Reese Kaplan -- Is Housecleaning Really Happening?

Every time you think you’ve got this club all figured out they go and do something that makes you think, “Hey, maybe they DO get it after all.”  We had one of those moments yesterday in between our NFL marathon when word came out that the Mets have not chosen existing hitting coach Kevin Long, twice-fired manager with a losing record, Manny Acta, but instead grabbed one of the two most highly sought-after young managerial rookie candidates.  Mickey Callaway makes a ton of sense for this organization and I applaud the surprising and atypical selection.

First of all, this club was supposed to be built upon pitching.  Save for a brief period when they had the luxury of a healthy Jeurys Familia, Addison Reed and Tyler Clippard towards the end of the 2015 season, the bullpen has been a disaster for quite some time.  No matter how good your starting pitchers are supposed to be, the reality of today’s game is 6 innings has become the maximum expectation.  You can’t continually give away 1/3 of the game.  The club just brought in a number of hard throwing if raw relief pitching prospects to go along with some of what has and has not worked in the past.  A guy who worked magic with pitchers in Cleveland seems particularly well suited for this challenge.

Then, of course, there’s the question of the starting pitchers.  Granted, you can’t control injuries (though conditioning, observation and coaching can all help keep starters ready to go every 5 days).  Some people feel that by the time a player reaches the majors he should already know what to do.  Whether we’re talking about hitters or pitchers, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

Take, for example, the case of Matt Harvey.  When he arrived on the scene he seemingly retired hitters effortlessly, struck out batters almost at will and exhibited terrific control.  Then came the injuries – the Tommy John Surgery, the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, etc.  It’s only human nature for a person to alter his natural motion to compensate for pain or weakness which, in turn, can result in poor results or further injury.  Too often the previous regime seemed to mishandle injuries and I can’t help but wonder how much was done to aid a pitcher in doing only what he was capable of doing and reinforcing the exercises needed to get him back on track.  If it turns out that a return to form is not possible, how much has been done to reinvent pitchers.  Granted, hard throwers get all the attention, but you can have a long and successful career based upon control, pitch selection and ball movement as well. 

When you look at the injuries that visited Noah Syndergaard, Steve Matz, Zack Wheeler, Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman and the aforementioned Harvey, you have to think a fresh approach is needed.  That brings me to perhaps the most surprising aspect of this hire.  Callaway has absolutely no ties to the NY Mets and has worked with one of the brightest minds in baseball in Terry Francona.  Perhaps that decision is Alderson’s acknowledgement to his bosses that the smartest guy in the room is never too old to learn something. 

Now that the managerial selection has been made, the next soap opera will involve the hiring of the coaching staff.  Early indications are that they will ask Kevin Long to stay, but you’d have to question whether or not that’s a good move considering the dynamic of the rejected managerial candidate potentially sabotaging the new guy.  That’s not an indictment of Kevin Long specifically, but just observation based upon many years of making hiring decisions. 

The one area I do expect to see a veteran presence brought into the fold is as bench coach.  Dick Scott was never considered for the managerial job so perhaps for continuity’s sake they will want to foist him off on Callaway.  However, there are any number of other veteran ex-managers around who could help Callaway through his apprenticeship.  Considering how poorly last season unfolded, a complete housecleaning might not necessarily be a bad thing.  When a manager gets to pick his own staff, they should be loyal to him and buy into his program.  Having others forced upon you makes that far less likely to happen and seems a case of damning with faint praise – “We trust you to run the ballclub, just not that much.”

Personally, I hope that Alderson and Callaway approach former colleague Sandy Alomar, Jr. to offer him the position of bench coach.  He’s also very highly regarded in baseball circles, and would probably view the role as a bump up from 1^st base coach which he currently holds with the Indians.  After serving briefly in that role for the Indians, they moved him aside for former Astros manager Brad Mills.  Furthermore, the Mets coaching staff has been decidedly Caucasian shepherding a multicultural ballclub.  Having a Hispanic coach in a high position might help with communication to some of the key ballplayers. 

So do you think there will be a great many contract renewals, or do you think they’ll go with a clean slate for 2017?