06/26/26 03:37:00
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06/26 15:36 CDT Last-place Mets fire manager Carlos Mendoza. Owner Steve Cohen
says 'fans deserve better'
Last-place Mets fire manager Carlos Mendoza. Owner Steve Cohen says 'fans
deserve better'
By MIKE FITZPATRICK
AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- From the front office to the field, just about everything has
gone wrong for the New York Mets over the past year.
And on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza took the fall.
Halfway through a wretched season, Mendoza was fired as skipper of the
underperforming Mets and was replaced by Andy Green.
New York is 34-47 at the season's midpoint following a six-game losing streak,
15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9 1/2 games back of the NL's last
wild-card berth.
Mets owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series
title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball's highest payroll at
$358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.
"Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not
changed," Cohen said in a statement. "There is no sugar-coating it: This season
has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we've
delivered."
At a Citi Field news conference ahead of Friday night's series opener against
the rival Philadelphia Phillies, president of baseball operations David Stearns
called it "a very difficult day."
"Mendy gave everything he had to our organization for the last 2 1/2 years.
He's an exceptionally talented leader. He's a really good baseball man. Above
all else, he's an outstanding person. I enjoyed working with him and I'm going
to miss him," Stearns said.
"Despite all of our effors, Mendy's included, we haven't been able to get this
going this year. And I take responsibility for that."
Slowed by injuries to Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Clay Holmes, Luis Robert Jr.
and Jorge Polanco, the Mets traded pitcher David Peterson, their
longest-tenured player, to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and could pivot to a
selloff and retooling for the future.
Mendoza spent 15 seasons working for the Yankees, the last four as bench coach,
before the Mets hired him to replace Buck Showalter after the 2023 season. New
York advanced to the National League Championship Series in 2024 but failed to
reach the playoffs last year and is among the sport's biggest disappointments
this season.
Since starting last year 45-24 through June 12, 2025, the Mets are 72-102. That
left the team with a 206-199 record under Mendoza, who was in the final
guaranteed season of a three-year contract. He was hired by the Mets a month
after Stearns joined New York as president of baseball operations.
"I understand there's no magic bullet here and there's no one change that
immediately is going to turn this around," Stearns said. "This is incremental,
this is day to day, this is doing the work every single day to get us back on
track."
After signing Soto to a record $765 million, 15-year contract ahead of the 2025
season, Stearns made major roster changes last offseason. He allowed Pete
Alonso to leave as a free agent and traded Brandon Nimmo, while bringing in
Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette.
New York had a 12-game losing streak in April, its longest since 2002, and made
six errors in the nightcap of Wednesday's doubleheader loss to the Chicago
Cubs, the team's most in a game since 2014.
"Carlos has led the organization with passion and grace and is beloved by
everyone who works with him on a daily basis," Stearns said in a statement.
"Carlos' impact on our players, staff, and culture over the last three seasons
has been transformative. Unfortunately, we know we are falling short and change
is necessary to move forward."
Green, a former major league infielder, joined the Mets in 2023 as senior vice
president of baseball development and had been charged with running the farm
system. He was given the title of interim manager for the rest of the season.
Green managed San Diego to a 274-366 record from 2016-19, finishing with losing
records in all four seasons.
Stearns said Green will return to a front-office role after this season and the
Mets will conduct a full search for a new manager.
Green played four games for the Mets in 2009, his final big league appearances
as a player. He became the fourth manager since Cohen bought the team from the
Wilpon and Katz families after the 2020 season, following Luis Rojas, Showalter
and Mendoza.
Mendoza is the third major league manager to lose his job since the season
started. Boston's Alex Cora was replaced by Chad Tracy and Philadelphia's Rob
Thomson by Don Mattingly.
___
AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP freelancer Jerry Beach contributed to
this report.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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