New York Mets: Five lessons learned in the first half of 2019
By Ed Stein
3. The need for leadership and team culture
Team leadership has been an issue all season and it starts at the top. Fred Wilpon (Majority Owner) and Jeff Wilpon (Chief Operating Officer) are as despised by the fans as the man the owners blame for stealing their money, Bernie Madoff. It’s hard to believe that in the country’s marquee media market, any owner can cry poor, but the Wilpons do just that. They run this club as if it’s based in Kansas City, Milwaukee, or Cincinnati.
BVW was covered earlier, so moving on to on the on-field product, manager Mickey Callaway has not impressed many with either his style or decision making. His laid back, player-friendly approach clearly has failed to motivate this team. Additionally, his personnel decisions to continually backfire. Pull a starter for a pinch hitter (who fails) and the reliever gets shelled. Keep the starter in, to go an extra inning, and he gets roughed up.
Among the players, it seems like there is no internal leadership. Who would it be? Todd Frazier is a streaky fringe player. Hopefully, it’s not Robinson Cano. He’s an accomplished player, but the last thing anyone in the organization wants is for the younger guys to stoop running out grounders. Wilson Ramos – probably not.
Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, Amed Rosario, and Jeff McNeil haven’t been in the league long enough. Maybe Jed Lowrie could have been that guy, but he’s been out since spring training. Someone needs to step up and set a standard because it’s not going to be Callaway.
The end result is a rudderless group without the necessary fire to get ahead.