Willie Randolph will not be Mets bench coach, sources say
Willie Randolph walks off the field during a game between the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium on April 11, 2007. Credit: Getty Images/Chris McGrath
Willie Randolph will not be joining the Mets as bench coach under new manager Carlos Mendoza, according to sources familiar with the club’s plans to fill out its coaching staff.
Mendoza hailed Randolph as one of his mentors at the new manager’s introductory news conference on Nov. 14 and left open the possibility of the former Yankees star and Mets manager becoming his first bench coach.
“We have a really good relationship and I consider him not only as a mentor but as a friend,” Mendoza said on Nov. 14. “There’s a bunch of names that we’re considering right now and we’ll see where it goes.”
Randolph, 69, could wind up with the Mets in a different capacity.
Randolph managed the Mets from 2005-08. Since then, he has had stints as a bench coach with Milwaukee and Baltimore. But he has not been in a major-league dugout since 2011. Randolph has worked for many years as a spring training instructor for the Yankees.
Former Angels manager and Yankees coach Phil Nevin is a candidate for Mets bench coach, according to a report in the New York Post. The club also has openings for its first- and third-base coaching positions.
Jeremy Hefner will return as pitching coach. Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes will share the hitting coach spot. Chavez was the bench coach under Buck Showalter in 2023.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
