The Mets fired one of three men to win Manager of the Year four times.
They failed to find a candidate with such a strong reputation that the Cubs were willing to deliver the biggest manager contract ever while accepting criticism over a hire when – you know – they still had a manager.
Carlos Mendoza can’t compete with Buck Showalter or Craig Counsell in terms of career success or current status.
“My biggest advice when I talked to him was just to be Carlos Mendoza because if you know him, it’s going to be really good,” said Willie Randolph, who is in the unique position of being Mendoza’s mentor and who also once did the job which Mendoza took over officially at a press conference on Tuesday. “I am a big fan of Carlos Mendoza. The Mets couldn’t have picked a better person.
David Stearns and Steve Cohen are betting Randolph is right. That what they believe Mendoza possesses – a tenacious work ethic, an ability to connect with people and baseball experience in the Venn diagram with where Showalter was before becoming New York’s manager for the first time – will allow him to overcome what he does not do. It’s major league management experience.
Being a manager for the first time is not easy. Now add New York. Now add the evil history of the Mets. Now add in a Cohen-approved paycheck and the expectations that come with it. Stearns could have kept Showalter’s experience but wanted a fresh start with someone he felt a connection with. The Mets could have tried to overwhelm Counsell with Cohen’s money, but while owner’s money can buy a lot of items, it can’t change the geography. Counsell preferred his Midwestern roots, especially when that location also came with a recording contract.
Carlos Mendoza was introduced as Mets manager on Tuesday.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Of the remaining candidates, Stearns felt a synchronicity with Mendoza, calling his background “unique” for its variety rather than lack of major league management time. Mendoza has a history of getting these jobs before it became more common to go from the field or broadcast booth to the dugout without any prior management experience. Mendoza was a minor league player who never made it to the big leagues. He had success in the minors, the Arizona Fall League, Winter Ball and the World Baseball Classic. For the past four years, he coached Aaron Boone with the Yankees.
In terms of baseball experience and temperament, Mendoza reminds me of Phillies skipper Rob Thomson, a comparison Stearns and Randolph made independently without prompting. Thomson also never made it out of the minors as a player. With the Yankees, he held various management, coaching and executive positions in the minors before becoming the Yankees bench coach.
Rob Thomson’s baseball background is similar to that of Carlos Mendoza.Getty Images
Thomson, like Mendoza, has built respect among bosses and players through loyalty, humility and an undeniable passion for the game. Both have a ferocity for detail and preparation, which speaks to a lineage of managing the three-ring circus that is spring training — Showalter taught Thomson how to do it with the Yankees and Thomson taught Mendoza.
“Prepared, organized, high baseball IQ,” said Luis Rojas, who worked on the Yankees staff with Mendoza the past two years, is a former Mets manager and was contacted by Mendoza to prepare him for his interview with the Mets. “The players will know what he thinks because he is always open. He is energetic and responsible. And it will be authentic. He will not copy anyone else.
To know Mendoza is to love Mendoza – another quality he shares with Thomson. With Thomson, it was possible to be a bridesmaid so many times when it came to handling jobs that maybe nothing would come of it. Mendoza interviewed at least three times before this offseason and since the end of the 2023 schedule, he has also interviewed with the Giants, Padres and Guardians.
When Joe Girardi was fired as manager of the Yankees, Thomson interviewed for the job but was bypassed. But when Girardi was fired as Phillies coach last season, Thomson was elevated from bench coach to interim manager and then full-time. And where do the Mets fit in for the comparisons to continue — Thomson guided the Phillies to back-to-back NLCS appearances and a pennant?
David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza during a press conference at Citi Field, where Mendoza was introduced as the Mets’ new manager. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“First of all, [Mendoza] has unparalleled baseball knowledge,” Thomson said last week on The Post’s “The Show” podcast. “This includes integrating the numbers with the players. He will be very honest with the players and they will trust him. And that’s a big part of it. He is very respectful, he respects the game. He will direct the game correctly and he is humble. He won’t think he knows everything. He will include other people and ask them for their opinions. … This guy is just a solid guy, a solid person, a solid baseball player.
The guy is neither Showalter nor Counsell, and does not yet have full-time MLB management experience. He still won the job as a solid baseball guy. Now the hardest part: keep winning.
2023-11-15 00:58:22
#Mets #sign #Carlos #Mendoza #comparison
