The 2019 Mets are more about the culture of Wilpon ownership and a roster forged by Brodie Van Wagenen — first as an agent, now as the general manager — than the managing of Mickey Callaway.
But the terms of engagement for this team have been understood for months. Neither the old owners nor the new GM were going anywhere. If the time came to try to defibrillate the clubhouse or change the narrative or provide a human shield for those most responsible, Callaway was being set up to be the fall guy this year after Sandy Alderson was last year, as Terry Collins was the year before, and so on and so on in the Mets’ relentless blame game.