Reese Kaplan -- Has Buck Showalter Reached the End of the Line?

One of the issues to consider when this year ends is what becomes of manager Buck Showalter and his staff?  Obviously he got off to a flying start in 2022 while the team was dominating the NL East but, unfortunately, we all know how that ended and that the club couldn't buy a win in the month of September.  Still, 101 wins is nothing to be embarrassed about despite the quick elimination from World Series dreams.

Then came the 2022/2023 offseason and the Mets looked to address what they perceived were the things that had gone wrong in the return-to-school-season collapse.  In no particular order we can review the moves made by the front office that added Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, David Robertson, Omar Narvaez, Adam Ottavino, Tommy Pham, Jose Quintana and others to the mix.  After losing Edwin Diaz everyone felt they had made sufficient roster improvements and optimism was high after the record breaking Steve Cohen spending spree.

Well, it's not time to recap everything that has gone wrong during 2023.  Whether it was health issues, slumps or competition in the division, things just simply didn't break the way everyone anticipated.  Not much has been done by the front office to correct what's gone wrong, so naturally the ongoing mediocrity persisted.  Some blame Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Starling Marte, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Francisco Lindor for their season-long slumps.  Others point to long term injuries that derailed projected regular players from joining the lineup.  Any way you slice it, thing have not progressed as planned.

Concurrent with the Mets 2023 demise is the quest to find a new head honcho to serve over Billy Eppler for baseball operations.  Every time you bring in a new senior executive it is incumbent upon that official to choose the right GM, the right players, the right minor league management personnel and the right healthcare staff for the team's development and recovery.  

One of the prime decisions for the new COO (or whatever title he's given) to make is who would be the right manager to lead the team into a recurring competitive landscape.  Towards that end it's time to evaluate whether or not Buck Showalter is that dugout leader (and whether or not Billy Eppler deserves more rope). 

No one can dispute what Showalter has done during his managerial career.  He's earned four Manager of the Year awards.  He's destined for a plaque in Cooperstown when he hangs them up and everyone was impressed when the Mets succeeded in bringing this standout skipper to Citifield.  

I'm going to draw an unlikely parallel, but remember back to the Wilpon era and the ongoing do-nothing romance with keeping Terry Collins around as the manager.  He too was a white haired senior baseball manager that was theoretically going to bring his experience and expertise to the fledgling Mets club that had done a whole lot more losing than winning.  

He had been out of the managerial seat for quite some time before arriving, so many questioned why the owners felt he was the right man for the job.  

Going forward after the initial few losing seasons he was able to control the lineup pencil during the improbably 2015 run to the World Series but was derailed rather quickly in the quest for the championship.  Unfortunately that run was pretty much the beginning of the end and after what seemed an interminably long period of time the club finally concluded that maybe Collins was not the right man to help shape the club for the future.  

Now that brings us back to Buck Showalter and whether or not he's reached that same end note.  Obviously his track record during his baseball career isn't rife with clubhouse abandonments in multiple cities nor does it contain an ongoing losing record.  What differs this time, however, is the change in the front office decision making that will accompany the hiring of a new senior executive.  That person will want to mold his own vision of the future which may not include Showalter.

At this stage of Showalter's life and career you do have to question his role with the Mets.  Ownership has obviously changed and they may reflect more seriously on the end of 2022 and all of 2023 before endorsing the prospect of the new honcho bringing in a longer term managerial solution.  While it would not be the same celebratory champagne and carousing that accompanied Mets fans upon hearing of the Collins kick out the door, it's still something many would endorse is a necessary but difficult change to make.  

Time comes for scapegoats to be assigned and in this case Steve Cohen may be able to hide behind his new executive who makes that call.  It's not like the team has achieved what was envisioned when they hired him.  Still, it seems unfair to make Showalter take the collapses on his shoulders when it was the front office and the players who didn't perform.  Still, it is possible and increasingly likely to happen for 2024 and the future.