Mets owner Steve Cohen announces news conference, GM Billy Eppler stands by manager Buck Showalter

Mets owner Steve Cohen will hold a rare in-season news conference Wednesday, but don’t expect sweeping — or any — changes to a team that has spectacularly underperformed through the first half of the season.

After Cohen announced on Tuesday his intention to speak publicly, general manager Billy Eppler — in his own unexpected media session — said he still believes in manager Buck Showalter, still believes the players are better than they have shown and still believes the Mets can make the playoffs.

“I believe in the talent of this team,” Eppler, citing the “track record” of the players, said in the Mets’ dugout before they hosted the Brewers.

“Buck’s had a good amount of adversity heaped his way . . . Buck’s handled that adversity and he’s the guy to get us back on track.”

Eppler added later in the 21-minute group interview: “[Showalter and the coaching staff] deserve an opportunity to keep this going and all of the support we can give them.”

Earlier in the day, Cohen revealed via his usual preferred method of public communication — Twitter — that he will take questions Wednesday so that “you will get it from me straight.”

Why now?

“I think everyone wants to hear my point of view,” he wrote in a message to Newsday.

Eppler framed Cohen’s media availability as nothing special, saying that he had planned since spring training to give a news conference around the All-Star break.

Now in his third season owning the Mets, Cohen occasionally has talked to the assembled media, but not in a setting as formal as a pre-arranged news conference. Most of the group interviews he has given have been impromptu gatherings, typically when he appears on the field during batting practice at a random road game.

Cohen has been more involved in the Mets’ daily operation this season, he said during spring training, because Sandy Alderson transitioned from team president to consultant. The Mets have not hired a replacement but, as of February, planned to eventually, Cohen said.

Eppler said he speaks with Cohen “every day.” During the Mets’ continued struggles, Cohen has remained supportive, Showalter said.

“I couldn’t ask for a better owner. He gets involved in, obviously, whatever he wants to. He owns the team. I know how much the Mets mean to him,” Showalter said. “He gets frustrated. Very competitive man. Trust me. Very competitive man. And not afraid to ask why. You better have those answers. He likes to win.”

Eppler said he and Cohen “are sharing a lot of the same feelings and disappointment” regarding the state of the team.

Plodding through what has been by far their worst month of the season, the Mets entered play Tuesday 35-43, a season-high eight games under .500. They were 16 games back of first-place Atlanta in the NL East and 8 1⁄2 games out of the last wild-card playoff berth.

The Mets will reach their halfway point — game No. 81 of 162 — Thursday.

As they approach the Aug. 1 trade deadline, they will have to decide what strategy to deploy. Eppler left open the possibility that the Mets become sellers, which would mean parting with pieces of a roster they thought could win the World Series.

But there is time for them to turn it around.

“We’ve got a decent amount of runway here before the deadline and would hope we can change the story,” Eppler said. “If we can, we can add. If it doesn’t, then we’ll just kind of have to create other opportunities and see what else exists out there and see how we can serve the long-term blueprint of the organization.”

A club with an estimated $377 million payroll, as calculated for luxury-tax purposes, by far the highest in the history of baseball, has no discernible strengths.

They averaged 4.47 runs per game, 16th out of 30 teams, before their game Tuesday. They also had a 4.62 ERA, which is 25th.

The “biggest deviation” from their expectations has come on the pitching side, according to Eppler. He added that he has spoken with Showalter repeatedly about the need to clean up sloppy play in the field and on the bases.

Eppler also accepted some responsibility. “I constructed the roster,” he said. “Ultimately, this is the club we have right now. And I expect them to be able to do more and I think they expect that for themselves.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.