New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza finally discussed his role in the clubhouse communication issues the Mets experienced last season, saying he ‘fell short’ and didn’t always communicate “at an elite level” last season, according to a report written by Tim Britton of The Athletic.
“I take pride in being a good communicator. I feel like I fell short,” the Mets manager said yesterday. “It’s not that I didn’t talk to players. To be really good at what we do, you have to communicate at an elite level, and I don’t think I did that last year at times. That’s the biggest thing for me.”
Mets fans and many MLB executives around the league might say Mendoza is being very generous in his self-assessment. The Mets’ second-half collapse led to a complete coaching-staff purge after the team failed to make the playoffs, and an explosive report from the New York Post back in December revealed a divided, rancorous clubhouse that featured shouting matches between players and personality conflicts that never got resolved.
GM David Stearns cleaned house as a result, and there were also medical issues involved with the bullpen. Former Mets reliever Adam Ottavino revealed considerable unrest among the relievers that were about overuse and Mendoza “not caring” about his pitchers enough.
“You look back and whether it’s using the coaching staff, the medical staff, explaining a role to a player a little bit better,” Mendoza said, “it’s not that I didn’t do it, but when you have high standards and high expectations, that’s the first thing that comes to mind.”
The first thing that comes to mind for many Mets fans is the question of why Mendoza wasn’t fired along with the rest of his coaching staff. According to Britton, the manager’s communication skills “proved vital” in 2024, as the Mets survived a rough start to make a playoff run that ended in the NLDS.
Mendoza hasn’t done much to increase his standing among the fan base during the offseason, however. He referred to the Mets having a “corporate clubhouse” in a radio interview earlier this month, and he told Britton that he didn’t always address issues with his coaches when they came up.
That sounds suspiciously like throwing his coaches under the bus, but that approach won’t fly this season. Stearns has eliminated as many of the proverbial bad apples as possible, at least in theory, and both the roster and the entire coaching staff have been overhauled.
This is basically a “prove it” year for Mendoza. He needs to show that what happened in 2024 wasn’t a fluke, and Mendoza received more than his share of votes in a recent Athletic poll about managers and front offices being on the hot seat going into this season. Mendoza is in the final year of a three-year deal, and if the Mets don’t start fast and sustain their excellence, owner Steve Cohen and Stearns will likely pull the trigger very quickly and fire him.