Mets add John Gibbons as bench coach

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Rookie manager Carlos Mendoza will have heaps of experience alongside him in the Mets' dugout. The team hired longtime manager John Gibbons to serve as Mendoza’s bench coach on Monday.

Antoan Richardson is the new first-base coach, José Rosado will coach the bullpen and Mike Sarbaugh will be the third-base coach, the club announced.

Gibbons brings 13 seasons of managerial experience with him to New York, where he began his more than four-decade professional career in 1980 as a first-round Draft pick of the Mets -- the club’s third selection after fellow first-rounders Darryl Strawberry and Billy Beane. Although Gibbons played just 18 games over parts of two seasons in Queens, he remained in the organization for eight years and returned to become a Minor League manager in 1995.

That sparked a career that saw Gibbons serve as a big league manager in Toronto from 2004-08 and 2013-18. Between, he spent time in the Royals and Padres organizations.

During his second stint in Toronto, Gibbons led the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series in 2015 and ’16 -- their first postseason appearances since winning back-to-back World Series titles from 1992-93.

Gibbons parted ways with the Jays after the 2018 season, having compiled a 793-789 record. Now reunited with his first organization, Gibbons will be the most prominent member of a remade coaching staff.

Richardson, 40, is a native Bahamian who spent 2020-23 as the first-base coach in San Francisco. Sarbaugh, 56, has spent nearly his entire professional career in the Guardians organization, where he overlapped significantly with Francisco Lindor. He will now shift to New York to join Mendoza’s staff. Rosado worked under Mendoza with the Gulf Coast League Yankees in 2011. Rosado has served as the pitching coach for Team Puerto Rico in the past three World Baseball Classics, and he served in the same role for the World Team in the 2015 All-Star Futures Game.

Elsewhere in the dugout, several Mets coaches are also returning. Topping the list is pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who has two years remaining on his contract. Former bench coach Eric Chavez will also shift to his old role in the batting cage, serving as co-hitting coach alongside incumbent Jeremy Barnes.