Yankees' Brad Ausmus, Luis Rojas and former manager Joe Girardi know how Carlos Mendoza feels
From left: Former Yankees manager Joe Girardi, Yankees third-base coach and former Mets manager Luis Rojas and Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus. Credit: Jim McIsaac; Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
BOSTON — As close as Aaron Boone is to Carlos Mendoza, the Yankees' manager can’t directly relate to what his friend and former bench coach experienced Friday when he was fired by the Mets after 2 1/2 seasons.
Two of Boone’s coaches can.
Bench coach Brad Ausmus, who managed the Tigers from 2014-17 and saw his contract non-renewed after the ’17 season, was fired after one year managing the Angels in 2019.
“No one wants to be told that their bosses don’t think they’re good enough,” Ausmus told Newsday before the Yankees’ 6-1 loss to the Red Sox on Friday night at Fenway Park. “So that stings. It hurts.”
Third base/outfield coach Luis Rojas is the one who can most relate to Mendoza, who was the Yankees' bench coach from 2020-23. Rojas was fired by the Mets after managing them in 2020 and 2021.
“I think any job in the world, regardless, you’re going to have that feeling,” Rojas said. “When they’re relieving you of your duties, of whatever the job description is of what you’re doing, it’s going to hurt you.”
Joe Girardi, broadcasting Friday night’s game for the YES Network, knows the feeling, too. He was fired after one season managing the Marlins in 2006 — after being named National League Manager of the Year — and was non-renewed by the Yankees after 10 seasons in the dugout from 2008-2017 (replaced by Boone).
The Phillies hired Girardi in 2020 before firing him in early June 2022.
“I tell people, it’s like they rip your heart out. Because you put so much into it,” Girardi said in the visiting TV booth at Fenway Park before Friday’s game. “You think about the time that managers give up with their families to do the job, all the different hats you have to wear. And then, all of a sudden, it’s taken away.”
Not that any of the three were throwing a pity party for themselves.
“Zim always told me, you’re hired to be fired. You know that’s part of it,” Girardi said of one of his mentors, baseball lifer Don Zimmer, who managed four clubs in his 50-plus years in the game. That stretch included a stint as Joe Torre’s bench coach with the Yankees. Zimmer died in 2014 at the age of 83.
Rojas had an earlier understanding of that than most. His father, Felipe Alou, had multiple successful seasons as the manager of the Expos and Giants but eventually was fired by both franchises. Rojas took that knowledge with him when he started his coaching career in the Mets' organization in 2006.
“You understand that stuff can happen because I lived through it when my dad lost his job with two different organizations,” he said. “You always know that can happen.”
Mendoza’s job status was a topic starting in spring training and became a daily talking point pretty much from Day 1 of the regular season as the Mets struggled out of the gate, losing 12 straight to fall to 7-16. They were 34-47 at the time of his firing.
Girardi said questions about his job status didn’t necessarily bother him. It was the outside noise surrounding it and the people close to him hearing about it that got to him.
“It affects your family because your family has to listen to it,” he said. “It’s hard, but you understand that when you take the job, it’s going to happen. But it doesn’t make it any easier.”
Rojas said he felt questions about his job security, or lack thereof, were “fair.”
“I didn’t really mind,” he said. “I was aware of everything that was going on. There’s stuff being said out there. It’s almost impossible not to hear because you have family members that listen to it and you have people that are feeling for you with all the noise. It’s there. You cannot ignore it.”
Rojas, who exchanged texts with Mendoza on Friday, added: “I thought Carlos did a good job because he got bombarded with questions about his job situation and he said, ‘I can’t think of that. I have to think of ways of making this team better.’ I thought he did a good job handling those questions. I thought he did a great job in a very, very tough situation that the team was going through.”
Ausmus, in his third season with the Yankees, said that maybe — and he made it clear that he was merely speculating — the man he replaced as bench coach experienced at least some relief with Friday’s news.
“I imagine there’s probably some sense of being able to exhale because he’s been under the microscope and there’s been so much on his shoulders,” Ausmus said. “But choosing between the two, I’m sure he’d much rather lead the Mets than not lead the Mets.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
