Showalter, Eppler focused on preparation

NEW YORK — In two weeks, Mets manager Buck Showalter plans to travel to Port St. Lucie, Florida to make preparations for Spring Training. Due to Major League Baseball lockout rules, New York’s new foreman has been unable to introduce himself to the players on his roster, much less work with them.

Therefore, the pilot expects a quick resolution.

“I think I’ll go and wait until a player comes along — someone to talk to,” Showalter said Monday during a Zoom news conference to discuss his new coaching roster.

The reality for Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler is that they have a lot of business to deal with in the remainder of the lockout. Currently, Showalter is laying out contingency plans for each possible spring training start date — how practices might change, for example, if the preseason lasts four, five or six weeks.

The manager plans to be fully prepared before arriving in Florida, where he will at least be able to interact with members of the roster and other club employees. Eventually, even if the start of big-team Spring Training is delayed, Showalter will be able to manage Mets prospects who aren’t members of the MLB Players Association.

For his part, Eppler, who hasn’t had much time off since being signed by the Queens squad in mid-November, immediately began negotiating with free agents, resulting in a wave of signings the same month. From there he focused on hiring a pilot–which resulted in the arrival of Showalter–and then a roster of instructors, culminating in bench coach Glenn Sherlock, hitting instructor Eric Chavez, Puerto Rican third baseman Joey Cora and first baseman Wayne Kirby, plus bullpen coach Craig Bjornson.

With that work done, Eppler will finally be able to start focusing on the process of meeting with other employees in the baseball operations department, from his analytics team, evaluators and more.

“Since my arrival, I’ve been in full swing,” Eppler said. “Now it is time to communicate with everyone…because we all have ideas and there are several initiatives that we want to implement. I definitely won’t be bored.”