MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 6, 2022

Buck Showalter

New York Mets

Press Conference

Q. What do you think of the offseason so far?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Good. A lot of work to do. Got good people in place to do it. Got a lot of things that we're trying to do. Got a couple of coaching staff -- we're getting close to filling, working on that.

I know they've had a lot of things like nutritionists. Carson's not going to be back with us. Going to do something closer to home. So we've got to fill that. That's a big position.

Important things like that may not seem important as players, but things we've still got to be on top of.

Q. What was your reaction when you heard Jake took --

BUCK SHOWALTER: We were happy for him and his family. Good place. I know Chris Young. Played for me. He's a good man. And I think the world of Bruce.

So he's in a good situation. And contrary to what a lot of people try -- it wasn't something that he had pre-ordained. It was something that kind played itself out. And it was one of those offers he couldn't afford to pass up. We wish him well. In a good place.

Q. A pitcher that you would hypothetically bring in to replace him, I know you can't talk openly but generally, speaking as a manager, that's a different personality and you've got another big personality now from Max. What is the challenge for you as a manager in making all that mesh?

BUCK SHOWALTER: I've really got to be careful about commenting on something that hasn't come to pass. I don't want to jinx us. But that would be assuming that we didn't have some of that last year.

Everybody, when they get to this level, has that. So those type of things are my job, and teammates' job and the coaches' job. And I've found it's not that hard to make whatever adjustments need to be made when you've got really good players.

But we'll see how it works out when everything, when the smoke clears and we'll see who we have going to Port St. Lucie and who we don't, who we might have acquired during the (indiscernible) Port St. Lucie.

We have all these timelines, like, if you don't sign or do this by the time Winter Meetings are over, offseason is over. We added Adam Ottavino in spring training last year. Not many people pitched better than he did out of the bullpen. Just because things aren't delayed don't mean they're denied.

Q. Shouldn't wait until Spring Training this time to sign him.

BUCK SHOWALTER: Adam? Gotta have the cooperation on both sides. We like Adam. And I think he kind of likes us. And we'll see if it fits in the scheme of trying to put a complete team together.

Q. We saw Francisco Alvarez come up at the end of the year a little bit. What role do you envision him playing with the club next year?

BUCK SHOWALTER: We'll see if there's an opportunity somewhere along the way for him to make a club. With him, I think he's got a chance to be when and not if. But there's still some things that he -- we all, every young player you'd like to -- they're not going to be a finished product when they get to the big leagues in today's game.

But we'll see how he does in the spring. We'll see how the rest of the offseason -- but we're glad he's on our side. We think he's got a chance to be a good player in the big leagues.

Q. What are some of the main things to be watching for in this coming year?

BUCK SHOWALTER: For him?

Q. Yes.

BUCK SHOWALTER: I think one thing that's obvious to me, the whole thing "works well with others." He's very coachable, very sponge-like. He wants to learn. His ego -- we had a lot of pitchers go down in rehab; they all came back and spoke highly of Alvy.

That part I like. He's a pleaser. He wants to bring -- he doesn't have all the answers. He's a guy that I think he's going to improve as he goes forward. And gotta keep in mind, he's 21 years old. But he's got a chance to be a really good player.

Q. Do you think the lineup needs more power?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Not necessarily, no. Depends on how you define power, if it's purely home runs. We scored enough runs to win. And the better the pitchers are, sometimes the less home runs that are given up.

No, I don't stay up at night about, oh, gosh, we've got to have X number of power and let's add X number of strikeouts. And to beat the really good pitchers, you have to be able to do some things other than just hit home runs.

No, I don't think that's a prerequisite. I know you're looking at something where we didn't rank highly compared to other clubs in baseball. At the end of the day we did win 101 games, so offensively we must have been doing something right.

Q. You scored plenty of runs. I think you were seventh in the majors in slugging percentage, but only 15th in home runs. So to your point --

BUCK SHOWALTER: Yeah, doubles, triples.

Q. The power, kind of depends on what you like philosophically, I guess, offensively.

BUCK SHOWALTER: I like when there's a W next to our name at the end of the game. How we get there, we get there.

Saying this is exactly -- you have to have some versatility to you because on a given night a pitcher's a lot better than some other guys. And you can't play that game.

You don't go, hey, guys, we need to hit for power tonight. You need to do this tonight. It doesn't work that way.

No, I'm comfortable with the approach that we took last year and the way we went about it. And hope to improve on some of that.

We'd all like to have the perfect player, high average, 30, 40 home runs, but very few of those exist. I think they're talking about one right now, where he's going to end up, right?

Q. How would you feel about Marte playing center field if it comes to that?

BUCK SHOWALTER: I think with Starling, he's willing to do whatever we want to do about him. I found out, getting to know him, Joey has been great, Cora, having him -- whatever you're going to do with him, be up front, tell him what's expected and kind of leave it alone. Don't be moving all over the place.

We found that with the batting order. We found it right field, left field, center field in the spring. He'll do whatever.

Understand going into last year he hadn't played right field. To make it work, he played it for us. So that would have to be something that I'd have to -- he'd be willing to do it but you have to get ahead of it and be consistent in how you go about it.

Q. From a wear-and-tear standpoint on his legs, does that concern you?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Some people will tell you that right field might be as much if not more wear and tear. Center field, they say there's more territory, but there's also a lot of decelerations in right field that you don't have in center field. The decelerations are really what I worry about more.

Q. You guys had a lot of free agents come off the roster. What is it like as a manager, you know these guys well, whether it's Jake, Nimmo, Mitch, (indiscernible) -- what's it like as a manager obviously wanting some of these guys back but also wanting what's good for them in their careers.

BUCK SHOWALTER: One, you become aware of their lives and what's going on in reality. Over the course of the season you try to stay in it. But we like to have them all back, but it just doesn't work that way. You want what's best for them but you selfishly want what's best for your club.

I have a lot of confidence in watching Billy and how the front office worked last year before I got here. So I have a lot of confidence in where we're going to end up this year.

And it's not always revealed to you like right now. We all want everything to be right now so we can write about it and project about it and say what's right and wrong, where the pitfalls are. But it just doesn't work that way. Not everybody cooperates.

You can have this great trade set up and da da da, they should want this and we'll get this. You call me, nope. Sometimes the cooperation is not there. You get a phone call from an agent saying we're going to this place tomorrow. Just want to let you know.

Q. What was your reaction with the deal with (indiscernible)?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Good one. Good as it gets. I don't think I've ever had a closer from start to finish that good. And love the fact how much he wanted to be here. I think he respected the way that we respected how he rebounded.

I like the fact he had his nose bloodied. And he knows what it's like to come back from that. I think he showed last year the ability to adjust on a given night. He was very honest with us. He knew we'd listen to what he was saying.

I don't think he's one of the guys that would assume because he had X amount of success in the last season that it's going to be there for next season. He knows he has to go out and earn it every night. There's no secret. Everybody knows what he's bringing.

Q. You do have to sort of reconfigure the outfield; Nimmo is not an option. Would you be comfortable with McNeil a lead-off hitter or is there another option for that spot?

A. Brandon did such a good job leading off, that's going to be a challenge. We could look at it differently. But we have some options from within that I'd be comfortable with.

I'm not sure yet until we see how the rest of it constructs itself, what direction we'll go. But you mentioned a couple of good options there with Starling and Jeff. But we're holding out hope that somehow it works out with Brandon.

Q. When you and your group were talking to free agents, do you talk specifically about playing in New York, what it takes to play in New York, what it takes to handle playing in New York?

BUCK SHOWALTER: To a point. I don't think you become a prisoner to it. There's pressure in Kansas City. We always seem to think we have a corner on it. I've been in other places, and there's expectations.

A lot of them are self-driven, the pressure. It's kind of I think sometimes we go, oh, gosh, he could play there but he couldn't play there.

I don't know. If you're a good player you can play anywhere. And I've seen some people that, oh, he'll struggle in New York. No he didn't.

He'll be fine with it. No he wasn't. So what's driving that? Play better. So I hear a lot of that. And there's probably some truth to it. Okay. Just depends on how you're wound.

I think it's a snowball place. It's one thing we liked about Adam, is Adam, if he might have had a not-so-good night. But he never snowballed. He didn't let it -- it might be the fact he's from New York. And he loved it when he would -- the few times he might struggle -- he loved the fact we put him out there again the next night because you look for that in players.

But you look at it everywhere. You don't want bad times to snowball. And I think that's one thing you look for. You going to sit around and feel sorry for yourself and wallow around in pity?

In New York they're always waiting to embrace you. You've just got to give them something to embrace you. They want you to be good. They want you to do well. They're not just waking up going, hey, please be bad for my team. You control it.

Q. There's a Japanese free agent pitcher?

BUCK SHOWALTER: There's actually three of them.

Q. What do you think about him?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Senga? I like him. Are you an agent? How much you want? (Laughter) We'll make a deal right here. You sign him? Would you sign him?

Q. Yes.

BUCK SHOWALTER: How many years?

Q. I'm not an agent.

BUCK SHOWALTER: How many years do you think he'll get? Five?

Q. Three.

BUCK SHOWALTER: That's what everybody is trying to figure out. It's tough to project those guys. But a good pitcher is a good pitcher.

You're always thinking about the load of pitching every fifth day compared to the other one, but they said that about some really good Japanese pitchers that came over here and did well.

So he's a good one. We've talked with him. And he's impressive. You can see why they think so highly of him. I enjoyed our little talk with him.

Q. How about all the experience -- (indiscernible)?

BUCK SHOWALTER: I talked to Koji about it.

Q. What does Koji think?

BUCK SHOWALTER: He's always been -- I actually had to talk to Koji's wife. She and my wife stayed friends and she kind of interpreted for us.

Q. You say it's hard to project those guys. Why?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Just every fifth day. It's kind of like a Friday night pitcher in college baseball. They're pitching maybe once a week. All of a sudden you're asked to post up every fifth day. Now, they're throwing 140, 150 pitches in that once-a-week thing, so can you shorten them up at 90 and 100 and have them pitch every fifth day.

Okay, what if you're wrong? So that's the thing you're always considering.

Q. What do you think of -- I understand there's some things you can't talk about, but the state of the rotation generally right now with several free agents, deGrom gone, et cetera?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Getting there. Brought Carlos back. Potentially adding a guy when we get through the physical.

I know all the names and people we're talking about, whether it be free agents or trades and the parameters to work in. I'm confident we'll have some good pieces by the time we break camp to play the Marlins.

Q. With respect to the outfield, with some of the questions we're asking about Marte, where he might play, how much easier would it make your life if you do get Brandon back?

BUCK SHOWALTER: We'd like to have him. He's a good player. He's established himself. He had a post-up, good physical year where he, for whatever reason he seemed to get through a lot of things that have been a challenge in the past, that didn't snowball into something where he had to sit out a lot of games. So that was good to see. So he answered some questions there. He's capable of it.

What is he, 30? Brandon got better every year he played. He improved. And so somebody will get a good person and a good player. We hope it's us. But if not, we have to be ready to pivot and move in another direction.

Q. What is the most important thing the Mets have to do this offseason?

BUCK SHOWALTER: I probably look at it differently than some other people.

Q. That's why I'm asking.

BUCK SHOWALTER: We've got a couple of coaches -- we had a really good coaching staff last year. One of the better ones I've had. We have a couple of coaches to add. Just from my standpoint.

The rest of it will take care of itself. I'm going to manage the players that the GM that I have a lot of confidence in and owner put in front of me. And I'm looking forward to seeing who we end up with.

Q. Aside from the bullpen coach opening, do you have another opening?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Assistant hitting coach. Basically the assistant hitting coach became the head. And then we added -- Glenn is going to have, at some point we're going to end up with Glenn spending a lot of time with Alvarez. Not sure when that will be but we need to be ready for that.

Q. Is he in uniform still, Glenn?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Yes. He better not be. Glenn -- I know Chavy will need a lot of help with the Spring Training scheduling and stuff.

It's the developing skill set that he's going to get better at. It will be fun. We got a good one. Glad Jeremy got back on board. That was a big -- got Harrison to sign.

Q. How long? 10 years? Lifetime contract?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Two years is what I got. I don't know what he signed for. But it was a good sign. We've already had a good offseason.

We've got a meeting tomorrow with the rules and all the new stuff coming in. I'm taking Harrison with me. That's going to be must-see entertainment because he's going to -- any questions? Harrison is going to put his hand up. They already used a couple of his challenges last year in the meeting this morning as an example. Pretty cool. Lost his humbleness, though. He's pretty good at it.

Q. You shouted him out too much. That's on you.

BUCK SHOWALTER: Why don't we let somebody do an article on him? Now that he's got a contract. I wish somebody could sit with him during a game look at the game the way he looks at it. We pick up the phone, he's already looked at five replays.

Q. Let's make it happen.

BUCK SHOWALTER: He knows how to work machinery to get angles before we even get to the phone. He's the best I've ever seen.

Q. How many have you seen?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Ten. We've changed in the middle of the year couple times. It's kind of like team doctors. I go, listen, we're going to ask your opinion, get it. Now, if you're wrong ten times in a row we'll get another doctor. But if you sit on the fence, we're definitely going to get another doctor. Yes or no?

So Harrison never gives us, oh, that's a tough one, Buck. I love the fact that he'll go, he's probably out but they will not overturn that. That's a tough one because you know what they will overturn and what they won't.

Q. What did you see in Jeremy Barnes that makes --

BUCK SHOWALTER: Competition. Somebody that will take him. He's good. Players liked him. He brought something we were in need of and we had an opportunity and a way to keep him, and we did.

We were lucky to have -- Glenn could do anything -- coach third, coach first, bench coach, name it, Glenn's done it. And it helps, Eric still will have some input and really it's the way to have almost three hitting coaches. In today's game, everybody's got an assistant, right? You got an assistant?

Q. I don't think so.

BUCK SHOWALTER: Got somebody that stands in for you every once in a while, right?

Q. Yes.

BUCK SHOWALTER: But they can't carry your shoes.

Q. What question would you ask if you were us?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Could O'Neil move to outfield and play Guillorme every day at second? I don't think we'll go there yet. Guillorme is too valuable to move around.

Q. Who is your Opening Day starter?

BUCK SHOWALTER: Right now Max.

Q. How about tomorrow?

BUCK SHOWALTER: What would you do?

Q. Give it to the guy who has been here.

BUCK SHOWALTER: Max didn't pitch Opening Day last year.

Q. Tylor Megill. Classic.

BUCK SHOWALTER: He's having a good offseason.

Q. How so?

BUCK SHOWALTER: He's healthy, throwing well. Sometimes we forget how big a part he played in everything for a couple of months. Get him back.