The Buffalo Bisons announced their spring training schedule Friday, a 12-game run against the Triple-A affiliates of the Miami Marlins (New Orleans Zephyrs) and the St. Louis Cardinals (Memphis Redbirds). They will be played March 17-April 1, with the six home games at the Mets' complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla. and the other six at the combined St. Louis/Miami complex in Jupiter. Both are on Florida's East Coast. All games start at 1 p.m.
The Mets open spring training when pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 20. The full squad arrives Feb. 25. Players only on minor-league contracts hit town in early March. The Bisons open their season April 5 at Pawtucket and the 25th anniversary of Coca-Cola Field begins with the home opener April 11 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at 2:05.
The full spring training schedule:
March 17 Memphis March 18 at New Orleans March 20 New Orleans March 21 at Memphis March 22 at New Orleans March 24 Memphis March 25 New Orleans March 26 at Memphis March 28 New Orleans March 30 at Memphis March 31 at New Orleans April 1 Memphis
Just like he was as a .320 hitter for the 1986 World Series champion New York Mets, Wally Backman is a scrapper as a manager who expects to win every year. That's a good thing for the Buffalo Bisons, who are expecting the New York Mets to put a winner in town next season or they might be looking elsewhere for a new parent in 2013.
Backman knocked it out of the park with an energetic introductory press conference Thursday as the Mets and Bisons made it official that he is getting promoted from Double-A Binghamton to head the Herd in 2012.
"I'm not the business guy into all that type of stuff but every year I manage a team I expect to win" Backman said. "We've talked about it. I know it's the last year the contract is up. I think the new regime [headed by Mets GM Sandy Alderson] is trying to put a product on the field that at the upper levels that is going to compete all the time."
"It's pretty evident when you spend time with Wally that he's a very, very passionate person," said Bisons General Manager Mike Buczkowski. "High energy, loves baseball, loves talking baseball. Ultra competitive person."
The Mets certainly want to help Backman win. It's likely their going to stock the Herd with free agents, particularly in the bullpen and middle infield. They announced the re-signing Thursday of DH/1B Valentino Pascucci, Buffalo's MVP in 2011 and Backman revealed the Mets have signed catcher/left fielder Vinny Rottino, who .304 with 10 home runs and 17 stolen bases last year with New Orleans of the Marlins chain
Backman, 52, is entering his 10th managerial season and his third in the Mets organization. Overall, he has a record of 534-488 (.523) with two league championships in his career but his road to Buffalo has been a circuitous one. He was a rising star as a manager and was hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004 -- only to be fired four days later when reports surfaced of a DUI, personal bankruptcy and an old assault charge from a friend of his wife.
Out of baseball for two years, he resurfaced with an independent league team in Albany, Ga. in 2007, then moved for two years in Joliet, Ill. The Mets rehired him in 2010 and he won a division title at Class A Brooklyn of the New York-Penn League. Backman's Binghamton team was 65-76 last year, riddled by callups to Buffalo, but finished the season 30-21.
"I am passionate about the game," Backman said. "I expect my players to take the games personal, the wins and the losses, and I expect them to be prepared to win every day."
The Bisons are going to have some stud starting pitching in 2012. Former No. 1 draft pick Matt Harvey pitched in Binghamton last year and so did Jeurys Familia, signed as an undrafted 18-year-old in 2007. They both could be here. Jenrry Mejia, felled by Tommy John surgery, could be back by the middle of the season. Zack Wheeler, acquired in the Carlos Beltran trade, might get here at some point. Same for lefty Darin Gorski, who lit up the Florida State League.
"I want Familia, I want Harvey," Backmann said. "One of the two I'll have to fight for. I think one of the two I'll probably get. I believe they're both ready to come here."
Here's a pair of audio tracks from my post-news conference chat with Backman.
Before heading to the airport tonight to get to Raleigh for tomorrow's Sabres game, I'm taking a detour to the Bisons' clubhouse for a 2 p.m. press conference. It's a big announcement that will make official what we reported the first week of October: Former New York Mets second baseman Wally Backman (right) will be introduced as the Bisons' manager for 2012.
Backman, who led Double-A Binghamton last year, reportedly turned down a chance to serve as a coach under Davey Johnson in Washington so that he could manage in Triple-A. Johnson apparently advised him to do so.
Backman shared the second base platoon with Tim Teufel for Johnson's '86 World Series champion Mets and now takes over the Herd from Teufel, who will be Terry Collins' third-base coach in New York next season.
Backman has had a long road back to get this point. He was the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks for four days in 2004 until he was fired when reports surfaced of a DUI, an old battery charge and financial difficulties. He took two years off, started in independent ball in 2007 in Albany, Ga. and has worked his way back up with the Mets from Class A Brooklyn to Binghamton and Buffalo.
Lots of folks in New York will be watching Backman closely this season. Large segments of the fan base want him to be Collins' heir apparent. By all reports, Backman is a funny, irascible character who should liven things up around Coca-Cola Field.
Don't believe me? Go on YouTube and look up "Playing for Peanuts". It's a documentary that was filmed in '07 when Backman managed the South Georgia Peanuts and some of his rants are hysterical. Too much profanity to link here though. Google and YouTube it. Trust me.
---Mike Harrington (www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
AP Photo: Backman greets fans in 2008 on the final day at Shea Stadium.
As we reported Oct. 5, it's just about a lock now that former Mets second baseman Wally Backman will be the manager of the Bisons in 2012. That looked to be the case when the Mets promoted 2011 Herd manager Tim Teufel to third-base coach, and the easy assumption was that Backman was coming up from Double-A Binghamton. Mets GM Sandy Alderson even said that to be a likely scenario on a conference call that day.
But Backman started talking to the Washington Nationals and old Mets manager Davey Johnson about a coaching position in the big leagues and the easy move suddenly seemed like it might be in jeopardy.
As it turns out, Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record reports that Johnson himself has recommended Backman take the job in Buffalo. I agree. Backman needs to show he can manage older players if he wants to get the Mets' job someday, or any other one.
There's no word yet on when the Mets will make the hiring official. Teams often do all of their minor-league coaching assignments together and that could take until after the Winter Meetings next month in Dallas.
ST. LOUIS -- MLB just announced a change in the Media Day schedule, shifting the Rangers' time from 1:45 Central to 4 p.m. Central. Later dinner for all of us tonight. So now things don't start until C.J. Wilson and Ron Washington hit the podium at 2:15 CT.
So while we wait to mine some nuggets at Media Day, here's some reading material for you to peruse:
---Today is the 25th anniversary of Game One of the 1986 World Series, a 1-0 win for the Red Sox over the Mets in Shea Stadium. The only run scored in the seventh inning on an error by Mets second baseman Tim Teufel, who let a routine groundball go through his legs. ESPN has a look back at that game and also provides a fascinating link to a career retrospective on Teufel, who managed the Bisons last season and will be Terry Collins' third-base coach in New York in 2012.
Interesting to note the child that Teufel was celebrating the berth of when he and teammates were arrested in a celebrated 1986 bar fight in Houston was Shawn, the Toledo Mud Hens pitcher who threw against Teufel's Bisons this season in Coca-Cola Field.
---Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer Jeff Manto and ex-Bisons catcher Tim Laker appear to be the candidates for the White Sox vacant hitting coach job. Manto was the team's roving instructor last year while Laker was at Triple-A Charlotte under manager Joe McEwing, who has been hired as Robin Ventura's third-base coach. But remember this: McEwing is regarded as one of Manto's best friends in the game and another is Sox minor-league director and former big-league manager Buddy Bell. Interesting.
---The Fallout at Fenway continues. The Boston Globe got a hold of fried-chicken-eating and beer-drinking pitcher Jon Lester and he admitted to doing just that in the clubhouse during games as the paper reported last week. Columnist Dan Shaugnessy says it's time for Josh Beckett and John Lackey to issue similar mea culpas. Wrote Shaughnessy: "Time for the rest of the beer-swillin’, biscuit-eatin’, fried-chicken munchin’ Red Sox starting pitchers to fess up. The 1919 Chicago White Sox had Eight Men Out. The 2011 Red Sox have Three Men and a Bucket of Popeye’s."
---Speaking of the Red Sox, if they don't make a deal today with the Cubs for compensation for GM Theo Epstein, it's got to be put off until after the World Series. Alex Rodriguez circa 2007 aside, you're not supposed to make any announcements during the Fall Classic.
The New York Mets announced major changes in their coaching staff for 2012 Wednesday afternoon and it means the Buffalo Bisons are going to have a new field staff for their 25th anniversary season in Coca-Cola Field.
Bisons manager Tim Teufel has been promoted to third-base coach in New York and pitching coach Ricky Bones, who has directed the Buffalo mound staff for all three years the Mets have been here, will be heading to Citi Field as the bullpen coach.
4:15 p.m. update: Just got off a Mets conference call where GM Sandy Alderson said Double-A Binghamton manager and Teufel's 1986 Mets platoon partner Wally Backman is "a very strong candidate" to be named Bisons manager.
The Mets announced that bench coach Ken Oberkfell -- who managed the Bisons in 2009 and 2010 -- first-base coach and longtime former Met Mookie Wilson, third-base coach Chip Hale and bullpen coach Jon Debus will not return to Terry Collins' staff next season.
Hale has signed a two-year contract to be the third-base coach in Oakland. Wilson and Debus will be offered other positions in the organization. Oberkfell's status remains uncertain. Hitting coach Dave Hudgens and pitching coach Dan Warthen will retain their roles in New York.
So what does this mean for the Bisons? Maybe Oberkfell returns as manager. Or maybe, the Mets now have it set up to promote Wally Backman, Teufel's 1986 platoon mate, as the manager in Buffalo after he spent last year at Double-A Binghamton.
Stay tuned. The Mets are having a conference call at 4 and I'll be listening in.
The Mets play the Washington Nationals today at 1:10 on SNY and there's quite a Buffalo tinge in their lineup as Chris Schwinden, the Bisons' most valuable pitcher, gets his second major-league start and Valentino Pascucci will get the call at first base.
Pascucci is scheduled to bat seventh in what will be his first MLB start since Oct. 3, 2004 with the Montreal Expos. He is 1 for 2 so far with the Mets in pinch-hitting roles after being called up from the Bisons, his first trip to the bigs since '04.
Pascucci earned Buffalo's MVP honors this season by batting .264 with team-highs of 21 homers and 91 RBIs.
Also from the Mets: Bisons infielder Josh Satin was named the organization's minor-league player of the year. Huge jump for him from organizational guy to prospect.
Official word from the New York Mets has emerged during today's game at Florida that there's some good news coming out of today's dreary 5-1 Bisons loss at Scranton in the season finale: Valentino Pascucci is going to the big leagues for the first time since 2004.
Pascucci, 32, deserves the call. He's done nothing but produce here for two years after the Mets rescued him out of the independent leagues. He wasn't on their radar at all this year but forced his way in. And it's good to see the Amazins recognize that, both for Pascucci's sake and the view of future six-year free agents signing to play for them in Buffalo.
Be sure to check my column in Tuesday's paper for more on the Mets-Bisons relationship.
Happy Labor Day and while you might be celebrating the unofficial end of summer, the International League is marking the official end of its season. Today is the final day of play in the regular season and here are some of the storylines:
---The Bisons finish their campaign with a 1 p.m. game at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. After splitting Sunday night's doubleheader (with the second game cut short by rain), the Bisons are 61-81. They have thus lost 80 games in a season for the second time in three years with the New York Mets -- but just the third time in its 27 years of modern-era Triple-A ball. Not a good reflection for the Amazins.
---As for Scranton, today will be its final game in PNC Field. The ballpark will be bulldozed and completely rebuilt in time for 2013. Yes, 2013. That means the Yankees are going to spend 2012 barnstorming. A decision on that will be announced by Sept. 20. (An aside: The forecast is not good at all for today. Sunday night, in fact, might have been the end of the season for the Herd and Baby Yankees. (1:30 p.m. update: The game began on time under cloudy skies).
---Pawtucket (North), Durham (South) and Columbus (West) have clinched division titles. Lehigh Valley and Gwinnett enter the final day still battling for the wild-card. Lehigh Valley wiped out a 4-1 deficit Sunday night to post a 7-4 win at Syracuse and can take the first playoff spot in its four-year history with a win today at Syracuse. If the IronPigs lose and Gwinnett beats Charlotte, the teams will stage a one-game playoff Tuesday in Allentown, Pa.
---Rochester's 4-3 loss at Pawtucket was its 90th of the season -- the most in the minors -- and gave the Wings back-to-back 90-loss campaigns for the first time since 1903-04.
---Indianapolis won at Louisville, 5-3, to improve to 76-67 and will just miss the playoffs after an horrendous start to the season that saw the Indians open 1-8 and finish April 7-17. Indy had winning records in every other month; the Tribe just ran out of time.
---The playoffs are scheduled to start Wednesday but the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee could have a huge impact on that calendar. Starting with the potential playoff Tuesday night at Lehigh Valley.
It's four years and counting for the Bisons in terms of failing to place anyone on the International League's postseason all-star team. The team was announced Tuesday morning and the Herd's only real candidate, first baseman/designated hitter Valentino Pascucci, was not named.
The last Buffalo all-star was Ben Francisco in 2007. The Herd had an impressive 21 all-stars in their 14 seasons with the Cleveland Indians but have had none in three years with the Mets, although Jesus Feliciano (2009), Dillon Gee (2010) and Pascucci, the current co-RBI leader with 91, all were likely close in balloting done by IL front office members, managers, coaches and media (Disclosure: I did have a vote).
The first baseman named was Indianapolis Matt Hague, who leads the league in hits (157) and games played (136). The DH who nosed Pascucci out was Scranton's Jorge Vazquez, who leads the league with 30 home runs. Pascucci's own pitchers could have helped here: Vazquez, a .260 hitter for the season, is batting .302 against the Bisons with nine -- yes, nine -- of his home runs in 14 games.
Durham third baseman Russ Canzler (.312-18-79) was named the league's MVP, following in the footsteps of Bulls teammate last season. It's the first time since 1984-85, when former Yankees prospects Scott Bradley and Dan Pasqua of Columbus were honored, that a team claimed back-to-back MVPs.
Gwinnett pitcher Julio Teheran (15-2, 2.22) was an easy choice as IL Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Gwinnett also took rookie of the year last year with first baseman Freddie Freeman and Teheran is the first player to take the pitcher and rookie awards in the same year since Scranton's Brandon Duckworth in 2001.
The manager of the year was Columbus' Mike Sarbaugh, who has led the Cleveland affiliate to 85 wins and a clear chance to defend its Triple-A National Championship. Ah, what we have missed here the last two years. Had to be a lot of sentiment in the voting for Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg of Lehigh Valley, who has the IronPigs in the playoff hunt for the first time.
The full squad:
1B -- Matt Hague, Indianapolis 2B -- Jason Kipnis, Columbus 3B -- Russ Canzler, Durham SS -- Zach Cozart, Louisville C -- Devin Mesoraco, Louisville OF -- Stefan Gartrell, Gwinnett; Alex Presley, Indianapolis; Dayan Viciedo, Charlotte DH -- Jorge Vazquez, Scranton/WB Utility -- Luis Valbuena, Columbus Starter -- Julio Teheran, Gwinnett Reliever -- Tim Wood, Indianapolis
