Tag Archive for Jerry Manuel

I’ll Be Sittin’ When the Evenin’ Comes

Watching the Met debut of Tim Redding, who tonight will become the 860th Met of all-time.

Redding will be suited up in No. 44 — which belonged to four different guys last year, none of whom I could have told you had I not just looked it up myself, I don’t think. If you’re interested in making a guess in the comments section, go ahead, I won’t say who they are.

Redding’s accompanying lineup is a little goofy — a continuation of the stuff we saw last night where Fernando Tatis played short and Jerry Manuel, once again, made a baffling pinch-hitting call that blew up his face with the game on the line. Yet, Angel Pagan starts tonight in left while Daniel Murphy and Ryan “Doghouse” Church once again sit.

The shortstop is Ramon Martinez, called up because of a thumb injury to Alex Cora who is going onto the DL today too and Jose Reyes is still unavailable (Mackey Shillstone?). You might remember Martinez as the only Met who could buy a hit in the last week of the season last yea. He was wearing No. 22 then but with that jersey since reassigned to JJ Putz, we’ll have to wait and see what he turns up in. (Updated: He’s wearing No. 26)

Seems like only a moment ago I was praising the flexibility of this roster but this is about as stretched out as I’d like to go right now. Carlos Delgado, you may have heard, is on his way to the operating room and I can’t imagine he reappears until August or so.

Redding’s recall, by the way, meant another demotion for Nelson Figueroa — who came and went without an appearance — and a continuing tour for Ken Takahashi.

Right you are, Ken.

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Manuel Laboring

Being a positive guy who desperately wants to like the team he roots for I’m hoping there’s some hidden benefit at work amid the recent managerial misadventures of Jerry Manuel. But they cannot be worth the the price in bad baseball we’ve witnessed this week.

For the second time in as many series against the Marlins, Jerry overmanuevered the Mets into losing two of three winnable games. He pulled his starters too early, inserted relievers unnecessarily and/or curiously, and this afternoon, publically flipped off Ramon Castro and called it a pinch-hitting decision.

None of it worked, and the team, once again, seems to be taking on the passive and frightened style of its manager.

I admire Jerry and came into the year convinced he possessed a good understanding of what troubled this team and how to fix it but it seems he’s determined to demonstrate that the hard way. I can’t imagine Castro sees much more time with the Mets, and wonder what it might take to get Ken Takahashi to show that No. 36 he got the other day. Yeah, David Wright could make it all go away with a few well-timed hits but he’s struggled before too. Onto Philly.

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Where’s that Confounded Bridge?

Ten games in and I’m still trying to figure out what kind of team the Mets have here. I’m encouraged that the big hitters for the most part are off to a good start but worried about the starting pitching. The so-called “clutch hitting” hasn’t come around but neither have Jerry Manuel‘s revoltingly passive game plans, which might be driving me craziest of all.

Camon, Jerry: If you’re going to call a sacrifice bunt every time a leadoff hitter reaches base, you had better be cashing that runner in consistently not to mention executing the sacrifice properly in the first place. But the success rate on both tasks has been just dismal and the sense of gently screwing yourself out of opportunities is palpable. Play with only two outs every time you get a guy on base and of course the clutch hitting is going to look awful. It came as no surprise to me that both of John Maine‘s poor pitching innings the other night came after failing in sacrifice situations the inning before. Not to put too fine a point on it, but bunting is for losers.

Anyway, Thursday’s game marked my first visit to CitiField and other than a bad game and an arctic chill every bit as cold as Shea on its rawest day, I was impressed with the new park. I like the wide concourses where plenty of light and a lack of crowding helped me recognize friends wandering around I would never have come across in the old building. My modest seats this season — up in Promenade 521 — more or less replicate the look from Mezzanine 10 in the old place, which is fine with me and every bit as affordable. I ate El Verano tacos and Box Frites and can recommend both. I do not like not being unable to see the bullpen. Bottom line: If the Mets can play better and the weather can get warmer, we’ll all have an excellent time there.

Tonight while again battling poor execution and way too much passive play we eventually beat the Brewers in part by not making an out on purpose in the ninth. We saw the 500th home run from Gary Sheffield, who despite what the morons on the call-in shows are saying, is exactly the kind of threat on the bench this team has needed for a long while. His turns at-bat have been almost all good no matter the results so far. Congrats, Gary.

9The 9th inning rally tonight featured the debut of reserve catcher Omir Santos, who was recalled from Buffalo this evening when Brian Schneider went onto the disabled list with back woes. Santos wore No. 9, recently turned in by Marlon Anderson. As for Schneider, I wouldn’t be surprised if his run as the starting catcher could come to an end sooner rather than later.

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Read All About It

Available this week at area newsstands is the Maple Street Press Mets Annual, to which I contributed a couple of articles including a bio of skipper Jerry Manuel that was a lot of fun to research and write. I had to attack this peice without knowing whether I’d get any help from the Mets in terms of an interview, and that uncertainty forced me to get off my butt and actually commit some journalism, for which I’m thankful. Among the people I spoke to was Jerry’s high-school baseball coach, Guy Anderson, who if you can believe this, is still coaching at Rancho Cordova High in Sacramento and couldn’t have been any more accommodating. I also got some valuable insight from the editor of the White Sox Interactive web site, who didn’t pull any punches when it came to the fan’s take on what went wrong during “The Tinkerererer’s” tenure there.

In the end the Mets were able to come through with some responses to my questions via email but the background work, as it often turns out to be, provided the best insights, were the most fun to pursue and ultimately make up the vast majority of the story.

Anyhow, please don’t pick this book up just for that: There’s quite a bit more good stuff in there including stats and analysis, a look at the minor leagues and draft, a look at the past (1969 and my favorite year, 1984) and the future at the new ballyard. Really, it’s a nice way to start looking forward to the season.

* * * * *

You may have seen the list of links to the left has been reorganized recently, and I’d like to call attention to a few of the new arrivals. I stumbled onto Centerfield Maz one afternoon recently and felt right at home reading a blog that discusses the drama of Cesar Cedeno and the first album from KISS in addition to Mets history.

Alex G., who in addition to starting a flattering Facebook Group that I’m declaring to be the official Facebook home of Mets by the Numbers, has also launched a new Mets blog, Bleeding Orange and Blue. Busting the other links into categories has also allowed me to add good stuff like Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Books and Mark Weinstein’s Bluenatic that didn’t really fit into the old architecture.Yeah, this is a minor innovation but I like it.

I think if I knew when I started this site that it would be the among the longest surviving in Metdom I mighta turned it into a Cerronesque cash cow if only I’d been less discerning about linking out (and maybe a little less lazy). On the other hand there has to be value in leading you not into bad writing. It’s all approved for your reading pleasure.

 

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Deal Me Up Another Future From Some Brand New Deck of Cards

Word got out today that the Mets and Jerry Manuel are to make some changes to the coaching staff next season. Base coaches Ken Oberkfell and Luis Aguayo will be offered new positions within the organization after joining the Mets concurrent with the Willie Randolph firing this past June.

Aguayo’s replacement at third base will be none other than Razor Shines, a personal favorite of Jerry Manuel and of anyone who collects cool baseball names. Shines served to positive reviews under Manuel in Chicago — they were once both fringe infielders in the Expos’ organization — and appears to have a pretty good reputation. He wore No. 18 in Chicago.

The Mets also announced that Guy Conti would be reassigned and Met lifer Randy Niemann would return to the staff as bullpen coach.This would mark Niemann’s third stint with the major league staff — he served the same role under under Bobby Valentine and Art Howe, racking up three uni numbers (454852) along the way. You might also not remember him as perhaps the least distinguished of the 1986 Mets– a lanky lefthanded reliever whose spotty Met career resulted in having worn Nos. 46 and 40 over parts of two seasons. That makes 5 unis so far, the overall record is in sight.

The Mets also said Thursday that hitting coach Howard Johnson; pitching coach Dan Warthen, and father-and-son staffers Sandy Alomar Sr. and Jr., would return to their roles with the Mets in 2009.

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Old Problems, New Unis?

I can’t say a four-year contract for Omar Minaya and a Jeff Wilpon promise of “addition by subtraction” were the first things I was hoping to hear from the Mets this offseason.

As detailed in prior posts I’m not exactly sure what Omar has done to deserve the reward, beyond overwhelming certain free agents and their would-be suitors. His trade record, particularly since the shrewd acquisition of John Maine, hasn’t been particularly shining, and his restraint in consecutive deadlines, while admirable in some respects, also preceded matching second-place finishes.

To his credit, Omar appears to have made pursuit of interim manager Jerry Manuel among his top priorities. Manuel did a magnificent job turning around a sonambulent team this year and seemed to have charmed the press and the brass. Interestingly, chatter has begun over whether to bring back Bobby Valentine, who’d certainly be an acceptable alternative from where I sit.

(Edit — I see now where Jerry has agreed to a 2-year deal. Hoorah. In the Mets world, 2 years = 1 year, setting them up to return to Bobby Vee if things don’t work out next year. All good).

Wondering just what the 2009 team will look like might be tricky considering rumors of uniform changes have arisen again. Dave from Michigan passed along chatter from Chris Creamer’s Sports Logo website saying the Mets as expected are phasing out black (hooray!) in favor of blue but have the biggest changes in mind for their road uniform, said to be completely re-imagined in a charcoal gray (uh, OK?) with Mets in script (boo!). The message continues:

Interestingly there is absolutely no black on this uniform whatsoever – and I was told that the blue/orange/white color combination jumps off this uniform with incredible success. Blue/Orange/White piping will also be on the ends of the sleeves, down the front of the jersey, and down the pant legs as well.

OK, something else to look forward to, maybe.

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Mets Whack Willie

Pitching coach Rick Peterson too and because they can, first-base coach Tom Nieto.

And just when I’d begun to tune out all the rumors.

Stay tuned for the press conference today to see whether Ken Oberkfell, promoted from Norfolk to the big league staff along with pitching coach Dan Warthen and infield coordinator Luis Aguayo, alights again in No. 0, and whether Jerry Manuel’s first move as interim manager is to shed No. 53.

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Hojo in 52 & Other Notes

Newly named coach Howard Johnson was spied at Spring Training revealing jersey No. 52 and temporarily ending some wild speculation that he’d finagle his old No. 20 from Shawn Green. The rules of the jersey game clearly pointed to this outcome — coaches don’t take jerseys from players, except when the player happens to be someone like Jeff McKnight. Then, all bets are off.

Thanks to readers Gene and Matt for pointing it out.

Also worth noting: Coach Jerry Manuel is back in No. 53, with spring training invitee Aaron Sele in 35. Manuel, you may recall, was assigned 53 last spring but switched jerseys when Chad Bradford — who’d been assigned 35 — preferred the latter. This restores at least some orderliness on the coaching bench: Sandy Alomar Sr. is still waddling around in No. 2, but the rest of the staff are nice and Rube Walkerly in the 50s — Rick Peterson 51; Hojo 52; Manuel 53; Rick Down 54; Tom Nieto 55; and Guy Conti 56.

Other sightings at Spring Training, as reported by various witnesses: Carlos Gomez in 88 and Fernando Martinez in 67. There have been several photos of recently signed ancient catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. floating around the Met but none in a jersey we’ve seen yet. Let us know if find something.

Marty Noble on the Jose Valentin/Moises Alou “controversy” (I use quotes here because I strongly suspect Valentin has more affection for 22, his number for many years, than for 18,his number for just one. But good Nobling here nonetheless:

Sometime this year, Mets left fielder Moises Alou will receive a bill, the amount of which has yet to be established. It will come from his new teammate, Jose Valentin.“I haven’t decided yet,” Valentin said. “It depends on how well he plays.”

The bill will be compensation for the uniform No. 18, which Valentin surrendered to Alou. Valentin has changed to No. 22 — worn previously by Ray Knight, Donn Clendenon, Kevin McReynolds, Al Leiter and Xavier Nady, among others — to accommodate Alou. Except for his first two games with the Pirates in 1990, when he wore No. 52, Alou has worn No. 18 throughout his career.

Alou’s uncle, Jesus, wore No. 23 with the Mets in 1975.

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Lima Standard Time

17Veteran longshot pitcher Jose Lima arrived at Met camp boasting that he never wears the same suit twice. Apparently he’s applying the same rules of fashion to his Met jerseys.

Lima on Saturday suited up No. 17, his third different Met jersey this spring. Lima, you will recall, was issued No. 99 and then spent an afternoon in 42 before the Mets thought better of reissuing the mothballed Jackie Robinson uni and gave him 99 back. In the meantime the Mets sold Dae Sung Koo back to Korea, freeing up 17, in which Lima appeared most recently. For a guy the Mets are likely to bid “auf wiedersehen” to in a matter of weeks, he’s kept things interesting on the runway. (Thanks to MBTN reader Jason for the tip).

Jason also reports that coach Jerry Manuel appeared in No. 35, solving the mysery of what number he fled to after Chad Bradford claimed his 53 (below). What number remains for World Baseball Classic-exiled reliever Jose Santiago is still unknown (as is the question of whether he’s actually coming back after the tournament is complete). Santiago earlier this spring lost his assigned number 33 to teammate John Maine.

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Guess the Number

More updates and intrigue from St. Lucie: Weepy veteran Bret Boone yesterday turned in his No. 9 jersey and retired. As pictured at left, Chad Bradford was spotted wearing 53, not 35 he was initially issued: That makes sense given his previous stops in Boston and Oakland, but it means a change for coach Jerry Manuel — only to what we’re not sure (thanks Matt for the photo). Readers also checked in with their best guesses as to Jose Santiago’s elusive jersey number: Using the process of elimination, one enterprising guy guessed either 52 (though we wouldn’t be surprised if Manuel shows up with that one now) or 87 — all others with the exceptions of 8, 24, 31 and 69 have been issued, with three of those numbers in semi-hibernation. One possibility we’ve realized by now is Santiago in the 35 we previously thought belonged to Bradford.

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