Will Manuel Live Up To His Word?

A 3:15 A.M. press release Eastern Standard Time to announce the firing of your Manager after letting him twist in the wind for weeks was certainly not a good move by the Mets organization. However, it is what it is, and we must move on because it's over, and there isn't anything we can do to change it.

That being said, we wonder if Jerry Manuel can turn around a franchise that hasn't been the same since the historic collapse of 2007. During his press conference, Manuel seemed to say just the right things in order to accomplish that.

The first thing he said was that the team had to freshen up its players. What he meant by that was give the everyday players a chance to rest and freshen up. What a better way to do that then start David Wright at DH tonight against the Angels. Although Wright has been the only MLB player to start every game and play every inning, he does need a rest.

The new boss of the Mets also said that he would shuffle the lineup depending upon the performance of the players. This is something Willie never did. As long as the players were healthy, he ran them out in the same spot in the lineup night after night. Manuel also believes that if a pitcher is pitching well, he will not hesitate to leave them out there to pitch seven or eight innings, and throw 120-130 pitches. Willie along with most other managers today, start to panic if a pitcher throws over 100 pitches.

Finally, even though it was reported that Sandy Alomar Sr. would stay as Third Base coach, Ken Oberkfell would be First Base Coach, Dan Warthen would be Pitching Coach, and Luis Aguayo would be Bench Coach, Manuel said during his press conference that Alomar Sr. and Aguayo would switch positions.

I am very happy to hear that Alomar Sr. and Aguayo will be switching positions because I feel that Alomar Sr. was too aggressive on many situations as Third Base Coach, including this past Sunday, when he sent Catcher Brian Schneider home as the potential tying run against the Rangers. Newsflash Sandy, He's a CATCHER. Needless to say, Schneider was out by approximately 30 feet, and the Mets lost the game 8-7.

Like all new people that are hired to replace somebody, Manuel said all the right things to get the Mets rolling at his introductory press conference. The only question now is will he actually do the things that he says he's going to do as manager once he starts to manage? We'll find out when he manages his first game tonight.