Sports

Former Mets manager Howe wants Blue Jays job; says Yankees ‘long in the tooth’

The last time Art Howe was in the news, it was for Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of the former Oakland Athletics manager in the movie “Moneyball” based on the novel by Michael Lewis, which dissected the Athletics general manager Billy Beane’s building of a winning team.

This week, he’s in the news for another reason: he wants to get back behind the bench to manage, and although many teams have coaching vacancies, the Blue Jays are his preferred choice.

“I want to manage again. Toronto has always been an interesting team, they have some nice talent and were very competitive until they fell off with those injuries to their position players,” he told the Toronto Sun Monday.

Howe managed the Astros and Athletics, before taking the reigns of the Mets from 2003-2004, where he compiled a 137-186 record. He has been a broadcaster with the Houston Astros, since 2009, taking that job after he was not retained as the Rangers’ bench coach after the 2008 season.

Howe, who expressed his displeasure with how he was viewed in the movie, said he always got along well with his players, and wasn’t as useless and grumpy as he was made out to be. He also would like a chance to manage a team to the playoffs again, after flopping with the Mets. He also took a step in the right direction for the managerial job considering he wants to manage in the AL East by taking a shot at the Yankees.

“The New York Yankees are a little long in the tooth, with 13 free agents. Toronto plays in the toughest division in baseball, but they are only a few pieces away form doing something,” Howe told the Sun.

The care-free Howe also said, “You have to have patience,” when asked about Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero who had an abysmal season this year.