Mickey Callaway has been saying that he will play the players who are going to give the team to best chance to win, but right now Yoenis Cespedes doesn’t.
I will preface this by saying I love Mickey Callaway. I think he is managing with the right mindset and has been a crucial part of the Mets hot start to the season. He is seemingly pushing all the right button and is getting results from them. Most importantly, Callaway does not care who you are, you are being treated the same way as everybody else. He showed that this week by sending Matt Harvey to the bullpen.
To me, this raises questions about what he is doing with Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes has been downright awful this year. Surprisingly, he is the holder of a 40+% strikeout rate and a batting average below .200. For someone who was supposed to be the Mets best hitter this season, its a shocking performance. Now, we’ve shown the ability to forget about this because he is getting clutch hits. Whether its his two extra innings go-ahead base hits or capping off the Mets 9-run 8th inning against the Nationals with a grand slam, he has been good when needed.
Now, baseball fans have allowed his clutch success, and the Mets team success to result in little talking about his struggles. Right now, he has a higher strikeout rate than Giancarlo Stanton, who the media blew up about his struggles. It would be one thing if he was getting the ball in play but just hitting it to the wrong spot, but this has just been an inability to hit the baseball.
I wonder if Mickey Callaway is of the same mindset. As the manager, he shouldn’t be, but it is a possibility. When Callaway sent Harvey to the bullpen, he sent a message that your name doesn’t matter. He took Harvey’s struggles and put him somewhere that he can develop to come back stronger. Why doesn’t he do the same with Cespedes?
Cespedes has yet to have a day off, playing in all of the Mets 20 games. It is reported that Callaway was going to bench him multiple time during his 0-20 strech since he was sick, but Cespedes talked his way into the lineup. Even then, I don’t blame Callaway for wanting his most dangerous bat in the lineup. But Cespedes has remained batting second or third all year, and that at a minimum has changed.
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So, Mickey Callaway, I implore you: Get Cespedes a day off.