There’s been so much talk among Mets fans about why Manny isn’t a Met, and if he’ll be a Met. I certainly hope not. Looking at Manny’s offensive statistics is stunning. Even better than I thought when I thought about writing this post. I’ve never watched Manny play every day during his time in Boston or last season with the Dodgers. I probably watched more of him last year with the Dodgers than I did during the totality of his Boston career.
He’s an offensive juggernaut like the Mets haven’t seen since the days of Darryl Strawberry, or maybe ever. But he isn’t right for the Mets. And I’m not writing that because I have some delusion that the Mets will only employ players of the highest personal integrity. I even supported the Mets before the 2007 season when they signed Guillermo Mota knowing that he would face a steriod suspension to start the season. It didn’t work out very well but I thought it was a good move at the time.
As I look over Manny’s numbers at his Baseball Reference profile, its difficult not to fall in love with his stats. His 162 game career average of .314/ .411/ .593 41 HR and 133 RBI is intoxicating to imagine in a Met uniform. And I honestly believe he can continue that late in his career, as he’ll be 37 years old in May.
The reason that I don’t want to see Manny with the Mets is because he gave up on the Red Sox. He didn’t even try last year. He quit! I believe that he faked knee injuries so he wouldn’t have to play. I believe that he didn’t try to play well in the field or at-bat. And that I can’t take.
I can live with players making bad decisions to extend their careers or improve their performance (e.g. steriods and HGH). I don’t like it but I can understand it. But I can’t live with watching a player every day that isn’t trying. If Manny isn’t highly motivated, and he may not be for whatever team he ends up with, he very well may not try to win or even step on the field. And that is something that I don’t want to see with the Mets. The Dodgers can have him.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
The Mets Report 
Nice write up Dave. I think you already know how I feel about Manny…despite him quitting on the Redsox’s (which I also believe he did), I am willing to roll the dice on no more than a 2 yr deal to get him. His numbers are great BUT I think what stands out most for me is I think he is going to make everyone else in that lineup betting.
I don’t think we can expect Delgado to have a big yr and if he doesn’t, this team will have a serious power outage. Also, Manny is one of the greatest clutch hitters ever and that has been something the Mets have lacked the past 2 seasons in September. I just don’t think we can survive with a platoon of Tatis/Murphy in LF and I see no other options.
Potential Lineup with Manny:
1. Reyes
2. Beltran
3. Manny
4. Delgado
5. Wright
6. Church
7. Scheider
8. Castillo
9. Pitcher
Take Manny out and I see a huge hole….
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That lineup does look pretty good. I’m not sold on Tatis/Murphy as an everyday platoon either. But Manny’s not the solution, he’s a problem.
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Dave,
Count me in the I want Manny camp! manny is a diva , no doubt about it. I’ll suffer thru his nonsense if it helps Mets win. I know all about team chemistry.. its umm..nice if you like each other, I GET that. The ’86 Mets were far from diva free, and half the fights they had we never read about. the ones with each other. lol
I say Manny strikes fear in a pitcher unlike any Met hitter has since…Piazza . The Mets need to have an intimidation factor, I mean after all, every team hates them already. at least with Manny it wont be because of shirts being tucked out or for celebrating too uniquely.
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