SPANISH HARLEM – On Wednesday, the New York Mets and the New York Giants received some big news for their respective teams. Eli Manning decided to retire as a Giant instead of testing free agency, which should make you happy if you’re a big fan of his. For the Mets, they finally found a manager that will lead their team this upcoming season. Let’s look into both situations and break down what I know.
LUIS ROJAS
The son of Felipe Alou has become the new manager of the Mets at the tender age of 38. There is a reason that he goes by Rojas and not Alou but I don’t really want into it. so just Google him if you want to know more about that. The Alous are a very respected and well-known family among baseball circles and Moises Alou (another son) played for the Mets during his career. With that said, Rojas has earned his stripes as a manager for the organization in the minor league level and there are players on the major league team, Pete Alonso included, that enjoyed playing under him. While it was a bit of shock that the team decided to bring in another manager that doesn’t have experience in the big leagues, I think it will benefit the players that they have someone that has been the organization for many years and has relationships with the younger players on the team. It probably wasn’t the big hire many fans expected after the Carlos Beltran blunder but it’s easy to understand why they went with Rojas
ELI MANNING
The best quarterback in franchise history has decided to hang up his cleats and call it a career, with a press conference slated for Friday. I’m sure there were concerns that Eli would give it a go with another team but I don’t think there were enough options for him to start anywhere else. Manning is on the downside of his career and while he showed flashes that he still has enough in him to help the Giants win games, I don’t think he ever wanted to play for another organization. Now, he will go down in history as a Giant, through and through, and that’s the way it should be.
There are many people in the media that will question his Hall of Fame credentials but there is no question in my mind that he will be a Hall of Famer. The win-lose record at 117-117 is not pretty but you know what is pretty… those champion rings he wears. In the playoffs is were Manning truly excelled, with an 8-4 record and two Super Bowls MVP trophies. I wasn’t a big fan of his, as you could expect, but I respected the way he competed and there is no denying, when the Giants needed him the most in the biggest games, he delivered. That is why people will vote him in and that’s why he will wear a yellow jacket one day.
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