Reese Kaplan -- Time to Hire Some Mets Coaches!

By now the holiday decorations have been put away (except the year-round Christmas lights that some people tend to never take down even when the weather improves).  The hangovers are over and the gathering with friends and families (hopefully properly protected) have taken place.  It's time to get our focus back on playing ball.

I'm not going to rehash the very many issues the owners and players need to resolve to get a new CBA into place.  What I will reiterate, however, is the need for meetings to actually take place.  Thus far nothing has been done to bring both sides to the virtual table to start figuring out which are the quick hits that can be agreed upon easily and which topics are going to demand long negotiations to make any movement on either side.  

While these meetings hopefully will begin to take place, the Mets front office needs to do to prepare for the 2022 season whenever it actually might start.  Obviously the first priority needs to be finishing up the coaching staff for Buck Showalter and Jeremy Hefner to get the support they need to motivate the players chosen to win and stay healthy.  

Right now the Mets need to think about the batting instructor.  Many folks think that by the time they reach the major leagues players should know how to hit and this role is of minimal need.  However, you have to think about your offensive strategy and how you want the players to embrace it.  

Do you want them to work on their launch angle and drive the ball out of the stadium?  Do you want them to refresh themselves on hitting behind runners and doing the other things necessary to move runners along?  Do you want them to work the strike zone better as hitters?  Do you want them to work on improving contact and reducing strikeouts?  Until you make those decisions you don't really know what type of batting instructor you're seeking to become a part of your coaching staff.

Similarly, you need the coaches who man 1st and 3rd base while you team is batting.  Usually you see coaches who are veterans of the ranks or long term and recently retired players who can share their input on what needs to be done.  At first base you often find former speedsters who are adept at reading pitchers and catchers in order to provide that insight to the Mets baserunners.  Finding this type of personnel should not be as difficult as finding a hitting instructor who can actually change the way in which players assess every single at-bat.  

The third base coach is often unnecessarily in the headlines for decision making about advancing runners to try to score runs.  They are kind of in a no-win position because they're criticized sometimes for being too conservative, holding runners who seemingly could have scored without much risk.  Similarly, there are the coaches who send everyone every time when it is not always advisable to do so.  Again, you can evaluate veteran coaches or former players who have a good grasp of how to manage the runners.  

The one that to me is the most challenging decision is the bench coach.  In my mind, this role deserves to be the manager-in-training for Buck Showalter.  It's unlikely Showalter needs advice from this person given his 20-years as a three-time award winning major league manager.  However, at age 65 it's prudent to think about having a prospective future manager there to learn from Showalter and the rest of the coaches.  

This person might get a few test drives as a manager when Showalter gets booted from games (or may need a personal day away from the team).  It would be incredibly valuable to have someone at Buck's side to hear his thought process and to watch what he can do as a manager.

Right now it's probably premature to think about the prospective names associated with any of these roles (as well as bullpen coach).  However, there's no reason the Mets can't pursue filling these vacancies while awaiting the new CBA.  So far Steve Cohen has had a successful off-season, so now it's time to see what Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter can do to make a positive winter break from baseball even better.