The New York Mets were left for dead after they went 5-21 in the month of June, leaving the team with a record of 32-48. The team’s poor play over the previous two and a half months, combined with the frustration over how the Mets squandered an 11-1 start to the season, led to a lot of heat around first year manager Mickey Callaway. Callaway found himself on the hot seat due to some questionable decision making and strange statements to the media, but the Mets made it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere. The first year skipper has backed up the Mets’ faith, guiding the Mets to a 40-34 record entering play today.
Callaway, along with pitching coach Dave Eiland, should get a lot of credit for the impressive work they have done with the Mets’ starting rotation. Jacob deGrom has hogged the headlines with a Cy Young worthy performance, but Zack Wheeler has had a breakthrough season that made the Mets look very good for not selling high on him at the trade deadline. Noah Syndergaard has been up and down, but his overall numbers (12-4, 3.36 ERA) are still very good. Steven Matz has managed to stay healthy for the first time, setting career highs in starts (28) and innings pitched (145) while looking better than he did in a disastrous 2017 campaign. Even the much maligned Jason Vargas has showed improvement as the year goes on, going 4-3 with a 4.37 ERA in the second half, a performance that is perfectly acceptable for a fifth starter.
Another area where Callaway has demonstrated improvement is his commitment to getting the team’s younger players at bats. For most of the second half, the Mets have deployed Amed Rosario as their leadoff man, giving him a chance to get more time at the top of the order in a role where he could thrive. Jeff McNeil has hit behind Rosario for most of the past two months, rewarding the Mets’ faith in him by hitting .328 with three homers and 18 RBI’s in 195 at bats. The Mets have also seen a resurgent second half from Michael Conforto (.270/16/47) while Brandon Nimmo has been a solid contributor. Even Dominic Smith, who the Mets hinted earlier this year had lost the first base job to Jay Bruce and Wilmer Flores, has received 45 at bats since being called up in September. Smith has showed a bit of life in those at bats, picking up 11 hits with three doubles and two homers mixed in, which isn’t surprising since he was the team’s top first base prospect just a year ago.
This evaluation is going to be very helpful for the Mets in the future as they have gotten some solid answers heading into next season. The Mets can now feel comfortable that Conforto is going to be a part of the solution and that Rosario’s second half development is a sign of a potential breakout. McNeil has shown that he at least deserves to start the year at second base in 2019, especially when the Mets have T.J. Rivera around to serve as a caddy if necessary. The Mets weren’t doing this too much early in the season, when Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista, and Flores regularly drew starts ahead of young players but it is better late than never.
Another important thing about Callaway is that he never freaked out in the midst of the team’s struggles, maintaining a calm and composed atmosphere in the Mets’ clubhouse. That helped put the players at ease, allowing them to perform and try to simply do their jobs to the best of their abilities. That sense of calm is vital in the New York market, where fans will be all over talk radio and social media over the slightest setback or mistake made on the field.
All of this should earn Callaway a second year in New York, but there is still the unknown factor of who the next general manager will be. The Mets have said that Callaway is coming back, but that could change if they find a GM candidate who knocks their socks off and wants to bring in his own manager. If that candidate is deemed as more important to the Mets’ future than Callaway, he could end up out of a job. Barring that scenario, Callaway should make it to year two in Flushing, and Mets’ fans should have hope that the team’s second half improvement is a sign of a rookie manager figuring things out over the course of a long season.
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