At the end of the day, although Sandy Alderson and company want the best man for the job of Mets manager (in their opinion), what the whole managerial search boils down to is sending a message to the players on the big league roster - "this is our guy, he espouses the opinions of the organization, and leads in a fashion commensurate with the organization's philosophies." My buddy Jonathan Elfenbein and I were talking about this earlier today, and the one thing that both Jerry Manuel and, later in his tenure, Willie Randolph shared was that in the eyes of the players, either guy wasn't as important as they were, and neither had 100% backing from everyone in the front office. Whether it was someone like a Tony B working in the background, minimizing Willie's power (allegedly), or whether the lack of a long-term contract for Jerry were the main motivators, at the end of the day, the players at the big league level may have thought that they could do an "end around" their managers and have a willing ear in the office. The statement that Alderson and company is now making, at the end of this interview process, and through the verbal statements he's already made, is that whoever ends up "winning" this job will be someone with complete support from the front office and there will be no "end-arounds" tolerated.
On a related note, we've heard from so many "sources" that either Melvin or Collins has the job, that Backman might have blown everyone away and made a case for himself, or that Hale is their future star and might be the one to lead the team now. Each of the four guys in the mix could be considered great "baseball guys" and will certainly have a lot to prove. As we've said before, it's far more important who is on the field then who is in the dugout, but at least each of the four candidates possess interesting qualities that will make for, we hope, a more motivated group of ballplayers. Of course, from a purely personal standpoint, I'd LOVE to see Wally at the helm; I'd rather see Wally in a position to win, so if it means a Melvin or a Collins runs the team now, and a Hale or Backman takes over in 3 years, over a more well-developed team, that will be okay, too...
On a related note, we've heard from so many "sources" that either Melvin or Collins has the job, that Backman might have blown everyone away and made a case for himself, or that Hale is their future star and might be the one to lead the team now. Each of the four guys in the mix could be considered great "baseball guys" and will certainly have a lot to prove. As we've said before, it's far more important who is on the field then who is in the dugout, but at least each of the four candidates possess interesting qualities that will make for, we hope, a more motivated group of ballplayers. Of course, from a purely personal standpoint, I'd LOVE to see Wally at the helm; I'd rather see Wally in a position to win, so if it means a Melvin or a Collins runs the team now, and a Hale or Backman takes over in 3 years, over a more well-developed team, that will be okay, too...
3 comments:
I was just in a discussion with another friend, also a huge Mets fan, and the one thing that's important to understand is this- it's not that we are accepting of whatever choices Sandy & Company make, and it's not that we don't want- and DEMAND- excellence! It's that we can't jump down anyone's throat just because you or I think we know what's best for the organization. We can only respond via our purse-strings - either they are successful, and they will be supported, or they're not, in which case the sale of tix, merchandise, etc will suffer accordingly. Rather then fret about what we cannot control, nor cast away the coming season before it's even been played, let's let the process continue, watch what happens, and get further down this new road before becoming totally negative.
I'm not as thrilled as Davud is about the speed of this process, but I accept it. There has been no delay. So far, the Mets have done what they said they would do in the time that they said they would do it.
I do however, look forward to Tuesday and will say a prayer tonight asking for Sunday to become Tuesday.
Mack
Now Mack, I'm not exactly "thrilled" about the timeframe, but all things considered, ESPECIALLY how long it took to get credible execs into place, a few more days shouldn't exactly where any of us out. At the end of the day, the Mets are in the catbird seat for 2 reasons - 1- there's no other openings in the majors right now, and 2- it remains a coveted-job. We're guaranteed to have a manager in place, making out a line-up card on Opening Day- if that DOESN'T happen, THEN I'd be upset with the process- LOL!!
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