I often find myself shaking my head at the moves he made at the end of last season, and earlier this year (you know, when we actually had a team.) Manuel is a very lucky guy in my opinion. He’s likely going to keep his job into the 2010 season because, how can you justify firing a manager that at the start of the season had a World Series contender and at the end of the season due to no fault of his own, had a team that probably would finish 2^nd in the International League.

Manuel has 1 year left on his contract, plus a club option for the 2011 season. I absolutely have to believe that Manuel has until mid June of 2010 to earn that club option. Frankly, I think Manuel would be a great bench coach, but I don’t think he’s the guy for this team leading the charge. 

If Manuel was let go either this year or even next year, the rumors about who the Mets would hire would be all over the place. You’d hear names like Valentine, Showalter, LaRussa, Pinella, Davey Johnson, and Larry Bowa to name just a few. However, let’s keep in mind the fact we all know in some ways the Wilpon’s want to cut spending. To me, unless they somehow spend a fortune on free agents, I don’t see any way the Mets bring in a high profile Manager. 

To me, that leaves one guy. Kenneth Raymond Oberkfell. For the younger fans out there, Oberkfell played 3B/2B in the Major Leagues for 6 different teams from 1977-1992. Most notably the Atlanta Braves from 84-88 when he along with Glenn Hubbard (current 1^st base coach for ATL), and Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter made up the Triple Threat known as the “Bearded Braves.” 

Oberkfell won a World Series ring with the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, a series in which Oberkfell had 7 hits in 7 games, and 4 runs scored. He was a consistent hitter. He was not an All-Star by any means, but if you take a look at his numbers you’ll see what I mean. During his prime, his batting average ranged from .269 – .303 in an 11 year span. Not too bad if you ask me. 

Oberkfell is in his 13^th year as a manager in the Minor Leagues. Currently, he manages the Buffalo Bisons (the real ones, not the ones that just played the Rockies.) Prior to this year, Oberkfell compiled a .503 winning percentage in the minors over the 12 years. He began managing within the Mets system in 2001 with the Capital City Bombers, and besides a brief stint with the big club last year when all hell broke loose, he’s been managing a Mets affiliate ever since. 

Okay, so now you should be fully familiar with the guy (if you weren’t already.) Here’s why he makes perfect sense for this team other than the fact he won’t need a huge contract. 

I think the hardest part about being a new manager has to be the period of time in which you are trying to get the message across that this is your clubhouse. Not only do I have no doubts about who would be in charge if Oberkfell was Manager, I also have no doubts that a lot of the stuff we hear about how some of these players act in the clubhouse will cease. 

Here are the notables that Oberkfell has managed during his time within the Mets organization. 

2001: Angel Pagan, Jose Reyes
2002: Angel Pagan, Jose Reyes
2003: David Wright, Angel Pagan
2004: David Wright, Angel Pagan
2005: Anderson Hernandez, Angel Pagan
2006: Anderson Hernandez, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez (brief)
2007: Anderson Hernandez, Fernando Tatis, Mike Pelfrey
2008: Anderson Hernandez, Fernando Tatis, Nelson Figueroa, Brian Stokes, Jonathan Niese
2009: Fernando Martinez 

There would be no honeymoon period with a lot of the guys we expect to be on the 2010 roster. They have played for Oberkfell, and no doubt have a high regard for him because he’s always proven to be a class act. A guy like Jose Reyes is a great example. If a new Manager walked into the clubhouse, Reyes’ antics wouldn’t change, and there’d be a struggle. However, Oberkfell had Reyes when Reyes was just Jose to him.

Oberkfell has paid his dues, and has the experience necessary to lead a team both on the field and off the field. When Jerry Manuel leaves town, he may not be the sexy pick, but he’d be the right pick.

The Buffalo News writes,

I wrote today’s Inside Baseball column before the Bisons completely melted down defensively and committed three errors in the final two innings of Saturday’s 7-2 loss to Durham. Luis Natera had to go as hitting coach with the team performing as poorly as it did.

Thursday’s 13-5 win was a big wakeup call. But now the bats are Bisonesque again, with just three runs the last two days. The starting pitching remains strong but the defense blew up last night so I’m very interested to see what happens in today’s series finale. I’m not convinced the Mets can keep Ken Oberkfell in the manager’s office much longer unless there’s some major improvement here, even though I don’t fault him all that much for this disaster.

They also updated an earlier article from last week which said,

The Mets said they wouldn’t send struggling prospect Nick Evans back to Double-A. And they did. Bernazard told me in late April that Natera was deserving of his job in Triple-A and wouldn’t lose it. He did. Oberkfell is widely respected in the Mets organization and has a great record as a manager. But he wasn’t invited back to Jerry Manuel’s major-league staff after last season (former Bison tormentor and Manuel confidante Razor Shines was added).

Bernazard steadfastly supported Oberkfell earlier in the year. But what if the Bisons keep floundering? Would there be a change to help save face with the front office in Buffalo?

That same article refers to the Bisons as having a roster full of players that have no sense of urgency.

The team has had a tremendous amount of turnover. Just since May 1, look at the list of guys who’ve arrived from outside via free agency or trade: Wily Mo Pena, Mike Lamb, Emil Brown, Chip Ambres (a former International League all-star acquired Wednesday), former No. 1 pick Lance Broadway and Pat Misch. Luis Rivera came up from Class A St. Lucie and hit .381 in his first seven games. Fernando Nieve came up from Binghamton to go 3-0 and is already in New York.

I’m almost certain that Fernando Martinez will go back to Buffalo by the middle of next week if not sooner, and that should give their lineup a jolt. When I read that line about the players not having a sense of urgency, I was immediately reminded of when F-Mart failed to run on that popup and wondered if there was any connection?

I’m concerned about having the organizations top prospect honing his skills and learning how to become major league ready in an environment that sounds very complacent and uninspiring  at this point.