Almost halfway through his second season as Mets manager, and it's clear that Mickey Callaway is in over his head, such that he's become thin-skinned in relation to criticism.
Callaway has been second, third, and fourth guessed for his decision to leave Seth Lugo in the game in the 8th inning Sunday at Chicago, only to see the Cubs continue to take advantage of the fact that Lugo was having a bad day, and won the game. You know about the confrontation Callaway and Jason Vargas had with reporter Tim Healey of Newsday, I'm sure. Both Callaway and Vargas were fined $10,000 each by the team on Monday.
But now, moreso than before, Callaway is on the hot seat in Flushing. The Mets, due again to injuries, are underachieving, aside from rookie phenom Pete Alonso, who leads the team with 27 home runs, breaking a 36 year old team record for rookies held by Darryl Strawberry, and second year utility ace Jeff McNeil.
The debate rages, two days later, over who should've been on the mound in the home 8th at Wrigley on Sunday. Lugo didn't have his best stuff, and should've been pulled. He wasn't, and gave up a game winning homer to Javier Baez.
Callaway came over from Cleveland, where he was a pitching coach under Terry Francona. What Fred & Jeff Wilpon were thinking was, if John Farrell (now with ESPN) could make the transition from pitching coach to manager, having done so in Toronto & Boston, anyone could. The Wilpons spent $20 million on an esports franchise, but can't spare the extra cheddar to find someone with actual managerial experience? The fan base is calling for ex-Yankees manager Joe Girardi to leave MLB Network and take over the team, which last week sent another ex-Yankee, Dave Eiland, packing as pitching coach, bringing in ancient Phil Regan as a stop-gap.
Let's say the Wilpons finally decide to bring in Girardi. It wouldn't guarantee Callaway is gone, because he can go back to being a pitching coach. Currently, he is working way above his pay grade, if you will, and the Mets are worse for it, currently in 4th place in the NL East after getting shelled again, 13-7, this time in Philadelphia, on Monday. Then again, the truth of the matter is that Callaway can't stick around, not after Sunday's episode in Chicago.
And, then, there is the report in the NY Post alleging that first year GM and former player agent Brodie Van Wagenen is meddling from long distance. Supposedly, Van Wagenen relayed word to Callaway to pull reigning Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom from a recent game, which didn't sit well with deGrom. Van Wagenen, of course, is denying the report, but the implication is that there is still an agent's mentality within him, and that he & the Wilpons are sabotaging their own team for whatever. The honeymoon is over for Van Wagenen in New York, that much is clear.
What is also clear is that the Wilpons have become baseball's answer to the NBA's most toxic owner, who also calls New York his home. Yep, James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, Rangers, Madison Square Garden, & Radio City Music Hall. Nearly 40 years ago, Fred Wilpon arrived, partnered at the time with publisher Nelson Doubleday, to buy the Mets. Now, the implication is that time and the game have passed Wilpon and his son, Jeff, and they're too stubborn to see that. If that sounds familiar, it also describes not only Dolan, but WWE CEO/Chairman Vince McMahon, as well. There must be something in the waters in the tri-state area to have multiple sports owners behaving this way. It makes the Steinbrenner brothers in the Bronx look like saints. Weird.
The Wilpons chose not to fire Callaway in the wake of Sunday's meltdown. What are they waiting for? A complete collapse? Entering play today, the Mets are 5 1/2 games ahead of the last place Marlins. While some folks might think Derek Jeter bought into the wrong NL East team by putting his money into Miami, he's not about to go directly against the team he played his entire career for, either. I'd not be surprised if Callaway is finally gone by the All-Star break next month. It's just that it should've already happened, or happened sooner.
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