Mets players on firing of manager Carlos Mendoza: It's on us
Mets’ Juan Soto returns to the dugout after grounding out against the Philadelphia Phillies during the ninth inning at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The news of manager Carlos Mendoza’s dismissal on Friday morning landed hard with the players in the Mets’ clubhouse. He was a well-liked leader and they all know he didn’t take an at-bat, throw a bad pitch or blow a play in the field as the team cratered at 34-47 at the halfway point of the season.
“We failed — I failed him,” Francisco Lindor said before the Mets fell to the Phillies, 2-1, at Citi Field for their seventh straight loss. “I didn’t play to my capability to help him win as many games as we could, and this one is on us as well.”
Lindor said of hearing the news, “it hurts.” He added, “I was shocked.”
Juan Soto said, “I was really close with him. I talked to him a lot, and then to see him go is really tough.”
Soto credited Mendoza with easing his transition from the Yankees to the Mets after he signed his record $765 million contract as a free agent. He reached out to Mendoza after getting a morning call from the front office. He said he told him, “I really appreciate what [you] did for me.”
Said Soto, “He was one of the guys who helped me to feel comfortable in this clubhouse and welcoming me in the best way, so I was just thanking him for that.”
Like Lindor, Bo Bichette viewed the players as answerable for what had transpired.
Asked how much responsibility the players are feeling for president of baseball operations David Stearns’ decision to replace Mendoza with front office executive and former Padres manager Andy Green, “Essentially, it’s all of it.”
He added, “If we were playing better, he’d still be here. It’s just unfortunate he had to take the fall . . . I guess sometimes the manager has to take the fall for the team when you’re not performing.”
The Mets are 16 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 10 games out of the last National League wild-card spot. Entering Friday, they ranked 13th of 15 in the NL in batting average (.231) and 14th in on-base percentage (.299) and runs per game (4.0). The rotation’s 4.90 ERA ranked 14th of 15. Only two NL teams had committed more errors.
“There’s a lot of talented players in here,” Bichette said. “There’s no secret sauce to winning. If there was, we’d be winning. . . . So maybe we’ve just got to figure it out.”
Lindor said that when he reached out to Mendoza after getting the news, the former manager actually apologized because the team hadn’t won enough. The shortstop added, “At the end of the day, this is not on him. It’s more on us, the players, that we didn’t perform to our capabilities.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
