The Mets are expected to keep searching for a new manager this offseason, and Carlos Beltran has emerged as the name drawing the most attention.
New York’s decision to fire Carlos Mendoza has left the club headed toward another reset, even though the Mets have remained one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball from top to bottom. Injuries may have played a part, but the broader picture has still pushed the team into manager-search territory. Among the candidates being discussed over the past few weeks and months, Beltran has surfaced more than anyone else.
Beltran, long viewed as a franchise legend, appears to fit what the Mets want in Queens. As Jake Elman wrote, “When the Mets fired Carlos Mendoza in June, they also immediately made it clear that interim manager Andy Green would return to the front office upon season’s end. That alone should have been definitive proof that Steve Cohen and David Stearns will name Beltrán their next manager.
“We might not need to wait too long for an announcement, either. Beltrán will have his No. 15 retired in September, and wouldn’t that be the best time to inform fans that he’ll be back in the dugout beginning next spring? Assuming that things go as planned, this would mark Beltrán’s second time managing the Mets, though he resigned before spring training in 2020 for his alleged role in the Astros’ cheating scandal,” Jake Elman wrote.
The Mets did try to put Beltran in that role a few years ago, and for a brief stretch, that was the direction they were headed. The Astros cheating scandal changed the picture at the time, but now, in the 2026-27 offseason, that cloud appears to carry far less weight. The expectation is that Beltran will be the next man to manage in New York.
In Other News...
Mets Fans Can Finally Exhale Over One Infuriating Trade
The Darin Ruf deal has lingered in the background as one of those moves Mets fans could not help revisiting, especially after Ruf struggled so badly in Queens and J.D. Davis never found traction in San Francisco. Ruf hit just .152/.216/.197 with no home runs for the Mets, a line that quickly turned the trade into an easy target for second-guessing.
What makes the full picture easier to stomach now is how little the Giants have gotten from the other side of the return, either. Davis was released before the 2023 season, and the prospects sent over have offered only mixed results, with Thomas Szapucki slowed by injuries, Carson Seymour battling a 5.14 ERA over 49 innings and Nick Zwack struggling in the minors. For a trade that once felt like a clear loss, the long-term damage has been a lot less one-sided than it first appeared. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Just Sent A Harsh Message About Prospect Hype
The Mets barely had Gabriel Arias around long enough to let the roster move settle in before moving on. After two games, the club designated the former top 100 prospect for assignment to clear a spot for Christopher Morel, a reminder that pedigree alone does not buy much time in a crowded major league roster.
Arias arrived with the kind of name recognition that can invite patience, but his brief stint did not give the Mets much reason to hold the line. He struggled at the plate and in the field during limited major league action, and now has to pass through waivers as the organization continues sorting out both its prospect inventory and its depth chart. [Read more 🡒]