Reese Kaplan -- The Other Shoe Surprisingly Dropped

If you ever want to get into an interesting debate between generations, gather a number of age groups together and speculate on whether the world has indeed grown crazier or if merely has better access to information and SEEMS to have grown crazier but is probably actually less crazy with the multiple methods available to cloak one’s identity.  In baseball terms, world class players like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle and others had, shall we say, colorful off-the-field characteristics, yet it didn’t stop them from succeeding at what they did best. 

When the whole Houston Astros scandal became a front-and-center topic for blogs, Facebook, Twitter and plain old paper media, a great deal of the furor was the result of easy access to communicate which was not possible back in Ruthian days.  Everyone from the loudmouth at the corner bar to the Pulitzer prize worthy sports journalist weighed in heavily on what happened, why it was wrong, and what should be done about it. 

In a parallel path during the off-season, people were excited at the prospect of the Mets seeking a more advanced path to the championship by finding a Mickey Callaway replacement who had experience, player relatability and, hopefully, a “connection” to the Mets that fans would relish.  Many Mets players have retired who are held in high esteem, including David Wright, Curtis Granderson, Mike Piazza, Dave Magadan and others.  

It was somewhat surprising, therefore, to see a team so vocal about inexperience interviewing a great many associated with the game who had little or no major league managerial experience, deludedly thinking it was a step up from Callaway.  You could easily make a case for a guy like Tim Bogar who had a 600 game minor league managerial career with a .576 winning percentage and an interim major league interim record over .600. 

It was curious, therefore, to see a player who, between his rough first year as a Met and his semi-arthritic last year would become legendarily disliked for the end to the 2006 playoff chase as he stood like a stone gargoyle, helplessly leaving his bat on his shoulder to get called out on strikes to end game seven of the playoffs to determine who would advance to the World Series.  Yet it was that man -- Carlos Beltran – that the Mets felt would be the “name” recognition they desired.  Furthermore, given his personal wealth, perhaps they felt he honestly wanted to grow in this new aspect of a baseball career since he wasn’t doing it just for the paycheck. 

People seemed somewhat split over the decision.  Some could never forgive his Cardinals’ at-bat disgrace.  Others were upset with his having transitioned into a better player post-Mets than the sore­armed pitching prospect they got in exchange for him in trade.  Then they let that youngster walk away to the Phillies this year.  Overall, however, the return of a big name seemed to elicit positive vibes from many and few were as overtly skeptical of the decision as perhaps they should have been.

Then, of course, the two paths of Houston Astro disgrace and Carlos Beltran’s born-again Mets’ prominence converged in a rather unsavory way.  Right away the vast majority of voices were calling for the Mets to sever their ties to the apparently implicit sign stealer, but many columns evolved advocating the Mets stick up for their man. 

It came as a surprise today that the Mets and Beltran agreed it was better to end the distraction before it interfered with what should be a promising and pennant-chasing ballclub.  Depending on whose reporting you choose to believe, Beltran and the Mets mutually agreed he would not be the guy with the lineup pencil in his hand. 

While I was one of the most vocal advocating they sever ties with this follow-up inexperienced manager, I was also likely one of the most shocked when they actually did.  Yes, it puts them into a difficult position just weeks before Spring Training to have to find another guy to sharpen the pencil, but it was the right thing to do.  Say you were Amed Rosario or Pete Alonso or Seth Lugo and now were asked to take your professional advice on how cheating is a necessary way to win from the guy who controls whether or not you get to play?  That’s not the kind of message that should be imparted to any players, but particularly not to younger ones. 

Who they will select to take over is a big question mark right now.  You’ve heard all the speculative names like in-house candidates Hensley Meulens, Luis Rojas, Tony DeFrancesco and even retreads like Terry Collins.  Then there are the highly regarded external choices like Tim Bogar, Eduardo Perez and others.  At this point with time pressure causing a somewhat desperate decision to be made, I don’t have very high expectations for whomever it is.  They may take some steps backwards before moving forward, but the change at the helm needed to be done.