Mets hiring of Carlos Mendoza feels like a letdown after tantalizing Craig Counsell pursuit

The new manager, Carlos Mendoza, comes with high praise as a sharp baseball mind and a very good communicator, so maybe this works out for the best. And yet it’s hard not to feel like the Mets aren’t already 0-1 this offseason.

Not that Stearns is to blame for losing out on Craig Counsell. Once the Chicago Cubs came calling, seemingly out of nowhere, the Mets probably had no chance, no matter how much money Steve Cohen was willing to pay.

Counsell is as Midwest as they come, and now he gets the benefit of staying close to his Wisconsin roots while managing in a big market, with a big raise, and a better chance of winning championships than he had with the Milwaukee Brewers.

In truth, his lack of experience as a player or a manager in a major market would have made him at least something of a gamble in New York, but Counsell’s years of experience and successful track record with the Brewers made him by far the best choice for the Mets.

Now it’s fair to ask why Stearns was so determined to get rid of Buck Showalter. His connection to Counsell made it easy to justify the move at the time, in part because, as I wrote then, Showalter didn’t have a good year in the dugout, but it’s all different now.

Maybe Stearns was caught by surprise as well with Counsell going to the Cubs, but now you also have to ask if he’s just another Ivy League baseball executive who wants a manager to whom he can map out a plan before each game to be followed regardless of nuance.

Let’s hope not. Let’s hope Mendoza turns out to be more than a willing collaborator. Maybe he turns into Rob Thomson, a long-time coach in the Yankees’ organization who turned out to be the right guy at the right time for the Philadelphia Phillies in his first go-round as a manager.

Mendoza, at age 43, has a similar background as a long-time coach for the Yankees, and has been considered a manager in-waiting for the last few years, based on what people in the Bronx think of him, as well as feedback from other organizations.

“He’s a sharp guy with very good people skills,” says one executive from another team that interviewed him as a managerial candidate. “We were impressed with him. The lack of managerial experience isn’t as much of a knock as it used to be, with all the collaboration with the front office. He’s got experience working with major league players, which is important.”

That sounds well and good but the idea of a first-time manager can still be a hard sell in New York, especially for someone who hasn’t had to deal with the daily media scrutiny that comes with the territory.

I’d make the case it’s an even harder sell for Mets fans, based on the recent managerial tenures of Mickey Callaway and Luis Rojas.

Callaway was a disaster largely because of his in-game managing and his lack of awareness with the media. Rojas had minor league experience as a manager that helped with the in-game stuff, but his lack of experience in handling a major league clubhouse made him look in over his head as well.

Showalter’s preparation and attention to detail had an immediate impact in 2022, and though he made a lot of questionable decisions last season, had the Mets brought him back they would have at least been comforted in knowing the job wasn’t too big for him.

Again, maybe Stearns was convinced he could hire Counsell, in which case nobody would have second-guessed the decision. But now the hiring of Mendoza weighs heavily as the first big decision by the new president of baseball operations, with little time for growing on the job.

In truth, what Stearns does in signing free agents and making trades is likely to be a lot more important to the Mets’ success in 2024 and beyond. Under Stearns, the Brewers did an excellent job of drafting and/or developing pitching, most notably Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, as well as trading for it in the case of Freddy Peralta.

Doing that for the Mets would go a long way to ensuring sustained success, yet there’s no way around it: managers still matter, no matter how much the new analytics-devoted GMs might believe differently.

You can’t always be committed to a plan that dictates the starting pitcher gets pulled after two times around the lineup, regardless of whether he’s overmatching hitters or escaping jams left and right. The best managers still have a feel for the game, as well as their players, and make decisions based on what they’re seeing, not just the analytics.

None more so than Bruce Bochy, the manager of the newly crowned World Champion Texas Rangers.

Who knows, maybe Mendoza has that knack. At the moment, however, it feels like he’s being hired to manage with a script provided by Stearns.

It doesn’t mean the Mets can’t win with such a formula. But it does all but eliminate any honeymoon period for both Mendoza and Stearns.

Such is the case when you start out 0-1 before a game has been played.