David Lennon: Firing Carlos Mendoza won't fix anything with these flawed Mets
Former Mets manager Willie Randolph and current Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. Credit: Getty Images/Stephen Dunn; Jim McIsaac
Eighteen years ago, Willie Randolph boarded the Mets’ team charter to Anaheim with his job in serious jeopardy.
The following night, after a 9-6 victory over the Angels, Randolph was relieved of his managerial duties while the East Coast was fast asleep, at 3:14 a.m. Flushing time.
Could history repeat itself? That’s a question worth asking after the Mets wrapped up their make-or-break homestand Thursday with a 5-4 loss to the feisty Nationals that again showed just how broken this whole operation is, from top to bottom.
A couple of things about that Randolph dismissal. Like Carlos Mendoza — who also is now headed to Anaheim — Randolph was coming off a second-half collapse that cost the Mets a playoff berth. Sure, they waited until mid-June to fire him, but those Mets were only a game under .500 (34-35) and still had plenty of time to recover.
This 2026 version? As early as this technically is, these Mets look utterly hopeless — a combination of terrible roster construction, a rapidly snowballing list of ailments and subpar performance. They have lost 17 of their last 20 games and have baseball’s worst record (10-21).
“It’s hard for all of us,” Mendoza said. “We’re in this together. It’s not easy, but we got to keep going. There’s no other choices here. We have a responsibility and we have to turn this thing around. It’s not early anymore. It’s obviously frustrating for a lot of people.”
Washington Nationals' James Wood robs a home from the Mets' Juan Soto during the first inning on Thursday at Citi Fied. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
Mendoza got one big detail wrong. There’s a reason it’s called a hot seat and not a hot sofa. He’s virtually alone on the firing line, and no one — not his players, not his newbie coaching staff — is doing anything to protect him.
The only reason Mendoza still has the job is his favorable relationship with president of baseball operations David Stearns and owner Steve Cohen, who understand that his replacement probably won’t fare any better with this banged-up roster.
Thursday provided even more evidence. Luke Weaver officially got the loss for teeing up the go-ahead two-run homer to CJ Abrams in the eighth inning, but there were plenty of accomplices. Freddy Peralta fired a wild throw to first base on what should have been a double-play grounder and cost himself a pair of runs in the first inning. The Mets went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Nationals outfielder James Wood robs the Mets' Juan Soto of a home run in the first inning on Thursday at Citi. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II; Jim McIsaac
Just the usual stuff that we’re used to seeing from this nicked-up and negligent group. On this supposed get-right homestand — against the Twins, Rockies and Nationals — the Mets went a demoralizing 3-6 and lost players almost as quickly as games.
“We cannot give up at this moment,” said Peralta, who surrendered three runs (one earned) in six innings. “We just have to keep focused and keep going.”
Some Mets are physically unable to do even that. Before Thursday’s game, the team announced that Luis Robert Jr. — formerly known as the cleanup-hitting centerfielder — had been placed on the injured list with “lumbar spine disc herniation” after receiving an epidural shot that would shut down his baseball activities for seven to 10 days. Translation: He won’t be back for a while.
Up came infielder Eric Wagaman, the latest in a surprisingly long line of patch jobs for a $370 million roster playing as if it should be on the bargain rack. One of those, the recently signed Austin Slater -- who replaced the hitless/DFA’ed Tommy Pham -- had a significant cameo in Thursday’s loss, a failed pinch-hitting appearance for MJ Melendez, whose three-run homer in the third inning had tied the score at 3.
It’s easy to poke fun at the fact that Melendez repeatedly has batted either third or fourth in the Mets’ lineup. But other than Juan Soto, he’s been their best hitter, and yet he was pulled for Slater with Soto representing the tying run at second base and none out in the eighth inning.
Never mind that Soto probably should’ve been at third after his long fly ball hit the top of the centerfield wall (he also had a home run robbed by a leaping James Wood in the first inning).
Right now, with the manager in jeopardy and the losing an epidemic, the Mets can’t whiff on the little things, like airmailing throws or admiring deep drives that ultimately don’t clear the wall. But those things have become part of this team’s DNA.
“No matter what occupation you do, one bad day or collective bad days doesn’t mean you just completely lost being good,” Weaver said. “Yeah, the storm and the rain came, but eventually the sun’s going to come out — unless we’ve got a pretty bad thing coming.”
Sorry, Luke. The bad thing already is here. The Mets have been living it for a while now. And without Francisco Lindor and Jorge Polanco and Robert, the odds of this getting any better in the short term are becoming minuscule.
Just on the optics alone, it’s probably better if the Mets don’t give Mendoza the Randolph treatment by making him take the cross-country flight before booting him in Anaheim. It was disgraceful enough to do it to Randolph once. If Stearns decides to remove Mendoza as manager, there’s ample time on this three-city, nine-game trip that also includes Denver and Phoenix.
If this losing continues against the Angels and beyond, then Stearns will be doing Mendoza a favor by firing him on the road — before the Mets have a chance to repeat this week’s embarrassing homestand in front of even angrier fans.
“That’s not going to do it,” Mendoza said. “You got to start winning series — period. That’s not good enough.”
The Mets haven’t been anywhere close. For too long now.
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.
