“Do, or Do Not: There Is No Try.” – Carlos Mendoza (probably)**
(As far as the author knows, Mendoza has actually never uttered these words.)
On Thursday, October 3rd, 2024, the New York Mets, against the odds (and a statistical chance of a *seven percent* win probability at the top of the ninth inning), beat the Milwaukee Brewers in a stunning upset to advance to the National League Divisional Series (NLDS).
If anyone has watched the Mets since, say, oh…1962, these types of games are par for the course.
A wise man named Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over till it’s over!”
In 2024, a young upstart first-time manager Carlos Mendoza takes that philosophy and says, “What? Me, worry?”
In the now-62 year history of the Mets, Terry Collins has been the longest tenured manager. Since his retirement at the end of 2017, the Mets have run through managers like milk rotating at the grocery store.
Think of it this way: in Pete Alonso’s young career with the Mets, he has had five different managers.
Mickey Callaway, first-time manager, lasted two seasons.
A pandemic shortened season in 2020 had turmoil before the word COVID even entered the lexicon, with first-time manager Carlos Beltran being replaced before even managing a single game. Luis Rojas, his replacement, was also a first-time manager who lasted two seasons.
What the Mets needed in 2022, it seemed, was a grizzled veteran manager who could handle New York, and they found that with Buck Showalter. This seemed to right the ship as the Mets had their most successful regular season since 2015 (and objectively one of their best ever), with a 101-win season. However, the team clearly ran out of gas at the end, being eliminated out of the three-game Wild Card series that they only had to play in because the Atlanta Braves breathed down their neck a little too closely in the last few weeks of that season.
In 2023, Showalter seemed to not handle the adversity of losing his lights-out closer Edwin Diaz before the season even began, and the ins-and-outs of the changing needs of his lineup. So yet, another managerial change for 2024.
Mendoza might not see himself as a Zen Philosopher; but his willingness to go against the grain, not being risk-averse nor being afraid of change, and overall trusting the process may have been just what the 2024 (and beyond…) New York Mets needed. Mendoza has provided both a calming presence but has also shown that he is the type of manager who can get fired up at a moment’s notice to protect his staff.
While a manager may lean on his veterans’ know-how and experience to steer the ship and make adjustments when necessary, Mendoza was not afraid to bench anyone who was not performing, judgments be-damned. Yet he also gave his players space to have players-only meetings when things looked dire.
When former batting champ Jeff McNeil was not doing his best at the plate, Mendoza sent a clear message to him and the rest of the team: if you do not perform, you do not play. Seems simple, but this was a philosophy that was missing in previous years.
This serving of humble pie seemed to ground known hot-head McNeil, and he made the necessary adjustments which served him well until an unfortunate injury ended his regular season.
When aforementioned lights-out closer Diaz struggled this season after returning from his injury, Mendoza projected an aura of calm. When Diaz went on the injured list briefly and returned seemingly to prior form, it’s no coincidence that the Mets’ and Diaz’ fortunes seemed to have shifted around that time.
Mendoza trusted the process and his instincts even in a high leverage game such as Game Three of the Wild Card series, in a winner-take-all situation. His team has provided a “never say die” attitude, they do not let adversity keep them down, and when he had every right to distrust Pete Alonso in an at-bat being mere outs from their season ending…his faith in the process and in Alonso paid off in dividends. So much so that Alonso may have just stamped his ticket back to Queens next year.
Mendoza has provided a balanced approach between the old school of “going with my gut” and “advanced stats showing how the outcome should be.” He will not ignore one at the expense of the other. All the while, projecting a calm front of supporting his team, never throwing anyone under the bus and above all, trusting the process.
Conventional baseball philosophy suggests that managers do not provide much of a win-loss differential. Managers are not playing the actual games on the field; ergo, their decisions might not factor into the game’s outcomes greatly. Within these last two games (and even the last week), it was clear that Mendoza’s willingness to stick with his guys and his gut factored greatly in the Mets advancing to the NLDS round.
Perhaps a newer managerial philosophy is exactly what the Mets needed to bring it all together. Mendoza is certainly leading that charge, and his players are invested in that as well. Keep calm, all is well? Mendoza may as well wear the shirt at this point.
Welcome to the postseason!
Great article. Quite an enjoyable read. It never occurred to me that Pete played for 5 skippers. Mendoza also strikes me very much as a players manager. I think that gets thrown around these days for pretty much most skippers. I see these players going the distance for him, like a Tito Francona. I dont think he will win mgr of the year, though he should.
Im still skeptical of the pen management, but the fact is he has navigated the ship through some. Rough water and came out the other side. How much magic he can get for 3 more series remains to be seen, but in the reg season and in this odd “extended” post season, he’s call all the right numbers,
He certainly didn’t call the right numbers in Game 2 of the Wild Card series.
FWIW, I thought the Mets should have kept Showalter
I was neither happy nor upset with the Mendoza hiring
It’s always hard to rate managers – even more now when the lines between Manager and GM are blurred to at least some extent.
My opinion was that Mendoza got better as the year progressed. He asked his starters to go deeper into games and he quit playing Harrison Bader so much. Few fans are ever happy with their team’s bullpen management. Mendoza – and Stearns – had to survive the injuries and work thru some crappy relievers in the wheat/chaff process. Perhaps next year there will be fewer injuries and not as much chaff to sort thru.
My take is that Stearns deserves most of the demerits for the bullpen issues. Giving the contracts that he gave to certain relievers meant they got first crack and extended stays. But, again, there’s no way around that multiple injuries to multiple relievers at the same time.
Ultimately, I view Mendoza as more of a positive than a negative. I’m happy with his performance in 2024. What more can you ask for?
A few years ago I was in the camp of people that didn’t think the manager made a huge difference. When everyone was bashing Rojas, I really didn’t think he was making or breaking the team. When Showalter came in and they had such a great year I started to think I was wrong, and I think I admitted that in a comment on one of the articles here. After last year, however, I’m kind of back where I was and I’m honestly not sure how much of a difference a manager makes. I mean, did Buck just forget how to manage?
I can certainly pick and choose moments where I didn’t agree with Mendoza’s pitching management (pulling Garrett in game 2 for example) but there are other times where I think he made a great decision (starting Q last night). Those are just recent examples and there are probably many more but regardless of what I think of those moves they could work out or they could backfire and that is really determined by the player that day. Clearly you want the manager to make decisions that give the team the best chance to win, but decisions may or may not work out and then the manager looks like a genius or an idiot. Once they make the decision it’s out of their hands.
Overall I’m happy with Mendoza and considering the expectations of this team this year, it’s hard to argue with his work overall. I just hope that he doesn’t follow Showalter’s year 2 success.