Rightly so, the Mets are devoting due diligence in naming their next manager. But in many ways, it doesn’t matter as the team is locked and loaded…
The Mets, according to several reports, are in the midst of their third round of interviews with candidates in their quest to find and name a manager to succeed Mickey Callaway. An announcement following the stamp of approval from Met’s patriarch, Fred Wilpon, is expected any day now.
But when you look at the team the Mets have already assembled, the players on the team have the ultimate control and destiny of the Mets 2020 season. And therefore, they may be beyond the impact of their manager-to-be.
Yes, the team has work to do and a need to strengthen their bullpen. And starting pitching is always a concern, given the unknown status of Zack Wheeler and the ready-to-bloom (or not) effectiveness of Steven Matz. Add the insecurity of Yoenis Cespedes, and Brodie Van Wagenen surely has his work cut out for him this winter.
Just Don’t Screw This Up
But when you look at the core of the Mets team, this is a group of players who have been through the ups and downs of a marathon 2019 season, coming up short.
But they are also a team that has gained the cohesiveness of one that can’t wait to get back in the battle – this time to win the war.
Much like an AJ Hinch or Aaron Boone has the benefit of managing a team of professional ballplayers who innately know what their job entails and requires, the next manager of the Mets will find himself in a similar situation.
Just don’t screw it up is all that’s necessary.
Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Robinson Cano, Amed Rosario, Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis, the nucleus of the Mets position players, have all been around the block compliments to the 2019 season.
A season wrapped in ultimate failure but driven by an intensity Mets fans have long been waiting to see.
Mets 2020 Same Ole, Same Ole…But
Nothing in the National League East will change in 2020. The Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals will be slotted as the favorites in the Division, although the Nationals as the oldest team in baseball (31.8 years) will be suspect.
The Phillies, who are afforded the privilege an owner who has money he can’t wait to spend, can emerge as a threat or another dud, as was the case with Bryce Harper & Co.
It’s the Met’s, though, the bettors will embrace in Las Vegas as the team favored by the long-shot players in the game of predicting the unknown, just as the team was last season.
Put Tim Bogar, Carlos Beltran, Casey Stengel, or John McGraw in the seat as a manager, and the odds won’t move a centimeter.
The analytics gurus will jump in there to tell you that so-and-so if managing the team, will mean a swing of two, three – who knows how many games if John Doe is the manager? But they don’t play the game on the field.
This Mets team cracked the barrier in 2019. Give the team a little of this and a little of that with trades and free-agent signings, and the guys in the clubhouse will do the rest.
Just don’t, whoever you are, screw it up…
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.
