Yankees’ Aaron Boone says fired Mets manager Carlos Mendoza won’t be out of work long: ‘He’s a great baseball man’

BOSTON — Aaron Boone doesn’t expect his former bench coach to be out of work for long.

That would be Carlos Mendoza, who was fired from his post as Mets manager on Friday morning. The Queens club, in last place with a 34-47 record despite having a top-three payroll, will be managed by Andy Green on an interim basis moving forward.

“Surprised, I guess, but not surprised,” Boone said of his reaction to the news before the Yankees played the Red Sox on Friday night. “I talked to Mendy. Obviously, it’s a tough situation over there right now with what they’ve been through this year, and even going back to last year. Mendy’s in a good place. I think he’s really good at what he does. I think he’s a great leader. As time goes on, my expectation is that he’ll be in line for another job in a lot of different ways, shapes and forms. He’s earned a strong reputation in the industry, and even through all this, I think it solidified that reputation.”

Prior to becoming the Mets’ manager in 2024, Mendoza served as Boone’s right-hand man on the bench from 2020-2023. Before that, he held numerous roles in the Yankees’ organization, coaching and managing minor league affiliates, working as a defensive instructor, and first joining the big league staff as an infield coach in 2018.

Mendoza and Boone became close during their time together and have remained so. They’ve chatted at other points this season, particularly when the Mets were in the midst of a horrid stretch in April.

Mendoza compiled a 206-199 record overall with the Mets after replacing Buck Showalter. While Mendoza led the team to the NLCS as a rookie manager in 2024, the Mets failed to make the playoffs last year after poaching Juan Soto from the Yankees.

With president of baseball operations David Stearns spending owner Steve Cohen’s riches on a poorly constructed roster and moving on from some fan favorites over the offseason, the Mets now seem destined to miss the postseason again.

With the way things have been going, someone had to take the fall.

“Can I say I’m really surprised that this happened with what they’ve been through? No, not necessarily, but still, when you hear the news, it catches you,” Boone said. “But I think he’s a great baseball man. I think he’s a really good leader, and I think he’s a really good manager who will get another opportunity.”

Mendoza is not the first friend of Boone’s to get fired this season.

The Red Sox dismissed Alex Cora and several coaches in late April and named Chad Tracy their interim manager. Just like the Mets, the case could be made that Boston’s president of baseball operations, Craig Breslow, deserved the blame, but the skipper became the scapegoat instead.

On Thursday, Boone said it was different facing the Red Sox with Cora gone.

“Obviously, we experienced that when they came to Yankee Stadium for the first time a couple weeks ago,” Boone said, adding that he’s in touch with Cora as well. “Alex always has such a big presence to him that it definitely was a little bit different.”