Mets manager Mickey Callaway, a rookie manager at the helm of a team that has nose-dived while dealing with injuries to some of its most important players, has been enduring "sleepless nights."
"There's been sleepless nights,'" Callaway told Bob Nightengale of USA Today. "It's not that I'm worrying about myself, but when you see these guys working so hard, and when the results don't come, you can't help but think about that. You lay in bed at night and say, "OK, what am I going to say to this guy? What am I going to say to that guy? Do you leave him alone? Do you let him work through it?"
Callaway explained that he doesn't spend nights second-guessing his in-game moves, and that what the Mets have experienced this year is worse than what happened in 2017.
"I understand they didn't have the greatest go of it last year, but they didn't have a stretch like this," Callaway said. "But you learn from challenges like these. Our team will get to know each other a lot sooner than we would have otherwise. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's the way I feel about it."
Danny Abriano, SNY.tv | Twitter |
It's understandable that Callaway had sleepless nights as the Mets' stretch of almost impossible to believe offensive ineptitude rolled on.
There have also been major injuries Callaway has had to navigate through. Yoenis Cespedes has been out since May 13, and Noah Syndergaard hasn't pitched since May 25. Todd Frazier has also missed lots of time, and the team was without both of its starting catchers for a significant portion of the season. Meanwhile, Jay Bruce has been playing hurt and something will have to give with him soon.
The above is a ton for any manager -- let alone a rookie one adjusting to a new league -- to deal with.