Alomar Sr. and Alicea will not return to coaching staff

The Mets have announced that bench coach Sandy Alomar Sr. and first base coach Luis Alicea will not return for the 2010 season.

Alomar Sr. will be offered another position with the Mets.

Third base coach Razor Shines and catching instructor Sandy Alomar Jr. will stay on staff, but their roles are yet to be determined.

According to Jon Heyman, it was Jerry Manuel’s choice not to fire Shines.

That means Manuel, pitching coach Dan Warthen, hitting coach Howard Johnson and bullpen coach Randy Niemann will be the only coaches sticking in the same roles.

Is this the start to the Mets off-season that you expected?

Manuel suspended for one game, fined undisclosed amount

Jerry Manuel has been suspended for one game by Major League Baseball for bumping umpire Bill Welke after his ejection on Thursday night.  Manuel was also fined an undisclosed amount.

Manuel will serve the suspension today, with Sandy Alomar Sr. taking over as manager.

Sometimes, I think this is a silly rule.  This is one of those times.  Manuel was suspended for “grazing the cap” of Welke, according to Adam Rubin.

No AIDS for Alomar

A weird story just got weirder.

Roberto Alomar and his new girlfriend, Maripily Rivera (whose photos I cannot publish on this website), are claiming that he is a picture of health, and does not have "full blown AIDS" as his ex-girlfriend is claiming in a $15 million lawsuit.

Alomar has his own Web site, RobertoAlomar.com, complete with a store and a blog. He released a statement yesterday. It read:

This is a very private, personal matter and I greatly appreciate all the support I have received in the past few days from my family, friends and colleagues in baseball. I am in very good health and I ask that you respect my privacy during this time.

As for the lawsuit, it is filled with lies and I am deeply saddened that someone I cared for would make such terrible accusations and try to hurt me in this way.

According to the Daily News, Rivera called the accusation "a vile lie."

Weird stuff.

Johnson and Warthen are coming back, maybe Alomar too

Good. Even better that there is no mention of Luis Aguayo returning.

Marty Noble has a new article up on MLB.com where he says, "The club has all but decided to retain the respective pitching and hitting coaches, and it is inclined to bring back another incumbent, Sandy Alomar Sr., who served as Manuel's bench coach."

Dan Warthen will continue to do what he does best: fix young pitchers (Pelfrey and Maine) and keep his hands off of the big guy (Johan).

HoJo has no need to go anywhere. Yes, you could complain about the lack of timely hitting and how quiet the bats went during the last week of the season, but there is only so much a coach can do. He did his job, the players just failed to pull through at the plate. I also liked to hear from Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling how broken up HoJo was after the last game of the season. I like that kind of emotion in the game.

Alomar Sr., I really have no problem with. He seems to be a close friend of Jose Reyes, and anything that makes Jose happy, makes me happy too.

Aguayo needs to go. Give me Wally Backman.

Tossed

Both Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran were tossed in the fourth inning of the game.

Arguing balls and strikes, Manuel came out to talk to the umpire. After seeing the video, it looked as if home plate umpire Brian Runge bumped Manuel, which caused Manuel to flare up and take it to another level.

After Manuel was tossed, Beltran argued his own balls and strikes, and shrugged his shoulders at a pitch he did not think was a strike. Runge started yelling, to which Beltran responded. Runge quickly tossed Beltran, who got up in Runge's face and got his moneys worth.

While I love to see the fire and attitude of the team, it needs to parlay into runs and eventually wins, otherwise it's pretty worthless.

Sandy Alomar Sr. has taken over the managerial duties, while Marlon Anderson picked up where Beltran left off.

Anderson will man left field, Endy Chavez will move to center, and Trot Nixon will shift from left to right.

Coaches shuffle

Jerry Manuel just announced his plans for the coaching staff.

Sandy Alomar Sr. will be the new bench coach.
Ken Oberkfell will be the first base coach.
Luis Aguayo is the third base coach.

As reported earlier, Dan Warthen will be the pitching coach.

I like these moves.

Alomar is more than fit to be the bench coach, in my opinion.

Oberkfell, possibly, is being groomed to take over next year. Omar Minaya likes to promote from within, so it's a definite possibility. Don't count out Howard Johnson for the spot.

Good luck at third base, Aguayo. Don't send Brian Schneider home on a strong arm. His feet are practically lead filled.

I love this

Carlos Delgado just had a home run taken away from him. It wasn't obvious, as it hit the base of the pole, which for some reason is black instead of yellow.

Tough call, but on the replay you could tell, so I can't truly fault the umpires. But, it riled up Willie Randolph and his staff, which I couldn't be happier about.

Willie was out and arguing. Sandy Alomar Sr. was not happy with Mike Reilly. Jerry Manuel was just tossed from the game. Awesome.

This team has fire again, and I couldn't be happier.

News: HoJo at first and other notes

Howard Johnson has been hired as the new first base coach for the Mets.

Sandy Alomar moves to third.

...the burning question for me is...
can alomar still do the windmill?
i dont want him breaking a hip or anything...

~~~~

Seems the Dodgers have reached an agreement with Jason Schmidt for a 3-year, $47 mil.

...damn...

And Mike Piazza is very close to signing with the A's.

...as long as it's not the phillies.
...and i think mikey will look slick in those white shoes...