Luis Rojas Deserves Another Chance Under New Regime

“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken crap…”

Well, that’s the opinion of a high ranking NL insider when asked if Luis Rojas deserves another year to manage the Mets with Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson expected to make decisions for 2021.  

“Manager can only work with what he is given,” said the insider when asked his opinion. “A GM is the most important person to find. Sure the manager can screw up at times in game situations but the majority of wins and losses is on the players.”

And it was the players that failed. Luis Rojas was not on the field for a team that was expected to be playing more baseball this week. 

You can, perhaps, point the blame to the GM Brodie Van Wagenen. A losing season that did not go to expectations there are always fingers pointed at who was responsible. Brodie failed to deliver on his edict that teams had to chase the Mets.

Heck, perhaps, Mickey Calllaway deserved another year. Carlos Beltran, scandal and all, perhaps, he deserved a shot at the job.

Didn’t matter. The team that Luis Rojas inherited was good. But not enough to take it to the finish line and Rojas pulled all the strings he had to work with. 

And factor in the 60 game season, Luis Rojas deserves to return as manager and under a new regime with a normal 162 game schedule. Despite the flaws, expected from every rookie manager, the Mets were not good enough to qualify for the postseason. 

They had their opportunity to be there in this expanded field of teams that begin their run to October.  But don’t blame Luis Rojas for the last place finish. Don’t point a finger at the manager for not playing on again. 

He is not the culprit for the Mets failing to make the playoffs a fourth straight year. Luis Rojas deserves another year after a rookie role that ran out of time. 

“We didn’t get it done,” Rojas said. “We needed to do it, and we didn’t do it. It was definitely all on us.”

Put in the books as Howie Rose says. The Pete Alonso bat and home run that came too late, and a lineup that was not consistent. The Mets could not sustain momentum and a winning streak that could have pulled them in front. It was a team that had flaws with a starting rotation, a bullpen that failed. 

A team that failed to get runners in from scoring position that led the league in hitting. That’s difficult to understand and leaves the baseball experts asking questions. Was it the manager?

Here’s the answer. Luis Rojas was not on the field. He did not make the costly error. Rest assured, and with analytics in control, Rojas did not construct the daily lineup.

The bottom line, though, is execution, The players, as the insider said, win or lose the games. Those players when contacted by MMO were asked, does the manager deserve another year and working under what is assumed will be a new GM?

And it’s no different from last September or the one before. Mickey Callaway had the support of his players. They have the support for Luis Rojas. 

“We failed to execute,” one said. Another said, “He knows us better than anyone,” citing Rojas and the long term ties with Mets home grown players as a system manager and quality control coach.

However, the players have no say in the matter. You, the fans, have no say in who sits in that manager’s chair next year. Point is, Luis Rojas returned to New York Monday and awaits what is next.

He awaits the transition of new ownership. If indeed, Sandy Alderson, runs the baseball operations and appoints a new GM, does Luis Rojas remain in that chair? Three managers over the last four years shows no stability with the Mets, though Beltran never got his chance.  

That same insider said, Alderson, if indeed is in control should retain Rojas.  “Rojas knows this young team better than anyone else in the organization.  Sandy knows how this all works and will find a GM who is a baseball man who will retain him.”

But first Steve Cohen has to get the expected approval from 23 other owners. After that, the busy and most interesting Mets offseason will begin with all the decision making and restructuring a roster. 

First the GM, Then, look at retaining Luis Rojas as the manager. The Mets were supposed to contend and be one of those postseason teams out of the National League in 2020.

Luis Rojas deserves another opportunity with 162 games. And my friends that decision that has to be made soon to help guide this franchise to the postseason next year.