Reese Kaplan -- What Can the Mets Take From Alex Cora's Exit?

During Saturday’s rainout word filtered out that there was an interesting change afoot in the American League East.  Having gotten off to a very poor start to the 2026 season tied with the Kansas City Royals for overall ineptitude the Boston Red Sox somewhat surprisingly pulled the trigger on Manager Alex Cora who has been at their helm since 2018 with a career record as skipper in the positive column by going 620-541 good for a .534 winning percentage.  

This year’s dismal .370 winning percentage was too much to take and he was sent packing along with most of his coaching staff.  The news was indicative of what a team does when they reach a breaking point and can no longer continue down the same path that isn’t working.

Dig a little deeper and guess what?  The Mets are currently owning a 9-17 record with a winning percentage even lower at .346.  They are led by third year manager Carlos Mendoza who owns a career record of 181-169 good for a winning percentage also lower at .517.  

Unlike Cora who became the World Series winner in his 2018 rookie season in charge, Mendoza has made the playoffs exactly once.  Yet despite achieving less with a poorer record and worse winning percentage and having just endured a Mets record setting 12 game losing streak apparently the New York Mets front office feels this path is the right one to continue as theoretically the best is yet to come.

I’ve written an article not long ago in which I concluded that Mendoza was not the root cause of the Mets malaise, yet at the same time optics sometimes matter more than do numbers.  Yes, the Mets have had to endure a great many injuries and slow starts by a multitude of hitters and pitchers, yet you’re left wondering exactly who is being held accountable for what appears on the stat sheet in the individual and team wide record books?  

For now the only red flags waved included fringe pitchers like Luis Garcia and Dicky Lovelady with offensive stopgaps arriving who either couldn’t make the majors at of Spring Training (MJ Melendez) or not even gotten a job at all elsewhere in baseball (Tommy Pham). 

So after the brief two game winning streak the Mets hit the skids again during the opening game with the Rockies and now hold a razor thin half game margin before owning the worst record in all of baseball.  Thus far the “stay the course” philosophy rings hollow with seemingly no one other than David Stearns who assembled this roster accountable for what’s gone wrong.  Owner Steve Cohen sent his public “rah rah” message during the streak which had no direct impact on anything.  No key ballplayers who are not on the IL have been credited with any of the negative outcomes. 

Many folks are quick to point out that the Mets did a major overhaul of their team roster during the offseason during which Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo and others hit the road while the hometown team brought in the likes of Bo Bichette, injured Jorge Polanco and semi regular threatening to sink to the Mendoza line, Luis Robert.  

On the pitching side they did add Freddy Peralta but have already squeezed Sean Manaea and David Peterson out of the starting rotation while test driving ineffective substitutes to take over the role of starting pitcher.  Everyone is still awaiting the return of AJ Minter to help fortify the spotty bullpen but even if he replicates the quality he showed during his Atlanta years, nothing has been done to help improve the 25th ranked team batting average of just .230. 

Cora will not stay unemployed for very long given his track record.  In fact, the equally dismal Philadelphia Phillies may consider him a viable candidate to replace their own embattled skipper Rob Thompson whose own career record of 354-266 (.571 winning percentage) is not helping them much in 2026. 

The most interesting question about the Alex Cora and staff firing from Beantown is what exactly are the Mets doing to correct their course?  Yes, hitters actually remembering what to do when they come to the plate would be a huge step in the right direction as would steadiness from shaky members of the pitching corps.  However, once again it is about optics.  What have the Mets done to right the ship?  Thus far it’s a whole lotta nothin’