NY Mets: Cleaning up the clown show image is priority number one

You can’t claim the New York Mets aren’t entertaining.

Sunday, we learned the players are booing the fans. While that was all simmering, acting general manager Zack Scott got himself into some trouble with a DWI charge sometime early Tuesday morning. This didn’t go public until Wednesday afternoon.

These are just two events raining on what was once a promising direction for the club. The team’s poor performance on the field has been rough enough for fans to digest. Now there are distractions aplenty taking away from the scoreboard.

The number one priority of the Mets should be to clean up their clown show image this winter

Heads are going to roll this winter and it could start much quicker than after game 162. Scott essentially sealed his fate to go from acting general manager to unemployed. His job performance hasn’t been good enough for even the most forgiving owner to look away.

It doesn’t end with Scott. Sandy Alderson, his boss, is also worthy of getting the ax. This is the man that hired Scott and the general manager before him, Jared Porter. Porter had his own indiscretions revealed earlier this year that led to his firing.

The reunion with Alderson has been an embarrassing one. The Mets culture behind the scenes is revealing itself more and more. Even past events are coming to light and Alderson was around for many of those. Among them was the hiring of Mickey Callaway before the 2018 season. He, too, has lost his job in 2021 due to past behavior.

Steve Cohen can start the clean up by taking himself more seriously

How does this overhaul begin? Owner Steve Cohen, who has delighted and made us all cringe on Twitter, can start by putting himself in the background a little more. A big complaint about the Wilpons was how much they meddled in the ball club. Nobody outside of the organization can say for sure how much Cohen is actually involved. However, shooting out opinionated tweets isn’t helping the team stay away from LOLMets moments. I know he’s just having fun, but I think he does need to take things more seriously.

Cohen came to the Mets with a clear message: win at all costs. The team hasn’t exactly grabbed that mission statement by the horns or any other body part for that matter. The culture around the ball club has been one of outward positivity with zero accountability.

The Mets are a mess right now and probably were from the start of the year. Somehow, whether it was big hits from members of the bench mob or some elite-level starting pitching in the first half, they managed to sneakily get through July having us all fooled. Meanwhile, Francisco Lindor was building up resentment for the fans and their displeasure for his performance. All the while, manager Luis Rojas appeared clueless about how his players were feeling and what their celebration even meant.

Are the Mets still likable?

Sure. If you like the Mets, you probably haven’t turned on them fully. Even if you and your children got a thumbs down from the millionaire athletes last month, you’re probably still rooting for them to perform well and win a bunch of games.

Likability in sports is a strange thing because we only really tend to care about what team they play for. We all have to face moments of hypocrisy, sometimes cheering for someone whose morals don’t match our own. Each locker room is a potpourri of thoughts, opinions, and beliefs. It’s probably impossible to get through a single game without rooting for someone who you couldn’t disagree with more on a particular subject near and dear to your heart.

This Mets group might not be as fun-loving as they were when they were throwing up the churve sign or ripping off rookies’ jerseys after a walk-off fielder’s choice. There’s still plenty to like and enjoy, but that doesn’t take away from the simple fact that Cohen needs to rent a U-Haul ASAP and send plenty of people packing.

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Cleaning up the Mets on and off the field is first and foremost. It starts from the top. Clearly, year one of the post-Wilpon regime didn’t have the right pieces.