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Things have changed dramatically for Luis Rojas. The New York food the skipper was never universally loved, but what baseball managers can walk around town with that claim? It’s a tough gig and there will always be enemies.
During the first part of the season, there were those who pinched everything Rojas did and those who saw something else. This other spectator camp considered Rojas to be a Manager of the Year candidate. After all, he was keeping the team in first place with much less talent than expected.
Fast forward about two months. We are at Citi Field at the end of August. The Mets are in third place. Songs of “Fire Rojas” poured out on the ground. What happened?
Mets manager Luis Rojas made a devastating call to the box against the Giants
A mistake and a single in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants ended Taijuan Walker’s night. Leading 2-1 at the time, now may seem like an appropriate time to call in a reliever.
Except it wasn’t at all. A little more context is needed.
Walker had given only one hit until this single. It was a Kris Bryant solo home run. He was at 74 locations overnight. Faced with one of his first big challenges of the night, Rojas did not let the sole All-Star representative of the team from 2021 to work there. Rojas brought in Aaron Loup to take on Brandon Crawford.
The result was a two-point brace to put the Giants ahead for good.
Throughout the year, Rojas made it easy to question his decisions. I know we all took the time to question them. Sometimes they train. Others, like choosing to shoot Walker in his most efficient start in a very long time, is one of those “I told you so” decisions.
It was already a debate in Mets Land on whether or not Rojas will return in 2022. Originally hired as a second choice by the previous regime, the current front office structure has no obligation to keep him. In fact, Rojas is quickly becoming the ideal scapegoat to blame for their failures.
A bad decision made by a baseball manager at the end of August with the resuscitation season should not cost anyone their livelihood. In the case of Rojas, it is the culmination of several questionable maneuvers with his relief throwers.
A virtue to live your life: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Mets are very broken right now. Fixing things, starting with the top step of the canoe, makes a lot of sense for this club during the offseason.
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