It was a turbulent offseason for the New York Mets in every sense of the word, and apart from the team’s high-priced superstars, manager Carlos Mendoza was one of the few left standing.
Mendoza’s first year as manager, the Mets’ surprising deep playoff run in 2024, was a resounding success. The follow-up was a huge flop, as the Mets went from the best record in baseball in mid-June to out of the playoffs in a year where it only took 83 wins to grab a wild-card spot.
After saying goodbye to longtime New York superstars Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz and ushering in the arrivals of big names like Freddy Peralta and Bo Bichette, the Mets essentially told the world with their actions that last season was the players’ fault. If things go south this year, the manager will get a heaping portion of the blame.
On Friday, Jayson Stark of The Athletic compiled a preseason poll of Major League Baseball decision-makers, and the Mets were a popular topic of conversation, with one rival executive saying he saw Mendoza’s job security being more imperiled than any other manager in the league.
“The fact that they imploded his entire staff says that 100 percent, he’s on the manager hot seat, because his whole staff got blown up,” the executive told Stark. “So he’s No. 1 on that (manager hot seat) list, and there’s no one even close to next.”
The Mets fired their pitching coach, third-base coach, and two hitting coaches at the end of last season, while the bench coach resigned, the first-base coach took a job with the Atlanta Braves, and the catching coach retired.
Mendoza’s 172-152 record in his two seasons thus far, a .531 winning percentage, reflects the Mets’ generally underperforming despite the roster talent they have had. Now, Mendoza has a refreshed, but still very talented roster, and is likely to shoulder the responsibility for the club’s record, whichever way it swings.
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