PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The batting cage at Clover Park on Tuesday was a hub of exercise. Carlos Mendoza stood round it at one level, greeting all his outdated Yankees pals. Mendoza had spent 15 years in that group earlier than becoming a member of the Mets this offseason as their supervisor. His ties to the Bronx run deep.
However it wasn’t simply Mendoza. Former Mets supervisor Luis Rojas was additionally current in his position as Yankees third-base coach. New heart fielder Harrison Bader frolicked catching up with ex-teammates and coaches on the opposite aspect. Former Mets normal supervisor Omar Minaya made the rounds as nicely, chatting up people in his job as a Yankees senior baseball operations advisor. He was trailed by one other former supervisor, Terry Collins, who lives in Port St. Lucie and got here to look at the sport. Even ex-Mets hitting coach Pat Roessler, now an assistant with the Yankees, was there.
Handshakes and hugs proliferated. This was nonetheless an interborough rivalry, with 7,626 followers exhibiting up for it — the most important crowd at Clover Park since 2016, the yr after the Mets gained the Nationwide League pennant. However it was additionally Spring Coaching, a comparatively informal time of yr. Mendoza and pals have been completely happy to reconnect.
“I didn’t know what to anticipate and what the sensation was going to be like,” Mendoza mentioned. “When you’ve spent your entire profession with one group, [there are] loads of relationships, acquainted faces, loads of guys I’ve loads of respect for. It was a great day.”
For the ultimate 5 years of his tenure with the Yankees, Mendoza served as Aaron Boone’s bench coach — an expertise that supplied him the final bits of expertise he would want to change into a supervisor himself. From time to time, Mendoza even stuffed in to guide the Yankees, equivalent to when Boone took a go away of absence to deal with a coronary heart situation in 2021.
When the Mets requested Mendoza to interview for their very own managerial emptiness in November, Boone grew to become a continuing supply of recommendation. The 2 spoke usually as alternatives arose in Queens and elsewhere. Whereas Boone declined to get into specifics, he supplied Mendoza what steering he might on the job — each managing basically and managing in New York.
“He’s completely geared up to do all of this,” was Boone’s evaluation.
Halfway by way of his first Spring Coaching, Mendoza has definitely regarded the half, seeming relaxed with gamers, with coaches, with the media. Earlier than greeting his outdated boss and others across the batting cage Tuesday, Mendoza frolicked hitting fly balls to his outfielders because the Mets took full infield and outfield observe — some extent of delight for the essentially pushed Mendoza. In non-public conversations, Mendoza’s former colleagues supplied nothing however reward for him.
“Sounds prefer it’s going nicely,” Boone mentioned. “Clearly, he solid deep relationships in our group.”
“Many occasions you don’t understand these relationships, they actually do final perpetually,” added Bader.
Requested earlier than the sport about his outdated membership, Mendoza mentioned all the suitable issues, noting how a lot he needs to beat the Yankees now that he’s on the opposite aspect. Though Mendoza left his former franchise on concerning the friendliest phrases attainable, it’s his job to topple no matter crew occurs to be in his path. He takes that cost severely, even throughout Spring Coaching. The times of George Steinbrenner shedding his cool due to a string of Spring Coaching losses could also be over, however this interborough rivalry will at all times exist.
Mendoza is part of that now in methods he beforehand was not. His first style got here Tuesday, and it proved to be a hit: a 5-4 win for the Mets.
“There’s competitors — particularly the Mets and the Yankees,” Mendoza mentioned. “Though it’s a Spring Coaching recreation, and we’re not going to make an excessive amount of out of a Spring Coaching recreation, as soon as the sport begins, it’s about beating them. That’s the mentality right here.”
“I don’t know the way they view the Mets,” he added with a smile. “I understand how I view the Yankees. I wish to beat them.”
