There is plenty of blame to go around for the Mets' current predicament, but Sal says the anger towards Buck Showalter is mostly misplaced.
"He isn't the problem," Sal said. "Justin Verlander is the problem. Max Scherzer was the problem. Drew Smith is the problem."
Digging a little deeper, the real issue is the thinking that led to those players being relied upon, as Sal says the Mets' biggest issue was doubling down on their formula that crashed and burned last season. Rather than getting younger and bolstering the lineup, Billy Eppler went back to the well of aging yet accomplished starting pitchers, and hoping they would replicate their Hall of Fame success. Instead, it hasn't worked out that way.
"If you want to place blame on why the Mets are failing this year, that's why," Sal said. "They chose to double down on their formula for success based on what happened last year. They chose to double down and invest big, again, in the starting pitching.
That's what they did.
"The starters have been horrible all year long…now you're taking an already weakened bullpen and abusing it to start the year for two or three moths, and what do you expect? When Verlander leaves the game in the third inning, you're thinking, 'How are we gonna get any outs?'"
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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