Matt Ehalt of NJ.com is reporting that Wally Backman will not be promoted to the Mets major league staff. Instead he has been offered the managing job with the Las Vegas 51’s but it is currently unclear if he will return.
The Mets are still searching for a hitting coach and it was reported last week by Mike Puma of the New York Post that Bobby Abreu and Edgardo Alfonzo are the leading candidates for that position.
Sandy Alderson described the work Backman has done in Las Vegas with high praise. “They score a lot of runs,” Alderson said. “He’s had to manage additions and subtractions in personnel. He’s obviously had to deal with pitching challenges that come with Las Vegas. I think it reflects the work he’s done this year.”
That the Mets won’t even add Backman as a coach is unsurprising. In fact both Andy Martino and Mike Puma shot down the idea when the Mets first said he was being considered.
A day after Backman joined this season’s staff on September 19, Sandy Alderson was already agitated by the outspoken Backman.
“Alderson, according to a source, was recently put off by a comment Backman made in which he indicated he knew all along that pitcher Jacob deGrom — who has emerged as an NL Rookie of the Year candidate — had the potential to become something special. The source indicated Alderson believed the comment implied that nobody else in the organization knew of deGrom’s potential.”
