At his introductory news conference Monday, a day after the MLB regular season ended and the Mets officially focused on 2024, David Stearns and Steve Cohen first talked about the decision that led the organization to move on from manager Buck Showalter.
The veteran manager first announced his exit before Sunday's finale against the Phillies, before the new president of baseball operations was technically on the job.
“I just wanted to make clear that I kind of orchestrated all of this,” Cohen said about Showalter’s dismissal. “I wanted to handle Buck the way he wanted it to go down and then obviously with David on Monday…. Obviously I appreciate all that Buck did for the organization and for me and so that’s that.”
Stearns followed Cohen and after thanking the Milwaukee Brewers organization and his friends and family, he touched on Showalter as well.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Buck, what he’s accomplished globally in his career and specifically what he’s done in this town,” he said. “I think as many of you know, up through yesterday I was under contract with another team, and so I wasn’t allowed to talk to Buck. I reached out to him this morning and I’m hopeful that we’re gonna be able to connect and I’m very appreciative of what he’s meant to this organization and I think unquestionably the organization is in a better spot for him having been here.
“As we move forward I know there are gonna be plenty of questions about my philosophies, what I’m aiming to bring here, how we’re going to accomplish our goals and certainly I’ll answer all of those to the best of my ability today and going forward. What I will say at the front end here is, operationally, what we’re gonna try and do is build groups of really talented people at all levels of the organization. People who care deeply about each other, people who care deeply about the Mets and people who are energized coming to work every single day and working with each other. I’m certain that many of those people are here already and over time I also think we’ll have the opportunity to bring in really talented people who want to join us."
When asked about what he will be prioritizing in a manager, Stearns said he’s looking for someone whom he views as a partner.
“Someone who is working side by side with me and the rest of our baseball ops group and the manager has so many responsibilities these days, it is a big job," Stearns explained. "But first and foremost is the ability to manage people, manage personalities, and create and facilitate an organizational culture where people enjoy coming to work and work hard. That’s at the top of my list.”
Stearns also mentioned that he and the organization will leave no stone left unturned and that they will have an extensive and substantial search for the team’s next manager.
“There’s no one I have in mind, we are going to cast a wide net,” he said. “We’re gonna have a real process, we’re gonna at some point interview candidates of varying backgrounds and I imagine we’ll interview candidates that have both been major league managers before and those who have not. The point here is finding the right person who we believe can grow with the organization and hopefully be here for a long time.”