The New York Mets have hired Carlos Mendoza to be their next manager, CBS Sports HQ's Jim Bowden confirmed Monday. Mendoza, 43, has served as the bench coach for the crosstown New York Yankees for the last four seasons.
With the Mets, he inherits a roster that sustained a disappointing 87 losses in 2023 despite the highest payroll in MLB history. While the Mets did win 101 games in 2022, the struggles of 2023 led to the dismissal of manager Buck Showalter. That, in turn, created the dugout vacancy that Mendoza now fills as the 24th manager in Mets franchise history.
Mendoza's surprise hiring by the Mets comes despite heavy speculation that they would strike an agreement with outgoing Brewers manager Craig Counsell. Instead, it's Mendoza who will replace Buck Showalter in the Mets' dugout. Counsell, meanwhile, made a shocking move of his own, opting to sign with the Cubs and replace David Ross in Chicago's dugout. Counsell was also originally hired in Milwaukee by David Stearns, who recently took over as the Mets' president of baseball operations. That of course led to the expectation that Counsell would land with the Mets.
Instead, the Mets have hired Mendoza, who's never managed at the big-league level other than when he's filled in after Boone's many ejections. The 43-year-old Mendoza is a Yankees' lifer, having played in their minor-league system from 2006-09 before beginning his coaching career in the lowest runs of their farm system. He retired as a player in the middle of the 2009 season and jumped right into coaching that summer.
From 2009-12, Mendoza coached and managed at several levels in New York's farm system, then moved into a roving instructor role so he could work with more players rather than be assigned to one level. His coaching background is mostly with infielders and on the defensive side of the ball. The Yankees promoted Mendoza to their major league staff after the 2017 season. He was their infield coach from 2018-19 before being promoted to Boone's bench coach in Nov. 2019.
"His day is coming without a doubt," Yankees GM Brian Cashman told reporters about Mendoza in March 2021 (per NJ.com). "He is going to manage a major league team and I think he's gonna be really good at it."
In addition to the Mets, Mendoza reportedly also interviewed for managerial jobs with the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Guardians, and San Diego Padres this offseason. He interviewed with the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago White Sox about their managerial openings in previous offseasons. Mendoza is the second Venezuelan-born manager in MLB history, joining Ozzie Guillen.
Mendoza's hiring in tandem with the recent addition of Stearns marks in some ways a true start to the Steve Cohen era in Queens, as the free-spending owner now has in place the leadership team he's sought since not long after buying the club in September of 2020.
