NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Mendoza was fired as manager of the underperforming New York Mets on Friday and replaced by Andy Green.
New York is 34-47 at the season's midpoint following a six-game losing streak, 15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9 1/2 games back of the NL’s last wild-card berth.
Mets owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball’s highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.
“Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed,” Cohen said in a statement. “There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered.”
Slowed by injuries to Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, Luis Robert Jr., Clay Holmes and Jorge Polanco, the Mets traded pitcher David Peterson to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and could pivot to a selloff and retooling for the future.
Mendoza spent 15 seasons working for the Yankees, the last four as bench coach, before the Mets hired him to replace Buck Showalter after the 2023 season. While New York advanced to the NL Championship Series in 2024, it failed to reach the playoffs last year and is among the sport's biggest disappointments this season
Since starting last year 45-25, the Mets are 72-101. That left the team with a 206-199 record under Mendoza, who was in the final guaranteed season of a three-year contract. He was hired by the Mets a month after David Stearns joined New York as president of baseball operations.
After signing Juan Soto to a record $765 million, 15-year contract ahead of the 2025 season, Stearns made major roster changes last offseason. He allowed Pete Alonso to leave as a free agent and traded Brandon Nimmo, while bringing in Semien and Bo Bichette.
New York had a 12-game losing streak in April, its longest since 2002, and made six errors in the nightcap of Wednesday's doubleheader loss to the Chicago Cubs, their most in a game since 2014.
“Carlos has led the organization with passion and grace and is beloved by everyone who works with him on a daily basis,” Stearns said in a statement. “Carlos’ impact on our players, staff, and culture over the last three seasons has been transformative. Unfortunately, we know we are falling short and change is necessary to move forward.”
Green, a former major league infielder, joined the Mets in 2023 as senior vice president of baseball development and was given the title of interim manager for the rest of the season. He managed San Diego to a 274-366 record from 2016-19, finishing with sub-.500 records in all four seasons.
Green played four games for the Mets in 2009, his final big league appearances as a player. He became the fourth manager since Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon and Katz families after the 2020 season, following Luis Rojas, Showalter and Mendoza.
Mendoza is the third manager to lose his job since the season started. Boston's Alex Cora was replaced by Chad Tracy and Philadelphia's Rob Thomson by Don Mattingly.
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New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) returns to the dugout after a pitching change during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza center, looks out from the dugout during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Billionaire investor Leon Black said Friday that Jeffrey Epstein deceived him during a yearslong relationship in which he paid the disgraced financier $158 million, but insisted he committed no criminal wrongdoing as he appeared before the House Oversight Committee.
Black is the 16th person to appear before the committee as part of their broader investigation into the web of wealth and influence around Epstein. Before entering the closed-door deposition, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the House committee chairman, told reporters he believed it might be the most “groundbreaking" yet.
“This could be a pretty significant deposition as we try to get answers,” said Comer.
Black is the co-founder and former chief executive of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. He stepped down in 2021 amid fallout over his ties to Epstein.
Black maintained Friday that he was not aware of Epstein's “nefarious activity” until 2019 and that he paid Epstein for legitimate purposes, in part due to his “unrivaled network of relationships” with influential figures.
“I knew Jekyll. I didn’t know Hyde,” said Black.
Black is mentioned repeatedly in files that the Department of Justice has released related to the Epstein investigation. He also appears in a collection of birthday messages sent to Epstein that were released by the House committee last year, including a poem attributed to him that refers to “Blond, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically.”
A 2021 review commissioned by Apollo found that Black paid Epstein $158 million from 2012 to 2017, after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The review said the payments were for “bona fide tax, estate planning and other related services.”
“I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others. I wish I had not,” Black said.
Epstein was indicted in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The Justice Department alleged that Epstein created a vast network of girls, some as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse between 2002 and 2005. He died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The House committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said earlier this year that Epstein’s former accountant, Richard Kahn, told lawmakers in his testimony that Epstein received significant sums of money from a number of high-profile individuals, including Black.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., this month referred findings from a nearly four-year investigation into Black to the House committee. In a statement, Wyden said, “Epstein even appears to have acted as a middleman for Black to pay women on Black’s behalf.”
Black broadly denied the allegations in his opening statement, calling them “rank speculation.”
“I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking. I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein.”
Other figures to have appeared for the investigation include former Democratic President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Gates testified earlier this month and said he had made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting with Epstein.
Black said Epstein's network included SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir.
Democrats on the House committee have pushed Republicans to seek testimony from President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own yearslong relationship with Epstein. Republicans have refused, saying they have not come across any evidence that Trump did anything wrong during his well-documented friendship with Epstein.
Comer has said he has been in touch with the Justice Department about acting Attorney General Todd Blanche coming in for questioning soon.
Bondi, in her testimony, stressed that Blanche had overseen the chaotic release of the federal Epstein files, which included the unintentional release of victim information.
The U.S. Capitol is seen at sunset, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
