On Thursday, Jerry Manuel unveiled his plan that he would bat Jose Reyes in the third spot spot of the lineup, at least until Carlos Beltran re-joins the team. Yesterday, Reyes was all gung-ho for the idea. “Whatever is best for the team, I’m going to do it,” Reyes said. “Manuel is the boss. Whatever he says, I’ll do it. I just want to get back on the field.” He’s such a good soldier… Mike Jacobs [...]

It’s a foregone conclusion that Jerry Manuel is on the “Flushing short term managerial plan”. It’s hard to not like Jerry. He came off as personable, insightful, and easygoing when he first stepped into his predecessor Willie Randolph’s shoes. His dubious exodus from New York sent a message to me that things were about to change and that nothing is what it appears.  Last year, many of the blogs were filled with “Fire Jerry” chants and mantras on practically every [...]

The New York Mets have completed their 2010 Major League coaching staff this week. New additions include Dave Jauss as bench coach and Chip Hale as third base coach. Among the incumbents, Razor Shines, the third base coach in 2009, moves to first base, while Howard Johnson (hitting coach), Dan Warthen (pitching coach) and Randy Niemann (bullpen coach) will continue in their same roles. Also, the Mets also named Terry Collins, who is in his 40th [...]

Last week I shared an email from Jeff Wilpon that said he would aggressively do whatever it takes to win a championship in 2010. Today, he expanded a little more on that. First let me share his opening remarks before he fielded a few questions. Fred, Saul and I would like to thank Mets fans for supporting the team through this painful, disappointing season. Like all fans, we are extremely unhappy with our results, both [...]

In today’s Daily News, Jerry Manuel stated that the Mets must adjust to the dimensions of the ballpark in order to take full advantage of it. To that, I would like to present Manuel (a.k.a. Captain Obvious) with a new award, the “Duh, me!” Award. Of course, the Mets will have to adjust. They obviously haven’t adjusted to Citi Field offensively, having hit fewer than 50 home runs there. As a matter of fact, since [...]

While appearing during his regular weekly spot with Mike Francesa on WFAN, Jerry Manuel sounded more like a general manager at times than he did a manager. When asked if he was intrigued by any of the starting pitchers and if any one starting pitcher caught his eye as far as the 2010 rotation, Manuel gave no ringing endorsements, and instead he offered quite the contrary. “I think the guys we have here now are good [...]

While the 2009 is coming mercifully to a close on Sunday for one of the most awful Mets teams in quite some time, one that might lose 95 games, it might be worth it for this team to look across Manhattan and into the Meadowlands to see how a pro sports team should be run.  I could mention that team in the Bronx, but $423 million had something to do those guys reaching the postseason [...]

Last week it was revealed that after the last game of the season (which cannot come soon enough for me) that Jerry Manuel will sit down with Omar Minaya along with Fred and Jeff Wilpon to discuss the future of the coach staff which consists of Howard Johnson (hitting coach), Dan Warthen (pitching coach), Luis Alicea (1B coach), Razor Shines (3B coach) and Sandy Alomar Sr. (bench coach).  Word going around is that Howard Johnson’s [...]

Over the past five seasons, David Wright has emerged as the face of the New York Mets franchise and assumed the role of unofficial “captain”. For the most part he has filled this role rather nicely and has always brought a positive vibe to the team. Over his five year tenure with the Mets, Wright has been through the highs and lows. What has always impressed me was regardless of how the team was performing [...]

I just looked through some notes of mine from the start of the season, and found this article previewing the NL East by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.  Here is an excerpt of how he felt about the Mets heading into 2009: Two years, two chokes. The Mets have gotten good at this. And, sure, the bullpen was a big issue, so seeing J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez in the eighth and ninth innings will [...]