MMO Roundtable: Reactions To Carlos Mendoza’s Firing

We know that the Mets have had a very disappointing 2026 season so far… and they’ve made a move – manager Carlos Mendoza has officially been fired.  Here’s what we here at MMO think about the move, and if it’ll really make an impact on the rest of the season.

Nick Kalantzopoulos

I’m hearing a lot of “this isn’t Mendozas fault it’s the roster.” And while the roster certainly isn’t as good as advertised, this is not a last place roster. In the end, a manager is graded on “is the whole greater than less than or equal to the sum of its parts” and the whole has been less than the sum of its parts for 12 months. I think Mendoza should have been fired much earlier in the season for the most part his inability to pull the Mets out of extended losing skids. I believe the team had 4 streaks of 7+ losses in just a few months and for a squad (at that point) that talented it’s inexcusable.

Postponing this move was a Stearns miss. Although I will say I don’t get the people who say Stearns didn’t want to do this because now the spotlight is on him, as if the spotlight from fans hasn’t already been on him.

James Villani

The Mets rightfully entered the season with sky-high expectations. The data, sportsbooks, among other non-subjective sources backed that up. Unfortunately, the season has gone much differently than planned and some of that blame should be shouldered by the manager of the ball club.

With that being said, this is not all on Carlos Mendoza. Issues are rooted deeper, such as underperformances and injuries. However, when are you 72-102 since a point last season, a theme starts to develop.

Something should have been done earlier, for sure, but even with that said, there’s no concrete evidence a change would have resulted in any different results. Regardless, moving on was the right move.

Chris Bello

Carlos Mendoza’s firing is peculiar.

Not because he didn’t deserve to be let go. And not because I’m absolving him of fault due to roster construction or injury. It’s due to the timing of the decision.

If the club was going to let him go, it should have come back in April when the team lost 12 games in a row. Or in May when they lost five games in a row. Letting the manager go on June 26 is a day late and a dollar short.

That being said, the Carlos Mendoza tenure will be polarizing amongst fans. He was captain of the ship when the club reached the NLCS in 2024 and was the best team in the majors half way through 2025. But he was also captain for the Mets’ biggest in-season collapse in franchise history last season and the club’s most disappointing season in 2026.

I find myself in the second category of those polarizing opinions. Mendoza got too much support from staff and many of the Mets beat. His in game management of the bullpen was head scratching and he never seemed to have a feel for his starters. The players at the plate and on the field looked disinterested this season. And you can even argue the magnitude of Mendoza’s effect in the 2024. The turnaround didn’t come till J.D. Martinez’s-led players meeting and José Iglesias’s promotion.

David Melendi

I wish this happened sooner because firing a manager can give a team a jolt. I think it’s too late now. Mendy was a part of the problem, but the bigger problem is the players. Too many have been poor, inconsistent or injured.

But there were a handful of games last year I thought Mendy cost the Mets the game and that was the difference in making the playoffs. A few this year too. If the team doesn’t turn it around, I would fire David Stearns too.

Christian De Block

Too little, too late. The Mets are 13 games under .500 and 9.5 games out of a playoff spot. Frankly, they waited too long to make a change. There isn’t enough time to turn this around. Not a chance.

Is this underwhelming season all on Carlos Mendoza? No, their roster has proven to be quite flawed, even at full strength. That falls more on David Stearns, who will be under even more pressure moving forward. And rightfully so, given who the Mets decided to let walk this past winter. Moving on from Mendoza was the right call, but my focus is on Stearns and how he operates moving forward.

Brandyn Pokrass

The firing of Carlos Mendoza feels like one of those moves that needed to happen a while ago. No, the Mets’ issues do not all fall on Mendoza. The roster has major flaws, whether on the pitching or hitting side. Mendoza cannot field for the players in the field. He can’t make them swing at the right pitches or use challenges in the proper situations.

However, Mendoza’s flaws were ones that did not help the Mets. His management of the bullpen and the starting pitchers has been puzzling. His utilization of hitters has been all over the map. It may be a stretch, but one could pin some of the Mets’ inability to get the likes of Baty and Vientos rolling on Mendoza’s off and on usage of them. Additionally, his management of other young players has been a major point of contention.

I don’t know if firing Mendoza fixes or helps anything at this point of the year. But it was time to make a change. All eyes fall on David Stearns now. How the Mets go forward from here, whether good or bad, will be dictated by his decisions and choices. And honestly, it is about time that all the focus goes on him.

Mathias Altman-Kurosaki

Is Carlos Mendoza entirely responsible for the Mets’ failures? No. However, a change had to happen. The team has fallen flat since the middle of 2025 despite all of the talent on the roster. Coaches were fired, players were added and subtracted, yet the same problems resurfaced. This past series against the Cubs might have been the worst display of baseball in the Mendoza era, with the Mets playing sloppy, uninspired ball. I just wonder why the organization waited to so long to make a change – they could’ve easily done this after the 2025 season or during that 12-game losing streak. Maybe the managerial change sparks a run for the Mets, but it’s gotten late early in Flushing.

Kai Chang

This was the right move. There were just too many on-field issues that can be directly attributed to Mendoza. Most notably, he simply did not manage the pitching staff well enough. From what I saw, he rarely pulled starters at the right time, and his handling of the bullpen was questionable. The last straw for me was how poorly the Mets handled the ABS system. Although the challenging has improved recently, it took far too long to address.

I still think hiring Mendoza back in the offseason before 2024 was a fine decision, but I don’t really attribute much of the team’s success that year to him. After the Mets signed Juan Soto, Mendoza no longer was the right man for the job. In 2024, it felt like the players mostly led themselves, and that did work for some time. But once these key veterans left, Mendoza was exposed. Without that player-driven leadership, he seemed to be scrambling, and it became clear that he was not the strong presence the team needed.

Ultimately, two straight seasons of the Mets playing far below expectations left him as something of a scapegoat for this failure. This was a move David Stearns probably needed to make a while ago, to establish accountability for this collapse. I will remember Carlos Mendoza for his lack of presence more than anything else. He seems like a good and likeable all-around guy by most accounts. I wish nothing but the best for him and his managing career

Johnluke Chaparro

While this season doesnt fully fall on the shoulders of Carlos Mendoza, he does take his share of the blame. Roster construction aside, he failed to keep his players engaged and focused on the game, which allowed for little mistakes to turn into huge problems on the field.  His inability to feel his starters correctly and overmanage matchups at the plate cost him dearly. In addition, it seems that he lost the clubhouse, judging off of the attitude of the club.

Mendoza gets credit, and rightly so, for the 2024 NLCS run, but also takes share of the blame for last seasons collapse and this years bad start. I liked Carlos a lot but a change had to be made, but it might be too late now.

Matthew Tutrone

I went to my first game of the season last night and Mendoza was promptly fired. I’m going again on Saturday. Who’s next on the chopping block?

Allison Waxman

Really not surprising news, however, it feels like kind of a moot point right now and probably should have been done instead during the 12-game losing streak if this was always going to be the result. I may be in the minority that Mendoza was not the issue and firing him does nothing, but these things usually provide a spark or light a fire under some behinds. Just look at the Phillies. For what anyone wants to say about Mendoza, I’ll always remember 2024 and be thankful for that. I knew this was coming, and it sucks because I thought he was going to be our guy. However, something needs to change and this is always the first step in these scenarios. 

Mike Mayer

I think three things can be true: 1) The Mets needed to fire Mendoza (argument can be made for during last offseason) for a variety of reasons including the recent sloppy play and poor in-game decision making. 2) The bad run the Mets are ongoing back to last season is far more on the shoulders of David Stearns than Mendoza. 3) Injuries have killed the Mets, and that combined with a couple of key players completely underperforming, is even tougher to overcome when the manager and POBO have underwhelmed.