Why Buck Showalter Should Be The Mets' Next Manager
It's no secret that there have been a ton of supporters around the industry that are lobbying for Buck Showalter to become the next manager of the Mets.
And with good reason. Showalter, 65, has 20 years of experience as a big-league manager and has managed in New York before.
He is well respected around the game by executives, agents, coaches and players alike. He also has a knack for turning around losing teams, having done so with the Yankees, Rangers, Diamondbacks and Orioles across the past three decades. Mets owner Steve Cohen has made it clear that he wants to win a World Series within 3-5 years, and that he doesn't prefer people learning on his dime. He wouldn’t have to worry about that with Showalter.
In Cohen's first season, the Mets went through a number of dysfunctional events, including the firing of initial GM hire Jared Porter after just one month on the job when it came out that he sent inappropriate text messages to a female reporter while he was employed by the Cubs, the “rat-raccoon” fiasco which resulted in a heated altercation that got physical between Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil over a misplayed groundball up the middle, the thumbs-down incident where Javier Báez and other Mets players booed the fans, and the arrest of acting GM Zack Scott on suspicion of DWI.
They fell in the standings and their clubhouse culture eroded over the final months. It didn't help that a team filled with youngsters lost their two best players when Cy Young frontrunner Jacob deGrom (right elbow) and Lindor (oblique) went down with injuries, which kept them out for significant periods of time following the All-Star break.
Showalter would bring credibility to the organization and stabilize a clubhouse that was lacking a true leader. He wouldn't have to spend a lot of time earning the respect of his players. He isn't perfect, nor has he ever managed in a World Series, but he is the best choice for the Mets when you consider his decades of experience and the current state of the franchise.
The Mets have produced losing records in 10 out of the last 13 seasons. Showalter has helped turn around all four of the organizations he managed after taking over. Before leading the Orioles to a 93-69 record and wild card berth in 2012, the team had not endured a winning season since 1997. From 2010-2018, Showalter led the Orioles to four winnings seasons, a .500 campaign and three playoff appearances.
Before that, he spent four seasons with the Rangers, from 2003-06. They averaged 79.75 wins per year in that span, and it took longer for them to contend than the other clubs he managed, but Texas won consecutive AL pennants in 2010 and ‘11 and made the playoffs five times in seven years, from ’10-’16.
He was the first manager of the Diamondbacks, and after their putrid inaugural season, they won 100 games and the NL West in 1999. He was fired after a disappointing 2000 campaign, but his influence was all over the team that won the ‘01 World Series.
This was the second time a team won the World Series one year after Showalter’s departure. He returned the Yankees to the postseason in 1995 and then was replaced by Joe Torre before they won the ’96 World Series.
Cohen and new general manager Billy Eppler committed a total of $254.5 million to Max Scherzer (three-years, $130 million), Starling Marte (four-years, $78 million), Eduardo Escobar (two-years, $20 million) and Mark Canha (two-years, $26.5 million), which brought the Mets' current luxury tax payroll up to $264.3 million ahead of 2022.
The spending spree this offseason has been reminiscent of the way late-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner used to operate. Showalter has experience managing under a high pressure owner given the four seasons he spent with Steinbrenner's Yankees from 1992-1995.
During this span, the Yankees' GM was Gene "Stick" Michael, who has his hands all over the team's last dynasty from 1996-2000. Not to mention, Michael was one of the biggest mentors for Eppler, who spent 11 seasons in the Yankees' organization.
The Mets are clearly in win-now mode, which is why they need a win-now manager in Showalter. And as it turns out, Eppler felt the same way following the 2019 season when he was the GM of the Angels. At the time, Eppler wanted to bring in Showalter to be their next manager, but team owner Arte Moreno, who went with Joe Maddon instead, overruled him.
Now, Eppler is driving the Mets' managerial search himself. But that doesn't mean he hasn't received any recommendations from Cohen and one of his star players. Scherzer has made it known that he prefers Showalter to be the Mets' next skipper, as multiple sources told Inside the Mets on Tuesday. And Cohen also told Eppler that he wants Showalter as well. MLB writer Mike Marino was the first to report on Cohen's preference of Showalter.
The Mets began conducting interviews with several candidates on Dec. 6, and their current list includes Showalter, Astros bench coach Joe Espada, ex-Angels and Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and current Dodgers bench coach and ex-Mets bench coach Bob Geren. SNY first reported these names were set to speak with the Mets.
But the Mets are about to hire their fourth manager in the last five years. They cannot keep taking risks with unproven up-and-comers without prior big-league managing experience.
Showalter has the best résumé of the candidates, and it's not even close. There may be some concerns about whether he fits in the game today, considering he hasn’t managed since 2018, but he hasn’t left the game, even if he wasn’t in the dugout. Over the last three years, he’s stayed sharp in his role as an analyst for MLB Network and YES Network.
As a result of his track record, there have been a number of ringing endorsements for Showalter throughout the baseball world as of late. Former Orioles star center fielder, Adam Jones called him a "great fit." And the longest tenured manager in Mets' history, Terry Collins, said Showalter is one of the most prepared individuals he has ever been around, calling the potential hiring an "impact" move.
The main knock against Showalter is his lack of experience with the advanced analytics that drive almost all baseball decisions today. His last team, the Orioles, didn’t have an analytics department while he was there. Still, this doesn’t mean he hasn’t adapted or that he can’t do so if he’s hired.
“One thing about analytics is that we all question what we don’t understand," Showalter told Fangraphs back in 2018. "You need to learn, so during the spring we do Analytics for Dummies. That’s what we call it. We take our most veteran baseball people, our on-the-field lifers, and bring them upstairs to go over every analytic there is and find the [equivalent of a] .300 batting average in every one of them. We take the black cloud of unknown away from it.
“What we’ve found is that most of our veteran people go, ‘Oh, really? That’s all it is?’ They’re not demeaning it, they’re just saying, ‘Now I understand.’ Know where the .300 batting average of WAR is, and what it tells you. Just as important, what doesn’t it tell you that you have to be aware of."
The Mets have made a significant effort to build out their analytics department since Cohen took over, which started by hiring Ben Zauzmer away from the Dodgers last offseason.
As old school as Showalter might be, he still understands how important it is for the coaching staff to collaborate with the front office and analytics team.
“There’s also the environment you create," he said. "You need an environment where you’ll respect what they bring and where they’ll respect what the field personnel can bring. The best organizations are the ones that branch those together to make evaluations.”
During the Mets' introductory press conference for Marte, Escobar and Canha last week, Eppler discussed the managerial search and said the data presented to the next hire will be used as a "road map."
According to Eppler, it will be up to the manager and staff to make in-game adjustments and matchup decisions as they see fit.
In the end, the only box that Showalter doesn't check is a World Series title. But by coming to New York, he'd have a chance to punch his ticket to the Hall of Fame by winning a ring, thus fulfilling Cohen's 3-5 year goal when he purchased the team.
After interviewing Ausmus and Quatraro earlier in the week, the Mets are expected to speak with Showalter on Wednesday. As MLB Network reported, Showalter appears to be the current favorite to become the next New York manager. Mets fans should hope so. He’s the right man for the job.
