When Steve Cohen invested $765 million to build a championship team, signing Juan Soto in the process, the New York Mets were supposed to represent the pinnacle of big-market ambition.
Instead, the 2025 season produced one of baseball’s most bewildering collapses-an unraveling marked by internal friction, staff dismissals, and another lost postseason.
By mid-June, the Mets appeared to be on a direct path to contention. On June 12, they led the National League East with a 45-24 record and, by late July, held a 96.8 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.
But the momentum evaporated as quickly as it had arrived. From July 27 onward, New York dropped 38 of its final 93 games-ranking among the league’s worst stretches during that period.
A disastrous end to the MLB season
The season concluded with a 3-0 loss to the Miami Marlins, leaving the Mets at 83-79 and outside the playoff picture.
The fallout was immediate: Cohen dismantled much of the coaching staff, dismissing pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.
In the wake of his dismissal, Eric Chavez described what he viewed as a core flaw in the Mets’ structure-an unclear division of authority within the hitting department.
Speaking publicly, Chavez said the system of having two lead hitting coaches created confusion among players and diluted instruction. He emphasized that athletes respond best to consistent messaging: “When there’s one voice, that’s when you get clarity.”
Chavez’s trajectory within the organization reflected the broader instability that defined the season. After serving as hitting coach in 2022, he became bench coach the following year and was reinstated as hitting coach in 2024.
During that time, he and Barnes attempted to coordinate their philosophies, but their differing analytical and mechanical approaches reportedly created tension. Chavez noted that, while both tried to maintain a unified front, the split leadership ultimately undermined cohesion in the clubhouse.
Manager Carlos Mendoza retained his position but now faces the task of rebuilding a staff almost entirely from scratch.
His challenge extends beyond hiring replacements-it involves restoring trust and direction within a locker room that appeared increasingly fragmented as the season slipped away.
Injury troubles blight Mets
The Mets’ troubles were not limited to management. The team also suffered a significant blow when reliever Reed Garrett underwent Tommy John surgery, sidelining him for all of 2026.
Garrett’s injury surfaced late in the campaign after bouts of elbow inflammation forced multiple absences. Before the setback, he had been one of the few steady contributors in an inconsistent bullpen, appearing in over 100 games during his two seasons in New York and maintaining an ERA below 4.00.
The loss compounds a difficult offseason for Cohen’s organization. What began as a bold attempt to buy stability and success has instead highlighted structural weaknesses and miscommunication at multiple levels.
As the Mets look toward 2026, they confront a fundamental question: can money alone rebuild not just talent, but trust and coherence in a team that has lost both?
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