The New York Mets just blew up the season. Carlos Mendoza is out as manager, fired Friday morning after the team fell to 34-47 and 9.5 games out of the wild card race. Bench coach Andy Green takes over as interim manager for the rest of 2026.
This is a stunning fall for Mendoza, who led the Mets to the NLCS in 2024 and finished as a finalist for NL Manager of the Year. He leaves with a 206-199 record across two and a half seasons. Two years ago he was a darling. Now he is gone.
President of Baseball Operations David Stearns delivered the kind of statement you give when you fire someone you respect. “Carlos has led the organization with passion and grace and is beloved by everyone who works with him on a daily basis,” Stearns said via ESPN. “Unfortunately, we know we are falling short and change is necessary to move forward.”
Translation: the players still liked him, but the wins were not there and Steve Cohen does not write nine figure checks to finish last in the NL East.
Make no mistake about Cohen’s role. The Mets’ owner has been the most aggressive spender in baseball for four years running. He brought in Juan Soto. He signed Pete Alonso. He has invested in everything from analytics to player development to international scouting. When the team falls to 13 games under .500, the manager pays first.
That is fair to a point. Mendoza had a clubhouse that should have been better than this. The pitching has been a disaster, the lineup has underperformed Soto’s massive contract, and the team has lost too many one-run games. The 2025 collapse was bad. The 2026 first half is worse.
Andy Green is a smart hire as the interim. He has prior managing experience with the Padres and he has been Mendoza’s right hand for the entire run. The transition should be smooth, but smooth does not equal results. The Mets are not making the postseason.
The real story is what comes next. Stearns now has six weeks to decide what kind of trade deadline he wants. The Mets have movable veterans, expiring contracts, and zero shot at October baseball. David Peterson is already gone, dealt to the Cubs earlier this week. Expect more.
The next manager search will be one of the most important in franchise history. Cohen will want a name, the kind of veteran who has run a contender. Get used to seeing Bruce Bochy, Bob Melvin, and Joe Espada in Mets rumors all summer.
Mendoza did not deserve to be the only one who paid. He probably knows that. Welcome to managing in Queens.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
