9 Responses to The Safe Pick But the Right Pick?

1. GDHebner
   November 13th, 2010 at 11:14 am

   I think the idea that Sandy Alderson won’t think outside the box and will be motivated by fear is a bit of a stretch when one considers his entire adult life.

   If Alderson he doesn’t hire Wally Backman it will be because he doesn’t feel that Wally Backman is the right man for this job at this time. It’s just that simple.

2. Mike Silva
   November 13th, 2010 at 11:14 am

   GDHebner

   I agree and I hope you are right. But Ricciardi and DePodesta have their say and I am not so sure about them

3. 86mets
   November 13th, 2010 at 12:20 pm

   I think Sandy Alderson has been doing this long enough that he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing. I don’t think passing on Backman NOW is a mistake. I think hiring him might be. Put him on the coaching staff and allow him apprentice under a veteran skipper and groom him to take over instead of throwing him to the wolves as a 1st time skipper. I don’t have a problem with Backman, but I think he would really benefit from learning from a veteran at the big league level rather than going in so raw.

4. RonOK
   November 13th, 2010 at 12:21 pm

   The way this is going, it would not surprise me if the 2011 Mets have the look and feel of the 1983 Mets — a transistion year with what is basically a no-name manager. They will allow the large contracts to expire and really begin to build a championship roster as the season progresses (i.e., Hernandez trade in June, 1983).

   Then, this off-season, they make a big, bold move or two and start building a quality roster and begin the resurrection of the franchise.

   The 2013-14-15 Mets could be dominant again — maybe that’s where Backman fits in the puzzle.

   I have zero expectations for this team in 2011 — zero.

   I am also not sold on the idea that whoever manages the Mets in 2011 is the manager that will be the one in charge when they reclaim some of their glory.

   2011 is going to be a long, long season and Backman — or my choice, Bobby V — are better off away from the manager role right now.

5. LongTimeFan
   November 13th, 2010 at 12:22 pm

   Mike, fear? That’s quite a reach, I’d say an excuse not to deal with Wally’s lack of qualification and extensive history of impulse control problems.

   I think some Mets fans, including you, are too vested in Wally to rescue you from your Mets pain….all of which makes him an icon or rock star when he’s really an emperor with no clothes. You’re found of him personally….that’s great…but he’s still unqualified whereas Alderson and company methodically approach, and carefully consider their options in context of criteria established. They can make this very important decision free from emotional ties, which in the case of Wally, binds and blinds.

6. Docta Mark
   November 13th, 2010 at 4:12 pm

   OK, enuf already -

   I’ve listened to the endless chatter here and everywhere else and while the mistake hasn’t been made officially, it has become yet another moment of truth. The critics say a Wally hire is either high risk or a choice forced on Alderson by the Wilpons. Not so.

   The real risk is wasting the peak of the Reyes and Wright era, not to mention the emerging core of Pelfrey, Niese, Gee, Ike, Thole, and even F-Mart and Duda too, on a retread manager. If all we get for the shambles Omar left us is 3 or 4 more years of low 80 W baseball, what’s the point? The focal point of the ’11 Mets can’t be the roster, it’s got more open holes than Paris Hilton on New Year’s Eve! It can’t be this new ‘brain trust’ silently repairing over a decade of incompetence bit by bit. That’s all background noise.

   A Wally hire is a low risk/high reward direction b/c Met fans will have a face of the organization that isn’t the pouty, apologetic David Wright or the enigmatic, sullen Jose Reyes. It’s the mgr!
   Let Wally be the leader, not these stressed out underachievers.
   The retreads are not capable of playing that role. Only Wally is.

   To not see this is to say to the fanbase, take the next 700 to 900 games off – we’re content to hang around 83 wins/year and try and keep it interesting until the NFL pre-season starts. OK with u?
   If Wally’s here, that crap ends. He’ll make this team worthy of
   6 months of dedication from fans, media and the NL alike. We won’t be tolerant of mediocrity. Our games will be intense. Did
   you go to a Cyclones game last season. I did. Go back in ’11 and
   ask yourself what’s missing. Their leader. He’s somewhere in the woods today, with an Elmer Fudd hunting cap on, waiting for a call.

   If the ‘brain trust’ really has a high baseball IQ it won’t take the bait from the media. It’ll listen to the fans. It give them a leader.

   Otherwise, it’s 120 games or so and go fish, MRF 11.13

7. LongTimeFan
   November 14th, 2010 at 3:37 am

   You don’t want Major League reteads, well then fine. Chip Hale could do the same without Wally’s baggage and impulse control problems.

   So could plenty others like DeMarlo Hale, Jose Ouendo, Tim Bogar, and more.

   For some reason some of my fellow Met fans thnk Wally is the be-all-end-al and no one else is fiery and competent. How does one compare low A ball Brooklyn with managing 24/7 New York and national media and adults in the majors? One must first learn to act like an adult though difficult times, before being deemed credible to lead adults during difficult times.

   The Mets have four GM’s on their staff who are lookng at the whole picture, rather than the group of fans tagging Wally the Savior wih no consideration toward s total absence of experience leading established major league players, let alone AAA and havng any Big League involvement since 1993. The players need someone credible they can trust who understands life and pressures of the Majors, today and actually has some recent demonstrated ability for self-control during difficult times. What’s Wally going to do when Gary, Keith and Ron criticize him – run to the booth to intimidate them or yell at his own GM and leave nasty voice mail like he did wih the Peanuts a few years ago as suppossed grown man his late 40′s? This person who got fired from an Independent League team less than two years later – last year with poor record – is fit to lead and represent the Mets? I don’t think so and am glad that Mets brass apparently don’t think so either.

   Seaking of which, they must also consider this franchise’s well earned reputation for embrrassment at the hands of its hirees or ssociatess. How many more K-Rod’s, Bernazards, Samuels and Madoffs, do we need? Alderson and company have many more considerations than the Wally Club who have convinced themselves that Wally is it or bust.

   And quite frankly, in my opinion, fans who threaten to leave if this or that one isn’t chosen, aren’t true ones. You threaten to leave, well then, goodbye. The way to deal with mass exodus is do reduce payroll and trade off expensive cotracts. If that’s what will make you feel better then good for you. I’ve seen fans like you threaten, come and go all the time. Not unlike Wally with his long history of lashing out when he doesn’t get what he wants. Throw some bats, beat up his wife, indulge in booze, intimidate a broadaster, campaign for anoher man’s job, yell at a GM, leave nasty voice mails, lie in his job interview, make excuses, blame everyone but himself.

8. Docta Mark
   November 14th, 2010 at 4:52 am

   Good Morning LTF -

   I’m not sure if I totally understand your argument. From what your saying Wally is not only unqualified, but never should of been considered in the first place. But that not the story, is it?

   As we’ve seen, there’s dirt on almost all of these candidates. It’s
   become a PC parade at this point. Wally played by the rules in 2010, did his job in Brooklyn and had a great interview last SAT.
   We heard nothing all week and then starting late FRI night, after Harper’s article surfaced, it was all over and done for him. Why?

   I wanted Wally after Art Howe, and that’s when he was 1000x more radioactive than he is now. It took him 6 years and a lot of thankless work to get to last SAT’s interview. What good would it be to keep him ‘in the organization’ for another managerial cycle only have him be the dark horse candidate in 2012 or 2013?

   To me this has the Wilpon’s face saving fingerprints all over it. Wally is caught in a political run down. Sandy hires him, it’s the Wilpons meddling again and Sandy’s autonomy is questioned. Sandy hires one of the retreads and the Mets offer some milk-toast excuse for not hiring Wally, it’s sadly the same old Mets.

   And just because I’m pro-Wally doesn’t mean I won’t root for the team in 2011…I went for the ride with Willie and Jerry after they passed up Wally in the 2005 off-season. I was upset then, but I didn’t have 6 years of incompetence to overcome. Now I do…and
   if it’s Collins, Hurdle or Gawd Fabid Melvin, this team will be a test pattern on the NY sports scene for no good reason. Sandy or not.

   I just hope they let Wally come east and interview again next week so he can stare down the ‘brain trust’ and convince them
   he’s not the messiah, but a manager that will give the doubters,
   the haters and the faithful an experience worth paying to see.

   Melvinball? HurdleHustle? The TC PC? Sorry, no sale man…

   HTC, MRF 11.14

9. Mike Silva
   November 14th, 2010 at 8:56 am

   At this point all I ask is the organization put him in the final lineup and let him interview with DePodesta, Ricciardi, and Alderson. If he can’t sell them than fine. But don’t exclude him from the finals.

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