Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The New York Mets are navigating a brutal 10-game losing streak that has intensified pressure on the front office and coaching staff.
- Despite widespread fan demand, sources indicate the current manager remains secure as the team's struggles stem from broader issues beyond tactical decisions.
- The executive leadership faces a high-stakes dilemma: replacing the manager could shift scrutiny to their own roster-building and strategic choices.
The New York Mets have now lost 11 games in a row, and that reality has the fan base clamoring for major changes to be made. The most common suggestion is, of course, the firing of manager Carlos Mendoza.
I get this point of view. Mendoza has been far from perfect, and in the past, we've seen teams go on special runs after firing the manager midseason. Still, even amid this brutal stretch, it's hard to imagine Mendoza going anywhere — at least not in the near future.
Mets' skid is not Carlos Mendoza's fault
Again, he's far from perfect. But how can anyone say the way the Mets are playing right now is Mendoza's fault? it feels like he's the last person anyone should be pointing the finger at.
Is it Mendoza's fault that Francisco Lindor has one RBI in 22 games? Is it Mendoza's fault that Bo Bichette has an OPS well below .600? Is it Mendoza's fault that Kodai Senga and David Peterson have ERAs well over 6.00? Is it Mendoza's fault that it took Brett Baty over 60 plate appearances to draw a walk? Is it Mendoza's fault that Juan Soto is injured?
What is Mendoza supposed to do when virtually everyone in his lineup other than Francisco Alvarez isn't hitting, and when 40 percent of his rotation is virtually non-competitive every fifth day? Again, he's made his share of mistakes, but he's also tried his best to light a spark in the lineup by shuffling things around.
Ultimately, there's only so much that a manager can do. At a certain point, it's on the players to simply play better. David Stearns knows that.
Firing Carlos Mendoza would put David Stearns' job on the line
Not only would it not be fair to fire Mendoza when this skid is clearly not his fault, but firing him would then shine a light on Stearns. The Mets' president of baseball operations would be firing his handpicked manager, essentially admitting defeat and acting as though things would turn around immediately with someone else at the helm.
Well, what if that didn't work? How would Stearns explain the team's failures then? It clearly wouldn't have been Mendoza's fault. The Mets' issues would then come down to the players underperforming, and the roster that Stearns put together.
Making the manager the scapegoat buys Stearns some time, but if his team still isn't winning games after the change, Steve Cohen is going to look at his direction next. There are only so many managers that an executive can fire without taking the fall himself. If Stearns fires Mendoza, he risks the team still struggling and then his job being on the line.
Mets don't have a clear Carlos Mendoza replacement
Even if Stearns came to the sudden realization that Mendoza should be fired, the question of who should replace him is one that's worth asking. From the Mets' point of view, there really isn't such an easy replacement.
Most of the time, when a team fires its manager, the bench coach is next in line. Kai Correa is highly touted around the game, and does have three games of managerial experience (all of which came at the end of the 2023 season), but is he really the ideal replacement? Are the Mets going to fire Mendoza only to replace him with a mostly inexperienced 37-year-old who was his right-hand man this season?
Carlos Beltran is another popular name being floated around, and it isn't hard to see why: Beltran is a Mets legend who is going to get his number retired in September, and was even hired to manage the team ahead of the 2020 season before stepping down a month later. Does he make sense as a midseason hire, though, considering the headlines it'll create and his lack of experience? I mean, Correa doesn't have much managerial experience, but Beltran hasn't even been a coach of any kind in the Majors.
Does it make sense to hire an external candidate who hasn't been around the organization at all? That might be the way to go in the winter, but is that something you do in April? Not really. There just isn't an ideal replacement, no matter where you look.
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