NY Mets: A complicated fan relationship with Luis Rojas

It’s complicated. It’s complicated in the way that tying my shoes in third grade was. The way to explain the difference between “effect” and “affect” without getting a headache. The emotions of everyone I encounter! Like those, the relationship New York Mets fans have with Luis Rojas isn’t so easy.

Rojas has dropped out of favor with a good portion of Mets fans. The team’s lack of success is the main driving force behind this. It also doesn’t help that his decisions with the bullpen and pinch hitters seem to come into question daily.

Despite a lack of love for the Mets skipper for what he does in the game, many fans will agree, Rojas comes across as a pretty great person.

Luis Rojas had his best Mets moment of all and it had nothing to do with his managing

How do you lead a collapsing team into the twilight of a disappointing season and still have the support of Mets fans? You do it by showing your humanity.

Rojas did this by supporting the minor league players and their quiet protest for fair wages. An ongoing issue in baseball, it’s one we haven’t heard too many big figures in the game come out and speak about much. It’s one of those dirty little secrets everyone seems afraid to acknowledge. In the last two years, low minor league wages and the living conditions they go through have come to light much more.

Rojas, speaking out in support of them, is huge.

For all of his managerial faults, Rojas seems like a good guy. He is relatively soft-spoken, polite, and positive. It takes a lot for him to get fired up. Only umpires seem to know how to turn him into the Incredible Hulk.

All of this support for Rojas as a human being doesn’t do much to change people’s minds on his future with the Mets. Maybe not the right fit to manage them going forward, it makes for a complicated relationship.

I’m not one to ever call for someone’s firing in the sports world. I have an especially tough time with Rojas because I like him as a person—based on what I have seen. He gives an effort. He doesn’t ruffle feathers. He says what he thinks is the right thing. Ignorant at times to what’s happening around him, I know in my heart he’s not much more than a babysitter.

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One way or another, Rojas is going to have a long career in the game. Mets manager in 2022 might not be next on his list. A seemingly swell guy who doesn’t make enemies, he knows how to fit in and get on people’s good side. Sometimes, this is all a person needs to get a second, third, and maybe even fourth chance.