Carlos Mendoza has become the scapegoat for the Mets’ disappointing season.
The Mets parted ways with their manager on Friday, according to a report by Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The Post. This decision comes as the team languishes 14 games below the .500 mark, after enduring their sixth consecutive defeat on Thursday, signaling what seems to be their second consecutive year missing the playoffs.
Andy Green has been appointed as the interim manager.
While the blame for the Mets’ turmoil is widespread, including criticism directed at President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, it was Mendoza who first made an exit. This comes as the team, featuring a roster valued at over $320 million, holds the worst record in the NL East at 34-37.
Mendoza’s initial success in 2024 was overshadowed by last year’s collapse in the latter half of the season, and a dismal 10-21 start this year, which began with a 12-game losing streak, ultimately landed him on shaky ground.
Stearns backed his manager on May 1 while some wondered about Mendoza’s future.
“We know our record is not what we want, and we know we are capable of more,” Stearns told MLB.com. “We don’t view this as a manager problem, and we don’t intend to make a change.”
The Mets responded by winning 11 of their next 16 games, and a four-game win streak to end May had the team sitting at 26-33 entering May.
A five-game losing streak from June 18-24 in which the Mets allowed 50 runs dropped them a season-high 12 games below .500 and led to David Peterson being traded, and Mendoza departed soon after.
The Mets will now hope that their new manager can have same the galvanizing effect that Don Mattingly has had in Philadelphia this year, with their rivals taking off after he replaced Rob Thomson.
For Mendoza, this firing ends an up-and-down two-and-a-half-year run.
Mendoza’s tenure began with him looking like he could be the team’s skipper for the next decade or so before the failures of the last year and a half caught up to him.
He unexpectedly led the team to the NLCS in his rookie season in 2024, upsetting the Phillies along the way in one of the team’s best moments since the 2015 World Series run.
The 2025 season, with newcomer Juan Soto, began in epic fashion with a 45-24 record through June 12 before the Mets collapsed and somehow did not finish with a top-six NL record.
They finished 38-55 to finish 83-79, losing two of three in the season-ending series against the woeful Marlins to allow the Reds to claim the final wild-card spot.
Mendoza received a retooled roster this offseason featuring Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien and Freddy Peralta with Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo exiting, and the team had high hopes.
Bichette has not hit as expected, Peralta has pitched like a back-end starter instead of an ace and Francisco Lindor has spent most of the year on the injured list, among other team issues.
The Mets are now all but set to be sellers this summer.
Green is now the fourth manager under owner Steve Cohen, joining Luis Rojas, Buck Showalter and Mendoza, with no skipper yet to last three seasons under the big-spending owner.