The new Mets manager already has the backing of at least one old Mets manager.
Bobby Valentine was among those lauding the Mets’ hire of Buck Showalter as their next manager on Saturday, a marriage that partnered the veteran baseball man with a team that is ready to win now.
“Congrats to Buck and the Mets. Post season here we come,” Valentine tweeted shortly after owner Steve Cohen announced the news.
Valentine is responsible for leading one of the two Mets teams that has made it to the World Series since the franchise last won it all in 1986. His 2000 squad fell to the Yankees in five games, but Valentine posted a 536-467 record across six-plus seasons at the helm.
Valentine’s Mets beat Showalter’s Diamondbacks in the 1999 NLDS, despite Arizona being in just its second season as an MLB franchise. The two managers also crossed paths as AL East foes in 2012, when Showalter was with the Orioles and Valentine was in his lone season with the Red Sox.
Since the Mets fired Valentine after the 2002 season, they have churned through seven different managers before landing Showalter. With 20 years of managing experience, the 65-year-old Showalter will be tasked with leading the Mets back to the postseason for the first time since 2016.