Mets part ways with manager Carlos Mendoza during disappointing 2026 season

What happened

The New York Mets parted ways with manager Carlos Mendoza during the 2026 season, The Mets Pod reported. SNY MLB Insider Chelsea Janes and host Joe DeMayo framed the results as disappointing and discussed why the organization chose to make the move now rather than wait out the remainder of the year — though the specific reasoning was not detailed beyond the broad characterization of underwhelming performance.

Janes and DeMayo also addressed comments from Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, though the substance of those remarks was not transcribed in the available material. The episode additionally turned toward what the club might be able to move for value at the MLB trade deadline, and included a check-in on minor-league pitcher Jonah Tong in a segment the show calls "Down on the Farm."

Why it matters

A managerial change during the season is, by design, a statement. It signals that the front office has concluded the current trajectory is not a weather pattern to be waited out but a structural problem worth disrupting now. Whether that disruption produces anything measurable is a separate question — one The Mets Pod did not answer, because nobody can yet.

What the report does make clear is that the 2026 Mets season has been framed, by those covering it closely, as a genuine disappointment rather than a rough patch with silver linings carefully catalogued for the fan base. The mailbag segment of the episode, per The Mets Pod, included listener questions about what Janes and DeMayo described as the failed strategy of Stearns and questionable player development — which suggests the dissatisfaction extends well beyond the dugout.

The trade deadline conversation is worth noting in this context. When a club begins openly discussing what it can sell for value rather than what it can add to contend, the organizational posture has shifted. Per the report, that is exactly the conversation Janes and DeMayo were having — not what the Mets might acquire, but what they might move.

Where the club stands

### Is there anything left to play for?

Mathematically, the Mets have been eliminated from both the division and Wild Card races. Fifth in the NL East, 20 games back, with a record of 74-88 (.457) — the remaining schedule is, at this point, a combination of prospect evaluation, trade-deadline positioning, and the kind of professional pride that keeps a major-league clubhouse from fully dissolving in late summer. The club currently ranks 10th in the Wild Card standings, 14.0 games relative to the cut line, and enters Tuesday on a one-game losing streak, which is, at this point, the least of its concerns.

The upcoming schedule offers no soft landing. The Mets travel to Rogers Centre to face the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, June 30, with Nolan McLean projected to start opposite Kevin Gausman. Wednesday, July 1 brings Freddy Peralta to the mound against Braydon Fisher in the second game of that series. The club then heads to Truist Park on Friday, July 3, where Christian Scott is projected to face Grant Holmes and the Atlanta Braves — a division opponent that will have little interest in being charitable.

None of those matchups are the kind of schedule a team in freefall would draw up for itself. But they are the schedule, and the Mets will play them under new — or interim, or yet-to-be-named — managerial leadership, the specifics of which the report did not address.

What we don't know yet

The report, per The Mets Pod, did not name a replacement for Mendoza, did not specify whether an interim manager has been named, and did not detail the terms or circumstances of the parting beyond the broad characterization of disappointing results. The substance of David Stearns's comments, referenced in the episode, was not transcribed in the available material.

The trade deadline picture is similarly unresolved. Janes and DeMayo discussed what the Mets might be able to sell for value, per the report, but no specific players, packages, or potential destinations were identified in the available material. Jonah Tong was checked in on in the farm segment, but no details about his status or performance were included in the source.

The listener mailbag raised questions about Stearns's strategy and the club's player development approach — questions the report flagged but did not answer in the available excerpt.

What to watch

The trade deadline is the next meaningful inflection point for this organization. Per the report, the internal conversation has already turned toward what the Mets can move rather than what they can add, which means the coming weeks will likely produce transaction news of the outgoing variety. Which players, at what return, and whether Stearns's approach to that process satisfies a fan base that has been asking hard questions — per the mailbag segment — remains to be seen.

The managerial vacancy, or interim arrangement, or whatever form the post-Mendoza dugout takes, is the other thread to follow. A club eliminated from playoff contention still has games to play, prospects to evaluate, and organizational decisions to make about who gets meaningful innings and at-bats down the stretch. Who is making those decisions from the top step of the dugout, and what philosophy guides them, will shape how the 2026 season ends — even if the standings have already rendered their verdict.

Jonah Tong, flagged in the farm report, is a name to keep an eye on as the club looks ahead to what the episode described as prospects worth watching before the season concludes.

The Mets Pod, hosted by Joe DeMayo with Chelsea Janes as guest co-host for this episode, is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.