How The Mets Landed On Eric Chávez To Help Fix Their Biggest Weakness
In this story:
As general manager Billy Eppler and manager Buck Showalter set out to select their coaching staff for the 2022 season, they remained on the same page throughout the process.
The Mets officially finalized Showalter's staff on Friday, Jan. 21 and there was one goal in mind when choosing candidates to fill these vacancies - a diversified skillset.
That's what led Eppler and Showalter to choose the following six coaches: Glenn Sherlock (bench coach), Wayne Kirby (first base/outfield), Joey Cora (third base/infield), Eric Chávez (hitting coach), Jeremy Barnes (assistant hitting coach) and Craig Bjornson (bullpen coach) to join pitching coach Jeremy Hefner on the staff.
While hitting was a major area of weakness a season ago, the Mets surprisingly opted to roll with a hire that does not hold any coaching experience in this area in Chávez. And according to Eppler, who has longstanding ties with Chávez, this decision was boiled down to their new hitting coach's ability to devise a plan and approach to attack the opposing pitcher in specific at-bats.
“That kind of steered us in the direction of some experience living and dying in the batter’s box, for lack of a better term,” Eppler said of Chavez via zoom on Monday. “That’s how we ultimately landed on Eric, was just that ability to put together a plan for attacking a pitcher.”
Chávez endured a successful 17-year playing career in the majors, where he won six straight Gold Glove Awards at third base with the Oakland Athletics. He also has a Silver Slugger trophy under his belt as well.
Chávez, 44, who posted a career .817 OPS and slugged 260 home runs in the big-leagues, will be in charge of the overall game-plan on offense. His assistant, Barnes, will work with the players on their swing mechanics.
And although Eppler had to call his old buddy, Yankees GM Brian Cashman, in order to get permission to speak with Chávez, who was named as the assistant hitting coach in the Bronx last month, the Mets' GM revealed that there was already an understanding in place. The Mets were able to swipe Chávez from the Yankees' staff because Eppler and Cashman had a discussion in advance that there could be a higher position open up in Queens down the road.
“I had an understanding that if the lead role opened here, and he won the day, that he would get their blessing,” Eppler said. “And so, that's ultimately what happened.”
During Eppler's time as Yankees' assistant GM to Cashman (2011 to 2015), he was credited for signing Chávez back in 2011. After retiring as a player, Chávez served as a special assistant to the Yankees' front office in 2015, before following Eppler to Anaheim when the executive became GM of the Angels one year later.
Now, Chavez will re-join Eppler with the Mets, and he also impressed Showalter as well.
“I just love [Chavez’s] sense of urgency and his energy level, but he’s also got some reality,” Showalter said. “One of the problems a lot of coaches have is they forget how hard the game was to play and how bad they were on a given night. There is a fine line between empathy and sympathy, and we had some great candidates. Eric brought some things we thought we were in need of and has some background in being a part of the New York sports culture.”
Upon choosing Chávez for the job, Eppler and Showalter then collaborated with him on his preference of what an ideal assistant hitting coach might look like. As a result, they landed on Barnes, who they promoted from his role as director of player development initiatives in the Mets' organization.
Eppler went onto note that this decision was sparked by Chávez's desire of an assistant, who held technical experience, which Barnes, 34, was no stranger to in the Mets' system.
The Mets ultimately opted to roll with a seven-man coaching staff under Showalter, citing the comfort level of the players in the clubhouse.
“There’s a lot of new people around here that are going to be around in that locker room, myself included and Buck included,” Eppler said. “One thing that we’re both very aware of is how players perceive things and how players feel. When you have a lot of different faces and the vast majority of people are new, that could lead to potentially a little discomfort and that’s not what we want.
“We’ll move a little slower through the process and if we find areas that can be supplemented, we’ll add. But we didn’t want to roll out this 11- or 12-person coaching staff which we see throughout the game.”
When taking a look at the rest of the staff, Showalter will reunite with Sherlock as his bench coach. Their experience together goes as far back as 1989 when Showalter managed the Yankees' Double-A team in Albany, while Sherlock was a player-coach under him.
Sherlock, 61, was a member of the Mets' coaching staff from 2017 to 2019, serving in a number of different roles from first base coach, third base coach and catching instructor. According to Showalter, Sherlock will coach the catchers in addition to his position as bench coach.
Showalter also named third base coach Joey Cora as the Mets' primary infield instructor and first base coach Wayne Kirby as his outfield coach.
With the coaching staff now finalized, and transactions currently frozen due to the lockout, Eppler was asked if he felt that the Mets were a playoff team. While Eppler was confident that they have put together a good team so far, he reiterated his plan to continue to look for ways to improve the club once the work stoppage is over.
"This club is well-positioned now as-is," he said. "It can always be better. That's some of my own wiring, is to always seek improvement in kind of all aspects. Where we can find opportunities to be better, we will explore those and seize those opportunities as they come.
"One of the things that I really like to do is about a week or two before spring training ends, the over-under totals are posted publicly. I prefer the outside view. I know we're good. But I prefer to get the outside view to kind of set things from an exterior standpoint. But internally, we feel good about where we are but also acknowledge there's always room to improve."
Eppler and team owner Steve Cohen have spent $254.5 million in free agency thus far on Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha. And now that the coaching staff has finally been addressed, the Mets sound like they still intend on upgrading their roster after the lockout.
