{"id":730406,"date":"2026-06-19T22:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/730406\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T22:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:51:14","slug":"francisco-lindors-return-could-help-carlos-mendozas-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/730406\/","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Lindor’s return could help Carlos Mendoza’s case"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The World Cup takes center stage Friday, which gives the Mets<\/a> a rare mid-series off-day on the road. So let\u2019s discuss two things unrelated to soccer: Francisco Lindor and Carlos Mendoza.<\/p>\n

The Mets\u2019 skipper is hoping to attend the World Cup match between Haiti and Brazil at Lincoln Financial Field on the off day, but noted that it\u2019s a tough ticket to obtain. He knew there would be blowback from fans when he publicly said he wanted to go to a soccer match on the off day.<\/p>\n

There is a certain subsection of sports fans who believe athletes, coaches and executives should dedicate every waking hour to their craft, especially during a losing season. I\u2019ve heard it all at this point, from fans accusing players of spending too much time on their outside interests \u2014 Lindor with fashion, Jeff McNeil with golf, Mark Canha with restaurants.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sort of an inhumane way to view sports and athletes, who are, in fact, humans with human needs for things like rest, time with family, and even food.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt Mendoza has heard what people are saying about him, especially over the last few weeks since the Knicks have captivated the city. He knows people think this would be a good time for the Mets to quietly make a managerial change. But the Mets can\u2019t do anything quietly, and to be fair, it\u2019s tough for any team in New York City to do things quietly.<\/p>\n

Mendoza also made it clear that he hears what people are saying when he was asked about how he used his bench in a 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night<\/a>. He pinch-hit Mark Vientos and Eric Wagaman, two right-handed hitters against left-hander Jose Alvarado with two outs in the seventh. Vientos walked, Wagaman hit a go-ahead RBI single, and Marcus Semien then hit a two-run triple.<\/p>\n

When asked how satisfying it is when moves like that work out, Mendoza answered with some blunt humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look like a genius when it works out; when it doesn\u2019t, I\u2019m the worst,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of managing. It\u2019s my job to continue to put guys in position to have success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting players in positions to succeed is tough when the front office signs players and tells the manager to play them out of position. But Mendoza\u2019s ability to put them in good spots is something president of baseball operations David Stearns has lauded. Mendoza has shown an understanding of the situation that he\u2019s in, and he isn\u2019t naive to the reality of where the Mets are in the standings and the implications of a losing season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of stress and pressure for anyone, but his answers show that he\u2019s comfortable managing under that pressure.<\/p>\n

The fact that the Mets haven\u2019t moved on from the third-year manager while the team they\u2019re playing this weekend, the Philadelphia Phillies, has made a change, means they don\u2019t have a replacement they can easily put in place that they feel would give the team a better chance to win than the one they already have.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that the Mets have not picked up Mendoza\u2019s contract option for next season though, so he may very well be managing as a lame-duck. But with injuries having ravaged the roster nearly all season, the Mets might want to give him a shot with a full roster.<\/p>\n

Getting Lindor back next week could help if he\u2019s nearly back to full strength.<\/p>\n

The star shortstop has been out since late April with a left calf strain, and begins a minor league rehab assignment Friday with Double-A Binghamton. He\u2019s been taking simulated at-bats at Citi Field to be able to get back quicker, and there\u2019s a chance he could be activated next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best in the game, and we\u2019ll take one of the best in the game in this lineup every time,\u201d Semien said. \u201cHopefully, he\u2019s being smart and getting ready. We\u2019ll see how he\u2019s feeling once he comes back. I know things are going to take time to get back in rhythm, but everybody\u2019s excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindor has received some unfair criticism since the offseason, and once he went on the injured list, it didn\u2019t help. Mendoza has been one of the only people from the Mets to attempt to dispel the narrative that Lindor led a toxic clubhouse. Even if Lindor and Juan Soto aren\u2019t best friends, there is still a mutual respect for their contributions on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis defense and his bat [are] elite,\u201d Soto said. \u201cI think he\u2019s one of the best [defensive] players in the game, so I think it\u2019s going to help a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mets can worry about Lindor and his spot in the order next week. For now, they can take a day to enjoy the World Cup and get back to their series against the NL East rivals Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The World Cup takes center stage Friday, which gives the Mets a rare mid-series off-day on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,1443,227,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,7439,40],"class_list":["post-730406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-francisco-lindor","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets","tag-nl-east","tag-phillies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116779226487228398","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730406","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=730406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}