Steve Cohen has promised Mets fans a full post-mortem following the end of a season that was at best confusing, and at worst, difficult to watch. The Mets owner and CEO sent a message to fans on social media Monday morning, apologizing for not giving them what was promised.
What the fans want now is a promise for heads to roll. A season that began with World Series aspirations, a $340 million payroll and a deep lineup full of prolific hitters ended in disaster Sunday in Miami. The Cincinnati Reds, with a payroll around $240 million less, managed to get into the postseason over the Mets on the final day of the regular season.
Manager Carlos Mendoza fell on the sword.
“I’m the manager, it starts with me,” Mendoza said Sunday night at LoanDepot Park. ” I’ve got to take a long look here into how I need to get better.”
Sunday’s game plan to use eight different pitchers might have been flawed, and in the past, that could have been enough to cost a manager his job, but the game plan was not an independent creation of Mendoza, and the in-game moves were not made unilaterally. A manager doesn’t even have the power to create his lineup without the approval of the front office in today’s game, and that has been the case for more than a decade, at least.
However, the Mets have given no indication that manager Carlos Mendoza will be fired. In fact, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has previously indicated that Mendoza will stay on next season. Yes, Sunday’s game was bad, but SNY’s Andy Martino has already reported that the Mets will be keeping the nearly-46-year-old skipper for a third season.
Personnel from the coaching staff, operations staff and analytics staff all helped create the game plan. If your counterargument is to fire everyone involved, that would have to include Stearns. Cohen’s handpicked PBO, it’s highly unlikely the owner would fire his top executive only two years after hiring him — especially given the years-long pursuit of him.
Stearns declined to talk to reporters in Miami, instead holding a formal press conference at Citi Field on Monday afternoon.
It’s the job of the coaches to prepare the players to perform, and there are far more coaches on staff than just Mendoza.
If you’re looking for someone to blame, the players think you should blame them.
“We didn’t really do a good job of cutting down deficits and eliminating bounce-back runs and kind of covering each other’s miscues,” said first baseman Pete Alonso. “It’s going to happen — miscues happen. Mistakes happen, not just in one game, but over the course of the year. It’s just that when you go over a long period of time with those, the devil is in the details.”
Mendoza was asked last week if he felt the Mets paid enough attention to the details, and he insisted they did. The players, too, said the coaches prepared them well enough. It was their own failures on the field.
“The front office did an outstanding job of putting the best team possible on the field, and we didn’t execute,” said shortstop and clubhouse leader Francisco Lindor. “We failed the mission. As players, we are responsible. We’re accountable for what goes down, even on a daily basis.”
Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner has escaped much of the criticism the last few years, even going back to 2023, but hitting coaches Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez have escaped almost none. Fans regularly messaged Chaves on social media, and the former third baseman would respond back, sometimes even posting his clap-backs.
The fan vitriol got so intense that the Chavez family’s address was leaked online. Players were upset to hear that the hitting coaches were being targeted by fans and deemed the criticism unfair, saying hitting coaches have an extremely difficult, yet often misunderstood job.
The pitching was probably the downfall of the Mets, with a starting rotation that was either injured or ineffective. The Mets walked 3.49 hitters per game, the seventh-most in baseball. Last year, pitchers walked 3.66 per game, the third-most.
Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas were injured to start the season, Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning were all injured in June, with Megill and Canning lost for the rest of the season. Only Clay Holmes and David Peterson made every start, but Peterson was skipped Sunday in favor of a Johnny Wholestaff approach. The lefty posted an ERA of nearly 10 over his last nine starts of the season.
Then, there were the defensive mistakes. Mark Vientos, Juan Soto and even Alonso all regressed defensively. As a team, the Mets had -13 Outs Above Average, 21st in the league. The only team with fewer that still made the playoffs is the Seattle Mariners (-29 OAA).
“The coaches, they definitely advise us, and they definitely try and help us, and they try and do the best that they can and give us all the information that they possibly can,” said outfielder Brandon Nimmo. “But ultimately, it comes down to us and us executing out there. So I think the responsibility falls on us as the players.”
Changes to the coaching staff are expected, but a new manager will not be among those chances made. Still, Mendoza understands that next year could determine his fate with the Mets.
“Since Day 1 of being in this chair, you know you’re on the hot seat,” Mendoza said. “It’s as simple as that. When you’re managing a team that has a lot of expectations and you go home, questions like this are going to come up and that’s part of your normal [life]. I’m responsible, and I have to be.”
