NY Mets Scapegoats: 1 who deserved his fate, 1 who didn't, 1 we should blame more

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A losing season for the New York Mets will typically result in some scapegoating. Finding someone to point the finger at and blame is the natural reaction when the Mets were as World Series or bust as can be.

Because the Mets season was pretty much over from the time they decided to sell at the trade deadline, the blame has already gotten passed around the circle plenty. The white flag flew over Citi Field for two months. Since early August, we've had time to come to more rational conclusions: no one person was to blame. The stadium was built on cursed land.

Among the biggest scapegoats receiving blame, one deserved his fate, another didn't, and a third should have probably been given a little larger of a lashing.

Billy Eppler deserved his fate from the 2023 outcome

The way in which Billy Eppler left the Mets isn't what anyone expected. It seemed like he was going to remain with the organization beneath David Stearns only for an MLB investigation into his use of the IL to appear and lead to a resignation.

The results of that investigation haven’t actually been made public just yet despite the belief we’d know by the end of the year. Any shady business Eppler might have engaged in certainly should lead to his ouster. However, we can find other reasons, too.

Eppler didn’t necessarily need to lose his job, but he did need to lose the power. His 2022 trade deadline performance remains unforgivable. Although we thank him for what he did at the 2023 trade deadline, those moves were more courtesy of Steve Cohen having the willingness to eat contracts.

Many of the good moves Eppler did make turned into a pumpkin after one season. Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, and Mark Canha are those three delectable free agent signings with a short shelf life.

Blaming the general manager is easy because they’re the ones who pick the players. Eppler made a lot of really good moves, but rested a little too quickly into believing it was enough.

It wouldn’t have been criminal for him to remain with the Mets. Awkward is the more appropriate way to put it. Getting leapfrogged by Stearns in the front office was the outcome he knew was already on the way. We’ll have to curiously wonder how things would have gone if he stayed.

Buck Showalter didn't deserve to lose his job

Buck Showalter was in a tough spot last year. In part, some of the team’s failings land squarely on him. Who better to blame than the manager?

He wasn’t quite the same gung-ho skipper from the year prior. Showalter lost a bit of his magic touch after giving it his all in 2022. It was obvious in every way. His interviews. The look on his face. Showalter already had an element of being less inspired by the situation.

We can make assumptions about this and the potential unhappiness he felt with Eppler. The now known debate over playing time of Daniel Vogelbach is sure to grind down even the most grizzled of baseball managers. Showalter knows how to put a lineup together. Eppler didn’t let him do the job he was hired for—or at least the one Showalter thought he was getting when he came out of retirement.

Several factors led to what was essentially a forced resignation for Showalter. The hiring of David Stearns guaranteed a managerial change. Stearns who does things his own way wouldn’t have been an ideal match for Showalter who likes to do things his own way, too. A bad record and no real thought of extending Showalter’s contract added to the reason why he lost his job. Why let him cling around for another year without intention of taking him along for the ride further?

Showalter didn’t deserve to lose his job, but he also needed to. The Mets are in a transitional phase right now. It’s a courtesy to not put Showalter through it.

Jeremy Barnes shouldn’t have returned as a co-hitting coach alongside Eric Chavez

Maybe it’s because he didn’t have a lucrative MLB career that helps Jeremy Barnes get more of a free pass publicly. As simple as it is to point the finger and scapegoat the manager, nobody gets lashed more than the hitting coach. It seems like they, even more so than pitching coaches, are the ones fired whenever a team goes through a slump.

Barnes won’t be the only hitting coach for the Mets in 2024. Eric Chavez, the team’s bench coach last season and hitting coach from 2022, has been reassigned to become the co-hitting coach with Barnes. It’s a bit of a strange situation. Is it just because they don’t want to pay someone for doing zero work? Are they protecting themselves from the possibility of Chavez leaving for a promotion elsewhere?

Whatever the Mets have in mind, the devolved offensive production in 2023 falls on the players who struggled, but also the man whose job it is to find holes in their swings. None of the players who were on the roster in 2022 and 2023 had a better year in the latter. Why is it? A change at hitting coach is the simplest explanation albeit just the scapegoat solution.

Barnes didn’t get results in 2023 from the Mets hitters. At least it didn’t lead to the return of Donnie Stevenson. Some horrors need to stay buried.

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