Paul Articulates - More should go

The dismissal of Buck Showalter has met with a tremendous amount of emotion.  Some are relieved because he was the face of a team that underperformed in the 2023 season.  Others are exasperated because the 2022 Manager of the Year was still doing the same things in 2023 but could not go out and pitch or hit for the players.  The players themselves seemed to take the news hard, as they had a great deal of respect for Buck.

Personally, I am disappointed because I thought he was better than any of his predecessors in the past decade and I also don’t see much else out there that would be able to navigate the hand that Buck was dealt last year.  But this post is not about Buck but about his supporting cast.

The Mets failed to hit in 2023 like they did in 2022, particularly in situations where there were men in scoring position.  The recurring nightmare was to see the team load the bases, or have runners on second and third with one or no outs, then watch pop-ups to the infield, foul pops, or strikeouts occur.  There was not the same attention to moving the runners by hitting the other way or putting the ball in play to ensure a run.  This is not Buck’s job – it is delegated to the hitting coach.  Jeremy Barnes was moved into that position in 2023 to replace Eric Chavez who had been promoted to bench coach.  Here is the comparison:  The 2022 Mets were 20 points higher in batting average and OPS and ranked in the top 6 in the league both overall and with runners in scoring position (RISP).  In 2022, the team was ranked in the bottom half in those categories.  This is serious regression as a team and cannot be pinned on any individual player’s off year.  The fact that the new rules in 2023 spaced out the defense more and enabled record levels of stolen bases made it even more egregious that the team could not score more runs than the previous season.

The Mets also failed to pitch like they did in 2022.  It is very well known that injuries created huge holes in the starting rotation and the closer position.  However, almost everyone in between failed to get their job done, and the primary reason was that they could not throw enough strikes.  There was a 39% increase in walks, almost 20% in hit batsmen, and a 15% degradation in WHIP for the 2023 season as compared to 2022.  Clearly the pitching staff was putting itself in a dangerous position by letting so many more players on base without “earning” it, and with the new rules allowing more stolen bases and more spacing in the field, the Mets paid for it dearly by giving up 20% more runs.  Jeremy Hefner was common to both of those teams as pitching coach, but this year got away from him.

So to conclude, I will miss Buck, but when the new manager is appointed, I hope he cleans house.  This team that is investing so much in player development needs to put the right guidance in front of next year’s team so the players can reach their full potential.