It was a chaotic week for managers in MLB
Bench coach Carlos Mendoza #64 of the Yankees looks on during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Yankee Stadium on Friday, May 26, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The arrival of David Stearns as the Mets’ president of baseball operations didn’t make for the smoothest of transitions on the managerial front.
Buck Showalter closed his second season at the helm — the year after winning 101 games and his fourth Manager of the Year award — by announcing his own firing minutes after Game No. 162. It was beyond awkward, and a terrible way for Showalter’s Flushing tenure to end.
When the Mets ultimately chose Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza to replace Showalter six weeks later, it was greeted with some public derision but lauded among those in the industry. Stearns got a first-timer who could grow into the job, and coming over from the Bronx certainly didn’t hurt. It was a win-win for Stearns.
The initial vibe, going from Showalter to Mendoza, gave off a twinge of the Mets’ typical dysfunction — bouncing a 30-year veteran manager in favor of a crosstown bench coach. But looking around the rest of MLB, especially after the managerial merry-go-round this past week, the Mets didn’t seem so bad.
Just ask David Ross, who went into this offseason believing he’d be back as the Cubs’ manager and barely made it past Halloween. Ross was part of a surreal day of change on Monday, when the Guardians named Stephen Vogt as manager, the Mets reached agreement with Mendoza (still not official yet) and Craig Counsell shockingly replaced Ross, the standing manager on the North Side.
All of this happened within roughly 90 minutes, with the Guardians and Cubs promptly sending out news releases (the Mets plan to introduce Mendoza early this coming week). In one of the better bits of unintentional comedy, the Cubs' email announcement led with Ross being “relieved of his duties” and didn’t get to Counsell’s hiring until two-thirds of the way down.
Counsell had appeared to be the Mets’ first choice, given his previous working relationship with Stearns with the Brewers. And if he didn’t choose Flushing, staying in Milwaukee figured to be the call. Having a legit shocker like Counsell bolting to a mystery team like the Cubs, however, is a plot twist we don’t get very often. It took a mind-blowing $40 million contract (over five years) to make it happen.
“It just felt like an exceptionally hard decision but one that I felt like I had to make if the opportunity was there," said Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations. “My job is to figure out how to win as many games as we can in the short term and the long term, and there was nothing about this move that I felt like didn't meet that criteria.”
The Cubs did have some practice at steamrolling a standing manager. They pulled the same stunt in 2014, replacing Rick Renteria with Joe Maddon, who won the World Series with Chicago two years later. At least the Mets freed Showalter before Stearns launched his comprehensive search for a replacement.
Given Counsell’s exorbitant price tag and the raves for Mendoza, it didn’t really seem as if the Mets lost out on a first choice. In hindsight, it was hard to tell if Counsell even seriously considered coming to New York or just used his former Milwaukee pal to leverage a whopping payday from the Cubs.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Stearns said this past week, adding that Counsell “can play things pretty close to the vest . . . So the truth was, I never really knew. And ultimately he’s a really smart guy, he factored in all the information and he made the right decision for himself.”
The early reviews suggest Mendoza is the right choice for the Mets, but he’ll be their fourth first-time manager in the past six seasons, a troubling trend for the franchise. One thing to consider: That’s partly been attributed to the frequent front-office turnover, as the record will show that even Showalter lasted only two full seasons.
And it’s not as if the Mets are the only club lately that has a revolving door in the manager’s office. The Angels named Ron Washington their third manager in five years, choosing him over Showalter, who seemed like the frontrunner after his Mets dismissal. Washington led the Rangers to back-to-back World Series losses (2010-11) in his only other managerial stint, which ended with his resignation in 2014.
Then there’s the Padres, who were fine letting Bob Melvin out of the final year of his contract last month to go to the NL West rival Giants. Melvin lasted two seasons — same as his predecessor, Jayce Tingler — and under his guidance this year, the Padres were a $255 million disappointment, winning only 82 games despite a stacked roster. As of this weekend, the Padres had yet to hire Melvin’s replacement, leaving president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, a Huntington Station native, to wonder why they’re having so much trouble filling that spot.
“You want somebody that’s talented and in line with the organization and its values,” Preller said. “We haven’t quite gotten that right for different reasons.”
Preller was asked about his own role in these failures, given that he fired two of his hires and let the third return to the Bay Area.
“It’s a relationship,” Preller said. “So you can look at it and say there are definitely things I could have done better communication-wise, creating an environment and an atmosphere. Those are all different things you look back on and try to learn from each opportunity.”
The Mets are looking forward to a fresh start with Mendoza and hoping to avoid any more of the drama we’ve witnessed around MLB recently, with the Padres, Brewers and Astros still in the market for a manager.
Agent of change
To no one’s surprise, agent Scott Boras offered up a few unsolicited thoughts to kick off his own impromptu media session this past Wednesday at the GM meetings. Perhaps the most specific was adding seconds to the pitch clock as a starting pitcher goes deeper into the game, given the increased stress/fatigue levels.
Boras correctly pointed out that one of MLB’s goals is to lengthen a starter’s outings, believing that it’s better for the sport overall. We agree. But adding time to the pitch clock is a tough sell at this point after such a successful debut this season. Currently set at 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 with a runner on base, the new rule trimmed the average time of a nine-inning game to 2 hours, 39 minutes — down from 3:03 last season and the quickest since 1985 (also 2:39).
Under Boras’ plan, starting pitchers would get 18 seconds between pitches after throwing three innings and 20 after six (with the bases empty), allowing more of a breather later in games.
“We have to make concessions for the stress and the reserve of our most valued starting pitchers,” Boras said. “So these pitchers can be durable and receive the needed rest.''
Boras referred to these deep-inning starters as “one of our game’s greatest investments,” and it just so happens he’s got a number of them in the free-agent market this offseason. It’s an interesting concept. But as much as MLB is willing to listen to players’ concerns when it comes to rules, Boras shouldn’t hold his breath on this one.
Commissioner Rob Manfred had been trying for more than a decade to implement a pitch clock, and MLB quickly dismissed an earlier plea this season to add more seconds for the postseason. At the World Series, Manfred was thrilled about the clock’s positive impact just the way it is, so the expectation is that the rule will stay the same for 2024.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
