In Jerry Manuel We Trust?

Jerry Manuel is known as a great guy, very popular in baseball and a player friendly manager. Those are all the reasons why he is the wrong choice to manage the Mets the rest of the way.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no beef with Manuel, who has been a Manager of the Year and managed winning clubs. The thing is that he is exactly like the guy that the Mets organization and fans wanted to out, Willie Randolph.

Now, he might have more fire than Randolph, and occasionally argue with the umpires, but that's not saying alot due to Randolph never going out to argue a call. Thing is, Randolph was known to be a popular guy, great in the clubhouse, and after his first year, he was a player friendly manager.

However, that all changed when the Mets started losing and the players believed what the media and fans were saying, that it was all Willie's fault.                  

But Willie is gone now, Manuel is in, and that should be enough for most fans. Though it is not enough for this fan, Manuel is not the right fit for this team. This teams needs a manager that is going to light a fire under these guys. A manager that won't take Jose Reyes being a baby, or the teams lackadaisical play.

They need a manager who will bench Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider or even the poster boy David Wright when they aren't getting it done. A manager who is going to get kicked out of games because he can't watch his team play, and hopefully get messages through to the team and fans. Also a manager who will encourage this team to fight a little bit, throw at a guy, or do more then stare down when they get thrown or hit at.

Encouraging fights is a bad thing for sports, but once in awhile, you might need it as a wake up call, and if you don't believe me, ask Pinella and his Cubs.  They looked just as bad as the Mets last season until Pinella started going nuts, and his team fought with everyone, including each other. Now it looks like the Cubs are the favorites to reach the World Series, and the Mets look destined for an early vacation.

Truth is, the team should of let Manuel and Alomar Sr. go also. They are both respectable names in baseball, but the fact is that this team didn't respect any of the coaches anyway.

You leave Howard Johnson and then bring up the minor league guys to replace the other coaches. Then the Mets could of named Ken Oberkfell the manager, a given him a test run, and let him go next year also to see if this guys legit.  That's one way they could of handled it. 

Another way is paying a lot of money to Bobby Valentine, which would be a great way to open the new ballpark. He would definitely be hard on this team until they played baseball fundamentally correct. 

The way I would go would be giving Wally Backman a shot. You see if this guy has what it takes, if not, you fire him after half a season.

What's the difference anyway? He would go year to year basis and wants to finally manage in the majors. He also has won everywhere hes gone, and will come very cheap.

The majority of the fans would love him to, being an ex-met and with the fire he has. But the Mets chose Manuel, and Omar said he is the manager the rest of the way.

Lets hope this turns out well for the Mets, Manuel and Omar, because if it doesn't, then Omar, Manuel and us Met fans will all be going to new homes next year, without a championship.