Buck Showalter had the right philosophy on the DH spot, Billy Eppler had the wrong one

It’s not a bombshell. What’s a bit smaller than one of those? A stink bomb in the high school cafeteria during eighth period? We’ll call it that. Mike Puma of the NY Post revealed an answer to a New York Mets question we wanted to know all about: why is Daniel Vogelbach still here?

The answer likely goes deeper and is an indication of how much power the front office wields in day-to-day decisions. According to a source of Puma’s, Buck Showalter questioned why Vogelbach was still on the team after the trade deadline and was forced into starting him.

Showalter’s philosophy on the DH spot seems to differ greatly from what Eppler thinks it should be. Showalter wants it to be a rotating spot. Eppler wants, well, I’m not quite sure.

Put your NY Mets blame on Billy Eppler if you haven’t already for the Daniel Vogelbach grief

This one disagreement was surely enough to make August a miserable month for Showalter. He seemed a bit more checked out than usual throughout the season. However, being forced into starting a player you don’t think has a role on the MLB roster anymore has to be painful when you know what you’re doing. I’d be curious to know if he was aware the Mets were already able to interview David Stearns. If so, Showalter probably saw he was being bounced out of the picture in a couple of weeks.

Vogelbach’s presence on the Mets roster is hardly the lone culprit as to why the Mets didn’t get their chance in this year’s postseason. He’s an easy scapegoat to point at because of what a horrible mismatch he was. This was a team that lost a ton of flexibility because of his presence. It’s nothing personal against the guy. He just isn’t a fit.

The blame game in baseball often falls on general managers equally as it does the managers on the field. They’re the two making the decisions. In this instance, Eppler was clearly the wrong party. He forced Vogelbach into the starting lineup continually. None of us were naïve enough to completely believe this was a Buck decision. After all, Eppler had to do whatever he could to recover from the 2022 trade deadline disasters. Vogelbach was his last hope.