This is about the 2020 Mets, not Mickey Callaway. The team has the nucleus to win it all. Fluidity is important. Why upset the apple cart…
Author’s Note:
Almost at the moment, I published this article, Callaway was fired by the Mets. I stand by every word.
The 2020 Mets will be a factor in the National League East with or without Mickey Callaway. The question is – why introduce a new man to lead the team now? There’s plenty of time during the season to make a move if things go South. Not now…
I have no particular affinity for Mickey Callaway. But I sure as hell have an affinity for the New York Mets.
I will state unequivocally that Callaway is a stand-up man, in the same vein as the person who preceded him, Terry Collins. What Callaway lacks in his skills as a “Field General”, he more than makes up for as a representative for the franchise and his players.
If anything, the Mets should fire Jim Riggleman, whose specific job as bench coach, with all those years of “experience” behind him, is supposed to be a stop-gap for Callaway’s in-game decisions. Haven’t heard a peep from Riggleman during the entire season, have we?
Consider These Sources First
Consider the Met’s players. None other than a player’s player, Jeff McNeil, has stepped up with this to say about Callaway:
“(Callaway) deserves a lot of credit. We love playing for him. He’s a lot of fun. He keeps the clubhouse loose, keeps it fun, has meetings when you have to have meetings. I credit a lot to him. He’s done a great job,” McNeil told WFAN.
For heaven’s sake, even the man who is charged with firing Callaway so he can hire his replacement, Brodie Van Wagenen is quoted saying this about Mickey Callaway:
“One of the characteristics that I think Mickey has done really well — at least in the 2019 season where I’ve been able to see a first-hand view of it — is he’s maintained the clubhouse,” Van Wagenen said. “I think that even through the adversity that we experienced the first four months of the year, that clubhouse has remained united”.
Callaway And The Right Thing To Do
Think about what we have here. Did Callaway do anything to mar or interfere with Pete Alonso‘s assault on a home run record or his upcoming selection as NL Rookie of the Year? How about Jacob deGrom? Do you think he’ll point the finger at Callaway if he loses the Cy Young?
Did Callaway stand in the middle of the friendship between Amed Rosario and Robinson Cano that resulted in Rosario’s coming-out season? Or, did Callaway encourage the bond by running Cano out there every day in the beginning of the season when he was hitting nothing and trotting out ground balls?
Did Callaway take public advantage from one of Brodie’s “oops moments” when it was discovered that Van Wagenen was making secret phone calls to a trainer with instructions for Callaway to do this or that during a game? No. Instead, Callaway laid low, not because he was in fear of his job – but because his character said it was the right thing to do.
The 2020 Mets Are All About A Job Left Undone
The 2020 Mets are all about a job left undone, and Mickey Callaway is part of it. Continuity is important, and each player takes ownership of the incomplete season just completed.
We forget that Mickey Callaway lived through those horrible days in May, June, and July with his players. He’s the one who went out there after every loss telling the media, “We never give up”. And what do you know – his Mets never did give up – did they?
I’m simply saying that taken as a whole, and not by snapshots of what Callaway did or didn’t do in this game or that game, the Mets can only hurt themselves by disrupting the team – for one more season.
Again, to reiterate, I’m talking about Team Mets and not Mickey Callaway.
If Brodie Van Wagenen has a “thing” about Mickey Callaway – that’s on him and his legacy with the Mets will carry it with him. Same for the fans too, who can’t wait to tar and feather Callaway at Columbus Square on his way out of town.
Think about The Team. Of which no player has ever said anything bad about their leader – think before you rush to judgment.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
