The Las Vegas 51s released the following statement about Wally Backman’s departure from the Mets organization:
“I would like to first and foremost thank the New York Mets and in particular Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon for providing me the opportunity to manage for seven seasons in the organization. Fred is like a second father to me and a part of me will always be a Met. Being a member of the last Mets World Series Championship team in 1986 is one of the greatest thrills of my life.
“Thank you to all of the Mets fans for your support over the years. The passion and commitment the Mets fans have is second to none!
“I chose to resign because I didn’t see a future at the major league level with the Mets at this time. My ultimate goal is to manage in the big leagues or to be hired in a major league coaching position and the best avenue to achieve this dream, is to seek employment opportunities with other major league organizations.
“My philosophy in baseball is to put the player in a position to succeed, to play the game hard, with passion, and to teach the players to win. I believe winning is very important in the process of player development.
“I understand the analytics side of the game is very important in this day and age and believe in using those principles along with a hard work ethic to help players become the best they can be.
“I was fortunate to work with an excellent farm system to help guide such players as: Jacob deGrom, Wilmer Flores, Matt Harvey, Juan Lagares, Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto.
“Watching the tremendous improvement from the beginning of the season until now of Brandon Nimmo has been one of the highlights of my career.
“Finally, I would like to thank all of the coaches and support personnel I worked with in the Mets organization over the duration of my time as manager from 2010-16 in Brooklyn, Binghamton, Buffalo and Las Vegas and all of the staffs with those teams.”