3 questions we'd ask Buck Showalter about the Mets if he was given truth serum

Wouldn’t it be great if we could give New York Mets manager Buck Showalter a dose of sodium pentothal and ask him some questions? What kinds of answers would he give us with some truth serum flowing through his veins?

We all know a part of being a major league manager is saying the right thing. The “right” isn’t always the truth. When things are going well for the Mets, Showalter can be more truthful and praise his players. When things aren’t running so smoothly, he has to start remembering things more because the honesty isn’t there.

Let’s imagine if we could have this opportunity to strap Showalter down and get some honest answers out of him.

1) Which veteran NY Mets player do you wish you weren’t forced to put in the lineup?

Originally the question was about who really makes the lineup. Showalter only needs to give us a wink to let fans know for sure he’s not the only one with input. Welcome to baseball in 2023 where a number’s sheet is as important as anything else in making decisions.

Because we already know math makes the lineup, the first question would be to ask Showalter which player he wishes he wasn’t forced to put into the lineup. Is Showalter as fed up with Daniel Vogelbach as the rest of us? Does he actually want Tommy Pham playing as often as he does?

Showalter could even shock us and trash Francisco Alvarez. He has been careful about overly praising Alvarez. Much of what Showalter says leaves the door open for the Mets to make any type of move—including a demotion of one of the kids.

Rather than get angry at him right away, limiting the answer to the veterans would be preferred. We only want to know so much of the truth. We can accept Showalter saying he doesn’t see a fit for Eduardo Escobar in the lineup any longer. Tolerating any sort of slander against one of the kids is unacceptable.

The honest answer from Showalter to this question might have him saying he wishes he had an everyday DH instead of Vogelbach. How could he not want something simpler and more effective?

2) Is the NY Mets roster better with Luis Guillorme or Mark Vientos on it?

While we don’t want Showalter to ruin the way we want to think he feels about the kids, it’s important to ask him a very specific roster question. We know he really likes Luis Guillorme. Would he rather have the infielder back on the roster instead of Mark Vientos?

Since his call-up, Vientos has been used on a limited basis. Almost exclusively used against lefties, he has kind of been the DH platoon partner of Daniel Vogelbach but not really.

Mets fans have been begging for the team to play Vientos every day. They haven't, which begs a question we might want to tack onto this; why even have Vientos on the roster if he’s just going to sit?

The honest answer out of Showalter would probably be, “Yes!” At which point we’d have to go back and look at the original question and realize he would indeed rather have Guillorme on the roster than Vientos.

It’s not such an outrageous claim. When all Vientos does is ride the pine, he’s not nearly as useful as Guillorme.

The Mets have consistently made some roster blunders in terms of having the right pieces to fill every need imaginable. The high number of catchers makes it look like a fantasy baseball team that was on auto-draft and ignored positional availability.

Swapping Guillorme for Vientos works if the latter actually plays. In his first week, he just hasn’t gotten between the lines enough.