Having done such a splendid job supervising a brutal 2nd half collapse in 2012, Terry Collins’ entire coaching staff is returning the Mets dugout in 2013. Always eager to move up the ladder, Buffalo skipper Wally Backman finds himself without a gig with the parent club, while returning to the Mets’ newly-relocated Triple A affiliate is also out of the question, writes the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington.
The Mets conceivably want Backman to spend another year in Triple-A but he’s made it known he’s wary of the travel involved in the Pacific Coast League now that the Mets’ top farmhands will be in Las Vegas rather than Coca-Cola Field.
Backman, remember, talked to his longtime mentor and former Mets manager Davey Johnson about a coaching job with the Washington Nationals last winter. But Johnson advised him to take the job in Buffalo instead so Backman could have a Triple-A managerial stint on his resume.
Harrington predicts Backman and Johnson will be speaking this offseason, and while there will undoubtedly be managerial vacancies in Boston and Miami, a reunion of the ’86 World Championship skipper and little redneck second baseman is far more likely, especially now that Johnson’s third base coach, Bo Porter, has accepted the Astros job.