Reese Kaplan -- Is Carlos Mendoza Channeling Luis Rojas?

On Saturday when I wrote about the prospect of trading away Edwin Diaz once he rights his ship, Mack made a very interesting comment.  Without specifically identifying players who aren’t getting things done, he did ask a candid and relevant question.  Why has Carlos Mendoza flown under the radar when looking for why things have gone so wrong in 2024.

Think about that one for a moment.  Buck Showalter who is likely headed to Cooperstown for his managerial record started off with 101 wins in 2022.  Then when he lost Diaz for all of 2023 and a variety of other players nosedived he went from the solution to the alleged problem with why the team was not performing better than near basement dwellers.

Now to be fair, the plans to bring in David Stearns as the new President of Baseball Operations opened up that awkward door as you would think the POBO wouldn’t want to be saddled with an inherited manager but would certainly prefer to hire his own.  No one knew at the time that Billy Eppler was also headed out the door as a result of the IL manipulation and fraud, but that change was not even addressed as Stearns took over the GM duties as well as serving as the new man in charge of baseball.

So with a great many experienced managerial candidate available, Stearns went in another direction and instead negotiated for rookie manager Carlos Mendoza to take the skipper’s job.  People knew his name from his long tenure as a Yankee coach and also from the many interviews he had done in pursuit of the big job for himself.  Some Mets fans were a bit miffed seeing a Yankee in their dugout, but they got over that feeling for Luis Severino, so it didn’t seem to be a major issue overall.

No, the bigger question for the Mets organization is whether they wanted to grow and shape a young manager much like the way Milwaukee did with Craig Counsell.  There is risk in doing that but the reward is low cost loyalty for several years.  Even though Mendoza had done some winter league managing he had not taken over for even a solid 2 days in a row in the major leagues.  Consequently did it mean he could morph into Luis Rojas II?

Thus far it seems that Mendoza has done an acceptable job for the day-to-day details such as filling out lineups, rotating players and not getting ejected on a regular basis.  Yes, there are definitely questions about habitual early hooks on starting pitchers and overuse of the bullpen, but otherwise he seems to be at least average. 

Where the bigger issues jump out at you are the inconsistent and subpar performances from nearly every hitter and most pitchers on the club.  Motivation is a key facet of any managerial job and baseball is no different.  It has many folks scratching their heads when they brought back Eric Chavez to help coach hitters and returned Jeremy Hefner to mentor the pitchers.  It seems highly unlikely that these formerly successful deputies both lost it in the same season. 

So what is Mendoza doing to address the attitudes and execution of his players?  When they recently had a meeting with the players it was pointed out that meetings don’t seem to be a major part of the Mendoza style.  Perhaps that type of communication with all players in the same room at the same time being treated equally is something he needs to consider.

Given the fact he is the POBO’s new hire, he probably has a much longer leash than any other rookie manager would receive.  David Stearns has been pretty good about admitting through the transaction roster when decisions he made were not working, but players and managers are two very different types of hires that require contrasting approaches.  Players are there for however long their contract is (or less) and you have a track record of what they have done in the past as well as what they are doing right now.

Rookie managers, however, have no track record and learning on the job is part of the playbook you accept when you attempt to craft that kind of inexpensive long term solution.  I’m sure if you go back through Craig Counsell’s early days as a manager you would find examples of highly questionable things he did, but he learned from them and quickly became one of the most desired managers when he resigned from the Brewers. 

So now you have to consider the horrific stretch the Mets are facing right now and you have to wonder how much rope David Stearns is offering to his manager?  What is he as POBO doing to motivate one of his lieutenants?  How long does he give the on-the-job learning process before accountability overtakes pride in the hire?  Would bringing in a new manager actually change things drastically?  It seems that the problem is in player execution more so than managerial flaws, but at this point all potential problems need to be considered.