Carlos Mendoza’s Case for Manager of the Year

The Mets entered the 2024 season with a clean slate. Steve Cohen (finally) hired David Stearns as his president of baseball operations, and with that, former Mets manager Buck Showalter, who took the Mets to their first postseason since 2016 and won NL Manager of the Year in 2022, was fired. Rumors swirled that former Brewers manager Craig Counsell would all but join Stearns in New York as the next Met manager. However, he was announced as the Cubs manager, and the Mets then formally introduced former Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza as their next manager.

Fans didn’t think much of the hire — Mendoza would be the fifth manager in Queens in the past six years. He was a rookie manager and young. He came from the crosstown rival Yankees. While fans and critics would harp on what could go wrong, Mendoza quickly made it known things would change in Queens.

He brought a different energy in his first press conference, something that separated him from other rookie and seasoned managers. Something felt different with Mendoza. Players around the league, including Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, praised the Mets for their hiring choice. The players, like Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, were excited.

Mendoza joined a Mets club at a crossing point. They could either stick to the script and be what people wrote them off as — nobodies. Or, they could shock the world, play the best baseball, and make a run for it. He took a 2023, fourth place 75-87 team and turned them into an 89-73 playoff team who made it to the NLCS round, bested by the possible World Series champions.

While the season didn’t start out as expected, including a first-time manager, Mendoza never lost the faith. He led an 0-5 team, a team 11 games under .500, to the playoffs. Two wins shy of the World Series. How did he do it?

Trust. Keeping the faith. And most importantly, an established relationship with his players. Take, for example, Jose Quintana‘s start against the Cardinals on April 28. In the seventh inning of a tied game with two outs, Quintana was still in the game, the longest a Mets starter had gone thus far in the season. With Willson Contreras up, Mendoza took a mound visit, signaling Quintana’s day was done. However, after a short discussion on the mound, Mendoza left, and Quintana stayed and struck out Contreras to keep it tied and finish his day.

Speaking postgame, Mendoza noted how much respect he had for Quintana and, “Seeing the conviction on his face and in his voice… he said ‘I’m good, give it to me.’ I was like all right, that’s your hitter.” Mendoza became known for managing with his gut and trusting his players, commenting that sometimes it might not work and sometimes it will, but that’s part of the game. It’s a refreshing change of pace compared to managers of the past who would only rely on data or analytics to listen to their players as people rather than just a number. For that, it made all the difference in a clubhouse.

Mendoza also embraced team bonding. While he didn’t force team meetings or any of the sorts, leaving those to his players, the spirit of the game is alive and well in Citi Field. While it can’t all be attributed to Mendoza when the playing is good, the vibes are good, it’s hard not to correlate. In addition, it’s been known the Mets (and other clubs) have had their woes when it comes to clubhouse culture. The 2024 team is a shell of what the Mets were in 2023, even in 2022, when they had a better record. Mendoza has instilled a positive culture at a critical level — in the dugout and clubhouse.

The Mets have struggled to find their staples, wherever it may be: in the front office, dugout, at third. However, 2024 showed things are beginning to fall into place. Carlos Mendoza is just another part of the puzzle fitting perfectly together. It’s hard to imagine the Mets going on this magical run in 2024 if he were not there. For that, it would be baffling for Mendoza to not only not receive a Manager of the Year nomination but a win as well.

Manager of the Year winners will be announced on November 19.

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