*Photo from the New York Post*
After searching, and interviewing, and trimming down the list of candidates, the New York Mets have their man. The Mets have announced a 3 year contract with Buck Showalter to be their next manager, according to an announcement made by owner Steve Cohen on Saturday.
With the hiring, Showalter becomes the 24th manager in Mets history. The 65 year old has 20 years of experience managing the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Baltimore Orioles. He'll become the 5th manager in baseball history to manage both the Yankees and the Mets, joining Casey Stengel, Joe Torre, Dallas Green, and Yogi Berra.
Showalter will become the first manager with prior managerial experience the Mets have had since Terry Collins tenure, which ended after the 2017 season. Mickey Callaway took the reigns after being a pitching coach, and Luis Rojas was the Mets quality control coach before he became the manager in 2020, after a failed stint of Carlos Beltran.
In his managerial career, Showalter has a career 1,551-1,517 record, leading his teams to the playoffs 5 times, but never making it past the LCS round. After spending time as a TV analyst for MLB Network, Showalter is on his way back to New York, with the Mets looking to make noise and compete for a playoff spot, after a failure of a season in 2021 that ended in Rojas being let go.
Showalter inherits a Mets squad that failed to launch in July and August, which resulted in them falling deep out of a playoff spot, finishing with a 77-85 record in 2021. The Mets have showed their commitment to be better with an offseason of spending so far, signing Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, Starling Marte, and Max Scherzer. Showalter will have to round out a coaching staff that only has pitching coach Jeremy Hefner returning for the 2022 season.
During the interview process, Showalter had always been seen as the favorite for the job, and how he gets it. Other candidates and finalists for the job included Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, and former manager Brad Ausmus, who last managed the Los Angeles Angels during the 2019 season.
Comments
Post a Comment