FOX Sports: Klapisch: It’ll be Valentine’s day before you know it

(cue Paul Frees voice-over)

The most obvious next step, though, is Flushing, where Jerry Manuel is in the final year of his contract. With the anvil hanging over his head, Manuel has two months, at best, to prove he can reverse the Mets’ downward spiral which began all the way back in Game 7 of the 2006 NL Championship Series.

Manuel is counting on a healthy roster to keep his job, but he hasn’t gotten much help from the front office. With the exception of Jason Bay, Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya have otherwise made no upgrades to a team that lost 92 games last year.

So it wouldn’t take a full-blown dark age to oust Manuel; one long losing streak in late May would be enough. Question is, would ownership have the guts to re-hire Valentine?

It’s been eight years since he last managed the Mets, 10 since he took them to the World Series, although his empire came crashing down in 2002 when he was axed by then-GM Steve Phillips.

It was a brutal dispute — personal and petty, if not vicious — although one Met official admitted not long ago, “we fired the wrong guy.” Valentine found success in Japan, where he led the Chibba Lotte Marines to their first championship in 31 years, increasing attendance and team revenue by 400 percent.