NY Mets News: 3 reasons why this Buck Showalter quote is insane

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The New York Mets are a team that mailed it in at the trade deadline. They traded plenty of their veterans including Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. They also traded players on expiring deals as they looked forward to 2024. This was not the wrong decision as the Mets never showed any reason why this team was to be trusted had the team not sold.

With the Mets giving up on 2023, the focus should've turned to the young guys a long time ago simply to see if they can contribute in 2024. We know Francisco Alvarez will catch, but can Brett Baty finish strong? Can Mark Vientos hit enough to DH? Can Ronny Mauricio play well enough at second base? These are questions we need answered.

We finally got all four of these young players in the lineup on Tuesday in Washington and the Mets wound up exploding for 11 runs. Sure, it was against Patrick Corbin, but 11 runs should be incredibly encouraging. Unfortunately, it seems like we won't see much of the young guys all bunched together like we did on Tuesday as Showalter told Gary Cohen that he needs to run out different lineups against contenders because he "owes it to the teams they're contending with." This was wrong for so many reasons.

Here’s the audio of Gary Cohen passing along his convo with Buck Showalter about the Mets playing their lineup different against contenders. pic.twitter.com/PQrXmsMPDs
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) September 6, 2023

1) This Buck Showalter quote is insane because the NY Mets need to get looks at their young players

No, the Mets primary concern should not be who squeaks into the final playoff spot. Who cares if the Giants or Reds make it? Showalter seems to think the Mets are out of it which is a whole separate issue, but the fact is, they should only be focused on themselves.

With the Mets selling and looking ahead to 2024, their goal should be to get players in the lineup as much as possible that will actually play a role next season and beyond. Players like Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio fit that bill.

The Mets wasted pretty much the entire month of August playing guys like Danny Mendick, Jonathan Arauz, and Rafael Ortega virtually every day while Baty and Mauricio were in AAA. Thankfully, Baty, Mauricio, and Vientos are up now, and they need to be playing every day. With the Mets set to face only contenders for the rest of the season, it's unlikely for this to take place as we should expect a lot of Daniel Vogelbach at DH and Jonathan Arauz at third base.

2) This Buck Showalter quote is insane because Brett Baty is simply better than Jonathan Arauz

One thing Showalter said he'd change about Tuesday's lineup was the Brett Baty insertion at third base. Baty will presumably play most of the time against right-handers, but Buck made it seem like Baty would be sitting against lefties when facing contending teams.

That's a problem obviously because Baty should be in there simply to continue getting experience, but he's also simply the best option the Mets have at this point.

It's been a rough rookie season for Baty who is slashing .217/.288/.328 with seven home runs and 29 RBI in 90 games. He was given the third base job after a monster start to his season in the minors with Eduardo Escobar struggling, but did nothing to warrant keeping the job. The Mets sent him down in early August to work on some things, and Baty does have hits in all three of his starts since returning.

Baty has struggled overall, and has been even worse against lefties, slashing .169/.217/.277 with just one of his seven home runs against southpaws. This is a problem, but there're two responses I have to that problem. First, he'll only get better with reps. Second, what's the alternative? Jonathan Arauz?

The Mets simply don't have another option at third base. They sent Danny Mendick down, and Arauz has just two hits (both singles) in 19 at-bats with nine strikeouts against lefties. Why exactly is he a better option? Because he's a switch-hitter?

Playing Baty not only is a good thing for his development and the Mets future, but it's the best move for them to make if their goal is to really put the best lineup out there.

3) This Buck Showalter quote is insane because the NY Mets are still alive in the NL Wild Card race

With what Buck Showalter said to Gary Cohen, he's essentially admitting that the Mets are out of the race. The way the Mets acted at the deadline says that the organization believes they're out of it, but that's not the way the 28 active players and their manager should be acting.

New York is currently 64-74 on the season and 7.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot with 24 games to play. Is it probable? Absolutely not. FanGraphs gives the Mets a 0.4% chance to make the postseason. However, we've seen crazy things happen before. We've seen the Mets blow a seven game lead with 17 to go!

The Mets schedule is filled with teams they're chasing. Other than this weekend's series in Minnesota, the Mets have one series against the Diamondbacks and Reds and two series against the Marlins and Phillies. The Phillies and Reds are in a postseason spot, the Marlins are 0.5 back, and Arizona is one game back. The Mets would need a miracle run, but them facing teams they'd be chasing hypothetically helps a ton.

I absolutely have a problem with the manager admitting defeat when the Mets, despite it being a long shot, are still technically in the hunt, especially when he's talking about playing the best guys he has available to him. Instead of focusing on the other teams, why not focus on your own team actually making the unlikely run to the playoffs?

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