Someone was going to take the fall for the Mets epic 2021 collapse.
It was not going to be Sandy Alderson, who last week indicated that he is going to remain a key cog in Mets decision making moving forward - despite a checkered history running the Mets, especially this past season.
It was going to be Luis Rojas. It was always going to be him. The man who had to endure so much chaos over his two years at manager, he never stood a chance in Queens, and one has to wonder if he isn't ecstatic to get away from Steve Cohen and his mercurial Mets.
In his two years managing the Mets, Rojas saw it all. He was hired on whim by then-General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen after Carlos Beltran was dismissed from the job just weeks after his hiring when it was revealed that Beltran played a significant role in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal.
From there he had to manage a team through the COVID-19 pandemic and a 60-game season in 2020. Then he had to get through an ownership change from the reluctant, penny pinching Wilpon's to the maverick Steve Cohen. Rojas got a lukewarm endorsement from management last November when Cohen settled in, and Alderson was brought back to run the front office.
You knew if things didn't go well, Rojas would be out. Cohen and Alderson would want their own guy.
Of course things started out great. Despite poor efforts from the likes of Francisco Lindor, who had inked a $340 million contract before opening day this year, and Michael Conforto, who never got going with the bat at all in 2021, somehow Rojas guided the Mets to first place and kept them there for 103 days.
Then the bottom fell out.
The injury to Jacob deGrom, which the Mets tried to dust under the rug as quickly as possible, blew up in the team's face when it was revealed -- casually I might add -- by Alderson that the Mets ace had a slight tear of his UCL. Surgery was never considered, but deGrom missed the rest of the year anyway.
In the meantime, Alderson and acting GM Zach Scott, who got the job because of Jared Porter's own alleged sexual deviancy -- made little effort to give this club what it needed by the trade deadline: pitching. Instead they opted to acquire firebrand short stop Javier Baez, who's claim to fame as a Met will always be his bizarre thumbs down theatrics directed at the fans.
It didn't help Rojas when he denied any knowledge of what his players were doing during the crisis, which came off the heels of the Mets season coming totally apart when they lost 11 of 13 games to the Dodgers and Giants over a two week span in mid August.
Oh, and did I mention that Scott was put on leave after he was pulled over and arrested for drunk driving hours after attending a charity benefit at Cohen's place? Yeah, there is that as well.
So it comes as no surprise that the Mets hit the reset button on the manager. They had no choice. They couldn't run it back with Rojas.
This is a franchise that needs a total house cleaning. But even with Rojas taking the fall for all of the misgivings and missteps made during Cohen's inaugural year as owner, it doesn't excuse those facts either.
Alderson has stated that the team plans to hire a President of Baseball Operations. That effort didn't work out too well last time around with Alderson assuming those responsibilities, and hiring the ill-fated Porter -- and, later, Scott -- to serve as GM.
Fans have been clamoring for the team to hire Theo Epstein, but one has to wonder if he would want to work under Alderson, who is going to retain a significant clout within the organization, and Cohen who tried to put a virtual bounty on the head of a New York Post reporter, by asking his Twitter followers to find the anonymous source in an article critical of his ownership, and if they did, three fans would get a chance to sit the owners suite.
Billy Beane is another name being floated, but he is under contract in Oakland, and even has a 1% stake ownership in the Oakland A's. Unless Cohen and Alderson are willing to trade a lot to the A's, and throw in a bunch of case Beane's way, don't bet on it.
And what happens if the Mets hire a manager before hiring a president of baseball operations? It would be such a Mets thing for them to do if it happens.
And already the rumor-mill is flying. Even Beltran's name is being floated out there as a potential managerial candidate, as unlikely as it is. Buck Schowalter's name has been bantered about, as per usual around this time of the year. Joe McEwing, a former Met, who is an assistant on Tony LaRusa's staff in Chicago, is another popular name being thrown out there too.
We shall see, but one things is certain. If Cohen and Alderson want to reshape the Mets, they need to look in the mirror first.
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