Old friends never die, they just take the Amtrak to Washington.Of course, we here at Metstradamus would like to wish Manny Acta the very best of luck as the new manager of the Washington Nationals. But the query for the Mets is who to replace Acta with at the third base coaching box.
This would be the perfect time to soothe Howard Johnson's bruised ego over being passed over for the Rockies hitting coach, by bringing him up to be the third base coach for the Mets. Why, you ask? What credentials does HoJo possess to be qualified to wave his arm around in a counter-clockwise windmill motion?
Hell, I don't know.
But here is what I do know: 2007 is an odd numbered year. As you know, odd numbered years are where Howard Johnson does his best work:
- 1987: .265/36/99
- 1989: .287/36/101
- 1991: .259/38/117
Even numbered seasons, however, are a different story:
- 1988: .230/24/68
- 1990: .244/23/90
- 1992: .223/7/43
So for 2007, Howard Johnson is the perfect choice to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first great season by being the third base coach for the Mets. He will no doubt be smart enough to send Jose Reyes home from first on a double to the left center field gap against Johnny Damon's arm.
In 2008 though, Johnson is destined to send Ramon Castro home on a sac fly to short right field against Ichiro, and disappear in the fifth inning to catch one of his son's high school games. Maybe first base would be better for him in even numbered years.
5 comments:
One thing I do remember about Hojo--he was never hailed as a brainy player. And I am not even thinking about Sparky's comments about him.Still, Acta was an awful 3b coach, too. I love the way he would send guys home in hope;lless situations with the cleanup hitter in the on-deck circle. Aloha, Manny. Nice guy, rotten 3B coach.
The Mets should bring back Mookie.
Gary Carter should be the third base coach. Knows the game and, most importantly, is annoyingly talkative. He'll serve as a nice distraction to the opposing team's third baseman.
They re-signed Valentin for a year. As long as we didn't make any promises to him about starting at second, I have no problem with it. I have a feeling they simply told him he'd be given an opportunity to compete for the starting second base position, which is fine with me. Would rather see someone like Kennedy or DeRosa at second, with Valentin a left-handed bat off the bench.
Carter as 3rd base coach would be interesting to say the least. He wants to manage at some point, would he make Willie nervous?
As for 'Stache, $3 million is a lot of change for a backup, methinks he is going to start, unless they platoon him with someone.
How about Wally Backman? Be nice to see him get a break after the problems he had and you know he wants to come back with the organization.
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