Roger Rubin: Mets' David Stearns keeps question of Carlos Mendoza's job security close to the vest
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza watches from the dugout during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Brad Penner
The Mets have spent the month that’s about to end treading water.
They moved to 14-12 in May when MJ Melendez gave them a walk-off 9-7 win over Miami with a two-run homer in the 10th inning Friday night before 39,386 at Citi Field. At 24-33, they are nine games under .500 — instead of 11 when the month began — and seven games out of the last NL wild-card spot instead of eight.
For an organization that went through a serious makeover with an eye toward making the playoffs, this won’t cut it.
“We have not had a good year so far. There’s no question we were not where we thought we would be,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said before the game. “We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not an insurmountable hole, but it is definitely a hole. We’re going to have to play a lot better baseball to do what we want to do this year.”
Probably a lot better than even Friday, even if it was a win. The Mets held three different four-run leads but found themselves in a 7-7 tie after the Marlins’ Owen Caissie hit a two-run homer off Tobias Myers in the eighth.
After rescuing the Mets, Melendez said: “[I’m] pretty speechless . . . [It’s] something that I had never done before at the major-league level.”
A.J. Ewing and Brett Baty had two-run singles in the first as the Mets went up 4-0.
The Mets have been teetering on irrelevance. Their fan base, which embraced the organization’s playoff expectations after all of the offseason changes, is looking for something to turn things around and want action.
The one thing they should not do is fire manager Carlos Mendoza. Mendoza hasn’t thrown a pitch, swung a bat or fielded a ball through this unfolding misery. There are plenty of reasons the Mets have underachieved, from injuries to roster construction to poor evaluation of their own players. Mendoza, by no means perfect, just isn’t one of them.
Everyone seemed pretty happy with Mendoza in 2024 as the club shook off a brutal start to make the postseason and advance past the wild-card round. Heck, he finished third in the voting for NL Manager of the Year. To think he is the problem is absurd. Firing him would just be doing something to say you’ve done something.
Questions about Mendoza’s job security have been following the Mets through every turn, and certainly that can’t be good for anyone throwing a pitch, swinging a bat or fielding a ball. The organization does have the option of removing that noise from the clubhouse by picking up the option on his contract.
Stearns tried to quiet that noise when he said, “We don’t view this as a manager problem, and we don’t intend to make a change” on the first day of the month, but the volume has remained the same.
Stearns did not waver when he was asked about it a few different ways on Friday afternoon.
In the context of the team’s mental mistakes — and in the wake of David Peterson failing to back up home plate during Tuesday’s loss to Cincinnati — Stearns was asked if the field staff isn’t getting through to the players. He replied, “Our coaching staff does a really good job.”
At another point he said that “certain players at times get a little bit off the rails in their respective disciplines and I think our staff has done a very nice job of course-correcting in certain instances.”
A term like “off the rails” could raise eyebrows, but it depends on what Stearns-to-English dictionary one is using. It might mean that some players’ mechanics were off. Or it might mean some have felt the toll of the losing. Regardless, he believes Mendoza and the coaches handled it.
When he was asked directly about making moves with the field staff, his answer was: “I’m not going to discuss the contract status of coaches or [Mendoza] . . . I’m going to stick with what I’ve said.”
The reality is that the kind of actions Stearns can take are limited.
Starting shortstop Francisco Lindor and starting centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. are not coming back from their injuries anytime soon. Starting catcher Francsico Alvarez hasn’t even begun a post-knee surgery minor-league rehab assignment and starting first baseman Jorge Polanco is just starting a rehab assignment.
The Mets have tried to jolt things by bringing up top prospects Carson Benge and Ewing. They are seeking to get Peterson on track by pulling him from the rotation and moving him to the bullpen.
When Stearns was asked about making trades and whether the Mets are inclined to be buyers or sellers, he replied, “We’re not there yet.” He added that it’s possible a situation will present itself sooner but that “robust trade discussions” don’t happen until after the All-Star break.
Dismissing Mendoza isn’t going to make players heal faster or create opportunities to make the roster better. It would be making a move to make a move. And some of the best moves are the ones teams don’t make.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
