Mets fire Mickey Callaway

In a move that had been seen as a possibility for a while but wasn’t a sure thing to happen, the Mets have fired manager Mickey Callaway after two seasons:

Callaway endured plenty of criticism over his time in New York, as any Mets manager would. With that said, the 44-year-old former pitching coach didn’t exactly do a lot to avoid criticism, seemingly making off-the-field mistakes at every possible opportunity and failing to deliver great on-the-field results despite a talented roster.

As many blunders as Callaway made during his time in New York — and as easy as he should be to replace considering that the Mets play in one of baseball’s biggest media markets and have such a talented core — the fact remains that he’s coming off a very good second half. Callaway’s Mets went 46-26 after the All-Star break, propelling them to their first winning season (86-76) since 2016. Unfortunately for Callaway, a poor debut season (77-85), a rough first half, and the unnecessary headlines he created by threatening to fight reporters and angering one of his rotation anchors were enough to earn him a third year on the job.

Whoever succeeds Callaway will inherit one of the National League’s best all-around hitters in Jeff McNeil, major-league home run leader Pete Alonso, one of the majors’ best young outfielders in Michael Conforto, and a trio of rotation anchors — Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and Marcus Stroman.