Buck Showalter Announced He Will Not Return As Mets Manager Next Season
First of all I'd like to start this blog with a sincere thank you to Buck Showalter for letting this be known before the season was over so we didn't have weeks if not months of bad sports talk radio debating whether or not he is coming back.
In all seriousness though, having Buck around as the first Mets manager that seemed to have his shit together since Willie Randolph was in town. He knew the rules better than the umpires (which admittedly isn't hard with some of the mamalukes making calls these days), seemed to be really liked by his players, and was able to do a good job acting as the middle man between the team, the fans, and the media, which is tricky for most MLB managers and damn near impossible for New York MLB managers.
Even in his announcement he was busting the reporters balls for trying to be the first to tweet it out and asked who got it out first. He did a great job with the media that can turn any little spark they can find into a five alarm blaze of controversy and if they can't find one, they'll make their own (See: All the bozos fueling the Pete Alonso nonsense). For many Mets fans, having Buck as manager felt like actually having an adult in charge of the teams after years of us essentially being watched by a teenager that was drunk, high, or dead.
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Buck's announcement makes it seem like he is riding off into the sunset after 67 years on Earth, 22 years managing in the Bigs, and four Manager of the Year awards, including just last season. But it sounds like Buck was being pushed out as David Stearns continues to smash the reset button after a truly disappointing 2023 season. Mets/Giants fan gypsies call this The Coughlin.
Buck wasn't perfect however and a manager in his late 60s staying with a team that has a new President of Baseball Operations and a ton of young prospects didn't seem likely as the long term solution. Especially since Buck always took shit for not playing the kids dating back to his Yankees days.
I'm old enough to remember a time when teams would always win a World Series the year after Buck left their teams and I choose to believe that is exactly what will happen with the Mets because that's how my dumb baseball fan brain thinks. Even if it doesn't work out that smoothly, I am also choose to believe that this big brain motherfucker is going to eat all the sabermetrics Uncle Stevie's money can buy and crap out nothing but championships during his time here. #InStearnsWeTrust
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Speaking of which, since it's NFL Sunday I'm nowhere near in the right mindset for baseball speculation let along baseball manager speculation. But when it comes to the next Mets manager, I want whoever David Stearns wants because he is my Baseball God now. I had to make this meme however just because the next manager will be the new King of Queens.
Thanks for everything Buck. We'll always have 2022 (Other than the last week of September and the first week of October. That shit sucked). Oh yeah and this shirt, which got me at least 20 compliments every time I wore it to Citi Field along with countless laughs as well as parents covering their children's eyes.