Author: Frank Caggino
Editor: Fran Attie
After the New York Mets finished the season with a losing record, some changes had to be made. The first one, was deciding not to bring back Luis Rojas. This does not come as a surprise, as Rojas made several mistakes during the past two seasons. Whether it was his use of pinch hitters, pitching decisions or his conservative mentality, it was clear he should not be the manager anymore. Firing Rojas will not automatically make the Mets a playoff team, because they still have to select a new manager. Unfortunately, there is no obvious selection for who the next manager should be. There are multiple candidates available that all have positives and negatives.
The person that many Mets fans want to be the next manager is Carlos Beltran, even though he did not get to manage a single game. He was the manager that Luis Rojas took over from. Beltran was one of the managers that got punished due to the Astros stealing signs scandal. The other managers that lost their jobs were A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora, who are both managing again. Beltran does have some good qualities, and he was a player in New York for several years, which will help him relate to the players. If the Mets retain Javier Baez, Beltran can hopefully get Baez to be the player he was in September on a relatively consistent basis. The problem with Beltran, is he would be the third straight rookie manager that the Mets have hired. The main issue with a rookie manager is they are very unpredictable. Carlos Beltran can be a solid manager, but he also could be a subpar manager, since he is inexperienced. The Mets are not in a position to be taking another risk with the manager, which is why Beltran is not a good fit.
In an ideal world, Bob Melvin would be the next manager of the New York Mets. He is much more experienced than the previous two managers. His teams usually finish with better records than the Mets, despite having a lower payroll. Melvin’s managing mentality is different than Luis Rojas’ since he is more aggressive when it comes to stealing bases. Melvin managed this year’s stolen base leader Starling Marte, who stole more bases in Oakland despite playing more games in Miami. The Mets did not attempt to steal enough bases despite having players such as Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Javier Baez, and Jonathan Villar. The problem is that Melvin is still under contract and the Mets would have to perform a trade in order to acquire Melvin. Manager trades are rare which makes it unlikely that Melvin will be the Mets manager.
A name that is intriguing is Miguel Cairo. Cairo has a very similar resumé to Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Cora and Cairo were both utility players that played for several teams and were active players as recently as 2011. Miguel Cairo played for the Mets and Yankees which gives him some familiarity with New York. Cora was a rookie manager when the Red Sox hired him, but he was a bench coach for the Houston Astros the year before. Cairo is currently the White Sox bench coach and is learning under Tony La Russa. Cairo would be a rookie manager but at least he will have some coaching experience.
Other names that the Mets can consider are Ron Washington, who has plenty of managing experience and Joe Espada who has never managed, but has been a coach since 2010. The other issue that the Mets might run into, is the front office positions that still have to be filled. The new president of baseball operations might not want the same manager that Sandy Alderson does. The present of baseball operations should be the one that makes the decision, since this could be Sandy Alderson’s last year with the Mets.
The New York Mets have a lot of important decisions to be made and now all we can do is hope that the decisions they make will help this team finally become a sustained winner.
SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE
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