In most any other year, Buck Showalter’s first order of business upon taking over a new team would be to call players and fire off text messages. In baseball’s off-season, that is the easiest way to start getting to know players before spring training starts in mid-February.
But with the sport frozen because of a labor dispute in which Major League Baseball locked out the players, Showalter is not permitted to be in contact with players, nor are any club officials on any team. But that doesn’t mean that Showalter, the most experienced Mets manager in some time, hasn’t already started planning for next season.