Billy Eppler’s belief remains steady.
His belief in the club he assembled, the manager he selected, the coaching staff in the dugout and the ambitious plan to be a consistent World Series threat.
In the midst of a gut-punch of a first half for the Mets, the club’s general manager spoke for 21 minutes Tuesday and expressed confidence that the fourth-place Mets will bounce back.
As will manager Buck Showalter and his staff, who are presiding over the most expensive MLB team ever — and among the most disappointing thus far.
“They deserve an opportunity to keep this going and all of the support we can give them,” Eppler said.
Showalter’s seat has gotten hot through a 36-43 start following Tuesday night’s 7-2 win at Citi Field against the Brewers.
Showalter’s seat has gotten hot through a 36-43 start following Tuesday night’s 7-2 win at Citi Field against the Brewers.
Eppler, however, signaled there are no wholesale changes coming soon.
“Buck’s had a good amount of adversity heaped his way,” Eppler said of the second-year Mets manager, whose scrutiny has increased particularly after questionable bullpen decisions this past weekend resulted in a series loss in Philadelphia. “It started in spring training with the loss of [Edwin] Diaz and losing some of the pitchers for a time being. Justin [Verlander] being out at the start of the year, Max [Scherzer], his suspension and the irregular workload.
“Buck’s handled that adversity, and he’s the guy to get us back on track.”
Eppler believes the players in the dugout and bullpen, too, will get back on track. He mentioned “track record” several times. The Mets publicly have proclaimed that players having abnormally subpar seasons so far will finish the year with numbers more on par with their histories.
The rotation — led by a pair of future Hall of Famers in Scherzer and Verlander — ranked as the third-least valuable entering Tuesday, according to FanGraphs’ WAR rankings. Their bullpen was the second-worst in baseball.
Eppler pointed at both the pitching staff as a whole and “on-field execution and converting balls into outs, baserunning and things like that” as the biggest sources of the Mets’ struggles.
“We’re in a position where we’re changing some things up and moving a couple of pieces around,” the general manager said. “I know [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] and some of our analytics group are working on pitch design and trying to get these guys in a better spot. That’s where our mind is right now.”
Can this team still be a playoff team?
“Yeah,” Eppler said. “I believe in the talent of this team.”
Other takeaways from Eppler’s wide-ranging news conference in the home dugout:
— His hope is to be buying at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, but he did not rule out selling.
The Mets entered Tuesday 16 games back in the NL East and 8 ¹/₂ games back in the wild-card race.
“If we can, we can add,” Eppler said. “If [we can’t], then we’ll just kind of have to create other opportunities and see what else exists out there and see how we can kind of serve the long-term blueprint of the organization.”
— Regardless, it does not sound as if the Mets will go all-in at the deadline.
Last season, Eppler made fringe moves that enabled him to keep the players the Mets had evaluated as the club’s top 19 prospects.
“Last year we were not particularly willing to part with the top-level talent,” Eppler said. “I think our approach will be the same.”
— Scherzer has posted a 3.95 ERA in 13 starts, missing time due to injury and a sticky-substance suspension.
Verlander missed the first month of the season and has been ordinary (4.11 ERA) in 10 starts since his return.
Eppler called the downturns “within the outcomes of possibilities.”
“With Max’s most recent starts, looks like he’s getting some trajectory,” Eppler said. “Justin, he’s getting some distance behind that. With the injury that he had at the start of the season, he’s been able to put together some quality starts. And I think he’s getting his footing underneath him as well. … But I think they expect more of themselves, and I think that will come in the future for them.”
— Eppler filled out the bullpen this offseason with plenty of interesting relievers who have mostly not worked out.
Jeff Brigham and Dominic Leone have been decent finds, but the group has been short without Diaz. It is possible Eppler overvalued option-ability — pitchers with options who could be sent back to the minor leagues — over proven arms.
Eppler said, by the time Diaz went down in mid-March, “We weren’t able to go make a trade. … There wasn’t a lot left to sign.”
