Wally Backman will not join the Mets in 2015. Instead he will return to AAA Las Vegas, where he just won a division title and Manager of the Year in the Pacific Coast League, according to ESPN’s Adam Rubin. Instead, Sandy Alderson, who spoke briefly about the topic on Sunday, will likely make some minor changes to the coaching staff including reassigning Lamar Johnson and Luis Natera.
Without any other changes to the major league coaching roster, it seems there is no fit for Backman in Queens. Side stepping like a pro, Alderson concluded that “I never like to announce changes if there are going to be any at the time the season ends. So anything we do will be deferred (Adam Rubin, ESPN).
Adam Rubin’s source calls the changes the Mets will make “limited” while Andy Martino of The Daily News quoted a source as saying that the previously mentioned coaches would be reassigned and Bob Geren would return.
The most interesting twist in this discussion is the idea of Backman interviewing outside of New York. His history with the Mets front office aside, Backman has done an admirable job with the 51’s and with coaching vacancy’s looming throughout baseball, he could make sense for another club.
Mets fans seem more interested in moving Backman into a position with the major league team than Alderson and the front office. For now it appears he’ll be back in Las Vegas for 2015 unless another team poaches him.
