Showalter, Eppler are optimistic ahead of Mets owner Cohen's press conference

New York Mets manager Buck Showalter stands in the dugout before the team's baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Friday, June 9, 2023. The Pirates won 14-7. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler struck an optimistic tone and said they feel supported by owner Steve Cohen, hours after the New York Mets owner said he planned to hold a press conference regarding the struggling team on Wednesday.

Cohen revealed his intentions Tuesday afternoon on Twitter, ending his tweet with: “You will get it from me straight.”

The Mets, who won 101 games last season and opened this season with a record $335 million payroll, have lost seven of nine and 15 of 21 to fall to 35-43 — the furthest they’ve been below .500 since the final day of the 2021 season. They entered the day 8 1/2 games back of the third National League wild card.

“He’s been great, very supportive — I couldn’t ask for a better owner,” Showalter said before the Mets’ game against the Milwaukee Brewers. “He gets involved, obviously, in whatever he wants to. It’s his team. I know how much the Mets mean to him.”

Eppler, meeting with reporters for just the third time this season, said he talks with Cohen every day.

“The questions that he’ll ask about is, how do we get a player from this point to that point and how will we know it’s working?” Eppler said during a 21-minute session in the Mets dugout. “And if that doesn’t work, what are we going to try after that? So it’s generally those questions.”

But both Showalter, in the second year of a three-year contract, and Eppler, in the second year of a four-year deal, hinted the Mets’ struggles have worn on Cohen.

“He’s frustrated — very competitive man, trust me, very competitive man,” Showalter said. “He likes to win.”

Cohen’s Tweet was his first non-reply on Twitter since June 14, when the Mets beat the rival Yankees 4-3 in 10 innings and he wrote “That was a crazy game. Too many mental mistakes but I will take it.”

“I think we’re sharing a lot of the same emotions,” Eppler said. “We talked this wintertime every day, too. So it’s not different. But I think the feelings are different than this winter.”

The Mets have been charged with 20 errors in their last 21 games while committing a litany of mistakes that haven’t shown up in a box score.

Isiah Kiner-Falafa stole home for the Yankees on June 14, when center fielder Brandon Nimmo ran into the third out of the seventh inning before delivering the walk-off RBI single. The Philadelphia Phillies scored two runs last Friday when left fielder Tommy Pham and shortstop Francisco Lindor allowed a pop-up to fall between them.

“Some of our on-field execution — converting balls into outs, baserunning and things like that, I think those are the things that we’re all aware of and things that we’re addressing,” Eppler said. “But I think those are the things that stand out the most.”

Showalter’s management of the bullpen — which has a 4.23 ERA while Edwin Díaz rehabs the torn patella tendon he suffered in the World Baseball Classic — has also been criticized. Closer David Robertson didn’t pitch Sunday, when the Mets squandered a three-run, eighth-inning lead in a 7-6 loss to the Phillies.

Eppler offered Showalter and his coaching staff a vote of confidence.

“They deserve an opportunity to keep this going and all the support that we can give them,” Eppler said.

The Mets’ rotation has posted a 4.69 ERA, as likely Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have been limited to 23 starts by injuries and suspension. Regulars such as Nimmo, Lindor, defending NL batting champion Jeff McNeil and former home run leader Pete Alonso have all experienced lengthy slumps.

“A lot of track record in play,” Eppler said. “That’s one of the benefits of having a veteran team is that they’ve been through a lot of adversity. In their history, they’ve been tested. You kind of have to lean on the back of the baseball card with these guys.”

Eppler said he was optimistic the Mets could avoid becoming sellers at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Showalter said he remains focused on making the playoffs.

“I know what our job description is — to be one of the teams that gets a chance to roll the dice in October,” Showalter said. “And that’s still a possibility. So that’s what we’re going after.”