Morning Briefing: Mickey Callaway's Clubhouse

(KATHY WILLENS/AP)

Tonight is the calm before the storm. It is the eve of the World Series between Los Angeles and Houston. Clayton Kershaw will face Dallas Keuchel in Chavez Ravine tomorrow night.

Latest Mets News

The big news story of the day is the Mets hiring of Mickey Callaway to mind the store in 2018. Joel Sherman of the New York Post and Marc Carig of Newsday had the news surrounding the Mets new skipper.

Callaway served as the Indians pitching coach from 2013-17 and is well regarded by the Tribe’s current manager, Terry Francona. Jordan Bastin covers the Indians for MLB.com and had some very powerful quotes from the future Hall-of-Famer, Francona.

“I would be surprised if that doesn’t lead to him managing if he wants to at some point, because he’s really good.” Francona said.

He also raved about Callaway’s confidence and ability to learn. The former Indians pitching coach was reportedly instrumental in getting Francona to move Carlos Carrasco back into the rotation and Carrasco’s career has taken off from there.

“He kind of has an overall view on how to use a scouting report and use the information that he was given to kind of tailor-make it for each guy on the staff, especially the starting rotation,” Josh Tomlin told Bastin.

Obviously Callaway is not a magic healer but maybe a new voice is just what Steven Matz, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler need.

Under Callaway, the Indians led baseball in strikeouts and fewest pitches-per-inning. Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez credit the 42-year-old for rejuvenating their careers and pitchers like Carrasco and Corey Kluber went from back-end starters to All-Stars.

In other coaching news, according to Marc Carig, the Mets hope Kevin Long stays with the team despite being spurned for the manager’s gig.

As for pitching coach, I previously did a rundown on potential candidates and mentioned Jason Bere as an option for the job if Callaway got the position. Bere is the Indians current bullpen coach.

Best of Luck to Callaway on his new gig, I apologize in advance for asking you to be fired for not letting Michael Conforto hit against a lefty late in the game.

Latest NL East News

Now that the Mets don’t need a manager anymore, let’s take a look at the Nationals. Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes about the Nationals next man to be at the helm.

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes about Lance McCullers getting inspiration from Jose Fernandez.

The Braves outrighted Ian Krol and Armando Rivero from their roster. Krol was effective as recent as 2016 and is a lefty who averaged a tad under 94 mph on his fastball. Maybe the Mets should look at buying low on him.

Giancarlo Stanton has made it clear he will not approve a trade to the Phillies according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.