Why Buck Showalter Brings 'Accountability' To Mets
There aren't many names around the game of baseball that have a better reputation than Buck Showalter.
It's one of the reasons behind the Mets' decision to hire him as the 24th manager in franchise history.
And after the Mets pulled the trigger by giving Showalter a three-year deal on Dec. 18, a few of his former standout players from his time managing the Orioles weighed in on the move and they all agreed that their ex-skipper brings one key value: accountability.
This time, the topic of discussion was Showalter's biggest blunder of his career during the 2016 wild-card game when he chose to leave his All-Star closer Zack Britton in the bullpen in a tie contest. In the end, the Orioles fell to the Blue Jays by a score of 5-2 in extra innings as a result, and Showalter's decision drew a ton of criticism.
But according to Britton, he holds no grudge against Showalter, who made things right with both him and the rest of the team afterwards. In the following spring, ahead of the 2017 season, Showalter apologized to Britton and the club.
“We always had this spring training thing, which I thought was cool — off-site, get together in a movie theater, kind of show you the highlights of the previous season, just a bonding moment for the team,” Britton told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “During that meeting, he got up there and said, ‘Before we start, I just want to address the elephant in the room.’
“He apologized to me, which I didn’t think he needed to do. I think there were some guys on the team that were frustrated by the move. He just said: ‘That’s my bad. I messed up.’ And it was done with.”
However, Mets newly signed star pitcher Max Scherzer, who made it known that he wanted Showalter to become the team's next manager, brought it up to Britton during bargaining sessions in Dallas prior to the lockout this offseason. These pitchers are members of the player's union executive subcommittee, and Britton told The Athletic that he assured Scherzer that the 2016 wild-card incident was "not that big of a story."
As then Orioles bullpen coach Dom Chiti revealed, Britton was told to be ready to pitch multiple innings if the Orioles had the lead. But the game was on the road in Toronto, so Showalter only wanted to use his closer if Baltimore was ahead. Showalter wound up using seven different pitchers in this matchup, but none were his dominant closer, Britton, who went 47-for-47 in save chances and posted a historic 0.54 ERA during the regular season.
“Everyone always talks about it,” Britton said. “But he had his reasons. I’m not 100 percent sure why, but it didn’t matter. I always knew Buck was thinking through it. He always had a plan. Maybe it didn’t go according to his plan, and then it kind of backfired. But he was willing to take that risk, sticking with the plan.
“The reality is, if I was to pitch, and we stayed tied — because we weren’t scoring runs — I was like the only guy left in the bullpen. People forget that. I would have had to have thrown all the way through the game. And I had just come off (a multi-inning appearance, 1 2/3 innings against the Yankees two days before) to get us into the playoffs. I don’t know his exact reasoning. But I truly think he was trying to do right by me and not hurt me. I’m going to be honest: I don’t think he thought we were going to score. And he didn’t want me to have to go out there for two or three innings.”
Although Showalter has never fully explained his decision to not pitch Britton in this game, he told The Athletic that he felt his apology was a crucial step in holding the Orioles together.
“They needed me to address it, just deal with it,” Showalter said. “It kind of set the tone, as an example.”
Showalter managed the Orioles from 2010-2018, leading them to the postseason three-times. Their best season came in 2014 when they won the AL East and made it all the way to the ALCS.
Machado Chimes In
Five-time All-Star third baseman Manny Machado burst onto the scene after making his debut in 2012 with the Orioles. And Showalter was his manager for the first seven-years of his career, which is what Machado believes made him the player he is today.
“We never questioned anything he ever did,” Machado told Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. “I think he’s one of the best managers to manage a bullpen. For him to not put in Zack, in one of the biggest games of our lifetime, I think it hurt him. I think it hurt a lot of people. But I think it hurt him mostly.
“The next year he came up and apologized. We learned from it. It shows we’re all human beings. And we make mistakes sometimes. But you learn from it. That’s the beauty of our game.”
Back in June of 2014, Machado was at the forefront of a benches clearing altercation with the Oakland Athletics after he reacted to a high tag from fellow third baseman Josh Donaldson.
“I don’t know what happened from his end, but I was just trying to do my job and play the game of baseball,” Donaldson said. “I think he just said I tagged him too hard.”
Showalter, who is known for playing the game the right way, was aware that Machado overreacted to the situation. Showalter held a team meeting afterwards, but did not mention Machado by name. According to The Athletic, multiple players in attendance said Showalter's message was: If we are going to fight, it must be for the right reason.
“Buck addressed the team and addressed Manny in front of the team, which I thought meant a lot,” said current San Diego Padres coach, Ryan Flaherty, who played for Showalter with the Orioles from 2012-2017. “A lot of these young managers won’t do that.”
And as Showalter said: “You don’t single one guy out. Everyone knows who you’re talking about. But there’s nothing worse than supporting something you know is wrong. That tears a club up. It’s: ‘Your actions reflect on everyone. Let’s make sure we’re fighting for a just cause.'”
Former Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy could not recall the specific details of Showalter's discussion, but said he would often sense when the manager was about to call a meeting.
“You know how Buck is, the most prepared guy ever,” Hardy said. “Very rarely did I feel like it was spur of the moment. If we were struggling, maybe not playing well, making mental errors for a few days in a row, you could feel it coming. All of his talks, it was almost like a dad talking to you. Afterward, you would go: ‘Wow. Interesting way to look at it.’ It would open your eyes to seeing it differently.”
This is an area that seemingly helped Machado throughout the early portion of his career.
“Buck was the first male figure in Manny’s life who ever really held him accountable,” Flaherty said. “The amount of coaching moments Buck gave this kid in the six years he was there are off the charts.”
Former Orioles catcher Matt Weiters credited Showalter for allowing young players to be themselves. He also did an excellent job managing egos by not letting superstar players such as Machado feel that they were above the team. If Machado had a big game, Showalter would sometimes deflect the postgame topic of conversation to a different member of the team who made a smaller, but important contribution such as throwing a runner out at the plate.
Showalter's Presence
The bottom line is that Showalter has a knack for making everyone on the team feel special. And Britton went onto peg him as a great communicator since they all knew where they stood with the skipper.
“You knew where you stood, whether you liked it or not," said Britton. "That’s a hard skill. And that’s something people don’t necessarily want to do nowadays, especially with social media and all these other things, just the way the game is right now. There are not too many guys who, good and bad, kind of address the situation, tell you where you stand.”
The Mets dealt with a number of incidents last season such as the rat-raccoon altercation between middle infielders Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil, as well as the thumbs-down fiasco later in the season, where the players were booing the fans.
With Showalter at the helm, he would know when it was appropriate to address the team as a whole, or bring specific players into his office, like Lindor and McNeil, to find out what is going on between them.
Showalter has the experience, having managed 20-years in the majors. This isn't his first rodeo and he knows how to handle these types of situations. And he won't put up with such nonsense that has occurred in the past.
“He’s going to want more control than a typical manager,” Britton said. “I know nothing about the Mets. But if you want an organizational change, he’s probably your guy. He’s going to change your whole philosophy, not just from the major-league side but also the minors. He wanted to know what was happening in Triple A and Double A in Baltimore. He’s going to have a new, whole, ‘This is how we play baseball,’ from top to bottom. If that’s what you’re looking for, I’m not sure there’s anyone better.”
The Mets have endured losing seasons in 10 out of the last 13 years. The team is in need of an experienced manager and an adult in the room. And that's exactly what they are getting in Showalter, who should already have respect among the players due to his track record.
Showalter has managed the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Orioles throughout his career. And although he doesn't have a World Series ring, he has made his mark on a number of organizations by turning around losing programs.
“He can take teams and make them think about baseball like they’ve never thought about baseball before," said Weiters.
