Team’s answers continue to fall flat about stated commitment to changing franchise’s culture

NEW YORK — The Mets still won’t give straight answers when asked tough questions.

They’ve given us no reason to believe otherwise for the past 11 months. Rather than addressing their real culture problem in a candid and direct way, the Mets have resorted to platitudes like “due diligence” and “stuff happens.”

During last week’s introduction of Billy Eppler as the Mets’ new GM, Sandy Alderson said, rather boastfully, that the vetting process for Eppler was “broader and deeper than any vetting process we had ever undergone.” (The Mets’ previous vetting standards were lower than Jacob degrom’s ERA, so that’s not exactly a remarkable statement, but that’s beside the point.) The Mets’ process, Alderson said, involved speaking to people in the industry, including those Eppler had worked with but also people outside of his organizations — like the media, for example. That’s at least an improvement from how the Mets used to do their homework on candidates, but it was unsubstantial in detail. It is still unclear just how hard the Mets searched for those who would give a truly unbiased account of Eppler.

So one would think — in keeping with the Mets’ new and apparently thorough vetting process — that if they’re going to hire Eppler, the same GM who hired Mickey Callaway as Angels pitching coach less than a month after the Mets fired him as manager, that he gave the Mets solid answers on that important topic. But if Eppler’s answer to the Mets was anything like the one he delivered to reporters on Friday, it lacked substance and simply wasn’t enough.

When Eppler was asked what he learned from the Callaway hiring process, particularly because he is about to hire a new manager and coaching staff in New York, Eppler’s response was a sleep-inducing let down:

“The industry in general, as Sandy and Steve [Cohen] alluded to, has a vetting process that’s evolved and we have greater resources because of it. In general, the Angels organization has been asked and have answered for it. There’s not really anything more specific I can add today, just that that industry vetting process has evolved.”