Earlier today, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon held a sit-down with GM Brodie Van Wagenen and manager Mickey Callaway, according to a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The ninety-minute session was conceived of in hopes of preventing a second-straight early-season collapse.
Things are off to a promising start tonight, as the club is pouring it on early against the Marlins. That’s likely happenstance, though it’s always nice to see a response after such a moment. The Mets entered play today at 17-20, a particularly disappointing mark considering the club’s 9-4 open to the year.
It’s not entirely clear what was actually discussed in the meeting. Sherman says that Wilpon delivered the message that “the current play is unacceptable and that the need [sic] finding remedies is critical.” Callaway was reportedly encouraged “to apply whatever means he thought workable to improve the results,” though it’s not really evident whether any specific concepts will be put into action.
Notably, Sherman writes that Wilpon never threatened Callaway’s job or set any strict performance demands. The organization would obviously rather not drop Callaway in the middle of his second season at the helm of the dugout. And with good reason: it’s hard to lay too much blame upon him for the fact that the team has limped to a -27 run differential that lags all but six other MLB teams. (Today’s onslaught seems likely to tip that back in a more favorable direction.) Though Callaway is safe for the moment, the meeting does seem to serve as notice that ownership is anxious to see things pointed back in the right direction.
DarkSide830
how about let em spend on Kimbrel or Keuchel. what else are they gonna change?
Slipknot37
All it took is one injury to the rotation
Strike Four
Gotta be about Kimbrel, Keuchel and trades.
txman22
Keuchel vs Vargas as 4th or 5th starter. No brainer, except the $$$
BartoloHRball
“…except the money” is ALWAYS the issue with the Mets. They took on Cano’s deal to stay payroll neutral for this year, only to kick the can down the road for the following 4 years. They are a small market club with some of the worst owners in sports. Despite being in the largest media market, the Mets only spend on scratch and dent players (e.g. Cano, Lowrie) that other teams are wary of taking on. They love over the hill veteran guys like Bautista, but god forbid they spend money on young controllable talent.
jawinks
Maybe if they used talented people like J.D. Davis instead of marching Todd Frazier out there every night to hit .167 they wouldn’t have these issues
bosoxforlife
Just wait until Lowrie returns and Callaway is told to play him instead of McNeil.
Bocephus
You’re way, way overvaluing J.D. Davis, because he’d be quickly exposed if they played him full time.
BrandonGregory74
I think JD is pretty good with regular at bats
Bocephus
What are you basing this on?
jdgoat
Gotta give him a chance anyways. He’s always been high upside and they won’t know what they’ve got until they try it.
padam
His strat-o-matic league.
njbirdsfan
Thank you!
If McNeil isn’t the perfect give a guy a chance story I don’t know what is. It would be silly to assume that everybody takes off like McNeil but Davis can’t be much worse than Frazier whose bat is so slow he overcompensates but lunging for balls in the other batter’s box and the entire league has figured it out.
BartoloHRball
His defense has been suspect. He has made some above avg plays, but he has also made numerous throwing errors because he double clutches nearly every throw. I really like JD Davis, but he is likely a 2-3 time per week player and not a solid enough two-way player to be a staple in the lineup. I wish his glove was a bit more consistent because I’m tired of seeing Todd Frazier and his <.220 approaching a pitcher's batting average in the lineup with any frequency.
txman22
Frazier increases his trade value, which is low, the less he plays & doesn’t expose himself. His little league prowess has long passed.
imgman09
Their Talking about putting Earrings on the Pig!
bobtillman
Now every owner will hold a sit-down with the GM and manager, and expect his team to go out and score 11 runs……
Ninth 3 Year Plan
Will every owner’s team be playing the marlins the next game?
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
No, most of them have to play a major league team.
bravesiowafan
Every owners except liberty media as they like screwing fans
chippahawk
Braves ownership has EASILY given away the division thus far by not signing 2 relief arms and a closer. Let alone not trading for an ace although it’s working itself out, but can never have enough. Just like I and others argued all offseason, filthy folty is not an ace, he’s way to inconsistent start to start and is a 3 at best. Need to put him in at closer with newk setting him up and sign kuechel to take his place in the rotation.
Maybe the Braves should take a page out of the Mets book and have these meetings or at least let the fan base know you care about winning. AA is wayyy too hush hush about every little thing to do with this team and needs a major learning lesson from schuerholz.
carlos15
By that logic every team in the division has given the division away by not signing 4 more good players.
petrie000
They should just go out and get basically an entire bullpen, apparently that’s the easiest thing in the world to just buy
chippahawk
Pretty sure the Phillies, Mets and nationals did sign 4 or more good players each… “Rolls eyes”
The Braves put all their eggs into the Josh donaldson basket which should cost AA his job. They had camargo and Riley and did nothing to the bullpen or rotation which is absolutely horrible franchise/money management. It’s definitely rearing it’s head and I believe they’ve lost around 15 games of which they had the lead so far…
purplesteve6
Agreed. While Mets ownership is voicing frustration about their season, Braves management (and many fans) keep making excuses. So many people saw this coming.
chippahawk
google “Mets new players”
“nationals new players”
“Phillies new players”
“Braves new players”
And scroll through the pictures at the top… 3 of these teams have very rightful reasons to be be very disappointed that one of their teams isn’t running away with this division. The Braves can only point at themselves and realize the huge opportunity that was missed this offseason. It’s still early but they could and should be leaving the division in the dust!
frank_costanza
Can’t say I understand why the expectations were so high for the Mets to begin with. Edwin Diaz was a great pickup, but other than that their bullpen isn’t very good. Their rotation would be one of the more formidable ones in the game but we’ve been given no reason to believe they can make it through a year consistent and healthy. And then your offensive upgrades were 35-year-old Jed Lowrie and 37-year-old Robinson Cano? I like the Ramos pick up but he too has had problems staying on the field. The NL is stacked and I don’t think that roster really separates them from the pack.
rct 2
Cano is 36.
thecoffinnail
Since they will be cutting Bobby Bonilla another check pretty soon they should ask him to go ahead and suit up. I am sure he will out hit Frazier if given the chance.
jorge78
The magic of compound interest…..
spinach
I believe they gave out the second largest reliever contract this past offseason, one which was known for having a strong reliever market.
BartoloHRball
The Mets needed *everything* to go right to compete for the division and/or wild card. As usual, things happen and the Mets struggle because they have ZERO pitching depth. In prior years they had zero batting depth and an overused BP. Same old Mets trying to get by pretending to be a big market team and needing everything to go right for them to have a shot.
Since 1998, the Mets have 10 losing seasons out of 20. They have been to the playoffs 5 times in the past 20 years. They spent $ pre-Madoff, but since all of that imploded…they have had to borrow money from MLB baseball to meet payroll and had to run an accounting shell game to keep the team afloat.
It should come as no surprise that they have held onto every last $ of insurance money from multiple failed contracts. Bad luck (Wright), but mostly horrible decision-making when it comes to FA contracts….Ces, Cuddyer (lose 1st rd pick for 1 yr of horrible play), Jason Bay, tendering Travis a contract this year, giving Vargas 2 yr, etc.
Rickeo02
Too funny
metnoxious
Yeah that’s it. It was all about Jeff Wilpon challenging the team.
bigwestbaseball
JD Davis should play full time. If not I hope the manager gets fired. It’s ridiculous!!
SonnySteele
Given the performance of Jeff “the squirrel” McNeil this season, I wonder if the trade for Cano is regretted to some extent. One wonders how much the desire to make a splash played in BVW’s off-season acquisition decisions.
carlos15
Callaway is terrible and benching Davis for Frazier is a good example of it. The team doesn’t seem prepared and the same errors happen night in and night out. Rosario can’t field and the bullpen can’t throw strikes. Never changes. Since the 9-4 start they’re 8-16. If that type of play lasts into June he has to go.