Jon Heyman Fires Back at Mets Front Office After Carlos Mendoza Gets Scapegoated

The New York Mets made a predictable move when they fired Carlos Mendoza this week. A 34-47 start will do that. But the debate over who actually deserves the blame is getting louder, and one prominent baseball insider is pointing directly at the guy who built the roster.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post didn’t hold back. He says Mendoza was never the real problem. The real problem, in his view, is sitting in the front office.

“Carlos Mendoza took the fall today for all of the Mets problems,” Heyman said. “This is not Carlos Mendoza’s fault. This is the way baseball is. Obviously, David Stearns made a number of mistakes through the winter. Changing the coaching staff wasn’t the right thing to do. Bringing in all these unreliable players who are injury prone certainly didn’t help matters. They’re just not a reliable team.”

Stearns’ roster gamble backfired

Stearns, the president of baseball operations, had a busy offseason. He let Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz walk in free agency. He signed Jorge Polanco and Bo Bichette. He traded for Marcus Semien and Luis Robert Jr. On paper, it looked like a retool. In reality, it’s been a disaster.

Polanco, Semien and Robert are all on the injured list right now. Bichette is hitting .254 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs in 81 games. Those numbers aren’t awful but they’re not carrying a team either. And when healthy, this group never looked like world beaters.

The Mets are spending nearly $330 million on payroll this season, the highest in baseball according to Spotrac. And they’re 15 games out of first place in the NL East. That’s not a Mendoza problem. That’s a roster problem.

Stearns obviously can’t predict injuries. But he chose to build around players with spotty health histories and then watched them break down. You can argue bad luck, but you can also argue bad planning.

Mendoza’s record tells a different story

Mendoza leaves Queens with a 206-199 career record and an NLCS appearance in his first season. That’s not a bad resume for a manager who supposedly needed to go. But when a team spirals, someone has to take the fall. It’s rarely the guy signing the checks.

The question now is whether Stearns can fix what he broke. The Mets have money, sure. But money alone doesn’t buy chemistry or durability. And right now, they don’t have much of either.