The New York Mets, owned by Steve Cohen, are in trouble. On June 12, the team had the best record in baseball at 45-24. But over their last 93 games, they had a record of 38-55, which was the fifth-worst record in the majors during that time. Cohen has made big changes to the coaching staff after spending $765 million on Juan Soto and seeing a 96.8% chance of making the playoffs turn into a season-ending shutout. Now, the franchise is taking apart the very structure that couldn’t stop this terrible collapse.

The shakeup has caused a lot of problems for the coaching staff. The group fired Mike Sarbaugh, the coach for third base and the infield. John Gibbons, the coach for the bench, chose to leave his job. Glenn Sherlock, who had been on the Mets coaching staff for ten years, announced his retirement at 65, adding to the departures. Sherlock decided to leave after three years as the team’s catching instructor. “I have been so fortunate to work with so many great people along the way,” he said after the sudden news. These departures show that Cohen is serious about changing a coaching structure that couldn’t stop one of the season’s biggest failures.

Andy Martino, an SNY analyst who covers MLB, broke the news on X. He said that Gibbons told the team he was leaving. “Mets bench coach John Gibbons told the team he is leaving. He is not retiring. He likes Mendoza and told them he thinks it’s time for some new blood in that job,” Martino wrote. Gibbons didn’t have to leave; he chose to do so because he thought that new ideas would help manager Carlos Mendoza’s coaching setup.

Martino also revealed Sarbaugh’s dismissal in another post. “The Mets are not bringing back 3B and infield coach Mike Sarbaugh. A very popular coach, he helped Brett Baty progress from a defensive question mark at a corner to a viable middle infielder. More to come,” he reported. Even though Sarbaugh helped Baty become a more versatile defender, the team decided to go in a different direction.

There were many more casualties than just those two coaches. Jeff Passan of ESPN said on X that the Mets are changing a lot of their coaches. “The New York Mets are turning over a significant part of their coaching staff, sources tell ESPN. Among those who are out: pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coaches Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez, and bench coach John Gibbons,” Passan wrote.

The changes are because of a collapse that has never happened before. The Mets won 62 games on July 27 and had a 96.8% chance of making the playoffs. They then lost 38 of their last 93 games. The Miami Marlins shut them out on the last day of the season, and they didn’t make the playoffs even though other teams helped them. Cohen’s investment in Soto couldn’t make up for the team’s overall failures, so he had to change the coaching staff and look for answers to a $370 million question. One person stays the same even though everything else has changed.

David Stearns, the president of baseball operations, said on Monday at Citi Field that manager Carlos Mendoza will be back in 2026, even though the team lost to the Marlins on Sunday in an epic meltdown. “I believe Carlos has all the same traits and assets that we believed in when we hired him two years ago,” Stearns said. Mendoza survives as coaches fall around him. He has to rebuild a culture that fell apart over 93 games.

Mets may trade Brandon Nimmo after coaching staff purge

This winter, not only is the coaching staff under scrutiny. The New York Mets are in a roster crisis that needs bold moves, and David Stearns knows that free agency alone won’t fix what went wrong in the second half of the season. Trades might be the best way to move forward, especially since the team has built up depth at positions where contenders need help. That reality has made even the most popular players look bad.

Brandon Nimmo is the hardest choice Stearns might have to make. Since he joined the team in 2016, the outfielder has been a rock in the clubhouse, becoming one of the team’s most reliable players and emotional leaders. He hit .262 with a .760 OPS this season, with 25 home runs and 92 RBIs. His energy and presence in the clubhouse are so strong that statistics can’t measure them.

But during a Bleacher Report livestream on October 1, MLB insider Jon Heyman said that no one is safe from being evaluated. “You could trade Nimmo, who’s pretty average defensively in left field, outstanding in the clubhouse, great hitter. But I could see [him getting traded]. His contract is tradable,” Heyman stated. Nimmo has five years and more than $100 million left on his eight-year deal, which means he can bring back a lot of good players.

The timing makes things very hard. The team’s chemistry was already weak, and the second-half collapse showed that a change in coaching might not be enough to fix it. It is very risky to give up something important to the culture when the clubhouse is still not very stable. Cohen didn’t spend $765 million on Soto just to see another season fall apart. Stearns may have to give up even the most important parts to build a winning team.