As bad as the Mets have been this season — something owner Steve Cohen acknowledged in a press conference on Wednesday — he said he wouldn’t take it out on Buck Showalter or general manager Billy Eppler, at least for the rest of this year.
Cohen said Showalter and Eppler would “absolutely” keep their jobs until the end of the regular season.
He instead blamed the team’s poor showing in 2023 on the players.
“It’s on the players,’’ Cohen said of the team that has the highest payroll in MLB history and entered Wednesday night in fourth place in the NL East, 16 ¹/₂ games behind Atlanta and 8 ½ games back in the wild-card race.
“They’re veterans. They’ve been there before. We’ll see if they can get their act together and string together some wins. We’re hoping for the best.”
That hasn’t worked so far, as the Mets have followed up a 101-season with one that had them seven games under .500 (36-43) entering Wednesday’s game against Milwaukee at Citi Field, playing increasingly sloppy baseball along the way.
Steve Cohen had his GM and manager’s backs despite the Mets’ spiral. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostCohen also took ownership of how badly the season has gone.
“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” Cohen said. “I’ll take responsibility. I’m the owner. Listen, ultimately, for some reason, we’re not as crisp as we were last year. We had a lot of players perform really well last year, and this year, they’re not performing quite as well. What the reason is, I don’t know. It’s a little bit above my pay grade. … It doesn’t mean it has to last all season, but the reality is the reality. The players know it. Management knows it. I know it. Hope is not a strategy, right? This is what we’re faced with.”
Cohen acknowledged the team’s shortcomings this season are problematic. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostThe evidence is stacked against a team that had dropped 16 of 21 games prior to Tuesday’s win over Milwaukee. If the downward spiral doesn’t end, Cohen indicated jobs would be on the line.
“[To finish] in fourth place and to sit and do nothing is probably not a great place to be,’’ Cohen said. “I don’t know what the answers are. We’re not playing well. I don’t care if we’re 16 ¹/₂ or 14 ¹/₂ or 18 ½ [games back]. It’s terrible. That’s not what I expected.”
And Cohen knows they are running out of time to fix it, with the trade deadline just over a month away and the team showing no signs — other than what Cohen called a “crisp” win on Tuesday — of making a run.
Buck Showalter’s job appears safe — for the rest of this season, at least. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post“The problem is, we’re close to half a season [being over], so we don’t have as much luxury of time as we had before,’’ Cohen said. “[But] we still have time.”
He also noted that he continues to look for a president of baseball operations who would be above Eppler in the organization’s hierarchy and that even if the results on the field have been mostly miserable, the Mets have taken steps in the minor leagues, as well as analytics and technology.
None of that, though, will help them overcome their massive hole in the standings in an attempt to get back to the postseason.
Billy Eppler has been among the Mets figures feeling the most heat in recent weeks. Gordon Donovan/NurPhoto/Shutterstock“This is where we are, right?” Cohen said. “We got ourselves in this mess, so how are we gonna get out?”
Cohen said flatly he would not add to the roster by the Aug. 1 trade deadline if the team is still wallowing in the standings and wouldn’t address whether he would spend less next season if this one doesn’t improve, which he hasn’t ruled out.
“They’re just gonna have to get their act together and act as a team and support each other,’’ Cohen said. “This is not an easy task. It’s gonna require real commitment. … Unfortunately, this year has not been what I hoped it to be. The year’s not over.’’
