The second coming of Bobby Valentine is a prospect gaining steam with folks who cover the New York Mets.
Today's column by Steve Popper in the
was the third article in three days to call for BobbyV 2.0.
Said Popper:
Earlier this week, Newsday's David Lennon suggested a Valentine sequel "could be the most prudent course of action" for the franchise. And Metsblog's Matt Cerone said "the buzz in baseball is the Mets intend to find out" whether the former skipper was interested, what the cost would be and how much control he'd want over player acquisitions.
My $0.02:
Look, Valentine's got enough credibility to instantly fire up this fan.
Obviously BobbyV -- now 60 with a 1117-1072 career managerial record -- has more managerial experience than Wally Backman should the team decide to go that route.
And he's fiery, which I think this team needs.
But to me, it's his track record of making something special out of a flawed roster is why his name keeps coming up for this job, as his successors flop.
He led the Mets to within two games of the World Series in 1999 with a rotation of Al Leiter, Rick Reed, Masato Yoshii, Bobby Jones and geriatric Orel Hershiser.
He made the 2000 Fall Classic with a starting outfield of Benny Agbayani, Timo Perez and Jay Payton -- three men who were lucky to be fourth outfielders.
Then he nearly coaxed an aging team back to the post-season in 2001 -- until Armando Benitez sabataged his effort the last week of the season.
The Mets have rued his firing since the moment Steve Phillips convinced the Wilpons to throw the skipper under the bus in 2002.
What do you think, Met fans?
Backman vs. Valentine? Neither?
Ya gotta believe