00:00Mets to make aggressive Alex Coropush with Carlos Mendoza's firing fate inevitable.
00:07That's the headline to our New York Post sports columnist Mike McCarroll's recent column.
00:11But is Mendoza the fall guy for bigger problems within the team and this organization?
00:17So much to talk about at Unpack here.
00:19Mike joins us now.
00:20Mike, thank you for hopping on with us.
00:22The column's doing great on the website.
00:24And it's crazy because it's like, what a difference a year makes.
00:28Around this time last year, the Mets were 19-9 and they own the best record in baseball.
00:33And Carlos Mendoza could eat for free in Queens.
00:37Today, they're 9-19 and they're tied for the worst record in baseball.
00:41And he should probably have someone test his food before he eats it in Queens.
00:47In your column, you wrote, it's hard to imagine Steve Cohen can tolerate five more months of this.
00:53So two-part question.
00:55Elaborate on what this is.
00:58And do you really think that it is inevitable that Mendoza will be fired?
01:04Well, I mean, the Mets have been playing terrible baseball since really the opening, the second week of the season.
01:12It's been hard to watch.
01:13It's becoming increasingly hard to watch.
01:16It's a terrible product.
01:18There's a lot of people to blame, starting with that guy right there, Steve Cohen.
01:21He signs the checks.
01:22You know, his lieutenant isn't doing so great either, David Stearns.
01:27I mean, he's maybe the least popular man in all of New York sports.
01:31Unfortunately, Carlos Mendoza's the manager.
01:33And when things go south for a baseball team, it's the manager who almost always pays the price.
01:38The owner's not going to fire himself.
01:40And frankly, it's hard to believe that he's going to uproot the entire organization, which is what Byron Stearns would
01:48involve.
01:50And look, I can't imagine he's going to be happy with the idea of empty seats littering his ballpark as
01:56early as June for what was supposed to be a big year at the gate for him, certainly the 40th
02:01anniversary of the 86 Mets.
02:03And if you're languishing at a 100-loss pace, you know, you have to at least try something.
02:07And sadly, you know, I don't know that Mendoza deserves to be fired.
02:11I don't think he does.
02:12But the fact of the matter is that someone's going to have to pay the price for this, and it's
02:16not going to be the owner.
02:17He's not going to fire himself.
02:18As a son of a head football coach, I know the head coach is always that first domino to kind
02:24of fall.
02:24But, you know, Bill Parcells has that famous quote where he said,
02:28If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the
02:35groceries.
02:35This is Steve Cohen and David Stearns' roster or their groceries.
02:39They let Pete Alonzo and Edwin Diaz and those other core guys walk to other teams and rivals for nothing.
02:46So why is Mendoza the fall guy when he didn't pick the roster or the ingredients?
02:51And do you think that if Mendoza goes, then David Stearns should go as well?
02:57Well, the irony is that, you know, the two moves that you thought might come back to haunt them, Edwin
03:03Diaz and Pete Alonzo, really haven't been that yet.
03:06Because obviously Diaz is on the I.L. for a while.
03:11Alonzo's off to a terrible start in Baltimore.
03:13And yet all the players that Stearns picked for this team have had some or other problem with them.
03:19They've had bad adjustments to New York.
03:21They just haven't produced.
03:22It's been ugly.
03:25And, you know, so, yeah, obviously Mendoza isn't responsible for the players on his roster.
03:30I don't think he's necessarily covered himself in glory with what he's done on the field either.
03:34But I do think that the primary problem right now is it just looks like a horribly constructed roster.
03:39And, you know, Tommy Pham shows up in the second week of the season in Class A ball.
03:44You know, he was basically semi-retired.
03:46I mean, that can't be a good plan when stuff like that is happening this early in the season.
03:52And that's all on Stearns.
03:53And it's all by association on Cohen.
03:56But, look, I mean, Cohen hired students to do other things to improve the, you know, the infrastructure of the
04:02team, to improve the overall strength of the team, to try and, you know, it's funny to talk about now,
04:07but try and make them look more like the Dodgers.
04:09And the problem is the Major League product now is just so deplorable that there have to be repercussions somewhere.
04:16And the only place for that to happen really is the manager.
04:19With horrible roster construction and a coach that's on the hot seat, how do you think Juan Soto feels with
04:26all this?
04:28Well, look, I mean, he's a guy who's a little bit different because he cares about himself.
04:32He, you know, cares about going about his own business.
04:34I think some people have some frustrations with that, that he's not necessarily a rah-rah team leader kind of
04:39guy.
04:40But, look, I think he's going to keep showing up in the ballpark.
04:42He's going to keep hitting line drives, keep taking his walks, and probably a lot of walks,
04:45because there's no reason to pitch to him with the way everybody else is struggling in the lineup.
04:50You know, does he second-guess himself, maybe?
04:52I mean, look, he had a pretty good year last year.
04:55And we are still only in April.
04:57And, you know, I think the whole idea of wanting to do something isn't just to make sure fans can
05:04come into the stadium,
05:04but to give yourself some kind of chance in a sport where you really shouldn't bury yourself in April
05:11because there's so many playoff opportunities.
05:13But, look, the Braves might be running away and hiding in the east,
05:15and that's a problem for the Mets and the Phillies and everybody else in the division.
05:19But, look, I mean, there's still five months to right the ship if the ship can be righted.
05:22And you're not going to overall the roster between now and October.
05:25So, you know, you try and find things you can change.
05:28And if a new voice, if they think a new voice might help, then that's what's going to happen.
05:32So that new voice could potentially be former Red Sox manager Alex Cora because his services are now available.
05:39Two-part question here.
05:41Do you think if they were to fire Mendoza, then they would call Cora?
05:46And do you think that Alex Cora could get more out of this roster or depleted roster than a Carlos
05:52Mendoza?
05:54You know, I think it'd be hard to explain that you wouldn't at least make the phone call.
05:59Now, Alex Cora might have no interest at all in the Mets.
06:02And, look, we all know he has a close relationship with Dave Dombrowski in Philadelphia,
06:05so they have their own problems down there.
06:07And they might also be days away from making the change, and maybe that's what he's waiting for.
06:11Who knows?
06:13But I think they absolutely at least have to inquire if they're going to make a change.
06:18He has to be their first call.
06:20Can he change this roster around?
06:22I mean, look, here's the thing.
06:23I mean, a lot of us thought this was at least going to be a roster that could compete for
06:28a playoff spot.
06:29I mean, these aren't terrible players.
06:31I mean, the back of their baseball cards insist that they're a lot better than what we're seeing on the
06:36field.
06:36So, I mean, you wonder if with a different voice, if maybe they'll respond differently and play differently.
06:41I mean, it comes right down to a couple of things.
06:42They don't hit, and they aren't playing smart.
06:45Now, I think the smart part is on Mendoza.
06:47I mean, there was an incident last Thursday where he had two relief pitchers going to the mound in the
06:51ninth inning.
06:52I'm sorry.
06:53The manager can't allow that to happen.
06:54That's on the manager.
06:55I don't care if you want to blame the light show.
06:57You want to blame a problem in translation.
07:00I mean, the fact of the matter is that kind of stuff is on the manager.
07:02It does not reflect well on the manager.
07:05So, there are issues with the manager as well.
07:07But, obviously, this is a roster that just can't hit right now.
07:11And, you know, when you fall behind 1-0 a game in the third inning and you feel like it's
07:15actually 7-0 because that's how the bats have been played, you know, it's hard for a manager to solve
07:20that.
07:21But, you know, I mean, Alex Cora has done it with other teams like this before.
07:24Last year, he got 89 wins out of the Red Sox last year.
07:28That was a pretty raggedy roster.
07:30And, somehow, he got 89 wins out of them and a playoff win and pushed the Yankees to the brink.
07:35So, look, there's no denying his credentials as a manager.
07:38I think the real question is, does he want to, you know, would he be interested in working here?
07:42And, you know, do the Mets, you know, want to bypass the other prospects in their organization to go out
07:47and get him?
07:48I mean, I hope that they would.
07:49But, you know, I'm not Steve Cohen.
07:52And, today, I'm pretty grateful for that because that's an unpopular person to be right now.
07:56Well, we just had some breaking news, Mike.
07:59The Phillies just fired their manager, Rob Thompson, and they're rumored to have interest in Alex Cora.
08:06So, do you feel like that now ups the pressure on Steve Cohen to fire Mendoza to go and grab
08:13Cora if he's their guy?
08:15Well, look, I mean, the thing of it is, I mean, they had their opportunity yesterday.
08:18If they wanted to make a move and make a move zeroing in on Cora, they had all day Monday
08:24when they didn't play and they didn't fire anybody.
08:27So, you know, I would think that that news kind of reduces the chances that Cora will be the Mets
08:31manager, frankly,
08:32because I just think that, you know, why would you not go to a situation in a general manager that
08:39you know and you're comfortable with?
08:40So, that is kind of interesting.
08:43I don't know if the Mets' window to pursue him is closed, if they even had wanted to open the
08:48window in the first place.
08:49But, you know, that opportunity for them apparently was Monday.
08:53All right, well, it's rock bottom for this organization right now, Mike.
08:57I don't even know if I want to go to $5 Tuesdays tonight, and I've been looking forward to that
09:01all winter.
09:02So, thanks for having me on with this, Mike.
09:05Good talking to you, Brad.
09:07And, you know, bury your troubles with the Knicks tonight.
09:09They'll be enough to worry about.
09:11There we go, Knicks and Six.
09:14Thanks.
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