\u201cHe\u2019s an athlete,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at a guy that has played shortstop pretty much his whole career. And just watching him today, moving around third base, taking ground balls, creating angles and then the throws to first base, I was telling him, \u2018It looks like you played there before.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Bichette, who played in the 2025 World Series with the Blue Jays, isn\u2019t the only Mets player learning a new position: The team also signed Jorge Polanco to a two-year contract worth $40 million to move to first base, a position that became open after Pete Alonso accepted a five-year deal worth $155 million with the Orioles.<\/p>\n
![\"Bo](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/new-york-mets-infielder-bo-119383162.jpg\")
Bo Bichette poses with manager Carlos Mendoza at his introductory press conference at Citi Field, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Queens, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
Polanco has only one career appearance at first base. Brett Baty (displaced at third with Bichette\u2019s signing) and Mark Vientos also figure into the equation at first base.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Polanco] is a guy that came up as a shortstop, playing in the middle of the diamond,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cHe moves around as well and the same thing with Baty and Vientos, guys who have got some experience there. But I feel like it\u2019s going to take some time getting used to some game action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mendoza was also asked about team chemistry \u2014 The Post reported in November that Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto had a frosty relationship. Soto last year was in his first season in Queens after signing a record $765 million contract.<\/p>\n
![\"Francisco](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/francisco-lindor-12-new-york-112224126.jpg\")
Francisco Lindor #12 of the New York Mets is greeted by Juan Soto #22 of the New York Mets after he scores on his solo home run during the first inning. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s two very different guys,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cSoto is very businesslike. He\u2019s a guy that comes in, he\u2019s going through his process. Lindor is more outgoing, like what you see on the field \u2014 the big smile. And that guy, whether we win or lose, is going to be the same guy. He cares. Obviously, they both care. And I feel like because of who they are individually, it\u2019s a relationship that they care about winning. They care about each other. They care about their teammates. But they\u2019re two different personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mendoza will have a new arm atop his rotation following the trade last week that brought Freddy Peralta from the Brewers for Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know the type of arm, the type of pitcher that [Peralta] is, a guy that\u2019s pitching at the front of the rotation,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cBut as soon as we acquired him, I got on the phone with a lot of people that have been around him, and everybody keeps telling me he\u2019s the quality of the person, how good of a human being he is and how much he cares about his teammates, about people. And that was one of the things that he mentioned to me when I got on the phone with him. It\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m planning on reporting early to Port St. Lucie so I can start meeting a lot of the new faces.\u2019 That goes to show you the type of guy he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mendoza was spared amid a coaching staff shake-up following the nosedive that kept the Mets from reaching the playoffs last season. He will be entering the final year of his contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a great opportunity in front of me,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cYou get an owner that is willing to put all the resources in order to accomplish the ultimate goal. And you have a front office that continues to make moves to continue to improve our roster. And now it\u2019s up to us, you know, and me as the manager in this situation is a great opportunity. I know where I stand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bo Bichette\u2019s transformation into a third baseman is already underway. The former shortstop, who recently arrived to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,88,1443,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,1867,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-540121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bo-bichette","10":"tag-carlos-mendoza","11":"tag-mets","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkmets","17":"tag-ny-sports-minute","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115965447107908482","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}