Front office support of Carlos Mendoza is the right call

Plus, the Mets come through to secure a much-needed win in Anaheim to start the road trip

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets beat the Angels 4-3 at Angel Stadium on Friday night for just their fourth win in their last 21 games (box)

• RHP Christian Scott showed plenty of upside on the mound, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits with no walks and a career-high tying eight strikeouts over five innings of work

• RHP Huascar Brazobán, LHP Brooks Raley, RHP Luke Weaver, and RHP Devin Williams combined for four scoreless innings of relief, retiring 12 straight to end the game with six strikeouts

• C Francisco Álvarez had an RBI single and Marcus Semien followed that up with a two-run single to overturn a three-run deficit and make it a tied game in the sixth

• It was SS Ronny Mauricio who emerged as the hero, though, with the infielder hitting the go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh to win the game for the Mets

• LF Juan Soto returned to the outfield and had a solid night, playing a clean game defensively while going 1-for-3 at the plate with a run scored and a walk

• Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns publicly backed manager Carlos Mendoza, insisting that he doesn’t “view this as a manager problem and we don’t intend on making a change” (MLB.com)

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Roster Moves 📰

• INF Eric Wagaman optioned to Triple-A following Thursday’s game

• INF Andy Ibáñez (#77) reported to the Major League Team

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Injury Updates 🏥

• 1B/DH Jorge Polanco (right wrist contusion) was due to take batting practice and field some groundballs on Friday

• LHP A.J. Minter (left lat surgery) allowed one run on one hit in an otherwise clean inning for Triple-A Syracuse on Friday, and is set to pitch again on Sunday

• LF Juan Soto (forearm soreness), who was back in the outfield on Friday, will not go back-to-back in the field and will play a lot of DH on this road trip as the Mets look to manage his workload after coming off the IL

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The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️

On the latest midweek edition of The Just Mets Podcast, Andrew reacts to the Mets continuing their losing ways as they drop their series to the Nationals and lose for the 17th time in their last 20 games…

SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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Play of the Game ⭐️

This is an easy one.

After Francisco Alvarez and Marcus Semien both came up with clutch hits to make it a tied game in the sixth inning, the stage was set for one Met to step up and be a hero.

Ronny Mauricio emerged as that guy.

Despite hitting into an inning-ending double play and also flying out earlier in the game, Mauricio stepped to the plate in the seventh and reminded everyone of his upside by launching a solo shot to right center field, snapping a 0-for-12 skid and securing a big win for the Mets.

It was a huge clutch hit from Mauricio, who could be a real impact player if he can put everything together.

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Who’s Hot 🥵

• Over his last six games, LF Juan Soto is hitting ..400/.520/.800/.1.320 with two doubles, two homers, five runs scored, three RBIs, and five walks

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Who’s Cold 🥶

• Over his last six games, 1B Brett Baty is hitting just .059/.273/.059/.332 with five strikeouts

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• OF A.J. Ewing (No. 3 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-1, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB

• OF Nick Morabito (No. 12 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 1 SB

• INF Jacob Reimer (No. 5 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B

• RHP Cam Tilly (No. 28 prospect, Single-A): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

• DH AJ Salgado (Single-A): 3-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR

BOX SCORES

Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (11-21) at Angels (12-21)

Where: Angel Stadium - Anaheim, CA

Starters: RHP Nolan McLean (1-2, 2.55 ERA) vs. LHP Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.28 ERA)

When: 9:38 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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The Mets got it right by backing Carlos Mendoza in-season ✍️

Jason Szenes - NY Post

Well, Friday turned out to be a productive day for the Mets.

This team actually showed some fight and some energy by coming back to beat the Angels. The come-from-behind win was fueled by some clutch hitting and a nails performance from the bullpen.

And Ronny Mauricio emerged as the star of the show with a go-ahead homer to cap off what was an eventful day for the franchise.

It all started when President of Baseball Operations David Stearns came out and made a public statement that manager Carlos Mendoza is going nowhere. At least for the time being.

And, if you ask me, I think it is the right call.

Because, ultimately, I agree with Stearns. This isn’t a manager problem.

Of course, Mendoza does deserve a healthy slice of the blame for what has gone wrong so far this season. He also shouldn’t be let off the hook after overseeing the monumental collapse of 2025.

Furthermore, Mendoza has to be held accountable for some of the questionable lineup and in-game decisions we’ve seen, including pinch-hitting for the red-hot MJ Melendez on Thursday.

It is also on Mendoza if the players are showing up unprepared to play, as was arguably the case last year and as is arguably the case so far this season. While a baseball manager’s role isn’t as clear as it once was, it is ultimately Mendoza’s job to manage the clubhouse and put the players in the best possible position to succeed. It is fair to suggest that he hasn’t always done that.

However, with all of that said, I stand by my school of thought that Mendoza and all of his shortcomings are at the bottom of the list of reasons as to why the Mets have been horrifically bad so far in 2026.

Above Mendoza is the players not executing. Mendoza isn’t at fault for Francisco Alvarez hitting into more double plays this season than he did all of last year.

Mendoza isn’t at fault for Luke Weaver going out and crapping the bed on Thursday and giving up the go-ahead home run.

Mendoza isn’t to blame for the offense ranking as one of the worst in all of baseball, nor is he to blame for players committing mental errors, or for Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. all going on the IL.

And Mendoza certainly isn’t responsible for Kodai Senga and David Peterson not being able to pitch.

The players are to blame for not going out there and executing on a consistent enough basis.

And Stearns is the one who deserves the bulk of the blame for this ugly mess given that he’s the one who put this fundamentally flawed roster together.

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We don’t need to go into great detail on that considering we’ve covered Stearns’ shortcomings in depth already. It is clear at this point that Stearns is the one who didn’t replace Pete Alonso with an actual first baseman. It is clear that Stearns didn’t do enough to address the starting rotation, which was a huge problem dating back to last year. And it is clear that Stearns built a roster that simply doesn’t fit or work well enough.

This team is like Frankenstein: a horrible mishmash of body parts that just don’t fit well together.

That’s on Stearns, not Mendoza.

And Stearns’ many failures is why I think firing Mendoza now would have been pure folly. After all, if it is the roster that is broken, would a new manager really be able to fix it?

I don’t think so.

Sure, both the Phillies and the Red Sox have enjoyed mini upturns in fortunes after getting rid of Rob Thomson and Alex Cora, respectively. However, let’s see if that lasts. After all, the Phillies are an aging roster while the Red Sox, much like the Mets, have a fatally flawed roster, one so bad that even Cora, widely regarded as one of the best managers in baseball, was powerless to do anything to fix things.

And therein lies the rub.

Firing Mendoza now wouldn’t have changed a single thing. Sure, a new voice may have led to a few wins in a row in the short term but, over the course of the medium term, it wouldn’t have made much difference at all. This roster just isn’t good enough, and I don’t think even peak Earl Weaver or Joe Torre at his prime would be able to make a difference from the dugout.

Instead, I think it was important for the team to publicly back Mendoza to help lift some of the pressure off of him, while also lighting a fire under the players by putting the onus squarely on them.

Because, let’s face it, Stearns isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, either.

Of course, if the losing continues, things may change and Mendoza may end up going this season after all. Even if he survives for now, he’s in the last guaranteed year of his contract and you’d imagine that a return in 2027 would be almost impossible if the Mets do end up missing the playoffs for a second straight year.

But, again, until something is done about this roster and the man tasked with putting the team together, it doesn’t really matter who is in the dugout.

So, for now at least, I think it is the right call to keep Mendoza. This isn’t totally on him by a long stretch.

We’ll see what happens come the offseason, however.

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Around the League 🚩

• Rays RHP Ryan Pepiot will undergo hip surgery and will miss the rest of the season (Tampa Bay Times)

• 1B Munetaka Murakami hit his 13th homer of the year to help the White Sox beat the Padres, 8-2

• A’s 1B Nick Kurtz recorded his 20th consecutive game with a walk on Friday, surpassing Ted Williams and tying Barry Bonds for the second-longest streak since walks first started being tracked

• Diamondbacks INF IIdemaro Vargas is now hitting .404 this season, while extending his hitting streak to 24 straight games to start the year

• 3B Kazuma Okamoto hit a pair of home runs to help the Blue Jays beat the Twins, 7-3

• Orioles 1B Pete Alonso homered in his first game back in New York, but DH Ben Rice’s three-run blast lifted the Yankees to a 7-2 win