The Candidate Collection: Three...Mets!?

It's time once again to consider three candidates for the Brewer managerial vacancy. Today, with the help of Eric Simon of Amazin Avenue, we'll take a look at three candidates that either work or have worked for the Mets organization:

• Jerry Manuel (Mets manager from 2008-2010)
• Bobby Valentine (Mets manager from 1996-2002)
• Chip Hale (current Mets third base coach)

Follow the jump for Eric's scouting reports, then vote in the poll below!

Jerry Manuel:

The basics: Manuel had a short major league career, appearing in parts of five seasons with the Expos, Tigers and Padres between 1975 and 1982. He spent two seasons managing in the minors (1990-91) and seven coaching in the majors before being named the manager of the White Sox for the 1998 season. Over 11 seasons as manager of the White Sox and Mets he's amassed a 659-636 record, and was the AL Manager of the Year in 2000 when he made his only playoff appearance.

Brewer connection: None.

Scouting Report: As mentioned above, all three scouting reports today come from Eric Simon of Amazin Avenue.

Asking me for an objective synopsis of Jerry Manuel's managerial playbook is like asking what I think of a neighbor's dog right after he takes a dump on my lawn, but here goes anyway. Manuel is pretty old-school and uncreative in his on-field management. Speed guys bat near the top of the lineup regardless of on-base prowess, closers only pitch in save situations, and there's never a bad time to sacrifice bunt. Then again, this describes most big-league managers so it's not as if Manuel is on an island here. The one area in which he deserves a bit of credit is his willingness to play rookies over veterans if he thinks they give him the best chance to win. It might take him a little while to realize that a veteran -- Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo come to mind -- isn't providing much value, but he won't ride the old horse all season if it doesn't have any legs.

The local media scribes love Manuel because he has a sense of humor about things and never seems to take the game too seriously. He'll often refer to things as "gangsta" and he wears emo glasses, both of which lend him plenty of 90's street cred. Players seem to like him generally and it's not clear that he ever lost his clubhouse (whatever that means) during his tenure with the Mets.

Bobby Valentine:

The basics: After a ten year major league career as a utility player for five teams, Valentine spent a few seasons in the late 80's coaching for the Mets before being hired to manage the Rangers in 1985. He went 581-605 over eight seasons at the helm in Texas, then spent a couple of seasons managing in the minors and one in Japan.

Valentine was hired to manage the Mets in 1996 and posted a 536-467 record over seven seasons, including leading the team to the World Series in 2000. After being let go following the 2002 season, he returned to Japan and managed the Chiba Lotte Marines for six more seasons.

Brewer connection: None.

Scouting Report:

Bobby Valentine managed the Mets to the NLCS in 1999 and the World Series in 2000 (and to within a game of the playoffs in 1998), and he is remembered very fondly by Mets fans for that and for his moments of eccentricity (like appearing in the dugout wearing a Groucho Marx disguise following an earlier ejection). He hasn't managed in the big leagues since the Mets fired him following the 2002 season, though he managed the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan from 2004-2009. 

With the Mets, Valentine had a reputation for working well with young players and seemed to be somewhat more sabermetrically inclined than a lot of current managers and surely more than any Mets manager since then. He was occasionally short with the media and had a streak of insubordination in him, often clashing with then-GM Steve Phillips. It is for those reasons that he may be a less-than-appealing managerial candidate for a lot of teams.

Chip Hale:

The basics: Hale was a seven year major leaguer from 1989-1997, mostly with the Twins. Between 2000 and 2005 he managed five seasons at three levels in Arizona's minor league system, going 314-264. He then spent three seasons on the D-Backs big league staff, and coached third base for the Mets in 2010.

Brewer connection: None.

Scouting report:

Chip Hale was the Mets third-base coach this season, which is really the only thing I know about him (apart from knowing that he was the batter during this famous play where Rodney McCray ran through a wall). He didn't make any egregious errors in waving runners home from third, and from what interviews I've seen of him he seems affable enough. I don't know what any of his managerial philosophies are so I can't say with any authority what kind of manager he'd make.