Why Carlos Mendoza should have won NL Manager of the Year

The Mets acquire Jose Siri and Juan Soto meetings heat up. Plus, one final ode to the job that Carlos Mendoza did in his rookie campaign.

What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎

• The Mets acquired CF Jose Siri from the Rays in exchange for RHP Eric Orze on Tuesday (story)

• 1B Pete Alonso, LHP Sean Manaea and RHP Luis Severino each declined the qualifying offer, making them all free agents

• New York would get draft pick compensation for any of the three players if they sign elsewhere this offseason

• Manager Carlos Mendoza finished third in the NL Manager of the Year voting, finishing behind Padres manager Mike Shildt (2nd place) and Brewers manager Pat Murphy (1st place)

• The Mets did not opt to protect RHPs Mike Vasil and Dominic Hamel, exposing the two prospects to potentially being selected by other teams in the Rule 5 Draft

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The Juan Soto Sweepstakes ♨️

USA Today Sports

• The Dodgers reportedly met with Juan Soto on Tuesday (Feinsand) – Nov. 19

• The Phillies haven’t met with Juan Soto yet, but they plan to (Heyman) – Nov. 19

• The Mets are willing to bid $50 million over whoever is the highest bidder for Juan Soto (YES Network) – Nov. 18

• The Yankees met with Scott Boras and Juan Soto on Monday, and now the Dodgers are expected to meet with him (New York Post) – Nov. 18

• Mets owner Steve Cohen, president of baseball operations David Stearns, and manager Carlos Mendoza met with Scott Boras and Juan Soto on Saturday in Newport Beach, CA (New York Post) – Nov. 16

  • The Mets came away “hopeful” and perhaps “optimistic” of their chances of being able to sign Soto

  • They remain viewed as one of the favorites to sign Soto, as the meeting went very well

• Someone would have to blow Juan Soto away with an offer to pry him from the Yankees, who could sign before the Winter Meetings (SNY) – Nov. 12

• Francisco Lindor has taken a role in the club’s pursuit of free agent superstar Juan Soto (ESPN) – Nov. 12

• Soto is eying a $700 million contract in free agency (Heyman) – Oct. 31

• After the Yankees lost Game 5 of the World Series, Soto told reporters all 30 clubs will be in play for his free agency this winter (watch) – Oct. 30

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Rumor Mill 💨

• Japanese RHP Tomoyuki Sugano is drawing interest from the Angels in free agency (Morosi)

• The Royals have shown interest in making trades for Phillies 3B Alec Bohm and Angels OF Taylor Ward (MLB.com)

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One Final Ode to Carlos Mendoza’s 2024… ✍️

There’s no doubt that Mets manager Carlos Mendoza received a lot of praise for how he conducted himself and led the team over the course of the 2024 season in Queens. He was a breath of fresh air, stoic yet fiery, and brought the same overall demeanor to the table whether the team was 11 games under .500 or charging into the NLCS.

On Tuesday night, however, Mendoza came up short in the voting for the National League Manager of the Year award. In fact, he came up wildly short as he finished in third place with 35 points and one first place vote. Mendoza finished 35 points behind Padres manager Mike Shildt for second and a whopping 109 points shy of Brewers manager Pat Murphy for first.

Now I know that these offseason awards are generally meaningless, and other than MVP and Cy Young are likely going to be forgotten in short order. But I think I need to take a moment and make one final case for Carlos Mendoza, who in my opinion deserved far more respect than he ultimately got.

First off, none of this is to denigrate the jobs that Murphy and Shildt did this past season – both managers did a hell of a job to get their teams into the postseason. And it’s also important to remember that these are regular season awards, and the playoff results do not factor in. All that being said…

It’s a bit hard to wrap my head around the fact that this was such a sweeping decision in one direction here when you look at everything.

A season ago, the Brewers won 92 games and claimed the NL Central division title. They lost David Stearns and Craig Counsell over the offseason and traded Corbin Burnes to the Orioles, but otherwise brought back a team that was not too dissimilar of their recent clubs. This year, in Murphy’s inaugural season, the Brewers won one additional game than they did a year ago and won the NL Central for the second consecutive year.

And as I said it doesn’t factor into the voting… but we are just going to remind you that the Mets did eliminate the Brewers in the National League Wild Card Series this year anyways.

As far as Shildt and the Padres, I do think there is a bit of a stronger case here. They won 82 games in 2023 but were largely looked at as a disappointment, missing the playoffs after building up what appeared to be a superstar roster. They traded away Juan Soto last offseason, though they did acquire a nice haul in return headlined by Michael King. Shildt may not be a rookie manager – he spent four years as the skipper in St. Louis – but he did have a very good first season in San Diego, improving their win total by 11 games and claiming the top Wild Card spot before getting eliminated in the NLDS.

Still, it is really hard to discount what Carlos Mendoza did with the Mets.

Not only was Mendoza a rookie manager, but he was taking over a team that went 75-87 during the 2023 season and came into this year with virtually zero expectations. Neither Murphy or Shildt were given hands that bad, as both of their clubs were coming off of winning seasons the year prior.

You can also argue that neither of the top two finishers had to deal with anywhere near the same level as adversity as Mendoza did with the Mets falling to a season-low 11 games under .500 in May and looking absolutely dead when it came to the standings.

For the Mets to not only bounce back from that setback but to flourish by finishing with the best record in Major League Baseball over the final four months and make it to the postseason was truly unbelievable. To do all of that with a starting rotation that was duct taped together by players on one-year deals and histories of injuries and inconsistency, along with a lineup that was largely carried on the back of one Francisco Lindor, was nothing shy of miraculous.

And again, it doesn’t factor into the voting… but I’m just reminding you that the Mets beat the 93-win Brewers, the 95-win Phillies and took the 98-win Dodgers to a sixth game before falling in the NLCS.

Mendoza came into a situation as a rookie manager on the biggest stage in sports with what appeared to be a cleanup job after the most disappointing season in franchise history. Not only did he help clean things up in short order, but he instantly helped make the Mets look like a competent franchise and an attractive destination for other players for years to come. The culture that was established in that clubhouse that we all fell in love with over the season is in large part thanks to him. As the manager he dictates the energy and tone of the rest of his club, and that should not be forgotten.

So while he may not an award on the mantle to show for it, let this be one final ode to the job that Carlos Mendoza did with the 2024 Mets. I certainly wouldn’t take another manager over him right now.

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Around the League 🚩

• Guardians manager Stephen Vogt won the American League Manager of the Year award, joining Brewers skipper Pat Murphy who claimed the award in the National League

• 11 of the 12 players offered qualifying offers officially declined them including Juan Soto, Willy Adames, Alex Bregman, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Teoscar Hernández, Anthony Santander, Nick Pivetta and Christian Walker

• Reds RHP Nick Martinez was the only player in the major leagues to accept a qualifying offer this offseason

• The Mariners acquired INF Austin Shelton from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations, and designed RHP JT Chargois for assignment