I guess Hale, in particular, has a chance to throw a Hail Mary and get the job. But this is as close to a rigged event as possible with Collins as the favorite and Melvin as a very in-the-competition second choice.

If this is in fact the situation, then why is it taking so long to declare a manager and then assess the roster from that point forward?

The Mets and their public relations team have made a valiant effort to keep the fanbase informed on every move, but I think in some cases what the fanbase really wants is to know the new manager of the New York Mets and restore some hope and faith in the culture of the clubhouse. The two managerial hopefuls are both well-liked by the Three Headed Front Office, and it would really be difficult to see Hale or Backman fly ahead of these two guys. Both Melvin and Collins have MLB experience with varying degrees of success, and maybe the outside chance candidates are being groomed to be bench coaches for the Mets.

How this affects the overall offseason plan is fairly obvious. Sandy Alderson wants to run the team and have the manager to do just that – manage his players. But knowing which manager is in place makes a major difference because the whole coaching staff could change at a manager’s preference.

The decision should be made hopefully within the next three days, since second interviews are wrapping up soon. The front office overhaul has already begun the change. Now bringing in a manager who will instill the beliefs of the organization and hard work is the primary concern from this point forward.

Let’s just hope they hire the right guy, because all the cards have been falling into place for a franchise reboot without the rebuilding period.

1) The Ballpark: Citi Field is just too big! I know we’ve been saying that for the last 2 seasons but the Wilpons refuse to bring in the fences.  All you look at what happened to David Wright in his the first season at Citi Field.  His power numbers were down and the last 2 seasons his strikeouts have been on the rise.  Wright’s power at Shea was to the right center.  Citi Field’s right center is about 45-50 feet deeper than Shea’s and it has affected Wright negatively.  Some called it a fluke but then look at Jason Bay’s horrific first season.  The park took away his power. Citi Field without a doubt robbed Bay realistically of 5 homeruns and probably more.  The great fence of Flushing needs to go down too while we’re at it.  It’s time to admit the size of this park was a mistake and change it.

2) Coaching Staff: The entire coaching staff needs to go.  Howard Johnson has been a horrible hitting coach.  The situational hitting since Hojo took over has been non-existent.  It seems like Hojo would rather be their friends than a coach.  I get it he’s an 86 Met and the Wilpons are reluctant to fire him.  The Mets should just give Hojo a job with a nice title and a good payday and let him go away.  Dan Warthen also needs to go.  I know the pitching was better than expected this season but I don’t like all the injuries to our pitchers under his reign as pitching coach.  I didn’t like that in 2009 he didn’t know about Johan’s latest injury and he didn’t know that Santana was skipping side sessions.  I also didn’t like him calling Maine a habitual liar to the press. That’s just something you don’t say.  Razor Shines just needs to go.  Chip Hale seems to be a decent to good coach but at the same time Ron Darling mentioned many times throughout the season that Hale had been working with Wright and changing his defense.  Wright’s defense this year was pretty bad. He committed 20 errors and at times was slow in turning a double play.

3) The 3 Poisons (Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo): Once the Mets finally do hire a general manager that GM (Alderson) must find a way to get these three off this team! Castillo is done, he can’t hit and he has absolutely no range at 2nd base.  Castillo brings nothing to the New York Mets, time to cut ties with him. Oliver Perez should not be on this team, he has done nothing for the Mets since signing that contract.  Perez cares more about himself than the team as he repeatedly refused to go to the minor leagues.  He didn’t win 1 game in 2010!  If you look at the way the Mets played before the all-star break and after the break there’s a huge difference.  Carlos Beltran decided to finally grace the team with his presence and was supposed to be the spark for this team but unfortunately did nothing other than make outs at the plate and miss balls hit to center on defense. Beltran refused to move over to right field to allow the better player Angle Pagan to play center and help the team.  Let’s not forget that these guys also refused to go visit wounded soldiers with the rest of their team.  These guys are not team players, they’re hurting this team and it’s time to get rid of them.

The new GM when he/she is finally hired has a lot of work to do and a lot changes to make.  Without these changes we can expect another losing season.

Also, the Mets also named Terry Collins, who is in his 40th season in professional baseball, the team’s Minor League Field Coordinator.

Chip Hale was the third base/infield coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks the past three years. He also had a nice runs as manager in the minor leagues where he compiled a 392-305 record (.562 winning percentage) in six seasons. Jerry Manuel is happy to have Hale on board and believes he can help the Mets improve their fundamentals.

“Chip learned from Tom Kelly in Minnesota where everything is about fundamentals, fundamentals and fundamentals,” added Manuel. “The third base coach is such a critical position and we think it’s a great plus that he comes to us with a ready-made knowledge of the National League.”

I don’t know about you, but hearing Jerry Manuel mention the word “fundamentals” three times in one sentence is definitely music to my ears.

Here is the way the Mets coaching staff shakes out for next season:

Mets Manager & Coaching Staff

• Manager: Jerry Manuel
• Bench Coach: Dave Jauss
• First Base Coach: Razor Shines
• Third Base Coach: Chip Hale
• Hitting Coach: Howard Johnson
• Pitching Coach: Dan Warthen
• Bullpen Coach: Randy Niemann