Zack Wheeler.
Huh? Zack Wheeler??
Well, not exactly. Let me explain.
Since it was announced that Mickey Callaway would not be returning as manager, fans have been in a frenzy speculating as to who his replacement might be.
Ok, for the record, I’m not seriously suggesting that Zack Wheeler should be the next manager of the Mets.
What I AM suggesting is that the Mets should SIGN Zack Wheeler, (the pitcher) and then continue to put a championship caliber team on the field for the new manager.
Don’t fall into this trap again, Met fans.
Remember 2018? The Mets hired Mickey Callaway and we spent the next couple months debating until we were blue in the face. The analytics. The “dirt-ball reads.” The “dry-humping” of the pitchers.
And then what happened?
The season started and we gave everyday at-bats to Adrian Gonzalez, José Reyes and Jose Bautista.
We aren’t going to do the same thing this off-season, are we?
Personally, I’m not going to feed into it. I’m not going to go into mourning over Joe Girardi. I’m DEFINITELY not going to spend one second of my time talking about this “bombshell candidate” nonsense.
The Washington Nationals, our NL East rivals, are playing in the World Series as we speak. Forgive me if I really don’t care which remaining managerial candidate “relates best to the media.”
Because, isn’t that what a manager in today’s game is? A glorified team spokesperson in a baseball uniform?
I’m not suggesting that the manager position is useless. I just don’t want to give our new manager a bullpen with ONE trustworthy arm in it.
Mickey Callaway was inept at dealing with the media. Aside from his daily gibberish at the press conferences being hard to listen to, does it really matter?
What concerned me was how he struggled to adapt to the National League game and his constant mismanagement of the bullpen.
Joe Girardi is a terrific manager. Obviously, he’s a far superior option to Mickey Callaway. However, I don’t think that it’s Joe Girardi or bust. There are some terrific options still available.
At the end of the day, if Girardi had to choose between Drew Gagnon and Jacob Rhame every night, how great would he look?
Let’s give our next manager a fighting chance. Let’s keep him in the loop so he’s not hung out to dry at press conferences.(McNeil, Cespedes, Nimmo etc.)
This team has a good foundation. Let’s commit, 100% to winning on the field.
If we do that (actually commit to winning on the field) I believe everything else will fall in to place.
You may look at the remaining managerial candidates and get upset. Depressed even.
Well, that’s how I feel when I look at the list of candidates available to replace Zack Wheeler in this starting rotation. (We aren’t getting Gerrit Cole.)