Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spent 15 YEARS with the Yankees… but is now desperate to bring success to the other side of New York – and he knows he must win QUICK to keep his job

The New York Mets have been here before. But they hope Carlos Mendoza can take them to places they haven’t seen in a long time.

The 44-year-old Venezuelan is the Mets’ fourth consecutive head coach hire and has previously spent time in the city’s Bronx neighborhood. He is also the fourth of the last five to become manager of a major league club for the first time.

But none so far have managed to carry the Yankees’ success across the East River, and the results are as homogenous as the resumes for a franchise whose title drought is now heading into its fifth decade.

For Mendoza, however, he has extra motivation to succeed after waiting an entire career for an opportunity. His playing career included 14 minor league seasons as a utility infielder with the Yankees, San Francisco Giants and in independent ball, reaching a brief stint in Triple-A before hanging up his glove at age 29 and working his way through the competition. The Yankees coaching lineup.

He made it all the way from rookie ball to his first big break as a Major League infield coach in 2018 to bench coach two years later.

And on his debut in the dugout he only has one goal.

‘Where do I want to be? I want to hold that trophy!’ says Mendoza. ‘That is what we are here for, that is what we are preparing for, that is what we are going to fight for, we know that we still have a way to go.

‘Everyone strives for the same goal and that is what we are here for. My goal is to win a championship.’

Mendoza’s new squad has been excited about him since he got the job late last year.

Long before the gates opened at the Mets’ Spring Training camp in Port St. Lucie, he had made sure to get to know his players and implement his style.

“He’s not a strict guy, he’s more of a players’ guy,” said Adam Ottavino, who worked with Mendoza for two seasons with the Yankees.

“But at the same time, he wants us to help each other, build a good community here, share information and help each other, hold each other accountable. He entrusts the clubhouse to us, but at the same time his door is always open.’

It was a clubhouse in need of a refresh after a disastrous 2023 season that saw the most expensive team in baseball history finish 75-87 and spell the end for Buck Showalter.

Mendoza is very much the opposite of Showalter, both physically (broad shoulders and a 6-foot-4 frame) and philosophically, as he embraces an opportunity 15 years in the making.

But can one man really turn last year’s misery into a club ready to challenge for a championship? Only five managers have ever won a World Series in their rookie season. And in an NL East division next to two powerhouses in Atlanta and Philadelphia, and all the firepower in the West, even reaching the playoffs will be more than enough for a rookie skipper to deal with.

“Well, it’s New York,” says Mendoza, “and expectations are always high: you have to win.

‘Look, it’s no secret, it was a tough season for this team last year.

“They’ve been through a lot, whether it was injuries and other things, but it’s a fresh start, we’ve got a really good team and we know expectations are always high here.

“I don’t buy into the fact that the outside projections have the Mets at the bottom – I don’t buy that.

“I know we are good, the players know we are good and we have things we have to take care of.”