New York Mets: End the charade now and move on to 2020
By Ed Stein
After losing for the eighth straight time on Saturday evening, the New York Mets organization must realize that their 2019 season is over. It’s time to move on.
The New York Mets have lost eight games in a row, after dropping a 3-0 decision to Atlanta on Saturday evening. They are 10 games under .500 and 13 back of the Braves for first place in the National League East. The fork is in and this season is done. General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen must start looking towards 2020 and beyond.
There are several things he can do with the goal of making the 2020 season better than this one. First of all Mickey Callaway needs to go. Second, with the changes in the trade deadline, BVW can declare the Mets open for business, and take early advantage of the trade market. Finally, the organization can start bringing up the kids and letting them get some major league experience.
Item 1 – New manager
Mickey Callaway, as nice of a guy as he may be, is not the right man to manage the Mets. He doesn’t have whatever “it” is to run a Major League team. One of my colleagues here at EWB, Joe Noa refers to the New York Mets manager as Kumbaya Callaway, because of his penchant for being easy going with his players.
Joe advocates for a manager with a drill sergeant mentality to run the New York Mets. That might be a bit simplistic, but someone has to come in and get these players in line. It’s obvious that fires need to be lit under a few butts. In addition, Callaway seems to have the worst track record when it comes to making in-game decisions. It’s hard to believe someone can be that wrong that often.
Item 2 – Let the selloff begin
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The New York Mets may not have many, but any veterans who don’t have contracts with the organization in 2020 should be dealt or if they are untradeable, then released. At the top of that list is pitcher Zack Wheeler. The 29-year-old starter has been somewhat mediocre this year, posting a 6-5 record and 4.51 ERA over 17 starts. He is however capable of going on a run for periods of time and being dominant.
Also on the soon to be traded list should be Todd Frazier, Juan Lagares, Adeiny Hechavarria, and for goodness sakes Carlos Gomez. Not exactly a cast of all-stars, but two or three of them could bring back a young arm they’ll need going forward. The other borderline Major Leaguers they have floating around between the main roster and Triple-A can be released to find other opportunities.
Item 3 –The kids gotta play
Going into the season, BVW’s plan was to stock the New York Mets Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse with major league veterans looking for another shot at the show. It sort of worked early on, but as the season wore on, those players reverted back to the pumpkins they were, to begin with. Besides, as mentioned above, if any of them have trade value, they should be gone anyway.
Now the younger players in the system can move up whether it be at the Major League level or backfilling throughout the entire organization. These guys will be part of the Mets family longer than any of the re-treads on the Mets or their AAA rosters. Regardless of the level, let the young guys get more experience.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.