Speculation a few weeks ago centered on reports Wally Backman was in line to become the 2010 manager of the Binghamton Mets, the club’s Double-A Eastern League farm team.

The post became vacant when Mako Olivares was relieved of his duties Oct. 1.

Reports now indicate Backman, who still may be offered a post in the Mets organization, is not the choice in Binghamton.  Former Met and veteran minor-league skipper Tim Teufel, 51, will apparently run the show in the Southern Tier.

Teufel, a native of Greenwich, Conn., who now lives with his family in Jupiter, Fla., told Jesse Quinlan of the Greenwich Time his deal to manage the B-Mets  “isn’t official, but is 99 percent done.’’

While it would be a positive development if Backman got a chance at this post, Teufel appears to be as good a choice as there is, Chances are nobody knows more about the prospects in the Mets system, and there is little doubt Teufel could be instrumental in helping to get the organization’s development process back on track.

Teufel, who played with the Mets from 1986-90, had his best season with the club in 1987, batting .308.  He also had some key hits, including a walk-off, pinch-hit grand slam vs. the Phillies June 10, 1986.

He is also remembered for his part, along with teammates Ron Darling, Bobby Ojeda and Rick Aguilera in a July 19, 1986, Houston bar fight with off-duty police officers for which he paid a $200 fine.

During his big-league career, Teufel appeared in 1,073 games with Minnesota, the Mets and San Diego, batting .254 (789-for-3,112).

With the exception of 2006, Teufel has been working with Mets prospects since 2001. He was a roving instructor with the organization in 2001-02, then, as many area fans will remember, piloted the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2003, guiding the New York-Penn League to the playoffs.

He moved on to Class A Advanced St. Lucie in 2004-05 before being replaced by Gary Carter in 2006.

After taking a year off, Teufel returned to manage the Class A Savannah Sand Gnats in 2007, where he was instrumental in working with Josh Thole as he moved from first base to catcher, a position at which he has become a legitimate Mets prospect.

He was back at St. Lucie the past two seasons and is familiar with just about every player who will make up the 2010 Binghamton club, which should feature many more prospects as compared to the last few seasons.

“For me, it’s an opportunity to move up to a higher brand of baseball and be with the same ballplayers, so there’s a lot of familiarity,’’ Teufel  told the Greenwich Time.

Teufel’s goal is to someday manager in the major leagues. A strong performance at Double-A would bring him closer to that reality.

STYLE AND NUMBERS: Having been around baseball for more than three decades, I guess I can be labeled “old school.’’

While not entirely belonging to the genre, I do like to compare players that I have covered from the 1970s-80s era to those I see today by style rather than numbers.

That’s where I feel the Yankees’ A.J. Burnett and Bert Blyleven share similar styles. Both were unhittable when on.  Both got off the track with control issues during a period in the game. Both could also right the ship.

The game has changed immensely over the past 30 years. A comparison of numbers is not always valid.  A comparison of pitching styles usually is. That doesn’t mean Burnett is better than Blyleven was – he may not have anywhere near Bert’s career.  It does mean they are similar in mound manner and performance and share some strengths and weaknesses.

Jed spent 35 years in the newspaper business working as both a writer and editor, in both sports and news under tight deadline pressure. As both sports editor at the Indiana (Pa.) Gazette and a copy editor/columnist at The Times of Trenton, he made daily decisions on overall coverage and designed and produced thousands of pages and special sections. Since accepting a buyout from The Times, he has concentrated on broadening his writing and editing horizons to the medical, academic and business fields. Anyone is welcome to Google Jed to see the different places in print, on the Web and in front of the camera his professional expertise has spread to.

Jed Weisberger

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Tags: AJ Burnett, Bert Blyleven, Binghamton Mets, Bobby Ojeda, Brooklyn Cyclones, Gary Carter, Josh Thole, Mako Oliveras, New York Mets, Rick Aguilera, Tim Teufel, Wally Backman