Mickey Callaway, Amed Rosario at odds over reason for benching

New York Mets shortstop Amed Rosario did not start Sunday, but the player and his manager can’t seem to agree on the reasoning.

Rosario failed to run out a dropped pop up in Saturday’s game and was not in the lineup for Sunday’s game. Some speculated his absence was a punishment. Mets manager Mickey Callaway told the media before the game that Rosario was simply scheduled to have the day off. The team’s radio and TV broadcasts referred to it as disciplinary on the air.

SNY broadcast just said that Rosario has been benched today for not running out that ball last night.

1. Mickey did not say that to print media during his session ("Scheduled off day.")

2. This is different than how Mickey handled Cano.

— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) July 14, 2019

Even after the team’s 6-2 win over the Miami Marlins, the discrepancy continued. Callaway said the Mets had spoken to Rosario about his lack of hustle, but refused to call the benching disciplinary. Rosario, on the other hand, said he’d been told that it was a result of not running out the fly ball.

Was Rosario's benching today a punishment for not running last night?

Callaway: "I wouldn’t call it disciplinary. It was a night game/day game. There’s opportunity there for another play to get in there."

Rosario: "It was the consequences of me not running out that fly ball."

— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) July 14, 2019

It’s another chapter in Callaway’s baffling handling of in-house issues. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to tell Rosario one thing and the public another, and Mets fans probably would understand the reasoning behind the benching if it were disciplinary.

The wrinkle may be Callaway’s handling of veteran infielder Robinson Cano. Cano failed to run out ground balls twice in three games in May, and instead of pulling him, Callaway publicly defended the second baseman. Perhaps Callaway wanted to make a point to the younger Rosario while not having to publicly answer for a perceived double standard in his handling of hustle plays, but that strategy was never going to work.