The stupid but often true cliché, “The more things change, the more things remain the same.”, carries some resonance this week. I fashion myself a strategist. It certainly involves messaging. So what occurred with Major League Baseball last week really bugged me. I lack the pertinent information to make an informed judgment but it remains clear that things went awry – again – for my baseball team. The excitement about the new manager -- #15 – evolved to anger about a failure to anticipate and respond to the investigation and results of the Astros sign stealing scandal. MLB only sanctioned a GM, a manager and a bench coach. But in naming one player – probably intentionally, it sought to force the hands of the Mets. And it did. Was that the only choice? Should MLB have given the Mets a heads up about its intention. After all, it granted players immunity during the investigation.

And here’s the other things that bothered me. A New York tabloid sportswriter texts with Carlos Beltran and the response and ensuing interplay reminded this commentator of Dick Young from another tabloid helping drive Tom Terrific out of town setting back my team for almost a dozen years. Beltran, upon receipt of the text, should not have responded; instead he needed to go to his GM and the braintrust. He did not. Stories piled on. Chatter on social and traditional media erupted.

It made untenable a situation that might’ve been saved.

My only hope is the Mets players will – as the Polar Bear tweeted – “have to do our job on the field and win the battle between the lines.” Pete Alonso added, “Great things are to come this year. The boys will be ready.” It may be the boys in Flushing will succeed no matter the manager. Perhaps opportunities for any manager to cost games will be minimized by their performance. Maybe they’ll transcend badly structured lineups and ludicrous pitching changes.

We’ll see.

I thought a real chance that the July 29 Mets – Yankee game I and many friends in my FDR Lodge and in Gotham will attend at Citifield as part of the subway series would presage the real Series that culminates each baseball season. This managerial mess up makes me a bit pessimistic but Polar Bear’s tweet......