To listen to Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter discuss the team they are building is to listen to a pair of men gushing with confidence, sometimes even bordering on arrogance.
Part of it is earned, to be sure. Eppler has done everything right in the offseason, but the offseason is not where he’ll ultimately be evaluated. And Showalter comes with an impressive pedigree himself, but he’s also been to just one League Championship Series in 20 years as a manager. His Orioles got swept that year.
Still, the duo came out swinging, exuding the type of bravado that is typically an afterproduct of winning, not a precursor.
