How Buck Showalter Plans To Hit The Ground Running With The Mets

When Buck Showalter was introduced as the 24th manager in Mets history, alongside his wife, Angela, he made one thing clear: He intends on putting out a product on the field that fans can be proud of.

According to Showalter, Mets fans are very "precious" to him, and he wants to give people a good reason to be invested and stay up late when the team is playing on a road trip out on the west coast.

While building a sustainable winner can be complicated, Showalter has a knack for turning around losing cultures across 20-years as a big-league manager. He has done so in the past with the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Orioles. And It's a bonus that he has managed in New York before with his first gig as a skipper coming with the Yankees from 1992-1995.

But as far as his plan for flipping the script in Queens is concerned, Showalter summed things up in a rather short and sweet manner.

"There's no magic sprinkle dust, It's about winning baseball games," said Showalter via zoom on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

One substantial aspect of Showalter's job description will be about getting to know the players and figuring out what they need to be successful. He is also looking forward to learning the different personalities in the clubhouse and discovering their interests as well.

"Every situation is different. You try to bring what the players need to reach their potential," said Showalter. "It's about adjusting to the needs of the team.

"I've learned to slow down, and not knee-jerk. I try to have a clear and open mind about players and will lean on people in the organization who have been here."

The Mets were a team that squandered away an 103 day lead in the NL East a season ago to finish with a losing record. This poor finish was a result of a number of proven players underperforming in 2021.

But as long as the front office brings in the right talent, which they have done thus far by spending $254.5 million in free agency on Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha, It's Showalter's responsibility to get the most out of the hand he is dealt.

Showalter's philosophy can be boiled down into having accountability, an important character trait that the manager is known for. He even described this current Mets team under majority owner Steve Cohen as an operation that is eliminating excuses.

"Steve [Cohen] continues to eliminate excuses for things that we might have for things we can’t do," Showalter said. "Not a lot of lip service, it's kind of a show-me situation. I just want everybody to know the Mets are going to be something very precious to the people we bring in.

"There's accountability and responsibility and It's not for everybody. We are going to find out who it's for and who it ain't," said Showalter.

Showalter has not managed since leaving Baltimore after the 2018 season. He has spent the last three years as an analyst for MLB Network and YES, but the thing he missed the most about being in a dugout was that team aspect and feeling of togetherness amongst a group.

Showalter, 65, may be viewed as an old-school type manager, but so are some other long-time colleagues in Tony La Russa, Dusty Baker and Joe Maddon, whose brains he has picked throughout the process to discover how the game is evolving.

And it doesn't mean he is against analytics. It's actually quite the opposite, as Showalter described himself as "spongeful" and vowed to never allow an opponent to beat him because they have more data or information.

“If somebody thinks that I’m gonna go back to the hotel or the house and think that maybe we got beat because somebody else had better or used information better than we did or used analytics, whatever you want to call it, you don’t know me very well,” Showalter said. “I’ve always been very spongeful with information to a fault.”

That's why Showalter, a three-time Manager of the Year Award recipient, is excited to be able to work with the Mets' beefed up analytics department. Something he wished he had during his time with the Orioles from 2010-2018.

“We would’ve loved to have more analytics in Baltimore, we just didn’t have the funding,” said Showalter. “I’m looking forward to having them, to be honest with you.”

As Showalter and his wife held up his new No. 11 jersey with the Mets, he addressed his desire of winning a World Series, which is the last box he must check to have a shot at the Hall of Fame. However, although this is a major motivator for the skipper, it doesn't "define" him.

“It sounds selfish to say that’s the only reason and this is an avenue to that. I don’t look at it that way,” Showalter said. “I understand the job description … it’s to be the last team standing.

"There are no Cinderellas in baseball. If you are one of those teams in the playoffs, It's for a reason."

In the end, Showalter edged out the other two finalists in Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro. And Mets GM Billy Eppler went onto explain why he made the pick.

“It was Buck’s ability to connect to a wide range of people, his drive to compete, his curiosity blended with his experience and his overall adaptability that led us to naming him the manager of the New York Mets,” Eppler said.

Team president Sandy Alderson even went as far as to say Showalter is "as close to a 10 out of 10" as any candidate they could've hired due to his adaptability, utilization of data and motivation by the task at hand in New York, which is building a winner.

And Showalter plans on living up to expectations by keeping the reactions, message and accountability consistent with the team when they walk through the door everyday.

Showalter is ready to jump on board and he has a good feeling about the pieces that the Mets have in place from the top-down.

"Great organizations have a real connectivity between the general manager, the field staff and ownership," said Showalter.

Now, we could possibly see a major change coming to the Mets in 2022 with Showalter at the helm.