Jeff Wilpon Needs To Speak About What’s Going On With His Mets
The New York Mets are five games under .500, which is the lowest point they’ve been at any point this season. As with most teams under .500, everything seems in disarray. This is a pattern for the Mets franchise which exists even in good times. Still, things have been at a higher level of dysfunction lately.
Mickey Callaway didn’t take kindly to what appeared to be an innocuous comment from Newsday’s Tim Healey. The frustration coming from a tough loss, having to answer difficult questions, or whatever else is related to being the Mets manager came flying out. Callaway finally snapped and directed it at Healey, which he shouldn’t have done.
Things were heightened when Jason Vargas purportedly to knock out Healey, and he needed to be restrained by Carlos Gomez and an injured Noah Syndergaard.
This was an embarrassing course of events which were made all the more difficult when Callaway had to speak with reporters three times before getting the words which people wanted to hear from him out. As bad as you may want to characterize what Callaway did or did not say, it’s nowhere near are terse and sarcastic as what Vargas had to offer:
Jason Vargas' entire statement regarding yesterday's incident: pic.twitter.com/FbiBaSsSYi
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 24, 2019
It should be noted here Callaway was at least man enough to speak with Healey personally and offer an apology. Nowhere was it reported Vargas did the same. Despite that, both were not suspended and were fined $10,000.
Of course, with this being the Mets, that’s not enough. During the game, we were reminded just how bad a job Brodie Van Wagenen has done as the General Manager. Jay Bruce would hit a pinch hit home run against Brooks Pounders, a scrap heap guy Van Wagenen had to obtain to try to piece together what was an incomplete bullpen to begin the year. That homer essentially put the game away for good.
In that game, there would be 20 runs scored and 34 hits. The only position player in either starting lineup not to register a hit? Robinson Cano. Cano was 0-for-5 dropping his stat line to .223/.270/.361. So far, he has a -0.8 WAR in year one of a five year $100 million obligation to the 36 year old second baseman.
At the same time, we have seen Edwin Diaz have the worst year of his career while Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn are progressing well in the Mariners system. According to MLB Pipeline, Kelenic is the 24th best prospect in all of baseball, and Dunn is the 67th best.
That means if Van Wagenen did not make the trade, right now, the Mets would have five top 100 prospects (Andres Gimenez, Ronny Mauricio, Anthony Kay) with more on the horizon. That means the Mets farm system would have been the envy of everyone, and the team could have sold REAL hope for an under .500 fourth place team.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mike Puma of the New York Post wrote an article alleging Van Wagenen called the Mets to instruct Callaway to remove Jacob deGrom from a game. The reporting has been confirmed many times over with the allegations going much further than this being an isolated event. On the topic, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post had this to say:
I asked the question to Brodie Van Wagenen this way, a few hours before the Mets would prove to be a splendid tonic for the reeling Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in serving as 13-7 patsies, a few minutes after he feigned ignorance at a subtler version of the inquiry:
“Do you tell Mickey what to do?”
* * * * *
So I asked. And this is what Van Wagenen said: “This organization is about teamwork and collaboration and the ability to trust the manager on an everyday basis.”
This is what he didn’t say: “No.”
It wouldn’t be until after the game Van Wagenen would seek to deny the reports. When he did, he would come across as less than convincing.
This is all coming off the heels of the team scapegoating both Dave Eiland and Chuck Hernandez while replacing them with an 82 year old Phil Regan and their bringing back Ricky Bones less than a year after he was removed from the position. We’ve also seen Travis d’Arnaud and Keon Broxton scapegoated this year.
On top of all of this, Brandon Nimmo went from neck pain we shouldn’t worry too much about to a bulging disc he tried to play through (both in the majors and in a rehab stint) to being shut down. Jed Lowrie has yet to play this season. Overall, the handling of the medical situations has continued to be inept, and the offseason acquisitions have mostly been a disaster.
At this point, no one has any credibility, and people have long since stopped wanting to hear what Callaway and Van Wagenen have to say.
The Mets have been embarrassed by the actions of his manager and fifth starter. There’s a potential scandal brewing with the General Manager allegedly violating MLB rules. There’s the continued problems with handling injuries, and the payroll remains an issue. Fans are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the team, and they’re staying away from the ballpark. Overall, the team is five games under .500, and they are closer to last place than the division or a Wild Card.
This is the exact time Jeff Wilpon needs to speak with the media. He needs to show everyone the team is not dysfunctional. He needs to support his embattled General Manager and manager. He needs to provide a vision for the future; one which can get the fans reengaged. In the end, this team is run by Jeff Wilpon, and he is the one who has to be accountable for the decisions made.
Speaking now is what a true leader would do. When put that way, we shouldn’t be holding our breath waiting for him to be accountable for the decisions made by him and the people he put in charge.
Unless he says “We are selling the team” then I don’t want to hear anything from the jawbone of this ass..
Fair
Huge Met fan going back to Seaver.
Moved to Seattle this year.
Can not listen, watch, read, buy tickets for the Mariners.
Extremely angry of how Sandy Alderson was unceremoniously dumped by Jeff Wilpon.
I always followed Met draftees from draft into the MLB.
Attended games more to watch players develop from call up into starting.
In last five years 70% of games I attended (more than fifty games) I went to watvh Jake.
Hated the Yankees and learned how they did things right.
Now that Alderson draftees Dunn and Kelenic are coming up soon in Seattle knowing that Jeff Wilpon has no plan B for his career I am looking at the next ten plus years watching Kelenic and Dunn succeed.
Speaking of owning up, admitting that a person admits he made a mistake, being accountable to one’s role, position, saying I have not succeeded of yet…. Did Jeff Wilpon ever apologize to how he treated Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran.?
Or admit to shamelessly kiss Tom Glavine’s butt after he left the Mets?
Derek Jeter say $22,222?
Thanks Jeff for Jarred and Justin.
I will suffer less over the next ten years!
No, Jeff would never apologize or own up to something. It’s part of the reason why this was written.
Let us hope that anyone who was shamed in childhood to not humanly be able to admit ever to being wrong — do work on it group therapy — recognize that narcissism and neurosis is a childhood defense mechanism and that if we do hurtful things to others recognize it as then as malignant narcissism and get the extra, individual professional support.
Narcissism is very common, not genetic, is brought on by others, not our fault and the most untreated disorder for a narcissist to admit to imperfection is only possible through obvious failure such as hitting rock bottom or feeling helpless to do it on one own.
Very common and usually multigenerational.
Retire your family karma…
I work at it daily!
Yet we should think about facing only ourselves when we no longer blame others, recognize it as an adult and not have courage to think about seeking support of self recognition self awareness such as being wrong put too fragile to admit our humanness.
“There’s a potential scandal brewing with the General Manager allegedly violating MLB rules.”
— I’m assuming this has to do with Wags’ reportedly calling in moves to Callaway. Anyone know what the maximum penalty is?
“Overall, the team is five games under .500, and they are closer to last place than the division or a Wild Card.”
— And it just gets worse, at 37-43. Given the Mets will be a worse team going in to 2020 than they were going into 2019, having no one who’s a 50-50 bet to come up from the minors and be a significant contributor, and having little payroll flexibility what with their youngish guys hitting arb and starting to get expensive, is a selloff in order? Seems like it, and there’s enough controlled, cheap talent to build a good farm system, but any rebuild will be in the hands of the same inept crew that built the current disaster.
It will also be built as a mid-market team that in 2020 will be paying about $20m to Cano and another 10m or so not covered by Cespedes’ insurance. That’s 30m in the hole to start, giving it much more of a small market feel.
I’m also thinking that Vargas’s option is likely to be picked up, given the effective cost will be $6m. A 37 yo Vargas, whose FIP is currently 4.50. That’ll be fun. deGrom-Syndergaard-Vargas-Kay-Matz. Kay’s certainly promising, but if he’s up to start 2020 that means he only spent 2 years in the minors. That’s unlikely to be enough. It’s the rare pitcher who can pull that off and be productive when he comes up.
If Vargas’ option gets picked up, I may have to be I institutionalized
…”He needs to show everyone the team IS NOT DYSFUNCTIONAL.” That’s impossible. They ARE THE EPITOME OF DYSFUNCTIONAL.
Good point
6. That’s the amount of winning seasons the Wilson’s have put together since taking over in 2003. Basically, a Met fan is forced to sit through 2 losing seasons for every winning won. Jeff Wilpon is not good at running a baseball, but yet he thinks he is. This is the state of the fan base for the Mets. A team run by an incompetent who thinks he’s an expert who is not swayed by all the evidence to the contrary.
What makes it all the more inexcusable is his meddling in areas he has no knowledge like medical decisions and baseball