Last-place Mets fire manager Carlos Mendoza. Owner Steve Cohen says ‘fans deserve better’

NEW YORK (AP) — From the front office to the field, just about everything has gone wrong for the New York Mets over the past year.

And on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza took the fall.

Halfway through a wretched season, Mendoza was fired as skipper of the underperforming Mets and was replaced by Andy Green.

New York is 34-47 at the season’s midpoint following a six-game losing streak, 15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9 1/2 games back of the NL’s last wild-card berth.

Mets owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball’s highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.

“Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed,” Cohen said in a statement. “There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered.”

At a Citi Field news conference ahead of Friday night’s series opener against the rival Philadelphia Phillies, president of baseball operations David Stearns called it “a very difficult day.”

“Mendy gave everything he had to our organization for the last 2 1/2 years. He’s an exceptionally talented leader. He’s a really good baseball man. Above all else, he’s an outstanding person. I enjoyed working with him and I’m going to miss him,” Stearns said.

“Despite all of our effors, Mendy’s included, we haven’t been able to get this going this year. And I take responsibility for that.”

Slowed by injuries to Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Clay Holmes, Luis Robert Jr. and Jorge Polanco, the Mets traded pitcher David Peterson, their longest-tenured player, to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and could pivot to a selloff and retooling for the future.

Mendoza spent 15 seasons working for the Yankees, the last four as bench coach, before the Mets hired him to replace Buck Showalter after the 2023 season. New York advanced to the National League Championship Series in 2024 but failed to reach the playoffs last year and is among the sport’s biggest disappointments this season.

Since starting last year 45-24 through June 12, 2025, the Mets are 72-102. That left the team with a 206-199 record under Mendoza, who was in the final guaranteed season of a three-year contract. He was hired by the Mets a month after Stearns joined New York as president of baseball operations.

“I understand there’s no magic bullet here and there’s no one change that immediately is going to turn this around,” Stearns said. “This is incremental, this is day to day, this is doing the work every single day to get us back on track.”

After signing Soto to a record $765 million, 15-year contract ahead of the 2025 season, Stearns made major roster changes last offseason. He allowed Pete Alonso to leave as a free agent and traded Brandon Nimmo, while bringing in Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette.

New York had a 12-game losing streak in April, its longest since 2002, and made six errors in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader loss to the Chicago Cubs, the team’s most in a game since 2014.

“Carlos has led the organization with passion and grace and is beloved by everyone who works with him on a daily basis,” Stearns said in a statement. “Carlos’ impact on our players, staff, and culture over the last three seasons has been transformative. Unfortunately, we know we are falling short and change is necessary to move forward.”

Green, a former major league infielder, joined the Mets in 2023 as senior vice president of baseball development and had been charged with running the farm system. He was given the title of interim manager for the rest of the season. Green managed San Diego to a 274-366 record from 2016-19, finishing with losing records in all four seasons.

Stearns said Green will return to a front-office role after this season and the Mets will conduct a full search for a new manager.

Green played four games for the Mets in 2009, his final big league appearances as a player. He became the fourth manager since Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon and Katz families after the 2020 season, following Luis Rojas, Showalter and Mendoza.

Mendoza is the third major league manager to lose his job since the season started. Boston’s Alex Cora was replaced by Chad Tracy and Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson by Don Mattingly.

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP freelancer Jerry Beach contributed to this report.

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