The New York Mets finally hired a general manager. They were months behind in hiring a manager and now days behind in securing free agent talent. Instead of being proactive, the Mets are being reactive, and some media outlets are helping out. Showalter was on MLB Network the other day after the signing of Billy Eppler. He was publicly singing his praises and in essence, signing for his supper.

The best managerial candidates are gone and the few who would bristle at being force-fed analytics from the front office won’t want this job. You can’t blame what happened in Baltimore just at the feet of ownership, Showalter’s managerial habits have been slipping. He’s stealing more, bunting less, and those two things should work together. Let’s just say that Buck wants to keep stealing, then the Mets have to find those types of players. The Mets ranked 11th in this category, and their steal attempts per game were down since 2020. Jonathan Villar led the team with 14 steals, and Francisco Lindor had 10. That’s not going to work. Is Showalter a postseason winner? I don’t think so. He’s made it to the postseason five times and has never reached the World Series.

Mets Say They Will Be Big Spenders

Let’s all remember Al Harazin, who had money to burn in the winter of 1991. They bought Eddie Murray and Bobby Bonilla, totaling $36.5 million, and getting awful results. They joined previously overpaid Vince Coleman and Bret Saberhagen who were acquired via trade. Saberhagen is still being paid by the Mets, besides Bonilla, but nobody talks about that one.

Making a shopping list of players is great. But the Mets are making it weeks too late. Then they must try and tailor that to a manager that will have very little if any input whenever that happens, again, way behind. There is no cohesive plan here other than to say we will spend money. If they were going to spend money, they should have signed Aaron Loup already. The Mets will spend, but they still want perceived value and possible bargains. Noah Syndergaard may have started a trend of players who are worried about their direction. Having money to spend is great. You still can’t make players take it. I expect more than a few players to leverage possible Mets deals into better contracts with more competitive teams.

You have to acquire and sign players who can play in New York. That takes time to figure out, but the Mets no longer have that kind of time.