Mets fire Barnes, Chávez & majority of coaching staff
The consequences of missing the postseason have begun with a dramatic overhaul of the coaching staff.
After a disastrous season that saw the Mets go from World Series contender to missing the playoffs entirely in an epic crash, the first drops of blood has been spilt.
New York announced on Friday afternoon that Jeremy Hefner (pitching coach), Eric Chávez (hitting coach), Jeremy Barnes (assistant hitting coach) and Mike Sarbaugh (third base coach) have all been fired.
Bench coach John Gibbons has also officially resigned from his position.
In his first post-season press conference following the club’s elimination this past week, President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said that while manager Carlos Mendoza would return that the rest of the coaching staff would be under further evaluation.
It is not surprising that the first casualties of this collapse have come to the Mets coaching staff, though it is notable for the club decisively move on from a number of coaches that have been here for several years under multiple regimes.
Eric Chávez has been with the club since the start of the 2022 season – which was largely a very successful one for the Mets and their offense – while assistant Jeremy Barnes first joined the organization that same year. Chávez acted as the Mets hitting coach in 2022 and became the bench coach in 2023 before moving back into the hitting coach role over the last two seasons.
Jeremy Hefner has been with the organization longer than nearly anyone as he first became the Mets pitching coach entering the 2020 season. For a long time Hefner was widely regarded as one of the best pitching minds in the league, which is a big reason that he remained with the Mets despite three managerial changes (four if you count Carlos Beltrán), six general manager changes and even an ownership change. Unfortunately for Hefner, he was not able to survive the collapse of this season that was in large part due to the club’s 4.95 ERA over the final 93 games of the season.
John Gibbons, the former Blue Jays manager, joined the club in 2024 to help give rookie manager Carlos Mendoza a more experience presence in the dugout.
Mike Sarbaugh had also been with the Mets since the start of 2024 and was under fire for several controversial sends (and non-sends) of base runners throughout this past season.
New York did invite Antoane Richardson (first base coach), Danny Barnes (strategy) and Rafael Fernandez (coaching assistant) to return to the club in 2026. Desi Druschel (assistant pitching coach) and José Rosado (bullpen coach) are also invited to return, but have been given permission to speak to other clubs.
This is likely only the first shake-up that Mets fans can expect to see this ofseason after a season as disappointing as this past one was.
The first domino has officially fallen.
Here comes the stat nerd: I went to see where the Mets' pitching staffs have ranked league-wide since Hefner's tenure began in 2020, and it was mostly 'meh'. ERA - 4.03 (11th); FIP - 4.02 (11th); WHIP - 1.28 (16th); total fWAR - 85.7 (11th). Not bad, but pretty solidly that of a perpetual wild card contender.
And the deeper I dug, the more sense the firing makes when thinking about Stearns's vocal commitment to run prevention — their team walk numbers have generally been pretty bad recently. Save for two solid seasons fresh off the COVID year, Mets staffs have ranked in the mid-20s in walks allowed, BB/9, and WHIP. They've issued the eighth-most walks in baseball since 2020, and they sit firmly middle of the road in WHIP with a collective 1.28 mark over those five seasons.
If the focus this winter is indeed run prevention, then seeking to stabilize the lingering free pass situation makes sense.
Additionally, Mets starters from 2020-2025 have thrown 305 quality starts (12th), but they've thrown just five complete games and have only three shutouts in those five years. Homers haven't been an issue for a while; Mets arms have allowed just 944 (fourth-fewest) since 2020. Instead, the problem lies in base hits allowed with runners on base: Mets pitchers have allowed the 27th-most hits in MLB with the bases empty, but the 19th-most with runners on. When more than half your team's walks (54.5%) are issued with the bases empty, and you give up more hits with runners on base than not, safe to say you're not doing yourself any favors.
TL;DR - I'm not too shocked by Hefner's dismissal. After several years of mostly the same returns, it was time for a shake-up across the board.
Hugh Quattlebaum still available?