On January 23rd, the New York Mets tabbed a bit of an unknown figure in Luis Rojas to be their next manager. The hire was a surprise to many. Even more surprising, was the fact that the New York Mets were even in this position. The team parted ways with newly hired Carlos Beltran, central in the Astros sign stealing scandal in 2017, before he even managed a game. The situation was obviously tough for the organization, but the team decided to think outside the box and turn to an approach that may be more commonly seen in years to come. Though not formally announced, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen will be making managerial decisions and calling the shots for the 2020 season.
Luis Rojas has a fine baseball resume. He is the son of former manager Felipe Alou and managed 8 minor league seasons beginning in the early 2000s. The only slight one may have with his baseball background is his lack of overall MLB experience. He has only one year under his belt on previous manager Mickey Callaway’s staff last year. He is respected by the players and will be familiar face in the locker room. This positioned the brain trust to move forth with what will be Luis Rojas as a figurehead following directions from Van Wagenen and the front office in regard to in-game tactical decisions. This is no slight to Rojas. With the way the game is developing into the realm of data and analytics it is becoming more apparent that the front-office wizards play a more central role in game managing than ever before. The team from Queens decided to completely blur the line between front-office and manager. This should come as no surprise following reports last year that Van Wagenen and Callaway were in the midst of power struggle all season. This season, the front office and manager will work in unison to make in-game decisions. The strategy could become a common theme around the league during the managerial hiring process, especially when the manager pool may be a bit lackluster.
Team functionality and the success of this experiment will go a long way in determining whether the strategy will be effective to deploy. Due to the sign-stealing scandal, the Red Sox were forced into filling an unexpected vacancy and some thought they may make a move along the same lines as the Mets. They ended up hiring former manager and current bench coach Ron Roenicke to take the reins in what will be an interesting 2020 season for the Bosox. This is more of a traditional hire considering the circumstances. Roenicke has managed successfully in the big leagues before, played and by any definition of the word is a baseball lifer. His presence will not allow for the lines between the front office and manager to be blurred like the team mentioned above. Nonetheless, the revolution of advanced statistics and analytics will continue to shift power to the computer geeks. In-game decisions are treated with more scrutiny than ever before making the analytics guy that much more important.
The Mets are an experiment in just how far analytics can take a team for 162 games. This year will be fascinating for a team that is imbalanced but, talented. They have one of the most formidable pitching staffs in baseball and a good mix of veterans and young stars to fill out their lineup. The talent is there to be competitive. Pressure is on, Brodie.