Mike Freire - Fleeting Thoughts (What A Mess Edition)

Also at Mack's Mets:

Good Morning, Mets' fans!

I wish that I was writing this article under better circumstances, but that is simply not the case as we all are aware (unless you have been hiding under a rock since the end of the 2019 season).  I swear, being a fan of this franchise feels like a Charlie Brown skit.  You know the one where Lucy holds the football for Charlie as he runs up to kick the same.  Of course, Lucy pulls the football away at the last minute and Charlie ends up looking foolish as he kicks nothing but air.

The Mets seem to be Charlie Brown and "fate" is Lucy, while the football is sustained success for the franchise.

What?  Too much psycho-babble?

Fair enough, I will get back to baseball and focus on this article.

1.  Look, I understand that Carlos Beltran is an adult and that he is responsible for his own actions.  He clearly had a pretty big role in the "sign stealing" scandal that has left the Astros reeling and he should have been let go by the Mets as a result.  What is sad, however, is that all of the positive things that he has accomplished in his career will be overshadowed by his poor choice to go along with the aforementioned scandal.

Carlos is (or was) likely a Hall of Fame caliber player and he also spent his best years as a member of our favorite team.  In addition, his return as manager of our team had the potential to be a fantastic story if things had worked out.  Instead, that all went up in flames due to a talented team trying to gain an additional advantage in an "underhanded" fashion.  The really sad part is that the Astros were already good enough to win a championship without crossing the proverbial line.

Reminds me of the Barry Bonds saga to an extent.  He was a wonderful ballplayer that didn't need to use steroids to gain an edge.  But, by doing so, he will forever be known as a "cheater" and not one of the better players to play the game.

2. I find it a bit perplexing that the Mets front office personnel have gotten almost as much scorn as the actual perpetrators in this miserable saga.  By all accounts, the basic timeline of the situation was as follows;

a.  In 2017, the Astros won the World Series with Carlos Beltran as a member of the organization, only to find out more recently that they "cheated" while doing so (sign stealing).

b.  When the story first broke, it was not made clear what Carlos' involvement was but none of the other PLAYERS on the team were initially implicated.

c.  Brodie had to have addressed the topic with Carlos prior to offering him the Mets' job.  This likely occurred after Carlos DENIED any serious involvement in the scandal (unless you believe that Brodie didn't care which is crazy).

d.  The final report from MLB was published AFTER Carlos was hired and it turns out that he was the only player named in the report and that he was much more involved then he let on during the interview process.

e.  The Mets took a day or two to evaluate the report and came to the conclusion that Carlos was not fit for the management position.  Carlos clearly felt the same way so a MUTUAL decision was made to part ways.

What exactly did the Mets do wrong here?  Granted, none of us know exactly what occurred behind closed doors, but do you really think Brodie hired Carlos in October KNOWING that he was a principal player in the scandal?  It makes no sense and I don't believe that for a second.

I am not the biggest supporter of Brodie, but I still don't see what he did wrong in this story.  I think the fans should save their anger for Carlos (who at best was intentionally misleading) and not the victims in this saga, who include the Mets!

3. Amusing side note here, regarding the Yankees and their public whining about the 2017 situation.  OK, so it was mostly CC Sabathia but the basic story was that the Yankees had the 2017 World Series Championship stolen by the Astros and their cheating ways.

Maybe the Astros beat them anyway without the help?  Or, who is to say that if the Yankees did advance to the World Series that they would have beaten the Dodgers?

Calm down and go get ready for Spring Training, CC!

4. Another unfortunate consequence of this situation is that the Mets (along with the Astros and Red Sox) are now looking for a new manager with only a few weeks left in the offseason.  Clearly, not an ideal situation for a lot of reasons to include having the rest of Carlos' coaching staff already in position for the coming year.

What manager will want to wade into that firestorm?  Or better yet, what manager would want to take the helm when he didn't have ANY say in who his coaches will be? Despite this handicap, there are only 30 of these jobs in MLB so I am sure there will be interested and qualified candidates. The Astros and Red Sox are also on the prowl, so the Mets need to get to it!

After looking over the landscape, I would personally go with Eduardo Perez who was the runner up in the last search and who has likely done a bunch of research on the roster as a result.  I know he doesn't have a lot of managerial experience, but he seems squared away and this is a really unique situation (i.e. not a lot of time to prepare).  The team must have seen something they liked in EP since he was almost hired in October and I prefer that to one of the ancient retreads (sorry Terry).

By the time you are reading this, the team might have a new skipper.  Or at least I hope so, since the start of Spring Training is only 20 days away!

At least being a Mets' fan isn't boring, right?