New York Mets coach Joey Cora was preparing for a game in St. Louis last week when Max Scherzer approached him with thoughts about defensive positioning, about where to station the team’s infielders in specific ball-strike counts against specific opponents.
Cora loved it — but he had to tell Scherzer to wait. “Right now, I’m getting ready for today’s game, to play the Cardinals,” Cora said, through laughter, “and Max was talking about what he would do when he pitched against the Phillies.” In five days.
This is life with the 2022 Mets so far. A daily enthusiastic pursuit of excellence within a new culture, fostered by new stars, a new manager, a new coaching staff, and by the renewal of holdovers, most notably shortstop Francisco Lindor.
The Mets are constantly discussing the smallest details, the nuances of the game — like Scherzer, who had been digging into the analytics about the Phillies ahead of his start; or Lindor, who approached manager Buck Showalter in the dugout the other day and asked him about what he should do if there was a long ricochet off the outfield wall. Would Showalter prefer Lindor to chase down the baseball, or position himself for a relay?
“They’re coming together fast,” said Wayne Kirby, in his first season as the Mets’ first-base coach. “I didn’t think it would come together this fast. In spring training, we gave them the information — ‘This is what we’re going to do.’
“The good thing about Buck is he says, ‘We’ll talk about it, we’ll show them, and then we’ll do it.’ The kids, they have hooked onto [the details] right away.”
The two-word mantra that Showalter and his staff have drilled into their players, posted in their clubhouse, is uncomplicated: Play better.
And so far, it seems to be working. On Monday, in a come-from-behind win against the Cardinals, the Mets scored five runs in the ninth inning. It started when Mark Canha, one of the veterans targeted by the front office over the winter, dug himself out of an 0-2 count and reached base on a throwing error. When Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos was late to cover first base, Dom Smith beat the throw with a headfirst dive — and Jeff McNeil, who had broken off second base on the play with a strong secondary lead, easily beat the throw home to score the go-ahead run.
“I feel like it just shows the identity of our team, especially with what Buck preaches to us every day. We’re a resilient team,” Smith told the media after the game. “I feel like we’re in it until the last pitch every night. … I feel like it just showed our DNA and kind of what we’re about.”
When Showalter and the coaches returned to a happy clubhouse after the win, Showalter heard somebody say aloud, “Well, that was fun.” The Mets are 15-6 and lead the National League East (and baseball) — a far cry from the struggles of the 2021 season, when no one seemed to be having any fun at all. Last year, the Mets’ season was defined by what went wrong — the booing of Lindor as he slogged through a season-long slump, the infamous thumbs-down gestures and the forced apologies that followed, the front-office firings.
Lindor took the brunt of the heat during his disastrous inaugural season. The perception of the shortstop last year, among some in the Mets organization, was that he was simply overwhelmed. By the weight of expectations attached to signing his $341 million deal. By the daily scrutiny that hits every superstar who lands in New York, from A-Rod to Kevin Durant. By the competitive needs of the Mets, as Lindor struggled with swing issues in 2021. As he floundered, fans booed and Lindor responded poorly.
Lindor’s troubles were so apparent that late last season, Giancarlo Stanton — who knows first-hand about fan and media scrutiny — paused a home run trot in the middle of a game to effectively lecture Lindor, who Stanton believed was taking out his frustration from the season at the Yankees during the Subway Series, about doing a better job coping.
The new staffers thought that as spring training began, Lindor was poised for a rebound. As Showalter prepared for his first meeting with Lindor, the manager had a mental list of topics he intended to discuss — but Lindor jumped in and talked about the work he wanted to do, what he wanted to achieve. After listening, Showalter felt that Lindor had covered just about everything Showalter had wanted to discuss. The one thing he added was that he didn’t want Lindor to worry about anything other than being the best version of himself.
In the eyes of Showalter, Lindor is, at heart, a baseball junkie, open to learning, open to ideas. Earlier this season, Lindor neared first base and Kirby yelled to him, “READ, READ, READ!” Later, Lindor approached Kirby and asked what he meant by that word, and Kirby realized he hadn’t explained his verbiage to the player. Usually, Kirby will yell at the baserunners “RIGHT HERE.” Meaning, stay right here, at first. “Read,” though, means “Read the outfielder”: See if he misses the ball; then make your decision about whether to advance.
Cora, who has been connected to Lindor for years, through their roots in Puerto Rico, shares a love of preparation with the shortstop. “Joey loves to work,” Kirby said, “and all of those infielders get their work in, they are out there getting the most out of that relationship. Francisco wants to know it all, he wants to embrace it all.”
“He’s much more relaxed,” Cora said of Lindor. “He knows he has players around him, all he has to be is Lindor. That’s it.”
That’s also in large part thanks to Billy Eppler, who was hired to be the Mets’ new GM in mid-November of last year, with barely two weeks before the owners’ deadline for a lockout of the players. Eppler didn’t have the time to do a thorough deep dive into what went wrong in 2021, or earnestly start the search for the team’s next manager, or even move his family. Instead, he focused on substantially adding talent — and it wasn’t only about offensive or pitching production. He was intent on adding the right guys, veterans who would augment and shape the clubhouse culture.
Like Starling Marte and Canha, who could hit and field but also bore reputations as serious professionals. Like Scherzer, a future Hall of Famer who was the best available starting pitcher, legendary for his intensity on the mound and his emotional investment in preparation and in his teammates. And like Eduardo Escobar, a 32-year-old well-known for his versatility and for making the All-Star team last summer, but also for the energy and joy he carried and emitted every day he walked into the clubhouse, reflected in TikTok dances and Escobar’s other social media postings.
The Mets signed those four players at the cost of $254.5 million, and they have fully manifested in the way that owner Steve Cohen and Eppler had hoped.
Scherzer pitches against the Phillies on Sunday Night Baseball in the midst of the best start of his career; he’s averaging only four hits allowed per nine innings, and has surrendered one homer in 94 opponent at-bats. Canha has a .424 on-base percentage. Marte has scored 12 runs in 19 games. Escobar has a .388 OBP, and as Showalter said, “He’s got his nose in the dirt every day in the work that he does, and he walks through the door every day with the same level of competitiveness.”
And the new support around Lindor has made the Mets’ star shortstop’s production better, too. Lindor’s early-season adjusted OPS+ is 155 — a scale on which 100 is average — and he has already scored 12 runs and driven in 13, with nine extra-base hits. The Mets almost certainly cannot get where Cohen wants them to get to without this kind of production from their highest-paid player.
Marte, Canha and Escobar have bolstered the depth of the lineup, so that Lindor’s success or failure at the plate on a given day is less important. Scherzer, Canha and Escobar are all adept at dealing with the media, lightening the need for Lindor to be available. Escobar and the staffers are consistent in their daily focus.
“Billy picked the right guys,” Showalter said. “Steve and Billy picked the right guys.”
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