The Mickey Callaway era with the NY Mets is now over, and I can admit, I was wrong.

When the Mets named Callaway the manager back on October 23^rd in 2017, I was all-in. I believed in what Callaway did as a pitching coach and his belief in analytics and it being used in baseball. While Mickey wasn’t my first choice (Alex Cora) I felt Mickey was the best next thing.

I was so confident in the hire that I talked trash on Twitter and referred to Callaway as a top 5 managing candidate at the time.

Clearly, I am not ready to be a GM yet, LOL!

Callaway struggled with handling the bullpen, although I will give him a pass for the most part when it comes to the pen. The talent wasn’t there and it’s difficult to manage a pen when relievers are not doing their jobs. What could not be forgiven was Callaway’s in-game moves with pinch hitters and being out maneuvered by opposing managers.

A perfect example of this was a couple of weeks ago, with the Mets in the hunt for the playoffs. Callaway allowed the Phillies to pinch-hit Bryce Harper to hit against Tyler Bashlor (Righty), and explained he wanted to get Phillies regular old reliever Mike Morin out of game. We are not talking about Mariano Rivera here…

While it’s not great that the Mets must find a new manager, this is different from previous years. This is a Mets team that has talent, a young core in Pete Alonso, Amed Rosario, Jeff McNeil, Michael Confronto, and a pitching staff that is formidable (Jacob deGrom). For the first time in a long-time, this is team that can attract top managerial candidates.

Of the top candidates, Joe Maddon and Joe Girardi would be at the top of my list. As of right now the word is Maddon will head west to take the Angels job. If that’s the case Joe Girardi would have to be the guy previous experience handling the NYC market and not afraid of the bright lights.

But…

If I had a dark horse, Houston Astros’ manager AJ Hinch, who could be looking for a challenge and good friends with Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen.

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!