Mendoza places 3rd for NL Manager of the Year
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NEW YORK -- Manager of the Year is, by definition, a subjective award. Outside of raw wins and losses, there’s no way to quantify a manager’s contribution to his team.
The Mets know how much Carlos Mendoza meant to them in his rookie season. The national baseball media saw it only slightly differently, placing Mendoza third in National League Manager of the Year voting behind winner Pat Murphy of the Brewers and runner-up Mike Shildt of the Padres. Mendoza appeared on 19 of 30 ballots, garnering one first-place vote, six second-place votes and 12 third-place votes.
All balloting was completed before the start of the postseason. As such, voters could only consider Mendoza’s 89-73 record during the regular season -- not his two playoff victories over the Brewers and Phillies.
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Regardless, it was an excellent rookie season for Mendoza, whom the Mets hired last November to replace Buck Showalter. After opening the season 0-5 and sitting 11 games under .500 in late May, Mendoza rallied the Mets with a 67-40 (.626) record the rest of the way. During that run, he developed a reputation for confident in-game reads using both analytics and gut feel.
“He’s been great with all of us,” closer Edwin Díaz said last month. “Everyone respects him a lot, how everything has been managed here. We didn’t start the season the way everyone wanted to, but he stuck with us. He trusted us. … I think Mendy deserves a lot of credit for that.”
When the Mets hired Mendoza, they gave him a three-year contract that runs through the 2026 season.
Murphy was also a rookie manager in 2024, guiding the Brewers to a 93-69 record and the NL Central crown despite the losses of their two top pitchers, Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. Shildt went 93-69 in his first year with the Padres following four years in St. Louis from 2018-21.