Mets' clubhouse stories weren't the reason for missing playoffs, but that doesn't mean it's not an issue
Mets’ Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto celebrate a win against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on April 7, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
What the heck is going on with all the tea-spilling tied to the Mets’ clubhouse since the disastrous end to the 2025 season?
From former reliever Adam Ottavino to former hitting coach Eric Chavez to a source who claims Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor had a “chilly” relationship in their first season together, there does seem to be a lot of negative inside info spilling out of Citi Field even as it is shut down for the offseason.
Is that why the Mets traded Brandon Nimmo to Texas, let Pete Alonso leave for the Orioles without making an offer, and lost Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers without the closer giving them a chance to see if they wanted to top Los Angeles’ final bid? To change the mix in the clubhouse?
One thing is certain: The Mets had a great clubhouse vibe in 2024 and they won, going all the way to the NLCS. You can’t fake the closeness that group had. Grimace, “OMG,” the whole thing. It was real and the Mets rode it to within two wins of an unexpected World Series berth.
So what happened in 2025? Soto arrived, with his $765 million contract, and clubhouse glue guys like J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias departed.
But were those changes the reasons the Mets missed the playoffs on the last day of the season?
No.
As Chavez put it in one of his more non-inflammatory statements since the Mets let him go: “We just had a bad year. It wasn’t the clubhouse issues.”
It’s more likely bad pitching than bad mojo that did in the 2025 Mets. But something was amiss, that’s for sure, and can’t be swept under the rug as David Stearns remakes the roster for 2026.
Let’s look at the issues that have emerged since the Mets' season ended bitterly in Miami on Sept. 28.
Ottavino rips Mendoza
Ottavino, who pitched for the Mets from 2022-24 (under manager Carlos Mendoza in 2024) and is retired, had some inflammatory comments about the manager’s bullpen usage and reliever injuries on his “Baseball & Coffee” podcast.
Ottavino said Mendoza "has no idea what he's doing when it comes to bullpen guys and how to keep them healthy or even how to care about them at all . . . This upsets me deep in my soul. This is embarrassing. This is actually pathetic — like pathetic. I would have never let this happen if I was on the team last year. At least half these guys wouldn't have blown out. I would have protected these dudes myself. I would have [jumped] in front of them myself. Unfortunately, there was nobody willing to stand up and talk to Carlos this year.”
Mendoza defended himself on Dec. 8 at the Winter Meetings, saying: “The facts are right there. We were probably one of the teams that protected the bullpen guys better than anybody. And you're talking about we were able to do that with so little length that we were getting from the starters. I don't think this is a Mets issue. I think this is an industry [issue]. This year, we were dealing with a lot of injuries. But like I said, I'm comfortable with the process, too."
Chavez trolls
Chavez has had a lot to say on podcasts, in TV appearances and especially on social media this offseason. While much of it was complimentary – especially about Mendoza – Chavez did seem to enjoy taunting his old team, with one example being his posting a laughing man photo when the Mets lost Diaz to L.A.
A few days later, Chavez posted a five-minute-plus statement on social media in which he seemed to realize he had gone too far with some of the jibes and some of his answers during a sassy Instagram Live Q&A (especially ones about his former boss Stearns).
“I got a lot of questions yesterday,” Chavez opened his mea culpa video on Dec. 12, “and I appreciate all the questions. A lot of them are really, really good questions. I guess the elephant in the room . . . what are their issues? Every clubhouse has issues. This is not news. When you win. It covers up those issues. Not every team is perfect, and everybody gets along and loves each other. Doesn't work like that.”
Which brings us to . . .
'Chilly' times for Soto and Lindor?
The New York Post reported on Nov. 28 that Soto and Lindor were not best friends during the season. Since Lindor is the Mets’ de facto captain and Soto has 14 more years left on his contract, it’s probably a relationship that needs to be at least professional and civil.
Soto, in an interview last weekend with Dominican reporter Luz Maria Garcia, was asked how his relationship is with Lindor, who has six more years left on his Mets contract.
“Good,” Soto said. “I get along very well with Lindor. He’s a great ballplayer and a tremendous person, and a happy person in the clubhouse amongst everything else.”
Stearns addressed the report at the Winter Meetings, saying: “I think Juan and Francisco are two elite baseball players who care a ton about winning, who show up and work incredibly hard and play very well together. From my perspective, that’s what’s most important. They go out and produce, and I think they’re going to help us win a lot of games.”
We’ll give the last word on all this to Mendoza, who said on Dec. 8 about the Mets clubhouse: "What was the difference [in 2025]? We didn't win baseball games. Nobody talked about our clubhouse for the first two-and-a-half months of the season when we had the best record. Nobody talked about the clubhouse. Two-and-a-half months of bad baseball happened, and so now everyone is talking about the problems. It's completely a lie. But it's part of the market. It's part of what we live with in New York."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
