Mendy Men

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The Mets finally announced their entire major league coaching staff. They’re going to roll with this bunch in 2026:

Manager -  Carlos Mendoza

Bench Coach - Kai Correa

Director of Hitting - Jeff Albert

Hitting Coach - Troy Snitker

Assistant Hitting Coach - Rafael Fernandez

Pitching Coach - Justin Willard

Assistant Pitching Coach - Dan McKinney

First Base and Outfield Coach - Gilbert Gomez

Third Base and Infield Coach - Tim Leiper

Bullpen Coach - José Rosado

Quality Assurance Coach - Danny Barnes

Catching Coach - J.P. Arencibia

Mendoza, Rosado, and Barnes are reprising their roles from last year. Fernandez got a promotion from Major League Coaching Assistant/left-handed batting practice thrower to Assistant Hitting Coach. Correa, Albert, Snitker, Willard, and Leiper (pronounced LEEP-er) were previously reported/officially announced. McKinney, Gomez, and Arencibia are promotions from within. 

Dan McKinney was the pitching coach for the champion Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies last season. He worked with Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong and the Rumble Ponies led the league in all of the relevant pitching categories. Gilbert Gomez managed the champion High-A Brooklyn Cyclones in 2025, and for what it’s worth, the Cyclones were second in their league in stolen bases, so maybe Gomez can truly fill the Antoan Richardson-sized hole in all of our hearts. J.P. Arencibia is a former catcher who served as an assistant coach at Triple-A Syracuse, where he was given some of the credit for helping Francisco Alvarez turn his season/career around. It’ll matter to some and to others not at all that Arencibia has been married to conservative political commentator and television presenter Tomi Lahren since 2022. 

For what it’s worth, Carlos Mendoza will be in the final year of the three-year contract he signed with the Mets before the 2024 season, but there is a club option for 2027. 

Mark Anthony Vientos, aka Swaggy V, is an enigma wrapped in a cocoon inside a fortune cookie with no fortune in it. His bio in the Mets media guide says his favorite food is sushi and he likes to run on the beach, sure, but seriously, who is the real Mark Vientos? Nobody knows for sure.

Vientos was born in Norwalk, Connecticut to a Nicaraguan mother and a Dominican father. His father, Carlos Manuel “Charles” Vientos, was a Met fan. He passed this fandom down to his son, who cheered on David Wright in particular. Mark went to high school in Florida, where he kicked ass in baseball. He committed to the University of Miami before being selected by his childhood team 59th overall in the 2017 MLB Draft. Vientos was the youngest player drafted on the first day that year. He was 17 at the time. He signed with the Mets, forgoing college. 

Swaggy V was selected to be a part of the 2022 All-Star Futures Game, previewing his eventual promotion to the big leagues that September. His first major league home run came in Oakland, which ages him considerably. He wasn’t a part of the playoff roster. Vientos started 2023 in Triple-A, and when he was promoted to the struggling big league club he got sporadic playing time and was a forgotten man. Knowing what we know now about Mark - the swagger within needs to be nurtured and coaxed out by showing confidence in him - this was a self-fulfilling prophecy of being just a role player. A Quad-A dude, if you will.

Then came 2024. Vientos was set to be the Mets’ every day designated hitter until late March when they signed J.D. Martinez. Martinez told Vientos to play for other teams, who will be watching him. Mark started the season in Triple-A again. When he was called up to replace Starling Marte who was placed on the bereavement list in late April, Vientos was ready to pounce on the opportunity. He memorably hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning on April 28th to defeat the Cardinals. To say he was pumped would be the understatement of the 21st century. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yx-J8OM7GA

Pundits and fans screamed there’s no way he can be sent back down now. But he was. This demotion only lasted two weeks though - Vientos returned to the Mets on May 15th when Joey Wendle was designated for assignment, and he would be on the big league club to stay. In 111 games he would hit 27 home runs. His 15.30 AB/HR rate was good for fourth best in the National League that year. At one point he homered in three consecutive at-bats. Vientos went 3 for 5 with two home runs, including a walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning on September 6th against the Reds. He was the first Met since Curtis Granderson (9/17/16) with multiple homers in a game, including a walk-off. When the season started, the Mets front office and Met fans assumed Brett Baty was the present and future third baseman of the club. By the end of the regular season, we all figured it was Mark Vientos all along.

Swaggy V continued to rake in the postseason. He hit the go-ahead 2 RBI single in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Phillies in Philadelphia. He hit two two-run homers in Game 2. He hit the third postseason grand slam in Met history in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers. Tom Verducci in the dugout asked him right after if he was insulted that the Dodgers intentionally walked the batter in front of him. He said he was. The guy’s confidence was off the charts at that point, and rightfully so. Vientos ultimately had seven multi-hit games and raked in 14 RBI, both Met playoff records. 

Which makes 2025 all the more confusing, and depressing. Mark almost avoided having a negative bWAR (-0.2). His OPS+ of 97 was a far cry from the OPS+ of 134 he posted the year before. His third base defense went from below average to “Oh God, get him off the field”. It’s quite possible Vientos listened too well to his since-dismissed hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, who taught a flawed philosophy involving guessing on pitches from the beginning of the season up until August. Not coincidentally, that August Vientos had a .988 OPS (although strangely he struggled again in September.) The front office and fans went back to assuming Brett Baty is the present and future at the hot corner. 

Where does that leave Vientos? Supposedly on the trading block. A change of scenery where he can play first base or DH on a regular basis would probably do wonders. There’s the possibility of course that his hitting woes really was the fault of Chavez and Barnes, and the new hitting coaches will know what to do with the soon to be 26-year-old. We’ll see what the front office thinks soon enough. 

Atlanta re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias to a one-year deal. Allegedly, the Mets expressed interest in him. 

The Mets officially released Frankie Montas. They’re on the hook for $17 million.

The 18-karat gold toilet named “America” that Steve Cohen purchased a decade ago sold for $12.1 million.

Awful Announcing talked to Steve Gelbs regarding his reticence to doing play-by-play on Met telecasts. Basically, SNY let him beg off of trying until his best buddy Wayne Randazzo left, at which point Gelbs’ fear was deemed "ridiculous" by his bosses - they needed a Gary Cohen understudy. Before his first regular season game doing PbP, Howie Rose gave him a Depends adult diaper. Gelbs claimed he still has it. 

On this day in 1967, Tom Seaver became the first Met ever to win the Rookie of the Year award.