How Hot is the Seat For Mickey Callaway in 2019?

Mickey Callaway is entering his second season as the New York Mets’ skipper, but there is certainly reason to believe that he is not exactly a lock to finish the 2019 season with the team.

Callaway, 43, got off to a hot start in April last year as the team went 12-2 through the first 14 games of the season and sat in first place for much of the month.

However, things quickly took a turn for the worst and hit a low point in the month of June when the team went 5-24 in that span.

For the season, the Mets went 77-85 and finished in fourth place in the NL East. The team was a seller at the MLB Trade Deadline, dealing away Jeurys Familia and Asdrubal Cabrera while they debated trading Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, and the eventual NL Cy Young winner, Jacob deGrom.

The Mets were much better in the second half of the season, though, as they went 38-30 in the second half with Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, and Noah Syndergaard leading the way while the team saw improvements from Steven Matz and Jason Vargas.

That second half success in addition to the Mets plethora of moves this offseason that led the team to acquire Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, Wilson Ramos, Jed Lowrie, Justin Wilson, and bringing back Jeurys Familia are reasons to believe that the 2019 Mets will contend. Those are also reasons Callaway could find himself replaced if the season doesn’t get off to the right start, though, as both give the organization hope and expectations for the 2019 season.

Neither of those two is the biggest factor, in my opinion, that Callaway could find himself on the hot seat quickly, though.

What could be the biggest issue standing in the way of Mickey Callaway finishing this season with the Mets is new GM Brodie Van Wagenen.

Van Wagenen was not the guy who hired Callaway in the first place, with Sandy Alderson being the GM who selected Callaway as the manager to replace Terry Collins.

With Van Wagenen having not been the one to give Callaway a job, he is likely much less loyal to the skipper and is probably exponentially more willing to make a change if his team is underperforming, given that firing Callaway would not be viewed as an admission failure on his part.

So, what type of record would constitute as underperforming and how long would a stretch of little success have to be to convince Van Wagenen that he needs a new manager at the helm?

Well, given the lofty expectations that Van Wagenen has set out for the team, I would venture to guess that any sub-.500 record at the All-Star Break would likely give him reason to consider firing Callaway as well as any month even close to last year’s June debacle.

To be quite honest, Van Wagenen seems to be very fast acting when it comes to making moves and seems very open to quick change. So, if Callaway fails to have a strong month of April and the team is at-or-below .500, the manager might find himself feeling the heat.