Firing Carlos Mendoza won't solve Mets' mess made by David Stearns
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to the media at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Mets’ front office believed they could silence the daily narrative surrounding the fate of manager Carlos Mendoza by simply refusing to speak about it.
Ultimately, the clubhouse — and its mismatched, malfunctioning roster that increasingly has turned failure into an art form — did all the talking for them.
That’s why Mendoza was fired Friday morning in what the team's news release euphemistically described as a “departure.” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns was tragically wrong in so many ways in assembling the 2026 Mets, but he evidently spoke the truth on this: Clearly, he and owner Steve Cohen indeed are fans of Mendoza, because they did him a huge favor by freeing him from this sinking ship.
“Carlos has led the organization with passion and grace and is beloved by everyone who works with him on a daily basis,” Stearns said Friday in a statement. “Carlos’ impact on our players, staff, and culture over the last three seasons has been transformative. Unfortunately, we know we are falling short and change is necessary to move forward.”
Mendoza knows what a winning baseball team should look like. He spent his pre-Mets career climbing the organizational ladder with the Yankees before becoming Aaron Boone's bench coach.
And for a long while, Mendoza did a superb job covering for his new bosses, which is always part of the manager’s job description in Flushing. Sitting in front of the microphones and TV cameras twice a day every day is no easy feat when the house is burning down around you.
But as soon as that no longer was possible — the Mets officially reached that point at about 10:10 p.m. Wednesday night at the conclusion of a humiliating doubleheader sweep by the Cubs by a combined score of 20-8 that was finished off by a six-error disgrace in the nightcap — Mendoza had to know he was done, too.
“Embarrassing,” Mendoza said at the podium that night.
A fitting epitaph, because that sums up the 2026 Mets, whose pitiful season pretty much ended then, too. Mendoza couldn’t disguise the obvious. Anyone with eyes witnessed one of the worst displays of baseball the Mets have ever produced, and how perfect that it was authored by a criminally negligent defensive effort.
Stearns remade the Mets this past winter according to his own personal blueprint, stressing a “run prevention” mantra shortly after the 2025 collapse was completed in Miami. That came off as a driving force behind his decision to dismiss homegrown slugger Pete Alonso, the beloved "Polar Bear," because playing every day while delivering 40 homers and 100-plus RBIs doesn’t measure up to a few missed flips to pitchers covering first base.
Here’s what Stearns’ mantra delivered during the past week: A five-game stretch in which the Mets allowed 50 runs in the five losses, capped by Wednesday night’s debacle. The infielders committed all six of those errors, including two each by Marcus Semien (a former Gold Glover) and Mark Vientos, who of course was part of Stearns’ replacement plan for Alonso.
Maybe Stearns gladly put Alonso in the rearview mirror, but the fans have not. When Vientos kicked away a grounder in the ninth — it looked like a Henrik Lundqvist skate save — the crowd erupted into “PETE ALONSO!” chants.
Mendoza may be going away, but you can bet those chants won’t be, and they’ll be interspersed with plenty more clamoring to “FIRE STEARNS!”
Now that Mendoza has been canned, there’s no one left to ax, except for the architect of baseball’s Titanic. Typically, the front office could target a few coaches as public sacrifices, but those are Stearns’ hand-picked selections after he already wiped out Mendoza’s staff during the offseason. Not only is the staff brand-new, but Stearns is responsible for those hires, too.
It took until Friday morning for Stearns to drop the hammer on Mendoza, but that was going to happen anyway, whether it was at the All-Star break in another two weeks or two months from now. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long, even through Mendoza clearly is not the main culprit here.
The Mets have been terrible this season, and bad for much longer. Mendoza guided them to an MLB-best 45-24 record on June 12 last year, but since then, the Mets are 72-102, a mind-blowing 30 games below .500. There’s no excusing that, from the top down, throughout the organization.
Cohen signed off on a $380 million payroll for this season, the second highest in the majors, thinking that he could return the Mets to prominence again. But to truly appreciate the Mets’ failures, look at the only team with a higher payroll — the Dodgers, who are the two-time defending world champs and the likely favorites for a three-peat.
Meanwhile, the Mets are plummeting toward a 94-loss season. Their only title within reach is “Worst Team Money Could Buy,” which deserves to be passed down from the 1992 Mets, who lost only 90 games. Cohen’s team — which he pledged would win a World Series by Year 5 of his ownership — is back to being a punch line in Year 6.
“Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed,” Cohen said Friday in a statement. “There is no sugarcoating it: this season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered."
Cohen also expressed his “deepest gratitude” to Mendoza for his “leadership” and “unwavering commitment.” That wasn’t anywhere near enough to transform the Mets into a respectable outfit, never mind a winning team. They entered Friday night's game against the Phillies a season-high 13 games under .500.
Good luck to Andy Green, who now shifts from his front-office role to inherit these #LOLMets as the club’s interim manager.
As for Mendoza, he’s no doubt off to better places, joining Alonso and all the others.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
