Mets fire manager Carlos Mendoza, replacing him with Andy Green

Carlos Mendoza was fired as manager of the underperforming New York Mets on Friday and replaced by Andy Green.

New York is 34-47 following a six-game losing streak, 15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9 1/2 games back of the NL's last wild-card berth.

Stearns addresses Mendoza firing

Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns made the announcement in a news release Friday before holding a news conference at Citi Field. 

"I have a responsibility in the best of my ability, in the best of my judgement, to lead the organization. That includes making difficult decisions. It includes making change when change is needed. In my estimation, our estimation, change is needed right now," Stearns said.

Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said he spoke with Mendoza after he was let go. 

"He apologized for not helping us win as much. But at the end of the day, this is not on him. It's more on us, the players, that we haven't performed to our capabilities," Lindor said. "I think this is going to be more about us continuing to push forward, attack day in and day out. It's a brand new day. Worry about what we have today and not worry about what happened yesterday, what's going to happen tomorrow." 

Owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball's highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.

"Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed. There is no sugar coating it: this season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we've delivered," Cohen said in a statement.

The Mets traded pitcher David Peterson to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and could pivot to a selloff and retooling for the future after being slowed by injuries to Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, Luis Robert Jr., Clay Holmes and Jorge Polanco. 

Mendoza out after 2.5 seasons

Mendoza had been the Mets manager since 2024. His record was 206-198 during his tenure, according to the release.  

Mendoza led the Mets to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2015 in his first season, when he was also a finalist for NL Manager of the year, but the team went downhill from there. The Mets suffered a catastrophic collapse in 2025 and missed the postseason after starting 45-24. Then, with the team sitting in last place, Mendoza was fired halfway into 2026. 

Sal Licata, a Mets fan and Sportsnet New York commentator, said it's hard to tell where the Mets are going after Mendoza's firing. 

"I'm not sure what the direction is anymore. I'm not sure they know what the direction is. They've tried everything. Nothing has worked," Licata said. "They had the right manager, I thought. Now they move on from the manager. It's not gonna work." 

Mendoza spent 15 seasons working for the Yankees, the last four as bench coach, before the Mets hired him to replace Buck Showalter after the 2023 season.

He is the third manager to lose his job since the season started. Boston's Alex Cora was replaced by Chad Tracy and Philadelphia's Rob Thomson by Don Mattingly.  

Green named interim manager

The Mets opted to have Green take over as interim manager for the remainder of the season instead of promoting bench coach Kai Correa. 

"We're a team that is rightly, probably doubted at this present moment. We're a team that rightly has removed the mantle of expectation publicly by the way we've performed up to now," Green said at another news conference. "We can flip that script and they're the ones with the pen in their hands and get to author the story. I don't get to. I'm the one who gets to say something that hopefully galvanizes them to write that story."   

Green joined the Mets organization in 2023 and was serving as Stearns' senior vice president of baseball development. He managed the San Diego Padres from 2016 to 2019. Before that, he was an infielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks for four seasons from 2004 to 2006.

He played four games for the Mets in 2009, his final big league appearances as a player. He became the fourth manager since Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon and Katz families after the 2020 season, following Luis Rojas, Showalter and Mendoza.