N.Y. Mets: What's New Is Fast Becoming Old Again

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

Good Cop - Bad Cop

New York Mets: Despite changes, things are beginning to look awfully familiar of late.

It is becoming crystal clear to me that Mickey Callaway was hired to play the role of good cop, and Dave Eiland is likewise here to play bad cop.

Through his first forty games on the job Mickey has indeed demonstrated himself to be the more nurturing of the two by promising great lengths would be taken towards ensuring the well being of each and every one of his players.  At his introductory presser Callaway said (paraphrasing) the team should look forward to being cared for in a manner unlike any they had ever experienced previously.

Conversely, pitching coach Dave Eiland has made it known the kids gloves are off , and tough love is order of the day.  He minced no words where it concerned Zack Wheeler's and Hansel Robles' respective assignments to Las Vegas shortly before Opening Day.  Most recently, he targeted  Noah Syndergaard with a volley of cutting and rather unsolicited criticisms, but has since back tracked if only somewhat.

The Matt Harvey drama-series played out similarly.  Outwardly, Mickey Callaway promised he'd never give up on the former Dark Knight.  Internally, however, Callaway and Eiland no doubt acted in tandem by not only demoting Matt Harvey to the bullpen, but also in carrying out Order 66 and effectively sealing his fate as a member of the New York Mets.

As I've maintained all along, I see this one way: hiring Callaway and Dave Eiland is a double-barreled last ditch effort on behalf of Sandy Alderson to win with this present group of starting pitchers.

The problem is he restocked the rotation with young arms, but that's where the rebuilding stopped and the organization's win-now mentality began.  Things have gone awry since then.

So here we are pondering our existence as Mets fans, again.

Because the rebuild never did develope a core clutch of position players, the Mets thus feature a poorly constructed lineup with no foreseeable improvements in sight.

Jeff Wilpon sets the boundaries within which Sandy Alderson must operate.  Said another way, the Mets general manager has been working with one arm tied behind his back since day one on the job.  This in turns makes Alderson seem ineffective at times.

However, Alderson's draft history is an entirely different matter.  There's no defending him there.

Otherwise, matters in Flushung are once again taking on a very similar look of late.