New York Mets hiring of Beltran is a repeat of the same mistake

Friday the New York Mets announced the hiring of Carlos Beltran as their next manager. They are repeating the same mistake they made with Mickey Callaway.

Carlos Beltran, welcome back to the New York Mets. Unfortunately this union won’t last long. General Manager Brodie Van Waganen was thinking out of the box on this one. While fans should appreciate his thought process here, it’s still a mistake. Hiring someone to be a Major League manager with no previous managerial OR coaching experience is a recipe for disaster.

There is no doubt Beltran has a sharp baseball mind. In 2017 he was like a player coach for the World Series Champion Houston Astros. The keyword there is “like.” While he did have the respect of both the locker room and coaching staff, Beltran wasn’t a coach. He didn’t make important decisions, it wasn’t up to him to bring in a reliever, decide if a starter needs to skip a turn, sit a slumping veteran, or even use a pinch hitter.

Former manager Mickey Callaway had no managerial experience either when hired. He was however a Major League pitching coach under Terry Francona in Cleveland. Mets fans saw how well that worked out, as his constant mistakes led to team losses. It got worse with every bullpen implosion and pinch hitter gaff. Finally the “peter principle” led to his down fall. Callaway worked his way up to his own level of incompetence. Too bad that happened in a Metes uniform.

Experience is important. It isn’t the be all end all. Plenty of managers have succeeded without having that job in the majors before. What nearly every new MLB manager did have was some level of experience in either the minors or majors as a coach or manager. In any business, not just baseball, there is huge difference between worker and management. Beltran will have to pick it up on the fly.

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New York is hard market for any coach or manager. Some of the best no matter the sport have been chewed up and spit out in this market. This is not a place for someone to earn their chops in front of a big audience.

Van Waganen has installed as the New York Mets manager, a man that will get blitzed by an audience with little remorse who acts first and thinks second. Having your every decision put under an intense microscope is a difficult way to begin a career.

Some may see Beltran’s hiring as a move akin to the Yankees hiring of Aaron Boone as their manager. Boone despite a long playing career as well, had no coaching or managerial experience either. Their situations are completely different. Boone is a baseball lifer and a third generation Major Leaguer. He’s been in and out of clubhouses his entire life. Additionally, Boone worked as an analyst for ESPN which required many hours of study and film work to prepare for a national audience.

It is what it is. Carlos Beltran will manage the New York Mets next season, (and hopefully longer). Fans and media will have to live with his rookie mistakes as he learns. Many fans would have preferred an experienced Joe Girardi to be the team’s manager. That ship sailed a month ago. Mets Nation has to rally around the new man and cut him some slack during his “on the job training.”

Next. Jets October of discontent finally ends. dark

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