Being the New York Mets manager has never been an easy task. It rarely promises a career of longevity, no matter how well you do. Most recently, Buck Showalter was fired one year after winning the National League Manager of the Year award.
New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns officially took over his new post on October 2nd. Hours prior to Stearns' arrival, the Mets parted ways with manager Buck Showalter, opening the door for Stearns and his new front office to hire their own dugout CEO.
Over the past decade, the development of the daily line-up card, more importantly who's on it and where, has become more of an organizational decision, rather than one that sits solely with the team's manager. For a grizzled veteran skipper, like Buck Showalter, that has been a dooming change.
You will get little argument from anyone that Buck Showalter knows the game of baseball inside-and-out. At 67, Showalter could easily get another thankless MLB managerial job, dependent on over-paid players, under the microscope of social media's thirst for coaches' blood. Sounds fun?
New York Mets manager Buck Showalter is as disappointed as anyone regarding the team's performance in 2023. Coming off of a 101-win season and a Manager of the Year award, Showalter appeared to be the captain that would steer Steve Cohen's MLB yacht into the World Series. That excursion may be short lived.
When right-handed relief pitcher, David Robertson signed a one-year $10 million contract at Citi Field back in December, the last that crossed his mind was that his new team, coming off 101-wins and a playoff appearance in 2022, would be out of the post-season tournament picture by August 1st. Well David, welcome to the New York Mets.
It all started out so promisingly. The 2022 New York Mets jumped ahead to a 10.5 game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League East on June 1st. However, by the beginning of October of last season, that lead was gone and the rest is history. Manager Buck Showalter, once again, got his team close to a championship but lost in the process.