Mets’ Johnson Gets New Contract

Davey Johnson has signed a 3-year contract as manager of the New York Mets, a little more than a year after general manager Frank Cashen said Johnson would not manage the team in 1989.

On the final Saturday of the 1987 season, Cashen said: “Davey will complete his contract, but he will relinquish the managerial post after next season. This is being done at his request.”

Cashen said Thursday his remarks that day were a mistake. “I would certainly have not had that public discussion about Davey’s future,” he said. “It was the wrong time to discuss it.

“That misunderstanding that occurred was certainly my fault. I apologized to Davey. Davey was saying one thing. I was understanding he said something else.”

Cashen added: “I had never said Davey could not manage my ballclub ever again. I honestly and candidly felt that there was a chance that he would not be managing next year.”

Johnson, 45, joined the Mets in 1984, and they have never finished lower than second under his direction. They won the World Series in 1986 and won the NL East this season before falling to the Dodgers in the playoffs.