Mickey Callaway managed the Mets at Citi Field on Wednesday night in light of him mismanaging the game Tuesday night, which he took Noah Syndergaard out of the game despite throwing 103 pitches and mowing the Giants down with a runner on first and two outs in the seventh inning and inserted Seth Lugo, who promptly gave up two straight hits, including the game-tying hit that tied the game at 3. The Mets went on to lose 9-3 to the San Francisco Giants in 10 innings.
The Mets played well enough for Callaway to not really have to manage in their 7-0 victory over the Giants in the second game of a three-game series.
Some thought Tuesday night was Callaway’s Waterloo that would get him fired. Instead, he managed to survive.
It shouldn’t be surprising he hasn’t been fired yet. After all, the beleaguered Mets manager gave his employer the opportunity to fire him after the Mets were swept by the awful Marlins few weeks ago. It’s fair to say he may not even be fired anytime soon.
There’s no question Callaway is going to be fired eventually. He knows it himself. If he is fired, it will be after the season when the Wilpons find their scapegoat to what went wrong in what was another awful season.
Here’s why he won’t be fired during the season: The Wilpons know no manager is turning the Mets around with an awful bullpen, overrated starting rotation and a feast and famine lineup that relies on home runs. Plus, they expressed no desire to pay their employees to collect money and sit at home.
If the Mets fire Callaway this season, it will be out of mercy for him or because he lost his players altogether. He may be on the verge of doing just that when Jacob deGrom called him out for taking him out in Saturday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks by saying he did not feel any cramps to be taken out, and he did not help his cause Tuesday night when Syndergaard expressed his disgust on the mound when he came to take him out.
The fans want Callaway gone since he is incompetent as a manager. He has no feel for the game when it comes to using pitchers. He does not know when the reliever does not have it. He either leaves his starters way too long or takes them out too early. He hasn’t exactly distinguished himself as a leader of men.
Two years has shown he is overmatched as a manager when it comes to managing a game and answering questions from the media.
Quite frankly, he should have never been hired in the first place. Then-Mets general manager Sandy Alderson hired him mainly because he would take orders as part of being a company man to the front office. Alderson never believed in managers having impact on games.
When Alderson resigned because of his cancer last season, Callaway lost his safety net, and he knew he was managing for his job starting this season.
For anyone that says the Mets should fire the manager now while the division is within reach, what’s the point? Joe Girardi, Buck Showalter, Dusty Baker or Mike Scioscia are not managing in the middle of the season, and the Mets are not going to hire these guys since they cost money and they are their own men. You say Wally Backman as Mets manager? WFAN’s Joe Benigno has a better chance of managing the Mets than him.
If anything, the Mets are likely going to hire a new boss that is the same as the old boss. That means the new manager will be another company man that follows orders and then be a convenient scapegoat when the team falls short of expectations.
They might as well keep Callaway. They probably know it’s the way to go, which is why he likely will be the manager the rest of the season for better or for worse.
They certainly don’t want to fire him now or anytime this year.
Don’t mistake this as they believe in his managerial ability. If they did, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen would not have wasted his time giving the dreaded vote of confidence or give an non-answer as to whether or not his manager would manage the entire season.
If they keep him, it’s going to be because they know it would be a waste of time firing him.
Just thinking of the options of who would replace him and how bad the Mets are, firing Callaway would be pointless other than satisfying disgruntled fans who want the Mets to do something for the sake of doing something.
Plus if the Wilpons fire him, the slings and arrows target them more than ever.
Callaway provides them cover, which makes him a valuable asset for them to fire.
