The New York Mets have announced their new manager.
No, it’s not Craig Counsell, although it would have made perfect sense on paper given his past working relationship with new Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.
His name is Carlos Mendoza, according to MLB insider Joel Sherman.
Carlos Mendoza is going to be named Mets manager.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 6, 2023
The Mets have already found Buck Showalter’s replacement, the man who will lead the new project for the hungry franchise.
Mendoza doesn’t have managerial experience at the MLB level, but has put together a nice resume over the years.
Before being appointed as the new Mets skipper, he worked as New York Yankees bench coach.
He played minor league baseball for 13 years.
Then, in 2009, he entered the Yankees system as a coach for the Staten Island minor league team.
He managed the Charleston RiverDogs in 2010 and the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Yankees in 2011.
In 2012, he became a defensive instructor for the Yankees.
Then, in 2017, the Yankees “called him up” to their MLB team to work as the infield coach.
He replaced Josh Bard as the organization’s bench coach in 2019, and he had stayed in the role ever since.
He often took over the team on the numerous occasions when Aaron Boone was ejected.
He was a well-respected member of the Yankees coaching staff, but the Mets are giving him his first managerial opportunity.
Mets fans reacted to the news.
Some of them were puzzled:
I thought they wanted experience?
— M (@cjxfk) November 6, 2023
Wow
— Joe Burke (@joker5339) November 6, 2023
Others didn’t hide their desire of seeing Counsell as the skipper:
Why not Counsell?
— Howie Friedman (@Howdog11) November 6, 2023
Generally speaking, there weren’t too many positive opinions about the Mets hire.
As always, only time will tell if it was the right decision or not.
