Mets Not Having New Manager Yet Is Simply Incompetent

How can it be the New York Mets still have not named a replacement for Carlos Beltran?

Keep in mind, the Mets are in a completely different situation here than than the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox.

The Astros knew the hammer was going to come down from Major League Baseball, but they presumably did not know or could be quite sure they’d lose AJ Hinch for the year.

Seeing the rulings, the Astros moved quickly, and they fired Hinch to not just attempt to turn the page on the scandal, but to also figure out who was going to be their manager in 2020 and beyond.

The Red Sox seeing Alex Cora‘s level of involvement and knowing he was likely going to face harsher penalties than Hinch fired Cora the day after the report, and they immediately began their search for a new manager.

The Mets waited a few days, and they yielded to what was really a vocal demand from a minority to fire Beltran. Keep in mind, the Mets fired Beltran despite his not being suspended for the 2020 season.

The Astros and Red Sox knew they were going to be without their managers, and they acted accordingly. The Mets did something they did not have to do, and worse yet, they didn’t have a replacement immediately in mind.

That’s stupefying.

Consider, unlike the Astros and Red Sox, the Mets had undertaken a search this offseason to hire a new manager to replace Mickey Callaway.

The Mets know or should know who can be a manager of the Mets. They also know or should know who could handle this situation. And yes, with this being New York and the Mets, this is something which should have been contemplated.

Herein lies the problem.

According to reports, the New York Mets have not contacted Dusty Baker, John Gibbons, Buck Showalter, or really another established veteran like Bruce Bochy.

They’re also not going back into their candidate pool. Eduardo Perez was one of the finalists, and he has not been contacted again. The Milwaukee Brewers see their bench coach Pat Murphy as an ideal fit, but the Mets aren’t repursuing him.

After reading Mike Puma’s report in the New York Post, the Mets are essentially paralyzed “as team executives try to deduce the best way to please the prospective new boss.”

While the Mets are scared about what Cohen will think about a new hire, they’ve failed to realize he’s watching them fumbling through this process.

Like all of us, Cohen sees the Mets being completely reactionary and not remotely proactive in their handling of Beltran. We all see the Mets fire Beltran without a plan in place.

They’re afraid to interview someone else or conduct a new search. They were ill prepared and not willing to make Tony DeFrancesco, Hensley Meulens, or Luis Rojas their new manager.

The Mets could’ve fired Beltran, and they could’ve held up Rojas as their new manager showing us all their complete faith in him. We could’ve heard why DeFrancesco has the skills to lead the Mets starting in 2020. We could’ve heard about Meulen’s championship pedigree, and why they knew in the short time he’s been with the organization why he was the man for the job.

Of course, that’s not happening because the Mets fired Beltran without a plan. In fact, they fired him without having a clue what direction they’d like to go. The only thing they knew was Cohen was lurking on the horizon, and he was judging them.

When you break it all down, Brodie Van Wagenen’s and Jeff Wilpon’s entire handling of this situation has been inept, and with each passing day, they’re showing Cohen and the whole baseball world, they should not be entrusted with running a baseball organization.

19 Replies to “Mets Not Having New Manager Yet Is Simply Incompetent”

  1. LongTimeFan1 says:

    MetsDaddy,

    Apparently, at some point last year it dawned on you that controversial headlines and nonsensical articles would net you more comments and clicks. Or you just enjoy the challenge of formulating an opinion on random topics that pop into your head.

    i suspect it’s both.

    This apparently is one of those articles.

    Yesterday it was Davey Johnson. although even that made far more sense than today’s.

    You’re just too smart to say some of the dumb things you do unless there’s an underlying purpose. The alternative is not particularly flattering so I choose to leave it unsaid.

    1. metsdaddy says:

      This is a completely ridiculous and unnecessarily insulting comment.

      With respect to Davey Johnson, we have seen the Redskins do something very similar prying Joe Gibbs out of retirement.

      By and large that worked in how it changed the narratives about the franchise at the time, and we saw Redskins fans and the media get excited about the hire.

      With respect to the Mets current situation, we’re now getting leaks about how Cohen has effectively put the entire front office in notice over this, and yet, you actually want to assert saying the Mets are handling this incompetently is nonsensical.

  2. Blair M. Schirmer says:

    Meanwhile, the Braves sign Marcell Ozuna to 1/$18m.

    Smart club. They did the same, 1/18m, with Cole Hamels. They pay a little more and get short deals on good players with some upside left. Their judgment was superb wrt Donaldson (1/23m) last season, then they declined to buy into his mid- to late thirties for $100m. They also added two strong bullpen arms for 2020-2020 in Wills Smith and Harris, going to a third year to get Harris and his age 35-37 seasons, but at just 8m per season. Their FO is going to be tough to beat over the next 5 years, at least.

    I had wanted the Mets to sign Charlie Morton last offseason and thought he could put them over the top–was a little surprised the Braves didn’t go get him given he went to the Rays for just 2/30m, but it looks like they thought Donaldson would be the better fit with the money they had to spend. Hard to argue, given the results, but I thought it was strange at the time. Donaldson could have been a bust, or close to it, while Morton had a decent shot at being very, very good, and a better chance than Donaldson of being at least respectable.

    I wonder what their thinking was, given they had a Dallas Keuchel-sized hole in their rotation for a chunk of the season and only the likes of Kevin Gaussman, Bryse Wilson, and Kyle Wright available to fill it, then went out and spent 85% of Morton’s AAV to get 19 starts from Keuchel.

    1. metsdaddy says:

      They did a good job insulating themselves from the loss of Donaldson

      1. Blair M. Schirmer says:

        @metsdaddy They did indeed, with no overlong commitments. One might question two 3-year deals for relievers, but for the good ones you can’t avoid it. They added 1/18m, 1/18m, 3/40m, and 3/24m for their main acquisitions, or $57.33m, at least. I think there was at least one more FA for a few mil. If so, that’s up to at least 60m in salary added for 2020, but only $21.33m for 2021 and 2022. Including Smith they have only 67m committed for 2021, and a lot of arb 2 players to address.

        They’re going to be tough to beat.

        1. metsdaddy says:

          They are, and that’s before you consider their young players taking yet another step forward

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