Phillies

Carlos Mendoza is Now a Philadelphia Phillies Coach

By Matt Schultz

Published: Oct 15th, 2026 · 1:11 PM EDT

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The baffling coaching carousel continues: at the Phillies’ press availability on Thursday, Dave Dombrowski announced he’s adding former Mets manager Carlos Mendoza as a third base coach and an infield coach.

Knee-jerk reaction: I don’t like this at all. May actually hate this. This sucks. Carlos Mendoza sucks. He was a bad manager. We all just watched this. Over the three years Mendoza was manager of the Mets, the team went 206–199 (.509) and made the postseason just once. New York had the most expensive team in baseball in 2026 and went 34-47 (.420) through 81 games under Mendoza before he was canned. He was also roasted regularly by Mets fans for his decision-making, something I know a good amount about because I’d often seek it out and bask in it:

It’s gotten to the point where one of the classiest booths in baseball is openly ripping the manager It’s almost like everyone in the world can see this guy is over his head except for Boy Genius who’s saving Mendoza to be the scapegoat after the season is over https://t.co/HoyJCWBDfs

— Unbiased Mets Fan (@TheMetsX) May 27, 2026

Does all that mean he’s going to be a bad third base and infield coach? Not necessarily. I don’t know. I can’t even tell you how much these kinds of assistant coaches matter for this particular team. The Phillies are packed with veteran guys set in their ways. My guess is that firing Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson and hiring Carlos Mendoza probably won’t do anything. The needle hasn’t moved. This team is still the same team. The front office is still the same front office.

As I’m writing this, I’m realizing that’s probably the source of my frustration with the Mendoza hiring. It doesn’t have much to do with him, really. I just can’t believe Dave Dombrowski is still the President of Baseball Operations. Can’t believe he’s still making coaching decisions and holding press conferences and acting like any of the extremely surface-level tinkering he’s doing will matter at all.

The Phillies are not a contender. The roster that Dave Dombrowski built has been, and will continue to be, extremely flawed. That’s the problem. The guy building the team is the problem. Until that’s addressed, I’ll probably keep on being annoyed by any and all announcements the Phils make.