Mets Eye Hall of Famer Beltrán to Steer Ship After Turbulent Season

It’s hard to imagine anything exciting happening at Citi Field after the final game on Sept. 27, when the Mets finally close out a season that feels more like a nightmare than a road trip. By the time the last out is recorded against the Washington Nationals, the club’s real work will begin – and that work starts with the manager’s chair.

The Mets’ 2026 campaign has been a crushing disappointment. Off‑season splurges on Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver have done little more than shuffle the deck, leaving New York stuck in the National League East basement with a 42‑58 record as of mid‑July.

That ugly standing forces the organization to confront a painful question: who will take over from the now‑former manager Carlos Mendoza? According to USA Today’s veteran reporter Bob Nightengale, the answer may be simpler than expected.

"The New York Mets have yet to conduct a managerial search for the 2027 season, but their first choice appears to be Hall of Famer Carlos Beltrán," Nightengale wrote. He added that the club originally floated Beltrán’s name right after Mendoza’s dismissal, only to watch the former star step back because of his Hall‑of‑Fame ceremony commitments this summer. In the meantime, Andy Green was tapped as a stop‑gap, but he’s already signaled his intention to return to the front office after the season.

Beltrán’s story with the Mets is a strange one. He was hired to manage the club – the very organization where he spent seven seasons as a center‑fielder – but was relieved of his duties before he ever managed a single game. The timing wasn’t a coincidence; he was the only player explicitly named in MLB’s 2020 investigation into the Houston Astros’ sign‑stealing scandal. Since then, the baseball world has shown a willingness to forgive. Alex Cora is back at the helm of the Boston Red Sox, and A.J. Hinch is well into his sixth season managing the Detroit Tigers. Time, it seems, does mend some wounds.

Adding a bit of poetic justice, the Mets plan to retire Beltrán’s No. 15 this September. It feels almost inevitable that the same night the jersey is taken down, the club might finally give him the managerial key he never got a chance to turn.

In short, the pieces are lining up just as they did half a decade ago. The former star, now a special assistant to the general manager, could soon be walking onto the field not as a player, but as the guy calling the shots. Whether the Mets can rebound from this season’s mess under Beltrán’s guidance remains to be seen, but the hope is that a familiar face will bring some stability back to a franchise that’s been all over the map.