This Week in Mets Quotes: Your 2023 New York Mets

Your 2023 New York Mets: I hope for nothing but the best for the entire Mets organization.

“I wanted David to have a clean slate and that meant me stepping down,. I hope for nothing but the best for the entire Mets organization.” - Billy Eppler [Mets]

[Writer’s Note: This will be the last This Week in Mets Quote of the 2023 Mets season. As is customary, I will not be adding a quip for each quote and will let the team speak for themselves. As always, thank you for your continued support of this series; I absolutely did not intend for this incredibly dumb bit to continue over 14 years. Let’s Go Mets!]

“Billy Eppler led this team through a 101-win season and postseason berth last year and he will be missed. We accepted Billy’s resignation today as he decided it is in everyone’s best interest to fully hand over the leadership of baseball operations to David Stearns. On behalf of the Mets organization, we wish him all the best.” -Steve Cohen [Mets]

“It’s my goal to build up the management talent in this organization. Baseball operations is pretty complicated. There’s a lot of moving parts. Building a strong management team is paramount. And so I viewed it as one and one equals three.” -Steve Cohen [Mets]

“We’re not the only team that spent a decent amount of money and maybe it didn’t work out the way we had hoped it would work out. It’s really about finding the best ballplayers, putting together the best team we can, and cost is not necessarily the determinant of success.” -Steve Cohen [Mets]

“It’s meaningful for me. It’s cool for me that my kids get to grow up Mets fans now and we get to live this journey together.” -David Stearns [Mets]

“I think what happened to the Mets this year isn’t particularly unique to the Mets. This is what can happen at times when teams are built predominantly through free agency and underperform expectations.” -David Stearns [Mets]

“You don’t grow up a rabid fan of a team and then one day get to stand here at a press conference talking about leading that team. I understand this doesn’t happen. So the fact that it has happened to me, I recognize how incredible it is.” -David Stearns [Mets]

“I expect Pete to be the Opening Day first baseman next year. Pete’s an important member of this team. He’s an important member of this organization. I think we’re really fortunate to have him.” -David Stearns [Mets]

“I think Pete’s demonstrated he can handle pressure. He handled a whole lot of questions this year and had a pretty good season. He handled them well. I’m not particularly concerned about Pete being distracted or unable to handle questions or pressure.” -David Stearns [Mets]

“Listen, I love the city of New York. This place has treated me so well. It’s a really special place. The fans are just so, so passionate. There’s some amazing people here in this clubhouse. I’ve really, thoroughly enjoyed my time here. This place has been really incredible. I love it here. It’s been awesome. Some of the best memories of my life have been here. So this is home for me right now.” -Pete Alonso [Mets]

“As a general manager, besides looking for talented players, I also enjoyed looking at future talent for the front office. I saw something special with [Stearns]. What I saw was a person who had a good way about him. He presented himself well and was a good listener. He wanted to learn more and was humble.” -Omar Minaya [Mets]

“That year, we were contending, so we had advance scout meetings. I had David around the veteran scouts at that age. I purposely put him in that space. I wanted to make sure he spent time around them [to] see that side of the game. That was a great learning experience for him.” -Omar Minaya [Mets]

“[Minaya]is one of those guys where if I have a question about the industry or need advice, Omar is someone I call. What I appreciate about Omar is he has always been there selflessly looking out for what he thinks is best for me. He has given me, I think, really good advice over the years, as much in life as in baseball. I appreciate him a great deal.” -David Stearns [Mets]

“I think the players know I would never quit or resign.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

“I can’t tell you right now if it’s the right or wrong decision. Do I like it? No. It doesn’t feel good to have a man that I love, that my family loves, be without a job.” -Francisco Lindor

“When things aren’t going well in New York, things happen and they happen quickly. It’s just our job as players to try and not let these things happen again.” -Brandon Nimmo [MLB]

“Somebody’s walking into a great situation here. I’ll be pulling for them, I can tell you that.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

“Honestly, going into the season, I had no expectations. I had no idea what I was capable of.” -Kodai Senga [MLB]

“Outside of winning the Cy Young and just obliterating the league, it’s pretty close [to the best-case outcome]. [Senga] didn’t really have to make any huge adjustments. He’s adjusted to the travel and to the ball and his teammates and the different stadiums and the different climates and all that kind of stuff extremely well. I couldn’t be more proud of him and how he’s gone about it.” -Jeremy Hefner [MLB]

“It’s really humbling to come back here and think of the great history the Mets have and to be welcomed back — not only today, I guess, for Old-Timers’ Day. It’s kind of funny to say. It’s great to have the family here with us.” -Daniel Murphy [MLB]

“It is [disappointing], but honestly, I’m proud of the season. We were really pushing for it early, and the guys needed me on an each-and-every-day basis. And then I was able to finish strong with the last couple months. It would have been nice to finish. But to be honest, this has been a crazy last week.” -Brandon Nimmo [MLB]