If the Mets turn Mickey Callaway, Buck Showalter and Dusty Baker are options



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Mickey Callaway is still the manager of the Mets for several reasons. The most important, however, has nothing to do with his sympathy, his profusion of knowledge about pitching or even his aversion to the property, to eat about 1.7 million dollars that are due until next year .

Callaway's biggest defense is simply, if not him, who?

If your thoughtless answer is a form of "no matter who, it would be better", let's move on at least to the exercise of what is available and plausible.

The first consideration is always inner. According to Jim Riggleman, who had been hired as an off-road coach, he had two responsibilities: 1) to help Callaway become a better manager in 2019 than his debut in 2018 and 2) to replace him if responsibility # 1 did not go . But if the Mets wanted to do that, you would not get a more open door open policy than get carried away by the humiliations of the Marlins.

Maybe the Mets still wanted to give Callaway more time. But let's face it, if the Mets had been inspired by Riggleman's elevation, it was him sitting at the Citi Field microphone on Monday, not at Callaway. And there is really no other obvious choice. Gary Disarcina was relieved of his bench coaching duties after last season. My colleague, Mike Puma, mentioned how much the Mets really like quality control coach Luis Rojas, but I do not see how the organization could put his quality control coach, aged 37 years old, in mid-season.

So, let's think about external alternatives. The rule is that any candidate declares that he will never interview until the management position is occupied. But in the real world, we try to go back and be discreet. Nevertheless, what can not happen is a process of interviewing long meetings with several members of the organization covering many areas – and then reminders for several rounds. Not in the middle of a season.

Mickey Callaway and Jim Riggleman
Mickey Callaway and Jim RigglemanPaul J. Bereswill

Brodie Van Wagenen can only get one try to hire his own director on a multi-year contract. It values ​​the process and the information. So, will he really hire a long-term manager in May without being able to go through the entire process of research, auditing and maintenance? During the off-season, Van Wagenen could ask Rojas to sell himself and bring, for example, Mark DeRosa from the MLB network, who was perhaps Callaway's finalist after the 2017 season, when Sandy Alderson directed the interviews, or to see if his friend, Astros manager AJ Hinch, could recommend Joe Espada, the Houston coach, and more.

The only possibility I see that could create a curve is if Buck Showalter, 63 on Thursday, or Dusty Baker, 70 next month, would accept a tentative label with the promise of full consideration after the season. Both could say that they have done too much to be able to audition. Including. I can not imagine, for example, Joe Girardi considering such conditions.

This should be a source of desperation at a time when most organizations have turned sharply away from the older and accomplished manager to hire younger options, which are more analytically savvy and more open to feedback from different facets of the business. # 39; organization. Baker and Showalter might never again have a chance of several years despite having each managed in four different places and combined for 14 playoff appearances. The Mets, if they were interested, could represent a last chance for either player to continue this elusive championship (only Gene Mauch has managed more matches than Baker or Showalter without winning a world series).

I contacted the two people Monday before the warm approval of Callaway by Van Wagenen. Baker and Showalter indicated that they would still like to manage, but that the Mets had not been in touch.

So you see how the ranks of "no matter who would be better" are weakening in the face of what is available, plausible and reasonable. Nevertheless, Callaway should hardly feel safe.

He did not receive strong support this year, stressing that if a change were to be made, it should have been done during the last season. Nothing has changed. Callaway is not downright loved in the business by his players or his bosses.

But the list of candidates at the end of May and the opportunity to conduct a thorough search are not great. That's why Callaway has survived the Marlin Massacre as much as any unwavering support. His best defense – unless the team starts to win a lot more often – is otherwise him, who?

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