Buck Showalter and the New York Mets are finishing up shop on a sorely disappointing 2023 season Sunday afternoon. They headed into the finale with a 74-86 record after winning 101 games last season.
This will represent the final game Showalter manages with the Mets. The veteran manager told reporters ahead of Sunday’s season finale against the Philadelphia Phillies that he will not return to the bench next season.
“The new leadership, they’re going to go in a different direction with the manager next year,” Buck Showalter said to reporters.
This comes weeks after the Mets brought in veteran personnel guy David Stearns to be the next president of baseball operations, working with general manager Billy Eppler moving forward. Stearns will have final control over roster decisions. Apparently, he decided that Showalter is not the man to lead the team moving forward. In reality, this was a firing.
The 67-year-old Showalter was a surprise hiring of the Mets ahead of the 2022 season. He proceeded to lead the team to its best regular-season since all the way back in 1986 when the Mets last won a World Series.
Buck Showalter managerial record: 1,726-1,664, .509 winning %
Showalter is a baseball lifer. He began his career as a manager with the New York Yankees, posting a 313-268 record from 1992-95. Showalter then managed the Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2000), Texas Rangers (2003-06) and Baltimore Orioles (2010-18). He enjoyed both success and failure, including leading the Orioles to a 47-115 record in 2018.
This season was simply a mess for the longtime manager and his soon-to-be former team. It’s no surprise the New York Mets opted to move on. Reports leading up to Sunday indicated that this would be the case.