Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
New York Mets’ general manager Billy Eppler backed his manager Buck Showalter after being swept by their division rival Atlanta Braves. It marked the second consecutive series sweep after being swept at Citi Field by the team up north, the Toronto Blue Jays. There’s no question that the Mets have fallen short of expectations this season, currently sitting in 4th place in the National League East, trailing the Braves by 9.5 games for the division lead.
Per Joel Sherman of the NY Post, Eppler said: “We have an experienced coaching staff and we have confidence in them. That isn’t an acknowledgment that everything is fine. But it’s an acknowledgment that we have the personnel to get this right. There are things that are not going right that we need to address. Offensively at times, defensively at times, base running at times, pitching at times. But making changes for the sake of making changes isn’t going to deliver us our desired outcome.”
Showalter is in the midst of his 22nd season as an MLB manager, with prior stints with the Yankees, Diamondbacks, and Rangers, and his longest and most recent run with the Orioles. His chase to lift up the Commissioner’s Trophy has eluded him throughout his managerial career. The Mets had clear World Series aspirations going into this season.
“And it’s my job to continue to look for pieces that can help both internally and externally. And it’s the job of our coaches to get the players prepared to play, to support them and to optimize them. And that’s where our focus is right now,” Eppler continued to tell the NY Post.
Right now, the Mets need something to get them going. With Pete Alonso being transferred to the 10-day IL retroactive to June 6th, and the Mets’ starting rotation struggling mightily, the Mets need a shot of adrenaline. Despite the Mets offense scoring 30 runs over their last five games, their starting pitching and bullpen have fallen apart in a bulk of those games. They can’t seem to have a game where the offense, defense and pitching coincide. With the trade deadline still over a month away, the players and coaches in the clubhouse must find a way to get back on track if they have any hope of catching the Braves.
If things don’t turn around for the Mets, and rather quickly, Eppler and Showalter could find themselves on the hot seat. Eppler has made it clear he’s sticking with Buck, Jeremy Hefner and Eric Chavez for the foreseeable future. We will see how long that holds up if the Mets continue to slide in the National League standings and push themselves out of playoff contention.
That being said, the Mets still have 98 regular season games left to play. There’s still time to get back on track, and if they want to play October baseball they will have to turn it around rather quickly.
