3 giant Mets decisions for Steve Cohen becoming easier with each loss

Each time the New York Mets take a loss, it’s a little easier for Steve Cohen to make a rash decision. He has stayed away from being a George Steinbrenner since purchasing the Mets. Other than sending out the occasional tweet about the OPS numbers not lying, he has been supportive of many of the coaches, players, and other personnel.

As the losses continue to pile up, the now 35-42 Mets are giving Cohen even more reason to come to a couple of conclusions. Underachievement doesn’t do this year’s Mets justice. They’re underachievers if they’re finishing at .500. This year’s club is well below that margin.

Some brutal recent Mets losses have made a few giant decisions Cohen will have to decide on much easier. They’re not all about doing a roundhouse kick to the coaching staff either.

1) The NY Mets coaching staff could be cleared out from Buck Showalter down to the bottom

But we do begin with going Jean-Claude Van Damme on every Mets coach. From Buck Showalter to whoever the lowest ranking coach getting a paycheck from Cohen happens to be, they all need to be gone.

The Mets overhauled the coaching staff prior to bringing in Showalter. One of the few holdovers, Jeremy Hefner, seems to have lost the ability to connect with players like he did before. Is it on him or are the Mets pitchers struggling through the season most to blame? If you want to blame the players, it raises a secondary question of why have Hefner around at all if he’s not making a difference for anyone.

Similar statements could be said about hitting coach Jeremy Barnes who doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference with anyone. Has there been a single Mets player who hasn’t slumped at one point this year at the plate?

Firing Showalter would be a huge step for the Mets to make after this season or even before it’s over. It seemed like the 2022 campaign was a step in the right direction with Showalter captaining the ship in perpetuity. It turns out he might not stay around as long as it once seemed.

Every loss, especially the ones the Mets are experiencing over the last week-plus, seem to have Showalter eating at least a part of the blame.

2) NY Mets GM Billy Eppler has proven he doesn’t have the magic touch

Does Cohen start completely from scratch next year? Let’s say the Mets win about 75 games. Is it enough for him to keep the manager or general manager next season? Starting over is something he’d probably like to avoid. The club went through a litany of GMs in 2021. Some stability could do the franchise good.

What won’t do them any good is having a guy like Billy Eppler spoil the year by ignoring major weaknesses and spending Cohen’s money in unwise ways. Yes, the struggles from some of the big ticket free agents isn’t so much on him when it’s clear the owner had as much, if not more, of the input.

Eppler has yet to make a stunningly positive move during his time with the Mets. The transactions that have worked or done well are ones any could’ve made. Worse is how many of his failures were obviously doomed from the start. Nobody could’ve possibly believed the ill-fated Darin Ruf trade was a good move to make.

There have been times when Eppler decisions looked savvy and successful. Jeff Brigham had a stretch for the Mets earlier this year where he looked solid. Even John Curtiss, mostly in the spring, was headed toward becoming one of those relievers the Mets stole off the scrapheap. 

Eppler has yet to prove himself as anything more than someone who throws money at free agents. His trades are almost all universally stinkers with the Chris Bassitt deal as the lone acceptable one in his tenure. The more the Mets slide in the standings, the easier it’ll be for Cohen to get rid of Eppler.