3 front office decisions by the Mets that have earned our faith

Fans cheer as Mets owner Steve Cohen makes his way through the crowd prior to the unveiling of the
Fans cheer as Mets owner Steve Cohen makes his way through the crowd prior to the unveiling of the / Frank Becerra Jr. / The Journal News /
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Ya gotta believe in the team but ya also gotta have faith in the front office. They are the chefs in the kitchen. The current New York Mets regime has done a lot to try and earn the trust of the fans after years of mistrust from the previous ownership and those reporting directly to them.

The 2022 Mets have put together an awesome year with the possibility of ending things with a championship parade. Results matter the most. From those results, these front office decisions should have fans confident that even if things don’t end perfectly this year, this is a group to have faith in moving forward.

1) NY Mets front office earned our faith with the Buck Showalter hiring

Nothing was more obvious this offseason for the Mets than to hire Buck Showalter. After two rookie managers that combined two have one winning season in four tries, it was time to do something new. Get someone who has experience on the job.

The Mets did just that. Several years removed from managing in MLB, Showalter made his return to the Big Apple to manage in a new borough. The results speak for themselves but it’s also worth mentioning how much the eye test tells us, too.

This year’s Mets club could have certainly been talented with anyone at the helm. However, there are certain aspects where we have to believe nobody could have done a better job than Showalter or someone similar. There have been few, if any, distractions. Even with Jacob deGrom’s pending opt-out, a lot of trash-talking from the Atlanta Braves, and definitely at least a little friction behind the scenes as every large group of people will experience, we haven’t seen or heard much about it.

Showalter isn’t the kind of manager that allows the inmates to run the asylum. That was the problem in the last few seasons. The manager was more eyes and ears. In Showalter’s case, he’s able to handle it. More so, those same petty issues aren’t erupting. Winning definitely helps. Let’s not ignore those other things needed to win; like a team actually getting along a bit better than they did in 2021.

2) NY Mets front office earned our faith with nearly every major offseason signing or trade

Did the Mets have a perfect offseason? Not quite. Eduardo Escobar hasn’t played well. The Joely Rodriguez addition wasn’t the right one for the bullpen. Not getting a legitimate DH ahead of time also set the team up for a need all year long.

For every miss the Mets had, there were far more hits. Big ones, too. Grand slam level.

Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Adam Ottavino, etc. have all performed at a high level. Oh, Chris Bassitt, too. Let’s not forget him. You know the team added a lot of good members when you start to forget some.

Billy Eppler and company made up for a few of the misses at the trade deadline. Daniel Vogelbach has turned into an affordable DH option against righties. As part-timers, Tyler Naquin and Darin Ruf make for good additions although we probably needed a bit more from both. Let's let the jury deliberate a little more before declaring this year's trade deadline a complete bust.

By correcting mistakes they made previously, the Mets front office has helped make up for those small number of errors. They’re not even all that major either. Escobar is a good clubhouse guy and is a natural fit to slide into a part-time role next season. Rodriguez is an easy non-tender candidate after the season is over. His biggest problem was the team hasn’t had a better left-handed option.

The front office selected wisely when building this current team in the offseason. In doing so, we feel like we can trust them.

3) NY Mets front office earned our faith by keeping the farm system mostly intact

Not only did the front office improve the team with several trades, but the farm system also looks just as strong as it did prior to the trade deadline and even heading into the offseason. Somehow, Eppler has kept all of the team’s best prospects in tow. Because they didn’t make any blockbuster deals, the future is looking really bright.

The counterargument to this would be that the Mets did need to add more. Specifically, most fans would have enjoyed seeing a bullpen upgrade of more significance than Mychal Givens. That’s fair. And if there is one area we can question them, it’s in that department.

There is a plan, however. Between Tylor Megill and David Peterson, the team already has two bullpen options down the stretch and maybe even into the postseason. When starting rotations drop from five to three or four in the playoffs, the Mets could move Carlos Carrasco and/or Taijuan Walker to the bullpen to spice things up further.

 A somewhat overlooked aspect of the front office is their consistency. We knew from the start they didn’t want to trade away their best prospects. They’ve remained committed to that way of thinking similar to how they aren’t willing to go to a certain price for certain free agents.

Consistency is important—especially when it works. The blueprints printed last November have been followed with every decision when it comes to the farm system and other areas. Having a front office that sticks to the plan is something everyone can trust in.

NEXT STORY: 2 Mets to extend right now, 1 to wait on

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