Chili Davis on state of the Mets: Need 'fresh faces' and new analytics strategy

Chili Davis isn't with the Mets anymore, but he still has plenty of opinions about the team.

In a lengthy interview with the New York Post, Davis — who was fired by the Mets in May — discussed the need for "fresh faces," their flawed analytics strategy, and that he could've solved their offensive woes.

“I look at analytics as information," Davis said. "It could be good information, but am I going to coach solely with analytics? No. Because numbers and computers and machines have a place, but when you are dealing with human beings and you are a hitting coach or pitching coach or any kind of coach, you have to deal with personalities, you have to deal with emotions sometimes."

Here's more on what Davis had to say...

'I don't think Zack Scott was a baseball person'

Scott is no longer with the Mets, but Davis took aim at him, while saying there needs to be an overhaul. The former acting GM fired Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater.

“That organization needs a big turnaround, they need to clean house,” Davis told The Post. “Some of the people that have been there so long during those dismal years, they need to bring some fresh faces and baseball people in there. To be honest I don’t think Zack Scott was a baseball person. He was the head of analytics in Boston. He was an analytical guy. That’s where he belonged, in analytics.”

Process vs. Results

Hugh Quattlebaum and Kevin Howard replaced Davis and Slater. Quattlebaum talked about the importance of process over results when he was hired to be the Mets new hitting coach and Davis had some thoughts on that.

"Well, if the process doesn’t produce positive or good results," Davis said, "then the process is worthless, because it’s not a good process. The process is making your players better. It’s a bullcrap statement to tell me it’s not about the results, it’s about the process.

“How did the process work out [with Quattlebaum]? That’s my question. How well did the process work? It’s not about the results, so how did the process work, because everybody could see the results."

Mets offense wouldn't have struggled had he stayed

“I don’t think Michael Conforto would have struggled, I don’t think Dom Smith would have struggled like that, I don’t think [Jeff] McNeil would have struggled the way he did, because we had built a relationship based on trust with these guys,” Davis said. “They trusted us and we communicated with them well, and I think throughout the year we would have managed to get them on track, doing what they do. And I think it was somewhat unfair to the Quattlebaum-Howard duo, to bring them in when they did, because they didn’t know anything about the players. It was just a bad decision.”

Thoughts on Mets clubhouse

“There’s some players that are going to be there that, are they good for the team? Are they team players?” Davis said. “I know the guys we had in 2019 and ’20 – that was a good team. It was on its way, it needed some pieces and they started to put the pieces together, but they had a good core of players. McNeil was an All-Star, Conforto was getting better, Dom Smith was getting better, J.D. Davis was getting better, Petey [Alonso] was becoming Petey and [Amed] Rosario had a big year in ’19 for us and the kid [Andres] Gimenez was coming around last year.”