Following the firing of manager Mickey Callaway on Thursday per a team announcement, Brodie Van Wagenen and Jeff Wilpon addressed the move and expressed their goals for the future in a press conference.
“As we look at what the next steps are, we have spent a good amount of time identifying an expansive list” of potential managerial candidates, Van Wagenen said.
Among those rumored to replace Callaway have been veteran managers such as Joe Girardi and Joe Maddon, as well as coaches with little to no managerial experience such as Luis Rojas and Joe Espada.
The expansive list has not been shared publicly, although Van Wagenen did note that they will be considering managers with experience at the major league and minor league level, as well as “outside the box” ideas.
In regards to the rest of the coaching stuff, none of whom are under contract for next season, Van Wagenen added that the organization is still evaluating them and that a final decision on their status has yet to be determined.
Van Wagenen also said that he didn’t have to consult Wilpon on firing Callaway with money left on his contract for one more year. He stated that the team hasn’t discussed financial investment in the next manager, and that currently, the goal is just to find the right person.
“Having one year left on [Callaway’s] contract was going to be troublesome,” added Wilpon, noting that Callaway would have had to have been extended if they had retained him.
Wilpon also shared his thoughts on the 2019 season, expressing that “I feel unfulfilled […] We didn’t fulfill what we really have as a goal, which is to get to the postseason.”
“We have high expectations […] This year, we had a winning season. As we reflect from an organization standpoint, progress is good. But falling three games short of the second Wild Card and finishing third in our division is not our goal,” Van Wagenen assessed.
He continued, “We aren’t going to measure ourselves by half-seasons of success.”
Van Wagenen said the decision wasn’t easy, and it took multiple meetings to arrive at the decision. He credits Callaway for helping the Mets “start this progression.”
Wilpon also added that Callaway’s blowup with a reporter in June did not play into the overall decision, and that that was dealt with separately earlier in the season.
