The Mets suffered their fifth consecutive loss, dropping Sunday afternoon’s series finale 3-0 to the Marlins. They lost 2-0 on Saturday and 8-6 on Friday, giving the lowly Marlins their first series sweep since September 18-20, 2017. Manager Mickey Callaway’s seat was already hot, as they say, entering the series but it is now engulfed in flames.
After Sunday’s loss, the Mets are now 20-25, just a game ahead of the floundering fourth-place Nationals. They haven’t scored since the eighth inning of Friday night’s loss and are overall 4-10 since May 3. While Callaway hasn’t been great, the Mets’ woes have as much to do with key players underperforming. Second baseman Robinson Canó entered Sunday’s action with a .679 OPS. Catcher Wilson Ramos, another offseason acquisition, had a .626 OPS. Steven Matz, with a 3.96 ERA, has been the best of what was supposed to be a dominant starting rotation. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom has a 3.98 ERA and Noah Syndergaard is at 4.74. Reliever Jeurys Familia has walked 13 batters and allowed 10 earned runs to score in 16 1/3 innings. Managers, however, are usually the first to go when a team fails to live up to expectations.
It is unclear who the Mets would ask to manage the team in the interim if the club were to fire Callaway, but bench coach Jim Riggleman seems like an obvious option. Riggleman managed the Reds in the interim after the club let go of Bryan Price in April last year. Riggleman has managed across parts of 13 seasons with the Padres, Cubs, Mariners, and Nationals as well as the Reds, owning an overall 726-904 (.445) record.