In addition to firing Mickey Callaway, the Mets will not retain bench coach Jim Riggleman, The Post’s Mike Puma reported.
Riggleman joined the Mets for the 2019 season, replacing Gary DiSarcina as Callaway’s right-hand man. Riggleman, 66, had been a manager for five major league teams, most recently as interim manager of the Reds in 2018, and was supposed to aid Callaway with in-game strategy.
Brodie Van Wagenen danced around the reasoning behind the Mets firing Callaway on Thursday.
“He helped us start this progression,” Van Wagenen said on a conference call from Florida, where he and Jeff Wilpon met Callaway. “Our goals right now are to accelerate our progress. We don’t want to take our foot off the pedal here.”
Wilpon was asked if Callaway cursing out a Newsday reporter in Chicago played a role in Callaway’s firing.
“From ownership’s perspective, those things always play in, but that was earlier in the year and that didn’t play into my overall decision,” Wilpon said.
Van Wagenen said the club is looking for strong leadership in its next manager.
“We have spent a good amount of time identifying an expansive list of potential candidates, and we’ll start to do detailed diligence on these people,” Van Wagenen said.
Van Wagenen said the Mets haven’t thought about the financial impact of the team’s decision to fire Callaway and whom they might hire.
“In making this decision about Mickey, I never asked the question to Jeff about price,” the GM said. “I didn’t make recommendations based on what was owed to Mickey or expectations for the new manager.”