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Saturday, December 18, 2021

New York Mets hire Buck Showalter as new manager

The New York Mets have hired Buck Showalter as their new manager, team owner Steven Cohen announced Saturday on Twitter.

Showalter, 65, takes over for Luis Rojas, who was fired after a season in which the team held on to first place for 103 days but ultimately finished 77-85 and missed the playoffs.

Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro were also candidates for the post, sources confirmed to ESPN.

Showalter has been a major league manager for four teams between 1992 and 2018. He won American League Manager of the Year honors during stints with the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. He also managed the Arizona Diamondbacks and has a career record of 1,551-1,517.

His most recent managerial gig came with Baltimore, where he spent eight-plus seasons from 2010 to 2018. Showalter guided the Orioles to three playoff appearances, one division title and a berth in the 2014 AL Championship Series, in which they were swept by the Kansas City Royals.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: December 18, 2021 at 03:27 PM | 31 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: buck showalter, mets

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   1. Darren Posted: December 20, 2021 at 02:27 PM (#6058096)
Hard to argue with this choice--he's had success pretty much everywhere he's gone.

   2. Infinite Yost (Voxter) Posted: December 20, 2021 at 02:49 PM (#6058100)
I had a similar thought, but then looking at his track record it seems less true than I remembered. He's had intermittent success in the places he's been.
   3. SoSH U at work Posted: December 20, 2021 at 02:54 PM (#6058104)
To me, this feels like the Mets' version of the Sox hire of Bobby Valentine in 2012. I could be wrong, though I'm not sure I want to be.

   4. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: December 20, 2021 at 03:08 PM (#6058107)
Who has managed both the Yankees and Mets?

Casey Stengel
Yogi Berra
Joe Torre
Buck Showalter

Anyone else?
   5. Lassus Posted: December 20, 2021 at 03:34 PM (#6058112)
I mean, it's boring. I'm sure it's got various upside, but it's very very boring.
   6. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: December 20, 2021 at 06:40 PM (#6058149)
That organization could use some "very, very boring" right now.
   7. Lassus Posted: December 20, 2021 at 08:29 PM (#6058158)
Disagree.
   8. Best Dressed Chicken in Town Posted: December 20, 2021 at 08:46 PM (#6058161)
I had a similar thought, but then looking at his track record it seems less true than I remembered. He's had intermittent success in the places he's been.

He took over a Yankee team which had been terrible and made about 20 managerial changes in the previous few years and brought it some stability. Arizona was an expansion team. The only times Baltimore's been over .500 in the last quarter-century were under Showalter. I think he'll move the Mets toward contending, and away from LOLMets.
   9. The Yankee Clapper Posted: December 20, 2021 at 11:52 PM (#6058173)
Who has managed both the Yankees and Mets?

Casey Stengel
Yogi Berra
Joe Torre
Buck Showalter

Anyone else?
Dallas Green.
   10. It's regretful that PASTE was able to get out Posted: December 21, 2021 at 12:18 AM (#6058174)
First guy to return their call, I take it?
   11. McCoy Posted: December 21, 2021 at 07:21 AM (#6058179)
The knock on Buck has been he's a very my way strict kind of manager. Thus he gets results early on and then the team starts to tune him out. Of course that's probably a story created by people looking at the results and looking for a simple narrative that fits.
   12. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: December 21, 2021 at 09:46 AM (#6058189)
The knock on Buck has been he's a very my way strict kind of manager. Thus he gets results early on and then the team starts to tune him out. Of course that's probably a story created by people looking at the results and looking for a simple narrative that fits.

Agreed that it's ex post facto reasoning, but even if it were true, I think the Mets would sign up for 2-3 years of stability and winning, even if they then had to replace him.
   13. kubiwan Posted: December 21, 2021 at 10:02 AM (#6058192)
Thus he gets results early on and then the team starts to tune him out.

even if it were true, I think the Mets would sign up for 2-3 years of stability and winning


Even more generally, managers tend to come and go so quickly that worrying "Yeah, he will win for a few years, but in Year 5 the team will tune him out" seems like a fool's errand. It certainly beats "I worry that this guy will never win", which is what a lot of (most?) managers actually give you...
   14. Howie Menckel Posted: December 21, 2021 at 10:14 AM (#6058194)
The New York Rangers hired pain-in-the-ass disciplinarian Mike Keenan beginning with the 1993-94 season, and all that team did was win its only Stanley Cup since 1940.

also "ending with the 1993-94 season," as Keenan quit a month after raising the Cup due to a contract dispute.

the Rangers were the third of mercenary Keenan's eight NHL coaching gigs.
   15. Ron J Posted: December 21, 2021 at 10:19 AM (#6058196)
#10 That is indeed the Mets way.

Walt, if you'd only checked your messages ....
   16. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 21, 2021 at 10:19 AM (#6058197)
Hard to argue with this choice--he's had success pretty much everywhere he's gone.

Well, his "Good Luck Buck" effect isn't quite as effective as it used to be.

Yankees hired him for a few years, and after they fired him the next manager (Torre) made it to the World Series that year and won (ending a long drought).

Diamondbacks hired him for a few years, and after they fired him the next manager (Brenly) made it to the World Series that year and won.

Rangers hired him for a few years, and after they fired him the next manager (Washington) made it to the World Series a few years later (but lost).

Orioles hired him for a few years, and after they fired him the next manager (Hyde) hasn't done squat with the team.
   17. SoSH U at work Posted: December 21, 2021 at 10:25 AM (#6058200)
The New York Rangers hired pain-in-the-ass disciplinarian Mike Keenan beginning with the 1993-94 season, and all that team did was win its only Stanley Cup since 1940.


Buck's just a little short of Keenan's four trips to the finals. Like four.


   18. sotapop Posted: December 21, 2021 at 10:28 AM (#6058201)
As the joke goes, he'll manage the Mets for three years, they'll fire him, and the team will win the Series in year 4.

Can I tell a quick story about why I love Showalter?

Several springs ago, he was down here in Sarasota with the Orioles for spring training, and after the game he started signing autographs, working down the line of kids along the chain-link fence. Just as he got to my kids, some Orioles exec in a suit came up and said Buck was required to be at a scheduled meet-and-greet with some hotshots. Buck glares at the dude, then looks back at my kids and says, if you wait right here, I'll be back in 15 minutes.

He was, and he signed a baseball and a hat for them, and stuff for the rest of the kids that were waiting.
   19. Dingbat_Charlie Posted: December 21, 2021 at 11:29 AM (#6058206)
When the O's hired him I was prepared to dislike him, mostly for the reasons stated in this thread. He won me over, and I got the feeling he has mellowed at least a little bit with age.
   20. JJ1986 Posted: December 21, 2021 at 12:12 PM (#6058211)
I have very little opinion. Buck is fine; he's supposedly a really good guy so they won't have another Callaway situation. I had a few minor problems with Rojas's in game management, but he was also fine. Hiring Showalter does say to me that they don't trust their ability to pick the next great manager from the first-time candidates.
   21. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: December 21, 2021 at 12:30 PM (#6058215)
Hiring Showalter does say to me that they don't trust their ability to pick the next great manager from the first-time candidates.

Has anyone picked the "next great manager" recently? Who's the "great manager" out there under age 50?

I don't think the current system allows great managers any more.
   22. My name is Votto, and I love to get Moppo Posted: December 21, 2021 at 01:27 PM (#6058223)
It's hard to separate them from the cheating, but Cora and Hinch are both under 50 and have been very good. Despite some high-profile dumb stuff, Kapler has a .544 career winning percentage.
   23. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: December 21, 2021 at 02:05 PM (#6058228)

Even more generally, managers tend to come and go so quickly that worrying "Yeah, he will win for a few years, but in Year 5 the team will tune him out" seems like a fool's errand.


Plus Buck is 65, does anyone really think he'll be skipper in five years?
   24. villageidiom Posted: December 21, 2021 at 02:08 PM (#6058229)
Has anyone picked the "next great manager" recently? Who's the "great manager" out there under age 50?
We won't know who it is until their career is over. Like, who's the next Joe Torre? We just need to find some guy with a losing record across parts of 14 seasons and 3 teams.
   25. Tin Angel Posted: December 21, 2021 at 02:12 PM (#6058230)
Plus Buck is 65, does anyone really think he'll be skipper in five years?


Tony LaRussa glares at you through his monitor.
   26. Adam Starblind Posted: December 21, 2021 at 02:17 PM (#6058233)
I can understand the Mets not wanting to give someone else their first shot again right now. Showalter doesn't suck. That's good enough for me. Except way on the margins, it's on the players to win the baseball games.
   27. SoSH U at work Posted: December 21, 2021 at 02:32 PM (#6058236)
Has anyone picked the "next great manager" recently? Who's the "great manager" out there under age 50?


I'd take my chances with 44-year-old Kevin Cash.

   28. Tom Nawrocki Posted: December 21, 2021 at 02:53 PM (#6058240)
Dave Roberts is 49 and has three pennants, one World Championship, and a better won-lost record than Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox or Billy Martin.
   29. Darren Posted: December 21, 2021 at 03:34 PM (#6058253)
I always thought that the knock on Buck was that he deferred to the assistant to the traveling secretary too much.
   30. Jay Seaver Posted: December 21, 2021 at 04:00 PM (#6058258)
Alex Cora's 46. Discount 2018 all you want, but he seems pretty well-regarded. Time will tell if 2021 was a fluke for 46-year-old Gabe Kapler.
   31. donlock Posted: December 25, 2021 at 12:58 AM (#6058624)
Buck had a rep as being wound too tight and players didn’t do well with the style. In Baltimore he surprised observers by bringing a ping pong table to the clubhouse. Morale improved. Players spent time together and the Os played well. J.J. Hardy was the best at the table. He also helped Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop adjust to big leagues , on and off the diamond.

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