thought out and inexpensive newcomers and change the attitude from one of entitlement to one of competition from within and below.

    Trust me there are numerous landmines lurking beneath Citi Field.

    Toxic waste removal requires experience and restraint. When the job is done Wally can come up here and devote all of his attention to winning baseball games, the new manager has other things to take care of before that can happen.
    • stick January 26, 2011 at 1:22 pm

      I agree that collins was likely brought in as a transformation guy (change agent), to handle things during the culture shift and roster turnover over the next couple of years. The next manager will be intended to be the guy that is around for a long term run.