Mets Executive Explains Why Team Won’t Fire Manager Carlos Mendoza

New York currently has the worst record in baseball.

Carlos Mendoza and the Mets are trying to find a way to turn things around. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Red Sox and Phillies made surprising early-season moves to fire their managers after dreadful starts, leaving many to speculate the Mets would follow a similar blueprint. But it sounds like, as of now, there is no intention of having Carlos Mendoza follow Alex Cora and Rob Thomson out the door.

“We know our record is not what we want, and we know we are capable of more,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told MLB.com. “We don’t view this as a manager problem, and we don’t intend to make a change.”

It's always nice for embattled leaders to get a public vote of confidence from management. There is also a very long track record showing that such a move does not mean the situation is all that much more secure. In fact, these are typically generalized as a "kiss of death" due to how many times they don't age all that well.

The Mets remain confident in Mendoza's ability to navigate choppy waters that have caused them to sink all the way to the bottom of baseball. A 10–21 anchor is hanging around their neck and the daunting task of climbing out of a hole created by a 12-game losing streak lies ahead.

Production on the field has been extremely lacking yet injuries to Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Jorge Polanco have held back the offense. Clutch hitting has been virtually nonexistent and the back end of the Mets' starting rotation has been abominable with both David Peterson and Kodai Senga sitting at 0–4.

It has certainly not been a parade of poor coaching decisions that have put the Mets so far behind their projected pace. Still, at times like these the most expendable scapegoat tends not to be in the front office. There's a real argument to be made that Mendoza hasn't been able to cook even though he's been given the most expensive groceries. Whether they brought him the wrong ingredients or they just take a while to fold together remains to be seen.

The Mets start a nine-game road trip tonight in Los Angeles against the Angels. When they return to the Big Apple they'll host the Tigers and Yankees. So their schedule is not exactly conducive to some easy victories to turn things around.

Though there's no intent now to shake things up in the New York dugout, this story will be worth monitoring as long as the Mets keep finding themselves on the wrong side of results.

---