Wally Backman resigns as manager of 51s

After four years at the helm of the Las Vegas 51s, manager Wally Backman will not be back for the 2017 season.

“I chose to resign because I didn’t see a future at the major league level with the Mets at this time,” Backman said. “Choosing to resign was my decision. Period.”

New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told reporters that Backman had left the organization to pursue other opportunities. Last week, Backman said that before making a decision on his return, he had to see what happened in the offseason with major league teams.

Backman refuted reports that he was fired, including one which implied he didn’t hit Michael Conforto against left-handed pitching or Brandon Nimmo at the top of the lineup, saying he did everything he was told to with the players.

“My whole thing in baseball is to put a player in a position to succeed. I have always done that and the Conforto thing where I didn’t use him the way I was told to use him, whoever is saying that (is) a liar,” Backman said. “A blatant lie.”

Conforto played in 33 games while at Triple-A, started 31 of them and hit third for the 51s. He pinch-hit in the other two. One of the games that he didn’t start came immediately after he had been sent down from the Mets.

“The two games that he didn’t play, he pinch hit and the reason that he didn’t start those games is because players need a day off,” Backman said. “I don’t care if it’s a left-handed pitcher or a right-handed pitcher. He needed time off. Everybody gets a day off here or there.”

As for Nimmo, in 97 games, Backman said he had started 30 games atop the order, hit second in 54 and hit third once.

“There’s a couple games that he didn’t hit in the top of the order and the only reason was to protect the kid against a tough pitcher,” Backman said. “I think it worked out pretty good because he ended up second in the league in hitting.”

Known as a players’ manager with a fiery personality, Backman led the 51s to two first-place finishes, one second and most recently third place during his four seasons in Las Vegas. He managed the Pacific Coast League team in July’s Triple-A All-Star Game and was the PCL’s manager of the year in 2014.

“We were very pleased with the work he did,” Alderson told reporters. “We’ve had a lot of players come through there and improve and establish themselves at the major league level.”

Backman has managed in the Mets organization since 2010 and won a World Series with the team as a player in 1986.

There is no word on a potential replacement, though Double-A Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez will likely be considered. A new manager would be in place by the end of November.

“Wally is as good a manager as we’ve ever had. He’s one of the best,” 51s president Don Logan said. “I mean I would put him right at the top of the heap and at some point when you’re in Triple-A in that capacity. I mean he just wants a big league job.

”We talked about this a couple weeks ago. I think the best way to get a big league job is to go out and let people that you’re available and see whats out there and obviously the Mets, he’s not in their plans from a big league perspective.”

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @betsyhelfand on Twitter.