Carlos Mendoza hired by Mets as their new manager, sources confirm

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — The Mets’ newest manager isn’t the flashiest name or the most accomplished baseball person. He has not done this job in the majors previously. He had no prior connection to the franchise.

But Carlos Mendoza, they became convinced through multiple rounds of interviews, was their guy.

David Stearns and the Mets agreed to hire Mendoza, sources told Newsday on Monday, turning to a longtime Yankee to fill their top dugout job. Mendoza, 43, had spent the past four seasons as Aaron Boone’s bench coach and had been a part of that organization since 2006.

On paper, Mendoza checks a lot of boxes for Stearns, the newly installed president of baseball operations who said last month that he views “the manager position as one of true partnership” with him and the front office.

Bilingual, fluent in analytics, well regarded by those in the Yankees’ clubhouse and a former player himself — having spent 10 seasons in the minors — Mendoza in recent years has developed a reputation as something of a hot manager prospect. He had been a candidate for the Guardians’ opening, until they decided on Stephen Vogt on Monday. And he spoke with the Giants and Padres this hiring cycle. In years past, he was up for gigs with the Red Sox, White Sox and Tigers.

Upon arriving at the general managers’ meetings Monday afternoon, Stearns declined to comment on his choice of Mendoza. He is scheduled to speak to reporters Tuesday.

Heading into 2024, Mendoza will be the Mets’ fifth manager in six seasons following the rapid-fire turnover of Buck Showalter (two seasons), Luis Rojas (two seasons), Carlos Beltran (77 days and zero games) and Mickey Callaway (two seasons). This is the fourth time in five hires that the Mets have selected a rookie manager.

The Mets fired Showalter during the final weekend of last season, and finding his replacement was among the first major tasks for Stearns once he officially joined the Mets on Oct. 2. Stearns promised then that the Mets would employ “a real process” and “cast a wide net” in searching for what he described as a partner, someone he could grow with during their Mets tenures. He said he intended to interview experienced managers as well as would-be first-timers.

"He's entitled to pick his person, and the goal would be to align philosophies," owner Steve Cohen said at Stearns’ introductory news conference. "I expect David to be here a long time. And I would hope he’d pick a manager who was aligned in that way also.”

The list of Mets candidates leaked to the public was short. They had interest in longtime Brewers manager Craig Counsell, the perceived favorite because he was the only manager Stearns had in his seven seasons running that team. But Counsell bolted for another NL Central club, the Cubs, for a five-year deal worth $40 million on Monday. It is not clear if he ever actually wanted to work for the Mets.

The Mets also interviewed Cubs bench coach/former Padres manager Andy Green.

Mendoza, born and raised in Venezuela, spent his minor-league career with the Giants and Yankees — playing all of 12 games at Triple-A — before transitioning to coaching in 2009. After he worked for almost a decade in a variety of player-development roles, including managing at multiple levels, they promoted him to the majors in 2018. Initially, he served as the infield coach and quality control coach, an ambiguous title for the person who often serves as a front office/coaching staff conduit.

Although Mendoza has never managed in the majors — save for those many occasions when Boone was ejected — he has done so in the Venezuelan Winter League and Arizona Fall League. He also was Venezuela’s bench coach during the World Baseball Classic in March.

Mendoza had a second interview, in New York and with Cohen, last week, a source said at the time. He turned out to be that “someone who is working side by side with me and the rest of our baseball ops group,” as Stearns described his ideal candidate last month.

“The manager has so many responsibilities these days,” Stearns said. “It is a big job. But first and foremost is the ability to manage people, manage personalities and create and facilitate an organization culture where people enjoy coming to work and work hard.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.