Bobby Valentine stood in the Mets dugout during an exhibition contest between the Mets and the Braves in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon.
One can make a case that Valentine wanted to hang out with the guys. Another will say he's doing his due diligence about the Amazins for his ESPN gig.
It's hard to believe he attended the game for those reasons. The former Mets manager has a motive for whatever he does.
We are talking about a manager that likes to do research on every team; he likes to find out a player's strength and weakness.
It's a good bet he was getting to know a team that he may manage this year. There's a good possibility that Jerry Manuel will be fired as the Mets manager this summer.
The Mets are not good enough to be a winning team. Someone will take the blame for it, and we all know who it's going to be.
That's how the Wilpons operate their franchise. It's never their fault. It's someone else, so it's going to be Omar Minaya and Manuel.
The team dealt with negative backlash from the fans in recent years. The Mets responded by bringing guys from the past to satisfy these people.
It's only logical they would do the same by rehiring Valentine.
It makes sense anyway.
The Mets hired Wally Backman, Bob Melvin, and Terry Collins this year in an attempt to improve the organization after hiring Minaya's lackeys all these years. One of those guys could be Manuel's replacement.
Somehow, those guys don't seem to be a good fit.
Backman may be a good manager one day, but he is too immature to handle the New York spotlight.
Melvin has been an average manager at best. How's he different than Manuel?
Collins has not managed in a long time. Plus, he alienates players in a New York minute.
Valentine knows how to win here. He found ways to have his team overachieve every year. 1997 and 2000 serve as good examples.
He gets the most of his marginal players. David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Daniel Murphy would be better players under Valentine’s leadership.
Maybe the Mets don't beat the Phillies under the demonstrative manager, but at least, they won't back down from them.
A team fits a manager's personality. It's not a coincidence the team lost its edge since Valentine was fired.
He brought a fighter's mentality, and it rubbed off on the players. Teams hated playing the Mets back then.
It's not the case anymore. This is why he needs to be hired.
The Wilpons wisely reached out to Valentine after a messy divorce a few years ago. They realized how good they had it with him despite his nonsense.
The ESPN analyst can talk about how he knew nothing about baseball after being in Japan. He knew the Indians would not hire him if he said it.
His dream is to manage the Mets again.
Valentine knows New York is the place to be. He will be a hero when he manages there again.
He can talk about all he wants about teams not wanting to pay up for him, but that's not the case.
Everyone knows he can manage. His work speaks for itself. It's hard to believe no one wanted to hire hm.
Valentine can be a politician. He knows when to say the right things and bad things. He knows how to make an impression or not.
He's not stupid. He knew what he was doing in those interviews, especially with the situation with the Mets.
This Mets job is for the taking.
Why else would he take in for a spring training game?
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