Who Will Be the Next Manager of the Mets?

The Mets made their first big decision of the offseason by firing manager Buck Showalter. Now this is not a total surprise. It felt like Buck had been checked out for the past few months. Once the Mets sold at the deadline he has just been going through the motions. Couple that with David Stearns being announced as the new President of Baseball Operations and it’s no surprise he was let go. Stearns is going to want to bring in his own guy to help establish his culture.

But now the question is who is going to be the next manager of the Mets. Stearns has already said they are going to have a long extensive search for the next manager. However, a few names have already surfaced. Here are some of the names being floated around.

Craig Counsell

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With Stearns now in New York, many believe that Craig Counsell will follow him as well. The Brewers hired Stearns back in 2015, and he was the only manager during Stearns’s tenure. These two had a very good relationship, and Counsell had a lot of success as a manager. He had a winning season in six of his nine years as manager, he also made the postseason five times. A very impressive resume so far.

Now the reason why Counsell has been so connected is because as of this moment, he doesn’t have a contract in place for 2024. Essentially this makes him a free agent. Counsell would be the perfect guy for the Mets to bring in. Since he is so familiar with Stearns he’s going to know what he likes and dislikes. He’s going to be able to build the system the Stearns wants in New York because he’s already done it in Milwaukee. Now Eric Katz of Belly Up Sports wrote a great article about why Counsell won’t be the next Mets manager. However, if the Mets have the opportunity they have to bring Counsell.

Clayton McCullough

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Clayton McCullough is another candidate the Mets should strongly consider. He’s currently the Dodgers first base coach but he has a lot of experience with player development. He was a manager for the Blue Jays from 2007-2014. From there he would become the Dodgers’ minor league field coordinator, before getting promoted in 2021.

Now McCullough has a long history of player development. He also worked for years in the Dodger system, so he knows what works and what doesn’t when it comes to development. For a Mets team that has a lot of young talent on the roster, having someone who worked with player development would help a lot. He can unlock the talent that players like Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio have shown. Plus help the top prospect reach their full potential.

Joe Espada

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Joe Espada is the current bench coach of the Houston Astros. He was also a finalist back during the last managerial search but lost out to Showalter. However just because he lost out last time doesn’t mean he’s not the right man for the job. He’s one of the best up-and-coming coaches in MLB and has long been rumors for multiple managerial jobs. He has been the Astros bench coach since 2018 and is the current favorite to succeed Dusty Baker when he calls it a career.

However, nobody knows exactly when Baker is going to retire. So is Espada really going to want to wait around for potentially years to take over? If he feels he’s ready he might jump ship now, and take the promotion. Being able to sit behind and watch one of the best managers the game has seen in Baker is a huge bonus for Espada. If he’s able to be a fraction of what Baker was able to be, he is going to have a lot of success.

Eric Chavez

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Now even though Stearns wants to hire his own people. That doesn’t mean they won’t look at this current coaching staff. Like Stearns said they will be casting a wide net when looking for managers. A name that has been floating around is current bench coach Eric Chavez. Chavez first came to the Mets back in 2022 as the hitting coach. He did so well that it earned him a promotion to bench coach in 2023. Now was last season a success, no but that doesn’t mean he’s the right man for the job.

Chavez is beloved by the locker room. He has built a relationship with the roster, and there won’t be an adjustment period. Normally when it’s a new manager there’s going to be a period where the new manager has to build a relationship with the players. However, if Chavez is promoted that won’t happen. He can step right in knowing how to coach these guys because he’s already been doing it.

Thanks for reading! Credit for my featured image goes to Al Bello. You can find more MLB content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter.