Like the rest of the franchise, Carlos Mendoza has had a rollercoaster of an offseason so far.
During an appearance on the “Foul Territory” podcast on Friday, Mendoza opened up about his eventful past few months, which began with the captain firing much of his coaching staff following the Mets’ disappointing 2025 season.
Under Mendoza, the organization let go of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and cut coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, bench coach John Gibbons and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, moves the manager said were the “toughest days” of his career.
“I’m not going to lie, this was probably one of the toughest days of my professional career,” Mendoza said.
In the weeks following the mass firing, the Mets hired Tony Snitker as hitting coach and Justin Willard as pitching coach, along with promotions director Jeff Albert to oversee the hitting program in Queens.
“You develop these relationships with these coaches – we’ve worked together for a few years – and then you know you’re going to have to make some tough decisions,” he added. “You spend more time with them than your own family, so they become your family, and when you make those calls it just breaks your heart.”
Despite the rocky start to the offseason, Mendoza has seen a resurgence, with the Mets going on a massive free agency spree in January, signing Bo Bichette and trading for Luis Robert and Freddy Peralta within days of each other.
Mendoza insisted Bichette’s signing wasn’t a “panic turn” because the Mets failed to land Kyle Tucker, and said the organization was “willing” to give the two-time All-Star a deal.
“I don’t see it as panic because we’ve laid that foundation,” Mendoza said of Bichette’s signing. “We were prepared, we had two calls with him. …This wasn’t like, ‘oh, Tucker went somewhere else and the next day we sign Bo here.’ We had meetings with him.”
Just days after Bichette signed a three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets, David Stearns completed a trade with the White Sox for Robert, giving up Luisangel Acuna and minor league arm Truman Pauley in exchange.
Mendoza was happy with the deal, but acknowledged that Robert – who has missed 114 games over the past two seasons – will need to remain on the field and that the Mets’ medical staff has already been in contact with the outfielder.
“When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza also said that immediately after the Mets traded for Peralta — and reliever Tobias Myers — on Wednesday, he got on the phone and had a “very good conversation” with the 29-year-old righty.
Despite the huge splash the Mets made this past week, Mendoza claimed they aren’t done building the 2026 roster just yet.
“As a manager you appreciate having an owner like Steve and Alex [Cohen] who are willing to use all resources – that is a very good feeling,” Mendoza said.
“We feel very good about where we are going as an organization,” he added.
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