The Phillies opened Dave Dombrowski’s end-of-season media session with two roster and staff moves already in hand: Tim Mayza is coming back on a one-year extension, and Carlos Mendoza is joining the coaching staff as third-base and infield coach.
For Mayza, it’s a familiar loop. The left-hander is re-signing with Philadelphia for the third time, after the club claimed him off waivers on August 31, 2025, then later brought him back on a minor-league free-agent deal last winter. Spring training brought another brief reset, with the Phillies releasing him from that contract so he could land a Major League deal the next day.
Once he got rolling, though, Mayza gave the Phillies exactly what they needed. After two uneven years spent with the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and then Philadelphia, he turned in a strong season in Phillies colors.
No reliever on the club threw more innings, and he finished with a 3.48 ERA. The turnaround started with a sinker that was working far better than it had before.
That pitch made up 54% of his arsenal in 2026 and ranked fifth among all Major League pitchers in run value, trailing only Nolan McLean, Spencer Miles, Josh Hader and Drew Rasmussen.
Even with that rebound, the Phillies are expected to keep looking for bigger arms around him. By season’s end, Mayza had become one of the few relievers the team could really count on, but he still never settled into anything close to closer territory.
The coaching move brings Mendoza over from a division rival. After two and a half years as Mets manager, he’ll replace Anthony Contreras, who was promoted last year from managing Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Mendoza’s run in New York included the Mets’ unexpected 2024 postseason push, which ended with a division series win over the Phillies before they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 in the NLCS. But the follow-up never matched that high point. The Mets missed the playoffs in 2025 and then finished last in 2026, 20 games behind the NL East champion Atlanta Braves.
His stint as manager ended after 81 games, with the Mets sitting at 34-47 before they turned to Senior Vice President for Player Development Andy Green. Before that, Mendoza had spent years in the Yankees’ system and big-league staff, working in the minors before serving as infield coach and then bench coach from 2018 to 2023. He had never coached third base before arriving in Philadelphia.
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Marchn has landed in a spot where his margin for error is thin, with the Phillies viewing him as a potential non-tender candidate going into the offseason. That makes what happens in winter ball and then again in spring training especially important, since the club could use both to help decide whether he fits into its plans moving forward. The job now is straightforward but demanding: keep showing enough behind the plate and at the plate to make the Phillies think twice. [Read more 🡒]