WFAN's and SI.com's Jon Heyman has reported that the Mets will announce soon after the season ends that neither GM Omar Minaya nor manager Jerry Manuel will be retained for 2011 in their current capacities. Manuel has an option for 2011, but the team is expected to decline that option, and Minaya may be reassigned within the organization, most likely in the scouting department, according to Heyman. Both moves have been speculated for weeks now, so it comes as little surprise that neither will be back. Heyman also says the team is not expected to move immediately to name replacements for both.
To fill the GM position the team is expected to go outside the organization, and, with the Diamondbacks signing former Padres GM Kevin Towers to be their GM, there does not appear to be a clear favorite to replace Minaya. When the Mets brought Minaya in following the 2004 season it was with the promise that he would have complete autonomy in making decisions regarding the team, and over the past couple years it has appeared that Minaya's complete autonomy has been wrested from him and Mets COO Jeff Wilpon seems to have taken a more hands on approach. When the Mets were still in contention this year in mid to late July the team made no moves to improve the club in an effort to remain in contention and the team wound up going 2-9 on a west coast trip following the all-star break and was never heard from again. What was the reason that they did not make a move? Did Minaya have a move ready, but ownership would not take on salary for someone like then-Cubs P Ted Lilly? Or, did ownership decide that Minaya was no longer a competent GM after he handed out bad contracts to players like Oliver Perez, 3 years for $36 million, and Luis Castillo, 4 years for $24 million? If it was the latter, then I am all for bringing in a new GM to get this team back on track, like they did with Minaya in 2004; however, if ownership is not going to be willing to spend money on free agents, draft picks, the farm system, and trades, then there is really no point in bringing in a new GM. I'm not sure which side is more to blame in this situation because both scenarios are both believable.
While the GM job is wide open, there do seem to be two leading candidates for the manager's job, although the new GM may have his own guy that he wants to bring in, so a dark horse candidate could emerge. The leaders, according to speculation, at least, seem to be former Met manager Bobby Valentine and 1986 Met and current Brooklyn Cyclones, the club's New York-Penn League affiliate, manager Wally Backman. Backman had been hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004, but was fired after a day because of legal problems. Since then he has worked his way back through managing independent teams and this past year in Brooklyn. His fiery demeanor would be a change from the past couple managers the team has had, Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel, and Backman's link to the 1986 team would lend him instant credibility with fans. One of the knocks on Backman is that he does not have any managing experience on the major league level, but he has won virtually everywhere he's managed. Valentine, on the other hand, does have the major league experience that Backman lacks, and he has managed in New York before, bringing the Mets to the World Series in 2000. According to people in the know, the Wilpons do not appear to be high on bringing Valentine back, which is a shame because his intellect for the game is top notch.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/10/01/mets.minaya.manuel/index.html?eref=sihp
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