Buck Showalter was widely praised for leading the Mets to a 101-win finish in his first season as manager, but early on in year two, Tiki Barber says there are some big concerns with the longtime skipper's philosophy.
"The management of the bullpen: up five runs against the Padres two nights ago, [David] Robertson and [Adam] Ottavino pitch, so they're not available yesterday in a high-leverage situation down a run," Tiki said. "Instead, you bring in Santana who gives up a bomb to make it 4-1 and less likely, with a team that's not scoring, to come back and win that game.
"Francisco Alvarez, who needs to be playing…he is in a slump, even though you can't call it a slump, because he's only had eight at-bats, even though he's been up for a week and a half now."
The latter narrative is where Tiki really has a problem with how Showalter has handled the lineup and his roster so far. In Tiki's eyes, Showalter is too quick to trust his veterans, and not give the youngsters a chance to prove themselves.
"It's the management of the young kids…they're gonna sit down there because Buck Showalter doesn't trust younger players," Tiki said.
"This is a Buck problem, both in management and longer-term philosophy in what to do with younger players. He believes in the older guys. it's hampering some necessary development of these younger players who need to see at-bats and be in higher-leverage situations. Francisco Alvarez needs to catch."
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