Buck Showalter Speaks On Load Management During Mets Tenure

One of the finest seasons in recent Mets history was captained by Buck Showalter. In his first season in Queens, he led New York to a 101-win campaign and a Wild Card spot; but, in 2023, the team suffered a significant setback.

Buck Showalter Speaks On Load Management During Mets Tenure

With just a year remaining on his deal, Showalter was let go by the organization when David Stearns was appointed to the position of president of baseball operations.

During his interview on Tuesday’s Foul Territory podcast, the former Mets captain covered a wide range of subjects related to both baseball in general and his previous clubs in particular.

Showalter is a 22-year-old managing veteran who embodies traditional values. However, he’s adjusted to the modern, analytically-focused aspects of baseball rather effectively. He said as much throughout his tenure with the Mets, but one aspect he could not understand was the load management.

In an appearance on “Foul Territory,” Showalter mocked the “load management” concept in sports.

“It’s funny how guys get penalized now for playing too much. First thing I look up in the column is games played. Do you post up? Do you post up? And these guys posted up, man,” Showalter said when discussing Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, two players he used to manage. “They’re hard to find nowadays.

“I love when those guys come in about their load management,” Showalter said, seemingly referring to members of the front office. “We had a guy that had a triple and two doubles, and they came in and said he probably needs a day off because he ran too much around the bases. So, what do you want me to tell him? Don’t get any hits so you can play the next day? I didn’t quite understand that.

“I said, ‘OK. You go out there and tell Brandon Nimmo that he’s not playing today because he did too well last night.'”

But the veteran baseball mind also advocated for a proper balance between the information and the “heartbeat of a game.”

“They present a lot of things to you but sometimes it’s a lot different in the dugout in the eighth and ninth inning when you know what’s going on mentally with a guy, emotionally with a guy,” Showalter said. “You know things that are going on on and off the field. There’s so many factors that figure into it. So the best guys that I’ve dealt with are receptive to the other part of it — they bring something I can’t bring, but the coaching staff brings something that they can’t bring just from your experiences.”

One year after winning the NL Manager of the Year award, Showalter and New York called it quits following a dismal season for the Mets. In November, New York appointed Carlos Mendoza, a former bench coach for the Yankees, as its new manager.

Although Showalter doesn’t seem to like load management, the seasoned captain stated he was open to the game’s analytics.

Though the 2023 Mets finished 75-87 and missed the postseason, the problem was not with the analytics department. The losses to regulars like Starling Marte prevented New York from getting out to the quick start they had hoped for, and many of their best players did not live up to the hype.

But the departure of All-Star closer Edwin Diaz in the World Baseball Classic is what many point to as the main reason for the Mets’ disappointing season.

Is Buck Showalter a Hall of Famer?

He was inducted into the New York–Penn League Hall of Fame in August 2017.

Has Buck Showalter ever won anything?

In total, he has managed 3,393 games over 22 years with a winning percentage of.509. Only one playoff series, along with an Orioles Wild Card Game, have been won by Showalter.

How much does Buck Showalter make?

Showalter signed a three-year, $11.25 million contract prior to the 2022 season, with one year left on it.

 

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