FLUSHING, NY — It’s not the manager Carlos Mendoza that should be blamed or take the fall for this early Mets season tailspin, tied for the worst record in baseball (9-19). And it’s not Mendoza swinging the bats.
The Mets have scored less than two runs in a game ten times this year, another MLB record.
It’s pathetic baseball at Citi Field, probably headed to being a ghost town because the Mets have hit rock bottom after getting swept in a three-game series to the Colorado Rockies, including both games of a Sunday doubleheader.
The Mets dropped to 9-19 on the year after falling to the Rockies Sunday in a doubleheader at Citi Field – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
You don’t blame the manager for roster construction, Mendoza is supplied the goods. Perhaps the wrong construction was put in place by David Stearns, the Director of Baseball Operations. The owner Steve Cohen gave Stearns the platter and it hasn’t worked with a payroll listed as the second highest in the sport next to the Dodgers.
Yes, it’s pathetic at Citi Field and overall for a Mets franchise. As Mendoza said Sunday after a long day of losing, “We gotta do something.” And doing something could be the fall of Mendoza, anointed by Stearns in place of Buck Showalter who had the Mets in a right direction.
Yes, it’s the end of April and it may be easier to climb Mount Everest before you can say the Mets will climb out of this misery and early season tailspin. Too soon to say the season is over?
One fan seated in an upper deck section at Citi Field on Sunday as the Mets continued their free fall on the diamond – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Perhaps, though the Amazin’, 10.5 games back from the NL East division Braves, are currently closer to two notorious losing franchises, the Rockies and White Sox who both hold better records. It’s not too early to claim the season is over before the month of May.
Yet the Mets can’t be this bad. But the reality is that they are. Perennial All-Stars on the roster who have no conception of the strike zone losing 12 games in a row, the longest losing streak in Mets franchise history since 2002.
With a roster filled of perennial All-Stars and established MLB names, the Mets have started off the season as one of the worst teams in baseball – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
And this is with or without Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor who have missed time with calf injuries. Putrid baseball and on Sunday, the fan base booed their team out of the ballpark after dropping both games to an improved Colorado team (43-119 in 2025).
Another example that money can’t buy a championship, with the Mets having upwards of a $375 million payroll. In the meantime Stearns overhauled a roster and got rid of Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil. Last check in of the box scores saw both producing runs for the Rangers and A’s.
Pete Alonso was more about a contract to Baltimore, and sources say Stearns was not his guy. More contact at-bats, less home run production and run prevention was all in the philosophy of Stearns and it hasn’t worked. The Mets are at bottom of the pit in all categories, except for starters Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and Freddy Peralta—a Stearns acquisition from the Brewers who can’t go more than six innings.
Freddy Peralta was picked up by the Mets this offseason in a trade with the Brewers to help straighten their rotation alongside Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
But please don’t blame this on Mendoza, though the manager always takes the fall. The managerial role is different nowadays and deals with putting the best nine on the field through analytics. Mendoza has changed lineups numerous times with no success. Again, the players are not his product, that’s all on Stearns and his mentality of roster construction that worked in Milwaukee but not in New York.
So all the questions now and what can be done to change the atmosphere before Citi Field becomes a ghost town? Perhaps at this point nothing and changing the manager won’t make a difference. The players will be the same, trades at this early juncture are hardly done that make an impact.
And the Mets’ minor league call-ups won’t make a difference. So Mendoza as of Monday still has his job and will be the culprit unless Stearns fires the manager he chose. Which leads to Alex Cora and the Red Sox removing him, because up in Boston they are not content with a slow start amid all types of injuries to their pitching staff unlike the Mets, a roster of players not performing to what it says on the back of their baseball cards.
Alex Cora was fired by the Red Sox over the weekend, stunning the baseball industry – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Cora is not coming to Citi Field, he is owed $13,54 million through 2027 via a contract extension, and despite the great reputation, he took a fall for the Red Sox’s early season demise. Cora, though, is a hot commodity and may want to reconsider if indeed Stearns and Cohen can top that figure, believing he can right the ship.
However, no manager can right the ship because players are the culprit and they know what is at hand here. Wins can change everything, except the Mets are in chartered territory and would need to win five or more games a week at this juncture to have any type of impact for a postseason run.
The Mets’ putrid start to 2026 must have David Stearns and Steve Cohen wondering what has gone wrong across the first 28 games – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Baseball is a long campaign, we know with the ups and downs and the chemistry. Also hitting and pitching well become contagious and same for hot and cold streaks. Roster construction is another component to this, Stearns has failed and not to mention another fan-favorite like Edwin Díaz packing and leaving town for Hollywood. Find a way for the Mets to turn this around?
The watch is on for Mendoza because that’s the way it works around baseball.
“The only thing I’m worried about here is I’ve got to get the guys going,” he said Sunday after the doubleheader sweep. “I get it, I get it, I mean it sucks. And I know the questions will continue to come up. But my job is to find a way to get those guys out of the funk, that’s the bottom line.”
Carlos Mendoza is hoping to get his team to play up to exceptions but there is only so much he can do in the dugout – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
The manager is out of answers, getting his team to play up to expectations is the hope. But the bottom line again, Mendoza is supplied the product. Stearns as you would choose as a consumer made the decision with roster construction and All-Stars apparently has not worked.
Can’t get further into the abyss, then again the Mets are there. It’s not Mendoza, Cohen has the money, and that hasn’t worked. A history of the Mets with a few miracles and more of the same misery—this two years after their unexpected run and loss to the Dodgers in the 2024 NLCS.
Ever since the Dodgers defeated the Mets in the 2024 NLCS, the Mets have recorded 92 wins and 98 losses, including the full 2025 season and first 28 games of 2026 – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Cohen will take a financial loss if indeed his ballpark becomes a ghost town, and Stearns will retain his role. The Mendoza watch is on, indeed a mistake if he is relieved and fan favorite Carlos Beltrán or even Cora sits in the managerial chair.
Who is the culprit? Read between the lines here, it’s called roster construction. In five months, the Mets will be trying to reconstruct it again and right the ship before then.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com with coverage of MLB, boxing, and MLS – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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