On Tuesday afternoon, the New York Mets held an introductory press conference to formally announce Carlos Mendoza as the next manager of the team. Although he has no major-league managing experience, Mendoza was hired for the position because of his ability to connect with players and baseball expertise exhibited on the New York Yankees coaching staff, including most recently serving in the role of bench coach. While he was addressing the media, Mendoza made specific mention of SportsNet New York (SNY) broadcasters Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, and stated that he looks forward to having deep baseball conversations with them.
After questions arose regarding whether or not Mendoza genuinely knew who the broadcasters were, a three-man booth that recently completed its 18th season together, the most for a single broadcasting team in the history of the franchise. When he was mentioning their names, Mendoza can be seen looking down at a sheet of paper, causing some viewers to presume that he was reading their names. WFAN co-host Gregg Giannotti saw the moment and shared that he gained some intel on the situation during the Wednesday morning edition of Boomer & Gio.
“I have heard – I have been told – that Gary, Keith and Ron over the last number of years are never down talking to the players anymore,” Giannotti said Wednesday on WFAN. “They don’t, and the players and the managers and the coaches – they can’t stand the fact that these guys are so popular and they sit up there and pontificate in the booth, but they’re never down there talking to the players and they’re like bigger than life.”
Cohen was present at the press conference on Wednesday and was photographed conversing with the new Mets manager. Giannotti, however, believes that someone within the Mets organization gave Mendoza the line to state in order to subtly send a message to the broadcast team to engage in conversations for more equitable coverage.
“Why should they?,” Esiason replied regarding the broadcast team interacting with members of the franchise. “The team stunk and the team was overpaid, overrated and basically lazy, according to Tommy Pham. They didn’t work hard; they didn’t care.”
Giannotti emphasized that whether or not one thinks it is good for broadcasters to interact with the players is not germane to the situation; rather, it is more about the remark and purported shades of innuendo therein.
“My theory on this is that someone was needling Gary, Keith, and Ron and gave Mendoza that line,” Giannotti explained, “because he goes, ‘Deep conversations.’ That is my take on this.”
The Mets celebrated the historic achievement by Cohen, Hernandez, and Darling throughout the season by giving away a three-piece bobblehead of the broadcast team. Additionally, SNY aired a documentary about the broadcast team, specifically discussing its history and memorable moments throughout the years. Fans of the team often praise the broadcasters on social media, with many Mets fans considering them to be an incentive to watch the games despite the quality of the on-field product. After winning 101 games in 2022, the Mets finished with 75 victories in the 2023 campaign amid a fourth-place finish within the National League East.
“The problem is that those guys are too entertaining and are very popular with the fans,” Esiason said, “because the slop on the field stinks.”
