New Skipper Candidate Scorecard

[metirish]

Watch the Braves snap him up, he's from that area?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Fredi Gonzalez lives in Marietta, Georgia --- commuting distance from the Ted.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Added a few more candidates and a column to track box-office appeal, you know the 'Pons will care about that.

[bmfc1]

The Cubs are going to interview Bob Melvin:

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5571619

[Benjamin Grimm]

It just occurred to me that maybe the Mets would consider replacing Jerry with their bench coach, and then I couldn't for the life of me think of who that bench coach might be. I finally had to look it up: Dave Jauss. Has Jauss said or done anything at all this year? Have the Mets ever had a lower profile bench coach?

[metirish]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It just occurred to me that maybe the Mets would consider replacing Jerry with their bench coach, and then I couldn't for the life of me think of who that bench coach might be. I finally had to look it up: Dave Jauss. Has Jauss said or done anything at all this year? Have the Mets ever had a lower profile bench coach?

Good point , and I think the one time he took the helm when Jerry got booted from a game Manuel had some comments about an in-game move Jauss made.....can't recall the exact circumstances but Manuel didn't exactly back him up.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think he got some small notoriety from a choice in a game while Jerry was tossed. He's tutored Thole on game-calling.

He's a well-respected guy in baseball, having gone from first-base coach to bench coach to director of player development in Boston. He reunited with Grady Little as bench coach on the Dodgers' staff, and the last two years had the same job with the Orioles. The Mets interviewed Eric Wedge* and Bob Melvin for the job before he got it. He's coached a lot of benches.

*Candidate?

[TransMonk]

Jauss fully managed this victory:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201007270.shtml

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=14389

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Added a few more candidates and a column to track box-office appeal, you know the 'Pons will care about that.

Like the thought.

But Torre's got at least as much appeal here as Valentine (at least in terms of media attention-- I'm not sure I've EVER bought a ticket with the manager in mind).

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

We're freaks who watch these clowns no matter who's behind the wheel.

But I was thinking of those fence sitters for whom the hiring of a high-profile leader could make a difference; and of the manager as a salesman. You'd have to if you're the Wilpons.

I'll upgrade Torre to "more than some" I figure the MFY-Mets games sell out anyway though.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd love to think that Davey Johnson will be a candidate, but I suspect that's very unlikely.

[metirish]

Strawberry apparently has shown great smarts in managing his new restaurant , I'm throwing him in the mix.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Davey seems like a new man in semi-retirement, but his work in international tournaments strikes me as him having lost some of his competitive edge. I'd really like a manager who wouldn't have felt a need to regularly swap Jeter and Jimmy Rollins in for each other mid-game in the World Baseball Classic.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

metirish wrote: Strawberry apparently has shown great smarts in managing his new restaurant , I'm throwing him in the mix.

LOL

[Guest Edgy DC]

Candidate	ML Experience	Met Heritage	Will work for Peanuts?	Media Charm	Strategic Rep	'Leader of Men' Rep	Fan Appeal	Good with 'Kids'?	Juice	Box-Office Power
Gary Carter	Nuttin'	Excellent	As a Hall-of Famer, he'd probably get more than your standard rookie salary. A couple of clicks up, at least.	Very strong, but probably has an influential minority of detractors.	Unknown, though he managed mostly winners in the minors.	Very good, but perhaps strongest in his mind.	High quotient of fan appeal, especially with your mother.	His success in the minors suggests so.	Hall of Famers have leverage, and he's not afraid to use it, but may certainly overplay his hand, as he has in the past. Now he's a Hall of Famer coaching at a Division II college and paying for his own drinks.	1986 sells.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Listed in the mix for the Marlins: Pe�a, Larry Bowa, Backman, Valentine (still), and Edwin Rodriguez, of course.

Nobody's mentinoed Bowa as a potential Met manager, have they?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Not that I've seen.

I wonder if there are any rumors about other teams being interested in Jerry Manuel. I expect that he'll just be chillin' back home in California next year.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I read somewhere that Jerry's got a standing offer to help launch a baseball program at a small college in Norcal, that's the kinda thing he's probably better suited for anyway. I can see him doing that, then coming home to a rocking chair, a lemonade and a good book on his porch with his wife at dusk.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I read somewhere that Jerry's got a standing offer to help launch a baseball program at a small college in Norcal, that's the kinda thing he's probably better suited for anyway. I can see him doing that, then coming home to a rocking chair, a lemonade and a good book on his porch with his wife at dusk.

Yes, but whither the chuckling? WHEN DOES A MAN GET TO CHUCKLE TO HIMSELF IN FRONT OF MANY, MANY CAMERAS AND REPORTERS IN PEACE?

[metirish]

LA Times reports Torre to step down at season end and Don Mattingly to take over.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think Mattingly was the lame alternative to Jerry that I most feared. Glad to see he'll be tied down in LA.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Candidate	ML Experience	Met Heritage	Will work for Peanuts?	Media Charm	Strategic Rep	'Leader of Men' Rep	Fan Appeal	Good with 'Kids'?	Juice	Box-Office Power
Eric Wedge	561-573 record in seven years with Cleveland. One divison championship followed by an ALDS victory over the Yankees, and a loss to the Sawx. Youngest manager in the league for most of his tenure. Manager of the year runner up in 2005, winner in 2007.	None. [crossout]Never played[/crossout]Played less than 40 games in the majors. (Thanks for the correction below.)	No. He's several years of experience, and therefore leverage.	Engaging and humble with the press. Has been known to play the media to put pressure on his players.	Mixed.	Has been known to stick with players through down times, and had a lot of loyalty amoong them when he went down.	He has no East Coast experience (though he retains some ties to Boston and was drafted by the Sox), so is mostly a stranger in these parts, but he has a young family, he's energetic, and he does charity work for youth sports. That won't help him much up front.	He has a reputation for showing too much faith in lesser young talents. Josh Barfield and Jeremy Sowers may be two such examples.	He's got a Manager of the Year in his pocket and a lot of teams are shopping. If they Mets don't hire him, someone else will sooner, rather than later.	Not much at all.

[MFS62]

And Wedge was in Star Wars, Epidodes IV, V and VI.
He survived all three final battles.

Later

[Gwreck]

For what it's worth, Eric Wedge *did* play in the majors in the early '90s (not very much).

[ashie62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think Mattingly was the lame alternative to Jerry that I most feared. Glad to see he'll be tied down in LA.

Mattingly is dead from the neck up.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Candidate	ML Experience	Met Heritage	Will work for Peanuts?	Media Charm	Strategic Rep	'Leader of Men' Rep	Fan Appeal	Good with 'Kids'?	Juice	Box-Office Power
Terry Collins, 61, currently minor league field coordinator with the Mets.	Compiled a 444-434 record in five seasons plus part of a sixth for Houston and Anaheim. Finished second each of his full seasons. Also managed the Oryx Buffalo in Japan and the Chinese national team in the WBC.	None, but he replaced Art Howe in Houston.	Not expensive, but doubtful he'd take peanuts.	Hard to tell, but he managed the Buffalo Bisons as long ago as 1989-1991 and remains a popular figure with the media there. His hiring as Mets minor-league field coordinator was largely seen as a gesture by Omar Minaya of his commitment to Buffalo.	Mixed, but on the poor side of mixed. I found some old sabermetric articles that didn't like him.	Seems the type that the players rally around during good times and hate at bad times. Players petitioned for his dismissal in Anaheim. That can't be good.	He may be popular in Buffalo, but would likely be seen by Mets fans as a thoughtless retread hire of a white-hair.	He is well thought of in his current role as minor league field coordinator, a role he previously held for the Dodgers. Perhaps he's a good drill seargeant and that act doesn't play as well with big-league millionaires.	Little.	I've never seen his name on a marquee.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Cool storyabout the end of his tenure with Anaheim. As the team faded in the second half under a series of injuries, GM Bill Bavasi and the front office gave Collins a vote of confidence. But when Colins got wind of the petition drive to oust him, he did what he perceived as the honorable thing and resigned, lifting the pressure off of Bavasi --- sacrificing himself, in effect, for his boss' sake.

As composed and measured as he is in public, Bavasi has an intense, emotional side. Perhaps the greatest example came six autumns ago, when he walked into the Angels' combative, noxious clubhouse with news to deliver. On that Friday, in the final weeks of his tenure as GM, Bavasi had to inform his petulant players that their manager, Terry Collins, had resigned. Bavasi went into the vacant manager's office and rolled out an empty chair. He pulled it into the middle of the room as the ballplayers watched. "Who wants it?" he said, breaking the silence. He paused for effect. "You all seem to think you could do the job." He nodded at different faces around the room: "You? You?" Silence.

[metirish]

The drumbeat is starting with vigor for Torre right?, you can see it now with various articles.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

metirish wrote: The drumbeat is starting with vigor for Torre right?, you can see it now with various articles.

Drumbeat? I think that's the sound of me banging my head against my desk that you're hearing, there.

[Willets Point]

Can Torre win without a roster of juiced-up robo-players?