New York Mets biggest weakness isn’t on the baseball diamond
The New York Mets have yet to deliver on the obvious — a World Series for a fanbase that craves one.
As a lifelong Mets fan, I feel good about the core of this current team: Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo.
But as you probably know from reading my Mets pieces in recent years, my issues with the current club are in management. I don’t think Buck Showalter is a World Series winning manager, and I certainly don’t think GM Billy Eppler is the man to take New York to the Promised Land.
I honestly think Eppler might be the absolute worst GM in Major League Baseball.
Seriously, let’s backtrack a little bit here. With the Los Angeles Angels, Eppler had a truly ugly 409-461 record (winning just 47 percent of his games).
What makes that record even worse? The Angels consistently had one of the highest payrolls in the bigs. All that money and Eppler couldn’t make anything good happen?
Now in New York, Eppler’s greatest failure has been supplementing and complementing the Mets’ current star players. This could be the best team in MLB, if Eppler could add proper help for Alonso, Lindor, Marte, McNeil and Nimmo.
NY Mets: Evaluating Billy Eppler’s decisions
In connection with this, let’s take a look at what he has done. He’s pitched Daniel Vogelbach as a team savior, a “power hitter” who has zero home runs this season, after hitting .000 in the Mets’ disappointing playoff series against the San Diego Padres last year.
He acquired Darin Ruf, Mychal Givens and Tyler Naquin at the Trade Deadline last season – three absolute busts.
And let’s look a little closer at that Ruf deal, in particular. One-for-one, any serious baseball person would tell you JD Davis is a better MLB player than Ruf. So how did the San Francisco Giants get four players (including Davis) from Eppler for Ruf, and Ruf alone?
To make matters worse? After getting let go by the Mets, Ruf re-signed with the Giants.
On the bump, Eppler gave aging veteran Carlos Carrasco $14 million to pitch this season. He is the seventh-highest paid player on the Mets, inexplicably above strong players like McNeil, David Robertson and Adam Ottavino. So how did that go for Eppler?
Carrasco’s start to the season leaves much to be desired, as he sports a brutal 11.42 ERA and 1.96 WHIP.
Furthermore, we must consider old man Justin Verlander (40 years old). While I expect him to be a solid contributor upon return, is it any surprise that he already got hurt this season?
What about another winner for Eppler: Eduardo Escobar who is 34 years old and can’t hit his way out of a paper bag right now.
The list goes on and on and on when it comes to Eppler. When you aren’t good at your job, this is ultimately what happens.
So in the end, my fear is that management will hold the Mets back — not the players. Showalter, despite managing for decades, still hasn’t won a World Series, and Eppler clearly doesn’t know how to add talent around a strong core of a team.
These Mets are so damn close. It would be a real shame if management ultimately held them back from their full potential.
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John Frascella is a published baseball author who has been covering the MLB for 19 years. Follow him on Twitter @LegendSports7 for all things baseball, football and basketball throughout the year.