NEW YORK — The Mets are skidding to the end of one of the worst months of play in the Steve Cohen era. General manager Billy Eppler, the person tasked with building the most expensive roster in North American sports history, conveyed a message to the fans: Everything is going to be fine.
That message isn’t likely to be received well given that everything is far from fine at this juncture of the 2023 season. Coming into Tuesday, the Mets were sitting in fourth place in the NL East, 16 games back from the Atlanta Braves and 8.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race. It’s a far cry from last season as the team was among the best in baseball until the final weekend of the regular season.
But because of what the Mets did last season and what the clubhouse veterans have accomplished in the past, Eppler has come to the conclusion that no drastic actions need to be taken. Buck Showalter will remain at the helm and his coaches aren’t getting fired anytime soon either.
“They deserve an opportunity to keep this going and all the support that we can give them,” Eppler said Tuesday at Citi Field.
The priority, Eppler said, is turning the Mets into a perennial contender. All decisions will be made with that goal in mind.
“I think the ultimate goal here is to build our World Series odds over a longer-term horizon,” Eppler said. “And so the things that are going to serve that goal will get put in front of any kind of shorter-term goal.”
Eppler’s remarks added little clarity to a murky season.
The former Los Angeles Angels general manager and Yankees assistant general manager acknowledged that pitching is the most pressing and confusing issue facing the Mets right now, though there are certainly others as well, like defense and bad judgment on the basepaths.
Overall, the Mets have a 4.62 ERA, ranked 26th in the league. The relief group has an ERA of 4.23, ranked 22nd. The 4.89 starting pitching ERA is the fifth-worst mark in baseball and the starters have thrown fewer innings than all but eight teams. The Mets are allowing the third-most home runs per nine innings (1.42) and the seventh-most walks per nine (3.71).
“There are some theories as it relates to pitching,” Eppler said. “Just the execution. Being able to repeat pitches, get the ball to behave the way that they want to want it to behave. We’re in a position where we’re kind of changing some things up and moving a couple of pieces around. I know, [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] and some of our analytics groups are working on pitch design and trying to get these guys in a better spot.”
Homegrown depth starters Tylor Megill and David Peterson have regressed, as has right-handed reliever Drew Smith. The supplementary relievers with options that Eppler brought in over the winter haven’t panned out. Eppler, a former scout, hasn’t provided his manager with enough high-quality bullpen pitchers and his front office group often dictates which pitchers are available on any given day.
Eppler stood behind his scouting when pressed about relievers like Stephen Nogosek, Tommy Hunter, Jeff Brigham, Dominic Leone and Smith. After closer Edwin Diaz was injured in the World Baseball Classic, the Mets failed to make a move to replace him. Eppler couldn’t find a trade market and didn’t like the free-agent options. That may be true, but he also might have overvalued mediocre relievers with options.
“By and large, we wanted to build that depth and in some cases, we’ve had some regression in some of the performance from the guys that were here last year and where they are now,” he said. “But we fully believe that they can get back to the best version of themselves, or even to their accustomed level. And it’s our job to kind of support that and solve it and help them get optimized.”
Eppler said many times that he trusts the struggling veterans like pitchers Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco, outfielders Mark Canha and Starling Marte and designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach to be able to return to old form. He’s going to “lean on the back of the baseball card with these guys” and trust that the models his analytics team has used will be correct.
Except it sounds like the models haven’t been 100% accurate.
“They’re kind of within the band of outcomes, I would say, of the possibilities,” Eppler said.
It’s unclear how he plans to approach the trade deadline. He already traded third baseman Eduardo Escobar for two Double-A pitchers. He said he isn’t going to touch the organization’s top prospects, though the club doesn’t seem to have much use for first baseman/third baseman Mark Vientos.
Eppler doesn’t feel that there is much he can do to change the trajectory of the team this season, other than support the systems and processes already in place and try to improve on them.
As for what Cohen himself thinks?
“I think everybody is going to get a chance to ask him,” Eppler said, citing Cohen’s Wednesday press conference.
