NEW YORK -- The New York Mets could have waited, and gone into next year with Mickey Callaway one bad game decision away from being fired, but why wait?

They knew last season he wasn’t right for the job, and twice was almost fired, but even after finishing with a winning record, didn’t believe he was capable of leading them to the promised land.

So they are paying Callaway $1.050 million to go away, the first Mets manager in history to be fired with a winning record, 86-76, after a full season. The Mets believe they are ready to win now and no longer had the patience to tolerate Callaway’s mistakes.

“This isn’t easy,’’ said Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, who flew to Florida with COO Jeff Wilpon to inform Callaway of their decision. “Conversations like this are difficult, especially when people are putting their hearts and souls into their work.’’

They now will turn to a veteran manager, preferably one who has led teams into the playoffs. Experience is not an option, but absolutely necessary to become the next Mets manager. They already have formed an “expansive list’’ of candidates, Van Wagenen says, and many names are familiar.

They’ll be calling former Yankees manager Joe Girardi. Joe Maddon, too. And Buck Showalter. And John Farrell. And Mike Matheny. And perhaps Dusty Baker, Fredi Gonzalez, John Gibbons, Ron Washington and Ozzie Guillen, too.

Really, all of these veteran and unemployed managers but Maddon would jump at the prospect of going to the Mets. Maddon, 65, is a long shot simply because he views the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres managerial openings as more desirable, while also wanting to earn close to his final $6 million salary with the Chicago Cubs.

This is a job that will require someone who can immediately lead the Mets to the postseason, deal with the New York media and all of the meddling that may come from the front office and Wilpon family. And yet it’s a prime job.

He'll inherit a team loaded with All-Star caliber players. He'll have Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom atop the rotation, along with Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman. He'll have the franchise home-run king in Pete Alonso. And he'll have a GM who plans to be aggressive again this winter to fix the bullpen.

There are six other managerial openings in baseball: The San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cubs, Padres and Angels. Yet none are quite like New York.

You win in New York and you’ll forever be a folk hero in these parts, under the biggest and brightest lights in the country. This is a franchise that last won the World Series in 1986, has been to the postseason only six times since, missing the playoffs the last three years.

The Mets will never be mistaken for the Yankees, but suddenly, losing is no longer accepted in Queens. They will steal the Yankees’ mantra: World Series or bust. And, simply, they weren’t going to the World Series with Callaway.

He wasn’t the leader they desired. He wasn’t the strategist they envisioned. He wasn’t the manager they believed in. They had no choice but to fire him. It was different in the past, when the Mets would have stayed patient and waited for Callaway to develop into a good manager. If nothing else, saving themselves $1 million before they started a managerial search next winter.

But times have changed. Their vision is clear:

The future is now.

Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter @Bnightengale