Mar 03 2019 01:34 PM
It's one thing if your manager just has American League experience, but it's another if his entire staff is made up of American League vets, and that's what the Mets coaching staff looked like last year. So this year, they hired Jim Riggleman and moved me, Gary DiSarcina, to third base.
But I'm not going to be the scapegoat here. I'm Gary F. DiSarcina. I'm a 12-year big-league vet, a former all-star. I'm a veteran minor-league manager with a 205–162 (.559) career record and a minor league manager of the year award. That's not the best of 30 managers, but the best of hundreds. I've been a big league bench coach and a big league third base coach. Those are generally the two spots that are treated as being a heartbeat away from managing. I've been a big league executive and a member of the Boston organization three times. That's the same Boston organization that has won four championships since 2004.
So Mickey supposedly needs a token National League guy to hold his hand on the bench. Wah! Bloody Wah! I'm going to coach third, teach infielding better than Tim Teufel ever did, and I'm going to be a big league skipper someday. I've even coached for Team Italy. I've got a kid who is pretty good at the game, and I'm divorced, because I'm married to the GAME.
That said, you notice third base coaches the same way you notice left tackles — when they fuck up. So I'm setting myself up by taking this job. (Who ever hates on the bench coach?) Ballzy move by me, right? But how am I going to look come October? You tell me.