The Mets are revamping their entire on-field leadership, giving Carlos Mendoza a rare blank slate in 2025 after shaking up the coaching ranks. A wave of departures hits the pitching and hitting staff, while Mendoza keeps a core of coaches in place to stabilize the clubhouse. The overhaul comes as the team contends with walks rising and mixed results from a star-studded rotation, signaling a deliberate shift toward revamped development and strategic flexibility.

Juan Soto’s praise of baserunning coach Antoan Richardson underscored the value of advancing on the bases in a lineup built around heavy hitters. The move to replace Hefner, despite his track record with deGrom, Diaz, and Senga, raises questions about how the Mets will recalibrate their pitching development. The coach shuffle, plus a focus on baserunning and infield defense, hints at a more balanced approach that could unlock upside from Mets arms like Manaea and Senga and from veterans who regressed this year.

The spectrum of names tied to the Mets in recent years—Verlander, Scherzer, Alonso, Lindor—illustrates both the strength and fragility of a roster built to win now. Mendoza’s task is to align the staff with a clearer vision, manage expectations around a bullpen that walked too many last season, and foster a stable environment where young players and polished veterans alike can thrive.

Rangers’ next manager faces a tough docket: fix a stagnant offense that struggled vs four-seam fastballs in 2024 and 2025, overhaul a clubhouse that lost its edge as losses mounted, and navigate payroll limits while developing a thinning farm system. The piece weighs Skip Schumaker’s candidacy, the leadership dynamic around Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, and how ownership, the GM, and the field staff must align on a proactive, roster-leaning path. It also flags the likely need to lean on prospects like Walcott, Osuna, Ortiz, and Freeman as cost-controlled pieces.

Beyond X’s and O’s, the Rangers must balance a managerial philosophy with ownership constraints and a revised player development plan. The piece outlines how a new boss would handle up-front accountability, push for a unified locker room, and manage veteran presences while reimagining a lineup that can hit four-seamers more effectively and maximize the current pitching staff’ upside.

Texas Rangers head into winter with more questions than answers after back-to-back playoff misses. The offense regressed again, and the club plans to reshape the roster via free agency and trades, even as payroll is expected to dip below the $244 million tax threshold.

Nearly a third of the roster could hit free agency, with Joc Pederson and nine others in that bubble. Arbitration-eligible stars Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Jacob Webb, Josh Sborz, and Sam Haggerty loom, while core pieces DeGrom, Seager, Semien, Eovaldi, and Higashioka are locked long term. The pre arbitration group includes Jung, Burger and Leiter, shaping fantasy value for 2025.

New York Mets’ 2025 dream ended on the final Sunday with a 4-0 loss to Miami, wasting a $340M payroll and a late-season push that never materialized into October baseball. They needed a win and a Reds loss to sneak in, but fell short as their postseason odds collapsed from sky-high to zero.

The piece chronicles a season of promise turning ugly: Senga’s hamstring era, the midseason spiral, Montas’ elbow injury, and a deadline haul that didn’t yield playoff magic. It caps with a brutal last act and a franchise left to answer hard questions about roster construction and leadership.