As often the case I have mixed feelings about the departure of a Mets manager. I think Mickey Callaway tried his best, but he wasn’t served well by his lack of experience, the departure of what few champions he had in the front office, and a tendency to look unprepared, say dumb things and give back advantages, but I wondered if by the end of this last fun and furious run — the SHaMs went from 10-under to 10-over .500, that’s a 90-some win clip over the course of a long year — if he wasn’t finally getting the hang of it. Perhaps Mickey might now go off to some place like Pittsburgh or Kansas City and use the hard lessons he absorbed Queens to become something more than an average manager.

Jim Riggelman, hired as bench coach just in case Mickey sent up a better not properly listed on his lineup card, was naturally let go as well, freeing up the No. 50 I hardly remember even seeing this year.

This will give us all plenty to speculate about in coming days and weeks but my early sense is that the Mets, as usual, will abruptly overcorrect and hire an experienced guy, making sure they make a show of what they learned the last time they signed a rookie skipper.

Who do you like? I think there’s some bad stuff hanging around Buck Showalter, but hasn’t the guy demonstrated he can win? Joe Girardi won’t screw up at Mickey’s pace but will he infect this seemingly fun-loving group with his sense of dread? And is there something to this buzz around Luis Rojas and his magnificent control of quality? Stay tuned.