Mickey Callaway Keeps Screwing Over the Mets and Something Needs to Be Done in the Offseason

The New York Mets were one swing away in the ninth inning that would make this a bit of a moot point, but manager Mickey Callaway's decision to remove starter Steven Matz after six innings of domination was insane.

The left-hander was at 79 pitches, had retired 14 straight batters, and had batted in the top half of the inning!

Were we out here calling out Callaway when the Mets won 15 of 16 games to climb back into the wild card race? No, because he did what he did best -- not overmanage and get involved when he doesn't need to. The Mets were scoring runs, the rotation was going deep into games, and the bullpen had proper rest (on top of the fact he actually managed it adequately.

Yes, reliever Seth Lugo, who'd been great for several weeks now, would give any manager comfort in a close game late. But you know what else works? Letting your starter, who was in complete command, give you at least ONE more inning.

Also, at this point, Lugo is pretty much the closer! Why are you bringing him in to start the seventh?!

What makes Callaway look even worse was his explanation after the game, saying he would've made that decision 100 times out of 100.

The strength of this team and what has led to the Mets winning 16 of their last 21 games is their starting rotation. Ride it. The bullpen has been a mess this year, so if you can have your starter, who was breezing through this game, go seven or eight innings, you let it happen.

We live in a world where big league managers are overthinking in-game decisions, especially bullpen strategies. But this? This is the opposite of what a manager should do.

It's too late to make a managerial change at this point in the season, but if Callaway keeps blowing games like this one, the 2020 Mets team will have a new look to it.