NEW YORK — Carlos Mendoza began his tenure as Mets manager emphasizing how close the team was to success in 2022, not how far it descended this past season.
“I’m not just creating a new culture. People need to understand that this is a team that won 100 games not too long ago,” Mendoza said at a Citi Field news conference Tuesday, a day after his hiring was announced. “They started to create something special, and I’m coming in to continue to add to that culture, to continue to add to those positive things that were already building.”
Mendoza became the third Mets manager since Steve Cohen bought the team in November 2020, following Luis Rojas and Buck Showalter.
“We expect to compete in 2024,” he said.
Mendoza, 43, was introduced at the Piazza 31 Club, last used to unveil a manager (Carlos Beltrán) in November 2019 during the waning days of the Wilpon ownership.
Mendoza, who had been a Yankees coach for six seasons, agreed to a three-year contract that includes a 2027 team option. He was introduced by David Stearns, the team’s new president of baseball operations.
“I’m excited about our roster,” Mendoza said. “We got some work to do, and I trust David and his team to continue to make improvement.”
After New York went 101-61 in 2022 and lost to the Padres in the wild-card round, the Mets became the most expensive flop in baseball history. They finished fourth in the NL East this year at 75-87 despite a record payroll projected to finish at $346 million plus a luxury tax on track to be $102 million.
“One of the unique things about Carlos that people told me about him and that I felt through the interview process is this is someone with tremendous people skills, that people like, get along with, can relate to, but he holds people to incredibly high standards and he talks about accountability,” Stearns said.
“He also kind of lives it. And that is difficult to find. It’s difficult to find people that are leaders that people really like and enjoy working with.”
Mendoza became the major leagues’ second Venezuelan-born manager after Ozzie Guillén. Mendoza beamed as he put on a No. 28 jersey, less than half his No. 64 with the Yankees.
“When I first started playing winter ball with Tiburones de La Guaira, they gave me this number and I won the rookie of the year that year and fans started buying that jersey,” Mendoza said. “When I first met my wife, at the time it was on September 28th, so the 28th has been a huge number.”
Mendoza also interviewed with the Padres, Giants and Guardians this offseason, returning to Florida from his visit with the Padres. He was among six candidates put through initial seven-hour Zoom sessions by the Mets, with Stearns leading the first hour before others took over. Mendoza traveled to New York for a second series of interviews, including with Cohen and wife Alex.
“You guys put me to work,” Mendoza said.
He understood Craig Counsell was a contender, having worked for Stearns in Milwaukee. Counsell left the Brewers for the Cubs last week.
“Kind of like a waiting game,” Mendoza said. “It’s something that he earned.”
Mendoza played in the minor leagues from 1997-2009 with the Giants, Yankees and independent Pensacola Pelicans. Mendoza name-checked influential baseball figures who impacted his life, starting when he was 5 and met Luis Aparacio in an elevator of the apartment building they lived in.
Mendoza attended Giants big league camp under Dusty Baker, became friends with Rob Thompson and Willie Randolph — Mendoza danced around questions whether Randolph could be among his coaches. He thanked Luis Rojas, a current Yankees coach predecessor as Mets manager, and the late Mark Newman, a Yankees executive who first told Mendoza he could become a big league manager.
He said he questioned the Mets on their commitment to winning short term and long.
“They blew me away,” Mendoza said. “The other clubs were pretty impressive, too.”
He also inquired about the Mets’ adoption of analytics, “how much, the way they use it, how they use it, why they use it, how they come up with matchups and models and all that.”
On a cool autumn afternoon, with Mendoza looking larger than life on the huge center-field video board, optimism abounded. That will last only until the first losing streak. Stearns acknowledged the crucible created by New York’s tabloids, talk radio and assertive fans.
“I recognize that this is a unique environment for managers,” he said.
NEW YORK — The Nationals and Orioles ended a legal fight over television rights dating to 2012 when Major League Baseball announced Monday that Washington will be freed from its deal with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network after the upcoming season.
MLB said Nationals games will be broadcast by MASN in 2025 under a new, one-year contract.
“After this term, the Nationals will be free to explore alternatives for their television rights for the 2026 season and beyond,” MLB said. “As part of the settlement, all disputes related to past media rights between the Nationals, Orioles and MASN have been resolved, and all litigation will be dismissed.”
MASN was established in March 2005 after the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington and became the Nationals, moving into what had been Baltimore’s exclusive broadcast territory since 1972. The Orioles were given a supermajority partnership interest in MASN, starting at 90%, and Washington made a $75 million payment to the network for an initial 10%.
The agreement called for the Nationals’ equity to increase 1% annually, starting after the 2009 season, with a cap of 33%. The network’s rights payments to each team were set at $20 million apiece in 2005 and 2006, rising to $25 million in 2007, with $1 million annual increases through 2011.
After that, the network was to pay fair market value with disputes over the Nationals’ rights to be resolved by MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee, a group of three MLB club officials. The RSDC started to hear the case in 2012 and lawsuits over the decision were filed two years later in New York Supreme Court.
Litigation over the 2012-16 fees resulted in a 2019 RSDC decision that valued them at $296.8 million. After arguments that went to the New York Court of Appeals, the sides agreed to a settlement in June 2023.
A 2023 RSDC decision held Washington was owed about $304.1 million by MASN for 2017-21, after an adjustment downward of almost $45.5 million for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. That decision was confirmed in New York Supreme Court.
Another RSDC decision in December had awarded the Nationals approximately $320.5 million for 2022-26. The rights fee was set at about $72.8 million each for 2022 and ’23 — matching 2021 — and dropped to approximately $58.3 million annually from 2024-26, citing deteriorating economics of regional sports networks.
A court hearing on that decision had been scheduled for March 13.
The one-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks with a cracked rib on his left side, the team said Monday.
Top prospect Drake Baldwin is a candidate to replace Murphy behind the plate for Opening Day at San Diego on March 27.
Murphy, 30, struggled last season after an abdominal strain on Opening Day and batted .193 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs in 72 games with the Braves in 2024. He is a career .233 hitter with 77 homers and 240 RBIs in 510 games with the then-Oakland Athletics (2019-22) and the Braves.
The Braves declined Travis d’Arnaud‘s $8 million option during the offseason, clearing the path for Murphy to be the No. 1 catcher. D’Arnaud signed with the Los Angeles Angels.
Chadwick Tromp is the only other catcher on the Atlanta 40-man roster. He hit .250 in 19 games in 2024.
Murphy made the National League All-Star team in 2023 and collected a Gold Glove at catcher with the Athletics in 2021.
Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Mike Moustakas will retire with Kansas City after spending 13 years in the majors and winning the World Series with the Royals in 2015.
The Royals announced Moustakas’ retirement Monday. The 36-year-old infielder will sign a one-day contract with his first big league team on May 31, and he will be honored before Kansas City’s home game against Detroit that day.
Moustakas hit .247 with 215 homers and 683 RBIs in 1,427 games, also playing for Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels. The three-time All-Star appeared in his last major league game with the Angels on Sept. 30, 2023.
Moustakas was the No. 2 pick in the 2007 amateur draft. He broke into the majors with Kansas City in 2011.
He became a key performer for the Royals during a memorable stretch for the franchise. He hit .284 with 22 homers and 82 RBIs in 147 games in 2015, helping the team win the AL Central. Then he drove in eight runs in the postseason as the Royals won the World Series for the first time since 1985.
Moustakas bashed a career-high 38 homers for Kansas City in 2017. He set a career best with 95 RBIs while playing for the Royals and Brewers in 2018.
