Where Things Stand With The Mets' Manager Search

With the lockout now in effect in MLB, teams aren’t allowed to sign/trade players… But while the MLB owners and players try to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, the Mets can hire a manager. Managers, and all other coaches for that matter, aren’t tied to the CBA and can do whatever they want during the lockout, in terms of new jobs or promotions. Those hires can proceed as if nothing’s going on, and it’s a blessing in disguise for the Mets. Over the last week or so the Mets have signed two solid players in Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha while opening up the checkbooks for Max Scherzer and Starling Marte. They were also in on Kris Bryant, Carlos Rodón and Yusei Kikuchi before the lockout ensued. Now the Mets can put their entire focus on hiring a manager which might be able to attract the likes of Bryant and other free agents since they’ll know whose managing the team.

While the search hasn’t taken much shape yet, Mets general manager Billy Eppler said earlier in the week when on the Max Scherzer Zoom call that they have a, “pretty wide list of names,” in regards to candidates for the position. It’s been a rocky road for the Mets since Terry Collins retired after the 2017 season. Mickey Callaway proved to be as useful as he was personable, due to his horrid acts in Cleveland, while Luis Rojas was too much of a friend and not a great leader of men to get ahold of things. Letting players walk all over you is not something you want from the leader of your team. Yes, he was in the Mets organization for 15-years prior to becoming the manager, and a majority of the players knew him while he was their manager in the minor leagues. But Rojas not being able take control and manage the players in the right manner got old real fast. Especially with his awful lineup making decisions.

Buck Showalter is a former manager from 1992-2018, with a couple of 3-4 year gaps in between his four stints. Schowalter is a guy with more experience than any other Mets candidate. Not a lot of playoff success, but that’ll happen when you spend 12-seasons with the Orioles and Diamondbacks. He’s always been a great leader though, and players, particularly Adam Jones, have raved about him over the years. Showalter praised the Mets for hiring Billy Eppler as their GM, and has been on record to say that he’d “listen” if the Mets were to call him to talk about the managerial vacancy. The Mets need a manager whose been there, and whose a seasoned veteran when it comes to manning the clubhouse, and Showalter should be viewed as a strong candidate.

Bruce Bochy seems like an extreme long shot due to him being retired and being a San Diego native. But with new Mets owner Steve Cohen, and in general, money talks. That being said, if we need to overpay for a manager, I’m not sure it would be worth it when there are a FEW candidates who I’d rather go with instead. Nonetheless Bochy is a 3x World Series Champion manager, who was able to get the best out of his Giants players year after year to capture three titles. Steve Cohen did say that he wanted to win a ring within his first 5-years of owning the Mets, so maybe Bochy, who has 2,003 career wins in 25 seasons as a manager, is the safest bet to guarantee a title?

Hiring a manager in Bochy and Showalter should be done with the awareness that it should be a short deal to groom the players, and to mentor someone as his bench coach who would inevitably replace them, and that’s where my next few candidates come into play.

Joe Espada is a fascinating name in baseball right now. He’s been the Astros bench coach since 2018, worked with Eppler when they were with the Yankees, and even interviewed with Eppler for the Angles gig. Eppler wanted to keep Brad Ausmus, but Showalter and Espada were his choices before LAA owner Art Moreno stepped in to hire Joe Maddon. Espada’s name has been connected to nearly every manager vacancy for the last 2-3 years now. He’s viewed very highly by his Astros players and future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker as praised Espada during his 2-years in Houston as the manager. If the Mets were to hire a first-time manager, Joe Espada would be my top choice. He’d also be a strong bench coach for a Showalter or Bochy as they could groom him even more to be their inevitable replacement.

Much like Espada, I view New Haven native Brad Ausmus as a guy who could be the Mets bench coach under Showalter or Bochy, and then be the manager once they leave/retire. Ausmus is a friend of Billy Eppler’s and when the two were with the Angels, Eppler didn’t want to fire Ausmus, but the owner stepped in. Ausmus did a decent job in Detroit for the Tigers, particularly early on in his tenure there. He also formed a strong relationship with new Mets starting pitcher, Max Scherzer. So much so that when Ausmus was fired by the Tigers in 2017, Scherzer, a member of the Washington Nationals at the time, spoke out against the firing and was upset by it.

Ausmus wasn’t given a fair shot in LA. One year just isn’t enough, especially when the team had no pitching. Ausmus just needs a fair chance, and with the Mets he’d be inheriting a very nice roster whose hungry, and has something to prove, just like Ausmus.

Ron Washington is another candidate that I’d strongly consider. Wash managed the Texas Rangers from 2007-2014 and put together a 664-611 record, including two American League pennants from 2010-2011. From 2010-2013 he won 90+ games in each of those seasons. After he was let go after the 2014 season, Wash went back to the Oakland A’s, where he had been for 20+ seasons, as their third base coach. He’s held the same position for the Atlanta Braves since 2017. Washington’s a guy who never got a second chance to manage, and if he won those two titles, even just one, in Texas… I’m sure he’d still be managing. Maybe the Mets are what he needs, as he’s close to Sandy Alderson so there’s some familiarity there, and new Mets OF/1B Mark Canha has mentioned Washington as one of his mentors in the past.

He’s very charismatic, funny, and easy to get along with according to his former, and current, players. DH Nelson Cruz, whose currently a free agent as the lockout is upon us and the universal DH could be announced after the lockout, has praised Washington in the past, saying that he helped Cruz to tap into his potential as an elite home run hitter. Braves 2B Ozzie Albies has also praised Wash in the past, most notably during this past season in 2021 when they won the World Series together.

These are just my top five choices, and I’m sure we’ll know some names over the coming weeks as the search, hopefully, begins to wind down. But while the Mets are the only team searching for a manager, that’s not a bad thing. They’ll be the only team conducting a managerial search during this lockout, so they have time to make the right choice, as well as not having to worry about a candidate choosing to go somewhere else.