Van Wagenen Endorses Callaway as Mets Manager

It was easily the wildest 24 hours the New York Mets have experienced in years, and that is saying something.

Let’s quickly recap.

·      The Mets were held to three hits over the final two games of a three-game sweep at the hands of the Miami Marlins. By Sunday afternoon the calls for Manager Mickey Callaway to be fired only grew louder by each out.

·      On Monday afternoon, General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen endorsed Callaway and said he would remain manager for “the foreseeable future.”

·      In the same press conference, Van Wagenen announced Yoenis Cespedes, who just recently began running, fractured his right ankle during a fall at a Port St. Lucie Ranch. (Did he fall of a horse? Fall into a giant hole? Nobody really knows).

·      Robbinson Cano was benched for not hustling in Miami.

·      The Mets got blasted by fans and the media – with some calling the franchise dysfunctional.

·      The Mets jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Washington, holding on to win 5-3.

Yeah, it’s been interesting. Now the big question remains: what do the ramifications of Monday’s zaniness mean moving forward?

On Mickey Callaway:

Before Monday’s news conference, one could argue that Brodie Van Wagenen had every right to move on from Callaway for the simple fact that Callaway was not his hire.  Most General Managers want to hire their own guy to manage a team. However, with his endorsement of the embattled manager, Van Wagenen has tied himself to Callaway’s fate. 

"Mickey is our manager now. Mickey is our manager going forward," Van Wagenen said Monday. "We're not looking to blame a manager. He has our full support to lead this team for the foreseeable future."

“We built this team in the front office. We believe that this team has the ability to contend, the same way we said that in the offseason loudly and proudly. The accountability that will ultimately fall on this team, I want to place on my shoulders," Van Wagenen said. “At the end of the day, this is our team. We're proud of it, we believe in it.”

While it is honorable that Van Wagenen is trying to show leadership by defending his manager and players, he has squarely put himself in front of the freight train of the New York spotlight.

Van Wagenen is the one who made the trade for Cano and his five-year contract at age 37.

He is also the one who brought in Wilson Ramos, who has struggled offensively.

Van Wagnen brought back Jeruys Familia who has an ERA over six, and signed Jed Lowrie to a two-year $20 million deal.  And Lowrie still hasn’t played a game for the Mets yet.

So far it has been a lot more misses than hits for the rookie General Manager. If the Mets struggles persist, who is to say the Wilpon’s won’t look at Van Wagenen as well as Callaway when trying to assess blame later this year.

The Future of Yoenis Cespedes:

With another year left on the four-year $110 million deal he signed in 2016, the future of Cespedes is certainly in doubt. He will most definitely miss the rest of this season after fracturing multiple bones in his ankle, and there is legitimate question about his chances to comeback in 2020 now.

Remember Cespedes was coming off multiple heel surgeries that would have cost him a good chunk of this season. Now the Mets can forget him being a factor at all.

The question is how can the Mets recoup the money? Cespedes is due to make $29 million this season and $29.5 million next year. The Mets are insured for Cespedes’ heel surgeries, much the same way they were insured on David Wright’s contract.

In order to recoup his salary, the Mets need proof that Cespedes hurt himself. There is precedent for this. In 2010, former Mets closer Francisco ‘K-Rod’ Rodriguez tore ligaments in his thumb when he tried to attack with his father-in-law. The Mets were able to get K-Rod to forfeit $3 million from his contract. As VanWagenen pointed out, the Mets will investigate further.

Bottom line, Cespedes’ days as a Met are likely over. It is a tremendous fall from grace for a player who came to New York in 2015 to much fanfare. Cespedes was one of the more feared hitters in the sport, and it showed when he crushed 17 homers for the Mets down the stretch of the ’15 campaign as the Mets made the playoffs en route to a National League title.

Since it has been nothing but a nightmare as the former All Star has battled numerous injuries since 2016.