By Rich Mancuso
During pre-pandemic times the Mets would introduce a high profile free agent signee or their new manager with an elaborate press conference at Citi Field. Now, though, it’s all Zoom and an impersonal scrum of others.
Buck Showalter does not need a live audience of a media gathering and he’s done this many times as a previous manager in New York with the Yankees, with the Diamondbacks, Rangers and Orioles. The newest Mets manager is the show. He does not need a live audience to get his message across.
On Tuesday December 22nd, he was officially on the job as the newest manager of the Mets. He was the Zoom show and when he put on the Mets cap it was more than a welcome back homecoming to New York.
This was also the continued push of owner Steve Cohen and his goal to deliver a championship within that three or five year plan that he’s cited, perhaps sooner.
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Showalter has some tough shoes to fill, because as I have mentioned, the manager is as good as the players but Cohen will spend money which is so reminiscent of his first year across town with the George Steinbrenner Yankees.
So the Mets are expected to win when baseball resumes, provided a new collective bargaining agreement is in place. They were expected to win in 2021 and the previous manager was sent home.
But this is now in the hands of Buck Showalter. As we have said, in Buck we trust. He is perhaps the most respected mind in baseball but lacks a World Series attached to his resume. “I understand the job description,” he said. “The job description isn’t to be competitive. It’s to be the last team standing.”
Showalter said the right thing. His job is to get the Mets to be that last team standing in October. That was an impressive statement in reacquainting with the NY media, a message he got across and every Mets fan should know this is Buck Showalter.
Whatever the money figure that got Cohen to seal this three year deal, the investment is valuable. Whether or not the Mets are that last team standing in 2022, they will eventually be the next year or the one that follows.
Cohen said it would be a three or five year plan to be that last team standing and deliver the first Mets World Series championship since 1986. He has the players and probably more to come. And he has a manager that can do it. “You appreciate his ability to really drive his clubs,” said GM Billy Eppler about his new manager, “It seems like he squeezes every single ounce of ability out of those players. Everybody was in the right spot at the time they needed to be there.”
Showalter also gets his coaches to coincide on the same page and the staff will eventually come into place, with exception of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner who was the lone holdover. They want to be a part of Buck’s staff. A current coach of a Mets divisional rival, under contract and with former ties to New York, expressed an interest to me regarding his interest in being part of Buck’s coaching staff.
Though, in the end, that collaboration is a major trait of Showalter and his success. It will come down to filling out the coaching staff with Eppler and others involved in the process. He has adapted to analytics and the information. The Mets are all in with the metrics and Showalter is in line with the plan despite his old school managerial philosophy that has adapted well with players over the years. It’s about the scouting reports and now the numbers. It’s also about clubhouse management that reportedly was a constant distraction under previous manager Luis Rojas.
Information from the front office will be valuable from the scouting directors of those that handle numbers in a baseball era of analytics. Showalter has never had an issue with getting that information to his desk and those in baseball say that’s what makes him a good manager. “It’s how to get better every day and see where each day takes you,” Showalter said. “If somebody thinks that I’m going to go back to the hotel or the house and think that maybe we got beat because someone else had better or used information better than we did, then you don’t know me very well,” he said.
Yes, this was Buck Showalter and it was his show Tuesday afternoon without a live audience. Soon, he will perform live before 39,000 fans at Citi Field. Those rabid fans believe in their billionaire owner.
They believe Buck Showalter will help deliver that long and overdue World Series championship. He said, “The one thing the manager has to do is create avenues when every department feels comfortable and everybody can bring what they bring. The great organizations, almost in every sport, have a real connectivity between the general manager, the field staff, and ownership. It’s something I know is not gonna be a challenge here.”
Remember though, this is still New York. It will be a challenge but the difference is Steve Cohen and all the proper resources to deliver that live and successful show.
Rich Mancuso is a guest columnist for the New York Beacon as well as senior correspondent for Latino Sports (www.latinosports.com).
Mr. Mancuso has covered countless New York Mets, Yankees, and MLB teams along with some of the greatest boxing matches over the years. He is an award winning sports journalist and previously worked for The Associated Press, New York Daily News, Gannett, and BoxingInsider.com, in a career that spans almost 40 years.
